Yearly Archives: 2012

Jan 24 2012

The First Avenger: Captain America Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Alrighty then, let’s check out the Hot Toys treatment of Captain America: The First Avengers. We’ve already covered the packaging, and now the figure’s out let’s go ahead and start with the head.

I really dig the final head sculpt. Yes, I’ve seen plenty of complaints about how it doesn’t quite look like Chris Evans. Honestly, I think it looks pretty close. Hot Toys tends to either nail it perfectly or get that, “hmmm… close, but there’s something not quite right about it” vibe. Granted, he’s wearing a mask and that may go a long way to conceal the resemblance, but there’s something about the mouth that just ties the likeness together for me. I seem to be in the minority here, but so long as it looks good to me, that’s all that matters, right? Apart from that, the helmet and mask is excellent and while its all part of the headsculpt, it definitely has a 3D look to it as if you could unbuckle the chin strap and take it off. The paint apps for the “A” and his wings are all crisp and clean. I’ll go with a baseball metaphor here, since we’re on an American theme, and say that the head may not be a Homerun, but its definitely a Triple.
The costume itself, on the other hand, now that’s a homerun. Granted, it helps if you love the movie costume as much as I do, and the way its executed here is just plain awesome. Cap’s duds have an uncanny vintage WWII look to them, particularly in the quilting on the shoulders and the use of grey cloth instead of pure white for the arms and mid section. The stitching is all beautifully done and the outfit fits the figure extremely well. The metal rank pip on his collar is a really nice touch too. His gloves and boots are all sculpted plastic, and simulate the look of leather very nicely.
Besides his belt, Cap has straps on his biceps, holding the quilted shoulder flaps down and a low slung pistol holster for his automatic, that includes a thigh strap. He also has the aforementioned shoulder strap that is packaged off the figure, and a “Y” harness on his back that is actually part of the costume itself and culminates in a metal catch, which is where the clip is used to hang his shield. The faux leather strapping on the figure is all extremely delicate, particularly the super thin shoulder strap. You have to be really careful slipping it onto him and I really felt like I was going to pull it apart. The pistol holster is the same way, which is why you won’t see the pistol pictured anywhere else in this feature. It took me forever to get it in there and fasten the flap, and I probably won’t be removing it ever again.
Captain comes with no less than seven extra hands, most of which I will never ever use. Popping the hands off is easy, but getting the new ones on is a little frustrating. I’m not going to criticize Hot Toys’ decision to include a lot of variety here. Variety is always good. But I’m happy with just using the hands designed to hold his goodies. I may swap out his gun with something else from time to time, but he’s always going to be standing on my shelf holding his shield.
And speaking of guns and the shield, let’s talk accessories. Here’s where Cap comes up a little light. Don’t get me wrong, comes with everything you would expect, but it still feels rather light compared to the inventories of some of the other Hot Toys figures. The shield is absolutely fantastic, and fairly complex. Its made of plastic, but thanks to the shiny lacquer finish you wouldn’t know that unless you touched it. The paintwork is absolutely gorgeous. The reverse has two straps, one that fits around his forearm and the other that threads through one of his gripping hands. It’s rather tricky getting it in place, especially because the straps are so thin and delicate, and the catch is so tiny, but once he’s got it on his arm, it stays on great and looks amazing. There’s also a simple hook that allows you to hang it on his back. It’s a lot of work to swap out the shield from back to arm, though, so I probably won’t be doing it a lot, although you can actually hang it on his back without going through all the trouble of removng the hand from the strap.
Besides the shield, Cap comes with two weapons. I already touched on the automatic pistol, which is a very nice sculpt, but feels a little undersized to me, which is another reason I’m happy to keep it in the holster. I have a fair share of WWII era weapons in the 1:6 scale, so I will likely use a different .45 automatic pistol if I ever want to display him with one. It’s not a big issue, but when you’re paying this much for a figure, you shouldn’t have to swap in a better weapon. The Thompson machine gun, on the other hand is excellent and even includes a removable clip and just looks outstanding, whether in his hand or slung over his shoulder. That said, I may wind up displaying him with an M1 Garand or a Grease Gun.
You also get the personalized display stand. It’s pretty simple and serviceable, so don’t expect any kind of environment or diorama base. The post has a little wire cradle that the figure rests on between its legs and it does a fine job of holding him up.
Cap’s articulation is perfectly fine from the chest down, but the arms are somewhat restricted at the shoulders. The arms are only designed to rise up to 90-degrees and the instructions specifically point out that trying to get more motion out of them may damage the figure. My Cap’s arms actually don’t quite make it to 90-degrees, and I’m not about to force it to try to get that extra one or two degrees out of them. I suspect the joint was limited so as not to tear the snug stitching on his shoulders. I can still get Cap into most of the poses I want to, so I’m not overly concerned about this issue, but let’s face it, when people buy a 1:6 scale figure at this price point (or even less), they are usually expecting optimal articulation and you just aren’t getting it with Cap here.
In the end, Cap’s certainly got a few issues, but I knew about all of them coming in to the purchase. I loved this figure from the moment I got him out of the box and after spending a week fiddling about with him and putting him into different displays I still love it to death. He looks amazing on display and really the only thing I would have liked to see would have been a better sidearm. I picked up this figure through the fine folks at Big Bad Toy Store for about $170 shipped. That puts it at the lower end of Hot Toys product price range. You get a great figure for that price, and while I can’t think of much I would have added, accessory whores used to a gaggle of goodies with their figures may feel a little disappointed.
Jan 23 2012

The First Avenger: Captain America Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

You need only look back at the barren wasteland of content in November to see how busy I was at work toward the end of last year. Well, by the end of the year all that hard work started paying off, and I mean quite literally. In that higher tax bracket sense of the words. Besides some heavily padded paychecks, I was promoted and bumped up a significant paygrade. As a result, I wanted to take some of that fun money and splurge this year on something a little pricier than I usually buy and at the same time start getting in on a new line of figures that I’ve previously avoided for budgetary purposes. Hot Toys is going to be one of those outlets. And while I’m not prepared to start digging into the older figures because they have a habit of getting so prohibitively expensive, there are a number on the market right now that I plan on picking up.

For my first figure, I thought it appropriate to go with Captain America, despite some issues I knew ahead of time that existed with the figure. I did a lot of research on this guy before buying and ultimately decided that he looked so good, I was willing to live with the issues. I’ve just always loved Cap to pieces and while there were certainly some things about the movie I would have done differently, one thing that I wouldn’t have changed at all was Cap’s final appearance. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to pick up Thor and Iron Man from Hot Toys when The Avengers movie comes out, but Cap’s outfit is going to change quite a bit, and I really wanted him in his WWII-era costume. So let’s take a look and see what Hot Toys did with it. I’m going to start out today by just checking out the packaging and then I’ll try to be back tomorrow with a look at the figure itself.
Cap comes in a nice sized box emblazoned with his shield deco on the front and a whole lot of production information on the back. It looks like you’re about to start reading the credits from the movie, but its actually all the damn people who worked on this figure and its pretty impressive. You get a shot of the figure’s prototype on the back of the box and some assorted stills on the sides. The box is about as tall as you would expect from a 1:6 scale figure, but it’s a hell of a lot deeper. The design is like a shoebox, where you just lift the top off to get at the goods inside. Overall the outer packaging is attractive and sturdy, but possibly not as flashy as one might expect from a figure in this price range.
While in concept, the packaging is pretty simple, there’s a whole bunch of layers and stuff at work here. There is a tray tucked under the top cover that contains Cap’s gear. You get his iconic shield, an automatic pistol, a Thompson machine gun, a clip to hold his shield on his back, and his shoulder strap with pouches.
Next you have to lift out a cardstock poster of the figure to reveal the tray holding the figure, the stand, and his array of no less than seven replacement hands. You also get a baggie of replacement pegs for the hands and feet and a folded instruction sheet. There’s a cover over that, and another cover over that, and plastic over the hands and head. It takes some time to get through all this, but its nice to know he comes well protected and its cool how my anticipation was building the whole time.
I’m usually not a big packaging whore, as a fair number of my toys just get taken out and the package gets thrown away, but as a rule I keep my 1:6 scale figures in their packages. This is usually the case because they have a lot of extra accessories to keep track of and to help keep their soft goods clean when they aren’t out on display. Granted, Cap here will likely spend more time on my shelf than in his box, but there’s plenty of extras to keep track of, so this box is obviously a keeper for me.

 

Tomorrow, I’ll be back for Part 2 and we’ll actually dig in and start looking at the figure itself!
Jan 22 2012

DC Universe Wave 19: Collect & Connect STRIPE by Mattel

There’s something so satisfying about snapping those last pieces together onto a DC Universe Collect & Connect figure. That’s especially true this time around since apart from Hawkman, I really didn’t have to buy any figures in Wave 19 that I didn’t actually want. But also because I really, really wanted STRIPE in my collection and this was really the only way Mattel could do him justice.

STRIPE’s parts came spread out over all six figures in Wave 19. This time there was no extra figure with a stand or any of that jazz. So when all was said and done, you needed the two arms, the two legs, the head and crotch piece, and the torso. He snaps together pretty easily, but his joints were a real bitch to get unstuck and loosened up. I was literally afraid I was going to snap the arms apart, while trying to get the shoulder joints to move for the first time. Luckily they eventually gave way, and now all the joints can be manipulated just fine. Once together, STRIPE is one seriously satisfying hunk of a figure.
The sculpt here is absolutely fantastic, although you may recognize a couple of the parts. The legs are both repainted from Stel, the C&C figure from Green Lantern Classics Wave 2. (We haven’t looked at him here yet on FigureFan, because I’m still two figures (ie two arms) away from completing that wave and figure) Some may cry foul at the reuse, but honestly I think it works just fine and they match the rest of the sculpt quite appropriately. There’s some really good tooling all around on this figure, particularly in the panel lining and the detail work in the arms and fists.
When I first saw pics of STRIPE, I was kind of leary about the coloring. It looked sort of cheap. The actual figure in hand is much better, largely thanks to the mother-of-pearl style finish used on the bulk of the figure. It has a nice subtle sheen to it that really contrasts beautifully with the red and blue. Granted, it is a little strange seeing a figure this big with so few paint apps, but it definitely jives with the character design and I’m really glad Mattel resisted the urge to put some kind of wash on him.
STRIPE’s articulation consists of ball joints in the shoulders, hips, and neck; Hinges in the elbows, knees, and ankles; And swivels in the biceps, wrists, and waist. His shoulder army is constructed to offer some pliability when articulating the shoulders, and while it does offer some restriction, you can still easily get STRIPE’s arms up to about 90-degrees at the shoulders. He’s certainly a very poseable figure.

I’m a huge fan of teams when it comes to my superhero funny books, so its no surprise that I like Stars and STRIPE. I mean, apart from the fact that its generally a damn good book. So, having a Stargirl and STRIPE on my DCUC shelf is pretty exciting, especially since the figures turned out so well. If I could come up with just one other duo that I would have liked to see hit the DCUC before it ends it would be Hawk and Dove and they’re actually in Wave 20, so I’m a pretty happy camper.
And that closes the book on Wave 19 of DC Universe Classics. I’m going to give this line a rest for a couple of days, look at some other things, and then I’ll come back to finish up looking at Wave 17, take another intermission, and then check out the rest of Green Lantern Classics 2, which I started a long time ago.
Jan 21 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: Magog by Mattel

There have been plenty of times where DCUC has put out a figure that I loved despite not giving a crap about the character. Magog is one of those instances. Of course, the reason I don’t care about the character is because this is one of those rare instances where I have absolutely no idea who he is. I’ve certainly picked up an occasional figure in this line where I wasn’t entirely familiar with a character, but this is one of the first times that I swear I’ve never seen him before. According to his confusing little bio on the back, he’s relatively new, first appearing in JSA just a few years ago. Let’s see what he’s all about…

And there we go. Say goodbye to the Wave 19 packaging, for this is the last packaged figure in the assortment to look at. Of course, the Wave 20 will be the same, as will that of Wave 17, which we’ll start looking at next week, so there’s no reason to start tearing up and sobbing. Magog looks pretty cool in the package with a bit of a neutral stance, one fist clenched against his chest and his staff in hand. What’s with all the staffs lately, Mattel? Seems like we’re getting a disproportionate number of DCUC figures with staffs lately. Oh well.
Out of the package, Magog is an interesting composite character indeed. He’s got a golden ram horned helmet that looks straight out of antiquity, but he’s also got what looks like cybernetics in his neck, a golden armored or mechanical arm, and an automatic pistol slung across his belt. I gotta say, I’m digging the look here. Seeing this amount of new tooling on a character I don’t even know is pretty surprising. But whatever the case, Mattel went all out on him. I think the only downside of the figure is that the pistol is sculpted as part of the holster and isn’t removable. Given the amount of new tooling here, a removable pistol probably just didn’t cost out, but he would have looked pretty damn sweet holding it. Magog’s paintwork is every bit as good as the sculpt. From his blue trousers to brown belts, bare chest and golden parts, he’s a strikingly beautiful figure.
How’s the articulation? Standard DCUC goodness. Magog has a ball jointed neck; His arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists; His legs have universal movement in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinges in the ankles and knees. Magog can swivel at the waist and features the ubiquitous DCUC ab crunch hinge.
With only one wave of figures left, I’m guessing a lot of folks are sore about Magog here taking up a slot. That having been said, I think he’s a great looking figure and pretty distinctive looking, which says quite a lot in a line of figures based on a bunch of kooks in crazy costumes. The colors and sculpt should  impress, so long as you don’t mind the crazy character design. I’ll probably be tracking down some of those issues of JSA to find out more about him.

And that wraps it up for the regular figures in Wave 19. We do still have the C&C figure, STRIPE, to look at, and I’ll be back to check him out tomorrow.
Jan 20 2012

DC Universe Classics Wave 19: Hawkman by Mattel

I’ve already covered four of the six figures from the 19th Wave of DC Universe Classics, so let’s knock off the last two figures today and tomorrow and then we can check out the C&C figure, STRIPE. Today we’re looking at Hawkman and I’ve got some seriously mixed feelings about him turning up in this Wave. The running theme of this Wave has been the JSA and in fairness this is the Golden Age version of the character, but that doesn’t change the fact that we already got Hawkman all the way back in Wave 6, and if you already own that figure then all you’re really getting that’s new here are two new Golden Age heads and the C&C piece. Yep, except for one little change in the paint, this is a straight repack from the neck down. On the plus side… I actually don’t own the Wave 6 release of Hawkman, so…

There’s the DCUC packaging. I’m really anxious to see how the new All Stars packaging will stack up. I don’t know if its because its going away, but I continue to love the presentation of the DC Universe Classics more and more with each figure. Hawkman is carded holding his mace and he really fills out the card beautifully. Mine came packaged with his beaked mask, which I absolutely hate. I’m not sure if this guy was packaged as a variant or not (ie with the other head attached).
Out of the package Hawkman is a great looking figure. But then he was also a great looking figure when he was released 13 waves ago. As I already mentioned, he’s the exact same figure from the neck down save for the absense of the painted emblem on the red disc of his chest harness. The rest of the colors are all the same and the paintwork on my figure is all quite crisp and clean and free of slop. The wings have a nice feathered texture are are hinged on his back, and while the hinge is kind of big and ugly, its at least very sturdy and gives a nice amount of flapping articulation. The wings are also hinged at their peaks and they look quite majestic when spread out to their full span. I’m pretty sure the mace is the same one that came with the Wave 6 Hawkman as well.
I already let it slip that I hate the beaked version of Hawkman’s mask. It’s not any fault of the sculpt, I just think its a stupid looking design. The other head suits me a lot better, but I still don’t like it as much as the modern look. Maybe I can buy a trashed Wave 6 Hawkman for cheap and salvage the modern head, but more than likely I’ll wind up buying Mattel’s MOTUC/DCUC 2-pack with the Hawkman and Stratos, since I still don’t have Stratos. But, I digress…
Let’s run down the articulation. You get a ball jointed neck; The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists; The legs have universal movement in the hips, swivel cuts in the thighs, and hinges in the ankles and knees. Hawkman swivels at the waist and features the ubiquitous DCUC ab crunch hinge.
I’ve said plenty of times during my looks at Wave 19 that I’m not going to do a lot of nitpicking regarding what characters Mattel decided to put in these final slots before the line goes bye-bye. They were never going to please everyone with their choices, and quite frankly its a good bet they didn’t even know the line was going to be ending when they populated Wave 19. That all having been said, I’m going to break from that because there’s just no way that I wanted a rehash like this one with only two Waves left. I’d be extra pissed if I already owned the previous Hawkman, but then since I prefer the more modern look, this figure is still nothing more than a placeholder in my collection. He’s a fine figure, and I’m sure there’s plenty of JSA fans and completists who will disagree with me, but I seriously could think of dozens of characters who should have gotten this slot in the penultimate Wave.
See ya tomorrow with a look at Magog!
Jan 19 2012

Thundercats: 6-inch Series: Cheetara by Ban Dai

As promised, I’m back with a look at the last of the three 6-inch Thundercats I picked up this week. Cheetara’s the newest release of the bunch and while I thought she was going to be really tough to find, just like her 4-inch counterpart, I stumbled upon a whopping three of them hanging on the peg at once. While Panthro and Lion-O are more or less just larger versions of their 4-inch cousins, Cheetara comes with a major, and much needed, overhaul in the articulation department. Let’s see what we’ve got.

And there’s the packaging. Once again, the printed insert has some nice character art to give the package some individuality. Unfortunately, Cheetara’s package is also a filthy liar with the whole”18 points” of articulation nonsense, but we’ll get to that later. Cheetara is carded with a bit more of an action pose than the other figures, and holding her staff. There’s a wee bit of warpage to her knee joints when she comes out of the package, but they seem to straighten out pretty well.
I’m really happy with Cheetara’s sculpt. It’s pretty close to what we saw in the smaller 4-inch version. BD did a great job with her long hair and this time you don’t have a ThunderLynx magnet sticking out of her back and through her hair. Her face sculpt is a bit soft, like Lion-O’s, but her being a female it works a lot better on this figure. In fact, it’s more of an asset than a liability. I think they amped up her boobs a bit over the 4-inch figure too, but let’s face it, she’s pretty well endowed in the cartoon. She’s also got the bangles sculpted onto her ankles and wrists. All in all, BD did a fine job capturing her animated counterpart in figure form.
The paintwork on this figure is pretty tight. Yes, we still have those unpainted joints, and honestly they’re pretty obnoxious here against the yellowish flesh(fur?)tones of her shoulders, elbows, and knees. They don’t ruin the figure for me, but you can’t help but notice them. I’m particularly happy with the little spots on her shoulders and hair, as well as the pink coloring around her eyes and on her lips. Nice.
Ok, so let’s deal with the articulation. The 4-inch Cheetara was a major departure from the articulation on the rest of the figures and as such somewhat disappointing. 6-inch Cheetara is so much better, but she is still lacking a few of the points that 6-inch Lion-O and Panthro have. The head is still ball jointed, although her hair really does create problems there. I’ll still concede that the joint is there. Her arms feature the same pin and hinge ball joints as the other figures and swivel wrists, but her elbows are only single hinged and she’s missing the swivel cut in the bicep. Her legs feature the same ball joints in the hips and swivels in the thighs, but her knees are only single hinged. Her ankles are hinged and still have the rocker joints. She doesn’t have the swivel in the waist, but her torso does swivel just under her chest. Her articulation is pretty good, but it’s not quite up to par with the others, and I don’t come up with the 18 separate points claimed by the packaging.
Cheetara comes with just one accessory, but it’s exactly what we needed to get with her: The iconic staff. There’s not much to say about it, it’s brown and has some wood graining sculpted into it. So, the accessory count here isn’t all that impressive, but I can’t really think of what else she would come with, so no complaints here. I suppose BD could have included a smaller version that clipped onto her somewhere, but honestly, I don’t feel that I needed it.
If it sounds like I’m a little down on Cheetara, I certainly don’t mean to be. She really is a nice figure. Obviously the extra articulation would have been nice, particularly the swivels in the biceps and I would have really liked the extra hinges in the knees. It’s just kind of odd that the super agile acrobat of the litter has less articulation than the hulking tank, Panthro. Still, she’s very poseable and she looks absolutely fantastic.
Jan 18 2012

Thundercats: 6-inch Series: Panthro by Ban Dai

Here comes the second installment of my 6-inch Thundercats Trifecta and this time we’re looking at the bruiser of the Thundercats, Panthro. He’s a big hunk of plastic, but does he live up to the awesomeness of Lion-O?

The packaging is pretty much the same as what we saw yesterday. It’s a huge bubble on a generic card, but the printed insert with Panthro’s character art adds a lot to the individuality of the presentation. While Lion-O looked pretty comfy inside his roomy bubble, Panthro’s looking a bit more crampt. He fills out the package nicely. He’s carded in a fairly prone position with his two accessories flanking him on either side. I thought it odd that he wasn’t carded holding his nunchuks, but we’ll see the possible reason for that in a few ticks.
Out of the package, Panthro is one satisfyingly large figure for this scale. One of my favorite things about the 4-inch line of BD’s Thundercats is the way each character is scaled accurately to each other, and that carries over to the 6-inch line as well. Panthro’s got a lot of bulk to him and he’s about a head taller than Lion-O. His proportions are awseome with huge fists and a big upper body. I’m absolutely loving the sculpting at work on this figure. Lion-O had a soft face sculpt, but Panthro’s is clear and full of character. I like the detail of the scarring on his shoulders and his face and I’m really digging the spikes on his bracers and chest straps.
Panthro’s paintwork is excellent and while he still has those pesky unpainted pegs in his joints, they aren’t nearly as offensive as the ones on Lion-O. He doesn’t have any exposed pegs in the front of his shoulders and the others don’t look so bad against the purple and brown of his darker color scheme. I like the mix of matte and glossy finish and once again, the Eye of Thunderra emblem on his belt looks crisp and beautiful.
Panthro features almost the same 18 points of articulation as Lion-O, so let’s run through them again. You get a ball jointed neck; His arms have ball joints in the shoulders, double-hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and forearms. His legs have ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double-hinges in the knees, hinged ankles, and his ankles have the cool rocker joints to keep his feet flat on the ground. Panthro has a ball joint in the waist and that same ab joint that is there, but doesn’t seem to really do anything. What’s the difference between Panthro and Lion-O? Panthro’s wrists aren’t really hinged, they only swivel.
Panthro only comes with two accessories, and they’re sort of the same accessory. You get his folded nunchuks and his unfolded nunchucks. The folded nunchuks can be pegged onto his back for him to carry, and I like this idea. The unfolded chuks are molded in one piece and the chain is flexible. I would have really preferred a piece of grey string connecting two pieces, but I’m sure this style was cheaper. The big problem here is that it is almost impossible to get the chucks into Panthro’s tight grips. Your best bet is sliding them into his grip at the chain and trying to slide it down to the batons and even then it’s really difficult. BD really needed to make his grip a little more flexible or give us a little more room to work with. Still, if this is the biggest gripe I can come up with, I suppose I can live with it.
As with Lion-O, I totally dig this figure and I’m having loads of fun messing around with him. Technically he’s a bit better executed than Lion-O since he has the sharper face sculpt and lacks the unpainted pins in the shoulders, but apart from that you get the same great looking and ridiculously fun type of figure. Sure, Panthro doesn’t come with as many goodies as Lion-O, but you do get his signature weapon in two forms and let’s face it, he uses a lot more plastic for his build.
Tomorrow I’ll be back to finish off this trifecta of thunderous kitties with Cheetara.
Jan 17 2012

Thundercats: 6-inch Series: Lion-O by Ban Dai

As some of you may know the Walmarts in my town are pretty sucky for toy hunting. Unless you’re looking for Star Wars, Transformers or toys from whatever the Marvel or DC movie of the week is, they really don’t carry anything else worthwhile in the Boys Action aisles. In fact, in the last couple of years the Boys Action aisles have gone from three down to two and now it’s one and a half as one of them shares with Nerf and all three of the ones in the city where I live are the same way. So imagine my surprise today when I actually found Thundercats on the pegs. There were no 4-inch cats, but two flexed pegs of the 6-inchers, along with the newly released Cheetara. I happily grabbed up Lion-O, Panthro and Cheetara. Sadly no Tygra or Mumm-Ra. Today, we’ll kick it off with Lion-O.

The packaging is pretty utilitarian in design, but it certainly gets the job done. Y ou get a huge bubble with just a bit of the cardback peeking up on the top with the neo Thundercats logo. Lion is carded in a fairly neutral stance, but holding the extended Sword of Omens and with his accesories around him. There’s a nice printed insert with some pretty cool character art and some stickers in tri-lingual nonsense. The back panel shows the figure as well as some of the other Thundercats toys available. These aren’t collector friendly packages like Ban Dai’s 8-inch Classics Thundercats, but that’s ok, I don’t mind shredding a package to get at my toys.
Once I got this guy out of the package in in my hands, I knew that I loved him. That’s not to say he doesn’t have some issues, so let me get those out of the way first. The face sculpt is very soft, especially when compared to Panthro. It might have something to do with the flesh colored plastic BD used, I’m not sure. It still looks good, it still looks exactly like Lion-O from the modern cartoon, but at first, I kept thinking I wished it was crisper and more defined. The rest of the sculpt is really good, albeit simplified to keep that animated style of the character design.
Secondly, yeah those unpainted pegs in the joints. The only one that really bothers me are the ones on his flesh colored wrists, and one of those isn’t even a problem since I have him wearing the Claw Shield while on display, but they are a bit of an eyesore, especially since the rest of the figure’s paintwork is really first rate. I love the contrast between the glossy blue on the armor and the matte finish on the silver shoulder pauldron. The paintwork on the face is clean and the Eye of Thunderra on his belt is crisp and beautiful. Ok, the straps on the back of his leg armor aren’t painted, but I didn’t even really notice that at first.
Lion-O sports 18-points of articulation, making him a difficult figure to put down. Like my 8-inch Classics Lion-O, he’s just so darn fun to play around with. You get a ball jointed neck; Arms with ball joints in the shoulders, double-hinged elbows, hinged wrists, and swivels in the biceps and forearms; His legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double-hinged knees, hinged ankles, and his ankles even have rocker joints to keep his feet flat when assuming a wide stance. Lion-O also has a ball jointed waist, and while it looks like he has a ball joint in the chest, mine doesn’t seem to want to move at all. The level of poseability here approaches what I come to expect in a higher end import, not a 6-inch American mass market release figure. My only concern here is that the joints feel like they may loosen up pretty quick. Especially when I can’t stop playing with him.
Lion-O comes with all the necessary accessories. You get two versions of The Sword of Omens, both extended and dorment. You get two versions of the Claw Shield, one with the claws out, and one with them retracted. The swords are fantastically done, and I’m particularly impressed that the extended sword, while obviously soft for safety purposes is perfectly straight and not prone to warping. The Eye of Thunderra is maticulously painted on the hilt of the extended version and closed on the dorment version. Both Claw Shields can be used to sheathe the dorment sword and can be worn by popping off Lion-O’s left hand and popping the Claw on in its place. He also has a plastic strap hanging off his belt so he can wear it as a sheathe. I couldn’t ask for anything more in the accessories department.
It’s unfortunate that popular opinion seems to characterize this figure by two of its faults, a soft face sculpt and unpainted peg joints, because everything else about him is amazing. I am absolutely thrilled to finally own this figure and he definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite recent purchases, and I’ve been buying a hell of a lot of toys lately. I suppose you could argue that that BD is sort of marketing these 6-inchers at the collectors grade end of the spectrum, and he certainly doesn’t appoach the glory of the 8-inch Classics Lion-O, but he is still a fantastic toy that still looks just fine displayed on the shelf. I’ll also note that it’s cool how the awkwardly large Snarf that came with the Thundertank is actually perfectly scaled for these 6-inch figures. He retails for anywhere between $15-17, which I honestly think is a decent price point for all that you get. And now, I’m going to go play with him some more!
Jan 16 2012

Young Justice: 6-inch Series: Artemis by Mattel

I’m back with the second figure of the first wave of Mattel’s 6-inch Young Justice series, and it’s Artemis. Yep, kind of an odd choice for a slot in the first wave, since she didn’t come into the series at the beginning, but that doesn’t make her any less welcome. I’ve already went through a lot of the concepts behind this line, so today’s feature should go a lot quicker than yesterday’s.

The packaging. It’s identical to the window box that Robin came in, aside from the back panel that features the character art of Artemis and her bio. Once again, the packaging here really shows off the goods nicely. As big as the box is, though, Artemis’ base is actually bigger, so it comes separated into two halves.
As with Robin, Artemis is essentially a smaller and slighter build version of the DCUC figures, but being kids these are completely in scale with the DCUC collection. The only thing frustraing here is that as good as Artemis’ articulation is, it’s still tough to get her to look really good shooting her bow. She’s a pretty awesome mix of paintwork for her costume and just enough sculpting here and there for her kneepads, gloves, and boots to keep her unique. Her belt and thigh strapped pouch are separate pieces, as is her removable shoulder-slung quiver. I’m particularly happy with the way Artemis’ head sculpt came out and the hinged ponytail is a nice touch and is completely removable if it gets in your way.
Artemis’ articulation is the same as we saw with Robin. You get a ball jointed neck; Arms with ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists; Her legs feature universal movment in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles; Her torso includes an ab crunch hinge and a swivel in the waist. Not bad at all.
Accessories! Artemis comes loaded for bear with her compound bow and arrows. The bow is nicely sculpted with the plastic strings, a sculpted grip for her to hold it and it’s got a groove so you can actually notch one of the arrows into it. She also comes with four various gizmo arrows.
Robin’s base was big, but Artemis’ is huge. It’s two pieces that snap together to make up a cool little archery range. There’s a clear bucket to hold her extra arrows and a stand to cradle her bow when she’s not shooting. The other half of the stand has a target that you can actually plug some of the arrows into to make it look like they were fired into it. The little cracks and damage to the target are a cool little extra. Granted, when assembled, the target isn’t terribly far from her shooting position, but you can separate them to give them a little distance. Personally, I’m happy just displaying her on the half that holds her bow and arrows, although an extra peg on the target base would have been nice.
Artemis falls right in line with Robin as being an excellent all around package. While I think I like the display possibilities of Robin’s base better, Artemis’ is a bit more like a mini playset and that’s a really cool thing. She’s definitely worth the average $20 going price, and possibly even the extra five bucks that TRU will rape out of you if you have no other options without having to pay for shipping. Either way, I’m really pleased with my first foray into this 6-inch line and I’ll definitely be pushing forward and picking up Aqualad, Superboy, and Speedy.
Jan 15 2012

Star Wars: Vintage Collection: Princess Leia (Slave Outfit) by Hasbro

I had every intention of keeping my promise and stopping back today with a look at 6-inch Artemis from Mattel’s Young Justice line, but unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries and I was too drunk off my ass busy to run out and get fresh ones, so I’m going to go with a quickie that I’ve been holding on to since a little before Christmas. Holy shit, it’s Star Wars!

Yeah, not much Star Wars around here. In fact, every time I buy a new Star Wars figure, I consider it an epic fail of willpower on my part. Usually I can keep it in check until Hasbro decides to release some awesome huge new version of a classic vehicle or a figure that I really want for some reason or another. That having been said, I’ll freely admit that it is difficult to resist just about any of these Vintage Collection carded figures. And by that I mean the ones from the Original Trilogy, not the prequel figures on the crappy ret-conned cards.
So, Princess Leia in Slave Outfit. I really wanted to pick her up when she was released last year to go with my then new Jabba the Hutt figure and dias. Unfortunately, I never did see her in the stores, and I was not willing to pay the highway robbery of the online prices. Amazingly enough, I was in a Target about a week before Christmas and happened to be scooping up some new Marvel Universe figures when I spotted her hanging on the pegs. There were only like four or five Vintage Collection figures there and bafflingly enough she was one of them. I threw her on the pile and went off to check out. The register didn’t recognize her barcode so the cashier needed to come up with a price. I’m thinking, well you just rang up five Marvel Universe figures at $6.99 a piece, so that’s what she’ll call it and I’d be fine. Instead she says, “How’s three bucks sound?” Yeah, it sounded just fine.
Anyway, it wasn’t until I got this figure home that I realized she didn’t include the second set of legs that the last release did. The ones that allowed her to sit in a reclining position. I’m sure I could probably still get her to recline by my Jabba figure, but insteady I just opted to slap her in a Starcase and leave her carded. Yes, that means you just read all of this for nothing, because I’m not really going to review her. It also means for some bizarre reason I had a spare Star Wars Starcase lying around. Weird. Suffice it to say, the sculpt looks fine, the softgoods loin cloth is good, but maybe a little too full, and she comes with a pole arm and a… a drinking glass? Um ok.
I may get around to opening her sooner or later, especially since Hasbro slapped that ugly Boba Fett Mail Away sticker right on top of her photo, but for now, she’s staying carded. I will admit I found it surprising that her first appearance in this outfit wasn’t until the 1995 Power of the Force 2 line. Even more surprising… I actually still own that figure carded. Once again, weird.

By the way, Hasbro, can you please get the friggin Gamorrean Guard back on the pegs, please?