Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3052: Wong

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

WONG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wong takes over for The Ancient One as Sorcerer Supreme and leader of Kamar-Taj, teaching a new era of sorcerers to protect our reality from mystical threats.”

The next cinematic installment of the MCU, Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness, hits theaters this summer.  In preparation, Hasbro’s got its usual Legends tie-in, a split of movie figures and loosely related comics offerings.  One of the prime offerings from the movie portion of the set is a character that’s far overdue in toy form at this point, Wong, who finally gets his figure due after five film appearances, with an impending sixth.  Let’s see how that turned out, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wong is figure 1 in the Rintrah Series of Marvel Legends.  Numerically, he’s the first, though the box lists him after the standard Doctor Strange, who’s without Build-A-Figure part or corresponding number.  Wong’s had a rather evolving look over the course of his film appearances, with his general design growing a little bit more ornate each time.  The newest Doctor Strange marks a far more colorful and eye-catching design for him, which honestly makes for the best option for a figure.  Guess waiting for this look wasn’t the worst overall call.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  His articulation, and in fact his general construction from a larger standpoint, are similar to the No Way Home Strange figure.  It’s a good set-up for a robed character, so it makes sense to keep the general layout.  He loses the double knees, but it’s a universal joint instead, and given the longer robes, it’s not really much lost mobility.  Wong’s sculpt is an all-new offering.  It’s a pretty solid set-up.  The head sports a respectable likeness of Benedict Wong in the role.  The face is definitely there, at least from most angles.  Not entirely sure about the hair, but that’s the element that he changes most frequently, so it’s not as major an issue.  The body sculpt is a pretty decent one, with a lot of sharp detailing on the more ornate sections of his garb.  The less ornate parts do seem slightly soft for what they should be, and the neck is probably a touch long and skinny for Wong, but it overall works.  Wong’s color work is surprisingly bright given his prior looks.  It’s pretty basic application, without a ton of real accenting.  The colors are a little sloppy around the edges, especially on the yellows, but he does still get the face printing, which is at least pretty fun.  Wong is packed with two gesturing hands, two spell-casting effects hands, a gripping hand, a sword (which I assume is something plot relevant to the new movie), and the left arm of the Rintrah Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been hoping for a Wong figure since the first Doctor Strange, and it’s only been a more noticeable omission with each successive film appearance he’s gotten.  I’m glad he finally got a figure here, and I think it’s probably his best look yet, so it worked out.  The figure’s not perfect, but he’s still a strong offering, and he’s a solid addition to the existing cast.

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.

#3049: Orko

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

ORKO

HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

Last summer, Netflix dropped the first of its two Masters of the Universe cartoons, the more veteran fan-aimed Revelation.  Two months later, they dropped the second, the more younger audience-friendly He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.  This one is a more true reboot of the franchise, building things more or less from the ground up.  Roles and basic set-ups are the same, but the specifics of the characters are, in a number of cases, heavily re-worked.  I gave the show a try, and it wasn’t quite my speed.  I’m admittedly about two decades outside of the target audience, so I don’t really think it’s a mark of the show’s overall quality.  It’s clearly designed with toys in mind, and there are some pretty fun designs there-in.  One that particularly caught my eye was the show’s mechanical take on Orko, or “Ork-0,” whose figure I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko (as the packaging refers to him) is part of the basic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toyline from Mattel, which bears the sub-branding “Power Attack”, though I’m not sure if that’s an actual line-branding or not.  The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation, as well as a spring-loaded waist joint.  His movement is a little bit on the restricted side.  I found he had an alright range of motion on the neck, but the shoulders and wrists are just simple cut joints, and he lacks any motion on the elbows, which is kind of a bummer.  At the very least, if the elbows had a couple of ball joints (which they totally look like they do), his mobility would be a lot better.  As it stands right now, he’s good for the basic hovering pose, with a little tweaking on the head, and that’s it.  He’s effectively on par with the vintage figure, I guess, so it’s not the worst thing.  Orko’s sculpt is a rather good recreation of the animation model for the character as seen in the show.  The proportions are pretty well matched, aside from the arms being a little bulked up, for the sake of durability.  The detailing’s really not bad for this style of figure, with a really nice bit of texture work on his outfit.  Orko’s color work is largely handled via molded colors, but he gets some paint for his face, and the detailing on his outfit, and it’s cleanly and sharply applied, and again matches well with the show design.  Orko is packed with a single blast effect piece, which can be used on either of his hands, albeit somewhat loosely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though the show didn’t really grab me, I did really dig the new Orko design, and I enjoy the new concept behind him.  That being the case, I was definitely on board for the new figure.  He’s kind of basic, and there are some slight drawbacks to how the articulation works, but he’s overall a pretty fun figure of a pretty fun design.

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.

#3046: 501st Legion Clone Trooper

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

501st LEGION CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

“An elite unit of Clone Troopers, the 501st Legion patrolled the grounds after their siege of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant”

Clone Troopers.  They’re, like, one of the back bones of Star Wars.  Yes, it has multiple back bones.  It’s one of those aliens with multiple backs.  And Clone Troopers are one of them.  When in doubt, do some Clone Troopers.  It’s a good motto, especially when it comes to toys.  And one that Hasbro takes pretty well to heart.  Sometimes, they even do those Clone Troopers multiple times.  Also not a bad call, really.  Despite seeming like the perfect avenue for constantly re-releasing clones, their main line of re-releases, the Archive, hasn’t yet had any actual Clone Troopers, just one commander.  But that’s okay, because now we’ve got one.  Yay for new old Clone Trooper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The 501st Legion Clone Trooper is part of the fifth assortment of the Star Wars: The Black Series Archive line, alongside Episode III Obi-Wan, Darth Revan, and A New Hope Leia.  He’s a re-release of a figure previously only available as part of the Entertainment Earth-exclusive “Clone Troopers of Order 66” boxed set from 2016.  Apart from some minor paint adjustments on the weathering of the armor, the releases are effectively the same, since there’s no face to update with face printing or anything like that.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Since he’s a straight re-release, we’re back on the old Clone body, rather than either of the updated versions.  That means a slight downgrade in terms of how the articulation works, but it’s still certainly passable, so I’ll hardly complain.  The 501st Trooper’s sculpt is shared with all of the other standard Phase II clones.  It’s the Phase I body, with the new helmet piece.  While it’s not quite as accurate as newer releases, it’s still a pretty strong sculpt, even seven years removed from its original release.  It’s not as good as the newer update, but it will fit in just fine with them.  As with any standard rank and file clone, the thing that makes this guy “unique” is the paint work.  It’s quite involved, with detailing not just for the 501st Legion’s distinctive blue markings, but also the wear and tear on the surface of the armor.  The first release of this figure used straight paint for these details, which was a little inconsistent in application, but for this release it’s updated to the printed technique, which gives it some more consistency from piece to piece, and looks just a touch sharper.  The Trooper is packed with his standard smaller blaster, which is accurate to what they carry in the film, as the long rifles are gone by that point.  It does still feel kind of light, but it is what it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was still on my “no prequels” rule for the most part when the set that contained this guy dropped, so I held off at the time.  I grew to rather regret that moving forward, so when he was confirmed for a single-packed re-issue, I was definitely on board.  He’s pretty straight forward.  Nothing new, and perhaps slightly outdated at this point, but it’s exactly what you expect, and by that metric, he does what he needs to exactly on the mark.

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.

#3045: Shocker

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

SHOCKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Shocker’s vibro-units allow him to blast through solid metal, or hurl long-range vibrational punches! But they’ve yet to help him defeat his eternal nemesis, the amazing Spider-Man!”

Some of Spider-Man’s rogues are memorable because of how menacing they are, or how close they come to actually defeating the wall-crawler in battle.  On the other hand, some of them are memorable based more on the ineffectiveness.  Such is the case with the Shocker, peroneal punching bag of the Marvel universe.  He’s such a punching bag that the fact that She-Hulk *didn’t* beat him up to get information out of him is a memorable change.  Such a punching bag that his first entry in the 6-inch scale was not as his own figure, but rather as an action feature-based pack-in with a Spider-Man, which saw him permanently stuck in one of Spidey’s web-traps.  Such a punching bag, that even his own bio doesn’t give him any respect.  That’s cold, man.  But, there’s hope on the horizon, because all of this has actually made him memorable and worthwhile in his own right, meaning he’s getting a double-dip on the Legends treatment.  That’s not so bad, I suppose.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shocker is the last of the three villains in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  It’s his second time as a Legends release, following the one from the Sandman Series in 2017.  While that one was in his at the time current gear from Superior Foes of Spider-Man, this one instead goes back to the very beginning, for a proper classic Shocker, fitting with the retro-theme of the release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While he’s got the elbow joints that Shocker so frequently loses (complete with the pinless construction that Hasbro’s been rolling out with their new sculpts), he does loose the standard wrist movement, in favor of a swivel joint further up the forearm.  While it ultimately results in less mobility at the wrists, it’s for the sake of keeping the gauntlets one piece, which is true to the original design.  And, honestly, with those gauntlets on, he’s unlikely to be able to really move his wrists anyway, so it’s not like it’s unrealistic.  Shocker is sporting an all-new sculpt, which serves his design a little more justice than the Bucky Cap body of the previous version.  It beefs him up a little bit, as you’d expect for a guy in a big padded suit, and it just generally does a really nice job of capturing the character’s classic look.  All of the quilting is properly sculpted, and I like how he’s even got extra detailing on the non-quilted parts, especially evident when comparing the head sculpts from the two releases.  I do somewhat miss the bewildered expression of the last one, but I don’t know that it would fit quite as well for this release.  Shocker’s color work is alright, though nothing particularly spectacular.  The base work is there, and the colors work well for the character.  The sculpt could really benefit from any sort of accenting on the quilted sections, as they do sort of get lost in the big patches of yellow here.  I may wind up giving this guy the same treatment as Six-Arm Spidey, just to help him pop a bit more.  Shocker is packed with two sets of hands, one set with fists, the other with relaxed hands.  They swap at the forearm joint, which keeps things clean.  I like the attention to more options on these figures.  He also includes the same effects pieces as the last one.  I still don’t think they really work for his powerset, but I won’t complain about getting extra stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last Shocker.  Like, a lot more than I’d expected, really.  But he wasn’t a classic Shocker, so another felt like it kind of needed to happen at some point.  This guy is really great.  Getting an all-new sculpt for him is really great, and the end result is a lot of fun.  He’s going to make it really difficult for me to pick a Shocker for the shelf, because I do still really love the old one, but this one’s just so good.

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.

#3044: Ben Reilly Spider-Man

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

BEN REILLY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After years of self-imposed exile, Spider-Man is back! Now calling himself Ben Reilly, and sporting a brand-new costume and web-shooters, the Wall-Crawler returns to fight crime!”

In the midst of the monster of a cross-over that was “The Clone Saga”, there was a big shocking twist, revealing that Ben Reilly, the clone of Peter Parker, with whom the audience had just become re-acquainted, wasn’t a clone at all, but was the original Peter, and, by extension, the Peter the audience had been following for 20 years, was actually a clone.  With this (obviously temporary) revelation, our Peter stepped down from the role of Spider-Man, leaving it to Ben, who would take over the Spider-titles for a year, up until the ultimate conclusion of the Clone Saga, which saw Ben’s demise.  But, of course, no one stays dead in comics, and so Ben came back.  He re-adopted the Spider-Man title quite recently, making it the perfect time to revisit his time as Spidey in figure form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ben Reilly Spider-Man is s the last of the three Spidey variants in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends. He’s the second version of the Ben Reilly Spidey in the Legends line-up, following up on the one from the Absorbing Man Series in 2016.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He marks the third figure on the updated Retro Spidey body, following regular Spidey and the Symbiote costume.  This one uses all of the main retro body parts, as well as the exterior web shooters previously used with Scarlet Spider and the last Ben Reilly Spidey.  It’s a pretty by the numbers construction, which does about what you expect.  If I’m honest, it doesn’t work quite as well here.  The head sculpt and build on this figure are very much a Romita Spidey, and that doesn’t quite so much fit with the Bagley design.  He just feels too bulky for how Ben was usually depicted, at least to my eyes.  That said, it still makes for a decently assembled figure, even if it’s not one that’s quite as ripped from the pages as the others.  Ben’s paint work is generally pretty decently handled.  It brightens up the colors compared to the last one, which is different.  I’m not entirely sold on the colors, especially the blue, which does feel a touch too bright and also means this figure isn’t quite able to match the Spider-Carnage pieces from the last one, despite the larger build making more sense for that particular design.  Speaking of extras, this Spidey gets the full run of extra hands again, which is always nice to see.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like the Ben Reilly Spider-Man design, and I really like it as an action figure.  That said, I was pretty happy with the last Legends release, and he’s definitely a solid instance for me of the Pizza Spidey really working in the appropriate context.  So, I was iffy on this one, but I still really like the design, so I grabbed it anyway.  I don’t like it quite as much as a standard Ben Reilly Spidey, but I do like it as a way to display the Spider-Carnage parts, even if the blues don’t quite match.  And, I’m glad there’s another Ben Reilly Spidey available to those that couldn’t get the last 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.

#3043: Hobgoblin

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

HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Deploying an eerie arsenal of pumpkin bombs and razor-sharp bats from his goblin glider, the criminal mastermind Hobgoblin has Spider-Man constantly on his guard!”

In preparation for this review, I realized that I haven’t actually reviewed a Hobgoblin figure since 2015’s Build-A-Figure of the Phil Urich version of the character.  On one hand, that seems like forever ago, but on the other, I suppose there really aren’t that many Hobgoblins for me.  To be honest, I do generally gravitate more to Green Goblin proper, rather than his runner up, so I don’t have a ton of them in my collection.  Further more, the last Legends release was part of one of the most scarcely distributed assortments of the current line, so he wasn’t exactly easily found.  It’s cool, though because there’s a new one.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hobgoblin is the second of the three villains in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  This marks the third Hobgoblin in the modern line, following the Build-A-Figure in 2015 and the more classic version in 2016.  He continues the trend of 6-inch Hobgoblins each being different incarnations of the character, meaning they could all theoratically be different people, I suppose.  This one’s based on the incarnation seen on the cartoon most specifically, which fits with the design of the packaging and all.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  As with the last Hobgoblin (and the last two Green Goblins, for that matter), this figure is built on a Bucky Cap-centric body, specifically the less muscular torso first use of Dr Strange.  Since they’re going for more of an animated look, this one gets the standard arms and legs, rather than the scale-mail ones that the other Goblins got.  Less going on visually, but it’s also more accurate, and it does also give him some slight variance from Green Goblin from the same line.  He gets the cape, hood, satchel, and belt from the prior Hobgoblin, which are still good fits.  The head beneath the hood is similar to the more classic Goblin head from the last figure, but it’s a distinctly different.  It’s a pretty nice sculpt, and matches well with the character, so I can definitely get behind that.  Hobgoblin’s color work is rather on the basic side.  Mostly, it’s just molded colors.  They match the animation look, so it’s very bright.  Brighter, perhaps, than Hobgoblin tends to be, but it’s certainly eye-catching, and a good callback to the old figure.  Hobgoblin is packed with a glider and a pumpkin bomb.  The glider has trouble working with the standard Bucky Cap feet, so he’s not very easy to get balanced, and he doesn’t really stay in place very well, which is kind of a shame, because it’s a good looking sculpt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As touched on in the intro, I’m not the biggest of Hobgoblin fans, and even within the whole Hobgoblin set-up, I’m more of a fan of the Urich version of the character.  All that said, I was still a little bummed about missing the Space Venom Series version.  I was glad about getting another chance at a more classic version of the character at the very least.  He’s a pretty by the numbers figure, all things considered, and in an assortment of slightly more inventive figures, he’s maybe not the flashiest or most showy, but he’s a decent follow-up to the old Toy Biz figure.

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

#3042: Symbiote Spider-Man

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

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Man gets an all-new look when he finds a sleek black costume in a space shuttle wreck. Little does Spidey realize he’s joined himself to the predatory alien symbiote: Venom!”

In early 1984, after over 20 years of more or less just getting minor tweaks to the same basic design, Spider-Man debuted an all-new costume on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #252.  This black and white number would get its own origin story in the pages of Secret Wars later that year, where it was revealed that the suit was actually an alien symbiote, bonded to Peter during his stay on Battleworld.  He wound up keeping the suit for about 6 months, before discovering its true nature and ditching it.  Not long after, though, he took to wearing a cloth replica of the design, and actually stuck with that for another four years, making it a fairly lengthy run with the suit.  As such, it’s become a staple for toy coverage, meaning it gets trotted back out every so often to keep things fresh.  We got a standard Black Costume Spider-Man Legends release back in 2017, with a re-release in 2019, but with a new standard Spidey body out there, it’s time for another go at the design, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Symbiote Spider-Man is the second Spidey variant in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  Like the standard Retro Spidey before him, this guy looks the be the most-in-demand of this round of figures by quite a bit.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He’s only the second figure to be built on the body that was debuted with the first Retro Spidey, which is at once surprising, and also appropriate, I suppose.  It’s nice to see it crop up again after such a big deal was made about it.  In contrast to the last Symbiote Spidey, who was a total re-use of parts, this one actually gets an all-new head sculpt.  While I was willing to live with the re-used Scarlet Spider head on the last one, I must admit, I was very happy about the all-new sculpt here, and it’s such a nice sculpt.  It really matches well with my ideal version of the black costume mask.  Beyond that, it’s just re-using the previous body.  While I find myself drawn more to the slighter build of the Pizza Spidey body for a basic Spider-Man, it did perhaps mak the Symbiote design look a little scrawnier than he should have been.  The slightly bulked up body works really well with the design.  The figure’s paint is on the basic side, as is best with the Symbiote look.  No blue accents or anything to muck things up, and the application on the white is pretty sharp.  The eyes are notably a more glossy finish, which adds a nice bit of pop to the head.  Symbiote Spider-Man is packed with three different sets of hands, and can I just say how glad I am that all of the hands are back again?  It was a major nick against the last Retro Spidey was that he didn’t have the open gesture hands, so I’m really psyched that the whole spread is here this time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Something about the Sandman Series Symbiote Spidey always just slightly missed the mark for me.  He was decent, but just not quite there.  Likewise, I kind of felt that way about the previous Retro Spidey.  So, this was a combo that I was iffy on, but it really, really works.  Legitimately the best version of this costume design, at the very least in Legends form, and certainly the best version I own.

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.

#3041: Hammerhead

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

HAMMERHEAD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hammerhead’s skull is reinforced with adamantium, making his head flat on top. All the same, this hard-headed criminal’s frequent run-ins with Spider-Man have caused him no shortage of headaches!”

Alright, we had a little bit of a preview of the latest round of Marvel Legends on Friday, and today we’re kicking a full-fledged week of reviews of that same set.  This assortment is split into two halves: the Spider-Men and the not Spider-Men.  Today, I’m looking at one of the not-Spider-Men, specifically Hammerhead.  Introduced in 1972 by Gerry Conway and John Romita, Sr, Hammerhead was designed as the logical continuation of the likes of the Big Man and Crimemaster, the almost Dick Tracy villain-esque members of Spidey’s earliest rogues gallery.  Though he’s got a distinctive gimmick and visual, he does get lost when placed next to some of the more colorful members of the rogues gallery.  Subsequently, he’s been kind of light on the toy front.  In terms of Legends, he’s previously just been an extra head packed in with the Chameleon figure.  Not exactly the proper figure treatment.  Thankfully, he’s finally getting his proper figure due.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hammerhead is the first of the three villains in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  Of the three included, he’s arguably the most obscure, although he does have a few notable video game appearances under his belt, which does certainly help him out a bit on that front.  He’s yet another guy in a suit, but it’s in an assortment that’s otherwise all the more standard spandex-wearing fare, so it makes him distinctive in his own way.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Hammerhead’s a rather big guy, wearing a rather big suit, so his sculpt needs to reflect that.  As was theorized when Happy was first shown off, Hammerhead makes use of a good number of parts from that release.  It gives him a slightly more reserved build than Hammerhead had classically, but it’s not a bad fit for him by any stretch of the imagination, especially when you remember that Hammerhead is really just supposed to be a normal guy with some modifications to his skull.  Rather than just re-using the piece included with Chameleon, which would have undoubtedly have been too small for the body, he gets a new head sculpt, which is quite an impressive piece.  The sheer amount of detail going into the face is just an impressive feat, especially on a comics-based figure.  Hammerhead also gets an all-new jacket overlay piece, which adds a vest to his attire, making him look just a little more put together than Mr. Hogan.  Hammerhead’s paint work is quite impressively handled, especially given how sharp and clean it is.  The pinstripes on the suit really work, and the sculpt of the face is aided by an equally impressive paint job to really make everything pop.  Hammerhead is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/brass knuckles combo), and a baseball bat, borrowed from the Punisher.  Certainly a solid selection of extras for a bruiser like Hammerhead.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ll admit that Hammerhead’s not one of those characters I ever really felt like I *needed* in figure form, so I was content with the nod we got to him with Chameleon, at least at the time.  So, he was hardly at the top of my list for this assortment.  That being said, I did like the look of this guy from the prototype shots, and even more when I got a chance to see him in hand.  While he’s still probably at the bottom of the list for this particular assortment for me, he’s still a really solid and fun figure.

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

#3040: Spider-Armor Mk I

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

SPIDER-ARMOR MK I

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When Spider-Man’s powers aren’t enough, he dons his patented Spider-Armor. This ceramic-metal battlesuit protects Spidey from his deadliest foes, giving him the time he needs to take it to the bad guys!”

Alright, it’s been about a month since I did any Marvel Legends reviews.  I suppose I can manage to jump back into some of those without fear of triggering any flashbacks or anything.  They do seem to be hitting a bit rapid fire again, so I feel like I should tackle them while I can.  I just reviewed a set of Spider-Man-themed Legends back before the holidays, but there’s already another one to take a look at.  This time around, it’s another retro-inspired set.  I’m kicking things off with a figure that certainly helps me to feel nostalgic, the Spider-Armor Mk I!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spider-Armor Mk I is the first of the three Spidey variants in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s a natural choice for the line-up, since the original line included this very design making its toy debut, and all.  Though short-lived in the comics, the suit was repurposed in the cartoon as an alternate reality version of Peter, and has more recently re-surfaced as one of the alternate suits for Spidey in the PS4 game.  It seems the presence in the game is what really sealed the deal for this release, given how the figure is clearly inspired by that specific iteration of the design.  Funnily enough, this isn’t the first Spider-Armor that’s gotten the Legends treatment courtesy of its presence in the game.  And, given that there’s still the Mk II, which was also in the game, it’s likely this one won’t be the last, either.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  The Spider-Armor’s articulation scheme is generally pretty decent.  It’s certainly better than it looks at first glance, and the neck joint in particular gets some impressive range.  It’s also nice to finally get a proper Mk I Spider-Armor that can actually fully move both of his arms.  Additionally, the figure makes use of the new pinless construction for the elbows and knees, making him the only Spidey in this set to make use of them.  The Spider-Armor is an all-new sculpt, inspired by the PS4 version of the design, thereby making for a slightly sleeker overall silhouette, as well as a little more texturing on the darker sections of the design.  It’s a strong sculpt, with a really sharp, really geometric take on the design.  It works really well in figure form.  The figure’s paint work is pretty straight forward, but also really solid at what it’s doing.  The silver is applied quite cleanly, and it’s a really slick, almost reflective silver, which works really well with the design.  The Spider-Armor is packed with two sets of hands (fists and thwips), as well as two different web effects.  The web effects are cool, but also not really usable with the figure in any way, which is odd.  It’s also a shame he doesn’t get the web shield, but I guess that was more of a vintage toy thing anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a huge fan of the Mk I Spider-Armor design, and I’ve been hoping to see an update of it crop up in Legends form for some time.  I was really pumped when it showed up in this line-up, and it was certainly my most anticipated figure from this round.  I’m really happy with how this guy turned out.  The sculpt is top-notch, and that paint is really crisp and clean, and the silver is a really nice shade that works very well with the sculpt.  All-in-all, just a really strong figure, and a great way to kick off the 2022 Legends.

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.

#3039: Casey Jones

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

CASEY JONES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

Apart from they year 2019, which saw an inordinately high number of TMNT-themed reviews, they tend to be a little bit scarce around these parts.  Not that I deliberately avoid them or anything, especially when I’ve got a good reason not to.  I guess I’ve got a good reason not to.  The story of where we are right now starts with Matty Collector.  I know, that’s rarely a good start, but this one plays out okay, I swear.  After running pretty much the whole platform into the ground, Mattel decided they didn’t really want to support a collector site anymore, and was looking to shut things down.  However, Masters of the Universe Classics still had a little traction left in it.  Rather than giving up entirely, they licensed the whole thing out to Super 7, who had previously been pretty much exclusively focusing on smaller Kenner throw-back figures.  Super 7 took the assignment rather to heart, initially continuing, and then circling back to further improve upon what Mattel had been doing with MOTUC.  When Mattel decided to take Masters back in-house, Super 7 opted to keep the style they’d started going, under the banner of Ultimates, and spread to other ’80s and ’90s properties, chief among them being TMNT.  They’re a good way into the line now, and they’ve just added one of the Turtles’ two best human friends, Casey Jones!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Casey Jones is part of Wave 4 of Super 7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line, alongside Donatello, Mondo Gecko, and Muckman.  As with the rest of the line, his focus is specifically on recreating the vintage Playmates figure, up to modern standards of sculpting and articulation, so that’s what he’s specifically based on.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is sort of its own style of thing.  There are certainly some elements of the Mattel work that Super 7 inherited with their Ultimates lines, but with its own sort of flair, which honestly marks some improvements to how things work.  There’s a pretty solid range of motion on most of the joints (the neck and waist are both a little restricted on mine, but that’s really it), and he holds poses well and maintains a pretty stable footing without much trouble.  The figure’s sculpt is all-new, with the express purpose of recreating the original Playmates toy design for the character.  For Casey, that’s not as far removed from the animation design as some others, making him perhaps a more comparable offering to what we got from NECA.  That said, there’s a slightly more in-depth level to the detailing, especially the smaller stuff and the texturing.  You can make out the individual wrappings of the bandages on his knees and right hand, as well as little traces of hair on his arms and what we can see of his torso.  I also really dig the smaller, personal touch details, like his left shoelace being untied, adding to Casey’s classically disheveled appearance.  His mask is even sculpted to look convincingly like a separate piece, even though it’s non-removable.  Casey’s color work isn’t terribly involved, which is rather true to the original design.  There’s a lot of swathes of solid colors, largely molded in the proper color of plastic.  That said, the base work is generally pretty clean, with only a few minor fuzzy spots.  He’s also got some decent accent work to help some of the sculpted elements pop just a little bit.  Casey is packed with a rather impressive selection of accessories.  He includes four sets of hands (fists, open gesture, gripping with a forward/back joint, and gripping with a side-to-side joint), three different baseball bats, a golf club, a hockey stick, three hockey pucks, and his bag to carry everything.  All of the figures also include a weapons tree simulating the ones included with the old Playmates figures.  The vintage Casey didn’t have one, but this one still gets it.  It’s actually kind of neat, since the excess parts of the tree resemble a goal net.  I don’t see myself getting any use of of this piece from a display standpoint, but it’s still kind of a nifty piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While the idea of spending $50 a pop on TMNT figures doesn’t exactly thrill me or seem like a thing I’m really game for, I do certainly have a soft spot for Casey Jones, and after all of the fiascos surrounding NECA’s various figures, I decided it might be worth my time to at least give this one a try.  After snagging this guy, I think it’s safe to say that he was definitely worth my time.  He’s a lot of fun, and I think Super 7 really found a footing to justify the price point on these.  I’m not going to be jumping in full force or anything, but I’m definitely game for at least one or two others, to say nothing of the other Super 7 Ultimates offerings that are upcoming.  But, in the mean time, I can safely say this is the best Casey Jones I’ve got, and that’s certainly a plus.

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.