Tag Archives: Hasbro

#3979: Mandalorian Warrior – Holiday Edition

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

MANDALORIAN WARRIOR — HOLIDAY EDITION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Twas the night day before Christmas…for the people reading this.  It’s sometime the week before Christmas my time, because I wrote this in advance so as to go easy on myself in preparation for the holiday.  I’m trying to be nice to me like that. And I appreciate it, I assure me.  The last few years, my festively-themed reviews have centered on Hasbro’s admittedly kind of hokey Holiday Star Wars: The Black Series figures, which they skipped doing last year.  There are new ones this year, but I didn’t end up snagging them, so I’m falling back on an older one again this year.  Let’s get festive and look at the Mandalorian Warrior…Holiday style!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Holiday Edition Mandalorian Warrior is one of the 2022 Holiday Star Wars: The Black Series figures.  He was number 4 out of the 6 released and was available exclusively at Target.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  All of the Holiday figures are repaints, and this guy in particular is a reuse of the Clone Wars era Mandalorian Loyalist from 2020, who was of course himself a re-use of a lot of parts from Jango Fett.  By 2022, this was a rather dated mold, so it was kind of crazy to see them trot it out again, but I guess a repaint’s a repaint.  While more recent years have gotten more inventive with their color schemes and holiday themes, the first two years pretty much just decked everyone out in garish holiday colors, and threw a tacky Christmas sweater detail on the front of the chest.  This guy specifically gets the Manalorian sigil, as well as a pair of helmets.  Honestly, the whole thing doesn’t look too awful, and I do quite like the chest pattern.  The Mando is packed with a long rifle in Nerf-style colors, and a recolor of the Bogling creature mold, which I don’t think got much use.  Bafflingly, despite the mold’s sculpted holsters, he doesn’t include any blasters that can fit in said holsters, which is annoying, but also not the first time it’s happened with these figures, so I guess it’s just a quirk that you have to accept.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never gone out of my way to find any of these guys, and in 2022, I was able to get the Protocol Droid through work, so I just figured that was good enough for the season.  That said, a bunch of these got traded in loose throughout the years that followed, and I picked them up as they caught my eye.  I’m a sucker for the hokey, gimmicky nature, and love having something silly to drag out with the decorations every year.  This one’s not really noteworthy within the whole set-up, but he’s still fun.

#3978: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

JLA (HASBRO)

“Though genetically an alien conceived on the planet Krypton, Superman is an American by birth, born in a Kansas cornfield. Through his deeds, Superman has become earth’s preeminent super hero. Time and again, he has proven himself a true hero, capable of whatever bravery and self-sacrifice is necessary to right a wrong or save a life. The guiding force behind the Justice League and the example of metahumans across the globe, Superman’s existence has changed the world forever.”

It shouldn’t seem odd to read a Superman bio, but this one’s notable for directly referencing the ship actually “birthing” Clark on Earth, which was introduced during John Byrne’s Man of Steel reboot.  Like a great many things introduced during that reboot, it’s the sort of thing that got quietly dropped, but it was still the official cannon when this figure was released.  Even a regular, normal, classic Superman still gets a little bit of weirdness in the ‘90s, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another JLA review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the second series of Hasbro’s JLA line, which, if I’m recalling correctly, is the first one actually branded from Hasbro, rather than Kenner.  He was also in the line’s third boxed set.  This was the fourth Superman in the line, making him the most numerous character in the line at that point (Batman would catch up with him by the end of it).  It’s also the first “normal” comic Superman, in, like, a decade, since Man of Steel and Total Justice were both while he was still sporting the mullet, and JLA launched while he was still in the midst of the the Blue/Red storyline.  It was a big deal, for sure.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Like the last three Supermen from this line, this figure was re-using the body of his Total Justice counterpart.  Unlike the last three, however, he also re-uses that figure’s cape.  His head is…well, it’s hard to tell if its new here, or elsewhere.  It was used both here and on the battle-damaged version of the character released alongside Metallo in a Hasbro Toy Shop-exclusive two-pack under the DC Super Heroes banner, in rather close proximity.  It would also be used on the armored Superman from this line’s last assortment.  In all three cases, it replaced a mulleted Superman head.  It’s not a bad sculpt, but ultimately feels a little bit off model for Superman as he was typically depicted at the time.  The shaping of the face seems a bit more rounded, and the hair lacks the typical s-curl, favoring a more general swoop in the front.  I remember it was used by a number of customizers at the time as an Elongated Man head, and I can very definitely see that.  Superman’s color work is pretty basic, modern era classic Superman coloring stuff.  The blue is on the darker side, which isn’t my preferred, but is accurate to how he was depicted at the time.  The paint on all of the JLA figures felt really prone to damage, but Superman was especially so.  The paint tends to chip, and the flesh tones are almost gummy, to the point that his cape is actually fused at the neck on my figure.  Superman included a JLA display stand in blue, same as Martian Manhunter from the same assortment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a big deal back in the day, because it really had been forever since we’d gotten a short-haired comic Superman, and it was certainly never in this style.  I recall him not being especially easy to find for this very reason.  I ended up getting him, probably in ’99 or ’00, from the Balticon dealer’s room, which typically had *nothing* in the way of toys, but that particular year had Superman and a Toy Biz Robin on a dealer’s table, both of which came home with me.  I liked this one a lot, and he got a lot of playtime, which only contributed to the wear and tear to his paint (which I’ve since done a little bit of restoring to).  In retrospect, that head doesn’t feel very Superman-y, but I was just so happy to have a classic Superman at all, that it didn’t bug me all that much.

#3974: Martian Manhunter

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

MARTIAN MANHUNTER

JLA (HASBRO)

“As is common among telepaths, the Martian Manhunter is an intensely silent figure. Even in his darkest moments, his mood is often reflected only the expression in his eyes. When he speaks, others listen. His accent is deep and indescribable. Possibly the most highly regarded by his JLA peers, he is a founding member of every incarnation of the team, an alien whose loyalty to his adopted world is beyond words. J’onn prefers to use his shape-changing powers to maintain several identities so he can move among the humans he admires so much. J’onn is the only Leaguer to whom Batman defers. Green Lantern is his favorite of the group.”

Before I jump into today’s review proper, I feel it’s important to note the date, which also informs a bit of my headspace.  December 16 is my late wife’s birthday, and this one would have been her 30th, a pretty significant one.  It’s also the fifth one I’ve spent without her, another bit of significance.  As I’ve discussed many times before here on the site, Jess was an incredible influence on the site and an immense support of my hobby and me in general.  I reviewed a great many things she got for me during the site’s run. Almost five years after losing her, of course, there’s not much she bought me that I haven’t yet reviewed, so I instead am going with something I hope might have amused her.

Martian Manhunter, known to some late wives of the Super Awesome variety as “Martin Spartan,” is a founding member of the Justice League, and has, for much of the team’s run, been one of the quintessential members of the line-up.  He had some times away, but when the team was being rebuilt at it most distinctive in the mid-90s, J’onn was placed back in the line-up, as your do.  He *just* missed inclusion in Kenner’s Total Justice, but would find his way back to action figures in Hasbro’s follow-up JLA line, with a figure that I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Martian Manhunter was released in the second series of Hasbro’s JLA line, and also in the third boxed set, which repackaged the Manhunter, Zauriel, and Superman from the assortment with an exclusive Lex Luthor and Joker.  He’s based on his then-current design, which is largely his classic look, with the only real caveat being the inclusion of his red eyes.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Manhunter was actually a lot of new parts, notable in a line that tried to be pretty heavy on re-use.  His arms are shared with Superman, but he’s otherwise unique (or at least unique to Martian Manhunter figures; there was also a hologram re-color of him later) with a sculpt that’s very true to the general styling of this line, as well as the Total Justice ones.  He’s a bit pre-posed, and also feels maybe a bit skinny for J’onn, but generally, it’s not bad, and I love that they’ve sculpted all of his costume details in.  He’s got a removable cape, which fits the figure well, and is quite dynamically rendered.  His color work is generally basic, but hits all the main notes.  The green is a bit on the bright side for a Manhunter of this era, feeling a bit more like his classic incarnation, and also making him feel a bit more at home with the Total Justice figures than the usually more subdued palettes of the JLA line.  Martian Manhunter is packed with one of the standard display stands, this time in blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Martian Manhunter was the first of the single release figures from this line that I got.  In fact, my dad and I bought him together, because of the novelty of a Martian Manhunter, and there was some plan to “share” but he ultimately wound up really just being mine.  He’s quite a nice figure, showing some of the line’s strengths for sure.  

#3970: The Atom

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

ATOM

JLA (HASBRO)

“A true product of modern science, the Atom was born when physicist Ray Palmer harnessed a fragment of a white dwarf star, giving him unique powers that allow him to radically reduce his size while retaining his full mass – and all with just a thought.”

After spending a stretch of time aged down to a teenager and hanging out with the Teen Titans, by the mid-to-late ‘90s, Ray Palmer had returned to pretty much just being his regular old Atom self.  And, as had been frequent in the years prior, that resulted in his inclusion as a recurring character for the JLA, even as it reformatted into a more core team line-up towards the end of the decade.  Atom was on the shortlist of characters who didn’t quite make the cut for Kenner’s Total Justice line, and would have had at least a “micro” version of himself (albeit in his wonky teen look) had the line continued.  When it came time for Hasbro’s JLA continuation, Atom managed to sneak in for the line’s final assortment, with what was his first proper action figure.  Let’s check him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Atom was released in Series 4 of Hasbro’s JLA line.  He, alongside Red Tornado and Wonder Woman, represented the “new” for the assortment, a fitting send-off for the line, filling in some of the classic roster.  Atom is pretty much as classic as the line got, in fact, because he was just in his original costume, rather than an updated equivalent like most of the line.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As with a lot of these figures, Atom was banking on a lot of parts re-use.  Curiously, his parts weren’t re-used from JLA or its predecessor Total Justice.  Rather, his body from the neck down is the Batman & Robin line’s Dick Grayson figure.  It gives Atom the distinction of being hands down the least pre-posed figure in the whole line, by virtue of his very basic standing pose.  It’s honestly not a bad bit of re-use, though, with its generally basic layout of design elements and the nice raised gloves sculpt.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is pretty respectable, and fits well with the re-used parts.  I like the sculpted insignia in the forehead quite a bit.  The figure’s paint work is generally not bad.  Unlike others in the line, he doesn’t have to ignore any sculpted costume elements, or anything like that, and the colors are generally a good match for how he was being colored in the comics at the time.  Mine’s got a spot of wear on his nose, but that’s hardly the fault of the figure.  Atom was packed with a JLA display stand in bright red, as well as a miniature version of himself, which I unfortunately lost a good many years ago.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very excited for this figure when he was announced.  I recall seeing him on Raving Toy Maniac, and having my dad print out the picture of him, which I carried around with me a lot while I waited for his release.  My dad made a point of tracking him down for me relatively quickly after they started hitting, and gave him to me for some sort of occasion, although I can’t recall exactly what.  I think the mini Atom made it maybe a week from opening, and then I just had the main one, who did get a heck of a lot of play time from me.  He’s honestly just a pretty clean, solid take on the character, not really held back by the usual weirdness of this line, which is really cool.

#3966: Red Tornado

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

RED TORNADO

JLA (HASBRO)

“Although the robotic being known as the Red Tornado was originally created by the Justice League of America’s foe T.O. Morrow, his heroism has never been questioned. Red Tornado’s capable of generating and maintaining winds of tornado velocity – and even greater.”

For as much a presence as it had on my formative years of toy collection, I haven’t talked a ton about Hasbro’s JLA line here on the site.  Launched at the end of the ’90s, the line served as a continuation to Kenner’s earlier Total Justice line, with a focus on filling out the roster, in most cases with as few new parts as possible.  It had a few boxed sets, and four assortment run of single-carded figures, and did its job of filling out the roster for sure.  The aim of the line was for modern takes on the team, but a few classic characters found their way, albeit often with a modern flair, like today’s offering, Red Tornado!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Tornado was released in Series 4 of Hasbro’s JLA line, which wound up being the last assortment.  Diamond did boxed sets that repacked the “new” figures from each assortment with a couple of exclusive figures, but they dropped off by this line-up, so everyone just got a single release.  Tornado was seen here in his then current look, which had returned him to a more robotic design, like his original look.  It was notably the look he was sporting in Young Justice at the time, and given the three leads from that book had been added in the prior assortment, it made a lot of sense.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As I noted in the intro, this line tried to work in as much re-use as possible, and Tornado was pretty high on that list.  He re-used the arms from Superman, along with the re-tooled torso that removed all the costume specific details, and also had the legs from the Blue Beetle figure.  The combination means he’s not *super* pre-posed, but he does wind up with one leg just sort of jutting to the side, which is a touch silly looking.  He did get a new head and cape, though, and both of those were solid pieces.  The cape has a decent hang, and I like the sculpted piping on the edges.  The head’s a nice recreation of his “modern” faceplate design, and though it’s a bit tiny, it sits well on the body.  His paint’s very simple.  The bulk of the coloring is molded, and I do quite like the slightly metallic red of the body.  Most of the paint is just the yellow elements, which are generally pretty clean, though the head arrow has a bit of wear on mine.  Red Tornado included a “JLA” display stand in yellow of all colors, for some reason.  It does at least keep him standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was quite excited for the assortment this guy was from, because it had some decent deep cut characters you couldn’t get elsewhere at the time.  Tornado was found on a trip to Toys R Us with my dad, during some downtime at his job for “Take Your Kid To Work Day.”  I got this guy and the X-Men Movie Storm and Sabretooth.  I’ve always really liked this figure, and by extension I have a real soft spot for this design for Tornado.  The figure’s not terribly impressive technically, I suppose, but he’s a nice, rather clean take on the character.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0050: Cantina at Mos Eisley

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

CANTINA AT MOS EISLEY with SANDTROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

Hey, who’s ready for a thematic tie-in?  I sure am! Yesterday, I looked at one of two cardboard playsets released during Power of the Force II.  The first released of those two actually was a more direct callback to the original Kenner run, a Mos Eisley Cantina, and I’ve looked at that one, albeit tangentially, via the figure it was later released at retail with following a run as a mail-away, who I reviewed back in 2020, making this a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, following up on the Sandtrooper!

“Their remote location makes the spaceports of Tatooine havens for the varied masses from across the galaxy. At the seedy Mos Eisley spaceport, this variety is more than evident at the main hangout, Chalmun’s Cantina. The most loathsome of Mos Eisley’s population can regularly be found there, including imperial sandtroopers, who are deployed by the Empire to quell outbursts with brutal efficiency. In the days before the Galactic Empire, the spaceport of Mos Espa hosted a similar reputation as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.” From the outdoor markets to the junk shops – overseen by the gambling crimelords, the Hutts – Mos Espa was a place where a nine-year old boy could learn the ways of the universe.”

Hey, remember how I’ve got all these Power of the Force figures I can review? Great, I don’t have to remind you why I’m doing this review, then. I’ve looked at all manner of Stormtrooper variants, many of them from this very line, but today I’m kind of doubling back and looking at a variant of a variant. Oh man, how crazy is that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sandtrooper was released in 1998, accompanying a 3D display diorama of the Mos Eisley Cantina. He was the actual figure used to sell a bunch of cardboard, wrapped in cardboard. Neat trick, I suppose. We had gotten a standard, run of the mill Sandtrooper in the main line, but this one aimed to be different enough to make collector’s buy. Guess it worked. According to expanded universe materials, this guy actually has a name. He’s Davin Felth, the trooper who says “Look sir, droids!” while they’re searching on Tatooine. And now you know that. Don’t you feel like your life has meaning now? The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. He uses the same head, torso, and pelvis as the single-carded Sandtrooper, but gets a new set of arms and legs. It’s still the super goofy PotF2 trooper build, but by this time things were starting to be a little bit more toned down. Those arms and legs are definitely less bulked up compared to prior troopers. His pose is also a more neutral one, but, in an interesting turn of events, he’s not really able to do anything but hold that one neutral pose. He looks like he’s standing guard (which makes sense for the playset he came with), meaning he’s designed to hold his weapon in a non-battle stance. He can’t actually hold it by the handle, due to the relative posing of his arms. The paint on this guy is also toned down from the prior Sandtrooper. He’s still got a little bit of weathering, but it’s nowhere near as intense. His pauldron has changed colors to mark a change in rank, with it being white instead of orange. For some reason, the black section has also changed to a light grey, which is an odd choice. Moving further down, the figure has also lost the black detailing at the elbows that prior troopers had, which does look a little weird. The Sandtrooper was packed with a blaster rifle and a patrol droid (missing from mine) which plugged into his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As part of my goal of getting all the figures from the PotF2 line, I’m having to track down some of the more odd-ball releases as well, which includes this guy. I ended up getting ahold of one from a loose collection that was traded into All Time, though he was missing the droid piece. He’s not a bad figure. I actually like him quite a bit, certainly more than I was expecting to.

That’s a May 2020 review up there, meaning I wrote this review in the midst of the pandemic shutdown, when I had a *lot* of reviewing time on my hands.  My notable backlog of Power of the Force figures was certainly an asset during that stretch of time.  I definitely got a little more quippy during that period, for sure.  Hey, comedy gets you through it, I guess.  The review of the figure holds up fine, so no issues there.  Pandemic Ethan knew what he was talking about.  The figure proper was missing his Scanning Droid, which I have subsequently tracked down.  It’s a pretty fun piece, and it plugs into the spot originally meant for his survival pack, which is a clever re-use of the spot.

The main omission, of course, was the actual playset.  It’s similar in concept to the Jabba’s Palace, and has a similar footprint.  The exact layout’s a bit different, though, with walls that fully enclose it, and a lack of raised platforms, instead placing the emphasis on the central bar, as well as the two included booths with tables.  I think it ends up working a bit better in terms of potential use with the figures, and there’s a general feeling of better stability to the whole thing, which I do really like.

#3948: Jabba’s Palace

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

JABBA’S PALACE with HAN SOLO in CARBONITE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“As one of a species known to live for at least one thousand years, Jabba the Hutt had plenty of time to build up his ill-gotten empire. No other crime lord lived in such luxurious, palatial surroundings, where his every need was immediately attended to by members of his court and a large collection of slaves. The repulsive, slug-like Hutt had his fingers in just about every unseemly activity known, from elaborate smuggling operations to his early days on Tatooine when gambling on Podraces was as big as the sport itself.”

When the original Star Wars line launched under Kenner, they had one proper playset, based on the Death Star, but in order to further expand the line at a smaller budget, they also partnered with Sears to offer another playset, based on the Mos Eisley Cantina, which, to save on tooling costs, was made out of card stock.  This was repeated for Empire, which saw a similarly card stock Cloud City playset.  By the time of Jedi, they didn’t need to concern themselves with tooling costs as much, so no card stock sets were crafted for that one.  When bringing the line back in the ‘90s, Kenner/Hasbro went back to that particular well, though, and we got a couple of new ones, including a Jedi-based one, Jabba’s Palace.

THE SET ITSELF

Jabba’s Palace was released as part of the “3-D Display Diorama” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998, officially under the Hasbro brand, not the Kenner one.  Included in the set was the fold-out Palace playset, an exclusive Han Solo figure, and some associated accessories.

The main set is, as noted, made from card board.  It’s based on the throne room of Jabba’s Palace as seen in the movie’s opening sequences.  Or, at least an approximation of it, which lets you get all of the main story focus spots into one main area.  The set has a footprint that’s about 25 inches long, and includes Jabba’s throne, the grate in front of it that leads to the Rancor’s pit, the entryway with the stairs, and the trophy wall that held Han in his carbonite slab.  The whole thing folds out without too much trouble, and tabs together without much issue.  The printing is generally pretty nice, and there’s a respectable amount of simulated texturing.  The only real downside is that some of the raised elements don’t hold weight especially well.  They do overall better than expected, especially Jabba’s throne, but the spot where the carbonite slab should go isn’t very good at supporting that weight.  Still, there’s plenty of space for spreading out the many denizens of the palace released over the course of the line.

The included exclusive Han Solo marks the second time the line did Han in Carbonite, following up on a solo release in ’96.  This one was based more specifically on his look immediately after being unfrozen, when he’s all…damp.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He uses the same legs as the last version, but is otherwise a unique sculpt.  It’s certainly different.  Is it better?  In some ways.  They did at least actually get his shirt right this time around, and the added movement on the elbows is very handy.  The head’s not really any more Ford resemblant than the early release figures, but he’s got the wet and sweaty slicked back hair, which is accurate to the scene and also hides the likeness a touch.  I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with his facial expression, but it’s at least different from the other Han figures.  The paint only exaggerates the oddness of the face, with those strange eyebrows.  The rest of the paint is decent enough.  Han is packed with a pair of manacles, as well as a version of the carbonite block that has a spot where Han was thawed out.  The figure fits well in the spot, but there’s no real way for it to stay upright with him in it, which is annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is one of those sets I remember seeing a few times as a kid.  I don’t know that I fully understood what it was, and I mostly just remember the Han with carbonite.  Since I already had the standard one, I didn’t see much need for this one at the time.  Obviously, my opinion on that shifted, since I, you know, own one and all.  The Palace is a pretty simple thing, but I think it really works well as a backdrop for the figures.  Han’s fine, but definitely goofy.  Still, not a bad set, all things considered.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3944: Millennium Falcon CD-ROM Playset

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

MILLENNIUM FALCON CD-ROM PLAYSET with HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO INTERACTIVE)

“Explore 7 Worlds of the Star Wars galaxy! Battle TIE Fighters, search for the Death Star and destroy the Empire!”

Are you guys ready for things to get weird?  Okay, so, you *are* reading a review on a toy review site that’s nosing in on 4000 entries, so maybe weird’s a bit relative.  Are you ready to jump into some of the weird marketing strangeness of the ‘90s?  Yeah, of course you are!  In the midst of the success of the Power of the Force relaunch in the ‘90s, Kenner got bored with just doing basic toy stuff, and really started just trying a little bit of everything to see what stuck.  The back half of the decade saw household computers become a lot more common, and CD-ROM based media was seen as the thing to get into.  Toy Biz did a whole set of Marvel figures that included CD-ROMs with digital comics, but Kenner/Hasbro needed to do better than that, so they built a whole interactive platform.  Like, literally.  It was a platform that you put over your keyboard and it let the figures “interact” with your computer.  Welp, let’s check this thing out.

THE TOY ITSELF

The Millennium Falcon CD-ROM Playset was added to the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line in 1998 as a standalone piece.  It was released not by Kenner, but rather by the Hasbro Interactive division, because of its more computer-based side.  Included were the actual Falcon playset, an exclusive Han Solo figure, and a Windows 95-compatible CD-ROM with a “game” featuring 7 different locales that you can “guide” the playset through.  I, unfortunately, don’t have a Windows 95 PC these days, so I was unable to try out the game.  I know.  For shame.

The bulk of what’s included here is the playset.  It’s a sizable chunk of the innards of the Millennium Falcon, largely focusing on the main cockpit, but also including one of the gunner stations, so that you have some options.  It’s a pretty large set-up, which does actually give you some space for fitting in a bunch of the figures.  It’s notable for actually giving us a pretty nicely sized take on the cockpit, which were don’t usually see.  In fact, it’s a bit too large, which isn’t the direction you’re used to seeing.  It’s also somewhat comedic that, for as much space as there is included, they still don’t give you all four seats.  That said, there are the two seats for Han and Chewie, as well as two spots with pegs for additional figures.  In terms of sculpting, it’s all pretty rudimentary stuff.  Not a lot of smaller technical details, and it’s soft even by the standards of the other offerings around it.  It does at least have a neat visual presence.  The whole thing is designed to go over a standard sized (at the time, anyway) QWERTY keyboard, placing the weight on the outside sections.  There’s even a strap meant to hold it in place, lest the children get to vigorous in their playing.  The three seats, the two spots for the standing figures, and three different spots on the central console are all capable of pushing down, and through use of springs, they can correspond to the keys to “interact” with what’s on the computer screen in front of them, which will appear through the set’s widow.

In order to really tie it into the line, there’s an included Han Solo, who’s exclusive to here.  Nowhere else to get him.  Unless, of course, you just opted to get the very similar figure from the gunner stations line from the prior year who was likely still available and retailed for 1/4 of this item.  But this one’s got knees!  This figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation, which, yes, includes the knees.  On the flip side, though, he loses the waist swivel that was standard for the rest of the line.  This is Han with the headset and gloves, seen most prominently during the gunner station sequence when they’re being chased by the TIE Fighters.  It’s a sculpt that’s similar but not identical to the gunner station one.  It’s different for different’s sake.  It’s still on the old Han likeness, so it doesn’t look much like Ford, and he’s still a little bulked up.  Generally, though, it’s not a bad figure, just a bit redundant.  The paint’s more or less the same, which is to say it’s fairly basic and not terribly exciting.  He doesn’t get any accessories of his own, but by this point in the line, everyone had, like, 50 Han Solo blasters, so you can just give him one of those.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I did not own this set as a kid.  I did look at this set *sooooooooooooooooo* many times on the shelves at CompUSA, where it was the only toy that was ever carried.  My dad was in IT and had to make a lot of trips there for work, and there this set would sit.  I thought it was cool, but there was no way I was getting it for its retail price.  Instead, I got it many years later, when I had my own job and my own money, and no one could stop me.  It came in through All Time Toys a number of years back, and it was still very cheap at the time, so boom, I had one.  It’s goofy.  There’s no denying that.  But, it’s also kind of a cool display piece, even removed from the whole CD-ROM thing.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this item for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3943: Cyclops & Jean Grey

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

CYCLOPS & JEAN GREY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As a direct continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series, the designs in X-Men ’97 at its launch stick pretty close to the designs from the original, which for most of the characters also means sticking to their Jim Lee-designed looks from X-Men #1.  Before the show launched, we heard that the main cast would be getting some costume changes, which led to a lot of deliberation about which set of post-Lee costumes they’d land on, until the show itself threw things into reverse, reverting most of the cast to their ‘70s and early ‘80s era attire (the explanation in-show being that those are the costumes they had on-hand at the auxiliary base they have to launch their final run on Magneto from).  For me, it’s the best of both worlds, because I love both sets of designs, and it also means that the more frequently overlooked ‘70s designs get an excuse for some toy focus.  Also, there’s a new Cyclops and Jean Grey, and how can I ever complain about that?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cyclops and Jean Grey are a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack.  They’re under the X-Men ’97 banner, and were released at the same time as a Storm and Wolverine two-pack with their matching costumes (Jubilee in her alternate attire, which was *not* a ‘70s/‘80s look also hit right around the same time in the main line).

CYCLOPS

This figure makes up kind of the central need for this whole set in the first place.  Though this look served as Scott’s main appearance for just over a decade, it often gets the short end of the stick on toy coverage.  In the case of Legends, the last release was back in 2017, as part of an exceptionally hard to get Toys R Us-exclusive two-pack.  Suffice to say, that figure’s gotten pretty pricey on the aftermarket, and also doesn’t quite fit with newer releases.  This one’s aim is to address all that, and also to maybe fix some issues with prior figures?  I’ll get to that.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As with most recent Cyclops figures, this one is built on the Vulcan body.  For this design in particular, it feels like a pretty natural choice for the character.  He gets a pair of new heads, new shins, and a new belt add-on piece.  The two heads follow the trend of recent Cyclops figures, with one calm, and one more intense.  As with prior instances, the more intense head has a slot in the visor for the attachment of an optic blast effects piece, which is always a fun touch.  When the X-Factor Cyclops was released, I was low-key kind of expecting those heads to get a straight re-use for this costume, despite the inaccuracies involved with such a choice.  I was very pleasantly surprised by the decision to go all-new for both sculpts, meaning that not only does he get the more distinctive visor shape of the Cockrum/Byrne days (complete with the etched in lines running at either side of the visor), he also gets the proper slants of the full mask under the visor; both prior Legends versions of this costume have gone with the later straight lines from the edges of the visor look, and while it’s a minor detail, I’m very glad it didn’t get overlooked here.  Likewise, his new boot pieces are a more accurate version of the boots Scott wore with this costume than the more generic buccaneer boots of earlier releases, making him even more accurate.  The only thing that isn’t quite as cool as Hasbro’s last version is the paint work, which, rather than replicating the shading of the comics for the blue sections, just goes for a flat blue.  They’re going for the animated look, which was a bit flatter, and I know the coloring on the last one was difficult to get consistent, so I understand it, and this one ultimately doesn’t look *bad*, but it’s the one area where he’s not *quite* as impressive.  Cyclops includes two pairs of hands (in fists, and an open/activating visor combo) and the large optic blast effect first used with X-Factor Cyclops.  It’s basic, but covers the important bases.

JEAN GREY

Jean’s return to her green miniskirt costume in the last pair of ’97 episodes is a return in more ways than one, since she’d also worn it during the original show’s adaptation of the “Dark Phoenix Saga.”  She’d also recently returned to it during the Krakoan-Era in the comics, which was how it got its last Legends figure.  That one wasn’t all that long ago, nor was it super hard to find, so this one was a *little* surprising, but given the two-pack angle, not incredibly so.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Going in, I was expecting a lot of re-has from the HoX release of this costume, but that’s really not the case.  The only piece actually shared between the two is the torso.  The arms and legs are newer, updated pieces that sport the pinless construction on the elbows and knees.  The feet are now proper closed boots with heels, instead of the re-purposed shoe-d feet from Peggy Carter, and the gloves are now cleaner slip-over pieces, rather than the wrinkled ones from the last one.  She’s also got two new heads, and a newly sculpted skirt piece, which is more dynamic than the last one, and therefore more practical for posing the legs.  In general, she’s a much easier figure to pose, and by extension more easy to balance.  Much less falling over with this one.  The two heads mimic Cyclops, with one calmer, and the other more intense.  They’re both clearly patterned on her animation model from the show, but can also work easily as a stand-in for her comics look.  Jean’s color work is a slightly different approach than the HoX version, which went for flatter shades.  This one goes a bit more off-kilter, making the yellows gold and the green a sort of duller shade.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but in hand it actually really works, and gives this design a more unique feel, while also calling forth her Phoenix design.  Jean is packed with two pairs of hands (in fists and open gesture), as well as two energy effects pieces in blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned many times how the late ‘70s X-Men is really what I consider my X-Men.  So, I’ve got this real attachment to that classic Cyclops look.  The Toy Biz version’s not worth mentioning, and much as I love the TRU Cyclops (because he’s a half-way decent Cyclops), he’s got some issues that hold him back.  When this look reappeared in ’97 I was very hopeful it would turn up in toy form again.  It took a while, but here it is.  I jumped on the pre-order for these as soon as possible, because I was not missing this Cyclops.  He’s sooooooooooo nice.  Very much the best version of this costume, and I love so much about him, but especially the actual accuracy to the costume’s intended design, which is always overlooked.  Jean I had very little actual expectations about.  I had the HoX release, and it was fine but not overly impressive.  I expected mostly re-hash here, and just saw her as a glorified accessory for the Cyclops figure.  While she doesn’t supplant Cyclops as the star for me, she’s a lot better than I expected, and an unquestionable improvement over the last release, and I’m very happy about that.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0048: Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

SNAKE EYES & STORM SHADOW

G.I. JOE VS COBRA (HASBRO)

Today’s Friday, but it’s not just *any* Friday!  No no!  Today’s October 17th, meaning it’s officially been 12 years of me running this humble little site.  And, to showcase that humbleness, I’m not even running this in front of a review, but instead an addendum, because that’s just how I roll these days.  I’m making it an ever so slightly more special addendum, though, with a revisit to one of my older year-ending reviews.  So, let’s look back at Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow!

Heyo! As all my faithful FiQ-fans are undoubtedly aware, today marks four years of reviews here at the site. In honor of this momentous day, I wanted to take a look at a pair of figures that are somewhat important in the grand scheme of my collection. I’ll be setting my sites on G.I. Joe, a franchise that I feel I don’t look at quite as often as I should around these parts. I mean, it is the *original* action figure, after all. The line definitely deserves some respect. Today, I’ll be looking at two of my favorite characters from the franchise (as well as two of the most popular characters in general), Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Snake Eyes & Storm Shadow were released in Series 1 of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Vs Cobra line. This series served to bring brand-new 3 3/4-inch Joes back to mass retail after a one year absence and a few years of repaints.

SNAKE EYES

“SNAKE EYES learned his top combat skills in missions around the globe. A tragic helicopter mission took away his voice and scarred his face. That’s why he communicates with sign language and never removes his mask around others. He studied mystical martial arts with the Arashikage clan, which is also the family of master ninja STORM SHADOW, SNAKE EYES is an expert in all disciplines of martial arts and silent weapons. He can move silenty and without being seen. At one time, he and STORM SHADOW were sword brothers, linked by spirit and tradition. Now that STORM SHADOW is part of the evil COBRA organization, there is no escape from a final battle between two of the world’s greatest martial arts fighters.”

As perhaps the most popular Joe ever, it was no surprise that Snake Eyes turned up here in the first series. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall (he’d be taller without the wide stance) and he has 14 points of articulation. The first series of Vs were distinct in their construction. Hasbro abandoned the more typical O-ring construction, and went for a more solid construction. This results in figures that are a little sturdier than their predecessors, but slightly more limited in their posability at the hips. It wasn’t a perfect solution, and that’s why Hasbro ended up going back to the O-ring build in the next series. This Snake Eyes had a unique design, which made use of elements from all of his prior figures. I may be a little biased, but this has always been a favorite look of mine. His sculpt definitely shows its age….or an age. Given the sheer size of this guy’s muscles, he looks like he should be straight out of the ’90s, not the early ’00s. Guess Hasbro was still shaking off a little of the Extreme days from the ’90s. That being said, whoever worked on this sculpt was certainly having a good time of it. The details in the wrappings, the straps, and the pouches are all really well rendered, and indicate real attention being paid to this figure. The head’s my favorite part of the figure, as it’s probably the least affected by the stylization. I like that you can clearly see the face under the mask, but it’s not quite as ridiculous as the sculpted lips from Rise of Cobra. The paintwork on this figure is a bit more involved than most Snake Eyes figures tended to be. He’s actually molded in a very, very dark green, allowing his visor to be made straight black and still have contrast. The rest of the work is all in the accents, which all go pretty well. He’s got some color without it getting too garish. Snake Eyes was packed with a pair of swords, a backpack to hold them, a knife, and a sub-machine gun. After 15 years, all my figure has left are the swords.

STORM SHADOW

“STORM SHADOW grew up in the Arashikage clan of ninjas. During his training, his sword-brother was SNAKE EYES, the commando and martial arts master of the GI JOE team. The evil COBRA organization recruited Arashikage members. This corruption split the clan in two. After a COBRA agent killed STORM SHADOW’s uncle, he went undercover within COBRA to find the assassin. When the killer was revealed, STORM SHADOW joined the GI JOE team to get revenge. But now, STORM SHADOW is back with COBRA. Are all Arshikage ninjas evil? Or does COBRA COMMANDER hold some special power over STORM SHADOW? Whatever the reason, the anger is clear when he meets SNAKE EYES. The battle between the ninja masters will be legendary.”

Ah, the revolving door that is Storm Shadow’s affiliation. Yes, one of the notable things done by the relaunch was placing Storm Shadow back on the side of Cobra, which was explained in the Devil’s Due comics of the time as the result of brainwashing. The figure has the same height and articulation as Snake Eyes. Thanks to a slightly straighter stance, that actually makes him a little shorter. The sculpt for Storm Shadow as another all-new one, and while Snake Eyes would get another sculpt very quickly, Storm Shadow’s stuck around for several years. It’s not anywhere near as exaggerated as the Snake Eyes sculpt, so I guess it had a slightly longer shelf life. That being said, I can’t help but feel this sculpt is a little less inspired than that of Snake Eyes. The details seem a lot flatter, less organic, and just generally a little less developed. And then there’s that hood; what’s going on with the hood? It’s all stuck to the head, and generally un-hood-like. The Storm Shadow figure just prior to this one clearly showed that sculpting a hood was totally within Hasbro’s grasp, so this just looks…strange. It’s as if they didn’t decide until the last minute whether they wanted the hood or not, so he just has this amorphous could-be-a-hood-could-be-a-mask thing. Storm Shadow’s paint is alright. It’s pretty basic stuff, really. Red, white, gray, and black. It’s relatively clean, and makes for a good contrast with Snake Eyes. The white is all molded plastic, though, so he’s done some serious yellowing over the years. The figure was packed with two swords, a backpack, a knife, and a sub-machine gun. Apart from the backpack and knife, the pieces were actually unique to Storm Shadow, not shared with Snake Eyes. That’s actually pretty cool!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two are my very first small-scale G.I. Joes. I had several of the 12-inch ones, but the smaller line was on the back burner for my earlier collecting years. When the first series was first shown in ToyFare magazine, I was pretty excited, and I knew from the very beginning that Snake Eyes was the first one I wanted. Storm Shadow sort of came along for the ride. My dad bought these for me, as a reward for patiently waiting for flooring with him at Home Depot. They aren’t amazing figures. None of this era of Joes really were. But they were my first, and they were fun. I loved having them, and they got me into the whole franchise. Now I have over a hundred of these little guys. Lots of them are better technically than these two, but these two are still my favorites.

So, as noted within the review, this was the review that capped off my fourth year on the site, way back in 2017.  This was the very first review to be published on “thefigureinquestion.com” rather than “thefigureinquestion.wordpress.com” which was a really big deal for me at the time.  It’s crazy to think how long its been since the true free blog days of the site, but that’s the notable shift.  After a year of bouncing around, I had finally found myself settled back in at home, and was working a regular office job that would last me until the pandemic.  It marks probably one of the few periods of stability for me since starting the site, so I guess that was pretty nice.  

But what of the actual toys?  Well, I still pretty much stand by my assessments of the figures from the time.  I think they’re a bit dated and their own sort of thing, but still very much fun, and the kind of figures I really do dig.  When I reviewed them, I mentioned that I’d lost a lot of their parts.  As I mentioned in my B.A.T. review earlier this week, I had call to do some digging through all of my Joe parts from this era, and in the process, I actually wound up finding all of the pieces that went to these two, which is super cool.  Snake Eyes now has both swords, his sheaths, his uzi, and his dagger, while Storm Shadow gets…well, pretty much the same, but slightly different.  Yay!  Enjoy the new pictures of them in all their proper and complete glory!