Tag Archives: Walgreens Exclusive

#1477: Black Bolt & Medusa

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

BLACK BOLT & MEDUSA

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Inhumans have come into a bit of notoriety recently, thanks at least in part to their currently running live-action mini-series on ABC.  It’s gotten mixed reviews, but I’ve been generally enjoying it.  The characters have been getting a push in most media for a little while now, including cartoons, such as Marvel’s Avengers Assemble.  Cartoon appearances in turn lead to Minimates, which the Inhumans really seem to have been left out of.  Today, I’ll be looking at the heads of the Inhuman Royal Family, Black Bolt and Medusa!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Black Bolt and Medusa were released in the sixth Walgreens-exclusive series of animated Marvel Minimates.  Both figures included are based on their appearance in Avengers Assemble, where they sport slightly tweaked designs from the usual comics garb.

BLACK BOLT

“Blackagar Boltagon is the King of the Inhumans, granted abilities by the Terrigen Mists.  Even the merest whisper from his lips is a highly destructive force.”

Blackagar.  Boltagon.  Man, is that a stupid name.  That’s a very high contender for stupidest name in comics, and there are a lot of stupid names in comics.  Blackagar Boltagon’s on a whole other level, though.  There’s dumb, and then there’s Blackagar Boltagon dumb.  Yikes.  This is ol’ Blackagar’s second time as a Minimate, though it’s his first in a good long while.  The figure is about 2 1/4 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.  Black Bolt is built on the standard ‘mate body, which unique upper arms, which add his little glider wings.  The pieces are decent, and they work well enough for what they are, but they do restrict movement of the arms a little bit.  Everything else on this guy is handled via paint, which is decent enough.  I do like the choice to go for the mask painted on the standard head, which I find looks a bit better than the sculpted piece from the last one.  That being said, I’m not a huge fan of his overall colorscheme; there’s a lot of grey, and not a lot of actual black.  I pretty much always prefer black areas of costumes to be done in actual black, with highlights, rather than lightening the whole scheme.  As it is, he looks a little washed out.  Black Bolt includes an extra head with a screaming expression, a sound wave effects piece, and a clear display stand.

MEDUSA

“The Queen of the Inhumans, Medusa was given long, prehensile hair, which can obey her commands and even carry her from place to place.”

This marks Medusa’s first time as a Minimate, which is a little bit surprising, since she’s usually one of the better known members, and certainly the one with the most appearances under her belt.  She uses the same basic construction as Black Bolt, but gets a new hair piece, recreating her prehensile mane in all it’s lengthy glory.  The piece is designed to hold her aloft, as she’s frequently depicted in the comics.  It’s a nice piece; obviously animated in style, but very cool.  The paint on Medusa’s pretty decent.  She’s more colorful than Black Bolt.  I miss her usual mask, but Medusa’s look has always been more subject to change than Black Bolt, so it seems less weird to get her in a non-classic design.  Her only accessory is a clear display stand, which feels a little light, but the hair piece sort of makes up for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been out of Minimates for a little while, but I stopped in Walgreens recently, and I saw this set sitting there, and I just had a hard time turning it down.  The Black Bolt isn’t quite as much of an improvement over the last version as I’d hoped, but I do prefer him slightly, and he’s certainly  a solid take on the character.  Medusa’s actually pretty fun, and it’s nice to have her at long last.  Here’s hoping we won’t have to wait quite as long to get the rest of the Royal Family.

#1368: Ms. Marvel & Kang

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

MS. MARVEL & KANG

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey-ho there readers!  So, today’s gonna be another Marvel review, because, like 95% of what I’ve bought recently is Marvel.  On the plus side, I’m actually looking at a relatively new item for a change.  That’s cool, right?  I’ll be heading back over to the Minimates corner of my collection, and taking a look at one of my favorite new additions to the Marvel Universe, Kamala Khan, alongside long-time Avengers for Kang the Conqueror!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ms. Marvel and Kang were released in the fifth Walgreens-exclusive series of Marvel Minimates.  Both are based on their appearances in the Avengers Assemble cartoon, but in both cases, this translates to a look that’s essentially identical to their comics counterparts.

MS. MARVEL

“Exposed to the Terrigin Mists, Inhuman high-schooler Kamala Khan gains the ability to shape-shift, and decides to become one of the super-heroes she idolizes.”

It’s been a good year for Kamala!  First she got a Marvel Legend, and now she’s got a Minimate too!  Not too shabby for a character that’s only been around since 2014.  Ms. Marvel makes her Minimate debut here, and is based upon her appearance in the episode “The Inhuman Condition.”  The figure stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation.  She’s built on the standard ‘mate body, with add-ons for her hair, scarf, and skirt.  The skirt appears to be a fairly standard piece, but the scarf and hair are both new.  They’re decent enough pieces, I suppose.  Obviously, they’re a bit more on the simplistic side, as is the case with most of the animation-based mates.  It’s really only noticeable on the hair, which you can easily replace if you really want a more realistic look.  That being said, the pieces mimic her design from the show pretty well, and fit the character nicely.  The paint work on her is generally pretty solid; the colors are still a little more washed out than I’d like, but she generally looks like she does in the comics, and the colors have more “pop” than some of the others.  I’m not the biggest fan of the rather bland expression on the face, though; Kamala’s usually depicted as rather jovial, so a smile or grin would have been more true to the character in my opinion.  Ms. Marvel is packed with a spare right hand and left arm (borrowed from Mr. Fantastic), simulating her stretchy powers, as well as the usual clear display stand.

KANG

“Kang is a time-traveling warlord from the 30th century who finds himself repeatedly embroiled in conflict with the 21st century Avengers.”

Wow, another Kang?  Man, it was such a big deal to get him the first time, but I think I might have burned out all of the excitement.  Of course, that ‘mate was only in an exclusive 4-pack, which not everyone got, so I suppose a new one makes sense.  Like Ms. Marvel, he’s built on the standard body, and has the usual articulation.  He has add-ons for his head-piece, shoulder bit, and skirt.  The shoulder thing is re-used from the last Kang ‘mate (rather sensible), and the other two parts appear to be new.  They’re decently sculpted, though I’m not 100% sold on the head piece.  It’s an odd looking thing in the comics, and neither attempt at translating it into ‘mate form is particularly right.  This one’s not terrible.  This figure uses the standard upper-arms, which is one change I’m in favor of, since I was never much of a fan of the puffy sleeves from the last one.  As far as paint goes, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the paint on this guy; the colors just aren’t vibrant enough for my taste.  The green in particular just feels really dull and boring.  I’m also not a big fan of the reduced detail work, since the things like the wrinkles of the shirt and the lines on his mask were some of my favorite parts of the last Kang.  In terms of accessories, he only includes a display stand.  I feel like there has to be something else he could have gotten.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I found these two while looking for Marvel Legends at Walgreens.  I’ve largely fallen out of collecting Minimates hardcore, in part because of the difficulty of finding the Walgreens releases, so these two sort of snuck up on me, and I was really surprised to find them as quickly as I did.  Ms. Marvel’s the real draw of the set for me, and aside from the slight disappointment with the expression, I’m really happy with her.  Kang is kind of meh.  Rather drab and un-interesting to me.  Perhaps it’d be different if I didn’t have the first one.  Still, it’s a pretty decent set all in all.

#1360: Invisible Woman

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

INVISIBLE WOMAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“With HERBIE by her side, Sue Storm uses psionic energy to suit up as the incredible hero, Invisible Woman!”

Fantastic Four Marvel Legends?  It’s a Christmas miracle!  Or something.

The poor FF has fallen out of fashion in recent years, in no small part due to the lackluster-to-atrocious quality of their live-action films and the fact that their film rights aren’t currently with Marvel proper (it also doesn’t help that creative teams who actually know what to do with the characters are a dying breed, meaning their comic hasn’t really been selling well either).  On the plus side, it looks like things are on the upturn for the Fab Four, with a triumphant return to the toy aisles, starting with Sue Richards, aka the Invisible Woman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Invisible Woman is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends figure.  This marks only the second time that Sue’s been offered as a single figure in the Legends line. Unlike prior Walgreens exclusives, Sue’s not attached to any other particular series.  Instead, she’s the first of a sub-set of FF figures exclusive to Walgreens, and she’ll be joined by her brother Johnny later this year.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s built on the new base female body (seen previously on the likes of Phoenix, Kitty Pryde, and Kate-Guy), which is, as always, a welcome choice.  It’s a pretty solid base overall, and serves as a good starting point for Sue.  She also gets a new head, which is just a, pardon the phrase, fantastic piece.  Easily one of my favorite head sculpts from Legends as of late.  Definitely Hasbro’s best female, and that’s saying something, given their recent track record.  Sue’s had a number of hair-dos over the years, and a lot of them have been really period-specific.  The one they’ve gone with is pretty timeless and true to the character.  I like that the face is calm and friendly, as Sue should be, rather than being too bland or intense.  The paint on Sue is pretty decent, but there are a few things that seem a little off.  The overall application is really sharp and bold.  The face is particularly clean, as is the emblem.  The emblem being all in grey is a little different than I was expecting, but I can’t say I dislike it.  The only real issue I have is how they’ve implemented her powers.  The actual work isn’t bad; her right arm starts full color and slowly fades out.  It’s a cool effect, and very well rendered.  The real issue is that there’s no option to swap the arm out, meaning she’s always stuck like that.  Still, that’s a pretty minor issue.  Sue *does* include an extra hand, that’s done up to match the right arm, so that’s cool.  And, since it’s going to be a little while before the rest of her teammates are released, Sue also includes a HERBIE pack-in figure to keep her company.  Believe it or not, this is actually HERBIE’s third time as an action figure, and second as a Marvel Legend.  He’s about 3 inches tall and has a joint as the neck, as well as a removable flight stand to let him hover.  His sculpt is pretty awesome, and his paint is nice and clean.  He’s just an all-around awesome inclusion.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Here’s a shock: I got this Walgreens exclusive figure at Walgreens.  I know.  Thrilling.  In all honestly, I’ve been patiently waiting for this figure ever since Toy Biz released Reed back in Series 5 of the original line.  14 years is a lot of waiting.  Ultimately, I’m glad I waited, because this is best Invisible Woman figure ever released.  I can’t wait to get the rest of the team to match!

#1228: Squirrel Girl & Jet-Pack Spider-Man

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

SQUIRREL GIRL & JET-PACK SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

spideysquirrelgirl1

Squirrel Girl?  They made a Squirrel Girl?  Like, for real?  That’s awesome!  Now, for those of you wondering “who’s Squirrel Girl?,” let me ‘splain: Squirrel Girl is a minor character from the ‘90s, created by Will Murray and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko.  In her very first appearance, she teamed up with Iron Man to defeat Dr. Doom.  Defeating Doom gave her something of a jokingly legendary status in the comics, and over the years, there was a running gag where she would reference beating some other infamous foe off-screen.  She was eventually added to the Great Lakes Avengers during Dan Slott’s mini-series in the mid-00s, which kind of cemented her status as a fan-favorite.  Since then, she’s bobbed around in the background of the Marvel universe, before eventually picking up her own series in 2014.  More recently, she’s cropped up in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, which has netted her a Minimate, half the subject of today’s review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Squirrel Girl and Jet-Pack Spider-Man are part of Series 3 of Walgreens’ exclusive line of Marvel Minimates.  Due to the slightly odd numbering scheme of the Walgreens assortments, this actually makes it the fifth series released, but whatever.  Squirrel Girl was granted her spot in this set thanks to an online fan poll, of which she and Man-Thing were the winners.  Spider-Man was granted his spot because he’s Spider-Man.  He does what he wants.  Both figures in this set are based on their appearances in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.

SQUIRREL GIRL

spideysquirrelgirl2This marks not only Squirrel Girl’s debut as a Minimate,  but also as an action figure in general.  As noted above, the figure is based on her animated design, which is itself a pretty straight adaptation of her comic design from GLA until around the time of her solo series.  It’s a pretty classic look, following all of the various comic book super hero conventions.  The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with add-ons for her hair and her belt/tail.  Both add-on pieces look to be new to this particular figure, and they suit the character pretty well.  Some characters look a little lacking on the animated-style ‘mates, but I think Squirrel Girl is one of those that actually fits with the style a bit more.  It helps that her paintwork is really sharp.  The colors are remarkably vibrant for just being grey and brown, and all of the detail lines are really crisp.  She’s sporting a somewhat goofy grin, which is really the only expression a Squirrel Girl figure should ever have.  I also appreciate the shading, especially on the torso, which helps keep her from looking too blocky (I mean, yeah, she’s a block figure, but still…).  She’s missing a few of the seams on her arms and legs, but those are minor enough details that I don’t feel it really holds the figure back.  I’d chalk it up to simplifying the design for translation to the ‘mate aesthetic.  Squirrel Girl is packed with her three squirrels (Monkey Joe, Tippy Toe, and Mr. Lieberman.  Monkey Joe and Tippy Toe are from the comics, but it looks like Mr. Lieberman was added to bring the total up to three, for whatever reason), as well as a pair of burritos (apparently from an episode of the show), and a clear display stand.  The stand is more essential here than usual, thanks to the tail making it virtually impossible to keep her standing on her own. 

JET-PACK SPIDER-MAN

spideysquirrelgirl3So far, every Ultimate Spider-Man pack has has its requisite Spider-variant, and this set’s no exception.  You can sort of see them starting to reach with this one.  He’s pretty much just a basic Spider-Man, but with an extra accessory.  I suppose there have been worse variants.  The figure is built on the standard body, with the addition of the aforementioned jet-pack, which is an add-on piece.  The actual pack is the same one used for both Hope Summers and the Age of Ultron Nick Fury, but the straps are new to this particular figure.  I liked the jet-pack the first time I reviewed it, and it’s still pretty cool here, and the new straps actually make it nicely versatile.  The rest of the details are handled via paint, which is pretty decent overall.  He’s still exhibiting the slight bleed through issue on his eyes, which has been present on most of the recent Spider-Men.  That’s a bit annoying, but it’s less present here than on some of the other examples.  The rest of the paint is pretty clean, and replicates the look from the show, so I guess that’s pretty good.  Spider-Man was packed with a blast-off base that plugs into the jet-pack, a thumbs up hand (re-used from Buddy Christ), an extra surprised head, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve not had much luck finding these sets at any of the local Walgreens, so I had to call on the help of my family to track them down for me.  My dad ended up finding this set for me a few weeks ago, which was very nice of him.  The Spider-Man I can kind of take or leave, but I’m really enthused to have a Squirrel Girl finally.  She’s definitely worth the cost of the set!

#1210: C-3PO

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

C-3PO

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

c3pobs1

Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series has been running almost 5 years now, and over the course of that 5 years, we’ve gotten the main look for just about every major character from the Original Trilogy.  However, one major character has been pretty consistently absent: C-3PO.  Now, obviously, with a character like Threepio, it’s not a question of if he’s going to be made, but rather when he’s going to be made.  You don’t just willy nilly leave out one of two characters to appear in every film in the franchise.  So, when his name popped up as one of 2016’s upcoming figures, no one was really surprised.  Well, that is, not until they saw the figure, standing there in all his red-armed, The Force Awakens-glory.  Why would the first release of this much anticipated character be what is undoubtedly a one-off look?  It turns out Hasbro had more up their sleeve, and a regular Threepio found its way to release.  I’ll be looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

c3pobs2This C-3PO figure is Walgreens’ 2016 Star Wars: The Black Series exclusive.  This has been a point of contention for a lot of fans, since many of them think this Threepio should have had the main retail slot, and the Force Awakens figure should have been made the exclusive, citing the second version as a less necessary variant.  While I can’t argue with that, I can sort of understand why the figures ended up the way they did.  In 2015, Walgreens got stuck in the Emperor’s Wrath Darth Vader as their exclusive, and sales on him were pretty soft.  With that in mind, I can easily see Walgreens pushing for a higher profile exclusive.  On Hasbro’s side, I can see them feeling that Threepio might be more easily acquired for some fans as an exclusive item shipped in solid cases of himself, as opposed to being stuck in a revision assortment of the main line, which may or may not get put out (I can attest to having seen more of this guy out in the wild than I’ve seen of his red-armed counterpart).  In addition, Threepio has traditionally been a slower seller than the rest of the main characters, a fact Hasbro is likely banking on.  Ultimately, it’s not the ideal solution, but it’s workable.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and has 21 points of articulation.  Early reports had me worried that this guy wouldn’t be very posable.  The final figure lacks any elbow joints, but this ends up having little effect on the posability, and the rest of the joints offer a more than serviceable range of motion.  Threepio’s sculpt is shared with his Force Awakens version, but is otherwise totally new.  It’s a very strong sculpt, and does a really solid job of capturing Threepio’s basic design.  There’s a lot of really sharp detail work, and he’s definitely one of the best figures in the line in terms of working in the articulation.  The arms do seem a touch long when compared to the legs, but it’s only barely noticeable, and far from the worst case of this in the line.  Threepio’s paint is pretty decently handled; Hasbro let fans know from the get-go that this figure wasn’t going to be vac-metalized like many of the smaller Threepios have been.  Some fans were a bit let-down by this, but I find myself not minding that much.  While the process is fine on smaller figures, it can rob a sculpt of a lot of its best details, and on larger, more articulated items, it can also be rather susceptible to damage.  I was happy to see they opted for gold paint instead of gold plastic, as it allows for a brighter sheen and a more consistent application of the color.  The only part that seems a bit odd to me is the eyes; rather than the usual flat yellow, they’ve been done with three white dots on each eye.  It’s not terrible looking from far away, but looks quite strange up close.  Threepio includes no accessories, which is a real letdown, especially since there are technically no new sculpted pieces here.  The communicator from the Death Star would have been nice, especially since they already have the tooling for it. Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

News broke on this guy back around Rogue Friday, and I pretty much immediately started looking for him.  I didn’t have much luck, but on a hunch, I stopped at a slightly out of the way Walgreens on the way home from grabbing some dinner last month.  He wasn’t in the proper action figure aisle, but I remembered that a lot of Walgreens stores had a separate Star Wars end display, and, sure enough, there he was.  Odd choice of distribution aside, this is a really good figure, easily the best Threepio that Hasbro’s put out.  Hopefully everyone that wants one can get one!

c3pobs3

#1153: Black Widow & Dark Avengers Iron Man

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

BLACK WIDOW & DARK AVENGERS IRON MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

widowdaim1

Hey ho, it’s another Minimate review. They kind of come in clusters, I guess. Of course, where yesterday’s focus figure came from way back at the beginning, today’s is a more recent addition to the line. So, without further ado, here’s Black Widow and Dark Avengers Iron Man!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair is part of Series 2 of the Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates. As with all the Walgreens ‘mates, these two are animated series-based, specifically Avengers Assemble.

BLACK WIDOW

widowdaim2Black Widow is one of the main members of the team in Avengers Assemble, so her appearance here isn’t a huge shock, especially since they’ve been steadily working through the animated incarnation of the team. The figure is a little under 2 1/2 inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation. Widow is based on her second costume from the show, which is a bit more distinct when compared to the same basic Widow we’ve gotten a few times, so definitely a good choice. Her only add-on piece is her hair, which she shares with the previously reviewed Gamora ‘mate. It’s a nice enough piece, and I guess it matches well enough with her animated design. The rest of her design is rendered via paint work, which is pretty solid. As I’ve noted a few times before, the animated designs really do translate pretty well to the ‘mate form, and Widow definitely fits that trend. The colors are nice, bright, and bold, and all of the line work is nice and crisp. The figure is packed with a pair of batons and a clear display stand.

DARK AVENGERS IRON MAN

widowdaim3The second season of Avengers Assemble introduced frequent Marvel fixture the Squadron Supreme, who are the Marvel equivalent of the Justice League. They took advantage of the Squadron’s alternate universe to also introduce the Dark Avengers, evil counterparts to the main heroes. DST decided to take advantage of these new designs to offer some slightly more unique designs for the characters we’ve all seen so many times before. The first one was Iron Man, whose design swaps out the red portions of his armor for black, because everyone knows black = evil, I guess. Construction-wise, he’s got add-ons for his helmet, gloves, and belt, as well as special upper arm pieces. Everything is reused, which is generally okay. The Mark 42 arms still aren’t among my favorites, mostly due to serious limitations they place on the shoulder movement. Aside from that, though, he does a decent enough job of capturing the look of the armor on the show. The paintwork on this guy is passable, but nowhere near as nice as some of the others in this subset. He’s rather drab, being a dark blue and a rather cold yellow. Ultimately, he ends up looking like a slightly blander version of the Marvel Now Iron Man from a few years ago. Under the helmet, there’s a Tony Stark face, which is a bit angrier than the usual Tony. The flesh tone on the face is kind of thin, so he ends up looking rather bluish. Also, the figure’s paint just seems rather sloppy in general. The figure is packed with a flight stand and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two were given to me by my Super Awesome Girlfriend, who bought them from a Walgreens during a trip back home over the summer. Apparently, she likes to buy things for me when she’s stressed. Widow’s a pretty solid ‘mate. Dark Avengers Iron Man is…well he doesn’t feel like the most inspired choice. Of all the Dark Avengers designs, his is really one of the less interesting, and to top it off, his paint work is noticeably lower in quality than others in the series. Overall, I think Widow’s enough to save the pack, but it would have been nice if her pack mate had been more exciting.

#1064: Punisher

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

PUNISHER

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

punisherhas1

“A ruthless vigilante, Punisher single-handedly takes down crime one bad guy at a time.”

Historically, I’ve never been much of a Punisher fan.  For me, he was one of the prime examples of what went wrong with comics in the late ‘80s on into the ‘90s.  An amoral anti-hero who’s primary gimmick was shooting stuff up, who operated on making other, less extreme heroes look lame and old-fashioned.  When he was announced to be appearing in the second season of Netflix’s Daredevil series, I was a little apprehensive, but Jon Bernthal’s phenomenal turn as the character was one of the best parts of the season, and made me realize that I didn’t hate the character as much as I’d thought, I just hadn’t seen the right interpretation of him.  As it turns out, the timing was just right on me getting into Punisher, since he just got a brand-new Marvel Legend, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

punisherhas2Punisher is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends Series figure.  Going by the back of the box, he’s supposed to be a part of the Absorbing Man series from earlier this year, though he didn’t arrive even close to that series’ release, nor was he intended to.  He ended up hitting stores about a month ago, not long after the Namor figure (making them the two closest released Walgreens-exclusives since they started carrying the figures).  The figure is based on Punisher’s Jim Lee-designed look from the ‘90s, which is a decent choice, since it’s just a slight variation on his classic design.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Punisher is built on the Reaper body, which was somewhat surprising at first, but, upon having the figure in hand, feels like a pretty good choice. The only downside to this body is that they have yet to release hands with trigger fingers for it, which is a bit of an issue for a gun user like Punisher, but can fairly easily be remedied with a little minor modification.  Punisher gets a new punisherhas3head, as well as two add-on pieces for his shoulder straps and belt.  The new head is quite a nice piece.  The headband is certainly a unique look, and the whole sculpt captures the Lee take on the character quite well, as well as fitting the base body very nicely.  The add-ons are also very well-rendered pieces, which add a nice extra touch of character to the figure.  Punisher’s paintwork is clean and sharp, and makes the figure look very well put together.  The slightly off-black of the uniform looks really nice, and the details such as the logo and the face are superbly rendered.  The accessories are an area where this figure really shines.  He gets an extra head, sans headband, for a more classic look, an m60 machine gun, a Striker shotgun, and a SMAW rocket launcher.  That’s actually a pretty impressive selection, especially compared to the likes of Winter Soldier or Black Widow from earlier in the Infinite Series line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Wanna guess where I got Punisher?  That’s right, Walgreens!  After tracking down <most of> the latest X-Men series, this guy was at the top of my list.  My dad, who was helping me track down the X-Men figures, actually saw this guy and didn’t realize I hadn’t gotten him yet.  So, we made a trip back to that same Walgreens and I picked him up.  Gotta say, I really like this guy a whole lot, and that’s surprising to me, since I didn’t care about the character a year ago.

punisherhas4

#1020: Namor

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

NAMOR

MARVEL LEGENDS SERIES

NamorML1

Alright, let’s keep barreling through Giant-Man Week, with part 7– what’s that? You say I’ve already finished Giant-Man Week? Huh, I guess I did. But…I’ve still got this one figure sitting here…watching…waiting.

All joking aside, today’s figure is kind of an honorary part of the Giant-Man Series, so think of this as something of an epilogue to Giant-Man Week, if you will. The character in question is Namor, aka the Sub Mariner, one of Marvel’s oldest characters (he’s rivaled only by the original Human Torch, who shares a first appearance with him, and even then, NAMOR was created first).  Namor’s gotten a handful of figures over the years, including two Marvel Legends. He just got a third, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NamorML2Namor is the latest Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legend. He started hitting not long after the Giant-Man series, and they’re the ones shown on the back of his box, so I guess he sort of goes with them. The Giant-Man series was ostensibly a Captain America series, and given Namor and Cap’s history, Namor fits the theme pretty well. Despite the fact that the character has spent most of his 77 years of existence wearing a simple green speedo, this is yet another Namor figure based on one of his more clothed designs. Unlike his first Marvel Legend (which was based on his John Romita look from the ‘70s), this guy uses one of Namor’s more recent designs, from around the time of Matt Fraction’s Defenders run. It’s not a bad choice, really, since we’ve gotten several other characters looks from that particular line-up. I’m still holding out hope for a proper speedo Namor at some point, though. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation. Namor uses the Grim Reaper body as a starting point, but gets a unique head, torso, forearms, and shins. The new torso serves to change pretty much the whole shape of the figure, and giving him an overall more svelte look, befitting a guy who swims a lot. The original ML Namor had one of the best head sculpts Toy Biz ever produced, so this figure had a lot to live up to in that respect. While I think the older Namor is still my favorite, this one’s certainly not a bad piece. Namor’s pomposity has still been wonderfully captured here. I do wish the hair was a bit less Quicksilver-y, but that’s minor. Namor gets another solid paintjob from Hasbro. Seriously, I don’t know what it is, but the Giant-Man Series has been a marked improvement in paint apps quality from Hasbro. Namor has minimal slop and bleed over, and the metallic blue and yellow looks really sharp. Namor includes two sets of hands in flat and gripping poses, as well as a trident. The trident is a bit disappointing, since it’s just a repaint of Odin’s staff, but with all the new pieces the actual figure got, I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Namor by accident. Well, I mean, it’s not like I accidentally brought him up to the counter and paid money for him, but I wasn’t actually looking for him when I found him. It was two days after my birthday and I was specifically not looking to buy anything else until I’d at least gotten around to opening everything I’d gotten. However, I’d had a few figures break, so I stopped at a Walgreens to pick up some super glue. While there, I figured I might as well check the toy section and boom, there this guy was. He’s a pretty great figure, and I’m glad we finally got another Namor figure. Now, about that speedo version…

*Want a Namor figure of your own?  He’s currently in stock with out friends over at All Time Toys!  Click here to check him out!

#0999: Taskmaster & Iron Spider-Man

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

TASKMASTER & IRON SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Zounds! Is this another Minimate review? Why yes it is! I feel like I’ve been doing a lot less of them as of late, so two in a row’s kind of cool. This is another animation-based set, from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. This set includes the somewhat controversial Iron Spider (here called Iron Spider-Man) as well as long time Marvel villain Taskmaster. Let’s check these two out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Taskmaster and Iron Spider-Man were released in Series 2 of the Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates line. As noted in the intro, both figures are based on their designs from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.

TASKMASTER

IronSpider&Taskmaster6Taskmaster makes his third appearance in the Minimates line. This is also the second time this year that this particular look has gotten a figure, after the Marvel Legend. This one’s a bit more strictly faithful to Taskmaster’s (second) animated design. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation. Taskmaster gets two add-on pieces, for his hood/shoulder pads and his belt. Both of these are new to this particular figure, and they do a pretty decent job of capturing the animated look. The hood greatly restricts neck movement, though, which can be a bit frustrating. Taskmaster’s paintwork is pretty solid all around. There’s a good level of detail, and, unlike a lot of animated-style figures, he really shouldn’t have trouble fitting in with comic-styled ‘mates. Taskmaster is packed with his shield, a sword, and a clear display stand.

IRON SPIDER-MAN

IronSpider&Taskmaster7This is the third time we’ve gotten an Iron Spider Minimate (though only the second one to actually have the proper mechanical arms). For the purposes of the show, it’s just another Spider-Man look, but in the comics it was very much tied to the less-than-well-received original Civil War story, which has given the design a slightly…colored history. At least for me. This figure uses the same selection of pieces as the TRU-exclusive Iron Spider from the beginning of the year: he’s mostly a vanilla ‘mate, with a four piece backpack/mechanical arms add-on piece. It’s a pretty fun piece, and it even gives him an extra 3 points of articulation, which is really fun. The last two Iron Spiders had metallic paint schemes, but this one, being based on the animated appearance, uses flat colors with some creative shading. It’s not a bad look at all: the colors are really vibrant and all of the application is nice and clean. Iron Spider includes an extra, face revealed head, a jumping stand, and a clear display stand. If I’ve done my research right, I think that the face shown isn’t Peter, but Amadeus Cho, who wore this costume on the cartoon (which, by the way, makes this the first Amadeus Cho action figure).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Gamora and Drax, I found this set while looking for a pair of shoes. Fun times. I didn’t yet own either of these characters, and they’re also both pretty fun figures, so I’d definitely consider this set a win!

#0998: Gamora & Drax the Destroyer

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

GAMORA & DRAX THE DESTROYER

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Hey, remember 251 days ago when I looked at the Minimates of Star-Lord and Groot from the current Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon? Probably not. I do, what with, you know, writing it and all. Well, why don’t you go read it and give me the extra views? Anyway, I’m referencing it here because today I’ll be looking at DST’s first follow-up to that set. It’s the rest of the main team, Drax and Gamora! Let’s see how they turned out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Drax and Gamora are part of Series 2 of the Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Minimates (which is actually the third series, thanks to the weird “1, 1.5, 2” numbering). They’re both based on their designs from the aforementioned cartoon.

GAMORA

Drax&Gamora3This marks Gamora’s third Minimate in the line, which isn’t too bad for someone most of the general public didn’t know about until two years ago. Gamora gets one of the more tweaked designs in the cartoon. It’s sort of based on her Ravager gear from the end of the movie, but it’s sort of, I don’t know, averaged with her main assassin look from the rest of the film, resulting in what we see here. It’s not a bad look, though it’s just a bit blander than her others, if I’m honest. Still, not bad. The figure is a little under 2 ½ inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation. Her only add-on piece is her hair, which is also shared with this series’ Black Widow ‘mate. It’s not a bad piece. It’s definitely very stylized, but it works quite well for Gamora’s design from the show, and looks quite lively to boot. The rest of her details are handled via paint. It’s not as detailed as some Minimates, but the work here is incredibly sharp, and does quite a nice job of capturing the animated design, which, I might add, translates pretty flawlessly to the ‘mate aesthetic. Gamora includes her signature sword (which is the same piece as the Series 57 movie version’s), as well as a little potted Groot, which is probably one of my favorite Minimate accessories in quite some time.

DRAX THE DESTROYER

Drax&Gamora2Ah, finally. After it was dropped for the movie, animated Drax regains his “The Destroyer” sub-title. Yay! Like Gamora, this also marks Drax’s third Minimate. Drax’s design is a good deal closer to his movie appearance (specifically his Ravager gear) than Gamora’s. His tattoos are a bit simpler, and he’s straight grey rather than greyish green, but the overall look is pretty much the same. Drax makes use of three add-on pieces. His waist cap is a standard piece, which just gives him a little extra bulk. The gauntlets appear to be new pieces (I could be wrong on that), and they work quite nicely for Drax’s design. Drax’s paintwork is pretty solid. Once again, he’s a bit more simplistic than other recent ‘mates, but he looks really sharp. I especially like the tattoos, and I really appreciate the angry expression on his face. Drax includes a pair of knives (taken from the movie version).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After pretty much totally missing Series 1.5, I stumbled across this pair while looking for a pair of flip-flops at a nearby Walgreens. I know, I was in a Walgreens for something other than action figures! The shock! I figured I might as well pick them up to complete the set I started with Series 1. If I’m honest, potted Groot is what really sold me on this set. That being said, I find both Gamora and Drax to be high quality ‘mates, probably better than their movie versions.

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