Tag Archives: vehicles

#0689: Stormtrooper Commando & Attack Walker

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

STORMTROOPER COMMANDO & ASSAULT WALKER

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Trooper&Walker1

Behold! The Star Wars stuff! Here it is! Do you see it? There’s a ton of it! Go, look! I’ll wait. Did you see it? Isn’t there a lot of Star Wars stuff? Man, I gotta be honest, it’s a relief to see it all. The last few months, stores have been almost completely devoid of all things Star Wars toys, and it was getting just a little bit depressing. But now, the Episode 7 stuff has finally hit, and now all the die-hard fans are up for another round of “buy all these figures before seeing the movie they’re from and just really hope they’re worth it to you after the fact.” It’s a long name for a thing. So, what was my first Force Awakens purchase? Well, I played it safe and went for a Stormtrooper. Of course, I couldn’t find just a basic Stormtrooper, so I had to settle for this one included with a vehicle.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker2The included figure is the Stormtrooper Commando, a variation on the all-new First Order Stormtrooper design. Essentially, it’s just the basic Stormtrooper with a shoulder pauldron. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. It’s still kind of sad to see Hasbro cut articulation so drastically, but I’ve gotten enough of the reduced articulation figures that it’s begun to bother me less. The sculpt is pretty decently handled. The First Order Stormtrooper is an interesting re-design of the basic Stormtrooper we’ve all come to know and love, with a heavy emphasis on making them look as sleek as possible. The armor is a lot more smooth and rounded then what we’ve seen before. It’s definitely an interesting look. The sculpt does a nice job translating the new design to the small scale. While it’s not the most intricate design ever, there are some finer details, which are handled with nice precision, making the armor look appropriately clean. The right leg has a raised up section, with a small slot, meant for holding the figure’s weapon, which is a nice improvement over previous troopers. The Trooper&Walker3pauldron, which is the main unique piece here, is a rather straightforward add-on piece. It slips over the neck joint and can easily be removed by popping off the head. As far as paint goes, the Stormtrooper Commando is pretty basic. He’s molded in white plastic, and has black paint for detailing. That’s it. Now, to be fair, that looks to be accurate to the film, so it’s not like Hasbro’s skimped out on any additional colors or anything. The actual application of the paint is decent but nothing fantastic. None of the paint is drastically out of place, but the black is all pretty fuzzy around the edges, and a few of the smaller areas are missing their black detailing all together. None of it is quite as obvious as the missing shoulder paint from the Rebels Stormtrooper, but it’s still a minor annoyance. The pauldron is molded in straight black. I have no idea if that’s accurate to the movie, but it looks decent enough. The Stormtrooper includes a blaster, which looks to be their standard blaster for the film. It’s pretty well sculpted and nicely painted. I dig the two-toned thing. It sits a little odd in his hand, but it plugs into the side of his leg pretty securely.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

Trooper&Walker4The main selling point of this set is the vehicle here, dubbed the Assault Walker. It appears to be a variant of the AT-ST “Chicken Walker” from Return of the Jedi, though, at this size, I guess it’s more patterned after the smaller walkers we saw in Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith. It stands roughly 7 inches tall and has articulation at the tops of the legs, the ankles, the mounted gun on the front, and the handle bars. That’s not a whole lot of movement, and it would have at the very least been nice to get joints at all the sculpted joints on the legs, but what’s there is serviceable. The sculpt on the walker is pretty impressively handled. Sure, it’s not Hot Toys level of detail or anything, but it’s got a nice, geometric build, with a fair amount of seam lines and visible mechanics to keep it Trooper&Walker5interesting visually. There’s a lot of hollow areas to keep the vehicle low weight, so it looks better from some angles than it does others. That’s not ideal, but it’s also not terrible, and it’s not like it’s out of line from previous Star Wars vehicles. Paintwork on the walker is relatively minimal, with most of the color work being handled through molded colors. That said, there are a few areas that have some painted details, all of which are handled relatively cleanly. The best work is definitely on the front shield piece, which has a nicely executed camo pattern. The Assault Walker doesn’t have any accessories, though, if you really want to get technical, the Stormtrooper Commando is an accessory.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on the midnight releases of all the Star Wars prequel toys, I decided to go to this year’s “Force Friday” event. I went to Toys R Us, mostly due to none of my local Targets or Walmarts participating in the 12:01 openings. I got there about 45 minutes before midnight and got a fairly decent spot in line. Then I went in. “Underwhelming” is the word I’d say best describes he experience. TRU’s distribution completely misidentified the target audience, resulting in far too few action figures to satisfy demand. I had been wanting to grab a few of the Black Series figures, but only one case was sent to the store, and every figure in it was grabbed by the first person in line. In my search for the Black Series stuff, I walked past the 3 ¾ inch-ers, and by the time I got back to them, they were all but gone. I picked up this set to look at it, and next thing I knew, every other set around it was gone. So, I clung tight to this set, as well as the lone Pop! figure I had managed to grab and called that a small victory. This is actually a pretty fun little set. The Walker is a neat vehicle that doesn’t take up too much space, and the Stormtrooper Commando is a good enough stand-in for a basic Stormtrooper to make me happy. So, I guess the trip wasn’t a total loss.

Trooper&Walker6

#0602: Jackall & Jaeger

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

JACKALL & JAEGER

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

JackalJaeger1

Man, when I find a new line to collect, I sure jump all-in, don’t I? I’m relatively new to this whole Assemble Borg thing, but I really, really enjoy it. And why not? It’s essentially an update to Micronauts and Microman, which are two of my very favorite toylines. Just like those two lines, Assemble Borg‘s focus is on interchangeability. This isn’t just limited to figures, either. While they aren’t the main focus, the Assemble Borg line has more than a few vehicles in its backlog. Today, I’ll be looking at one of those, the Jackall motorcycle.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

JackalJaeger2The Jackall (and Jaeger) is entry 022 in the Assemble Borg line. It’s the first vehicle since the line re-launched under the “Nexus” heading at number 020. It comes packaged as a rather basic motorcycle (the “Jackall”) with a bunch of extra pieces that can be distributed however you like. Of course, like just about everything else in the line, there’s no real reason you have to leave it in the default set up. The pieces are all designed to potentially work in just about any configuration, and each piece has several standard relolver joint hook-ups. In the basic cycle set-up, the Jackal is about 6 inches long and about 2 ½ inches tall at its highest point. It’s quite well scaled to the basic Assemble Borg figures, which is good. The individual pieces are all very nicely sculpted, with lots of JackalJaeger3cool and interesting little technical details. While Jackall is packaged as its own item, its real purpose is to augment the basic Nexus figure. Clearly, the bike itself is meant to be used with the figure, but many of the additional pieces included are also meant as additional accessories for Nexus. The “& Jaeger” potion of the set is the clearest example of this, as it refers to an extra faceplate and chest piece that are specifically designed to be used with the Nexus figure, allowing you to build the Jaeger “character.” The pieces offer a nice, streamlined look, which really works very nicely with the motorcycle idea, and itJackalJaeger4 offers a nice set of additional options for the basic Nexus. In addition to the Jaeger pieces, the set includes a pair of handles, a pair of pedals, and a kickstand, all meant to be used with the bike, as well as a sword, a machine gun, a large hand gun, two shotguns, two knives, a pick axe, four holster clips, two double peg adapters, an assortment of other random pieces that I couldn’t begin to classify, and the usual selection of pegs and joints to maximize customizability. That’s a whole lot of stuff. I also like that all of the weapons included are different from what was included with Nexus, as it adds some nice variety to the mix. JackalJaeger6Paint is always a light subject with Assemble Borgs, but it’s worth noting that this set was available in two different color schemes. This is the regular version, but there’s also the Ghost Motor version, which reverses the black and silver bits (it also has some slightly tweaked sculpted parts). I myself prefer the color the way it is here, so I’m pleased that this was the one I went for. Also, there’s a little bit of slop on the faceplate and chest piece, which I hadn’t seen before. It’s nothing too extensive, but it is a little annoying.

JackalJaeger5 JackalJaeger7

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, after Tim dragged me into this line and I realized just how amazingly fun it was to tweak how my Nexus figure was laid out, I kind of figured I should pick up one of the two cycles. I had planned in holding off buying one, just for a little while, but I happened upon a couple of Assemble Borg auctions on eBay for pretty decent prices, and this set was one of them. The cycle itself is a lot of fun, but I’m really excited by all the new Nexus pieces I got. Granted, nothing’s trumped the handle face layout, but I like the extra weapons, and the chest piece is definitely my favorite of the bunch. All in all, this is a fantastically fun set!

JackalJaeger9

Guest Review #0021: Noble Team Minimates

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

JORGE, EMILE, NOBLE SIX, AND GAUSS HOG

HALO MINIMATES

Warthog1

The following is a guest review by Tim Marron. For more from Tim, check out Timsical Thoughts and Tim’s Blarg.

You may know that I’m a big fan of the Halo series of video games, however, Halo Reach never quite seemed to stop teetering on the like/dislike fence for me. It was one of those frustratingly middle sort of games where any negatives on one hand like lame deaths, Kat in general, and an overall meh delivery of plot were balanced on the other hand by things like Emile, jetpacks, new guns, and Emile again. Fortunately, the set I’ll be looking at today has far more of the better parts of the game in it. And there’s plenty Emile to be had. I mean, it’s just one figure but that’s enough. It would just be weird to have, say, 6 of the same character. But I digress, on to the reviews.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

In this set we get two of the more memorable/tolerable NPC Spartans from the game’s campaign, Emile, and Jorge, along with Blandy McBlanderpants a.k.a. Noble Six as well as a big car they can all ride in. They make up half of the central Noble Team, the remaining three Spartans being grouped in another set.

JORGE

Warthog3For those unfamiliar with the game, Jorge is Noble Team’s guy with a big machine gun, along the lines of Drake and Vasquez, Dutch, or the TF2 Heavy. He’s based on his appearance in Halo Reach, for it is his only one. He stands about 2.5 inches tall and features 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the basic Minimate body with a modified waist which adds a little extra height to him. In addition, he comes sporting special pieces for his helmet, body armor, hands, leg plates, and boots. All of these pieces are pretty well sculpted and accurate to the game, though the fact that his bulky-ass shoulder pads are part of his body armor does mean his arm movement is pretty limited. The paint is not stellar. There’s a fair bit of slop and bleed on his armor and his visor is more of a pinkish beige rather than gold. He is the only Spartan of this set who actually has a face under his helmet. The details are a little too heavy and dark, making his wrinkles and facial stubble look like he drew them on with Sharpie. The texturing on the hair is a surprisingly nice touch though. Jorge comes with his signature big machine gun.

EMILE

Warthog4I’m not sure if this came across earlier but Emile is radtastic, sick nasty, and other combinations of words meaning he’s the coolest dude in the entire game. He’s the team’s resident ‘splosion master and the only character in any Halo game to have a big knife visibly on his person at all times. Construction-wise, he is built the same as Jorge except minus the torso extension and with his shoulder plates being on his arms instead of part of his body armor. The sculpt work is, again, well done and faithful to the source material. Emile shares the same boots, left hand, and right leg plate with Noble Six. Emile’s paint is an improvement over Jorge’s with only a couple sloppy spots. The skull pattern on the helmet looks pretty good too, though the black outline around the whole thing makes it look more like a sticker rather than an etching. Emile also has his trusty shotgun which is painted in snazzy silver, a nice touch that really makes it stand out.

NOBLE SIX

Warthog2Ah, Noble Six, the player character. He/she/it is what we refer to as a blank slate (I’ll keep things simple by saying “he”). He has no personality and no characterizing dialogue that I can recall, not even a face that the player can see. The figure is built the same as Emile, just with different armor pieces for his helmet, body, shoulders, right hand, and left leg. It’s all based on the starting armor set you have in the game so it’s a reasonable choice, even though in my playthrough, I wore the operator helmet, but that’s a petty gripe. The sculpt is right on par with the other two Spartans and the paint quality is the best of the lot, though not the most exciting. Nobby Sticks comes with an assault rifle.

THE VEHICLE IN QUESTION

Warthog5The Warthog is pretty much the cornerstone of the vehicles in the Halo so it’s inclusion in this set makes a lot of sense. But this isn’t the standard run-of-the-mill ‘Hog. The one in this set is the Gauss Warthog, meaning it has a Gauss Canon on the mounted turret in place of the traditional machine gun. In my opinion, it is the superior of the two. Aside from the proportions, it’s a near perfect recreation of the game vehicle. All three of the Spartans can fit in it together: one driver, one riding shotgun, and one on the turret. The wheels do in fact spin, which I’ve heard is not always a guarantee with Minimate vehicles. The turret can rotate 360 degrees and angle up and down. Overall, it didn’t need to be included but I’m glad it was as it serves nicely to keep the Spartans together and looks good doing it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was a Christmas gift from my boy Ethan. Up till that point, I’d only had a couple Minimates of my own so of course he jumped on the chance to remedy that, and I have to say, of the available sets to choose from, he chose wisely. Despite being a little dull, Noble Six is still a fun little figure and Jorge and Emile are just as awesome as they were in the game. It’s a good thing Kat wasn’t part of this set, otherwise she would probably have run over Noble Six and driven the Warthog off of my dresser.

#0323: Herman Munster & Muster Koach

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

HOT ROD HERMAN WITH MUNSTER KOACH

THE MUNSTERS MINIMATES

HermanMunster1

I must admit, I don’t actually know a whole lot about The Munsters. I understand the basic premise, which is essentially just the reverse of The Adams Family, and I’ve seen an episode or two. I think, if pressed, I could probably name most of the family members. But, other than that, my knowledge is limited. One thing I do know a whole lot about, however, is Minimates. Specifically, how awesome they are! The Musters Minimates weren’t a very expansive line. They were limited to just two separate releases: two variants of Herman Munster and the Munster Koach. Regular Herman and the Koach were released at Toys R Us, while Hot Rod Herman and the Koach were released in various specialty stores. I’ll be looking at the specialty set.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HermanMunster2Herman is presented here in his “Hot Rod Herman” get-up. Based on what it says on the back of the box, “Hot Rod Herman” is an episode of the show where Herman takes up drag racing. This figure is based on the gear he wore during the episode. Herman is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. He makes use of the standard Minimate body, with a new head sculpt in place of the standard one, as well as a pair of extra tall feet, and add-ons for the character’s jacket and neck bolts. The feet and neck bolts were previously used on the Universal Monsters Minimates Frankenstein’s Monster. Given Herman’s similar nature, it’s a sensible re-use. The jacket and head are the new pieces for this figure, and they both look pretty good, and accurately represent the character’s look from the specific episode. Herman’s paintwork is pretty great. Everything is clean and sharp, and they’ve done a nice job translating Herman’s likeness to the ‘mate form. I should also point out that the figure is in Black & White, meaning all the paint is done in shades of gray. This is done very well, and the figure does genuinely look like he’s in Black & White.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

HermanMunster3The Munster Koach serves as an accessory to Herman in essence, though it does overshadow him a bit in the packaging. The Koach is about 5 inches in length and about 3 ½ inches at its tallest point. It features moving wheels and a hinged roof. The sculpt for the Koach is unique to the Koach itself, though the two versions are identical in sculpt. It’s a good sculpt. There are a fair share of details, but not too many so as to make it stand out from Minimates aesthetically. The detail of the sculpt is truly impressive, right down to the fringing on the interior curtains and the stitching on the seats. The dashboard is even fully detailed, with a clutch, steering wheel, and several buttons. The paintwork marks HermanMunster4the key difference between the two versions of the Koach offered. This one has been done in a Black & White color scheme to match Herman. Obviously, there aren’t as many differing colors on this version, but the paintwork is still nice and clean, and the variance of the grays is really well done.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store, along with the Kill Bill sets. Mostly, I picked the set up because it was $4, but I have to admit it is a pretty nifty little set. The Koach is a nicer vehicle than a lot of the others offered in the Minimates line. It is a bit odd to see a Black & White version of a figure there is no color equivalent for, but Hot Rod Herman is a pretty solid Minimate. All in all, a fun set that I would highly recommend.

HermanMunster5

#0285: Biker Scout & Speeder Bike

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

BIKER SCOUT & SPEEDER BIKE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

BikerScout1

We interrupt the regularly scheduled “Birthday Stuff” reviews for a quick little venture into a galaxy far, far away. You might notice that there are two reviews today. Yeah, they’re both by me, I just screwed up the scheduling. See, I originally intended to publish the Green Ranger review today, just like I did, but I decided I wanted to take a break from the birthday things to review something I was very excited about. Sadly, the day got away from me, so I didn’t get a chance to stop the Green Ranger from auto posting. My bad! Anyway, that means there will be two reviews today, just cuz.

The subject of this review comes from Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series, their very popular 6-inch scaled line of Star Wars figures. So far, they’ve put out three series of figures with another three planned. In addition to that, they’ve also started offering a line of Deluxe figures and vehicles, starting with Jabba the Hutt and today’s focus, the Biker Scout and Speeder bike!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BikerScout2The Biker Scout stands about 6 inches tall and features 31 points of articulation. He’s based on the basic scout design from the final battle on the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. The Biker Scout features an all new sculpt. No re-use from any of the previous figures, and not even any upscaling of pieces from the 3 ¾ inch Biker Scouts. The sculpt is probably the most accurate take on the design over the years. All of the proportions look just right, especially on the helmet, which is a really key area of the design. Do be mindful if you pick one up in person: the helmet is made of softer plastic and it gets pressed up against the packaging in such a way that might warp it a bit. The arms might be just a tad too long, mostly due to the elbow joints, and the hands might be slightly too small, but it doesn’t look too bad with the right pose. The uniform features some pretty great texture work to differentiate the armor from the cloth parts of the costume, which gives the figure a nice bit of dimension. The paint work on the Biker Scout is pretty good, by Hasbro standards at least. The basic paint work is pretty clean, though the visor is a bit fuzzy on the edges. He has a wash over a few of the white areas. It brings out some of the details well, but it might be better if it were just a little bit more subtle. The Scout includes a blaster pistol, which is nice, but mine broke putting it in his hand, so be careful.

BikerScoutWilson BikerScout3

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

BikerScout4The Speeder Bike is effectively the title half of this set, even if the Biker Scout may have gotten more of the tooling put towards him. The bike is about 10 inches long, and about 2 inches tall at its tallest, with articulated back flaps and a rotating gun on the underside. The sculpt is really quite intricate, with lots of really cool details hidden in the various nooks of the sculpt. It looks to be really accurate to the movie, which is cool, and I’m glad to see a speeder bike that is mucked up by an exploding feature. The paint work is pretty good overall, but it is a bit varied. The metal under-workings have some really nice dry-brushed silver details, which is pretty cool, but the silver details on the main body are a bit more solid, which makes them look a bit too placed. Otherwise, the paint is nice, with no slop or bleed over. The Speeder Bike includes a clear(ish) stand that plugs in via ball joint, allowing the bike to be posed in mid-flight.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found this set at my local Target yesterday. I actually found it completely by accident, since I wasn’t expecting it to be released just yet. I was there looking for a couple of other things, and came across this bad boy, which was very exciting! The Biker Scout is my favorite Trooper design from Star Wars, so I’ve been patiently awaiting his release since the beginning of the Black Series. I am thrilled to finally have this set, and it’s hands down my favorite item from the line!

BikerScout7

#0179: Daryl Dixon & Chopper

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

DARYL DIXON & CHOPPER

THE WALKING DEAD

It had a rocky start, but McFarlane’s The Walking Dead line is really becoming one of the better toylines around.  I recently looked at a few of the figures from series 5, and was quite impressed overall.  Today’s character is fan-favorite Daryl Dixon, who was actually one of the very first characters released in the line, way back in series 1.  However, that figure had more in common with Kevin Federline than it did the esteemed Mr. Dixon, so he was definitely one of the most requested re-dos.  McFarlane seems to be pulling out all the stops for Daryl, and went ahead and released him along with his distinctive chopper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Daryl and the Chopper were released as a boxed set, which is loosely serving as a supplement to series 5 of the main line.  Daryl stands about 5 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation (the box says 25, but it’s 27.  Perhaps McFarlane needs to work on their counting skills?).  Daryl has a brand new style of hip articulation for the line, and it’s definitely an improvement over the other figures.  Hopefully, McFarlane will be making this a standard feature.  The accuracy of Daryl’s headsculpt seems to be a matter of opinion, with some claiming it’s spot on and others claiming it’s totally off.  I fall somewhere in between;  it’s not a perfect likeness, but it’s obviously Norman Reedus.  The rest of the figure’s sculpt is tremendous.  All of the clothing has the appropriate textures and such, and it really looks like a real person.  The paintwork is pretty good.  There’s no real slop, and there’s some dry-brushing and washes that help bring out the sculpted textures.  Daryl includes a knife that can be sheathed and his trusty crossbow, which has three removable arrows.  There are slots for four arrows, so I may have been shorted one.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Chopper is more an accessory to Daryl than its own item, but the work put into it is still top notch.  The bike is about 4 inches tall and 6 inches long, and it has movement in four places.  The sculpt is nothing short of amazing.  All the parts line up correctly, and it’s perfectly scaled to Daryl.  The tires are even real rubber, which is a cool touch.  The paintwork is exceptional, which plenty of texturing and weathering, as well as the appropriate logos and such.  The license plate even has realistic wear, so it really looks like it’s been through an apocalypse.  The Chopper includes two bags that can be set on the back, as well as a small stand to allow it to be displayed on the shelf without the kickstand down.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked this set up from Amazon, back when it was up for pre-order.  I honestly only picked it up for Daryl, but the Chopper is amazing piece of work, and shouldn’t be overlooked.  Overall, this continues the upturn in quality from McFarlane, which is definitely cool to see.  I can’t wait for the next series!

#0175: Keith & Black Lion (Plus Voltron!)

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

KEITH & BLACK LION

VOLTRON CLASSICS We’re nearing the end of Voltron Week, with Part 5! Today’s review is a look at the final Lion and its pilot Keith from Mattel’s Voltron Classics. Keith is the team’s leader and the Black Lion is the most important of the set, connecting the other four to form Voltron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Keith and the Black Lion were the final release in the line. They went up for sale on Matty Collector in October of 2012. Keith stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and features the same 18 points of articulation as everyone else in the line. Keith shares a body with Lance. It’s not a perfect sculpt, but it works fine, and Lance and Keith should have similar builds, so it’s a sensible reuse. The head is a new piece and looks pretty spot on to the character’s look on the show. Paint-wise, Keith makes out the best of the pilots, with really clean lines and details, and by far the best detailing on the head. Like Allura, he uses a molded skin tone instead of a painted one, but unlike Allura, he isn’t plagued by messy paint. Keith includes an alternate helmeted head, the final piece of the “Blazing Sword” and a key stand.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

The Black Lion is the central Lion, and is definitely the biggest of the five. This isn’t quite accurate to the show, where the Lions were more or less the same size, but things were understandably fudged so that the final Voltron construction looked good. The Black Lion is about 7 inches tall, and features 29ish points of articulation. Like the rest of the Lions, this articulation is mostly limited by the various spring loaded features, though the back legs, tail, neck and wing thingies are all unfettered by the features. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but the proportions are noticeably off, obviously done to optimize the design of the fully assembled Voltron. Everything is sharp and symmetrical. The Black Lion features the most detailed paintwork of any of the Lions, which does bring him up a peg. All of the paint is cleanly applied with no bleed over or slop. The Black Lion included a fully assembled Voltron sword and shield, fully completing the five lions’ transformation into:

VOLTRON, DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE!

Voltron

Please do excuse the out of the ordinary background for Voltron. He’s too large for me to photograph in my usual set up, so here he is standing in my family room. Voltron stands 24 inches tall and features 25 points of articulation while in Voltron-mode. Voltron is of course made up of the five Lions, so most of the things said in those reviews apply here. He does have a sculpted face, which appears when the emblem on the Black Lion’s torso is pressed, popping the Lion’s jaw open. The face looks pretty spot on to what the character looked like on the show, and it’s painted with some nice detail work. Overall, Voltron was very definitely worth the wait to get all the Lions, and his size alone makes him quite the standout piece.

VoltronAccessories

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the rest of the figures from Voltron Classics, I had to pick up Keith and the Black Lion from Matty Collector on the day of release. It was quite the hectic day, as there were a number of other items I was attempting to get at the same time. I wound up being successful, only hitting a small handful of waiting screens, and completing my order in less than 10 minutes. Upon arrival, I noticed Keith’s extra helmeted head had been quite mangled in the package. I contacted customer service to get a replacement, but they seemed very reluctant to send out a new piece, and ultimately wanted me to ship Keith and the Lion back, and then they would send me another one once mine arrived. I wasn’t really keen on sending it back, so I ended up doing a bit of work to get the head into a less mangled state.