Tag Archives: Hasbro

#1609: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS – 12-INCH (HASBRO)

Did you know that wolverines are also known as “quickhatch”?  That’s your fun FiQ fact for the day!  Sorry, the last time I looked at a tiger-stripe Wolverine, I went with this gag, so I’m doing it again.  Aren’t I so clever?

Wolverine hasn’t ever had a true break from Marvel Legends, but he was certainly less of a focus for a few years (being dead might have contributed to that).  But, things seem to be normalizing a bit, and he’s finally re-appearing with fairly regular frequency.  Good for him?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is a 2018 release for the 12-inch Marvel Legends line.  He’s done up in Wolverine’s classic blue and yellow tiger-stripe costume, which actually doesn’t have a Legends release in the scale (since the Toy Biz Icons figure was in his Astonishing costume), so it’s a pleasant choice.  It’s also worth noting that it predates the release of the same design in the regular Legends scale for this iteration of Legends, though that’ll be amended later this year.  The figure stands just shy of 12 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Wolverine is rocking an all-new sculpt, albeit one that is at least a little bit inspired by the smaller scale brown costume Wolverine.  It’s pretty solid overall.  The texture work on his arms, his boots, and his gloves is very impressive, and while the proportions aren’t exactly lifelike, they do match up pretty well with how Logan is usually depicted.  While I like the head sculpt overall (especially the sheer amount of character in the small section of his face we can see), I do feel that the ears of his mask are shaped a little bit oddly.  It’s possible this was caused by some slight warping from the packaging.  Whatever the case, it’s not awful, and it certainly doesn’t ruin the figure.  Interestingly, despite how most figures in this line have been handled, Wolverine’s design is actually unchanged from his comics appearance.  That’s certainly a bold move.  The paint continues this, presenting his costume in all it’s bright, primary colored glory.  It actually works really well with the sculpt, and it’s applied quite nicely.  I particularly like the accent work on the yellow, which helps to prevent it from looking too bland and void of detail.  Wolverine includes an unmasked head and pulled back mask, a set of un-clawed hands, and an extra head and shoulder pads depicting battle damage.  My favorite parts are definitely the damaged bits, as they make for quite a dynamic look for the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wolverine was a gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend, picked up from the GameStop where she works.  They had gotten this guy in, and I expressed a slight interest, which, as we all know, is really all it takes for her to buy me something.  He adds to my ever-growing 12-Inch Marvel Legends collection, and he continues the trend of them being very, very cool figures.  This is definitely one of the best Wolverines out there.

The Blaster In Question #0047: Tennis Ball Blaster

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

BlasterInQuestion1TENNIS BALL BLASTER

NERF DOG

dog1

I’m not dead! I swear! Turns out my sister having a sleepover can be almost as disruptive to Nerf reviews as having my world exploded. Almost. Not only that, but have a bit of a weird one for you this week. It turns out Nerf makes a whole line of dog toys which mainly consist of the standard chewy footballs and lengths of rope, but also, as it turns out, a blaster. My family does own a dog but she’s not really the playing type, but that hardly stopped me from picking one of these up.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

dog2It’s a little hard to track down the relevant information, but it seems like the Nerf Dog Tennis Ball Blaster was released in 2015 as part of the Nerf Dog line. The mechanism seems to be unique to this particular blaster as it doesn’t use the traditional air pressure to launch the projectile, in this case a tennis ball, but rather just uses the power of the spring inside the blaster to kick the ball out directly. There aren’t any fancy gimmicks or controls, you just load the ball in the barrel, pull the top handle back to prime it and then pull the trigger. The outer shell is completely original too, which isn’t surprising given the rather purpose-built nature of the blaster. The overall feel of the blaster is that its built so that even a non-Nerf savvy person couldn’t mess it up too badly. The construction is hefty and solid and the grip has plenty of surface to hold onto. I get the feeling it’s meant to be fired one handed like a pistol because the front end is very wide to accommodate the ammo type, but this means it’s a bit awkward trying to hold it as you would a rifle type blaster. There is a ball holder on the underside of the blaster for storing the tennis ball when not dog3loaded into the barrel. While the ball included is Nerf branded, it is dimensionally the same as a regular tennis ball, so you could use any brand you like. Now, obviously, I can’t tell you to go harass any younger siblings you might have with this blaster. That would actually be abuse. But I can tell you that in the amount of range testing I did, I honestly found the performance pretty disappointing. I’m not athletic, like, at all, but I could easily throw a tennis ball farther than this can launch one. Some of you may be thinking that it’s not meant to be better than a functioning human arm, but it will let people who can’t throw (age, injury, etc.) play with their dog. But then I’d say, if you don’t have the physical faculty to throw a ball by hand, priming back the spring in this blaster is likely to be as much if not more of a challenge. Really, it seems like this blaster is meant for people who like gadgets or are fans of Nerf who also like playing with their dog, that or college kids who want to modify it into a big shotgun for HvZ, but that’s a different story altogether. The Nerf Dog Tennis Ball Blaster comes with an orange and blue Nerf Dog branded tennis ball.

Now, I feel I should take the time to introduce Nerf Dog. Not the product line, the tennis ball. ND will be filling in for Penn for the time being while he’s away on holiday, that is to say, until I figure out where the heck Penn even went. But fear not, for I have it on good authority that ND is exactly the same size and therefore will do a fine job as a stand-in. Who knows, if he does a good job, there might be a more permanent position opening.dog4

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t planning to buy a Nerf blaster when I walked into the local grocery store with my girlfriend. I didn’t even expect to see any aside from the usual array of Jolt reskins. I had seen this blaster online before and thought it looked fun, even if I didn’t have the recommended dog with which to play, but I never bought it until I saw it in person for a substantially reduced price. Most people have impulse grocery purchases like a pack of Oreos or a cake or something. I walked out with an impulse Nerf blaster, because of course I did.

#1607: Han Solo – Cantina

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

HAN SOLO – CANTINA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Inside Mos Eisley’s cantina, Han Solo just negotiated a lucrative deal to transport two men to Alderaan – enough to pay off his debt to crimelord Jabba the Hutt. But it’s too late: bounty hunter Greedo has come to collect – though all the Rodian gets is a shot to the chest from Solo’s blaster.”

Towards the end of their run with Power of the Force II Hasbro officially started putting their name on the line, and also used this as sort of an excuse to circle back around and give us new and improved standard versions of the main characters.  After going a whole year with no Han Solo figures (which seems downright crazy if you ask me), they offered up a brand new figure of him in his classic smuggler’s outfit from A New Hope.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cantina Han Solo was released in the 1999 assortment of Power of the Force II figures.  He was designed specifically to go with a new version of Greedo, and is meant to directly recreate Han from the encounter with Greedo in the Mos Eisley Cantina.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He had knee joints!  You can’t begin to imagine how big a deal that was back in ’99.  It was all so that he could sit at a booth at the cantina.  A non-existent booth, but hey, that’s not the point.  Han’s sculpt is one of the finest the POTF2 line had to offer.  His proportions are actually pretty realistic, he’s slightly pre-posed but not extremely so, and he’s even got a pretty decent Harrison Ford likeness.  The detail work on his clothing, the shirt in particular, is quite impressively handled.  I also really like the posturing of his hands; it adds a lot of life and character to the figure.  Han’s paintwork is all pretty standard fare, but it’s still pretty good.  It’s all pretty cleanly applied, and matches up pretty well with the movie.  Han is packed with his usual blaster (which was notably less over-scaled than prior versions).  Also, as a 1999 release, he was part of the whole CommTech venture, so he comes with a CommTech stand.  I never actually got the reader, but it still works well as a somewhat unique looking stand, so there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember getting this guy with some money I’d gotten for my 7th birthday.  My parents took me out to Toys R Us to use the money, and this guy was amongst the figures I bought.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I just liked him for whatever reason.  To this day, he remains perhaps my favorite Han Solo figure in my collection, and definitely one of my favorite Power of the Force II figures.  He holds up quite well!

#1601: Puss ‘n Boots

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

PUSS ’N BOOTS

SHREK 2 (HASBRO)

“The fairy tale continues as everyone’s favorite ogre faces his greatest challenge of all — the in-laws in Shrek 2.  Shrek and Princess Fiona return from their honeymoon to find an invitation to visit Fiona’s parents, the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Far Far Away.  With Donkey along for the ride, the happy couple ventures off on a whirlwind of new adventures with a host of new fairy tale characters to lampoon along the way.”

Man, remember when the Shrek franchise *wasn’t* totally overplayed?  What a time that was.  Seriously, the summer that Shrek 2 hit theaters, I don’t think any of us could have foreseen the juggernaut on the horizon.  But, in retrospect, perhaps we should have.  The first film, being a somewhat sarcastic twisted fairy tale, was initially aimed at a slightly older audience.  As such, the action figures were produced by the more collector-oriented McFarlane Toys.  For the second go-round, the sights had definitely shifted, and the license was handed to the more kid-friendly Hasbro.  They were actually pretty sensible about it, and gave their best shot at creating a line that was at least somewhat compatible with McFarlane’s stuff, just adding in some of the second film’s newly added characters.  As undoubtedly the breakout hit of the film, Puss ’n Boots was of course amongst those figures released.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Puss ’n Boots was released in the first series of Shrek 2 figures from Hasbro.  He and Dragon were the two shortpacks, at least initially, which did make them hard to find for a bit there.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation.  Yeah, not a lot of mobility there, but to be fair, that was more or less consistent with McFarlane’s offerings.  He’s really only good for the one pose, but it’s a pretty decently chosen one, so that works out alright.  Also, he’s rather on the large side in terms of relative scale with the rest of the figures.  He should really be about half the size.  As far as his sculpt goes, Puss isn’t awful, but he’s definitely a little more anthropomorphized than his animated counterpart.  The “arms” in particular seem to take a much more human shape than they really should have.  His boots also seem a bit downplayed in their scale relative to the rest of the figure.  While they should look clearly oversized, they don’t so much look that way here.  I’d wager this is a symptom of Hasbro having to work from slightly earlier versions of the character model.  Making matters worse, there’s the head, which has been split at the jaw in order to make way for Puss’s “hair ball shooting” action feature.  Unfortunately, I never much found this particular feature to be of much merit, so all it really ends up doing is making his head look kind of weird.  It also causes his torso to be a bit elongated, so as to house the mechanism for the feature.  All-in-all, it was a very odd choice.  Puss included his hat and cape, which were both removable.  My figure lost his cape somewhere along the way.  The hat’s better than you might expect, though.  It’s a little bulky and oversized, but not terribly so, and it manages to say in place in his head pretty securely.  The paint on Puss ’n Boots is actually not awful.  The colors are generally a good match for the animation model, and they even got the proper variations to his fur.  Puss was packed with his sword (seen here), as well as Gingy and the three blind mice (not seen here).  Presumably, all of the various extra characters were there to make up for his slightly diminished size, but, like Puss, the other four are definitely way too large to actually fit with the rest of the figures in the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Puss ’n Boots at a Costco of all places.  My family had a membership there for maybe a year, and we were stopping there in preparation for a road trip we were going on over the summer.  Costco’s toy selection was never much good, but they had like a single case of the Shrek 2 figures, and just so happened to have both of the short packs.  Antonio Banderas’ turn as Puss ’n Boots was my favorite part of the sequel, so I was definitely down for getting him.  And, by nature of when I picked him up, he was one of a small handful of figures that ended up going on the trip with me.  He’s a little worse for wear these days, and perhaps not the greatest figure, but he’s certainly got a bit of a charm about him.

#1600: Snake Eyes

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

SNAKE EYES

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO

“SNAKE EYES served in Long Range Recon Patrols in Southeast Asia. He left the service to study mystic martial arts with the same Ninja family that produced STORM SHADOW. SNAKE EYES was living an ascetic existence alone in the High Sierras with his pet timber wolf when he was recruited for the GI JOE team. He is a qualified expert in all NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms, has a black belt in 12 different fighting systems, and is highly skilled in the use of edged weapons.”

Ah, look at that.  Another hundred reviews.  That means it’s time for—wait, sorry, hadn’t updated the script.  Right.  Hi there dear readers!  Welcome to the Figure in Question’s 1600th review.  Usually on the hundred mark I do a special high-end deluxe review, but I like to mix things up occasionally and space those particular reviews out a bit more as I go along.  So, the deluxe reviews are new going to be every 250 reviews from now on.  So, in honor of this not at all monumental review, I’ll be taking a look at a Snake Eyes figure.  Wooo-eee.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This particular Snake Eyes figure was packed with the Kid Rhino DVD release of the first two mini-series of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero cartoon, which hit in 2003.  It’s the 16th version of the character released, and is actually just a slight re-working of his very first figure.  This figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, he’s the exact same figure as the ToyFare-exclusive Snake Eyes figure from the same year (already reviewed here).  It’s the original Snake Eyes mold, with the version 1.5 swivel arms, and Roadblock’s pelvis piece.  It’s a sculpt that shows its age, but one I still very much like.  The main difference with this figure and that one is coloring (though not paint, as the actual paint applications on these two are identical).  Rather than Snake Eyes’ usual all black palette, this figure is molded in a dark blue, which mimics how he was colored in the cartoon.  Given how this figure was released, it’s certainly a reasonable change, and makes for a somewhat unique looking figure.  Snake Eyes was packed with a pretty decent accessories complement, given his nature as a pack-in.  He included a sword, an Uzi, a pack of explosives, a back pack, and his trusty canine sidekick Timber.  Sadly, I lost Timber at some point, something I still kick myself about.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the DVD set that included this guy as a Christmas present from my parents some years back.  I know I’d seen it somewhere and expressed interest in it, and they took note of this and got it for me.  Of course, I certainly didn’t ask for the set just for the figure included with it.  That would be preposterous, right?  Who would do something like that?  Not me.  Not me at all.  Despite essentially having reviewed this figure before, there’s just something about this particular variant that I really like. 

#1598: Spider-Man – Black Costume

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

SPIDER-MAN — BLACK COSTUME

MARVEL LEGENDS — 12-INCH (HASBRO)

Wasn’t I just talking about wanting to get more of this line?  Have I already run out and done that, just in the last day?  No, dear reader, not quite.  This is just as symptom of the somewhat anachronistic order to how I review my toys.  What does that mean for you guys?  Not a whole lot, really.  It means you get to read my review of a Spider-Man figure.  Woop woooop.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Costume Spider-Man is a summer 2017 release for the larger-scale Marvel Legends line.  He’s the second version of the webhead to grace the line, following the expected standard variant from the first series.  He’s actually the first 12-inch-scale Symbiote Spider-Man to be released under the Legends banner, although Toy Biz did do a pretty fantastic rotocast version back in ’06.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and has 36 points of articulation, matching pretty well with Black Panther in that respect.  For the most part, this figure is a pretty straight repaint on the standard Spidey, which is a rather sensible choice.  The body is effectively and up-scaling of the Pizza Spidey body, but with slightly more nuanced proportions and a bit more range on some of the articulation.  Compared to the last two figures I looked at from this line, he’s rather devoid of texturing and small detail work, but I kind of expect that on a Spider-Man, especially one using this costume.  They still do some nice work with placing a few key wrinkles in the costume here and there, showing that it’s not just painted on his skin.  One small nit I had, however, was the presence of web shooters on the undersides of his wrists.  It’s a remnant from when this sculpt was used for the standard Spidey, but it’s not technically accurate to this particular design.  Very small thing, though.  This version of Spidey gets a new head sculpt, which is quite impressive.  I like that you can clearly make out that there’s a whole face under that mask, not just some amorphous blob.  It’s the nose that really sells it for me.  When it comes to paint, Symbiote Spider-Men can have a tendency to go very simple, or far too detailed.  Very rare is any actual balanced approach.  The question that always arises with this design is “to highlight or not to highlight?”  This figure opts to highlight, a tricky endeavor to be sure.  I’m happy to say it actually paid off pretty well this time around.  The metallic blue they’ve chosen is only subtly different from the black plastic, and it’s thankfully not overused.  Spider-Man is packed with an alternate unmasked head (which is the same as the one included with the standard version, apart from some slight paint variations), as well as three pairs of hands.  It’s a decent selection, but given the standard Spidey came with another head in addition to all of this, it does feel a little light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been eyeing this guy up since he was released, but kept having other things that took precedence over him.  Last month, Target had him marked down to $23.99, which was enough of a discount to get me on-board.  He’s another strong figure, and a definite improvement over the Toy Biz figure I looked at.  He’s not without some slight issues, but I’m overall very happy with him.

#1596: Black Panther

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

BLACK PANTHER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

With Infinity War pushed up a week, we’re quickly moving past Black Panther, but there’s still a ton of cool toy stuff that I want to look at.  While I looked at all of the standard Marvel Legends offerings, there’s one more Legends offering that’s slightly off the beaten path.  I talk, of course, of the 12-inch scale Black Panther.  I haven’t looked at this line since the first series’ Captain America, but I’m jumping back in for Panther!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Panther is the ninth figure in the larger-scale Marvel Legends line.  He’s noteworthy for actually being the very first figure in the line to be movie-based; others have clearly taken inspiration, but this is the first direct adaptation.  Of course, the line has generally done slight tweaks to the characters’ designs to add a little extra detail here and there, and if you do that to Black Panther, you pretty much just get his movie design.  So, he’ll actually fit in pretty well with the others, is what I’m getting at.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  In a lot of ways, this figure’s just a scale-up of the Okoye Series Panther.  Obviously it’s not the same sculpt, since the articulation scheme is slightly different, but it’s certainly similar.  That being said, the additional texturing and slightly more natural proportions make for a figure that I enjoy quite a bit more than his smaller counterpart.  Seriously, the 6-inch figure was fine and all, but oh boy does this figure blow that out of the water.  The layering and the texturing, especially to the levels of his mask, is truly impressive.  I really dig that the eyes are a separate piece; it makes the mask actually look like a mask, which is a rarity on this sort of figure.  Panther’s paintwork is generally fairly straight forward, blacks and silvers.  There are two different finishes to the black, which breaks up the monotony of the color a bit, and the silver is bright and clean.  Panther is packed with an extra unmasked head, three pairs of hands, and a short blade.  The unmasked head is a decent enough likeness of Chadwick Boseman; not perfect, but certainly not terrible.  The paint could be a little cleaner, but the overall appearance is pretty solid.  And, best of all, the head actually sits properly on the body this time, in nice contrast to the smaller figure.  The hands come in fists, claw bearing, and gripping.  They all swap out pretty easily, and make for a nice variety when posing the figure.  The blade is pretty cool, but I don’t actually recall him using it in the film.  Fun piece nonetheless, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was actually pretty impressed by the Captain America figure, but for a multitude of reasons (cost of the figures being high on the list), I never got around to picking up any others.  I saw this guy in the store a number of times and really liked the look of him.  The week after the film’s release, Target was running a 20% off sale on all Black Panther toys, so I took advantage of that to get this guy.  I’m very glad I did because he’s the best Black Panther figure out there right now!

The Blaster In Question #0046: Dauntless

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

BlasterInQuestion1

DAUNTLESS

REBELLE (CHARMED)

dauntless1For those who are familiar with the typical catalog of Nerf blasters over the years, it’s clear that they aren’t strangers to the idea of repackaging old ideas. Oftentimes this becomes pretty tiresome after seeing the same design rehashed with countless iterations (I’m looking at you, Jolt), but every so often, the redesign is significant enough that it warrants buying the new blaster. This week’s case in point is the Rebelle Dauntless pistol. Let’s see what makes this blaster so special.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

dauntless2The Dauntless was released in 2015 as part of the Charmed set of Rebelle blasters. It uses a 3-shot inline smart AR system, just like the Lumanate or Messenger blasters, also from the Rebelle line. Nothing new with the mechanics of the blaster, but what really stands out is the design. Using a lot of the same elements as the Fair Fortune Crossbow, the Dauntless has a slightly regal but also vaguely piratical feel to it. The profile is definitely evocative of an old flintlock, albeit far more streamlined. The gold filigree pattern on the side lends itself to the highly decorative nature of the blaster and is echoed in the truss along the underside of the barrel. This truss also contains a hook by which you can attach the included charm bracelet, connecting the other end to the butt of the grip. I raved just a little bit in my review of the Fair Fortune Crossbow about how much I dauntless4enjoyed the inclusion of the charm bracelet and the same is true here. While it’s far too small for adult wrists, it is a satisfying little accessory to have hanging from the blaster. Paired with the décor of the blaster itself, when combined, the full kit feels like it was pulled right out of one of the Bayonetta games. I’ve not seen it, but I really hope someone else noticed this and made a pair of heels out of a couple Dauntlesses. While the aesthetics are certainly very strong, ergonomics take a bit of a hit. The grip is quite wide and the way it curves forward, while very elegant looking, makes it rather hard to get a firm grip. It’s also pretty short for a pistol grip which isn’t unheard of, especially in Rebelle blasters, but it does raise another issue. In order to try and get better purchase on the grip, I tend to place my hand further up toward the rear of the blaster. The problem is that there’s no scoop or beavertail to catch the webbing of your hand between your thumb and forefinger, so it’s pretty easy to get pinched if your skin is in contact with the priming bar when you fire the blaster. There are sights along the top of the blaster, I guess to make you think it’ll help with aim. As much as sights can ever be useful on a Nerf blaster, these ones are especially no good as the Dauntless doesn’t have the same power that many other Nerf blasters have. It’s certainly usable, but shots definitely hit softer and don’t travel as far. You do feel pretty cool looking down the sights at your younger dauntless3sibling after you’ve just burst into their room announcing that ye be takin’ none o’ them landlubbers as prisoners, rather ye be here to demand this week’s allowance. So I suppose there’s that. The Dauntless comes packaged with 3 of the collectible Rebelle darts and the charm bracelet in an old bronze kind of finish.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After initially buying the Fair Fortune Crossbow, I was pretty much sold on the Charmed series of blasters. Not long after that, I found the Dauntless at a local Target. It may not be the most effective blaster out there, but as a prop for playing pretend that actually shoots, I’d say it’s way ahead of the other blasters on the market.

 

#1592: X-23

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

X-23

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A female Wolverine clone, X-23 slashes out uncontrollably when exposed to a deadly ‘trigger scent.’”

I have an extensive enough knowledge of the Marvel universe that these days it’s unlikely for Hasbro to stump me with one of their line-up choices.  That hasn’t always been the case, though, and especially during the Toy Biz days, there were a few times where the announcement of a Marvel Legend was my first introduction to the character depicted.  Perhaps the most extreme case of this was X-23, who joined the line in Toy Biz’s twelfth series, to the chagrin of most of the fanbase, myself included.  She was, at the time, a rather untested character, but Laura’s stuck around over the years and now that she’s gotten her latest Legends release, she seams to be living more up to that Legend-ary status.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

X-23 is part of the Sasquatch Series of Marvel Legends, which is a series loosely themed around Deadpool.  As with Deathlok yesterday, X-23’s ties to Deadpool are somewhat tenuous.  They were both on the covert-ops incarnation of X-Force, but not actually at the same time.  But, as counterpoints for Wolverine, it’s not like the two have never interacted.  This is only the second time X-23’s gotten a Legends release, following her Toy Biz variant from all the way back in 2006, meaning this is the first Legends X-23 we’ve ever gotten from Hasbro.  That genuinely surprises me, given how many Wolverine and X-Force-themed assortments we’ve gotten over the years.  This X-23 is based on her X-Force costume, which is a decent enough choice.  For one, Hasbro’s released a lot of the other members of the team in their matching costumes, and as her first proper costume, it certainly got a lot of recognition.  I’d say only her Wolverine costume even comes close to this one in terms of definitiveness.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Spider-Girl body, with a new head, hands, and boots, as well as an add-on belt piece.  The Spider-Girl body is one I’ve always liked; it’s well-proportioned and moves really nicely.  Definitely a good starting point for any figure.  The new pieces are all really top-notch as well.  Her head is definitely the star piece here, sporting a teeth-bared, grimacing visage that much more fits the character than Toy Biz’s expression of boredom form their X-23.  The hair is done in a dynamic fashion, which doesn’t always work (Hasbro’s own Ultimate Spider-Woman figure is a good example of it holding back an otherwise pretty great figure), but I think it looks really good here, especially in conjunction with the expression on the face.  I also appreciate that it’s sculpted in such a way as to impede neck movement as little as possible.  X-23’s new boots are definitely a lot of fun as well; all those buckles make for some intriguing detail work, and there’s just a nice uniqueness that’s added to the figure by these boots.  The hands work in pretty much the same way as the most recent Wolverines, which is to say they continue the trend of being much better than earlier Wolverine claws.  The belt is a decent enough piece, but I definitely wish it were a little less free-floating.  In terms of paint, X-23 is another solid figure.  The application is all very clean and crisp, and the contrast between the black and grey looks quite nice.  While the color scheme is definitely monochromatic, I admire that Hasbro kept her from looking too washed out.  Perhaps the only downside to this figure is the lack of any real accessories.  She comes with the torso of Sasquatch, but that’s it.  No extra hands without the claws, no extra feet *with* claws, and not even an unmasked head.  Surely there was something they could have thrown in there?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t intend to buy X-23.  She’s never been a character I’ve had a ton of interest in, and I don’t have any of the other black and grey X-Force members.  So, why do I have her?  When I found Deathlok, Toys R Us was running a “Buy one, get one 50% off” sale.  The only new Legends they had were the Sasquatch series, and they only had half of them at that.  Ultimately, it came down to either Paladin or X-23 at half price, and X-23 just looked to be the better of the two figures.  She’s a pleasant surprise, to be sure.  I went in expecting nothing, and I got a downright cool figure.  Hasbro definitely put in the effort on this one, and, apart from the slight issue with the lack of accessories, this is a top-notch offering.

#1591: Deathlok

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

DEATHLOK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Reanimated into super-powered dominance, Deathlok is a cyborg hero bent on demolition.”

Hey, how about something new and different?  Like Marvel Legends.  I hardly ever review those, riiiiiiight?  Frequency of reviews of Marvel Legends aside, there’s no denying that this line is a force to be reckoned with at retail.  Hasbro had a whole slew of new Legends for this upcoming year to show off at Toy Fair, and even before that, they have no less than four series of figures showing up at retail this month.  I’ve already completed my Okoye Series, but of course, the next three are just out there waiting for me.  Today, I’ll be looking at Deathlok!  He’s the death-lock-iest cyborg around!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deathlok is figure 6 in the Sasquatch Series of Marvel Legends.  This assortment is supposedly Deadpool-themed (in an effort to tie-in with the movie), but Deathlok is definitely the figure in the set that is the least Deadpool-y.  I mean, they both have that “death” thing going on, and they were both on the X-Force at the same time (I think), but it’s definitely a loose connection.  I’m not really going to complain, though, if it gets me a Deathlok.  This is actually Deathlok’s second time as a Marvel Legend; he first showed up in Series 9 of Toy Biz’s run on the line.  It’s been a good long while since that figure, so I’d say the update was much needed.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  There have been several incarnations of Deathlok over the years, with a few varying looks.  This figure goes with the most classic Deathlok appearance, meaning he’s either Luther Manning (Deathlok I) or Michael Collins (Deathlok III). Given the size of his build, I’m gonna guess it’s Collins, but it could really be either in a pinch.  Deathlok’s sculpt is all-new, which rather surprised me.  Obviously, I expected the cybernetics to be new, but the costumed parts also being unique was certainly unexpected.  I’m definitely not complaining.  Deathlok’s sculpt is definitely top-notch.  His decaying visage is well depicted, and I quite like the slight folds and wrinkles on the torso.  They add a nice bit of character.  In terms of paint, Deathlok is pretty solid.  The base work is all pretty cleanly applied, apart from one or two small areas of slop.  I appreciate the use of drybrushing on the head to bring out some of the details; the smaller Deathlok didn’t get that, and he looked slightly doughy.  This one definitely looks a lot better.  Deathlok is packed with two different guns: a smaller pistol, and a mini gun.  The mini gun is particularly fun, sporting a removable ammo belt and a rotating barrel.  The figure also includes the left arm of the Build-A-Figure Sasquatch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Admittedly, I wasn’t really sure I’d be picking up any of this particular assortment, what with all the other sets that are hitting at the same time and my only moderate interest in things pertaining to Deadpool.  However, I was always pretty sure I wanted a Deathlok.  So, when I came across the series at Toys R Us, this guy was the first one I grabbed.  He’s a cool character with a cool design, and this figure does a really great job of translating him into plastic.

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