Tag Archives: Hasbro

#3618: Silverbolt

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

SILVERBOLT

TRANSFORMERS LEGACY: UNITED (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0097: Eagles and wolves are both apex predators, though their completely differing tactics of hunting prey and different places in their respective food chains mean they have little, if any, interaction.  Unless, of course, they make up the two halves of a Fuzor.

It was difficult for me to truly avoid Beast Wars as a kid, what with it being a toy-driven show in the ’90s that aired during the Fox Kids block.  That said, it’s never been a *major* focus for me.  I remember watching it a little, but I only had two toys from it, and only really ever latched onto one character.  Of course, that character is Silverbolt, and he’s one of the best Transformers just in general, so, you know, big win there.  Since Hasbro went back to the Beast Wars well for Kingdom, I’ve been patiently waiting for my Silverbolt update, and boy did it take a while, but, hey, here it is.  Oh yeah.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast Wars Universe Silverbolt is part of the second Voyager Class assortment of Transformers Legacy: United, the banner that goes along with the third year of the Legacy branding.  He shipped alongside Cybertron Universe Starscream, and he was the heavier packed of the two.  In his robot mode, Silverbolt stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 24 workable points of articulation.  His articulation is an improvement on his vintage counterpart, of course, and it’s especially notable that his wings actually sit flat to his back, rather than just jutting straight out the back like the old one.  The new sculpt aims for improved accuracy to his animation model, and it does a pretty good job at that.  The details are a lot sharper, and the proportions are far less blocky than the original.  His color scheme is nicely handled, with a lot of molded silver, of course, but there’s plenty of painted elements as well.  Unlike the original figure, all the proper details get their painted work, and the application is all nice and clean.  Silverbolt is packed with his “feather swords”, which he can either hold, or clip onto his wings, replicating the show set-up.  They just clip on this time around rather than being spring-loaded this time around.

Silverbolt’s alt-mode is, as is tradition, a merging of a wolf and an eagle.  It’s a distinctive mode, to be sure, and this figure does a good job of capturing it.  The transformation scheme is actually pretty intuitive, and the end result holds together nicely.  His hind legs sit a little bit further back than I’d like, but beyond that, it’s pretty solid.  He’s also generally more posable in this form than the original, and even gets a posable jaw.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love me some Silverbolt, and I really wanted this figure.  I was quite excited to see him shown off, and the end result is very, very fun.  I have some minor quibbles, I suppose, but it’s all very small and ultimately rather meaningless.  It’s certainly not enough to detract from how super excited I am to have an update on the character.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3617: Xenk

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

XENK

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: GOLDEN ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0096: Today’s figure has been on my pending review list for almost an entire year.

I’m a relatively new convert to the whole D&D thing, having only gotten into in late 2018…which is I guess a few years now, isn’t it?  Look, time’s been a cacophony since 2020.  Anyway, the point is that my very first D&D character was a guy called Maxwell Hold, the self-dubbed “Paladin of the People.”  I grew to have quite an attachment to that character, and the Paladin class in general, so I’ve also got an attachment to portrayals of paladins in other media.  So, it’s no surprise that my favorite part of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was Regé-Jean Page’s Paladin Xenk.  Though only part of the main party for one “session” of the movie’s story, he was a ton of fun.  And he also got a figure, which I of course bought.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Xenk was released in the third assortment of Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons: Golden Archive line, which served as their central tie-in to the movie last year.  Xenk was released alongside Doric and a re-pack of Edgin, in a set that was, effectively, a Hasbro Pulse exclusive, since the line was sadly dropped by most retailers after the first round.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The figure is, honestly, a little smaller than I was expecting.  Golden Archive seems to be more like Black Series for scaling, if not maybe a touch smaller.  Like, it’s not awful, but it does hinder cross compatibility a bit.  The articulation scheme is an interesting mix of different styles.  I found it particularly prone to sticking joints, but they did at least all free up on my copy.  I was surprised by the lack of any rocker-style motion on the ankles, as that’s become a fairly standard joint for the scale.  It makes posing him quite limited, and is not helped by the hips being further restricted by the “skirt.”  Xenk’s sculpt is a totally unique one.  It’s decent enough.  The head’s got a solid likeness of Page.  The body, especially the armored parts, are a bit on the soft side in terms of detailing.  That said, the proportions are decent, and the layout of the parts of the outfit works pretty well too.  The color work on this figure is a little more basic than I’d expected.  There’s a lot more chunks of unpainted plastic than I’d expected.  He also seems a little brighter in color than he seemed in the movie, but that may just be a selective lighting thing.  The work on the face is at least pretty impressive, down to the little mark on his forehead.  Xenk’s only accessory was his sword.  It’s very light for what the figure cost.  At least throw in his dagger from the movie, maybe?  Or some extra hands?  Something?  Not helping matters is that my figure’s sword broke about 10 seconds after I removed it from the package.  Not a lot of fun there.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The D&D movie hit theatres at a bad time for me to make it out to a theatre, so I waited until streaming for it.  Which, of course, lined up perfectly with this figure’s release, so I ordered him shortly after finishing the movie.  I was thrilled to get him, and then I opened him…and the sword broke…and I lost momentum.  I’ve been repairing the sword for the better part of a year, trying for a fix that would stick.  I finally got it to a good enough spot to at least get the photos, and here we are.  The core figure isn’t bad.  He’s not thrilling, but he does what he needs to.  Were it not for the broken sword, I think I’d have liked him a lot more.  Still, he’s at least cool on the shelf, and he’s a fun paladin figure.

#3615: R2-D2 (Artoo-Deetoo)

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

R2-D2 (ARTOO-DEETOO)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0094: This review was supposed to run back in January, but I misplaced the figure before getting photos, and only just unearthed him last week.

I have a soft spot for robots, but for reasons that don’t really line up internally, I have a hard time getting excited about R2-D2 figures. I don’t know why. Other droids I can get excited about, even other Astromechs. Hand me an R5 and I’m thrilled. But R2? Not the same. Maybe he’s just too central a character, kind of like my thing with Duke and Optimus? It’s not that I dislike the character, nor that I don’t *want* to own him in figure form. So, I do buy him…I’m just less enthusiastic about it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

R2-D2 (Artoo-Deetoo) was initially released as part of the third series of the Return of the Jedi Retro Carded Black Series figures.  He was then subsequently re-released, now bearing branding from The Mandalorian, in the last standard Black Series assortment of last year, alongside Hera, Huyang, Marrok, and Pre Vizsla.  It’s worth noting that the figure reviewed here is the standard assortment version, but the two releases appear to be identical.  The figure is a little under 4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  One of the more notable issues with the last astromech mold is how small it was; Lucasfilm has gone back and forth on their standards for R2’s scaling, and when the original Black Series release hit, they were opting for smaller than he actually was on screen.  The standards have changed again since, but there was already a mold, and Hasbro stuck with it for as long as they could.  This new one, however, aims for more proper scaling, adding about 3/4 of an inch, and generally scaling him up to match.  The sculpt is, at least outwardly, very similar to the previous one, just bigger.  The general articulation scheme is similar as well, with basic swivels at the shoulders and ankles, and hinged doors on the sides.  He also has opening flaps on his front, and now has a swivel at the top of the third leg.  Additionally, the way the third leg works has been re-worked, so it’s no longer connected to the head spinning.  The head now can spin 360 degrees unimpeded by the mechanism, and the leg doesn’t require the head to spin to lower it.  While it’s less gimmicky and odd, it’s also a lot harder to get the third leg out once it’s been retracted, so it’s a 50/50 on which approach is better.  The head now gets is own extending feature, based on unused concept work for The Phantom Menace.  It’s goofy, and certainly not essential, but it’s also a fun little extra.  R2’s paint work is decent enough.  It’s all pretty cleanly handled, and again pretty much matches what was done on the original.  It’s all pretty clean and sharp, and it looks appropriately the part.  R2 is packed with four different arm attachments, plus his periscope and radar attachments for the head.  He lacks the thrusters and the lightsaber (especially notable since his first release was on the RotJ card) of the first one, but there’s at least some nice options here.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I struggled getting enthused for the first R2 from the line.  The second I did better with, since the Dagobah look is a little more exciting.  This one’s effectively the original but bigger, so I wasn’t even sure I was going to buy him at all.  But, I was getting the rest of the set, and he did look pretty solid in person, so I broke.  And then, you know, I lost him.  As you do.  But I found him, so it’s alright.  He’s not bad.  The scaling is better, and some of the features a better refined.  He’s also notably sturdier, which I do like.  So, he’s fun.  But he’s R2, so I’m back to struggling to get excited.  Maybe I should have gotten the updated R5 instead?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3614: Giant-Man & Wasp

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

HANK PYM — GIANT-MAN & JANET VAN DYNE — WASP

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0093: Hank Pym was not originally intended to be a super hero, and was simply the star of a story of a man who shrank to the size of an ant, before being retooled into a superhero in subsequent appearances.

When the Giant-Man HasLab was in swing, the lack of a matching Wasp in the current line was brought up a few times, and Hasbro eventually showed off a Wasp prototype, noting that she’d be released in some fashion later this year. Well, here we are, apparently, with not just Wasp, but also a conspicuously not so giant Giant-Man. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Giant-Man and Wasp are a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack. They were shown off in April, with the intent for them to go up for preorder the following day. Then it turned out that pre-order was actually just actively in-stock, at least for some batch of them. The pack is a continuation of the Beyond Earth’s Mightiest anniversary celebration from last year, and is also intended to loosely tie-in with the Giant-Man HasLab shipping some time in the fall.

HANK PYM — GIANT-MAN

Hey, it’s Regular-Sized-Man! It’s not as much of a novelty now to get a standard-sized Hank in his Giant-Man costume, since we’ve had a few, but it was a big deal a while ago, when it never happened. Of course, this is the first time his original Giant-Man costume has gotten the treatment, so it’s still a little bit special. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. He’s using the updated ANAD 2099 body with the pinless arm and leg construction, which all makes sense. Hank isn’t super bulky or super skinny, so this threads that needle. He gets a new head and belt. The head is decent. Obviously, the HasLab will be more detailed, given the scaling, but this one looks okay, and fits with the depictions of Hank we’ve gotten more recently. The belt is basic, but it works. His paint work is okay for the most part,m. There’s a spot of black on the upper torso that shouldn’t be there, but it’s otherwise pretty clean. I’m not a huge fan of the painted red on the tops of the boots, but it’s either that or painting the whole shin blue, which seems impractical. Hank is packed with an unmasked head (reused from the West Coast Avengers pack), a soft goods lab coat, four hands (a gripping/fist combo and an open gesture pair), two beakers/flasks, and a miniature Quinjet.

JANET VAN DYNE — WASP

The real star here is Wasp, who isn’t a stranger to Legends, but isn’t as frequent with *good* ones. Also, this particular look, which is her original one, has only been offered as little mini figures previously, and never as a full-scale figure of her own. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 34 points of articulation, plus a moving head-set piece.  Wasp re-uses the pinless double jointed arms and legs from Shriek, since they’re pretty basic.  The head, torso, skirt, and forearms are new, and they’re quite nicely handled.  I was especially impressed with the head sculpt, which manages to translate her pointy-headgear without it looking too silly, and I really like the moving head-set piece.  She’s re-using the wings from the prior comic Wasps, which are decent enough, so there’s no reason to change them at this point.  Wasp’s color work is a lot cleaner than Hank’s, which I certainly like to see.  Since the sculpt is a more complex assembly, there’s a lot more molded coloring in place, which makes it generally a much sharper looking piece.  Wasp is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), a tablet (re-used from AIM Supreme), and an alternate head without the cowl.  It’s a little lighter than Hank, but she’s also got a lot more new parts than he did, so it makes sense.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I, of course, backed the HasLab Giant-Man during his campaign window, so I’m in the group of people patiently awaiting his arrival.  I was definitely looking for a good Wasp, so this one was very high on my list.  I kind of thought we might see a standard sized Hank alongside her, and I’m honestly all about it.  I wasn’t expecting to get them quite so quickly, but Max hooked me up with a set on the earlier side, and, well, here we are.  Hank’s fine.  Nothing special, but nifty enough.  Jan is very nice, and she’s gonna be my default version of the character going forward.  And now I finally have the whole Avengers #4 line-up in one cohesive style!

#3610: Spacetrooper

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

SPACETROOPER

STAR WARS: THE LEGACY COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0089: Joe Johnston, director of Jumanji, The Rocketeer, and Captain America: The First Avenger, amongst other things, worked in the visual effects department for the original Star Wars trilogy, and had a hand in the design of both Boba Fett and his ship.

These days, my Star Wars collecting is rather focused.  I pick up the odd Black Series figure here and there, but beyond that, I’ve got my Power of the Force collection, and a selection of favorites from Clone Wars.  The other lines I generally skip, but there’s the occasional figure here and there that pique’s my interest, especially when it comes to the more fun behind the scenes stuff.  Like, for instance, today’s focus, the Spacetrooper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spacetrooper was part of the fifth assortment of Star Wars: The Legacy Collection, where he was numbered BD-32.  He was subsequently re-released the following year in a repack assortment with a new Build-A-Droid part.  All of the fifth assortment figures were based on A New Hope, and this guy was no exception; the Spacetrooper is visible outside the Death Star when the Millennium Falcon is pulled in by the tractor beam.  Essentially, he’s a standard Stormtrooper, with two extra bits to make him space ready.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  The movement on this guy represents pretty much the height of articulation for Star Wars prior to them finally doing away with the T-crotch joint that George Lucas apparently mandated.  It’s a rather mobile figure, but also kind of stiff?  I don’t know.  It’s certainly not bad for the time or the scale, and it’s less floppy than newer Star Wars figures.  The Spacetrooper’s sculpt used the sculpt that originated with the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Stormtrooper as its starting point, but got an updated head and torso, and seems to generally be a slightly sharper rendition of the sculpt.  He’s got a removable helmet, which matches well with the non-removable equivalent for this body sculpt, and underneath, he’s got a head sporting the likeness of Joe Johnston, who was the guy actually in the Spacetrooper armor on set.  The paint work is decent enough; he’s got the basic black and white set-up, with the extra details under the helmet and all.  The Spacetrooper is packed with his rebreather pack and hose, which plug into his helmet and back, and are fairly secure.  He also gets a standard blaster, as well as a larger rifle, complete with moving handle.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really collecting much Star Wars when this figure came out, so I missed him when he was new.  He always intrigued me, though, so when I found a loose complete one through All Time, I jumped on it.  He’s a fun little figure, and, hey, now I’ve got a Joe Johnston figure!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3604: Daredevil VS Hydro-Man

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

DAREDEVIL VS HYDRO-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0083:  Despite both characters making appearances on the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man cartoons in the ’90s, Daredevil and Hydro-Man were never both present in the same episode.

I gotta be honest, of all the ’90s Marvel cartoons, Spider-Man: The Animated Series is probably my least favorite.  I know, bold statement.  I’m a guy that defends Avengers: United They Stand and Silver Surfer; how can I take a swing at one of the big ones?  Hard to say.  Something about the show’s pacing always bugged me.  I can appreciate its significance, and it did give us some very cool toys back in the day.  After doing a year of figures based on X-Men: The Animated Series, Hasbro switched over to Spider-Man, which I had less need for, of course.  But then they went and got me with a set I couldn’t pass up.  So, let’s look at Daredevil vs Hydro-Man!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Daredevil and Hydro-Man are the fifth release in the Spider-Man: The Animated Series sub-set of Marvel Legends.  They keep the X-Men set’s VHS-style packaging, but they’re now all two-packs, instead of singles, with each pairing being a hero/villain match-up.  This set is a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive, at least thus far.  The whole line was *supposed* to be exclusive, but three of the six two-packs jumped to a Fan Channel release, so it’s hard to say.

DAREDEVIL

Our second Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Daredevil in rather short succession, and yet again he’s part of a multi-pack.  At least it’s just a two-pack this time.  The aim of this one seems to really be just getting more mileage out of the new stuff from the last one.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s identical to the three-pack figure I looked at not that long ago.  That figure moved Matt to the Renew Your Vows body, which works well for the character.  He uses that figure’s Paul Harding sculpted head sculpt, as well as getting  a new one, with his teeth bared.  The calm one’s no slouch, but that new sculpt is really solid.  I really like it.  The big change-up to this figure is the paint work.  He’s still in the same general costume, of course, but the show very much dialed into the comics’ tendency to go for very dynamic shading on Matt’s costume, and that’s reflected here.  He gets a lot of black shading, done with a cross-hatching style to it.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but I turned out really, really well.  It’s not like a lot of the other cel-shading, where it’s really directional; it feels like a proper dynamic design for DD, and I think it adds something that was missing from the three-pack release.  I especially like the actual distinction for the boots and gloves this time around.  DD gets the two heads, three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and open gesture), his batons, and a line to go between them, which is impressive, since the three-pack figure actually came with a fair bit less.

HYDRO-MAN

Our villain this time around is Morris Bench, aka Hydro-Man.  I last reviewed a Hydro-Man before the release of Far From Home, a movie which didn’t *actually* feature him.  Sure looked like it would at the time, though.  Hydro-Man only has two appearances in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, but he was used in the show’s opening credits, which gave him a little extra staying power.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Like his last figure, he uses the Netflix Luke Cage as a starting point.  He actually keeps the figure’s arms this time, rather than using the water ones from before.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is a bit more dialed into the animation look.  For full accuracy, his hair should be a bit longer in the back, but it’s ultimately not bad.  Since the standard black T-shirt and jeans look was covered pretty well by the last Hydro-Man, this figure’s coloring replicates his fully water form, molding him entirely in translucent blue plastic.  It works well, and he’s quite striking.  He gets a little bit of white accenting to give him a little extra flair, which I dig, but it’s minor.  Hydro-Man is packed with the water effect pieces from the last figure, as well as two sets of hands in fists and open gesture.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The rest of this line’s been very easy to skip, and I thought DD would be too after I got the three-pack release.  Then I saw this set, and the new stuff with DD just made it impossible to pass this one up.  The shading works so, so well, and the extra head and hands make him even better than an already very good figure.  This is my definitive DD Legend, and there’s no question about that.  Hydro-Man?  Well, he was more along for the ride.  I don’t mind having him, and he’s certainly fun, but I also don’t see him replacing the other figure outright in my collection.  Still, he’s certainly fun.

#3602: Angel

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

ANGEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0081: Warren Worthington III was the third mutant to join the X-Men, following Cyclops and Iceman.

As a kid, the real centerpiece of my X-Men collection was my Toy Biz First Appearance boxed set.  Missing from that set for a good chunk of my childhood was its Angel figure, who was my favorite figure included.  Though Warren hasn’t held his high spot in my X-Men rankings as I’ve gotten older (which is less about me liking him less, and more about me finding other X-Men I like *more*), I do still have a soft spot for him, in both of his main incarnations, especially when it comes to action figures.  When it comes to Marvel Legends, we’ve gotten only a few figures.  There’s a really solid Archangel, but the Angel figures?  They’ve been less on the mark.  Let’s see how the latest one turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Angel is a deluxe-sized Marvel Legends release, who has been hitting in the last few weeks, pretty much in tandem with the Wolverine anniversary-related releases.  It’s been an X-themed heaven in Legends recently, so, you know, an Angel is appropriate.  This guy is sporting Warren’s ’70s-’80s era red and white number, which he started wearing in Champions, sported in his return to X-Men, and had during his tenure on Defenders.  It had a good run, and it’s his most distinctive and memorable of his “Angel” looks.  It’s also the one that got Legends treatment before, so this is a proper update.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 40 points of articulation, factoring in the wings.  It’s nice to see the extra movement in the wings, especially given that the Toy Biz figure’s static wings were its biggest drawback.  Angel is using the same base body as Nighthawk, with a modified upper torso to allow for the attachment of the wings.  He also gets two new head sculpts, one based on his earlier appearances in the costume, the other based more on his Defenders time.  I’m more partial to the earlier look, but both sculpts are very nicely handled.  The wings are also newly sculpted, and designed to work with more articulation than prior models.  It’s handled well, and they look pretty decent, while also managing to be quite posable.  Angel’s color work leans heavily on reds and whites, as expected.  The paint’s pretty clean for the base body, and there’s some quite nice accenting on the feathers of the wings.  He’s got white boots and gloves, which, for me, is frustrating, because I want him to be specifically Champions Angel, but I guess that’s more a me problem.  Angel is packed with two sets of hands, one open, the other in fists.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I do really like the classic Angel design, but it’s not one that’s been lucky in the toy department.  It’s entirely absent from the 5-inch run, and the original Legends figure just always really disappointed me.  This one doesn’t disappoint me.  In fact, I really quite like him.  I’d like him more with yellow boots and gloves, but let’s not get too picky here.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3599: Nightcrawler

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

NIGHTCRAWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0078: Nightcrawler’s creation predates the All New, All Different X-Men, and in fact predates his creator Dave Cockrum’s time at Marvel; he was originally intended to be part of Legion of Super Heroes spin-off book from Cockrum’s time at DC.  When Dave left DC, he took Nightcrawler with him.

Though certainly a popular X-Man, it feels like we never get enough Nightcrawler figures.  He’s always just a little sparser than you might expect.  Since the introduction of Marvel Legends, he’s gotten two, now three figures.  That’s not a lot.  They’re always pretty good, though, and after the last one, it felt like there wasn’t much room for improvement.  Well, about that…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightcrawler is part of the second X-Men ’97-tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He was notable for being the only figure in the line-up *not* featured in the first three episodes of the show.  He finally made his return last week, and boy was that an episode of…like…things.  Just…okay?  Now he’s in the opening credits, and it’s a whole thing.  Look, new figure.  That’s the point.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this figure uses a handful of parts from the prior Nightcrawler, namely the torso, pelvis, and tail.  Those were solid parts, and are hard to beat for a standard Nightcrawler set-up, so it’s worth a re-use.  He replaces the Pizza Spidey arms and legs with new, albeit similarly built ones.  Now, they have no visible pins, and the glove and boot details are etched in, rather than just simply painted.  He also gets new hands and feet, which are *slightly* different from the prior versions, but not drastically so.  It’s all topped off with two new heads based on Nightcrawler’s updated show design.  One is calm and slightly friendly, while the other is gritting his teeth.  Both have the same swooshy hair, which is a lot of fun.  I very much dig them.  His color work is a lot of molded colors, but there’s some paint work in there too.  Some of the base work, especially on the gloves and boots, is a touch uneven, but the detailing on both heads is incredibly sharp.  Nightcrawler is packed with two sets of hands, one set open, the other set in fists.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t gonna buy this one.  Honest.  I saw him with the rest of the set and I was all set to say “I don’t need that.”  I’ve got my Wendigo Series one, and he’s fantastic, and just can’t be topped.  He’s the Nightcrawler I always wanted, and I have no need to replace him.  And I won’t be.  Because I’ve just decided I’m gonna *also* have this one.  Look, if I can do it with Cyclops, I can also do it with Nightcrawler.  And you can’t stop me.  I mean, I guess you could, if you really tried.  But why?  Why would you do that?  Anyway, I saw this one in person, and I resisted for a bit, but only for a bit.  He’s not drastically different from the last one, but he’s different enough that I see him as an alternative, not a replacement.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3597: Goblin Queen

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

GOBLIN QUEEN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0076: Though she’s existed since 1983, Madelyn Pryor has had, to date, only two action figures, more than 20 years apart from each other.

I find Madelyn Pryor a generally tedious character.  The concept’s not awful, I guess.  I can certainly understand Claremont’s initial desire to give Scott Summers his planned “happily ever after” even with the adjustments to the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” resulting in Jean’s demise.  But, it does put Madelyn in an unfortunate spot of being nothing more than a placeholder, which isn’t ideal.  The whole dissolution of her marriage to Scott is sloppy at best, and “Inferno” is making the best of a bad situation.  So, X-Men ’97‘s take on the entire thing is, honestly, a refreshing reinvention of the set-up, which I actually quite enjoyed.  And it got her a second figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goblin Queen is the third figure in Series 2 of Hasbro’s X-Men ’97-tie-in sub-line of Marvel Legends.  I suppose you could get technical and say she’s *actually* the second of two Madelyns in the set, depending on how you treat the second head with the Jean Grey figure.  But, you know, let’s not focus on that for now.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is generally what we’ve come to expect for this line at this point, at least in terms of set-up.  In terms of range, Madelyn is rather restricted.  It comes with the territory, at least as far as the design is concerned.  She’s good for standing around, provided you can get her balanced, which is admittedly a little tricky, but not impossible.  Madelyn’s sculpt is largely new; the arms appear to be the standard double-jointed female arms, but everything else looks new.  It’s a solid piece of work, though on mine the upper part of her chest doesn’t slot quite right into the rest of it, so there’s an odd shelf and the edge of her skin…which is odd.  Beyond that, though, I do generally like the sculpt.  The head in particular manages to stay consistent with Jean’s sculpt, while still having its own flair of character.  Madelyn’s color work is decent enough, if not 100% accurate to the show.  I don’t know if there was a change to the design during production, but in the final product, the leggings on her thighs are much closer to regular skin tone than what we see here.  It throws the vibe of the look off a touch, but it’s ultimately not the end of the world, I guess.  The rest of the paint is pretty nice, and I do quite like the slight variations in the colors on her outfit.  Madelyn is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), a pair of energy effects, and, most importantly, baby Nathan Summers.  Nathan is using the body of the baby Hulk/baby Nightcrawler, but gets a new head, and even gets the special x-printing on the blanket, which is extra fun.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I may find Madelyn’s storyline’s questionable at times, but I don’t hate the character or anything, and I’m not opposed to a figure.  This was certainly high on my list when these figures were shown off.  I do like her, though I can’t say she quite shines for me the same way as Cyclops and Jean.  It could certainly be worse, though, and I especially like the baby Nathan.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3594: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0073:  This figure’s technically two figures in one!

Well, X-Men ’97 continues to deliver on the awesomeness front, so I’m going to keep jumping into that particular well.  I already looked at Cyclops earlier this week, and what better follow-up to him is there than Jean Grey!  Jean’s gotten her fair share of ’90s inspired figures, and here’s one more!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is part of the second X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  She’s the first ’90s Jean at regular retail since the Rocket Raccoon Series figure, which was quite a while ago.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  The last ’90s Jean re-used the 3-Pack Jean molds, just done up in animated colors.  This one, however, is an entirely new sculpt, based on her updated model for X-Men ’97.  It’s a really nice sculpt.  I wasn’t much of a fan of the prior one, but I made do with it because I felt I had to…but, like, now I don’t?  Because, again, this one is so nice.  All of the costume elements are actually sculpted this time around, which makes them a lot cleaner and pop-ier.  There are two different head sculpts, one with the hair up in a ponytail, and one with it down.  The ponytail head is undoubtedly my favorite, but I may be slightly biased on that front.  Both sculpts are really strong, and again so much nicer than the ones from the prior figure.  Jean’s color work isn’t bad.  It’s a lot of molded color work, of course, but there’s a little bit of paint as well.  The faces are nice and clean.  Her belt is a real mess on my copy, which is a bummer, but it’s also not the end of the world, since it’s just a belt.  Jean gets the two different head sculpts, as well as two sets of hands.  It still feels a little light, but she does at least get the extra head.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’ve gotten two versions of ’90s Jean for my Legends X-Men already, and I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t love them either.  I was bummed by the less animation-specific elements of the VHS figure, so getting another chance is really awesome.  Cyclops may be my favorite figure in this series, but I think Jean is the most needed one.  I really love this figure, and I think she’s a fantastic Jean Grey.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.