Monthly Archives: September 2013

Sep 7 2013

Doctor Who: “Remembrance of the Daleks” Collector Set by Character Options

There were a couple of reasons why I passed on this set when it was first released. First off, buying a figure of a destroyed Dalek seemed like going overboard, even by my insane standards. Second, as much as I love Remembrance of the Daleks, it did contain my least favorite incarnation of Davros. Not to mention the big reveal at the end didn’t do anything for me. I called out that the Emperor was probably Davros under that thing as soon as he rolled onto the bridge of the Dalek ship, and I’m not usually that good at spotting things like that. Nonetheless, when CO finally delivered on Ace, this set seemed to be a lot better-rounded out and so I tossed it into the basket when I shipped.

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The set comes in the same little compact style of window box that CO has used for the two-packs that won’t fit into a blister pack. The deco is based off a rather retro style that gives off a 70’s vibe. There’s a timeline on the bottom showing the different Doctors and the back panel of the box has a blurb about the episode. Sure, this box is one big spoiler for the episode, but it’s been like 25 years, and if you’re like me you probably would have guessed that was Davros anyway. The inner tray has an illustration, which could be saved as a display backdrop, but it’s not one of their better ones, so I didn’t bother. The box is collector friendly, but as much as I wish I had the room to save these, with space being limited, I have to be a lot more selective about packaging I keep.

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Starting off with the destroyed Dalek, this piece is a lot better than it has any right to be. My first thought was that CO was just going to take a regular Imperial Dalek, cut it in half and melt it a bit. Nope, they actually did a lot of new sculpting for the Kaled mutant inside. The sculpt is heavily influenced by the Kaled mutants we’ve seen in NuWho and I’m fine with that since this is the last time we see The Daleks in the Classic series. The excellent sculpt and paintwork conspire to make for an appropriately disgusting mess. We never actually get to see inside the Dalek in the episode, so I really dig that they did this.

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The claw that we do get to see is recreated here, complete with articulation, as it’s actually set on a ball joint! The area around the shoulder slats are painted brown to simulate the explosion, but from there down, it’s just a regular Imperial Dalek, complete with ball jointed sucker arm, weapon arm, and three rolling wheels under the base. This figure is by no means the cheap-out that it could have been, and I find I’m a lot happier to have it in my collection than I could have imagined.

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And then there’s Dalek Emperor Davros. The design here is pretty lame and lazy. When closed up, he’s just an Imperial Dalek base with a huge sphere mounted on top. There are two ear lights and a hexagonal screen in the center. One of the things I hate about this design is that there are no Dalek arms. Ok, I get it that you’re The Emperor, but why wouldn’t you want a weapon and a sucker arm like all the other Daleks? Your Davros! People hate you! There are tons of people around the universe that want to take a pop at you! Why not have a gun arm? I know, the Emperor Daleks in the past haven’t had weapons, but it still bugs me. Granted, the figure here does a good job with what it had to work with.

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Flip open the top and you reveal… Oh. My. God! That’s Davros in there! In the episode, you just saw Davros’ head emerging from a crazy nest of cables and wires. The figure features a good head sculpt and some detail paintwork for the wires. Again, it looks good for what they had to work with, but I’m just not at all crazy about this version of Davros.

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The real reason I stayed away from this set in the past is that it retailed for $39.99. I’m the last to complain about the cost of Doctor Who figures, but that’s a lot of damn money for what you’re getting here. Nonetheless, now that I have an Ace with an RPG and an Anti-Dalek baseball bat, I thought it would justify having the destroyed Dalek in my collection. As for Davros, like it or not, it’s part of his history and it deserves a place on my shelf. I’m no fan of Eric Roberts as The Master, but if CO had put a figure out, I’d be obliged to get it. To be honest, with the line ending, I’ll likely be hunting down the few sets that I passed on, just so that I can have closure when there are no more figures forthcoming.

Sep 6 2013

Doctor Who: Ace by Character Options

The Classic side of Character Options’ Doctor Who line has slowed down a bit, and now it’s all but confirmed that the line will likely end with this year. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for something big for the 50th Anniversary and the news that the line was being shit-canned was not that something I was hoping for. Nonetheless, there have still been some important releases this year and a few more to come. Certainly one of the biggest holes in the collection for many fans has been Ace, spunky young companion to the 7th Doctor. To me, Ace’s relationship with The Doctor was very similar to Leela’s. Both ladies were prone to violence and despite The Doctor’s frequent cries of “No more Janus Thorn/Nitro-9,” Ace and Leela allowed The Doctor to remain conveniently detached from the violence that sometimes needed to be done. Well, we’ve already had several figures based on Leela, and now it’s time for Ace to get her due. And the cool thing is that this version of Ace is like several figures in one!

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The packaging is fairly similar to the style used for Peri, Leela, and some of the other recent companions and two-packs. Ace was on the show in the 80’s, but the packaging still has a very Classic Who feel to it, and I’m talking more like the 70’s. Technically, Ace was billed as a 2013 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive, but as is often the case with these releases, there’s nothing on the package to signify that and she was readily available for purchase at various retailers after the Con. She comes in a sealed blister pack with a printed insert. The front shows off the figure wearing her jacket and with all her accessories and extra limbs arranged around her. The reverse side of the insert has a little backstory. Obviously, this package is not collector friendly and you’re going to need a trusty pair of scissors to get Ace out of there.

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So, let’s start with Ace as she comes out of the package and wearing her signature leather jacket… the very reason this figure could not have been an easy one to make. Besides having her adopted name beautifully painted on the back, the figure recreates her habit of collecting patches, pins, and badges and affixing them to her jacket. CO did an incredible job reproducing them in all their tiny colorful glory. The jacket itself is actually a vest with the sleeves sculpted onto her arms. We’ve seen this done plenty of times by the likes of Hasbro and Mattel, but in this case it actually serves a purpose in making the jacket removable… but more on that in a little bit. The jacket remained constant through various other little tweaks and bobs to Ace’s ensemble so it’s awesome that they were able to get it this right. Besides the jacket, you get a soft plastic skirt, black matte painted leggings, and glossy black boots.

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The likeness is serviceable but not exceptional. Ace’s portrait is not one of CO’s slam dunks, as they have done some really great head sculpts over the years, but she’s definitely not bad either and the likeness definitely looks better in person. I’m not sure that Sophie Aldred was all that easy to sculpt, so I’m willing to give some leeway here. They definitely got her cheeks right and I like that her little pony tail is a separate sculpted piece. She is definitely a lot better than the Jo Grant and some of the Sarah Janes. Overall, I approve. Holy shit, I definitely used the word definitely way too many times in this paragraph!

To take off Ace’s jacket, you pull off her arms, remove the jacket vest and pop on her white sleeved arms. If you have the Jo Grant figure, than you’ve likely already done this sort of thing. It’s easy to do and it really does transform her into a mostly new figure. Again, the paintwork on her T-shirt is really phenomenal. It’s crisp and colorful. I really dig this option, but my guess is most collectors will want to display her with the jacket.

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Ace’s articulation varies a bit depending on which arms you attach. With her jacketed arms on, she has ball joints in the shoulders, swivel cuts in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The t-shirt arms do away with the wrist swivels. The bicep swivels are there, but mine appear to be stuck and I’m not about to force it. The rest of the figure stays the same, with universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs, hinges in the knees, and a rotating head.

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Accessories! Ace comes with some cool gear! For starters, she has a backpack that can be worn and actually store some of her stuff. The back comes off so you can fill it with her three silver canisters of Nitro-9 explosives and there’s a slot on the top to slide in her baseball bat. The baseball bat is a nice addition since The Doctor energized it using The Hand of Omega and turned it into a Dalek busting bludgeon. You also get an RPG launcher with detachable grenade. That’s a lot of cool stuff, especially for a Doctor Who figure!

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Ace retails for around $20. It’s a fair amount of money to pay for a single 5” action figure, but it has been the going rate for the single figure exclusives in the past. Plus, Ace really is like two figures in one and comes with a lot of stuff, so I think the value is there. I may even get a second to display her with and without jacket. I was originally surprised that CO gave away so much with one figure, as they are the king of tweaks and repacks, but with the line ending, I’m guessing they wanted to get her all out in one shot.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back to check out a two-pack that I finally broke down and purchased to go with her.

Sep 5 2013

Transformers Robots in Disguise: X-Brawn by Hasbro

It’s Transformers Thursday again! Last time we looked at Side Burn, the first of the Autobot Car Brothers from Robots in Disguise. Today we’re rolling on with the second of the three. It’s X-Brawn…

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X-Brawn’s alt mode is a silver and green SUV. I totally dig the realism in this vehicle mode. The silver finish looks great and he has a huge Autobot emblem stamped on his hood. The running boards and front ramming bar are all chromed out, and he even has a spare tire rack on the back. Speaking of tires, X-Brawn’s are real rubber and stamped with “Transformers” on the sides. You can even open his doors and lift the hood to reveal the chrome engine inside. Cool!

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X-Brawn transforms pretty easily and boy am I ever torn on his robot mode. Unlike Side Burn, who had car parts hanging haphazardly all over, X-Brawn manages to confine almost all of it into one giant crippling disfigurement of the left arm. Yes, he wears the entire front of his auto mode as a forearm. The problem here is that it’s far more unwieldy and random than Side Burn’s roof, which actually looks like a serviceable shield. X-Brawn’s SUV front of an arm just looks random and unfortunate. I suppose he could hit people with it, but it seems like the trade-off of having to go through life with that on your arm, isn’t a good one.

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It’s a real shame too, because the rest of X-Brawn looks mighty damn good. The lower legs are pretty huge, but they give him a nice solid base to stand on, and I really dig the sculpting in his chest. Even his head sculpt looks normal and not all frankensteined like Side Burns does. Toss in some serviceable ball joints and he’s a pretty fun figure to pose and play with.

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One other distinctive feature about X-Brawn is that his running boards detach during transformation and become a sword or a bludgeon weapon. Yes, this poor guy has only one hand and it’s on the popeye arm, while his normal arm sports only a weapon.

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Like Side Burn, I should have an enormous problem with this figure, and yet I can’t bring myself to hate on him. Yes, X-Brawn’s huge car front arm violates my ugly car kibble standards, but so much else about this figure works well for me that I’m able to overlook it. Some may argue that the coloring of the SUV mode is too subdued, but I like the fact that it just accentuates the vehicle’s realism. On the other hand, if you were looking for something with a more exciting deco, I may be able to accommodate you on the next Transformers Thursday!

Sep 4 2013

Marvel Legends: Wrecker by Hasbro

Last week I started the ball rolling on the Rocket Raccoon wave with Black Panther, today I’m going right for the jugular and looking at the figure I wanted most out of this wave… Oh yes, it’s Dirk Garthwaite himself, aka The Wrecker! Not only do I love this guy, but having his figure in hand brings me one step closer to completing my Legends Wrecking Crew. Seeing as how I never got them all in the Universe scale, this is pretty big doings for me! Hello, pleased to meet you, I’m a giant, pathetic nerd!

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There’s the Marvel Legends packaging. It’s magnificent and comicy and I love it. It’s also got some serious heft to it, as Wrecker really fills out the bubble rather nicely. And if the colorful package hanging on the peg doesn’t draw your eye, maybe the disembodied raccoon head mounted next to the figure will. You’ll note the character art features both Wrecker and Bulldozer, meaning that this figure is scheduled to be a running change at some point during the distribution. I’m not terribly happy about that, because it hasn’t always been easy for me to get the variants so far.  Getting both Madam Masque and Viper wasn’t too bad, but I had to pay a little extra for Piledriver and I fear the same will be true for Bulldozer, assuming he ever actually makes it out.

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Wrecker is a big beast of a figure, but he has to be in order to stand tall with his chums, Piledriver and Thunderball, let alone go toe to toe with Marvel Legends’ Heroic Age Thor. He represents a sensible reuse of parts with the same arms and legs as his cohorts in crime. The torso is a newly sculpted piece, featuring nice texturing and his tunic with the button down front flap and high collar. The belt is also new. His deco is comprised mostly of dark green plastic with purple gloves, boots, belt, and mask.

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Obviously the headsculpt is new as well and Hasbro did a great job with it. I’ve been pretty happy with all the Wrecking Crew portraits, but I think they outdid themselves with this guy. The eyes and teeth are all sorts of awesome. He looks angry and demented and not the type of guy that I would want coming at me with a crowbar, let alone a magically enchanted one.

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Speaking of which, yes Wrecker comes with his trusty crowbar. It’s satisfyingly large and sculpted with all sorts of little dings and dents. He can hold it well in either hand. This is trutly a Crowbar of the Gods!

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Because Wrecker shares the limbs with the rest of the Wrecking Crew, he also shares their articulation, which is a very good thing. The arms have ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and gloves. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. He has hinges in his ankles as well as his feet. Wrecker can swivel at the waist, he has an ab-crunch hinge, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. I’m not always a fan of the hinged feet, but on a figure of this heft, I find it to be most welcome. The combination of articulation and the solid, chunky feel of the figure make him loads of fun to play around with.

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Yup, I was very excited to get this guy in my collection and he certainly didn’t disappoint. He’s nice and big and he’s got loads of personality. He looks amazing when displayed with his Crew and I’ve already had him fight several battles with Thor!  I am, however, still a little miffed that Bulldozer is a running change. If he ever turns up, I have a feeling I’ll be paying a premium to complete the team. But I won’t hold that against Wrecker here. He’s a great addition to my shelf, and I love filling out teams!

Sep 3 2013

Masters of the Universe Classics: Castaspella by Mattel

Last month, I scheduled one of my work weeks around Matty Sale Day because I had convinced myself that I needed to be at the computer at precisely 12pm EST in order to get my mitts on Castaspella. Turns out, she was the ugly girl at the dance and hung around for quite a few days after. I really thought she was going to go fast, but I guess I’m not in tune with the ebb and flow of this fanbase’s interests. For the uninitiated, Casta is based off a character in the Princess of Power off-shoot line. The vintage toys were more akin to dolls than action figures, which meant if you were a young boy collecting the He-Mans and you wanted to expand into She-Ra territory you had to be extremely comfortable with your sexuality at a young age and have understanding parents or else you were just shit out of luck.

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Casta comes in the same style package as the regular Masters Classics, but she does have a “Princess of Power” sticker on the bubble, which is rather cool. I’ve said my piece about the great packaging for this line many times over, so let’s just move on.

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The flipside of the card has the usual bio, which I hardly ever read, and shots of other Princess of Power figures. I’m missing two of those: Netossa and Bow. One of these days, I’ll hunt them down.

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Out of the package, Casta is a delightfully colorful figure. The last time I remember being this pleased with a MOTUC figure’s coloring it was Sy-Klone, so obviously I have some innate love for blue and yellow decos. Casta has a blue top and blue leggings, which contrast beautifully with her yellow skirt and boots. Toss in some lightning bolts for good measure and she’s got major style. The orange for the high collar is a strange choice, but I guess it helps bridge the rift leading up to her red hair. Mmm… red heads… me likey. I have a very vague memory of her from the cartoon, but what I do remember was her voice was horrible and she was always macking on Prince Adam.

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I really like Casta’s head sculpt, although I don’t think it matches the artwork all that much. The likeness has a lot in common with the one used for Teela some time back, although it still works for me. T4H went all out on the hair sculpt, which is mounded up on top of her head and then cascades behind her. It’s very distinctive. The outfit’s sculpt seems to reuse some parts from She-Ra, most notably the skirt, although the boots have been re-sculpted to match her deco. All in all her outfit looks pretty fresh and original and it’s layered onto the figure as has been the case with many of the past females.

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Articulation appears standard for the females in the line. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders and hips. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. The legs are hinged at the knees and ankles. Casta can swivel at the waist, but there is no ab-crunch.

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Casta comes with three accessories: You get a shield, an effect part, and a huge disc. I know that the disc is tied to her vintage counterpart’s gimmick, but I have no idea what the hell it’s supposed to be. You can clip it onto her waist, but I think it’s garish and ugly like it’s a piece of 70’s wall art and I will banish it to the darkest depths of one of my most miscellaneous totes. Mwahaha.

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The shield is pretty cool. Sure, it’s the same PoP shield sculpt we’ve seen before, but it’s cast in translucent plastic and some people will have you believe that translucent plastic makes everything better. Is it a magic shield? Yup, that sounds good to me.

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Last up is the effect part. If you know me, you know I am rarely impressed with effect parts. Casta’s is a large yellow magic beam that fits over either of her hands. It’s ok, I guess, but I doubt it will get much face time in my display case.

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So, needless to say I’m glad I was able to get this figure, even if I did wind up taking a morning off that I didn’t need to. It’s crazy to look at a figure that took a few days to sell out and wonder what went wrong, but that’s often the case with Matty’s bizarre business model. In any event, I’m a big fan of the Princess of Power figures in the MOTUC collection, mainly because it’s the first time we’ve seen these characters as action figures rather than dolls, and I’m hoping to see a lot more in the 2014 Sub. Casta is a nice, colorful figure and a great addition to my Masters shelf.

Sep 2 2013

Lineage 2: Elf Statue (Second Edition) by Orchid Seed

I know precious little about the Lineage franchise apart from being vaguely aware of it as an online PC game. I do know that I dig the art and character design that I’ve seen in it almost enough to tempt me to give it a try. If it weren’t an online game I would have certainly experienced it by now, but WoW notwithstanding, I’m not a big fan of MMORPGs nor do I have the time needed to devote to starting a new one. Nonetheless, I am a big fan of PVC statues and hawt sexy elves, and I’ve noticed some of these at my local indie game shop in the past. Surprisingly, they sold out rather quickly, but I recently pre-ordered one online and since then, I found this one at a good price on another site.

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The statue is brought to us by Orchid Seed and this is the first one of their products that I own. The box has a pinkish hue and a large window on the front to show off the statue and a smaller one on the top to let some light in. The side panels show off one of the other Elf statues in this line, while the rear panel shows different shots of this particular piece. The First Edition of this piece featured different colored hair and different accessories. Inside the box, the statue comes between two plastic trays. The figure itself comes fully assembled, but detached from her base and her two staves are beside her. Everything is collector friendly so you can pack her back into the box for storage or MIB display. Plugging the statue into the base is a little frustrating. The pegs don’t fit all that well and I thought I was doing it wrong because of the position of her feet. It turns out that her stance is just a little awkward, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Taking a step back, you can disassemble the statue by removing the arms and the head. This allows you to remove her half-jacket for a different display option. The cut for the neck is disguised by her choker and the cuts at the biceps are disguised by her arm bands, so if you like the bare shoulder look, it works quite well. It’s also as good as any place to start if we want to get a good look at the base figure.

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This is a really beautiful sculpt on every level. The pose has her with one hand fussing with her long pink hair and the other down at her hip so as to hold one of her staves at her side. Her hair is parted on the sides to show off her sizeable elf ears and she’s looking downward. She has one hip thrust to the side and one foot in front of the other. The placement of the feet is the only thing that I can nitpick here. They’re just set at an awkward ankle, which makes it look to me like she’s staggering. It actually looks fine from certain angles, but from dead on I just get the impression that she’s having trouble walking in those shoes. Speaking of shoes, let’s check out her costume, and to do that I’m going to pop her jacket back on.

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Yes, the jacket and skirt are made out of very soft, pliable plastic. I actually find it easier to get the jacket back on than it is to get it off. The skirt is a separate piece as well, which could be removed if it was able to clear her hips or chest. Both pieces are excellent sculpts and feature some really nice gold decorations and lace finery. The jacket covers an equally ornate corset top and it is a Japanese statue so if you were so inclined to peek under her skirt you’d see a set of ornately sculpted and rather flimsy panties. The outfit is rounded out by an ornate choker collar and a pair of high heeled sandals. I’m really impressed by all the work that went into the ornate deco of the costume. As beautiful as the girl is, it’s the finery in the outfit that really makes this statue shine.

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As mentioned, you get two staves, which can be placed into her left hand. You just pull the end piece off and then reattach it once it’s in place. Both staves are beautifully sculpted. One has a blue orb and the other has an ornate face. I love them both, but I’m probably going to stick with the demon face one for my regular display.

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The base is a simple clear disc tinted pink. I’ve said my piece about the foot pegs, so I won’t beat a dead horse. The base has a nice frosted deco etched into it along with “Elf Second Edition” toward the front. It’s simple but elegant.

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I’ve avoided these statues in the past because they do run higher than I’m used to paying for my 1/7 scale PVC. It’s hard to justify spending over $100 when I can get my PVC statue fix from Koto for about half that. Nonetheless, I have a soft spot for sexy elves, and I was able to pick this little lady up from Entertainment Earth for $65, which seemed like a good opportunity to introduce myself to the line. It’s also a steal when you consider that the First Edition has surpassed $150 on the secondary market. She’s definitely a beautiful piece and I’m looking forward to getting the next release when it comes out later this month.