Tag Archives: Christmas Reviews

#1173: Sidon Ithano & First Mate Quiggold

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

SIDON ITHANO & FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Would you look at that?  I’ve made it through a whole week of post-Christmas reviews!  Go me!  For day 7, I’m going back to that galaxy far, far away.  You know what the backbone of Star Wars merchandise is?  You might think it’s Darth Vader, or Stormtroopers, or even R2-D2 or C-3PO, but you’d be wrong.  No, the actual backbone, the thing that’s kept the franchise afloat with a near endless supply of tiny action figures is all of the split-second appearance, no-name characters peppered in to fill out the backgrounds of scenes.  Need to fill a slot in a wave of figures?  Here’s Willrow Hood!  Worried the boxed set doesn’t offer anything new?  How about Snaggletooth?  Need something unique?  Elephant Mon, anyone? Heck, people will spend good money to get a complete set of the bounty hunters from Empire, despite the fact that most of them only appear in that one single scene and only one of them gets even a single line of dialogue.  That’s commitment from the fanbase right there.  Of course, as the prices of oil have risen, these obscure figures are getting fewer and further between.  Fortunately, The Force Awakens provided a great new selection of background characters, which Hasbro in turn took advantage of in order to get some fun new action figures.  Two such characters were Sidon Ithano and his first mate Quiggold, who I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ithano and Quiggold were released in the second series of two-packs from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens line.

SIDON ITHANO

sidonianthoquagley3Sidon Ithano is the captain of the Meson Martinet, the ship Finn almost transfers to prior to Rey’s capture by the First Order.  That’s pretty much his whole character (okay, not entirely true; like almost every background Star Wars character, he’s got a whole elaborate backstory, which most people will never know).  He was playable in a side mission in Lego The Force Awakens, which is how I became familiar with him.  His figure stands about 4 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt is unique to this figure, and is quite impressively rendered.  The helmet is nice and clean, with lots of really sharp lines, and his clothing sports some incredible texture work, which really makes him stand out. Easily one of the best sculpts from the smaller Force Awakens line.  Ithano’s paintwork is fairly straight forward.  The application is pretty clean, and the basic colors seem to match up pretty well with what’s seen in the movie.  The color scheme is also rather on the unique side of things, which adds a nice bright splash of color to the shelf.  Ithano is packed with a blaster rifle…for all you blaster rifle needs?  It’s a cool design, I guess.

FIRST MATE QUIGGOLD

sidonianthoquagley2What good is a captain without his trusty first mate?  I don’t know.  I guess it depends on the quality of the captain, and, by extension, the quality of the first mate.  So, there’s like, a lot of potential variance there I suppose.  Anyway, here’s Quiggold, who’s a guy who gets just as much screen time as the last guy.  He’s also playable in the same Lego game level, where he gets a cool mini gun thing.  So that’s fun.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  Where Ithano is tall and lean, Quiggold is short and squat.  The figure’s sculpt does a pretty solid job of conveying his design from the movie.  He looks suitably like a big puppet (which is pretty much what he was) and the details on his skin and clothing are quite nicely rendered.  I wouldn’t mind if he had some more texturing here and there, but he’s certainly reasonable for the scale.  The paintwork on Quiggold is okay, if maybe ever so slightly imbalanced.  There’s some really great work on the face, which makes his skin look quite lifelike.  I just sort of wish the details continued onto the other exposed parts of his skin, but he’s not awful.  Quiggold includes a large missile launcher version of his big gun, which is…well, it’s not as far off as most Hasbro missile launchers, so I guess it’s got that going for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I received these two as a Christmas present from my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  We’ve been playing through Lego The Force Awakens together, and I quite enjoyed the Crimson Corsair level.  She happened to spy these figures at retail and grabbed them for me.  I very much enjoy this pair of figures.  They’re solid renditions of solid character designs, and you can’t really ask for much more.

#1172: I Am Elemental – Wisdom Warriors

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MASTERY, OBLIVION, EXPLORATION, CREATIVITY, CURIOSITY, INGENUITY, & LOGIC

I AM ELEMENTAL

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For my sixth post-Christmas review, I’m going back to one of my favorite projects, I Am Elemental.  Frequent readers are likely familiar with the line.  It was the project that got me into backing action figure-based Kickstarters, and it’s been something I’ve supported every way I could since it was launched.  The concept behind the line started as action figures for girls, but has morphed into something very much aimed at collectors of all genders and ages.  They’re a throwback to when toys were designed specifically with being cool toys in mind.  I loved the first series of figures, and I loved the deluxe follow up figure even more.  The second series of figures just started hitting towards the end of 2016, and I’ll be taking a look at those today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

iaeww2The seven figures I’m looking at today make up the second series of the I Am Elemental line.  Each series of the line is based around one quality (with the individual characters being the emotions or “elements” that make up that quality), and inspired by a classical heroine who embodied that quality.  The first series was Courage and patterned after Joan of Arc.  The second series has been dubbed the “Wisdom Warriors” iaeww13and are inspired by Hypatia, Greek mathematician and philosopher.

As with the first series of figures, these gals were available a few different ways.  I got the Lunchbox set (which is the same release style I went with for the first series), which includes the seven Wisdom Warriors, an activity book, one carrying back, and a bracelet for linking all seven shields, all packed in a metal lunchbox/carrying case.

CREATIVITY

iaeww6“Creativity uses her imagination  to dream up original ideas.  She has the ability to bring any object she can imagine into being.”  Like Bravery before her, Creativity takes this set’s spot as the most classically heroic looking of the bunch.  She’s also got a power set that sounds akin to something like the Green Lanterns from DC, which is a pretty fun concept.  This figure gives us our first taste of the new base body for the Wisdom Warriors.  She stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 15 points of articulation.  The base body clearly has common ancestry with the Courage Series body, but takes things a slightly different direction.  All of the figures in this set share the same torso, upper arms, and upper legs.  They’re good piece.  In particular, I love the Grecian design to the torso’s armor detailing, especially on the straps.  I also like the addition of the belt to the design; it helps to further differentiate these figures from he Courage Series.  Creativity also gets a set of lower arms with bracers (shared with Logic) and lower legs with mid-length boots (share with Mastery and Oblivion), as well as a helmeted head all her own.  I really love the head sculpt; the helmet just really makes her stand out amongst the others, and the dynamic motion on her braid makes posing her a lot of fun. The paint apps on the last series of figures were solid, but they’ve really stepped up their game this time around, and added a lot more variation.  While Creativity’s main color is a nice blue (used for her skin), she also gets a secondary theme of a dark red, which goes well with the blues.  Creativity includes a little construct that looks like a crossbow, a shield with her symbol on it, a character card, and a display stand.  I’d just like to take a moment here to point out how awesome it is to get stands this time around; not enough figures get them, and stands are always a godsend to a collector with tons of action figures that are always falling.

LOGIC

iaeww7“Logic uses reason to make connections between facts and draw conclusions.  She has the ability to always distinguish what is true from what is false.”  After the more classical design of Creativity, Logic is a step into slightly more modern or even futuristic themes.  She uses a lot of the same pieces as Creativity, though she gets lower legs with taller boots, as well as an add-on piece for her rather elaborate shoulder armor.  She also gets a new head sculpt with sort of a bowl cut going on.  Given it’s prominence on Vulcans and the like, one can only assume that it’s simply the most logical hairstyle.  I have to say, the hairstyle and the color scheme on this figure give off a vibe of Raven from Teen Titans.  Raven and Vulcans are certainly good call backs for this particular emotion, so good choices of inspiration indeed!  I don’t know if it’s just these particular colors, but the paint work on Logic feels a lot sharper than some of the others in the series, which is definitely saying something.  Logic includes her shield, character card, and clear display stand.

INGENUITY

iaeww8“Ingenuity is an inventive and resourceful problem solver.  She has the ability to change herself to mimic her environment.” Ingenuity almost feels like this set’s counterpart to Industry’s quirky tech person, albeit with a more “environmental” twist.  She’s got less of a heroic thing going on, and more of an explorer thing.  She trades in the more expansive boots of the last two figures for a more sensible pair of hiking boots (shared with Exploration), and has a rather humble pair of small wristbands (shared with Oblivion).  I definitely get an aquatic vibe from her.  Her color scheme is very aquatic (lots of blue-greens), and she includes a little octopus-tentacle construct, and even the dreads in her hair sort of match the tentacle thematically.  Maybe she mimics aquatic environments?

CURIOUSITY

iaeww10“Curiosity has the desire to learn and know everything.  She has the ability to communicate in any language” Ah, so we’ve got a Cypher thing going on here.  Obscure X-Men references by me aside, the communication angle is fun, and fits right in with the curiosity concept.  It also places emphasis on communication, which is something we desperately need more of these days, so it’s a good message to send.  At first, I though Curiosity’s design was a bit hodgepodge, but then it hit me: of course it is!  She’s curious about everything, so why would she stick with one common design element?  The kama is a neat design element, and helps set her apart from the others (and is also a nice thematic replacement for the usual superhero cape).  She’s kind of a figure that I was uncertain about at first, but the more time I spend messing with her, the more I like her.

EXPLORATION

iaeww3“Exploration investigates and takes voyages of discovery.  She has the ability to transport herself anywhere in the world.”  I really dig Exploration’s design.  It takes the design of Honesty (my personal favorite of the Courage Series figures) and sort of adds a Da Vinci/Steampunk sort of bend to it, which works very well.  Clearly someone on the IAE design staff likes wings.  I can’t fault them there; wings are cool, and I really like how they made them look like an invention, thereby fitting in more with the Wisdom theme.  I also dig the goggles, because, like wings, goggles are cool.  Exploration was one of the earliest designs we saw (her silhouette was teased before toy fair) and I’ve been looking forward to the final product since then.  She certainly didn’t disappoint!

MASTERY

iaeww4“Mastery trains to become an expert in everything she does.  She has the ability to create physical duplicates of herself.” Okay, so we’ve got Cyper AND Multiple Man!  Alright!  …No more X-Men references?  Alright.  Mastery is another one of my favorite designs from this set.  She’s got a lot going on that just really works for her.  Hers is probably the simplest of the new designs, resulting in her possessing a very bold look about her, and bringing her the closest to the Courage Series figures in terms of feel.  In particular, I really love the scarf piece, which, like Creativity’s braids, has a great dynamic flow to it, and just pulls the whole figure together.  I also really like the color scheme here; it’s different, but the bright green and blue give her a very definite “pop.”

OBLIVION

iaeww5“Oblivion wears blinders and has her head in the clouds.  She has the ability to erase the minds of others.” Following Fear’s lead, Oblivion is another “Dark Matter” element, sort of an anti-heroic member of the team.  Hands down, Oblivion is my favorite of the new designs.  I just love the retro-sci-fi feel of her helmet piece, right down to the fin on top of it all.  She’s really sleek and it looks oh so cool.  The cloud back pack is also an interesting way of interpreting the “head in the clouds” comment from her card, I guess.  Not totally sure what it’s supposed to be in reality, but I don’t really care, because, as noted, I just really like this design.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was given to me for Christmas by my always so supportive parents.  I’d been eyeing these guys up pretty much since they were announced, so I was quite happy to open them up Christmas morning.  When you start off as strong as IAE, there’s always some worry about keeping up the quality, and I myself was a little worried about that.  However, I’m happy to say they did just that, and produced a set of figures that is a fantastic counterpart piece for the first series, both in terms of actual figure quality, and in terms of creativity and fun.  I can’t wait to see what the Wisdom power figure looks like!

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#1171: Falcon

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

MARVEL’S FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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It’s day 5 of the post-Christmas reviews, and today I’m jumping back to my biggest collecting passion, super heroes, specifically of the Marvel variety.

Back when Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released, I was quite put out by Falcon’s absence from Hasbro’s small selection of Marvel Legends based on the film.  I picked up the smaller 3 3/4-inch figure and DST’s larger Marvel Select figure, but neither of them quite filled that Marvel Legends void.  Fortunately, Falcon reappeared in last summer’s Civil War, which finally netted him a Legends figure, albeit one that was…slightly difficult to acquire.  But I have it now, and that’s what matters! Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

falconcw2Falcon was released as a Walmart-exclusive entry in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Series.  He started hitting over the summer, but as with just about any Walmart exclusive item, there’s a great level of variance in terms of when they start showing up most places.  When he was initially announced, Falcon was paired with Winter Soldier, presumably in a two-pack, but it when they actually showed up in stores, they were single-packed, just like a normal Legends release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  He’s based on Falcon’s slightly refined Civil War design.  More or less. The actual costume details are a pretty decent match for the film design, with one or two slightly off details.  The biggest issue is the shoulder pads, which should stand out a bit more, but that’s rather minor.  Really, the inaccuracies come into play with the body underneath of the costume.  Anthony Mackie is a pretty bulked up guy, but this figure is rather on the scrawny side, especially when it comes to the arms.  Those things are tiny!  The legs are also rather shapeless, which looks a little odd.  All-in-all, he really could do with more classically “heroic” proportions.  As it stands, he seems less than intimidating.  On the plus side, the head sculpt sports a very nice Anthony Mackie likeness.  It’s easily the best Mackie likeness of the figures I’ve looked at so far.  Falcon’s paintwork is okay, though definitely on the more basic side of things.  The basic colors are all good matches for the source material and what’s there is pretty clean.  That being said, he’s missing some of the smaller details (such as the gold trim on his goggles), and lacks any sort of accent work, which makes him look a little unfinished.  The grey section in particular just feels rather doughy without any work to bring out the sculpted textures.  I’m also a little let down by the opaque goggles, but after getting them three times prior, they aren’t that much of a surprise.  At least they look good.  Falcon includes his flight pack and removable wings, as well as his sidekick Redwing in both collapsed and expanded forms.  The wings aren’t posable, but they have a slight curve, which makes them a bit more appealing than the Select version.  Redwing is cool, but a flight stand would have been invaluable for him.  What’s most notable about the accessories is what’s not there.  Once again, he’s missing his two guns, despite his hands clearly being sculpted to hold them.  I have to wonder if it’s a weird licensing thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I heard this guy was hitting, I searched every Walmart I could, with no luck.  Store after store had just Winter Soldier, with no Falcon in sight.  I eventually gave up looking, but not before lamenting to Super Awesome Girlfriend how bummed I was to be missing out on Falcon.  On Christmas morning, she eagerly handed me a gift, which I quickly IDed as being a Legends figure based on the packaging shape (it’s hard to pull one over on me; I have these things memorized), but I just assumed it was any of the numerous other, easier to find Legends I didn’t yet have.  But nope, it was this guy.  As it turns out, when I mentioned being bummed, she immediately started looking for him online, and found one for a reasonable price.  Yay!  Now I have him!  Could he be better?  Most assuredly.  Compared to the likes of Scarlet Witch and Black Panther, he feels a bit rudimentary.  Am I still happy to have him?  Without a doubt.  There may be better Falcon figures in the future, but until then, you could do a lot worse than this guy.

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#1170: Trunks

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

TRUNKS (PREMIUM COLOR)

S.H. FIGUARTS

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For day 4 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’ll be taking at something slightly different. Not totally different, since it’s Dragon Ball Z, from which I’ve already looked at three figures from that ‘verse.  It’s just been over a year and a half since my last one of those. There’s a definite theme to my DBZ collection, with all of them being key players in “The Android Saga,” which happens to be the one arc of the series I really followed from start to finish.  Today’s figure, Trunks, follows that theme, being one of two major protagonists introduced during said arc.  Let’s take a look at him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

trunks2Trunks was initially released as one of the earlier figures in the DBZ-subset of S.H. Figuarts.  He proved to be one of the most popular figures in the line (not surprising, since Trunks has long had a sizable fanbase), giving quite the hefty aftermarket value.  To make it a bit easier for fans to get some of the earlier, more prominent characters, Bandai’s started putting out “Premium Color” variants, which  tweak the paint jobs of the figures ever so slightly, but otherwise serve as pretty straight re-releases.  The re-released Trunks hit early last year.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 43 points of articulation.  Trunks went through a number of different looks on the show, but this figure is based on Future Trunks’ initial appearance during “The Android Saga,” which is of course prior to the appearance of Present Trunks, who started off as a baby…it’s a little confusing, so don’t try to think about it too much.  The trunks3point is, this is Trunks’ original look, and in many ways his best look.  It’s certainly the most definitive.  His sculpt does an admirable job of translating his animated appearance into three-dimensions.  It’s not a pitch-perfect recreation of him, but seems more like an idealized sort of “what he would look like if the animation could always be totally consistent” sort of version of him.  As an animated figure, he’s a lot more stylized and has less fine detail work than, say, one of the Super Sentai figures.  That being said, there’s still a lot of really sharp detailing to be found on this guy, especially on the hair and jacket.  In his default, packaged form, Trunks is sporting his non-Super-Saiyan hair and a basic face with an intense stare, which are definitely solid pieces, and a very good choice for the default version of the character.  He also includes a second non-Super-Saiyan face, this time sporting trunks5gritted teeth, which can be swapped out in a similar fashion to what was seen with Androids 17 and 18.  There’s also a separate Super-Saiyan head, which has three faces of its own (intense stare, gritted teeth, and screaming).  All of them swap out with relative ease (though they’re a little difficult to get popped in place the first time; be careful of all those points on the hair, they really hurt!).  Trunks’ paintwork is all pretty solid.  The earlier version had more variation in some of the colors, but I find this one is a bit sharper overall, which just looks all around better to me.  The colors look to match up pretty well to his onscreen counterpart, and fit well with the other figures I’ve gotten.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head and faces, Trunks also includes five pairs of hands (fists, gripping, flat, wide-spread, and gesturing), his sword, a scabbard to go with it, and a “dummy” hilt to go in the scabbard so that you don’t risk breaking the sword.  The extras are all a lot of fun, though my figure did wind up with a broken peg where the scabbard plugs into the shoulder.  Make sure to be extra careful when removing that!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost bought Trunks’ original release way back when he was still new.  I was in NYC with my family, and Midtown Comics had one.  However, at that point I had yet to get into the import game and just couldn’t conceive of paying a whole $35 for one figure.  How foolish I was.  Obviously, by the time I picked up the Androids, Trunks was going for a lot more than $35, so I wasn’t getting him then.  I knew he was getting a re-issue, but somehow its actual release slipped under my radar.  I ended up spotting him at Barnes & Noble around Thanksgiving while out with my family.  I offhandedly mentioned wanting the figure but not having the money and thought nothing more of it.  A few weeks later, I went back to the store to buy a gift for my brother and Trunks was gone, and I just figured he wasn’t meant for me.  Cut to Christmas morning, opening my first gift from my parents, and there this guy is.  As it turns out, my mom took note of my interest, and while I was grabbing something from the B&N cafe, she went back and purchased this guy.  She’s a crafty one!  I’ve quite pleased with this guy, and happy to have finally gotten him.  Of course, now my resolve to hold off on getting more of these guys is being worn down…

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#1169: Akazonae Royal Guard

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

AKAZONAE ROYAL GUARD

MEISHO MOVIE REALIZATION (BANDAI)

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Alright, we got the Aliens, we got the Super Heroes, so for Day 3 of the post-Christmas reviews, why not look at another cornerstone of my collecting habits: Star Wars!  In fact, this one is a double whammy, being both Star Wars *and* a high-end Bandia figure.  Huzzah!  The main Star Wars toy license for North America is held by Hasbro, who are pretty big into exclusivity and no-competition deals.  Because of this, no other toy company can release Star Wars figures under a certain price in the US, which is why the Star Wars Pop!s are bobble heads, and the Star Wars Sideshow figures carry a hefty price tag.  There are a few workarounds, however.  Bandai’s recently been putting out a line of concept figures, envisioning certain Star Wars characters as they might appear were they in a Samurai film, rather than a Sci-Fi one.  They’ve done a handful of the various Imperial Troopers and today I’ll be looking at my personal favorite, the Akazanae Royal Guard.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

royalguardmr2The Akazonae Royal Guard was released as the sixth figure in Bandai’s Star Wars: Meisho Movie Realization line.  He was originally slated as the fourth release, but was pushed back to follow variants of the Trooper and Darth Vader, and he ultimately hit just this past summer.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall (which was actually a bit larger than I was expecting, but I’m certainly not complaining) and he has 43 points of articulation.  The articulation has a bit of a learning curve to it.  It seems rather stiff at first, but once you get the hang of it, he’s actually a lot of fun to mess around with.  His sculpt is mostly unique to him, but it does appear that he shares at least some parts of the legs with the Storm and Sandtroopers, which is certainly reasonable from a consistency standpoint.  As far as the sculpt goes, he’s a bit tricky to review, what with not actually being based on any specific design.  With that being said, the sculpt is definitely a top-notch piece of work, and it does a good job of combining the Royal Guard’s film design with actual, functioning Samurai armor.  He’s a touch more ornate than previous figures (barring maybe Darth Vader), as he well should be, being an elite royal guard and all.  There’s lots of fun, little details sprinkled throughout the figure, and he incorporates some really nice layer work.  Also, I appreciate that, when configured certain ways, this figure can almost pass for just a slightly more armored version of the standard Royal Guard.  Were he not just a bit larger-royalguardmr3scaled, I’d probably just throw this guy in with my Black Series figures.  You might think that the paint work on this guy might be lax, being pretty much entirely red and all, but he’s actually got some pretty incredible work.  The actual hard armored parts have a nice, semi-gloss sheen, which contrasts nicely with the duller finish of the rest of the figure.  He’s also got a few different shades of red, which keep the whole look interesting.  He’s also got some really great accent work; there’s a black wash on a lot of the armored pieces, giving it a nice worn-in sort of feel.  There’s also some blue/indigo piping on a few sections, which adds a nice bit of flair, and really helps to break up all the red.  All around, this is just a very vibrant, very bold figure, especially when compared to the other figures in the line.  The Royal Guard includes a Katana, a scabbard, a large staff, three pairs of hands (in fists, loose, and tight grip), and a tabard that can be swapped out with the insignia on the front of his armor, thus creating a more classic Royal Guard look.  It’s a fun assortment of pieces, and provides a number of cool different looks.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Royal Guard was a Christmas present from my boy Tim.  I’d actually checked the figure out a few times, and it was the first of the Movie Realization figures to really speak to me.  Tim and I had a few conversations about the figure back when it was solicited, and it seems he took note of that.  I really like this figure, a whole lot.  There’s just so much about the design that really works, and I definitely feel he’s the strongest of the Movie Realization line, despite being one of the more minor designs presented therein.  There’s just so many fun ways to pose him and have him interact with others, and now I’m seriously considering picking up one or two of the others in the line at some point (a very dangerous venture indeed).  Thanks, Tim…

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#1168: Wonder Twins

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

ZAN, JAYNA, & GLEEK

SUPER FRIENDS (FIGURES TOY COMPANY)

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Wonder Twin powers activate!  Form of: an action figure review!

Hey guys, so here we are on day two of the post-Christmas reviews.  As I noted in the intro, this review is based around the Wonder Twins, that wacky duo (and their pet space monkey) who were sort of haphazardly shoved into the Justice League membership during the second season of Super Friends.  Of all the Super Friends-original characters, the Wonder Twins are probably the most enduring, likely due to being the only ones who didn’t feel like a pretty direct rip-off of something else (okay, yes, they were just Wendy & Marvin with powers, but lets not talk about that too much).  The duo were originally slated to get action figures during Kenner’s DC Super Powers line in the ‘80s, but the line ended before they could get past the drawing board.  They did eventually make it into plastic form as an exclusive two-pack in Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line, but, well, that was Mattel, so you can probably guess the whole thing didn’t go particularly smoothly.  Most recently, they’ve gotten another shot at action figure glory courtesy of Figures Toy Company.  I’ll be taking a look at those figures today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Zan, Jayna, and their pet monkey Gleek were released as a special three-pack in Figures Toy Company’s Super Friends line.  The line as a whole is patterned after Mego’s figures from the ‘70s, but with some of the more specific design elements coming straight from the Super Friends model sheets.

ZAN

wondertwins2Form of: Zan!  The male Wonder Twin is built on the standard Mego Type 2 style body.  Unlike the Dr. Mego bodies used by DST and Biff Bang Pow or the Big Jim-styled bodies from Mattel, Figures Toy Company’s version of the body doesn’t have any changes or improvements; the body is pretty much the same quality as the old ‘70s bodies.  This is okay from a consistency standpoint (since they’ll fit right in with the vintage figures), but means that the quality is that of a $4 action figure from the mid-70s, rather than a $20-30 figure from the last year, which can be slightly frustrating.  Moving past that, Zan stands about 8 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  As far as the body sculpt, he’s got a unique head and hands.  The head is a pretty decent summation of his animated design (certainly closer than Mattel’s attempt), and also fits pretty well with existing Mego figures.  The hands are a bit of a departure from the usual Mego style; they’re certainly nicely enough in terms of sculpt, but they’re made of a rather rubbery material, which makes they pop off the wrists at the slightest touch, and are rather difficult to get back in place.  In terms of costume, Zan has a jumpsuit with a pleather collar, a belt, and a pair of boots. The pieces mostly fit well enough; the collar could probably be a little better shaping wise, but it fits the style, and you can mess with it to make it look a little more presentable.  The one weird thing about the costume is the belt.  Clearly, they wanted Zan, Jayna, and Gleek to all be able to wear the same belt, so it’s sort of this one-size-fits-all thing, resulting in all three belts having an extra length running from the back, almost like an oddly placed tail.  One last thing: I feel I should note that the colors of the boots, gloves, and belt do all match in person, despite what it may look like on the photos.

JAYNA

wondertwins3Shape of: Jayna!  Jayne here is built on the standard female body, which seems rather oddly shaped if I’m honest.  It’s not awful, but not quite as solid as the male version.  It seems Jayna’s body is just a bit to tightly strung in the middle as well, which permanently leaves her with this sort of hunch.  It’s a bit odd.  Jayne is assembled pretty much exactly the same as her brother; sculpted head and hands, cloth costume with pleather collar, and rubber belt and boots.  The head is another pretty good piece, and looks well enough like Jayna.  The hands seem to be a slight improvement over Zan’s, as I had no issues with them falling off on her.  The issue with the belt, however, is even more noticeable with Jayna, thanks to her even smaller waist.  Her costume also seems to bunch up a bit more than Zan’s, but that’s an issue prevalent with Mego figures in general.  Not a whole lot more to say here, since she’s so similar to her brother.

GLEEK

wondertwins4Gleek doesn’t have a part of the catchphrase, so no witty intro there.  He does break from the trend in this set by not using one of the Mego bodies; instead, he gets an all-new body, designed to fit his more simian appearance.  The figure stands about 3 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation and a bendable tail.  Glenn’s sculpt is pretty solid, and actually does a very good job of capturing his design from he show.  The head in particular is quite spot on.  His little booties are sculpted onto the body, but the rest of the costume is tailored, so as to match with the twins.  He’s got a jumpsuit, a cape, and the same belt as the other two (albeit slightly differently colored).  The costume is on the baggy side, but it doesn’t look terrible. On the plus side, the cape is good for hiding the excess length of belt, thus eliminating the main problem with the other two figures’ costumes.  None of the figures in this set include any extras, but I feel Gleek is hit the hardest by this, since the bucket he always had on hand to carry Zan in his water form seems like a pretty obvious missing piece.  Guess I’ll have to find my own.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, these guys were a Christmas gift from my Grandmother.  It’s actually quite fitting, since the whole reason I’m familiar with Megos at all is because I played with my dad’s old figures when I would stay at her house, frequently watching taped episodes of cartoons such as Super Friends.  Interestingly enough, while a lot of people hated the Wonder Twins, I actually always liked them and was quite frustrated by how the Mattel versions were handled.  I was quite happy to actually get the duo and Gleek in figure form.  I won’t lie, these figures aren’t without their sets of issues.  If you aren’t firmly a Mego fan, these won’t be for you.  That being said, this is a very prominent example of the whole being better than the sum of its parts.  These figures didn’t disappoint me.

#1167: Ripley, Power Loader, & Alien Queen

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

RIPLEY, POWER LOADER, & ALIEN QUEEN

ALIENS REACTION FIGURES (FUNKO)

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Alright, here we are!  It’s a new year and a new round of post-Christmas gift reviews!  As is tradition, the first review of this round is an Aliens review.  Heck, it’s even an Alien Queen review!  This marks three in a row.  Why do I have so many Alien Queens?  It’s like I like the movie a lot or something….

You may have thought I’d looked at every possible version of the Alien Queen and the Power Loader available, but you’d be wrong.  No, there’s always another out there somewhere.  This time around, it comes from Funko and their line of ReAction Figures.  Let’s see how this set turned out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ripley, the Power Loader, and the Queen were released as a three-pack, and are the first figures from the Aliens ReAction Figures line.  No follow-up figures have been announced as of yet, but here’s hoping that’ll change.

RIPLEY

ripleyloaderqueen3You can’t do an Aliens line without Ellen Ripley.  Okay, that’s not true.  Several lines have been done without Ripley.  But they weren’t any good, so I call party foul on them.  Funko actually got us our first Ripley figure in a good long while when the released the ReAction version from the first movie, so it’s not a huge shock that their doing her second movie look as well.  Ripley is seen here in her “rescue” look that she sports for the last 45 minutes or so of the movie, which is easily her most distinctive look from the film and is the one that matches up with the Loader as well.  This figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation.  She’s an all-new sculpt and it’s definitely one of the strongest sculpts I’ve seen from this line.  In fact, I think she may be my favorite.  She captures the Kenner style pretty well, but also gets all of the important details from the movie down.  She also doesn’t suffer from the overly straight arms and flattened chest that plagued so many of the ReAction items.  The likeness on the head isn’t the spitting image of Sigourney Weaver, but it’s close enough to the general look of the character that you won’t be left scratching your head wondering who it’s supposed to be.  Similar to the sculpt, the paint on this particular figure is pretty good for this line.  It’s pretty basic color work for the most part, but it’s all pretty clean, and, once again, it does a nice job of aping the style that they’re going for.  Ripley doesn’t include any extras, but that’s mostly because this set also includes…

POWER LOADER

…the Power Loader.  It’s marked as being a “figure” on the package, but that seems like an iffy definition at best, if I’m honest.  That being said, it’s made of plastic, vaguely humanoid, and features a whole 4 points of articulation, so I guess that’s as good as anything.  This Power Loader is notably a bit more rigid than prior versions, largely due to being tailored to fit a Kenner-style figure inside.  It also does seem a bit skinnier than it usually is depicted.  That being said, the sculpt is actually pretty decent.  Obviously, this isn’t going to be competing with the NECA version for accuracy, but it’s certainly more accurate than the original Kenner Loader, and at least on par with the Minimates version.  I’ve looked at a lot of Loaders in the last year or so, so it’s gonna be hard to “wow” me, but this one’s certainly not bad.  The paintwork is pretty much what you’d expect.  Once again, closer to the Minimate version that the NECA one, but all the important colors are there, which I suppose is the most important piece.

ALIEN QUEEN

ripleyloaderqueen2You know how I mentioned reviewing a lot of Power Loaders?  Well, the same holds true for the Alien Queen.  In fact, a bit more so.  Here’s another one, I guess.  This particular Alien Queen stands about 5 inches or so tall and is also about 5 inches wide, and she’s got 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt on this figure is…different.  It’s got the silhouette of the Queen down pretty well, but beyond that it takes more than a few liberties.  This kind of looks like the Queen if you squint, I guess.  It’s not bad, I suppose.  It looks somewhat similar to the basic Alien’s sculpt, so I guess there’s at least some consistency.  That being said, I don’t know that I’m getting the Kenner feel from this figure.  She just feels like she’s from another line entirely when compared to the included Ripley.  Not bad, but different enough to be noticeable.  The paint on the Queen is decent, but nothing particularly spectacular.  She’s mostly done up in this dark metallic grey.  Being somewhat nitpicky, the grey feels off for the Queen, who tends to be presented in bluish hues.  I feel I’d prefer the figure that way, but I don’t know.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was given to me for Christmas by my Grandmother, who does her very best to support my collecting habits.  I knew of this set’s existence prior to getting it, but hadn’t gotten around to picking it up, since I’ve got no shortage of Power Loaders and Alien Queens.  The Queen is the definite weak link here.  NECA’s incredibly amazing version has probably colored my opinion there, but it also doesn’t help that the *actual* Kenner Queen is far more exciting figure.  However, this set is totally worth it for the Loader and Ripley alone.  Nothing particularly new or ground breaking, but just a solid, fun toy.  Now, here’s hoping Funko gets around to some of the other cast members!

#0818: Batman

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

BATMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS & MONSTERS

BatmanJLGM1

And here we are with day 17 of the Post-Christmas reviews, the final day of this round (I’ve still got a couple more gift-based reviews, but I’ll cover them later). I’ll be going back to the DC animated branch one more time, but it’s not the same universe as before. This time, the figure comes from Bruce Timm’s newest animated venture, Justice League: Gods & Monsters, launched by a movie of the same name back in mid-2015. In this new universe, the Justice League are just the main trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. DC Collectibles has produced figures of the three, and today I’ll be looking at Batman, who in this universe is not Bruce Wayne, but a vampiric Kirk Langstrom*.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BatmanJLGM2Batman is figure 01 in DCC’s Justice League: Gods & Monsters line. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Like a lot of DCC’s more recent offerings, he would really benefit from some lateral movement on his legs, but other than that, the movement is pretty decent. The figure is, of course, based on his animated design from the film. Batman’s look is a nice throwback to the classic sci-if pulp hero look; it’s somewhat basic, but it definitely has a bold look. I had actually expected for Batman to built similarly to Batman: Animated’s Nightwing, but he’s actually a fair bit bigger than Nightwing. That doesn’t bug me too much, since I actually felt Nightwing was generally too small. The sculpt does a good job of translating his design into three dimensions. It’s not perfect, and the torso in particular feels a little flat, but the overall quality is pretty great. The head is a good match for the film, but the long ears, while cool, are susceptible to warping in the packaging, which has left my Batman with one slightly droopy ear. Batman’s paintwork is fairly straightforward. Like the overall design, his color scheme is BatmanJLGM3fairly basic; it’s just black and off-white, with some red thrown in for good measure. The overall application is pretty good; some of the edges are a little fuzzy, and there’s some bleed over here and there, but it’s mostly pretty clean. Batman is packed with an extra unmasked head, two pairs of hands (in fists and… some sort of weird, pseudo-grip sort of pose?), and a display stand with his control art on it. He’s a bit on the light side when compared to other animated releases, but it’s a decent enough selection, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batman was given to me by my oh-so-awesome parents. He wasn’t actually among the presents I opened Christmas morning, as he hadn’t quite arrived yet, but he got here just a few days after. I was pretty happy to get him, as Batman was my favorite of the three designs (if perhaps not my favorite of the three characters after seeing the film). The figure does a pretty admirable job of translating him to figure form, and he fits in nicely with my Batman: Animated figures. I don’t know that he’s quite convinced me to pick up the rest of the set, but I could definitely see myself tracking down a Wonder Woman at some point.

*For those of you who don’t know, in the mainstream universe, Kirk Langstrom is the Batman villain Man-Bat.

#0817: Malcolm Reynolds

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

MALCOLM REYNOLDS

FIREFLY REACTION! (FUNKO)

MalBlue1

Today is day 16 of the Post-Christmas gift reviews, the penultimate review of this particular sub-set of reviews.  For today’s review, I’ll be looking at a figure from a line I haven’t looked at in a fair bit of time, Funko’s ReAction line. Yes, today I’ll be looking at Captain Malcolm Reynolds, from their Firefly ReAction line. But, wait, didn’t I already review him with the rest of the first series? Yes, I did, but this one’s got a new hat—I mean, this one’s shirt is blue!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MalBlue2Mal is technically part of the first series of Firefly ReAction figures, though he was released a fair bit after the original selection of figures. He was exclusive to “go!”. For those of you who have no clue what that is (like me!), you know those mall kiosks that sell calendars? Yeah, those are owned by go!. Mal was, in fact, a calendar store exclusive. Funko will literally give anyone an exclusive. And, honestly, I can’t really see a problem with that. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. His sculpt is 100% identical to the regular, red-shirted Mal figure, reviewed here. It’s not one of Funko’s stronger sculpts. That said, I certainly wouldn’t want an improved Mal sculpt to be implemented on a weird, out of nowhere exclusive. The key difference here is paint. Instead of red, his shirt is now a light blue. It’s not a signature look for Mal, but it actually is kind of appealing. The application is a bit sloppy, especially at the hairline, but he looks okay as a whole. The other main change to this figure is his included weapon. The regular release had Mal’s signature revolver. In its place, this figure includes a shotgun, which is the same as the one included with Zoe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mal was given to me by my friends Cindy and Lance, who are pretty good at finding me harder-to-get items as gifts. I had no clue this figure even existed until I opened it. It’s not often that I’m surprised like that. It was actually a nice change of pace. He’s not super different from the regular release, but he’s a fun little variant.

MalBlue3

#0816: Batman & Two-Face

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

BATMAN & TWO-FACE

BATMAN (MATTEL)

BatsTwoFaceMatt1

For day 15 of the Post-Christmas reviews, I’ll be taking a step back to a few years, and actually looking at a Mattel product. Weird, right? In 2002, the DC license moved to Mattel from Hasbro (who had inherited it via their buyout of former holder Kenner), marking the first time in over a decade that the license had formally changed hands. It was something of a quick change, resulting in Hasbro being unable to release some of the product they had designed beforehand. When Mattel took over, they ended up making use of some of these already existing designs (which were all Batman-related), releasing them as a quick, one and done line of two-packs, each containing Batman and a supporting player. That wasn’t enough, apparently, as they also occasionally trotted the figures out for re-release over the years, usually single-packed and with wonky color schemes. Today, I’ll be looking at a pair of figures from one of those re-releases.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batman and Two-Face were released in 2008, in a line simply branded Batman. I should specify here that they were both single releases, which I’m just reviewing as a pair here for my own convenience. There was also a Joker figure in the set, which I don’t have.

BATMAN

BatsTwoFaceMatt3First up is Batman. Not just any Batman, though! No, this here is a wacky variant Batman! The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. The sculpt is based on the New Batman Adventures version of Batman. It’s not a terrible recreation of the design, but I don’t think it’s quite as good as the prior Kenner version of the design, and it’s definitely not as good as the recent DCC version. However, it’s still a pretty decent sculpt, and it’s clear which version of Batman this is supposed to be. Plus, it’s got a much more natural pose than the Kenner version, which is a nice change. Wait, didn’t I say this was a wacky variant Batman? Why, yes I did! That all comes from the paint. Instead of the traditional grey for the body, he has this odd orange/silver thing. It’s not based on any particular look or anything, just random orange and silver Batman. How ‘bout that? The paint is decently applied, for what it’s worth, so there’s that. Batman included no accessories, just like all of the other Batmen who used this same exact mold.

TWO-FACE

BatsTwoFaceMatt2So, Batman was a wacky variant, but Two-Face is an actual adapted design, right? Not really, no. But that’s okay! Because toys! Like Batman, this figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. It’s worth noting that this guy feels like he’s just a bit smaller-scaled than Batman, which is especially notable when you compare head sizes. The sculpt is also based on his New Batman Adventures design, and it’s not quite as strong as Batman’s. It’s not terrible, and the body in particular is a pretty decent Timm-style suit sculpt (which is probably why Mattel ended up using a tweaked version of it several times in their JLU line). The head is pretty off, and it has a really obvious mold line running along the chin, which looks pretty bad. The paintwork is kind of interesting. It’s definitely not show-accurate, but it’s also not quite as out there as Batman, since it isn’t all that far-removed from some of his classic color-schemes from the comics. That actual application is reasonable enough. The colors are pretty vibrant, and most of the paint stays in the lines, which is nice. Two-Face also doesn’t include any accessories, but he does have his coin sculpted in his hand, so at least he isn’t totally lacking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Batman and Two-Face were given to me for Christmas by my Super Awesome Girlfriend. And where did she find these 8 year old action figures? Some second hand store? Nope, it was CVS of all places. I was genuinely shocked by that. Neither of them are particularly standout figures, but they kind of a nifty throwback to the wacky variants of old, and I was happy to receive them.