Tag Archives: Marvel

#0939: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

CapSW1

For about a decade now, Hasbro has held the Marvel license. At the same time, Mattel has held the DC license. However, for a short period of time, the licenses were actually reversed. Well, sort of. In the ‘80s, Kenner Toys (who were later purchased by Hasbro) held the DC license and produced the popular DC Super Powers line. At about the same time, Mattel was given the Marvel license, and produced the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. It was nowhere near as successful as Super Powers, but it did manage to produce a few Marvel mainstays, including Captain America, who I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapSW2Captain America was part of Series 1 of the Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. As noted in my Wolverine review, the line was designed to tie-in with the Secret Wars maxi-series being published by Marvel Comics (a series that was itself being published because Mattel had requested a comic they could more easily produce a tie-in for). Cap was one of three Avengers produced by the line, with the other two slots being filled by Iron Man and Falcon. The figure is about 4 ½ inches tall and he’s got 5 points of articulation. The Secret Wars line was built pretty heavily on parts re-use, but Cap only used the standard torso. His head, arms, and legs were all unique pieces (though the legs would later be used for the Europe-exclusive Iceman figure). They do a decent enough job of capturing Cap’s look, though, like just about every figure in the line, he’s rather devoid of detail. The Secret Wars figures had a physique that, to quote my friend Jill, “looks like dough.” On the plus side, the gloves and boots do showcase a bit more detail than was often seen in this line. Cap’s face is also appropriately heroic. I do have to wonder where his ears have gotten to, though. Cap’s paintwork is certainly bold, with all the proper colors. It’s not particularly exciting, if I’m honest. There’s not much beyond the most basic work, and even then, some areas still feel a bit phoned in: the belt is only present at the very front, and he only gets two red stripes on each side. There are also sloppy edges all over the place, and all of the painted details are notoriously prone to paint wear. Cap’s lone accessory was a shield. That might seem appropriate, but it’s not; rather than give him his actual shield, Mattel instead gave him a wonky lenticular shield, with the same secret identity revealing gimmick as seen with the rest of the line. Yes, Mattel actually made a figure of Captain America and didn’t give him his mighty shield. They went there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being an older figure, Cap is a relatively new acquisition. I found him at a rather cool antique store that I went to with my parents, just two weeks ago. Secret Wars has never been my thing, but there are a few figures I have an appreciation for, and Cap was one of them. Is he a fantastic figure? No, he’s really not. He’s kinda dopey, and he’s several steps behind what Kenner was doing at the same time with Super Powers. However, I must admit having an affinity for sort of dopey figures, so I find myself quite liking this guy.

CapSW3

#0936: Silver Centurion Iron Man & Crimson Dynamo

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

IRON MAN – SILVER CENTURION & CRIMSON DYNAMO

MARVEL MINIMATES

IMSilvCentDyna1

Hey, how ‘bout another Minimates review? Yeah, that’d be nice, wouldn’t it? And it’s even a Marvel review! I certainly haven’t had many of those recently! Riiiiiiight…

Iron Man is undoubtedly one of the biggest name characters in Marvel’s pantheon now, but that wasn’t always the case. Prior to his first movie, there were only five Iron Men in the whole Minimates line, and absolutely none of his foes were represented. Even with the success of Iron Man, Tony wouldn’t get his own comic-themed series until the release of Iron Man 2, which brought us not only some important armor updates, but also some of Tony’s most prominent foes. Today, I’ll be looking at Silver Centurion Iron Man and longtime foe Crimson Dynamo.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in Series 36 of Marvel Minimates. As noted above, the series was released in the summer of 2010 to coincide with Iron Man 2’s release.

IRON MAN – SILVER CENTURION

IMSilvCentDyna2After sticking with more or less the same look for about 20 years, (and then giving said look to James Rhodes after Tony developed a bit of a drinking problem) Tony decided to mix it up and go silver in 1985. While the armor wasn’t incredibly long-lived (lasting about three years real-world time), its rather unique design, and its place in the “Armor Wars” storyline have helped to make it rather memorable. This is actually the second incarnation of this design in the Minimates form. The first was a Previews exclusive, and was from much earlier in the line, so the update was certainly warranted. The figure stands about 2 ¼ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the usual body, with add-on pieces for his helmet, gloves, belt, and boots. All of these are new pieces, and they do a pretty great job of translating the design from the comics. The helmet is slightly too short for the head, but not terribly so. What’s weird is that the prior Silver Centurion had the same issue, despite they two using two different helmet pieces. Aside from that, he’s pretty great, though. The paint on this guy’s pretty strong. The metallic are in full play, and they make him look really sleek. He’s got a bit of detailing on the faceplate and torso, which look nice. Under the helmet is a full Tony Stark face, which has more than a passing resemblance to Timothy Dalton. To aid in showing off the Tony face, the figure includes a spare hair piece, which has been re-used from Series 31’s Captain Marvel. It’s a pretty pitch-perfect match for Tony’s look from the time, so that’s good.

CRIMSON DYNAMO

IMSilvCentDyna3Dynamo gets my vote for best Iron Man villain, if I’m being honest. That’s probably part of why I wasn’t super wowed by Iron Man 2, since it kind of smashed him together with Whiplash and gave us that weird Mickey Rourke character that graced the screen. I’m kinda still hoping to see a proper Dynamo at some point. At least I got a Minimate out of the deal! This figure’s based on Dmitri Bukharin, the fifth incarnation of Dynamo, who’s probably the most definitive of the possible choices, since he was Dynamo during both “Demon in a Bottle” and “Armor Wars,” and his armor is considered the classic Dynamo armor. The figure has add-ons for the helmet, chest armor, gauntlets, and boots. He’s a bit chunky, but that’s pretty appropriate for this incarnation (and most other incarnations) of the character. There’s some pretty cool details in those parts, and the re-use of the Widow’s Stingers from the Champions version of Black Widow is pretty clever. His paint’s mostly just metallic red up and down (as it should be), but he also has some nice detailing on the chest armor and the visor, as well as a full detailing on the underlying head and torso. The head is what makes it clear that it’s Dmitri; there’s no mistaking that mustache! He also includes an extra hairpiece, re-used from Egon Spengler. Dmitri was often shown bald, but it’s a nice inclusion nonetheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with most Marvel Minimates, I got these guys from Cosmic Comix when they were first released. Series 36 was a series I had been looking forward to for quite some time, and this pair was part of why I was so invested in it. There are a few minor flaws here and there, but I remain very happy with this particular pair, and they’re two of my favorite Iron Man-themed ‘mates.

#0934: Black Costume Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN – BLACK COSTUME

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

BlackCostumeSpidey1

EDIT: Sorry for the late post everyone!  For some reason, this post had its date set to February 13 instead of May 13. But it’s here now!

As much as it may seem that Hasbro is releasing Marvel’s most prominent characters in every possible format they can think of, the ‘Bro has nothing on their predecessor’s at Toy Biz. Over the course of their 15-year run with the license, Toy Biz offered the Marvel heroes in 12 distinct scales (to say nothing of having a wide variety of styles within those scales). Towards the end of their run making Marvel toys, they spun a few of their more successful 6-inch lines into 12-inch lines. This included their Amazing Spider-Man line. While the larger line was somewhat limited in scope (there were only 6 figures, and 3 of them were Spider-Man), it did manage to produce a few pretty cool figures, such as today’s focus, the Black Costume Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackCostumeSpidey2Black Costume Spider-Man was released as part of the 12-inch Amazing Spider-Man line in 2006. The line didn’t really have any proper series structure; figures were just sort of added as they went. This particular figure was one of the very last figures added to the line, alongside the House of M version of Spider-Man. The figure stands just over 12 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation (a fact his package proudly boasted. Toy Biz was big on that at the time). Marvel Legends Icons, the 12-inch counterpart to Marvel Legends, was constructed exactly like the smaller figures, just at a larger scale, which gave the figures a certain degree of heft. Amazing Spider-Man, on the other hand, made use of rotocast parts (i.e. hollow) to keep the cost of the figures lower. This results in the figure being surprisingly lightweight, and a bit less sturdy than other figures. However, this figure is hardly fragile, and it’s worth noting that only about half of this figure is actually rotocast. The sculpt of this figure was shared with the House of M figure as well. It was a noticeable improvement over the prior Spider-Man from the line in terms of movement and detailing. The whole thing has this kinda cool orange peel-style texturing to it, which is a nice change from all the totally smooth Spideys out there. The proportions are a bit out there, but it’s Spider-Man, so there’s some room for exaggeration, and he’s certainly no more out of whack than any other Toy Biz Spider-Man. His paint work is fairly basic. They’ve foregone any sort of accenting for the black, which is always a good choice in my book. The white’s a bit on the fuzzy side, presumably due to the texturing of the sculpt. It’s not terrible, but it definitely could be better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing just about every figure in this line when they were originally released. However, I never did get around to picking any of them up. This figure ended up being a rather random find: two weeks ago, I was out and about with my family and we stopped at a Goodwill. There was a bag of assorted action figures for $10, and I could make out this guy, so I bought it. Turns out he’s worth quite a bit more. Lucky me! The figure’s actually pretty cool, and it’s a shame he was one of the last in the line.

#0931: Yukio, Viper, & Black Clan Ninjas

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

URBAN YUKIO, VIPER, & BLACK CLAN NINJAS

MARVEL MINIMATES

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It seems hard to believe that the second Wolverine film came out three years ago.  Wedged in between Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, and as the last X-Men film before Days of Future Past overwrote the original timeline, it kind of got lost.  It’s a shame; it’s not a perfect film, but it was a fair bit of fun, and fixed a lot of issues presented by X-Men 3 and Wolverine: Origins.  The movie got a handful of Minimates, and today I’ll be looking at the specialty assortment’s Viper & Black Clan Ninja pack, as well as the variant Urban Yukio & Black Clan Ninja Pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two sets were released in Series 52 of Marvel Minimates, which was based on The Wolverine.

URBAN YUKIO

YukioNinja2Yukio is a relatively minor X-Men character, but she plays an important role in the Wolverine mini-series that the movie based its plot on, so she found herself with a decently sized role.  In the comics, she was just a normal human with ninja training, but the film made her a mutant with the ability to foresee death.  She had two rather distinct looks in the movie (neither of which really resembled her comics appearance).  This figure represents the less formal look that Yukio sports towards the end of the movie. She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Yukio has add-on pieces for her hair, skirt, and the tops of her boots.  All of these are re-used, with the hair coming from the TRU Series 9 Magik, the boots coming from Series 34’s 90s Rogue, and the skirt coming from BSG’s President Roslin.  The parts are all fairly decent matches for her look from the film, so the re-use is reasonable here, though the boots have the unintended side effect of making her taller than everyone else in the series. The paintwork on Yukio is decent.  She’s got a lot of color, and she’s pretty bold looking, which is nice.  The detailing on the torso is nice and sharp.  The face doesn’t really look like Rila Fukushima; for some reason, they’ve given her a slight smile, which doesn’t seem right for the character.  That said, the face is nice and sharp, and looks suitably unique. Yukio includes a clear display stand and…nothing else.  Not even a sword.  That’s quite a letdown, especially since Yukio is pretty much never seen without her sword in the film.

VIPER

ViperNinja5Viper was an interesting inclusion in The Wolverine, given that her most prominent role is being highly placed in Hydra, an organization that Fox isn’t allowed to use.  Fox seemed to skirt the issue by only referring to her only as Viper (not her alias Madame Hydra) and by making her a mutant, with no known ties to Hydra.  For this figure, DST based Viper on her look during Yashida’s funeral, which is a rather short-lived look when all is said and done, but we got several others in their funeral attire. Viper has two add-on pieces, one for her hair and one for her skirt.  The skirt is a re-use of the Gwen Stacy skirt from the SM3 series, which is still fairly modern looking.  The hair is a new piece, based on her hair from the scene in the film.  It’s a pretty great sculpt, with a lot of detail, and it captures her look very nicely. Viper’s  paint is overall is nicely handled, at least from a purely technical standpoint.  Everything’s pretty clean, and the line work is all pretty sharp.  The likeness is pretty good; certainly closer than Yukio.  The sunglasses stand out, as the details make them look convincingly shiny.  You can actually make out the reflection of some of the reflections from the funeral’s setting.  All that said, the design is rather drab and not terribly exciting. For accessories, Viper includes a clear display stand, and an extra head, without the sunglasses.

BLACK CLAN NINJAS

YukioNinja3The Black Clan Ninjas took the role occupied by the Hand in the original story.  They were initially supposed to be the Hand, but Fox lost the rights to Daredevil and all associated characters in the middle of production on The Wolverine, necessitating a quick name change.  It’s not like it really matters, though; they’re fairly basic ninjas either way. The Ninjas use add-on pieces for their jackets and the edges of their gloves.  The jacket is a new piece.  It has a scabbard attached to the back, so that they can stow their swords.  The jacket’s a little on the bulky side, but looks alright overall, and captures the basic look from the film pretty well. The paintwork on the Ninja is fairly basic.  It’s mostly just black, though there’s a bit of variation to the finish, which is nice.  The eyes feature an impressive level of detail, and add a nice bit of character, without removing the ability of the figure to be an army builder. The Ninjas each include a basic sword, which can be stowed in the sheath on their back, as well as the usual clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Yukio set was one of the ones I wanted from Series 52, but she ended up being a bit difficult to get, so I had to order a full series set from Luke’s Toy Store. This is probably Yukio’s most prominent look from the movie, and it has the advantage of being bright and colorful in a series of mostly drab figures.  However, the lack of accessories knocks her down a peg, and the likeness really isn’t there. Viper is certainly a well put together ‘mate, but the decision to go with her less exciting funeral look over her more comics accurate final battle look hurts the figure.  As it stands, she’s better than you’d expect, but still a bit lackluster. The Ninjas are really the stars of these sets.  They’re fairly simple, but in just the right way, and they benefit from the fact that you don’t even need to be a fan of The Wolverine to like them.

#0929: Falcon & War Machine

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

FALCON & WAR MACHINE

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR MINIVERSE

WMFalcon1

So, Civil War was awesome. Just so everyone knows. And the movie being awesome has had the added effect of making me enjoy those toys I picked up before the movie even more. One of my favorite recent additions to the MCU is the Falcon, who has been criminally absent from the toy world. Fortunately, he’s gotten a few different figures from the first round of Civil War products. For the smaller scale line, he’s packed with Iron Man’s best pal James Rhodes (better known as War Machine), who’s been no stranger to toys.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are another set from the first series of the Captain America: Civil War Miniverse line. They’re probably one of the most sensible pairings so far, since these two serve as parallels thematically for a lot of the movie.

FALCON

WMFalcon3Falcon is suitably kick ass in this movie, so I’m glad he’s got a figure already. This marks the first time he’s been released in this scale, since he was one of the few characters from AoU not to get a figure from the smaller scale line. The figure is 2 ¾ inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation (thanks to his moving wings). He’s wearing his more streamlined gear from Civil War, which is definitely my favorite look of his so far. His sculpt is quite nicely handled; he translates the design to the smaller scale very nicely, and he’s got lots of great detailing. Like some of the others in the series, he’s sculpted mid-step, which is a little odd, but actually works out well for Falcon, as it helps to offset the weight of his wings. His wings are separate pieces; they’re pretty nicely sculpted, but they do have a tendency to pop out of place from time to time. The paintwork on Falcon is decent, but like a lot of the other figures, he’s missing more than a few details. Of course, Falcon’s additional details aren’t quite as essential as, say, Captain America’s, so he’s far less negatively impacted. Falcon is the figure in this pair who gets the weird armor thingy. Falcon’s is, if I’m honest, my favorite of these weird, absurd things that I’ve gotten so far, because it actually does feel like an extension of Falcon’s normal gear. It’s still weird and all, especially with the shoulder guns that point two different directions, but noticeably less weird than the others.

WAR MACHINE

WMFalcon2War Machine was one of the characters to get a smaller scale figure from AoU (he was one of the very first characters to get one, in fact), so this marks the second time he’s gotten a figure this size. Though Rhodey had the same basic armor (albeit in different colors) for Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron, Civil War has given him a much bulkier design, more in line with what he had in Iron Man 2. His sculpt does a rather nice job capturing this new look, as well as balancing the overall proportions. He’s also satisfyingly hefty, which is definitely appropriate. In general, this is one of the better sculpts from the line. Perhaps the only disappointing part is that the shoulder cannon doesn’t move, due to it having a rectangular peg. His paint work is decently handled. Technically, he’s still missing some silver detailing, but, like Falcon, it’s not terribly noticeable. War Machine has no accessories, not even the baton he was shown with in so much of the promotional material.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This pair was picked up at the same time as Cap & Crossbones and Panther & Hawkeye. I think they might just be my favorite of those three sets (though Vision & Winter Soldier are still at the top). Neither figure has any major issues, which is a big plus. And, since I have yet to pick up Iron Man & Widow, this is my last Civil War review for the time being.

#0928: Black Panther & Hawkeye

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

BLACK PANTHER & HAWKEYE

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR MINIVERSE

PantherHawkeye1

Civil War was released yesterday, so now I get to write review all the associated merchandise in light of actually knowing what happened in the movie (which was seriously awesome, by the way). I’ve been steadily making my way through Hasbro’s small-scale line of figures; of the four characters I’ve looked at, three have pretty sizable parts. The two characters I’m looking at today, MCU-mainstay Hawkeye and newcomer Black Panther, both get decently sized roles, though one of them is definitely more pivotal to the plot than the other.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the first series of the Captain America: Civil War Miniverse line. Their pairing together isn’t the weirdest pairing the series has given us (that’s definitely Winter Soldier and Vision, who I don’t believe so much as glanced at each other in the final film), since the two have a brief bit of interaction. Still, Bucky would kinda seem like the more natural partner for Panther. But hey, I’m gonna wind up with the whole set anyway, so does it really matter?

BLACK PANTHER

PantherHawkeye3Early reviews of the movie were all very complimentary of Chadwick Boseman’s performance as the Black Panther, and man, they weren’t kidding. Guy just about steals the show! His figure stands 2 ¾ inches tall and he has the same 5 points of articulation as the rest of the line. The overall quality of the Panther’s sculpt is pretty good, but he seems to be suffering from a phenomenon similar to Crossbones, where the upper half of the sculpt is quite good and the lower half is less so. It’s not quite as pronounced on Panther, though, so it’s not too bad. He exhibits some tremendous texture work, replicating his rather distinctively patterned suit from the movie very nicely. I do wish his legs were a little less weirdly posed, as they make it very hard to keep him standing, but that’s really it. Paint is quite minimal on Panther, with detailing only on the eyes and collar. However, that’s appropriate to the movie, and the texture on the sculpt does the heavy lifting here. Panther is the figure in this pairing who gets the weird armor pieces. T’Challa’s is a little cooler than the others, since it at least fits well with him thematically. Still goofy as heck, but it is what it is.

HAWKEYE

PantherHawkeye2Hawkeye’s Civil War appearance is, to me, the closest he’s come to that super awesome comics version of Hawkeye that I always loved.  And that makes me very happy. You know what doesn’t make me very happy? This figure. That sounds harsh; I don’t hate him, but he’s far from what I wanted. He’s supposed to be based on Hawkeye’s new look from Civil War, but, um, that’s not what he’s wearing. He lacks the asymmetrical sleeves, and has two gloves instead of one. That’s not the biggest issue though. See, Hawkeye’s gun is holstered on his right leg, which isn’t correct, since Movie Hawkeye’s a lefty. A closer look shows that, not only is the holster on the wrong side, but his whole quiver set-up is totally reversed. Now, a quick Google search shows that the promo shots of Hawkeye had a tendency to get mirrored, so maybe that’s where the confusion came from. He’s still sculpted to hold his bow in his right hand, though, which would make the placement of his quiver on his right shoulder more than a little impractical. It seems to me that this should have dawned on at least one person during the development process. His paint’s not much better. In the movie, his costume has a number of different purples, but none of them are the garish shade that is used for the majority of this figure. Also, whatever you do, don’t look directly into those soulless black holes that have taken the place of his eyes. That’s the stuff of nightmares. Cap got actual eyes, so I’m not sure what happened to Hawkeye. Hawkeye is packed with one accessory: his bow. It’s got no drawstring, but at this scale, that’s a minor issue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set at the same time as Cap and Crossbones. I was a bit more interested in Hawkeye when I bought it, though I certainly didn’t mind getting Panther. After opening it up, neither figure is perfect. That said, Panther’s the real winner here, even with the leg issues. Hawkeye’s a little disappointing, because he’s just not the figure I was expecting.

#0927: Captain America & Crossbones

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & CROSSBONES

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR MINIVERSE

CrossbonesCap1

Well, here it is; today’s the day of the official release of Captain America: Civil War. By the time this is posted, I’ll have already seen the movie, and hopefully I’ll have enjoyed it immensely. In honor of the film, I’ll be taking a look another set of figures from Hasbro’s smaller-scale line. I’m going full-on #TeamCap today, with the main man himself, as well as his returning foe, Crossbones.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Crossbones are part of the first series of Captain America: Civil War Miniverse figures. This is one of two sets in the first series that isn’t Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man, but it’s still a versus set, and it’s probably the most sensible pairing of the bunch.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Like Vision, Cap is getting his second 2 ½-inch figure here, following the one he got from Age of Ultron. This figure stands about 2 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. Cap’s design has changed again for Civil War (though it’s probably the most minor set of between film changes he’s gotten), and as such he’s gotten an all-new sculpt. It’s not too bad, though there are a few issues with proportions. Most notably he seems to be missing his neck, which throws off the size of his head relative to his shoulders and just makes him look a bit odd. Other than that, the sculpt’s actually quite good. There’s some great detail work on the costume, and he’s fairly accurate to the source material. He even has more normally-sized feet than the last two, which is nice to see. Cap takes a bit of a dive on the paint side of things. It’s not really the quality of what’s there (though there are some issues with application, such as the skin tone of the face going over the chinstrap of his helmet), but rather what’s not there. His legs feature not paint at all, leaving the boots and kneepads blue, and his gloves are straight brown, leaving his fingers the wrong color. The worst part is his torso, which looks alright from the front, but has all the paint rather jarringly end at the sides, leaving his back completely unpainted. Could they not spring for just a few more paint apps? On the plus side, Cap has the most extra parts of anyone in the series. He includes his shield, which is pretty nicely sized. He also gets the wonky clip-on armor in this set. If you thought Bucky’s armor was weird, wait ‘til you get a load of Cap and his…spinning bicycle wheels? Yeah, still not quite getting these.

CROSSBONES

CrossbonesCap2Crossbones is another returning character from The Winter Soldier, though this is the first time he’s actually been “Crossbones” (he was just “Rumlow” in the last film). Crossbones is a fairly prominent recurring Cap villain in the comics (where he was the right-hand man of Red Skull), but time will tell as to whether he’s as prominent in the movies. The figure’s the same height as Cap and has the same articulation as well. He has a new sculpt based on Crossbones’ new armored look from the film, which is a pretty awesome look if I do say so myself. The actual figure? Eh…he’s okay, but definitely a little wonky. Above the waist, he’s actually not too bad; he’s got decent proportions and some very nice detailing on the armor. The legs are what really throws him off. They’re oddly shaped, and lack a lot of the detailing seen on the rest of the figure. It’s almost like they came from a different figure, but I honestly can’t say what sort of figure on which they wouldn’t look out of place. Crossbones has minimal painted details, but that’s more or less appropriate for him, since he’s mostly just black and white in the film. He’s lacking any detailing for his eyes, but that’s actually pretty forgivable at this scale. The white details are actually pretty convincingly worn, which is quite impressive given the work on the rest of the figures. Crossbones includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Vision and Winter Soldier from my parents, I decided to pick up a few of the other sets, including this pair. These two are definitely more movie specific that the last pair, but they feel a little less balanced than the prior set. Both figures are pretty cool overall, but both have fairly major setbacks (the paint in Cap’s case, and those wonky legs in Crossbones’). All in all, not a bad set, especially for the price, but I do hope we see Crossbones at a larger scale later.

#0926: Vision & Winter Soldier

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

VISION & WINTER SOLDIER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR MINIVERSE

VisWS4 (2)

You guys know what’s coming out tomorrow, right? Captain America: Civil War! I must admit, I’m quite looking forward to the movie, and I’ve already got my tickets to see it later this evening. Hopefully it doesn’t disappoint!

Hasbro’s been rather steadily rolling out their various tie-in products. My main interest, as always, is the action figures. There are a couple of different scales, but the only one so far to promise a more or less complete lineup of characters from the film is their smaller 2 ½-inch line, so that’s the one I’m investing in right now. I’ll kick things off by looking at two of my favorite characters from the movie (and the comics that spawned it): Vision and the Winter Soldier.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair is part of the first series of Hasbro’s Captain America: Civil War Miniverse line. It would seem that Hasbro has moved away from the weird Sub-Ultron idea from the Age of Ultron line, opting instead for more straightforward two-packs, which are much preferred. I will admit that this pairing seems a bit odd, since these two aren’t known for having much of a connection, but I won’t complain.

VISION

VisWS2So, it’s hard to say how big a role Vision will play in the movie. If I had to guess, I’d say it won’t be super huge. Still, he’s the Vision, so he’ll be super awesome even if he’s only on the screen for 30 seconds. Vision’s been released in this scale before as part of the Age of Ultron line, but he was based on earlier designs, making him slightly inaccurate. Since his look hasn’t changed in Civil War, this gives Hasbro another chance at perfecting him. The figure stands 2 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. He’s a bit taller than the last Vision, which is nice, because my main complaint on that one was how undersized he was. The figure’s sculpt is totally new, and as a whole it’s a marked improvement over the AoU version: the proportions are more balanced, the detail is sharper, the cape sits better, and he’s much closer to his onscreen counterpart’s appearance. Really, my only complaint about the sculpt are the feet, which are a bit clown-shoe-y for my taste. But hey, at least he doesn’t fall over as much. Vision’s paint is different from that of his predecessor. It’s hard to say if it’s better or worse; just different. The colors feel like a better match for the movie, but he’s missing some of the red detailing on his body, and he still doesn’t have any green on his head. Vision has no accessories, but I can’t really think of anything to include.

WINTER SOLDIER

VisWS5Winter Soldier is no doubt one of the more important characters in the movie, given that the film’s continuing the story started in the last film. Interestingly enough, Winter Soldier is presented here with his mask/goggles look from the second Cap film, which I don’t believe he’ll be sporting in the upcoming film. An unmasked Bucky is planned for Series 2, though, so I guess Hasbro just wanted to get us both looks. The figure’s the same height as Vision, which seems a little large, but whatever. His sculpt is pretty decent overall. He’s a bit more pre-posed than Vision, with his legs in sort of a mid-stride sort of pose. It’s not too out there, so I don’t mind all that much. He has the same issue of slightly large feet that Vision had, but that’s also pretty minor. On the plus side, the level of detail is pretty great, and he looks quite accurate to the source material. The paint is a little drab and simple, if I’m honest. While the sculpt has lots of really great details, the paint overlooks most of them. For the most part, he’s just molded in a dark grey, with a tiny bit of paint for things like his harness and belt. Things like his boots, kneepads, and even both of his hands are left totally unpainted. It looks okay overall, but it’s a tiny bit disappointing. Each of the sets in the Miniverse line has one set of clip-on armor, and Winter Soldier is the lucky one in this set. He has…umm…well, they look like jack hammers or something, to attach to his arms. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he probably won’t use this contraption in the film…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, my parents were out running errands a few weeks ago and my dad called me to ask if I wanted any of the Civil War stuff that was out. I opted for this set, since, as I mentioned in the intro, I’m pretty fond of both characters. Is this set going to re-shape the toy world? No. But they’ll certainly hold me over until these guys get more proper figures, and they’re quite a bit of fun.

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#0920: Whirlwind

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

WHIRLWIND – FORCES OF EVIL

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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The Marvel universe has a lot of pretty amazing super villains, but for me, the best sub-set of villains they have are the laughably terrible ones. The ones that keep showing up, getting their butts kicked, and generally being ineffective. The likes of Shocker, Stiltman, Batroc the Leaper, and even today’s focus character Whirlwind. He initially started his career as the Human Top, which isn’t as cool a name as Whirlwind, but is probably more fitting for the character. There’s actually one thing that sets Whirlwind apart from the other lame villains: he’s actually the got an arch-nemesis. Yep, ol’ spinhead here is the arch enemy of the Wasp (also her chauffeur, but that’s a whole other story). I mean, he still kinda sucks, but that’s part of the charm. Amazingly enough, Whirlwind has a whole three action figures in his tenure as a villain, the latest of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Whirlwind2Whirlwind is another figure from the third series of Captain America Marvel Legends(why he’s in a Captain America-themed series instead of getting a slot in last year’s Ant-Man Marvel Legends is anyone’s guess. Maybe Wasp finally got that restraining order). He’s been dubbed “Forces of Evil,” which is a name he shares with the Serpent Society’s Cottonmouth. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Whirlwind is presented in his classic costume, after he’d added the chainmail (before that he’d just been shirtless, which was weird). He uses the slightly larger male body, introduced with Grim Reaper. To aid in making him more “Whirlwind-y” he has a new head, torso, and forearms. The head is actually two pieces: face and helmet. This results in a figure with the proper level of depth to his eye and mouth slits, which looks pretty neat. The actual helmet does a very nice job of capturing Whirlwind’s comic look. The torso also does a decent job of handling Whirlwind’s weird chest armor, and the forearms feature actual spinning blades, which is a nice touch. It’s a bit of a shame that he doesn’t have any chainmail detailing, but that would have meant giving him a 100% new sculpt, which seems like a bit much to ask for whirlwind3Whirlwind. Whirlwind’s paintwork isn’t particularly complex, but what’s there is fairly clean. I especially like how well the eyes turned out. Also, the choice of a metallic finish takes what could have been a slightly bland figure and gives him some pop. Whirlwind’s only accessory is his Build-A-Figure piece, which is the left arm of Red Onslaught.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

On my search for the other three figures I wanted from this series, I saw quite a few Whirlwinds, and passed several times. It’s not that I don’t like the character, nor is it that I wasn’t excited for the figure, I guess I was just prioritizing the others. After finding the other three, I broke down and got Whirlwind. I’m glad I did. He’s a very well-put-together figure. He sticks to the established formula of a few new parts on a base body, but he’s the sort of character that really lends himself to such a concept.

#0919: Sharon Carter

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

SHARON CARTER – AGENTS OF SHIELD

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Hey look! It’s Agent Carter! No, not that Agent Carter! This is Sharon Carter, the other secret agent with the last name Carter who dated Captain America. I can understand the confusion. See, after Cap spent 20 70 years on ice, he still needed a love interest, since Peggy had gotten up there in years. So, they introduced Peggy’s sister niece, Sharon, who worked for SHIELD under the code name “Agent 13.” She’s been a fairly important part of Cap’s supporting cast since her introduction in 1966 (apart from being dead for a few years). Technically, she’s had two action figures, but one of them wasn’t actually named, so I’ll be looking at the first officially named Sharon Carter figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SharonC2Sharon Carter is part of the third series of the Captain America Marvel Legends Series. She uses the “Agents of SHIELD” title, which she shares with the previously reviewed Mockingbird figure. It’s certainly appropriate for the character, so that’s good. The figure is a little under 6 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation. From the neck down, Sharon is identical to last year’s Maria Hill figure, which in turn means she shares some parts with the Winter Soldier version of Black Widow. I’ll admit, the body isn’t one of my favorites. While the Widow figure was fine, the pieces used don’t gel exceptionally well with the Maria Hill parts. Also, I still don’t like the gimpy, misshapen fist for the left hand. However, I will admit that the body seems to work a little bit better for Carter than it did for Hill. Maybe it’s the coloring or maybe it’s that there’s not a real person to compare it to. It could possibly SharonC3be the new head, which seems to sit a little better on the body. It’s not super stand-out work, but the piece does a decent enough job of capturing Sharon’s look from the comics. I’m actually tempted to pick up a second figure to use as the beginnings of a classic Mockingbird. Sharon’s paintwork is decent overall, but has a few drawbacks. Some of the smaller details are a little misaligned, which is a little annoying, but the most present issue is that the whites on the arms and legs don’t match up with the torso and hips, creating an odd contrast that shouldn’t be there. Sharon comes packed with a silver version of the weird sci-fi gun that came with Red Skull (I would have preferred something a bit more normal looking, but oh well), as well as the right leg of Red Onslaught.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After Mockingbird, Sharon was my second most-wanted character from this line-up. Currently, she’s one of the more difficult figures to find, so I had to do a bit of searching. My dad ended up finding her for me while at a small convention a few weekends ago. She’s not as strong a figure as Mockingbird or Taskmaster, but she’s reasonably well-done, and a good enough figure that I don’t feel like I wasted my money on her.