Tag Archives: 90s

#2496: EV-9D9

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

EV-9D9

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“EV-9D9 is ideally suited to its job as cyborg taskmaster in Jabba the Hutt’s palace. It was one of many droids in service to the crimelord.”

Hey, remember how I was reviewing Star Wars stuff all week?  Well, get settled in with that, because we’re just gonna keep that rolling one day further.  Of course, it’s no fancy Black Series offering today.  Nope, we’re instead going back to my old mainstay, Power of the Force.  I mean, hey, at least it’s somebody who hasn’t gotten any Black Series love, just to keep things different and interesting.  And it’s someone with a speaking role, even!  Let’s look at EV-9D9, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

EV-9D9 was added to the Power of the Force line-up in 1997.  He was one of a handful of Jabba’s Palace denizens added to the line-up that year, so he was quite at home (although he wouldn’t get an 8D8 to boss around until the next year).  This marked his second time getting a figure, following the vintage release, as well as his final time in figure form.  Poor EV, getting no modern day figure love.  That feels downright criminal.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The design doesn’t quite as easily lend itself to a waist swivel, so he doesn’t get that.  Sadly, he also lacks the moving mouth of the original release, which is definitely a sad omission.  On the plus side, the figure’s nice and stable when it comes to standing, so he won’t be faceplanting nearly as often as some of the figures from this line.  He also avoids the pre-posing of earlier entries, making him a nice basic figure.  The sculpt is quite nice, doing a respectable job of capturing the design of the prop from the film, while also being sharp and clean on the details. It’s just a really nifty little sculpt.  The paint work is also pretty decent for this era of figure.  All of the important details are there, and there’s even some pretty nice accenting on the bronze sections of his body.  EV-9D9’s only got one accessory, but it’s a pretty good one: it’s the podium he stands behind when administering R2 and 3PO’s jobs. Pretty central to the character, and rather sizable to boot,  so it’s a winner in my book.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

EV is another of the large batch of figures I picked up in late 2018 when I really started trying to fill in my collection for the line.  It’s definitely a figure I didn’t think much of when I grabbed it, but he’s a pretty solid figure, especially given the lack of further coverage of the character.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2490: Space Wolverine

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SPACE WOLVERINE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The X-Man known as Wolverine will travel anywhere for a good fight with the forces of evil – even to the far reaches of outer space! Wolverine’s space armor protects him from the hostile conditions of deep space, while still allowing him to bring his adamantium claws to bear on alien evildoers! Even in this harsh environment, Wolverine is still the best there is at what he does!”

The eighth assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line was the first to properly theme itself, being based on the Pheonix Saga, which had just been adapted for the cartoon.  While a number of the character choices were pretty self-explanatory, they were still faced with a need for a Wolverine variant.  So, they kind of made one?  I mean, it’s not too far of a reach.  It’s a space suit variant, and in both comics and cartoon, the team does go into space.  Never in anything that looks like this, but still…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Space Wolverine was, as noted in the into, released in the eighth series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  He marked the line’s first dabble into made up Wolverine variants, something that anyone who followed the Day of Wolverines will know was far from at its end here.  At least this one was tame, I suppose.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall (continuing the upward size trend on Wolverines) and has 8 points of articulation.  Due to a returning of the Series 1 style retractable claws, he lacks any sort of elbow movement, but at least the posing isn’t quite as stiff as it was on the Street Clothes Wolverine.  As far as sculpting goes, this Wolverine gets a head that’s really similar to Wolverine II’s, albeit with some slightly sharper details.  The body is kind of on the wide side, at least in contrast to previous Wolverines.  It does match the overall bulking up trend that Logan went through as the line and the decade progressed, however.  The space suit for some reason doesn’t actually cover Wolverine’s whole body, leaving part of his costume exposed.  I guess his costume really doesn’t breathe?  That can’t be all that comfortable, can it?  Like going everywhere in a tyvek suit.  Yuck.  I guess it helps with branding, though, so there’s that.  In terms of paint, Wolverine again stays on-brand, with what we see of his costume being the usual colors, and the space suit continuing those general colors, but in a more metallic sense, so it’s more golds instead of yellows.  It honestly works pretty well.  There was also a variant of this figure released a bit later alongside a CD-Rom including the original Phoenix Saga issues, which swapped out the gold for a metallic blue.  I also have this figure…somewhere.  Unfortunately, all I could find at the time of this review was his helmet.  Maybe I’ll find him and I can run an addendum, I guess.  For the original release, as with all of the Phoenix Saga figures, there were two releases, once with the short card and once with the wider card the following year.  The initial version included just his removable helmet, second version(which is the one I had) added a gun and two of Shatterstar’s swords to the mix.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was still new to the collecting game when these guys came out, so I got most of the assortment new, Wolverine included.  He was a gift to me from my parents, shortly after we moved into the house they live in now, and I recall that he was accompanied by an X-Men carrying case to keep all of my figures in (which was a far more realistic goal back when I received the case and it could actually hold all of my X-Men figures).  He’s a little more gimmicky than earlier Wolverines, but he is at least a somewhat sensible variant.

#2489: Prince Xizor VS Darth Vader

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

PRINCE XIZOR VS DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

In the time between Han Solo’s capture by the Empire and his delivery to Jabba the Hutt, a secret struggle for power took place within the shadows of the Empire. A clash between power hungry crimelord Prince Xizor and the dreaded Darth Vader meant certain death for Luke Skywalker. As the Rebel Alliance’s only hope, a band of heroes led by Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and Dash Rendar set out to rescue Solo while protecting the young Jedi from a horde of bounty hunters and assassins.”

Oh, I bet you thought I was done with Shadows of the Empire, didn’t you?  Well…I wasn’t…so, you know…here we are?  Yeah, I know, I’m not thrilled about it either, but think of it this way: after today, the Shadows figures can’t hurt you anymore.  See?  Doesn’t a little but of optimism go a long way?  Okay, let’s get through this together guys.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Xizor and Vader are the second of the two Shadows of the Empire comic packs, the other being the Boba Fett and IG-88 set.  That one is, admittedly, a little more of an exciting prospect than this one, what with our only PotF2-style IG and all, but this one has value, too….there’s, um…a comic?  And the figures, too, I guess.  While the Xizor was technically distinct from his single-card release, this Vader would also end up single-carded in a Power of the Force assortment later down the line.

PRINCE XIZOR

“Xizor is the head of Black Sun, an intergalactic criminal empire that supports literally millions of outlaw organizations and activities. Since entering the service of the Emperor, the Dark Prince is widely considered one of the powerful individuals in the galaxy. He controls his operations with cold, deadly accuracy assuring that those who dare challenge Xizor meet with swift death, often by his own hand. His hunger for power has put him at direct odds with Lord Vader, But Xizor is afraid of no one; his hunger for power has driven him to dispatch an onslaught of assassins with orders to eliminate Luke Skywalker. Xizor plots to spoil Darth Vader’s promise to deliver Skywalker to the Emperor alive — a maneuver that would undermine Vader’s reliability and secure Xizor as the Emperor’s most favored ally.”

Prince Xizor was Shadows‘ primary antagonist, and that netted him not one, but two figures in Kenner’s tie-in line.  I’ve already looked at his single-carded release here on the site, but the two-pack was *slightly* different.  He’s only *mostly* the same.  That’s not quite as bad as *all* the same, right?  Well, actually, that’s probably up for debate, because if they were all the same, I’d only need to own and review one of them, rather than two.  Damn you Kenner and your making me right about Prince Xizor twice as many times as I needed to!  Like the single card, this figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Also like that release, his movement’s incredibly limited by the braids on his head and the thick plastic robe, and even further hindered by the tweaked posing of the arms, which prevents them from being quite as useful.  As far as parts, this guy and the other Xizor use the same head, torso, and pelvis, and he’s got ever so slightly tweaked arms and legs, which now are more pre-posed than the prior ones.  The robe also remains the same as the other release, despite this figure’s more dynamic pose.  In my review of the single Xizor, I remarked that I didn’t feel his color scheme was very Star Wars-y, and I stand by that here.  Application of the paint is at least still pretty good, so I guess he’s got that going for him.  This Xizor trades out the last release’s weird fan blade things for a battle staff, which works a bit better with the pose, I suppose.

DARTH VADER

“Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, has instilled terror throughout the galaxy since the beginning of the Empire. His devotion to the Emperor and mastery of the dark side gives him more power than any single individual in the galaxy except for the Emperor himself. Draped completely in black and wielding the ability to take a life with a mere gesture, Darth Vader stands as the incarnation of evil. His dislike of Prince Xizor is intense and his distrust well-founded. Though Vader would gladly eliminate Xizor, Emperor Palpatine has need of Black Sun’s shipping operations to speed construction of the new Death Star. Xizor had best watch his back however, as Vader’s control of the dark side of the Force makes him a most formidable foe”

Though a notable player in Shadows, Vader faced the problem of not actually having his appearance change at all from his normal look for the purposes of the story.  That’s a little hard to sell as a separate figure, so Kenner had to figure that out.  Enter the pre-posing.  Effectively, this guy takes the initial PotF2 Vader and sort of bends and contorts him a bit.  Now he’s different!  Yay!  Honestly, it’s not terrible in terms of design, and he balances on those mid-walk legs better than you might expect.  His cape gets a little more flair to it as well, which works out pretty well.  He gets the same saber as his standard counterpart, as you’d expect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have trouble fully articulating how little I care about this particular release.  I literally only own it because a) I’m collecting the whole line, and b) it was bundled with the IG-88 and Boba set, which I actually wanted.  Neither of these figures exactly has much new to offer, and furthermore, I just don’t care about Xizor in the slightest.  So, here’s this set.  Cool.  I’m done now.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with these guys.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2483: Corsair

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

CORSAIR

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Snatched from the Earth by a passing Shi’ar spacecraft, Christopher Summers was pressed into service as a slave of that galactic empire. But Summers burst the bonds of his captivity, and now in the company of his fellow Starjammers, he roams the cosmos as the free booting space pirate known as Corsair!”

“The Phoenix Saga” opened up a lot of new avenues for the X-Men.  I guess going into space will do that for you.  In addition to contending with the whole Shi’ar Empire, they also came upon a band of space pirates, the Starjammers.  Originally pitched by artist Dave Cockrum as a standalone set of characters, they were reworked into the crew of a displaced Christopher Summers, the man eventually revealed to be the father of X-Men Cyclops and Havok (and Vulcan, too, but I don’t wanna talk about it).  As the bio above notes, Christopher took on the name “Corsair” and even managed to get himself an action figure, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corsair was released in the 8th Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men series, officially dubbed the “Phoenix Saga” Series, and designed to tie-in with the storyline’s adaptation on the cartoon.  Corsair played a large role in that adaptation, so his presence in the tie-in made quite a bit of sense.  Interestingly, Corsair was actually the third Starjammer to grace the line, following Ch’od and Raza’s inclusion in Series 7.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s a pretty standard offering for the line in terms of mobility and construction, being hampered by no odd lack of joints or the addition of any weird action features.  He’s just a nice, basic sculpt.  The details are all pretty cleanly handled, and he’s got a nicely balanced set of proportions.  He’s perhaps a touch exaggerated, but certainly no where near as badly as later figures in the line.  He does go for Corsair’s slightly updated shoulder pad-bearing design, introduced in the early ’90s (because everyone had to have shoulder pads in the ’90s, of course).  It’s the one used on the cartoon, and it really wasn’t much of a change from the original design, so it ended up working out okay.  If there was one change I’d like to see on this figure, I wouldn’t have minded if his hair had a little bit more of a dynamic flair to it; it was usually pretty fabulous, and it seems a little tame here.  It’s not the end of the world, though; I’ll learn to live, I’m sure.  Corsair’s paint work is overall pretty cleanly handled. It’s basic, but it’s also bright and eye-catching, as Corsair should be.  Corsair was originally packed with a sword, gun, and grapple.  My figure’s only got the sword left, but that’s honestly the best part, so I’m okay with it.  Interestingly, Corsair is one of only two figures in the Phoenix Saga Series not to gain extra accessories when the assortment was moved over to the larger-style cards.  I guess they felt like he had enough already.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Corsair as gift from my Nana back when he was new.  I don’t remember exactly the occasion, but I know it wasn’t a birthday, because my cousin Rusty also got one at the same time.  Maybe it was an end of school thing?  Or possibly an Easter thing?  I don’t know.  I do know that Rusty had no clue who Corsair was and definitely didn’t appreciate getting him as much as I did.  He’s a pretty solid figure, so I definitely am glad he was one I held onto.

#2482: Lando Calrissian in General’s Gear

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

LANDO CALRISSIAN in GENERAL’S GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Proving his impressive flying capabilities and natural leadership qualities during the battle of Taanab, Lando is appointed General in charge of the attack on the second Death Star.”

In addition to a whole stock of disguised looks for their infiltration of Jabba’s Palace at the film’s beginning, the heroes of Return of the Jedi all also get new, fancy, high ranking uniforms as the film progresses.  No longer content to just steal Han’s clothes, Lando picks up some new toggs to go along with his promotion to general within the Rebellion ranks.  It’s pretty standard Rebel officer fare, but with the addition of a cape, because if you’re gonna be as suave as Lando, you gotta have a cape!  It also serves as the perfect excuse to give Lando just a touch more toy coverage, thereby giving me more things to review.  Alright!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lando in General’s Gear was added to Kenner’s Power of the Force II line 1998, and was the third, and final, Lando to grace the line.  It’s honestly not terribly surprising; they really just added his looks in the order that they appeared in the films.  I suppose they could have throne us a curve ball and given us Lando in Smuggler’s Gear (i.e. Han’s clothes), but the world just wasn’t quite ready for that yet.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt was all-new, which actually surprised me a bit, because I could have sworn the head remained the same between all three Landos.  It’s very similar to the one used on the other two, but not quite identical; his features are a touch more refined.  The rest of the sculpt is notable because, despite the fact that by 1998 the line had pretty well abandoned the hard pre-posing of earlier years, this guy’s stance really isn’t neutral.  I mean, sure, it’s not quite as disco-ready as the first Lando, but he’s definitely got quite the wide stance going there.  Among other things, it makes it quite hard to get him into the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon, which is sad, given that’s really the primary purpose of this particular look.  Pre-posing aside, this is actually quite a nice sculpt.  The detail work is all pretty sharp, and the texturing on that removable cape in particular is really sweet.  The paintwork is pretty standard for this line, so application’s more on the basic side, but generally pretty clean.  Some of the details are a bit sharper than previous Landos, especially on the face, showing the line’s upward trend of improvement.  Lando was packed with a blaster pistol and a freeze frame slide showing him in the Rebel briefing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My Lando figure growing up was the Skiff Guard Disguise version, but I recall my cousin Rusty having this version of Lando among his collection.  In fact, through various interminglings of our collections, I believe I even managed to wind up with the cape floating around my collection for a good while.  The figure, however, I waited on.  He came from a large trade in at All Time, and was one of the few I didn’t already have, so boom, there he was.  He’s probably the best PotF Lando, truth be told, though maybe not quite as fun as disco Lando.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2475: Darth Vader with Removable Helmet

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

DARTH VADER with REMOVABLE HELMET

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Luke Skywalker removes his father’s head gear so that Anakin may look at at his son with his own eyes for the first time. Darth Vader became one with the light side of the Force when he rescued his son from the clutches of the Emperor.”

Remember last week when I was talking about the difficulty of coming up with credible variants for certain characters in Star Wars, given how little they change between installments?  Good, because it remains relevant for today’s review!  Darth Vader’s one of those tricky things to balance for toys, because the guy’s kind of the face of the franchise, but he also looks the same in all of his appearances (to the untrained eye, anyway).  For the vintage line, he only had one figure throughout the whole three movie run, and at the outset of Power of the Force II it looked like history might repeat itself.  That standard Vader did get a re-card, and even a slight tweak on posing to keep him on shelves, but by 1998, Kenner was doing revamps on all of the core characters, and Vader found himself on the receiving end of such a revamp, one which even gave us something we’d never seen on a Vader before: a removable helmet!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader with Removable Helmet was added to the Power of the Force line in 1998, as the line’s third basic Vader release.  Unlike the line’s prior Vaders, which were all sort of amalgams of his designs from all three films, this one was the first to specifically replicate one design, in this case Return of the Jedi.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall (as they were back to acknowledging that Vader was taller), and had 7 points of articulation.  Just like the Bespin Luke figure from the same year, Vader is granted an extra point of movement on his right wrist, thanks to a removable hand (again making this a more Jedi-specific release).  I’ve actually looked at the bulk of this figure’s sculpt before, when it was used for the “Escape the Death Star” Removable Dome Vader release.  It really was the best sculpt Vader got out of PotF2, so I definitely can’t complain too much.  It’s far less beefy than the initial Vader, and even adds the missing inner robes that hadn’t actually been done in action figure form at this point.  The main distinguishing feature on this guy is the unmasked head, which is a pretty solid recreation of his unmasked appearance in the film, especially given the level of detail we typically got from this era of figure.  In terms of paint work, this figure marked another improvement for the line, with more than just the straight black of the initial Vaders from the line.  This guy also gets some of the proper silver detailing on his shoulders, plus all of the various colors he should have on his chest panel and belt.  And, of course, he gets a fully painted face under the helmet, complete with eyebrows, meaning he’s pre-Special Edition!  Vader was packed with his lightsaber (whose blade has a tendency to fade over time for this particular release), as well as a Freeze Frame.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Add this Vader to the list of figures I didn’t have as a kid (which, to be totally fair, is all of the Potf2 figures I’ll be reviewing from here on out), but it’s one I very much wanted and never managed to get.  One of my parents’ friends had both this and the Bespin Luke when they were released, and I always wanted this guy to pair off with my own Bespin Luke, but I never quite managed it.  Over the years, I kept an eye out, but he doesn’t crop up as much as some of the other entries in the line, so it took a little while.  Fortunately for me, one wound up floating around the back room at All Time for a little bit, so I was finally able to snag him.  He’s definitely the best Vader for this line, so I’m very glad to have him.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2468: C-3PO with Removable Limbs

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

C-3PO w/ REMOVABLE LIMBS

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“A short stay on Bespin’s Cloud City left protocol droid C-3PO dismantled and dependent on his Rebel companions.”

There’s a bit of difficulty in Star Wars lines to offer decent variants of a handful of the characters, specifically the ones whose designs don’t really change throughout the movies.  For instance?  C-3PO.  He’s got the exact same design in all three of the original films, so any OT-based line definitely has a little trouble differentiating.  Fortunately, there’s at least one solid gimme for a 3PO variant: removable limbs.  Yep, if you want to really want a good Empire variant of 3PO, all you gotta do is make those limbs removable for his encounter with the Stormtroopers in Cloud City.  The vintage line started things off, and Power of the Force II followed suit, with the figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

C-3PO with Removable Limbs was added to the Power of the Force line in 1998, and was the line’s third variant of 3PO, following the initial release and the Purchase of the Droids variant.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation…or at least he should, though the waist joint on mine definitely isn’t moving.  Stylistically, the sculpt on this guy is really similar to the revamped 3PO sculpt from the Purchase set.  Much like the various nearly identical Farmboy Lukes produced later in the line, the two sculpts aren’t really the same, but are virtually indistinguishable for the most part.  The main difference between the two, aside from the whole “removable limbs” thing, is the lack of restraining bolt on the upper torso.  Also, there’s the removable limbs.  Those are a difference, too, I suppose.  They come off pretty easily, though the way they attach does ever so slightly impact the posability a little bit.  You can still get full range out of them, but they might need to be popped out and repositioned for some poses.  Like the “Purchase” figure, this 3PO’s color scheme starts out with the vac metalizing again, but this one takes the grime even further than that figure did, making for what is probably the dirtiest of the PotF 3POs.  I’m not entirely sure why the Empire version would be the dirtiest, but I guess it could be worse.  3PO is packed with a cargo bag, perfect for placing him in and allowing him to be carried on Chewbacca’s back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have this 3PO figure as a kid, but I remember seeing him on the back of the packaging, and always kind of wanting him to do the whole “carried on Chewy’s back” set-up.  I never did get it as a kid, but it was definitely on my short list when I started filling in the holes in my collection.  He’s pretty darn nifty.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2461: Ugnaughts

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

UGNAUGHTS

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Ugnaughts, the humanoid species found on Bespin’s Cloud City, manned the controls of the freezing chambers where Han Solo was encased in carbonite.”

Okay, right, weekend.  Time for another Power of the Force review.  What am I reviewing this time?  Ugnaughts?  What are the Ugnaughts?  Well, it says right up above, doesn’t it?  That’s pretty convenient isn’t it?  Too many questions, Ethan.  You need to move onto some declaratives.  Right.  Ugnaughts.  Let’s do this.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Ugnaughts were added to the Power of the Force line in 1998, and were our second go at this particular race, following a figure in the vintage line.  They joined Lobot in filling in some of the Bespin crew the year they were released.  Much like the Jawas, Kenner took advantage of the Ugnaughts’ smaller stature to offer up a pair of them, rather than one single.  The two included are distinctly different Ugnaughts, both of them from the film.  The vintage figure actually amalgamated a number of elements from these two, before they were split apart for this release.  Both figures stand 2 1/2 inches tall and each have 4 points of articulation (they’re articulation ceases below the waist).  Both sculpts are completely unique parts-wise, though they do share the same basic pose and build.  They hold up well given the time they were produced, and honestly wouldn’t look too terribly out of place with more modern lines.  Of the two, I think the one with the smock is the slightly better offering, as the separate smock piece adds a little more depth, and his facial features are a little more distinct.  He also pulls ahead a little bit on the paint front, thanks to a few more details, though it’s worth noting that both figures sport decent base level paint work.  Curiously, the red-headed Ugnaught’s skin tone is molded, while the smock Ugnaught is painted.  Not sure why they’re different, but they both look decent enough.  The two Ugnaughts include one single toolbox for them both to share, as well as a freeze frame slide.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Mandalorian is legit the first time I’ve ever cared about an Ugnaught, so I can assure you I didn’t get these two new.  In fact, they were one of those things I didn’t even realize were even in the movie until I was an adult.  They definitely don’t have the same fun factor as, say, the Jawas, but I guess they make for a decent scene filler.  I have spoken.

I got this pair from my friends at All Time Toys.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2460: Batgirl

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATGIRL

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

“Gotham City becomes a very cold place when Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane triple team to plot the icy demise of Batman and Robin. The crimefighters respond immediately by using the Batcomputer deep within the Batcave to develop an array of cutting-edge weapons that can be used in their battle against this multitude of fiendish foes. Discover the Secrets of the Batcave! – secret technology that gives Batman , Robin and Batgirl the ultimate ability to save Gotham City!”

Back in April, I jumped into the Batman & Robin line with a look at the “& Robin” portion of the film.  Today, I look at the central character who doesn’t get named at all.  I mean, seriously, isn’t it a little odd that the film where you explicitly call out Batman and Robin as your title characters is the one where you add in Batgirl as your third protagonist?  Isn’t that a little weird?  I think it’s a little weird.  Look at me, armchair quarterbacking a movie from 1997.  That’s a real good use of my time, right?  Yeah…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batgirl was released in the first wave of Batman & Robin product from Kenner, hitting shelves in 1997 to tie-in with the film.  Unlike the various Batmen and Robins, she didn’t get any sort of adjective in front of her name; she’s simply “Batgirl.”  Man, no goofy Kenner name is just a bummer.  Did they even try with Batgirl in this thing?  Oh, right, I’ve seen the movie: the answer is “no.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  So, right off the bat (heh), let’s address the inaccuracies of the figure.  As I brought up in my Robin review, the whole Batman & Robin process was quite expedited, so the figures were working from early costume designs.  In Robin’s case, that was all well and good, because he kept his design, but in Batgirl’s case, that means she’s a bit off from her film appearance.  The big change is the full cowl in place of the domino mask she was sporting in the final product.  It’s not a particularly attractive design, at least as implemented on the figure.  She’s also got the wrong version of the bat symbol, and is missing a lot of the ribbing and such that ran throughout the body suit, making for a much more basic looking design.  There is also a removable cape, which actually is a pretty decently designed piece. Her paintwork is fairly basic stuff.  She’s rather monochromatic, but that’s honestly a bit more faithful to the film than most of the color schemes to come out of this movie.  Batgirl was packed with a “Battle Blade Blaster” and “Strike Scythe,” which are the weird green and black things.  They don’t correlate to anything in the movie, but they certainly exist, now don’t they?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in my Robin review, Batman & Robin was the first Batman movie I saw in theaters, and despite its lackluster quality, five-year-old me really enjoyed it.  Being the big thing of the summer, a whole bunch of the tie-in figures wound up as birthday presents for me that year, including Batgirl here.  She’s not necessarily one of my favorites, and that was the case even as a kid.  She really only served as my Batgirl until the Animated figure found its way into my collection and replaced her.  She’s okay, I guess, and like the rest of the line, honestly better than the movie that spawned her.

#2455: Lobot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

LOBOT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“As the cyborg administrative assistant to Cloud City, Lobot made certain that Lando Calrissian and his Rebel companions would safely escape the Imperial occupied city.”

That he sure did.  Yeah, so, it’s, uhh, Lobot.  You know?  Lobot?  The cyborg administrative assistant to Cloud City who made certain that Lando Calrissian and his Rebel companions would safely escape the Imperial occupied city?  Like it says in the bio?  …Yeah, I don’t have a ton to say about Lobot, I guess.  He’s the guy with the funny looking techno earmuffs who dresses like he’s going out to the discotheque.  Seems like he’s pretty fly.  And hey, he’s had a few toys, so how about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lobot was released as part of the basic Power of the Force II line in 1998.  It marked his second figure, following his vintage release.  He’d get one more in 2004, and then that would be it for poor Lobot.  I guess not everyone’s rushing out to get those funky techno earmuffs.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this figure feels like something of an anomaly for the year he was released.  By 1998, Power of the Force had lost a lot of its early installment weirdness, what with the wonky proportions and the goofy posing and all.  The original likenesses for both Luke and Leia had been dropped in favor of slightly more accurate ones, and in general earlier core figures were getting reworked into slightly less weird monstrosities.  But Lobot?  Well, you’d be forgiven for assuming Lobot was a year one figure.  He’s oddly proportioned, rather light on detailing, and one of the more heavily pre-posed figures to come out of the line (further highlighted by the fact that Lobot never does much other than just stand there, making the usual Star Wars pose kinda perfect for him).  He’s got a disco-esque pose that rivals the original Lando, further pushing that “year one” feel on this guy.  You almost have to wonder if Kenner knew that Lobot was destined to stand right next to that Lando, and rather than doing an updated Lando so that neither would look out of place, they opted to instead make Lobot a proper companion piece.  Alternatively, maybe he was just a leftover sculpt from earlier in the line that took a while to get a proper release.  It could really be either.  Whatever the cause, it’s really darn goofy looking.  I do have to give them some credit on the paint front, though.  He could have been quite bland, but there’s quite a bit of detailing going into the headset, and it actually looks pretty cool.  Lobot is packed with a blaster pistol and data pad, for both sides of the sensible disco cyborg’s life.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first introduction to Lobot as a kid was not via the movies, or even via this figure, but rather via Lego’s Cloud City Car set, which I got as a birthday gift the year it was released.  I had no clue who the heck this guy was, and the internet wasn’t quite the fountain of knowledge that it is today, so I went a little while without knowing anything about him, until I noticed him in one of my rewatches of Empire.  This particular figure was another from the large batch of figures I picked up a couple of falls ago, as I was working towards filling in my PotF collection.  He’s sooooooo goofy, but if I’m honest, after a bunch of “they’re fine figures, but a bit boring”, Lobot’s something of a breath of fresh air.  I mean, at least he’s memorable.

Thanks to my friends at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy.  They’ve got a decent back stock of Power of the Force, and other cool toys both old and new, so please check out their website and their eBay Store.