Tag Archives: All Time Toys

#2589: Torch & Mr. Fantastic

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

TORCH & MR. FANTASTIC

MARVEL MINIMATES

First previewed in the line in 2004, in 2005 the Fantastic Four proper made their way into Marvel Minimates.  Marvel’s first family was on the rise that year, with a movie hitting theaters that summer, and all sorts of cool toy product to go along with everything.  Of course, then the movie actually came out and we all collectively went “meh” and the FF kind of got back-burnered, but hey, they were still full of all this cool potential at the beginning of the year, right?  Minimates got in on the pre-movie hype by devoting an entire assortment of figures (well, almost…more on that later) to the team, which was certainly a leg up from prior coverage.  Today, I’m kicking things off with a look at Reed and Johnny!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Torch and Mr. Fantastic were part of Series 8 of Marvel Minimates, which hit retail shelves in January of 2005.  The same pairing was also released through Target in both 2005 and 2006.  They’re kind of an odd pairing, thematically, since it would seem to me that Reed/Sue or Reed/Ben and Johnny/Ben or Johnny/Sue would have made way more thematic sense.  But, I guess they had good money on everyone going for the whole set anyway.

TORCH

Apparently, Johnny is no longer human, he’s purely torch, because that’s what he is on every instance of his name on the package.  No clue at all as to why they ditched the “Human” portion of his name for the Series 8 release, but it did fortunately reappear when the packs made their way to Target.  My guess is it was a mistake that no one caught until it was too late.  For his first ‘mate, Johnny went fully flamed-on.  It’s always an iffy prospect in three dimensions, but it’s certainly distinctive.  He’s on the standard ‘mate body (which now comes with the C3 feet standard in the main line, a first with this Series), so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Johnny has add-ons for his hair and the flames on his shoulders, both of which are new.  It’s interesting that the hair was new, rather than being a re-use of the Ghost Rider piece from the prior year, but it does look a bit better.  It’s also notable for introducing the pegged hair pieces to the line.  Up to this point, all of the heads had been without peg holes, and all of the hair pieces had purely been held in place via friction.  It worked for some designs, but not others, and the pegs really helped to keep the figures held together a bit better (though they would have other drawbacks that would surface later).  All in all, it’s a good set of parts, and works decently for the character, albeit a more modern take on his flamed-on appearance.  The paint work on this guy’s quite nice, with a very comics-esque and very dynamic facial expression, as well as musculature and the classic Torch heat lines on the torso, pelvis, and legs.  It works very well.  Johnny was packed with a fire blast effect piece and a small flight stand, both of which were new, and which helped to further sell his flame abilities.

MR. FANTASTIC

Reed actually got a preview release in the line in late 2004, as part of a TRU-exclusive 10-pack, where he and Ultimate Green Goblin were the exclusive pieces.  But, for those of us who didn’t want to buy 8 duplicate figures just to get two, there was this two-pack.  Yay!  This guy’s built on the standard C3-footed body, in contrast to the early release, which was long-footed.  He’s got add-ons for his hair and gloves.  Both were new.  The hair’s a little blocky and minimalistic for where the line was going by this point, and it’s worth noting that, due to being produced the year before, it doesn’t have the peg like Johnny’s.  This also means it has some trouble staying in place.  The gloves are decent enough pieces, though I do really have to wonder why they were included at all, since it’s not like the FF’s gloves have ever been depicted as anything other than just as skin tight as the rest of the suit.  They just end up looking oddly bulked up, especially with the lack of any corresponding parts for the boots.  Reed’s paint work is far more basic than Johnny’s, but also a lot more imbalanced.  There’s a lot of detailing on the face (which is actually a pretty solid Jack Kirby-style recreation of Reed), but the body gets only very simple detailing.  He doesn’t even have any musculature on his torso.  Additionally, for some odd reason his boots, belt, and collar are a dark blue, while his gloves are a straight black.  Why aren’t they just all black?  Isn’t that weird?  Reed gets a pair of extended arms, which swap out at the hands, and are actually pretty darn cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was really excited for this assortment when it was shown off and really wanted the whole set, and then inexplicably bought exactly none of them when they were actually released.  Couldn’t tell you why.  Just wasn’t feeling them right at that moment, I guess.  I waited on getting them for quite a while, actually, and only actually got around to picking them up when a whole slew of Minimates came through at All Time last year.  Johnny’s okay.  There have been better versions, but he’s not a bad offering on his own.  Reed was weak even when he was new, and just feels really imbalanced, like parts of him were designed way earlier than the rest.

#2588: Two-Face

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

TWO-FACE

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN (DC DIRECT)

“An epic tale of mystery and suspense that takes Batman deep into the underworld of Gotham City.

The Long Halloween reveals the events that transformed Harvey Dent into Batman’s deadly enemy, Two-Face!”

Though he was a long time Bat-foe by the time The Long Halloween was published, Two-Face’s background, beginning with his time as Gotham’s attorney Harvey Dent, had only ever really been touched on in brief.  Long Halloween uses Harvey Dent as one of its central characters, detailing his efforts to clean up Gotham by taking on the mob, and how it ultimately leads to his downfall.  It became rather defining for the character, and even served as a heavy inspiration for The Dark Knight‘s version of the character.  So, it’s not terribly surprising that Two-Face was included in DC Direct’s tie-in line for the storyline, I suppose.  Let’s have a look at that figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Two-Face was included in DC Direct’s Batman: The Long Halloween assortment of figures, which hit shelves in 2006.  He actually marked the first time DCD had done a Two-Face figure, which was really something, given how many figures they’d put out by this point.  He wouldn’t be their last, of course.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Of the figures I’ve looked at from this line so far, Two-Face is definitely the most restricted in terms of movement (though he’ll be outdone by Mad Hatter, should I ever get around to him), with pretty much no movement in his lower half, as well as cut joints at the shoulders.  There’s not a ton of posing to be done here.  He’s got a nice ball joint on the neck joint, I suppose.  His sculpt is again a very stylized piece, inspired by Tim Sale’s art from the series.  It’s…fine.  The pose is a little more neutral than Batman or Joker, so it’s more versatile.  The feet both pointing one way, which is a little awkward, and I’m not entirely sure why they opted for that.  Also, while the sculpted work on the scarred side of his face is a truly impressive piece of work, the unscarred side misses the mark on capturing Sale’s style…or at least on capturing Sale’s version of Harvey Dent.  There are still some Sale qualities, but his features are a little too exaggerated for Harvey.  Still, it’s far from a bad sculpt, and it’s certainly got a lot of character to it.  Two-Face’s paint work is pretty strong.  They did a great job consistently applying all of the pin stripes to his suit and tie.  It’s adds a nice dynamic flair.  I also really like how well the accenting works on the scarred side of Harvey’s face.  Two-Face was packed with two hands, in the same pose, but with different side of the coin showing, a pistol, a display stand, and a calendar page showing January 1st.  The hands are really hard to swap out, so that’s a bit of a bummer, but the stand’s nice, and the calendar page is a nifty little extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in my prior reviews, I hadn’t yet read Long Halloween when these figures were released, so I played the waiting game on getting them.  The same collection that had the Batman and Joker figures I reviewed last week also had this Two-Face figure, loose.  It was actually the Two-Face that caught my eye, as he was the one that was higher on my list.  I really enjoy the story’s take on Harvey, and though this figure may not be perfect, it’s nevertheless a solid rendition.  I’m definitely happy to finally have it.

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

#2586: In Space Yellow Ranger

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

IN SPACE YELLOW RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

It’s not much of a secret around these parts that, when it comes to Power Rangers, Power Rangers In Space is kind of my jam, man.  I’ve been eagerly waiting for a solid plastic version of the team pretty much since the ’90s, if I’m honest.  Hasbro’s been trying to introduce at least one new Rangers line-up with each series of Lightning Collection, and they’ve finally come around to the inclusion of the Space Rangers.  As has become a trend for a lot of the line-ups, they aren’t starting with the Red Ranger (classically the obvious choice); instead, they’re going with Ashley Hammond, the Yellow Space Ranger, who I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Space Yellow is another piece of Series 6 of the Lightning Collection line-up.  As I touched on in the intro, she’s our first Space Ranger in the line (though not our first character from In Space, since we already got the whole Psycho Ranger line-up).  She’ll be joined shortly by Andros, who’s coming in a two-pack later this year.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Unlike the prior female Ranger I looked at, the articulation on Space Yellow is a bit closer to her male counterparts, and subsequently gives her a slightly easier time of standing.  I’m definitely okay with that.  Ashley is sporting an all-new sculpt, based on her show appearance.  Presumably, it will be more or less entirely shared with Cassie when they get around to her.  They won’t even have to change the skirt piece, since Cassie’s one of the handful of times that the original Japanese counterpart of the Yellow Ranger was also female.  The sculpt’s a pretty strong offering.  It’s appropriately sleek and clean, just as the Space Ranger outfits are supposed to be.  I particularly like how well the helmet’s turned out.  I felt the MMPR helmets ended up looking a touch off for this line, but the Space helmet looks spot on.  The paint work on this figure is pretty clean, and the application’s nice and sharp.  There’s minimal slop or bleed over, and as with Zeo Red, the figures are definitely better across the board in terms of paint consistency this time around.  In terms of accessories, Ashley keeps up with the slightly better standard we saw with Zeo Red.  She’s got two sets of hands (in gripping and a fist/flat combo), her Astro Blaster, Star Slinger, effects piece for the Slinger, and an unmasked head.  Again, I’m glad to see her get her Ranger-specific weapon here, and I like how well the hands work with the Slinger.  The unmasked head is…kind of rough.  It’s definitely not one of the better ones from this line, and it ends up making Tracy Lynn Cruz look a good deal older than she did on the show.  Still, it’s better than nothing, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in 2014, when I got the Figuarts version of the MMPR team, I was hoping for the chance to get the Space team in a similar quality.  When the Legacy Collection did the team, I gave it a try, but I just wasn’t impressed enough to spend the time trying to get the whole line-up.  I’ve been patiently waiting for the team to turn up in Hasbro’s line, and I was thrilled when Ashley was announced.  She’s another strong entry in the line, and I look forward to getting the rest of the team.

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

#2585: Zeo Red Ranger

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

ZEO RED RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Perhaps the most definitive Power Ranger in the entirety of the franchise, Jason David Frank’s Tommy Oliver began as the franchise’s first sixth ranger.  Initially just an antagonist for the main team, he eventually became an ally and a member of the core team proper.  When MMPR ran out of Zyuranger footage to use for the Green Ranger, Tommy was retired for a while, until footage of Gosei Sentai Dairanger’s Kiba Ranger was adapted into MMPR‘s White Ranger, granting Tommy a new identity.  In this new identity, Tommy slowly shifted into more of a leader role, a transition fully cemented when the original Red Ranger and team leader Jason Lee Scott departed the show in the third season.  When MMPR  became Zeo, things were streamlined a bit, making Tommy the Red Ranger proper, and thereby the team’s default leader.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zeo Red headline’s Series 6 of Hasbro’s Power Rangers: Lightning Collection.  He’s our third member of the Zeo team, following Series 4’s Zeo Blue and Series 5’s Zeo Gold.  He’s also the resident Red Ranger for this assortment, and the fourth version of Tommy in the line.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  For the most part, he’s a heavy parts re-use of Zeo Blue.  It’s expected, really, since the costumes are virtually identical, and the builds aren’t too far off either.  It’s a solid sculpt, so certainly a good starting point.  He gets a new helmet, of course, sporting his star-shaped visor.  It’s as goofy here as it was in the show, but that doesn’t make me like it any less.  The paint work on this guy is pretty straight forward and basic.  I did find that it was a little more consistent across the board from figure to figure this time around, which is certainly a plus for the line.  I’m glad it looks like things are generally improving for the paint work on the line, especially given the other paint issues Hasbro’s been facing this year.  Like Zeo Blue, Red gets two sets of hands in fists and gripping poses, the pod sword, and laser pistol.  He adds in the Zeo Power Sword, an effect piece, and an unmasked Tommy head.  I still would have liked to get a collapsed version of the pod sword for more proper holstering, but I’m glad to see them actually including the individual Ranger-specific weapons.  Hopefully they keep it up for more than just the Red Rangers.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the unmasked head is actually a new sculpt, and not just another re-use of the one from the White Ranger.  This one’s a slightly better take on Frank’s likeness, so I’m glad Hasbro gave it another go.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Blue and Gold, I’ve been eager to fill out the rest of the Zeo roster, and Tommy was kind of an inevitable part of that.  I don’t know that I was expecting him quite this quickly, but I’m certainly not complaining.  He had the potential to be a far more by the numbers figure than he actually is, and I definitely appreciate Hasbro not just phoning it in here.  Now we’re officially at the half way point on Zeo, and I’m honestly pretty excited about that.

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

#2584: Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

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

GARAZEB “ZEB” ORRELIOS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Meet the muscle of the Ghost team. Garazeb ‘Zeb’ Orrelios was a cunning Lasat Honor Guard who adopted the cause of rebellion against the Empire!”

Since 2016, Hasbro has been slowly but surely working their way through the main cast of Rebels in the Black Series line-up.  They started off with the most surefire sales, and then slowly worked through, giving us five of the original six-man team (plus a matching Ahsoka for good measure).  For the final member of the team, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, there was a bit of an issue of scaling, given his larger than average size.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s just recently implemented a larger deluxe price point, which is really perfect for such a character, allowing for that core team to finally be completed!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zeb is another piece of Hasbro’s latest relaunch of their Black Series line-up.  He’s his own single release, of course, but is designed to accent the other six Rebels figures, which have all gotten a reissue in the new style packaging, and released at the Deluxe style price point.  There’s some humor to the fact that Hasbro finally got around to actually getting out some standard release numbered Deluxe figures, just in time to completely ditch their numbering all together.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Though he may have a stockier build than his comrades, Zeb’s articulation continues the Black Series trend of improved mobility.  Pretty much all of the joints have a clear range of motion, and the arms are particularly good, in both the shoulders (which are unimpeded by the shoulder gaurds) and the elbows (which attain a more than 90 degree bend, kind of essential for properly holding his weapon).  Zeb’s sporting a totally unique sculpt, sporting his Season 1/2 appearance, so he matches up with the rest of the Ghost crew so far.  I do have to wonder if, now that the main crew is complete in one cohesive style, we might see later season looks as well, which would grant Hasbro the opportunity to do some more re-use on these parts.  Of all of the humanoid Ghost crew members, Zeb is the one whose look has been the least changed to translate him into The Black Series style. This largely due to his being a Lasat, and therefore having a far more alien appearance.*  Some of his proportions have been subdued a bit, and he gets some deeper detailing on his face and in the texturing of his clothing.  It works well, and he fits in nicely with the rest of the crew.  His head’s definitely capturing the grumpier side of Zeb, which is generally a good choice for the character, though I can’t help but wish we had maybe gotten a softer Zeb as well.  Zeb’s paintwork is pretty solid overall.  The base application is all very clean, and they’ve done a great job of capturing the patterns on his skin.  He also gets the printing on his eyes, which obviously doesn’t look as real here as on the human characters, but does still inject a little more life into the figure.  Zeb is packed with his  Lasan Honor Guard AB-75 Bo-Rifle, which is quite an impressive piece of work.  It’s packaged in its staff configuration, complete with two energy effects pieces.  It also has the ability to reconfigure into the rifle set-up, and does so pretty well at that.  Rifle mode also allows it to be stored on Zeb’s back, as seen on the show.  It’s a really awesome piece, and it’s great that they actually got it to work as it’s supposed to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ever since getting into this whole Black Series Rebels crew thing, I’ve been curious to see how Zeb would be handled.  With the introduction of the deluxe price point, his inclusion seemed inevitable, and here he is.  I’m pretty psyched to finally have the complete team, and it helps that Zeb is just such an impressive package.  The engineering on this figure is really great, and he’s just a ton of fun to play with.

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

*Fun Fact: the Lasat, and Zeb in particular, are based on Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept for Chewbacca.  Just one of many McQuarrie designs to find its way into Rebels.

#2583: Clone Trooper – Kamino

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

CLONE TROOPER — KAMINO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Clone Troopers were grown on the planet Kamino from the genetic template of bounty hunter Jango Fett and made into a highly-efficient military force.”

Ah, yes, the Clone Troopers.  My gateway drug into having prequel stuff in my Black Series collection.  Thanks a lot, clones.  Over there bein’ all awesome and stuff.  Why’d you have to be like that?  Awww, you know I can’t stay mad at you, clones.  You’re just too darn cool! Well, guess I better just buy a whole slew of new ones, right?  Cool.  Cool cool cool.  No doubt, no doubt.  Sure is convenient that there’s, like, a slew of new ones on the horizon, isn’t it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Kamino Clone Trooper is part of the first assortment of the latest relaunch of Star Wars: The Black Series.  As noted in the Rebels Hera review, these new figures ditch the numbering scheme of the prior lines, and each have a little mural, separated by their source material.  The Kamino Trooper is based on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and is at launch the only figure from that set (though there’s the whole currently Walmart-exclusive Siege of Mandalor sub-set, as well as a Cad Bane that will be added for the next assortment).  This clone is a show-exclusive design, seen on the Kamino security officers in the episodes “Conspiracy” and “Fugitive.”  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The major selling point on this particular clone is that he’s the first to utilize the all-new Clone Trooper base body that Hasbro’s rolling out with this Black Series re-launch.  Honestly, it’s overdue.  The old clone body was great for its time, but The Black Series has improved its articulation schemes leaps and bounds in the past six years since that base’s introduction, and it was really starting to show its age.  We’d already seen an update with Rex, but that was a more commander-oriented body.  This one’s far more all-purpose.  While it’s technically got less joints, the range on those joints is a lot better, allowing this clone to get far deeper poses.  He actually can hold his rifle correctly (something the prior body struggled with), and he can get into a pretty solid crouch on one knee pose, which is something the other figure couldn’t do at all.  Really just a head to toe improvement on posing.  But, it’s not just the range of motion that’s impressive; the cohesiveness of the sculpt is also still preserved, and in fact improved over the original mold.  The armor is cleanly recreated and looks really slick.  The helmet is certainly the best Phase II helmet we’ve seen from the line as well, and there’s actually a full head up under it, although it’s unpainted and the helmet’s glued in place.  Still, they’re clearly doing some future planning with that piece.  The paint work on this guy is pretty strong.  It’s very grey, of course, but that’s accurate.  There’s a lot of markings on this particular design, and the application is all pretty sharp.  I really love the shoulder pads in particular; they’re really clean, and it’s just a cool design.  The Kamino Trooper is packed with both the DC-15A rifle and DC-15S blaster.  Like the clone, they appear to be new molds, but it’s hard to say quite as definitively.  They certainly work well, and it’s nice that he still gets both options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like clones, and as I’ve gotten more into my collecting of this line, I’ve grown to like the clones even more.  It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten any troopers, and doing a rewatch of the show leading up to the finale certainly made me want to see more of them in the line.  So, this guy was probably my most wanted out of the new line-up.  As luck would have it, he was also the first I was able to get my hands on.  He’s really awesome, and I look forward to getting a whole slew of other clones built on this body.

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

#2582: Clobberin’ Time Thing & Super Skrull

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

CLOBBERIN’ TIME THING & SUPER SKRULL

MARVEL MINIMATES

After being introduced into the line in early 2004 with a single team member, the Fantastic Four got another Marvel Minimates release in fairly short order.  It was great, another team member to–what’s that?  Oh, it wasn’t another team member at all?  It was just the same team member a second time?  Yeah, that sounds more appropriate.  Well, at least we got another FF foe out of the deal.  Also, full disclosure: this set’s not as bad as it seems on the outside.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Clobberin’ Time Thing and Super Skrull were a Tower Records-exclusive pack, added to the Marvel Minimates line in October of 2004.  They were Tower’s second exclusive for the line, following 2003’s single-release of Silver Surfer. Rather surprisingly for figures from this early in the line, these two remained wholly exclusive to this pack, though the pack itself was never incredibly hard to get a hold of or anything like that.

THING

Yes, for the second FF set, we got yet another version of The Thing.  This time around, he’s wearing one of his more extensive FF uniforms, with the tank top and boots that Byrne outfitted him with during his run on the book.  Honestly, I’ve always loved this look myself, so I can’t really complain that much.  The figure stands 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Ben’s built on the standard ‘mate body, but wait, what’s that I spy?  Would those be C3-style feet?  Indeed they would.  Though they wouldn’t make it into the main line until the beginning of the next year, 2004’s summer/fall exclusive packs were all given the C3 treatment, a first for the Marvel line.  He’s got add-ons for his head piece and fists, which, like the prior release, help to bulk him up just a touch, while still keeping him more true to the core body than later versions.  While the head piece remains the same as the prior release, the hands are actually new, and actually do the reverse posing of the prior release: right is gripping, left is closed.  It’s a small touch, but still a cool one.  The paint work is a fair bit changed up for this release, adding the necessary details for his uniform, as well as some actual musculature for his torso, which works very well.  Additionally, his facial expression is changed to a close mouthed one, which really appeals to me and my desire to have more close mouthed Thing figures.  The face is seated slightly better on the face this time as well, so it works even better with the head piece this time.  Thing included a small cigar accessory originally, but mine hasn’t had one as long as it’s been in my possession.

SUPER SKRULL

Facing off against this new version of the Thing was an old FF foe whose whole gimmick is mimicking all four team members’ powers.  Maybe not the best choice when you still haven’t put out the whole team, but hey, new is new.  Like Ben, Kl’rt uses the new and improved C3-footed body.  He also gets new add-ons for his cowl, shoulder pads, flame effect, and extended rocky fist.  All of these pieces were re-used as the line progressed, and they’re all pretty solid additions.  They go more for the basic detailing of the earlier offerings, of course, but there’s plenty of sculpted detailing on that rocky fist, matching closely to what we saw on Thing’s hands.  It’s definitely cool.  Super Skrull’s paint work does a solid job of merging the typical Skrull with the effects of the FF’s powers.  He’s got the appropriate flamed-on effect for the right hand and forearm, and transparent lower legs.  It’s a good look, and it’s a lot of fun.  Super Skrull didn’t get any accessories, but given the number of new parts included, that’s hardly the end of the world.  I suppose some standard Skrull parts might have been cool, but that extensive level of alt parts wasn’t really a thing yet at this point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though these two are a two pack, I got the respective ‘mates about 8 years apart from each other, and neither one of them was new.  I fished Thing out of a small loose figure bin at a teeny tiny comic con I was attending back in 2011, and only had him for the longest time.  When All Time got in their huge Minimates collection last fall, Super Skrull was in there with no accompanying Thing, and so it just kind of felt meant to be.  Though the set’s doubling down on Ben seems like a bad move on the outside, he’s actually a really fun ‘mate, and remains my personal favorite version of the character in the line.  Super Skrull is likewise a really fun ‘mate, and he was new and different at the time.  Honestly, this is one of the coolest sets from ’04, and is a real pick-me-up after suffering through Series 7.

#2581: Batman & Joker

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

BATMAN & JOKER

BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN (DC DIRECT)

“An epic tale of mystery and suspense that takes Batman deep into the underworld of Gotham City.”

Well, we’re firmly a week into November.  Perfect timing for me to have *just* missed Halloween in order to properly theme what I’m about to review.   Yes, I’m jumping into the world of Batman: The Long Halloween, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s year-long miniseries following an early in his career Batman as he tracks down Holiday, a serial killer who strikes once a month on a holiday.  While on his quest to find the killer, Batman also manages to face down most of his major rogues gallery, making it a nice, all-encompassing Batman story, and certainly one of the best out there.  It’s distinctive style, and the fact that it includes so many heavy hitters made it a perfect choice for a toy line.  Today, I’m delving into the heaviest of hitters, Batman and the Joker.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batman and The Joker were released as a special collector’s set from DC Direct in 2008, after they’d completed their main Long Halloween and Dark Victory lines.  The set included the two figures and some stripped down accessories, as well as a trade paperback of The Long Halloween.

BATMAN

“Batman races agains the calendar as he tries to discover who the killer Holiday is before he claims his next victim.”

Tim Sale’s Batman is a rather distinctive piece, and the chance to own it in three dimensions was one of the primary selling points of the first Long Halloween line.  It was so popular that it sold out the first time, so they just did a straight re-issue of it when it came time for the figures from Dark Victory…and then that one pretty much did the same thing.  So, this guy was the third pretty much straight re-release of this figure, although this one did get a new head sculpt out of it.  He’s almost 7 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  It’s not a ton of posability, but it’s enough to get a few decent poses out of him.  The real weakness of the joints, I’d say, is the shoulders, which don’t really have much up and down.  This means he’s always just got them sort of jutting out to the sides like that.  Given Sale’s tendency to draw Bruce in rather dynamic poses while in costume, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s somewhat limiting.  In terms of the actual sculpt, Sale’s artwork proved a little difficult for DCD to translate into 3D.  His style is somewhat impressionistic, and he likes to keep his characters fluid, so getting them really nailed down in a single sculpt is tricky.  That’s definitely the case with Batman, who ends up looking close to Sale’s work to be sure, but there’s something…off.  The face in particular seems a bit out of place.  It’s a little bit pinched, I think, and almost too simian for the character.  It’s not far off, and definitely a marked improvement over the two single releases, but it’s still not quite there.  The other piece that seems to have given them trouble is the cape.  Sale always had Bruce’s cape all over the place, and he liked for it to be really long.  This figure aims to capture that, with a cape that trails behind and even lays on the ground at the back.  It’s not terrible, but the shaping doesn’t quite seem right here.  In this case, it’s really a matter of fighting with gravity, and it’s hard to fault DCD there.  The paint work on this guy remains pretty much the same as the two prior releases.  It’s black and grey, with just a touch of brown, which is to say it’s exactly what you’d expect from a standard Batman.  It’s pretty cleanly handled, and there’s no notable issues with mine, so I’m calling it a win in my book.  Batman includes a batarang with a line on it (which is the Dark Victory release) and a simple display stand with the book’s name printed on it.  I do miss the cool sidewalk stands that came with the single releases, but it’s fairly minor.

JOKER

“Sofia Falcone risked innocent lives when she unleashed The Joker after the Holiday killer!”

Joker’s an interesting choice for inclusion here.  I mean, yeah, he’s definitely Batman’s most distinctive foe and all, and his appearance in the book is a notable one, but beyond being the Joker, he’s not that prominent.  Two-Face and Catwoman are both far more plot relevant, and would have made for a more sensible second.  But, at the end of the day, DCD was hard pressed to say no to another Batman/Joker pairing, especially one the same year as The Dark Knight…which, of course, also had Two-Face in a prominent role, making his inclusion the more logical–nope, I’m spiraling again.  Stop it, Ethan.  What’s done is done.  This figure stands again just shy of 7 inches tall and he has again 13 points of articulation.  In terms of movement, Joker is even more static than Batman, largely because he’s far more pose-specific than Batman.  He’s patterned on a specific visual from the comic, which was more important for the single release of the figure, since it more tied in with that figure’s accessories.  Whatever the case, it’s got him in sort of a mid-stride appearance, which is a little tricky to work with, since it makes him rather hard to get standing.  I was mentioning above how Sale’s characters are very fluid; well, going by that method, his Joker is fully liquified.  He goes for the height of expressiveness, and that means he’s really hard to nail down in three dimensions.  Because of this, his sculpt is probably the weakest of the whole set.  It’s not bad, and when viewed from the right angle, it actually looks really cool.  The profile in particular is really killer.  It’s just not great for posing, and looking too closely at the internal proportions is bound to drive you batty, and not in the thematically appropriate way.  Joker’s paint work marked quite a change from the prior release, with a few changes to the actual color palette.  This is actually a case of DCD making good use of a second release of a mold, as Joker’s colors shift later in the series.  His single release matches the earlier appearance, while this one’s more of an end of the series look.  This release also cleans up the application a bit more, especially on the face, which is now a much cleaner end product.  The accessories are where this guy really takes a hit compared to the single.  He gets his gun and a display stand, but loses the santa hat and bag of gifts from the original.  While I get why they were cut, it’s still a little sad that they aren’t here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I hadn’t yet read Long Halloween when DCD first released figures from it.  By the time I got around to reading it (and loving it, because boy do I love it), all of the figures, including this pack, had disappeared.  I’ve had my eye out for a set of them for a bit, but never really went to the trouble of tracking them down.  This pair came into All Time as part of a rather large collection a few months ago, and they were at the right price at the right time, so I was definitely on board.  These two were probably the weakest of DCD’s Sale-based figures, but that doesn’t make either one of them a bad figure at all.  In fact, I really quite like them, and I’m happy to finally be making my way through this set of figures.

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

#2580: Stan Lee

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

STAN LEE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The world of toys is full of figures of the fantastical creations that we all love, but it is a much rarer occasion that we actually see the focus shift to the creators of said creations.  Not entirely out of the question, of course.  Quentin Tarrantino’s gotten a few figures from his movies (even the ones where he doesn’t explicitly appear on screen), and James Cameron joined his Colonial Marines from Aliens in NECA’s line from the movie.  Even George Lucas has gotten a few toys.  Today, our sites are set firmly on the world of comics, with the most publicly known comic creator of all time, Stanley “Stan Lee” Leiber, father of the modern Marvel empire!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stan Lee is his own stand alone Marvel Legends release, packaged in a similar fashion to last year’s “80 Years of Marvel” sub-line.  He’s not Stan’s first time as a toy, with a prior SDCC-exclusive Legend and a somewhat baffling Masters of the Universe Classics figure preceding him. This figure was originally designed to be a Build-A-Figure across a handful of MCU-based two-packs (which included Ross/Killmonger and Bucky/Falcon; we even saw some early production samples of the Ross/Killmonger set that still included the legs), but that was ultimately scrapped for this single release.  Honestly, that was probably the better call.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Stan is built on the suit body, specifically the Bruce Banner version of it, with the unbuttoned shirt.  He gets a new set of arms and jacket, as well as a new head, of course.  Most of the body wound up getting re-used for the Peter Parker figure, which actually beat this guy to market in a lot of places.  It’s a decent parts share idea, since not only was Stan pretty open about Peter being his author avatar, but also the last Legends Stan doubled as a Peter figure, so there’s precedent.  Stan’s new head sculpt is pretty much the spitting image of the real thing…albeit perhaps a little younger than the intended source material.  Technically according to the box, he’s supposed to based on Stan’s cameo appearance in The Avengers, but he ultimately looks like he’s a little more based on Stan circa the ’90s/early ’00s.  Ultimately, it’s still during a very visible period of time for Stan, and it even works a little more for me, since it means he ends up looking more like his appearances in the lead-ins for The Marvel Action Hour.  The point is, it’s a good sculpt, and does a great job of capturing Stan’s signature smile.  The official decision to base him on The Avengers seemed a touch limiting anyway.  Stan’s paint work is overall pretty monochromatic, and appropriately real world.  He uses the face printing, which works well here, and adds some nice weight and depth to the face sculpt.  The hair gets some accenting as well, which makes it again more in line with a slightly younger Stan, given how dark it is.  Stan’s accessory selection is…well, it’s something.  It’s definitely the least straight forward bit of everything about the figure.  He’s got a Captain America shield with his signature on it, which is cool, I guess, but kind of a weird piece.  Like, why has he signed it?  Also, there’s the added oddity of only including a single Marvel-related prop and having it be something from a character Stan *didn’t* create.  Were there at least a few other pieces (say a Mjolnir, or an Iron Man gauntlet), it’d be less weird.  As is, it’s…strange.  Also included is a small brown rectangle, which is supposed to be the box of chess pieces from The Avengers.  It’s really scene specific, and honestly doesn’t have much behind it.  it’s just another reminder of the supposed source for the figure, and not a great one at that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was originally rumored as a BaF, I was not super thrilled, not because I didn’t want him, but because completing him felt like it would be a daunting task.  When he was cancelled, I was sad we weren’t getting him, but relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about completing him.  I was further relieved when he was confirmed for this single release.  It’s been a bit of a wait to get him, and the accessories are a little weird, but the core figure’s pretty great, and he looks awesome on the shelf with all of his creations.  Now, can we please mend some bridges to get a Jack Kirby figure to go with him?

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

#2579: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes unleashes a torrent of explosive devastation from the air as War Machine.”

In the last few years of Marvel Legends, War Machine’s gotten a fairly decent amount of coverage, but it’s been almost entirely MCU-based coverage, due to the character’s numerous armor upgrades throughout those films.  Our only comics-based War Machine wasn’t actually Rhodey, and was instead a Punisher variant (and a not particularly comics accurate one, at that).  We haven’t actually gotten a proper 616 Rhodey since all the way back in the Toy Biz days, which is quite a gap of time.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s getting into the classic War Machine game with some style with a deluxe release of the character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine is a standalone Deluxe-sized Marvel Legends offering.  Much like Black Widow and Archangel before him, he’s a standard sized figure with some extra bells and whistles added to justify a slightly higher price point.  This War Machine is based on the second rendition of the armor, which is the first version worn by Rhodey, and certainly one of the looks most associated with the character.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Much like the old Toy Biz Legends War Machine, this version of Colonel Rhodes shares a few parts with the most recent Classic Iron Man in the line; he’s still mostly new, but the upper arms and legs are the same.  It’s hard to say they should look different, really, and they’re really well rendered parts anyway.  Plus, this helps to keep the sizing consistent between Iron Man armors.  The new parts, which include the head, torso, pelvis, forearms, hands, lower legs, and feet, are all clean renditions of the War Machine armor as seen in the comics.  There’s a nice geometric layout to them, and their boxy nature accents the sleek classic Iron Man design pretty well.  War Machine’s shoulder-mounted guns are the things that give most highly articulated versions of the character some trouble.  Hasbro’s prior attempts have all cheated the issue, and not really allowed for proper storage, and even Toy Biz’s old Legends release just had a plug and play set-up.  This one actually manages to pretty much replicate them as seen in the comics, right down to their ability to slide onto his back for storage.  In a perfect world, I’d like them to go back just a touch further than they do, but it’s certainly closer than any prior attempt (at this scale, at least), and I can definitely appreciate that.  War Machine’s paint scheme goes for a pretty stark black (or very dark gun metal grey, I guess) and light silver.  It’s a good look, and certainly helps some of the sculpted elements on the figure really pop out.  As far as actual paint application, there’s not really a ton, but the more basic, clean look works well with this design.  War Machine’s accessory selection is where a lot of the “deluxe” price point comes into play.  He gets an extra unmasked head, the four piece blast-off effect that we saw previously with Iron Man 2020, a missile firing effects piece for the missile launcher, a blast effect for the minigun, and three different effects configurations for the wrist gun: an in-motion shooting set-up, two individual blasts, and two smoking pieces for the barrels.  It’s quite a lot, and when he’s all kitted up, he makes for quite an impressive display.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like War Machine, or at the very least I like Rhodey as a character.  War Machine’s figures tend to be a little bit hit or miss, and honestly the one I’ve liked the most previously was his old 5″ figure.  Legends are always fun, but something tends to keep them from being properly definitive for the character.  So, I was interested in this guy, but he was definitely a slow burn for me.  In-hand, I’m really impressed with him, and he gives me some serious cartoon vibes.  Now I *really* need a Modular Iron Man update to go with him.

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.