Tag Archives: Marvel

#1198: Mark V Iron Man & War Machine

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

MARK V IRON MAN & WAR MACHINE

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Ah, Iron Man 2, the one entry in the MCU we all sort of pretend didn’t happen.  The first chink in the armor, if you will.  Admittedly, it’s not a bad movie, just an okay one, hurt by being the sequel to one of the biggest surprise hits of 2008.  Some of the ideas presented there really weren’t bad, and if nothing else, the toys from the movie were cool.  Two of my favorite parts of the movie (and thus some of my favorite entries from the toy lines) were the suitcase armor and Rhodey taking up the War Machine mantle.  The Mark V and War Machine just so happened to be packed together for their Minimates.  How convenient!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Mark V and War Machine were part of the Iron Man 2-tie-in assortment of Marvel Minimates.  They were one of the pair of two-packs shared between the TRU-exclusive assortment and specialty Series 35 (the other being Mark IV and Whiplash).

MARK V IRON MAN

mkvwm2Though somewhat short-lived, the Mark V suitcase armor was one of the real highlights of IM2, being a fun concept, a fun design, and getting easily the coolest fight scene in the movie.  The figure is about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  The Mark V has add-ons for his helmet, shoulderpads, gloves, boots, and belt.  The helmet is the same piece used for Marks IV, VI, and VII, but aside from that these pieces were new to this guy.  They match up well enough with his on-screen design, and he doesn’t suffer from being overly bulked up like a lot of the Iron Man armors from this time period.  In addition to the add-on pieces, the IM2 ‘mates also ramped up the use of specialized pieces, especially for arms and legs.  The Mark V gets new upper arms and legs, which, like the add-on pieces follow the movie design quite well, and also help to prevent him for getting too big.  The paint on this guy is particularly nice, with the metallic red in particular really standing out as really sleek and polished.  Under his helmet, there’s a nice, angry/determined Tony Stark, who even shows some damage from his battle with Whiplash, making him a nice departure from the slew of other Tonys with the same basic face.  The Mark V was packed with an extra hairpiece (a recolored version of Kyle Reese’s), as well as a pair of flesh-toned hands.

WAR MACHINE

mkvwm4From the moment Rhodey quipped “Next time, baby” to the Mark II in Iron Man, I was anxiously awaiting War Machine’s introduction in the sequel.  Of course, we lost the first Rhodey in the mean time, so there was no “Next time” for that particular iteration of the character.  That being said, I think Cheadle ultimately brought more to the role, and was especially good for the transition of Rhodey to true super hero.  This was Cheadle’s first of several ‘mates.  This one’s particularly heavy on the extra sculpted pieces, with add-ons for the helmet, chest piece, and gloves/forearm guns, as well as unique legs and upper arms.  Pretty much the whole basic ‘mate body is covered when this guy’s armored up.  The parts are generally pretty well sculpted, but I do feel this guy suffers a bit from that overly bulked up look that I mentioned the Mark V avoided.  It’s not awful, nor is it super out of character for War Machine, but he still looks a little on the pudgy side from some angles.  Rhodey’s paint work is decent enough, if not as exciting or polished as the Mark V.  Under the armor, there’s some nice extra torso detailing, as well as a fully detailed Rodey head.  In lieu of the hair piece from the first movie’s Rhodey, this guy’s hair is painted on, which I think more accurately portrays the close-cropped look from the film.  As far as the likeness, I can’t say I see all that much of Cheadle in the face on this one, but it’s still a pretty nice head.  Rhodey included a large gattling gun and missile launcher to plug into his torso piece, as well as a separate helmet with the faceplate flipped up, and a pair of flesh-toned hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was around the time I was faithfully buying my Minimates from Cosmic Comix, but for whatever reason, his shipment of these guys never materialized.  I was hardly going to miss out on this pair, so I ended up grabbing them from TRU along with the two TRU-exclusive sets.  I find that a lot of these ‘mates haven’t aged the best, but these two still hold up pretty well, and I’m happy to still have them!

#1195: Cannonball & Domino

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

CANNONBALL & DOMINO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

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Hasbro’s early days with the Marvel license were an odd time.  Truth be told, they didn’t really come into their own with the product until somewhere around Iron Man 2, which was a good three years into their run with the license.  Until then, there were some weird experiments, intermixed with just sort of copying a lot of Toy Biz’s stuff, mostly when it came to Marvel Legends.  The first two series of their Legends were almost entirely chosen and designed by Toy Biz, which gave them a bit of time to figure out some of their own stuff for the half-formed Series 3 assortment.  The first two series hit in early 2007, and the third wouldn’t hit until almost the end of the year.  Hasbro filled the gap between two and three with a handful of exclusives.  Today, I look at Cannonball and Domino, one of those exclusives.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cannonball and Domino were a Walmart-exclusive two-pack.  They were released alongside the similarly exclusive Cable and Marvel Girl two-pack in the summer of 2007, as only the third round of Walmart-exclusive Marvel Legends.  Both characters were at something of a low-point in terms of relevance, but and were actually the first X-Force alumni outside of Cable and Deadpool to join the line.

CANNONBALL

cannonballdomino3Sam Guthrie is one of the more successful characters from his era of comics.  Cannonball started out as a member of the New Mutants and not only make it all the way through that series’ run, heal also transferred into its follow-up X-Force, and then moved onto the main X-Men team, where he was a pretty prominent character for a while.  He fell back into obscurity for a bit, but was recently brought on as one of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers, which seems to have gone pretty well for him.  This figure is loosely based on his first X-Force design (loosely due to the necessities of parts re-use, which I’ll touch on in a sec).  He stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and has 39 points of articulation.  That’s a lot of movement, but, as you can see, it’s sort of at the cost of the sculpt.  The sculpt, it should be noted, originally hails from Toy Biz’s Johhny Blaze version of Ghost Rider.  It was heralded as a great sculpt at the time, but it’s sort of specifically tailored to Blaze, since it’s skeletally skinny.  It’s not that Cannonball hasn’t frequently been depicted as rail thin (because he was for most of his early career), but this seems a bit extreme even for him.  It probably doesn’t help that when he was with the X-Force he was usually depicted as only being a little smaller than Cable.  The point is, this figure makes Sam look more than a little emaciated.  For what it’s worth, the costume details do match up surprisingly well with his X-Force togs, and there’s a lot of really fun detail sculpted into this figure.  I can get why they wanted to re-use the parts, it’s just a bit questionable, that’s all.  As far as new pieces go, Sam got a new head, which captures his slender mug pretty well, as well as a weird dicky sort of piece that slips over GR’s exposed neck and shoulders.  They do their job well enough, and also fit pretty well with the body (though the neck is a bit jarringly smooth).  One last thing about the sculpt: Sam is a testament to why you should avoid soft rubber on action figures.  There’s rubber for the upper torso, and while mine has held up okay (only two very small tears), I’ve seen others that weren’t so fortunate. The paintwork on Cannonball is decent enough.  It takes his color scheme from the comics and translates it into something a bit more consumable by the human eye.  The application is mostly pretty clean but there’s some slop here and there, especially on the white piping of the jumpsuit.  Cannonball included no accessories.

DOMINO

cannonballdomino2Domino’s not a character I really have that much affinity for, so I don’t know a whole lot about her.  She’s got luck-based powers, but it was the ‘90s so that translated to “carries a gun.”  Everything seemed to translate to “carries a gun” in the ‘90s.  Domino’s had her fair share of looks over the years (mostly because no one can make up their minds about how to draw her), and this figure seems to be based on her look from the early ‘00s.  She stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation.  Despite all that articulation, she still can’t sit, thanks to being built on a body from Toy Biz’s period of useless hip joints.  Bleh.  She uses the body of the X-Treme Rogue from TB’s 2006 X-Men line.  It’s actually a pretty good match for the art I’ve been able to find of Domino in this costume.  The proportions are still quite on the wonky side, and don’t get me started on whatever the heck’s going on with the torso (she moves at the boobs and the abdomen?  That’s odd), but Toy Biz certainly produced worse, and Hasbro put out worse the same year as this figure’s release.  So, this isn’t awful.  The head and hands were unique to this figure.  The head is a pretty decent, no-nonsense head, and looks like the later interpretations of Domino.  The hands are sculpted to hold her guns, which is a nice thing to see on a character whose whole thing is having guns.  Domino also got a new add-on piece for her belt, which is fixed with a holster for each leg.  The holsters would probably limit hip movement, but the actual hip joints beat them to it, so not a huge loss, I guess.  Domino’s paintwork is alright.  There’s some really strong work on the head, but the jumpsuit exhibits a lot of slop, in very obvious places.  Domino was packed with a pair of pistols (I seem to have misplaced one of mine…)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When these figures were released, my dad was after the Marvel Girl from the other set.  When he finally found them, our local Walmart was already clearancing them, so he went ahead and grabbed this set as well, on the off chance that I might want it.  As luck would have it, I was still into collecting action figures that particular day, so I did want this set!  Who would have guessed?  Despite not knowing a whole lot about him, I’ve always had a soft spot for Cannonball, and this figure was no exception.  I can point to all the figure’s flaws, but I still really like him.  Domino?  She’s just sort of there.  She’s not a bad figure, but I just feel nothing about her, so she just came along for the ride.  Of course, now that I actually have a Cable, she’s not quite as out of place, so that’s good!

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#1193: A.I.M. Soldier

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

A.I.M. SOLDIER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Back when Toy Biz was still handling Marvel toys, they were prone to showing off figures that would never see the light of day (and they frequently showed them after these decisions were made, because apparently someone working there just loooooved rubbing salt in wounds).  For the 13th series of Marvel Legends, dubbed “Bring on the Bad Guys,” they initially planned to pack each villain with one of the Marvel universe’s many faceless henchmen, but they were eventually cut and replaced with the Onslaught Build-A-Figure.  Seven henchmen were shown: a Skull, a Brood, a Hand Ninja, a Hellfire Club Guard, a Doom Bot, a Hydra Agent, and an A.I.M. Soldier.  The Scrull and Brood eventually were released as part of DST’s Marvel Select line, and Hasbro would release their own versions of the Hydra Agent and Hand Ninja.  When it came time to make an A.I.M. Soldier, Hasbro has switched to the smaller-scale Marvel Universe line; he was a cool figure and all, but it just wasn’t the same.  Eight years after Series 13’s release, the A.I.M. Soldier finally made his way into Marvel Legends.  That’s the figure I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

aim2The A.I.M. Soldier was released in the first series of the Captain America: The Winter Solider Marvel Legends Infinite Series.  The official title is “Soldiers of A.I.M.” which he shared with Baron Zemo (who I reviewed back when he was new).  It certainly fits him better than it did Zemo.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  At the time of his release, the A.I.M. Soldier was an all-new sculpt, but most of the body was re-used for last year’s Ghost Rider. He has a different head, obviously, depicting the signature “beekeeper’s mask,” as well as different forearms, and a unique belt.  The overall appearance is that of the classic A.I.M. design.  There are some slight discrepancies on the front of the chest and the specifics of the gloves, due to this body being preemptively designed to work for the comic version of Star-Lord released just a few months after this figure.  The discrepancies aren’t anything incredibly distracting, and there have been enough slight variations to the A.I.M. design that it doesn’t immediately jump out as being “wrong.”  Plus, it’s just an A.I.M. Soldier.  How important is it for them to be spot on?  The figure also gets an add-on piece for his bandolier, which gives him some nice extra details (and also covers up some of those inaccuracies on the torso).  In terms of paint, the A.I.M. Soldier is decent enough.  He manages use lots of yellow without looking totally ridiculous (he’s still ridiculous, but not totally ridiculous), and most of the application is pretty clean.  There’s a slight matching issue with the yellow at the bottom of the belt piece, but that’s really it.  The A.I.M. Soldier included two blasters, one large and one small, as well as right arm of the Mandroid (the same piece included with Zemo).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Mandroid Series was back when Hasbro was  still working out some of their distribution issues, and also still learning some hard lessons about case-packouts.  While I got all of the necessary pieces for the Mandroid, I never had any luck finding the two swap figures.  While I was out for my birthday last year, I found this guy at 2nd Chance Toyz.  He was loose, but I already had the BAF piece, so no big deal there.  I’m glad to finally have him, and I feel he was worth the wait.  Now, I’ll take my Hellfire Club Guard whenever you’re ready, Hasbro.

#1190: Daredevil & Punisher

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

DAREDEVIL & PUNISHER

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Today marks the penultimate post-Christmas review for 2016.  This review is more or less a continuation of yesterday’s.  I’ll be looking at the remaining Marvel Minimates based on Netflix’s Daredevil series.  Yesterday’s set was heavy on the civilian looks, but this set turns things around, giving us Daredevil’s official, more superhero-y costume, as well as his fellow Hell’s Kitchen vigilante, Frank Castle, aka the Punisher!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

DD and Punisher were released as an exclusive two-pack at SDCC 2016.  They served as a way of hyping up the rest of the Netflix-based sets, as well as tying into the recently released second season of Daredevil.  The set was supposed to get a wider release following the, but some issues with misplaced product in one of Diamond’s warehouses meant that a good chunk of the sets didn’t arrive until almost the end of 2016.

DAREDEVIL

ddpunisher2After spending 13 episodes in Season 1 sporting the all-black number seen yesterday, the final battle of the season finally gave DD his more familiar red getup.  This figure isn’t *quite* that version, but is instead based on his look from the back 3/4 of Season 2, after a stray bullet from the Punisher cracks his original helmet and he has to get a replacement.  The differences are negligible, really, but it’s still important to note.  The figure uses the standard ‘mate body, and as such stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He’s got add-ons for his mask and thigh holster.  The holster is the same piece seen on yesterday’s Season 1 DD (though flipped to the other leg, as it was in the show), but the mask is all-new to this particular figure.  It’s a decent enough translation of his second mask, though the forehead section seems a little too tall.  It’s a minor enough issue not to really bug me.  His paintwork is far more complex than any of yesterday’s ‘mates, and does a pretty solid job of capturing the suit seen in the show.  The colors are a good match, and all of the line work is nice and sharp.  Under the mask, there’s another Matt Murdock face, this time a bit more intense than either of the two in yesterday’s set.  It’s perfectly fine (the stubble in particular is very impressive), but something about this particular expression messes with the likeness a bit; I’m not seeing much of Charlie Cox in there.  DD is packed with his billy club (the same pieces as the eskrima sticks, but in red this time), an extra hairpiece for an unmasked look, and a clear display stand.

PUNISHER

ddpunisher3Frank Castle serves as the antagonist for the first several episodes of Daredevil’s second season, before becoming something of a dueling protagonist as the season progresses.  Season 2 was admittedly a slight step down from the show’s first season, but Jon Bernthal’s turn as the Punisher was easily the high point of the season, and this is coming from a guy who’s never really liked the Punisher.  His presence as the second half of this pack is far from surprising.  Frank spends most of the season in rather normal clothes, but does finally dawn a pretty straight forward Punisher costume during the second season finale.  It’s only on-screen for a few minutes, but it’s a pretty distinctive look.  Punisher uses add-ons for his hair and  coat.  The hair is a new piece, specifically designed to replicate his close-cropped style.  It does alright in that respect, though I feel like something more along the lines of the Red Hulk hairpiece might have done the job a bit better.  The coat is the long coat piece first introduced way back in 2007 on the very first Doc Brown, and it’s a nice, basic piece, which does its job pretty well.  Punisher’s paintwork is more on par with the Season 1 set than DD, being mostly a lot of black.  That being said, there’s a lot of really great detail work on the front of the torso and the belt.  He also has a pretty good likeness of Jon Bernthal, and the detailing on his hair even continues under the hair piece, allowing for him to be displayed with his closer cropped ‘do from earlier in the season (even if he’s not wearing the right jacket and shirt).  In terms of accessories, Frank is packed with a spare set of arms with rolled up sleeves, a machine gun, two handguns, and a clear display stand.  I wouldn’t have minded getting the larger rifle he uses during the final battle with the hand, or even the mini gun he was seen carrying at the very end of the finale, but I guess this assortment works alright too.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I didn’t attend SDCC, I couldn’t pick up this set in person.  I also missed out on the initial supplies that hit online, so I ended up having to play the waiting game.  Ultimately, they were a Christmas present from my parents (who have been supplying me with pretty much all of my Minimates as of late).  This is a great counterpart to yesterday’s set, and gives me another two of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows!

#1189: Daredevil Season 1

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

MATT MURDOCK, FOGGY NELSON, WILSON FISK, & CLAIRE TEMPLE

MARVEL MINIMATES

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For day 22 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’m heading back over to the world of Marvel Minimates.  Said Minimates are my first venture into the merchandising for Marvel’s widely successful Netflix shows.  The first (and in my opinion, the best) of those shows is based on Marvel’s resident Man Without Fear, Daredevil.  His show’s success took a lot of people by surprise, especially merchandisers, including DST, who had no plans for any Minimates from the show until well after it started streaming.  Fortunately, they picked up the license for the Netflix stuff last year, and have gotten to work offering some boxed sets, each based on one season of one of the shows.  Up first were Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the former of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Matt, Foggy, Fisk, and Claire are all based on their Season 1 appearances on Daredevil. The set was released in November of last year.

MATT MURDOCK

ddseasonone3Up first, the show’s titular character.  Of course, the box only refers to him by his real identity of Matt Murdock.  It’s fitting, since this is his Season 1 prototype costume, and he hadn’t yet fully embraced the name until a ways into the season.  The costume is a departure from the usual red togs from the comics (or even his red and yellow first appearance costume, of which I am a huge fan), but it’s not without its roots in DD history, being inspired by both his prototype costume from Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear and his costume from his first live-action appearance in “The Trial of the Incredible Hulk” back in the ‘80s.  Matt is built on the usual Minimate body, with add-ons for his mask, belt, and leg holster.  All three add-on pieces are reused, with the mask coming from Iron Fist, the belt being a standard piece, and the holster being introduced with the Series 43 Daredevil.  All of the parts are good fits for his ddseasonone2on-screen design, and the costume translates to Minimate form exceptionally well.  While the paintwork is mostly just flat back, he does have a fully detailed torso, with subtle highlighting to show off his musculature, as well as the tiny bit of red piping on the shoulders.  Under the mask, there’s also a fully detailed Matt Murdock face, with a pretty solid likeness of Charlie Cox.  For his base look, DD includes his wooden eskrima sticks, given to him by…Stick, as well as the usual clear display stand.  He also includes a spare head, hair, torso, tie, suit jacket, hands, and walking stick, allowing you to turn him into a civilian version of Matt.  Supply your own arms and legs, and you’ve got yourself a whole second figure!

FOGGY NELSON

ddseasonone5Matt’s nothing without his law partner Franklin P. Nelson, better known as Foggy.  Foggy’s a pretty major part of Season 1 and the DD mythos as a whole, so his presence here isn’t a huge surprise. The ‘mate’s really just another guy in a suit, but that’s true to the character, so you can hardly blame DST there.  Foggy uses the same basic pieces as Matt’s alt look, as well as the hair from Series 39’s Thor, which is actually a better fit for Foggy than it was for Thor, if I’m honest.  The pieces add up to a decent enough Foggy, so that’s good.  Foggy’s paintwork is once again pretty basic, but the colors are rather unique, and everything is pretty cleanly done.  He’s packed with a briefcase and a tan messenger bag, as well as a clear display stand.  It might have been nice to get some extra shirt sleeves for him, since the pink is rather unique, but it’s not like he comes with nothing.

WILSON FISK

ddseasonone4Season 1 is as much an origin story for Wilson Fisk (better known in the comics as the Kingpin) as it is for Daredevil.  He’s the main antagonist for the whole season, and it would be silly to leave him out.  That being said…he’s really just another guy in a suit.  An important guy in a suit, but still.  He uses two add-ons: his coat/shirt and a waist riser piece to make him a bit taller.  He’s still lacks some of his show counterpart’s intimidation factor, but there’s only so much you can do, right?  The coat is re-used from 24’s Tony Almeida, and its a good fit for the types of suits he wore on the show.  Paint’s once again a lot of black, but he has a slight splash of dark blue for the shirt, as well as a pretty decent likeness of Vincent D’Onofrio as Fisk.  Fisk includes a clear display stand, and that’s it.

CLAIRE TEMPLE

ddseasonone6Effectively the Coulson of the Netflix shows (being the connective tissue that holds them all together), Claire Temple started out in the comics as a Luke Cage supporting character, which made her turning up in the first season of DD a slight surprise.  Her being in this set of Minimates is also a *slight* surprise, since there are a number of characters more prominent than her in the first season (Karen was held back for the Season 2 set, which is fine, but Ben’s another pivotal character still missing.  Of course, he would have been another guy in a suit, so…).  Of course, releasing her here frees up some space in the other sets, so I guess that’s good.  She’s seen here in her “Night Nurse” garb that she’s wearing when she and Matt interrogate a thug on the rooftop.  It’s probably the most visually interesting of her looks, so it’s a good choice.  In her basic layout, she has Lady Sif’s hair, which is a reasonably close match to Rosario Dawson’s hair in the show, and Amy’s hoody.  Her paintwork is a bit more exciting than the others, with like five whole colors.  The application’s all pretty clean, which is always good.  The likeness on the face is a passable Dawson likeness.  It’s maybe sits a tad too high on the headblock, but that’s my only real complaint.  She includes a knife and a clear display stand, as well as a pulled up hood, and an extra head and hands, so as to complete her disguised look from when she was interrogating the guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was another Christmas present from my parents.  It’s a set I’ve been patiently waiting for, since I really loved DD Season 1.  I know I ragged on this set a bit for being guys in suits, but that’s more because guys in suits aren’t the most exciting things to review.  The actual figures are really a lot of fun, and this set is really worth it just for DD alone.  That guy’s definitely one of my new favorite ‘mates!

#1187: Mandroid & Blizzard

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

MANDROID & BLIZZARD — DONNIE GILL

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Today, I’m making my way into the final five of the 2016 post-Christmas reviews, and wrapping up the last of my Marvel Minimates Series 69 reviews in one fell swoop.  I’ll be taking a look at the series’ resident army builder (boy has it been a little while since we’ve gotten one of these guys, especially a comic-based one) the Mandroid, as well as Iron Man baddie Blizzard!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

There are two Mandroid/Blizzard sets in Series 69.  The one seen here has the more heavily packed Donnie Gill version of Blizzard, but there’s also a variant set featuring Donnie’s predecessor Gregor Shapanka, which is packed one-per-case.

MANDROID

mandroidblizzard2The Mandroid is a ‘mate that’s been a long time coming.  It was first shown off as one of the potential choices during the big Series 50 fan-poll back in 2012, but was beaten by the Nova Corpsman.  We’ve actually seen a good chunk of the losing characters from that poll in the last five years, but the Mandroid is the first of the losing army builders to make it plastic form (I’m still pulling for classic Multiple Man), so good for it!  The figure stands about 3 inches tall when fully armored up, and sports 11 of the 14 usual points of articulation.  The Mandroid depicted here is more or less the classic version of the armor.  It’s a little bit more kibble-y than usual, but the armor tended to vary from appearance to appearance, so this sort of aims to capture the essential elements.  Amazingly enough, the Mandroid has been constructed entirely out of re-used pieces.  He’s got the helmet/chest of Nemesis, the hands of Iron Monger, and the upper arms, upper legs and feet of the Age of Ultron Hulkbuster.  Despite the pieces being from a span of  nine years, the actually mesh together pretty well and make for a pretty solid take on the Mandroid armor.  In terms of paint, the Mandroid is a whole lot of gold.  It’s a nicer gold than some of the earlier ‘mates to use the color, and hopefully this one won’t wear off like some of those.  Also, there’s actually more than one gold present here, which keeps things from getting too boring.  Remove the armor, and there’s a fully detailed figure underneath, showcasing the SHIELD Agent piloting the suit. But it’s not just any SHIELD Agent!  DST Rep Zach Oat confirmed at NYCC that this is none other than Agent Phil Coulson, making his third appearance as a ‘mate.  We had yet to receive a comic version of Phil, so it’s cool that they threw him in there.  The Mandroid is packed with an extra gun hand (taken from Alpha Flight’s Box), plus and extra hair piece, flesh colored hands, and grey feet to turn him into Coulson.  He also gets the usual clear display stand, but the coolest extra by far (for me, anyway) is the coffee mug with the SHIELD logo on it.  This was first shown on Jasper Sitwell’s control art, but ultimately cut.  It’s great to see DST finally got it out!

BLIZZARD

mandroidblizzard3You know how I said it’s been a while since we’d gotten a proper comic army builder?  Well, it’s been way longer since we got any Iron Man foes.  The last comic Iron Man villains we got were back in Series 36, almost 7 years ago.  Fortunately, Blizzard’s one of his cooler looking (heh) foes, and makes up for some of the lost time.  Here’s hoping more foes will follow!  Blizzard is a classic vanilla ‘mate, which makes sense, since his costume’s never really been anything but a basic spandex suit.  As such, this figure is really carried by the paint.  Fortunately, the paintwork is pretty solid.  The white and blue contrast nicely with each other, and the detail lines are all pretty sharply defined.  Sometimes, there’s a bit of bleed through under light colored paints, but not on Blizzard, showing that they actually took the time to apply the proper number of coats!  Yay for learning!  Blizzard includes a number of ice effect pieces, including an ice blast and ice sled (both borrowed from Series 59’s Iceman), as well as an ice fist (one of the Thing’s fists, remolded in clear plastic; it works surprisingly well).  The ice fist I got is a right hand, but DST actually produced both right and left and packed in one at random, so if you get two Blizzards and are particularly lucky, you can give him some ice-y boxing gloves!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the last two days of sets, this pair was a Christmas present from my parents.  I didn’t think much of this set when the series was initially announced (I was a bit distracted by the other sets), but I’ve always kinda liked Blizzard, and the Mandroid is an essential piece of any SHIELD display.  Both of these ‘mates could have been rather dull, but the execution makes them both really fun to play with, and the accessories really give them both that extra punch.

#1186: Falcon & Tigra

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

FALCON & TIGRA

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Following yesterday’s lead, today I’ll be looking at another set of figures from the latest comic-based series of Marvel Minimates, which is heavy on the classic Avengers theme this time around.  Today’s set gives us another take on one of my favorite parts of the Captain America mythos, Falcon, as well as recurring Avenger and all-around under-appreciated character Tigra.  Yes, that’s right, they packed the bird person and the cat person together.  Clever DST.  Clever.  Onto the figures!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Falcon and Tigra are both part of Series 69 of Marvel Minimates, officially dubbed the “Most Wanted” series.  These two are something of an odd pairing for their main universe counterparts (aside from the cat and canary gags), but it’s worth nothing that the two were sort of an item in the 1999 Avengers: United They Stand cartoon, for what that’s worth.  It’s worth a lot to me, but probably not much to others, since I think I’m like one of two people in existence who even remembers that show.

FALCON

falcontigra2Man, remember when it was a really big deal when Falcon finally got his first ‘mate in Series 54?  In less than three years, he’s gone from no Minimates to a whopping 6 of them!  Not bad!  So far, most of Falcon’s ‘mates have skewed more modern, but this one goes back to his early days.  Well, not his earliest days, with all the green and yellow and the total lack of wings.  No, this would be Falcon’s second costume, which is the one that set the tone for all costumes to follow.  Falcon stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s the same as his Series 54 counterpart.  Same hair, same wings.  He’s the same person, so that makes sense.  Plus, the parts were a good fit the first time, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  The main difference here is the paintwork, which I have to say, is really well handled.  All of the important details of his classic costume have been translated very nicely into the Minimate form, and the details are all nice and sharp.  They’ve managed to choose the least tacky red/white combo available, which is certainly a good thing, and I really like the nice, friendly smile on his face.  Falcon’s always been characterized as a pretty easy-going guy, so I’m happy we got a more jovial expression for him (and in general, really.  Minimates can sometimes get a little on the stern side).  There are a few spots that could probably stand to be a little cleaner (the hands in particular are rather uneven), but the paint is by and large very good, and better than most of Falcon’s previous ‘mates.  Falcon is packed with his sidekick Redwing, a flight stand, and a clear display stand.

TIGRA

falcontigra4Falcon may be raking in all the Minimates these days, but Tigra here makes her Minimate debut with this figure.  Poor Tigra doesn’t seem to get much respect these days.  It’s a shame, because she’s an awesome character when written the right way, but almost none of the current crop of writers seem to be able to do that, so she’s either reduced to simple sex appeal or just shoved off to the side and totally ignored.  Perhaps she’ll make her way into the movies and get some respect there.  In the meantime, she’s got this pretty sick Minimate!  She makes use of Dazzler’s hair and Cheetah’s claws and tail (they went waaaaaay back for those parts!).  It makes for a pretty good match for Tigra’s usual depictions, showing that some times, re-use really is the best way to go.  The paintwork on Tigra is downright amazing if you ask me.  She’s one of those rare ‘mates that’s completely painted, which always looks better if you ask me.  The orange really makes her pop and the sharpness of the linework, especially on her stripes is just great.  Her facial expression is a much more intense one than Falcon’s, but it’s well-rendered and works quite well for the character.  Tigra’s only accessory is a clear display stand, but I can’t really think of any accessories she’s incomplete without, so it’s enough to make me happy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Black Knight and Enchantress, these two were a Christmas gift from my parents.  Black Knight may be my favorite figure from this series, but boy do these two give him a solid run for his money (if this were the first Falcon ‘mate, he’d have definitely come out on top).  Tigra is a fantastic new addition to the Avengers line-up, and Falcon is a more than welcome replacement for the Series 54 version.  Another winning set to be sure.

#1185 Black Knight & Enchantress

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

BLACK KNIGHT & ENCHANTRESS

MARVEL MINIMATES

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It’s Day 18 of the post-Christmas reviews, and we are officially in the home stretch.  Just one more week of these things left.  You know, until I…get back to reviewing action figures after three and a half weeks of…reviewing action figures.

For today’s review, I’m getting back to one of my all-time favorite toy lines, Marvel Minimates.  Now, I must admit, I’ve been a little down on the line the last few years.  Not that the figures have been bad by any stretch (because they haven’t) but more because almost all of the focus was either totally current, event-driven stuff (like AvX, Axis, Infinity, and of course all of the movies) or heavy on the ‘90s X-Men side of things.  Series 68 was definitely a breath of fresh air, offering up a really great assortment of classic X-Men, but I was really longing for some good comic Avengers.  The last comic-based Avengers series was way back in early 2012, and even that only offered two new characters (and one of them possessing a marginal connection to the Avengers at best).  68 was great, but I wanted an Avengers series that rivaled that.  Well, as it just so happens, DST was way ahead of me.  Let’s begin with the Series 69 reviews!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Knight and Enchantress are, as noted, part of Series 69 of Marvel Minimates, officially dubbed the “Most Wanted” series, which I certainly think is appropriate.

BLACK KNIGHT

blackknightenchantress3First up, it’s Black Knight, specifically Dane Whitman, the heroic incarnation of the character.  For me, this guy is hands down the star attraction of this series.  Something about Black Knight’s always appealed to me, and up until recently, he hasn’t really been done justice in action figure form (Hasbro’s Marvel Universe version being the one exception).  He’s based on his classic costume, which makes me very happy.  No offense to his other designs, but they always felt like rather pale imitations of his original look.  The figure stands a little under 2 1/2 inches tall and has 12 points of articulation.  He’s built on the standard ‘mate body, with add-ons for his helmet, cape, glove cuffs, and boots.  The gloves and boots are re-used pieces; they’re just basic flared gloves and boots, which work well for the character.  His helmet and cape are both new.  The helmet is spot-on to his comics helmet, and sits very nicely on the head.  The cape is okay, but could be better; it seems to lack some of the dramatic flare usually seen on Dane’s cape, and it looks like something was lost during the transition from control art to final product.  Rarely do I point out something that’s missing on a Minimate, but I was slightly disappointed that Dane just had a painted on belt, with no scabbard for his ebony blade.  It’s a fairly consistent feature of his design, so it’s a slightly odd omission.  That being said, it’s likely a cost thing, and if something was going to be cut, that was the easiest thing.  Black Knight’s paintwork is pretty standard fare for a ‘mate; the colors are all nice and bold, and most of the application good and clean.  I really like the subtle work on the scale mail.  I also quite like the face; it’s intense expression is a good match for Dane’s look on the cover of his first appearance, and it’s always great to get some variety in expressions.  Black Knight is packed with his Ebony Blade (which is the same sword included with the animated Taskmaster ‘mate from a little while back.  It’s a good enough fit for the character), a spare hairpiece for his un-helmeted look, and a clear display stand. 

ENCHANTRESS

blackknightenchantress2It hasn’t been all that long since my last Enchantress review.  It seems 2016 was a good year for her.  Maybe Marvel’s trying to stick it to DC for pushing to get their version of Enchantress to the big screen first?  Regardless of rationale, Amora’s a pretty prominent member of the Thor’s supporting cast, as well as a founding member of the Masters of Evil, and an all-around pretty cool character.  It’s about time she was given her due!  Like Black Knight, she uses the standard ‘mate body, this time with add-ons for the hair and skirt.  The skirt looks to be a standard piece, but the hair is new.  It’s a decent enough sculpt, though it does feel a tad lifeless when compared to some of the other hairpieces in this set.  Still, it looks like Enchantress and that’s really the point.  Enchantress’s paintwork is actually quite impressive.  All the details are very sharp, and there’s a lot of really cool small detail work, especially on the arms and legs.  The face does a really nice job of capturing that alluring, yet still devious look that she’s prone to sport in the comics, and really sells just who this ‘mate’s supposed to be.  Enchantress includes two green effects pieces and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Black Knight and Enchantress were a Christmas gift from my always supportive parents.  As I noted above, this is a series I was really looking forward to, and this set in particular was my most anticipated.  Black Knight’s been pretty high on my Minimates wishlist for a good long while, and I’m beyond psyched to finally have him.  He certainly didn’t disappoint.  Enchantress is no slouch either.  While she may not have quite the same coolness factor as Dane, she’s an essential character, and DST did a great job translating her into ‘mate form!

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#1183: Spider-UK

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

SPIDER-UK — MULTIVERSE SPIDER-MEN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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So, it’s been like twelve days since my last Marvel-related review. That feels like a really long time to me.  Well, fear not dear readers, I just so happen to have the perfect figure to quench that Marvel thirst…or something.  That sounds weird.  I withdraw that comment.  Anyway, umm…here’s a Spider-Man?  Yeah, let’s go with that!  It’s not just any Spider-Man, of course.  No, no, this is Billy Braddock, better known as Spider-UK!  He has the distinction of being both the Spider-Man *and* the Captain Britain of his universe, which is pretty cool I guess.  He’s also another addition to the ever-growing Spider-Verse roster, and that’s always a plus in my book.  Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-UK is figure 3 in the Sandman Series of Marvel Legends.  His package name is “Multiverse Spider-Men,” a name he shares with the latest version of Spider-Man 2099.  He’s one of three Spider-Men in this particular assortment, and by far the most obscure of the three, though I feel certain they could go more obscure if they wanted to.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Spider-UK is debuting a new base body.  Sizing wise, it falls between the Bucky Cap and Reaper bodies.  It’s probably a little closer to the Bucky body, which is why some people are thinking this body might be Hasbro’s way of slowly working out the Bucky Cap, or at least lightening its load.  I gotta say, I really like this new base.  The posability is pretty great,  the proportions are very well balanced, and I really dig the small folds here and there to really sell it as someone wearing an actual cloth costume, rather than one that’s just painted on.  This is definitely a base I can see getting a lot of mileage.  The head sculpt is also new, though it looks to share some common ancestry with the Pizza Spidey head.  It’s wider, of course, allowing it to better fit the body (and the character, who was always pretty lantern-jawed).  The majority of his costume details are painted, which is fine by me, since I prefer painted webzines.  The application is all really solid.  The lines are nice and sharp and the color palette is certainly pleasing to the eye.  He definitely follows the upward trend of paint on Legends as of late.  While Spider-UK includes no accessories for himself personally, he does come packed with the left arm of Sandman, which really has made me want to finish this guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Spider-UK came from, who else, Super Awesome Girlfriend.  We were out at the Walmart near her parents the week before Christmas, and I happened upon this guy, the only figure from the series. I still haven’t seen any of the Space Venom Series, so the fact that this series was already hitting has certainly caught me by surprise.  Funds were tight so I passed.  However, Super Awesome Girlfriend, crafty as she is, asked me to go grab something else, and hid him in the cart.  Then she conveniently had me go look for yet another thing during check-out, all so as to make sure I didn’t see this guy.  She’s crafty like that.  I don’t have a strong opinion one way or another about Spider-UK as a character, but as a figure, he’s pretty awesome!

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#1171: Falcon

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

MARVEL’S FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES (HASBRO)

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It’s day 5 of the post-Christmas reviews, and today I’m jumping back to my biggest collecting passion, super heroes, specifically of the Marvel variety.

Back when Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released, I was quite put out by Falcon’s absence from Hasbro’s small selection of Marvel Legends based on the film.  I picked up the smaller 3 3/4-inch figure and DST’s larger Marvel Select figure, but neither of them quite filled that Marvel Legends void.  Fortunately, Falcon reappeared in last summer’s Civil War, which finally netted him a Legends figure, albeit one that was…slightly difficult to acquire.  But I have it now, and that’s what matters! Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

falconcw2Falcon was released as a Walmart-exclusive entry in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Series.  He started hitting over the summer, but as with just about any Walmart exclusive item, there’s a great level of variance in terms of when they start showing up most places.  When he was initially announced, Falcon was paired with Winter Soldier, presumably in a two-pack, but it when they actually showed up in stores, they were single-packed, just like a normal Legends release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  He’s based on Falcon’s slightly refined Civil War design.  More or less. The actual costume details are a pretty decent match for the film design, with one or two slightly off details.  The biggest issue is the shoulder pads, which should stand out a bit more, but that’s rather minor.  Really, the inaccuracies come into play with the body underneath of the costume.  Anthony Mackie is a pretty bulked up guy, but this figure is rather on the scrawny side, especially when it comes to the arms.  Those things are tiny!  The legs are also rather shapeless, which looks a little odd.  All-in-all, he really could do with more classically “heroic” proportions.  As it stands, he seems less than intimidating.  On the plus side, the head sculpt sports a very nice Anthony Mackie likeness.  It’s easily the best Mackie likeness of the figures I’ve looked at so far.  Falcon’s paintwork is okay, though definitely on the more basic side of things.  The basic colors are all good matches for the source material and what’s there is pretty clean.  That being said, he’s missing some of the smaller details (such as the gold trim on his goggles), and lacks any sort of accent work, which makes him look a little unfinished.  The grey section in particular just feels rather doughy without any work to bring out the sculpted textures.  I’m also a little let down by the opaque goggles, but after getting them three times prior, they aren’t that much of a surprise.  At least they look good.  Falcon includes his flight pack and removable wings, as well as his sidekick Redwing in both collapsed and expanded forms.  The wings aren’t posable, but they have a slight curve, which makes them a bit more appealing than the Select version.  Redwing is cool, but a flight stand would have been invaluable for him.  What’s most notable about the accessories is what’s not there.  Once again, he’s missing his two guns, despite his hands clearly being sculpted to hold them.  I have to wonder if it’s a weird licensing thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I heard this guy was hitting, I searched every Walmart I could, with no luck.  Store after store had just Winter Soldier, with no Falcon in sight.  I eventually gave up looking, but not before lamenting to Super Awesome Girlfriend how bummed I was to be missing out on Falcon.  On Christmas morning, she eagerly handed me a gift, which I quickly IDed as being a Legends figure based on the packaging shape (it’s hard to pull one over on me; I have these things memorized), but I just assumed it was any of the numerous other, easier to find Legends I didn’t yet have.  But nope, it was this guy.  As it turns out, when I mentioned being bummed, she immediately started looking for him online, and found one for a reasonable price.  Yay!  Now I have him!  Could he be better?  Most assuredly.  Compared to the likes of Scarlet Witch and Black Panther, he feels a bit rudimentary.  Am I still happy to have him?  Without a doubt.  There may be better Falcon figures in the future, but until then, you could do a lot worse than this guy.

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