Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3419: Ch’od Series Wrap-Up

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

EMMA FROST, KID OMEGA, & CHO’D

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

I’ve done most of this X-wave as single reviews, but it’s safe to say I’ve taken things as far as I possibly can on that front.  There’s only so much prolonged discussion I can have about X-Men history, especially as we move towards the more recent stuff.  So, let’s get one more assortment out of the way, shall we?  Onto the remainder of the Ch’od Series!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Emma Frost and Kid Omega are figures 1 and 5, respectively, in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends, and are the last two figures neccessary to assemble to the set’s Build-A-Figure, wrapping up what appears to be this year’s only BaF assortment for X-Men.  Ch’od is the assortment’s titular Build-A-Figure, assembled by purchasing six of the seven figures in the assortment.

EMMA FROST

“The former Hellfire Club White Queen must grapple with her teammates’ misgivings about her joining the X-Men, as well as her own.”

During Grant Morrison’s run on X-Men, Cyclops and Emma Frost, formerly the White Queen, began a…slightly more than platonic relationship, born out of her assisting him with overcoming being possessed by Apocalypse and then dying and coming back…look, early ’00s X-Men isn’t a great time, guys.  When Jean Grey died at the end of Morrison’s run, Marvel tried real hard to push Scott and Emma as a proper couple, which included placing them both in central spots for the Astonishing X-Men line-up.  Yep, we’re going back to that time that Marvel really wanted up to make proper heroic Emma a thing.  Oh goody.  This is our fifth Emma in Legends form, all of them under Hasbro’s tenure.  This one’s notable for being a proper update to Hasbro’s very first version of the character.  Boy, was that a bad figure.  This one doesn’t have a hard bar to clear to be better.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is very restricted, both by the long hair and the cape, which render the shoulder articulation largely useless.  It’s part of the trick of working with this particular design, I suppose.  The sculpt does at least look pretty decent, especially in contrast to other attempts at the character, even just limiting to this look.  She looks quite a bit like Cassidy’s artwork from the book, while still fitting the overall aesthetic of the line as well.  Emma’s color work is basic, but honestly better than I’d expected.  The hair and face get some really strong accent work, which brings a nice degree of life to the figure.  Emma is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as the right leg of Ch’od.

KID OMEGA

“Omega-level telepath Quentin Quire, inspired by the attempt of Professor Xavier’s life, joins the mutant nation Krakoa’s new secret defense team, X-Force, as Kid Omega.”

Quentin Quire hails from Morrison and Quitely’s New X-Men run, and, if I’m honest, he’s not a character that’s ever really clicked with me.  He’s just so emphatically symbolic of the sort of self-assured, really insufferable sorts of characters that Morrison really likes to write.  Later writers haven’t really done much to change my opinion.  But, who am I to stop other people from getting a Quentin Quire figure if they want one?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Quire is built on the Amazing Fantasy Spidey base, which is a fantastic starting point for any figure, really.  It’s a more modern Quire, so he’s in a jumpsuit, which works with the base body set-up.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is fine.  It’s not amazing or terribly unique or thrilling, but it looks enough like the character to get the idea across.  The “glasses” are a soft plastic, and prone to warping, which does wind up looking a little bit silly, but that comes with the territory.  The paint work on Kid Omega is decent enough; the pink detailing is sharp and pretty eye-catching, which is cool.  The fingers are painted for the fingerless gloves, and that’s a little sloppy on the edges.  Kid Omega is packed with two sets of hands in fists and gripping poses, as well as a recolor of the Doomlands Vagabond-patterned gun that came with Cable.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t have trigger fingers on either gripping hand, so he can’t really hold the gun properly.  He’s also packed with the torso of Ch’od.

CH’OD

“An alien from the Shi’ar galaxy, Ch’od’s monstrous, reptillian form belittles his keen intellect and heroic heart. Once a slave, he has regained his freedom, and now travels the spaceways in the company of the Starjammers, always on the lookout for other victims of tyranny in need of his aid!”

Hey!  It’s Ch’od!  This guy’s awesome!  A creation of Dave Cockrum and one of the most consistent members of the space pirate team the Starjammers, Ch’od’s the big lizard guy at Marvel who’s *not* Abomination.  I swear, he’s much nicer.  This marks Ch’od’s second figure ever, with his only other release being the one from the Toy Biz 5-inch line.  It’s been quite a while.  The figure stands about 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Remember what I said above about Ch’od *not* being Abomination.  Well, let’s take that and admit there’s some similarity of design elements between the two.  Hasbro’s taken advantage of said similarities for this figure, as he re-using all but the head, forearms, and hands of the Abomination Build-A-Figure from 2016.  It’s not a pitch-perfect match for Ch’od’s design, but it’s very close, and certainly as close as we can expect for a Ch’od figure in this day and age, honestly.  He gets a new head, forearms, hands, and belt.  The head is absolutely fantastic; it’s a good likeness of Ch’od, and is clearly unique from Abomination.  I especially like the articulated jaw; it adds a lot of character to the figure.  The arms and hands are fairly basic, with only minor changes to the prior pieces for just a touch more accuracy.  His color work is basic, with largely molded plastics, but that works well for the character, and the colors are nice and bright.  What paint work is present is pretty clean, so that’s definitely nice.  Ch’od actually gets an accessory: his furry companion Cr’eee!  It’s an all-new sculpt, with an articulated head and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is admittedly one that I was more actively invested in than the other two I’ve done these wrap-ups on.  In fact, I think this one is a pretty strong line-up, all things considered.  There’s a pretty solid flow of character choices, and it’s got a pretty killer Build-A-Figure.  Ultimately, it’s Ch’od that’s really the star piece.  He’s just one of those figures I honestly wasn’t expecting to see, and he does well with the parts re-use.  Corsair’s a pretty strong solo contender, being just a very clean and well-implemented release.  Cyclops is a solid figure in his own right, even if he’s ultimately in a slightly less definitive costume.  Fang and Chamber are both a lot of fun, and hampered only ever so slightly by some iffy parts re-use choices.  Monet’s not much to write home about on her own, but serves as a decent set-up for other characters.  Emma is honestly the best version of this costume out there and is only held back by the same design issues that hold back literally every version of this costume.  And Quire’s not really exciting either, but he’s not a character I was invested in in the first place, so that’s hardly surprising.

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

#3418: Hyperion & Doctor Spectrum

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

HYPERION & DOCTOR SPECTRUM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hyperion convinces Doctor Spectrum and the Squadron Supreme to use their vast superpowers to solve Other-Earth’s problems by remaking it into a utopia by any means necessary”

I’ve spoken a few times before about the Squadron Supreme, Marvel’s in-house stand-in for the Justice League.  They’ve managed to have a surprisingly enduring popularity over the years, but admittedly, not a ton of merchandising, since they exist just outside the mainstream.  We’ve gotten a few Hyperions, and a few Nighthawks, but it’s rare we get past those two.  Hasbro’s decided to give a proper line-up an actual go, it would seem, and are kicking things off, unsurprisingly, with another Hyperion, but also resident Green Lantern stand-in Doctor Spectrum!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hyperion and Doctor Spectrum are a Fan Channel-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, the first of a set based on the Squadron.  Later sets indicate that this line-up is meant to be based on the “Squadron Supreme of America” version of the team from Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness’s Avengers run, but in the case of these two particular figures, that means they also double as classic versions of the characters.  This set hit right around the same time as yesterday’s Franklin and Valeria pack, right at the end of June/beginning of July.

HYPERION

Hyperion has had one Legend before, way back in the Hit Monkey Series.  While that’s *technically* within the modern Legends classification, he was a weak figure even when he was new, and the base body that he introduced to the line is more or less retired, so a new version’s certainly not un-called for.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  He’s largely working with a fairly basic articulation set-up, but he does get a ball-jointed mid-torso set-up, which is quite nice for posing and aesthetics.  Hyperion is built from absolutely no parts from the Hyperion mold, if you can believe it.  He’s got the arms and legs of two different Hercules figures, plus a new head, torso, and cape.  The head, handle by sculptor Paul Harding, is based on Hyperion’s earliest appearances, when he was still sporting the short hair and the domino mask.  I appreciate how it’s got just a touch of a Superman vibe, without being just straight up Superman.  He’s still his own character.  The color work on this figure is very bright and eye catching. There’s a slight mismatch on the exact shades of red, which seems to happen a lot, but otherwise things work out okay.  His actual paint is all pretty clean, and I like how the hair gets the darker accenting to help bring out the sculpted details.  Hyperion is packed with an extra pair of gripping hands.  Not really sure why, but I guess he might want to hold some stuff occasionally?

DOCTOR SPECTRUM

Doctor Spectrum’s only prior figure is a Minimate, which wasn’t a super plentiful one at that.  Despite being one of the team’s higher profile members, he’s just never gotten the spotlight.  But hey, here he is now.  Yay!  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Spectrum is based on the supposedly retired Bucky Cap base body, which just sort of keeps showing back up.  It’s like a Baby Boomer that just won’t stay home, or something.  This time around, it’s got a new set of arms, with pinless construction on the elbows.  They don’t quite sit flesh with the body, which is a touch awkward.  Why they didn’t just use the newly developed Vulcan body is anybody’s guess.  I assume there’s some sort of logic behind it, and I’m not gonna try to figure it out.  He also re-uses the Blizzard head, which honestly is pretty hard to go wrong with.  It’s a basic full face mask.  Not like there’s a lot of different ways to do that, right?  Doctor Spectrum’s distinctive color scheme is largely handled via molded colors, but there’s a fair bit of actual painting on the torso.  Some of the edges are a touch sloppy, but they’re not awful.  The only thing I’m really not big on is way the blue continues around the shoulders; it just doesn’t look right when posing.  The Doc is packed with two sets of hands, one open gesture, the other gripping, two effects pieces, and his Power Prism.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Squadron Supreme are a fun concept, and it feels like all we ever get are Hyperion figures.  Well, and Nighthawk too, I suppose, but his are usually his Defenders costume, so it doesn’t really count.  I have a particular affinity for Doctor Spectrum, what with him being the GL equivalent and all, so I’ve long wanted some proper toy version of him.  This one’s admittedly a little phoned in.  But, at the same time, it’s not a *bad* figure, and certainly preferable to no Doctor Spectrum at all.  Hyperion, despite being yet another Hyperion, is actually a pretty cool figure, so I can get behind that, I guess.

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

#3417: Franklin Richards & Valeria Richards

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

FRANKLIN RICHARDS & VALERIA RICHARDS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Genius children of Fantastic Four’s Reed and Sue Richards, Franklin and Valeria Richards explore the wonders of the multiverse with their Moloid friend Turg as part of Marvel’s First Family”

Comics, by there very nature as a serialized medium with only so much space to tell in a given installment and slower pace of release relative to the real world, are almost always required to move at their own pace.  For long-spanning universes, such as Marvel and DC, this requires the use of a sliding timeline, where things happen at a different pace in-universe.  Marvel, in particular, likes to have milestone moments to showcase the characters are moving forward.  One of the biggest ones for them, especially in their earlier years, was Franklin Richards, the son of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.  Reed and Sue began in Fantastic Four as simply dating, then got married, and eventually had Franklin, all under the tenure of their creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in their first decade of existence.  Franklin is a rare character that was born within the narrative, who has actually gotten to grow up in-universe, going from infant, to toddler, to child, to teenager.  Sure, it took him 50 years to get to being a teenager, but, still.  Along the way, Reed and Sue had a second child, Val, who, like her brother, has also gotten to grow up, albeit at a slightly faster pace.  The two of them aren’t exactly ripe for toy coverage, but they’re not entirely without it either, which is how I can be talking about them right now.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Franklin Richards and Valeria Richards are a Fan Channel-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, capitalizing on the increased profile of the characters following Dan Slott’s revival run for the FF.  The two of them are based on their more modernized teen looks, with outfits to match the rest of the team as we saw them in the Super Skrull Series.  Or other versions of the team as well, since they actually kept these suits past the main team ditching them as the run progressed.

FRANKLIN RICHARDS

Franklin’s had a surprising number of figures, in that the number he’s had before this one isn’t zero.  In fact, this isn’t even Franklin’s first time as a Marvel Legend, since he was included in Toy Biz’s FF boxed set back in 2004.  It’s the first time Hasbro’s tackled him, though, so there’s that.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Franklin is based on the Amazing Fantasy Spidey body, which is honestly a fantastic base body that hasn’t gotten much play thus far.  It’s perhaps a bit too tall and too muscular to *really* be spot-on for Franklin, even as a teenager, but a proper base body would have required a completely new sculpt, and Franklin’s not the sort of character that really warrants that.  So, I guess we’re just making do with this one.  Franklin gets a new head sculpt, based on his post-teen-angst-driven-dying-of-his-hair look (which, per Dan Slot, was done so that Franklin wouldn’t get confused with Johnny in long shots of the team), which is a very different look for him, but it’s also his current one, so I can dig it.  It looks the part, based on the art, and adapted to the usual Legends stylings.  His color work is pretty closely matched to the modern FF costumes, which is proper for his design.  The actual painting is one the limited side for the uniform, but what’s there is cleanly handled.  He’s got the standard printed face as well, which works pretty well.  Franklin is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and gripping, plus the two beakers we got with Lizard and Beast, as well as a pair of blast and a pair of smoking effects, which are compatible with the tops of the beakers.

VALERIA RICHARDS

While Franklin’s had his share of figures, Val has thus far been without any at all.  Admittedly, she was a baby and a toddler for a good while, so not quite as toyetic.  But she’s got one now, and that’s what really matters, right?  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Val is built on the Spider-Girl base body, which, like we saw with Franklin, does seem maybe a touch too mature for Val.  Again, though, she’d need a totally unique base, so we’re again working with what we’ve got.  It’s a good base body, at least, so it’s not the worst thing ever.  Val gets a new head sculpt, which, like Franklin, is a good approximation of the art, while also fitting her in with the rest of the line.  There’s also a familial resemblance between her and Franklin, which is certainly appropriate.  Val’s color work is pretty similar to Franklin’s, with the expected change-ups for the head and hair, of course.  Val is packed with three sets of hands, in fists and two styles of gripping, as well as the data pad from the AIM Supreme, and her teammate Turg the Moloid.  Turg is re-using the base and dome from What If…? Scott Lang.  I was a little bummed to see she didn’t get her goggles, as they were a pretty key part of her look (and they differentiated her from Sue in much the same way that Franklin’s hair differentiated him from Johnny).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve had this odd sort of fascination with Franklin Richards figures since I was a kid.  I guess maybe I just really connected with him at the time?  I don’t know.  I do know that one of the first comics runs that I actually actively kept up with was Waid and Wieringo’s Fantastic Four, and Franklin and Val are both pretty important to that run.  I also really enjoyed how Slott worked them into his run.  This pack is perhaps not a star piece of the collection or anything, but they’re a fun way of getting two pretty important supporting players, and I’m definitely down for that.

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

#3416: Rocket

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

ROCKET

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“As Rocket takes on more leadership duties within the Guardians of the Galaxy, his past actions have consequences that come back to haunt him.”

Though certainly a character that was always in the focus in the movies, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Rocket was typically more of a quirky supporting player than an outright lead for most of his appearances.  In Guardians Vol. 3, Rocket takes on a far more central role, and one that grants the character a lot more nuance than we’ve seen out of him previously.  Resting the emotional core of your story on a CGI talking raccoon is an iffy prospect at best, but Vol. 3 makes it work.  It makes it work very well.  And Rocket gets to really shine because of it, which is honestly pretty awesome.  You know what else is awesome?  Toys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rocket is figure 4 in the Cosmo Series of Marvel Legends, which, as noted previously, is the tie-in assortment for Guardians Vol. 3.  The whole team is present, and Rocket’s also Rocket, so his inclusion makes perfect sense.  Curiously, this marks the first time that a Legends MCU Rocket has been released without any sort of Groot packed alongside him (though that was technically flipped this time, since the deluxe Groot included a baby Rocket).  Like the rest of the team, he’s seen here in his swanky new uniform, which is definitely a good look.  The figure stands 3 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Like his last go-round, Rocket is still a fully articulated figure, and he’s even a little bit better this time around, since his ankles are rocker joints and the wrists are universals, rather than the straight swivels that we got the last time around.  If nothing else, it certainly makes him a bit easier to stand.  Rocket is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of Rene Aldrete, which is certainly a respectable recreation of Rocket’s on-screen model.  He’s not the drastic step-up in quality we saw with the last release, but that’s largely because the last one was really, really good already.  This one largely sticks to that, just giving him the new uniform, and working in the articulation just a tad bit better.  Rocket’s color work generally matches with the rest of the team suits; the red is still a little sloppy, but it otherwise works okay.  There’s some more intensive work on the head and tail, which captures the detailing of the fur pretty well.  There’s something about the eyes on this one that, much like Mantis, just seem a bit off to me, however.  I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s the only thing that I prefer on the older version.  Rocket is packed with the same large blaster rifle as the Vol 1 version, which, I’ll be honest, I was never much of a fan of.  It was awkward and hard to hold the first time around, and it remains so this time around.  Rocket is also packed with the head and main body of the Cosmo Build-A-Figure, which is by far the largest section, since he’s by far the smallest figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original Rocket figure was honestly one of the worst the line ever put out.  The second, on the other hand, was one of the best.  There wasn’t a ton of room to improve, but this figure found some, and it went for it.  I’m not big on the eyes or the backpedalling to the weird bulky gun, but I do like the core figure a lot, and I also really like having a cohesive set of Guardians.

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.

#3415: Gamma 1 & Gamma 2

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

GAMMA 1 & GAMMA 2

DRAGON STARS (BANDAI)

Okay, not gonna lie, I’m starting to get just a touch burned out on Marvel Legends, so I’m gonna do my best to mix in a few non-Legends reviews here, just for my own sanity. So, let’s talk about a thing I don’t talk about here too often: Dragon Ball. My primary association with the franchise is Z, specifically the Android and Cell Sagas, and I haven’t really had much interaction with its current iteration, Super. That said, last year Super did a sort of continuation of those two sagas for their latest movie, Super Hero (which, for those playing at home, makes the official title the somewhat redundant sounding Dragon Ball Super Super Hero), a Piccolo and Gohan-centered story that brings back the Red Ribbon army. Our two new androids for the movie are the super hero-inspired Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 are plot across the two Super Hero tie-in assortments of Dragon Stars, with 1 being in the first and 2 in the second. The first set hit just before the film’s US release, and the second just at the beginning of the summer. Both figures stand about — inches tall and have — points of articulation. I’d only handled one Dragon Stars figure before these two, and wasn’t exactly thrilled with the movement on that one, so I was iffy on these ones. Obviously, they’re not sporting Figuarts level articulation, but it was better than I was expecting, especially on the upper half. The lower half is less practical, in part because of the “skirt” piece blocking the hip movement, in part because of the difficulty getting the ankles to turn on both axises, and in part because of the tendency for the waist on both figures to pop apart if you push them too far. All that said, I did find the tolerances on Gamma 2’s joints to be just a touch better than Gamma 1’s. In terms of construction, these two are largely the same. The body sculpt does a good job of capturing their retro super hero-style attire from the movie, with plenty of sharp detailing on the outfits. The capes are both made from a softer rubber, which I think works pretty well. They hang flat, rather than going for anything dynamic, but I think it works out okay. The difference between the two figures lies in their heads, which get differing numbers of fins, corresponding to their own respective unit numbers. Additionally, they also get slightly tweaked expressions, with 1 being a bit more stoic, while 2 is slightly more jovial. It’s minor, but it works well for their respective characteristics. The paint work between the two is again pretty similar, swapping reds for blues between the two. Application is clean on both figures for the most part. Both figures are packed with two sets of hands and a blaster designed to match their respective head design. I found the hands a bit tricky to swap the first time around, but on Gamma 2, they seem to swap just a little bit easier.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really only care about the Android and Cell Sagas of DBZ, so I haven’t kept up with everything since. That said, I was immediately intrigued by the designs for these two, which made me kinda want the figures. Once Gamma 2 hit it was even harder to resist, so on Jason’s recommendation, I sat down and watched the movie, and about 20 minutes in, I knew there was no way I was passing on these. I was a little hesitant to go back to Stars after being disappointed in the only other figure I’d gotten from the line, but I actually really like how these two turned out.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’d like to see a video of these guys in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3414: Fang

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

FANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wolverine takes advantage of his likeness to Imperial Guard Fang and impersonates him to infiltrate the Shi’ar.”

Okay, so, like, that’s….that’s not right. Like at all. Ignoring the very obvious issue that the bio above is talking about Wolverine, and not the actual character this figure is meant to represent, there’s also the fact that while Wolverine and Fang do sport similar characteristics, they certainly don’t look enough like each other for one to impersonate the other. Also, Wolverine didn’t impersonate him to infiltrate the Shi’ar. What actually happened was that Wolverine, in need of a new costume after his was destroyed in battle, stole a replacement from Imperial Guardsman Fang, an expy of the Legion of Superheroes’ Timber Wolf, who was himself something of an inspiration to Wolverine. It gave Wolverine a new look for a few issues, and gave Fang’s design a little extra highlight, which serves as a decent justification for making a Fang figure. I’ll take it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fang is figure 2 in the Ch’od Series of Marvel Legends. He’s one of the three Phoenix Saga related figures in the set, as well as the second Guard in the line (after Gladiator), and Fang’s first actual figure. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. He’s using the cleaned up version of the Spider-UK body that was previously used for Strucker, which is decent enough, but in a perfect world, I think it might have made more sense to put him on the Wolverine body, since they’re depicted as being similarly sized and all. But, they opted for this one, so here we are. He gets a new head sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding, as well as new add-on pieces for the necklace, belt, and boot and glove cuffs.  The new head is a mix of a few of Fang’s looks from over the years, but it captures the general feel of the character pretty well.  The new add-ons have a little difficulty staying in place, but we’re not quite at the level of 90s Cyclops’s leg bands, so it’s not awful.  The whole thing winds up as a solid recreation of his comics design.  Aiding in that is the color work; it’s basic, but it’s clean, and the color scheme looks like it should.  Fang is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open claws, as well as the head for the Ch’od Build-A-Figure, and his little animal companion.  He does *not* include any Wolverine parts, which feels like a missed opportunity, and also like it might have been a slight change of plans, especially given the character bio he received.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, this figure surprised me.  I mean, I thought a Fang Wolverine was a longshot, so just a Fang figure, with no Wolverine connection at all, seemed downright impossible.  But, I guess not so much.  Fang is overall fairly by the numbers.  I’m admittedly a little bummed by the lack of Wolverine parts, but he stands out well enough on his own, and I’m certainly not upset about getting another Imperial Guard member.  Here’s to hoping we see some more 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.

#3412: Bombastic Bag-Man

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

BOMBASTIC BAG-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Left without a costume, a desperate Peter Parker dons a spare Fantastic 4 uniform and a brown paper bag. And so the Bombastic Bag-Man was born!”

We live in a crazy era for Marvel Legends.  Like, I just can’t be clear enough about that.  It’s an era of getting, serious, actual, fully planned out figures of gag concepts.  Case in point: Bombastic Bag-Man.  After discovering that his black costume was an alien symbiote with its own agenda, Peter Parker enlisted the help of Reed Richards to remove the symbiote.  Left without a suit, he borrowed an older FF suit and a paper bag.  In true Spider-Man fashion, Peter has to stop a crime on his way home, still sporting his makeshift costume, and introducing himself as “The Bombastic Bag-Man.”  It’s silly, and really not a marketable Spidey look, but it’s also a fan-favorite.  It’s come close to figure form a few times, never quite making it to the finish line.  Hasbro, however, has finally made it actually happen.  Crazy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bombastic Bag-Man is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He’s a one-off on the Marvel Super Heroes style retro card, and he was part of Hasbro’s overall celebration of Spidey’s 60th Anniversary.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Bag-Man is built on the Reed Richards modification of the Pizza Spidey body.  Why they didn’t just use the Pizza Spidey body straight is anybody’s guess; perhaps they just thought this one was more Fantastic Four-y.  I’m a little bummed that it means he loses the butterfly shoulder, but it’s still a decent body.  He also re-uses the feet from Shang-Chi, made evident by their lack of peg-holes.  The figure’s topped off by a new head sculpt, for the full Bag-Man effect.  The bag and the actual head are separate parts; the bag isn’t removable, and the head beneath only actually gets eye and chin detailing, but it gives everything the appropriate depth.  The actual bag sculpt is also just really good; it honestly looks just a real paper bag that’s been shoved over his head, down to the mis-shaping for his nose.  The color work on Bag-Man is largely meant to mimic the colors on the Walgreens FF releases.  It’s appropriate, since it’s supposed to be one of the same uniforms, and all.  That said, it’s not an exact match.  The blue is a slightly brighter shade, and the exact sizing of the “4” logo is a bit larger.  Granted, for true accuracy, he’s meant of pair off with the Byrne-era costumes anyways, so it doesn’t truly have to match, I guess.  Bag-Man is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture) as well as the “Kick Me” sign Johnny stuck on his back.  That piece is gonna get a lot of use for sure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve gotten into a few times here, I’ve given up on the exclusives game for the most part.  But, somehow most of it ends up in front of me, just the same.  I dig Bag-Man as a silly concept, so I was glad to get a chance at one when he came into All Time.  He’s not perfect, but he’s certainly fun.  And we live in a time where there’s a freaking Bag-Man figure.  Crazy.

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.

#3411: Nebula

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

NEBULA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Since helping the Avengers defeat her adoptive father, Nebula has become a full-fledged member of the Guardians of the Galaxy who show her the true meaning of family.”

Of all the characters within the Guardians movies, Nebula gets perhaps the most compelling arc. She begins as a wholly antagonistic force towards the Guardians, an angry, violent, and jealous character, focused purely on getting what’s hers. By the final chapter, she’s faced down her genocidal maniac of a father, as well as confronting her former self (literally) and become a central member of the team, deeply concerned with the care of the rest of the group. She’s just a cuddly blue ball of cybernetics. And who doesn’t love that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nebula is figure 3 in the Cosmo Series of Marvel Legends. Like the rest of the team, Nebula is seen here in her full uniform set-up, which puts her into something other that sort of maroonish color for the first time. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 31 points of articulation. Nebula is built from a lot of the same bank of parts as Mantis, which was honestly kind of expected. It seems like the sculpt was slightly more tailored to Nebula and then also used for Mantis, as the height is more in line with the slightly taller Karen Gillan, who portrays Nebula. As Nebula has had some of her cybernetic implants removed since we last saw her, the figure gets a new head showing off her updated look, as well as a new left arm, which highlights her new nano-tech appendage. To my eyes, the head seems a touch too large for the body, but only slightly so. It does sport a respectable Gillan likeness, however, and makes the proper adjustments to the older head. The new arm looks the part of the one seen in the movie, and again is distinctly different from the previous version.  I like all of the smaller nanite details that they’ve worked into it.  The color work on Nebula is largely similar to Mantis, which make sense.  Same body, same uniform, same colors.  The application is pretty clean for the most part.  There’s a little bit of slop on the red, but otherwise the lines are clean.  The face gets the now standard printing, which is suitably lifelike…I mean, as lifelike as a blue alien cyborg lady is going to be.  Nebula is packed with a swap-out blade attachment for her cyborg arm, a blaster rifle (re-used from the Vol 2 Gamora), a pistol (re-used from the prior Nebula), and one of Cosmo’s left legs.  I was a little bit bummed that there’s not extra right hand with any sort of grip to it, as well as the fact that the rifle’s lost all of its accent paint.  Ultimately, those are both pretty minor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nebula’s a character that I’ve liked more and more with each of her MCU appearances, which is saying something, because I honestly really liked her a lot the first time around.  Vol 3 was a great close to her arc, and I really liked seeing her fully integrated into the team.  This may well be her best figure yet, honestly.  It’s not a lot of flash or flair, but it’s just a well-put-together figure of a well put together character.

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.

#3410: Cyborg Spider-Woman

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

CYBORG SPIDER-WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyborg Spider-Woman is part Spider-Woman, part machine. She doesn’t have regular powers like everyone else but with years of experience and a cannon for an arm, she’s seen it all and can fight with the best of them!”

Across the Spider-Verse sure did have a lot of Spider-people in it. And with that many, it’s hard to focus on all of them. Despite getting a noticeable marketing push, the big, hulking, Cyborg Spider-Woman is relegated to a blink and you’ll miss it sized role in the final product. But, hey, there’s still good toys to be had from the design, right? Right. Let’s look at one of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Spider-Woman is a standalone deluxe Marvel Legends release, timed to tie-in with the main Across the Spider-Verse assortment. In fact, the nature of her construction and size points to the initial plan being to make this the Build-A-Figure for that assortment, before that was scrapped to keep the main figures a bit more standalone themselves. Nothing has been confirmed, but this figure notably pops apart at the neck, shoulders, and hips, much like a BaF would, and she lacks any re-used parts from prior BaFs to explain this. The figure stands about 8 inches tall and she has 25 points of articulation. Obviously, with the big cannon arm, she takes a slight hit on posability on that side, but given her size, she gets an okay range of motion. Some of the joints definitely needed to be worked in a bit on my copy, after which their range definitely improved. As touched on above, Spider-Woman gets an all-new sculpt, based on her very brief appearance in the movie, which is, in turn, very clearly inspired by the 616 Spidey’s brief cyborg appearance from Spider-Man #21, albeit supremely bulked up. Also gender-swapped, but that’s not as immediately apparent from the design proper.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft spot for the Cyborg Spidey look, so I got a kick out of it being referenced for this design in the new movie, especially when we got that first glimpse of the basic toyline figure. The Legend prices enough to win me over on buying her, even before the movie hit. Then the movie hit, and she’s not really in it, but I can’t be mad about getting a cool toy out of the whole thing. And maybe she’ll get a bigger part in the next one?

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.

#3408: Cassie Lang Series Wrap-Up

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

KANG THE CONQUEROR, EGGHEAD, CROSSFIRE, FUTURE ANT-MAN, & CASSIE LANG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Remember the big change-up in reviewing Legends from yesterday? Good, I don’t have to explain it a second time. Well, I’m doing it again, but with the Quantumania assortment. Hooray! Let’s look at the whole lot of the rest of them, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Kang the Conqueror, Egghead, Crossfire, and Future Ant-Man are figures 2, 4, 5, and 6, respectively, in the Cassie Lang Series of Marvel Legends, and are the final four figures contributing to the Build-A-Figure for this assortment of the line, wrapping up the Quantumania tie-in. Cassie is the titular Build-A-Figure for the series, assembled by collecting the parts from 6 of the 7 figures in the set.

KANG THE CONQUEROR

“Kang, a fearsome warlord with a mysterious past, has conquered the Quantum Realm and rules over all citizens with a brutal totalitarian hand.”

After we got a preview of him at the end of Loki‘s first season, Kang showed up in full for Quantumania, sporting a look that’s honestly a pretty good adaptation of Kang’s original design. The figure stands a little over 6 1/4 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  The articulation on the shoulders is very restricted for this figure, and there is likewise little to no forward and back on hips.  Both of these are somewhat due to design cues from the movie, but I do feel like at this point Hasbro’s gotten better at such things, which makes this one a little frustrating. That said, I do like the waist movement, as the ball joint gets a very good range.  Kang has an all-new sculpt.  It’s not awful, and it certainly looks to be accurate to the film design, but it also just feels too small.  Like, just scaled down a bit too much entirely. I also rather dislike the lack of removable cape, as it further hurts the posing potential.  In terms of color work, Kang is decent enough. There’s a good bit of paint detailing, which works well enough. The only real issue is that the base purple lining is a little out of line. Kang is packed with two sets of hands, as well as both heads for the Cassie Build-A-Figure.

EGGHEAD

“An egg-slinging scientific genius, Dr. Elihas Starr began as a criminal underdog and rose to become a worthy adversary of Ant-Man and the Avengers.”

Man, who would have expected to see Egghead get a figure?  I mean, I guess at this point, most characters are fair game.  They are sort of running out of new characters to offer up, and this one in particular has some nice, direct ties to Ant-Man.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  The figure is sort of restricted on movement, due to coat and design of head, but Egghead’s never been particularly active either.  Egghead is based on the Happy Hogan body, which is a good, stockier suit body, which fits well for the character.  He gets a new head sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding, which is a pretty spot-on piece for classic Egghead.  His glasses are separate pieces, molded in transparent plastic, which is a cool idea, but unfortunately, they have mold lines through lenses, which ruins the effect a bit.  The figure’s color work is rather basic.  The paint is generally simple, but for the most part it works well. There’s a stray spot of black on the tie, but beyond that, it’s pretty clean.  Egghead is packed with the blaster pistol from Genis-Vell, as well as the torso to Cassie Lang.

CROSSFIRE

“Ex-CIA agent William Cross uses his espionage training and brainwashing technology to wreak havoc on superhumans with chaos as his goal.”

Crossfire is one of those villains that’s been passed all around the Marvel Universe.  He started in Marvel Two-in-One, facing off against The Thing and Moon Knight, and then sort of did the rounds.  He’s got a loose connection to Ant-Man, by virtue of his cousin Darren Cross, who has had several run-ins with Scott and Cassie Lang.  I guess that’s what gave him is spot here.  The figure is 6 1/2 inches tall with 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on Spider-UK body, un-modified, rather than using the upgraded version we saw on Strucker.  Largely, this means he still has the visible pins, which is a bit of a bummer.  He gets a new head and belt pieces, which suit the base body well.  In terms of coloring, he’s got a lot of red and white.  The white paint is definitely a little thin in some spots, to the point of the torso detailing almost looking pink.  His emblem is also quite sloppy, as are the edges of the red for his cowl.  I do really like the face detailing.  It’s very lifelike, and works well to sell the strengths of the sculpt.  Crossfire is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), as well as the same sniper rifle included with Yelena, the removable strap, a blast effect, and a smoke effect.  He also includes Cassie’s left leg.

FUTURE ANT-MAN

“With a sleek new costume and honed capabilities, the new Ant-Man from the future carries on the heroic legacy of Hank Pym, Scott Lang, and Eric O’Grady.”

The Ant-Man of 2549, aka Zayn Asghar, is a very recent addition in the comics, having been introduced during Ant-Man’s 60th anniversary last year.  He’s not had a *ton* done with him, but he’s a good variant, right?  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches and he has 34 points of articulation.  This guy is using the ANAD 2099 body, which seems a pretty good fit for his build.  It’s still got visible pins, but oh well.  He gets a new head sculpt.  It’s pretty basic, in sort of that whole minimalism way that really is interwoven into everything about the character.  This figure has a slightly bent antenna, which seems like it’s probably gonna be a recurring problem.  He’s got a pretty striking color scheme, which the paint work does it’s best to replicate.  It’s also very basic, but application is pretty clean.  There’s a lot of black plastic.  Future Ant-Man has no accessories of his own, which is a bummer.  He does get the right arm for Cassie, though.

CASSIE LANG

Cassie began her career in both the comics and the movies as an innocent bystander.  In the comics, she was slowly aged up over time, and took up her own super hero mantle, Stature, during a stretch of time when her dad was dead.  In the movies, she survived the Snap, which meant that she got aged up five years, allowing her to be a more active participant in the adventures, even if she hasn’t quite gotten her codename yet.  The figure stands just over 10 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation, 31 if you’ve got the unmasked head, which gets an extra point for the ponytail.  Cassie is using the most up-to-date of the articulation schemes, so she’s got double joints at elbows and knees, as well as the newer torso joint set-up, similar to Lightning Collection.  Due to her slightly larger size, she’s a touch clunkier in terms of movement, but she’s certainly an improvement on, say, the Civil War Giant-Man.  I particularly like the movement on the neck and the mid-section. Cassie’s sculpt is an all-new affair, and it’s a pretty solid one.  In Quantumania, Cassie is sporting a suit that merges aspects of her two Stature outfits, as well as her later Stinger design, while also bringing things n line with the established looks for Ant-Man and Wasp.  The sculpt captures the design of said suit pretty closely, which is always a plus with the Ant-Man suits.  The texturing is particularly good, and her unmasked head has a spot-on likeness of Kathryn Newton as Cassie.  The masked head’s a little clunkier for me; it’s definitely not my preferred, but I’m certainly glad to have it.  Cassie’s color work is generally pretty good.  All the major color break-ups are present, and what paint work is there is all pretty clean for the most part.  She’s missing a few details, such as the laces to the shoes, but most things are there.  The unmasked head gets the printed look, which looks really good; definitely works well with the sculpt.  Cassie gets two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in open gesture.  Honestly, those, coupled with the alternate head, the totally new sculpt, *and* the height, make her feel like one of the best values we’ve gotten on a Build-A-Figure in a good long while.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This series was actually the first one where I was looking to really take advantage of my new review set-up for Legends.  Cassie’s a character I really like, in both the comics and the movies, and I really wanted her, but I didn’t honestly want most of the rest of the set.  So, the opportunity to build her, and take a look at the whole series without all the up-front investment was definitely one I liked.

When I went into this set, I was only intending to keep two singles and the Build-A-Figure.  At the end of it, I kept three singles and the BAF, but I didn’t even keep both of the singles I was expecting to.  Ultron and Cassie were the two on my original list who remained on the final, and they’re also my two favorites in the set.  Yes, I know Ultron’s not really different.  So sue me.  Cassie’s all-new, though, and just really well put together.  I wasn’t intending to keep Ant-Man or Wasp, but they both wound up being a lot better than I’d anticipated, and they’re honestly the best MCU versions of the characters.  Future Ant-Man I’d already set-up with Max for before the set came in, so I was never attached to him anyway, though he’s a decent by the numbers figure.  Egghead and Crossfire are both better than I’d expected, even if I opted not to keep them.  The one that really broke things was Kang, who I expected to keep, but ultimately was just not wowed by in any sense, which is a bit of a bummer.

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