Tag Archives: Kenner

#0338: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

DC SUPER POWERS

PlasticManSP

I am a fan of superheroes with stretchy powers. I just think they allow for so many really cool possibilities, and they’re always a lot of fun. One of my all-time favorite super heroes is the Elongated Man, one of DC’s resident stretchy heroes. EM tends to be slightly overshadowed by DC’s other stretchy guy, Plastic Man. Plas was not originally even a DC character, but he was owned by one of the many companies DC bought out between the golden and silver ages of comics. DC kind of forgot they owned the character until somewhere around the late 70s/early 80s (part of the reason Elongated Man exists), but when they finally figured it out, they went to work trying to make the character work for a larger audience. He made an appearance on Super Friends, got his own Saturday morning cartoon, and even made an appearance in Kenner’s DC Super Powers line, marking his first venture into the world of action figures. Today, I’ll be looking at that figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PlasticManSPWilsonPlastic Man was part of the third, and final, series of DC Super Powers figures. The figure is about 5 inches tall (5 ½ with his neck extended) and he features 8 points of articulation. That’s actually one more point of articulation than the usual SP figure, because Plas got a waist joint. Don’t know why he was the only figure to get one, but it is nice to have it. He’s based on the look most associated with the character (though not his original. The sleeves were added later). The sculpt of the figure is really great, easily my favorite Plastic Man sculpt. It’s a fairly simplistic sculpt, but it really works for Plas. He’s taller and leaner than most of the figures in the line, which really give him a great stretched out look. The head is a spot on recreation of the character, and he’s got the perfect goofy smile that Plas is so often seen sporting. Possibly my only complaint about the figure is that they chose to simply paint the ties on the front of his costume rather than sculpting them, but that’s a really minor thing. The paintwork is pretty straight forward. There’s nothing super noteworthy, but everything is pretty cleanly applied, and they got all the colors right. Plas included no accessories, but he did have the requisite SP action feature. When you squeeze Plastic Man’s arms, his neck extends about an inch, replicating his stretching powers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Plas is a recent ebay purchase. For the last several years, I’ve been slowly piecing together a full set of DC Super Powers figures. Plas marks my 23rd figure from the 33 figure set, putting me in my final 10. Since I got him so late, you might assume that I don’t particularly care for Plas, which is far from the truth. Plas is one of the figures I most wanted from the line. However, being from the final series from the line, and being one of the few characters in that series to be an actual DC Character using an actual DC design, he can be a little difficult to get. He’s not one of the most difficult, but he’s up there. Fortunately, I came across an ebay auction recently that was at a price I was willing to pay. Plas is one of the cooler figures in this line, and I’m very glad to have him. Now I just have 10 more to go!

#0331: Mr. Freeze

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

MR FREEZE

BATMAN: THE NEW ADVENTURES (KENNER)

FreezeNA1

Batman: The Animated Series is easily one of the best interpretations of the Batman mythos ever. The characters that benefited best from the series were the more obscure Bat-villains, and none more so than cold-themed villain Mr. Freeze. When the series returned under the New Adventures label, all of the characters received new designs. Freeze received one of the most radical re-designs, and the design eventually made its way into Kenner’s then-current toyline based on the show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FreezeNAWilsonMr. Freeze was released in the first year of figures from Kenner’s Batman: The New Adventures line. The figure is based on the character’s appearance in the episode “Cold Comfort” which premiered his TNA design. The figure stands 5 inches tall and features 4 points of articulation. He lacks the usual neck joint present on the Kenner figure, thanks to his removable head. The figure sports a unique sculpt, which is meant to capture the Bruce Timm design of the character. The head is the best part, nicely capturing the gaunt look of Freeze, as well as nicely replicating his clear domed look. The body is pretty good, though the proportions don’t seem quite right. The biggest issue is that the legs are a little bit warped to one side. I’d be tempted to think it was just limited to mine, but ever other figure I’ve seen suffers from the same issue. The figure also has a flip down compartment in his torso, which has some pretty nice mechanical detailing on the inside. Like with the sculpt, the head features the best paint work. Everything is really clean and sharp. On the rest of the body, it’s not terrible, but it’s a little bit sloppy. Mr. Freeze included a freeze gun and a set of robotic legs that his head can be placed on.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mr. Freeze was always one of my favorite characters on the show, so I got Mr. Freeze when he was originally released. I lost the figure’s head, leaving me with a headless body. Recently, I found the head, but because life hates me, the body had gone missing. So, when my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, got Mr. Freeze in with a bunch of other loose figures, I just gave up and bought a replacement. The figure is pretty great, and he’s still one of my favorites from the line. I’m glad to have a complete one again!

FreezeNA2

#0260: Black Lightning

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BLACK LIGHTNING

TOTAL JUSTICE

BlackLightning1

In the 90s, any DC toyline whose title didn’t include “Batman” was a rarity. In fact they were almost non-existent. Even today’s focus line Total Justice was originally called Batman: Total Justice. And this was a line that didn’t even really focus on Batman! I guess Kenner must have come to their sense by the time the line actually saw release, because the packaging dropped Batman’s name from the title.

Anyway, Total Justice was essentially a line based on the Justice League. Years later, the line would even be continued under the name JLA. The line offered many collectors the first chance since Super Powers to actually have a decent line up of DC characters, but it was plagued by silly “Tactical Armor,” a lack of decent articulation, and, most famously, X-Treme! poses. However, it was the only chance at getting those characters for quite some time, so collectors had to grin and bear it. Let’s have a look at one of the line’s more obscure additions, Black Lightning!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackLightning2Black Lightning was released in the third and final series of Total Justice. This series was easily the most daring series of the line, as it lacked any heavy hitters. Black Lightning stands about 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. The figure depicts Lightning in his costume from the time, which deviated a fair bit from his other costumes. It’s not a terrible design, but it’s easily my least favorite look of his, which hurts the figure a bit. Black Lightning featured an all new sculpt, though the arms and legs would be slightly retooled to be used for JLA’s Impulse and Superboy, respectively. The sculpt is actually rather reserved by Total Justice standards. The legs are in a slightly wonky pose, but the arms are actually in a pretty natural stance, and the face is surprisingly calm for this series. The paint work is rather simple, but it’s mostly evenly applied, with no real issues present. Black Lightning included torso and leg armor, as well as a big missile launcher thing. While this series was the first of Total Justice to give figures more sensible accessories, Lightning was not as lucky as his peers, and got stuck with the same usual wacky stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Black Lightning was the Total Justice figure I was always missing. There are other figures from the line I still don’t have, but this one was the only one from the final series, and he was also one of two heroes not to see a re-release in the JLA line (the other was Hawkman. I think it mostly had to do with the dated designs the figures sported.) So, when I finally found him at my local comicbook store a few weeks ago, I was happy to get one. Not thrilled or anything, but content. Sometimes, being content is enough.

#0249: The Joker

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JOKER

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

Joker

One of the greatest things to come out of the 90s (aside from yours truly) is Batman: The Animated Series. The series is, in my opinion, the definitive take on Batman and his supporting cast. Since the series aired in the early 90s, it played a decent role in shaping my interests in all this comic stuff. So, it should come as no surprise that I ended up with a decent sized collection of the tie-in figures prodiuced by Kenner around the time of the show. Today, I’ll be looking at Batman’s #1 foe (other than guns and living parents) the Joker. And this isn’t just any Joker, no no. This is Mark Hammil’s Joker, the very best kind of Joker!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joker was part of the first series of Batman: The Animated Series figures. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. He’s based on Joker’s basic appearance in the show, specifically his “old school” look, which is the design from the initial run of the show. The figure featured an all new Joker2sculpt, although parts of it would see re-use on later Joker figures. It’s an alright approximation of his look on the show, though it’s not quite spot on. He seems to be a bit too squat for the character, but otherwise, he looks decent. The paintwork is fairly basic, in fact he’s mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but what’s there is well applied, with little instance of slop or bleed over. The palate seems a bit off, though. The purple seems a little too pale, the yellow seems too dark, and, the biggest issue, his skin tone has an odd green tint to it. Joker was accessorized with an odd water shooting backpack with a gas mask attached. You know, like the one he had all those times on the show….

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Joker was a later addition to my collection. When I was growing up, the version in the trench coat from Mask of the Phantasm was my basic Joker, as this one had long been gone from stores. A few years ago, I tracked one down at a small toy store near me. He’s a decent figure, and he compliments the rest of the Kenner line fairly nicely.

#0216: Batman – Power Armor

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BATMAN – POWER ARMOR

BATMAN BEYOND

In the 90s, the DC Animated Universe was in its prime. Kenner held the license for the toys, and they were doing some pretty great stuff too. Batman: The Animated Series got a great line, with the majority of the characters seeing release. Sure, it wasn’t all winners, but it was a decent line.  Superman: The Animated Series came along, and while Kenner didn’t quite have the nice selection that B:TAS had gotten, most of the key characters had been released in their basic looks. And then, there was Batman Beyond. Oh, boy was there Batman Beyond. The show was great, but the toyline released along with it was… strange to say the least. For starters, they never actually released a proper normal Batman, and the supporting cast and villains were pretty much non-existent. They weren’t bad toys per say, but they didn’t do the cartoon justice. Case in point, today I’ll be looking at the line’s release of BB’s alter ego, Terry McGuinness, wearing that red and gray power armor he was so known to wear…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Okay, officially, this wasn’t a Terry McGuinness figure. He was actually labeled “Power Armor Batman” on the box. Let’s be real here: people didn’t buy this figure because it was “Power Armor Batman,” they wanted the Terry McGuinness head. Anyway, the figure was released in one of the later assortments of the first series of Kenner’s Batman Beyond line. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 5 points of articulation. Kenner were big fans of the 5 and 5 set-up. From a purely technical standpoint, the sculpted work on the figure is pretty top notch. The circuits in his underlying suit look great, and the head is the spitting image of Terry’s appearance on the show. Stylistically, the figure’s body sculpt is completely wrong for the designs of the show, but it was in keeping with the rest of the line, so at least Kenner was consistent. The paint work is passable, with no real slop or bleed over (though mine has suffered some minor wear). For some reason, they’ve gone with a bright red and gray color scheme. Terry’s Batsuit on the show had red circuitry, so I suppose that’s what they were going for, but the light gray armor is just plain weird. The figure was accessorized with several snap-on armor pieces, a removable helmet, and a robotic bird. It’s red, green and yellow, so maybe they were going for a Robin thing? Yep, according to the package, it’s a strike R.O.B.I.N. Okay then.*

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Odd variants aside, I was very excited for the Batman Beyond line at the time of its release. I actually recall seeing this figure at the store several months before I actually got one. I saw the figure on a trip to the store with my parents, who told me I’d have to get it some other time. Little did they know that it would end up being one of the harder to find figures in the line. So, months went by, and I just assumed I’d missed my chance at the figure. Then, on another routine trip to the store, I wandered to the toy aisle, where I found this figure, as well as Blight. My parents were more than happy to get them for me this time around. As strange as this line was, I still have a major soft spot for those two figures in particular. Plus, they actually are pretty good toys!

*While doing some research on this figure, I discovered that Kenner did a repaint of this figure in more appropriate colors for their Deluxe line. He was dubbed “Strikecycle Batman,” if you’re curious. 

#0161: Luke Skywalker – Dagobah

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LUKE SKYWALKER – DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II

So, today’s review is actually pretty nifty. I’ve looked at the most recent round of Star Wars toys with The Black Series, and I’ve also taken a look at one of the vintage figures from the original line, but I’ve never really looked at any of the figures released in between.

Star Wars is looked at as one of the permanent fixtures of the action figure aisle nowadays, but that wasn’t always the case. Following Return of the Jedi, the line shifted to Power of the Force for a little while, but that line only ran until 1985, at which point Star Wars toys effectively ended. Ten years later, Kenner relaunched the line under the branding Power of the Force II. In 1995, I was 3 and just getting into action figures. So, POTF II came at just the perfect time and provided me with my very first Star Wars figure, which I’ll be looking at in this review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released as part of the 1996 assortment of Power of The Force II. He’s based on Luke’s look while he’s training on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall, and features 6 points of articulation. That waist articulation was revolutionary, let me tell you. The sculpts for POTF II, in general, have not aged well. For some reason, everybody got really buff. Luke follows that trend, and looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than Mark Hamill. From a purely aesthetic stand point, it’s actually not a bad sculpt. There’s some nice texture on his clothing, and the proportions are about right, even if they don’t belong to Mark Hamill. One negative point: the feet are sculpted at a bit of an angle, which can make getting him to stand up a chore. The paint is actually very good for the time. There’s no bleed over or slop and the smaller details are all clean and sharp, and the shading on the shirt to show it’s wet and stained gives the figure a nice level of depth rarely seen on figures of this era. Luke was packed with a lightsaber and a blaster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The trip on which I acquired this figure is actually one of my earlier memories of going to the store and buying something. I don’t remember what store it was (for some reason my gut says Target, but that doesn’t seem right). What I very vividly remember was being walked over to the toy aisle by my parents, seeing the display of figures and running to them. I saw Luke hanging there and immediately grabbed him. In particular, I remember my mind being completely blown by the idea that he actually included a lightsaber. I guess I just assumed that would have to be a separate purchase. I had yet to pick up on how action figures worked, I guess. Regardless, I was thrilled to have this figure. As the years have gone by, the figure has started to show its age, but I still feel pretty damned nostalgic for him. All in all, he’s not a bad figure, and the sentimental value pushes him up to 11.

#0140: The Penguin

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

PENGUIN

DC: SUPER POWERS

Alright, I’m going back to my list of figures I already own for reviews.  This time it presented me with a figure from my modestly-sized DC: Super Powers collection.  For those of you unfamiliar with Super Powers, it was the first really intensive DC Comics toyline, and still is considered to be the best by a fair number of people.  I missed it in its initial run, but got into it because it was the only source of a Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Barry Allen Flash, or even a Wonder Woman when I was growing up.  I’m not reviewing any of those today, though.  Nope, I’m reviewing the Penguin.

In the entirety of my 2500 piece action figure collection, I own THREE Penguin figures, on yet somehow I’ve looked at two of the three before looking at a single version of characters of which I own dozens of figures.  I don’t even like the Penguin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Penguin was released in the first wave of Super Powers figures.  He’s based on the classic Penguin look, before he was tweaked to more resemble the Danny Devito version of the character.  The figure stands a bit over 4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, with all of Penguin’s features carefully laid out.  He’s a simplistic figure, but the figure still has some decent folds and such, just everything is very smooth in texture.  The paint on the figure isn’t anything astounding, but it looks pretty good for the time, and everything is clean and within the lines. There’s pretty much no bleed-over or anything.  Each figure in the Super Powers line features some sort of action feature, usually activated by squeezing the arms or legs.  In Penguin’s case, when the legs are squeezed, his right arm lunges upward, which is dubbed his “Power Action Umbrella Arm.”  Penguin included a two piece umbrella, of which I only own the top piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a pretty cool figure, I guess, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the character.  He’s certainly not the greatest that the line had to offer, and I doubt any one would bring him up as one of the reasons the line is well remembered, but it’s a decent entry in the line.  Not the best, not the worst.

I actually ended up with two of this figure, believe it or not.  I swear I don’t like the Penguin!  Anyway, I got the first one for like $3 at my local Comicon, I think, but he was missing the coat tails and umbrella, and just had an “okay” paint job.  A few years later, I found a pretty decent Super Powers Batmobile for $40 and it included Batman, Robin, Joker, and Penguin.  I bought the lot solely for the Batmobile, but the Penguin included part of the umbrella and had the coat tails piece, plus he had a better paint job to boot.  Unfortunately, the figures stank to high heavens of cigarette smoke, so Penguin had to be quarantined in a bag of cat litter for 24 hours.  In case you were wondering, cat litter absorbs the smell of smoke, I don’t just willy-nilly place action figures into bags of it!

#0087: The Alien

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

ALIEN

ALIEN REACTION

It’s Day 9 of my post-Christmas Review, and it’s my final review of the Alien ReAction line by Funko.  If you haven’t read my previous reviews of the line and you want a little bit of backstory, go here to my review of Ripley.

I’ve saved the best for last, with this one.  Today, I’ll be looking at the title character, the Big Chap, The Alien himself.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Alien is, of course, part of the first wave of the Alien ReAction line.  The Alien only really has the one look once it’s fully grown, and that’s the look depicted here.  The Alien stands closer to 4 inches, making him a bit taller than the rest of the figures in the line, and he’s got 6 points of articulation.   While it’s fairly obviously still a sculpt from the late 70s, it’s a pretty good one.  I’d say that the alien is probably on par with Kane sculpt-wise.  The details look to correspond pretty well to the design of the creature from the movie.  The clear head dome is removable, which allows you to see the head underneath and also allows you to operate the Alien’s inner mouth.  The inner mouth works nice and smoothly, when you push down the lever-thing.  There’s not much paint to speak of on the Alien.  His teeth are painted silver, and there’s a bit of paint denoting a few of the ridges underneath of the dome.   All of the paintwork is clean, with no real slop.  The alien has no accessories, but given that it’s a larger and more complex figure than the others, that’s perfectly alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like all the others in the first wave, this bad boy was a gift from my superbly amazingly supportive parents.  He’s probably the best figure in the series, which is good, because he’s probably the most important.

All in all, this was a really cool line of figures.  I’d really like to see Funko tackle another series.  It’d be really cool to get Parker, Lambert and Brett so we can finally have the whole crew.  And would it be too much to ask for a set of ALIENS figures to go with them?

#0086: Ash

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

ASH

ALIEN REACTION

It’s Day 8 of my post-Christmas review, and I’m continuing my reviews of Funko’s Alien ReAction line.  If this is the first of the ReAction reviews you’ve read, go here to check out my review of Ripley, which explains the background of the line.  Today, I’m looking at the Nostromo’s science officer Ash.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ash here was a part of the first wave of the Alien ReAction line.  Ash has two looks over the course of the film, but they’ve depicted him here in the more formal uniform he wears for the majority of his time in the film.  Ash stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Ash’s sculpt is pretty on par with the rest of the line.  It’s not bad, just simplistic, which isn’t much of a surprise, given when the figure was sculpted.  All the important details are present, but he can seem a bit bland at times.  The likeness on the head sculpt is iffy at best, but it bears a passing resemblance to Ian Holm, which is about as much as you can ask of a figure of the time.  As with the rest of the wave, Ash features a rather simplistic paint scheme.  It’s all pretty well done, and looks pretty good.  I do have one complaint, though.  They’ve painted Ash’s hair black, while Ian Holm looked to have grey hair in the film.  The black hair was also present on Kenner’s prototype, so perhaps that’s what the studio wanted.  Ash also includes the motion detector that he builds to track the film’s alien.  Like with the flamethrower, it seems a bit on the small side, but it fits the style of the line, so that’s alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of the series, I received Ash as a (slightly late) Christmas gift from way-too-supportive-of-my-crazy-habits parents.  Ash probably takes second to last place as far as my line-up of the wave goes, but that’s not a bad thing.  He just suffers from a slightly blander design than, say, the Alien or Kane in his space suit.  Like Dallas, Ash adds a lot to the wave as a whole, and I’m sure will go over well with fans of the film.

#0085: Kane

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

KANE

ALIEN REACTION

For Day 7 of my post-Christmas Review, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from the first wave of Funko’s Alien ReAction line.  For the details of how this line came to be, go ahead and read up about it in my review of Ripley.

Today, I’ll be looking at the Alien’s first true victim, Kane.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kane was part of the first wave of the Alien ReAction series.  Kane has a few looks over the course of the film, but they decided to depict him in his space suit from the scenes where the crew explores the planet.  It’s probably the best choice for a character like Kane, as most of his key scenes occur on the planet surface.  Kane stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Kane probably has the best sculpt in the line, and it’s a pretty good sculpt even by today’s standards.  The suit has texturing on pretty much every surface of the figure, which is certainly impressive.  While the facial likeness isn’t anything amazing, I was actually surprised by how much of John Hurt I could see in it, which is really neat.  The paint is once again on the simple side, but it does its job, and looks appropriate to what the figure’s going for.  Kane’s only real accessory is his removable helmet, which is really cool.  It clicks on well and stays in place without much issue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with Ripley and Dallas, Kane was a gift from my super awesome parents.  He’s definitely a top contender for best in the wave, and he’s just a lot of fun in general.  I’m hopeful that Funko decides to continue the line so that we can get Lambert and Dallas in their accompanying space suits.  I feel like Kane’s a figure that you could enjoy even if you aren’t a big fan of the style.