Tag Archives: I blame Max

#3554: Ultraman Z – Original

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

ULTRAMAN Z — ORIGINAL

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

Fun FiQ Fact #0033: There’s a Tamashi Nations Store in New York where you can buy all sorts of Bandai things that are usually exclusively available overseas, which, in case your wondering, includes Ultraman stuff.  You know, if that’s your sort of thing.

My first introduction to pretty much anything import-related is almost always going to be Ultraman.  Since its primary focus is in Japan, as a kid my only options for the toys were what few items got imported in comic shops and the like.  Years later, it was Ultraman that got me into Bandai’s slightly higher end line with Ultra-Act.  When Ultra-Act was folded into S.H. Figuarts, I stepped back, since I wasn’t jumping up and down to re-buy everyone in a slightly different scale.  I’ve picked up a few of the anime/manga-based figures, but no live action releases…that is, until now!  Let’s look at Ultraman Z!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Z Original is part of Bandai’s S.H. Figuarts line, and he is a Tamashii Nations Store exclusive.  He’s a re-issue of the 2021 release of the character, with a stripped down selection of accessories at a lower price point. The figure stands just over 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 40 points of articulation.  Z has a decent selection of different looks over the course of his appearances, as he gains different fusions and power-ups, but this figure is, as you might expect from his name, his original, unmodified appearance.  It’s a pretty fun design, which borrows elements from prior Ultras, but leaves them in such a way that they still feel unique when placed together.  I particularly like the merging of an Ultraseven style fin with the more classic Hayata style face.  Z’s sculpt is a pretty impressive one, up to the usual standards of the usual Figuarts fare.  Compared to some of the other Ultras I’ve handled, his articulation feels a little less fiddly, and a little better on the range of motion.  The construction on this guy feels pretty solid, and his sculpt is nice and clean.  He’s a pretty spot-on match for the suit design from the show, which is certainly nice.  Z is unique amongst most Ultraman in that his predominant accent color is blue, rather than red.  I’m honestly always a fan of this change-up, and the end result reminds me a bit of Dyna’s Miracle Type design, which has always been a personal favorite.  The paint work here is solid.  It’s got a pretty clean application for the most part, but there’s some minor bleed over on some of the change-overs on the color work.  Z is packed with four sets of hands (in fists, flat, flying, and open gesture) and two different versions of his color timer.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

In December, I took a trip to New York with the family, which of course largely saw me focus on getting things for everybody else as we visited all of the stores.  On our last day there, I spotted the Tamashii Nations Store, which I had actually forgotten had even been set-up there, and my wife encouraged me to stop in, since I’d not done much for me.  They had a nice selection of the exclusives, including a Kamen Rider that Max wanted me to pick up for him.  Since I was already stopping to buy something, I figured I might as well get something for me, and decided to snag this guy, because it’s been a bit since I bought myself an Ultraman.  He’s very fun, and now I feel the need to buy more, which seems to always happen when I buy myself an Ultraman.

#3544: Tech – Mercenary Gear

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

TECH – MERCENARY GEAR

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0023:  Tech is my favorite member of the Bad Batch‘s titular team (if you’re curious, the order I’d go with is Tech, Echo, Wrecker, Omega, Crosshair, Hunter.  That’s right, Hunter’s my least favorite…he’s bland.)

Bad Batch is a show that I really enjoyed at its start…and then it just sort of fell off for me.  I liked the more “impending doom, on the run” vibe of the earlier episodes, but once they settled into the “mission of the week” set-up, it kind of lost momentum for me.  It’s second season kind of continues that, with the added bonus of also writing out the two characters I most cared about.  But, hey, there’s more Hunter, right?  Okay, in actuality, it’s a good excuse to give us updated versions of the team in their modified Mercenary gear.  I’m not really down for buying the whole team all over again.  But, for Tech, I’ll make an exception.  And, hey, so I did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tech – Mercenary Gear is figure 16 in the Bad Batch sub-line of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  As with almost all of the Season 2 merch, this figure is a Walmart-exclusive, and hit in the fall of last year.  The figure is a little over 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Tech is largely built out of the same bank of parts as the first season Tech.  Most of the figures in the set follow suit, since the Mercenary Gear looks are largely just minor re-skins of their earlier looks.  Tech’s sculpt is one of the best the Batch had to offer, so I’m hardly hurt by the re-use.  The one main change-up is actually a fix to the one notable issue I had with the first release: he’s got his goggles!  In the show, whenever Tech takes off his helmet, he’s got goggles on underneath, but the first figure lacked them, which threw off his overall look.  This figure has a modified head sculpt, which now has the goggles permanently affixed.  The helmet, likewise, has been modified to leave a space for the goggles to slot in when he’s wearing it.  It definitely takes a lot of doing to get the helmet on and off, but the end result looks better in both set-ups then the prior release.  The other change-up to this guy is his paint work, which goes for a slightly more colorful look.  It’s not bad; not drastically different, or anything, but it’s a little more vibrant.  Like his prior release, this Tech includes a small blaster, three different tools, and a back pack.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t mind the choice to go exclusive on the Mercenary Gear Batch, since I didn’t really want them….and then I saw that they fixed the goggle issue on Tech, and suddenly I needed one.  Thankfully, Max was there with the assist on this guy, and managed to snag me one after a bit of searching.  He’s fun.  I loved the first figure, and I love this one.  Not sure what to do with two Techs, but there are worse problems to have.

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.

#3525: Donatello – Heroic Turtle-At-Arms

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

DONATELLO — HEROIC TURTLE-AT-ARMS

TURTLES OF GRAYSKULL (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0004: The vintage Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toylines shared a designer, Mark Taylor, who designed key portions of both lines.

I’m neither the world’s biggest Masters of the Universe fan nor the biggest TMNT fan, so you may be wondering what’s the deal with me reviewing a crossover figure from the two lines. Okay, you’re probably not, because I’m actually pretty transparent on some things, and one of them is that I like Donatello action figures. Where there are cool new Donnies, I tend to follow. Also, I do like me a nifty crossover. So, behold Man-At-Arms Donatello!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello is part of the first standard assortment of Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull line, alongside Leo, Man-At-Arms, and Mutated He-Man. The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation. In terms of construction, these figures are very similar to Mattel’s own Origins line, which makes a degree of sense, since it allows the Turtles to fit right in with the established MotU characters, as showcased in the included minicomic. The design brings his build more in line with the typical Masters look, so he’s a little more roided out than usual, and gets less of that typical Turtle physique. This is presumably to keep cross-compatibility between all of the figures in the line. Donnie gets his own Man-At-Arms inspired armor, which is pretty fun. I especially dig how the back shell can turn into a separate shield piece. Donnie’s color work keeps with his usual palette, but there’s clearly more purple, since that’s the main basis for the armor. I like it; it makes him stand out nicely. Donnie is packed with the 7 pieces of removable armor, plus a staff-version of the Man-At-Arms mace, and a minicomic explaining the background of the crossover. Of particular note, it features Roboto in his minicomic colors, which makes me very happy.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

This whole endeavor is Max’s fault. He let me know about this crossover’s existence, and he made darn sure I got one of these, with this particular one landing in my hands just days before Christmas. He really likes to look out for me. I don’t feel the need to go in-depth for this line (but I certainly wouldn’t say no to a Roboto/Metalhead crossover), but this one figure is definitely worth it.

#3523: Donatello – Battle Ready

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

DONATELLO — BATTLE READY

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES BST AXN (THE LOYAL SUBJECTS)

Fun FiQ Fact #0002:  Donatello was the favorite Turtle of TMNT co-creator Peter Laird, who modeled Donnie’s personality most closely on his own.

When I got into TMNT as a kid, alongside my brother Christian, we each had our clear favorite member of the team.  Mine was Raphael!  What’s that?  You assumed it was Donatello?  Why, just because I’ve spent ten years here on the site saying that or something?  Well, I was initially a Raphael kid, believe it or not.  Christian, on the other hand, was a Donatello fan.  By the time of the 2007 TMNT movie, however, I realized it wasn’t Raph that really spoke to me, and I’ve been a Donnie fan all the way since then (for his part, Christian settled in on Michelangelo, again a much more natural fit for his personality).  Since I’ve latched to Donnie, though, he’s become an easy target for gift-giving and the like, especially when there’s new versions that I don’t yet own.  Like, say, for instance, this guy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello — Battle Ready Edition is part of The Loyal Subjects’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles BST AXN line.  He’s based on their takes on the team’s IDW comics-based appearances.  There are two releases for each of them, with the “Battle Ready Edition” being an SDCC 2023-exclusive, which was also available on The Loyal Subjects webstore.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  While a good number of the BST AXN Turtles are prone to sharing parts between releases, the more unique nature of the IDW designs means that this Donatello gets an all-new sculpt.  The IDW illustrations are a little more flowy and free-form with the designs, ultimately making the Turtles a little more human in appearance than they usually are.  The sculpt does a respectable job of capturing his look.  He’s tall and lanky, and gets all the proper texturing you’d expect from this particular design.  I especially dig that they even remembered to give him his artificial shell that he got later in the book’s run.  That’s a very fun touch.  Donnie gets two different head sculpts, one slightly goofy and grinny, and the other one is serious and teeth-baring.  They’re both decent matches for the source, but I do lean more towards the goofier one.  Donnie’s paint work is one of this particular release’s main selling points.  In addition to the base level work, the “Battle Ready” figures all get an extra wash to help to accent the smaller sculpted texture details.  It actually works really well, and it’s surprisingly consistent between the different parts of the figure.  Also worth noting is that the two heads get two different styles of eyes, with pupils on the goofier one, and no pupils for the more serious one.  Given the usual back and forth on the styling, it’s nice to get the option there.  Donatello is packed with three sets of hands (gripping, open gesture, and a pointer grip/fist combo), his bo staff, a pair of goggles, and his anti-gravity gauntlet.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’ve not really messed with the BST AXN Turtles, but there’s just been more and more, and I guess it was inevitable.  The inevitability came to a head when Max got one of the fancy SDCC ones for me as the first part of last year’s Christmas gift.  It’s a different style of Donnie, and it’s a slightly different style of figure, but both elements work nicely.  I definitely dig it.

#3490: ARC Trooper Fives

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

ARC TROOPER FIVES

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Fives trained with Domino Squad on Kamino before being stationed at the Rishi Moon outpost. While on Kamino for medical testing, he discovered a terrifying secret about the clones’ origins.”

There are a number of recurring Clones over the course of The Clone Wars, but there are few that have quite as intricate a story as Domino Squad.  Introduced during the first season episode “Rookies,” the squad’s members are noted for their tendency to, much like the game pieces they are named after, fall.  By the end of their first episode, only two remained, Fives and Echo, who would go on to go from Rookies to ARC Troopers during their run on the show.  Fives initially had the longest run of the squad, surviving until the end of the Clone Conspiracy arc, where he discovers the truth about Order 66.  He’s subsequently had his thunder stolen a little bit with the reveal that Echo actually survived his presumed death at the Citadel, but that doesn’t make Fives any less important.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ARC Trooper Fives is number 16 in the Clone Wars sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series’ Phase IV run.  Like Jesse from last week, he’s a Walmart-exclusive, which continues to be a bit of a bummer.  Honestly, even more of a bummer, really, given how major a character Fives is within the context of Clone Wars.  Like Echo and Jesse, Fives is presented here in his ARC Trooper loadout.  It makes the most sense by far for him, since he spends so much time in this particular gear.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  If you’ve read my reviews of Echo and Jesse, then you pretty much know the ins and outs of this sculpt, because he’s virtually identical to those two.  Fives shares the upper pouch placement with Jesse, which is accurate to the source material.  He also gets a new head sculpt under the helmet, which is fairly similar to Echo’s, but sports the appropriate facial hair.  I kind of expected the beard to just be painted on, but it’s actually sculpted, which was certainly a plus.  Fives’ color scheme is accurate to the cartoon, so it’s got a similar vibe to the other two, but some of the patterns are shifted around in order to make him more clearly unique from the other two.  Application is generally pretty clean, but on mine, the blue on the helmet fin is a little off-set, so it’s not quite centered the way it should be.  Like Jesse, Fives is only packed with a pair of blaster pistols.  It’s again pretty frustrating, given that he *still* doesn’t have trigger fingers on both hands, but he was at least more frequently seen with just the pistols.  Still, I’d like to at least have the option, given how much re-use he’s sporting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m honestly shocked it took as long as it did for Fives to get added to Black Series.  I kind of expected him to be the one that debuted this mold, so Echo and Jesse both beating him to market was definitely odd.  I was definitely not thrilled to find out he was an exclusive, either, but thankfully, I had Max looking out for me, and he managed to snag me one without much issue.  He feels a touch anticlimactic, I suppose, having already gotten the others and all, but I’m glad I at least have him finally.

#3478: Edward “Torpedo” Leialoha

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

EDWARD “TORPEDO” LEIALOHA

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

“Torpedo was a scuba instructor prior to enlistment. Attained black belts in three martial arts by age 19 (Wu-Shu, Kenpo, and Go-Ju-Ryu). Proficient with Filipino butterfly knife(Bali-Song). Training records after SEAL School: CLASSIFIED. Qualified Expert: Most NATO small arms, NATO and Warsaw Pact explosive devices.

Spends off-duty hours perfecting his fighting skills and marksmanship. Strict vegetarian. Regarded by his teammates as a highly competent professional, but has the personality of a cold fish.”

The first year of G.I. Joe’s move to the 3 3/4-inch scale was without any environment-specific figures.  When you’re trying to revive a brand, you probably don’t want to potentially limit sales on any of your figures by tying them too heavily into a set-up that not every kid is going to have.  Year two, however, injected a little bit of that, though, and gave us our first of a few different underwater specialists, in the form of Torpedo.  He’s not as flashy as the likes of Wet-Suit and Deep-Six, but he was still the first, and he’s also the first of them to join Classified, with a figure I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Edward “Torpedo” Leialoha is figure 73 in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: Classified Series.  At this point, they’ve moved away from actual assortments, instead just doing groupings of individual figures shipping in solid cases.  He’s a wide release figure, loosely grouped with Rock ‘n Roll and Copperhead.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Torpedo is sporting an all-new sculpt, handled by sculptor Paul Harding.  It’s already been set for some re-use on the upcoming Action Sailer anniversary figure, which makes sense, it being a pretty basic frogman set-up and all.  He’s clearly patterned on Torpedo’s v1 release, but he absorbs some of the design elements introduced in the 25th Anniversary release, most notably the lack of a permanently affixed mask.  It’s a very strong sculpt; there’s a lot of subtlety, and very balanced proportions, and I really like the unique quality of the facial sculpt.  The basic wetsuit has a lot of clean lines, and the extra add-on pieces break it up really nicely.  I definitely dig the slight dressing up that the harness gives the whole look.  In general, it keeps a lot of the vibe of the original look, while actually doing a little bit of updating.  It still remains a bit more real world than some of the early-line figures and their heavier sci-fi influence, but it’s not falling into the “vintage figure but bigger” territory of some of the more recent stuff.  Torpedo’s color scheme largely sticks to the grey and black of the vintage figure, but he does get a few other accents mixed in, as well as getting a fully painted face.  On my figure there’s a little slop on the edge of the skintone, but he is otherwise pretty solid.  Torpedo’s last name, Leialoha, and his birthplace as listed on his original file card, indicate that he’s of Polynesian decent, and his skin tone is a bit darker to support that, a noted change from how pale he tends to be.  It’s a pretty nice change, honestly, and adds some pleasant visual diversity to the Joes.  Torpedo is packed with his scuba gear, which includes a mask, tanks, and a pair of flippers.  They lean more into the real-world scuba look than previous designs, which lines up well with the rest of the design cues from this release.  Torpedo also includes a harpoon gun (like his vintage counterpart), a knife, and a rifle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My last G.I. Joe: Classified Series review ran in June (and was actually written about a month before that), which emphasizes for me just how removed I feel from the whole line.  Torpedo isn’t a character that I have a ton of attachment to, previously at least, so, while he looked cool, by the time he hit, I was kind of presuming I’d be passing him.  When he showed up in person, something about him called to me, I think largely because the classic frogman look has always been one of my favorite things about G.I. Joe, going back to the 12-inch figures, even.  I was hemming and hawing over buying the figure when Max decided to just make the decision for me, and buy this guy for me as a birthday present.  That sure was nice of him.  The nerve of some people, right?  I’ve been down on this line, but Torpedo does feel like a step in the right direction to me.  He doesn’t feel quite as slavishly devoted to his original figure, and he’s not as impossibly fiddly as Falcon was, so I do generally quite like him.

#3413: Astonishing Ant-Man

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

ASTONSIHING ANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Attempting to save his daughter’s life, ex-criminal Scott Lang steals technology imbued with Pym Particles. Gaining the ability to shrink to the size of an insect, Scott becomes an unexpected Super Hero as Ant-Man”

Alright, I may have wrapped up the Cassie Lang Series of Marvel Legends last week, but that doesn’t mean I’m done with the cool Ant-Man goodness *just* yet!  In 1979, with the Ant-Man identity three names back for Hank Pym, the guise was assumed by Scott Lang, who used it to save his daughter Cassie’s life.  Scott would take on the title officially until his demise during “Avengers Disassembled” in 2004, and would reclaim it following his 2012 resurrection in Avengers: Children’s Crusade, allowing him to again be the main Ant-Man when it came time for the MCU incarnation to make his debut.  Obviously, Scott’s gotten quite a bit of toy love in the last few years, but classic Scott Lang figures are still something of a rarity, which makes today’s offering extra cool!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Astonishing Ant-Man is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release.  He hit roughly around the same time as the Cassie Lang Series, which had him timed out to loosely coincide with the home media release of Quantumania.  This is our second classic style Ant-Man under Hasbro, and our third Legends version overall, counting the old Toy Biz release.  Technically, it’s also a one and one for Scott Lang sporting the gear, since the Retro Card Ant-Man Hasbro put out was actually Hank, going by the eye color.  Yes, I brought up the eye color.  Deal with it.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s using the ANAD 2099 body as his base this time around.  It means he’s still got visible pins on the elbows and knees, which is a bit of a bummer, but I do feel like the build is a much better fit for both Scott and Hank than the Pizza Spidey body was.  Ant-Man gets a new head and belt piece to finish off the look.  The head is just a beautiful piece of work, through and through.  The helmet is a separate, non-removable piece, and it’s honestly never looked better in Legends form.  They always get something slightly off, but not this time.  It’s clean, it’s sleek, and it’s sharp.  The only downside is how the antenna are easily bent out of shape, but a little bit of heating, straightening, and cooling does wonders for him.  Under the helmet, we get a new facial sculpt, which can honestly work alright for either of the two Ant-Men, but is ever so slightly leaning towards Scott, as it should be.  His new belt is very similar to the one used on Retro Ant-Man and Black Ant, but it’s sized correctly to the new base body, and is also much more sharply detailed.  Ant-Man’s color work is very bright, very bold, and very clean.  The paint work on this one is especially sharp, and it really sells the overall look.  They’ve also made sure to give Scott his proper blue eyes, so that you know who’s who.  Ant-Man is packed with two sets of hands, one open, one in fists.  It’s light.  I won’t lie.  But, honestly, Ant-Man’s always light when it comes to Legends.  I think maybe an unmasked head, or even yet another release of that same pack-in mini Ant-Man might make me feel better, but the hands aren’t terrible.  At least he’s not just stuck with fists again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Retro Ant-Man was, at best, always just kind of a placeholder for a better figure.  Black Ant as fine on his own, but he’s not classic Ant-Man, and repainting him in classic Ant-Man colors doesn’t magically fix that.  So, he was fine, but he was never really a star piece for me.  That said, this figure, much like his Toy Biz Walmart-exclusive counterpart, is a figure I didn’t realize I needed as much as I did.  Thankfully, Max was able to hook me up with one without much fuss, allowing me to get him in hand and realize that he is, in fact, the best classic Ant-Man figure out there by a very large margin.

#3344: Silverbolt

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

SILVERBOLT

BEAST WARS (KENNER)

“Shadows of mystery cloak this silent and proud warrior. Part wolf, part eagle, Silverbolt possesses all the attributes of a great lone warrior: speed, power, wisdom, intelligence. His uncanny ability to track and then ferociously overcome Predacons by himself, only to suddenly disappear into the backdrop has inspired myths describing a fierce winged warrior who has come to defeat their evil ranks one by one. Preferring to work alone, Silverbolt is a ferociously intelligent fighter: extremely dexterous, he seems to be everywhere at once, striking with fearsome talons and firing hidden point-missiles from his wing tips to ultimately surface victorious.”

After being largely focused on machines that turned into other machines for their first decade and some change, in 1996, the Transformers brand reconfigured into Beast Wars, which gave the robots in disguise a bunch of animal-inspired alt-modes, as well as a prehistoric setting.  After rather quiet reception for Generation 2, Beast Wars rather revitalized the brand, and even brought in a lot of new fans.  It had a rather strong four year run as a toyline, as well as a rather successful tie-in cartoon running at the same time.  Both of those also had a follow-up in the form of Beast Machines, but nobody really likes to talk about those.  The whole “Beast” thing is getting worked into the live action films this year, with a number of the characters playing pivotal roles in Rise of the Beasts.  But we’re not here to talk about that today.  No, today, we’re talking about “Fuzors.”  See, while the early run characters were all just one lame animal (totally objective fact, there, by the way), the Fuzors were *two* animals fused together!  The best of the bunch (again, objective fact) was the Maximal Silverbolt, who I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silverbolt was part of the first Deluxe Class Fuzors wave of Beast Wars, which was released in 1998.  He was one half of the wave, with the Predacon Sky Shadow being the other half.  In his robot mode, Silverbolt stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 practical points of articulation.  Due to the nature of his transformation, there are a few spots where he can get a little extra movement from joints that aren’t really meant for articulation, but it’s all pretty minor adjustments.  His movement wasn’t terrible, which was honestly something that was pretty consistent for Beast Wars.  They certainly weren’t as focused on just the transformation as the G1 stuff was.  Compared to more modern stuff, he’s a little stiff, of course, but 25 years removed, it’s not so bad.  The sculpt is a bit rudimentary, but again not bad.  It tracked well with the animation model he got on the show, especially when it came to the head sculpt.  That said, the proportions do look kind of wonky; the torso is particularly blocky, and the limbs are a bit chunky.  He’s also got a fair bit of kibble on the upper half, with his back legs just sort of hanging off the elbows, and the wings not really folding into the main body, instead just sort of sticking straight out from the back.  It’s a little awkward.  There are also a lot of rather obvious joints and hinges in the robot mode, which breaks up the flow a bit.  His color scheme was predominately the grey he was molded in, with a healthy helping of bronze and darker grey accenting.  It was all pretty cleanly applied, and pretty solid for the era, and it’s held up well over time.  Silverbolt was packed with two feather “missiles” that, in robot mode, were meant to sort of be swords.  They looked more like clubs, but that’s neither here nor there, because I don’t have them anyway.  Silverbolt’s alt-mode, the source of his “Fuzor” title, was a wolf and an eagle, making him a pseudo griffin type thing.  It’s a fun mode, and his transformation into it is a pretty well-engineered one.  In the beast mode, a lot of the uglier parts of the sculpt are hidden, and his overall look is a lot more cohesive…which is actually kind of ironic, since he’s supposed to be a merging of two rather different things.  In this mode, the missiles would go at the ends of his wings, and moving the wings inward would fire the missiles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was not super into Beast Wars as a kid.  I watched the show, but really only because it was between other things I liked to watch, and I didn’t change the channel.  I owned exactly two of the toys as a kid.  One of them was a gift, so I didn’t have much say in it, and the other was this guy.  I actually quite liked Silverbolt; he’s the only character from the series that I have any sort of attachment to, and as a kid I actually made a point of tracking down his toy.  That one took quite a beating over the years, and ultimately wound up a few limbs shy of where he should have been.  The one reviewed here was actually not mine originally, but was instead Max’s.  He was sorting through several large bins of his old Transformers, and this was one of a few figures that he fished out and gifted to me.  He shows his age to be sure, but I do still really love the figure.

#3298: Black Panther — Wakanda Forever

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

BLACK PANTHER — WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The success of the first Black Panther film understandably fast-tracked the turnaround on a sequel, but with both Infinity War and Endgame locked-in on the schedule, there was a slight wait before we could get right to it.  Things were further delayed by the pandemic in 2020, right when the movie was set to begin production.  Plans were further thrown into chaos later that same year with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, leaving the film without its star.  The film was hastily reworked to remove Chadwick’s role, with the rest of his ensemble cast taking up as much of the reins as possible.  Who would be taking over the titular mantle was a heavily discussed topic, and the actual identity of this new Panther was kept secret before the film’s release.  In the end, the person to inherit the role was T’Challa’s sister Shuri, who is truly the most natural choice for the part, especially given her history of taking over the part in the comics.  In order to preserve the film’s secret, merchandise of Shuri in her Panther suit was held off until after the movie’s release.  This included the Marvel Legends figure, which is just making its way out now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Panther is a single-release Marvel Legends figure, meant to tie-in with the rest of the Wakanda Forever assortment, while also standing on her own.  She’s sold in a box that matches the others, but is billed only as “Black Panther” and also gets no bio, suggesting they were working extra hard to keep this one a secret, even once the figure got out there.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is up to the more modernized standards for the line; she’s got double joints for the elbows and knees, which are using the pinless construction.  She also gets a decent ball-joint for the neck.  The range isn’t quite there on some of the joints, mostly around the middle of the figure, and the elbows have a tendency to stick a little bit on one end or the other.  Panther’s sculpt is an all-new one.  It does a respectable job of capturing her costume design as seen in the film…I mean, at least as far as I can tell from the limited screen shots are available for the look; some times that super secrecy really works against them, huh?  It’s a visually interesting design, with a lot of sharp detailing, and plenty of texturing.  The build seems a decent match for Letitia Wright, though she’s notably taller than the prior Shuri figure, which doesn’t quite track with her actual height.  Technically, she should be a fair bit shorter than both figures.  Maybe the heart shaped herb just makes her taller?  I’m willing to buy that, I guess.  The paint work on this figure is pretty on the mark; the gold accents go where they’re supposed to, and they look pretty sharp.  Shuri is pretty light on the accessories front, with only two sets of hands, in fists and open claw.  They’re cool and all, but her not getting an unmasked head, or even any of her blaster attachments for the wrists.  Presumably, the secrecy of the design and more than likely far quicker turnaround time resulted in less extras.  It’s a shame, but at least she got the bare minimum?  Also, an all-new sculpt, so there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The main assortment of Wakanda Forever figures was a lot of rehash, so I didn’t pick up much of that set.  The absence of Shuri from that line-up didn’t really help matters, as it was honestly one of the few designs I really felt the desire to own.  The separate release was appreciated, and not really a surprise, I suppose.  Even so, I was a bit on the fence with this figure, just because my collecting habits are shifting a bit.  Max was having none of this, however, and decided to put an end to my hemming and hawing over this figure by just going ahead and paying for one for me in advance.  How dare he?  How absolutely dare?  Aside from a lack of accessories, she’s a rather nice figure, and one I’m certainly glad to have in my collection.

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.

#3268: Soundwave – Shattered Glass

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS GENERATIONS: SHATTERED GLASS COLLECTION (HASBRO)

I’ve discussed “Shattered Glass,” the Transformers equivalent of the Mirror Universe concept, once before here on the site.  That time, it was in regards to my favorite Autobot, Ultra Magnus, as his evil alternate self.  But, I can’t just look at an evil Autobot and leave the poor heroic Decepticons out in the cold, can I?  Well, as luck would have it, they just so happened to also do the alternate version of my favorite Decepticon, Soundwave, who in this reality trades his usual cold and calculating persona for a laid back resistance fighter.  Totally radical!  …Right?  Because, he’s like, cool and stuff?  Yeah.  Okay.  I’ll stop trying to be cool now.  Let’s just look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is figure #10 in the Shattered Glass Collection.  He wraps up the second batch of figures, and appears to wrap up the sub-line as a whole, at least as far as we know.  He actually stuck pretty close to his expected release, arriving in mid-November.  In his robot mode, the figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 practical points of articulation.  Soundwave’s mold is predominantly shared with the Walmart-exclusive War For Cybertron Soundwave.  It’s the most straight forward update to the G1 Soundwave mold we’ve gotten at this scale, and it’s thus far only had the one other use, so it makes a lot of sense here.  My only real issue with the mold remains the forearms, which still feel just a touch greebly for the rest of the sculpt.  Other than that, it’s really strong.  His head sculpt has been modified to include SG Soundwave’s signature headband, which gives him that more laid back feel.  It’s a minor change-up, but I dig it.  As with all of the SG figures, the color scheme marks the biggest departure for this release.  He’s predominantly white, and the sections of blue that remain are a much lighter (and metallic) shade.  He’s just much brighter than usual, which makes for a great contrast compared to the standard look.  The application is generally pretty clean, with the only (small) issue on mine being that his Decepticon emblem is *ever so slightly* off-center.  It’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it’s a little off.  Also, not a real issue on my figure, but some Soundwaves are arriving with a lot of yellowing on the white plastic.  Thus far, mine’s a little discolored in his right arm, but it’s very minor for me.  Soundwave gets the same accessory selection as the last one, with the two styles of blaster (in proper matching colors for the figure), as well as Ravage and Laserbeak.  Ravage and Laserbeak are both using their Siege molds (in contrast to Laserbeak getting the Earth-mode head for the WFC release), and they both get updated colors, with Ravage matching up with Soundwave, and Laserbeak getting an inverted palette.  Since he’s re-using the updated WFC version of the mold, his alt-mode is once again the mini cassette player.  The transformation scheme is pretty straight forward, and the end result is pretty great…when viewed from the front.  The back’s a different story, but honestly, that’s not the end of the world.

Like the Ultra Magnus, Soundwave is packed with an issue of IDW’s Transformers: Shattered Glass II, specifically issue 5.  It wraps up the story.  I missed the four issues between the two I got, but I honestly didn’t feel any more lost here than on the prior issue.  It’s a little better than the first issue, but it’s still just sort of there.  It does again showcase Soundwave pretty well, so that’s cool.  It’s also the final Transformers comic to be published by IDW, ending their 17 year run with the license.  So, you know, there’s that, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is, once again, Max’s fault.  It’s a Transformer, and it’s a Pulse exclusive, so he’s got no escaping the blame.  I already had Magnus, and there was no way I could pass on Soundwave.  Max, knowing this, immediately contacted me as soon as this guy was shown off to verify that I indeed wanted one, so that he could throw one into his order.  Here he is again, being all helpful and stuff.  The nerve.  He’s not quite as impressive as the Ultra Magnus, but he’s still very fun, as are the two updated cassettes.  And thus ends the venture into Shattered Glass, I guess.