Tag Archives: Diamond Select Toys

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0039: Wolverine – Yukon & Yukio

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE — YUKON & YUKIO

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

It’s Friday, so we’re flashing back again!  Once more, we dive into the world of my early Minimates reviews!  A couple of weeks ago, I revisited some of the The Wolverine movie tie-ins.  Here’s another one of those, with Wolverine — Yukon and Yukio!

“Today, I’ll be taking a look at yet another set of Minimates. Like the last Minimates review I did. These also come from the tie-in line from this year’s The Wolverine. Once again, it features a variant of the title character, this time packed with his trusty companion Yukio.

THE FIGURE THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (YUKON)

First up, it’s our hero Wolverine. He’s depicted in his “Yukon” look, from early in the film. This is the look that Logan sports for the first half an hour or so of the movie. It’s a very different look for the character, and is important to the character’s story in the film. It’s also really unique, which makes it stand out pretty well on the shelf. He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted pieces for his hair, jacket and claws. The claws are the same as those used on the rest of the Wolverines in the wave. The hair and jacket are new pieces. They are sculpted well, and accurately depict his look from this point in the movie. The paint is well done on the figure. In spite of it not being a default look, I think that the likeness on this Wolverine may be the best Jackman likeness so far. The paint on the coat could possibly be a little better, with so noticeable slop on the edges, but nothing too bad. There’s some great detail work on the pants, with the wrinkles and such all being present. And underneath the jacket piece, there’s also chest detailing, showing Logan in a brown turtle-neck. I don’t recall him wearing it in the movie, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s a nice touch. Yukon Wolvie is rounded out with a pair of spare normal hands and a clear display stand.

NINJA YUKIO

Next up is Yukio, who fills a role that would conventionally be referred to as the “sidekick”, but that doesn’t seem quite right for Yukio. Were it not for the fact that the title of the film was “The Wolverine” I feel like she’d fall more into the hero role. Anyway, she’s depicted here in her “ninja” look, at least according to the package. I’d personally describe it more as a formal look, since it’s what she wears during the funeral sequence. It’s one of her two main looks from the movie, so it makes sense to see it here. Like Wolverine, she’s built on the base Minimate body, and has the standard 2 ½ inces of height and 14 points of articulation. As far as sculpted pieces, there’s her hair, her forearms, her skirt, and here boots. The forearms are shared with Mariko from the specialty wave, the hair was previously used on the Amazing Spiderman Gwen Stacy, and the boots have seen numerous previous uses, including the Urban Yukio from the specialty wave. Near as I can tell, the skirt is a new piece. The paint is all fairly well done, though there is a bit of slop on the hair. The likeness is better here than on the Urban Yukio I feel, but still a bit off. Rila Fukushima, who plays Yukio in the film, has a very uniquely shaped face, which seems to be difficult to translate to the cylindrical Minimate head, so I think Diamond did a pretty good job. Yukio is accessorized with a sword and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was ordered online via tru.com. Unlike Wolverine & Harada, I had no real issues acquiring this one, so that’s good.

I really like this set, it has a really unique Wolverine, and a very well done version of Yukio, who is one of the best characters in the movie. While I don’t think either figure is going to be the definitive version of the character for me, it’s a really fun little set!” 

Real talk?  I don’t really have any notes on this review.  I think I covered the bases pretty well, all of the parts are there, and my point still stands.  I thought it was an okay set then, and I still pretty much feel that way.  So, today’s just enough writing to justify showing off all the updated photos.  Here you go!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0037: Iron Man & The Thing

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , , ,

IRON MAN & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Hey, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, with even more Minimates, I suppose.  I’m going a little bit more themed this week, so at least half of this revisitation of a review is Fantastic Four-themed.  So, let’s look back and Iron Man and The Thing!

Look! It’s more Minimates! Yes, I’ll be looking at even more Minimates, once again from the Marvel line. This time I’ll be looking at a set from the “Best Of” sub series. The idea behind this sub set was keeping the definitive versions of the main Marvel Heroes and villains on the market, while trying to produce the best possible minimates of those looks. I’ll be taking a look at Iron Man and the Thing from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as part of the first “Best Of” series of Marvel Minimates.

IRON MAN

First up is Iron Man. He’s depicted in his classic red and yellow armor he wore for most of the 60s and 70s. Unlike previous minimates of this particular look, the yellow is actually yellow on this one, instead of Gold. Iron Man is built on the basic minimate body, so he’s about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He features a sculpted helmet and belt, as well as sculpted boot and glove cuffs. Paint-wise, the details are all well done, though some of the red paint is a little thin in places, and seems a bit fuzzy on the edges of the boots and gloves. But since those are meant to be covered by the cuff pieces, it’s not really an issue. Iron Man also features an extra left hand in a repulsor pose, a flying stand, and a hairpiece to display him sans helmet. These are all reused pieces, but they work well here.

THE THING

Next is Benjamin J Grimm, The Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing. Ben’s look is a bit more difficult to nail down than IM’s. I think it’s meant to be Ben in his look from the mid 2000s, after he switched back to shorts from pants, but I can’t be certain. The “4” on the belt buckle is throwing me off. Anyway, he’s built on the basic minimate body, but with sculpted hands and feet instead of the regular ones. As such, he stands a bit taller than IM and has 12 points of articulation. In addition to the sculpted hands and feet, Ben’s other sculpted pieces are: Headpiece, upper arms, torso, waist and upper legs. These are all slip over pieces, and have been used on previous Thing figures. With that many sculpted pieces, the paint work on Ben is minimal. He’s got detailing on his face, and on his belt and that’s about it. They’re both clean and well done. Ben also includes a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set when it was initially released, as I already had a few classic Iron Men, and my default version of the Thing is the look John Byrne gave him in the 80s. However, my comic book store was having a sale on minimates, and had these guys for about 40% off, so I decided to pick them up. While the Thing is still not my go to, I think the Iron Man may very well become my new default Iron Man.

Well, it’s certainly review-shaped, now isn’t it?  I feel like I didn’t much commit to much in the way of actual opinion on the figures, and the order of operations is a bit all over the place, but it’s generally okay.  I don’t know.  It’s odd, because this was an early Minimate review, and it was also an Item I’d *just* gotten, but I just wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about these guys.  I’m still not especially enthusiastic about them.  They certainly existed in an era of “buying Minimates because I buy Minimates.”

In regards to the actual review metrics, I should note that in both my original review and the revised version I wrote for Minimates Central, I neglected to mention the shoulder add-ons that Iron Man got, created at the same time as the helmet, belt, glove, and boot cuffs for the Series 25 Classic Iron Man.  They’re rather important to the whole look, and are certainly cool, even if they do sometimes make the arms fall off a little too easily.  Beyond that, things seemed to be pretty much where they were supposed to be.  Otherwise, enjoy the updated photos!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0036: Wolverine – Prisoner & Kenuichio Harada

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE — PRISONER & KENUICHIO HARADA

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Last week’s Marvel Minimates Flashback Friday Figure Addendum went so well, I’ve decided to keep it going.  Honestly, I’ve got things mapped out far enough ahead that I would have kept it going anyway.  It’s my site, and all.  So, I’m going back to the very early days of the site, with a set that’s noteworthy for being the first set of Minimates I reviewed new for the site.  That’s pretty nifty!  Of course, it’s stuff from The Wolverine, so maybe let’s not let “nifty” take us too far.  Anyway, here’s Prisoner Wolverine & Kenuichio Harada!

The Wolverine was released this summer.  It was a sequel to X-Men 3, and it was one of those few times that a movie actually manages to make its predecessor better, not by making it look better by comparison, but by retroactively adding some emotion to a lackluster film.  The Wolverine was not a perfect movie, but it wasn’t bad either.

Like most of the recent Marvel movies, Diamond Select Toys did a selection of figures from their Minimates line in order to tie-in with the movie.  Like previous movies, this one was given a comic book store assortment, and a Toys R Us assortment.  I’ll be taking a look at one of the sets from the Toys R Us assortment today.

The characters featured are, of course, Wolverine himself, and somewhat antagonist, Kenuichio Harada.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Like I said above, these guys were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (PRISONER)

First up is the titular character.  Wolverine is depicted here in his “prisoner” look, which is what he’s wearing during the WWII era flash-backs in the film when he is a POW in Japan.  There’re some important scenes that feature him with this look, so it’s not surprising to see it pop up here.  It’s a bit odd to see it packed with Harada, but it’s not a huge deal.  The figure is once again built on the basic Minimate body, standing about 2 ½ inches tall and featuring 14 points of articulation.  He features sculpted hair and claws and a sculpted belt.  I’m not 100%, but I’m fairly certain that the claws are a reuse from a previous Wolverine.  The other pieces are new, although the hair piece was also used on two of the three other Wolverines in the wave.  Wolvie is mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but the paint still makes up most of the detailing.  It’s well done and fairly intricate.  The face on this version is fairly calm, which is okay, since Wolverine kept pretty calm during the captivity scenes.  The Hugh Jackman likeness is better than some of the one’s we’ve seen in the past, but not quite dead on.  Wolverine includes the sword he was presented by Yashida, a display stand, and three sets of hands:  one regular, one clawed, and one bone clawed.  The Adamantium claws aren’t scene accurate, but I appreciate that they give people the option to choose.

KENUICHIO HARADA

Next is Japanese Hawkeye  Kenuichio Harada, technically an antagonist, but an unwilling one, making him more of an anti-villain.  He’s shown here in his ninja gear from the film, which is what he spends most of his screen time in, so it makes sense.  Like Wolverine, he’s built on the basic Minimate body, meaning he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the standard 14 points of articulation, although his hair restricts the neck joint a bit.  Harada has a sculpted jacket and hair, as well as wrist pieces to simulate the ends of his gloves.  The hair and jacket are new pieces, although the jacket is shared with the Black Clan ninjas also in this wave.  The hair seems a bit off for the character, whose hair was far less bulky in the film.  It looks right in the control art on the box, but something seems to have been lost in translation.  Paint wise, he’s really only got the detailing on his face, which is passable.  The likeness isn’t as good as Wolverine’s, but it isn’t too bad.  Harada is rounded out with his trusty bow, two arrows, an alternate masked head, and a clear display stand.  The Bow and arrows appear to be reused from one of the Haweyes from last year, and the head is identical to the head on the Black Clan ninja.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy.  Hold on tight guys, it’s another tru.com story.  Yeah, so I’m always uncertain as to whether my local TRU will get their exclusive wave, so I tend to order online.  I’ve mentioned before that tru.com has a tendency not to put up pictures or label their sets correctly, making online ordering difficult.  But it’s okay, as long as you have the proper sku code, which allows you to go directly to the corret product page.  And that’s how I ordered this set and the other exclusive set from this wave.  Unfortunately, I seem to be smarter than tru’s online store, as they still sent me Wolverine and Shingen in place of this set.  And that’s not cool because Shingen kinda sucks.  Anyway, I ended up having to drive to my local TRU and exchange it.  Which is what I was trying to avoid.

Oh well, I have them now.  Which is good, because Harada was my favorite character in the film and I’d be bummed to have missed out on him.

Well, I was somewhat complimentary of The Wolverine.  It was still new and fresh in my mind, and Days of Future Past hadn’t come out to reset my expectations of the X-Men movies, so I was rather positive.  I don’t know I’d be as positive now, but admittedly, I haven’t watched the movie since 2013, so it’s hard to truly gauge.  My review’s honestly pretty much spot-on beyond that.  I got the Minimates reviews down pretty quickly, as you can see.  I had personally forgotten a lot of my TRU.com-centered diatribe.  Seven years without them has let me forget how frustrating dealing with them could be.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0035: Mandarins & Dreadnought

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , ,

MANDARIN(S) & DREADNOUGHT

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

You know, for as many Minimates reviews as I wrote in the early days of the site, I haven’t resisted a single one of them for the purposes of a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Oh, sure, I’ve revisited them for *other* sites, but…well, they’re not around anymore.  Sad.  Anyway, here’s a look back at the Dreadnought and the Mandarins!

Today, it’s another look at the behemoth that is Marvel Minimates!  This time, we’ll be looking at Iron Man’s number one foe Mandarin in both his Modern and Classic looks, as well as his villainous robo-minions, the Dreadnoughts.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The two Mandarins and the Dreadnoughts were released as part of the 36th series of Marvel Minimates, in order to tie in with 2010’s release of Iron Man 2.  Modern Mandarin was the regular set, with the Classic version as the one-per-case variant.

MODERN MANDARIN

First up, it’s the look that most would consider the definitive Mandarin, the “Modern” version.  This figure is based on his appearances from roughly the early 90s onward.  As usual for the line, Mandarin is built on the basic Minimate body.  He stands roughly 2 ½ ‘’ tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Instead of regular hands, Mandarin features sculpted claw like hands featuring his ten rings.  Mandarin also has a sculpted hair piece, robe, and sash.  I believe the sash is a reuse from an earlier figure, but the robe and hair are new pieces.  They are well done enough, though with the robe on, Mandarin is pretty much limited to standing with his arms raised, due to the robe’s solid construction.  This is less an issue with the figure itself, and more an issue with translating the design.  The ToyBiz Marvel Legends figure based on this design has the exact same issue.  Regardless, the robe can be removed, revealing a completely detailed torso underneath, if you desire to show off Mandarin sans robe and shirtless.  Whatever floats your boat…

CLASSIC MANDARIN

Next is the alternate look for the Mandarin.  This is the original design for the Mandarin from when he first appeared in the 60s.  I’m much more of a fan of this design and the resulting figure.  I know some people would find this design cheesy, but that’s the Mandarin for me.  Over the top cheesiness.  The figure’s the same basic body, standing about 2 ½ “ tall and featuring 14 points of articulation.  This Mandarin features the same sculpted hands as the previous one, which is fine as they suit the same purpose here.  Classic Mandarin features a sculpted mask, cape, wrist bands, sash/tunic combo, and cape.  All but the mask is reuse here, with the cape comic from Mephisto, the writ guards from Ocean Master, and the sash from Dr.  Strange.  This isn’t a bad thing, though, because all the reused parts work very well for their intended purpose.  The mask is well done, and accurately depicts Mandarin’s mask from the early comics.  Mandarin also includes an alternate hairpiece so that you can show him unmasked.  The detailing on the figure is nice, especially the face, which has a nice crazed expression which really works great for the character.

DREADNOUGHT

Last up is the robotic Dreadnought!  A dreadnought was included with both versions of the Mandarin, which is great for those who want to do the whole army building thing.  Like the other two figures, the Dreadnought was built on the basic Minimate body.  He stands about 2 ½ “ tall and features 14 points of articulation.  In place of the basic parts, the Dreadnought features a sculpted head and hands.  The head is an all new piece, but the hands are a reuse from Viggo the Carpatian.   The Dreadnought also features a set of sculpted boot tops which I believe are a reuse from the Dark Avengers Ares.  The paint is relatively basic, but it is well done.  Plus the metallic blue is just so awesome!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These guys were picked up at their time of release from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix.  I think the Mandarin is meant to be the main draw of these sets, but I actually really like the Dreadnoughts a lot.

You know, it’s an early review, only hitting during the second month of the site, but it’s really not a badly written review, all things considered.  I do, however, have a few notes.

Modern Mandarin was missing his gold wrist bands when I reviewed him, as well as his only accessories, a spare set of hands, the same as his normal ones, but in a pale green instead of flesh tone.  Apparently, these are a reference to when Mandarin lost his hands and had to grow new reptilian ones or something?  Can’t say I’m familiar with the story, but the extras are certainly nice to have.

Classic Mandarin I incorrectly identified as having an alternate hair piece, which he actually did *not*.  In fact he has no accessories at all.  That said, with all of the add-on pieces already used on the figure, he doesn’t feel too light.

The Dreadnoughts accessories were also left out of my original review.  They each get two arm attachments: a blaster arm and a hammer arm.  Both are re-used, with the blaster coming from DC’s Cyborg, and the hammer coming from the Avengers #1 Iron Man, and they offer up some nice customization potential, to keep the Dreadnought army from getting too same-y.

#3840: Janine Melnitz

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

JANINE MELNITZ

GHOSTBUSTERS (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

I don’t talk about Ghostbusters *a ton* here on the site. I love the first movie, and there’s certainly plenty of toy coverage, but it tends to be a little spotty. I really liked Plasma Series and when that ended, I sort of moved on, I guess. The Ghostbusters themselves have always been quite toyetic, but their supporting players are more of a mix. Annie Potts’ Janine Melnitz, present in both original movies and much of the spin-off media, tends to get overlooked, being a receptionist who dresses like a receptionist, and is therefore not super thrilling. She did, however, get a figure from Diamond’s run, so let’s look at that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Janine was released in Series 3 of Diamond’s Ghostbusters line. She’s based on her first movie look, which is a little more reserved and “real world” than her look from II, making it the less likely of the two for toys, typically. The figure is about 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation.  The Diamond figures were 7-inch scale, so they don’t really go with the Mattel or Hasbro offerings, but they do go with other DST offerings, I guess.  Or, maybe Janine is just, like, really tall.  The articulation on this figure is rather on the restricted side.  Obviously, areas such as the legs make a degree of sense, since she’s got the skirt and all.  What’s more surprising is the elbows, which don’t even get to a full 90 degree bend, seemingly for no reason at all.  It makes it difficult to do much with her beyond just standing her there.  Her sculpt proper is decent.  It’s definitely right in line with the rest of the line’s quality, and DST’s 7-inch figures in general.  The likeness on the head is decent, if perhaps somewhat marred by the very thick glasses; they wind up looking quite silly.  The body sculpt has generally okay proportions, but the limbs seem maybe a touch on the long side.  Generally, though, it’s not bad.  You can take her sweater vest off, for a slight change-up of look, if you’re so inclined.  The paint work on Janine is the usual DST affair, so it’s rather thick, and totally covers the figure, with no molded colors.  It hides a lot of the sculpted details, which is a bit unfortunate.  The application is at least pretty cleanly handled, though.  Janine is packed with two sets of hands (in open gesture and…slightly different open gesture), a Chinese food container, a phone, and part of the rooftop diorama.  The hands having no sort of grip or anything makes the rest of the accessories a little bit pointless, but I guess she at least gets *something*.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t pay much attention to this line when it was hitting.  I was too burned by the Mattel stuff, and I didn’t really come back around until Plasma Series hit, and I definitely liked the styling of that one more.  Of course, there was no Janine in that line, which was a bit of a bummer.  Also, I spent a span of about three months listening to Annie Potts’ voice in the Toy Story movies every single morning, and that sort of highlighted the lack of proper Annie Potts representation in my collection, which I just didn’t feel should stand.  So, when this figure was traded in at work, I felt compelled to buy it.  She’s hardly anything amazing, but she’s also not terrible, and she’s certainly good for just standing there, which is what Janine does tend to do best.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3609: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL SELECT (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Fun FiQ Fact #0088:  Moon Knight had three action figures released in 2006, more than doubling his total figure count.

You know, I reviewed a Marvel Select figure on Tuesday, and it was an exceptionally positive review.  The kind of review that makes me feel like Marvel Select is all good all the time, and maybe it’s a line I should pay more attention to.  Gotta put myself back on track, though, right?  Remind myself of the full scope of Select.  So, umm, here’s this Moon Knight figure.  This will certainly go well.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight was part of Marvel Select‘s 2006 line-up.  He’s just at the cutoff of figures in the line that where the prep-work was still being done by Toy Biz, before the reins were handed off to Diamond fully.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  In stark contrast to Cap, who had a quite impressive articulation set-up, this one is…well, not the best.  It marked a step away from the glorified statues of the early Selects, but they hadn’t yet figured out what to actually do with the articulation.  It’s also amusing because there are spots of the sculpt where it clearly looks like a specific type of articulation was intended…and then it isn’t (the knees in particular appear to be meant for double joints, but they’re just singles).  Speaking of the sculpt, this one’s an earlier effort by Paul Harding.  Having seen shots of the original sculpt, I know for a fact it’s a good sculpt, very much inspired by David Finch’s illustrations of the the character from his solo book from right around this figure’s release.  Unfortunately, there’s definitely something lost in translation from original sculpt to final product.  It feels like the separate parts just don’t mesh together quite the right way.  There’s still some strong elements there, but when viewed as a whole, something just isn’t right.  The color work on the figure is passable, if perhaps nothing particularly amazing.  I don’t know how I feel about the grey body suit.  White or black I can dig, but grey feels like it loses some of its punch. It could be worse, and it’s at the very least different from other versions.  There’s at least some fun accenting on the body, which brings out the texturing nicely.  Perhaps the coolest thing about this release is the accessories.  He gets two moonerangs (though he can only hold one at a time), a stone crescent “stand” with no pegs or anything, and, best of all, a statue of Khonshu, which has its own removable staff.  Seriously, the Khonshu statue is just really, really nice.  So nice, you barely notice there’s only half of it there.  It’s, like, the whole selling point.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t collecting Selects when this figure came out.  Honestly, I was just in a different collecting space entirely, what with being 14, and all.  It’s been one of those ones I’ve been searching for since, but I can’t say I’ve been searching very hard.  One landed in front of me at All Time a couple of weeks ago, so that made things pretty easy.  He’s…not great.  Part of it’s age, but even amongst his peers, he’s not great.  That statue, though?  Top notch.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3607: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SELECT (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

Fun FiQ Fact #0086: Captain America makes up 1/8 of all of the Marvel Select reviews here on the site.

You know, I don’t really jump on Marvel Select that much, especially in more recent years, with the crazy onslaught of Marvel Legends product.  I’m not *entirely* out of the line, though, and there are certainly still figures that can pull me back in.  Like, you know, a solid take on a character I love.  Take, for instance, Captain America, who’s no stranger to Marvel Select, and was in fact one of the earliest characters to join the line.  And here he is once more.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is a recent addition to DST’s Marvel Select line, hitting retail just in the last month or so.  He’s a “classic” Cap, the second Cap to be explicitly so in the line.  It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten one, though.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has  34 points of articulation.  Cap is honestly pretty remarkably articulated for a Select figure.  He gets a solid range of motion and a pretty nicely handled articulation set-up.  I’m not 100% how well the articulation is going to hold up over time, as a few of the joints are already a little loose, but for now, it’s a good posing set-up.  Cap’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s a very nice one.  The general vibe of it seems to lean the heaviest into an ’80s Cap design, just based on the more exact details of the costume.  The proportions are a much more natural set-up than prior Select Caps, and there’s less weirdness with the working in of the articulation.  My figure does have one weird quirk, which is that his right bicep is assembled backwards.  It looks a little off, but thankfully doesn’t mess up the articulation too badly.  The standard masked head sculpt is fun; it’s got more of that ’80s Cap vibe, which I definitely dig here.  He’s serious, but not too crazily so.  The paint work on this figure is appropriately patriotic.  Th application is generally pretty clean, the linework is without too much slop, and there’s even some cool accenting on the red sections of the gloves and boots, to make them look like they’re made from a textured material.  I quite like the dark shading on the mask; it gives me Mego vibes and I’m a big fan of that.  One of the coolest aspects of this release is the accessory set-up.  At his core, Cap is a classic take on the character, and gets a standard shield and seven hands (a pair of fists, a pair of flat, a pair of gripping, and a right pointing).  He also gets a larger belt and shoulder harness, for the purposes of modernizing his look a bit.  The shield’s handle is removable, so that it can be placed on his back using the harness.  He’s also got an unmasked head, which is a solid match for the face under the mask, and a corresponding pulled down version of his hood.  And, if you’re not a fan of modern or classic Cap, he also gets an alternate Golden Age-style Cap head, and a proper badge-style shield to match it, granting him a third major look.  That’s a lot of Cap coverage!

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I may not be big on Select these days, but this guy’s interested me since the prototype was shown off.  I heard good word of mouth on him, and got the chance to see him in person while picking up my comics from Cosmic Comix, which was more than enough to sell me on him.  He’s a ton of fun, and certainly the most fun I’ve had with a Select release.  I’m very, very happy with how he turned out.

#3480: Web Armor Spider-Man

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

WEB ARMOR SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Developed in the Empire State University labs, this short-lived protective armor was created by Spider-Man to protect the wall-crawler from powerful projectile bullets and other dangerous attacks.”

First appearing in Web of Spider-Man #100, Spidey’s first iteration of his Spider-Armor was a short-lived one, not even making it to the end of its first appearance.  It’s distinctive design and the rather memorable cover to its one appearance have helped to cement it as a recurring Spidey-variant, leading to its inclusion in a lot of different toylines.  That includes Marvel Minimates, whose take on the design I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Web Armor Spider-Man was an Action Figure Xpress-exclusive Marvel Minimates release, used as a free-with-purchase incentive starting in November of 2007.  They actually had him for a notable amount of time, and he was also eventually released in a TRU-exclusive two-pack, alongside the Thunderbolts Venom, in 2009.  He’s built on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Spidey is a totally vanilla ‘mate with no add-ons, so he relies entirely on paint for his detailing.  It’s a pretty solid paint set-up.  They managed to make the web-lines look distinctly different from the standard printed ones, giving it the impression of dimensions.  He also gets the printing on the feet, which was a rarity at the time, and even more of a rarity going forward.  Apart from the need for the knees to break up the boots due to where the articulation falls, it’s a very nice set-up.  Since he was a promo, Spidey didn’t get any accessories.  Not even that same web piece we got all those times.  Where could I possibly find one of those?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Somehow, despite making orders with AFX a good number of times, I seemed to miss the window on this guy, so I didn’t have him until a very long period of time after his two releases.  I finally managed to snag one as part of the large collection of ‘mates that All Time got in back in 2019.  He’s basic, but he’s fun, and I’m always down for a cool Spider-Armor figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3465: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Dubbed unfit for traditional service, Steve Rogers became the first human trial of the Super-Soldier serum – the success of which boosted his strength, endurance and speed to the pinnacle of human achievement and led him to become Captain America!”

Following the boom in popularity that Marvel as a whole experienced in the wake of 2008’s Iron Man, DST’s Marvel Minimates got some new attention and some new life, and that brought with it the need for some new releases of major characters.  Their quick fix was a pairing of sets, one heroes, one villains, offering up classic versions of some heavy hitters.  Honestly, it wasn’t a terrible set-up.  There was a Captain America involved, and I’m pretty much never upset about that, so I’m taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was part of the four-figure “Heroes to the Rescue” set of Marvel Minimates, released through specialty channels in the spring of 2009, as a pair with the “Bring on the Bad Guys” set with the villains.  While three of the four figures from each set (Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Hulk, in this case) were paired up with their opposite numbers for two-packs in TRU Series 2, Cap and Red Skull were locked into these sets exclusively.  It’s odd in this day and age for Cap to be the one locked behind an exclusive, but it’s where we were.  This marked his eight time as a Minimate, and it was yet another take on his classic attire.  The figure is built on the post C3-Minimate body, with the caveat of using the flappy boots, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Cap has add-ons for his mask, gloves, belt, boots, and shoulder harness.  The gloves and mask date back to his original Series 5 release, the belt and boots came from the “Civil War” set the prior year, and the harness was from the prior year’s “Invaders” Cap.  It’s an interesting mix of parts.  From the neck down, he’s the same build as “Invaders” Cap, with only the mask as a change-up, since the full face mask on the earlier release wasn’t well-received.  The mask doesn’t quite fit right on this one; it seems that a combination of it shrinking and the head being just a touch bigger led to it getting stuck about two-thirds of the way down.  It’s okay, though, because the face seems to have been designed to compensate, and sits higher up than prior versions, so it still *sorta* lines up?  The paint work on this one takes some notes from how the two ’08 Caps had handled their detailing, and tweaks a bit further.  It’s very sharp and clean.  Cap’s facial expression is yelling, in a very Kirby style, which I very much dig.  Under his sculpted belt, he also gets a more streamlined painted one, which is cool, and I really dig the Mego-style painted shadow on the front of the mask.  Cap was packed with his shield (which is back to the original clasp that can go all the way up the arm), an alternate hand for use with the shield, and a hair piece (recolored from Star Trek‘s Captain Kirk) for an unmasked look….if you can ever get the mask off, of course.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on the entire heroes set when these dropped because Cap was the only truly exclusive one, and I didn’t feel I needed another version.  I know.  I read what I wrote, too.  Yes, it does seem insane, doesn’t it?  In my defense, I was still very much a Series 5 Cap purist at the time, and even “Invaders” Cap only got in on the technicality of being a unique look.  Later, I learned to love all Cap Minimates for their own reasons, independent of Series 5 Cap, and the world was a better place.  I wound up getting this one (and a great many other Cap ‘mates) as part of a large Minimates collection that All Time bought back in 2019.  He’s not really much to write home about in light of others in the Cap line-up, but he’s a solid Cap on his own, issues with the mask not withstanding.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3460: Civil War Captain America

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

CIVIL WAR CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Steve Rogers has fallen into a clash with both his government and his friends over the Super Human Registration Act – a battle that will end with his surrender, arrest and ultimately, his assassination.”

Wow, spoilers much?  I mean, yeah, okay, the story is, like, 16 years old and all, but it wasn’t 16 years old then!  …Okay, yeah, Cap’s death was reported by every major news organization the day it happened.  But still!  While it was touted as a big deal in the comics at the time, there was very little in the way of toy coverage for Civil War when it hit, or even very soon after.  The first true tie-in was a Minimates set, which hit more than a year later, in April of 2008.  Marvel was just about to be on the upswing again, and DST was aiming to capitalize on that.  The set covered some of the story’s major players, including the leaders of the two respective sides.  And you know that means a Captain America for your boy Ethan.  Let’s check that one out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Civil War Captain America is one-quarter of the Marvel Minimates Civil War boxed set, which was released April 21, 2008, as an Action Figure Xpress-exclusive offering.  This was Cap’s sixth time as a Minimate, and his second time getting some variation on “Battle-Damaged”.  The figure is built on the post-C3 ‘mate body, and stands about 2 1/4 inches tall, with 12 points of articulation, thanks to the boot pieces.  Cap got add-on pieces for his mask, belt, gloves, and boots, a noted upgrade from the just mask and gloves set-up of the prior versions.  The gloves are the same flared pieces used on the prior Caps, but everything else was all new.  The mask piece is unique to this one, and depicts Cap’s torn up mask from the end of Civil War‘s final battle.  It’s a really nice offering, with a surprising amount of detailing.  His belt and boots were new here, but would be quickly put into service as standard parts for the character going forward.  The boots, in fact, would become the standard Marvel Minimates flared boot pieces.  I never liked them quite as much as the DC Minimates equivalent piece, but they still got the job done.  Cap’s paint work is quite impressive.  He gets the full scale-mail detailing on the torso, plus plenty of damage detailing all around.  There’s quite a lot going on.  This set was one of the first for Marvel to really dive into alternate parts for different looks, so Cap was quite well accessorized.  He got his shield, a pair of handcuffs, two alternate flesh-tone hands, and an alternate hair piece (repurposed from Biff Tannen).  The shield gets quite a bit of very impressive detailing on the front, and is hampered only slightly by the fact that it’s one of the very few times they used the modified shield mount that has to stay at the base of the wrist and can’t move up the arm.  He can at least swap out for one of the ungloved hands to make the whole thing work better, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m *not* a fan of Civil War, so I wasn’t actively hunting down any of the merch from it at the time, but I’ve always liked the look of this Cap in particular.  I just didn’t really want a whole boxed set just for him.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one as part of the very large collection of Minimates that came into All Time back in 2019.  He’s a pretty darn cool ‘mate, even removed from the source material.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.