Tag Archives: Hasbro

#2940: Zombie Captain America

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

ZOMBIE CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Captain America’s team were the first responders to the zombie outbreak — and its first victims.”

October may be over, but the spookiness continues….well, for today at least.  But it’s in this great sweet spot of spookiness *and* Marvel.  Because, well, it kind of has to be, because how else am I going to get all these Legends reviewed.  Yay for the crossover potential of Marvel Zombies!  First appearing in the pages of Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2005, later that same year Marvel Zombies launched in its own book, spawning a whole franchise within a franchise.  Said franchise within the franchise then made its way into the MCU this year in What If…?‘s fifth episode, aptly titled “What if…Zombies?”  My opinions on What If…? were a bit mixed, and the zombies episode was itself rather a mixed bag for me, but there’s no denying that the zombies make for a good concept for toys, especially when it gives me a good excuse to buy another Captain America, who, it should be noted, remains a Captain in this universe, rather than getting a promotion to Colonel as his does in *some* zombie universes out there.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zombie Captain America is part of the Watcher Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s unnumbered, as the one figure in the set that doesn’t actually include a piece for the Build-A-Figure (ironic that the zombie is the only one that doesn’t include an extra body part), and he’s also the double packed figure for this assortment.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Compared to other MCU Cap figures, the articulation scheme on this one is definitely improved.  There’s a better range of motion on most of the joints, as well as use of ball joints at both the neck and the mid-torso, which supports a more fluid range than prior molds had.  He also gets pinless construction on both the elbows and knees.  While you would think that a Zombie Cap would be a good excuse to share some parts with older MCU Cap releases, this figure shares only the left boot with the Infinity War version.  Everything else is all-new to this release.  The helmet and shoulder harness pieces are separate parts, adding some nice depth to the sculpt.  The uniform is also nicely detailed, and there’s some fantastic work on the tattered remains hanging around the major spots of damage on the body.  Speaking of the damage, the actual damage is a lot more gruesome and in depth than I’d had anticipated on a mass retail release.  The legs in particular are quite gnarled.  It’s some truly impressive work.  Aiding the rather impressive sculpted work is some pretty solid paint work as well.  All of the base work is pretty straight forward, and matches the color scheme presented in the show, but they’ve also added a degree of blood coverage (albeit in a slightly purple color, so it’s not explicitly blood) around the wounds.  Hasbro doesn’t often do this kind of accent work, so it’s certainly nice to see them do it here, especially when the confines of a mass retail release would have given them an easy pass for not including some of these details.  Cap’s only accessory is his shield; it’s the same mold they’ve been using since the First Ten Years release, but this time with a bit of that purple splatter on the front of it.  It’s a good piece, but he does end up feeling a little bit light compared to other offerings.  That said, I’m not really sure what else he could have gotten.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I run hot and cold when it comes to zombies, and I wasn’t super big on the episode this figure was based on, so I wasn’t really sure how I’d feel about this figure in hand.  That said, he’s still a Captain America, and I do have a hard time passing on those.  I gotta say, this is honestly one of the strongest figures in this set.  He’s just a solid figure from start to finish.  Really, I just wish we had a more standard Cap that matched this one in quality, but that’s hardly on this particular release.  He’s utterly fantastic, really.

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.

#2937: Surtur

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

SURTUR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Empowered by the Eternal Flame, the demon Surtur rises from the ashes to unleash his fury upon Asgard.”

As I discussed on Monday, Thor: Ragnarok is really the only one of the Thor films to truly get a proper spread of figures in Legends form.  In fact, it’s really got one of the better spreads of any of the Marvel films, since we’ve gotten the whole principle cast, as well a a couple of the notable supporting players.  Despite how thoroughly covered the film has been, Hasbro decided they just weren’t done yet, so we’ve got yet another figure to look at!  I suppose it’s really only fair that in your tie-in toys for a movie called Ragnarok, you include Surtur; he’s kind of important to that whole thing, really.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Surtur is a mass-release part of the Infinity Saga sub-set of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  He’s at his own price point, above even the usual deluxe price point.  Hasbro definitely seems to be using this line to explore some more flexible price points.  The figure stands just shy of 13 inches tall measured from the top of his horns, and he has 31 points of articulation.  Surtur’s a pretty sizable guy in the movie (he actually grows in size as his powers increase, so there’s some variation there), and the figure does what it can to replicate that.  He’s technically a few inches too short for even his smallest size in the movie.  That said, he’s way larger than any of the other figures from the set, so the effect still works out.  His articulation scheme is generally pretty good for a figure of this sizing, though it has some notable restricted spots.  The shoulders don’t have a ton of up and down, due to how they’re designed, which is definitely the biggest issue with the figure.  Slightly less of an issue, but still a bit of an issue, are the hips, which, at least on my figure, are a little sticky when it comes to posing.  They feel like they should have some sort of a drop hip set-up based on the way they move, but there’s not one there, which does give me some pause about the long term durability of the figure’s pelvis.  Otherwise, it’s decent set-up, and he’s even got the pinless elbow and knee set-up.  Surtur’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s a pretty solid matchup to how he was depicted in the film.  There’s quite a bit of sculpted texture work going on, which gives him that appropriate molten skin appearance that the film gave him.  The head sculpt opts for an angry, shouty sort of expression for him.  It’s perhaps a little more limiting in terms of what sorts of poses he can go into, since it doesn’t really fit the lounging about version of the character seen earlier in the film, but we don’t have throne or anything for him anyway, so it makes him a better end of the movie Surtur, I guess.  It helps that it’s quite a nice sculpt.  It’s very dynamic, and looks more unique compared to other, more neutral expressions.  Surtur is molded in a translucent orange plastic, in order to aid in that molten appearance.  The shade of orange shifts a bit on the actual flame parts, going from more of a red to a yellowish hue, as they get nearer the edges, which looks fairly convincingly like actual flame.  There are large patches of darker paint, not actually dry brushed, but designed to simulate such an effect.  It works pretty well.  Surtur is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a open gesture/fist combo), as well as his sword, which is almost as tall as he is.  Getting a picture of him holding it was no small feat, let me tell you.  I suppose it would have been nice to also get maybe his crown, separate from his head, as it’s seen in the film, but since we don’t even have a proper opening scene Thor, its applications might be a bit limited.  The sword and hands are pretty useful directly to this figure, at least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s hard to say I’ve been heavily campaigning for anything more from Ragnarok, since it did get a good selection of figures and all.  Moreover, I figured Surtur’s size would be his undoing anyway, since even scaled down he’s a hard sell.  This guy being shown off earlier this year was a bit of a surprise to be sure, but certainly a pleasant one.  The figure has some issues, especially when it comes to the articulation, however the sheer size and detailing on him is enough to make him a worthwhile purchase.  And hey, here’s another Ragnarok 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.

#2936: Iron Monger & Obadiah Stane

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

IRON MONGER & OBADIAH STANE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Obadiah Stane suits up as the powerful Iron Monger to threaten Iron Man. After a long stint as second-in-command of Stark Industries, Stane is eager to exact revenge on Tony Stark.”

The Marvel Cinematic Universe officially launched in 2008 with the release of Iron Man.  It proved that Marvel had the ability to sell characters beyond just the top of their A-list, and also laid the groundwork for the merchandising juggernaut we have 13 years later.  At the time of the movie’s release, Hasbro was still figuring out what they were doing with the Marvel license, and while the resulting tie-in line wasn’t bad (in fact, it was probably some of the best work Hasbro put out in their first five years or so with the license), it doesn’t quite hold up to modern standards.  Though we’ve had plenty of anniversary stuff, Iron Man has thus far been largely untouched (barring one straight re-deco of an older figure during the First Ten Years line in 2018), leaving some pretty prime real estate available for their latest MCU-centric throwback line.  There are two Iron Man-based releases this time around, and I’m looking at the first of them, Iron Monger and its pilot Obadiah Stane, today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Monger and Obadiah Stane make up one of the two mass-release two-packs for the Infinity Saga sub-set of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  Both of the mass release sets pair off one standard sized figure with one deluxe sized figure, which is an interesting choice.  Monger and Stane are a sensible pairing since, while Monger would certainly sell on his own, Stane’s unlikely to really find a spot otherwise.

IRON MONGER

While Tony Stark is emphatically named “Iron Man” by the events of the first film, Obadiah’s armored persona never actually gets called by the “Iron Monger” moniker within the film proper.  We get a reference to him being a war monger, but that’s really it.  That hasn’t stopped it from being his go-to merchandising name, of course, because why wouldn’t it be.  It’s a cool name.  Iron Monger’s MCU incarnation has always had to contend with the limitations of standard release pack-outs when it came to toys.  Both of his original film figures were quite under-scaled for the 6-inch line they were sold alongside, and that continued into the 3 3/4 inch figure line as well.  This release’s primary aim is getting us a true and proper movie Monger.  To that end, the figure stands 9 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation implementation, this guy starts by taking a page out of the old Iron Man 2 figure’s book, and then using the over a decade’s time since then to further improve things.  He’s obviously still a bit restricted, but given the sheer bulk of the guy, he’s just about as posable as possible.  The sculpt is an all-new offering, as would be expected.  It does a really solid job of capturing Monger’s film design, improving on Hasbro’s prior attempts quite a bit.  Again, it’s been over a decade, so it kind of goes without saying at this point.  The proportions match up well, as does the basic layout of details.  He’s even got some slight texturing going on with the larger sheets of metal, matching up well with the film appearance, and adding a detail usually left off of Mongers.  The engineering on the figure is pretty decently handled as well.  There are a few moving pistons, which don’t quite work as real ones would, but do move to properly allow for posing the figure, and also add some extra depth of detail to the design.  The head and torso also make use of multi-piece construction to add some extra depth to what’s visible of internal mechanisms and the eyes and reactor.  I quite like the clear dome over the reactor in particular.  There’s a part of me that kind of wishes they’d worked in the opening hatch as seen in the film, but I get the extra logistics involved might have caused some issues.  You can kind of cheat it by popping the Obadiah head on there, so it’s not a total loss.  Iron Monger’s paint work is largely rather basic, since so much of him is just unpainted silver plastic.  There’s a fair bit of actual painted silver as well, though, which mixes up things.  Additionally, the paint for the reactor, as well as the weapons on the arms, is all pretty cleanly applied, and makes for a nice little splash of color on the otherwise sort of drab design.  Iron Monger is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), as well as two separate effects pieces for the gun attachment on the arm, a rocket for his back, and an ammo belt.  Certainly not a bad selection of extras in the slightest.

OBADIAH STANE

Obadiah winds up as more of a glorified accessory to the main piece, but he’s billed separately, and he is a separate figure, so let’s give him that much respect, I guess.  Most of Obadiah’s time in the film is just him wearing a pretty standard business suit, so that’s the look the figure goes with for him.  It makes it more multipurpose than putting him in the jumpsuit, so I can get behind it.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  He’s built on Nick Fury’s updated suit body.  Given Jeff Bridges’ taller build, it’s a good choice for his usual look, and in general it’s a slightly better implemented in terms of how the articulation works.  As with Loki, the re-use here means that Obadiah winds up keeping Fury’s sculpted holster, which isn’t accurate, but it’s completely hidden by the jacket, so it’s never going to be seen anyway.  Obadiah gets an all-new head sculpt, which sports a pretty spot-on likeness of Bridges in the role.  He’s also got an all-new right hand, which features a more open grip, as well Obadiah’s ring.  Obadiah’s paint work is generally pretty good, but not without its flaws.  The face printing works very well here, and I really love the striping on his shirt and the pattern on his tie.  The holster is left unpainted, as it was on Loki, which makes sense.  The neckline is also very uneven, which was also an issue on both Fury and Loki, leading me to believe that its something to do with how the body is laid out for paint masks or something like that.  It’s not awful, but it’s not great either.  Obadiah is packed with the improved Arc reactor he steals from Tony (which fits nicely in his newly sculpted right hand), as well as a briefcase, you know, for papers, um, just papers, uh, you know, uh, his papers, business papers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As much as I loved the old opening hatch Iron Monger figure from the ’08 line, there’s no denying that there was some definite room for an upgrade.  With all of the various MCU figures we’d gotten in the last few years, it did feel a bit like poor Monger had just completely fallen through the cracks.  I’m glad that Hasbro made a spot for him in this line-up, and I’m also glad he turned out as well as he did.  The main Iron Monger is truly an impressive piece of engineering on his own, and very much makes this set, but I’m also glad that we got a proper Obadiah.  All in all, it’s a very fun set.

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.

#2935: Odin

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

ODIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The king of Asgard, protector of the Nine Realms, and father of Thor, Odin has learned to appreciate peace over the centuries.”

Thor’s supporting cast kind of gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Marvel Legends treatment.  The line was on hiatus during the first film’s tie-in run, and Dark World wound up as one of the least merchandised MCU films in the entire franchise.  Ragnarok had a much better spread, but it was also the one least focused purely on the Thor cast.  Fortunately, the various anniversary and throwback lines have helped a little bit, and we’re finally getting a second 6-inch figure based on the first film (it only took us a solid decade), in the form of the Allfather, Odin.  Let’s have a look at him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Odin is one of the five single-packed Infinity Saga sub-set figures from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends, and the second of the four that got a wide release.  He’s based on his appearance in the first Thor film, specifically his fully armored attire from the film’s first half, which is certainly his most distinctive.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Odin’s articulation scheme showcases a lot of the more recent improvements to how things are handled in the line.  The elbows and knees both have the pinless construction, and the range of motion is generally better than the early MCU-based figures.  It’s certainly more than enough for Odin, given his actions within the films.  The only slightly frustrating bit on the movement is the shoulder armor, specifically the part on his bicep, which has a tendency to pop out of place and get caught on the joint when you’re posing him.  Odin’s sculpt is an all-new piece, as it kind of has to be.  The build is a decent match for Hopkins in the role, and the details of the gear generally match up pretty well.  There are some minor things, like the shoulder pads not quite having the right placement, but it generally works well.  The head he comes wearing has a more stern expression, which fits with Odin’s more typical disposition in the films.  The hair’s a bit more matted down on this one, as it’s directly designed to work with the included helmet.  The helmet is a strong piece.  It’s notably based on Odin’s more ornate throne room helmet, rather than his battle helmet; generally, I think this one has the superior design, so I’m alright with the choice. It sits well on the head, and is secure without being too tight, but also isn’t too bulky or goofy looking.  Odin’s paint work is rather nicely handled.  The mix of metallic and matte finishes sells the armored parts, and the application is generally pretty clean.  The face and hair have rather lifelike features to them, as you would hope to see.  Odin is packed with an extra head, this time with a smiling expression, and designed more for a helmetless look, as well as two pairs of hands (gripping and an open gesture/fist combo), and his spear Gungnir.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bough Odin largely because I was planning to buy the whole Infinity Saga set.  I don’t know that he really spoke to me on his own, and he’s ultimately the one I had the least excitement about going into it, especially given how little else we’ve got from Thor at this scale.  He did look cool in hand, and I do have to say there’s a lot I like about this figure in the end.  He’s still not gonna be my favorite from this set, and I think he’s one that’s gonna fall through the cracks for a lot of people, but he’s certainly a solid offering.  Now, can I please get the Warriors Three at some point?

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.

#2934: Captain Marvel & Rescue Armor

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

CAPTAIN MARVEL & RESCUE ARMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Hasbro did their best on giving us the most thorough line-ups possible when it come to the Infinity War and Endgame casts, but given the sheer size, there were of course a few that wound up slipping through the cracks.  The purpose of the Infinity Saga line seems to be equal parts getting figures out that were missed, and fixing ones that weren’t quite right the first time around.  Today’s focus goes for a bit of both, as well as serving as a nice representation of some of the film’s own internal representation of the franchise’s female heroes during the big climactic battle, all rolled into one package.  So, without further ado, and before I rack up too many pissed off commenters, let’s look at Captain Marvel and Rescue!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Marvel and the Rescue Armor are the first of the two-pack portion of the 10-piece Infinity Saga sub-set of Marvel Legends.  This particular pairing is an Amazon-exclusive.  This set is one of three items from the line to be based on Endgame, which does seem like a lot, but, of course, it’s a rather jam-packed movie, isn’t it?

CAPTAIN MARVEL

“Captain Marvel uses her incredible powers to battle evil in the ultimate fight for the fate of the universe.”

Given that she had gotten her own assortment devoted to her, and that all the promo material showed her in a costume that was largely unchanged from her solo film appearance, it really wasn’t a shock that we didn’t get a proper Endgame Captain Marvel at the time of the film’s release.  That said, the inverted color scheme on the costume, as well as her fancy new hair style were both changes I really liked to her look, and ones I was hopeful to see in toy form at some point.  Here we are at some point.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Structurally, she’s largely the same figure as the one from her solo outing.  It’s generally a pretty solid starting point, it’s not terribly far off from Larson’s build when she’s playing the character, and the broad strokes details line-up with her suit from the film.  Some of the smaller details aren’t *quite* right, but given how brief this look’s appearance is, and how small those details are, they don’t generally feel too out of place.  My figure does wind up with one notable QC issue, which is that she’s got two left forearms.  Just my luck.  Regardless of QC issues, Carol gets a new head, as well as a new sash piece add-on.  The new head is a very nice piece, and definitely has Hasbro’s best Brie Larson likeness to date.  It’s a marked improvement on the solo film figures, and is just generally a pretty good match.  The sash is a pretty basic piece, but does a lot to change up the sculpt just a bit more.  The biggest change-up is the paint, which is sporting her inverted color scheme from the movie.  I find this to be a lot more appealing, and more classically “Captain Marvel” like, so I’m definitely a fan.  I also kind of dig the change to the flat colors vs metallic.  It’s not a huge shift, but I think it works.  Carol is packed with three different sets of hands (fists, flat, and relaxed) and Stark’s nanotech version of the gauntlet, this time just meant for holding.

RESCUE ARMOR

“Outfitted with repulsors and a unibeam, Pepper’s Rescue suit is ready to step into battle against Thanos.”

Pepper Potts in her Rescue armor was notably *not* absent from the Legends tie-ins for Endgame when it was released, but, similar to the War Machine from that same assortment, getting her out that close to the film’s release resulted in some inaccuracies and some stripping of more film relevant accessories.  This release serves to address some of that.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and has 31 points of articulation.  At her core, this figure’s sculpt is the same as the one from the main line release.  It wasn’t a bad sculpt at all, so re-using it feels like a pretty good call.  I liked it the first time, and I still like it now.  The first set of changes are in the form of paint.  The standard release wasn’t far off, but there were some small tweaks to the final film design, which have been reflected here.  The overall color scheme has also been toned down slightly, which looks a bit truer to what we see on screen.  The biggest changes are in the form of accessories.  She still gets both versions of the back-pack, but now she also gets two additional head sculpts, one with the face plate up, and the other with the helmet entirely removed, as well as some extra attachments for the open back pack to showcase her nano gear a little more, and also a pair of blast effects.  It’s a shame we didn’t get any extra hands mixed in with all of that, but I’m not going to be too greedy on this one.  The new parts add a lot to a figure that I already really liked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Today’s review is a significant one for me, on two counts.  Today would have been mine and Jess’s second wedding anniversary.  It is also the first one I’m spending without her.  Jess’s encouragement of my collecting was a prominent piece of our relationship, and it was something that she maintained up to the end.  When this set dropped online, I was pretty excited, and made mention of it to her.  Then things got serious, and my mind moved onto more important matters, and I wasn’t really thinking about toys.  After Jess’s passing, I discovered that she had ordered this set for me, the very day I’d mentioned it to her.  And so, three months after her passing, its arrival marked my final gift from her.  It’s something of a bittersweet moment.  It’s a set I very much wanted, and one I’m very happy to have.  Jess absolutely adored the moment with the female heroes assembling in the film, so this set was already bound to remind me of her.  She was always so thoughtful and caring, even in her darkest moments.  And because of that, she gave me this one last gift.  But I know that it’s the last one.  And I wish it weren’t.  And I wish I could tell her how much it means to me.  But I can’t.  All I can do is take solace in the fact that she loved me, and she knew I loved her too, and that was why she worked so hard to take care of me, even after the fact.  So, now I have one last testament to just how Super Awesome of a Wife she really was.  Thank you for everything, Jess.

#2930: Rippley

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

RIPPLEY

FORTNITE: VICTORY ROYALE SERIES (HASBRO)

Fortnite has become quite a merchandising juggernaut in the last few years, and doesn’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon.  Just in the realm of action figures alone, there are no fewer than three toy companies that hold the license.  Despite still never having played the game even a single time, I’ve looked at offerings from both Jazwares and McFarlane.  Hasbro has just recently gotten in on things as well, offering up their own 6-inch-scale line of figures, dubbed the Victory Royale Series, which is just starting to show up now.  And, at this point, I’m not even gonna fight it, really.  So, let’s look at Rippley, a little blobby guy added during Chapter 2’s first season in the game.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rippley is one of the four figures that make up the first basic assortment of Hasbro’s Fortnite: Victory Royale Series.  The line just started showing up at retail in the last month or so.  Rippley’s kind of the resident “goofy” figure, in with three of the more straightforward designs.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation, which, yes, even includes a neck joint, as much as it might look like it doesn’t.  In general, Rippley’s articulation scheme follows the set-up we’ve seen on Hasbro’s Classified figures, albeit without the drop hips and butterfly shoulders.  It’s a pretty good set-up, and while he’s slightly more restricted by his design, he’s still quite posable.  As far as scaling goes, Rippley and the rest of the assortment will more or less fit right in with Jazwares own Legendary Series offerings, as well as other 6-inch-scale Hasbro lines (barring the slightly under-scaled Overwatch figures, but that line’s dead anyway).  Rippley’s sculpt is all new, and it’s pretty fun.  He’s a little bulkier than the others, and the blobby parts are very smooth and basic, but all of his gear has an impressive level of detail and texturing, which really adds a lot.  In order to facilitate proper posability in the neck joint, the top of Rippley’s blobby self is designed for removal.  It’s pretty seamless, since it connects right at the edge of his vest, and it stays nice and secure.  You could be forgiven for not even realizing it was removable, honestly.  Rippley’s color work is generally pretty basic, but it works.  I really dig the translucent blue, and the cartoony smile on the face is a nice touch.  I’m curious to see if Hasbro decides to do the other color variants, just to get more uses out of the mold.  Rippley is packed with the Sludge Hammer harvesting tool, Containment Pack back bling, and the pump shot weapon, sporting the Rippley Wrap, a string of words that mean it’s translucent blue, like he is.  I can get behind that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As stated in the intro, I’ve still not played any Fortnite, nor do I ever really intend to, so I don’t *technically* have a reason to keep buying any of the toys.  Hasbro taking over the 6-inch line didn’t feel like something I needed to try or anything, but then I saw this blob guy, and I just really found him way too nifty to pass on.  Plus, hey, I got to try out the line, so that’s cool.  At least as far as Rippley is concerned, the line doesn’t feel too terribly far removed from what Jazwares was doing, but I guess that’s not a bad thing, since those figures were pretty cool.  Rippley is a lot of fun.  I’m as unlikely to grab more of these as any of the other Fortnite lines, but I’ll still probably be grabbing them if they look cool.  And Rippley certainly looked cool.

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.

#2929: Gigawatt

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

GIGAWATT

BACK TO THE FUTURE X TRANSFORMERS (HASBRO)

It’s been seven whole years since my one Back to the Future-related review, but it’s been significantly less time since my last Transformers review.  In fact, when I wrote the one BttF review, I wasn’t yet actually doing proper Transformers reviews.  So, there’s been no crossover.  Well, I guess now’s as good a time as any to do that, since, you know, there’s actually an official crossover and everything.  That sure makes my job easier, doesn’t it?  Well, let’s have a look at Gigawatt!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gigawatt is the third offering under Hasbro’s Transformers: Collaborative banner.  He was initially released as a Walmart-exclusive last summer, but has been slowly trickling his way out to other retailers starting at the tail end of last year.  He seems to have finally started hitting in larger quantities in the last month or so.  In his robot mode, Gigawatt stands about 5 inches tall and he has 20 workable points of articulation.  As with Ectotron, Gigawatt makes use of a pre-existing mold for his core starting point.  In this case, he uses the internal engineering and a good number of parts from the Siege Sideswipe figure.  Sideswipe was one of my favorite Siege molds, and is rather masterful in its simplicity relative to just how good it looks.  This figure keeps everything really good about the original mold, and re-skins it with the assorted parts needed for his updated alt-mode.  It looks very good, much like the original release.  Among the wholly new parts specifically for the robot mode is the head; it’s similar to the Sideswipe head, but now it’s got some sweet new goggles, for science purposes, of course.  I also really dig the new torso piece, which features a version of the flux capacitor, as well as the date readouts from the main console.  It really sells all the important elements of the time machine, all in one convenient robot package.  Gigawatt includes a blaster rifle (with removable “stock”) and a “whip.”  The “stock” and “whip” both come more in handy in the next section.

Gigawatt’s alt-mode is kind of the major selling point here.  As a BttF-branded tie-in, there’s really only one logical choice of vehicle mode, and that’s Doc Brown’s modified Delorian DMC-12.  As with pretty much any BttF tie-in version of the vehicle, it doesn’t actually sport any of the specific Delorian branding or markings.  It’s clearly the same car, of course, and it’s a good recreation of it at that.  The transformation sequence is effectively the same as Sideswipe’s, so it’s a fairly intuitive one, but it also looks quite convincing in vehicle mode.  The design of the car allows for the wheels to be switched into hovercar mode, and you can also use the “stock” of the gun to add the Mr. Fusion, or hook the “whip” up to be the antenna used to catch the lightning strike at the end of the first movie.  It makes it quite an inclusive selection of looks from the movie, which is certainly fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ectotron was a lot of fun, so as soon as the possibility of this one was floated, I knew I was on board, even moreso when he was shown off and confirmed to be using Sideswipe’s mold as a starting point.  It’s been a long wait to get one, but he was ultimately worth it.  I love his design, I love how he transforms, I love the extras he comes with, and I just love him in general.  A really, really nice figure, just all around.

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.

#2926: Alvin “Breaker” Kibbey with RAM Cycle

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

ALVIN “BREAKER” KIBBEY w/ RAM CYCLE

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

G.I. Joe: Classified Series has kind of slowed its pace in new releases, presumably to allow people a chance to, you know, actually find some of them.  The last two sets of the main line have been devoted to the ill-fated movie tie-in stuff, while the core line stuff is still kind of tied-up with exclusives.  Two years into the line, we’re getting a second vehicle, this time around for the Joes.  It’s another bike, though this time it’s actually an update on one of the vintage vehicles, specifically the RAM Cycle, one of the Real American Hero line’s debut vehicles.  It’s even packed with an updated version of one of the Original 13, Breaker!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

Alvin “Breaker” Kibbey and the RAM Cycle are one of the two pieces in the latest round of Target-exclusive “Special Mission: Cobra Island” sub-set of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: Classified Series.  They’re numbered 29 in the overall line-up, thus far the highest number we’ve seen.  Breaker with the RAM Cycle feels like a kind of an odd pairing, but it’s actually not the first time they’ve been packed together, since they did the same thing in the 25th line.

ALVIN “BREAKER” KIBBEY

Breaker was one of the handful of greenshirts that launched the ARAH line in 1982, but has largely been confined to purely recreations and anniversary stuff since then.  As such, he’s really only had the one look (we don’t talk about “Stars and Stripes Forever” guys), which is effectively one this one’s recreating, albeit in a more modernized sense.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation, Breaker is rather standard for the line, but I did note that on mine the left hip was exceptionally loose.  Structurally, Breaker’s got a lot of re-use, going on.  The torso is from Beach Head, the arms from Duke, and the legs and waist are from Snake Eyes.  He then gets a new head, chest cover, and boots in order to make him a little more unique.  I’m gonna be honest, I’m already kinda starting to get tired of seeing Duke’s arms; we really need a set with the more proper tighter roll on the sleeves sooner than later.  I’m also not entirely sold on the new head.  It’s not a bad piece, and even bears quite a resemblance to Jake Gyllenhaal, which I guess could work well if you want an unmasked head for Mysterio.  That said, it feels a little too suave and cool for Breaker.  Again, not bad, but it does seem slightly out of character.  The vest is also a little more bulked up, and with him being packed in with a vehicle, I do kinda feel like I’m getting Clutch vibes off of him more so than Breaker.  I guess this is just one of those things that comes along with how similar all of the original figures were.  Breaker’s paint work is fairly one note.  There’s a lot of olive green, which is true to his design, I suppose.  The application is a little spotty, especially on the hairline and on the edges of the wrists.  In general, he gets the job done alright, though.  Breaker is packed with an all-new helmet.  It’s got his comm piece built in, as well as an affixed visor.  The visor is totally opaque, which is kind of a bummer, and also adds to making Breaker look too cool to really be Breaker.  I’m also kind of sad we didn’t get an alternate head with his trademark bubble gum bubble; we got it for Jubilee and Boom, why not Breaker?

RAM CYCLE

Hey, we finally got a second vehicle for the line!  What’s it gonna be this time?  Another motorcycle?  Wow, what a total shock that no one could have possibly seen coming.  Look, we all know bikes are the most cost effective way of doing vehicles at this scale, so I think we can all just get comfortable with this one, right?  Unlike its predecessor, the COIL, the RAM Cycle is a classic Joe vehicle, so it’s nice to see it make a return here.  The RAM is an all-new mold, measuring 5 inches tall by 8 inches wide, and having working wheels and steering.  It’s a pretty decent recreation of the vintage RAM Cycle, scaled up to the new line size, of course.  There are some pretty cool sculpted details worked in, and it’s got a totally different feel from the COIL’s Cobra-themed aesthetic, making it clearly a Joe vehicle.  Breaker also sits on it a little better than Baroness did on the COIL, making it feel like a slightly more coherent set.  There’s a removable side car piece, designed with the included minigun in mind.  It mimics the old toy’s mounted gun, while also allowing for the gun to be used on its own, presumably for someone who’s, you know, not Breaker.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Target exclusives for this line are kind of burning me out at this point.  I’m just rather tired of the hunt, and of not finding anything, and of having to deal with all the related stupidity.  So, I made no notable attempt to get Breaker, because I just couldn’t be too bothered really.  Plus, it’s another vehicle, and I’m not really displaying those right now, so it felt like a bit of a waste.  Max wound up snagging one of these for himself, and after opening it, admitted he really only wanted the bike, so Breaker was going to just be tossed in a bin somewhere.  I admitted I really only wanted Breaker, so we opted to split the set, with me doing the full review here first.  Breaker’s fairly by the numbers, and kind of not terribly Breaker-like, but he’s a decent enough figure that I’m glad to have him.  The cycle is fun, and I’m glad I got to mess with it, but it’s not something I need to own, so this set-up really does work out for both of us.

#2925: Ultra Magnus

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

ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS: ROBOTS IN DISGUISE (HASBRO)

Faithful readers will probably know that today marks my eighth anniversary of this humble little toy review site.  As with all of my anniversary reviews, I like to take a look at something that’s not quite your average day’s sort of significance, but is rather a little more special to me.  I’ve covered all sorts of various lines in these posts, mostly exploring my earliest days of collecting.  Because of this focus, Transformers is kind of out in the cold, since they’re mostly a recent addition to these collecting habits.  Today, however, I give them some time in the spotlight with, unsurprisingly, an Ultra Magnus.  Look, I like what I like, alright?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultra Magnus was a Super Class scale release in Hasbro’s Transformers: Robots In Disguise line, hitting retail in 2001, alongside the similarly Super Class scale Optimus Prime (with whom he could combine to form Omega Prime).  In his robot mode, Magnus stands 10 1/2 inches tall and he has 21 workable points of articulation.  The legs are generally rather restricted, largely due to there not being any articulation until the knee, which is about 6 inches up the leg.  On the plus side, the arms get quite a bit of mobility, in classic Magnus fashion, really.  Magnus’s molds were repurposed from Takara’s Car Robots God Magnus figure, based on the animation of the same name, which was adapted into RiD‘s own cartoon equivalent here in the US.  As with the smaller scale Spy Changers version of the character, this Magnus is just all legs.  Just the absolute epitome of legs.  ZZ Tops “Legs,” but in Transformers form.  Guy’s got long legs is what I’m getting at, really.  Given his much larger scale, this release is, of course, a far more complex take on the same design, allowing for a lot more detail work, as well as the already mentioned improved articulation.  It marked a pretty radical change-up from the likes of the G1 line, where larger figures tended to be much more immobile.  At this scale, the kibble from his vehicle mode is also a lot less of an issue, making for a generally cleaner look for Magnus.  Magnus is packed with his “Blue Bolts” cannon, which can be configured into a few different layouts.  There are supposed to be two missiles for it as well, but they’re missing from mine.

Magnus’s alt-mode is an updated, more sci-fi-esque take on his G1-version’s car carrier mode.  The transformation sequence is quite involved, with a lot of moving parts, as well as some old-school partsforming, which requires the legs to be removed and reassembled as the actual car-carrier parts.  You definitely need to take some time to figure this one out, and I actually outsourced it to Max for the first transformation out of a paranoid fear of breaking the thing.  In his vehicle mode, he’s quite sizable, about 11 inches in length.  He’s large enough to hold three of the deluxe class cars from the line.  And hey, all of the wheels are actually working wheels on this version.  With proper rubber tires and everything.  All in all, it’s pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is very special to me, for a lot of intersecting reasons.  While I was never a Beast Wars kid, something about the 2001 Robots In Disguise, and especially Ultra Magnus really stuck with me.  I very much wanted this figure as a kid, but at the time, I didn’t quite have the ability to articulate that to my parents, who mostly stuck to getting me the things they knew I liked, rather than the outliers (that’s not a knock against them, by the way; they were genuinely really good at getting me gifts I really appreciated, and I was also enough of a go-with-the-flow kind of person that I probably never once mentioned to them wanting this toy).  So, I never had this has a kid.  I didn’t have any Ultra Magnuses at all, until Siege, when the use of this guy’s alt-mode as a G1-style Magnus’s Cybertronian design was enough to get me in the door and create something of a monster.  For 20 years, this guy was on the back of my mind.

During the period where he was on the back of my mind, he was, at least at some point, on the forefront of the mind of Jason, owner of All Time Toys.  When Jason fought for custody of his oldest son Chance, he wanted Chance to have his own collection of things that the two of them could bond over.  For Chance’s first Christmas, Jason made it a point to go all out and get him some of the best Transformers he could.  This Ultra Magnus was included.  When things got complicated with the custody battle, Jason couldn’t spend Christmas with Chance, and those gifts had to wait.  But Jason won that battle, and Chance got that Christmas, even if it was a little late.

Fifteen years or so later, my crappy IT job that was slowly killing me laid me off in the middle of a pandemic, and I found myself needing full time job, which Jason gave me.  A month later, Jess and I got the news of her cancer, meaning that just as I left a situation that was slowly killing me, Jess was in one of her own.  The next year was unquestionably the hardest of my life, but Jason, Max, and Chance (who was now my coworker) were all there to help me.  In the midst of all that hardship, Chance decided to part with his Ultra Magnus, and gave it to me.  If I’d gotten it all those years ago, it would have never meant this much to me.  But now it’s got so much meaning behind it.  This is my very favorite Ultra Magnus.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0016: Scarlett

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

SCARLETT

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

What’s this?  Another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum?  Yeah, it’s been like a whole year since I’ve done one of these, I know.  And just like the last time, I’ll say don’t get too attached.

Since the second year of the small-scale G.I. Joe line, way back in 1983, running changes on the figures has been a rather common place thing in the line.  When the first year figures were brought out for a second round along side series 2, they had swivels added just above the elbows, increasing articulation, and helping them better match the other figures in the line.  So, it comes as little surprise that such things are showing up in Classified as well.  The first series of the line featured some notable deviations from prior designs, with a few of the color schemes in particular getting some notable complaints.  Hasbro decided to address this with running changes to three of the launch figures, giving them all-new color schemes for refresh cases.  I’m in a Scarlett mood already today, so why not look at that one? First, though, here’s my review of the original release.

To wrap up up my look at the first assortment of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe relaunch, I’m making my way to the First Lady of the franchise, Shanna O’Hara, aka Scarlett.  Debuting as one of the Original 13 back in the day, Scarlett has a sort of hot-and-cold run when it comes to action figures.  She’ll go long stretches between updates, and finds herself frequently left out of line-ups where she should be included (Sigma 6 being the biggest offender on that front).  Fortunately, she’s right here at the start for Classified.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Scarlett is figure 05 in the Classified Series line-up.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and has 35 points of articulation.  As far as mobility goes, she’s definitely the most limited of the first series figures, thanks to actually just having less articulation.  For the most part, she’s still pretty serviceable on that front, but the elbows are a lot more limited than I’d like, especially given that she’s got a weapon she’s meant to hold two-handed.  Some deeper bends are really needed.  Of all the designs in this first set, Scarlett’s is the one that’s the most far-removed from her original figure.  Now, in her defense, even the original animation and comics designs were a little bit removed from how the figure looked, so she’s already starting from there.  That said, there’s still a lot more modernization and tweaking going on this one.  It kind of makes sense, with her being the least regulation of the original bunch anyway.  She was running around in a leotard and was just shy of a super hero costume, so she’s always been a little bit of an outlier.  She’s also the one most prone to rather sizable re-works as the line progresses, so this is really just the next one of those.  For me, this design really works, because it possesses all of the broad strokes elements that really read as Scarlett, while still fitting in a little bit better with a modern aesthetic.  This design has a nice fusion of practicality and fantasy, and it keeps it pretty fun.  The sculpt does a solid job of bringing her into three dimensions, with a nice set of balanced proportions, and a ton of small detail work that helps her really pop.  In terms of paint, Scarlett is definitely a brighter splash of color than the rest of the assortment.  That’s not a bad thing, and it’s in keeping with usual depictions of her.  The use of the gold that’s been on most of the Joes looks a lot better here, especially when merged with the yellow that’s already there.  I’m also quire a fan of the variation on her hair, which gives it a nice sense of transparency and light.  I did notice a few spots of slop on the base paint for my figure, especially on the wrist guards.  I’m hoping Hasbro can tighten up the paint a little more on this line going forward.  Scarlett is packed with an updated version of her crossbow, plus three knives.  The crossbow is in two parts and has a tendency to pop apart a lot, but is otherwise pretty cool.  The knives can all be stowed on the figure, which gives them a nice extra interactive feel which I really enjoy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a very big fan of Scarlett, so as soon as I saw Snake Eyes, I was waiting to see the corresponding Scarlett.  I know she’s not everyone’s jam, but I really dig this new design a lot, and I like having her to go with my updated Snake Eyes.  I wouldn’t mind seeing a more classic version at some point as well, though, since I’m hardly going to turn down the chance to get another Scarlett figure.

I only wrote that review a year and a half ago, so I can’t really say there are any observable changes in my reviewing style here.  As you can see from the above review, I’m not so opposed to the Scarlett figure as she was released initially.  It’s a very different take, but one that I didn’t feel was too out of place for the character.  The sculpt very definitely didn’t bother me, and that’s fortunate, because it has remained unchanged here.  What has changed is pretty much all of the paint work.  All of the gold and bright blue elements have been replaced, with the gold being swapped for a more reserved tan, and the blue just being absent entirely.  Her undersuit has been changed as well, with a black top in place of the purple from the last one, and tan on the pants in place of the grey from before.  Her hair has also been slightly darkened, and her face has just generally been given a little bit more detailing.  As someone who didn’t have issues with the prior version, I can still say that this one looks emphatically better.  She just really pops on the shelf, and I feel she’s really worth the upgrade.

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