Tag Archives: Wacky Variants

#3365: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Studying the genetic structure of Scott Summers’ family for many years, Mister Sinister took special care when mutating Cyclops into the one-eyed mutant monster Cyclaw! A bizarre genetic creation, Cyclaw is a one-eyed beast with optic blasts that disintegrate whatever they hit! Completely under the control of Mister Sinister, Cyclaw is Sinister’s chief weapon against the remaining X-Men!”

At the end of the ’90s X-Men toyline from Toy Biz, they got much more experimental with themes.  1997 seemed to hit peak levels of weirdness for that experimentalness, including turning a bunch of the team into monsters.  You know, as you do.  Amongst the X-Men getting all monster-ized was Cyclops.  Big surprise, I have a Cyclops figure to review.  I know.  Crazy.  Anyway, let’s look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is part of the “Monster Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was the line’s 20th assortment.  He was the line’s sixth version of Cyclops.  The standard portion of the figure is sporting Scott’s Jim Lee costume, which made its second appearance in the scale here, after Cyclops II.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  This assortment’s articulation set-up marked a move towards slightly less posable, and slightly more detailed sculpts, as Toy Biz attempted to emulate some of the McFarlane style that had become so popular towards the end of the decade.  Scott made out alright, though he lost elbow and knee movement.  On the flip side, he got universal joints at the shoulders, and a swivel at the waist.  I’ve actually looked at most of this figure’s sculpt before; it was re-used the next year for the X-Men vs Street Fighter version of the character.  The unique piece between the two was the head sculpt.  This one is a far more intense sculpt, with his head back and his expression screaming.  It’s not exactly an all-purpose sort of sculpt, but I guess it’s unique.  It also fits that whole “I’m transforming into a monster” vibe that the whole set was going for.  The figure’s paint work was more on the basic side.  His colors were very bright; arguably too bright for his design, and that’s something the X-Men vs Street Fighter figure would adjust.  Cyclops, like the rest of the series, was packed with a selection of clip-on Monster armor, which turns him into “Cyclaw,” which is kind of a lackluster name.  There’s a mask, “gloves”, and “boots.”  My figure is missing the feet pieces these days, but beyond that, the remaining pieces are appropriately grotesque and horrifying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cyclops was, unsurprisingly, the only one of this set that I got when they were new.  Look, I liked Cyclops, okay?  He got some play time as my standard Cyclops, before getting pretty quickly replaced by the Vs version.  Something about the head always seemed a little off to me, but I really liked the monster set-up, so that got a lot of use.  And, honestly, that was kind of the main point, right?

#3355: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“In an alternate universe very different from the one the X-Men come from, Cyclops acts on his own. Friend or foe, do not get in the way of Cyclops’ powerful optic blasts. With but the blink of an eye, Cyclops can punch a hole through the thickest walls or blast an opponent from the sky. Cyclops’ War Tank Battle Blaster is always at his side ready to unleash its secret weapon on any unsuspecting foes. Cyclops seems to be united against the evil mutant Apocalypse, but has yet to join forces with Wolverine and Jean Grey. Only time will tell if the three heroic X-Men will reunite for one final, ultimate battle.”

By the late ’90s, Toy Biz’s long-running 5-inch Marvel imprint had moved away from purely comics and cartoon adaptations, with their main lines based on Spider-Man and X-Men both getting a more toyetic flair.  In 1998, the X-Men line got the subtitle “Secret Weapon Force,” which meant plenty of wacky variants for the main characters.  The first assortment under this banner placed Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey in a *very* loosely AoA-inspired setting, with Cyclops in particular taking the “loosely” part of that to heart.  But hey, cool Cyclops is cool Cyclops.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  Where Jean was a straight-forward AoA Jean (with the slight irony of the package backstory saying she was actually the main universe Jean transported), the other three figures in the set differed a bit in their own ways.  Cyclops was perhaps the most different, since his design had little to nothing in common with the AoA look for the character, instead being more closely linked to the standard Cyclops look.  That being said, this figure sports a design that has no direct comics or cartoon source; he’s instead a toy unique look.  It’s honestly not a bad one, and it’s a little surprising that it never got worked in anywhere over the years.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  The entire Battle Blaster assortment was largely based around what Toy Biz could do with minimal new parts.  For Cyclops’ part, it means he’s almost entirely a re-use of the 2099 line’s Meanstreak figure.  The only difference between the two is the presence of a new visor, sculpted over Meanstreak’s face.  It’s a change that works surprisingly well.  It helps that the Meanstreak sculpt is honestly a pretty good one, meaning that he’s just a very playable figure.  The character specific elements are really kept to a minimum, with only the boots and gauntlets feeling very unique; even then, they read more generically ’90s X-Men anyway, so they still work fine for Scott.  His paint scheme goes for a rather different look for Scott.  There’s notably no blue, which is interesting, but also keeps him further from the Meanstreak origins of the mold, so it makes a degree of sense.  My figure’s paint has taken a beating over the years, as you can see, but he still looks pretty good all things considered.  Cyclops, like the rest of the assortment, was packed with his “Secret Weapon Force” weapon, which is dubbed a “War Tank Battle Blaster.”  It’s big and goofy, and curiously not color coordinated with the figure at all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a very big Cyclops fan as a kid, and jumped at any chance for a new version of him in toy form, so I made a point of getting this figure early after his release, during a trip to the nearest KB Toys with my Grandmother.  I remember being very excited for him, and he spent a good while as my default version of Scott, even with the non-standard costume.  He’s a fun figure.  Just a good, fun figure.  And still one of my favorite Cyclopses, honestly.

#3289: Captain America – Tech-On Avengers

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — TECH-ON AVENGERS

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

There’s something of an irony to the most recurrent character at the center of my S.H. Figuarts reviews for the last couple of years has been Captain America, but, well, here I am.  And you know what?  I’m gonna do it again.  In 2021, Marvel partnered with Bandai Namco for a Super Sentai-inspired Avengers series, Tech-On Avengers.  Marvel’s part was publishing a six issue tie-in miniseries, while Bandai’s part was releasing some Figuarts based on the designs seen in the comics.  The premise is pretty simple: the Avengers lose their powers due to shenanigans caused by the Red Skull, so they all have to be outfitted with Stark-designed armor, to become the Iron Avengers.  And I, being me, have the Captain America, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America — Tech-On Avengers is the second Tech-On Avengers release in Bandai’s S.H. Figuarts line-up, following the Iron Man from earlier in 2022.  Cap started arriving domestically towards the end of the year, in that early to mid December area.  The figure stands right at 6 inches tall and he has 45 points of articulation.  The articulation on this guy is a little bit finicky; Figuarts often are, but they’ve been getting less so as of late.  This guy’s even more finicky than usual, especially when it comes to the pelvis area.  The waist folds inwards on itself, and the hips are just generally kind of a little tight, which is only made potentially worse by having the waist folded in too far.  There’s also a floating pelvis piece to contend with, which just further complicates movement.  You can still get a decent range out of the figure, but it can take some getting used to.  On the plus side, the way the shoulders are laid out is actually pretty intuitive, and gives him a solid range of motion.  Cap’s sculpt is an all-new one, based on his tech-ed up look.  It’s honestly a pretty fun look, and I kind of dig the Ultraman manga vibe going on here.  It’s a good merging of the Cap, Iron Man, and Sentai vibes, while still maintaining the classic Cap vibe through and through.  The sculpt is quite nicely detailed.  It’s very sharp and clean, and appropriately sleek.  The construction uses just a little bit of die cast metal, which appears to be confined to the feet.  Not sure exactly why, but I guess it at least makes him rather sure footed.  His color work is generally pretty classic Cap fare; red, white, and blue, or at least a close variation of it.  I dig the metallic blue and the varying shades of red, but I’m a bit less sold on the light grey in place of white.  It lacks some of the pop that it should have.  At the very least, the paint work is cleanly applied.  Cap gets an impressive selection of accessories, including five sets of hands (in fists, gripping, flat, open gesture, and with pegs for use with the blast effects), a slightly more tech-y version of his usual shield, four different styles of straps for said shield (for mounting on his back, proper gripping, loose hanging, and one for throwing), a throwing effect, four different blast effects, and a display stand.  One of the gimmicks for Cap’s armor is the ability to use his shield as an extra armor-up feature.  To facilitate that, this guy gets an alternate larger set of hands, forearm guards, shoulder pads, front, back, and lower torso plates, a version of the shield that’s opening up for the armor up feature, and effects for the shield, the front of the torso, and his fist.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Overall, Tech-On is a concept that I don’t have much use for.  It’s a bunch of gimmicky variants of characters I have plenty of times over, and they’re all rather on the expensive side.  That being said, I’m a sucker for a fun Captain America variant, and that’s what this guy is.  He’s still perhaps a bit on the pricey side, but there’s plenty going on with this guy that makes him feel worthwhile.  And he’s even got fighting fists?  How can I not love a Cap that has fighting fists?

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#3180: Sauron

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

SAURON

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Sauron is the most terrifying Evil Mutant. Sauron loves to silently swoop down and use his mutant power to hypnotize and drain the energy out of his victim! Then in the blink of an eye, he flies away ready to strike again! The more energy he drains, the more powerful he becomes. Because he can drain the energy from anyone, even another Evil Mutant, even Magneto, the leader of the Evil Mutants, fears him!”

Not to be confused with the evil ruler of Mordor, Sauron is one of the X-Men’s older foes, predating quite a few of the team’s more popular members–Wait a minute…didn’t I review this figure already?  well, hypothetical reader, the answer to that question is…not technically.  And, technically is what really matters here.  Why?  Because it’s my site, that’s why.  Okay, maybe I should actually explain what the heck I’m reviewing this guy again.  It’s quite simple:  early in the days of their X-Men line, Toy Biz liked to justify the re-releases of figures they’d already done by doing minor tweaks to their color schemes, in dedicated “Repaint” series, in order to not only keep those figures out, but also freshen up the shelves a bit, but without having to actually produce a whole new figure.  Generally, I like to bundle those repaints into the main review, but, well, I don’t always own them when I review a figure the first time, so I guess I just have to follow them up this way.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sauron (the repaint) was added to Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1993-1994, right around the same time as Series 4 and 5 of the line, alongside a whole assortment of repainted figures.  Of all the figures present amongst the repaints, his was the oddest choice, given how minor the character was, but perhaps they were looking to tie in with the show’s second season, where he actually had a pretty important role to play.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He’s 100% the same sculpt as the standard release of Sauron.  It was a decent sculpt for the time, and honestly holds up pretty alright.  Still not sure exactly what he’s wearing, but what are you gonna do?  The change to this one’s paint is honestly pretty subtle; instead of orange pants, his are gold with a little bit of black.  It’s super minor, but I actually quite like it.  It’s nice that they actually added, rather than just doing a straight palette swap.  Interestingly, the card back prototype showed him with red shorts, a figure that, to date, no one has any evidence actually existed.  As with his original release, Sauron was packed with a big ol’ club.  Yay big ol’ club.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wound up going back to the toy show where I’d gotten my standard Sauron the next year, in hopes of finding more Toy Biz stuff.  I discovered it was rather slim pickings that year, but managed to fish a handful of the repaint figures out of a loose figure bin.  Sauron was one of those figures.  He’s not a bad figure, but the two offerings do feel slightly redundant when in the same collection together, I suppose.

#3101: Han Solo with Smuggler Flight Pack

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

HAN SOLO with SMUGGLER FLIGHT PACK

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Many labels can be applied to Corellian-born Han Solo: pirate, gambler, smuggler and Rebel hero. It is doubtful that the last title would have applied at all had he not agreed to transport Ben Kenobi, Luke Skywaker and two droids to Alderaan in his Corellian freighter, Millennium Falcon. After unwittingly becoming part of a mission to rescue Princess Leia, Solo was drawn more and more into the cause of the Rebel Alliance, becoming one of the most significant figures involved in the rebellion against the Empire. He played an essential role in the Battle of Yavin, and led the strike-team on Endor’s moon that facilitated the destruction of the new Death Star. He escaped form countless dilemmas simply because of his daring and skill as a blasterslinger and pilot – talents he retained form his days as a smuggler/gambler. He also retained a couple of other things, one of them being his trusty smuggler pack, a tool which served him extremely well during inner-atmospheric piracy jobs.

Designed and built by Solo with the help of Chewbacca, this item is basically a weapons-jet pack with a huge mechanical grappling claw attached at its base for massive lifting and cargo transport. It was assembled from old swoop parts, discarded starfighter pieces, and construction-machinery robotics. Much like the Millennium Falcon itself, the pack does not appear impressive or dangerous – concerning its appearance Solo often becomes defensive: “Well it isn’t supposed to look pretty!” However, the swoop engines provide break-neck propulsion while two repulsors engage a silent hover mode that allows atmospheric flotation up to a maximum of one-hundred meters depending on the cargo. The pack allows Solo some flexibility; he can dock the Falcon and then speed in below sensors with the smuggler pack, picking up any cargo or booty before transferring it back to his ship. Twin laser cannons, appropriated from a badly damaged stock light freighter, swing over his shoulders to create a high-powered defense module. The grappling claw has magnetized pinchers which can be de-magnetized at the flip of a switch. It is extremely durable and able to lift objects weighing up to fifteen metric tons.”

Well, with a bio like that, I hardly need much of an intro here, now do I?  Especially after more or less covering the weird Deluxe line-up thing for Power of the Force II with last week’s review.  So, you know, this one’s very similar to that, but it’s Han instead of Luke.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Han Solo with Smuggler’s Flight Pack was part of the first Deluxe Series of Kenner’s Power of the Force II line, added in 1996.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Much as was the case with the Stormtrooper and Luke, Han’s sculpt is quite similar to the Series 1 Han.  Not exactly one of the line’s finest or anything, but it’s got this sort of charming quality to it, I suppose.  The only change of note between the two releases is the addition of a second vest to the torso.  You know, in case the single vest wasn’t enough, right?  Gotta add that second.  But certainly don’t add any extra sleeves.  That would be too much.  His color work is more or less the same as the earlier release.  There’s some orange and silver added for the new vest.  Doesn’t feel super Star Wars-y, but it’s not un-Star Wars-y, either.  The application’s pretty clean and consistent, so that’s good.  The big selling point for all of these was the big gimmick accessory, and that’s consistent with Han here.  He’s got his “Smuggler’s Flight Pack,” which the bio presents as a pre-existing thing that’s sort of a signature of Han, despite the whole “not showing up anywhere other than this toy ever in the whole canon of Star Wars” thing.  But, you know, there it is.  It’s big, it’s goofy, and it makes it virtually impossible to keep the figure standing.  I guess it’s kind of fun, but it also really doesn’t feel like a Han sort of thing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Deluxe Han really never appealed much to me as a kid.  It’s only recently that I’ve really started picking them up, and it’s really only because of ease of access.  Han came into All Time as part of a larger collection, and the seal on the bubble had broken, so he was a rather easy grab.  He’s goofy, and odd, but he’s still an intriguing look at that road not travelled.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2975: Web-Man

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

WEB-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A product of Dr. Doom’s Twin Machine, Web-Man is the opposite of Spider-Man in every way.”

And hey, we’re right back to the Marvel Legends.  Seriously, I hope you guys aren’t expecting a prolonged break from Legends soon, because I’m legitimately booked up through the new year with these suckers.  I blame Hasbro.  And also myself.  I did buy them all, after all.  Before I delve into the rest of this week’s very timely movie-themed Spider-Man figures, I’m going to first take a small detour into Spider-Man’s very first live-action adaptation, courtesy of The Electric Company.  The Electric Company had a live-action segment, “Spidey Super Stories,” which was itself the subject of its own adaptation in comic form back at Marvel.  Spidey Super Stories ran 57 issues, with all sorts of slightly more specifically kid-aimed stories.  In issue 25 of the series, Spidey faced off against Dr Doom and his Twin Machine, leading to the creation of Web-Man, Spidey’s opposite in every way.  Fortunately for our hero, this opposite set-up proved quite helpful in defeating Web-Man, since the opposite of Spidey being a genius made Web-Man a blithering idiot.  You know, for kids!  The most outrageous thing about all of this is that it all ends with Web-Man getting an honest to god action figure 44 years after that first appearance.  I certainly wouldn’t have put money on it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Web-Man is a one-off Fan Channel release under the Retro Collection sub-line of Marvel Legends.  He started showing up at retail about a month or so ago.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Curiously, despite being in the Retro line, which had its own updated Spidey last year, Web-Man is yet another case of Spidey variant that *doesn’t* make use of the updated parts at all.  Instead, he’s using the ANAD 2099 and Spider-UK head combo that we saw on the first Gamerverse Spidey.  It’s certainly not a bad combo at all, and it matches up well with the mid-70s Spidey look, but it’s admittedly kind of funny that Web-Man, whose whole thing is being a copy, isn’t actually a copy of the standard Spidey from the same line.  In fact, he’s not a copy of any standard Spidey, since this exact combo of parts is still yet to be used for basic color scheme Spidey.  Speaking of color scheme, that’s this guy’s whole selling point, since he’s got a reverse color set-up.  It generally works pretty well, although, again, we’ve not actually gotten a Spidey with this specific shade of blue.  It matches the comics design, though, so I get why they went with it.  Web-Man is packed with three sets of hands, which I’m very happy about, because I get bummed out every time we get a Spidey variant without the full range.  Yay for the full range of hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Web-Man’s one of those rather goofy concepts that you never expect to see, at least not released in any explicit sense.  Like, maybe a one-off Spidey variant in some toyline might swap the colors for a laugh, but they’re not gonna actually call him Web-Man, right?  But, well, then they did, and now here we are.  He’s a very simple figure, with a very basic premise, but he actually does it quite well, and I’m honestly all about it.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2928: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: THE CAPED CRUSADER (SPIN MASTER)

I think I’m finally hitting an okay pace when it comes to these Spin Master DC figures.  I mean, it’s at least a consistent one.  Sure, that consistent pace is, like, one figure per month, but that’s still something, right?  This year’s theme for their Batman line is Bat-Tech, which is outfitting all of the Caped Crusader’s allies and foes with new variant costumes that are all techy.  Largely, I’m picking up the actually new characters, but there are a few intriguing variants mixed in, and I’m always a sucker for a good Nightwing.  So, you know, here we are.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of the sixth assortment of Spin Master’s Batman: The Caped Crusader line, which is the second assortment under the “Bat-Tech” banner.  This is the same assortment that included the previously reviewed Batgirl, making Nightwing a logical inclusion.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  Structurally, the figure is the same as the prior Spin Master Nightwing.  It’s a reasonable enough sculpt, not perfect, but certainly serviceable, and the consistency isn’t a bad thing.  In order to fit with the “tech-y” nature of the set, Nightwing’s color scheme has been tweaked.  It keeps the same basic Nightwing feel, but he’s molded in a smoky translucent plastic, which is fun, and he’s got a bunch of the tech details like we saw on Batgirl and Batman.  They’re fun little details, and I also enjoy the slight change-ups to his basic suit’s layout of details.  Nightwing is packed with the same baton pieces that the prior release included, but in sparkly blue plastic instead.  He also gets two different guns, one of which has a piece to allow for hooking it up to his back.  Guns feel a bit in contrast to Nightwing’s usual loadout, but I guess they’re not real guns, so that’s better maybe?  I’m only gonna use the batons anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Batgirl, I found myself really liking the Bat-Tech set-up as a whole, and, I am, as noted before, a sucker for a good Nightwing.  Max wound up finding this one during one of his stops, so he was nice enough to enable me pick one up for me.  He’s not drastically different from the last one, but he’s still a lot of fun, and keeps the spirit of Spin Master’s whole set-up really going.

#2863: Hologram Iron Man

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

HOLOGRAM IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Ever the innovator, Tony Stark takes flight in holographic form, a computer-generated avatar and an enduring force for good.”

Back during the Iron Man 2 tie-in line, there were a *lot* of Iron Man armor repaints, many of them under the heading of “concept”.  One of them was a re-deco of the Mark VI armor in a translucent blue with white detailing, pattered on a holographic representation of the armor from the film.  It was a pretty cool looking figure, and I even reviewed on this very site, quite early into my run.  Apparently, Hasbro was pretty big on the idea, too, since they’ve decided to bring it back around for the larger scale with Legends.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hologram Iron Man is figure 6 in the Ursa Major Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s the third and final Iron Man variant in the assortment.  It’s technically an all-comics assortment, but I don’t believe that this particular design has actually been used specifically in the comics.  It just seems to be more of a conceptual thing, just like the earlier one.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Structurally, this figure is using the molds of the Civil War Mark 46.  It’s not the same as the Mark VI used before, but we don’t really have a properly upgraded Mark VI mold available right now.  This one’s got a fairly similar, and is, quite honestly, one of Hasbro’s best movie Iron Man molds.  I’ve always been quite a fan, and it has a good distinctive look that works for the single color molding this figure calls for.  The figure is obviously molded in all blue plastic, which gives it that holographic look, but to enhance that, there’s some white detailing, which is honestly more involved than I’d expected.  I really like it, and it gives him a lot of pop.  The figure was packed with two sets of hands, in fists and repulsor, plus two effects pieces.  The repulsor hands predate the move to get rid of the full wrist joints, so these have the full range of motion, which makes me very happy.  Also included is the head of the Ursa Major Build-A-Figure.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At three Iron Man variants, this set does feel a little Iron Man heavy, and I think this guy might just be one too many.  If one needs to go, he certainly feels the most extraneous.  That said, I had the smaller version of this because he looked cool.  I have this one for the same reason.  It’s a cool concept that makes for a cool toy.  I definitely dig that.  He’s nothing if not a fun toy, which does at least give him more merit than some of the more boring and drab variants that have been forced on us more recently.

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

#2848: Wedge Anitlles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Poor Wedge, he gets no respect.  Despite being in all three original trilogy films, and being the only person to survive both Death Star runs, he was completely absent from Kenner’s vintage toyline.  When he did finally get his due as a toy, it furthered the whole “no respect” thing just a bit more.  Packed with a Millennium Falcon-shaped carrying case (because, he’s just clearly the most logical choice for such a thing), initial shipments of the very first Wedge Antilles figure were actually produced with an incorrect color scheme.  While I’ve looked at the corrected Wedge figure, I’ve yet to look at the original release.  I’ll amend that today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge was released as the pack-in figure with the Millennium Falcon carrying case, which was added to the Power of the Force line in 1997.  This figure was only available in initial shipments, before being replaced by the corrected version shortly after.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Like the corrected version, this figure was built using the same body as the Luke Skywalker in X-Wing Pilot Gear, which is a bit of a misnomer, since it’s actually Snowspeeder Pilot gear.  Again, like that figure, he also gets a different head from Luke.  It still doesn’t look much like Dennis Lawson, but it does at least look distinctly different from Luke, so at least it’s clear it’s a different guy.  The only difference between this figure and the corrected version from later is the paint work, specifically on the helmet and the arms.  The helmet, rather than showcasing Wedge’s correct paint scheme, actually has somewhat of a merging of Wedge and Luke’s helmet designs, leaning a little more heavily into the Luke side.  It’s not a bad design, honestly, but it’s inaccurate.  The arms feature extra white detailing on the raised ribbing on the sleeves.  Again inaccurate, but it’s at least a cool extra detail.  Like the regular release, Wedge was packed with a small blaster pistol.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After I got the regular version of this guy, this one was certainly on my list, but mostly just for the novelty.  I didn’t really put much effort into tracking him down, or anything, but I was keeping a look out for him while working at the store.  As luck would have it, he came through in a big collection of loose figures I got to process last spring.  He’s a weird oddity to be sure, and makes you wonder about the process that led to these errors making it to production.  Still, he’s a pretty fun novelty to have in my collection.

#2838: Dr. Doom

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

DR. DOOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“From the wreckage of colliding universes, Dr. Doom emerges as the supreme ruler of a new domain known as Battleworld.”

Ah, 2015’s Secret Wars, a Marvel cross-over event which had Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Not to be confused with 1984’s Secret Wars, a Marvel cross-over event which had Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Or 2003’s Secret War, which did *not* have Dr. Doom as the main antagonist.  Or 1985’s Secret Wars II, which also didn’t have Dr. Doom as the main antagonist, but did at least have Dr. Doom in it, so that was a step in the right direction.  No, we’re talking 2015, the source of God Emperor Doom, from when Doom gets a major power up and decides to ditch his shirt, apparently.  As you do.  Shirts cannot contain his power.  But then he loses the power, so he has to go back to his old shirt-wearing ways, like some sort of pleb.  But, at least he gets a toy to commemorate his time amongst the shirtless, right?  Right.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Doom is the final figure in the Xemnu Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s not officially numbered like the others, as he doesn’t feature a Build-A-Figure part like they do.  He is also the double pack, presumably because he’s really the only villain who’s justifiable in doubling up on.  It’s a good thought in theory, but less so in practice, since last year saw two variations on standard Doom released, which meant that this one had to be a variant look in order to justify his existence.  Hasbro went with the aforementioned God Emperor look from Secret Wars, which is not really a standard Doom look, nor is it an amazingly memorable one, really.  Also, it’s just kind of a weird concept.  Like, the white is all fine and good, but why ditch the shirt?  And also, if you’re ditching the shirt, why swap out the cool metal gauntlets for just regular cloth gloves?  That seems weird, right?  And really, why not just be Doom 2099?  Because you know what’s a cool Doom variant?  Doom 2099.  This should just be Doom 2099.  And now I’ve made myself upset that this isn’t Doom 2099.  Great, now I’m gonna have to deal with this.  I was already luke warm on the whole idea behind this guy to begin with.  Well, might as well just get this disappointingly non-2099 Doom review out of the way, then.  I’m sure I’ll be quite balanced and fair with the figure now.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s very similar to the last two Dooms, sharing the entire lower half, as well as the upper arms, and the modern head from the first figure.  He gets a new torso, lower arms, and cape in order to facilitate his conversion into God Emperor.  They’re fine from a technical stand point, I suppose.  They mesh alright with the older parts, and he looks like the design from the comics, so it checks all of those boxes.  The sculpting on the gloves is pretty nice, with the various wrinkles and stitching being well-defined.  In terms of paint, he’s pretty basic, since most of his coloring is just molded plastic colors.  It does what it needs to.  What paint is there is well applied, so that’s at least fairly nice.  Doom is okay on the accessories front, with 5 different hands (a pair of open gesture, a right wide grip, a right pistol grip, and a left fist), the gun from the last two (in silver this time), and the skull and spinal column of Thanos, which is a direct reference to a sequence from the comics.  The Thanos skull is certainly a more fun and unique piece, so kudos to them on that one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was happy with my Super Skrull Series Doom, and felt no need for a replacement.  Then the retro Doom came along and replaced him, which was a good move on Hasbro’s part, but it did leave this guy kind of in the lurch, because I really didn’t need him.  And then I got him in hand, and I still felt like I didn’t need him.  And then I got to thinking about other Doom variants we could have gotten, which took me down the Doom 2099 rabbit hole, and that just made matters a lot worse.  Admittedly, none of that is this figure’s fault, but at the same time, if they were going to kind of do a phoned in Doom variant anyway, why not just go with the Future Foundation look, which is also an all-white Doom, but one that at least doesn’t need any new tooling.  Because, if I’m honest, the new tooling doesn’t really do this guy many favors.  Maybe it’s just not for me, and there’s a market for God Emperor Doom out there, but for me, this guy’s just a testament to how there *could* have been something cooler in this set.  Which, again, isn’t really his fault.  But I’m gonna be all unreasonable and cranky until I get my Doom 2099, I suppose.

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