Tag Archives: Excised

#2514: Deadpool

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

DEADPOOL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Just got the suit back from the dry cleaners. I hear blue and gold is the new red?”

Okay, yep, there’s another Deadpool.  Still gotta review the other Deadpool.  It’s okay, there’s just this one more review, and then I get to review something I actually care about.  Come on, Ethan, you can do this!  I believe in you, me!

What good would a Deadpool wave be with only a single Deadpool variant?  That would be downright preposterous, wouldn’t it?  Well, we covered the zanier side of things with Pirate Deadpool, so let’s have a look at something that’s a bit less out there, and a bit more…umm…what’s a more exciting word for bland?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deadpool is technically figure 1 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends, but I’m over here looking at him last.  Why?  Because I kept putting him off, that’s why.  And, I guess I can’t keep doing that?  Yeah, okay, I’ll stop stalling.  I swear.  Look at me: quitting stalling.  For realsies.  Totes quitting.  Stop the madness!  So, what we have here is Deadpool in one of his X-Men uniforms.  It’s not the first one we’ve gotten.  It’s not even the first figure of this particular design, which cropped up as a variant in Hasbro’s 2008 fan choice two-packs.  The figure that I’m putting off reviewing is 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s a mash-up of prior Deadpools, using the Juggernaut Series head, the 2099 body and the wrist, neck, and ankle bands of the Sasquatch Series figure, and the harness from the Corps set.  It’s fine, and it gets the job done.  Everything is about as accurate as it should be.  He’s got the same issue as the last, slightly more comical X-Men costume Deadpool figure, which is that the Juggernaut Series head doesn’t quite sit properly on the neck of the 2099 body.  It just sits a bit too high and doesn’t look right in most poses.  Additionally, the harness was originally sculpted for the old Bullseye body, so it sits a little off kilter on the torso.  The whole assembly just ends up looking a little poorly conceived.  In terms of paint, this guy’s main appeal, for lack of a better, blander word, is his changed up color scheme.  Instead of his usual red and black, he’s blue and yellow.  It’s very blue and yellow, so I guess that’s good?  Application’s clean, so there’s that, I guess.  Deadpool is packed with two sword, a handgun, a shotgun, and the head to the Strong Guy Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have any interest in this costume the first time it got a Legends figure, and I can’t really say my opinion on it changed by the time of the second go-round.  This costume’s never been one that’s excited me all that much, and I’m really starting to feel some hardcore apathy to all of the Deadpool variants we’ve been getting as of late.  I wasn’t much for Pirate Deadpool, but at least he tried something different.  This one’s just so…meh…

Blandness aside, thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2513: Shiklah

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

SHIKLAH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Shiklah is the shape-shifting superhuman Queen of the Undead and former Mrs. Deadpool.”

Oh goody, today I get to review Shiklah.  She’s my faaaaaaavorite.  Ever since that time that…ummm…she did that very memorable…thing?  And then that other thing happened?  Wasn’t that great?  ….Okay, real talk, I’ve been fooling you this whole time.  Not only do I not remember either of those memorable things I mentioned, but Shiklah is also *not* my favorite.  I know, you’re shocked.  I’m very convincing with this ruse, right?  Okay, let’s just get to the damn review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shiklah is figure 3 in the Strong Guy Series of Marvel Legends, and she falls squarely into the Deadpool portion of the assortment.  Woooooooo.  Deadpool-theme.  It’s automatically wacky and zany and off the wall and they don’t even have to try, right?  Well, that seems to have been the prevailing theory on this one.  The figure’s 6 inches tall and she’s got 27 points of articulation.  Shiklah is using the Lady Deadpool body, and it’s not really the greatest.  From the (admittedly brief amount of) research I did, the body seems rather skinny for how she’s usually depicted, so it’s not great standpoint.  Also, her joints are kind of warped, and she’s got the really high-heeled feet, culminating in a figure that can not stand.  At all.  The effort I had to put into getting her to stay standing for the few photos I have here was insane, and I couldn’t even actually keep her up for all of them, which is why she’s just on the ground for one, and totally absent from another.  Really frustrating and poorly made are the best terms to describe her, really.  She gets a new head, which is fine, but seem large on this body, and she’s got floating add-ons for her necklace and belt, which don’t really stay in place, so hey, there’s more frustration to look forward to.  Her cape is a “cloth” piece, in the same vein as Storm’s.  I use the quotations because I struggle to really call this material cloth.  It’s effectively just paper when you get down to it.  It doesn’t hang well, it doesn’t pose well, and it’s not going to hold up well over time in the slightest.  There’s no pose where it doesn’t look dumb, apart I guess from when she’s laying flat on her face.  How fortunate, then, that that’s the only pose she can actually pull off long-term.  Shiklah’s paint work is, at least, fairly inoffensive.  It does its job, and seems to match the comics alright.  It’s quite purple.  There are no glaring issues, which I suppose is a piece of mercy given the rest of the figure.  Shiklah includes two accessories, neither of which is actually hers.  The main one is Jeff, Gwenpool’s pet land shark.  He’s just an unarticulated figurine, but he’s a fun little piece, and certainly an enjoyable addition to the Gwenpool figure.  He’s got a nice little jaunty walking pose that’s fairly versatile, and he interacts well with Gwen.  There’s a bit of obvious flashing and join lines that are a little bit annoying, but they don’t ruin the figure.  The other extra is Strong Guy’s arm, for those that want that (which is, like, 90% of the people buying this thing).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I do not care about Shiklah.  She’s far outside of the period of time when I still enjoyed Deadpool, and she just doesn’t seem like she’s got much going on.  Honestly, it doesn’t even seem like Hasbro cares about Shiklah, given Jeff was actually shown off before she was, and is in front of her on both the side illustration and the product image on the back of the box.  I was originally planning to be more jokey with this review, and have Jeff as the main figure and Shiklah as the accessory.  Then, in the course of getting my photos, I realized how actually phoned-in and terrible the figure is, and I felt the need to actually talk about her.  I loathe this figure.  Do you know how bad a figure has to be for me to loathe it?  I’ve bough Mattel figures that I didn’t loathe!  But boy do I loathe this one.  I loathe it so much that I’m getting rid of it.  Not selling: getting rid of.  At least Jeff and the Strong Guy arm justify the cost for me, but you can tell that Hasbro just needed a space filler for this set and didn’t feel like they should put out another Gwenpool just yet.

Not so mixed feelings aside, thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2512: Pirate Deadpool

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

PIRATE DEADPOOL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“It’s a pirate’s life for Deadpool with plenty of adventure. Oh, and doubloons. So many doubloons.”

Remember how I mentioned that the latest round of Marvel Legends was half-X-Force/half-Deadpool?  Well, I already covered the X-Force, so I guess I might as well get these Deadpools out of the way.  We’re firmly going for the “isn’t he so wacky and goofy and off the wall in the most predictably meme-esque way possible” side of Deadpool with today’s figure, Pirate Deadpool.  Why is he a pirate?  Oh boy he’s wacky, that’s why.  Yeah…just go with it, guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pirate Deadpool is figure 7 in the Strong Guy Series line-up of Marvel Legends.  He’s the first of two Deadpool variants in this assortment, and definitely the wackier of the two.  He’s based on Deadpool’s appearance on the cover of issue 14 of his mid-00s solo series, which is a thing, I guess.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  This Deadpool is based on the Bucky Cap body, which is fair I guess, since about half of them are.  He gets a new head, torso, left forearm, and add-ons for his cape and the skirt of his jacket.  The new parts are mostly pretty decent, but for some reason, he loses out on the movement mid-torso for the new piece, which is rather limiting.  The skirt piece is also a little softer in terms of detailing than I’d prefer, especially around the two (frustratingly non-removable) pistols.  It’s also really thick, and rather restrictive.  I do rather like the new head, though.  The hat’s permanently attached, which ultimately works out better for scaling, and he’s got a slightly goofier expression going on, which works pretty well for the character.  All in all, the parts amount to a pretty respectable recreation of the illustration from the cover.  His paint work follows the trend of all of the post-Juggernaut Series Deadpools, so he’s got that much brighter red as a base color.  It’s certainly eye-catching.  The paint work is all pretty decent, with the application mostly being pretty clean.  There’s a little slop around the bandana on his head, but it’s otherwise not so bad.  Pirate Deadpool is packed with an appropriately pirate-y cutlass and flintlock, and…a katana?  I mean, I get that he’s Deadpool and all, but boy does that katana stick out as being weirdly off theme for this release.  He’s also got the left leg for Strong Guy, which isn’t very pirate-y, but I’m less likely to complain about that one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t really want a Pirate Deadpool when there wasn’t a confirmation of a Pirate Deadpool, and once there was, I still didn’t really want one.  I did, however, want a Strong Guy, which required buying a Pirate Deadpool.  Yeah, get used to this concept.  There’s going to be a bit of that this week.  Just as a heads up, on that one.  In-hand, I guess he’s not terrible.  If you want a Pirate Deadpool, this one’s not bad.  I just don’t really want one…

Mixed feelings aside, thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2463: Luke Skywalker – Bespin

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — BESPIN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Luke battles Darth Vader on a narrow platform in Cloud City and rejects Vader’s urging to turn to the Dark Side and rule the galaxy with him.”

40 years and some change ago, in this galaxy, right here, the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, hit theaters.  As Hasbro likes to use pretty much every five-year milestone as grounds for celebration, that means that this year we’re getting a bunch of throw-back Empire stuff in toy form.  Things kicked off with the Probe Droid, and, following in A New Hope‘s footsteps, there’s also a vintage-style-carded line of Black Series figures.  The first assortment was mostly re-hash, but I’m taking a look at the most unique of the bunch today with another go at Bespin Luke!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Bespin) is one of the five figures that makes up the first series of the Empire Strikes Back 40th Anniversary sub-line of Black Series figures.  The other four, Bespin Han, Hoth Leia, Yoda, and the AT-AT Driver are all straight re-cards of prior releases, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that was the case with Luke as well.  He’s a lot of re-use, to be fair, with everything below the neck being re-used from the very first Black Series Bespin Luke.  Like that figure, this one stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Black Series articulation hadn’t really gotten to be what it is now in 2014, when this mold first hit, so he’s admittedly a little bit archaic in terms of movement.  The elbows sit a little low on the arms, the range on the hips is quite restricted, and he’s got the up/down joint on both of his wrists, which is a little odd for posing.  All that said, it’s still a pretty nice looking sculpt, so I can’t totally dis the re-use.  He gets an all-new head, which updates him to the more modern style of separate pieces for the face and hair.  The original Bespin head was probably the weakest of the initial Luke head sculpts in terms of a Hamill likeness, so another go at it isn’t the worst.  This new sculpt is…different?  I hesitate to say better, but I also wouldn’t say worse.  In some ways, it’s a better match, but in others it’s more off, and in particular it seems a bit too large proportionally.  The new head is matched by a new paint scheme, which uses the face printing, thereby making him a little more lifelike.  I definitely like that, but I’m not quite as down for how stripped down the paint on his fatigues has become.  The wash on the original was one of the best parts of the figure, but this one loses a lot of that, and the details on the outfit subsequently become easier to miss.  This figure is packed with the same extras as the last version: a lightsaber and a blaster pistol.  They’re as good here as anywhere else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

A re-issue of this guy’s been pretty much inevitable, given how hard to find the original had become, as well as the original hitting during one of the weakest periods of the line.  There were definitely improvements to be made, and while this figure makes some of them (namely the better paint on the face/hair), it’s really a trade-off.  This should have been an actual improvement, but it’s instead more or less an equivalent product.  It’s a shame, because I was kind of hoping we might get a more deluxe update on this guy, with extra parts to replicate more of the beating he takes during his Bespin duel.  Perhaps such a release could still happen later.

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

#1933: Optimus Prime

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

OPTIMUS PRIME

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

Oh wow, what’s this?  Another Transformers review?  On this little old site?  But it’s only been a day since the last one!  Is that enough of a waiting period?  I wouldn’t want people to think I might be some sort of *shudder* Transformers fan…

Well, if I’m gonna commit to this potential Transformers fan thing, I’ve got one pretty big hurdle I’m gonna need to overcome.  You see, in my over two decades of collecting, I have never once owned a single figure of the most definitive Transformer of all time, Optimus Prime.  Yeah, I don’t know how that happened either.  Well, I mean, I might; it could possibly be related to me exclusively buying figures of Soudwave.  That might have done it.  Whatever the case, I’m striving to make up for this horrible gaping hole in my collection.  So, without further ado, here’s Optimus Prime!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Optimus is part of the first wave of Voyager Class releases for Hasbro’s new War For Cybertron: Siege line, where he was paired off with his Decepticon equivalent Megatron.  In his robot mode, Optimus stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 practical points of articulation.  This figure is sporting a brand new sculpt, patterned on the original G1 Optimus, or at least a very idealized version of it.  This Optimus aims to be the figure Transformers fans *remember* playing with, rather than the one the actually did…unless your me, and this figure actually *is* the figure you were playing with.  That’s not the point, though.  I was quite impressed by the implementation of the articulation on this figure; it’s easily on par with Legends and the like, at least in terms of range.  All of the joints are free and clear to do as they please, and a lot of them are very cleverly hidden on this guy.  His sculpt is boxy, and very full of small detail work, but not so much that it ruins that nice clean-lined feel of the classic Optimus design.  I particularly dig the rivets on the upper arms, as well as the transparent windows of the cab.  And, though there is no separate Matrix of Leadership included with this figure (thought he shape of one is hinted behind the windows when he’s in vehicle mode), the torso is clearly designed with the possibility of housing one in mind. Part of the slickness of this particular figure’s robot mode comes from how it handles the kibble on the back.  The remnants of his truck cab fold up into a rather compact and manageable back pack piece, and the headlights on the arms, though a bit more noticeable, still can be passed off as forearm guards.  Optimus’s alt-mode is a smoke-stack-sporting truck reminiscent of his original incarnation’s freight truck.  It’s been slightly Cybertron-ized, since I guess these figures are technically supposed to be pre-Earth, but it’s still very clear where the influence lies.  I find the cab of the truck in particular to be the most convincing piece.  The back looks a little more like it’s just his legs flipped around, since that’s kinda what it is and all.  I will say, that although there are technically more steps to the process of transforming this guy, I did find it as a whole a much easier experience, and am much more willing to swap Prime back and forth on a frequent basis.  He’s still going to be staying a robot most of the time, of course, but I see this one being a figure I pick up and fiddle with more frequently.  Optimus is packed with two accessories: a blaster and an axe.  The blaster is pretty straight-forward piece, and can be held in his hand in robot mode, or mounted in one of the handful of 5mm ports when in truck mode.  The axe is slightly more complex, with a transformation of its own.  Out of the the package, it’s an axe, but you can also fold it up into a shield, which, like the blaster, can be mounted in one of the 5mm ports.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I blame Max.  No, really, it’s all Max’s fault.  I wasn’t into Transformers, I swear.  Okay, so, it’s a little bit Max’s fault, and a little bit Bumblebee‘s fault.  Max was really up-selling this figure to me, and I was trying to hold out.  And then I saw Bumblebee, with it’s classically-styled Optimus in all his classically-styled glory, and I thought “man, I need an Optimus.”  I was at All Time, I’d just traded in a bunch of stuff for store credit, they only had one of this guy in stock, and I was sort of having a bad day, so I just sort of grabbed him.  I don’t regret that choice for a second, because man is this a cool toy.  Like, even overlooking the transforming feature, he’s just a strong base figure, and a ton of fun to mess around with.  The only downside is that now I really want a bunch more.

As mentioned above, I picked this guy up from my friends at All Time Toys.  The first wave of Voyager Class Siege figures have sold out, but the Deluxe figures are still in-stock, and they’ll be carrying all of the new releases as they come.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1807: Rebel Solider – Hoth

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

REBEL SOLDIER — HOTH

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

In the hiatus between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Hasbro launched a brand-new style of Star Wars figure.  They were higher quality sculpts, much more articulated than the standard faire, and, coolest of all, they had packaging based on that of the old vintage figures.  The Vintage Collection ran for three series of four figures each, one assortment from each movie in the original trilogy.  In 2010, the line was re-launched, with a more expansive selection of figures.  It went on hiatus in 2012, and was in the mean time replaced by the smaller-scale Black Series offerings.  Following the franchise’s 40th anniversary, however, the line has been brought back from hiatus!  I’ll be looking at the first assortment’s one true “vintage” character, the Hoth Rebel Soldier!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rebel Soldier is one of the six figures in the first series of the re-launched Vintage Collection.  He, like all but one of his case-mates, is essentially a straight re-release of a prior figure, specifically the clean-shaven Rebel Soldier from 2010’s Target-exclusive “Defense of Hoth” boxed set.  The figure was meant to see a single-packed release as a running change to The Legacy Collection’s bearded Rebel, but that never materialized, leaving this guy exclusive to a boxed item, and thereby difficult to acquire for the purposes of army building.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  While he’s not quite as mobile as some of the more recent offerings from Hasbro, he’s pretty good for a figure who was sculpted almost a decade ago.  He’s well-proportioned, and his uniform is sharply detailed, matching up well with the film.  The helmet is removable, albeit slightly tricky to get off the first time.  I like it well enough, though I’m not super crazy about the scarf, as it seems to make him a little too specific for army building.  The underlying head is distinct enough to look like a real person, while still being generic enough to allow for some army building.  He’s not bearded, which is good, since most of the Hoth Rebels were not.  The skirt piece is cloth, which looks slightly off when compared to the rest of the figure, but allows for much better posability, so I don’t mind it so much.  The paintwork on this figure is clean, and well-applied.  I generally like to see weathering on these sorts of figures, but for the Hoth guys, it’s not as big a deal, since snow’s trickier.  The Rebel Soldier is packed with a blaster rifle, a pistol, and a survival pack, which is a pretty decent assortment of extras, especially given the smaller available area in the vintage packaging.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Rebel Soldier’s been by far the scarcest of the new Vintage Collection, no doubt due to his army building potential.  As such, finding one wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.  I managed to track one down by scouting out an out of the way Walmart that had just put out its case.  I’m glad I got him, because he’s a really strong figure, and the best Hoth Rebel out there.

#1793: Lucas

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

LUCAS

STRANGER THINGS (MCFARLANE)

Things have died down ever so slightly for Stranger Things in the hiatus between seasons 2 and 3.  I mean, I guess that’s pretty normal for such a show, but man was the merchandizing crazy during the Season 2 launch.  Anyway, while we all wait for Season 3’s arrival, there are still a number of figures out there just ripe for reviewing, including today’s offering, Lucas Sinclair!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lucas, alongside Dustin, makes up one half of the second series of McFarlane’s Stranger Things line.  Admittedly, it seems a little odd to me that Lucas and Dustin jumped ahead of Mike and Will for the Series 2 line-up.  Mike and Will are both far more plot-important, and I do slightly worry with McFarlane’s track record that they may not get made.  Time will tell, I suppose.  In the mean time, let’s focus on the positive:  Lucas figure!  Lucas is sporting his Season 1 appearance, camo-headband and all,  meaning he matches up with the rest of the figures so far.  This figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Lucas’ articulation style is essentially the same as Series 1’s Hopper, but he doesn’t quite suffer from the wonky-looking integration of articulation that Hopper did; it’s much more naturally placed for Lucas.  Lucas’s sculpt is definitely a strong one, perhaps the strongest of three figures I have from the line so far.  While the likeness on the face isn’t quite as spot-on as I felt Hopper’s was, there’s still definitely a lot of Caleb McLaughlin in there, and I think it’s enough to help clearly identify him.  The work on his clothing is definitely very strong, from the corduroy texturing on the pants, to the sharp detailing on the seems of his jacket, as well as the rather natural way the clothes have been sculpted to hang.  Lucas’ paintwork is definitely the best I’ve see so far from the line.  It’s clean, accurate to the source, and downright eye-catching, which is certainly a nice change of pace after the last two.  Lucas is quite nicely accessorized, including his backpack, a flashlight, his slingshot, a radio (with an extra hand for holding it), and a display stand.  The backpack is definitely the coolest of the bunch; I really dig the weathering on it.  On the opposite end is the slingshot, which is hard for him to hold, unpainted, and nondescript enough that I didn’t know what it was at first.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After picking up Eleven and Hopper back in February, I was definitely interested in getting more of these figures, but other lines took precedence, so I kind of fell behind.  Lucas was grabbed during TRU’s liquidation process, because why not?  And then, like so many of the figures bought during the summer, he just sat unopened for a good few months.  He’s actually been on the review schedule three times, and I just kept having to bump him because he hadn’t even been opened yet.  I’m actually a little annoyed with myself about that, because he’s a pretty solid figure, and I wish I’d figured that out a bit sooner.  Guess I’ll need to be tracking down Dustin now.

#1745: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A Sleek suit design and technological upgrades let Tony Stark gear up as the Armored Avenger, Iron Man.”

I thought I was more or less done with the Infinity War-themed Marvel Legends, barring any late-game releases (which I’ve no doubt there will be), but no, no there was one more figure, that’s just been sitting there.  Waiting.  Watching.  Other “w” words as well…

Anyway, I’ve looked at most of the film’s major players, but there was one very prominent one missing, namely Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.  In a further effort to work my way through that pile of figures awaiting review, I’ll be looking at Stark’s latest Legends release today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man is the final figure in the Thanos Series of Marvel Legends, the first Infinity War-themed assortment of the year.  He’s also the last of the four specifically movie-based figures in the line-up.  And, most importantly, he’s the only figure in the set that isn’t needed to built the Thanos figure, which is why everyone was skipping him.  Tony’s wearing his Mark 50 armor from the film, which is also his *only* armor for the film, so I guess it’s a sensible choice, now isn’t it?  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  His construction is very similar to the Mark 46 figure from the Giant Man series, but there are no actual pieces shared between the two.  This guy is an all-new sculpt, which does an okay job of capturing the Bleeding Edge armor’s design from the movie.  It’s not a spot-on recreation; it’s definitely not quite as sleek as the design in the movie.  There are far more pronounced ridges and connecting points, bringing its overall design closer to the Mark 46.  This is likely a symptom of Hasbro working from earlier designs to get the figure out before the movie.  Ultimately, it’s close enough that you know which armor it’s supposed to be, and it’s nowhere near as off as either Captain America or Cull Obsidian.  Fortunately, it’s got some pretty great proportions, and the articulation is also worked in pretty well.  Iron Man’s paintwork is decent and certainly eye-catching, but like the sculpt, it’s not 100% accurate.  The main culprit is the red.  It should really be a deeper, more metallic color than it is.  That being said, the color they’ve used is still nice to look at, so I’m not going to complain too much.  What I will complain about?  Just the figure’s single greatest failing: his accessories.  In the movie, Tony’s using this armor to create all sorts of nano-tech-based weaponry and tools.  What does this figure get?  An extra set of hands and the same blast effects pieces they’ve been using since the 46.  No extra attachments, no unmasked head, no build-a-figure piece.  The extra hands don’t even have hinges on the wrists.  That’s really weak.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this figure quite a few times at retail.  After seeing the movie, I was really impressed by the armor.  I had some Cosmic Cash to spend at Cosmic Comix, so I ended up grabbing him from them.  And then he sat on my shelf for three months.  I know, bad Ethan.  I’ll be honest, I actually kept forgetting I hadn’t reviewed him, since I’d already looked at the basic figure.  The only real difference between the two is posability, and that’s a little sad.  He’s a figure that could have been a lot of fun–well, okay, he’s still a fair bit of fun, but he could have been a lot more fun than he is.  As it stands, he definitely feels phoned in.

#1735: Batman – Dark Knight Returns

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

BATMAN — DARK KNIGHT RETURNS

DC COMICS MULTIVERSE (MATTEL)

Hey hoooo, it’s a Mattel review.  Haven’t done one of these in a little while.  Ooooooo boy, this’ll go well.

Running parallel to Hasbro’s hit line Marvel Legends, Mattel has their own DC line, DC Comics Multiverse.  It started as a 3 3/4 inch line, before making a jump a few years ago when 3 3/4 inch figures were largely dropped by the toy industry.  One of the earliest offerings from the reformed Multiverse was a set of commemorative figures celebrating the 30th anniversary of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.  Of the three figures offered, I’ve looked at two.  Today, I’m looking at the last of those three, Batman himself!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman was a Walmart-exclusive release from the DC Comics Multiverse line.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  Batman’s actually just a slight retooling of an earlier Batman Unlimited Dark Knight Batman, with a new head.  By extension, that means he shares a lot of pieces with the DKR Superman I looked at back when they were first released.  It’s very similar to the Masters of the Universe Classics base body, but Mattel to this day insists they are completely separate molds.  I guess I just have to believe them.  It works well enough for what they’re going for.  Obviously, it doesn’t really look that much like Frank Miller’s artwork, but it melds decently enough with the DCUC style that Mattel was trying to carry forward.  In the context of the whole MotU concept, and even Superman to a smaller degree, the body works, but for Batman, it feels a little….lumpy?  Balloon-y?  I don’t know.  It just feels somewhat off.  The new head goes for a more reserved look than the prior DKR Bats, though he’s still a little grumpy.  I think it’s perhaps a little large for the base body, and it’s definitely on the softer side.  Compared even just to the other two figures from this same assortment, it looks rather off, as both Superman and the Son of Batman figures have much crisper details.  Batman’s sculpt has a quality not unlike mashed potatoes, if I’m honest.  It’s kind of lumpy and ill-defined, even by Mattel standards.  Also bad even by Mattel standards?  The paint.  Sloppy doesn’t begin to describe it.  It looks like the yellow paint was applied from across the room.  It’s just everywhere.  His logo’s at least not terrible, but the general lack of paint overall just makes the rest of the mistakes that much more noticeable.  Batman was packed with a single accessory: one lone batarang…with “CHINA” stamped on one side.  Apparently he gets all those wonderful toys from China.  Who knew?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I bought the Superman figure at full retail, and I liked him well-enough.  And I got the Son of Batman for a decent discount, and he was alright.  I already had the Unlimited figure of this guy, though, so I wasn’t in much of a hurry to get him.  I ended up buying him *not* from Walmart at all.  I instead found him at an Ollie’s, for $3.  That was enough to get me invested.  I gotta say, I’m really glad that I didn’t pay full price for him, because…well, he’s just not that strong a figure.  I guess I’ve had worse figure, but there’s not a lot that this figure does right.

#1654: Thanos

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

THANOS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe. But this… does put a smile on my face.”

Thanos has arrived.  Maintaining my non-spoilery stance on discussing Infinity War, I will say this much:  it’s Thanos’s movie.  The other’s may reside in it, they may all have their moment, but the film as a whole undeniably belongs to the Mad Titan.  Josh Brolin, the Russo brothers,  Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely did the character a lot of justice, and he’s finally more than just a shallow, looming threat.  Also, he’s a Marvel Legend!  How ’bout that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thanos is the Build-A-Figure for the first Infinity War-themed series of Marvel Legends.  He’s undeniably the best choice for the slot, and it’s nice to finally get the MCU version of the character in Legends form.  He’s using Thanos’s casual look from the film, which I know kind of upset some people, since it’s not the armored look we’ve been seeing over the last several years.  That said, it’s unquestionably his main look from the movie, and in light of that, it would have been silly to do a different look.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Thanos is certainly a big one, towering over even the above-average Proxima Midnight.  It’s certainly appropriate to the movie, though.  He sports an all-new sculpt, patterned after the movie design.  It’s pretty decent.  The expression on the head is a little goofy; I get what they were going for with the slight smile, but he ends up looking more like he’s a bit gassy than content with his killing spree.  It’s far from awful, though, and the detail work on the wrinkles in his face is absolutely top-notch. The proportions of the body are pretty good, though his neck seems a little stubby.  Once again, the detailing and texture work is exceptional, especially in his tunic, and what’s left of his armor.  The gauntlet is sharply detailed, and matches up very nicely with the depictions of it on-screen.  One rather frustrating thing I noticed about Thanos when compared to earlier BaFs is how easily he pops back apart after assembly.  This is especially an issue with the arms, which frequently pop out during normal posing.  Obviously, this is a bit of a tricky area in terms of figures that don’t come pre-assembled, but Hasbro’s done better in the past.  Hopefully Thanos is just an aberration on that front.  Color-wise, Thanos isn’t the most thrilling figure, since his movie design is mostly dulled out variations of purple.  The figure captures the look pretty well.  It’s a lot of unpainted plastic, but what paint is there is mostly applied in a clean manner.  There’s a bit of slop on the edges of the Infinity Stones, but it’s pretty minor.  Thanos, being a Build-A-Figure, is an accessory himself, so he doesn’t include any of his own.  For the most part, he doesn’t feel too lacking, but I do think this figure would have really benefited from an extra head with a different expression, just to cover all of our bases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, I put this guy together from the pieces included with all the figures in this series.  Going in, I think completing him was my main goal, but as I picked up the individual figures and as I slowly assembled Thanos, I started appreciating the individual figures a bit more.  I mean, this guy’s certainly not bad, and I’m happy to have finished him, but ultimately, he’s sort of middling.