Tag Archives: Marvel

#3914: Captain America & Bucky

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & BUCKY

AMERICAN HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Taking Part in the U.S. Army’s Super-Soldier program during the World War II, Steve Rogers was transformed into red-white-and-blue shield-throwing Captain America! Fighting against the enemies of freedom, Cap inspired millions of people around the world with his bravery–and one of these people was teenager, Bucky Barnes. Learning the secret of Captain America’s true identity, Bucky became Cap’s friend and sidekick–joining him to fight evil on their many adventures as they became two great American Heroes!”

Fighting Nazis: it never goes out of style!

Captain America and his sidekick Bucky Barnes debuted alongside each other in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941, and remained a pretty fixed pair for their first seven years of existence.  However, when Cap was revived in the “modern” age in the ‘60s, it was revealed that the accident that froze Cap also killed Bucky.  For 40 years, Bucky was on the list of exceptions to the “nobody stays dead in comics” rule, alongside the likes of Jason Todd, Uncle Ben, and Gwen Stacy.  Boy, that’s a shorter list these days, huh?  During his 40 years being dead, Bucky was kind of rare on the toy front.  Cap and his related characters were generally on the rarer side in general during the early Toy Biz days, but Bucky did get one figure during the run, alongside another figure of Cap himself.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America and Bucky make up the “American Heroes” two-pack, released as a one-off two-pack as part of Toy Biz’s wider 5-inch Marvel range in 1998.  They had an edition size of 20,000, at least according to the package.  The pack includes the two figures, as well as a magnetic address book with an illustration of the two on the front.  Why do they come with an address book?  Great question.  No clue.  But there it is, and Toy Biz isn’t taking my calls.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

There were seven Captain Americas in Toy Biz’s 5-inch line, and four of them were variations on the same figure.  This is one of those four.  The figure stands about 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His mold is a re-use of the Electro Spark release from the Spider-Man line in 1996.  The mold has its ups and its downs.  It was certainly one of Toy Biz’s favorites for the character, but it’s rather big and bulky, and he’s quite angry looking.  All that said, it’s got a sort of quaintness to it, and I find myself always enjoying it whenever I mess with it.  The sculpt remains unchanged here, so this figure has two notable change-ups.  Firstly, there’s the paint work.  The actual paint masks remain the same as the Electro Spark version, but the colors themselves have changed.  The blue is notably a much brighter shade, his skin isn’t quite as pale, and the white sections have a more pearlescent sheen.  On my copy, the general application also seems to be a little cleaner than his earlier release.  It’s just a much better set-up than the prior figure, and really the best this mold got to look.  The other change-up is on the accessories, or rather accessory.  He drops the weird transforming armor bit, and instead of the really thick light-up shield, he gets a more proper version, which is similar to the one with the Marvel vs Capcom figure, but less fragile.

BUCKY

The still very much dead at this time Bucky had never gotten a figure prior to this, making him very definitely the selling point of this set.  He’s seen here in his classic attire, because what else are you going to put Bucky into, I guess?  The figure stands right at 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Bucky is a total parts re-use like Cap, but since this was the first Bucky figure ever, he’s re-using parts from other characters.  He’s mostly re-using parts from the Incredible Hulk line’s Doc Samson figure, topped off with the head of Peter Parker.  Samson’s kind of bulky and muscle-bound for what I’d usually think of for Bucky, but at the same time, when paired off with that really quite large Captain America sculpt, he doesn’t feel too crazy out of place.  If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Samson was largely chosen because he has the cuffed boots already.  He doesn’t have Bucky’s cuffed gloves or collar, though.  In the case of the gloves, he gets extra wrist cuff pieces made from cloth, while the collar is just ignored by the sculpt all together.  The paint does what it can to transform the re-used parts into something more Bucky-like.  The head’s mask does an okay job of differentiating him from Peter, and most of the costume elements are fine.  As is so often the case, you have to ignore some sculpted details that just get painted over, in this case Samson’s etched-in collar to his shirt.  They do at least use the front of that detail as the top of Bucky’s jacket flap, so it could be worse.  The red collar being painted is probably the weakest element here but ultimately, it all works a bit better than expected.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I spent a lot of time watching my VHS copies of the Ruby-Spears Captain America cartoons, which Bucky figures quite prominently into.  As such, I was always eager to add a Bucky to my collection, and I recall being very excited when this set was announced.  Unfortunately, it never really showed up in stores near me, so I never got one.  Bucky had my animated Nightwing figure as his stand-in, with a story that he had actually been woken up years before Cap and that was why he was older and his hair was longer…did I come up with the Winter Soldier idea in 2000?  Maybe, but also is it really *that* original an idea?  I assure you that 8-year-old me certainly didn’t have a Russian sleeper agent angle…mostly because I didn’t really know what that was.  I’m getting sidetracked.  I’ve had my eye out for this set for a while, and I finally found one for a price I liked over the summer, so here it is.  I like it a lot.  Cap is the best version of this mold they did, and that’s pretty cool.  Bucky feels like he *shouldn’t* work being cobbled together the way he is, and yet, in “whole is better than the sum of the parts” situation, he really just does.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0041: Gambit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

GAMBIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

Okay, after a brief interruption in the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums last week, we are back, and we are jumping back onto that Toy Biz bandwagon!  This one strays a bit later than a lot of the Addendums, hitting up Toy Biz’s move to 1/12 scale figures with Marvel Legends.  Let’s look at Gambit!

So, Happy President’s Day, I guess. Um, I don’t really have that much in the way of presidential action figures, so I’m just gonna go ahead as if it’s any other day. But I thought I’d point it out anyway. Just to mess with you.

Looking back at my past reviews, I’m actually a bit shocked by how few reviews I’ve done of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. For a while back there they were, like, the only line I really collected, and I’ve done quite a few reviews of DC Direct figures, which I collected about the same time, so it seems odd I haven’t really looked at any of them. I think part of this might be that I have some bad memories of trying to track certain figures down, and part of it might be that the figures just haven’t aged all that well. Or, I’m going by a totally randomized list, and not as many of them have popped up. Who knows? (Well, me but that kinda ruins my intro).

So, in an effort to attempt to correct some slight oversight, I’ll be reviewing the Marvel Legends version of the X-Men’s own resident scum bag, Gambit! Gambit isn’t as big a deal as he once was, but he was pretty big in the 90s, and even into the early 2000s, hence his place in the line. So, let’s take a look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was released as part of the 4th wave of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends line. He stands about 6 inches tall, and he has 40 points of articulation. The figure depicts Gambit in him classic pink/blue/black leotard and brown trench coat look that everyone thought was oh so rad in the 90s. It’s a truly hideous design, but I can’t help but be so damned nostalgic about it, because being born in the 90s ruined me as a person. The sculpt was pretty good at the time, but now feels like one of the more outdated sculpts in the line, with huge hands, some pretty serious monkey arms, and an overall emaciated look to him. I think the head still holds up, with that perfect floppy Gambit hair, and the totally in character smirk. The coat isn’t the best tailored thing ever, but it isn’t too bad, and it does somewhat mask the odd proportions of the figure. The figure’s paint is pretty good, though it can be sloppy in some places, particularly the face, which I’ve seen have some variance from figure to figure. I do appreciate that this is one of the only Gambit figures to give him the appropriate black sleeves with those weird pink squares, instead of just leaving them pink. The figure had a really nice assortment of accessories that I wish I still had, including: his staff, an energy explosion with a set of cards to simulate his powers, and a base sculpted to look like a fallen Sentinel hand. These pieces were all pretty cool, and I think I still have the stand in a box with some others, but the other two pieces are long gone.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Believe it or not, Gambit was one of my favorite ToyBiz Legends. I’m not really sure why, as I’m not that big a fan of the character, and the figure isn’t that amazing, but I really liked him. I suppose coming early in the line, he got a lot more play time than some of the later figures, and he was one of the figures in the line who you didn’t have to devote all your free time to tracking down.

He hasn’t aged amazingly well, but he’s still held up better than some of the figures, which does give a leg up. And given Gambit’s rather quick decline in popularity, the character has yet to see any kind of rerelease in the more recent incarnations of the line, which I suppose makes this guy a bit more valuable. 

That is a very long intro, and it sure does take a while to get to the point, doesn’t it?  I was still getting the feel for how to jump into things, I think, and I was still doing a lot of call outs for even more minor holidays, which I just don’t do now.  At this point, I was still recovering from being burned by some bad experiences collecting Toy Biz Legends.  Another decade removed, I’m less that way, and generally feel a bit more nostalgic about the whole experience.  Also, I do kind of rag on Gambit for being not really relevant anymore, which is funny here in 2025, when he’s definitely come back around.

Generally, the review proper’s not bad.  I stand by a lot of what I said.  The sculpt has good aspects, but also some issues as well, much like most of the Toy Biz run of this period.  When I originally reviewed him, he was sans accessories.  Since then, I’ve tracked down the stand (which I knew I had when I reviewed him originally, but just didn’t go to the trouble of tracking down), as well as the charged card effect piece (which I was convinced there was no chance at me finding originally, but I was clearly wrong).  The display bases could be a bit of a mixed bag, but Gambit’s is undoubtedly one of the best from the line, and the best of the running subset of damaged Sentinel bases packed with X-Men characters.

#3910: Grey Hulk

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

GREY HULK

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Meet Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, a nuclear physicist working for the United States Defense Department. Dr. Banner designed a Gamma Bomb, a weapon that emitted a high output of gamma radiation. During the testing of the bomb, Dr. Banner attempted to rescue a civilian who had wandered onto the test site. Banner was caught in the blast and thanks to an unknown genetic factor, was transformed into a grey-skinned behemoth known as the Hulk. The meek and timid Banner, when enraged, changes into the unstoppable Hulk. Possessing unearthly strength, the Hulk can easily lift 70 tons. While in Hulk form, he is nearly impervious to harm as well. Make no mistake, the Hulk more than lives up to his name and has yet to meet his equal in sheer brute force.”

Hey, look it’s a Grey Hulk.  Or perhaps a Gray Hulk.  You know, depending on your take on spellings.  This one’s emphatically a “Grey” Hulk, and I’m gonna go so far as to say that it’s ultimately this figure’s fault that I default to the “e” spelling over the “a” spelling.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  I’ve thoroughly exhausted the one real bit of trivia I have for Grey Hulk, so I won’t bring it up again.  I’ll just assume you know why he shifted from grey to green in the comics.  Because of that shift, however (and Marvel’s recoloring of reprints of his original appearance), Hulk merchandise always stuck to his emerald pallor.  It was a pretty big deal to get any sort of Grey Hulk at all, and an especially big deal for it to not be a Joe Fixit variant.  So, hey, let’s check out the big deal.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grey Hulk is the fourth and final figure in Toy Biz’s Silver Age line, a PX-exclusive assortment from 1999.  He, like last week’s Spidey, is actually true to the line’s name, and perhaps one of the very best uses of such an idea.  As noted above, this was the first proper Grey Hulk figure released, which was very cool.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He wasn’t especially big, but I guess Grey Hulk was kind of on the smaller side.  The articulation is notably limited, with no elbows or knees, which happened a lot with the Hulks.  Most of his sculpt is a re-use of the “Crash-Out Action” Hulk from the main Hulk line’s “Smash & Crash” assortment.  It was that line’s take on the standard look for the character from the UPN series at the time.  Issues of size and articulation aside, it’s a decent basic Hulk sculpt, and it fits in well with the rest of the Toy Biz figures of the time.  Since that figure’s head sculpt was very much a later style Hulk, this guy gets a new head, a rare new piece for the line.  It gives Hulk his shorter hair and more pronounced brow, and while it’s a touch soft, it’s generally a pretty nice sculpt.  He also gets a soft-goods shirt and shoes, so as to give him more of the tattered remains of Bruce Banner’s clothing, in line with the look on the original cover.  They’re admittedly a little dopey looking, but they’re also completely removable if they’re not your vibe.  The color work here’s not bad.  The grey is all painted, and there’s pretty extensive accenting, which works quite well.  Hulk is packed with a couple of pieces of wall, which are re-purposed from the Cyclops Laser Arena, a seven year old set that had no re-use up to this point.  Pretty impressive resourcefulness, honestly.  The new paint work makes them look a bit more natural than the original use as well, which is certainly a plus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is the only Silver Age figure I had as a kid.  He was, if I’m recalling correctly, left for me by my dad the Tooth Fairy after I lost my first front tooth.  Sneaking an entire sealed figure under my pillow was a neat trick, I’ll tell you that.  I was always reading old Marvel comics, and the early Hulk look fascinated me, so he was right up my alley.  Despite not technically being a standard Hulk, he rivaled my Avengers boxed set Hulk for being my go-to Hulk at play time.  I lost the shirt, shoes, and wall shortly after getting him, I recall, but was able to get replacements more recently.  He holds up pretty well, and I think he’s probably the best figure in this particular set.

#3906: Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Peter Parker, a mild mannered honor student in high school was fascinated with all things scientific. While attending a science exhibition on the manipulation of wavelength radiations, Peter was bitten by a spider that was exposed to radiations. Peter was bitten by a spider that was exposed to radiation. As a result, he was given superhuman, spider-like abilities. Peter could now climb walls, leap incredible distances, and life more than 10 tons, prompting him to adopt the identity of Spider-Man. He made a costume and with his knowledge of science created “web-shooters.” Attached to each wrist, his web-shooters allow Spider-Man to shoot super strong, sticky webs to swing from and use as various weapons. Spider-Man also has a “spider-sense” that warns him of impending danger making him one of the most legendary crime fighters ever known.”

While he spent the first two decades of his existence with only a handful of action figures, but the end of the ‘90s, there was absolutely no shortage of Spider-Man action figures.  Toy Biz released a metric ton of them in the 5-inch line, mostly under his own self-branded line, launched to tie-in with his ‘90s Animated Series.  The more obscure offshoot lines weren’t as likely to include him, since he was better suited in other, more big-box-retail-friendly set-ups.  He did get the occasional less mainstream release, as was the case with today’s offering, which goes back to the character’s earliest days.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man is the third of the four figures in Toy Biz’s PX-exclusive Silver Age line from 1999.  By far, he is the assortment’s heaviest hitter, making him this line-up’s correspondent to the Wolverine in the Modern Age line-up.  Unlike the Cap figure, which was emphatically *not* Silver Age, and the Gwen figure, which was a loose connection, Spidey is emphatically well within the timeline for Silver Age…for the most part.  I’ll get to all that.  The figure stands right under 5 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Spidey was entirely parts re-use, using the body of the Marvel Super Heroes “Multi-Jointed Action Poses” Spidey, with the head from the Animated Super-Posable Spidey.  It’s actually kind of a neat combo.  The MSH body is smaller and skinnier than most of the other Spideys that Toy Biz put out, and the head being originally meant for a more bulked up Spidey means it’s a touch too large…which is a pretty good match for Ditko’s portrayal of a teenage Peter Parker in the costume.  The base body is very posable, as well, which makes for a better general Spidey set-up.  To really sell the earlier Spidey look, they’ve also pinned a pair of vinyl “web-wings” to the backs of his arms, much like the first Fantastic Four line’s Black Bolt.  I limits the posing on the arms a little bit, but it’s not terrible, and it’s a good change-up for the look.  The figure’s paint work is more or less what you would expect from this era of Spider-Man.  I might have perhaps liked a slightly more Ditko-like pattern and eyes on the face, but it’s not incredibly far off, and it wouldn’t shock me to find out there may have been some branding involved in the look here.  The blue is a darker shade, but not the straight on black of his original appearance, meaning this isn’t a First Appearance figure, but rather a broader Silver Age figure.  While I always love a good First Appearance Spidey, the blue with the web-wings is the look less often done, so can dig it.  Spidey was packed with the web-shooters, belt, and ankle pouches from Scarlet Spider, all done in the same silver with darker accenting, as well as an actual rolled paper copy of the Daily Bugle, and a card with the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15 (which makes this line 3 for 3 on the figures not wearing the costumes depicted on the covers for their cards).  Not entirely sure why he gets all the Scarlet Spider gear, but it’s a neat extra nevertheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had *plenty* of Spider-Men by the time this figure hit, so he’s the one member of the line-up that didn’t tempt me in the slightest…you know, until I had the other three and he was all I needed to finish the set.  So, off to eBay I went.  In light of figures that are more obviously new and different, he sort of gets lost, but at the same time, he’s actually a pretty neat figure with a solid take on a more specific design.  And, he does at least actually stick to the theme.

#3904: The Thing

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

THE THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

When it comes to cinematic adaptations, Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, has had a bit of a mixed presentation.  Michael Chiklis’s turn as Ben was undoubtedly the highlight of the two Story films, but Jaime Bell’s mumbling loner from Fant4stic was a particularly poor showing in an already poor film.  And, somewhere in the middle, you’ve got Micheal Bailey Smith and Carl Cialfalio’s two-handed Ben and Thing approach from the Corman movie, which is admittedly mostly just hampered by the film’s unfinished nature.  Where does Ebon Moss-Bachrach fall in the scale?  He’s at least as good as Chiklis, I’d say.  My only hang-up is that I don’t feel there’s as much time spent with him as the other three, so it’s a little harder to form a full opinion.  I do look forward to seeing more, though, and it’s certainly a much better approach than the one that immediately preceded it.  Anyway, here’s a figure of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing is another entry in the First Steps tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, and the last of the four members of the titular team.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The film returns Ben to something closer to his ‘60s scaling, which means that this figure is the smallest of the Legends Thing figures to date.  That’s not a bad thing, mind you.  His articulation’s a little different from the other team members, given his bulkier stature.  We see a bit of a return to the “twisting meat” era with the biceps and the abdomen both having opposing joints that sort of cancel each other out.  It’s not quite as much of an aesthetic problem this time around, though.  Ben’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s…well, it’s not technically inaccurate,  but it’s not the look the character spends the bulk of the movie sporting.  In the film, in contrast to most depictions of the character, he has a full uniform to match the other three, but what we get here is something closer to how Ben’s classically depicted, sans shirt and boots.  We see him in action with this look briefly during the opening montage of the team’s first four years of exploits, and it also shows up a few times in the in-universe promotional images, keeping him more in line with the slightly adjusted hair styles of Reed and Johnny.  It’s ultimately a more quintessential look for the character, and I myself prefer it, but maybe we’ll see a more accurate final battle Ben, complete with bearded head sculpt later down the line?  This sculpt is a strong offering, though.  The likeness on the head matches his design in the film nice, and they do a good job of recreating the rocky texturing of his skin, as well as keeping his uniform’s stitching consistent with the other three team members.  I do especially like the more reserved expression on the head, which feels very in line with Moss-Bachrach’s portrayal of the character.  The paint work here is a bit mixed.  The rocky skin gets some really solid accenting, which really works well with the sculpted details.  On the flip side, the uniform is a bit sloppy, and one of the logos on his leg was all scratched-up right out of the box.  Ben is packed with two pairs of hands, one in fists and one in open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ben’s my favorite FF member, and this was the figure from this set I was most looking forward to.  He’s a modern movie Legend, so if you’ve gotten a bunch of those, you know what you’re getting here.  It means he’s a pretty solid, pretty straight forward figure, though, and he certainly feels like he gets the character down pretty well.

Shoutout to All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3902: Gwen Stacy

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

GWEN STACY

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Former student and model, Gwen Stacy was also Peter Parker’s girlfriend. Both Peter and Gwen were Biochemistry majors at Empire State University where they met and fell in love. Unbeknownst to Gwen, Peter Parker was secretly Spider-Man and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin knew so. The Green Goblin kidnaped Gwen Stacy and used her as a hostage to exact revenge on his nemesis, Spider-Man. During their battle, the Goblin knocked Gwen Stacy off the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man caught her with his webbing. Tragically, Gwen died from the shock of the fall, thus ending a major chapter in the personal life of Peter Parker.”

Last week, I took a jump into one of Toy Biz’s one-off specialty assortments released in 1999 to fill out their 5-inch Marvel run.  Titled “Silver Age”, it was designed to highlight characters from Marvel’s heyday of the ‘60s.  While largely heavy hitter driven, it did give them an opportunity for one slightly more off the beaten path sort of character.  By the end of the ‘90s, Spider-Man’s then-current love interest Mary Jane Watson had gotten two figures from Toy Biz, both via multipacks with Spidey variants.  His previous love interest, Gwen Stacy, was as of yet without any sort of toy coverage, but that was fixed by Silver Age, where she made her figure debut.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gwen Stacy was one of the four figures in Toy Biz’s Silver Age line.  She was the only non-heavy hitter in the bunch, but paired off well with the included Spider-Man figure.  Gwen’s an interesting choice for a Silver Age line; she was created during the Silver Age, but her death, which is a major piece of her bio for this figure, is one of the defining events of the Bronze Age, and as such she’s frequently attached to that era.  The figure stands right about 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Her posability is odd.  She’s got no neck or elbow movement, but she’s got one wrist and ankles.  She’s not particularly agirl.  Gwen’s using what appears to be a variation of Aurora’s body from the Alpha Flight line, but smoothed out for a better base starting point.  It’s decent enough, but the torso’s a little too tightly sculpted to believably be a shirt.  She gets a cloth skirt piece as well, and a unique head/hair.  Interestingly, Gwen’s *not* wearing her attire from “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” despite that being the usual go-to.  It’s a design that still feels rather Gwen-y, though, so it works out well enough. The paint work on this figure is okay.  The skin tone’s nice and clean, as are the stripes on her shirt.  The eyes are a touch wonky, though.  Gwen is packed with a camera (presumably borrowed from Peter?  It’s a unique piece, though), and a pair of clip-on fur pieces for her boots, for fashion purposes, no doubt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing this figure a fair bit in ’99, but I didn’t know who she was at the time.  It was actually this figure that kind of got me interested in finding out, so I guess that’s kind of cool.  I didn’t get her at the time, though.  She’s a far more recent addition, from the last few years, grabbed during one of my family vacations from Gidget’s Gadgets, a neat shop in the area.  She actually got me invested in getting the rest of the Silver Age line-up, which I’d up to then been putting off.  She’s okay.  Not super playable or distinctive, but at the same time, she’s pretty solid for a civilian character who’d never gotten a figure before.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0039: Wolverine – Yukon & Yukio

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE — YUKON & YUKIO

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

It’s Friday, so we’re flashing back again!  Once more, we dive into the world of my early Minimates reviews!  A couple of weeks ago, I revisited some of the The Wolverine movie tie-ins.  Here’s another one of those, with Wolverine — Yukon and Yukio!

“Today, I’ll be taking a look at yet another set of Minimates. Like the last Minimates review I did. These also come from the tie-in line from this year’s The Wolverine. Once again, it features a variant of the title character, this time packed with his trusty companion Yukio.

THE FIGURE THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (YUKON)

First up, it’s our hero Wolverine. He’s depicted in his “Yukon” look, from early in the film. This is the look that Logan sports for the first half an hour or so of the movie. It’s a very different look for the character, and is important to the character’s story in the film. It’s also really unique, which makes it stand out pretty well on the shelf. He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted pieces for his hair, jacket and claws. The claws are the same as those used on the rest of the Wolverines in the wave. The hair and jacket are new pieces. They are sculpted well, and accurately depict his look from this point in the movie. The paint is well done on the figure. In spite of it not being a default look, I think that the likeness on this Wolverine may be the best Jackman likeness so far. The paint on the coat could possibly be a little better, with so noticeable slop on the edges, but nothing too bad. There’s some great detail work on the pants, with the wrinkles and such all being present. And underneath the jacket piece, there’s also chest detailing, showing Logan in a brown turtle-neck. I don’t recall him wearing it in the movie, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s a nice touch. Yukon Wolvie is rounded out with a pair of spare normal hands and a clear display stand.

NINJA YUKIO

Next up is Yukio, who fills a role that would conventionally be referred to as the “sidekick”, but that doesn’t seem quite right for Yukio. Were it not for the fact that the title of the film was “The Wolverine” I feel like she’d fall more into the hero role. Anyway, she’s depicted here in her “ninja” look, at least according to the package. I’d personally describe it more as a formal look, since it’s what she wears during the funeral sequence. It’s one of her two main looks from the movie, so it makes sense to see it here. Like Wolverine, she’s built on the base Minimate body, and has the standard 2 ½ inces of height and 14 points of articulation. As far as sculpted pieces, there’s her hair, her forearms, her skirt, and here boots. The forearms are shared with Mariko from the specialty wave, the hair was previously used on the Amazing Spiderman Gwen Stacy, and the boots have seen numerous previous uses, including the Urban Yukio from the specialty wave. Near as I can tell, the skirt is a new piece. The paint is all fairly well done, though there is a bit of slop on the hair. The likeness is better here than on the Urban Yukio I feel, but still a bit off. Rila Fukushima, who plays Yukio in the film, has a very uniquely shaped face, which seems to be difficult to translate to the cylindrical Minimate head, so I think Diamond did a pretty good job. Yukio is accessorized with a sword and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was ordered online via tru.com. Unlike Wolverine & Harada, I had no real issues acquiring this one, so that’s good.

I really like this set, it has a really unique Wolverine, and a very well done version of Yukio, who is one of the best characters in the movie. While I don’t think either figure is going to be the definitive version of the character for me, it’s a really fun little set!” 

Real talk?  I don’t really have any notes on this review.  I think I covered the bases pretty well, all of the parts are there, and my point still stands.  I thought it was an okay set then, and I still pretty much feel that way.  So, today’s just enough writing to justify showing off all the updated photos.  Here you go!

#3900: Johnny Storm

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

JOHNNY STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

There’s no shortage of Johnny Storms in the MCU.  Or, at least, there’s no shortage of Johnny Storm *actors* in the MCU.  They’ve absorbed all of them thus far, and the next logical step, of course, is to just have their own Johnny, portrayed by Joseph Quinn in First Steps.  He does a solid job with the part, giving the MCU a Johnny to be proud of, and one that won’t get lost despite the overabundance of Johnny actors around.  And, just to make sure he doesn’t get lost in the sea of MCU-associated product, there are two versions of him available in the Legends assortment for the movie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Johnny Storm is part of the 6-figure Marvel Legends tie-in assortment for Fantastic Four: First Steps.  As noted above, there are two Johnny figures included, one flamed on and one not.  This one is the not, in case the photos didn’t clue you in.  I do really like getting that option right out of the gate; we don’t really see it much with these figures.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His construction is very similar to Reed, though the two don’t actually share any parts.  All four members of the team have unique uniforms in the movie, and Johnny’s is the one that deviates the most from the traditional set-up, at least in terms of color break-down.  That said, it’s still a very FF-feeling set-up, so I can certainly dig it.  It’s also neat how they decided to put the whole team in a knit material so that Johnny would have something that looked like his old “heat lines” when flamed-on.  Johnny’s head sculpt has a good likeness of Quinn.  As with Reed, the hair isn’t quite on the mark for his look in the movie; it seems to take its influence from the in-universe promotional images within the movie, which have Johnny with a slightly more swept-back look.  The color work is largely consistent with the other two I’ve looked at; the exact details are slightly tweaked, and he’s definitely cleaner than Sue, but overall very similar.  I do like the accenting on the hair, as well as the very subtle stubble on his face.  Johnny is packed with two sets of hands (in open and fists), as well as two flame effect pieces.  The fists for some reason omit the black palms from the gloves, which is rather glaring in most poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If nothing else, I am a sucker for a fully powered down Johnny figure, given their relative rarity for so long.  So, when the movie figures were confirmed to be giving us both, that made me quite happy.  I was also quite pleased by Joseph Quinn’s casting in the role, and his performance was certainly a highlight in the film.  The figure is fun.  Pretty much exactly on par with the others, and by extension exactly on par with other modern Legends, but it’s hard to complain about consistency when it’s this good.

Shoutout to All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3898: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Steve Rogers, a frail, sickly orphan, enlisted in the army on the eve of World Ear II but was rejected due to this poor physical condition. Given a second change, Rogers volunteered for a special experiment called Operation Rebirth. He was injected with a “Super Soldier” serum and his body was transformed into a body as perfect as a human can be. He was trained in gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy and became Captain America. In addition to speed, strength, agility, endurance and reaction speed far superior to any Olympic athlete, Captain America was given an unbreakable Adamantium shield as his sole weapon. Captain America has since faced all types of threats and has and always will be a true symbol of truth, liberty and justice.”

In 1999, Toy Biz was exploring direct market options for keeping their 5-inch Marvel offerings going, and wound up offering a handful of one-off sets of figures, each with a loose theme.  There was a pair of them based around different eras of the Marvel Universe, one Silver Age, the other Modern.  Today, I’m jumping into the former, with a look back at Marvel’s Silver Age of comics….sort of….not really.  Look, I’ll get to it.  The important thing here is that I’m looking at a Toy Biz Captain America, and that’s always a good time for me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is the first of the four figures that make up the Silver Age line from Toy Biz.  While Modern Age skewed a bit more obscure with some of its choices, Silver Age was very heavy hitter friendly.  Both line-ups were offered up through Previews, so they were predominantly comic store exclusives.  I know KB got Modern Age, but I don’t recall if Silver Age ever made that jump.  Anyway, let’s talk about Cap!  So, let’s be clear about something right out of the gate: this is emphatically *not* a Silver Age Captain America.  They gave him a card with the cover of Avengers #4, which introduced Cap to the Silver Age, but the actual figure is very much first appearance Cap, which makes him a Golden Age Cap.  But, I suppose a “Golden Age” line of Marvel figures would struggle with a wider audience, so Cap got shuffled. The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He made use of the mold from the Marvel vs Capcom Cap from earlier that same year.  It’s my favorite of the Toy Biz Cap molds, for sure, and generally the one that works best with their overall 5-inch line.  The only thing that’s a little off about it in a non-video game application is that the head is definitely a Capcom Cap, not a straight comics one, and this figure is definitely aiming for a more direct Kirby vibe.  There *were* new parts in this line-up, but not a ton, so they may have just figured it was close enough.  I still don’t hate it, even if it’s not crazy accurate.  The primary change-up is the paint, which serves to make him all not-Silver-Age-y.  He’s got his modified mask, without the neck coverage.  It doesn’t really follow the sculpted lines, of course, so you just have to ignore that and hope for the best.  Otherwise, he also changes the colors a bit, so the blue is a lot darker here than on others.  Beyond that, application’s pretty clean, and he gets some okay accent work.  Cap is packed with both of his shields, the circular one and the original badge-shaped one.  The circular one is the same mold as the MvC one, but using a different plastic, so the clip isn’t as prone to breaking, making it a perfect replacement for the MvC one that broke.  The other shield is neat, because you didn’t tend to see it, and this was its first toy coverage.  It’s also got actual cloth straps, which are very fun.  Lastly, there’s a trading card with the Avengers #4 cover that doesn’t have anything to do with this figure, but is still a nice example of a good cover.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There were three Captain America figures released in 1999, and I got two of them.  I wanted all three, but my parents were still working towards grasping why I needed nearly identical figures of the same guy.  I’d already gotten them to buy me the United They Stand Cap, and I guess I just didn’t want to push my luck with this one?  I looked at it a lot of times, I recall, and I’m sure if I’d really asked, they would have bought it for me.  I recall being a bit frustrated by a clearly Golden Age Cap being in a Silver Age line, even as a seven-year-old, so perhaps I just wasn’t personally ready to own him.  He’s been on my list for a while, though.  He’s not rare, but he’s not super plentiful, so he never landed in front of me.  At the beginning of the year, as I started to get back to my Toy Biz collecting, he was on my short list, and now here he is.  I do sure like him a lot.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0038: Terrax

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

TERRAX

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

When I revived the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums in April, I did so with a crazy, radical idea: a second addendum.  Yes, back when I did my first round of addendums, all the way in distant year of 2017, some of my figures were more complete than their initial reviews, but still not *totally* complete.  That’s just not good enough for me.  I returned to Savage Land Angel for a round three, and now I’m doing the same for another Toy Biz figure, Terrax!

Today’s review is another Fantastic Four figure, this is the last of the wave one reviews: Terrax. There was one other figure in the first wave, Benjamin J Grimm, aka the Thing, but I didn’t have that version. I had the later wave 3 version. And can I just address the fact that I’m reviewing Terrax, but I’ve yet to get to the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman? You know the other HALF of the title team! How exactly did TERRAX get himself a spot in the line before two of the title characters? He’s really not that great a character, nor has he ever really been all that important…ever. Anyway…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So like I said before, this is Terrax, the second herald of Galactus, part of the first wave of Toybiz’s FF line. He’s depicted here in Terrax’s only look ever, which must have made the costume choice pretty easy for the guys at Toybiz. At one point in time, Terrax had a rock stand and his trusty axe (which tears through stuff. Cleaver name….). Mine doesn’t have these items any more. The figure’s actually a very good depiction of Terrax, which is nice because he’s not one of those characters who gets many chances at having an action figure made. His hands are interesting, because they’re both molded to hold his axe, but due to their vertical placement and his limited articulation, he can only hold it in one hand at a time. This leaves the other hand with this thumbs up position. What is this guy, the Fonz? (AAAAAAAAY!) Actually, that might make his character a bit more interesting. You heard it here first Marvel! (Do they even realize that this character exists?)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Terrax was another of the gift figures. It’s fine because he’s a great, big, bad guy for your heroes to fight. That was always good enough for me!

Well, there’s the original review.  It’s…it’s something.  In these earliest reviews, I was still finding my voice, and I was aiming for witty and perhaps a bit edgy?  I wasn’t aiming for well-proof-read, I’ll tell you that, hence the use of “cleaver” in a sentence clearly meant to use “clever.”  Yikes.

Okay, by this point I was starting to get into the swing of things. Over 300 words and an actual intro. Still doesn’t quite follow my modern structuring, but not terrible at all. And of course, I was still doing full series reviews at this point, which is rather different than how I do things now.

Terrax is a little over 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Missing from my original review were his rock stand, removable skirt piece and his axe. Of those pieces, the only one I found during The Find was his axe, but that’s okay, since the axe is definitely the most important piece!

Not a whole lot of extra thoughts on this guy, I gotta say. That’s all for cosmic Fonzie here.

One of my briefer addendums, for sure.  I cover the basics and add the note about the axe I found.  Well, that’s all good, I suppose.  This time around, I have his two skirt pieces, as well as his rock stand, bringing him back up to a complete figure.  He’s actually quite a nice little package of a figure, and you could hardly ask for more from a Terrax.