Tag Archives: X-Men

#3716: The Hellfire Club

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

EMMA FROST, JEAN GREY, SEBASTIAN SHAW, & DONALD PIERCE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

There’s been a slowdown on my Legends buying more recently, largely because there’s been a bit of a slowdown on Legends to buy recently.  There’s a bunch of stuff upcoming, of course, but in the mean time I’m continuing to fall back on some of my older un-reviewed stock.  I’m jumping over to the X-Men side of things, specifically focussing in on their early ’80s run, which is really where it’s at for me when it comes to X-Men.  During “The Dark Phoenix Saga,” Claremont and Byrne introduced a new group of “evil” mutants, the Hellfire Club, inspired by an episode of The Avengers (no, not those ones), which grew into a whole big thing, which is sort of humorous given that the group is really more of a footnote in the actual story that introduced them, as it quickly evolves to more cosmic levels then the Club can really muster.  Still, they’ve been a pretty recurrent bunch of characters, and they got their toy due in the form of a boxed set a few years ago, which I’m reviewing today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Hellfire Club were a Pulse Con-exclusive Marvel Legends boxed set, offered up in 2020.  They were clearly intended to be that year’s San Diego Comic Con set, but the con got cancelled because of the pandemic, and Hasbro switched it to a fully online model.  They also offered up a Hellfire Club Guard army builder at the same time, but he was a separate item, not officially bundled with the rest of them.

EMMA FROST

Emma Frost, the White Queen, is no stranger to Marvel Legends, though until recently she *was* a stranger to *good* Marvel Legends, with her debut in the line, as part of Hasbro’s very first series of Legends no less, being one of the very worst figures Legends has ever spawned.  Her classic costume, which is admittedly rather on the risque side, has only been done in Minimate form before this, which certainly contributed to her being the biggest pull of thus here set.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Emma got a lot of new parts, for her torso, upper arms, and cape, as well as re-using the alternate head from her Walgreens figure, and filling in the rest with the TRU Storm body.  It does unfortunately mean that she’s got visible pins on the knees, which is sort of a bummer, and also that her legs are a bit prone to warping and generally making it hard to keep her standing.  It was not easy keeping her standing for the photos here, I tell ya.  The new pieces are generally pretty nice, though.  The corset piece certainly does what it’s supposed to, and looks the part, and does so in a way that’s sharply sculpted, and reasonably well proportioned.  I do like that all of the elements of her outfit barring the boots have proper raised edges sculpted, so we’re not just relying on paint for the break.  Even the boots break at a joint line, so it’s still the same general concept.  The Walgreens head, which I hadn’t looked at before, is certainly a solid sculpt, though maybe a more generic than Byrne depicted her.  I’m not crazy about the cape, which is very thick and heavy, and virtually makes her unposeable.  It’s good for standing there and not much else, it seems.  Her paint work is pretty minimal, since the sculpt has so many separate pieces, but what’s there is decent.  My figure’s just a touch wall-eyed, but generally things look good.  Emma is without any accessories.  Not even an extra set of hands.  That’s definitely weak.

JEAN GREY

This is the second time Jean Grey as the Black Queen has gotten the Legends treatment, following the TRU-exclusive that repainted the first Legends Emma, and made her a surprisingly less awful figure.  Like that one, this one is again re-using parts from Emma, namely the Emma I just reviewed.  She gets herself a new head, collar, and cape in order to differentiate her.  The head is really nicely done, and is consistent with the other Jeans in the line in terms of her face, while also giving her that slightly off expression that seems ever-so-not-Jean.  The cape on this one is more dynamic than Emma’s, allowing for more actual posing.  Unfortunately, the legs on mine are even more wobbly then Emma, so he really has a hard time standing.  Since her construction is very similar to Emma, a lot of her coloring works the same way too, with minimal actual paint.  What’s there is generally good, but there’s some slop around her waistline.  While Emma had no accessories, Jean gets three pairs of hands (open gesture, fists, and gripping), a whip (re-used from Black Cat), and an alternate head to allow her to be Selene, her replacement in the role of Black Queen.  Technically, Selene’s outfit was different than Jean’s (and, by extension, Emma’s), but it’s close enough, and it’s just nice to actually get the extras after Emma was totally lacking.

SEBASTIAN SHAW

Sebastian Shaw is the Black King, and the de facto leader of the group.  He was also played by Kevin Bacon in First Class.  How many degrees of separation does that put him at?  Any?  I don’t know exactly how those rules work.  He’s also no relation to the actor who plays old Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.  While Shaw got a Minimate for First Class, this is the first, and to date only, time his comics counterpart’s gotten figure treatment.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  His mold was largely new, designed to be shared with the other members of the Club.  I looked at it originally for Wyngarde.  It’s a pretty decent sculpt, but it admittedly feels a little skinny for Shaw.  I feel like he should have just a touch more presence.  He gets a unique head sculpt, which is a respectable recreation of his usual look.  This one feels more in line with the Byrne design, so I’m happy about that.  His paint work is a little more involved that the women, with a decent amount of accent work on the vest, which is quite cool.  The buttons are a little sloppy on mine, as are the edges of the cuffs, but he looks okay overall.  He’s packed with two sets of hands (relaxed and fists), the Beast’s book (which still has its scientific formulas), and Magneto’s helmet.  The helmet is the one from the Amazon set, so it’s still got the peg that would have gone into the head, meaning no one else can actually wear it, but it’s cool for holding.

DONALD PIERCE

Donald Pierce, the White Bishop, is noteworthy for being a non-mutant member of the Club.  Instead, he’s just a cyborg.  He was in Logan, but I don’t really wanna talk about it.  In the comics, he left the Club and spent a lot of his time with the Reavers, a larger group of cyborgs.  He’s a cool concept, but I feel like they lost the thread on him a while back.  This is his only time getting a figure.  He’s using the same body as Shaw, just with a new head.  It’s a more modern version of the character, with a face that’s too squared off and full to be John Byrne’s Donald Sutherland-inspired take on the character.  It still works well enough, though, and I think it reads okay as the character.  His color work is more earthy tones than Shaw’s, which differentiates them nicely from each other.  The application’s a little cleaner on Pierce than it was on Shaw as well.  He’s packed with an alternate set of robotic hands (courtesy of Doom), Domino’s blaster style guns, and Wolverine’s mask.  The alternate hands work alright for the cyborg bit, I guess, but I can’t help but wish for a comic-accurate set of torn up arms showing off the cybernetics.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t actually get this set from Pulse Con, for a multitude of reasons.  I wound up getting it loose, and in two different parts, in fact.  I lucked into the two Queens fairly early on, when they were in a short market lull, allowing me to not donate my whole arm and leg to the purchase, and then I got the other two later down the line, when they’d firmly become the “cheap” ones.  The Queens, even with the standing and posing issues, are certainly the stronger half of the set.  The guys aren’t bad, just sort of okay.  Largely, I think they’re probably hampered by me having gotten Wyngarde first, and just generally liking Wyngarde more as a character.  I do hope to some day track down a guard or two, and I’m intrigued to see if they ever get around to making Leland.  I guess we’ll just see.

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

#3712: Apocalypse

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

APOCALYPSE

MARVEL UNIVERSE (HASBRO)

Hey!  It’s October 17th!  That means today marks the end of the site’s 11th year.  That’s pretty crazy.  Last year was, of course, the end of my first decade, so I did an even more extravagant wrap-up than usual, which I think was a nice send-off to the big wrap-ups, so I’m not gonna do one of those this year.  I will however, still be doing my usual slightly more significant item to review, just to mark the day a bit.  I haven’t reviewed any figures from Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line since we were in the depths of the pandemic and the lockdowns, which feels sort of crazy, because it was at one time such a notable portion of my collection.  I’ve scaled it back a lot, though, especially with Legends having overtaken it on so many fronts.  But, there was a good five year stretch or so where it was one of my main jams.  A character that’s never *really* been one of my main jams, however, is Apocalypse.  Don’t get me wrong, I like some of what he’s been involved in, but something about him’s never fully clicked for me.  That said, I’ve had more than a few good toys of him, and, you know what, here’s one of those.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Apocalypse was released during Marvel Universe‘s third year, in the 13th overall assortment, which was the second of the year.  He’s figure 009, and shipped alongside Jim Lee Cyclops, First Appearance Wolverine, Cable, and Gladiator.  All of the new figures were X-themed, which was a first for the line.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  Apocalypse is seen here in his “Messiah Complex” look, which was still pretty current at the time of the figure’s release, and also matched up with the Cable from the same assortment.  He was built on the larger male body introduced with Juggernaut the prior year.  It’s a very solid starting point, coming after Hasbro had finally weeded out their truly abysmal initial base bodies for the line.  This one’s got a surprising range of motion given its build, and is also quite stable on its feet.  He gets a new head, lower arms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as new overlay pieces for the shoulders and belt.  It’s a good selection of parts, and the mesh well with the underlying base body.  The hoses on the arms are a little limiting for poses, not as bad as you might expect, and I particularly l love the gesturing hand; it adds so much character to his poses.  Apocalypse’s paint work isn’t bad.  Hasbro was in a period of doing washes and such for accenting, so he gets a bit of that, which works quite well with the sculpt.  Apocalypse’s only accessory was a display stand with his name and figure number printed on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I touched on in the intro, I’m not classically much of an Apocalypse fan.  So, why is this guy my significant-year-end-review choice?  In the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I was back home and spending a lot of my free time with my younger brother Christian.  A few times over the summer, he needed to go into work with me during the day, so I’d make it up to him by stopping by the Target on the way home, so that he could get something cool at the end of the day.  Target was, at the time, running a buy-one-get-one-free sale on Marvel Universe, so I’d buy one for him and get one for myself as well.  We built up a bit of collection that way, and it eventually got to the point of us actively hunting for the line together.  A good chunk of my MU collection went back with me to college that year, and I promised him we’d keep collecting as I got the chance.  A couple of days after I moved into my dorm, my parents were dropping off some supplies for me, and when I went down to meet them, Christian was also there, and presented me with this guy, who he’d insisted on getting me.  It was tremendously thoughtful.  My small MU collection was one of the things that helped get me through what would ultimately be a kind of rough year at school, and this guy was one of the most significant pieces for me.  I may not be a huge Apocalypse fan, but I’m a huge fan of this figure in particular.

#3711: Phoenix

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

PHOENIX

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

You know, I feel every few years, I have to review a Marvel Legends Phoenix. Just, like, some sort of cycle. They keep remaking her, and I keep buying her, and then the reviews come back around, rising from the ashes, like some kind of…phoenix. Ha. Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Wait, sorry, that’s the wrong publisher! This is Marvel, a Disney subsidiary! Maybe we go with this is the song that never ends? Hang on, I think I’m confusing that with “It’s A Small World.” “The Song That Never Ends” is Lambchop. I don’t know who owns that. Well, this intro’s just going swimmingly, then, isn’t it? Let’s just look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Phoenix is a deluxe Marvel Legends release, hitting on her own as a Fall 2024 offering.  We actually got a pretty quick turnaround for release on this one, since she wasn’t shown off all that long before dropping at retail.  She’s decidedly a classic Phoenix, rather than Dark.  It’s only the third time we’ve gotten just a classic Phoenix in Legends.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 32 points of articulation.  She’s got the updated pinless construction arms and legs from Shriek, along with a brand new torso set-up, which works in the more modernized articulation style like we’ve been seeing on the Spider-Men more recently, as well as adding in butterfly shoulders.  The whole thing’s a very solid set-up, and I look forward to seeing it show up elsewhere going forward. Jean’s got a new sash add-on, which sits a lot better than the prior pieces, and two different head sculpts.  One’s more standard Jean, and the other’s all powered up.  It took me a minute to warm up to the new heads; I was really a fan of the powered up head from the Dark Phoenix figure, and I wasn’t sure they’d be able to top it.  That said, these two are far more refined and subtle.  They’re very dynamic with the hair flow, and the face sculpts really capture that ’70s Jean look.  The color work on this release is a marked improvement on earlier versions, especially the prior Hasbro version, which was a touch murky.  This one’s got more pop, and the application’s much cleaner.  Phoenix is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open gesture) and, for the first time since the Toy Biz days, a big, fiery Phoenix bird base, which serves as a major selling point for this release.  It’s a little tricky to assemble, and there’s no guide or anything, but once it’s built it’s very impressive, and even has an articulated neck for further posing options.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I genuinely didn’t think I needed this figure when she was announced.  I was happy with my 2016 figure with the alt head from the two-pack and the Toy Biz base.  Sure, it was hodgepodge, but I liked it well enough.  No need to upgrade, right?  But, I started to waffle as we got closer to release, and when I saw how nice she looked in person, I just couldn’t say no.  She’s so very much nicer than the prior releases, and I’m very glad I caved.  This is the definitive take…until Hasbro manages to somehow outdo themselves again in a few years, I guess…

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.

#3709: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN: MOVIE SERIES (TOY BIZ)

“Scott Summers, Professor X’s first student and the X-Men’s field leader, possesses the uncanny mutant ability to fire beams of devastating energy from his eyes. He must wear a special visor made of ruby quartz to control these powerful otpic blasts or he would destroy everyone and everything around him with just a glance. The disciplined, serious minded student code-named Cyclops is often at odds with Logan because of his maverick attitude and their mutual attraction to Jean Grey.”

It’s been almost 25 years since the release of the first X-Men movie. It was a pretty big deal for comic book movies, being the first time we ever truly got to see the scope they could achieve, even if there were some growing pains along the way. It was, of course, Hugh Jackman’s first turn as Wolverine, a role he’s so defined in the two and a half decades since. Jackman got the opportunity to reprise his role earlier this year, in Deadpool & Wolverine, but the other main cast members weren’t quite as lucky. As much as I loved the film, I myself was a little bummed we didn’t get to see more of James Marsden’s Cyclops, especially since I’ve always felt that Marsden was woefully underserved by the writing for his character in the first three movies. I guess he’ll just have to make his grand return…in my mind! Or, you know, in a review of an old figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men: The Movie tie-in line from 2000 (which, I always like to point out, was released simultaneously with series 2, so that the whole main cast could be on shelves at the same time).  The figure is about 6 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  The X-Men: Movie line wasn’t Toy Biz’s first jump to the 6-inch scale for Marvel figures, but it was the first major move towards making it their standard scale.  It’s closer to a proper 1/12 scale than where they would go with Legends, for what it’s worth.  He’s still closer to the 5-inchers in terms of posing, and is in fact a little stiffer than some of the smaller guys.  He’s in sort of s mid-step kind of pose, which does result in some of the articulation being a little on the ineffective side, especially on the legs.  The ankles in particular are kind of pointless.  It is worth noting, however, that this was the first Cyclops to have both a light-up feature *and* neck articulation.  It doesn’t get a full rotation, but it’s still cool.  The actual sculpt proper’s actually pretty nice.  The larger size allows for more depth of detailing, which works especially well for the suit design, and its variety of textures.  His head’s got pretty passable likeness of Marsden as Cyclops.  The visor is designed to be removable, which is a cool feature, but makes the visor itself really fragile, and very prone to breaking.  But, it does look really cool when its properly in place, and it stays there pretty well.  Cyclops’s paint work is decent enough.  It’s pretty cleanly handled, and the color scheme is a solid match for the film.  The skin tone’s a little pasty, and perhaps a little thick, but it works reasonably well.  There were a few different takes on the exact details of the suit and its different piping, which got brighter and more obvious applications as the different production runs hit.  Cyclops was packed with both his visor and an alternate pair of sunglasses (which are even *more* fragile than the standard visor), as well as a figurine of Jean, clearly meant to be based on the scene in the movie where she gets hit by Toad’s slime and Scott has to blast it off her.  Of course, she’s not completely encased by the slime the way she is here; it’s actually just on her face in the movie, which is, amusingly, the one piece that mine’s missing.  She’s also based on the first Jean mold, so she’s got the wrong hair style, but beyond that, I guess it’s an okay extra, weird though it may be.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Cyclops was, unsurprisingly, the first of the X-Men: Movie figures that I got.  I got him as soon as they were released, before the film even came out.  I was very excited for the movie, and Cyclops was my favorite of the characters, so it was kind of a natural move for me.  He went everywhere with me for probably about 6 months or so, and his visor snapped in half probably about a month in, which was always a bummer.  I’ve been looking for a replacement for a little while and finally snagged one while on vacation two summers ago, which very much exited me.  The figure’s not perfect, but I really do love him, and still have very fond memories associated with him, which, honestly, is not unlike my feelings about the movie proper.

#3664: Strong Guy

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

STRONG GUY

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Last week, I jumped back into Toy Biz Marvel with a discussion of the repaints that kept the line fresh on the pegs of KB Toys, one of the greatest supporters of the brand in the ’90s.  There were a variety of different ways they kept up with things, but at the tail end of the decade, they really dialed in on X-Men specifically.  There was a range of differences in terms of what they did with those figures.  Today’s offering, Strong Guy, was on the minor end of things when it came to change-ups.  Let’s jump into those, I guess?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Strong Guy was released in the first assortment of the KB-exclusive X-Men repaint line, released in 1998.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt is re-use of the Series 6 Strong Guy, which was the only other Strong Guy Toy Biz ever did.  It was definitely a little on the small side for Guido, at least as he was usually depicted in the comics at the time, and the articulation was a bit stripped down by the line’s usual standards, but it was a sculpt that certainly looked the part for the character.  While the Magneto from this line had a rather drastically different color scheme from the original AoA release, Strong Guy doesn’t quite go that far, but it’s still a bit beyond the differences between the Morph releases, which you could chalk up to production changes.  The colors are rather desaturated compared to the original release, which is certainly an interesting choice.  Also, the one true application change here is the moving of his X-logo from his left side to centered on his vest.  I guess that works better for branding?  I don’t know.  I don’t think Guido ever had the logo there, but I honestly didn’t keep up with all of his costume changes.  Like the original release, this figure was without accessories, but he does still have his “power punch” feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Given how long it took me to even get around to opening my original Strong Guy, I guess it’s not a shock that I didn’t rush out to get this guy.  Honestly, I wasn’t even super sure I was going to do all of the variant hunting for all of these figures, at least initially, but I’ve gotten more invested in that over the years, so, when I found this guy at Factory Antiques, I opted to jump on it.  There’s not much new to this one, and it’s hard to say exactly *why* Toy Biz felt the need to do him, but, you know what?  I won’t knock them for doing another Strong Guy.

#3659: Magneto

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

MAGNETO

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

For the bulk of the ’90s, KB Toys filled up a good portion of their action figure aisle with Toy Biz Marvel figures.  Earlier in the decade, they got a lot of close-out and liquidation deals on older figures, so they had a pretty steady stock of those, allowing for ease of access to fill-in a collection.  As they sold through that stock, however, they needed more.  The easiest solution was just to ask Toy Biz to reprint some old molds in stripped down packaging, which honestly worked out pretty well.  A lot of the figures wound up being nearly identical to the earlier releases, but every so often they’d mix things up.  Case in point?  Today’s Magneto figure.  Let’s check him out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Magneto was released in the second KB-exclusive repaint assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, released in 1998.  He was an ever so slightly tweaked version of the prior repaint release of Magneto from the Marvel Hall of Fame line the prior year.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this figure is the same as the AoA Magneto.  It’s a solid mold, through and through.  Definitely a more specifically dialed-in version of the character, of course, but it was Toy Biz’s most recent version of the character at the time, and AoA styling or not, the mold that fit the most with the rest of their output at the time.  The major change-up here is the paint.  Rather than a straight adaptation of the AoA costume, this one’s got more of an amalgamated look.  Definitely still leaning into the main classic color scheme, but he’s also got bare arms and a big white “M” on his chest now, which both call back to his ’80s costume (which finally got its proper figure due this year as part of the Legends ’97 tie-in line-up).  He’s also got a bit of silver thrown into the mix as well, for a little extra accenting.  It’s not a strictly comics-based look, but it’s honestly a pretty solid set-up, and the paint work is definitely very strong.  Like his AoA-counterpart, this guy is packed with his removable helmet and cape, as well as the big hand attachment.  I dig the hand a lot more this time, since it’s gets fully-painted detailing, which sells the whole look a bit better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually came very close to getting this figure a number of times back in the ’90s, before I’d gotten the proper AoA version.  But, once I got that one, I didn’t feel like I *needed* this one.  Look, I was young; I didn’t know where I was ultimately going with this ’90s Toy Biz thing.  It’s one of those figures I’ve always remembered, and I’ve been hoping to get one for a bit.  As luck would have it, I happened upon a loose one while wandering through Factory Antiques during a day trip back in the spring.  He’s pretty nifty.  Like, yeah, not comics accurate, but it’s just a lot of fun.

#3655: Lilandra Neramani

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LILANDRA NERAMANI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Just three issues into Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum’s run on X-Men, readers were introduced to the Sh’iar via its first member, and eventual empress, Lilandra Neramani.  Lilandra would become a major recurring character through the Phoenix Saga, and in fact a notable recurring character for the X-universe as a whole.  She got a good focus on X-Men: The Animated Series, and even got a returning role in X-Men ’97 earlier this year.  Despite her prominent placement in the mythos, she’s not been exceedingly lucky with toy coverage.  She had a Minimate, but that’s effectively nothing these days.  Beyond that, she was relegated to just an extra head included with Mystique.  But no more!  No, now she’s getting real coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lilandra Neramani was part of a Marvel Legends two-pack released earlier in the year.  The pack is inexplicably part of the Wolverine anniversary celebration, made slightly less weird by the inclusion of a Brood-Infected Wolverine as the other half of the set.  It’s still a little odd to pack Lilandra and Wolverine together, given they don’t exactly have much of a history, but then neither do Lilandra and Mystique, so maybe it’s just her thing?  She’s seen here in her armored attire, which is very Empress-y.  Doesn’t quite have the same nostalgic twinge for me as her original design, but that one’s also a little harder to sell as a toy, I feel.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Her sculpt uses some of the more standardized female buck parts, but she gets her fair share of new ones.  The most surprising new piece is the head, which isn’t a re-use of the Mystique piece as I’d expected it to be.  The detailing on this one is a little sharper and the shaping on the helmet is more in-line with her usual depictions.  The body sculpt gets a lot of character specific elements, rather than leaning into the painted detail side.  This is especially notable on the chest; those lines are actually etched in.  Her color work uses a lot of molded colors, but there’s a little bit of paint mixed in there as well.  The work on the face is particularly crisp.  Lilandra is packed with two sets of hands, in gripping and flat/fist pairs.  She’s also got her staff, which is a brand new sculpt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since ’70s X-Men is my favorite era of X-Men, I’m always down for figures of the characters that originated there.  This set, however, presented me with a conundrum, since it paired Lilandra off with a decidedly ’80s Wolverine variant.  I thought about sticking with my Mystique head on Silver Sable body, but I did really like the more character-specific elements, and I thought I might be able to suffer through the Wolverine to get her.  I didn’t actually have to, though, because somebody who bought the set from All Time only wanted the Wolverine, so there was a spare Lilandra.  Well, not really, because it really meant there was a Lilandra for me.  She’s a solid figure.  I’d still love a first appearance version, but this one’s a good one to start with.

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.

#3645: Ka-Zar & Zabu

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

KA-ZAR & ZABU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“In a lost world full of prehistoric dinosaurs, Ka-Zar performs heroics as Lord of the Jungle alongside the sabretooth Zabu”

The Ka-Zar most people think of (or at least the Ka-Zar people who think about Ka-Zar think about, I guess) is actually Marvel’s second character to use the title.  To be fair, the first one predate’s Marvel even being “Marvel” and was such a thinly veiled Tarzan knock-off that even Stan Lee admitted he’d never read any of the Golden Age Ka-Zar’s appearances prior to introducing the second one during the Silver Age.  Introduced by Lee and Kirby in X-Men #10, the Kevin Plunder Ka-Zar also brought with him a rather enduring piece of X-Men lore: the Savage Land!  Because who doesn’t love a good “why are there dinosaurs here?” story?  Ka-Zar the first has had *no* action figures, while Ka-Zar the second has had two of them, and now has a third.  And every time, he brings along his best pal Zabu!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ka-Zar is figure 3 in the Zabu Series of Marvel Legends, while Zabu is, unsurprisingly, the Build-A-Figure.  The assortment is a Fan Channel exclusive, which is becoming fairly common with Build-A-Figure sets these days.

When it comes to Ka-Zar designs, there are a few different variations, but generally they all land on the same basic idea: blonde guy in a loincloth.  This one sticks with the oft-seen “and also boots” variation, which is acceptable, and notably different from his two prior figure releases.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  His sculpt makes its start as the Vulcan base body, which is an okay start, apart from the slightly odd glove lines at the forearms.  He’s got a new head, upper torso, loincloth, and boots courtesy of sculptor Paul Harding (who, fun fact, also sculpted the prior Legends Ka-Zar).  The new pieces are all pretty solid.  The hair restricts the neck movement at bit, but other than that, I Iike them.  They capture a sort of Frazetta-esque vibe, which feels appropriate for the pulp-y origins of Ka-Zar, even if it’s not the pulp-y origins that belong to *this* Ka-Zar.  Kazar’s color work is pretty simple.  Lot of molded flesh tone, as expected.  There’s a bit more to the clothed parts of him, plus the usual face printing, which always does nice work for the sculpt.  He’s also got a bit of accenting on the hair, which keeps those particular sculpted details from getting lost.  Ka-Zar is packed with three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and open gesture), a spear, and a knife (which can be stowed in his belt), as well as front right leg to….

Zabu!  Everybody’s gotta have a Zabu.  Well, Ka-Zar’s gotta have a Zabu.  I mean, I guess.  Does he really *have* Zabu, though?  Or are they just buddies?  Is one of them a mentor to the other?  It’s confusing.  You know, technically, Zabu has a near-human intelligence from when he was exposed to radioactive mists, and Ka-Zar, at least in earlier appearances, of a sub-average-human intelligence, so maybe they’re on a closer level than we realize.  Zabu has accompanied Ka-Zar to every figure release, but he tends to be somewhat hampered.  His first figure was really just a glorified, and the second was a re-deco of a Sigma 6 mold.  This one takes advantage of the Build-A-Figure budget to give him an all-new mold. It’s a solid one, which gets his general sizing and his look down. I mean, he’s a sabretooth, so it’s not like it’s an exceedingly unique look, I suppose, but it does it well. There’s some decent texture work for the fur, and they’ve managed to work it the articulation in such a way as to not totally break up the flow of the sculpt. Paint on this guy is minimal, which isn’t really a shock. What’s there certainly works, but I wouldn’t have minded maybe a little bit more accenting on the fur. That said, I know it’s tricky to get such things consistent across multiple BAF pieces, so maybe it’s best this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ka-Zar and Zabu’s original figures are on the list of Toy Biz figures I’ve never owned. My dad has a set, which I suppose was good enough for me. The last Legends set was an SDCC exclusive, so that one was out too. I was…non-plussed about having to buy the whole wave to get Zabu this time, but I also didn’t really want *just* Ka-Zar.  So, I bit the bullet and bought the whole set just to build the Zabu, and then off-loaded the other figures I didn’t want.  It was actually less difficult than I thought it would be.  They’re a fun pair.  Some day I’ll get that Toy Biz set, and that’ll probably be my default set for the characters, but these two are certainly very nice.

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.

#3642: Wolfsbane

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

WOLFSBANE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0121: This figure is the first time that Hasbro has released a Wolfsbane figure that actually has her name on the package.

Growing up, my absolute favorite episode of X-Men: The Animated Series was “Cold Comfort.”  It’s got a good script, some of the show’s best animation, and a fun delve into the history of the team.  Largely, it’s X-Factor’s presence at the end of the episode that really sells me on it, though.  Okay, largely it’s Havok’s presence at the end that sells me on it.  But, with Havok, there was a whole team, and I’ve grown somewhat attached to that specific team since.  We’ve been slowly piecing together the whole line-up of that team since 2018, and there’s been just one missing member, who I’m finally getting the chance to look at today.  Let’s take a look at Wolfsbane.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolfsbane is figure 2 in the Zabu Series of Marvel Legends, which is a Fan Channel and Amazon exclusive assortment.  It’s a real grab-bag assortment of characters, with Wolfsbane being the only explicitly X-Men-themed character in the set (though Ka-Zar and Zabu are somewhat X-related as well).  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Wolfsbane is sporting an all-new sculpt, which I’ll admit is a little surprising.  Only a little, since I certainly expected a lot of new pieces, but the total lack of anything shared certainly caught me off guard.  I’d thought we might at least see some Tigra parts mixed in there.  Whatever the case, it’s a good one.  There’s a lot of really solid texture work, and it contrasts quite nicely with the clean lines of her uniform.  The head resembles the art of Todd Nauck, to my eyes, which is fair, since it’s his work that’s on the box as well.  The color work is cleanly handled, with the best of the paint being on the uniform.  The fur largely relies on molded coloring, which looses a little of the detailing.  They do go for a touch of accenting, but it’s not a *ton* and it winds up sticking out a bit.  Wolfsbane is packed with two sets of hands (fists and clawed), as well as the body to the Zabu Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, I kept forgetting that we still needed Wolfsbane.  It’s not that I didn’t want her, but, well, I had the four I really wanted, so I sort of checked out a bit.  But, with her announcement, I remembered, and here I am, completing the team.  She’s kind of a quiet send-off to the team.  She’s fairly well put together, and a solid figure start to finish.  I can’t say she thrills me, but I can’t say she’s bad either.

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.

#3626: The Beast

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

THE BEAST — SPACE RIDERS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0105: The Beast’s real name is Henry McCoy, and he’s a doctor, which can get real confusing if you call him Dr. McCoy while he’s on a space mission.

Spaaaaaaaaaaaaace Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiders!!!!!!  Oh, yeah, gonna look at some more Space Riders.  You know, cuz it’s a set of five and I’ve looked at four of them, so, like, let’s wrap that up, I guess.  Now, the undeniable heavy hitters of the set are Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey, so they’re a lock.  Xavier does a lot with the space side of things, and he’s rarer with action figure coverage, so he’s decent.  But, if you’re doing five of them?  Who else do you do?  There’s got to be some degree of playing favorites, I suppose.  Whatever the chase, the choice was Beast, whose scientifically-inclined mind certainly sets him up for success in a space-faring environment.  So, here he is, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast is the fifth and final figure from the “Space Riders” set that Toy Biz released in 1997 as part of their X-Men line.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is fine.  Restricted a bit, since he doesn’t have any elbow or wrist movement.  Also, he lacks any ankle movement, which was kind of a standard for Beast, to help with his crouching poses.  This one has to rely on some slightly more awkward posing to accomplish it.  The figure’s design goes for the “add some armor to the character’s usual look” angle, which we saw with both Jean and Logan.  In Beast’s case, that means a good portion of his body is just completely uncovered, which doesn’t really seem ideal for space, but, you know, maybe there’s a good scientific explanation for it?  Hank would probably know, I guess.  Beast’s sculpt is all-new, like the rest of the set.  It’s a rather unique one, not really following in the footsteps of any of the other Beast figures Toy Biz put out.  It’s…interesting.  The head keeps the hair more tame and refined, more in line with his earlier furred appearances.  The face isn’t quite right for that, though, and feels kind of, I don’t know, un-Hank McCoy-like.  The body sculpt has a good variety of textures, which at least keeps things visually interesting.  The fur texturing in particular is quite impressive.  The color work on this figure is a lot of blue and yellow, consistent with the others in the set.  The paint application is notably cleaner on this guy than the other four, at least for my set, which I certainly like.  As with the others in the set, Hank is packed with a face mask and a big space sled thing.  His sled is, understandably, much larger than the others.  It’s got a lot more vertical play, and there’s a large cannon thing…I don’t know that it works as well as a vehicle on its own as some of the others, but it works well as part of the larger interlocking vehicle assembly.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

After passing on the whole set many times when they were new, I finally managed to snag a whole set of them this past fall, courtesy of Factory Antique Mall.  Beast, much like the figure proper, was just along for the ride.  If I was getting the whole set, I was getting him.  He’s not as phoned in as Jean, but he’s definitely not the strongest entry in the set either.  But, I have the whole set, and they do look pretty fun together.