Tag Archives: Marvel

#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.

#0918: Taskmaster

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

TASKMASTER – MERCENARIES OF MAYHEM

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Superhero comics like foes who mimic the abilities of the heroes. Marvel in particular seems to like this concept, as they have several different characters with this gimmick (including one who’s actually named “Mimic”). Generally, such mimicry comes from some sort of mutant or otherwise built-in power. Not the case with Tony Masters, better known as Taskmaster. His mimicry was all based on him being a really good tactician with a photographic memory, allowing him to duplicate the physical movements of anyone he sees. Sure, he can’t mimic actual super powers, but he comes pretty darn close. He started out as a pretty straight villain, but has become more of an anti-villain, gun-for-hire sort of character over the years. Since his introduction in 1980, he’s gotten seven action figures, the latest of which I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Taskmaster2Taskmaster is part of the third series of the Captain America Marvel Legends Series (the Infinite part’s been dropped on all Hasbro’s Marvel lines; should we be concerned that they’re all finite now?). His official title is “Mercenaries of Mayhem,” which is a name he shares with Demolition Man. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The origin of the costume worn by this figure is somewhat complicated: in the early 2000s, UDON Studios redesigned Taskmaster, taking him out of the more classic superhero-styled costume he’d been wearing and replacing it (and the creepy skull face that went with it) with a much more tactical get-up. That look lasted for a while, but he eventually switched back to the classic costume. On the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, he was given a sort of an amalgam of his two looks, which is what this figure’s primary look is based on. As far as I know, it’s not a look that has appeared in the comics, so this figure is technically cartoon-based. The figure uses the torso, pelvis, and hips of the Bucky Cap body, along with an all-new head, arms, and legs, as well as add-on pieces for his shoulder holster and belt. The new arms and legs feature some cool, almost knight-like armor, and add a nice bit of heft to the figure. It’s nice that Hasbro didn’t just paint the basic Bucky Cap arms and legs silver, and it kind of makes me wonder what other figures they could get out of these parts. I certainly wouldn’t mind these being used as the starting point for a Doctor Doom. Taskmaster actually gets two all-new heads. The one he comes wearing is more classically inspired, with a skull-face and white hood. It’s true to his Ultimate Spider-Man design, but could also make for a nice classic Taskmaster, should someone want to build a full version of his original costume. The second head is based on the UDON design’s masked look, which allows you to sort of have Taskmaster as he appears in Captain America & Iron Man: Heroes United. He doesn’t have the hood there, but this way you can essentially have the UDON costume. I find myself preferring the UDON head, but I’m not 100% sold on the hood; both heads definitely have merit. Taskmaster’s paint is all pretty solid, and he’s probably got the cleanest paint I’ve gotten on a Hasbro figure in a little while. There’s a little slop on the hands, but other than that, everything’s pretty sharp, especially on the two heads. In addition to the second head, Taskmaster includes a shield (with exceptionally clean paint), a laser sword, and the head of Red Onslaught, the Build-A-Figure for this series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I picked up Mockingbird from Cosmic Comix, they also had this guy. However, I decided to hold out to see if I could find him elsewhere. After two weeks of looking, I didn’t find him, and Cosmic Comix still had him, so I went ahead and got him. I’m glad I did, because this is a pretty darn fun figure, and possibly my favorite from this particular series.

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#0913: Vision & Hawkeye

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

VISION & HAWKEYE

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Civil War is almost upon us (well, some people have already seen it. Lucky ducks…) and the tie-in product is starting to hit, though not as explosively as in prior years. Still, there’s notably more stuff then we got for Winter Soldier. As with all the recent Marvel Studios films, there are some Minimates based on the movie, and the Toys R Us assortment just started showing up. Today, I’ll be looking at two of my favorite Avengers, Vision and Hawkeye!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Vision and Hawkeye are the Toys R Us-exclusive set from the first series of Civil War Minimates (which are Series 66 of the specialty Marvel Minimates line). It’s actually fairly amusing that their packed together, since Vision and Hawkeye’s very first Minimates (from way back in Series 20) were also packed together.

VISION

VisionHawkeyeCW2With the exception of the face detailing, this Vision is the same as the Series 63 version of the character. That was a pretty nice translation of the film version of Vision, and since his design hasn’t changed between the two movies, the new figure’s pretty accurate to Civil War as well. He gets a new, more detailed face, which has a better likeness of Paul Bettany, and adds some of the detail lines that were absent from the last figure’s face. There’s actually a pretty good rationale for this almost total re-release: Vision was a specialty exclusive in the AoU assortments, meaning he was one of the two Avengers not available to TRU consumers. Now everybody gets a Vision! Vision includes both a clear display stand and a flight stand.

HAWKEYE

VisionHawkeyeCW3Of all the costumes in the first Avengers movie, Hawkeye’s was the one that most disappointed me. Hawkeye’s got one of the coolest costumes in comics, and the movie version sucked a lot of the originality out of it. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, since Hawkeye’s gotten a slightly tweaked design in both subsequent reappearances. In AoU, he added a pretty cool coat to his look, but he still seemed to lack some of his comics counterpart’s flair. Civil War seems dead set on amending that, as it’s given Hawkeye possibly his coolest look yet, taking major cues from his West Coast Avengers/Heroic Age design. This ‘mate replicates that design. He has add-on pieces for his hair, quiver, and holster. All of these parts are re-used pieces (being mostly fairly generic parts), but they certainly fit what we’ve seen of Hawkeye’s look so far. Hawkeye’s paintwork is pretty impressive, with a whole ton of great detail work on his uniform, giving him a lot of dimension. His colors also pop; I think this is my favorite shade of purple that I’ve seen on a movie Hawkeye. The likeness on the face bears a resemblance to Jeremy Renner, but I think the Winter Ops Hawkeye still has the closest resemblance. Hawkeye includes a bow, three arrows, a pistol, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I came across this set at my local TRU. Shocking, right? For whatever reason, this was the set I was most looking forward to in this series. Vision’s essentially a re-release, but the minor changes go a long way, at least for me, and I prefer this one to the AoU version. The new Hawkeye design is pretty strong, and it translates quite nicely to the ‘mate aesthetic, resulting in what is probably the best MCU version of the character so far. This set might be easy to overlook, but it’s definitely one I’m glad I got.

#0909: Hyperion

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

HYPERION

AVENGERS INFINITE

Hyperion1

In 1969, the writers of Justice League of America and The Avengers decided to do an unofficial cross-over. The JLA fought a team of villains resembling the Avengers, and the Avengers fought the Squadron Sinister, a parody of the JLA. The Squadron was successful enough to get their own heroic counterparts, the Squadron Supreme, who came from an alternate universe. The leader of both versions of the Squadron was Superman expy Hyperion. While the villainous Hyperion has been dead for a while, the heroic version has made fairly consistent reappearances throughout the years. He’s gotten a pair of figures, both in the last few years. Today, I’ll be looking at his smaller-scale figure from 2014.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hyperion2Hyperion was released in the first series of Avengers Infinite, the line that would eventually be given the more generic Marvel Infinite title, and then just recently re-named Marvel Legends. The figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. He’s based on the basic Hyperion design, after he ditched the domino mask he sported in his earlier appearances. Structurally, he’s nominally based on the body used by the Marvel Universe Cable figure, but he gets a lot of his own pieces. The figure looks pretty decent overall, but some of the pieces don’t fit together as well as they should. The real offender is the pelvis, which is too skinny for the rest of the body, causing the legs to jut out at the hips, and the upper torso to have an odd gap in the middle. Other than that, the sculpt is actually pretty nice. The head is probably one of Hasbro’s best in this line, and is perfect for the character. Hyperion’s paint is pretty decent overall, but does have a few trouble areas. The neckline is rather sloppy, and doesn’t match the molded color of the rest of the neck. Also, the shorts are gold, despite the boots and cape being yellow, and those three elements being traditionally depicted as the same color. It’s not super far off, but it does look a little weird. On the plus side, the face paint is nice and clean, and his logo is really sharp.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I like Hyperion well enough, I didn’t pick this figure up new, due to wanting his series-mates Wasp and Grim Reaper more. I saw him at the store a few times, but was never really prompted to pick him up. So, why do I have him? I found him, new and in-box, at a Goodwill of all places, for $1.99. At a fraction of retail price, I felt he was worth it. He’s not the most exciting figure of all time, but he’s a solid addition to my 3 ¾ inch Marvel collection.

#0906: Mockingbird

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

MOCKINGBIRD – AGENTS OF SHIELD

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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How many comic book characters can say that the only lasting effect of a mega-crossover event was bringing them back from the dead? Well, a lot, actually, given that death’s a revolving door in comics. That said, it’s usually big name characters who get brought back, and as much as I like Mockingbird, I can’t say that she’s particularly big name. After dying in the early 90s in order to make Hawkeye more “edgy” (because that’s a thing we needed), Bobbi Morse was returned to life at the end of Secret Invasion, after it was revealed that the Bobbi what died was actually a Skrull impersonator. Bringing her back was far from the main purpose of the event, but it was a nice benefit, and, as I said, one of the few things to actually stick after the story wrapped. Bobbi’s found her way into the spotlight as of late, getting her own comic, serving as a supporting character in Spider-Man’s main series, and even serving as a fan-favorite character on Agents of SHIELD (and she was even popular enough to get a spin-off. Go her!). Through all of that, she’s only managed to get two action figures, the latest of which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mockingbird2Mockingbird is part of the third series of the Captain America Marvel Legends line (counting the two released for Winter Soldier). Her official title is “Agents of SHIELD,” a name she shares with Agent Sharon Carter. For once, the shared name is 100% appropriate for both characters using it, and not super generic like some of the others. Bobbi began her career as the SHIELD agent assigned to Kazar in the Savage Land, and has intermittently worked for SHIELD since then. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation. She’s based on Mockingbird’s costume immediately following her return in Secret Invasion. It’s not a bad costume design, and it’s one she wore up until fairly recently, so it’s pretty relevant. I personally still prefer her classic design to this one, but this is still a nice design, and it does a good job of balancing the distinctive elements of her classic design with the more superspy nature of the modern incarnation of the character. Plus, it means she fits with the Heroic Age version of Hawkeye released last year! Bobbi appears to be an all-new sculpt. That’s pretty awesome for a character of her stature. Her proportions are all nice and balanced, and the costume specific details are nice and sharp, and a pretty spot-on match for what she looks like in the comics. Her goggles are removable; her hair sculpt has a spot on each side for them to slot into. When removed, you can clearly see where they were, but it’s not super distracting. On the plus side, when in place, they don’t look oversized at all, and they stay where they’re supposed to. Bobbi’s paintwork is a little on the sloppy side. Most of it looks okay, and the change from white to black is nowhere near as bad as it could have been, and the face is actually really clean. However, the area around the collar is really sloppy. On the plus side, a lot of it’s hidden by her hair. Mockingbird includes her battle staves, which are just a re-painted billy-club from Daredevil (though the quality of the plastic is much better this time around). She also comes with the torso of this series’ Build-A-Figure, Red Onslaught.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mockingbird has been one of my favorite Marvel characters for a while, and I’ve always been kind of bummed by the lack of action figures. Her last figure was okay, but not super exciting, so I was happy when she was one of the first three figures announced for this series of Legends. I ended up picking this figure up from Cosmic Comix. She’s not my preferred version of the character, but she’s still a really good version of the character, and a pretty awesome figure to boot!

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#0902: Yondu

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

YONDU

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Before the title passed to the likes of Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot, the Guardians of the Galaxy were rather a different.  They first appeared in January 1969, created by Arnold Drake and Gene Colan.  The team was hailed from the 30th Century, and each of its four members (Vance Astro, Martinex, Charlie-27, and Yondu) was the “last of their kind.”  Now, those of you that only know the team from more modern appearances will probably only recognize one of those four names: Yondu.  Yondu was fortunate enough to turn up as a (sort-of) ally of the movie Guardians, albeit with a bit of a personality change.  Still, he’s become the original team’s most recognizable member, and became the first of them to get a proper figure (though Vance ended up hitting right around the same time in a two-pack).  I’ll be looking at Yondu today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yondu2Yondu is one of the six single-packed figures in the first series of Hasbro’s 3 ¾-scale Marvel Legends Series.  He actually manages to not be the most obscure character in the set (he can thank Ulik and Triton for that).  The figure stands almost 5 inches tall (counting the Mohawk; he’s 4 ¼ without it) and he has 19 points of articulation.  He still lacks some of the articulation we came to expect during MU (waist and wrists are the standouts), but thanks to some parts re-use he ends up more articulated than several of the more recent small-scale figures.  Yondu is built on the new mid-sized body, which is the same one we saw used for Machine Man.  He also uses the lower legs and quiver of the MU Hawkeye figure, with unique pieces for his head, belt, and right forearm.  The pieces do a pretty nice job of capturing Yondu’s design from the comics.  The head seems to work in a little bit of the film version’s surliness into his expression, but it doesn’t feel too far removed from his comics look.  I will note that it’s a little jarring that his wrist band on his right arm is sculpted, but the armband further up is not, but that’s what happens when you have a specific budget for the number of new parts allowed.  Yondu’s paintwork is pretty solid all around.  The colors are pretty nicely handled (though I wouldn’t mind them being a little brighter), and all of the application is pretty clean.  Yondu is packed with a bow and a single arrow.  Both are re-used from the MU Hawkeye, but cast in a bright yellow/orange.  Seeing as Yondu is a fellow archer, the re-use is warranted, and it helps that the pieces were pretty good to begin with.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mostly moved away from the 3 ¾ inch Marvel figures, so I wasn’t really sure I was going to pick up Yondu.  I found one at Toys R Us, but that one went to my dad, who’s more of a classic GOTG fan than I.  He decided to return the favor, however, when he came across the whole first assortment of figures at Target.  They had apparently not put the figures into their system yet, so the store manager ended up selling Yondu here to my dad for $3, which is a pretty great deal.  Yondu’s not an outstanding figure or anything, but he’s solidly done.

#0901: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL UNIVERSE 10-INCH (TOY BIZ)

During Toy Biz’s run producing Marvel toys in the 90s, their standard scale of choice was 5-inch scale. Since most of their prototypes were done as two-ups (sculpted at twice the size and then scaled down during the production process), they also had the ability to produce virtually the same sculpts at twice the size, allowing them to produce a fairly vast line of 10-inch scaled figures. The figures were generally produced on the cheap, which Toy Biz achieved by building as many of the figures as they could out of a bank of common pieces. This led to them producing a number of more (at the time) obscure characters who happened to be easy builds. One such character was the Vision, who ended up getting his very first figure courtesy of this line (though his next three figures would arrive in short succession).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vision10inch2Vision was released as part of the 10-inch scale Marvel Universe line during the late 1997/early 1998 assortment. He predates the line’s move to being KB Toys-exclusive, though not by much. The figure stands 10 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Vision is depicted here in his mid-90s costume, which was the look he was porting when the figure was put into production, but he had gone back to his classic look right around this figure’s time of release. As far as structure, he uses an up-scaled version of the second Archangel body as his base, with a head from Silver Surfer. Both were favored pieces by Toy Biz, so they showed up a lot, and the same formula would be employed for the smaller-scale Marvel Gold version of the character. The body seems a little on the large side for Vision, but isn’t a terrible fit. He still has the wrist bands from Archangel, but he’s hardly the first figure to use this body that just acted like those weren’t a part of the sculpt. Re-using head sculpts is generally a bit iffy, but it works okay here, because Surfer’s head was chromed and Vision’s is normally painted, plus Surfer’s head was just a generic bald head to begin with. Unfortunately, the head and body aren’t really meant to go together, so there’s a lot of excess space at the base of the neck, especially in the back. This figure originally had a cloth cape to complete the look, which I recall being slightly ill-fitting, but overall a good piece, and it masked the previously mentioned neck issues (EDIT: I found the cape!  my assessment of it based on memory was correct). Vision’s paint is cool looking, as long as you don’t look too close. The colors are all nicely chose, and the metallic green looks pretty awesome. That said, the application is pretty sloppy, with lots of fuzzy and wavy lines, with the change over from red to green on the head being the worst offender. Vision included no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Vision from Toy Liquidators, back in 1998. Anybody remember Toy Liquidators? They were on their way out, even in 1998. Anyway, I had been to this Toy Liquidators with my grandmother on my mom’s side, and gotten some other figures, but not Vision (because getting her to accept anyone that wasn’t Batman or Spider-Man was already enough of an uphill battle. Explaining why I needed a Vision figure because he was the first ever was not happening). When I mentioned Vision to my Dad, he took me back to the store to get the figure, because Dad gets me (my Grandmother got me too, but it was a different sort of bond). Is he a perfect figure? No, but he was literally the first Vision figure ever made, and that was the best thing ever to 5 year old me (I still think he’s pretty cool).

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#0896: Machine Man & Iron Man

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

MACHINE MAN & SUPERIOR IRON MAN – MECHANICAL MASTERS

MARVEL LEGENDS (3.75)

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As much as I love what Hasbro’s been doing with the Marvel and Star Wars lines, I do have to admit to being baffled by their recurring choice to give multiple lines of figures the exact same title. When they first started doing Marvel figures in both 6 inch and 3 ¾ inch scales, the larger figures were Marvel Legends and the smaller were Marvel Universe. They also offered some 12 inch figures, under the heading Icons. Well, by the end of this year, all three of those scales will be titled Marvel Legends. I’m sure that won’t be at all confusing. The 3 ¾ inch line has officially switched its title over, and the first product to hit is a series of two-packs. Today, I’ll be looking Machine Man and Iron Man from that particular series.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in the first series of two-packs in the new 3 ¾ inch Marvel Legends line, under the name “Mechanical Masters.” When these figures were shown off at last year, the assumption was that they would be single figures with a shared name, since that’s a pretty common practice for Hasbro. Then they just kind of showed up in two packs, which certainly caught me off guard. In addition to the figures, the set is also packed with a reprint of Superior Iron Man #1, which makes sense for one of the two figures, but not the other.

MACHINE MAN

MechanicalMasters2If you had told me five years ago that I would own two figures of Machine Man, I would have had a long hard laugh. Seems pretty out there to think that such a minor, low-tier character would warrant multiple figures, within a year of each other, but hey, here we are. The figure stands roughly 4 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. This Machine Man is decidedly more modern take on the character than the larger figure. He’s based on his Tron-styled post-Nextwave design, which I believe is still his current look. More specifically, the character-unique parts (his head and forearms) are directly based on Daniel Acuna’s Avengers 50th Anniversary poster. The real tell here is the forearm configuration; he’s got a buzzsaw and a Sci-fi blaster sort of thing, which are lifted right from the poster. The sculpts are all pretty solid work; the technical stuff on the arms is particularly sharp. The head’s details are a little soft, but they stand out well enough for the scale. All in all, the parts look good, and match up with the mid-sized body that the figure is built on. Machine Man’s paintwork is passable; the general application is pretty clean, though the face is a bit sloppy. The metallic purple is pretty cool, but it probably would have looked a bit better if it were a little brighter, so as to stand out more from the black base color. Machine Man includes no accessories, not even an extra set of normal forearms, which ends up being a little bit limiting.

SUPERIOR IRON MAN

MechanicalMasters3This figure is the required heavy hitter of the set, and…yeah, that’s really all I got. I can’t really figure why this guy got packed with Aaron, since the two don’t really have any history. Retailers just like Iron Man, I guess. The figure is a little over 4 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. This figure is based on the “Superior Iron Man” design, from the comic of the same name, after Tony became more of a jerk than usual. This figure gets a new head sculpt and uni-beam and re-uses the body of the Marvel Universe line’s Extremis Iron Man (which was also used for Iron Patriot). That was a decent Iron Man, but it wasn’t even the strongest of Hasbro’s Iron Man sculpt when it was new, and it feels really dated now, especially in terms of poseability. It was also pretty under-sized, and that’s made even worse by the fact that the new head is larger than the original. What’s more, the Extremis armor had a number of major deviations in design from the Superior armor, so it’s not even a particularly clever re-use. The paint is really what the figure hinges on to sell it as Superior Iron Man. Unfortunately, even that’s not really great. In the comics, the suit is bright white and sleek (it’s kind of similar to something produced by Apple), but here it’s mostly a dull silver. Also, while the design in the comics has the black sections, they seem to stand out way more here. With the base colors being darker, the light blue details also tend to be easily lost, which is a shame, because they could have helped to sell the differences in the armor a bit more.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was obviously planning on getting this set as soon as they showed it, though I didn’t initially realize I’d be getting both figures. I got the set from my Dad, who found them while running an errand at Target. Machine Man is definitely the selling point; he’s got some really cool new parts and he’s a really fun version of the character. I do still hold out hope that we might see a Nextwave version down the road, but this one is definitely a welcome addition. Iron Man is kind of a waste of space, if I’m honest. His body is inaccurate and out of date, and I wasn’t much of a fan of the concept to begin with. But who cares? I got another Machine Man!

#0890: Captain America & Scarlet Witch

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL MINIMATES

Cap&ScarletWitch1

When Minimates first started out, getting just one Avenger was a pretty big deal.  It’s less of a big deal now, especially when it comes to heavy hitters like Captain America and Iron Man.  That said, it’s still kind of cool to get those slightly less well-known Avengers, like Scarlet Witch.  Although, it’s hard to imagine Scarlet Witch being quite as overlooked following her fantastic appearance in Age of Ultron and upcoming appearance in Captain America: Civil War.  Time will tell.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Scarlet Witch were released as part of the 16th series of Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Minimates.  They were done to sort of tie-in with the release of the Marvel Now!-themed Series 51.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Cap&ScarletWitch2This figure is Cap’s 29th foray into the world of Minimates (although it’s only the 27th for Steve Rogers as Cap) and it showcases Cap’s redesign following the Marvel Now! relaunch.  The design still shares most of the pivotal details of Cap’s traditional costume, while also working in a few more movie-esque parts.  Cap makes use of add-on pieces for his helmet, gloves, and belt.  Each of these is a brand-new sculpt, and they are all quite well handled.  The helmet is a very adept recreation of the comics design, and it features etched in lines for the ‘A’ and the head wings.  The gloves are bulky, but not overly, and they offer a more intricate, stylized take on the character’s traditional flared gloves.  The left glove has a peg allowing it to be used with the shield, and it can be swapped out with a non-pegged hand for display sans-shield.  Lastly, the belt is a fairly straight forward piece, which does its job without being obtrusive.  Isn’t that what belts are for?  The painted detailing on Cap is really quite good.  Some of the white areas on the helmet miss their mark just a slight bit, but the detail work, specifically on the figure’s torso which features an intricate hexagonal design, is very sharp and brings a lot of dimension to the figure.  Also, even after all this time, I still marvel (heh) when Diamond gets the eye placement perfect on a figure.  The eyes here line up exactly with the painted face, and it just looks really cool.  For accessories, Cap includes the standard clear base, as well as his mighty shield, and a hairpiece that allows him to be displayed unmasked.

SCARLET WITCH

Cap&ScarletWitch3Wanda Maximoff, aka the Scarlet Witch, hasn’t received anywhere near as many Minimates as the good Captain.  However, this was her third Minimate and it was even released in fairly close proximity to the second.  That’s not bad for a character most people hadn’t heard of before Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Like Cap, Wanda is presented here in her first Marvel Now! costume.  Unlike Cap, it moves a bit further away from the “classic” design.  YMMV on how well that works out, but there were far worse redesigns during Now!  Wanda has additional sculpted pieces for her hair/headpiece and the bottom of her jacket.  These are new to the figure.  The headpiece is similar to the two prior Wandas, but it sits a little lower, and the hair is a little fuller.  It makes for a good rendering of John Cassidy’s illustrations of the character in Uncanny Avengers, which I feel certain is what they were going for.  The bottom/skirt of her jacket is similar to Cap’s belt; it’s not the most thrilling piece ever, but it does what it’s supposed to.  It’s nice that it has a more organic shape and flow to it than a lot of skirt pieces, so there’s that going for it.  Wanda’s paint is mostly a mix of reds, befitting a character named the Scarlet Witch.  The metallic red of the head piece certainly pops, although there’s a fair bit of bleed over from her hair, made more noticeable by the aforementioned popping of the metallic red.  Aside from that, the paintwork is relatively clean.  The detailing on the torso block is fairly sharp and does a fairly nice job of giving her a more feminine figure.  Wanda is accessorized with a clear display stand and a pair of spell-casting hands, which were first introduced on the AvX Scarlet Witch.  They were cool there and they’re cool here.  They’re a great representation of her powers as they are usually depicted in the comics, and they make the figure stand out a bit more on the shelf.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these two from TRU’s online store.  Things actually went pretty smoothly that time.  Generally, I overlook variants of A-listers, and I wasn’t super thrilled then Cap’s Now! redesign was unveiled, but I find myself very impressed with the quality of this figure.  He reminds quite a lot of the original Wave 5 Cap, and that’s a very good thing.  Wanda is one of my favorite Avengers, so I’m always happy to see her turn up in the various Marvel toylines.  The Now! look isn’t my favorite, but it’s unique and it is certainly a valid choice for a figure.  Being released in close proximity to a more classically inspired Wanda, this one comes across as a little less exciting.  Still, it’s a solid Minimate and a decent version of the character.