Tag Archives: Christmas Reviews

#2268: Transforming Dick Grayson

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

TRANSFORMING DICK GRAYSON

BATMAN FOREVER (KENNER)

For day four of my Post-Christmas reviews, I’m taking a look at something it’s been…Forever since I’ve reviewed.  Yes, the site may have started with a series of four Batman Forever reviews, but there have been none featured since.  Now, six years later, we return.  Are you feeling it?  The significance?  The shock?  The awe?  Well, you should be, because this whole thing’s a very big deal.  Let’s just revel in all of this for a bit, shall we?

 

Done reveling? Cool.  Let’s review a Robin action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Transforming Dick Grayson was one of the first assortment of Batman Forever figures released to tie-in with the movie in 1995, which was the same assortment that gave us three of the four previously reviewed Forever figures on this site.  It’s worth noting that there was no straight forward standard Robin in this initial assortment; you just had to decide whether you preferred this or Hydro Claw Robin as your go-to annoying Chris O’Donnell Robin figure.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt was unique to him in the initial assortment, but would later get repainted blue and used as Triple-Strike Robin later the same year.  It’s an okay sculpt, being generally pretty faithful to the film design.  He’s noticeably a lot skinnier than Hydro Claw, and for that matter a lot skinnier than Chris O’Donnell was in the role.  It’s not terribly off, and works fine for the more classical Robin proportions, so I can’t knock it too much.  His pose is fairly neutral, apart from the slight bend in the left arm; this was present on Hydro Claw, and it’s also on Street Biker Robin, so maybe that’s just how they assumed Robin would pose in default.  There’s a good chance that character design sheets for the movie may have had him in such a pose, which is further supported by all of the prototypes having a totally different hair style than O’Donnell sported in the film.  Whatever the case, the pose keeps him from looking too stiff, so I can’t fault it.   The figure’s paint delivers a fairly standard set of Robin colors as you might expect, but does have one interesting feature: his Sudden Reveal Mask!  Yes, in order to give Dick his usual mask when transforming him into Robin, you reveal the mask by dipping his head in cold water, and then remove it again by dipping it in warm water. It would probably be a more compelling feature if it wasn’t bound to be just a little bit off in both modes, but it’s nifty enough as is.  To aid in his transformation, Robin also included a cape (which on my figure hadn’t had all of the excess molded parts cut off…see the picture), a chest piece, wrist guards, and boots.  And, of course, he also has Robin’s signature bat-brass-knuckles.  Never leaves home without them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was a Christmas gift from my brother Christian, who was eager to get something that a) I didn’t already have and b) would amuse me.  Apparently, he caught the packaging illustration at the top of this guy’s card and felt that alone was amusing enough to warrant getting this for me.  I can’t argue with him on that; the packaging art on this is a national treasure.  The figure?  He’s okay.  Perhaps not terrible impressive in his own right, but still one of those figures I never had that I always had this morbid desire to own just for the sake of owning him.

#2267: Gorn

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

GORN

STAR TREK (MEGO)

For day three of my Post-Christmas reviews, I’m turning to a license that I don’t often review for this particular segment, Star Trek.  I am at best a moderate Trek fan, so toys and such from the franchise tend to not be the sorts of things I ask for around the holidays.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, but they just don’t usually excite me all that much.  There’s one notable exception, though; one character that I’m always all about.  That’s the Gorn captain.  Appearing in only one episode of the original series (“Arena”), the Gorn is nevertheless my favorite thing in Star Trek, and I’ve got just about all of the action figures of the character there are.  One that I don’t have is the original Mego Gorn.  While the main crew figures were quite faithful to the show, the aliens were a fair bit less so.  Though hardly the worst offering of the assortment, the original Mego Gorn was still pretty far off the mark from his TV-counterpart, being nothing more than the head of Spider-Man foe the Lizard on the body of a Klingon.  It resulted in a rather dopey looking figure.  I still very much want one, but that’s not the point.  The point this time around is centered on the various ReMego stuff from a few years ago, which led to a lot of the Trek figures getting reissued.  The Gorn, however, got a new figure instead, this time more faithful to the show.  And, now that Trek is once again an official Mego license, there’s yet another stab at the Gorn.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Gorn is from the fourth Star Trek assortment under the new Mego heading.  They’re no longer a Target exclusive, nor are they all lumped into one common assortment.  That being said, some of them are still showing up at Target, depending on what those Targets opt to stock in their collectibles section, so your mileage may vary.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation (due to the lower legs being all one solid piece).  The Gorn is built on the Type-2 male body and sports a non-standard head and lower legs, both of which are re-used on this figure from the DST Mego-style Gorn from 2010.  Given they were designed by the same team that is working on the current Mego’s, that’s really not much of a surprise.  They’re a far more accurate recreation of the show design than the classic Mego, while still ever so slightly tweaking the designs to make them work with the rest of the line.  Unlike the DST version, which had a much brighter palette, this figure’s color scheme is far more in line with the actual colors on the show, making for a more subdued look.  It ends up looking a bit better in my eyes, but I can certainly accept the validity of both versions.  As far as the actual paint, this one’s a bit of a step up, with far more detailing on the head, and even some slight accenting.  He’s also got glow in the dark eyes…for those that feel he should, I suppose.  The new Gorn costume isn’t terribly far removed from the DST version, but it’s definitely a little better tailored to the figure, especially on the arm bands, which are properly hemmed this time around.  The Gorn also gets some armament this time: he’s got a belt, phaser, and communicator.  They’re the standard Starfleet pieces, but in red, just like the original Gorn (and the Klingon before him) included.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I already had the DST Gorn, and therefore didn’t feel an immediate need for another Mego variant, I have to admit I liked the improvements this guy offered.  Maybe not enough to order him online myself or anything, and odds of seeing him in-person were greatly reduced, so I honestly wasn’t sure I’d get one.  A week before Christmas, my dad made a passing mention of seeing Gorn and the rest of the series at a Target of all places, and wouldn’t you know it, this guy was under the tree on Christmas morning.  The improvements on this guy are definitely worth it, and I’m always down for another Gorn.  Now I feel the need to own the proper vintage release.  Great.

#2266: Omega Supreme

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

OMEGA SUPREME

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

For Day 2 of the post-Christmas reviews, I transition from very familiar territory to very unfamiliar territory.  For one thing, I got into this whole Transformers thing after Christmas last year, so this is the first time I’m reviewing one under this whole giftly heading.  Secondly, this particular Transformer marks my first experience with a scale I have as of yet left untouched: Titan Class.  They’re the big boys of the Transformers ‘verse and today I’m looking at Omega Supreme, a Titan Class offering with a name that sounds not unlike something you’d order from a pizza place.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Omega Supreme is the Titan Class offering for Siege, hitting shelves in the fall of 2019.  Omega was previously one of the possible options for the Power of The Primes Titan, but he and Scorponok were beaten out by Trypticon in the fan poll.  Omega is the sixth unique Titan Class figure since the scale was introduced with Metroplex in 2013.  Much like Jetfire, Omega’s vintage figures is one of the non-Takara based molds, instead being based on a toy made by the company Toybox.  This resulted in his classic toy and his animation model being more divergent than others, since Takara was involved in production of the cartoon and wasn’t interested in promoting another company’s toy.  That being said, his changes weren’t quite as drastic as Jetfire’s.  Whatever the case, this figure follows the general Siege trend of sticking pretty closely to the G1 animation models.  In his robot mode, this Omega Supreme stands 24 inches tall, roughly twice the size of his vintage counterpart, though in keeping with the rough size as he was portrayed in the cartoon…sometimes.  His size was variable.  If Jetfire was a big, solid figure, then Omega is his bigger, solider cousin.  Admittedly, he’s not quite as heavy as I was expecting given the size, but he’s still got some very serious heft to him.  His movement is somewhat impeded by this, as the joints need some pretty hefty ratcheting in order to hold up this pretty hefty boy.  He’s still fairly mobile, given the size and all, but you’re really only getting standing poses out of him in his robot mode.  Very sturdy standing poses, but standing poses nevertheless.  Omega’s sculpt is certainly impressive.  It’s unique to him, and is really a whole different beast than the sculpts on the smaller figures, just because there’s so much to him.  His head’s probably the standout part, thanks to the nifty looking face beneath the visor.  It’s a really solid look, following the animation model in a way that the vintage figure didn’t…you know, what with the vintage figure not having a face and all.  The rest of the body maintains the line’s general attention to the smaller “real world” details, while still maintaining an overall clean look like the animation.

Omega’s alt-mode is actually a multi-part thing.  He turns into a city, a tank, and a rocket.  Like the figure himself, Omega’s transformation is quite an involved endeavor.  It’s not overly complicated (in fact it’s actually rather straight forward), but the sheer size of him means that you really need to sit down in a nice open space and devote some time to completing the transformation.  The arms pop out and turn into the rocket, the front of the torso and the head become the tank, and the rest of the body becomes the city.  Of note: the tracks of the city are actually meant to go all the way around, but there was no way to fit the whole build in my photo set-up.  So, you’ll just have to imagine it goes all the way around there.  I know, shame on me.  As noted, the transformation works pretty well, and he’s a solid addition in base mode.

Like Jetfire, Omega includes a sizeable effects piece, which can actually separate into four individual effects, allowing for a bunch of different set ups.  Also included with Omega is his little micromaster buddy, Autobot Countdown.  Countdown is pretty much like all the other micromasters in terms of construction, and can alternate between robot and moon rover modes.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have you ever felt really good about gift-giving, only to be totally outclassed?  Because I have, and it’s all centered on Omega here.  See, I had done the nice thing, and picked out some gifts for Jason and Max at All Time, which I was pretty darn proud of.  They both opened them, and they both liked them, and boy did I feel good about the gift giving.  Then I got outclassed, because Jason then asked me: “Do you want an Omega”?  So, now I have an Omega, having passed on him when he was new.  Ultimately, I wasn’t planning to pick him up, and I stand by that after getting one of my own.  However, he’s very definitely one of those things that I don’t mind owning in the slightest, even if I might not have gotten one for myself.  Now I have to figure out where the heck I’m putting him.

#2265: Luke Skywalker – Jabba’s Palace

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LUKE SKYWALKER — JABBA’S PALACE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Luke Skywalker was a Tatooine farmboy who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the greatest Jedi the galaxy has ever known.”

And lo, the Post-Christmas reviews begin!

There were a few years running where my first post-Christmas review was invariably an Alien Queen, but after my friends and family ran out of Alien Queens to buy me, I’ve moved onto another theme, it would seem: Star Wars.  Honestly, it’s not all that new a concept, me getting Star Wars figures over the holidays, going all the way back to the Millenium Falcon I received for Christmas of ’96.  So, I guess I can dig it being the new trend.  So, let’s kick things off with a Luke Skywalker figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jabba’s Palace Luke Skywalker is a Walmart-exclusive Black Series offering.  Much like the two Captain Americas that they got last year, they also got two versions of Jedi Luke back to back.  Sometimes, I think Walmart’s toy buyer might be a little limited in their sights.  Whatever the case, this figure theoretically started showing up alongside the Triple Force Friday stuff back in October, though realistically, he started showing up shortly before the holidays.  This Luke is the second Return of the Jedi Luke we’ve gotten in the Black Series line-up, following the more end of the movie inspired version released back in 2014.  This one, as the name denotes, is based on Luke as he first appears in Jabba’s Palace, prior to ditching his vest and getting his robotic hand damaged. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  For the most part, he’s fairly reliant on parts from the previous Jedi Luke figure.  He uses the body of that figure, along with a new head, the right hand from Bespin Luke, and an all-new vest overlay piece. The new head is the real star attraction.  While I always felt that sculpt on the original Jedi Luke head was far better than the sub-par paint job allowed to show through, it’s never the less a little bit of an artifact of an older way of doing things, since the separate face/hair pieces have become the new way of doing things, and allow for a more realistic recreation.  This new sculpt follows that new styling, and is honestly one of Hasbro best attempts at a young Hamill likeness, at least as far as the face is concerned.  The hair I’m still a little iffy about, but it’s certainly not terrible.  The new vest piece is a decent overlay; it’s not too bulky.  Of course, it’s also not designed to be removed, which I was a little let down by, but if you don’t want it on the figure, it’s easy enough to remove, keeping in mind it’s not really going back on.  And, on top of that, after removing it, you’ll also discover that he’s missing the previous figure’s belt (which would have no doubt affected the look of the vest at this scale, so I get why it’s gone).  The figure is also privy to the improvements in paint since the last Jedi Luke.  That previous figure was honestly one of my worst experiences with iffy paint in the line, but this guy gets the new face print tech, which works very well for him.  There’s a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing this paint on the old sculpt, just to see how the two pair off, but as is, this one looks very good.  This Luke ends up being a little better accessorized than the last one.  While he no longer has the swapable flap for the front of his uniform, he still gets his lightsaber (with a more accurately painted hilt this time), a cloth-goods cloak, and the blaster he steals from one of Jabba’s guards (re-used from Kanan Jarrus).  Not a bad assortment of extras, and certainly enough to make him worthwhile even if you have the prior figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been looking for this guy pretty much since Force Friday.  As a kid, I went as Jedi Luke for Halloween, so I’ve always had a soft spot for this costume design, and felt the old figure wasn’t doing it justice on the shelf.  I found this figure just before Christmas and actually bought him with some money I got from my Grandmother for the holiday.  He’s solid improvement without being a straight replacement.  I just kind of wish Hasbro would stop giving their best figures to Walmart as exclusives…

#1918: Havok

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

HAVOK

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

“Separated from his brother Scott — who would eventually grow into the mutant Cyclops — and cut off from his own powers by Mr. Sinister, Alex Summers grew up ignorant of his mutant heritage. As a result, he wasn’t trained in the use of his powers until late in life. He has since overcome that obstacle and turned into a powerful hero in his own right, leading a team of mutant adventurers into deep space against the insane despot Vulcan.”

For the seventeenth, and I do believe final, entry in this year’s roundup of post-Christmas reviews, I’m touching on one of the little quirks of my collecting habits: owning every figure of certain characters.  There are just some characters that really resonate with me, and are minor enough that owning all of their figures is actually a totally attainable thing*.  One of those characters is my favorite member of the X-Men, Alex Summers, also known as Havok!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Havok was released in Wave 8 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, which was the third assortment of the line’s second year.  He was numbered 018, following the relaunched numbering stucture of 2010, and was also one of the five Fan’s Choice figures released in the line that year.  There were two different versions of Havok to be had.  The regular release was his then-current costume, while the variant release, which I’m looking at here, was his classic gear.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Havok made use of the body originally used for Black-Costumed Spidey, one of Hasbro’s favorite bodies from this line.  It was one of the better bodies from the line’s debut year, but it was still a little wonky.  It feels a bit like the antithesis of the body Moon Knight was on; this figure seems to have gained the segment of torso length that was missing from the former.  Also, the very skinny nature of this figure’s legs had a tendency to give him some stability issues.  A later variant of this body added swivel joints to his thighs to aid somewhat, but no such luck this early into the line.  Havok sports a brand new head sculpt, which is definitely the highlight of the figure.  Early MU sculpts weren’t the most detailed, but Havok’s actually looks pretty decent, and I certainly applaud their choice not to go with a screaming look, while still giving him that proper Alex Summers pout.  His distinctive headgear is actually a separate piece, and it’s not held in place by anything more than some rather shallow pegs, meaning it’s a little on the floppy side.  I found that a small touch of super glue was needed to keep the figure from being too frustrating.  I’m not entirely sure why it wasn’t just glued down in the first place, but there you have it.  Havok’s paintwork is rather on the simple side, but the application is all pretty clean, and his design looks just as striking as it should.  Havok was packed with an energy effect piece (borrowed from the prior year’s classic Iron Man), as well as a display stand with his name and number on it. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is the last Havok figure I didn’t own, and he’s kind of been my white whale for a little while.  I mean, not in a crazy, ranting and raving, risk my life to get him sort of a way, but more a “always be the one that got away” sort of a way.  I grabbed the standard Havok when he was new, and I knew this guy was supposed to be showing up in revision cases, but I never once saw him.  Then the line was done, and he was going for some crazy high prices for a while, and I just sort of gave up and accepted my little Havok collection as incomplete.  Of course, my parents, who got me into this whole Havok-collecting thing in the first place, weren’t going to stand for any of that nonsense, and so this guy was among my presents this past Christmas.  Is he the greatest Havok figure ever? Nah, but I do sure like him a lot, and I’m happy to have the whole group together!

*To date, I’ve attained this with three characters of note.  Havok, of course, as this review indicates, as well as Wonder Man and Elongated Man.

#1917: Doctor Who Series 6 set

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

ELEVENTH DOCTOR W/ COWBOY HAT, CORRODED CYBERMAN, & SILENCE

DOCTOR WHO (CHARACTER OPTIONS)

Hey, remember yesterday when I reviewed some Doctor Who figures?  Wanna see me do it again?  I sure hope you do, because…uhh, well, that’s what I’m doing.  But these Who figures come from way later in the franchise, because timey-wimey-wibbly-wobbly something or other.  Yeah, that’s it.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The three figures featured in today’s review make up the Series 6 boxed set, which are all based on the second series of Matt Smith’s run as the character.  There’s a variant of Eleven, a variant of a Cyberman, and a variant of a Silence.  It’s just variants all around!

ELEVENTH DOCTOR

Hey!  It’s another Eleventh Doctor.  But this one’s different!  He’s got a new hat!  No, really, that’s the big difference.  They took the basic Eleven from the 11 Doctors set, slapped a Cowboy hat on him, and called it a day.  If you want to know my opinions on the sculpt, go read that review, because, yeah, just the new head on this one.  The hat’s decent enough; it’s molded in place, since that’s really the only way to handle it with Smith’s big mop of hair.  The paint is actually a fair bit different, and not really in a good way.  There was a lot of subtle work going on with the prior figure that I really liked, but this one ends up stripping it down to just the basics.  The shirt, for instance, is straight white, despite the fact that I don’t believe Eleven ever just wore straight white.  Oh well.  He’s packed with his standard sonic screwdriver, which is the only accessory in this set.

CORRODED CYBERMAN

Hey!  It’s another Cyberman!  But this one’s different!  He’s got a new corrosion!  …Yeah, umm, so they kind of did it again.  This figure is built from the same base parts as the Cyberman from the Doomsday set I looked at back during the site’s first year.  There’s a tweaked torso simulating the damage, and then a really mucked up paint job, giving him that extra corroded feel.  I’ve always liked the Cyberman sculpt, and I certainly like seeing it here with some slightly different accent work.

SILENCE

Hey!  It’s another Silence!  But this one’s…actually not really that different from the last one.  Yeah, it’s one of these reviews.  This Silence is virtually identical to the prior Silence figure I reviewed.  The difference between the two is the head, which on this figure is sporting a sort of a screaming expression, I guess.  The Silence would do this from time to time.  I don’t really find it to be as versatile as the basic figure’s expression, but I guess it works well enough.  Beyond that, he’s the same figure, just minus the electricity effects, which is kind of a shame.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, this trio came from my Super Awesome Fiancee’s parents.  It’s not the most exciting bunch of figures.  Eleven’s non-standard, but not distinct enough to really feel worth it.  The Cyberman and Silence are nice enough figures, and technically army builders, so they aren’t a waste, but they do feel a little redundant if you already have the single releases.  Ultimately, it’s a set that probably should have been split up and packed with more exciting figures, because as it stands, it lacks any real hook.

#1916: The Fourth Doctor & Dalek

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

THE FOURTH DOCTOR & DALEK

DOCTOR WHO (CHARACTER OPTIONS)

So, I was all prepped to kick this review off by remarking how freakishly long it had been since I’d reviewed anything Doctor Who…and then I realized I totally reviewed a figure of the Tenth Doctor back in August.  I mean, that’s still five months and all, but hardly a cause for exclamation, really.  An area of the franchise I’ve only just touched on is Classic Who.  My introduction to the show was with Eccleston, and a lot of the merchandise was driven by the Tennant and Smith eras, but there’s still a healthy helping of merch for the older doctors as well, especially for Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, seen by many as the definitive take on the character (not by me, but that’s a whole other thing).  I’ll be looking at variant of Four today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pairing was one of 11 “Doctor and Dalek” two-packs released in 2013 as exclusives to the UK-branch of Toys R Us, before being distributed through specialty shops in the US.  This pair of figures is based on “Genesis of the Daleks,” one of the most popular serials from the Fourth Doctor’s tenure.

THE FOURTH DOCTOR

This isn’t the first time I’ve looked at the Fourth Doctor, since I also did that mammoth-sized review of the 11 Doctors boxed set, which nearly killed me.  This one seems less death-inducing.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation, keeping consistent with the line as a whole.  The Doctor’s sculpt did surprise me slightly, since it’s not just the same as the prior figure I looked at.  It’s still a repaint (because all of the figures in the “Doctor and Dalek” line-up were), but this Fourth Doctor is actually wearing a rather different outfit from the last one.  It’s the same overall appearance, of course, and the two share a number of pieces between them for consistency’s sake.  The main differences are the jacket, tie, and shoes.  While I like the new shoes, which feature some nifty detailing, the much smoother jacket doesn’t seem quite as cool to me, since the detailing on the jacket was one of my favorite parts of the last figure.  Paint’s another area where the figure slightly changes things up, with a few color swaps here and there.  For the most part, it’s about the same quality as the last one, though the skin tone on this one seems a little less organic than the last one.  The Fourth Doctor’s one accessory is his Sonic Screwdriver.

DALEK

Obviously, a “Doctor and Dalek” set needs a Dalek.  So, here he is.  He’s a pretty straightforward “classic” Dalek.  He’s about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation, like most Daleks do.  This one is pretty similar in construction to the Dalek Sek figure I looked at way back when, just with slightly different “horns” on his head to show that he’s not from the RTD era like that one was.  It’s a very nice sculpt, filled with lots of in depth details, which really make him look like a scaled down prop from the show.  This Dalek is somewhat less colorful than others have been, with a sort of grayish-blue as his main hue.  It does the sculpt well, though, and ends up being pretty eye-catching.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This pair were a Christmas gift from my Super Awesome Fiancee’s parents, based on some suggestions from Super Awesome Fiancee herself.  I think they may have been part of a bulk buy of some other Who stuff.  I don’t know that this Fourth Doctor really out-paces the 11 Doctors one, but he’s a decent enough offering.  The Dalek, on the other hand, is a lot of fun, and will likely end up nearer the front of my Who shelf.

#1915: Turbo Builder Set

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

TURBO BUILDER SET (W/ JONESY & RAVEN)

FORTNITE (JAZWARES)

Well, with another week of Post-Christmas reviews under my belt, and a theme thoroughly exhausted, let’s go back to the beginning.  Yep, I started this year’s round of gift reviews off with a Fortnite item, and here I am with another.  I know, I’m as surprised as all of you.  With my last Fortnite review being on the smaller side, I’m jumping over the other end of the spectrum, and taking a look at one of the largest offerings in the line, the Turbo Builder Set, featuring Jonesy and Raven!

THE SET ITSELF

The Turbo Builder Set is the largest offering so far from Jazwares’ Fortnite line.  It’s made up of the two figures, the AC/DC and standard pickaxe harvesting tools, the hunting rifle, revolver, submachine gun, tactical shotgun, and, of course, the main focus, a whopping 81 building plates, evenly divided between wooden planks, sheet metal, and brick and mortar.  There are a lot of building options with the plates, and they are of course completely inter-compatible with the ones included with Rust Lord and Raptor.  They can be a little tricky to assemble and take back apart multiple times, which led to a few broken connectors on mine, but with the sheer quantity offered here, I don’t foresee it being too much of an issue.

JONESY

Jonesy is another character that seems to be leaning heavily on the G.I. Joe end of the spectrum, and also being about as standard issue as you can get.  There are a lot of potential variants of Jonesy, but this one seems to be based on his “Survival” variant, which again looks to be using some pretty standard issue looks.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  He’s built in the same fashion as the last two figures I looked at, meaning there are a number of similarities to the 25th Anniversary Joes.  Jonesy has the first parts re-use I’ve seen in the line, with a small handful of parts being shared with the Rust Lord figures.  It’s just the lower arms, lower legs, and pelvis, which appear to be pretty similar elements in game as well.  I was surprised by how few of those parts were actually re-used, given that some of the uniquely sculpted parts are just small tweaks away from being the same.  Hey, I’m not going to knock the attention to detail, though.  Jonesy’s head is further on the cartoony side of things than some of the line’s other offerings, which I’m not huge on, because it’ll make slotting him in with Joes a little harder.  That said, it’s still a decent enough sculpt, and it’s pretty accurate to the game design.  His paintwork is pretty decently handled.  Application is clean, and there don’t appear to be any missing applications.  I was also quite impressed by the tattoo on his right arm; that’s a nice attention to detail.

RAVEN

Definitely the most unique of the figures I’ve looked at from this line, Raven moves away from the knock-off G.I. Joe bit that the others possess.  Raven’s design is one of the ones that’s a bit more dependent on the game’s animation style to sell it, which makes its translation to toy form a little more difficult.  The end result is okay, but not quite as impressive as I’d hoped.  The biggest letdown is the implementation of his head; in the game, he’s got a hood that obscures is face, so that all you can see are his eyes peering out.  I was expecting something along the lines of a Moon Knight figure, with a featureless black head underneath of a sculpted hood.  Instead, the figure has an empty head with some eyes sculpted on it.  It’s pretty shallow, so it never seems to look quite right, especially when directly lit.  The design of the body also ends up limiting the articulation a bit more than usual, especially in the arms.  Beyond that, there are still some nice details worked throughout, and he’s still a generally enjoyable figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I touched on in my Black Series reviews, there was some slight worry about those figures not arriving in time for Christmas.  Since they were going to be my main gift, Super Awesome Fiancee wanted to make sure I had *something* and since I’d mentioned this set in passing when I got Rust Lord, she tracked one down for me.  Of course the Black Series figures ended up arriving on time, so I guess it just worked out well for me.  Jonesy’s another for my “augmenting my Joes” venture, Raven’s a flawed but entertaining figure, and the building plates are certainly going to make for some fun diorama building.  All in all, another winning piece from this line.  I hope that Jazwares can keep it up!

#1914: Rio Durant

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

RIO DURANT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Rio Durant has carried out dangerous operations alongside the scoundrel Tobias Beckett for years. The good-natured Ardennian pilot is up for any challenge, not unlike his young counterpart Han Solo.”

What do Rio Durant and head Mandolorian Pre Vizla have in common?  Well, in addition to both being characters from the prequel era of Star Wars, they’re also both voiced by director Jon Favreau, who will once more be returning to the world of  Star Wars for the TV-bound The Mandalorian.  But, let’s stay focused on the here and now!  It’s time to look at this here Rio Durant action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rio is figure 77 in the Black Series line-up, the final of the four Solo figures, and the final figure in general in the latest assortment of Black Series figures.  Rio’s seen here in his basic pilot’s gear, which is really the only prominent look he’s got.  Fortunately, it’s a good one.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 41 points of articulation.  All those extra arms sure do help him keep that articulation count high!  Rio’s sculpt is an all-new affair, and it’s a top-notch one, just like the rest of this assortment.  As with L3, the figure really benefits from having waited until all of the final designs were available, thus allowing him to be as screen-accurate as possible.  He’s pretty much a pitch-perfect recreation of the on-screen design, and there’s a lot of very sharp detail work going on here.  Additionally, the articulation has been very nicely implemented, so he’s really, really posable.  They’ve even wisely given his holster an easy to pop-out plug, thereby removing the potential of restricting his hip joint on that leg.  It’s simple, but one of the more inventive things I’ve seen Hasbro implement on these figures.  Rio’s paintwork is clean, bold, and eye-catching.  There’s some slight weathering on his belt and jumpsuit, plus some pretty subtle accent work on his exposed skin, giving him a nice real-world-quality.  Rio is packed with a blaster pistol, a larger blaster rifle, and a removable pair of goggles, making him one of the best accessorized figures in the assortment.  The rifle in particular is one of my favorites from the line, just because of how unique and different it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rio was one of my favorite parts of Solo, and like L3, I was a little bummed that he wasn’t among any of the earlier offerings.  As a whole, this assortment had quite a few figures that were very high on my want list, and Rio still found himself near the top of the list.  A lot of great work went into this guy, and he continues the Solo sub-line’s trend of just being really darn good.  I’m happy to have finally rounded out Beckett’s crew, and even happier that it was with such a great figure.

#1913: Lando Calrissian – Skiff Guard

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

LANDO CALRISSIAN — SKIFF GUARD

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Once a smooth-talking smuggler, Lando Calrissian changed from a get-rich-quick schemer to a selfless leader in the fight against the Empire. When his old friend Han was held captive in the palace of Jabba the Hutt, Lando joined Princess Leia in a mission to rescue him from certain demise.”

Lando Calrissian may not have joined our heroes until their second outing, but he has maintained a notoriety amongst the fanbase, no doubt due to his suave scoundrel-y nature.  Despite this, he didn’t actually join the Black Series line-up until four years into its run, and with a figure that only saw moderate release at that.  Fortunately, his presence in 2018’s Solo brought him more into the spotlight, with two separate Black Series releases.  The first was based on his Solo appearance, but the follow-up gives us Lando’s Palace Guard disguise from Return of the Jedi‘s opening moments.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skiff Guard Lando is figure 76 in the Black Series line-up.  He’s the second to last figure in the newest assortment, as well as the final of the OT figures this time around.  The costume is from Jedi, which makes it slightly out of place in a Solo/Empire split assortment, but it’s actually pretty well chosen, given the costume’s cameo appearance as Beckett’s heist disguise in Solo.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  This Lando is head-to-toe a new sculpt.  While prior Skiff Landos have been known to reuse previous heads, that is thankfully not the case here.  While the prior Black Series head wasn’t *bad*, the likeness definitely could have been better, as this one deftly illustrates.  It’s hands down the best Billy Dee Williams likeness we’ve ever gotten from Hasbro.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty strong in its own right, with nice balanced proportions and a ton of detail worked all throughout.  There’s no shortage of texturing on this guy, meaning he’ll fit right in with the other denizens of Jabba’s palace.  The paint work on this figure is in line with the current improved standards of the line.  The base work is all clean, and there’s some pretty substantial accent work, showcasing that Jabba’s palace really isn’t the cleanest place to hang out.  He also uses the face-print tech, which builds on the figure’s already very strong head sculpt to give us a very realistic looking Lando.  Lando is packed with his Skiff Guard helmet, as well as the standard guard armament, the vibro-axe.  He doesn’t include the blaster we usually see with Skiff variants of Lando, but his hand is molded with a trigger finger, should you wish to arm Lando yourself.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first Lando hit at a time when I wasn’t really able to buy many figures, so the one time I saw him, I had to pass on him.  While the Solo variant was certainly a strong offering, I was really hoping for a proper OT version.  While the Skiff Guard set-up isn’t necessarily my go-to look for Lando, there’s no denying that this is the best version of the character available.  I’m hopeful that Hasbro may give us a slightly udpated Bespin Lando down the line, maybe as part of the Archive line.  Until then, this guy will hold me over just fine.