Tag Archives: Daredevil

Guest Review #0042: The Punisher

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

THE PUNISHER

MARVEL LEGENDS

Heyo! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last time, I was trying to review Mass Effect minimates (which I still need to finish, oops…) but I’m going to completely switch gears this time. Today, I’m going to introduce you guys to my gun-toting cinnamon roll Frankie (aka The Punisher)! Warning, throughout this review I will mostly call him Frankie, I know unprofessional –sue me .

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure is specifically designed after the character portrayed in the second season of Daredevil on Netflix. He comes in the same series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the build-a-figure Man Thing (who came up with that name???).

Frankie, here, stands at about 6 ½ inches tall with 30 points of articulation. According to Ethan, Frankie’s body is not reused from another figure; in fact, he is completely his own with all new pieces. What’s cool about this figure, and a lot of the newer Marvel Legends, is that some of his features are printed on. In this case, Frankie’s face and the skull on his chest have been printed, not painted, on. This allows for more precise detailing to be made on the figures, for Frankie it means that you can see a nice five-o-clock shadow going on there and a couple of small scars on his nose. I actually really like how Frankie’s face turned out, the detailing is fantastic and they were able to capture his serious, broody, and adorable face really well.  The detailing on his chest is pretty cool as well. You can see all the straps and buckles on his bullet-proof vest, they’re not painted on but are part of the chest’s sculpt. The print job on the vest is well done as well; it really does look like paint on a vest, and even includes implied rough texture of the vest’s material and a few drips of running paint. Frankie’s legs have a lot of subtle detail, with wrinkles, pockets, and rough texturing for the pants. I find his boots to be really interesting, while just normal plain combat boots, they were able to make it look like his pants were stuffed into his boots and not look like all one entity. His jacket appears to be removable, but suggest leaving it on because he would look weird without it, especially since his arms are sculpted to be wrinkly like coat sleeves. I also have to say a quick thing about his hands; if you look closely you can see the suggestions of veins and tendons, which is a neat little detailing. The paint on the figure is okay, it’s just black and skin tones. There are a few spots where his hair (mostly at the edge of his bangs is peach instead of black, and at the corners of his jaw his five-o-clock shadow doesn’t completely cover it.

For accessories, Frankie comes with two guns. The first is just your average pistol, painted silver with a textured handle and other small detailing related to that style of gun. The second is some kind of rifle…I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know guns and our gun guy isn’t here to tell me all the cool things about the larger of Frankie’s guns, including what the hell to call it. It’s a cool looking gun that I’m sure is supposed to fire rather rapidly, with a scope, a long, slightly curved magazine clip, and other gun do-hickeys. I’m sorry, I don’t know guns, you’ll have to forgive me or wait for this to be updated later with more (accurate) details on the gun. All I know is that Frankie’s larger gun is black and pretty badass looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Frankie came to me while we were packing up our apartment to move elsewhere. I was having a pretty stressful time, and my super sweet boyfriend decided to get me this figure when he saw it to try to help me out some. I fell in love with my gun-toting cinnamon roll after watching his part in Daredevil season two. My (over) enthusiastic love for the Punisher surprised Ethan a lot, especially since I normally don’t care for morally gray characters, but Frankie was just different and stole my heart with his sad brooding and love for lots of bullets. So when Ethan saw that they were making this figure he showed me and I’m sure our neighbors could hear my fangirl-screaming three-floors up, and I wanted one ever since. I love this design of the Punisher and I’m so happy he’s a part of my growing collection of figures! I’m also super excited for his Netflix show, and you can bet your bum I’m gonna watch it with this figure in hand!

#1190: Daredevil & Punisher

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

DAREDEVIL & PUNISHER

MARVEL MINIMATES

ddpunisher1

Today marks the penultimate post-Christmas review for 2016.  This review is more or less a continuation of yesterday’s.  I’ll be looking at the remaining Marvel Minimates based on Netflix’s Daredevil series.  Yesterday’s set was heavy on the civilian looks, but this set turns things around, giving us Daredevil’s official, more superhero-y costume, as well as his fellow Hell’s Kitchen vigilante, Frank Castle, aka the Punisher!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

DD and Punisher were released as an exclusive two-pack at SDCC 2016.  They served as a way of hyping up the rest of the Netflix-based sets, as well as tying into the recently released second season of Daredevil.  The set was supposed to get a wider release following the, but some issues with misplaced product in one of Diamond’s warehouses meant that a good chunk of the sets didn’t arrive until almost the end of 2016.

DAREDEVIL

ddpunisher2After spending 13 episodes in Season 1 sporting the all-black number seen yesterday, the final battle of the season finally gave DD his more familiar red getup.  This figure isn’t *quite* that version, but is instead based on his look from the back 3/4 of Season 2, after a stray bullet from the Punisher cracks his original helmet and he has to get a replacement.  The differences are negligible, really, but it’s still important to note.  The figure uses the standard ‘mate body, and as such stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He’s got add-ons for his mask and thigh holster.  The holster is the same piece seen on yesterday’s Season 1 DD (though flipped to the other leg, as it was in the show), but the mask is all-new to this particular figure.  It’s a decent enough translation of his second mask, though the forehead section seems a little too tall.  It’s a minor enough issue not to really bug me.  His paintwork is far more complex than any of yesterday’s ‘mates, and does a pretty solid job of capturing the suit seen in the show.  The colors are a good match, and all of the line work is nice and sharp.  Under the mask, there’s another Matt Murdock face, this time a bit more intense than either of the two in yesterday’s set.  It’s perfectly fine (the stubble in particular is very impressive), but something about this particular expression messes with the likeness a bit; I’m not seeing much of Charlie Cox in there.  DD is packed with his billy club (the same pieces as the eskrima sticks, but in red this time), an extra hairpiece for an unmasked look, and a clear display stand.

PUNISHER

ddpunisher3Frank Castle serves as the antagonist for the first several episodes of Daredevil’s second season, before becoming something of a dueling protagonist as the season progresses.  Season 2 was admittedly a slight step down from the show’s first season, but Jon Bernthal’s turn as the Punisher was easily the high point of the season, and this is coming from a guy who’s never really liked the Punisher.  His presence as the second half of this pack is far from surprising.  Frank spends most of the season in rather normal clothes, but does finally dawn a pretty straight forward Punisher costume during the second season finale.  It’s only on-screen for a few minutes, but it’s a pretty distinctive look.  Punisher uses add-ons for his hair and  coat.  The hair is a new piece, specifically designed to replicate his close-cropped style.  It does alright in that respect, though I feel like something more along the lines of the Red Hulk hairpiece might have done the job a bit better.  The coat is the long coat piece first introduced way back in 2007 on the very first Doc Brown, and it’s a nice, basic piece, which does its job pretty well.  Punisher’s paintwork is more on par with the Season 1 set than DD, being mostly a lot of black.  That being said, there’s a lot of really great detail work on the front of the torso and the belt.  He also has a pretty good likeness of Jon Bernthal, and the detailing on his hair even continues under the hair piece, allowing for him to be displayed with his closer cropped ‘do from earlier in the season (even if he’s not wearing the right jacket and shirt).  In terms of accessories, Frank is packed with a spare set of arms with rolled up sleeves, a machine gun, two handguns, and a clear display stand.  I wouldn’t have minded getting the larger rifle he uses during the final battle with the hand, or even the mini gun he was seen carrying at the very end of the finale, but I guess this assortment works alright too.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I didn’t attend SDCC, I couldn’t pick up this set in person.  I also missed out on the initial supplies that hit online, so I ended up having to play the waiting game.  Ultimately, they were a Christmas present from my parents (who have been supplying me with pretty much all of my Minimates as of late).  This is a great counterpart to yesterday’s set, and gives me another two of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows!

#1189: Daredevil Season 1

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

MATT MURDOCK, FOGGY NELSON, WILSON FISK, & CLAIRE TEMPLE

MARVEL MINIMATES

ddseasonone1

For day 22 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’m heading back over to the world of Marvel Minimates.  Said Minimates are my first venture into the merchandising for Marvel’s widely successful Netflix shows.  The first (and in my opinion, the best) of those shows is based on Marvel’s resident Man Without Fear, Daredevil.  His show’s success took a lot of people by surprise, especially merchandisers, including DST, who had no plans for any Minimates from the show until well after it started streaming.  Fortunately, they picked up the license for the Netflix stuff last year, and have gotten to work offering some boxed sets, each based on one season of one of the shows.  Up first were Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the former of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Matt, Foggy, Fisk, and Claire are all based on their Season 1 appearances on Daredevil. The set was released in November of last year.

MATT MURDOCK

ddseasonone3Up first, the show’s titular character.  Of course, the box only refers to him by his real identity of Matt Murdock.  It’s fitting, since this is his Season 1 prototype costume, and he hadn’t yet fully embraced the name until a ways into the season.  The costume is a departure from the usual red togs from the comics (or even his red and yellow first appearance costume, of which I am a huge fan), but it’s not without its roots in DD history, being inspired by both his prototype costume from Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear and his costume from his first live-action appearance in “The Trial of the Incredible Hulk” back in the ‘80s.  Matt is built on the usual Minimate body, with add-ons for his mask, belt, and leg holster.  All three add-on pieces are reused, with the mask coming from Iron Fist, the belt being a standard piece, and the holster being introduced with the Series 43 Daredevil.  All of the parts are good fits for his ddseasonone2on-screen design, and the costume translates to Minimate form exceptionally well.  While the paintwork is mostly just flat back, he does have a fully detailed torso, with subtle highlighting to show off his musculature, as well as the tiny bit of red piping on the shoulders.  Under the mask, there’s also a fully detailed Matt Murdock face, with a pretty solid likeness of Charlie Cox.  For his base look, DD includes his wooden eskrima sticks, given to him by…Stick, as well as the usual clear display stand.  He also includes a spare head, hair, torso, tie, suit jacket, hands, and walking stick, allowing you to turn him into a civilian version of Matt.  Supply your own arms and legs, and you’ve got yourself a whole second figure!

FOGGY NELSON

ddseasonone5Matt’s nothing without his law partner Franklin P. Nelson, better known as Foggy.  Foggy’s a pretty major part of Season 1 and the DD mythos as a whole, so his presence here isn’t a huge surprise. The ‘mate’s really just another guy in a suit, but that’s true to the character, so you can hardly blame DST there.  Foggy uses the same basic pieces as Matt’s alt look, as well as the hair from Series 39’s Thor, which is actually a better fit for Foggy than it was for Thor, if I’m honest.  The pieces add up to a decent enough Foggy, so that’s good.  Foggy’s paintwork is once again pretty basic, but the colors are rather unique, and everything is pretty cleanly done.  He’s packed with a briefcase and a tan messenger bag, as well as a clear display stand.  It might have been nice to get some extra shirt sleeves for him, since the pink is rather unique, but it’s not like he comes with nothing.

WILSON FISK

ddseasonone4Season 1 is as much an origin story for Wilson Fisk (better known in the comics as the Kingpin) as it is for Daredevil.  He’s the main antagonist for the whole season, and it would be silly to leave him out.  That being said…he’s really just another guy in a suit.  An important guy in a suit, but still.  He uses two add-ons: his coat/shirt and a waist riser piece to make him a bit taller.  He’s still lacks some of his show counterpart’s intimidation factor, but there’s only so much you can do, right?  The coat is re-used from 24’s Tony Almeida, and its a good fit for the types of suits he wore on the show.  Paint’s once again a lot of black, but he has a slight splash of dark blue for the shirt, as well as a pretty decent likeness of Vincent D’Onofrio as Fisk.  Fisk includes a clear display stand, and that’s it.

CLAIRE TEMPLE

ddseasonone6Effectively the Coulson of the Netflix shows (being the connective tissue that holds them all together), Claire Temple started out in the comics as a Luke Cage supporting character, which made her turning up in the first season of DD a slight surprise.  Her being in this set of Minimates is also a *slight* surprise, since there are a number of characters more prominent than her in the first season (Karen was held back for the Season 2 set, which is fine, but Ben’s another pivotal character still missing.  Of course, he would have been another guy in a suit, so…).  Of course, releasing her here frees up some space in the other sets, so I guess that’s good.  She’s seen here in her “Night Nurse” garb that she’s wearing when she and Matt interrogate a thug on the rooftop.  It’s probably the most visually interesting of her looks, so it’s a good choice.  In her basic layout, she has Lady Sif’s hair, which is a reasonably close match to Rosario Dawson’s hair in the show, and Amy’s hoody.  Her paintwork is a bit more exciting than the others, with like five whole colors.  The application’s all pretty clean, which is always good.  The likeness on the face is a passable Dawson likeness.  It’s maybe sits a tad too high on the headblock, but that’s my only real complaint.  She includes a knife and a clear display stand, as well as a pulled up hood, and an extra head and hands, so as to complete her disguised look from when she was interrogating the guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was another Christmas present from my parents.  It’s a set I’ve been patiently waiting for, since I really loved DD Season 1.  I know I ragged on this set a bit for being guys in suits, but that’s more because guys in suits aren’t the most exciting things to review.  The actual figures are really a lot of fun, and this set is really worth it just for DD alone.  That guy’s definitely one of my new favorite ‘mates!

#1138: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

MARVEL SUPER HEROES: SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

ddsw1

When you’re talking Marvel Super Heroes action figures (or really action figures from the big two in general.  Or even just licensed action figures in general), the first major blip on the radar was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  That line gave us our first figures of a number of Marvel’s best known characters.  However, there were a number of characters who found themselves left out of the whole action figure thing until the second blip on the Marvel action figures radar, Mattel’s Secret Wars line.  One such character was Daredevil, a character who has recently come into a fair bit of popularity on his own.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ddsw2Daredevil was released in Series 2 of the Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars line.  This was his very first action figure, but it’s kind of amusing to see him crop up in this line, given that he wasn’t present for the actual comic series it was based on (don’t worry, he was in good company; none of the Series 2 figures but the Symbiote Spider-Man were from the comic).  One presumes that his presence in the line over any of the many characters who were actually there has more to do with his relative lack of new pieces than anything else.  The figure is roughly 4 1/2 inches tall and has the same 5 points of articulation that all of the other Secret Wars figures had.  Daredevil uses the standard male body, with only a unique head sculpt to set him apart from the rest of the line.  It’s a pretty good sculpt, though the neck does seem just a touch too long for the body.  Still, the actual head is a pretty good rendition of ol’ Hornhead, so I can’t really complain.  Also, like Spider-Man, Daredevil’s already rather simple design means he’s not a bad fit for the admittedly doughy base body.  Daredevil, like so many of the other figures in this line, relied heavily on paint, and, just like all those other figures, he’s also rather letdown by said paint.  I mean, it’s not awful.  They molded him in a decent red, and what’s there is pretty sharp.  The problem is, what’s there isn’t all that much.  He gets the logo, his lower face, and then the front third of his belt, the front quarter of each boot, and the outward quarter of each glove (which is inexplicably up at his elbow).  Why they only gave him part of each glove and boot is beyond me, and it ends up looking really strange.  Couldn’t they just finish those lines?  Or, if they were really being that cheap, just leave those lines off entirely?  Also, just like his companions, Daredevil’s paint is very prone to wearing off, as you can tell by the state of my figure’s nose.  Daredevil was packed with his usual billy club, and, of course, the weird holographic shield thing that every figure in the line had.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Geez Ethan, for someone who swears he’s not trying to collect this line, you do seem to have quite a lot of them, don’t you?  Yeah, weird voice in my head, I do.  This one’s not my fault, though, I swear.  This is another addition to my collection courtesy of my Super Awesome Girlfriend, who bought him for me from Yesterday’s Fun over the summer.  I gotta say, as many issues as there are with this figure, I really find myself liking him.  And really this line in general.  Yep, I think I’m gonna end up with this whole line.  Crap.

#1109: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

MARVEL LEGENDS (3.75)

ddyellow375a

Given how long he wore it, Daredevil’s yellow costume is rather disproportionally popular.  I guess it’s just different enough that it stands out.  It’s also a pretty easy variant for toy companies to release, what with using the same selection of parts as the normal Daredevil costume and all, so there’s lots of incentive to make figures of the design.  So far, its shown up in just about every major scale of Marvel figure, including 3 3/4-inch, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ddyellow375bDaredevil was released in the second series of the smaller-scale Marvel Legends line.  He’s the second smaller-scale Yellow Daredevil figure we’ve gotten, but the last one was built on one the less than stellar bodies that Hasbro used to kick off Marvel Universe, so an update was much needed.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as the Daredevil vs Bullseye two-pack version of Daredevil from the  Marvel Universe line.  Since that figure’s tooling was already paid for, it means this guy gets to keep all of the articulation, giving him about 10 points more than his compatriots from this same series.  Like with the Marvel Legends Daredevil I looked at a few months back, the sculpt here seems a little too well-built for an early in his career Matt Murdock, but it’s not like it’s a bad sculpt or anything.  In fact, he was probably one of the better sculpted Marvel Universe figures.  Paint is the key part here, and it works alright.  The color scheme is pretty much the same as we saw on the larger figure this year.  The brown isn’t my favorite thing ever (I prefer black with red highlights), but it looks decent enough, and everything looks pretty sharp.  The logo on the chest is still a little on the large side, but it’s not quite as bad as on the larger figure.  Daredevil is packed with his billy clubs, which are the same as those included with all the prior small-scale Daredevils.  They work pretty well, and seem a bit less rubbery this time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Daredevil was picked up for me at the same time as Rage, mostly to keep my Yellow Daredevil collection going.  There’s not really much new here, but I liked the basic version of this figure, and by extension I like this one.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with a simple repaint when it’s appropriate, especially when it means I get another Yellow Daredevil!

#1018: Nuke

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

MARVEL’S NUKE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

Nuke1

Alright, it’s the penultimate day of Giant-Man week. Today’s kind of the “meh” day if I’m being totally honest, especially since yesterday was Black Panther. The focus figure is Nuke, who’s actually a Daredevil villain, created by Frank Miller. He’s sort of been in the spotlight recently (though not as Nuke) thanks to Netflix’s Jessica Jones, where he served as a recurring character. And now he’s got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nuke2Nuke (or “Marvel’s Nuke,” as the package bills him) is figure 4 in the Giant-Man Series of Marvel Legends. He’s the final comic based figure, and perhaps the one with the most tenuous ties to Captain America. I think he’s fought Cap once or twice. He’s a failed attempt at recreating Cap’s super soldier serum, but who in the Marvel universe isn’t? (Seriously, if they’re not a mutant, good money says they’re a failed attempt to recreate Cap). The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Nuke uses the Hyperion body as a starting point, but that’s really just the upper body.  He has an all-new lower half, which is wearing some loose fitting pants and a pair of combat boots. He also has a new head sculpt, and an add-on piece for his vest. I don’t hate the Hyperion body, but it isn’t without fault, and those faults are becoming more apparent as new bodies are introduced. The new parts work pretty well, though I can’t say the head is one of my favorites. He seems to have been a victim of “Hasbro face” (where the male figures all look the same), which is a little bit of a bummer. At the very least, I’d say the eyes are a bit wide set. Definitely not one of my favorite sculpts as of late. The paintwork on Nuke is pretty basic color work, with no real accenting or anything. It’s fairly decent work, but it makes him look a little gummy. I don’t know what it is in particular that does that, but there it is. At the very least, the application’s clean.  Nuke includes an extra head based on some of his more recent appearances. It’s bald and battle-damage, and reveals his underlying robotic skull. He also has a weird sci-fi rifle that’s been done up in a patriotic paint scheme, and a rather large knife. The extra head’s kind of fun, but I wish he could hold the gun a bit more naturally. The figure also includes Giant-Man’s torso, which is a bit amusing, since Nuke, the largest figure in the series, ends up with the largest figure in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nuke has never been a particular favorite of mine, so I wasn’t particularly enamored with this figure in the first place. I ended up finding him at TRU (at the same time as Panther and Fury), and bought him solely for the Giant-Man piece. Having bought him, I can’t say my opinion of the figure or the character has really changed. He’s an alright figure, but if you aren’t a fan of the character, I can’t see this changing your mind.

#0878: Daredevil – Yellow

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

DAREDEVIL – YELLOW

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

DDYellow1

Just a little while after this review is posted, Netflix will be premiering the second season of Marvel Studios’ Daredevil. I don’t know about everyone else, but I absolutely loved the first season of the show, so I’m pretty darned excited about season two. In honor of the show, why not look at something Daredevil-related? Because I want to, that’s why!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DDYellow2Daredevil was released as the third Walgreens exclusive figure in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Infinite Series line. The back of the box groups him with the Rhino series of figures, though he arrived at Walgreens a fair bit after those figures hit stores (he also doesn’t include any sort of Build-a-Figure piece). The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. As noted in the review’s title, this is “Yellow Daredevil;” he’s wearing the costume from his first handful of appearances, before he switched to the all red number we all know and love. While the costume was short-lived, it’s fairly distinctive, and has quite a lasting power with fans, resulting in it getting more than a few figures over the years. Sculpturally, this Daredevil is identical to the red version released last year. That’s not a huge shock, since he’s the same guy and all. I will say, while it was perfect for the regular Horn-Head, it seems a little off here. It feels like this more of a “later in his career” sort of sculpt, and I kind of expect early Daredevil to be a little more…svelte? Maybe if he’d been on the Pizza Spidey body? Of course, it’s not like this body is bad by any stretch of the imagination, and Yellow DD figures have traditionally just been straight repaints, so maybe I’m just off with this one. The paint is the whole selling point of this figure, so DDYellow4how did it turn out? On a whole, not bad.  He’s bright, colorful, and sufficiently different from the last one. The colors do a decent job of capturing the look (though I personally prefer it when straight black is used for the darker sections), and the application is mostly pretty clean. The choice to paint part of the yellow on the shin was unfortunate (remember guys, dark on light. Dark on light!), since it means that the shins don’t match the rest of the leg, and on my figure they don’t even match each other! Also, the “D” logo is definitely way too big on this guy; it should be like half the current size. DD includes the same pair of billy-clubs as the last figure, but in red this time. Since he doesn’t include a B-a-F piece, they’ve given him an extra, unmasked head. It’s just a re-use from the Marvel Now! Hawkeye figure, so it doesn’t quite match up with the features on the masked head. Still, it’s not a bad extra, and it looks pretty great popped on a suit body.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original Daredevil costume will forever have a special place for me. I can’t say exactly why I like it so much, but I just really do. The SMC version was one of my personal grails, and this costume is the reason I got into Minimates. Needless to say, when Hasbro announced he’d be getting released in the new Legends style, I was pretty darn excited. I didn’t have any luck finding him at first, but two weeks ago, I happened upon him in a Walgreens I don’t frequent very often. Yeah, he’s just a repaint of the figure I got last year, but I loved that figure, and I love this costume, so I love this figure too. Now I’m gonna go binge watch the new season.

*Want a Yellow Daredevil figure of your own?  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

DDYellow3

#0834: Amazing Heroes Series 1

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

BLACK TERROR, DAREDEVIL, CAPTAIN ACTION, STARDUST, GREEN TURTLE, BLANK SLATE, CHAMPION OF MARS, SILVER STREAK, & MADMAN

AMAZING HEROES

AmazHero1

In the 1940s, Superhero Comics made their first emergence, replacing adventure pulps as the thing for magazines to be.  It was the era that gave us a good chunk of the DC line-up (though a fair portion of them weren’t initially owned by DC), as well as Captain America, Namor, and the original Human Torch (who wasn’t actually human). These characters have managed to stick around for a pretty long time, and their success allowed the companies who owned them to stay in business for the ensuing 75 years. Unfortunately, a lot of comic publishers from the era weren’t quite so lucky when the initial superhero boom came cooled down in the early 50s, causing many to shut their doors. While some were absorbed by other companies (see: DC absorbing Charlton, Faucett, and a few others), many simply disappeared, leaving scads of characters with no home. These characters eventually fell into the public domain. Since these characters have no associated licensing fees, you would think they’d be natural fits for action figures. Trouble is, they all went out of publication (and therefore fell out of the public eye) quite some time ago, making them a very, very niche property. However, through the help of some Kickstarter funding, some of these guys have finally made their way into plastic form!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These nine figures make up Series 1 of Fresh Monkey Fiction’s Amazing Heroes line. They are the result of two separate Kickstarter campaigns.

I’m not usually one to discuss packaging, but it’s worth noting that the Amazing Heroes packaging was designed to be collector friendly, so the figures can easily be removed and replaced. 7 of the included figures include extra, character specific cards, with art provided by several well-known comic artists.

AmazHeroPacks

SERIES 1:

The initial Series 1 campaign ran wrapped up in August of 2014. It consisted of six of the nine total figures.

BLACK TERROR

AmazHero4Black Terror is probably one of the better known characters included here, no doubt due to his fairly distinctive design. The figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulaiton. He’s built on the standard body for this line, which is used for all of the included figures. If it looks familiar, that’s because I’ve sort of looked at it once before; the Amazing Heroes figures are patterned after Mattel’s Secret Wars line from the 80s. The body isn’t a straight copy, of course; the build is quite similar, but the actual construction is a little different, as the AH body is built for easier customizablity, and does not feature any hollow parts like the SW figures. The body wasn’t the best fit for the Marvel Super Heroes of the 80s, but it feels much better for 40s era characters, such as Black Terror. Terror uses the main haired male head, which seems to have been sculpted specifically with him in mind. The sculpt is nice and sharp, with a fair amount of detailing, but not so much as to make it feel out of place on the more simplistic body. Terror also uses a cloth cape, handled in the same style as Kenner’s Super Powers figures. It’s definitely goofy looking, but in just the right way. Terror’s paint work is nice and sharp. Most of his costume details are handled via paint, and, while there’s a little bit of unevenness to some of the line work, the general look is very clean.

DAREDEVIL

AmazHero5Wait, isn’t Daredevil a Marvel character? Why yes, yes he is. But, before Matt Murdock became the horn-headed Daredevil we all know and love, Bart Hill held the name. Instead of blind, this Daredevil was mute. He was actually a fairly successful character, and probably has the most modern-day appearances of all the figures in this set. He’s also got one of the coolest costumes in comics. The figure uses the same base body as Black Terror, but he uses a different head(which loses the hair and defined ears), as well as an add-on piece for his distinctive spiked belt. The belt isn’t a perfect fit to the body, but it’s pretty close, and the sculpt is a very nice translation of the design. Daredevil’s paint is key to his costume being “one of the coolest in comics.”  Fortunately, his two-toned nature is handled very well. With the exception of one small section, the blue is painted on top of red plastic, which is definitely the right way to handle it because red paint tends to be the absolute worst. The colors here are nice and bold, and he just looks really sharp. Daredevil includes his signature boomerang, which he holds very well.

CAPTAIN ACTION

AmazHero6Captain Action is the one figure in the first set who’s not actually public domain, but his rights holders agreed to having him included here. Unlike the others in this set, this is far from the first action figure Captain Action has received, since he began life as a competitor to G.I. Joe (in fact, his line was actually the first instance of licensed action figures, though the good captain was himself wholly owned by Ideal Toys). The Captain gets a head sculpt that is different from the two prior sculpts, with a slicked back hairstyle and a slightly more expressive face. He was originally set to use the same head as Black Terror, but FMF used some of the Series 1.5 funding to get a third basic head produced, which is definitely a better fit for Captain Action. He also gets a separate piece for his traditional officer’s cap, which is molded to the sculpt of his hair, allowing it to sit quite nicely and securely. Captain Action’s paintwork is on par with Terror’s; it’s not 100% perfect, but there’s not anything particularly bad. The figure comes packed with a pistol, just like the one the original CA carried. I wouldn’t have minded getting his lightning-bolt-shaped sword too, but I suppose the line had to be drawn somewhere. Also, while he has no disguise pieces, the interchangeable nature of the figures means you can have him masquerade as any of the other characters in the set!

STARDUST

AmazHero7Stardust the Super-Wizard I was previously unfamiliar with, but reading up on him, he certainly is an interesting character. If you though Superman was overpowered, this guy can do pretty much everything Supes can, in addition to being able to transmogrify people! He’s also probably the figure done the least justice by the base body. His listed height is 6’8”, which would make him at least a little bigger than the rest of the Amazing Heroes. In addition, his original artist, Fletcher Hanks, had a very unique art style, which makes fitting him to a base body, or even rendering him in three dimensions at all a bit of a mean feat. So, it would seem FMF did their best to render him within the established style. As well as using the base body, Stardust also uses the same basic male head used for Black Terror. It works surprisingly well, and looks quite different than it did on Terror. A lot of this is owed to the paint, which offers enough subtle differences to make him look convincingly like a different person. The only real downside to Stardust is the rather unfortunate grey coloring of his original design, though next to the more colorful designs of his series-mates, he actually does stand out a bit.

GREEN TURTLE

AmazHero8The Green Turtle! Wait, isn’t that a sports bar? Umm, yeah, but he’s also a superhero. More importantly, he’s the first Asian superhero in comics, which is pretty nifty. I actually know a fair bit about Green Turtle, thanks to the recent (and fantastically done) revival, The Shadow Hero by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew. He’s definitely a fun character! He uses the same head as Daredevil, as well as a cloth cape, handled in the same way as Black Terror’s. It’s too bad it’s just straight green, as opposed to featuring the more intricate design of the comics, but I imagine such a design would have proved rather pricey. The rest of his unique features are done via paint, which is handled pretty well overall. The colors are nice and bright, and the general application is nice and clean. I’m also glad to see that Green Turtle has a slightly different skin tone than the others in the series, given his different ethnicity.

BLANK SLATE

AmazHero11The Blank Slate is kind of a multi-purpose figure. He’s the line’s one villain, based on a Daredevil foe from the 40s [EDIT: Helpful reader Lich informed me that the Blank Slate isn’t an actual Daredevil villain; he was given a fake backstory for the line.  I should have researched a bit better). Through a simple head swap, he can be either the lead Blank or one of his minions, which also makes the figure an army builder. And on top of all of that, he’s also a great base body, should people want to make their own Amazing Heroes figures. He uses the same basic body, and includes both the Terror and Daredevil style heads.

 

SERIES 1.5:

While the Series 1 was successful in funding the 6 main figures, it didn’t raise enough funds to get the two stretch goal figures into production. Fresh Monkey Fiction ran another Kickstarter in December of 2014, offering the two new figures, as well as Mike Allred’s cult favorite superhero, Madman.

CHAMPION OF MARS

AmazHero12I know what you’re thinking, but no, this isn’t John Carter. No, this is “Champion of Mars.” See, because John Carter isn’t in the public domain. However, some of his comics are, so we get this guy based on the art of said comics. But he’s definitely NOT John Carter! That said, “Champion” is really hard to keep typing, so I’m just going to use a common male name in its place. Let’s go with John. So, John here uses the same head as Captain Action, which was actually sculpted specifically with him in mind. In addition, he also has an add-on piece for his harness, which is a very nicely detailed piece, which adds a lot to the figure. Lastly, he’s got a cloth cape, which is identical to the one included with Black Terror. John’s paintwork is a lot more brown than his compatriots, which is actually quite appropriate for the character, and gives him a unique flair amongst the others. John is packed with a sword, which is a little flimsy, but still very cool.

SILVER STREAK

AmazHero13I don’t actually know much about Silver Streak, but he does appear to be your fairly average speedster character. And he’s even red and yellow! He also uses the same head as Captain Action, which, if I’m honest feels like one use too many. That being said, the head does actually fit Silver Streak pretty well, and I guess the blonde does enough to differentiate the two. I’ll just make sure to keep the three of them separate on the shelf! Silver Streak probably has the most vibrant paint work of all the figures, despite it not actually featuring anything even close to silver. Everything is nice and sharp, and the red in particular really pops, to say nothing of that pretty sweet patterning on the belt!

MADMAN

AmazHero14Madman is kind of unique amongst these figures. Not only is he not public domain, he’s actually a fairly contemporary character. This isn’t even Madman’s first figure. Heck, it’s not even the first Madman I’ve reviewed here. But it’s Madman, and it’s not like you can have too many Madman figures, can you? Of course not! Plus, Madman’s actually one of the few contemporary characters who actually fits in pretty well with the rest of these guys.  In addition to the standard body, Madman has been given his own head sculpt, as well as add-on pieces for the cuffs of his gloves. The head sculpt is downright amazing (heh!) and does a great job of melding Allred’s style with that of the rest of the line. The paint on Madman is pretty solid overall. There’s a tiny bit of slop around the eyes, but the rest of the work is nice and clean.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being broken in to the whole Kickstarter thing with I Am Elemental and Return of Skeleton Warriors, it was really hard to say no to these guys. So, I backed the first campaign. And then, I backed the second one too, because I wasn’t going to let the set go incomplete, darn it! It’s been a long wait to get these guys, but they sure were worth it. These are just a whole lot of fun!

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#0539: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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If you’re anything like me, you’ve made it most of the way through Netflix’s new Daredevil series, which premiered last Friday.  I’ve been anxiously awaiting this particular series, with a sense of cautious optimism.  Sure the MCU’s been pretty great so far, but Daredevil’s last foray into live action didn’t exactly go well.  I’m happy to say I really enjoyed the series, and I look forward to seeing more from this particular cast of characters.  Daredevil also happens to be a part of the latest round of Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures, no doubt to capitalize a bit on the show.  So, let’s have a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DDML2Daredevil is part of Series 2 of Hasbro’s Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series figures.  Unlike the others in the series, Daredevil isn’t actually a Spider-Man character.  That said, the two do interact quite a bit and they share a few villains (like the Kingpin) and other supporting players.  Also, there’s a fairly consistent tradition of ol’ Horn-Head being released in Spider-Man-related toylines.  Tradition!  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and sports 32 points of articulation.  Daredevil uses the Bucky Cap body that Hasbro loves oh so much, along with a new head and add-ons for his belt and holster.  The Bucky Cap body is a pretty strong sculpt, and it offers the appropriate build and range of motion for the character, so it’s an excellent choice of body.  The head seems to amalgamate the styles of some of the many Daredevil artists from over the years, but the heaviest influence definitely seems to be Chris Samnee, aka the guy who’s been drawing the character for the last several years.  It’s a strong sculpt with a really intense, determined look, which works very well for the character.  It also continues the trend of moving away from the identical face-ness of the male head sculpts, which is always a good thing.  As far as paintwork goes, well, Daredevil certainly is very… red.  Exactly how to convey said red varies from figure to figure.  Hasbro’s opted for a simple two-toned look, which is really quite effective.  Mostly, he’s just molded in the appropriate red, but there is some additional paint for some of the lighter reds and the flesh tone.  Overall, the work is decent, if not fantastic.  His gloves are a little sloppy, and his logo could stand to be a little sharper.  Also, the flesh tone doesn’t quite line up with the sculpted lines of the mask, and there’s a spot of wear on the tip of his nose.  Daredevil comes armed with his standard billy-club (the same as the one included with Hellcat, but in white this time) and also includes the left arm and pumpkin bomb of Hobgoblin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, remember how I got all of those Marvel Legends from Big Bad Toy Store?  So, yeah, Daredevil was one of those.  I know, shocker, right?  Well, Daredevil was easily the figure I was looking forward to the most from this particular series.  The character’s last figure was quite a while ago, and he was in dire need of an update.  Plus Daredevil’s just plain cool.  In hand, the figure isn’t the most masterful figure Hasbro’s released of late, but he certainly lives up to expectations, and that’s never a bad thing!

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#0310: Daredevil – Yellow

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

DAREDEVIL – YELLOW

SPIDER-MAN CLASSICS

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In the 90s, Toybiz was king of the toy aisles with their expansive selection of action figures based on characters from the Marvel Universe. Eventually, opinions and expectations of toys began to change. Toybiz wanted to stay at the top, so they changed with the times. In an effort to tie into the hype of the character’s first foray onto the big screen, Toybiz launched Spider-Man Classics, a line that upped the scale, the detail, and the articulation. The second series of the line introduced not only an outreach to other corners of the Marvel universe with the character Daredevil, but also the very first instance of something that would become a staple of future Toybiz lines: the Variant. A slight change to one of the figures in the series, packed at one to a case. The figure immediately caught collector, and scalper, attention and its price sky-rocketed on the aftermarket. What was this figure everyone had to have? Yellow Daredevil!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

YellowDaredevilWilsonDaredevil was released in the second series of Spider-Man Classics. This figure is the variant of the regular Daredevil, dubbed “Yellow Daredevil” because it’s based on Daredevil’s first appearance costume, which was predominantly yellow. The figure is 6 inches tall and sports 30 points of articulation, a point that is proudly boasted on the figure’s packaging. Daredevil’s sculpt makes use of the basic body sculpt of Black Spider-Man from the first series, with a new head, hands, feet, as well as an add-on for his billy-club holster. The sculpt hasn’t aged all that well. The body is long and lanky, and the hands and feet are a bit on the large side. For the time, it was pretty impressive, though. The head sculpt is one piece that still manages to look pretty good. It’s a bit exaggerated, but it works. I will admit I also really like the sculpted tread around the bottom of his feet. It does a lot to make the figure stand out from the Black Spider-Man it was based on. Daredevil’s paint is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some great detail work, and they’ve done some cool things to make the design pop. I do like the slight occurrences of red on the black areas, which is a nice way of paying tribute to the red highlights he was often seen with. However, the figure shows quite a bit of slop, uneven paint application, and a few very fuzzy lines. These aren’t immediately apparent, but do crop up with a tiny bit of examination. It becomes a bit more forgivable when you remember these figures had a retail of $7. Daredevil includes his billy-club, a wall mountable display stand that looks like a stained glass window, and a copy of Daredevil #241.

YellowDareDevil2 YellowDaredevil3

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Yellow Daredevil figure has for quite some time been one of my personal grails. For whatever reason, I’ve always been fascinated with the design. When word of this figure first broke out, I was eager to get one. In fact, my Dad made it his mission to try and find me one. Sadly, we were never able to find one on the shelves. As the original “variant figure” the figure maintained a hefty value on the aftermarket. More than once I picked one up at a convention, only to be told the price (usually well over $100), which would lead to do the “back away slowly” move. Years passed and I pretty much gave up. Instead, I resigned to just get every other figure of Yellow Daredevil (which incidentally led to my getting into Minimates, but that’s a story for another time). A few weeks ago, my local comicbook store Cosmic Comix posted on their site that they had gotten in a pretty large collection of figures, and they would be selling them for a set price. I got there to pick up my comics and looked over the table of figures. I found one or two, but nothing really jumped out at me. I walked up to the counter and the owner, who knows I’m a big action figure collector, asked if I’d like to look at the more expensive figures before they were officially priced. This is a scary idea for me, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look. I moved one figure from the top of the stack, and there was Yellow Daredevil. As it turns out, he’s actually gone down a bit in price in the last few years. On top of that, the owner agreed to cut me a pretty great deal. So, I got the figure I’ve been trying to find for 13 years, and I got him for a pretty reasonable price. Is he the perfect figure? No. There’s some definite flaws. But, to me, he’s more than just a figure, he’s an accomplishment.  After all that time, I’m just glad to finally have this figure.

And yes, I took him out of the box. Deal.