Monthly Archives: September 2012

Sep 12 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Raphael (Nickelodeon) by Playmates

It’s Day Three of our look at the new Nick TV series turtles, and that brings us to Raphael. This may be my favorite of these turtles so far. Let’s take a look…

I still love the packages here. Once again, a lot of love and forethought went into their design with a little retro styling and some of that new-fangled hip Nickelodeon wackiness. The front bubble features an insert proclaiming Raphael as “Hot-Head and Sharp Sai Expert” and doesn’t that just say it all? The back panel has the usual clip-out File Card. Woof! I still don’t like the portraits of the Turtles’ TV counterparts. You also get a bunch of photos of other figures in this line.

As with Leo and Don, Raph features both unique sculpting and some clever reuse of parts. The legs are more or less the same throughout, while the arms seem to be mixed and matched throughout the set. I’m still digging on all the little details on the limbs, like the crisscross pattern in the hand and foot wraps, and the leathery texture sculpted right into the turtle skin. The torso features an all new array of scrapes and nicks on the shell, including one pretty cool looking chip right out of his breastplate. The belt is new and features two slots in the back to store Raph’s pair of sai. The head sculpt is brimming with awesome. Raph is definitely the most pissed looking of all the Turtles, showing off all his teeth and furling his brow. I’m also particularly fond of the sculpt on his eye mask and the way it’s whipping off to the side. The sculpting on his teeth is also very impressive. It’s downright amazing how much effort Playmates put into sculpting the details on these guys.

The coloring here is just as good as on Leo and Don. Again, most of the coloring is in the plastic, with some secondary paint applied. Raph has the dark brown foot wraps and light cream colored hand wraps. His skin is molded in dark green plastic and the paintwork on his eyes, teeth, and mask are all really well executed.

By now, we know the drill for articulation. The neck and shoulders are ball jointed. The arms have hinges at the elbows and there are swivels at both the elbows and the wrists. For the legs, you get hinges and swivels in the hips and knees.

Raph comes with his pair of trusty sai, which can be stowed in the slots in the back of his belt, and they look really cool when stored on his back. He also has the sprue tree containing the rest of his Ninja Arsenal. All of his weapons are cast in grey.

I think Raph is my favorite so far mainly because of his head sculpt and his deep green skin color. I also really like that chip taken out of his breast plate. It really gives him a lot of character. His weapons are also very cool, fit well in his hands, and look great when stored on his back. So far, there’s really been no downside to any of these figures, but Raph’s personality just shines through exceptionally well. And that leaves us just one more Turtle… tomorrow we’ll take a look at Michelangelo.

Sep 11 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Donatello (Nickelodeon) by Playmates

Turtle time continues today with a look at Donatello from Playmates’ new Nickelodeon series. Today’s feature should go a lot quicker than yesterday’s, since we’ve already hit most of the basic points and can focus on the differences. Let’s dive right in…

The packaging is basically the same, but there’s plenty to distinguish Don’s card from Leo’s. Besides the individualized insert that identifies Don as the “Inventor and Weaponeer” of the turtle team, the back of the card has the File Card that can be clipped out and saved, just like the good old days. God, look at that terrible portrait of Don from the new series. May I take this opportunity to once again state I’m giving this show a pass? It’s amazing how much better the figure looks. Once again, Playmates, you clearly put a lot of love and attention to this packaging and it shows.

At first glance the body may look like a reuse from Leo’s, but the similarities are only in the broad strokes and these are in fact two mostly unique sculpts. Check out the dents, dings, and scrapes on Don’s shell, knee and elbow guards and you’ll see they’re all different. The wrist and foot wraps are the same basic sculpts, but the finger and foot wraps are differently colored. Don’s belt and shoulder strap are also different, plus Don has a little loop in the back of his belt, which can be used to store his bowstaff. You do still get that same great leathery texture to the skin. Naturally, the head is brand new, giving Don a slightly more stoic and less toothy mouth. Once again, the coloring on the figure is excellent, using a lot of colored plastic over paint, and you’ll notice that Don features a different skin color. All in all, he looks great.

Donatello’s accessories include his trademark bowstaff and a sprue tree containing his “Ninja Arsenal” which can be clipped out. The bowstaff and the sprue are all cast in brown plastic, which works just fine for me, because they aren’t in neon orange or purple or other colors Playmates has traditionally and incomprehensibly used for accessories in the past. The bowstaff is simple enough, but still sculpted well and Don can hold it in either or both hands.

About the only thing that is identical between Don and Leo is the articulation. You get a ball joint in the neck, arms that feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinges at the elbows, and swivels in the elbows and wrists. The legs feature hinge and swivel hips and knees. Once again, the articulation is certainly serviceable for a figure of this size and build.

Don turned out every bit as good as Leo. He’s distinctive right down to the tiny little details, and feels just as high quality and lovingly constructed. I’m going to go with liking the Leo figure a bit more, just because I dig Leo’s swords and scabbards more than Don’s simple bowstaff, but there’s no doubt that Playmates is now two for two on this new line of Turtles. Tomorrow we’ll look at Raphael and see if they can go three for three. And here’s a hint… yes, they can!

Sep 10 2012

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Leonardo (Nickelodeon) by Playmates

Uh oh, I sense a theme week coming on! Yep, a couple weeks back, I netted me a set of Playmates’ smaller, more kid friendly versions of the Turtles based on the new Nickelodeon show. I’ve seen clips from the show, but I honestly don’t even know if it’s even started airing yet. The clips look like it will make for a great series for kids, but it’s not for me. I’ll stick to watching the originals through my nostalgia and alcohol tinted glasses, while extinguishing all change in my mind. (“Damn kids, with their Ben 10’s and their Bakugans!”) I was overall pretty thrilled with the larger, more expensive, collector line, so let’s see if lightning can strike twice for Playmates in their attempt to deliver some quality Turtle toys for the kiddies…

Leo comes in a standard carded package and I really dig the way it looks. It’s simple enough, but it’s bright and cartoony and it really captures a lot of the spirit of the original TMNT packaging. It’s kind of retro, but without trying too hard. The sizeable bubble shows off the figure and accessories (oh, I’m sorry… “Ninja Arsenal!”) quite well, and there’s a printed insert to customize the packaging and declare Leo as the “Leader & King of the Katana Swords!” But wait… the figure is actually on a unique card as well, because when you turn it over, there’s an actual File Card for Leonardo that you can clip out and save just like the good old days! I actually saved the whole card. The back of the card also shows off other figures available in the line. This packaging may not be collector friendly, but it is really fun and really well designed. Playmates put a lot of love into it, and it certainly makes me excited to buy the figure.
So, the new show features a pretty heavy redesign on the Turtles. Frankly, I think it’s fantastic and the bulk of the fan feedback I’ve seen across the Interwebs tells me I’m not alone. They are a lot more stylized, which is all the rage in animation these days, but the figures actually look tons better than what I’ve seen of their new TV counterparts. Much like with the DC New 52 figures, which I looked at last week, your mileage with these figures will depend on how you take to the new look of the characters.

 

Once I got Leo out of the package I was immediately impressed by the feel of the plastic and the heft of the figure. Ok, it’s not so much that he’s heavy, but he just feels like such a solid and well-crafted toy. The next thing to impress was the complexity of the sculpting. For a kid’s line, Playmates went nuts with the sculpted detail on this guy. You can see tiny dents and scratches in his shell and his knee and elbow guards, and even all the little hash marks In the wraps around his hands and feet. His skin is even sculpted with a leathery texture. All this little detail makes this guy look more like a small high end collectible than a kid’s action figure. The head sculpt is also excellent, and while he’s showing all his teeth, Leo looks a lot happier than his larger, angrier Classics version. You also get a pair of functional sculpted scabbards on his back. Unlike the Classics Leo, the scabbards are parallel instead of crisscrossed. They’re also removable, as they simply peg into the back of his shell.
The coloring on the figure is just about perfect. Leo relies more on colored plastic than actual paint, and that’s not at all a bad thing. The paint apps that are here are all precise and clean, particularly on the head. I’m also in full support of the choice to go without pupils in the eyes. I just think it looks great.

 

Leo comes with his trademark pair of katana swords that fit snugly into the double scabbards on his back. His hands are sculpted to hold them perfectly. He also comes with a bevy of other weapons all attached to a sprue tree, similar to the pack-ins that came with the vintage figures. The weapons are all cast in grey plastic, which is cool, because Playmates has a habit of casting accessories in ridiculous neon colors. I haven’t clipped any of my extra weapons out yet, and I may not. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of Playmates packing all this extra stuff with the figure, but for display purposes, Leo’s katanas are good enough for me.

 

While the figure isn’t exactly super articulated, you do get a good range of movement. The head is ball jointed, the arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows, and swivel at the elbows and wrists. The legs have hinges and swivels in the thighs and the knees. The lack of ankle articulation is really the only obvious omission, and with the design of the larger feet, it would have been tough and probably unsightly to work that joint into the mix. Indeed, some of the figure’s overall sculpting does inhibit the range of motion in some of these joints, but overall, I think we still get a nice compromise of style and poseability.

In case you haven’t guessed by now, I really adore this figure. With a great sculpt, great quality build, solid articulation, and a heaping helping of accessories, Leo hits all the right points. And at $7.99 at my local Wally World, it’s hard to think of a figure that delivers this much at such a great price. I’ll be looking at the other three Turtles over the next three days. They are all individual sculpts, but now that we’ve got a good idea what to expect, I should be able to be more brief with the rest of our Heroes in a Halfshell.

Sep 8 2012

Marvel Universe: Captain Marvel & Ms. Marvel by Hasbro

[Ok, one last update for what has become a Marvel/DC Week. I’ve still got a lot of this stuff to get to, but I’m going to take tomorrow off and then come back on Monday with a promise to give the Marvel/DC stuff a rest for next week. –FF]

It’s what we like to call a “two-fer” today. Why? Well, just because. I’ve had this pair sitting in my new pile for a while, even though neither of them are new releases. A long while ago, I checked out the modern version of Ms. Marvel, but this classic version has become all the more relevant since the second season of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Let’s give them both a quick looksy…

Marvel Universe packaging and nothing new here. Both figures feature some pretty solid character art on the card and both look great in their bubbles. They obviously come from different waves as the SHIELD emblem is different. Ms Marvel includes the Top Secret SHIELD files envelope and collector card that I used to love getting with these figures. Captain Marvel doesn’t have the envelope or card, but he does come with the more practical figure stand.

Captain Marvel is as simple an MU figure as you can get. His body relies almost entirely on a painted buck for detail. Thankfully the paintwork on this figure is excellent. The blue and gold on red plastic looks great and there’s virtually no slop or bleeding to speak of. The gilded starburst emblem on his chest stands out very nicely. The head sculpt is definitely one of Hasbro’s better efforts, and all in all this guy looks like a shrunken down version of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Captain Marvel from their initial stab at that 6” line. And yes, that’s a very good thing.

Captain Marvel is based on one of the older bucks of the line, and that means the articulation isn’t what we’ve been seeing in some of the newer figures that have come since. You get ball joints in the head, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature hinged elbows and swivels in the thighs and wrists. The legs feature double-hinged knees, along with hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has a ball joint that serves as a swivel and ab crunch.

And that brings us to Classic Ms. Marvel. She was a variant in her wave, sharing the slot with the Modern Ms. Marvel. Both figures use the exact same body, with the only sculpting differences being the head and the inclusion of a red scarf, around Modern’s waist and around Classic’s neck. The new head sculpt features her shorter hair and older style mask. I have no problems with the sculpting work here, it looks great, but the flesh tone plastic looks waxy.

The paintwork on Ms. Marvel is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s applied very well and escapes all of the horrible slop and bleeding that plagues my Modern Ms. Marvel figure. The red plastic looks good and the yellow starburst pattern feels more appropriate then going with the gold paint used on Captain Marvel. So what’s the problem? Hasbro went with blue paint highlights on the black parts of her costume. It doesn’t look so bad to the casual eye, but if you inspect the figure under any kind of really good light, it looks downright awful.

Speaking of downright awful, Ms. Marvel suffers from some really dated articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and thighs. The arms feature hinged elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have double-hinged knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has the same ball joint as Captain Marvel. At the very least, this figure is screaming for swivels in the biceps, but the lack of the same in the thighs is really frustrating too.

In the end, I’d say these figures are fairly solid, but far from great. Captain Marvel strikes me as the better of the two. Yes, he’s lacking some points of articulation, but the head sculpt is spot on and the paintwork is good. Ms. Marvel really screams for better articulation, and the blue highlights in the black parts of her costume remind me of some of that terrible first run of Comic Packs that Hasbro did for Star Wars. Still, I do like her better than my Modern Ms. Marvel, but considering that figure’s issues, it isn’t exactly high praise.

Sep 7 2012

Marvel Universe: Guardians of the Galaxy by Hasbro

It is a great time to be a Marvel comic book fan, when even characters that were once considered second or third tier are not only getting their own figures, but also huge budget movies. While I’m not sure the movie-going audience is as ready for Rocket Raccoon and company as they are for The Avengers, it’ll be an interesting experiment to see just how much hardcore nerd culture the general populace will stomach for their entertainment. Either way, this set must be somewhat popular with collectors, since it took me forever to finally find one on the shelf. When I did a week or so back, I promptly snatched it up.

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Hasbro has done a number of these multi-packs for the Marvel Universe. I’ve looked at both versions of the Fantastic Four set, and the packaging here is the same general idea. The set includes Starlord, Drax the Destroyer, Groot as a sapling, and Rocket Raccoon. The figures come in a nice window box that features awesome character art and shows off the goods quite well. The package is also totally collector friendly, which is cool because my MU shelves are getting so cramped that I have been storing all my multi-pack figures in their boxes.

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Let’s go ahead and start with Starlord. He’s a really cool figure and quite impressive considering that he’s almost a complete reuse of the AIM Soldier body, which was also repurposed for Ghost Rider. The only new sculpting here is the belt, which is sculpted to include the bottom part of his tunic, a new collar, and naturally a new head. I’m pretty pleased with the head sculpt that packs an awful lot of detail and a rather complex design into such a small scale figure. The combination of military style helmet and mask fits the character perfectly and looks cool doing it. His hands are sculpted to hold each of his detailed… machine pistols? Well, that’s what they look like to me. I can’t place them… maybe they’re just reused, but they don’t look bad in the figure’s hands.

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But I think it’s the paintwork that really makes this figure stand out. The bulk of the uniform is blue, with a slight wash that I could have done without, but the red piping looks snazzy as all hell and the glossy black used for the belt and boots, coupled with the gold for his chest emblem and helmet ornamentation really wraps the whole thing up.

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The reuse of this particular body means that Starlord sports some solid articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips. The arms feature hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and features a ball joint for an ab crunch.

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Next up is Drax the Destroyer, whom we last saw in the larger Marvel Legends format. Again, Drax recycles a body, this time the one used for Absorbing Man and modern Luke Cage. It’s a shirtless buck with trousers and it fits the character perfectly. There’s a newly sculpted belt hung around the waist, which includes two slots in the back so he can sheathe his two combat knives. That was a brilliant and unexpected touch! The grim head sculpt is perfect. I love the scowl, particularly the nose. Drax’s paintwork is about what you would expect. He has dark blue trousers and green skin, with a modest wash to it. All of his red tats are present, although they don’t quite come off as vibrant as they do on the Legends figure. Still, not bad for a guy in this scale.

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Drax’s articulation is a tad more limited than Starlord’s. Here you get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs feature double hinges in the knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. The torso has the ball jointed ab crunch. What’s missing? The waist swivel and the thigh swivels.

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The critters of the set include Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Groot comes in his tiny sprig form, crouching in a tiny terra cotta planter. He’s an absolutely marvelous sculpt for such a tiny guy, but try not to sneeze when you’re holding him or you’ll lose him. Honestly, I’m not too upset that this little guy is all we got. With a GotG movie on the way, I’m sure we’ll see a proper Groot figure, either as part of MU or part of a separate movie line. My opinion on Rocket Raccoon is a little divided. On the one hand, it really is a hell of a nice sculpt with some excellent paintwork. Well, apart from the stray red mark on his eyebrow. I noticed that in the store, but it was the only set they had, so I had to go with it. On the other hand, I was at least expecting some basic articulation like swivels in the shoulders and hips. As it is he’s a totally static piece designed to hold his removable gun out in a “come get some” kind of taunting stance. I do really like his gun, complete with what looks like a missile on the top and a tiny little raccoon-sized bayonet.

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The going retail for this set is about $20, which is the same as the Fantastic Four and other MU multi-packs. It does seem a little bit steeper here, since you are only getting two full figures, instead of three, and both of which feature some heavy parts re-use. That having been said, I’m not going to argue with parts reuse when it’s done this well. Besides, this is certainly a niche set even by Marvel Universe standards and frankly I’m amazed to see something like it land on Big Box toy shelves, when by all logic it should be relegated to comic book and specialty shops. Oh, but then there’s that big movie release pending, so who knows, in a year or so we could see all kinds of Guardians of the Galaxy toys flooding the shelves. Wouldn’t that be something?

Sep 6 2012

DC Universe All Stars: Superboy Prime by Mattel

So, I’ve been having a little fun with DC Universe All Stars and about how despite all the hype on Mattel’s part about DCUC being completely rebranded as a new retail line, nothing has really changed in terms of the brand. We’ve got the same basic figure styles, same basic packaging. So let’s at least give it to Mattel that what they really meant was that DCUC was being rebranded as a concept, and was going to be spearheading the action figures based on the New 52 reboot. That’s why the first wave has included figures like New 52 Superman and Batman and now… uh… Superboy Prime? Ok. So scratch that idea too. Isn’t Superboy Prime one of the main players partly responsible for the whole thing the New 52 reboot was intending to get away from? Sigh… let’s press on…

Yes, it’s the new rebranded packaging that looks the same as the old packaging. At least having “Classics” left on the package makes sense now since this figure is from the old continuity. For all my poking fun at the lack of package changes, I’m still happy for it. It’s comforting to continue to see this familiar old style keep turning up, despite the line being officially dead and reinvented into something new. The back panel has the little blurb about Superboy Prime and pictures of the other three figures in this wave. This will be the third of the four that I’ve looked at here, and I’m probably going to pass on Red Robin.

Out of the package, we have Superboy Prime wearing his Anti-Monitor inspired armor and it is the armor that I dislike most about this figure. Take a look at the photo of the figure on the back of the package. It looks just like the early promotional images for the figure we’ve been seeing all along, right? Now take a look at the figure itself and you can see some major differences in the armor. The shoulder armor in the images has separate hoses that look really nice. The final figure has hoses sculpted onto the shoulder pieces and are painted like shit. There’s a ton of slop between the gold and the blue making it look like someone had it with a brush and some Testor’s model paint. I can’t tell you how disappointed this change made me. At least the hoses are real on the arms and legs, and the chest shield being part of the shoulder armor is kind of cool.

The figure under the armor is pretty decent. The head sculpt features Supes’ traditional cowlick and the prominent ears give him a youthful, almost dorky appearance. I also like the tattered sculpt used for the cape. Naturally, both hands are sculpted into fists for some “reality punching action.”

I’ve already pointed out how crappy the paint on the shoulder armor is. The paint on the rest of the figure is actually pretty decent, although there isn’t much else to speak of. The body is cast in a nice shade of blue plastic with the boots and super-undies painted matte red. I like the use of glittery blue paint on the arm and leg armor. There is a little scratching on the front of the gold belt, and the blue highlights in his hair are a bit weird.

Articulation? You know the drill. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have universal joints in the hips, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. The armor inhibits the articulation at the shoulders quite a bit. Thankfully the hoses on the arms and legs are soft and loose enough to not impede the rest of the figure’s articulation.

Who knows what Mattel was attempting with the whole “DCUC is dead and will be rebranded into something new” malarkey? (Yes, I used the word malarkey, dammit! Deal with it!) They could have been trying to fool retailers into carrying the figures again, but then I haven’t seen any of the new All Stars in any of the Big Box toy aisles. They could have been using it as a scare tactic to try to push the Signature Collection as a subscription line to cut out middlemen and up the profits. Or they could have just had different plans that somehow went tits up. I distinctly recall the initial teasers for All Stars having all New 52 versions of the characters, rather than this mix of old and new. Honestly I would have preferred that arrangement, especially in light of how Superboy Prime turned out. He’s not the worst figure I’ve ever picked up, but he’s a blatant bait and switch between the early proto and the final figure, and had I seen him on the pegs, instead of buying him blind online, I would have taken a pass. At least I didn’t wind up paying a premium for him.

Sep 5 2012

DC Universe All Stars: “New 52” Superman

Time to check out the second New 52 treatment in Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line… oops, I mean All Stars. Make no mistake, this isn’t DCUC, that line was cancelled. This is something brand new. You can tell just by looking at the package…

Yep, there’s nothing at all familiar here. We just saw this packaging a few days ago with New 52 Batman, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it. It still looks great to me. The back panel of the card has a blurb about Superman, just in case you don’t know who the hell he is, right? The bottom of the card shows the other three figures that make up this wave. Let’s rip it open and get Supes out…

Once again, your mileage with this figure will depend a lot on how you feel about the New 52 costumes. Batman’s wasn’t all that much different than what we’re used to, but Superman here breaks from tradition a bit more. It’s still a blue outfit, red cape, and giant “S” shield on his chest, but as they say, the devil is in the details, and a number of the iconic details have changed up a bit. The most obvious is the omission of the red “underwear” which seems to bother fans the most. The belt has gone from yellow to red, there are panel lines in the costume, giving it a slight armored look, and he’s now sporting a high collar. But in the end the design is what it is, and we’re here to see how well the figure pulls it off…

Pretty damn well, I think. First off, the size difference doesn’t seem as apparent on this figure as it did with Batman. Yes, New 52 Supes seems a little slighter when standing next to my DCUC Supes, but they’re roughly the same height and they can certainly hang on my shelf together. The second thing that grabs my eye the most is the new head sculpt. It really does a great job matching the new, more youthful guise of the New 52’s comic book counterpart. I like it a lot. Next up is the glorious sculpted chest shield. Yes, just as with Batman, DC pointed out in one of the early issues of Justice League that the emblem on Superman’s chest should be raised in any 3D recreations and Mattel answered the call. The difference between a sculpted emblem and one that is just painted on makes a huge difference to me. As with Batman, the panel lines on Supes’ costume are downplayed a bit. I think I would have liked to see them more pronounced.

I’ve always been a fan of Superman’s colors scheme and this figure’s coloring really pleases the eye. The blue plastic used for the body suit is vibrant and spot on and meshes beautifully with the red plastic used for the cape. The paintwork on the chest shield is immaculate and the use of glossy red paint for the boots is certainly welcome. There’s no slop or bleeding to speak of and everything looks snazzy and fresh.

The only things here that I’m not all too keen on are the belt, the wrist cuffs, and the emblem on the cape. The cape emblem is just tampoed on in drab black ink and doesn’t really match the colorful snap of the rest of the figure. The belt is oddly un-centered. I’m not sure if this is a stylistic point that I missed from the comic artwork or not. Either way, it’s not a huge deal. As for the cuffs, well that’s just a sticking point I have with the design, not the figure.

How about articulation? Well, I realize this All Stars line is brand new *cough* so you might not know what to expect. Surprisingly, the articulation is identical to the old DCUC line. Imagine that! You get a ball jointed head; the arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have that same universal movement from the old DCUC line, hinged knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs. The torso swivels at the waist and features the ubiquitous ab crunch hinge. Nope, no surprises here!

In the end, I really like this figure a lot. It’s definitely fresh and new and it hits all the points of the redesign quite well. The sculpting is all around solid and the coloring is gorgeous. I’m not prepared to toss my original DCUC Superman figure into a tote and give this one his space on the shelf, but I respect the changes, probably more than most vocal fans, and the figure really does it all… dare I say it? Justice!

Sep 4 2012

Marvel Legends: Yellowjacket by Hasbro

I’ll be frank: The wait for the next wave of Marvel Legends is killing me. To remedy that, I’ve been trawling some of my old haunts and picking up some of the older Marvel Legends figures that I wanted back into my collection. Yeah, selling these things off was not one of my better moves. As a result, I’ll be looking at a lot of these in the coming months leading up to the release of the next Wave. Today we’re checking out one of my favorite Marvel characters, the deliciously flawed and deeply complex Hank Pym as his Yellowjacket persona.

Hasbro’s earlier package design for the Marvel Legends wasn’t that bad, but it isn’t as delightfully obnoxious as the current style. Nonetheless, the principal is the same with the character art on the upper left corner and various comic panel shots running down the right of the bubble. Yellowjacket was part of the series of figures needed to build The Blob. By the time Hasbro took the line over from Toy Biz, I was cherry picking the figures so I never did get to build The Blob, and in fairness it wasn’t really a BAF that would have made me buy figures I didn’t want.

Out of the package and we have Yellowjacket in all his glory. The majority of the figure is a simple painted buck, although the torso has his trademark shoulder pieces sculpted in and they look pretty darn good. I’m very pleased with the head sculpt here, particularly the antenna and the yellowed out eyes as opposed to Pym’s eyes peeking through the mask. Don’t ask me why, I just like this look better.

The paint on my figure is pretty solid, and I really like the shade of yellow plastic used here, far better than the gold-yellow used on the Marvel Universe figure. The paint on his belt looks a bit like a sloppy afterthought, but the emblem on his chest is pretty crisp. From sculpt to paint deco, this version really captures the character for me.

As a Hasbro figure, Yellowjacket doesn’t have the insane amount of articulation as the Toy Biz line, but there’s still a very good effort here. He has a ball jointed neck. His arms feature shoulder hinges built into the torso, in addition to ball jointed shoulders. He has double hinges in the elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in both the biceps and the forearms. His legs feature ball joints at the hips, double hinges at the knees, hinges at the ankles and the middle of the feet, and swivels in the hips and lower legs. He also has rocker joints in the ankles for those wide stances.  His torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. No, not too shabby.

Usually when I think back to Hasbro’s first attempt at Marvel Legends I don’t have fond memories of the experience. But I guess it’s easy to forget that for every shitty movie Jean Grey you got a solid figure like Yellowjacket. Ok, maybe the ratio wasn’t exactly one-to-one, but I’m interested to see how many of these earlier Hasbro efforts impress or disappoint me, as it’s been quite a few years since I’ve owned any. Either way, Yellowjacket really hits all the right points. What’s more, he looks perfect standing alongside the newer figures and contemplating why no one called him to be in the Avengers movie.

Sep 3 2012

Young Justice: Ra’s Al Ghul & Cheshire by Mattel

[Hope y’all are in the mood for more comic related figures, because it looks like it’s going to be Marvel and DC for the rest of the week. I’m all for more variety, but this place reflects what I’m getting in and this is what I’ve been getting in! Today’s is going to be a bit of a quickie, because it’s a holiday and I’ve got grilling to do! – FF]

Not too long ago, I took a look at the Martian Manhunter and Miss Martian two-pack. Today’s feature is the second of the three sets that, when completed, allow you to build the Amazo figure. I don’t know that I’ll be picking up the Flash & Kid Flash set to build the figure, but I was sure as hell buying a two-pack with Ra’s Al Ghul and Cheshire in it! Let’s see what we got here…

This one is called “Master Assassins” but the packaging is the same as what we saw in the “Alien Mindreaders” set. You get a window box that shows off the figures very nicely and there’s a colorful animated deco around the box itself. About the only thing that I don’t like is the Amazo advert between the two figures. It just looks obnoxious and ugly. The back of the box has animated portraits of the two characters and a little bio blurb on the pair of them. It also shows the other sets needed to complete the Amazo figure. As with the last set, this one is completely collector friendly, allowing you to play around with the figures and still display them back in the package if you so desire.

I’ll start off with Ra’s, because I don’t have quite a lot to say about him. He’s definitely a cool looking figure, but apart from the excellent head sculpt, there’s not a whole lot to him. His body relies mostly on paint apps, and what’s here isn’t all that well applied. There’s slop around the belt and the black plastic has a weird swirly look to it in some places. Still, the use of matte black for the body and glossy black for the boots and arm bracers is pretty cool, and the cape is nicely sculpted and looks great on the figure. Ra’s falls prey to my usual gripe with this line, in the way the hands are always sculpted exactly the same on most of the adult figures, with one made to hold something and the other in a bizarrely positioned fist. It may sound like I’m really picking this figure apart, but truth be told he’s actually pretty good. He just should have been a little more polished.

Cheshire, on the other hand, may very well be the best figure this 4-inch line has produced. She definitely has the most unique sculpt and the most complex paint apps. The head sculpt is a total homerun, as it captures the creepy look of the animated character’s mask and wild hair perfectly. The extra little details like the single sculpted sleeve, tassels on her belt, or the sai that hang from her belt are so good it feels like it doesn’t belong in this otherwise oversimplified line of figures. The paint shows a bit of slop around the edges, but nowhere near as bad as some of the other figures. In fact, the only really downside to this figure is the way Mattel decided to stamp all the copyright information right across the back of her tushy. Otherwise, this is one great looking figure.

Articulation is identical to all the figures in this line. You get the basic antiquated five points. The head turns, the arms rotate at the shoulders and the legs rotate at the hips.

The set includes no accessories, unless you want to count the two arms to build Amazo. Oh, and the ONE figure stand. I pissed and moaned enough about that last time, so I won’t go into it again this time, except to say, “Really, Mattel? One figure stand in a two-pack? Thanks a fucking lot!”

“Targets” is probably my favorite episode of Young Justice, so it should come as no surprise that I love this set so much. But a lot of that love comes from the fact that Mattel put so much great work into the Cheshire figure that it really almost transcends the context of this line. Sure, she still suffers from the same limited articulation and somewhat bendy limbs, but she is still an amazing looking figure based on a very cool character design. As usual, this set goes for around $20 at retail. It often feels a bit high for these two-packs, but in this case I was happy to cough up the Andy Jackson for such a solid pair of figures.

Sep 2 2012

Marvel Universe: Masterworks Sentinel Figure by Hasbro

I couldn’t tell you why it took me so long to pick up this mammoth Marvel figure. Maybe it was concern over the space needed to display another big figure, or having so much else on my want list. I just don’t know. It’s not like I still have my old Marvel Legends Sentinel anymore. Plus, I procrastinated like hell on buying the Masterwork Galactus figure and when I finally got him I was thrilled with him, so there was no reason to expect buyer’s remorse here. Nonetheless, I had the Sentinel in my hands more than a few times at TRU but it wasn’t until last week that I finally pulled the trigger and got him off of Amazon. Love that free Prime shipping!

Even knowing how big the Sentinel figure is, I was still a bit taken back when I saw the box leaning up against my front door. Amazon doesn’t exactly go nuts with the packing, so I knew that was all figure in there and not much else. I was a little concerned about the box getting banged up, since I do plan on saving this magnificent packaging and I was happy to see it arrived with minimal distress. The box is the same style used for Galactus. You get a beautifully illustrated front panel, oddly enough with Nightcrawler depicted a lot more prominently than Wolverine, who is actually in the box. There’s a flap that lifts up to reveal a window and the figure inside as well as the 3 ¾” Wolverine mounted beside the Sentinel’s head.

There’s a “Try Me” hole that lets you rattle off the Sentinel’s bewildering number of phrases and sounds. The back of the box shows a great photo of the toy (two of them actually) attacking the shit out of some X-Men figures. Note that my Sentinel is the dark repaint as opposed to the silver and blue depicted on the box art. Yes, I would have preferred to get the lighter one, but the price on this guy was right and it’s my own fault for not getting the lighter one when I had him in my hand in the toy aisle.

Opening the box, pulling out the Sentinel and two things immediately come to mind. The first is, “Wow, this is one heavy chunk of plastic” and second, “Holy hell, this thing smells.” It may be a result of sitting in a hot Florida USPS truck for a couple of days, but it took a full day for the burning rubber smell to wear off of this thing. Noxious odors aside, much like Galactus, the Sentinel is really heavy figure that practically justifies the purchase by sheer heft alone.

Hasbro boasts Sentinel at 16 inches, which makes him pretty nicely in scale with the Marvel Universe 3 ¾” figures. He’s built off some of the Galactus body, although there is so much re-sculpting and new parts that there’s really only a glimmer of similarities here and there. Galactus still measures up as a being a little taller, thanks to his bucket head, but for all intents and purposes, the two Masterworks figures are scaled the same. The sculpting is pretty solid and while some parts of the figure don’t feature an overload of detail, there are just enough nice touches here and there to carry the day. I particularly love the sections of exposed wires. The head sculpt is also pretty great, even if he does look like he’s wearing a ski cap. The only part of this figure’s aesthetics I’m not crazy about is the sticker used for his chest. It just looks a little cheap in context of the rest of the figure. A clear amber piece of plastic and another light would have been cool.

Of course, the Sentinel features electronic lights and sounds right out of the box. Or even in the box if you use the “Try Me” hole. Press the somewhat stubborn button on his chest and the eyes light up and you get one of the following 18 phrases…

“X-Men must be detained.”

“Mutant life form detected.”

“Halt!”

[Scanner sounds] “Fugitive mutant detected.”

“Destroy!” [Explosion]

“Stop!”

“Sentinel under attack.”

[Unrecognizable electronics sound]

“Halt, fugitive mutant!”

“System breach!”

“Alpha level mutant detected.”

“Halt, mutant!”

“Sentinel power core breached.”

“Purge power core.”

“Beta level mutant detected.” [wooshing sound]

“System meltdown.”

“Power core failure in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1.”

“Ejecting power core.”

Holy crap, this thing says a lot of stuff!

Being based off the Galactus body, you would expect the Sentinel figure to feature the same basic articulation, and you’d be right. You get a ball jointed head; the arms have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps, forearms and wrists. The legs feature ball joints and swivels in the hips, double hinged knees, hinged ankles, and swivels in the lower legs. The torso also swivels at the waist. The joints are all nice and strong and despite being ridiculously heavy, the Sentinel can stand just fine.

In addition to the Sentinel figure, you also get a 3 ¾” Wolverine. This is a repaint of the exact same sculpt we’ve all seen before. Where? Hell if I can remember, but it’s standing there on my shelf and most likely came from a Comic Pack or possibly Wolverine Origins. Either way, the figure has somehow escaped the scruitny of a feature here on FigureFan, so someone feel free to help out my alcohol addled mind. I’ll admit that I wasn’t dying with anticipation to own another one of these figures, but it is a solid figure and a nice bonus if you don’t already own it. I’ll also say that I like the brighter paintjob on this one better than my original.

What’s the best thing about this figure? It only set me back $35. Obviously it was worth every penny, even if it isn’t the color scheme I would have preferred. It’s just a solid hunk of satisfying action figure goodness, and it’s so cool to display him taking on a load of X-Men figures all at once. Hasbro’s Masterworks Sentinel goes on that list of toys that I would have died to own as a kid, and honestly, as an adult that collects toys, I don’t think I can pay this guy any greater compliment than that. To quote Dr. Channard from Hellraiser, “…and to think, I hesitated!”