Monthly Archives: October 2011

Oct 26 2011

Voltron: Vinyl Vehicle Voltron by Toynami

If you read my feature on Toynami’s Lion Force Gift Set then you know I’m an odd bird who hates the Voltron cartoons but can’t get enough of Voltron in all his toy forms. My anticipation of receiving my first shipment from Matty’s Club Lion Force is already hitting a fever pitch, and it’s still many months away. I decided to quench my Voltron thirst a bit by picking up this vinyl version of vehicle Voltron. And that’s a lot of V’s! Unlike a lot of Voltron fans, I’m not a vehicle Voltron hater!

One thing about this packaging is that it’s not afraid to show off the goods. It’s almost completely transparent with a printed insert in the back and bottom. It is a bit fragile, but also collector friendly, so you can return your Voltron to the package for display so long as you’re careful.
First the good stuff. This vinyl figure does a great job capturing the animated look of Voltron. It’s colorful and simplified, yet you can still make out details like the treads and wheels on the vehicles. The head sculpt looks awesome and overall the paint is bright and clean. No problems here. Of course, the key word here is vinyl, folks, and if you keep that in mind you shouldn’t be disappointed. This is not a super articulated action figure, but more of a nice statue with some basic points of articulation thrown in for good measure. His arms will rotate at the shoulders and swivel at the wrists. His head turns and he can swivel at the waist. That’s it, though.
While I don’t expect high articulation from a vinyl collectible like this, I also don’t expect it to be fragile. In this case, one of the wings on Voltron’s head randomly snapped off shortly after being removed from the package. Yeah. It was easily fixed with a little dab of gorilla glue, only to have the other one snap off a second later. What’s more, Voltron doesn’t stand very straight. He’s kind of lopsided and wobbly.
I’m not sure how much this thing originally cost, but I picked it up for fifteen bucks while doing a little dumpster diving at a clearance sale. The figure looks great in the package, and that’s where I’ll be leaving him. Once I took him out and handled him, my impressions dropped like a lead balloon. Even at the lower clearance price, I can’t really recommend this one, unless you keep all your toys unopened, in which case I guess it makes for a nice boxed display piece.
Oct 25 2011

Ultima Online: Juggernaut by McFarlane

Rooting around in the FigureFan Toy Closet today, I came up with this little gem from an otherwise deservedly forgotten figure line from our friends at McFarlane toys. I grew up playing the Ultima games, ever since playing the originals on a pea soup green monochrome monitor on my old PC, I stuck out the series through it’s ups and downs until it went online and then I bailed. As a result, I know very little about the Ultima Online world or this character for that matter. Nonetheless, I picked up this entire action figure series one Saturday at a KB Toys Outlet for a total of around $20. Most of these figures were instantly forgettable, but there were two that still hold up really well. One was Lord Blackthorne and the other is Juggernaut here.

Living up to his name, Juggernaut is a huge, bulky figure. He’s a cyborg and it’s tough to say how much of his organic stuff is actually inside his massive, armored hide because all you can actually see is his shriveled raisen of a face. He rolls along on one giant wheel with a small wheel on an outrigger. His arms end in a robotic claw and a drill. Juggernaut doesn’t stand well on his own, but McFarlane was good enough to include a little clear stand to prop up him up.
As we’d expect from McFarlane, the sculpt here is absolutely fantastic. The armor is pitted and worn and you can see the bolts that hold it together as well as additional plates that were bolted on as repairs. His arms include rubbery hoses and cables and under his arms  you can make out all the extra mechanical detail that really shows off the extraordinary amount of loving at work here.
If the sculpt is excellent than the paintjob is extraordinary. The armor has a olive matte green color but it’s washed over with rust and wear that looks simply amazing. The sculpt and paintjob on the armor is so convincing that I’m often surprised at how lightweight the figure actually is when you pick him up. It’s brilliant.
McFarlane’s figures from this period aren’t known for their articulation but Juggernaut fares pretty well. His arms rotate at the shoulders and have lateral movement as well. He has swivel joints in the biceps and hinges in the elbows. There’s not a lot else on him that’s designed to move, although he does roll along pretty well.
My favorite thing about this figure is how well he fits in with my Stroggs from Resarus’ old Quake II lineup. Forget Ultima Online, this guy looks like he was made for the Quake II universe and that’s where I’m content to display him long after the other UO figures have been stowed away at the bottom of some tote in the back of my storage.
Oct 24 2011

Transformers Reveal The Shield: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

We’ve come to the end of my Reveal The Shield haul, and I saved the worst for last. Ironically, I was really looking forward to picking up this G2 inspired version of Optimus Prime. Early photos made me a little suspicious of his truck mode, but I thought his robot mode would carry the day. Plus, I still wasn’t convinced Hasbro would release a finished product that looked as bad as this Prime’s truck mode did. In the end I was wrong and what we have here is overall a pretty shitty toy. Let’s take a look…

Prime is a Deluxe Class figure, so we’re back to the carded style of package. He comes carded in his truck form, which is pretty ballsy and honest of Hasbro to show you the worst of the two modes outright. Still, it may cool the jets on some Bayformer haters to learn that the modern movies weren’t the first time Prime appeared as an extended cab. Y’all can blame G2 for that. Prime also comes packaged with his energon sword beside him, although as we’ll see it actually serves a purpose in the truck mode.
And there it is, released from the bubble and exposed in all it’s wretched glory. It’s a hideous looking truck with a bizarre patchwork look to it, particularly around the doors. The orange paint on the windows looks awful, the doors themselves angle inward awkwardly, and the arms hanging off the bottom of the doors is just plain unsightly. Let’s not forget the dubious decision to go with a orange tinted clear plastic for the front grill. Even the paint job is miss-matched with the front being black and the rest blue making the toy look like an unfinished prototype. Ugh. I can’t believe any designer at Hasbro held aloft this mess and was pleased enough to release it. I guess it’s all about the robot mode, eh?
Blah. Not so much. Don’t get me wrong, Prime’s robot mode is infinitely better than his truck mode, but that doesn’t mean it’s particularly good. If you own the G2 “Laser Rods” Prime or perhaps the more recent Robots in Disguise Scourge, you can see that Hasbro really tried to replicate that design into this Deluxe Class figure. The problem is those two toys are great, this one just isn’t. What’s really strange is the attention paid to some of the little details. The wheels on his legs do this complex little flip up and seat into his legs to get them out of the way. It isn’t at all necessary and you can opt not to do it if you so desire. But why take the time to put that kind of engineering on a toy design that’s so broken everywhere else? Just like his truck mode, Prime’s robot mode looks as if it were patched together from various other Primes.
The head sculpt here is also really weird. It’s sort of like a mix up of Prime from the Bay films with some extra animated stylization thrown in. I don’t know that I completely dislike it, but it feels really out of place on this figure.
About the only thing here that I really do like is Prime’s energon sword. In truck mode it forms the cab hitch and cleverly transforms itself into this neat little sword with a crossguard. I suppose I can give it to one of my other Deluxe Primes or some other figure. It’s a sad statement, because I think Hasbro had some good intentions with this figure, but really dropped the ball on the execution. If you can find this guy at one of the cloesout stores he just might be worth your time, particularly if you are any kind of Optimus Prime completist, but he sure isn’t worth the premium some of the Reveal The Shield toys are commanding online.
Oct 22 2011

Transformers Reveal The Shield: Solar Storm Grappel by Hasbro

I’m almost through the Deluxe Class figures I picked up from this series, but rather than finish them off, I thought I’d jump over to the one big guy. He’s one of the Voyager Class toys in this series and he’s none other than Solar Storm Grappel.

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Whaaa? Yeah, just like Turbo Tracks, Hasbro seems to have mislaid the copyright to the name Grapple. Fair enough, but where the hell they came up with Solar Storm Grappel is beyond me. Again, it’s just a name on a box so I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. It’s enough to know that he’s a repaint/remold of Generation Inferno, just like the G1 Grapple toy was a repaint/remold of G1 Inferno.  I’m not terribly keen on the decision to go with making Inferno/Grapple as Voyager toys because I think they turned out a little too big to fit in comfortably with the other Classics, although as Deluxes I think they would have been too small. Too bad there wasn’t something inbetween. As with all the Voyagers in this line, the figure comes boxed in his robot mode, but I’m going to start with his vehicle mode.
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As expected, Grappel is a yellow boom crane with some hazard stripes painted on the sides. He looks really good as Hasbro did a great job designing this vehicle form to work well as both crane and fire truck. The crane is fully articulated and even extends. There are still a few slight issues with locking all the panels together. I realize this could just be my own sucky transforming skills, but truth is I can rarely ever get either toy to completely line up and lock together perfectly. It’s not a big deal, but still worth mentioning. With the exception of the boom crane replacing Inferno’s water cannon, none of the other changes to the mold are evident in Grappel’s vehicle mode. Lots of crazy detail and the use of clear plastic really makes this vehicle stand out on the shelf!
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Transforming Grappel is identical to changing Inferno. It’s fairly simple for a larger toy, but there are some clever things at work here. The way the side panels for the cabin all fold away neatly behind his shoulders is particularly nifty. There is definitely some very clever engineering at work here.
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In robot mode we can now see some of the tinkering Hasbro did with the Inferno mold. Grappel’s forearms are rounded instead of squared off and he obviously has a brand new head sculpt, which is faithful to the original G1 character. These changes are all great, but it’s the crane hanging off the side of his arm that bugs me about Grappel. There’s so many other things Hasbro could have done to make this right without having to effect the mold hardly at all. Most easily, have it removable so you can peg it onto his back or something. Either way, this is a really lazy design that we’ve seen with crane Transformers in the past. The crane is intended to come protrude down his arm like a weapon. I find it a little less cumbersome to fold it back so it’s pointing away from his hand. Either way, it’s a giant albatross on what is otherwise a great looking figure.
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I’m still really digging on this toy, warts and all. He’s a solid homage to the G1 character and a logical reuse of the Inferno mold. I still think the large size makes these guys feel a little out of place amongst the other Classics, particularly when displayed with a figure like Classics Optimus Prime, but maybe I just need to get used to it. If it weren’t for the crane arm, I could love Grappel a lot more, but as things stand Inferno remains my favorite of the pair.
Oct 21 2011

Transformers Reveal The Shield: Turbo Tracks by Hasbro

The second installment of this week’s Reveal The Shield Quartet is everyone’s favorite posh and pretentious Autobot, Tracks. Forget fighting Decepticons, Tracks was happy enough making friends with good-hearted inner-city Hispanic gang members and helping them bust out stolen car rings. Tracks was also every bit as protective of his paint job as Sunstreaker and he talked like Thurston Howell the Third. Oddly enough I wasn’t jonesing to own this figure, probably because he was given another fairly good upgrade in the now defunct Alternators line. Alas, I sold off my Alternators collection quite a while ago, so it is nice to have a solid update to Tracks in my collection once again.

Once again, there’s the RTS packaging. You’ll note he’s called Turbo Tracks on the package. It’s another instance of Hasbro losing the copyright to a name and doing a slight alteration in order to allow them to still pay homage to the character without getting their butts’ sued off. Why not just go with Autobot Tracks? Who knows. In the end, it’s just a name printed on the packaging.
Originally a blue Chevy Corvette, Hasbro went the generic sportscar route for the RTS version of Tracks and it honestly works very well. Not only did it allow them to avoid those pesky licensing fees, but don’t forget this mold was designed to double as Wheeljack so the car had to work for both figures… and shockingly enough, it really does. The blue paintjob is pretty close to the original and while the hood decals are quite a bit different, they still invoke a familiar sentiment. Just like the original, Turbo Tracks still retains the ability to convert into a flying car by unfolding the wings from under the doors. It was delightfully cheesy back then and it still is.
Transforming Tracks is pretty similar to what I remember from the old days. There’s no terribly clever tricks or anything here, which is in no way a bad thing. Hasbro could have easily over complicated this guy’s transformation to accomodate for the Wheeljack variant, but I’m happy to report that wasn’t the case.
In robot mode, Tracks is easily one of the best homages to a G1 figure. Everything about the original toy’s design is lovingly recreated here and given an updated kick in the pants. The way the wheels position on his shoulders and his wings angle up above them, this is definitely a Classics style figure that doesn’t stray far from home. Tracks has also got a great head sculpt and includes the distinctive red and white color combo that’s always made him stand out in the Autobot ranks. He has two missile launchers that clip onto his backpack and a handgun.
Like Wreck-Gar, Turbo Tracks is another amazing figure in the RTS lineup that made it doubly criminal that this wave was so hard to find. I’m certainly not complaining about getting him for seven bucks, but I would have been just as happy paying a premium for him and eventually I probably would have. I’m sure I said this when I featured Wheeljack, but I’ll say it again: The fact that this mold was designed to work so well for two pretty distinctly different Autobots makes it all the more impressive.
Oct 20 2011

Transformers Reveal The Shield: Wreck Gar by Hasbro

Holy crap, I hit the mother lode today at Ross. I went in looking for some goddamn pet food bowls and came out with a couple of bags full of Transformers that I had all but given up on ever getting. I’ve lamented enough here on FigureFan about how criminal the distribution on these Reveal The Shield figures was, but karma’s come round to help a brutha out as I was able to pick up almost all the remaining figures today at a nice deep discount off their regular MSRP, much less the scalper prices they sell for online. So we might as well go ahead and call it Reveal The Shield Weekend, because it’ll take me the next four days or so to check these guys out. Today, we’ll kick things off with everyone’s favorite Junkion: Wreck-Gar.

There’s the packaging for the RTS Deluxe Assortment, we last saw back when I looked at Perceptor. They had him too at Ross, and sure I could have made a couple of bucks turning him on Ebay, but I always do the right thing and I left him for another collector, even though chances are a scalper will get him. Anyway, the packaging isn’t all that different from the Hunt for the Decepticons, but it does point out the Rub Sign gimmick and gave us a little teaser into what the Generations packaging deco was going to be all about. The back has the pictures of the toy in both modes and a little bio blurb. Wreck-Gar comes packaged in his motorcycle mode, so we’ll start there.
In the world of Transformers, motorcycles aren’t exactly the easiest concept to work with. Sure, there have been some decent ones, but a whole lot of really shitty motorcycle Transformers have popped up on the pegs over the years. Traditionally speaking you either have to make strong sacrifices to the bike mode or the robot mode. Wreck-Gar here makes mostly sacrifices the bike mode and I’m very glad for that. That’s not to say it’s terrible, but the proportioning on it seems a little out of whack. It’s pretty obvious that you’re looking at Wreck-Gar’s hands and pelvis right there in the middle of the bike. On the flipside, it’s a pretty solid motorcycle that stands well on it’s own thanks to a flip down kick stand. The coloring is definitely faithful to the G1 homage and the Rub Sign is right up front near the handle bars, but it feels like some of the grey could have used a little extra help with paint more paint apps. Even the license plate is left completely blank. Oh… and yes, if you have two Wreck-Gars, one can ride the other.
Transforming Wreck-Gar goes easier from bike to robot. Going the other way is mainly a matter of remembering to do some funky fiddling with his pelvic and hip joints in order to get everything to pack back in where it should be.
So, I wasn’t sure how I felt about Wreck Gar’s robot mode when I saw Hasbro’s initial photos. In hand, I’m a lot happier about the final product. Thrilled, even. I think my biggest issue was the way the design puts both wheels on his left side. I thought they would have balanced the figure out better if they were staggered left and right. I also thought the design should have allowed one of the wheels to detach and become a shield. Nonetheless, what we got is actually really cool, and the figure’s anti-symmetry really contributes to the idea that he’s made out of junk.
Everything else here is great stuff. The head sculpt is spot on stupendous. He looks absolutely demented. The head definitely strikes me as one of the better, if not the best, movie based homages Hasbro has done. I  really enjoy the way the flame decos appear on his chest as do the small guns pay homage to the nipple guns on the original G1 design. The mismatched legs again drive home his intentionally junky appearance, and while I was afraid his lower legs would be too bulky and ungainly, Wreck Gar’s overall proportions are actually pretty solid and he is wonderfully poseable. The battle axe is a real nice touch as well.
Ultimately, I think I was trying to convince myself to not like this figure a lot because I had missed out on it and wasn’t going to pay a premium for him online. In hand, I think he really is fantastic, even with the slightly dodgy motorcycle mode. The design is a perfect blending of old and new, and another great update to a G1 toy that always ranked rather high in my book. He’s absolutely worth picking up if you find him at one of the Toy Graveyards out there, and he’s probably even worth picking up at a bit of a premium. So, get him if you find him, and always remember, you can dare to be stupid.
Oct 20 2011

Tomb Raider: Lara Croft In Wet Suit Statue by Playmates

It’s another slow week for acquisitions, folks, so I’m going to be digging into the FigureFan Toy Closet for content this week. Last week I checked out NECA’s 1:6 scale Lara Croft, so I thought it only fitting I take a look back to a much earlier Tomb Raider piece: This statue and diorama by Playmates.

The packaging is a standard window box with a tomb motif. It’s technically collector friendly, but mine has been a bit mangled over the years. The entire statue with base and backdrop is about eleven inches tall. The Lara figure itself is about nine inches. The entire piece is cast in plastic.
Starting off with the base and backdrop, I have to say Playmates did a nice job here. The platform is a rustic looking floating dock with some coiled rope, and the whole thing is supported by two half barrels. The backdrop is a badly weathered wall with cracked stucco and some brickwork showing through underneath. The Tomb Raider logo appears sculpted into the back wall just over Lara’s left shoulder. Most statues these days appear with pretty minimalist environments or just small detailed bases, but Playmates went uncharacteristically out of there way here to produce a very nicely designed and excellently sculpted environment for Lara. The small section of side wall is a nice bonus too.
Unlike NECA’s modern Lara, Playmates’ version has roots deep into the earlier games and to me that makes this statue a whole lot more iconic in appearance. Without hunting down dates, I’m pretty sure this statue was out around the time the second or third game was released. I seem to recall her spending a lot of time in her wetsuit in Tomb Raider 2. Either way, this is a Lara that we old timers are more familiar with, even if she isn’t wearing her more standard outfit. The wetsuit itself is more or less painted onto her body sculpt, although there are sculpted lines where the sleeves and shorts end. Other sculpted details include her huge belt buckle, holsters with removable pistols, and her bare feet. I’m particularly fond of the execution of Lara’s head sculpt here. Again, its simple but instantly recognizeable. She’s flashing a smile and her sunglasses are worn down on her nose to show off her eyes. Her iconic ponytail hangs down over her right shoulder. All in all, it’s a nice tough and sexy look for Lara.
Lara’s weapons include the two aforementioned pistols and a harpoon gun. You’ll note the tip of the harpoon appears to have snapped off my statue, so there’s something to watch out for. Although, in fairness I’ve had this thing a long time and it’s gotten kicked around a fair share. The harpoon gun is actually sculpted onto her right arm, but her left arm is capable of holding one of her pistols.

While there’s no doubt this is a statue and not an action figure, Lara does have three points of articulation. Her arms swivel at the shoulders and her head rotates at the neck.
As many of you are aware, I’m generally not a big cheerleader for Playmates. They’ve done their share of shoddy stuff, but this statue shines above a lot of their usual crap. Make no mistake, it’s still a low end piece, particularly in the collectible statue market, but for what it is it’s a well designed display piece with a fine sculpt and great paintwork. I picked Lara up at an indie video game store many years ago and paid next to nothing for her. You can still find this statue on Ebay fairly regularly and she often sells for around $15-20. It’s not a bad little collectible if you still have a soft spot for Ms. Croft.
Oct 19 2011

Marvel Universe: The Fantastic Four by Hasbro

I really had to fight some inner collector rage to buy this set. I already own the single carded Ben Grimm and I have the Richard Reed from the Secret Wars pack, so really HERBIE and Sue Storm were the only characters here I didn’t already have in my collection. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was the team in matching uniforms, plus the Richard Reed is a far better figure than the Secret Wars version. I was actually halfway out of TRU when I begrudgingly decided to admit that Hasbro had suckered me out of more money, and go back and pick this set up. In the end, it was probably always going to happen just because I love The Fantastic Four so much.

This is essentially the same assortment class of set as the other MU three-packs that have been on the market. Yeah, HERBIE makes four, and while I don’t want to discard him out of hand, he’s hardly enough to bump this set into a higher tax bracket. The packaging is very nice, with a good-sized window to show off the figures against an background of cosmic rays.
Since Sue is the brand new figure here, let’s look at her first. She’s a standard MU female buck with paintwork used to distinguish her uniform. The uniform looks… dare I say… fantastic. It’s the lighter shade of blue with some nice black piping and the crisp 4 on the front. I’m particularly happy with Sue’s head sculpt and am actually surprised to say its one of the best MU females out there.
Richard Reed is a massive improvement over the Secret Wars version, and I’m not just talking about personal preference in the uniform. He’s taller and his body has a slight elongated look that almost looks like its designed to hint at his rubbery powers. Best of all his head sculpt is completely new. I was never happy with the head sculpt Hasbro gave us for the Secret Wars version, but this one works fine for me. Granted most of the comic pack figures were made on the cheap compared to the single carded figures, but these two still really show how far this line has come since it began.
The Thing is a mix of old and new sculpting from the single carded figure that I already own. From the waist up, there are some subtle differences in the paint job, but the sculpt is otherwise the same. The big difference here is with the legs as this version of Grimm is just sporting a pair of shorts , whereas the single carded has pants and boots. I do prefer the version in this pack, but I am glad that the shade of blue used for the uniforms in this set allow for either of these Thing figures to be displayed.

I’m a little disappointed in the articulation featured here, or at least for the Sue Storm and Richard Reed figures. The Thing is fine and HERBIE has a ball jointed neck, which is honestly more than I expected. Now, certainly Sue and Richard have passable poseability for 3 3/4″ scale figures, but it isn’t up to snuff with the more recent releases in MU or GI JOE. Granted, this is a value pack, so I should probably reign in my expectations and temper my disappointment.
I’m sure a lot of Marvel Universe collectors are on the fence over this one. It’s a shame that we didn’t get the FF released like this in the first place. On the bright side, the set retails for only $20. That’s not a bad deal for three MU figures plus a little bonus. Keep in mind this set also exists as a variant of the team in their brand new, white, FF style outfits, and if I ever stumble upon that one, I guess I’ll be buying it again, especially since it looks like we’re going to be getting a single carded Spider-Man in his FF costume. Cool!
Oct 18 2011

Doctor Who: Sontaran Officer Linx Helmet (LE 500) by Weta

It’s been a little while since WETA released their line of helmets from Doctor Who. The line ran the gamut from the amazing Earthshock Cyberman, which I featured here on FigureFan, to the bewildering welders mask from the NuWho episode “42” that begged the question, “Who the hell would want that?” Anyway, there were some pretty cool and iconic helmets inbetween, including the one we’re looking at today: Behold the helmet of The Sontaran General Linx from the Jon Pertwee episode “The Time Warrior.”

The package is the same style as the one used for the Earthshock Cyberman. It’s a Classic Who collectible, but it uses the artwork and logo from the 2005-2009 Series. Nothing fancy here. You get a simple box packed with styrofoam inserts to hold the stand and helmet safe and secure. You also get a pamphlet showing other Doctor Who items by WETA. The package shows off photos of the collectible in question and you get some good summaries about Doctor Who as a series and the episode in particular. “The Time Warrior” was a good choice for the subject, since it was the story that first introduced us to the Sontarans as an enemy of the good Doctor.
The Cyberman helmet was permanently attached to the display stand, whereas the Sontaran helmet is actually removable and merely rests on top of it. The stand uses a generic mannequin style human head sculpt, which, granted, is a little out of place for a Sontaran helmet, but it supports the helmet just fine, so I won’t harp about it too much. As with the Cybermen helmet, this one is limited to only 500 pieces and hand numbered on the bottom of the display stand along with the other production information.
The helmet itself is all one piece and fashioned entirely from metal so it has a mighty fine heft to it. By design, the Sontaran helmets aren’t nearly as detailed as the Cybermen or many of the other helmets in this line, but make no mistake, this is a faithful scaled recreation of the prop from the episode, “The Time Warrior,” including the sinister eye slits, the ventilation holes, the mohawk-style crest, and of course, the probic vent in the back of the helmet’s collar. It’s certainly a cool and iconic looking piece of Doctor Who history.
These WETA helmets originally retailed for about fifty bucks. I picked up the Sontaran helmet from an online e-tailer on clearance for half off. Considering what you get and the limitation of production, it’s certainly a good deal. While I’m certainly not intending to assemble a complete collection of this line, I’m happy enough with the two that I have that I’d like to hunt down a few more.
Oct 17 2011

Green Lantern Classics Wave 2: Skallox and Nite-Lik by Mattel

[So, I wound up having to take a little impromtu vacation-slash-break this past weekend. A few things came up and it couldn’t be helped. I’m going to do my best to get back on track for the rest of the week. -FF]

If you stopped by a coupla days ago, you know that I wasn’t exactly impressed by the Medphyll and Naut Kei Loi combo. It’s a passable figure and it certainly serves to fill out my Green Lantern Corps quite nicely, but I don’t think it lived up to the first wave’s similarly gimmicked Low and Maash, and it certainly doesn’t live up to today’s featured figure: Skallox and Nite-Lik, our first figures from the Red Lanterns.
Here’s the Green Lantern Classics packaging again. Just like last time, you can buy this figure packaged as either Skallox or Nite-Lik. If you buy him as Skallox, you’ll note that half the bubble is dominated by parts for the conversion to Nite-Lik and that this isn’t some simple head swap. The back of the card is the same no matter what and only the name printed on the insert is different. Great looking stuff.
Unlike the last pair where I could just describe both incarnations of the figure in one go, these guys really each deserve their own treatment. So let’s start with the simpler of the two, and that’s Skallox. Skallox features a simple Red Lantern colored buck that is pretty close in line with the ones used for the Sinestro Corps combo-figure. The only new pieces of sculpting worth mentioning are the arm bracers. I would have liked a bit more of a vibrant red for the uniform, but the current paint job still looks good. Skallox’s head looks like a goat skull with a terrifying rictus and his hands are both balled up into fists. So, yes, this is a simple figure, but the sculpt on the head is excellent and the whole ensemble looks great.
To change him to Nite-Lik, you pop off the head and hands. Next, pop on the new hands, place the cowl over his shoulders, pop on the new head, wrap the skeletal trophies around his chest, and you’re good to go. Wow, what a difference! Nite-Lik’s got a face even a mother wouldn’t love. It’s like a wad of chewed gum with beady eyes and a big set of choppers. The left side of his face is spattered with what I’m guessing is green blood. Two pink tendrils come out from the back of his head and wrap around his torso, displaying his collection of alien bones. His blue claw hands have smaller tongue-like tendrils protrudring from his palms and ending in forked pincers. Awesome.
Skallox and Nite-Lik comes with one of the legs needed to build the Collect & Connect Stel figure.
I really felt no inclination to pick up doubles of Low/Maash or Medphyll/Naut Kei Loi in order to display them together. These Red Lanterns, on the other hand, are a different matter. The transformation uses a lot more pieces and thus makes for two far more distinctive looking figures, both of which are absolutely badass. I’ll definitely be grabbing up another one so both of them can be displayed on my shelf. Besides, with my Infinite Earth’s Club Subscription, I know that I’ll be getting Atrocitous sometime next year, and I need to start building his troops. Either way, between Stel’s leg and all the Nite-Lik parts, it really fees like you’re getting your money’s worth on this figure.