Tag Archives: Hasbro

#0692: Rey (Starkiller Base)

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

REY (STARKILLER BASE)

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Rey1

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.

Rey4

#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

Trooper&Walker1

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.

Trooper&Walker6

#0688: Storm Shadow

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

STORM SHADOW

GI JOE: RETALIATION

StormShadowR1

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.

#0683: Scarlet Witch

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

SCARLET WITCH

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

ScarletWitchAoU1

It’s September and I’m still making my way through the Age of Ultron toys from the beginning of the summer. It’s not like I’m just now getting these figures or anything, I’ve just had a ton of stuff to review over the summer. Anyway, I’m finally getting around to reviewing these guys, so yay. Let’s take a look at yet another of one of the film’s breakout characters, Scarlet Witch.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ScarletWitchAoU2Scarlet Witch was released in the second series of Avengers: Age of Ultron 3 ¾ inch figures. As such, she stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation. The lowered articulation on these guys still really sucks, but I guess it’s consistent. Wanda has a unique sculpt, but it’s similar in a lot of ways to her smaller figure from the 2 ½ inch line, at the very least in terms of pose. Given the larger scale, the sculpt is understandably more detailed. Her clothing in particular is a fair bit more textured, which adds a nice touch of realism. The larger scale has also allowed for slightly better proportions on the figure, as well as a better likeness of Elizabeth Olsen. In general, this is probably one of the best sculpts the 3 ¾ inch line has produced, which makes the reduced articulation a little easier to swallow. The paintwork on Scarlet Witch is passable, but nothing amazing. She’s got the most basic colors, without much variation, which is true to the rest of the line. At the very least, it’s pretty cleanly applied, with no real slop or bleed over. So, that’s good. Scarlet Witch is packed with a pair of spellcasting effects, which are the same pieces as the ones included with the recent ML Infinite Series Scarlet Witch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After giving the first 3 ¾ inch Scarlet Witch I found to my Dad, I was finally able to find one for myself a few weeks later. It seems more cases of this set have started hitting, so Scarlet Witch is a lot easier to find. That’s good, because she’s one of the better figures the line has had to offer.

Looks like it was a shorter review than usual! Not a whole lot of new stuff to say!

#0680: Ant-Man Boxed Set

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

GIANT-MAN, GOLIATH, & HANK PYM

MARVEL’s ANT-MAN

AntManSet1

Marvel is definitely pushing Ant-Man pretty hard right now. The movie was a resounding success, in spite of all the negative press that seemed to be surrounding it, he’s joined the cast of the Avengers Assemble cartoon, and he’s headlining one of the best solo comics the company is currently publishing. Things are definitely looking up for the bug-sized hero. Marvel licensee Hasbro has been joining in on the fun, and two of their San Diego ComiCon exclusives this year were based around Ant-Man. Today, I’ll be looking at what I feel is the more impressive of the two exclusives.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Giant-Man, Goliath, and Hank Pym (along with two smaller Ant-Men) make up an Ant-Man-themed boxed set, released this year at SDCC. The set was also available after the convention on Hasbro’s online store, which is how I got mine.

GIANT-MAN

AntManSet2Hey! Haven’t I already looked at this guy? Well, sort of. Yes, this figure uses the same costume design as the Ant-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series Giant-Man. However, unlike that figure, this one lives up to the name-sake a bit better. The figure is 12 inches tall, making him twice the height of the Infinite Series version, and he has 32 points of articulation. The figure is built on Marvel Legends Icons Cyclops body, which was previously used for the Marvel Universe Gigantic Battles Goliath and Bill Foster figures. It’s a body that was good at the time it was created, and was still pretty serviceable when it was used for Gigantic Battles, but has started to look pretty dated in recent years. The proportions and sculpted details are still okay (though he does look a little underfed), but the range of motion on the joints is rather restricted. In addition, the body has a lot of sculpted details that are specific to Cyclops, and thereby look out of place on Giant-Man. In the case of seams and the like, it’s easy to overlook them, but the straps/buckles on the wrists and the clear outline of the boots on the calves are quite distracting. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable to want Hasbro to at least retool those particular pieces. Giant-Man does get a unique head and an add-on for his belt. The head is pretty decently sculpted, though, for some reason, the antennae look sillier here than they did on the smaller figure. The belt is decent enough, but it seems a little bulky, especially compared to the painted on belt of the MLIS figure. The paint on this figure is pretty decent, aside from the obvious issues with sculpted details not lining up with the costume. The black sections are slightly glossy, and incredibly sharp at the edges, which is nice to see. One minor issue: the two black lines emanating from the circle on his chest end at the shoulder joints, instead of continuing around the shoulders like they should.  Giant-Man includes no accessories of his own.

GOLIATH

AntManSet3Moving downward on the scale chart, we get to my personal favorite figure from the set, Goliath. He’s based on Hank Pym’s first costume for his third identity. Confused? That’s okay. Most people are. This figure ends up being the most unique of those offered in the set, mostly due to his color-scheme. The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the ML Infinite Series Bucky Cap body, just like the single release Giant-Man. The body’s a pretty great base for a lot of characters, and it fits Hank rather nicely. Goliath gets a new head sculpt; it’s a little on the soft side as far as details go, but it’s pretty good overall. It’s a nice, classic hero-style head, and it isn’t too struck with the level of same-ness we’ve seen on a lot of Hasbro’s male heads in this scale. The figure also gets a new add-on piece for his belt, which is a little bit loose, but pretty well sculpted. While I like this figure a lot, oh boy did he get hit with some seriously messy paint. The colors are pretty nicely chosen, but the flesh tones are really thick and goopy, and the yellow has been applied too thinly in many areas, causing the blue of the plastic to bleed through. He’s also got some random scratches of blue on both forearms, where the glove paint has chipped. Viewed as a whole, the figure is alright, but he would have been a lot nicer if the paint had been even a little bit better. Like Giant-Man, Goliath has no accessories of his own.

HANK PYM

AntManSet5Moving down the scale chart again, we find our way to another version of Hank Pym, as well as our first actual Ant-Man figure in a set with Ant-Man plastered all over it. Hank’s presented here in his Ant-Man costume, but with a lab coat over top of it, which is a look that Hank’s been known to sport rather frequently, when he’s in an inventing mood. It’s an important look that’s largely been absent from toy form. The figure is about 4 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Structurally, Hank is very similar to the Ant-Man figure from last year. He uses the torso, legs, and feet from the basic skinny male body. It’s kind of an outdated body, but I guess it’s at least consistent with the last Ant-Man. He also has the arms and hands from the AIM Agent/Ghost Rider body, which are good for the AntManSet7looser sleeves, but are a little too long for the body. For the lab coat, he re-uses the add-on piece from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra The Doctor figure, which isn’t a perfect fit for the body, but it isn’t too far off. The head appears to be a new piece, though it’s generic enough that it could potentially be a re-use. It’s an okay sculpt, but it seems a bit too angry for Hank. The paintwork on the figure is pretty decent. The actual Ant-Man costume is identical to the regular Ant-Man, which is good, I guess. It would be nice if the lab coat were more detailed than just straight white, but oh well. Hank gets the only actual accessory in the set: an alt helmeted head. It’s exactly the same as the normal Ant-Man’s head.

ANT-MEN

AntManSet8Last up, it’s the two mini Ant-Men, who are really more accessories than outright figures. The larger of the two is based on Scott Lang’s Ant-Man costume from the 00s. It’s definitely a more modern design, but I like the enclosed nature. The figure AntMan2stands about an inch and a half tall and features no articulation. He’s got a unique sculpt, and he’s actually pretty nicely detailed for such a small figure. The paintwork is also pretty decent, with three different colors and no visible slop. The smaller Ant-Man is once again based on the classic Ant-Man design. It’s actually just the same smaller Ant-Man as was included with the Avengers Infinite Ant-Man. It’s under an inch tall and is, predictably, pretty light on the details.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as noted above, I picked this set up after the con from Hasbro Toy Shop. I detailed the ordeal in my Book of the Vishanti review, so I won’t go into that again. Ultimately, I have to admit I’m a little underwhelmed by this particular set. Giant-Man and Hank Pym are both held back by outdated bodies, and Goliath has some rather annoying paint issues. The Scott Lang figure is kinda neat, I guess, but I’d have preferred to get a larger scale version. All-in-all, I certainly don’t feel like this is a bad set, and I don’t regret purchasing them, but they just seem a bit off.

AntManSet4

#0675: Recondo

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

RECONDO

G.I. JOE: SPY TROOPS

Recondo1

You can’t really run an effective action figure review site if you don’t occasionally touch on the original action figure, G.I. Joe. It’s been a fair few months since I last looked at anything Joe-related, so their probably overdue for another review, don’t you think? I’ll be taking another gander at the early 2000s re-launch of the line, which is really what got me hooked. Let’s look at Recondo, who was one of my favorites.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Recondo2Recondo was released in the first series of G.I. Joe vs Cobra following the line’s re-branding under the G.I. Joe: Spy Troops heading in 2003. He was originally released in a two-pack with an Iron Grenadier, but he was also released as one of the Mission Disk single-pack figures, which is how I got mine. Recondo is one of the taller vs Cobra Joes, coming in at just shy of 4 inches tall. He featured 18 points of articulation, which was pretty impressive at the time (and still kind of is now!) Recondo got an all-new design for Spy Troops, which was a pretty radical departure from his vintage design. Now, I never owned the vintage Recondo, so this was my first exposure to the character. Due to that, I find myself liking this particular design a fair bit more than the original. That said, this design is a little more generic, and does ditch some of the original’s charm, so I can certainly see why people might have wanted a return to the classic design. The figure’s sculpt is very nicely handled, regardless of which design it represents. The proportions are some of the best the 00s line had to offer and his uniform has a ton of awesome little details put into it, especially on the torso, which houses a pistol, grenade, and several pouches for ammo. The paintwork is also pretty great on Recondo. Aside from a minor issue with his sleeves being fleshtoned at the elbows, everything is nice and clean and where it’s supposed to be. And, none of the things on the torso have been left unpainted, which is always a nice thing to see! Recondo was packed with a rifle, knife, and backpack, as well as the Mission Disk, which featured two episodes of the 80s cartoon and a few games.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the first series of Spy Troops two-packs were first announced, I knew I wanted the Recondo set. He just looked really cool. But, for whatever reason, I never got him (I got several of the other sets, though), and then he had mostly disappeared from stores. However, while on a mall outing with my Grandmother, I found Recondo and Wild Bill in their single-pack form at KB Toys. Man do I miss that place. Anyway, Recondo went on to be one of my favorite figures. I’m happy to see he’s held up pretty well!

#0671: Ant-Man & Ant

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

ANT-MAN & ANT

MARVEL’S ANT-MAN (HASBRO)

AntMan&Ant1

Ant-Man was a pretty fun movie. It really was. Also, seeing as the main character’s whole gimmick is his size changing, toy makers get an excuse to release figures in just about any scale they want. Hasbro’s already pretty big on different scales, so they’ve done a little bit to exploit this, though not as much as you might think. So far, they’ve offered the main character in 3 ¾ inch, 6 inch, and 12 inch sizes. I already took a look at the 6 inch Marvel Legends figure (which was a little inaccurate) and now I’ve gotten the 3 ¾ inch-sized Ant-Man and Ant set, which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are packed as a deluxe boxed item. The packaging is similar in style to Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Infinite Series, but the Marvel Legends brand isn’t mentioned on the packaging. He’s just billed under Marvel’s Ant-Man.

ANT-MAN

AntMan&Ant2Here we have the titular character, who’s kind of responsible for selling the set. The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall with 20 points of articulation. Movement is a little awkward, to be honest. His hip joints are a somewhat limited and he’s definitely held back by the lack of any torso or waist articulation. He has an all-new sculpt, which is based on his movie design. It’s similar in style to the ML figure, just shrunk down a bit. While that figure had a strange open-mouthed mask, this one has a more movie-accurate closed mouth design. It’s still not a perfect match for the movie design, but it’s pretty spot on to a lot of the earlier promotional art from the film, so it’s forgivably off. The sculpt of the body is well proportioned and features a nice bit of texture and detailing. The hands are in the same slightly odd pose as they were on the ML figure. I’m not sure what the deal is there, but they’re well sculpted hands at the very least. The paintwork on Ant-Man is cleanly handled; it’s a bit on the simpler side. It feels a bit lacking, especially when compared to the larger Ant-Man, but it looks decent enough. The red’s too bright, though, and his eyes should be a bit lighter. But, he’s not bad. Ant-Man includes no accessories, but he is packed with…

ANT

AntMan&Ant3…the Ant. One would assume that this is meant to be Ant-Hony, the ant that Scott rides in the movie, but he’s simply referred to as “Ant” in all references to him on the box. The figure is about 5 inches tall and 7 inches long, with 12 points of articulation. He’s a pretty big ant! The articulation is rather rudimentary, and it seems like they could have easily added a bit more movement if they’d wanted to, but it’s serviceable as is. All of the articulation is handled via ball and socket joints, which aren’t the sturdiest things. That means that Ant-Hony has a habit of falling apart on a frequent basis, which is more than a little annoying. From a sculpting standpoint, he’s another all new sculpt. It’s not a super-detailed sculpt or anything, but it does a respectable job of upscaling an ant. The main body has some decent texturing to it and the wings are patterned to match those on Wasp, which is certainly nice for consistency’s sake. The legs are all hollow on one side, which kind of kills a lot of the realism of the sculpt, but you can pose them so that the hollow portions are inward. Ant-Hony’s paintwork is actually pretty decent. There’s not a lot, but there’s more than you might think at first glance. The eyes are, obviously, different, but there’s also some fairly subtle red accents on the front legs and the head, which add a nice bit of variety and pairs him up well with the included Ant-Man. Like Ant-Man, Ant-Hony doesn’t have any accessories of his own.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s Super Awesome Girlfriend’s fault again! We were at my local Toys R Us and they had just put out their shipment of this set. I wasn’t sure I was going to get it, but SAGF saw that Ant-Hony was included and told me I needed to get it. I’ve learned that arguing with her on such things is relatively pointless, so I went ahead and got it. The set isn’t anything out of the ordinary for Hasbro, but it’s entertaining enough, especially given that it’s the same cost as a Marvel Legend.

AntMan&Ant4

#0666: Book of The Vishanti Boxed Set

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

DOCTOR STRANGE, MAGIK, BROTHER VOODOO, DORMAMMU, & HELA

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

BOTV1

Oh no! It’s review number 666! Number of the beast! Sign of the Devil! Other superstitious things as well! I really don’t know. In honor of the reviews number, I thought I might take a look at something a little more supernaturally-based today. Yes, I’m well aware it’s still a Marvel Legends review. That shouldn’t shock anyone at this point. It’s also a review of quite a few figures, so I’d best dive into the actual review part!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

BOTVPack1BOTVPack6These five figures (along with a life size version of the Amulet of Agamotto) make up Hasbro’s San Diego Comicon exclusive Book of the Vishanti boxed set, released this year at SDCC 2015. The set was also made available on Hasbro’s website following the con, which is how I got mine. More on that later. The set is packaged in a mock-up of the titular book, which features a few sample pages that give some backstory on the included figures. Sadly, the packaging doesn’t photograph very well, but you can sort of make out some of its details pretty well.

BOTVPack2 BOTVPack4 BOTVPack3 BOTVPack5

DOCTOR STRANGE

BOTV2Hey look! It’s Benedict Cumberbatch! Wait, sorry, not quite yet. He’s still just a relatively unknown comic book character. Ah well. Dr. Strange is presented here in his “Astral Projection” state, which is what he looks like when his mind leaves his body…and stuff. It’s kind of a standard variant for the character, though this is the first time the look has appeared in the Legends scale. The figure is just over 6 inches tall and he features 32 points of articulation. Structurally, Doctor Strange is a “pre-paint” of the upcoming Avengers Marvel Legends Infinite Series version of the character, which will release him in his non-Astral form. The figure uses the Bucky Cap body as a starting point, with a new head, torso, forearms, and hands, as well as an add-on piece for the belt and “skirt.” Most of the new parts are character-specific. The head does a nice job of capturing the somewhat aloof Doctor, and the hands have a nice spell-casting pose. The skirt is sculpted with a pit of flow to it, which helps to preserve the articulation. The torso pieces aren’t quite as character-specific; they tone down the musculature of the Bucky Cap body, which adds some nice variety. I’m sure there’s already some re-use planned on these particular parts. The good Doctor is fairly easy on the paint. For the most part, he’s molded in a translucent light blue plastic, which conveys the whole Astral Projection thing pretty well. Some of the costume details are outlined in silver, as are the eyes, and the eyebrows and mustache are done in a dark blue, but not the hair, which seems a little odd. Dr. Strange is packed with a pair of magic effects, which are the same as the ones we saw with the most recent comic Scarlet Witch.

MAGIK

BOTV5Just because the set is supernaturally themed doesn’t mean Marvel’s Merry Mutants get left out! Yes, it’s Colossus’s little sister, Magik, formerly of the New Mutants, formerly dead. Very exciting. I have only a passing familiarity with the character, so I’m not sure exactly which of her looks this figure represents. I think it’s fair to say it’s one of her more recent looks. It seems to sum up the character pretty well, so I’ll give it that. The figure is just shy of 6 inches tall and features 26 points of articulation. She uses the Spider-Girl body as a starting point, and adds in a new head, upper torso, and left arm, as well as an add-on for her belt. The Spider-Girl body is still one of my favorite Hasbro bodies, so it’s a good starting point, but I’m not sure this figure quite makes the best use of it. Something about the costume looks a little unsettling on this body. Maybe that’s just me though. The new parts are all very nicely handled; the head sculpt captures the character very nicely and the armored arm in particular exhibits some fantastic sculpting work. Magik’s paintwork is fairly decent overall. Most of the line work is nice and clean. The lack of pupils is a little odd looking, but that’s probably a design thing, so I can’t fault Hasbro. The red X on her right arm is a little uneven, but not terribly, and the hair and left arm have some great washes to help bring out the texture of the sculpts. Magik is packed with two differently sized swords. The smaller one is fairly basic, but the larger one is actually pretty awesome, and it’s even molded in iridescent plastic!

BROTHER VOODOO

BOTV3Hey, it’s another character I don’t know a ton about! I mean, I know the character’s basic schtic and I could pick him out of a line-up, I’ve just never followed any of his adventures very closely. I know he took over as the Sorcerer Supreme a few years back, but I don’t really know what’s happened with him since then. I do know that the figure is based on one of his more recent looks, following his promotion, and it was relatively short-lived. I guess it ties in with the set, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. Oh well. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation. Like so many male figures these days, he uses the Bucky Cap body as his base, with a new head and right hand, plus the left hand of Spider-Man 2099 and add-ons for the cape, hood, belt, and gauntlets. The head does a fairly decent job of capturing the character. Once again, it’s not my preferred look, but it’s well-sculpted to say the least. The sash piece is well textured and is once again sculpted with a bit of wind flow to it. The cape is the same one we saw on Grim Reaper; it’s not my favorite, but I guess it works okay. The hood piece is sculpted to match and even includes the Eye of Agamotto. The pieces all fit well together and do a good job of translating the comic design to three-dimensions. Voodoo’s paintwork is pretty decently handled. Some of the skeleton outlines are a little fuzzy around the edges and the cape and sash could use a bit of a wash or something to dirty them up a bit, but everything is generally pretty good. Brother Voodoo is packed with a staff, which is a bit difficult for him to hold, but a nice extra overall.

DORMAMMU

BOTV6You can’t really have a Dr. Strange-themed set without including one of him main foes, Dormammu. So, here he is, making his debut appearance in Marvel Legends. When he first appeared, he just had a Human Torch head and a pair of purple long johns, which isn’t the most imposing look of all time. In the last few years, he’s gotten a bit of an upgrade, which has definitely made him just a touch more threatening. This figure goes with the newer look. I can’t blame them on that one, but I do sort of hope we see good ol’ purple long john-ed Human Torch at some point. He has a sort of a goofy charm to him. Now, how about the actual figure? Well, he stands almost 8 inches in height and has 31 points of articulation. He makes use of Hasbro’s under-used Terrax body, from way back in the first series of the Return of Marvel Legends. It’s a good, solid, large body, and it’s an excellent starting point for a big guy like Dormammu. It also matches up pretty well stylistically with the rest of the based bodies, which is always good. The BOTV7figure gets a new head and hands, as well as add-ons for his shoulder armor, belt/loincloth, and boot covers. All of these pieces are nicely-sculpted. The shoulder piece is a little on the loose side, but it looks nice. The head in particular captures the character’s look really well, and has a lot of nice, clean line-work. Dormammu’s paintwork is probably the spottiest of the set. It’s not bad, per say, but a lot of the edge work is fuzzy and he’s got a bit of slop on one of his shoulders. Also, the red is kinda thin, but that might be on purpose. I do like how the plastic on the arms is slightly translucent. Dormammu is packed with a pair of flaming skulls (re-used from one of Hasbro’s Ghost Riders) which are actually pretty nifty.

HELA

BOTV4If the mutants get a slot, I guess the Norse Gods are owed a spot too. So, we got a stand-in for the devil (in Dormammu), why not a version of Death? The last version of Death I looked at was Nekron, who’s super boring. Hela’s definitely a lot cooler! Well, cooler looking to say the least. Hela appears to be based on her original design, which seems to have re-surfaced more recently, allowing her to fit in with both classic and modern figures. That’s always a plus! The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation. Hela makes use of the body Hasbro developed for Red She-Hulk during the RoML line. Some have said it’s too big for Hela, but her listed height is 6’6”, which makes this body about right. The body itself is pretty well sculpted, and it avoids any odd proportions for the most part. The hip articulation is a little out of date, but it’s not the worst thing ever. Hela gets a new head sculpt, which is quite nicely sculpted, and quite attractive. The weird head gear is made up of two separate pieces that plug into the back of the head. Be careful not to lose those! I almost did! Hela also has an add-on for her shoulder pads, which are attached to a cloth cape. I’m usually not big on cloth capes, but this one’s alright, and certainly preferable to the one on Brother Voodoo. Hela has a fairly complex paint job, but she actually manages to get one of the cleaner paint jobs in the set. The basic dark green is nice and shiny and the lighter green is a nice, flatter complement. All of the details are nice and clean, which is great to see on a Hasbro figure. She’s packed with a pretty nifty broadsword, which I believe is a new piece. Her grip on it is a little loose, but it looks cool enough.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I wasn’t going to SDCC this year, I had to resort to getting this on Hasbro’s online store or risk having to pay twice its original value on Ebay. So, I found out what day the SDCC stuff was going on, opened the site on my computer, and sat there and refreshed the page for several hours. Eventually, the stuff got listed and I got this set put in my cart (actually, I put 3 in my cart by accident and had to spend a decent chunk of time trying to remove the two extras). Hasbro’s servers were overloaded of course, so there was a lot of wait time from page to page, which definitely made things pretty stressful for 20 minutes or so. What’s funny is I hadn’t planned on grabbing this set initially, since I only have a passing knowledge of most of the characters included. But, for some reason, as the con got closer, this set became more and more appealing. I’m really glad I picked it up. Astral Strange is a fun variant, Voodoo and Magik are passable, and I’ve always liked Dormammu. Hela steals the show for me, though. The paint is superb and she’s just a solid figure all around!