Tag Archives: Marvel

#2728: Nightcrawler

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

NIGHTCRAWLER

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Once misunderstood because of his appearance, Nightcrawler is the warmest and most charming member of the X-Men. A trained swordsmen and acrobat, Nightcrawler’s mutant ability to teleport lends itself well to his unique fighting style! A swashbuckler at heart, Nightcrawler would be at home in the age of pirates and buccaneers – but finds more than enough adventure with the X-Men!”

Though there were plenty of variants of the titular team’s members to be found, the early run of Toy Biz’s X-Men line was really without a lot of straight up redos of prior figures, at least from a ground up sort of approach.  That changed in 1996, when, five years into the line, they realized some outright updates might be an okay idea.  Our first taste of this new mission statement for the line came in the form of the “Classic Light Up Weapons” assortment, which gave us proper updates on the likes of Gambit, Juggernaut, and today’s focus, Nightcrawler.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightcrawler was released in the above mentioned “Classic Light Up Weapons” set of Toy Biz’s X-Men in mid-1996.  It marked his second inclusion in the line, after a rather lengthy hiatus following his Series 1 inclusion.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Like the others in this assortment, his light up feature hampers the movement on his right arm, and his left removes the usual elbow joint in order to more properly match-up.  He does, however, gain ankle joint movement, which is quite useful for him, as well as an additional cut joint at the base of the tail (which is not bendable this time).  Nightcrawler gained an entirely new sculpt for this figure, and one more in line with the line’s stylings by this point.  It’s not bad, but it’s definitely removed from the more classic interpretations of Kurt I tend to prefer.  It also makes him a bit taller than he really should be, as well as amping up the definition in his muscles.  At least he wasn’t as majorly bulked up as the other male figures in the set.  Nightcrawler’s paint work is generally pretty decently handled, with all the usual colors.  There was a variant of this figure with less of the usual colors, which swapped out silver for the spots that are usually red.  It was an odd color variant, but it was there.  It’s not one of the one’s I have, though.  Nightcrawler’s only accessory was a sword, which was also the source of most of his gimmick, as it wasn’t just any sword: it was a flaming sword.  Pretty nifty, and definitely on the better front as far as the light-up accessories for this set went.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Any reliable stock of Series 1 Nightcrawler had long since dried up by the time I got into the line, so this Nightcrawler was my first shot at the character.  For whatever reason, this one never really clicked with me.  I mean, he’s not bad, or anything, but I guess he doesn’t quite fit my mind’s eye version of the character.  He got replaced by the Series 1 version as soon as I got a hold of one, and that one’s still the one I stick with for my main display.  That said, I have warmed more to this guy in recent years, and I can acknowledge his pretty cool, even if he’s not my preferred.

#2722: Thanos

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

THANOS

MARVEL MINIMATES

Back before he was a major movie star headlining two of the biggest movies of all time, Thanos was sort of an odd-ball who was rather hard to place when it came to toy lines.  Like, he was around, and some people knew him, but you had to sort of sneak him in there, lest someone notice his presence.  Such was the case with his original Minimate release, which was one of the early line’s sort of odd floater figures for a bit, much in a similar fashion to last week’s Dark Phoenix.  He finally made it out, of course, and there have been a bunch of subsequent releases at this point, but it did take a bit of doing.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thanos was released as a San Diego Comic Con-exclusive Marvel Minimates release in 2005, packed alongside yet another reissue of the original Silver Surfer (albeit this one with C3 feet, rather than the long ones).  He had been shown off a few times prior over the preceding years, and before 2099’s inclusion was cemented in Series 7 of the main line, it was assumed he’d be in that slot.  Then he…wasn’t, and everyone was confused for a bit, until this exclusive surfaced the following year.  Hey, at least he got released, I guess.  The figure is built on the C3 base body, and he stands 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  Thanos has four add-on pieces for his helmet, chest cap, and gloves, all of them new to him.  These pieces are pretty nicely handled; they get the character’s usual design elements down, while also keeping him in line with this earlier line aesthetic.  They all sit pretty well, and he looks generally uncluttered.  I quite enjoy the simplicity of the Infinity Gauntlet here; later releases would go for the separate fingers, and it always wound up looking weird.  Thanos’ paint work falls into a similar boat as the Dark Phoenix and Cyclops; there’s a lot of detail and creative shading, but it doesn’t feel like it goes too overboard.  Thanos included no accessories of his own, unless you want to be rather demeaning to that Silver Surfer figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I still wasn’t really in on the exclusive game yet with this one, and I already had the standard Silver Surfer, who was my preferred figure out of this set, so I didn’t really try that hard to get this Thanos.  However, when the rather large Minimate collection came into All Time in 2019, and this guy was there, I opted to go for it, because, hey, why not.  I like the simplicity of this Thanos compared to others.  I think he’s one of those characters that they really got right the first time.

#2715: Cyclops & Dark Phoenix

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

CYCLOPS & DARK PHOENIX

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Giant-Size X-Men-themed boxed set which hit in Marvel Minimates’ second year was our first taste of that era of the team in Minimate form, and one we’d have to stick for a little bit.  We were notably two main members short of that team’s starting line-up, to say nothing of the various other players from that era.  Our first follow-up came not in the main line, but as one of 2005’s non-exclusive sets.  While it didn’t round out the team (it would be another 11 years before we’d get to that), it did give us a little treatment from the biggest X-Men story of that period, if not the biggest X-Men story in general, the “Dark Phoenix Saga.”  We got that story’s two major players, Jean Grey in her Dark Phoenix persona and Cyclops, both of whom I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Dark Phoenix and Cyclops were, as noted above, a con-exclusive Marvel Minimates two-pack, who officially dropped in March of 2005, and sort of toured the cons that year, rather than really being tied to one of them in particular, eventually even making their way to more regular release channels as well.  Both ‘mates here would remain exclusive to this particular pack, but this wasn’t the last time we got either of the characters.

DARK PHOENIX

Jean’s third Minimate finally put her in something with a little bit more staying power than the prior two, who were both outdated by the time they hit shelves.  And, depending how you classify things, this even kind of qualifies as a new character as well, so that’s doubly cool.  Jean was built on the C3 Minimate body, so she’s 2 1/4 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation.  She’s still without the peg hole in the head, which wasn’t a huge shock, since she’d been rattling around for a bit before getting an actual release slot.  She gets two add-on pieces, one for her hair, and the other for her sash.  Both were new to this figure, neither would remain unique.  They’re not bad pieces.  Not a ton of detailing or anything, but they certainly look the part.  I suppose the hair’s a bit too tame by later standards for the line and the character’s original design, but it looks okay.  Her paint work is actually pretty involved, seeing as they’ve put some definite effort into recreating some of the more dynamic lighting of the comics.  As such, the red sections of her costume all have black shadowing, her face is slightly darker in the center, and her yellow parts have lines suggesting reflectiveness.  Her face is also a far more intense expression than we tended to see at this point, especially for a female figure.  The lines on the yellow have a tendency to rub off a bit over time, but otherwise the paint’s really solid.  Dark Phoenix is packed with two flame effect pieces.  They’re nice in theory, but kind of clumsy in practice, since they require taking off the hands to put on and remove, and in their most natural configuration, they block the use of the elbow joints.  It’s weird, because they’re sculpted with one side sharply lower than the other, but it’s the wrong side, so it doesn’t end up helping.

CYCLOPS

Cyclops had already gotten the basics of this design covered in the GSXM set, but that particular release was lackluster to say the least, so a second go wasn’t the worst idea.  Structurally, this guy’s the same as the prior variant, apart from subbing in the C3 feet, of course.  He uses the cowl/visor piece from the last one, which was good the first time around, and was still good here.  The only issue I ran into was something limited to my copy of the figure, who wound up with two left arms, one of which doesn’t sit quite right on either shoulder, making it susceptible to falling off frequently.  Aside from that, he’s cool.  The big change-up to this guy is the paint work.  The basics remain the same, but he gains extra shading on the torso piece, simulating how he looked in the comics, and also gets a much more detailed face under the mask.  It’s a very definite improvement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I snagged this set relatively shortly after its release.  It was probably a year or so after.  Cosmic Comix happened to get one in, and I was happy to pick it up.  This set did a lot to move Minimates forward in terms of how detailing was handled, with its actual attention to things like comics-inspired shading, and marks an interesting turn for the line.  It’s a good way of handling the extra detailing, really, and I think this was the real sweet spot for where the level of detail should have more or less stuck.

#2711: Toxin

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

TOXIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The 1,000th symbiote in a lineage that includes Carnage and Venom, Toxin is feared by many to be the strongest and most dangerous.”

After the craziest of the symbiote-overload in the ’90s died down, Marvel decided they wanted to try again.  So, Carnage once again had some spawn, but just the one this time.  The end result was Toxin, who, in contrast to Venom and Carnage, was not an inherently malicious creature.  Initially bonded with police officer Patrick Mulligan, Toxin served as an ally to Spider-Man, rather than either of his progenitors.  After Mulligan’s death, Toxin was then shifted over to usual Venom host Eddie Brock for a bit, as Eddie moved his way through a handful of symbiotes.  Toxin’s been privy to a few figures over the years, twice now getting a Legends release.  The first one wasn’t much to write home about, but maybe this new one will change things up a bit?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Toxin is the latest Deluxe-sized offering for Marvel Legends.  He follows the trend set by Apocalypse, being a new larger scale figure, as opposed to a reissue of a prior Build-A-Figure.  Toxin’s had a few somewhat divergent looks over the years, and this one grabs a few elements from each of them and merges them all together into one thing.  He’s definitely more monstrous than Mulligan usually was, and the face is definitely lifted from Brock’s time with the symbiote, but the general appearance is still definitely an earlier Toxin look.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Toxin is built on Monster Venom body, which seems a little bit on the large side for Toxin’s usual depictions, but it’s honestly a little on the large side, even for the two Venom figures it was used for.  The symbiotes just tend to get sized up a bit, I guess, when it comes to toys.  The Monster Venom body remains a very impressive piece of work, and I can understand Hasbro wanting to get more mileage out of it.  To change things up, Toxin gets a new head, and a slightly tweaked back plate, as well as tendrils.  So many tendrils.  More tendrils than we have room for.  Elevendrils.  It’s really intense, and it really works.  Certainly continues the dynamic nature of the Monster Venom body.  The tendrils are popped on in stages, so you can kind of tweak just how tendril-y he is if you like.  It does mean they pop off on their own occasionally, but it’s overall not too bad.  Toxin’s paint work is generally decent.  The red’s very bright, which I rather like; it contrasts well with the black on the other portions of the figure, and makes him more eye catching than Hasbro’s last attempt.  The transition from red to black is also pretty nicely handled, managing to be pretty subtle, and to maintain a consistent look across multiple pieces.  The red sections could, I suppose, stand to have a little more accenting on them, but that’s about the only thing I can really knock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My actual experience with Toxin is pretty limited.  I’m familiar with him as a character, and I know the toys, but I don’t believe I’ve actually read any of his comics appearances.  He’s got a halfway decent visual, though, and this figure using the Monster Venom body, which I really quite like, gave him some points in his favor.  The end product’s pretty nifty.  If you like Symbiotes, you’ll like this one, and he’s certainly a step-up from the last version.  Now, if we could get the slightly less monstered out Mulligan version at some point, that’d be pretty sweet too.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2710: Firestar

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

FIRESTAR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Angelica Jones soars into battle harnessing the power of microwaves to combat evil as Marvel’s Firestar.”

Comics adaptations introducing characters that circle back around to the comics proper isn’t an uncommon thing, going back as far as the Superman radio serials and their creation of Jimmy Olsen.  Over at Marvel’s side, things were a little bit later game for them, but one of their first instances of this was Angelica Jones, aka Firestar.  First appearing in Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends in 1981, Firestar was created when the television rights for the Human Torch couldn’t be acquired.  She found her way into the comics four years later, in Uncanny X-Men #193, as a member of the Hellions.  From there she got her own mini-series, joined the New Warriors, and even had a stint with the Avengers.  She’s never been quite as prominent in the main universe as she was in the cartoon, but she’s certainly stuck around, and made her way into most of the major Marvel scales, including, most recently, Marvel Legends.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Firestar is her own standalone Marvel Legends release, which started hitting retail last month.  She’s another Fan Channel figure, so she won’t be hitting major big box retailers, but will be at specialty shops and the like.  She features her own separate branding, which neatly avoids the issue of whether she should be grouped with Spider-Man, X-Men, or Avengers. Firestar’s had a few different designs over the years, but she generally tends to circle back to variants of her original animation design, which is what this figure wisely opts to go for. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Firestar is built on the Phoenix base body, which is thematically appropriate, I suppose.  It’s also just a pretty good match for Angelica’s usual built.  She’s got a new upper torso piece, which adds her collar piece.  It’s pretty basic, but hits the spot.  Firestar includes two different head sculpts, based on two differing looks.  The one she comes out of the box wearing is slightly more modern-inspired, and has more wind-swept dynamic hair, and a slightly more rounded mask.  The second head is a bit more directly based on her animation design, with a more geometric mask, and slightly less mobile hair.  Of the two, I personally prefer the more modern head, but they’re both quite nice, and I like having the option.  Firestar’s paint work is basic, bright, and clean, which are really all the best things for a Legends figure.  I appreciate that they actually did the darker accents on the hair for the animation head, keeping it properly show accurate, since those tend to get overlooked.  Firestar has a pretty nice accessory selection.  In addition to the extra head, she also gets two sets of hands (both fists and open gesture), two effects pieces (borrowed from the Infinity War Scarlet Witch), and, coolest of all, Ms. Lion, the trio’s pet dog from Amazing Friends.  Ms. Lion even gets a ball-jointed neck for full posability.  How about that?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Firestar’s always been a favorite of mine, thanks to the handful of Amazing Friends episodes I had on VHS as a kid.  I didn’t manage to get her Toy Biz figure until late in the game, and that one’s, admittedly, a little phoned in, as was the later Marvel Universe figure.  I’d been hoping for something with a little more effort for Marvel Legends, and that’s what I got.  This figure’s a really nice, very cleanly done take on the character, and a fantastic way of rounding out this trio in Legends form.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2708: Emma Frost & New Cyclops

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

EMMA FROST & NEW CYCLOPS

MARVEL MINIMATES

Marvel Minimates‘ third year was headlined by the proper arrival of the Fantastic Four, but coupled with the assortment centered on them was a slightly more mixed bag assortment, combining the X-Men with some Marvel Knights branded characters.  The X-Men were of course no strangers to the line by this point, but they’re proper mainstream counterparts were just starting to dip their toes in the water, especially for the main two-packs.  Heading off the assortment were two X-Men mainstays, one new to the line, and one not, Emma Frost and Cyclops, who I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Emma Frost and New Cyclops were released in Series 9 of Marvel Minimates, which hit specialty stores the week after Series 8, in January of 2005.  This particular set was the variant, which featured Emma in her diamond form, as introduced in New X-Men.  Cyclops was shared between the two versions of the set, and would later be slightly tweaked for inclusion in the Darktide set in 2006.

EMMA FROST

Emma made her debut in the line with this release, but got two whole figures right off the bat, which I suppose is good for her.  There were both diamond form and regular form releases, denoted by the diamond form being called “Emma Frost”, and the regular being called “White Queen”…which is kinda backwards feeling, really, especially compared to how they handled the naming on the Sue Richards/Invisible Woman split.  Whatever, it’s just the name on the box, I suppose.  Emma is constructed from the new and improved C3 parts, with a peg hole on her head and everything.  She also gets new add-on pieces for her hair and cape, both of which were shared with her standard counterpart.  They’re basic, but get the job done.  Emma’s main thing is her paint work.  It’s nice from the technical side; the white sections are largely painted on, and look pretty crisp and clean.  Her face is also painted on, and is a respectable translation of smug classic Emma.  All of her exposed skin is clear plastic, showcasing her diamond form.  It looks pretty cool, but does lead to the somewhat lingering issue of this being Emma’s classic costume, which was before she had the diamond powers.  I get wanting to do her most distinctive look first (though it didn’t stop them from having weird starting looks for other characters), and also wanting a solid variant, but the two don’t quite reconcile here.  At least she looks pretty nice.

NEW CYCLOPS

Ah, yes, New Cyclops.  So much better than Old Cyclops.  This one’s New, you see.  Yes, this Cyclops is based on his leather uniformed design from New X-Men, joining the two other NXM figures, Jean and Logan, from the prior year.  And also joining no others, because they literally only did three members of this incarnation of the team.  As I mentioned in the Jean/Logan review, it was somewhat bad timing, since the looks had been abandoned in early 2004, with the launch of Astonishing X-Men, which put Scott back in a classic-inspired costume.  But, I guess it would have been weird to leave him out?  Scott notably gets the C3 feet, but *not* the head with the peg-hole.  Correspondingly, his new hairpiece/visor combo was also missing a peg, making it seem like this guy may have been designed at the same time as the other two, and just held back a bit.  He also gets a new jacket piece, as well as the belt piece from the other two.  It’s not a bad look overall, and the pieces hit that nice middle-ground of detail vs simplicity.  The paint work also treads this middle-ground, though perhaps not quite as well.  The face on this guy is really, really detailed.  Too detailed, if I’m honest; Scott ends up looking like he’s 80.  On the costume, rather than match Cyclops to the other two’s dark grey attire, Scott’s got black.  Not sure why they changed, and it means he doesn’t match anyone else.  I generally like this look a little more personally, but I’d probably still prefer consistency over anything else.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when these were new, I picked up the standard release of this set, mostly due to just wanting the Cyclops, because I like Cyclops.  I know, you’re all really shocked by this development.  I managed to hang onto all of his parts over the years, but lost most of the standard White Queen pieces, so I snagged the variant version when All Time got that big collection in 2019.  They’re not bad, but do sort of feel like an odd middle ground for the line.

#2701: Silver Centurion

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

SILVER CENTURION

MARVEL MINIMATES

Con exclusives and Minimates have been pretty heavily linked since the line’s inception.  In the first year of Marvel Minimates, Diamond used these exclusives to fill out the line-up of characters a touch further, and this would continue into the line’s second year.  Though absent from the line entirely in its first year, Iron Man was the recipient not only of a main line release, and a variant, but also his own exclusive two-pack, which I’m taking a look at half of today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Centurion (as he’s dubbed on the box; he’s not actually named Iron Man there) was part of the Marvel Minimates exclusive pack from Wizard World Chicago in 2004.  That meant that he hit roughly a month after the first Iron Man arrived in Series 6 of the line.  The figure was built on the standard C3 mate body, pre-peg hole on the head, so he stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He has add-on pieces for his helmet, shoulder armor, belt, and gloves.  All of these parts would remain unique to this particular figure, which was actually pretty rare for these earlier figures.  They’re not a bad assortment of pieces, although the helmet was plagued by an issue of being slightly too short for the head.  Interestingly, the updated Silver Centurion from Series 36 had a similar issue, despite the two parts being different tooling.  Ultimately, it’s not the worst thing in the world, and in most poses, the shortness isn’t too noticeable.  The paint work on this guy is pretty involved; it follows the trend they’d started with the standard Iron Man, who likewise was a step-up from other ‘mates at the time.  It kind of informed how they’d go about a lot of ‘mates in the coming years, with a lot more individual details.  The only part that could stand to be changed is the mouth, which doesn’t get the black detailing like the eyes, which makes it look slightly off.  Still, it looks pretty solid.  Under his helmet, there’s a fully detailed Tony Stark head.  It’s screaming, which is a different sort of expression, but not a bad change up given that it was our fourth Stark head that year.  Silver Centurion was without any accessories.  Flight stands weren’t a thing yet, but the lack of an alternate hair piece for display without the helmet’s a bit of a bummer.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t really on the up-and-up with convention exclusives at this point in the line, so I didn’t get either Silver Centurion or his pack-mate Classic Iron Man when they were new.  I always wanted them, but just never got around to getting them.  Classic got redecoed into gold for the Avengers boxed set, and there was the updated Silver Centurion, so I felt less of need to get them after that.  However, when that big Minimates collection came through All Time in 2019, this guy was in there, so I went ahead and grabbed him.  He’s not a bad little figure all things considered.

#2693: Weapon X

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

WEAPON X

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Wrapping up the radical changes that occurred to the many X-Men characters within the “Age of Apocalypse” storyline, we have Wolverine, who has such radical changes as “not called Wolverine” and “has one less hand.”  Okay, the hand thing’s a bit more radical, I suppose.  Not that it really impacted anything about who he was as a character, of course.  But it did at least give him a new look to make a toy out of, and Toy Biz was always down for that, weren’t they?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Weapon X was the final figure in the AoA Series of X-Men.  He was the requisite Wolverine variant for the set, which is sensible, I suppose.  The figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Well, sort of 8 points, I guess.  The sculpting on the hair is such that the neck joint can’t move at all, but on the flip side, when he’s got one of his attachments for the stump in place, it gives him an extra joint there.  So it kind of works out, I guess.  As I addressed during my review of Patch back during the “Day of the Wolverines”, the Weapon X mold was retooled into that particular figure, though it’s worth noting that most of the parts are still technically unique between the two figures, thanks to a handful of minor changes to each of them.  It’s…not the worst thing ever?  It does slightly trend away from the ever increasing size of Wolverines at this point in the line, so I suppose that’s nice, though he’s forever stuck in this sort of mid-lunge-hunch posture, which really can’t be good for his back, adamantium spine or not.   His arms are also kind of weirdly outstretched, and I don’t even know what’s going on with his neck.  It’s weird to say the least.  Logan’s costume for the crossover isn’t a terribly involved one, and the paint is likewise not terribly involved.  Everything is rather basic.  The blue is a bit brighter than it should be, I suppose, and he’s missing the yellow, but the application is at least pretty clean, I guess.  Weapon X was packed with a handful (heh) of attachments for his stump, of varying quality.  The claws make sense, of course, being all story relevant and everything.  The hook is kinda goofy, and the missile launcher just made no damn sense.  I’ve only got the claws anyway, so I guess it doesn’t really matter too much at the end of the day.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I only got Sabretooth when these were new, and by the time I was starting to track them down after the fact, I was pretty well overloaded on Wolverines, so this one never really jumped out at me.  My brother Christian was always a little more of a Wolverine fan than I, so he actually got this one as a kid, from our local comic shop Cosmic Comix, I believe.  When he got around to not wanting most of his figures anymore, this was one of the ones I happily assimilated into my collection, mostly because it meant I didn’t actually have to put time or money into getting one of my own.  He’s alright, I guess, but I again confront the fact that this just isn’t that interesting of a design, and doesn’t really make for a terribly fun toy.

#2686: Apocalypse

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

APOCALYPSE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Apocalypse is the ruler of America. New York City is now Apocalypse Island, and all humans are sentenced to slavery! Only the most powerful mutants survive to reign alongside the high lord En Sabah Nur! Those who oppose him, like Magneto and his X-Men must live in hiding, under the constant threat of being caught – or surrender. This is not some bleak view of the future – this is now… the Age of Apocalypse.”

Hey, look at that, two AoA Apocalypse figures within the same month.  That’s pretty nifty.  It’s almost like I…planned it.  Yeah, sure, that’s why I delayed reviewing the Legends figure for so long.  Just for this awkward tie in here.  Yep.  That’s totally it.  Let’s go with that.  Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Apocalypse is another figure from the twelfth series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was totally inspired by the “Age of Apocalypse” event that was just wrapping up in the comics at the time.  He’s really the most obvious figure out of the set, what with the event being named after him and all.  It marked his third figure in the line, though this one was something of a departure from the prior releases.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He gained extra movement at the forearms on both of his arms, but notably lost the movement at the neck, for some reason.  He and Magneto were both very anti-neck movement, I guess.  Apocalypse’s AoA design was in some ways a bit less built up than his mainstream look, but was more built up in others.  Whatever the case, it was different, and required an all-new sculpt.  It’s alright, but not quite as strong as either of the prior two Apocalypses.  His proportions are really wonky, especially on the arms, which make up about 50% of the figure’s mass.  He’s also a bit lighter on detailing than other Apocalypse figures, in part due to how the design works out.  The hands can be popped at the forearms (hence the extra joints there), but they definitely have some trouble staying in place.  Likewise, the cape and collar are separate from the main body, but have trouble really staying attached, since there’s nothing to really hold them there.  So, they just kind of jostle around a lot.  Not a ton of fun to play with, really.  The paint work on Apocalypse is pretty straight forward, and not bad overall.  The only part I’m really iffy about is the metallic purple, used on the head, hands, and part of the boots.  It’s not a terrible color, but it does kind of clash with the other colors on the figure.  Apocalypse was packed with an extra buzzsaw arm attachment, which can swap with either of his standard arms, as well as an imprisoned Shadow King, which is actually a pretty cool little extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, Apocalypse I was my Apocalypse, and I never really cared enough about the character to feel the need to own another version.  So, I didn’t.  This guy wound up being a more recent addition to the collection.  I picked him up along with a batch of other sealed Toy Biz figures a couple of years ago from Collector’s Corner, who were running a sale on them at the time.  He’s remained sealed since then, and I really only opened him for the review (which is the case with a handful of my more recent Toy Biz acquisitions), meaning he’s largely removed from any real nostalgia or anything.  He’s not a terribly impressive figure, to be honest, and lacks a lot of the toyetic qualities that made the prior two figures fun.

#2685: J. Jonah Jameson

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

J JONAH JAMESON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Tough, gruff, and loud, J. Jonah Jameson is a force to be reckoned with in the boardroom and on the front pages of the Daily Bugle. As the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Jameson is a perennial thorn in the side for both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.”

Not quite a villain, but certainly an antagonist, J. Jonah Jameson has been part of the Spider-Man mythos since almost the very beginning.  As really just a guy in a suit, though, you wouldn’t exactly expect him to be a very frequent part of the tie-in toys.  You would, however, be surprised by just how often he actually winds up getting proper action figure treatment.  He’s almost got Mary Jane beat!  What he’s never officially had, however, is a Marvel Legend, though he’s gotten close, since he had a 6 inch movie figure back in the Toy Biz days, and was also one of the extra heads included with Chameleon.  But now he’s official.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

J. Jonah Jameson is in the same boat as yesterday’s Black Cat figure; he’s a standalone release for the Retro Collection sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He’s also the third civilian release under this particular banner, so I guess the exciting package is good for something, huh?  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Jameson is built on the suit body, specifically the variant of the suit body that was used for Klaue, which is specifically designed for that vested appearance.  He additionally uses the Jameson head that was previously included with the Chameleon figure (taking a page out of the Toy Biz playbook), which was a pretty solid piece it’s first time around, and remains a really great character piece for Jameson.  In order to become sufficiently Jameson-esque, the body gets an assortment of new parts, including a new set of forearms, a new tie piece, and an add-on for the vest.  This vest/tie combo works better to help the body not be too bulked up, as it was on the Klaue body.  This set-up pretty nicely matches with Jameson’s usual newsroom appearances.  Additionally, the vest piece is open, so it can easily be removed, adding for an extra set of looks for the figure.  Jameson’s paint work is generally pretty decent.  It’s rather monotone, but that’s true to the character’s usual looks.  I quite like the pattern on the tie, and the application on the head is much improved over the one included with Chameleon.  Jameson gets a pretty solid selection of accessories to top everything off.  He’s got two sets of hands (one gripping, the other pointing/fist combo), the rolled up newspaper we saw included with Gwen (it makes way more sense here), and an unrolled copy as well, which features a ton of fun little references and in jokes.  Now, why it’s so much wider than the rolled up one is anyone’s guess; maybe it’s the proof they assembled before they sent it to the printers?  Actually, that would probably make a lot of sense, wouldn’t it?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Jameson is one of those essential characters that you just forget you don’t have a proper figure for.  The extra head was cool, but none of the available bodies really seemed to fit the character.  Getting a full figure for him wasn’t expected, but was certainly appreciated.  In hand, he’s a bit of an unsung figure, I think.  He’s quite nice, and he’ll go great with a display, but he doesn’t quite pop the way some of the costumed figures do.  Still, he’s definitely cool to have.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.