Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3079: Admiral Piett

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

ADMIRAL PIETT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“An ambitious Imperial officer, Piett rose through the ranks to captain and was assigned to the Super Star Destroyer Executor, Darth Vader’s flagship. When Vader strangled Admiral Ozzel, Piett was granted a battlefield promotion to admiral — and given a grisly warning of the penalty for failure.”

Hey, remember yesterday, when I was filling in the lull between Marvel Legends releases with stuff I had sitting around unreviewed?  Well, prepare yourselves for the same thing, but with Black Series.  Sure, there are theoretically new figures out there I haven’t reviewed, but I also haven’t seen any of them, so I’m pretending like they aren’t really out there yet, and doing my first Black Series review in a month and a half about a figure that’s been sitting to the side of my desk, unopened, for, like, six months.  Eh, it’s just Admiral Piett.  Everyone forgets about ol’ Firmus.  Okay, not everyone.  There was actually a sizeable campaign to bring him back for Return of the Jedi.  So, I guess it was really just Lucas that forgot him.  Well, Hasbro didn’t, at least as far as The Black Series is concerned, so I guess I’ll remember him for the day and take a look at that figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Admiral Piett was released in 2018 as an online store exclusive Black Series release, predominately shipping through Entertainment Earth.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Structurally, Piett largely shares his parts with Tarkin and Veers.  It’s sensible, them all being in the same uniform and all.  As with Veers, Piett’s torso sculpt has been tweaked ever so slightly to change up the pins and properly designate his rank.  He’s also got an all-new head sculpt, sporting a pretty solid likeness of actor Kenneth Colley.  Not as strong as Tarkin, but a touch better than Veers, which is saying something.  He’s still got hat hair, but what do you expect?  Piett gets his own removable had, which is a distinct piece from the one included with Veers figure.  They should be, since their hats are slightly different, but it’s still nice that Hasbro went that extra mile, especially since the hat’s really just a bonus with Veers in the first place.  The paint work on Piett is up to the same par as Veers; nothing too terribly exciting or anything, but he gets the colors he needs to, and the printing on the face is nice and lifelike.  Piett is packed with the aforementioned removable hat, as well as the same small blaster pistol included with Veers.  Not that he ever really uses it for much, but it lets him be ready should he ever, you know, be, like, in the same vicinity as an actual fight.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since Piett was released right around the same time as Veers, and one can only get so excited about a bunch of stuffy British guys in grey, I wound up passing on ordering him.  I kind of regretted that after the fact, since, as I mentioned in my review of the PotF figure, I do have a bit of a soft spot for the character.  Fortunately for me, I got a second chance at grabbing him, courtesy of him getting traded into All Time before the holidays.  Of course, then I dragged my feet on actually opening and reviewing him, but that’s hardly the point.  While not the most thrilling figure, he’s nevertheless a rather nice one, and fills out the upper ranks of the Imperials just a bit more.

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.

#3077: Roy Fokker

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

ROY FOKKER

ROBOTECH (TOYNAMI)

I opened my last two most recent Robotech reviews with a remark that the site really could use more Robotech reviews…and that was four years ago.  Guess I didn’t really get better at that.  Or, you know, Robotech stuff isn’t super common domestically, and it’s very rare I actually actively seek things out anymore.  Could be that.  Thus far, all of my Robotech reviews have been pretty centralized, specifically on my favorite character from the series, Roy Fokker.  I’ve looked at three different versions of his Veritech, and one version of him.  Let’s even things out just a touch with another version of Roy, then.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roy Fokker was released in 2018 as part of the first series of Toynami’s Robotech action figure series.  After some time focusing purely on the Veritechs, they finally decided to do the pilots, starting with the main cast from the “Macross” portion of the show.  The figures were first shown off in 2015, and they had a bit of a ways to go before going into production, with quite a few notable changes along the way.  Roy stands about 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  When the figures were first shown off, they sported a lot more articulation than the final product, which presents a rather stripped down version.  While the downgrading of the knees to single joints instead of doubles, and the removal of the bicep and ankle articulation isn’t too bad, the lack of elbow joints is pretty limiting.  It seems pretty crazy that they removed so much, and I’m not entirely sure what the goal was.  I guess they were just looking to keep things as inexpensive as possible, but it feels like it’s a little too compromised on the final product.  The sculpt is at least a fairly decent piece of work.  It’s a little bit rudimentary, but it’s certainly a far better recreation of his animation model than the old Matchbox figure.  There’s some pretty solid work on the jumpsuit, and they captured his most distinctive facial features and his hair pretty well.  The figure’s paint work is fairly decent.  It’s more on the basic side, but it does what it needs to and it matches pretty well with the on-screen colors, and the application is pretty clean and consistent.  Roy is packed with his helmet, and alternate partial hairpiece for going under the helmet, and a display stand.  Not a bad little selection of extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like the Matchbox Roy well enough for what he is, but I was kind of looking for something a little bit more modernized.  I remember spotting these figures online back before they were released, but they sort of fell off my radar.  A few months ago, we got the Rick figure traded into All Time, and I was hopeful we might see Roy, who thankfully followed pretty shortly.  The figure isn’t perfect; the articulation definitely cuts some weird corners, but he’s a nifty enough little figure for what he is.

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.

#3075: Big Barda

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

BIG BARDA

NEW GODS (DC DIRECT)

“Warrior goddess and Female Fury, Big Barda gives her heart and soul for the New Gods. After defecting from Darkseid’s elite army, Barda escapes to Earth with Mr. Miracle. Possessing superhuman strength, she’s virtually indestructible. An armoured warrior wielding a Mega-Rod, she can manipulate space and energy – and heal others.”

Hey, I haven’t reviewed anything from DC Direct since July of last year.  I guess I could maybe do something about that.  DCD initially found their footing doing a wider spread of DC characters, specifically the non-Batman and Superman characters that larger toy companies weren’t going to touch.  When Mattel expanded their license to a proper master DC license and launched DC Universe Classics, a much wider spreading line of DC characters, DCD’s focus shifted, in order to avoid any marketplace confusion.  They had been doing more artist-specific stuff for a little while by that point, but really leaned into it.  One of the lines to come out of that was a whole line based on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters.  It was a rather short-lived line, with only two assortments, but it was a pretty fun one, covering some of the bigger names from that little sub-set of the DC universe.  Today, I’m looking at one of the bigger (heh) contributions to the mainstream DC lexicon, Big Barda!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Big Barda was released in the second series of DCD’s New Gods line, alongside Metron, Kalibak, and Superman.  Yes, they lumped Superman into the New Gods line.  They needed a heavier hitter, I guess.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 20 points of articulation.  At this point in DCD’s run, they weren’t super posable or anything, but they were at least experimenting with a little more movement on some of their figures.  In general, the Kirby figures had a pretty decent set-up.  Barda’s sculpt was an all-new one, which remained unique to this figure.  She’s based on her fully armored appearance, which is honestly her best, and the one most worth making into toy form.  The sculpts for this whole line were directly based on Kirby’s illustrations of the characters, and to that end, Barda’s sculpt does a really good job of hitting the intended target.  Barda looks pretty much spot-on to Kirby’s drawings of her, and she’s got the right heft and stature for the character.  Additionally, the level of detailing on the armor is pretty sharp, and even the cape’s rather dynamic flow feels right for a Kirby drawing.  Even the articulation is pretty well worked in, all things considered, especially given that this is a DC Direct offering.  Barda’s paint work is actually quite nice.  The application is very clean, and she’s very bright, bold, and eye-catching.  All of the New Gods figures experimented a little more with line-work, and in Barda’s case that means for a little more contouring on the face, which works quite well.  Barda was packed with her Mega-Rod, which she has a little trouble holding, but which is otherwise a nicely sculpted piece, as well as a display stand, complete with Kirby Krackle dots and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember being very excited for this line when it was announced, and I snagged the whole first series as soon as I could.  Between the two series, my interest kind of waned a little bit, and I was generally kind of meh on the second assortment line-up.  The only one I really wanted was Barda…who wound up being the only one I wasn’t able to find when they hit, so I just sort of passed on the whole set.  I’ve moved on over the years, but every so often a swath of DCD figures will come into All Time, and that was the case with Barda here, who came in with a mixed collection, and kind of slipped through the radar, allowing me to snag her for a far more reasonable price than usually.  She’s really the best Barda out there, and I’m really glad I finally got the chance to own one, even if it took a little while to get to me.

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

#3073: Hush

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

HUSH

BATMAN: HUSH MAFEX (MEDICOM TOY)

Every so often, I like to jump into the world of imported toys, just to try out some of the finer things from time to time.  See how the other half lives, or something like that.  It’s a little tricky with some of them, given that the prices can get a bit insane on the domestic market, and things don’t always have a clear line of distribution.  A line that I’ve been intrigued by for some time is Medicom’s MAFEX line, their contribution to the 1/12 scale market.  Unfortunately for me, most of what I’ve been interested in has been of the Marvel persuasion, and those don’t have direct domestic distribution, making them pricier, and therefore less appealing.  I’ve been looking for a decent entry point, and I finally found a pretty good one.  That’s…not what I’m looking at today.  I’ll get to that.  What I *am* looking at today is Hush, based on his appearance in the self-titled arc from the comics.  I said don’t talk about it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hush is figure No. 133 in the MAFEX line-up, the fifth Batman: Hush figure, following the two color variations on Batman, Catwoman, and Superman.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  Hush marks my first time messing with a MAFEX figure, so it’s the first time I’ve checked out the articulation scheme.  It’s a mix of a few different styles, most closely resembling Figuarts in how it’s laid out and implemented, but I found that the motion seemed a little more fluid, at least on this figure compared to the Figuarts I’ve picked up.  Also, in a rather amusing sort of a set-up, it should be noted that four of those points are on the pouches on his belt, which can be posed up, as if he’s mid-jump.  It’s such a minor thing, but it’s also kind of cool.  The only slightly weird thing is that it’s just the pouches on the belt proper, not the lower hanging ones.  Still, it’s a nice touch.  Otherwise, the range of motion is pretty impressive for the scale.  Hush’s sculpt is a totally unique one.  He’s based on his appearance in the comics, directly patterned on Jim Lee’s art from the books, much like the old DC Direct figures.  It does a really good job of capturing the Jim Lee stylings, and there’s a lot of really good small detail work.  The technical work is just really impressive.  Hush includes three different head sculpts.  Two of them are the full bandaged look, one with a calm expression, and the other an angrier look.  The heads are nicely detailed, and internally consistent in their detailing, as well as matching up pretty nicely with Lee’s illustrations of the character.  The third head, and by far my favorite, is a Jason Todd head, based on the famous reveal panel.  It’s a great sculpt, with a ton of character, and super well-suited to the body.  Given the bare neck, this was clearly the head that the body was sculpted specifically for, with the other two being more of a package deal.  Hush’s paint work is really nicely handled.  The application is really clean, and the colors are nice and bold.  There are no missing details, or any notable slop, and the whole thing just looks pretty slick.  Hush has an impressive selection of accessories, including the three previously mentioned heads, plus five pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, relaxed, open gesture, and blade holding), two handguns, a coin, a separate knife, two different insignias for the chest (one H and one R, depending on display option), as well as two different belts (again with the H and R set-ups), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I touched on in the intro, this figure isn’t the one that broke me on MAFEX, though he did come rather close.  No, that would be the Hush Nightwing, which is just too cool to pass up, and will be added to my collection just as soon as I can get him.  Of course, right after Nightwing was announced and I got my order in for him, this guy got traded into All Time used, giving the opportunity to mess with a MAFEX in hand, and also a slightly cheaper option for getting this one to go with that Nightwing I’m already down for.  I mean, it’s not that crazy to have the two grown up Robins, both from a rather formative comic book storyline for me, right?  Right.  So, after much hemming and hawing, I brought this guy home.  Was it the right call?  Simply put, yes.  This is a really nice figure, who really feels worth the heightened price point.  I can’t really afford to go all-in on a set of them at this price point, but I’m definitely even more excited for that Nightwing, and I’ll probably be picking up one or two other figures, as they do characters I have more draw to.

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.

#3072: Ultraman

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

ULTRAMAN

ULTRAMAN (MEGO)

Back around Christmas time, I took a look at my first Ultraman Mego, which was, ironically, not the first Ultraman, but rather his immediate follow-up, Ultraseven.  It felt a bit inappropriate to just have Ultraseven, so I’ll be making things right, so to speak, with today’s review, which shifts the focus back to the original Ultraman, as well as also checking off that Mego box that can wind up being pretty rare around these parts.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman was released in the 10th assortment of the revamped Mego’s line-up, under the Sci-Fi banner, and officially branded Ultraman, which is, you know, pretty sensible and all.  He was the first of the Ultramen, with Ultraseven following in the assortment just after this one.  The figure stands just over 8 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation.  Ultraman is built on the standard male Type 2 body, which is a serviceable choice for a good number of characters.  This guy is no different on that front.  While Seven got a new head and hands, Hayata just got the new head.  Given that subsequent Ultras have gotten the new hands, this was clearly something decided after this particular release.  The new head is a really solid piece; the classic Ultraman helmet really fits well with the Mego style, and it translates really well here.  The paint work is confined to the head, and it’s pretty decent.  It’s basic application stuff, but it works well.  Ultraman’s outfit is made up of a jumpsuit and a pair of standard boots.  The jumpsuit’s actually really nice.  The silver details are done with a pseudo-chrome feature, which is really spiffy, and I really dig how the color timer is actually a raised element.  I do slightly worry about how well it’ll stay attached over time, but for now it’s cool.  The boots are just a normal pair of silver boots, and, if I’m honest, they feel extraneous.  The design doesn’t actually feature boots proper, and there’s a fully detailed section of suit under the boots, so it feels almost more authentic without them.  But, hey, who am I to complain about extra stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed this guy during his initial run at retail, for a good number of reasons.  Max was kind enough to set me up with Seven, but that only made me want this guy more.  Thankfully, Max once again came through with the save on this one, setting me up with one that was traded into All Time while I was out.  He’s nice like that.  Ultraman is a really great fit for this style, and the resulting figure is really solid.  He’s easily one of the best of the modern era Megos, and I’m glad I was able to finally snag one.

#3070: Fezzik

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

FEZZIK

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

Providing the natural pair-off to Princess Bride’s dark and brooding Inigo, is the large, jovial, and friendly Fezzik.  Fezzik is the classic jolly giant, portrayed by a real-life jolly giant, Andre the Giant.  Did I say “giant” enough?  Though author William Goldman wrote the role of Fezzik specifically with Andre in mind, he was not the first actor cast in the role.  When the film first went into production, Andre was unavailable, so the role was initially given to a relatively unknown actor by the name of Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Production stalled, and by the time it picked back up, Schwarzenegger was, well, not so unknown, and Andre was available.  But there exists an alternate reality where The Princess Bride starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, by Last Action Hero rules, a corresponding reality where Fezzik was played by Sylvester Stallone.  Crazy, huh?  Also weird to acknowledge an example of us being in the objectively better reality.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fezzik is a Megafig release from McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line, designed to correspond with the standard Series 1 figures.  For those of you playing at home, that means that McFarlane actually gave us the whole core cast in one shot.  No weird oddball choices or obviously missing characters.  Are…are they aloud to do that?  Well, I guess we’ll give it a try.  Fezzik stands 9 1/4 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  Right off the bat, the biggest issue with this figure is…well, how big he is.  Andre the Giant was 7’4″ tall, which, given that Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin are both right about 6′ tall, that should make this figure about an inch shorter than he currently is.  Hey, nobody ever said McFarlane was any good at scale.  In fact, it’s usually the opposite.  It’s a shock the other three were as well balanced as they were.  Ultimately, Fezzik is noticeably larger than the rest of the cast, and so is this figure.  So, he should be smaller, but he’s not, and we’ll just have to make the best of it.  Speaking of “the best of it”, despite the larger than it should be stature, the sculpt on Fezzik is probably the strongest of the figures so far.  The detailing, especially the texturing on his clothing is really top notch, and the bulk of the body matches well with Andre’s real-life build.  The head sculpt isn’t a spot-on recreation of Andre’s likeness; the hair’s a little too tidy, and the face seems a touch elongated.  That said, it captures a lot of the important elements in terms of quick recognition, and I’m especially pleased that they’ve gone with a more jovial expression for the face, as that feels far more in keeping with Fezzik as a character.  The real down turn for this figure winds up being the paint work.  It’s not terrible, but there are some notable issues.  Like the rest of the series, he’s got the side-eye going on, which is annoying.  On top of that, he’s got some fairly heavy shading on the eyes, which makes him look a bit like a racoon, as well as on the lower face.  Andre was fairly clean shaven in the film, and didn’t have any odd shading on his eyes, so the choice to do this extra shading, especially coupled with his general skin color feeling a bit paler than it should, makes him look a little spooky and sickly, which I don’t think is the intent.  Fezzik is packed with a rock (specifically the one meant to be thrown at Westley’s head), a peanut, and a display stand.  So, umm, about the peanut?  Yeah, Fezzik never actually has one.  Nor does anyone, at any point in the film.  This is a no-peanuts film.  It’s obviously a reference to Fezzik’s “Anybody want a peanut?” line, during the rhyming sequence.  But, the thing is, he doesn’t actually have one, and he’s actually just using the question to annoy Vizzini.  It’s a great scene, but, well, again, there’s no actual peanut.  Also, this peanut is, like, three times the size it should be, and looks downright ridiculous.  Why is it here?  Mostly to justify pushing the cloak off to a second release, which honestly feels rather weak.  I’d have much rather had the cloak.  I mean, what am I gonna do with this on the shelf?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There was no way I was going to miss out on completing this particular set, and the Fezzik was included right from the get-go, with no weirdness surrounding likeness or anything, was a definite plus on getting me on-board for the whole thing.  Inigo’s my favorite, and the strongest of the set, but I think Fezzik’s a pretty strong second.  There are still some definite issues with the final release (it wouldn’t be a true McFarlane release if their weren’t), but ultimately, the good of the figure shines through them.  All-in-all, it’s a stronger set of figures than it has any right to be, and at this point, I’m just happy to have them.  I’m on board for more and will be picking up (most of) Series 2, but if the line stopped right here, I’d still be pretty happy.

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.

#3069: Inigo Montoya

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

INIGO MONTOYA

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

While Buttercup and Westley are likable protagonists whom the story is undoubtedly centered upon, the success of The Princess Bride really lies with its supporting players, and their own respective journeys.  Perhaps the film’s most satisfying journey is that of Inigo Montoya (of “Hello my name is” fame), who begins the film as just a hired sword, albeit a terribly likable one, and finishes the story by tracking down the man who killed his father and finally gaining the vengeance he had been hunting for two decades, only to discover that vengeance is ultimately rather hollow.  It’s a powerful and impactful story, with a lot of weight to it for something that’s ostensibly a comedy.  And now he’s got an action figure, which I’m gonna take a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Inigo Montoya is the third and final figure in the first standard assortment of McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line.  Inigo’s only got the one look in the film, but it does sort of evolve in how disheveled he appears.  This figure’s rather on the cleaner side, signifying he’s from earlier in the film’s run time.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  His articulation is really just the standard McFarlane fare.  It works decently with the sculpt, and manages to not break up the sculpt too badly.  His sculpt is all-new, but as with the others in the first set, most of his sculpt will see re-use on his Series 2 counterpart.  It’s honestly a pretty solid offering.  The proportions are slightly lanky, but not nearly as gangly and awkward as Westley’s were, and the general fit together is much better.  The leg articulation works in a bit oddly, but it’s again better than Westley.  The detailing on the outfit is definitely impressive; they’ve done quite a nice job of replicating Inigo’s very worn-in attire.  The head’s got a passable likeness of Mandy Patinkin; it’s a bit caricature, but it’s fairly easily recognized.  The more dour expression certainly works here, and they’ve even remembered to include the scars on his cheeks.  The hair is a little thick and un-hair-like, but it gets the proper shaping, which certainly is the most important thing.  Inigo’s paint work is honestly the best of the bunch.  It’s still rather basic, but there’s enough detailing to make it work.  Curiously, despite Inigo generally being scruffier than Westley, this figure doesn’t get stuck with the heavy shadowing on the lower half of the face, or any scruff at all, actually.  I think it works in his favor, and the rest of the face detailing is pretty solid.  I like the slight shading under his eyes.  The two things I don’t like are the fact that the shoulder cups are molded in flesh tone, revealing the clashing color scheme when he’s posed, and, as with all of the figures, the dreaded side-eye.  As with Westley, he’s looking the opposite direction of his sword hand, and, just like Westley, this further emphasizes the general stupidness of not including alternate left hands for these two.  He does include his rather ornate sword, as well as a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If the very in depth introduction wasn’t an indicator, Inigo is and has always been my favorite character in The Princess Bride.  His figure was the one I was most looking forward to out of this bunch, and, in hand, I think he’s also the most impressive figure in the bunch.  Apart from the eyes thing and the lack of extra hand, this figure is a lot less hampered by issues than the others, making him genuinely just a pretty solid figure.  I definitely dig this 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.

#3068: Dread Pirate Roberts

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

DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

While Princess Buttercup is the titular character of The Princess Bride, the story’s dashing hero is her love Westley, a former farm-hand, drafted into the life of piracy by the Dread Pirate Roberts (or at least a man using that name).  Westley himself adopts the title and uses it when going on his rescue of Buttercup, following her abduction by Vizzini and his crew.  Westley’s Dread Pirate Roberts attire is one of the film’s most classic looks, making it a logical choice for merchandising opportunities.  That’s not changed with the McFarlane offerings, which include Westley amongst their first assortment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Dread Pirate Roberts is another piece of the first standard assortment of McFarlane’s The Princess Bride line.  He’s presented here in the full Dread Pirate attire, from before his encounters in the fire swamp.  While the rest of the cast’s treatment has been rather sparse, we’ve had a couple of releases of Westley, specifically in this look, over the years, including one in the very same scale courtesy of NECA.  This one is markedly more articulated than the last.  He stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Apart from some slight limitations at the elbows, which are honestly to be expected, Westley’s articulation is decent in its range of motion.  Westley’s sculpt is all-new, though a good portion of it will be shared with the second assortment version.  It’s alright.  That’s really the best I can muster.  The individual parts have their strengths, to be sure.  The head sports a passable likeness of Cary Elwes, and the construction of the mask is well handled, with its multi-part construction.  I do miss the slight smile of NECA’s sculpt, but I suppose this expression works well enough for him.  The details of the outfit are pretty sharply handled as well.  The trouble is how it all fits together.  His neck is far too scrawny compared to the head, the articulation of the shoulders makes the arms look disjointed from the torso, and the figure’s pelvis is oddly flat and elongated.  It takes him just a step away from dashing hero, and ultimately lands a little closer to goofy caricature than it should.  The paint work is rather basic, mostly relying on molded colors for the black sections.  It would be nice to see some light variation in finish, especially for the mask, but it reads well enough for what it’s supposed to be.  The part gets the most of the actual paint work is the face.  It’s not awful, though the scruff on the face seems a little heavier than it should be.  Also, once again, he’s got the side-eye going on, which is rather limiting, and is also in the opposite direction of his sword hand, which makes posing tricky.  And that brings us to the accessories.  He’s got his sword and a stand.  It’s not bad, but it’s also very bare bones.  Once again, an alternate head without the side-tracking eyes would be nice, or, I don’t know, perhaps a left hand that could actually hold the sword?  It’s kind of a key piece of the fencing scene, and at the very least, it would allow him to point the sword in the direction the eyes are looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is quite certainly the weakest of the bunch in this round.  It’s definitely amplified by there being a version of him in this scale already, but this guy’s just got issues with his assembly, to say nothing of the eye issue cropping up once again here, and then that very issue highlighting the problems with the accessories.  He’s not bad, and as with the rest of the set, he’s better than I expected, though he’s closer to the quality I’d expected than the rest of them.

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

#3067: Princess Buttercup

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

PRINCESS BUTTERCUP

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (MCFARLANE TOYS)

There are some movies that are just undisputed classics, and The Princess Bride is one of those movies.  It’s adventurous, witty, and terribly quotable.  I think everyone will be quoting it in the future.  Or, you know, the now.  Since that’s kinda what I’m doing.  Despite its fixed placed in the cultural lexicon, the film has never been much of a merchandising juggernaut.  There have been a scant few attempts at toys over the years, mostly amounting to a bunch of orphaned Westley figures and an okay set of Funko Pops.  The first real stab at a true set of figures from the film comes from McFarlane Toys of all places.  I know, I’m just as surprised as you.  Even more surprising?   There’s actually a girl in the line-up!  Look at good old Todd, actually releasing the film’s title character, despite it’s potential to inspire serial killers everywhere.  I guess The Princess Bride is just worth that risk.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Buttercup is part of the first standard series of McFarlane’s Princess Bride line.  She’ll be back again for a variant in series 2, again with the actually putting a girl toy out there.  How crazy.  This first release gives us Buttercup in her red dress that she wears during the horse ride that leads to her capture by Vizzini and his crew.  It’s the look she sports for the first half or so of the movie, and is generally one of her most distinctive, so it’s well-chosen.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 35 points of articulation.  In a fashion typical of modern McFarlane figures, there’s a decent portion of the articulation that’s just there for the sake of it being there, with little practical purpose.  I mean, why does Buttercup need toe joints?  That said, the joints do work a little better with the overall sculpt than some of the other figures the company has put out.  Movement is fairly decent, and the joints don’t wind up breaking the sculpt too badly when used, so it’s an overall win.  Buttercup’s sculpt is all-new.  The legs and head might wind up being shared with the Series 2 Buttercup, so there’s already going to be some overlap, but it’s sensible.  All things considered, the sculpt is actually not bad.  The proportions aren’t nearly as wonky as other offerings, and the detailing on the outfit is actually pretty solid.  The lower portion of the dress is soft-goods, which better from a movement standpoint.  In terms of shaping, it has a bit too much of a train for it to be accurate to the red dress, suggesting that this might be sharing a pattern with the Series 2 wedding dress appearance.  Buttercup’s head sculpt is a respectable offering.  It’s not spot-on by any stretch, but given the generally fair features of Robin Wright, there aren’t a ton of immediate details to grab onto, which makes this sort of sculpt a good deal harder.  The straight on view gets it pretty close, but the likeness is lost a bit from other angles.  The general likeness is still certainly there, though, and it’s better than a lot of other McFarlane sculpts.  The paint work on Buttercup is generally pretty okay, apart from the one, rather glaring thing, which is the eyes.  Yes, for reasons only he can truly fathom, Todd decided to pull rank on a large number of figures currently in circulation and give them all some real serious side-eye, as opposed to the standard straight forward look.  It’s not a terrible thing, and does actually allow for a lot of character to be gained.  The trouble is, it’s very limiting.  Were it an alternate head, it would be awesome, but as the only option, it really doesn’t work.  Given that the figure’s only accessory is a stand, the extra head really would have been helpful to make her feel a little more worth the money, all things considered.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies, and very certainly one that brings me a lot of comfort, so I return to it quite a lot.  I’ve always wanted a good set of toys from it, but there’s never really been a good venue.  When McFarlane announced the license, I was skeptical, but hopeful.  Buttercup is better than I expected, that much is for sure.  That said, she’s also held back just the tiniest bit from perfection, largely by those stupid eyes, which were such an easily avoided issue, and one that will plague this whole first assortment, unfortunately.

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.

#3064: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Alongside his companion Redwing, the Falcon flies wherever he’s needed!”

A year ago, we were in the midst of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s six-episode run, and we hadn’t yet gotten to see Sam Wilson claim the mantle of Captain America, at least in live action.  Instead, he was still hanging onto his identity as the Falcon, a role he’s existed in since 1969.  As the Falcon, Sam’s actually been pretty fortunate in the world of toys, with a rather consistent coverage.  He does have a slight tendency to go a little while between releases, but not so much now that he’s one of Marvel’s bigger names.  With the MCU focus for the character shifting to his Captain America role, there’s still some room for the comics version to hang onto his Falcon roots.  Hasbro did an updated Legends release late in 2020, but they’re coming back around for another pass, this time with a slightly tweaked look.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon joins Tuesday’s Vision as the next figure in a four-figure set of vaguely Disney+ inspired Retro Collection figures for Marvel Legends.  As with Vision, he’s within the loosely structured set, but ships in a solid case on his own, and is thus far a Fan Channel-exclusive.  This is Falcon’s second Hasbro Legends release, and his third Legends figure overall.  The last figure gave us Falcon in his Brubaker and Epting-era outfit.  This one is the same 2011-era outfit worn by the Marvel Universe release; it’s a modern outfit that splits the difference between the modern and classic designs, and it’s honestly a pretty strong look.  I tend to like the exposed arms look a little bit more, so it works for me.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  From a structurally standpoint, this figure is identical to the last Legends Falcon.  Apart from a few minor quibbles about smaller details, notably the fact that the wings are still one-sided with their sculpted details, and that the gauntlets of that mold aren’t quite a match for this design’s longer gloves, it’s a very nicely rendered sculpt, and one I still really, really like.  To mix things up, Falcon gets a new color deco, matching to the updated costume design.  There’s some sloppy edges on a few of the change-overs, notably on the hair line, but it’s overall a pretty solid application.  Falcon includes two different sets of hands, the same ones included with the last release, but in white this time.  Notably *not* included is his sidekick Redwing, who is not only mentioned in the bio, but also specifically listed as one of the accessories on the product description page on Hasbro Pulse.  Presumably, someone didn’t get the memo that there wasn’t already a Redwing sculpt in this scale.  Alas, I’ll just have to dig out the Toy Biz version.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last Legends Falcon, so I was content with that one.  That said, he’s rather modern in design, and I always hope for at least the option for a classic Falcon deco.  This one’s not quite a classic design, but it’s a nice middle ground, and I like how the new deco looks on the base body.  I still hold out hope for a proper classic version down the road, but I rather like this one in the mean time.

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.