Tag Archives: Diamond Select Toys

#0702: Ant-Man

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

ANT-MAN

MARVEL SELECT

AntManMS5

Ant-Man was a cool movie. After things went pretty colossal with Age of Ultron, it was kind of refreshing to move back to a smaller scale.  And who better to move back a smaller scale with than Ant-Man, dude who shrinks. That seems downright ingenious. As the latest smash-hit of the Marvel Universe, Ant-Man has found himself privy to more than a few action figures, including Diamond Selects non-Minimates line, Marvel Select.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AntManMS4As noted above, this Ant-Man is a part of the Marvel Select line. There are two different versions of this figure available: a basic one, with just the helmeted head, offered at specialty stores, and one with both helmeted and un-helmented heads, offered exclusively through the Disney Store. I’ve got the Disney exclusive version, because I felt the need to own a tiny Paul Rudd. Just go with it. The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Ant-Man is, obviously, based on his movie appearance, though, like pretty much all of the other movie Ant-Men, he’s based on slightly out of date promotional artwork. This means that a few of the details on the face of the mask are a little bit out of place compared to the final design. Because of this, the figure feels slightly unfinished, or at least the helmet does. However, this is hardly DST’s fault, and at least they didn’t give us the weird half mask thing that Hasbro did. The rest of the sculpt is a bit closer to the final look, and it’s quite nicely handled. There’s plenty of texturing on the suit and the various metal parts look appropriately machined. Due to the interchangeability of the head, the hoses in the back have a tendency to pop out of place, which is really annoying, but ultimately not very noticeable. This figure definitely has the best paint we’ve seen so far on a movie Ant-Man, which is definitely cool. Everything’s pretty cleanly handled, and the gradation on the red parts looks quite good. He also exhibits a greater deal of smaller detailing, especially on the sliver parts, than other Ant-Men. All in all, very solid work. The figure includes the previously mentioned un-helmeted head, as well as three pairs of hands (fists, open gesture, and relaxed), and a miniature version of himself. The extra head isn’t spot-on, but it has a decent Paul Rudd likeness, which is really only held back by somewhat below par paintwork. It’s not terrible, but it could be a little better. The hands swap out easily enough, and are definitely a step up from the other Ant-Men with their permanently splayed hands. Mini Ant-Man is, obviously, not as detailed as his larger counterpart, but he’s got a decent level of detail and looks pretty good.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Ant-Man at the same time as Sunday’s Hulkbuster Iron Man. He was another purchase courtesy of my always amazing parents. When all the various Ant-Man stuff was announced, this was the figure I wanted the most. In the end, he’s definitely the best of the currently available Ant-Men, which isn’t a small (heh!) feat.

AntManMS3

#0699: Jules & Vincent

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

JULES & VINCENT

PULP FICTION MINIMATES

JulesVince1

I’ve previously mentioned here how I am not much of a fan of Pulp Fiction. In the last couple of years, I’ve familiarized myself with most of Quentin Tarantino’s film catalogue, and I’ve enjoyed a few of them quite a bit. However, I just can’t bring myself to Pulp Fiction enough to even make it all the way through the movie. I’ve tried several times, but I just can’t do it. That said, it got Minimates, so I couldn’t completely ignore it, right? Today, I’ll be looking at two of the film’s most definitive characters, Jules & Vincent.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Jules & Vincent were released as a two-pack in the Pulp Fiction Minimates line. In fact, they’re the only two-pack in the line so far, as the rest have all been four-packs. Given that these two are such a distinctive pair, however, it makes perfect sense to offer their main looks by themselves.

JULES

JulesVince3Jules is one of the legendary Samuel L Jackson’s earlier film roles, and it helped to make him as well-known as he is today. He’s also one of the few parts of the movie I could actually stand, so that’s definitely a plus. He’s shown here in his distinctive black suit/black tie look that he sports for the majority of his time in the film. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has the standard 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with add-on pieces for his hair, jacket, and tie, as well as unique hand pieces. The hair is the same piece we saw on the Casual Jules ‘mate I reviewed earlier, though it first appeared here. It’s a good sculpt and it captures the character’s look pretty well. The jacket and tie are both pieces we’ve seen lots of times before; they’re good pieces, so there’s no need to change things up now. The hands are new, and they’re by far the coolest part of the figure (but also slightly annoying. We’ll get to that in a sec.) They’re sculpted holding his “refreshing beverage” and “tasty burger” from the movie. The pieces are stylized just a bit to fit the ‘mate aesthetic, but it’s clear what they’re supposed to be. They’re exceptionally fun pieces, and I hope we see them again. Paint on Jules is pretty decent, though not super intricate or anything. The face is slightly different from the Casual Jules, but still has a great SLJ likeness. The paint on the drink and burger is just a touch sloppy, but pretty good overall. Jules is packed with a handgun, a wallet, and a clear display stand. Remember when I said the hands were slightly annoying? Here’s where that comes in. Even though he’s got accessories he’s clearly meant to be able to hold, he doesn’t actually include a set of normal hands. To DST’s credit, a set of hands for him was included in the following boxed set and you could also have them sent to you by contacting CS, I just haven’t done either of those things.

VINCENT

JulesVince2Vincent Vega is one of the film’s main characters, played by John Travolta, whose career was re-ignited courtesy of Pulp Fiction. Here’s the thing: I don’t really care for John Travolta. Guy rubs me the wrong way. That’s probably a big piece of my dislike of the movie, to be honest. Anyway, here he is. Like Jules, he’s in his definitive suit and tie look. From the neck down, he’s essentially the same as Jules, apart from having normal hands. He makes use of the basic jacket and tie, which are still good pieces. He’s got his own hairpiece, which does a pretty good job of capturing Vince’s slicked back look from the film.  Vince’s paint is pretty straight forward, with the body being pretty simple black and white. The details on the face are nicely handled, and they present an excellent likeness of Travolta, so there’s no mistaking who this is supposed to be. Vince includes a handgun (Same as Jules’), a briefcase, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, if I don’t like Pulp Fiction, why do I keep getting Pulp Fiction Minimates? Well, this one wasn’t really a conscious effort. For their 6th anniversary, Luke’s Toy Store had a special sale, which included grab bags. I picked up a few of them, and this pair was in one (I also got a second, loose Vince in another). Not exactly something I would have picked up on my own, but it’s not a bad set, and I did end up getting them for less than retail. Jules is legitimately a pretty cool ‘mate, and Vince is at the very least well made.

JulesVince4

#0698: Iron Man Hulkbuster

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

IRON MAN HULKBUSTER

MARVEL SELECT

HulkBusterMS1

Iron Man has quite a lot of armors over the years.  Many of them have just been slight updates on the basic day-to-day operations type of armors, but there have also been a fair number of armors that are specialized.  Things like Hydro Armor, Inferno Armor, Space Armor, and, heck, even Samurai Armor.  But the most famous specialized armor by far is the one designed to tackle Bruce Banner’s Jade Giant alter ego the Hulk; the armor most commonly referred to as the Hulkbuster armor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HulkBusterMS2The Hulkbuster armor was released this past summer as a Disney Store exclusive figure from DST’s Marvel Select line.  The figure stands roughly 9 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation (counting the shoulderpads).  Design-wise, the armor is based on the Hulkbuster look of the early 2000s, from around the time of the Extremis armor.  I’m more partial to the 90s Modular design, but this one was fairly prominent for a while, so I don’t mind too much.  The sculpt is a very nice translation of the design into three dimensions.  Its appropriately machined looking and symmetric, which is always nice on an Iron Man figure.  If you want to get really technical, an argument could be made that the figure is a tad undersized to go with the Select figures, but the bulk of the figure is substantial enough that it’s not a big deal.  The biggest issue with the sculpt is the poses on the hands.  One is closed and the other is wide open, and the fingers arent in anyway articulated, so this is a little limiting.  The prototype shots show him with two fists, so it’s likely he was supposed to have interchangeable hands at one point.  Presumably, they didn’t cost out.  While varitey is a nice thing in many cases, I can’t help but feel a pair of fists would have been a better choice here.  The figure’s paint work is pretty strong; the metallic red in particular is quite striking.  Most of the application is pretty good, though there is some bleed over on the transition between red and gold on the waist.  It’s quite minor, so it’s forgivable.  Hulkbuster includes no accessories, but it’s understandable, what with the size.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Hulkbuster here was purchased for me by my parents, from the Disney Store, on my birthday.  Did you get all that?  I wasn’t sure I was going to get this guy innitially, but seeing him in person was enough to sway me.  All in all, he’s got a few flaws, but he’s a lot of fun.

#0697: Green Goblin & Peter Parker/Spider-Man

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

GREEN GOBLIN & PETER PARKER/SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Goblin&Parker1

The line may have made it well past 60 series, but Marvel Minimates had rather humble beginnings. It started with three series, each centered on one of Marvel’s hottest properties of the time. Since there was no guarantee of anything past those three series, quite a few heavy hitters made appearances. The figures were also a lot more simplistic than they are now, making for a very different product. Let’s jump back into the old days of the line with Green Goblin and Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in the second series of Marvel Minimates, which was also the first series to be Spider-Man themed. It was far from the last.

GREEN GOBLIN

Goblin&Parker2You certainly couldn’t bring Spider-Man into Minimates without his greatest foe (aside from Aunt May’s health), Green Goblin! Goblin is presented here in his classic incarnation, pointy shoes, man-purse, and all. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the older Minimate body, which is more or less the same as the current body, with the exception of the longer feet, which are just downright odd to see nowadays. The longer feet are actually hidden by a set of larger boot pieces, which were done in a slip on fashion here, rather than just being a unique sculpt as they would be now. The figure also features add-on parts for his hood/hat thing, a hand holding a pumpkin bomb, and the previously mention man-purse. All of these parts are pretty well handled, and they add up to a pretty decent version of the character. Paint-wise, Goblin is fairly simple, with mostly flat color work. There’s a bit of slop here and there, but nothing too terrible. He has detail lines for his face and belt buckle, which are nice and sharp. The face is definitely more on the cartoony side, but it fits with the style of the time. Green Goblin was packed with no accessories, since DST had yet to brave the goblin glider. Still, with the amount of sculpted pieces here, the lack of any extras seems reasonable.

PETER PARKER/SPIDER-MAN

Goblin&Parker3Given it was a Spider-Man series, it’s not really a shock that a Spidey variant found his way into this set. (In fact, Spidey was in every set in this series). This is probably one of the more unique figures from the series. It depicts Peter as he was sometimes seen, when his spider-sense would kick in while he was out of costume. Typically, it only showed up on his face, but I’m sure it manifested this way at least once. His lone unique piece is the hair for the Parker half of the head, which is actually glued in place, being that pegs had yet to be added on the hair pieces. It’s a perfectly fine sculpt, though it is, unsurprisingly, much more sparse on detail than the more current stuff. It ends up looking a little weird from any angle over than head on, but I don’t know that there’s a way to avoid that. The rest of the detail is handled via paint. For the most part, it’s pretty well handled. The biggest issue the figure faced was slop between the two halves, which gets pretty bad in a few areas. Some people weren’t fans of Peter’s goofy smile, but I kinda like it. Oddly enough, the Spider-Man half is painted in a different manner than the regular Spidey, so no parts were straight re-uses. The figure included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was one of my earliest sets of Minimates. After getting the Yellow Daredevil & Elektra set, and thoroughly loving them, I went back for more, and this and Series 3’s Cyclops & Jean Grey jointly became my second venture into the line. This isn’t the best the first three series had to offer, but I’m pretty sentimental about these guys, even if they’ve become outdated next to newer releases.

#0678: Avengers #1 Boxed Set

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

HANK PYM, GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, & WASP

MARVEL MINIMATES

AvengersFA1

The Avengers may be a hot commodity now, but about ten years ago, they were mostly unknown to the public at large. This meant that they were somewhat absent from the whole merchandising thing. When Marvel Minimates was launched, the Avengers were few and far between, with only a few of the mainstays showing up here and there. Fortunately, things started turning around, right around the release of the first Iron Man. With the announcement of the Avengers Initiative in that film’s stinger, people seemed to be on board for merchandise based around Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. DST met demand by offering a boxed set based on the team’s first appearance in Avengers #1.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hank Pym, Iron Man, Hulk, and Wasp were released as a boxed set in the fall of 2008, based around the first appearance of the team. Thor, the other founding member, was noticeably absent from the pack. He wouldn’t see another Minimate for another year, and his classic design wouldn’t be seen again for another year after that, which proved a bit frustrating for fans just getting into things with this set. This set also has the notoriety of being the final boxed set to be packed in a window-less box.

HANK PYM

AvengersFA3Henry Pym, man of many names, made his Minimate debut with this set. He had the option of being displayed as Ant-Man or Giant-Man, giving fans two of his identities in one fell swoop. Since this was an Avengers #1 boxed set, let’s consider Ant-Man the main look. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. He used the basic Minimate body, with an add-on for his helmet. The helmet was new to this figure, and was also used on the recent Best of Series 3 Ant-Man. It’s a very well sculpted piece, and it manages to capture the comic design of the helmet without looking too goofy. The paint on Hank is nice and bold; the colors are bright, and the line work is pretty clean. The face AvengersFA6under the helmet looks maybe a bit too chiseled for Hank, but it’s not bad. Hank included a separate mask, torso cover, and waist cover to transform him into Giant-Man, as well as a spare hairpiece to allow him to be unmasked. The Giant-Man parts are alright, but not great. They bulk him up a lot, but don’t add any height, so he looks rather off. It’s clear they were trying their best, but he just doesn’t quite work right. The hair is perfectly fine; it’s a re-use from the classic Battlestar Galactica Starbuck, which seems odd for Hank stylistically, but it doesn’t look too bad once it’s in place.

GOLDEN ARMOR IRON MAN

AvengersFA7Iron Man was at the top of his game in 2008, so seeing him turn up in this set was pretty much a guarantee. This was his eighth Minimate that year alone! He presented here in his second armor, which was really just a repainted version of the Mark 1. It’s the armor he was wearing for the first two issues of Avengers, and it’s also a pretty memorable look for the guy. He was built on the usual body, with 5 add-ons: helmet, torso, skirt, and bracelets. The helmet and bracelets were both generic pieces, used on numerous figures around the same time. The torso and skirt pieces were re-used from the AFX exclusive First Appearance IM, released a few years before. That’s a pretty sensible re-use, since they were supposed to be the same armor in-universe. The IM-specific parts are nicely crafted. They don’t have tons of sculpted detail, but the look from the comics is captured well. Paint on this figure is kind of a mixed bag, mostly due to the fact that, in its current state, it really doesn’t represent how it AvengersFA2looked out of the box. The gold paint seems to have not adhered very well to the plastic, resulting in a rather chipped and tarnished looking figure, which is a bit of a disappointment. Subsequent gold-based figures have remedied the issue, but this one is left looking somewhat lackluster. On the plus side, the detail lines are all very well handled, especially on the underlying torso and face, which you don’t even see in the main set-up. Iron Man is packed with a spare hairpiece, for unmasked display, a hammer attachment for his hand, and a spare set of flesh-toned arms so that you can display Tony in re-charge mode.

INCREDIBLE HULK

AvengersFA5He may not have been quite as successful as Iron Man, but Hulk was pretty big in 2008 as well, making him another heavy hitter in this particular set. Hulk is presented here in his purple shorted look, which was rather short(heh!)-lived in the comics, but was the look Hulk had in the two issues this set is based upon. So, it’s an interesting enough variant of the character. The figure has a unique head sculpt, as well as add-ons for the torso, waist, and the infamous “duck feet.” The torso and waist pieces were both re-used from Series 20’s Abomination, and are both rather basic pieces. The head was only ever used on this figure, most likely due to the negative reaction it garnered from fans. It seems to try to capture the more Frankenstein’s Monster-inspired head of the early Kirby Hulk, but it comes out looking a bit lumpy. And then there’s the “duck feet.” They were one of Diamond’s first attempts at adding extra height to figures, and they built up a rather infamous reputation in the Minimate community, due to their general goofiness and lack of adherence to the usual Minimate style. Fortunately, Hulk included a spare set of regular feet, so no one was stuck with the weird ones. Hulk’s paint is decent enough. I think this might actually be my favorite shade of green for Hulk, and I do really like the Kirby inspired line work.

WASP

AvengersFA4Wasp was another character that debuted in this set, though, unlike Hank Pym, she’s yet to actually get a follow up. Which is kind of a shame, since she’s had a boat-load of different costumes over the years. She’s presented here in her original costume, which has gotten a fair number of figures over the years. The figure makes use of 7 add-on pieces, used for her headgear, vest, gloves, skirt, and wings. The parts are a little on the bulky side, especially for Wasp, but they balance each other out pretty well, I guess. The skirt is a lot boxier than later pieces would be, which makes the whole figure look rather stiff. The wings are probably the best part of the sculpt, and they actually do a decent job of replicating the comic look. The paint on Wasp was pretty decent from a design standpoint. The line work is all pretty well laid out,AvengersFA8 and everything. The real issue is in assembly. The figure was clearly assembled before fully drying, so several pieces, the wings in particular, were stuck, almost to the point of breaking. Wasp made out pretty well on the accessories front, including a spare hairpiece, a set of normal hands, an alternate mask, and an extra wing mount so that she can be displayed without the bulky vest piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I actually ended getting a couple of this set when it was released, without even trying. I got one from my friend Lance, and then won another in a contest, and then eventually picked up a few more from Record and Tape Traders at super marked down prices. The set itself is pretty decent, if maybe a bit out of date when compared to more current stuff. Ant-Man and Wasp were definitely the stars here, and they both still hold up pretty decently.

#0667: Captain America TTA Part B

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

WORLD WAR II CAPTAIN AMERICA & ARMORED CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MINIMATES

CapTTA1

“One of these days, I’ll get the other half of the set. I mean, everybody’s gotta have a crazy 90s armored Captain America in their collection, right? How could you not? “
–Ethan Wilson
The Figure In Question #0020: Captain America Through The Ages Part A

Hey guys! Guess what! I got the other half of that set! It totally happened! Aren’t you so excited? I sure am! Without further delay, let’s have a look at the second half of the Captain America Through the Ages boxed set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

World War II Cap and Armored Cap make up the second half of the Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Minimates Captain America Through the Ages boxed set, which was released to coincide with Cap’s return to life a few years back. The other two figures in the set were Reborn Cap and Suspended Animation Cap, who I reviewed here.

WORLD WAR II CAPTAIN AMERICA

CapTTA2This set took a few cues from the Captain America: Reborn series that returned Cap to the land of the living. The default Cap was based on his appearance at the end of the series, and this Cap is based on his appearance early on in the series when he’s reliving his WWII days. It’s not incredibly far removed from his earliest comics appearances, but it has been given a few updates to make it just a touch more “real-world.” The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation (due to the sculpt of the boots). Cap has sculpted add-ons for his helmet, upper torso, glove cuffs, belt, and boots. He shares the boots and glove cuffs with the Reborn Cap in this same set, but other than that all of his pieces are new to him, and as far as I can tell they’ve remained unique. The helmet is a nice update on his original mask design, merged with just a touch of Ultimates styling. It ended up being the inspiration for the film take CapTTA4on the costume, so it looks pretty familiar nowadays. The upper torso is an interesting piece; it applies the more recent change of giving Cap three-dimensional scales on his upper torso and also serves to bulk him up a bit. I’m not typically a fan of the really obvious scales, but in this case it doesn’t look too bad; in fact, it kind of makes him stand out nicely from the crowd. Cap’s paintwork is noticeably more subdued here than on most versions of the character, but it’s definitely true to the design DST’s aiming to capture. It actually looks pretty cool, almost like a faded photo from the 40s. The paint is pretty great overall, with no issues of slop or bleed over to speak of. The underlying face has a nice Jack Kirby feel to it, which is perfect for a WWII era Cap. This version of Cap is packed with his original mighty shield, a spare, more classically inspired mask, and a spare hairpiece to display him unmasked.

ARMORED CAPTAIN AMERICA

CapTTA3From one extreme to the other. Behold, the 90s. Oh joy. In the 90s, Cap’s powers stopped working correctly, leaving him with brittle bones and stuff. So, like all good 90s heroes, he got powered armor. Yay. Here it is, in all its glory. He’s got 6 all new sculpted pieces, which, to date, still remain unique to him. Because no one else would ever touch something this ugly. To their credit, the pieces all do a pretty good job of capturing the design from the comics and translating it to fit on a Minimate body. Truth be told, the blocky nature of the line actually does the design some favors, and he manages to get some pretty great mobility, in spite of the bulky armor. The paintwork on this figure isn’t quite as great as WWII Cap, but it’s not bad. The metallic red works pretty well, and the stretched out A on the head captures the 90s styling pretty decently. And he’s even got a proper grimace under the helmet! There’s a bit of slop around the edges of the torso stripes and the head wings, but neither is horribly distracting. Armored Cap includes his trusty shield, done up to match the armor, as well as a hair piece (which has some pretty bad flashing on the sides. Yikes!)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t break down and buy these two for their inflated eBay prices. I actually had some restraint. I did, however, end up finding a sealed Cap TTA set while at Yesterday’s Fun. And the best part is that it wasn’t much more than retail! So, I got these two guys, along with spares of the other two, which is pretty awesome. This pair is an interesting combination. I fully admit to way underestimating WWII Cap. He might well be the best figure in the set. Armored Cap, though? Well, he’s better than I expected, but he’s still my least favorite. Honestly, I’m just glad to finally have the whole set!

#0665: Casey Jones

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

CASEY JONES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINMATES

CaseyJ1

So, my love of almost all things Minimates and my moderate interest in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles insured that I found myself a full set of the line’s first series. After the first series, my interest kind of waned a bit. Not the fault of the line or anything, I just got distracted by other stuff. I did manage to track down one of the Series 2’s figures, Karai, which I liked well enough. One of the more glaring omissions from Series 1 was long-time Turtle ally Casey Jones, who found his way into the second set.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CaseyJ2Casey Jones was released blind-bagged, as a part of the specialty assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Series 2. He’s also available packed with Michelangelo in the Toys R Us assortment, for those wanting to go the non-blind-bagged option. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches in height and has the usual 14 points of articulation. Like all the others in this line, he’s based on Casey’s appearance in the current cartoon. Casey features a fair number of sculpted add-ons for his mask/hood, straps/shoulder pad, elbow pads, belt, and his padded gloves. The elbow pads are re-used from the Ghostbusters Minimates line, but aside from that everything’s all-new to Casey. Everything is exquisitely sculpted, with tons of detail work, but not so much as to make him look out of place amongst the other Turtles Minimates. The padded gloves in particular look pretty amazing, with some great texture work on the stitching and padding. Paintwork is the downfall of most of the Turtles Minimates, but it seems to have turned out a fair bit better for good ol’ Casey here. For the most part, the base color work is pretty cleanly handled. There’s a little bit of bleed over here and there, but nothing too bad. There CaseyJ7are even a few areas with purposeful slop, which are very nicely handled and add a nice extra bit of character to the figure. The detail lines are all carefully placed, so as to capture the animated style in as few lines as possible. Under the mask, there’s a full Casey face, which is a little bit goofy looking for my taste, but captures the show look pretty well. Casey, like a lot of the Turtles Minimates, is no slouch in the accessories department, featuring an extra head, hairpiece, hands, a pulled down hood, two different hockey sticks, a baseball bat, and a clear display stand. The hair and hood allow for unmasked displays of the character, and the extra head gives us the skull-ish face paint he’s sported on the show. The various sports equipment is kinda key to the character, so it’s cool to see here, and well-sculpted to boot.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After playing the blind-bag game with Series 1 and then trying again with Series 2 and getting Karai, I decided to give up and just get an opened Casey from my favorite Minimates retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Casey’s long been one of my favorite parts of the Turtles mythos, so I was happy to see him turn up in the Minimates line. The final figure is a little different from my preferred interpretation of the character, but he’s one of the better figures this line’s had to offer.

CaseyJ3

#0662: Jubilee & Destiny

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

JUBILEE – STRIKE FORCE & DESTINY

MARVEL MINIMATES

Jubilee&Dest1

Can’t stray from the Minimates reviews for too long, that would just be unorthodox, right? Right. I’ve actually fallen a bit behind on the ‘mate reviews as of late. I totally meant to have the Marvel Minimates Series 60 reviews done quite a while ago. Like, in June. But then I had other stuff going on and they just got away from me. Ooops…. So, let’s wrap this Series up by looking at the last set, Jubilee and Destiny.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as part of the 60th Series of Marvel Minimates, and follows the series’ general X-Men vs Brotherhood theme. This set was this particular series’ resident shortpack, and it’s also the only set in the series not to offer a second X-Man.

JUBILEE – STRIKE FORCE

Jubilee&Dest2This figure marks Jubilee’s third entry in the Marvel Minimates line, which is a surprising number for a character who was only in the public eye for a single decade. But hey, 90s X-Men, what are you gonna do? Jubilee, like the rest of this series’ X-Men, is presented here in her Strike Force uniform. It’s not really one of her standard looks, but she fits with the rest of the team. The figure stands 2 ½ inches tall and sports 14 points of articulation. She has sculpted parts for her hair/sunglasses, gloves, and leg straps. The uniform parts are the same as the rest of the X-Men; they’re good matches for the source material and are very nicely sculpted parts. At first glance, I thought the hairpiece might be re-used from X-Force’s Boom-Boom, but it’s all new. There are two pieces: one with the glasses down and one with them up. Jubilee wore them both ways pretty consistently, so the option is definitely appreciated. Both pieces are quite nicely sculpted. The glasses are straight and symmetrical and the hair has a nice dynamic flow to it. Jubilee’s paint is a bit on the spotty side. The detail lines are all clean, especially on the face, so that’s alright. The real issue is on the breaks between the yellow and blue portions of the costume, which are really sloppy. She also has the same belt buckle issue as the rest of this series’ X-Men, but at least their consistent. In addition to the spare hairpiece, Jubilee includes a pair of energy pieces to clip on her hands and a clear display stand.

DESTINY

Jubilee&Dest3Destiny was a longtime member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but she’s been entirely absent from the world of toys. So, this is not only her first ever Minimate, but also her first ever action figure, period. That’s pretty nifty. She’s built on the standard Minimate body, so she has the same height and articulation as Jubilee. Destiny features two additional sculpted parts: her mask and her cape. The mask s the same simple mask piece we’ve seen so many times before. It does the job alright, but I wouldn’t have minded getting a mask that replicated Destiny’s more distinctive head shape. The cape is the same as that seen on the AvX boxed set’s Scarlet Witch. It’s a nice piece with a simple but elegant flow to it. Destiny’s paint is much nicer than Jubilee’s. The colors are great, and everything stays where it’s supposed to. Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face, which features a ton of line work, effectively conveying the elderly Destiny. Destiny is packed with a spare hairpiece (re-used from Series 45’s Maria Hill) and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two are the last piece of the full set of Series 60 I purchased via Big Bad Toy Store. This set is pretty well handled. Jubilee has a few issues with paint, but otherwise she’s a pretty decent version of a fairly essential member of the 90s X-Men. Destiny steps things up in terms of quality, which is nice. She’s not the most exciting figure ever made, but it’s cool to finally have her.

90sXMenMates

#0660: Spartan ODST & Active Camouflage Arbiter

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

SPARTAN ODST & ACTIVE CAMOUFLAGE ARBITER

HALO MINIMATES

ODST&Arbiter1

What’s this? Halo Minimates? Surely this must be a guest review! Nope, it’s still good ol’ Ethan, doing what he does best. I’ve been steadily getting more and more into the Halo games, which has done a great job of making me check out all of the tons of Halo merch from over the years. Not surprising anyone, one of my first purchases was a set of Minimates.  What a shock. So, let’s have a look at the Spartan ODST and Active Camouflage Arbiter.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in the second series of two-packs in the Halo Minimates line, which were released exclusively at Toys R Us.

SPARTAN ODST (BLUE)

ODST&Arbiter2The Spartans are the bread and butter of the Halo franchise, so they cropped up quite a bit in these sets. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 12 points of articulation (due to the boots). This particular Spartan has the basic Spartan Mark IV armor, but features the ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) helmet. The ODSTs are themselves not Spartans, just normal guys who assist the Spartans throughout the games, but in Halo 3 (and Halo: Reach) you can customize your Spartan to wear one of their helmets. The figure has quite a few add-ons; ten in all. They are the helmet, torso, shoulder pads, gloves, belt, thigh armor, and boots. The body armor is all the same as the various other base Spartans in the line. It’s quite nicely detailed and fitted pretty nicely to the Minimate body. It’s a little on the bulky side, but that sort of comes with the territory. The helmet is the same one used on the ODST Rookie and the three other Spartan ODSTs. It’s pretty decently handled and matches up well with the armor on the body. If I’m being a bit picky, the visor seems a little thin, but other than that, it’s pretty great. Paint was pretty key on a lot of the Spartans, as it was the main thing that differentiated all of them. This one is, as noted by the name, blue, which is a pretty striking color for a Spartan. The blue is nice and bold and cleanly applied. The gold on the visor is a little sloppy on the edges, but not atrocious. The figure also has some pretty cool detailing on the black under suit, which keeps the figure from being too basic. The Spartan ODST included a battle rifle (which, according to my resident toy gun expert Tim is a Halo 3 battle rifle).

ACTIVE CAMOFLAGE ARBITER

ODST&Arbiter3The Covenant Elite certainly don’t intend to let the Spartans have all the fun, not even in the whole “having the main character” department, so, behold, the Arbiter, the second best thing to come out of Halo 2 (after dual-wielding). One of the neat things about the Elite is that their base armor ability is Camo, which makes sneaking around pretty darn easy. This figure replicates that effect. He’s a little taller than the Spartan and has a whole 13 points of articulation, thanks to an extra point at the neck. The Arbiter has 12 non-standard sculpted pieces: helmet, head, neck, chest piece, shoulders, hands, leg armor, and feet. All of these pieces are the same as those used on the other two versions of the character, but that’s certainly not a bad thing, especially for consistency’s sake. The pieces are all very nicely sculpted and they make the Arbiter look sufficiently alien in comparison to a normal ‘mate. It’s a little hard to see some of the sculpted details on this guy, but they’re definitely there and they look pretty cool. Arbiter doesn’t have much in the way of paint, what with being all clear and such, but he does have some faint linework representing his face under the helmet, which is definitely a nice touch. The figure is packed with a pair of energy swords, because what else would you pack with the Arbiter?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Odd as this might be, I pretty much entirely missed out on Halo Minimates when they were at retail. That said, this is actually my second set of them (I got my first on clearance at Toys R Us, based solely on the fact that they were Minimates). I found this set (along with way too much other stuff) at Yesterday’s Fun, while on vacation. I really like this set because it has two of my favorite things, the Arbiter and ODSTs! It’s actually a pretty fun set!

#0652: Vasquez & Battle-Damaged Alien

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

PVT VASQUEZ & BATTLE-DAMAGED ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

VasquezXeno1

The first wave of Toys R Us exclusive Aliens Minimates have the notoriety of being one of the few  series in recent years not to get any purely exclusive sets. Instead, the series is a “Best of” series of sorts, being used to bridge the gap between Series 1 and 2 of the main line. It also gives us our first look at two of the Marines who will be showing up in Series 2. One of the two is Smartgunner Vasquez, packed facing off against another pesky Xenomorph.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as a Toys R Us exclusive set, though, as with Hudson, Vasquez will be appearing in Series 2 as well.

PVT VASQUEZ
VasquezXeno2Vasquez is one of the movie’s two Smartgunners. We got the other half of the pair, Drake, in Series 1. However, Vasquez is definitely the more central of the two, so she was the one everyone was waiting for. Like Hudson, this same figure (more-or-less) should be turning up in Series 2 of the specialty assortments. Pvt. Vasquez features additional sculpted parts for her hair/headpiece, and her chest piece. The chest piece is the same as the one used for Drake, which is sensible re-use, since they had the same armor in the film. She still has the standard issue shoulder lamp, though it has some difficulty staying put, which is rather annoying. The hair/headpiece is new to Vasquez and…well, it’s not quite as good as I’d hoped. The hair seems to be too bulky and to sit too high to accurately depict the close-cropped hair the character sports in the film. If it were just a smidge on the smaller side, I think it would look a lot better. I’m also disappointed to lose the articulated eye-piece, as that was one of my favorite things on Drake. The thing about the sculpt is that it’s really hard to get an accurate read on the quality, mostly due to…the paint. The paint on this figure annoys me. It’s not sloppy. In fact, it’s quite clean and sharp. Her fatigues are nicely detailed, and her armor has most of the appropriate graffiti. I’m also glad to see they got her skin tone correct. I like having a diverse VasquezXeno7selection of skin tones. So, what’s wrong? Well, for starters, her hair is just the wrong color. Yes, Jennete Goldstien has red hair. However, she very definitely didn’t have it while playing Vasquez. The hair here is far too light to be accurate. Also, her face, while well-rendered, is too low-set, making the hairpiece look even higher up than it already is. Also, she’s got lipstick, which isn’t accurate, and her expression is far too friendly to ever be Vasquez. As far as accessories go, Vasquez makes out alright. She includes the smartgun, which is the same as Drake’s, and works just as well here as it did there. She also has a spare hairpiece, without the headset, but it has the same issues as the main piece. Lastly, she has the now standard clear display stand.

BATTLE-DAMAGED ALIEN

VasquezXeno10Oh boy, another Alien! Yeah, it’s cool that they keep making them available, but there’s really only so much you can say about what’s essentially the same figure over and over. So, like all its alien brethren before it, the Battle-Damaged Alien has sculpted parts for its head, torso, tail, hands, and feet. This one’s a little different from the last two versions of the Battle-Damaged Alien; he’s been given the closed-mouth head. That’s different enough. Aside from that, the rest of the pieces are all the same Xeno parts we’ve seen before, though that’s certainly not a bad thing. Have you seen the other Battle-Damaged Aliens? Good, then you’ve seen the paint on this one too. It’s Identical. I still wish that DST would mix up the blood splatters a little bit, but I guess that won’t be happening. This Alien includes a clear display stand AND a newborn Alien. Well, the newborn could really go with either of the figures in the set, but I figured, since Vasquez had other stuff, it made sense to put it here. It’s a fun little piece, with a surprising amount of detail. It’s a cool pack-in!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, yeah, I was gonna wait on Hudson and Vasquez, but…I didn’t. That worked out okay for the last set. This set? I’m not gonna lie, it was disappointing. Vasquez is supposed to be the draw here, but she’s rather weak. After the slam dunk that was Drake, it seemed like this one should be no trouble for DST, but that didn’t prove true. Perhaps the Series 2 release could fix the hair color, at the very least, but it’s nigh-impossible that we’ll see the sculpt of the hair fixed. It’s a shame because, from the neck down, this is a tremendous figure, but that head really drags the whole thing down.

VasquezXeno9