Oct 19 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Girl by Hasbro

It feels like it’s taking me forever to get through this wave of Marvel Legends, but I’m finally nearing the home stretch. Today I’m checking out Spider-Girl who shares a slot with the Ultimates Spider-Woman. In the past when Hasbro has done this, the two variants in a slot shared the same BAF part, but in this case, you actually need to pick up both spider ladies in order to build your Hobbie. Now that the variants are shipping in the same case, I’m a big fan of doing things this way, so I don’t have extra BAF parts kicking around.

Package shot! Is there anything new to say? Not really. Because this is one of those slot-sharing figures, neither May Parker’s real name or alias actually appear on the front of the package, only the back. Instead the front features the “Warriors of the Web” moniker. It’s also worth noting that with both Hobgoblin’s head and wings included, there’s probably just as much plastic devoted to the BAF parts here as the actual figure.

May uses the same buck as the Spider-Woman variant in this slot. That was easy to deduce because the right arm on my figure is fused at the elbow. Considering the other figure’s elbow broke with almost no force applied, I dropped her right into a pot of boiling water and everything worked out fine. With that having been said, I think this is a great looking figure. The costume is a wonderful design that both pays homage to classic Spidey, but with the larger spider emblem, darker blues and her more prominant mechanical web shooters. The coloring on this figure is fantastic, with just a few hiccups where the shoulder hinges interrupt the web pattern and the unpainted blue knee pins.

She’s also inherited that fine, fine Aunt May Ass. Maybe MJ had something to do with it too.

Articulation consists of rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, with those odd elbow hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and feature lateral rockers. You get a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

I like this figure a lot, despite the fact that I’m not a big fan of the What If books and I’ve never read Amazing Spider-Girl or Spectacular Spider-Girl either. I’m far enough behind on my regular comics, without dipping into the shenannigans of Earth-982. She looks great, the colors are pretty, and she has an interesting backstory and I’m always happy to pad out my Spidey shelves. Next Monday I’ll take a look at the final boxed figure in the wave, Spider-Man himself!

Oct 16 2015

The Flash (TV Series): The Flash and Captain Cold by DC Collectibles

Network TV… I ain’t got time for that shit! Of course, I watched the pilot of The Flash way back when and liked it quite a bit, but getting me to make an appointment to watch TV each week? That’s just not going to happen. Bundle up the whole season on Netflix, though, and I’m on board. So, yeah, I just finished watching the inaugural season and I was thoroughly impressed with not only the quality of the show, but the sensibilities that it paid to the DC Comic Universe. Considering getting through most episodes of Arrow has been like pulling teeth for me, I found The Flash’s willingness to pull no punches and jump right into the fray refreshing. Grant Gustin is a fantastic Barry Allen and Wentworth Miller breathed a level of personality into Leonard Snart that I wouldn’t have guessed possible. And guess what? DC Collectibles just released The Flash and Captain Cold in their DC TV-verse action figure line, so let’s check them out.

I haven’t been impressed with much of DC Collectible’s packaging, but they sure did a nice job on these. The figures come in snappy window boxes with an angled edge with the character name running up the edge of the bubble. The side opposite side panels have some fantastic character art, as well as the name of the character and a number for the figure. Whichever way you line these boxes up on your shelf, you’ll be able to see which figure is which. I do wish there was a window on the top flap to light up the figures inside, but these are still a huge improvement over the boxes we’ve been getting.

There’s a giant Flash emblem illustrated on the cardboard behind the tray, which frames the figure nicely. Everything is collector friendly and the large windows grants a great look at the figures inside. The back panel shows an assortment of Arrow figures and while I’m far from sold on that show, chances are I’ll be picking up some of those for the cross-over value. As nice as these boxes are, I fear that I will inevitably have to pitch them because of space limitations, but I’m going to hang onto them as long as I can. Let’s start with Barry…

I loved the design of the TV suit from the very beginning and I appreciate the fact that they wasted no time getting him into it. The design is a great compromise between comic book design and that sense of realism that the movies and TV shows have strives to bestow on these costumed heroes. The attention to detail here is superb and everything from the raised lightning bolt on his chest right down to the gold piping is actually part of the sculpt. The different materials are reflected by texturing and sculpted rumples here and there.

The bulk of the figure’s coloring comes from the deep crimson plastic used for the body and even the fleshtone for the face is bare plastic and looks great. What little paint that’s here is confined to the eyes, the gold piping, and the bright red in the center of his chest emblem. But don’t think that the minimalist use of paint is a shortcoming. It perfectly suits the costume design and the gold is applied with the utmost precision.

DCC has been slowly improving on articulation (and sometimes taking a few steps back), but here they’ve gone all out, at least in terms of actual points. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, and hinged swivels in the wrists. The hips appear to be a T-crotch, but feature lateral hinges as well. The legs have double hinged knees, swivels in the thighs and boots, and hinges in the ankles with lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso and another in the neck. Now, with all that having been said, some of these points are limited in their range. I was a tad disappointed that I couldn’t really get Barry into a proper hunched down running pose with head pointing forward. He can still do some nice stuff, but improved range in the chest joint and the elbows would have gone a long way to making him perfect. Flash comes with fists attached and two extra pairs of hands, one set is relaxed and the other are flattened to mimic how he holds them when he runs.

Moving on to Captain Cold, once again the show did an admirable job giving Snart a “real world” look. He’s sporting some rugged looking pants with knee pads and thigh straps, a textured pull-over, and of course his winter coat with the fur-trimmed hood. Wait, was it blue or brown in the show… I just can’t remember. Weeeeee…. That’s a Star Wars joke, friends! The coat is the usual soft plastic vest with sculpted sleeves and it looks great on him. I think my only complaint here is that while you can pull back his hood to get a better look at his head sculpt, you can’t put it in a down position. I’m not going to hold it against DCC, though, because I can’t imagine a way they could have pulled that off.

The head sculpt here is a tad soft, but I think the likeness is still solid. He’s wearing his blue tinted goggles and if you pull the hood back, you can see that the entire head is sculpted, even the bits of his hair that are otherwise obscured.

Snart features most of the same points of articulation as Barry. The most conspicuous omission is the lack of any articulation in the torso. Like Barry, the rotating hinges in the elbows are rather limiting, which is a bit more disappointing here, but I’ll bet that coat is made out of Gortex and as George Costanza will attest, Gortex isn’t easy to move around in. My biggest issue with the elbows is that it makes it difficult for Snart to hold his gun across his chest. Difficult, but not impossible.

Speaking of which, Snart obviously comes with his trademark freeze gun and it’s a really nice piece of kit. The sculpt is very detailed and it has a great weathered paint finish. Captain Cold also comes with a total of three pairs of hands: Fists, relaxed hands, and gun-gripping hands so he can dish out the cold as a lefty or righty.

DC Collectibles has put out some great figures over the last year or so, and this pair continues that trend. The sculpt and paint on these figures are top notch and apart from wishing the elbows (and Flash’s torso) had a greater range of motion, I’ve got nothing but praise. It’s nice to see that they’re paying homage to the DC TV Universe and I sincerely hope they sell well, because I’d probably going to be all in on this line. Well, except for Iris, she’s terrible. Now, if Wave 2 consisted of her dad and Reverse Flash? Yes, please!

Oct 15 2015

Transformers Hero Mashers: Megatron and Soundwave by Hasbro

It’s creeping into that time of year when the stores I don’t tend to think of for toys start inflating their otherwise paltry toy sections for Christmas. One of those stores is Ross, the shabby discount clothing chain that dabbles in closeout selections. They’ve been a good source of cheap Transformers for me in the past. I got almost my entire Animated collection there for half off, so it’s worth a looksee every now and then. I haven’t been there in a while, but after throwing back a bunch of drinks at a bar in the same strip mall, I decided to stagger in. I came out with these two Hero Mashers.

I’ve been tempted by this line for a while, but with me unloading so many Transformers from my collection lately, buying any of these felt like a fool’s errand. Nonetheless at $6.99 each, I couldn’t resist. If you’re unfamiliar with the line, they’re basically action figures with pop-off parts that are interchangeable with each other. Hasbro’s also got this line going for Marvel and Star Wars and it must be popular because it’s been bleeding over to different companies. I’m pretty sure Playmates has one going for the TMNT line. Anyway, I should note that I have almost no interest in the mash-up gimmick and that I bought these solely because they remind me of glorified Action Masters.

I don’t have much to say about the packaging, other than they are colorful window boxes and my Megatron box is badly damaged. They’re obviously aimed squarely at kids and I think it’s neat that they put the characters on the side panel in case you want to keep the boxes on a bookshelf. They are collector friendly, which would come in handy to keep all the extra parts in the tray, although I’ve opted to pitch the packaging.

Stripped away of all those extra parts, these figures really do scratch that Action Master itch for me, only these are obviously bigger and more articulated. The G1 motif is there, albeit with a little more stylized charactersistics in Megatron. There’s also a rather impressive amount of sculpted detail on these guys and solid paint (especially on Soundwave) considering the age group their aimed at. In fact, my only complaint is that Soundwave looks naked without his Decepticon emblem on his chest tape door. OK, one more gripe, I wish Megatron’s fusion cannon didn’t have that long post. But these are rather insignificant nitpicks from an adult collector about a kiddie toy line and that in itself is commendable.

The articulation works in conjunction with the swappable parts system. The figures are basically loaded with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, neck, and ankles, and with swivels in the wrists. The lower limbs of these joints features a socket and peg allowing you to pull the joint out and replace with another. There are also sockets all over the figures to peg in weapons or extra bits. I could totally see this being hours of fun for kids, and while the concept approaches a certain morbid sense of body horror for the Marvel and Star Wars characters, it almost makes sense with these robot characters. Hell, even ignoring the swappable part gimmick, it’s fun to have Transformers figure with blow-apart limbs!

Megatron comes with a backpack, two parts that could serve as weapon pods or jet attachments for the backpack, a shoulder cannon, a missile for his Fusion Cannon, an Energon Mace, and Sideswipe’s arm. The backpack looks great on him, but you can’t use it along with the shoulder cannon. It’s either or. Obviously, my favorite part here is the Energon Mace.

Soundwave comes with a couple of pieces that look like they might be intended as batteries, a black and gold gun, his iconic shoulder cannon, his hand gun with missile, and Skywarp’s arm.

And it’s hard to deny the appeal of cobbling together Megawave and Wavetron. Or, maybe not. At the original MSRP of about $13 each, I’ve considered picking these up a bunch of times, but seeing them at $7 each and with the booze coursing through my veins, the purchase was a no brainer. Even now that I’ve sobered up I’m glad I bought them. They’re fun and quirky and kind of neat. Although I can’t say for sure I’ll be picking up many more of these, unless good old Ross stocks more of them for Christmas. Maybe I’ll do a sampling of some of the Marvel or Star Wars versions just for giggles.

Oct 14 2015

Doctor Who: The 12th Doctor by Character Options

It seems that Character Options can’t quite pull the plug on their 5-inch Scale Doctor Who line. It’s all but been declared dead and yet a handful of figures still drip out each year, keeping the line on life support. And thank Rassilon for that, because otherwise I would have a giant twelve-shaped hole in my Doctors line up. It took all of Series 8 to get here, but today I’m checking out Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor.

We’ve got some entirely new packaging here that shows CO taking a page from some of the 6-inch Scale figure lines out there. The window box reminds me a lot of the Star Wars Black and Funko Legacy style. The deco is brand new too and I really love it. You get the 70-ish style logo on the front and some very nice coloring, along with some of the clockwork gears behind the tray in keeping with the Series 8/9 introduction. The window shows off the figure brilliantly, although there’s a lot of extra room in there, and the side panel is designed to identify the figure. The fact that CO has re-designed the package makes me hope that they may be planning to churn out more than a few new figures in this scale, but that may just be false hopes on my part.

Out of the box, The Doctor looks pretty sharp, although this isn’t exactly one of the more exciting outfits the Time Lord has worn. I would have preferred one of his more ruffly, Jon Pertwee-esque looks, but at least he’s not wearing that hoodie. No, the outfit here is a simple open jacket, trousers, and white collared shirt. Probably the biggest stand out thing about the outfit is the nice black gloss sheen on his shoes and grey border around the soles. It’s also a nice touch that they bothered to sculpt and paint Capaldi’s ring. The paint quality on CO’s recent releases hasn’t been the best and that’s exhibited here by some flubbed paint on the white shirt as well as a stroke of gray paint. There are also a few scratches to the skin tone on his face. Nothing terrible, but we’ve seen better.

The likeness here is fair, but I don’t like it as much as the one included with The Time of the Doctor set. That could just be personal preference, though. I just thought that other head had more personality. He also looks rather sleepy. Capaldi has some super intense peepers and I don’t think those are properly reflected here. Again, not terrible, but CO has always been pretty good with the portraits and we’ve seen better likenesses on past Doctors.

Articulation is on par with other recent releases in this line. The shoulders have rotating hinges, while the arms have hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have a T-crotch at the hips, which does allow for lateral movement. The knees are hinged, and there are swivels in the thighs and ankles. I like the design of the shoulders and hips on these figures. You can’t really tell they have the lateral movement until you have the figure in hand.

The Doctor comes with one accessory and as you probably guessed it is indeed his Sonic Screwdriver. It’s the same design as the 11th Doctor’s and possibly a repacked accessory, although it seems a bit bigger than the Sonics I’ve had with some of Eleven’s figures. At least he didn’t come with the Sonic Sunglasses. Ugh. I’m all for the Sonic Screwdriver taking a hiatus, especially since NuWho has turned it into a tricorder, rather than just a little piece of kit that can open locks and interfere with electronic devices, but Sonic Wayfarers are a step down. Besides, the 5th and 6th Doctors did just fine without their Screwdriver.

Just looking at this figure, anyone would think I was crazy to be as excited to own it as I am, but I’ve made no bones about my love for Capaldi and not having his Doctor on my shelf in this scale would have been devastating. I’ve enjoyed Series 8 and been enjoying Series 9, but most of that is on Capaldi’s performance because I don’t think the writing has been living up to past Series. I love him as an actor, I love his passion for the show, and I love his take on the rebel Time Lord. And yeah, I love Character Options for struggling to keep this line going, especially since they revealed figures of Missy and a new Eighth Doctor, both due out before the end of the year.

Oct 13 2015

Terminator 2 Judgement Day: Ultimate T-800 by NECA

I still consider T2 to be the greatest sci-fi action flick ever made. It’s one of those handful of older movies that I can still remember seeing in the theater because it had such a big impact on me. It’s also a prime example of a franchise that should have been laid to rest after the second installment, not just because most of the subsequent movies have been sub par, but because T2 is almost an impossible act to follow. So, it’s nice to see after all this time, the movie is still getting action figure love, and after a bumpy ride with McFarlane, it’s also nice to see T2 in the far more capable hands of NECA Toys, a company that is proving to be masters at their craft.

NECA’s relatively new”Ultimate” line of action figures spans many movies and genres and features some damn snazzy packaging. We last saw it when I looked at their Ultimate Freddy Kruger figure and you’ll be seeing it again here many times, possibly as soon as next week. The T-800 comes in a great looking box with an opening front flap that reveals a window, allowing for a good look at the figure and all his accessories. And man, does he come with a lot! With three different head sculpts and a mini arsenal of weapons, it’s no wonder NECA calls this the “Ultimate” T-800! The box features some stills from the movie, and some shots of the figure that practically look like stills from the movie. Everything is collector friendly and that’s a good thing because this box is definitely a keeper.

The T-800 comes in his bad-ass biker outfit looking like he just stepped right off the screen. The attention to detail on this guy is staggering. From the stitching and wrinkles in the pants, stitching on the gloves, to a jacket that uses every modicum of surface space to pack in more detail. The use of matte black for the pants, boots, and gloves and gloss black for the jacket is a welcome sight and the various silver zippers are all neatly painted on the jacket. This is one of those figures that clearly represents a labor of love on the part of everyone involved in its production.

I think this is one of the best examples of a figure using the old “vest with sculpted sleeves” trick to mimic an actual jacket. The area around the shoulders where the jacket and sleeves meet just looks like part of the jointing. The back of the jacket features all the individual bullet holes sustained in battle, and the figure comes out of the box wearing the bandoleer strap of M-79 grenade rounds with one round missing.

As mentioned, you get three different head sculpts with the figure and doing the pop and swap is super easy. The stock head is regular old Arnold featuring a solid likeness and some pretty clean paint. You really need to get in close to see any degree of uneven lines. Also, the neck joint is set deep enough into the shirt collar that you can’t even really see it when the head is attached.

Next up, we have Arnold with shades. This is my favorite of all three of the portraits. I think the likeness is even better than the stock head and I like the more determined expression on his lips. The creasing between his eyebrows is more pronounced and the muscle definition in his chin is particularly good. This is likely the head that this figure will wear the most on my shelf, although I have been entertaining getting one more of these guys for a couple different display options, because…

…ripped up cyborg head!!! This thing is a mess and I mean that in every positive way. The meat from half of the T-800’s head is blown off revealing the cyborg parts. The sculpt is fantastic, but what really sells this head is the paint, which is spectacular for a figure in this price range. Yup, if I buy a second one of these guys, this is the other head that will always be on display.

Articulation is this figure is very solid, which has been one of my biggest gripes with Terminator figures in the past. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, while the legs feature the same in the hips, knees, and ankles. The neck is ball jointed and the torso can swivel at the waist. The only odd thing worth mentioning is that the left leg has swivels in the thigh and boot, while the right leg has only the one swivel at the boot. I found that odd, but it really doesn’t affect the poseability of the figure much. All the joints are nice and strong.

Moving on to accessories, let’s start small and work our way up. The automatic pistol is pretty standard stuff. It’s a nice sculpt with a detailed paint job. The trigger guard is very soft plastic so you can theoretically get his trigger finger in there, but I’ve avoided it because I don’t want it to tear. That’s happened before on at least one of my DC Collectibles figures.

Next up is the M1887 lever-action shotgun. Man, I loved the way Arnold worked this thing while on the motorcycle. When I first got the film on DVD I must have watched that scene a dozen times. The sculpt and paint on this piece is great, right down to the wood grain on the stock. It also fits beautifully into his left hand, which of course was the hand Arnold used in the film to show off his flip-cocking prowess.

Next up is the M79 Grenade Launcher. Just like the shotgun, this little piece is expertly sculpted with great paintwork to pick out the detail between the metal and wooden components. This piece also includes a carry strap. I think this one is designed for his right hand, but I rather like the way he holds it in his left hand too. And you know that one round missing from his bandoleer is in that pipe and ready to go! I’m sure it’s just teargas. Afterall, he did swear not to kill anybody.

Lastly, we have the grand daddy of all his arsenal… the minigun, which comes complete with the shoulder satchel full of ammo and the belt running from the satchel to the gun. Holy hell, is this a cool ensemble! The satchel wears well on the figure’s shoulder and he can hold the minigun perfectly. I was a little dubious on how well all these weapons would work with the figure only having two hands, but I’m really impressed to find that they all do. There’s a crazy amount of detail in the minigun and I love the silver paint they used on it.

Honestly, I’m happy with most figures that I buy (and obviously I buy a lot of action figures}, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I was a) blown away by a finished product this much, and b) amazed by the value of a piece. I bought this figure for $22 (regular price, not on sale) and I’m floored that NECA can produce something this good and with so many accessories for that kind of price. I mean, that’s right around the price I’m paying for Hasbro’s 6-inch Black, Marvel Legends and DC Collectibles these days and in terms of craftsmanship, accessories, and even overall packaging and presentation, NECA is blowing those other companies out of the water. Not to mention that producing figures off a 25-year old movie is what some might call a niche-market. When it comes time to start doing my Favorites of 2015 Feature, this figure is going to be damn hard to beat.

Oct 12 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Man 2099 by Hasbro

It’s another lovely Marvel Monday and I’m continuing my push through the Hobgoblin Wave. Today I’m digging into the dwindling stack of figures with a look at Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. I took a good part of the 90’s away from comic book reading and worrying about real life. When I came back to get caught up, I was at first intrigued by the different 2099 series, but in the end I never became a huge fan. With that having been said, it’s safe to say that Spider-Man 2099 and Doom 2099 were my favorites.

The packaging is the same as we’ve been seeing in this wave. You get the Spider-Man logo at the top and the figure’s name at the bottom. The window shows off the figure nicely along with the two BAF parts he comes with, Hobgoblin’s leg and sword. Given 2099 Spidey’s appearance in the Superior Spider-Man comic, I was a little disappointed we didn’t get him in the last Spider-Man wave, but now all that’s forgiven.

And speaking of Superior Spider-Man, this guy is built on the same buck as that figure with new hands and head and some added barbs to his forearms. There’s also a peg hole added to the back for his cape. Of all the things to come out of the 2099 books, I gotta say this costume is probably my favorite. It’s dark and a little sinister and it reflects the shitty world that O’Hara comes from quite nicely. And boy did Hasbro do a fine job recreating it here for the figure. The dark blue metallic paint is gorgeous and it pairs beautifully with the crimson. The paint on this figure is pretty clean too.

The web cape pegs right into his back and is appropriately cast in a milky, semi-clear plastic. It looks like it’s molded to be blowing off to the side, which is alright, but I think I would have preferred a more symmetrical look to it. Angled to the side a bit it looks fine, but straight up and down it looks a little weird. I’m nitpicking, I know.

I was both surprised and pleased to see that the patterns on Spidey’s mask are actually part of the sculpt. It would have been really easy to just paint a blank head and I’m glad that Hasbro decided to go the extra mile.

Because Spidey is built on the Superior Spider-Man body, he sports some exceptionally good articulation, and let’s face it, that’s something any Spider-Man figure should boast. The arms feature that extra lateral hinge in the shoulders that I love so much, along with rotating hinges. The elbows are double jointed, there are swivels in the biceps, and the wrists have rotating hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double jointed at the knees, and ahve swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso can swivel at the waist, has an ab-crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The double hinges are a tad gummy, more so than on my Superior Spider-Man, but they’re not too bad.

Having O’Hara make an appearance in Superior Spider-Man was a treat in itself, but doubly so when I consider that there’s a good possibility that we owe this figure to that appearance. Either way, I was thrilled to see this figure make it into this second Spider-Man assortment. This costume has been a favorite of mine for a while and it feels great to have it represented on my Legends shelf, especially since I was never able to find the Marvel Universe 3 3/4″ version at a price I was willing to pay. If it had to be one or the other, this is the scale I’d prefer to have him in.

Oct 10 2015

Star Wars “The Force Awakens” (Desert Mission) Finn and Flametrooper

I’m continuing to chip away at the initial assortment of Force Awakens 3 3/4″ figures. So far I’ve looked at Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma from the Jungle Mission and Rey and a Stormtrooper from the Snow Mission. Let’s move things to the desert today and open up Finn and the First Order Flametrooper.

I’ve already gushed on and on about how much I love these packages, but damn, don’t they look nice? Individual character art right on the card, great colors, a big bubble to show off the figure. It gets me a lot more excited about buying action figures than the bland packaging Hasbro has been using for Star Wars Black and Marvel Universe Infinite. I hope this is a sign of things to come. Let’s start with Finn…

This version of Finn is associated with Jakku and it’s the exact same outfit that we saw used for the 6-inch Black figure. This is a really solid sculpt for the smaller scale and apart from the obvious hit to articulation, I don’t think much is lost from the 6-inch figure. The jacket is sculpted in soft plastic and layered onto the figure like a vest with sculpted texture on the shirt underneath. The illusion of the sculpted arm sleeves actually works better with the simple rotating shoulder hinges. The portrait is excellent with a solid likeness and sharp paint. Once again, the eyes are painted looking up, which is getting to be a weird trend for Hasbro and this character. It’s perhaps worth noting that Finn is ever so slightly pre-posed as he stands naturally with one foot slightly in front of the other.

Finn comes with the same style blaster as the 6-inch figure, which makes me reconsider my prediction that the weapon might not be in the film. It still looks rather large and ungainly to be a carried in the movie, but I’m probably wrong about that. At least this time it’s cast in gray plastic and not in the same color as the jacket. Alright, that’s enough about Finn… moving on to the Flametrooper…

I was really excited to get this guy, mainly because he isn’t available in the 6-inch scale yet. I dig the design of this armor a lot and, to my surprise, the Flametrooper doesn’t share any parts with the regular Stormtrooper. I’ve always loved the idea of specialized Stormtroopers, especially when they involve new armor and not just different colors painted on them. The helmet design is pretty damn sinister looking.

Naturally, the Flametrooper comes with a flamethrower, which consists of a removable backpack that pegs into place and the gun connected with a flexible plastic hose. Not sure why the hand held piece has to look like a friggin assault rifle, but it’s neat nonetheless. I also love the little OII sculpted into the backpack. It’s a nice little nod back to the Imperial Stormtroopers.

The build-a-weapon pieces included with these figures are a little better as standalone pieces than what I’ve seen so far, but they’re still plenty goofy. Finn’s looks like a tracked robot with twin machine gun arms and it can be pegged into his back. The obvious downside here is that they had to put a hole in his back just for this gimmick and I’d rather they didn’t. The Flametroopers’ piece can be used as a big, bulky shield. If you connect them together, you do get what I think is a pretty cool looking little robot. It works fine as it is, but the third figure in this assortment, Constable Zuvio will add blade pieces. Frankly, I haven’t decided whether I’m picking him up yet.

With six of these figures now opened, I find I’m still rather soft on them. The sculpts are not bad for what they are, but I’m not sure I’m feeling motivated to keep collecting them, at least not with the 6-inch Black series out there promising releases of all of these characters. On the other hand, when they’re available at $7.99 a pop, it’s kind of hard for me to resist. I’ve still got two more to open before I make any final decisions, so sometime next week we’ll check out Poe Dameron and the First Order Tie Pilot from the Space Mission!

Oct 10 2015

Justice League: “New 52” Pandora by DC Collectibles

It’s Saturday, but since I missed posting yesterday, I’ll continue to be faithful to the spirit of DC Friday as I attempt to work my way through the stacks and stacks of DC related figures and statues that have been piling up here. Today I’m checking out Pandora, the mysterious lass who haunted much of the New 52 until her mystery was finally revealed in Trinity War. Part of the Trinity of Sin, she, along with The Question and Phantom Stranger, was cursed to walk the Earth for eternity. I really liked the build up to this story, but the pay off was certainly disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I love me the Crime Syndicate, but this was a real strange way to facilitate their return. Still, it certainly was a surprise.

Anywho… Pandora comes in the usual DCC window box. It’s white with the purple slash on the front and pretty bland. The top flap features the Justice League logo at the top and the window gives you a pretty good look at the figure in case you want to check her for paint quality. Everything is collector friendly and you even get an extended back with a J-hook if you want to swing it on a peg.

Even if I wasn’t intrigued by Pandora from the beginning, I’d like to think that I would still get a kick out of this figure because she looks fantastic. I get a major Dante vibe off of her, you know from Devil May Cry? I think it’s the design of the outfit. The sculpted detail on the costume is excellent, from the button down flap on her tunic to the laces on her high top boots and all the little wrinkles and rumples. The outfit is comprised of layers of very soft plastic, which include the lower flaps of her jacket and the outer cloak.

The cloak bellows out nicely, which allows for a windblown look if she’s standing at ease, but also facilitates some of those action poses. It doesn’t feel at all restrictive. There’s some great texturing in it as well as all the little sculpted stitches. When it comes to paint, Pandora’s outfit doesn’t offer a lot of colors to work with here, but the maroon is certainly faithful to the design and there’s a great black wash to help pick out all the little details.

The head sculpt is also top notch and has some crisp paint to back it up. Pandora sports pupil-less eyes, purple hair and mascara, and her jagged scars on her cheeks. The portrait is rounded out with some high gloss paint for her lips. The hood is technically removable, but the head isn’t completely sculpted in the back, so you’ll want to leave it on.

The articulation here is solid for a DCC figure. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs feature a T-crotch in the hips, hinges in the knees, and swivels at the tops of her boots. There’s no articulation in the torso, although she does have decent neck articulation, thanks to the hood being separate from the cloak. The only thing I’m really missing here is some lateral movement in the hips. All the joints on my figure were fine right out of the package with no fears of sticking or breakage.

Of course, Pandora comes with her twin automatic pistols, supplied by Marcus Kincaid. She can wield them in both hands and they can also be worn in the functional holsters attached to her thighs. Beyond being decent sculpts, there’s actually some painted detail to the grips and the blue on the sides.

And last but not least you get Pandora’s Box, which is a particularly nice little bit of sculpt right down to it’s three little eyes. Hmm, three… I wonder what that could signify? Yeah, too bad after all that drama it just turned out to be a gateway to Earth 3. I was expecting more.

Who doesn’t dig a mysterious chick in a bad-ass cloak toting dual handguns? Pandora was a cool story hook and a damn cool character who had me intrigued from the get-go. And I’m very happy to say that DC Collectibles did her proud with this figure. She looks amazing, and while I would have liked her to be a tad more limber, she still ranks up there as one of my favorite figures in DCC’s New 52 line up. The fact that she can be had now for about $12? All the better!

Oct 8 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Starscream (Leader Class) by Hasbro

It’s the first Transformers Thursday in a while that I’m not talking about Protectobots, but I am still sticking with the Combiner Wars line this week. Back in July, I checked out Hasbro’s bold new take on the Seekers with their Leader Class Thundercracker, built from the Generations Jetfire mold and if you haven’t read that Feature, I suggest glancing back at it. Starscream is, as expected, a repaint of the same figure so I’m going to try to be brief and focus on the minor differences.

Not much different to say about the box. It’s the now standard Combiner Wars deco with Starscream packaged in robot mode. There is no comic book included, but you do get a nifty art card. While there are some troublesome twisty ties to remove, the package is totally collector friendly. Let’s start with his alt mode.

Yup, the mold is identical to Thundercracker and it’s basically the Jetfire mold without the booster pieces and with a brand new pair of wings. This is a very attractive jet mode and works beautifully for me as a Seeker. I’m also still impressed that the cockpit actually opens. Nice! The new deco is very pretty and looks appropriate for Starscream. The off-white plastic is a little light, but not too bad, and the striping on the wings coupled with the Decepticon insignia look outstanding. All the paint is crisp and clean and when you toss in a little blue plastic trim and the yellow tinted cockpit and I’m very pleased with how this jet came out.

Transformation is identical to Thundercracker and Jetfire and I like the engineering here a lot. It’s relatively simple, but there’s some clever stuff happening. Probably not the depth of engineering everyone is going to be expecting from a Leader Class toy, but in my old age, I’m getting to appreciate figures that can convert back and forth without too much frustration.

Obviously, the robot mode is also identical to Thundercracker, except for the new deco, which carries forward the same red, blue, and off-white as the jet mode. Again, I think the colors here are great and this robot mode makes for a fantastic updated Seeker. The only thing I’m really missing are the shoulder scoop towers, and I’m throwing it out there to all you third-parties… if you want to make a set of shoulder scoops for these guys, I’ll buy them. There are even obvious crevices where they could be made to fit. Easy money! I’m just saying!

Of course, the cockpit on the chest is faked out and Starscream actually wears the nose of the jet mode down his back. It’s the biggest departure from the traditional Seeker look, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. I still would have liked it if the front of the wings were finished like the back, but I’m sure that would have added a lot of cost to production.

The only real disappointment here is that the head sculpt isn’t new. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great looking noggin, and at least the face is painted differently, but for a Leader Class repaint, I would have thought Hasbro could at least pony up for a new head with a douchebag Starscream smirk. I would have much preferred it to the dopey crown.

Yes, the crown is the only thing really new here and I’m really tired of this running gag based off such a small scene in the original movie. It can go into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories and rattle around in there with my MP Grimlock crown.

Of course, you also get all the guns that came with Thundercracker. I like the null rays, but I still wish they pegged into the biceps rather than the forearms. You can get them into some great positions, but they sometimes impede articulation more than I would like. The smaller blue guns can still be mounted on his legs and wings, or just leave them off if you think they pollute the Seeker homage. I’m actually fine with them. Lastly, you get the same missile launcher handgun that came with Jetfire and Thundercracker, this time in black. I’m definitely giving this one to Jetfire so I can deep six his red blinged out gun. But be warned, this thing has a hair trigger and I’ve already had to wrestle the missile away from the cat a couple of times.

There are no surprises here at all. Starscream is the straight repaint we all expected and I imagine he’ll be as polarizing a figure as CW Thundercracker. As someone who doesn’t like the Masterpiece Seekers enough to pony up the coin for them, I’m content for now adding Starscream to my MP Decepticon shelf, alongside Combiner Wars Megatron and Soundwave (and soon Shockwave!). I think he’s a great looking figure and now all that’s left is to sit back and wait for Leader Class Skywarp. And man, do I think this mold is going to look amazing in the deco!

Oct 7 2015

Femme Fatales “Hack/Slash:” Cassie Hack by Diamond Select

I can’t remember what got me started reading Tim Seeley’s wonderful Hack/Slash comic. Chances are I just picked up an issue at some point while browsing a comic shop and got hooked. It’s precisely that kind of book where you can open any issue to any page and instantly want to know what the hell is going on. If you like offbeat horror comedy I recommend a look and a lot of it is still available in convenient TPB or Omnibus editions. Sadly, there hasn’t been a lot of Hack/Slash merch out there, which always struck me as weird since there are all sorts of obscure indie comics with action figures or statues.

Ah, but it’s Diamond Select to the rescue via their Femme Fatales line. I’ve reviewed some of these before and it’s a weird little line of economy priced collectible statues that pulls its content from original designs to comic book properties and even something as big as Star Trek. Diamond seems intent on getting more mileage out of this line as they not only produced this Hack/Slash piece, but they just launched a wide reaching sub-line of DC statues based on the art of Bruce Timm, which I’ll start looking at next week.

Getting back on topic, the statue comes in a window box with a deco more or less in line with the last three Femme Fatales statues I bought. The windows let a lot of light in and give you a great look at the statue, which will come in handy if you happen to be buying it off the shelf and want to check the quality of the paintwork. Everything is collector friendly and while I don’t think the deco here is anything to write home about, I’ve still kept all my Femme Fatales boxes just in case I ever need to pack them away.

And here she is out of the box, all set up, and looking mighty fine. Cassie comes already attached to her base, all you have to do is attach her accessories. The bat slips into her left hand and Vlad’s mask hooks on the fingers of her right hand. This PCV sculpt is by Sam Greenwell, who has done some work for DC Collectibles and I think it really does a beautiful job capturing the character and straddling the line between simple comic style with out sacrificing detail.

Cassie’s had some variations to her look throughout her adventures, but I would consider the outfit here pretty iconic for her. She sports a see-through one-piece with skimpy black bikini top and a low-slung skirt, complete with her FaQ belt. She has long striped fingerless gloves, a pair of high top black boots and athletic socks. There are some really nice examples of sculpted detail, like the laces on the boots, the knitting in the socks, and even the stripes on her gloves are part of the sculpt. The paintwork on the outfit is excellent for a piece in this price range. There’s a little slop between her boots and socks, but other then that there’s nothing else to pick at. I dare say that I’ve seen more flubs on far more expensive statues. I will say that I would have preferred they went with her plaid skirt, but apparently DST is saving that for an exclusive release.

The portrait is beautiful and an interesting sculpt, with her sculpted hair eclipsing the right side of her face. If you look at Cassie dead on she has a determined expression, but if you get a little lower and look up at her, she look a tad more vulnerable. Either way she’s very pretty and here too the paintwork is excellent.

The accessories are both welcome additions. The bat has a wood grain texture, sculpted tape on the grip, and several nails sticking out of the tip. There’s also a gruesome crimson wash at the end. It just wouldn’t be Cassie without a weapon. I would have liked it to have “Kiss It” painted on, but they may be saving that for the exclusive too. And then you have Vlad’s mask, which was, in my mind, a necessary addition to have the big guy’s presence felt even though this is a solo piece. The rather clever base is designed to look like the head of an axe, complete with silver paint on the edge and a hole where the axe handle would pass through. As much as I love the design here, it is a tad wobbly, which is really my only complaint about this entire piece.

At approximately 9-inches tall, she fits in really well when displayed next to my Ariel Darkchylde. The statues in Diamond’s Femme Fatales line retail at around $40 and I have to say you’re getting a really nicely crafted piece for your money here. It’s true that most of this line doesn’t tend to hold their value very well. Indeed, this is the first FF piece that I paid full retail on and that’s just because I wanted to support the fact that someone was delivering on the Hack/Slash merch and I didn’t want to take any chances on missing out on Cassie. For any fan of the comic, this is a must-own piece, and I’m not just saying that because there’s nothing else out there.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Monthly Archives: October 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Girl by Hasbro

The Flash (TV Series): The Flash and Captain Cold by DC Collectibles

Transformers Hero Mashers: Megatron and Soundwave by Hasbro

Doctor Who: The 12th Doctor by Character Options

Terminator 2 Judgement Day: Ultimate T-800 by NECA

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Man 2099 by Hasbro

Star Wars “The Force Awakens” (Desert Mission) Finn and Flametrooper

Justice League: “New 52” Pandora by DC Collectibles

Transformers Combiner Wars: Starscream (Leader Class) by Hasbro

Femme Fatales “Hack/Slash:” Cassie Hack by Diamond Select

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