Tag Archives: Amazon

#3192: Ronan The Accuser

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

RONAN THE ACCUSER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“As Supreme Public Accuser, Ronan enforces Kree justice with his cosmi-rod, the Universal Weapon, which often brings him into conflict with the space-faring races of the Marvel Universe”

The Kree, a race of aliens that got at least some degree of focus in last weekend’s The Marvels (I don’t know specifically how much, because I haven’t seen it as of this writing) made their first appearance in the comics, represented via proxy by their Kree Sentry that was destroyed by the Fantastic Four, and then in person by Ronan, their Supreme Accuser sent to learn what happened to their Sentry.  Ronan began as a purely antagonistic force, but has acquired more complex alliances over the years, at times fighting alongside many of the heroes he had previously fought.  But, at the end of the day, he remains loyal to the Kree Empire, and they’re not always the nicest, so he’s often stuck enforcing their not so nice ways.  At least he’s gotten some action figure coverage, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ronan the Accurser is an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  He’s at the deluxe price point, and is part of Hasbro’s small run of comics-style “Guardians of the Galaxy” exclusives, which also includes Yondu, Star-Lord, and the Drax and Moondragon two-pack.  This marks the third time Ronan’s been in the Legends line.  Thus far, we’ve had a Build-A-Figure based on a mid-00s appearance and a standalone based on his MCU figure.  This one goes for Ronan’s classic comics attire, which is by far his most prolonging, and just generally his best.  The figure stands shy of 8 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation, plus moving shoulder pads.  Ronan uses the Warlock Series Colossus as a starting point, sharing his arms, legs, and feet with that release.  It actually makes for a pretty solid re-use; it’s not spot-on to every Ronan appearance, but it’s remarkably close, and the build is certainly correct.  The only real drawbacks are the limited elbow articulation and the visible pins, but even those are pretty minor.  He gets a new head, shoulderpads, torso, hands, and skirt piece, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  They fit very nicely with the pre-existing parts, and are a strong recreation of his classic design.  He opts for a more general classic design, rather than going for one particular artist’s rendition.  Overall, it’s just a very clean assembly, which fits very well with the character.  His color work is likewise very clean.  He’s got a lot of greens, as you would expect.  The lightest green is metallic, while the others are flat.  The application’s all pretty cleanly handled, with minimal slop and bleed over.  Ronan’s only got one accessory, but it’s a very good one, because it’s his cosmi-rod, aka his real big hammer.  It’s an all-new sculpt, and it’s quite a sizable piece at that.  The angles are nice and sharp, and there’s some impressive texturing on the head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always liked Ronan, but he’s always had a shortage of good figures.  I never was able to complete his Build-A-Figure back in the day, which was honestly one of those better in the end type deals, since it wasn’t really the look I wanted anyway.  I’ve made due with the movie version for a while, which is honestly fine, because that one’s pretty good.  But, it doesn’t remove my desire for a good classic one.  I intended to get around to ordering this one eventually, but Amazon made it easier for me by giving him a good chunk of a mark down for Prime Day.  I’m glad I got around to that, because he’s actually a really, really good figure.  Certainly the best version of Ronan out there.

#3189: Black Knight & Sersi

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

BLACK KNIGHT & SERSI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fearful that Sersi is going mad because of her immortality, the Eternals bond her with her fellow Avenger Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, forging a mental union to make them soulmates”

In the ’90s, it was an unwritten rule in comics that everything was cooler with leather jackets.  Honestly, you can drop “in comics” from that sentence.  Leather jackets were really just everywhere.  Jim Lee notably gave a few of the X-Men leather jackets to wear over their spandex suits (which was honestly following up on Animal Man wearing a jacket during Grant Morrison’s run on that book, but that was actually a *denim* jacket, so it’s not quite the same), and it caught like wildfire.  Soon, all the Marvel teams had them, and that included the Avengers.  It’s not a time that’s jumped back to too much in toy form, but, you know what?  Here it is.  Let’s look at Black Knight and Sersi, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Knight and Sersi are an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends, released under the wider “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” banner that’s celebrating the Avengers 60th anniversary this year.  Both figures in this set are based on their time with the Avengers in the early ’90s.

BLACK KNIGHT

We got a classic comics Black Knight not too terribly long ago, back in the Cull Obsidian Series in 2018, but I’m never one to shy away from another.  This one’s like that one, but with a leather jacket.  And how could you not love that?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like the last Black Knight, this one’s construction is largely Bucky Cap-adjacent.  He uses the pelvis piece, and a bunch of other parts used in conjunction with other Bucky Cap parts elsewhere.  Specifically, he’s got the more modern head from the last Black Knight, the arms from Cannonball, the torso from Doctor Strange, the belt from Daredevil, the legs from Hobgoblin, and a new jacket and boots.  The mix of parts is a pretty pitch-perfect recreation of his look from the comics, with the new parts in particular really selling the whole thing.  There’s some slight quirks to some of the older parts, with the legs in particular showing a degree of warping.  Black Knight’s color work is similar to his last release, but has a degree more polish to it.  The face is now printed, which adds an extra lifelike quality, as well as giving him his ’90s era stubble, and the rest of the line-work is just overall a bit cleaner.  Black Knight is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), and his Neural sword, which replaced the Ebony Blade during this era of the comics.

SERSI

While Sersi’s gotten the Legends treatment before, it was only her MCU incarnation.  This marks the first time for her comics counterpart, and indeed the first comics Eternal in general.  It’s really not that surprising, what with Sersi always being their most notable member.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Sersi uses a mix of prior figure parts, with the torso and pelvis from Shriek, the coat and upper arms from Rogue, and the lower arms and the legs of Phoenix.  She also gets a new head, belt, and kneepad pieces specifically for this release.  They’re not bad.  The head is giving me Courtney Cox vibes, which I suppose isn’t terrible for a ’90s-based figure.  Her color work is appropriate for the era, placing her in her red and black number.  The jacket is, interestingly, a different shade of brown than Dane’s jacket, and she also lacks the Avengers logo.  Consulting the source material shows that this is actually proper for this look, so, there it is, I guess.  Sersi is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open gesture) and two effects pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I definitely dig Black Knight, and I don’t want to say no to a comics Sersi, but I wasn’t initially vibing on another Amazon exclusive, so I opted to hold out on these two.  However, the Prime Day sale has struck again.  The price made it hard to pass on them, so I didn’t.  They’re on the older side in terms of parts use, but they do what they need to, and they look pretty sweet with that ’90s Black Widow figure they put out back in 2020.

#3187: West Coast Avengers

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

IRON MAN, MOCKINGBIRD, TIGRA, SPIDER-WOMAN, & HANK PYM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In 1984, Marvel decided they had too many Avengers for just one team, and split them off into two separate entities.  The original team remained in New York, while the spin-off team, the West Coast Avengers, moved out to California.  Originally launching as a 4-issue mini-series, with the original plan being to alternate issues of the main book between the main team, West Coast Avengers was a breakaway hit, and got its own standalone series, which lasted 102 issues, and frequently outshined the original book.  Despite the impact of the team, the direct acknowledgement of them in toy form has been rare.  Thus far, we’ve had a single three-pack in Marvel Universe.  But, Legends is in for some more recognition, so now we’ve got a boxed set on that side, too.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man, Mockingbird, Tigra, Spider-Woman, and Hank Pym make up The West Coast Avengers box set, which is an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  The set is also branded under the “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” banner, which serves as the celebration of the main team’s 60th anniversary.  Iron Man, Tigra, and Spider-Woman are all tweaks on existing figures, with Mockingbird and Hank being all-new offerings.

IRON MAN

When the WCA first got together, it was during Rhodey’s time in the classic Iron Man armor, following the fall-out of “Demon in a Bottle.”  By the time of the ongoing series, however, Tony had reclaimed the title, and was sporting his Silver Centurion armor, which is proudly showcased on the cover of the first issue.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This guy is using the exact same mold as the Walgreens-exclusive version, which makes sense, since it’s the same armor and all.  It’s still got the visible pins on the elbows and knees, but that’s honestly pretty minor.  The notable change-up to this guy comes down to the color work.  While the Walgreens version made use of metallic silver for the silver parts of the armor, this one goes for a slightly pearlescent white.  On paper, I wasn’t so sure about it, but in person, I actually really like how it turned out.  Iron Man is packed with the same two sets of hands as his single release, as well as the smaller blast effects, in blue this time.

MOCKINGBIRD

Oh, look, it’s Mockingbird, aka the whole reason I wanted the set.  I’ve certainly never had this exact thing happen before with a West Coast Avengers boxed set…Where was I?  Oh, yeah, buying a whole boxed set for a Mockingbird figure.  As you do.  This is Mockingbird’s second time as a Marvel Legend, but the first one was decidedly more modern than what she wore during her time with the WCA.  It’s not her *first* outfit she wore with the WCA, since that version had legs on the body suit, but it’s the one she wore for the longest stretch of time with the team.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Mockingbird is using the frankensteined torso that once belonged to Phoenix, as well as the lower legs from Captain Marvel, and what might be a new set of upper legs between them?  They’re skinnier than the pinless ones that have been used in conjunction with the Phoenix body recently, but they are still pinless, so they’re not anything from before that.  It looks like they might be shared with the Moondragon figure, but I don’t have her to compare.  She definitely gets new parts for the head and arms, though.  I really like how the head in particular turned out; the separate piece for the mask works very well.  Mine has a spot of glue on the face, which I’m not a fan of, but it otherwise is a very strong sculpt.  The arms are a little odd; they kind of are bound to be, given the actual design of her sleeves in the comics was usually cheated for the page, so I think they’ve done their best with the situation.  Her paint work is pretty strong; there’s a little bit of fuzziness on the edges of the shirt, but the detailing on the face in particular is great, and I love the accenting on the hair.  Mockingbird is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/flat combo), as well as Gambit’s staff, and Netflix Daredevil’s billyclub.  It makes for a good approximation of her battle staves, and is certainly a closer representation than what we got with the last one.

TIGRA

Tigra was not only a founding member of the WCA, she also one of the team’s longer lasting members, apart from that part in the middle of the run where she, Mockingbird, and Moon Knight split off on their own.  She also got a figure very recently as part of the Retro line.  This one is…well, very similar to that one, really.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  She’s using almost exactly the same sculpt as the last release.  That was a really, really good sculpt, certainly one of my favorites.  There’s not much better you can do for Tigra, so I guess it makes sense that you would want to keep using it.  The only sculptural change-up is to the calmer of the two heads, which now gets a new hairpiece, which has more volume to it, better matching her ’80s appearances.  She also gets a new color scheme; the first Tigra was far too pale, while the more recent one got complaints of being too orange.  This one meets in the middle, and it works very well.  The patterning on the stripes remains the same, but her bikini is now a very dark blue, and the faces are printed, rather than strictly painted.  The faces in particular are the biggest improvement of the bunch.  Like her single-packed counterpart, Tigra gets two sets of hands, in fists and clawing poses.

SPIDER-WOMAN

Julia Carpenter’s Spider-Woman was a pretty late-stage addition to the team, first assisting them in issue #70, and officially joining in #74.  Julia Carpenter got a Legends release back during the tie-in to Far From Home, making this one seem initially as if it’s just a retread…but it’s actually not?  Yeah, I was a bit shocked by that, myself.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Despite being the same look as the last figure, this Julia Carpenter shares exactly one piece wit her: her lower torso/pelvis, itself borrowed from the Phoenix mold.  The upper torso gave me a heck of a time ID-ing, since it’s really basic, but I eventually worked out that it was from Dagger, and it appears it hasn’t been used since.  I actually like it, since it’s without all of the odd peg holes that the Phoenix torso has picked up over the years, so it looks a lot cleaner.  She re-uses the arms and legs from Shriek, so she’s got the pinless set-up there.  She also gets a new head, with hair that better matches her earlier appearances, and a much sharper face sculpt.  The color work on this figure is very clean.  Digging the stark black and white.  I do miss the accenting on the hair, but it’s ultimately not the end of the world.  I think the current look still works.  Spider-Woman is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.

HANK PYM

Starting with the first issue of the ongoing West Coast book, Hank Pym was a recurring supporting player for the team.  His journey back to the Avengers following his fall from grace served as a background for the rest of the characters’ antics, and slowly built him back up, until he was ready to join the team properly after 20 issues of character growth.  After four different identities, he decided to just stick to being himself, rather than going back to the costumed hero route.  He spent a lot of time in a basic red jumpsuit, which isn’t super toyetic or anything, but it’s gotten a figure just the same.  Said figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He would have 33 is not for the seized waist joint on my copy.  Hank makes use of re-used parts from the Red Skull jumpsuit body.  He gets a new head and torso, sculpted by Paul Harding.  The head is a solid recreation of Hank of the era, and it all fits well with the pre-existing parts.  Unfortunately, that means that the figure is a little too large, just across the board.  Hank’s just an average guy when not using the particles, so he’s about a half an inch too tall.  Hank’s color work is decent enough.  It’s very basic, but that’s expected.  The face gets printing, which is definitely cool.  Hank is includes two sets of hands, a pair in open gesture, and a fist/grip combo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The West Coast Avengers line-up is something I’ve been trying to build in toy form since the 5-inch days, always to limited success.  Legends has been the best spread thus far, but there were definitely some holes in the line-up.  The boxed set seems like a great idea on paper, but I’ll admit to being less than thrilled by the final line-up being 3/5ths re-releases.  So, I wound up holding off, at least until Amazon knocked 30% off of the price for Prime Day.  Mockingbird is exactly the figure I was hoping for, and hands down my favorite release of the three figures the character’s gotten.  Hank has issues with scaling, but I’m generally just glad to have this version of the character at all.  Spider-Woman was actually a pleasant surprise, as she winds up being just an across the board improvement to the older figure.  Tigra and Iron Man are both rather unnecessary, but I do kind of like these versions a little more than the prior ones.  Not so much that I really feel like they justify themselves, but what are you gonna do?

#3183: Kamakura

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

KAMAKURA

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

Wow, two G.I. Joe reviews, just a week apart?  And they’re both Classified even?  How’d that happen?  Well, I sat one the first one long enough before reviewing it that I’d wound up with another in the mean time, that’s how.  Also other reasons, but I’ll get to them in a bit.

When Hasbro re-launched the 3 3/4-inch Joes in 2002, they also got a tie-in comic, courtesy of Devil’s Due publishing.  It was largely using the established characters, but since the premise of the comic was that they were progressing in real time from the end of the Marvel run, and they wanted to show some change, they gave Snake Eyes an apprentice, who he’d been training while the Joe team had been disbanded.  Sean “Kamakura” Collins was the son of a former Crimson Guard, who had briefly appeared during the Marvel series.  Kamakura came with Snake Eyes to join the re-banded Joes, and in turn became the era’s most enduring character, gaining not only a handful of figures, but also a role as a recurring character in the *next* notable Joe project, Sigma 6.  And now he’s even joined the Classified Series.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kamakura is figure 61 in the G.I. Joe: Classified Series line-up.  He was released at the beginning of the year as an Amazon-exclusive, and is at the slightly heightened deluxe price point that we also saw with Sgt. Slaughter.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  He’s sporting all the standard articulation for the line, and he’s totally pinless, so it all looks pretty good.  The sculpt here is an all-new one, courtesy of Fred Aczon, and it’s a pretty solid one.  Kamukura is very definitely based on that initial comics design, which really makes him the first figure of him to truly do so, since all of the others have done some sort of compromise on the look.  I do really think it’s a strong look, and it manages to adapt pretty well to this particular aesthetic.  There’s some fantastic texturing going on, and I really like how similar yet different the masked head is from the classic Storm Shadow release.  It shows commitment to keeping the different characters unique, which I appreciate, since Kamakura so frequently gets stuck as just a re-use figure.  Kamakura’s paint work is overall pretty basic.  There’s more involved work on what we can see of the face, and he gets his proper clan tattoo, but other than that, it’s base work.  Some of the base stuff is a little off-set on mine, but nothing too crazy out of the ordinary.  In order to justify his higher price point, Kamakura gets a slightly upgraded accessory selection.  He’s got an alternate unmasked head, two styles of hood (re-used from Storm Shadow), two swords, a backpack, a knife, and uzi, a handgun, a bladed staff, and two shorter blades.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I had been familiar with G.I. Joe as a brand since a very young age due to the vintage 12-inch Joes my dad had owned, my first introduction to the Real American Hero incarnation of the franchise was the 2002 relaunch.  As an avid comics reader, I of course followed the Devil’s Due series, and Kamakura was always a favorite of mine.  I’m always glad to see him show up in the toy line (even though most of his figures have been kinda rough), and I had my fingers crossed that he’d get the Classified treatment.  However, with him winding up as an Amazon-exclusive, and me becoming a bit disenchanted with the line overall, I wound up waiting on this one.  It worked out in my favor, because I was able to catch him during a Prime Day sale, which greatly incentivized the whole thing.  I really do like this figure.  Since he comes from a different era, he’s not slavishly modelled on a vintage figure, and is instead a more general adaptation of his DDP appearances, which I really feel works to his favor.  I’m glad I finally got one, and I’m on one hand kicking myself for waiting this long, while also kind of glad I did.  The point is, I have one now, and he’s very cool, and honestly the best figure Kamakura’s ever gotten…well, except for maybe his Sigma 6 figure.

#3258: Silk

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

SILK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Bitten by the same radioactive spider that gave Peter Parker his powers, Cindy Moon develops spider powers of her own and soon takes on the role of Silk!”

Marvel’s Original Sin cross-over from 2014 was one with a few lasting changes, none of them particularly huge status quo shifts, or anything, but notable none the less.  It officially added Neil Gaiman’s Angela to the Marvel universe by revealing her to be Thor and Loki’s long-lost sister, came up with a convincing way to write out the original Nick Fury so that his son, Nick Jr, who happens to more closely resemble the Samuel L Jackson version of the character, could replace him, and, most relevantly for today’s review, revealed that the spider that bit Peter Parker had also bitten his classmate Cindy Moon, giving Cindy her own set of abilities.  Cindy was worked back into the mainstream universe during the battle with Morlun and his family the Inheritors, having been hidden away for years to keep her protected.  She was given the codename Silk, and spun (heh) off on her own, though she does find her way back to the main Spidey book from time to time for cross overs.  Silk’s actually been pretty fortunate in terms of raw numbers when it comes to toy coverage, though perhaps a little bit less so when it comes to actual distribution.  It’s okay, though, because I finally got one.  So, let’s look at Silk!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silk is an part of an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, which was released under the “60 Amazing Years” banner that’s celebrating Spider-Man’s anniversary. The other half of the set was a Doc Ock, which is just a slight adjustment on his figure from back in 2018. This Silk marks her third time in Legends form, following two solo releases.  This one is based on Cindy’s most recent look, which sports shorter hair, and a slightly more vibrant color palette.  It’s honestly my favorite of her looks thus far, so that works for me.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and it has 29 points of articulation.  Silk’s largely built using the same patchwork body as Spinneret, which, apart from the ever evolving ports on the back of the torso, is honestly a pretty solid base body, and certainly a good match foe Silk’s usual depictions in the comics.  It’s also a good deal more posable than her last two figures, which feels more appropriate for a web-slinger.  Silk gets a brand-new head sculpt, and it’s honestly the nicest sculpt she’s gotten to date.  It’s certainly the first one to really capture her Korean heritage, which is definitely a plus, and I really like the more naturalistic approach to the detailing, as well as the ever so slight windswept look to her hair.  It’s enough to look somewhat dynamic, without looking too crazy.  Silk’s color work is based on the bolder palette of her newer design, so she’s definitely got some visual pop.  The application is generally pretty cleanly handled; there’s a little bit of slop on the edges of the white sections, but it’s pretty minor.  The head does quite well, with the printing for the eyes looking quite lifelike, and the subtle blue accenting on the hair really bringing out the sculpted details.  The figure is packed with an alternate unmasked head for Cindy, with a corresponding pulled down mask piece, as well as three pairs of hands (fists, gripping, and open gesture) and an extra right hand with a web effect.  It’s quite a nice selection of extras, and covers pretty much all of the bases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Silk’s introduction was, admittedly, a little clumsy (something even her creator Dan Slott has admitted in recent years), but she got better pretty quickly, and she’s been a pivotal character to a couple of Spider-cross-overs since.  I missed out on her first figure because that wave showed up effectively nowhere, and her second because I just underestimated how quickly it would sell.  I was poised to miss this one, too, since I didn’t really need another Doc Ock, but I was fortunate to get just Silk on her own when one got traded into All Time.  She’s actually quite a lot of fun, and getting this version makes me kind of glad I missed the other two.

#3048: Ecliptor & Astronema

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

ECLIPTOR & ASTRONEMA

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Ecliptor adopted Astronema and raised her as his own, eventually becoming her second-in-command as she serves Dark Specter”

Hey, remember yesterday when I was talking about Power Rangers, and more specifically how most of my Power Rangers reviews as of late have been centered on Power Rangers In Space?  Well, surprise surprise, we’re back on In Space.  No actual Rangers today, though.  Instead, I’m looking at two of the show’s antagonists, at least for most of its run, main baddie Astronema and her surrogate father turned henchman Ecliptor!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ecliptor and Astronema are an Amazon-exclusive Lightning Collection two-pack, which, like other recent exclusives, also had limited quantities available through Hasbro Pulse.  Unlike the Pink Ranger pack, they weren’t part of any particular subset focus, just a general Lightning Collection push.

ECLIPTOR

The new piece of this set, and certainly its main selling point, Ecliptor makes a rare toy appearance here, doubly interesting because he’s a non-MMPR antagonist who wasn’t an any point a Ranger or Ranger equivalent.  And he’s even slated for another figure down the line, if you can believe it.  Ecliptor is seen here in his most standard set-up, before his power-up or cyborg reprograming.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation.  Despite how bulky and squared off his design is, Ecliptor actually has a pretty solid range of motion, and can get into quite a number of impressive poses.  And, thanks to the really huge feet sported by the original Yugande design, he’s also quite stable, which is a definite plus.  His sculpt is an all-new piece, set to be shared with the upcoming Red Ecliptor figure, but unique for now at least.  It does a rather nice job of capturing the show design for the character, in all of its wire-frame-y, limited polygon count glory.  It’s very clean and sharply detailed, and just looks really slick.  The paint work on Ecliptor isn’t *quite* as in-depth as it should be for true show-accuracy.  There should be a great deal more green linework than is currently present.  That being said, they’ve done a respectable job of at the very least giving it a bit of visual shorthand, so that the overall appearance is preserved.  Ecliptor is packed with a fairly nice selection of extras, including his sword, two sets of hands (fists, and a gripping/open with effects combo), an effect for the sword, and a larger effect that’s meant to encircle the whole figure.  The right fist on my figure is rather oddly missing all of the green detailing, but it’s otherwise a solid selection.

ASTRONEMA

Wow, remember when it was a big deal to have the *one* Astronema?  And now there’s *two*?  Who could have foreseen getting an Astronema as a hum-drum affair.  I mean, I guess it’s really not that hum-drum.  Astronema does have a slightly evolving appearance throughout the show, meaning there are a few options for looks, beyond just what we got on the first figure.  This one specifically draws influence from the show’s first three episodes.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  Though at first glance, the figure seems like she’s a pretty straight repaint of the last figure, she’s actually not.  The head is all-new, sporting a slightly different hairstyle, but she also gets an all-new torso piece, which replaces many of the simple painted details from the last with proper sculpted details.  It takes a figure I already quite liked, and makes her even better, which is quite nice in my book.  The paint work isn’t terribly different from the last one, though the face paint is a lot more subtle with the coloring than the last release.  It’s again an improvement on an already pretty solid release.  Astronema is packed with two sets of hands, her spear, and an effects piece, much like the last time.  The effect is at least a different color, so there’s that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, given how much of an In Space fan I am, I wasn’t going to miss out on Ecliptor.  While I wasn’t initially thrilled about getting another Astronema, it annoyed me less than the pack-out on yesterday’s set.  While I missed the Pulse window on this set, I was able to get in through Amazon, and they also didn’t get cancelled, so that was a win.  I really like this set in hand.  Ecliptor is a fantastic figure, and I look forward to seeing more variants of him.  Astronema is a figure I definitely warmed up on, especially after seeing how any improvements they’d made.  All in all, not a bad set.

#3005: Wolverine, Callisto, Jason Wyngarde, Omega Red, & Cyber

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

WOLVERINE, CALLISTO, JASON WYNGARDE, OMEGA RED, & CYBER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Wow, it’s been, like, weeks, plural even, since I reviewed any Marvel Legends.  That’s crazy.  I mean, technically, I haven’t reviewed any of them since last year.  Can you believe that?  I’m honestly still sort of wrapping my head around it after two months of un-filtered Legends reviews.  Well, there’s still more to be reviewed, so I’d best ease myself back in.  Today’s review fulfills the component of being both a Legends review *and* a post-Christmas review, so it’s the perfect choice!  The last couple of years running, Amazon has gotten a larger boxed Legends-exclusive nearer to the holiday season, and 2021 followed suit, with a five-pack of figures, all (sort of) Wolverine-themed.  And that’s the set I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Wolverine, Callisto, Jason Wyngarde, Omega Red, and Cyber make up the Amazon-exclusive Wolverine 5-pack of Marvel Legends.  Well, it started out as an Amazon-exclusive, anyway.  It didn’t stay that way for much time at all, though, and is already available through a number of other retailers, including my sponsors over at All Time Toys, if you’re feeling inclined to pick a set up.

WOLVERINE

It’s difficult to do a Wolverine-themed set and not include a Wolverine, so Hasbro opted to do that.  I suppose that’s a reasonable stance for them to take.  We’ve had no shortage of Wolverines in the line, especially recently, so a lot of the major looks have already been covered.  In an effort to be a little bit different, Hasbro’s gone with a look that appears to be at least a little bit inspired by the cover of X-Men #251, which features a beaten Wolverine in his brown costume, sans shirt, cowl, and gloves.  It’s an interesting twist on his usual design, and has a fairly distinctive visual to it, so it’s not a bad choice.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the same core body they’ve been using since the Juggernaut Series, which is especially fitting in this figure’s case, since it’s meant to be the same costume as that one and all.  He gets two new head sculpts, both of them unmasked.  As of yet, the unmasked Wolverine heads for modern-era Legends have all felt a little bit lacking, so there was definitely a big push to get some ones that worked a bit better to translate that crazy hair into three dimensions.  These two give us both crazy and slightly more neutral expressions, and are easily the best unmasked Wolverines that Hasbro has produced.  I myself really like the calmer expression, but they’re both quite impressive in how they capture that more ’80s style look for Logan.  Otherwise, Wolverine is using re-used parts, and doing pretty well with that.  The paint work on this guy is pretty strong, as making him shirtless gives him all that body hair to contend with.  Fun stuff, right?  It actually works pretty well, and doesn’t look as goofy as painted hair can, so kudos to Hasbro on that.  The heads get some pretty solid work, with the calmer expression actually getting some bruising and cuts.  It stops it from being a totally standard head, which is a slight bummer, but at the same time, it does look really cool.  Hopefully, they’ll just repack this head with a more standard paint app later down the line, for a best of both worlds sort of set-up.  In addition to the two varieties of head mentioned above, this figure is also packed with hands both with and without the claws.  No X-crucifix, but I can see why Hasbro might want to forego packing such a thing in.

CALLISTO

This set is, ostensibly, supposed to be Wolverine-themed, being Logan versus a bunch of his foes.  Two figures in, we’re already kind of loosing that.  Callisto was introduced alongside the rest of the Morlocks, a group of sewer-dwelling mutants, in X-Men #169, as an attempt to have a few more mutants who weren’t quite as physically pristine as a lot of the X-Men were.  While she and the other Morlocks have certainly been involved with Wolverine by virtue of being in the X-Men universe and all, it’s not like there’s any sort of particularly close ties there.  That being said, she’s been without any toy treatment up until this point, so an excuse to finally release her in some form isn’t unwarranted.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  For the most part, Callisto is really just an excuse to get another use out of the Mohawk Storm parts.  Everything but the head and hands are shared with that figure.  It’s really not a bad bit of re-use; the two designs are quite similar, and given Storm and Callisto’s history, I suppose it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing in the world for them to share a taste in fashion.  Callisto’s new head sculpt is perhaps a little more conventionally good looking than Callisto was classically portrayed, but it’s in line with her more modern incarnations, and it’s not a bad sculpt.  The detailing on the scarring and the eye patch is pretty decent, and I do like that they’ve gotten at least a little bit of her usual scowl going on there.  Her paint work is generally pretty straight forward.  There’s not a ton of work going into it, since there’s a lot of molded color work, but the work on the head is well-handled, and the application is overall clean and fairly consistent.  I’m not big on how the painted edge of her torn shirt looks, but it was unlikely that they were going to sculpt a new lower torso just for Callisto.  As it stands, it looks alright.  Callisto is packed with two sets of hands, one gripping, the other in fists, as well as two different knives.

JASON WYNGARDE

Remember this being a Wolverine-themed set?  Hasbro doesn’t seem to so much, because the third figure, much like the second, is kind of not fitting that mold.  Appearing during “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Jason Wyngarde is key to Jean’s descent into madness and her eventual dark turn.  Late in the story, he is revealed to be former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants member Mastermind in disguise, leaving the Wyngarde identity largely discarded, though it does get dusted off from time to time.  Wyngarde has little to no actual interaction with Wolverine, since it’s Jean he’s attempting to seduce and Cyclops he’s in more direct conflict with.  Perhaps he’s here because he and Wolverine both sparred with Cyclops for Jean’s affections?  Or perhaps because they both share a love of unique facial hair?  I don’t know, and I won’t complain, because I really like the Wyngarde persona, so I’m down for whatever needs to be done to get it in figure form.  Well, within reason.  Like, you know, this.  This is actually about as far as I’d go, really.  So, it worked out, all things considered.  No real moral compromises or anything.  You know what?  I’m proud of us.  We knew where to draw the line.  Great.  Back in the land of actually reviewing this figure on this here toy review site, the figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Wyngarde is largely using parts from the two male members of the Hellfire Club set released last year.  Since he’s of similar build and also wore the same basic attire as Shaw and Pierce, it’s a sensible and in fact an expected choice.  This is the first time I’ve gotten to mess with the body, but it’s a pretty decent piece of work, and matches up well with how the characters are depicted in the comics.  Wyngarde’s head sculpt does a good job of capturing Byrne’s design for the character, while also translating that into the more standard Legends styling.  He’s suitably smarmy, while also still looking suave enough to understand part of how Jean might be swayed by him.  Wyngarde’s color palette is an interesting choice, since he’s patterned not on this “Dark Phoenix” appearance, but rather on his more recent All New All Different X-Men appearance.  It’s a minor change, and it’s not a bad color scheme, it’s just odd that they went for something other than literally the one appearance everyone knows him from.  Wyngarde is packed with an alternate Mastermind head.  It’s an impressive piece, though one that’s a little out of place without a body to match.  I’m sure it should be easy enough to rig something up, though.

OMEGA RED

Okay, now we’re actually getting to something properly Wolverine-related.  How about that?  Omega Red has had the Legends treatment rather recently, and is mostly just here in this set because that particular release has gotten rather pricey on the aftermarket these days.  This figure, like that one, stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Omega Red is using the same parts selection as his Sauron Series release.  That was quite a nice figure, and by extension so is his one.  The molds have held up pretty well, and they still suit the character quite nicely.  I really do like those butterfly joints a lot.  The color work marks a notable change-up.  The colors are even brighter than they were the last time, with more brilliant whites and reds, as well as a few changed out colors on certain parts of the costume.  Overall, I like the new color scheme more than the old, though I will admit that I miss the cool omega symbols on the backs of the hands.  Otherwise, he’s got more of a ’90s animation feel than the last release, and I really dig that.  Like the last release, this one gets the two sets of tendrils, and also adds in a second head sculpt, with a screaming expression, which gives him some more posing options.

CYBER

Certainly the most obscure of the figures included here, Cyber is also the one that’s really the most sensible, as he’s actually only got the ties to Wolverine, and not the rest of the X-Men, so he’d be kind of out of place in a main assortment.  The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Cyber makes use of the Colossus body, which is honestly a kind of criminally under-used base body.  He makes use of a combination of parts from both Colossuses, as well as Death’s Head, in order to have the most basic selection of parts possible.  He also gets a new head, as well as forearms and hands in order to complete his look.  It’s a very basic look, but that’s true to the character, so I guess Hasbro got it right there.  He’s big and imposing, which is pretty cool.  Cyber’s paint work is actually surprisingly involved, given how basic the design is.  There’s some accenting going on for the blue sections, which helps them to look a lot better than they would if they were just flat blue plastic.  I can dig it.  There are no accessories included for Cyber, though I’m not entirely sure what exactly you could give him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this whole set as a Christmas gift from my parents this year.  It’s one of those sets that’s kind of a hard sell, if I’m honest.  It’s not that any of the figures are bad, but really that they don’t seem to make for much of a cohesive package.  I myself really just view this as a very expensive way to finally own a Jason Wyngarde figure.  A very nice Jason Wyngarde, mind you, and one I’m very happy to have.  The others are all nice figures on their own, but ones I might have just as well skipped if I’d been given the option.  They’ll all suit my collection well when divied up to go into various different sections, though, so I can’t really complain too much.

#2934: Captain Marvel & Rescue Armor

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

CAPTAIN MARVEL & RESCUE ARMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Hasbro did their best on giving us the most thorough line-ups possible when it come to the Infinity War and Endgame casts, but given the sheer size, there were of course a few that wound up slipping through the cracks.  The purpose of the Infinity Saga line seems to be equal parts getting figures out that were missed, and fixing ones that weren’t quite right the first time around.  Today’s focus goes for a bit of both, as well as serving as a nice representation of some of the film’s own internal representation of the franchise’s female heroes during the big climactic battle, all rolled into one package.  So, without further ado, and before I rack up too many pissed off commenters, let’s look at Captain Marvel and Rescue!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Marvel and the Rescue Armor are the first of the two-pack portion of the 10-piece Infinity Saga sub-set of Marvel Legends.  This particular pairing is an Amazon-exclusive.  This set is one of three items from the line to be based on Endgame, which does seem like a lot, but, of course, it’s a rather jam-packed movie, isn’t it?

CAPTAIN MARVEL

“Captain Marvel uses her incredible powers to battle evil in the ultimate fight for the fate of the universe.”

Given that she had gotten her own assortment devoted to her, and that all the promo material showed her in a costume that was largely unchanged from her solo film appearance, it really wasn’t a shock that we didn’t get a proper Endgame Captain Marvel at the time of the film’s release.  That said, the inverted color scheme on the costume, as well as her fancy new hair style were both changes I really liked to her look, and ones I was hopeful to see in toy form at some point.  Here we are at some point.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Structurally, she’s largely the same figure as the one from her solo outing.  It’s generally a pretty solid starting point, it’s not terribly far off from Larson’s build when she’s playing the character, and the broad strokes details line-up with her suit from the film.  Some of the smaller details aren’t *quite* right, but given how brief this look’s appearance is, and how small those details are, they don’t generally feel too out of place.  My figure does wind up with one notable QC issue, which is that she’s got two left forearms.  Just my luck.  Regardless of QC issues, Carol gets a new head, as well as a new sash piece add-on.  The new head is a very nice piece, and definitely has Hasbro’s best Brie Larson likeness to date.  It’s a marked improvement on the solo film figures, and is just generally a pretty good match.  The sash is a pretty basic piece, but does a lot to change up the sculpt just a bit more.  The biggest change-up is the paint, which is sporting her inverted color scheme from the movie.  I find this to be a lot more appealing, and more classically “Captain Marvel” like, so I’m definitely a fan.  I also kind of dig the change to the flat colors vs metallic.  It’s not a huge shift, but I think it works.  Carol is packed with three different sets of hands (fists, flat, and relaxed) and Stark’s nanotech version of the gauntlet, this time just meant for holding.

RESCUE ARMOR

“Outfitted with repulsors and a unibeam, Pepper’s Rescue suit is ready to step into battle against Thanos.”

Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor was notably *not* absent from the Legends tie-ins for Endgame when it was released, but, similar to the War Machine from that same assortment, getting her out that close to the film’s release resulted in some inaccuracies and some stripping of more film relevant accessories.  This release serves to address some of that.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and has 31 points of articulation.  At her core, this figure’s sculpt is the same as the one from the main line release.  It wasn’t a bad sculpt at all, so re-using it feels like a pretty good call.  I liked it the first time, and I still like it now.  The first set of changes are in the form of paint.  The standard release wasn’t far off, but there were some small tweaks to the final film design, which have been reflected here.  The overall color scheme has also been toned down slightly, which looks a bit truer to what we see on screen.  The biggest changes are in the form of accessories.  She still gets both versions of the back-pack, but now she also gets two additional head sculpts, one with the face plate up, and the other with the helmet entirely removed, as well as some extra attachments for the open back pack to showcase her nano gear a little more, and also a pair of blast effects.  It’s a shame we didn’t get any extra hands mixed in with all of that, but I’m not going to be too greedy on this one.  The new parts add a lot to a figure that I already really liked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Today’s review is a significant one for me, on two counts.  Today would have been mine and Jess’s second wedding anniversary.  It is also the first one I’m spending without her.  Jess’s encouragement of my collecting was a prominent piece of our relationship, and it was something that she maintained up to the end.  When this set dropped online, I was pretty excited, and made mention of it to her.  Then things got serious, and my mind moved onto more important matters, and I wasn’t really thinking about toys.  After Jess’s passing, I discovered that she had ordered this set for me, the very day I’d mentioned it to her.  And so, three months after her passing, its arrival marked my final gift from her.  It’s something of a bittersweet moment.  It’s a set I very much wanted, and one I’m very happy to have.  Jess absolutely adored the moment with the female heroes assembling in the film, so this set was already bound to remind me of her.  She was always so thoughtful and caring, even in her darkest moments.  And because of that, she gave me this one last gift.  But I know that it’s the last one.  And I wish it weren’t.  And I wish I could tell her how much it means to me.  But I can’t.  All I can do is take solace in the fact that she loved me, and she knew I loved her too, and that was why she worked so hard to take care of me, even after the fact.  So, now I have one last testament to just how Super Awesome of a Wife she really was.  Thank you for everything, Jess.

#2818: Elite Praetorian Guard with Heavy Blade

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

ELITE PRAETORIAN GUARD with HEAVY BLADE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“As the Supreme Leader of the First Order, Snoke was flanked by crimson-clad guardians, loyal protectors encased in ornate armor ready to defend the Supreme Leader from any thread.”

The Last Jedi‘s Praetorian Guards may not be on the screen for long, but they make the most of their time, and participate in the very coolest fight scene in the whole sequel trilogy.  Plus, they’ve just got a very cool look.  Actually, they have three slightly different, but all very cool looks, due to their three differing helmet designs mixed in amongst them.  Hasbro opted for completely separate figures for each of these three helmets, something they delivered through a few different avenues.  For The Black Series, I had two of the three, but was waiting on the last one.  I wait no more.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Elite Praetorian Guard with Heavy Blade was an Amazon-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series offering, which they placed up for order in the fall of 2017, in anticipation of the movie.  It was the third of the three figures to be released.  This one is the “underbite” helmet, which is the only one I haven’t looked at in any style here on the site (largely due to him being an exclusive in every case).  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  From the neck down, this figure is identical to the #50 Guard, which makes sense, since they were all the same.  It’s interesting, of course, because it makes the one from the Guardians of Evil pack the outlier on exactly how he handled the skirt, since this one is sculpted, not cloth.  The posability’s not there as much, but it does look better.  This guy gets a new head sculpt in order to replicate the third helmet design.  It meshes just as well with the body as the other two, and fits the styling of the rest of the armor quite well.  It’s fairly easy to tell it’s a new piece, so that’s good.  The paint work on this figure truly is just identical to the standard release figure, which is to say it’s basic, but it looks good.  Apart from the helmet change-up, the other new piece for this guy was the weapon selection.  He gets the larger Heavy Blade weapon, which is mentioned in his name. It’s a larger, and certainly impressive piece.  He also gets a second weapon, which is more of a sword thing.  Not my preferred of the two, but it’s nice to get the options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The slightly higher base retail on this release was enough for me to hold off on buying him right away.  Unfortunately, he wound up selling out through Amazon, and that meant I missed out on him entirely.  It always bummed me out, because this was my favorite of the three helmets, and I had missed out on both his Hasbro figures.  Fortunately for me, Max had picked one up a while back, and while downsizing his Star Wars collection, he was kind enough to set me up with the one I was missing.  I’ve reviewed the majority of this guy before, so it’s not like he’s doing a whole lot new for me, but it is nice to finish the set, and he really is the best of the three, so I’m glad to have him.

#2662: Scout Trooper & Speeder Bike

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

SCOUT TROOPER & THE CHILD (w/ SPEEDER BIKE)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Scout troopers were lightly armored compared with other Stormtroopers, which allowed them to move more quickly and easily in a range of environments. They were also trained for more independence and adaptability than most Imperial troops. The Empire used scout troopers for a range of missions, including reconnaissance and infiltration.”

Back in August of 2014, The Black Series dipped its toes into the water of vehicles for a larger scale toyline with the first release of the deluxe Biker Scout and Speeder Bike set.  While it certainly wasn’t a failure, it also wasn’t quite the smash success Hasbro had been hoping for on vehicles for the line, so it did mean a bit of stagnation on that front.  However, as the line has really grown into its own, the prospect of vehicles, especially on the smaller side isn’t quite as crazy, especially when those vehicles get a reappearance on The Mandalorian.  The Scout Troopers and their associated rides first showed back up in the first season finale, and much like the Stormtroopers, they were part of the remnant set-up, with appearances slightly worse for wear.  Since it’s been a little bit since the Speeder Bike set came out, Hasbro opted to refresh it with a Mandalorian-themed re-deco, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

This set is an Amazon-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series offering, which went up for order in the fall, and shipped out just before the end of last year.  It’s clearly based around the last episode of the first season, given the specific accessories included with the set-up.

The core Scout Trooper has been included with all three Black Series releases of the vehicle, as well as getting two stand-alone uses of just the figure mold as well.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same mold as all of the previous Black Series Scout Troopers.  That’s hardly an issue for me, because it was a standout sculpt from early in the line, and it’s aged far better than most of its contemporaries.  It looks perfectly at home with the more recent releases, and the only slight drawback is the range of motion on some of the joints.  Even so, he’s able to get onto the bike with no troubles, which is clearly the most important thing.  The main change-up to the figure is, of course, the paint.  It’s nothing super major, just a generally dirtier appearance on the figure, signifying the “remnant” nature of this guy.  It’s not a bad look overall, but also not so drastically different that he looks super out of place with the prior release.  Like the original release, this guy includes his very small blaster pistol, and also adds in the target that the two scouts use for practice at the beginning of the episode, as well as the messenger bag carrying Grogu.  Technically, Grogu’s listed as his own figure, and even has a point of movement on his neck, but he’s still more accessory than anything else.

The Speeder Bike mold was on its second use for 2020 here, following a re-issue in the Heroes of Endor set.  It’s the same one that was used back in 2014, of course, which is fine by me.  It’s 10 inches long and abut 2 1/2 inches tall at its tallest.  It’s got the same moving flaps on the back as before, as well as the rotating canon on the underside.  The paint gets a more drastic overhaul here, since the bikes in the show are white, rather than the traditional brown.  It’s a different look to be sure, and they do a nice job of handling the dirt and scoring on the edges of it, matching up pretty well with the show appearance.  Instead of the old three tiered stand, this time the bike gets the new hovering base, as seen on the Cosmic Ghost Rider.  While it’s got a bit cleaner aesthetic appearance, I don’t find the functionality to work quite as well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I already had the prior release, and was very happy with it, so I didn’t *need* this one…but it’s a Biker Scout, and I really like Biker Scouts.  Plus, there was enough difference for me to justify it to myself, anyway.  So, I placed the pre-order when Amazon put them up, and then he just arrived.  Honestly, it was pretty low investment for me, I mean, apart from paying for it, I guess.  It’s a cool set, and adds enough value to what was already there to make it worthwhile in my mind.