Tag Archives: Marvel

#3745: Spider-Punk

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

SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Okay, let’s keep this semi-regular Marvel Legends reviews thing going a bit longer, shall we?  Last week, I jumped into the newest Spider-Verse related stuff, and I’m gonna keep that running here.  Since it’s been a bit of time between assortments and a lot of the other Spider-Verse product has largely disappeared, the latest set of figures has a lot of re-hash, in order to get the main characters back out there.  Spider-Punk wound up as the breakaway hit of Across the Spider-Verse, which has kept his initial Legends figure tricky to get, which I guess adds to the compelling reasons to do another.  Does it make it worth it?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is part of the second assortment of Across the Spider-Verse tie-in figures from Marvel Legends.  This marks our third Spider-Punk in Legends, and the second one that’s specifically movie-based.  The figure stands about 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  For the most part, the mold’s the same Arlen Pelletier sculpt as the first figure.  It was a very good sculpt the first time around, and it remains a very good sculpt still.  This time around, he gets a brand-new unmasked head.  It was a major omission from the prior figure, especially given how much of the movie he spends unmasked.  It fits well on the body and it’s also a solid recreation of how he looks in the film, so I definitely count it as a strong addition the the sculpt.  He also gets the little trans-dimensional goober wrist band, which was missing from all of the first assortment figures.  In the film, Spider-Punk change’s colors from shot to shot, making him look like an ever-changing assortment of punk-rock fliers and photos.  The first figure had his “standard” colors, while this one goes for an alt look, which is a monochromatic purple.  It’s a rather unique look with some decent pop to it.  The paint’s not bad; technically, there’s less applications than the standard, but what’s there remains pretty strong.   Spider-Punk gets the same alternate hand and guitar as the last release, but now in colors to match the new figure.  He also gets the same unmasked head that’s already on the body, but in standard colors, meant for use with the regular figure.  There is, however, no *masked* head for this figure, so he’s in a similar boat to the original release.  The mold’s already there, so it’s a pretty egregious omission.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first movie Spider-Punk figure was hands down my favorite figure in the initial assortment, and he was subsequently my favorite part of the movie when I got to see it.  I definitely missed the unmasked head on the first one, so a revisit certainly isn’t unwelcome.  I like the additional head for the original, but I’ll admit the missing masked head’s a real bummer.  Still, the figure remains a fun one, and I won’t turn down another Spider-Punk.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3744: Commcast

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

COMMCAST

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“A technological wizard, Commcast lets his keyboard do his fighting for him! Not only can he access virtually any information in the world within seconds, but this cyberpunk hacker has an arsenal of high-tech weaponry available via his computer! Disdaining physical combat, Commcast uses knowledge as his weapon of trade, usually allowing others to fight his battles for him, while overseeing the action from a safe distance. Still when the action gets too close for comfort, Commcast and his hover disc have taken down many an overconfident foe!”

It’s December, a month for looking back fondly with nostalgia, and what better thing for me to be nostalgic about that Toy Biz Marvel?  Wait, Comcast.  Well, I’m certainly not nostalgic about Comcast, and I’m happy I left them behind.  Oh, wait, it’s ComMcast, with two “m”s.  That’s not the communication company, it’s the X-Force character!  Admittedly, they’re about equally effective, I suppose, since Commcast never really did amount to much as a character.  He’s just one of the many, many, many ’90s X-characters introduced because they were so popular, who then fell into the background.  But, it was the ’90s, so he got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commcast was released in Series 4 of the X-Force spin-off to Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  He hit in 1994, which is a surprisingly quick turnaround from the character’s original 1993 appearance.  You’d think a character like this would be the most obscure part of the assortment, but Slayback, Killspree, and X-Treme all give him some serious competition for that spot.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty much the standard for the line, albeit somewhat restricted by the nature if his design.  His sculpt is also pretty standard.  It’s not a bad recreation of his comics design, which is itself surprisingly tame for ’90s standards.  The posing of the arms is a little awkward, and he’s a touch pigeon-toed.  Also, his holster is kind of ridiculously large.  That said, he’s a pretty cleanly defined figure.  Commcast’s paint work is a touch rough.  There’s some notable slop around the boots and gauntlets, and the coverage on the silver sections is a bit inconsistent.  The face isn’t bad, I guess, though.  Commcast is packed with a gun and a “Mutant Hunting Hovercraft.”  Honestly, the hovercraft is the coolest bit with its collapsable set-up.  It even got re-used for the re-release of Cyclops II.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, the biggest thing that sticks in my memory about this figure was that he was the origin of the hovercraft part that came with my Cyclops figure.  I don’t really know anything at all about the character, and nothing about him every spoke to me in particular.  At this point, I’m trying to get a complete run of the Toy Biz Marvel stuff, which leads to me buying a lot of figures I wouldn’t necessarily buy on their own.  Commcast fits squarely into that set-up.  I wound up snagging a sealed one during my summer vacation this year.  He’s not a star piece, or anything, but I can genuinely say he’s better than I’d expected.

#3742: Pavitr Prabhakar

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

PAVITR PRABHAKAR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The cast of Spider-Verse, both as a comics event and as a set of movies, is populated by a mix of spider-variants both new and pre-existing.  While a number of the ones at the center of things were created for the story (such as Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk), there are a very great many that existed well before the event.  Pavitr Prabhakar, aka Spider-Man India, was created for a series that retold the Spider-Man story in an Indian setting for an Indian market in 2004.  The story was brought back to the States in ’05, and he was subsequently worked into the main “Spider-Verse” event.  He’s one of the notable new Spiders in Across the Spider-Verse, albeit in more of a supporting role.  He was left out of Hasbro’s first round of toy coverage, but the second round swoops in with the fix!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pavitr Prabhakar is another figure from the second Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, which just started hitting retail in the last few weeks.  This is Pavitr’s first figure treatment, and he’s also the only proper “new” character in the assortment (though I guess Miles G and Peter A are *kinda* new characters for the line).  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  He’s notably shorter than the others, but that’s appropriate, and adds some nice height diversity to the set-up.  His articulation  scheme is pretty decent overall, but I did find it a little restricting at the shoulders and neck, given what we’re used to for Spider-Men.  The figure gets a totally new sculpt, based on his updated design from the film.  In the comics, much like with Spider-Punk, Pavitr’s costume is a far closer adaptation of the traditional Peter Parker design.  They did a pretty radical re-work for the film, resulting in a design that’s far more unique, but also still feels at its core like it gets the spirit of a Spidey design.  It translates very well to figure form; it’s sharp, clean, and it has a good flow to it.  Pavitr’s color work is very bright and clean, and quite eye-catching.  What paint work he has is sharply applied, especially the “tattoo” designs.  About the only thing I’m not crazy about is the feet, which are supposed to have his toes exposed.  They’re sculpted that way, and sort of painted that way, but the coverage is inconsistent, and it doesn’t really look natural.  Pavitr is packed with an alternate unmasked head (which I’m very happy is a standard thing here), two pairs of hands, and his bangle-web-line.  The bangles on his wrists, as well as the dimensional stabilizer, are also all removable, so you can mix up his look appropriately that way as well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I only had moderate knowledge of Spider-Man India before going into the movie, but after seeing the movie, he jumped up very high on my want list.  He was certainly the most notable omission from what we got last year, so he was very definitely a strong choice for this line-up.  He’s just a very solid figure and a solid addition to the line.  He rounds out the main set of characters very nicely.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3740: Peter Parker

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

PETER PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

It’s been the better part of a moth since I’ve looked at any Marvel Legends, which isn’t a *crazy* long time, but it is a notable hiatus for me.  I largely blame that on Hasbro’s slightly more erratic release schedule for the line in the last year, though I suppose my slightly more tailored interests regarding which figures I’m picking up also contribute.  While Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third installment in Sony’s animated Spider-Verse films is still a ways off, there’s still plenty of product to be had from the first two movies, so Hasbro’s taking the opportunity to go back and do some more of those.  Up to this point, a notable omission from the line-up has been a standard, fully-costumed version of Peter, which this latest round finally gives us, albeit in the form of Peter A…or whatever is the “official” designation of the Peter from Miles’ home dimension.  The one what’s voiced by Chris Pine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter Parker is part of the second Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  However, like the standard Miles from this assortment, as well as the Peter B from the last round, he’s officially Into branded, since that’s the movie he’s actually from and all.  We are, as of yet, still without any Peters at all from Across, but it’s not like I’m bitter or anything.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s a mix of old and new parts, with the upper torso and arms from the Peter B figure from last year.  It also looks like his head is the same as the Stilt-Man Series unmasked head.  The rest is new, and it offers up some improvements to the articulation scheme.  He’s now got the waist crunch like we’ve been seeing on more recent Spideys, as well as drop hips for slightly better range.  Some of the joints are a little sticky, and it would have been cool to get some butterfly shoulders, but generally it’s a nice step up.  The actual sculpting is as top-notch as the Spider-Verse figures have been the whole time.   Generally, he’s pretty sharp, and they’ve given him those nice, defined abdominal muscles to show that he’s not Peter B.  Paint here is generally pretty basic stuff.  Largely, he’s using molded colors, of course, but there’s the blue/red overlaps, which are overall okay.  There’s some slop on the mid-section of my figure, but it’s minor.  The head gets some more in depth work, with a printed face, and some accenting on the hair.  Peter is packed with a masked head (the same as the one from last year) and two sets of hands in fists and thwipping poses.  It covers the basics, but does feel a little light.  Maybe another head with a damaged mask, like his final scene showed, would have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly wasn’t expecting to get this guy, especially once we’d moved onto the figures from the sequel.  I even bought the Sentinel figure largely because it came with the parts to do this look, and I wanted the option.  Hasbro sure did show me, huh?  He’s pretty basic, as far as figures go, but that’s not a bad thing.  He does what he needs to, and he does it well.  He’s an easy variant, but also a new character, so that’s very cool.  Now, with this Peter covered, can we please get one from Across finally?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3735: Giant-Man

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

GIANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Hey, guess what time of year it is!  It’s time to review a Haslab!  Man, it’s crazy how I do this *every* year with no breaks.  What’s that? There was a break?  I missed a year?  Oh, man, how did that happen?  Oh, yeah, Engine of Vengeance.  Boy was that a whole thing.  But also, it seems so quaint nowadays, doesn’t it?  Ah, well, at least we got back on the horse…or Giant-Man, as it may be.  Yes, continuing the trend of updating Build-A-Figures from the Toy Biz days, Hasbro provided an update for was probably the hardest to complete of all the Toy Biz Build-A-Figures, Giant-Man.  First appearing in Tales To Astonish #49, Hank Pym’s second identity, Giant-Man, was an inversion of his previous shrinking powers, adding an important switch-up that would remain key to his identities going forward.  The identity also debuted alongside one of the greatest Marvel villains of all time that no one remembers, the Living Eraser, which I think is pretty noice.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Giant-Man is the fourth Marvel Legends HasLab project, and the third to successfully meet its funding goal.  The campaign for Giant-Man ran last year from September 9 to October 23, needing 10,000 backers to go into production.  It ultimately ended with 13,889 backers, putting it at just 111 shy of the third stretch goal.  It’s the lowest backer count of the successful Haslab projects, but it’s not a huge shock given that it’s Giant-Man, and he’s got more limited appeal than the other two, and also isn’t getting caught up in all the pandemic speculation buying.  This guy started shipping out to backers at the end of last month.  The figure stands 24 inches tall and he has 90 points of articulation.  While he’s the shortest of the three HasLabs, he’s also the most articulated, which feels like a good trade off.  In general, he does just feel a but more mobile than the other two, which is honestly pretty nice.   The only thing I’m not crazy about is how sticky the finger articulation is.  I’m very concerned about breakage, because they just don’t seem as solidly constructed as prior offerings.  Where Galactus and the Sentinel both used more modernized versions of their designs for the purposes of the HasLabs, Giant-Man is based more specifically on his classic look, specifically the second iteration with the “suspenders.”  Giant-Man is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Rene Aldrete.  It’s generally a pretty strong one, taking the classic design and adding enough additional “real-world” details to fill in the larger canvas a bit more.  It also generally maintains consistency with the smaller Giant-Man we got in the two-pack earlier this year.  Giant-Man’s color work is largely reliant on molded colors fitted together, which looks appropriately striking, and just generally works well.  There’s some smaller accent work that works okay, and, much like the sculpted details, fills in some of the larger canvas a bit.  At the start of the campaign, Giant-Man had three swappable face plates, and three sets of eyes.  The faces are standard, smiling, and angry, and the eyes are *supposed* to be straight ahead, off to the left, and looking down.  Unfortunately, on the eyes, it seems a rather sizable portion of the figures are actually shipping out without the correct selection of eyes.  In my case, there are no straight ahead, just two looking off to the side, which is more than a little annoying.  It seems Hasbro is planning to get replacements back out to people, but it seems things are still in the early stages there.  So, for right now, I guess he’s got a bit of Todd McFarlane syndrome going on.  Ultimately, it feels like it might have been a few too many moving parts for what’s ultimately a minimal adjustment.  The three faceplates also offer up some variety, but ultimately, I don’t see myself using anything but the standard for actual display.  Partway into the campaign, Hasbro also offered up interchangeable antenna, so that he can have either black or white.  I thought I’d prefer white, but I actually think black works a bit better at this scale. There were two possible stretch goals, both pertaining to extra looks on the head.  The one we got was the zombie one, which provides an extra faceplate, eye set, and antenna set.  Honestly, I wasn’t much sold on it, but it works surprisingly well.  It’s too bad we don’t have any other “classic” zombies to go with him, but he still looks nice with the What If…? Cap we got.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just when I was out, they pulled me back in!  After Galactus, I really thought I was done with HasLabs.  The Engine of Vengeance came along and seemed to confirm that for me (not that I was rooting for its failure or anything; I thought it was a decent product, I just didn’t have the space for it), but then this one showed up, and how could I say no?  I never did get to finish the Toy Biz one, so this was a cool opportunity.  He’s definitely fun.  Does he top the Sentinel and Galactus?  No, but also I didn’t expect him to.  He’s a more basic style of figure, and, apart from some slight hiccups, it works.

#3725: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After a near-fatal encounter at an ancient Egyptian temple, mercenary Marc Spector agrees to become the Earthly Avatar for the deity Khonshu”

Hey, you guys, guess what I’m reviewing today!  That’s right, it’s Moooooooooooooooooooooooooon Kniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!  Gotta do the long, drawn out Moon Knight bit.  It’s one of my signature things.  Of course, it was a more distinctive thing when there weren’t so many fricking Moon Knight figures, but who am I to complain about Moon Knight figures?  Just not the right guy, I tell ya.  And this way, I’m never too far away from another Moon Knight review, and isn’t that just the world we all want to live in?  Well, it’s certainly the world *I* want to live in.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is Figure 1 in the Blackheart Series of Marvel Legends.  As I touched on in my Bloodstorm review, this assortment is Fan Channel, and is themed “Strange Tales.”  Moon Knight’s connection to the theme is still a little loose, but closer than Bloodstorm’s, I feel, and it’s another chance to get a “name” in the set.  We’ve gotten a variety of Moon Knight looks in Legends in the last few years, but this one aims for a different one; he’s based on Moon Knight’s look from the short-lived Fist of Khonshu series from ’85….well, mostly.  I’ll get to that.  It’s only a slight tweak to his classic look, but it’s a design that’s not gotten the Legends treatment yet (though a slight variation of it showed up in Toy Biz’s 10-inch line in the ’90s).  It’s also one of his three skins from Ultimate Alliance (meaning we just need his “Ultimate” costume to wrap that up; your move, Hasbro).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He uses the adjusted version of the 2099 body with the pinless elbows and knees, which is a little more sleek and clean.  He’s using the same masked head (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), and the lower legs from the classic Moon Knight, but gets a new cape, gauntlets, and belt.  The cape’s not drastically different from the original piece, but it sits a little better on the body and no longer drags at the feet, which are both plusses.  The gauntlets and belt are based on the more ornate pieces from the Fist of Khonshu series, and are quite nicely done, and accurate to the source material.  He’s got very minimal paint work, but what’s present really works, and it’s all pretty crisp and clean.  He’s got the traditional moon crescent logo, rather than the Ankh that he initially had with this design, meaning he’s really using the West Coast Avengers variant of the look, which is just fine by me.  Moon Knight is packed with two pairs of hands (the gripping and fists from his 2017 release), a large crescent blade, three smaller ones, Gambit’s staff in white, which are all re-used from prior releases.  He also gets a new Ankh (which is the only of the additional Fist of Khonshu weapons we get), as well as the head to the Blackheart Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s a new Moon Knight, so obviously there was no chance of me passing this one up.  Honestly, it’s a look I’m happy to get, since he has it during the his WCA tenure, and that served as my earliest exposure to the character.  It’s a solid figure; it takes what works from prior Moon Knights, and improves and adds the new costume elements, making it a solid update that’s not making the earlier figures redundant.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Hey, do you wanna own a thing from this review?  Well, if it’s the Moon Knight, that’s too bad, because he’s mine and you can’t take him.  But, if you’re in the market for Blackheart’s head, or perhaps some other items from the official Figure in Question collection (TM), check out my eBay page.  Or, you know, don’t, I guess.  It’s your time.  Who am I to account for it?

#3722: Blood Storm

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

BLOOD STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A mutant and proficient thief, Ororo Munro was targeted by Dracula and transformed into a vampire known as Bloodstorm.”

Hey!  It’s Halloween!  I swore to myself that I would start this review with some variation of “it’s Halloween, oooooo, scary” over my own dead body.  My own, cold, dead, blood-sucking body.  Speaking of cold, dead, blood-sucking things, you guys remember when I talked about Mutant X?  Man, that sure was a thing.  Well, I finished my read-through of the series back in July, and here in October, we’ve gotten our first Mutant X-themed figure in over 20 years.  Riiiiiiight after I finished my read-through.  Look, I’m not saying it’s all thanks to me, but I’m okay if you guys want to.  So, after that very long wait for another figure, who do we get?  ….It’s Bloodstorm…of course it’s Bloodstorm.  It would be Bloodstorm.  Well, let’s review Bloodstorm.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bloodstorm is figure 2 in the Blackheart Series of Marvel Legends, which is a Fan Channel exclusive set.  The assortment is officially titled “Strange Tales” and generally themed around the supernatural side of Marvel.  Bloodstorm’s certainly an offbeat choice, but not the weirdest, I suppose.  She gets a leg-up by being a Storm variant in a year when everyone wants X-related stuff.  She officially debuts Mutant X as a theme in Legends, and is the second Bloodstorm figure we’ve gotten, the first being Toy Biz’s 5-inch figure from 2001.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  She’s a mix of old and new parts.  She’s using the legs and feet from the mohawk Storm from the Apocalypse Series, and the arms from Jessica Jones.  It’s an okay selection of parts, but certainly ones that are showing their age.  The legs in particular are kind of warping, and the exposed joints are especially obvious.  The arms look fine, but they’re definitely restricted at the elbows.  The rest of the parts are new, sculpted by Paul Harding.  The new parts are definitely very strong additions, and do a lot to carry the older parts when viewed as a whole.  There are two different heads, one calm, and one more dynamic.  The dynamic one is certainly my favorite of the two, and it makes for good posing.  Bloodstorm’s color work is decent enough.  Obviously, very dark and monochromatic, which is the part.  The heads both get some pretty solid accent work on the faces and hair, which really sells the already pretty solid sculpts.  Bloodstorm is packed with two sets of hands, one in open gesture, the other more a claw pose.  No fists is a bit of a bummer, since the two included pairs are rather along the same lines.  She’s also packed with the torso and tail of the Blackheart Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Look, guys, a Mutant X assortment of Legends has been my dream set for a good long while, so *any* Mutant X Legends is a pretty big deal.  But, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t buy this figure out of obligation more than actual desire to own it.  Bloodstorm’s definitely not my favorite part of the book, and after finishing it, I still do not get the hype behind her.  But, I really, really want more Mutant X figures, so I have to buy her.  She’s alright.  I find her a bit hampered by the old parts, but the new ones are at least pretty strong.  Can I please get more Mutant X figures now?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Would you like to own an official piece of The Figure in Question history…or something like that?  Well, the figure reviewed here isn’t available, but I’m selling the Blackheart Build-A-Figure piece, as well as some other items from the official Figure in Question collection, over on my eBay page, so check it out.  Or don’t.  I have no control over you outside the confines of the review.

#3719: Tony Stark

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

TONY STARK

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

Tony Stark!  Makes you feel!  He’s a cool exec with a heart of steel!  …you know, like in the song?  What, do you not all just have the ’60s Marvel cartoon theme songs on repeat in your heads?  Well, they’re pretty catchy, for what it’s worth.  Today, though, I’m not talking about the Iron Man cartoon with the Tony Stark making you feel, I’m talking about the Iron Man cartoon after that one, from the ’90s.  It had a whole tie-in line of figures, which I don’t look at super, super often.  So, you know what, let’s look at that cool exec with a heart of steel now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tony Stark was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line in 1995.  He was one of the three Iron Man variants in the assortment, though I guess he’s only *technically* an Iron Man.  This was Toy Biz’s second go at a suit-up version of Tony-to-Iron Man, and the first to be properly marketed as Tony.  He was also re-released in 1997 under the Marvel Universe banner, though the figures proper are virtually identical.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His sculpt was all-new, and remained unique to this guy.  It’s based on his “tech underwear” look from Season 1 of the cartoon, right down to the first season’s shorter hair style.  It’s a weird look to be sure, but it’s captured well enough here, and it has the benefit of letting him more easily interface with the rest of the line’s armor gimmick.  He’s got the same ports as the other Iron Men, so you can move over the armor pieces from those ones to sort of mix and match him, if you so choose.  The head sculpt is actually quite nice, and goes a bit further with the detailing than the animation model, with more texturing on the hair and mustache.  His paint work’s pretty sharply handled, if generally on the basic.  The silver and gold is all painted and it’s cleanly applied, as is the black for the hair and the eyes.  Stark is packed with his armor carrying suitcase, which carries his helmet and a pair of shin guards.  The whole thing unfolds to look somewhat like his unfolded armor on the show, and there’s an etched in detail for the armor parts that aren’t present.  The armor pieces are pretty nice.  The helmet’s particularly cool, even if it just covers the front half of his face.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If I’m recalling correctly, this figure is actually my first Iron Man.  Well, not Iron Man proper, of course; that was Space Armor Iron Man.  But this one allowed me to dip my toes into the Iron Man world a bit.  I’m pretty sure I got him from a trip to KB with my Dad, and I want to say I got Gambit at the same time?  I still have my original, and most of his parts, but he’s taken a beating over the years, so I got the less beaten up one seen here at Yesterday’s Fun over the summer.  He’s very much function over form, but that only further solidifies him as a fun figure, whom I very much enjoy.

#3716: The Hellfire Club

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

EMMA FROST, JEAN GREY, SEBASTIAN SHAW, & DONALD PIERCE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

There’s been a slowdown on my Legends buying more recently, largely because there’s been a bit of a slowdown on Legends to buy recently.  There’s a bunch of stuff upcoming, of course, but in the mean time I’m continuing to fall back on some of my older un-reviewed stock.  I’m jumping over to the X-Men side of things, specifically focussing in on their early ’80s run, which is really where it’s at for me when it comes to X-Men.  During “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Claremont and Byrne introduced a new group of “evil” mutants, the Hellfire Club, inspired by an episode of The Avengers (no, not those ones), which grew into a whole big thing, which is sort of humorous given that the group is really more of a footnote in the actual story that introduced them, as it quickly evolves to more cosmic levels then the Club can really muster.  Still, they’ve been a pretty recurrent bunch of characters, and they got their toy due in the form of a boxed set a few years ago, which I’m reviewing today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Hellfire Club were a Pulse Con-exclusive Marvel Legends boxed set, offered up in 2020.  They were clearly intended to be that year’s San Diego Comic Con set, but the con got cancelled because of the pandemic, and Hasbro switched it to a fully online model.  They also offered up a Hellfire Club Guard army builder at the same time, but he was a separate item, not officially bundled with the rest of them.

EMMA FROST

Emma Frost, the White Queen, is no stranger to Marvel Legends, though until recently she *was* a stranger to *good* Marvel Legends, with her debut in the line, as part of Hasbro’s very first series of Legends no less, being one of the very worst figures Legends has ever spawned.  Her classic costume, which is admittedly rather on the risque side, has only been done in Minimate form before this, which certainly contributed to her being the biggest pull of thus here set.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Emma got a lot of new parts, for her torso, upper arms, and cape, as well as re-using the alternate head from her Walgreens figure, and filling in the rest with the TRU Storm body.  It does unfortunately mean that she’s got visible pins on the knees, which is sort of a bummer, and also that her legs are a bit prone to warping and generally making it hard to keep her standing.  It was not easy keeping her standing for the photos here, I tell ya.  The new pieces are generally pretty nice, though.  The corset piece certainly does what it’s supposed to, and looks the part, and does so in a way that’s sharply sculpted, and reasonably well proportioned.  I do like that all of the elements of her outfit barring the boots have proper raised edges sculpted, so we’re not just relying on paint for the break.  Even the boots break at a joint line, so it’s still the same general concept.  The Walgreens head, which I hadn’t looked at before, is certainly a solid sculpt, though maybe a more generic than Byrne depicted her.  I’m not crazy about the cape, which is very thick and heavy, and virtually makes her unposeable.  It’s good for standing there and not much else, it seems.  Her paint work is pretty minimal, since the sculpt has so many separate pieces, but what’s there is decent.  My figure’s just a touch wall-eyed, but generally things look good.  Emma is without any accessories.  Not even an extra set of hands.  That’s definitely weak.

JEAN GREY

This is the second time Jean Grey as the Black Queen has gotten the Legends treatment, following the TRU-exclusive that repainted the first Legends Emma, and made her a surprisingly less awful figure.  Like that one, this one is again re-using parts from Emma, namely the Emma I just reviewed.  She gets herself a new head, collar, and cape in order to differentiate her.  The head is really nicely done, and is consistent with the other Jeans in the line in terms of her face, while also giving her that slightly off expression that seems ever-so-not-Jean.  The cape on this one is more dynamic than Emma’s, allowing for more actual posing.  Unfortunately, the legs on mine are even more wobbly then Emma, so he really has a hard time standing.  Since her construction is very similar to Emma, a lot of her coloring works the same way too, with minimal actual paint.  What’s there is generally good, but there’s some slop around her waistline.  While Emma had no accessories, Jean gets three pairs of hands (open gesture, fists, and gripping), a whip (re-used from Black Cat), and an alternate head to allow her to be Selene, her replacement in the role of Black Queen.  Technically, Selene’s outfit was different than Jean’s (and, by extension, Emma’s), but it’s close enough, and it’s just nice to actually get the extras after Emma was totally lacking.

SEBASTIAN SHAW

Sebastian Shaw is the Black King, and the de facto leader of the group.  He was also played by Kevin Bacon in First Class.  How many degrees of separation does that put him at?  Any?  I don’t know exactly how those rules work.  He’s also no relation to the actor who plays old Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.  While Shaw got a Minimate for First Class, this is the first, and to date only, time his comics counterpart’s gotten figure treatment.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  His mold was largely new, designed to be shared with the other members of the Club.  I looked at it originally for Wyngarde.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, but it admittedly feels a little skinny for Shaw.  I feel like he should have just a touch more presence.  He gets a unique head sculpt, which is a respectable recreation of his usual look.  This one feels more in line with the Byrne design, so I’m happy about that.  His paint work is a little more involved that the women, with a decent amount of accent work on the vest, which is quite cool.  The buttons are a little sloppy on mine, as are the edges of the cuffs, but he looks okay overall.  He’s packed with two sets of hands (relaxed and fists), the Beast’s book (which still has its scientific formulas), and Magneto’s helmet.  The helmet is the one from the Amazon set, so it’s still got the peg that would have gone into the head, meaning no one else can actually wear it, but it’s cool for holding.

DONALD PIERCE

Donald Pierce, the White Bishop, is noteworthy for being a non-mutant member of the Club.  Instead, he’s just a cyborg.  He was in Logan, but I don’t really wanna talk about it.  In the comics, he left the Club and spent a lot of his time with the Reavers, a larger group of cyborgs.  He’s a cool concept, but I feel like they lost the thread on him a while back.  This is his only time getting a figure.  He’s using the same body as Shaw, just with a new head.  It’s a more modern version of the character, with a face that’s too squared off and full to be John Byrne’s Donald Sutherland-inspired take on the character.  It still works well enough, though, and I think it reads okay as the character.  His color work is more earthy tones than Shaw’s, which differentiates them nicely from each other.  The application’s a little cleaner on Pierce than it was on Shaw as well.  He’s packed with an alternate set of robotic hands (courtesy of Doom), Domino’s blaster style guns, and Wolverine’s mask.  The alternate hands work alright for the cyborg bit, I guess, but I can’t help but wish for a comic-accurate set of torn up arms showing off the cybernetics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t actually get this set from Pulse Con, for a multitude of reasons.  I wound up getting it loose, and in two different parts, in fact.  I lucked into the two Queens fairly early on, when they were in a short market lull, allowing me to not donate my whole arm and leg to the purchase, and then I got the other two later down the line, when they’d firmly become the “cheap” ones.  The Queens, even with the standing and posing issues, are certainly the stronger half of the set.  The guys aren’t bad, just sort of okay.  Largely, I think they’re probably hampered by me having gotten Wyngarde first, and just generally liking Wyngarde more as a character.  I do hope to some day track down a guard or two, and I’m intrigued to see if they ever get around to making Leland.  I guess we’ll just see.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this set to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3714: Silver Surfer

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

SILVER SURFER

SILVER SURFER (TOY BIZ)

“Deep in outer space, far beyond Earth, there wages a never-ending cosmic battle between good and evil. With the power-hungry Titan known as Thanos leading the forces of evil to destroy the universe, all hope seems lost. Together with the bounty hunter, Raze, Thanos is virtually unbeatable. The fate of the universe now rests in the hands of Drax the Destroyer and the noble Silver Surfer. Can the two of them stop Thanos and Raze and bring peace to the universe? The decision – and the power – is yours!

Possessing extraordinary cosmic powers, the Silver Surfer soars through space on his board in search of his homeworld, the planet Zenn-La. On his endless voyage, the Surfer happens upon a war-torn planet plagued by the evil Thanos. The Surfer knows he must stop the mad Titan, and engages Thanos in battle. Channeling his cosmic power through his cosmic star blaster, the Surfer produces a blast that sends Thanos reeling!”

There were a whole bevy of Marvel cartoons running in the ’90s.  While shows like Spider-Man and X-Men met more wide success, there were also a bunch of shorter run entries.  In 1998, we got one season of a Silver Surfer cartoon, launched on the tails of those two more successful shows.  It didn’t quite gain its foothold, but it did at the very least get a decent little toyline out of the deal, with a bunch of cosmically-themed characters and, of course, a bunch of variants of the title character.  I’m looking at one of the Surfers today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Surfer was released in the “Cosmic Power Blasters” assortment of Toy Biz’s Silver Surfer tie-in line, which hit in 1998, alongside the show.  He was the main version of the Surfer for this particular set, and had two color variants: standard silver and blue.  This one is the standard.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Though decently articulated, the figure does suffer from some slightly loose joints, especially on the legs, which can make it a touch tricky to keep him standing.  The sculpt was a new one, and its a bit of a departure from his prior variants from Toy Biz.  He’s definitely got a style about him, though it’s oddly not really the one from the show.  He’s got some odd proportions and notably a very boxy pair of hands.  He’s also a little pre-posed, with the legs having a sort of a crouch to them.  Like a couple of the earlier TB Surfers, this one’s vac-metalized, so he’s got a fancy chrome finish.  It’s definitely cool, but also a little prone to scratching.  Mine was scratched right out of the box.  He gets some additional paint for the eyes, but that’s really it.  Surfer’s board is worked into the “Power Blasters” gimmick.  It’s hollow and attaches to the included stand, allowing for the launching of a sort of strange light-up disc projectile.  Getting the whole thing to balance isn’t super easy, and the actual launching part is also not super smooth.  And, to top it all off, the pre-installed battery that lights up the disc is very, very corroded on mine, so that one ain’t lighting up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Silver Surfer line, though it ran for multiple years, was still kind of a blip at retail.  None of them really seemed to linger.  I remember the line, but only owned one figure from it growing up, and it wasn’t even a Surfer.  The line’s one I always keep my eye out for when hunting for Toy Biz, but I only see them every so often.  I got this one during my summer vacation this year, courtesy of Yesterday’s Fun.  He’s goofy, but fun, and reminds me that I definitely want more of this line.