Monthly Archives: December 2010

Dec 14 2010

Transformers Generations: Blurr by Hasbro

[Sorry, folks. This was supposed to go up yesterday, but I wound up drinking myself into oblivion throughout most of the evening, so it’s getting posted a little late. I’m hoping the edit wasn’t too bad, but if it is, just blame the hangover. -FF]

Oh, Hasbro, I just can’t decide. Is Generations Blurr one of the coolest figures to come out in a while? Or is he a horrible missed opportunity? I just don’t know. There’s so much right with this figure’s execution, and yet so much that’s wrong with it just on principle alone. I’ve had this guy in my collection for quite a few weeks, and only now I’m realizing why it really took me so long to get around to posting him. I just can’t decide whether I love him or hate him.

Let’s get the preliminaries out of the way. Oh, look, Generations packaging. I may not love the styling of these cards, but the switchover toReveal The Shield’s packaging, which looks just like the Hunt for the Decepticons stuff, won’t be an improvement. But these are Transformers, and Hasbro could wrap them in old newspapers and I would still buy them. Blurr comes packaged in his car mode and, what’s this? Oh my God, it’s a flipping repaint of Drift. Oh yes, Drift was a great figure and an incredible mold, but how can Blurr stand the indignity of getting repainted from such a smug, douchebag like Drift. It bothers the hell out of me. Luckily, if you haven’t made a habit of reading any Transformers comics lately, it shouldn’t bother you at all, because you aren’t familiar with the dark depths of Drift’s douchebaggery.


Blurr’s car form looks great, there’s no doubt about it. Hasbro did a fine job repainting it in G1 Blurr’s color scheme and it’s a huge improvement over Drift’s drab colors and pretentious Asian symbols. There are a few minor issues with the white paint apps, but nothing too bad. That having been said, this auto form just doesn’t say Blurr to me. Hasbro has nailed so many of the otherClassics/Universre/Generations alt modes, that I think they could have done better for Blurr, which leads me to just a bit more bitterness over the fact that he’s a Drift repaint. I wasn’t expecting anything totally futuristic like the original toy, but even given that he was destined to be an Earth vehicle, I think there could have been a better compromise here.

A lot of my ambivalence extends to his robot mode too. The design looks awesome and the mold looks so much better in these colors. But is it Blurr? I can deal with the body, but even though Hasbro went all out and resculpted the head, it isn’t the slam-dunk likeness that they’ve achieved on so many of the other figures in this line, which is crazy since Blurr had a pretty distinctive looking head in the original movie and cartoon. I dare say when Hasbro resculpted Armada Blurr’s head (for the old Universe line) to look more like the G1 character, I think they may have had more success than this.

What I do really like love adore here is the ingenious way Hasbro took Drift’s sword and dagger gimmicks and made it work for Blurr with guns. Blurr has a nice long sniper rifle that he can wear on his back, or under his car mode. He can even hold it in both hands. The doors still hang off his hips and convert to holsters, this time for two pistols. The pistols can then be fitted to the rifle, either to make it look like a more powerful weapon, triple barrelled weapon, or as a bipod so it can be fired in a prone position. That’s really cool.

It’s a topsy turvy world. I hate Drift, but I love his figure. I love Blurr, but I’m not terribly keen on this being his figure. It’s a superb mold and a great toy, and I definitely like the Blurr version better because of the new paint job and the guns, but I just think Hasbro could have done better for Blurr in this line. Now, he has grown on me a lot since I first got him, and I’m hoping he continues to do so, especially once I have Kup to stand next to him. If you don’t own this mold yet, I’d recommend him over Drift for the better colors and the fact that even if this isn’t a perfect Blurr homage, Drift is still a douchebag so Blurr wins.

Dec 12 2010

DC Universe Classics: Flight Stands by Mattel

I had a very short list of things I wanted to pick up on Matty’s Cyber Monday. Obviously, I got me my He-Man. I got skunked on the “Color of Fear” set, but I thought I wouldn’t have any problems picking up a couple boxes of DCUC figure stands. Too bad they sold out before I could get to the computer. I settled for picking up a box of these Flight Stands as a consolation prize. I’m headlining them as part of DC Universe Classics, but there’s nothing about them that makes them exclusive for those figures. And unlike the regular DCUC figure stands, these aren’t stamped with DC Universe either. You can just as easily use these to keep your MOTU Classics Stratos in the air, DC Direct,Marvel Legends, or pretty much any other 5″-7″ figures.

The stands come in a standard style Matty white mailer box, only this time it’s got Matty on the front giving you that “Fuck You” expression. Seriously, Mattel, with how much difficulty you’ve put collectors through in getting your figures, I think you need to design a kinder, friendlier looking mascot. You get three flight stands, each one is individually bagged and include the base, the stand, and three different size clips. The clips plug into the stand’s strong ratcheting joint, which will hold the figure at whatever angle you place it in. The stands are molded in a sort of frosted translucent plastic and pretty sturdy.

Theoretically, these stands are a great idea. In practice, they have some flaws. If you want to position your figure flying horizontally, you can clip the largest clip around the front of their torso. The problem here is that the ratcheting joint is pretty big and it obscures a lot of the figure. It works, but I don’t think it looks all that great. Also, most of the DCUC figures don’t have the range of motion in their neck joints to really angle their heads right for this pose, so they wind up just looking down. I think the best use is to position the figure in a diagonal upward flying position and what you get is a pretty good look.

The other way to go would be to use it to hold your figures in a sort of hovering or vertical take off pose. Here too, there are problems. Since most of the flight enabled figures have molded plastic capes, you can’t really get the huge ratcheting joint of the stand between their cape and body to clip it around their torso from behind. Instead, you have to swap it out for one of the smaller clips and clip around one of their legs. This works really well for some of the figures, particularly Power Girl or Super Girl.

Overall, these stands work, they just don’t work as well as I would have liked or hoped them to. I think what happened here is that Mattel made a trade off when including the huge ratcheting joint. It allows for more versatility in the design, but it conflicts way too much with the fact that a lot of figures we want to use with these things are wearing uncooperative capes. I’m glad to have them to help some of my figures along that have problems standing on their own. Particularly Super Girl, who is top heavy, has week leg hinges and no peg holes in her feet. As far as value goes, I paid $12 for three stands, which considering how well made they are, I think is a pretty fair deal, and since I ordered them with my He-Man figure, the shipping wasn’t such a bitter pill.

Dec 11 2010

Masters of the Universe Classics: He-Man (The Re-re-issue) by Mattel

Is that right? The re-re-issue? I’m not counting the crappy recolor that got bundled with DCUC Superman at Toys R Us, so by my reckoning this is the third time the Classics He-Man has been made available, in his original version, on MattyCollector. No, I’m not some obsessed psycho who purchased all of them. This is my first MOTUC version of the original He-Man, as I started collecting these figures when Battle Armor He-Man came out and thus missed out on him on the first go around… and the second. While retailers across the Web were slashing prices for Cyber Monday, Mattel was magnanimously allowing us all to paw through a bunch of sloppy seconds at full price. Yeah, they love us over there. I actually really wanted the DCUC “Color of Fear” set, but as that sold out in a flash, I was happy enough to pick up He-Man here, along with some flight stands. Considering I didn’t get to a computer until that evening, I was satisfied.
It seems like forever since I last got one of these MOTUC figures. I skipped Moss Man and Grizzlor because I wasn’t wholly satisfied with the look of the final products, and I got skunked on Whiplash and Gygor. Anyway, I almost forgot how awesome the packaging looks. It’s the same green stone Greyskull styled card and insert, with a huge bubble to show off the figure. There’s an added oval on the insert that says, “The Original” to signify that this is one of the re-issues and not the first release. Why Mattel indicates a re-issue with a sticker that says, “The Original” still befuddles me, but then again, my He-Man’s shoulders are on right, so I already know it’s not the first release. Unfortunately, He-Man is still packaged in a bit of an action pose, which means his leg hinges are a bit miffed coming out of the package, but I was able to fix those pretty well with a little heat and a lot of patience.

Ok, I don’t have a lot to say about the figure himself, because he’s been out forever and I’m guessing that most anyone who wants one has one by now. Besides, everyone knows He-Man. He’s that big muscular dude in a furry diaper. The sculpt is excellent. The head is more or less the same as the one that came on my Battle Armor He-Man. His harness includes the loop on the back so that he can store his sword or battle axe. Thankfully, the shoulder snafu on the original figure was fixed for the releases. The paint apps on my figure are pretty much immaculate, but then that’s been the case with almost all my MOTUC figures, so by this point I expect nothing less.

He-Man comes with a lot of great accessories. You get his sword, along with the half of the Power Sword, a battle axe and a shield. The sword is an especially nice treat for me since I didn’t have a proper sword for my Battle Armor He-Man and he had to make do with the 200x style sword that came with Man-At-Arms. The battle axe is the same that came with my Battle Armor He-Man. The shield is pretty cool and clips onto his wrist.

As expected, the articulation on the figure is top notch. You get a ball jointed head. The arms have universal joins in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. His legs have universal movement in the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels at the boots. He-Man swivels at the waist and has the ab-crunch hinge in the torso. He has no problems sitting on Battle Cat and looking awesome while doing it.

I’m really very happy to finally have this figure in my collection. Nothing against Battle Armor He-Man, he’s an awesome figure too, but he was always just a place holder to last until I was able to get the original style. Now I can bump him off my Battle Cat and display these guys as they were meant to be. I’m really content with the MOTU figures I have now. I’m still considering picking up a few of the interesting ones that come up, and I still need to get a She-Ra, Whiplash and Gygor, but with original He-Man in my collection, I can now say that any additional figures I get are just gravy. [Oh yeah, I forgot. Except for The Sorceress, she’s still pretty much essential! -FF]

Dec 10 2010

Toy Story 3: Lego Army Man and Jeep by Lego

I’m probably as amazed as some of you to see a Toy Story 3 headliner here. I don’t think I’ve ever sat through any of these movies in their entirety, but I can understand the nostalgia behind the old Army Men toys and when I saw this Lego set at the checklane at Target the other day for $3.99… well, why wouldn’t I buy it, eh? Keep in mind, this is a stocking stuffer type item. With only 37 pieces, it’s like a much simpler, smaller version of the Army Men Jeep kit that Lego put out in boxed form.


The set comes in a cellophane type baggie with a printed front, similar to what the Lego Mini Figures come in, only this is transparent. Like the bag says, Warning Small Parts. Take my advice, if you’re opening one of these, do it into a box top or a bowl or cup or anything, but don’t just dump it on to the table. I did that and a bunch of wheel shaped pieces rolled in every direction possible and I had to get a few of them away from the ever vigilant FigureFeline before I could start anything. I wasn’t even sure I had all the pieces recovered until I was done.

The Army Man figure is the same scale and type as Lego’s regular Mini Figures. Naturally he’s all green and has a printed shirt pattern on his chest. He comes with a helmet, a walkie talkie and a stand designed just like the ones the old Army Men were molded with. The homage is really well done, although I would have liked a little gun for him.

The Jeep is more like a Mini Jeep, or maybe even a go-kart as it’s just a little one-seater. It’s only comprised of three different colored blocks: Green, black and grey. It has some cool little details for such a simple toy, like two antenni, a front grill and front and back lights. It also rolls along really well and the Mini Figure can sit in it. You also get a couple extra bricks, which was a nice surprise in a set this tiny.

So, yeah. This is a really simple little set, but you pretty much know that coming in. It’s kind of cool and I had fun putting it together, even if it did just take a few minutes. I think the best thing about the set is it gives you the chance to add the Army Man Mini Figure to your collection without having to buy a more expensive set. This set was only a dollar more than I paid for each of the Mini Figures I’ve picked up and the Jeep is certainly worth that extra buck. I don’t know if Target is the only one selling these, but you should be able to find them at the checkouts or back in their Christmas section in all the bins of crap.

One thing I do know. I really need to make it a New Year’s Resolution to start buying more Lego sets. I love these things to death and I really want to start featuring them more often.

Dec 9 2010

Transformers Animated: Snarl by Hasbro

Why is it that Hasbro can’t give us a full set of proper Dinobots in any of the modern continuities? In Energon we got that crappy Grimlock and Swoop combiner. Prior to that we got those terrible Walmart Universe two-packs. Now, in Animated we got Snarl, Swoop and Grimlock, but no Slag or Sludge. Well, that sad fact has nothing to do with the particular figure we’re looking at today, Deluxe Class Snarl from Animated, but alas I’m not terribly fond of this figure, so I thought I might as well start with a bitch-fest and keep it going.

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You get the standard Deluxe carded package with Snarl carded in his dino mode. First problem: He’s a Deluxe. I don’t think the Dinobots should ever be produced smaller than the Voyager Class. Maybe Swoop… maybe. Now, keep in mind, I’m not saying I’d want to see this figure produced larger, but I think if they started off as a Voyager, it would have been a better designed figure. I guess it makes sense that Grimlock is the leader so he’s bigger, but Snarl is just waaaay too small to be a proper Dinobot in my eyes. At the very least, he should have been a much beefier Deluxe.

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Apart from his size, I actually don’t have a lot of issues with Snarl’s dino mode. Yeah, the top of his head is obviously peeping out the middle of his back, but that doesn’t bother me all that much. At least you can’t see his face. This dino is that crazy mix of angles and contours that matches Grimlock fairly well. His legs have some decent movement too making him a pretty fun little Dino. He has a silly little spring loaded flame-armor gimmick that pops out of his shoulders, but it’s not much to write home about. The coloring is pretty good. As with Grimlock, Snarl’s deco mostly makes use of gray colored plastic with a fair amount of black thrown in. The gray is notably darker than Grimlocks, but it’s close enough. You also get some of that lovely gold paint.

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I am rather torn on the dino head. The translucent red horns are cool, but I don’t like the beak. It looks like he’s been dipping his nose into the… wait for it… JAM! There it is. The huge exposed screwhead in the side of the face doesn’t help and the gray paint on the crest that surrounds his face was pretty scuffed up right out of the package. And then there’s the robot mode…

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Ugh. Where to begin. Well, I’ll start by throwing out a compliment. This bot mode matches the Animated aesthetic quite nicely. As for the rest? Well, let’s start with his size. Putting aside what I said about Dinobots shouldn’t be Deluxes in my eyes, this guy is even short for a Deluxe. He makes up for his height a bit with his stocky frame, but still… he’s shorter than Bumblebee for crying out loud! I do like the fact that his dino head forms his chest, that’s very Beast Wars-y of them, but it sticks out really far and totally obscures his face if you’re looking dead on at him. I wouldn’t want to walk around with that albatross hanging off the front of me.

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His head sculpt has personality in spades, I love it, but I literally had to fold down his whole dino-head-chest, just to get a shot of it. It’s also sunken in the center of that raised ring. It feels like you should be able to grab the head and pull it up, but nope. That’s the only position and as far out as it comes.

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The articulation is decent enough, but his stocky build gets in the way of a lot of pose-ability. There’s not a lot of range of motion in those elbows and no lateral movement in the shoulders. He can get a pretty wide stance thanks to the ball joints in his hips, but the hips themselves always come un-tabbed when I’m playing with him, and that gets annoying.

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Snarl comes with an energon club, which is basically just an elongated blob of translucent orange plastic. I actually kind of like it, because it’s a futuristic energy-based weapon based on basically the most primitive weapon design you can imagine. For some reason that just makes me smile. Afterall, he’s a Dinobot, so his weapons should be based on cave man weapons, right?

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Am I being too hard on this little guy? Am I missing out in the fun and whimsical spirit of TF: Animated? Maybe. Overall, I think Animated Grimlock turned out so well, Hasbro missed an opportunity to follow through on the others in a similar manner. I don’t hate this figure. I’ve certainly spent ten bucks in worse ways. But he just has a bunch of nagging issues that keep him from being solid. I suppose there’s still a chance for more Dinobots in the Generations line, and yeah we still have those Dinobot Power Core Combiners coming, but it’s just not the same. Maybe I’m just going to have to hunt down the original G1 Dinobot toys again and get my satisfaction that way.

*This Feature was updated with new photos on 6/12/16.

Dec 8 2010

Transformers Animated: Autobot Jazz by Hasbro

I’ve been going a little nuts snapping up Deluxe Class figures from the Transformers Animated line. I guess I decided I should get them before they disappear from retailers all together, which seems to be happening everywhere now. Jazz was one of the last figures I thought I would pick up, because the photos of the toy didn’t impress me at all. Turns out, though, he really surprised me and has quickly become one of my favorites.

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Standard TF Animated package. The bio blurb claims Jazz is a ninja, which would explain why he has the weapons he has. I only recall seeing him once on the show, but then there are a lot of episodes I haven’t seen. He comes packaged in vehicle mode, so let’s start there.

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Jazz’s car mode is a perfect blend between G1 homage and new super-stylized design. It’s what I would call future-retro. I never really got the full flavor of this car design from the product images, and it’s so much better in person with some really cool details. The fins with tail lights in the back and the elongated sideview mirrors are my favorite points of interest, and the overall contours of the body are just so damn distinctive. Also, check out the exhaust pipes on the sides, those pull out to become his weapons in robot mode!

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I’m not usually a big fan of painted windows on my Transformers, but the black looks really good here, as it’s glossy and actually not all scratched up right out of the package. Those giant translucent blue headlamps are great, the hood striping is sharp, and I love the Cybertron Defense Force style Autobot insignia on the hood. The only issue with the coloring on my figure is a weird yellowish patch on the driver side, just above the front bumper.

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Transforming Jazz isn’t all that complex, but it does do some clever things, like folding the front wheels so they’re diagonally tucked under his chest. Overall, the conversion process is like a simplified version of the Classics/Universe 2.0 Prowl, only much better executed. Basically, what we have here is a stylized version of the iconic G1 Autobot Car with the bumper making up the chest.

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The head sculpt is cool, with a very elongated face, some simple gray and black paint, and a blue visor.

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Jazz has great articulation. His head is ball jointed. His arms have ball joints and swivels on his shoulders and hinged elbows. His legs have ball joints in his hips and hinges in the knees. It doesn’t sound like a lot of individual points, but it works out just fine and makes for a fun and pose-able figure.

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One of my favorite things about Jazz is the ingenuity of his weapons. Pull out the end pieces of his exhaust pipes and you get two pairs of nun-chucks, each joined with a short piece of string. The way the weapons clip together and store on the vehicle in plain sight is just really neat. I didn’t even know they were there when I got the figure out and started transforming him. I always love when the weapons are designed to store in the auto mode, but this design is particularly great.

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So, Animated Jazz was a really nice surprise. I hadn’t planned to pick him up at all, but I’m gradually learning to appreciate what the Animated toys have to offer, particularly among the Deluxes. These are some solid and super fun figures with clever engineering and do an amazing job of capturing the super stylized look of the Animated characters. But just to show that the door swings both ways, next time we’ll look at an Animated Deluxe figure that left me rather cold.

Dec 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary Comic Pack: Scrap-Iron and Wild Bill by Hasbro

The last time I was in Marshall’s hunting Joes, I was able to pick up one of the GI JOE Comic Packs that still eluded me. They had quite a few I still want, but I’ll be back for those. I was originally planning on leaving this pack sealed as I have a few Joe comic packs hanging on my wall, but the horrible stubborness of the Marshall’s price tag made me change my mind. That’s ok, though, since I really did want to get at the figures… well, one of the figures. I already have the single carded Wild Bill from the 25A Collection, and while this one is certainly different, I was most excited to get me a new Scrap Iron for my collection.

Hasbro’s comic pack packaging is some of the best action figure packaging mankind has yet invented. Whether it be GI JOE, Star Wars, or Marvel, it’s just brilliant. The presentation is awesome, you get two figures, and you get a nice comic book reprint to read too. I rarely ever think twice about tearing open packages to get at my toys, but ripping these things open always gives me pause. It’s amazing that these are the same guys that took the comic book out of the Marvel Legends figures when they took it over from Toy Biz. Anyway, I would have thought that Scrap-Iron and Wild Bill were an unlikely of pairings, but there they are trying to kick the shit out of each other right on the front of the comic.

Let’s get Wild Bill out of the way first. You know what was always so cool about Wild Bill? He came with the Dragonfly chopper. Take away his ride, and he’s pretty, meh. Throw in the fact that I have no Dragonfly chopper to put him in, and he becomes even more pointless. I guess I could dig out my Spy Troops Desert Attack Chopper, but it’s just not the same. Besides, his holsters are so damn big, I doubt he could fit into a cockpit if I had one to put him in. Toss in the fact that this is just a repaint of the same figure I bought carded many years back and he really is totally superfluous. He better keep wearing that yellow vest and cowboy hat, because with that blue outfit, one of the Joes is bound to shoot him by mistake.

To make matters worse, the quality on this figure is not good. Besides the cheesy and uneven white paint used for his pistols and belt buckle, the hinges on his left knee are totally shot, making him difficult to stand up even on his figure stand, and the seams in his legs are pulling away. Maybe I just got a bad one. On the plus side, his colors do match the comic pretty well, if that’s your bag, and I love the fact that he comes with both a flight helmet and his Cavalry hat. He also came with a figure stand, which is definitely cool since I forgot Hasbro put them in these packs.

And then there’s Scrap-Iron. I can’t really explain the fondness I had for this figure as a kid. He must have had a really kick ass moment on the cartoon that I can’t remember now. Or, maybe it was because he came with a big missile launcher. Either way, I really loved my Scrap-Iron figure and whenever I played with my Joes he got invited to partake in all of Cobra’s reindeer games. This update is really spot-on and they didn’t wreck his colors for the comic book like they did with Wild Bill. The head sculpt is excellent, and he’s got all sorts of little scars painted on his face too. His vest is removable and he has clips on his leg to attach a dagger, although he didn’t come with one.

He did, however, come with an automatic pistol and his trademark armor-busting mobile missile launcher. [The strands of cat hair seen in the picture didn’t come with it, I had to add those. -FF] The launcher is pretty close to how I remember the original toy. It has a stand, a corded control box, and the two red missiles just lay inside the launcher. Scrap-Iron also comes with his own figure stand.

The included comic isn’t a classic reprint, but rather a new original book by Larry Hama. It’s kind of cool to see that Hasbro went through the trouble to create something new and original like this, but honestly, it’s not all that great. There’s no story, it’s just a drawn out set-piece action sequence with Scrap-Iron trying to take down a Dragonfly with Wild Bill and Airborne on board while Dial Tone, Scarlet and Snake Eyes duke it out with some HISS tanks. What it lacks in story, though it makes up for in style as all the story is told through radio communications, which is kind of cool. There’s also a couple of classic moments like Wild Bill blasting a missile off target with his six-shooters at nearly point blank range. So, yeah, the comic is always a nice bonus, but I didn’t get the same nostalgia and enjoyment I got out of reading the reprints from the Classic Comic Packs.

I always thought it was a dirty move for Hasbro to include Scrap-Iron with a shitty recolor of Wild Bill. But finding this pack on clearance, I was able to overcome my principles and finally add one of my favorite Cobras to my 25th Anniversary Collection. It was $6.99, which was definitely worth the price, even if Wild Bill gets tossed into a bottomless storage tote or becomes a plaything for FigureFeline. It’s the kind of deal that I remember back when Hasbro was putting out those Valor vs Venom 2-packs for around the same price. They weren’t the best figures, but how can you complain about getting two figures with accessories for seven bucks, eh?

Dec 6 2010

Transformers Generations: Dirge by Hasbro

Thank you, Hasbro, for finally allowing me to complete my G1 Coneheads! With the recent releases of Thrust and now Dirge, at least one of my trios of Seekers is at last complete. I’m not going to get too long winded in my look at Dirge, because let’s be honest, I’ve looked at variations and repaints of this mold five times already. But thanks to an amazing paint job, Dirge turned out to be a really excellent figure, and definitely worth a look. And as Dirge himself would likely say, “Death comes to those who don’t buy my figure.”

Yep. Standard Generations card. Hasbro didn’t do so great a job securing my figure into his bubble because my Dirge arrived with his legs half transformed. No worries, though, there was no damage to the figure. The back of the card features the standard bio-blurb, which in Dirge’s case is really well written.

Ok, so we’ve seen this mold before and before that and before that. The between the Coneheads is found in the wing configuration and the color scheme. The brown wings and blue body is still a strange combination, but by this time it’s pretty iconic. The red and white stripes are ok, but it’s the Decepticon logos on the wings that I really like. Dirge has the same basic missile launchers as Thrust and they can be unpegged from his wings for Transformation and repegged onto Dirge’s arms in robot mode.

In robot mode, Dirge’s wings on his legs are the most unsightly of the three Coneheads, just because you’re looking at the underside, but that’s ok. The black and blue color scheme on this figure looks great and the overall. And I really dig the little Decepticon logo on his chest to the point that I really wish the other Coneheads had it too.The high gloss on the finish is really sharp and makes him stand out even when next to the awesomeness of Thrust’s coloring. Poor Ramjet really looks pretty drab standing next to these guys.

Articulation is the same as the other Coneheads. You get a bit of rotation in the head. The arms rotate and have lateral movement in the shoulders and the elbows are hinged. The legs have universal movement in the hips and the knees are hinged. Dirge’s stubby little wings are positioned on double hinged arms so you can move them out of the way when attempting to pose his arms to blast away at Autobot fools.


And there you have Dirge and the Coneheads. If you don’t love these guys, I don’t know what to say. They do exactly what theClassics/Universe/Generations line sets out to do: Take classic designs and characters and update them with better sculpts and articulation. I love this mold and these figures to death simply because they are the exact figures I wanted when I was a kid and wishing that my G1 Seekers could actually move anything but their arms at the shoulders. They look great, they are pretty simple to transform and they are loads of fun.

Now give me Thundercracker, goddammit!!!

Dec 5 2010

GI JOE Rise of Cobra: Nano-Viper, Night Adder and “Paris Pursuit” Baroness by Hasbro

I had a really long and hard week, so on Friday I treated myself with a trip to Marshall’s to pick through their Joe figures. I passed on a lot of the Rise of Cobra figures when they were going strong, but that was mostly because the pegs at Walmart were so choked with the first waves that I rarely ever saw the later releases. It doesn’t hurt either that Marshall’s is selling these for about $2-3 less than they were originally. It’s not quite the steal that there 25th Anniversary Joes are, but still good enough to get me to pick up more. I opted for three Cobra figures, so let’s check them out.

Standard Rise of Cobra packages. Shitty movie, great toy packages. I liked this look a lot. The character artwork wasn’t always the best, but the logo looked cool, and the bubbles showed off the figure and accessories well.

Let’s start with The Baroness. This Paris Pursuit version is good, but it doesn’t replace the first ROC version as my favorite. This one depicts her in her trenchcoat, which is sculpted into the figure above the belt, and sculpted with soft plastic from the belt down, bellowing outward. It looks very nice, but it also severely inhibits the articulation from the waist down and limits the figure’s poseability. You can easily modify the figure by cutting the back of the lower coat and making it removable. This makes the figure look like she’s just wearing a vest and frees up her legs for complete poseability, so you can have the best of both worlds. I liked the first Baroness’ head sculpt a little better too and the fact that you could peg her weapons onto her hips was awesome. So, all in all, this Baroness is very nice, but not a figure I absolutely needed to own.

 


The Baroness comes with a load of weapons. There’s the giant missile launcher, which is good for tossing in the garbage. And then there’s a cadre of small arms. Whatcha need all them guns for, Baroness? You only got the two arms! She also comes with a personalized figure stand.

Next up is the Nano-Viper. While I think the movie Vipers are pretty poor “updates” to the originals, taken on their own I don’t think they’re too bad. At first glance, I thought that this Nano Viper was just the regular Neo-Viper with his chest plate and helmet painted neon green and some added shoulder and shin armor, but there are a lot more subtle variations in the sculpt. The oddest thing about the Nano-Viper is the inclusion of the neon tentacles, which I believe is a recolored piece from one of the 25th Anniversary DVD packs. I have no idea what Hasbro was going for when they included this as an accessory. He comes all tangled in it on the card. It can actually peg into the figure stand too, but like I said, I just find it bewildering.

In addition to the tentacles, The Nano Viper comes with a dagger, a handgun that fits in his holster, an assault rifle, and a figure stand. Cool beans.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Night Adder. This a really cool figure and as a Cobra Security Officer, it actually fills a gap in the Cobra ranks that I don’t recall ever being released before. He’s a masked dude in a combat vest, who I can imagine patrols the Cobra compounds looking for Joes to feed to his dog. I can’t place the head on this guy, but I’m sure we’ve seen it before, since it obviously has two vestigial peg holes that were used to attach a visor. The vest is really well done, complete with ammo and pouches, but alas, nowhere to carry his combat knife or extra pistol.

Night Adder comes with a combat shotgun, a pistol, a combat knife, his watchdog on a leash, and a figure stand.

So, I’m glad to get a second crack at some of these figures. Sure, I loathed the movie right down to its celluloid core, but I’ll give credit to the figures. With the exception of those ridiculous impact armor figures, this line gave up some solid efforts. In fact, I think I’ll go back later in the week and pick up some more.

Dec 4 2010

Doctor Who: Silurian Warrior Alaya and General Restac by Character Options

Well, we had to suffer through a lot of backbencher figures to get here, but we finally got two of the figures I most wanted fromSeries 5: Silurians! While I would have had no problem with getting an entire wave of Silurians from the two-parter (Hungry Earth/Cold Blood), I’ll settle for the two ladies that CO decided to give us: Alaya and General Restac.


The packaging remains the standard for Series 5 figures. I’m actually surprised that they used the name Silurian on the package, since it was only used once or twice in the episodes. It seemed like Moffat wanted to make a connection for older fans, but not play it up all that much. The back panel shows off a lot of the same figures we just got in the last wave. The only completely new ones here are the two Silurians and the Underhenge Cyberman. Inexplicably, instead of giving us the remolded Cybermen included with the UK Argos Exclusive TARDIS playset, we just get a regular Cyberman with the same stone treatment that was given to the Dalek and Roman Auton in the Underhenge set. No thank you, CO, I’ll pass.

Warrior Alaya is the unfortunate Sillurian who got captured by the humans and was basically tortured to death with a taser gun by an angry mother. Yeah, the new Who can be pretty hardcore. This figure features a really nice sculpt that captures the character really well, particularly the detail in the head’s scales. Alaya’s tunic has sculpted plates, complete with paint apps showing off the intricacies of her stitched armor. Most of the outfit is grey with a nice wash to give it some depth. It’s possible the flesh tone could have been a lighter green, but now I’m really looking for things to nitpick.

Alaya comes with a nice little passel of accessories. She has her battle mask, which is sculpted in soft rubber and basically fits right over her face. I was worried it wasn’t going to stay in place, but it turns out that it holds on very well. It’s a nice little sculpt, painted in gloss silver and looks fantastic on the figure. Next up is her weapon, which is designed to be held in both hands. Like the mask, it’s got a glossy silver finish and a nice little sculpt. Alaya also comes wiht a flexible plastic chain that clips around her wrist. I appreciate the effort, but there’s not much you can do with this piece.


Moving on to General Restac. There’s obviously some reuse of parts between these two figures, which is probably why CO decided to go with two female Silurians. Still, when you get down to it, there are enough differences to make them each unique. Restac’s jacket is a resculpt of Alaya’s tunic, and it looks really nice. The head sculpt features the same intricately detailed scales, and some additional paint apps to give her skin more color. The legs are pretty much identical between the two figures, but the arms have a few differences. Restac is wearing gloves and she has coils around her wrists, whereas Alaya does not. Restac comes with the same gun as Alaya, but no other accessories.

Both figures feature the same level of articulation. Their heads turn; The arms have rotating sholders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows; The legs rotate and have lateral movement in the hips, hinged knees and swivels in the lower legs. Their tunics are each slit up the sides, so they don’t inhibit the leg articulation all that much.

I think these figures were worth waiting for, and now that I have these and CO has revealed an entire wave of Paradigm Daleks, I’m pretty much at closure for Series 5 toys. I still think it’s a shame that we got more than twice as many figures out of The Beast Below than we did the two-parter Silurian story, but such is life. I’ve also come to terms with the fact that Liz Ten isn’t going to happen, and since River and Rory should be prominantly featured in Series 6, I’ll just go on believeing that we’ll get them in one form or another next year. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, 2010 was an incredible year for Classics figures, but I think CO could have handled the Series 5 figures much better than they did.