Tag Archives: Hasbro

#1262: Vance Astro – Masters of Mind

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

VANCE ASTRO — MASTERS OF MIND

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With incredible powers of both body and mind, these heroes prepare for any intergalactic mission.”

When the Guardians of the Galaxy first appeared, they weren’t really the team they are now.  Instead, they were kind of Marvel’s answer to the Legion of Superheroes; a team of aliens, each from a different species, living in the year 3000.  The team’s leader was Vance Astro, an astronaut from the 20th Century preserved for 1000 years in order to battle the Badoon.  Theoretically, he’s the same character as New Warrior member Justice, though he’s officially classified as an alternate universe counterpart these days.  Since the Guardians as a whole are a bit more high profile these days, Vance has been lucky enough to get a whole two figures in the last year.  Today, I’ll be looking at the most recent of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vance Astro is figure 3 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s officially named “Masters of Mind,” which is a name he shares with Darkhawk.  It’s far from the worst shared name we’ve gotten.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  Vance is predominately re-used parts (which is likely the biggest reason he found his way into this series, since it’s pretty heavy on new parts).  He’s built on the Reaper body, which, I gotta say, I’m liking less every time it’s used.  It’s not bad, but it really doesn’t hold up when compared to newer bodies such as the Spider-UK body.  I’m also just not sure it’s the right choice for Vance; sure, he’s usually depicted as being slightly larger than average, but I don’t really think of him as being the same build as Wonder Man or Cap.  I feel like Spider-UK would have been the better option here, but maybe that body just showed up too late in the game.  Vance gets a new head sculpt.  It’s definitely on the generic side, which is appropriate for Vance’s design.  I can definitely see this being re-used for some other characters down the line.  I will say that Vance’s head seems to be much better scaled to the body than a lot of the Reaper-scale heads, so that’s good to see.  The rest of Vance’s details are carried out through paintwork.  The overall paintwork is pretty solid.  I really dig the metallic blue; it’s pretty much exactly how I’d expect the character to be depicted in real life, and it looks really cool.  Most of the line work is clean, but there’s a bit of slop.  The insignia on his chest is slightly out of sync with the outline, and, most noticeably, the white section of his left leg comes to a rounded end, in contrast to the pointed end on the right leg.  It’s rather distracting.  Vance includes Captain America’s shield, which is a more than appropriate extra, since he’s been carrying Cap’s shield in the comics for quite some time.  Of course, he uses a different shield mold than the last several Caps (it’s the same as the one used for Red Guardian and Taskmaster, so it’s really the go-to knock-off Cap shield), but it’s the thought that counts.  Maybe the sculpted edges get rounded down 1000 years into the future.  He also includes the left leg of Titus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My fandom of the classic Guardians is largely via my Dad, who’s more of a fan of them then I.  I think I’ve read a handful of their appearances, and I’m a fan of the characters for sure, but they aren’t at the top of my list.  So, while I wanted a Vance at some point, he wasn’t a figure I had to have.  So, when I found both him and Nova at Toys R Us, and could only really afford to grab one, I went for Nova, hoping to come back for Vance later.   Of course, Super Awesome Girlfriend was there with me, and she doesn’t really stand for me putting figures back, so he ended up coming home with me anyway.  Vance isn’t without issues, but he’s still a decent figure overall.  Here’s hoping we can get the rest of the classic team!

#1261: Marvel’s Nova

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

MARVEL’S NOVA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sam Alexander searches the galaxy for his father as the Nova Centurion, Nova.”

Does that bio seem a little redundant to anyone else?  I think it’s the two uses of “Nova” so close together.  Maybe it would flow better if they dropped “the Nova Centurion” all together.  Ah, look at me, critiquing the bio.  As if that actually has any impact on the figure, right?  I’ve actually reviewed five Nova figures on this site already, which is a surprisingly high number, if I’m honest.  I mean, I like Nova and all (mostly due to the closeness in concept to the Green Lanterns), and he makes for some good toys, but five just seems high.  Anyway, here’s another one.  Today’s Nova is the latest Marvel Legends offering of the character, based on the second Earth-based Nova, Sam Alexander.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nova is figure 6 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends.  Unlike Drax and Star-Lord (the last two figures I reviewed from this series), Nova’s not based on the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but is instead comic book-based.  I guess Hasbro just likes putting comic-based Novas into the Guardians assortments.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Sam’s built on the teen male body, which was introduced with the Ultimate Spider-Men figures from the Space Venom Series.  Of course, the Space Venom Series didn’t actually show up around me, so Sam’s the first figure I’ve gotten on this body.  The body feels a lot like the Pizza Spidey body, but scaled down a bit.  It’s a very nice sculpt; he actually looks like a guy in his teens, rather than a shrunken adult, which is a definite plus.  Nova uses the arms, legs, and hands from the base body, with unique pieces for his head, torso, pelvis, and forearms.  The head is made of two separate pieces: one for his helmet, and one for the underlying face.  They handled the Richard Rider Nova the same way, so it’s good for consistency, and it also adds some nice dimension to the sculpt and makes sure the change from helmet to face is appropriately sharp.  Sam was originally drawn by Ed McGuiness, who definitely has his own flair to his art; like with Kamala, Hasbro’s managed to keep some of McGuinness’s influence, while also tweaking Sam to fit in with the rest of the line stylistically.  The rest of the new pieces are all pretty solid work as well, and I really appreciate that Hasbro actually went the sculpted route for most of the costume details, especially when they could have very easily just painted them on.  Speaking of paint, the work on Nova is pretty much on par with Hasbro’s upward trend of paint these days.  There’s still some slight bleed on some of the edges, but overall he’s pretty sharp.  I like the shade of gold used here; it’s nice and metallic, but preserves a lot of the yellow that’s sort of necessary to keep his look consistent with the comics and prevent him from being too drab.  I also appreciate that the dark sections of the costume are actually a very, very dark blue, rather than black.  It’s a minor change, but the artist in me likes that he matches up just a tiny bit more with the Richard Rider figure.  In addition to the usual Build-A-Figure piece (Titus’s torso), Sam has one other extra, which is actually a whole second character.  Yes, he includes The Phlish, who was one of the Supernovas that served alongside Sam’s father Jaime when he was a Nova Corpsman.  Really minor character, but a really fun addition nonetheless.  I only wish he included a flight stand of some sort, as he just leans on Sam’s foot at the moment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sam was one of the figures I knew I wanted from this set pretty much as soon as he was announced.  While I’ve not followed his solo adventures really closely, I’ve loved him as a part of Waid’s Avengers and Champions books, and since Hasbro seems to be releasing the rest of those teams, I knew I needed him.  I ended up finding him at my nearest TRU not long after grabbing Star-Lord and Drax.  He’s simple, but very effective.  Definitely a strong Legends release, and that’s saying something, given that he’s in the same series as that Star-Lord figure.

#1260: Drax

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

DRAX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Drax the Destroyer travels the galaxy seeking revenge against those responsible for his family’s death.”

Going into the first Guardians film, the only of the title characters I was more than passingly familiar with was Drax the Destroyer.  He was a character with a rather complicated backstory, which proved to be more than could be fully covered in the confines of an ensemble cast movie, necessitating some streamlining.  The problem with streamlining a character like Drax is that he can very quickly end up boring and two dimensional if you aren’t careful.  Fortunately, James Gunn and Dave Bautista worked together and created a character that was an immensely enjoyable commentary on the “revenge-driven noble warrior” archetype.  I loved him in the first film, and it looks like I may love him even more if the trailers for Vol 2 are anything to go by.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Drax is part of the first assortment of GotG Vol 2-themed Marvel Legends, also known as the Titus Series.    He’s based on Drax’s appearance in the second film, but it’s worth noting that Drax doesn’t look to have had much change in appearance since the first time around.  The figure is about 6 3/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  Drax’s sculpt is mostly re-used from his prior figure.  Given that he was easily the strongest of the original movie’s sculpts and, as I noted above, that his design really hasn’t changed, this is actually quite a sensible bit of re-use.  Three years later, the sculpt still holds up very nicely, and it’s doesn’t look out of place next to the latest Star-Lord, which is no small feat, let me tell you.  He does at the very least get a new head sculpt.  Where the first Drax’s head was more on the calm side of things, this new head gives us a far more intense Drax, as he would look in the heat of battle.  Honestly, this seems more true to a character whose subtitle is “The Destroyer,” so I’m very glad Hasbro opted for this look.  The head is still fairly consistent with the calmer sculpt, as well, so you can still see that they’re the same guy.  Since the sculpt is largely the same, Drax really relies on paint to help differentiate him.  The biggest change is the color of the pants; the first figure was sporting the red pants he got from the Ravagers, but this figure is sporting the blue ones he picked up from the Nova Corps following the first film’s final battle.  It actually brings him a little more in line with the comics version of this design, so that’s pretty cool.  I also think the blue is just a more flattering look for him, so that’s another plus for me.  There’s also been a slight change in the pigmentation of the skin.  It’s more green here than the last one, which is another welcome change, since I always found that figure to look a bit drab (although, sadly, this means you can’t swap heads between the two).  This time around, the finish on the figure is also a whole lot less shiny, which makes him look just a lot better as a whole.  Drax is packed with the same pair of knives included with the first figure, which are still very nice.  He also includes a rocket launcher (which looks to be the same one he was carrying in the first movie), as well as the left arm of Titus.  I wouldn’t have minded another head (either the calm one or a laughing one) to make up for all the re-used parts, but the launcher’s a nice addition, and he doesn’t feel too light on extras.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite liking the character a lot, I didn’t initially plan on picking up Drax, given just how similar he was to the first release.  I ended up getting him from Super Awesome Girlfriend, who picked him up for me after feeling sorry that I wasn’t having much luck with the Warlock Series.  I gotta say, having him in hand, I feel the purchase was warranted.  He’s very similar to the original, but the small changes they’ve made really add up, and result in a figure that just feels like a step up from his predecessor.

#1257: Black Knight

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

BLACK KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

You know who’s pretty cool?  Black Knight.  He’s one of those characters I just really enjoy.  That’s probably why I own like every action figure version of the character out there.  Of those figures, one of them is a Marvel Legend.  Usually, that’s awesome, but…well, I get to that in a bit.  Without further ado, here’s Black Knight!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Knight was released in Series 3 of Hasbro’s first run on Marvel Legends.  This would mark his second figure ever, and it hit almost an entire decade after his first.  He’s not privy to a ton of figures, I guess.  This figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  The last two Black Knight figures I looked at were both based on Dane’s classic design, but this one opted for one of his more recent designs, which he sported in the back half of the ‘90s.  It’s more armored than he usually is, and it ditches his cape, in favor of a loincloth sort of thing, and also loses the chainmail for a smoother under armor.  I can’t say it’s my preferred look for him, but it keeps most of the important elements of his usual designs, so I guess it’s not an awful choice.  After inheriting a lot of Toy Biz’s un-used sculpts, Black Knight marked one of Hasbro’s earliest in-house efforts for Legends.  It’s definitely a product of its time, there’s no doubt about that.  He’s got a lot of the hallmarks of Hasbro’s earlier work: the slightly less detailed nature, the smaller stature, and the kind of obvious articulation.  Also, on top of the obvious articulation, there’s some serious limitation on most of the joints, especially at the elbows and knees.  It was a serious step down from the double joints of the prior Legends.  The legs in particular seem rather disjointed from the upper body sculpt; they’re not really to scale with the rest of the figure, and the sculpt just doesn’t feel as refined. With all that said, Black Knight’s sculpt actually isn’t bad, especially given how downhill the line went before the Return of ML re-launch.  The proportions of the upper half of the sculpt are actually pretty solid, and the details on the armor and such are fairly sharp.  The paint on Black Knight (and the rest of the early Hasbro Legends) was pretty by the numbers and bland, if I’m honest.  I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, per se.  It’s clean and all, but it lacks any real spark, and just looks rather dull over all.  Dane’s design would have really been helped by some metallics and bolder accent work.  The purely molded shades don’t really do the sculpt justice.  Black Knight was packed with his Ebony Blade and a shield, as well as three of the Build-A-Figure Brood Queen’s legs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Series 3 was first announced, Black Knight was definitely at the top of my list.  Of course, I was hardly the only one.  I ended up finding pretty much every other figure I wanted from this series first, because that’s how these things seem to work out.  I don’t actually remember the exact circumstances of how I got him.  I want to say my Dad got him for me, and I’m pretty sure I got him at the same time as Bucky from the same series.  I was happy to have him at the time, but I always knew he was less than stellar. He kind of marked a turning point for Marvel Legends for me: Series 3 was the last series I really sought out, starting a break from Legends that more or less lasted until 2014’s Infinite Series launch.  He’s not a bad figure, and in fact he’s better than I’d remembered him to be.  Still, he’s rather mediocre.  I’m hopeful that Dreadknight’s presence in the SDCC Raft set might signify a new version’s in the works.

*Well, here was the real review, but this guy got all click-baited for April Fools day 2017.  Read the altered version here.

#1255: Star-Lord

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

STAR-LORD

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Ooga-choka, ooga, ooga”

Wow, I cannot believe it’s been almost three years since the first Guardians of the Galaxy was released.  Of course, I also can’t believe there was a time when the general public didn’t know Groot and Rocket, and when Chris Pratt wasn’t a high profile movie star.  The galaxy’s most unlikely guardians are returning to movie screens this coming May in a film that looks set to at the very least live up to its predecessor, if not surpass it.  Hasbro, seemingly picking up on some of their short-comings with the product for the last few MCU entries, is putting out some of the movie’s product now, so hopefully it’ll still be hanging around when the movie actually hits.  The first assortment of Legends gives us a split of movie and comics characters, and supplies us with half of the film’s titular team.  Today, I’ll be looking at the first figure I grabbed from the set, legendary outlaw Star-Prince Star-Lord! 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Star-Lord was released in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends, which is the first Guardians-themed Legends series of the year.   There’s one more series confirmed, and possibly a third at some point, depending on how generous they’re feeling.  As of late, Hasbro’s been trying to include one figure in each series of Legends that is a stand alone, and thus not necessary to complete that series’s Build-A-Figure.  Star-Lord is that figure for the Titus Series.  He’s a little under 6 1/2 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  The last movie gave us Star-Lord in his long coat, which ended up being a rather short-lived look in the final film.  This figure opts for the short-coated look, which was far more present.  Time will tell which look proves to be the more prominent version in the second film.  While you might assume there would be some parts re-use between the first Star-Lord and this one, this figure is actually 100% a new sculpt.  And what a sculpt it is.  Seriously, and I can’t stress this enough, the pictures don’t do this figure justice.  It’s easily the best sculpt Hasbro has put out in this line, and possibly the best they’ve done in general.  It’s a reeeeeally good sculpt.  The head is a pretty much spot-on recreation of Pratt’s Star-Lord, from the shaping of his facial features, to the slightly unkempt hair and scruffy beard.  I’ve not seen a beard sculpt look this good at this or any other small scale.  The rest of the body is pretty solid too, with super tight detailing on his clothing (the jacket even replicates the real thing’s fine texturing and has a fully defined zipper).  Even the proportions are pretty much perfect.  Okay, the sculpt is good, but Hasbro’s not always known to get the best paintwork on their figures.  That could be this guy’s undoing, right?  Wrong.  The level of detail on the face is nothing short of amazing; you can see the levels of hair on his eyebrows and beard, and even make out his irises in his eyes.  Not to be outdone, the body has all of the important details covered.  The jacket zipper is even painted, unlike on figures from some other companies out there (whose names rhyme with “Shmattell”), and he’s got a fully detailed t-shirt, despite most of it being covered by the jacket.  There’s still some minor slop here and there, but in general the work here is far above what we’ve come to expect from mass market figures.  Star-Lord is packed with his twin Element Guns from the movie, which appear to be the same molds as those from the first figure, but painted a bit better this time.  It takes some work to get them into his hands, but once they’re in he holds them well, and he can also clip them onto his legs.  He also includes his helmeted head, which, like the rest of him is a marked improvement over the one included with the last figure.  Of course, his un-helmeted head is so nice, I can’t see this one getting a ton of use, but it’s still nice to have it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Star-Lord a few weeks back at Target, while searching for the new X-Men Legends.  All they had was him and Drax (well, and the entirety of the first movie Legends assortment, because somebody decided we needed more of those), and I grabbed this guy as something of a consolation prize.  What a consolation prize he was.  This figure is such an immense improvement over his predecessor, it’s not even funny.  I’m not including a comparison of the the two because I’d like the V1 figure to maintain at least some of his dignity.  This is probably the best Legends figure that Hasbro’s ever produced, and is honestly one of the best figures I’ve gotten in recent history.  They’re gonna have to work hard to top this guy.

*Want a Star-Lord of your very own?  This figure is currently in-stock at All Time Toys!  Check it out here.

#1252: Ms. Marvel

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

MS MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

After sorting out their issue of not ever being able to hold onto a character named Captain Marvel by promoting the original Ms. Marvel to Captain, Marvel ran into another problem:  what do they do about the Ms. Marvel name they just vacated?  They kind of need to have a character using that name, lest some distinguished competition steal it out from under them.  While they had solved the first problem by promoting an old character, the Ms. Marvel problem was solved be creating an all-new character entirely.  Enter Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teenager, who also happens to be an Inhuman (though that doesn’t really get brought up much; if she’d been introduced five years prior she would have just been a mutant) who possesses shape shifting abilities.  Not gonna lie, I like shape shifters, so that was a good start.  She hit the ground running with one of Marvel’s better solo books back in 2014, and she’s even made her way into the Avengers and the recently re-launched Champions.  And now, she’s got the very best thing of all: an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel was released in the Sandman Series of Marvel Legends.  It’s either the last 2016 series of Spider-Man Legends or the first 2017 series, depending on how you want to look at it.  The figures started hitting at the tail end of December (which is how I got Spider-UK), but a lot of places are only just starting to see them show up.  Why is Ms. Marvel in a Spider-Man series?  Your guess is as good as mine.  As far as I know, there aren’t any strictly Avengers-themed sets planned for a while, and she certainly fits in better here than with the X-Men or Guardians stuff.  A figure’s a figure; I’m certainly not going to complain.  Her figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Kamala is built not the Spider-Girl body, which is always a good starting point in my opinion, and is a good fit for the character.  She gets a new head, and upper and lower torso pieces, as well as add-ons for her bracelet and scarf.  All of the new pieces are really solid additions; Ms Marvel has a pretty distinctive art style, which kind of informs how the character should look, but can also be tricky when trying to have her fit in with an established line.  You never want to go too artist specific with a line like this, but you also don’t want her to end up too bland and generic.  She walks the line pretty well; she’s clearly taking inspiration from her solo book, but she also feels right at home with the rest of the line.  I sort of wish her face were a little more expressive or goofy, since that’s sort of her character, but I can see why they’d want something slightly more neutral.  It’s a nice sculpt regardless.  My one minor complaint is just an issue with my figure; one of her ankle joints is pretty well stuck, and it’s made keeping her standing quite the difficult task.  Kamala’s paint is nice, bold, and bright, which is definitely appropriate for her.  The gold in particular is a really nice shade, and doesn’t appear to be the sort of gold that will start to degrade over time. Application is mostly pretty sharp, with only some minor slop, mostly around the edge of her sleeves.  Shapeshifting can be a difficult power set to show off in toy form, but Hasbro’s given it their best go.  Kamala includes an alternate pair of foreams, which are enlarged and stretched out.  While they loose the wrist movement, they are otherwise really fun pieces.  This is probably the best way of handling the shapeshifting thing, and I hope they do something similar when they tackle Mr. Fantastic.  In addition to the extra arms, she also includes the torso the the Series’s Build-A-Figure, Sandman.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kamala was definitely at the top of my want list from this series.  I’ve been following her comic since issue 1, and I’ve really enjoyed the character.  I was bummed back in December when I thought I’d missed her figure.  Fortunately, I ended up finding her and the rest of the series at a local K-Mart.  Unfortunately, K-Mart seems to have started hiking up their prices, and were asking for an extra $5 per figure.  Not worth it for the others, but I didn’t mind so much in Kamala’s case.  This is definitely a solid figure, and another win for Hasbro!

#1241: Wedge Antilles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS: COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

When it comes to characters in fiction, I’m sort of odd about my favorites.  Main characters are great and all, but my favorite characters, the ones that really stick with me, tend to be the ones just slightly out of focus.  Most of my favorite Marvel characters aren’t going to be headlining their own movies any time soon, and my all-time favorite DC character is Elongated Man, who 90% of people have probably never heard of.  So, it follows that my favorite character from the original Star Wars Trilogy isn’t one of the mains, but is instead X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles.  In Wedge’s defense, he’s one of the only background characters to show up and have dialogue in all three movies, and he participates in three major battles without dying, which is actually pretty impressive for a generally normal dude.  He’s also been a rather prominent player in the Expanded Universe, which is how he got the figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge Antilles was released as part of the Comic Packs sub-line of Hasbro’s Star Wars: 30th Anniversary line.  He was packaged with Borsk Fey’lya, as well as a copy of Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #35.  They were set 14 in the line.  Wedge stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  Wedge is seen here not in his usual pilot garb from the films, but instead in what appears to be a dress uniform, presumably from Rogue Squadron.  It’s certainly a unique design, even if its not one I’m immediately familiar with.  Wedge uses the legs and hands of the 2007 Training Fatigues Clone Trooper, along with a new head, torso, and arms.  The end result is perhaps not the greatest sculpt that the Star Wars line ever put out, with arms that feel a little over-sized, and a slightly awkward bend to the legs.  That being said, it’s not awful, and is certainly better than some of this figure’s contemporaries.  The likeness presents a decent halfway point between Dennis Lawson and the comic depictions of Wedge, resulting in a pretty good likeness of the character, if maybe not the actor.  Still, if you know who it is, you can see some of Lawson peeking through.  Paint work on Wedge is pretty solid, if not amazing.  The colors match up with what I’ve been able to find of the source material, and he’s a different enough palette of colors to stand out pretty well on the shelf.  Some of the application is a little sloppy, but nothing incredibly bad.  Wedge was packed with a rather basic rebel blaster, which he can hold or stow in his holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve honestly been meaning to buy this figure since it was first released.  I don’t really know the material he’s based on, but I like Wedge, so why not?  I ended up picking him up from Yesterday’s Fun over the holidays.  He was loose, which is why I didn’t also get his pack-mate.  He’s a decent enough figure, and probably the best version of Wedge I own, even if he’s not from the movies.

#1237: Black Queen Jean Grey

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

BLACK QUEEN JEAN GREY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

I’ve spend the last week and a half hunting for the latest X-Men-themed series of Marvel Legends, which means I’m really in the mood to review some X-Men Legends.  Unfortunately, I haven’t exactly had much luck with finding those particular figures, so I’ll have to dig into my back catalogue to make up for it.  So, today I’ll be looking at one of Hasbro’s earlier X-Men figures, Black Queen Jean Grey!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Queen Jean Grey was released as a Toys R Us exclusive, in between the 2nd and 3rd series of Hasbro’s first run with Marvel Legends.  She was one of three such figures that year, and also one of the two of those three to be built on this particular body.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  This version of Jean was mostly created to get an extra use out of the Series 1 Emma Frost mold.  Without getting into it too much, the Emma Frost figure isn’t exactly popular with fans.  Were it not for the Legendary Riders Scarlet Witch, she’d easily be the most hideous Marvel Legends figure ever produced.  The body is oddly lanky in all the wrong places, has incredibly obvious joints and large hands, and just generally looks pretty fragile, not befitting the usual depictions of Emma in the comics.  So, the fact that this figure was built on that body was not particularly a point in its favor.  Also, it’s worth noting that, while Emma’s and Jean’s designs were originally pretty close, the Emma figure from Marvel Legends was based on her Astonishing X-Men design, which was a fair bit different from the design Jean was sporting as Black Queen.  The corset’s too short (and not actually a corset if you look closely), and she’s wearing pants, rather than the tights she had in the comics.  With that said, there are some new pieces that sort of help bridge the gap between designs.  The figure gets a new head sculpt, as well as a slightly tweaked clasp on the cape, to remove the original figure’s X-logo (of course, the one on the waist still remains, but whatever).  The head does a lot, and I mean A LOT, to carry this figure, despite the flaws of the body.  It’s definitely some top notch work, and easily the best work Hasbro put out in their first few years with the license.  It manages to capture the character of the Black Queen incarnation of Jean pretty much spot on, with that incredibly devious look she was sporting for most of her time in the identity.  It’s really good work.  The paint also does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of saving the figure from the body sculpt.  The over abundance of black helps to hide a number of the inaccurate details, as well as masking the joints and making the whole body flow just a bit better.  The paintwork is generally pretty cleanly handled, without too much bleed over or noticeable slop.  He palette is still flat, like a lot of the early Hasbro stuff, but it’s actually okay on this figure.  Jean was packed with a whip accessory, which I misplaced at some point over the years.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this figure when it was brand new, at a Toys R Us that no longer exists.  I can’t even say why I was there, truth be told, since TRU was going through a particularly depressing period where they stocked absolutely nothing anyone was interested in.  At the time, all of my Legends figures were coming from Cosmic Comix, KB Toys, or Walmart.  But, I was in a TRU, and they had this figure, so I got her.  After the Emma Frost and X3 Jean Grey figures, this was the first figure to make it clear that not *every* female figure from Hasbro was going to totally suck.  Despite her questionable origins, this figure is actually pretty great, and shows how much of a difference a simple palette swap can make.

#1235: Ultron

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

ULTRON

MARVEL AVENGERS PLAYMATION (HASBRO)

Hey, look, it’s another Playmation review!  If you don’t know what Playmation is, consult yesterday’s review, which I hope explained the concept well enough.  Anyway, I’ve got another one.  This one’s an Ultron, and I’m pretty much obligated to by Ultron figures, especially when they’re vaguely classic in design.  So, here he is.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultron was another of the later additions to the Marvel Avengers Playmation line.  This guy was a deluxe offering, so he’s a little larger in size than Super Adaptoid and the other basic-sized figures.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has joints at his neck, shoulders, and mid-torso.  No hip movement for this guy, mostly due to both legs being affixed to the base.  Like the Adaptoid, Ultron isn’t really based on one singular design from anywhere in particular.  He’s probably the closest to the design Ultron had in the second season of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which wasn’t too far removed from his classic design.  As is fairly typical at this point, the head, and the antenna in particular, have changed in shape a bit.  Also, he’s got tendrils now because of reasons I guess.  Maybe he was jealous of Brainiac 13?  The general quality of the sculpt is pretty good.  I like the pose quite a bit, even if he did steal it from his son Vision’s first appearance cover.  Nevertheless, it’s appropriately menacing.  Ultron benefits from being mechanical in design, and thereby leaning into the curve of what this line was good at doing.  Some of the details feel a bit on the soft side, but he’s about on par with the rest of there figures in that regard.  The base piece is really the coolest part here, with a greatly battered Captain America shield, and even a little Mjolnir.  It paints a nice picture of Ultron’s assumed defeat of the Avengers.  In terms of paintwork, the base figure is mostly molded in a grey plastic, which is rather drab.  The head is painted silver, in order to help facilitate the light-up head feature exhibited when this guy is used with the game.  A lot of good that does me.  The base is the highlight again, featuring a great bit of weathering on Cap’s Shield.  Very cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna guess where I got Ultron?  I’ll give you a hint, it was the same place where I got yesterday’s figure.  Yeah, I was picking up the Super Adaptoid from Ollie’s and they had this guy there too.  He was like a dollar more, but that’s not really a huge difference.  I’m always happy to see a new (vaguely) classic Ultron figure, so was a cool find.  He’s not the sort of thing I would have grabbed at full price, and he’s little more than a plastic statue, but he looks cool on the shelf.

#1234: Super Adaptoid

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

SUPER ADAPTOID

MARVEL AVENGERS PLAYMATION (HASBRO)

Man, the toys-to-life thing sure imploded fast.  After the success of Skylanders and Amiibo, everyone and their mother wanted in on it.  While Lego’s Dimensions attempt seems to have taken off in much the same way as the first two, Disney’s Infinity was discontinued in fairly short order (despite early success).  Somewhere along the line, Hasbro also tried their hand at the concept, creating their Playmation line, which I think most people were unaware even existed.  It got a handful of the figures out there, but its far more limited scope (they only did Avengers characters) and overlapping with the already failing Disney Infinity meant that never really took off or got any sort of notoriety.  It did manage to offer a few somewhat unique items, including today’s focus, the Super Adaptoid, an Avengers foe that had, up to this point, gone without any action figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Super Adaptoid was released in the second round of basic Marvel Avengers Playmation figures.  The Playmation figures were bigger than most other toys-to-life items, being a just slightly smaller scale than Hasbro’s Marvel Legends and the like.  The Adaptoid stands just shy of 6 inches tall (which, with his slight kneel, means he’s close enough that you can fudge the scale, should you want to display him with your Legends collection).  Another change that Playmation offered was giving the figures some articulation; it’s not a lot, but the Adaptoid can move at the shoulders, neck, mid-torso, and a little bit at the hips.  You’re not going to get a ton of variety in how he can be posed, but it’s enough to make him more than a statue. The Super Adaptoid has had a few looks over they years, with his most prevalent being an all-green amalgamation of Cap, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Wasp, and Thor.  This figure isn’t quite that design, but it’s a slightly modernized take on it, I guess.  It’s sort of like they married his classic design with his design from Avengers Assembled.  It’s not a terrible look, and probably a lot less goofy looking than his original design, while still keeping a lot of the basic traits.  It’s workable, and I certainly prefer it to his last comics appearance design.  The figure’s sculpt is actually pretty cool; a lot of this line’s figures looked sort of odd or strangely inhuman, but for a character like the Adaptoid, it’s not a bad thing.  The various stolen hero details are petty cool, and you can pretty clearly discern what came from whom.  As far as the pose goes, it’s not too extreme a pose, but also not as boring as a simple standing pose.  The legs seem a little odd, but they aren’t terrible, and at least he can stand.  I also appreciate the small little base, which has him standing on the remains of one of the Ultron drones.  It keeps him standing steady and looks cool to boot.  That’s the way to do it.  Now, Hasbro could have taken the easy way out on the paint and just done him in mostly solid green.  However, they didn’t do that; they actually used a nice variety of greens, which keeps the consistency from the comics, while also providing some nice depth to the look. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t pay much attention to Playmation when it was hitting retail, mostly due to owning lots of the characters presented lots of times over, and typically in a superior form.  That being said, I caught this guy’s image on the back of one of the packages and was moderately intrigued.  I even thought about picking him up at full price a few times, but I just never got around to it.  Eventually, I ended up finding a whole bunch of them at Ollie’s.  This guy was like $3, which was good enough for me to finally pick him up.  I’m glad I did.  I still don’t really have any interest in the actual game these guys were attached to, but a cool Super Adaptoid is a cool Super Adaptoid.