Tag Archives: Hasbro

#1081: Poe Dameron & First Order Snowtrooper Officer

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

POE DAMERON & FIRST ORDER SNOWTROOPER OFFICER

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE (HASBRO)

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Last Friday was Rogue Friday, Hasbro’s second attempt at the whole “Force Friday” thing they tried last year.  It marked the official launch of all of the Rogue One-related products.  However, in light of the fiasco that was last year’s Force Friday event, most stores decided to forego the midnight opening event, with only Toys R Us participating.  Super Awesome Girlfriend and I headed over to the closest TRU last Thursday night, and I picked up an assortment of Rogue One products.  Today I’ll be looking that the first of the bunch, Poe Dameron and the First Order Snowtrooper Officer.  Why are Poe and a First Order Snowtrooper in the Rogue One line?  Well, it’s because it’s been a well-kept secret of Rogue One actually involves the Snowtrooper Officer being sent back in time to kill Jyn Erso and prevent the birth of Resistance fighter Rey.  The only hope of stopping him was the Resistance’s own Poe Dameron, sent back to protect her.

Wait. Sorry, that’s actually the plot of Terminator.  My mistake.  Right.  Yeah, Poe and the Snowtrooper are just here because TFA product is still being released under the Rogue One banner, as is the case with most new Star Wars lines!  I doubt Poe’s really going to be in the movie.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Poe and the Snowtrooper Officer are one of the three 2-packs in the first Battle-Packs assortment in the Rogue One line.  Each line has one or two Force Awakens products peppered in and these two are that portion of the Battle-Packs.

POE DAMERON

snowtrooperpoe2I kinda love Poe Dameron.  He’s easily my favorite part of TFA.  So, I was pretty happy to see another Poe pop up with all the new figures.  Of the three new main characters, Poe ended up with the most distinct looks.  So far, we’ve gotten his jacketed look from the beginning of the film and his pilot look from later.  The only one missing is his dress uniform from the very end of the film, which is the look this figure replicates.  It’s admittedly a somewhat obscure look, since it’s really only seen in the one shot, but it’s cool to get it nonetheless.  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and he has the basic 5-points of articulation that everyone should be accustomed to with these new Star Wars figures.  Poe gets an all-new sculpt.  That means we get yet another attempt at Oscar Isaac’s likeness for the head.  It’s still not perfect, but I think this is the best version we’ve gotten from Hasbro yet.  The rest of the body does a good job of snowtrooperpoe5translating the uniform we see on screen into action figure form, at least from the few reference shots I’ve been able to find (seriously, this is a short-lived look).  One thing I do really like is that, even with it being a totally new sculpt, the pants and boots here are clearly the same ones on the jacketed figure.  That’s consistency!  The paint on this guy is alright, but not without issue.  Sadly, most of those issues are on the head (again), mostly dealing with the hairline (again).  It’s far from the worst paint I’ve seen from Hasbro, but it could definitely be better. On the plus side, at least he’s not as pale as some of the prior Poe figures!  The paint on the body is pretty solid, as well, which is good.  Poe includes a blaster pistol (the same as the one that came with his X-Wing pilot figure).  He is also the figure in this set who gets the big honking missile launcher.  Because Hasbro.

FIRST ORDER SNOWTROOPER OFFICER

snowtrooperpoe3Befitting the “VS” nature of the new two-packs, Poe’s pack-mate is a First Order Snowtrooper Officer.  He’s pretty much the same figure as the First Order Snowtrooper (reviewed here), but with an added shoulder pauldron.  That means he’s still about 4 inches tall and has those same 5 points of articulation as everyone else.  The Snowtrooper wasn’t a bad figure, but I’ve never been super into the Snowtroopers in general, so getting yet another isn’t exactly blowing my mind.  Seeing as Poe’s a pilot, wouldn’t a Tie Pilot be more appropriate?  I don’t know.  This guy has the same accessories as his predecessor, a blaster with an extended stock and a back pack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as noted in the intro, these guys came from Toys R Us’s midnight event for Rogue Friday.  Last year’s event was kind of a bust, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect this time around, and only even decided to participate a day or so in advance.  Super Awesome Girlfriend and I showed up at the closest TRU at about 11:30 last Thursday night, and we were only the third people in line.  I had a very pleasant conversation with the two guys in front of me (both older fans who were amused that someone my age was out for such an event).  At 12:01, the doors opened, I made my way to the action figure aisle, and picked up most of the figures I wanted, this set included.  I even got a free t-shirt!  A hugely improved experience over last year.

As far as the actual figures?  Well, the Snowtrooper’s kind of blah, but I like the new Poe figure a lot.  He might actually be my favorite of the smaller Poe’s we’ve gotten, even if he is in his briefly seen outfit from the end.  Silver lining: now my TFA Leia isn’t all lonely in her final scene outfit!

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#1077: Deadpool

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

DEADPOOL

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Just a few weeks ago, I took a look at most of the latest set of X-Men-themed Marvel Legends.  I got all of the figures necessary to complete the build-a-figure, but there was still one more figure I didn’t have at the time, so he didn’t get reviewed.  But now I’ve got the figure, so why not give it a review?

It’s worth noting that I run hot and cold with Deadpool.  I was never really into him in the ‘90s, since he was still sort of being formed at the time.  I had a few of his figures from the old X-Force line, and they were cool and all.  I was actually pretty into the character around the time of Ultimate Alliance (where he was one of my favorite characters to play), and picked up a couple of his comic book runs over the years. Then he sort of did the Wolverine thing and became really really popular really really fast, and certain parts of the character got more exaggerated, and they happened to be the parts I was a little less fond of.  But, you can’t deny he’s a popular guy, and his latest Legend seems somewhat over due.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

deadpoolhas3Deadpool is the last figure in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. He’s the only figure in the set not to include a piece of the unstoppable guy, which was probably a good idea, since it allows Deadpool fans to buy just the one figure without getting the random piece and it allows fans wanting to complete Juggernaut to not have to worry about tracking down what is undoubtedly the most popular figure in the series.  Deadpool has sported more or less the same design for most of his 25-year career, but there have been a number of minor changes here and there over the years.  This figure is based on the character’s most recent Marvel Now! look.  It’s a pretty good design, offering fans without prior Deadpool figures a basic Deadpool, while also offering something new for the older collectors.  The figure is 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 deadpoolhas4points of articulation.  Wade is built on the Bucky Cap body, which is a good fit for him.  He has a unique head, forearms, hands, shins and feet, as well as add-ons for his harness, belt, and thigh holster.  The new pieces blend well with the base body, and they offer a lot of really fun character-specific elements, from the slightly askew eyes, to the pinky-out trigger finger.  Clearly a lot of fun was had sculpting this guy.  Though he’s built on one of the most common base-bodies in the Hasbro stock, he actually feels incredibly unique.  Deadpool’s paintwork is pretty standard Legends faire, but it’s worth noting that, like the rest of this series, the application is a lot cleaner than some of Hasbro’s prior attempts.  Hands down, the best thing about this figure is the accessory selection.  Since he doesn’t have a B-a-F piece, Hasbro’s made sure to pack him with a full arsenal, which includes two pistols, a large machine gun, a smaller machine gun, two katanas, a knife, and a rocket launcher (with a boxing glove at the end, because why not).  He also includes an extra unmasked head, and most amusingly, a taco.  Combine that with Spider-Man’s pizza, and the Legends are starting to get some nice food options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had sort of resigned not to find this guy, since he was the most sought after figure in an already very sought after set of figures, and I didn’t need him to finish Juggernaut.  After finding Rogue and writing all of the reviews, I figured I was done with this series.  A couple days after the Juggernaut review went live, I was moving into my new apartment, and my parents had stopped by a nearby Walmart to pick up a few necessities.  When they arrived at the apartment, this guy was also in the bag, which was a nice pleasant surprise.  Despite my mixed feelings about the current state of the character, this is a really awesome figure, and caps off what is perhaps the best series of Hasbro’s run with Legends, if not the best series of Legends period.

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#1075: Grand Slam

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

GRAND SLAM

G.I. JOE: SIGMA 6

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GI Joe as a franchise has always been subject to change.  Despite being the creators of the action figure market, Hasbro has spent the better part of their 50+ years with the franchise playing catch-up to the rest of the industry.  In the early 00s, anime was hitting pretty big with the hip kids in the US, and Hasbro tried to cash in on that fad via Sigma 6, an anime-styled retooling of the Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  Though the line initially started out rather focused on a small selection of characters, towards its end, many of the old mainstays from the ‘80s line were added to expand the line-up a bit.  One such character was Grand Slam, one of the earliest Joes in the ‘80s line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

grandslam2Grand Slam was released in the first 2007 Commando wave of GI Joe: Sigma 6.  Though the figures up to this point had been based on the corresponding Sigma 6 cartoon, Grand Slam was a design totally original to the toy line (it’s possible he was set to appear later in the cartoon, prior to its cancellation).  The figure is about 8 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Grand Slam was deliberately introduced into the line with the intent of re-using the already existing Heavy Duty molds, so the fact that he uses a lot of HD’s parts isn’t a huge surprise.  He uses the torso, arms, hands, and boots from HD. Those parts were cool the first time around, and they were still cool here, if rather on the stylized side.  The flip-up comm link still remains one of my favorite features from this line.  Grand Slam also gets his own head and leg sculpts. The head is, obviously, there to make it clear he’s a new character (though that would become less and less common on new characters as the line continued).  It’s somewhat generic, but works reasonably well for Grad Slam, and it’s well-fitted to the body.  The legs are the result of a change in style as the line progressed.  Initially figures made use of cloth parts for things like coats, vests, and even pants.  By the time Grand Slam came along, Hasbro had started aiming for more conventional action figure sculpts, so Grand Slam’s pants are sculpted rather than tailored.  This does the figure a lot of favors, in my opinion.  Not only does it differentiate him a bit more from HD, but it also allows his look to be a bit more consistent, stylistically.  Plus, they’ve got a lot of really great detail worked into them, which adds a bit more character to what could be an otherwise rather generic figure.    The paintwork on this guy is fairly decent, if not anything particularly outstanding.  By this point, the line had mostly given up on the wacky bright colors, so Grand Slam sticks to mostly drab greens and browns.  It’s not thrilling, but it’s still rather appealing.  As a Commando figure, Grand Slam originally included a whole bunch of extras, the only of which I actually have is his set of metal dog tags.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was initially very excited by the change to Sigma 6, but fairly quickly lost interest because of how difficult it was to find many of the figures.  Grand Slam was released a good ways after I’d stopped collecting the line, so I didn’t get him at retail.  I actually found him just a couple of months ago at the 2nd Avenue near where I live.  He was only a few bucks and was just laying there sans accessories, so I figured why not? He’s a pretty cool figure, actually, and I’m glad I picked him up.  He actually did a bit to reinvigorate my interest in my Sigma 6 figures.  Which may not be the best thing…

#1070: Sam Wilson – Captain America, Vision, & Kate Bishop – Hawkeye

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

SAM WILSON – CAPTAIN AMERICA, VISION, & KATE BISHOP – HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Wow, Hasbro sure is swamping us with Marvel Legends, aren’t they?  After a fair delay, the Giant-Man Series finally hit just about everywhere, very closely trailed by the Juggernaut Series.  The Abomination and Dr Strange series are also starting to hit in some areas as well. On top of that, there have been a number of exclusive items, with Walgreens getting two figures right on top of each other, and Walmart getting a pair of exclusives (that I still need to find).  There have also been two boxed sets: the Civil War Spider-Man set (which had a movie Spidey alongside re-decoed versions of Cap and Iron Man), and a set containing Sam Wilson as Cap, Kate Bishop as Hawkeye, and Vision…as Vision!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This trio is exclusive to Toys R Us and is loosely themed around looks from the post-Axis Marvel Now! stuff.  Sam and Kate both follow a firm legacy heroes theme, which kind of makes Vision stick out a bit.  Of course, flip-side, Sam and Vision are both part of the main Avengers line-up, and Kate isn’t.  So, exactly who’s left out is really up to you.

SAM WILSON – CAPTAIN AMERICA

falccapviskateguy5We’ve gotten him in both Minimate and 3 3/4-inch form, so it was about time we got a FalCap Marvel Legend.  Bonus points for being the first Sam Wilson Legend since the Toy Biz run!  The figure is about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he shares several pieces with 2014’s Marvel Now! Cap figure.  He has the arms, legs, and pelvis from that figure, along with an all-new head, torso, belt, and shoulders.  The Now! Cap parts aren’t a perfect match for FalCap’s design, but they’re close enough to work without too much trouble.  The new pieces match up well with the older parts, and are pretty decent sculpts on their own terms as well.  I wasn’t 100% sold on the head sculpt at first glance (as with so many of Hasbro’s Cap sculpts, I think it looks a little too mean for the character), but after having it in hand, I actually don’t mind it.  His hair seems a little closer cropped than his usual comics appearance, but it’s not like it’s completely wrong or anything.  All in all, it’s one of those sculpts that has some minor flaws here and there, but looks a lot better as a whole, which is what really matters.  The paintwork on FalCap is pretty solid. The shades on the colors are a bit more subdued than those on Now! Cap, which is fair, since he was probably a little too bright.  These colors look about right for Sam’s comics design, and still have enough vibrance to give him some pop.  The application of said paint is decent enough, though there’s still a bit of slop, especially on the switches from blue to white.  He could be a little better, but he could also could be far worse.  FalCap includes his mighty shield, which is all well and good, but what he doesn’t include are his wings.  Sure, he doesn’t always have them, but he does most of the time, and their omission here is a bit glaring.

VISION

falccapviskateguy3Vision’s a popular guy!  This is his third Legend in the last year, and the second time he’s been in one of these exclusive three-packs.  This time around, he’s based on his Daniel Acura-designed look from the latter half of Remender’s Uncanny Avengers run, which also happens to be the costume he’s wearing currently.  If I’m honest, it feels a little over designed, though, and I miss the yellow.  Also, the red bits make it look like he’s running around half naked.   That said, I like it a bit better then his first Now! look.  The figure is about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, with a new head and an add-on for the cape.  I was a bit disappointed with the last Vision head sculpt, so I’m happy they didn’t re-use it a third time here. This may well be my favorite Legends Vision sculpt.  It just captures the character quite nicely, and is very sharply defined features.  The cape is kind of an awkward design, but it’s been translated into three dimensions well enough.  It’s definitely a better attempt at a cape than the one Hasbro was using before (which, judging by all the currently shown figures, has been justly retired from the line).  Paint is the one real downside to this guy.  Of the three figures included in this set, this guy definitely has the sloppiest paint in the bunch.  It’s just all over the place.  I mean, he looks okay from a normal viewing distance, but up close he’s got a lot of rough edges, and there’s a few spots where the paint doesn’t really follow the sculpt very well.  That being said, the colors are at least nice and vibrant, and he stands out quite nicely on the the shelf.  Vision doesn’t get any accessories, but I can’t really think of what you’d give him, so that’s okay.

KATE BISHOP –  HAWKEYE

falccapviskateguy2At long last, Kate Bishop makes her way into the action figure world!  It took them long enough, since the rest of her Young Avengers teammates were released way back in 2006.  Of course, this costume doesn’t technically match the rest of them, and we still don’t have Cassie Lang, but let’s not kick the gift horse in the mouth here.  Kate here is sporting her more recent, jumpsuit look from the pages of the last two Hawkeye series.  It’s not a bad look (and it makes me feel a little bad that I never got one of the Now! Hawkeye figures), and it’s the one she’s been wearing for the last several years.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the Phoenix body, which is definitely a good one.  It works pretty well for Kate, especially since this is the slightly more grown-up version of Kate from the last few years.  She gets a new head and lower legs, which blend well with the rest of the body.  The head does a very good job of capturing Kate, and possesses a lot more personality than is usually seen on female figures.  Kate also got a new left hand for gripping her bow, which is cool.  She has to make due with the basic open gesture right hand to be her drawing hand, which isn’t perfect, but isn’t as bad as you might think.  She also gets an add-on piece for her belt and quiver, which sits very nicely, and does a great job of completing her look.  Kate ends up with the best paintwork of the three figures in this set (which is nice, since it’s her debut figure and all).  It’s still not 100% perfect, but it’s pretty close.  Kate is packed with her bow, which is the same one included with the last few Hawkeyes, but with proper paint this time around.  Some arrows might have been nice, but the lack of them isn’t new to this figure, so it’s not hugely surprising.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these guys up from my local TRU last month.  I was actually searching (unsuccessfully) for the Juggernaut series at the time, so these guys were a little bit of a surprise.  This is a set I’ve been eagerly awaiting, ever since it’s announcement.  Kate is the main draw, of course, since she’s never had a figure before, and I’m a pretty big Young Avengers fan.  She’s the strongest figure in the set, too, making her the   real star here.  That being said, FalCap was somewhat overdue, the new Vision is much appreciated, and both figures are both really solid additions to the line.  Unlike prior sets, all three figures included here are real winners, and I don’t think any of the three feels like a forced heavy hitter.

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#1065: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Luke Skywalker is kind of the bread and butter of Star Wars: The Black Series.  He’s by far the most recurrent individual character in the line, and is thus far the only character with at least one look from each of the Original Trilogy films covered.  He’s already had two figures from A New Hope, in both his X-Wing pilot gear and his Stormtrooper disguise.  However, his main look from the film was still left unreleased.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s made sure that one of Luke’s most definitive looks didn’t get left out, and Tattooine Luke started hitting shelves over the summer.  I’ll be taking a look at him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

lukefarmboy1Luke was released in the sixth series of the third iteration of Star Wars: The Black Series (i.e. the one launched with the Force Awakens product).  He’s #21 in the line (not that the numbers actually mean anything, of course, since Hasbro keeps restarting the counter), and he’s the first Original Trilogy figure to be released since the switch to Force Awakens product.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  As you can probably tell from the pictures, Luke is constructed from a mix of sculpted elements and soft goods.  Pretty much, the underlying body forgoes the shirt, the shirt is cloth, and it’s held in place by a rubber belt.  The basic sculpt is decent enough, though not without its flaws.  The legs and boots are both very nicely detailed and textured, and there is a fully sculpted body under the cloth shirt.  However, the upper body feels somewhat under scaled compared to the legs.  The shoulders feel too narrow and the arms just a bit too short to be accurate.  Rather than re-use the X-Wing Luke head (as was done with the Stormtrooper Luke), this figure gets an all new sculpt.  It’s okay, but is noticeably smaller than the last sculpt, and does not possess as strong a likeness.  The cloth shirt is okay for what it is, but the problem really lies with “what it is.”  The choice to make the shirt a separate piece is somewhat odd.  While it’s not the first time Hasbro has done such a thing with this design, it’s never really worked before, and doesn’t really work here.  Where a sculpted piece could have captured the texture and specific shaping of Luke’s shirt in the movie, the cloth piece is too clean, too simple, and really just hangs there in a rather unconvincing fashion.  The worst thing is that, like Darth Vader before him, the cloth pieces just aren’t tailored correctly to the body, which results in his tunic continuing way too far down his legs, making it look more like a robe than it should.  It’s definitely disappointing.  Luke continues the trend of lessened paint apps on The Black Series figures, sporting only the most basic detailing.  It’s clean, well applied, and well matched to the source material, but it lacks some of the life of earlier figures.  Luke is packed with his lightsaber and a pair of binoculars, both of which can be hung on his belt.  It might have been nice to get a Stormtrooper belt and blaster, since the belt is already removable and it would allow him to match with the Series 2 Han Solo, but I guess Luke being an all-new sculpt made such extras cost prohibitive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found Luke here at the Walmart near where my family vacations.  Wasn’t really looking for him or anything, just killing time on my way there, but there he was.  I was actually pretty excited to find him, since I haven’t gotten a new Black Series figure in what seems like forever.  That being said, I can’t help but feel a little let down by this guy.  He’s not awful or anything, but he’s not the slam dunk he should have been.  Rather than being THE Luke to own, he’s just another figure in the pack.  X-Wing Luke will continue on as my go-to figure for display purposes.

#1064: Punisher

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

PUNISHER

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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“A ruthless vigilante, Punisher single-handedly takes down crime one bad guy at a time.”

Historically, I’ve never been much of a Punisher fan.  For me, he was one of the prime examples of what went wrong with comics in the late ‘80s on into the ‘90s.  An amoral anti-hero who’s primary gimmick was shooting stuff up, who operated on making other, less extreme heroes look lame and old-fashioned.  When he was announced to be appearing in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil series, I was a little apprehensive, but Jon Bernthal’s phenomenal turn as the character was one of the best parts of the season, and made me realize that I didn’t hate the character as much as I’d thought, I just hadn’t seen the right interpretation of him.  As it turns out, the timing was just right on me getting into Punisher, since he just got a brand-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

punisherhas2Punisher is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends Series figure.  Going by the back of the box, he’s supposed to be a part of the Absorbing Man series from earlier this year, though he didn’t arrive even close to that series’ release, nor was he intended to.  He ended up hitting stores about a month ago, not long after the Namor figure (making them the two closest released Walgreens-exclusives since they started carrying the figures).  The figure is based on Punisher’s Jim Lee-designed look from the ‘90s, which is a decent choice, since it’s just a slight variation on his classic design.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Punisher is built on the Reaper body, which was somewhat surprising at first, but, upon having the figure in hand, feels like a pretty good choice. The only downside to this body is that they have yet to release hands with trigger fingers for it, which is a bit of an issue for a gun user like Punisher, but can fairly easily be remedied with a little minor modification.  Punisher gets a new punisherhas3head, as well as two add-on pieces for his shoulder straps and belt.  The new head is quite a nice piece.  The headband is certainly a unique look, and the whole sculpt captures the Lee take on the character quite well, as well as fitting the base body very nicely.  The add-ons are also very well-rendered pieces, which add a nice extra touch of character to the figure.  Punisher’s paintwork is clean and sharp, and makes the figure look very well put together.  The slightly off-black of the uniform looks really nice, and the details such as the logo and the face are superbly rendered.  The accessories are an area where this figure really shines.  He gets an extra head, sans headband, for a more classic look, an m60 machine gun, a Striker shotgun, and a SMAW rocket launcher.  That’s actually a pretty impressive selection, especially compared to the likes of Winter Soldier or Black Widow from earlier in the Infinite Series line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna guess where I got Punisher?  That’s right, Walgreens!  After tracking down <most of> the latest X-Men series, this guy was at the top of my list.  My dad, who was helping me track down the X-Men figures, actually saw this guy and didn’t realize I hadn’t gotten him yet.  So, we made a trip back to that same Walgreens and I picked him up.  Gotta say, I really like this guy a whole lot, and that’s surprising to me, since I didn’t care about the character a year ago.

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#1054: FA-4

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

FA-4

STAR WARS: LEGACY

fa42

So, I gave Star Trek its due, why not the other “Star” franchise?  Regular readers of the site will no doubt be aware of my less than stellar opinion of the three Star Wars prequels.  That said, regular readers will also be very likely to know that I don’t hate everything that came out of those movies.  Generally, it’s the stuff at the forefront of the screen that I don’t so much care for.  That stuff in the background?  Usually pretty cool.  Case in point: FA-4, the subject of today’s review.  Most people have no clue who this guy is.  Heck, I had no clue who this was, at least prior to purchasing this figure.  As it turns out, he’s the pilot of Count Dooku’s ship at the end of Attack of the Clones.  Far from a pivotal role, but literally everyone in Star Wars gets an action figure at some point.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

fa43FA-4 was part of the final “Droid Factory” series of the Star Wars: Legacy line.  Due to the move to The Black Series in 2013, the series was put on indefinite hold, until Amazon decided to pick it up as an exclusive item.  FA-4 was originally intended to be one of the Build-A-Droids, but was made into a single release figure instead when a few assortments were combined to form this last series.  The figure stands about 3 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation, which is pretty good for the design.  The sculpt on this figure looks to be unique.  It’s quite nice, though it appears some liberties have been taken to make the design just a touch sturdier.  While I personally find it enhances the design, sticklers for screen accuracy might be a little letdown.  While FA-4 was a pretty basic design, the sculpt still manages to work in some cool small details, especially around there areas of the joints.  FA-4’s paintwork is quite nicely handled.  He’s molded in a basic gunmetal grey, with bronze accents, which look really sharp.  Despite his duller palette, I think he still manages to stand out.  FA-4’s only accessory is TC-70’s torso piece.  I’m not really planning on finishing him, so it doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but I can’t really think of much else FA-4 could have included.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

FA-4 was purchased for me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, back in July.  He has the distinction of being the last figure that I purchased from All Time Toys prior to the Ellicott City Main Street flood, which has closed down them and several other businesses for at least the next few months.  With that in mind, this figure has quite a bit of weight to bear.  Fortunately, I think he delivers.  He’s a really fun, unique figure, who’s been made all the more special for me.

#1053: Juggernaut

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

JUGGERNAUT

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

juggernauthas1

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…

I’m sure those of you who were anxiously awaiting the final figure from my recent X-Men Legends reviews were quite put out with yesterday’s Star Trek-themed review.  Or maybe you weren’t.  You probably weren’t.  Regardless, we’re back with the X-Men today, taking a look at the latest X-Men-themed Build-A-Figure, the unstoppable Juggernaut!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

juggernauthas2Juggernaut is, unsurprisingly, the Build-A-Figure for the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends, which has started hitting stores in the last month or so.  This is Juggernaut’s second Legends figure, and his first since way back in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s run with the line*.  Like that figure, this guy is sporting his classic attire, which makes sense.  None of his other designs have really caught on the same way.  The figure stands about 9 1/2 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Juggernaut is one of the largest of the more recent, dwarfing everyone but the Hulkbuster B-a-F.  He’s built on a body that hasn’t seen use before, but I feel almost certain will see re-use down the line.  In many ways, the construction of this figure is quite similar to Hasbro’s Marvel Universe Juggernaut from several years ago.  That was a very good figure, and by extension, so is this guy.  The build is definitely absurdly large, but appropriately so for Juggernaut.  While most of the figure is fairly smooth and clean, the armored bits, belt, and boots all feature some pretty awesome texture juggernauthas3work, which makes him look suitably worn-in, which definitely works for the character.  The helmet and head are separate pieces, but they are glued together, and the head is just the face and jaw, so it’s not meant to be removed, which is one of two minor issues I have with the figure.  The other is the facial features on the underlying face.  They’re alright, but the eyes feel just a touch too far apart, especially compared to the size of the mouth.  It’s not immediately apparent, though, and it’s not like he’s never been drawn that way in the comics.  The paintwork on Juggernaut is pretty decent.  It’s mostly pretty basic, but mostly pretty clean.  There’s a bit of extra detailing on the armored parts, which helps to accent the sculpted texturing.  Juggernaut has no accessories, but he’s kind of an accessory himself, and he hardly feels like a rip-off, just given the sheer size of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you follow the site, you should have a good idea of where Juggernaut came from; he was pieced together from the parts included with all those X-Men Legends I worked so hard to find.  Despite how hard I was looking for the figures, I think Juggernaut may be the fastest I’ve completed a B-a-F (barring when I buy a complete set online).  I always wanted the Toy Biz Legends Juggernaut, so I’m quite happy to have gotten this guy.

All in all, this has been a fantastic set of Marvel Legends, probably my favorite since the Infinite Series re-launch.  Juggernaut is an awesome Build-A-Figure, and I can’t say I resent having to pick up any of the figures that made him.  In fact, several of the figures here are some of the best Hasbro’s put out.  I hope they can keep up this quality!

*Fun fact:  With the exception of the somewhat tacked-on Thomas Jane Punisher, all of the Series 6 figures (Wolverine, Phoenix, Deadpool, and Juggernaut) received updates in the Juggernaut series.

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#1051: Marvel’s Rogue

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

MARVEL’S ROGUE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“With just one touch, Rogue can absorb anyone’s superpowers – making her capabilities in any matchup nearly limitless.”

Here she is. The one that started it all (No, not the whole X-Men thing; that had been going for a good twenty years before she came along.)  Back at SDCC last year, Hasbro showed off their Red Onslaught prototype. This was immediately followed by questions of whether or not he’d be getting a regular Onslaught head. Hasbro said not in the same series, but that they were working on a solution. A few months later, at New York Comic Con, this figure showed up in the display case, with an Onslaught head beside her. Was she part of the Captain America series? Would she be some sort of exclusive? Or, was it possible that she was just the first piece of an entire series? Well, if you’ve been following the site for the last week, you know which one it was. Now, just under a year later, the Rogue figure is here (so’s the Onslaught piece, but that ended up elsewhere). Let’s see how she turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

roguehas2Rogue (who, like Havok and Phoenix before her, gets the “Marvel’s” possessive added to her name) is figure 5 in the Juggernaut series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends. This is only Rogue’s second time as a Marvel Legend, following the X-Men Legends boxed set version from more than a decade ago. How we went that long without getting a single Rogue* is beyond me. This Rogue uses the same Jim Lee design as the last Legends Rogue. It’s kind of her signature look, and it was very much in need of an update. The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. Rogue is built on the Moonstone body, which, in addition to being a good fit for the character is also just an a pretty decent base body (aside from a few minor issues). The figure gets a new head and upper arms, as well as add-ons for her jacket, belt, and the cuffs to her gloves and boots. Her construction is in many ways quite similar to the Marvel Universe Rogue (which I reviewed waaaaaaaaay back in 2013), but the increased scale makes the add-on pieces mesh a bit better this time around. One of the main roguehas3issues with prior Rogue figures was that her face always seemed to end up looking…less than stellar. Like Scarlet Witch, her Toy Biz figure suffered from rather mannish facial features. This figure doesn’t fall victim to this issue, and ends up being one of the best looking Rogue figures to date. The sculpted jacket is also a marked improvement over the pleather jacket from the Toy Biz version. The only real issue I have with the sculpt isn’t the sculpt proper, but the assembly of my figure: she has two left upper arms. It’s an annoyance, but it could be a lot worse. Overall, Rogue’s paintwork is pretty decent. There are a few minor spots of errant paint, but it’s mostly pretty sharp. It’s also really bold and pleasant to look at. I’m really digging all the warm bright colors in this series. Rogue included an extra, un-gloved right hand (which is a really fun piece to have), and the left leg of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue was the figure I was most anticipating from the series. Of course, she was the figure a lot of other people were anticipating too, meaning she was the most difficult of the seven figures to obtain. I actually found the packaging for this figure a month or so back, but some dipstick had swapped out the Rogue figure inside for the old X-Men Legends version, which was a serious let down. After searching for a few weeks, I ended up just sort of stumbling upon Rogue last week during a quick stop-in at my nearest TRU. I’m really happy to have found this figure, and she’s definitely one of my favorites from the set. I can’t wait to get some more Jim Lee X-Men to go with her!

*Hasbro had planned to release a more modern Rogue as part of the Puck Series of Marvel Legends that tied into The Wolverine, but when that assortment was moved to specialty, she was bumped from the line-up.

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#1050: Cable

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

CABLE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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“A lifelong soldier, Cable perfected his fighting prowess when a technological virus suppressed his natural psychic abilities”

Wow, that’s definitely a streamlined version of Cable’s background. I guess “son of Cyclops and the clone of Jean Grey who was kidnapped, sent to the future, contracted a deadly made up disease, was raised by his father and the non-clone Jean Grey’s consciousnesses transported into two unrelated bodies in the future, who came back in time to just after he was originally kidnapped, and who may or may not actually be a clone” was just too much for the non-comics-reading fans. It might scare them away! Despite his complicated backstory, he’s a pretty straightforward ’90s anti-hero. He’s had a number of figures throughout his career (most of them are from the ’90s), but it’s been a few years. Fortunately, Hasbro’s seen fit to give him a brand new figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CableHas2Cable is figure 7 in the Juggernaut series of Marvel Legends. This is Cable’s fourth time as a Legend (counting the paint variant from Series 6). The last one was way back in 2007, as part of a Walmart exclusive two-pack, so this one’s long overdue. He’s based on his Ed McGuinness-designed look from Avengers: X-Sanction. It’s a bit of an oddball choice, but it is the book that brought Cable back following his death during “Second Coming.” It’s not a bad look (even if it lacks shoulder pads…), and it fits pretty well with the rest of the series of figures. The figure is a little over 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Of note with the articulation is the inclusion of a ball joint for his mid-torso movement. It’s a lot more poseable than the usual hinge joint, which adds a lot to the playability of the figure. Cable reuses most of Nuke’s legs (he gets a new set of shins), as well as the right arm of the basic Hyperion body. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is new to him. It’s actually very nicely handled. The armor has lots of fun little details (including bullet damage, which is an impressive thing to see on a mass-produced figure), and a ton of great texture work. While this design was exclusively drawn by McGuinness, the sculpt sticks more with the basic style of the line, which makes Cable a bit more versatile than he might be otherwise. The paintwork on Cable isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty solid. Bleed over and slop is minimal, and the colors definitely fit the design. I do wish that the bullet damage were actually painted, but that’s minor. Cable includes two big sci-fi guns. The larger of the two has a removable ammo belt, and is in general my preferred of the pair. Cable also includes the pelvis of Juggernaut.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Cable at the same time as Wolverine. I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick this guy up initially (Cable’s hardly one of my favorite characters), but I kinda wanted to finish Juggernaut. I’m actually really glad I picked him up, because he’s a surprisingly awesome figure. How’d they manage to make a Rob Liefeld character into such a cool figure?

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