Zombies: everyone’s favorite guilt-free shooting target. In just about every iteration of modern zombie fiction, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before everyone has a gun and is lighting up the undead left and right. The fine people over at Hasbro certainly took notice of this trend when they started the Zombie Strike series of blasters back in 2013, a product line that persists to this day, which is a feat in and of itself. So what laid the groundwork for such a line? That’s what we’ll be looking at today with the Hammershot.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
The Hammershot was one of the very first Zombie Strike blasters, released in 2013 alongside the Sledgefire. The Hammershot is a 5-round revolver style blaster, which, itself is nothing new. What sets the Hammershot apart from other blasters like the Spectre REV-5 or even the Strongarm is its priming mechanism. Instead of a traditional priming slide which would require a second hand to operate, the Hammershot uses, unsurprisingly, a hammer style of prime that can be operated entirely one-handed. If you read my previous review, you’ll know that the premise of effective dual-wieldable blasters is quite alluring to me, so it should come as no surprise that I own a couple of these, thanks in part to my boy Ethan. The outer shell of the blaster is entirely original work and has a lot of really nice layering of plastic which gives it some visual depth. This is also helped by the use of this super cool, very subtle swirly metallic orange plastic which I believe is completely unique to this blaster. There’s some interesting texture work going on too with the faux wood grain and faux cloth wrap on the handle. I was skeptical of the cloth wrap at first because I thought it looked goofy and sort of out of place, but ergonomically it works just fine with no harsh lines or edges. The handle itself is rather long, extending well past the bottom of my hand, but the extra length does provide a nice amount of surface to grip while working the priming hammer with your thumb. As something of a side note, the distribution of weight around the trigger as well as the larger grip make it very easy and entertaining to spin the blaster around your index finger like a gunslinger. In doing so, I’ve managed to fling mine into the floor several times without so much as a scratch, which speaks to the build quality of the blaster. This is probably largely due to the relative simplicity of the internal mechanisms and outer construction. Unlike blasters such as the Spectre, the Hammershot has no barrel or stock attachment points though it does have a single attachment rail along the top of the blaster. The blaster performs admirably with shots flying far and hitting with substantial force. I would recommend it more for outdoor play and advise caution before using it to light up your younger siblings unannounced. The Hammershot comes packaged with 5 Zombie Strike green Elite darts.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
When the Zombie Strike line was first announced, for me, the Hammershot took the back seat as far as my attention goes. There had been more than a handful of revolver blasters over the years and the premise of the shotgun style Sledgefire overshadowed the Hammershot. While it’s true the Sledgefire may be the more mechanically interesting of the two, it’s hard to deny the sheer utility of the Hammershot.
“Blinded as a young boy and imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero ‘Daredevil’”
This past Friday saw the release of The Defenders, Marvel’s big team-up series formed out of their four Netflix TV series.It’s an event several years in the making, so it’s pretty cool to see it finally hit.No doubt in an effort to tie-in with the show’s release, Hasbro has just put out their first series of Marvel Legends based around the four shows.Earlier today, Super Awesome Girlfriend took a look at Punisher from that line, and I’ll be having a look at my personal favorite of the Defenders, Daredevil!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Daredevil is figure 1 in the “Man-Thing Series” of Marvel Legends. The series takes its cues from the “Marvel Knights” banner which has served as the basis of the shows so far.The set’s made up of four show-based figures and two comic-based, with a comic-based Build-A-Figure.Obviously, DD is one of the four show-based.The figure stands a little over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.He’s got an all-new sculpt, based on Matt’s costume from the end of Daredevil Season 1/very beginning of Season 2 (the mask is the giveaway; it’s the original, more angular design).The sculpt is 100% new to this figure, though I wouldn’t be shocked to see a lot of it turn up again in some capacity, should Hasbro decide to do a Season 2 version.The sculpt is, surprisingly, a little bit of a mixed bag for me.Given Hasbro’s recent track record, I was expecting them to knock this one out of the park, but they haven’t quite managed that.As a whole, I’m happy with the work that’s been done.The surface details are all great. The detail work on the costume is awesome; the texturing is top notch, and the details look to have been lifted right from the on-screen costume.It’s the proportions of the figure that throw things off.My biggest issue is with the shoulders, which just seem too far set out from the rest of the body, giving him this odd sort of tortilla chip thing.They just always seem to be sitting slightly the wrong way.The torso’s also a little flat, but my other main issue is with the head.As with the rest of the body, the surface details are great, and he even has a decent resemblance to Charlie Cox…if Charlie Cox were a bit wider than he is in real life.Not heftier, or fatter; just wider.It honestly looks like the head got slightly squished.Which is a shame, because if it were just a little slimmer, it’d be a spot-on sculpt.As far as the paint work goes, DD is pretty decent overall.The Netflix figures have the same printed faces seen with Ragnarok Loki.For Matt, this is really just limited to the lower half of his face.The printing on mine is actually slightly skewed to the left of his face, which makes him look just a tiny bit off.It’s not terrible, but I did notice it upon close examination.On a figure with more proper placement, I’m sure the details look great, though.The rest of the figure is the traditional paint methods, which are fairly cleanly applied.They did miss applying the black details to the front of his mask, around his eyes.It’s not super awful looking (since the design of the cowl means that part of the mask catches shade naturally), but it does make me wonder if they were maybe working from the Season 2 design for the colors?[EDIT: after looking through some images of the costume, it looks like the front of the mask was left unshaded in Season 1, and the black was added at the start of Season 2, making this figure definitively a Season 1 DD]Matt is packed with his signature billy clubs (which are finally a new mold; thank you show accuracy!), as well as a pair of fists, and the head of the BAF Man-Thing.I’m a little surprised by the lack of an extra head, either unmasked or Season 2, but I guess that might have been a bit much for a figure that was 100% new sculpt.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this figure pretty much since I finished Daredevil Season 1 back in 2015.When he was finally announced, I was ecstatic.While still on the look out for the freaking Homecoming Series (which I finally finished finding just yesterday), I ended up finding this guy and Punisher at Power Comics in Myrtle Beach.He’s not perfect.I was a little bummed about that, truth be told.But, over the course of writing this review, I messed around with him some more, and I’m content with him.Of course, now I’m tempted by the DST version coming later this year, to see if that one’s better…
Heyo! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last time, I was trying to review Mass Effect minimates (which I still need to finish, oops…) but I’m going to completely switch gears this time. Today, I’m going to introduce you guys to my gun-toting cinnamon roll Frankie (aka The Punisher)! Warning, throughout this review I will mostly call him Frankie, I know unprofessional –sue me .
THE FIGURE ITSELF
This figure is specifically designed after the character portrayed in the second season of Daredevil on Netflix. He comes in the same series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the build-a-figure Man Thing (who came up with that name???).
Frankie, here, stands at about 6 ½ inches tall with 30 points of articulation. According to Ethan, Frankie’s body is not reused from another figure; in fact, he is completely his own with all new pieces. What’s cool about this figure, and a lot of the newer Marvel Legends, is that some of his features are printed on. In this case, Frankie’s face and the skull on his chest have been printed, not painted, on. This allows for more precise detailing to be made on the figures, for Frankie it means that you can see a nice five-o-clock shadow going on there and a couple of small scars on his nose. I actually really like how Frankie’s face turned out, the detailing is fantastic and they were able to capture his serious, broody, and adorable face really well. The detailing on his chest is pretty cool as well. You can see all the straps and buckles on his bullet-proof vest, they’re not painted on but are part of the chest’s sculpt. The print job on the vest is well done as well; it really does look like paint on a vest, and even includes implied rough texture of the vest’s material and a few drips of running paint. Frankie’s legs have a lot of subtle detail, with wrinkles, pockets, and rough texturing for the pants. I find his boots to be really interesting, while just normal plain combat boots, they were able to make it look like his pants were stuffed into his boots and not look like all one entity. His jacket appears to be removable, but suggest leaving it on because he would look weird without it, especially since his arms are sculpted to be wrinkly like coat sleeves. I also have to say a quick thing about his hands; if you look closely you can see the suggestions of veins and tendons, which is a neat little detailing. The paint on the figure is okay, it’s just black and skin tones. There are a few spots where his hair (mostly at the edge of his bangs is peach instead of black, and at the corners of his jaw his five-o-clock shadow doesn’t completely cover it.
For accessories, Frankie comes with two guns. The first is just your average pistol, painted silver with a textured handle and other small detailing related to that style of gun. The second is some kind of rifle…I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know guns and our gun guy isn’t here to tell me all the cool things about the larger of Frankie’s guns, including what the hell to call it. It’s a cool looking gun that I’m sure is supposed to fire rather rapidly, with a scope, a long, slightly curved magazine clip, and other gun do-hickeys. I’m sorry, I don’t know guns, you’ll have to forgive me or wait for this to be updated later with more (accurate) details on the gun. All I know is that Frankie’s larger gun is black and pretty badass looking.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Frankie came to me while we were packing up our apartment to move elsewhere. I was having a pretty stressful time, and my super sweet boyfriend decided to get me this figure when he saw it to try to help me out some. I fell in love with my gun-toting cinnamon roll after watching his part in Daredevil season two. My (over) enthusiastic love for the Punisher surprised Ethan a lot, especially since I normally don’t care for morally gray characters, but Frankie was just different and stole my heart with his sad brooding and love for lots of bullets. So when Ethan saw that they were making this figure he showed me and I’m sure our neighbors could hear my fangirl-screaming three-floors up, and I wanted one ever since. I love this design of the Punisher and I’m so happy he’s a part of my growing collection of figures! I’m also super excited for his Netflix show, and you can bet your bum I’m gonna watch it with this figure in hand!
If I had to attribute my love for toy blasters to one thing, it’s wanting to recreate my favorite video games in real life, one of the most notable examples being the Halo franchise. These two were brought together a couple years ago when Mattel gained the Halo license for its BoomCo line of blasters. The thing is, while trying to create accurate replicas of the in-game weapons while also fitting them around recycled, but mostly functional mechanics, they ended up being pretty disappointing, not really doing a good job on either front. Cue Hasbro who launched the Alien Menace Nerf line, seemingly as a direct counter to Boomco’s Halo branded products. I’ve already reviewed the Ravager from the series, but today I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s brand new additions, the Voidcaster.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
The Voidcaster was released in 2017 as part of the TRU exclusive Alien Menace line. If you’ve read my review of the Ravager from the same line, you’ll know that one of the blaster’s highlights were the amount of fine detail and texture work put into the shell. The same is true for the Voidcaster which sports faux ray skin, bone, and even crystalline elements throughout it’s uniquely molded shell. Internally, the Voidcaster borrows its primary mechanism from the Snapfire 8 of the Dart Tag line. Unlike most other blasters, the Voidcaster does not require batteries nor does it need to be manually cycled between shots. The large trigger —which takes up almost the entire length of the grip— uses its long pull to push the plunger back, releasing it once the trigger has been compressed fully. Aside from using stored air pressure in a tank, this is the only way I am aware of to achieve a semi-automatic blaster without the need for batteries. The blaster has 4 barrels linked via smart AR. The overall shape of the blaster is reminiscent of the iconic plasma rifle from the Halo series and the 8 dart holders on the bottom portion of the blaster, when fully loaded, resemble design features of the needler from the same games. The blaster feels solid in the hand but it does suffer from a lack of secondary grip points, making one-handed firing practically the only option, however, the semi-auto nature of the blaster means that dual wielding is not a problem. Accuracy is a bit of a weak point for the blaster. By extending the trigger down the front of the grip, compressing the spring is much easier than with a single finger trigger, but it also means the blaster jostles around a fair bit when firing, more so if firing in rapid succession. Because priming the blaster relies on the grip strength of the user, and because it is a toy for children, the spring driving the plunger is not especially strong and as such, power and distance are noticeably sub-par compared to more conventional blasters. This is definitely an indoor blaster and if you can manage to get your hands on two of them, I highly recommend dual wielding for busting into your younger siblings’ rooms and blasting away. The included darts are a little frustrating for someone like me who has to keep blasters with the darts they are meant to use. In this case, given the 4 barrels and 8 dart holders on the blaster, I would have like it to include enough to completely fill all available spaces, but sadly it only comes packaged with 8. Additionally, the previous 2 Alien Menace blasters came with darts that had grey bodies and purple tips. The Voidcaster’s included darts are grey with blue tips and, as of me writing this, are the only ones with this color scheme. Available Alien Menace dart packs only feature purple tips.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was very excited for this blaster since it was announced in Nerf’s pre-Toy Fair press release. Between then and now, though, there had been basically no word on it. I was caught quite off guard when I found it at a TRU in South Carolina, so much so that I bought it then and there without a second thought. It’s a really fun snappy little blaster with some really cool aesthetics, and it’s only enhance by the addition of a second for your other hand.
“A larger version of the standard combat AT-AT, the AT-ACT walker features a dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions. It was deployed at major Imperial construction projects, such as shipyards and sprawling research installations.”
Toy Fans can be a bit stubborn and short-sighted sometimes.There’s this innate inability to see that not every product is aimed at them, and that adult collectors only make up a very small fraction of the target audience of any given mass produced line. This means that there’s whole chunks of product not meant for us in the slightest, or at the very least, items that are designed with kids in mind first and adult collectors second.After going pretty hardcore into the adult collector sphere for a while, Hasbro has shifted their Star Wars product into a more toy-etic form, in an effort to maximize sales and appeal to the new generations of collectors being brought in by the franchise’s newest films.The new product has been an overall success for Hasbro, but some of the more hardcore sections of the fanbase have been less than pleased.There’s been a lot of crying foul, particularly when it comes to the various new vehicles, which have proved quite divisive.One of the most divisive was today’s item, the Rapid Fire Imperial AT-ACT.
THE VEHICLE ITSELF
The AT-ACT is part of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.It was released about a month or so after the first big product launch for Rogue One.As with the two X-Wings and the TIE Fighter, there’s a bit of assembly required when you open up the AT-ACT.The the legs, small blaster stalks for the head, and the cargo bed are packed separately from the main base body and head, and they need to be snapped into place (which takes a fair bit of force, let me tell you).Once fully assembled, the AT-ACT stands 16 inches tall and 12 inches deep.That’s far from accurate scaling for the 3 3/4 inch figures, which was a point of contention for some collectors.It should really be twice the size at least, if not even larger, since the AT-ACT was even larger than the AT-AT.To give a frame of reference, there’s a shot in Rogue One of an X-Wing fighter flying through the open cargo hold of one of these things.At best, you can probably get one of the old Action Fleet X-Wings through there.That being said, at the current size the AT-ACT’s large enough to dwarf just about everything else in a collection, all while keeping it to a manageable size for production and storage purposes.Could it have been larger? Perhaps, but for most people it’s not going to make a huge difference, and this is hardly the first time a Star Wars vehicle has been underscaled for a toyline.The sculpt on the AT-ACT does a decent enough job translating the film design into plastic form.The important details are all there, and it matches aesthetically with the vehicles from Force Awakens and the like.There’s a little bit of cheating in a few spots (such as the slightly larger head relative to the rest of the body) which has been done to maximize playability with the basic figures, but the overall appearance is still fairly close to the source material.When it comes to playability, there are two main spots that you can place the figures.Obviously, there’s a spot in the cockpit for the driver.While the film’s design has spots for two drivers, this one’s just got space for the one.This is in part due to the down-scaling, but also due to offering storage space for the four Nerf darts used by the firing feature, which I’ll touch on in a little bit.The other main spot for figures is in the main body’s removable cargo bed.It’s actually a pretty neat bit; the sides fold down on both sides, revealing a nicely detailed interior, as well as a plethora of footpegs to hold figures in place.There are even spots for the troopers to stow their rifles, which is a cool touch.The bed can be removed and deployed as a cool little base or installation, which also reveals the interior of the AT-ACT proper.There are even more details, as well as two panels that flip up to reveal footwells that can be used for standing space or additional storage.Paint is minimal on the AT-ACT, but not entirely absent; there’s some minor work throughout, and it’s all pretty decently applied.There’s also a sheet of decals to pick up some of the slack, and those work pretty well too.The AT-ACT is packed with three figures (which I’ll look at in just a second) as well as a cannon and a zipline, both of which can be plugged into either the main body of the vehicle or the cargo bed.A major selling point of this set was the two included action features.To make use of the features will require four D batteries.Both play features can be accessed using the various buttons on the AT-ACT’s back, which can be a little difficult to use.Fortunately, the AT-ACT is Bluetooth-enabled.You can download the “Star Wars: Studio FX” app to your phone and use it to control the AT-ACT remotely, which is a lot of fun.Onto the actual features!The first feature is the walking ability, which is pretty decent.It’s slow, and this thing definitely needs to be on a flat, uncarpeted surface to work best, but it’s an amusing feature.There are a number of associated sound effects and such, which help to sell the feature.There’s also a head movement capability worked into this, which is a little difficult to really get working, but nice nonetheless.The second feature is the titular “rapid fire” feature, which replicates the AT-ACT’s blaster capabilities through use of Nerf mechanics.There are four included Elite-style Nerf darts to use, and I find the feature to be generally pretty amusing myself.Don’t take my word for it, though.Here’s a word from the FiQ’s resident Nerf expert, Tim. Quoth Tim:
“With such an extensive history of military manufacturing such as G.I. Joe, Nerf, and Furby, it’s not surprising that the Galactic Empire contracted Hasbro to help develop weapons like the ones seen on the AT-ACT. The dart cannon in the walker’s head is optimized for size, using a greatly miniaturized version of the tried-and-true flywheel mechanisms seen in blasters like the Stryfe. The cannon uses a gravity-fed, 4-round magazine and an electronic pusher to feed the darts into the itty bitty flywheels, producing some rather hilariously flaccid results especially after the ominous revving noise that precedes each shot. Also, just as a fun side note, if we can assume the darts are in scale with the pilot figure, the full size projectiles would be almost 4-1/2 feet long.”
SERGEANT JYN ERSO
The first of the three included figures is the film’s leading lady, Sergeant Jyn Erso.As the main character, I suppose it makes sense to pack her in again, and they were undoubtedly trying to avoid the issues caused by leaving Rey out of the Millennium Falcon from TFA.That being said, I don’t believe Jyn ever actually interacts with an AT-ACT in the film, so her inclusion does seem a little bit out there.The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.She uses the same sculpt as the Jedha variant of Jyn from Series 2 of the main line.Of course, I never got that figure, so this one’s new to me.It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and I think I like this one more than the Eadu version.The likeness to Felicity Jones is definitely improved.The paintwork also appears to be a step-up from the single-carded released.The basic colors are all the same, but the application is a lot sharper, and she’s also got some extra detailing on the legs, indicating she’s been running around on Scarif’s beaches for a bit (not that it happens in the final film, but hey, let’s go with it).It’s a little on the heavy side, but it looks decent enough.Jyn is packed with her blaster, which is painted silver, rather than molded like the single releases, which looks a lot better.
IMPERIAL AT-ACT DRIVER
The AT-ACT isn’t going to get very far without someone to drive it, right?Well, as luck would have it, the second figure included with the AT-ACT is the Imperial AT-ACT Driver.This is easily the most sensible of the three figures included.The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation (though the hips are a bit limited).The larger scale AT-ACT Driver was a total parts re-use, but I don’t think that’s the case here.He’s definitely got some similarities to the basic Shoretrooper, but there are enough subtle differences between the two to illustrate that they aren’t made from the same molds.It’s a little weird that they aren’t the same sculpt, though, because the AT-ACT Driver has some slight inaccuracies to his design that would totally come from sharing parts with the Shoretrooper.Most glaringly, the skirting on his belt; the driver should have the same style of belt as the Hovertank Driver, but instead he’s got the Shoretrooper skirt, just painted the same color as the pants.It’s an odd choice.The other problem with the presence of the skirt is that it impedes the movement on his hips.Normally, I’m not a huge stickler about such things, but given that this figure’s whole purpose is being able to sit in the cockpit of the vehicle he was included with, it’s more than a little annoying.In terms of paint, this guy is fairly decent.Like the larger scale figure, he uses the deco of the AT-ACT Commander, as denoted by the grey on his shoulders.Where the larger figure kept the dark brown and bone white of the Tank Driver, this figure goes for a more straight black and white scheme.It’s not terrible, just different.The figure includes a large blaster rifle, which is the same one included with the two Scarif Troopers.
C2-B5
I can’t say I know much about ol’ C2 here, given its complete lack of presence in the final version of Rogue One.There were a few potential endings floating around, I suppose it’s possible C2 played a role in one of those.Or, perhaps Hasbro just really wanted to put an astromech in this set.It’s Star Wars.It wouldn’t be right if they didn’t get an astromech droid in there somewhere.This figure’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and has 3 points of articulation.C2’s a head-to-toe repaint of the Mission Series R2-D2 (which was re-released for Force Awakens as well).It’s a pretty standard astromech sculpt, so that’s reasonable.It’s a shame it couldn’t have been one of the slightly better articulated R2s, but they’re undoubtedly going for consistency here.Instead of the usual R2 colors, C2 is done up in a more imperial dark grey and silver.Not a bad look, though perhaps not the most exciting color scheme.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was intrigued by this set when the Rogue One product started hitting, but the initial $300 price tag was just too much for me.Rather quickly after the holidays, Target started marking it down to $150.At that price, I was very much tempted, but my finances at the time didn’t really allow me to drop that much on one item.I mentioned it to my parents, but that was kind of the end of it.It disappeared from shelves, and I convinced myself that I hadn’t really needed it that much.Flash forward to my birthday this year, when I unwrapped this.Apparently, mentioning my interest in it to my parents was *not* the end of it.My mom went out the very next day and bought this, and then they hung onto it for six months.This thing got a lot of flak from the fanbase, and perhaps some of it was deserved, but this is a really, really fun toy.I’m definitely very happy to have it!
“Adrian Toomes uses a specialized flying suit to soar through the skies as the Vulture – but when this winged menace threatens justice, it’s up to Spider-Man to swing in and stop him in his flight.”
Didn’t I *just* review a Vulture & Spider-Man two-pack?It’s like Hasbro has a reason to be releasing multiple Spideys and Vultures all of the sudden.I mean, I guess it could be the movie, but I’m not sure.As has become the norm these days, Hasbro’s taking advantage of the hype from this new movie and using it to put out a few comics-based figures in addition to all the movie fare.Today’s focus set is a pair of those figures.Let’s check them out!
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
Vulture and Spider-Man are a Walmart-exclusive two-pack, as part of Hasbro’s 6-inch Marvel Legends.They started hitting not too long before Homecoming’s release.
VULTURE
It’s been twelve years since we got a comics Vulture.Seems like a reasonable waiting period to me.Where the last one was a classic Vulture, this one’s actually based on his Ultimate counterpart (who, if you want to get technical, isn’t Adrian Toomes like the bio says; he’s actually Blackie Drago.Of course, the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon uses this basic design for Toomes as the Vulture, so I guess it’s not totally inaccurate.Also, few enough people know Vulture at all, we probably shouldn’t be throwing a whole second, more obscure character at them.This is a really long parenthetical).The Ultimate costume isn’t that far removed from the classic design, just a bit more armored and sleek, and the wings are different.The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.He’s built on the Pizza Spidey body, with a new head, torso, pelvis, and forearms. The new pieces mesh pretty well with the old, and he replicates Mark Bagely’s artwork for the character very well.The head in particular really gets that Bagley style down.I really enjoy the crazy grin he’s got going on.Sure, he’s a little young for my preferred Vulture, but that’s accurate to the source material, so I’m not going to complain.One thing I will complain about ever so slightly is the wings.Moving past the fact that I’m not super into the Ultimate Vulture styled wings (they just look too much like Archangel’s wings), I’m annoyed that they aren’t at all articulated.They plug into place, and due to the way they attach, they don’t have any sort of movement.It’s kind of boring.I mean, they still look cool, but I just wanted a little more out of them.Vulture’s paint work is pretty solid.It’s very green, but it’s a few shades of nice, metallic green.Everything is nice and sharply applied, and the colors all accent each other well.In addition to the removable wings, this guy also includes an extra, helmeted head, which is based on his appearance from the cartoon.It’s a fun extra, and makes for a cool alternate look.
SPIDER-MAN
Can’t have a Spider-Man multi-pack without another Spider-Man, I suppose.This one’s a slight re-deco of the Ultimate Spider-Man from the Space Venom series.I didn’t get that figure, but I did get Miles, who uses the same sculpt.Miles was a very good figure, and by extension, this guy’s quite good too.He has essentially the same paint work as the Space Venom figure, but with two minor changes.First, the blue has been changed to a bolder, less teal shade.Second, he lacks the stripes of red running down his arms.Why make these changes? Because now, instead of being an Ultimate comics version of Peter, he’s Peter from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.Which means this is actually another Spider-Verse figure.I can get behind that.The figure lacks the unmasked head, right fist, and left thwip hand of his single-release counterpart, which is a bit of a letdown, but he does at least get both open gesture hands.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I saw this set a few times and passed on it.Vulture’s never been super high on my list, and the Ultimate design even less so.Plus, I hardly needed another essentially standard Spider-Man.I ended up grabbing this set because while I was out looking for the Homecoming series, I came across this pair on clearance for a 50% mark-down, at which point I was essentially just paying for the Vulture figure.For that price, it seemed more worth it to me.Vulture’s a decent enough figure overall.I have some minor issues, but he’ll do.Spider-Man’s decent in his own right, but is definitely a “more of the same” sort of deal.I feel like it would have been nice to get a more unique variant, but at least this one gets us another Spider-Verse entry.
In general, I’m a fan of the aesthetic choices that go into most Nerf blasters. By and large they are styled after sci-fi interpretations of regular firearms and that’s cool, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it “pretty.” Today’s blaster is the complete opposite of that. My initial reaction to seeing it was something along the lines of “Wow, that’s a pretty gun.” This blaster is none other than the Lumanate, so let’s take a look.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
The Lumanate was released in 2016 as part of the Rebelle series. Similar to the blasters from last week’s review, the mechanics of this blaster are really nothing new with most features being taken from blasters like the Triad or Messenger from previous years. It uses a front loading, 3-barrel smart AR setup with an inline plunger, keeping everything pretty simple. The real points of distinction for this blaster are the shell, first of all, and the light-up feature that works with the darts specifically provided with the blaster. As you probably figured out, I’m a big fan of the work on the shell of this blaster. It has a lot of really nice flowing lines and smooth surfaces as well as some eye-catching transparent blue accents on the side panel and trigger. Sadly, only one side has the blue panel, leaving the other a plain white which is a little disappointing. Just below the cool blue trigger is a hot pink button which activates the blaster’s light-up feature. Truth be told, this was pretty disappointing too. Initially, I expected the entirety of the transparent blue panel to light up when the button was pressed, but instead, there is a single UV LED in the transparent orange muzzle of the blaster. What this does is it “charges” the special glow-in-the-dark tips of the included darts which is intended to create a kind of tracer effect when fired. It kind of works, kind of. Not really. The tiny LED only exposes about a third of dart tip (not the whole dart, mind you, just the rubber piece at the end) when turned on. It’s one of those features that technically works, but doesn’t add anything practical to the function of the blaster. The light-up feature requires 3 AAA batteries to operate but is not integral to the function of the blaster otherwise. Coming back to the work on the shell, the smooth curved lines make the ergonomics of the Lumanate rather enjoyable. I can see how the hand guard in front of the grip might make holding the blaster cramped and uncomfortable for some people with larger hands, but Rebelle products consistently have smaller grips than those in the N-Strike Elite series, so it’s not surprising here. The size of the grip does lend to the overall very compact feel of the blaster in hand. The Lumanate has an attachment rail on the top of the blaster for accessories. Putting the disappointing light feature aside, the actual blaster works pretty well, especially compared to other Rebelle blasters. Darts travel a decent distance given the blaster’s size and hit with the usual amount of force. This blaster is probably best suited for indoor use because regular darts won’t respond to the UV light, and the 3 that come with the blaster are all you can get without buying a whole new Lumanate. If you don’t mind messing with the color scheme, though, the Glowstrike darts from the Star Wars: Rogue One series of blasters will also glow.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was really excited to pick this blaster up at first but became gradually less enthused when I discovered the extent of the “illumination.” Even still, I was very happy with the overall looks of the blaster and feel of it in the hand. It really reminds me of something the Asari from Mass Effect would have designed, and anything that helps me pretend I’m in Mass Effect is a winner in my book. Honestly, my biggest pet peeve with the blaster is the name. Why they spelled it “Lumanate” as opposed to “Luminate” I guess we’ll never know. I guess if that’s my biggest complaint, though, that tells you my opinion of it. It’s good. I like it.
“After Han Solo was captured by Boba Fett, several attempts were made on Luke Skywalker’s life which threatened the future of the Rebellion. Princess Leia Organa and Chewbacca sought to protect the young Jedi, and traveled to Coruscant to follow up leads surrounding these attempts. They hoped to draw from the extreme intelligence gathering network of the Black Sun, a criminal organization whose operations extended to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Because Coruscant is the homeworld of the Empire- a dangerous place for any member of the Rebel Alliance- Leia disguised herself as the renowned Ubesian bounty hunter Boushh. Boushh’s helmet concealed her entire face while a built-in voxscrambler altered her voice to resemble that of an Ubesian; a false I.D. and code taken from Black Sun completed her disguise and provided a safe level of anonymity. Little did she know that Prince Xizor, Underlord of Black Sun, was behind the murder attempts on Skywalker, and had his sights set on Leia as well.”
Long bio there. How do you follow that, amirite? Um, so, yeah, today’s another Star Wars review. Yaaaay. This time around I’m taking a look at another Princess Leia figure, specifically the one from that time she pretended to be a bounty hunter. Everybody loves bounty hunters!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Leia in Boushh disguise was released not as part of the main Power of the Force II line, but instead as part of the basic assortment of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (she would later see a re-release on a standard PotF2 green card, though). She has the notoriety of being the only movie-based figure in the line-up. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. As with the PotF2 Slave Leia figure, this Leia is a bit on the tall side. This was a recurring issue early into this line; at least they were consistent, right? Leia sports a unique sculpt. It’s fairly decent for the time, being only slightly pre-posed and generally pretty decently proportioned. It captures the look from the movie pretty well, and only makes minor stylistic adjustments. The thermal detonator in her left hand is permanently attached, which removes a little bit of versatility from the figure, but given how integral that piece is to her intro in Jedi, I’m willing to give them a pass. The head doesn’t exactly look like Carrie Fisher, but it also doesn’t look like a chimpanzee, which puts it ahead of most of the Leias of the time. The paintwork on Leia is generally pretty solid. The colors match well enough with what we see on-screen, and the application is all pretty clean. Leia was packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to complete her Boushh look, as well as the usual staff, which according to the packaging is actually a blaster rifle. Who knew? I certainly didn’t.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
This wasn’t my first Leia (that was the monkey-faced ANH version), but this figure has the distinction of being my go-to Leia for most of my childhood. I actually don’t 100% recall where this figure came from. She was probably a gift, likely for my birthday, but that’s really just me making an educated guess. Nevertheless, this was my favorite Leia for a good long while, and is the strongest of the ’90s Leia figures. This figure is pretty much single-handedly responsible for my love of Leia as Boushh.
Check out this review’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!
““Forever a trickster, Loki’s allegiances are often unclear. However, one thing can be said for certain: Loki always looks out for Loki’s best interests.”
Summer’s on it’s way out.So, move over summer blockbusters!It’s time for…the fall blockbusters?We’ve had Guardians Vol. 2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming.Now it’s time for the next Marvel entry, Thor: Ragnarok!After being slightly underwhelmed by The Dark World, I’m hoping that Ragnarok can deliver something a bit more enjoyable.The Dark World had only an incredibly modest offering of toys, but Ragnarok is getting a little more coverage.The first of the product is just starting to hit retail now.Today, I’ll be looking at the trickster god Loki!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Loki is figure 2 in the Ragnarok assortment of Marvel Legends.This is actually the first time Hiddleston Loki’s been given a proper retail release, since the Avengers was only available as a Walmart exclusive, and then was re-released as part of the European version of the Hulkbuster assortment.This one is, obviously, based on his Ragnarok appearance, which seems to have been somewhat influenced by the Lady Loki design of all things, along with a touch of the “Agent of Asgard” look.It’s not a bad look.The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.His sculpt is new to this figure.It has its ups and its downs.By far, the best part is the head sculpt, which has quite a nice likeness of Hiddleston as Loki, slight little sneering grin and all.I also quite like the hands, which are a nice open gesture, thus adding a lot of character when you pose him.I’m a bit iffy on the torso, which seems slightly oddly shaped and kind of rudimentary.Compared to some of the other Legends of late, this feels like a bit of a step down.I’m also not a fan of the floating skirt piece on the waist.I feel like a fixed piece would look better, and be less annoying when posing the figure.Lastly, I don’t care for how the cape attaches.Maybe it’s just my figure, but I found it to be rather difficult to bet both clips properly seated on the shoulders, and even once they’re in place, it doesn’t take much to knock one or the other out of place.It gets a little frustrating.On the plus side of things, the paintwork on Loki is pretty strong.The best work is definitely the face; this is my first experience with the “printing” technique that Hasbro’s started to use on the movie figures.Photos online had me skeptical about the process, but it person it looks really good.The rest of the paint is pretty straight forward stuff.The colors seem to match the movie design, and the application is all pretty sharp.Loki includes his “helmet”, which has been streamlined down to more of a headband with horns attached.It’s a little bulky, but fits on his head pretty well. He also includes the left leg of the series’ Build-A-Figure, Gladiator Hulk.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
This guy snuck up on me.I barely even knew of his existence when I found him at one of my local Targets.I was actually looking for the Homecoming figures, which I still haven’t had any luck finding, when I came across this guy.I was pretty excited to find him (and I’ve already tracked down a duplicate for Super Awesome Girlfriend).Ultimately, he’s a bit of a mixed bag.The torso on this guy is really poorly designed, just all-around, which is a real surprise from Hasbro these days.Still, the good does outweigh the bad on this guy, and the end result is an overall nice figure.He’s not going to be figure of the year, but he’s far from terrible.
With a line of products as vast as Nerf’s, you know every little thing can’t be AAA gold tier amazing. So how do you make the low tier blasters stand out to potential buyers? Often a lower price point to make them more accessible, but you can also add in gimmicks. Given the functional and punctual similarities, I will be reviewing two such blasters today, so let’s take a look at the Glowshot and the Bowstrike.
THE BLASTERS THEMSELVES
The Glowshot and Bowstrike were both released in 2016 as part of the N-Strike line. Both blasters work in essentially the exact same way, omitting their respective gimmicks which I’ll get to later. They are both single-shot barrel-loading blasters which fall into the “in-line jolt” variation of the oft-copied jolt reskins. Not really a whole lot to say about it. It works, it’s simple, that’s about it. Neither blaster is really a great performer, as these were branded for the regular N-Strike line even after the Elite series had been around for a few years. They’re both definitely better suited for indoor use and/or taking pot-shots at your younger siblings. Both blasters come packaged with 3 Elite darts. Now what makes these blasters unique?
GLOWSHOT
Initially, looking at the GS, you may notice that its outer shell is a semi-transparent material (mine is white though a green variant also exists). This is critical for its gimmick which allows the blaster to light up with a few green LEDs inside the shell when the switch on the back of the grip is pressed. Thecolor of the outer shell does not affect the color of the lights, nor is the light-up feature needed to make the blaster shoot. It’s purely aesthetic and requires 2 AA batteries to make it work. The grip on the GS is a little small and my pinky just barely fits onto the handle. The light switch can dig into the webbing of your hand a little but neither of these are surprising nor are they deal-breakers given the price point.
BOWSTRIKE
The BS takes a slightly different approach to its gimmick, which does not require any batteries at all as it is purely mechanical. Like the GS, it’s completely for looks only but is activated upon priming the blaster. When the priming handle is pulled back, the grey “bow” arms and sight pop up. They then lay flat again once the blaster has been fired. The BS also features a much smaller than usual grip with all the same issues as the GS as well as needed a bit more sculpting to accommodate the thumb. As it stands, there’s something of an edge that can become irritating if the blaster is held for any considerable amount of time.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
As with most of my reviews, I like to drive home the point that these toys are still a lot of fun even with their problems. You really have to take the whole picture into account. These aren’t meant to be competition-grade laser guns. They’re goofy little plinkers, and in that regard, I think they do a great job. Plus, I’m always for making Nerf more accessible.
Zombies: everyone’s favorite guilt-free shooting target. In just about every iteration of modern zombie fiction, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before everyone has a gun and is lighting up the undead left and right. The fine people over at Hasbro certainly took notice of this trend when they started the Zombie Strike series of blasters back in 2013, a product line that persists to this day, which is a feat in and of itself. So what laid the groundwork for such a line? That’s what we’ll be looking at today with the Hammershot.
The Hammershot was one of the very first Zombie Strike blasters, released in 2013 alongside the Sledgefire. The Hammershot is a 5-round revolver style blaster, which, itself is nothing new. What sets the Hammershot apart from other blasters like the Spectre REV-5 or even the Strongarm is its priming mechanism. Instead of a traditional priming slide which would require a second hand to operate, the Hammershot uses, unsurprisingly, a hammer style of prime that can be operated entirely one-handed. If you read my previous review, you’ll know that the premise of effective dual-wieldable blasters is quite alluring to me, so it should come as no surprise that I own a couple of these, thanks in part to my boy Ethan. The outer shell of the blaster is entirely original work and has a lot of really nice layering of plastic which gives it some visual depth. This is also helped by the use of this super cool, very subtle swirly metallic orange plastic which I believe is completely unique to this blaster. There’s some interesting texture work going on too with the faux wood grain and faux cloth wrap on the handle. I was skeptical of the cloth wrap at first because I thought it looked goofy and sort of out of place, but ergonomically it works just fine with no harsh lines 
or edges. The handle itself is rather long, extending well past the bottom of my hand, but the extra length does provide a nice amount of surface to grip while working the priming hammer with your thumb. As something of a side note, the distribution of weight around the trigger as well as the larger grip make it very easy and entertaining to spin the blaster around your index finger like a gunslinger. In doing so, I’ve managed to fling mine into the floor several times without so much as a scratch, which speaks to the build quality of the blaster. This is probably largely due to the relative simplicity of the internal mechanisms and outer construction. Unlike blasters such as the Spectre, the Hammershot has no barrel or stock attachment points though it does have a single attachment rail along the top of the blaster. The blaster performs admirably with shots flying far and hitting with substantial force. I would recommend it more for outdoor play and advise caution before using it to light up your younger siblings unannounced. The Hammershot comes packaged with 5 Zombie Strike green Elite darts.
The Figure In Question 