Tag Archives: Jack O’Lantern

#3634: Jack O’Lantern

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

JACK O’LANTERN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0113: Due to a technicality (that technicality being Toy Biz using the “Mad Jack” name on the package for their Spider-Man Classics Jack O’Lantern), I own every Jack O’Lantern figure!

Jack O’Lantern is one of those characters that, like, I know, but, like, also I don’t?  I mean, that’s what happens when you have five different guys who use the same lower-tier super villain identity, the first two of whom actually used more popular legacy titles, and the last two of whom don’t even have secret identities.  He’s not even in the top two Spidey villains who use gliders and have a pumpkin theme!  Really cool visual, though, so I think that makes up for a lot of sins.  Oh, god, is Jack O’Lantern my Boba Fett?  Do I have an attachment to a character that contributes very little to the narrative because he looks cool?  I don’t know what to do with this information.  Guess I’ll write an action figure review?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jack O’Lantern is the second figure from the latest Retro-carded assortment of Spider-Man Marvel Legends.  Like Scarlet Spider, Jack’s on one of the ’90s style cards, and, like Scarlet, it doesn’t match up to an actual vintage release.  Jack was at least actually single carded in the ’90s line, though, so we’re closer.  The figure is 7 1/2 inches tall to the top of the flames (6 1/2 inches to the top of the head) and he has 34 points of articulation.  Jack O’Lantern’s starting point is the Vulcan body, although it’s really limited to just the arms and legs.  Everything else is all-new, sculpted by Daniel Salas.  It’s…well, it’s honestly fantastic.  The texturing and flow is really strong.  The head uses a multi-part construction for the pumpkin, interior, and the flames, allowing for a really sharp set of details.  The scarf piece sits well, and hides the neck joint, allowing for motion, without having to directly address how exactly it connects to the body.  The scale mail on the torso and pelvis is very consistent, and I also really dig the visible stitching on the gloves and boots.  This whole sculpt is a great example of adding extra details to a more basic design in a way that doesn’t overcomplicate anything.  The color work keeps up pretty well with the sculpt.  The body relies on molded colors, but certainly well-chosen ones.  The head gets more actual paint work, and there’s some fantastic subtleties going on there.  Jack is packed with two sets of hands (fists and an open gesture/gripping combo), a bomb that can be stored on his belt, and his hover disk.  The disk is great, because you can remove the bottom piece, which makes it compatible with the standard hover stands.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’m generally scaling back my Legends collecting, and focussing in more on my 5-Inch Marvel set.  To that end, I’ve been refraining from grabbing a lot of figures that are more direct updates to 5-Inch figures.  As Jack is one of those more direct updates, I wasn’t sure I was going to grab him, at least initially, but he just looked so very nice, so I broke on him.  I’m glad I did, because he’s really, really nice.  Like, honestly, just one of those top tier Legends we only get every so often.

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.

#1733: Negative Zone Spider-Man & Jack O’lantern

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

Before their demise last month, Toys R Us played a tremendous role in getting the Minimates brand into the hands of many new fans, as well as helping to introduce new licenses and bolstering the ranks of existing ones.  As with all things Minimates, by far the most successful of these ventures was with the Marvel license.  In the decade that they supported the line (well, the second time around, anyway), they put out 47 series and 6 boxed sets, with over 200 unique Minimates released therein.  That’s pretty darn impressive.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Negative Zone Spider-Man and Jack O’Lantern, comes from Series 25 of the main comics line of Marvel Minimates, which would prove to be the final TRU-exclusive assortment.

NEGATIVE ZONE SPIDER-MAN

Amongst the many zany properties of the Negative Zone is apparently the ability to create killer costume variants.  In addition to doing it for Spider-Man, it’s also done it for the Fantastic Four.  It’s a wonder Marvel hasn’t stuck a few more popular heroes through there to get some additional variants!  Negative Zone Spider-Man’s a variant that’s cropped up in other lines, but not yet been seen in Minimates, which is honestly a little bit surprising given how many Spider-Men we’ve gotten over the years (this one marks the 83rd, for those keeping count). Negative Zone Spider-Man is another vanilla ‘mate, so no add-on pieces here.  I much prefer this method of handling Spider-Men, so I’m happy this was the way they went. The important costume details are done via paint, which is applied very cleanly and is sharply defined, capturing his negative look from the comics very well.  It all makes for a very striking looking design, that’s also quite sleek.  As an added bonus, the head is almost a dead match for Agent Venom’s mask, should you wish to swap out the slip mask from the TTA set or turn your animated version into a comics one. For accessories, Negative Zone Spidey includes a webline (done in smokey translucent grey instead of the usual solid color; guess Spidey’s web-fluid was affected too), a Negative Zone effects base (a clever re-use of Invisible Woman’s forcefield piece), and the usual clear display stand.

JACK O’LANTERN

Jack O’Lantern’s a name that’s been held by four Marvel Super Villains.  None of them have ever really risen beyond second-string villain, but he’s got an intriguing design, so he’s gotten a few toys.  This marks his first Minimate, though.  This particular figure’s design is one that could equally work as original Jack O’Lantern Jason Macendale, or his immediate replacement Steven Mark Levens, and it could even work as Daniel Berkhart from before he re-designed his costume to become Mad Jack.  Point is, you’ve got options. Jack O’Lantern makes use of a unique pumpkin-shaped head in place of the usual cylinder.  At first glance I thought it might be re-used, either from Samhain or Pumpkin King Jack, but it’s a new piece.  He also has add-ons for the flame effect, and his flared boots and gloves.  It makes for a nice summation of Jack’s classic design, and the flames in particular work a lot better here than they have on the various Ghost Riders we’ve gotten over the years. Like Negative Zone Spidey, Jack’s paintwork is sharply handled, cleanly applied, and very bold and striking.  Traditionally, Jack’s color scheme is variations of green, rather than the green and black combo seen here.  However, differences in shading mean this general look has shown up on occasion, and it certainly looks very eye-catching. Jack O’Lantern is packed with a spare pumpkin-bomb-wielding hand, as well as his flying disk, a corresponding flight stand, and a standard clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set during TRU’s lengthy liquidation sales.  It was nearer the beginning, so they were essentially full price, but given how scarce Series 25 proved, I’m glad I got them when I did.  Negative Zone Spider-Man is far from an essential design, but as far as one-off variants go, he’s a pretty strong one, and quite a bit of fun.  Jack O’Lantern’s a fun lesser villain, and his Minimate lives up to all that fun, and even elevates him, crafting one of the best Spider-Foe ‘mates available.

#0984: Jack O’Lantern

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

JACK O’LANTERN

SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

JackOLanternTB1

During their lengthy run doing 5-inch Marvel figures, Toy Biz really took a stab at getting out as many characters as they could, even if they were rather obscure. Though they never got as far into any property as they did X-Men, their Spider-Man line sure gave it a shot. Among the huge slew of villains the line gave us was the very first action figure of the somewhat offbeat villain Jack O’Lantern, which is the figure I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JackOLanternTB2Jack O’Lantern was released in the “Bug Busters” series of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man line. He was an interesting inclusion, seeing as he wasn’t ever featured on The Animated Series, but this was around the point that Toy Biz was moving away from using the cartoons as an influence in general. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  This figure is based on the classic Jack O’Lantern design, which means it can serve as both the Jason Macendale and Steve Levins (the first and second Jack O’Lanterns), since they both had essentially the same design. Sculpturally, this figure was totally unique, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the plus side, the more character specific details, such as his head and his scale-mail tunic, are handled very nicely. The downside is that this figure came at the height of Toy Biz’s fling with oddly proportioned figures. The hands are enormous, dwarfing even his extra-large head, but they’re attached to a rather scrawny set of arms. Well, maybe the arms aren’t scrawny. From some angles, anyway. What they really are is flat. Jack also has in impossibly tiny waist and pelvis, which continues into a rather large set of thighs. He’s definitely got an odd appearance. The paintwork on Jack is pretty solid. He matches the multiple tones of green from the comics quite well, and he’s even got some very nicely rendered accent work on his head and torso. It would be nice if some of the accent work continued onto the rest of the figure, but it’s not too horribly jarring. Jack included a large bug thing, as well as a disc for it to shoot. These were both part of the gimmick of this particular series, and neither really adds to Jack in any meaningful way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jack O’Lantern is figure 13 of the 15 I got from this year’s Balticon. I didn’t have Jack growing up, mostly due to being relatively unfamiliar with the character. I’ve come to appreciate him over the years, and have been on the lookout for this figure since. Like a lot of Toy Biz’s output from right around this time, this figure shows his age. The goofy proportions are the biggest issue, though, given the character’s ghoulish look, they aren’t impossible to overlook. Not a bad figure at the end of the day.

#0884: Jack O’Lantern

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

JACK O’LANTERN – VILLAINS OF THE NIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

JackOLantern1

Legacy isn’t really a thing that Marvel tends to do a whole lot of, but they do have a few prominent examples, though they do have a tendency to be villainous. Perhaps the best known legacy identity they have is the Green Goblin, followed by his knock off, Hobgoblin. However, the two of them have followed Marvel’s more usual trend of reverting back to the identity’s originator. One villainous legacy that hasn’t as of yet taken any steps backwards is Jack O’Lantern, who has had five different incarnations to date. Jack O’Lantern is a minor enough character that he’s been rather sparse in figure form. He’s had three figures, and each has been based on a different incarnation of the character. The third figure is relatively new, and I’ll be reviewing him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JackOLantern2Jack O’Lantern is the fourth figure in the fourth series of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series line. He is officially titled “Villains of the Night,” which he shares with Morbius. I guess it works alright for him, but it feels like more of a Morbius title. This figure is based on the latest Jack O’Lantern (whose real name has not yet been revealed), who was a recurring foe of Flash Thompson’s Venom. The figure is 7 inches tall (including the flames; he’s 6 ½ inches without them) and has 30 points of articulation. Jack is based on the Ghost body (first used in the SDCC-exclusive Thunderbolts set), which itself re-used the thighs and biceps of the Young Avengers Patriot figure. The body is a little bit awkward, especially at the hips, and a serious pain to pose, but it’s not a bad sculpt. Despite being designed specifically for Ghost, the costume details aren’t too far off from at least one of the depictions of Jack O’Lantern. The only truly “off” part is the collar, which should be more open. Jack gets a new head; it’s an important piece, since it’s his namesake and all, and it’s a pretty strong sculpt, in terms of both its standalone quality and its meshing with the rest of the body. He also gets a new belt piece, to help bring the body more in line with Jack’s costume. The piece is nicely handled, though it certainly doesn’t help the issues with the hip movement. At the very least, it distracts from the somewhat large size of the hips. Jack’s paint is generally pretty strong. He’s a lot more murky and drab than most current Legends figures, but that’s definitely appropriate. The head in particular has some pretty cool shading work, which gives it the effect of being unevenly lit, as a Jack O’Lantern would be. Jack O’Lantern includes a pumpkin bomb (the same one included with the Hobgoblin BAF), a sickle, and a broomstick (the current Jack’s mode of transport). Due to the nature of the pre-existing hands, the broom and the sickle both have knuckle guard to help keep them more securely in place. Admittedly, it looks a little goofy, so I can’t really see myself using either of those parts. The figure also includes the left leg of the BAF Absorbing Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jack O’Lantern was another figure from my parents. I didn’t really expect much from this guy. I’m passingly familiar with some of the prior incarnations of the character, but I don’t know the latest one at all. I find myself liking this guy more than I expected. The body is a little out of date, but not horribly so, and he certainly has a unique design.

JackOLantern3