Tag Archives: Excised

#0159: Maggie Greene

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

MAGGIE GREENE

THE WALKING DEAD

I contemplated pushing today’s review back to next Sunday, just to keep the theme running with my Walking Dead reviews, but I decided that Maggie and Glenn are kind of a set, so I’m going forward with the review today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Maggie is part of the 5th wave of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead TV Series line.  She’s based on Maggie’s look in general, but seems to be drawn from the first few episodes of Season 3 specifically.  Maggie stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Maggie’s articulation is okay, but not the greatest.  Her hair sculpt means that her neck doesn’t have much movement, and she lacks the ankle joints that the other two figures have, which makes the figure really hard to stand up.  Seriously, I just barely got her to stand long enough for the pictures.  There are several pictures of the figure mid-fall!  Aside from those issues, the rest of the articulation works pretty well, and allows for some decent poses.  Maggie’s sculpt is well done, with lots of great little details here and there.  I like that the jeans have an actual denim texture, and the folds in her shirt look pretty great.  The likeness isn’t quite as good as Glenn’s in my opinion, but that may be more to do with the paint than the sculpt.  She still has more than a passing resemblance to Lauren Cohan, who plays Maggie on the show, so it’s not a terrible sculpt.  The paint is passable, but the face can look weird from certain angles, particularly the eyes.  Maggie’s got some blood splatter going on, which doesn’t look too bad, but I kinda wish they hadn’t made her quite so scene specific.  Maggie includes a handgun, a rifle, and a knife.  She has a bit of difficulty holding the rifle, and the knife doesn’t seem to want to go in the sheath on my figure, but that may not be a widespread issue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I came across Maggie twice at my local TRU, but I wanted to purchase her and Glenn together, so I held off until I found both.  I finally broke down and got them both from Amazon.  Maggie’s not quite as good as Glenn, in my opinion, but she’s still a pretty well done figure of an important character on the show.

#0158: Glenn Rhee

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

GLENN RHEE

THE WALKING DEAD

Hey, would you look at that?  It’s Sunday again!  Which means it’s time for another The Walking Dead review.  I’d love to say that this was carefully planned, but it was totally a coincidence.  So, yeah…

I looked at the Tyreese figure from this line three weeks ago and really liked him.  I mentioned that I hadn’t gotten anyone else in the line, but I had been pulled in.  Well, now it’s official; I’ve been pulled in.  This time around, I’ll be looking at Glenn, my favorite character from the comics, and one of my favorites on the show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Glenn was released as part of the 5th series of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead TV Series line.  He looks to be based on Glenn’s appearance in the 3rd season of the show, but could easily work for a 4th season version as well.  He’s about 5 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation.  The shoulder articulation is a bit better here than it was on Tyreese.  He can lift his arms as far as a real person could, so that’s nice.  He still has the same mostly useless hip articulation, but it’s not the worst thing in the world.  The sculpt on this figure is really great.  The head looks pretty spot on to actor Stephen Yuen, who portrays Glenn on the show.  I really like that they’ve captured Glenn’s worrisome but determined look that is such a signature trait of his character.  The rest of the figure is well proportioned and has some great detail work on the clothed areas.  The paint is also a bit better here than it was on Tyreese, especially the eyes, which don’t seem to have any spacing issues.  The five-o-clock shadow on mine turned out alright, but it looks like it varies from figure to figure, so if you have a chance, you might want to examine the figure before you buy it.  Glenn is very well accessorized, including a section of pipe, a rifle, a handgun, a knife, a swat vest, and an alternate beaten-up head.  The vest and extra head are really what make this 3rd season Glenn, since he got the vest at the prison, and the head looks to be based on what poor Glenn looked like after he was taken prisoner by the Governor and Merle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After looking at a few local TRUs with no luck, I finally broke down and bought Glenn and Maggie from Amazon.  I’m glad I picked this figure up, as he improves upon a few of my issues with Tyreese, and is just a really great figure in general.

#0137: Tyreese

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

TYREESE

THE WALKLING DEAD

So, you know what’s on tonight?  That’s right, The Walking Dead is on tonight.  Unless you’re reading this after the initial posting.  In which case, it isn’t.  Unless you have it Tivo-ed….

Sorry, I’m attempting to be relevant.  I don’t get to be very often.  So, yeah, The Walking Dead is a pretty popular show which I enjoy.  And it also has action figures.  I hadn’t really gotten into the line.  I looked at a few of them, but nobody really grabbed me.  I had seen series 5 online, and I was somewhat interested in Glen and Maggie, but there was one figure I didn’t think I needed: Tyreese.  I never cared for the character in the comic, and he hadn’t really done much for me on the show.  And then the second episode of season 4.5 aired, and 30 seconds into his first scene, Tyrese performed an action that instantly made him my favorite character on the show.  And wouldn’t you know it, it was just in time for his action figure to be released.  That was pretty convenient timing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyreese was released as part of the 5th series of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead TV Series line.  Obviously, he’s based on Tyreese’s appearance on the show.  He stands about 5 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation.  I don’t usually discuss the articulation, but I do have a few points to make.  First off, the shoulders are done in such a way as to prevent them from getting a full range of motion on the hinge joint.  They can’t quite make it to 90 degrees, which is a bummer.  Secondly, the leg articulation is practically useless due to the limited range of the ball jointed hips.  Neither of these things ruins the figure, but it does knock him down a bit.  Anyway, on to the sculpt.  The sculpting looks pretty good, and the proportions look really nice.  At first glance, his head seemed a little big, but then I realized that it’s probably just me being used to the skewed proportions on superhero figures.   The likeness of actor Chad L. Coleman is quite good.  The paintwork is good overall, but not perfect.  One thing that bugs me in particular is the work on the eyes, which are just a little bit off, making Tyreese look like he has a lazy eye.  The sweat stains on the front of his shirt could also stand to be a little subtler, but they aren’t bad as is.  The rest of the work is fairly clean, though there is some minor bleed in a few places.  Tyreese is armed with a hammer, a rifle, and a handgun.  The rifle and handgun are a bit awkward, since Tyreese doesn’t really have hands sculpted to hold them, but the hammer is absolutely perfect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Tyreese at my local Toys R Us.  He and Maggie were the only two sitting on the shelf, and I decided to hold off getting Maggie until I can track down a Glenn.  But given my newfound fandom of Tyreese, I felt compelled to buy the figure.  It has its flaws, but it’s a really cool figure, and I definitely have been pulled into this line!

#0105: Corporal Hicks vs Xenomorph Warrior

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

CORPORAL DWAYNE HICKS vs XENOMORPH WARRIOR

ALIENS (NECA)

Today I’ll be wrapping up my reviews of NECA’s Aliens line up to this point.  Fear not, though, as the second series and a two pack of Hudson and a Xenomorph Warrior should be on their way pretty soon.   So, that’ll be plenty of new reviews.

I’m looking at another of the two-packs NECA released to keep the line going.  This time it’s another figure of Corporal Hicks, facing off against and unfortunate Xenomorph.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as one of the three two-packs put out to bridge the gap between the first and second series.  This one is just now hitting stores, so it should be relatively easy to find.

CORPORAL HICKS

First up, it’s the heroic Corporal Dwayne Hicks!  Hicks is based on the character’s appearance while in the depths of the alien hive, during the initial Xenomorph attack.  The key difference between this figure and the last one is the presence of his helmet, which he loses shortly after the battle in the hive, and his shoulder lamp, which was inexplicably absent from the initial release.  Hicks, like his previous figure, stands about 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  From the neck down, this figure is 100% reuse from the previous Hicks.  If you want the rundown, go here.  The head and helmet are the new pieces here.  The helmet is a welcome addition, as it was very obviously missing from both series 1 marines.  The helmet itself looks pretty good, but I feel it sits up too high on the head, which looks a bit silly.  Since the helmet’s already non-removable, NECA probably should have foregone the top of the hair entirely to allow the helmet to sit more naturally.  The head itself is fine, but the choice of expression.  While the screaming head is a fine choice for the upcoming Hudson figure, it doesn’t really fit Hicks, who’s only really seen screaming once in the film (Upon seeing the aliens in the air ducts, for those who are curious) and it’s about an hour after he’s lost the helmet.   Regardless, it’s a decent sculpt, and it does actually have a semi-decent likeness, even if it is an odd expression.  The paint seems to have a bit of a step down from the regular release, with a lot more noticeable slop, and a large black spot on my figure’s left shoulder, which is quite annoying.  Hicks is accessorized with his shotgun and appropriate holster, a pulse rifle, a welding torch, a shoulder lamp and a motion tracker.

XENOMORPH WARRIOR

Next, it’s the Xenomorph Warrior.  Now with more exploding!  Remember the other three Xenos I looked at?  Yep, this one’s pretty much the same, but with two new pieces, one of which does cost the figure 2 points of articulation.  Similar to Hicks, the Xeno is practically the same as the series 1 version from the neck down.   One small difference is the addition of a bullet hit on the upper torso, however, this looks to just be an additional piece glued in place.  The biggest difference, of course, is the head.  It’s sculpted to look like the alien just took something to the face, presumably a shot from Hicks’ shotgun.  It’s in the process of splattering acid blood everywhere, which is conveyed using translucent green plastic.  It’s a nice touch, and it looks really cool when set up properly.   The paint on this figure’s actually different than we’ve seen on any of the previous aliens.  This is our first glimpse at the film-lighting inspired blue accents, which will see a proper release on series 2’s Xenomorph Warrior.  Having seen the three options in person, blue may well be my favorite, but I’ll hold final judgment until I get the proper blue version in series 2.  Thankfully, the paint work here is much better than the series 1 Xeno, which is certainly a good thing.  Here’s hoping the rest of the Xenos continue the trend.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the previous two-pack, I had not intended to pick this one up, but I saw a lone set at my TRU (I’m starting to think my TRU is just ordering a single one of each of these to lure me in), so I picked it up.  While I don’t feel it’s as good a set as the Genocide set due to a few quality issues, it’s pretty fun.  If you’ve yet to get Hicks, or you prefer he have his helmet, this might be the set for you.  Otherwise, it’s kind of the type of thing that only completists really pick up.  And apparently I’m a completist now.  Yay.

*Want to buy a Hicks vs. Xenomorph of your very own? Our sponsors over at All Time Toys currently have this set in-stock. Click here to check it out!

#0102: Private Hudson

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

PRIVATE WILLIAM HUDSON

ALIENS (NECA)

Yesterday, I spoke of my love of the movie Aliens, and my excitement for NECA’s new line of figures from the movie.  In anticipation of the second series of the line, I’ll be doing reviews of the first wave.

Today’s figure is Private William Hudson, one of the lower ranking marines sent in to deal with the alien infestation of the colony on LV-424.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hudson was released in the first series of NECA’s Aliens line.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in the movie.   Specifically, he’s based on Hudson’s look in the scene right after the first attack on the Alien hive, right as he delivers his famous “Game Over, Man” line.  Hudson stands 7 inches tall and has the same 30 points of articulation as Hicks.  I’ve reviewed most of Hudson’s sculpt before, as he shares a good deal of parts with Hicks.  He has a newly sculpted head and arms, which is really all he needs.  His arms are similar to Hicks, but with his sleeves rolled down a little further, to make it accurate to how Hudson wore his uniform in the movie.  The left arm is also bandaged, so as to properly depict Hudson following the acid burns he receives during the hive attack.  The arms are nice, but the head on this figure is truly a thing of beauty.  They’ve sculpted Hudson to evoke his expression of panic when he delivers the “Game Over, Man” line.  It’s brilliant because it not only captures the expression well, but it also gets Bill Paxton’s likeness down perfectly.  The paint on Hudson is a bit better than the paint work on Hicks.  There’s far less slop, and the paint on the head shows off the head sculpt a bit better.  From some angles, Hudson can look a little cross-eyed, but it’s not very noticeable in person.  The detailing on the armor is up to the same level as the work on Hicks, with lots of those little details that really make the figure pop.  Hudson is accessorized with a pulse rifle, a welder, a motion tracker, and a shoulder lamp.  The rifle and welder are the same ones that were included with Hicks, but the shoulder lamp and motion tracker are new.  The motion tracker is really cool, and even features detailing on the screen showing the aliens moving towards him.  The shoulder lamp is well sculpted, but very difficult to get properly seated in the slot for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Hicks, I preordered Hudson and the rest of series one as soon as possible.  While I was more excited for Hicks because he’s my favorite character, Hudson is hands down the best in the first wave.  The head sculpt on this guy really pushes the figure over the edge.  I was a bit disappointed with the difficulty of attaching the lamp, but that hardly ruins the figure itself.

#0101: Corporal Hicks

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

CORPORAL DWAYNE HICKS

ALIENS (NECA)

So, I don’t know if you, the readers, are aware, but the film Aliens is, in fact, the greatest movie ever made.  Everybody agrees.  No contest.  If you thought another movie was the greatest movie ever, you were sadly mistaken.  Because it’s Aliens.

Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit up there.  If you couldn’t tell from the hyperbole, Aliens is one of my favorite movies ever.  So naturally, as a toy collector, I should be all over the toys, right?  Except, more often than not the toys a) suck and b) only ever get the aliens themselves made.  I mean, the alien is a good design and all, but come on, the reason we love the movie isn’t the aliens, it’s the awesome characters fighting the aliens.  So, what good are the aliens if they’ve got nobody to fight?

So, I was quite excited when NECA announced that not only were they making an Aliens line, but Hicks and Hudson, two of the movies main characters where in the very first wave!  And they didn’t suck!  The first wave’s been out for a good long while now, and with the impending release of the second wave, I thought I’d give it a review.  Up first, oh so cool marine Corporal Dwayne Hicks!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corporal Hicks was released as part of the first wave of NECA’s Aliens line.  Obviously, he’s based on Hicks’s appearance in Aliens, but more specifically, he appears to be based on Hicks’s look shortly after the initial battle in the alien hive, after he loses his helmet, and before he dons the headset he wears for the rest of the movie.  Technically it’s a bit off, because he should still have his shoulder lamp at that point (yes, I’m that much of an Aliens geek), but I think it’s close enough.  Hicks stands about 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  The sculpt is quite well done.  They’ve sculpted his fatigues onto the underlying figure, and added the armor over top as a separate piece.  The detailing on the sculpt of the uniform is superbly detailed.  The armor is scratched and dented, and the fatigues are appropriately wrinkled.  All in all, it looks like the armor of an experienced marine, which is exactly how it should look.  I’ve heard complaints that the arms are too thin, and while I can see how they might seem that way on first glance, actually comparing the figure to Michael Biehn in the movie, they look about right.  Topping it all off, the head is pretty good.  It’s not as spot on as some of NECA’s work, but it’s easily the best Michael Biehn sculpt that’s been done.  The paint work ranges from decent to pretty darn good.   The head, especially the hairline has a little bit of slop, but nothing too major.  The skin tone is a bit too orange for my tastes.  The paint on the uniform is the best work on the figure.  Lots of little details, especially on the armor that could have been left off, but I’m very happy weren’t.  Hicks is decently accessorized.  He includes the standard pulse rifle, a welder, and his shotgun he kept handy for “close encounters” with its own case.  The welder plugs into his belt, and the shotgun can be slung easily.  The guns are both well sculpted, and fit very nicely into his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I preordered Hicks and the rest of series one as soon as I possibly could, because there was no way I was missing out on these guys.  I was super excited to get these guys, and Hicks was the figure I was most looking forward to.  While he’s not a perfect figure, he’s a darned good one, and I’m really glad to have him.

#0066: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL SELECT

Today, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from the Marvel Select line.  This time around, it’s from the small assortment of figures released in the line to coincide with the release of Iron Man 3 this past summer.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine was released as part of the Iron Man 3 subset of the Marvel Select line.  Like the rest of the Marvel Select line, they don’t have specific “series”.  They tend to just be released on their own, or in pairs.  This figure is of course based on the War Machine 2.0 look from the *Tie-In comics to the* Summer Blockbuster Iron Man 3.  Yeah, despite it’s presence throughout the tie-in toys, the actual War Machine paint scheme is only in the lead-in comic, and makes no actual appearance in the film.  And yet this is the main release figure, and the Iron Patriot is the store exclusive.  Bleh. The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall, and has 26 points of articulation.  The sculpt is accurate to the suit design from the movie, although it’s a bit thin in the waist area.  All the details are nicely done, but some of the armor details are slightly soft.  The paint is adequate.  It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just a bit bland.  It’s lots and lots of greys and silvers.  War Machine comes with a stand that resembles a stall from the hall of armor, and an alternate head sans faceplate, so you can see Rhodey’s face.  The stand is nice, but it takes up a lot of space.  The extra head is cool, and the Don Cheadle likeness is pretty good, although I feel like his skin tone is a tad light for Cheadle, and the eyes are a bit on the wonky side.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so right off the bat, this is a figure that ties into a movie where the look presented doesn’t appear in the film.  I like the sculpt, but I think with the more exciting Iron Patriot paint scheme, this figure would pop a lot more.  They actually did make an Iron Patriot from this sculpt, but it was a Disney Store exclusive, and is difficult to find.  And this figure was $12.  At $12, this figure is pretty good.

#0062: Silver Surfer

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

SILVER SURFER                   

MARVEL SELECT

Previously, I’ve taken a look at a few odd figures from DC Direct, a company that produced DC Comics figures meant to be sold directly through comic book shops.  This allowed them to do story specific looks and some of the more obscure characters.  With that company’s success, Marvel wanted to get in on some of the action, so they licensed Diamond Select Toys to do a line of “specialty” figures of their characters.  It took a while, and some of the early figures weren’t so great, but their line, Marvel Select, has started to pick up some decent coverage, and put out some very nice figures.  They just recently put out a Silver Surfer figure, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

As I said above, Silver Surfer was just released.  Marvel Select doesn’t use the typical “series” structure that many other lines use, instead releasing the figures one at a time.  Surfer’s not exactly a character with a huge variety of looks, having just the one, but this figure appears to be based on Surfer’s more classic 70s-80s look.  He stands roughly 7 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Surfer’s sculpt is simplistic, but that’s not a bad thing in his case.  That’s also not to say there’s no detail work.  In particular, I like that they went the extra mile to put wrinkles on the waist, denoting the shorts that the Surfer was typically shown wearing until the 90s or so.  The head has a great look of calmness that characterizes the Surfer very well.  If I have one complaint about the sculpt, it’s that the abs are perhaps a bit too defined to match the rest of the figure’s aesthetic.  Surfer comes armed with a fair number of accessories.  He’s got his trusty Surf Board, a spare set of hands, to hand-blast pieces, the Infinity Gauntlet, and a display stand made to look like the Surfer is hovering over a rocky surface.  The board is well done, with nice clean line work.  It suffers from the common problem of figures of the Surfer in that it has to have foot pegs to hold him in place.  The hands are only minor variation, he’s got the flatter hands for basic “surfing” poses, and a pair where the fingers are slightly curled to allow the energy blasts to fit properly.   The Infinity Gauntlet is a cool add-in.  You have to remove the Surfer’s hand to put it on, and it doesn’t have a peg or anything, so it just kind of has to be wedged on just right.  It looks cool, though I don’t know of a time when the Surfer actually had it in his possession.  The stand is interesting.  It has a blue swooshing effect that the board slides into, but it also has foot prints and a foot peg to allow the Surfer to stand directly on the rocky surface.  It’s nice in theory, but there’s no way to remove the swoosh effect, leaving it looking a bit odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was picked up from my favorite online store, Luke’s Toy Store, during their Black Friday sale.  I had been wanting the figure, but wasn’t sure about paying full price.  Luke’s had it for $16, which was good enough for me.  I’m a moderate fan of the Surfer, and I’m glad to see a decent figure of him.  It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than a lot of his recent figures!

#0026: Gipsy Danger – Battle Damaged

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

GIPSY DANGER  – BATTLE DAMAGED

PACIFIC RIM

Okay, changing gears.  Today I’ll be looking at the first of the three figures in the second wave of NECA’s Pacific Rim line.  I just got this set, so I wanted to try to get the review up while it was still slightly relevant.  I know it’s the second wave, and I haven’t done the first, but I’ll to get to them soon enough.

Today’s figure is the main Jaeger Gipsy Danger.  If you haven’t seen the film and that confused you, stop everything and go see the movie.  Right now.  Go buy it.  I’ll wait.  Back?  Wasn’t it amazing?  The correct answer is “F*** Yes!”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, so this figure is of Gipsy Danger.  Gipsy is depicted here in her more damaged look from later in the film.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall, and has roughly 20 points of articulation.  The sculpt is really nice.  I’ve heard complaints that the details are a little gummy, but given the scale, I think they’re pretty well handled!  The paint is supposed to be the focal point of this figure, as that’s what separates it from the previous release, but let’s be honest, that’s not the reason people want this figure.  The real reason is the accessories, something that the previous release didn’t include:  Chain swords!  The chain swords are well sculpted and go in fairly easily.  However, they do have a tendency to fall out if you don’t put them in just right, so be careful.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I have to say that, while Pacific Rim series 2 was a set I was very excited for, this version of Gipsy wasn’t something I was really looking forward to.  I was wrong.  While I still don’t feel it’s the be-all-end-all Gipsy, it’s really fun, and it makes deciding which version to put on the shelf much more difficult.