Tag Archives: Marvel

#1679: Moon Knight & Punisher

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

MOON KNIGHT & PUNISHER

MARVEL MINIMATES

2018 marks the fifteenth year of Marvel Minimates, if you can believe it, and DST’s celebrating that with Series 75 (which, of course, all long-term fans know, is actually only the 74th Series in actual count, thanks to Series 15, the only series of Marvel Minimates ever to be outright cancelled).  75 is Marvel Knights/Defenders themed, offering up some of Marvel’s lower level characters.  Today, I’m looking at the one set in the series not to actually feature any of the current Defenders members (but don’t hold that against them), Moon Knight & Punisher!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

As noted above, Moon Knight and Punisher are part of Series 75 of Marvel Minimates, which takes loose inspiration from the Netflix slate of Marvel shows.  Moon Knight’s kind of out of the odd man out in this respect, but maybe he’ll show up in the next slate of them?  Please?

Also included in this set are two pieces of the very first Minimate Build-A-Figure, Quake!  In this set, we get both the legs.  They’re just standard legs, done up in colors to match the SHIELD agents from Series 43 and 51.

MARVEL NOW MOON KNIGHT

This is only Moon Knight’s sophomore figure in the Minimates line.  His last was all the way back in Series 29, 46 series and 9 years ago.  I think that’s a decent enough wait time for a re-do, don’t you?  This one’s not actually a straight re-do; it’s based on his armored look from Warren Ellis’s re-boot of the character.  It wasn’t his main look during Ellis’s run, but it was picked up by others, and has shown up in a few games and one of the cartoons.  I think it’s a solid re-imagining of his usual look.  Of course, as luck would have it, he went back to his all-white look a few months before this guy hit shelves.  Oh, darn, I guess we’ll just need another Moon Knight.  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.  Moon Knight’s sculpted elements are limited to his signature cloak.  Like his last Minimate, the hood and cape are two separate pieces, in order to help maximize posability.  These have been the source of some contention in the fanbase, with lots of debating over which cloak is the superior one.  While the old one always looked nice, it was never much for posing, and made keeping him standing nearly impossible.  This new one dials things back a bit, and gives us a more simplified design.  It’s still not perfect.  The hood in particular bugs me; something about its shape is slightly off.  Still, it’s an improvement in terms of playabilty, which makes for a better figure. Moon Knight’s paintwork is nice and bold.  It’s coming at the character from an entirely different angle than the last ‘mate, being very sleek and clean.  There’s a little bit of bleed over on some of the black-to-white changes, but for the most part, he looks pretty sharp.  In particular, the wider eyes seen on this version’s mask feel more in tune with the character than the tiny squinting eyes from the last one, and I also really like the grey highlights, which keep the black sections from getting too monotonous. Included with Moon Knight are his staff and a clear display stand.  The staff is re-used from the animated Proxima Midnight, but it a decent match for the staff Moon Knight is usually seen carrying about.

FRONTAL ASSAULT PUNISHER

I’m not sure of how comfortable I am with the “Frontal Assault” descriptor.  Wouldn’t such a name would be more appropriate for one of the trench-coated variants?  To DST’s credit, there are only so many buzzwords you can throw in front of the name “Punisher.”  Just plain “assault” was already taken and yet another character with the “Marvel Now” moniker might tear open a rift in the space time continuum.  But, I digress. Frank Castle is no stranger to Minimates, this being his eighth entry in the line.  This one’s his first comics-based ‘mate since 2013 (barring the 2016 re-release of the Best Of ‘mate), and it’s based on his pre-Secret Wars look from around 2014 or so.  It’s a nice sort of tactical look for the character, and also offers something in keeping with how the character looks in the Netflix shows. Punisher has add-on pieces for his hair and tactical vest.  I believe both of these are new to this particular figure.  The vest definitely is, but the hair is throwing me.  Regardless, both pieces are incredibly well-sculpted, and very nicely suited to the character.  The vest in particular just really encapsulates how I feel the Punisher should look. Punisher’s paint work is really a collection of pleasant surprises.  Let’s start from the weakest point and move upwards: his vest and sleeves show a little bit of slop.  Nothing too terrible, but notable given the quality of the rest of the paint.  The face is pretty classic Frank Castle, all grizzled and angry.  The application’s quite clean, and I like that they’ve even given him his stubble (not that stubble’s exactly a new thing on Minimates).  Under the vest, there’s a skull-emblazened t-shirt, which is a very nice touch.  He’s also got some incredible small detail work on his arms and legs, with the legs in particular standing out with all the stitching and line work associated with the tactical pants.  Really great attention to detail there. Punisher includes an HK94A3 Rifle (first included with the T2 SWAT officer), as well as a skull-faced mask piece (based on a mask he was frequently seen wearing during the 2014 run), and a clear display stand.  I’d have liked to get some additional guns.  Just the rifle seems a little light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this set from my LCS, Cosmic Comix (okay, technically I got it from Tim, who bought it from CCX; he was paying me back for grabbing him an Obsidian Fury).  Moon Knight’s been due another Minimate for a while now.  This one takes a decidedly different approach to the character than the last one, so a direct comparison is a bit difficult, but this offering walks the line of look vs playability better than the last one.  I’m hopeful an all-white variant might show up in the near future.  In the mean time, this one’s a solid addition.  In a set where the clear selling point was Moon Knight, Punisher serves as sort of a sleeper figure.  As only a moderate fan of the character, I wasn’t anticipating much from him, but he’s a high quality, truly exceptional ‘mate.

#1671: Cull Obsidian

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

CULL OBSIDIAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Though in many ways calling back to the classic Infinity Gauntlet, Avengers: Infinity War did offer a few newer concepts as well.  Included amongst those new concepts were the members of the Black Order, Thanos’s generals from the Infinity event.  In the comics, the name of the big bruiser was “Black Dwarf,” but for the purposes of the movie, he’s Cull Obsidian…in theory.  His name’s never spoken on-screen.  I suppose he could get named in a deleted scene or something.  He still managed to get a figure out the deal, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cull Obsidian is the eponymous Build-A-Figure for the Cull Obsidian Series, the second Infinity War-themed series of Marvel Legends.  Though not as unquestionably perfect as Thanos was in the first series, he’s still a pretty solid choice, being one of the few other “large” character designs in the film.  I suppose they could have gone for the new Hulkbuster armor, but I’d much rather get a new character out of things.  Cull is the second member of the Black Order we’ve gotten in Legends form, following the Thanos Series’ Proxima Midnight figure.  The figure stands 8 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Cull’s figure is sporting an all-new sculpt, based on his design from the film…in theory.  For whatever reason, despite the other three members of the team maintaining the same basic design for pretty much the entirety of the pre-production process, Cull Obsidian’s design went through some pretty major changes on the way to the final film.  Unfortunately, since action figures have a somewhat lengthy production process, this means this Cull Obsidian figure ended up based on an out of date design.  He’s a bit more savage, and less armored than his film counterpart, and ends up looking a little more like his comics counterpart (though even that’s not a perfect match).  It’s not Hasbro’s fault that design changed, though, so I guess the best that can be done is to just look at the sculpt on its own merits.  I have to admit, it’s actually pretty solid.  The head’s my favorite part, being the part that ends up the most accurate, but also the part that sports the sharpest detail work.  The rest of the sculpt is also pretty nicely detailed, though the arms and legs are noticeably softer on the details than the head and torso.  The articulation would probably be worked in a little smoother, especially on the arms and the mid-torso joint.  Nevertheless, it’s a sculpt that’s quite impressive as a whole.  The paintwork on Cull is pretty decent as well.  There’s some nice, subtle accent work on the skin of the head and torso. Sadly, this doesn’t continue beyond those sections.  I mean, it’s not horribly jarring, but it’s slightly frustrating.  Though he’s a Build-A-Figure, and therefore an accessory himself, Cull does still get an extra.  It’s his hammer…in theory.  You know how Cull’s design changed?  Yep, well that extends to the hammer as well.  It’s more of a pickaxe sort of a thing in the final film, and asymmetrical in design.  Here, it’s a perfectly symmetrical, very squared-off hammer.  Also, he can only hold it in his left hand, despite being a righty in the film.  Odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cull isn’t a majorly prominent character in Infinity War, but I liked him well enough in the film that I was looking forward to this figure.  Additionally, I was actively interested in 5 of the 6 figures it took to complete him.  Wasn’t much of a stretch to get him completed, really.  Despite his not being accurate to his final film design, I do actually like this figure quite a bit, and I think he’s a more exciting Build-A-Figure than the Thanos that preceded him.  It’s just a shame he’s not screen-accurate, since a second chance at him seems rather unlikely.

Cull Obsidian was assembled by purchasing this whole set of figures from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1670: Wasp

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

WASP

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hope van Dyne gears up signature stingers and high tech wings as the buzz worthy hero, Wasp.”

Wasp has perhaps been one of the MCU’s most prominent missing heroes.  She was attached to the pre-MCU version of the Ant-Man movie, and then even appeared in initial drafts of 2012’s Avengers (before Iron Man 2 introduced Black Widow, who would take her place in the roster).  There were even numerous rumors of her playing a larger part in Ant-Man, but Janet Van Dyne was ultimately relegated to a brief cameo via flashback.  It was super cool, but not quite what some fans were hoping for.  Fortunately, the film’s stinger (no pun intended) hinted at Janet’s daughter Hope taking on the role, and this year’s sequel is taking that to heart, even elevating her to a full-fledged deuteragonist.  Perfect time for her to get some action figure love!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wasp is the last single-packed figure in the Cull Obsidian Series of Marvel Legends.  She completes the two-figure Ant-Man & The Wasp subset started by Ant-Man, obviously.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation (those wings help pull her ahead of her partner).  Wasp is based on her design from the movie, of course.  It’s not quite the design we were shown in the first film’s stinger, but it’s not terribly far removed either.  It incorporates a lot of elements of the black and gold outfit that Jan wore for a while in the comics, but mixes things up by throwing in some reds and blues to keep her a little more visually interesting (and, I’d imagine, to also further distance her from Yellow Jacket’s design from the last film).  It also adds a helmet, similar to the one Scott’s sporting as Ant-Man.  All-in-all, it’s actually a pretty solid design, which nicely distills Wasp’s many designs over the years into one striking look.  The figure’s sculpt is all-new, of course, and is about on par with yesterday’s Ant-Man figure.  Actually, I’ll take that back.  This sculpt does one better on that one by including translucent plastic for the lenses of her mask and including her eyes beneath.  That’s an awesome touch, and it makes me wish even more that Ant-Man had also included it.  The paintwork on Wasp is pretty solid stuff.  The application is all nice and clean, something I know never to take for granted with a Hasbro figure.  All of the colors are pretty bold, and the reds and golds stand out well from the dark blue that makes up the base body.  The eyes beneath the mask are likewise clean, and well defined. I also really dig the translucent plastic on the wings.  Wasp includes an extra unmasked head, which sports a fantastic likeness of Evangeline Lily, as well as two sets of hands in both fists and flat-handed configurations, and a spare back-pack without the wings deployed.  It all adds up to a figure that gives you quite a few display options, thus making up for the fact that she doesn’t have as many figures as her co-star.  Wasp is also packed with the last piece of Cull Obsidian, his head.  That’s important, I’d say!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This incarnation of Wasp has no prior figures, so she has nothing to live up to in terms of direct comparison, but after the awesome Ant-Man figure from this same assortment, she definitely had a bar set to clear.  Fortunately, she buzzed right over it.  Ant-Man’s pretty awesome, but there were a few small flaws with that figure that this one corrects.  What’s more, it’s just really cool to finally have an MCU Wasp figure!

Wasp was purchased from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1669: Ant-Man

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

ANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Scott Lang suits up as Ant-Man with a specialized suit engineered by Pym Technologies that lets him blast into any battle, big or small.”

Ant-Man was a film that sure took its sweet time making its way to the big screen, but its sequel, Ant-Man & Wasp seems to have had a much easier time of it, being released just three years after its predecessor, and without any notable production issues.  Like the first film, it would appear this sequel will be serving as a little bit of a breather, following the much heavier Avengers: Infinity War.  The first time around, Ant-Man got its own series of Legends, which hung around for a bit.  This time, Hasbro’s rolled the Infinity War and Ant-Man & Wasp figures into one more generically “Avengers” themed assortment, which seems like a pretty smart move.  Up first, the guy who’s name is first in the title, Ant-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ant-Man is part of the Cull Obsidian Series of Marvel Legends.  Though the theme is more Infinity War, the first Ant-Man assortment had Ultron as the Build-A-Figure, so Ant-Man being part of an assortment that builds an Avengers foe isn’t without precedent.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This Ant-Man gets an all-new sculpt, based on his design from the upcoming film.  It appears that Ant-Man’s suit has been tweaked yet again, giving us something that’s sort of a midway point between his solo and Civil War designs.  It’s definitely my favorite of the the three we’ve gotten so far, and seems to preserve even more of the classic comics design than we’ve seen in previous costumes.  Unlike both Ant-Man and Giant-Man, this figure appears to actually be pretty darn close to the final film design, at least from what we’ve seen in the trailers.  At the very least, the helmet’s quite accurate, which is a tremendous improvement over the first figure.  His body also lacks the overall scrawniness of the Giant-Man figure, which is another plus.  Even without comparing it to the prior figures, the texturing, the layering, and the overall proportions of the sculpt are just really strong, and make it a definite standout.  If I have one complaint, it’s that I miss the visible eyes from the Giant-Man figure.  That would have added an extra kick to this already strong sculpt.  The paint work on this guy is also pretty strong.  The costume has a lot more red this time around, which I certainly prefer to all that black from the first design.  The application is all pretty solid, with only minimal bleed over.  I’m not super crazy about the swirly molded silver plastic on the helmet, but fortunately, all the other silvers are painted.  Ant-Man is packed with an extra, unmasked Scott Lang head.  It has a decent likeness of Paul Rudd, but that grin is definitely more caricature than realism.  I mean, I prefer it to another bland expression, and I’m glad Hasbro tried something different, but I’m going to be keeping this one helmeted.  Also included is the leg of the Build-A-Figure Cull Obsidian.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I made the most of it at the time, I was always a little let-down by the first film’s figure of its main character.  Sure, it’s not a terrible figure by any stretch, but there are more than a few inaccuracies.  Hasbro was just in a very different place when that figure was released, and this guy definitely shows that.  I didn’t know quite what to expect from this guy, but I was very pleasantly surprised when I got him in-hand.  A stand-out figure in an already very strong line-up.  If not for Black Knight’s presence in this series, I think Ant-Man could have been top-dog.

Ant-Man was purchased from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1668: Thor

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

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When the state of the universe is thrown into chaos, Thor sets out to protect Earth and beyond.”

You can’t honestly be that surprised, can you?  I’m looking at the latest set of Infinity War-themed Marvel Legends and it’s a Thursday.  *Of course* I’m looking at the newest Thor figure!  What choice do I have?  None.  I had no choice at all.  Sorry, Tony, it was the only way.  Wait, wrong moment…uhhh, let’s just look at this here Thor figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor is the second of two Infinity War-themed single releases from the Cull Obsidian Series of Marvel Legends.  This is the second IW-based Thor Legends release, following the one from the three-pack with Rocket and Groot.  That one was the early film look, while this one’s his design from the film’s climax.  It’s more in line with the same basic design he’s been sporting from the beginning, but with the shorter hair, of course.  As a major focal point of the film, and the only major character to truly have multiple distinctive designs, a second figure for Thor makes a lot of sense.  As with his triple-packed compatriot, this Thor figure stands 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  The two figures share a fair number of pieces (fitting, since it’s the same base design of the same guy from the same film), with the hands and lower half being identical, and the upper body being ever so slightly tweaked to allow for the cape.  The head is similar to the last one, but missing the eye-patch, of course.  I thought it might be the same sculpt that was used for the Ragnarok figure, but there’s actually a sculpted scar over the eye, so it’s at least slightly changed.  He also gets new arms, featuring his sleeves of armor, as well as the previously mentioned cape.  The new pieces match well with the film design, as well as the pre-existing parts, and make for a rather solid looking figure.  The paintwork is overall very strong work, and an improvement over the three-pack.  He lacks any of the electric effects that plagued that figure (which is a bit ironic, since they’d actually make far more sense here than on that figure), and instead gets a lot more texture work, especially on the boots, which look nice and weathered.  My only complaint has to do with the head. It’s still well-crafted, but something about it is just very un-Hemsworth.  I don’t really know who it looks like, but it’s not Chris. Thor is packed with his new weapon Stormbreaker, the main selling point of this guy.  It’s incredibly well-detailed, and even features a removable lightning effect. I know it wouldn’t be strictly movie accurate, but I wish they’d included a non-powered up eye-patch Head here too, since we didn’t get one.  Instead, we just get another piece, specifically the left arm, of Cull Obsidian.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really sold on this guy initially.  I definitely liked the three-pack variant better, and this guy felt a little extraneous.  Upon getting him in hand, I’m sort of torn. He’s a lot better than I’d expected, and fixes some of the other figure’s flaws, but I just don’t like that head quite as much.  Fortunately, they’re easily swapped, allowing me my perfect Thor.

Thor was purchased from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1667: Black Widow

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

BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“An agent of espionage and expert in hand-to-hand combat, Black Widow is trained to take out any enemy of justice.”

Despite some bad luck initially when it comes to action figures (being the only main team member from the 6-inch line for the first Avengers, being available only in an online-exclusive boxed set for AoU, etc.), things are starting to look up for Natasha Romanov.  In less than a year, she’s had a whopping three Marvel Legends, as well as being included in all three styles of the Infinity War product.  I’ve looked at the basic line’s take on her, and today I’m following that up with the Legends release!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Widow is part of the Cull Obsidian Series of Marvel Legends.  Outside of the Build-A-Figure, she’s one of two Infinity War-based figures in the assortment.  She’s got the same look as the basic figure, which is reasonable, since it’s also Widow’s only look in the film and all.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Despite the last two MCU Widows using the same mold, this one is all-new.  I really liked the basic figure’s sculpt, and wasn’t sure how this one would fare when compared, but oh boy is this one just an all-around improvement.  The head is pretty solid.  I think the basic figure might have the better overall likeness (I’m getting a bit of a Charlize Theron vibe from this one), but this is definitely the more lifelike of the two.  The proportions of the body are nicely balanced, the details of the costume are crisp, and there’s a ton of texturing all throughout.  The vest is a little bit bulky, but there’s a good reason for that; it’s a separate overlay piece.  Pop off the head, and there’s a fully detailed torso underneath, showcasing Widow’s standard body sculpt.  Apparently she just threw a vest over her prior outfit.  That’s a cool detail.  Widow’s paintwork is pretty solid stuff too, matching up with the sculpt in quality.  She’s got the new face print tech, which looks nice and lifelike, and appears to be improving for every figure they use it on.  The body suit has a lot of subtle variations of blacks and greys, stepping up what we saw on the last two Widow releases and keeping her visually interesting.  Widow is packed with two pairs of hands (fists and gripping), her twin batons (which can snap together into one staff), and a pair of tasers to store in her holsters.  I wish the batons could be stowed on her back like in the movie, but beyond that it’s a pretty good assortment of extras.  She also includes the torso of Cull Obsidian, by far the largest piece of him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure had a high bar to clear, since the basic line’s version of her was quite good.  I was expecting to get more milage out of that release before this one came along, but not so much.  This is a very strong figure, perhaps one of Hasbro’s strongest MCU figures, and certainly the best figure of Widow out there.  Now, I’m hoping we get a slight tweak on this one for a proper red-haired variant.

Black Widow was purchased from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1666: Malekith

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

MALEKITH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, Malekith the Accursed uses dark magic to bring vengeful destruction to  the universe.”

Oh hey, look, it’s—*snore*….Wuzzat?  Oh, must have dozed off for a second there. Sorry, this happens when I have to talk about *yawn* Malekith.  He’s sort of a walking snoozefest.  Okay, that’s not entirely fair.  He’s a walking snoozefest in The Dark World.  This here isn’t movie Malekith, it’s comic Malekith, who is at least slightly more interesting, even if he is just sort of Loki-lite.  At the very least, his design is far more exciting, and thereby more ripe for translation into an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Malekith is the second of the two comics-based figures in the Cull Obsidian Series of Marvel Legends.  This figure is actually just a slight tweak on the Malekith included in the SDCC 2017-exclusive Thor set.  The ease of creating this figure is probably what got him the slot, since this is otherwise a pretty new-tooling-heavy assortment.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Malekith’s build on the Reaper body, which seems appropriate, given the overall larger stature of most of the Thor-themed characters.  He uses the bracer-sporting forearms first introduced on Namor, which follow Malekith’s comics design pretty well.  He’s also got a brand-new head, plus add-ons for his collar/shoulder pads, his skirt, and his belt.  The head’s actually a pretty nice piece.  The main head and the hair are separate pieces, allowing for some more depth, and there’s a great mad grin on his face, which feels right for the character.  The hair’s a bit restrictive, but otherwise looks pretty nice.  The new add-on pieces fit pretty well on the body, and help to differentiate him from all the others on this same base body.  The collar is a little floaty, but the hair helps to keep it in place most of the time.  The pleated nature of the skirt means that hip movement is thankfully left mostly un-hindered, which is a plus with designs like this.  Malekith’s main change from the SDCC release is paint.  The SDCC release was a darker, black and red combo, based on more recent appearances, whereas this figure opts for his classic more predominately red design.  The differences between the two are incredibly minor, just like last year’s Enchantress.  It’ll mostly come down to personal preference.  Malekith is packed with a big blade, which his hooked at one end, and serrated down one side.  It’s doing a lot of damage is what I’m getting at here.  He also includes the arm of the Build-A-Figure Cull Obsidian.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I mostly just got Malekith because I wanted to complete Cull Obsidian, so I didn’t have any real expectations of him.  I’m actually pretty happy with him in the end.  Sure, he’s not gonna wow me like Black Knight, but I chalk that up to not really being that much of a fan of the character.

Malekith was purchased from my sponsors over at All Time Toys.  You can visit them in person on Main Street in Ellicott City, MD, or you can view their sizable online catalogue via their online store or their eBay store front!

#1665: Black Knight

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

BLACK KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“An expert horseman and superior swordsman, Black Knight has a checkered history as a powerful combatant with no clear allegiance.”

“No clear allegiance”?  Are we all talking about the same Black Knight here?  Because this is supposed to be a Dane Whitman figure, and apart from a case of mistaken identity early into his first appearance, he’s been pretty firmly allied with the side of good for his 50 year-career.  <sigh> I’m critiquing the bio again, aren’t I?  I really gotta stop doing that.

Black Knight’s a character that doesn’t get lots of toys.  I’d chalk that up to him being relatively minor, though he does have a pretty solid fan-following.  To date, he’s had five figures, and I’ll be looking at the most recent of those today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Knight is one of the two comics-based figures headlining the Cull Obsidian-series of Marvel Legends.  He was actually the first figure we saw from the line-up, back in October.  This is Black Knight’s second Legends figure, but it’s been 11 years since the last one, and that one was never particularly good in the first place.  That one was also based on a more modern, and ultimately more forgettable design, while this one goes back to the classic appearance.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Black Knight is similar to the recently reviewed King Cobra, in that he’s *technically* built on the Bucky Cap base, but he uses mostly derivative parts of that.  He’s got the Bucky Cap pelvis and boots; that’s it.  Beyond that, he’s got the Hob/Green Goblin arms and legs, Dr. Strange’s torso, US Agent’s flared gloves, Zemo’s loincloth/belt, and Polaris’s cape.  This is the same construction that was used for the Raft boxed-set’s Dreadnought, which is what was expected.  It’s a good combo of parts, and, like with King Cobra, it shows how far you can get with just re-used parts.  In addition to all the re-used parts, Black Knight also gets three newly sculpted heads.  The first two are based on two variations of Dane’s helmet.  There’s a first appearance-based one with wings on the sides, as well as the more streamlined design that became his go-to later on.  Of the two, the winged one is my favorite, which surprised me a little, since I tend to like the streamlined look a bit more.  I think it’s partially to do with the facial expressions.  The streamlined design has a teeth-gritted, angry expression, while the winged one has a calmer look that I just prefer for the character.  If I had one minor complaint, it would be that the expressions can’t be swapped between the two helmets; I think that would add a lot to the figure.  The third head isn’t Dane, but is instead the fully-enclosed helmet of his Arthurian-era ancestor Sir Percy of Scandinavia.  Technically, it’d not a perfect match for the body, but it’s close enough to work, and it gets us an extra character.  The figure’s paintwork is pretty solid; it’s more subdued than what we saw on the Marvel Universe figure in terms of coloring, but it still works.  The application is mostly pretty clean, though I did notice a few small spots of slop.  My only real complaint is that his neck peg is molded in the dark blue plastic of his torso and helmet, so it sticks out against the otherwise silver neck.  It can be hidden with careful posing, but it’s still annoying.  In addition to having the two extra heads to swap out, Black Knight also includes his Ebony Blade, which is a unique sculpt (at least as far as I can tell).  He has a little trouble holding it in his right hand (since it was originally sculpted to hold a gun), but it’s not terrible, and it can also be stashed on his belt.  Black Knight also includes the leg of the Build-A-Figure Cull Obsidian, who I’ll be looking at later this week.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I enjoy Black Knight a lot as a character, and I’m always down for new figures.  His last Legends release was a disappointment, and contributed a bit to me falling out of collecting the line.  So, the announcement of this guy was definitely exciting for me.  I’ve been anxiously awaiting his release, and was pleasantly surprised to have found him so early!

In addition to the excitement of getting Black Knight, I have another exciting announcement!  Black Knight was purchased from The Figure in Question’s official sponsor All Time Toys.  All Time has been one of my go-to places for all sorts of cool action figures since they opened in 2007, so I’m thrilled to be working with them in a more official capacity.  If you’re local to the Ellicott City, Maryland area, you can visit them in person on Main Street, or you can also view their sizable online catalogue via their eBay store front!

#1661: Thor, Rocket, & Teen Groot

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

THOR, ROCKET, & GROOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When a blaster-toting raccoon, a teenage tree, and a Asgardian god get together, the journey is sure to be out of this world.”

You thought I’d slip, didn’t you?  You thought I’d forget about my new favorite running gag!  That I’d review a Thor figure on a day other that Thursday!  Well….I actually almost did.  Yep, had this one queued up for tomorrow.  Like an idiot.  It’s okay, I got better.  It’s been a week since I wrapped up my first round of Infinity War-themed Legends reviews.  Now I’m coming back to it for another multi-pack.  This one’s got the aforementioned Thor, as well as one-third of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket and Groot!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Thor, Rocket, and Groot are another displaced Toys R Us-exclusive.  They were meant to be the follow-up to Vision and Scarlet Witch, and were only confirmed to exist just before TRU announced they were going under.  It’s not known how many of them actually made it to TRU, but it’s certainly less than Vision and Scarlet Witch.  As with the other displaced exclusives, it’ll be available over the summer via Entertainment Earth.

THOR

After taking a bit of a back seat for Age of Ultron, Thor’s right back in the forefront for Infinity War.  Of the many characters included in the film, he’s the first to have a variant confirmed.  This one uses his early-in-the-film appearance, picking up from the end of Ragnarok.  If you haven’t seen that film, his eye-patch-wearing head’s going to be a bit of a spoiler.  It’s a major selling point for this set, though, being the only version of the character available right now with the eye patch.  He’s also sans cape, which is a first for the MCU Thor figures.  I like it.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  At first glance, I’d kind of expected this figure to make use of a lot of Gladiator Thor’s pieces, but there doesn’t actually appear to be anything shared between them.  I think that’s ultimately for the best, as I felt there were some minor issues with the last one.  This one has a really solid, hefty construction, and his posablity is actually really great given how bulky he is.  The head looks to be about the same as the un-helmeted Ragnarok sculpt, but with the eyepatch, of course.  It’s a pretty decent likeness of Hemsworth, so I can’t complain.  What I can complain about?  The paint.  It’s perhaps the only thing I don’t like about this figure.  I mean, the basics are fine.  The detailing on the hair works.  But, what I really don’t like is the lightning effects.  The details on the torso in particular look rather cheesy.  I don’t hate the effects on the eye; if it were an extra head, I’d probably find it really cool.  As the only eye-patched Thor head out there?  It’s a little annoying.  Like the Ragnarok two-pack release, he’s packed with Heimdall’s sword.  He still doesn’t use it in this movie, and I still want an actual Heimdall, but it’s better than nothing.

ROCKET

Any Rocket figure is going to have the rather difficult task of surpassing the Mantis Series release.  Hasbro has acknowledged this fact, and pretty much just given us a straight re-release of that figure.  There are some minor paint differences between the two, with the accents being a darker grey this time.  He also only gets the calm head, but he does still get both of his blasters (sadly lacking the cool painted details) as well as his brand-new gun that’s been packed with all of the Infinity War Rockets.

GROOT

I’d say Groot’s the biggest draw of this set, since we’ve not yet gotten this version of the character in Legends form (though we did get a surprisingly good version of him from the basic Infinity War line).  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  Articulation is the main differentiating thing between the two teen Groot figures, with this one being not only far more posable, but also having the articulation better worked into the overall sculpt.  This figure also gets a little more detailing, especially on the smaller details, such as the little twig growing from the top of his head.  His head seems to be a little more accurate to Groot’s Infinity War design than the basic figure (in the basic figure’s defense, he seems to have been based on our brief glimpse of Teen Groot from Guardians Vol. 2), with a rounder face, and an even poutier expression.  He’s not a perfect recreation of Teen Groot; I think his chin’s a bit too pronounced; but he’s still pretty close.  The paint is kind of sparse on this figure, which is a little surprising given the accent work that the basic figure got.  The browns are just left flat, which is a little disappointing.  On the plus side, there’s some slight green representing vegetation, which keeps him from being too monotonous, and his eyes are nice and sharp as well.  Groot includes his gamepad…or *a* gamepad, because I don’t think this is the one he had in the movie.  It’s still a nice touch, though, and I’m glad he got *something*

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this set at one of the two slowly dying Toys R Us’s near me.  I thought Vision and Scarlet Witch were just a stroke of luck, but this set popped up about a week after.  Honestly, it’s a set I was uncertain about when it was first shown off, since there’s not a *ton* of new stuff here.  Rocket’s essentially identical.  If you missed his first release, it’s great that there’s a second opportunity, but if you didn’t, he’s extraneous.  I quite like Thor, like to a surprising level, but he’s got a few flaws, and if you aren’t big on lots of variants of the same character, he too can feel a bit extraneous, especially with the fully equipped version from the Cull Obsidian assortment on its way.  A lot of this set’s selling power is resting on Groot.  He’s a good figure, but I can’t say he’s enough of an improvement on the basic series figure to warrant 5 times the price to get him.  Of course, I got my set for 20%, since I got it from TRU, but I can see it being a tricky sell at full retail.  I’m certainly happy I have it, but not everyone’s as willing to drop tons of money on toys as I am!

*Miss this at TRU and still want a set of your own?  It’s currently in stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Check it out here!

#1657: Professor X

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

PROFESSOR X

MARVEL MINIMATES

“Charles Xavier started with a dream, to locate young mutants and enroll them in a school using his ancestral mansion home as a base to train them to use their powers for humanity’s benefit. Prior to his forming the X-Men, Charles encountered the alien scout Lucifer in the Himalayas. To prevent interference in his race’s planned invasion of Earth, Lucifer dropped a massive stone block on Charles, crippling his legs leaving him confined to a wheelchair.”

Though not necessarily the most toyetic character out there, Professor Charles Xavier has had quite a high number of figures.  And more of them than you might expect are totally true to his comic origins.  Seriously, there’s only three figures out there that come up with some wacky excuse to let him not be in a wheel chair.  Today’s figure isn’t even one of those!  (If you’re curious, I’ve actually reviewed all three, here, here, and here).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was part of Series 37 of Marvel Minimates.  He was originally packed with X-Force Warpath, who was an odd ball choice.  Of course, they did actually have a common theme between them; they both helped complete (or mostly complete) a particular team line-up.  In Xavier’s case, it was the ‘90s X-Men, which had been a running team for a little while at this point.   It was the third Xavier in the line, but the first to use his fancy ‘90s hover chair look.  He uses the standard ‘mate body, so he’s *theoretically* got the same height of 2 1/4 inches and 14 points of articulation as others built on the body, but that kind of is affected by the use of the chair.  The big focus here is the chair.  It was an all-new piece, and to date, this is the only time its been used.  It’s a pretty awesome piece, at least on it’s own.  It’s got a ton of detailing, especially on the inner lining, and both the arm rests also flip open to show off various gadgets.  On its own, it’s great.  The issue it faces is when you actually put Xavier into it.  It’s still not awful, but keeping the whole thing properly assembled without his legs popping the hatch open is quite a chore.  But, if you get it just right, it’s pretty nifty.  The actual figure re-uses the suit jacket/vest/tie combo that first cropped up on Justin Hammer.  It’s a little on the bulky side, but it gets the job done, I suppose.  Fortunately, if you’re not a fan of the jacket, you can remove it, and underneath is Xavier’s field jacketed look he frequently sported in the ‘90s.  It’s a fun extra, and adds a nice extra layer to the figure, and gives us a prominent look that hasn’t been done anywhere else.  Xavier includes a Cerebro helmet, which is pretty cool (even if it means he has a peg hole in his head), as well as a blanket to go over the top of his legs, and a stand to connect to his chair.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed the two pack this guy was included in back when it was new.  At the time, my brother Christian was putting together an X-Force set, so Warpath went to him, and I kept Xavier.  He’s pretty decent, though I have to say, I’ve never found him quite as exciting as I’d hoped.