Tag Archives: Marvel

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.

#3372: The Spot

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

THE SPOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“If The Spot can realize the power of his abilities, he could become a threat to the entire universe.”

The slightly quirkier tone of the Spider-Verse movies makes them great for deep dives into the Spider-Man mythos.  I largely comes in the form of lots of Spideys, but as the first film showcased, it’s also great for getting a focus on some slightly lower tier Spidey foes.  The first movie gave a particular focus to Prowler, and this one seems to be doing the same for the Spot, who looks to be the film’s main antagonist…maybe.  I’m writing this review pre-movie, so I can’t say for sure.  I’m just happy to be getting a Spot figure, honestly.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Spot is the second figure in the seven figure Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He’s notably the only non-Spider in the set, and also the very first Marvel Legends Spot.  While some of the designs for the film are radical changes from the comics, the Spot actually sticks pretty close to his comics roots, albeit with the expected stylizing.  The figure stands just shy of 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Spot’s articulation is a slightly different set-up than we saw on Miles, and it’s better for it.  There’s still some slight issues with sticky joints on the limbs, and you have to be careful with moving the shoulders, lest they pop out at the biceps.  That said, I was especially impressed by the range of motion they managed to get into that mid-torso joint; it seems minimal at first, but once you get it working, it really does a lot.  The Spot’s sculpt is another all-new one, and it’s kind of the antithesis of Miles.  There’s very little actual detailing, making him largely a blank canvas, with the sculpting focus being placed on getting down his unique set of proportions.  It’s quite an effective set-up, with a quite distinctive silhouette, even without any extra key elements beyond the base body.  Despite the lankiness, the articulation is also worked in pretty cleanly as well, which is a definite plus.  Spot’s paint work is, like the sculpt, on the basic side.  It’s certainly effective, though.  It’s admittedly less spots than I’m used to, but that looks to be true to the film, so I’m hardly going to complain about that.  The Spot is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as two “spots”, one with Miles’ head sticking out, and the other with his hand.  There’s also a stand for clipping the spots onto, making for a pretty fun little set-up.  I would have liked to see some non-Miles-attached spots, but given the set-up for the rest of the figures, he still feels like he’s got enough to make it worthwhile.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Spot’s one of my favorite Spidey foes, going back to the ’90s cartoon, so I was actually pretty pumped when his inclusion in Across was announced, especially because I was pretty sure that would mean more toys…which it did.  Yay!  This guy was one of the first that images leaked for, and he’s definitely the one I was looking forward to the most.  My initial response after opening him was honestly just a touch let-down, but after getting to mess with him a little bit more, he’s grown on me, to about the point that I was expecting.  As it stands, he’s one of my top two for this set-up of figures.  I’d still love a comics version too, but this one’s a lot of fun on his own.

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.

#3371: Black Suited Spider-Man & Sandman

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

BLACK SUITED SPIDER-MAN & SANDMAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel Minimates‘ relationship with movie tie-ins is sort of a turbulent one.  The first series of the line only exists in the form that it does because it was 2003, and Daredevil and Hulk both got movies, but the actual ‘mates are entirely comics-based.  The first true movie tie-ins were a pair of waves, one being based on X3 and the other being based on Ghost Rider.  The X3 set was at least able to get by on being X-Men, but the Ghost Rider set is infamously the only specialty series of Marvel Minimates to be outright cancelled.  DST’s next go at movie tie-ins was for something that felt like more of a shoe-in, but still didn’t quite stick the landing, Spider-Man 3, which got two whole assortments of coverage.  Today, I’m taking a look at Black Suited Spider-Man and Sandman, based on their looks from the film.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Suited Spider-Man and Sandman were released in Series 17 of Marvel Minimates, which was the first of the two assortments dedicated to the movie (though both of them wound up shipping at the same time, as was a common practice for Marvel Minimates at the time).

BLACK SUITED SPIDER-MAN

With the symbiote playing a major part in Spider-Man 3, there were understandably quite a few variations available in the line.  This one aimed to be the standard issue version…but it wasn’t quite there.  The figure’s on the post-C3 minimate body, so it’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He gets one add-on piece for his torso, because, for some reason, DST decided to make Black Suited Spider-Man really buff.  Not sure why, since it’s still just Tobey McGuire, with his regular Spidey build, under the suit; there’s no reason to bulk him up compared to the regular one.  But, they did, and it makes him look really puffy.  Not exactly what you hope for on this design.  The paint work is generally alright, with a good deal of texturing and smaller detail work going on.  While the preview version of the figure (which also ditched the torso cap) got web detailing on the hands, this one does not, and the shades are a little closer between the underlying color and the weblines on this one too, making him generally seem just a bit too muddled.  His eyes also feel just a touch too close together, which makes the torso look even larger by comparison, and makes him feel even more bloated.  Spidey was packed with no accessories.

SANDMAN

We got two different Sandmen courtesy of this movie, depicting him in relatively human and totally sand forms.  This was the relatively human one.  Seeing as his design was also a rather faithful recreation of his classic comics look, it also allowed him to serve as a standard Sandman, if you were so inclined.  He’s got add-ons for his hair and chest cap, both of which were new for this release.  The hair became a rather common piece, and the chest cap saw use on a couple of other Sandmen that followed.  They’re both actually pretty nice pieces, working well within the context of the film design, but also showcasing the improved sculpting that DST really started to roll out with this assortment.  His paint work is generally pretty solid.  The face sports a respectable likeness of Thomas Haden Church, though he’s perhaps a little too light-hearted looking for the rather sullen Marko from the movie.  Of course, it makes it easier to turn him into Lowell for my Wings display, so I suppose it’s not all bad, right?  Sandman gets a spare set of arms bulked up into sand form, which is honestly a pretty fun extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the whole Spider-Man 3 set, minus the variants, from my parents the Christmas that they were released.  I was rather excited for them at the time, I recall.  The Black Suited Spider-Man was always rather a let-down, and is only more so in recent years.  Sandman, on the other hand, is actually a really good figure, and was honestly one of my favorites from the set.  He signifies the advancements that these two particular series really brought to the line, all in one little package.

#3369: Miles Morales

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

MILES MORALES

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Miles Morales faces a new villain with abilities that will take more than one Spider-Man to defeat.”

When Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was released in 2018, it hit with only minimal tie-in offerings, with the major push for tie-in stuff hitting about 2 1/2 years later.  Since it’s very clear what kind of a marketing success the first film was, the sequel is coming out of the gate strong for its theatrical release this week.  The basic figures have actually been out for the while, and there’s an entire dedicated assortment of Legends hitting right out of the gate, which snuck in real quietly right before the movie’s release.  I’ve got my whole set, because why the heck not.  I’m kicking off with a look at Miles today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Miles Morales is the first figure in the 7 figure Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  After getting the half-step “What’s Up Danger” look for the first film, this time around we get a fully-costumed Miles, sporting his brand new costume from the movie.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme this time around isn’t quite as impressive as what the Into Miles got; sure, he gets double elbows now, but he also loses the ball-jointed waist and neck, which really added to the prior figure’s posability.  This one can still pull off a good deal of poses, but the joints can get a little sticky, and it’s a little awkward to move him.  On the plus side, he’s still got the pinless construction, which works pretty well for the aesthetics.  Miles is sporting an all-new sculpt (courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan), and it’s a good looking one.  It matches up nicely with what we’ve seen so far of the animation models, showcasing a Miles that’s a bit more grown up than the last time we saw him.  The texturing on the outfit is truly impressive, and there’s a nice flow to the overall sculpt.  Mile’s paint is more complex than it looks at first glance; obviously he gets the red accents on the black base, which looks nice and slick, but there’s also some subtle dark blue work.  It’s easy to miss, but it adds a little extra pop to the figure’s visual.  Miles is packed with an extra unmasked head and two sets of hands (thwipping and fists).  The last unmasked head didn’t *quite* land the film design, especially the hair, but this one really gets it down.  Also, they don’t have the weird ball joint for each head, so that’s a plus.  Of course, it’s still a smaller socket size than the standard, so swapping isn’t going to really be a thing, but it’s progress.  As with the last Miles, I do wish we’d gotten another set of hands with open gesture, but I’ll just have to continue to be disappointed with every Spider-Man that cuts those, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really enjoyed the Into tie-in Legends, and I’d been hoping for more since that one small release.  One of the things that excited me the most about the sequel was getting more figures.  Miles was a figure that I wasn’t quite as jazzed for on the outset, I think just because he seemed rather basic, at least from the in-hand leaks we saw.  Having him in hand, there are some smaller issues that I’m a little let-down by, but he’s overall a figure that I wound up liking a lot more than I’d expected to.

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.

#3365: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Studying the genetic structure of Scott Summers’ family for many years, Mister Sinister took special care when mutating Cyclops into the one-eyed mutant monster Cyclaw! A bizarre genetic creation, Cyclaw is a one-eyed beast with optic blasts that disintegrate whatever they hit! Completely under the control of Mister Sinister, Cyclaw is Sinister’s chief weapon against the remaining X-Men!”

At the end of the ’90s X-Men toyline from Toy Biz, they got much more experimental with themes.  1997 seemed to hit peak levels of weirdness for that experimentalness, including turning a bunch of the team into monsters.  You know, as you do.  Amongst the X-Men getting all monster-ized was Cyclops.  Big surprise, I have a Cyclops figure to review.  I know.  Crazy.  Anyway, let’s look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is part of the “Monster Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was the line’s 20th assortment.  He was the line’s sixth version of Cyclops.  The standard portion of the figure is sporting Scott’s Jim Lee costume, which made its second appearance in the scale here, after Cyclops II.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  This assortment’s articulation set-up marked a move towards slightly less posable, and slightly more detailed sculpts, as Toy Biz attempted to emulate some of the McFarlane style that had become so popular towards the end of the decade.  Scott made out alright, though he lost elbow and knee movement.  On the flip side, he got universal joints at the shoulders, and a swivel at the waist.  I’ve actually looked at most of this figure’s sculpt before; it was re-used the next year for the X-Men vs Street Fighter version of the character.  The unique piece between the two was the head sculpt.  This one is a far more intense sculpt, with his head back and his expression screaming.  It’s not exactly an all-purpose sort of sculpt, but I guess it’s unique.  It also fits that whole “I’m transforming into a monster” vibe that the whole set was going for.  The figure’s paint work was more on the basic side.  His colors were very bright; arguably too bright for his design, and that’s something the X-Men vs Street Fighter figure would adjust.  Cyclops, like the rest of the series, was packed with a selection of clip-on Monster armor, which turns him into “Cyclaw,” which is kind of a lackluster name.  There’s a mask, “gloves”, and “boots.”  My figure is missing the feet pieces these days, but beyond that, the remaining pieces are appropriately grotesque and horrifying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cyclops was, unsurprisingly, the only one of this set that I got when they were new.  Look, I liked Cyclops, okay?  He got some play time as my standard Cyclops, before getting pretty quickly replaced by the Vs version.  Something about the head always seemed a little off to me, but I really liked the monster set-up, so that got a lot of use.  And, honestly, that was kind of the main point, right?

#3360: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS MORRIGAN

MARVEL VS CAPCOM (TOY BIZ)

“When Steve Rogers volunteered to serve his country by undergoing the experimental super-soldier augmentation process, Captain America was born. Captain America is the defender of truth and justice, and is the living embodiment of freedom. He has sworn an oath to protect the weak and shepherd the innocent. Armed only with an unbreakable shield, Captain America guards the freedoms held most dear.”

Remember when you had go out to a place to play a video game?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.  Okay, it’s a little more than that, right?  In the ’90s, fighting games were a big craze in the arcade world, and comics, specifically Marvel comics, were big in other parts of the world, and some genius had the idea to smash those two things together.  First, we got X-Men vs Steet Fighter in 1996, followed but Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter in 1997, and then Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes in 1998.  With the games themselves a success, Toy Biz licensed the Capcom half of the characters, for the purpose of doing some two-packs interacting with their Marvel line.  Like the actual games, they started with X-Men, but they eventually expanded to the rest of the Marvel and Capcom universes for a short-lived line in 1999.  And all of this is a very long lead in for me saying “hey, look at the Captain America figure I’ve got.”  Oh, and I guess there’s another figure as well.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America and Morrigan are one of the four two-packs that made up Toy Biz’s one-series Marvel vs Capcom: Clash of the Super Heroes line, which fell under their larger Video Game Super Stars branding.  They hit retail in 1999.

There was a surprisingly small number of standard Cap figures in the ’90s, and this one was on that rather short list.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was on the larger side for Cap, at least in terms of height, though was not quite as crazy on the width as some of the other Toy Biz Caps.  His articulation scheme is amongst the best that this era had to offer, which was certainly a plus.  His sculpt was all-new at the time, though it was quickly re-used for the Silver Age line’s take on Cap, and the head got a subsequent re-use for the Greatest Moments Bullseye, all in the same year.*  It’s honestly a pretty respectable offering.  The head sculpt goes for a slightly more anime-styled look, which fits with the overall style of the game he’s meant to be based on.  It still captures his usual features, and keeps him from looking too angry or intense, like some other Caps ended up being.  The body sculpt is nicely balanced in its proportions, being bulked up, but not ridiculously so.  He’s still a little wonky in some spots, but for this era of the line, it was actually quite tame.  Cap’s paint work is generally pretty nicely handled; the base colors a touch more muted than usual, but not incredibly so.  There’s a little bit of accenting on the blue and white sections of the costume, which generally works pretty well.  The eyes get quite a bit of detailing, adding a lot of depth and life to his overall look.  Cap was packed with his usual shield; it was a unique piece, and, like oh so many Cap shields, the clasp on the back is quite prone to breaking.

Fulfilling the proper video game portion of the set, coming straight outta Darkstalkers, it’s Morrigan.  Look at her, over here, all Morrigan-y.  Oh yeah.  Morrigan.  ….Okay, I’m gonna be honest with you all here: I don’t really know much about Morrigan.  Or anybody from Darkstalkers for that matter.  I mostly know them as space fillers when Capcom needs more characters for a cross-over roster, which is probably really reductive, but it’s my site, and that’s where we are.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  Despite having a lot of articulation, the actual range of motion on most of the joints is pretty restricted.  The head can’t really turn because of the hair and wings, the shoulders don’t really go any further down, and there’s always the dreaded v-hips.  It all makes her rather difficult to keep standing as well, which is really frustrating.  She got an all-new sculpt, which has a fair bit of pre-posing, but does honestly look pretty spot-on for the character’s usual look.  Morrigan’s paint work is all pretty basic, but it matches well with her character again.  Everything is pretty clean in application as well, so that’s nice as well.  Morrigan is packed with a small bat creature thing, which clips onto her wrist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 1999, I had some sort of half-day at school, and my father had a dentist’s appointment that he was unable to get out of, the location of which meant there would be no time for me to go home and actually get anything that I could entertain myself with.  There was, however, a Toys R Us rather close to the dentist’s office, so my Dad took me in to pick out something to entertain me.  This Cap (and the Morrigan that was packed with him, I guess) was what I picked.  I was always in search of the best possible Cap for my collection, and this guy looked right up that alley.  He’s honestly my favorite of the Caps in this scale, and remained my go-to Cap pretty much from the time I got him onward.  Also, there’s Morrigan.  She’s there too.

*This mold was also the one shown on all of the packaging images for the Avengers: United They Stand line’s take on Cap, though it was replaced with an entirely different mold before they actually arrived at retail.