Tag Archives: 90s

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0046: Hawkeye

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

HAWKEYE

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Okay, I was a bit late on the draw with today’s post, so I bet you thought it wasn’t happening.  Well, ha-ha!  I’m here!  I’m doing the thing!  It’s Friday, so let’s go ahead and flashback, taking aim at Hawkeye!

 Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 9 days remaining.

Okay, we’re very definitely getting into the selection of characters that I consider to be the quintessential Avengers. And no one gets more quintessential-y than good ol’ Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye! So, let’s have look at a figure of that guy, shall we? In fact, let’s look at the very first figure of that guy ever released! That’ll be nifty!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HawkeyeIM2Hawkeye was released in Series 2 of the 90s Iron Man line, which was done to tie-in with the Iron Man cartoon of the time. Unsurprisingly, Hawkeye is based upon his appearance in that show, which in turn was based upon the design he had in the comics around the early 90s. It’s a tweak on his classic design, and it’s not too overly 90s, so it works. I do miss the buccaneer boots and loincloth, but oh well. The figure stands roughly 5 inches in height and sports 8 points of articulation, which is actually a little bit below the standard of the time. The lack of proper arm articulation is certainly odd, what with him being an archer and all, but he actually managed okay, thanks to the pose of his arms. The figure’s sculpt was wholly original to him. It’s not bad, especially for the time. The proportions are generally pretty good. The hands and feet are a little on the large side, and the shoulders are a little high-set. He’s also got some ridiculously defined musculature, but to be fair, that’s actually true to the show. The costume details are pretty well handled, with clean lines and some nice texture work on the purple parts. The head is pretty much spot on for the character, with just the right amount of cockiness in his expression. Hawkeye’s paintwork is pretty much on par with other figures from the same time. It’s simple, but well-done. The colors are nice and bold, and everything is clean, with no real slop or bleed over. The eyes are totally white and pupil-less, which is not in keeping with his appearance on the show. However, given how small they are, it’s likely that pupils would have looked rather goofy here, so it was probably the right call. Hawkeye included a bow, arrow, quiver, a small knife, and the weird character badge thingy that was included with all of the figures in the first few series. Of course, my figure has none of these things because silly child Ethan decided to lose them all. Way to go younger me!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I don’t recall the exact circumstances by which I came to own Hawkeye. I’m fairly certain that he was a gift from my parents. I know my Dad had a Hawkeye figure first, and that I really liked it, so I’m pretty sure he took note of this and bought me one of my own. It’s definitely an important piece in my becoming such an Avengers fanatic, I know that much. Looking back at it, it’s not a perfect figure. The arms are a weird choice, and he’s held back a little by the fact that he’s in a relatively short-lived costume. All that said, he’s my first Hawkeye figure, and he’s still my favorite.

This guy got reviewed as part of my big countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron, which took up most of the month of April in 2015.  I was really excited for that movie, which feels like maybe it was slightly overboard in retrospect.  I mean, I was still very pleased with the final product and all, but of all the movies to rally so hard behind, that one feels slightly odd.  Far be it from me to get too harsh on my past self for enjoying something, though.  I recall there was almost some last minute shuffling on the schedule, and this guy almost got replaced by the Marvel Select Hawkeye, but I decided that two Hawkeyes in a month was okay by me.  My review’s not too bad.  Hits all the important notes, and is generally positive about a figure that I do still very much like.  I was missing all of his accessories, though, and I’ve thankfully been able to locate them all in the mean time.  He sure does look a lot less silly actually having his bow and arrows!

#3933: Sy Snootles & Joh Yowza

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

SY SNOOTLES & JOH YOWZA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

First appearing during the Jabba’s Palace sequence of Return of the Jedi, the band that would eventually be known as the Max Rebo Band was a three-piece band, and one that was never named on-screen.  The first names they got were courtesy of Kenner’s original toy releases, where they were collectively named as “Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band,” with the main name hailing from Sy Snootles, the band’s front and center singer from the movie.  The first Special Edition release added new members to the band, and Sy was ultimately given a bit of a downgrade, with Max taking the official front man spot for the group as a whole.  There were three band pairs released by Kenner in their Power of the Force run, and today, I’m looking at original front performer Sy Snootles and one of the new additions, Joh Yowza!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza are the first of the three “Max Rebo Band Pairs” released by Kenner in 1998 as part of their Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The pairs were all exclusive to Walmart at the time.  This set in particular has the notoriety of being the only totally CGI character-focused one, so there’s that.

SY SNOOTLES

As one of the original members, Sy was portrayed in the original film by use of a puppet.  For the Special Edition, she was re-designed to allow for more expressive and modern (at the time) effects-driven approach.  She’s ultimately a lot more cartoony, which is okay enough, and does at least make this a more drastically different figure from the original.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Though she gets the basic movement, it’s generally pretty restricted.  A lot of that’s to do with the preposed nature of the figure’s sculpt, since she’s been given a rather sassy pose, which feels pretty in keeping with her characterization.  Despite not being very posable, the sculpt is nevertheless a pretty nice one.  It matches the design from the movie, and there’s also plenty of texture work, especially on the reptilian looking skin.  Sy’s color work also matches well with her film appearances.  It’s admittedly a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars colors, especially the predominantly brown-based shades of Jabba’s palace.  The application’s pretty cleanly handled, and she even gets a little bit of accenting on her outfit.  Sy is without any accessories, though she was originally shown with a microphone and stand.  Since she doesn’t use them in the movie, though, they were dropped before release.

JOH YOWZA

Joh was added for the Special Edition, and is an entirely CGI creation.  He’s pretty much the epitome of the “annoying CGI creations that jump in front of the screen and make noise.”  So, you know, he’s not particularly well-liked.  It doesn’t help that he doesn’t much *look* like a Star Wars character, but hey, that’s just how it is.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that are even more pointless than those on Sy.  He’s really pre-posed, and exactly what that pose is supposed to be is…unclear?  I don’t know.  The sculpt does a good job of capturing Joh’s design, whatever your opinion of said design might be.  It’s got some interesting texture work, and if nothing else, the face is certainly expressive.  Joh’s paint work was pretty involved, with a fair bit of accent work going on.  The fur work in particular works pretty well.  Like Sy, Joh is without any accessories.  There was a third-party instrument made available, for people that didn’t want empty hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My family didn’t really shop at Walmart in the ‘90s, and without access to the internet as it is, I didn’t really know about these sets until much later.  They’ve been on my want list for a good long while though.  I had the opportunity to grab most of the band members loose via a trade-in to All Time Toys about a year ago, which is how I got both of these.  Of the three sets, this one’s definitely the weakest.  Neither figure is really much in the way of playable, and Joh in particular just isn’t really impressive by any metric.  Still, they’re not terrible in the slightest.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3930

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

SNOWBIRD & PUCK

ALPHA FLIGHT (TOY BIZ)

“In her human guise, she is simply known as Anne McKenzie. But those that are familiar with her true form know her as Snowbird, mystical protector of the Canadian North! Born of a human father and goddess mother, Snowbird was bestowed with various magical powers, including the ability to transform herself into any animal of the arctic regions, such as the ferocious wolverine! Nowadays Snowbird allies herself with other super powered individuals — like the jovial, cart-wheeling Puck — on Canada’s premier super hero team, Alpha Flight!”

Alpha Flight!  They’re just like other super heroes, but they’re also Canadian!  No, seriously, they’re mostly just other super heroes with Canadian elements tacked on top.  Well, I guess it helps keep them memorable.  There’s been a few rounds of toy coverage over the years for these guys, starting back in the ‘90s, when Toy Biz first debuted the team as an assortment of two-packs.  Thus far, I’ve looked at two of the three sets, and today, I’m wrapping up the set, a mere eight years after starting it, with a look at Snowbird and Puck!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Snowbird and Puck are, as noted above, the third and final two-pack from Toy Biz’s 1998 Alpha Flight line, wrapping up the team’s core line-up.

SNOWBIRD

In reading my old Alpha Flight reviews in prep for this one, I’ve discovered that I’ve mentioned that Snowbird is a Byrne creation the predates his comics work both times I’ve discussed the character.  So, guess I won’t fall into that trap again…apart from right here when I did it in a meta sense.  The real trouble with talking about Snowbird is that, while she may be the living embodiment of the spirit of Canada, she unfortunately doesn’t actually get much personality beyond that, so she’s just…there.  Her figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  The neck is effectively useless, but the shoulders are actually pretty nice, and giving her ankle joints allows her to be s touch more stable than some other figures of the era.  Her sculpt makes her very, very skinny, which isn’t much of a departure from how Byrne depicted her, I suppose.  The head seems to get the character down alright, and the costume details are etched in, rather than just simply relying on paint.  She also gets a cloth cape piece, which is simple, but hangs well and gets the job done.  Her color work is generally basic, but it’s clean, and it gets the colors down appropriately, helping sell her rather striking look.  Snowbird is packed with two additional versions of herself, one in bird form, the other in, like, maybe badger form?  Is it a wolverine?  Would that be redundant?

PUCK

The objective best member of Alpha Flight (you can’t fight me on this, I have facts on my side, and those facts are that I like him more than the others), Puck wasn’t added to the team until after they got their own book, presumably to make up for Wolverine having vacated his “short guy” position on the team.  While later releases would make more proper figures, this release turns Puck into effectively a glorified accessory to Snowbird.  He’s a little over 2 inches tall and he only has movement at the midsection.  It’s not really articulation, since it’s a spring-loaded joint so that you can make him do flips.  It’s…odd.  He’s way too small for proper scaling; Puck’s a small guy, but, like, actual, real-life little person small, not fully shrunken-down smaller scale person small.  At the very least, his head should be bigger than it is.  As it stands, he’s really just sort of a figurine, with quite a bit of preposing, which I guess isn’t the worst.  The sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Puck, which is at least on the right track.  His color work does feel especially muted and dark, making him feel very murky and easily lost in the crowd when the whole team is together.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Northstar and Aurora as a kid, and I got Vindicator and Sasquatch in 2017.  I sort of forgot I did’t have this one, to the point that when a sealed set came into All Time as part of a much larger Toy Biz collection in 2023, I *almost* passed on them.  Thankfully, I came to my senses.  This set’s not as strong as the other two, because it’s really not a two-pack.  Because of the way they handled Puck, it’s really just Snowbird and a bunch of accessories.  She’s fine, I guess, but she’s Snowbird, so not the most thrilling.  Puck is really just a placeholder, and his later figures have thankfully been much better.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this set for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0045: Jawas

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

JAWAS

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Yesterday’s proper review looked at one of the droids of the Star Wars universe, and also discussed a bit of confusion regarding the Jawa Sandcrawler.  For today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, there’s no confusion, at least that I know of, but there sure are Jawas!

Kenner’s Power of the Force II was a very important to my toy collection. The line first hit in 1995, when I was 3 and just beginning to get into action figures. Needless to say, I ended up with quite the selection of figures from the line. One of my favorite subsets of creatures from the original Star Wars was always the Jawas. For some reason, I just love those little guys! So, today’s review covers POTF II’s release of those.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Jawas were released as part of the 1996 assortment of POFT II figures. They were released as a pair to make up for their smaller stature. The taller one stands about 3 ¼ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. The shorter one is about 2 ¾ inches, and has 4 points of articulation. In both cases, I’m counting the neck as a point of articulation, but there isn’t very much motion that can be gotten out of either. The sculpts are both pretty good for the time. The taller one is a little bit more detailed, but that’s not too surprising given the difference in size. However, the smaller one still has some very nice detail work. The paint on the pair is fairly basic, but everything is cleanly applied, with no noticeable slop on either figure. Both figures also have a light-piping feature, which allows their eyes to light up. It’s a bit obvious where the clear plastic is on the heads, so I could see some people being annoyed by this. I’m not really bugged by it, but I chalk that up to nostalgia.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t remember exactly when or where I got this pair, but I know it wasn’t too long after I got Dagobah Luke. If I recall correctly, they were bought for me by my Mom, while we were out on an excursion together. I always really liked these figures, and I do seem to recall the taller one getting a spare lightsaber, and thereby being a Jedi-Jawa!

Incidentally, my brother Christian had a quick comment about these figures while I was reviewing them:

“This figure likes to go MARTINI too many damn times. I don’t see why they made this figure. It’s a piece of SHIET! Why do I need to feel bad about my life when I already have the war to care about?”

Yeah, he’s a bit on the strange side…

This was only my second Power of the Force review here on the site, run about a month after my first.  It’s honestly rather brief, but it does at least cover all the major points.  I did, however, do an acronym for Power of the Force within the body of the review, which I would very much not do these days.  Also, I got the letters in the acronym wrong.  Yikes.  Also included was a sort of “micro review” from my brother Christian, who was, I believe, 13 or 14 at the time?  I wrote this one while on a road trip, and he stole the laptop from me for a moment.  It’s….well, it’s something, isn’t it?  *Not* included was any mention of the accessories included with these two, largely because I honestly forgot they ever had any.  There were two blasters included, one a rifle and the other a pistol.  They’re basic, but not bad.  The rifle’s definitely the more Jawa-esque of the two, but I don’t mind having something for both of them.

#3929: Death Star Droid with Mouse Droid

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

DEATH STAR DROID with MOUSE DROID

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“A Death Star Droid approaches what appears to be a routine prisoner relocation. The two stormtroopers are actually Han Solo and Luke Skywalker conspiring to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia.”

In the original Kenner Star Wars line, amongst the many droids offered was the Death Star Droid…or a figure labeled the Death Star Droid. In actuality, it was one of the droids seen in the Jawas’ sandcrawler, right down to the screen shot used on the box and everything.  In Kenner’s defense, both the droid from the sand crawler and the Death Star are RA-7 models (which is a translation for they used the same costume).  They would also fix their mix-up two decades later, under the late-run of Power of the Force II. 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Death Star Droid was released in the Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  He’s the last non-R2 and 3PO droid released in the line.  The figure stands just under 3 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He was an all-new sculpt, which wound up re-used a few times down the line for various other RA-4 figures.  It’s similar in its styling to the C-3PO molds from the line, which makes a fair bit of sense.  It’s a solid sculpt, with pretty clean line-work, and it’s pretty accurate to the design seen in the movie.  The coloring on this guy is notable, largely because it’s, you know, actually accurate to the movie.  It’s actually really fun, because the whole thing is vac-metalized, and it’s got multiple shades, so he looks especially eye-catching and slick.  The Death Star Droid is packed with another droid entirely, the Mouse Droid.  It’s a really simple, single piece thing just molded in simple black plastic.  It’s also way over scaled for the line.  But, it’s also really neat, and who doesn’t love a Mouse Droid?  Somebody probably, but I can’t trust their opinions; they don’t even like the Mouse Droid.  Also included is a Freeze Frame, showing the Death Star Droid as it wanders past a disguised Luke and Han.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I recall having the actual, vintage, incorrect Death Star Droid.  I did not, however, have this one, because the whole, you know, not released at retail bit.  Of the four Fan Club figures, he’s the one that was always the most intriguing to me, so I was pretty happy to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic-Con last year, and for a good price at that.  Of course, then I waited like 10 months to open him, because I don’t allow myself to enjoy nice things.  He’s good.  Really fun, really slick, and pretty unique.

#3926: Cloak & Dagger

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

CLOAK & DAGGER

CLOAK & DAGGER (TOY BIZ)

“Teenagers possessing the powers of light and darkness, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen are Cloak and Dagger! Drawing opponents into himself, Cloak later releases them weakened and unable to fight and longer. His costume conceals his shadowy power, a place of darkness that feeds on its victims. Wielding her power in the form of blades of pure light, Dagger is able to drain her enemies of their vitality; she can also use her power to alleviate Cloak’s hunger for light. Brought together by destiny, Cloak and Dagger remain a duo committed to ridding the streets of the criminals who would destroy it.”

Cloak and Dagger were created in 1982 as a pair of antagonists (but not villains) for Spider-Man, a fact that I used to open my only other Cloak and Dagger review, all the way back in 2018.  What does that mean?  Largely that my connection to the characters in tangental at best.  I’ve probably read a couple of comics where they appeared, but I don’t know that I’ve ever really read any focus stories, and certainly not any of their stand alone stuff.  They have a clever name, though, and a neat visual dynamic, so, that’s cool for toys, right?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cloak and Dagger were released in 1997 as their own stand-alone boxed two-pack under Toy Biz’s larger 5-Inch Marvel banner.  In terms of styling and era of release, they’re a lot like the Famous Couples sets, but they were general release and without marked edition sizes. This was the first figure treatment for both characters, and they would remain the only ones for almost a decade, until Diamond Select released both Select and Minimates versions.  The set included the two figures, as well as a small tin with an illustration on the front.  Maybe you can keep all the weird junk from the other two-packs in it?

CLOAK

Cloak starts us off with a relatively by the numbers re-use based figure.  He stands 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  Cloak is primarily using the Octo-Spidey base body that Toy Biz was so fond of using.  It’s perfectly fine here, since it’s mostly just an excuse to hold up his cloak.  The head is a re-use of Deadpool II’s unmasked head, which, if nothing else, has the virtue of being a less frequently used part.  In the earlier days, Cloak’s face tended to have a lot of line work, so the texturing of the sculpt works okay to replicate that.  It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad.  The color work does a bit of the lifting on differentiating him from the earlier uses of the parts.  He makes a lot of use of accenting and washes, which works very nicely.  Adorning all of the reused sculpted parts, is a soft goods cloak piece.  It’s thick, and rough in texture, and mostly just hangs there.  The print with the stripes works, though, and it’s got a good presence.

DAGGER

Lest there be any fear of things getting too crazy here, Dagger keeps Cloak’s re-use basis going, also being rather by the numbers.  She’s just shy of 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Her movement is very limited, due to a combination of the hard plastic hair restricting her neck, and the use of v-hips.  Generally, she’s just for standing.  She does at least get universal shoulders.  She’s constructed entirely out of parts from the “Ninja” series of X-Men, with the head of Psylocke, and the body of Deathbird (albeit with the torso and arms modified to remove the connection points for the wings).  The head’s actually a pretty solid match for Dagger’s usual depictions, and the color shift helps to differentiate in well from the original usage.  The body’s okay, but the sculpted belt-line goes through a spot on her waist that’s supposed to be skin, which does look a little bit odd.  Her coloring is pretty nice; the white sections of her outfit are pearlescent, and I’m always a sucker for that.  Beyond that, it’s fairly basic paint work, which does what it needs to and sells the look generally well.  The only slightly off bit is the amulet on the front of her chest, which looks very fake, but that’s about it.  Dagger gets four “dagger” pieces, which are actually just Marrow’s bone pieces, but cast in clear plastic.  Honestly, apart from being far too large, they work better than expected.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set proved my first introduction to the characters.  Of course, I didn’t know who they were, so I didn’t buy one new, and they weren’t my first *figures* of the two (those would be the Minimates), but it does still sort of cement them as the standard look of the characters in my head.  I finally got a chance to snag the set a few years ago, in a larger collection, with most of the other multipacks. As noted within the review proper, they’re both very by the numbers figures, entirely reliant on re-used parts.  But, it ultimately works okay for them, and I think this winds up as a pretty neat little set.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0044: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Jedi Duel

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

OBI-WAN KENOBI — JEDI DUEL

STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO)

It’s another Friday, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, we venture once more into the galaxy far, far away, albeit with a slightly different focus than my usual more Original Trilogy-focused interests, instead turning our sights on the now 26 year-old tie-in toyline for The Phantom Menace, with a look back at Obi-Wan Kenobi!

Ah, yes, The Phantom Menace. What a thing that was. Has any other movie simultaneously brought back and killed a beloved franchise? Oddly enough, even though I don’t particularly care for it, it’s the only of the prequel trilogy that I can stand at all these days. Sure, it’s total crap, but it didn’t put me to sleep or make my brain hurt too much like the other two. Plus, it did actually have some pretty good performances by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGreggor. So, it wasn’t all bad I suppose. Just mostly…

Regardless of opinions of the film itself, the toys were a pretty big hit, and they aren’t terrible. So, today I’ll be looking at the basic figure of Ewan McGreggor’s young Obi Wan Kenobi.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan was released as part of the initial wave of figures released by Hasbro to coincide with the release of the movie. Obi Wan is based on his look during his and Qui Gon’s final battle with Darth Maul. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 10 points of articulation. The articulation is important to note, as this was probably the most articulation ever to be seen on a Star Wars figure at the time. Until Revenge of the Sith came along, this was the new standard. The sculpt on the figure is pretty decent, not perfect, but a nice approximation of what Obi Wan looked like in the movie. While I understand the decision to sculpt the arms bent to hold the lightsaber two-handed, it does leave the sculpt looking a bit odd if he isn’t holding the saber. The torso also suffers from being a bit boxy, even for the time. The paint is serviceable. Nothing spectacular, but pretty good in general. The lines on the boots are a bit fuzzy, but everything else is pretty clean. Mine have long since been lost, but when he was new, Obi Wan included his lightsaber and a “comm-tech” display stand that would play some of Obi Wan’s dialogue from the movie when hooked into the big comm-tech player you could buy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Phantom Menace is far from one of my favorite movies, I was 7 at the time of its release, and I was willing to overlook most of its flaws because it was a new Star Wars movie. I rushed right from the theatre to get an Obi Wan figure (Which was $2.99, by the way. That’d cost you $10 now…), and I was very happy to have him. 

Okay, so, like, I just need to address that, amongst the more minor things I disagree with my past self on, a pretty notable one is my stance on the Prequels.  The thing is, when they came out, I loved the Prequels, because I was between the ages of 7 and 13, and that’s the perfect time for such things.  As a proper adult, I’ve revisited them, and I see what works and what doesn’t, and respect them for what they are, because Star Wars is, first and foremost, about being entertaining and fun, and they’re honestly pretty good at that (so are the Sequels, but that’s another argument entirely).  But, there’s a period from the late ‘00s through the mid ‘10s where I gave into the cultural peer pressure of “the Star Wars Prequels are terrible” and stuck with the trendy stance.  I’m not about that these days, so I kind of find my opening remarks to this review… “cringe”?  At least I do stick up for Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan.

In the heading of my original review, I erroneously list the title of the line as Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, when in actuality the line was called Star Wars: Episode I.  I was still very early in my reviewing, and not checking information as much as just writing down what I remembered off the top of my head.  Otherwise, the actual review part’s not so bad.  I was at least pretty nice to the figure.  He was at the time missing his lightsaber and CommTech stand, both of which I have since located.  Not too bad.

#3925: Princess Leia Organa in Hoth Gear

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA in HOTH GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Imperial snowtroopers have been spotted inside Hoth’s Rebel base. Little time remains for Princess Leia and Han Solo to make it to the Millennium Falcon and escape with their lives.”

Kenner’s Power of the Force II hit its high-points for production in 1997 and 1998, as demand steadily rose through the line’s run.  However, as they started jumping deeper into the weird cuts of characters, and production was not scaled back, things started to become stagnant.  The line was subsequently reined in, and refocused, as they prepared for the incoming push for Episode I.  With a great many of the “Freeze Frame” era figures still lingering at retail, the final four figures for the sub-set were released not at main retail, but rather through a Fan Club-exclusive assortment in 1998.  Of the characters featured, by far the most noteworthy was Princess Leia in her Hoth attire.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia Organa in Hoth Gear was released as part of the aforementioned Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  She in particular had an interesting journey to release, first intended for release in the “Complete Galaxy” sub-line, which was cancelled, then intended to go with a Hoth 3D display, which was also canceled, before being moved to single release for an assortment that was also almost cancelled.  At least she made it out.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 6 points of articulation.  Her sculpt was unique, and not shared with the Cinema Scenes release of the same design, though admittedly, they’re pretty close in terms of styling.  This one gets a stiffer, more generic standing pose, instead of the more scene-specific one from the multi-pack.  Neither is really better than the other, they’re just different enough to be different.  Sculpting is pretty sharp, and the detailing on the outfit is particularly impressive.  Her color work is also a bit different than the other version, but not better or worse.  The hair’s a little darker, and the face is a little sharper.  The weathering on the outfit is also a cooler shade, and more focussed on her legs.  It still seems a little heavy handed, but it’s not awful.  Leia is packed with a blaster, which is a re-use of the Han-style one that they loved so much.  It’s fine.  It’s not remotely accurate, but it’s fine.  She also gets a freeze frame showing a scene from the Hoth evacuation.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had none of the Fan Club figures as a kid because I honestly didn’t know that was a thing the Fan Club did.  Kinda wish I could have gotten in on such a thing.  Seems right up my alley.  Instead, I’ve been slowly tracking them down.  They’re not expensive, mind you, just a lot less likely to show up than the others in the line.  Leia here was found mixed in with a batch of otherwise not noteworthy figures from the earlier run.  She’s perfectly fine.  It’s crazy how many steps there were to getting her release, but she’s a decent figure of one of the character’s main looks.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3922: Gambit & Rogue

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

GAMBIT & ROGUE

MARVEL’S FAMOUS COUPLES (TOY BIZ)

“Even though they’ve only kissed once, Gambit and Rogue are one of the X-Men’s greatest couples. Kept apart by Rogues mutant ability to absorb the memories and powers of whoever she touches, this couple still finds themselves inevitably drawn together. Whether they’re battling the Sentinels or walking side-by-side in the part, Gambit and Rogue know that there is nowhere they’d rather be than together.”

Hey, that’s not a bad bio…for the mainstream Gambit and Rogue…who these aren’t.  Confused?  Allow me to explain.  In 1996, Toy Biz dedicated a single series of their X-Men line to the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline.  It wasn’t really much coverage, but did its best to hit some of the heavy hitters.  It was originally a six figure line-up, but was cut down to five prior to release (something faced by the Iron Man and Fantastic Four lines at the same time, which led to US Agent and Adam Warlock getting cut), with the alternate universe version of Gambit winding up on the chopping block.  Not wanting to let a wholly new sculpt go to waste, Gambit was ultimately salvaged for use in a Famous Couples two-pack, alongside a similarly themed Rogue figure.  All well and good, apart from the two not *actually* being a proper couple in the alternate universe, and certainly not a “famous” one.  Ah, we’ll give them a pass on this one.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gambit and Rogue are another of the three two-packs from the Toys “R” Us-exclusive Marvel’s Famous Couples line.  Each pair was released separately, with this pair hitting in 1997, during the run’s second year.  The set includes the two figures, their relevant accessories, and a metal pin depicting the two of them.  At least it’s got more direct purpose than the weird metal thing from the Cyclops and Jean set.

GAMBIT

Gambit is really the whole reason this set exists in the first place, as a means to release the unused AoA Gambit from the main X-Men line.  The AoA Gambit design is…well, it’s something.  Of all the designs, his feels the most like it delves into different for different, and it ultimately suffers from not being nearly as striking as the mainstream equivalent.  But, it’s certainly *different* so I’ll give it that.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation. The left shoulder is spring-loaded, so he’s got sort of a flinging action.  It also robs him of his elbow movement.  The sculpt is decent enough.  Rather on the pre-posed side, but pretty much on par with the other AoA figures.  He does wind up rather contorted, especially when it comes to the neck, which looks pretty strange in most poses.  He’s also a little tricky to keep standing.  His cape is a separate piece, and it’s kind of floaty and never seems to quite sit right.  His color work does alright.  This design is a bit slapdash in its color choices, kind of like they just picked at random, but they replicate them well here.  The application’s generally okay, though the skin tone on his face is quite thick, obscuring the sculpted details quite a bit.  Gambit is packed with his staff piece, as well as an energy piece for him to throw, which is, for some reason, cast in opaque blue.

ROGUE

Rogue’s a pretty notable character in AoA, and honestly more noteworthy than Gambit, so the fact that she wasn’t even planned at all for the line-up does seem kind of odd.  There are, notably, no women in the AoA series from ’96, so it might have been a retailer thing.  At least she didn’t ultimately have to wait too long.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Since Rogue didn’t have a pre-existing mold sitting around to use, Toy Biz had to sort of improvise a bit.  They opted to re-use the mold from the Generation X White Queen figure, which isn’t a bad sculpt, but also isn’t exceedingly much like Rogue’s design from the cross-over.  I guess the head’s not too far off, and they decided to just make the rest of it work as best they could?  Honestly, it does work out a bit better than I’d expected, so I’ll give them some credit on their inventiveness there.  There’s a cloth robe/vest piece, which replaces the jacket of the original mold, and largely serves to hide a little bit more of what’s going on, which it’s ultimately okay at.  Otherwise, it’s paint work doing the heavy lifting.  It’s very much takes Toy Biz’s patented “just completely ignore the sculpted elements” approach, which is what it is.  I do like the colors, though, especially with the metallic sheen the whole thing gets.  Rogue gets a stand, which is the Generation X stand, but in gold instead of red.  Since she’s a bit iffy on her feet, the stand is certainly nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in the early days of collecting for me, it was less immediately clear what figures actually got released.  As such, it was a little while before I learned that there was never *actually* a single release for the AoA Gambit on the back of all the boxes.  I made do at the time with the light-up release, and didn’t know of this one’s release for a few more years.  I ended up getting this one at the same time as last week’s Cyclops and Jean.  It’s nice that they were able to get the Gambit figure out in some way, and also that they found a means to release a Rogue from the story, resulting in a pretty nice selection of the AoA cast in the longer run.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased these figures for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0043: Princess Leia Organa

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Yesterday’s proper review revisited an old Leia design for Power of the Force, but to keep things neat and tidy, today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum jumps back to an old review of an old figure of an old design, because I think it’s earned it…or something to that effect.  Here’s Leia!

“After many unsuccessful attempts to bring change to the Empire as a senator, Princess Leia Organa became involved in the Rebel Alliance and immediately established herself as one of its most popular and influential leaders. Although it was extremely dangerous for someone of her prominence. Leia often participated in secret missions for the rebellion. It was during one such mission to recruit General Obi-Wan Kenobi that she obtained the technical readouts for the Empire’s new Death Star battle station. Moments before being captured by Darth Vader, Leia hid the plans in the droid R2-D2, who then escaped to the planet Tatooine to find Kenobi.”

Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve looked at both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in their Stormtrooper disguises, which they use to sneak into the Deathstar detention center. I haven’t yet looked at the subject of their rescue (who ends up doing a little bit of the rescuing herself), Princess Leia Organa. So, I’m going to amend that today, by looking at one of the worst Leia figures in existence. Yay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia was released in the first series of Kenner’s Power of the Force II, where she wound up as the short-packed figure. She was the first of several Leia figures from the line, and is based on her introductory look, her main appearance from A New Hope. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Despite Carrie Fisher being a good deal shorter than most of her cast mates, Leia isn’t noticeably shorter than the other figures in the line. This was a trend that wouldn’t really be corrected until the line re-formated after The Phantom Menace. Leia’s sculpt was unique to her, which is a good thing, because that means Kenner realized the horrible mistake they’d made and never allowed it to occur again. I’m sorry, was that too harsh? Yeah, I’m not much of a fan of this sculpt. She’s preposed, she’s got really goofy proportions, her costume’s kind of strangely inaccurate, and, most importantly, her face looks not unlike a monkey. Seriously, look at that face and tell me that doesn’t look at all like Zira. None of the PotF2 figures had particularly great likenesses, but every other Leia in the line was way better than this. I’m trying to find something positive to say about this sculpt…the hair’s not terrible, I guess? Her paint’s pretty simple, since she’s mostly just molded in white plastic, which a little bit of paint here and there. It’s not terrible. Leia included two different styles of blaster pistol (both of which are missing from my figure), as well as a removable cape and skirt. The cape is a bit baffling, as it just sort of continues the trend of Kenner clearly having no idea what Leia was actually wearing in the film. I suppose this was a bit closer than the vintage release?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ah, this one. This one’s an important one. Why? Because this is the figure that introduced me to my arch-nemesis: The Scalper! Yes, in my quest for this figure, I had an unfortunate run-in with a horrid man-creature, which I detailed a few years ago in the ever so eloquently titled “GAHHHHHHHHH!” Suffice it to say, I did eventually get the figure through non-scalped means, thanks to some dutiful work on my parents’ part. This was my first Leia, and I have aa whole story that goes with her, which gives her all this great emotional value. It’s a shame the actual figure kind of sucks. I mean, I’m glad I have her, but there’s no denying that she’s just a bad figure. 

Just right out of the gate declaring it one of the worst Leia figures ever.  You know, sometimes I find past me to be a little harsh to older figures, but I can’t really deviate too much on this one.  The original Power of the Force Leia is just simply not a good figure, and no amount of time or distance or nostalgia can really change that.  I think the best I can give her is that she sort of fits in well with the others from the early run? It’s not ideal.  When I first reviewed her, I was dealing with my original, which lacked either blaster, as well as the cape.  She’s still my original, but a good chunk of time dealing with loose Star Wars parts lots let me fish out all of her missing parts over the years, so eight years later, she’s actually complete.  At least she’s got that going for her, right?