Tag Archives: Hasbro

#3508: Tunnel Rat

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

TUNNEL RAT

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

My GI Joe reviews aren’t *quite* as infrequent these days as they have been, I suppose, but my investment in the franchise’s latest incarnation, Classified, is certainly waning. At this point, I’m just sticking to characters I have a prior attachment to, rather than trying to build up a full lineup. First introduced into the franchise in 1987, and even getting a focus in the animated movie from the same year, Tunnel Rat’s not necessarily one of the faces of the franchise, but he’s become a recurring element of its more paired down core team approaches. And, four years into Classified, he’s getting a 6-inch update.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tunnel Rat is figure 83 in the G.I. Joe: Classified Series lineup. They’ve done away with assortments at this point, but he’s been shipping alongside the classic Firefly, as they’re both mass release figures. The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. Tunnel Rat’s articulation scheme is more or less the same setup we’ve seen on all of the male Classified figures. It does what it does. It can at times make him a little floppy, but that’s just G.I. Joe. Tunnel Rat is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Fred Aczon, patterned pretty much directly on his v1 figure. It’s…well, I certainly have some opinions. Let’s discuss just looks first. On a purely aesthetic front, he’s a very nice looking figure. The technical side of the sculpting is definitely solid. That said, the design being so slavishly loyal to the original means that you get a guy who’s clearly patterned on a Viet Nam-era soldier, inexplicably hanging out with high-tech paramilitary squad in 2023. It’s not entirely without adjustments, though. Notably, while the original figure was inspired by Larry Hama, both facially and in terms of footwear (hence the cowboy boots), this one goes for more generic facial features, and grants him more standard issue footwear. While the head looks nice, I can’t help but feel it loses a bit of the personality sported by the original. Still, it’s an overall decent look. So, with the overall positive assessment of the look out of the way, let’s discuss functionality, because oh boy is that a thing. As has become increasingly common for the line, Tunnel Rat’s assembly has all of his gear each as its own separate overlay piece. While this is great in theory, what with the potential of customization and all, in practice it leads to a lot of loose floating pieces, all on top of each other. In Tunnel Rat’s case, his neckerchief, shoulder holster, ammo belt, and satchel are each a separate part, all vying for the rather small space that is his torso. With no way for any of them to peg into place or lock in, they just get mangled into a mess of stuff sliding all over the place every time you try to pose him. In particular, the ammo belt wants to slide off the shoulder, and the holster wants to pop up off chest, and they are going to fight you every time you move. If there was just some way to lock a few pieces in one spot, I think he’d be a lot more fun. His color work is about what you’d expect, being on par with the rest of the line, as well as consistent with the original figure. There’s a little bit of missing coverage on the edges of the bandanna on mine, but he otherwise looks pretty solid. Tunnel Rat is packed with his large rifle (with folding legs at the front and a removable magazine), a pistol, a knife, night vision goggles, his backpack, and two flashlights. While the rifle’s folding legs are more secure than the folding stock on Falcon’s shotgun, the magazine falls out very easily, which is frustrating for posing. Likewise, the backpack again doesn’t contour to the figure’s back at all, meaning it also falls out of place a lot, adding even more to the general not-fun-ness of handling the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tunnel Rat’s been a particular favorite of mine since I got into the smaller scale Joes in the early ’00s, and he was one of the very first vintage Joes that I added to my collection. I’ve loved his updates for Sigma 6 and Renegades, and he’s been a character I’ve been hoping to see added since Classified launched. This figure is one that I wanted to love so badly…but unfortunately I just don’t. Sure, he looks cool, but he’s absolutely no fun, and that kind of sucks. It’s just another sign that the line’s just really not what I’m looking for, I suppose.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3507: Magneto

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

MAGNETO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As the “mind’s eye” take on the characters for a very large portion of the fanbase, X-Men: The Animated Series holds a pretty special place for the X-franchise as a whole.  The show got 5 seasons in its original run, but there’s always room for more, right?  Right.  We got our first continuation in comic form, which was honestly pretty fun.  However, three decades after the fact, we’re getting a proper follow-up, X-Men ’97, which will see a return to the show’s universe to animation, as well as the return of most of the original show’s cast.  With the show’s original release set for the end of 2023 (before it got delayed to next year), there’s already plenty of merchandising out there, including a whole set of Marvel Legends.  Today, I’m taking a look at the updated version of Magneto!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto is part of the six-figure line-up for the X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  Though they’re not directly referencing any older figures, this set is nevertheless using the retro card layout for their packaging.  Magneto is based on his appearance in the new show, which looks to be more or less the same as his appearance in the original.  That makes him a pretty standard classic Magneto, which is honestly pretty cool, since we haven’t gotten a standard release classic Magneto in Legends since the Toy Biz days.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The last four Legends Magnetos have all been built on the Spider-UK body, which remains a solid choice for the character. This one is definitely a derivative of that one, using modified versions of the arms and legs (which are now pinless at the elbows and knees), plus the Magneto-specific forearms and boots from the Family Matters set. It’s all topped off with a new head, torso, and cape, all courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan. The Family Matters set-up wasn’t bad, but the new pieces clean it up just a touch, and the new head/helmet combo is just so nice. Easily the best classic Magneto sculpt at this scale. Magneto’s color work is decent enough. The 97 figures aren’t doing cel-shading like the Animated figures did, but they’re certainly still keeping the general coloring vibe going, so they can all still fit together. This guy definitely leans into his animation colors, and does so rather nicely. I quite like the shading around the eyes. Magneto is packed with two sets of hands, in open gesture and fists. It feels a little light. An alternate head, sans helmet would have been really cool, as would some effects pieces of some sort.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the Family Matters Magneto, so I wasn’t much looking for a new classic Magneto.  That said, there were a few minor things on the last one that I was up for seeing some improvement on, most notably the head/helmet.  This new one really hit the spot, and he’s just overall a nice improvement on every front to the last one.  He’s a definite upgrade.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3505: “Charger” Mark McCutchen with Unlimited Series Car

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

“CHARGER” MARK McCUTCHEN with UNLIMITED SERIES CAR

NASCAR RACERS (HASBRO)

“Welcome NASCAR fans to the Unlimited series races! Prepare to be floored by the new state of the art cars and challenging new courses. Can Team Fastex hold on for the win to beat out rival team Rexcor for the season championship?”

Do you ever have one of those memories, like one of those very intense memories of something, only to have, like, no one else even acknowledge that said thing even existed?  I mean, probably.  It happens to us all, right?  Well, one of those for me is NASCAR Racers.  Launched in 1999, it has very little to do with actual NASCAR, and was instead a cartoon about futuristic car racing.  Honestly, it’s more an update to Speed Racer than an adaptation of anything real world.  The show ran for two seasons, and managed to spawn a small line of toys from Hasbro.  And then the show ended and the toys disappeared, and everybody stopped talking about it.  Well, I’m gonna talk about it now, and nobody can stop me!  So, let’s look at “Charger” Mark McCutchen and his Unlimited Series Car!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

“Charger” Mark McCutchen and his Unlimited Series Car were part of the standard component to Hasbro’s NASCAR Racers line.  Charger being the most prominent of the show’s racers got the most toy coverage, with two standard releases (this one and an ice-themed variant), plus a deluxe electronic release.  This one was based on his standard racing set-up from the show’s two seasons.  The main Charger figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation (the legs move as one, rather than independently).  He’s a rather basic piece, not really designed to do much on his own, but he’s not bad for what you’re getting.  He’s fairly recognizable as Charger as seen in the show, and he’s even got a removable helmet, bound to get lost, right?  His color work isn’t quite a match for his show design; his clean yellow accenting from the show is changed to more of a lightning pattern here.  It still reads more or less the same, but it’s definitely different.

Though Charger’s name was the main focus on the packaging, the majority of the box was taken up by his car.  It’s a fully detailed racing car, which is honestly pretty cool.  There’s four moving wheels (something you should never take for granted), and the canopy flips up so that you can place Charger in the driver’s seat, which doubles as a fully removable “Rescue Racer,” like the cars had in the show.  The car also featured a shooting missile on the front, as well as Sonic Thrusters that pop out of the sides.  Or, at least they should, but they’re stuck on mine and I don’t want to force them.  There’s a lot of fun lille gimmicks at play with this one.  There’s also a lot of really fun detailing on the car, especially in terms of its coloring.  While the patterns on the figure were a little off, the car is pretty much spot-on to the show’s models.  The proper details are largely done via decals, which add a lot of really fun elements to the mix.  I particularly enjoy seeing his sponsors, all of which are Hasbro brands from the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first encounter with NASCAR Racers was one of frustration, because its pilot movie pre-empted Avengers: United They Stand.  That was my favorite show, and I would except no substitutes.  But, when it *wasn’t* pre-empting Avengers, I got to actually liking the show on its own, and I was pretty well hooked by the end of the first season.  I didn’t have standard Charger as a kid, instead getting the deluxe Future Car release, alongside “The Collector” and his car.  I’ve since lost, like, everything to those two.  Since the original run, I haven’t been able to find any other toys from the show.  That is, until I stopped at Factory Antiques (THE LARGEST ANTIQUE MALL IN THE U.S.!!!…according to their brochure) to break up a long drive, and they had all standard Team Fastex racers.  Given the pricing on these things these days, a whole set wasn’t something I could swing, but with some encouragement from my very lovely wife, I decided to at least get Charger.  He’s just as fun as I remember these things being back in the day, which makes me very happy.  Maybe someday I’ll get the chance to own the rest, but until then, Charger suits me just fine.

#3504: Hydra Stomper Series Wrap-Up

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

WARRIOR GAMORA, NICK FURY, YELENA BELOVA, & HYDRA-STOMPER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As become the trend for the last handful of Marvel Legends assortments I’ve taken a look at, I’m wrapping up my latest round of Legends reviews by a quicker, all-in-one wrap-up for the figures I’m less interested in for this particular assortment, along with the main course, the Build-A-Figure!  So, let’s jump on into that!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Warrior Gamora, Nick Fury, and Yelena Belova are Figures 1, 3, and 6 from the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends.  They’re the last three figures that contribute to the assortment’s Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper, who is assembled from parts included with 6 of the 7 figures in the assortment.

WARRIOR GAMORA

“In the MCU, Gamora was raised by Thanos to become a deadly assassin. But in this universe, her tactics are challenged by a new, unusual target: Tony Stark.”

In the first season finale of What If…? we were treated to a team of heroes assembled from the cast of prior episodes throughout the season…and Gamora.  One episode got pushed from Season 1 to 2 due to production delays, and it was the one that would have explained what the heck was going on with this version of Gamora, so we kind of had to infer some things.  Season 2 should finally give us that episode, however, so maybe we’ll finally get what’s going on there?  Well, in the mean time, she’s got an action figure, which stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  Her mobility is a little on the stiff side, but she does at least get the pinless joints.  Also of note is just how hard it is to keep this figure standing, which is rather frustrating.  She’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which looks rather accurate to the animation models, placing her on par with the figures from the last set in that regard.  In terms of coloring, she’s again pretty well-matched to the show look.  The paint application is a little sloppy on edges of hands but otherwise clean, and the colors certainly pop.  Warrior Gamora is packed with her own version of Thanos’s double-bladed thing, as well as the left arm of Hydra Stomper, and an extra left hand.

NICK FURY

“In the years following the Blip, a weary Fury must face his biggest and most personal challenge yet when he learns of the Skrulls’ clandestine invasion of Earth.”

As I touched on in my Talos review, I wasn’t much of a fan of Secret Invasion.  It’s handling of Nick Fury was on my list of things I didn’t really care for.  Personally, I felt it to be a bit of a waste of Samuel L Jackson’s talent.  But, I’m not here to review the show, I’m here to talk about the toys.  This Fury is based on his later in the show look, as he’s in the process of going back to being his old self.  It’s a fairly basic Fury, with a little dressing up, so it’s not the worst choice.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  His articulation is rather on the restricted front, for a handful of reasons, chief among them being how his coat is set-up.  The figure is based on the tall suit body, or is at the very least using its arms and legs.  He’s got a new head, torso, and coat, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  The head sculpt is sporting a solid likeness of Jackson, and is definitely the best thing about the figure.  The coat isn’t terrible *looking*, but it’s still very restricting.  The hands look a bit too large for the body, and his whole build feels kinda scrawny for Nick.  In general, the figure’s not very fun to mess with, which is kind of a bummer.  His paint work is rather on the basic side, but that’s kind of expected.  It does what it needs to.  Nick does at least get a respectable accessory set-up.  He’s got his knit cap (which sits quite well on the head), plus two styles of pistol, two muzzle flashes, two smoke effects, and the left leg of the Hydra Stomper.

YELENA BELOVA

“After the Blip, former Widow Yelena returns to a world without her beloved sister Natasha. Now, Yelena seeks revenge on the man responsible for her sister’s alleged demise: Clint Barton.”

Yelena’s re-appearance in Hawkeye was hinted at during Black Widow‘s post-credits scene, so it wasn’t a terrible surprise when the masked assailant trying to kill Clint in the show turned out to be her.  But, of course, Hawkeye was generally not a show built on crazy twists and turns, so much as just pretty straight forward narrative payoff.  For the story, Yelena has gone back to a more traditional Black Widow appearance, so that allows for a different approach to her design for a figure.  Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Construction wise, she’s got re-used arms and legs.  The arms are from the old Yelena, while the legs are a mix of pieces from the prior Yelena and the solo movie Natasha.  The new suit detailing doesn’t completely match the old sculpt, but I guess it’s close enough. My figure also has a weird mold scarring on the right leg, which was annoying.  She gets a new head, torso, and wrist bracers.  The head sports a better overall likeness of Florence Pugh, but its relative scaling seems a little off compared to the body.  The rest of the new parts are decent enough, fitting in with the old parts.  In terms of paint, the face detailing seems a little dark, but otherwise, it’s not bad.  The body work is pretty basic, but that’s pretty much expected.  Yelena is packed with two sets of hands, batons, and the torso to the Hydra Stomper.  Given how key her masked appearance is to the overall set-up of her arrival on the show, it feels like this figure is missing an alternate masked head.

HYDRA STOMPER

In the first season finale of What If…?, when the Watcher pulls in Captain Carter for his mission, he plucks her out of her timeline’s version of the opening scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier.  When he returns her at the end of the episode, that universe’s Natasha informs Peggy that they’ve found something, revealing a glimpse at some sort of variant of Steve’s Hydra Stomper armor from the ’40s.  Since Steve stepped into Bucky’s overall role in that universe, it is presumed that he will also become that universe’s equivalent to the Winter Soldier.  We won’t really know for sure until the follow-up actually airs during Season 2, but we’ve got a figure of his updated design (which is, disappointingly, not called the “Winter Stomper”), and that’s pretty cool.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  His sculpt is an all-new one, since its meant to be based on a total upgrade of the armor (based on the one shot of it we’ve seen, anyway).  He’s a lot smaller than the last one, and just how accurate that is remains to be seen, since our only shot doesn’t have anyone else there for any sort of scale.  The new look definitely has a more proper post-WW2 vibe about it, without feeling like it’s 100% modernized, either.  It’s a little sleeker and more rounded off than the previous design, which also fits with that slightly smaller scaling.  It’s still a very chunky sculpt, though.  All that said, his articulation winds out working a little bit better, since there’s not as much boxiness to work around.  The rocket pack also has a much easier time staying in place this time around.  Hydra Stomper’s color work replicates his new, updated color scheme, which is silver and red, instead of the prior drab green and white accenting.  The molded plastic for the silver is the swirly kind, which I’m a tad iffy on, but it does alright.  The painted accents are cleanly applied, and works pretty well.  Though he’s a Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper still gets a reasonable accessory set-up, with two sets of hands and an unmasked Steve head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Disney+ assortments have been a bit of a mixed bag, but there keeps being enough of a draw in each set (usually, the Build-A-Figure, honestly) to pull me back in.  With the Captain Carter stuff being my favorite part of What If…? by far, there’s no way I was passing up on this set, even if I didn’t strictly speaking want every figure in it.  Ultimately, it’s overall more of a middling assortment.  Not bad, but just more middle of the road than anything.  Stomper and Fisk are both nearer the top of the list, being pretty much exactly what I expected them to be.  Talos winds up as the unexpected gem in the line-up.  The show may not have been great, but that figure sure is.  Goliath is by the numbers, but a thoroughly solid figure.  Agatha is practically a glorified statue; she looks good, but there’s very little play factor.  And the rest?  Well, they didn’t warrant me keeping them, for one reason or another.  Gamora’s a decent sculpt, and probably the best of the three.  Yelena’s got some issues with deco and re-use, and as good as the likeness may be, the first figure still feels like a better overall toy.  And Fury?  Fury is easily the weakest of the bunch.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3503: Ultra Magnus

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

ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS: STUDIO SERIES (HASBRO)

“Ultra Magnus leads defensive measures against the Decepticons invading Autobot City.”

Well, it’s been another few months with no Transformers around these parts, so, you know, maybe I’ll address that?  Yeah, let’s do that.  And the best way to address a Transformers drought is…well, let’s be honest, with me it’s either gonna be Ultra Magnus or Soundwave.  Today, let’s focus on the former. Back in 2021, Hasbro started working Transformers: The Movie figures into their Studio Series line, in celebration of the movie’s 35th anniversary. At the same time, Earthrise and Kingdom added a few more compatible characters in a fairly close to movie style. Ultra Magnus’s anniversary-related figure wound up in Kingdom, and sort of walked the line between cartoon and toy, having an animated style exterior, while still retaining the toy style inner bot. This doesn’t quite hit the same mark as a Studio Series release, so, obviously a follow-up was needed, right?  Sure, yeah, let’s go with that.  I will literally never turn down a new Magnus.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultra Magus is a Commander Class release in Hasbro’s Transformers: Studio Series, where he’s numbered 86-21.  Magnus is notable for being the first instance of a Commander release under the Studio Series banner; previously, they were just a main line thing.  It also means he bumps up a class after being typically in the Leader category.  In his robot mode, the figure stands 9 inches tall and he has 30 workable points of articulation.  His articulation is generally improved compared to the usual Magnus, so he get a lot more poses than you might expect from a guy that’s so bulked up.  In particular, he gets a really cool set up on his hands, allowing for “fists”, basic grip, trigger grip, and even pointing.  The only part I’m not super keen on is how the shoulders work when extending out to the side; you’re effectively just popping them out of the socket, and the hinge isn’t strong enough to actually hold them up.  Magnus’ sculpt is all-new, and, as noted in the intro, it eliminates the inner robot mode, since he had nothing of the sort in the movie or cartoon.  This allows the design to focus purely on Magnus’ armored up design, and not have to worry about contending with an additional mode.  As such, his proportions work out slightly differently, and he doesn’t have spots where you can still see the smaller bot poking through.  It’s a strong sculpt, definitely capturing his movie design very well.  The only part that feels off to me is, again, the shoulders, which seem to be a little too wide for proper animation accuracy.  It’s not far off, mind you, and has to do with folding up parts from his alt-mode, so it’s not the end of the world.  Ultra Magnus gets a few built-in features.  To replicate the scene in the movie where he is drawn and quartered, his arms and legs are removable, by way of a spring-loaded locking system.  Magnus also gets a spot in his torso to house the Matrix of Leadership (as he does for a while in the movie), which is likewise spring loaded.  Pulling up the blue armored section of the torso flips the two chest doors open, revealing the included Matrix.  Magnus is packed with his toy-style rifle, plus his smaller emergency rifle from the movie, both of which can be stored on his back.  He also includes 7 different effects pieces, which are modular, and can be combined into different set-ups in conjunction with the rifles and the rockets.

With no inner bot, this Magnus transforms directly into his car-carrier vehicle mode, rather than the separate cab/carrier set-up of the Kingdom and Siege molds.  He’s a Commander Class, so there’s a definite complexity to the transformation.  It’s definitely a little more on the fiddly side, and I was consulting the instructions more on this one than others.  That said, it’s not terribly unintuitive, and its still a Magnus, so there are certain broad strokes that still land for the sequence.  The resulting vehicle mode is honestly pretty good.  There are a few spots where it doesn’t *quite* tab together perfectly, but otherwise it works, and the carrier portion is even large enough to properly carry Deluxe Class car bots, which is definitely a plus from the compatibility stand-point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting the Kingdom Magnus, I didn’t think I needed another G1-style Magnus.   I mean, that one’s, like, really solid.  How do you top it?  You don’t, as it turns out.  You go a different direction.  This one definitely was a surprise, but a happy one.  He’s definitely fun.  I don’t know that he beats out Kingdom Magnus in my *personal* order, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate another Magnus for my Magnus shelf.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3502: Goliath

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

GOLIATH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In this universe, an alien threat forces Bill Foster to put aside his differences with former partner Hank Pym to join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest team of heroes.”

Though a minor character in the overall scheme of the Marvel universe, Bill Foster is a pretty big deal in real world terms, as one of Marvel’s first prominent African American characters.  In the comics, he would eventually take on his own super hero identity, the Black Goliath, ultimately shortening it to just “Goliath.”  Bill was added to the MCU in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, where he’s a disgruntled former partner of Hank, with his past as “Goliath” only briefly hinted at.  The second season of What If…? is poised to explore that at least *a little* further, with at least one of the episodes offering up a costumed variant of Bill, which just so happens to be one of the designs picked for action figure treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goliath is figure 5 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends, and is one of the three What If…? figures to grace the line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s using the arms, legs, and waist from the Ant-Man and the Wasp version of Scott, with a new head, torso, and belt.  We haven’t seen a ton of exactly what Goliath is going to look like in the show, but this set-up does seem pretty consistent with what we *have* seen.  I do like how they’ve kept elements of Bill’s Goliath costume from the comics, while filtering it into something a bit more consistent with the other Pym-suits from the movies.  I particularly dig how they’ve set-up the lenses on the helmet to mimic Bill’s usual domino mask.  The new head is solid; it’s got the proper transparent lenses, which the Ant-Man built on this body lacked.  The new belt also incorporates another Goliath-centered element: the big “G” belt buckle.  I absolutely adore that.  Bill’s color work carries the heaviest weight in making this a suitably unique release.  The blue and white makes for a good contrast, to be sure.  The actual application is decent enough.  the blue seems a tad thin, but otherwise tings are clean.  Bill gets no accessories of his own, but he does get the arm and alternate hand for the Hydra Stomper Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bill’s a character I really do love in the comics, so I’m happy about any sort of outside media appearances for him.  While his MCU appearance didn’t do a ton with him, it was still cool to see him, and I enjoyed that they left the door open for more of him.  I have no idea what his What If…? appearance is going to be like, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.  In the meantime, there’s this figure of him, and I already have the only other Bill Foster figure, so I might as well have this one, too, and keep that full set running.  He’s a pretty basic figure, but I do enjoy him.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3500: Ben Kenobi – Tibidon Station

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

BEN KENOBI — TIBIDON STATION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Obi-Wan Kenobi is set years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith wehre Kenobi faced the corruption of his friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned Sith Lord Darth Vader.”

I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to praise Ewan McGreggor’s performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi enough; it’s just one of those absolute stand out things, and the very best thing about the prequels.  While his role within the films at times left him a little under-utilized, he got his own show, which gave us so much more time with the character, and that was very cool.  Thus far, I’ve been light on Black Series coverage for the show, but I’m doubling what I’ve gotten today, with Tibidon Station Ben Kenobi!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ben Kenobi (Tibidon Station) is is figure 6 in the Obi-Wan Kenobi sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s fourth phase.  He was a Target-exclusive release, which hit shortly after the first batch of figures from the show.  He’s based on the character’s look from early in the first episode of the show, before he settles back into his Obi-Wan ways to rescue Leia.  It’s a more unique look for the character, who otherwise tends to fall into the same general trappings for design.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The main figure is a total parts re-use from the Wandering Jedi version of the character who hit in the main line.  The two outfits aren’t *exactly* the same, but they’re certainly close enough that I can see why Hasbro would go for the re-use.  It would honestly be pretty hard to justify new parts on such a look, anyway.  The head suffers from not being the Jabiim sculpt, which…well, it’s honestly not fair to judge it that harshly.  It’s not a bad sculpt on its own merits; there’s more than a passing resemblance to McGreggor, and he’s not terribly far off from his look in the show.  He’s a touch too clean and put together, I think is the real issue.  Still, given that this one predates the other, I can’t knock it.  The major change-up for this figure is the color scheme, specifically the shirt, which is now a lovely shade of blue.  It looks quite spiffy, and makes him suitably different from the main release.  To further differentiate him, he also gets a new cloak piece, as well as an all-new back-pack, both based on his stuff from the scenes with this look.  And, he’s also still sporting his blaster and lightsaber, just like the other one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I dug this look on the show, even though it was rather short-lived, and I dug it as a figure.  But, it was a Target exclusive, and I wasn’t going hunting.  Then I found it, but it was when all the other Black Series exclusives got marked way down, and I didn’t want to pay full price, so I waited, checking every so often for a few weeks, with the same figure at my local Target.  But, he sold before I could get a markdown, which is really the risk you take, I suppose.  One got traded into All Time, however, rather amusingly on the same day that I wound up buying the Jabiim figure.  He’s fun.  Not as definitive as the other release, but I do like him a lot.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3499: Agatha Harkness

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

AGATHA HARKNESS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sorceress Agatha Harkness was rejected by her own coven long ago. In Westview, she pretends to be Wanda and the Vision’s nosy neighbor to learn more about Wanda’s powers.”

Can I just not do the “It was Agatha all along” thing?  It was clever back when the reveal happened, but it feels a bit overplayed now, right?  Cool, so I’m just not doing that.  Agatha Harkness is a character who goes pretty far back at Marvel.  She was created by Stan and Jack while they were still on FF, initially serving as governess for Franklin Richards, before eventually taking over a mentor role for Scarlet Witch, which was the role that would really stick for her.  Her introduction into the MCU changed some things, turning her from an old, decrepit woman to a middle-aged one, and also making her into an antagonistic force, in contrast to her “big good” vibes from the comics.  It was a well-received change, though, and she was certainly a break out character for WandaVision.  It makes it all the more surprising that it’s taken this long for her to finally get figure treatment.  Better late than never, though, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Agatha Harkness is figure 4 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the assortment’s one and only WandaVision figure, making her the fourth in that show’s line-up as well.  She’s based on her fully witched-up look from the end of the show, which makes sense; it’s not like an Agnes figure would be the most thrilling thing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Most of that articulation…well, most of it might as well not be there, honestly.  The neck is largely motionless due to the hair, and the legs *are* motionless thanks to the skirt.  The arms are a bit better, but still very much limited, so in general poses are essentially variants of standing there.  Agatha’s sculpt is mostly new.  Her legs are re-used from the Phoenix body, but you’ll never see them and you’ll never pose them, so it’s kind of moot.  Beyond that, though, it’s unique.  It’s not bad.  The likeness on the head is definitely solid; you can tell who its meant to be without much prompting.  For as limiting as the rest of the sculpt may be to the articulation, it does at least look really nice.  The detailing on her outfit is quite sharp, and there’s a very nice, flow to everything, so she’ll at least look somewhat dynamic while she’s there in a fairly basic standing pose.  Her color work is pretty impressively handled, with a fair amount of accent work, to help sell the smaller details of the sculpt a bit.  There’s one spot of missing paint at the tip of one of her fingers, but otherwise everything is clean and the way it should be.  Agatha is without any accessories for herself, but she gets two heads and the rocketpack for the Hydra Stomper figure.  It’s a shame she didn’t get any magic effects, or possibly the Darkhold.  Just something, anything at all would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I said in the intro, I was a bit surprised by how long it took to get this figure.  I understand her not being a right out of the gate release, but waiting this long, especially having her beat to market by Jimmy Woo, is shocking.  Ultimately, it’s not a super playable design in figure form, but it does at least look the part.  And, hey, when else are we gonna get an Agatha Harkness figure?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3497: Talos

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

TALOS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Talos, a celebrated Skrull warrior, grapples with what it means to be a leader as he finds himself at odds with those closest to him.”

2008’s “Secret Invasion” storyline, which ran through most of the Marvel line for that year, isn’t a favorite of mine.  Coming from an era of moving from one sweeping status quo shift to the next, with no room to breath between, it represents a middle point of me growing very tired with the direction of the Marvel universe.  The MCU’s plan to adapt the crossover into a television miniseries wasn’t one that initially *thrilled* me, but they’ve made me enjoy other stories I didn’t much care for in the comics, so I was hopeful.  Unfortunately, the end results the first time I’ve truly, thoroughly disliked an MCU project from start to…well, technically not finish because I stopped watching after episode 4.  One of the things I was honestly looking forward to the most was lead Skrull Talos, who was my favorite part of Captain Marvel, getting more focus.  While Ben Mendelsohn does the best he can with the material he’s been given, and Talos’s character arc is at least one of the show’s least compromised, it’s still a little bit disappointing.  At the very least, he got an action figure out of the whole thing, so I guess that’s a consolation prize.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Talos is figure 2 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends, which serves as the fourth Disney+ centered assortment of figures.  The line-up is a grab bag of characters from different shows, and Talos is one of two figures from Secret Invasion.  This is Talos’ second Legends figure, after his figure from Captain Marvel.  This one depicts him in his more relaxed civilian garb.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s using a pretty basic set-up for articulation, overall, but he does notably get a ball-joint at the base of the neck, rather than one of the more typical set-ups for the line.  It’s not a bad set-up, mind you, just different.  Talos is using the jacket and arms from Jimmy Woo, but it appears that everything else is new.  It’s honestly a bit surprising.  Obviously, the head I expected to be new, but the legs are kind of the sort of thing I would have expected to see re-use on.  Not that I’m complaining.  The new head is a marked improvement on the old one; the prior figure was working from preliminary designs, while this one gets the finalized ones, including a really solid likeness of Mendelsohn under all of the prosthesis.  The figure has a second head, based on Talos’ human guise, portrayed by Mendelsohn sans make-up.  It’s another really solid likeness, putting Hasbro’s previous attempts of the actor as Krennic to shame.  The other new parts are more standardized in appearance, but work well in terms of quality.  Talos’ color work is a lot of molded colors, which works well enough.  He gets a ton of detailing on both heads, however, and they look really nice, and very lifelike.  In addition to the aforementioned alternate head, Talos also gets the same hands as the standard, but in peach to match his alternate head, as well as the right leg of the Hydra Stomper Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in the intro, I really liked Talos in Captain Marvel, and while his figure from that movie was passable at the time, it’s not aged incredibly well.  While I didn’t care for the source material, there’s no denying that this Talos is a real improvement to the original, and just a really strong figure in his own right.  The only downside to him is that the new neck connection means that I can’t swap his heads onto the old Talos or Krennic figures to let them benefit from the improved likenesses.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3495: Luke Skywalker – Jedi Knight

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — JEDI KNIGHT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Nine years and some change ago, I opened my review of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker by remarking that my interest in The Black Series was beginning to wane.  Over 200 figures later, that does seem like it was a slightly premature assessment of things, but on the flipside, I’m feeling myself back in that boat again a little bit these days.  This time around, of course, it’s more on me than the line.  I’m just not as invested on having every character in every style anymore.  But, somewhat appropriately, I’ve been swayed by another Jedi Luke, so, I guess I’m taking a look at that one today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) is part of the third series of the RotJ Retro Carded Black Series figures.  While the last two assortments have been largely re-cards of older figures with just one new figure per set, this assortment is almost entirely new (albeit with one figure that’s gotten a pretty quick re-release in the main line), and Luke is included in that grouping.  We’ve had a healthy helping of Jedi Lukes in the line at this point, covering all manner of variations on his looks.  This one covers the same ground as his first Black Series, replicating his design from his battle on the Death Star II.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  This figure’s articulation is pretty much the same set-up as the Book of Boba Fett version, which is a marked improvement on the old Jedi Luke’s set-up.  Those butterfly shoulders in particular really add to the figure’s posing options.  Structurally, he’s using most of the parts from the Light Cruiser Luke, which is sensible, what with the similarities in design and all.  He loses the vest overlay piece and gets a new head sculpt, now based directly on Hamill, rather than the Mandalorian facsimile of him, as well as an adjusted chest flap folded down like during his battle with Vader, and a belt piece.  The new head sculpt is really nice, and certainly the best RotJ-era Hamill we’ve gotten at this scale.  The separate face/hair set-up works especially well this time around.  Luke’s color work is a lot of molded colors, but there’s some solid paint work on the face and hair, and the smaller details on the outfit are handled very cleanly.  Luke is packed with an alternate chest flap, fully closed up, as well as his lightsaber.  It’s kind of light, but it’s about what I’ve come to expect at standard pricing for this line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t intend to buy this figure.  I swear.  I had the first Jedi Luke.  I had the Jabba’s Palace version.  I had the Endor version.  I even had the Book version.  This one?  I didn’t need it.  My bases were all covered, right?  Well, apparently not.  I saw him in person, and I just couldn’t pass him up.  What can I say, I’ve got a soft spot for the look.  I’m glad I didn’t pass him up, because he’s an absolutely fantastic figure, and far and away the best version of Jedi Luke out there.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.