Tag Archives: Marvel

#3599: Nightcrawler

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

NIGHTCRAWLER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0078: Nightcrawler’s creation predates the All New, All Different X-Men, and in fact predates his creator Dave Cockrum’s time at Marvel; he was originally intended to be part of Legion of Super Heroes spin-off book from Cockrum’s time at DC.  When Dave left DC, he took Nightcrawler with him.

Though certainly a popular X-Man, it feels like we never get enough Nightcrawler figures.  He’s always just a little sparser than you might expect.  Since the introduction of Marvel Legends, he’s gotten two, now three figures.  That’s not a lot.  They’re always pretty good, though, and after the last one, it felt like there wasn’t much room for improvement.  Well, about that…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightcrawler is part of the second X-Men ’97-tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He was notable for being the only figure in the line-up *not* featured in the first three episodes of the show.  He finally made his return last week, and boy was that an episode of…like…things.  Just…okay?  Now he’s in the opening credits, and it’s a whole thing.  Look, new figure.  That’s the point.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this figure uses a handful of parts from the prior Nightcrawler, namely the torso, pelvis, and tail.  Those were solid parts, and are hard to beat for a standard Nightcrawler set-up, so it’s worth a re-use.  He replaces the Pizza Spidey arms and legs with new, albeit similarly built ones.  Now, they have no visible pins, and the glove and boot details are etched in, rather than just simply painted.  He also gets new hands and feet, which are *slightly* different from the prior versions, but not drastically so.  It’s all topped off with two new heads based on Nightcrawler’s updated show design.  One is calm and slightly friendly, while the other is gritting his teeth.  Both have the same swooshy hair, which is a lot of fun.  I very much dig them.  His color work is a lot of molded colors, but there’s some paint work in there too.  Some of the base work, especially on the gloves and boots, is a touch uneven, but the detailing on both heads is incredibly sharp.  Nightcrawler is packed with two sets of hands, one set open, the other set in fists.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t gonna buy this one.  Honest.  I saw him with the rest of the set and I was all set to say “I don’t need that.”  I’ve got my Wendigo Series one, and he’s fantastic, and just can’t be topped.  He’s the Nightcrawler I always wanted, and I have no need to replace him.  And I won’t be.  Because I’ve just decided I’m gonna *also* have this one.  Look, if I can do it with Cyclops, I can also do it with Nightcrawler.  And you can’t stop me.  I mean, I guess you could, if you really tried.  But why?  Why would you do that?  Anyway, I saw this one in person, and I resisted for a bit, but only for a bit.  He’s not drastically different from the last one, but he’s different enough that I see him as an alternative, not a replacement.

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

#3597: Goblin Queen

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

GOBLIN QUEEN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0076: Though she’s existed since 1983, Madelyn Pryor has had, to date, only two action figures, more than 20 years apart from each other.

I find Madelyn Pryor a generally tedious character.  The concept’s not awful, I guess.  I can certainly understand Claremont’s initial desire to give Scott Summers his planned “happily ever after” even with the adjustments to the end of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” resulting in Jean’s demise.  But, it does put Madelyn in an unfortunate spot of being nothing more than a placeholder, which isn’t ideal.  The whole dissolution of her marriage to Scott is sloppy at best, and “Inferno” is making the best of a bad situation.  So, X-Men ’97‘s take on the entire thing is, honestly, a refreshing reinvention of the set-up, which I actually quite enjoyed.  And it got her a second figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goblin Queen is the third figure in Series 2 of Hasbro’s X-Men ’97-tie-in sub-line of Marvel Legends.  I suppose you could get technical and say she’s *actually* the second of two Madelyns in the set, depending on how you treat the second head with the Jean Grey figure.  But, you know, let’s not focus on that for now.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is generally what we’ve come to expect for this line at this point, at least in terms of set-up.  In terms of range, Madelyn is rather restricted.  It comes with the territory, at least as far as the design is concerned.  She’s good for standing around, provided you can get her balanced, which is admittedly a little tricky, but not impossible.  Madelyn’s sculpt is largely new; the arms appear to be the standard double-jointed female arms, but everything else looks new.  It’s a solid piece of work, though on mine the upper part of her chest doesn’t slot quite right into the rest of it, so there’s an odd shelf and the edge of her skin…which is odd.  Beyond that, though, I do generally like the sculpt.  The head in particular manages to stay consistent with Jean’s sculpt, while still having its own flair of character.  Madelyn’s color work is decent enough, if not 100% accurate to the show.  I don’t know if there was a change to the design during production, but in the final product, the leggings on her thighs are much closer to regular skin tone than what we see here.  It throws the vibe of the look off a touch, but it’s ultimately not the end of the world, I guess.  The rest of the paint is pretty nice, and I do quite like the slight variations in the colors on her outfit.  Madelyn is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), a pair of energy effects, and, most importantly, baby Nathan Summers.  Nathan is using the body of the baby Hulk/baby Nightcrawler, but gets a new head, and even gets the special x-printing on the blanket, which is extra fun.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I may find Madelyn’s storyline’s questionable at times, but I don’t hate the character or anything, and I’m not opposed to a figure.  This was certainly high on my list when these figures were shown off.  I do like her, though I can’t say she quite shines for me the same way as Cyclops and Jean.  It could certainly be worse, though, and I especially like the baby Nathan.

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

#3594: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0073:  This figure’s technically two figures in one!

Well, X-Men ’97 continues to deliver on the awesomeness front, so I’m going to keep jumping into that particular well.  I already looked at Cyclops earlier this week, and what better follow-up to him is there than Jean Grey!  Jean’s gotten her fair share of ’90s inspired figures, and here’s one more!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is part of the second X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  She’s the first ’90s Jean at regular retail since the Rocket Raccoon Series figure, which was quite a while ago.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  The last ’90s Jean re-used the 3-Pack Jean molds, just done up in animated colors.  This one, however, is an entirely new sculpt, based on her updated model for X-Men ’97.  It’s a really nice sculpt.  I wasn’t much of a fan of the prior one, but I made do with it because I felt I had to…but, like, now I don’t?  Because, again, this one is so nice.  All of the costume elements are actually sculpted this time around, which makes them a lot cleaner and pop-ier.  There are two different head sculpts, one with the hair up in a ponytail, and one with it down.  The ponytail head is undoubtedly my favorite, but I may be slightly biased on that front.  Both sculpts are really strong, and again so much nicer than the ones from the prior figure.  Jean’s color work isn’t bad.  It’s a lot of molded color work, of course, but there’s a little bit of paint as well.  The faces are nice and clean.  Her belt is a real mess on my copy, which is a bummer, but it’s also not the end of the world, since it’s just a belt.  Jean gets the two different head sculpts, as well as two sets of hands.  It still feels a little light, but she does at least get the extra head.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’ve gotten two versions of ’90s Jean for my Legends X-Men already, and I didn’t dislike them, but I didn’t love them either.  I was bummed by the less animation-specific elements of the VHS figure, so getting another chance is really awesome.  Cyclops may be my favorite figure in this series, but I think Jean is the most needed one.  I really love this figure, and I think she’s a fantastic Jean Grey.

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

#3592: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0071: Since taking over the Marvel license, Hasbro has released Cyclops as a Marvel Legend 13 times.

I have spent the last few weeks in a X-Men bliss, thanks to X-Men ’97.  X-Men: The Animated Series was an unquestionable influence on me as a kid, and I was thrilled by the announcement of the continuation.  The end result (or the four episodes we’ve seen of it thus far) has been nothing short of phenomenal, and one of my very favorite things about the show has been its fantastic focus on the X-Men’s field leader, Cyclops, who has gotten to be sufficiently awesome.  Perfect time for some action figure love, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops headlines the second X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, which hit retail just shortly before the launch of the show.  Like the first series, these ones are on the retro-style card.  It’s the same retro-style card, in fact, with the line-up of characters on the top of the card even just being the first series line-up again, which is a little humorous.  But now’s not the time for humor; now’s the time for ’90s Cyclops!  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Cyclops’s sculpt is almost entirely a re-use from the VHS Cyclops, which is at its core built on the Vulcan base body.  It’s a very strong offering, so its re-use makes a lot of sense here. This Cyclops gets not one, but two new heads. There’s a standard head, and one built to interact with the included optic blast effect. They’re both based more directly on Scott’s updated show design. I’m admittedly not as big a fan of the standard head here as I was either of the last two Jim Lee-inspired sculpts; something about the exact shaping seems a touch off. I think it’s more a direct

comparison thing though, because it’s certainly not a *bad* sculpt. The alternate head, however, is just amazing and I love everything about it. That grimace with the teeth is just perfect. Cyclops’s color work is basic, and mostly molded tones. He’s using the same basic color palette as the VHS release, just without the cel-shading. Cyclops gets the two heads, an optic blast effect, and five hands (in fists, open gesture, and the usual two fingers extended left hand).

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned I like Cyclops? How about my love of X-Men ’97? Both. Cool. I got this one the day after the show premiered, which was really just peak timing. Yeah, I’ve already got the VHS one. And the love triangle one. And the Warlock Series one. And the X-Men: Classics one. But, my need for Jim Lee Cyclopses is unyielding. And this one’s really, really fun. Boy, do I love this figure.

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

#3581: Dr. Doom

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

DR. DOOM

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0060: While the Fantastic Four jumped into the world of action figures during the Mego days, their longtime foe Dr. Doom wasn’t alongside them, and wouldn’t get his own figure treatment until Mattel’s Secret Wars, a line that, ironically, didn’t feature any of the FF.

I sure do like Dr. Doom. He’s the quintessential comic book villain, and he’s just great.  While he’s got his fair share of toys, they do have a tendency to be…hit or miss.  As a kid, I had the Fantastic Four line’s version, which wasn’t bad, and left me without a real need for other versions, prior to the switch to other scales.  Toy Biz themselves seemed pretty happy with that one as well, since they mostly took to just re-releasing that one a bunch.  That one wasn’t their first try, though, so let’s look at his predecessor.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Doom was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1990.  He was then re-released in Series 4, three years later.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7(ish) points of articulation.  His sculpt was a unique one and…well, it’s kind of…umm…stiff?  Scrawny?  Small?  Not real great?  Yeah, it’s a bit all of those things.  It’s also awkward, so let’s throw that one on the list, too, shall we?  It’s further removed from that Super Powers styling than most of the Series 1 figures, but I’m not sure that’s really a good thing, because he winds up as perhaps the weakest of the bunch.  There’s just not really a part of it that really works.  He’s got a cloth cape, in contrast to later figures, but it’s really short and wide, which again feels odd.  The color work on the figure is pretty basic.  I mean, I guess it’s better than the sculpt, but the green feels really bright for Doom.  Doom featured a rather odd action feature, where turning the wheel on his back spins his right hand.  Not really sure why.  Toy Biz liked to give Doom odd action features on his right hand, I guess, since they did it with the later figure’s spring-loaded hand as well.  This one just feels especially pointless.  He included a gun/drill thing, as well as a wheel/fan thing, which he could hold and spin in his hand.  Yay?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t really recall this one as a kid.  I had the second, superior, one, so I wasn’t in the market for a Dr. Doom anyway, but this one didn’t seem to really be around as much.  I really only got this one in my move for completion.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one through All Time a while back.  It’s not a good figure.  It’s not even a really fun figure.  But, it’s a Doom I didn’t have, so there’s that.

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

#3580: Ultimate X-Spanse

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

ULTIMATE X-SPANSE

X-MEN X TRANSFORMERS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0059: The X-Men’s primary mode of transportation, the Blackbird, was introduced by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in X-Men #94, the first regular issue of X-Men following its major re-work in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

I’m still in a very X-Men mood.  Can’t imagine why that might be….certainly nothing to do with the launch of X-Men ’97 this week, right?  In an effort to keep things a little more diverse, however, I’m not *just* looking at strictly Marvel stuff, right?  No, I’m also going to look at a Transformer.  For variety.  So, um, here’s “Ultimate X-Spanse.”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultimate X-Spanse was released under Hasbro’s Transformers: Collaborative banner.  He hit in early 2021, as a shared exclusive between Hasbro Pulse and Target.  As with a number of other exclusives, he was also offered up in limited quantities later through other Fan Channel outlets.  In his robot mode, he’s roughly 8 inches tall and he has 21 workable points of articulation.  X-Spanse uses the Leader Class Studio Series Jetfire as a starting point, largely for the purposes of his alt-mode.  The robot mode, on the other hand, is fairly unique.  Rather than dial in on one particular X-Man, X-Spanse’s design incorporates a number of different ones, for something more general purpose.  To my eyes, he still reads the heaviest as a Cyclops, but I’m more prone to seeing specifically the Cyclops elements, I feel.  I really like the flip-up visor on the head; it’s a lot of fun.  Beyond that, it’s a nifty design in general, and it certainly feels very X-Men-y.  X-Spanse is packed with three different effects pieces, all loosely patterned on Psylocke’s psychic weaponry.  One’s just a “blade” attachment, and another mimics Wolverine’s claws.  There’s also a version of her “psychic butterfly,” but it doesn’t actually go on his face at all, which makes its presence…odd.  Lastly, we get a small Wolverine and Sabretooth.  No Cyclops feels like a missed opportunity, right?

As with most of the Collaborative releases, the alt mode to this guy is an important selling point.  He turns into the Blackbird…or at least some approximation of it.  While the packaging plays up the ’90s angle, the actual vehicle looks more like the real world vehicle the Blackbird was based upon.  This is in part thanks to the re-used Jetfire pieces, since he was based on a real vehicle as well.  The transformation process is a bit tricky, and in full vehicle mode, the wings have a tendency to flap out of place very easily.  Still, it’s pretty cool.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I wanted one of these when he was new, but he was exclusive, and I had some other stuff going on in 2021.  I had the opportunity to get one later when he got the Fan Channel release, but the moment had passed, and I didn’t jump on it then either.  But, then a used one came into All Time, and it felt like the moment was now unavoidable, so now I have one.  He’s fun.  I don’t feel like I really missed anything by waiting, but I do like finally having one, and he ties into my general X-Men excitement nicely.

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

#3579: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0058: On two separate occasions during Toy Biz’s run with Marvel, they released Cyclops’ classic ’70s costume and second X-Factor costume on the same mold, with ’70s as the variant to X-Factor the first time, and X-Factor as the variant the second time.

When Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends was running, I was, much like a lot of the fanbase, very invested in the line.  I was particularly invested in the X-Men, and strove to get as complete a line-up as possible.  You can’t have a good X-line-up without Cyclops, but Scott wasn’t given the official Legends treatment until the tenth assortment of the line (he did get a Classics figure, which wasn’t a bad offering on its own, but that’s still *technically* different).  And it was…well, it wasn’t great you guys.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the Sentinel Series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends.  It was the tenth series of the line, and the second assortment to sport a Build-A-Figure.  As noted above, there were two versions of Cyclops available: a standard release in his Cockrum/Byrne costume, and a variant with his second X-Factor uniform.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  At his core, Cyclops is using a mold previously used for the line’s versions of Namor and Nick Fury.  I believe its original origins are in one of Toy Biz’s wrestling lines, but I don’t know enough about those to know for certain.  The torso, pelvis, arms, and upper legs are re-used, while the head, hands/gloves, and lower legs are new.  The end result is, simply put, a mess.  The torso is really stiff, and clearly not sculpted to be wearing a shirt.  The pelvis and legs make for an awkward working in of the articulation, and again don’t really match the suit he’s supposed to be wearing.  There’s not a proper belt, which looks weird for the standard release, but there’s still *sort of* a belt, which looks weird for the variant.  The new hands extend the arms, and are really huge, while the new boots are similarly huge, but are also squat, generally shortening the figure, resulting in a monkey-arm situation.  The head sculpt is the best work, and that’s really relative more than anything.  I do like the visor sculpt, but the face looks a bit odd, and the head’s really big, I guess to compensate for the rather buff body.  The paint is what differentiates these two, but the application isn’t terribly different in approach.  The bulk of the suit coloring on both is heavy on the drybrushing and accenting, which feels more right for the standard, but not so much for the variant.  The lighter colors on both wind up a bit muddied, with special note going to the mix of pure white and light grey on the variant.  The striping on the variant is a bit thin for the design, made more notable by the larger size of the body.  Both figures give him very pink lips, which makes it look like he’s wearing lipstick.  Both releases were packed without accessories for Cyclops, instead just giving a piece to the Sentinel.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was excited for this figure when it was released, but wound up really disappointed by the final product.  So disappointed that I dragged my heels on even getting one.  I actually got the variant first.  My dad found him and the variant blue Angel from the same set, and gave them both to me for Christmas the year the came out.  I only added the standard to my collection very recently, when one was traded into All Time.  Neither of them is a particularly good figure, and that’s only been made more apparent by Hasbro giving us far better versions of both looks.  But, they’re a curious entry in the history of the line.

#3578: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN ’97 EPIC HEROES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0057: Cyclops’ Jim Lee re-designed costume has appeared in figure form 19 times, before the arrival of the X-Men ’97 tie-ins.

Do you guys know what day it is?  It’s X-Men ’97 day!  After a 27 year hiatus, X-Men: The Animated Series is back in the form of X-Men ’97, which makes its debut to Disney+ today.  I might be just the slightest bit excited about this.  No biggie.  There’s a whole plethora of tie-in merch hitting for the show, so I figured the launch day might be a good one to review one of those.  And, you know me: I’m a sucker for a Cyclops figure.  So, I’m definitely gonna review one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is part of the first series of Hasbro’s X-Men ’97 Epic Heroes line, which is both a tie-in for the show, and also falls under their new “Epic Heroes” banner, which is what they’re classifying all their basic price-point 1/18 scale lines under.  Cyclops was also re-released alongside the rest of Series 1, plus the vehicle pack-in Storm, and a thus far exclusive Gambit, in a five-pack for Target, which hit towards the end of last year.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  In terms of mobility, he’s about on par with the end of the Universe/Legends run.  It’s not a terrible set-up, and he’s honestly able to pull off most of the poses you’d need to get out of him.  Plus, he doesn’t feel as fiddly as some of the Universe figures, and he’s certainly more stable on his feet than the Universe ’90s Cyclops figure.  The sculpt on this figure is all-new, and it’s not bad.  It does appear that, in spite of him being specifically called out as a ’97 figure, he’s a little more in line with his design from the original show.  This is especially evident in the head, notably the way the hair sits.  Of course, it still works very much as an evergreen take on the character, which is far from a bad thing.  The actual detailing is all pretty sharp, and the proportions are nicely balanced.  Cyclops’ color work is decent enough.  Paint, especially the yellow sections, is a little sloppy.  I’m also not sure why they’ve neglected to paint his shorts yellow, but I assume there’s probably some sort of cost-saving element involved.  It’s a frustrating omission, but not the end of the world.  Cyclops is packed with an optic blast effect piece, which slips over his head.  It’s super goofy, but I unabashedly love it.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Last year, when these started to be sighted at retail, and their listings dropped on Amazon with no real info, I jumped on them, because, well, it’s ’90s X-Men, and how can I not.  Obviously, I’m not the main target audience for the line, which is part of the reason why I haven’t reviewed any of the four figures I’ve picked up until now.  But, like I said above, I can’t resist a good Cyclops, and, basic though he may be, this is a good Cyclops.  And now, if you don’t mind, I’m gonna watch a new episode of X-Men: The Animated Series for the first time in two decades.

#3577: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — CLASSIC

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0056:  Classic Captain America was the very first Marvel offering in the Mezco One:12 line.

For the second time in less than a week, I’m going back down a path I haven’t gone down in quite a while: Mezco’s One:12 Collective.  It’s okay, though, because I’m keeping it confined to my “core” character set-ups, which is to say the handful of characters that I like to have in most styles.  Of these core characters, perhaps the one glaring omission from my Mezco collection was Captain America.  I love a good Captain America, so it’s the sort of thing I was really hoping to fix.  And so I have!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was a summer 2016 release for the One:12 Collective line.  He’s the classically-inspired variant to the more Now!-inspired standard release.  This particular version was an SDCC exclusive the year he was release, and he beat the main release to market by four months.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and, per his solicitation, he has over 32 points of articulation.

Perhaps the biggest selling point for this particular release was his main head sculpt.  While the standard version gave him a more modernized design, with his ears covered and the head wings adapted into printing on the sides of his “helmet,” this one goes for something more classically inspired.  It’s clearly a variation on the same core sculpt, and it retains some of the modernization, but the head wings are a three-dimensional element, and his ears are visible.  The helmet also sits a little tighter to the head, and the “A” is a touch larger.  It’s not a ton of changes, but they add-up, and they make for a pretty solid adaptation of Cap’s design from the comics, into the style that Mezco was building for the line early on.  Cap gets a second head, this one unmasked, which is shared with the standard release.  The two sculpts are internally consistent, but I myself am not quite as sold on this particular style of unmasked head as I was on the masked head.  Still, it’s nice to have the option.

The base body for this figure is a lot more bulked up than others I’ve looked at from the line, barring DKR Batman.  It’s perhaps a touch squat and wide for Cap’s usual depictions, but it’s really not far off, and it’s certainly more posable than I’d expected it to be at first glance.  His outfit is a mix of different mediums, with an underlying body suit, which is actually a few different parts stitched together.  There’s a rubberized scale mail print on the upper section, which works pretty well.  On my copy, the red and white mid-section have bled into each other, so the white’s a bit pink, which is a little frustrating.  For this release, the pants portion of the suit is tighter fitting, in contrast to the standard release.  Cap has sculpted cuffs for his gloves, a sculpted belt, and sculpted boots.  These are all shared with the modern version, and, much like the Cyclops I looked at last week, it’s not strictly accurate to the look they were going with.  However, there’s enough tweaking to the rest of the look that these parts don’t look totally out of place.  The only thing I’m not overly keen on is the knife sheath on the boot, but it’s a minor thing.

Cap is packed with a respectable selection of accessories, which, in addition to the two heads, includes 11 different hands (pairs of fists, gripping, relaxed, and flat grip, plus saluting and point for his right, and a thumbs up for the left), a shoulder harness, his shield, a knife, two grenades, and alternate pouch for his belt, and a display stand with the shield pattern printed on it.  The coolest thing here is definitely the shield, which has a magnet in it, allowing for easy mounting on either forearm (as the gloves have metal in them), or on the shoulder harness.  It makes swapping it around a lot easier than it might be otherwise.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Back in the early days of One:12, I was still kind of intrigued by it all, and trying to find my entry point.  It wound up being Space Ghost, of course, but it was almost Captain America.  I came very close to getting the standard release, but this one’s announcement, and how hard he wound up being to get, meant that I just gave up on the whole venture of getting a Cap from this line at all.  When All Time got in its recent epic collection of 1/6 and 1/12 figures, I was a little bummed that neither Cap appeared to be in the collection.  I was, of course, getting ahead of myself, as Max wound up pulling this one, as he’d found another batch of Mezco buried.  Since he was the version I’d wanted in the first place, I figured, why not?  He’s actually a lot nicer than I’d expected him to be.  I can be a little down on Mezco, but this is just a very fun figure.

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

#3576: Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN — MULTI-JOINTED ACTION POSES

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0055: Prior to Toy Biz taking the license, no Spider-Man figure had ever been more posable than the rest of his corresponding toy line.

As I was a child when I started collecting action figures (what can I say, I had no choice in this matter), a lot of my earliest entries in my collection were gifts from family members and the like.  My grandparents had a real tendency to bolster the ranks of the collection, and introduce me to characters I didn’t already have.  Since others were buying the figures for me, I didn’t always have a say in *which* version started things.  So, there are some cases where I perhaps *wanted* one version, but got another instead.  But I’m in charge of it all now, and there’s no one to stop me from going back to get the ones I wanted…so that I can discover that the one already had was honestly just as good.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  Anyway, here’s a Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1992.  There were two Spider-Men in the assortment, and this one was the “Multi-Jointed Action Poses” version, which is to say he was extra posable.  The same figure was re-released in Series 5 of the line, two years later.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Up to this point in the line, all of the Spider-Men had used a body that was similar in construction to the rest of the line.  It was bulkier and more pre-posed, and looked more like Toy Biz’s Super Powers-inspired DC figures.  This time around, Spidey is far skinnier, and in fact has a much greater level of articulation.  While the mobility isn’t quite to the heights of later Marvel offerings, it was by far the best this specific line had to offer, and would remain some of the best to come out of Toy Biz’s 5-inch line.  The sculpt is still somewhat dated by modern standards, but showed a real jump forward in terms of how Toy Biz handled things.  There aren’t any major details or anything to worry about, but the proportions were generally much more balanced than others, and he certainly looked the part for the character.  Since the sculpting is on the lighter side, the paint does the heavier lifting here.  It does well enough.  The weblines aren’t terrible, though there are some slight inconsistencies in exact placement on some of the extremities.  This design opts for a smaller eyed version of the mask, which is unique, and also kind of fun.  The biggest issue I have with the coloring on the figure is the near universal issue of the figure’s upper legs discoloring over time.  This figure was packed with no accessories, with the extra posablity being his main selling point.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, my cousin Rusty got Spider-Man before me, and this was the one he got.  I wanted one too, but when our Nana went back to get me one, the closest match was the later Spider-Man Animated super-posable figure.  He was fine, but I always kinda wanted this one.  I had the chance to snag one loose from a collection that came into All Time a couple of years ago.  Ultimately, he’s fun, and a cool sign of Toy Biz’s progression with the brand.  I can’t really say it’s *better* than the Animated one, though, so I spent a lot of time chasing an equivalent, if perhaps not a little worse, figure.  It makes you think, I guess.

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