Tag Archives: Loki

#3669: Halloween Jack

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

HALLOWEEN JACK

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Once a schoolmate of the X-Man Meanstreak, Jordon Boone went on to become a most trusted employee of the monolithic Alchemax corporation, Alchemax installed nano-tech implants into Boone’s central nervous system-implants that render his cellular structure transmutable allowing him to change his shape at will. Calling himself Halloween Jack, this mischief maker causes trouble for friends and enemies alike.”

The 2099 imprint was a notable component of Marvel’s line-up in the ’90s, but these days, people tend to really only remember Spider-Man.  They did try to make some strides towards more unique storytelling, and X-Men 2099 in particular built a cast that wasn’t just re-hashes of prior characters.  The team also had a sizable portion of supporting players and recurring antagonists, such as Halloween Jack, a character who would later be revealed to actually be the future’s incarnation of Loki.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Halloween Jack was released in series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line, released in 1996.  He was also re-released in 1997 on the Marvel Universe card back.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation, which includes a moving ponytail.  The amount of articulation is honestly astounding.  Like, I’m not sure exactly why Halloween Jack of all characters go this much movement, but here we are.  The only thing missing was some sort of hinge on the elbows.  Jack’s sculpt was all-new at the time, though it would be re-used for Jackal in the Maximum Cloneage boxed set.  As Jack was a shapeshifter, his exact appearance in the comics was rather fluid, but the sculpt actually does a pretty good job capturing the general vibe of the character’s illustrated appearances.  There’s quite a bit of texturing in play, which certainly keeps him visually interesting.  His paint work is decent enough.  The black and bright green is a very striking combo, and the application is all pretty clean, though his face is oddly fuzzy, which is something I’ve seen on multiple copies of the figure.  Jack is packed with monstrous mask and glove pieces to showcase his shapeshifting abilities.  It’s not a perfect set-up, but they’re fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Halloween Jack himself as a kid, but I did have the Jackal repaint from the boxed set, so I remember the mold pretty well.  I had plenty of opportunities to get a Jack over the years, but never really jumped on it, and then by the time I wanted one, it was tricky to find him complete.  Thankfully, he was one of a small handful of packaged figures that got traded into All Time, so I got a chance to open a sealed one.  He’s a surprisingly good figure.  It’s kind of crazy the amount of effort they put into specifically this guy, but Toy Biz had a tendency to do that every so often.  It’s just one of their quirks, I suppose.

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.

#3274: He-Who-Remains

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

HE-WHO-REMAINS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A ruler. A conqueror. Creator of all. Controller of all. At the end, it is only HE Who Remains.”

Loki was full of a lot of things that would influence the greater MCU moving forward, and at the top of that list was the introduction of Jonathan Majors as He-Who-Remains, our first official Variant of Kang the Conqueror, the antagonist who’s set to serve as the MCU’s next big threat.  Appearing in Loki‘s season finale, He-Who-Remains is definitely a different sort of take on the character, who’s clearly got some Immortus leanings to him, as well as being merged with He-Who-Remains from the comics, who is, notably, not Kang at all.  Obviously, this guy’s not going to be our main Kang going forward, but he’s an interesting look at the frazzled, somewhat crazed man at the end of time.  And, hey, he’s got an action figure.  Let’s take a look at that, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

He-Who-Remains is figure 4 in the Khonshu Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second Loki-themed figure, following up on Classic Loki, as well as our fifth overall Loki figure in the line.  He’s also our second figure of an incarnation of Kang in the modern Legends, as well as the first figure of Jonathan Majors in the role.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  He-Who-Remains’ articulation scheme is a little restricted by his design, but generally makes the most of it.  As with a lot of slightly more restricted figures, the character isn’t incredibly agile during his appearance on the show, so he’s certainly capable of doing pretty much whatever he needs to.  The only real downside to it all is that he can’t really lounge about the way he did in the show.  He-Who-Remains gets an all-new sculpt, based on his attire in the show.  His look definitely brings him closer to the Immortus side of things than the Kang side (and the initial concept even took it further by adding Immortus’s usual head gear), so he’s without anything particularly tactical.  He’s definitely far more for lounging about, which offsets pretty well with the TVA’s more bureaucratic design theming.  The sculpt does a pretty respectable job of capturing his look in plastic form.  His likeness is a good match for Jonathan Majors, and his expression is a bit lighter, which fits He-Who-Remains’ temperament in the show, and means that he’ll be different from the inevitable Kang figure.  The body sculpt captures his attire well, with decent hang and weight to all the drape-y stuff.  Some of the smaller details are a touch on the softer side, but I do really dig the embroidery on the shoulders.  The one area where the figure slightly falls is the paint.  It’s definitely not bad, just a bit lacking on the outfit.  He’s very bright, and there’s a lot of molded plastic without accenting, which looks a little too plasticky for his show look.  It really hits the robe hardest, since all that purple just ends up losing a lot of the sculpted detailing.  The other areas aren’t quite as bad, and the face in particular looks quite lifelike.  I also really dig the obsidian plate on his left hand, with its brightly colored veins.  He-Who-Remains is packed with his apple, which is a pretty distinctive item from his episode, and adds to our ever growing array of Legends foods.  He’s also got the head to the Khonshu Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ll be totally honest, I didn’t have the highest opinion of the Loki finale.  After building up a ton of momentum, we spent an hour in a room with three people talking.  It wasn’t *bad*…but it did feel a little anti-climactic.  That said, I liked getting a preview of Kang, as well as the little nods to Immortus and Kang’s other incarnations.  It’s also a pretty unique design, and I’ve got all the other Loki figures, so it’s hard to pass that up.  This guy’s decent.  Not breaking the mold, and not my favorite, but he does what he needs to, and he looks pretty cool on the shelf.

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.

#3273: Classic Loki

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

CLASSIC LOKI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The epitome of Loki potential! Powerful, carefree, and mischievous, this Loki’s decisions led to a long life, but that didn’t come without its own baggage.”

One of the coolest parts of Loki, which was admittedly a show with a lot of cool parts, was the introduction of “Variants”, or alternate timeline versions of characters we’ve seen before.  After introducing us to Sylvie, the main Loki’s distaff counterpart, the show took things even further as the season progressed, with a whole host of different Lokis.  Amongst them was “Classic Loki”, portrayed by Richard E. Grant, who is, for all intents and purposes, just a straight adaptation of Loki as he appeared in the comics in the ’60s.  He’s a rather glorious adaptation of the character, with a rather glorious focus and send-off, and now he’s also got an action figure.  Is it glorious?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Classic Loki is figure 2 in the Khonshu Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s one of two Loki figures in this line-up, joining up with the other three we’d gotten up to this point in the main line.  Classic Loki is the first of the secondary variants of Loki to get figure treatment, but hopefully some of the others aren’t too far behind.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This figure’s articulation scheme is surprisingly rudimentary, especially given where the line’s been headed recently.  It’s not terrible, or anything, and he does get that nifty pinless construction on the elbows and knees, which is always fun.  That said, the other movement is a little awkward, and the joint construction is a little out of date.  The waist is really where it gets hit the worst, with the flat swivel waist looking rather odd, and the hips not being even remotely worked in.  All that being said, the articulation is still generally workable, once you get used to it.  Classic Loki’s sculpt is all-new for this figure, and apart from the awkward articulation layout I mentioned above, it’s honestly pretty strong.  It matches well with the design seen on the show, and I quite like the way they weave the comics elements in with their real world equivalents.  He gets two different head sculpts, one sullen, and the other grinning.  Both of them sport a spot-on likeness of Grant in the role, and grant the figure quite a bit of versatility for posing.  Classic Loki’s color work is quite nicely handled; while his costume in the show stuck to his comics counterpart’s stark green and yellow coloring, it was also rather grimy and worn-in.  The figure has some decent accenting on the yellow sections, which makes him look appropriately disheveled.  Classic Loki is packed with a spare set of hands with magic effects, as well as extra magic effects for the wrists.  He’s also packed with the right leg to the Khonshu Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Loki variants were such a fun concept, and really showcase the high point of the show for me.  Classic Loki in particular was just a treat to watch, especially given how satisfying an arc he was given, even just in his single episode of focus.  I wasn’t sure we’d be seeing a figure any time soon, since he’s so similar the classic comic Loki from the Retro line.  I was definitely happy about his inclusion here.  His articulation’s a little wonky, but beyond that, I actually do really like the figure a lot.

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.

#3256: Sakaar Loki & Heimdall

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

SAKAAR LOKI & HEIMDALL

MARVEL MINIMATES

“In Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok – the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization – at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger – the Incredible Hulk!”

For movies prior to Thor: Ragnarok, Diamond Select’s Minimates line-ups typically relied on a mix of a couple of different retailers carrying two-pack assortments, but beginning with Ragnarok, the specialty assortment was replaced by a boxed set, augmented by exclusive two-packs at both TRU and Walgreens.  For Ragnarok, Walgreens took two exclusive packs, while TRU took one, which is the one I’ll be looking at today.  Let’s have a look at Sakaar Loki and Heimdall!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sakaar Loki and Heimdall are, as noted in the intro, the one proper TRU-exclusive set for the Marvel Minimates tie-ins for Ragnarok.  Interestingly enough, this was the second time the two characters had been packed together in the line, as they were also paired for the Dark World tie-in assortment as well.

SAKAAR LOKI

Surprisingly enough, Loki was actually the character with the most ‘mates for Ragnarok, edging out even his brother Thor, and netting one variant for each of the three release venues for the movie’s tie-ins.  This one is based on what he wears for the bulk of the movie, while running around on Sakaar.  It’s not quite as true to the character as his final battle attire, but it’s still pretty decent.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 minimate body, so he stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Loki’s got three sculpted add-on pieces, for his hair, belt, and cape.  The belt and cape were shared with the boxed set Loki, while the hair was a new piece shared with the civilian Loki released on the Walgreens side of this assortment.  I find the hair to be a little bit bulky for Loki in Ragnarok, but it’s generally not bad, and the cape is still one of my favorites.  Loki’s paint work is a little cleaner than his boxed set equivalent, with no major issues with slop or bleed over.  He’s also a little more colorful, which is true to the Sakaar design.  I’m not as big on the facial expression for this one, which is rather bland, and feels like it has too many lines for Hiddleston.  Loki’s only accessory is a clear display stand, which is rather on the light side.

HEIMDALL

Heimdall’s only prior coverage in the line was his Dark World release, which actually wasn’t bad, and is also his fully armored attire, which was distinctly different from his on the run look from Ragnarok.  Heimdall gets two sculpted add-ons, for his hair and for his cloak/coat.  The hair is an alright piece, though it certainly feels rather too kempt for Heimdall’s look in Ragnarok.  Where Loki’s piece seemed too bulky and long, this one feels too tame and short.  The chest piece is also…it’s just not great.  Making the whole thing one piece means that the right arm is effectively trapped in place, and the legs and waist are also pretty restricted, and on top of that, the neck can’t really do much either, so he’s just generally not really posable.  And, to add insult to injury, the piece is just flat out not accurate to the character’s look, like at all.  It’s got him wearing some sort of heavy coat and multiple layers, when in the movie he’s got a sleeveless shirt and a simple pair of pants on under the cloak.  I’m not sure if this was based on early concept art or what, but it’s just not really right, and the figure would have really been better off if this piece had just been the cloak, rather than the whole thing.  The paint work doubles down on the inaccuracy of the sculpted pieces, resulting in a kind of dull look for the figure.  Heimdall is packed with his sword, as well as a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There was a whole slew of 2017 releases for Minimates that I had to skip on when they dropped, and almost the entirety of the Ragnarok line-up was on that list, this set included.  This one was snagged from TRU during the beginnings of their clearing out of their products in 2018.  Loki’s okay, but not as definitive as the boxed set version.  Heimdall is rough, I’m not gonna lie.  He’s not accurate, and he’s not a particularly fun figure either.  This set’s generally kind of weak.

#2950: Mobius

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

MOBIUS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Mobius M. Mobius is an Agent for the Time Variance Authority who specializes in the investigations of particularly dangerous time criminals.”

While prior MCU entries have had more direct stories to adapt, Loki was sort of a blender full of various ideas rattling around the Marvel Universe.  Among those ideas was the Time Variance Authority, a concept introduced into the comics by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema, during Simonson’s run on Thor in 1986.  Initially, the staff of the TVA were all clones of real-world Marvel editor Mark Gruenwald, who had been instrumental at mapping out the Marvel multiverse, as well as cataloging its occupants via the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.  The TVA’s most prominent agent was Mobius M. Mobius, whose character was adapted as a major player in Loki, now played by Owen Wilson.  Wow.  And, despite just being another guy in a suit, he did get an action figure.  Double wow.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mobius is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  He just started hitting Target shelves across the country in the last few weeks, and he’s already being called a peg warmer, so we’re on track with how these things go, I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  I was all ready to write this one off as just being a pretty straight re-use of the Coulson body, but as it turns out, it’s actually not.  The arms and legs are the same, but the torso has been replaced with an all-new one, this time with a ball-joint at the middle, rather than the ab-crunch like before.  I’m not entirely sure why they made this change, but it is a little more posable when taking the jacket into account.  Oddly, despite this new sculpt getting him the proper belt buckle, he still has a standard shirt collar, instead of the one that goes all the way to the shoulders, as was the style for all of the TVA suits.  It’s largely hidden by the jacket, but still.  He does at least get the proper jacket with the inverted collar, so that’s cool.  Also, he gets an all-new head sculpt, of course, which sports a pretty spot-on likeness of Wilson in the role.  Weird broken nose and all.  The figure’s paint work is fairly bland, as is appropriate.  The application on the face is up to the usual standards these days, and looks quite lifelike.  I also quite like the patterning on the tie; it’s a nice extra visual touch for the character.  Mobius is packed with his tablet and pruning wand, both of which are pretty key to the character, and also seem like good choices for potential re-use if we wind up getting more Loki-based figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The fact that Owen Wilson hasn’t gotten an action figure up to this point seems odd, if I’m honest, so the fact that we actually got one here was nifty.  I also really liked Mobius as a character, so I was down for the figure pretty much as soon as it was shown off.  I wasn’t really jamming on it as a Target-exclusive, but it seems this one isn’t going to be quite so impossible to get, which I consider a plus.  I myself was able to snag one through Target.com, so I didn’t even have to leave home to get it.  He’s not breaking the mold or anything, but he’s still a generally fun figure, and it’s nice to have him to go with Loki and Sylvie.

#2948: Sylvie

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

SYLVIE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Laser focused and relentless, Sylvie is the TVA’s most formidable villain, who has vowed to burn the organization to the ground.”

At the end of Loki‘s first episode, we were presented with the twist that the villain the TVA had brought in Loki to help hunt down was, in fact, another version of Loki himself.  In the following episode, a further twist revealed that this variant of Loki wasn’t just another Tom Hiddleston Loki, but was, in fact, a take on the Lady Loki concept from the comics.  This alternate Loki, who takes on the name of Sylvie to differentiate herself, would from that point forward serve as the show’s deuteragonist, who, much like the Loki we all know and love, proves that there’s a much more sympathetic side to her than her rough exterior might let on.  And, hey, toy love!  Alright!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sylvie is figure 6 in the Watcher Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the only figure in the series not to be based on What If…?, but is following up on the single Loki figure that was in the first Disney+-inspired assortment.  She was also the first figure we knew about from this assortment, since she was shown during the show’s run.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Sylvie’s articulation scheme is pretty decently handled.  She doesn’t get double jointed elbows, but the single joints do at least get a lot of range, and the rest of the movement is all pretty solid.  The only thing I’m not big on is how the knees do sort of break up the flow of the leg sculpt, but it’s not terrible.  Sylvie’s sculpt is an all-new offering, and generally a rather strong one.  The likeness of Sophia Di Martino isn’t bad on the head sculpt, at least facially.  The hair’s a little iffier, but that’s always a little more troublesome.  The separate piece does at least help a fair bit, as does the inclusion of her broken crown piece, which helps to break things up a bit.  The body sculpt is overall fairly well-proportioned, and the costume parts are all fairly well defined.  Sylvie’s paint work is by and large pretty basic.  Obviously, the most intensive work is on the face, but there’s a little bit of work on the hair, and some smaller details on the outfit.  All of it looks pretty good, and the application is generally pretty clean.  Sylvie is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/open gesture combo), her blade, her cloak, and the cape for the Watcher Build-A-Figure.  The hands are definitely fun, and the cloak looks pretty good, although with it in place, she’s got no real ability to move her arms.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sophia Di Martino’s portrayal of Sylvie was really one of the highlights of Loki for me.  I really liked her chemistry with Hiddleston, and her story as a whole made her a quite likable character, so I was immediately down for her getting a figure. I’m glad she showed up relatively quickly, and I’m also glad she turned out as nicely as she did.

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.

#2823: Loki

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

LOKI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Mere moments after his escape during the events of Avengers: Endgame, Loki is apprehended by the TIME VARIANCE AUTHORITY (TVA) and arrested for his crimes against the ‘sacred timeline’”

After the back-to-back extravaganza that was WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we had a little bit of hiatus, before jumping into the next show, Loki, which follows the alternate timeline version of the God of Mischief that escaped during Endgame.  As of this writing, I’ve only seen the first episode of the show, so I don’t know exactly where it’s going to be going, but I do like the look of things.  Loki is the show with the least toy coverage at this point, with only one version of its main character on the market (though Owen Wilson’s Mobius was just revealed to be getting a Target-exclusive figure as well).  I’m going to be taking a look at that one today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Loki is figure 3 in the Disney+-themed assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s patterned on his appearance in the show, specifically his garb while working for the TVA…or at least that’s what I assume this is.  So far, we’ve seen his Avengers gear, and the prison jumpsuit.  But this looks right for working for the TVA, so I’m going with that.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Loki is built on the updated suit body first used for Nick Fury.  It’s slightly taller nature makes it a better fit for Hiddleston, and it’s honestly just a little better proportioned, so I get the desire to re-use.  Unfortunately, it does have a few details, most notably the sculpted shoulder holster, which don’t match up with Loki’s look from the show.  The holster is totally hidden, of course, but it’s a weird choice leaving it there.  Loki gets a new head, tie, and jacket piece.  The head is probably our best Hiddleston Loki to date from Hasbro.  It’s still not spot-on, but it does feel at least a little bit closer.  I think not trying to contend with any removable head gear really helps there.  The jacket and tie are nice enough pieces; pretty basic, but they do what they need to.  The paint work on Loki is definitely on the brown side of things, which matches to the show aesthetic.  The face print really works here, but there are otherwise some sort of odd choices.  The neck line is uneven and doesn’t follow the sculpt, and the belt buckle is just totally different than what’s sculpted (probably going for something more accurate to the show).  It’s also weird that the holster is left totally unpainted.  Like, I know it’s not supposed to be there, but not painting it doesn’t magically make it less obvious that it’s there.  Loki doesn’t get any accessories of his own, but he does get Redwing, the backpack, and the flight stand for Captain America, so that makes up for it a little bit, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Going into this assortment, we knew there would be a Loki, but exactly which of the looks from what we’d seen in the trailers was still up in the air.  I will admit, when this one was shown off, I was a bit letdown.  From the looks of things, this may end up as his most prominent design on the show, but it’s hard to say it’s very visually interesting, and clearly most prominent isn’t as important as best visual when it comes to the rest of the assortment.  Loki’s not a bad figure, and I do at least like his new head sculpt, but he definitely feels like the weakest of the bunch.

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.

#2393: Secret Strike Loki

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

SECRET STRIKE LOKI

THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER (HASBRO)

“Loki prefers to test his wits against his enemies.  Coercion and mischief are his tools for victory.”

If nothing else, this dearth of things to review right now does give me an excuse to dust off my old randomized list of old things to review, which I haven’t made nearly enough use of in recent years.  Gosh, remember when I would reference that thing on the regular?  What strange times are upon us.  Well, the randomized list has pulled a figure from 2011’s Thor film for me today.  So, without further ado, let’s take a look at Secret Strike Loki!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Secret Strike Loki was part of the first series of Hasbro’s Thor: The Mighty Avenger line, which was designed to tie-in with the film.  He was the standard Loki for the line, based on the character’s slightly more dressed down appearance from earlier in the film, specifically the younger Asgardians’ trek into the realm of the Frost Giants.  It’s a more unique look compared to the others, plus it was the one from early promotional work, so I guess it worked alright, even if it did lack that awesome helmet.  The figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  As I mentioned when I reviewed Axe Attack Thor, this line was one of the last movie lines from Hasbro before they started cutting articulation, so this guy actually has quite a bit.  Perhaps too much, maybe; his legs can be a little bit of a fiddly mess with all the joints, and keeping him balanced can be a little tricky.  It’s not terrible, though.  Loki’s sculpt started off as a unique affair, but had gotten a full repaint by the end of the line (dubbed “Sorcerer’s Fury”) and had also been scavenged for parts by his hard to find, fully armored varian.  This sculpt is a pretty decent one, truth be told.  The likeness on the head isn’t a perfect match for Hiddleston or anything, but I’d say it’s at least as good as the Hemsworth likeness on the Thor figures from this same line.  Loki’s slight frame does seem a little bit exaggerated by this figure, as well, but it adds to the general styling of the line, and means he can slot in alright with the comic-based stuff Hasbro was producing at the same time.  The paint on Loki is generally pretty decent, matching up with what we see in the film.  There’s one pretty glaring issue, though.  For some reason, they decided to mold his neck joint in the green that makes up his torso, rather than matching it to the fleshtone of his head.  Seems like a pretty silly choice to me, and it means that he looks pretty off from a lot of poses.  Loki includes two unique small blades, as well as the gimmicky “Secret Strike” thing, which starts out as a ridiculously large sword, and then splits off into two tonfa-style things.  Yeah, I don’t get it either.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this Loki and a standard Thor the first time I saw them at retail, which was prior to seeing the movie.  I was pretty excited for it, and wanted at least the pair of them.  Little did I know that they would be all I would see at retail for, like, the next three years or so?  Man, these guys sure were persistent.  Loki’s really not a bad little figure, though, and I still do like him, even if he’s not my preferred look for the character.

#2101: Loki

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

LOKI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A devilish trickster, Loki uses whatever means necessary to give himself power and has little regard for what side of so-called justice he stands on.”

Debuting two months after Thor, the comics version of Loki has remained a prominent fixture of the Marvel universe ever since his introduction, not only as a thorn in Thor’s side, but also as a major mover for the universe as a whole.  He was responsible for bringing the Avengers together after all.  Recently, the comics Loki, who tends to be slightly more villainous than his film counterpart, has been slightly displaced by the movies, but he’s not completely neglected, and would you look at that, he just got a Marvel Legend.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Loki is figure 6 in the Hulk Series of Marvel Legends and is the final figure needed to complete the Hulk Build-A-Figure.  As noted, this is a comic Loki figure, the third of its kind in Legends proper (and one of those was Lady Loki, so…), and the first to use Loki’s classic comics appearance.  This one lifts his design directly from his Jack Kirby-illustrated original appearances.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Loki re-uses the Reaper body, and is the second figure in the assortment to do so.  Comic Loki fluctuates a bit in size and build, but this works respectably for his earliest appearances.  He gets a new head, shoulder piece, and belt.  The head is…well, I honestly have trouble saying how I feel about it.  Comics Loki is a character that always seems to have trouble translating into figure form, and this one continues the trend.  I get what they were going for with the expression, and I do like the idea of Loki sporting that mad cackling appearance, but it just doesn’t really work.  He looks demented, but not in the way they were aiming for.  I’m also not super crazy about the ponytail, which is just jutting out to the side.  If it had been articulated, it would be fine, but it’s permanently stuck where it is, which severely limits the posing options.  Loki’s paintwork is pretty basic.  He’s green and yellow, just like he usually is, and I definitely dig the slight metallic finish.  The face is a little gummed up for my taste, and there’s just something off about those eyes.  Maybe I’m just too accustomed to Tom Hiddleston’s baby blues.  Loki is packed with a sword, which appears to be a new piece to him.  It’s a nice enough piece, and well-sized to the figure.  He also includes the right leg of Hulk, who I’ll be looking at tomorrow.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I like Loki as a character, and I always want to like him as a toy, but I tend to have some difficulty.  Despite his less comic accurate nature, I did actually like the Toy Biz Legend a fair bit.  This one?  Pretty much from the time he was shown off, I had my doubts about him, and they followed through to the final figure.  He’s not awful, but I’m just not really feeling him.  Maybe if I were more of a fan of the Kirby design, I’d dig him a bit more.

I purchased Loki from my sponsors over at All Time Toys, alongside the rest of this series.  He’s still in stock here.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2013: Corvus Glaive & Loki

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

CORVUS GLAIVE & LOKI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Known for his shifting allegiances, Loki faces evil head on when he is confronted by the Black Order — a sinister group of Thanos’ cohorts that includes the menacing Corvus Glaive.”

Hey, I hear there’s like, this movie coming out this week, that’s supposed to be a big deal or something.  You’ve probably never heard of it.  Yeah…

So, Avengers: Endgame will hit theaters this Thursday night, and is already starting to break all sorts of records.  Odds are good that it’s going to be the biggest movie of the year.  As the 22nd entry of the MCU canon, it’s got a lot riding behind it.  Product for Endgame officially started hitting shelves on the 31st of March, and is making its way around right now.  And I’m going to hype myself up for the movie by reviewing some of that product this week.  First up, something that’s not *technically* Endgame-related, Corvus Glaive and Loki!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Corvus Glaive and Loki are a Walmart-exclusive two-pack in the Marvel Legends line.  Though officially based on the characters as seen in Infinity War, the set is part of the official Endgame product, and has been showing up alongside it.  Corvus was shown last year (alongside Ebony Maw, who I’ll be looking at later in the week), but it was not until just a few months ago that we knew he’d be arriving alongside another Loki.

CORVUS GLAIVE

As I noted when I reviewed his minimate release, Corvus Glaive is the Black Order’s least developed member in Infinity War.  And, if you don’t believe me, just read that bio up top from the back of the box.  That’s a Loki bio with “oh, and Corvus, too” tacked on the end of it, despite the fact that Corvus is undoubtedly going to be the main selling point for most buyers.  That said, I think he’s got the coolest name of the bunch, and I liked what I saw of him, so I’m certainly happy to have him cropping up here.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He ends up being a far more mobile figure than Proxima, which is a definite improvement (Cull gets a pass due to his extra bulk).  There’s some slight restricting on the left arm due to the design of the cape, but that’s a fairly reasonable sacrifice.  Otherwise, there’s a lot of potential with these joints, and he’s a very playable figure.  Corvus is sporting an all-new sculpt, and, of the three members of the Black Order I’ve looked at so far, it’s definitely the most screen accurate, thanks to having an extra year to get everything right.  His sculpt is, in addition to being film accurate, is nice and sharply detailed.  The details of costume in particular are really crisp and really pop out at you.  It’s all topped off with an impressively subtle paint scheme.  The gold detailing on his add-ons, as well as the entirety of his facial detailing, are handled via the printing technique, which gives them a nice amount of depth and realism.  Corvus’ only accessory is an acceptable choice: it’s his glaive, and it’s actually quite a nice piece, and is held well in his hands.  Plus, he can actually properly hold it, unlike the Minimate.

LOKI

Though only a small part in the overall film, Loki’s role in Infinity War is still a very prominent one.  Despite that, the sheer volume of characters in the film, coupled with his coverage in Ragnarok, meant that Loki was absent from IW‘s product line.  It’s not a huge shock to see him crop up in this set, though, especially given he was packed with the completely uniquely tooled figure.  This figure, comparatively, is a straight re-use of the Ragnarok version from 2017.  There are positives and negatives to that, because that sculpt was a bit of a mixed bag in regards to quality.  On the plus side, though, it means the two figures are consistent, so hey that’s cool.  The paintwork has been changed up to match Loki’s more stark green and black garb from the end of Ragnarok and the beginning of Infinity War, meaning we finally have the costume that actually goes with the headgear that came with the prior figure.  Also, I do think these colors work a little better for the sculpt.  Loki is packed with the most natural inclusion for an IW Loki, the Teseract, re-used from the Mandroid Series Red Skull.  It fits surprisingly well in his hand, and I’m glad it got another release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, wanna guess where I got this Walmart exclusive?  That’s right, a Walmart!  Yeah, when the Walmart around the corner from work put out their Endgame display, this showed up in surprisingly high numbers, so I had no trouble at all getting one.  I’m on record that Corvus Glaive is my favorite of the Black Order members, and I was waiting for him to get his figure due.  I’m quite happy with this figure, and I think he’s probably the best of the three we’ve gotten so far.  The Loki he’s packed with is definitely a space-filler, but he’s a reasonably well chosen one, and honestly I think he improves on the prior release enough that I don’t mind that I had to get a second one to get Corvus.