Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3690: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

“John Stewart is a former U.S. Marine who uses his military training and discipline to protect Earth, and the rest of Space Sector 2814, as a member of the intergalactic peacekeeping force known as the Green Lantern Corps. As Green Lantern, John wields a power ring, which creates a protective shield around him, allows him to fly, and generates hard-light energy constructs in the form of anything he imagines. Fueled by willpower, Green Lantern’s power ring is one of the mightiest weapons in the universe!”

Introduced as the second back-up Lantern of Sector 2184 (which makes him the back-up back-up, I guess), John Stewart’s introduction under Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams provided DC with their first African American super hero. John subsequently took over as the primary Lantern from Hal Jordan on and off, and was notably chosen as the central Lantern for the Justice League animated show, which elevated his status tremendously, placing him more or less on the same level as Hal Jordan.  He’s had quite a number of figures over the years, but his first *would* have been a Super Powers figure, had Kenner gotten a fourth year out of the line.  Instead, he had to wait for McFarlane to revive the line…to mixed results.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was released in Series 2 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line under the DC Direct banner.   He’s from that early era of the line where it was still just a Walmart-exclusive.  It’s also the era of the line where the figures are all using modern designs, hence John using his post-return, animation-inspired costume.  It’s not the design that Kenner was going to use (as they were more than likely just going to do a straight repaint on Hal), and it’s not a look that quite vibes with the rest of the line.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  As with all of the early line figures, he’s scaled about 1/2 an inch too tall, and is just generally too round and puffy to fully fit in with the Kenner figures.  The sculpt’s a bit on the soft side, and the shaping of the face is…I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it’s off, that’s for sure.  In general, I find he looks not like a Kenner Super Powers figure, but rather like a Toy Biz DC Super Heroes figure.  Even the right hand is held vertically, rather than horizontally, much like the TB Hal.  This is further continued with the coloring, as the green in particular is a very close match to the TB GL.  Otherwise, the paint work is fine.  Fuzzy on the edges, but generally fine.  John is packed with his power battery, which he can hold in his left hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this figure a number of times, and couldn’t bring myself to buy it.  It upset me, because it’s a John Stewart Green Lantern for Super Powers, which is something I very definitely wanted.  Why finally buy it?  Well, a loose one landed in front of me, right in the midst of me buying all of the more recent figures.  And, I mean, it’s one of the lost Kenner figures, in a continuation of the line.  What’s not to love?  Well, honestly, everything about the execution.  I mean, he just manages to get every possible detail wrong, and is quite possibly the most demonstrative of the core problems of the line’s beginnings.  It’s gotten a lot better since then, but if anything, it makes me more frustrated that this is the John we got, rather than a figure that’s more thematically appropriate with the rest of the line.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3689: Martial Arts Batman

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

MARTIAL ARTS BATMAN

BATMAN (MATTEL)

Back in 2003, there was a huge change-up in the world of super hero toys, as the DC license passed from Hasbro (who had inherited it when they had fully absorbed Kenner at the end of the ’90s) to Mattel.  While Mattel had focused decidedly less on the action figure market for a lot of the ’90s, in the early ’00s, they’d relaunched their in-house brand Masters of the Universe, with former McFarlane sculptors the Four Horsemen doing the sculpts.  Having netted the DC license, they launched a line of Batman figures, also primarily sculpted by the Four Horsemen.  McFarlane sculptors on DC figures?  It’ll never work….

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Martial Arts Batman was one of a whole plethora of Batman variants present for the launch of Mattel’s Batman line in 2003.  While the standard Batman (dubbed “Zipline”), Robin, and Joker all flew off shelves, the Bat-variants were less speedy.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  While the articulation scheme’s nothing to write home about these days (or even when the figures were new, considering they were contemporaries of Spider-Man Classics and Marvel Legends), it was actually a pretty nice step up from what we were typically seeing from Hasbro before the license transferred.  All of the Bat-variants were sculpted by the Four Horsemen, centered around the core sculpt done for Zipline Batman.  It’s a solid starting point, being a clean and rather “generic” take on the then current Batman design.  The iconography definitely holds up.  Each of the variant figures got their own little selection of unique parts, which, in the case of Martial Arts Batman, was the hands, feet, and belt.  The belt and hands would also see re-use for the Batman packed in with the Nightwing figure later the same year.  Generally speaking, the parts aren’t bad.  They match well with the core body pieces, and the general “martial arts” vibe is captured decently enough.  The wrappings on the hands, in particular, are pretty cool.  Also, in keeping with a theme that the Four Horsemen were very insistent on early in the line, he’s got the little bat-symbol on the bottom of his feet, which is a pretty nifty little bit.  His paint work is…odd.  They saddled him with a lot of maroon, as it’s the base color of his suit for some reason.  There’s some black, of course, but he’s also quite reliant on gold for the accents.  It’s a weird set-up.  I’m also not entirely sure how I feel about the bare hands under the wraps.  The application is at least pretty clean, so he’s got that going for him.  He’s packed with a bladed staff thing which can split into two, as well as a wrist mounted bladed thing.  Look, it’s all very technical, but there are a number of things, and they’re all rather martial arts-y, I guess?  I mean, I guess they’re at least kind of nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hasbro’s last few years on the DC license were rough.  Mattel gaining the license was a breath of fresh air….until the product actually hit.  This line is a great example of that, being a perfectly fine line, while also being more or less indistinguishable from what Hasbro was doing a year before.  I didn’t get a ton of these figures when they were new, and this one in particular is a rather recent addition to my collection…relatively speaking.  He came into All Time a few years ago, and his package was such that he was going to wind up in the loose figure bin anyway, so I snagged him, because why not.  He’s fine.  Nothing amazing or anything, but fine.  He’s got a good sculpt at the very least.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3688: Abe Sapien

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

ABE SAPIEN

HELLBOY REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

In what has to be one of the quietest and understated moves the franchise has ever taken, apparently there’s a Hellboy movie coming out in two weeks?  The franchise got a reboot in 2019, and this one’s another reboot, specifically adapting the comics story “The Crooked Man”.  I guess that gives this movie a slightly better reason for not including Abe Sapien, since he’s not part of the original story, nor would he really fit its aesthetic.  It does mean that I’ll have to supply my own Abe Sapien appreciation, so here I am, doing just that!  Oh yeah!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Abe Sapien was released as part of the single-carded first assortment of Super 7’s Hellboy ReAction Figures line, alongside HB, Liz, and Lobster Johnson.  The figures are all comic-based, filtered, of course, through the usual ReAction lens.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt was unique to him, and it does a respectable job of taking Mignola’s fish-man design and making it look like a Kenner figure from the ’70s.  Proportionally, his head seems maybe a bit big, but I think that may also be slightly linked to the way the gills work.  Beyond that, it’s a neat sculpt.  They’ve gone more for the “underwater adventure” look for Abe, so he’s got his shorts and belt, but that’s it.  The feet are an interesting quirk; as far as I know, Abe’s always been depicted with actual toes, albeit frequently webbed ones, but this figure gives him sort of hooves, kind of like what Hellboy classically has.  I’d chalk it up to shared parts, but the two have very different details elsewhere on their legs, so it can’t really be that.  Just one of those things, maybe to sell the frequent Kenner inaccuracies? The color work on Abe is pretty fun; the teal sort of color is brighter than Abe is usually depicted, but it fits the vibe of the line very well, so I very much dig it.  Application’s all pretty clean, and there’s a surprising amount of accenting.  Abe is packed with a harpoon, which is great for all those harpooning needs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures all hit during a period of time when I didn’t have much in the way of disposable income, so I wasn’t really able to jump on any of them when they first hit.  It’s always bummed me out, because I definitely dug the style, and it meant there was an Abe figure I didn’t have.  Thankfully, things have a tendency to come back around, and Abe here got traded into All Time a few months back, giving me an opportunity to finally snag one.  Yay!  He’s not a terribly complex or involved figure, but I enjoy him for his simplicity.  Definitely fun, and I’m now fighting the urge to track down all of the rest of them.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3683: Metaluna Mutant

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

METALUNA MUTANT

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

1955’s This Island Earth is a generally mediocre and rather forgettable sci-fi movie, whose entire reputation is salvaged by one thing and one thing only: a killer creature design. Okay, I might be being a little unfair to the movie. It’s honestly not bad, but the Metaluna Mutant is such a memorable design that pretty much everything that’s not him fades away moments after the movie’s over. Universal seemed to recognize this too, as he’s I believe the latest addition to their Universal Monsters stable, coming in some 20 years after the bulk of the others. And, since he’s got such a distinctive look, he’s also a prime candidate for toy coverage. Hooray!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Metaluna Mutant was released in the first series of Universal Monsters ReAction Figures released under the Super 7 banner. The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Super 7 taking over ReAction directly was accompanied by a slight shift in the exact styling of the sculpts, which is reflected here. While the Funko Universal figures were honestly some of the best under their tenure, they were still a little soft in the details compared to a genuine Kenner product. The Mutant, on the other hand, is quite sharply rendered. He’s not a perfect match for his on-screen counterpart, but that wouldn’t be quite right anyway. He instead goes a bit more idealized, “what you’d remember in your head after seeing the movie”, which feels right for the vibe. There’s lots of fun little details going on here, with all of the membrane stuff on the head, as well as the folds and creases on the “pants.” His paint work is very much dialed into the style they’re going for. Rather than strictly movie coloring, he’s got a far more saturated hue, which gives him more of that ’70s era pop. I really dig the little vein lines on the arms and legs; they help to sell the overall look in a small but notable way. The Mutant is packed with no accessories, but I’m not sure what you’d give him anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had a fairly expansive viewing sci-fi classics as a kid, thanks to my dad’s own fascination with the genre. This Island Earth was shown to me when I was about 7 or 8, and it hit pretty well, largely because this guy was just so cool. I recall the Sideshow 8 inch figure coming out around that time, and being rather interested in him, but I didn’t wind up getting one for another 20 years. This one’s an even more recent addition, snagged from a batch of traded in figures at All Time a month or two ago. He’s simple, but very fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3678: Luke Skywalker – Snowspeeder Prototype Edition

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — SNOWSPEEDER PROTOTYPE EDITION

STAR WARS: RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“This Luke Skywalker is inspired by the colorful prototypes that enable the development team to look past the deco and focus on the sculpt, analyze mold alignment, and adjust for quality.”

During the action figure production process, there are a number of prototyping stages.  Once the sculpt is completed and has been tooled into a steel mold for the purposes of mass-production, the molds have to be tested to make sure they work properly.  Since you don’t want to use the plastic you’ve paid to use on final production for something that may or may not work and which will effectively be junked once the mold has been confirmed as properly working, factories will run these tests with whatever plastic they have left over from other jobs, often resulting in colorful results.  Over the years, some of the test run prototypes have surfaced, and they’re a fun little quirk of the process.  And, because it’s been determined that there’s money to be made in that particular quirk, Hasbro has jumped on mass-producing them.  Thus far, we’ve gotten six of them as part of the Star Wars: Retro Collection, and I’ve finally gotten one!  Huzzah!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Snowspeeder) Prototype Edition is a Target-exclusive offering for the Retro Collection, as all of the Prototype Editions have been thus far.  He arrived in January of 2023, and is the fifth of the six Prototype Edition releases.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Obviously, all of the Prototype Edition figures are re-using a mold that Hasbro’s already got in production for the main Retro Collection line, but in Luke’s case, he’s notable for being a new, actual in-house Hasbro mold, rather than a recreation of an old Kenner one.  As there were no proper Snowspeeder pilots in the vintage line, Hasbro did a sizeable rework on the X-Wing Pilot Luke from Kenner’s vintage line, bulking him a bit to add the extra padding, as well as making sure he’s got the gloves, and the modified boots.  He also brings the helmet’s visor down over his eyes, as it was more frequently seen in the movie.  For color work, these figures have no paint, instead relying on a variety of different colors for each of the body parts.  There are actually six different variations of color layouts available, with the blue, red, green, yellow, purple, and orange each being applied to a different body part depending on the variant.  This one has blue for the head, red on the torso, orange on the right arm, green on the left arm, yellow on the right leg, and purple on the left leg.  He’s packed with his lightsaber (which is molded in the same color as the head, so it’s blue here) and his grapple.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been low-key wanting one of these since Hasbro started doing them, but not enough to really go hunting for any of them.  Likewise, I kind of wanted this mold, but also not enough to track down its original release with the board game.  This guy landed in front of me, and that made the whole thing a lot easier.  He’s very definitely a novelty, and I don’t see myself going in for any more of them (well, maybe an IG-88 if they did him), but I do like having at least one of them.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3676: Dhalsim

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

DHALSIM

ULTRA STREET FIGHTER II (JADA)

I’ve talked about Street Fighter here on the site only a few times, and the bulk of it’s been Minimate-related, which I suppose isn’t really disqualifying in any real sense, but sort of feels like it to me?  I’m weird like that.  The thing about Street Fighter that’s important is that I rather like it, but, like, in this very sort of involved yet also only tangentally interested sort of way.  It’s my go-to fighting game, and I love its colorful cast, and I love the cool toys its gotten, and I’m always intrigued by it, but I nevertheless always feel like sort of an outsider, and I couldn’t really tell you why.  I’m working on it.  Jada Toys, who have been making some pretty amazing strides in action figures the last few years, and Street Fighter is one of the licenses they’ve dived into.  I’ve been waiting for the right figure to jump in with, and it turns out that’s Dhalsim!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dhalsim is part of the second round of Jada’s Ultra Street Fighter II line, which also includes Bison and Ken.  Dhalsim and Bison are hitting at the same time, while Ken preceded them by a bit, in sort of a reverse of Ryu and Fei Long from the first series shipping together, with Chun-Li trailing behind them.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Jada’s articulation scheme on the Universal Monsters and Mega Man lines has been pretty impressive, and the Street Fighter figures only improve on that.  Dhalsim’s articulation is very strong, once more being pretty much on par with Hasbro’s work with their 6 inch lines, right down to the use of pinless joints on the elbows and knees.  In particular, the addition of the butterfly joints at the shoulders is very useful for proper fighting poses.  The sculpt on Dhalsim is all-new, patterned on his more idealized model from more recent updates to the game.  It works well with the articulation scheme, working everything in pretty cleanly, while also keeping the overall look a good match for his design.  There are two different heads, one calm, and the other shouting, giving some additional variety to his posing.  I love the use of actual metal hoops for the earrings on both heads, and the general likeness is very good.  His necklace and bangles are free-floating pieces, which I’m typically pretty iffy on, but in Dhalsim’s case, the free movement of those pieces is kind of a feature, so it works pretty well.  Dhalsim’s paint work is rather basic for the most part.  It generally works pretty well, but there’s some notable slop on the wraps on the wrists.  Dhalsim is packed with two sets of hands (in open gesture and flat poses), alternate bendy arms and legs for his stretchy attacks, and a stand to aid in keeping him balanced when using the alternate limbs.  The hands swap easily enough, but you do have to be careful to not lose the bangles.  Likewise, the limbs also swap easily, though the arms take a little more doing the first time they’re used.  In a perfect world, I’d have liked to be able to use the fists from the stretched arms on the standard limbs, but that’s very minor, and what we got works well within the confines of Dhalsim’s attacks within the game.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My introductions to Street Fighter as a whole are kind of all over the place, but Dhalsim figures into a couple of them.  I actually got a small little MUSCLE-style Dhalsim as an arcade prize years before I had any ideas of the game at all.  My first experience actually playing any version of the games was a ported copy saved on one of the computers at my middle school, where the only character I had any luck playing against the CPU was Dhalsim.  I wasn’t certain I’d get this one when he was first shown off, but once I saw him in hand, there was no way I was passing on him.  He’s a fantastic introduction to the line, and a fantastic figure in his own right.  I’m very excited for the rest of the line.  I’m not going full completism or anything, but I definitely want more of these figures.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3674: Stealth Venom

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

STEALTH VENOM

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

“In the past, Venom has been both hero and villain, and Spider-Man knows how powerful he can be! With his chameleon-like abilities, Venom can even blend into his surroundings and virtually ‘disappear’ from sight. So, although Venom is unpredictable, one thing is certain; when he does appear, things heat up!”

Ah, yes, Venom’s chameleon like abilities. Of all the Spider-Man villains out there, surely it’s Venom whose abilities could be best classified as “chameleon-like.” …look, guys, I can’t just stand by and let this Chameleon erasure happen! He’s the original Spider-Man villain. Can’t we get him some respect? No? Well, I tried. I guess I’ll just review this “chameleon-like” Venom.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Venom was released in Series 7 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line.  The whole set was dialed into Toy Biz’s tendency to give their lines the occasional repaint-heavy line-up, so there were minimal new parts across the board, all dialed into more recognizable characters.  This was Venom’s third time in the line, and the first of the kind of made-up variants.  It was far from the last of either thing, of course.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Venom lacks elbow joints for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, but there it is.  Otherwise, it’s pretty standard stuff.  His sculpt from the neck down was the same as the unmasked Venom from earlier in the line.  It’s honestly not a bad sculpt, and in particular it captured the animated approach to Venom pretty well.  He got a new head, which removed the removable mask feature…un-removed?  I don’t know.  There’s no unmasked head is my point.  It’s really bulky at the neck, and I’m not entirely sure why.  Also, he’s got this sort of permanently looking up thing going on, which seems odd for someone of his stature.  Venom’s stealth-ness came from the color work, which was translucent.  There were actually two different versions; the one seen here was the one that more closely mimicked Venom’s usual set-up, while the second one inverted the colors.  This one’s not nearly as different at a glance, especially in the photos, but I guess it works out alright.  Venom was packed with two clip-on hand attachments, as well as a web-line that was wrapped around his waist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was surprisingly short on Venom figures growing up.  I had one of the 10-inchers, and I jumped on the original Spider-Man Classics one pretty quickly, but the 5-inch ones all eluded me until later in life.  This guy was mixed in with a handful of Toy Biz figures that got traded into All Time a month or two ago, and he was surprisingly complete, so hooray for me!  He’s kinda goofy, obviously, but it’s not like I’m collecting the Toy Biz stuff for its serious adherence to the comics lore, am I?  Now, I guess I just have to track down that variant.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3673: Mynock Hunt

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

CHEWBACCA, PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA, & HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Fleeing the fierce Imperial assault on the frozen planet Hoth, the Millennium Falcon and the Rebel crew fly into the midst of a waiting Imperial war fleet. Unable to engage the Falcon’s malfunctioning hyperdrive system, Han Solo steers recklessly into an asteroid field. Solo maneuvers the Corellian freighter through the deadly storm, missing large rocks by mere inches before locating sanctuary in the cave of a huge asteroid. Inside the cave it become apparent that the Falcon is in danger of being ravaged by mynocks. Large, winged parasites with an appetite for the mineral and energy-rich bulls of starships, mynocks can cause critical damage to star-freighting vessels. Forced to hunt the creatures before irreparable harm is caused to the Millennium Falcon, Chewbacca, Princess leia, and Han Solo don breathing gear and venture outside. But the mynocks become a secondary concern once the Rebel crew discovers that the cave they’re parked in is not a cave at all, but something large and very alive.”

To date here on the site, I’ve looked at 9 of the 10 Power of the Force Cinema Scenes sets.  That feels pretty wrong, right?  Yeah, I definitely need to fix that.  So, you know what?  I’m gonna do that now!  Because that’s the kind of commitment I’ve got to seeing things through!  And I’m also gonna stop shouting now because it seems like a bit much for Power of the Force!  …so, yay?  Okay, well, let’s just jump into the review, I suppose.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The “Mynock Hunt” Cinema Scenes set was added to the Power of the Force line in 1998, as a standard release offering.  Interestingly, it’s the only set in the sub-line to be based on Empire.  The set included a stand for the three figures, as well as a Mynock.  Unfortunately, as with pretty much every Mynock ever, there’s no base or anything for it, so it’s just kind of…there?  Ah well.

CHEWBACCA

Despite his lack of drastic changes in the films, Chewbacca wound up in two Cinema Scenes, putting him on equal footing with Han, and second only to Luke. That’s honestly pretty crazy. The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 6-ish points of articulation. 6-ish because the neck is once again kind of pointless in its implementation. Structurally, Chewy is using the second iteration of the standard Chewy sculpt from the line, placing him in line with the Boushh Prisoner and Hoth Chewbacca figures, and retroactively making the first Chewy sculpt more specifically the A New Hope version. It’s a far less bulked up take on the character to be sure. I was never 100% sold on the head for this version, but otherwise it’s not bad. He’s a bit more pre-posed for this specific release, making him, amongst other things, the first Chewbacca that can properly hold his bowcaster two handed. His paint work isn’t bad; there’s some variance in the fur colors, which works pretty nicely. Chewy is packed with his bowcaster, as well as removable breathing mask.

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

This was Leia’s only time gracing the Cinema Scenes sub-line, and was also notable for being the easiest way to get her Hoth attire for a good while, thanks to the single card being locked behind the fan club exclusive set-up. She stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Her sculpt was new, though admittedly pretty similar to the single carded version. Like the other Cinema Scenes figures, she’s a little more pre-posed, with her arms ever so slightly raised. It’s minor stuff. Honestly, it’s a decent sculpt, so I’ve got no complaints. The paint’s a little overboard, I feel. She’s in all white, but there’s this sort of yellowish film over it all, which is…well, I’m not sure exactly what. But it’s there, I guess. Leia is packed with her own removable mask piece.

HAN SOLO

They sure did like Bespin Han in this line. We had four of them in Power of the Force, all pretty close to each other. This one’s a lot like the single release, but, much like Leia, the limbs are posed differently. It’s not a terrible sculpt to begin with, and this version slightly slims him down even further, so it’s not bad at all. There’s still that Power of the Force flavor, but it’s not over stated. His paint is pretty much the same. The jacket is still black, since that was the Lucasfilm line at the time. He’s packed with his blaster pistol, as well as another removable mask.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is actually one of the Cinema Scenes I was actively on the lookout for, and it still wound up being one of the very last two that I got.  Fitting, then, I suppose that I would save it to be the last Cinema Scenes set I’d review here on the site. I suppose there’s not a lot unique about the set, ultimately, but there’s a general vibe about it that I do quite like.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3670: Superior Spider-Man

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

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Let’s go back to the beginning!  Okay, like, maybe the middle?  Post-intermission?  In 2014, after reviving Marvel Legends from its hiatus brought on by effectively running the line into the ground during their first go at things, Hasbro’s Return of Marvel Legends was losing steam, and they needed another angle.  That angle turned out to be mixing the comic assortments with movie tie-ins, under the Marvel Legends Infinite Series banner.  They launched with two sets, one based on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the other on Amazing Spider-Man 2.  The Spidey assortment’s comic Spidey was the still relatively recent Superior Spider-Man redesign, which I reviewed here when it was new….ten years ago.  A decade later, Superior Spider-Man got a brief revival in the comics, and is showing back up in Legends form, too!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superior Spider-Man is a single deluxe release Marvel Legends figure, under the “Celebrating 85 Years” banner.  He’s based on the second Superior look, which was his more unique, and ultimately more relevant design.  It wound up outliving the original run, with Otto wearing during the time displacements of “Spider-Verse”, and Peter himself wearing it during the recent Superior revival run.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  SpOck re-uses the arms and legs from the Renew Your Vows body, which updates him to most of the modern articulation scheme.  He’s got a new head, torso, and pelvis, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, which match well with the pre-existing stuff, though, for whatever reason, he’s back to the ab-crunch and cut waist, rather than a more modern articulation scheme.  He’s also got modified forearms, which add the gauntlets that were missing from the original release of this costume.  SpOck’s color work is honestly pretty solid.  The base work is pretty clean, and they’ve even got his rather uneven web-lining down alright.  One of the coolest parts, though, is the lenses on the default head, which simulate the reflective lenses from the comics by doing some printed detailing.  It’s quite dynamic, and makes for a very unique appearance next to the other Spideys.  The only issue I ran into on my figure is the presence of some errant red on one of his right hands.  SpOck’s main accessory is his back-pack, complete with…well, I don’t recall if they were actually called “waldoes” when Ock was using thing, but they’re the additional legs, and another major thing missing from the last figure.  Each of the legs gets 8 points of articulation, for a total of 32 points in addition to the 38 of the core body, bringing him up to a whopping 70 points.  They’re a little tricky to work with in some poses, but they’re strong enough to hold the figure aloft, which is really the most important thing.  SpOck is also packed with an extra head with white lenses (if you’re not into the artsier style), a compact back pack without the legs, and three pairs of hands (in fists, thwipping, and open clawed).  If I’m being extra demanding, I’d say I’d like an unmasked Otto as Peter head, like the Minimate version got, but there’s still plenty here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The prior Superior Spidey was decent for the time, especially with the line still really figuring out its first year in a new direction.  That said, it dried up pretty quickly in terms of distribution, and it also aged pretty quickly.  Add in the missing elements, and the fact that its been a decade since the original, and you’ve got an easy mark for a new offering.  This one’s not perfect, but he’s pretty solid, and definitely brings the look more in line with the more recent standard Spideys.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3669: Halloween Jack

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

HALLOWEEN JACK

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Once a schoolmate of the X-Man Meanstreak, Jordon Boone went on to become a most trusted employee of the monolithic Alchemax corporation, Alchemax installed nano-tech implants into Boone’s central nervous system-implants that render his cellular structure transmutable allowing him to change his shape at will. Calling himself Halloween Jack, this mischief maker causes trouble for friends and enemies alike.”

The 2099 imprint was a notable component of Marvel’s line-up in the ’90s, but these days, people tend to really only remember Spider-Man.  They did try to make some strides towards more unique storytelling, and X-Men 2099 in particular built a cast that wasn’t just re-hashes of prior characters.  The team also had a sizable portion of supporting players and recurring antagonists, such as Halloween Jack, a character who would later be revealed to actually be the future’s incarnation of Loki.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Halloween Jack was released in series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line, released in 1996.  He was also re-released in 1997 on the Marvel Universe card back.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation, which includes a moving ponytail.  The amount of articulation is honestly astounding.  Like, I’m not sure exactly why Halloween Jack of all characters go this much movement, but here we are.  The only thing missing was some sort of hinge on the elbows.  Jack’s sculpt was all-new at the time, though it would be re-used for Jackal in the Maximum Cloneage boxed set.  As Jack was a shapeshifter, his exact appearance in the comics was rather fluid, but the sculpt actually does a pretty good job capturing the general vibe of the character’s illustrated appearances.  There’s quite a bit of texturing in play, which certainly keeps him visually interesting.  His paint work is decent enough.  The black and bright green is a very striking combo, and the application is all pretty clean, though his face is oddly fuzzy, which is something I’ve seen on multiple copies of the figure.  Jack is packed with monstrous mask and glove pieces to showcase his shapeshifting abilities.  It’s not a perfect set-up, but they’re fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Halloween Jack himself as a kid, but I did have the Jackal repaint from the boxed set, so I remember the mold pretty well.  I had plenty of opportunities to get a Jack over the years, but never really jumped on it, and then by the time I wanted one, it was tricky to find him complete.  Thankfully, he was one of a small handful of packaged figures that got traded into All Time, so I got a chance to open a sealed one.  He’s a surprisingly good figure.  It’s kind of crazy the amount of effort they put into specifically this guy, but Toy Biz had a tendency to do that every so often.  It’s just one of their quirks, I suppose.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.