Tag Archives: Mistakes were made

#4044: Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action

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

SPIDER-MAN with REAL WEB-SHOOTING ACTION

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Spider-Man gained his amazing powers when he was bitten by a radioactive spider! Now he’s super-strong, super-athletic, and able to crawl up any wall! Not only that, but he’s got an amazing “spider-sense” that warns him of trouble before it happens. To help him catch criminals, Spider-Man invented a secret weapon — web shooters that shoot out webbing at lightning speed. In fact, the webbing is so strong that it can trap even the toughest super-powered enemy! ”

Though typically more of a solo hero, Spider-Man’s spot as Marvel’s top super hero has frequently been leveraged in the world of merchandising as a way to get the other heroes in the door, rather than jumping straight to just the Spidey-exclusive stuff.  This was especially evident with Toy Biz’s early run with the license, where their main Marvel line was still very heavily leveraged on Spidey.  The first assortment of Marvel Super Heroes just had one Spidey and one antagonist for him, but as the line progressed, both the web-slinger and his nemeses became more plentiful.  Here’s one of the first “variant” Spider-Man figures, quite a novel thing at the time.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man with Real Web-Shooting Action was one of two Spidey variants in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line.  Since the figure in Series 1 was a bit more general purpose, Series 2 focused on recreating specific powers via gimmicky action features.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, Spidey was still operating on the same articulation scheme as everyone else.  Likewise, he’s using a variation of the Series 1 molds for the character, which also have a lot more in common with everyone else in the line than they do later Spider-Men.  That means he’s rather chunky, oddly proportioned, and very stiff.  None of that really adds up to the ideal sort of Spider-Man.  This is especially notable on the head, which is small, has a very long, but also very thick neck, and just generally doesn’t look like any notably incarnation of Spidey’s quite distinctive mask.  He does at least have the benefit of losing the obvious suction cups present on the original figure’s hands, so his left hand is now just a flat hand with noting attached to it.  Unfortunately, to facilitate his action feature, his right arm is totally straight, at an odd angle in relation to the rest of the body, and his hand permanently has a big whole in the front of it.  Also, his hand is in a fist, as opposed to, oh, I don’t know, maybe the very distinctive pose his hand is usually in when he’s shooting web?  Weird choice.  His color work is…fine.  Much like the sculpting, it’s kind of weird and off kilter, and the web lines of the costume don’t really line up with usual depictions of his look.  Also, it’s very fuzzy on the lines, which makes the whole thing look wonky.  In accordance with his “Real Web-Shooting Action,” Spidey includes missile with a rubber “web” attachment on the front.  Look, I don’t want to split hairs here, but, umm, that’s not a “real web-shooting action.”  Because a missile isn’t “real” web.  So, you know, weird choice of words.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The MSH Spider-Men are an interesting and eclectic bunch of figures that generally all look very similar and are easily confused.  Also, they all have completely different selections of accessories that don’t really correspond with the main figure, which can be extra confusing.  Several years ago, a bunch of the MSH figures got traded into work, and there was a bag specifically of Spider-Men, which I of course grabbed.  This was the only one in the bag that was complete.  It’s not a great figure.  it’s not even a good figure.  You might call it a bad figure.  But, it’s also one of the first Spider-Man variants, and so it’s neat and sort of quaint.  Earnest, perhaps.  So, we’re gonna let it have that.

#4036: Dr. Octopus

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

DR. OCTOPUS

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“Mankind beware! Dr. Octopus is an evil scientist who will stop at nothing in order to become the ultimate crime lord! With his suction-cupped tentacles, Dr. Octopus can climb almost any smooth surface. And with his two-grasping tentacles, he can lock onto any object with a merciless, unbreakable grip of steal!”

Throughout Spider-Man’s history, Dr. Octopus and Green Goblin have spent quite a bit of time circling each other as Spidey’s primary nemesis.  In the ‘70s, when Mego offered up the first proper figures of Spider-Man and his associated rogues, it was Goblin who got the nod, but by the ‘80s Secret Wars line, Goblin was dead, so Ock made his figure debut.  Since Goblin was still dead in 1990, when Toy Biz took over the license, it was Ock who once more got the nod as Spidey’s first antagonist in Marvel Super Heroes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Octopus was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line in 1990.  This was Doc Ock’s second figure, and first under Toy Biz’s tenure.  He’s sporting Ock’s classic costume from the ‘70s into the ‘80s, which disappeared from the comics the same year this figure was released.  It was the only time Toy Biz released this look during their 5-inch run.  The figure stands just under 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation, as well as four bendy arms for the tentacles.  Ock’s sculpt was all-new, and unique to him.  It’s in the same general style as the other early line figures, taking a bit from Toy Biz’s DC Super Heroes line and its Super Powers influence.  It’s…not one of the strong sculpts from the early run.  His body shape is just sort of odd; Ock is usually depicted as a little on the heftier side, but here he’s just weirdly shaped, not like an actual person.  His arms are very long, his shoulders are very narrow, and his hips are very wide.  Also, he appears to have boobs?  The head is rather large, and it’s ugly, but not really in the way that Doc Ock is usually ugly.  He just looks really malformed.  The tentacles are at least a bit better.  It’s hard to screw up the basic banded metal look, and they didn’t, so good for them.  The front two have pincers for gripping, and the back two have suction cups.  They can’t hold him aloft, but they can aid in keeping him standing, which is honestly pretty nice.  Ock’s paint work is basic, and not anything crazy.  The hair is red, which seems wrong, and coverage is spotty in a few places, but it generally gets the job done.  Ock doesn’t get any accessories, but with the tentacles, he feels like a pretty equivalent value to the other figures in the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I found myself between releases of Doc Ock, having missed this one and the initial cartoon release.  I never really had any particular attachment to the character, at least until Spider-Man 2 came along, so the figure from that line would have been my first Doc Ock.  I got this one about five or six years ago, when he got traded into work with a bundle of other Marvel Super Heroes figures.  He’s not great, if I’m honest.  A lot of these earlier Toy Biz figures have a certain charm, but Ock’s not one of them.  The tentacles are cool, but the figure attached to them is *rough.*

#4018: Major Don West

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

MAJOR DON WEST

LOST IN SPACE (TRENDMASTERS)

The 1965 sci-fi show Lost in Space began in the far off year of 1997.  In 1998, a year *after* the original show took place, and 30 years after the original show ended, it was somebody’s bright idea to reboot things with a movie.  And they sure did that.  Lost in Space is…well, it’s a movie with actors and sets, and things happening.  It’s also not very good.  Got a sizable marketing push, though, including a bunch of toys from the show and the movie, courtesy of ‘90s toymakers Trendmasters.  Series regular Major Don West was portrayed in the movie by Mr. Joey Tribianni himself, Matt LeBlanc, making him, I believe, the only Friends regular to get a proper action figure.  So, let’s look at that, and ask the figure the oh so important question: How you doin’? (Spoiler: not great)

THE FIGUE ITSELF

Major Don West was released in 1998 as part of the one and only basic figure series for Trendmasters’ Lost in Space movie tie-in line.  Don is based on his “space suit” look (if you can really call it that) from the sequence onboard the derelict ship, which was where most of the marketing push came from.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Trendmasters was definitely taking a page out of the Kenner playbook on this line, in terms of scaling, articulation, and overall style.  Unfortunately, they kind of missed the mark on the style part.  The sculpt is unique to this figure, and that’s good, because it avoids letting this sculpt infect any other figures.  It’s…well, it’s not great.  The head sculpt is supposed to be Matt LeBlanc, but it looks more like Joe Pesci.  The proportions are a mess, with the head and hands much larger than they should be relative to the figure’s very scrawny body.  He’s sort of pre-posed, but like half-heartedly so, so he’s just awkward looking.  Awkward.  That’s really the best word for the whole thing.  His paint work is fine.  It’s inoffensive, which is a high mark compared to the sculpt.  It manages to not break anything worse…mostly.  Not sure what’s going on with those bloodshot eyes, though.  They don’t help the overall look.  Don was packed with his helmet and blaster from the derelict sequence, as well as one of the larger “spider” creatures that they battle.  The helmet is comedically large, but it does at least do the cool flipping down over his face bit, which gains extra significance on the figure, because now you don’t have to see his face.  Honestly, I love that for him.  The gun is fine, but he struggles to hold it properly.  And the spider is a spider.  So, they didn’t mess that up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this movie in the theatre opening day.  I had books, I had toys, I had everything.  That included this guy here.  I remember the toy commercials for this line, and this guy was in there, and I had to have him.  He got played with a lot that summer.  He got snuck into kindergarten with me.  He’s…not good.  Bad, even.  Like, I’ve got all the nostalgia, but oh boy is this a bad figure.  Trendmasters did alright by the robot, but the humans are *rough*.  But, as you can see, the nostalgia’s been enough to keep him in my collection for almost thirty years, so I guess that’s good for something, right?

#4000: Captain America – Captain America: The First Avenger

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER 

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES (HOT TOYS)

Today marks my 4000th review here on the site, if you can believe it.  I can, because, you know, I’m the one that wrote them all, but also it does feel like rather a strange concept.  When I first launched the site, I decided I wanted to mark my “monumental” reviews with looks at some of the higher end figures in my collection, meaning predominantly my Hot Toys figures.  It was initially every 50 (which was only every month and a half, so really not significant), before moving to every hundred after 300, then every 250 after 1500, then every 500 after 2000, and then every 1000 after 3000 (though that one was more because I forgot to write a monumental review at 3500 and just decided to roll with it).  The thousands are especially notable, since it means that the first numeral on the reviews changes, which is rather significant.  The largest sub-set of my Hot Toys figures is my Captain America collection.  I’ve actually reviewed *most* of them here, but the only one I haven’t is actually the very first one.  So, I’m taking this here 4000th review to amend that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is figure MMS 156 in Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series.  Numerically, he’s wedged between the updated Batman Begins Batman and Baby Doll from Sucker Punch, which is one eclectic sort of batch of figures, huh?  He’s based on his primary appearance in The First Avenger, and was released domestically in December of 2011, just making it out in the same year as the movie’s release, which was notable for a Hot Toys release at the time.  The figure stands just over 12 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

At this point, it’s pretty much a lock that every Hot Toys Captain America comes with multiple heads, but that wasn’t the case for his debut here, which just gives him the one helmeted look.  It was a respectable offering for the time, but not without some caveats.  The construction, using multiple pieces for the actual head and his helmet, helps add some depth to it, like he’s actually wearing a helmet, which looks very nice.  The underlying head is a rather lifelike offering, with plenty of realistic detailing.  That said, it’s not really a spot-on Chris Evans, especially not when compared to later sculpts they did for him.  I’ve always gotten more of a Tom Cruise vibe, myself.  It’s not so far off that it doesn’t work at all, but it’s definitely not as strong as it could be.  The paint work is *mostly* up to Hot Toys’ usual standard of incredibly detailed and life-like, with one notable issue: the “A” on the helmet isn’t properly centered.  On mine, this is exceedingly minor and pretty much not noticeable in person, but there was a lot of variation across the production, and there are some that were quite a bit worse.

Cap’s outfit is rather involved.  Like in the movie, there’s a lot of small little pieces layering on top of each other to create the final appearance.  For the figure, pretty much the entire upper half is functionally one piece, and it’s all fixed to the figure’s torso using the star at the center of the chest.  Compared to later offerings, the stitching here feels a little bit heavy-handed, but it wasn’t awful for the time.  The biggest issue with it is that it ends up looking a little sloppy around the edges of the shoulders.  We get some issues with QC again here, this time having to do with the material used for his belt and holster.  It’s a simulated leather, and it’s really soft, making parts of it prone to tearing, especially on the clasp for the holster.  Additionally, the glue used to hold the holster straps in place didn’t adhere well to the material, so they pull off with relatively minor posing, and you either have to strategically tuck them, or try to glue them back.  The glue likewise didn’t hold well on the belt, leading to it releasing from both sides of the buckle on mine.  The cuffs of the pants are folded inward, and a little bit too high up, so when you pose his legs, the shins are sometimes visible above the boots, which looks a little silly.  There are a number of sculpted elements present, which do look a bit better, and are far less prone to issues.

The underlying body is hard to get a total read on, since the costume’s rather attached.  The upper portion isn’t incredibly posable, especially when it comes to the arms, so you have to sort of work carefully to do much with it.  The lower half is at least a bit better, though it’s worth noting that they determined his legs were too short later in production, and addressed this by swapping in a longer set of ankle pegs to off-set it (the original length pegs were also included for those who wanted the option), which helps in some ways, but ends up odd in others, and also ties into the issue with the exposed shins mentioned in the costume section.  Overall, though, the build of the body looks pretty close to Evans in the movie, and stands well on the shelf.

Cap is packed with 9 pairs of hands, his shield, a Thompson 1928a1, a Colt 1911, and a display stand.  The hands give him a variety of posing options, though like earlier HT offerings, they can be a bit tricky to swap.  The guns were packed pretty much standard across all of the TFA Caps, and they’re as good as any HT small-scale weapon.  They’ve got moving and removable parts, and certainly look cool.  The stand is a stand, but it does what it needs to.  The shield?  Well, let’s talk about the shield.  

HT opted for a vac-metalized finish on the shields to start, so they’d be shiny and chrome.  It’s an odd choice, since the shield’s not that at all in the movie, where it’s actually got more of a brushed steel finish, which would be much easier to replicate.  What’s more, because of the vac-metalizing, the red and blue paint on the front of the shield didn’t properly adhere to the surface, meaning that it eventually just started flaking off over time, leaving you with a kind of unpleasant mess of a shield, that just slowly degrades more and more over time.  I’ve included a photo I took in 2014 of this one, so you can see just how far it degraded just sitting on a shelf between then and when I packed it up in 2020, at which point it was packed away, and only pulled out for the photos that ran with this review.  The “clean” shield from the Avengers release was the same, but we already knew about the issues, so I left that one packed away, so it’s the one seen in the accessories shot here.  Even so, it’s surface is completely cracked, so handling it anywhere but the very edges will cause it to flake just like the original.  The Avengers release at least got a spare shield with a different finish.  This one’s not so lucky.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was my seventh Hot Toys figure, I’m pretty sure?  I got him new, as a (ever so slightly late) Christmas present from my parents, back in 2011.  I really loved The First Avenger, and while I had some initial misgivings about the costume design, it grew on me, and I knew I needed to own the high-end version of this guy.  Little did I know at the time just *how many* high end versions of him I’d end up getting.  When he was new, he had some minor issues that I just sort of had to overlook.  As he’s gotten older, more issues have cropped up, and better Caps have come along, which has made him a rather unfortunate release.  But, I’m still happy I got him.  A year after his release, my brother got me a scale bike for him, and he looks pretty fantastic propped on that, with his shield on his back so you can’t see the flaking.  Ultimately, he’s a rough release for Hot Toys, but without him, we wouldn’t have all the others, and that’s pretty darn cool by me.

Incidentally, way back in 2014, I mapped out all of my “Monumental” reviews, and built Word documents for them, as was my way at the time.  While I’ve moved away from most of those old documents, Cap here was written in his, just for old time’s sake.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0056: Silver Surfer

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

SILVER SURFER

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Hey-oh, it’s the end of the week once more, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Oh yeah!  Flashing back to the far away year of 2016, back when things were oh so 2016-y, here’s a revisit on a Silver Surfer!

Though they were best known for their 15 year run with the Marvel license, Toy Biz’s first work of note was actual doing toys based on Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. Toy Biz’s DC action figures were little more than knock-offs of Kenner’s Super Powers line. When Toy Biz was granted the Marvel license, their initial offerings were rather similar to what they had done for DC. They offered a rather broadly ranging line, covering the major corners of the Marvel Universe (barring the X-Men, who got their own line). Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of that line’s versions of the Silver Surfer!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Surfer was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. That’s actually a pretty low articulation count for a Toy Biz figure, and it’s even a bit low for this particular line. This figure is mostly the same sculpt as his Series 1 counterpart. The only difference between the two is the lack of neck articulation. It’s an odd choice, and it definitely limits what can be done with the figure, but I’d guess it had something to do with the vac metalizing. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly great either. He’s similar in style to the Toy Biz Green Lantern, in that his proportions feel rather off, and the level of detail is very low. Also, his head is just very oddly shaped. It’s definitely too small, and the face (which is very ill-defined) sits too high. In fact, the head in general sits too high on the neck, and the whole construction there just looks weird. As far as paint goes, this particular Surfer doesn’t really have any, he’s just vac metalized. Later Surfer’s would at least get detailing on the eyes, but that’s not the case with this guy. Just the straight up and down silver for him. Silver Surfer originally included his surfboard, done up to match him. Unlike other versions of the board, this one was really thick, and it had wheels on the bottom. So, he’s not actually the Silver Surfer, he’s the Silver Skateboarder. Radical.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Surfer is the eighth of the 15 figures that I picked up from a vendor at this past Balticon. I…I’m not really sure how I feel about him. I mean, the chrome look is certainly cool, but the actual figure’s kind of a bit lame. Toy Biz definitely improved in leaps and bounds over the years, but this guy’s a disappointment even compared to the figures from the same line. I hate to be this down on a figure, but this guy, well, he’s not great.

This figure was another part of a batch of loose Toy Biz figures I snagged for super cheap at a con literally the weekend after I graduated from college.  I was all nostalgic and stuff, and I sort of bled a lot of that into my reviews of the associated figures, I think.  I had the option to get both MSH Surfers at the time, but opted only for the chromed one, because I guess I like shiny things?  My review’s generally not bad, though, not having both figures in my possession, I did kind of go with “they’re the same sculpt” when they’re not.  The chrome version is much more simplified, and the face in particular is a lot more oddly shaped.  Missing from this figure the last time around was his surfboard, which is honestly the one area where he’s truly better than his predecessor.  This one’s more streamlined, lacking the motorized bit on the back, and just generally looking more the part, provided you can get past the rather obvious wheels on the bottom.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0043: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Yesterday’s proper review revisited an old Leia design for Power of the Force, but to keep things neat and tidy, today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum jumps back to an old review of an old figure of an old design, because I think it’s earned it…or something to that effect.  Here’s Leia!

“After many unsuccessful attempts to bring change to the Empire as a senator, Princess Leia Organa became involved in the Rebel Alliance and immediately established herself as one of its most popular and influential leaders. Although it was extremely dangerous for someone of her prominence. Leia often participated in secret missions for the rebellion. It was during one such mission to recruit General Obi-Wan Kenobi that she obtained the technical readouts for the Empire’s new Death Star battle station. Moments before being captured by Darth Vader, Leia hid the plans in the droid R2-D2, who then escaped to the planet Tatooine to find Kenobi.”

Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve looked at both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in their Stormtrooper disguises, which they use to sneak into the Deathstar detention center. I haven’t yet looked at the subject of their rescue (who ends up doing a little bit of the rescuing herself), Princess Leia Organa. So, I’m going to amend that today, by looking at one of the worst Leia figures in existence. Yay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia was released in the first series of Kenner’s Power of the Force II, where she wound up as the short-packed figure. She was the first of several Leia figures from the line, and is based on her introductory look, her main appearance from A New Hope. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Despite Carrie Fisher being a good deal shorter than most of her cast mates, Leia isn’t noticeably shorter than the other figures in the line. This was a trend that wouldn’t really be corrected until the line re-formated after The Phantom Menace. Leia’s sculpt was unique to her, which is a good thing, because that means Kenner realized the horrible mistake they’d made and never allowed it to occur again. I’m sorry, was that too harsh? Yeah, I’m not much of a fan of this sculpt. She’s preposed, she’s got really goofy proportions, her costume’s kind of strangely inaccurate, and, most importantly, her face looks not unlike a monkey. Seriously, look at that face and tell me that doesn’t look at all like Zira. None of the PotF2 figures had particularly great likenesses, but every other Leia in the line was way better than this. I’m trying to find something positive to say about this sculpt…the hair’s not terrible, I guess? Her paint’s pretty simple, since she’s mostly just molded in white plastic, which a little bit of paint here and there. It’s not terrible. Leia included two different styles of blaster pistol (both of which are missing from my figure), as well as a removable cape and skirt. The cape is a bit baffling, as it just sort of continues the trend of Kenner clearly having no idea what Leia was actually wearing in the film. I suppose this was a bit closer than the vintage release?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ah, this one. This one’s an important one. Why? Because this is the figure that introduced me to my arch-nemesis: The Scalper! Yes, in my quest for this figure, I had an unfortunate run-in with a horrid man-creature, which I detailed a few years ago in the ever so eloquently titled “GAHHHHHHHHH!” Suffice it to say, I did eventually get the figure through non-scalped means, thanks to some dutiful work on my parents’ part. This was my first Leia, and I have aa whole story that goes with her, which gives her all this great emotional value. It’s a shame the actual figure kind of sucks. I mean, I’m glad I have her, but there’s no denying that she’s just a bad figure. 

Just right out of the gate declaring it one of the worst Leia figures ever.  You know, sometimes I find past me to be a little harsh to older figures, but I can’t really deviate too much on this one.  The original Power of the Force Leia is just simply not a good figure, and no amount of time or distance or nostalgia can really change that.  I think the best I can give her is that she sort of fits in well with the others from the early run? It’s not ideal.  When I first reviewed her, I was dealing with my original, which lacked either blaster, as well as the cape.  She’s still my original, but a good chunk of time dealing with loose Star Wars parts lots let me fish out all of her missing parts over the years, so eight years later, she’s actually complete.  At least she’s got that going for her, right?

#3912: Roboto

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

ROBOTO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

It’s been a year and a half since I’ve talked at all about Masters of the Universe Classics.  There’s….reasons?  I mean, the big one is that the line’s been dead for the better part of a decade, so it’s not like there’s a lot of updates.  Also, I’m only a moderate MOTU fan at best, so it’s not like I’ve even got a huge backlog of them.  And discussion of how the line was run is tricky at best, and I’ll just leave it at that.  But, I do have some parts of the franchise that I enjoy no matter the surrounding situation, and one of the core characters for that is Roboto.  He’s just so neat and nifty and retro, and that’s very fun.  So, let’s look at another one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roboto was the October release for Masters of the Universe Classics 2010 run of figures, making him the tenth standard figure of the line’s third year.  By 2010, the line was pretty much in full-swing, and they’d gotten the subscriptions set up, so Roboto was around for a leisurely 2 hours and some change before selling out, which I guess was pretty nice.  The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  While he loses the mid-torso joint that most figures in the line sported, he does gain an articulated jaw, so it winds up as an even trade.  Roboto’s sculpt was a mix of new and re-used, which was pretty par for the course.  Like his vintage counterpart, he shares his legs with Trap-Jaw (who also shared his legs with Optikk, all three the same year), but his upper half is all-new.  Roboto was very definitely based directly on his vintage counterpart, rather than his 200x version.  At the time, it was the most sensible choice.  There was an alternate head made available later, but that wasn’t present with the initial release.  The sculpt does a pretty respectable job of capturing that vintage look.  The head and torso are very cleanly detailed, and I love the working jaw and turning gears inside the torso.  I also really dig the little heart sculpted around the central gear, in reference to his mini comic appearance.  The arms are fine, but the elbows are notably rather restricted in their motion, which was a recurring issue for the line.  QC was unfortunately a notable issue for this guy.  Thankfully, mine isn’t plagued by the torso cracking, but there was no avoiding the reversed shoulders.  They aren’t the end of the world, but it’s pretty obvious they’re not the way they’re supposed to be.  The color work was actually pretty nice for this guy; he’s really bright and bold, so it makes him very eye-catching.  He’s also got a wash on the silver sections, to help bring out the sculpted details a little better.  Roboto was packed with his classic claw, axe, and blaster attachments, as well as a standard hand.  The weapons are a bit soft and prone to warping, but generally they look okay, and the standard hand is a nice addition.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had only *just* picked up my first MOTUC figure when Roboto dropped, and I wasn’t up on keeping current, so I missed his day-of.  I contemplated getting him a number of times early in the run, but he was always just a little over what I wanted to pay, and then I ended up sort of falling out of it all.  I’ve been keeping an eye out for a bit, though, since he was the only of my regular line-up of characters I didn’t have for Classics.  While on family vacation, Matty wanted to go to the toy store, and they just so happened to have one of this guy for for a price I was willing to pay, so, huzzah, I have one!  Admittedly, in light of the Origins and Masterverse figures, he feels kind of quaint and a little outmatched, but I’m glad to have him nevertheless, and I’ll never complain abut more Roboto figures.

#3813: Poe Dameron – Gold

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

POE DAMERON – GOLD

STAR WARS: THE SKYWALKER SAGA COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Let’s jump back to 2019, a year that was rather rough for 3 3/4-inch Star Wars, at least as far I was concerned.  Under Disney, we’d gotten pretty solid product pushes for each of the movies, but Rise of Skywalker got dropped hardcore because of the poor performance of The Last Jedi‘s tie-ins.  In particular, the basic 3 3/4-inch figures were completely dropped.  Instead, we got a few Vintage Collection figures and a really odd commemorative set that seemed to exist for exactly no one.  Well, anyway, here’s a Poe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Poe Dameron was released as part of the Star Wars The Skywalker Saga Collection, a Walmart-exclusive line of nine two-packs, each based on one of the Skywalker Saga films.  Poe was packed with Finn, in a set based on The Force Awakens, in theory at least.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s using the Last Jedi pilot body mold, which is a bit humorous, what with him supposed to be from TFA and all.  At least Poe doesn’t change too much when in his pilot gear.  It’s a decent enough sculpt.  The likeness isn’t amazing, but it’s okay enough, and the details on the uniform are all pretty sharp.  In general, the best of the pilot Poe sculpts, so the re-use is sensible.  The gimmick behind this whole line was that they were painted all gold, which is exactly what Poe is.  It’s…I mean, it sure is gold.  And it’s better than molded plastic, so that’s a plus?  He gets a helmet and blaster, also gold, which are the same as the original release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hoooo boy did these figures disappoint me at the time they were released.  They were announced but not shown, and there was this tiny glimmer of hope that they might be *something* and then they were more solid color repaints of stuff we already had.  So, I certainly didn’t pay proper retail for any of them.  Few people did, honestly.  Not even now.  But, they do occasionally surface, and these days they’re kinda cheap, so when this one showed up at All Time, I opted to get another Poe, even if he’s kinda stupid.  He’s fine.  Stupid.  Gimmicky.  But, he’s also a Poe, and he’s at least a decent mold.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3753: Jango Fett

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

JANGO FETT — FINAL BATTLE

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

A week ago, I was writing an intro about The Phantom Menace (for the SECOND time….), and I guess I’ve just decided to make my way on through the Star Wars…es.  So, let’s jump to Attack of the Clones!  Look, I’ve come around on the prequels as a whole in recent years, but Attack is emphatically the worst Star Wars movie, and it’s not even close.  It’s barely even a movie.  It’s a Wikipedia entry that they filmed to bridge the two actual movies in the prequels.  The thing is, I’m nostalgic as hell for it.  And the toys?  Oh, they’re emphatically some of the worst Star Wars toys produced.  But guess what?  I’m nostalgic as hell for those, too.  I’m an enigma, you guys.  Jango Fett was a big deal when Attack hit, and a lot of the toys centered on him.  Here’s the one with the best action feature ever.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jango Fett (Final Battle) is figure 31 in the Star Wars Saga line, which ran alongside Attack‘s release.  He was one of the three Jangos available at launch, and the second of the two “standard” ones.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  His articulation, like so many of the Saga figures, is mostly pointless, thanks to how heavily pre-posed these figures were.  In Jango’s case, that pre-posing is exceedingly awkward, and doesn’t really much allow for…anything.  He’s also super hard to stand, largely because what even are his legs supposed to be doing?  What’s crazy is the’s got actual knee joints, a thing that were still not exceedingly common at this time, and they’re useless, which is just laughable.  On the plus side, I guess the actually quality of the sculpt isn’t bad.  It’s clean and the detailing is sharp, and he’s pretty accurate to the movie.  The biggest drawback (other than the posing) is the advertised action feature, where his gauntlet launches a fire-shaped missile.  It’s not very effective, and it means his left arm is misshapen.  Making up for it, however, is the unadvertised second action feature.  Saga made use of magnets on a number of figures, and a recurring instance was for easily removable body parts, to simulate the damage characters might take.  In Jango’s case, his whole neck joint’s a magnet, so you can behead him, easy-peasy.  It’s so freaking morbid, and I absolutely love it.  Jango’s paint work is a bit murky, which wasn’t uncommon in this era.  He’s got a lot of fake dirt build-up, which is definitely a bit too heavy.  It’s at least all pretty cleanly applied, so there’s that.  Jango is packed with the fire projectile, as well as his twin pistols.  Unfortunately, the holsters are non-functioning on this release, so there’s nowhere to store them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When these figures came out, both of my cousins around my age who collected Star Wars had this version of Jango, but I didn’t, and I always desperately wanted one.  Something about how morbid that head feature was just greatly amused me.  He’s on the short list of Saga figures I’ve purchased as an adult; he was traded into All Time a couple of years ago, and I just couldn’t resist him.  He’s terrible, but at the same time also wonderful.  He’s the perfect encapsulation of my relationship with the movie and its toyline as a whole.

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 and their eBay storefront.

#3734: The Riddler

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

THE RIDDLER

BATMAN: THE CLASSIC TV SERIES (MATTEL)

Okay, so let’s play a little game called “this makes Ethan feel old.”  In prep for writing today’s review of a Mattel Batman ’66 figure, I went back through the archives to see what other Mattel Batman ’66 figures I’d already reviewed, and discovered I’ve reviewed three.  The only one from the standard releases was the Catwoman figure I reviewed just over a month into the site, when she was a brand-new figure…over a decade ago.  My retro throwback reviews are now of items released the same year I started the site.  For reference, if I were reviewing a figure at the start of this site that were as old then as this figure is now, I’d have been looking at a figure from 2002.  That would be a figure that predates Mattel having the DC license.  Oh boy am I getting side tracked here.  Okay, so, yeah, let’s embrace the throwback and look at the 1966 Batman, which, amongst other things, really invigorated Batman’s rogues gallery.  Frank Gorshin’s turn as The Riddler in particular took the character from just one of the pack to one of the heavy hitters, and remains one of the show’s stand out villains.  Here’s an action figure of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Riddler was released in Series 1 of Mattel’s Batman: Classic TV Series line, alongside a standard Batman and the Penguin.  They hit in the late-summer/early-fall of 2013, right as all the ’66 licensing started hitting in full force.  The figure stands right at 6 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  The line as a whole was a bit under-sized compared to other offerings, with it being closer to a true 1/12 scale than anything else Mattel offered, which made these guys all at least a half-inch shorter than all of the DCUC figures, and also so very much scrawnier.  Like, I know Gorshin was a skinny guy, but I feel this is excessive, to almost cartoonish levels, especially around the legs and hips.  The head sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Gorshin, but neither is it a spot on likeness.  It’s certainly on the weaker end for this line, and I honestly get Matthew Lillard vibes off of it.  I think part of it’s the expression seeming too reserved for Gorshin; he brought a manic energy to the character that doesn’t really feel like it’s captured here.  It’s also kind of soft on the detailing.  The body, aside from it’s odd proportions, does at least get a little more detailing, especially with the wrinkles on the suit, which do at least set him apart from the painted on suits of the main DC line at the time.  His paint work was largely pretty basic, with the only notable shift being the accenting on his suit, which keeps it from being too much of a stretch of the same colors.  He was packed with a display stand with “Ka-Pow” written on it, as well as a card with part of the batcave on one side, and an illustration of the Riddler on the other.  Unfortunately, the Riddler illustration is landscape orientation, and the spot in the stand that holds the card only works for portrait orientation, so…not so much working for that set-up.  And, that’s all he got for extras.  No hat, or cane, or alternate unmasked head.  Not even some sound effects.  It’s exceedingly light.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very, very excited for this line, and Gorshin’s Riddler in particular was very high on my list.  I went to the trouble of pre-ordering him and everything, and got him when he was brand new.  He’s actually in one of the last batches of figures I bought before new stuff was getting reviewed on the site as “new stuff.”  This line always so very greatly disappointed me.  I wanted to love it, but I couldn’t, and Riddler is kind of one of the worst offenders.  Ultimately, looking back on him, he’s fine, but not really any better than I’d remembered him being.