Tag Archives: Disney Plus

#2828: Baron Zemo

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

BARON ZEMO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Baron Zemo, the Sokovian special forces officer who targeted the Avengers, has been rotting in a German prison, but recent events will reignite him with a ferocity.”

Helmut Zemo was introduced into the MCU as the primary antagonist of 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.  Though still associated with Captain America, Helmut’s story was rather changed from that of his comics counterpart.  Yes, he was still a master schemer largely fueled by revenge, but he was seemingly just a pedestrian on the sidelines of a larger tragedy, not the megalomaniac heir to another megalomaniac, who had a personal vendetta against Captain America in particular.   He was, however, one of the MCU’s most fully-crafted villains, and, since he was also one of the few not to be killed at the end of his introductory appearance, there was plenty of room to bring him back in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, for another rather fabulous run with the character.  And, along the way, we also got to see him reclaim a little bit more of his comics background, since the show revealed that Zemo was, as he always has been, a Baron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Baron Zemo is figure 6 in the Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s the third figure based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and also the first figure for the MCU version of Zemo in this line (not terribly surprising, since he was just a fairly average looking guy in Civil War).  Zemo is seen here in his full-on, more classically Baron Zemo-inspired attire, which served as is main look on the show, and is also by far his most distinctive appearance thus far.  It’s a definite update and change from his comics gear, which has always been a little more on the fantastical side, but it captures the feel of the character very strongly, and just really looks cool.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The articulation on the figure isn’t quite as strong as some more recent offerings, but it works well enough for the sorts of poses a character like Zemo needs to be able to pull, and it doesn’t impact the layout of the sculpt too badly.  He also has the pin-less set-up on his arms, which makes him look a little cleaner.  Zemo’s sculpt is largely new.  The legs are shared with the Coulson mold, but otherwise it’s all new.  It’s a pretty decent offering, all things considered.  There’s a lot of pretty nifty detail work going on, and the head’s got a pretty solid likeness of Daniel Brühl.  On one hand, I sort of wish he had a more playful expression, given the character’s almost goofy charm, but at the same time, the slightly more serious look is probably more versatile, and therefore a bit more appropriate.  The paint work on Zemo is decent, though not without its slight oddities.  The most notable weird thing is definitely the hair, which is slightly purple for some reason.  Not sure why, but I’d guess it was some sort of mix-up in terms of coloring at the factory.  It’s not the worst thing, and it honestly is easy to miss for the most part, but it’s slightly strange to be sure.  Otherwise, the paint’s pretty straight forward, and generally a good match for the source material.  Zemo probably makes out the best of this whole assortment when it comes to accessories.  He’s got an alternate masked head, two sets of hands (a pair of fists, and a grip/pointing combo), a gold pistol, the book containing Winter Soldier’s programming, and the final piece to Captain America’s wings.  It’s a pretty nice selection of parts, and generally makes for a good variety of looks.  Technically, the gun’s not really right, since it’s a re-use of the Yon-Rogg piece again, which makes it a little more space age-y than it maybe should be, but I like it’s general design enough that I’m not terribly bothered by it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Zemo’s impressed me as a character since Civil War, but that movie didn’t really give him much to go on in terms of a look for action figures.  His new design is way more toyetic, and was certainly high on my list from the time it was shown off.  His figure translates that design into toy form pretty nicely, and gives us one of the MCU’s best villains in proper action figure form.  He’s definitely a fun one.

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.

#2825: U.S. Agent

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

U.S. AGENT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After being stripped of the Captain America title, John F. Walker’s spirit is shaken and he takes on a new mantle: US Agent.”

John Walker is always sort of a necessary evil when it comes to the Captain America mythos.  He’s kind of got to be there to remind you of the things that Steve Rogers isn’t, and never should be.  The Ultimate Universe had no John Walker, and it kind of showed, because the end result was a Steve Rogers that wound up with a lot of John’s traits.  In the case of the MCU, they really hammered home that comparison to Steve, by actively making John a character that almost feels like Steve at first glance, but who quickly becomes very not Steve very suddenly.  It was an intriguing story, though perhaps not an overly pleasant one.  But, much like the comics, John’s not meant to stay in the Captain America role, and the show ends with him transitioned into the role he’s been in for about four decades in the comics: US Agent, the guy who can be what Captain America isn’t.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

US Agent is figure 5 in the Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  Given’s John very prominent role within the story, he’s a natural choice for the line-up, though it is obviously a slight change-up that he’s in his US Agent garb, which he only wears for a single non-action scene in the final episode, rather than the Captain America costume he wears for most of the show (which itself got a Walmart-exclusive release).  This gets into what I was saying with the Loki review, where I mentioned the set’s tendency to go with the looks with more staying power, which is what I’d say is true of this look over John’s Cap look.  The figure stands a little over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is on par with the more recent Steve Caps, which feels appropriately consistent.  There are probably some areas where he could stand to have a little more range, but for the most part, he does what he needs to do.  His sculpt is, rather predictably, shared with the John Walker Cap figure.  The two designs are very similar, and it only makes sense, really.  It’s a pretty good sculpt for the most part, capturing Walker’s slightly larger build, as well as all of the smaller details in the suit’s design.  I’m not big on the molded gun in the holster, especially at this point in the line, but there may be some licensing things going on there.  Unfortunately, the decision to do a complete parts share means that his helmet’s not screen accurate, since John’s US Agent helmet doesn’t have the A-Star on the forehead. It’s too bad they couldn’t do that one new piece, but I have to wonder if it may have been an early design element.  On top of the sculpt issue on the helmet, John’s paint also takes a slight hit.  They’ve clearly just used the same paint masks as the Cap figure, but with some of the colors changed out.  For the most part, this is fine, but in the case of his torso, it means that he’s got smaller red straps over a black chest, when going by the show, the chest part should be red, and the straps should be white, making for that true US Agent look a la the comics.  This ultimately bugs me more than the helmet, because this isn’t even a cost of tooling issue; it would literally just be changing out the paint apps.  This further adds to me wondering if maybe the US Agent costume wasn’t as different in the original designs, and that’s what we’re seeing here.  John is packed with two sets of hands, one set in fists, the other gripping, as well as another piece to the Captain America wings.  Even if his gun is molded into the holster on the figure, it’s still again a shame that the gun wasn’t also included.  I’m pretty sure we’ve already got the mold for it and everything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always liked John Walker as a concept (though I don’t actually like John Walker as a guy, because he’s generally not the best), so I liked that they brought him into the show, and I liked that they allowed him to have his proper arc.  Wyatt Russell was fantastic in the role, and I look forward to seeing more of the character, even if I don’t actually look forward to seeing him.  While his Cap design was cool, I didn’t really find myself drawn into the exclusive, because, for me, he’s not Cap, he’s US Agent.  This figure has its few issues of accuracy, but even so, I do still really like him as a 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.

#2824: Winter Soldier

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

WINTER SOLDIER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Thrust back into the real world, Bucky is forced to figure out how to become James Barnes again, all while facing demons from his past”

In the comics, Bucky Barnes’s arc after his return as the Winter Soldier had him rather quickly recovering from the brainwashing and becoming one of Cap’s allies again.  For the MCU, his path has been a slower, and ore turbulent one, with his initial return even ending with a bit of uncertainty about what was to happen to him.  Obviously, it’s not been a huge surprise that he’s been generally following his comics-counterpart’s path, but just in a slightly more involved way.  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier delves into the trauma that lies within Bucky’s mind as a result of his time as the Winter Soldier, as well as showing us the true struggles he faces on his path back to “normality.”  It also gives a very convincing rationale in-universe about why the MCU version of Bucky has no desire to be Captain America, in contrast to his path in the comics.  At the end of the series, his contentment in his own role shows how far he has come as a character, and really feels very earned within the context of the story that’s been building.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Winter Soldier is figure 4 in the Disney+-based assortment of Marvel Legends, and is the first of the figures from the set based on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is the primary focus of this assortment.  While Bucky spends a lot of the show’s run time in rather average civilian attire, the figure opts for his true combat look from the show, which plays prominently into some of the early in-show missions, as well as the finale.  It’s a design that plays pretty heavily into his classic Bucky design, moreso than his Winter Soldier look, which fits well with the arc his character is going through, as well as fitting with the general evolution of his designs post Winter Soldier, which have slowly morphed him back to that more The First Avenger look for him.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  The ab-crunch on Bucky feels a little bit limiting, but otherwise, it’s a pretty good articulation set, and he benefits from having the pin-less construction for both his elbows and knees.  The last Winter Soldier we got has some parts re-use going on, but this one is an all-new sculpt.  It’s a pretty darn nice one, at that.  The head is by far the best Sebastian Stan likeness we’ve gotten so far, and it’s also nice to finally get a proper new sculpt for his new robot arm (though it is a shame it’s not more easily removable).  In terms of paint work, Bucky’s pretty decent overall, and actually tries a bit more than a lot of more recent offerings.  The base work is all pretty clean and straight forward, and the gold on the arm looks pretty spiffy.  By far the best work is on the face, which even manages to get his stubble on there rather believably.  The jacket is an interesting set-up, because they’ve attempted to do a little bit of variance on the shades of blue, as if it’s maybe a little worn in.  I’m not sure it quite works they way they were hoping for, but it’s also not as bad as it could be.  Maybe the changes between the shades could be a bit more subtle, but I’m happy to see them at least trying something different.  There’s also some slightly accenting on his hair, giving it a slight bit of brown, which looks quite nice.  Bucky’s packed with two sets of hands, one set open, the other in fists, as well as part of Captain America’s wings.  Just getting the hands does seem a little light, and it feels like he’s forever cursed to not actually get any proper firearms, but on the other hand, his arc in the show also has him angling himself a bit more away from those sorts of things, so I guess there’s that.  Still, I would have liked to see maybe something else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Winter Soldier figures tend to be a bit of a mixed bag for Legends, where there’s always something that really holds them back.  This one doesn’t really have that going on.  While the accessories are maybe a little light, there aren’t any glaring issues with the figure, and he just feels like a really solid representation of the character.  I also just find myself liking this representation of the character in general, so I’m kind of glad that this is the one where Hasbro really put in the effort for the character.

Winter Soldier was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2823: Loki

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

LOKI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Mere moments after his escape during the events of Avengers: Endgame, Loki is apprehended by the TIME VARIANCE AUTHORITY (TVA) and arrested for his crimes against the ‘sacred timeline’”

After the back-to-back extravaganza that was WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we had a little bit of hiatus, before jumping into the next show, Loki, which follows the alternate timeline version of the God of Mischief that escaped during Endgame.  As of this writing, I’ve only seen the first episode of the show, so I don’t know exactly where it’s going to be going, but I do like the look of things.  Loki is the show with the least toy coverage at this point, with only one version of its main character on the market (though Owen Wilson’s Mobius was just revealed to be getting a Target-exclusive figure as well).  I’m going to be taking a look at that one today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Loki is figure 3 in the Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s patterned on his appearance in the show, specifically his garb while working for the TVA…or at least that’s what I assume this is.  So far, we’ve seen his Avengers gear, and the prison jumpsuit.  But this looks right for working for the TVA, so I’m going with that.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Loki is built on the updated suit body first used for Nick Fury.  It’s slightly taller nature makes it a better fit for Hiddleston, and it’s honestly just a little better proportioned, so I get the desire to re-use.  Unfortunately, it does have a few details, most notably the sculpted shoulder holster, which don’t match up with Loki’s look from the show.  The holster is totally hidden, of course, but it’s a weird choice leaving it there.  Loki gets a new head, tie, and jacket piece.  The head is probably our best Hiddleston Loki to date from Hasbro.  It’s still not spot-on, but it does feel at least a little bit closer.  I think not trying to contend with any removable head gear really helps there.  The jacket and tie are nice enough pieces; pretty basic, but they do what they need to.  The paint work on Loki is definitely on the brown side of things, which matches to the show aesthetic.  The face print really works here, but there are otherwise some sort of odd choices.  The neck line is uneven and doesn’t follow the sculpt, and the belt buckle is just totally different than what’s sculpted (probably going for something more accurate to the show).  It’s also weird that the holster is left totally unpainted.  Like, I know it’s not supposed to be there, but not painting it doesn’t magically make it less obvious that it’s there.  Loki doesn’t get any accessories of his own, but he does get Redwing, the backpack, and the flight stand for Captain America, so that makes up for it a little bit, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Going into this assortment, we knew there would be a Loki, but exactly which of the looks from what we’d seen in the trailers was still up in the air.  I will admit, when this one was shown off, I was a bit letdown.  From the looks of things, this may end up as his most prominent design on the show, but it’s hard to say it’s very visually interesting, and clearly most prominent isn’t as important as best visual when it comes to the rest of the assortment.  Loki’s not a bad figure, and I do at least like his new head sculpt, but he definitely feels like the weakest of the bunch.

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.

#2822: The Vision

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

THE VISION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Harnessing the power of density manipulation with computer precision, Vision is a hero whoa defies the very laws of nature.”

One of the things that I’ve liked quite a bit about the MCU is how it has a real talent of taking concepts that work from story lines that don’t, and putting those concepts into stories that do work.  “Vision Quest” presents some interesting ideas about Vision’s true nature, as well as the very cool visual of an all-white Vision as something of a blank slate appearance, but never really takes the story anywhere truly intriguing or worth while.  WandaVision‘s use of the The Vision as an antagonistic force, and his subsequent face-off against Wanda’s Vision which culminates in their discussion of just what it is that truly makes a person a person feels like a payoff that rings very true for the character and the arc he’s had up to this point.  And, it gave us another look for Vision, which is rather convenient for Hasbro, since, otherwise, there’s no real changes from the last two times they released him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Vision is figure 2 in the Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second of the two WandaVision figures included, both of which are based on the show’s final episode, The Vision, of course, being based on the antagonistic all-white version re-activated by Hayward to hunt down Wanda and destroy her Vision.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  The Vision is built from a lot of re-used parts, which is really kind of expected, since there are certainly quite a few similarities between his two designs.  The body is the same as the Infinity War version, which, while not perfect, is still a pretty decent sculpt.  There are one or two small details that should probably be different for full screen accuracy, but it’s not far off.  The head appears to be different, or at the very least a little bit tweaked from the prior release.  To my eye, the face has a slightly better likeness of Bettany, but it could just be the change of color playing tricks on my eyes.  The cape is very definitely an all-new piece, and I quite like it.  It sits a little closer to the body at the chest, which looks more natural, and it’s also got this pretty cool draping appearance over his shoulders, which just feels very classically Vision to me.  In terms of paint, this guy’s pretty light on application, but that’s really expected.  What’s there is generally pretty good, although I feel like the wrists and ankles are a slightly too dark shade of off-white.  The cape just being clear seems off to me, as I was expecting it to be at least  a little bit white, going by what we see on-screen.  But, this is a problem we’ve run into with standard Vision as well, so it’s not really anything new.  The Vision is packed with two sets of hands, in open gesture and fist poses, as well as two more parts to Captain America’s wings.  Given that they dropped the extra hands from the Endgame Vision release, this does feel like a slight step up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

During the show, I was wondering how they were going to justify actually doing more Vision figures, but once it was confirmed that Westview Vision wasn’t in the original’s body, I had a sneaking suspicion we’d see this design crop up.  It’s a cool call-back to the comics, and a much better version of the story than what we originally got.  In terms of the figure, this one is rather by the numbers, but that’s not the worst thing, and he ends up being a pretty nice figure in his own right.

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.

#2821: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wanda Maximoff’s abilities of telekinesis, energy manipulation, and neuroelectric interfacing allow her to read thoughts and give her targets walking nightmares.”

Forgive me if I opt to find a story about someone’s struggle to come to terms with a devastating loss of a loved one, and subsequent efforts to do everything in their power to hold onto some vestige of that person very relatable at the moment.

Since Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany’s Vision were introduced into the MCU, I’ve been excited by the prospects of building their relationship further.  It was touched on in both Civil War and Infinity War, but wasn’t the main focus in either, so I was ecstatic when the pair were given a TV show to further explore their characters and their relationship.  WandaVision was a really fantastic show, which has given the MCU a very stable footing moving forward with its overall narrative, as well as showing that Elizabeth Olsen is very much a bankable talent to keep central to the MCU, even in light of the exit of the films’ bigger name stars.  Her performance as Wanda was nothing short of amazing, presenting a very human character going through very real emotional turmoil, while also building her up to be, very believably, one of the strongest characters in the Marvel universe, as she damn well should be.  Now she’s got herself another action figure, and it’s a cool one, and I feel like she really deserves that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Scarlet Witch is figure 1 in the first Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  She’s one of the two WandaVision figures in the line-up, and she’s based on Wanda’s proper Scarlet Witch appearance from the show’s finale.  For the first time, we got a more proper adaptation of something more akin to Wanda’s comics get-up, and boy was that really cool to see.  In general, it’s one of the best costume designs in the MCU, and showcases how well they’re advancing in their abilities to translate costumes from the page to the screen.  It’s got all the proper flair of Wanda’s classic costume, without looking silly at all.  I really dig it.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on Wanda is pretty nicely handled.  It’s not like it’s revolutionary or anything, but it does what it needs to, and it does it well.  Near as I can tell, Wanda’s sculpt is all-new, with no parts shared with her prior figure.  I thought maybe the hands might be, but the details on the gloves are just a little bit different.  It’s quite a nice sculpt overall.  The likeness on the face is just a little bit closer to Olsen than the prior release, and the hair has a nice, dynamic feel to it, without being too over the top.  The body has a fairly realistic looking build, and the articulation is worked in pretty well.  The details on the costume are all pretty sharp, and they mostly match up pretty closely to the on-screen costume.  I think, technically, the tops of the gloves go a little bit too high on her arms, but it’s a very minor detail.  The figure’s paint work is generally pretty impressive.  She’s got the printed face, which is quite life-like, as well as some pretty decent accenting on her hair.  The rest of the application is also all pretty clean.  Technically, there are a number of parts of the costume that should be a bit darker, but I think it’s also very possible that some of it really comes down to the exact lighting in the show.  I’m happy with the color scheme presented here, and it’s not like it’s very far off if it is at all.  Wanda is packed with two sets of hands (one in standard color, one in translucent), two energy effects, and a piece of Captain America’s wing.  I know some people were hoping they might throw in the cape she was sporting in the final stinger, but it’s admittedly not part of the main chunk of the episode where this look appears, so I understand why they may have left it out.  Still wouldn’t have minded getting it, of course, but not having it doesn’t ruin the figure for me.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

WandaVision was a very impactful show for me.  It was one I was looking forward to as soon as it was announced, and by the time it actually dropped, the subject matter had become very poignant for some of the struggles I was personally going through.  In light of the last month, it’s become even more so for me, and I have particularly been holding onto Vision’s dialogue about grief being love persevering the last few days.  All of this has served to make Wanda an incredibly relatable character for me, which gives this figure a little extra weight.  She’s a very nice figure of a very nice design, from a very nice show.  I really like her.

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.