Tag Archives: Hasbro

#0631: Tiger Shark

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

TIGER SHARK

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Tigershark1

Remember about a week ago when I was talking about the more obscure villains? Well, Tiger Shark is definitely one of those. When one of the most notable things about you is that you fought the Sub Mariner, you aren’t at the top of anyone’s list. But, those types of characters seem to be Hasbro’s specialty as of late, and I certainly won’t be complaining about it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tigershark2Tiger Shark is figure number four in the new Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. Like Batroc and Radiactive Man before him, he’s another figure salvaged from the proposed “Jubilee Series” of the Return of Marvel Legends line. With Tiger Shark, we’re now just one figure away from getting all of the figures from that series, which is pretty darn amazing. Hasbro is very committed to not letting those go to waste! The figure is about 6 ¾ inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. If you’ve read either my Radioactive Man or Anti-Venom reviews, you’ve seen a lot of this figure’s sculpt before. He’s built on the Hyperion buck, which is a decent body. It isn’t one of their greatest, but it’s not their worst either. The only real issue with it is how far back the neck sits on the chest, but that’s only obvious in certain poses. Aside from that, it’s a good base for larger characters, such as Tiger Shark. In addition to that body, he’s got a unique set of clawed hands (which are bound to see re-use at some point) and an all-new head sculpt. These pieces are all well sculpted and match up pretty nicely with the base body. The head, which was sculpted a little while ago, has that boxy look of some of the early Return of Marvel Legends males. That being said, it works okay for Tiger Shark. The biggest down side is that the headfin, which, while well-sculpted, restricts the neck movement greatly, due to it being made from solid plastic. I’m not sure what could be done to avoid this issue, but it’s annoying nonetheless. Now we get to the paint. Oh boy, the paint. Hasbro frequently has issues in this area, but Tiger Shark seems worse than usual. The torso is really where the worst is; they’ve painted orange over the purple, and, since it’s a lighter color, the purple bleeds through all over the place. The pelvis also has a huge scratch of orange on the front, which is really obvious. And this was the better of the two Tiger Sharks I saw at the store, which doesn’t speak well for the QC on this particular figure. Tiger Shark’s only extra is the right arm of the Build-A-Figure, Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Take a guess as to where I got Tiger Shark. If you guessed Toys R Us, you’re right. If you didn’t, I’m not sure what your deal is. Like, do you not read every one of my reviews? I’m hurt. Deeply. Anyway, I got Tiger Shark from my local TRU. I can’t say I was super excited about the figure, nor can I say he really blew away my expectations. That said, it’s nice to have at least gotten the figure. I’ll never say no to more Masters of Evil!

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#0630: Bulldozer

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

BULLDOZER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

Bulldozer1

The Marvel Universe is full of super villains who aren’t really specifically tied to just one hero. Sure, most of them start out with someone in particular, but then they just get passed around for a while. Such is the case with the Wrecking Crew. They started off as Thor villains, but they’ve made their way around to most of the major heroes. This ties demand for figures of them into a few fanbases. Unfortunately, they really aren’t well-known enough to the general public to warrant them all being released at once, so they have to be released one at a time. Hasbro first released them as part of their 3 ¾ inch Marvel Universe line, where each of them was packed with one of the many Marvel heroes. Then Hasbro turned their sights onto Marvel Legends. However, thanks to their wacky handling of swap figures, we only ended up getting three of the four, leaving poor Bulldozer out in the cold. But he’s finally here!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bulldozer3Bulldozer is the third figure in the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. He was originally supposed to be the swap figure for Wrecker in the last series of the Return of Marvel Legends line, but none of the revision cases were produced. Fortunately, Hasbro seems determined to never let a good Legends sculpt go to waste, so we got him here. Yay! The Wrecking Crew have had a pretty consistent look over the years, but they’ve gotten a few tweaks here and there to “modernize” them. The ML Crew represented the team in their more current incarnations, and Bulldozer follows suit, which is, at the very least, good for consistency. The figure is almost 8 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. He is a massive figure, to almost a surprising degree. And he’s got some serious heft. For the most part, he re-uses a lot of the pieces from previous Wrecking Crew members, which in turn used a tweaked version of the body used by Hulkling in ToyBiz’s Young Avengers set. The body us definitely privy to some exaggerated proportions, Bulldozer4but in the case of the Crew, that actually works pretty well. It’s also loaded with tons of texturing, which keeps the sculpt really interesting. Bulldozer features all-new, unique parts for his head, hands, shoulder armor, belt, and boot cuffs. These pieces are all done to match up with the body, and are themselves coated in tons of texture work. It gives Bulldozer a real worn-in look, which really fits his role as a thug for hire. Bulldozer actually has some pretty decent paintwork for a Hasbro figure. He’s still not perfect, but the slop is minimal, most of the paint stays within the lines, and the colors are pretty well chosen. Bulldozer has no accessories of his own (though, given the size of this guy, I can’t say he feels lacking) but he does include the left arm of Ultron, this series’ Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bulldozer was another of the figures I found at my local Toys R Us. I never got any of the other Wrecking Crew figures (due to being out of Legends at the time), so I wasn’t really expecting much out of this guy. I was really just buying him for the Ultron piece. However, he really surprised me. Quite frankly, he’s my favorite figure in the set. He’s just a lot of fun, even if you don’t have the rest of the Crew.

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#0629: Marvel’s Wasp

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

“MARVEL’S” WASP

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

WaspML1

Wasp. It’s Wasp. That’s who I’m looking at today. That’s some intro, right? Yeah, I really couldn’t come up with anything. Awkward, right? Oh well. Anyway, here’s my review of this new Wasp figure! Enjoy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF
WaspML2Wasp is figure number two from Hasbro’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series. This is Wasp’s second foray into the Marvel Legends line, though it’s her third figure (or fourth, depending on whether you believe in the mythical Blue Wasp), thanks to variants. Her last figure was way back in the last series of ToyBiz’s run on the line, 8 years ago. Plus, that wasn’t a very good figure, so it’s about time she got another shot. Wasp’s one of those characters who’s had tons of different looks over the years, so there’s quite a few good ones to choose from. Hasbro has chosen her black and gold outfit…which is the same one the ToyBiz figure was wearing. It’s not that it’s a bad design, but it’s a look we’ve gotten several times before, and it’s not exactly the most thrilling look. Oh well, nothing that can be done now. The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation, counting the wings. Wasp’s sculpt is based on the mid-sized female body we’ve seen for Storm, Hellcat, and Scarlet Witch. It’s a reasonable sculpt, with nice proportions, and I’m glad to see she’s been given non-heeled feet, which is always a plus. I wish the neck wasn’t quite so skinny, but it’s serviceable. The figure got an all-new head sculpt to top the body off. It’s a pretty good sculpt; the eyes seem just a tad too far apart, but not horribly so. The hair is a separate part from the head, which is odd, given how short it is, but it looks good and gives some nice dimension. The upper torso’s also been tweaked a bit to add sockets for the wings. They’re pretty sturdy, but the sockets are a little obtrusive. The wings themselves are quite well done, and the level of maneuverability is really great. The paintwork on Wasp is okay; not fantastic, but not bad. There’s a fair amount of slop, especially on the edges of the gold detailing, but some areas, like the face are actually pretty clean. Wasp’s only accessory is the torso of this series’ Build-A-Figure, Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, like Ant-Man, I found Wasp at my local Toys R Us a few weeks back. I think the Marvel Universe figure might still be my favorite Wasp to date, but this one’s a pretty good one. She’s definitely a huge improvement to the ToyBiz version from all those years ago, and that’s a good thing.

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#0628: Ant-Man

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

ANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

AntManMovie1

Man, if you’d told me 5 years ago that I’d be sitting here today, with the theatrical release of the Ant-Man movie less than a week away, I’d have laughed in your face. I’d have probably laughed even harder if you’d told me it wasn’t just Ant-Man, but the Scott Lang Ant-Man. That’s just preposterous! I certainly would never have believed that the character would also be headlining his own series of Marvel Legends. And yet, here we are, with all those things totally happening. I couldn’t be happier. Now, I’m gonna review my mass produced action figure of Scott Lang as Ant-Man, based on the upcoming, big-budget film. Just go with it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AntManMovie3Ant-Man is the first figure in Hasbro’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series, released to coincide with the Ant-Man movie. The figure stands 6 inches tall and features 30 points of articulation. Ant-Man features an all-new sculpt, modelled, of course, on the design of the character in the film. He’s actually the only figure in the series to be based on the film’s designs, so there’s that. Of course, Scott just got a redesign in the comics that isn’t horribly far removed from the movie look (though it’s got more than a few differences), so you could easily fudge this one as being a comic figure too, if you were so inclined. The sculpt looks to do a pretty decent job of translating the movie look into plastic form. The helmet is configured with just the bottom half of his face showing, much like it looks in the comics, which is a look I haven’t actually seen in any of the film’s promotional material. It’s possible the look just hasn’t been shown, but it’s a little odd to see Hasbro go for a look that isn’t being widely promoted. Regardless, I think I might actually prefer him this way, so I don’t mind. The rest of the sculpt is pretty strong, with good proportions, and nice texturing and detail AntManMovie4work. The hands are posed in a slightly odd way, though, to Hasbro’s credit, it looks as though DST’s Marvel Select figure has pretty much the same hands. They just seem weird, and it would have been nice to get an extra pair of hands at the very least. The hands are still well-sculpted for what they are, and they’ve even got the little button that activates the shrinking. As with just about every figure produced by Hasbro these days, his only real downfall is his paint work. It’s not terrible; the colors are decent, the helmet’s got some nice weathering, and most of the paint stays within the sculpted lines. However, there’s a distracting amount of red slop on his left leg, which is really annoying. Ant-Man makes out pretty well in the accessories department; he includes miniature versions of himself, Yellow Jacket, as well as his pet ant Ant-hony (whom the miniature Ant-Man can ride). The figure also includes the head of the series’ Build-A-Figure Ultron.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The modern collecting world is very much built on knowing what’s coming and buying as much as you can online. That can kind of take a slight bit of the excitement out of getting new stuff, since there’s not really any victorious moment of finding new stuff. For a change, I actually found almost the entirety of this series at my local Toys R Us, and I didn’t even know they were out yet! Ant-Man is a figure with a few flaws, but he’s overall pretty fun.

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#0624: Yoda

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

YODA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Yoda1

After a bit of a hiatus, I’m finally getting back into Star Wars: The Black Series. It’s not really by choice or anything, it’s just that I’ve finally started finding the figures I want again. The stores around me are all still drowning in a sea of Episode III Obi-Wans, so none of them have been getting any of the new figures. So, I have to check other places, outside of my usual stops to actually find the guys I want. Fortunately, luck’s been on my side, allowing me to track down several desired figures, including today’s focus, Yoda.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yoda2Yoda was part of the…umm… he was released in the…hmmm. Okay, yeah, Star Wars: The Black Series has done it again. Hasbro’s releases are strange and more than a little hard to follow, so I’m never quite sure where figures actually got released. Yoda’s been given the number 06, but, in all honesty, those numbers are mostly meaningless, since a) they restarted the numbering with Series 4 and b) the numbers don’t seem to have anything to do with order of release. The TIE Pilot is #05, but I know for a fact he came after Yoda. I think Yoda might have been part of the same assortment as the Clone Sergeant, which I believe was the sixth series of figures. The figure is about 3 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. Now, here’s where the first real issues begin to crop up. See, that’s plenty of articulation, but, for some reason, the figure’s been given double elbow joints, which seem excessive, and nothing but thigh cuts on the legs, so he can’t really do much but stand. Kind of a bummer. The figure has a brand new sculpt, which isn’t a huge surprise. It’s pretty good, overall. The head, hands, and feet all have a nice amount of detail, and the Yoda4clothes are well textured.  The arms are a little bit long, but that’s minor. Of course, most of the sculpt won’t ever be seen, due to the outer robe being done with cloth. I don’t mind the cloth robe at all. It could maybe be a little better tailored and I’m not sure how it will stand the test of time, but it’s not bad. It’s held in place by a small rubber belt, which does its job well, so that’s good. Paint is the one area where the figure (and the line, really) could stand to improve. It’s not bad, but it’s not super great either. The basic colors are fine, but the application is sloppy, and pretty much everything bleeds over. Yoda has a fairly decent selection of accessories, including his signature cane, the blissl flute and snake of the vintage figure, and a lightsaber. What’s that you say? You don’t see a lightsaber in any of the pictures? Well, that’s because goofball Ethan lost it before taking the pictures. Of course, I’m not much of a fan of Yoda having a lightsaber anyway. Plus, as what is clearly an Empire Strikes Back version of the character, the lightsaber’s really not accurate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I mentioned in the intro, none of my main retail stops have gotten any Black Series since Series 2. This presents problems in getting anything that is after Series 2, which happens to be most of the line. With Yoda, things weren’t helped by him being the only OT figure in his assortment, and the only truly new figure as well. So, I kinda figured I wouldn’t be getting one. But, I was killing some time in a Walgreens, and I actually managed to stumble upon this guy! Ultimately, he’s just an okay figure. He won’t be winning any awards or anything. That said, he does a decent job of conveying the character, and he looks good with the rest of the line. Just don’t pay an arm and a leg for him. He’s not worth it.

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#0623: Ultron 2.0

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

ULTRON 2.0

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Ultron2c

It’s hard to believe it’s been two months since Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theatres. Time’s just flown by, and we’ve all moved onto other movies (such as another evil robot movie…), so it’s a little surprising that so much of the film’s merchandise is still slowly making its way to stores. The second set of the 3 ¾ inch figures made their way out about a month ago, but I’m still playing a little bit of catch-up. I’ve managed to piece together a pretty decent set of figures, including the first single release of the titular antagonist, Ultron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultron2bUltron 2.0 was released in the second assortment of 3 ¾ inch Avengers: Age of Ultron figures. As the name denotes, this figure is based on Ultron’s second main appearance, more commonly referred to as Ultron Prime. I guess Hasbro just haaaaaad to be different. So, in an effort to be upfront, it should be noted that this figure is a repaint of the Ultron Prime included in the Ultron vs. Iron Man set. As such, it inherits all of that sculpts various flaws, the most pressing being that the figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall when it really should be over 5. So, he’s still really tiny. I will say that, for whatever reason, the sculpted details seem a little sharper on this figure than they did on the other. I don’t know if that’s just the lighter plastic allowing a better view or if the figure actually went through a better casting process. While I thought the sculpt was fairly accurate on first examination, another look at it shows that it’s got more than a few deviations from the source material. The head lacks the human flare of Ultron Prime, and a lot of the finer details of the armor are incorrect. Also, he has the sort of goofy, almost clown shoe like feet, instead of the toed feet from the movie. Some of it’s rather forgivable, but it’s annoying to see it be so off. Paint, or coloring at least, is what differentiates this figure from the last one. Fortunately, he’s much better overall than what we saw before. The lighter, more metallic plastic he’s been molded in looks a lot cleaner and makes the figure look more finished. He lacks the odd translucent arms, which is good for those wanting a more basic Ultron. The actual painted details aren’t much different, though he does have some extra red detailing on his torso, which is certainly nice. He includes the same accessory as his predecessor: a blast piece molded in red.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, remember when I found the Iron Legion and Scarlet Witch and decided to give the Scarlet Witch to my Dad? Yeah, this guy’s from the same purchase. Like the Iron Legion, this guy was more bought to hold me over until I could get my own Scarlet Witch. He’s really not the most thrilling figure, but at the very least he’s an improvement over the one from the three pack. Yay for me.

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#0618: Agent Venom

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

AGENT VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINTE SERIES

AgentVenom1

Retail has become an odd place for action figures. Lots of stores are condensing their action figure section, and Toys R Us is really the only toy store game in town. But, in a time where lots of places are cutting back, Walgreens of all places has stepped up to the plate, not only carrying an increasingly wide variety of action figure lines, but also carrying their own exclusive items. Some are just simple repaints, but some are all-new, fan-demanded figures, such as Agent Venom, the subject of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AgentVenom2Agent Venom is a Walgreens exclusive figure, released to coincide with Series 1 of Amazing Spider-Man 2 Marvel Legends Infinite Series. The figure had previously been shown in various con displays, with no real mention of where he’d be showing up. The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and sports 32 points of articulation. He is, of course, based on the initial Agent Venom design, from right after Flash Thompson took over as host to the alien symbiote. It’s admittedly one of the more unique variants of the Venom design, and it makes for a rather striking figure, so it’s a good choice for a toy. The figure uses the Face-Off Punisher body as a starting point, with a unique head, hands, knees, shins, and feet and add-ons for the body armor and belt. The body is a little outdated, in terms of both proportions and articulation. However, the Bucky Cap body would be too small and the Hyperion body would be too large, making this the best fit of the existing bodies. On the plus side, the armor covers the torso, thereby hiding some of the wonky proportions. The movement still kinda sucks, but it’s not terrible. The pieces that are new are all very well sculpted. The head is nice and simple, and the armored pieces are loaded with tons of texture. When fully assembled, the figure is the spitting image of his comicbook incarnation. The paintwork on the figure isn’t quite as impressive as the sculpt. Some of that’s to be expected; the character’s design doesn’t really equate to a lot of painted detail. He’s really just got the white accent lines running throughout. They aren’t atrocious, but they could certainly stand to be a little cleaner. Agent Venom includes two Glocks, an MP5, and a USP handgun, as well as a cool four armed symbiote attachment piece to help him hold them all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually found this figure quite a while before I got one. He was amongst the large selection of figures I found at the Walgreens near Super Awesome Girlfriend’s school while I was visiting some months back. But, there were a lot of things I wanted, and I only had so much money (and space in my bag for the plane ride home) so he got put back. Then I didn’t see one again, so I figured I’d missed my shot. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a somewhat out of the way Walgreens while killing time during my brother’s karate lesson. I found this guy back behind several other ML Infinite figures. Venom’s not exactly one of my favorite comicbook characters, but the Agent Venom design is actually pretty cool, and it translates incredibly well to action figure form.

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#0599: TIE Fighter Pilot

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

TIE FIGHTER PILOT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

TIEPilot1

Star Wars: The Black Series started out pretty strong, but it sort of got a little bit lost for a while, with weird case packouts and a few questionable character version choices. However, it seems like things have picked up a little bit in more recent assortments.  I’ve been starting to find new figures at a more steady pace, which is always a good thing! Let’s have a look at one of the line’s more recent additions, the TIE Fighter Pilot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

TIEPilot2The TIE Fighter Pilot is part of …ummm….Series 5(?) of Star Wars: The Black Series. I think that’s just means it was the fifth series of the 2014-2015 segment of the line. Hasbro likes to confuse people that way. He’s marked #005 on the package; I think that places him in the second round of numbering, though it would seem he’s been released out of sequence. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and features 28 points of articulation. The TIE Pilot is based on his appearance from A New Hope. The sculpt is mostly new, which actually surprised me a bit. At first glance, I assumed that the TIE Pilot was making use of Pilot Luke’s body. However, upon closer examination, the only pieces they share are the left hand, and the hips. Some of the other parts are similar, but the TIE Pilot is taller than Luke, and the proportions have been tweaked to match. The star piece here is definitely the head sculpt. It’s got a lot in common with the Stormtrooper, but it’s all new. The details are nice and crisp, and everything is properly symmetrical. It looks pretty much like a miniaturized version of the real thing. Paint on the TIE Pilot is on the light side, but what’s there is quite well handled. He’s got the proper Imperial emblems on his shoulders and helmet, which are nice and clean. Also, the figure may be all black, but he’s got matte and shiny finishes on various parts of the uniform, which adds a nice level of realism. The TIE Pilot is also a bit light on accessories, including only a basic Stormtrooper rifle. However, given that the Pilot’s spend most of their time in the TIE Fighters, there aren’t really a lot of accessory options, so I guess it’s forgivable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The TIE Pilot is another addition to my collection courtesy of Super Awesome Girlfriend. We needed to pick up a few things from Wegman’s, and, as I’m prone to do, I wandered over to their small toy aisle, where I found this guy. Since she felt bad for dragging me along on a run to the grocery store, Super Awesome Girlfriend decided to buy the figure for me. Because, as I’ve noted many, many times before, she’s waaaaaaaaaay too supportive of this whole collecting thing. The TIE Fighter is a fun addition to the Black Series line-up, and I’m happy to have one.

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#0597: Iron Legion

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

IRON LEGION

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

IronLegion1

It seems that not everyone agrees, but I thought that Avengers: Age of Ultron was a pretty fantastic movie. I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish, and after having seen it five times, I feel it really holds up to repeat viewings. For me, perhaps the most disappointing piece of the movie experience has been the rather light offering of movie-based action figures. Hasbro’s offerings in particular seem to be missing several key pieces of what made me love the movie just as much as I did. Interestingly enough, more than one line of figures is placing a decent-sized focus on the Iron Legion, who ultimately have a minor role in the film. But, hey, new toys is new toys, so I got one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IronLegion2The Iron Legion figure is part of the second series of Hasbro’s 3 ¾ inch line of Avengers: Age of Ultron figures. The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall (not a huge shocker there) and has 5 points of articulation. It’s disappointing that Hasbro’s decided to switch to the lower articulation count, but I guess it’s, at the very least, consistent. The Iron Legion figure appears to be an all-new sculpt. It does a nice enough job of translating the movie’s design to the smaller format. The proportions are all pretty good, and the details seem to be well-placed. The sculpt is a little on the soft side in terms of details, but it’s about on par with the rest of the line. Overall, not a bad sculpt. Paint? That’s a different story. Hasbro desperately needs to work on the paint on their figures. It’s consistently their downfall. First of all, this guy is missing more than a few details. The blue is only applied to about half of the places it should be. Also, while they’ve chosen the red accent color (which I think belonged to either 03 or 05, depending on which one of those was Ultron Mk 1), they haven’t actually put in a number or done any of the detailing outside of a small section of the torso. The worst thing is that, with the exception of the small bit of red, all of the paint is very sloppily applied, with fuzzy edges, bleed over, inconsistent coverage, and splats of paint where there shouldn’t be. It’s an incredibly messy figure. The Iron Legion’s one accessory is some sort of an energy blade clip-on. Not really sure what it’s supposed to be, but I don’t think it was in the movie. At least it’s not a missile launcher…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Getting the Iron Legion was sort of bittersweet. I found him along with an entire case of Series 2 figures, which is really great. However, the figure I wanted most, Scarlet Witch, is only packed one per case (which is super dumb). My Dad really wanted one (he’s a long-time Scarlet Witch fan) so the single Witch I found went to him. So, I got this guy and an Ultron to hold myself over until I can get a Scarlet Witch for myself. The trouble is, he’s not particularly well done, nor is he a figure I was desperate to own, so my opinion of him is rather “meh.”

#0580: Chewbacca

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

CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

Chewbacca1

Once a line of figures gets a few series in, there will inevitably crop up one or two characters that are noticeably absent. Following the first three series of Star Wars: The Black Series, it was quite obvious that these two characters were Darth Vader and Chewbacca. Then, both found their way into the 5th series of the line. And there was much rejoicing! Yay! Except for one small issue: they weren’t exactly easy to find. See, there were two things that led to this. The first was that stores were sitting on lots of unsold stock of the first four series, so they under-ordered Series 5. In addition, while the series was all new figures, two of the four were variants of previously released characters. Obviously, this made the two new characters even more desirable, causing quite a bit of scarcity. I myself missed out on Chewbacca the first time around, but, fortunately for me, he got a rerelease!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chewbacca2Chewbacca was originally part of Series 5 of Star Wars: The Black Series, however he eventually found his way into Series 7 cases as well. He’s figure number 04 in the second round of numbering for the line. The figure has 27 points of articulation and stands a whopping 8 inches tall. He’s actually so tall that he was pushed back to Series 5 from Series 4 so that Hasbro would have time to re-design the packaging so that poor Chewy wouldn’t have to be crammed in some contorted pose in order to be properly seen. Dude’s really big.  Chewbacca is one of the handful of characters who essentially look the same in all of the Star Wars films they appear in. That being said, you can sort of tell which movie he’s from by what his “bangs” are doing. For this figure, they’ve gone with the slicked back A New Hope look, which works fine with me. Given Chewbacca’s unique look, it’s no surprise that he makes use of an entirely new set of sculpted pieces. To be totally honest, it isn’t one of my favorites that the line has produced. It’s certainly not bad, and in fact, they’ve done an admirable job of translating a design that doesn’t work very well on an articulated figure to…umm…an articulated figure. The fur is all pretty well textured, but the breaks for articulation are rather obvious and obtrusive. Not sure it could have been any better, but it looks off. The head was actually the part of the figure I liked the least at first, but my opinion has changed over time and now I think it might be my favorite part of the figure. I’m still not 100% sold on the decision for the mouth to be open, but it looks perfectly fine in person. The sculpt being a little on the wonky side is not at all helped by an iffy paint job. Now, to be fair, this paint isn’t poorly applied or messy. It’s all exactly where it should be. It’s just not as…subtle as it could be. There are two different shades of brown: one dark and one light. The problem is that there’s no shade between, so the change from one to another is rather sudden. It really doesn’t help that many of these changes occur at the connections of joints, which are already a bit jarring to begin with. Chewbacca is armed only with his trusty bowcaster. It might have been nice to get another Stormtrooper rifle or maybe a set of handcuffs, but the lighter accessory load is excusable given the figure’s size.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Series 5 was announced, I knew I wanted to get a Chewbacca figure. However, when I ended up finding the series, I could only find Luke and Vader, with no sign of Chewbacca. That bummed me out quite a bit. I mentioned it to my dad, who kept an eye out for Chewbacca for several months. He finally came across one while getting lunch from Wegman’s one day, much to my excitement. I know I was a little down on this guy in my actual review. I stand by that, but I will say that just having the figure in hand improves my personal opinion of the figure, even if the actual quality could be a bit better. I think part of it is just that Chewy is an important piece of the films and a collection wouldn’t be complete without him.

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