Tag Archives: Marvel

#3081: Spider-Man & Hobgoblin

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

SPIDER-MAN & HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL MINIMATES

It’s another Monday, and I’m doing that Minimate thing again.  So, here we are, looking at more Minimatrs.  2018 marked the year that Walgreens’ supply chains got a little gummed up, at least as far as Minimates were concerned.  Technically, four series hit that year, but for a good portion of collectors, those figures didn’t actually arrive for the better part of a year after their first sightings.  While the most infamous case of this was certainly Series 10, the two series prior also were rather afflicted.  Things did eventually level out, though, making things easier to find.  So ,let’s have a look at some of those ‘mates, specifically Symbiote Spider-Man and Hobgoblin!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Spider-Man and Hobgoblin were released in Series 9 of Walgreens’ Marvel Minimates line-up.  These two were part of the assortment based on Disney’s then-running Spider-Man cartoon, with marketing to match.

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

“Recovered on a space mission, the substance known as V-252 is actually a sybmiotic creature, which bonds to Peter Parker and increases his aggression.”

We’ve had no shortage of Symbiote Spider-Men (well, not in recent years, anyway), but this does mark the design’s first inclusion at Walgreens.  It also sports the somewhat up-dated design of the cartoon.  It’s not a bad look, truth be told.  It manages to keep the sleekness and simplicity of the original design, while still doing something a little different.  I can get behind it.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, this, like most Spidey ‘mates, is just a standard vanilla ‘mate.  It’s the right course of action for such a design, and it’s never a bad thing to get a good focus on the core body.  It’s the paint work that really sells this guy, of course.  It’s not perfect; there are a few spots where I definitely feel the application could stand to be a little sharper, and those fuzzy edges do hinder the sleek design a little bit.  Overall, though, it’s a solid look, and has the benefit of being one that can integrate with non-animated ‘mates without too much trouble.  Symbiote Spidey includes a webline and a dynamic posing base, both of which have become fairly standard for Spideys.  Unfortunately, on my copy, the stand’s peg for connecting to the figure twisted off.  I’ve not encountered such an issue with one of these stands before, so perhaps it’s limited to my copy.

HOBGOBLIN

“Hiding his true face behind a hood and metallic mask, the mysterious Hobgoblin will stop at nothing to destroy Spider-Man.”

Despite what the bio might suggest, the 2017 Spider-Man‘s take on Hobgoblin is actually something of a departure from how the character is usually handled, being a more heroic identity held by Peter’s best friend Harry.  While the two are initially opposed, and the identity later gets co-opted by Harry’s father Norman, Harry as Hobgoblin serves as an ally for Spidey within the confines of the show.  We’ve gotten only three Hobgoblin Minimates over the years, each somewhat reflecting a different incarnation of the character.  In addition to being the show version of Hobgoblin, it’s worth noting that this design also draws fairly heavy influence from Humberto Ramos’ design for the Phil Urich version of the character.  Hobgoblin’s construction makes use of a single add-on piece for his hood/shoulder pads/backpack.  It’s a little restricting in terms of articulation, and the details do seem a little soft, but it looks fairly decent overall.  It matches well with the character’s design from the show, to be sure.  The paintwork on Hobgoblin is passable overall.  The line-work is pretty sharply handled, and instances of slop are fairly minimal.  The add-on piece is again a little more softly defined, but it’s not too bad.  Hobgoblin’s only accessory is a clear display stand.  This feels rather light, and it’s a shame we couldn’t get any of Harry’s goblin gear.  The glider might have been too big, but his sword, or even an alternate head with an unmasked Harry would have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these two up back when they were still relatively new, with a bit of an assist from Max, who was also scoping out Walgreenses for ‘mates at the time.  I was slowing down by this point, but this pack appealed to me.  It got to the point where it was a little bit difficult to make a new Symbiote Spider-Man distinct, but this one did a decent job, and turned in a pretty fun, somewhat unique figure.  Issues with the breaking stand aside, he’s pretty alright.  This Hobgoblin figure represents a fairly unique take on the character, and is well-removed from previous releases of the character.  While he lacks in the accessories department, he’s still a pretty nifty figure overall.

#3078: Psylocke, Nimrod, & Fantomex

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

PSYLOCKE, NIMROD, & FANTOMEX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

I wasn’t lying last week about spacing out my Legends reviews.  It’s what I have to do to get by these days, during this crazy drought… Look, they got me hooked on getting new stuff like every other day, and then all of the sudden it was just gone, and I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself anymore.  Thankfully, I still have a few things from last year I never got around to, so it’s like this extra little pocket of surprise snacks for later.  Or something like that.  At the beginning of the year, I looked at an Amazon-exclusive boxed set from 2021.  Now, I guess I’ll jump way back in time, to the far back year of 2020, when their exclusive was an X-Force-themed set.  You know, for reasons.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Psylocke, Nimrod, and Fantomex were released as an Amazon-exclusive Marvel Legends boxed set at the tail end of 2020.  The set was then offered up as a wider Fan Channel release in the back half of 2021.  It wasn’t quite as fast a turn around as the Wolverine boxed set, but it was still a fairly quick one.

PSYLOCKE

Because we couldn’t very well have a Legends boxed set without some dead weight, here’s Psylocke.  Okay, that’s not fair.  Psylocke’s not really the dead weight here, I suppose.  I mean, she’s actually got a unique design, and it’s not like the prior release was exactly easy to come by.  This marks Psylocke’s third time as a Hasbro Legends release, and fourth release in Legends form overall.  It’s also the first to deviate from the “bathing suit” costume design, and I’m okay with that.  This new one is based on her later Uncanny X-Force designs, which keeps a few elements from the more classic look, while also making her look a little more tactical and more battle-ready.  Honestly, I think this is honestly a slightly better look overall.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her sculpt is almost entirely a re-use of the last Psylocke figure.  While I was a touch critical on that one, since she was meant to be a more directly Lee-inspired figure, on this particular design, I actually think the mold works out pretty well.  The only thing to be changed up for this release is her sash piece, which is now tighter fitting and sports an “X” insignia sculpted on the front.  It’s a subtle, but notable improvement over the prior piece, and I like it a lot more.  Beyond the new sash, all of the differences for this figure are paint-based.  It’s a pretty solidly handled application.  The costume’s details are nice and clean, and they’ve actually improved on the hair paint from the prior release a whole lot.  Psylocke includes the same accessories as the last release: a psychic effect, a katana, and a psychic knife, all molded in translucent pink, but now with a little extra purple detailing.  In addition, she also gets a spare left hand, in a grippilng pose, so she can now hold her sword with both hands.

NIMROD

There’s an unquestionable selling point of this set, and it’s Nimrod.  Introduced in 1985, Nimrod is a future Sentinel from the averted “Days of Future Past” timeline, who finds his way to the present day 616 universe.  He’s been a recurring foe in the X-books since then, with a recent resurgence in relevance during the “of X” stuff that’s been going on in the X-books the last few years.  This marks Nimrod’s third ever figure, and his first time as a Legend.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  If there’s one drawback to Nimrod, it’s his movement.  It’s not really the figure’s fault, since the design itself is pretty limiting.  Notably, the neck joint is only there for swapping the heads, and doesn’t really work for actual posing.  Additionally, the range on the shoulders and elbows is rather restricted.  Beyond that, though, he’s decently posable, given the design.  Nimrod is an all-new sculpt, and is an amalgam of a few of his designs, taking elements from his earliest appearances, as well as his more recent look.  It’s not a clean match for anything in particular, but it captures the overall essence of the character well.  It’s a very clean and sleek design, and I definitely dig it.  There are two different head sculpts included, which are actually different, albeit in rather minor ways.  The pink-faced version is more classically inspired, while the silver-faced one follows his “of X” look a little more closely.  They’re internally consistent, and both have a very similar vibe, while still being different enough to justify including the separate pieces.  Nimrod’s paint work is generally more on the basic side, but it’s clean, fairly solid on the application front, and matches well with his usual color scheme.  Nimrod is packed with two sets of hands, one open, one closed, as well as two blast effects, and a removable set of wings to match up with the newer style head.

FANTOMEX

Remember before, when I was talking about dead weight?  Well, here we are, back at that point.  Behold, Fantomex.  Introduced during Grant Morrison’s New X-Men run, Fantomex is an X-themed pastiche of Italian comic character Diabolik, a masked master thief.  The name Fantomex is itself patterned on the French character “Fantomas,” whom Diabolik himself was also patterned on.  Fantomex has been one of those oddball characters floating around the Marvel universe and popping in and out as X-Men stories deem they need him.  He was part of X-Force for a while, and it was that era which netted him two prior action figures, one of them being his first Legends treatment, back during the Return of Marvel Legends line.  It’s been a decade since that figure’s release, so an update’s not an unreasonable prospect.  The trouble this figure runs into is how much “updating” was actually done.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s built on the Bucky Cap body, with US Agent’s flared gloves, Nick Fury’s trenchcoat (amusingly, the exact same coat piece used on the first Fantomex), Cyclops’ boot cuffs, and an all-new head and belt.  The real trouble that this figure’s assembly runs into isn’t so much that it’s a bad stock of parts, but more that most of the parts are kind of on their way out, and, in fact, most of them are just as old as the prior figure.  The Bucky Cap body was introduced in that very same series, even, the flared gloves are from one series later, and the coat is even older.  The new parts are perfectly fine additions, though not drastically different themselves.  So, generally, yes he’s made from new parts, but he doesn’t feel particularly different.  Adding to that is the deco choice, which is identical to the last one, despite there being two different Fantomex decos available, both of which are arguably more demanded than this one.  This one’s not a terrible look, mind you, and the application is solidly handled.  It just feels like a little bit of a missed opportunity.  Fantomex is packed with two guns, which are similar to, but different from the prior figure’s guns, as well as the blast and smoke effects from War Machine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was interested in Nimrod when he was first shown off, but bundling him with two extra figures, and then making the whole thing an exclusive kind of backburnered the whole thing for me.  When it made its way to a wider release, it became easier for me to snag through work, and therefore more appealing, though still on the backburner a bit, as you can tell from the lateness of this review.  Nimrod’s a very fun figure, and I like that he can pull double duty as modern and classic.  It helps add to the set’s pull.  I didn’t think much of Psylocke at first, but after getting her in hand, I like her a lot more than I thought I would, and honestly like her more than the standard Lee version.  Fantomex is a character I only have a passing interest in, and this particular figure does very little for me.  He’s just sort of there.  But, hey, two out of three ain’t bad.

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.

#3076: Iron Spider & Spot

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

IRON SPIDER & THE SPOT

MARVEL MINIMATES

I guess Mondays are for Minimates, huh?  Well, this month at least.  I guess we should just jump right into that, there.  Back in 2018, Toys R Us closing brought their exclusive Marvel Minimates assortments to an end…a little quicker than DST anticipated, in fact.  While TRU’s last official exclusive assortment was Series 25, there was one more assortment produced and ready to go when the chain went under.  Fortunately for us Minimate fans, Walgreens stepped up to the plate and took the assortment on.  It does, however leave us in the precarious position of just how to refer to the assortment.  Today, I’m taking a look at the series’ Spidey-themed set, Iron Spider & The Spot!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sinister Six Iron Spider and The Spot are one of the three two-packs of Marvel Minimates originally intended for TRU, before becoming an online-exclusive for Walgreens after TRU’s closure.  Of note with this particular assortment’s packaging was an extra large Walgreens sticker, which was actually just covering the TRU sticker that was already in place.  The figures actually had to be taken back to have that sticker applied.

SINISTER SIX IRON SPIDER

“A mysterious figure has stolen Spider-Man’s Iron Spider armor and now wears it as the leader of the all-new Sinister Six.”

Well, maybe he’s not quite so mysterious, given he was rather quickly revealed to be *SPOILERS(?)* Miles Morales’ uncle Aaron.  Kudos to DST for not spoiling that, I guess, but now I’ve just done it for them.  The Iron Spider armor has been featured three times prior in Minimate form, but this time it’s got a new hat differently colored!  The figure is built on the standard ‘mate body, so its about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Structurally, this version of Iron Spider is the same as both the Walgreens Series 2 and the TRU Series 21 Iron Spider-Men, meaning he’s a vanilla ‘mate with a harness that has the three mechanical arms attached to it.  It helps keep things sleek, and it also keeps things consistent with the other figures.  On the paint front, Iron Spider is again quite similar to the TRU Iron Spider, effectively having the exact same paint apps (with a couple of minor changes on the eyes), but swapping out the red base of the prior figure for a black one here.  It looks pretty decent, and the contrast’s a little better, so I think it works.  Iron Spider is packed with a dynamic posing base and a standard clear display stand.  Not a bad combo for a Spidey-variant.

SINISTER SIX THE SPOT

“With his ability to create portals to anywhere, of varying sizes, the Spot is the ultimate getaway driver, as well as an unpredictable opponent.”

The Spot is one of those quirky lower tier Spidey foes that’s just absolutely fun every time he shows up.  He’s not been very lucky when it comes to toys, however, as his only prior figure was one of Toy Biz’s 10 inch figures.  Given how easily he can be assembled from re-used parts, that’s a little surprising.  Fortunately, “assembled from re-used parts” is Minimates’ jam, so he finally made his way in here.  Spot’s a vanilla ‘mate, but that’s okay, because that’s exactly what the character should be.  He’s a guy in a form-fitting spandex suit with no add-ons.  That’s just how he do.  The Spot’s paint isn’t super complex or anything, but it does a really sharp job of applying all of the dots all over him, as well as giving him a few lines to represent the man in the suit beneath.  It’s a stark-looking design, and its harsh black/white nature helps it pop out against more colorful characters on the shelf.  Of note, the face on the standard head is another black whole, in keeping with more modern appearances for the character.  The Spot’s accessory selection is a rather impressive selection of common place items repurposed for some fun times.  There’s an alternate head with Spot’s classic design on it, plus two repainted Tron Discs, two smaller display stands, and two larger display stands, all in black.  It’s great because they work perfectly as Spot’s “spots”, and the modular nature of Minimates means you can toy around with disassembling him to make it look like he’s popping out of various portals.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I snagged this whole assortment from Walgreens’ website, back when that was an easier thing to do.  I don’t have much attachment to this version of the Iron Spider design, but I can certainly support a new character being added to the line, and the design’s not a bad one.  He’s a decent way of putting a Spider-Man into the line, while still doing something new.  Spot’s the main reason I got the set, because he’s one of my favorite Spidey foes.  He’s a great example of how clever execution can make a second-string character made from re-used parts the real star of an assortment.  He’s absolutely fantastic, and I can’t imagine him being better if they’d tried.

#3074: Stealth Suit Captain Carter

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

STEALTH SUIT CAPTAIN CARTER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Captain Carter’s secret stealth mission sets her on a collision course with new enemies.”

Man, the Marvel Legends reviews sure are spacing out a lot more than they were a few months ago.  Weird, huh?  I finally actually have the time to go back and, you know, catch up on some of the items I missed at the end of last year, when I was drowning in Legends.  With the benefit of a breather, I can better appreciate items like today’s focus, Stealth Suit Captain Carter.  I took a look at the standard Captain Carter towards the end of last year, and I really liked it, so it stands to reason that another one, now in cool Winter Solider-inspired stealth colors, is probably gonna resonate well with me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Stealth Suit Captain Carter is a Target-exclusive Marvel Legends release, which hit stores in late November of last year.  While the first figure was based on Carter’s design from the premier episode of the show, this one is based on the season finale, which sees the Watcher pull Peggy from her timeline’s version of the opening scene of Captain America: Winter Soldier.  It’s not a drastically different look, but it’s a cool one, especially when paralleled to Steve’s look.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.  This figure’s sculpt is identical to the standard Captain Carter.  I really liked that sculpt a lot, so I can certainly see the appeal of getting it a second time.  Since her costume is largely unchanged in the show, it makes a degree of sense.  The only issue is with the hair, as in the show Peggy had a slightly more modernized style, while this one still has her ’40s hair.  It’s not a major difference, all things considered, so I can kind of let it slide, especially given the whole “quick repaint” set-up for this one.  The paint work is where the changes occur for this figure.  The head is essentially identical, but the uniform captures the more monochromatic design of this outfit.  The application’s okay, though not as consistent as other releases.  It’s a little better than the standard release, though that may be largely due to there being less actual paint to apply.  Peggy is packed with the same shield as the standard release, but now in the updated colors to match her uniform.  There’s nothing else, which does feel a little light, especially given that the standard release included a BaF piece as well.  That said, I’m not entirely sure what else there is to include with her.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I do dig this whole look quite a bit, but I was content with the standard release, especially if it meant I didn’t have to track down an exclusive.  That said, Max found one out in the wild, and, while initially grabbing it for himself, decided he felt it more appropriate for me to have her, given my general Captain America love an all.  She’s not quite screen accurate, but she’s still quite a lot of fun, especially given how strong of a starting point she’s got to work from.

#3071: Thor, Thunderstrike, & Kronan Stone Men

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

ERIC MASTERSON AS THOR, THUNDERSTRIKE, & KRONAN STONE MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Remember when Thor actually had a secret identity?  And then he didn’t?  And then he did again, but it was a different guy?  And then he didn’t again, but that guy from before had a *different* secret identity?  Man, Thor comics is weird…

Today, we’re jumping back into the world of Minimates for just a bit, specifically looking over at the Thor side of things, with a Thor variant, a variant of that Thor variant, and a stone guy, but not that stone guy that every one knows.  Confused?  Yeah, me too.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Eric Masterson as Thunderstrike and the Kronan Stone Man were released in the 42nd Series of Marvel Minimates, with Eric as Thor swapping out for Thunderstrike in the one-per-case variant set.  The whole assortment was a split between Captain America and Thor, serving as a loose tie-in to the two characters getting their live-action films in 2011.

ERIC MASTERSON AS THOR

Introduced as a supporting player in the book, Eric Masterson took over as Thor’s human host, after Thor had been without one since he and Don Blake had split a few years prior.  Eric was a different sort of Thor, a more working class sort of character.  Also, he had a beard, which was a departure at the time…not so much any more.  This is not the first time we received an Eric Masterson as Thor ‘mate; the first one was also a variant set, released alongside the main version of Thor waaaaaaay back in Series 16.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 base body, which stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Thor has seven add-on pieces, for his helmet/hair, cape/shoulderpads, arm bands, belt, and boots.  With the exception of the armbands, which, like the original Thor ‘mate, are re-used from DC’s Stargirl, and the belt, which is also from the original Thor, the pieces were new to this figure, or at the very least the wave, since there were a few shared parts going around.  Due one would assume to budgetary reasons, the original Masterson Thor used the same helmet as the standard, with only paint to replicate his signature armored mask.  This figure, however gets his own uniquely sculpted helm, with hair designed to work in conjunction with the high sitting cape.  It’s a very impressively detailed piece.  The cape itself is a somewhat impressive piece.  Prior Thor capes seemed to lack some of the grandeur of how his comics incarnations tended to look, but this one does its very best to live up to it, swooping up and out from his shoulders in quite a dynamic fashion.  It can at times make him a tiny bit top-heavy, but for this look, I think it’s worth it.   The prior Thor used a very bulky set of boots, which made posing his legs very awkward.  This figure uses the streamlined style of boot introduced with the Secret Invasion set’s Wolverine, which results in an accurate, detailed depiction of Thor’s footwear that isn’t too restricting.  Thor’s paintwork is quite nicely handled.  The basic colors are all a good match, and I quite like the way they’ve made his…torso circles (?) reflective.  By far the best part is the face that’s under that mask.  Not only is it perfectly aligned to the mask, but it also gives us a very expressive, very angry looking Masterson.  Thor is packed with one accessory: his hammer Mjolnir.  It’s the more sizable model introduced a few years prior with the Reborn Thor, but this time it has “Whosever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of THOR” written on its side.  A small, but fun change.

ERIC MASTERSON AS THUNDERSTRIKE

When it was decided that the original Thor was going to return, Marvel didn’t want to just shunt Eric off to the land of forgotten comic book characters, so a new weapon, Thunderstrike, was created for him, and he took on the name to match.  As Eric’s main identity, Thunderstrike served as the non-variant set’s anchor.  Thunderstrike, like Thor, uses seven add-on pieces.  The armbands and belt are the same ones used for Thor, and he gets a new hair piece, vest, and boots.  These new pieces are all excellently sculpted, featuring quite a bit of detailing, not always seen on prior figures.  The vest’s collar is popped up, as was Thunderstrike’s style, and his pony tail has been smartly sculpted to match.  It does make posing the head a little bit tricky, but not impossible.  The boots are designed in a fashion similar to the Thor figure, but since Thunderstrike’s boots are intentionally bulkier, they wrap a bit around the sides of the leg as well.  Thunderstrike’s paintwork is a good match for Thor’s.  It’s similarly clean, and crisp, and the differing way of handling his chest detailing reflects how things were handled in the comics.  The face is slightly different from the one under Thor’s mask, but the details make it clear that this is the same guy, just with a slightly different expression.  The cool thing is that you can swap the heads between the two, resulting in a calmer Thor and an angrier Thunderstrike, which is definitely a nice little bonus.  Thunderstrike is, unsurprisingly, packed with his mace Thunderstrike, a unique sculpt for this set.  It’s a reasonable match for the weapon from the comics, though doesn’t quite have the imposing power of Mjolnir.

KRONAN STONE MAN

The Kronan Stone Men, or as they were then known, the Stone Men of Saturn, were Thor’s very first antagonists, appearing alongside him in Journey into Mystery #83.  Though never incredibly prominent, they’ve been hanging around the Marvel Universe ever since, and, most recently, gained a little bit of notoriety via Korg, the goofy, inept stone man from Planet Hulk and Thor: Ragnarok.  Though I’ve no doubt their presence in Thor’s debut certainly played a part in getting them this slot, I’d say the biggest push to include them in this series was parts re-use. Apart from the head, which is a unique piece depicting the Stone Man’s pointier noggin, these pieces were all sculpted for prior figures.  The bulk of the pieces come from the re-worked Thing minimate from Series 37.  Technically, the hands are new, since they didn’t make it onto the production version of that figure, but they were certainly sculpted for him.  Given the similarities between the Thing and the Stone Men, the re-use is certainly sensible.  The skirt piece is from waaaay back in wave 1 of the line, borrowed from Elektra.  It’s a somewhat archaic piece, and certainly more geometric and flat than more recent offerings, but for the Stone Men it works.  The Kronans’ paintwork is decent enough.  Not particularly thrilling or anything, but that’s the Stone Men.  They’ve gone with their brown/tan coloring from JiM #83’s interiors, rather than the green from the cover.  This also allows for an easy enough conversion to a comics version of Korg, which is a nice bonus.  The Stone Man is packed with two different styles of blaster, in both large and small sizes.  Both were new to this particular figure, and the pairing allows for some different options for army building.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these sets up, along with the rest of the assortment, from Luke’s Toy Store, back when they were new.  Though not a new figure, Eric Masterson Thor was certainly a very welcome redo, and trumps the original release in just about every way.  He may be an off-shoot variant, but he’s one of the best Thors available.  It’s always nice to get a new character, and Thunderstrike was definitely a very welcome addition to this line-up.  He perhaps lacks some of Thor’s flair, but that’s a bit by design.  A few series after introduction of the army builder idea to the line, DST seemed to hit a bit of a low point, running out of exciting choices.  The Kronan Stone Man, while not an *awful* choice was kind of a little bit that way.  Technically, it’s a fine figure, and it’s a credible character choice, but it’s really just hard to get excited.  They can’t all be winners.

#3066: Human Torch & The Thing

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

HUMAN TORCH & THE THING

MARVEL MINIMATES


Fun Fact: In both the Specialty and TRU line-ups, Series 8 was devoted to the Fantastic Four.  No idea why, probably just crazy random happenstance, but there it is.  There were four sets in Series 8, and Reed and Sue were both packed with a villain, so you might have thought that was how the whole assortment went: FF/Villain.  Not the case. Since Namor and the Atlantean Soldier got their own pack, FF-members Human Torch and the Thing got packed together. Of course, as antagonistic as these two are known to get, there’s no reason this can’t still be a “versus” pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

As noted above, Human Torch and The Thing make up one of four two-packs in the eighth TRU-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates, which was released in the fall of 2010.

HUMAN TORCH

With only two ‘mates prior to this one, poor Johnny was sort of the runt of the family in terms of Minimate coverage.  Well, at least this line didn’t replace him with Herbie, right?  This particular Johnny opted for a fully “Flamed On” look, following the trend of his first ‘mate.  He’s based on the standard post-C3 body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this Johnny was actually completely identical to his original release (and the Jim Hammond Torch from the Invaders set, for that matter).  He’s got the same hair and fiery shoulder piece.  Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?  After the completely opaque first figure, this Human Torch followed the example set by the Invaders Torch, going for a fully translucent look.  Apart from being molded in an orangish hue and featuring sculpted flame bits, Johnny is otherwise without flame-related details, instead just depicting Johnny’s FF costume. It’s a more modern way of handling Johnny’s flamed on state, similar to the way artists like Mike Wieringo depicted him in the ‘00s, which generally follows with the general overall aesthetic of this particular set of FF. The detail work is all nice and sharp, and I quite like Johnny’s sly grinning expression; very true to the character.  Johnny was packed with a pair of flame effects for his hands, as well as a blast-off stand.

THE THING

Benjamin J Grimm is by far Minimates’ favorite member of the FF. At the time of this release, he already had twice the number of ‘mates that Johnny had, and he had another two right around the corner in Series 37.  The Thing has had the most looks of all the FF members, so there are options to choose from.  This one continues the Weiringo trend of the other team members, giving us a Thing with pants. Woo.  I feel for the sake of full disclosure, I should begin this section by noting that my figure has been slightly modified (see the unmodified version here). The at-retail version of the figure made use of Ultimate Hulk’s bulked up torso piece and toros extender. From a build perspective, it was fine, but it left Ben with an abnormally long torso that just didn’t seem right for the character. Removing the extender piece alleviates some of the issue, but then his torso cap hangs over his belt. On my figure, I took an x-acto blade to the chest piece and trimmed about 1/8 of an inch off the bottom, thus keeping his torso from being so bafflingly tall.  In addition to the torso extender and chest cap pieces, Ben also features add-ons for his brow, hands, boots, and pelvis. The brow and hands are just the standard pieces that have been in use since the first version of the character; they still work reasonably well here. The boots are re-used from the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and I’d be lying if I said they didn’t look super goofy. Points for effort, though.  In terms of paint, Ben was decent enough, but not without some issues. The big problem is that the orange of his brow and hands really doesn’t match the rest of him, which looks kind of odd.
Beyond that, he’s reasonable. The blue matches with the rest of the Four, so he’ll fit in well with this set.  Fortunately for those of us who didn’t like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man feet, Ben has the tops of his boots painted on his legs, as well as a pair of standard feet in black. Sure, his feet will be a little bit tiny, but he’ll look better overall. He also includes a pair of standard hands in orange, should you wish to remove the big Thing hands, but I don’t know who would.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set brand new when it first hit, alongside the rest of the assortment.  Having missed out on the original FF run, these were my first go at the team in ‘mate form.  Though perhaps not my preferred take on the character, this Human Torch was a definite improvement on his original release, and fit in very well with his wave-mates.  For a multitude of reasons, this version of the Thing very much feels like an afterthought. Though all of the figures in the wave are made with parts re-use, Thing is the one most negatively affected by it. With the Series 37 version released only a few months after this one, it really felt like this one was only included here as a place holder for that one. The modification helps the figure a little bit, but he hardly feels worth the trouble. Ultimately, this ended up being one of the weakest variants of the character in the line, and a slight slip-up in an otherwise very strong wave of figures.

3065 The Fall of the Wolf:

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

HE LEFT WOLVERINE LEGALLY

THE UNCANNY SUPER MASTER [DTD NORFOLK]

When I woke up, the FIQ spy shouted, “I’m leaving, but he did not help.” Is the war still going on? I’m cooking to learn to say Valentine’s Day – have you ever seen Superstar Dennis?

SAME PICTURE

Isolation of the law. Wolkite appeared here in 1995 under the supervision of Uncanny Master, and DTD claims to be the sole sponsor of Norfolk. This could be a mistake. After all, shoes do not hurt us. You do not want to overdo it with seeds. Two Wolverine lawyers are on the board. This type is called leopard skin.  The picture is about 6 inches tall and has 6 labels. In general, this is a good group, but it can also be difficult. I’m not sure right now. The same meat is used somehow. Enough but not dangerous. Surprisingly, you are adorned. Oh, this guy is amazing. Everything is stuck, the teeth are white and the leaves are dancing. Children are fools.  To accentuate Wolverine’s dress, she wore a color that matched her body. It has a unique base and all the color settings are not very good. Unlike leopards, it is Christmas powder. The design should be simple. If you believe me, you are the worst in the country. Isolation of the law. Wolverine has no weapons. Some have large arms but do not feel comfortable.

HALF OF MY DIRECTIONS

How many things did I need in the early 90’s and more? The Akami family spent the summer in a 99.9 cm Strando store. If you take a picture, you have to try it yourself.

Peace be upon you, you have reached the end of the download. Good luck! The pain is excruciating. Happy 1st April new week, so we are out …

There are several ways to deal with eggs in April. Today I read a little introduction. Click here for a simple offer.

#3064: Falcon

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

FALCON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Alongside his companion Redwing, the Falcon flies wherever he’s needed!”

A year ago, we were in the midst of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier‘s six-episode run, and we hadn’t yet gotten to see Sam Wilson claim the mantle of Captain America, at least in live action.  Instead, he was still hanging onto his identity as the Falcon, a role he’s existed in since 1969.  As the Falcon, Sam’s actually been pretty fortunate in the world of toys, with a rather consistent coverage.  He does have a slight tendency to go a little while between releases, but not so much now that he’s one of Marvel’s bigger names.  With the MCU focus for the character shifting to his Captain America role, there’s still some room for the comics version to hang onto his Falcon roots.  Hasbro did an updated Legends release late in 2020, but they’re coming back around for another pass, this time with a slightly tweaked look.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon joins Tuesday’s Vision as the next figure in a four-figure set of vaguely Disney+ inspired Retro Collection figures for Marvel Legends.  As with Vision, he’s within the loosely structured set, but ships in a solid case on his own, and is thus far a Fan Channel-exclusive.  This is Falcon’s second Hasbro Legends release, and his third Legends figure overall.  The last figure gave us Falcon in his Brubaker and Epting-era outfit.  This one is the same 2011-era outfit worn by the Marvel Universe release; it’s a modern outfit that splits the difference between the modern and classic designs, and it’s honestly a pretty strong look.  I tend to like the exposed arms look a little bit more, so it works for me.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  From a structurally standpoint, this figure is identical to the last Legends Falcon.  Apart from a few minor quibbles about smaller details, notably the fact that the wings are still one-sided with their sculpted details, and that the gauntlets of that mold aren’t quite a match for this design’s longer gloves, it’s a very nicely rendered sculpt, and one I still really, really like.  To mix things up, Falcon gets a new color deco, matching to the updated costume design.  There’s some sloppy edges on a few of the change-overs, notably on the hair line, but it’s overall a pretty solid application.  Falcon includes two different sets of hands, the same ones included with the last release, but in white this time.  Notably *not* included is his sidekick Redwing, who is not only mentioned in the bio, but also specifically listed as one of the accessories on the product description page on Hasbro Pulse.  Presumably, someone didn’t get the memo that there wasn’t already a Redwing sculpt in this scale.  Alas, I’ll just have to dig out the Toy Biz version.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last Legends Falcon, so I was content with that one.  That said, he’s rather modern in design, and I always hope for at least the option for a classic Falcon deco.  This one’s not quite a classic design, but it’s a nice middle ground, and I like how the new deco looks on the base body.  I still hold out hope for a proper classic version down the road, but I rather like this one in the mean time.

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.

#3063: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL UNIVERSE 10-INCH (TOY BIZ)

 

“Returning from a journey to his Kree homeworld, Captain Marvel arrives on Earth to find New York in a panic. Fighting a division of shape-changing Skrull soldiers, the local military are retreating and only the Super Heroes have managed to hold the invaders back. Joining together with the mysterious Moon Knight and the X-Men’s Wolverine, Captain Marvel is able to use his powerful nega-bands to blast the Skrull cannons to dust, and send them retreating back to space.”

Hey, do you know what’s coming out today?  I mean, it’s not anything big, I suppose.  Just a little show with some nobody launching today.  What’s it called?  Oh yeah, MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!  Yes, that’s right, today marks the first episode of the Oscar Isaac-led Moon Knight dropping on Disney+.  I’m beyond stoked, in case you couldn’t tell, and in honor of such an awesome occasion, I’m going to be taking a look at one of my back catalogue Moon Knight figures, whilst I wait for the inevitable Legends treatment from his newest design.  This time, we jump back to the very humble beginnings for Moon Knight when it comes to action figure coverage.  Time to see how far we’ve come!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight was released in 1997 as part of Toy Biz’s Marvel Universe 10-Inch line, in a precariously themed assortment that also featured Captain Marvel and Cosmic Wolverine (aka Wolverine in a space suit), both of whom are mentioned in the above wacky packaging text scenario.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  He’s based on the 10-inch Silver Surfer body, itself a larger scaled version of the 5-inch release.  By this point in the line, the right arm had been retooled to remove the odd turntable-spinning hand, so that it now had a more standard elbow joint and a hand for gripping.  The head is the standard Spidey head.  It’s perhaps a little skinny for Moon Knight, but given the general look and feel of the figures in the line, he works to be what he needs to be.  It’s also nice, because it gives him the extra ankle joints, which are certainly helpful for the character.  It’s all topped off with a cloth goods cape, which is sort of goofy looking, but it also looks the part given the rest of the line.  Moon Knight’s paint work is pretty solid.  In order to mix things up a little more, he’s using the white and gold color scheme from Moon Knight’s tenure with the West Coast Avengers.  It’s not his usual go-to, but it’s notably unique in the toy world, since it’s not been used on any figures since.  The application is pretty clean and sharp, and it looks the part.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It was this figure that served as my very first introduction to Moon Knight as a character, though, despite that, I didn’t have that one as a kid.  I remember seeing him at retail, and be intrigued by the character, but by the time I had any idea who he was, the figure was long gone.  The 10-inch figures aren’t the most frequently found figures these days, but I found quite a selection of them at a comic book store, called Collector’s World, near where my family spends their vacation, just a few years ago.  They have sadly closed down in the last few years, but I was at least able to get this Moon Knight that way.  He’s super goofy, but he’s exactly what I’d want out of this type of figure, and I’m never one to shrug away another Moon Knight figure.

#3062: Vision

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

VISION

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Behold the Vision! Stripped of his memories and rebuilt in spectral white, will the vision prove friend or foe to his fellow Avengers?”

Alright, I took a firm week and some change off from reviewing Marvel Legends, but I can really only space them out so far before they start piling up again.  In an effort to avoid that, how about one of those today?  Would that be cool?  A little over a year ago, WandaVision was wrapping up its 9-episode run, and doing a pretty fantastic job of elevating Wanda and Vision even further in the public eye.  Elevated enough for variants and spin-offs, even!  Amongst the many ideas from the comics the show rolled into its runtime was the all-white version of the Vision, originally introduced in “VisionQuest” in the comics.  It’s a look the character wound up sporting in the comics for quite some time, and one with only moderate toy coverage.  In an effort to make up for that, Hasbro’s done another release of him for Legends, which I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vision is the first in a four-figure set of vaguely Disney+ inspired Retro Collection figures from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.  He was shown off alongside variants of Wanda, Falcon, and Loki, though they aren’t a proper assortment, but rather four single release figures that are all just arriving around the same time.  All four are Fan Channel exclusive releases, as well as being slight updates on previously released figures.  This marks Vision’s second figure under the Retro heading, after his standard colors got a release back in 2018.  It also marks the third time Hasbro’s done white Vision, and the second comic-inspired version.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  This Vision’s whole aim is to be a minor re-working of the white Vision from the 2015 three-pack release.  As such, he’s re-using all the parts from that one.  It puts him back on the Bucky Cap body, after the last Retro figure moved him over to the 2099 body.  Honestly, I think Vision makes more sense on the Bucky Cap, but I look forward to seeing him moved over to one of the newer bases moving forward.  He uses the same basic head as all but one of the comic Visions; it’s a rather standard and straight-forward stern looking bald head.  He also re-uses the bare feet from the last white Vision release, which is cool.  Unfortunately, he’s still using that old cape piece as well; it’s better on this design than for any of the other figures that got stuck with it, but boy did I not miss this piece.  It’s just awkward and hard to work with.  Where the three-pack release went for a semi-transparent look, this time around, he’s solid colors.  I liked the transparent look, but I gotta admit, the opaque set-up really works out well.  There’s some slight change-up on the different parts of the costume, with some off-whites to mix things up.  Generally, it works out better than the black lines used to break up the details on the three-pack release.  Another nice change-up from the three-pack?  Extra hands!  The prior release was stuck with just fists, which I’m not crazy about for Vision, but this one gets a set of open gesture ones as well, which really add to the options when it comes to posing him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t initially intend to grab this figure.  I’ve got the last release, and this one didn’t look terribly different in the prototype shots.  Then I saw him in hand, and I liked him a whole lot more than I’d expected to.  There’s not really much new here, but there’s a lot of small improvements that add up to a generally more pleasing figure, at least for me.  He feels like a definite upgrade.  Now, can I please get his post-Crossing costume?  I’ve been waiting oh so patiently.

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.