Tag Archives: Hasbro

#2737: Magneto – House of X

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

MAGNETO — HOUSE OF X

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Magneto forges an unlikely partnership with Xavier in pursuit of a lofty common goal: the protection of all mutants.”

The counterpart to Charles Xavier’s peaceful co-existence philosophy since the very beginning has been the more militant Magneto.  Magneto, however, is a character defined by his tendency to switch sides as his morals check in and out.  Recently, they’ve been checked in more often than not, and he’s spent most of the last decade as an ally of the team, with “House of X” later retconning him as a secret ally the whole time, throwing out all pretense entirely.  At the same time, the comics have become big on going for this whole monochromatic set-up for his costume, because I guess that’s clever.  Or something.  Legends already gave us an all-black Magneto, so I guess it was only a matter of time before we got an all-white one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto is figure 6 in the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends, and is, like the rest of the set, based on the character’s appearance in “House of X” and the ongoing titles that followed.  It’s not terribly far removed from the character’s handful of Marvel Now! looks, being Magneto’s classic costume set up with a new palette dropped on it.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like the other two current gen comic Magnetos, this guy’s based on the Spider-UK base body, which continues to be a good base for the character.  He re-uses the cape add-on piece from the 3-pack Magneto, along with an all-new head, forearms, and belt.  The head’s got the separate pieces for the helmet and underlying head, much like the last two releases.  It’s quite similar to, but still distinct from, the calm head from the 3-pack.  It feels like it didn’t need to be new to me, but Hasbro presumably felt differently.  The helmet’s nice, but there’s definitely something a little bit off about the underlying face.  It looks rather goofy, and maybe not as stern as they were aiming for.  The new arms and belt help to bring the figure’s design more in line with the comics appearance, and do their job pretty well.  I was a little disappointed that they didn’t take advantage of retooling the forearms to remove the exposed pins, as they have on a few other recent revisions, but it’s possible it didn’t cost out.  Other than that, the figure’s sculpt is pretty much just business as usual.  In terms of paint, this guy embraces the monochromatic nature of the modern Magneto design, so there’s not a ton of variance going on.  There are some silvers and blacks thrown in for accenting, and they aren’t bad.  The application’s also pretty sharp, which is a plus.  He does ditch some of the ribbing on the sides of his costume, but at least he doesn’t ditch everything wholesale like Xavier did.  Magneto is packed with three sets of hands, open gesture, gripping, and fists.  It’s a nice assortment, and nice to get all the variety.  Additionally, he’s packed with all three of the Tri-Sentinel Build-A-Figure’s heads.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Magneto’s classic color scheme is really hard to top for me, so I tend to be resistant to current trends of going all black or all white.  The all white look in particular tends to strike me as being just sort of odd for the character.  So, with that said, I wasn’t really feeling this guy when he was announced.  And, if I’m entirely honest, I don’t know how much I’m feeling this guy in-hand.  The 2019 release is just hard to top, and this one’s got the issue of that wonky face to deal with.  It’s not bad, I suppose, just a little uninspired feeling at the end of the day.

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

#2734: Moira MacTaggert

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

MOIRA MACTAGGERT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Through the course of many lives and deaths, Moira MacTaggert pursues justice for all mutants.”

Introduced by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in X-Men #96, Dr. Moira MacTaggert would serve as a rather prominent supporting character in the X-Men universe until well into the ’90s.  She was a notable human character amongst the book’s largely mutant cast, and even more notably, a human who not only didn’t hate mutants, but was actively seeking to help them….that was, until “House of X” went and revealed that Moira wasn’t a human at all, but was instead a mutant with the ability to reincarnate and relive her life over and over, but exactly in such a fashion that her mutant nature was undetectable through all usual means of detection so as to not openly violate the four decades of history of the character being, you know, not a mutant.  Look, I have feelings about this whole thing, and they’re definitely mixed.  But, I mean, it means that Moira is prominent again, and it means she got an action figure, and isn’t that what matters the most?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moira is figure 4 in the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends.  Like the others in the set, she’s based on “House of X”, specifically on Moira’s look from her current life/timeline.  While I personally would prefer her jumpsuited look from the ’70s, I guess this one’s okay too.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Fortunately, her articulation’s more useful than yesterday’s Jean Grey, which is a definite plus.  Moira’s largely built out of the same bank of parts as last year’s Gwen Stacy figure, but with a new head and coat piece, as well as the Peggy Carter shoes again.  The shoes at least make more sense here, and it’s possible their use here is why they showed up on Jean as well.  The re-used parts work well for the look they’re aiming for, and the new head and jacket likewise match up pretty well for the character.  The default head is sporting glasses, which are a thing that Moira had occasionally, though they again aren’t necessarily out of place for the character.  They’re also well-rendered, especially for the scale, and the really look quite nice.  The jacket piece sits just a touch high on the shoulders, but is other wise a nicely sculpted piece. They’ve even sculpted the pens in her pocket.  Moira’s color work is a bit more subdued than the usual Legends figure, but it matches the source material, and it’s again pretty solid for the character.  The paint work is pretty basic, but it hits all the right marks and the application is pretty clean and sharp.  In terms of accessories, Moira’s pretty well packed.  She gets a spare head, arms, hands, and a neckerchief piece, allowing for a rather different second look for the character, based on her less scientific attire from the miniseries.  It’s not my bag personally, but getting an extra look’s really not a bad thing.  Moira also includes a scientific textbook of some sort, as well as the left leg of the Tri-Sentinel Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Moira’s pretty rooted into the ’70s-’80s X-Men run, as well as the ’90s cartoon, which are really my main sources of X-Men, so I definitely like the character, but the concept of getting her as a toy seemed rather unlikely, given her typically less action oriented role in the franchise.  Personally, I’m not much of a fan of the move to make Moira a mutant, as I feel it removes some of what’s special about the character, but at least her increased roll gave Hasbro a good excuse to make a figure of her.  It’s honestly a pretty solid figure, and one of the bigger draws to this set for me.  I’ll still keep holding out for a ’70s version, but given how slim the chances of getting that one are, I can at least make due with this one.

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

#2733: Jean Grey – House of X

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

JEAN GREY — HOUSE OF X

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jean Grey leads her fellow mutants to the island sanctuary of Krakoa in a bid to declare sovereignty from humankind.”

After sticking with their matching gear for their first 38 comic appearances, the X-Men finally got their own customized looks courtesy of artist Werner Roth in Uncanny X-Men #39.  While some of the designs (mainly Angel’s really) would be rather quickly ditched, a few of them really stuck in there, and influenced the main looks for the characters going forward.  This was most evident with both Cyclops and Jean Grey, whose main designs, no matter what they may be, have a tendency to call back pretty heavily to these earlier designs.  Jean’s Marvel Girl costume actually got a fair bit of play, even going forward, managing to even get a reappearance during “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” and has once again resurfaced as Jean’s primary design in the new ongoing run of the title.  I have…mixed feelings about that last part, but I do like the design well enough that I won’t complain too much about it getting Legends treatment as a result of its new prominence.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is figure 3 in the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends.  While technically “House of X”-based like the rest of this assortment, this particular figure is a little more multi-purpose, what with the re-used design and all.  This is the second time that this particular design’s been made as a Legends release, following Hasbro’s kind of janky version from that two-pack very early in their run from the license.  This one aims to be less janky.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  In terms of mobility, Jean’s a rather restricted figure by modern standards.  The hair rather predictably blocks a bit of the neck movement, but on top of that, the skirt piece is rather thick and leaves no real movement on the hips, and the way the ball-jointed waist has been sculpted means it doesn’t get much of range either.  In general, it’s not ideal, and makes it tricky to get her to do much other than stand there.  Of course, she struggles with standing a bit, too, so maybe that’s not her strong suit, either.  Movement may not really be there, but does the figure at least look good?  Yeah, for the most part.  She uses the Phoenix body as a loose starting point, which is sensible, and also uses the flared glove forearms from Kitty Pryde.  She also uses the feet from Peggy Carter, which was an odd choice, since it’s clearly got sculpted shoes, and Jean’s clearly wearing boots.  It’s not like there aren’t heeled feet without the shoe line sculpted, so I’m confused by the choice.  Other than that, Jean’s got a new head, torso, and skirt piece.  They may not allow for a ton of movement, but they do certainly look nice, with nice, balanced proportions, and some quite impressive smaller detail work on the folds and wrinkles on the clothes.  The paint work on Jean is pretty simple, largely relying on molded colors and slightly more complex assembly of pieces.  The paint that’s actually there is all pretty cleanly handled, with no slop or bleed over to speak of.  The colors are on the bright side, which generally works, although it does make the purely painted distinction between the boots and the legs a little less noticeable than it should be.  That’s a very minor complaint, of course.  Jean is packed with two sets of hands, one set in fists, and the other in open gesture, as well as a small Krakoa plant.  The plant’s cool, but she does have a little bit of trouble holding it, since neither set of hands is really designed for it.  Also included is the right leg to the Tri-Sentinel Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a pretty classic design, and one that’s toy coverage has classically been less than stellar, so I’ve been hoping for a more proper Legends release.  When this set was first hinted at by Hasbro, I was hoping this figure would be in the line-up, and I was quite happy when that proved to be true.  The final figure’s not quite as strong as I was hoping, mostly due to that restricted motion.  That said, she’s at the very least a nice looking figure, which is more than could be said for the last Legends version.

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

#2732: Omega Sentinel

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

OMEGA SENTINEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Harnessing the power of enhanced sensors, flight, and nanite regeneration, Omega Sentinel dispatches enemies with ease.”

In the ’90s, the giant, lumbering, mutant-hunting robots the Sentinels found themselves upgraded for the times, becoming the Prime Sentinels, a merging of humans with robotic components and programming.  Amongst this new breed of Sentinels was Karima Shapandar.  Karima was a reluctant foe of the X-Men, and would ultimately work by their side a handful of times over the years, taking on the name “Omega Sentinel”.  More recently, her Sentinel programming has taken over more and more, leading to her playing the role of antagonist during the “House of X” story line.  Hey, it got her a figure, at least, right?  Full disclosure: I have virtually no first hand knowledge of Omega Sentinel, and am entirely operating off of what I could find online for the purposes of this review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Omega Sentinel is figure 2 in the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends, and is the only non-team member included in the line-up.  She’s shown here in her more fully Sentinel-ized appearance, as seen in the mini-series, which is a fairly distinctive appearance, and certainly on-brand with the current set-up of figures.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Omega Sentinel is sporting an all-new sculpt, just for her.  It’s a tiny bit surprising, especially given how a Xavier wound up on the Pizza Spidey body, but it means that all of her costume elements can be actual sculpted elements, as opposed to relying more heavily on paint.  It’s actually a pretty nice visual set-up, and generally gives her a little more pop than she might otherwise have.  By far, the most impressive piece of the figure’s sculpt is the arms, which have that proper mechanical design, and a lot of very nice smaller detail work.  Her standard head out of the box is based on her primary look from the mini-series, which had her bald, as she has been a few times prior.  It’s really the coolest look, I think, and it presents well here.  Omega Sentinel’s paint work is pretty standard Legends fare; base work that’s generally pretty well applied.  There’s a little bit of missed coverage on her upper legs, but otherwise my figure’s pretty solid, and it’s a pretty striking color palette.  Omega is packed with both an alternate head and lower arms.  The head is supposed to be Karima from earlier in her career, before the whole bad guy thing, and it’s not awful from a sculpting stand point, but the coloring is just plain wrong.  Karima’s supposed to be Indian in the comics, and has classically been depicted with close to black hair and a darker complexion.  This one goes for more of an auburn hair color and a much lighter skin tone, making her look rather caucasian, which is just inaccurate.  I’m not exactly sure why they went this direction with it.  I prefer the other head anyway, but it still would be nice if this one was accurate.  On the plus side, the alternate arms are far cooler, and haver her lower arms shaped into weapons of some sort.  I like them a lot, and they’re going to be my default set-up for the character.  In addition to the character-specific pieces, Omega Sentinel also includes the torso for the Tri-Sentinel Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the intro, I had no prior knowledge of Omega Sentinel prior to this figure’s announcement, and actually had to look her up when she was shown off.  I was honestly not really much looking forward to this one, and expected her to kind of be the week point of the set for me.  However, I did some reading up on the character, and I can get behind the concept, and I can also get behind actually getting some new characters in figure form.  It helps that, in hand, I found myself quite liking this figure, and she’s far from the dead weight I thought she would be.  She’s honestly just a pretty nice figure, and I look forward to putting her with my Prime Sentinels once they arrive.

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

#2731: Charles Xavier – House of X

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

CHARLES XAVIER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Xavier reveals his master plan … one that will bring mutants out of humankind’s shadow and once again into the light.”

Charles Xavier, more commonly referred to as Professor X, doesn’t, in his default state, tend to make a classically exciting action figure.  Bald guy in a suit and tie, sitting in a wheel chair isn’t exactly getting kids to go crazy for the toys (unless they’re some weirdo kid who wants Xavier before Wolverine and Magneto because he’s far more plot important and is less likely to get  another toy as quickly, and why don’t you understand that, Nana?…sorry, I went places there…).  Because of this, various media does have a tendency to give Xavier excuses to put on slightly more toy-etic gear.  Most recently, Xavier’s ditched the suit and the wheelchair, and is wearing something more classically comic-book-y, I guess?  Well, there’s a toy of it, so let’s check that out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Charles Xavier is figure 1 in the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends, and like Wolverine, he’s officially “House of X” branded.  Xavier is in his current default attire, which puts him in a spandex jumpsuit, and makes the Cerebro helmet a more permanent fixture.  It’s a different visual for the character.  I don’t know that it’s all that different a visual for the formerly-idealistic-now-morally-grey-leader-of-the-team-following-a-relaunch, since it’s rather thematically similar to Cyclops’ Marvel Now appearance.  But, maybe that’s on purpose?  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Xavier is built on the Pizza Spidey body…which is an interesting choice.  I guess it’s not the worst, as Xavier’s been depicted as rather svelte, especially recently, but it feels weird for Professor X to be on a Spider-Man body, to me.  They’ve replaced the hands with ones from the suit body, so that fixes those slightly cartoonier proportions, but the feet remain the same, so that’s still going on.  He’s got a new head sculpt wearing his new helmet.  It’s an okay sculpt, and certainly is the most visually intriguing portion of the figure.  Paint on this guy is exceedingly basic.  There’s paint on the visor of the helmet.  That’s it.  The body’s all black plastic, which isn’t technically accurate; there should be some piping or minor detailing on the suit.  There’s also been inconsistency about whether Xavier has gloves on his suit or not;  I would have preferred not, since it would break up the colors a bit.  Xavier has a decent selection of accessories, with two sets of hands (in relaxed, and pointing/telepathy hand combo), an alternate un-helmeted head with a telepathy effect, and the right arm to the Tri-Sentinel Build-A-Figure.  The alternate head’s definitely the coolest part, especially given it’s potential uses with the previous Professor X figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Xavier’s newest design is one of the more drastically changed ones, but I find it to be too drastically different to really feel like Xavier.  When it comes to more action-oriented Xaviers, I’ve always been more partial to the tactical gear in the hover chair look from the ’90s, and I’m still waiting for that one to get some proper toy coverage.  But that’s not what I got here, and I suppose I shouldn’t hold it against him.  Of course, what I probably can hold against him is the slightly phoned-in nature on this guy.  The extra head’s cool, but there’s not really much else about him that really speaks to me.

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

#2730: Wolverine – House of X

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

WOLVERINE — HOUSE OF X

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With adamantium claws unleashed, Wolverine is prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in the fight for freedom for all mutants.”

Last year’s main X-Men-theme per Marvel Legends was very event-based, specifically centering on 1995’s “Age of Apocalypse” event.  For the first X-themed assortment of this year, Hasbro is once again going event-based, but this time around is something far more recent, this time being 2019’s “House of X”, the event which served as the launching point for the Jonathan Hickman-driven current era of X-Men.  A lot of the team’s biggest names were central to both that event and what’s followed in the on-going books, making this a nice way of refreshing some of the X-Men’s heaviest hitters.  You don’t get much heavier hitter than Wolverine, I guess, making him a pretty solid starting point if I do say so myself.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is part of the Tri-Sentinel Series of Marvel Legends, and is officially branded as “House of X,” much like the rest of the assortment.  He’s the only non-numbered figure in the set, as the only figure not to include a Build-A-Figure part.  He’s sporting his current costume design, first showcased in the event.  It’s an update on his brown costume, with a little bit of the Black/Grey X-Force layout worked in.  It’s not a bad look for the character, and really checks a lot of the classic Wolverine boxes.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s built on the modern Wolverine base first introduced in the Juggernaut Series.  He uses the more utilitarian gloves and boots from X-Force Wolverine, which are good match for what he’s sporting in the comics these days.  He’s also got a new head sculpt, and an add-on for his belt, both of which are pretty decent pieces.  The head in particular I quite like, as it’s got him actually cracking a smile, which is a nice change of pace for a Wolverine figure.  I also like that the mask is differently shaped than other Wolverine figures, and that they’ve included all of the seams and such on the cowl that help to “modernize” this design.  Wolverine’s paint work is generally pretty solid.  He follows the established color scheme from the comics well, and there’s no notable slop or bleed over, so that’s good.  I do like that they actually went to the trouble of differentiating the browns on the main costume vs the accessories.  The arm hair detailing on the arms is about the same as other recent Wolverines, which works from a consistency stand point if nothing else. Wolverine is the lightest figure in the assortment on the accessory front, due largely to the lack of a Build-A-Figure part.  He does at least get an extra head, based on his time as “War” in the future sequences of “Powers of X.”  The main difference is the presence of a beard.  Very different.  It’s a decent extra, I suppose, although the likelihood of getting the other three horsemen seems slim, giving this particular piece limited applications.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The whole House of X thing just sort of happened around me, I guess.  I read it, and I was familiar with the whole concept, and I’ve stuck with the comics since then.  The designs are generally pretty decent, and Wolverine’s a good, fairly standard Wolverine.  The figure doesn’t really do anything new, but he’s not bad, either, and certainly has more reason to exist than some of the other recent Wolverines.

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

#2723: Cobra B.A.T. V1.8

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

COBRA B.A.T. V1.8

G.I. JOE: COLLECTOR’S CLUB (HASBRO)

Though they have so far been absent from the most recent incarnation of G.I. Joe (well, the toys, anyway; the video game is a slightly different story), Cobra’s robot forces, the Battle Android Troopers, have been a ready fixture in the franchise since their introduction in 1986.  They’re generally quite privy to adjustment tweaks over the years, under the guise of “upgrades.”  The 25th style figures generally just focused on re-interpreting the classic BAT for a new generation, but there are plenty of different Cobra BAT designs to choose from, and we did *just* manage to get one of those before Hasbro put 3 3/4 Joes on hiatus a few years back.  I’m taking a look at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Cobra BAT V1.8 was released as part of the “Force of Battle 2000” boxed set, which was a Collector’s Club-exclusive set offered up at the International G.I.Joe Convention in 2017.  There were actually eight of this guy packaged in the set, alongside a commander and the Battleforce 2000 contingent of G.I. Joe.  I’ve just got the one, though.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  This BAT serves as an update of the V2 BAT from 1991.  That figure was a completely unique sculpt from its predecessor, where as this guy actually relies pretty heavily on parts from the V1-inspired 25th Anniversary figure.  Given the common features between the two designs, it’s not the worst call, and it helps that the 25th BAT is probably the nicest sculpt of that era.  There’s just a lot of depth to it, especially what’s visible of the inner workings of the torso (actually sculpted, as opposed to the lenticular of the older BATs), and how you can make out the robotic frame beneath the uniform.  To bring the sculpt more in line with the V2 design, the figure gets a new head, which is a pretty spot-on recreation of the original toy, and also ditches the 25th figure’s shoulder strap with grenade.  It makes for a respectable approximation, although there do still remain some elements that don’t quite match, such as the thigh holster, and the slightly more robotic lower arms.  Ultimately, I find the design works a touch better in this incarnation, and I don’t mind the changes, but your mileage may vary.  Since the V2 BAT was a ’90s Joe, he had a ’90s-esque color scheme to match, which this figure replicates.  He’s very bright and obnoxious, and I love it.  I do wish we had maybe seen a little bit of accenting on the mechanical sections, as we did on earlier uses of this mold, but in their defense on this one, I don’t know how that would have mixed with the orange.  The BAT V1.8 has an impressive selection of extras, including the standard hands for both sides, a flamethrower hand, a blaster hand, a claw hand, and a sword hand.  He’s also got the V1-style backpack to hold a few of them, a gun, a display stand, and the standard and damaged torso plates that later versions of the 25th mold sported.  You’ve got a lot of options for those eight figures that came packed into this set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was pretty heavily into the 25th through 30th lines, I fell out of Joes during all of the Retalliation tie-ins, and was completely gone for all of the club-exclusive stuff, so I didn’t get this guy new. However, he came into All Time last summer as part of a rather large, rather spread out collection, and I’ve always liked BATs, especially on this mold, so I was a pretty easy mark for this one.  He’s a pricey boy these days, but that doesn’t make him any less of a cool figure, especially with all the extra pieces.  If they weren’t so darn expensive, I wouldn’t mind having a few more.  Alas, not for now.

#2719: Autobot Elita-1

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

AUTOBOT ELITA-1

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON TRILOGY (HASBRO)

“Search for Alpha Trion” introduced a radical new concept to Transformers: women!  Okay, actually, it introduced gender in general, since previously they were just robots, and technically genderless.  Then these supposed “fem-bots” came along, and everything got kinda gendered…I guess.  The episode reveals that not only are there a force of female Autobots running around on Cybertron, but also that they had their own equivalent to Optimus Prime in his female counterpart, Elita-1 (whose name even has a similar root translation of “Best First”.  Pretty clever, right?).  Though central to “Search” and a fixture throughout the franchise’s various incarnations, Elita has remained a slightly less frequent choice for toys, which is really a shame.  Like Bumblebee, she was a character given a rather sizable role in Netflix’s War For Cybertron adaptation even before getting a toy in the accompanying toyline, and also like Bumblebee, she got her first War figure courtesy of the Walmart-exclusive tie-in to the show.  I’m taking a look at that particular figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Elita-1 was released as part of the second Deluxe Class assortment of Walmart’s exclusive War For Cybertron tie-in line, alongside Bumblebee and re-decos of Wheeljack, Red Alert, and Impactor.  In her robot mode, Elita stands roughly 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 24 workable points of articulation.  While these figures are theoretically meant to be more show accurate, Elita joins Bumblebee in being, well, not.  I mean, she’s not *incredibly* far off, I suppose.  The basics are there, but as I touched on in Bumblebee’s review, it’s a case of Elita’s show model being one of the few that didn’t have a pre-existing toy CAD file to work from, meaning it’s not quite as play-tested and ready to go as some of the others.  So, she is instead built on the underlying structure of the Earthrise Arcee mold.  It’s not an awful choice, since they’re supposed to be rather similar in design, and they did just tool up the Arcee mold and everything.  She does get a fair portion of new parts to differentiate, with a new head, torso, pelvis, and shoulders.  They do quite a respectable job of changing up the look, especially the silhouette.  I quite like the new head sculpt, and I do like how the new torso actually gives Elita a slightly different body shape than Arcee.  There was some confusion regarding the shoulders for this figure; initial renders showed unique shoulders, but early production samples had Arcee’s more simplified shoulders.  In hand, however, she’s back to the unique ones.  Also the subject of some changes was Elita’s paint scheme.  The exact placement of the darker red and tan sections changed around a bit between renders and then the final product, with the final settling on full red for the lower arms and tan for the lower legs, as opposed to the reverse.  It’s a pretty nice set-up, and what’s actually painted is nice and clean.  Elita is packed with the same weapon that was included with Arcee, molded in a darker transparent blue.

Elita-1’s alt-mode is exactly the same as Arcee’s.  Now, as you may recall, I was not much of a fan of Arcee’s alt-mode.  I didn’t actually refer to it as “garbage,” but I certainly thought it.  I thought it a lot.  With that in mind, prospects weren’t high for this figure. If I’m entirely honest, it didn’t bug me quite as much as I expected it to.  I don’t really think it’s because I like it any more, but more because I just knew what I was getting this time, and didn’t really get let-down by it this time around.  The transformation scheme’s still kind of involved and not super fun, and I’m still not really convinced by the final product or its playability.  But, I suppose it could be worse.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve been watching the admittedly less than stellar Netflix show’s two seasons, one of the few things I didn’t hate was Elita and her Cybertronian crew.  So, I was definitely looking to get her for my collection.  With Max’s help, I was able to get both Soundwave and Bumblebee from this round back before the new year, but I wasn’t able to snag and Elita quite as quickly.  I happened to mention to Max just the other week that I was still looking so if he *happened* to see her, I’d still be interested, and as luck would have it, he found her about 10 minutes later.  I’m certainly not complaining.  Elita’s got a cool design, and she makes for a decent toy.  Yes, she inherits the same issues Arcee had, but she’s also got the same strengths.  That means she’s got a kick-ass robot mode, and I’m not gonna knock that.

#2712: Cobra Infantry

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

COBRA INFANTRY

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

G.I. Joe: Classified Series had something of a jumpstart last year, somewhat stunted by the fact that, like, more than half of the line at this point has been exclusives.  Several key pieces of the franchise, in fact, have been exclusives, and notably, that’s been two of the line’s three army builders.  I looked at the Cobra Trooper last fall (thanks to the small miracle that allowed me to actual get my hands on one), and now I’m taking a look at another one.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Cobra Infantry is figure 24 in the G.I. Joe: Classified Series line-up, technically from the third “wave” of standard release figures for the line, although Hasbro’s kind of moving away from actual assortments, in favor of single releases in solid cases.  Also, hey, there’s some novelty to a standard release figure, isn’t there?  It’s…been a while.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  Structurally, the Cobra Infantry figure is the same figure as the Target-exclusive Cobra Trooper.  Given the relative rarity of that release, a pretty straight re-use makes quite a bit of sense.  It helps that it was a very impressive sculpt the first time I looked at it, which means I really don’t mind seeing it again.  As I discussed in the prior review, it’s a good summation of a number of the Cobra Trooper designs from over the years, and there’s just a lot of really great small detail worked in.  The first change of note from the Trooper to the Infantry is on the paint scheme.  This release is, per Hasbro, a little more animation inspired, which largely seems to have translated to having more blue than the previous release.  Upon the prototype’s reveal, a lot of fans speculated that this extra blue meant that Hasbro was simply cutting paint apps from the prior release, but in-hand this is very definitely not the case.  It’s easy to miss at first glance, but the paint scheme this time around is actually a fair bit more complex, with a lot more variations within the various colors, especially the blues.  It’s quite impressive to behold in hand.  Additionally, the skin tone has been slightly darkened on this guy, giving him a bit of variance when compared to the other release.  The other change-up between the two figures is the accessory selection.  The Target Trooper had a lot of extras, while this one dials it down ever so slightly.  He gets the removable helmet, the standard rifle, the two pistols, and the knife.  While this lacks the customizability angle of the prior figure, it keeps everything you could classify as “standard”, making this one a but more ideal for actually army building.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Between the two of us, Max and I were able to snag a single Target Trooper.  Max was kind enough to loan it to me for the purposes of reviewing, but that meant I didn’t actually have one for my personal set-up.  Fortunately, I was pretty sure this guy was coming, even before he was announced, and once he was shown off, I knew it was just the waiting game.  Honestly, I’m glad I waited.  As I said when I reviewed the other version, he’s nice, but I don’t know that he was quite worth all the fuss.  This one’s a bit more paired down, but keeps the stuff I really liked from the last release, and if I’m totally honest, I find myself far preferring the color scheme on this release anyway.  Ultimately, he’s pretty solid, and hopefully he proves a little bit easier to army build.

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.

#2711: Toxin

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

TOXIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The 1,000th symbiote in a lineage that includes Carnage and Venom, Toxin is feared by many to be the strongest and most dangerous.”

After the craziest of the symbiote-overload in the ’90s died down, Marvel decided they wanted to try again.  So, Carnage once again had some spawn, but just the one this time.  The end result was Toxin, who, in contrast to Venom and Carnage, was not an inherently malicious creature.  Initially bonded with police officer Patrick Mulligan, Toxin served as an ally to Spider-Man, rather than either of his progenitors.  After Mulligan’s death, Toxin was then shifted over to usual Venom host Eddie Brock for a bit, as Eddie moved his way through a handful of symbiotes.  Toxin’s been privy to a few figures over the years, twice now getting a Legends release.  The first one wasn’t much to write home about, but maybe this new one will change things up a bit?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Toxin is the latest Deluxe-sized offering for Marvel Legends.  He follows the trend set by Apocalypse, being a new larger scale figure, as opposed to a reissue of a prior Build-A-Figure.  Toxin’s had a few somewhat divergent looks over the years, and this one grabs a few elements from each of them and merges them all together into one thing.  He’s definitely more monstrous than Mulligan usually was, and the face is definitely lifted from Brock’s time with the symbiote, but the general appearance is still definitely an earlier Toxin look.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Toxin is built on Monster Venom body, which seems a little bit on the large side for Toxin’s usual depictions, but it’s honestly a little on the large side, even for the two Venom figures it was used for.  The symbiotes just tend to get sized up a bit, I guess, when it comes to toys.  The Monster Venom body remains a very impressive piece of work, and I can understand Hasbro wanting to get more mileage out of it.  To change things up, Toxin gets a new head, and a slightly tweaked back plate, as well as tendrils.  So many tendrils.  More tendrils than we have room for.  Elevendrils.  It’s really intense, and it really works.  Certainly continues the dynamic nature of the Monster Venom body.  The tendrils are popped on in stages, so you can kind of tweak just how tendril-y he is if you like.  It does mean they pop off on their own occasionally, but it’s overall not too bad.  Toxin’s paint work is generally decent.  The red’s very bright, which I rather like; it contrasts well with the black on the other portions of the figure, and makes him more eye catching than Hasbro’s last attempt.  The transition from red to black is also pretty nicely handled, managing to be pretty subtle, and to maintain a consistent look across multiple pieces.  The red sections could, I suppose, stand to have a little more accenting on them, but that’s about the only thing I can really knock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My actual experience with Toxin is pretty limited.  I’m familiar with him as a character, and I know the toys, but I don’t believe I’ve actually read any of his comics appearances.  He’s got a halfway decent visual, though, and this figure using the Monster Venom body, which I really quite like, gave him some points in his favor.  The end product’s pretty nifty.  If you like Symbiotes, you’ll like this one, and he’s certainly a step-up from the last version.  Now, if we could get the slightly less monstered out Mulligan version at some point, that’d be pretty sweet too.

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