Tag Archives: Bandai

#0865: Big Guy

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

BIG GUY

BIG GUY & RUSTY THE BOY ROBOT

BigGuy1

It’s not uncommon for an adaptation to outshine what it’s adapting. Often movie or TV adaptations of books will far outpace the things that spawned them, at least in the public eye. Most of the time, though, the adaptation is better known because it’s more widely available. Enter the strange case of Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot. If you look up the comic on Wikipedia, you’ll note that the series was created by Frank Miller of all people (and there’s no mention of crack whores anywhere in sight!  Weird). That’s about it, because the entry for the comic is pretty sparse. The entry for the cartoon, however, will actually net you quite a bit of info. See, the cartoon ran for a whole two seasons, and managed to inject backstory and connecting through lines to pretty much every episode, despite only being a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s generally viewed as being the more formed version of the characters. But, while you can still find collections of Miller’s original series, getting episodes of the show is pretty darn hard, which has made the show pretty much unknown to anyone who didn’t see its original run. Still, mention the name and a lot of people will think of the cartoon. To the cartoon’s credit, it did manage to get a handful of toys of the two titular characters, including the figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BigGuy2Big Guy was released as part of the smaller-scale Big Guy & Rusty the Boy Robot line from Bandai America. Yes, I know, it’s Bandai. They don’t have an amazing reputation on this site. Bear with me. The figure is roughly 6 ¼ inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Here’s where things get a little strange; he has cut joints at the shoulders, wrists, and …knees. Yeah, cut joints at the knees. Instead of, I don’t know, hinge joints? He also has absolutely no movement at the neck, waist, elbows, or hips. You see the pose he’s standing in? That’s pretty much the only pose you’ll be getting out of this guy. His movement was so stunted that they had to release a whole separate figure to replicate his flying pose, which isn’t even all that different from the basic standing pose! Why the lack of movement? Well, his torso houses a battery compartment. Pressing the figure’s chest insignia made the eyes light up and allowed him to say some dialogue from the show. It’s an okay gimmick (not that it works on mine all these years later) but it hardly warrants the totally lack of posing options. In the figure’s defense, he does have one thing going for him: the sculpt. It’s not a perfect recreation of his look from the cartoon, but it manages to be pretty close, and certainly closer than a lot of cartoon toys from the same time. So kudos to Bandai for at least making him look like the character. Of course, the back of the figure is riddled with exposed screws, due to the electronics, but hey, small victories, right? The paintwork on this guy is generally pretty clean, if perhaps not super exciting. The figure is cast in white, and the blue is painted on. That’s about it. It’s true to the show, so I guess that’s fair. This figure originally included a small-scaled Rusty figurine. However, mine did not have the proper Rusty, but instead included the larger scale Rusty from the Deluxe Big Guy figure, which was rather out of scale with this one. Darn.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this figure up from a flea market (the same one the netted me Perseus, in fact). I had a flying Big Guy when I was younger, but I couldn’t begin to tell you where he is now. This one was quite reasonably priced, so I went for it. As an action figure, he’s quite a letdown, given his total lack of posability. As a representation of Big Guy, more along the lines of a statue? He’s okay. Certainly not the worst thing ever. I liked the show, and I’m happy to have a Big Guy for the shelf, so I’d call it a win.

#0840: Bumble Bee & Hot Spot

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

BUMBLE BEE & HOT SPOT

TEEN TITANS (BANDAI)

Bee&HotSpot1

You know, I hate on Mattel a lot, especially in regards to their DC Comics-related output. Believe it or not, there was a time I didn’t consider them the worst company in possession of the DC license, thanks to good ol’ Bandai America. For reasons no one was ever really able to explain, Bandai picked up the license for the Teen Titans cartoon of the early 2000s, and they put out a selection of figures that were….less than stellar. That said, some of their figures remain the only figures to date of certain characters, including both of the characters I’ll be looking at today, Bumble Bee and Hot Spot!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Bumble Bee and Hot Spot were released as a two-pack in the fourth series of Bandai’s Teen Titans line. As far as I know, the pair never interacted on the actual show, so it’s an odd pairing, but Bandai seemed to pick the pairings at random for just about every set in the line.

BUMBLE BEE

Bee&HotSpot2Bumble Bee is probably the more prominent of these two, being the de-facto leader of the Titans’ East Coast branch, and getting a prominent role in several episodes over the show’s run. The figure is a little over 3 ½ inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation, due to Bandai deciding to cut articulation on later series of the line. Because the figures didn’t have enough stacked against them! Bumble Bee had a unique sculpt, which actually isn’t too bad. The proportions are a tad off in some spots (especially the arms), but the figure does a decent job of capturing her design in the show. She’s certainly a lot better than other figures from the line. Bumble Bee’s paint work is actually not terrible. She’s got all the proper colors, and none of her sculpted work has been left unpainted. Her paint has also stood the test of time pretty well, which is a nice change of pace for this line. BB’s prototype showed her holding one of her stinger weapons, but the final figure is sadly lacking them. She does, however, get a set of removable wings. It would have been cool if they’d been articulated, but I guess it’s just good they were actually there.

HOT SPOT

Bee&HotSpot3Hot Spot was never much more than a minor character on the show. Of his four appearances on the show, only one of them actually had him do anything of substance. Still, the dude had a pretty cool look, so you couldn’t leave him out of the toyline! He’s right at 3 ½ inches tall, which makes him a little shorter than BB. Since they never interacted on the show, I can’t really say if it’s accurate of not. He seems to be in a slightly different scale going by the size of his head, but it’s hard to say. Like BB, his sculpt is unique, and it’s a pretty good approximation of his look on the show. The bent elbows are kind of an odd touch, since most of the other figures avoided such posing. The slight pre-posing of the legs can also make him a bit difficult to stand. Hot Spot’s paint is a bit of a letdown. The biggest thing is that he’s flat out missing painted details to match up to the sculpted ones on his legs, which is annoying. Also, it’s more of a personal preference thing, but the decision to go with solid yellows and reds on the head and hands robs the figure of a lot of the character’s visual interest. Hot Spot was packed with…ummm… I’m actually not sure what it’s supposed to be. Maybe it’s a flame blast or something? I don’t know, I lost mine. But hey, at least he’s got a permanent gripping pose on his right hand! That’s totally accurate to the character…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this pair up from Target back when they were still new. I was still pretty excited for the line at the time, what with the show still being on the air. These were two of my favorite characters on the show, so I was happy to get them. I have to admit, they aren’t as bad as I had feared, at least based on the others I’ve reviewed from this line. They aren’t the greatest figures of all time, but they’re still pretty fun, and they’ve managed to age pretty alright!

Guest Review #0034: Ultraman

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

ULTRAMAN

ULTRA-ACT/S.H. FIGUARTS

The following is a guest review by my dad, writer Steven H. Wilson!  Check out more from him over at his blog, located at stevenhwilson.com

Bandai’s Ultra-Act line has released dozens of figures based on Tsubaraya Productions’ long-running Ultraman series, which includes of two dozen individual TV series, running from 1967 to the present, and about half that many feature films. Every series stars a new Ultraman character, differentiated from his brethren by a suffix–e.g. “Ultraman Jack,” Ultraman X,” “Ultraman Mebius.”

Sixth in Ultra-Act‘s 2015 lineup is an Ultraman character not from a TV series, but from a 2011 Manga which has recently been collected in trade paperback for the U.S. market. The Manga and its lead character are simply called “Ultraman,” and the hero is the human son of the first Ultraman from way back in 1967.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The packaging is dual-branded with the logos of Ultra-Act and S.H. Figuarts, another Bandai line. The figure is not in scale with the rest of the Ultra-Act line, coming in at 6 3/4 inches, about a half-inch shorter than the typical Ultraman figure. This explains the dual-branding, since it is in scale with S.H. Figuarts‘ popular Power Rangers and other lines. The figure has 30 points of articulation, and comes with three sets of interchangeable gauntlets, three sets of hands–including different pointing gestures, and, of course, fists–an extra chest plate, and the trademark Ultra-beam-blasting effect. I’m not sure what the point of the extra chest plate is. It’s slightly more streamlined than the one that comes packed on the figure, but its jewel is the same color. I would expect the whole point of providing an alternate chest plate for an Ultraman would be to show his warning light blinking red.

It’s a bit disappointing that the mask is not removable, a la early Marvel Legends Iron Man figures, since this Ultraman is not a giant from another world, but a kid in an exo-suit. The figure is very, very posable–almost too posable. He falls down a lot when displayed, and doesn’t come with a stand. On the up side, he tends to fall into some great action poses. An optional flying-stand is recommended for this guy. One other nit-pick, I suppose, that I have with all the Ultraman figures, is that their arms aren’t designed to easily assume (or hold) the cross-elbow beam-blasting stance that’s so commonly seen when an Ultraman fights. Still, the detail is amazing, and the figure brings a 2D character to beautiful 3D life.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The figure was given to me by Ethan, the man behind The Figure in Question, who’s also my son. He feeds me a steady diet of Ultra-Act figures (and Spark Dolls, another Ultraman line) for Christmases and birthdays and the like. He knows I’m devoted to all things Ultra. I grew up watching the original 1967 TV series, and have recently discovered (and developed something of an obsession for) all the spin-off series that were never dubbed into English. He picked up this figure for me for Christmas, and suggested I review it alongside my review of the source material, which is on my blog now. [You can read it here!– E]

#0750: Alien Warrior

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

ALIEN WARRIOR

S.H. MONSTERARTS

AlienAVP1

What’s this? Another Alien review? On my site? Why, that’s just unheard of! …Or, maybe not. So, what’s different about this review? Well, amongst other things, it’s a figure based on a movie I don’t like. Yeah, this here is one of the Alien Warriors from the first Alien vs. Predator film, a movie that’s only real saving grace is that it’s not as bad as its own sequel. In fact, it’s not a bad movie, just a mediocre one. That doesn’t seem right for Alien vs. Predator, which should really be a “go big or go home” affair. But, alas, we got the film we got, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see another. Sorry, this is actually supposed to be a toy review! Let’s get on to the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AlienAVP2The Alien Warrior is a part of Bandai’s S.H. MonsterArts line, and was released as a standalone item in early 2014. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall (a little taller than Bandai’s Big Chap) and has 63 points of articulation. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on the Alien vs. Predator design for the Alien Warrior. It’s interesting that they opted to release this version of the alien so far after the movie instead of something more iconic, such as the Aliens version, but if I had to guess, I’d say AvP’s probably just the cheapest of the licenses to procure. I find that each successive iteration of the Xenomorph design after Aliens loses a little of what made the first two designs work, and in particular, I found the Xenos in AvP to be too skinny and waaaaay too slimy and goopy. While this figure does strive to be an overall fairly accurate translation of the design, I find it changes a few minor things that result in a much better end product. For one thing, the details and texturing feel much sharper here than in the film, which is definitely a change I appreciate. In addition, it seems they’ve shrunk the size of the head ever so slightly, so that makes the body feel less skinny by comparison. In general, the sculpt has some incredible detail work and there’s some really great touches that they could have gotten away with leaving out, like the fully sculpted head under the dome. That’s something we don’t see in the movie, but they put it there anyway. Also, like the Big Chap, the knees and the tip of the figure’s tail are made from die-cast metal, which is a cool little, easily missed touch. The figure also has the signature Xeno inner-jaw, though the instructions tell you to remove the whole outer jaw to get it out (side note: looks like they got an actual translator for the instructions on this one. It makes for a more professional end product, but I must admit to missing the just slightly off English of the Big Chap’s instructions. Oh well.)  The paintwork on the figure is pretty much what you’d expect on a figure of a Xeno; it’s black with silver highlights. The dark brown transparent dome is definitely a cool look, and I was quite happy to see that the fully sculpted head was also fully painted under there. The Alien Warrior includes an alien egg, a chestburster, two sets of hands in splayed and closed poses, and a display stand, which, like the Big Chap’s, seems a little out of place with this figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting me the Big Chap for Christmas, my boy Tim got me this guy as a birthday present. Though I don’t love the movie, and I’m not a big fan of the Xeno design as it’s presented in the film, I actually really like this figure a lot. He’s a ton of fun to pose, and the tweaks Bandai made to the design make it a lot better looking. Definitely an awesome addition to the collection!

AlienAVP3

#0714: Mega-Shiki

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

MEGA-SHIKI

GUNDAM: HG BUILD FIGHTERS

Shikki4

So, hey, do you guys remember those two times way back when where I reviewed model kits? Want to read another? Well, you don’t really have much say, to be honest. This is my site; I’ll write what I darn well want to. Maybe. Sorry, I don’t do aggressive and stand-offish very well.

Anyway, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from Bandai’s extensive line of Gundam-based snap-kits, which are model kits that require no glue and result in a fully articulated action figure. Fun times. Today’s set is Mega-Shiki, which, according to the box is “Team G-Master: Shunsuke Sudou’s Mobile Suit,” whatever that means.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shikki2Mega-Shiki was released in December of last year, so it’s a relatively recent addition to the line. It would appear that this suit is that of a specific character, meaning it’s unique. That’s cool. This figure is part of the 1/144 scale line of model kits, which puts him at a height of a little over 5 inches tall. He’s also got 35 points of articulation, which is pretty great for a model kit. Unlike the GM Sniper and Nemo, which had a few parts shared between them, Shiki looks to be mostly new, to me at least. The sculpt is quite nicely done; there are lots of nice, clean angles, and all the line work is sharp. From what I’ve been able to find in terms of reference for the suit (on the front of the package and various shots online) it looks like it’s pretty accurate to the source material. It’s also worth noting that the kit was a pretty easy build; all the parts fit well together, and they mostly stay together pretty well, too. The only parts that gave me any real trouble were the forearm guards, which have a tendency to fall off if the hands are moved about too much. They go right back on, of course, but it can be just a bit of a pain. Like the two other kits I’ve covered, Mega-Shiki doesn’t feature any painted details. Unlike those two, he’s also pretty sparse on the use of decals; there are two on the head, and that’s it. The rest of his color work is done through properly colored plastic bits. He’s a slightly more complex build, allowing him to make more use of separately colored pieces. The colors are all good matches for the source material, and they’re just good color choices all-around. Shiki’s main accessory is the Mega Ride Launcher, which is a giant rocket pack that can also function as a giant gun. It’s got several articulated bits, allowing it to switch locations. It fits pretty well on his back, and he can hold it pretty reliably, though he does need to be posed to properly balance the weight. He also includes hands in fist, griping, and open orientations, as well as two beam swords, and a big rifle. The kit also comes with a few extra pieces, such as an alternate head, that I’m not sure are actually meant to go with this guy, or are just the result of a common parts tree with another set.

Shikki3 Shikki7

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mega-Shiki is Tim’s fault. He wanted to check out the hobby shop where I picked up Nemo, with the expressed purpose of getting at least one of these kits for himself. I ended up spotting Shiki and thought he was pretty cool, so I got him. This is definitely a cool set. The quality of the sculpt is great, and I love the accessories, especially the Mega Ride Launcher!

Shikki1

#0711: Lord Zedd

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

LORD ZEDD

MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

LordZedd1

Remember yesterday’s discussion of US-exclusive looks from the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers? Well, prepare to meet the king of the no-Japanese-counterpart brigade, Lord Zedd. Yes, one of Power Rangers’ coolest bad guys was not in the original source material. That seems almost criminal. Fortunately for Zedd, he hasn’t been as absent from toys as the movie-style Rangers, but it’s still kind of a big deal when he gets a figure with the same level of care devoted to him as the Rangers.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LordZedd2Lord Zedd was part of Bandai’s Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers 20th Anniversary line, which, like the movie line, was released exclusively at Toys R Us. Zedd was the line’s one non-Ranger. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and has 17 points of articulation. Like yesterday’s White Ranger, his range of movement is hindered by his lack of some key joints, but this is a little less of an issue for Zedd, who did a lot of standing there looking menacing. Zedd’s sculpt was all-new to him, and it’s a decent enough sculpt. He’s a little devoid of texture, and he’s definitely got a bit of a pin-head thing going on, and his articulation is even more obtrusive than the White Ranger’s, but the overall sculpt is alright. What really ends up holding him back is the paint, which does the sculpt no favors. The lack of any sculpted texturing or fine detailing is only made more obvious by the straight, shiny colors. Rather than being a truly frightening, skinless monster, he’s just kind of this….red mess. It causes him to lose pretty much all of his menace, which really sucks, cuz that’s most of what Zedd’s got going for him. In addition, the silver paint is all over the place, with tons of bleed over, so it’s not even well applied! Zedd includes his signature Z-topped staff. It’s okay, but not great. It definitely feels too short, and it’s got this random bit in the middle where it’s just wider, for no real reason.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Zedd at the same time as yesterday’s White Ranger. He too was purchased by my far too supportive Super Awesome Girlfriend. I’d actually looked at this Zedd figure a few times before. Since he’s not in the Super Sentai stuff, it’s highly unlikely he’ll find his way into the SH Figuarts line, meaning this is likely the best we’re going to get. All-in-all, he’s not a bad figure, just kind of a mediocre one.

LordZedd3

#0710: White Ranger

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WHITE RANGER

MIGHTY MORPHIN’ POWER RANGERS: THE MOVIE

WhiteRanger1

In the mid-1990s, Power Rangers was pretty big, big enough to warrant getting a full-length movie, anyway. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie presented a slightly different continuity from the show, and offered some slight redesigns of the Rangers costume, one assumes to make them more visually interesting on the big screen. The designs were wholly original to the American-ized version of the Rangers. There were no pre-existing toys of them in Japan, meaning that no toys of those designs were released at the time of the movie. However, with the 20th Anniversary of the Mighty Morphin’ Rangers, Bandai has decided to finally offer film-accurate versions of the characters. Today we’ll be looking at the White Ranger.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WhiteRanger2The White Ranger was released as part of Bandai’s Mighty Morpin’ Power Rangers: The Movie line, which was released exclusively at Toys R Us, at least initially. He is, as noted, based on the design of the White Ranger from the movie, which, in contrast to the other Rangers in the movie, was actually more streamlined than the TV version. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall (which is just a smidge shorter than the SH Figuarts Rangers) and has 19 points of articulation. While he certainly has a fair amount of articulation, the lack of lateral movement at the biceps and hips, as well as the complete lack of any sort of torso articulation does make anything much more exciting than a slightly askew “ready for action” sort of pose pretty much impossible. Power Rangers figures have typically had a tendency to be a lot more bulked up than their real life counterparts. While he’s certainly not as proportionally balanced as the Figuarts stuff, the White Ranger actually manages to have fairly modest proportions. The more armored look also helps to mask any sort of extra bulkiness, so it’s really not noticeable. The details of the sculpt are pretty decent, but some areas are a little softer than others, especially the torso. Also, most of the articulation is worked it pretty smoothly, but the hip joints stick out like sore thumbs. The paintwork on this figure is pretty decently handled; there’s not really any slop or bleed over. However, the colors are kind of flat, and he feels much too shiny overall. The White Ranger is packed with his talking sword, Saba, which can be held (loosely) in his hand or plugged into the side of his belt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ended up passing on the SH Figuarts White Ranger when he was released, since I’m more of a Green Ranger fan. When I did finally look into getting one, the prices had jumped beyond what I was willing to pay. So, when I saw this guy at a local TRU while accompanying Tim on a quest for Nerf guns, I figured he was worth the investment. Unfortunately, I didn’t actually have the money on me to buy him, but Super Awesome Girlfriend was there, and, as we’ve established, she won’t let me put a figure back. He’s not a bad figure, but I will admit to being a tad disappointed by the movement once I got him out of the box. Still, you could do a lot worse.

WhiteRanger3

#0664: Silver Ranger

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

SILVER RANGER

POWER RANGERS IN SPACE

SilverRanger1

When I was a fair bit younger, I was pretty into Power Rangers. That shouldn’t be a shock, seeing as I was a boy under 10 in the 90s. It was sort of a rite of passage. Once I hit 10 or so, I moved away from the series, though, unlike a lot of other people, it wasn’t because I suddenly found the series lame, but rather because none of the new seasons could live up to Power Rangers In Space, which had been by far my favorite iteration of the series. I recently sat down and watched a few episodes from the show and I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that the show was actually as good as I remembered it to be. Like just about every Power Rangers incarnation, In Space had a “Sixth Ranger” added to the team as the show progressed, called the Silver Ranger because he was…well, silver. He was super cool. Let’s look at a toy of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SilverRanger2The Silver Ranger was an interesting case as far as figures go. None of his figures were in the initial offerings of toys, as his character had not yet appeared. When he did finally appear, Bandai had to do a handful of special offerings to ensure that he got a few figures that would fit with the other Rangers. This particular version was released in a set with a Galaxy Cycle in silver. The figure stands roughly 4 ½ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. Silver is built on the exact same body used for all of the Galaxy Cycle Pack-in cycles (yes, even the girls). It’s an interesting body because, unlike all of the other Power Rangers In Space figures released in the US, the figures on this body aren’t overly musclebound. That’s actually kind of nice to see. That said, the body ends up being exceptionally simplistic in general, which doesn’t win it a lot of points. Aside from the slight detailing on the mouth of the helmet, and some decent work on the belt buckle, the figure is more or less devoid of any real detail. It looks somewhat like a crash test dummy. Also, the hands are ginormous, to almost insane levels, which looks rather silly on an otherwise skinny figure. It’s not a bad sculpt overall, but it was out of date even when it was brand new. The paintwork on the figure is just about as simple as the sculpt. He’s mostly just molded in the appropriate colors, which leads to some oddness, especially where the gloves go up past the elbows. The head gets the best detailing, with several different colors and no real issues with bleed over and slop. The details on the torso aren’t actually painted. Instead, they’re just decals, which definitely didn’t hold up in the long term. The Silver Ranger originally included a blaster, as well as the previously mentioned Galaxy Cycle. However, my figure has neither of these, so no review for them. Sorry guys!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Silver Ranger was purchased at Yesterday’s Fun while I was on vacation this year. I never managed to find any of the basic Silver Ranger figures growing up, and they’ve since shot up in price, so I was actually pretty excited to find him. Yeah, the figure is definitely dated, and not in the greatest condition, but it’s the Silver Ranger. He’s just cool! And that kind of outweighs the negatives.

#0562: Android No. 16

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

ANDROID NO. 16

S.H. FIGUARTS

16a

Hey, remember when I reviewed the last two Dragon Ball Z Android figures from SH Figuarts and I was all like “I guess I have to buy the third one now?” Well, I, uhh, bought the third one. Yeah, I’m kind of a pushover when it comes to action figures. So, today, I’ll be having a look at Android 16, the third member of the main android trio, and the only one of them who was actually, you know, an android. Funny how that works.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

16bAndroid 16 is another figure from the Dragon Ball Z subset of Bandai’s SH Figuarts line. The figure was released around March or so of this year. The figure stands over 6 inches in height (almost a full inch taller than his compatriots) and features 32 points of articulation. While the other two androids were known to change up their style from time to time, 16 had exactly one outfit on the show, and this figure depicts him in said outfit. Like the last two figures, 16’s sculpt is unique to him. The figure does a fantastic job of translating the character’s design from the show into three dimensions. Sometimes figures of animated characters will only work when viewed from certain angles, but that isn’t an issue here. The sculpt is nicely proportioned and has some really sharp work, especially in areas like the folds of his boots and the texture of his shirt. Also, the work on the faces seems a lot clearer and more defined here than it was on the previous two figures, though it may just be Bandai taking advantage of the slightly larger scale of the sculpt. There are three different faces that can be swapped out. He comes packed wearing the death-glare head, which is sufficiently intimidating, but he also has heads with grinning and shouting expressions, should you want to mix things up. In addition to the basic heads, there is a battle-damaged head, which shows some of the inner workings of 16’s head, and gives him a more shocked expression. 16 includes two pairs of hands, in fists and open gesture, and his forearms can be removed to replicate his fist-launching ability, which also showcases some great detail work on the “stumps” of his forearms. 16 doesn’t feature the most complicated paintwork, but what’s there is clean, even, and avoids any issues of slop or bleed over. The colors are also a pretty good match for those used on the show. The heads all feature essentially the same paint, with the exception of the damaged head, which sets itself ahead of the others with some scuffing on the face and some great scorching at the edge of the exposed machinery. 16 is a little lighter in the accessories department than a lot of other Bandai releases, with only the extra heads and hands. However, these are worthy additions, and the figure’s increased size means that he doesn’t feel like he’s coming up short.

16d 16e 16c

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting 17 at MAGFest and finding 18 online, I went ahead and preordered 16 through Amazon. That was in February, and boy did he take his sweet time getting here. Apparently, Amazon gets their import stuff in little trickles here and there, so I had to wait a little while for my 16 to come into stock. I’m happy to say he was worth the wait. 16 is definitely my favorite of the three android figures. He’s just a very well put together figure and he’s a fantastic representation of the character.

16f

#0521: Mas y Menos

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

MAS Y MENOS

TEEN TITANS GO! (BANDAI)

MasYMenos1

There’s sort of a tradition amongst the successful animated adaptations of comic properties of having a unique character, not from the comics. X-Men: The Animated Series had Morph, Superman: The Animated Series had Livewire, and Batman: The Animated Series actually had two pretty big ones with Renee Montoya and Harley Quinn. Teen Titans continued the tradition, not only with a number of villains unique to the show, but also with Titans East members Mas y Menos, a pair of Spanish-speaking twins who possessed super speed so long as they were touching. Now, there were a few things of note about the two of them. First of all, they never got any focus episode or anything, in contrast to the other members of Titans East. They just showed up with the fully formed team, with no real explanation. Second, they actually preceded the appearance of usual Titans speedster Kid Flash by over a season, which was certainly interesting. Anyway, they ended up with figures in Bandai’s Teen Titans Go! line, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

MasYMenos2Mas and Menos were part of the 4th series of Bandai’s Teen Titans Go! line. They actually weren’t packed together; Mas came with Aqualad and Menos was packed with Wildebeast (reviewed here). Now, usually I try to review figures as they were released, but a) my Teen Titans Go! collection is scattered all over the place, and b) Mas y Menos are almost exactly the same figure, making two separate reviews seem a bit silly. Alright, so the figures are about 3 inches tall and they each have 5 points of articulation. So, remember how I give Bandai a hard time about the atrocious scale of this line pretty much every time I review it? Yeah, Mas y Menos are some of the worst offenders. In the show, they were supposed to be rather small. At 3 inches, they’re at most a half an inch shorter than the rest of the line, which isn’t really that much of a difference. And, they more or less keep the proportions from the show, making the figures look like they come from a different line entirely. When placed next to figures like Cyborg (or packed with Wildebeast) who are already too small, the result is really laughable. Okay, so the hilariously bad scale’s been addressed, but how is the sculpt looking past that? Well, from the front, it’s not bad. The internal proportions are pretty decent, and they do actually look a fair bit like the characters on the show. There are a few etched details, all of which are straight and clean. “Wait, Ethan,” you say, “Why do you specify ‘from the front’?” Well, hypothetical reader, that’s because viewing these figures from the side reveals that they’re like half the thickness they should be. It looks as if the poor twins got run over with a steamroller or something. Those poor kids! We’ve covered the scale, we’ve covered the sculpt, surely the paint can’t be that bad! Well, to be fair it isn’t. Or it wasn’t. It was well applied, it was fairly clean, and the colors were pretty well chosen. Why the past tense? Because, as I’m steadily learning, Bandai paint is the closest we’ll ever come to a physical manifestation of the past tense. Mas y Menos once had good paint, but it’s just sort of flaked off over time, not through rigorous play or poor storage, but just through exposure to that pesky air we seem to have so much of these days.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like so many of the Teen Titans Go! line, I was actually quite excited to get these figures. Titans East in particular were my favorite set of characters from the show, and these two were a key piece of that. Why wouldn’t I be excited for these figures? I think these two may have been what shattered the illusion of the line for me. After picking them and the rest of Series 4 up, I just kind of had this disinterest in getting the rest of the line. I wish I could say these figures hold some sort of redeeming quality, but literally the only thing in their favor is that they’re the only figures of these two ever made. And that’s disappointing. Thanks Bandai….

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