Tag Archives: Marvel

#3060: Jubilee

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

JUBILEE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“As a member of the teenage group of X-Men known as Generation X, Jubilee continues to utilize the X-Mansion’s Danger Room. Joining Storm and Gambit in a futuristic scenario, Jubilee faces the threat of a dozen mutant-hunting Sentinel robots. Caught in a Sentinel’s grappling cable, Jubilee is cut loose by Gambit, leaving her free to finish off the giant robot!”

Oh no!  Is that a girl action figure on my website?  It can’t be!   That wouldn’t be right!  What if some boy saw a girl action figure on my action figure website that’s only supposed to be for boys, and then they spontaneously turned into a serial killer?  That’s a totally reasonable and totally plausible line of logic, right?  It’s not horribly behind the times and in support of a long disproven misconception about toy sales, right?  Hang on, I’m getting an update here: everything I just said appears to an utter garbage opinion.  Well, okay, glad I have that cleared up.  Here I was thinking that the ramblings of a man that calls himself “the Toddfather” were word of law, or something.  Well, without fear of creating any serial killers or anything, I guess I’ll go ahead and review today’s intended focus.  I’m jumping back into the Toy Biz Marvel game for a little bit today, and taking a look at Robot Fighter Jubilee!  She’s like the regular Jubilee, but she fights robots.  I mean, regular Jubilee fights a lot of robots already.  Well, more robots, I guess?  Let’s go with that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jubilee was released in the 19th series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was dubbed “Robot Fighters,” and themed accordingly.  This marked the second of Toy Biz’s two Jubilee figures, and the only one to be in the X-Men line proper (the other was part of their Generation X line).  It’s a bit crazy that, at the height of her popularity, Jubilee only got two figures, and neither one was her main X-Men appearance, but that was ’90s toy ideals for you, I guess.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall (thanks to the crouching that befell all of the Robot Fighters figures) and she has 7 points of articulation.  The Robot Fighters saw elbow and knee joints dropped, but Jubilee does at leas get extra mobility on her shoulders.  It doesn’t do a ton for her in terms of the poses she can pull, but it’s not terrible.  Jubilee’s sculpt was an all-new piece and…well, it’s an interesting approach.  She’s sporting a look that’s not really drawn from anything in the comics, though it’s not as thought it looks particularly out of place amongst the designs of the time.  The sculpt ages up Jubilee a little bit, something they were kind of starting to do a little bit in the comics, and the longer hair does line-up with her slight redesign from The Animated Series‘ final batch of episodes.  As with the rest of this particular assortment, Jubilee is quite pre-posed, though she does make out a little better than the male figures from the line-up.  Perhaps the oddest part of the figure is the random Spidey-pose hand on the left side.  She’s definitely not repurposing any molds or anything, so I guess she’s just doing the pose because she’s a fan?  It’s definitely goofy, but why start taking issue with that now, right?  Jubilee’s color scheme isn’t really classic Jubilee, but does seem to at least take some cues from her AoA design.  It’s not too hideous, and she stands out from the rest of the team at least.  The paint application is generally pretty good. There are few odd spots where there shouldn’t be, but I’ve certainly seen worse.  Jubilee is packed with a giant Sentinel hand, by far the most sensible of the Robot Fighters extras.  There’s part of the tendril, and the fingers are all posable, so you can have the hand trying the capture her, which is kinda cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have this figure as a kid, presumably because my parents were trying to avoid turning me into a serial killer.  Nah, that’s not really it.  It was actually because I already had the Generation X version, so I didn’t need this one.  I do remember seeing her in stores at the time, though, and kind of vaguely wanting one.  That said, I wasn’t yet into variant hunting, at least not quite so much.  So, instead, I wound up holding off on this one until relatively recently.  I got her a few years back, during one of my trips to House of Fun in New Jersey.  She’s a kind of goofy variant, with no comics basis, but I actually really like her, and she’s currently my main Jubilee on my 5-inch X-Men shelf, so she can’t be that bad.  And I promise, I’m not a serial killer.

#3055: Sleepwalker

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

SLEEPWALKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The Sleepwalker is the guardian of the Mindscape, apprehending beings that invade the sleeping minds of humans.”

In contrast to other characters, Doctor Strange isn’t quite enough to anchor a whole series of figures himself.  No, he needs to fall back on some support.  Remember how the Guardians of the Galaxy needed Iron Man?  And then how Black Panther needed Iron Man? And then when Shang-Chi needed Iron Man?  So, did they pair Strange up with another Iron Man?  No, don’t be ridiculous.  Clearly, Hasbro needs more star power.  Star power that only Sleepwalker can deliver.  You don’t know Sleepwalker, you say?  Okay, you know what, yeah, that’s fair.  I mean, I know Sleepwalker, and even I’m not entirely convinced I actually know Sleepwalker from moment to moment.  But, um, there’s this figure.  So, that’s cool.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sleepwalker is figure 6 in the Rintrah Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second of two comics based figures, the other being D’Spayre, who I opted not to grab.  This marks Sleepwalker’s very first figure, which is a pretty big deal.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 32 points of articulation.  Sleepwalker is built on the Bucky Cap body, a base that is officially on its last legs, with its replacement already on the way.  I guess it’s nice to still take it our every so often and make it feel special…you know, before it…uhh…goes to that special farm upstate?  Sleepwalker has had a build that’s fluctuated a bit over the years, sometimes very large, and sometimes very skinny.  This mold splits the difference, which is probably the best call.  Sleepwalker gets a new head, forearms, shins, and add-ons for the belt and the wraps on the thigh.  He also re-uses the cape from Hobgoblin.  The whole thing is a pretty solid set-up.  I particularly like the head sculpt; that alien quality really sells it.  Sleepwalker’s color work is pretty simple for the most part, with the vast majority of the colors being molded.  Really, the only paint is on the head, and that works pretty nicely.  Otherwise, he’s fairly bright and eye-catching, in proper early ’90s fashion.  Sleepwalker is packed with two sets of hands (fists and open gesture), and the right leg of the Rintrah Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sleepwalker is exactly the kind of quirky one-off character I love seeing show up in these line-ups, so he was actually at the top of my list for this particular set.  The figure is ultimately a rather by the numbers affair, but that’s exactly what he needs to be, and he winds up being a really fun figure.  Honestly, I’m just psyched to have a Sleepwalker figure at all.

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.

#3054: Master Mordo

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

MASTER MORDO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Mordo has gone rogue since leaving Kamar-Taj, hunting other sorcerers for breaking the laws of reality, and is never far off the trail of Doctor Strange.”

In addition to some new faces, and some guest-starring faces, Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness also has some faces that were in the last movie.  And the rest of the people attached to those faces, I suppose.  One of the returning person and face combos is Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Karl Mordo, though the face is now sporting a beard, so it looks a little different, I guess.  But, the face is still Mordo, and so’s the rest of him.  Well…mostly.  I’ll get to that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Master Mordo is figure 3 in the Rintrah Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the second-to-last of the movie figures, with the final one being the second of the two Strange variants.  Mordo’s getting his second Legends release here, since he was the only non-Stephen Strange figure to get a movie offering the first time around.  This one’s obviously based on his appearance in the sequel, which looks to be taking him a little closer to his comics roots, with longer hair, a beard, and some slightly more ornate robes.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Mordo’s posablility is okay.  It matches up more or less with Wong and Strange.  There’s some restriction at the shoulders, and the hair obviously has an effect on the neck joint, but he’s not bad at all.  The sculpt on this figure is largely new, though not entirely so.  The legs and feet are borrowed from the Vol 2 Star-Lord.  Not sure as to how accurate that’ll be to the final film, but they’re generally pretty hidden, and the details are vague enough that they don’t look super out of place.  The only downside is the visible pins at the knees, but, again, that’s pretty well hidden.  The rest of the sculpt is all-new, and it’s pretty good at that.  The head has a really strong likeness of Ejiofor, improving on the passable likeness of the last one.  The body sculpt exhibits a good selection of texturing and depth, which makes him quite visually interesting, and is a good use of the general space of the sculpt.  Mordo’s paint work is generally pretty solid as well.  The head now gets the printing on the face, which aids the sculpt a good bit more than the last one, and the clothing gets a lot of smaller details, which help to accent the sculpted elements nicely.  Mordo is packed with three sets of hands (fists, gripping, and open gesture), the Staff of the Living Tribunal (rather than the generic staff the last figure erroneously included), a crossbow, and the right arm to the Rintrah Build-A-Figure.  Oddly, the hands seem to have slightly different peg sizes, resulting in some of them fitting loosely after swapping them around.  It’s minor, but it’s annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mordo was my favorite part of the first film, and by extension my favorite of the figures from that set.  I’m looking forward to seeing him reappear, and likewise I was looking forward to the updated figure, so this one was on my shortlist from this line up.  He’s not without his flaws, namely the shoulder movement and the issue with the hand pegs.  That said, I still really like how this one turned out, and I’m even more excited about seeing his role in the upcoming film.

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.

#3053: America Chavez

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

AMERICA CHAVEZ

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“America Chavez is a young girl from another universe, being hunted for her power – the unique ability to open doorways into the Multiverse.”

In addition to the returning cast of the first Doctor Strange, as well as few other returning characters from elsewhere in the MCU, Into the Multiverse of Madness is also serving to introduce America Chavez into the MCU.  America is a relatively new character, only just first appearing in 2011 in the comics.  She found her footing relatively quickly, however, and has at this point been a member of no less than four Avengers spin-off teams.  Her move to the big screen certainly makes sense, especially given the undercurrent of building an MCU version of the Young Avengers.  And, courtesy of her film appearance, she also gets to make her first appearance as an action figure.  Dope.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

America Chavez is figure 2 in the Rintrah Series of Marvel Legends, and is the second of the movie-based figures in the set.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  The articulation on this figure is a little bit disappointing, if I’m honest.  The legs are fine, and have an alright range of motion, but the arms, especially the elbows, are really restricted, with less than 90 degrees of bend.  She’s also rather restricted at the neck, courtesy of the hair, and the mid torso joint.  In general, she’s just not getting a ton of poses beyond basic standing, and maybe some slightly wider stances.  Notably, she can’t do the fist in hand pose seen on the back of the box, which is a pretty distinctive pose for the character.  Not being able to recreate that is a pretty big issue.  America’s sculpt is an all-new one.  Issues with mobility aside, it’s not bad.  She’s sporting what looks to be her main attire from the film.  It’s just civilian clothes, but that’s pretty much America’s usual attire in the comics anyway.  I do miss the star on the shirt, but the overall look is definitely solid.  The head has what looks to be a pretty decent likeness of actress Xochitl Gomez.  She sports the same self-assured smile that the picture on the box is sporting, which seems pretty character appropriate.  The paint work on the figure is generally straight forward.  The face printing works respectably well, and the detailing on the jacket is definitely the strongest part of the work.  The wear and tear on the printed details is pretty spot-on, and again character appropriate.  America is packed with two sets of hands, one in fists, and the other in a relaxed position, and the torso for the Rintrah Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a pretty faithful reader of Young Avengers, so that was how I came across America as a character.  Given she was in with a bunch of characters I already knew, I wasn’t sure about her at first, but she certainly grew on me.  I’m excited to see how she pans out in the MCU, and it’s great that she finally got a figure.  This one’s certainly not perfect, and I really wish she had better articulation, but she’s still a nice enough looking figure.  I do hope we get a proper comics version, but until then, this one works pretty well.

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.

#3052: Wong

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

WONG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wong takes over for The Ancient One as Sorcerer Supreme and leader of Kamar-Taj, teaching a new era of sorcerers to protect our reality from mystical threats.”

The next cinematic installment of the MCU, Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse of Madness, hits theaters this summer.  In preparation, Hasbro’s got its usual Legends tie-in, a split of movie figures and loosely related comics offerings.  One of the prime offerings from the movie portion of the set is a character that’s far overdue in toy form at this point, Wong, who finally gets his figure due after five film appearances, with an impending sixth.  Let’s see how that turned out, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wong is figure 1 in the Rintrah Series of Marvel Legends.  Numerically, he’s the first, though the box lists him after the standard Doctor Strange, who’s without Build-A-Figure part or corresponding number.  Wong’s had a rather evolving look over the course of his film appearances, with his general design growing a little bit more ornate each time.  The newest Doctor Strange marks a far more colorful and eye-catching design for him, which honestly makes for the best option for a figure.  Guess waiting for this look wasn’t the worst overall call.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  His articulation, and in fact his general construction from a larger standpoint, are similar to the No Way Home Strange figure.  It’s a good set-up for a robed character, so it makes sense to keep the general layout.  He loses the double knees, but it’s a universal joint instead, and given the longer robes, it’s not really much lost mobility.  Wong’s sculpt is an all-new offering.  It’s a pretty solid set-up.  The head sports a respectable likeness of Benedict Wong in the role.  The face is definitely there, at least from most angles.  Not entirely sure about the hair, but that’s the element that he changes most frequently, so it’s not as major an issue.  The body sculpt is a pretty decent one, with a lot of sharp detailing on the more ornate sections of his garb.  The less ornate parts do seem slightly soft for what they should be, and the neck is probably a touch long and skinny for Wong, but it overall works.  Wong’s color work is surprisingly bright given his prior looks.  It’s pretty basic application, without a ton of real accenting.  The colors are a little sloppy around the edges, especially on the yellows, but he does still get the face printing, which is at least pretty fun.  Wong is packed with two gesturing hands, two spell-casting effects hands, a gripping hand, a sword (which I assume is something plot relevant to the new movie), and the left arm of the Rintrah Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been hoping for a Wong figure since the first Doctor Strange, and it’s only been a more noticeable omission with each successive film appearance he’s gotten.  I’m glad he finally got a figure here, and I think it’s probably his best look yet, so it worked out.  The figure’s not perfect, but he’s still a strong offering, and he’s a solid addition to the existing cast.

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.

#3050: Blink

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

BLINK

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (TOY BIZ)

“In an alternate world where Charles Xavier has died and Apocalypse rules supreme, Clarice Ferguson is a young mutant struggling to stay alive. Fighting alongside the astonishing X-Men, Blink uses her super powers of teleportation for the good of mankind. Her mutant abilities allow her to temporarily “blink” an object out of existence with the aid of a phasing pulse. Few people know that while just a girl, Blink’s life was saved from the forces of Apocalypse by none other than Sabretooth!”

When Toy Biz did their tie-ins for the “Age of Apocalypse” event, they mostly focused on the heavy hitters in their new personas.  This left some of the more underdog characters, whose mainstream counterparts weren’t as developed, out of the picture.  Thankfully, they found some other avenues for a few of them.  Morph found his way out as a ToyFare exclusive, and Holocaust joined the main X-Men line later on, oddly shoehorned into a ninja-themed assortment.  Blink, a breakout character who in the mainstream universe was just a throwaway casualty for the original Generation X line-up, found her first foray into the toy world courtesy of the rather bizarrely named Marvel’s Most Wanted line, a figure whom I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blink was released in 1998 as part of the three figure line-up for Marvel’s Most Wanted, an assortment that featured Blink, X-Man, and Spat & Grovel.  Not exactly the heaviest of hitters, the most wanted, or even a particularly cohesive set, but they sure were….um…released all at the same time?  Sure, let’s go with that.  The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme marks an improvement over a lot of what Toy Biz was offering at the time…in some ways.  The shoulders are universal joints, and she’s even got wrist movement, but then she’s stuck with v-hips, and no knees.  There’s a swivel on one thigh, but not the other, which is strange to say the least.  Still, she’s capable of a good deal more poses than other figures of the era.  Blink’s sculpt was new to her, and would remain unique for Toy Biz’s run.  Since it was prior to any of her post-AoA appearances, she’s based purely on the design from there.  It’s a fair choice, especially given that it means she works with the other AoA figures Toy Biz had done up to that point.  The sculpt is a decent offering.  She’s rather stylized, as well as being slightly pre-posed.  Both of these are in keeping with the main line’s AoA assortment in terms of style, as well as the overall evolving designs of Toy Biz’s Marvel stuff at the time.  It matches well with Blink’s illustrations from the comics, and is suitably unique.  The dynamic nature of the skirt and hair does a nice job of working with the pose, and just making for quite a visually interesting figure.  Blink’s color work is generally pretty basic, but it does what it needs to.  The application’s all pretty clean, and there’s not any notable bleed over or slop.  Blink is packed with a removable cloak, a quiver with removable javelins, and a base meant to look like one of her portals.  It’s not a bad selection of extras, given that none of them are really dead weight or fillers, both of which had a tendency to crop up with the Toy Biz stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The only one of this line-up that I had as a kid was X-Man, mostly because he was the only of the characters I actually knew at the time.  I first really encountered Blink in Exiles, and by that point, this figure had kind of dried up in terms of availability.  I always wanted to pick one up, but it took me a while to get around to it.  It was actually Jess who finally got me one.  In 2017, we were driving up and down the coast a lot while in the process of a rather slow move, and one of the places we stopped had a Blink.  I mentioned to Jess that I had never gotten one, and she made a point of fixing that, because that was just how she was.  Blink was actually a favorite of hers as well, so I suppose it was kind of appropriate.  As far as first outings go, Blink was pretty solid.  She’s stylized and all, but it works for the exact nature of the character, and it’s still one of her better figures.  I mean, yeah she only has three, so I guess they’re all kind of high up there, but still…

#3045: Shocker

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

SHOCKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Shocker’s vibro-units allow him to blast through solid metal, or hurl long-range vibrational punches! But they’ve yet to help him defeat his eternal nemesis, the amazing Spider-Man!”

Some of Spider-Man’s rogues are memorable because of how menacing they are, or how close they come to actually defeating the wall-crawler in battle.  On the other hand, some of them are memorable based more on the ineffectiveness.  Such is the case with the Shocker, peroneal punching bag of the Marvel universe.  He’s such a punching bag that the fact that She-Hulk *didn’t* beat him up to get information out of him is a memorable change.  Such a punching bag that his first entry in the 6-inch scale was not as his own figure, but rather as an action feature-based pack-in with a Spider-Man, which saw him permanently stuck in one of Spidey’s web-traps.  Such a punching bag, that even his own bio doesn’t give him any respect.  That’s cold, man.  But, there’s hope on the horizon, because all of this has actually made him memorable and worthwhile in his own right, meaning he’s getting a double-dip on the Legends treatment.  That’s not so bad, I suppose.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shocker is the last of the three villains in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  It’s his second time as a Legends release, following the one from the Sandman Series in 2017.  While that one was in his at the time current gear from Superior Foes of Spider-Man, this one instead goes back to the very beginning, for a proper classic Shocker, fitting with the retro-theme of the release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While he’s got the elbow joints that Shocker so frequently loses (complete with the pinless construction that Hasbro’s been rolling out with their new sculpts), he does loose the standard wrist movement, in favor of a swivel joint further up the forearm.  While it ultimately results in less mobility at the wrists, it’s for the sake of keeping the gauntlets one piece, which is true to the original design.  And, honestly, with those gauntlets on, he’s unlikely to be able to really move his wrists anyway, so it’s not like it’s unrealistic.  Shocker is sporting an all-new sculpt, which serves his design a little more justice than the Bucky Cap body of the previous version.  It beefs him up a little bit, as you’d expect for a guy in a big padded suit, and it just generally does a really nice job of capturing the character’s classic look.  All of the quilting is properly sculpted, and I like how he’s even got extra detailing on the non-quilted parts, especially evident when comparing the head sculpts from the two releases.  I do somewhat miss the bewildered expression of the last one, but I don’t know that it would fit quite as well for this release.  Shocker’s color work is alright, though nothing particularly spectacular.  The base work is there, and the colors work well for the character.  The sculpt could really benefit from any sort of accenting on the quilted sections, as they do sort of get lost in the big patches of yellow here.  I may wind up giving this guy the same treatment as Six-Arm Spidey, just to help him pop a bit more.  Shocker is packed with two sets of hands, one set with fists, the other with relaxed hands.  They swap at the forearm joint, which keeps things clean.  I like the attention to more options on these figures.  He also includes the same effects pieces as the last one.  I still don’t think they really work for his powerset, but I won’t complain about getting extra stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really liked the last Shocker.  Like, a lot more than I’d expected, really.  But he wasn’t a classic Shocker, so another felt like it kind of needed to happen at some point.  This guy is really great.  Getting an all-new sculpt for him is really great, and the end result is a lot of fun.  He’s going to make it really difficult for me to pick a Shocker for the shelf, because I do still really love the old one, but this one’s just so good.

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.

#3044: Ben Reilly Spider-Man

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

BEN REILLY SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“After years of self-imposed exile, Spider-Man is back! Now calling himself Ben Reilly, and sporting a brand-new costume and web-shooters, the Wall-Crawler returns to fight crime!”

In the midst of the monster of a cross-over that was “The Clone Saga”, there was a big shocking twist, revealing that Ben Reilly, the clone of Peter Parker, with whom the audience had just become re-acquainted, wasn’t a clone at all, but was the original Peter, and, by extension, the Peter the audience had been following for 20 years, was actually a clone.  With this (obviously temporary) revelation, our Peter stepped down from the role of Spider-Man, leaving it to Ben, who would take over the Spider-titles for a year, up until the ultimate conclusion of the Clone Saga, which saw Ben’s demise.  But, of course, no one stays dead in comics, and so Ben came back.  He re-adopted the Spider-Man title quite recently, making it the perfect time to revisit his time as Spidey in figure form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ben Reilly Spider-Man is s the last of the three Spidey variants in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends. He’s the second version of the Ben Reilly Spidey in the Legends line-up, following up on the one from the Absorbing Man Series in 2016.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He marks the third figure on the updated Retro Spidey body, following regular Spidey and the Symbiote costume.  This one uses all of the main retro body parts, as well as the exterior web shooters previously used with Scarlet Spider and the last Ben Reilly Spidey.  It’s a pretty by the numbers construction, which does about what you expect.  If I’m honest, it doesn’t work quite as well here.  The head sculpt and build on this figure are very much a Romita Spidey, and that doesn’t quite so much fit with the Bagley design.  He just feels too bulky for how Ben was usually depicted, at least to my eyes.  That said, it still makes for a decently assembled figure, even if it’s not one that’s quite as ripped from the pages as the others.  Ben’s paint work is generally pretty decently handled.  It brightens up the colors compared to the last one, which is different.  I’m not entirely sold on the colors, especially the blue, which does feel a touch too bright and also means this figure isn’t quite able to match the Spider-Carnage pieces from the last one, despite the larger build making more sense for that particular design.  Speaking of extras, this Spidey gets the full run of extra hands again, which is always nice to see.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like the Ben Reilly Spider-Man design, and I really like it as an action figure.  That said, I was pretty happy with the last Legends release, and he’s definitely a solid instance for me of the Pizza Spidey really working in the appropriate context.  So, I was iffy on this one, but I still really like the design, so I grabbed it anyway.  I don’t like it quite as much as a standard Ben Reilly Spidey, but I do like it as a way to display the Spider-Carnage parts, even if the blues don’t quite match.  And, I’m glad there’s another Ben Reilly Spidey available to those that couldn’t get the last one.

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.

#3043: Hobgoblin

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

HOBGOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Deploying an eerie arsenal of pumpkin bombs and razor-sharp bats from his goblin glider, the criminal mastermind Hobgoblin has Spider-Man constantly on his guard!”

In preparation for this review, I realized that I haven’t actually reviewed a Hobgoblin figure since 2015’s Build-A-Figure of the Phil Urich version of the character.  On one hand, that seems like forever ago, but on the other, I suppose there really aren’t that many Hobgoblins for me.  To be honest, I do generally gravitate more to Green Goblin proper, rather than his runner up, so I don’t have a ton of them in my collection.  Further more, the last Legends release was part of one of the most scarcely distributed assortments of the current line, so he wasn’t exactly easily found.  It’s cool, though because there’s a new one.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hobgoblin is the second of the three villains in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  This marks the third Hobgoblin in the modern line, following the Build-A-Figure in 2015 and the more classic version in 2016.  He continues the trend of 6-inch Hobgoblins each being different incarnations of the character, meaning they could all theoratically be different people, I suppose.  This one’s based on the incarnation seen on the cartoon most specifically, which fits with the design of the packaging and all.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  As with the last Hobgoblin (and the last two Green Goblins, for that matter), this figure is built on a Bucky Cap-centric body, specifically the less muscular torso first use of Dr Strange.  Since they’re going for more of an animated look, this one gets the standard arms and legs, rather than the scale-mail ones that the other Goblins got.  Less going on visually, but it’s also more accurate, and it does also give him some slight variance from Green Goblin from the same line.  He gets the cape, hood, satchel, and belt from the prior Hobgoblin, which are still good fits.  The head beneath the hood is similar to the more classic Goblin head from the last figure, but it’s a distinctly different.  It’s a pretty nice sculpt, and matches well with the character, so I can definitely get behind that.  Hobgoblin’s color work is rather on the basic side.  Mostly, it’s just molded colors.  They match the animation look, so it’s very bright.  Brighter, perhaps, than Hobgoblin tends to be, but it’s certainly eye-catching, and a good callback to the old figure.  Hobgoblin is packed with a glider and a pumpkin bomb.  The glider has trouble working with the standard Bucky Cap feet, so he’s not very easy to get balanced, and he doesn’t really stay in place very well, which is kind of a shame, because it’s a good looking sculpt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As touched on in the intro, I’m not the biggest of Hobgoblin fans, and even within the whole Hobgoblin set-up, I’m more of a fan of the Urich version of the character.  All that said, I was still a little bummed about missing the Space Venom Series version.  I was glad about getting another chance at a more classic version of the character at the very least.  He’s a pretty by the numbers figure, all things considered, and in an assortment of slightly more inventive figures, he’s maybe not the flashiest or most showy, but he’s a decent follow-up to the old Toy Biz 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.

#3042: Symbiote Spider-Man

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

SYMBIOTE SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Spider-Man gets an all-new look when he finds a sleek black costume in a space shuttle wreck. Little does Spidey realize he’s joined himself to the predatory alien symbiote: Venom!”

In early 1984, after over 20 years of more or less just getting minor tweaks to the same basic design, Spider-Man debuted an all-new costume on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #252.  This black and white number would get its own origin story in the pages of Secret Wars later that year, where it was revealed that the suit was actually an alien symbiote, bonded to Peter during his stay on Battleworld.  He wound up keeping the suit for about 6 months, before discovering its true nature and ditching it.  Not long after, though, he took to wearing a cloth replica of the design, and actually stuck with that for another four years, making it a fairly lengthy run with the suit.  As such, it’s become a staple for toy coverage, meaning it gets trotted back out every so often to keep things fresh.  We got a standard Black Costume Spider-Man Legends release back in 2017, with a re-release in 2019, but with a new standard Spidey body out there, it’s time for another go at the design, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Symbiote Spider-Man is the second Spidey variant in the latest Spidey-themed Retro assortment of Marvel Legends.  Like the standard Retro Spidey before him, this guy looks the be the most-in-demand of this round of figures by quite a bit.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He’s only the second figure to be built on the body that was debuted with the first Retro Spidey, which is at once surprising, and also appropriate, I suppose.  It’s nice to see it crop up again after such a big deal was made about it.  In contrast to the last Symbiote Spidey, who was a total re-use of parts, this one actually gets an all-new head sculpt.  While I was willing to live with the re-used Scarlet Spider head on the last one, I must admit, I was very happy about the all-new sculpt here, and it’s such a nice sculpt.  It really matches well with my ideal version of the black costume mask.  Beyond that, it’s just re-using the previous body.  While I find myself drawn more to the slighter build of the Pizza Spidey body for a basic Spider-Man, it did perhaps mak the Symbiote design look a little scrawnier than he should have been.  The slightly bulked up body works really well with the design.  The figure’s paint is on the basic side, as is best with the Symbiote look.  No blue accents or anything to muck things up, and the application on the white is pretty sharp.  The eyes are notably a more glossy finish, which adds a nice bit of pop to the head.  Symbiote Spider-Man is packed with three different sets of hands, and can I just say how glad I am that all of the hands are back again?  It was a major nick against the last Retro Spidey was that he didn’t have the open gesture hands, so I’m really psyched that the whole spread is here this time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Something about the Sandman Series Symbiote Spidey always just slightly missed the mark for me.  He was decent, but just not quite there.  Likewise, I kind of felt that way about the previous Retro Spidey.  So, this was a combo that I was iffy on, but it really, really works.  Legitimately the best version of this costume design, at the very least in Legends form, and certainly the best version I 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.