Tag Archives: Toy Biz

Flashback Friday Figure Addenum #0070: Sabretooth

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

SABRETOOTH

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  Which is actually almost true for me, but it’s actually last week’s Friday because I had to write all of this week’s reviews in advance.  So, I have no clue how this week went, or how desperately we all need it to end.  Personally, I’m just hoping we’re all still hanging in here.  We did it guys.  I’m proud of us.  Anyway, let’s get all flashback-y, and figure addendum-y, with some returning focus for Sabretooth!

“Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest enemy. Both are products of the Top-Secret Weapon X program. But instead of using his super-sharp claws and fighting abilities for good, Sabretooth became the Evil Mutants’ master assassin! Sabretooth has the same powers as Wolverine, including a mutant healing ability. What makes Sabretooth so dangerous is the fact that he’s even more savage in battle than Wolverine! When the two of them fight, it’s anyone’s guess who will win.”

Despite his connection to Wolverine, Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth, first appeared as a foe to Iron Fist. Like fellow X-foe Mystique, he was an example of long-time X-scribe Chris Claremont spreading the love so to speak, and introducing characters he intended to use in X-Men in some of his other books. Whatever his source, he’s been an enduring foe for Wolverine and the X-Men, and was at the height of his popularity alongside them in the ’90s, when he got his first action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sabretooth was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He’s based on Sabretooth’s original John Byrne-designed costume, which, interestingly enough, Sabretooth had just ditched in the comics at the time of this figure’s release. The early line was kind of plagued with things like this, which is why characters had a tendency to show up a second time pretty quickly (Sabretooth’s second figure would arrive just three series later). The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. Sabretooth lacked neck articulation, a surprisingly common phenomenon in the early years of the line. Unlike other figures this happened to, Sabretooth doesn’t really have any specific gimmicks preventing a neck joint from being added, so I guess it was just a design thing. Whatever the case, it’s a bit limiting on posing. Sabretooth’s sculpt was unique to him. It’s okay, but not really anything to write home about. It leans closer to the weaker of the Series 1 sculpts than it does the stronger Series 2 sculpts. The details are rather soft, especially on the face, the hair is rather oddly shaped, and the proportions are really on the scrawny side for a Sabretooth figure. His paintwork is pretty basic; the standard colors are all handled decently. The two shades of yellow for the fur and his hair are kind of close to each other, meaning they kind of blend together and look kind of odd. Sabretooth was packed with this weird sort of claw thing to hold. He also had an action feature, where the front plate of his stomach could be flipped back and forth. One side is clean, while the other has claw marks, thereby simulating his healing factor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time I was collecting, this figure had vanished from shelves, replaced by his more cartoon-indicative second figure, so that was the one I had. I picked this one up a couple of years ago second hand. Part of his appeal was being the first copy of this guy I’d seen without horrible paint scraping on the eyes. He’s not really a great figure…or even a particularly good figure. I guess if you really like his original costume, that’s a plus, but it’s not even the best version of that costume on the market.

This was a spring of 2019 review, and I recall being rather burned out at this point, which I think shows a bit in the writing.  Admittedly, Sabretooth isn’t the most inspiring of figures, so I can’t blame myself exclusively.  I think I did okay with the basics.  He’s really not a terribly impressive first outing for the character, so it’s nice that he got a second go so quickly.  When I reviewed him, he was missing his weird orange weapon thing.  But now he’s got it.  And it’s all weird and orange.  But it’s there.  So…you know, there it is.

#4028: Breakdown

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

BREAKDOWN

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Roaming the world of 2099 are a group of nomads called the Freakshow – men and women used as lab rats in the twisted experiments of corporate America. Breakdown is one of them. Genetically engineered to transmute the molecules of any object he lays hands on, Breakdown’s touch results in destruction. Enraged over being made outcasts in the name of science, Breakdown and the Freakshow are out for revenge.”

The 2099 imprint at Marvel was not shy when it came to world-building, and in the case of X-Men, they were pretty invested in creating equivalents for stuff from the present timeline.  Since the present day X-Men had their own band of “unsightly” mutant outcasts in the form of the Morlocks, X-Men 2099 had their own, the Freakshow.  And, since Callisto wasn’t around for her usual edgy leader duties, instead we got today’s focus, Breakdown!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Breakdown was part of the second (and ultimately final) series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toyline.  He’s a non-team member in an assortment that’s sparse on actual team members, which is a bit odd since they didn’t really come anywhere close to an actual team line-up, but hey, it is what it is.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Breakdown’s sculpt is another all-new one, and one that again remained unique to this figure.  It’s very much in keeping with the others in the line, so it looks a fair bit like Ron Lim’s illustrations for the series, and it also fits well with the other figures Toy Biz was doing at the time.  Dig that mullet, which is apparently back in style in 2099.  Or maybe it’s not.  He’s an outcast, after all.  The sculpt is largely basic in its detailing, but there’s a bit more texturing in what you can see of his skin.  You can also see more of that texturing through the magic of his “battle-damage” feature, which allows you to remove a segment of his costume on his torso.  It’s actually a pretty cool little feature, adding a fun little extra, while also staying in place pretty securely, and not being too incredibly obvious when it’s in place.  Breakdown’s color work is a pretty decent match for the character’s admittedly rather oddball colors from the comics.  Things are pretty clean for the most part (though my figure has a touch of wear), but there’s some coverage issues along some of the edges, notably his hairline.  Breakdown is packed with a whole other guy, namely Dominick, who is his sidekick.  At least, according to the box.  I don’t know.  I can’t say I really know Dominick, beyond his presence here.  I will say he’s a pretty neat li’l guy, and I do quite like him.  Like a lot.  Now I want to read all six of his appearances.  I would die for this guy.  Just straight up going all Rosa Diaz with the puppy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Breakdown loose with the rest of the line a few years back, but he was missing the Dominick figure, and as I have discovered in the process of writing this review, that’s apparently a deal breaker for me, so I tracked down another just to get Dominick.  Knowing nothing about either character, I gotta say, I really like this pair.  Definitely another solid offering from a line I knew very little about going in.

#4024: Skullfire

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

SKULLFIRE

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Tim Fitzgerald was living a tough life alone on the streets when he was approached by Shakti and invited to join the X-Men. Able to absorb and store electricity on a cellular level and redirect it with devastating results, Tim is a mutant with extraordinary, as yet untapped, potential. Picking up the reigns after former team leader X’ian’s betrayal, Tim now leads the X-Men against their opponents as the smoldering Skullfire!”

Man, the X-Men 2099 cast is not beating the “drawing two random words out of a hat to make the names” allegations at all, are they?  It was the ‘90s, that’s just how we were.  Admittedly, Skullfire’s got a better claim to his grab-bag sort of name than Bloodhawk did, so I’m less inclined to fight it….from a design standpoint.  Power-wise?  Eh, I’m still iffy, but I’ll let it go. Right, so let’s look tat this here Skullfire figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skullfire is the final figure in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toy line.  There were originally two more, but La Lunatica got pushed back to the second series, and Controller 13 was scrapped entirely.  Skullfire himself is a sensible choice, what with being the team’s leader and central character.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s got a rather basic articulation scheme for the time, which serves him well enough, and means that, unlike the last three figures I looked at from this line, he can turn his head.  Crazy stuff, right?  His sculpt was new to this figure, and would remain unique to him.  It’s respectable.  Stylistically, it fits right in with the rest of the line, and generally captures the Ron Lim vibes.  That being said, he’s based on the character’s earliest appearances in the series, prior to the addition of the oh-so-90s headband that became standard to his appearance.  His hair is also a little shorter and more contained than it tended to be.  All that said, it looks fine for a guy named Skullfire, so I really can’t fault it.  Perhaps the coolest part of the figure is how they did his forearms; there are “bones” inlaid into the mold, and the outer arm is cast in a clear plastic, so he’s got that neat x-ray effect going on, just like in the comics.  Skullfire has two “action features.”  His forearms are molded in a glow-in-the-dark plastic, so the “glow” (sort of), and his right arm also has a spring-loaded feature, triggered by the lever on his back.  Skullfire’s color work actually had two variations (much like most of the first series figures), where the yellow sections of the costume were either a slightly metallic yellow or a darker gold.  The one seen here is the yellow.  Otherwise, application’s the same, and honestly not bad.  He captures the color scheme of the comics well, and things are generally pretty cleanly handled.  Skullfire is packed with two removable bracer pieces, as well as a flame knife, which is more or less the same as the one included with Brimstone Love, but smaller to better fit on this figure’s wrist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much like Metalhead and Bloodhawk, I got my initial Skullfire in a larger lot that had pretty much the whole run of these guys, but he was missing his bracers, so I snagged a sealed one later to get a fully complete one.  I rather like this one.  Vibes wise, he very much feels on par with Meanstreak, who is my unquestionable favorite from this line, which serves Skullfire pretty well.  He’s not quite accurate to most of the character’s depictions, but then I don’t have much experience with the character, so that impacts me less.  As it stands, he’s a solid figure with some really fun little details, especially those forearms.  He’s nifty and I like him.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0068: Wolverine II

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

WOLVERINE II

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh…….it’s Friday, which is the end of the week and also that day where I get to be all funky fresh with the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums!  So many “F”s!  But that’s also kind of the end of the “F”s here, because today we’re taking a second look at an X-Man by the name of Wolverine (II)

“His super-sharp adamantium claws can slash through steel. His mutant healing ability can mend even the worst wounds in minutes. He’s Wolverine, the best at what he does and what he does best is fight Evil Mutants! With his keen senses of sight, smell and hearing, and his frighteningly fierce fighting style, enemies claim Wolverine is more animal than mutant. But his fellow X-Men know that he’s the best friend they have, especially when the going gets deadly dangerous!”

Did you know that wolverines use snow as refrigerators to keep their food fresh? That’s your fun FiQ fact for today…’s Tiger Stripe Wolverine review. You guys thought I was going to forget about the running gag, didn’t you? Well, I didn’t! Okay, let’s just take a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine, or “Wolverine II” as he is referred to on all of the packaging, is part of the second series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. The first series had used Wolverine’s then-current brown costume, but Logan had reverted back to an approximation of his classic look not too long after that figure’s release, so Toy Biz followed suit with this figure. The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation. Wolverine’s sculpt was new to him, and would serve as the basis for a number of figures that would follow, including when it was up-scaled for the 10-inch Deluxe Edition figure (reviewed here). While the smaller scale doesn’t quite serve the sculpt quite as well as the larger, but all of the basics are still there, and it’s still a pretty strong offering for the character. He’s a little on the tall side for a proper Logan, but that was the trend of the time, and he’s certainly not as bad as some of the figures that would follow. The primary differences between this figure and the larger one are to do with his claws and the raised lever on his back to allow for an “action feature” when spinning his torso. The claws are an interesting choice. They’re spring loaded, but since there’s no locking mechanism, they just pop right back into place. Also, they’re stubby and curved, and the spring feature makes his forearms really boxy, so I’m not really sure it’s worth the tradeoff. Wolverine’s paintwork is decent enough. Fairly basic, and not without some slop, especially around the edges of the blue parts of the costume. The black details also seem to extend a bit further into the rest of the costume than they traditionally do in the comics, but that’s rather minor. Wolverine was packed with a gun, because, when you get down to it, isn’t that really Wolverine’s defining trait? Having a gun? Well, not my Wolverine, because his gun is missing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this figure was *not* my first Wolverine. That would be the Battle-Ravaged Wolverine from the Invasion Series, which was the current figure of Wolverine when I got into collecting. The trouble with that figure, as cool as it is, arose when I got the Black Bird, which the larger Battle-Ravaged figure couldn’t actually fit inside of, meaning I really needed a smaller figure. Around the time I got my Black Bird, my parents were in the process of buying a new house, and my dad was going back and forth many days getting things ready to move in. I accompanied on many of those trips, Black Bird in tow, with only my Series 1 Cyclops in it, since he was the only one who actually fit. On one of those days, my dad had to go and pick up carpet from the mall, where there was also a KB Toys. In exchange for accompanying, my Dad bought me this guy (he also bought himself a Ch’od figure, because him also getting a figure was part of the ritual) to go with my Black Bird. He stuck with me for the whole move in process at the new house. Is he the best Wolverine ever? Maybe not, but I do still really like him. 

Hey, it’s the tiger-stripe Wolverine fun facts about actual Wolverines gag!  I kept that going all the way into 2022.  I think I might even still have the list of all the facts I wrote down to pull from somewhere….but I can’t seem to find it now.  Perhaps one day, they may return, when we need them most.  In terms of review stuff, I think this one’s not bad.  I honestly forgot I’d reviewed the 10-inch version prior to this, which does sort of outsource the sculpt discussion a bit, but that works out okay.  Otherwise, I noted that he was missing his oh-so-important gun, which I have since replaced.  Check it out.  Very fancy.  Also very packed with multiple figures, so not very hard to find a spare.  Yay!

#4020: Bloodhawk

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

BLOODHAWK

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“A self-appointed protector of the environment, the savage X-Man Bloodhawk shows no mercy to those who would destroy the eco-system of 2099 – be they corporate stooges or super-powered mutants!”

Right, so we’re back with the X-Men 2099 figures again today, taking a deeper dive into the team, such as it were.  So, we’re looking at this guy they call Bloodhawk.  Bloodhawk.  Bloodhawk?  Bloodhawk.  That’s…we’re going with Bloodhawk.  I…yeah, okay, I guess? At a certain point, you do feel a little bit like they named most of this team by pulling two words out of a hat and going “yeah, now we’re cooking.”  Bloodhawk is the sort of name that *could* apply alright to a red guy with wings, but maybe not *this* red guy with wings.  I mean, yes, I know I’m absolutely overthinking it.  It’s X-Men 2099, so any thought at all is probably overthinking it.  But Bloodhawk?  I’ve workshopped the name with the FiQ writers room (which is really just me pestering Tim, but I’m counting it) and we’ve come up with Boil Bat, X-Zema, Bloodwyng, and Blüdred as potentially better names, for what it’s worth.  But I’m definitely overthinking it.  Right, I’m supposed to be talking about toys or something. Anyway, here’s (sigh) Bloodhawk.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bloodhawk (sigh) is part of the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toyline.  Though his bio just identifies him as “X-Man,” Bloodhawk wasn’t actually a full-fledged member in the early issues, just a recurring ally.  But, you gotta have Bloodhawk, right?  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  An argument could be made for 10, but I’m going with 8 because only 8 of those points can actually hold a pose.  Bloodhawk marks the third figure in a row from this line not to sport neck articulation, and unlike the other two, he doesn’t even have a waist swivel to offset it.  No peripheral vision for Bloodhawk.  There’s two additional points of movement on his wings, but they’re tied into an action feature that moves them up and down, and don’t actually hold any poses beyond the standard when the lever’s not being held.  Bloodhawk got an all-new sculpt, and, like most of this line, it remained unique.  Apart from having a rather stiff pose, I think it’s decent enough at capturing his depiction from the comics.  He’s much leaner than the others in the line, which helps him standout and also feels true to the character, as best as I know him.  There’s some decent texturing on his skin, so that gives him his own sort of feel.  Bloodhawk’s color work is rather on the basic side, but generally gets the idea across as to Bloodhawk’s comic look.  There’s a color variant on this one, where his pants are either metallic or flat green.  Mine is the metallic version, which I dig, because it feels more future-y.  Bloodhawk is light on the extras, but does get a removable bandolier, which is a little awkward to get around the wings, but does help sell the extra ‘90s nature of the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve actually owned two Bloodhawks.  The first came from the same larger lot that included most of the other X-Men 2099 figures, but was missing his bandolier, so I ended up with a sealed one I found later fr the purposes of completing him.  He’s…fine.  Look, I really don’t like his name.  I think it clashes with a character that could be a perfectly interesting idea.  His figure’s a little stunted on movement, but overall not bad.

#4016: Metalhead

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

METALHEAD

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Powerhouse member of the outlaw mutant group the X-Men, Metalhead uses his power to absorb the properties of any metal he touches in fierce battles as he and his teammates rebel against corporate control. Recently, Metalhead has morphed into a larger, more monstrous version of his original self, and is currently trapped in an alloyed state possessing at once different properties of the many metals he’s absorbed.”

So, there’s this guy, he’s a mutant, and he’s a member of the X-Men, but not the original X-Men, a later iteration of the team, and he turns into metal, and then at one point, he gets locked into his metal state, and he can’t turn back, and it causes him all sorts of angst.  But, I’m not talking about Colossus today!  No, I’m talking about the *other* guy with that backstory, Metalhead.  He’s totally different!  He lives in the year 2099!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Metalhead is part of the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line.  He’s well placed, as a main member of the team, who got quite a bit of focus in the book’s run.  This is his second, post monstrous transformation look, which is admittedly the slightly more distinctive of the two.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s definitely more restricted on the movement, lacking elbows, knees, or even a neck joint.  He does at least get a swivel at the waist, so, you know, he can turn…sort of.  Metalhead’s sculpt was new to him, and remained unique through the Toy Biz run.  It’s big and its bulky, and it’s got some heft to it, so he stands out well from the rest of the line (apart from Brimstone, who’s also big and bulky, I suppose).  He’s rather cartoony and a bit silly, but again feels like he’s a respectable recreation of Ron Frenz’s artwork from the book.  There’s a rather obvious lever on his back, which moves his arms up and down, all crazy action feature like.  Metalhead’s color work is pretty solid.  The base colors match the comics, and the transition from gold to silver on his skin tone is quite nicely handled.  There’s a bit of slop on some of the other spots, especially those silver bands on his legs, but overall not too shabby.  Metalhead is packed with an absurdly large gun thing, which fits very tightly into his left hand.  It splits apart in the middle, for, umm, reasons?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve brought up before, the only X-Men 2099 figure I had as a kid was Meanstreak.  I got pretty much everyone else from a big lot of loose Toy Biz figures that came into work five or so years ago.  While last week’s Brimstone Love was complete, Metalhead here was missing the front half of his gun.  That was it.  How embarrassing.  I had to buy a whole extra Metalhead just for the front of his gun.  Honestly, though, it’s not so bad.  While he’s not exceedingly posable, he’s certainly got a neat presence, and he’s fun to mess around with.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0066: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  We have once more made it to the end of the week!  Oh boy, that was rough, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Once more, we’re looking into the world of Toy Biz, with a second look at Wolverine!

“When it comes to fighting Evil Mutants, the X-Men know there’s no one better than Wolverine! With his razor-sharp adamantium claws, his lightning-quick reflexes and his unmatched combat experience, Wolverine can outfight anyone! Thanks to his super-fast mutant healing ability, in just a few short hours he’s totally healthy and ready for action again, no matter how serious his wounds!”

Would you believe there was a time when a Wolverine figure was an exciting and new thing? I know, that’s a bit hard to grasp. But, until Mattel’s Secret Wars line, there were no Wolverine figures at all. And that one wasn’t even all that good! He’d have to wait until 1992 for a second go, courtesy of Toy Biz’s then-newly-launched X-Men line. He would be the first of very, very many.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released in Series 1 of the X-Men line. He was actually unique amongst the 5-inch X-Men figures for being in Wolverine’s brown costume. It was still his current look when these figures hit (which is more than could be said for a number of his Series 1 compatriots), but it was quickly replaced by the returning tiger-stripe design, which would be the main focus for a good decade. The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall (making it one of Toy Biz’s few offerings to truly stick to Wolverine’s proper stature) and he has 7 points of articulation. His sculpt was new to him, and remained unique for all of Toy Biz’s run. It’s a pretty decent one for the time. While it doesn’t quite eclipse the likes of Magneto and Nightcrawler, it’s still really quite good. The build of the body is probably the strongest aspect; Wolverine figures tend to overlook his distinctive stature, so this one getting it down so well is certainly notable. The head’s not quite as strong. This was really the first time that Logan’s hair was translated into three dimensions, so they were still sorting it all out. It ends up looking a little goofy and sort of impossible, but it’s not terrible. Wolverine’s paintwork is reasonable, though not anything outstanding. The base colors are all pretty decent recreations of the comics look, and he’s rather eye-catching. There’s some unevenness with the lines in a few spots, especially on the torso. Wolverine was packed with his mask, which works surprisingly well for the scale, as well as a katana. He was also the first Wolverine to feature the popping claw action, which allowed him to simulate Wolverine’s signature “snikt” move. It robs his arms of any elbow movement, and the claws are required to be rather small to facilitate. That said, it works reasonably well, and is certainly fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was too young to get Wolverine new, and he wasn’t one that was prone to showing up later on. Fortunately, Cosmic Comix had me covered there, and I got this guy not too long after getting into collecting. He’s actually not a bad figure, and despite the sort of odd removable mask, it was one of the better Wolverines from the line.

This was written in the summer of 2018, and, if I’m honest, I remember very little about writing it.  Looking at the reviews around it, I think I probably wrote either during or immediately before my family vacation that year, so I might have had my mind on other things.  It was also the year of Infinity War, and the onslaught of Marvel product that accompanied it, so I might have even been a little burned out.  I think I did alright by him in the writing, though.  The only thing missing when I reviewed him was his katana, which I’ve since found, so aha, here it is!  He can’t hold it especially well, but I guess it’s still cool.

#4012: Brimstone Love

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

BRIMSTONE LOVE

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“The proprietor of the Theater of Pain, Brimstone Love is in the business of suffering! This shape-shifter takes personal interest in the souls he seeks to exploit, making sure to document and record every torturous moment, and ensuring a healthy profit on the blackest of markets. He has currently taken an interest in the lives of the X-Men, dispatching his seekers to hunt the mutants down and bring them into Brimstone Love’s web of calculated cruelty.”

In the ‘90s, Marvel launched a whole line of comics that was set in the future of the Marvel universe, in the year 2099, at that time over a hundred years removed from the main continuity.  Mostly, these days, it exists as the background of the creation of Miquel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099, who was far and away the most conventionally popular of the bunch, but they had equivalents for most of the major Marvel titles at the time, which of course included X-Men.  While X-Men 2099 and its cast have largely faded into obscurity, they did at the very least get their own dedicated toyline, covering not just the team, but also some of their antagonists.  Once such antagonist was Brimstone Love, a guy whose name is Brimstone Love…and, yeah, I don’t actually have another thing to say about him.  Name’s cool, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brimstone Love was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line.  He’s the only non-team member in the first series, but still a notable character from the early run of the book, fitting with the rest of the figures.  The figure stands 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He lacks a neck joint, and also elbows, but does get a waist swivel, albeit one that’s somewhat spring-loaded for an “attack” feature.  Brimstone’s sculpt was all new to him, and remained unique to him for all of Toy Biz’s run.  I guess that makes sense, since it’s rather a unique design, and there’s little call for such a sculpt to be repurposed for other characters.  It’s generally not a bad recreation of Ron Frenz’s illustrations of the character.  He’s got a distinctive set of proportions, matching Brimstone’s admittedly very ‘90s build from the comics, and the angular nature of the musculature is certainly distinctive.  His cape is a separate piece, which can be removed, though it’s not really designed with that in mind.  It’s not actually affixed, mind you, but sits around the neck, sort of free-floating.  His color work is decent enough, again matching the comics look.  The bulk of him is this a pretty neat metallic blue, and he’s got a splash of red going on, which keeps things from getting too monotonous.  Brimstone is packed with a flame effect attachment, as well as what I have to assume is maybe a set of brass knuckles?  I don’t know, and the packaging didn’t say.  The flame is flat and opaque, but generally fine.  The knuckles are the same color, and fit well over the figure’s hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I think I’ve maybe read one issue of X-Men 2099 over the years, so I can’t say I know much of the characters beyond what I’ve loosely gleaned from the tie-in toys.  Brimstone is one of those characters that I really don’t know, but I snagged him as part of a lot that had pretty much all of the other X-Men 2099 figures, back a few years ago.  Most of them were incomplete, but Brimstone notably had all of his parts, as well as his cardback.  He’s an interesting figure.  Kind of limited in what he can do, but he certainly casts an imposing silhouette. 

#4008: Forearm

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

FOREARM

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“This Evil Mutant loves to fight! Forearm’s favorite boast is that he’s the best in hand-to-hand-to-hand-to-hand combat. It’s not a hollow boast either-Forearm can clobber a dozen attackers in seconds. Locked doors can’t keep him out for long, either. His rapid-fire piledriver punches can buckle steel! Though he can use guns if he has to, Forearm prefers to fight with his fists. Because he’s so good at it, Magneto the leader of the Evil Mutants is only too happy to let him!”

You know the expression “too cute by half?”  Well, if I were to refer to today’s focus, Forearm, as having a name that was too cute by half, and we factored in that his starting point is actually twice the mode for a person, would that mean that, relative to others, you he might be too cute by a whole?  Or am I just overthinking this?  I did, after all, adjust my second sentence there to replace “average” with “mode” because I realized it was incorrect to say the average person has two arms.  So, you know, probably overthinking it.  Not like Liefeld when he came up with Forearm, a guy who has four arms.  He really just went for the obvious on that one, right?  Yeah.  Forearm is so not overthought that his bio up there mentions Magneto, a guy I’m not sure Forearm has ever actually worked for, but not Stryfe, the guy that Forearm was working for when this figure came out, who was in fact included in the same very series.  But I’m back to overthinking it.  Let’s just review Forearm, the man with four arms.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Forearm is the final figure in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Force, a nine figure line-up that’s only actually got three members of the team, which is an odd kind of start, especially relative to how X-Men launched.  Perhaps they were just building for longevity?  I suppose they kind of won out on that one.  Where was I?  Right, Forearm.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  He gets extra movement thanks to the extra arms, but offsets it a bit with a lack of knee joints.  I guess it helps keep him a little more stable on his feet.  I do like that this figure, unlike some other more-than-two-armed people, gets separate shoulder movement for each arm, albeit tied into his “punching” action feature.  Forearm’s sculpt is pretty much on par with the others from this first assortment.  It does a respectable job of capturing the character’s look, and not looking too dated…you know, apart from the character’s general design.  His hair is undeniably an odd shape sticking up out of the headband all flat like that.  It looks not unlike a pot-pie, something I can demonstrate with a handy photoshop courtesy of my boi Tim.  Look at that silly pot-pie lookin’ hair.  Otherwise, though, the proportions seem fine, and the level of definition on the details is pretty sharp.  Forearm’s paint work is fine.  Generally basic, and not the most appealing set of colors, but it works well enough.  In addition to his overabundance of arms, Forearm includes a weird sort of double-nun-chuk thing, which he can fling about with his action feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Forearm as a kid, but I do quite distinctly remember him being on the back of the boxes of other figures I had.  He does have a pretty neat visual, especially if you’re just going by what’s on the back of the box.  It took me a little while to finally track him down, but I got him with a larger batch of loose X-Force figures that got trade into work a couple of years back.  He’s neat.  He makes me chuckle about a number of tangentially related things, and that’s always a fun bit.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0064: Avalanche

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

AVALANCHE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

The week, she is once more at an end.  Honestly, feels like it flew by, but maybe not in the best way.  But, the main point is, we made it to Friday!  Alright!  Go us!  Let’s have another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, this time jumping back over to my little Toy Biz Marvel corner of the world with a return to Avalanche!  Why would anyone want to return to Avalanche?  Your guess is as good as mine.

 “A mutant with the ability to control earth and rock, Avalanche’s powers earned him a place in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Now operating largely on his own, or in the company of his allies, the Blob and Pyro, Avalanche strikes not so much out of hatred for normal humans, but from a desire to make a profit!”

Back in the ‘90s, the X-Men were super hot, and by, extension, the various X-Men spin-offs were super hot. X-Force, the spawn of everyone’s favorite artist Rob Liefeld, was inexplicably successful, but only the actual team seemed to get real notoriety. The villains were mostly forgettable, however, so for the toyline Toy Biz borrowed a few classic X-Men baddies, including today’s focus character, Avalanche!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Avalanche was released in Series 5 of Toy Biz’s X-Force toyline. He was the second of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants figures featured in this particular line, following Pyro. Seeing how the two of them were a semi-recurrent pair on X-Men: The Animated Series, it was a pretty sensible inclusion, I suppose. The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. He got extra disk joints on his hips, which I guess was kind of nice. It does seem a little bit odd that Avalanche of all people got extra special articulation, but I’m not gonna fight it. HIs sculpt was all new to this particular figure, and it was fairly decent for the era. The proportions are a little exaggerated, obviously, but given that he was in the X-Force line, it’s actually fairly balanced. There articulation could perhaps be worked in a bit better, but it’s not awful. The details of the costume are pretty clean, and I do like the intensity of the expression on what we can see of his face. It’s a bit of a shame that his helmet is permanently affixed, since he had it off rather frequently on the cartoon, but it looks good, and that’s ultimately the most important thing. Avalanche’s paintwork is fairly standard, mostly silver and blue. It looks decent enough, though it’s perhaps not the most thrilling color scheme. Avalanche was originally packed with an “Exploding Rock Platform” which demonstrated his powers via action feature. My figure was purchased loose, however, so he doesn’t include this piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Avalanche is a rather recent addition to my ‘90s Marvel collection, picked up over the summer from Yesterday’s Fun. They had a number of old X-Men figures, and this was one I kept meaning to grab, but never got around to. He’s a pretty decent figure of a character I admittedly don’t have a ton of attachment to. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have him, and he brings me one step closer to completing this collection.

In 2017, when I wrote that review, I was batting back and forth between more comical reviews and more serious ones, and Avalanche wound up as the latter.  Alas, it means my witty intro about how he never got much of a a character arc beyond “being Pyro’s buddy” wasn’t until I reviewed his Marvel Legend.  I instead used this one to rag on X-Force a bit, which, you know what?  Fair.  My review of the actual figure seems pretty solid.  Still really don’t know why he got the extra movement on the hips, but it is what it is.  In 2017, he was missing his stand, but in 2026, he’s got it once more.  It’s a rather neat piece, and demonstrates the powers about as well as I think you can.  It also keeps him very stable, which comes in handy with those hips.