Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#3797: The Tick

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

THE TICK

LONGBOX HEROES (FRESH MONKEY FICTION)

SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!!

Yesterday, I took a look at a direct continuation of Kenner’s Super Powers, but today I’m returning to a more indirect continuation.  Early last year, I looked at a few figures from Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Longbox Heroes, a line of independent comic book characters done in the Super Powers style.  While a follow-up to that set is still forthcoming, I only ended up getting a few of the figures from the first one, so there are still plenty for me to potentially pick-up.  There were three Tick figures in the first set, and I had two of them.  The one I didn’t have was the basic Tick, so here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tick is figure 7 in the first series of Longbox Heroes.  Like all of the non-Rocketeer figures, he was released in March of last year.  There are two Ticks in the line-up; this one is more patterned on the character’s earlier appearances, and is a bit more basic in his approach.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Like the rest of the line, he’s got a sculpt courtesy of Jason “Toy Otter” Geyer.  From the neck down, it’s the same as the other Tick, which is a solid, clean sculpt that captures both the Tick’s usual depictions and the Super Powers aesthetic.  The head is unique, and sports an expression that’s a little more reserved than the big toothy grin from the other release.  It still very much feels like the same character, though, and while it’s not my preferred take on the character, it still works well.  In terms of coloring, this Tick is darker than the other version; it’s more comic than animation, and definitely works a bit better with the more resigned expression.  Tick is on the lighter side, getting only a display stand as his accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love me some Super Powers and I sure do love me some Tick.  I also sure did love me the figures I already got from this line.  So, that’s a great recipe for me being invested in this figure.  That said, when the preorder period was running for these, I opted to go with Disguised Tick, because I liked the general set-up of that one a little more.  That said, I still kinda wanted one after the fact, so when a loose one landed in front of me a few weeks ago, I took that rare opportunity to own another Tick figure.  I think I still prefer the Disguised overall, but more Tick is always a good thing.

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.

#3796: Green Lantern – Hal Jordan

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

GREEN LANTERN — HAL JORDAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Hal Jordan’s life was changed twice by crashing aircraft. The first time was when he witnessed the death of his father, pilot Martin Jordan. The second was when, as an adult and trained pilot himself, he was summoned to the crashed wreckage of a spaceship belonging to Abin Sur. Abin explained that he was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an organization of beings from across the cosmos, armed with power rings fueled by the green energy of all the willpower in the universe. Upon his death, Abin entrusted his ring and duties as the Green Lantern of Earth’s space sector to Hal Jordan.”

I’m angling a lot more towards “comfort” reviews these days, so expect more of that, I guess.  That manifested in a Toy Biz Marvel review yesterday, because I’ve got plenty of those, and they make me happy.  Continuing on things that make me happy, I’ve got a whole stack of McFarlane Super Powers figures, and I genuinely can’t believe that’s where we are, but it is.  My favorite vintage Super Powers figure was Green Lantern, whom I’d already reviewed, but McFarlane did a remake of that one, so, you know what, here’s that one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern – Hal Jordan was released in the sixth assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  It was the first assortment of 2024, and he paired off with the previously reviewed Sinestro.  He was the line’s second GL, and the first under the “new” style that is actually the old style.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  In a departure for this line, Hal is actually slightly *shorter* than his vintage counterpart.  Not by much, but it’s there.  Hal’s sculpt, courtesy of Owen Oertling, is designed as a replica of the vintage Kenner one.  It’s actually a pretty close match.  If anything, it takes him a little closer to the Jose Garcia-Lopez illustrations than the original.  I quite like it.  It’s a good, solid update.  In terms of coloring, he’s completely painted, which is an interesting set-up.  His color scheme is the same general look as Kilowog, with the more muted shade of green.  It’s got more of that Super Friends shading, which is a vibe I can certainly appreciate.  Hal is packed with his power battery, which, like the main mold, is modeled on his original, while being slightly different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I’m a bit of a late convert on the McFarlane Super Powers, so I wound up missing this guy at retail.  A lot of people did, as it turns out, which means that this figure is currently more expensive than his vintage counterpart, which is quite an interesting turn of events.  I was thankfully able to get a good deal on a loose one through All Time, which was a good thing, because I really do like this one a lot.  I loved the original, and I love this one too, and I love them for similar, but different reasons.

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.

#3794: Weequay Skiff Guard

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

WEEQUAY SKIFF GUARD

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Oooooooooh, every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited Wequay!  …sorry, do we not all just spontaneously break into quotes from Robot Chicken?  Is it just me?  Yeah, actually, that tracks.  Well, in my effort to get through more of the many, many unreviewed Star Wars figures in my collection, we’re jumping into another one, specifically of the Power of the Force variety.  So, here’s the aforementioned party pooper, Weequay (Skiff Guard)!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Weequay Skiff Guard was added to Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force line-up in 1997.  He initially predated the Freeze Frames, but was one of the figures to be rereleased with one later.  However, Weequay is by far the rarest of the Freeze Frame releases, so it doesn’t really turn up much.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Weequay got an all-new sculpt, which is honestly a pretty good one.  He’s got a fair a bit of pre-posing going on, largely to aid in holding his force pike.  It’s actually pretty dynamic, but doesn’t make him any trickier to stand or anything.  The detailing’s pretty solid; the costume elements are pretty sharp, and the face manages to get that “idealized” version of the mask from the movie, so it’s accurate, but also a little less goofy.  Weequay’s color work is sort of subtle, in that it’s got a bit more going on than you might expect.  It’s a lot of brown, but there’s also some slight blue, and a fair bit of accent work.  The paint work’s all fairly clean, and the sculpted details stand out nicely.  Weequay is packed with his force pike, as well as a brown blaster, for, like, options, I guess?  He can’t actually really hold the blaster, what with the pre-posing for the pike, but you know, I guess there’s the extra?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My most notable exposure to Weequay is in the Robot Chicken Star Wars Specials, where he serves as Boba Fett’s sidekick for a set of running skits (and where the sing-song-y bit from the intro originated).  Beyond that, I don’t know a ton about him, because, well, what’s to know?  I got this guy back in 2018, I think?  I used some Christmas money from my Grandmother to buy a bunch of PotF figures, because I was feeling a touch nostalgic.  He’s actually quite a nice figure, and my favorite of the whole skiff sub-set.

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.

#3793: Super Don

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

SUPER DON

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (PLAYMATES)

“Out of the mystery of the midnight sewers swoops Super Don, the night Ninja crusader with a secret identity. That’s right, kids! No one knows who this Teenage Mutant Ninja Good Guy really is. His past is shrouded in the secrecy of sewers and cloaked in the aroma of a double anchovy pizza. All we know for sure is that this half-shelled hero hates the Foot Clan with an unbridled passion, and his fiercest foes are Rhinoman and Mighty Bebop. When the sewer signal beckons, you know that Super Don is just a bat wing away. His favorite weapon is the batty boomerang wrist launcher. Ready to answer distress calls on the pizza hotline, Super Don’s got the gear and the guts to deliver justice – even in the dark! The mystery continues with Mr. Pole, Super Don’s saucy sidekick and part-time butler. Perhaps we’ll never know who these dynamic dudes really are – but have you ever noticed, you never see Super Don and Donatello together?”

Well, Playmates sure did a lot of my work there for the intro, didn’t they?  Just a whole novel of information there.  Right, so outside of the in-universe bio, what’s the deal here?  In 1993, as the latest in a run of wacky thematic variants of the Turtles to keep the TMNT line fresh, Playmates released the “Sewer Heroes”, which dressed a Donnie and Mikey up as super heroes, facing down super villain versions of Bebop and Rocksteady.  They were pretty rare at the time, and have subsequently seen a couple of reissues, once in 2016, and again in 2022.  I don’t really have rare vintage Turtle money, but second reissue of a rare vintage Turtle is far more doable.  So, here’s Super Don!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Don was released as part of the Retro Reissue portion of Playmates’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line in 2022.  All four of the original figures were put into a “4-pack”, but as with most of the recent TMNT 4-packs, they’re actually four separately packaged figures in a white shipper box.  The figure stands just under 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s a pretty standard assembly for the vintage line.  Not super posable, but decently posable for the time.  He’s got a little bit of pre-posing, but generally nothing crazy.  It takes the standard Donatello, and throws him into spandex, which, honestly it does pretty well.  The gloves in particular are pretty cool, with the extra folds and flair.  He’s also got a cape, which is a neat and drapey, and has a neat sculpted turtle shell pattern to it.  Super Don’s color work is on the darker side, kind of leaning into a bit more of a dark knight, kinda Batmany sort of vibe.  It’s greens and purples, which works well for the Donatello aesthetic.  Super Don is packed with a “T-shield”, a wrist launcher, and a miniature Tad “Sidekick” Pole figure.  They’re all in the same color of plastic, but it’s at least a neat translucent orange.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t go crazy on Turtles, of course, but I do like Donatello and I do like super heroes.  When he was in a 4-pack, I wasn’t really about it.  But, he got traded into All Time on his own, and Max pulled him to the side for me, because, you know, it’s Donatello, and I didn’t have it.  He’s neat.  I don’t know that it’s like, top tier for me or anything, but it’s neat.

#3792: U.S. Airman

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

U.S. AIRMAN

WAR HEROES – WORLD WAR II (*NOT* LION ROCK)

Okay, let’s have a history lesson.  But, like, not the sort of history lesson you might expect from a review with “WWII” in its title.  I mean, yeah, sure, that’s very important history and all.  Especially now.  But, it’s, like, not my expertise?  And it’s very scary.  So, I’m focusing on a less scary sort of history that I know about.  And that’s toys.  Right, so in 1964, Hasbro invented the action figure with G.I. Joe.  It was a smash success, which of course meant there were lots of imitators.  One of those imitators was the “Fighting Yank”, produced by Mego Corp, who had, in fact, copied Hasbro’s molds, and shut down production when Hasbro threatened legal action.  Mego reformatted into their smaller scale offerings, finding success with their 8-inch licensed offerings.  At the same time, they were brought a concept for a line of military-based figures, using the smaller-scale 7-inch body developed for the Teen Titans figures.  Not wanting to incur Hasbro’s wrath again, this line was released without any reference to Mego.  Primary distribution was handled by Mego’s overseas distributors Lion Rock, whose name was also stamped on all of the figures.  The line was, confusingly, named a different name in most countries, so that’s all fun and good and super easy to track.  Is that what I’m reviewing today?  Not in the slightest.  Confused?  You won’t be, after the next episode of Soap! review on the Figure in Question!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The U.S. Airman is part of the War Heroes All Battle Equipped in World War II line, a manufacturer-less line of Lion Rock-duplicates produced in the ’80s, seemingly exclusively for Woolworth’s.  How manufacturer-less are they?  The back of the neck, where the copyright information was located on the originals, literally looks like a rasp was taken to it.  Fancy.  These figures were, more or less, direct counterparts for official Lion Rock offerings.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  He’s built on a copy of the Teen Titans base body, which is itself just a slightly miniaturized Mego Type II body.  It’s okay, but the hands are a bit more brittle on this copy, so there’s a crack on one of his thumbs.  The head is scaled to it as though it were an adult, and it’s honestly a pretty nice generic sort of ’40s soldier type.  He’s got an outfit that consists of a bomber jacket, khaki pants, and a pair of plastic boots.  They’re fairly consistent between the official figure and the knock-off, with the one notable change being the use of velcro on the jacket, rather than snaps.  It means things don’t stay closed as well, especially given the scale.  Otherwise, though, the tailoring isn’t too bad.  He also gets an aviation cap and a uniform cap, which both fit nicely on the head, as well as a belt, goggles, a breathing mask, a knife, and a pistol.  I believe he’s also supposed to have a clip board, but mine appears to be missing that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I spent a lot of my time in the ’90s on the internet pouring over the same handful of toy sites, one of them being Mego Museum, which is how I learned about the existence of any of these figures in the first place.  I never really imagined I’d get one.  And, I suppose I haven’t, now have I.  Anyway, I kept that information locked away in my brain, until the day it was called upon, which was, in fact, the day a bunch of them got traded in at work and I was the guy who knew what the heck they were.  This guy was in the batch.  Since he’s a knock-off, he was cheaper, so it was even harder to pass on the opportunity to get one.  My grandfather was in the Air Force in WWII (or what became the Air Force, at least), so I have an attachment of these sorts of things, and I like that this figure even looks a little bit like he did during the war.  It’s also just kind of a nifty piece of action figure history, and I sure do love that sort of thing.

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.

#3790: Blacklash

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

BLACKLASH

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Alright, we’ll be back with the Toy Biz Marvel!  Look, it’s kind of my comfort zone right now, so I’m sticking with it.  I’m back with the Iron Man line, patterned on the cartoon from the ’90s.  The show’s first season built a classic cartoon roster of recurring villains out of Iron Man’s existing rogues gallery.  Admittedly, Iron Man’s villains aren’t the most notable for the most part, but they did their best.  Whiplash, who was at the time going by Blacklash, was part of the Mandarin’s squad of lackeys, and ultimately was never more than a minor player (though he was still a better adaptation than Iron Man 2).  He did at least get a figure out of it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blacklash is part of Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line, as part of the small batch of villains at launch.  He’s based on Blacklash’s design from the show, which is in turn based on his Justin Hammer-designed gear from the comics.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His construction is on the simplistic side, and he’s notably missing any elbow articulation.  I guess maybe it’s to aid in the action feature?  It makes him quite stiff, as does the cape piece, which is large, heavy, and also doesn’t stay on so well.  The head’s actually pretty good, so good, in fact, that Toy Biz re-used it a bunch, minus the weird ponytail.  It’s definitely the best part of the figure.  His paint work is reasonably well done.  It’s a little sloppy, but certainly not the worst I’ve seen from this line.  Blacklash is packed with a whip and nunchucks, which work with his arm swinging feature.  He also gets the ID badge that all of the non-armored figures got.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Blacklash was the last figures I got from the Series 1 line-up.  For whatever reason, I never got him back in the ’90s, and he just never showed up in front of me.  I had picked up a sealed one a while back, but he had weird paint issues, so I never ended up opening him.  One with far better paint got traded into All Time a couple of months ago, so I opted to do the swap out.  He’s not the most impressive figure.  He’s not the most impressive character, either.  But, he’s decent, and good with the rest of the line-up, so there it 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 and their eBay storefront.

#3789: Greedo

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

GREEDO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE (HASBRO)

Okay, here we are at the end of the week.  We made it, you guys!  Good for us!  As a reward to myself, you know what I gonna do?  I’m gonna review a Power of the Force figure.  You know, as a little treat.  Yeah, that’s the ticket.  Waaaaaaaaaay back, nearer the beginning of this site, I took a look at the first Greedo from Power of the Force (and pissed off one of my trolls along the way), but today, I’m setting my sights on the second Greedo, from the tail end of the line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Greedo was part of the 1999 run of Star Wars: Power of the Force, in the first of the two Commtech-sporting sets that ended the line.  By this point, the figures were officially branded as “Hasbro” products, as Kenner had been disbanded and absorbed.  This figure was designed to pair off with the Han Solo form the same line-up, both of them specifically being based on the cross-table conversation from the cantina.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Like Han, he gets a better articulation set-up than earlier figures, with actual bending knee joints, which let him sit properly in the Cantina booth.  His sculpt was all-new, and was a far less stylized one than the prior version.  His proportions land closer to the actual film look, so he’s a lot skinnier, and his head is a bit bigger.  There’s also a bit more work into the texturing and such, and his vest is now a removable rubber piece.  Under the vest, there’s even a blaster mark on the chest, from where Han shoots him, which is particularly gruesome, but also kinda cool.  Greedo’s color work is rather on the basic side, but it does what it needs to, and is generally pretty solid.  There’s even some slight “scorching” where the blaster wound is sculpted, which is a neat touch.  Greedo is packed with a blaster pistol and the Commtech stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought this figure several years ago, back during one of my initial pushes to round out my collection, but he’s sat unopened, hanging from a thumbtack on the wall in my upstairs hallway for most of that time, because I had the other Greedo actually out on display with the rest of the collection.  A couple of months ago, I picked up the cardboard Cantina set, and it’s got the little booth for him, so I finally opened him to put him there.  He’s actually quite a nice little figure.  The first one’s not *bad*, but this guy’s better, and holds up incredibly well for a figure that’s more than a quarter of a century old.

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.

#3788: Mighty Morphin “Metallic” Blue Ranger

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

MIGHTY MORPHIN “METALLIC” BLUE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

There’s never been a *ton* of Power Rangers coverage here, but there certainly used to be more than there has been recently.  A lot of that lies with Hasbro’s Lightning Collection sort of fizzling out last year, leaving the brand a bit dead in the water until Playmates starts pushing their product, which will, of course, be Mighty Morphin focused again.  Look, it’s what sells, guys.  And I’m not helping matters here, because my last Rangers post, almost a whole year ago, was MMPR, and today’s post…is also MMPR.  I assure you, this one’s different!  He’s maybe a little bit sparkly!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Morphin “Metallic” Blue Ranger was a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Power Rangers: Lightning Collection release.  He was released alongside the other five Rangers, and they put them out between the original releases and the “Remastered” releases with the updated bodies.  They were sort of a palette cleanser, like when you get sherbet between courses of a meal.  Do normal places still do that?  Or is it just, like, a disaffected rich person thing?  I don’t know.  I’m getting sidetracked, sorry.  I would like to note that the quotation marks on “Metallic” are present on his name on the front of the box, which feels weird to me, but that’s official.  I guess he’s not *really* metallic?  I don’t know.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s using the first MMPR mold, which isn’t terrible, but also has its drawbacks.  Most notably, he has some difficulty properly putting his arms down to his sides.  That being said, it’s what they had, and it’s also not bad by any stretch, especially pre-Remastered body.  He *does* get an updated helmet mold, though, so it’s not as weirdly shaped as the initial one.  The paint work proper is essentially the same, with the main change-up here being that the blue plastic is now translucent and it has little flecks of glitter in it.  It’s actually kinda cool, and I dig how it looks when it’s all lit up.  It’s gimmicky, of course, but it’s Power Rangers.  The accessories here are fairly similar to the standard release; he gets two pairs of hands, his power blaster, the Power Lance in both separated and combined forms, an unmasked head, an effect piece, and a Zeo Crystal.  All of the Metallic Ranger’s got new unmasked heads, which in the case of most of the others was because they were new actors, but since David Yost was the one that stayed the whole time, we just get an alternate Billy, this time without the glasses.  I’m not sure this one really works as well for me, but it’s *alright* I guess.  The Zeo Crystal is definitely in the running for “most likely to get lost.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t *need* any of these, so I didn’t get one new.  And, honestly, I didn’t even think about it all, until a full set came into All Time, and I was getting the Pink one for Rachel, making getting this one for myself pretty easy.  He’s nifty.  I don’t know that I’d go beyond that, but nifty’s not a bad spot to be for a Power Ranger.

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.

#3787: Cliffjumper

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

CLIFFJUMPER

TRANSFORMERS: MISSING LINK (TAKARA)

I haven’t done any Transformers reviews since back in November, but it’s okay, because they’re coming back around again!  Last year saw the launch of Takara’s Missing Link branding, which sort of takes Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins approach of “vintage style figure with modern engineering” and applies to TFs, giving us figures that look like the original G1s, but without being the generally static bricks those were in robot mode.  The first two figures were both Optimus, and I’m not an Optimus guy, but now we’re getting into some of the other characters.  That some of the other characters includes Cliffjumper, who may not be Magnus or Soundwave, but is still rather high up on my list.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cliffjumper is figure C-04 in the Transformers: Missing Link line.  Thus far, this line’s been releasing figures in pairs, and Cliffy is paired off with Bumblebee, with whom he shares a bit of his tooling.  In robot mode, the figure stands just a hair over 3 inches tall and he has 21 workable points of articulation.  Right off the bat, this guy’s definitely tiny.  Like, I knew he would be, since they’re aiming to replicate the sizing on the originals, but the pictures just didn’t really prepare me for how small he was in person.  He’s just a cute little guy.  Cliffjumper’s sculpt is obviously patterned on his original figure, and in that respect, it’s a good recreation.  It looks a lot like that earlier figure, but he’s less stiff, and the details are all a lot sharper.  His posing is a little bit restricted by his somewhat boxy frame, but it’s honestly not bad.  My biggest issue with mine is that the shoulders can be a touch tricky to pose, and are maybe a hair looser than I’d like.  I’ve heard there have been issues with the heels cracking during posing, but I haven’t had that issue with mine.  Cliffy is packed with a bazooka and a smaller blaster, bith of which are chromed and very cool.  He also includes a sheet of stickers, for those interested in changing up his look.  I’m good with the basic look, so those are staying on the sheet for me.  Like his original, this guy turns into a little tiny car.  The transformation’s pretty easy, but at the same time not too simple.  On mine, the hood doesn’t *quite* seat against the windshield the way it should.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a fan of this general concept of figure, but with Optimus being the launch and me not being an Optimus fan, I couldn’t justify the cost to jump in.  Cliffjumper, however, being the Ultra Magnus to Bumblebee’s Optimus, is right in line with my sort of off-brand Autobot sensibilities, so he gave me the opportunity to try this line out.  He’s very fun, and I like him quite a bit.  And, of course, I want a Magnus now.

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.

#3786: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

It would seem I haven’t reviewed a single Plastic Man figure here on the site since my first year, where I had a veritable surplus of a whole two of them.  That’s quite a hiatus, huh?  I blame my need to really project that Elongated Man-stan site energy.  Is that the right use of “stan?”  Should I even be using “stan?”  Probably not, but I’ve gone and used it anyway, about Elongated Man.  I mean, if I’m gonna cross that line, Elongated Man’s a good reason.  But, I’m not supposed to be talking about Elongated Man, now am I?  Right, it’s Plastic Man.  He’s okay, I guess.  Anyway, here’s a Plastic Man figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plastic Man is the Build-A-Figure from the ’90s JLA-themed assortment of DC Multiverse from last year (you know, the one that inexplicably included a not even remotely ’90s John Stewart as its Green Lantern).  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  With the exception of the slightly changed up neck joint, his articulation is more or less the same as your average DC Mulitverse figure.  On my figure, the standard arms are quite loose at the shoulders, but I don’t know if that’s an across the board thing or a just my figure thing.  Aside from the John Stewart, this set is supposed to based on the team’s late ’90s depictions.  For Plas, that keeps his general classic look, but results in him being more exaggerated in his proportions and appearance. Plas makes use of the arms and upper legs of the Blue Beetle base body, along with a new head, torso, pelvis, and lower legs.  In general, he feels maybe a touch bulky for Plastic Man, who is usually a little skinnier than others.  I can’t help but feel that maybe the body used for Ambush Bug might be a better starting point?  The new parts are okay, though.  I do like finally getting a set of shins for this body without the sculpted boot cuff.  The feet are a bit freaky and grotesque, and the head’s giving me slight Elvis vibes, but on a whole, it works okay.  Plastic Man’s color work is serviceable.  Nothing too crazy.  I do dig the reflection in the goggles, so that’s certainly a plus.  Plas is packed with an alternate head and arms, which are more stretched out.  Generally, I prefer them to the standards, with the head in particular just feeling more true to the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I liked the general look of this guy when he was shown off, I didn’t exactly want to buy a whole set of figures just to get him.  And, honestly, I didn’t really expect to get the chance to get one, because I haven’t really seen many of the McFarlane BaFs resurface.  I was proven wrong on this one, because I actually had a loose complete one land in front of me at work, in a relatively short span of time from release.  Every time I’ve passed on a figure of Plas in the past, I’ve wound up regretting it, so I tried to avoid running into that here.  He’s okay.  He’s got some slight issues, but at the same time, he’s still worth the 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 and their eBay storefront.