Tag Archives: Hasbro

#2584: Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios

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

GARAZEB “ZEB” ORRELIOS

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Meet the muscle of the Ghost team. Garazeb ‘Zeb’ Orrelios was a cunning Lasat Honor Guard who adopted the cause of rebellion against the Empire!”

Since 2016, Hasbro has been slowly but surely working their way through the main cast of Rebels in the Black Series line-up.  They started off with the most surefire sales, and then slowly worked through, giving us five of the original six-man team (plus a matching Ahsoka for good measure).  For the final member of the team, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, there was a bit of an issue of scaling, given his larger than average size.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s just recently implemented a larger deluxe price point, which is really perfect for such a character, allowing for that core team to finally be completed!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zeb is another piece of Hasbro’s latest relaunch of their Black Series line-up.  He’s his own single release, of course, but is designed to accent the other six Rebels figures, which have all gotten a reissue in the new style packaging, and released at the Deluxe style price point.  There’s some humor to the fact that Hasbro finally got around to actually getting out some standard release numbered Deluxe figures, just in time to completely ditch their numbering all together.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Though he may have a stockier build than his comrades, Zeb’s articulation continues the Black Series trend of improved mobility.  Pretty much all of the joints have a clear range of motion, and the arms are particularly good, in both the shoulders (which are unimpeded by the shoulder gaurds) and the elbows (which attain a more than 90 degree bend, kind of essential for properly holding his weapon).  Zeb’s sporting a totally unique sculpt, sporting his Season 1/2 appearance, so he matches up with the rest of the Ghost crew so far.  I do have to wonder if, now that the main crew is complete in one cohesive style, we might see later season looks as well, which would grant Hasbro the opportunity to do some more re-use on these parts.  Of all of the humanoid Ghost crew members, Zeb is the one whose look has been the least changed to translate him into The Black Series style. This largely due to his being a Lasat, and therefore having a far more alien appearance.*  Some of his proportions have been subdued a bit, and he gets some deeper detailing on his face and in the texturing of his clothing.  It works well, and he fits in nicely with the rest of the crew.  His head’s definitely capturing the grumpier side of Zeb, which is generally a good choice for the character, though I can’t help but wish we had maybe gotten a softer Zeb as well.  Zeb’s paintwork is pretty solid overall.  The base application is all very clean, and they’ve done a great job of capturing the patterns on his skin.  He also gets the printing on his eyes, which obviously doesn’t look as real here as on the human characters, but does still inject a little more life into the figure.  Zeb is packed with his  Lasan Honor Guard AB-75 Bo-Rifle, which is quite an impressive piece of work.  It’s packaged in its staff configuration, complete with two energy effects pieces.  It also has the ability to reconfigure into the rifle set-up, and does so pretty well at that.  Rifle mode also allows it to be stored on Zeb’s back, as seen on the show.  It’s a really awesome piece, and it’s great that they actually got it to work as it’s supposed to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ever since getting into this whole Black Series Rebels crew thing, I’ve been curious to see how Zeb would be handled.  With the introduction of the deluxe price point, his inclusion seemed inevitable, and here he is.  I’m pretty psyched to finally have the complete team, and it helps that Zeb is just such an impressive package.  The engineering on this figure is really great, and he’s just a ton of fun to play with.

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

*Fun Fact: the Lasat, and Zeb in particular, are based on Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept for Chewbacca.  Just one of many McQuarrie designs to find its way into Rebels.

#2583: Clone Trooper – Kamino

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

CLONE TROOPER — KAMINO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Clone Troopers were grown on the planet Kamino from the genetic template of bounty hunter Jango Fett and made into a highly-efficient military force.”

Ah, yes, the Clone Troopers.  My gateway drug into having prequel stuff in my Black Series collection.  Thanks a lot, clones.  Over there bein’ all awesome and stuff.  Why’d you have to be like that?  Awww, you know I can’t stay mad at you, clones.  You’re just too darn cool! Well, guess I better just buy a whole slew of new ones, right?  Cool.  Cool cool cool.  No doubt, no doubt.  Sure is convenient that there’s, like, a slew of new ones on the horizon, isn’t it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Kamino Clone Trooper is part of the first assortment of the latest relaunch of Star Wars: The Black Series.  As noted in the Rebels Hera review, these new figures ditch the numbering scheme of the prior lines, and each have a little mural, separated by their source material.  The Kamino Trooper is based on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and is at launch the only figure from that set (though there’s the whole currently Walmart-exclusive Siege of Mandalor sub-set, as well as a Cad Bane that will be added for the next assortment).  This clone is a show-exclusive design, seen on the Kamino security officers in the episodes “Conspiracy” and “Fugitive.”  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The major selling point on this particular clone is that he’s the first to utilize the all-new Clone Trooper base body that Hasbro’s rolling out with this Black Series re-launch.  Honestly, it’s overdue.  The old clone body was great for its time, but The Black Series has improved its articulation schemes leaps and bounds in the past six years since that base’s introduction, and it was really starting to show its age.  We’d already seen an update with Rex, but that was a more commander-oriented body.  This one’s far more all-purpose.  While it’s technically got less joints, the range on those joints is a lot better, allowing this clone to get far deeper poses.  He actually can hold his rifle correctly (something the prior body struggled with), and he can get into a pretty solid crouch on one knee pose, which is something the other figure couldn’t do at all.  Really just a head to toe improvement on posing.  But, it’s not just the range of motion that’s impressive; the cohesiveness of the sculpt is also still preserved, and in fact improved over the original mold.  The armor is cleanly recreated and looks really slick.  The helmet is certainly the best Phase II helmet we’ve seen from the line as well, and there’s actually a full head up under it, although it’s unpainted and the helmet’s glued in place.  Still, they’re clearly doing some future planning with that piece.  The paint work on this guy is pretty strong.  It’s very grey, of course, but that’s accurate.  There’s a lot of markings on this particular design, and the application is all pretty sharp.  I really love the shoulder pads in particular; they’re really clean, and it’s just a cool design.  The Kamino Trooper is packed with both the DC-15A rifle and DC-15S blaster.  Like the clone, they appear to be new molds, but it’s hard to say quite as definitively.  They certainly work well, and it’s nice that he still gets both options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like clones, and as I’ve gotten more into my collecting of this line, I’ve grown to like the clones even more.  It’s been a bit since we’ve gotten any troopers, and doing a rewatch of the show leading up to the finale certainly made me want to see more of them in the line.  So, this guy was probably my most wanted out of the new line-up.  As luck would have it, he was also the first I was able to get my hands on.  He’s really awesome, and I look forward to getting a whole slew of other clones built on this body.

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

#2580: Stan Lee

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

STAN LEE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The world of toys is full of figures of the fantastical creations that we all love, but it is a much rarer occasion that we actually see the focus shift to the creators of said creations.  Not entirely out of the question, of course.  Quentin Tarrantino’s gotten a few figures from his movies (even the ones where he doesn’t explicitly appear on screen), and James Cameron joined his Colonial Marines from Aliens in NECA’s line from the movie.  Even George Lucas has gotten a few toys.  Today, our sites are set firmly on the world of comics, with the most publicly known comic creator of all time, Stanley “Stan Lee” Leiber, father of the modern Marvel empire!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stan Lee is his own stand alone Marvel Legends release, packaged in a similar fashion to last year’s “80 Years of Marvel” sub-line.  He’s not Stan’s first time as a toy, with a prior SDCC-exclusive Legend and a somewhat baffling Masters of the Universe Classics figure preceding him. This figure was originally designed to be a Build-A-Figure across a handful of MCU-based two-packs (which included Ross/Killmonger and Bucky/Falcon; we even saw some early production samples of the Ross/Killmonger set that still included the legs), but that was ultimately scrapped for this single release.  Honestly, that was probably the better call.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Stan is built on the suit body, specifically the Bruce Banner version of it, with the unbuttoned shirt.  He gets a new set of arms and jacket, as well as a new head, of course.  Most of the body wound up getting re-used for the Peter Parker figure, which actually beat this guy to market in a lot of places.  It’s a decent parts share idea, since not only was Stan pretty open about Peter being his author avatar, but also the last Legends Stan doubled as a Peter figure, so there’s precedent.  Stan’s new head sculpt is pretty much the spitting image of the real thing…albeit perhaps a little younger than the intended source material.  Technically according to the box, he’s supposed to based on Stan’s cameo appearance in The Avengers, but he ultimately looks like he’s a little more based on Stan circa the ’90s/early ’00s.  Ultimately, it’s still during a very visible period of time for Stan, and it even works a little more for me, since it means he ends up looking more like his appearances in the lead-ins for The Marvel Action Hour.  The point is, it’s a good sculpt, and does a great job of capturing Stan’s signature smile.  The official decision to base him on The Avengers seemed a touch limiting anyway.  Stan’s paint work is overall pretty monochromatic, and appropriately real world.  He uses the face printing, which works well here, and adds some nice weight and depth to the face sculpt.  The hair gets some accenting as well, which makes it again more in line with a slightly younger Stan, given how dark it is.  Stan’s accessory selection is…well, it’s something.  It’s definitely the least straight forward bit of everything about the figure.  He’s got a Captain America shield with his signature on it, which is cool, I guess, but kind of a weird piece.  Like, why has he signed it?  Also, there’s the added oddity of only including a single Marvel-related prop and having it be something from a character Stan *didn’t* create.  Were there at least a few other pieces (say a Mjolnir, or an Iron Man gauntlet), it’d be less weird.  As is, it’s…strange.  Also included is a small brown rectangle, which is supposed to be the box of chess pieces from The Avengers.  It’s really scene specific, and honestly doesn’t have much behind it.  it’s just another reminder of the supposed source for the figure, and not a great one at that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was originally rumored as a BaF, I was not super thrilled, not because I didn’t want him, but because completing him felt like it would be a daunting task.  When he was cancelled, I was sad we weren’t getting him, but relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about completing him.  I was further relieved when he was confirmed for this single release.  It’s been a bit of a wait to get him, and the accessories are a little weird, but the core figure’s pretty great, and he looks awesome on the shelf with all of his creations.  Now, can we please mend some bridges to get a Jack Kirby figure to go with him?

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy 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.

#2579: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes unleashes a torrent of explosive devastation from the air as War Machine.”

In the last few years of Marvel Legends, War Machine’s gotten a fairly decent amount of coverage, but it’s been almost entirely MCU-based coverage, due to the character’s numerous armor upgrades throughout those films.  Our only comics-based War Machine wasn’t actually Rhodey, and was instead a Punisher variant (and a not particularly comics accurate one, at that).  We haven’t actually gotten a proper 616 Rhodey since all the way back in the Toy Biz days, which is quite a gap of time.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s getting into the classic War Machine game with some style with a deluxe release of the character.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine is a standalone Deluxe-sized Marvel Legends offering.  Much like Black Widow and Archangel before him, he’s a standard sized figure with some extra bells and whistles added to justify a slightly higher price point.  This War Machine is based on the second rendition of the armor, which is the first version worn by Rhodey, and certainly one of the looks most associated with the character.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Much like the old Toy Biz Legends War Machine, this version of Colonel Rhodes shares a few parts with the most recent Classic Iron Man in the line; he’s still mostly new, but the upper arms and legs are the same.  It’s hard to say they should look different, really, and they’re really well rendered parts anyway.  Plus, this helps to keep the sizing consistent between Iron Man armors.  The new parts, which include the head, torso, pelvis, forearms, hands, lower legs, and feet, are all clean renditions of the War Machine armor as seen in the comics.  There’s a nice geometric layout to them, and their boxy nature accents the sleek classic Iron Man design pretty well.  War Machine’s shoulder-mounted guns are the things that give most highly articulated versions of the character some trouble.  Hasbro’s prior attempts have all cheated the issue, and not really allowed for proper storage, and even Toy Biz’s old Legends release just had a plug and play set-up.  This one actually manages to pretty much replicate them as seen in the comics, right down to their ability to slide onto his back for storage.  In a perfect world, I’d like them to go back just a touch further than they do, but it’s certainly closer than any prior attempt (at this scale, at least), and I can definitely appreciate that.  War Machine’s paint scheme goes for a pretty stark black (or very dark gun metal grey, I guess) and light silver.  It’s a good look, and certainly helps some of the sculpted elements on the figure really pop out.  As far as actual paint application, there’s not really a ton, but the more basic, clean look works well with this design.  War Machine’s accessory selection is where a lot of the “deluxe” price point comes into play.  He gets an extra unmasked head, the four piece blast-off effect that we saw previously with Iron Man 2020, a missile firing effects piece for the missile launcher, a blast effect for the minigun, and three different effects configurations for the wrist gun: an in-motion shooting set-up, two individual blasts, and two smoking pieces for the barrels.  It’s quite a lot, and when he’s all kitted up, he makes for quite an impressive display.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like War Machine, or at the very least I like Rhodey as a character.  War Machine’s figures tend to be a little bit hit or miss, and honestly the one I’ve liked the most previously was his old 5″ figure.  Legends are always fun, but something tends to keep them from being properly definitive for the character.  So, I was interested in this guy, but he was definitely a slow burn for me.  In-hand, I’m really impressed with him, and he gives me some serious cartoon vibes.  Now I *really* need a Modular Iron Man update to go with him.

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

#2578: Red Hulk

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

RED HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“General Thunderbolt Ross transforms into the Hulk, a creature he swore to destroy.”

From the second appearance of the character, the Hulk’s been no stranger to changes in color.  Originally shifting from grey to green, and then back to grey, and then green again, there’s certainly been some back and forth.  In 2008, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness through another color into the mix, shifting the Green Goliath into the Crimson Goliath.  Of course, this new Red Hulk wasn’t just a recolor of Bruce Banner, but was instead someone else, whose identity remained a mystery for over a year…and then it turned out to be Thunderbolt Ross, in one of the most convoluted, fake-out-filled reveals in comics history.  Nowadays, of course, the reveal’s common knowledge, and gets used for toy packaging bios like that one above.  But hey, toy bios mean there’s a toy to go with them, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Hulk is a Target-exclusive deluxe Marvel Legends offering.  This marks Red Hulk’s second time in Legends form.  The first time was as a Build-A-Figure way back in 2008, and he was actually a Target-exclusive that time as well.  They sure do like those red exclusives, don’t they?  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Red Hulk is our fourth use of the 80 Years of Marvel Hulk body, which is, again, not much of a surprise.  It’s a good sculpt, and it’s no surprise that Hasbro wants to get more uses out of it.  As with Grey Hulk, this guy changes the body up a bit by adding a new head sculpt into the mix.  This one’s got Red Hulk’s spikier hair style (which, by the way, never really made much sense, since it’s not like this is anything like Ross’s usual hair style…and where the hell does his mustache go?), and also changes up the expression.  He’s still angry and screaming, but it’s a slightly different looking angry and screaming.  It’s more like someone barking orders, which feels appropriate for the character.  He ditches the torn shirt piece that the last two Hulks had, which is sensible, since I don’t believe Red Hulk’s ever really done the torn shirt thing.  The paint work on this guy is pretty basic, and that’s honestly a little bit of a let down when compared to the other two Hulks I’ve reviewed on this body.  He lacks any real accent work, apart from a little bit on the face.  That much is at least pretty cool, but his body ends up feeling, I don’t know, unfinished, I guess.  In terms of accessories, he gets two sets of hands, one in fists, and one in open gesture.  They make for some nice variety for posing.  In a perfect world, I’d have liked to see maybe another head sculpt as well, maybe with the grin the character frequently sported, but I suppose that, given his size, just the extra hands are acceptable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Hulk hasn’t exactly been the most readily available figure, at least in my neck of the woods.  I’ve not seen him at retail myself, and Target’s site’s really not been much help.  I spent a good chunk of time looking for him, but with no luck.  Fortunately for me, my former co-worker Jon Nieto, who knows how much I like Legends, happened to catch them while they were in stock on the website, and was kind enough to snag a second one for me.  That sure made my life easier!  Thanks Jon!  There’s not a ton new going on with this figure, but the updated Hulk body is still always cool to see again, and he sure does contrast nicely with the 80th Hulk.

#2577: Kingpin

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

KINGPIN

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Wilson Fisk ruthlessly rules New York City’s underworld with cunning and a keen intellect.”

Waaaaaay back at the beginning of 2019, which feels like several decades ago at this point, if I’m entirely honest, there was a somewhat soft and not particularly thrilling assortment of Spider-Man-themed Marvel Legends with one notable hook: it’s Build-A-Figure of Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.  This subsequently made said Kingpin figure pretty darn pricey on the aftermarket, only adding further barriers to entry on owning a modern Legends Kingpin.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping their fingers to the pulse on these older releases, and has been pretty steadily providing new avenues for people to pick them up.  Kingpin found his way into one of said avenues, and now I’m taking a look at the resulting figure.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kingpin follows in Mysterio’s footsteps, and is his own standalone release for the Retro Collection sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s at their deluxe price point, but comes in his own replica vintage card, which is downright massive, as you would expect for a figure this size.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Rather unsurprisingly, this figure’s sculpt is mostly a re-use of the Build-A-Figure.  That was a really strong sculpt that did Fisk a lot of justice, so it’s certainly a sensible and well-chosen bit of re-use.  Also not even the slightest bit surprising, what with it being the same guy and all.  There’s one sculpting change between the two releases: this release trades out the last one’s tie for a far more fashionable ascot.  It’s a far more classically Kingpin piece, and it really sells the character even further.  It’s about the only change I could ask for, so I’m happy they went for it.  Beyond that small change, everything else on this figure relies on paint to sell the differences.  While the BaF went for a far more modernized color scheme for the character, this newer release leans into that retro angle, and gives us a far more classically inspired color scheme for the character.  While I didn’t mind the more subdued modern color scheme, there’s just something to be said for how well these colors pop.  And he’s even got the purple pants!  Dig!  The heads even get some minor reworking as well, with the eyebrows on both now being black instead of grey (again, helping things pop a little more), and the screaming head also gets some painted battle damage.  Again, dig.  This Kingpin once again gets his diamond-topped cane.  He’s still got some trouble holding it, but it’s still cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a big fan of the BaF version of Kingpin when it was released, but I’ll admit I was hoping for an ever so slightly more classically colored version of the figure.  When this was announced, I was definitely on board, though he was, perhaps, not quite at the top of my list, given the similarities to the prior figure.  That said, he ended up being an even better figure than I’d expected, and this new deco adds a lot more than I’d expected to the figure.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy 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.

#2576: Mystique

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

MYSTIQUE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A shapeshifter with a shadowy origin, Mystique is a unique and devastating threat to the X-Men.”

A couple of weeks ago, I touched on the somewhat tenuous relationship between the live action X-Men films and Marvel Legends, which has all been rather nicely cleaned up via Disney’s purchase of Fox.  With things taken care of, we’re finally able to get some decent toy coverage of the Fox X-films, courtesy of an off-shoot of Marvel Legends akin to the earlier Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years sub-line, but this time focusing on 20 years of X-Men movies.  I’ve looked at a few of the Deadpool-themed figures, but there’s also some coverage going all the way back to the first film from 2000.  Today, I’m taking a look at Mystique, inspired by that very film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mystique is one of the three standard single-release figures in the X-Men sub-line of Marvel Legends.  So far, she’s the only figure to be explicitly based on the first film, but time will tell as to exactly how deep into this line Hasbro decides to go.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation.  Mystique’s articulation set-up is pretty much the same as Domino’s, and it’s likewise a strong set-up here, just like it was there.  I wouldn’t mind just a touch more range on the hip joints, but otherwise the range and tolerancing is really good.  It’s certainly an amazing step up from the *last* movie Mystique we got, although I suppose two decades will do that for you.  As I noted in the intro, this Mystique is specifically based on the character’s appearance in the first movie, and there are a few specifics in the sculpt that confirm this.  The most obvious tell that it’s an early movie version fo the character is the fact that it’s clearly Rebecca Romijn’s face underneath of the make-up on this one.  It’s actually a pretty strong likeness, at that.  Getting some one’s features down when they’re covered by this much appliance work isn’t always easy, but Hasbro’s done pretty well, with not only a strong likeness, but also some solid texturing work on the scales.  This solid work on the texturing continues onto the body, which does a good job of replicating the layout and design of the appliances seen in the movie.  The build on the body also is a pretty solid match for Romijn’s build, as well as just looking like a real person in general.  She’s notably missing the three scars on her belly that she got from Wolverine stabbing her in the first film, which is what signifies this as officially being a first movie figure, although the scars are a minor enough detail that she’ll work alright for the later movies as well.  The paint work on this figure’s better than you might think at first glance.  She’s a lot of blue, but she’s a lot of different blues, and it’s a nice layout of accenting.  Mystique is packed with two sets of hands (open and in fists) and an alternate left arm that’s shifting into a normal skin tone.  The alternate arm’s a fun way of showing off her powers, and I definitely dig it.  I was a little bit surprised that they didn’t toss in a Jennifer Lawrence head as well, just to let this figure pull of some double duty, but given what happened with her planned Marvel Select figure, I can see Hasbro not wanting to chance her pulling likeness approval again at the last minute.  It’s not like she’s without cool extras as is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mystique’s been a prominent fixture in the X-films since their beginning, so the fact that the only figure she got was way back during the first movie’s tie-in line was kind a major oversight.  It’s nice that we got more than a bunch of Wolverine variants to start with, and it’s nice that the older movies are still getting some appreciation as well.  Mystique’s a slightly understated figure, lacking some of the flair of the other figures, but that doesn’t make her any less a cool figure.  Here’s hoping we get to fill out the rest of the first movie cast a bit more.

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.

#2573: Mountain Trooper

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

MOUNTAIN TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Like all First Order Stormtroopers, specialized units of Batuu Mountain Troopers are trained from birth, growing up with unit designations instead of names and fed a steady diet of First Order propaganda to ensure absolute loyalty.”

There were no shortage of new Trooper variants introduced into Star Wars with the latest trilogy of films, and as such there’s also been no shortage of Trooper variant toys.  I’ve looked at a fair number of them here on the site, be they prominent in the films, or exceedingly minor.  What makes today’s particular Trooper different?  Near as anyone can tell, today’s focus the Mountain Trooper exists nowhere but in the toys, and only in a very exclusive set of them at that.  That’s actually pretty out there for a Star Wars concept, if you can believe it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Mountain Trooper was originally added to the Black Series line in the Disney Parks-exclusive “The First Order” boxed set with Kylo Ren, Commander Pyre, and a Mouse Droid.  Like DJ R3X, he was given an outside of the parks release this year courtesy of Target’s exclusive “Trading Outpost” sub-line.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  From a design stand point, there’s a lot of similar lineage here as we saw on the Scarif Troopers, as well as a little bit of Biker Scout thrown in, albeit with all of the elements somewhat updated to the slightly tweaked First Order aesthetic.  Ultimately, he ends up feeling like the First Order answer to the Biker Scouts, and I am totally on board with that.  Structurally, the figure uses the legs and hands of the Scarif-based troopers as a starting point.  Everything else is new, but it definitely all has a similar feel about it as the other Scarif figures in terms of how the construction is set-up.  The articulation scheme in particular sticks out as being pretty much the same.  This ultimately makes the figure a touch more restricted than some more recent troopers, especially when it comes to the elbow movement.  It’s really the only flaw with the figure.  Beyond that, the sculpt is a pretty impressive one, with a lot impressive and clean detail work.  The figure’s paint work is pretty solid.  The base colors are nice and strong, and the application is clean.  The figure also takes advantage of the printing technique to give the Trooper some pretty solid looking weathering.  The Mountain Trooper is packed with a single accessory: an all-new blaster rifle, which also sports some impressive weathering.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My love of the Biker Scout and Scarif Trooper designs is no secret, so it’s probably not a terrible surprise that this guy intrigued me as soon as he was shown off. I hadn’t had the opportunity to procure the three pack, for obvious reasons, so when the Trading Outpost figures were announced, I was hopeful to find him.  Life’s been pretty jam-packed and hectic for me recently, so a few weeks ago Christian and Cheyenne forced me to take some time for myself and took me to Target to pick up a few things just for me.  I just so happened to walk back to the toy aisle right as the Outpost figures were going out, and boom, there this guy was.  He’s not anything amazingly special or anything like that, but he’s pretty fun, and I’m glad I was able to get a hold of him.

#2572: Red Ninja

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

RED NINJA

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

Oh, we’re just out of the frying pan and into the fire on G.I. Joe elements that Ethan’s not too big on, aren’t we?  That’s right, Ethan doesn’t really care for the Red Ninjas.  Let’s discuss.  The Red Ninjas were introduced in issue #21 of Marvel’s G.I. Joe comic, which is the famous “Silent Interlude,” the story that also introduced Storm Shadow, solidified Snake Eyes as a fan favorite, and hinted at a possible connection between the two.  Storm Shadow was, of course, introduced into the toy line the same year as “Silent Interlude’s” publication, but the Red Ninjas were not part of the line, since they were initially just rather generic looking ninjas meant to serve as Storm Shadow’s back-up.  They wouldn’t join the toy line proper until 1993, under the Ninja Force banner, and with a rather different look.  It wouldn’t be until the 2000s that we would get the more classic attire in toy form.  They then went on the be a key piece of one of the most infuriatingly repetitive sequences in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and also got some more toys along the way.  And now they’re in the Classified Series line-up, which I guess isn’t unreasonable.  I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Red Ninja is figure 08 in the Classified Series line-up, capping off the second main release series of figures.  Given how “core cast” the figures have been so far, he’s slightly obscure by comparison, but if you factor in that the Snake Eyes movie was supposed to be hitting this year, likely right around when this particular assortment would have arrived on shelves, it makes a bit more sense.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  The original Red Ninja design in the comics was a rather basic one, essentially being standard ninja garb, but in red.  Nothing thrilling or anything, but it’s a pretty straight forward look.  When it comes to toy designs, they’ve always been a little inconsistent.  The v1 figure’s a garish ’90s monstrosity, and subsequent releases have generally stuck to just being repaints of whatever Storm Shadow mold is available at the moment.  This one opts to take the basic Ninja look and inject it with, like, steroids, or something.  Remember how I was bringing up the whole “over designing” thing on Cobra Commander?  Yeah, I think it’s worse here.  There’s just too much going on with this guy.  He’s got a hood.  He’s got a collar.  He’s got a faceplate.  He’s got shoulder pads. He’s got gear strapped onto gear.  Where the Cobra Trooper took a lot of piece meal elements and made them flow into something that felt cohesive, and added a bit of customization, there is neither customization nor cohesiveness with this guy.  He’s just got…stuff everywhere.  At his core, this figure uses the same body as Snake Eyes, and boy did I love that Snake Eyes mold.  Unfortunately, one of the strengths of the Snake Eyes mold was its sleekness and posablitity.  This figure throws a bunch of stuff on top of the body, which ruins both the sleekness and the posability, and I don’t really feel that the appearance of the stuff they threw on top of him really justified the sacrifices they made.  Posing the figure for the photos was a bit of a chore, if I’m honest, and that’s not what you want out of a toy.  The paint’s not too terrible, I suppose.  There’s a few different shades of red going on, but I think they come together all right, and the pupil-less white eyes are appropriately eerie.  In terms of accessories, he’s at least well-armed, with two swords, two Sais, two Kama, and two axes, all borrowed from the Pulse-exclusive Snake Eyes figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My enthusiasm for the Red Ninja has never been all that high.  Honestly, I think armies of faceless ninjas are a little over done as a whole, and it’s hard to dissuade me of that.  However, I am still a fan of a good action figure, and figures such as the Articulated Icons Basic Red Ninja did just that.  And perhaps that figure did things a little too well, I suppose, because this guy just really doesn’t click with me.  He’s one of those figures that feels lesser than the sum of his parts, because there are certainly elements that I like, but I just don’t enjoy the final product all that much.  In fact, I so don’t like the final product that I didn’t even opt to keep this one I’m reviewing, which is actually now in Max’s possession.  That’s just how it is some times, I guess.  With this guy out of the way, here’s to some slightly more exciting army builders.

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.

#2571: Gung-Ho

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

GUNG-HO

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

♫Ooooooooh, every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited Gung-Ho!♫…..Sorry, does that seem harsh?  ‘Cause, I’m about to be real with y’all, I…uh…I don’t really care for Gung-Ho.  I get that he’s one of the core characters to a lot of people, I do, really, but I’ve just really never liked him.  I began my dislike of him in 2002, when I was first discovering 3 3/4 inch Joes, and I was forced to buy a Gung-Ho to get the Destro figure that I actually wanted…and then it pretty much stopped there, because I didn’t really like Gung-Ho, so I just never bought one again.  Well, until now, that is.  Look, I want to support this new G.I. Joe line, and I suppose I don’t have the seething hatred of the guy that my 10-year-old self did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gung-Ho is figure 07 in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Classified Series, the second figure numerically in the second main release assortment of the line.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Design-wise, Gung-Ho’s not a terribly radical departure from his original v1 design…at least as a whole.  He’s got the same basic look to him, but some of the more real-world military elements are a bit different this time.  Notably, his hat isn’t quite shaped the same way as a proper Marine cap would be, which has some caused a bit of a stir amongst the purists in the audience.  As someone who’s first introduction to the character was the 2002 version, who also had a more generic hat, I didn’t realize it was that big an issue.  Ultimately, the rest of his get-up’s never been much for regulation anyway, but different strokes and all that.  The other notable adjustment is giving his vest a more sci-fi make-over, which matches with the adjustments made to other characters.  In terms of construction, Gung-Ho marks another bit of parts re-use for the line.  In a similar fashion to Beach Head making use of some of Duke’s parts, Gung-Ho is built on the same core body as Roadblock.  He gets a new head, of course, as well as a new left knee (sans knee pad), and new add-ons for his hat, vest, wrist and shoulder guards, and a thigh piece.  The wrist and thigh add-ons previously were seen on the Cobra Island Roadblock variant, though they were designed for this guy.  The head and hat pieces are definitely the best work on the figure.  Gung-Ho’s got a pretty distinctive look, and it’s well translated to this figure.  The hat sits tight on the head, and you could be forgiven for not realizing it’s actually a separate piece.  Removing it reveals an adorable little patch of hair at the very top of Gung-Ho’s head, which is actually a really fun little touch.  Gung-Ho’s paint work is pretty decent.  It’s fairly subdued, in keeping a bit more with the more recent renditions of his design.  It’s certainly not the turquoise of his original figure.  Another notable change-up to his design occurs under this section; Gung-Ho’s tattoo has classically been a slight take off of the Marine insignia (although not an exact match, since that’s trademarked), but for this release, it goes a bit further away from that source, presumably to further avoid any trademark issues.  Gung-Ho continues the line’s trend towards impressive accessory selections, with a backpack and three different guns: a shotgun, an assault rifle, and a grenade launcher looking thing.  The back pack can carry two of the guns at a time, which is pretty fun, though they do have a tendency to pop out of place somewhat easily.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in my intro, I’m not much of a Gung-Ho fan.  In fact, I dislike him so much that when I drew up a series of G.I. Joe parody strips while I was in middle school, I ever so eloquently named his parody match “Dung-Ho”.  I know, I’m very clever.  All of this is to say that I wasn’t super thrilled by the prospect of this guy in the new line, but once I saw the prototype, I was actually somewhat intrigued.  He changes up some design elements, much like many of the figures in this line, but I think it works for the overall figure, and he’s got a lot of cool stuff going on.

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.