Tag Archives: 90s

#0638: Wolverine & Blob

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

WOLVERINE –STRIKE FORCE & THE BLOB

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Man, I haven’t reviewed many Minimates recently. There’s no denying that the X-Men, particularly the 90s incarnation of the team, have gotten quite a bit of love from DST. The latest comics-based series of Marvel Minimates has done its best to fill some important holes in the team (and give them a few more foes to fight) while also trying out a new way of distributing some of the characters. Today, I’ll be looking at the guy who’s easily the most well-known X-Man, Wolverine, as he faces of against Brotherhood of Evil Mutants member the Blob!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 60.

WOLVERINE (& FORGE!)

Wolv&Blob2Wolverine is no stranger to Minimates, with this being his 57th foray into the line. Hey, a heavy hitter’s a heavy hitter. There has to be at least one in every series, right? The figure depicts him in the standard Strike Force uniform that several of the X-Men wore during the 90s. Wolverine didn’t really stick with it, but he did wear it a few times. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted add-ons for his hair, gloves, and the two sets of straps on his legs, as well as a standard pair of clawed hands. The hair is a piece that’s been used several times before. It first showed up on the TRU Series 9 Brown Wolverine, and has been used fairly regularly since then. It’s definitely a good piece, and it’s accurate to that wacky hair of his from the comics. The leg straps are the same as those used on Series 34’s 90s Cyclops, which is fitting, seeing as they’re meant to be the same design in the comics. The gloves are the same as Banshee, released in this same series. They’re a good sculpt, and they sit nicely on the Wolv&Blob3figure. The paintwork on Wolverine is passable, but not the best. The detailing on the face is top notch; all the lines are nice and sharp and the facial expression feels perfect for the character. The torso detail is also pretty good, though it’s hampered a little bit by the sloppy edges on the change from blue to yellow. The real issues with the paint are on the shoulders, where the yellow hasn’t been consistently applied, resulting in the underlying blue bleeding through, and on the pelvis, where the red of the belt does not continue down through the whole buckle. The accessories are what sets this figure (and the rest of the series) apart. In addition to the standard clear display stand, the figure also includes an extra head, hair, hands, and right leg, as well as a shoulder harness and a large gun, allowing the figure to be re-configured as Forge, a previously un-released X-Man. The pieces are all nicely handled and match up well with the regular parts, resulting in a figure that is just as much Forge as it is Wolverine. Also, I really like that the skin tone on the head is different from Wolverine, thus properly denoting Forge’s Cheyenne ancestry, which is far too often overlooked.

BLOB

Wolv&Blob4Fred Dukes, aka the Blob, is actually one of the X-Men’s oldest foes, first appearing in X-Men #3. This isn’t the first time he’s appeared as a Minimate, however, his last figure was based upon his film appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which wasn’t the comics-inspired look most were hoping for.  Blob is no slouch when it comes to sculpted add-ons. He features pieces for his hair, torso, upper arms, lower arms/hands, thighs, and feet, as well as a torso extender hidden under that torso piece. The last Blob figure was somewhat on the small side, but this one moves to correct that, making use of a combination of pieces from the Marvel line’s various Hulks and the Street Fighter vs Tekken line’s Rufus. The pieces all mesh together quite well, resulting in a Blob that accurately represents him as the wall of mutant we know from the comics. One small issue with my figure: one of the shoulders on my figure has a chip missing out of it. It isn’t terribly noticeable, but it’s still annoying. Blob’s paintwork is generally pretty well handled, though it isn’t without issues. The colors are all of the proper shades for the character, which is always good, and the detail lines on his torso and face do a tremendous job of bringing the character to life. However, some of the more base level paint is a little off. The straps on the shoulders don’t quite line up with each other, and the gold bands on the wrists are rather uneven and sloppy, with gold paint ending up a few places it shouldn’t. For accessories, Blob isn’t quite as loaded as Wolverine, but he’s certainly no slouch. He includes a spare set of hands and feet, without wristbands or boots, allowing for the figure to be displayed as the Blob from some of his earlier appearances. This offers a nice bit of extra value, and gives the buyer two possible looks, should they end up with a second Blob while completing their Strike Force X-Men. He also includes the standard clear display stand, which is always appreciated.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this is actually my second set of these two. When my full series set arrived from Big Bad Toy Store, I opened these two up first, and they seemed fine. Then I took a closer look at Wolverine’s torso and noticed he had…boobs. Seems my figure got a Storm torso by mistake. Hey, secondary mutation, right? Or maybe they were just easing us into X-23 taking over the title. Anyway, I ended up buying a second set from Cosmic Comix, so, there’s that!

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#0635: Cyclops & M. Bison

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

CYCLOPS & M. BISON

X-MEN VS STREET FIGHTER (TOYBIZ)

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The 90s were an interesting time to say the least. The X-Men were at the height of their popularity, which, of course, meant plenty of tie-in stuff. Capcom, makers of hit games series such as Mega Man and Street Fighter, licensed the team for a fighting game, called Children of the Atom. This ended up being a success, leading to Capcom pitting the X-Men against the cast of Street Fighter. ToyBiz already held the license for Marvel, so they picked up the Capcom license as well, allowing them to do their own tie-in two packs. One of these sets was X-Men leader Cyclops versus Street Fighter’s big bad M. Bison, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cyclops and Bison were a two pack in ToyBiz’s X-Men vs Street Fighter line, released in the late 90s. I believe these two were part of the first assortment of packs.

CYCLOPS

CyclopsBison2Cyclops is presented here in his fan-favorite 90s costume, designed by Jim Lee. It’s one of those looks that doesn’t make a whole lot of practical sense and could be considered a bit silly. That said, nostalgia is a powerful thing, so I can’t help but love it. The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and sports 8 points of articulation. That’s a little lower than the typical Marvel figure of the time, due to his lack of both elbow and knee joints. I can’t say why ToyBiz decided to leave those out, but he does at least have some extra shoulder articulation, which certainly eases the pain. Structurally, Cyclops makes use of the body of the Monster Armor Cyclops from the main X-Men line, along with a new head. The body is from towards the end of the X-Men line, when ToyBiz was trying to emulate the higher-detailed, more pre-posed figures being offered by McFarlane at the time. However, Cyclops had one of the tamer sculpts, so he doesn’t end up being too bad. The one real drawback of the original figure, the head, has been replaced CyclopsBison3with a much nicer piece. This new head does a great job of capturing the animated style Cyclops from the cartoon; it’s simplistic, but all the necessary details are there. The paintwork isn’t the best ever, but it’s not terrible. There’s a bit of slop, especially around the yellow spots. Also, the hair and headband don’t quite meet up right, giving poor Cyke a bit of a bald spot. On the plus side, the blue is a darker shade than the Monster Armor figure, which is more true to the character design, and the plastic/paint is much more matte, which has an overall better look. Cyclops came packed with an optic blast piece (Which I don’t have) and a pleather jacket like the one he was known to wear from time to time in the 90s cartoon (mostly when Jean was crazy or presumed dead. It’s his brooding jacket.)
M. BISON

CyclopsBison4Ah, good ol’ M. What’s it stand for? Well, apparently it’s a shortening of Mister, which seems kinda dumb. In reality, Bison, Vega, and Balrog all swapped names when the game was imported to the US, mostly because Capcom wanted avoid the potential legal issues of having a boxer character whose name was Mike Bison. So the villain became M. Bison, with little explanation of what the M was exactly. Oh well. The figure is about 5 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation. He also has a punching action feature, which sort of gives him two more points of articulation. Bison is built on the Spider-Man line’s Tombstone body, with some additional armored pieces added on, as well as a new head. The body isn’t a perfect match for Bison, but it’s pretty good. The proportions are quite exaggerated, but it was the 90s, so that’s sort of to be expected. There are a few oddities, such as the hand clearly molded to hold something that he doesn’t include. The head is a little on the small side and a little light in the details. The hat is really nice, though. Paint is pretty rough here. Some areas make out okay; the red sections have a nice wash to bring out the details of the sculpt, and the armored parts are clean. The biggest issues are on the head. The hair apps are almost totally missing from one side, and the eyes are at best an approximation of what they should be. M. Bison originally included a cloth cape, but mine no longer has it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I first got this set many years ago, purchased from KB Toys while on a trip with my grandmother. I got it purely for the Cyclops, who was the most accurate version of the character available. I had no idea who this M. Bison guy was. I eventually found out, and became quite a fan of Street Fighter II, but Cyclops was still why I got these.  Somewhere in the last 15 years, Cyclops went missing (stupid house gremlins!) and Bison crumbled into pieces. I thought about replacing them, but this line picked up quite an aftermarket price, with this set being one of the highest. A few weeks ago, I came across this pair for a reasonable price and snagged them as fast as I could. Years later, Cyclops is still very much the star, but I’m happy to have them both again.

#0626: Shocker

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

SHOCKER

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOYBIZ)

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Spider-Man definitely has one of the best rogues galleries around. Maybe it’s not as cool as Batman’s (though that mostly falls to personal opinion), and sure, for my money, it doesn’t quite have the same flare as the Flash’s, but it’s definitely a strong contender. Of course, with every rogue’s gallery comes the inevitable selection of less than threatening entries. Those, by the way, are my personal favorites. I love the lower tier guys. My favorite Batman villain is Calendar Man for God’s sake! So, I have a real appreciation for them. One of the Spider-Man foes who has never really managed to be anything more than a nuisance is the Shocker, eternal punching bag.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shocker2Shocker was released in the third series of ToyBiz’s 90s Spider-Man line. The line was designed as a tie-in to the cartoon of the same time, and as such, the characters drew from their animated designs. Fortunately, Shocker was pretty much unchanged from the comics, so this is just a fairly basic classic Shocker figure. The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and features 7 points of articulation. That’s less articulation than was usual at the time, due to the figure’s action feature preventing him from having elbow joints. And what was this feature? It was dubbed “Shooting Power Blasts” on the box; in reality, he comes with two red missiles, which pop into the spring-loaded arms and can be “launched” by…well, just letting them go. The springs have no locking feature, so the missiles just launch as soon as you let go. Also, the feature doesn’t really make much sense for Shocker. His powers are based on vibration, so he doesn’t actually blast anything. I don’t know. Shocker featured a sculpt that was unique to him. It’s in line with the rest of the figures in the series; the details are rather simple, and the proportions are slightly boxy. He’s a little pigeon-toed, but not excessively, and due to the action feature, his arms are really straight and stiff. That can’t be a comfortable position. Still, the sculpt isn’t bad, and it does a pretty good job of translating Shocker’s design into three dimensions. Shocker’s paintwork is also pretty simplistic, with basic color work. Most of its pretty clean, but the silver areas seem especially prone to bleed over. The figure included the two missiles to go with the action feature and nothing else, though I can’t say I know of anything Shocker would really need to include.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the vast majority of the 90s Marvel stuff I’ve been reviewing as of late, Shocker was purchased from a vendor at this year’s Balticon. I missed out on a lot of the Spider-Man stuff growing up, mostly due to me not liking Spider-Man: The Animated Series as much as the other cartoons of the time. That said, I still appreciate the series, and I love Spidey’s rogues gallery, so I’m glad to be filling some holes in my collection. Shocker’s not a perfect figure, but he’s fun enough to make the purchase worthwhile.

#0619: Superman – Red

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

SUPERMAN – RED

JLA: CLASSIFIED

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Hey, do you remember back about two weeks, when I took a look at Superman Blue? That weird changeup to Superman to help keep him “hip?” Yeah, well, umm, long story short, he got split into two separate beings, and the second one was today’s focus, Superman Red. See, cuz it’s clever, cuz Superman is usually just one guy, who wears red AND blue, but now he’s two guys who each only wear one color. Isn’t that smart? But, of course, they also had slightly different personalities. Can you guess what was Superman Red’s defining trait? If you guessed the incredibly obvious answer of hot-headedness, you win a special no-prize! Good for you! Now, onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanRed2Superman Red was released in the third series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. He directly followed Blue in Series 2. While 2 had a more defined “looks of the 90s” theme to it, Series 3 was a little bit more free-form. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. Like just about every other McGuinness-styled figure, the articulation is mostly pointless, and he’s really only good for a basic standing pose. Superman Red is, completely unsurprisingly, a head to toe repaint of Series 2’s Superman Blue. Seeing as they’re essentially just palate swaps of each other in the comics, you can’t exactly blame DC Direct for just using the same mold. I guess they could have given this one a more emotive face (like Mattel did when they released these two) but it’s hardly a requirement. The head still feels too big for the body, and the arms are still too stubby, but it’s not a terrible sculpt. The paint is the real difference here, though even then it’s pretty much the same, but with red swapped in for blue. The paint does feel a little sharper this time around, and the white details are more properly aligned. Like his blue counterpart, Superman Red’s single accessory is a black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo in blue. Would have been cool to get it in red, just for the heck of it, but I guess they wanted it to be the same as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Superman Blue, Superman Red was from the assortment of figures I picked up during an action figure sale at Cosmic Comix. He was $3. That was most of my reasoning for getting him. Well, that and I was getting Superman Blue. Having both seemed like a good idea. I think Blue is my favorite of the pair, but I like both, and I certainly don’t regret buying them.

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#0617: Mondo

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

MONDO

GENERATION X (TOYBIZ)

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The 90s were a very strange time. I can’t say it enough. Amongst other things, Marvel’s merry mutants, the X-Men were really, really popular. That meant spin-offs out the wazoo. One such spin-off was Generation X. They weren’t “X-Treme” like X-Force, but they still had a very definite 90s flare to them. They were popular for a while, but the team eventually fell into some pretty serious obscurity. However, they managed to get more than one series of an action figure line, leading to a lot of figures that nowadays make people go “Who?” One such figure is team member Mondo. Yeah, I don’t really know him all that well either.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mondo2Mondo was released in the second series of ToyBiz’s Generation X line. Mondo was the only actual team member in the series, making him the last released in the line (though a ToyFare exclusive version of Synch would be released not too long after. Who’s Synch? Exactly.) The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features a whole 6 points of articulation. Usually, ToyBiz’s Marvel stuff was pretty well articulated, but for whatever reason, the Generation X figures were less so. Mondo’s sculpt was also pretty pre-posed. His arms are somewhat spread at his sides and his legs are in a deep walking stance. Unlike a lot of pre-posed figures, Mondo is actually quite stable and well-balanced, so the lack of movement isn’t really too detrimental. The sculpt is actually pretty well handled; there’s plenty of texturing and detailing, and his proportions are in line with what he looked like in the comics. He’s definitely an angry spud, which seems a little out of character, at least going by the bio on the back of the package. The paintwork on Mondo isn’t super complex, but there are a few more minor details that are handled rather nicely. Plus, there’s not really any slop or bleed over, which is always cool. Mondo included a set of clip on armor pieces for his arms, which help to simulate his “omnimorph” abilities. The right side is meant to be wooden and the left is made of stone. Both clip on well enough, and are decently detailed (though the right is definitely a step above the stone). He also has the standard “X” stand, which was included with every figure in the line. He doesn’t need it, but hey, consistency isn’t bad!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mondo is another piece of the lot of figures I picked up from my local comicbook store during a recent sale. I only had a passing familiarity with Generation X growing up, so I never really got many of the figures. I saw Mondo sitting there and, for whatever reason, he called to me. He’s actually a pretty neat figure, truth be told. Sure, he’s not the most standout character of all time, but it’s clear a lot of effort went into this guy, and that always makes a figure better.

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#0615: Wizard

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

WIZARD

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

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The 90s was a great time to be an action figure fan, especially if you liked Marvel comics. Thanks to animated versions of several of their properties airing on TV, there was a lot of tie-in product to be found. Entire lines of figures would be devoted to one particular hero and his rogues and allies, providing a rather large depth of characters, many of whom had not and would not get another figure. One such character is today’s focus, the Wizard, a slightly lesser-known Fantastic Four foe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wizard2The Wizard was part of the fourth series of ToyBiz’s first Fantastic Four line. The character made an appearance in an early episode of the show’s second season, which had just kicked off when this series of figures was hitting stores. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The figure features an entirely unique sculpt, which is…odd to say the least. Let’s start with the posture: he seems to be somewhat hunching, with widely splayed legs, and strangely outstretched arms. His head is atop a crooked, flexing neck, and his torso is oddly shifted to the left. Then there’s the proportions: his head and hands are huge, and his torso is far too short. The Wizard has always had a helmet that made his head look a little bigger than it was, but here it’s his whole head that’s huge, which ends up making the helmet look too small by comparison. Then there’s the arms, which start off somewhat normally sized, and then quickly shift into some sort of jacked-up, oversized monstrosity. I actually kind of like the positioning of the hands, but they look like they belong to another figure. And, of course, you can’t look at this figure and not mention the muscle definition. Seriously, most of those are just made up. The figure’s paint is passable, but not really anything outstanding. It accurately represents his garishly clashing color scheme of the comics, so that’s good, I guess. However, the figure has more than a few instances of bleed over, and his belt in particular is only a slight approximation of where it should be. If you read my Medusa review, you’ll remember that Series 4’s gimmick was that each figure had a base with some sort of action feature. Medusa got her hair, which wasn’t bad, but Wizard’s been given some strange disk…thing. I really don’t know what it is. It’s big, yellow, circular, and so goofy. There’s this lever on the right, which he can loosely hold. It doesn’t do anything, though. If you want to activate the action feature, you have to use a second lever, located behind the first, which shoots some blue disk things. That’s fun I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wizard was one of the many figures I picked up from my local comicbook store a month or so back when they were running a big sale on action figures. They had several, and I’d passed him up several times over the years, so I figured I might as well break down and buy one. I don’t say this often, but he’s really not a very good figure. So much about him is just so off, and there’s no real rationale as to why. And, to make things worse, this is literally the only figure the character’s ever had, which makes it a serious bummer.

#0614: Domino

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

DOMINO

X-FORCE (TOYBIZ)

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Grrrrr! 90s! Everything had to be soooooo X-Treme! And no one was more X-Treme than the X-Men! Well, okay, actually, that’s not true. There was one team than was more X-Treme, by design. They were the X-Force and they were super hardcore 90s. So hard. One of their more prominent members was Domino, who had luck based powers. You know, like a domino!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Domino2Domino was released in Series 6 of ToyBiz’s X-Force line. It’s surprising to see one of the team’s higher tier members not being released until one of the last few series of the line, but, hey, it was the 90s, and we were in the worst dregs of boys thinking girl toys were icky, so…..yeah. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. While she was fortunate enough not to be saddled with the dreaded v-style hip joints that plagued many female figures of the time, she’s completely lacking in neck articulation, and for some strange reason her elbow joints are just simple cut joints. This ends up severely limiting what can be done with the figure, which is quite a bummer. Domino featured an all-new sculpt (though it would see a couple of re-paints later on down the line). It’s…passable. They’ve done a fairly decent job of capturing the design from the comics, which, it should be noted, is her second, non-Liefeld-designed costume. It’s got all the requisite buckles, pouches, shoulder pads, and even a weird head thing! The proportions aren’t the worst thing ever and she has one of the better female faces of the time. That said, she’s rather boxy, especially in her lower half, and I’m really not sure what’s going on with the straps on her torso. They certainly can’t be comfortable configured that way. Also, she seems to have lost a row of abdominal muscles, which ends up making the legs look way too long. The paintwork on the figure is alright.  Nothing amazing, but the colors are pretty good matches for the look in the comics, and there isn’t any substantial slop or bleed over. Domino originally included a set of gun attachments, which hooked into her legs. Yeah. Not really sure why they did that, since she just held the guns in her hands in the comics, but hey, whatever. Mine didn’t have them anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Domino was another figure that I fished out of a box of loose figures at one of the dealer’s tables at this past Balticon. I was never really into X-Force growing up, and Domino never played a prominent role in the X-Men cartoon, so I didn’t really have a reason to get this figure while it was still new. But, it was a dollar. It’s not ToyBiz’s best work, but it isn’t atrocious.

#0608: MODOK

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

MODOK

IRON MAN (TOYBIZ)

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MODOK! The Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing! That is, unless he’s on a children’s cartoon on Saturday mornings, in which case, he’s the Mental Organism Designed Only for Konquest. You remember how Konquest is spelled with a “K,” right? Hey, it could have been worse; originally he was going to be Mental Organism Designed Only for Kittens. That just doesn’t seem as threatening, does it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MODOK2MODOK was released in the second series of ToyBiz’s 90s Iron Man line. The line was released to tie-in with the cartoon of the time, so MODOK is based on his appearance there. Though, to be fair, his look on the show was largely unchanged from his comic appearance, so the figure can easily pull double duty. The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 6(?) points of articulation. The articulation is a little hard to get an accurate count on; the attachments on the head definitely move, but it’s hard to tell if the arms and legs are actually supposed to move. If they are, they’re quite limited. MODOK has a sculpt that was totally unique to him, and it’s actually pretty great. It captures the character’s design rather nicely, and it has a surprising level of detail for a figure of the time. The face has some nice, deep set wrinkles, making him appropriately grotesque and all of his armored parts have some nice etched in details. While the sculpt may be impressive, the figure’s been saddled with one of the more lackluster paintjobs of the time. It isn’t actually bad, but it’s incredibly basic, with most of the colors just being molded plastic. Plus, the colors are all flat, which doesn’t really showcase the sculpt all that well. A little bit of a metallic finish would go a long way. MODOK included an ID Card with his picture, powers, and a quick little bio (these were included with all the figures in the first two series of the line), as well as a blast piece that works with the figure’s “action feature.” When you press the button on the back of the figure, or squeeze the head, the blast piece gets launched, at least in theory. In reality, the button doesn’t actually work; you can still go with the head squeezing method, though the launch distance is a little…underwhelming.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

MODOK is another one of those figures that I missed out on growing up. I feel like he may have been one of the more difficult figures to find. He ended up being one of the figures I came across in the dealer’s room at this past Balticon. He actually ended up being the most expensive of the figures that I picked up, though he still wasn’t all that pricey. As an adult, I can appreciate this figure, especially for the strength of the sculpt. As a kid, I think I might have found this figure a little bit less exciting. No real articulation and a lackluster action feature don’t do the figure any favors. That said, he’s a decent looking figure and works perfectly fine as a display piece. I guess it really just depends what you look for in a figure.

#0607: Superman – Blue

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

SUPERMAN – BLUE

JLA: CLASSIFIED

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The 90s were weird. Like, for everyone. Marvel had their whole shoulder pads and pouches thing going on, which is one of those things we’d all like to forget now. DC was getting in on the weirdness too, and few characters got hit as much as Superman. First he died and got replaced with four “x-treme” takes on the mythos. Then he came back, but he was different and he had a mullet. Then he lost the mullet, but the sun also got blotted out, preventing him access to his solar-based powers. The only logical solution was to convert his powers to electricity. That’s just obvious. Anyway, the result was Superman Blue, a radical departure from the Superman we all knew and loved. He didn’t really stick around for long, but he had a rather distinctive design, which did build up a rather decent fan following, resulting in a few action figures over the years. Let’s take a look at the most recent version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanBlue2Superman Blue was released as part of the second series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. All of the figures in the series were based on looks from the 90s, so Superman fit in pretty well. The figure stands roughly 6 ½ inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. Due to the nature of the sculpt and how the articulation was implemented, most of the articulation is ultimately pointless, and the figure’s only real pose is a basic standing one. The JLA: Classified line worked as a companion line to the four assortments of Ed McGuinness-styled Superman/Batman figures produced not long before. So, Superman Blue is presented here in Ed McGuinness’s style, though I’m not sure that McGuinness ever actually drew Superman Blue. Admittedly, it’s a style that works pretty well for the design, so I can’t really complain. Most of the McG-styled figures made use of a lot of the same pieces, and Superman Blue is no exception. He gets a brand new head, but from the neck down he’s a straight re-use of the basic McG body first used for Captain Atom. It’s not a terrible body, but it’s not without its flaws either. It’s definitely well-defined, and in keeping with a lot of McG’s illustrations, but the arms are definitely way too stubby. The head is a pretty decent sculpt; it matches up pretty well with the regular McG Superman, but it’s got a slightly more smug expression, which at the very least adds some variety. The character’s spiky electric hair is quite nicely conveyed, and the head-band-thingy is appropriately sharp and clean. The only real issue is that the head is just a tad too big for the body. The paintwork is alright; the blue and white are appropriately bold, and the figure definitely stands out. However, the application of the white areas is a little uneven, and the elements on the arms and legs which should mirror each other end up not doing so. The figure’s one accessory is a small black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo printed in blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superman Blue was another piece of the large selection of figures I bought on sale from my local comicbook store. He’s not my favorite design of all time, but at $3, I figured he was worth it. The figure is overall pretty decent, and while it’s not perfect, it does add a certain degree of “pop” to the shelf.

#0605: The Brood

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

THE BROOD

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Brood1

For the X-Men, simple terrestrial foes just weren’t enough. No, they had to kick off the extraterrestrial bit, starting fairly early in the series, before the original team had even left, when they faced off against the dastardly Lucifer! The aliens continued to show up with a fair bit of regularity, and in the mid-80s, we were introduced to the Brood. They were a bug-like race of creatures that gestated inside other beings and when they hatched, they would take on certain characteristics of the hosts. Sound familiar? Yeah, they weren’t too far removed from the Xenomorphs seen in Alien and Aliens. Not that it was a bad thing! The Brood have made their way into a few X-themed toylines over the years, with their first plastic appearance being in ToyBiz’s massive X-Men line from the 90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brood2The Brood was released in the fifth series of the X-Men line. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and 4 inches in length. It features 8 points of articulation, as well as an action feature that flaps the wings and opens the jaw when you press the button on the figure’s back. The Brood are all fairly similar in design, and this figure was meant to be just a generic Brood. That said, if I recall correctly, the presence of wings denotes this as a Brood Queen. But, I could be wrong on that (EDIT: nevermind. I double checked and it looks like some of the drones were winged too). Given the non-human nature of the character, it’s not much of a surprise that the Brood had an all-new sculpt. Overall, it’s a pretty decent translation of the comic design, or at least their appearances in the 80s. It’s not quite as “buggy” as later figures would be, and it’s somewhat on the simpler side when it comes to texture, but it’s not bad, and it certainly fits in with the rest of the line. The muscles at the top of the front arms seem weirdly over-defined, but hey, it was the 90s. Everything had muscles then! I’m surprised the figure didn’t have shoulder pads and pouches. The Brood’s paint is pretty decently handled. The colors are on the drab side, but that’s accurate to the comics, and everything is pretty cleanly defined, if a little on the basic side. The Brood included no accessories, but what the heck would it even come with?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Brood is another Balticon acquisition. It came from the same dealer as Shatterstar and Magneto, though, this one was actually dug out of bin of $5 loose figures. So, a little more expensive, but honestly it feels worth it. The figure is a pretty solid piece and it holds up rather well even twenty years later.