Tag Archives: Christmas Reviews

#3266: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

I’m just about done with this year’s batch of post-Christmas reviews, but I’m wrapping up with a look at something that’s not quite as much a holiday fixture for me as Super Powers, but is still pretty high up there: Mego.  2022 marked the 50th anniversary of Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes toyline launching.  At its start, WGSH was exclusively dedicated to DC Comics, something that is true of the modern WGSH line, thanks to Mego picking back up the license for 8-inch figures in 2020.  In celebration of the 50th, Mego is returning the line to its roots, with packaging based on the original boxed look for the line.  While the line-up is mostly recreations of figures from the original line, it also features two additional figures, Green Lantern and Flash, the two most glaring omissions from the original run, in fancy throwback packaging and all.  I’ve got the GL, of course, and I’m taking a look at him today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern is part of Wave 16 of the post-relaunch Mego line, under the World’s Greatest Super Heroes 50th Anniversary banner.  He’s one of the eight retro throwback figures in the set, and one of the two that’s not a re-issue of a vintage Mego counterpart.  This GL is the Hal Jordan version, specifically sporting his classic ’70s appearance, making him through and through the correct look for a proper vintage Mego release, which is pretty cool.  The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Hal is built on the brand-new Type-S Mego base body, which takes the vintage Type 2 body aesthetic, and reworks it to remove the band construction, as well as improve the general articulation set-up for the body.  It removes the issues of long-term viability of the band construction, creates a generally more solid feeling base body, and also gives him better posability…for the most part.  The only thing I’m not super crazy about is the knees, which are a bit more restricted on this body than earlier Mego base bodies.  Hal gets a unique head sculpt and hands as well.  They’re quite impressive pieces; the head sculpt in particular is really a star piece.  He’s the spitting image of the quintessential ’70s Hal, which is exactly what I want on this sort of figure.  The paint work on GL is on the head and both hands.  The head’s pretty clean, apart from just a touch of missing paint near the nose of the mask.  The hands are fully painted, with white for the gloves and everything, which gives them a slightly glossier finish, helping them match closer to the costume.  GL’s costume is made up of a jumpsuit and a pair of standard boots.  The jumpsuit is made up of separate cloth pieces stitched together, rather than just being silkscreened, which gives it a little more pop.  GL is packed with his power battery, which, unlike the 14 inch figure, he can actually hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Friday’s Mister Miracle, GL was a Christmas gift to me from my parents.  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted a proper Mego GL.  I made my own custom back in the day, which tided me over, and then I had the Mattel one, and even the Figures Toy Company one.  Of course, none of those were official Mego.  There was also the 14 inch version, but he was, you know, really tall and all.  It’s been a road of small steps and improvements, but this one is really, really nice, and he’s a proper, official Mego GL.  Only took us 50 years, but, hey, here we are.  Feels like it was worth it.  Genuinely couldn’t be happier with him.

#3265: Mister Miracle

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

MISTER MIRACLE

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

 

“Mister Miracle is an incredible escape artist who can free himself from any trap or ambush. By calling upon a multitude of advanced scientific gadgets, and his remarkable dexterity and agility, Mister Miracle is able to make any impossible stunt look easy.”

It’s that post-Christmas review time of year, and the best way for me to really, truly feel that post-Christmas-y sort of vibe is, quite frankly, Kenner’s Super Powers.  From a rather early age, they’ve kind of been a key piece of the stuff I get for holidays, and that’s become especially cemented in the last few years.  In my last four Super Powers reviews, (the most recent of which was almost an entire year ago; for shame!) I’ve stuck with the line’s Fourth World component, which really influenced the last two years of the run.  I’m continuing that trend with today’s review, which looks at perhaps my favorite Fourth World character, Scott Free, aka Mister Miracle!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mister Miracle was released in 1986, as part of the final year of Kenner’s Super Powers line.  As with a lot of characters in this line, this release was Scott’s first figure, and would remain his only figure until DC Direct put one out in the early ’00s.  Of course, he was still ahead of all of the other New Gods barring Darkseid there, so I suppose it’s not all that bad.  He and his assortment-mate Orion made up the entirety of the heroic New Gods portion of the line, which was otherwise much heavier on the Apokolipsian bad guys.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Mister Miracle’s sculpt is a unique one based on his standard comics design, which was honestly a pretty notable thing for a New Gods character.  Only he and Darkseid got that treatment.  Admittedly, when you’ve got a design as spot-on and cool as Mister Miracle’s, what exactly is there to change?  It translates well to the style of the line, and he’s got a pretty solid set of proportions, as well as a nicely defined selection of costume details.  As with all the caped characters in the line, Scott’s cape is a soft-goods piece, though it does get a rather unique clasp piece, which is quite a bit of fun.  Mister Miracle’s paint work is pretty decent, although it’s rather prone to wear.  Mine’s in pretty decent shape, but that’s no small feat.  Scott is packed with a set of shackles, which are a trick set-up.  They’re on a joint at the middle, and squeezing his legs moves his arms outward, as if he’s escaping from the locks.  It’s a little iffy on this 35 year old figure, of course, but it’s otherwise a good gimmick.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mister Miracle is the latest addition to my ever growing Super Powers collection, given to me as a Christmas gift by my ever supportive parents.  He’s actually been pretty high on my list of the remaining figures I needed, barred only by the difficulty of finding him in complete condition.  Getting one in this shape is honestly astounding, and he’s just so much fun.  Truly one of the line’s star pieces.  And with that, I only need 5 more.  Crazy.

#3264: Blackout & Scorponok

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BLACKOUT & SCORPONOK

TRANSFORMERS: MASTERPIECE MOVIE SERIES (TAKARA TOMY)

I really don’t talk about the Michael Bay Transformers movies much around here.  It’s for the pretty good reason that I just didn’t much care for any of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, so, you know, I just don’t have much call to own stuff from them, or by extension review much from them either.  Thus far, I’ve looked at a Soundwave and a Jazz, characters that, notably, I care about outside of the Bay films, so that colors the opinions ever so slightly.  On a different, but still related note, I’ve not yet reviewed anything from Takara’s long-running Masterpiece line of Transformers, which are rather high-end, generally more screen accurate figures, which also seek out proper licensing for all of their alt-modes (where needed, of course).  It’s been a running theme since 2003, at first sticking to G1 characters, but moving onto other themes, with the live action films getting their own sub-line starting in 2010.  The most recent release from the live action sub-line is actually a twofer, since it’s Blackout and Scorponok, based on their appearance in the first film, and I’m taking a look at the two of them today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blackout and Scorponok are the lone 2022 release for Transformers: Masterpiece Movie Series, where it is item MPM-13.  Though billed as “Blackout and Scorponok” on the package, Blackout is clearly supposed to be the star piece, with Scorponok as an accessory.  In his robot mode, Blackout stands about 11 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of workable articulation.  In terms of scaling, Blackout is certainly quite a sizable figure, which is appropriate, since he was also one of the larger ‘bots in the films.  The articulation scheme is a pretty good one for a Transformer, especially one as bulky as this one.  Of particular note are the hands, which even have separately articulated fingers.  Blackout’s sculpt is a unique one (thus far, at least; if they follow the Studio Series layout, he might get a re-use for Grindor later down the line), obviously based on his film appearance.  In the movies, most of the TFs are kind of a jumbly mess of random angles when in their robot modes, and Blackout is no exception.  On the plus side, the toys, by necessity, do clean things up a little bit.  This figure does a pretty good job of doing just that, while still sticking pretty closely to the design as seen on-screen…I mean, when it can be seen, which is, admittedly, pretty tricky to do.  They sure did love to hide those designs.  Whatever the case, this one is pretty cohesive in his look, and he’s properly big and imposing, and there’s a ton of smaller sculpted details, which are pretty impressive. Blackout is packed with two mountable miniguns, two blast effects for the miniguns, and a rotorblade weapon.  The rotorblade should *technically* be mounted to the back of his hand, as opposed to being held in his hand is it is here, but otherwise it’s a pretty cool piece.  Also included is the previously mentioned Scorponok figure.  He doesn’t transform (excusable, since he doesn’t actually have an on-screen alt-mode in the first movie), but he’s at least fully articulated, which is honestly pretty cool.

As in the film, Blackout’s alt-mode is a MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, which is an officially licensed take on the vehicle.  The transformation sequence to get from robot to copter is…well, it’s certainly a complicated and lengthy one.  It’s unfortunately a side effect of how the animation models were done for the Bay films, since there wasn’t really much actual science or engineering to how they worked; just lots of small greebly bits all moving in a mess of motion.  So, this figure’s dealing with that, but it does alright by it.  Still, it would up taking me about an hour and a half to work my way through the whole thing; getting his waist properly folded into the body of the copter was, in particular, quite tricky on my copy.  All in all, it’s a bit nerve-racking, but the end result is at least pretty convincing.  He’s even got a working hatch on the rear fuselage, where you can store Scorponok.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I touched on in the intro, I don’t really do much with the Bay films.  I saw the first one in the theatre.  It wasn’t really for me, and I’ve not really owned any of the associated product.  So, why do I own a Masterpiece quality figure based on a not Soundwave or Jazz character?  Well, my son Matthew was determined to get me something cool for our first Christmas together, and he was apparently adamant that he needed to get this for me.  (He also apparently found it on some sort of crazy clearance, which is good, because I really don’t expect him to be spending this thing’s full retail on a present for me)  On Christmas morning, after jumping up and down with excitement over the things waiting for him under the tree, he very excitedly handed me this guy, and told me I had to open my gift first.  I was certainly surprised, I’ll say that much.  I may not really care about the first Transformers, or really Blackout as a character, but I’ll admit, he does certainly make for a quite impressive transforming robot toy.  And, you know, the whole presentation did kind of help to further my general enjoyment as well.  So there’s also that.

#3262: Parks & Recreation ReAction Figures

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

LESLIE KNOPE, BEN WYATT, DONNA MEAGLE, APRIL LUDGATE, & BURT MACKLIN

PARKS & RECREATION REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

“Ba ba badadada ba badadada ba badadada ba badabada….”

Parks & Recreation Theme Song (Paraphrased)

The Office gets, like, a lot of attention.  So much attention.  Absurd amounts of attention.  And, the thing is, honestly?  It’s kind of overplayed.  Don’t get me wrong, there are some very funny bits on The Office.  But, for the most part, they can just be boiled down to quippy clips that make just as much sense, if not more, when chopped up and thrown into compilations as when shown in actual context.  For my money, the superior workplace comedy by a wide berth is Parks & Recreation, a show that’s also just one of my favorite shows in general.  As a show with a lot of pretty normal looking people, there’s not a *ton* in the way of merchandising for Parks & Rec, but there’s more than you might think.  Funko of course grabbed the license for Pops a while back, and last year Super 7 also got the license for the purposes of doing a set of ReAction Figures, most of which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Leslie Knope, Ben Wyatt, Donna Meagle, April Ludgate, and Burt Macklin are five of the six figures (the other being Ron Swanson) that make up the first series of Super 7’s Parks & Recreation ReAction Figures line, which started hitting retail in the fall of last year.

You can’t very well have a line of Parks & Rec figures and not include the main character, so Leslie was always along for the ride.  Leslie gets quite a number of looks over the course of the show, but this figure settles on one of her office attire blazer and skirt looks, which feels pretty appropriate for the character.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  The movement on her neck is a little restricted by the hair, but otherwise it’s a decent basic set-up for movement.  Leslie’s sculpt is obviously stylized to be a bit more basic.  It’s gets the important details, while dialing back a bit on some of the specifics.  The head’s got a passable likeness of Amy Pohler; it’s not spot-on, but at this scale and in this style, it’s hardly expected to be.  I’d say she’s probably the best of the likenesses present in the initial line-up.  The paint work is, like the sculpt, pretty basic.  It does what it needs to, and it looks the part.  Leslie is packed with a plate with a waffle on it, undoubtedly one made by JJ’s Diner.  There’s honestly nothing more on-brand for Leslie, so it’s definitely nifty.  She can’t really hold it, though, which is a shame.  Still cool.

Though absent until the end of the show’s second season, Ben’s still very much a signature character for the show.  Gonna be honest, there are few fictional characters I identify with more than Ben Wyatt.  His absence from the first two rounds of Pops kind of soured me on those, so I’m very excited that he’s here.  Ben’s sporting his more dressed-down, getting things solved look, which definitely works well.  The figure’s sculpt is one that works better in context than on its own.  The head’s an okay Adam Scott, but it could honestly just as easily be Jason Bateman or Jason Sudekis.  I don’t hate the smile, but it’s also not quite a quintessential Ben expression.  The body doesn’t seem quite skinny enough for Scott’s build; he’s too doughy in the middle, I think.  It’s definitely a little bit of a stylistic thing, though.  The paint work on Ben is pretty basic, and fairly drab, but that’s all about right.  Ben’s packed with a small recreation of the Cones of Dunshire, Ben’s absurdly complicated strategy game he invented.  As with Leslie’s waffle, this is a very on-brand piece, so it’s a lot of fun.  He does have a little bit more luck actually holding it, so that’s a plus.

Donna may have been in the show from the beginning, but she’s a character who very much grew as the show progressed, going from a glorified extra in the first season to a prominent series regular by the end.  Donna also has a lot of looks over the course of the show, but this one goes for her more casual attire.  Donna’s sculpt is a little more immediately obvious as to who it’s supposed to be, but it’s still not quite as on the mark as Leslie.  The likeness to Rhetta’s not overly there, but at the same time, it’s not like the figure looks *unlike* her.  As with Ben, the context of the rest of the figures fills it in pretty quickly.  Her sculpt is pretty basic, as expected, but her proportions seem a little more on the mark than Ben’s were.  Her paint work adds a little more color to the set, with a nice splash of bright pink, which works well for the set.  Donna is packed with a box of baked goods, marked “Treat Yo Self”, which is another very appropriate extra, since the Treat Yo Self antics really helped to cement her character.  We’re back to the figure not being able to hold the accessory, unfortunately, but it’s still nifty to have it.

April’s one of the few characters that comes out of the gate more or less fully formed on the show, albeit in a way that still very much allows her to grow as the series progresses.  For her figure, she’s another casual attire look, which is again pretty on-the-mark for her character.  April’s sculpt winds up being the weakest of the bunch, I find.  Something about the head just misses the mark.  The hair seems to sit too far back, making her forehead seem far too large, and the proportions on the body seem a bit off.  None of it’s terrible, but it’s not super great either.  Her paint work is at least pretty bright, so she’s got that going for her.  April is packed with a small minifigure of her and Andy’s three-legged dog Champion, which isn’t quite as spot-on for the character as some of the others, but is still a pretty solid inclusion.

Burt Macklin, FBI!  Yes, while everyone else in the assortment is just their normal selves, our first version of Chris Pratt’s Andy Dwyer is him using his Burt Macklin persona, which he’d whip out whenever things got “serious.”  It makes him the most targeted of these figures in terms of appearance, and also marks him as someone they’re probably looking to do multiple variants on, should the line progress.  “Burt” is a pretty decent sculpt as well.  The likeness is a little harder to place, since he’s got the glasses sculpted in place, but it seems to land the look pretty alright, and the body gets Pratt’s slightly huskier build down well.  “Burt” has a slightly sloppier paint scheme than the others in the set, especially on the hair and beard.  Given the scale and style, though, it’s not that bad, and the rest of the figure’s all pretty clean.  There are no accessories for this guy, which is a bit of a bummer, but I suppose they’re holding out on the more fun stuff for another Andy variant.  Still feels a bit light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With Parks & Rec being very high on my list of favorite TV shows, it’s hard for me to justify passing up the chance to own the cast in action figure form.  Of course, given the price point on these things, I was initially thinking I might just grab Ben.  I wound up being swayed into getting the five of these when my wife Rachel and I found them at Target, and she insisted on buying them for me as an early Christmas gift.  They’re definitely expensive for what they are, and they’re not perfect, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t be down to pick up whatever else they want to do from the line.

#3007: Bo-Katan Kryze with Gauntlet Starfighter

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

BO-KATAN KRYZE with GAUNTLET STARFIGHTER

STAR WARS: MISSION FLEET (HASBRO)

Remember Mission Fleet?  You know, that all-ages-aimed Star Wars toy line that I’ve been following and actually really enjoy thoroughly every time I get around to reviewing one?  The one that I have, despite this, only reviewed twice on this site?  Yeah, that’s the one.  I keep bringing up the need to go back and get some of the backlog of them reviewed, but I keep, you know, not doing it.  Instead, I keep holding off for a new addition, which is what I’m doing now.  Again.  For the third time.  It happens.  Thus far, the two items I’ve reviewed have both been Mandalorian-themed, and this third review follows that same trend.  So, let’s have a look at Bo-Katan Kryze (who, much like sand, is coarse and gets everywhere) and her Gauntlet Starfighter!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

Bo-Katan and the Gauntlet Starfighter make up the “Starfighter Siege” set of Star Wars: Mission Fleet, a Stellar Class release (the next size up from the two Expedition Class sets I’ve already looked at) from the tail end of 2021, which hit alongside Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter and Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter.  Though officially billed Mandalorian on the packaging, this set can work just as well as a Clone Wars release too, giving it a little more range, which is pretty cool, even if it is Bo-Katan.

The core Bo-Katan figure is in her full-armored attire.  The extra detailing on the helmet signifies her as at the very least a post-late Clone Wars version of the character.  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme here is the same as on the Mando, which is to say that it works generally pretty well given the scale.  Her sculpt is certainly more stylized than larger offerings, with slightly tweaked proportions on the head, hands, and feet.  It’s more cartoony, but not too overly so.  There’s still plenty of small detail work, and it tracks well with her design in both animation and in live action.  Bo-Katan’s paint work actually has quite a bit going on.  All of the important armor details are there, and she’s even got all the proper detailing on the helmet, which does look pretty cool.  Bo-Katan is packed with her jetpack (which is distinct from Mando’s), twin blasters, and her energy shield.

The vehicle portion of this set is far more prominent, given the higher price-point of the set.  Rather than just a speeder bike like the other two sets, there’s a full-fledged Gauntlet Starfighter include here.  It’s the ship she’s most frequently seen using, and it’s a fairly distinctive design, so it’s a strong choice.  The ship measures just shy of 9 inches tall and it’s 8 1/2 inches wide.  It’s just a one-person seater, but it’s still got a decent size to it, and it’s even got the full worked-in movement for the wings, as seen on-screen.  It’s a cool feature of a cool design, so it’s great that they worked it in there properly.  Given the ship’s larger scale, the added ports for compatibility with the rest of the line aren’t quite as obtrusive here as on the smaller vehicles, which is also pretty cool.  The color work on this one is also a bit more involved than the speeder bikes, making it a more vibrant and eye-catching design.  As with other vehicles, this one gets a large missile launcher and missile.  It can be mounted to any of the ports on the ship, and also includes its own articulated tripod piece for stand-alone use.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cheyenne requested fairly early into Mission Fleet‘s run that I not buy all of them for myself, so I’ve been pretty deliberately holding on most of the line, just to give her a good stock of choices for gift ideas.  So, this was the one she opted to go for this year, which is honestly a pretty good call.  This is one of the cooler ship designs, and one that’s kind of rare in toy form.  It’s a lot of fun, and while Bo-Katan might be a coarse character, she does at least still have a cool design, making for a generally fun toy set-up.

#3006: Kalibak

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

KALIBAK

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“Kalibak, The Cruel Crusher! This massive warrior is incredibly powerful and nearly indestructible. A savage fighter, Kalibak wields the deadly Beta-Club, which can fire nerve beams powerful enough to fell an entire army.  Despite his size and strength, Kalibak is not too intelligent. He can be bested by an opponent like Superman, who combines his strength with a sense of strategy.”

When I last discussed Kenner’s Super Powers line from the ’80s, I was getting pretty deep into the Fourth World component of the line, which hit during its second and third years.  Thus far, I’ve looked at three of Darkseid’s lieutenants, as well as one of his sons.  Today, I look at the figure that combines those two epithets, Kalibak, half brother to Orion, and the brutish son of Darkseid.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kalibak was released in 1985, as part of Kenner’s second year of Super Powers figures.  As with the rest of the Fourth World figures in the line, this would be his debut action figure, and it would remain his only figure until Mattel got back around to him in 2009 as part of their DC Universe Classics line.  Heck of a gap there, huh?  There was definitely a preferred son of Darkseid in the toy world is all I’m saying.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall (he’s got a bit of a hunch, which would place him at closer to Darkseid’s height were he standing straight up) and he’s got 5 points of articulation.  Kalibak lacks the knee joints sported by most of the line, presumably to give him a slightly more stable stance with the hunch and everything.  He still has a bit of trouble remaining standing even so, due to his hip joints being a little loose from how the action feature works.  Most of the Fourth World characters got rather changed-up designs for the line, still courtesy of Jack Kirby, of course.  Kalibak’s design was new, but he actually had a rather evolving design throughout Kirby’s actual run on New Gods, so this was really just the next step in that evolution.  It’s honestly one of the best of the updated designs, and the one that really has the most lasting influence on the character’s main look going forward.  The sculpt does a pretty nice job of capturing Kalibak’s larger build, and while he’s a little bit goofy looking, that’s on-brand for Kalibak, so it works out better here than it does for, say, Steppenwolf.  Kalibak’s paint work is pretty straight forward.  A lot of the Fourth World designs were heavy on green in the comics, and Kalibak was included in that.  For the Super Powers designs, they leaned a little more into browns and warmer colors, since there was kind of a shortage of those colors in the DC roster.  Kalibak is largely brown and yellow, with a bit of blue.  It’s not a bad look, and the application is generally pretty clean.  Kalibak is packed with his Beta-Club, which is convenient for use with his “Power Action Beta-Club Swing.”  When is legs are squeezed together, the left arm swings in and out, which is actually a pretty cool feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kalibak is the newest addition to my Super Powers collection, in the continuing tradition of my Dad getting me a Super Powers figure at Christmas.  He’s slowly but surely helping me make my way through the figures that remain between me and a complete run of the line.  Kalibak is one of those figures I wasn’t in a rush to get or anything, but I actually like him a lot more than I’d expected now that I actually own him.  And with that, I’m down to just 6 more figures!

#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.

#3004: Grice Anna – 19th Legion United

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

GRICE ANNA — 19th LEGION UNITED

BATTLE FOR THE STARS (JOYTOY)

Hey, remember when I was talking about Joytoy?  It was, like, three days ago?  Man, wasn’t that cool, and new, and different?  I sure thought so.  How about we give that another go, perhaps?  While the main focus of their output is the cool Mechas, Joytoy actually puts quite a lot of effort into the scale figures that go with said Mechas.  Enough effort that they don’t just want to leave them only available within the larger sets, so they also sell them in a few other ways, including just flat out selling them on their own.  So, today, I’m looking at one of those figures on its own.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grice Anna is from Joytoy’s Battle For The Stars line, which, in contrast to the last item I looked at, is actually one of their 1/18 scale lines, meaning the humans are roughly at that 3 3/4 inch mark.  The figure follows suit, standing just shy of 4 inches tall and sporting 32 points of articulation, at least on the base body.  The design also features an exoskeleton sort of brace kind of set-up, which also features some articulation, though mostly its really just in a fashion that allows the underlying figure to still be posed without any trouble.  The articulation on the core figure is a lot like a 30th Anniversary/POC Joe, but even further improved, to the point where there’s even toe articulation, which, at this scale?  Well, that’s pretty impressive.  The joints are also quite well-toleranced, so she’ll be able to hold poses without much trouble, which is always a concern at this scale.  Anna’s design is sort of a merging of modern tactical gear with a little bit of military sci-fi, in keeping with the other stuff Joytoy’s been doing.  The core figure is much more on the realistic modern tactical side, and you could honestly fit her in pretty well with Joes and the like in this state.  She’s got a long sleeve shirt and some combat pants, as well as armoring on the torso, knees, and shins (the shin armor is a separate piece, so you could remove those too if you wanted).  The full armor is comprised of a pair of shoulder pads, an alternate helmeted head, and an exoskeleton that hooks over the wrists and legs, and runs pretty much the whole body.  She’s also got a cool neckerchief, you know, for a little bit of tasteful accessorizing.  Everything slides into place pretty well, although you will need to do a little bit of disassembly of the main body to get everything on there.  My only complaint is that the helmet isn’t actually attached to the alternate head in any way, so it falls off a lot.  Feels to me like it would have made the most sense to just glue it in place, especially since the alternate head foregoes even giving her painted eyes or anything, which winds up looking pretty creepy.  Her paint work is generally pretty nice.  The base work is clean, and she also gets a darker wash on the armored parts, as well as the pants, which helps to not only emphasize the sculpted details, but also to give her a slightly more worn-in appearance, which fits the setting they’re going for.  Anna is packed with two sets of hands with differing grips, as well as an assault rifle and a pistol.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been keeping Tim in the loop on my delve into Joytoy, since he is also big on the cool robots front.  This turned out to be a point in my favor, as his sister-in-law Becca was looking to get me something cool for Christmas this year, and he was able to point me in the direction of this particular figure.  I wasn’t intending to jump down the rabbit hole of the individual figures quite this quickly, but this one’s admittedly really cool.  Sure, she’s not the same scale as the one Mecha I have, but I guess I’ll just have to get a Mecha that scales with her.  Oh darn.

#3003: The Batman Who Laughs – Sky Tyrant Wings

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

THE BATMAN WHO LAUGHS — SKY TYRANT WINGS

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE)

“Born from the nightmares of the Dark Multiverse, The Batman Who Laughs is a hybrid version of the Batman and The Joker from Earth -22. This twisted version of Batman was created when nanotoxins from The Joker’s heart were released into Bruce Wayne’s bloodstream, causing the Dark Knight’s perfect mind to merge with the warped psyche of the Clown Prince of Crime. He soon became part of an attempt to plunge the entire Multiverse into ultraviolence, chaos, and utter darkness. After being initially defeated, The Batman Who Laughs managed to survive and remains a threat to the greatest heroes of the Multiverse.”

For Day 3 of the post-Christmas, we’re going back to more of my usual territory, specifically the realm of super hero comics.  Even more specifically, DC Comics.  They’re pretty busy doing nothing but Batman these days, and, well, umm, here’s some more of that, I suppose.  The last few years, DC’s bread and butter (and, by extension, their main licensee McFarlane’s bread and butter) has been Dark Knights Metal, a multiversal story where everyone is Batman.  Except for Batman.  Sometimes Batman is Joker.  And here we are with that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Batman Who Laughs with Sky Tyrant Wings is the second version of the Batman Who Laughs to be released in McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line, as part of the Merciless Collect-To-Build assortment, which was released at the tail end of 2020, at least in some quantities, and made it out more fully last year.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 40 points of articulation, thanks to the extra joints present in the wings.  In terms of articulation scheme, he generally follows the usual McFarlane set-up, for better or for worse.  The notable change-up is to the hips, which don’t have the same full range of mobility that we usually see, being far more restricted to just forward and back.  Given the long jacket, it’s not a huge surprise or hinderance, but it’s still noteworthy.  This Batman Who Laughs is based on the character’s later appearance after he steals the wings from the Sky Tyrant, the Dark Knights Metal version of Hawkman.  To give McFarlane some credit, as far as I can tell, there are no shared parts between the two versions of BWL they released.  There are certainly similarities, but this sculpt just generally improves upon the shared elements between the two, making for a generally more well put-together offering, at least to my eyes.  The crazier, more exaggerated facial expression works a lot better for the character, especially in toy-form, and the texture work on the outfit is pretty solid.  McFarlane certainly does torn-up and gritty well.  I also feel that the more posed hands work a lot better for the character than the more generic gripping hands of the prior release.  The most obvious change here, of course, are the wings.  They actually work quite nicely, as they’re well-articulated, well-detailed, and not terribly balanced considering.  It would be nice to see such work on a proper Hawkman, but this is McFarlane, so a Batman variant is really the best we can hope for, I suppose.  The paint work on this figure is generally pretty good.  It’s largely rather basic work, but I think that’s for the best, especially after the weirdness surrounding the accent work on the last figure’s mouth.  It just looked odd, so going a little more straight forward here is probably the right call.  The Batman Who Laughs includes a display stand and a collector’s card for the figure proper, as well as the head, shoulder pads, and sword of the Merciless Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Dark Knights Metal really isn’t my sort of thing.  It’s honestly a lot of the stuff I don’t like about DC’s current obsession with Batman and the need to constantly place him above all of the other heroes rolled into one big event.  The Batman Who Laughs himself is a concept that I don’t think is terrible, but like the whole cross-over, I kind of feel like he got played out a lot quicker than he went away, and he just sort of keeps resurfacing.  So, I wasn’t seeking this figure out on my own.  That said, I received this one from Jess’s parents for Christmas, and I can certainly appreciate the thought, the gesture, and ultimately the figure proper.  The story that spawned him may not be my main thing, but the figure did turn out pretty nicely, so I can’t really knock it.

#3002: Ultraseven

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

ULTRASEVEN

ULTRAMAN (MEGO)

Welcome to Day 2 of the Post-Christmas reviews.  Last year, I finally got back into the swing of some Ultraman reviewing after a bit of a gap, thanks to the help of an Ultraseven figure I got as a Christmas gift.  This year, I guess I’m just gonna do the same thing.  Fitting.  Of course, I’m kind of looking at opposite sides of the product spectrum here, with last year’s Ultraseven being a high-end figure from Bandai, and this one being, well, a Mego, which isn’t exactly high-end.  No less in my realm of interest, of course!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraseven is part of Mego’s Sci-Fi line, released as one of their mixed assortments of figures.  He’s the second figure under the Ultraman branding, following up on the standard Ultraman from earlier in the line.  Like the rest of the line, the distribution model is via a mix of specialty stores and select Target locations.  The figure stands just over 8 inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation.  Ultraseven is built on the upgraded Type 2 male body.  It’s the standard, and it’s got a nice medium, average build, which suits most characters, Ultraseven included.  Ultraseven gets a new head and hands to complete his look.  They’re pretty solid pieces; certainly a bit on the goofy side, but then classic Ultraseven frequently falls into that category anyway.  The paint work is confined to the head, and it’s pretty basic, but also does what it needs to well.  Application is all pretty clean, and the important details are all there.  Ultraseven’s outfit includes a bodysuit and a pair of short boots.  They do a respectable job of capturing the look of the character from the show, while still fitting the main Mego aesthetic.  I do really like how the printed silver looks on the suit.  Ultraseven includes no accessories, although that’s not a huge shift for the line, especially given their price point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on the basic Ultraman, so I hadn’t really put much of an effort into getting this one.  Not that I didn’t want him, of course, but I just wasn’t really expecting to find him either.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to worry about that, since Max had my back on this one, and picked this guy up for me as a Christmas gift.  I guess it continues the tradition of getting Ultrasevens from the people I care about for Christmas.  It’s really not a bad tradition, all things considered.  And this is really a fun figure, too.  So, I call it a general win.