Tag Archives: Hasbro

#0716: Age of Ultron Boxed Set

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

THOR, BLACK WIDOW, BRUCE BANNER, & HAWKEYE

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Trying to get a full line-up of the whole Avengers team from Avengers: Age of Ultron has been a barren source of amusement. Hasbro’s 2 ½ inch line has given us all but Black Widow and Quicksilver. The 3 ¾ inch line is missing those two again, plus Hawkeye and Vision. Up until recently, the Marvel Legends figures had only given us movie versions of Hulk, Iron Man and Captain America. Amazon has stepped in to help us at least finish up the main team (sans new additions), giving us a boxed set containing Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye from the second film, as well as figure of Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner for good measure.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were sold as a single boxed set, which just started shipping out a few weeks ago. They’re technically an Amazon exclusive, but time will tell if that sticks or if other stores might start getting them.

THOR

AoUML2This guy’s probably the most surprising to see relegated to an online-only boxed set. I mean, he’s Thor. That seems pretty big. But, I guess stores are still afraid of him after the incredibly slow sales of the toys from his first solo movie (available at a Toys R Us near you!). The figure is about 7 inches tall and has 28 points of articulation. He’s based on his design from Dark World/Age of Ultron (They’re more or less the same), specifically the sleeveless look. Since he’s lacking the sleeves in both of AoU’s main fight scenes, that seems like a good choice. Structurally, this guy’s all-new, making him the only AoU figure outside of Ultron to get all-new tooling. The sculpt is really great, all around. The face isn’t a pitch-perfect Hemsworth, but it’s definitely the closest Hasbro’s gotten so far, and it really isn’t far off. The hair manages to be rather intricately detailed, and it doesn’t get too bunchy anywhere. It also doesn’t restrict movement nearly as much as you might think, which is a definite plus. The rest of the body is well proportioned and loaded with detail, all of which looks pretty accurate to the movie design. Even the cape is handled well, which doesn’t happen often. If there’s one drawback, it’s the choice to make both hands gripping; I feel like one of them being in a more outstretched pose could have added to the posing options. The paint on this figure is interesting, as it’s quite a bit different from what was seen on the prototype. In addition to the paint being much thicker than on the final figure, the prototype also had many of the accents painted gold, making the figure a Dark World figure, not an Age of Ultron figure. The final still has a slight tint of gold on those areas, but it’s minor enough that it won’t stand out as obviously wrong in an Avengers set up. It’s a happy medium, which is a good choice. Thor is armed with his mighty hammer Mjolnir, which is very nicely sculpted and painted and fits well in his hand to boot.

BLACK WIDOW

AoUML4On to opposite end of the spectrum from the all-new Thor figure is Black Widow, who is just a repaint. Yep, Widow here is head to toe a repaint of her Winter Soldier figure. You can read my opinions on the sculpt, here. Briefly recapping, it was a good sculpt then, and it still holds up pretty well here, aside from being too tall for Johansson. She uses the Avengers-styled head (the hair is seated a bit better this time around, so the likeness is better), which is sensible, since her hair in AoU was more or less the same. What wasn’t more or less the same was her costume, which actually had several differences between TWS and AoU. The figure uses paint to make these changes, but doesn’t quite make it work. The most notable change to the costume was the addition of red gauntlets, which this figure skips all together. There are these random red squares on the forearms, but they don’t even come close to being “gauntlets.” Widow also had full gloves this time, as opposed to the usual fingerless ones. Rather than actually changing the hands, Hasbro opted to just mold them in a solid black. It’s not immediately evident that they aren’t right, but to someone like me, who knows the lines for the ends of the gloves are there, it’s kind of annoying that nothing was done to fix this. They did at least get the blue “tron lines” right, so there’s that. Also, the kneepads seem a little too bright, but they are, at the very least, close to accurate. For accessories, Widow loses the extra head and hands of her TWS counterpart, and still has the non-removable guns. She does get her baton thingies from the movie, but they’re kind of a little…droopy.

BRUCE BANNER

AoUML5Believe it or not, this is the first proper, Marvel Legends-scale Bruce Banner we’ve ever gotten. We got a Banner figure from Toy Biz’s Hulk Classics line (packed with Series 2’s Gamma Hulk), but he had inferior articulation and was just slightly out of scale. We haven’t seen another until now. Civilian versions of heroes are kind of a hard sell, I guess. Banner appears to be based on his arriving at the Helicarrier look from the first Avengers movie, though it’s really just a basic business casual look, so it can work a lot of places. The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Banner uses the recently developed suit body (first used on Agent Coulson) as his base. It’s a well sculpted body, and it’s certainly the best suit body on the market, so it’s a good starting point. Bruce gets a unique head sculpt, as well as a new upper torso piece. The head is a halfway decent interpretation of Mark Ruffalo. It’s far from perfect, but you can see who it’s meant to be. I think a better paint job could bring the likeness a lot closer. The new upper torso piece is really just a minor tweak on the old, removing the tie and opening up the collar, and thereby giving Bruce a more movie-accurate look. The paintwork on Banner is alright, but not fantastic. As noted above, the paint on the head hides the sculpt; it’s just a bit too sloppy and there’s virtually no work done to play up the sculpt’s strengths. The rest of the paint is just sort of there; the colors are good and everything stays where it’s supposed to, but there’s not much that stands out. Banner includes no accessories.

HAWKEYE

AoUML3It’s everybody’s favorite punching bag, Hawkeye! After being somewhat pushed to the side in the first Avengers, Hawkeye was presented a more substantial role for Age of Ultron, where he took a slightly divergent path from his comics counterpart and went straight to work checking off every “I’m gonna die” box possible. Then he made it out without dying! And there was much rejoicing (yay).  Hawkeye is right at 6 inches tall (like Widow, he’s just too tall) and he has 30 points of articulation. The figure is largely made of re-used parts from the first movie’s Walmart exclusive Hawkeye; only the head and quiver are different, and even the quiver is re-used from the more recent Marvel Legends comic Hawkeye. This of course means that Hawkeye is in his costume from the first movie, as opposed to his snazzy jacketed look from AoU. This look does still appear during the final battle, though, and the first release of this figure wasn’t the easiest to find, so this look is pretty valid too, I guess. Overall, the sculpt is pretty decent. The articulation scheme is a little outdated and the proportions are a little wonky in some spots, but the texture work on the uniform is superb. The new head sculpt is noteworthy because it finally gives us Hawkeye without the sunglasses that every figure seems to saddle him with, despite him not wearing them in either film. The Renner likeness is pretty decent, though the head does feel just a touch too wide. The paintwork on Hawkeye is pretty good overall. The eyes are a little bit off, but not terribly so, and all of the colors are well chosen. I also appreciate that the quiver isn’t just a solid color. I do wish the spot for the SHIELD emblem had something on it, because it’s distracting for it to just be a differently textured but unpainted bit, but that’s minor. Hawkeye is packed with his trusty bow, but, like the other Hawkeyes from Hasbro, no arrows.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna take a guess as to where I got this here Amazon exclusive set? Yeah, I preordered this set pretty much as soon as it went up. Not gonna lie, I actually came pretty close to cancelling it, but Amazon went and shipped it without telling me it had arrived, so here it is. It’s not the most thrilling set of all time, but it does contain some pretty important figures. Thor’s definitely the star here, being the only truly new figure, and Widow’s definitely the weakest link (in terms of accuracy and not having anything new to offer. She’s still a good figure). Banner and Hawkeye both fall somewhere in between, being nonessential, but cool to have nonetheless. I think this set might be more exciting if Amazon were to follow it up with another 4-pack featuring Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, and Falcon, so we could actually finish up the team, but that seems like wishful thinking.

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#0696: Kylo Ren

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

KYLO REN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Okay guys, just one more day of The Force Awakens stuff (for now, anyways). So far, all the Black Series figures I’ve looked at have been repeats of characters I had in 3 ¾ inch scale. Today’s review changes that up. This time, I’ll be looking at the movie’s main antagonist (at least, as far as we know), Kylo Ren. He’s menacing, masked, in all black, and has a red lightsaber; clearly a Star Wars villain. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KyloTBS2Kylo Ren is figure #03 in the Force Awakens-themed re-launch of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation. The range of motion on his joints is pretty decent overall, but not perfect. His neck joint is really the worst part, as it does nothing outside of a basic side-to-side movement, putting him behind even the limited 3 ¾ inch figures in that respect. Kylo’s look is a mix of sculpted plastic and soft goods items (i.e. fabric). The base of his cloak and his hood are handled via fabric, which tailored decently enough for something this scale. It’s, at the very least, better handled than what we saw on The Black Series’ Darth Vader. That said, it encounters a lot of the issues common to using cloth at a smaller scale. Getting it to hold a consistent look, especially when it comes to the hood, is virtually impossible. It just kind of sits however it feels. The seams are also quite present, especially at the front of the torso, where, going by what I’ve seen of the costume online, there shouldn’t be an immediately obvious break in the fabric. That’s annoying. The rest of the costume is handled via the sculpt. The sculpted parts generally look much nicer, though, I can’t help but feel that he looks, as a whole, much less intimidating than he should. It’s minor stuff, really. His head seems just a bit too big, his shoulders a bit too scrawny, and his belt a bit too high up. Plus, he’s got just the slightest bit of a hunch, making him look not unlike an elderly man. From a detail standpoint, the details that are visible look pretty on point and well handled, so he’s got that going for him. Paint is mostly absent from Kylo, given the cloth robe that covers most of his body. He does have some nice silver detailing on his helmet, which makes it pop out from the hood just a bit, as well as a slightly shinier finish on his boots, for those that like looking at their figures’ feet. Kylo includes his distinctive cross guard styled lightsaber. It’s pretty well handled, and all three beams are connected, allowing for easy removal from the hilt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kylo was picked up alongside the Stormtrooper as one of the first items I got during my second go at the whole Force Friday bit. He wasn’t really at the top of my list, but he was there, so I figured I might as well grab him. Gotta be honest, this figure doesn’t do a whole lot for me. I didn’t like the cloth goods on Vader and I like them even less here. I understand that Hasbro didn’t want the robes to be restricting, but if you’re going to do cloth goods, you have to commit all the way, and not half-ass it. With a little more care, Kylo could have been the best figure in this lineup. As is? He’s by far the weakest of the bunch, which is a shame. Maybe the Kmart exclusive version will turn out better.

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#0695: First Order Stormtrooper

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

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Stormtroopers are really the backbone of the Star Wars universe. None of them even get a name in the Original Trilogy, and they’re certainly never in focus, but they’re always there, with a near-limitless supply of them for the heroes to plow through. The original Troopers also have one of the best, most distinctive designs of the franchise, meaning all the faceless goons that followed had quite a bit to live up to. The Battle Droids proved rather disappointing in this respect, and the Sequel Trilogy seems to be playing things safe by bringing the Stormtroopers back, albeit with a slightly tweaked design. The new Stormtrooper has been one of the hottest “characters” when it comes to new merchandise, no doubt due to consumers also playing things safe, just in case the new movie isn’t quite what everyone wants. Today, I’ll be looking at the Black Series version of the design.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TrooperFOTBS2The First Order Stormtrooper saw two different ways of release. The figure was first offered as a SDCC exclusive item, which proved quite difficult to obtain. This was then followed up with a release in the main Star Wars: The Black Series line, where the figure is #04 in the Force Awakens-inspired relaunch of the line. No points for guessing which release I got. The figure is a little over 6 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. The articulation on this figure is just a bit frustrating. While some areas, such as the torso joint and the ankles, have a great range of motion and are very easy to maneuver, other joints, notably the elbows and wrists, are very stiff and limited. The end result is a figure that is mostly pretty fun to mess with, but one that certainly could have been just a bit better. The FO Stormtrooper is yet another new sculpt, and he’s a pretty good match for what we’ve seen of the design. The details on this figure are a fair bit sharper than those on the smaller scale trooper (like the one included with the Assault Walker). The armored parts are still smooth and very rounded, so the level of detail there hasn’t changed much, but the underlying bodysuit is full of quite a bit of folds and patterned texturing, which gives the figure a nice bit of “pop.” Paint-wise, the figure is pretty good, but far from perfect. Generally speaking, the figure is molded in white with black details painted on. Most of the application is pretty good, but my personal figure has a bit of a smudge on the forehead of the helmet, which is pretty annoying. Also, the belt should be the same color as the rest of the armor, but it’s actually a very light grey, most likely due to it being white paint on black plastic. Dark paint over light, guys, dark paint over light. The FO Stormtrooper is packed with a basic Stormtrooper blaster, as well as a smaller blaster pistol. The guns can both be held in the figure’s hands or either of them can be clipped into the “holster” on the right thigh. They’re pretty cool, but they could both use some better paintwork.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like the new Stormtrooper design. It’s nice and sleek and it just looks pretty cool. And I like to have toys of things I really like (heck, I collect toys of things I don’t particularly like!). So, I really, really tried to get the SDCC preview version of this figure when it went up on Hasbro’s site after the con. I actually managed to get one on my cart, but it was gone before I could check out. That meant I was waiting for the regular release. On Force Friday, the First Order Stormtrooper was the number one item on my list. As previously noted, the Black Series figures were a no-show at my local TRU, so no luck there. Fortunately, the trooper ended up being one of the two remaining Black Series figures at my second stop, Target. Yay! The figure has a few minor flaws here and there, especially when it comes to articulation, but I’m really happy I found one. Definitely a cool figure!

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#0695: Rey (Jakku)

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

REY (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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Alright, here’s part 2 of The Black Series figures from The Force Awakens. Today is another repeat character, Rey, but I do also get to look at a new character in a roundabout sort of way with that highly sought after little droid BB-8, who serves as Rey’s pack-mate. Hasbro seems to want to avoid the issues that arose with packing Leia and R2-D2 solo earlier in The Black Series. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be treating Rey as the main figure and BB-8 as an accessory, given his size.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ReyTBS2Rey is figure #02 in the first series of the Force Awakens re-launch of Star Wars: The Black Series. The figure is a little under 6 inches in height and has 27 points of articulation. Rey is listed as being based on her “Jakku” look, though it doesn’t look like this design is any different from the “Starkiller Base” look in the 3 ¾ inch line. Maybe her having BB-8 is what makes it her Jakku look? I honestly don’t know. Anyway, Rey gets her own all-new sculpt. In general, I like this sculpt a lot more than the 3 ¾ inch one. Right off the bat, she’s less frail, which looks more accurate to Daisy Ridley in the role, from what I’ve seen. The detailing on the clothing is also far more consistent here, with the higher level of detail and texturing continuing past the top half of the figure. The lower portion of her “robes” is an add-on piece this time, allowing for a more normal set of hip joints without compromising the look of the figure. The head sculpt features a much better likeness of Ridley, though her hair feels a bit too neat and tidy. Well, it’s time for the one area that consistently gives Hasbro trouble: paint. To be fair, Rey’s really not that bad, compared to other figures from The Black Series. What’s there is mostly pretty clean, and I was happy to see a return to a painted flesh tone for the face. However, the hairline is pretty uneven, and the face paint seems just a little too thick. Also, the slight red of the cheeks is not as slight as they were aiming for, which makes it look like Rey’s putting her makeup on a bit too heavily. She honestly just looks too clean; all the shots we’ve seen so far show her sufficiently covered in dirt and grime, and the figure doesn’t really reflect that. Rey includes her signature staff, which is very nicely detailed, and the previously mentioned BB-8. BB-8 has a two-piece ball joint on his head, which allows for some variation of how the head is lined up in regards to the “ball” that is the body. BB-8 has a very nicely, evenly handled sculpt, and has a paintjob that really brings out the details of the sculpt. The paint is certainly more satisfying than what we saw on Series 1’s R2-D2. The droid is a little hard to get properly oriented, so a stand would have been appreciated, but you can get him standing if you put a little work in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Finn, Rey was picked up from Walmart, my third Force Friday stop. This was actually one of the figures I was most hoping to get, due in no small part to the included BB-8. Rey’s definitely one of my favorites of the stuff I’ve picked up so far. I do sort of wish we’d gotten an extra masked head for her, but BB-8 means I can’t really say she’s under-accessorized. BB-8 is pretty fun himself, though I can certainly see why this one wasn’t packaged solo. All in all, a very nice pair here. The rest of the line has a bit to live up to.

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#0693: Finn (Jakku)

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

FINN (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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If you thought I was done reviewing figures of Star Wars characters I know nothing about, you were sadly mistaken. See, I’ve looked at all the 3 ¾ inch figures I’ve picked up, but, ah, I still have the Black Series figures to look at, don’t I? So, that’ll be the next four days of reviews. Let’s kick things off by taking another look at Finn!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FinnTBS2Finn is part of what is technically the 10th series of Star Wars: The Black Series figures. Hasbro has once again re-numbered, making him #01. To their credit, The Force Awakens serves as a re-launch of all their stuff and the packaging’s been changed up too, so this feels more like a genuine re-starting of the line than the previous re-numbering. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation. The articulation scheme is pretty good here; in fact, he may well have the best movement of any of the Awakens figures. The elbows do seem a bit too restricted, but the forward/back movement on his right wrist helps compensate for this a bit. The ankle movement is notable in that it’s the smoothest movement I’ve seen on a Hasbro figure in some time. Finn gets an all-new sculpt for this figure. He is once again presented in his “Jakku” gear, lending credence to this being the character’s primary look in the film. It’s not the most exciting design ever, but the jacket’s pretty cool and he’s not far out of line from the franchise’s previous stars. The sculpt does a pretty good job of keeping the figure from being too boring. The jacket is once again given a very wrinkled, worn-in sort of look, which adds to the character. The rest of his outfit is similarly textured. The shirt in particular exhibits some very nice pattern work, which was present on the smaller figure, but was much easier to miss. The head exhibits some pretty decent work. The likeness is passable; it’s not spot on, but you can see who it’s supposed to be. The detail, especially on the hair, is very well handled, and adds a lot of depth to the figure. I don’t often touch on this in reviews, but the plastic quality on this figure feels sturdier than the last few series of SWBS, especially on the joints. It’s a minor change, but it makes a world of difference when posing the figure. The paintwork on the figure is mostly straightforward; there’s some fairly basic color work, all of which is handled pretty cleanly. There’s just a bit of extra detailing at the bottoms of his legs, which makes it look like he’s been wandering around through a sandy place. It’s a small touch, but it works pretty well. Finn’s only accessory is a blaster, which looks to be the same style as the one included with the smaller figure. It’s not my favorite design, but it’s rendered well here, and the paint is very nicely handled.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After striking out at Toys R Us, and only finding a small selection of Black Series figures at the Target at which I stopped, I came across Finn at the Walmart across the street from the Target. So there. The Black Series figures were the items I was most interested in from Force Friday, so I was definitely glad to find them. Finn’s 3 ¾ inch figure wasn’t bad, but I think he’s better served by this figure, which just offers a lot more fun. That said, he does feel a little light for the price, especially in comparison to the others in this set. Hasbro might need to do some re-assessing of the pricing of these guys if they want the line to succeed.

#0692: Rey (Starkiller Base)

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

REY (STARKILLER BASE)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Coming up with intros for characters you don’t actually know anything about isn’t the easiest thing in the world, if I’m being completely honest. And yet, here I am, doing it for the third day in a row. Today, I’ll be looking at the third member of the Star Wars universe’s new “power trio.” Ummm…so, her name is Rey, and she’s a scavenger from the planet Jakku. There’s what I know about her. I also know she has two action figures, and I’ll be looking at the first of those in this review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rey2Rey is part of the first assortment of Hasbro’s 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures. She’s from the “arctic” subset of figures. Like Finn, she’s one of the lower price-point figures, and I still can’t figure out exactly how that pricing works out, but, whatever. Rey is just shy of 3 ¾ inches tall and has (can you guess how many?) 5, count ‘em, 5 points of articulation. Officially, the figure is listed as being the “Starkiller Base*” version, so I think it’s safe to say this is what she’ll be wearing in that location. With that said, this appears to be the look she’ll be sporting for at least most of the movie, going by what we’ve seen. Rey has an all-new sculpt, and it’s pretty decent over all. She does seem just a bit frail, but her proportions seem pretty close to what they should be. The detail on the clothes is good, but somewhat on the inconsistent side; the torso has much finer detail on the texturing and folds than the legs do. Also, the hip articulation is definitely worked in very awkwardly and obviously. It’s not far removed from how robed characters were handled in the vintage line, but it looks clunky nowadays and the design would have been far better served by an overlay piece of some sort. The feet are somewhat pidgeon-toed, which makes her a little hard to stand and looks a little Rey3unnatural. The likeness on the head sculpt doesn’t seem quite as close as what we saw on Finn and Poe. I suppose there’s a little of Daisy Ridley in there, but when I look at the figure, all I can see is Kiera Knightley. Paint-wise, the figure makes out well enough. Paint is once again pretty sparse, but what’s there is fairly well applied. It’s rather hard to tell, but she does actually have two different tones to the over and underlying portions of the robes, which is a nice touch. She also has the cleanest hairline of the three figures I’ve looked at so far. Rey is packed with a staff, backpack, and another weird build-a…..thing. I wish she could hold the staff a little better and the random piece of whatever is still somewhat confusing, but it’s a nice enough accessory compliment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rey was the third and final of the 3 ¾ inch figures I picked up at Target on my second go at the Force Friday thing. It’s yet another character I don’t really have a lot of knowledge about, but she’s at the very least pretty cool looking. Unfortunately, she ended up being the weakest of the 3 ¾ inchers I’ve picked up so far, which was somewhat disappointing. She isn’t terrible or anything, and perhaps I’ll like her more after seeing the movie. All in all, the 3 ¾ inch figures aren’t without issue, but they do feel like an improvement on the earlier 5 POA figures.

*For the record, I think it’s a pretty cool touch using Luke’s original last name for the name of the base. That attention to the mythos’ beginnings makes me at least a little more hopeful about how the film will turn out.

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#0691: Finn (Jakku)

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

FINN (JAKKU)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Finn1

Alright, I’ve played it nice and safe on the last two Force Awakens reviews. Not anymore. Are you guys ready for the controversy? Probably not. I mean, I know I’m not. So, yeah, today we’ll be taking a look at Finn, another member of the new “power trio.” He’s also the very first new character we saw, way back in the first teaser trailer. And boy did some people make a big deal out of him. Why was he the first person we saw? Why was he in Stormtrooper armor? Me? I’m just really, really hoping he doesn’t turn out to be related in any way to Lando or Mace. It’s a simple hope really. Let’s just look at the figure already!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Finn3Finn is one of the first assortment of 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Force Awakens figures. The line is divided into a few sub-sets, and Finn is from the “Lava” themed set, so…yeah, there’s that. He’s one of the lower price point figures, and, if I’m honest, I really can’t figure out why. The figure is, unsurprisingly, 3 ¾ inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation. Finn’s presented here in a more casual set of clothes than the Stormtrooper armor uniform in which we first saw him. It’s actually pretty similar to what Poe was wearing. At the very least the jackets are the same, though whether it’s actually the same jacket or just a shared uniform piece is yet to be seen. This is the look that all of the Finn figures are sporting, so I’d say it’s safe to assume it’s his main look from the film. He gets an all-new sculpt, which is pretty impressive, because, as I said, the jacket’s the same as the one Poe was wearing. However, rather than just re-use the parts, Hasbro’s actually used this common piece of clothing to add some extra character to the two. Finn’s jacket is much more worn and wrinkled than Poe’s, which is handled very convincingly. The rest of Finn’s sculpt is pretty decently handled, too. The proportions of the body are pretty well balanced, and the head sports a pretty decent likeness of actor John Boyega. Perhaps the only negative thing about the sculpt is that Finn2legs are sculpted with a slight step to them, which makes it a little difficult to keep him standing. The paintwork here is pretty similar to that of Poe. There’s not a ton of detail, but what’s there is pretty clean. On the plus side, the paint on Finn’s face is much better handled, which is encouraging to see. Finn is packed with two accessories: a gun and a…thing. The gun is fine, though he has some trouble holding it. The other thing, though. I really don’t know what it is. It might be a backpack, or a gun thing. All I know is it combines with the parts from the other figures in the “lava” set, allowing you to build a…larger thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Finn was one of the figures I picked up from Target on my way down to visit Super Awesome Girlfriend last weekend. I don’t know a whole lot about the guy, but he looks to be pretty important. As a plus, the figure’s pretty well done on too!

#0690: Poe Dameron

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

POE DAMERON

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

PoeDam1

I’m in a bit of Star Wars mood. I’m sure none of my readers have the slightest idea as to why that might be. Certainly, it can’t have anything to do with a little thing called Force Friday, could it? I can neither confirm nor deny. Well, after a bit of a disappointing start at Toys R Us, my Force Friday experience worked out alright in the end, resulting in a nice little hall of figures, mixed between the two main scales. I figure I’ll be true to the franchise and kick things off with a look at the 3 ¾ inch figures, starting with my man Poe here. Poe, for those of you unaware, is one of Force Awakens’ new characters, and by all accounts he’s set to be part of the new “power trio” of characters.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PoeDam2Poe Dameron is part of the first assortment of 3 ¾ inch The Force Awakens figures. There are a few different sub-assortments so far, with some slightly different themes. Poe is part of the “Armor Up” set, which are a set of slightly more expensive figures, which feature armor pieces. He’s one of the two 3 ¾ inch Poe figures available (three if you count the one included with the X-Wing.) He’s the only of the three figures not to be based on Poe in his flight gear look, instead presenting him in what appear to be Rebel fatigues. I have no idea which look will end up being the more prominent in the film, but I liked this one. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the now standard 5 points of articulation. The articulation is disappointing, but I won’t continue to harp on it. Poe features an all-new sculpt; it’s not bad. The body is nicely proportioned, and the detail work on his clothing is quite intricate. You can even make out all the different types of seams and pockets on his jacket, which is pretty cool. The likeness on the head isn’t spot-on, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to actor Oscar Isaac, which is pretty good at this scale. As far as paint goes, there’s not a ton of it. Most of the plastic is molded in the proper colors. There’s a bit of detailing on the jacket, as well as the belt and the boots. Most of the application is decent, if a little bit sloppy. The head is okay, but the hairline is definitely a little off and they missed his sideburns almost entirely. This was actually the better of the two figures I saw; the other was missing a fair portion of the front of his hair. Poe is packed with a blaster rifle, which has an impressive amount of detail for the scale (Tim was even able to identify the real gun it was built on and what mods were made), as well as the somewhat gimmicky armor piece. It’s some sort of helmet/chestplate/jetpack combo, which I have a sneaking suspicion won’t be showing up in the movie. I do wish the helmet were a separate piece, since it actually looks to be somewhat accurate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, clearly, I didn’t get Poe from my late night Toys R Us run. I was bummed about not getting much at the 12:01 opening, so, while on my way to visit Super Awesome Girlfriend for Labor Day weekend, I decided to stop by a few other stores. The first was a Target, where I found Poe and a handful of other 3 ¾ inch figures. I like this figure a lot, actually. I know next nothing about the character, but he intrigues me for whatever reason, and, aside from the articulation issues, this is a well done figure.

#0689: Stormtrooper Commando & Attack Walker

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

STORMTROOPER COMMANDO & ASSAULT WALKER

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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Behold! The Star Wars stuff! Here it is! Do you see it? There’s a ton of it! Go, look! I’ll wait. Did you see it? Isn’t there a lot of Star Wars stuff? Man, I gotta be honest, it’s a relief to see it all. The last few months, stores have been almost completely devoid of all things Star Wars toys, and it was getting just a little bit depressing. But now, the Episode 7 stuff has finally hit, and now all the die-hard fans are up for another round of “buy all these figures before seeing the movie they’re from and just really hope they’re worth it to you after the fact.” It’s a long name for a thing. So, what was my first Force Awakens purchase? Well, I played it safe and went for a Stormtrooper. Of course, I couldn’t find just a basic Stormtrooper, so I had to settle for this one included with a vehicle.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker2The included figure is the Stormtrooper Commando, a variation on the all-new First Order Stormtrooper design. Essentially, it’s just the basic Stormtrooper with a shoulder pauldron. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. It’s still kind of sad to see Hasbro cut articulation so drastically, but I’ve gotten enough of the reduced articulation figures that it’s begun to bother me less. The sculpt is pretty decently handled. The First Order Stormtrooper is an interesting re-design of the basic Stormtrooper we’ve all come to know and love, with a heavy emphasis on making them look as sleek as possible. The armor is a lot more smooth and rounded then what we’ve seen before. It’s definitely an interesting look. The sculpt does a nice job translating the new design to the small scale. While it’s not the most intricate design ever, there are some finer details, which are handled with nice precision, making the armor look appropriately clean. The right leg has a raised up section, with a small slot, meant for holding the figure’s weapon, which is a nice improvement over previous troopers. The Trooper&Walker3pauldron, which is the main unique piece here, is a rather straightforward add-on piece. It slips over the neck joint and can easily be removed by popping off the head. As far as paint goes, the Stormtrooper Commando is pretty basic. He’s molded in white plastic, and has black paint for detailing. That’s it. Now, to be fair, that looks to be accurate to the film, so it’s not like Hasbro’s skimped out on any additional colors or anything. The actual application of the paint is decent but nothing fantastic. None of the paint is drastically out of place, but the black is all pretty fuzzy around the edges, and a few of the smaller areas are missing their black detailing all together. None of it is quite as obvious as the missing shoulder paint from the Rebels Stormtrooper, but it’s still a minor annoyance. The pauldron is molded in straight black. I have no idea if that’s accurate to the movie, but it looks decent enough. The Stormtrooper includes a blaster, which looks to be their standard blaster for the film. It’s pretty well sculpted and nicely painted. I dig the two-toned thing. It sits a little odd in his hand, but it plugs into the side of his leg pretty securely.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker4The main selling point of this set is the vehicle here, dubbed the Assault Walker. It appears to be a variant of the AT-ST “Chicken Walker” from Return of the Jedi, though, at this size, I guess it’s more patterned after the smaller walkers we saw in Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. It stands roughly 7 inches tall and has articulation at the tops of the legs, the ankles, the mounted gun on the front, and the handle bars. That’s not a whole lot of movement, and it would have at the very least been nice to get joints at all the sculpted joints on the legs, but what’s there is serviceable. The sculpt on the walker is pretty impressively handled. Sure, it’s not Hot Toys level of detail or anything, but it’s got a nice, geometric build, with a fair amount of seam lines and visible mechanics to keep it Trooper&Walker5interesting visually. There’s a lot of hollow areas to keep the vehicle low weight, so it looks better from some angles than it does others. That’s not ideal, but it’s also not terrible, and it’s not like it’s out of line from previous Star Wars vehicles. Paintwork on the walker is relatively minimal, with most of the color work being handled through molded colors. That said, there are a few areas that have some painted details, all of which are handled relatively cleanly. The best work is definitely on the front shield piece, which has a nicely executed camo pattern. The Assault Walker doesn’t have any accessories, though, if you really want to get technical, the Stormtrooper Commando is an accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on the midnight releases of all the Star Wars prequel toys, I decided to go to this year’s “Force Friday” event. I went to Toys R Us, mostly due to none of my local Targets or Walmarts participating in the 12:01 openings. I got there about 45 minutes before midnight and got a fairly decent spot in line. Then I went in. “Underwhelming” is the word I’d say best describes he experience. TRU’s distribution completely misidentified the target audience, resulting in far too few action figures to satisfy demand. I had been wanting to grab a few of the Black Series figures, but only one case was sent to the store, and every figure in it was grabbed by the first person in line. In my search for the Black Series stuff, I walked past the 3 ¾ inch-ers, and by the time I got back to them, they were all but gone. I picked up this set to look at it, and next thing I knew, every other set around it was gone. So, I clung tight to this set, as well as the lone Pop! figure I had managed to grab and called that a small victory. This is actually a pretty fun little set. The Walker is a neat vehicle that doesn’t take up too much space, and the Stormtrooper Commando is a good enough stand-in for a basic Stormtrooper to make me happy. So, I guess the trip wasn’t a total loss.

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#0688: Storm Shadow

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

STORM SHADOW

GI JOE: RETALIATION

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation was….ummm….well, it was a movie with G.I. Joe in the title. It was also about 90 minutes long. It was shot using cameras. It had a script, with words even. Was it a good movie? No, not especially. It had its moments, but that’s really the best that can be said. On the plus side, Hasbro did make a line of figures to go with it, and they didn’t totally suck. Let’s look at Storm Shadow, one of the film’s many ninjas and just the worst human prop of all time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

StormShadowR2Storm Shadow was released as part of the first series of G.I. Joe: Retaliation figures. You know, the ones that came out a full year before the film’s release due to Paramount pushing back the movie’s release date at the last minute? Yeah, fun times. Technically, he’s based on Storm Shadow from the movie, but, in reality, he’s a mostly made up design. Granted, I like it more that the movie design, so I’m not complaining. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Unlike several of the early Retaliation figures, Storm Shadow didn’t have any points of articulation cut, so he retains full movement, which is a definite plus. Structurally, the figure sported a brand-new sculpt. As noted above, it’s not really accurate to the movie’s design. That being said, it’s actually a pretty sound sculpt, with nice proportions and lots of fun detail work. Interestingly, though he’s a movie figure, he seems a bit more stylized than other figures, to the point that he almost seems like he’d be more at home with the Resolute or Renegades figures. It’s nothing really overt or anything, but there’s definitely a bit of flair to this guy. One small nit: his collar is a separate piece, and it doesn’t fit exactly to the body, making it rather obviously a separate piece. It’s slightly annoying. The paintwork on Storm Shadow is pretty decent overall. It’s nothing too fancy, but the grey accents are nice and the small bit of flesh tone and the eyes are pretty clean. The Cobra logo is well done, though it’s actually inaccurate, since (SPOILER) Storm Shadow is no longer affiliated with Cobra in Retaliation. The figure was packed with two swords (one long, one short), a backpack that holds them, and one of Hasbro’s signature oversized missile launchers. Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I mostly skipped out on the Retaliation stuff when it was released, mostly due to being unable to find the few figures I actually wanted from the line and then not really caring enough to buy them when I did find them months later. So, why do I have Storm Shadow? Clearance. He was $3 at Toys R Us, and I was already buying other things, so he felt worth it. (Also, Super Awesome Girlfriend was with me at the time and she will literally not let me put an action figure back.)  After opening him and playing around with him a bit? He was definitely worth it.