Tag Archives: Marvel

#3325: Kang

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

KANG

AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND (TOY BIZ)

“A villain with a twisted mind, Kang believes that by time traveling he will eventually conquer the world and change history in his name. As one of the Avengers’ most dangerous villains, Kang has often used his vast knowledge of time and dimensional travel to escape their heroic grasp.”

Remember back when, like, nobody knew who Kang the Conqueror was?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.  And also, I remember.  Avengers Forever, which is one of the best Kang stories out there, has been getting a lot of attention recently, and is notably my first real interaction with the character in the comics.  My first interaction with the character in general, however, was a little show by the name of Avengers: United They Stand, which gave Kang a self-titled focus episode.  It also gave Kang his second ever action figure, which is what I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kang was released in the second series of Toy Biz’s Avengers: United They Stand tie-in line.  As I’ve brought up before, both series of the line were released simultaneously in 1999, in order to properly launch (most of) the team, alongside a few foes, right as the show launched.  Ultron was the villain for the first series, while Kang was in that spot for the second.  Kang’s an interesting choice for the second villain in the context of the show, seeing as he’s only got one episode of the run, but given his prominence as a classic Avengers foe, and he was certainly set up for additional appearances, so it’s not the strangest option.  This marked Kang’s only figure during Toy Biz’s 5-inch days.  The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Kang’s articulation scheme is astoundingly limiting.  Like, how did they manage to make it this inefective?  The rest of the line was honestly pretty good at mobility, but Kang’s only really practical motion is the neck joint.  His shoulders neither one gets a full spin, there are no elbows, and the hips are some sort of weird, almost flat attempt at a v-hip.  He does get knees and ankles, but without the hips, they don’t really do much.  I guess he’s at least able to be fairly stable on his feet?  Sure, let’s go with that.  Kang’s sculpt was a completely new one.  For the most part, the UTS figures were quite faithful to their animated counterparts, but Kang’s a noted exception to that.  Instead of the mouthless mask from the show, he’s got a bald and blue head.  His build is also much smaller than he was depicted on the show.  The rest of the costume details do at least track pretty close to the show’s look, and he’s pretty crisply detailed.  Ultimately, he falls victim to the same thing as Hawkeye, where he was based on an earlier model sheet for the character.  Unlike Hawkeye, his change wasn’t easily fixed with paint.  The paint work on this guy is a little brighter than the show look, but he does get a cool metallic purple…albeit one that doesn’t match perfectly from piece to piece.  Kang was packed with two swords, which he could store on his back, as well as an orb containing a miniature Wasp, similar to how he traps her in the episode.  The orb plugs into the left hand, which completes the circuit running through the arm, allowing it to light up when the button on his chest is pressed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kang is officially the final United They Stand figure I got.  I was down to my last three figures (Ant-Man, Wasp, and this guy), and my Grandmother had asked me for a list of the three I needed.  Ant-Man was the first she got me, followed by Wasp.  Kang was the last one I needed, so she took me to Target after picking me up from school, and I officially rounded out my set.  He’s an interesting figure, because all of the independent factors seem to point to a figure that’s not so great.  That said, I actually still really like this figure, for whatever it is he may be.

#3320: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Trapped in an alternate universe, Jean Grey wages a battle against Omega, one of Apocalypse’s minions. One of the most powerful mutant telepaths on the planet, Jean Grey has teamed up with Wolverine to put an end to Apocalypse’s diabolical plans once and for all. With her transforming Catapult Tank Blaster, Jean has a secret weapon that can send any opponent down for the count!”

By 1997, Toy Biz’s X-Men line had firmly moved away from purely comics-based figures, and was fully venturing into the “wacky variants” territory.  Assortments moved to a generally themed nature, with that theme usually being some sort of gimmick.  Both X-Men and Spider-Man took on an underlying line rebranding in ’98, with the X-Men one being
“Secret Weapon Force.”  Though the main purpose of these assortments was have an excuse for wacky variants, Toy Biz did at least throw peopled a bit of a bone, and tried to make some of those variants line-up with something actually from the comics.  In the case of today’s figure, Jean Grey, it allowed them to give her “Age of Apocalypse” look some coverage, after it had been left out of the proper tie-in assortment for the storyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s re-branded X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  The four figures in the assortment were all loosely AoA-themed, with the pretense of this being our Jean trapped in an alternate universe.  Jean was the most straight forward of the bunch, at least in terms of design.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Jean marked the second use of the Monster Armor Mystique body, which would become one of Toy Biz’s favorites in the later 5-inch run.  She uses the main body, sans the skirt, with a new head sculpt (though the prototype on the back of the box was just a straight repaint).  The new head is a decent match to her AoA look in the comics, so that’s pretty decent.  The body’s not terrible, though I’m not a huge fan of the enormous right hand, or its general lack of posing.  Also, this release kept the etched-in lines from Mystique’s gloves and boots, which don’t line up with Jean’s costume details.  Jean’s paint work was generally okay.  It follows her look from the comics fairly closely.  Some of the details are a little fuzzy, especially on the costume.  I do like the tattoo on the face, though.  She’s also got a “Secret Weapon Force” insignia on her leg, which isn’t true to the original design, but is still a little cool, honestly.  Jean was packed with her “Secret Weapon Force” secret weapon, which was a Catapult Tank Blaster.  Given the sheer size of this thing, I’m not clear on just how she manages to keep it “secret,” but she *is* a telepath, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being a main character for the franchise, by this point in the X-Men line, Jean Grey figures were still rather rare.  If you saw one, you got it.  That’s just how it was.  I wanted a non-Phoenix Jean, and this was my only real option at the time, so you know I went out there and got one…with my Grandmother’s money, most likely.  I know I got the Cyclops from this set first because, well, Cyclops, but Jean was a fairly close second.  Gotta have those two together, right?  She’s not a bad figure, I guess.  I mean, not great, but also not bad.  It was a nice way for Toy Biz to get this variant of Jean out there and continue the AoA line-up just a little bit more.

#3315: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The speedster known as Quicksilver belongs to a family of strong mutants, his sister is the Scarlet Witch and his father is Magneto! Quicksilver spend the early part of his career as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, before realizing his powers would best be put to use for the good of all Mankind. Since that time, Quicksilver has been a member of several super-teams, including X-Factor and the Avengers!”

Though he hasn’t quite made the lasting impressing that his twin sister has in recent years, Quicksilver is still certainly in a better spot than he was back before 2014.  Nowadays, he’s almost a household name…well, one of him is, anyway.  Not sure which.  Probably not the comics one, but that’s the one I’m looking at anyway, so let’s just stick with that.  Anyway, here’s a Quicksilver, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver was released in the infamous “Muntant Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  There were two variants of Quicksilver available, one in his classic blue and white costume and one in his his then-current white and grey one.  Back in 2015, I looked at the white and grey, so today’s review focusses on the blue and white.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  As noted in the prior review, Quicksilver was built on the smaller male base body, which Toy Biz got quite a few uses out of around this time.  He shares his mostly new head sculpt (retooled from the Battle Brigade Archangel) with his variant, and it’s still a pretty good take on the character.  His paint work was obviously the main selling point.  It’s a pretty solid recreation of his classic design.  For true accuracy, it should have the black shorts, but this isn’t horribly inaccurate or anything.  Application is pretty clean for the most part, with minimal slop or bleed over.  Both versions of Quicksilver got the same accessories, a weird machine gun thing (missing from both of mine) and a dust cloud running effect stand, which was re-used from Meanstreak, but was now in a fun translucent grey, which was generally just a little more effective for the appearance of a dust cloud.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My dad had this version of Quicksilver, while I had the other one when I was growing up.  I was always a fan of this one too, but I liked having my own distinct version.  Over the years, though, I’ve been slowly working at getting a full run of the Toy Biz Marvel, and I was able to snag this guy at a toy show, in order to help me towards that goal.  It’s intriguing that Toy Biz did Pietro with both costumes, seeing as he’s exactly the sort of character that you don’t really need multiple figures for, but now, well, now I have both, and I guess that’s kinda cool, right?

#3310: Meanstreak

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

MEANSTREAK

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“A former researcher for the multinational corporation Alchemax, Henry Huang broke with his corporate masters, and now uses his superhuman mutant speed and dazzling intelligence to battle for mutant rights in the year 2099 as Meanstreak of the X-Men!”

While Spider-Man 2099 has generally been accepted as being an overall successful and not terrible idea, the rest of the 2099 line has always been generally accepted as not so much successful or not terrible.  Marvel tried to launch 2099 equivalents for all of their best-selling books at the time, so unsurprisingly, there was an X-Men 2099.  It was populated by a bunch of characters unrelated to the main timeline characters, who were all just very, very ’90s.  The team’s resident speedster was Meanstreak, who was fast and mean.  Okay, maybe not so mean, but the name sure sounded cool, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Meanstreak was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line, which hit in 1995.  He really only had the one look, so that was the one he had here.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Meanstreak got what became the most basic articulation set-up of Toy Biz’s Marvel lines, which works out pretty well for him when it comes to decent running poses and such.  Meanstreak sported an all-new sculpt at the time, though it would see a little bit of re-use later down the line.  It’s honestly a pretty strong one, perhaps the best basic build sort of sculpt that the 2099 line had to offer.  The proportions aren’t anything too crazy, the costume details are clean and a good match for his design in the comics, and his face is cartoony, while still fitting with the overall vibe of the line up to this point.  One does have to wonder how the baggy boots and all sorts of pouches are going to do on a guy that’s a speedster, but hey, it could certainly have been worse.  In an era of particularly gaudy color schemes, Meanstreak actually had a pretty sensible one, sticking more or less to primary colors.  His paint work followed suit, and the end result is clean, bold, and fairly eye catching.  There were two versions of the paint on this one: one with a dark metallic gold on the bands, belt, and boots, and one where those parts are a slightly metallic yellow.  I personally prefer how the yellow looks, especially in conjunction with the other colors, but they both work in their own way.  Meanstreak was packed with a small gun, which he could fold up and store on his belt, as well as a running effect piece, which would later be re-used for the main X-Men line’s Quicksilver.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve talked before on the site about the store Ageless Heroes, a comic book store near me that went out of business when I was about 6 or 7, whose clearing out sales netted me a whole ton of 5-inch Marvel.  Well, Meanstreak wasn’t added to my collection because of that directly, but he did come to me indirectly because of that.  A family friend ran the Masquerade at a couple of local fan conventions, and she had cleared out a large chunk of Ageless Heroes’ remaining stock when they closed for the purposes of having some goodies to put in the prize bags for the children’s costume competition.  I would help her out with various pieces of set-up, and in exchange I was always allowed to pick out one of the figures from the box of stuff meant for those bags.  Meanstreak was one that I just really liked the look of, so he was one that I specifically chose. 20 some years later, I still know virtually nothing about the character, but I still have a real soft spot for the original yellow-colored version of the figure I picked out all those years ago.

#3305: U.S. Agent

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

U.S. AGENT

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“U.S. Agent is the ultimate super soldier of justice. And with his awesome shield, he proves it. To prepare shield for crime-fighting action, gently push the extension of his shield along the top of the shield-launcher until it locks into position. Wrist launcher and shield can both be attached separately to his wrist, thus making him ready for any – and every – attack!”

When they first took over the license, before building all sorts of different lines, Toy Biz’s Marvel toys were initially split into X-Men and a larger Marvel Super Heroes line, which covered literally everything else.  The line ran five series, with its final assortment being entirely re-hash…or at least very close to re-hash.  There were a couple of re-paints, and only one actual new character, whom I’m looking at today.  Yes, it’s time for another version of John Walker, aka U.S. Agent!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

U.S. Agent was released in the aforementioned Series 5 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  U.S. Agent’s entire existence in the line was due to his easy parts re-use, so he’s a complete re-use of the standard Captain America molds.  Cap’s sculpt was honestly one of the best from this line, though it’s kind of the best because it’s so specifically Steve Rogers as Cap, which works just a little bit against this figure’s intended purpose.  The clearly denoted sections of chain mail, as well as the vertical stripes on the mid-section, and the star symbol on the front of the chest are all elements that don’t work quite so much for the U.S. Agent costume.  Likewise, the face is very definitely Steve, not John.  That said, the paint does its best with the material, and it’s honestly not terrible looking.  It helps that a lot of it’s black, which hides more of the extra details, and it also helps that the paint work is pretty sharp, so it at least looks pretty good.  U.S. Agent is packed with the same shield and launcher as the basic Cap.  It’s a little clunky, but honestly a fun gimmick, since the shield still functions as a shield, while also working with the launcher.  The shield has been appropriately re-colored, and looks pretty nifty.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve owned this figure three times over.  My first one came to me as a gift from my Nana, who had gotten him for both me and my cousin Rusty, I believe as a “good job with school” gift.  Mine was well-loved, but also wound up losing his foot at one point, in an incident I was never able to explain.  Rusty was kind enough to give me his, so I had one with two feet again, but I lost the shield and launcher from both over the years.  Enter the third one, which was given me just a few years ago by Max, who had gotten a sealed one and decided he didn’t really need it.  As U.S. Agent, this guy’s not quite there.  As The Captain, he’s actually not bad, so I’ll just consider him that way, I guess, because at least then I can enjoy him unimpeded.

#3303: Excalibur

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CAPTAIN BRITAIN, MEGGAN, & SHADOWCAT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In the 1980s, the X-Men had become such a popular book for Marvel that they were in need of more than one monthly book to contain all there success, so the solution was spin-offs.  The first was The New Mutants in 1982, which introduced a largely new cast of characters, as the name suggested.  In 1986, the original five members of the X-Men reunited under the X-Factor title.  And, finally, in 1987, a small handful of X-Men characters were borrowed from the main book, and moved overseas to meet up with the UK line’s Captain Britain, whose solo series had just been cancelled, meaning he needed a new home.  The result was Excalibur, a rather off-beat addition to the X-line-up.  While it never quite hit the highs of the main book, it’s always had something of a cult following, and the team’s been bouncing around ever since.  Individual members have done okay with toy coverage for the most part, but last year Hasbro jumpstarted their presence in Legends a bit, with a whole boxed set dedicated to them!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain Britain, Meggan, and Shadowcat were an exclusive Marvel Legends three-pack.  Exclusive to where?  Good question.  They were definitely on Hasbro Pulse, and I believe meant to go on Shop Disney, though I don’t know that they ever did.  They eventually worked their way back around, though, and are now going through Entertainment Earth and their various wholesalers, making them more of a Fan Channel-exclusive at the end of it all.  Yay?

CAPTAIN BRITAIN

“Using his super strength, flying ability and courage, Captain Britain fights for justice throughout the world and in other dimensions as well.”

Captain Britain’s graced the Legends line twice before, once with Toy Biz and once with Hasbro.  Since Hasbro had previously done a more modern costume for Brian, this time they went back and did the same one that Toy Biz did for theirs, namely his second, Alan Davis-designed costume.  It’s honestly his best look, so I’m all for that.  That said, it’s somewhat humorous, given that the trading card image on the back of the box has him in his *other* Davis look, which still is without Legends treatment, despite it also being the look present on all of the images for the Toy Biz release.  Some day, it might eventually get made, right?  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Our last Legends Captain Britain was built on the Hyperion base body; this one is Hyperion adjacent, as he’s actually making use of the upgraded torso from the Unworthy Thor figure.  It lacks the weird torso shelf that the standard Hyperion torso had; strangely, this torso’s been unused since its introduction in 2017.  I do definitely like it more, though.  He also gets a new head, forearm, and knee pieces, to showcase the more unique pieces of his costume.  The new meshes well with the old, and I appreciate how the head sculpt here is distinctly different from the prior Captain Britain.  This one’s more a mask than a helmet; I did like the other one a fair bit, but this one fits the classic costume design nicely.  Captain Britain’s color work is decently handled, with some nice and sharp application.  There’s a touch of fuzz on some of the white lines, but nothing too terrible.  My figure has a touch of missing red on the front of each bicep, but it’s again pretty minor.  Captain Britain is packed with an alternate bearded head, two sets of hands in fists and gripping, and the actual sword Excalibur.  It’s not a terrible set-up, but I do find it interesting that he didn’t get an unmasked head, since the back of the box shows him unmasked.  Also, it’s a personal thing, but I’d have liked to see the previous head done up in the colors to match this costume, just to have the helmet option too.  But, you know, that’s more a me thing.

MEGGAN

“Meggan is a mystical mutant metamorph, able to change her shape at will.”

Excalibur‘s one truly unique character in their debut line-up, Meggan is the one member of the team who’s not likely to get much coverage outside of specifically team-themed set-ups.  As such, this is her first time as a Legend, and in fact only her second action figure at all, with the first being her Minimate from that line’s own Excalibur boxed set.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, almost every female figure is made up of some sort of frankensteining of prior female bucks, and in Meggan’s case, she’s using a collection of parts which previously showed up together for the TRU Dark Phoenix, which add up to a base that seems about right for Meggan, especially given how Davis tended to depict her.  She swaps out that set-up’s heeled shoes for the bare feet from the First Ten Years Pepper Potts figure, and also gets a brand-new head sculpt.  The head’s got a big ol’ chunk of hair, which is appropriate for Meggan, and she also gets a big smile, which also fits, and is a nice change of pace compared to the more stoic expressions we tend to see on female figures.  The sculpt looks nice when viewed from the front, but it does seem just a tad flat from the side.  Her color work is generally pretty simple; she has the proper green and black for the costume, and the printing for the face is nice and lifelike.  She’s packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture.  It’s a shame we couldn’t maybe get some alternate pieces showing off her shape-shifting, but that might have been a bit complex for the set-up of this pack.

SHADOWCAT

“Shadowcat possesses the mutant ability to “phase” her molecules, letting her pass through walls, walk on air, and allowing things she touches to do the same.”

Like Captain Britain, Kitty Pryde has gotten the Legends treatment twice before, once for each of the two manufacturers.  Both of those ones were more modern costumes, however, while this release finally gives her the all-blue number she wore during her early days with the team.  Similar to Captain Britain, I do really find this look to be one of her best.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Seeing as this is still supposed to be Kitty more on the younger side, she uses the Spider-Girl base body as a starting point.  It’s a base I’ve always rather liked, so I’ve got no issues with that.  She gets a new head, upper torso, and arms, sculpted by Eddie Mosqueda.  They flow well with the base body parts, and capture her design from the comics pretty nicely.  In particular, the loose-fitting shirt hangs in a way that quite convincingly conveys the weight of the material.  I like that a lot.  The head sculpt, like Meggan, gives her a smile, and I like that too; Davis’ illustrations of Excalibur frequently had them smiling, so it feels like it really fits the tone of the book.  Kitty’s head sculpt also bears an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Portman, and may well be the best likeness of her Hasbro’s produced, which is kind of humorous in its own way.  The colors on this figure are very blue, as they should be.  It’s a slick look,  and again the face printing brings a nice lifelike quality to the whole thing.  Shadowcat is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as her pet dragon (and fellow team member) Lockheed.  Lockheed is the same mold as the prior one packed in with Kitty, though this time he’s in a slightly brighter color.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was intrigued by this set when it was first shown off, but not quite enough to actually go out of my way to get it.  I already have both Kitty and Brian in my Legends collection, even if they may not be in my preferred costumes, and I don’t *have* to have Meggan.  But, I was certainly keeping my eye out, if they should make their way in front of me.  When they went back up for a wider distribution, that meant I was able to get them through All Time, which made life much simpler.  It’s a pretty fun set of figures.  I can’t say any of them really blow me away, though that may be partly due to how impressed I was by the last Kitty and Brian.  Still, these ones are really solid, and Meggan is no slouch either.  And, now, all we need is a red suit Rachel Grey, and we can round out the initial team!

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

#3301: Insulated Spider-Man & Electro

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

INSULATED SPIDER-MAN & ELECTRO

MARVEL MINIMATES

In 2009, we were between cinematic versions of Spider-Man, so all of his toy tie-ins were sticking closely to the comics for their inspiration.  This was especially true of Marvel Minimates, who had three dedicated assortments just for comic Spidey, as well as working him into some of the mixed assortments.  Wedged in the middle of the themed set-ups was today’s set, a variant of Spider-Man and one of his classic foes, Electro!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Insulated Spider-Man and Electro were initially released in the fourth TRU-exclusive assortment of Marvel Minimates, before getting a follow-up release in Series 30 of the main line.  The set from this review was the specialty release, but the two sets were effectively identical apart from packaging.

INSULATED SPIDER-MAN

“This alternate costume was created by Spider-Man to counter the devastating electricity powers of the super-villain Electro. By utilizing non-conductive materials and building on his original ‘rubber air mattress’ design, he defeated Electro with ease.”

Introduced in 1997’s Amazing Spider-Man #425, Spider-Man’s Electro Proof Insulated Suit was crafted to battle Electro’s increased powers of the ’90s.  It had graced toy form before during Toy Biz’s run with the license, but with this it had a Minimate.  Different!  The figure was based on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  His only add-on is a full face-mask piece.  They were standard for Spidey for a brief span of time, but this assortment actually dropped that; the only reason this particular figure got the piece was for the extra padded design.  Everything else is handled with paint.  There’s quite a lot going on, but it does a great job of capturing the design of the costume as seen in the comics.  Under the bulked up mask is a standard Spidey mask.  It’s unfortunately saddled with the peg hole in the head, but otherwise it was really great, and the red was designed to be an exact match for the standard Spidey from Series 24 of the main line, allowing a replacement of his bulked up mask piece from the original release.  Spider-Man was without any extras for this release.

ELECTRO

“Given super-human powers by a freak electrical accident, Max Dillon was transformed from an average electric company lineman into the super-villain known as Electro! Able to absorb and manipulate near-limitless amounts of electricity, Electro can only be defeated by shorting out or overloading his powers.”

This marked Electro’s introduction to this line.  While there were another four variants of the character to follow, but this is to date the only one based upon his classic design.  He got three add-on pieces for this release, for his mask and his two glove cuffs.  All three were all-new pieces.  The mask was a little bit deep at the front, but was otherwise a good piece.  The cuffs take what would become the standard approach for the flared gloves, and add the electric effects to the ends.  His paint work is respectable enough; the colors are nice and bold, and the line work is quite detailed.  There’s a ton of work on the face, which would perhaps be overboard on another character, but actually kind of works for Max.  Electro was packed with two electricity effects pieces, shared with Series 29’s Storm.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bought this set new from my go-to place for Minimates at the time, Cosmic Comix.  I remember being pretty happy about getting an Electro, and the Insulated Spider-Man was certainly a cool design.  The figures both suffer from a little bit of production issues cropping up, but they’re both pretty good overall, and neither found themself with any real replacement.

#3299: Namor – Wakanda Forever

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

NAMOR — WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The ruler of Talokan, an ancient civilization hidden in the depths of the ocean, Namor will stop at nothing to protect his people.”

The last time that I reviewed a Namor action figure here on the site, it early 2018, and I was reviewing the figures from the first Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  He was a comics-based Namor, and I remarked at the time that his presence in a Black Panther-themed set was kind of odd and hard to justify.  Well, don’t I feel foolish now.  Namor was introduced to the MCU last year in Wakanda Forever, where he serves as the antagonist, albeit perhaps not a totally villainous one.  Tenoch Huerta’s performance in the role was an impressive one, giving us a Namor that was a little harsher than his comics counterpart tends to be.  Nevertheless, it’s a good set-up for a potential future for the character within the MCU.  And, he’s got another action figure in a Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, but this time it makes sense!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Namor is part of the Attuma Series of Marvel Legends, which is the dedicated tie-in assortment for Wakanda forever.  In an assortment that’s got a fair bit of re-hash going on, especially with its movie figures, Namor stands out as being the most noteworthy addition to the line.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Namor’s articulation scheme is generally pretty decent, following with the current line set-up.  He’s got the pinless structure on his elbows and knees, which is a little nicer looking.  I’m not super crazy about the range of motion on the mid-torso joint, but otherwise, everything works out all pretty decently.  Namor is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan.  The head has a solid likeness of Huerta, albeit looking perhaps a little dryer than he really does in the film proper (it’s worth noting that Chan sculpted it with a different, more flow-y styling to the hair originally, and it was changed).  Still, a good likeness is a good likeness.  The body sculpt is fairly balanced in terms of proportions.  The only part of it that I feel is a little bit off is the neck, which is just a tad too long to be quite right.  Not terribly off, mind you; just the slightest bit.  The jewelry around the neck is a separate piece, which can be slipped off if you pop the head off, allowing for a slightly more comics-looking Namor.  Of course, this does exaggerate the neck issue just a little more, but again, not the worst.  Namor’s color scheme, thanks to his construction, is largely handled via molded plastic.  There’s a touch of paint for the face, of course, as well as on the feet.  It’s clean, and the face in particular is fairly lifelike.  There’s a small spot of glue slop on the back of the hair, but he’s otherwise without blemishes.  Namor is packed with two sets of hands, with one pair of flat hands, and one in a fist/gripping combo, as well as his spear, and the left arm to the Attuma Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I largely opted to skip this round of figures, due to having previous versions of most of the characters included, I was definitely down for the first MCU version of Namor.  It’s been a long path to seeing him on the big screen, and he was one of my favorite parts of Wakanda Forever.  I’ve had this guy for a while, but he had the misfortune of just sort of slipping through the cracks, since there was just the one of him.  He’s not top of the line or anything, but he’s a solid mid-range 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.

#3298: Black Panther — Wakanda Forever

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

BLACK PANTHER — WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The success of the first Black Panther film understandably fast-tracked the turnaround on a sequel, but with both Infinity War and Endgame locked-in on the schedule, there was a slight wait before we could get right to it.  Things were further delayed by the pandemic in 2020, right when the movie was set to begin production.  Plans were further thrown into chaos later that same year with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, leaving the film without its star.  The film was hastily reworked to remove Chadwick’s role, with the rest of his ensemble cast taking up as much of the reins as possible.  Who would be taking over the titular mantle was a heavily discussed topic, and the actual identity of this new Panther was kept secret before the film’s release.  In the end, the person to inherit the role was T’Challa’s sister Shuri, who is truly the most natural choice for the part, especially given her history of taking over the part in the comics.  In order to preserve the film’s secret, merchandise of Shuri in her Panther suit was held off until after the movie’s release.  This included the Marvel Legends figure, which is just making its way out now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Panther is a single-release Marvel Legends figure, meant to tie-in with the rest of the Wakanda Forever assortment, while also standing on her own.  She’s sold in a box that matches the others, but is billed only as “Black Panther” and also gets no bio, suggesting they were working extra hard to keep this one a secret, even once the figure got out there.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is up to the more modernized standards for the line; she’s got double joints for the elbows and knees, which are using the pinless construction.  She also gets a decent ball-joint for the neck.  The range isn’t quite there on some of the joints, mostly around the middle of the figure, and the elbows have a tendency to stick a little bit on one end or the other.  Panther’s sculpt is an all-new one.  It does a respectable job of capturing her costume design as seen in the film…I mean, at least as far as I can tell from the limited screen shots are available for the look; some times that super secrecy really works against them, huh?  It’s a visually interesting design, with a lot of sharp detailing, and plenty of texturing.  The build seems a decent match for Letitia Wright, though she’s notably taller than the prior Shuri figure, which doesn’t quite track with her actual height.  Technically, she should be a fair bit shorter than both figures.  Maybe the heart shaped herb just makes her taller?  I’m willing to buy that, I guess.  The paint work on this figure is pretty on the mark; the gold accents go where they’re supposed to, and they look pretty sharp.  Shuri is pretty light on the accessories front, with only two sets of hands, in fists and open claw.  They’re cool and all, but her not getting an unmasked head, or even any of her blaster attachments for the wrists.  Presumably, the secrecy of the design and more than likely far quicker turnaround time resulted in less extras.  It’s a shame, but at least she got the bare minimum?  Also, an all-new sculpt, so there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The main assortment of Wakanda Forever figures was a lot of rehash, so I didn’t pick up much of that set.  The absence of Shuri from that line-up didn’t really help matters, as it was honestly one of the few designs I really felt the desire to own.  The separate release was appreciated, and not really a surprise, I suppose.  Even so, I was a bit on the fence with this figure, just because my collecting habits are shifting a bit.  Max was having none of this, however, and decided to put an end to my hemming and hawing over this figure by just going ahead and paying for one for me in advance.  How dare he?  How absolutely dare?  Aside from a lack of accessories, she’s a rather nice figure, and one I’m certainly glad to have in my collection.

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.

#3296: WWII Wolverine & Hydra Agent

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

WWII WOLVERINE & HYDRA AGENT

MARVEL MINIMATES

In 2009, we weren’t yet into the actual MCU proper, so we had to make due with our only Marvel movie of the year being X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Dark times, I know.  There was, of course, a proper tie-in assortment of Marvel Minimates for the movie, but the line also had a fair number of Wolverine-themed comics-based ‘mates.  There was a largely Wolverine-themed assortment in its entirety, but then they also worked him into the mixed assortments as well.  For Series 29, there were two sets, focussing on old and new.  Today, I’m looking at the old.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

WWII Wolverine and the Hydra Agent were the variant set for Series 29 of Marvel Minimates.  The Hydra Agent was the shared army builder between the two sets, with WWII Wolverine swapping in for the X-Force Wolverine from the standard set.

WWII WOLVERINE

“Before he joined the X-Men as Wolverine, Canadian soldier James Howlett served alongside Captain America, Bucky and others during World War II – something Wolverine himself only discovered after the memories of his past were restored.”

Wolverine’s past, specifically his service during the second World War, has been a subject that’s been rattling around the Marvel universe since early in his comics career.  With Origins‘ renewal of interest in the era, this made for a sensible choice of design for this assortment in 2009.  The figure is based on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He makes use of four add-on pieces, for his helmet, jacket, and sleeve cuffs.  He also gets a set of tweaked hands featuring his pre-Adamantium bone claws.  The helmet came from the DC Minimates Sgt Rock, the jacket from Platoon‘s Sgt Barnes, the sleeves from BttF‘s Marty McFly, and the hands from the “Wolverine Through the Ages” Weapon X.  Aside from the helmet not having any trace of Logan’s hair, making him look kind of bald with it removed, the parts do their job pretty well, so that’s actually pretty cool.  The paint work on this guy is pretty drab, but that’s expected.  It’s not a bad look at all, and there’s actually some really nice detail work going into some of it.  The head was consistent with the other comics Logan ‘mates at the time, and he’s even got a fully detailed shirt on the torso block under the jacket.  I also really dig the “X” on the helmet; it’s a fun touch.  Wolverine was packed with an alternate hairpiece (one of the Origins tie-in ones), a spare set of standard hands, and a Thompson machine gun (also re-used from Sgt Rock).

HYDRA AGENT

“The loyal minions of super-villains such as the Red Skull and Baron von Strucker, HYDRA Agents are bent on world domination through terrorist attacks and dangerous experimental technologies.”

The Hydra Agent marked the line’s fourth go at the army builder concept for the re-pack figure.  He’s a pretty classic one, and one that was at the top of everyone’s lists when the concept was first discussed.  It was kind of a big deal, really.  How’d it go?  Umm…about that… So, right out of the box, he’s got six add-on pieces.  All of them are re-use, with the standard full-face mask piece, the DC-style flared gloves, Emil Blonski‘s torso cap, the skirt from BSG’s Laura Roslin, and Assault Punisher’s holster.  They were clearly trying to get the most out of re-used parts here, and it largely works.  The real issue’s with the torso piece, which just doesn’t quite feel like it fits the usual style of Hydra Agents.  The paint is where the mixed bag really comes into play here.  Series 29 and 30 mark DST really trying to go more in-depth on the line-work for Minimates, so there was a lot more smaller detailing and creative shading, and things just generally looking more scratchy and sketchy.  The face on the full face mask for this figure is kind of a victim of that; there’s just really way too much detailing going on, and it gets kind of distracting.  There was a push on these figures to add alternate looks, and that certainly helped this one a little bit; removing the mask, gloves, and torso cap reveals a slightly more classic Hydra Agent, which is generally an improvement.  Unfortunately, due to a mix-up at the factory, this guy wound up getting a head with a peg-hole at the top, which can become just a touch distracting.  Also, I’ve never been much of a fan of the figure’s coloring.  They went for two shades of green, rather than the usual yellow and green, and the two shades are much closer than I’d like.  Throw in that both shades are rather on the dull side, and the whole thing becomes rather muddy looking.  In addition to all the removable add-on pieces, the Hydra Agent also got a pistol, an assault rifle, and Blonski’s night vision goggles, but in a matching green.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was actually pretty excited about this set when it was announced.  Sgt Rock was one of those unexpected favorites of mine from the DC line, and I liked being able to expand his set-up just a bit with this version of Wolverine.  I’d also really been wanting Hydra Agents for a while.  When I finally got the set, I was admittedly underwhelmed.  Wolverine’s certainly not a bad variant, but he’s also not really meant to be the selling point.  The Hydra Agent showed a lot of promise, but ultimately has a lot of little issues that add-up to him not being so great.  Thankfully, there was a later variant that improved on him, but until then, this was all we had.