Tag Archives: Kenner

#0084: Dallas

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

CAPTAIN DALLAS

ALIEN REACTION

Day 6 of my post-Christmas Review!  Continuing the theme from yesterday, it’s the next figure from the first wave of Funko’s Alien ReAction line.  For the full story on how the line came to be, check out my review of Ripley.

Today’s figure is the Nostromo’s  ill-fated captain, Dallas.  Let’s see what that’s about!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dallas was released as part of the first wave of the Alien ReAction line.  He’s depicted in his jacketed look he sports for a fair bit of the film.  He stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Like with Ripley, he doesn’t have a super detailed sculpt, but since it’s a sculpt from 1979, that’s okay.  Of all the sculpts in the line, I feel that Dallas’s is the most dated looking.  The details are all very smooth, and the likeness really isn’t there.  Out of context, people would probably have a difficult time saying who he was.  That’s not to say the sculpt doesn’t have its merits.  The texturing on his jacket looks really good, and is more intricate than I would have expected from a figure of the time.  The paint is once again on the simplistic side, but it’s not badly done.  He has lettering on the back of his coat, which reads “NOSTROMO.”  It’s a really nice touch, and could have been overlooked, so I really appreciate it.  Lastly, Dallas includes the same flamethrower that came with Ripley.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with Ripley and the rest of the wave, Dallas was a gift from my incredibly awesome parents.  He’s probably my least favorite in the set, but that’s not a bad thing.  I just like him less than some of the cooler figures.  Still, he looks great with the rest of the set, and he’s a cool figure if you’re a fan of the movie or of figures in this style.

#0083: Ripley

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

RIPLEY

ALIEN REACTION

It’s Day 5 of the post-Christmas Review, where I cover the figures I received during the past holiday season.  I’ve looked at one figure from the world of ALIEN before, but for Christmas I received a full set of Funko’s new Alien ReAction line.

The story behind this line is that back in 1979, when ALIEN was released, Kenner acquired the license to produce a line of figures similar to their Star Wars line.  They only released two items, a board game and a large scale version of the Alien from the film.  The Alien was pulled from shelves when it began scaring children, and when that happened, Kenner thought better of their plan to make toys from an R-rated horror film and scrapped their planned 3 ¾ inch line.  The prototypes had been shown and were well known in the toy community as one of the holy grails of unproduced figures.

Flash forward 35 years.  A small company by the name of Super 7 acquired the original prototypes and the license to make them and began taking orders for a fairly small run of the figures.  A few months later, there was a significant amount of buzz surrounding them, and it looked like they might become a very difficult to get item.  But all was well!  Longtime toymaker Funko swooped in to save the day, and partnered with Super 7 to get the figures a wide release!

So, after 35 years of waiting, the first wave of ALIEN Figures has been released.  Today, I’ll be looking at the film’s heroine, Ripley.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, Ripley was obviously released as part of the first wave of the Alien ReAction line.  Ripley had a few looks in the movie, but she’s shown here in her jumpsuit that she wears for the majority of the film.  She stands about 3 ¾ inches even and she has 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt isn’t super detailed, but given that it was actually sculpted in ’79, I’m gonna cut it some serious slack.  It’s not bad for the time period, though it’s difficult to see much of Sigourney Weaver in the face.  The jumpsuit looks about right for what she wore, although it doesn’t have some of the finer details that the one in the movie did.  The paint is also on the simple side, but it’s to be expected.  All of the lines are clean, and there’s no real slop to speak of, so it’s well applied.  Quite frankly, anything more detailed would look strange on this sculpt.  Ripley also includes the flamethrower she carries at the end of the film.  It’s a little bit undersized, but that once again fits the aesthetic that the figure is attempting to capture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ripley, along with the rest of the first wave of the Alien ReAction line, was a gift from my awesome parents.  They missed being here in time for Christmas, but they arrived shortly after, and they were certainly worth the wait.

This isn’t a figure that’s going to appeal to everyone.  You’ve definitely got to have a love of the style of figure that this represents.  But, it’s a perfect style for figures from this movie, in my opinion.  It captures the feel of the time period perfectly.  Ripley may not be a perfect representation of Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal, but it’s definitely a fun little figure!

#0052: Leia Organa – Hoth

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

LEIA ORGANA (HOTH)

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (KENNER)

My last bunch of reviews has veered towards things released fairly recently, but today, I’ll be jumping back to 1980, for a look at a figure from Kenner’s The Empire Strikes Back toy line.  The figure is of main character Princess Leia Organa in one of her looks from the film.  Let’s have a look!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leia was released as part of the initial assortment for Kenner’s Empire Strikes Back line which coincided with the movie in 1980.  There were two Leias released, but I’ll be looking at the one that depicts her in her cold weather look from the ice planet Hoth.   The figure stands just shy of 3 ¾ inches tall, and has 5 points of articulation.  The sculpt is actually pretty detailed for a figure of this scale and time-period, with all the padding and such being handled quite realistically.  The head doesn’t have much of a Carrie Fisher likeness, but it’s in line with what most of the rest of the line looked like.  The paint was fairly basic, I assume, although, as you can see, mine has seen better days.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, for those of you rapidly fumbling with math attempting to piece together my age, no I didn’t get this figure when it was initially released.  I wasn’t alive when it was released!

When I was small, my Dad gave me his collection of vintage Star Wars figures.  They were exclusively from the first film, so this Leia wasn’t among them.  But, I got to really liking them, so over the years, I picked up a few others to expand the set.  The ice planet Hoth (I’m pretty sure you always have to say it like that) look has always been my personal favorite look for Leia, so a while back, I found this figure at an antique store, along with a few others.

#0005: Lt Ripley

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

LT ELLEN RIPLEY

ALIENS (KENNER)

So, change of pace.  Moving away from the Batman stuff for a bit.  Today we’re looking at a figure from another Kenner line:  Aliens.  This line is nominally based on 1986’s ALIENS, though it was originally meant to be a tie-in line for Operation: Aliens, a scrapped Saturday-morning cartoon adaptation of the film.

Ellen Ripley is the sole survivor of the Nostromo, drafted by the colonial Marines to save a colony that has been attacked by a hive of creatures like the one Ripley faced before.  At least that was what she was in the movie.  I have no idea what her backstory would have been in Operation: Aliens, though if the comics included with each figure are anything to go by,  she was going to be one of the marines.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure is a pretty decent representation of Ripley from the movie, though her palate’s been tweaked a bit to make her more colorful.  The figure’s also a bit soft on the details, but that makes sense given it was based on the cartoon design.  The face actually isn’t too bad of a Weaver likeness for the time.  The figure included a pretty cool flamethrower, but I’ve since lost that. [EDIT-But I found it again, and brought it back for her Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!]

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Though the figure was released in 92, I didn’t get mine until 2003, when I saw ALIEN for the first time.  I know I had this figure and the accompanying Hicks before seeing ALIENS itself because I sat through my first viewing of the film clutching both of them very tightly.

 

#0004: Night Flight Batman

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NIGHT FLIGHT BATMAN

BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

0004a

Today’s review is the last of the Batman Forever reviews.  It’s a third variant of Batman.  This is another brief review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

0004bThis is another Batman from the Batman Forever line.  He’s yet another fairly-typical-but-not-THE-typical-version(let’s go with FTBNTTV for short).  Night Flight Batman probably has the most descriptive name of the many batmen in the line, as his big feature was a giant set of wings(Lost long ago by silly child-Ethan).  There was certainly a fanbase for the pre-face “Night” amongst the Kenner think tank.  I get that he’s Batman and all, but seriously, Night’s a bit unoriginal.  The actual figure is pretty basic.  Note that I didn’t lose the cape on this one,  he never had one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I do actually recall getting this one.  I liked the “basicness” of this one, so my grandmother bought it for me.   He actually didn’t get much playtime as Batman himself.  Instead, he had his face and torso covered in black tape so that I could use him as Black Panther with my Avengers.  Yeah, I was that kid…

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!

#0003: Sonar Sensor Batman

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

SONAR SENSOR BATMAN

BATMAN FOREVER (1995)

0003a

Continuing the trend of my last two posts, I’m looking at another figure from 1995’s Batman Forever Line.  This guy isn’t quite as significant as the last two, so he’ll be a bit more brief.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

0003bSo, like I said above, Sonar Sensor Batman is another Batman Variant from the Batman Forever line.  This one’s a slightly more conventional Batman, though, like Robin, not THE conventional Batman of the line.  This one’s still got the cape because it’s permanently affixed, which was a good move on Kenner’s part.  And he’s got what appears to be a….nipple gun?  I mean, that’s what it looks like(And this is Scumacher we’re talking about here).  It’s right on his right pectoral, and it’s even got those red dots on it.  When you push the yellow button on his belt, the gun flips down, only emphasizing the nipple gun-ness of it.  And I have no idea what any of this has to do with sonar, or sensing for that matter.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Not a whole lot on this one.  I remember having it.  I remember thinking he had a nipple gun as a child.  I actually don’t know where I got this one, so I’m going to assume it was a gift.  Regardless, it didn’t really get much play-time as my go to Batman.

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!

#0002: Hydro Claw Robin

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

HYDRO CLAW ROBIN

BATMAN FOREVER (KENNER)

0002a

So, yesterday’s post was about my very first action figure, Batman.  And, because a hero’s no good without his sidekick, here’s my very first figure of his old chum: Robin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

0002bHydro Claw Robin is a Robin variant from the Batman Forever line.  He’s actually a fairly standard looking Robin, though he’s not THE standard looking Robin of the line.  His main feature, now lost to me, was a jetpack with wings, a rebreather, and the eponymous “Hydro Claw.”  It’s really unfortunate that I’ve lost this piece, as I recall that it was really quite cool, but alas, 4 year old me was not very good at keeping track of such things!  Even without the accessory, this is still a pretty stand up version of Robin, even if it is based on the utterly terrible Chris O’Donnell.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is a good deal less of a mystery than the Night Hunter Batman.  This guy was a gift from my dear Aunt Susan for Christmas 1995.  I had asked for a Robin figure to prevent my caped crusader from being too lonely, and she was more than happy to oblige.  Christmas morning I opened this guy up and joyfully danced around the room for a good 5 minutes, humming the Batman theme song.  I know, that story is so sweet it almost hurts, doesn’t it?

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!

#0001: Night Hunter Batman

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

NIGHT HUNTER BATMAN

BATMAN FOREVER (KENNER)

0001a

The first post in my humble little blog is a review of the very first (well, technically second, but I’ll get to that in a minute) action figure in my not-so-small collection.  Yep, this is the one that started it all, and 2400 figures later, he does seem to be a bit of an odd choice.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

0001bNight Hunter Batman is a Batman variant from the tie-in line to 1995’s Batman Forever.  He’s black with some bright yellow accents, the obvious choice for creatures of the night.  He once had a cape with a pretty nifty windswept look to it, but I’ve long since lost it.  He also used to have an actual bat symbol on his chest, but if I recall correctly, he lost that fairly shortly after I acquired him.  I feel the true highlight (aside from the actual yellow HIGHLIGHTS) of the figure is the pop-up goggle feature.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends and rotates the goggles in front of old Bruce’s eyes.  You know, for detective-stuff.  Or going by the name of the figure, hunting stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Why, of all the action figures out there, was this my very first action figure?  I honestly can’t say.  I know I liked Batman, though I watched the TV series and in fact didn’t see Batman Forever until I was almost 20.  Maybe I liked the colors.  Most likely, it was the goggles.  I like goggles, and the whole focus of this little guy was those really neat goggles he had.

Remember when I pointed out above that this was technically my second action figure?  Yeah, funny story:  this particular Night Hunter Batman is a replacement for the first Night Hunter Batman, that by all accounts I gave to a girl at a restaurant.  Yes, even at 3, I was quite the charmer.  So, my parents drove me over to Toys R Us (Side-Note: Remember when Toys R Us didn’t suck?  I miss those days…) and purchased me this lovely replacement (EDIT: I stand corrected.  It wasn’t Toys R Us, it was Service Merchandise.  Man, there’s a blast from the past!) .  While there, my dad happened to wander down the aisle and find the Iron Man animated series toys, leading him to a) start his own collection up again b)introduce me to the wonders of Marvel Comics and c) even more directly lead me to my current state of being.  And it’s all because I was trying to impress a girl!  Silly girls!

Read the Flashback Friday Figure Addendum here!