Tag Archives: Hasbro

#1925: Night Thrasher

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

NIGHT THRASHER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The founder of the New Warriors, Dwayne Taylor is a martial arts master clad in a special combat suit.”

Night Thrasher!  He’s the Thrasher what thrashes at Night! Yeah…that’s all I got.  The New Warriors are a team I can definitely appreciate as a team, made up of characters I definitely won’t turn down as action figures, but I can’t say I know too much about any of them, Night Thrasher included.  As the bio notes, he’s the team founder, and was one of the active members during the team’s ill-fated mission that kicked off the events of Civil War, leading to his death.  But it’s comics, so that didn’t really stick.  Now he’s got an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Thrasher is figure 4 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s not the first New Warrior we’ve gotten, but Nova and Darkhawk were far more modern than he is, so he’s definitely the first one to really commit to it.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall an he has 32 points of articulation.  Night Thrasher’s built on the Bucky Cap body, though like a good number of the recent figures to be built on it, he’s mostly built out of adjacent parts.  The only true Bucky Cap parts are the upper legs and pelvis.  He also makes use of Beetle’s torso, and Taskmaster’s arms and lower legs, as well as a brand-new head sculpt and add-ons for his belt and the bandanna on his leg.  The Beetle and Taskmaster pieces are inspired choices for the figure, and actually end up being quite close to Night Thrasher’s typical comics get-up.  It’s also nice to see them turn up again, since they hadn’t really shown up since their first use.  The new head is a good translation of Night Thrasher’s distinctive helmet from the comics, and is made with a few different parts glued together, allowing for some proper depth to the design.  The belt is interesting, because at first glance it’s identical to the one used on Puma.  However, Puma’s belt has an extra detail stamped on the front that Night Thrasher lacks, meaning they aren’t just the same mold.  I’m genuinely amazed that Hasbro didn’t just use paint to differentiate the two.  Whatever the case, it’s a nice belt.  The one piece I’m not super crazy about is that bandana on his leg, because it never wants to stay in place, and just generally gets to be rather annoying when posing the figure.  Night Thrasher’s paintwork is pretty solid, and not quite as simple as it might look at first glance.  The finish on the black sections of the costume is different depending on if it’s supposed to be armor or cloth, which keeps him from being too one-and-done.  The red sections are suitably eye-catching, and the use of accenting helps to highlight all the nice sculpted details in his belt.  Night Thrasher is the best accessorized figure in the set.  It starts off with the a re-use of those same batons we’ve gotten so many times prior, but they’re made more awesome by the inclusion of a back-pack to mount them on (the back-pack also conveniently covers the wing ports from the Beetle torso).  He’s also got his skateboard, which is a pretty awesome piece in its own right, and can also be stowed on his back when he’s not using it.  I really appreciate his ability to keep all of his accessories on him.  It makes him feel like a more complete package on the shelf.  Lastly, he comes with the left leg of Kingpin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite not being overly familiar with the character, Night Thrasher was one of the figures I was most looking forward to from this set.  Something about his design just seems so inherently toy-etic.  Hasbro did a really good job on this guy, and wisely balanced new and old parts to make a very unique feeling figure.  I foresee this guy being a real fan-favorite.

Night Thrasher from my friends at All Time Toys.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1924: Symbiote Spider-Man

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

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The Venom symbiote gives Peter Parker a black suit with special, enhanced powers.”

After a long hiatus from the line, Spider-Man’s distinctive symbiotic black costume re-appeared in Legends back in early 2017.  That figure was a pretty straight forward “classic” symbiote Spidey, which I guess left the door open for a *less* classic symbiote Spidey?  And wouldn’t you know it?  Dan Slott and Staurt Immomen were kind enough to provide Hasbro with a variant of the symbiote right in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man.  In one of the fastest turnarounds from page to plastic, here’s the newest Symbiote Spider-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Symbiote Spider-Man is figure 3 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, as the second Spidey variant in the assortment.  This one’s just got the normal number of arms.  He’s based on SPider-Man’s appearance from the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #800, where Peter is forced to re-bond with the Venom symbiote in order to defeat the Red Goblin (more on him later in the week).  It takes the classic black costume, and adds a bunch of minor tweaks.  Some work, some don’t.  I like the re-worked version of the logo, and I don’t hate the claw hands, but I’m still not sold on the monster feet, and especially not sold on the eyes.  He looks like he’s wearing some form of funky eye-wear, and it feels like it’s needlessly breaking up an otherwise streamlined design.  All that said, I’ve certainly seen worse designs, and there’s good reason to include him in this line-up (again, more on that later in the week).  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Unlike the other Spidey in this set, Symbiote Spider-Man sticks to the formula of the last few years, and is built on the Pizza Spidey body.  He gets the clawed 2099 hands and the monster feet from Superior Venom, with a brand-new head to top the whole thing off.  If nothing else, the whole thing is faithful to the comics design.  The new head is a fairly nice sculpt.  The eyes still bug me, and the fact that they stick out the way they do means that there’s some potential for them to be bent in the package.  Fortunately, they’re a soft enough plastic that you can reshape them with a bit of heat if its an issue.  Beyond the eyes, though, I really like the shaping of this head, especially how you can see Peter’s nose beneath the mask.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a version of this sculpt without the eyes; it would make for a cool basic Spidey head, I think.  Symbiote Spidey’s paintwork is pretty simple, molded black plastic with white detailing.  It’s the usual for this design.  The white for his symbol is a little sloppy in some spots, but he’s overall a solid effort. Spidey’s packed with a spare set of hands in fists, as well as both heads to the Kingpin Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: I wasn’t really that interested in getting this guy initially.  Yeah, with the standard Symbiote look covered, I wasn’t hurting for another version of it, so I wasn’t sure about this guy, especially with some of those weird design elements.  The desire to get that Kingpin figure really drove this one.  I didn’t expect much, but I was actually quite surprised, and I find myself really liking this figure.  Yes, those eyes still bug me, but he’s a fun toy nonetheless.

I bought Spidey from my friends at All Time Toys, who were kind enough to set me up with this whole set to review.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1923: Puma

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

PUMA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The genetically engineered Thomas Fireheart can transform himself into a half-mountain-lion, half human known as Puma.”

Hey, it’s Puma!  You know, Puma!  That guy with the…Puma…thing.  I mean, like, as the bio up there states, he technically turns into a half-mountain-lion, but I guess “Half-Mountain-Lion Man” just isn’t nearly as catchy.  Probably would make him easier to Google, though.  Like yesterday’s focus, Black Cat, Puma is another character that began his career as a Spider-Man foe, before ultimately becoming an ally to the webslinger.  Though he’s never been a super prominent character, nor has he had much luck in the toy world (his only prior figure was a Super Hero Squad release, and counting those as figures is dubious at best), he’s got a decent fanbase, and has been a rumored addition to the Legends line for a little while now.  And here he finally is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Puma is figure 2 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, where he’s one of two characters making their proper figure debut.  He’s seen here in what would I would definitely classify as Puma’s classic appearance, since it’s the one he spent the most time in.  And if you’re finally going to release a character like Puma, you should probably make the costume choice count, right?  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Puma uses the Spider-UK body as a starting point, and mixes in the arms and feet of Jackal.  I’d imagine the ability to re-use those Jackal pieces played a large role in getting Puma made, since he’s the first figure to re-use them.  Puma also borrows Black Panther’s necklace, and gets a new head, and add-ons for his arm band, belt, and the fur on his lower legs.  The new pieces generally mesh pretty well with the old, and make for a rather respectable representation of the character.  The head in particular is a very well-detailed, very expressive offering, and is rather similar to the quite impressive Sabertooth head sculpt from last year.  If I have one complaint, it’s with the torso.  The design of Puma’s costume means that the sides of his torso are exposed.  However, since the figure’s still using the UK torso, the exposed sections not only lack the fur texturing of the arms, but also have the folds of the cloth showing on them as well.  It’s fortunately a small area of the figure, and not terribly noticeable depending on the using of the arms, but it did strike me as slightly odd.  The paintwork on Puma is mostly pretty solid.  Application is clean, and the colors are well chosen to represent the character.  There’s a slight mismatch between the arms and the exposed section of the torso, but that’s actually not the worst thing, as it sort of makes it look like the orange sections are part of the costume, which keeps the previously mentioned issue with the sculpt from looking quite so odd.  I was happy to see the addition of some accent work on the furrier parts of Puma’s sculpt; it helps to prevent the figure from looking too bland.  Puma’s only accessory is the torso of Kingpin.  It’s sizable, so he doesn’t feel too light, but I can’t help but wish we’d gotten an extra, less intense head for Puma.  As it stands, posing options are slightly limited.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Puma’s not ever been much of a favorite or anything.  I certainly don’t dislike the character, but I can’t say I find him all that notable.  So, his announcement for this series didn’t catch me.  I mostly bought him for the Kingpin piece.  That said, like Black Cat, he’s another solid toy, and I can appreciate the fact that we’ve finally got Puma.  If I can get my Batroc the Leaper, it’s only fair that the Puma fans out there have this guy.

I purchased Puma from my friends at All Time Toys, who were kind enough to set me up with this whole set to review.  He’s currently in-stock at their webstore.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1922: Black Cat

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

BLACK CAT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sometimes Spider-Man’s ally and sometimes his enemy, Felicia Hardy prowls the city as the Black Cat.”

Introduced in 1979, Black Cat is Spider-Man’s equivalent to Catwoman, a foe with whom he had a fair bit of romantic tension, which eventually led to her being less than a foe.  That is, until Peter’s mind was overwritten by Doctor Octopus, and Otto used Felicia’s skills to his advantage before dumping her off with nearest authorities and she swore vengeance against him, leading to her becoming one of New York’s biggest crime lords, all because she didn’t know it wasn’t really Peter in there at the time.  Comics everybody!  Black Cat is a common choice for Spidey-centric toylines, and her latest costume update from the comics has made for an easy transition into more toys, as is the case with today’s offering!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Cat is officially figure #1 in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends (since Six-Armed Spidey isn’t actually numbered).  She’s based on Felicia’s post-Superior Spider-Man costume, when she was working to become an established crimelord.  It keeps a lot of common elements from prior costumes, but is decidedly heavier on the black sections.  I don’t hate the design, but I’m not huge on the weird cat eyes near her shoulders.  They look sort of off.  Still, it’s a fairly recent look, and it got some solid coverage, so there are certainly worse choices.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Black Cat is built on the catsuited body from the Legendary Riders Widow figure.  I liked that one a fair bit, and it definitely makes a lot of sense here.  She gets a new head, collar, belt, and fur add-ons for her arms and legs.  She also borrows the clawed hands from her prior Legends release, which I suppose is good for consistency.  The new head is a decent enough piece.  I don’t like it quite as much as the last one overall, but I do appreciate Hasbro trying something with the less stoic expression.  I also like that they sculpted her missing tooth, since that’s an important detail from her downfall in the comics.  The fur pieces work about as well as sculpted fur ever does, but they certainly don’t look bad.  The belt’s alright on its own, but it’s a little annoying that it’s not removable, making the included whip piece a little questionable, since they’re actually supposed to be one and the same.  Black Cat’s paintwork is pretty simple and straightforward, but also very clean, which is always a plus.  The lack of the odd blue wash on her hair is certainly a welcome change.  The Cat is included with the previously mentioned whip piece, which is of course a little problematic when taking the belt into account, but is otherwise a decent piece.  She is also packed with the right arm and cane for Kingpin.  Including the cane with Felicia’s an especially smart move, since it can easily work as a piece of loot for her, should you not choose to complete the Build-A-Figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the first modern Legends Black Cat, and am not really enough of a fan of the character that I was really looking to replace her.  So, this figure’s announcement didn’t exactly do a lot for me, nor can I really say I had my opinion of her changed all that much by getting her in hand.  The last figure’s still my preferred version to be sure.  That being said, this Black Cat is still a solid figure in its own right, and for anyone unable to get the last one (which was quite a few people; she was kind of hard to get for a while there), this one’s a more than serviceable replacement.

I purchased Black Cat from my friends at All Time Toys, who set me up with this whole set to review.  While she’s not currently still in-stock at their webstore, they should be getting in some more sets soon.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out All Time’s website and their eBay storefront.

#1921: Spider-Man – Six-Arms

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

SPIDER-MAN — SIX ARMS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hoping to cure his spider powers, Peter Parker drinks a special mixture and wakes up with four extra arms.”

Let that be a lesson to you kids: if you drink special mixtures, you might just wake up one day with four extra arms.  And then what are you gonna do?  Hide your four arms in your pants when your Aunt May comes around?  Doesn’t that sound awkward?  It sure does!  The message is clear: don’t drink strange mixtures!

Vague sort of PSA thing aside, the six-armed variant of Spider-Man is something of a classic one.  First introduced in the comics in the ‘70s, and then brought to a new audience courtesy of the ‘90s cartoon, the Six-Armed Spider-Man asks a pretty simple question: what if Spidey had eight limbs, you know, like a spider?  The answer is, unsurprisingly, extra toys to sell.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man is the first figure in the Kingpin Series of Marvel Legends, the first Spidey-themed assortment of 2019.  He’s one of two Spidey variants, and definitely the most classic figure in the line-up.  He’s also the only one you don’t need to complete the Kingpin figure, but let’s not hold that against him.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has a whopping 58 points of articulation.  All those extra arms are certainly good for something.  Of course, it’s a bit of give and take on the articulation.  Though all of the arms sport the standard articulation, the figure’s torso lacks any sort of movement.  While I can understand the complexities of getting a working ab-crunch in with all of the arms, the lack of a waist joint seems particularly egregious.  There’s no practical reason for that joint to be missing, so I can only assume it was a cost saving choice.   Fortunately, the rest of the figure is able to somewhat pick up the slack, and ultimately the lost posability doesn’t hold the figure back *too much*.  This Spider-Man breaks from the last several mainline variants of Peter by being built on a body other than the Pizza Spidey body.  Upon first glance, I thought he might be an all-new sculpt, but a little bit of double-checking shows that he’s actually re-using the vast majority of the ASM2-based Spider-Man from the Ultimate Green Goblin assortment.  The figure was well-regarded when it was new, and a lot of people were content to have it as their standard comic Spidey, but with the introduction of Pizza Spidey the next year, the ASM2 mold was kind of abandoned.  That makes its use here somewhat odd.  I can only guess it’s one of two things.  Either they developed this figure shortly after the ASM2 figure’s release, before it was clear the ASM2 aesthetics were going to be dropped, and just sat on the mold for a while, or they opted for this mold because of its sculpted weblines, allowing for another bit of cost-cutting.  I’m leaning more towards the latter.  Whatever the reason, it means this sculpt doesn’t quite jibe with the rest of our Spidey variants, much like last year’s Spider-Ham.  I will say that at least the weblines are recessed on this sculpt (in contrast to the raised ones on Spider-Ham), so at least giving him painted weblines on your own won’t be quite as hard.  He does also benefit from the ASM2 figure just being a good figure in its own right, and by extension making this one very playable himself.  Even the newly sculpted torso and arms are pretty solid, with the detailing on the torso matching well with the rest of the figure, and the layout of his arms being such that he can actually let them rest pretty well by his sides.  I was anticipating it would be a lot harder to work with them than that.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the shoulders on the extra arms have sculpted torn sleeves; I expected those to just be painted on.  The paintwork on Spidey is fine.  It’s clean.  It’s bright.  It’s missing the weblines, of course, but I knew that going in. I’m still frustrated by those red pegs on the underside of his arms.  Certainly there’s some sort of fix they can come up with for that, isn’t there?  Spidey is packed with no accessories.  At the very least, I would have liked to see some extra hands.  At least with all the arms in the package, he doesn’t look too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m gonna be honest, I was prepared to hate this figure.  After being so letdown by the Spider-Ham figure, I saw a lot of the same flaws on this one when its prototype was shown off.  I mostly just bought him because I was getting the whole set.  Then I actually opened him up and played with him a bit, and I realized I really didn’t hate the figure at all.  Sure, there are some definite issues.  I don’t like seeing the articulation cut, and I hope the unpainted weblines aren’t a trend that continues.  Beyond that, though, I found this figure to be a lot of fun.

Six-Arm Spider-Man was purchased from All Time Toys, who got me this whole set to review.  He’s currently still in-stock at their webstore.  And, as always, if your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1918: Havok

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

HAVOK

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

“Separated from his brother Scott — who would eventually grow into the mutant Cyclops — and cut off from his own powers by Mr. Sinister, Alex Summers grew up ignorant of his mutant heritage. As a result, he wasn’t trained in the use of his powers until late in life. He has since overcome that obstacle and turned into a powerful hero in his own right, leading a team of mutant adventurers into deep space against the insane despot Vulcan.”

For the seventeenth, and I do believe final, entry in this year’s roundup of post-Christmas reviews, I’m touching on one of the little quirks of my collecting habits: owning every figure of certain characters.  There are just some characters that really resonate with me, and are minor enough that owning all of their figures is actually a totally attainable thing*.  One of those characters is my favorite member of the X-Men, Alex Summers, also known as Havok!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Havok was released in Wave 8 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, which was the third assortment of the line’s second year.  He was numbered 018, following the relaunched numbering stucture of 2010, and was also one of the five Fan’s Choice figures released in the line that year.  There were two different versions of Havok to be had.  The regular release was his then-current costume, while the variant release, which I’m looking at here, was his classic gear.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation.  Havok made use of the body originally used for Black-Costumed Spidey, one of Hasbro’s favorite bodies from this line.  It was one of the better bodies from the line’s debut year, but it was still a little wonky.  It feels a bit like the antithesis of the body Moon Knight was on; this figure seems to have gained the segment of torso length that was missing from the former.  Also, the very skinny nature of this figure’s legs had a tendency to give him some stability issues.  A later variant of this body added swivel joints to his thighs to aid somewhat, but no such luck this early into the line.  Havok sports a brand new head sculpt, which is definitely the highlight of the figure.  Early MU sculpts weren’t the most detailed, but Havok’s actually looks pretty decent, and I certainly applaud their choice not to go with a screaming look, while still giving him that proper Alex Summers pout.  His distinctive headgear is actually a separate piece, and it’s not held in place by anything more than some rather shallow pegs, meaning it’s a little on the floppy side.  I found that a small touch of super glue was needed to keep the figure from being too frustrating.  I’m not entirely sure why it wasn’t just glued down in the first place, but there you have it.  Havok’s paintwork is rather on the simple side, but the application is all pretty clean, and his design looks just as striking as it should.  Havok was packed with an energy effect piece (borrowed from the prior year’s classic Iron Man), as well as a display stand with his name and number on it. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is the last Havok figure I didn’t own, and he’s kind of been my white whale for a little while.  I mean, not in a crazy, ranting and raving, risk my life to get him sort of a way, but more a “always be the one that got away” sort of a way.  I grabbed the standard Havok when he was new, and I knew this guy was supposed to be showing up in revision cases, but I never once saw him.  Then the line was done, and he was going for some crazy high prices for a while, and I just sort of gave up and accepted my little Havok collection as incomplete.  Of course, my parents, who got me into this whole Havok-collecting thing in the first place, weren’t going to stand for any of that nonsense, and so this guy was among my presents this past Christmas.  Is he the greatest Havok figure ever? Nah, but I do sure like him a lot, and I’m happy to have the whole group together!

*To date, I’ve attained this with three characters of note.  Havok, of course, as this review indicates, as well as Wonder Man and Elongated Man.

#1914: Rio Durant

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

RIO DURANT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Rio Durant has carried out dangerous operations alongside the scoundrel Tobias Beckett for years. The good-natured Ardennian pilot is up for any challenge, not unlike his young counterpart Han Solo.”

What do Rio Durant and head Mandolorian Pre Vizla have in common?  Well, in addition to both being characters from the prequel era of Star Wars, they’re also both voiced by director Jon Favreau, who will once more be returning to the world of  Star Wars for the TV-bound The Mandalorian.  But, let’s stay focused on the here and now!  It’s time to look at this here Rio Durant action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rio is figure 77 in the Black Series line-up, the final of the four Solo figures, and the final figure in general in the latest assortment of Black Series figures.  Rio’s seen here in his basic pilot’s gear, which is really the only prominent look he’s got.  Fortunately, it’s a good one.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 41 points of articulation.  All those extra arms sure do help him keep that articulation count high!  Rio’s sculpt is an all-new affair, and it’s a top-notch one, just like the rest of this assortment.  As with L3, the figure really benefits from having waited until all of the final designs were available, thus allowing him to be as screen-accurate as possible.  He’s pretty much a pitch-perfect recreation of the on-screen design, and there’s a lot of very sharp detail work going on here.  Additionally, the articulation has been very nicely implemented, so he’s really, really posable.  They’ve even wisely given his holster an easy to pop-out plug, thereby removing the potential of restricting his hip joint on that leg.  It’s simple, but one of the more inventive things I’ve seen Hasbro implement on these figures.  Rio’s paintwork is clean, bold, and eye-catching.  There’s some slight weathering on his belt and jumpsuit, plus some pretty subtle accent work on his exposed skin, giving him a nice real-world-quality.  Rio is packed with a blaster pistol, a larger blaster rifle, and a removable pair of goggles, making him one of the best accessorized figures in the assortment.  The rifle in particular is one of my favorites from the line, just because of how unique and different it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rio was one of my favorite parts of Solo, and like L3, I was a little bummed that he wasn’t among any of the earlier offerings.  As a whole, this assortment had quite a few figures that were very high on my want list, and Rio still found himself near the top of the list.  A lot of great work went into this guy, and he continues the Solo sub-line’s trend of just being really darn good.  I’m happy to have finally rounded out Beckett’s crew, and even happier that it was with such a great figure.

#1913: Lando Calrissian – Skiff Guard

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

LANDO CALRISSIAN — SKIFF GUARD

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Once a smooth-talking smuggler, Lando Calrissian changed from a get-rich-quick schemer to a selfless leader in the fight against the Empire. When his old friend Han was held captive in the palace of Jabba the Hutt, Lando joined Princess Leia in a mission to rescue him from certain demise.”

Lando Calrissian may not have joined our heroes until their second outing, but he has maintained a notoriety amongst the fanbase, no doubt due to his suave scoundrel-y nature.  Despite this, he didn’t actually join the Black Series line-up until four years into its run, and with a figure that only saw moderate release at that.  Fortunately, his presence in 2018’s Solo brought him more into the spotlight, with two separate Black Series releases.  The first was based on his Solo appearance, but the follow-up gives us Lando’s Palace Guard disguise from Return of the Jedi‘s opening moments.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skiff Guard Lando is figure 76 in the Black Series line-up.  He’s the second to last figure in the newest assortment, as well as the final of the OT figures this time around.  The costume is from Jedi, which makes it slightly out of place in a Solo/Empire split assortment, but it’s actually pretty well chosen, given the costume’s cameo appearance as Beckett’s heist disguise in Solo.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  This Lando is head-to-toe a new sculpt.  While prior Skiff Landos have been known to reuse previous heads, that is thankfully not the case here.  While the prior Black Series head wasn’t *bad*, the likeness definitely could have been better, as this one deftly illustrates.  It’s hands down the best Billy Dee Williams likeness we’ve ever gotten from Hasbro.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty strong in its own right, with nice balanced proportions and a ton of detail worked all throughout.  There’s no shortage of texturing on this guy, meaning he’ll fit right in with the other denizens of Jabba’s palace.  The paint work on this figure is in line with the current improved standards of the line.  The base work is all clean, and there’s some pretty substantial accent work, showcasing that Jabba’s palace really isn’t the cleanest place to hang out.  He also uses the face-print tech, which builds on the figure’s already very strong head sculpt to give us a very realistic looking Lando.  Lando is packed with his Skiff Guard helmet, as well as the standard guard armament, the vibro-axe.  He doesn’t include the blaster we usually see with Skiff variants of Lando, but his hand is molded with a trigger finger, should you wish to arm Lando yourself.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first Lando hit at a time when I wasn’t really able to buy many figures, so the one time I saw him, I had to pass on him.  While the Solo variant was certainly a strong offering, I was really hoping for a proper OT version.  While the Skiff Guard set-up isn’t necessarily my go-to look for Lando, there’s no denying that this is the best version of the character available.  I’m hopeful that Hasbro may give us a slightly udpated Bespin Lando down the line, maybe as part of the Archive line.  Until then, this guy will hold me over just fine.

#1912: Princess Leia Organa – Hoth

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — HOTH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire. In the battle on Hoth, Leia helped evacuate rebel forces as Darth Vader and his fleet descended upon the rebel base.”

Empire Strikes Back is a lot of Star Wars fans’ favorite movie of the franchise.  While it’s not my personal favorite, there are certainly a lot of things I can appreciate about it.  The design work on the film is undoubtedly some of the best to come out of the franchise.  In particular, it’s more battle-ready takes on the power trio are really my favorite looks for all three of them, and they were the looks I wanted most when Hasbro launched The Black Series back in 2013.  We got Luke’s Rebel attire pretty quickly, but it’s been quite a wait for Han and Leia.  Han finally found his way into the line over the summer, and we got a teaser for Leia’s main look with the Bespin Escape release in November, but now we’ve finally gotten a proper release for Leia’s Hoth gear.  Is it worth the wait?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hoth Leia is figure 75 in the Black Series line-up, the second of this latest assortment’s OT-based figures.  If you want to get technical, this is actually the second release of this figure, as she was previewed in a con-exclusive two-pack this past fall.  Aside from this figure getting more accessories and not coming packed with a Han Solo, the two appear to be more or less the same.  This figure represents Leia from the first half or so of the film’s run time, prior to the Falcon‘s arrival on Bespin. By far her most prominent appearance from the movie, as well as one of her most remembered just in general.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  As I touched on in my review of the Bespin Escape figure, there is a fair bit of parts re-use between these two figures, given the fact that the two designs are pretty darn close and all.  This figure has a unique head, hands, left forearm, and boots, as well as a new vest piece.  They jibe pretty much perfectly with the prior parts, which makes a lot of sense, since I imagine they were actually designed for this figure first and then re-purposed for the exclusive offering later.  I do prefer this one’s boots, as it makes her a little easier to keep standing.  The new head is a decent piece, certainly one of Hasbro’s nicer offerings.  I think the exclusive figure has the superior Fisher likeness, but this one’s certainly not bad.  The paint on this figure isn’t much removed from the Bespin figure; there’s not a ton going on for most of the body, but I’m still okay with that, since accenting on white can go very bad very quickly.  The majority of the work is on the head, which is once again sporting a printed face.  Like the sculpt, the facial likeness isn’t quite as spot-on as the prior figure, but it’s still very good.  Like yesterday’s Dengar, Hoth Leia stands out in an assortment of rather lightly packed figures.  She gets her DH-17 rebel blaster rifle, which is a standard accessory for this version of the character.  In addition, she also has a welder and a pair of welding goggles, from when she was working on the Falcon.  While I might have liked to also get one of the breathing masks like we got with the SDCC Han, I think these are a solid selection of extras.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a figure I’ve been waiting a good long while for.  She was my #1 wanted Leia from the minute the line was announced, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting her release ever since she was finally shown off last year.  While the wait was long, it was most certainly worth it, especially since it means this version of Leia hit during the line at its strongest, and is therefore unlikely to need a replacement in the near future.  The same can’t be said of poor Empire Luke, who looks more and more out of place with each new figure we get.  There’s a lot to like about this figure, and I imagine she will be the go-to Leia for a good many collectors.  I myself am going to have a tough time choosing between this one and the Bespin Escape variant, because they both have a lot of points in their favor.

#1911: Dengar

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

DENGAR

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Crude and slovenly, Dengar was nonetheless an effective bounty hunter. While some hunters prided themselves on finesse and style, Dengar preferred firepower and destruction.”

Every group has to have their weak link; the unfavorite; the guy on the receiving end of every pot-shot.  Well, in the case of Empire’s distinctive band of bounty hunters, that person is undoubtedly, without question today’s focus: Dengar.  Be it his less put-together appearance, his nature as a schlubby-looking middle-aged guy, or perhaps the fact that he appears to have wrapped himself in toilet paper, Dengar’s a character that doesn’t quite inspire the same cool factor as the rest of the group.  But, like so many weak links before him, he gets to ride along on everyone else’s coat tails, which means he has the same number of figures as all of the others.  And now, following the trend, he’s also got a Black Series figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dengar is figure 74 in the Black Series line-up, and is the first of the three OT-based figures in this latest assortment.  As I touched on in the intro, he completes our line-up of Executor Bounty Hunters, which is a pretty big deal for a large portion of the fanbase.  Dengar stands 6 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  His sculpt is unique, of course, and, as much as Dengar is a bit of mess design-wise, the sculpt is certainly a well-put-together mess…if that makes any sense.  The piecemeal nature of his design allows for Hasbro to put a good deal of smaller sculpted details.  The head wrappings and the actual head are separate from each other, which I believe is a first for this Dengar.  It certainly looks nice, and gives his face a slightly less lumpy quality than prior Dengars.  His face actually looks stern and determined, not goofy and schlubby, so he seems a little less out of place with the rest of the group in that regard.  Something that really impressed me about the sculpt was how little it interferes with his range of motion.  I had expected for him to be severely limited, as is usually the case with Dengar figures, but this guy can definitely get in some decent posing.  I mean, he won’t be pulling off any Spider-Man poses, but it’s certainly serviceable.  Dengar’s paintwork is a little cleaner than I’d expected, but upon comparing him to his on-screen counterpart, not too far off from the real thing.  He’s got enough wear and tear to make him believable and augment the sculpt well enough.  As will all the new human characters, he’s got a printed face, which includes the nasty scar running across it.  He lacks the burn scarring that he appears to have in the film, but it’s a relatively minor detail, so I can kind of forgive it.  In an assortment of somewhat lightly packed figures, Dengar is actually pretty darn well accessorized.  He has a larger blaster rifle, a blaster pistol, and a very detailed back pack.  It’s all stuff we see him with in the film’s one scene that features him, so obviously accurate, but that hasn’t stopped prior Dengars from lacking them, so it’s nice that nothing was cut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I feel maybe I was a little harsh on Dengar up in the intro.  I’ve never had much of an affinity for the character, and I’d easily rank him as my least favorite of the Bounty Hunters from Empire.  With that said, I was still looking forward to this figure quite a bit, thanks to Hasbro’s accelerated efforts to complete the line-up in the last year.  The high of 4-LOM and Zuckuss and how awesome they were did a lot to give me some extra excitement for a character that might not have otherwise been too keen to pick up.  Despite my misgivings about his whole design, Hasbro’s definitely put in the effort to make him a good figure, and the end result is a fun toy that will no doubt please any Dengar fans out there.  Because there has to be someone *somewhere* right?