Tag Archives: Disney Plus

#3243: She-Hulk

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

SHE-HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Attorney Jennifer Walters’ life is forever changed when she suddenly gains Hulk-like powers after an accident exposes her to the blood of her cousin, Bruce Banner.”

Oh man, remember when She-Hulk totally ruined the MCU forever and ever with no chance of it ever being fixed ever at all?  Me either.  Actually, what I more recall was actually really liking the show, pretty much from start to finish.  Yeah, I liked a thing.  It’s the worst thing ever, right?  How could I?  She-Hulk was honestly a pretty pitch-perfect adaptation of the character through all of her various runs in the comics, and a fantastic showcase of Tatiana Maslany in the lead role of Jen Walters.  She-Hulk’s been present in Marvel Legends since the very early days of Hasbro having the license, with a handful of updates to her in the last few years.  The latest is, of course, based on her MCU incarnation, hot on the heels of her show’s first season wrapping up.  Let’s see how that one turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

She-Hulk is figure 3 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the final single-release figure in the set, and, like yesterday’s Ms. Marvel, she’s the only figure from her show.  Hopefully, there will be a little more follow-up to this one, since the show has so many other cool looks to offer.  Jen is seen here in her hulked-out form, sporting her “hero” suit, which was the one used for all the marketing, and is also the most action-oriented of her designs from the show.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on She-Hulk is honestly the best in this whole assortment of figures, especially in terms of merging form and function.  The pinless double joints for the elbows and knees really work well, and I especially love the way the motion works on the ankle joints.  There’s a bit of restriction on the neck joint, which is really a design thing, but that’s really the only issue.  She-Hulk’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and it’s again probably the best in the series.  The face has got a fantastic likeness of the hulk-ified Tatiana Maslany, and honestly looks a little bit more realistic than the actual show model did.  The hair’s got a good weight and flow to it as well, and showcases the proper volume, which is an improvement on the other hair sculpts from this series.  The body sculpt has a very nice, very balanced set of proportions, with a realistic detailing to her various muscle groups.  Her outfit sports some really strong texture work, and matches up well with the design as seen in the show.  The color work on She-Hulk is definitely the boldest and most-eye-catching of this round of figures.  The greens are largely molded color, with paint work on the face and her outfit.  The face is printed, and looks spot-on.  The outfit’s a little bit sloppier in its application, but overall not terrible.  Shulky is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open flat) as well as the left leg of the Infinity Ultron Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I addressed in the intro, I did the forbidden thing of actually liking She-Hulk.  In fact, I liked She-Hulk a lot.  I was also actually quite a fan of her show design, and the fact that it means we get a new She-Hulk figure is just icing on the proverbial cake.  This figure’s definitely in the top two for this assortment for me, and given that the other one is a Moon Knight figure, that’s pretty high praise from me.  She’s a very well put-together figure, and is honestly the best She-Hulk out there, topping even the comics versions.  Now, about getting that proper John Byrne version….

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.

#3242: Ms. Marvel

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

MS. MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Kamala Khan is 16 years old, good at school, and bad at fitting in. But when she unexpectedly develops super-powers, she’ll learn that what makes her different makes her powerful.”

Introduced in 2014, partially as a way to hang onto the “Ms. Marvel” title after Carol Danvers got promoted to Captain, Kamala Khan’s been something of a breakout character for Marvel.  She’s been consistently headlining her own comic since her launch, and rather quickly made the jump to both animation and video games.  Just this year, she also made her debut in the MCU, with her own self-titled Disney+ show.  Iman Vellani’s turn as Kamala was absolutely the highlight of the show, and I’m looking forward to seeing her interacting with the rest of the MCU in The Marvels.  Until then, I guess I’ll just make do with her Legends equivalent, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel is figure 2 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the only figure from her show in this line-up, and is more than likely the only figure we’re likely to get from her show in general, since there aren’t a ton of toyetic designs to adapt.  This marks Kamala’s third time as a Legends release, which isn’t bad at all for a more recent addition to the lexicon.  She’s sporting her full costume from the show’s finale, which is honestly one of the MCU’s best adaptations of a comics design.  Apart from some slight punch-up on some of the line-work, and swapping the boots for sneakers.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s got one of the more restricted articulation schemes for this assortment; part of it just comes down to design, since the skirt, long hair, and scarf all provide a fair bit of restriction.  It’s not awful, just not quite up to the very impressive standards of the rest of the assortment.  Ms. Marvel is sporting an all-new sculpt, and it’s not bad, but it’s not one of this set’s strongest, at least in terms of accuracy.  The likeness on the headsculpt doesn’t have much of Iman Vellani in it; the face doesn’t seem round enough, and the lines make her look a fair bit older than she should.  The hair is also rather flat, which doesn’t help the shaping issues.  The body is also a bit on the skinny side (a common theme for the women in this assortment, honestly), which only further highlights the issues with the likeness.  The actual detail work isn’t bad, though.  There’s a lot of decent texturing and sharp line work; at the very least, the costume design is pretty accurately handled.  Ms. Marvel’s color work is generally decent, but not quite 100%.  They went for metallics on the suit, which isn’t bad, but it winds up a little bit muddied in practice.  The golds in particular are a bit too dark, which I think just really throws the rest of the look off.  Just not quite enough pop there.  The application on the paint is at least pretty cleanly handled, and the whole thing does have a nice polish to it.  Ms. Marvel is packed with two sets of hands, in gripping and fists, as well as the torso and cape of Infinity Ultron.  Curious that she didn’t get any energy effects pieces, but I suppose they didn’t want to poke that particular bear again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve brought up before, I’ve been following Kamala since her first appearance in the comics, and I thoroughly enjoy the character, so I was definitely down for her being added to the MCU.  Her show didn’t quite click with me the way some others have recently(but I’m not really in its target audience, so that’s totally okay), but as I mentioned in the intro, Iman Vellani’s performance in the lead role was still really, really strong.  Unfortunately, in terms of the toy coverage, this one’s not quite it.  It’s not a bad figure, but it’s not a particularly accurate figure, and it just doesn’t stick the landing for me the way the comics version did.

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.

#3239: Sharon Carter

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

SHARON CARTER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In hiding after breaking the Sokovia Accords, Sharon Carter inevitably finds herself entangled in Sam and Bucky’s globe-trotting fight.”

Sharon Carter was introduced in the comics, rather shallowly perhaps, as a love interest for Captain America in the “modern era” of the ’60s.  She was originally the younger sister of Cap’s WW2 love interest Peggy Carter, before the sliding timeline necessitated her becoming Peggy’s niece, and eventually grand-niece.  Since Peggy is a far less present character in the comics, that allowed Sharon an opportunity to grow far beyond her role as simply love interest to Steve, making her quite an in-depth character in her own right.  When Emily Van Camp was cast as Agent 13 (who was not actually confirmed to have any relation to Peggy in her first appearance in The Winter Soldier), there was clearly a plan to carry forward much of her comics arc, but thanks to the movies deciding to make Peggy a far more fleshed out character on her own, Sharon was left without quite as much to do.  The Falcon and The Winter Soldier brought Sharon back, and gave her a new role, perhaps divergent from her comics counterpart, but nevertheless intriguing.  And, after presence in two movies and a TV show, she’s gotten a Marvel Legend!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sharon Carter is figure 6 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s a little bit of an odd-ball in this assortment, as not only the only figure from Falcon and The Winter Soldier (largely covered in the first Disney+ assortment), but also as the only figure in the set from pre-What If…?.  She’s specifically based on her incognito look from Madripor, but given the general loose structure of her usual attire, she can kind of work in a few different settings.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Sharon’s articulation scheme is honestly kind of behind the times.  In fact, her whole sculpt is kind of behind the times, which is curious, because, as far as I can tell, this is the first time we’ve seen any of it.  She’s still got single universal style joints on the elbows, exposed pins at the knees, and a rather restricted ball-joint set-up at the neck and mid torso, all of which points to older sculpt.  Sharon is, of course, the oldest source material in this batch by a bit, but it still doesn’t track, because even being a year and a half removed from the rest of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier figures, they all had more modern articulation schemes.  And what’s even more confusing is how specific Sharon’s sculpt is to that one appearance in the show.  This is very clearly Sharon from when they’re all exploring the storage containers in Madripor, and the details of her outfit all directly match-up, so this is not re-used.  It’s weird.  It’s not an awful sculpt, all things considered.  The likeness on the head is a respectable match for Emily Van Camp in the role, and the detailing on her outfit is pretty solid work.  She’s perhaps a touch too skinny, especially on the legs, but it’s pretty minor.  Sharon’s color work is largely rather basic, witch mostly molded colors.  The hair and face get the most involved work, and they honestly work the best, giving her a rather lifelike appearance.  Sharon is packed with her baton, a knife, and the head of Infinity Ultron.  The baton’s a decent piece, and it seems like she’s lacking any sort of gun for licensing reasons (which happed with the other TFATWS figures), but the knife is just straight up goofy.  It’s so cartoonish and flat; it’s not like they don’t have other knife sculpts sitting around, so why they went with this, I don’t know.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sharon was the odd-ball in this round for so many reasons.  Her reveal was held off for a surprisingly long time, given how it wasn’t tied into any spoilers or reveals like the others, and she’s two series removed from the rest of her set.  Add in that she’s got this very old-feeling sculpt, and it feels like she was maybe a sculpt that had been sitting around for a while that got moved up when something else had to get dropped?  I don’t know.  I’m happy to have a Sharon figure finally, though, so I’ll consider it a win, and even if she feels a little out of date, she’s not a bad figure at all.

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.

#3238: Kate Bishop

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

KATE BISHOP

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Uncomfortable with her wealthy birthright, rebellious Kate Bishop’s well-meaning determination sets her on a collision course with her Super Hero idol, Hawkeye.”

Initially introduced in the pages of Young Avengers, Kate Bishop became the second Hawkeye when granted the title by Captain America, who passed it to her during a period when Clint Barton was dead.  When Barton inevitably returned to the land of the living, he initially attempted to take the title back, but ultimately agreed to share, and it was brought to the forefront for Fraction and Aja’s run on Hawkeye, which placed Kate as a deuteragonist. Disney+’s Hawkeye show followed suit, and introduced Kate into the MCU as Clint’s successor to the mantle of Hawkeye.  And, in the process, she even got her second ever action figure, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kate Bishop is figure 4 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends, where she’s the second of the two Hawkeye figures.  This marks Kate’s second time in Legends form, following up on the multi-pack release for her comics counterpart from 2016.  Like the Clint figure, Kate’s seen here in her finale attire, which seems inspired by her earlier Young Avengers gear.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.  Her movement scheme is actually pretty solid.  She gets butterfly shoulders, which we pretty much never see on female figures, but are a great help on the archery poses.  And, in contrast to Clint, she gets a ball-jointed mid-torso joint.  It doesn’t offer quite as much forward and back as the ab-crunch, but it has side-to-side movement, which offers a good deal more variety to her posing.  She’s got the pinless construction for the elbows and knees as well, which adds to her feeling of advanced motion.  Kate’s sculpt is an all-new one, done by sculptor Eddie Mosqueda Jr.  The sculpt is a pretty strong one overall.  The head’s not *quite* a spot-on likeness for Hailey Steinfeld; the face is perhaps a touch too thin, I think; however, it’s close enough that the context sells who it’s supposed to be.  The body sculpt does a rather nice job of capturing Kate’s adventuring gear from the show, with all of its differing textures and folds and such. The costume details also match up quite well with her show design, which is always nice to see on the MCU figures; obviously there was a more finalized design to work from here. The body’s proportions are again just a touch skinny for Steinfeld, but they’re far from the ridiculous proportions we’ve seen in the past; she still looks like a real person.  The color work on this figure is generally not bad; the colors seem a little bit more saturated on the figure than they were in the show, but it’s more than likely it’s a lighting thing.  It’s also a lot of purple, which always looks way different in photos than in person.  The paint application all looks decent enough; there’s a few small spots of slop, but nothing major, and the face printing is on point as always.  Kate is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and relaxed), her bow, and the left leg of the Infinity Ultron Build-A-Figure.  The hands are notably a different selection than she was initially shown with, which was two fists, and a gripping/open gesture combo.  I’m not entirely sure why this changed, but I honestly prefer what we got, so I don’t mind.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been following Kate in the comics since her earliest appearances, and I loved what Fraction and Aja did to work her and Clint into a story together.  I was also really happy when she was confirmed for the solo series, and even more so when I heard they’d cast Hailey Steinfeld, who I feel was a great choice for the role.  The show made her one of my favorite new additions to the MCU, and I’ve definitely been looking forward to the figure.  Like Clint, she’s not quite perfect, but she’s still a lot of fun.

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.

#3237: Hawkeye

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

HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hawkeye’s only shot at taking down a dangerous criminal conspiracy is an unlikely new partner: Kate Bishop.”

Lest I just fall into a pattern of opening all of my Marvel Legends reviews with song lyrics, I opted to not open this one with the lyrics to “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”  I mean, I suppose it would have been at least slightly appropriate, what with the actual time of year, and the fact that Hawkeye was largely set at Christmas time.  But, I’ve not done it.  Instead, I’ve just spent far too much time talking about a thing I’m not doing.  Yikes.  Moving on.  After playing second fiddle to the rest of the Avengers for most of his movie run, Clint Barton finally got his own central focus in his self-titled Disney+ show, which dropped a year ago this week.  Though perhaps not the MCU’s most subversive or unique offering, it was certainly a fun adventure story, and a good emotional send off for Clint.  It’s also a good excuse to finally give him just a little bit more toy love, which I’m taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkeye (or, more accurately, “Hawk-guy”) is figure 5 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends.  This assortment is an entirely Disney+ based set, divvied up between the various Marvel shows, and Clint is the first of the two Hawkeye-based figures.  He’s based on his LARPer-designed costume from the end of the show, which is a pretty close recreation of his long-sleeved David Aja look.  Still no mask, but that’s a battle I’ve accepted we’re never going to win as far as Renner Hawkeye is concerned.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this guy is generally pretty decent, though not quite as advanced as other recent figures.  He’s still using the standard ab-crunch, rather than the ball-joint set-up, but he does also get butterfly joints at the shoulders, as well as movement at the top and bottom of the neck, which is some pretty solid movement, especially compared to prior MCU Hawkeyes.  Hawkeye’s sculpt is an all-new one, done by sculptor Rene Aldrete.  Clint’s honestly not had the best selection of Legends sculpts, so this one definitely had some ground to cover.  It’s not perfect, but it’s a marked improvement on what we’ve gotten before.  The facial likeness is certainly the best version of Renner we’ve seen at this scale.  It’s not 100% there, but it’s pretty close, and the detailing for the bandaging on the forehead is a particularly nice touch.  The neck’s definitely a touch too long, but past that, the body’s proportions are actually pretty nicely balanced.  The detailing on his outfit is all nice and clean looking, and the folds and creases help to really sell the real-world look for him. I also really dig how you can make out his boots underneath of his pants legs.  The paintwork on Hawkeye is largely pretty basic.  There’s a fair bit going on for the face, but it’s otherwise some standard color work for the purple and the flesh tones.  Nothing crazy, but it works.  Hawkeye is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/open gesture combo), his bow, a removable quiver, and the arm to the Infinity Ultron Build-A-Figure.  The hands provide some decent variety, and I like the little touch of the wrapping on the handle to the bow.  The quiver’s also got a full stock of arrows, which is more than can be said for other movie Hawkeyes.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been hoping for a decent Renner Hawkeye pretty much since he was introduced.  I’ve not been successful in that hope up to this point.  I was rather disappointed that we didn’t get him from Civil War, since that was my favorite of his film looks, but I did also dig the design from the show, as well as its general focus on giving Clint’s MCU counterpart a bit more depth.  This guy isn’t perfect, but he’s easily the best MCU Hawkeye we’ve gotten in Legends form, and he sure is a lot of fun.

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.

#3234: Mr. Knight

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

MR. KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“An expert on ancient Egypt, Steven Grant is thrust into action as Khonshu’s avatar, Mr. Knight, relying on his keen mind to enact his master’s will.”

Ohhhh! Every day I wake up, then I start to break up, lonely is a man without love!  Every day I start out, then I cry my heart out, lonely is a man without love! ….Are you guys tired of this yet?  Because, I can keep going.  Maybe I’ll just start every review with that.  You know, kick off every day with a with a little bit of Englebert?  No?  Yeah, okay, that’s fair.  Hey, how about just a little bit more Moon Knight?  There sure is a lot of Moon Knight stuff these days, and I’m on board for pretty much all of it, which translates to plenty for me to review here.  So, for the second day in a row, let’s have a look at a Moon Knight!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr. Knight is figure 1 in the the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends, which is, as noted yesterday, a Disney+ themed series.  He’s the second of the two Moon Knights in the set, and is, as mentioned in the bio, based on Steven’s powered up version, which is itself based on Declan Shalvey’s fancy-suited design for the character from the 2014 re-launch.  It marks the first time that the look has actually been translated into Legends form, though it’s supposedly been on the books since before we got the armored version in the Vulture Series.  Obviously, the figure’s patterned specifically on the show interpretation of the look, but there’s enough wiggle room for it to work either way.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  He’s structurally built pretty heavily on re-used parts from the Coulson suit body.  I’m gonna be honest, it’s a body that was decent for its time, but it’s kind of starting to show its age.  To try an update it at least a little bit, Hasbro’s fitted it with a new head, neck, tie, coat overlay, and legs.  The new head gives us his distinctive mask; it seems a little bit on the small side, but there’s at least a decent set-up with the texture work.  The new neck piece is similarly a little bit small, but the texturing matches well with the mask.  The new tie piece is likewise far more textured, capturing the unique patterning of his neck wear from the show.  The jacket piece features both the jacket and its underlying vest, with a lot more going on from a detailing standpoint than on prior pieces.  His new leg pieces aren’t drastically different than the previous ones, but now feature the pinless joints at the knees.  The feet, in contrast to the head, do seem a touch on the large side.  Not like clown shoes large or anything, but noticeably on the larger side.  Paint is rather sparse on this guy, as he’s almost entirely molded in white.  He does get just a little bit of accenting for his eyes and the buttons on his vest and jacket.  It’s enough for a visual pop, but he keeps the clean white look from the show.  Mr. Knight is packed with two sets of hands in fists and gripping poses, as well as his pair of eskrima sticks, which, it should be noted, are two distinctly different pieces, as they were in the show.  That’s impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, there’s no way I could get one Moon Knight and not get the other.  The Mr. Knight look has been curiously absent from the toy world, and I’ve been waiting to see it show up somewhere.  This one…well, I overall like him.  That’s the most important thing.  That said, some of the specifics I’m not so keen on.  The arms on the old mold are kind of rough, and the new parts do wind up looking a touch piecemeal when placed together.  Ultimately, I was expecting to like him just a *touch* more than I ultimately do, but I still like him a lot.  And it’s another Moon Knight.  Gotta have another Moon Knight.

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.

#3233: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Clad in the ceremonial armor of Khonshu’s chosen warriors throughout the centuries, Marc Spector is Moon Knight, sworn to obey Khonshu and deliver his vengeance accordingly.”

Ohhhh! Every day I wake up, then I start to break up, lonely is a man without love!  Every day I start out, then I cry my heart out, lonely is a man without love!  …Wait a minute…this all seems very familiar.  Have I been here before?  Yes, yes I have.  Because I totally did this bit at the start of the last Moon Knight review.  But it was also pretty funny, and I was kinda proud of it, so I decided to do it again.  So, you know, there you go.  When last I was discussing Moon Knight, I brought up how thrilled I am about the character going mainstream.  There’s just so much more Moon Knight love going around, and I really am all for that.  It’s, of course, very much centered around the show, and I loved that too.  We’re just now starting to see the main push of actual show tie-in stuff.  I already got all the Pops (yes, Moon Knight got me to buy a whole set of Pops), but they’re not all that thrilling to review.  Marvel Legends, on the other hand, are an entirely different story!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is part of the Infinity Ultron Series of Marvel Legends, which is another Disney+ inspired round of figures.  Moon Knight is the unnumbered, no Build-a-Figure, double-pack figure for this assortment, which, given his newfound popularity, feels appropriate.  He’s actually one of two Moon Knights in the set, with this one being based specifically on the Marc personality’s powered-up look.  It’s a design that’s obviously looking to update Marc’s classic all-white costume, albeit with a few other elements mixed in.  He gains some of the armoring from the Now design, as well as some wrappings that give him a bit of a mummy vibe, certainly embracing some of that Egyptian angle for the character.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on this guy is alright, but perhaps not the top of the line.  The hips and the shoulders are a little restricted, but beyond that, he gets overall pretty decent range.  He’s also using the pinless knees and elbows, which are always a treat.  Moon Knight’s sculpt is an all-new one (courtesy of sculptor Rene Aldrete), and it’s quite a good one at that.  There’s one small inaccuracy on the figure, namely the one extra band of wrapping running over his nose; clearly this figure was based on some late stage concept designs.  It’s honestly a pretty minor thing, and I don’t mind it so much myself.  Beyond that, the sculpt tracks well with the show design, and sports an impressive selection of detail work, especially on the texturing for the wrappings.  The figure’s paint work is fairly decent; largely, he’s just molded in the appropriate color of off-white, but the accenting for the gold sections is pretty decently applied, as is the slight grey accent work.  He does strike me as a figure that could possibly use a wash to bring out some more of the texturing in the sculpt, but as it is, the sculpt’s still strong enough to do the heavy lifting.  Moon Knight is packed with two sets of hands in gripping in fists, and a pair of crescent blades, which can be combined into one.  It’s a little on the lighter side, but given the all-new sculpt, it’s not terribly surprising.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned that I’m a Moon Knight fan?  Because I am.  Just a touch.  I absolutely loved the show start to finish, and I’m down for anything that means more figures.  When images of the show costume first surfaced, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, but I really enjoyed how it looked in the show, and I think that it translated really nicely to action figure form.

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.

Since there are two of this guy in a case, I was also able to snag a second one for my son Matthew, of this site’s Matty’s Corner feature.  He’s gotten quite into Moon Knight himself (though the show was just a little too intense for him), so he wants his own collection.  He insisted on sharing his thoughts on his own figure as well, so here’s what I transcribed for him!

It’s me, Matth-ew!  I like this Moon Knight figure!  My opinion of this figure is really good.  I like it.  There’s one kind of detail on the moon thing that’s kind of off.  I don’t like that they kind of put all the bandages around parts of him.  There’s a lot of gold over all of it, so the moon thing on the chest looks like a whole circle.  But other than that, I do like him, as I mentioned in the first part.  No other thoughts.  I think we’re good.  Now we can end.

#2950: Mobius

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

MOBIUS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Mobius M. Mobius is an Agent for the Time Variance Authority who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals.”

While prior MCU entries have had more direct stories to adapt, Loki was sort of a blender full of various ideas rattling around the Marvel Universe.  Among those ideas was the Time Variance Authority, a concept introduced into the comics by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema, during Simonson’s run on Thor in 1986.  Initially, the staff of the TVA were all clones of real-world Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald, who had been instrumental at mapping out the Marvel multiverse, as well as cataloging its occupants via the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.  The TVA’s most prominent agent was Mobius M. Mobius, whose character was adapted as a major player in Loki, now played by Owen Wilson.  Wow.  And, despite just being another guy in a suit, he did get an action figure.  Double wow.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mobius is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  He just started hitting Target shelves across the country in the last few weeks, and he’s already being called a peg warmer, so we’re on track with how these things go, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  I was all ready to write this one off as just being a pretty straight re-use of the Coulson body, but as it turns out, it’s actually not.  The arms and legs are the same, but the torso has been replaced with an all-new one, this time with a ball-joint at the middle, rather than the ab-crunch like before.  I’m not entirely sure why they made this change, but it is a little more posable when taking the jacket into account.  Oddly, despite this new sculpt getting him the proper belt buckle, he still has a standard shirt collar, instead of the one that goes all the way to the shoulders, as was the style for all of the TVA suits.  It’s largely hidden by the jacket, but still.  He does at least get the proper jacket with the inverted collar, so that’s cool.  Also, he gets an all-new head sculpt, of course, which sports a pretty spot-on likeness of Wilson in the role.  Weird broken nose and all.  The figure’s paint work is fairly bland, as is appropriate.  The application on the face is up to the usual standards these days, and looks quite lifelike.  I also quite like the patterning on the tie; it’s a nice extra visual touch for the character.  Mobius is packed with his tablet and pruning wand, both of which are pretty key to the character, and also seem like good choices for potential re-use if we wind up getting more Loki-based figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The fact that Owen Wilson hasn’t gotten an action figure up to this point seems odd, if I’m honest, so the fact that we actually got one here was nifty.  I also really liked Mobius as a character, so I was down for the figure pretty much as soon as it was shown off.  I wasn’t really jamming on it as a Target-exclusive, but it seems this one isn’t going to be quite so impossible to get, which I consider a plus.  I myself was able to snag one through Target.com, so I didn’t even have to leave home to get it.  He’s not breaking the mold or anything, but he’s still a generally fun figure, and it’s nice to have him to go with Loki and Sylvie.

#2948: Sylvie

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

SYLVIE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Laser focused and relentless, Sylvie is the TVA’s most formidable villain, who has vowed to burn the organization to the ground.”

At the end of Loki‘s first episode, we were presented with the twist that the villain the TVA had brought in Loki to help hunt down was, in fact, another version of Loki himself.  In the following episode, a further twist revealed that this variant of Loki wasn’t just another Tom Hiddleston Loki, but was, in fact, a take on the Lady Loki concept from the comics.  This alternate Loki, who takes on the name of Sylvie to differentiate herself, would from that point forward serve as the show’s deuteragonist, who, much like the Loki we all know and love, proves that there’s a much more sympathetic side to her than her rough exterior might let on.  And, hey, toy love!  Alright!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sylvie is figure 6 in the Watcher Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the only figure in the series not to be based on What If…?, but is following up on the single Loki figure that was in the first Disney+-inspired assortment.  She was also the first figure we knew about from this assortment, since she was shown during the show’s run.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Sylvie’s articulation scheme is pretty decently handled.  She doesn’t get double jointed elbows, but the single joints do at least get a lot of range, and the rest of the movement is all pretty solid.  The only thing I’m not big on is how the knees do sort of break up the flow of the leg sculpt, but it’s not terrible.  Sylvie’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and generally a rather strong one.  The likeness of Sophia Di Martino isn’t bad on the head sculpt, at least facially.  The hair’s a little iffier, but that’s always a little more troublesome.  The separate piece does at least help a fair bit, as does the inclusion of her broken crown piece, which helps to break things up a bit.  The body sculpt is overall fairly well-proportioned, and the costume parts are all fairly well defined.  Sylvie’s paint work is by and large pretty basic.  Obviously, the most intensive work is on the face, but there’s a little bit of work on the hair, and some smaller details on the outfit.  All of it looks pretty good, and the application is generally pretty clean.  Sylvie is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/open gesture combo), her blade, her cloak, and the cape for the Watcher Build-A-Figure.  The hands are definitely fun, and the cloak looks pretty good, although with it in place, she’s got no real ability to move her arms.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sophia Di Martino’s portrayal of Sylvie was really one of the highlights of Loki for me.  I really liked her chemistry with Hiddleston, and her story as a whole made her a quite likable character, so I was immediately down for her getting a figure. I’m glad she showed up relatively quickly, and I’m also glad she turned out as nicely as she did.

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.

#2829: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Donning a brand new suit and wings from Wakanda, Sam Wilson proudly takes on the mantle, ready to unite people as the world’s new Captain America.”

When Steve passed the shield to Sam in Avengers Endgame, Sam’s taking up the Captain America mantle seemed pretty inevitable, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier devoted a lot of its time to showing that even when something is the inevitable or even most common sense outcome, that doesn’t mean that the journey there is always the easiest.  Much like Steve, Sam’s own hesitance at accepting the role, coupled with outside factors believing him wrong for the role based on superficial factors, are ultimately the very reasons that Sam is the right choice for the part, and the show pulls double duty of convincing both Sam and the audience watching that there’s really no other choice for the new Captain America.  And, if he’s going to be the new Captain America, then he damn well better get a cool new action figure while he’s at it, right?  Right.  So, let’s look at that, huh?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Following in the footsteps of Homecoming‘s Vulture, Captain America is both the final single release in the Disney+ series of Marvel Legends and its Build-A-Figure, by virtue of his wings being parted out amongst the other figures, while the core figure himself is sold by himself.  This allows the wings to be far more intricate in their design than they might otherwise have been, while also giving people the option of just getting that main Cap look, which Sam does, admittedly have for quite a bit of his screen time.  The wings are certainly less key a piece for him than his Falcon design, or even really that prior Vulture figure, so I think it was a pretty wise choice.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation in his single-packed form, with an additional 6 points courtesy of the wings when he’s fully assembled.  His articulation scheme is pretty well balanced.  The wings can be a little floppy in certain poses, but they hold up alright, and the core body is on par with the rest of this line-up’s articulation.  Sam’s got an all-new sculpt based on his final episode design from the show, and let me take a moment here to once again discuss how strong many of the costume choices have been for these shows.  Much like Wanda’s Scarlet Witch design, Sam’s Captain America uniform is a quite faithful adaptation of his Cap suit from the comics.  I was quite a fan of that design in 2D, and I think it translated amazingly well to live action.  Rather fittingly, it’s also translated quite nicely into toy form.  The costume details match up quite nicely with those seen on the screen, and the head sports Hasbro’s best Anthony Mackie sculpt so far (which is saying something, because the prior Legends version was pretty good to begin with).  Most impressively, this time around the goggles are actually a separate piece, with a slight translucent feature to them, so you can ever so slightly see his eyes peeking out from beneath them.  If I have one complaint, it’s that he does still seem maybe a little too thin for Mackie’s build in the show.  That said, it’s not quite as bad as the prior figure, and on top of that, Mackie has also slimmed down a bit as his appearances have progressed, so it’s not terrible.  He still looks pretty good.  Generally speaking, his paint work is decent.  It’s not quite as sharp as some more recent MCU offerings, I think partially owing to just how much is going on with it, and there’s a few spots of bleed over and slop around the edges, but for the most part it looks okay.  I was certainly glad that they actually put the proper color change ups on the wings.  The core Cap figure is packed with the collapsed version of his wing pack, as well as his shield (which is distinctly different from Steve’s, as it should be).  I was a little letdown that he didn’t get any alternate hands, since he’s just got the open gesture ones.  They aren’t as limiting as just fists, or something, but I do still wish we’d gotten at least one more set, just to have the option.  The Build-A-Figure parts add in the whole extended wing pack, of course, which swaps out for the collapsed piece.  It also gives him the upgraded version of Redwing (which I really love that we got), who has his own flight attachment on the pack, and a stand to held support him when he’s got the full wing pack on.  While the core figure is perhaps lacking a touch, the full BaF treatment definitely makes him feel more complete.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There was debate after Endgame about whether Sam should really be the next Cap.  As a longtime classic Cap fan, I’ve always felt he was the always the logical choice, so I was definitely there for it.  I really enjoyed seeing his journey to claiming the mantle, and I absolutely loved seeing his full Cap look in action, so I was definitely down for getting it in figure form.  I think the whole Build-A-Figure set-up worked pretty well for him, and the resulting figure is the best MCU version of Sam we’ve gotten so far, certainly worthy of the quality of the show.

I am, at this time, going to again get into some post-Jess stuff here, so another fair warning.  The MCU Falcon in Legends form definitely has some strong ties to Jess for me, because Winter Soldier was the first movie we saw in the theater together, not long after we started dating, and she also put a very large amount of effort into making sure that I got the first Legends MCU Falcon for Christmas the year it was released.  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was also the last thing that the two of us got to watch start to finish together.  So, there’s already a fair bit of meaningful attachment to this guy.  But this whole set of figures gets an extra final little push, courtesy of some incredible generosity on the part of Jason over at All Time Toys.  Throughout all of Jess’s treatments and struggles, and our personal battles, Jason and the rest of the team at All Time Toys have been nothing short of amazing, doing whatever they could.  In the case of this particular round of figures, on the day Jess passed, Jason showed up at my house with this set in tow.  It’s a not small gesture, and it gave me something to focus myself on in the days immediately following losing Jess, which was an invaluable resource for getting myself back on my feet.  I was already poised to really like this set of figures, but now it’s a very special symbol of both the wonderful times I had with Jess and of the people who have been supporting me through these trying times.