Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3016: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Iceman joins with the X-Men to stop Apocalypse and prevent the catastrophic culling of humankind in a harsh dystopian future.”

A jovial and somewhat silly character in the mainstream universe, the “Age of Apocalypse” universe made Iceman into a far more serious character, with a much more effective mastery over his powers.  Elements of this were first shown before AoA, when Bobby’s body was taken over by Emma Frost for a period of time, and were built on post-AoA when the mainstream Bobby decided to try to train more seriously with his abilities, but they got a very definite focus in AoA.  The AoA Iceman is not without toy treatment, but rarely in such an explicit fashion, at least until now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceman is figure 5 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  This marks the AoA version’s first time as a Legend, as well as the first time a figure has been actually labeled as an AoA Iceman, rather than just being inspired by him.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Iceman is a mix of old and new parts, at his core being built around the Bucky Cap base body.  The lower arms and legs are shared with the Juggernaut Series version of Iceman (who was actually built on the Pizza Spidey body, not Bucky Cap), and he gets a new torso, shoulders, and head.  While others in the set have been far more dialed-in on their specifically ’90s crossover designs, Iceman is notably based more on his more recent appearances, from the handful of revisits to the AoA universe.  It’s not a bad look, but it does mean he clashes ever so slightly with everything else we’ve gotten.  The biggest change is really the hair, which hung forward a little more on the earlier illustrations.  I personally would have preferred he stick a little more to the ’90s appearances, but this one translates well enough.  This release of Iceman is far bluer than the last couple of Legends releases, going for a rather dark shade that pretty closely matches the old “Muntant Armor” figure, which served as his ’90s AoA figure.  I can certainly dig that.  There’s some slight frost detailing airbrushed in a few places, which works out pretty well.  I do wish there were some of it on the face, again like the ’90s figure, but the overall application works nicely.  Iceman is packed with an alternate set of spikier hands, borrowed from Carnage, as well as the right arm to the Colossus figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

AoA Iceman’s not a major change-up from the standard in terms of design, but that actually gives his figure some extra appeal, since it means he’s got multiple purposes.  I’ve always liked the spikier Iceman look, so this one’s pretty cool.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a tweak on this mold that does the 616 version’s spiky look, but in the meantime, this one’s a pretty solid figure that does what he needs to, and adds a little more depth to the AoA display.

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.

#3015: Shadowcat

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

SHADOWCAT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After being captured by Sabretooth, Katherine Pryde becomes the youngest member of the X-Men and trains to become the team’s ghost assassin.”

While generally one of the team’s more peaceful and friendly members in the mainstream universe, Kitty Pryde of the “Age of Apocalypse” universe is a far harder-edged character, as today’s figure’s bio hints at above.  She was one of a number of characters to become more edgy and extreme in this altered universe, but perhaps the sharpest turn, at least of the character’s that still remained “good”-aligned.  She’s previously been one of the characters untouched by toy treatment, but that changed with the most recent assortment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shadowcat is figure 4 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s obviously the first AoA-version of the character, but also the fourth Legends release for Kitty, the third under the Hasbro banner.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  At first glance, she appears to be an all-new sculpt, but her legs and feet are actually a rather clever re-use of Lady Deathstrike’s legs.  Apart from those pieces, she’s all-new, though.  Generally, it’s a pretty good sculpt.  The proportions on the body are well-balanced, and the details are sharp and clean.  The head has been a point of contention since the figure was shown off.  Much like last year’s Invisible Woman, the face has some definitely odd qualities to it, especially given how the expression works out.  Ultimately, much like Sue, this is a sculpt that looks a lot better in person than it did in the prototype shots.  It’s still a little wonky, but from proper angles, it’s actually not a bad sculpt at all.  The color work on Kitty is pretty strong.  The paint application is cleanly handled, and I really like how the metallic blue of her costume turned out.  Shadowcat is packed with two sets of hands, one set of fists and one of open gesture, as well as two pairs of gauntlets, one set with the claws extended, and the other without.  She also gets the torso and pelvis of the Colossus Build-A-Figure, which is by far the largest piece, offsetting that she’s the smallest of the individual figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kitty is a character that certainly ranks highly for my selection of favorite X-Men, and while the AoA interpretation isn’t really much like the character I like, I can still appreciate the distinctly divergent take on the character for the purposes of the story.  I also do kind of dig the changed up design, so I was certainly happy to see her crop up here.  The face is a little weird, but the figure is otherwise quite well-rendered, and it’s always cool to get a design we haven’t seen in toy form before.

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.

#3014: Sabretooth

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

SABRETOOTH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After betraying Apocalypse and making his escape, Sabretooth joins with the mutant rebels the X-Men to fight for good in a harsh dystopian future.”

While the mainstream counterpart to Magneto had flirted with being on the side of good before the “Age of Apocalypse” crossover, before his heroic turn in AoA, Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth, had been a pretty irredeemable villain, with no real signs of any other intentions.  So, it was a pretty major change, and one of the crossover’s best story angles, as the psuedo-paternal relationship between Sabretooth and Blink gave their portion of the story a real emotional core, removed from the purely “x-treme-ness” of the other storylines.  We got Blink before any of the other AoA stuff, as well as Sabretooth’s non-verbal partner Wild Child in the first AoA assortment, but without a proper Sabretooth to go along with them.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s coming in with the save on that one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sabretooth is figure 3 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  It’s this design’s fourth time in figure form, and its second time getting the Legends treatment, though the last one was during Toy Biz’s run, and wrought with a lot of odd design choices.  This one sticks more cleanly to the actual design from the original crossover, which is a plus.  The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While the last couple Sabretooths have been on the Hyperion body, this one moves him up to the Colossus body.  It makes a degree of sense, since he was depicted as a fair bit larger during the crossover, and it also makes it so he pairs off a bit better with Wild Child, it’s also somewhat amusing in light of Cyclops keeping his previous build, even in light of the crossover bulking him up.  Maybe Sabretooth is bigger because of when he was working with Apocalypse?  Sure, let’s go with that.  Honestly, anything that stops us from getting another Hyperion re-use is alright by me.  He gets a pretty solid assortment of new parts, including new arms, lower legs, and two different heads, as well as add-ons for the collar and belt.  The two heads give is the two different sides of Creed; one is angry and pupil-less, while the other is a much friendlier expression.  After getting a lot of prior Sabretooth figures without the option for a calmer expression, it’s really nice to get both versions here.  The other new parts jibe well with the prior core body parts, and feature a lot of cool little details.  Interestingly, despite the arms being seemingly new, they still have visible pins at the elbows.  I have to wonder if his is a sculpt that might have sat for a bit.  Sabretooth’s paint work is pretty decently handled.  The detailing on the facial and arm hair works a lot better than such details tend to, and everything else is actually pretty clean.  There’s a slight mis-match from the hips to the rest of the legs, but other than that, things work out pretty well.  Sabretooth is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in gripping, as well as the head for Colossus.  Also, while it’s not packed with him, it’s worth noting that, surprising no one, the chain included with Wild Child is properly fitted to Sabretooth’s forearm, which is pretty cool.  In hindsidght, I wonder if that might be why he’s still got the pins at the elbows, since the mold would need to have been worked out earlier than the others in this assortment in that case.  Food for thought.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The prior Legends AoA Sabretooth always disappointed me, so the prospect of a new one was certainly an exciting one.  While he wasn’t in the first line-up, the inclusion of Wild Child made it pretty clear that we’d be seeing him sooner than later, which is why it made a lot of sense that he was also the first of these figures we actually saw.  I gotta say, he turned out really nicely, even better than I was expecting.  He pairs of really nicely with Wild Child, but he’s also just a really strong figure in his own right.

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

#3013: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Cyclops helps prisoners escape from Apocalypse’s prison camps in an attempt to be a force for good in a harsh dystopian future.”

To quote Jimmy Woo: “It’s an oversimplification of events, but yes.”  While the Cyclops of the “Age of Apocalypse” universe ultimately joins the side of good and aids in helping the victims of Apocalypse, that’s not where he spends most of the story.  While AoA saw a lot of previously villainous characters on the side of good, it also saw Cyclops, a character previously very straight-laced and noble, pretty firmly in the villains camp, at least at the start.  Sure, his in-grained noble streak kept him from being truly villainous, but he’s also very far from a force for good.  But, here I am critiquing the bios again, when I could be reviewing a new Cyclops figure.  What am I even doing with my life?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is figure 2 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  Though far from the first Legends Cyclops, it’s still the first Legends release for AoA, and the third figure for the AoA design overall.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Cyclops is built on the Bucky Cap base body, which has been the consistent choice of base for Cyclops since the Puck Series version.  The AoA version has at times been depicted as a little larger in build, but that can be chalked up to artistic license, and thus far all of the other AoA variants have maintained consistency with their main counterparts in terms of body choices.  I mean, that’s gonna sort of fall apart as we make it further into the assortment, but we’ll stand by it here.  Ultimately, I really don’t mind it.  He gets a new head, arms, and an overlay piece for his belt/shoulder strap.  The head’s not quite as extreme and 90s-tastic as some of the illustrations made him out to be, but the important elements of the design are all present, and his features are also internally consistent with the other Cyclops figures from the line.  His new arms bulk him up a little bit more compared to the standard Bucky Cap pieces, as well as transitioning him to the pinless construction on the elbows.  Some of his articulation is lost on said elbows, which can really only make it about 90 degrees.  It’s understandable given the nature of the design.  Cyclops’ paint is generally very basic.  Much of the color work is just molded plastic, and it’s honestly a pretty basic layout of colors for the costume anyway.  Kudos to Hasbro, though, they did actually do some weathering and wear on the gold armored parts, which looks pretty solid.  Cyclops includes no accessories of his own, which is kind of a shame.  A blast effect, or an alternate head, maybe with the hair swept back to better show off the missing eye and scarring, would have been pretty cool.  All he winds up getting is the left leg for Colossus, which definitely feels light compared to pretty much everyone else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I do really like Cyclops, and I even kind of like some of the stuff they did with him within the AoA story, the actual AoA design for the character isn’t necessarily one of my favorites for him.  It’s kind of overkill on the worst of the ’90s tropes for character design, really.  That being said, if you’re gonna have an AoA set-up, it feels wrong to not have him.  He’s another figure I felt was really missing from the first go-round, and I’m glad he showed up here.  He’s light on extras, and perhaps a little skinny, but overall I do rather like him, and hey, it’s another Cyclops, right?

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

#3012: Rogue

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

ROGUE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Rogue moves her way up the ranks of Magneto’s X-Men, eventually leading a team of mutants to prevent the culling of humankind.”

In the early ’90s, Rogue really started to take off as one of the X-Men’s most popular members, placing her at the center of a few more of the team’s stories, including one in particular, which saw her and Magneto as unlikely allies stranded in the Savage Land.  There were some slight hints of a romantic angle, initially unexplored in the main universe, which would serve as the basis for the full-fledged marriage between the two within the alternate universe of “Age of Apocalypse.”  Given Magneto’s central position in the cross-over, this allowed Rogue to maintain her central place as well, making her rather pivotal to the overall course of the story.  So, it’s only fitting that she too would be part of the Legends tie-in for the story.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rogue is officially figure 1 in the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends, the second AoA-themed assortment.  It’s the third time this version’s gotten a toy…or possibly the fourth.  Toy Biz did two versions of the costume, but they were both kind of iffy on wether they were officially AoA versions, or just kind of similar designs.  The Minimate was explicit about it, though, so there’s at least that.  Her design was more changed than others, though Rogue had a history of frequently changing designs prior to this.  This one keeps a lot basic schemes from her Jim Lee design, at least in terms of color and general layout, mixed with a few more Magneto elements, much like the rest of the main X-team from the cross-over.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She uses the Phoenix base body as a starting point, with a new head, upper arms, legs, and add-ons for the collar, wrist cuffs, and the pouches on her leg.  All-in-all, it makes for a pretty good rendition of her design from the comics, certainly the best we’ve seen in toy form up to this point.  The head’s probably the best part of it; I think the hair turned out pretty well, and there’s a dynamic flow to it.  The shaping on the back of is a little weird, but it at least allows for rather unimpeded movement on the neck.   The arms, on the other hand, are rather restricted at the shoulders and elbows, due to the billowy nature of the sleeves.  There’s not a lot that can really be done about that, of course, without compromising the aesthetics.  The new legs give her the goody bulky snow boots, which turned out well, as well as removing the exposed pins on the knees.  Rogue’s color work is bright, bold, and rather eye-catching.  The application is generally pretty clean and consistent, but there are some fuzzy edges on some of the change overs, as well as a notable bit of slop on the left boot.  Otherwise, she looks pretty good.  Rogue includes two sets of hands in fists and open gesture, as well as the left arm and an alternate hand for the Colossus Build-A-Figure.  It does feel a little light, and it would have been nice to see either her cape or the robe thing she was seen wearing over the main suit, but at least she gets the extra hands, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While Rogue’s AoA look isn’t at the top of my list or anything, it’s still got some cool elements to it, and I certainly like the Magneto and Rogue angle.  So, I definitely wanted to see her turn up in the Legends line-up, especially if we were getting a Magneto as well.  She’s a pretty basic and straight forward figure, but one that turned out well.  This design has had trouble making the transition to toy form in the past, but this figure did it well, and she honestly surprised me with how well I like her in-hand.

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

#3011: Magneto

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

MAGNETO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Magneto casts off his anti-human sentiments and carries on Xavier’s dream of peaceful coexistence, thereby founding the X-Men.”

2020 marked the 25th anniversary of the X-Men crossover “Age of Apocalypse” and 2021 marked the 25th anniversary of the tie-in toys for that crossover.  What’s the significance of 2022?  It’s the 25th anniversary of the toys being a year old, I guess.  That’s gotta count for something, right?  Well, I’m gonna make it count for something, because in my case, it counts for reviewing another round of AoA-themed Legends.  That’s pretty cool, all things considered.  Throughout the history of the X-Men, Magneto has flirted with the idea of not being such a bad guy, even aiding, or in some cases outright joining the team.  It rarely lasts, but AoA posited that, were Magneto to see his friend Xavier murdered at a young age, that might just be the thing to make him an objectively good character.  So, in the AoA universe, Magneto is an unquestionable force of good, founder and leader of the X-Men, and the most prominent force in the fight against the objectively evil Apocalypse.  As such, he’s a pretty perfect choice for headlining the second assortment of AoA Legends.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto is part of the Colossus Series of Marvel Legends.  He is the only figure in the set not to include a piece of the Build-A-Figure, and is likewise this assortment’s double pack, which is honestly pretty sensible.  This is the fourth time the AoA version of Magneto’s gotten a figure, following the original Toy Biz 5-inch figure, the Minimate, and the 3 3/4-inch Hasbro version.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  As with the last few Magnetos, he’s based on the Spider-UK body, which is a good fit for the character, so I’m pretty happy to see it continue to be in use for the character.  In terms of design, Magneto’s AoA look wasn’t a drastic change from his mainstream look, so there’s a lot of room for parts re-use.  That being said, the only part (aside from the base body), that’s shared with the standard Magneto is the belt.  He also shares his forearms and boots with the modern Magneto, which are generally pretty good matches for the updated designs from the AoA books.  He gets a few new parts as well, namely an all-new cape/shoulder pad piece, as well as two new heads.  The cape does seem a little tame for how the AoA Magneto’s cape was usually depicted, but it’s still a pretty nice piece, which at least keeps the figure well-balanced.  The new heads give him helmeted and un-helmeted looks.  The un-helmeted is certainly the stronger of the two.  The facial features are a bit more defined, and the hair turned out quite well.  The helmeted head’s not terrible, but the helmet seems a touch on the small side, and I do feel like there’s a missed opportunity in not doing the blacked-out face under the helmet, as he was frequently depicted in the books.  Magneto’s paint work is generally pretty decent.  It’s straight forward, and really rather minimal, but it does what it needs to for the most part.  There’s a little bit of misalignment on one of the eyebrows one un-helmeted head, but it generally looks pretty good.  The only odd part is the decision to leave off the purple trunks. Later illustrations of the character dropped them, but the actual cross-over itself always showed him having them.  Magneto is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in open gesture, as well as two electricity effects.  Not a ton of stuff, but it covers the basics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

AoA Magneto is really one of my favorite parts of the whole AoA thing, something I brought up when I reviewed the Toy Biz figure, itself my favorite of the Toy Biz AoA figures.  I’ve definitely been hoping for an update in Legends form for quite some time.  I was bummed when he wasn’t included with the first assortment, but his absence felt like it really confirmed a second assortment, since how can you not do this guy?  I was happy to be right.  Ultimately, there are some elements of the figure that could stand to be a little stronger, but he’s generally still a pretty solid take on the character, and I’m glad we got the update.

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.

#3010: Blue Ranger

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

BLUE RANGER

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS (THREEZERO)

Oh man, I haven’t reviewed any Power Rangers since last year!  …get it?  Because we’re only two weeks into the–okay, yeah, it’s not that funny, I guess.  Also, it’s a joke I’ve already pulled once.  So, you know, there it is, I guess.  Look, I’m not proud of it either, okay?  Let’s just get to the actual review, I guess.  As far as Rangers reviews go, the original incarnation, Mighty Morphin, has become a bit rarer around here, what with me having already gotten the whole core team in my preferred scale some time ago.  I do have a soft spot for the Blue Ranger, of course, so that does leave me more avenues to review the occasional release here and there.  While we’re here and there, ThreeZero has recently picked up the license for the purposes of some 1/6 scale figures, which includes my boy Blue, so I’m taking a look at their take on him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Blue Ranger was released at the same time as the other five Rangers in ThreeZero’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line, hitting late last fall.  He and the others were available both as single releases and in one boxed set for the whole team.  Obviously, mine’s the single release, but the actual figures are the same between the two styles of box.  The figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

In true 1/6 form, the most prominent piece of sculpting here is the head, or in this case more specifically the helmet.   Blue’s triceratops-inspired helmet is nicely recreated here.  It’s not quite a perfect match for the on-screen helmet, but it gets all of the elements, and it’s pretty close.  It’s quite sleek in its implementation, and the sculpting is all properly clean and sharp in its detailing.  The paint work is likewise clean and sharp.  The extra panel lining on the edges isn’t strictly show accurate, but at this scale it helps to make the sculpted elements pop a bit more, which is a plus.  The overall finish of the helmet is glossy, in proper fashion for how it looked in the show…most of the time, anyway.  There’s no alternate unmasked head included with these releases, which is on one hand a slight letdown compared to other 1/6 stuff, but on the other hand totally understandable given how much lower the price point is on these figures compared to others on the market.

In contrast to my last two ThreeZero reviews, where the figures were fully sculpted, and a mix of plastic and diecast parts, the Rangers are more classic 1/6 scale figures, making use of cloth costumes with plastic accents and underlying body.  It’s appropriate, what with all the spandex involved with the actual costumes and all.  The main suit is a spandex-like material, which scales well to the body and is generally well-tailored to match.  Obviously, some of the stitching is a little larger than it should be, but not by much.  The metallic finish on the material matches the original Sentai costume, and is just overall very sleek looking, which I’m all about.  The white elements are applied via a rubberized paint, which is clean, sharp at the edges, and offers consistent coverage.  The belt piece is a mix of cloth and plastic, with the main belt being a pleather like material, and the buckle being plastic.  The back of the belt is a little bit rudimentary in its design, but otherwise the piece works well.  The cuffs for the boots and gloves are sculpted plastic parts.  They’re nicely fitted to the body, and help to further keep the costume in place, as well as maximizing the posability on the wrists and ankles.

The body under the suit is clearly designed for function over form, as you would hope for this style of figure.  It shapes well under the suit, but is largely built for being well articulated.  There’s a rubbery sort of a padding on the mid section for more proper shaping, which does its job nicely.  The articulation is a little stiffer than I’m used to at this scale, but that makes it more practical for holding poses.  It just takes some getting used to hearing the joints make a rather noticeable squeak every time you pose them.  All things considered, this body certainly competes well with the top end of 1/6 scale bodies, which is a definite plus.

The Blue Ranger is pretty decently accessorized.  He includes 4 pairs of hands, his Power Lance, and the Blade Blaster.  The hands are great for all manner of poses, giving you a lot of options.  The Lance and Blaster are notable for actually being fully transformable.  The Lance can be used in the separate dagger forms, as well as combined, and full extended.  Likewise, the Blade Blaster is capable of all three of its forms, in one piece, rather than three separate versions like we tend to see.  The weapons getting their full compliment of set-ups was actually a pleasant surprise for me, as I’d fully expected them to just be in their collapsed forms, since that was how the Figuarts release handled things for all the non-Reds.  Ultimately, the combined form on the Lance is a little wobbly, but it’s still cool that the functionality is actually there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

ThreeZero has been a rather pleasant discovery for me in the last year.  I really liked both of the prior offerings I’d grabbed, and when I saw this guy go up for order, I was definitely down to at least give him a try.  I was expecting him to be a passable figure at least, but at the price point, I wasn’t expecting him to be nearly as impressive as he wound up being.  For less than half of the price of your average Hot Toy, you get a figure that’s maybe not *quite* the same quality and is a little lighter on the accessories, but it’s not as much of a gap as you might think.  This is another win for ThreeZero as far as I’m concerned, and they certainly have my attention for future releases.

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

#3009: Snake Eyes & Timber

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

SNAKE EYES & TIMBER

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

I haven’t actually gotten to talk about G.I. Joe, specifically it’s most recent re-launch, Classified Series, since all the way back in October, which on one hand doesn’t seem that long ago, but also really does.  It’s not really like I’m missing much that’s worth reviewing, of course; there hasn’t really been much new.  When last discussing things, I brought up the line’s Original 13, the debut line-up for the Real American Hero incarnation of the franchise.  While some of them remained more or less confined to those early years, a few of them took off.  Most notable was the first year’s resident cost-saver, Snake Eyes, who would become the franchise’s most distinctive character.  Today, we turn our sights his earliest incarnation, or at least a re-imagining of it, alongside his trusty sidekick, Timber!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Snake Eyes and Timber are a deluxe-sized release, thus far unseen in the main retail line, for Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: Classified Series, where they are item 30, placing them right after Breaker and the RAM Cycle in the numbering sequence.  Though pairing off Snake Eyes with Timber is nothing new for the brand, it’s not usually this version of Snake Eyes that gets paired with Timber, since Timber was first included with Version 2.  However, with the initial Snake Eyes being V2-inspired already, it made sense not to double back on variants.

SNAKE EYES

We’ve had no shortage of Snake Eyes variants in this line up to this point, with this in particular being the fourth version.  There have been two versions based on V2, and one based on the film, but this one goes back to the original commando-based V1 design.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  Snake Eyes is built on a mix of parts, largely stemming from the Beach Head-version of the Duke mold.  It’s a good starting point for an update on Snake’s classic turtle-necked design, and just a good starting point in general, as it remains one of my favorite figures in the line.  He borrows the holster from the first Snake Eyes, in a nice bit of cross-use, and then gets a new head and shins, along with new overlay pieces for his webgear and the sheath for his knife.  As stated above, the aim of this sculpt is to capture the V1 design, or at least to offer something of an update to it.  It does a good job of that, and in fact stays a lot closer than the more sci-fi-inspired figures from the rest of the line.  It’s a fitting choice, since this is supposed to be an earlier in his career Snake Eyes, presumably from before the Joes get quite as tech savvy.  I particularly like the new head, especially how you can see the separate parts of the assembly.  The webgear likewise has a lot of depth of detail to it.  In general, it captures all of the broad strokes of the original figure, but at a larger scale and with more going on.  Still, it’s not over designed, or anything like that; it’s the right level of detailing.  Snake Eye’s paint work is much simplified compared to the prior figures.  This is on purpose, no doubt to call back to the V1 figure’s complete lack of paint.  This one is a little more detailed than that one, but does have a slight variance to the exact finish of the blacks, just to give him a little bit of variety.  He also gets one small bit of white detailing on his grenade, which is a nice touch.  Snake Eyes is packed with his classic Uzi, as well as an ump45 with, to quote Tim, “a whacked out front end,” an assault rifle that appears to be a combination of a number of things with a lot of customizations, a Beretta m93r (with removable silencer, just like the first release),  and a large knife.  The rifles are fun, since they both feature removable magazines, which I always enjoy.  Snake Eyes includes no sword, of course, as is proper for a true commando Snake Eyes.

TIMBER

First included with the V2 Snake Eyes back in ’85, Timber had appeared in other media prior, notably in the cartoon as the wolf that guides an irradiated Snake Eyes back to safety in the second mini-series.  Over the years, he’s been featured in the main line a good number of times, but it’s rare that he’s ever anything more than an unarticulated accessory.  For his debut in Classified, Hasbro’s given him the proper figure treatment.  He’s about 3 inches tall and 5 1/2 inches long, and he has 29 points of articulation.  While his articulation doesn’t have as full a range as I might like, there’s still quite a bit of range to it, and he can get into a decent selection of poses.  The sculpt does quite a nice job of capturing a rather basic wolf look, with an impressive level of detail work.  He includes two different heads, one calm, and the other snarling, again adding to the display options for the figure.  The paint work on Timber is generally pretty solid.  There’s a pretty nice two-toned thing going on with the fur, which has a rather subtle change-over.  I also really like the gold irises on the eyes, as well as the slight shading to the scars on the face.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I generally do angle towards the V2-style for my default Snake Eyes, I’ll admit I have quite a soft-spot for the commando look for the character, especially as sort of a “starter” look for the character.  I was hoping we’d see at least some sort of a nod to it in the modern line, but wasn’t expecting a full-on update.  I’m very happy with how this one turned out.  He’s just a very nice figure.  Timber’s also kind of an essential piece, and I’m happy to see Hasbro give him the proper deluxe style treatment here.  In general, this is really one of the coolest sets to come out of Classified, and I look forward to seeing what else Hasbro might do with this price-point.

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

#3001: Steel Bone HO2 Firepower Mecha

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

STEEL BONE HO2 FIREPOWER MECHA — GRAY-GREEN

DARK SOURCE (JOYTOY)

It’s a new year, and this intro serves to cover a few bases, really.  First and foremost, faithful readers will no doubt notice that there were two days between this review and #3000.  After writing a review every day of every week for over eight years, I’ve finally arrived at the conclusion that it’s maybe a little much for me.  So, I’ll be stepping back.  Not a ton, mind you, but I’ll at least be taking weekends for the foreseeable future.  But, hey, that’s still five days a week for you guys to read my crazy ramblings, right?  With that out of the way, let’s jump into the first day of my post-Christmas reviews!

More often than not, I tend to stick to more domestic offerings, as well as generally lower-price point options.  Every so often, I do like to branch out just a little bit and try something new.  This year, that’s apparently Joytoy, a company that I was honestly not really familiar with prior to 2021, but who I’ve become rather fascinated with in the last few months.  Hey, I like a cool mecha, and they certainly have a lot of those.  So, I’m looking at my first Joytoy item today, with the Steel Bone HO2 Firepower Mecha!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Steel Bone HO2 Firepower Mecha [Gray-green] is part of Joytoy’s Dark Source toyline.  Their various different lines correlate to different themes/storylines, which are really just excuses to more cool robot designs, really.  It also corresponds to a few different scales.  Dark Source is a 1/25 scale line, centered on figures that are about 2 3/4 inches for a standard sized human.  The mechs are, of course, much larger than a standard sized human.  In the case of this one, it stands just shy of 8 3/4 inches tall.  An exact articulation count is a bit tricky on this one, due to how many moving components there are, and how many pieces have to flex out of the way in order to do any real posing.  The limbs can be a bit restricted, especially at the shoulders and hips, but there’s a lot that can be done, especially given how bulky the design is overall.  I especially dig all of the movement in the hands, as the fingers not only get movement at each of the knuckles but there’s also side-to-side movement on the fingers, which adds a lot of extra gripping options, which is pretty cool.  In terms of structure, the Steel Bone design is pretty squared off and rather on the utilitarian design.  It’s certainly meant to be military in nature.  The actual construction of the mech is actually made out of quite a lot of potentially modular pieces.  It comes out of the box in effectively the load out seen in the photos, but there are lots of other possible builds, if you so choose.  It can be a little tricky swapping parts in and out, and finding just the right balance and layout, but it does add a lot more fun to the figure.  In the effort to aid in that modular nature, the mech gets a few deliberately swappable pieces, namely the chest plate and thigh covers, which have an option for slightly more rounded parts.  I myself prefer the alternate parts, so I appreciate them being there.  The mech’s armaments also tie into the modular nature.  Worked into the mech proper are two shoulder mounted mini guns.  They attach with a handful of the modular parts included, but also can be worked in a few different ways, again with the whole modular thing in mind.  Separate from the mech proper, there’s a big hammer.  What’s fun about the hammer is that it’s almost no unique parts; everything is a basic modular piece, or shared with the Mecha’s own construction.  So, again with the modular.  That’s commitment to the concept.

The Steel Bone includes its own pilot, designed to work with it’s built-in cockpit.  He’s about 2 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s utilitarian and military-inspired in a fashion similar to Mecha, which is sensible.  He works in a lot of rather classic sci-fi psuedo-military type stuff, which makes him suitably generic, but also serves as a nice call back to other designs.  I quite dig the removable helmet, and how well it sits, especially given the scale and how little it impacts the underlying head’s design.  The pilot gets a fun selection of extras himself.  There’s an alternate left hand, two rifles, a pistol, and a medical kit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been just starting to dip my toes into the waters of Joytoy, and it’s pretty much exclusively the fault of Jason from All Time Toys.  He’s recently decided to give them a try at the store, and we’ve all pretty much been looking for that entry point.  This one’s boxy, green, and he’s got a hammer and miniguns.  He checks off a lot of my boxes.  So, it certainly made things even easier when Jason gave me this guy as my Christmas gift this year.  It’s pretty darn great, really, and a great introduction to Joytoy.  I could foresee this getting a little bit dangerous…

#3000: Captain America – Infinity War

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (HOT TOYS)

In a turn of events that I suppose is all rather fitting, today, the last day of 2021, also marks my 3000th review here at the site.  Pretty crazy, huh?  I never really foresaw myself making it quite this far, and yet, here I am.  3000 is a very big number, and a bigger number than the the total quantity of figures I had in my collection when I started this thing.  Moreover, I’ve made it all the way to the end of 2021, a journey that I would very much be underselling with the description “turbulent.”  A lot’s happened, and it has not been easy.  But I’m here.  And I’ve got a thing to review.  And I suppose that’s the most important thing in the moment.  So, let’s jump back to 2018, back to the throws of Avengers: Infinity War, specifically Captain America and his rather disheveled look from his own rather turbulent year.  Fitting, I suppose.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is part of the Infinity War tie-in component of Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series, where he’s figure MMS 481, which made him the sixth of the IW tie-in figures.  The figure arrived not too long after the film’s release, hitting in the fall of 2018.  There were two releases of him, a standard and a “Movie Promo Edition” which was a Sideshow-exclusive in the US.  The difference between the two comes down to a few accessories; the figure proper remains the same.  This Cap is based on his Nomad appearance from the film, which is of course the only look he actually has in Infinity War, so I guess that makes sense.  The figure stands about 12 1/2 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

While most Caps these days include multiple heads, this release only has the one.  It makes some degree of sense, since he doesn’t have the helmeted look in the film, so I suppose he only needs the one head.  It’s only the one facial expression, but that’s not uncommon for unmasked heads from Hot Toys.  This one does live up to Hot Toys’ usual penchant for very lifelike sculpts.  It sports a pretty spot-on likeness of Evans in the film, at least facially.  The hair is perhaps a little bit too orderly for proper film accuracy, but it’s not too far off, and it’s certainly closer than either Hasbro or Bandai’s attempts were.  It avoids the seam at the sides of the head that the Endgame release had, but trades it out for a rather noticeable join at the back of the head where the longer hair attaches.  It’s still not the worst thing, but at this price point, you do hope for a little better.  At the very least, the paint work topping it all off is really good, up to Hot Toys’ typical standards for face paint, with a very lifelike quality to the whole thing.

In Infinity War, Cap is, at least canonically, supposed to still be wearing the suit he had in Civil War, having had not time on the run between films to swap out.  In actuality, there are a few changes to the suit beyond just the expected wear and tear of being on the run, but they’re generally minor.  In terms of how the suit works on the figure, it’s pretty similar to the Endgame figure, being two main parts, with a lot of layers attached.  As with that figure, this one’s belt sets perhaps a little low, but it’s otherwise a well-tailored outfit that works well with the underlying body of the figure and captures the look of the outfit seen in the film quite nicely.

The underlying base body appears to be the same one used for Endgame Cap, which was a good fit for Evans’ build for the character, as well as doing a good job of balancing aesthetics and functionality.  As with that figure, the movement of the base body is somewhat impeded by the nature of the suit design, which does have some notable restrictions at the hips and shoulders.  Still, there’s plenty of movement to be had, and he can get some pretty solid range on most of the joints.

When it comes to accessories, Cap gets quite a few, including:

  • 8 hands
  • 2 Wakandan shields
  • Outrider corpse
  • Corvus Glaive’s Spear
  • Proxima Midnight’s staff
  • Display stand

The hands include a pair of fists, a pair of gripping, a pair of relaxed gesture, and a right pointing/left open gesture combo.  They give all the important needs for posing and working with the included accessories, and also do a good job of capturing the look of his gloves from the movie.  They’re a little tricky to swap out, but not impossibly so.  The two Wakandan shields are designed for specifically right and left sides, and are able to be fully collapsed or extended, which is certainly nice engineering.  The display stand is the same style as we saw on the Endgame figure.  I dig the hexagonal shape.  And that’s all of the standard release stuff.  The exclusive also adds a fallen Outrider corpse piece to sit atop the stand (along with a printed piece which looks like dirt ground), as well as both Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight’s weapons.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on the standard release of this guy when he came into All Time.  I mean, not really missed out, I suppose, since he was in stock, and I just dragged my feet on him, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to jump back into Hot Toys.  Once the Endgame release truly broke me on that, I regretted passing on this guy, so he went on my list of figures I was definitely planning to snag should they get traded in.  As luck would have it, this guy wound up getting traded in within about a week of me getting the Endgame version, which was a solid thematic thing.  He’s the best version of this design available to be sure, and he’s honestly the version of Cap that most reflected my personal mind state as I navigated the last year. A little broken, a little lost, and his resolve a little shaken.  But he’s still him deep down.  A fitting send off to the year.

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