Tag Archives: Hasbro

#1718: Prowler

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

PROWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Plagued by memories of his youth and desperate to prove his worth, Prowler turns to a life of crime.”

Hey look!  It’s Spawn!  Okay, so Prowler actually predates Spawn.  In fact, Prowler showed up during Todd McFarlane’s run on Spider-Man, just before he left Marvel…to create Spawn.  Guess the guy liked Prowler.  Unlike his McFarlane-owned reskin, Prowler hasn’t been particularly privy to action figures.  He got one in the ’90s, likely due to his resemblance to Spawn.  Then nothing for 25 years, and now he’s finally gotten his second action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prowler is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  Interestingly enough, this is the *second* Hobie Brown figure in this particular assortment, since that’s who’s under the Spider-Punk mask as well.  Who would have thought we’d get a Spider-Man assortment with twice as many Hobie Browns as Peter Parkers.  Certainly not I.  Prowler is seen here in his classic attire, which is what he’s worn for most of his career (barring a quick change-up for his solo series a few years back).  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Prowler is built on the Spider-UK body, making him the second non-Spider-Man to make use of it.  It works well enough, though Prowler’s build has fluctuated a fair bit over the years.  He gets a new head and hands, as well as new add-on pieces for the cartridges around his wrists and ankles.  The new pieces are all pretty fun, and pretty good matches for the character’s design as well.  To complete is look, he borrows the cape from Moon Knight.  While it’s a nice cape, and not a bad match for what Prowler usually wears, the piece doesn’t quite sit right on the body.  As a result, the collar ends up being rather floaty.  Not the end of the world, but a minor annoyance.  Prowler’s paintwork is pretty decent stuff.  His usual colorscheme is done well, and manages to not look too silly.  The photos make it look like his purples don’t match very well, but this isn’t the case in person.  There *are* two different purples in play, but the difference is matte vs. metallic, rather than two actually different shades.  Prowler has no character-specific accessories, which is a shame, since an unmasked head would have been cool.  Oh well.  He does at the very least include a piece for Lizard, specifically his leg.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Spider-Woman, I wasn’t certain I needed a Prowler figure, but I wanted a Lizard, so I got him.  It was an easier purchase, since he’s at least a new character.  Ultimately, he’s a serviceable figure, if not without his flaws.  Still, even if you don’t know anything about the character, I think this figure is rather fun.

Prowler was purchased from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’d like one of your own, he’s currently still in-stock through their website, or you’re looking for something else, check out the great items available through their eBay Store.

#1717: Spider-Woman

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

SPIDER-WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Woman uses heightened senses and powerful venom blasts to strike down any enemies of justice!”

Okay, took a break from Legends for some patriotic appreciation, but now I’m back over in the Legends corner.  Still looking st the Spider-Man stuff, specifically his distaff counterpart, Spider-Woman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Woman is part of the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the second main universe Jessica Drew we’ve gotten during Hasbro’s tenure.  She’s wearing her newest costume, introduced following Spider-Verse.  It’s a more real world design, no doubt put together for easy movie translation.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, with a new head, torso, and pelvis.  The new pieces change up the body pretty suitably, resulting in a fairly nice looking translation of the design.  The head is definitely the nicest piece.  It takes a page out of Mockingbird’s book, and gives her removable glasses.  While it’s not super needed for this particular figure, it has the added benefit of giving an unmasked head to those who already have the classic Spider-Woman from a few years back.  The removable glasses actually work a bit better here, leaving almost no visible connection points when removed.  The paintwork on Spider-Woman is quite sharp, and very cleanly applied.  The face in particular is really nice looking, especially with the glasses in place.  If there’s one downside on this figure, it’s her general lack of extras.  She’s got the torso of Lizard, which is pretty sizable, to be fair, but she’s got nothing character specific.  A web line or some extra hands would be nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

I don’t have any particular attachment to this Spider-Woman design, so I wasn’t really itching for a figure of it.  However, I’m really wanting to build Lizard, and this figure looked nice enough.  I ended up grabbing her from All Time Toys, which also helped.

Speaking of All Time Toys, they still have this figure in stock on their website, if you want one of your own.  Or, if your looking for something else, check out their eBay store for tons of other cool stuff.

#1715: Spider-Punk

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

SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Punk causes major rifts in an alternate universe ruled by a corrupt President Osborne.”

Spider-Verse was really just an amazing gift to the people at Hasbro, wasn’t it?  They’ve literally got years worth of completely legitimate Spider-Man variants to choose from, and each time they release another, the demand for the remaining ones just grows.  They’re also getting Spider-Verse writer Dan Slott to geek out pretty hardcore online, which I’m certain helps with the sales of the figures.  The Spider-Verse member I’m looking at today is certainly amongst the coolest; it’s Spider-Punk!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is figure 3 from the Lizard Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of the two Spider-Men in this assortment, though he’s not actually a Peter Parker figure.  He stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  As a Spider-Man variant, it’s probably not a shock to find out that Spider-Punk is built on the Pizza Spidey body, what with him filling out that basic physique and all.  He gets a new head, feet, and even hands (with proper fingering for his guitar, and a pick!), as well as an add-on piece for his denim vest.  The new matches very well with the old, and the vest piece in particular is very sharply detailed and full of texture. The head is surprisingly more than just a basic spidey head with the mohawk added, giving this Spider a more narrow set of eyes than we tend to see. It helps to further separate him from that legion of Spider-Men we’ve got going on.  His paintwork is up to the usual snuff, with the colors matching the basic Spidey, as well as the source material.  Kudos to Hasbro for putting a fully detailed torso and arms under the vest, though I can hardly see myself displaying him without it.  Spider-Punk is packed with his guitar, of course, but also gets a second left hand.  At first glance, it’s just a basic thwipping hand, but if you look closer, it’s actually throwing up the horns.  A subtle, but very important, change, which adds so much to the figure.  Spider-Punk also includes one of the arms of the Lizard, who continues to look very, very cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been loving the whole Spider-Verse theme that’s been going on, and this guy’s been near the top of my wishlist for Spidey variants, so his announcement for the assortment was very exciting for me.  Along with Lasher, he was my biggest want from this assortment.  The final figure absolutely doesn’t disappoint.

As with yesterday’s Lasher figure, I purchased this guy from my friends over at All Time Toys.  They’re currently in the process of recovering from the recent Ellicott City flood, so please check out their website and eBay storefront and give them a little bit of support.  They don’t have Spider-Punk in stock, but they have a few of his series-mates, as well as plenty of other awesome offerings!

#1714: Lasher

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

LASHER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A sinister mercenary of evil, Lasher thrives off of the power of the malevolent Venom symbiote.”

Oh man, Symbiotes are big again.  What is this, the mid-90s?  No, it can’t be. Not enough pouches and leather jackets.  But Symbiotes. Definitely Symbiotes.  With a Venom movie hitting theatres this year, I suppose there was a desire to capitalize on that, so the fine folks at Hasbro are working in some more Venom-related characters into their Marvel Legends line.  There’s a whole Venom-dedicated assortment hitting very soon, but we got a little bit of a teaser earlier this year, in the form of Lasher!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lasher is part of the Lizard Series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  It’s our first Spider-Man assortment of 2018, and it started hitting a few months ago…in theory.  It’s shown up some places, but still doesn’t seem to have hit in full force.  Anyway, Lasher is the resident Symbiote in the line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Lasher is made up entirely of re-used pieces, which is mostly not an issue, apart from one thing I’ll touch on in a moment.  He’s built on the Pizza Spidey body, which caused a bit of a stir when he was first unveiled.  A lot of people felt he should be on a larger body, in part, no doubt, due to the larger build of Lasher’s old Toy Biz figure.  However, if you look at Lasher’s comic appearances, he’s typically a little skinnier than the other Symbiotes.  Perhaps the 2099 body would have been a better compromise, but I don’t mind this.  Lasher also uses the head from Scarlet Spider, and the hands, feet, and tendrils from Superior Venom.  The head’s a pretty basic piece, and works well here.  The hands and feet are a bit more specific, but still work very well for the character, and it’s nice to see them pop up again.  The tendrils are perhaps my one complaint about the figure.  I’ve never been a huge fan of this particular piece, even in it’s initial use, but for Lasher to not have tendrils that can actually do anything just seems wrong.  I’d have much preferred to see him use the Agent Venom tendril piece.  On the plus side of things, Lasher’s paint work is very striking.  Application is very clean, and the two shades of green chosen really complement each other well.  As always, that metallic plastic looks pretty awesome. Lasher’s only accessory (if we’re not counting the fact that the tendrils remove, which I kind of don’t) is the head to the Lizard Build-A-Figure.  While it perhaps doesn’t add any value to Lasher himself, it’s an impressive enough piece that he doesn’t feel too light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Lasher is hands down my favorite Symbiote.  The old figure was a bit of a grail, and he’s been standing with my Legends collection since I got him.  When this guy was shown off, I was definitely excited.  I was even more excited when he and the rest of the series showed up at All Time Toys back in April, thus signifying that All Time would be carrying Legends going forward.  I’m very happy I have this figure, even if he has a few flaws.

Speaking of All Time, this is my first review from them since they were hit by the recent flood on Main Street in Ellicott City.  They’re been steadfastly working in the weeks since, and they’ve just gotten their website and eBay store back up and running.  Please give them a quick visit.  While they don’t have this particular figure in stock, they do have a couple of his series-mates, as well as a whole bunch of other cool stuff!

The Blaster In Question #0058: Mediator Stock

Posted by Tim Marron in Nerf Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BlasterInQuestion1

MEDIATOR STOCK

MODULUS

medstock1A couple things recently came to my attention.  First, today is Sunday, but there’s not much I can do to change that.  Second, however, is that I never finished talking about the 3-part kit that composes the Modulus Mediator.  That, I can change, so today I’ll be looking at the third and final piece of the Mediator ensemble, the stock.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

medstock2“How can a stock warrant its own review?” I hear you say.  Well, dear reader, this is no ordinary stock.  It uses a never before seen set of intricate mechanisms in tandem with what I must assume is some kind of ancient magic to achieve the results we can observe.  Not really.  They made it big and hollow and stuck a pistol inside.  Complex?  No.  Useful?  Eeeehhhhmmmmmmaaaaaaaybe.  Anyway, the Mediator Stock was released with the other 2 components in 2018.  It came in two parts, the stock/holster, and the pistol.  The stock itself is pretty straightforward.  It attaches to any Nerf blaster with a stock attachment lug and is simply a fixed stock albeit with a rather long length of pull for a Nerf stock and some extra rubber overlays on the back end to make it grippy.  The rear end of the stock is open to allow the pistol to be inserted or removed and this makes it feel a little odd when pressed against your shoulder, but it’s not uncomfortable.  Just takes a second to get used to.  There is a belt clip on the left side of the stock that allows you to attach it to your pants or belt to act as a dedicated holster for the pistol, if you so choose. The pistol is functionally identical to the  Doublestrike from the Zombie Strike line, using a hammer primed, 2 barrel smart AR setup.  Sure, it’s not much, but I get the feeling this is meant as a backup blaster rather than your primary.  medstock3The shell of the blaster is all new and has been sculpted to allow a fairly firm friction fit into the stock/holster. The performance of the pistol is about what you’d expect from a backup blaster.  The range and power might not be quite on par with a larger blaster but if your younger siblings don’t know that you have a second blaster, the surprise can be rather entertaining.  The Modulus Mediator Stock comes with the stock/holster, the pistol and 4 Modulus Elite darts.  

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

As soon as I bought the first 2 components of the larger Mediator set, I was basically guaranteed to grab the last one eventually.  If I recall, I got mine from a local TRU, which is something only Canadians can say now.  There’s really not much to say about this set.  The stock is pretty decent quality and is a good size.  The pistol shoots.  Really, the one thing I might have liked to see is if they had redesigned the grip of the pistol to have a stock attachment lug so you could put the stock on it rather than it just being a holster on its own.  Stocked pistols are totally a thing and I would have been so excited to have that as an option, but oh well.  It does what it does well enough.

#1711: A-Force

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

SHE-HULK, SIF, MARVEL’S SINGULARITY, LADY LOKI, ELSA BLOODSTONE, & MONICA RAMBAEU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Spawning out of 2015’s Secret Wars event was an all-female super team dubbed A-Force.  Gimmicky?  Perhaps, but of course, so was the whole event.  I appreciated it for what it was: a chance to focus on some of Marvel’s fun secondary characters, who maybe get overlooked a little too often.  The event-tie-in got its own spin-off, and ongoing that went 10 more issues.  And, in 2017, the group even got an exclusive boxed-set of Marvel Legends, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The A-Force boxed-set was a partnered offering between Entertainment Earth and Toys R Us, which first hit at SDCC 2017, before eventually making its way to Toys R Us retail establishments.  Well, for a little while, anyway.  The set includes six figures: She-Hulk, Sif, Singularity, Lady Loki, Elsa Bloodstone, And Monica Rambaeu.

SHE-HULK

A blood transfusion from Bruce Banner leaves Jennifer Walters with the gamma-powered abilities of the Hulk.

She-Hulk is the one character in this set who’s had a Legends release before.  Three of them, in fact.  But the most recent of those was still a decade ago, so we feel overdue for the update.  She’s also the biggest name in the set, and one of the easier to produce figures just based on parts.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation.  She-Hulk is built on the same body used for both Thundra and Valkyrie, which was debuted on a She-Hulk figure, just not a Jen Walters one.  It’s a decent enough body, though it’s a little out dated compared to the others in the set.  Ultimately, it’s not bad, of course, but the articulation scheme’s a bit archaic.  This body’s definitely the next one that needs replacing.  She-Hulk’s got a new head sculpt, which is very nice.  The expression is perhaps a touch bland for Jen, and nothing’s ever going to top the original Hasbro release for me, but this one’s still very well crafted.  Jen’s paintwork is nice, bold, and colorful.  The paint on the face is very clean, as are the costume’s color transitions.  The metallic purple looks very slick, as well, but then I’m a sucker for metalic purple.  She-Hulk included no accessories, but what would you give her, really?

SIF

As a gifted warrior goddess of Asgaard, Sif traverses time and space through teleportation.

Sif is an important character in the world of Thor, but rarely travels outside of that particular realm.  Seeing her interact with others in A-Force was admittedly pretty cool.  Though she may not be the heavy hitter here, Sif is very much this set’s star.  She stands 6 3/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Sif is one the newest body in this set, making use of parts from last year’s Angela figure (which I’d predicted back when I reviewed that figure).  She does, however get a new head, upper torso, upper arms, and cape and skirt piece add-ons, all of which add-up to a very different looking figure than Angela.  My main complaint about Angela was not liking the character, so Sif gets an extra leg up here.  This gives the body a new chance to shine, and I find myself really enjoying this figure.  Her paint is very clean, the colors are very bold, and that bright red helps her to be the most eye-catching member of this set.  The blue wash on the fur lining of the cape is perhaps a touch heavy, but I’ve seen worse, and it helps to distinguish it from the rest of the white.  Sif is packed with a sword, which seems pretty sensible to me.

MARVEL’S SINGULARITY

Singularity is a multi-dimensional being whose powers of energy manipulation grant her unique psionic abilities.

Singularity is probably the most obscure of the figures in this set, by virtue of being the only character in the set to have no existance outside of A-Force.  Singularity is sort of a personified walking pocket dimension, and is something of a gender-flipped Beyonder from the original Secret Wars.  While she’s perhaps not the most known character, she’s important to the specific event this set was commemorating, and has the added bonus of an appealing design.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation. Singularity is built on the Spider-Girl body, which is always a good one, though its mold might be starting to show its age a bit.  She gets a new head sculpt, which captures the art style of the book pretty well, while also melding well with the rest of the body.  The big thing that sets her apart is her color scheme.  She’s molded in clear blue plastic that has these little metallic flecks all through it, and then has a little metallic purple airbrushed over that in a few key places.  It makes for quite an interesting look, and it’s a great way of capturing how she looks in the comic.

LADY LOKI

A being of Frost Giant descent, Loki also possesses Asgardian powers of shape-shifting and sorcery

Lady Loki is sort of a confusing character in the context of this set, since she’s technically the same person as the usual Loki (who was still running around elsewhere during Secret Wars), and she’s also technically in Sif’s body, but Sif is also in this set.  Best not to think about it too much.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Black Cat body, which means she’s a fair bit smaller than Sif, who she supposedly shares a body with.  Of course, the armored details and such on the Sif body would have made this impossible to do here, and I’d much rather have an inaccurate Loki than a slightly diminished Sif, so I’m letting it slide.  She *does* share a cape with Sif, though, so there’s at least that.  Her head and her skirt add-on piece are both new to this figure, and they’re both quite nicely sculpted, though as with She-Hulk, I might have liked a little more expression in the face.  My figure had a slight molding issue, which left some noticeable flashing at the bottom of her chin, but an X-acto blade cleared that up fine.  Loki’s paint is probably the most complex in the set, with all the scaling detaining and such.  It’s all pretty clean, and once again the metallic colors are looking pretty cool.

ELSA BLOODSTONE

A gun-toting, foul-mouthed monster hunter, Elsa Bloodstone follows in the family tradition of fighting supernatural evils.

Originally a pretty thinly-veiled rip-off of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Elsa Bloodstone was re-purposed by Warren Ellis for his cult hit Nextwave series, which completely changed the character, making her far more absurd, and far more entertaining.  Her placement in this set continues the Nextwave appreciation that began with the Dirk Anger head included with Nick Fury.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the medium-sized female body, but since no member of Nextwave is truly complete without their trenchcoat, she also gets the arms and jacket pieces from Scarlet Witch.  In addition, she gets a new head, knees, and feet, as well as a belt add-on with a holster.  The whole thing adds up to another very unique looking figure that’s surprisingly true to her Nextwave appearances.  Elsa is the best accessorized figure in this set, getting both her twin shotguns, as well as an oversized revolver.

MONICA RAMBEAU

Gifted in her control of the electromagnetic spectrum, Monica Rambeau uses powerful blasts of energy to shut down her enemies.

Ah, it’s Monica Rambeau, aka Captain Marvel, aka Photon, aka Pulsar, aka Spectrum, aka the most unlucky superhero ever when it comes to keeping a code name.  She’s a favorite of mine and a lot of other fans, and probably one of the bigger draws for this set.  Also, like Elsa, she’s a member of Nextwave.  Two members in one set!  Alright!  Of course, Monica’s not quite in her Nexwave gear, instead wearing her Ultimates costume that she had at the time of the event.  Still, that’s a costume that’s very Nextwave-inspired, so I’m calling it a win.  Monica uses the same basic construction as Elsa, but with standard leg pieces and without the holster.  She also gets a new headsculpt, which is tied with Sif for nicest in the set.  Monica’s paintwork is mostly black and white, which looks very striking, and is in keeping with the design.  There’s a slight pearlescent finish to the white sections, which adds a nice energy-like quality to her design.  She came with no accessories, which is a little disappointing.  Not even an energy effect?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, you saw who was offering this set, so you probably know how I got it.  Yep, this was another Toys R Us liquidation purchase.  I’d seen the set when it was new, but only felt like I really needed three of the six figures included, so the price was a bit prohibitive.  I decided I would wait it out, and if the set ever came down in price, I’d get it.  I firmly set my entry price at 25% off and waited.  When the liquidation began, my store still had a whole stack of this set, and they didn’t really move any faster, but I stopped by one day and they only had a single set left.  What was the discount? 30% off.  So, home with me it came.  Sif is this set’s star, with Elsa and Monica picking up right behind her.  They were the three I wanted, and I’m very happy with them.  Loki and Singularity are both pretty nice as well, but as more event/time specific characters, I have less need for them.  She-Hulk’s the real weak link here, but even as the weakest, she’s still a very nice figure!

#1707: Agents of Hydra

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

HYDRA AGENT & HYDRA ENFORCER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Driven by rage, these advanced Hydra super soldiers are prone to clash with anyone in their paths.”

Back when the newest incarnation of Marvel Legends was first launched, Hasbro was still figuring some things out.  The Captain America-themed Mandroid Series still had some troubles with distribution, and some…interesting choices in case packouts.  The assortment was split into two waves.  For the first wave, the Agents of Hydra swap figure’s packout was split evenly between Red Skull and the basic Hydra Agent.  Both moved pretty quickly, but there was definitely more demand for the army buildable Hydra Agent.  When the second wave hit, Hasbro decided to repack…Red Skull?  And then the Hydra Agent never resurfaced, so finding one was a mean feat.  Last year, having started to learn from their earlier woes, Hasbro did a re-release of the Agent, alongside a new Hydra Enforcer figure, in an exclusive two-pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Agents of Hydra two-pack was a Toys R Us-exclusive offering under the greater Marvel Legends banner.  It *was* a TRU-exclusive, emphasis on “was.”  It was supposed to be released last summer, but apart from being on their website for exactly one afternoon, it never really showed up.  And then, it sort of did, in the wake of all of the closing stuff.  Now it’s made its way to Entertainment Earth, who have been grabbing all of the former exclusives.

HYDRA AGENT

The basic Hydra Agent is, for all intents and purposes, a straight re-issue of the Mandroid Series release.  He’s a more modern interpretation of the Hydra troopers, in the vein of Bob, Agent of Hydra.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s build on the Bucky Cap body and he has add-ons for his harness and belt.  Both pieces are unique to this figure and his predecessor.  They’re well sculpted, and well fitted to the body.  He’s also got a unique head, which is a good recreation of the Hydra Agent’s usual design.  His paintwork is a point of marked improvement over the last release.  Not only is the application a lot cleaner across the board, but he also gets a few more details, particularly the Hydra emblem on his shoulders.  Also an improvement are his accessories.  The last Hydra Agent included two rather goofy sci-fi-y rifles.  This one instead gets two less goofy rifles, which look a lot better.  He also gets a vest to swap out for the harness and and two extra heads.  The first head is Taskmaster’s alt-head, recolored to match the Hydra soldier scheme, which is nice and imposing.  The second is the same one included with the Nick Fury figure from the Giant-Man Series.  It all makes for a nice selection of options on this figure, which is especially nice for army building.

HYDRA ENFORCER

The Hydra Enforcer is a newer concept, and seems to be the figure that’s actually being referred to in the bio on the back of the box.  Despite being a new concept, the figure is just as much re-use as his pack-mate.  He stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The figure is built on the Hyperion body, specifically the Nuke variant of the body, with the pants and combat boots.  He also gets Nuke’s vest and belt, as well as the head of Captain Britain, which works surprisingly well with the Hydra theme.  The design presented by these piece complements the basic agent pretty well, and he seems to fit the overall Hydra aesthetic nicely.  His paintwork is pretty similar to the standard agent, and the application is all pretty clean.  The Enforcer is packed with a large rifle (re-used from the AIM Agent), a missile launcher (re-used from Drax), a knife, and two extra heads.  The first head is Nuke’s, matching the other pieces on the figure.  It’s been re-decoed with a pretty intensive scar.  The second head is re-used from Radioactive Man, done up with a sort of a Jason Statham look.  Both are pretty fun, and far more specific designs than any of the basic heads, which I guess makes sense, since you’d assume the Enforcers are a more unique bunch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Having missed out on the original Hydra Agent release, I was definitely on board for this set.  Of course, I couldn’t find it anywhere, so that all meant for nothing.  Then I was going through my local TRU during it’s liquidation process, and there was just a stack of this set.  Yay for me, right?  It’s a solid offering, very definitely.  It’s only real drawback is that it’s a little difficult to army build if you don’t want a bunch of Enforcers.  Still, a very fun set, and I’m glad it’s finally making its way out to the people who want it.

#1706: Reverse Flash

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

REVERSE FLASH

TOTAL JUSTICE (KENNER)

It’s not uncommon for superhero stories to introduce a villain that’s some sort of dark reflection of the hero, but there are few instances as straight forward as Professor Zoom, the Reverse Flash.  Reverse is right there in the name.  Toy makers are fond of this particular character, since he’s a pretty easy palette swap of the Flash.  I’m looking at one of those figures today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Reverse Flash was released in 1999 as a ToyFare magazine exclusive continuation of Kenner’s Total Justice toyline.  Despite how easy it is to make the character, this would be his very first figure (though one was planned for Kenner’s Super Powers line before the line ended).  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall (and would be closer to an even 5 if he were standing up straight) and he has 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt for this figure is, predictably, reused from the main line’s version of Flash. Now, if you want to get technical, it’s a Wally West Flash, and Professor Zoom should have Barry’s costume, but the differences are minor enough that it’s not really worth complaining about.  As far as the quality of the sculpt, it’s got all the hallmarks of this line, with the proportions and muscularature being super exaggerated and the whole figure being super pre-posed. Of course, the pre-posing is less of an issue here, since they gave him more of a running pose.  Zoom’s paint is reasonable enough.  It’s a bit brighter than the corresponding Flash was, and the yellow looks a touch goofy with how blindingly bright it is.  Also, the contrast really isn’t there between the eyes and the mask, like it was on the Flash.  Perhaps black eyes might have worked better?  It’s not terrible, though. Reverse Flash included no accessories, but since all the main Flash got was tactical armor, I don’t feel like he’s really missing out.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s this figure that’s the whole reason I even know this character exists. Back when I was much smaller, I saw him on a dealer’s table at a Farpoint.  He was too pricey for me to get at the time, but my dad explained the character to me, and I’ve been intrigued ever since.  It’s taken a while, but I finally found this guy, courtesy of House Of Fun, last November.  He’s pretty simple, but still a lot of fun.

#1704: Grand Moff Tarkin

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

GRAND MOFF TARKIN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

“An ambitious, ruthless proponent of military power, Wilhuff Tarkin became a favorite of Emperor Palpatine and rose rapidly through the Imperial ranks.”

Before the introduction of Emperor Palpatine in Empire, the original man behind the man that was Darth Vader was Wilhuff Tarkin, Grand Moff of the Empire, and really the central antagonist of A New Hope.  Yes, his name is really Wilhuff.  At least it’s better than Sheev, right?  Tarkin hasn’t always been the most prevalent figure when it comes to action figures, but he was fortunate enough to be one of the recent additions to The Black Series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grand Moff Tarkin is figure #63 in the Star Wars: The Black Series line.  He hit alongside the Solo product back in April, and has proved to be the most difficult to find of the set.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  As an Imperial officer, it’s not a huge surprise to find that Tarkin makes use of some of Krenic’s parts, namely the arms and legs.  He gets a unique torso and skirt piece, to denote his slightly differing rank and his lack of a sidearm.  The torso does a good job of capturing Peter Cushing’s more narrow-shouldered build.  He’s also got a new head, of course, which is definitely one of Hasbro’s best offerings from this line.  The likeness of Cushing is spot-on, right down to the slight little sneer he had in all of Tarkin’s scenes.  There are tons of subtle little details, which really help to make this sculpt incredibly lifelike, even more so than a lot of others in this line.  Tarkin makes use of the new face printing technique, just like the rest of his assortment.  Like with the sculpt, I think Tarkin is one of the best iterations of this technique we’ve seen in the line.  Between the sculpt and the paint, there’s a lifelike quality to Tarkin that just about rivals a Hot Toys offering.  The rest of the paint is more basic, but it’s still very clean, which is always a plus.  Tarkin is only packed with one accessory, but boy is it a good one.  He includes the Imperial Interrogation Droid (or, as he’s known to Robot Chicken fans, Dr. Ball, M.D.!).  It’s a pretty sizable piece, and almost counts as a figure in its own right.  It also highlights how lightly packed the Jawa from this same assortment was, but let’s just focus on the awesome that is this figure and his amazing accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tarkin’s been a high-ranking want from this line for a good while, so I was super pumped when he was shown off last year.  The figure was also my main want when all of the Solo product was hitting, though it took me a little bit to finally track him down.  I ended up getting him at the same time as Lando and the Jawa.  He’s absolutely my favorite figure from this line, and he’s going to be very hard to top going forward.  This is a figure that no Star Wars fan should miss out on!

#1703: Jawa

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

JAWA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

“Jawas comb the deserts of Tatooine in search of discarded scrap and wayward mechanicals. Using their cobbled-together weaponry, they can incapacity droids and drag them to their treaded fortress-homes, immense sand-scarred vehicles known as sandcrawlers.”

Though rather simple in execution (they’re literally just children in brown robes), the Jawas are a distinctive part of the the first Star Wars film.  They’re also pretty plot-relevant, moving R2 and 3PO to Owen Lars’ farm, and thereby getting Luke involved in the whole story.  And then they get barbecued.  What a day.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Jawa is figure 61 from Star Wars: The Black Series.  He hit alongside the first assortment of Solo figures, and is a re-pack of the 40th Anniversary Jawa from last year.  That one saw a much more limited release, so seeing it again here is much appreciated.  Unlike most Jawa figures, which come paired with another Jawa or droid, this one returns to the release method of the original vintage figure, being sold all on his lonesome.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  I’m happy to report that, unlike the earlier Yoda figure, the Jawa was not short-changed on the leg articulation.  Of course, the plastic skirt piece kind of removes most of the mobility on those leg joints, but lets not go down that road.  The Jawa’s sculpt is unique, and definitely very strong.  The robes are all plastic, which I think was the appropriate call after the spotty cloth work on figures like Luke and Leia.  The detail work on said robe is exquisite, with tons of texturing all throughout, to really capture the heavy coarseness of the fabric. The head and hood are done as two separate pieces, which is a smart move.  It allows for the head to be fully detailed, or at least as fully detailed as the completely covered head can be.  The two straps running across the figure’s chest are a separate, but non-removable piece.  I was expecting there to be a buckle somewhere on there, because there usually is on pieces, but no luck.  So, if for whatever reason you were hoping to remove that, it’s going require a little finagling.  There’s an Ion Cannon attached to one of the straps via a somewhat lengthy cord.  It can’t be removed either, but it can be holstered on one of the belts.  The paintwork on the Jawa is decent.  Mostly it’s pretty basic, but I do appreciate the slight weathering on the bottom of the robes.  The Jawa includes a second Ion Cannon, this time not connected to the straps.  For versatility, I guess.  Given the smaller stature of the figure, I would have liked maybe a smaller droid or something to be included, or just more accessories in general, but I think this figure’s being slightly held back by the 40th Ann release having less space for such things in the blister, and Hasbro not wanting to add extras here and thus detract from that figure’s value.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the 40th Anniversary figures were hitting last year, I wasn’t in the financial state to be going toy-hunting, so I never found this guy.  When the re-release was announced, I was definitely happy.  I didn’t have luck finding him initially, but ultimately found him on the same Target trip that got me Lando.  The Jawas have long been a favorite of mine, so I’m very pleased to have this figure.