Tag Archives: Hasbro

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0092: Snake Eyes & Agent Scarlett

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

SNAKE EYES & AGENT SCARLETT

G.I. JOE VS COBRA (HASBRO)

Behold!  It is Friday!  The day at the end of the week where I do all the flashing back with the addendums and what have you!  What a day!  This week’s jump back into the past is jumping over into the G.I. Joe side of things, with a return look at Snake Eyes and Agent Scarlett!

In 1965, Hasbro invented the action figure with the very first GI Joe. The figure offered a take on the traditional doll idea, but meant for boys. He was 12 inches tall, had a cloth outfit, and was a pretty straight forward military man, offered in a variation for each of the four branches of the US military. After the end of the Vietnam War, soldiers and war were seen in a more negative light, so Hasbro had to change things up. This led to the Adventure Team era, which prevailed for most of the 70s. At the end of the decade, they faced another issue. Thanks to Kenner’s smaller scale Star Wars line, the industry was moving to smaller, less accessorized figures. Hasbro had to move quickly to reinvigorate GI Joe for a new audience, leading to the creation of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, which reworked the scale and made the line a collection of unique characters. It also provided the Joes with their first real foe, Cobra. It has remained the definitive take on the GI Joe concept pretty much since its inception. While the line never went away, after the 80s the line dwindled, until it was once again re-worked in 2002. That’s when I came on board. The line operated mostly on new sculpts, but there were a few re-releases mixed in. Today, I’ll be looking at one such release, with Joe mainstays Snake Eyes and Scarlett.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as an exclusive two-pack through Toyfare magazine. They were meant to tie-in with the then current GI Joe VS Cobra.

SNAKE EYES

This is the 15th version of the ever silent ninja/commando/everything but the kitchen sink, Snake Eyes! Snake Eyes is 3 ¾ inches in height and he features 14 points of articulation. He’s meant to be a slightly more high quality recreation of the very first Snake Eyes figure, so he unsurprisingly used a lot of the same pieces. He’s mostly built out of the version 1.5, after Hasbro added the now standard swivels to his biceps, but instead of the original, he’s been given that of the second version of Roadblock. Not sure why that is, but I assume Hasbro had a good reason. Anyway, it’s a pretty great sculpt, even if it does show its age just a little. Obviously, it’s a tad more simplistic than most modern day sculpts, but that’s not too bad. He still has his fair share of detail, and he looks pretty great! The paint is a key point on this figure, as the original Snake Eyes didn’t actually have any. For this one, they’ve added some additional details to the various pouches and straps on the body to give him a little more variety. There is also a shade of very dark gray applied to the visor on his head, which was so subtle I almost didn’t notice it at first. Overall, the paint is pretty good, but there are a few areas where he has some bleed over. Snake Eyes included a submachine gun, a sword, some explosives, and a back pack, which a pretty impressive accessories compliment!

AGENT SCARLETT

This is the 6th version of Scarlett, or Agent Scarlett as she’s called here. She’s 3 ¾ inches in height and she has 14 points of articulation. Like Snake Eyes, she’s meant as a recreation of the original Scarlett figure from way back in the very first series of GI Joe: A Real American Hero. The figure is a complete re-use of swivel-armed version of the original figure, which is reasonable. Admittedly, the Scarlett sculpt is not as nice as Snake Eyes. Her arms sit a little bit far out at the shoulders, and the face is rather on the mannish side. It’s not terrible, but it’s not the greatest. The paint on Scarlett is a bit more intensive than that on Snake Eyes. All in all, it’s pretty good. There’s no real slop or bleed over, so that’s good. They’ve also made her a bit more colorful than her original incarnation, which is probably for the best. Scarlett comes armed with a crossbow and two swords, as well as a backpack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

GI Joe was mostly in a lull when I came into the world of action figure collecting. As such, my first real introduction to the property was GI Joe VS Cobra. Once I had gotten the newer figures, I began looking into the older figures, particularly those of Snake Eyes. Thanks to an article run in Toyfare magazine, I learned of the second version of the character, which I really wanted. It didn’t prove easy to find, so I had to go without it until recently.

In the meantime, I purchased this set from Toyfare to hold me over. I remember being extremely excited when I first saw the order form in the issue in which they were offered! My always supportive Mom was feeling particularly awesome, so she ordered the set for me. Since then, it’s easily remained one of my favorite pieces of my GI Joe collection. It’s a great set and I really love it!

This review was very near the end of my first year on the site, though going by my records, I wrote it about a month in advance.  I certainly did go pretty in-depth on the background of the line, which is interesting, given that it was far from the first of my small-scale Joe reviews.  Earlier reviews were a bit more brief on the intros, so I guess I was probably trying to make up for that.  I recall rediscovering this set over the summer that year, after getting a few figures from the vintage line and doing a bit of digging in my personal collection.

In terms of the review itself, I think I did alright.  I didn’t quite know all the ins and outs of the vintage ARAH molds back in 2014, so I didn’t know the reasons for the Roadblock pelvis on Snake Eyes, which is just that the original pelvis mold was one of the many vintage molds lost when Hasbro returned to the scale in 1997, necessitating a lot of Frankensteining to get the old molds back up and running.  At the time of my original review, the figures were missing most of their accessories, but I’ve done a lot of digging, and managed to find the missing parts, which for these two is quite a lot of parts.

#4131: Clone Lieutenant

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

CLONE LIEUTENANT

STAR WAR: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Through the creative vision of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cartoon Network, the Clone Wars are brought to life in an exciting new series of short animated chapters. A unique animation style captures the drama of this epic period in galactic history along with its outstanding heroes and adversaries. Noble Jedi warriors lead Clone Troopers into battle against the evil Separatist forces and their droid armies. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and their comrades struggle against the rising power of the dark side and confront personal challenges against a backdrop of war-torn planets.”

Undoubtedly my favorite thing to come out of the Prequel Era of Star Wars is Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, a 2D animated bridging of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  While the films rarely branched out beyond the core cast of characters, Clone Wars established a precedent, later followed by The Clone Wars, the 3D animated show, of placing focus on less fleshed out characters.  While its time spent with the titular clones was still a lot less than the later show would feature, they’re still a notable presence, and they made up a sizable portion of Hasbro’s tie-in line from the time…albeit mostly through a lot of repaints, but it’s kind of what you expect, right?  Okay, let’s take a look at a Clone Lieutenant.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Lieutenant (who is only actually identified as “Clone Trooper” on the package, due to sharing all packaging elements with the Captain and the Commander) was released alongside the other two colored Clone variants as a late addition to the Star Wars: Clone Wars line in early 2005, before all the Revenge of the Sith product hit the shelves.  He’s based on the Phase I trooper designs, as seen in the first two seasons of the show.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation.  He’s rather standard for the line on the movement front, with movement at the neck, shoulders, and waist.  They weren’t really built for poseability, but more as mini-maquettes of the show’s designs.  The Clones did get a leg up on the rest of the line, though, since they all got ball-jointed necks.  It doesn’t do a ton, but it gives him some subtle variety in his posing. He, as well as the Captain and the Commander, really just existed as way of putting the standard Clone Trooper mold back out there, so he’s just a complete re-use of that mold.  Like the rest of the line, it does a really good job of taking Tartakovsky’s designs and making them work in three dimensions.  He’s slightly pre-posed, but not in a crazy sort of way, which is ideal for a guy you’ll probably get a lot of.  Just the one raised arm for the rifle is a good look, and he’s honestly pretty stable on his feet.  The first use of the mold was all white, but the re-releases add the color markings for the different ranks.  The Lieutenant is blue, which, let’s be honest, is the coolest of the color markings.  Both literally and also in a figurative sense.  The application here is a little bit fuzzy around some of the edges, but in general, it looks alright.  The use of panel lining on the armor also does a lot to help the mold, as well as bringing it closed to animated stylings.  The Lieutenant was packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when these were new, the line was rather a hot commodity, so I only had a few pieces, and this guy wasn’t one of them.  In more recent years, I’ve found more of them, and in the case of this guy, I bought a lot of the recolored clone troopers, mostly just for him.  He wound up being the only one I actually got around to opening, and he’s been sitting mixed in with my 3D figures for a couple of years now.  For as simple as these figures are, I always really enjoy messing with them when I get the chance, and the Clones are really the star pieces of the line.

#4127: Paz Vizsla

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

PAZ VIZSLA

STAR WARS: EPIC FORCE (HASBRO)

“A descendant of the esteemed house Vizsla, brawny warrior Paz Vizsla is protected by the strongest Beskar armor.”

Would you believe I’ve finished up all my Saga reviews?  Well, I guess I haven’t *really*, but I’ve finished all the reviews of figures that are ready to go, since all the ones I have left are pretty woefully incomplete.  I’m past the days of incomplete figure reviews…mostly.  Anyway, I’m actually jumping a fair bit further ahead for today’s review, to something “modern” era, though still a couple of years old at this point.  I don’t get much into the Mandalorian-based stuff anymore, but I’m doing at least this one jump back with a look at this Paz Vizsla figure that’s, you know, actually named Paz Vizsla, rather than just “Heavy Infantry Mandalorian.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Paz Vizsla was part of the debut assortment of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Epic Force line, back in 2024.  He was one of two deluxe figures in the set, the other being Sabine.  Paz has pretty much always been relegated to the deluxe sizing, so it makes sense that it happened again here.  The same core figure, with a different selection of accessories, was also available in the “Unite the Clans” three-pack at the end of the year.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The Epic lines are all technically 4-inch lines, rather than 3 3/4-inch, and it was especially notable on the earlier Star Wars stuff.  Thankfully, in the case of a character like Paz, they stuck to that strict 4-inch mark, which means that he scales okay with earlier figures, since Paz should be a little taller than the others.  His sculpt is unique to him, and it’s based on his design from the show.  The level of detail here is definitely not as in depth as, say, a Vintage Collection figure, but it’s a little more than a Retro Collection figure, making it kind of feel a bit like a mid-run Power of the Force figure.  Gee, I wonder who around these parts might like such an aesthetic? Honestly, it works well.  It gets all the important details down, with a decent degree of sharpness, but it still lets them do more of a basic feel overall.  The paint work here leans heavily into the basic side.  The broad colors are present, but there’s a lot of spots where things are just left unpainted.  This is where the figure feels more like a Retro Collection or even proper Kenner figure over, say, Power of the Force, because after the ‘90s, it was very rare to just get straight up unpainted details.  The torso is definitely the most stripped down, with a lot of just unpainted dark blue.  Other sections get more variation, though, and the actual application is clean.  Paz is packed with his jetpack (which is definitely a fair bit oversized), his large gun (which has been converted into a missile launcher and is *comedically* oversized), a missile for said large gun, and a removable flame-thrower effect that clips onto either of his forearms (though it has a gauntlet attached which is quite clearly meant to match the left side).  They cover all of his standard extras, and there’s enough more there relative to the standard releases that it feels like “deluxe” was justified.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Epic Force launched, I liked the idea, especially with the similarities to Power of the Force, and the fact that I’d really been bummed out by the ending of the basic 5-POA line after Resistance, but I’d also kind of moved on and was focusing on scaling back on my Star Wars collecting in general.  That said, one of the collections I more or less kept intact was my modern era Retro Collection stuff, and Paz was notably absent from that set-up, so this figure offered a decent little “close enough” set-up.  I wouldn’t say it was enough to make me go out hunting, but when a loose one came into work, I really had no good excuse not to, and so he got added to my collection.  And, you know, sat in a box for two years waiting to be reviewed.  Look, I got to him, didn’t I?  It’s interesting to look back at this figure now, given how quickly the Epic line evolved into something totally different than what it was here.  He’s a weird sort of middle-ground figure, and while I’m happy to have a Paz that fits with my Retro figures, it’s not hard to see why this incarnation of the line really struggled to find its footing.  He’s a good figure and a good toy, but just feels so very much like he’s from an entire different era than the one that spawned him, which is odd for a figure that’s not intentionally a throw-back. 

#4123: Boba Fett – The Pit of Carkoon

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

BOBA FETT — THE PIT OF CARKOON

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“Part of the entourage accompanying Jabbe the Hutt to the Pit of Carkoon to watch the execution of Han Solo, the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett leaps into battle to save his life after Jabba’s sail barge is attacked by Han’s rescuers.”

You gotta really respect the moxie of Star Wars Saga, the worst Star Wars toyline, for producing two figures of Boba Fett, one of the most popular “cool guys” in Star Wars, and having them both be based on objectively his lamest moments in the franchise.  His entry into the line was kid Boba, of the “hyuuup”-ing variety, and then the one Original Trilogy figure is specifically called out as being based on the moment just before his extremely humiliating death in Return of the Jedi.  Clearly, someone at Hasbro wasn’t feeling very generous to poor Boba.  Well, I’ll do my best not to humiliate him any further.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett — The Pit of Carkoon was figure number 08 in the 2003 assortment of Star Wars Saga, hitting in the line’s second year.  As touched on in the intro, he was the second Boba in the line, after the more direct Attack of the Clones tie-in figure from the launch assortment.  He was the first specifically Jedi-based Boba since the Power of the Force days.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation, plus a moving range-finder.  The movement on this guy is kind of interesting, because he’s more posable than was standard for the line at the time, but it’s all kind of weird.  Both legs get three joints each, but on the right leg, the two joints beneath the hip are on his knee, while the left leg puts both joints on the ankle.  His arms also both get swivels at the shoulders and the elbows, but the shoulders are tied into the action feature, so they can’t really hold a pose.  He himself is rather pre-posed, meant for a sort of firing his blaster from the hip while flying through the air pose, which…honestly, works pretty well.  Saga was frequently a mess with the over posing, but I gotta give them credit for the times they hit their mark.  The sculpt is honestly not bad.  It takes a lot of design cues from the 300th Boba, and that was a nice sculpt itself.  Hasbro rather liked this one, and wound up re-using it a lot until the more posable options came into vogue.  The only drawback of this release is the “missile” on his jetpack, which, due to doubling as the plunger used to activate his blaster firing action feature, is just the wrong shape.  The pilot Jango Fett from the prior year used the same feature, and had the same problem, but he had the other jetpack design, so it was less noticeable.  Boba’s color work is generally on the basic side.  He’s not too far off from what we were seeing with Power of the Force, which isn’t quite as technically impressive as later Fetts, but it’s also not a terrible look.  The basics are covered, and the sculpt is strong enough to shine through pretty well.  Boba was packed with his blaster rifle, a blast effect for the rifle, and a rocket blast flight stand that plugged into his jetpack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While not my first Boba Fett, this was the first one I actively chose to get.  Well, okay, it’s the first OT Boba I actively chose to get.  The second year of figures weren’t as plentiful as the first, but showed up in some weirder spots, notably the PX at the military base where my grandparents did their grocery shopping.  I was with my Grandmother for one of her trips, and got to pick out a few Star Wars figures, which wound up being this guy, Hoth Han, and robot hand Anakin.  Boba is the last hold-out of the trio, the one that stuck with my collection through a good number of purges.  I make fun of Saga and of Boba Fett, but I can’t knock this figure.  He’s kind of a gem of the line, much like last week’s Luke.

#4122: Moon Knight – Rivals

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

MOON KNIGHT — RIVALS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Bathed in a luminous aura that pierces the darkness, Moon Knight glides through the night, ready to sear his enemies with his master’s sacred Ankhs.”

Hey, we had an almost two year break between Moon Knight reviews there, but, have no fear, just two weeks later, I’m coming in with another Moon Knight review, because that’s just how I roll.  Also, you know, because I got two new Moon Knights relatively close to each other, and I’m passing that closeness onto you!  …Or something.  Today, though, it’s a little different, because it’s also a video game figure.  Hailing from the 2024 game, Marvel Rivals, it’s, umm, Marvel Rivals Moon Knight?  Yeah, that’s it.  That’s the ticket.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is a standalone deluxe-sized release from Hasbro’s Marvel Rivals subset of Marvel Legends, shown and *sort of* released alongside the Rivals Punisher figure.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Moon Knight sports an all-new sculpt, based on his standard skin from the game.  It’s a look clearly based on the Shalvey-designed armored up design, but filtered through the game’s edges upon edges sort of design aesthetic.  Aside from the faceplate feeling maybe just a touch too Taskmaster, it’s a fairly decent Moon Knight design.  The sculpt certainly does it justice.  The articulation is worked in pretty well, allowing for a good range of motion on most of the joints, while not breaking up the flow too much.  The shoulders are a little limited, and he’s stuck looking sort of downward a bit, but otherwise it works out okay.  While some of the game-based figures have brought the designs more into the general aesthetic of broader Legends set-up, the Rivals figures are more inline with the actual game looks, down to the slightly amplified proportions.  The details on the costume elements are quite sharp, and I quite like the texture work on the under suit in particular.  The standard cape has a sort of dramatic flow to it, mimicking his character screen from the game.  It looks pretty cool, and lends itself to a nice variety of poses.  The line work is sculpted, which helps give it some extra pop.  There’s a second cape included, set in an outstretched crescent shape like when he’s gliding.  Without some sort of flight stand, the posing options are slightly more limited, but it’s an impressive looking piece regardless.  The figure’s color work is actually quite involved.  There’s a number of different finishes to the white sections, which I quite like.  The darker sections are likewise varied, and all of the application is pretty cleanly handled.  Moon Knight is packed with a pair of crescent blades and a pair of Ankh batons, so he’s got some options for attack.  No way to store anything, and I was a little bummed by no extra hands, but the weapons do at least fit nicely into the gripping hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rivals isn’t available on any of the consoles I play the occasional video game on, so I’ve not had the opportunity to experience any of it first hand, but I know a fair bit of it through reputation.  My knowledge of Moon Knight’s inclusion is really that he’s in the game, and that’s it.  A new Moon Knight figure is a new Moon Knight figure, though, so I was onboard for this one from its announcement.  It’s a solid release.  Not my personal favorite of the many Moon Knights, but he does some cool, and more unique stuff, which I definitely appreciate.

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.

#4119: Luke Skywalker – Bespin Duel

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — BESPIN DUEL

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“As Luke battles Darth Vader in Cloud City, he rebuffs Vader’s attempts to mae him submit to the dark side. Wounded by Vader, Luke heroically chooses to plummet to almost certain death rather than to yield to the dark side. Managing to grab hold of a weathervane, he shrugs to hang on until his Rebel friends can rescue him.”

Well, it’s come to this.  I finished a whole run of Power of the Force reviews.  I finished my meager Episode I and Power of the Jedi collections.  Chronologically, that leaves just one thing: Star Wars Saga.  Since completely rebranding with an entirely movie centric line for Episode I didn’t turn out great for retailers when reception to the movie was lukewarm, the tie-in line for Attack of the Clones maintained the cross-franchise reach of Power of the Jedi.  Though not officially named so on the packaging, the ensuing line was dubbed “Saga” by the fanbase, a name that stuck for its three-year run.  Coupled with the Attack of the Clones figures at launch were some classics from the Original Trilogy, including today’s focus, Bespin Duel Luke Skywalker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker — Bespin Duel is figure 29 in the first year of Star Wars Saga.  He was designed to pair off the Bespin Duel Darth Vader, to replicate parts of their fight from Empire.  Luke is in his rebel fatigues, most commonly referred to as his “Bespin” attire, his main look for Empire, which was making its third appearance in the scale here.  The figure stands just under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was notably quite posable for the time.  The line was only just starting to get into more involved articulation with Episode I and had kind of taken a bit of a step back, with Saga trending more towards really pre-posed, almost statue like figures.  While Luke still maintains some of that pre-posing, he breaks from the more static trends.  His sculpt was totally new, and unique to him (though it got re-released in its entirety a couple of times), and its a departure from a lot of the Lukes we’d seen previously.  Gone are the barrel-chested proportions of the Power of the Force days, for something that does look a lot more like the actual Mark Hammil’s build.  His new head sculpt is more expressive than earlier Lukes, capturing the moment where Luke finds out about his true parentage, scrunched up face and all.  It’s quite a detailed sculpt, and shows the stronger side of what Saga brought to the table.  It’s not entirely without the messed up parts of Saga, with the most notable issue being that his arms are just not the same length.  The posing hides it, but it’s certainly there.  The figure gets a slashing action feature, activated by pushing the button on his back, as well as a removable right hand.  There were three variants on the removable hand, one magnetic with the magnet on the stump, one magnetic with the magnet as a peg on the hand, and one with a basic plastic peg.  The one seen here is the third one, which is less flashy, but works.  Luke’s color work is actually pretty cool, because his fatigues get a pretty decent wash to bring out the details of the sculpt, and he even gets some of he blood on his face, seen in the movie.  Luke was packed with his lightsaber (which had a metal hilt that could be removed), a blaster pistol (which could be stored in the working holster on his leg), a bacta pack that goes over his stump, and a rather impressive weather vane piece for him to hang from.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Attack of the Clones is honestly the worst Star Wars movie, and Saga is probably the worst Star Wars toyline, but my deep dark secret is that I not only loved them both at the time, I also love them both now.  It’s 100% nostalgia, and I won’t remotely deny that, but they just hit at the right time for me to be super into them.  I bought a lot of the Saga figures back in the day, but also lost or sold pretty much all of them over the years.  Luke was one I owned back in the day, but he didn’t make it through unscathed.  He’s notably the only one I’ve actually gone back and replaced, because I think he’s genuinely a neat figure.  Like, not even a nostalgic thing, I think he’s just one of the best figures from the set, free of a lot of the issues that plague the rest of the line.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0089: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

JLA (HASBRO)

Well, we’re here at the end of the week.  I mean, I hope we’re all here.  It’s been kind of a rough week for, you know, everyone getting through it.  You know what we need?  Levity!  So, for today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, let’s have a look back at a silly stretchy sort of guy, with Plastic Man!

If there’s one super power that has a tendency to be underestimated, it’s shape-shifting, particularly of the stretching type. Mister Fantastic, arguably the most famous “stretchy” character out there often has that part of his talents down played to focus on his high-level intellect. I’ve always felt that was a shame. I love stretchy characters because I think they have a lot of potential for creativity on the part of the writer/artist. They’re just a whole lot of fun! In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is the Elongated Man. He’s not the character I’m looking at today, but he almost would have been, had it not been for the fact that Julie Schwartz, one of the guys behind the creation of Elongated Man (and so many other Silver Age DC characters, but that’s more for a later time), didn’t remember that DC owned the name Plastic Man. Granted, EM would have still be the same character, just with Plastic Man’s name, similar to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern and the Barry Allen Flash. I’m getting a bit off topic, aren’t I?

For those of you who don’t know, Plastic Man is Eel O’Brien, a one-time crook who gets doused by a strange chemical and left behind by his gang during a heist. When he awakes, he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body into impossible shapes. He decides to use this power to bring his old partners to justice and creates the identity of Plastic Man. He was big in the 40s, but faded into obscurity until around the 80s, where he saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity, eventually leading to him joining the Justice League of America during Grant Morison’s run on the series in the 90s. But, what of the figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plas was released in the 3rd series of Kenner’s JLA series. JLA was a line of figures exclusive to KB toys in the late 90s. They were made using retooled molds from Kenner’s Total Justice line from a few years previous. Plas’s inclusion in the line makes sense given his place on the titular team at the time. Plas has 5 points of articulation and stands about 7 inches tall with his neck fully extended. The line was in 5 inch scale, so he fits right in. The line used a few common pieces for certain figures, and Plas features the generic male torso, used by a few of the figures. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is unique. It all works together pretty well, though I can’t help but feel that the re-used torso looks a bit too stubby in comparison to the rest of the figure. The head and arms are cast in rubber with wires running through them, allowing you to pose the arms and neck in a variety of ways. The paint is passable. It’s fairly basic, but that fits with the rest of the line. The biggest issue with the paint is that it had some peeling issues on the rubber pieces, particularly the white on his goggles and teeth, which is almost gone on my figure. The hands have also suffered from some noticeable yellowing. Sadly, these are both issues of working with rubbery materials. I don’t know that anything could have been done to prevent them. Plas included a JLA logo stand, in red I believe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Plas from the KB Toy outlet in the town where my family vacationed. I know I had seen the figure before, and had been interested in getting it, but I never did. My parents bought him and another JLA figure (I believe it was Impulse) for me, which was pretty cool. It’s actually not a bad figure, though it sadly did suffer from a few issues over time. I’d be curious if a Plas who had less playtime might have come out unscathed.

This review was published in the early spring of 2014, less than halfway through my first year working in the site.  It’s particularly wordy for the time, I feel, and also goes off topic a bit there.  Like, I talk for a very long time before getting to anything about Plastic Man.  I even get in an Elongated Man mention, eight whole years before reviewing any of my Elongated Man figures.  No clue why I waited so long, especially given I had two Plastic Man reviews in my first year.  I’m getting side-tracked again, and I’m not even actually reviewing this time!  Since the original review, I’ve found his red JLA-logo stand, and also done some work restoring some of the messed up paint, so he looks a lot closer to his original self.  With the paint fixed up, I do really like how that head sculpt works; it’s one of the nicer ones from this line.  Also, giving me David Byrne vibes?  In some alternate reality, maybe there’s an ‘80s Plastic Man movie starring Byrne in the role.  He’s certainly eccentric enough!

#4115: Wedge Antilles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Hey! Hey!  Did you guys know that Wedge Antilles is my favorite Star Wars character?  Even though he’s minor?  And that it’s not the expanded universe stuff that I like, it’s literally just the, like, one scene per movie in the original trilogy?  I mean, if you’ve read literally *any* other Wedge review here on the site, you probably do, because I apparently feel the need to start the reviews of him all the same way.  Look, 4000 reviews and you’re bound to repeat yourself a bit, right?  Well, anyway, despite his presence in all three of the original movies, Wedge is notably absent from Kenner’s original vintage run, which has been a pretty notable omission all that time.  But, with all these throwback retro figures floating around these days, it’s the perfect time to make up for that omission, right?  Right!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge Antilles is part of the 2026 Star Wars Retro Collection exclusive 6-pack. They’re the only six figures for the line this year, sold as one large package, much like last year, rather than as a proper assortment of individual figures (though the figures are still individually packaged within the set).  All of the figures are A New Hope-based this time around, though technically Wedge could also work as a Jedi figure, since his look is the same between them.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is all-new, and not directly patterned on any vintage figure molds.  It’s honestly kind of interesting that there’s not even a little bit of detail borrowing from the vintage Pilot Luke figure.  Instead, we’re starting from scratch and…it’s kind of a mixed bag?  Like, I think the weird part is he feels maybe a bit too good to really feel like a vintage Kenner figure.  The folds and hang of his outfit are just a little too natural, and the details are just a little too accurate.  He’s got gloves, which Pilot Luke didn’t, but I’m willing to let that slide, because it’s the kind of shift I can see happening later in the line.  But beyond that, there are small details, like the strap on the back of his vest, or the pockets on his arms, which probably shouldn’t be there.  But, then other parts, like his head that’s just a little bit too small to allow for the helmet, which feel pretty close.  The paint kind of continues the trend set by the sculpt, where it’s just a touch too good, and too accurate.  The biggest thing that throws me is the presence of the grey detailing, since the vintage one just sort of split the difference with the black and white details.  It feels a bit more in line with PotF2, which is obviously not *quite* the vibe they’re going for.  But, it’s not actually bad, so I’ll at least give it that.  Wedge is packed with his helmet and a blaster.  Both are new molds, and they’re pretty fun.  The helmet’s too big, but in the right way.  The blaster could have just been a re-use, but it’s a new Han-style blaster, which I really dig.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love Wedge figures, and I spent a good amount of time sort of pretending Pilot Luke was Wedge for the purposes of my vintage collection.  With all the Retro Collection figures, I was sort of hoping maybe we might see him, but the focus always seemed to be elsewhere.  I was excited when he was finally shown off, but less excited about him being in a boxed set exclusive to a place I don’t shop.  I’ve been sort of keeping my eye on second hand sources for just Wedge, and happened upon one for a good price, so I jumped on it.  He’s not perfect, but in the sort of way where he’s too close to perfect, if that makes sense?  Ultimately, though it’s a cool Wedge figure, and that’s what I wanted, so I’m happy.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0088: Night Creeper

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

NIGHT CREEPER

G.I. JOE: SPY TROOPS (HASBRO)

Hey there faithful readers, and welcome to the end of the week.  Oh, yes, it’s ending.  Fantastic.  Since it’s Friday, let’s celebrate it the only way I know how, with a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, I’m going in for seconds on a particularly sneaky ninja, with a return look at the Spy Troops Night Creeper!

Today, I’ll be taking a look at an entry in the original Action Figure toyline, G.I. Joe!  Like my last G.I. Joe review, this figure hails from the Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  In the early 2000s, Hasbro attempted to bring this incarnation back after a few years of hiatus.  The reinvented line started as a simple “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” idea, but quickly moved from gimmick to gimmick to keep things fresh.  One of those gimmicks was called “Spy Troops” and revolved around certain figures featuring special gear that would allow them to blend in with their enemies.  This time around, I’ll be looking at one of the Cobra forces from the line, the Night Creeper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Night Creeper was released as part of the 2003 wave of Spy Troops figures.  He was paired in a two pack with Kamukura, one of the many G.I. Joe ninjas.  The Night Creepers were one of Cobras many ninja armies, so the pairing makes sense.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 20 points of articulation.  The sculpt on the figure is a bit dated now, with an odd kind of “v” shape to the body and long arms, but at the time, it was actually quite good.  Viewed through that lens, it’s pretty good, if not perfect.  There’s lots of cool little details present, which give the figure a lot of character.  The paint on the figure is minimal, with most of the figure being molded in the appropriate shade of blue, but the small amounts of paint present are all nice and clean.  The Night Creeper was actually very well accessorized, with a sword for his basic look, plus a dive mask, re-breather, flippers, and a harpoon gun to allow the Creeper to masquerade as G.I. Joe Wetsuit.  I’ve lost the Wetsuit pieces, but they did the job quite convincingly, and actually made for a slightly better figure than the official Wetsuit release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought Night Creeper solely for the Kamukura figure that was packed with him, but I quickly grew to like the Night Creeper a bit more.  The early 2000s G.I. Joe line was far from perfect, and was even downright bad at times, but the Night Creeper was one of the better figures.

The Night Creeper was actually only my second G.I. Joe review here on the site, which is honestly crazy.  Some lines started off on the site with looks at particularly significant figures or at least early additions to my collection, but the Joes kicked it off with a Rise of Cobra figure followed by a random ‘00s off-shoot trooper.  Guess that’s just how it be sometimes.  I was generally rather complimentary towards this figure the first time around, and I’ll stand by that.  Though I have no real attachment to the Night Creeper in general, this figure is quite nice, and I think holds up as one of the better offerings of the era.  When I first reviewed the figure, he was missing all of the parts for his “spy” disguise as Wet Suit, but I’ve since located them.  I think it’s a pretty convincing set-up, and sells the gimmick a lot better than a good portion of this line ever did.

#4111: Scout Trooper – Imperial Patrol

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

SCOUT TROOPER — IMPERIAL PATROL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI/SAGA (HASBRO)

“Although lightly armored, Imperial scout troopers are essentially highly mobile stormtroopers. They patrol perimeters, perform reconnaissance missions, and scout enemy locations. They are equipped for high maneuverability and long periods without support.”

Hasbro’s Power of the Jedi line, more than being its own standalone line, was more than anything about wrapping up loose ends before moving onto the next thing.  In addition to serving as a way to release the last of the Episode I product, they also added a few new items to the Power of the Force stylings, with some OT characters that didn’t quite get proper coverage earlier.  While all of the environment-specific Imperial troops got some degree of coverage in PotF2, the Scout Trooper notably only got a vehicle pack-in release, and a kind of wonky one at that.  Power of the Jedi offered up one that served as a slightly more conventional figure, and I’m looking at that one today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Scout Trooper — Imperial Patrol was released in Star Wars: Power of the Jedi’s first year, in 2000.  There were two versions of the figure available, clean and dirty.  The dirty version, seen here, was re-released in 2002 with a bunch of new accessories as part of the Saga line’s “Endor Victory” accessory set.  The core figure is effectively the same, though the pelvis piece is reversed on the second release.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  In contrast to the vehicle pack-in figure, which was specifically built to ride the speeder bike, this one is specifically built to stand around, which he does pretty well.  He’s got some minor pre-posing, mostly limited to the arms, but the articulation all has decent clearance, and he can do some nice basic posing.  It’s interesting to be getting such a basic articulation set-up this late in the game, but as mentioned in the intro, there was definitely some attempt to close out the PotF style a little bit.  The actual detailing on the sculpt is quite nicely handled.  His proportions aren’t anything crazy (though his head’s arguably a little small and his hands are a little big) and his uniform is rather well detailed, and accurate to the source.  It’s not hyper detailed, but there’s plenty to keep the sculpt from getting boring.  The color work starts out with some pretty basic black and white, but adds some dirt and battle scarring on the top of it.  It’s a touch heavy-handed in some spots, but it generally works okay.  I definitely like the boots best of all.  The Scout Trooper is packed with his blaster pistol, which he can hold or store in his ankle holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never actually got a chance to pick up the original Power of the Jedi release of this guy, but in 2002 I was in prime buying so much Star Wars product mode, and ended up snagging the accessory set release.  Over the years, I’ve lost pretty much all of the accessory set parts, but I managed to hang on to at least the main figure.  He’s basic, but fun, and pretty well up my alley in terms of how I like my Star Wars figures.