Tag Archives: Super Awesome Wife

#0996: Han Solo

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

HAN SOLO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

HanStarkiller1

Continuing off of what I said about Leia and Han yesterday: given the sizeable role of Han in The Force Awakens, it was no shock that he was the first of the pair to get added to the toyline.  It was a bit surprising that he was not offered in the higher-end 3 ¾ inch line, though.  However, that’s something that Hasbro has now amended, if perhaps not quite in the way we were expecting.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HanStarkiller2Like Leia, Han was released in the fourth series of Walmart’s exclusive 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Black Series.  This is the second Han in this line (though the first one was from Jedi) and the third Force Awakens Han overall.  So, how is this not quite the Han we were expecting?  Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, he’s wearing his cold weather gear, which Han has for (parts of) the attack on Starkiller Base.  It’s not a look that he has for long, and it’s certainly less of a signature look than the black jacket. With that being said, it’s far less of an issue with Han than it was with Leia, since this isn’t Han’s first figure from TFA and it’s also not a bad look.  The figure is about 4 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation.  The sculpt isn’t quite as good as his 6-inch counterpart, but it’s not bad.  The body definitely gets the best work, with tons of really great texturing on the jacket in particular.  I’m also glad that the holster can be plugged and unplugged from his leg, allowing for some additional movement that the prior Han did not.  I’m having trouble seeing much Harrison Ford in the head, but I think that may have more to do with paint than anything else.  Structurally, the head sculpt doesn’t look too far off from the 6-inch version, which was pretty good.  So, about that paint.  It could definitely be better.  The body isn’t bad, but the head is a bit of a mess.  Ignoring the brown hair (which seems to be a licensing thing), the application on the eyes is just off.  They’re not properly placed and they’re at least twice as big as they should be.  Han’s definitely got the crazy eyes going on.  The brown hair and larger eyes also have the misfortune of making him look far younger than he should, which is not what you want from an old-man Han.  Han includes his blaster pistol, which is nicely sculpted and very well painted.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just as with Leia, I didn’t find Han at any of the Walmarts near me.  In fact, I didn’t find him at all: Super Awesome Girlfriend did!  Han’s a figure that could definitely use some improvement.  He had a high bar to clear after the truly amazing 6-inch Han, and he didn’t quite do it.  That being said, he’s certainly not a bad figure.  I’d be curious to see if a better paint job could breathe some new life into him.

HanStarkiller3

#0995: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

LeiaTFA1

When the initial few waves of The Force Awakens product hit, the old guard of characters were largely absent, despite the large role of Han Solo in the film, and the decently-sized (and certainly incredibly important) role of Leia Organa. Around February of this year, Han found his way into both the 3 ¾ and 6 inch-scale lines, but Leia was still noticeably absent. Until now, that is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LeiaTFA2Princess Leia was released in the fourth series of the Force Awakens-themed 3 ¾ inch Star Wars: The Black Series, a line which remains exclusive to Walmart. So, first bone of contention with this figure: the name. In the movie, it’s kind of a point that Leia’s not really royalty any more, and she’s almost exclusively referred to as “General Organa.” It’s a small thing, but it’s an important change for her character. The fact that the box just lists her as “Princess Leia Organa” is kind of annoying (and doubly so, since there’s already another figure in this line with that *exact* name, which is just confusing everybody). Of course, the name’s pretty easy to move past, since I didn’t keep her in the package. What’s a little less easy to move past is the costume choice. Leia spends most of her screen time in a military uniform, which is not unlike her look from the Endor scenes in Jedi. She then spends about 5 minutes at the very end of the movie in a blue dress. We got the blue dress look, which I can’t say is my favorite. Alas, I don’t work for Hasbro, so I guess I’ll just deal. The figure stands about 3 ½ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. She can get some decent motion out of her arms and neck, so that’s good. For what it’s worth, there’s a full body sculpt under her dress (she’s keeping it modest with a full-body stocking), articulated legs and all. The legs are rather limited, both by the obtrusive dress piece and by the decision to only give her cut joints at her hips.  Just as in the movie, her dress has a two-piece design, with the outer “jacket” being made from soft plastic and the under dress being real cloth. They mesh together pretty well, and it’s sort of a best of both worlds thing, preserving look and some of the movement as well. Issues with the design aside, I will admit that this is a pretty solid sculpt. The head captures Carrie Fisher pretty nicely, and I like the small texture details on the sculpted parts of the dress quite a bit. Leia actually doesn’t have much paint, with most of the dress being molded in the same blue. She gets some paint on her head, obviously. It’s not terrible, but it could certainly be better, especially the eyes. Leia includes no accessories, which is a bit of a bummer.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve not had much luck with getting the Walmart-exclusive Black Series figures in my area, so I’ve yet to see any of these figures near me. However, Super Awesome Girlfriend is not cursed like me, and ended up just finding Leia by accident one day. Yay for me! I’ll be honest: this isn’t the Leia figure I was hoping for. Her other Force Awakens look is far more action figure-worthy, and would just make for an all-around better figure. With that said, this figure isn’t terrible, and I’ll definitely take this over no Leia at all. Here’s hoping the other version’s on the way.

#0978: Venom

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

VENOM

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

VenomMSH1

Venom, Venom, Venom. For as many Venom figures as I’ve reviewed on this site, there’s not actually a whole lot to this guy. He’s a pretty simple concept, taking the main hero and creating a “dark reflection” of said hero to serve as a villain. Of course, it was the late ‘80s, so he was also super huge (and he got huger as time went on). In the early ‘90s, when Toy Biz started up with the Marvel license, Venom was, amazingly enough, not in their first assortment of figures. Clearly they felt bad about that, because they then turned around and released three of him in the space of a year. Today, I’ll be looking at the last of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

VenomMSH2Venom was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. He was the second version of the character released in the main line (after the one released in Series 2) and the third in the overall scheme of things (following the Talking Heroes version). The figure stands just shy of 5 ½ inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation. He has no neck movement due to his action feature, which is quite limiting, but he is otherwise decently posable. The prior Venom figures had focused on bulk over all else. This figure, on the other hand, focused on making Venom tall (he’s a good ¾ of an inch taller than the Spider-Man from the same line), but not quite as bulky. The end result is a figure that looks not unlike Venom in his earliest appearances, before he had become quite as monstrous. The sculpt us actually pretty decent. It’s somewhat stylized, but not incredibly so, and he has a nice, subdued look about him, which is refreshing to see in a Venom figure. Venom’s paint is rather simple: it’s exclusively white paint on black plastic. The detailing doesn’t look too bad, though, as you can see from my figure, the paint wasn’t the most durable. Still, the pure black and white has a nice stark contrast about it, something that a lot of later Venom figures would miss out on by adding unnecessary blue highlights. Venom originally included a clip on torso piece, simulating the symbiote wrapping around him. He also had the previously mentioned action feature, which allowed for Venom to stick his tongue out when the lever on his back was pulled. It’s rather a goofy feature, but it’s also really in keeping with the character, so I guess it made sense.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Venom is the 11th of the 15 figures I got at Balticon this year. Amazingly enough, prior to this figure I did not own a single 5-inch Venom figure. This one’s not bad, and the quality of his sculpt, especially when compared to last week’s Silver Surfer figure, shows how incredibly fast Toy Biz was taking steps forward in that department.

Also, not related to me, but worth noting: this figure has become one of Super Awesome Girlfriend’s favorites. She constantly picks it up so that she can make it stick its tongue out at me. I’ve ensnared another action figure geek!

VenomMSH3

#0960: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

CapCW1

Despite the movie being out for over a month now, the tie-in toys for Captain America: Civil War are still coming out in little dabs and trickles, here and there. There are three assortments of Marvel Legends being released this year to coincide with Civil War, and while the first of those three has been out for a few months, the actual movie-related figures are in the second and third assortments. The second set is starting to hit stores now, and today I’ll be taking a look at the latest version of Captain America!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapCW2Cap is part of the second series of this year’s Captain America-inspired Marvel Legends. The series has officially been dubbed the “Giant-Man Series,” after its Build-A-Figure. The figure is about 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. He’s based on Cap’s appearance in Civil War…sort of. Why “sort of”? Well, if you’re a faithful follower of the site, this guy probably looks familiar. That’s because his sculpt is 100% the same as the one used for the Age of Ultron version of Cap. Which in turn means it’s using everything but the torso from the Winter Soldier STRIKE Suit Cap. That’s not a terrible thing; those are both strong figures, mostly due to the high quality of the sculpt.  And, to be fair, the three designs aren’t that different from each other. However, the AoU figure made some compromises on his design for the sake of re-use from the STRIKE Suit Cap, so this figure inherits those compromises, in addition to having several of his own. The AoU figure at least got the new torso to somewhat make up for it, but this figure doesn’t get anything new. At the very least, a new set of hands without the extra holes in the gloves would have been nice. Also, while the sculpt is still very strong, minor flaws that weren’t a big deal the first time around, such as the slightly small stature of the figure, become much more noticeable with each iteration. This isn’t a bad sculpt at all, and independent from the other two figures to use it, this Cap is still quite good. The paintwork on this figure is a marked improvement over the AoU figure, at least in terms of application, which is all around much sharper and exhibits far less bleed over. The actual palette is much more subdued than the AoU figure, which I think suits the sculpt a bit more than the brighter look of the AoU Cap. For accessories, Cap includes his shield (the same as the ones included with the other two Caps), and the head of Giant-Man. He lacks the unmasked head and extra hands of the last two figures, which coupled with the much smaller B-A-F piece and the totally reused sculpt is a serious step down in terms of value.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super Awesome Girlfriend and I found this figure at a Walmart on the way back from the beach. She asked if I wanted him and I decided I’d be good and skip him, since I already have the other two. So, she decided she’d buy Cap anyway, for herself. Then, when we walked out of the store, she turned to me and said: “Upon further thought, I don’t have space for this Captain America right now. I think I’ll have to leave it with you. Do you think you can take care of it, like a shared custody thing?” She’s crafty that one.

This figure perplexes me. I’ve gotten more or less the same figure twice before, but this time he’s got a far less impressive accessory complement. Plus, they’re putting almost the exact same figure in a three-pack with Spidey, only that one had the missing accessories. I should be annoyed by this figure. But I’m not. Actually, he’s my favorite of the three Caps, and I don’t feel like he’s a waste at all. It’s weird.

CapCW3

#0951: Luke Skywalker – Stormtrooper Disguise

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – STORMTROOPER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

LukeTrooper1

“Aren’t you a little short for a Stormtrooper?”

I haven’t reviewed any Star Wars: The Black Series figures in a while. And even then, the last handful of them have all been The Force Awakens-related. So, how about an Original Trilogy figure? Yeah, that’ll be nice. The most recurrent character in the line is by far Luke Skywalker. I mean, it’s fair; he is the central character of the first three movies. He also gets a few notable costume changes. One such change is when he steals the armor of an Imperial Stormtrooper in order to infiltrate the Death Star. It’s a rather popular version of the character, and it’s been represented in action figure form since way back in the vintage line. Now, let’s have a look at the latest version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LukeTrooper2Luke was released as part of the pre-Force Awakens incarnation of Star Wars: The Black Series, as figure #12. He was released in the 8th assortment of figures, alongside Emperor Palpatine and the Clone Captain. As noted in the intro, this figure is based on Luke’s Stormtrooper disguise look from the second half A New Hope. The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Seeing as he was running around in their armor, it’s not a shock to find out that this figure makes some pretty hefty use of the pieces used for the Stormtrooper/Sandtrooper. Luke ends up getting the arms and legs from that figure, along with the head of the X-Wing Luke from Series 1. Those pieces were all pretty good the first time around, and they’re still pretty great here. The head in particular is probably the best Hamill likeness in this scale. Luke also has a new torso and pelvis, which aid in making him “a little short for a Stromtrooper.” The end result looks pretty good, though the arms require some careful posing, as they are a touch on the long side. The paint on Black Series figures has been known to make or break the figures. Luke’s far from the worst I’ve seen from the line, and the head in particular is quite clean. That said, there’s still quite a bit of slop in the changes between black and white, which can be more than a bit distracting. Luke is packed with a standard blaster rifle, a communicator, and a removable Stormtrooper helmet. The helmet is the biggest deal here. It’s similar to the solid head seen on the normal Trooper, but obviously it’s been hollowed out so Luke can wear it. The details are a little softer here, but they don’t look terrible, and he fits in pretty well with the other Troopers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Luke here was a graduation gift from my Super Awesome Girlfriend. On her way up to visit me, she stopped at a Walgreens and saw this guy there all alone. She picked him up, but between purchasing him and giving him to me, she had convinced herself that I already had him. Imagine her relief when she found out I didn’t actually own one! I never picked this guy up because he looked like a fairly simple re-use figure, but there’s actually a lot to like about this guy. Definitely glad to have him!

LukeTrooper3

#0877: Princess Leia & Han Solo

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

PRINCESS LEIA & HAN SOLO – BESPIN

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

HanLeia1

You know, they say the best things come in threes (who says that? I don’t say that! I don’t think that’s a thing…) I’ve already done two days of Princess Leia reviews, why not go for a third? Well, you’re getting a third whether you want it or not. This is my site! ….Which I’m incredibly glad you’re all reading right now! So…if you don’t like this, I promise I won’t review a Princess Leia tomorrow. Anyway, here’s today’s review. It’s not just Leia, though, there’s also a Han! Yay?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Like yesterday’s set, these two are from 1997’s The Princess Leia Collection sub-set if the Power of the Force II line. This pair represented The Empire Strikes Back.

PRINCESS LEIA

HanLeia2After spending almost the entirety of the first film in the same basic outfit, Leia was given a few more looks for the sequel. While her Hoth look from early in the film is by far the more definitive look, this figure was based on her slightly more regal look from a few of her scenes on Bespin. She’s 3 ¾ inches tall and has the usual 6 points of articulation. Unlike the last pair of figures, this Leia didn’t have an equivalent single-release figure. She got a totally new sculpt. Like the other figures in this line, it’s not really fantastic, but it’s passable enough. The general proportions are fairly decent, and she looks sort of like Carrie Fisher. She’s a bit oddly posed, though; the legs are in a slight stride (making it really hard to keep her standing) and her right arm is bent in such a way as to make it longer than the left. Like the prior Leia, this figure uses some cloth parts for her costume, specifically the skirt and cape (though, this time, the cape uses a plastic piece for the collar). The pieces once again scale pretty well for cloth, which is always nice to see. The paint is all pretty passable and clean, though some of the work on the face is a little bit heavy. Leia includes no accessories of her own (unless you count Han!).

HAN SOLO

HanLeia3While Leia got a few different looks in ESB, Han pretty much just stuck with the one main look for the majority of the film. Since it’s the look that he wears around Bespin, it makes sense to pack this one with Leia. The figure is a little taller than Leia, and has the same 6 points of articulation. Like yesterday’s Luke and Leia, Bespin Han had a single-release counterpart in the main line (which I even reviewed on this site!). This figure uses the same head as that one (as did most of the PotFII figures); it’s not a great head sculpt, mostly because it bears next to no resemblance to Harrison Ford, but at least it was consistent. The rest of the sculpt is okay, but not fantastic. Like Luke, the body feels rather undersized, especially the hands. This only exaggerates the problems with this head. I think part of this may be to counteract the use of a cloth coat, which does bulk up the figure a little. The coat isn’t as well tailored as Luke’s, but it’s alright, I guess. Once again, the sculpted version looks a fair bit better. The paint is fairly well handled, though, like Leia, the face is a bit heavy handed. It’s not technically a paint issue, but it should be noted that the color of the coat is incorrect. It should be blue. It’s worth noting that the single-release figure also had the wrong colored coat, so it may have been a licensing thing. Han was packed with his usual blaster, which, like all of the PotFII blasters is a fair bit over-sized.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with yesterday’s set, I picked this pair up from a collectibles store across from the theatre where I saw The Force Awakens. This was actually the one of the two sets I was more looking forward to, but after opening them, I think it may be the lesser set. Once again, the Leia figure is the superior of the two figures, and she’s helped by the fact that she’s the only PotFII version of this particular look. Han, on the other hand, is rather a letdown. Still, this is a cool enough set that I don’t regret getting them.

#0876: Princess Leia & Luke Skywalker

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

PRINCESS LEIA & LUKE SKYWALKER – CEREMONIAL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

LeiaLuke1

You know what? I kinda liked yesterday’s review of Princess Leia. So much that I feel like reviewing another Princess Leia today. But it’s not just Leia this time! Nope, now she’s also bringing her twin brother, Luke, along for the ride. Isn’t that sweet?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair are from the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line, specifically from 1997’s The Princess Leia Collection sub-set of the line. There were four different two-packs, each containing a variant of Princess Leia, alongside one of her compatriots from the films. Each film in the original trilogy was represented, with an extra set for the original film.

PRINCESS LEIA

LeiaLuke2Leia spends most of A New Hope in the same basic number, but she did have a second, more short-lived look right at the very end of the film, commonly referred to as her “Ceremonial” look, due to it being worn during the award ceremony that makes up the movie’s closing scene. That’s the look this figure replicates. She stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the same 6 points of articulation seen on most of this line’s figures. Though a single-carded version of this design was released right around the same time as this figure, the sculpt seen here is unique. It’s not the most amazing work ever, but it’s not bad for the time, and certainly tops Leia’s first PotFII figure. The general build of the figure isn’t too terrible, though her head seems just a bit on the large side, and she has quite a neck. The “cape” and skirt are both handled via cloth pieces. At this scale, cloth can always be a questionable venture, but it works pretty nicely here. These pieces are technically removable, but aren’t really meant to be taken off; she looks rather incomplete without them. Leia’s paint is generally pretty well handled; it’s really only on her torso and head, but the detailing is pretty clean. Leia doesn’t have any accessories specifically for her, but there is an included medal, which can easily be given to either included figure.

LUKE SKYWALKER

LeiaLuke3The Luke included here is specifically designed as a companion piece to Leia, so he’s also in his “Ceremonial” garb from the end of the movie. I always felt it was a shame that this look was only in the one scene, as it’s actually pretty sharp. The figure is the slightest bit taller than Leia, but only just barely, and he has the same 6 points of movement. As with Leia, a single carded version of this look was released right around the same time as this set. The two use the same head sculpt (It was Kenner’s second stab at a standard Luke head), but everything else is new to this figure. While it’s not a bad sculpt, he does feel…undersized. Luke also makes use of softgoods, this time for the coat. It’s a little over sized, and definitely doesn’t look quite as good as the single release’s sculpted piece, but it’s not terrible. The coat can be removed, and, in contrast to Leia, he looks like he was actually designed with removing the coat in mind. Luke’s paint is a little more intensive than Leia’s; the application is pretty clean overall, and he looks pretty spot-on to the movie look. Luke seems like the more natural choice to give the medal to, but it doesn’t really sit quite right on his shoulders due to the coat.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The theatre where I saw The Force Awakens on opening night was in a mall, and right across from it was an incredibly well-placed collectibles store. I didn’t have a chance to go in (I had a movie to see, after all), but I ended up going back the next day. I was caught up a bit in the excitement of the movie, and definitely looking for something Star Wars-related to buy. I remember seeing these sets when I was younger and never actually getting them, so I figured “why not?” Luke’s inferior to the other version of this look from the same time, but Leia’s supposed to be the real star anyway, and she makes it worth it.

#0875: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS (KENNER)

LeiaVint1

Amazingly enough, in all 874 of the preceding reviews, I’ve only looked at one single figure from Kenner’s run on the vintage Star Wars line. And that was review #0052! 822 days ago! Wow, that’s weird. Well, I guess I’m breaking the trend a bit, looking at another vintage figure today. This one’s even more vintage than the last, being one of the very first Star Wars figures Kenner ever offered! Also, it’s a Princess Leia, and #0052 was ALSO a Princess Leia, meaning she’s still 100% of the vintage figures reviewed on this site. That’s pretty cool for her!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LeiaVint2Princess Leia was one of the first four figures in Kenner’s Star Wars line, offered as part of the historic “Early Bird” set, alongside Luke, R2-D2, and Chewbacca. She was also, by extension, one of the original 12 figures from the main line, released in the first 1978 assortment. The figure measures a little over 3 ½ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. As a figure from 1978, Leia is not blessed with the high level of sculpted detail that we’ve come to expect, but that’s not to say she’s at all a bad sculpt. The head is fairly decent, and the hair has some pretty cool texture work. The face is fairly generic, but not unreasonable. The top half of the body is a passable translation of Leia’s look (though she’s missing her hood), but the lower half is…different. In the film, Leia wears a dress, but the figure has sort of reworked that into this sort of leisure suit looking thing, in order to give her leg articulation. It’s a little weird looking. Also, like every other caped or robed character in the vintage line, she gets a rounded piece of vinyl with holes for her arms, which I guess is meant to look like her dress? Spot-on recreation, it is not. The paint on Leia is pretty simple; she’s mostly just molded in white, with only her hands, belt, hair, and eyes getting actual paint. It’s actually pretty well applied, though my figure has taken a bit of a beating, as you can see. Leia was originally packed with a small blaster pistol, but as a second hand acquisition, mine does not have that piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was growing up, my earliest Star Wars toys were actually my dad’s old collection from when he was a kid. He had a Leia, but he didn’t like the silly cinnamon buns hair, so he had sculpted her a new ‘do. As a kid, I never realized this wasn’t how she originally looked, so I was surprised to later see pictures of an un-modded Leia. While on vacation over the holidays, I came across a few vintage figures at a nearby antique store, which included the Leia seen in this review. Super Awesome Girlfriend was with me and insisted on getting it for me, so here she is. She’s fairly standard for the line; she shows her age, but certainly not in a bad way (not unlike the real Carrie Fisher).

#0862: Robot Soldier

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

ROBOT SOLDIER

CASTLE IN THE SKY (FINE MOLDS)

CitSRobot1

Every so often, I like to take a look at a model kit. There’s a lot of cool snap-kits out there, which not only give me the fun of building a model, but I also get to have a fully functioning toy when I’m done with building. That’s one hell of an incentive, for me anyway. I’ve looked at three of these kits so far, all of which have been based on Gundam, a property I’m not super familiar with. So, I was more going for a cool looking toy at the end of the ride, without a whole lot of emotional attachment to any of the figures I was building. Well, today, I’m actually looking at a kit I got for the sole purpose of getting a cool figure of a character I really like, though the figure’s still a little outside of my usual area of expertise. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the Robot Soldier from Castle in the Sky, or as it’s known in Japan, Laputa: Castle in the Sky.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CitSRobot2The Robot Soldier is one of two Castle in the Sky-based model kits from Fine Molds (the other is the Robot Gardener, which is really just this set, but with different arms). The set was released in early 2011, in time for Laputa’s 25th anniversary. The figure is 1/20 scale, so he stands about 7 inches tall and fully assembled, he has 36 points of articulation. The articulation isn’t super flexible; he won’t be getting into many crazy poses beyond standing/walking. The shoulders are quite mobile, but the hips, for instance, don’t do anything but move side-to-side. What’s there is perfectly serviceable, so I can’t really complain. The robots from Castle in the Sky actually have a pretty neat heritage; they were inspired by the robot attackers from the Fleisher Superman serial “Mechanical Monsters,” a serial that would also inspire similar robot designs in Lupin III, Batman: The Animated Series, and the film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. As the Robot Soldier, he’s officially based on the first of the two main robots we see in the movie. It’s the harsher of the two designs, though it’s mostly just about the arms, which are all spikey here (in the movie, the spikes allow for wings, giving the robot the ability to fly). The sculpt does a pretty great job of capturing the design from the film, and making it look decent in three dimensions. The only real point of inaccuracy is the hips. In the film, they sort of round off into his waist, but on the figure, they end in a fairly straight line. In the figure’s defense, the hips of the robot in the movie are a classic case of cheating the angles. As they are shown in the movie, there’s no practical way for them to work, so they had to be tweaked. One of the best things about this guy’s sculpt is the texture work; the film is cel-animated, so the robots shown therein are mostly devoid of any real texture, just for the sake of easier animation. However, the shading and such of the ‘bots is done in such a way to suggest a slightly rough texture to them, were they to exist in real life. This figure has a nice, ripple-y effect on all of his pieces, barring the visor and neck. This gives the figure a visually intriguing look, and has the added benefit of hiding the imperfections and such caused by breaking the parts of the figure off of their mold trees. Also, it should be noted that, while many snap-kit figures tend to feel light-weight, and of a slightly lower quality than a mass-produced figure. This is not the case with this guy, who is easily the sturdiest kit I’ve put together, and feels not unlike a figure you might buy fully assembled. As with all snap kits, there there’s no paint on this guy. Some kits use stickers to make up for this, but this guy doesn’t, instead letting all the separate pieces be molded in the appropriate colors. This actually works really well, and he doesn’t feel lacking at all. The Robot is packed with a little scale figure of Pazu. He doesn’t have any articulation, and the lack of paint is plain as day here, but it’s cool to have gotten him. One thing I do feel is missing is some sort of an extra attachment to swap out for the lower half of the left arm. The main Robot Soldier we see in the movie is lacking said arm, so being able to showcase this look would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Until the last two years, I had never actually watched a Miyazaki film. This changed when I started dating Super Awesome Girlfriend, who is a huge fan of Miyazaki’s work. Castle in the Sky was the third of Miyazaki’s films I saw, and I fell in love with it immediately. The awesome Robots therein played no small part in this. After seeing the movie, I made an off-hand mention of how I wouldn’t mine owning a figure of one of the Robots. Super Awesome Girlfriend showed just how much she pay attention, and presented me with this kit as a Valentine’s Day gift this year. I then spent an hour or two putting the guy together, with a bit of help from my buddy Tim. This is an awesome figure, and I’m super thrilled to have gotten him. Easily my favorite of the snap-kits I’ve gotten, and just a great figure in general!

#0838: Kylo Ren

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

KYLO REN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

KyloWM1

“A dark warrior strong with the Force, Kylo Ren commands First Order missions with a temper as fiery as his unconventional Lightsaber.”

Every story needs a villain, and for The Force Awakens, that’s good ol’ Kylo Ren.  A lot of people took issue with the character’s portrayal in the film, but I really enjoyed it, and look forward to seeing more of the character (and the makers of the next Fantastic Four film should take note on how to properly handle a vain, masked, megalomaniac with a bad temper).  I’ve only looked at one other Kylo figure, so why not look at another?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KyloWM2Kylo was released in the second series of the Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series figures, alongside yesterday’s Stormtrooper and a figure of Leia from A New Hope.  The figure is roughly 4 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  The neck and right shoulder are somewhat restricted by the sculpt of the hood, but other than that, the articulation is pretty solid here.  The larger Kylo used cloth for the outer portion of Kylo’s robes, while the regular 3 ¾ inch figure opted to sculpt the whole thing.  This figure goes for the best of both worlds.  The upper half is entirely sculpted, while the lower half makes use of soft goods for the outer most skirt.  This allows for the hood to be a bit more controlled than it was on the larger figure, while still offering some extra movement on the legs.  I think this compromise works, though it does look just the slightest bit jarring at the changeover.  I wish the cloth skirt were just a touch shorter, but other than that, it works well. The sculpted parts are quite impressive, and offer a ton of really great texture work.  On a whole, the figure looks quite imposing, a trait I felt the larger figure lacked.  Kylo’s paint is fairly minor, given how much of him is just straight black, but what’s there is pretty solid.  The silver of the mask and belt looks good, and I definitely appreciate that they used a different finish of black for the gloves and boots.  Kylo is packed with his distinctive lightsaber, both lit and unlit, which seems a better solution than a removable beam.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kylo was picked up at the same time as Finn and the First Order Trooper, purchased for me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend.  Kylo was definitely one of the figures from this set that I wanted the most, seeing as I didn’t get one of the smaller scale Kylo’s back in September.  The 6-inch figure was a bit of a disappointment, but this guy definitely delivered, and he’s probably the best Kylo out there right now.

KyloWM3