Tag Archives: Hasbro

#3452: Iron Man – Heroes Return

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

IRON MAN — HEROES RETURN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Following his apparent demise at the hands of Onslaught alongside the other Avengers, Tony Stark returns home with a new armor and new focus.”

In the 1996, on the heals of the success of Image Comics, a company that had been formed when a bunch of Marvel’s superstar artists all left to start their own thing, Marvel, who were trying to recapture their early ’90s success, decided to hand some of their more downtrodden characters over to Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee’s Extreme Studios and WildStorm Studios.  The Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, and the FF, who all perished during the Onslaught event, were completely rebooted, in new, totally extreme ways.  Well, totally ’90s ways.  “Heroes Reborn” lasted a year, and though it saw an uptick in the sales of the four books it relaunched, the whole ordeal was far from a critical success.  It was all undone in 1997’s “Heroes Return,” which set things more or less back to where they were before.  Of course, “where they were before” for Iron Man was extraordinarily messy, so Marvel used the whole thing to do some in-universe rebooting for Tony as a whole.  And, he even got a fancy new armor out of the whole thing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man – Heroes Return is the one non-numbered figure in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends, as he’s the double pack that doesn’t contribute to the Build-A-Figure.  As the name indicates, this is Tony’s armor from the Heroes Return era, specifically the Model 16, which he wore for a while during the relaunch of both his own book and Avengers.  It was designed by Alex Ross for a pitch that he put together with Kurt Busiek for the Iron Man solo book *before* it got totally broken.  When Heroes Return came along, Busiek was writing Iron Man and wound up dusting it off.  It’s only prior toy treatment was a Minimate back in 2012, but it’s gotten no Legends, and it was conspicuously absent from Toy Biz’s ’90s run.  Also, fun fact, this armor would eventually become sentient, technically making this sort of a new character.  Yay new character!  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  At his core, this Iron Man is using a good chunk of parts from the 80th Iron Man, which has served as a starting point for a fair number of Iron Men at this point.  Apart from still having visible pins (a recurring issue with this set), it’s not a bad base, especially for an armor that was deliberately trying to recall earlier Iron Man designs.  He gets a new head, upper torso, pelvis, gloves, and boots, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, in order to properly move him over to the Model 16’s set-up.  He also gets some shoulder pads, which work the way of the newer Black Series and Classified Series, where they spin with the arm.  It requires breaking up the flow of the sculpt a bit, but it also means that they won’t end up warped if you leave him posed for too long.  Beyond that, the new pieces work really well to capture 16’s design as seen in the comics, especially leaning into Perez’s take on it.  It’s got a very sharp look to it, and the extra smaller details really add some visual intrigue.  Most of the figure’s color work is handled via molded plastic, which works well enough.  He leans into gold over yellow, and I’m iffy on that some times, but with this particular armor, I really don’t mind.  If anything, I kind of wish the red was more metallic to match, because as it stands, it feels a little too flat by comparison.  Not bad, or anything, but a little flat.  Iron man is packed with two sets of hands and a pair of blast effects.  It’s too bad we couldn’t get an extra head with the face plat lifted.  As it is, he feels a little light, especially with no Build-A-Figure piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, there were three Iron Man armors that defined the character for me, based on my main ways of taking in his story.  I loved the classic armor because of the Ruby Spears cartoons, I loved the Modular armor because of the ’90s cartoon, and I loved this armor because it’s what he was wearing when I got into the Avengers comics.  It doesn’t get the same kind of toy coverage as the other two, which is a shame, because it’s a really fun design.  It also makes for a really fun toy.  And I’ve got another figure for my Busiek/Perez Avengers line-up!

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.

#3450: Rebel Commando

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

REBEL COMMANDO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Star Wars is big on is faceless armies getting lots and lots of troop builders, and that’s all well and good, but what about the not so faceless ones?  Don’t they deserve some love too?  Absolutely, they do.  Though not as prominent as the Imperial forces, the Rebel Troopers are the backbone of the good guys forces in the Original Trilogy.  They get one notable ground forces look for each of the three films, and thus far we’ve gotten the Fleet Trooper look from A New Hope and the cold weather gear from Empire.  We hadn’t gotten what is objectively the best Rebel Trooper design, however (totally un-biased and objective take there, by the way), the Endor Rebel from Return of the Jedi.  But, with Jedi‘s 40th anniversary upon us, it’s the perfect time to fix that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rebel Commando is a deluxe-sized (well, deluxe-priced, anyway) Star Wars: The Black Series release, falling under the Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary sub-line where everything is on retro cards.  He’s the second deluxe figure in this run, following the re-packed Boba Fett from earlier in the line.  The Commando, however, is an all-new offering, and as of right now, there aren’t any plans for a non-retro card release later.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s using what’s become the standard set-up for articulation in the line, and it works very well for him.  Still thrilled the butterfly shoulders have become standard.  The Rebel Commando is sporting an all-new sculpt.  There are a couple of slight variations on the Endor Rebel set-up, but this figure’s largely centered on the more standard infantry get-up, with the helmet, vest, and basic fatigues.  The sculpt does a strong job of capturing the look; there’s plenty of layers, and the detailing is all nice and sharp.  I also especially dig how both hands get an extended trigger finger, allowing him to hold the rifle with either dominant hand, which aids in the customizability.  The head’s got the helmet permanently attached, and, in its default state, he’s got a head that’s clean shaven.  It appears to be based on Dutch stuntman Dickey Beer, who according to the old EU lore was “Sgt Junkin”, the strike team’s demolitions expert.  But, if you’re not a crazy person like me who looks all that information up, he works as a pretty nice generic Commando.  Like the Hoth Rebel, this guy gets an extra faceplate to make him into an additional Rebel.  This one’s even more distinctive than the first, sporting the signature white beard of the EU’s “Nik Sant,” the team’s pathfinder.  There’s been some debate since Rebels gave Captain Rex a similar white beard about whether Sant might in fact be Rex, and it seems that someone over at Hasbro’s team Rex, because the face is definitely patterned on Temuera Morrison.  Not that it makes him look *unlike* the guy that’s only in the background of a few shots of the movie, so, you know, it still works.  The paint work on this guy is generally pretty decent. It matches up with the depiction in the movie, and there’s some solid work on the camo, as well as some cool damage detailing on the helmet.  The only downside is that there’s hair visible on the back of the head, under the helmet, and its coloring doesn’t match with the second faceplate.  I guess they could have just had the helmet sit just a touch lower and leave the hair off entirely, but that wouldn’t be accurate, so it’s a catch-22.  The Commando is packed with both a Blastech A-295 rifle and a DH-17 blaster, a bandolier, and a survival pack.  While it’s a decent set-up of extras, it does feel rather light, given the price point.  The Hoth version was packed with more or less the same set-up of stuff, and he was standard retail.  Obviously, he was a good deal at the time, and Black Series figures trend towards limited accessories, but still.  He even loses the storage for the extra face plate in the back pack, which feels like a real missed opportunity.  Given the wider range of looks for the Endor Rebels, if they’d given this guy a third face plate, and perhaps the trench coat that Endor Han had, I feel like I’d be in a much better spot about the deluxe pricing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Endor Rebels are hands down my favorite design for the Rebel troops, and I’ve been looking forward to the inevitable addition of them to The Black Series.  I loved the Hoth Rebel, and that only made me more excited for this guy.  I won’t lie: I’ve got some issues with this release.  The hair thing, the lack of storage for the faceplate, and the less for more side of things all are a bit frustrating.  However, I’m an easy mark, so none of those issues were enough to stop me from getting two of these right out of the gate, especially once I knew there was a Nik Sant faceplate.  It’s a very fun figure, and I honestly wouldn’t hate it if we got a different version with some different faces and accessories, just for more mixing and matching.  Until then, these two are backing up my heroes in full force.

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.

#3449: Commander Rogers

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

COMMANDER ROGERS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Steve Rogers is chosen to take a lead role in global security after the dissolution of Norman Osborn’s corrupt H.A.M.M.E.R. agency.”

And we’re back on over to Marvel!  In the ’00s, Marvel had this thing where they just kept moving from status quo shift to status quo shift.  It was all rather frustrating, honestly.  Like, there were good things mixed in, but you couldn’t really focus on them, because of everything else that surrounded them.  Wedged into all of that was Ed Brubaker’s run on Captain America, which brought back Steve’s long -dead partner Bucky, killed Steve, had Bucky take over the mantle, brought Steve back, and had him take over S.H.I.E.L.D.  It was honestly kind of cool, except for that part where they left Steve dead for a while and refused to admit that he was coming back.  But, at the end of it all, we got Steve as Commander Rogers, and that’s super cool.  And here’s a Legend of that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Rogers is figure 6 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the last figure to contribute a Build-A-Figure part, the second to last comic figure, and the figure where we really loose grip on the theme of this set.  I’d say that both Steve and Carol are “Captains”, but this is a Steve from when he was emphatically *not* a captain, so we lose the thread again.  Whatever, I’m just happy to have the figure.  This is the second time this look’s been in Legends form (third if we’re counting the variant, but they’re really no that different), but it’s been a while.  Back when the first one was released the suit was still relatively new, whereas now it’s retro.  Crazy.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Commander Rogers is built on the Reaper body, which Steve has been on and off since its introduction.  The build works fine, but like with Pizza Spidey, this one’s a little outdated, and puts this assortment at three out-of-date re-uses.  Still, it does at least look pretty solid.  He re-uses the shield harness from the 20th Cap, and gets a new head, hands, shins, and feet, as well as new add-ons for his belt and wrist straps.  The head keeps the Steve likeness we’ve been seeing on more recent Cap figures, which I definitely like.  The hair I’m not super sure I love, but it’s something different than the unmasked head from the 20th figure, so I can appreciate some variety.  The new pieces for the outfit mesh well with the re-used parts, do a good job of capturing the comics look, and get a good deal of sharp detail work.  Rogers’ paint work is nice and sharp, especially on the suit, which gets a lot of pop.  The head also gets some really solid accenting on the hair, as well as the usual printing for the face, which gives him a nice lifelike quality.  Rogers is packed with the holographic Cap shield and the head of Totally Awesome Hulk.  The shield is built on the Cap Wolf version, rather than the new 20th mold; it’s smaller, but I suppose that isn’t that weird for the holo shield.  He notably doesn’t include the guns or even hands to hold the guns like the older figure.  In general, he seems a little light, especially given the re-use and the fact that he’s got the smallest BAF part.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When the first Legends Commander Rogers was released, I was still on the fence about going back to Legends, so I didn’t get one.  And then, after many years, I finally tracked one down…about a week before this one got released.  You win some, you lose some.  Whatever the case, I was pretty pumped about getting this guy, and while he’s a little light on the extras, he’s still a pretty darn solid figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3447: Karnak

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

KARNAK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Through mental discipline, the Inhuman known as Karnak has mastered the ability to perceive the flaws and weak points in any person or object.”

Remember back in 2017, when Marvel was desperately trying to make The Inhumans a thing?  And remember when it really didn’t work out, and they gave up and just waited to get the X-Men back so they could use mutants again and not push the Inhumans anymore, so they dropped all their merch like a sack of wet potatoes?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.  No, wait, they probably don’t.  They’re a snack company, and probably not super into The Inhumans.  Well, enough time has passed that I guess it’s safe to do something more with The Inhumans.  Let’s bring that Legends line-up on up to a whopping three, with Karnak!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Karnak is figure 5 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second of the four comics figures in the line-up, and the next step down in the relevance of the comic figures to the overall theme.  I mean, the Inhumans were a Kree experiment, and so is Carol Danvers, so I guess that’s something.  As noted above, Karnak is our third Inhuman in Legends format, following Black Bolt, Black Bolt, Black Bolt, and Medusa.  There’s been a lot of Black Bolts.  Oh, sorry: Blackagar Boltagons.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Karnak is using the Pizza Spidey body as his starting point.  It’s not a terrible fit, given Karnak’s usual skinnier build, but it’s still got the visible pins on the elbows and knees, and its generally a little outdated, especially with the AF Spidey in use now.  In particular, the butterfly shoulders really seem to be wearing out on this mold, so I worry about long-term longevity.  Karnak gets a new head, forearm guards, and belt/loincloth.  The new pieces are actually quite nice; the head’s got the proper weird shaping for the character, and the face makes for a good likeness of a more evergreen take on Karnak.  The guards sit well on the arms, and help to break up the base body a bit.  The belt piece is a bit too free floating for me, but otherwise looks alright.  The color work on Karnak is largely handled via molded colors, which keeps it pretty clean.  There’s still some paint to make things work; some of the edges are a little fuzzy, but overall things look quite nice.  Karnak is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, the other in flat poses, as well as the right arm of Totally Awesome Hulk.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Getting one cohesive set of Inhumans is apparently an impossible feat.  Across four different styles, we’ve had four differently incomplete takes on the team.  Legends has been at the lowest set up until now, but I guess it’s turned itself around by virtue of at least matching up to Marvel Universe, so now there’s only three differently incomplete teams across four styles.  Progress!  Karnak, like Marvel Boy from last week, is a pretty by the numbers figure, really only hampered by the odd choice to put him on such an old body.  Still, he could be worse.  He could be a lot worse.  Now, can we please get the rest of the team before the line ends?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3445: Agent Kallus

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

AGENT KALLUS

STAR WARS: REBELS (HASBR0)

“Agent Kallus is a member of the Imperial Security Bureau, a secret police force that hunts down and crushes any rebellion in the galaxy. Intelligent and ruthless, Kallus is a skilled pilot who makes it his mission to stop throublesome freedom fighters.”

You know what?  I’m gonna keep this Rebels train rolling for another week.  Go ahead.  Try and stop me.  Actually don’t.  It’s my site.  You won’t succeed.  And then you’ll feel all silly, and I’ll feel bad, and it’ll be a whole thing.  So, back to Rebels.  While the Imperials in the Original Trilogy are largely just straight forward evil, Rebels played with that a little bit.  Alexsandr Kallus starts the show as a purely antagonistic force, with some pretty terrible deeds behind him.  Over the course of the show, as he has more run-ins both with the Ghost crew and with Imperial higher ups who are far worse than him, and by the end of the show, he’s a full-fledged hero in his own right.  It’s one of the most satisfying arcs in a show that’s got a lot of satisfying arcs.  Despite all of his journeying, Kallus got one action figure.  Kind of a bummer.  Well, let’s look at it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Agent Kallus was released in the first assortment of the Star Wars: Rebels tie-in line’s single carded component Saga Legends.  He’s figure SL05, the second to last of the first batch of Rebels.  He only got the one release, with no re-issues or updates later in the line.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s got the same basic articulation that this whole line got, and it works as well as you could hope.  For 5POA, it’s not bad.  Kallus got an all-new sculpt, based on his Season 1 design from the show.  For whatever reason, they decided to depict him with his helmet permanently attached, rather than giving him a removable one.  It’s a real bummer, and means we never got to see Kallus’s mutton chops in all their plasticky glory.  Beyond that, the sculpt is actually quite nice.  The proportions match his animated counterpart, and the detailing is all very sharply defined.  The figure’s color work is generally pretty drab, as you might expect from an Imperial.  Lots of grey and black.  It works, though, and the mix of paint and molded colors does alright.  Application is pretty clean for what’s there, too.  Kallus is packed with the Bo-Rifle he stole from one of the Lestat; like Zeb, Kallus’s rifle doesn’t transform, instead being only in its gun form.  It’s too bad there couldn’t be a second one in the staff form, but again, this line was really locked into only one accessory per figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Agent Kallus is a figure I didn’t get when he was new.  I remember seeing him, but I’d not seen the show, and didn’t know the character.  After seeing the show, I grew to really like the character, and since this was the only figure he got, I kind of had no other options.  I was able to snag a loose one from All Time, back in 2019, from the same collection that got me Hera.  He’s better than I’d expected.  I still don’t like that the helmet doesn’t come off, but I guess I can’t let it go.

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.

#3444: Marvel Boy

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

MARVEL BOY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A Kree warrior from an alternate reality, Noh-Varr aka Marvel Boy is the self-appointed protector of Earth and member of the Young Avengers.”

The third Marvel Boy (following Bob Grayson and Vance Astrovik) and the fifth Captain Marvel (following Mar-Vell, Monica, Genis-Vell, and Khn’nr), Noh-Varr does sure like some borrowed names.  Created in 2000 by Grant Morrison and JG Jones, the character’s one of those ones that Marvel likes to really push every so often.  It’s been a little while since the last push, but with the rumor of actor Park Seo-joon playing the character in The Marvels, perhaps we’re due for another?  Well, in the meantime, he’s got a new Marvel Legend, so let’s look at that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Marvel Boy is figure 4 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends, and is the first of the assortment’s four comic-based figures.  Of the four, he’s certainly the one with the best ties to The Marvels, even if he doesn’t show up in the movie.  This marks Noh-Varr’s second Legend, though its his first billed as Marvel Boy (the last one was from his Protector days).  He’s depicted here in his garb from the Gillen/McKelvie run on Young Avengers, which is honestly his best look, and probably the character’s best run.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Noh-Varr is based on the 2099 body, which seems a good enough fit for the character, even if still has the visible pins on the elbows and knees.  He gets a new head, hands, and an add-on for his belt piece.  The head is a pretty solid recreation of McKelvie’s take on Noh-Varr, while still keeping him in line with the Legends house style.  I especially dig that they got the one stray strand of hair that was always present in the book.  His hands get new sculpted detailing on the backs, as well as actually having dual trigger fingers, which is a plus, and the belt is a pretty by the numbers addition.  Beyond that, it’s down to paint work to make it all happen.  It’s generally pretty solid.  The application’s pretty clean, and the colors match up well with the printed appearances.  Noh-Varr is packed with a pair of blasters, which are pretty fun and unique pieces, as well the left arm of the Totally Awesome Hulk Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Noh-Varr is a character I had little attachment to prior to his run with the Young Avengers.  I greatly enjoyed his addition to the team, and his interactions there, but honestly, I haven’t really clicked with him beyond that run.  This figure being pretty explicitly based on that version of the character definitely works for me.  While I can’t say this figure was at the top of my list for this set (in fact, he was probably the one I was least looking forward to, if I’m honest), he’s a strong by the numbers offering.  And, hey, it’s another Young Avenger.  We get those so infrequently, that any of them getting made is a real cause for celebration.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3442: Ms. Marvel

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

MS. MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Kamala Khan has encountered much in her Ms. Marvel adventures, but nothing could prepare her for a cosmic adventure alongside her idol Captain Marvel!”

Following up on her solo Disney+ series from last year, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan makes the jump to the big screen this November in The Marvels, where she’ll get to interact with both Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau.  Vellani’s performance as Kamala is one of the MCU’s best page-to-screen portrayals, so there’s a lot riding on getting to see her interact with the wider MCU cast.  Like the other two members of the titular group, she’s gotten a brand new look for the movie, and, by extension, that leads to a brand new figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel is figure 3 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the last of the movie-based figures in the set.  This marks the fourth Kamala Khan Legend, and the second time her MCU incarnation’s gotten a figure.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Compared to her last figure, this one’s definitely a step-up on the articulation front.  Not a tremendous one, mind you, since she’s still rather restricted at the neck and hips, and the shoulders are also rather tight.  The arms are double jointed, though, which is pretty cool, and, though it may still be restricted, the neck is still more mobile than the prior figure.  Ms. Marvel’s sculpt is almost entirely an all-new one.  The scarf is shared with her prior figure, but everything else is new.  Like the articulation, it’s an improvement over her last figure.  The head sports a much better likeness of Iman Vellani; still not 100% spot-on, but it at least actually looks like her this time.  The hair is also a lot less flat, and her body sculpt isn’t nearly as skinny.  In general, it’s just a better sculpt, start to finish.  The paint work continues the trend.  The colors wind up a lot less muddied this time around, just by swapping the blue out for a darker shade.  It gives the whole look a lot of pop, and just makes everything feel really sharp.  The application is pretty clean for the most part, apart from some slight bleed over on some of the gold.  Ms. Marvel is packed with two sets of hands, in open gesture and fist/gripping combo, as well as a Flerken (who doesn’t appear to be Goose, given its coloring), and the torso of Totally Awesome Hulk.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The show Ms. Marvel figure was a pretty big let-down for me.  She really didn’t look the part, and wound up as more a phoned-in comic figure than a proper live action version of the character.  I really dig the new design for her in the movie, and the new figure winds up being a lot better than the last one.  I’m a lot happier with this one, and she feels a lot more unique than the first, which is a definite plus.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  And,if you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3440: Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

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

GARAZEB “ZEB” ORRELIOS

STAR WARS: REBELS (HASBRO)

The cast of Rebels was designed to be new and unique, while still fulfilling the franchise’s classic archetypes. Since A New Hope, there’s pretty much always been a “big guy,” and for Rebels, that was Garazeb Orrelios, better known as Zeb. While Zeb is more talkative (in English, anyway) than Chewbacca, he shares a bit of common ancestry, being based on Chewy’s original Ralph McQuarrie-drawn concept design.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios was released in the first assortment of the Mission Series two-packs from the Star Wars: Rebels tie-in line in 2013, alongside a standard Stormtrooper from the show. He then received an almost identical re-release in a two-pack with Chopper in 2015, as part of the Force Awakens push. This is one of the two, but I got him loose, so I can’t say for certain which of them. The figure stands about 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. His height is definitely cool, as it helps to really break up the silhouettes of the team a bit. The articulation is basic, but that’s what’s to be expected, especially with this particular era of the line. Zeb’s sculpt is probably the strongest of the original Ghost crew sculpts. His alien nature translates pretty well, and I think his design just goes really well with the style of the line. He feels a bit less rudimentary than the others, and the general shaping of him is a lot more organic.  Zeb’s paint work is fairly basic stuff.  It matches pretty closely with the color scheme he had on the show.  The application on the paint is a little sloppy, and there’s a little bit of wear on my copy, but it gets the job done for the most part.  Zeb is packed with his Lasan Honor Guard AB-75 Bo-Rifle.  It’s purely a rifle-mode version of the weapon, with no transformation feature like the Black Series.  It’s alright, but he has a little difficulty holding it, and obviously can’t two-hand it, due to the articulation.  It’s a shame they didn’t also give him an alternate version in the other configuration, but they were pretty locked-in on only one accessory per figure at this point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Longtime readers with an absolute perfect recall of the nitty-gritty details of all of my reviews might recall that when I picked up the Rebels Stormtrooper back in the day, I remarked not caring enough for “Garazeb” (yes, I used the full name, not the derivative; I didn’t know any better) to buy the two-pack.  By the time I actually got into Rebels in 2016, I very much regretted that move, as both versions of Zeb had gotten trickier to acquire, and he didn’t get an update like the others.  This was the second-to-last of the Ghost crew I got in this scale.  I salvaged him from a pretty beaten up bin of loose Star Wars figures that came into All Time back in 2020.  He’s basic, but honestly not bad.

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.

#3439: Photon

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

PHOTON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Monica Rambeau’s life changed forever at Westview, where her exposure to reality-altering energy imbued her with the power to perceive and manipulate all energy along the electromagnetic spectrum.”

Remember when the first Captain Marvel came out, and despite Carol Danvers having held the title for the better part of a decade by that point, people were all mad about a female Captain Marvel?  Wanna know what’s even funnier?  She wasn’t even the first one.  Nope, back in the ‘80s, that honor went to Monica Rambeau, the first person to carry the mantle after Mar-Vell’s death.  I know, a black woman was Captain Marvel.  And she was even the leader of the Avengers for a while, too.  Who could imagine such a thing.  Monica unfortunately got herself wrapped up in some seriously bad writing towards the end of her run with the mantle, but she was fortunately enough of a fan favorite that she didn’t totally disappear when the Genis took the title, and she instead got a new codename.  Okay, actually a couple of new codenames.  They definitely bounced her around a bit.  But, the best of them was definitely Photon, and that’s the one that seems to have stuck the best for marketing purposes, including her MCU counterpart, who’s gotten her first figure for The Marvels. 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Photon is figure 2 in the Totally Awesome Hulk Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the middle figure of the three film-tie-in figures for The Marvels.  This marks Monica’s second time as a Legend, following her comics counterpart getting a figure in the A-Force boxed set.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation is a bit restricted in the middle section of the figure, but the head gets a pretty great range, and she’s got double elbows, which is certainly cool.  Photon is sporting an all-new sculpt, and a pretty good one at that.  In particular, the head’s likeness of Teyonah Parris is certainly the best of the three in this assortment, if not just one of their best MCU likenesses in general.  They even managed to translate the hair pretty decently, which is impressive in its own right.  Her body sculpt sports a very nice, rather realistic set of proportions, matching pretty closely with Parris.  The color work on Photon is pretty solid.  She’s got the usual face printing, which works very well, and there’s some accenting on the hair, that definitely helps to bring out the sculpted details.  Her uniform’s black and white scheme is dynamic and eye-catching, and the application for it is quite clean.  Photon is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as the right leg to Totally Awesome Hulk.  She feels a little bit light, and it might have been cool to possibly get an extra head with her powered up eyes, but not having seen the movie, I don’t know if that’s still a thing she can do.  The hands are at least a bare minimum.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always been a fan of Monica, no matter what name they saddled her with, and I’ve also liked Parris in everything I’ve seen her in, so seeing her turn up as Monica in the MCU was super cool.  I’ve been waiting to see more of her since the end of WandaVision and also waiting to finally get her in action figure form.  She was certainly high on my list for this series, and, slight lack of accessories aside, she didn’t disappoint.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.

If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  And, if you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3437: Captain Marvel

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

CAPTAIN MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“No amount of problem punching can repair the broken promises Carol Danvers has made. Captain Marvel is a powerful solo act, but now has a real shot at redemption as team member of The Marvels!”

Since launching as a solo act in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers has actually been in the role of team player for all of her subsequent roles. She’s back to headlining her own film in this fall’s The Marvels, but now with Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau as her co-stars. New movie means new look, which means new toys. And that? Means new review. Let’s jump on into that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Marvel is figure 1 in the Totally Awesome Hulk series of Marvel Legends, which serves as the tie-in assortment for The Marvels. While she had reversed her colors and gotten a drastically different hair cut when we saw her in Endgame, by the time of her reappearance in Ms Marvel’s teaser scene, she’d gone back to a look more similar to her solo movie design, and that’s what we see here. It’s a bit more dressed down, with a less armored appearance and rolled up sleeves which suggest a more relaxed fit. In a way, it almost feels like Carol’s equivalent look to Steve’s Nomad design from Infinity War.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is pretty basic, especially for an MCU figure.  The joints are pinless, and the range is fair.  She’s an improvement to the mold they used for the last few versions of Carol, so that’s a plus.  The sculpt itself is all-new, and I actually quite like it.  It’s a bit cleaner than the last one, and the head seems to have a closer likeness of Larson, especially for her longer haired look; I’m still partial to the Endgame version, but this is very close too.  The build on this body also feels a bit more accurate to Larson; the last one was really skinny, which didn’t seem *quite* right.  In terms of color work, Carol is pretty basic for the most part.  She does get the printed face, which looks pretty nice, as does the slight accenting to the hair.  The body work is decent if not the most exciting.  The painted skintone on the forearms doesn’t quite match with the face and neck, but there’s enough distance between them that it doesn’t become a major issue.  Carol is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and gripping/gesture), two effects pieces, and the left leg to Totally Awesome Hulk.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Endgame Captain Marvel is kind of my end-all version of the character, for a good number of reasons, but I was intrigued by this look when it first cropped up in Ms. Marvel, and I liked the look of the figure.  She turned out pretty well, and I definitely dig this secondary design for her.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.   If you’d like to see a video of this figure (and the rest of the series) in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.