Tag Archives: Flash Gordon

#1060: General Lynch

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

GENERAL LYNCH

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

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Today we get to the character that is perhaps the first wholesale new character from the ‘90s Flash Gordon, General Lynch.  Lynch fulfilled the role of Ming’s main lackey, which was hardly a unique role to the series.  However, he himself didn’t have any direct counterparts in the earlier iterations.  He’s just sort of a typical big-muscled lackey, of course, so he wasn’t really breaking new ground or anything.  On to the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

generallynch2General Lynch is yet another figure from the basic assortment of Playmates’ Flash Gordon line.  The figure is a little under 5 inches tall (due to his slight hunch), and he has 5 points of articulation. He’s one of the shorter figures in the set, but he’s also the widest, so…good for him?  While his articulation’s more in line with the rest of the series, his sculpt actually has a lot in common with his boss Ming.  There’s a lot more texture and detail, and everything as a whole is just a lot sharper than most of the other figures.  The details of his face and the scaly texture of his skin stand out in particular as very cool.  He still bears a resemblance to his show appearance, but also has a certain degree of added realism, which just puts him above the others.  It’s definitely one of the better sculpts the line had to offer, alongside Ming.  Perhaps the only real downside (apart from the articulation) is his tendency to topple over.  The paint on Lynch is pretty decent as well.  It’s not perfect; there are a few spots of slop and bleed over, but the colors match up with his show appearance pretty well.  The General included the usual AirSled (which is a purple very similar in hue to his boss’s sled), as well as strange, ice cream scoop-looking weapon of some sort.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, do you want to take a guess where Lynch came from?  Yep, same place as the last few figures: a lot I picked up at a convention last summer.  I can’t say he was one of the figures I was particularly looking forward to, since Lynch on the show is ultimately a bit forgettable.  That said, he’s actually one of the nicest figures in the set.  The detail on that sculpt just can’t be beat!  Now, why couldn’t they put this kind of work in on Talon and Thundarr?  It’s unjust!  Unjust, I tell you!

#1059: Princess Thundar

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

PRINCESS THUNDAR

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

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Okay, remember yesterday’s discussion of the characters unique to the various incarnations of Flash Gordon.  Well, today’s focus is technically one of those, but only sort of.  See, Princess Thundarr, of the Leonids was a new addition to the cast of the ‘90s cartoon, but she’s effectively just a gender-swapped version of the original strip’s Prince Thun, leader of the Lion Men (who, it should be noted, weren’t actual lion people, unlike the Leonids).  Yes, of the eight figures released from the cartoon, a whole two of them were female.  That’s pretty good for the time!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

princessthundra2Princess Thundar (that’s how it’s spelled on the packaging, but every other reference I’ve found has the two “r”s, so I’m guessing someone goofed) was another of the basic assortment of figures from Playmates’ Flash Gordon line.  The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall (she’s the shortest figure from the line), and has 6 points of articulation, counting her tail.  Not an amazing selection, but at least she doesn’t have those v-hips!  Thundar’s sculpt is pretty decently handled.  She’s a fair translation of the show design into three dimensions, though she does seem a touch…blander?…than her show appearance.  In fact, bland is probably a apt descriptor of her in general.  From a purely technical standpoint, she’s perfectly fine, but she doesn’t really have the spark of character that Flash, Dale, and Ming all had.  Her expression is rather blank, her pose is little more than a simple standing pose (which isn’t inherently bad, but looks off compared to the others in the line), and she just feels a bit meh.  Even the paint is kind of boring.  Her colors aren’t far removed from how they looked on the show, but they do seem a little more washed out than they should be (in contrast to the overly bright Talon figure).  They’re still handled well technically, but it just feels like there could be more pop.  Princess Thundar included a weird bladed disc thing, a rebel VisiPad, and a purple AirSled.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Thundar also came from the lot of eight I picked up last summer.  I can’t say my expectations of her were strongly one way or another.  Ultimately, she feels like something of a counter point to Talon.  Her paint work is sharp, but dull.  Her sculpt is decently detailed and all, but still…dull.  And her pose is very stiff, which seems very contrary to her nature on the show.  Of the two, she’s the superior figure, but that takes her from being bad to being just sort of “meh.”

fgordonheroes

#1058: Prince Talon

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

PRINCE TALON

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

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Each new iteration of Flash Gordon brings its own unique characters to the table.  The 90s cartoon was no exception.  In some cases, characters were created wholesale, and in others, they were amalgamations or approximations of previously existing characters.  Presumably, after the unforgettable performances of Brian Blessed and Timothy Dalton as Prince Vultan and Prince Barin, respectively, in the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, the makers of the cartoon felt replacing them might be difficult, and instead gave us Prince Talon, who was one of the Hawkmen, just like Vultan, but also was far less antagonistic, and served as a foil to Flash, much like Barin (who would later appear in the cartoon, albeit in a much smaller role).  Today, I’ll be looking at Talon’s one and only action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

princetalon2Talon was one of the basic assortment figures from Playmates’ Flash Gordon line.  The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation, counting his wings. After reviewing Ming, Talon feels like quite a step down in terms of movement.  The one pose you see him in for the pictures?  That’s pretty much the only pose you’ll be getting out of him.  Talon is ostensibly based on his cartoon design (well, the second one, since he had a different look in the pilot), but he doesn’t really translate as well as the others in the line did.  On the show he was very angular, classically heroic in built, and had a very rigid stance.  On the figure, he’s round, a little pudgy, and permanently in a weird sort of mid-lunging pose.  Most of the cool details from his costume are just painted on, despite many of them having dimension on the original design, and the others in the set getting all the appropriate details on their sculpts.  And for some reason, they’ve given him a pair of sunglasses.  I guess all black guys in the ‘90s had to have cool shades?  They just end up looking rather hokey, though, since their shape doesn’t fit with anything else about the design.  It feels like the sculptor just got too lazy to actually sculpt his eyes, and did this as a time saver.  The wings can be removed if you so desire (because it was easier to fit him in the package with them off).  They’re rather basic and uninspiring, and once again seem to miss the coolness of his design from the show.  The paint on Talon is also some of the worst the line had to offer.  His colors are rather drab, and don’t really match up with his show design.  The pale green has been replaced by a warm yellow, which just looks even more dorky.  His details are all kind of fuzzy around the edges, and he’s painfully shiny in hue.  He just looks rather fake and cheap.  Talon included a weird bird-shaped blade-gun thing, which has an extending feature, as well as another AirSled, this time in light blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Talon is one of the last figures I got from the line.  He came from the lot of 8 I picked up at a convention last summer.  He was actually one of my main reasons for picking up the set, because Talon was one of my favorite parts of the show.  Unfortunately, the Talon figure takes a look at the bar set by yesterday’s Ming figure and just sort of face plants just in front of it.  Somehow, they managed to take the coolest of the show’s designs and turn it into the lamest of the 8 figures released.  It’s a real shame.

#1057: Ming the Merciless

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

MING THE MERCILESS

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

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If Dale Arden is the prototypical heroine/love interest, then Ming the Merciless is most definitely the prototypical arch villain.  I mean, c’mon, “Merciless” is part of his name.  Over the years, Ming has run the gamut between alien and human; he’s always just different enough to be clearly of another world, and always human enough to hit close to home with his evil ways, but the exact balance can be anywhere between those points.  In the case of the ‘90s cartoon, he was definitely in the more alien camp.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ming2Ming was released as part of the basic assortment of Playmates’ Flash Gordon line, which is sensible seeing as he’s, you know, the primary villain (though being a major character was hardly a guarantee of a figure for this line.  Just ask poor Dr. Zarkov…).  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Of particular note on the articulation is the presence of knee joints, something no other figure in this line possessed.  Why did Ming get the extra articulation?  Simple.  Playmates also released his throne, and he had to be able to sit on it.  So, rather than give all of the figures this quite useful articulation scheme, they just made Ming that way, which means he doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the line stylistically.  On the plus side, he has one of the nicest sculpts the line produced.  He takes the show design and tweaks it to make it just a bit more realistic, both in level of detail and in overall proportions.  It still makes him seem very different from the others, but that’s kind of okay.  The cape is a separate piece, which is alright, but it has a bit of trouble staying on, and it makes hime slightly difficult to keep balanced. The paintwork on Ming is pretty decent.  The colors are a fair bit less vibrant than the last two figures, but that’s show accurate, and it makes him seem a bit more villainous.  The details are all pretty clean and sharp.  He’s also got a nifty light-piping feature on his eyes, which gives him sort of an eery kind of a gaze.  Ming was packed with an extending staff thingy, and an Airsled, this time in purple.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ming was my second figure from this particular line.  He was one of the many figures I picked up from Ageless Heroes’ going out of business sale back in ’99.  Ming was then my fourth figure in the line, when I got another as a gift from someone a year or two later.  Another Ming was later acquired as part of the full set of figures I bought last summer, bringing the total Ming number up to three.  That’s a lot of Mings, but I can’t say I totally mind.  The biggest problem this figure faces is being very different from the rest of the line, but that’s less a problem with him and more a problem with the other seven figures.

#1056: Dale Arden

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

DALE ARDEN

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

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One of the standard tropes of popular media, especially action and adventure oriented media, is the need for the main hero to have a love interest of sorts. In terms of sci-fi stories, many of these characters are patterned after Flash Gordon’s gal Friday, Dale Arden. Interestingly enough, Dale has rarely been simply a damsel in distress, unlike so many of the characters who followed in her footsteps. Dale has pretty consistently been just one of the team associated with Flash. In many ways, she’s aided by the fact that she’s never really been the sole love interest for Flash, allowing her to be a more fully formed character. The ‘90s cartoon stayed pretty true to form, and, in fact, Dale is probably the best thought-out of the main three characters.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

dale2Dale was released in the basic figure assortment of Playmates’ Flash Gordon line. The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. She’s based on Dale’s primary design from the ‘90s cartoon, which isn’t quite as dated as the Flash design, but it’s still got a pretty clear ‘90s bend to it. The sculpt is a pretty decent translation of the show design, though it’s not quite spot-on. Her face in particular seems a bit too wide at the bottom, and the proportions of her body as a whole are far more exaggerated than they were in the show. She’s got a slightly pre-posed nature (which doesn’t really help the slightly off proportions), which kind of makes her articulation kind of pointless. You can sort of mix up the pose, but not a whole lot. It’s worth noting that Dale is probably one of the more attractive female figures from just about any toy company in the ‘90s, which is certainly something Playmates can be proud of. Dale’s paintwork is about on par with Flash’s. The colors are bold and bright (though the green’s a touch too bright for show accuracy), and the application is pretty clean. She’s still really shiny, but it bugs me a bit less here than it did on Flash. Dale includes the same assortment of accessories as Flash: a Triblaster, Rebel Visipad, and an Airsled, this time in a nice bluish green.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Dale during a somewhat nostalgic period of my Freshmen year of college. I had pulled out a lot of my old 5-inch figures to be put back out on display and was filling a few holes here and there. I already had Flash and Ming, but not Dale, so I got her from a seller on Amazon. She’s a pretty cool little figure. She’s got her flaws, but I like her more than the basic Flash.

#1055: Flash Gordon

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

FLASH GORDON

FLASH GORDON (PLAYMATES)

flashg1

While everyone and their mother is out there celebrating the anniversary of that Star Trek thing, I think its about high time we all looked at the really important September 2016 anniversary: Flash Gordon!  No, not the whole franchise (which, it should be noted is actually 82 this year), or even the original movie serial (which is 80), but rather the 1990s cartoon adaptation, which first aired this month 20 years ago, way back in 1996.  You don’t remember that show you say?  Okay, that’s actually fair.  It only lasted for 26 episodes, never made it to any of the major networks, and the only official home media release was a VHS containing the first five episodes of the show.  It’s not particularly widespread.  However, it did manage to get a nice little toyline in the ‘90s, courtesy of Playmates.  Over the course of the next week, I’ll be looking at those figures, starting with the titular character, Alex “Flash” Gordon.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

flashg2Flash was released as part of the aforementioned Flash Gordon line from Playmates.  As far as I know, there was just the one series (though other figures were planned and scrapped).  This figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  He presents Flash in his main look from the show.  If you thought the ‘80s Flash might be a bit dated, hoo boy, get a load of this guy.  He is the most ‘90s of the ‘90s.  The whole show had something of a ‘90s skateboarder feel to it, but Flash in particular stands out as being the most dated.  The hair, the pants with the weird belt line, the inexplicable choice of a belly shirt.  I’m not sure what they were thinking with this, but, well, here he is.  The sculpt does, at the very least, do a pretty good job of translating the show design into three dimensions.  It’s not spot on, but the animation was a bit inconsistent, so I think this is the best they could have done.  He’s slightly pre-posed, but not too absurdly, especially given that he’s from the era of Total Justice.  The paintwork on Flash is decent enough.  The colors are nice and bright, and everything seems to be pretty clean.  He’s really, really shiny, which bugs me quite a bit, but there it is.  Flash includes a TriBlaster, Rebel VisiPad, and an Air Sled (which really is just a skateboard).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Flash was the first figure I got from this line, way back in 1996.  I actually had not yet seen the show at the time that I got him, I just knew the character from the ‘30s serials that my dad had on Laserdisc (yes, you read that right).  That figure was lost over the years, and in the mean time, I actually saw the show these guys were based on.  At last summer’s Shore Leave, one of the dealers that I’ve bought stuff from before was selling the whole set of 8 figures for $20, which seemed like a really good deal to me.  Is this figure a great one? Nope, but he’s fun enough.  Really, I bought him because I wanted the rest of the set.  Were they worth it?  You’ll have to keep reading to find out.