Tag Archives: Marvel

#0884: Jack O’Lantern

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

JACK O’LANTERN – VILLAINS OF THE NIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

JackOLantern1

Legacy isn’t really a thing that Marvel tends to do a whole lot of, but they do have a few prominent examples, though they do have a tendency to be villainous. Perhaps the best known legacy identity they have is the Green Goblin, followed by his knock off, Hobgoblin. However, the two of them have followed Marvel’s more usual trend of reverting back to the identity’s originator. One villainous legacy that hasn’t as of yet taken any steps backwards is Jack O’Lantern, who has had five different incarnations to date. Jack O’Lantern is a minor enough character that he’s been rather sparse in figure form. He’s had three figures, and each has been based on a different incarnation of the character. The third figure is relatively new, and I’ll be reviewing him today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JackOLantern2Jack O’Lantern is the fourth figure in the fourth series of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series line. He is officially titled “Villains of the Night,” which he shares with Morbius. I guess it works alright for him, but it feels like more of a Morbius title. This figure is based on the latest Jack O’Lantern (whose real name has not yet been revealed), who was a recurring foe of Flash Thompson’s Venom. The figure is 7 inches tall (including the flames; he’s 6 ½ inches without them) and has 30 points of articulation. Jack is based on the Ghost body (first used in the SDCC-exclusive Thunderbolts set), which itself re-used the thighs and biceps of the Young Avengers Patriot figure. The body is a little bit awkward, especially at the hips, and a serious pain to pose, but it’s not a bad sculpt. Despite being designed specifically for Ghost, the costume details aren’t too far off from at least one of the depictions of Jack O’Lantern. The only truly “off” part is the collar, which should be more open. Jack gets a new head; it’s an important piece, since it’s his namesake and all, and it’s a pretty strong sculpt, in terms of both its standalone quality and its meshing with the rest of the body. He also gets a new belt piece, to help bring the body more in line with Jack’s costume. The piece is nicely handled, though it certainly doesn’t help the issues with the hip movement. At the very least, it distracts from the somewhat large size of the hips. Jack’s paint is generally pretty strong. He’s a lot more murky and drab than most current Legends figures, but that’s definitely appropriate. The head in particular has some pretty cool shading work, which gives it the effect of being unevenly lit, as a Jack O’Lantern would be. Jack O’Lantern includes a pumpkin bomb (the same one included with the Hobgoblin BAF), a sickle, and a broomstick (the current Jack’s mode of transport). Due to the nature of the pre-existing hands, the broom and the sickle both have knuckle guard to help keep them more securely in place. Admittedly, it looks a little goofy, so I can’t really see myself using either of those parts. The figure also includes the left leg of the BAF Absorbing Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jack O’Lantern was another figure from my parents. I didn’t really expect much from this guy. I’m passingly familiar with some of the prior incarnations of the character, but I don’t know the latest one at all. I find myself liking this guy more than I expected. The body is a little out of date, but not horribly so, and he certainly has a unique design.

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#0883: Speed Demon

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

SPEED DEMON – SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

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Though they’re kind of arch-rivals now, the offices of DC and Marvel were once actually quite friendly. Friendly enough that in 1969, the writers of The Avengers and Justice League of America were able to get away with an unofficial cross-over of sorts. While the Avengers knock-off faced by the JLA were ultimately forgettable, the Avengers themselves faced off against the Squadron Sinister, who proved quite popular and even got a more heroically-themed spin-off, the Squadron Supreme, later down the line. In the original story, the Squadron Sinister were created by the Grandmaster specifically to do battle with the Avengers. After the story, they hung around the Marvel universe, and were repurposed into various different roles. Flash knock-off “the Wizzer” traded in his somewhat amusing name for the more imposing “Speed Demon” and became a rather forgettable Spider-Man foe. However, he’s gotten a few focus stories over the years, and was most recently one of the stars of Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber’s The Superior Foes of Spider-Man. Now he’s gotten his very first action figure ever! Lucky him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpeedDemon2Speed Demon is seventh figure in the latest series of the Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series (this is numerically the fourth series of Spider-Man-related figures that Hasbro has done in this packaging style). Calling back to his most recent appearances, Speed Demon’s official title in this series is “Superior Foes of Spider-Man,” a title he shares with his co-star from the book of the same title, Beetle. Speed Demon’s more or less had the same design since giving up the “Wizzer” identity. This figure is clearly based on the most recent tweaking of that design, which admittedly plays up some of the Flash similarities a bit more. The figure is a little over 6 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the Pizza Spidey body, which may actually have been a little bit of a misstep. Presumably, they were trying to give him a svelte, runner’s physique, but Speed Demon’s generally been depicted a little on the bulky side, and in The Superior Foes of Spider-Man series, he was depicted as being about the the same build as Boomerang, who’s figure used the Bucky Cap body. Speed Demon got a new head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece, which definitely takes influence from Lieber’s SpeedDemon6art. It looks just slightly large on this body, making me wonder if Hasbro changed their mind on what body was being used. The figure also has two sets of hands, flat and in fists, which were originally used on last year’s Iron Fist figure. They’re a bit smaller than the Pizza Spidey hands, which at least makes them feel a bit better scaled on Speed Demon.  In an odd turn for a Hasbro figure, Speed Demon’s paint is perhaps his strongest feature. Everything is nice and sharp, and the gold detailing in particular really stands out, and adds some “pop.” There’s no slop or bleed over, and virtually no fuzzy lines, which is really nice to see. In addition to the previously mentioned extra hands, Speed Demon includes the head of Silvermane…on an RC car. This weird little piece is a specific reference to Superior Foes, and is a fantastically outside the box inclusion that’s a whole ton of fun. The actual head is on a fairly standard ball-joint, and the silver matches up pretty closely to the most recent Ultron, allowing fans who want a proper Silvermane a fairly close approximation (plus the Ultron head fits on the car, which is a pretty goofy sight). The car is a totally static piece, but it’s a decent sculpt. The little flag pole can be removed, should you feel so inclined. Speed Demon also includes the torso of the series’ Build-A-Figure, Absorbing Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Spider-Ben, Speed Demon was purchased for me by my parents, who are just way too supportive. I really loved Superior Foes, so I was definitely looking forward to this guy. The body choice hurts the figure a little, but overall, he’s a pretty decent figure, and he’s got hands down the best accessory for a Marvel Legend since Silver Surfer was packed with Howard the Duck.

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#0882: Ben Reilly Spider-Man

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

BEN REILLY SPIDER-MAN – EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

SpiderBen1

In the 90s, Marvel was marred by lots of big, multi-part story arcs, all based on some terrible concept or hook, almost all of which have gone down in infamy. For Spider-Man, it was “The Clone Saga,” a story that actually started off alright, before Marvel decided to capitalize on the vast sales of early installments by extending the story to more than twice its intended length, resulting in…well, let’s be nice and just call them “serious issues.” At about the mid-point of the story, it was revealed that the Peter Parker we’d been following for the last 20 or so years was actually a clone, and the more recently introduced Ben Reilly was in fact the original Parker (this was later reversed, for obvious reasons). This resulted in a major status quo shift, where Peter stepped down from the role of Spider-Man, and Ben took over. Today’s figure hails from that particular era…mostly. I’ll get to that in a little bit.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SpiderBen2Spider-Ben (that’s the shorthand I’m gonna use, just to make my life easier) is the first figure in the latest Spider-Man Marvel Legends Series (seems they’ve dropped the “Infinite.” Does this mean the line is now just finite? Oh no!). Like last series’ Scarlet Spider, Spider-Ben fills the slot of the required Spider-Man variant. The figure’s official title is “Edge of Spider-Verse,” a title he shares with Spider-Gwen. The thing is, Ben didn’t appear in the “Spider-Verse” event, at least not the Ben from the main universe. So, is this perhaps meant to be an alternate universe Ben? Who knows. Regardless of what universe he hails from, this figure wears the costume that Ben was sporting during his stint as the main Spidey during the mid-90s. It’s a slight tweak of the classic Spidey costume, but it’s actually a pretty sharp redesign, and proved popular enough to get re-used for M2’s Spider-Girl. Structurally, Spider-Ben is about 95% re-use from last year’s “Pizza Spidey.” That means he stands just over 6 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation. The Pizza body is by far one of Hasbro’s strongest bodies, with solid SpiderBen3proportions and a pretty decent range of motion. It also makes a lot of sense to re-use it, seeing as Peter and Ben should have the same build (what with one being a clone and all). The only difference between the two sculpts is the addition of web-cartridges to the wrists. I think these are different from the ones used on Scarlet Spider, but it’s had to tell, due to differences in paint. The general paintwork on Spider-Ben is all pretty solid. Aside from one or two small bits of slop, he looks pretty sharp, and does a spot-on job of replicating Ben’s costume design from the comics. Ben includes the same three sets of hands included with Pizza Spidey: web-shooting, fists, and open gesture. They’re just as cool here as they were there, and I’m glad their inclusion has become a standard. Ben also includes the head and hands from Carnage, done up to match this figure’s color scheme. This allows him to be transformed into Spider-Carnage (from when Ben briefly bonded with the Carnage symbiote), which is a really cool extra. Finally, Ben is packed with not one, but two arms from this series’ Build-A-Figure, Absorbing man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was at MAGFest, buying Hellboy figures, my parents were out buying me this newest series of Marvel Legends (okay, it’s not like that’s all they were doing. They were actually having a day out and about). As odd as it seems, this was probably the figure I was most looking forward to in this new series. I love the new Spidey body, and I’ve always had a soft spot for this particular costume. This figure definitely doesn’t disappoint. In fact, he may very well be my favorite Spider-Man yet.

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#0878: Daredevil – Yellow

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

DAREDEVIL – YELLOW

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Just a little while after this review is posted, Netflix will be premiering the second season of Marvel Studios’ Daredevil. I don’t know about everyone else, but I absolutely loved the first season of the show, so I’m pretty darned excited about season two. In honor of the show, why not look at something Daredevil-related? Because I want to, that’s why!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DDYellow2Daredevil was released as the third Walgreens exclusive figure in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Infinite Series line. The back of the box groups him with the Rhino series of figures, though he arrived at Walgreens a fair bit after those figures hit stores (he also doesn’t include any sort of Build-a-Figure piece). The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. As noted in the review’s title, this is “Yellow Daredevil;” he’s wearing the costume from his first handful of appearances, before he switched to the all red number we all know and love. While the costume was short-lived, it’s fairly distinctive, and has quite a lasting power with fans, resulting in it getting more than a few figures over the years. Sculpturally, this Daredevil is identical to the red version released last year. That’s not a huge shock, since he’s the same guy and all. I will say, while it was perfect for the regular Horn-Head, it seems a little off here. It feels like this more of a “later in his career” sort of sculpt, and I kind of expect early Daredevil to be a little more…svelte? Maybe if he’d been on the Pizza Spidey body? Of course, it’s not like this body is bad by any stretch of the imagination, and Yellow DD figures have traditionally just been straight repaints, so maybe I’m just off with this one. The paint is the whole selling point of this figure, so DDYellow4how did it turn out? On a whole, not bad.  He’s bright, colorful, and sufficiently different from the last one. The colors do a decent job of capturing the look (though I personally prefer it when straight black is used for the darker sections), and the application is mostly pretty clean. The choice to paint part of the yellow on the shin was unfortunate (remember guys, dark on light. Dark on light!), since it means that the shins don’t match the rest of the leg, and on my figure they don’t even match each other! Also, the “D” logo is definitely way too big on this guy; it should be like half the current size. DD includes the same pair of billy-clubs as the last figure, but in red this time. Since he doesn’t include a B-a-F piece, they’ve given him an extra, unmasked head. It’s just a re-use from the Marvel Now! Hawkeye figure, so it doesn’t quite match up with the features on the masked head. Still, it’s not a bad extra, and it looks pretty great popped on a suit body.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original Daredevil costume will forever have a special place for me. I can’t say exactly why I like it so much, but I just really do. The SMC version was one of my personal grails, and this costume is the reason I got into Minimates. Needless to say, when Hasbro announced he’d be getting released in the new Legends style, I was pretty darn excited. I didn’t have any luck finding him at first, but two weeks ago, I happened upon him in a Walgreens I don’t frequent very often. Yeah, he’s just a repaint of the figure I got last year, but I loved that figure, and I love this costume, so I love this figure too. Now I’m gonna go binge watch the new season.

*Want a Yellow Daredevil figure of your own?  He’s currently in-stock with our sponsors over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

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#0871: Captain Marvel & New Thor

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

CAPTAIN MARVEL & NEW THOR

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Change is kind of a constant thing in comics. However, as quickly as things change, they’ll just as quickly revert right back, because status quo trumps just about everything. Seriously, for all the times a popular character has been replaced by another iteration, you can probably keep count of the ones that actually stuck on one hand. So, today, let’s look at two new(ish) incarnations of classic Marvel characters, Captain Marvel and Thor. One of them’s likely to be one of the few changes that sticks, while the other’s probably only got until Chris Hemsworth’s Thor graces the big screen next year.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Marvel and Thor are part of Series 64 of the main Marvel Minimates line. This is one of the two sets only available in the specialty assortment of figures. While Carol and the new Thor don’t have a ton of history together, they are both Avengers, so the pairing certainly makes more sense than Howard and Dazzler. Plus, how often do you get two female characters in one set? That’s pretty cool.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

ThorCapMarvel2Captain Marvel is a title that Marvel has passed around a lot over the years, mostly because none of the characters really hit it big and Marvel was reeeally determined not to let the name lapse. Carol Danvers spent a large portion of her career as Ms. Marvel, and after managing to hold her own series under that title, Marvel finally realized that easiest way to keep the Captain Marvel name going would be to give Carol a much deserved promotion. She’s actually been Captain Marvel for a while now, so it seems like this one’s gonna stick. Carol’s had pretty much the same look during her entire tenure as the Captain, so that’s the look here. The figure is the standard 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. She uses the basic body, with add-on pieces for the hair and sash. Both pieces are new to this figure and they do a pretty good job of capturing her in-comic look. The hair’s peg is a little long, so it sits just a bit high, but other than that, it looks okay. The paint on Captain Marvel is pretty decent overall. The only real issue is that the dark blue is the base color, so the red and gold are just a touch murky in a few spots. Other than that, the colors look pretty smooth, and everything’s nice and clean. For accessories, the good Captain includes her helmet (which she only seems to wear very occasionally), as well as a flight stand and a standard clear display stand.

NEW THOR

ThorCapMarvel3New Thor seems like an odd idea. While the concept of someone else wielding Mjolnir certainly isn’t new, and New Thor hit right in the midst of change-ups to other popular characters, it was weird to see another person called “Thor” since it’s not a title, it’s his actual name. However, the character seems to have been pretty well-executed, and I’ve especially loved her in Mark Waid’s run on Avengers. While she’s sure to be a temporary replacement, she’s certainly a fun take on the character. Thor makes use of four add-ons for her helmet/hair, cape, gauntlet, and belt/skirt. The cape is re-used from the MvC Thor (which is certainly appropriate), but the rest of her add-ons are new. The helmet is a pretty awesome piece, with some really cool detailing, and the skirt and gauntlet are pretty cool too. Thor’s paint is nice and sharp, and has some nice, bold work. Under the mask is a nice depiction of Jane Foster’s sickly appearance, with a nice, stern look to it. Thor is a bit light on the accessories, but she has what’s important: her hammer Mjolnir and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I wasn’t quite as excited for this set as I was Dazzler and Howard, I do really like both of the character designs included. Captain Marvel is a long time coming, and she turned out very nicely. Definitely worth the wait. And Thor is a solid ‘mate of a pretty cool design, and a very good choice for this set.

#0870: Disco Dazzler & Howard the Duck

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

DISCO DAZZLER & HOWARD THE DUCK

MARVEL MINIMATES

DazzlerHoward1

The success of the Marvel Studios movies has translated to a pretty big success for all of the associated merchandise, including Marvel Minimates. While the line has far outpaced its original intent, and far more ‘mates see production in any given year than ever before, the line has also placed more of a focus on variants of Marvel’s big guns. This means that the percentage of new characters has taken a bit of a dip over time. However, DST still does their darnedest to throw long-time fans a few bones here and there. Most recently, they took advantage of Marvel’s recent Secret Wars event to produce some of the more “out there” characters, such as today’s set, Howard the Duck and Dazzler!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of Series 64 of the main Marvel Minimates line. They make up one of the two sets in Series 64 not to be included in Toys R Us’ equivalent assortment. The pairing’s a bit out of nowhere, but I’m hardly going to complain.

DISCO DAZZLER

DazzlerHoward3This marks the second time that Dazzler’s gotten a Minimate, which is actually pretty darn impressive, what with her being, you know, Dazzler. Not exactly high profile (as hard as Marvel tried to make her so). Her first mate reflected her later “flashdance” look, but this one takes her back to her classic disco roots. The figure is a little over the usual 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Dazzler makes use of the standard ‘mate base body. She has add-ons for her hair, bracelets, collar, and roller skates. Yes, she has roller skates. All of these pieces are brand-new to Dazzler (though the hair was shared with Series 65’s Siryn) and they do an excellent job of capturing her look from the comics. Dazzler’s paint is some of the cleanest I’ve seen on a ‘mate in quite some time. The colors are vibrant, and the line work is incredibly sharp. This figure has a serious “pop” factor to it, which makes her stand out pretty darn well. For accessories, Dazzler includes a microphone and a standard clear display stand.

HOWARD THE DUCK

DazzlerHoward2Howard the Duck makes his Minimate debut here. One assumes this is at least somewhat linked to the character actually being in the public spotlight for the first time since the line’s inception, thanks to on ongoing comic and a cameo in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He’s based on his modern, Disney approved appearance, and clearly takes direct influence from Joe Quinones’ work in the current series. The figure stands just shy of 2 ½ inches tall and has 10 points of articulation (he lacks any movement in the wrists or ankles). The only standard pieces used by Howard are the pelvis and upper arms. That’s not to say that every piece is all-new, though. He uses the shortened arms introduced by the Thunderkittens, as well as the smaller torso introduced by Shock and Lock from the NBX line, to help keep Howard appropriately small. Howard makes use of arms in place of the usual legs, with a unique set of “lower legs” and feet, which are certainly duck-like. He also gets his own unique head, to adequately represent his bill. The hat is permanently affixed (presumably it’s to do with Marvel’s pre-existing deal with Disney in regards to how he’s allowed to be depicted), which is a bit annoying, but doesn’t look terrible. Howard’s paint is fairly muted; mostly warm, brownish colors. It’s a good representation of how he looks in his current incarnation. The detail lines on the head and torso are nice and sharp, and the eyes have a lot of character to them. Howard’s only accessory is a display stand. The peg is smaller than the usual stand’s, to fit Howard’s smaller feet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is probably the most excited I’ve been for a Marvel Minimates in quite some time. I picked them up from my local comic book store when they first hit. Dazzler may be a repeat character, but the two looks are sufficiently different that this figure still feels totally new. Add in that she’s just a solid ‘mate all around, and you’ve got a definite winner. Howard is a pretty awesome addition to the line and an all-around fun character to get. The permanently attached hat is a bit annoying, but it could definitely be worse. Not a bad ‘mate.

#0856: Black Panther

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

BLACK PANTHER

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

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Poor Black Panther. He should be a really prominent character, but he always feels like he gets the short end of the stick. He has trouble keeping an ongoing comic (often due to poor creative direction), he’s mostly relegated to guest star roles in all the various Marvel cartoons (barring the truly awesome Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes), and he didn’t even get an action figure until the early 00s (and even then, it was only in the-10 inch line. It would take a little while longer before he got a normal 5-inch figure, just as the scale was starting to go away). Fortunately, it looks like his luck should be changing with the release of Civil War, as well as his solo film in 2018. Why not look at one of his action figures?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BPantherMU2Black Panther was part of the first series of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. He’s based on the Panther’s classic look, from his time with the Avengers in the late 60s. The figure stands roughly 4 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation. Panther is built on Hasbro’s first attempt at a mid-sized male body. It was only used for him and two variants of the Punisher. The reason it didn’t see any further use is quite simple: it’s not very good. Sure, parts of it look pretty decent, but the overall assembly looks very awkward. The upper arms in particular are about as tall as they are wide, which just looks odd. In addition, the articulation scheme is weird and makes the figure pretty stiff. You won’t be getting much more than a basic standing pose out of this guy, which just isn’t right when you’re talking about Black Panther, a dude who does his fair share of crouching! The head, lower arms and lower legs are all unique to this guy. I like the head a lot, and it’s definitely the best part of the figure. The arms and legs do at least put some effort into detailing Panther’s striped gloves and boots, but they suffer from the same odd proportions as the rest of the body. The left hand is bigger than his face! Panther has paint for his eyes and… that’s it. Just the eyes. The rest is straight black plastic, which makes him a bit flat looking. Some highlights, or even painting the gloves blue, as they were often showed in the comics, would have done a lot to help this figure, but alas, no such luck. Black Panther was packed with a staff with a blade on it, which Wikipedia tells me is a naginata. It never struck me as particularly in keeping with Panther’s aesthetic, so I lost it at some point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always liked Black Panther (I chalk it up to his Keith David-voiced appearance on the 90s Fantastic Four cartoon). So much so that when I was 7, I made one of my Batman Forever Batmen into a custom Panther using some black tape. When Hasbro showed him as one of the first MU figures, I was pretty excited to see him there, and he was one of my first purchases from the line. Unfortunately, he got saddled with the worst of the initial bodies, which held him back. He’s not a terrible looking figure, but he’s not super fun either, which is disappointing. On the plus side, Hasbro just re-released him in their Avengers Infinite line, using the later mid-sized body (used on Falcon), so the character wasn’t totally forgotten.

#0850: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

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Falcon is certainly a character who has picked up some serious notoriety in the last few years, and I gotta say, that makes me pretty darn happy. See, I’ve been a Falcon fan since Avengers: United They Stand (a cartoon that no one in their right mind would admit to liking. I kinda liked it…) and I’ve always found the guy pretty awesome. He’s actually been pretty fortunate in regards to figures, getting a figure in just about every major scale over the years, including Hasbro’s favorite, 3 ¾ inch, where he actually got TWO figures! I’ll be looking at the first of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FalconMU2Falcon was released in the 14th series of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line, where he is listed as figure 013. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation. The design of the figure is clearly based on one of his more recent costumes, but it’s not either of the modern costumes I’m familiar with. It’s actually a nice medium between the classic costume and the costume he was wearing just prior to becoming Captain America. Falcon is built on the medium-sized male body, first introduced with Guardian. It was definitely an improvement to some of the earlier base bodies, and aside from arms that can’t quite sit flush with the body, it’s actually a fairly nice sculpt. He gets a new head and forearms, as well as slightly tweaked upper arms, to allow for the wings. The new pieces are pretty decent overall; the head is a little bland, expression-wise, but it’s not bad, and the forearms sport some pretty nice detailing. His actual wings are separate pieces, and they work okay,but they aren’t as well done as prior Falcon figures. They’re only one piece, and they’re really only designed for him to have his arms above his head at like a 45 degree angle. Any other pose and they look incredibly awkward. Falcon’s paintwork is actually really nice. The base colors are well-chosen, and there’s some great accent work on the whites and reds, which helps prevent him from looking too boring. The figure is packed with his trusty sidekick Redwing and a display stand with his name on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Falcon’s actually responsible for me having as many Marvel Universe figures as I do. I had a few figures, probably less than 10, when I found this guy at Target. It just so happened that they were having a Buy-One-Get-One-Half-Price special at the time, which led to me steadily picking up a whole bunch of what was currently in stock, and eventually led to me trying to get a complete line-up of every Avenger in this scale. And it’s all because of this guy.

#0842: Patriot

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

PATRIOT

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

Patriot1

The early 2000s were a bit of a dim time for Marvel, at least for me. For almost a decade, they decided to do their very best to make fans looking for more “classic” interpretations of the heroes unwelcome, by giving just about every major series a dark, brooding, paranoid tone. There were a few series that managed to not suck, though, and one of my personal favorites was Alann Heinberg and Jim Cheung’s Young Avengers. The team has, unfortunately, been pretty scarce in the toy world: there was one boxed set at the end of Toy Biz’s run with Marvel Legends, a Vision 2.0 (released as a variant of the original Vision) in Marvel Minimates, and then today’s figure, Eli Bradley, aka Patriot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Patriot2Patriot was released in Series 17 of Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line. It’s actually Patriot’s second figure, which gives him twice as many figures as half the team, and infinitely more figures than the other half of the team. Yay for him, I guess. The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and has 23 points of articulation. Eli had two distinct looks in the comics; this figure (like his Marvel Legend) is based on his first costume. He spent far less time in this costume than the other, but it’s a slightly stronger design and it’s got a lot in common with Bucky’s costume, which allows for some part re-use. Part re-use is probably the real reason this figure even exists, since he’s 100% re-used from other figures. His body is (unsurprisingly) from Series 7’s Bucky figure, and his head is from Series 5’s Union Jack (oh no, conflicting patriotism! What will he do?). The tricky thing with these re-used parts is that, while Bucky and Patriot’s designs are similar, they aren’t identical. So, Patriot ends up with a very different collar than his comics counterpart, the front of his jacket has buttons on both sides (as opposed to just the right side), and his boots are cuffed. It’s a bit frustrating that none of these were fixed for this figure, but it is what it is I suppose. At the very least, the overall look of the figure is a close approximation. The paint does do its fair share to try and mask some of these issues as best as possible; the front of the jacket, for instance, only has painted piping on the right side, allowing the other side to sort of “fade in” to the torso. The paint also adds the small stars on his forehead and torso, as well as the striping on the sides of his legs. Unfortunately, the figure lacks the proper white piping on the edges of the gloves. Also, some of the paint, especially the red, is quite sloppily applied, though this is only really noticeable up close. Patriot was packed with Captain America’s original shield, which, like the rest of this figure, is a reuse, though it’s completely excusable here, since it’s supposed to be the exact same shield.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Being an avid Young Avengers fan, I bought Patriot as soon as I found him (which was at my local comic book store). Of the six Young Avengers figures in existence, this is probably the weakest. That being said, he’s not terrible. The parts he re-uses, while perhaps not 100% accurate, are at least good pieces. That makes this figure a good figure, if not an accurate one. Plus, viewed through the lens of “inaccurate or not at all” I’ll happily take inaccurate.

#0833: Ant-Man

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

ANT-MAN

MARVEL HERO MASHERS

AntManMasher1

Hasbro’s Hero Mashers lines are kind of an odd thing.  They’re incredibly gimmicky, and as actual figures they don’t really have much to offer an adult collector.  For a kid, I’m sure they’re awesome, but I think it’s safe to say I’m not in their target demographic.  So, it’s a bit hard for me to explain why I keep buying them.  A toy addiction is a serious thing, folks.  Let’s look at one I bought a while ago and have been putting off reviewing for far too long, Ant-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AntManMasher2Ant-Man is part of the mid-2015 assortment of Marvel Hero Mashers.  He was undoubtedly released to coincide with the Ant-Man movie released last summer.  He’s part of the basic figure assortment, which means he’s at the lowest price-point is somewhat minimal on extras.  The figure is about 6 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  Like the Star Wars line’s Darth Vader, Ant-Man’s shoulders are just simple cut joints, not disc and pin joints like prior Mashers.  This is a slight letdown, but I’ve moved on.  At least they look the same aesthetically.  Design-wise, Ant-Man actually uses the second Eric O’Grady Ant-Man design for his costume choice.  The only real difference between the classic Ant-Man look and this one is the presence of the shoulder pads, which make hiding the shoulder plugs a bit easier.  That’s probably why they went with this one.  His sculpt is pretty standard for a human Masher; he’s rather jagged and squared-off at the edges, and his proportions are on the cartoony side.  If I had to guess, I’d say he probably uses some previously used parts for most of the body, since none of his specific costume details have been sculpted in.  That’s fine, since Ant-Man’s usually a “re-use a body” sort of a character.  The head is definitely a new piece; it’s not my favorite Ant-Man head, and I feel it compromises the helmet design a bit too much to adhere to the style, but it fits well enough and doesn’t look terrible.  Ant-Man’s paint is pretty decent; the colors are nice and vibrant and there’s minimal slop and bleed over.  He certainly fits in with what we’ve seen before from the line.  Ant-Man includes a pair of giant ants, which both have handles, making them look like weird bug guns.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked Ant-Man up waaaaaay back in August, while Tim and I were out hunting for Nerf Rival stuff.  He was at a Walmart where we stopped, and I thought he looked sort of cool.  Plus, he’s an Ant-Man figure, and I don’t tend to pass on those.  So, why the six month delay in reviewing him?  Well, to be totally honest, he’s a perfectly decent figure, but he really didn’t “wow” me in any capacity.  He’s a fine toy, but I feel more and more that Mashers just aren’t for me.  Now, if only I could stop buying them…