Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3208: Blue Beetle & Booster Gold

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

BLUE BEETLE & BOOSTER GOLD

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

Look, I’m not gonna pretend like this is anything more than it is, guys.  Yes, I’m reviewing something else from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line.  I know.  I’m not surprised either, just disappointed.  Okay, not really disappointed.  Honestly, it’s really not all that bad, I suppose.  Todd’s decisions with the line have generally been middling at best, but there is the occasional offering that sort of accidentally stumbles into being sort of a good idea.  While things are very firmly planted in edgelord territory for most of the line’s offerings, perhaps in an effort to offset that just a little bit, we’ve actually got something that goes pretty anti-edgelord-y, in the form of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold.  Central to the Giffen, DeMatteis, and McGuire “Bwa-ha-ha” run of Justice League, Beetle and Booster have never been A-listers, but they’ve certainly picked up quite a cult following, especially given they’re more jovial nature and their long-term friendship.  They’ve gotten quite few figures over the years, mostly pairing off, since it sure does feel weird to do one without the other.  And, in a move uncharacteristic to McFarlane’s DC run up to this point, they’re actually both available at once, in one concise package even.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are a two-pack release from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line.  They were announced at the end of July and had a rather quick turnaround, hitting in early September.  As with the rest of the two-packs, they’re their own thing, shipping on their own, which is probably for the best.  Keeps those Bat-variants just a little bit further away.

BLUE BEETLE

“Over the course of a century, three different men from very different backgrounds have taken on the heroic mantle of the Blue Beetle, each making their mark in different ways. The original Beetle was an archaeologist named Dan Garrett, who discovered an ancient Scarab in an old Egyptian tomb that gave him superpowers which he used to fight crime. He was succeeded by the brilliant Ted Kord, who had no powers to speak of, but carried on the Blue Beetle legacy with just his wits and his fists, along with a whole lot of gadgets and a sharp sense of humor.”

You gotta love the bio calling out that there are three notable Blue Beetles in the last century and then only talking about two of them.  And not even the most notable of the two, at that.  I know, a McFarlane bio being poorly written.  Who’d have thunk?  Ah, well, I think I’d rather talk about the figure than the bio, so let’s do that.  The figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  As with all the McFarlane figures, the articulation scheme is pretty set and predictable.  It works better on some than on others, but this one is admittedly on the “better” end of the spectrum.  The wrists are a little awkward, and the elbows and knees are still requiring you to break up the flow of the sculpt, but it’s not awful.  The sculpt is actually not half-bad.  The head is a decent rendition of Ted in costume, right down to that slightly goofy smile, which is really perfect for the character.  The body sculpt is pretty basic, and honestly surprisingly clean for a McFarlane sculpt.  With one exception (which I’ll touch on a little more in the next figure’s section) only details are the actual details for Ted’s costume, as depicted in the comics, even.  No weird extra lines or piping, or armor plating, or odd texturing.  Just a nice, basic sculpt, with a fairly sensible set of proportions.  The paint work on this figure is also pretty sensible, which is likewise surprising.  The colors are generally a good match for his usual depiction, the application is overall pretty clean, and there’s no weird washes or anything to dirty him up.  I do miss the clear goggles like earlier figures have had, but the solid finish isn’t terrible, and I do quite like the slight accenting on the face, just to give him a bit more color.  Ted is packed with his BB gun, the same circular display stand that comes with all of the figures, and a collector card.  The gun is an okay sculpt, but for some reason there’s what looks like a grapple line permanently attached to it, which kind of limits its uses when it comes to posing.  I guess maybe they were worried that Warner might ask for it to be cut from the set if it didn’t have the permanent attachment?

BOOSTER GOLD

“A college football star of the 25th Century who earned the nickname ‘Booster’ on the field. Even though people assured him a professional career of fame and fortune was in his future, he decided he couldn’t wait and wagered on his own games. The scandal ruined his dreams and reputation. Taking a job as a security guard in the Metropolis Space Museum, Mike saw another opportunity after studying the early age of superheroes. With future and alien technology stolen from the museum, and a time machine that was on display, he realized he could not only become a superhero himself in a past era where his criminal history was unknown, but he could also make his good deeds profitable.”

Well, at least Booster’s bio is a bit more on-point.  Given Ted’s, I was half expecting a “Super Nova” mention.  Small victories there.  Though he’s packed with a very much classically-inspired Ted Kord Blue Beetle, Booster goes slightly more modern, by virtue of ditching his somewhat absurd collar from his ’80s appearances.  I suppose I’ll allow it.  Like Beetle, the figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Booster’s sculpt is…well, it’s actually largely the same as Beetle’s.  Booster gets his own head, hands, wrist pieces, and a slightly different pelvis piece, allowing for his slightly different costume design.  The new head is on par with Beetle in terms of quality, but it’s also quite distinctly different.  The flow of the hair is quite nice, and I definitely dig the cheesy grin.  By virtue of the shared base body, Booster’s perhaps a touch too small, but not terribly far off.  What *is* rather off is the boots, which get the tops of Beetle’s boots, which are an entirely different shape.  There’s still the slight shaping of Booster’s boot sculpted above the cuff, which was also present on Beetle.  It was less obvious on Beetle than Beetle’s boots are for Booster; since Booster was getting saddled with the extra detail anyway, I’m not entirely sure why they attempted at double duty here, but at least it’s a minor detail.  Booster’s paint work is okay; not quite as good as Beetle’s, but not terrible.  There’s the obvious painting over of the boot details, which is a bit goofy looking.  Additionally, thanks to the paint on the shins, plus the molded yellow higher up, and then the slightly different material on the knees, there are no less than three different yellows in the space of about an inch.  From the knees up, however, he looks pretty great.  His goggles are opaque, just like Ted’s, and the face likewise gets some really nice accenting to give it a little more life.  Booster is packed with a smart phone (with a yellow case to match his costume), a blast effect to clip onto his wrist, and his robot buddy Skeets, a display stand, and a collector card.  Skeets, rather than getting his own stand or attaching to Booster directly, plugs into the larger base shared between the two of them.  It’s a rather short arm, and not removable from Skeets.  It’s also completely opaque, and it doesn’t plug into anything other than the very large base, which proves rather limiting for him.  But, at least he’s included, which is certainly more than can be said of other Booster Gold figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m less and less enamored with McFarlane’s DC Multiverse as it continues forward, but I’ll admit that these two immediately caught my eye.  Our first preview had no release info, so I was worried they, like pretty much everything else “classic” from McFarlane, would be an exclusive.  I was very glad they weren’t, as it made it much easier for me to actually, you know, get them.  Ted’s the better of the two for sure, but honestly they’re both a lot better than I’d expected.  As with anything McFarlane, there are some drawbacks, but they’re honestly minimal, all things considered.

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.

#3207: Cobb Vanth

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

COBB VANTH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The marshal of Mos Pelgo, a small town on Tatooine, Cobb Vanth has earned the trust of the townsfolk as a capable peacekeeper and leader”

While The Mandalorian’s second season was in production, we knew from an early point that Temuera Morrison was returning in some capacity.  Boba Fett was, of course, the heavy rumor, as his return had been theorized since the show’s announcement, but we didn’t know for absolute certain going into the season.  The creators certainly had a good time with that, because in the first episode, Mando goes to Tatooine looking for more of his people, and encounters someone wearing Boba’s armor…only for that person to take off the helmet and reveal himself not as Boba, but instead as Cobb Vanth, a character introduced in the Aftermath novels from right after Disney acquired the franchise.  Though he may not have been the bounty hunter most fans were looking for, Cobb was none the less a rather popular character in his own right, and even got a follow-up appearance in The Book of Boba Fett.  He *also* got an action figure, and I’m gonna be taking a look at that today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cobb Vanth is the 18th figure in the Mandalorian sub-line of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  He’s a deluxe-sized release, presumably on the basis that all of the figures using the new armored Fett pieces have been.  It seems to be more of a complexity of build thing, rather than a pure scale or size thing.  Cobb was *supposed* to be out back nearer the beginning of the year, but apart from a few small quantities dropping, he didn’t really seem to arrive.  Thankfully, as of the last month or so, he does seem to be hitting in a bit more force.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Cobb is making use of the more modern set-up for articulation in the Black Series line, so it’s got a better range than earlier offerings.  That said, amongst his contemporaries, he’s a little more on the restricted side.  He’s still able to get a lot of solid poses, though, so he’s very workable.  Cobb’s sculpt re-uses a few pieces from the recent Boba figure, which makes sense, since it’s the same armor and all.  This includes his torso armor (which has the wookie braids removed) and his gauntlets.  The rest of the sculpt is all-new, and does a solid job of recreating Cobb’s look in the show.  His likeness isn’t spot-on, but it’s a respectable enough recreation of Timothy Olyphant in the role, certainly close enough to get the idea across.  The rest of his outfit is quite well assembled, with some impressive texturing, especially on the tunic.  He’s got an extra scarf piece, which is sculpted to fit around the armor.  It’s a bit too loose and floaty, but otherwise looks the part.  Cobb’s paint work is generally pretty solid.  The advanced weathering on the armor really captures the feel, and his face, hair, and beard paint is also quite lifelike.  The base color work matches well with his palette from the show, and the insignias on the armor are quite sharply defined, as well as matched well with the RotJ Fett.  Cobb is packed with the helmet and rocket pack to match his armor, as well as a pistol and a rifle for proper armaments.  The helmet is the same as Fett’s, but just not glued to the head.  It doesn’t sit quite as well on Cobb’s head, but I’m not really looking to display him helmeted anyway.  The pack is largely the same as the prior Fett release (albeit with a more broken-in paint job), but gets the adjusted rocket at the top.  Both of the guns are new pieces, and they match well to what he’s seen carrying in the show.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As someone who’s on-record as being skeptical about Boba Fett’s role in the whole Star Wars thing, I had no pre-conceived notions about Fett’s presence in Mandalorian.  The misdirect with Cobb was fine by me, and I quite liked how his character shaped up in the show.  I was very definitely down for him getting a figure.  It’s taken a while for this one to make his way out, and he’s not 100% perfect, but he’s still quite a lot of 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.

#3205: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

SON OF BATMAN (DC COLLECTIBLES)

After retiring from his duties as Robin, Dick Grayson continued to hang around with the Titans for a while, before settling on a new identity, Nightwing*.  Nightwing’s become a pretty recognizable fixture in his own right, and has become a pretty standard play for animated stories that want to let Dick grow up, or even perhaps contrast him with another Robin.  2014’s Son of Batman aimed to contrast him with Batman’s newly discovered son (spoilers: Batman has a son), Damian, granting Nightwing a rather sizable role in the story.  It also granted him another action figure, which is where my interests really lie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released in 2014, as part of the four-figure tie-in line for Son of Batman, which was part of the overall line of figures based on DC’s animated films of the time.  Nightwing was figure #09, making him the final of the four figures in this set numerically.  He’s sporting Nightwing’s costume from the film, which is honestly not a bad one.  In an era when the comics version was saddled with the New 52’s odd choice to go red and black with his color scheme, this one sticks to a more classic set-up, inspired somewhat by what he’d been wearing not too long before in the second season of Young Justice.  It’s probably amongst the best of the DC animation costume designs of the era.  The figure stands just over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Nightwing has more than a few parts in common with the animation-inspired Green Lantern that I reviewed back when these figures were new…and when the site was still not even a year old.  Crazy times, really.  The base body has a nice, medium build, which matches well with the character’s design from the film.  He gets a new head and lower arms, as well as some belt pouches which have been glued in place at the waist.  The whole thing makes for a decent enough set-up for the character, given how he looks in the movie.  The head feels very true to the character in terms of likeness and personality, and the new lower arms allow him to actually hold his accessories, and even give his left hand a slightly more unique pose than “fist.”  The joints haven’t held up particularly great over time, but for the most part, it’s a solid sculpt.  The paint work on this guy is alright.  These figures were definitely on the messier side, just really for the whole run of the line, but Nightwing wound up at least a little bit better than the first series of figures.  There’s still some slop and some fuzzy edges, but nothing too terrible.  Nightwing was packed with his two eskrima sticks, which is honestly impressive for this line, which was generally not fond of giving the figures much of anything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Son of Batman was not a movie I particularly enjoyed.  The concept was there, but the execution was lacking, and it was kind of the movie that got me out of really keeping up to date with the DC Animated fare.  Nevertheless, one of the few things I did like about it was Sean Maher’s turn as Dick Grayson.  I came very close to buying this figure on multiple occasions, but, for one reason or another, I just kind of kept putting it off, and then he’d gotten a bit pricey on the aftermarket, so I just dropped it.  He’s been on my list to look out for since then, and I was lucky enough to snag a loose one that got traded into All Time a little bit ago.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s fun, and I can get behind that.

*Okay, it wasn’t an entirely new identity, because it was actually the identity that Superman used to use while visiting the bottle city of Kandor.  But don’t tell Dick that, it’ll just make him sad.

#3204: Spider-Man & Spinneret

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

SPIDER-MAN & SPINNERET

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter and Mary-Jane Parker are partners in marriage and crime-fighting as Spider-Man and Spinneret!”

With the character’s 60th anniversary upon us, now’s as good a time as any to really look into the history of Spidey and his supporting cast.  In 1987, Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson officially tied the knot in not one, not two, but three different venues, which included the mainstream Marvel universe in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, the Spider-Man newspaper strip, and even a live performance of the marriage held at Shea Stadium and officiated by Stan Lee himself.  Within the main universe, the marriage lasted 20 years, before Joe Quesada, during his absolutely wonderful and not at all the worst thing ever run as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel, decided he didn’t think people could relate to a Spider-Man who was married.  Because, apparently people had been not relating to Spidey for the last two decades at that point.  Obviously, the solution to this issue of relatability was to have Peter and Mary-Jane sell their marriage to the literal Devil in what has got to be the most convoluted sequence of events ever crafted in order to end a marriage.  Very relatable.  “One More Day” went over about as well as a lead balloon at the time of its publication, so there have been plenty of attempts at circumventing its effects.  During 2015’s Secret Wars crossover, Dan Slott and Adam Kubert helmed a limited series exploring a world where Peter and MJ had never sold their marriage to the literal Devil, called “Renew Your Vows.”  The story was generally seen as a good thing, and has spawned itself its own two-pack, Spidey and Spinneret, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Spinneret are one of the pair of two-packs in the “Spider-Man 60th Anniversary” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  The pack is officially branded “Renew Your Vows” after the story that spawned it.

SPIDER-MAN

There has been no shortage of standard Spider-Man variants in Legends, but Hasbro is intent on continuing to improve their standard issue Spider-Man wherever they can.  Just under the current run of Legends, we got Pizza Spidey in 2015, and the Retro Spidey in 2020, and now, there’s a whole new one.  Well, I say “whole new,” but that’s not entirely accurate.  I’ll get to that.  The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  Yesterday, I spend a good portion of my review of discussing how impressive the Amazing Fantasy Spidey’s articulation is.  Today’s Spidey is…well, he’s different.  A lot of it comes down to how this guy is built.  While AF Spidey is an all-new sculpt from the ground up, Renew Spidey is sort of retrofitting older parts into a modern set-up.  He’s taking a lot from the Retro Spidey from 2020, a figure that was himself slightly hindered by his reliance on pieces from the ANAD 2099 figure.  In order to make up for that figure’s older pieces, this one replaces or at the very least alters a few more pieces to modernize things just a bit.  The arms and legs are now adjusted to feature the pinless construction on the elbows and knees, which was a major issue with the last release, since he literally *just* missed the implementation of that feature.  This figure also gets a new set of feet, which see the return of toe articulation, something that was once a staple, but has been absent from Legends since shortly after Hasbro took over the license.  Admittedly, I tended to find the toe articulation overused, but on Spidey it does make a degree more sense.  It’s all topped off with a head that looks like it might be a re-use of the Pizza Spidey head, but there’s enough slight change-up of the width of the jaw that I’m not sure if it’s actually new or if that’s just a slight variation in the mold over time.  Whatever the case, it’s a more current looking Spidey head than the one that was on the retro release.  The whole set-up on the mold is a little bit piecemeal, but it’s greater than the sum of its parts.  The articulation gets the job done, and he ultimately gets a similar range of motion to the AF Spidey.  There are definitely some areas where one articulation set-up is compensating for another, so it’s not as fluid in its motion as the other figure.  Still, it’s not a bad set-up.  The figure’s paint work is generally pretty good.  The palette is a little darker than the Retro Spidey, which fits well with the particular storyline the figure’s adapting.  Spidey is packed with an unmasked head and three sets of hands (in fists, thwipping, and open gesture).  The unmasked head is the same one we’ve seen a few times, though this time with the face printing, which is honestly a notable improvement.

SPINNERET

Within the original run of Renew Your Vows, MJ is still doing the civilian thing, but when it was continued as an ongoing book under veteran Spidey scribe Gerry Conway, he gave MJ her own super hero identity as Spinneret.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and it has 29 points of articulation.  MJ winds up as about as much of a patchwork job as her husband, which is appropriate, I suppose.  She starts with the AoA Rogue-modified version of the Polaris-modified version of the Phoenix torso, which translates to her having two separate ports on her back that don’t actually do anything for this release.  She’s then got the upgraded pinless-style arms and legs from Shriek, an all-new head, and a pair of add-ons for the cuffs on her ankles.  I’m not super thrilled by the extra ports on the back, but otherwise it’s a body with a decent set of proportions and a really nice range of motion.  The new head does a solid job of recreating her masked look from the comics, and manages to do a not so terrible job of a teeth baring grin that doesn’t look frightening or goofy.  Spinneret’s paint work is pretty decent.  I dig the rather unique color scheme, and the paint on the face in particular, which is using the face printing.  The figure’s packed with an unmasked head (the same one included with the Retro Gwen Stacy figure) and three sets of hands (fists, thwipping, and open gesture).  As with the Peter head, MJ gets the face printing, which is again a marked improvement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was on the fence with this set.  I enjoy the storyline and all, but it’s a pricey set, and I’d not really been wowed by the Retro Spider-Man in his first release.  That said, once this set was in front of me, it was harder to turn down, especially when I suddenly found myself getting another item for a lot cheaper than I’d expected, so I had some extra cash to justify it.  Spidey is definitely a bit of a Frankenstein, but it ultimately works out better than I’d expected.  He’s the slightest bit undercut by how well the AF Spidey turned out, but they serve different purposes and they serve them well.  Spinneret isn’t the main draw of the set, but she’s still a really solid figure, and rounds out the pack really nicely.

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.

#3203: Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man

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

AMAZING FANTASY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In Spider-Man’s first-ever adventure, tragedy teaches a young Peter Parker that with great power comes great responsibility.”

On August 10, 1962, the world of Marvel changed forever, with the publication of Amazing Fantasy #15.  With the anthology series officially ending, writer Stan Lee was given free rein to do whatever he wanted for the final issue.  So, Stan dusted off an old concept he’d been trying to get published for a little while and Spider-Man found his way to print.  60 years later, he’s effectively the face of Marvel, and one of the biggest super heroes out there.  In honor of the character’s 60th anniversary, Hasbro’s running all sorts of figures from all throughout his history.  I’m kicking things off today with Peter as he appeared in the very beginning.  Let’s take a look at Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man is a single release figure in the “Spider-Man 60th Anniversary” sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s based specifically on Spidey’s first appearance, the second Legends release to do so, following up on Toy Biz’s own stab at it back in 2005.  Things have certainly changed a bit since then, so a re-do feels like it was overdue.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man is built on a brand-new base body which, more so than the retro Spidey base from 2020, feels designed as a direct replacement for the Pizza Spidey base.  It’s key strength is how its articulation works; not only is it sporting those fancy pinless elbows and knees that Spidey has been deprived of up to this point, he’s also sporting an impressive range of motion on just about all of his joints.  Okay, so let’s talk about this figure’s articulation, because oh boy is that worth focusing on for a bit.  Perhaps the best area of range is on the figure’s ankles, which have enough forward motion that the figure can stand in a crouching pose while still keeping both of his feet flat on the ground.  Like, *I* don’t even have that kind of range.  He’s also got enough crunch range on the mid-torso and waist, and enough forward mobility on his butterfly shoulders that he can get his hands resting on the ground in front of him while crouching.  The coolest thing about all of this mobility, however, is that it doesn’t require the joints to horribly break up the aesthetics of the mold.  It’s the best of both worlds. The sculpt gives us a slightly more balanced set of skinny proportions than the Pizza Spidey body did, which I think will help it work a little bit better for other characters than that release did.  He also gets an all-new head; it’s not specifically Ditko-based, but it’s got the thinner eyes, which certainly suit the earlier days look a bit better.  The figure’s paint work is a decent set-up.  Thanks to the way the articulation and part break down works, he’s get less need for paint than earlier figures, since a lot of him can just be molded in the proper colors.  The work that’s there is generally pretty solid.  I did have one issue of slop on my figure’s left arm, and there’s a slight mismatch of the reds between the upper torso and the rest of the figure, but beyond that, it’s all reasonable work.  They’ve made sure to give him the slightly modified logo on the front and back, which I love.  I’m also just really overjoyed about the pinless elbows meaning we finally have a Legends Spidey without bright red dots on the interior of his arm.  Spidey is packed with four sets of hands (in thwipping, gripping, fists, and open gesture), a webline, and swappable web wings in both compact and stretched out set-ups.  I love the inclusion of all of the extra hands, since there’s a tendency to drop them these days.  These ones give him a great range of expression.  The webline’s the same one they’ve been using; it works out alright.  The web wings are always tricky in figure form; the swapable pieces feel like the best way of handling them.  They work well on mine, but I know that for some people they’ve been really loose fitting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve got a soft-spot for the AF Spidey, especially when it comes to Legends.  The Series 10 version from Toy Biz was my standard 6-inch Spidey for a very long while, only being retired by the Pizza Spidey.  Pizza Spidey himself has been a favorite of mine, and, while the retro figure was okay, he wasn’t really an upgrade to me, just a lateral move that I personally didn’t like as much.  With this release, I feel like Hasbro has a suitable replacement for Pizza Spidey.  I mean, sure, he’s still not in standard colors, but in case you hadn’t been clued in by how attached I was the Toy Biz AF Spidey, I’m clearly not too shaken up about that.  This guy’s really, really great.  Honestly, he’s my favorite Legends Spidey to date.

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.

#3202: Dr. Dave Bowman

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

DR. DAVE BOWMAN

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

“Mission commander of the Discovery One spacecraft and lone survivor of the five astronauts on board.  After being led out of the spacecraft by HAL 9000 in an attempt to leave him behind, Dr. Bowman manages to improvise his way back onto the ship and shuts off HAL 9000, continuing his journey to Jupiter.”

As someone whose main focus of writing is for a website that deals entirely with toys, it’s very rare that I really get to flex that deeper meaning, human existence, really makes you think, cerebral side of myself.  I mean, sure, sometimes I wax on seriously about things within the absurd, but it’s rare.  So, today, I’m switching things up, and discussing a Stanley Kubrick movie of all things.  I know.  I’m surprised about this development, too.  I promise to not let all this high art stuff go to my head, though.  Kubrick, and in turn Kubrick’s estate, was always sort of odd about merchandise in regards to his film work.  Something about true artistry or something like that.  By and large, it’s not a big deal, since many of his works don’t exactly lend themselves to easy toy coverage.  Over the years, some of the barriers have been broken on some of the more figure-friendly things.  A Clockwork Orange in particular has become easier to work with, and clearly Funko’s doing something right, because we’ve also gotten an assortment of Pops.  For some reason, 2001: A Space Odyssey has been a particularly tricky one for licensing over the years.  Companies will try to get something off of the ground, only for it to be ultimately cancelled before going into production. For something that’s probably *the* definitive science fiction film, it’s honestly a bummer that there’s been such an uphill battle on doing something for it toy-wise.  When Super 7 announced they were adding 2001 to their Ultimates banner last year, I was excited, but also worried.  I’ve been misled before.  However, it’s not the case this time around!  The figures are actually here!  How about that?  So, in honor of the things actually getting produced and all, I’m taking a look at the closest thing the movie’s got to a main character, Dr. Dave Bowman, today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Dave Bowman is part of the first, and presumably the only, wave of 2001: A Space Odyssey Ultimates figures from Super 7.  Dave is seen here in his space gear, the most sensible and most distinctive of his looks in the movie, and also the look he’s got for a good chunk of his screen time.  It’s also a quite distinctive and a rather signature design for the genre as a whole.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches (sans helmet; he gets an extra half inch with the helmet in place) and he has 26 points of articulation.  The first Super 7 Ultimates figure I looked was Casey from their TMNT line, and his articulation scheme was pretty solid.  These figures are a little different, and the end result is definitely a lot more limited, especially when it comes to the elbows and knees.  A degree of this is certainly due to the design of the suit; you can clearly see in the film that there’s some definite restricting.  That said, it doesn’t quite get to this level.  It’s not like Dave gets into many action poses or anything in the movie, but I’d have liked just a touch more motion on the elbows at the very least.  Dave’s sculpt is new to this line, albeit mostly shared with Frank and Heywood, since they all had variants of the same space suits.  It’s a generally sensible sculpt.  Some of the details are a little on the softer side, but, for the most part, it’s quite a nice recreation of the suits seen in the film, especially in its fully-assembled set-up. Once the helmet’s off, though, things do get a bit rougher.  Firstly, the join between the helmet and the suit is off; the silver part should stay on the suit, but here it’s on the helmet; it winds up making his neck look very long and wonky with the helmet off.  Secondly, the head beneath the helmet’s definitely the weakest part of the overall sculpt.  He doesn’t look entirely unlike Keir Dullea…but it’s not super close either.  His hair is parted the opposite direction, his forehead’s too short, and his jaw’s too pronounced.  He also just generally looks too old for Dullea in 2001.  All that said, there’s a sort of a caricature effect going on, and the head looks decent beneath the helmet, which is really what’s most important.  Dave’s paint work is generally okay.  It’s a lot of base color work, but there’s some really nice work on the smaller details of the suit, especially it’s insignias.  The head under the helmet is again the weak spot; the paint’s a bit on the thick side, and, in the case of my figure, there’s a slight imperfection on the right cheek, which looks like he’s gotten a bruise or something.  Thankfully, it’s mostly hidden by the helmet.  Dave makes out with a pretty solid accessory selection here.  There’s a second helmet in green, three sets of hands in gripping, relaxed, and open gesture, his sketchbook, an alternate older head, and a whole separate character in the form of HAL-9000, Discovery‘s on-board AI-turned antagonist.  The green helmet allows for Dave’s look after his airlock jump, which is cool.  Technically, he should have a set of gloves in green to complete the look, but it’s still a nice gesture.  The sketchbook shows one of his drawings of the sleeping crew members, which is fun.  The alternate head actually has a slightly better likeness of Dullea than the standard head, so that’s cool.  HAL’s the star extra here, of course.  He’s based on his smaller console appearance from the pod bay, which is notably the console he uses to read Dave and Frank’s lips, and thus find out their plan to shut him down.  It’s also a far more easily packaged version of him than the larger version from the bridge.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first exposure to 2001 was when it was still technically in the future, though not by much.  I was about 7 at the time, so I didn’t really understand it, but it’s designs certainly stuck with me, as did HAL in particular.  Hey, us ’92 kids gotta stick together, am I right?  As I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to appreciate the movie as a whole.  When Super 7 announced these, I was already drawn to Dave, just on the basis of wanting one of the space suits.  Seeing that HAL was included just clinched the whole thing.  Yes, I bought a $50 figure for the small hunk of plastic that came with him.  Okay, no, not really.  I did want the whole figure.  This is a figure that’s definitely got some flaws, but at the same time, there’s so much cool going on here that it all winds up actually working pretty well.  And also there’s a HAL!  Did you see the HAL?

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.

#3200: Batman

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

BATMAN

DC ESSENTIALS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

Ah, DC Essentials.  The second use of the very generic name for a toyline, by a very generically named toy company, with figures that are exclusively DC’s heavy hitters, making finding any information regarding the line next to impossible if you don’t want to scroll through a bunch of nonsense.  That’s great staying power for a toyline, right? Well, no, but then again, DC Direct/DC Collectibles was never much for keeping things going.  They just tended to get bored and move to the next thing…which is kind of what happened to the company as a whole after DC left Diamond Comics in 2020.  Now they exist only as sub-division of McFarlane Toys.  And that’s somehow worse than just being defunct, I feel.  Alas.  I suppose I’ll just review one of my un-reviewed DCC figures I’ve got sitting here, going all the way back to the beginning of the second DC Essentials.  Let’s look at Batman, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman is figure 1 in the DC Essentials line, officially kicking off the line in an assortment that also featured Deathstroke, Flash, and Reverse Flash.  Early run for the line had two pairs of two themed figures for each series.  In Batman’s case, he paired off opposite Deathstroke.  You know, classic Batman foe Deathstroke.  The way it’s been.  Ever since the beginning.  Just Batman and Deathstroke all the time.  Sure.  Anyway, the Batman figure that I’m actually supposed to be writing about is based on his Rebirth design, which he’d gotten not terribly long before this figure hit, and which was consistent with most of the other figures in the early line.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Batman was based on the standard male body for the line, which served as the starting point for the vast majority of the line’s figures.  It’s not the worst thing, but it’s certainly got its flaws.  Those overly long arms still look goofy, and I’m not as angry about the exposed torso joint pegs as I was when the line was new, but they’re still not great.  Also, I still have issues with the same base body being used across the board for all of the male characters, regardless of how they *should* be built.  In Batman’s case, it’s a touch skinny.  All that said, it’s not a terrible offering by any stretch.  He gets a unique head, forearms, boots, cape, and belt.  The new parts do at least mesh well with the base body, and I quite like the head’s rendering of Batman’s short-eared look.  It’s very clean, and I really like it.  Batman’s paint work is generally okay.  The application is fairly clean, and the colors look overall rather nice.  That said, this costume was pretty consistently depicted as being black and grey, and for some reason, they’ve gone for a dark blue.  It’s not a bad look, but it’s not as striking as it could be.  Batman is packed with a single batarang, and that’s it.  It’s more than most of the line got, of course, but it still feels light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Essentials first hit, the price point per figure was far too high for me to really be grabbing too many of them.  I got, like, two of them at full price and waited on sales for the rest.  But, even on sale, Batman wasn’t really high on my list.  That is, until Batman got traded into All Time shortly after I went back to work following the 2020 shut down.  I’d gone two months with no new toys, and he was a good deal, and, well, I was an easy mark.  He’s not a bad figure.  Not a great one, but not a bad one.  That’s kind of Essentials as a whole.  They were at least a consistent offering.

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

#3199: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO (HASBRO)

“A mercenary bound to the ancient spirit, Khonshu, Moon Knight fights to win the spirit its due!”

Ohhhh! Every day I wake up, then I start to break up, lonely is a man without love!  Every day I start out, then I cry my heart out, lonely is a man without love!  …you see, it’s clever, because that’s the song that Stephen wakes up to in Moon Knight, and…umm, I’m using it to start my review.  Fun, right?  Look, I’m just thrilled to be here, really.  Moon Knight’s mainstream, you guys.  I got Moon Knight socks the other day!  Moon Knight socks, you guys!  And there’s so many Moon Knight toys. We had this small selection, and now, it’s just so much more, and I’m all about it.  Moon Knight’s been shown on the card art for Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Retro line since the line began, but he’s just now finally made it into the line.  And I’m pretty excited about that too.  Let’s check him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is part of series 7 of Marvel Legends Retro, alongside Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man, Nova, Firestar, and repacks of Cap and Iron Man.  He’s one of two figures double-packed, the other being Spider-Man.  Moon Knight’s on Spider-Man’s level.  That’s crazy.  I’m so here for it.  As with the rest of the line, Moon Knight comes packaged in a beautiful retro throwback package, with lovely unique card art and graphics, all of which you must utterly destroy to open the figure.  That’s right, I destroyed this art, just for you guys.  I sure hope you appreciate that!  After being aggressively torn from his packaging, the figure stands just a hair over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is the same as the Cap I already looked at from this line, which is the classic 5 POA set-up with the addition of swivels on the forearms.  The boots are still separate pieces, but they’re also still glued in place, so there’s no extra movement there.  Moon Knight’s construction uses the same core body as the Cap figure, so he adheres pretty closely to the line’s own established style.  He gets his own unique head and cloak pieces.  The head’s a very basic full-face mask, which I feel like we’ll see more use of as the line continues.  The cloak is quite an impressive piece.  Still more on the basic side, but that perfect classic Moon Knight look.  The paint work on this figure is generally pretty basic, but I appreciate the slight change-up in tones of white for the belt and symbol, as well as the rarely used red eyes in reference to the original Moon Knight #1 cover.  The only thing I don’t really care for is the rather obnoxious brown production code printed on his inner right thigh; the odd color makes it kind of stand out, but it’s at least in a spot you won’t see most of the time.  Moon Knight doesn’t get any accessories.  I’d have liked maybe a staff or moonerangs, but accessories are at a minimum for this line in general, so it’s not majorly surprising, especially since he’s got the cloak.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in the intro, Moon Knight’s been on the card backs for this line since the beginning, and I’ve been eagerly waiting for his proper announcement since.  I was very excited when he was finally shown off.  Obviously, he’s just a basic figure.  I’m not expecting him to break the mold or do anything crazy.  And I still have my slight reservations with this line as a whole, as I did when I reviewed Cap.  But I’ve also kind of mellowed on things a bit there, and I’m honestly just super thrilled at another Moon Knight.  Perhaps the luster will start to wear off once there’s a ton of Moon Knight stuff everywhere for a prolonged period of time, but for now, I’m just really happy about it 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.

#3198: Jet Jaguar

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

JET JAGUAR

S.H. MONSTERARTS (BANDAI)

As someone with only really a passing knowledge of the Godzilla franchise, I can tell you that there are two things I am very definitely a fan of, despite my limited knowledge.  The first is Mechagodzilla, because, I mean, come on.  It’s all in the name there, right guys?  The other one?  Jet Jaguar.  Why?  Well, simply put, because I love Ultraman, and Jet Jaguar?  Pretty much just Ultraman.  I mean, yeah, there’s more to that, but, I mean, come on.  I’ve got plenty of Ultraman love in my collection, especially in the Figuarts-style range, but now I’m finally hitting up the Godzilla side just a little bit.  I snagged a Mecha earlier in the year, and now, thanks to an updated appearance in Godzilla: Singular Point, I’ve also gotten a shot at a sweet new Jet Jaguar!  Jet Jaguar!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jet Jaguar is part of Bandai’s S.H. Monsterarts line, and has been showing up domestically in the last month or so.  In Japan, the figure is a web-exclusive, but in the US, we were fortunate enough to get him as a standard release.  Or, at least as standard as any Monsterarts release can be here.  As mentioned in the intro, the figure is based on Jet’s appearance in Singular Point, specifically his third, fully advanced form, and follows up on the Godzilla from the same source, with was released earlier in the year.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  While the figure is certainly very mobile, I did find that there was just a little bit of a learning curve on working his articulation properly, so as to not risk breaking anything.  Thankfully, it’s not anything too crazy, and after messing with him for a little bit, I was comfortable enough to not worry about damaging anything.  The range is generally pretty solid, but I did find some slight sponginess on the shoulders and hips, largely due to how they are constructed.  It’s nothing terrible, but I do worry just a little bit about how some of the joints are going to hold up over time.  Jet Jaguar’s sculpt is an all-new one, and it does a quite respectable job of recreating the character’s animation design.  The mechanical detailing on the head and torso is especially nice, and very crisp.  Some of the detailing on the legs is a little softer, but still not bad.  I’m not a fan of the use of rubber for the jacketing on the shoulders, but that’s about my only real complaint when it comes to this figure’s assembly.  Everything else is up to the usual SH standards, and he’s just a really slick looking figure.  Jet Jaguar’s color work is fairly basic for the most part, but as far as actual paint goes, there’s some rather nice weathering on the torso and head, and I really dig the clear blue for the eyes.  I also quite like the bright color palette, which really helps him to stand out amongst the other Monsterarts.  In terms of accessories, Jet Jaguar is pretty well loaded.  He’s got three different sets of manipulators (in gripping, splayed, and pointing), the Anguirus spike spear, three different styles of back attachment, with one set of just the “handles”, the back pack, and the full flight pack, an alternate set of “extended” antennae, a minifigure of Yun Arikawa, a chair for Yun which swaps out for one of the plates on Jet’s back, and a stand.  The spear is rubber at the top, so it was a little warped on mine right out the box, but I do appreciate that it splits in the middle to make it easier to get it into Jet’s hands.  The flight pack is articulated, which is fun.  It makes Jet a bit top heavy, but the stand sort of helps with that.  It’s not as useful as one of the stages or anything, but it can at least aid in keeping him upright.  Yun is actually articulated, which is fun, but lacks any sort of paint, so he’s just blue.  So, there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite having a very limited amount of any *actual* interaction with Jet Jaguar in media, I have this undying love for the guy.  When this figure was announced, I was pretty much immediately on board, and I was definitely plussed at being able to get him through All Time.  The figure’s not quite what I was expecting, I think, after messing with other Monsterarts, but that’s not a bad thing.  He’s still a lot of fun, and just a really nifty design overall.  I’d love to also see a classic Jet, if perhaps that’s on the table, but we’ll just have to see, I suppose.

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

#3197: The Controller

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

THE CONTROLLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

First appearing at the end of the first year of Iron Man’s initial solo title, Basil Sandhurst aka The Controller is one of those villains who’s always sort of stuck to the background.  He’s largely remained an Iron Man foe, but also spent some time working with Thanos against Captain Marvel and the Avengers, as well as doing the general bounce around amongst the core Avengers cast.  He’s never risen to any particularly crazy heights, and despite his nature as a guy who controls other people, he’s more often than not working for someone bigger these days.  Most recently, he resurfaced in Iron Man’s current run, this time working for Michael Korvac.  This increased prominence, coupled with his design being “blue Thanos,” has netted him his first action figure treatment, as a Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure.  I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Controller is the Build-A-Figure for the self-titled series of Marvel Legends, which is the most recent Avengers-themed assortment.  Given that the assortment also features Iron Man in his most recent armor, Controller is a pretty natural fit.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His size is a bit large for his listed height of 6 foot 2 inches, but as with most listed comic book character heights, there’s always a degree of variance in how they’re actually portrayed.  Controller’s certainly one of those characters that’s crept up in height over the years.  It’s also more excusable given the nature of his construction, which banks pretty heavily on the deluxe Thanos molds from last year.  He shares his arms, legs, pelvis, and shoulder armor with that figure, and his torso is also a slightly modified version of Thanos’s as well.  The two have classically looked astonishingly similar in their designs, and this is certainly a major factor in Controller getting made for this assortment, so I definitely get it.  He gets a new head, forearms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as a new belt piece.  By far, the head is the strongest piece.  It captures Controller’s cracked and segmented face really well, just really looks the part.  His new gloves and boots are far more simplified than Thanos’s were, which better fits the Controller’s usual look, and also just further removes him from the prior figure.  Controller’s paint work is more involved than it looks at first glance.  While the basic blues are just molded plastic, there’s a bit of highlighting on the lighter blues to make some of the muscle detailing stand out a bit more.  The exact shades seem just a little bit off, so it looks a little funky, but I do like to see Hasbro trying something other than just the flat colors.  The face also gets some accenting to really bring out those cracks, and that winds up paying off much better.  Despite being a Build-A-Figure, Controller nevertheless actually gets two sets of hands: basic fists, and a combo with open gesture.  The right open gesture hand is even holding a pair of his control discs, which is a fun touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t intend to finish this figure nearly as quickly as I did.  After a couple years of just buying full sets of everything Legends and sorting out what I didn’t want later, for this series I actually decided to be picky, since I wasn’t really that interested in more than half of the figures.  And, while I wasn’t opposed to owning a Controller, I was also content to wait for his parts to get traded in.  No rush.  Well, I got my two pieces from the figures I wanted.  And then Max got one figure, and didn’t want the parts.  And a customer at the store also wasn’t getting a full set, so I got those parts too, and one by one, I assembled a Controller in just over a day.  Hey, I won’t knock that!  He’s another one of those fairly by the numbers figures, who does exactly what he needs to, and ultimately succeeds because of it.  I wasn’t expecting a lot, but he’s certainly fun.