Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3474: Amazing Heroes Series 5

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

MR. MONSTER, BADGER, E-MAN, STRAY, & BLACK PIRATE

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Oh boy, it’s part 5 of the Day of Amazement, and guys, I’m tired. Like, sure, there’s a thrill to these whole big bunch of reviews in a day thing, but the inertia’s always worn off by this point, and you’re just left wondering who placed you in this horrible position. And then you remember that you did it to yourself, and I’ll tell ya, that doesn’t really help matters. Why do I keep doing this? At this point, I think I honestly don’t know how to quit. Don’t worry, though, I’ll pull through this and the next review, and I’ll get back that thrill, and in about 2 1/2 years time, I’ll convince myself to do it again, because of all the *fun* I had the last time. I’m gonna need one of you to stop me next time. Oh, sure, you’ll have no way of knowing, but at least now I can blame somebody else.

…where was I? Something with toys? Oh, yeah, Day of Amazement. Yep. That’s the one. So, we’re on Series 5, and by this point, FMF had moved things back to their own site, but they built their own crowd funding thing, which they ran in September of 2020.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mr. Monster, Badger, E-Man, Stray, and Black Pirate were all part of Series 5 of Amazing Heroes, which also included a re-release of Nexus from Series 2, as well as being augmented by a Comic House-exclusive Captain Canuck and a separately backed Oddity Madman.  What’s interesting about this particular set is that it’s largely *not* public domain characters, instead placing a heavy focus on creator-owned independent characters.  A lot of these had actually shown up previously as potential incentives for earlier campaigns, and wound up all bundled together for one fun creator-owned series here.

Mr. Monster sort of bridges the world between the two aesthetics, having originally appeared in 1947, created by Fred Kelly.  He had two appearances before disappearing into obscurity.  He was later discovered and revived by Michael T Gilbert, who reinvented the character in the ’70s and secured the trademark for the name on his new version of the character.  Mr. Monster is a legacy title, currently held by Dr. Strongfort Stearn, who fights all of the monsters of the night in true pulp hero fashion.  The figure uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Series 5 marked a switch up of sorts, because all of the new not public domain characters were also granted some new molds.  In addition to repurposing the flared gloves introduced on Series 4’s Blue Beetle, Mr. Monster also gets a brand-new head, as well as a belt add-on piece.  Since his usual build isn’t quite a perfect match for the general style of the line, Mr. Monster has been adjusted a touch to better fit with the rest of the line.  It works pretty well, and still keeps him true to the character’s spirit and design.  His paint work is quite sharp and clean, and also quite bright and eye catching, and is generally far more in line with Series 4’s quality.  Mr. Monster is packed with a pair of pistols, which are the same ones that were previously available separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, for the purposes of arming Black Bat.

Badger is, of course, fully into the creator-owned territory, having been created by Mike Baron in 1983.  He’s the sort of character that I’ve been aware of for a while, but not, like, every really *that* familiar with.  He’s a scrappy sort of guy with multiple personalities, though, so he does seem at least a little bit up my alley.  Badger also gets new parts, though in his case it’s just a new head.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a change-up.  I don’t know that it *quite* fits the vibe of the rest of the line for me, but I can definitely dig them going for something a little bit different.  Badger’s paint work is a little sloppier than Mr. Monster’s.  It’s still not awful, but there are a few spots that are a little sloppy, notably the change-over of color on the hips.

E-Man is a character who’s reputation for me is that my cousins used to call me “E-man” as a nickname (which stopped with the birth of my brother Christian, for whom the first letter plus “man” set-up created less than stellar results, at least verbally), and I found some back-issues of E-Man at one point and everyone joked they were about me.  Beyond that, I had no real idea who he was.  His design and name similarities to Elongated Man led me to believe for a good while that he was a stretchy guy, but that’s apparently not the case.  E-Man is actually a sentient packet of energy, which formed itself into a super hero, which is honestly kind of cool.  He was created by Joe Staton and Nicola Cuti, and he was a late-stage creation of Charlton, before moving elsewhere when they closed up shop.  E-Man gets a new head sculpt, which is honestly one of my favorites from the line.  There’s just so much character and expression behind it, and I really love that.  His paint work is also incredibly clean and sharp; there was room for the yellow and orange to meld together too much, but they rather smartly applied black outlining, which really finishes the look off super nicely.

Stray is a surprisingly new character, having only been introduced five years before joining the line.  Creators Vito Delsante and Sean Izaakse are clearly dialing into some Batman and Robin stylings, with Stray himself being a sort of stand-in for Dick Grayson, albeit with his own unique set-up.  He’s a fun concept, and a fun design, and a great way of adding a little bit of variety to the whole set-up.  Stray’s got an all-new head, which gives him his distinctive head gear.  It’s a pretty strong sculpt and it fits well with the overall style of the line.  Stray’s paint work is pretty involved, and a pretty different sort of color scheme.  His application is pretty clean; there’s a few little spots of slop, but it’s generally solid work.

Hey, we’ve made it to the one proper public domain guy in the set.  They gotta have at least one.  Even by the usual public domain standards, though, Black Pirate is pretty obscure. Don Angelo di Martini appeared in two issues of Avventure in Alto Mare, before the book was ordered to cease publication by Mussolini’s Fascist Party.  He may have made sure the trains ran on time, but apparently Black Pirate was not on his list of things to keep running on time.  For shame.  Well, at least he got a figure out of it all.  Take that, fascists!  Black Pirate uses the base body, with the flared gloves and cuffed boots from Series 4.  He’s also using the bald head, and he gets a cloth cape as well.  In terms of paint work, he’s got a lot of black, as you would expect.  His face is a little messed on my copy, which is a little annoying, but there’s a workaround.  In addition to the sword accessory, which was shown off from the beginning, Black Pirate *also* got a “mystery accessory.”  It turned out to be a second head.  This one’s an all-new one, which gives him a hat atop his mask, granting him a resemblance to another all-black wearing guy with a sword and a mustache, who should totally be in the public domain, but in a myriad of court cases that would make Disney’s head spin, isn’t.  What’s that guy’s name?  I mean, it’s definitely *not* Zorro, right? Right.  Honestly, the whole mystery piece angle was pretty brilliant, and I love the option to turn this guy into someone who’s very definitely not Zorro.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall a handful of these guys from when they were shown off in earlier campaigns, but I was totally out of the running on the line by the time this assortment showed up.  So, it was something of a pleasant surprise, honestly.  E-Man speaks to me for the odd nostalgic reasons, and I love Black Pirate for reasons that can’t legally be disclosed.  Stray’s a cool modern character, and the other two have pretty fun visuals in their own right.  Okay, just one more to go.  I can do this, right?

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.

#3473: Amazing Heroes Series 4

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

MAGNO, RUBBERMAN, & FANTOM OF THE FAIR

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

2019 was a pretty solid year for Amazing Heroes, all things considered.  Series 2 finally made it off the ground, and Series 3’s pre-orders came and went.  After the Series 3 venture, Fresh Monkey Fiction went back to the crowd-funding well, but not the Kickstarter well, instead using the smaller platform “Jumpstart” to get four additional figures funded.  This is the one time I got back into the line after Series 1, as I grabbed myself a Blue Beetle, because I’m not gonna be the idiot who skipped a Blue Beetle.  There were three not-Blue Beetle figures, which I’m getting to now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Magno, Rubberman, and Fantom of the Fair are the aforementioned “not-Blue Beetle figures” from Amazing Heroes Series 4.  They were likewise part of the Jumpstart campaign that ran through December 31st of 2019, and they shipped out in the summer of the hell-hole that was 2020.

Magno is…well, he’s a magnetic guy.  You know, what with the name and all.  He had a sidekick who dressed pretty much identically to him and was named “Davey”.  Just Davey.  That’s the whole thing.  And they fought, amongst others, a guy called “the Clown.”  Is Magno just Spawn?  Well, they do both have capes, so there’s that.  The figure’s on the basic body that they’re all on, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall like the rest of them and moves at the same 5 points of articulation. Magno uses the secondary hair-sporting head, which fits well with his usual depiction. He also gets a new set of legs, sporting cuffed boots, which is a pretty big deal, and he’s got a cloth cape, with a collar, even. Magno’s color scheme is bright, clean, and honestly pretty involved. It’s clean in its application and also pretty sharp on the edges, showing even further improvement from the Series 3 figures.

The line is still doing its best to manage at least one villain per set here, and for this round it’s Herr Riktor, aka Rubberman! He’s the head of a rubber factory in Nazi Germany, who falls into a vat of hot rubber, which does what all vats of stuff do in comics, and gives him super powers. You know, as you do. He was a foe of Iron Ace, a guy in knight’s armor who also flew a plane. You know, as you do. He’s got a very, very basic design, but is also the sort that feels tailor made to this type of figure. He’s actually got three different heads; the mustachioed one is Riktor, while the other two, much like Series 2’s Puzzler, are henchmen. I do rather like the set-up and I also rather like his shade of purple.

Last up is the Fantom of the Fair, later known as “Fantoman.” He’s essentially a heroic Phantom of the Opera, who swaps out the opera house in Paris for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He had an underground lab, connected to an underground river, connected to an underground hip bone, connected to the Fair, which he guarded. He had a somewhat inconsistent look, but it’s okay, because the figure has that covered. He’s got a cloth cape with collar, plus three different heads. There’s a bald fully masked, a fully masked with hair, and a half-masked, which is also red? I don’t know, but they all look pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I more vividly recall this set than the others, since I bought Blue Beetle while he was new and all. I thought about getting the whole set, I really did, but it wasn’t in the cards at the time. It’s cool, though, because, look, here they all are. In terms of quality control, Series 4 is just absolutely fantastic, and considering they were the ones made at the height of the pandemic, that’s really just astounding. I knew none of these guys going in, but I do sorta like them all.

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.

#3472: Amazing Heroes Series 3

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

WONDER MAN, ATOMIC THUNDERBOLT, BLACK BAT, & BLACK OUT

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Fresh Monkey Fiction’s devotion to the Amazing Heroes line was nothing short of…well, amazing, I suppose would be the most accurate term.  After getting Series 2 out there through a variety of means, they decided to refocus and scale back a little bit for the third set.  With only four figures this time around, all of them Golden Age public domain characters, Series 3 removed the crowdfunding side entirely, instead just going straight to pre-orders through Fresh Monkey Fiction’s webstore.  And here I am looking at all four of those right now!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wonder Man, Atomic Thunderbolt, Black Bat, and Black Out, officially dubbed Series 3 of Amazing Heroes, went up for pre-order on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site in September of 2019, and started shipping out that October.  Compared to other sets, the release was honestly pretty simple and straight-forward.

Wait, Wonder Man?  Isn’t he a Marvel guy?  Well, yeah, now, sure.  But first he was published by Nedor.  And then a different version was also published by Nedor.  That’s this guy here.  Brad Spencer was exposed to, and this is a direct quote from the Public Domain Super Heroes wiki, “a sizzling voltage of a secret current.”  And haven’t we all, amirite?  The figure is built on the basic body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Wonder Man uses the first style of hair-sporting head…which is interesting, because all of the proto-shots used the other male head.  Not that it’s a big deal either way, but it’s a noted change-up. Beyond that, he’s all about that new paint. It’s a pretty garish mix of colors, but that’s true to the text. Wonder Man alternated between brown and black hair, but this figure settled on black, which seems fair enough. His application is still a bit sloppy around the edges, but on a whole is a lot cleaner and more consistent than the preceding assortment.

The Atomic Thunderbolt is a character I wasn’t familiar with prior to this. In essence, he’s kind of a half-step between Captain America and Captain Atom…which is interesting, because he actually predates Captain Atom. Anyway, William “Willy the Wharf Rat” Burns (yes, that’s really his name), a former merchant marine suffering from PTSD, is granted atomic powers in an experiment that results in the death of his creator, who took the secrets of atomic powered people with him in death. Fun times. Atomic Thunderbolt gets the bald head, as well as Madman’s wrist cuffs, which all in all replicates his comics look pretty well. Like Wonder Man, his paint is still a little wavy around some of the edges, but it’s generally cleaner than Series 2 was.

Black Bat? Gee, who could have inspired him? Okay, it’s actually a bit more interwoven than you might think.  Nedor, who published Black Bat, actually had an earlier version of the character, introduced in 1933, who was just a detective, rather than a costumed hero.  The name was repurposed shortly after Batman’s first appearance, for a similarly-themed costumed crusader.  Tony Quinn is a former district attorney who had acid hurled in his face, leaving him blind and scarred.  He honed his other senses to become a vigilante, and also received an eye transplant in secret, and apparently retained night vision because of his prior blindness…because that’s how that works.  Elements of Black Bat’s story would later be reused for the likes of Daredevil (the Matt Murdock one), Two-Face, and Dr. Midnight, which was all pretty darn cool.  Black Bat’s design was pretty reserved, and the figure follows suit.  He uses the bald head, and gets a cloth cape, which even gets the scalloped edges, like another caped crusader tends to have.  His paint is the cleanest of the bunch so far; it’s not a ton going on, but the application is clean, and the head in particular does very well with his mask detailing.  Black Bat didn’t get any accessories by default, but you could order his signature sidearms separately on Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, if you so desired.

Hey, it’s Black Out.  Another guy with “Black” in his name.  Who is he?  Well, he fought Uncle Sam…and…that’s really it.  So, you know, bad guy.  There’s that.  He’s another basic bald-headed guy, with paint as his main defining thing.  It’s another pretty clean one, and the skull and crossbones on the head and torso are particularly impressive in their crispness.  He’s also got black eyes, which is unique, and I suppose thematic.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Remember the one-shot acquisition I mentioned earlier?  Well, these guys figured into that too.  This set’s cool because it’s got one of the figures I was most intent on getting: Wonder Man!  I’ve known about the Golden Age Wonder Man for quite a while, and when he was teased as a possible stretch goal waaaaay back in the first Kickstarter campaign, I was very hopeful he’d make the cut.  Sadly, that wasn’t the case, but at least he finally made it out.  The other three are pretty fun, too, and the improved quality on this set is definitely appreciated.

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.

#3471: Amazing Heroes Series 2

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

R.O.N. REAPER OF NIGHTMARES, NEXUS, AMERICAN CRUSADER, CAPTAIN FUTURE, PUZZLER, CHROMETURION

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?  Is this another review on the same day?  Oh no…it couldn’t be.  Yes, faithful readers, you’ve done it.  You’ve stumbled onto another one of my crazy “Ethan does a marathon of reviews all in one day” schemes!  And you can’t stop me…largely because I’ve, you know, already written and scheduled them all.  So, you know, it’s kind of done and all ready to go.  Yes, at the beginning of the week, I was pining for the thrill of the Day of the Vipers and the Day of the Wolverines, and I may have hinted at doing something like that again.  Well, I wasn’t *quite* planning to do it again quite this soon, but the spot opened up in my schedule and I was feeling dangerous.  So, without further ado, welcome readers to The Day of Amazement!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are loosely grouped as Series 2 of Amazing Heroes, but the path to getting them released was not an easy one.  After running successful Kickstarter campaigns for Series 1 and 1.5, Fresh Monkey Fiction ran into issues getting the next assortment funded.  The initial Series 2 campaign failed (which, admittedly, wasn’t their fault; toy Kickstarters had been hit by a slew of projects that never delivered, and it dragged the whole platform down), so they attempted to move the line to a different scale and style.  That didn’t work either, so they refocused, launching a Kickstarter for just American Crusader, and carrying Puzzler, Captain Future, and Chrometurion through as add-ons.  Cosmic Madman (not reviewed here) and Nexus arrived as “pre-orders” through Backer Kit after the campaign had ended, with all remnants moving to Fresh Monkey Fiction’s site, and R.O.N. was released as his own artist-sponsored figure.  The point is, they made it out.

American Crusader was the ship that carried the rest, so to speak.  Archie Masters gained super powers when he absentmindedly wandered into a room with an atom smasher built by one of his colleagues.  Yes, for real.  He uses the standard body, so he’s 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of the sans-hair head, which works well for his full cowled head.  He’s also got a cape, which is a basic black cloth piece.  In the comics, it was lined with blue, but that was probably more of an artistic thing than a true color choice.  American Crusader’s paint work is a little on the sloppier side, at least for my copy.  It’s not awful, it’s just some wavier lines on some of the change-overs.

Captain Future, aka Andrew Bryant, was a scientist who crossed gamma and infrared rays and discovered that when you do that, stuff blows up.  But, instead of just blowing up, he got super powers.  You know, as you do.  Captain Future was originally owned by the same publisher as American Crusader, Nedor, but it’s worth noting that they actually took his name from a pre-existing pulp character and magazine.  There were no similarities beyond the name, and his name actually had very little to due with the character himself.  Andrew here is using the standard male head, with no additional add-ons.  Like Crusader, his paint seems a little fuzzier, especially on the head.  I’m also not so sure about how the molded flesh tone works, but it’s not awful.

Hey, it’s a villain!  That’s a shift!  Yes, the Puzzler, who isn’t to be confused with the Riddler, the Cluemaster, or even the Puzzler (the other one), is a Black Terror foe.  He’s also a character who’s in a sort of a grey area where he’s kinda public domain and he’s kinda not, but no one knows for sure, and it’s all just kinda “hey be cool everybody.”  He’s got an interesting visual, which always makes for a fun figure, especially in this styling.  The paint’s again a little spotty, but it gets it done.  There’s just a lot going on with this one, so I think it’s easier to have those small mistakes add-up.  He actually gets proper accessories, which is fun.  There’s three different heads included, so that you can have classic Puzzler with his cowl, plus a full face mask look, and also a domino mask-wearing henchman!

The last of the Kickstarter figures was Chrometurion.  Whatever you may think, I assure you, he’s not Silver Surfer.  I mean, do you see a surfboard anywhere?  No, I didn’t think so.  Chrometurion is…well, he’s not actually a pre-existing character at all.  Like the Blank Slate from Series 1, he’s a made-up character used to get one more mold out there with minimal paint, making him a good base for customizing.  So, he’s a silver guy in a cloth cape.  Honestly, that’s pretty fun.  Also, that base body looks real nice all painted up in silver.

There are a selection of characters in the line that aren’t actually public domain, but are independent creations who creators were on board with the line.  One such case is Nexus, a creation of Mike Baron and Steve Rude.  Nexus, aka Horatio Valdemar Hellpop, is a super powered bounty hunter from the future, with influences from various Hanna Barbera properties, especially Space Ghost.  It’s as cool as it sounds.  Nexus is exciting, because he actually gets an all-new head sculpt, based on Rude’s illustrations of the character.  It’s basic, but also pretty darn good, capturing his look, and also merging well with the existing base body.  Once again, paint’s a bit iffy on this release; it all seems to be just a touch to thin, which is especially noticeable on the lighter colors.  The blues do look really nice, though.

R.O.N. Reaper of Nightmares is an oddity on his own.  He’s not *technically* a Series 2 release, but he’s closer to them then anything else.  R.O.N. was designed by artist Alex Pardee and…well, he’s a guy with his skin ripped off.  It’s the simple things, right?  Honestly, it works pretty well with the line, in a sort of an EC Comics kind of way.  He’s just the basic sans-hair head on the standard body.  The paint on this one is far more involved, what with all the revealed musculature and all.  It’s actually a lot sharper and cleaner than the others, which is cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, here’s the thing: I got pretty much all of the Amazing Heroes figures in one shot.  I missed out on all of them the first time around, but one of the regulars from All Time decided to unload them in one fell swoop, which was honestly a fantastic opportunity, and I just couldn’t pass that up.

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.

#3470: John Aman – Amazing Man

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

JOHN AMAN — AMAZING MAN

AMAZING HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

Back in the summer of 2014, when the site was still very new, I jumped in on a hefty number of action figure related Kickstarters, just to do what I could to expand my horizons a bit.  It was actually a pretty fun, if perhaps financially draining time period for me.  One of my favorites to come out of the bunch was Amazing Heroes, a line of public domain super hero toys patterned on Mattel’s Secret Wars.  I actually backed two Kickstarters for that one, a Series 1 Kickstarter and the Series 1.5 Kickstarter, which added back in some of the stretch goals characters missed from the first campaign.  When Series 1 started shipping in early 2016, there was one additional character (with technically two additional figures) placed up for order to augment.  Created by Bill Everett (creator of Sub Mariner and both Daredevils), it’s John Aman, the Amazing Man!  John’s an orphan from the West trained to have superhuman abilities by the Council of Seven, a group of Tibetan Monks.  His origin served as an influence for the likes of Peter Cannon Thunderbolt and even Marvel’s Iron Fist.  Pretty cool, huh?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There were two versions of Amazing Man made available in 2016, as part of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line.  This one, officially titled “John Aman Amazing Man,” is based on Gallant Comics’ version of the character, and was available through their distributer’s website Indy Planet.  There was also a proper golden age version, which Fresh Monkey Fiction had on their website at the same time.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Amazing Man uses the line’s standard Secret Wars-inspired base body, with the default haired male head, and a harness add-on, which, in a rather ingenious bit of re-use, is actually just Champion of Mars’ harness flipped around.  The basic head works fine for the golden age Amazing Man, but his Gallant Comics incarnation got Quicksilver-style wisps on his hair, so it’s not *strictly* accurate.  Of course, it’s also close enough to work, especially within the context of the line’s styling.  Amazing Man’s color scheme is a rather eye-catching red, blue, and yellow, which very much works for this style.  The paint work is decent enough; nothing super involved or anything, but it’s all pretty cleanly applied and the colors go well together.  Amazing Man doesn’t get any additional accessories, but he does get the harness, so he’s at the same basic level as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had the whole first series and the extra figures from the 1.5 Kickstarter when the Amazing Man figures got shown off, and I meant to get this one at the time, and I just never got to it.  Then my financial concerns shifted a bit, and I ended up skipping out on a lot of the line’s other figures, and Amazing Man fell into that grouping.  Thankfully I got another shot at him, when one got traded into All Time a few months back.  He’s another character I didn’t really know much about before hand, but it’s cool to read up on his background, what he influenced.  And it’s like picking up where I left off.  That’s pretty 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.

#3469: Iron Man – Model 01

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

IRON MAN — MODEL 01

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Billionaire Industrialist Tony Stark dons a sophisticated armor of his own design, he becomes a living high-tech weapon and the world’s greatest human fighting machine — the Invincible Iron Man”

In the ’60s, a lot of Marvel’s super hero books started out decidedly less super-hero-y. Things like Hank Pym being “the man in the anthill” before his proper Ant-Man persona, or the Hulk’s more generally monstrous angle. When Tony Stark first appeared as Iron Man, the focus was less on a heroic persona, and more on the sci-fi side, playing up the suit’s mechanical nature. While he switched over to the more traditional super hero fare in short order, that original design has nevertheless remained a memorable and distinctive one, and a recurring variant in the world of toys.  Today, I’m taking a look at its latest toy incarnation!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man Model 01 is part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s much like the Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man from last year’s Spidey anniversary line; a just above standard priced single release figure in effectively a standard single figure package.  This marks the second time the Model 01 has graced Legends, following up on a Toy Biz release from all the way back in 2006’s Mojo Series.  He’s based on his original armor design from Tales of Suspense #39, without the adjustments of later appearances of the armor.  The figure stands __ inches tall and he has __ points of articulation.  Despite how bulky the armor may be, the figure remains pretty darn poseable.  Some of the joints do require a little extra care to clear the sculpted parts around them, but its not anything crazy, and it’s done without making the joints too obvious.  Iron Man’s sculpt is all-new; it pretty much has to be, because it’s not like he can really share much with any of the later armors.  Presumably, most of the sculpt is earmarked for re-use down the line for a gold variant, but until then, it’s just this guy.  For the most part, I do really like it.  It’s chunky and the detailing is clean, which is all you can really ask for on this design.  The only thing I’m not keen on is the helmet.  It seems a little too flat and small to believably have Tony’s head in there, and I’m also really not a fan of the shaping of the eyes.  The armor as portrayed in ToS has a pretty distinctive eye shape (which Toy Biz’s version actually gets down very well); they should flare out both sides from the center, but they just slant upward instead, which looks off.  Iron Man’s color work is more involved than it looks at first glance.  The bulk of the coloring is handled via molded plastic; it’s the swirly silver kind, which I’m iffy on.  There’s actually a good deal of painted scratches, which can be missed at first, since they look a bit like the swirls.  I do like them, though; it’s just a shame they’re lost a bit on the plastic.  He also gets some pretty cool detailing on his arc reactor.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), two blast effects, and matching smoke trail effects.  The effects don’t plug into his hands, since this armor predates the repulsors, but instead plug into the boots, for rocket flying.  You’ll need to supply a flight stand of some sort if you want him to actually use them, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Toy Biz Model 01 is one of the few Legends I still clung to as a default, in part because there was no competition, and in part because I honestly just think it’s still a pretty good figure.  That said, I’m a sucker for early Iron Man armors, and I was happy to see an update crop up.  From the neck down, there’s no denying this is a big upgrade. Unfortunately, I’m still not really sold on the helmet.  It just doesn’t feel right to me, and for that reason, he’s still not a total replacement in my eyes.  Honestly, I was rather underwhelmed by this one right out of the box.  Messing around with him for the review did help me enjoy him more overall, though, to the point that I realized it was really just that head throwing things off.  Maybe the inevitable gold repaint might get a new head, ala the Marvel Universe version?  That would sure be nice.

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.

#3468: Luke Skywalker & Grogu

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

LUKE SKYWALKER & GROGU

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“To help him hone his skills and understand the ways of the Force, Grogu trains with a new Jedi Master: Luke Skywalker”

One of the things that has been a marvelous accomplishment in this day and age of literally no narrative turn or surprise going un-spoiled has been the fact that The Mandalorian managed to completely surprise audiences not once, but twice.  First, with Grogu’s reveal at the end of the very first episode, and again with Luke Skywalker’s arrival at the end of the show’s second season.  Due to the secrecy required for such surprising, they were both late arrivals to the merchandising side of things, but now things are in full swing for both of them.  And hey, here they are in one convenient package!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Luke Skywalker and Grogu are part of the Book of Boba Fett-sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series.  The set is numbered 7, and it started hitting late summer.  It exists at a unique price point, as it’s officially billed as a two-pack, but since Grogu’s not a full scale figure, it’s between a deluxe price and a full two-pack price.

One of the impressive things about Luke’s Jedi Knight design is its slow evolution over the course of the film.  Its something that his Mandalorian and Book appearances have kept rolling.  So, by the time we get to his appearance in Book, he’s actually not got any common elements with his Jabba’s Palace look, but the general vibe is still maintained.  Since we’ve gotten every other possible variant on the Jedi look, we’re at the Book design.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Luke’s articulation scheme is the standard set-up for Black Series these days, with the one notable change-up from prior versions being the addition of butterfly shoulders, which are very definitely a welcome addition.  Luke’s sculpt is all-new, though there are definitely a lot of similarities to the other Lukes of the same general design.  It’s an interesting sculpt, especially when it comes to the head, since it’s based on a facsimile of Hamill’s likeness, rather than a direct likeness.  With that in mind, it looks pretty good.  Honestly, it’s probably more authentic than what we saw on screen.  Certainly less unnerving, that’s for sure.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty good, and honestly gave me the ability to see just how different his garb in Book really is from the other appearances. Paint work on this guy is minimal, pretty much just on the head, since everything else is just molded colors.

The last time I looked at a Grogu figure, he still wasn’t officially being billed as Grogu.  Oh how the times change.   There have been so many Black Series Grogus over the years, but it’s only the second one that I’ve taken a look at here.  He’s not drastically different, since his design hasn’t really changed.  He’s still just over an inch tall and he still has 7 points of articulation.  Though he looks exceedingly similar, Grogu’s sculpt is unique from his original figure.  It’s actually a fair bit sharper in terms of detailing, and its most important detail change is his left hand, which has a proper grip on it, for use with accessories.  His color work is again very similar, but there’s a touch more detailing on the head, which really adds more life to the whole thing.

The set includes a whole host of accessories.  We get Luke’s lightsaber (with removable hilt), the back pack for carrying Grogu, a riser piece to prop up Grogu in said back pack because it’s a re-use of the Yoda one, Yoda/Grogu’s lightsaber with an alternate un-ignighted hilt, a box for the hilt, Din’s gift for Grogu, the small frog-like creature, a training drone, a flight stand for the drone, and an effects/environment stand for the drone and Grogu to interact.  Honestly, it covers just about everything you could possibly want from the interactions between the two of them in the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Weird CGI-face aside, Luke’s reappearance in The Mandalorian filled me with all sorts of nostalgic excitement, and I wanted some form of figure coverage.  But, by the time his figures from that appearance started hitting, he’d shown up on Book, and I really dug the further updated look.  The two-pack really hit right where I wanted for a post-Jedi look, and I get an updated Grogu to boot.  This set is perhaps a touch pricey for what it is, but it works very well for me.

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.

#3465: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Dubbed unfit for traditional service, Steve Rogers became the first human trial of the Super-Soldier serum – the success of which boosted his strength, endurance and speed to the pinnacle of human achievement and led him to become Captain America!”

Following the boom in popularity that Marvel as a whole experienced in the wake of 2008’s Iron Man, DST’s Marvel Minimates got some new attention and some new life, and that brought with it the need for some new releases of major characters.  Their quick fix was a pairing of sets, one heroes, one villains, offering up classic versions of some heavy hitters.  Honestly, it wasn’t a terrible set-up.  There was a Captain America involved, and I’m pretty much never upset about that, so I’m taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was part of the four-figure “Heroes to the Rescue” set of Marvel Minimates, released through specialty channels in the spring of 2009, as a pair with the “Bring on the Bad Guys” set with the villains.  While three of the four figures from each set (Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk, in this case) were paired up with their opposite numbers for two-packs in TRU Series 2, Cap and Red Skull were locked into these sets exclusively.  It’s odd in this day and age for Cap to be the one locked behind an exclusive, but it’s where we were.  This marked his eight time as a Minimate, and it was yet another take on his classic attire.  The figure is built on the post C3-Minimate body, with the caveat of using the flappy boots, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Cap has add-ons for his mask, gloves, belt, boots, and shoulder harness.  The gloves and mask date back to his original Series 5 release, the belt and boots came from the “Civil War” set the prior year, and the harness was from the prior year’s “Invaders” Cap.  It’s an interesting mix of parts.  From the neck down, he’s the same build as “Invaders” Cap, with only the mask as a change-up, since the full face mask on the earlier release wasn’t well-received.  The mask doesn’t quite fit right on this one; it seems that a combination of it shrinking and the head being just a touch bigger led to it getting stuck about two-thirds of the way down.  It’s okay, though, because the face seems to have been designed to compensate, and sits higher up than prior versions, so it still *sorta* lines up?  The paint work on this one takes some notes from how the two ’08 Caps had handled their detailing, and tweaks a bit further.  It’s very sharp and clean.  Cap’s facial expression is yelling, in a very Kirby style, which I very much dig.  Under his sculpted belt, he also gets a more streamlined painted one, which is cool, and I really dig the Mego-style painted shadow on the front of the mask.  Cap was packed with his shield (which is back to the original clasp that can go all the way up the arm), an alternate hand for use with the shield, and a hair piece (recolored from Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk) for an unmasked look….if you can ever get the mask off, of course.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on the entire heroes set when these dropped because Cap was the only truly exclusive one, and I didn’t feel I needed another version.  I know.  I read what I wrote, too.  Yes, it does seem insane, doesn’t it?  In my defense, I was still very much a Series 5 Cap purist at the time, and even “Invaders” Cap only got in on the technicality of being a unique look.  Later, I learned to love all Cap Minimates for their own reasons, independent of Series 5 Cap, and the world was a better place.  I wound up getting this one (and a great many other Cap ‘mates) as part of a large Minimates collection that All Time bought back in 2019.  He’s not really much to write home about in light of others in the Cap line-up, but he’s a solid Cap on his own, issues with the mask not withstanding.

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.

#3464: Hawkeye with Sky-Cycle

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

HAWKEYE WITH SKY-CYCLE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Ex-circus performer Clint Barton renounced a life of crime to join the Avengers as Hawkeye. Using his archery skills atop his Sky-Cycle he leads the fight against the foes no single hero could withstand”

There’s a short list of Avengers members that the team just doesn’t feel like “the Avengers” without, and very prominently placed on that list is Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye.  He joined the team just over a year into their run, and remained a member in some fashion pretty consistently. So, if you’re planning a celebration of the team’s 60th anniversary, you’d be kind of hard-pressed to leave him out of the running.  Thankfully, Hasbro avoided doing just that, and gave him the deluxe treatment, even.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkeye with the Sky-Cycle is part of the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends. He’s a wide release item that hit with the rest of the set towards the end of the summer. Everything is it’s own separate item and price point, much like the Spidey anniversary stuff from last year, but Hawkeye is clearly meant to be continuing the Legendary Riders pricing and set-up. This Hawkeye is clearly meant to be a classic Hawkeye, which we haven’t seen in the line since the retro card one in 2018. But, where that was a redeco of the Allfather Series release, this one’s an all-new figure. He stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. Hawkeye gets one major improvement over prior Hawkeyes: butterfly shoulders. Very helpful when it comes to archery poses, so it’s about time. He’s also pinless at the elbows and knees, which looks extra slick. The last handful of comic Hawkeyes have all gone for the Bucky Cap base, but with that (allegedly) retired, this one instead gets a body that appears to be entirely new, and is courtesy of sculptor Rene Aldrete. It takes what worked about prior comic Hawkeyes and really just expands on that. The head is a little sharper and less boxy, which feels truer to the character. His whole set-up on his torso is also sculpted into the chest, rather than being an overlay piece, which slims the look down a lot and also makes him far easier to pose. The skirt piece is cloth this time, rather than plastic or rubber, which makes for a far better range of motion on the hips as well. The only down points for me are the upper arm bands, which suffer a bit from the Jim-Lee-Cyclops-always-popping-out-of-place syndrome, and the knee joints, which really stick on my figure. Otherwise, I really love it. Hawkeye’s paint scheme is actually pretty solid. There’s far more accent work than we usually see on comics figures, and a nice mix of differing shades and finishes on the purples. Hawkeye is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping) a bow, an arrow, his quiver, and, of course, the Sky-Cycle mentioned in the title.  I like getting extra hands, but I do feel like the simple grip hands are a bit limiting.  He really struggles to hold the arrow in any convincing fashion.  Also, if they’re going to go with cloth for the skirt, it’s a shame we couldn’t also get a proper string on the bow; this one being plastic makes it very difficult to do any convincing drawback poses.  The Sky-Cycle is the bigger focus here; it’s cool and all, and even has the adjustable flight stand thingy, but I’m personally not gonna use it much.  It’s a nice way of padding the cost so that Hawkeye could get a slightly more deluxe treatment, though, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I liked my Toy Biz Hawkeye well enough back in the day.  Then I liked my Allfather Series one well enough after that.  I even picked up the Retro one in the interim, and I liked that one too.  So, I suppose I didn’t *need* this one.  Hawkeye’s a character that’s always been served pretty well by Legends, so the changes from figure to figure are very incremental.  That doesn’t mean this one’s not fantastic, of course.  He’s very definitely the best Hawkeye Legend, and will be very hard to top.  Heck, I like him about equally to my Marvel Universe one, and I’ve thought for quite some time that he’s the best Hawkeye ever made, so that’s pretty high praise.  I’m not sure about the whole riders thing and bumping up the price, but damn if this isn’t a really, really nice figure.

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.

#3463: Roboto – Minicomic

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

ROBOTO — MINICOMIC

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINS (MATTEL)

Something I’ve discussed a lot in my more recent Masters of the Universe reviews is how I avoid getting *too* sucked into Masters lines by sticking to a few select characters and not expanding much beyond that.  It tends to lock me in at one version of a given character per style.  Sometimes, however, it backfires on me just a little bit, when Mattel does exactly what they’ve done here and goes for an easy repaint.  And then I’m over here buying yet another Roboto.  Worse things have happened, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roboto was released as part of Wave 12 of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line, which started showing up towards the end of the summer.  The line’s been a little out of sequence, so they actually wound up hitting *after* 13, and with a pretty last minute announcement at that.  Whatever the case, we got a new Roboto, and that’s what really matters.  This one is specifically patterned on his early minicomic appearances, which has been a running trend of variants for the line.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation, in addition to the moving jaw piece.  Roboto is a total parts re-use from the standard colored version, which isn’t even the slightest bit surprising.  That’s been the mincomic set-up for the most part, and Roboto’s look is pretty much just a palette swap anyway.  It’s still a very strong sculpt, and I like it a lot, so I certainly don’t mind seeing it again.  The main change-up here, of course, is the color scheme, which shifts him to the colors seen in “The Battle of Roboto,” and other minicomics from the vintage run.  His limbs are now orange, rather than blue and red, and, most importantly, he’s got the heart on his chest, which in the comics was the thing responsible for Roboto’s human emotions.  It’s so hokey, but I love it so much, so I’m very glad it’s there.  Just like his first release, Roboto includes his three arm attachments: blaster, axe, and claw.  He’s also still got the standard action feature; turning the torso moves the gears in the chest and moves his jaw up and down.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Roboto is an interesting break from how I was introduced to a good portion of MOTU.  I know most of it because of the 200x series, but in Roboto’s case, my first exposure to the character was in “The Battle of Roboto,” which came with my vintage Orko that I picked up at a toy show in the early ’00s.  I loved that take on the character, and it’s informed my love of the character in general since.  I honestly didn’t expect this figure, but I was genuinely very excited by its announcement and arrival.  He’s not terribly different from the last one, of course, but I love the small little touches.

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.