Tag Archives: Marvel

#3507: Magneto

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

MAGNETO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As the “mind’s eye” take on the characters for a very large portion of the fanbase, X-Men: The Animated Series holds a pretty special place for the X-franchise as a whole.  The show got 5 seasons in its original run, but there’s always room for more, right?  Right.  We got our first continuation in comic form, which was honestly pretty fun.  However, three decades after the fact, we’re getting a proper follow-up, X-Men ’97, which will see a return to the show’s universe to animation, as well as the return of most of the original show’s cast.  With the show’s original release set for the end of 2023 (before it got delayed to next year), there’s already plenty of merchandising out there, including a whole set of Marvel Legends.  Today, I’m taking a look at the updated version of Magneto!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto is part of the six-figure line-up for the X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  Though they’re not directly referencing any older figures, this set is nevertheless using the retro card layout for their packaging.  Magneto is based on his appearance in the new show, which looks to be more or less the same as his appearance in the original.  That makes him a pretty standard classic Magneto, which is honestly pretty cool, since we haven’t gotten a standard release classic Magneto in Legends since the Toy Biz days.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. The last four Legends Magnetos have all been built on the Spider-UK body, which remains a solid choice for the character. This one is definitely a derivative of that one, using modified versions of the arms and legs (which are now pinless at the elbows and knees), plus the Magneto-specific forearms and boots from the Family Matters set. It’s all topped off with a new head, torso, and cape, all courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan. The Family Matters set-up wasn’t bad, but the new pieces clean it up just a touch, and the new head/helmet combo is just so nice. Easily the best classic Magneto sculpt at this scale. Magneto’s color work is decent enough. The 97 figures aren’t doing cel-shading like the Animated figures did, but they’re certainly still keeping the general coloring vibe going, so they can all still fit together. This guy definitely leans into his animation colors, and does so rather nicely. I quite like the shading around the eyes. Magneto is packed with two sets of hands, in open gesture and fists. It feels a little light. An alternate head, sans helmet would have been really cool, as would some effects pieces of some sort.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty happy with the Family Matters Magneto, so I wasn’t much looking for a new classic Magneto.  That said, there were a few minor things on the last one that I was up for seeing some improvement on, most notably the head/helmet.  This new one really hit the spot, and he’s just overall a nice improvement on every front to the last one.  He’s a definite upgrade.

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.

#3504: Hydra Stomper Series Wrap-Up

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

WARRIOR GAMORA, NICK FURY, YELENA BELOVA, & HYDRA-STOMPER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

As become the trend for the last handful of Marvel Legends assortments I’ve taken a look at, I’m wrapping up my latest round of Legends reviews by a quicker, all-in-one wrap-up for the figures I’m less interested in for this particular assortment, along with the main course, the Build-A-Figure!  So, let’s jump on into that!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Warrior Gamora, Nick Fury, and Yelena Belova are Figures 1, 3, and 6 from the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends.  They’re the last three figures that contribute to the assortment’s Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper, who is assembled from parts included with 6 of the 7 figures in the assortment.

WARRIOR GAMORA

“In the MCU, Gamora was raised by Thanos to become a deadly assassin. But in this universe, her tactics are challenged by a new, unusual target: Tony Stark.”

In the first season finale of What If…? we were treated to a team of heroes assembled from the cast of prior episodes throughout the season…and Gamora.  One episode got pushed from Season 1 to 2 due to production delays, and it was the one that would have explained what the heck was going on with this version of Gamora, so we kind of had to infer some things.  Season 2 should finally give us that episode, however, so maybe we’ll finally get what’s going on there?  Well, in the mean time, she’s got an action figure, which stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  Her mobility is a little on the stiff side, but she does at least get the pinless joints.  Also of note is just how hard it is to keep this figure standing, which is rather frustrating.  She’s sporting an all-new sculpt, which looks rather accurate to the animation models, placing her on par with the figures from the last set in that regard.  In terms of coloring, she’s again pretty well-matched to the show look.  The paint application is a little sloppy on edges of hands but otherwise clean, and the colors certainly pop.  Warrior Gamora is packed with her own version of Thanos’s double-bladed thing, as well as the left arm of Hydra Stomper, and an extra left hand.

NICK FURY

“In the years following the Blip, a weary Fury must face his biggest and most personal challenge yet when he learns of the Skrulls’ clandestine invasion of Earth.”

As I touched on in my Talos review, I wasn’t much of a fan of Secret Invasion.  It’s handling of Nick Fury was on my list of things I didn’t really care for.  Personally, I felt it to be a bit of a waste of Samuel L Jackson’s talent.  But, I’m not here to review the show, I’m here to talk about the toys.  This Fury is based on his later in the show look, as he’s in the process of going back to being his old self.  It’s a fairly basic Fury, with a little dressing up, so it’s not the worst choice.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation.  His articulation is rather on the restricted front, for a handful of reasons, chief among them being how his coat is set-up.  The figure is based on the tall suit body, or is at the very least using its arms and legs.  He’s got a new head, torso, and coat, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  The head sculpt is sporting a solid likeness of Jackson, and is definitely the best thing about the figure.  The coat isn’t terrible *looking*, but it’s still very restricting.  The hands look a bit too large for the body, and his whole build feels kinda scrawny for Nick.  In general, the figure’s not very fun to mess with, which is kind of a bummer.  His paint work is rather on the basic side, but that’s kind of expected.  It does what it needs to.  Nick does at least get a respectable accessory set-up.  He’s got his knit cap (which sits quite well on the head), plus two styles of pistol, two muzzle flashes, two smoke effects, and the left leg of the Hydra Stomper.

YELENA BELOVA

“After the Blip, former Widow Yelena returns to a world without her beloved sister Natasha. Now, Yelena seeks revenge on the man responsible for her sister’s alleged demise: Clint Barton.”

Yelena’s re-appearance in Hawkeye was hinted at during Black Widow‘s post-credits scene, so it wasn’t a terrible surprise when the masked assailant trying to kill Clint in the show turned out to be her.  But, of course, Hawkeye was generally not a show built on crazy twists and turns, so much as just pretty straight forward narrative payoff.  For the story, Yelena has gone back to a more traditional Black Widow appearance, so that allows for a different approach to her design for a figure.  Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Construction wise, she’s got re-used arms and legs.  The arms are from the old Yelena, while the legs are a mix of pieces from the prior Yelena and the solo movie Natasha.  The new suit detailing doesn’t completely match the old sculpt, but I guess it’s close enough. My figure also has a weird mold scarring on the right leg, which was annoying.  She gets a new head, torso, and wrist bracers.  The head sports a better overall likeness of Florence Pugh, but its relative scaling seems a little off compared to the body.  The rest of the new parts are decent enough, fitting in with the old parts.  In terms of paint, the face detailing seems a little dark, but otherwise, it’s not bad.  The body work is pretty basic, but that’s pretty much expected.  Yelena is packed with two sets of hands, batons, and the torso to the Hydra Stomper.  Given how key her masked appearance is to the overall set-up of her arrival on the show, it feels like this figure is missing an alternate masked head.

HYDRA STOMPER

In the first season finale of What If…?, when the Watcher pulls in Captain Carter for his mission, he plucks her out of her timeline’s version of the opening scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier.  When he returns her at the end of the episode, that universe’s Natasha informs Peggy that they’ve found something, revealing a glimpse at some sort of variant of Steve’s Hydra Stomper armor from the ’40s.  Since Steve stepped into Bucky’s overall role in that universe, it is presumed that he will also become that universe’s equivalent to the Winter Soldier.  We won’t really know for sure until the follow-up actually airs during Season 2, but we’ve got a figure of his updated design (which is, disappointingly, not called the “Winter Stomper”), and that’s pretty cool.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  His sculpt is an all-new one, since its meant to be based on a total upgrade of the armor (based on the one shot of it we’ve seen, anyway).  He’s a lot smaller than the last one, and just how accurate that is remains to be seen, since our only shot doesn’t have anyone else there for any sort of scale.  The new look definitely has a more proper post-WW2 vibe about it, without feeling like it’s 100% modernized, either.  It’s a little sleeker and more rounded off than the previous design, which also fits with that slightly smaller scaling.  It’s still a very chunky sculpt, though.  All that said, his articulation winds out working a little bit better, since there’s not as much boxiness to work around.  The rocket pack also has a much easier time staying in place this time around.  Hydra Stomper’s color work replicates his new, updated color scheme, which is silver and red, instead of the prior drab green and white accenting.  The molded plastic for the silver is the swirly kind, which I’m a tad iffy on, but it does alright.  The painted accents are cleanly applied, and works pretty well.  Though he’s a Build-A-Figure, the Hydra Stomper still gets a reasonable accessory set-up, with two sets of hands and an unmasked Steve head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Disney+ assortments have been a bit of a mixed bag, but there keeps being enough of a draw in each set (usually, the Build-A-Figure, honestly) to pull me back in.  With the Captain Carter stuff being my favorite part of What If…? by far, there’s no way I was passing up on this set, even if I didn’t strictly speaking want every figure in it.  Ultimately, it’s overall more of a middling assortment.  Not bad, but just more middle of the road than anything.  Stomper and Fisk are both nearer the top of the list, being pretty much exactly what I expected them to be.  Talos winds up as the unexpected gem in the line-up.  The show may not have been great, but that figure sure is.  Goliath is by the numbers, but a thoroughly solid figure.  Agatha is practically a glorified statue; she looks good, but there’s very little play factor.  And the rest?  Well, they didn’t warrant me keeping them, for one reason or another.  Gamora’s a decent sculpt, and probably the best of the three.  Yelena’s got some issues with deco and re-use, and as good as the likeness may be, the first figure still feels like a better overall toy.  And Fury?  Fury is easily the weakest of the bunch.

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

#3502: Goliath

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

GOLIATH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In this universe, an alien threat forces Bill Foster to put aside his differences with former partner Hank Pym to join S.H.I.E.L.D.’s newest team of heroes.”

Though a minor character in the overall scheme of the Marvel universe, Bill Foster is a pretty big deal in real world terms, as one of Marvel’s first prominent African American characters.  In the comics, he would eventually take on his own super hero identity, the Black Goliath, ultimately shortening it to just “Goliath.”  Bill was added to the MCU in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp, where he’s a disgruntled former partner of Hank, with his past as “Goliath” only briefly hinted at.  The second season of What If…? is poised to explore that at least *a little* further, with at least one of the episodes offering up a costumed variant of Bill, which just so happens to be one of the designs picked for action figure treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Goliath is figure 5 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends, and is one of the three What If…? figures to grace the line-up.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s using the arms, legs, and waist from the Ant-Man and the Wasp version of Scott, with a new head, torso, and belt.  We haven’t seen a ton of exactly what Goliath is going to look like in the show, but this set-up does seem pretty consistent with what we *have* seen.  I do like how they’ve kept elements of Bill’s Goliath costume from the comics, while filtering it into something a bit more consistent with the other Pym-suits from the movies.  I particularly dig how they’ve set-up the lenses on the helmet to mimic Bill’s usual domino mask.  The new head is solid; it’s got the proper transparent lenses, which the Ant-Man built on this body lacked.  The new belt also incorporates another Goliath-centered element: the big “G” belt buckle.  I absolutely adore that.  Bill’s color work carries the heaviest weight in making this a suitably unique release.  The blue and white makes for a good contrast, to be sure.  The actual application is decent enough.  the blue seems a tad thin, but otherwise tings are clean.  Bill gets no accessories of his own, but he does get the arm and alternate hand for the Hydra Stomper Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Bill’s a character I really do love in the comics, so I’m happy about any sort of outside media appearances for him.  While his MCU appearance didn’t do a ton with him, it was still cool to see him, and I enjoyed that they left the door open for more of him.  I have no idea what his What If…? appearance is going to be like, but I’m certainly looking forward to it.  In the meantime, there’s this figure of him, and I already have the only other Bill Foster figure, so I might as well have this one, too, and keep that full set running.  He’s a pretty basic figure, but I do enjoy him.

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.

#3501: Blackbird Jet – Mobile Air Command

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

BLACKBIRD JET — MOBILE AIR COMMAND

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The Blackbird Jet is a hypersonic transportation vehicle for X-Men. The jet is equipped to fly long-duration, high-altitude reconnaissance as well as attack missions. With a myriad of weapon delivery systems and electronic counter-measures, the Blackbird is markedly superior to any adversary.”

To close out this month’s look into the non-figure components of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, I’m looking at what is quite probably the centerpiece of those non-figure components: the Blackbird.  First introduced when the team returned with its all-new, all-different line-up in 1975, its become a fixture of the franchise, with multiple iterations in the comics, and some sort of presence in every notable media adaptation of the team.  It’s use as a major set-piece in the ’90s cartoon also netted it a release in the accompanying line of toys, which is what I’m taking a look at today.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Blackbird Jet was added to Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1995, alongside Series 4 and 5 of the main line.  While most components of the line were comics-based items that happened to have the same general looks as the cartoon incarnations, the Blackbird goes for a more directly cartoon-based look, albeit adapted a little bit to the constraints of the line’s scale and price-point.  The vehicle measures 15 1/2 inches long and has a 12 1/2 inch wing span.  The Blackbird’s sculpt was a unique one, and a pretty good one at that.  It very much takes the show design to heart, and translates it into a pretty good three-dimensional recreation.  It’s a bit scaled down from where it should be for a 5-inch line, since it would need to be able to fit the whole team, at least two side-by-side.  Instead, the cockpit is a one-seater, and the rest is scaled to match.  Like the rest of this line’s vehicles, its set-up to work with the pre-size-creep figures, so you’re not able to fit later figures into it.  But, it works well with the figures it was designed to be contemporary with.  It its default set-up, the Blackbird looks like the exterior of the one from the show.  The cockpit raises, so you can get a pilot in place, and the mid section also flips open for a passenger.  There’s also missiles to be launched from the back as well.  However, as the box so proudly proclaims, the Blackbird also transforms into three “Action Stages.”  The cockpit separates to become the “Command Center Explorer,” the tail and wings become a glider with ejector seat, and the fuselage slides out into a full-on command center, with a whole view screen set-up on the interior of the top half, which swings up out of the way.  The internal details are largely handled via decals, which include some pretty fun little touches.  The internal decals on my copy have certainly seen some better days, but it’s still very cool.  Aside from the decals (which also add a pair of X-logos to the wings, for some extra X-branding not present in the source material), everything else is molded in proper color.  The metallic blue works very well, and I’ve always dug the translucent red for the canopy. In terms of extras, the original release of this vehicle only included the two missiles, but there was also a later release, which packed in an unmasked Wolverine figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My original Blackbird was, I believe, an Easter gift from my parents.  I recall getting it alongside Phoenix.  It’s notably one of the last things I remember being given at my parents’ old house, before we moved to the one they currently live in.  When they were in the process of buying their current house, there were a few visits to inspect various things, which I went along for, and the Blackbird (almost always piloted by my Series 1 Cyclops, until I got Wolverine II, so that I would have a Wolverine that actually fit in the thing) came with me, so that I had something to entertain myself.  It would go on to be one of my go-to vehicles for a great many figures (rivaled only by my Power of the Force Millennium Falcon in that regard), lasting for a very long lime.  It took quite a beating over the years, and I eventually lost all by the main chunk of the fuselage and tail.  When I got back into 5-inch collecting in college, I wound up getting a replacement, which is the one seen here.  It’s such an amazingly fun piece, and I’m glad to have one, even if it’s not my original.  But, I suppose replacing the Blackbird is kind of appropriate, since the X-Men have done it a great many times.

As a sort of a post-script here, for my birthday this year, my parents helped me reclaim at least one part of my original that I didn’t expect to find again: the original blueprints!  As I’ve touched on here before, my Grandfather was something of a hoarder, and that included squirreling away tons of paperwork from everything imaginable.  Evidently, at some point I left my Blackbird’s blueprints at his house, and he’d filed them away with other papers he’d kept.  While working to clear out the house over the summer, my Dad stumbled upon them, and my Mom had them framed for me, which is pretty sweet!

#3499: Agatha Harkness

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

AGATHA HARKNESS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Sorceress Agatha Harkness was rejected by her own coven long ago. In Westview, she pretends to be Wanda and the Vision’s nosy neighbor to learn more about Wanda’s powers.”

Can I just not do the “It was Agatha all along” thing?  It was clever back when the reveal happened, but it feels a bit overplayed now, right?  Cool, so I’m just not doing that.  Agatha Harkness is a character who goes pretty far back at Marvel.  She was created by Stan and Jack while they were still on FF, initially serving as governess for Franklin Richards, before eventually taking over a mentor role for Scarlet Witch, which was the role that would really stick for her.  Her introduction into the MCU changed some things, turning her from an old, decrepit woman to a middle-aged one, and also making her into an antagonistic force, in contrast to her “big good” vibes from the comics.  It was a well-received change, though, and she was certainly a break out character for WandaVision.  It makes it all the more surprising that it’s taken this long for her to finally get figure treatment.  Better late than never, though, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Agatha Harkness is figure 4 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the assortment’s one and only WandaVision figure, making her the fourth in that show’s line-up as well.  She’s based on her fully witched-up look from the end of the show, which makes sense; it’s not like an Agnes figure would be the most thrilling thing.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Most of that articulation…well, most of it might as well not be there, honestly.  The neck is largely motionless due to the hair, and the legs *are* motionless thanks to the skirt.  The arms are a bit better, but still very much limited, so in general poses are essentially variants of standing there.  Agatha’s sculpt is mostly new.  Her legs are re-used from the Phoenix body, but you’ll never see them and you’ll never pose them, so it’s kind of moot.  Beyond that, though, it’s unique.  It’s not bad.  The likeness on the head is definitely solid; you can tell who its meant to be without much prompting.  For as limiting as the rest of the sculpt may be to the articulation, it does at least look really nice.  The detailing on her outfit is quite sharp, and there’s a very nice, flow to everything, so she’ll at least look somewhat dynamic while she’s there in a fairly basic standing pose.  Her color work is pretty impressively handled, with a fair amount of accent work, to help sell the smaller details of the sculpt a bit.  There’s one spot of missing paint at the tip of one of her fingers, but otherwise everything is clean and the way it should be.  Agatha is without any accessories for herself, but she gets two heads and the rocketpack for the Hydra Stomper figure.  It’s a shame she didn’t get any magic effects, or possibly the Darkhold.  Just something, anything at all would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I said in the intro, I was a bit surprised by how long it took to get this figure.  I understand her not being a right out of the gate release, but waiting this long, especially having her beat to market by Jimmy Woo, is shocking.  Ultimately, it’s not a super playable design in figure form, but it does at least look the part.  And, hey, when else are we gonna get an Agatha Harkness 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.

#3497: Talos

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

TALOS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Talos, a celebrated Skrull warrior, grapples with what it means to be a leader as he finds himself at odds with those closest to him.”

2008’s “Secret Invasion” storyline, which ran through most of the Marvel line for that year, isn’t a favorite of mine.  Coming from an era of moving from one sweeping status quo shift to the next, with no room to breath between, it represents a middle point of me growing very tired with the direction of the Marvel universe.  The MCU’s plan to adapt the crossover into a television miniseries wasn’t one that initially *thrilled* me, but they’ve made me enjoy other stories I didn’t much care for in the comics, so I was hopeful.  Unfortunately, the end results the first time I’ve truly, thoroughly disliked an MCU project from start to…well, technically not finish because I stopped watching after episode 4.  One of the things I was honestly looking forward to the most was lead Skrull Talos, who was my favorite part of Captain Marvel, getting more focus.  While Ben Mendelsohn does the best he can with the material he’s been given, and Talos’s character arc is at least one of the show’s least compromised, it’s still a little bit disappointing.  At the very least, he got an action figure out of the whole thing, so I guess that’s a consolation prize.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Talos is figure 2 in the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends, which serves as the fourth Disney+ centered assortment of figures.  The line-up is a grab bag of characters from different shows, and Talos is one of two figures from Secret Invasion.  This is Talos’ second Legends figure, after his figure from Captain Marvel.  This one depicts him in his more relaxed civilian garb.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s using a pretty basic set-up for articulation, overall, but he does notably get a ball-joint at the base of the neck, rather than one of the more typical set-ups for the line.  It’s not a bad set-up, mind you, just different.  Talos is using the jacket and arms from Jimmy Woo, but it appears that everything else is new.  It’s honestly a bit surprising.  Obviously, the head I expected to be new, but the legs are kind of the sort of thing I would have expected to see re-use on.  Not that I’m complaining.  The new head is a marked improvement on the old one; the prior figure was working from preliminary designs, while this one gets the finalized ones, including a really solid likeness of Mendelsohn under all of the prosthesis.  The figure has a second head, based on Talos’ human guise, portrayed by Mendelsohn sans make-up.  It’s another really solid likeness, putting Hasbro’s previous attempts of the actor as Krennic to shame.  The other new parts are more standardized in appearance, but work well in terms of quality.  Talos’ color work is a lot of molded colors, which works well enough.  He gets a ton of detailing on both heads, however, and they look really nice, and very lifelike.  In addition to the aforementioned alternate head, Talos also gets the same hands as the standard, but in peach to match his alternate head, as well as the right leg of the Hydra Stomper Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I said in the intro, I really liked Talos in Captain Marvel, and while his figure from that movie was passable at the time, it’s not aged incredibly well.  While I didn’t care for the source material, there’s no denying that this Talos is a real improvement to the original, and just a really strong figure in his own right.  The only downside to him is that the new neck connection means that I can’t swap his heads onto the old Talos or Krennic figures to let them benefit from the improved likenesses.

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.

#3496: Cyclops Light Force Arena

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

CYCLOPS LIGHT FORCE ARENA

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Using the Laser Light Force that only he possesses, Cyclops trains in the Danger Room to hone his mutant ability. The Light Force Arena’s many obstacles test Cyclops’ optic blasts to the limit! Only with constant practice can Cyclops keep his skills razor-sharp enough to cope with the threat of the Evil Mutants!”

Hey, remember back last week when I looked at that X-Men playset?  Wanna see me do it again?  Well, whether you want me to or not, that’s the angle I’m going with here.  Last week gave Wolverine a place to hang, so how about doing the same for Cyclops this week?  Oh yeah!

THE PLAYSET ITSELF

The Cyclops Laser Light Arena was released in 1991 alongside Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  It was the second of the two small-scale Danger Room playsets that accompanied the main line’s launch, serving as a companion piece to Wolverine’s Combat Cave.  The Laser Light Arena is the same basic dimensions as the Combat Cave, being about 7 inches tall, 7 inches wide, and 4 1/2 inches deep.  It’s smaller nature doesn’t *quite* live up to the “Arena” name, but we gave the other one a pass on “Cave” so this one can get a bit of a pass too.  Like the Combat Cave, this one required assembly right out of the box.  Once popped together, you get a set-up that’s not terribly different from the Cave’s assembly; three walls and three gimmicks, plus a spot to plug in a figure.  In this case, it’s designed to work specifically with the Series 1 Cyclops, right down to having spots shaped like the soles of his boots.  There’s also a spot that’s designed to directly work with the button that triggered his light-up feature; shame my figure lacks that these days.  Depending on how the “stand” is configured when you push down the button that would go under the spot where his light-up lever *should* be, you get one of three outcomes.  Furthest counterclockwise splits open the “metal box,” the next over flips back the Magneto standee, and the last one knocks over the stone wall.  Since it’s tied into the light up feature, it all looks like it’s being done by Cyclops’ optic blasts.  They actually all work pretty well, and there’s a good feeling of interactiveness to it.  The color scheme isn’t too far removed from the Combat Cave, albeit with the predominant color being yellow in place of red.  It works fine enough.  There’s more stickers to be had, as well, to keep things a little more interesting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the Combat Cave, I missed this one’s original retail run.  I do remember seeing it in the little product catalogue, and I was slightly more interested in this one, it being Cyclops-themed and all.  I remember being slightly bummed about not getting this one at the same time as the Combat Cave.  I wound up getting this one a couple of years later, from Collector’s World, a small comic shop near where my family vacations, which has sadly gone out of business since.  I think this one’s actually a bit more fun than the Combat Cave, and it’s features work a little bit better.  But, they do both make nice display pieces.

#3494: Kingpin

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

KINGPIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“One of the most powerful criminal leaders in New York City, Wilson Fisk, also known as Kingpin, rules the underworld with a signature blend of cruelty and charm.”

2003’s Daredevil is not a particularly good film, but one of the things that pretty much everyone can agree worked was Michael Clark Duncan’s portrayal of Kingpin.  With his passing in 2012, there was no way for him to reprise the role, and it became a rather daunting one for the next actor to portray Wilson Fisk in live action.  Thankfully, Vincent D’Onofrio was more than up for the challenge, delivering a take on Fisk so memorable that he even became the very first of Netflix’s Marvel cast to make the jump over to the MCU proper when he appeared in Hawkeye.  And with that, he also got an action figure.  Finally!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kingpin is part of the Hydra Stomper Series of Marvel Legends, which is another Disney + based series of figures.  Kingpin is the one unnumbered figure in the set, as he’s sans-BAF piece.  He’s also one of the the two figures in the set based on Hawkeye.  Interestingly, he’s specifically based on his appearance in the photo at the end of Episode 5, rather than his proper appearance in Episode 6, presumably to keep him in a slightly more classic Kingpin get-up.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Kingpin is using a good chunk of parts from Happy, which seems pretty sensible, what with them both being larger guys in suits and all.  He gets a new head and jacket, and a modified upper torso, to remove Happy’s tie.  The head’s sporting a rather strong likeness of D’Onofrio in the role, and the new jacket and upper torso both work well to sell the whole overall look.  Kingpin’s color work is pretty decent; it’s almost entirely molded plastic colors, but they get the proper shades down, and it’s always nice to see Kingpin in his classic colors.  His face gets the printed technique, which works well here, and even gets the couple of spots on D’Onofrio’s face.  Kingpin is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and gripping, as well as his diamond-topped cane.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I loved Netflix’s Daredevil in its entirety, and D’Onofrio’s Kingpin was certainly a big part of that.  I was happy to get Daredevil back in the one Netflix set, but I was always a little bummed there was no Kingpin to go with him.  With his reintroduction into the MCU proper, I was more hopeful, and that certainly paid off.  Kingpin is a somewhat by-the-numbers figure, but that’s really all he needed to be, and I’m happy with the end product.

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.

#3492: Ronan The Accuser

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

RONAN THE ACCUSER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“As Supreme Public Accuser, Ronan enforces Kree justice with his cosmi-rod, the Universal Weapon, which often brings him into conflict with the space-faring races of the Marvel Universe”

The Kree, a race of aliens that got at least some degree of focus in last weekend’s The Marvels (I don’t know specifically how much, because I haven’t seen it as of this writing) made their first appearance in the comics, represented via proxy by their Kree Sentry that was destroyed by the Fantastic Four, and then in person by Ronan, their Supreme Accuser sent to learn what happened to their Sentry.  Ronan began as a purely antagonistic force, but has acquired more complex alliances over the years, at times fighting alongside many of the heroes he had previously fought.  But, at the end of the day, he remains loyal to the Kree Empire, and they’re not always the nicest, so he’s often stuck enforcing their not so nice ways.  At least he’s gotten some action figure coverage, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ronan the Accurser is an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends offering.  He’s at the deluxe price point, and is part of Hasbro’s small run of comics-style “Guardians of the Galaxy” exclusives, which also includes Yondu, Star-Lord, and the Drax and Moondragon two-pack.  This marks the third time Ronan’s been in the Legends line.  Thus far, we’ve had a Build-A-Figure based on a mid-00s appearance and a standalone based on his MCU figure.  This one goes for Ronan’s classic comics attire, which is by far his most prolonging, and just generally his best.  The figure stands shy of 8 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation, plus moving shoulder pads.  Ronan uses the Warlock Series Colossus as a starting point, sharing his arms, legs, and feet with that release.  It actually makes for a pretty solid re-use; it’s not spot-on to every Ronan appearance, but it’s remarkably close, and the build is certainly correct.  The only real drawbacks are the limited elbow articulation and the visible pins, but even those are pretty minor.  He gets a new head, shoulderpads, torso, hands, and skirt piece, courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding.  They fit very nicely with the pre-existing parts, and are a strong recreation of his classic design.  He opts for a more general classic design, rather than going for one particular artist’s rendition.  Overall, it’s just a very clean assembly, which fits very well with the character.  His color work is likewise very clean.  He’s got a lot of greens, as you would expect.  The lightest green is metallic, while the others are flat.  The application’s all pretty cleanly handled, with minimal slop and bleed over.  Ronan’s only got one accessory, but it’s a very good one, because it’s his cosmi-rod, aka his real big hammer.  It’s an all-new sculpt, and it’s quite a sizable piece at that.  The angles are nice and sharp, and there’s some impressive texturing on the head.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always liked Ronan, but he’s always had a shortage of good figures.  I never was able to complete his Build-A-Figure back in the day, which was honestly one of those better in the end type deals, since it wasn’t really the look I wanted anyway.  I’ve made due with the movie version for a while, which is honestly fine, because that one’s pretty good.  But, it doesn’t remove my desire for a good classic one.  I intended to get around to ordering this one eventually, but Amazon made it easier for me by giving him a good chunk of a mark down for Prime Day.  I’m glad I got around to that, because he’s actually a really, really good figure.  Certainly the best version of Ronan out there.

#3489: Black Knight & Sersi

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

BLACK KNIGHT & SERSI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Fearful that Sersi is going mad because of her immortality, the Eternals bond her with her fellow Avenger Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, forging a mental union to make them soulmates”

In the ’90s, it was an unwritten rule in comics that everything was cooler with leather jackets.  Honestly, you can drop “in comics” from that sentence.  Leather jackets were really just everywhere.  Jim Lee notably gave a few of the X-Men leather jackets to wear over their spandex suits (which was honestly following up on Animal Man wearing a jacket during Grant Morrison’s run on that book, but that was actually a *denim* jacket, so it’s not quite the same), and it caught like wildfire.  Soon, all the Marvel teams had them, and that included the Avengers.  It’s not a time that’s jumped back to too much in toy form, but, you know what?  Here it is.  Let’s look at Black Knight and Sersi, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Knight and Sersi are an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends, released under the wider “Beyond Earth’s Mightiest” banner that’s celebrating the Avengers 60th anniversary this year.  Both figures in this set are based on their time with the Avengers in the early ’90s.

BLACK KNIGHT

We got a classic comics Black Knight not too terribly long ago, back in the Cull Obsidian Series in 2018, but I’m never one to shy away from another.  This one’s like that one, but with a leather jacket.  And how could you not love that?  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like the last Black Knight, this one’s construction is largely Bucky Cap-adjacent.  He uses the pelvis piece, and a bunch of other parts used in conjunction with other Bucky Cap parts elsewhere.  Specifically, he’s got the more modern head from the last Black Knight, the arms from Cannonball, the torso from Doctor Strange, the belt from Daredevil, the legs from Hobgoblin, and a new jacket and boots.  The mix of parts is a pretty pitch-perfect recreation of his look from the comics, with the new parts in particular really selling the whole thing.  There’s some slight quirks to some of the older parts, with the legs in particular showing a degree of warping.  Black Knight’s color work is similar to his last release, but has a degree more polish to it.  The face is now printed, which adds an extra lifelike quality, as well as giving him his ’90s era stubble, and the rest of the line-work is just overall a bit cleaner.  Black Knight is packed with two sets of hands (fists and gripping), and his Neural sword, which replaced the Ebony Blade during this era of the comics.

SERSI

While Sersi’s gotten the Legends treatment before, it was only her MCU incarnation.  This marks the first time for her comics counterpart, and indeed the first comics Eternal in general.  It’s really not that surprising, what with Sersi always being their most notable member.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Sersi uses a mix of prior figure parts, with the torso and pelvis from Shriek, the coat and upper arms from Rogue, and the lower arms and the legs of Phoenix.  She also gets a new head, belt, and kneepad pieces specifically for this release.  They’re not bad.  The head is giving me Courtney Cox vibes, which I suppose isn’t terrible for a ’90s-based figure.  Her color work is appropriate for the era, placing her in her red and black number.  The jacket is, interestingly, a different shade of brown than Dane’s jacket, and she also lacks the Avengers logo.  Consulting the source material shows that this is actually proper for this look, so, there it is, I guess.  Sersi is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open gesture) and two effects pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I definitely dig Black Knight, and I don’t want to say no to a comics Sersi, but I wasn’t initially vibing on another Amazon exclusive, so I opted to hold out on these two.  However, the Prime Day sale has struck again.  The price made it hard to pass on them, so I didn’t.  They’re on the older side in terms of parts use, but they do what they need to, and they look pretty sweet with that ’90s Black Widow figure they put out back in 2020.