Tag Archives: Kenner

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0074: Speeder Bike (w/ Luke Skywalker in Endor Gear)

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

SPEEDER BIKE (W/ LUKE SKYWALKER IN ENDOR GEAR)

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Well, it’s Friday again, guys.  We made it.  It’s here, and the week is over.  Yay?  Yeah, let’s go with yay.  And what am I doing?  I’m talking about Star Wars.  It’s what I do in times of trouble.  Or just times, really.  Kind of a background noise.  Anyway, here’s a return look at Luke Skywalker and a Speeder Bike!

A couple of weeks ago, I took a look at the first of three versions of the Imperial Speeder Bike released by Kenner in their Power of the Force II line. The vehicle’s mold was first introduced in the vintage Return of the Jedi line, and was then re-packaged in the ’90s, with one of three different pilots. I’ve already looked at the one with Leia. Today, I look at her brother Luke, alongside his own Speeder.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The speeder bikes in these sets were all identical, meaning this one is exactly the same as the one I looked at alongside Leia two weeks ago. I liked it then, and I still like it now. I imagine I’ll still like it when I get around to the third variant of this set.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Like the Leia figure included with the last one, this one has an Endor variant of Luke Skywalker. Luke spends a little bit less of his time in this gear, but it’s still a fairly distinctive appearance for the character. Like Leia, it had previously appeared in the vintage line, but this was the first we saw of it in this re-launch. It would also be our only Endor Luke for a little while, as figures of him from Jedi tended to go for his, well, Jedi appearance. As such, this figure’s sculpt would remain completely unique to him. He stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. Check out those sweet knee joints! That was a pretty huge deal. Luke’s head is rather similar to the Endor Rebel trooper, not only with the same helmet, but also a rather similar facial structure. This Luke’s sculpt was notable for not including his outer vest; he was not the only version of Luke to omit it in this line, but he was the first one. Like his sister, Luke has a removable rubber poncho piece. This one’s not quite as nice. It isn’t very well fitted to the figure, making him look really pudgy. It also lacks the nice, subtle paintwork, meaning it’s just a lot of unpainted tan plastic. This guy was packed with a variant of the green lightsaber included with the basic RotJ Luke, though this one was wider than that one so that his slightly enlarged grip can still hold it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I only had one Speeder Bike, and it was this one. I was definitely a Luke kid, so I needed to have another version of him, and the Endor one was one of my favorites. That being said, I remember the actual figure didn’t get a ton of use; instead he was robbed of his poncho and speeder, which I gave to my standard Jedi Luke. Looking back at this figure, I kind of remember why that was the case. He’s not a bad figure, but he’s not as strong a figure as the Leia. 

Luke and Speeder Bike were my middle review of the three Speeder Bikes, but, as noted in the review, the first of them added to my collection, and the only one I had from the actual run of the line.  I think my review hits pretty much all of the salient points.  I don’t think it’s ultimately as strong a set as the one with Leia, but it’s still a solid little offering.  The only thing I was missing at the time was his oddly fat lightsaber, which I have since replaced.  It’s still real weird looking, but there it is.

#4047: Han Solo & Tauntaun

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

HAN SOLO & TAUNTAUN

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Okay, so the coin reviews are officially done, which means I have to look at something else for these weekly Star Wars reviews.  Oh no, whatever shall I do?  Perhaps I’ll do a bit of wrap-up on some of the other sub-lines of Power of the Force I haven’t yet finished?  Back in November, I looked at the last of the creature sets I had in my possession, but, aha, I still had one I *didn’t* own yet.  Guess what I own now.  Did you guess the last creature set?  Because that’s what I was hinting at. Anyway, here’s Han Solo and the Tauntaun!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Han Solo and Tauntaun are one of the 1998 Creature sets from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II.  They served as a rather logical follow-up to the prior year’s Luke and Tauntaun, as well as a companion piece to the Luke and Wampa from the same year, wrapping up the three Empire-based Creature sets.

HAN SOLO

Hey, it’s Han Solo in his Hoth gear.  What a classically well-selling figure.  What’s that?  Oh, it’s not?  Wow.  Yes, the single carded Han in Hoth gear is rather infamously one of the worst selling figures from the red card days of PotF (which is why he’s one of only two red card figures that was never re-released on a green card), so there wasn’t exactly a rush to get another one out there.  But, it’s not like you can really pair the Tauntaun with a Han that’s not in the Hoth gear, so their hands were sort of tied.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Like the Luke with the Tauntaun, this figure aims for “actually able to sit on the Tauntaun” by adding a pair of knee joints to the articulation set-up, which is quite nice.  Beyond that, he’s actually quite a bit different from the single-card release.  The single decided to have his hood pulled down, revealing the cold-weather cap that he’s wearing but that is never actually seen in the movie, which was an odd choice.  This one reverses that, pulling the hood back up, allowing for a more screen accurate appearance.  His detailing is also far sharper on this one, a very nice shift from the very soft sculpt of the single.  Even the paint is improved, with a bit more accenting to the fur lining of the hood, as well as changing the color of his goggles to the more proper yellow.  Han is packed with a single blaster pistol, same as all the other Hans.

TAUNTAUN

Hey, it’s Han’s Tauntaun.  “Hantaun” if you will.  Will you?  I will for sure.  I feel like I can’t be the first one to come up with that, right?  Unless everyone’s just been distracted by the “Luke warm” joke and never moved any further.  This figure represents the main reason for the set’s existence, since the aim was to address that the vintage line treated the two Tauntauns as pretty much the same, while this line wanted to handle the two designs distinctly.  Also, easy way to re-use a lot of tooling.  From the neck down, it’s the same as the prior Tauntaun.  It’s perfectly fine, and that’s an okay sculpt.  About the only downside, really, is that you don’t get the morbid “slice open the guts to stick Luke inside” feature of the original, but I guess that’s okay.  The new head is rather similar to the original, but now it’s got two unbroken tusks, as opposed to Luke’s.  Yay, it’s different!  Also, the paint is a little different, too.  Not a lot, but enough that you can notice.  Noticeably different paint!  Yay!  Also included with this figure is the rein, which is the same piece from the Luke set.  It’s a good, standard piece, and it’s kind of hard to mess that up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve kind of known for a while that this set would be one of the last pieces I’d get from this line.  Because the single Hoth Han and the Luke and Tauntaun set were both rather rough sellers, this one wasn’t exactly ordered in high numbers, and didn’t really get much coverage at retail, making it one of the few genuinely scarce PotF items.  As such, you don’t really just buy it, because it’s rare enough that asking prices tend to be high.  I’ve been keeping my eye out for a not stupidly expensive one consistently since November of last year, and I finally managed to line it up a couple of weeks ago, which quite excited me, I’ll tell you, since it’s become a minor grail for this collection.  In hand, it’s maybe not that different than what came before, but the minor tweaks add up to quite a fun little set, and one that also retroactively makes me appreciate the Luke and Tauntaun set just a little bit more as well.  The creature sets are an interesting mix of genuinely impressive and just sort of phoned in, which is pretty accurate to Power of the Force on a larger scale, I suppose.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0073: Chewbacca

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

CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Oh-ho-ho, it’s Fridaaaay, you knoooooow!  Would you believe…I’m talking about Star Wars again?  Probably?  I mean it does sort of track, right?  Yeah.  Well, with another week successfully made through, I’m capping things off with a return look at Chewbacca!

“As Han Solo’s partner, Chewbacca the Wookiee (or Chewie, as Solo calls him) distinguished himself as a talented pilot, starship mechanic and smuggler. After being rescued from Imperial slavers by Solo, Chewbacca pledged a life debt to the rogue pilot and followed him to several different planets as their relationship grew and the two became close friends and partners. When Solo acquired the light freighter Millennium Falcon, he and Chewbacca began their career as intergalactic smugglers. Chewbacca’s reputation as a brawler gave him a distinct advantage in shady business negotiations, and it was he who initiated the deal to transport Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker from Tatooine to Alderaan.”

Okay, so here’s something of an odd thing that slipped through the cracks of my review schedule: somehow, in all of the Power of the Force reviews I’ve written here on the site, I’ve managed to leave one single figure from the initial assortment un-reviewed for far longer than I realized. I speak of today’s entry, the line’s first take on Chewbacca, who has thus far escaped my reviewing focus. Not to worry, dear reader, I’ve got him all set for today, so lets take a look at this crazy monkey man who really isn’t a monkey man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chewbacca was, as noted in the intro, part of Kenner’s first 1995 assortment for their revamped Power of the Force line. He joined standard versions of Luke, Han, Leia, R2, C-3PO, Obi-Wan, Vader, Lando, the Stormtrooper, and Boba Fett in bringing Star Wars back to toy shelves for the first time in over a decade. This would mark Chewy’s second time getting a 3 3/4-scale figure, following his old vintage release, placing him in the same category as Vader, the Stormtrooper, and Boba Fett. The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation…technically. There’s a neck joint there, but best of luck really getting any sort of motion out of it. This guy got an all-new sculpt, which would serve as the basis for Chewy’s Shadows of the Empire figure as well. Chewbacca’s vintage sculpt was definitely on the scrawny side of things and…well, this one definitely goes for the other end of the spectrum. Way on the other end of the spectrum. This guy’s like two of the vintage guy. Chewy may have been bigger than the other characters, but he wasn’t a body builder like this one. He falls into a similar category to Vader, who was likewise a little on the small side for his vintage release, and then ballooned way up for his ’95 figure. It’s downright goofy looking, and ends up making Chewy look a lot more simian than he did in the films, especially with that less shaggy, more carefully groomed appearance he’s got. At the very least, the texturing on the fur isn’t too bad, though the bandolier isn’t quite so lucky; it looks stretched to fit Chewy’s new bulk, and ends up missing out on some of the better detail work of later versions. The major details are there, but not much beyond that. Chewbacca’s paintwork is fairly decent, perhaps the best of the initial batch, in fact. He actually gets some nice accenting on his fur to give it its proper variations in color, a definite step up from the vintage counterpart. Chewbacca was packed with both his usual bowcaster and also a more generic and definitely very ’90s gun, just in case one wasn’t enough for him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Part of the reason Chewbacca got overlooked for review is because he kind of got overlooked in my collection, too. As I mentioned in my Bounty Hunter Chewbacca review, that was my standard, and quite frankly, my go-to Chewbacca as a kid. I didn’t actually have a basic Chewy; he was one of the figures that was in the batch of figures my Grandmother had for me and my cousin at her house. It meant I got to play with one, but it wasn’t ultimately mine. When the figures got split up between us, Chewy went with my cousin, and I never thought much about it, having moved onto better Chewbaccas. When filling in my collection, I actually forgot about this figure, until managing to find one loose a couple of Christmases ago while on vacation. I then forgot I had that figure and hadn’t actually reviewed it until I took it down off the shelf for the photo that ended my recent C-3PO review, at which point I got him onto the schedule as soon as I could. And, here we are. He’s not great, or anything. He’s goofy and not very accurate, but also not as fun as the Bounty Hunter Chewy, so he’s just sort of here.

Poor Chewbacca, the overlooked figure.  I actually forgot about that bit, but it’s a late 2020 review, so I’ve forgotten a lot of what I was writing during that stretch of time.  Each addendum from that period’s like a fun little mystery!  Honestly, it’s not a bad review, and I think it tackles the weird, overly simian Chewy from the early line pretty well.  I just looked at the mold again for the coin release and…well, it’s still very goofy.  I mean, I love it, but it’s goofy.  My figure was missing his wonky secondary gun when I first reviewed him, something I’ve since addressed, so here he is in all his two-gun-wielding glory!

#4043: Snowtrooper

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

SNOWTROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Dear readers, we’ve finally arrived, after a seven week stretch, at the end of the Power of the Force coin reviews!  As noted last week, the last few of these are the ones that don’t really have as much in the way of new to offer.  While the seven figure set was heavier weighted on the heroes side, there were two “villains.”  I already looked at Emperor Palpatine, but there was a trooper in the mix, specifically of the Snowtrooper variety.  Why “snow?”  I got no idea, but why question it now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Snowtrooper is the seventh and final figure in the Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” line-up from the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line, released in 1998.  This was the line’s third and final Snowtrooper, following the single and the deluxe.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The Snowtrooper’s sculpt is a straight re-use of the single release mold.  It’s kind of restricted in its movement, but generally a reasonable sculpt.  It’s accurate to the design, if perhaps a bit soft on the detailing.  So, what’s the thing that makes this worthwhile?  The paint, of course!  The original release’s paint was fine, but ultimately inaccurate to the source material.  The deluxe release had a more accurate layout, so this one matches that.  It’s the sort of thing that you aren’t likely to notice on its own, but side by side it’s a notable change-up.  Like the single release, the Snowtrooper is packed with a medium blaster rifle.  He also includes the required Millennium Minted Coin, which rather amusingly refers to him as “Hoth Stormtrooper” so as to keep its accuracy to the vintage release, despite the box calling him “Snowtrooper.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Count this figure as yet another on the pile of “didn’t really think I’d need it” when I started collecting the line, since it’s pretty similar to the others.  I got him because I didn’t have him, but wasn’t expecting much.  So, I gotta say, he’s actually a pleasant surprise.  The new paint’s not drastic, but it’s a change, and it’s ultimately a better figure for it.  Of the three Snowtroopers in the line, this one’s probably my favorite.  And that’s a wrap on the figures with the coins.  This set was one I didn’t think much of when I went in, and I was honestly kind of expecting them to be kind of lame.  While they’re totally a fairly hollow cash-grab, I found it to be a surprisingly nifty set of figures.  The coins are actually cool, and all of the figures do feel at least like a minor step-up from the single releases.

#4039: Bespin Han Solo

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

BESPIN HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

As I make my way through the home stretch of the Power of the Force coin reviews, I’ve officially passed the figures that really offer anything actually new, so, you know, that’ll be a ton of fun, right?  Right.  Since one of the aims of the subset of the line was new variants of the franchise’s heavy hitters, it’s no shock that all three of the central trio were present.  I’ve already looked at two of the three, so today, let’s round out the trio with Han Solo!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bespin Han Solo is one of the seven Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” set from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line, released in 1998.  While Luke and Leia were both sporting their Endor gear from Return of the Jedi, Han breaks up the theme by being based on his main look from Empire, which is a twofer, being from a different movie, and also being his main look, not a specific variant.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s pretty much identical to the main line release of Bespin Han.  Honestly, that’s not awful.  Apart from the fact that the head sculpt doesn’t really look like Han, it’s past the crazy bulky proportions of the earliest sculpts in the line, and generally looks the part.  The only issue with this particular release is that he can’t stand particularly well, so he needs a stand to keep him upright.  Color wise, he’s again pretty much the same as the single release.  Apart from the jacket being the wrong color (a forced error mandated by Lucasfilm’s licensing in the ‘90s), the paint work is pretty well handled, and fairly cleanly applied.  Paint is also the one distinguishing point for Han’s blaster accessory; though totally black in all other releases, this one gets a bit of silver paint at the front, which is a fun change-up.  He also includes the requisite Millennium Minted Coin, as well as a display stand, which is especially helpful, given his troubles with standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the Chewbacca figure from a few weeks ago, this figure wasn’t really on my list until very late in my Power of the Force collecting, given just how similar he is to both the standard and Cinema Scene releases.  Ultimately, there’s not a ton going on with him that’s not going on elsewhere, but the added paint app on the blaster is honestly a pretty cool thing, even if it’s kind of small.  I do appreciate there being *something* different to justify another purchase if you’re the sort of crazy person buying them all.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0071: Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear

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

LUKE SKYWALKER in HOTH GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

It’s another Friday, and we’re still here…I hope.  It’s…well, sometimes it’s touch and go these days, right?  Well, if you’re reading this than we’ve all made it to the end of the week unscathed.  Yay us!  Go team!  How about a little bit of flashing back to slightly happier times, perhaps?  Yeah, let’s look at this here Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear again!

Doesn’t it feel like I *just* reviewed this figure? Well, I didn’t. Well, I didn’t. Reviewed a very similar figure, of course, because that’s the insanity of toy collecting. But this one’s different, you see. He…ummm….he’s got…goggles? Yeah, let’s go with that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Hoth Gear was released in the 1997 assortment of Power of the Force II figures. We’d had our first taste of Hoth figures the prior year with a Hoth version of Han. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches and he has 6 points of articulation. He’s wearing the same cold-weather gear that we saw him wearing in the two-pack with a Wampa, but this figure depicts him a few moments earlier in the film, prior to the Wampa’s attack. So he still has the goggles, and his face is un-scarred. His sculpt is unique to him (though parts of it would be slightly re-tooled for a few later variants of this same gear), and it’s pretty decent. He’s still a bit puffy and bulked-up, but with the cold-weather gear, that doesn’t feel quite so off. The level of detailing on the outfit is quite sharp, and looks very good for the time, rivaling even more modern offerings. My figure is missing his little head scarf thingy, which was a free-hanging piece that was prone to breaking off. Luke’s paintwork is about what you’d expect. Fairly basic and an overall decent match for what we see on the screen. Application is clean, and there’s pretty much no slop. Hoth Gear Luke was originally packed with his lightsaber and a blaster pistol, but mine has lost them in the years since I got him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this figure being rather hard to come by, at least initially. Stores still had tons of Hoth Han, and I was constantly having to explain that it wasn’t the same thing. I eventually got him in the Farpoint Dealer’s room the year he was released. If I recall correctly, it was the same dealer from whom I ultimately got my Princess Leia figure, that very same year. It’s been a favorite of mine for a while, even if it is rather environment specific. 

There’s a sort of comedy to me opening the review by noting I *just* reviewed a similar figure, when said “similar figure” was the 2018 ForceLink release from the Solo product launch, and not, you know, either of the two virtually identical Power of the Force Hoth Lukes that I would later review.  Like, I was complaining about similarity, and I hadn’t even scratched the surface.  Otherwise, pretty straight forward review.  At the time, I was missing his blaster and saber, but I’ve since replaced both of those.  His head scarf is still broken, but at least he’s fully armed!

#4035: C-3PO

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

C-3PO

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Last week’s Star Wars review was difficult for me to get into, but it was Palpatine, and I don’t much care for him.  Maybe today’s will be easier, because it’s C-3PO, and I certainly find him preferable to Palpatine.  My last 3PO review was almost a year ago, and there was a five year gap before that, so I guess he’s a bit infrequent here.  He’s got one of the lowest review counts of all of the main OT characters, but I think that’s less about me not liking him, and more about him having less variety of looks, especially as he advances in the narrative.  Kenner kept tinkering with different ideas for variants of him during their tenure with the license, and his penultimate release came from their obsession with coins, which has now become *my* obsession with coins.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

C-3PO was added to Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line in 1998, as one of the seven figures making up the TRU-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” set.  He’s more all-purpose than most, aside from Chewbacca, who is similarly not tied to a specific film in the Trilogy.  The figure is just under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  This 3PO represents a sort of “best-of” approach to the available molds for the character.  While the original figure wasn’t *bad*, especially compared to other early line figures, he also wasn’t super accurate in terms of proportions.  This one aims to be more accurate, and uses the upper half of the removable limbs 3PO (with the arms modified to stay in place) and the lower half of the one from the “Purchase of the Droids” set. The end result is the most accurate the line got, sculpturally, to how he looks in the bulk of the movies, which is actually pretty cool.  Beyond that, his color work breaks from those two figures to go back to the approach of the earliest 3POs, which is vac-metalizing for that proper chrome finish.   They even went the extra mile and made his lower right leg silver, something missed on previous chromed figures.  Sure, the foot’s *also* silver, when it should be gold, but it’s a cool idea, right?  Well, it was at the time.  Unfortunately, it’s not an idea that time has been kind to, and almost 30 years later, the gold coloring is all sorts of flaking, and really just not long for this world. There’s otherwise some pretty great paint work on the not chrome parts, with proper coloring on all the wires and the under sides of his hands.  C-3PO is packed with a display stand and the requisite coin, showing him and R2 on Tatooine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

3PO was probably the figure in this set I was most looking forward to, because of the aforementioned “best of” approach.  I was quite excited to open him up when my set came in…and more than a little disappointed when he started flaking the second I took him out.  It’s a shame, because he looks very cool, but I don’t dare touch him, for fear that he gets worse.  As it stands, the removable limbs figure is still kind of the definitive take from this line, and this guy’s just a spare.

#4031: Emperor Palpatine

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

EMPEROR PALPATINE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Bleh, it’s another Palpatine review.  I’m bad at intros for these because I just don’t know how to make him interesting.  “Somehow Palpatine returned” is exactly the level of care I personally have in Palpatine, so it landed right at home for me.  Anyway, here’s another Palpatine, from the period of Power of the Force where Kenner felt the need to make another Palpatine, seemingly for the purpose of having another Palpatine.  Palpatine.  Yep, here’s a Palpatine.  Also a coin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Emperor Palpatine was released in 1998 as one of the seven Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coin” figures from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 3 points of articulation.  Hey, check out all that crazy posability, right?  Like, he can slightly angle his head to either side.  Or slightly move his arms up and down.  The possibilities are endless!  While this line was a re-use heavy one, Palpatine was rather unique in that almost all of his tooling is new.  I mean, sure, he’s clearly modeled on the same basic sculpt that the electronic Palpatine was using, but this one is sans gimmick, and sans any trace of the gimmick, and also just a lot less boxy.  So, I guess that’s all pretty good?  Eh, I’ll consider it a win.  Otherwise, he’s really just a Palpatine figure that feels more or less like all the other Palpatine figures that the line offered up.  He’s an old guy in a black cloak.  Not a lot of room for fun there, really.  Even the paint looks essentially identical to the other Palpatines that preceded him.  The most notable thing here is that he gets a different finish on the clasp for his cloak, so it stands out a little more.  He gets a unique set of electricity effects, which are honestly pretty nice, as well as the stand and coin that all of these figures got.  The coin’s at least pretty nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I make it no secret that I’ve got very little love for Palpatine, and even less love for Palpatine figures.  But, I’m going for the complete run, and I’ve bought all the other ones, and this guy was in a big lot with everyone else, so I didn’t really have to think about it too much.  This one’s fine.  He’s better in terms of posing a detailing than anything other than the Flashback figure, and he’s also more stable on his feet (or lack thereof) than that one, so I think it’s generally the best Palpatine the line had.  And also, it’s the last one I have to review, which is quite nice.  Now I never have to talk about Palpatine again!

#4029: Hawkman

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

HAWKMAN

TOTAL JUSTICE (KENNER)

“Born Katar Hol on the planet Thanagar, Hawkman escaped his oppresssive native world and made his new home on Earth, where he vowed to fight against injustice. He is equipped with an anti-gravity belt and enormous wings that give him the power of flight and allow him to launch aerial attacks against villains, swooping down and snatching them up in massive grip talons.”

Hey, it’s Hawkman.  When did I last talk about Hawkman?  …ah, yes, Black Adam tie-in.  Yikes.  Well it could be worse.  For instance, I could be talking about the absolute nightmare that was Hawkman’s backstory post-Crisis!  See, where most of the overlapping Golden and Silver Age incarnations were either similar enough to merge (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) or distinct enough to co-exist (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom), Hawkman got to be in the weird middle-ground where his two incarnations were far too different to be the same person (or even connected, really), but also way too similar to both exist.  So, there was sort of this grey area for a while, where everyone just pretended not to notice the issues, until Hawkworld came along and revamped the Silver Age incarnation of the character for the ‘90s, establishing along the way that he was new to Earth, making the prior appearances post-Crisis confusing to say the least.  It was quite a mess, eventually leading to DC just outright ditching the character for a bit, because they viewed him as “too confusing.”  (Grant Morison created Zauriel during their tenure on JLA in part because of Hawkman being off limits).  He would eventually get reworked a few more times, ultimately streamlining things a bit and making him more workable, but it was real touch and go there.  In the midst of the touch and go, we did get an action figure of the ill-fated Hawkworld version of the character, for better or for worse.  Let’s look at that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkman was released as part of the second series of Kenner’s Total Justice line.  It was his third figure, after the Super Powers and Toy Biz figures, and the first to be based on something other than his Silver Age design.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Unlike others in the line, Hawkman lacked neck movement, presumably due to the hair. There’s still a peg, it’s just at the middle of his head, where his mask meets his face, and it’s really odd and definitely not meant to move.  Beyond that, he does get the standard shoulder and hip movement, as well as additional movement for the wings.  Most of his sculpt would remain unique to him, as he was one of the few characters not to have any equal in the JLA line.  The wings got re-used for Zauriel, though, which makes sense, because they’re decent basic wings.  His sculpt is based on Katar’s Earth attire from Hawkworld and the bit of time that followed.  At it’s core, it keeps the general set-up of his original design, but definitely ‘90s-izes it.  There’s extra straps, and fingerless gloves, and, of course, the super long hair.  We had three rounds of that long hair thing in Total Justice, which is a pretty dense packing in of it all.  The sculpt is at least pretty good at what it’s doing.  It’s one of the absolute least pre-posed of the Total Justice sculpts, looking borderline like a normal person.  The musculature is still kind of nuts, but it’s the style, so we’re just finding it charming.  The wings and helmet are definitely the best part.  His paint work is fine enough.  It does a halfway decent job with the colors, but ultimately misses a bunch of details on the legs, which is kind of a bummer.  He gets no actual character-specific accessories, but does get the ever-so-present Fractal armor, which in his case is a big ol’ honking set of talons that mount to the shoulders of his chest plate.  It’s…it’s odd.  But, it’s there.  At least it doesn’t impact the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In the ‘90s, I was still a child, living the simple life of someone who didn’t know anything about the madness going on with Hawkman.  I just knew there was a Hawkman, mostly from Super Friends and old back-issues my Dad read to me.  So, I saw this guy at Another Universe, the comic shop in the mall my Grandmother always took me to, and I wanted him, because he was Hawkman, and Hawkman was a simple, not convoluted character, right?  And I showed him to my dad, who liked Hawkman, and he was…well, it’s not to say he wasn’t glad I had a Hawkman figure, but there was certainly some discussion about *what* Hawkman I’d just brought into the house (in a joking, sort of nurturing manner, of course).  Not so simple anymore.  Well, he remained simple and un-convoluted for me, at least until I had the Super Powers figure to swap in for him, so I consider all that a win.  Over the years, I lost some of his parts, but I slowly rebuilt him, and here he is, all complete.  As messed up as this period of time is for the character, the figure’s cool.  I’m not taking that away from him.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0069: Boba Fett

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

BOBA FETT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Well, here we are at Friday.  We’ve made it.  I mean, I hope.  Gonna be real, I’m writing this on Monday, and I’m already exhausted, so we’re just gonna see how it goes.  I mean, I guess you guys already know.  So, there’s that.  But speaking of uncertain timelines and moving back and forth, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Let’s take another look at Boba Fett!

“The most notorious and fearsome bounty hunter in the galaxy is also the most mysterious. Many legends and stories have arisen over the years, but few facts are known of the man called Boba Fett, or his link to Han Solo’s past. Since the Clone Wars, Fett has worked as a mercenary, a soldier, a personal guard, an assassin, and most frequently, as the most expensive bounty hunter in the known systems.”

Is it safe? Can I come out? One never can be too sure when reviewing a Boba Fett figure. His fans are easily startled, but they soon return, and in greater numbers…or something like that.

So, yeah, looking at the Fett-man today. He’s had a lot of toys over the years, but they used to be fewer and further between. The return of the brand in the ‘90s got in on the whole ‘90s anti-hero fad, so he was pushed to the forefront. As such, he figured pretty prominently into Kenner’s relaunch, getting not one, but three figures in short succession. I’ll be looking at the first of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett was part of the first series of Power of the Force II figures, hitting in 1995. The fact that Boba made it into Series 1 was quite a feat, given his relative obscurity compared to the others in the assortment with him. It wasn’t really something that would happen again; he tends to be held back for at least the second assortment now. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. His sculpt was unique, and as an early offering from the line, he’s certainly filtered through the line’s distinctive style. The big thing is his overall build, which isn’t quite as absurd as a few of the others in the early line-up, but it’s still really puffy for the character seen on screen. Definitely some Mandalorian super-engineering going on here. Similar to the Stormtroopers, his armor takes a bit of a turn as well. Most notably, his helmet, specifically the visor, has taken a slightly different look from the movies. It’s a lot rounder at the edges and the visor is quite a bit wider than it should be. His view-finder is also quite a bit stubbier than it really ought to be; at it’s current length, there’s no way it would be able to come down in front of his eye. The rocket pack and the scarf/Wookie braids are both removable pieces. The rocket’s pretty decent, and actually stays on a lot better than later figures. The braids and scarf rely on a rather bulky shoulder piece to attach, which looks a little off when the figure is fully assembled. Later figures would definitely get these parts down better. The paint work on Boba is based on his slightly more colorful RotJ design, so he gets the blue and orange pack and the red wrist gauntlets. The figure actually does a pretty solid job of getting all of the painted elements in place, and he even gets the bits of chipped paint on the armored sections. Boba included his distinctive blaster rifle, a piece which is missing from my figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I didn’t have this figure; I had the deluxe version instead. And I didn’t even have that one on purpose. My cousin got two of them for his birthday, and I got to keep the extra. That figure went missing over the years, and in the mean time, I’ve picked up more of an appreciation for Boba. I got this guy from Yesterday’s Fun. He was out of his box, but still in his tray, and only missing the rifle, so I figured he was worth it. He’s a goofy figure. Since Boba’s a character that’s really only got the cool design going for him, I think he was hurt a bit more by a line that made everybody look really goofy. 

Re-reading this review, I remembered I used to have a troll!  What a guy.  Man, what a simple time, when I just had that one troll, and my biggest worry was upsetting him with my totally accurate Boba Fett takes.  I’m taking a big risk here, honestly.  Oh, well.

I will say, I think I was perhaps a tad harsh on this figure in my original review.  I mean, yeah, he’s goofy, but I see that as less of an issue these days.  I actually like the goofiness.  Anyway, when I reviewed him, he didn’t have his blaster rifle, but I’ve since found him a replacement, which makes him all nice and complete.  It’s neat.  Other than that, he’s really just as he was before.  Simple.  Nice.  Overhyped (joking…mostly).