Tag Archives: Marvel

#3391: Groot

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

GROOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Grown into a more mature tree, Groot uses his new body changes and more advanced skills to help build Knowhere and protect his family.”

And we all know there’s nothing more important to Vin Diesel than family…

So, you know how I’ve gotten you guys all accustomed to this lovely sort of curated mix of old and new for my reviews the last few months? Hasn’t that been nice? Isn’t spacing everything out super nice? It sure is. Nobody told that to Hasbro, though, so, umm, I’ve got four serious of Marvel Legends, all at once. I sure hope you like Legends, because that’s what we’re doing for at least the next month and a half. To preserve my own sanity, I’m gonna do things just a little bit differently this time, and rather than looking at each set in a straight shot, I’m gonna do one of each set per week. Does that sound better? It does to me, and I outrank the rest of you.

Back in May, James Gunn closed out his trilogy of Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and he did it with one very strong finish. And they may have been on uncertain ground for their first outing, but there’s no denying the merchandising juggernaut that the Guardians have become at this point. For their Legends component, there’s a full assortment of movie-based figures, as well as a deluxe Groot, which just so happens to be the item I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Groot is a one-off deluxe Marvel Legends release, whose arrival coincides with the main Guardians tie-in assortment. Long gone are the days of making Groot a Build-A-Figure; he’s far too popular a character for that. After keeping the same general Teen Groot look since Vol 2’s post credits scene, the Holiday Special gave us a more aged up Groot, which Vol. 3 continues with. Now he’s no longer the skinny twig he was before. The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Despite his bulked up stature, this Groot is probably the most posable version of him we’ve gotten for Legends. In particular, the elbows get a much better range that the Teen Groot body did, and his knees and ankles are better than the elder Groot from the first movie. The shoulders use the moving plate construction that Classified has utilized a few times for armor. It allows for more flexibility when posing, which is nice. Unfortunately, due to a slight mold error, it also means the right arm on my figure tends to pop out of place. Groot’s sculpt is all-new, patterned on that all-new design. It seems a little softer on detailing than the elder Groot, but it’s sharper than Teen or Baby Groot were. In terms of accuracy to the source material, it’s generally pretty good, although the head does seem just a tad more squat and wide than it should be, with features that ever so slightly too human. The general look is still there, of course, and Hasbro was undoubtedly working from in-progress designs for the character. Groot’s color long is largely achieved via molded brown plastic, which is a richer shade than his prior figures. He gets a little bit of green accenting for his “moss,” and printed eyes, which again seem maybe just a bit too human to be fully accurate. Prior Groots have largely been pack-ins of some sort, and therefore pretty light on extras, but this guy gets two sets of hands, wings that can be mounted on his back, and a small baby Rocket figurine. At least I assumed it was Rocket before seeing the movie, but it could also be

[SPOILER]

one of the baby raccoons that Rocket saves at the end of the movie. This one does appear to be unmodified, so perhaps that’s it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I quite like Groot, and it was that like of him that got me to buy the whole set of the first film’s figures, just to build him. I’ve really enjoyed his evolution over the movies, and he was an essential part of Vol 3. Being able to get him on his own now is cool, but of course, now I’m sold in the whole set anyway. This guy’s pretty fun. I don’t know that he was quite what I was expecting, but he’s still fun.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’d like to see a video of this guy in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3386: Spider-Man & New Goblin

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

SPIDER-MAN & NEW GOBLIN

MARVEL MINIMATES

While we’ve gotten a lot of movie-themed Marvel Minimates over the years, they weren’t quite as plentiful in the early days.  Spider-Man 3 marked a turning point, though, getting the full two assortment treatment, covering just about every major character from the movie.  I’m diving back into that set-up today, with a look at the standard movie Spidey, and the vengeful New Goblin!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and New Goblin were released as a two-pack in Series 17 of Marvel Minimates, notably the first of the two assortments based on the movie.  Both assortments wound up shipping at the same time, in late 2007, as was a common practice for Marvel Minimates assortments during that era.

SPIDER-MAN

Since the two prior Spider-Man films hadn’t gotten any tie-in coverage for Minimates, SM3 our first stab at the standard Spidey look from the Toby McGuire films.  That said, this was the *second* standard issue to hit the line, following the con-exclusive two-pack version that had hit during the summer before these assortments.  While the differences between the two Black Costume Spider-Men were more notable, these two versions of the standard had their differences as well.  The figure is built on the post-C3 minimate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He’s a vanilla ‘mate, so there’s not extra add-ons for this guy.  It’s as it should be, since he doesn’t need to be bulked up or anything, and sculpting the weblines would certainly be overkill for this style.  He gets an impressive selection of paint work.  It’s not quite as good as the preview pack version, but there’s still a lot going on.  He gets all the appropriate webline detailing, as well as texturing on the blue sections of the costume.  The texturing even goes all the way around, which is pretty cool.  He doesn’t get the weblines for his hands and feet the way the preview version did, but it’s still more than the average Spidey got.  The SM3 figures marked a change in styling for Spidey ‘mates, as this was the first time that the belt of his costume was on the actual waist piece.  It changes the proportions a bit, moving him towards the more modern stylings of the line.  Spidey was without any accessories for this release.

NEW GOBLIN

Harry Osborne’s arc was one of the trilogy’s most invested ones, and Spider-Man 3 paid off his journey following in his father’s footsteps…to perhaps mixed results.  Norman’s Goblin design in the first movie wasn’t really met with universal praise, so they went a different direction for Harry’s “New Goblin” design.  Unfortunately, while it may be less overtly hideous, it’s also a lot less distinctive.  He’s kind of just a generic snowboarder looking guy.  I mean, it could be worse, I suppose.  Like Spidey, Harry is based on the standard ‘mate body.  That said, he gets quite a few add-on parts, all of them new to this figure.  He’s got a mask/hair combo, shoulder harness, belt, thigh pouch, bracers, left hand with pumpkin bomb, and boots.  It makes for one rather built-up figure, but not one that’s actually too bulky, which is certainly a plus.  The harness in particular marks DST actually doing just a harness, rather than a whole bulked up torso piece, which was a rarity at this time.  It all honestly works pretty well.  There are the odd quirks, of course, such as the bracers being loose enough to pretty freely spin even with the hands in place, but it’s not so bad.  Since his sculpted parts handle so much of the detailing, the paint’s not quite as detailed.  That said, he gets all the proper base work, and still gets a little extra detailing for the torso, as well as a pretty good likeness of James Franco for the face under the mask.  He’s packed with an alternate hair piece to show off said face, as well as his sword, knife, and glider.  The glider was the first time any of the Goblins got such a piece; unfortunately, due to the way the boots are molded, he doesn’t peg in place quite right on it, so he can’t actually attach to it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite all the nay-saying about it, I was very excited for Spider-Man 3‘s release, loved seeing it in the theatre, and was thrilled to get the tie-in stuff for it, with the Minimates in particular being high on my list.  I got the full standard set of the tie-ins from my parents for Christmas the year that they came out.  The basic Spider-Man’s not a lot too look at on first glance, but the extra detailing is certainly cool.  New Goblin may not be the most thrilling design, but I think he translated well, and he marked a real turning point for how sculpting could interact with the core ‘mate body.

#3384: Spider-Punk

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

SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Hobie Brown is the British punk Spider-Man better known as Spider-Punk.”

One of the more dynamic creations to come out of the original “Spider-Verse” story was Spider-Punk.  He began as a rejected design done by Oliver Copiel for the character that became Spider-UK, but writer Dan Slott liked it enough to spin it into its own full fledged character.  Though he started as a relatively minor player in the original storyline, he’s subsequently become one of the more enduring alternate Spider-Men, which has unsurprisingly translated to inclusion in Across the Spider-Verse, and subsequently led to a little bit more toy coverage than just the one single Legends release he had previously.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is the final figure in the seven figure Across the Spider-Verse tie-in series of Marvel Legends.   This marks Spider-Punk’s second time gracing Legends, though he of course gets his updated film design this time around.  While the original Spider-Punk design stuck pretty closely to the classic Spidey design, and just added a few extra elements atop that, Spider-Punk’s look from Across is much more of a ground-up rework.  He keeps the comics version’s spiked mohawk and vest, but puts them over a design that even more thoroughly embraces “punk”….which in this case seems to mean he borrows more elements from Scarlet Spider than he does Spider-Man.  I’m not gonna knock it.  I dug the original design, and I also dig this one.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Spider-Punk’s articulation scheme is interesting, as it’s technically a bit outdated in its layout and methods, but ultimately it ends up working out very well with the design and layout of the sculpt, making it feel like it’s still very much on par with the other  more recent offerings.   Spider-Punk gets an all-new sculpt, courtesy of Arlen Pelletier, and…it’s just really good, you guys.  There’s just so much personality and style running through this sculpt.  I love the uneven lacing on the boots, and all the varieties of studs and spikes littered throughout his clothing.  And it’s all just got this very dynamic flow to it that just really feels true to the character.  Likewise, the paint work on Spider-Punk is some of the most involved in the whole assortment.  There’s just a lot of detailing, not just base work like we saw on the others.  He’s got the little spots of sporadic webbing, the running paint on the eyes, and all of the smaller buttons on details on his vest, which makes for a very rich look.  In terms of accessories, Spider-Punk gets his guitar (the same mold as the original), as well as an extra left hand with a thwipping pose.  While he’s still only got the two extras, the guitar is at least a more sizable accessory, and, as with the main figure, the painted detailing on it is really impressive.  The only thing I’d have liked to see here is maybe an extra right hand without the guitar pick in it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty excited for the comics Spider-Punk when he was released, and I was likewise quite enthusiastic about the character’s inclusion in the movie.  My expectations were pretty high for this figure, and still he blew them totally away.  This guy just oozes fun, and he’s far and away my favorite figure in this line-up.  Like, it’s not even close.  And he was up against that Spot figure, which I also really loved.  So, you know, that’s really saying something.

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.

#3382: Jessica Drew

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

JESSICA DREW

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jessica Drew is a modern Spider-Woman who fights crime with an arachnid’s ease.”

Spider-Woman is a title that’s been passed around a lot in the Marvel universe, largely as an effort to avoid imitators of their most popular property, much like the Captain Marvel identity.  The title officially made its main universe debut with Jessica Drew in 1977, crafting a character with surprisingly little to tie her to Peter Parker.  What’s interesting, however, is that Jessica isn’t the first Spider-Woman in Marvel comics history.  Two years before her debut, Valerie the Librarian used a spare Spidey costume to briefly fight crime as Spider-Woman in the pages of Spidey Super Stories, Marvel’s tie-in with PBS’s The Electric Company.  Valerie is notable as not only the first instance of a Spider-Woman, but also Marvel’s first costumed African American heroine.  That’s pretty cool.  For Across the Spider-Verse, the more widely known Jessica Drew has been somewhat amalgamated with Valerie, which is honestly a pretty fun little throw-back.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jessica Drew is the second to last figure in the Across the Spider-Verse tie-in series of Marvel Legends.  Jessica is sporting one of the most drastically different designs of any of the characters, making this figure almost entirely new territory.  She’s definitely using elements of Valerie’s look, in conjunction with her slightly more “real-world” costume design from her post-“Spider-Verse” solo book (including having her be pregnant), and then just a handful of just genuinely new costume elements.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  Jessica joins 2099 as one of the most restricted figures here in terms of posing.  Again, it’s nothing terrible, and at least in her case it’s less about poor implementation of articulation and more about her movie design being a bit more limiting.  Since she’s pregnant in the film, there’s less you can do with the waist, hips, and mid-torso.  And, given the size of the hair, the neck joint is also pretty limited.  There’s *some* posing to be had, but not a ton.  She’s also not incredibly stable on her feet, due to the weight distribution of the sculpt, so what posing you can do is further limited.  The sculpt here is an all-new one, which looks to do a respectable job of capturing the animation design.  The only real issue is with the glasses, which are just plainly the wrong shape for the movie. Otherwise, there’s a nice mix of textures, with quite a bit of detailing going into the hair sculpt, contrasting well with the smoother nature of the costume, especially the sharper lines of the jacket.  One thing I’m not super crazy about is how the hair hangs off the back of the head; there’s a notable section of the base of the head that’s just exposed, which doesn’t quite seem right.  Jessica’s color work is, as per usual at this point, pretty basic.  There’s a lot of molded plastic, with enough paint to sell the needed design elements.  The paint’s all generally pretty clean in application, and she’s using the face printing for the eyes, which works pretty well.  Jessica continues the trend of the figures in this set being light on the accessories, with just two sets of hands in fists and relaxed.  At the very least a few extra poses might have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was definitely one of those figures that I was less sure about when the line-up got leaked.  It’s not that I don’t like the idea behind the character, but I just wasn’t quite as sold on the design, and I didn’t feel it was going to make for the most thrilling toy.  That said, I was buying the rest of them, and I didn’t want to only skip the one.  Ultimately, she’s the weakest of the set.  She’s not bad, but that design just doesn’t work as well in three dimensions, and it certainly doesn’t lend itself to a super-posable 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.

#3381: Nova Flame Human Torch & Annihilus

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

NOVA FLAME HUMAN TORCH & ANNIHILUS

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Fantastic Four are an essential team to any Marvel line, really.  They took a break from marketing for a little while in the mid 2010s, but prior to that, they would resurface in just about every line every so often.  Minimates added them in 2005, and then updated them five years later in 2010, and then once again in 2013, getting them in just before stuff really started to slow down for the FF.  There was a dedicated assortment in the main line, as well as some corresponding coverage on the TRU front.  Today, I’m looking at part of the TRU side, with Nova Flame Human Torch and Annihilus.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Nova Flame Human Torch and Annihilus were released in the fifteenth TRU assortment of Marvel Minimates, which was 3/4ths FF-tie-in.  They hit within weeks of the 48th specialty assortment, which was the main FF coverage.

NOVA FLAME HUMAN TORCH

“Believed dead following a battle against Annihilus in the Negative Zone, Johnny Storm was recently revealed to be alive and well, and has resumed his position with the Fantastic Four.”

There was a Human Torch in Series 48, but that one was a half-step partially flamed on version.  This one, on the other hand, is a fully flamed-on version, making him a direct update to the two prior Torches.  He’s built on the standard post-C3 Minimate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He gets an add-on for his flames that slips behind the head and over the shoulders, and also gets a non-standard set of feet with some flame effects (shared with his Series 48 counterpart).  They add flame detailing, while still keeping him very much a core ‘mate, making him more of a proper classic Human Torch.  Aiding in the classic Torch set-up is the paint work, which does the scorch lines look that’s a very early comics look for him.  It’s specifically patterned after the John Byrne version, allowing him to fit in with the similarly Byrne-inspired FF from Series 48.  Some of the details get a little lost on the figure, since he’s transparent and all, but it works well, and it’s certainly the best take on a fully flamed on Johnny the line has gotten.  Human Torch is packed with two flame effects for his hands, as well as a rather elaborate flame stand in the shape of a “4”, and a clear display stand (which debuted as a standard feature in this assortment and in Series 48).

ANNIHILUS

“The ruler of the the Negative Zone, the insectoid tyrant called Annihilus is always seeking to conquer new lands and is endlessly reincarnated through his offspring. He was recently re-elected.”

With Blastaar, another denizen of the Negative Zone, released in Series 48 (packed alongside the other Human Torch, no less), including Annihilus in this set made a lot of sense, especially given that he’d just seen a bit of a resurgence in the comics at the time, and was in fact tied in with Johnny a bit.  He makes use of four add-on pieces for his collar/wings, gloves, and belt.  All of these pieces were new to Annihilus, and they do an alright job of capturing his comics look.  They’re a little restricting, and the collar has some trouble staying in place, but they’re generally not bad.  His paint work is solid.  He’s slightly metallic, which makes him suitably other worldly, and his line work is nice and clean.  Annihilus is packed with a flight stand and a clear display stand, covering all of his standing needs, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 48 was one of my favorite sets of Minimates (I’m a sucker for John Byrne FF), so I got that whole set as soon as possible when it was released.  I put some effort into tracking these down as well, so that I could round everything out.  This set’s not as essential as, say the Thing/Surfer set, since there was already a Johnny, and Annihilus isn’t exactly a core character, but it’s still a pretty respectable offering.

X-Men vs Magneto

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

X-MEN VS MAGNETO

WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY ETHAN WILSON (AGE 8)

Hey guys!  What’s this?  Me posting on a Sunday?  What did we do, go back in time two years?  Nah, but I just had something cool to share, and I thought that today being Father’s Day, it might be an appropriate day for such a post.  In the last few months, my son Matty has been getting into creating his own comics and stories with friends at school.  He was mentioning this to my dad, who informed Matty that I had done some similar storytelling when I was younger.  As proof of this, my dad pulled out his copy of my third grade class project, “X-Men vs Magneto”, which he’s been saving for some 22 odd years now.  And, just for the heck of it, I decided to the craziest thing possible:  I updated it.  So, check out the fancy new version (using my verbatim words from the original), as well as the original!

 

#3379: Spider-Man 2099

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

SPIDER-MAN 2099

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Trying to create a new superhero, Miguel O’Hara accidentally turned himself into the best Spider-Man in the multi-verse.”

Into the Spider-Verse ends with a teaser sequence that introduces Spider-Man 2099, as well as the concept of him pioneering safer cross-dimensional travel.  Across the Spider-Verse builds on that set-up, and installs Miguel as a main character for the film’s story.  Also, he’s Oscar Isaac.  So, that’s pretty cool.  And he’s 2099, which is also pretty cool by default.  We didn’t actually see 2099 in his regular form in Into, so we had to wait until the new movie for toy treatment.  But here we are now, and we’ve got his figure.  Dope.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man 2099 is the fifth figure in the Across the Spider-Verse tie-in series of Marvel Legends.  Much like the Spot, 2099 is a design that’s largely unchanged from his comics counterpart, really just relying more on stylization to change things up.  Given how strong and distinctive 2099’s look, this is hardly a surprise.  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  2099’s articulation is one of this assortment’s most restricted, which is admittedly odd, since it doesn’t really feel like there’s any clear reason for that.  He just winds up with a slightly more rudimentary articulation layout.  It’s not *bad*, mind you, just a little bit clunky, and therefore a little surprising to see.  He does at least still get a ball-jointed neck, as well as the pinless construction on the arms and legs.  2099 is sporting an all-new sculpt by sculptor Arlen Pelletier, and aside from issues with the articulation breaking it up a bit too much during posing, I really quite like it.  He’s notably bulkier and taller than the other Spiders, which I definitely dig, and which is also in line with his animation model.  The detailing is all nice and sharp, and it’s nice to see Miguel get full sculpted elements for his costume, after being relegated to largely just paint on his last few Legends.  2099’s paint work is overall pretty on the basic side.  He’s blue with red accents, and a lot of that’s molded.  The colors are rather bright, and they’re flat, straying away from his usual metallics.  It makes sense, of course, given the desire to stick with the animation look, which isn’t as shiny looking as the comics.  I feel like there should be some sort of darker accenting on the blue sections, and the sculpted textures on the red get a little lost with nothing to make them pop, but as far as the basics go, he’s alright.  Miguel is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.  It’s too bad we didn’t also get an unmasked head like with the others, but it’s possible that model wasn’t finalized in time.  Still, he feels a tad light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

2099’s got a pretty sick visual, and getting Oscar Isaac to voice him in the teaser at the end of Into definitely had me hyped for this guy in the sequel.  I was rather looking forward to this figure.  Ultimately, he’s the tiniest bit of a let-down.  He’s not bad.  I can’t stress that enough.  He’s just kind of fine.  And in this assortment, that puts him a bit behind the rest of the pack.

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.

#3377: Peter B. Parker

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

PETER B. PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Peter B. Parker must decide between protecting his old pal Miles and siding with his more experienced comrades.”

While Peter Parker was the main character of the comics version of “Spider-Verse,” for the Spider-Verse movies, the focus has been shifted to Miles Morales, with Peter, specifically the alternate universe Peter B. Parker, serving as a mentor to Miles.  It’s a change-up, but a decidedly fun one.  And there’s all sorts of goofy slacker Peter in costume looks that we got out of it.  So, let’s have a look at another Peter B. Parker!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker is the fourth figure in the Across the Spider-Verse tie-in line-up of Marvel Legends.  Technically, he’s not actually an Across figure, and is in fact the line-up’s one Into the Spider-Verse figure, making him the first true repeat.  He does at least get a slightly changed-up look, though.  While the last figure was based on Peter B’s fully civilian look, this one takes the next step in his costume evolution, with his into action look…well, at least the one before he gets his full costume back.  Yay sweat pants!  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Last time around, Peter was the most limited of the Spider-Verse figures in terms of articulation, but this one ends up fairing just a little bit better, largely due to the lack of bulky over coat, but also thanks to some of thinner limb parts, most notably the ankles and the neck, being less wobbly when posing.  Peter marks the sets one tiny little bit of re-use; the sweat pants are the same ones used on the prior figure, which does make a degree of sense.  Everything else is all-new, and it’s generally pretty good.  It’s certainly very on-brand for the film’s styling, though if I have one complaint it’s that his lower torso is definitely too fit and defined.  Those are Peter A’s abs, not Peter B’s.  It’s interesting, because that’s an area where re-using the torso from the prior figure would have solved the issue, and yet they opted not to.  One almost has to wonder if there was a plan to do a full Peter A figure, but they opted for the budget friendlier sweat pants version of Peter B.  Or perhaps there was some sort of a mix-up on the models being used.  Whatever the case, it’s not the end of the world.  Peter’s paint work is quite on the basic side, but that’s not a terrible thing, and he’s at least pretty eye-catching, and what’s there is clean.  Peter is quite on the light side for accessories, getting two sets of hands, one in fists and one in thwipping pose.  They look to be re-used from the last one.  Since we’re getting re-use anyway, getting one or both of those alternate heads might have also been nice, if there wasn’t any chance of any new parts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this guy.  He honestly perplexed me a bit, since it’s odd to get another Into Peter B. before getting his new look from Across, but perhaps there’s a good reason for holding off on that one.  I was also a bit surprised that we still didn’t get Peter’s full costume.  That being said, I think I’m honestly happier with him this way.  We’ve gotten plenty of basic Spider-Men over the years, and a Spider-Verse one is kind of inevitable, so doing this one first is at least a slightly more unique look, and he’s also just a rather fun figure at 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.

#3376: Classic Iron Man, Bolt Face Iron Man, & AIM Soldier

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

CLASSIC IRON MAN, BOLT FACE IRON MAN, & AIM SOLDIER

MARVEL MINIMATES

2008 into 2009 was quite a resurgence for Iron Man, due to that whole, you know, really successful movie thing he had going for him.  In the world of Marvel Minimates, it meant that he went from a character with one release every now and then to a character that could very seriously be banked upon.  In the space of about a year, his number of Minimates tripled, and we even got some looping back for proper updates to older releases.  He wound up as an anchor figure for the line’s 25th series, which saw him get two different figures, each packed with an AIM Soldier.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Classic Iron Man and the AIM Soldier were released in the 25th specialty series of Marvel Minimates, with Bolt Face Iron Man swapping out for Classic Iron Man in the one-per-case Variant set.  Classic Iron Man and the AIM soldier would both also see release in the third TRU-exclusive series, albeit split up and packed with other figures (Mark I War Machine for Classic IM and Bucky Cap for the AIM Soldier).  Series 25 hit in May of 2009, and TRU Series 3 hit the following month.

CLASSIC IRON MAN

“Continually improving his Iron Man armor designs, the brilliant Tony Stark’s early red and gold armor set the standard for years to come by combining lightweight and maneuverable armor with new Repulsor technology!”

Iron Man had debuted with his classic armor in Series 6, but it had been a couple of years since that at this point, and there hadn’t been a proper update to the design since.  With all of the new attention, DST opted to do an all-new one, based again on his ’70s-’80s armor.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Classic Iron Man got a rather astounding 9 add-on pieces for this release, which included the helmet, belt, collar, shoulder, arm, and leg cuffs.  All of the pieces were new for this release, and represented DST moving to a generally more sculpted approach to even classically-based designs, although it also showed more of a melding between purely sculpted and printed detailing, as well as a general slimming down of certain figures.  The gloves and boots get cuffs without the need of full hand and feet pieces, and the shoulders get their add-ons without needing to bulk up the whole torso.  It was honestly a pretty big change-up.  The shoulders in particular are a little frustrating, since they had trouble staying properly in place, but they do look good when properly set.  Iron Man’s paint work is pretty involve, with a lot of detail line work on just about all of the surfaces.  While the prior Classic Iron Man had used flat colors, this one used metallic red and gold.  The gold’s a little on the orange side, which kind of muddies the look just a bit.  On the plus side, it’s held up better long term than other gold paints, so it at least doesn’t look awful.  I was never much of a fan of the face plate on the helmet for this guy, though; something about the spacing of the eyes, coupled with the actual eyes being visible, just doesn’t work for me.  It was a pretty common complaint at the time of release, and DST changed it up for later releases of the designs, so they seemed to agree.  Under the helmet, there’s a slightly more intense facial expression for Tony, which was honestly a pretty decent look.  Classic Iron Man was packed with an alternate hair piece (re-used from 24‘s Tony Almeida) and an alternate left repulsor hand.

BOLT FACE IRON MAN

“Similar to his previous armor designs, this improved model featured modular components such as the Black Light Tracer, Reverser Ray, Miniature Generator and even a Proximity Alarm designed to mimic Spider-Man’s Spider Sense!”

We couldn’t just have one Iron Man, so we got two instead.  This one goes for a just prior to classic look, ever so affectionately dubbed “Bolt Face” due to the rivets on the faceplate.  We’d sort of gotten this armor before in its horn-masked iteration, but this was the first proper “Bolt Face.”  Structurally, he’s largely the same as the standard version, though he ditches the shoulder add-ons and gets the Series 6 belt, which gives him a slightly older school look.  His paint scheme is also pretty similar, with the shades all being the same, but the actual detail lines being changed up.  They’re really nice, not as over detailed as Classic, and just a very nice recreation of his comics look for this one.  This time around, the helmet gets blacked out eyes, and the spacing just generally looks a bit better.  The face under the helmet is a lot calmer than the standard, and is again a very ’60s looking Tony, which I really like.  Bolt Face IM got an alternate hair piece (re-used from Jack Bauer), and a repulsor hand, just like he Classic.  He also got a spare helmet, which represents the short-lived nosed faceplate, as well as the shoulder pieces, so that you could turn him into a slightly later stage Iron Man.  Technically, the pieces don’t really match the rest of the detailing on the armor, and would be more at home on the standard Iron Man.  And, actually, swapping the nosed helmet to the Classic Iron Man fixes my only real issue with that figure, and lets me leave this one in all its Bolt-Faced glory.

AIM SOLDIER

“Capable of both saving the world and destroying it, Advanced Idea Mechanics is a powerful terrorist group consisting of brilliant yet misguided scientists determined to invent more and more destructive weapons.”

The AIM Soldier marked an important change for Marvel Minimates: Army Builders!  Up to this point, you were forced to buy a duplicate of the figure packed with the Variant, and it was at this point that DST officially decided to try to make lemonade out of those lemons, and make the duped figure one that people might not mind having a dupe of.  The first offering in the army building venture was those crazy beekeeper guys themselves, who are honestly a pretty natural choice.  The AIM Soldier had two add-on pieces, one for the mask and one for the holster.  The mask was an all-new piece, and a pretty spot-on one for their classic comics look.  The holster was a re-use from Assault Punisher, and it’s a little bulky, but it’s also very easily removed if it’s not your thing.  The paint work does a quite nice job of capturing the usual AIM design; there’s plenty of line work on the suits, bot front and back, and the belts even continue all the way around the waist.  Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face with ears and a pair of lenses.  The AIM Soldier included a standard pistol (re-used again from Assault Punisher), and a larger rotary gun, which is a slight reworking of one of of War Machine’s cannons.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this series and the Series 28 (which was originally Series 26, before it got bumped for the Origins tie-in assortment) line-ups were revealed, DST ran a contest to guess the line-ups based on daily clues.  I was actually quite good at it, and wound up winning a fair bit of free stuff because of it.  Interestingly, Iron Man and his variant were the two that stumped me, but I did get the AIM Soldier.  In general, the whole thing made me very pumped for both assortments, which, as per usual for the time, I got via Cosmic Comix.  Classic Iron Man wasn’t my go-to at the time of release, nor has he really stuck with me.  The variant, on the other hand, remains one of my favorite Iron Man variants.  Likewise, the AIM Soldier’s top two for army builders for me.

#3374: Spider-Gwen

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

SPIDER-GWEN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Gwen has grown up a lot over the past two years, keeping busy between band practice and protecting her city.”

Spider-Gwen, an alternate universe Gwen Stacy imbued with the Spider powers instead of Peter Parker, was introduced in, and central to, the comics “Spider-Verse” storyline, and was likewise central to Into the Spider-Verse.  The comics kept Gwen as pretty central to all the follow-up “Spider-Verse” events, and Across the Spider-Verse has the movies following suit.  Gwen was part of the rather small Legends tie-in for Into, and she’s also part of the much larger tie-in set-up for the sequel.  Let’s see how this one measures up to the last one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Gwen is the third figure in the Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  She’s one of three figures that are repeated characters from the movie, and arguably the least changed of the three in raw design terms.  It’s mostly just elements being shifted around a bit, just to give her a bit of a refresh.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Gwen’s articulation scheme mimics the layout of Spot’s, which is again a slightly better set-up than we saw with Miles, as well as an improvement on the Gwen from the last movie.  Of note, she gets bicep swivels and double elbow joints.  Her arms are a bit on the thin side, so posing them is a slightly delicate affair, but it’s not as bad as I was expecting.  Gwen’s last animated figure was one of the two from the last round to make use of re-used parts, which slightly compromised her accuracy to the film.  This one, on the other hand, gets an all-new sculpt, which is more properly attuned to her look from the movie.  It’s a very basic and straight forward sculpt, but it does what it needs to, and it certainly looks the part.  I think I preferred the masked head on the last one, but the actual hood hangs more naturally here, and the build of the body is definitely more accurate this time around.  In terms of paint work, this Gwen, much like her predecessor, does suffer from just a bit of fuzziness in some spots, but for the most part it works out pretty well.  In particular, the detailing on the “webbed” parts of the costume turned out pretty nicely.  Gwen is packed with an alternate unmasked head, a corresponding pulled down hood piece, and two sets of hands.  As with others in the assortment, it’s perhaps a touch light, but at least it covers the basics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t initially sold on this Gwen figure.  I really liked the last one, and with her design being less changed than others, I just wasn’t sure I needed to double-dip on her.  Ultimately, I decided I wanted a full set, so she just sort of came along for the ride.  I’m glad that’s the choice I made, because she’s all-new, and honestly a much nicer figure than I was expecting.

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.