Monthly Archives: November 2015

Nov 16 2015

Marvel Comics: Deadpool Sixth-Scale Figure (Exclusive) by Sideshow, Part 1

Deadpool. The Merc With A Mouth. El hombre que ama Chimichangas. He can be a polarizing character, but to me he’ll always be a favorite. I’ve probably re-read more of his comics than any other single character’s out there and that’s because to me they have staying power. If I have 15 minutes to kill, I’ll often crack open a Deadpool omnibus or grab a TPB and enjoy an ish. And don’t even get me started on Cable & Deadpool. I wept real tears when that run ended. Anywho, it’s a great time to be a Deadpool fan because we’ve got a film coming with a trailer that gives me nothing but confidence in the project. We also got this excellent figure from Sideshow Toys. I pre-ordered this guy back in November of 2014(!) and while it was a loooong wait, I’m excited to finally have him in hand. My schedule is a little tight this week, so I am going to be looking at Deadpool in two parts. Today we’ll check out the packaging and the figure and tomorrow the accessories. It seems only fair, since I found I have a lot to say about this guy.

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The figure comes in a shoebox style package that at first glance feels right at home on the shelf beside my myriad of Hot Toys boxes. It’s got some nice art that I’d be tempted to say is a little too artsy-fartsy for Deadpool if it didn’t look so damn great. If you netted the Exclusive from Sideshow, you’ll also see a silver sticker on the front stating the fact.

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Lift the box top and you get an illustrated cardboard insert and under that lies the figure packed neatly in foam cut-outs. The foam protects the figure nicely and under it is a tray that contains the bulk of ‘Pool’s accessories. There’s nothing wrong with this internal packaging style, but it feels just a tad lower rent than what I’m used to getting Hot Toys figures. Maybe I’m just a bigger fan of the molded plastic trays over the foam. I dunno. Either way, it’s just something that’s going to sit on my bookshelf, so let’s cast it aside and check out the figure.

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Sideshow has become masters of taking iconic character designs from comics or cartoons and making them look real. This was particularly evident in their GI JOE Cobra figures and Deadpool feels a lot like that same kind of treatment. While we now have a real movie Deadpool to compare, this version of Deadpool was conceptualized beforehand and still looks like he would be right at home strutting his stuff on the big screen. Indeed, I might even go so far as to say I like this version a little better than the design we’ve seen in the Deadpool trailer. But s’all good. I don’t want to knock anything in that trailer. One thing is clear, Sideshow spared no expenses pouches in executing this design and the result is a deliciously busy costume that is positively bristling with bits and bobs and just general detail.

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All told there’s about 20 beautifully crafted pouches covering our pal ‘Pool, each of which is clipped on and can be removed or readjusted to suit your taste. You also get Deadpool’s trademark belt buckle to help him look stylish and keep his pants up, but more importantly secure his two pistol holsters. The holsters feature retaining flaps with magnet latches, which are so much better than delicate snaps or buttons in this scale. Under the Liefeldesque web of straps and pouches, Deadpool sports a nicely tailored combat suit made of black and crimson fabric. The black bits feature a stitched quilted pattern and the suit is further reinforced with some plastic armor bits on the shoulders, knees, and forearms. If I had one nitpick on the costume it’s that my figure’s fly seems to prefer to stay exposed. But hey, that’s so Deadpool!

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Deadpool comes with two portraits, each of which are super easy to swap out, thanks to this rather odd neck post. Instead of just a regular exposed ball joint, there’s this cylinder that fits into the head. The noggin fits on smoothly and you don’t have to apply any force at all to get the head off. A single finger on the shoulder and a gentle tug will do the trick. On the flip-side, don’t try picking up your figure from the head only, as you’ll likely wind up with a catastrophe. The stock head is standard Deadpool, while the other features a goofier expression as if he’s trying to peer through the fourth wall. There are also some subtle differences in the configuration of his hood between the two portraits. The sculpt is pretty damn good on both, and while you’ll never be able to perfectly match sculpted fabric with real fabric, the heads still look great on the figure.

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If there’s one thing Sideshow has learned from Hot Toys, it’s that if you’re going to charge a lot for a figure, you’ve got to throw in a lot of hands. ‘Pool comes with no less than five different sets. You get the usual assortment of pedestrian meathooks, including fists, gun holding hands, and sword holding hands, but you also get some pretty cool and rather unique expressive hands to work with, which can be a lot of fun. Changing them out, on the other hand, is a bit of a chore. They’re a tight fit on the pegs and the plastic arm bracers tend to get in the way. Anyway, you can use the hands to relive great Deadpool moments, or make up your own…

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“Did you see that? I totally just sucker punched Kitty Pryde right in the gut!”

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“Peace! Haha… I’m still going to kill you!”

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“Hey Black Widow… Dat ass is fiiiiiiine!”

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“Gramps… Dude! Ya only got like six pouches on that outfit. You gotta get more pouches. It’s all about the pouches! I know a guy, I’ll hook you up!”

To be continued, tomorrow… Same ‘Pool Time, Same ‘Pool Channel!

Nov 13 2015

Femme Fatales “DC Animated Series:” Poison Ivy by Diamond Select

Diamond Select is not fooling around when it comes to the new DC Animated off-shoot of their Femme Fatales Statue line. Even after two versions (in two weeks) of the initial release, Supergirl, I’m back already to check out the next one. And they’ve got three more slated to hit in December alone. Well, that’s OK. I say “bring it on,” because I am digging the hell out of these ladies. Today’s animated hottie hails from Batman: The Animated Series and it is none other than Poison Ivy!

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The box is the same configuration we saw with the Supergirl statues, just a new deco. You get a Femme Fatales logo in the upper right corner, the Batman: The Animated Series logo and the character’s name on the bottom. The box is black with windows all around to let in plenty of light. Ivy comes sandwiched between two clear plastic trays and everything is totally collector friendly. The statue comes already attached to the base, although there is a clear plastic rod included that pegs into the base and acts as a support for the vine. It seems totally unnecessary, but there is a little bit of give in the vine, so I opted to use it to prevent any future sagging. We don’t want Poison’s Ivy to sag, do we? I don’t think it detracts from the piece, but it is totally optional.

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Out of the box, Ivy is drop dead gorgeous. I’ll say it again, this animated style suits the Femme Fatales line perfectly. Because of the style, there isn’t a whole lot of sculpted detail on the figure itself, instead she gets by mostly with smooth lines and very clean paint. And she certainly cuts quite a curvaceous figure in her two-tone green outfit. This is indeed a chick that makes me want to eat my veggies. Yum! The tops of her boots and gloves are sculpted, as are the jagged edges of her one-piece around her hips. The shades of green are just perfect and the paint lines are smooth and quite sharp.

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The portrait here is also a real winner. Ivy is strikingly beautiful, and I have no problem saying that about a cartoon lady. She’s got perfect lips and a voluminous mane of red hair sculpted in the vintage style that is so distinctive to the Batman Animated Series. The paint on the eyes is neatly applied and I particularly like the sympathetic visage of her eyebrows as she stares longingly at her lovely plant companion. The expression really captures the character superbly.

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Speaking of the vine, the snaking plant is rooted to the base and spirals around Ivy’s body to face her, where it is cradled lovingly in her left hand. It sports a red flowery head and two rows of sharp little teeth. It’s also got a friend that is seated down on the base showing it’s teeth, probably jealous that his chum is getting all the attention. The base here is a huge improvement over what we saw with Supergirl. It’s a simple brown brick floor with patches of green vegetation on each side.

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I really liked both versions of the Supergirl statue, but I’m absolutely in love with Poison Ivy here. As with Supergirl, Poison Ivy set me back $39.99 at retail and I’m pretty content with that price. Yes, if I had waited, there’s a good chance I could have managed to get a deal, as DST’s Femme Fatale statues are notorious for dropping in price before they get scarce and start climbing again. With that having been said, I suspect these DC ladies will be more popular than this line’s regular offerings, so anything is possible. Regardless, I’m happy to support this line all the way so I’ve pre-ordered the whole shebang. Batgirl, Harley, and Wonder Woman are all currently due to ship in December. I’m not sure the order, but I’ll definitely be checking them out here as soon as they arrive.

Nov 12 2015

Transformers Cybertron: Hot Shot and Excellion by Hasbro

It’s likely that next week I’ll have a new figure to look at for Transformers Thursday, but in the meantime, I’m rolling up my sleeve and digging into one of the Unicron Trilogy totes for this week’s feature. I came out with Cybertron Hot Shot and I dove back in to find his repaint Excellion. I’ve got no packaged shots to show you, so let’s just get started with Hot Shot and his alt mode.

 

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Cybertron had some totally bitchin’ alt modes and this is definitely one of them. Keep in mind, this is his sports car mode, before he went all “Defense Force” on us and turned into an armored personnel carrier, but that’s a Feature for another day. Here his car mode is sleek and futuristic and sports a rather large yellow tinted canopy. There isn’t a whole lot of sculpted detail on this car, but you do get some intake vents and a tiny Autobot emblem on the front of the hood. The deco is blue with some yellow on the back and a few red accents. The wheels are painted silver and you get some additional yellow tinted plastic on the headlamps. The choice of colors here doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but it’s not bad. There’s also a top mounted engine on the back, which has a port on it so you can peg in his gun. It also houses his CyberKey gimmick. Plug in the key…

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…And it just pops out a pair of rather anemic looking wings. On the one hand, it gives the toy some more of that glorious clear yellow plastic. On the other hand, I’m not sure the purpose here. Are those supposed to get the car off the ground? Eh, why not. If it worked for Tracks, I’ll buy it. It’s worth noting that the springs on my toy are showing their age and it is an absolute bitch to get the wings to lock back into place.

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Transforming Hot Shot results in a robot mode that both impresses and disappoints. Overall he has a decent profile and he’d have good proportions too if it weren’t for the derpy little forearms. His car door kibble also extends way beyond his hands making them seem beyond intrusive. If you look closely, Hasbro tried to rationalize it buy sculpting some guns in there, but they’re really hard to see. The back of the bot features the canopy hanging off as a sort of tail and the spoiler serves as heel spurs.

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But damn, look at that face! One thing the Cybertron series knew how to do was sculpt some handsome robot faces. He’s so damn regal looking, even with those ugly exposed screws on the fronts of his shoulders. The deco in robot mode adds a lot of darker blue and some more red. I dig how his chest looks almost like it’s the hood of a car, albeit a different car. Not sure if that was by design, but it sort of drives home his Autobot heritage. That was a robo-pun. And, oh yeah… that’s a sculpted Autobot emblem on his shoulder. Always a plus in my book!

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In robot mode, Hot Shot’s CyberKey gimmick doesn’t really do much except he does look better with the wings extended. Naturally, he can wield his gun, which fires a missile and is crafted in more of that delicious clear yellow plastic. I’m really not a clear plastic nut when it comes to my toys, but the Cybertron figures sure knew how to use it to enhance the look of these toys. Moving on to his buddy, Excellion…

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Thankfully, Hot Shot was repainted into a new character and not just a powered up version of himself. I know, I can call these figures whatever I want, but releasing a repaint under the same character name just cheeses me off. In auto mode, Excellion is mostly red and orange with a gold flame motif on his hood. It also replaces all the yellow clear plastic with blue clear plastic. I can’t help but presume that Hasbro was going for a Hot Rod/Rodimus homage here, although going with the gold and blue instead of yellow does kind of make it more unique than your average copy-cat paint job. Strictly as a matter of personal taste, I do like this deco better than Hot Shot’s, at least in auto mode.

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In robot mode, it’s a bit of a toss up. I think I like both paint schemes fairly equally. They’re definitely distinctive from another and in this case without the bright yellow calling attention to the door kibble, it seems a little less obtrusive on Excellion. The silver panels on his shoulders are also rather striking!

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Back in the day, in this case around 2005/2006, I remember being blown away by these figures. Nowadays, I can still see what I loved in them. The robot mode designs look great and the coloring on both figures is quite nice. On the other hand, they haven’t aged all that well as toys. The articulation is clunky by today’s standards and the arms could have used some re-work. Still, stand these guys on the shelf and they still look magnificent and rather robust for Deluxe Class figures. In my quest to weed out some of my many Change-o-bots, these guys are getting a pass and going back into the bin for keepsies!

Nov 11 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics: Perfuma by Mattel

Remember when the first Princess of Power figures were released as part of the Club Eternia Sub and a lot of collectors lost their minds? Well that was a long time ago. Since then every couple of months has brought us another of these now established ladies and that’s fine by me because I think they’ve been some of the brighter spots of the whole shebang. Let’s see if today’s figure continues that trend with Perfuma, “Brave Warrior Working the Fragrance Desk at Macy’s!”

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Nah, her real tagline is “Scent-Sational Flower Maiden” and ugh, I liked mine better. Even in a line that has no problems letting the bad puns fly, this one just goes too far. Her real name is Tara and her magical power is apparently being able to make people fall asleep by smelling her. In Filmation lore she has the power to force Horde Troopers to form a conga line and remain totally oblivious to personal danger. There’s nothing else to say about the packaging. We’ve seen it before and it has a “Princess of Power” sticker on the bubble. It’ll likely be the last time we see that sticker on a new release, but I’ve got some back tracking to do on some figures, so we’ll see it again here. Anyway, let’s open her up and…

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Woah… So, Perfuma is actually perfumed and I honestly did not expect that. I’m not sure why I didn’t, since making figures stink has been a MOTU gimmick before with Stinkor and Moss Man. I guess I just didn’t get the memo this time. The smell actually isn’t that strong, and it’s kind of nice, but I don’t get to talk about a figure’s smell too often so I thought I’d lead with it. I may lock her in a Ziploc container with Stinkor and Moss Man and let them fight it out to see who wins in the battle of the stinks. As one might expect, Perfuma features a very flowery themed outfit. She has a rose-colored dress with a couple of sculpted roses on her belt, green leggings and rose-colored boots. Even the dress itself kind of looks like an overturned rose. The whole ensemble is capped off with a pair of green arm bracers and some ivy-like trim around her dress. She’s actually one of the more distinctive looking ladies in The Great Rebellion. Let’s face it, if you’re a dude collecting this line, you’ve got to be pretty comfortable in your masculinity to have this figure on your shelf. Then again, if you’ve got Peek-A-Blue on display, you’ve already crossed that bridge.

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The head sculpt is pretty distinctive too. Perfuma escapes that certain “sameness” that I tend to see in a lot of the ladies’ portraits. This one looks different and maybe just a tad more Filmation than the rest. Or maybe that’s just me. It’s not one of my favorites, and I think that has a lot to do with the eyes. The paint is rather heavy handed. It also looks like she’s been to the Etherian Collagen Clinic for some injections in her lips. Perfuma has a wild mane of yellow hair, which is sculpted in a very pliable plastic that helps her head turn more freely. It does, however, look a little dirty, like she’s been rolling around in the flower beds. There’s also some unfortunate mold flashing on the back of her hair.

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In keeping the whole flower obsession thing going, Perfuma also has a giant flower that she can wear as a hat. It just clips right onto the top her head and stays on really well. I’m kind of surprised they didn’t just make this part of the sculpt, as I can’t imagine wanting to display her without it.  Articulation is totally predictable for the PoP ladies, but let’s run through it anyway, one last time. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees, have swivels at the hips, and the ankles are hinged. She can swivel at the waist and has a ball jointed head.

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In addition to her flower hat, Perfuma comes with a flower gun and a shield. The gun is so ridiculous it’s almost awesome. Unfortunately, she can’t really do anything with it because it weighs a ton and her joints can’t support the weight. There’s one sweet spot where I can get her to hold it up for a few moments, providing nobody breathes on or looks directly at the figure. As for the shield, you guessed it! It’s just a repaint of the same shield we’ve been getting all along. This time it’s green with a green crystal.

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Perfuma is a pretty cool figure, although I’ll confess she’s not among my favorites of the Princess of Power offerings. In fact, I’d rank her low to middle on that spectrum. Of course that comment shouldn’t weigh too heavily on her flowery head because with the exception of Double-Mischief *spits on the floor*, I love every PoP figure on my shelf (Yes, even The Star Sisters) so Perfuma’s got nothing to be ashamed of. And so, if I’m not mistaken, Perfuma should wrap up the PoP figures for the Masters Classics line, and not a moment too soon, since we’re closing in on the line’s final figures and what will sort of be an end of an era. But I’ll have more to say on that next month when I look at the last offerings. In the meantime, I still have a couple of figures to look at from October’s offerings, and I’ll try to get to them next week.

Nov 10 2015

Star Wars Rebels: Garazeb Orrelios and C1-10P Chopper by Hasbro

If you’ve followed my adventures in the toy aisles over the last year then you probably know how frustrating it was for me to collect Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ Rebels line. Just getting the crew of the Ghost was like pulling wookie teeth and even I eventually gave up on the chance of ever finding Chopper outside of the $30-40 he was going for in the Interweb’s various scalper dens of scum and villainy. Nonetheless, Hasbro has finally started to make a mends with me and this line by releasing the annoying little Astromech Droid in a new two-pack. Yeah, it meant having to buy Zeb again, but considering the alternatives, I’m not going to complain. Well, maybe a little.

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They may be Rebels figures, but there’s a new Star Wars flick hitting theaters in a little more than a month and that means everything has to be branded accordingly with Kylo Ren’s filthy mug and his garage-kit lightsaber. These new two-packs seem to run the gamot of series from Original Trilogy to Rebels to Force Awakens. It doesn’t matter, throw some friggin Ewoks in there too. Just get figures on the pegs and people will buy them! I cannot understand why Hasbro is being so stand offish with Rebels and the 3 3/4″ line (let alone the new movie). It’s probably the biggest chance they have to sell toys in forever and even what little they have out is tough to find. Anyway, the package is a little window box and it’s totally collector friendly. It’s also absolutely gorgeous right down to the amazing artwork of Zeb and Chopper. They really do hide the characters’ names, though, all the way on the bottom left hand corner. You also get a big missile launcher that appears to be exclusive to this set, because Hasbro just can’t resist an opportunity to toss in a big missile launcher. Let’s start with Zeb…

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…and yup, as suspected it is just a repack of the regular Zeb figure, which was packed with a Stormtrooper under the original assortment of Rebels figures. I liked this figure a lot back then and I still like him now. It’s a really great sculpt that follows the rather simplified animated style of the series and yet there’s still a fair amount of detail on him. The paint is also really tight, at least when compared to some of Hasbro’s other efforts in this scale lately. The colors really pop on this figure, the graffiti on his shoulder looks great, and I particularly love the green paint they used for his eyes.

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Zeb comes with two accessories. You get the same gun he came with in his original release and you get the previously mentioned missile launcher. The launcher is a nice looking BFG, but it’s not really designed for a figure with only five points of articulation. I’ll probably give it to a figure who can actually handle it properly.

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And then we have Chopper and he is definitely the hardest I ever worked to get a figure of a character that I do not like. I hoped he would grow on me as the show went on, but that hasn’t been the case. Thankfully, his antics aren’t enough to spoil what has become a great little series. Anyway, I have major mixed feelings about his little figure. On the one hand, there’s some nice detail going on in the front. The recessed parts look really good and the paint is fairly solid.

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On the other hand, there’s really nothing at all going on with his backside. It also feels like there were some missed opportunities with him. When you see how little plastic is involved with this guy, Hasbro could at least have included some peg-in arms or a middle wheel or something to beef him up. As it is all he has are just three points of articulation (head and “shoulders”) and nothing else. It’s crazy how happy I am to finally have this guy in my collection, but not having a complete set of the Ghost crew was really ticking me off.

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This set retails for around $15 and despite Chopper’s insane prices on the secondary market, this one seems to be pretty easy to find and even the online prices haven’t been inflated. As a matter of fact, at the time I’m posting this, the set is actually available on Amazon for eleven bucks! It’s a great opportunity for collectors like me who never found the angry little Astromech droid and while I should be complaining about having to buy another Zeb to get him, I’m not. In fact, getting this set has given me a push to try to track down the remaining figures in the line that I’m still missing. But, what does the future hold for the Rebels 3 3/4″ line? Who knows. Right now the only new figure that’s been shown has been the new Inquisitor, although unless they plan on releasing that figure in a two-pack like this one, it seems like at least a handful of other figures should follow.

Nov 9 2015

Marvel Universe Infinite: Doc Ock and Vulture by Hasbro

While Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ Marvel line is still alive, it certainly feels like it’s on life support with only sporadic releases here and there. Even as a dedicated collector of this line, looking back I’ve only reviewed two of these figures all year and one of those was all the way back in January! Granted, Legends has been picking up a lot of the slack, but I still enjoy the smaller scale as well. Anyway, today I’m checking out two figures from one of the recent waves and both happen to be pulled from Spider-Man’s Rogue Gallery: Doc Ock and Vulture!

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Blah! Well, the packaging hasn’t changed. It’s still as bland and flavorless as it has been for a while. God, I miss the colorful cards with the great character art and the funny quips on the back about collecting them all. This just feels like generic packaging at its worst. Oh well. Let’s rip these open and we’ll start with Vulture.

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Vulture has a few good things going for him. The head sculpt is fantastic, although the right eye on my figure looks like it’s oozing out of its socket. But even still, you have to get in pretty close to see it. And if you want to stick him in a pose with his arms up over his head and his wings spread, he looks damn nice on the shelf. If you want to play with him, or change his pose, or touch him in any way, that’s where the problems begin.

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Remember these wings? They’re the ones from the Falcon figure that was released four years back. I was iffy on them with Sam Wilson way back then and they’re not doing any favors for this figure now. A big part of the problem is that the wings will fall out of the slots in the arms if you just look at them funny. But even if that wasn’t the case. Even if I were to take a couple dabs of gorilla glue and stick them in there for good, they really only look good in that one pose and that defeats the purpose of the arm articulation. Put his arms down and they kind of look like they’re coming out of his head.

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Speaking of articulation, Vulture feels like we took a trip back in time to the beginning of the line. He’s got absolutely zero torso articulation and yes, that means not even a waist swivel. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, but no bicep swivels and no wrist swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, and the ankles have hinges and rockers. The neck is ball jointed, but with the collar, it can barely turn left and right. Granted, this figure qualifies as super poseable when compared to the 5-POA Star Wars figures swinging on the pegs next to them, but they still feel really dated for this line. Let’s move on…

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Doctor Octopus fares better on almost every level. The sculpt is fairly simple, but it works just fine. The portrait probably isn’t better than Vulture’s on a technical level, but it isn’t bad either. And while both figures feature add on parts for their gimmick, Ock’s mechanical arms work loads better than Vulture’s crappy wings.

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The arms simply peg into the back and each one has one swivel cut to allow for a little bit of posing. I also really like the silver paint they used for the arms. Yeah, proper bendy arms would have been cool, but these look great on the figure and still allow for some play-ability. Frankly, I’m glad they went this way.

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As for the rest of Ock’s articulation, it’s still lacking any torso articulation at all, but you do get some additional points over what Vulture’s dated body is sporting. Ock’s arms feature swivels in the biceps and rotating hinges in the wrists. There are no rockers in the ankles, but the sculpted pants cuffs would have canceled it out anyway.

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And so here we have one hit and one miss on Marvel’s 3 3/4″ front. I really dig Doc Ock a lot and it’s kind of surprising to me that it took them this long to get around to doing him. Vulture is also a great choice of character for the line, but he really needed a new set of wings to make him work. These flappers were rather disappointing on Falcon and they’re no be here nearly four years later. I can appreciate Hasbro wanting to reuse parts, but this just wasn’t a good example of it. Oh, and the Marvel Universe love for Spidey’s villains doesn’t end here. There’s still a relatively new release of Sandman out there, I just haven’t found him yet.

Nov 6 2015

Femme Fatales “DC Animated Series:” Supergirl (SDCC Exclusive) by Diamond Select

If you haven’t heard, Bruce Timm’s art styling is now being featured in a new off-shoot of Diamond’s Femme Fatales statue line. Last Friday, I checked out Supergirl, the inaugural release based on the character design from Superman: The Animated Series. Today we’re taking a second look at Supergirl, only this time it’s the SDCC 2015 Exclusive, which is based on the Justice League Unlimited Series and limited to 2,000 pieces. And it seems only fitting to give Supergirl some extra attention, as her new TV Series is off and running and I’m actually digging it quite a lot!

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The statue comes in the same type of window box as the regular retail release with generously sized windows on the front, top and sides. All of these let you get a great look at the statue to check out the paint, although with Exclusives like this, you don’t always have the luxury of being choosy.
The box deco is now blue and the front features the Femme Fatales logo as well as the logos for Comic Con 2015 and Justice League Unlimited. There’s also a sticker on the window declaring this an AFX Retail Exclusive. You also get a piece of tape on the top flap with the limitation number. Mine is #140/#2000. I’m not a big fan of putting that sort of thing on the tape, but fortunately you can just cut the regular tape on the bottom flap to get this gal out. Obviously, this is a repaint of the regular release, but I was surprised to find that there’s a fair amount of new sculpting as well. Let’s take a look at the reworked parts first.

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Starting from the bottom and working up… the boots are brand new with no laces and the jagged tops with yellow borders. The skirt is slightly longer with a pleated bottom and the dip in the front along with the yellow border. Finally, the entire head has been reworked. The hair is a new style with the clip gone, her ears covered, and some of her golden locks falling over the front of her right shoulder. The eyes are painted with pale blue pupils, to match the JLU look. The re-sculpting is all well done and does a beautiful job transforming the statue into the more traditional and somewhat more mature JLU look.

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There are minimal changes to the top. She now has long sleeves and no gloves. The rest is more or less the same with a nice fresh coat of blue paint for the shirt and the S-Shield remaining unchanged. It’s worth noting that while the paint is overall solid on this piece, it’s not quite up to the regular release’s standards. There’s some slop around the wrists and a few minor scratches here and there. The cape appears identical to the previous release and the overall skin tone is painted with more of a tanned complexion.

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The pose is still identical to the regular release, which is a good thing, because I think it looks great. The base, which was a bit of a studder step for me last time is repainted to look like an arctic scene. The paint is very rough, probably intentionally so to make it look more distant. I actually like it better than the regular release’s base, but only marginally so. It’s also worth noting that there is no statement of limitation anywhere on the statue, only the box.

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Obviously I liked the regular statue enough to pony up for this one, and I’m mighty glad I did. She cost me $50, which is really not bad for an SDCC Exclusive Statue these days and it feels like DST went above and beyond for this release. Case in point, their Femme Fatales Cassie Hack statue also got an SDCC 2015 Exclusive, but it’s strictly a repaint and that’s often the case with these things. Sometimes variants will include minor changes to the base or a swap out accessory, but in this case we got a lot of solid new sculpting and I think it paid off for the statue big time. So far, I’m digging this line a lot and next up will be Poison Ivy, which will probably turn up here next week on DC Friday.

Nov 5 2015

Legends of Cthulhu: Cthulhu The Great Old One (12-inch Figure) by Warpo Toys, Part 2

Whassup, Cthulhu Cultists? As promised, I’m back to wrap up my look at Warpo’s amazing 12-inch Great Old One. Last time we checked out the packaging and now I’m ready to open this baby up.

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The box is just taped on the top flap, so a quick flick of my blood-soaked ceremonial dagger gets it open and inside the figure comes in three parts and is held in a framework of folded cardboard, just like the playsets of old.

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In addition to Cthulhu’s body and wings, you get a single sheet of instructions and an awesome little product booklet showing the 3 3/4″ figures in the line. The booklet is bound in human skin and inked in human blood (not really) and shows the core figures from the initial assortment, but not the Kickstarter Exclusive variants. I’ll confess, I was also hoping for some kind of “Coming Soon” image or tease in the book, but no such luck. Attaching The Great Old One’s wings is easy and I can’t stress enough how happy I am they designed these things with turn-locking tabs so they can be easily removed and the whole shebang can be returned to the box for storage. It’s so damn frustrating when you get a toy that is designed to be put together and not taken apart again, and happily that’s not the case here.

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Assembly is easy, although it does require some lit candles, recitations of ancient incarnations, and a virgin sacrifice. Once together, this guy is huge. Yeah, he’s 12-inch’s tall, but it’s the wing span and bulbous head that really make him feel even bigger than your average 12-inch tall figure. And if you were expecting just a blown up version of the smaller Spawn of Cthulhu figure, think again. This guy is totally new. The plastic quality feels great and there’s just the right amount of detail in the sculpt to walk that fine line between making an impressive looking figure and paying homage to vintage toys. There’s hardly any space on this guy’s body that doesn’t have some detail work. The mess of tentacles he has for a mouth looks particularly great and I love the disgusting warts that are studded all over his body.

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As good as the sculpt is, I think it’s the paint that impresses me the most on this figure. The plastic itself is just the right shade of green and it’s highlighted with yellow in various areas. The gray paint used for the claws and insides of the wings is beautifully applied and the effect of the red beady eyes against the black is absolutely killer. There’s no slop or spray, just a gorgeous high-quality paint job that compliments the figure in every way.

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Cthulhu features the standard 5-points of vintage action figure articulation, with points in the shoulders, hips, and neck. You also get additional swivels in the wrists. Technically, there is articulation in the wings, as they can be rotated a bit before detaching, but only a bit. Playing around with this guy is very reminiscent of playing around with my LJN Gremlin from 1984 or even Kenner’s old Star Wars Rancor monster, only the joints feel a lot tighter and more solid on Cthulhu here, and the quality of the plastic offers a lot more heft.

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I’m pretty sure that this big guy was originally billed at about $99, at least that’s the amount that stuck in my head and that I was prepared to shell out if and when he ever became a reality. Warpo was ultimately able to deliver this amazing toy for $79.99, so not only did it ship for less than I expected, but nothing was lost in the transition to production. From package to figure, it’s a work of art, and the same gorgeous figure that was shown off from the get go is the one that I’m clutching in my two hands now. He’s the ultimate expression in a line that was perfectly planned and executed from the beginning. Ah, but the Legends of Cthulhu doesn’t end here. There’s a Glow-In-The-Dark version of this big guy shipping now, which will probably wind up on my shelf as well. Also, The Necronomicon Collector Set is due out soon, which is a whole box of goodies, including some cardboard standees to make a playset for the 3 3/4″ figures. Expect to see a review of that set coming soon!

Nov 4 2015

Legends of Cthulhu: Cthulhu The Great Old One (12-inch Figure) by Warpo Toys, Part 1

Folks, I’m dog-tired. I just got off a bone-crushing eleven-day work week and now I have to reboot my sleep so I can pull a ten-hour overnight tomorrow. I was going to bag updates for today and tomorrow, but then I got me a big box of Cthulhu goodness from Warpo Toys. Yes, that’s right, this is the big one. Their Grand Opus. The 12-inch Cthulhu figure! And so, I decided to fight the exhaustion and push through with a compromise. Today I’m going to take a quick look at the packaging for this beast of a figure and tomorrow, when I’m more rested, I’ll open it up and check out the toy itself. And that seems only fair, because just like Warpo’s 3 3/4″ Legends of Cthulhu figures, the packaging on this one is so damn good, it deserves its own feature. But first… surely you’ve heard of Warpo Toys, right?

If not, then please do take a moment to read my gushing review of the figures from their Legends of Cthulhu Kickstarter. These folks at Warpo not only know how to make great figures, but they know how to present them to us wrapped in 100% genuine retro goodness. I know what you’re saying, “But Dave, everybody is doing retro figures these days.” Piffle! These are the real deal, lovingly designed and crafted by people who were there. People who sat amidst a pile of crumpled wrapping paper on an 80’s Christmas morning and knew what it was like to get the real toys. While their successful Kickstarter did reach some of the stretch goals, it didn’t quite make it to THE stretch goal, which was this 12-inch tall version of Cthulhu, The Great Old One himself. Soon after, however, they promised they would still somehow get that figure into the hands of us collectors and now they’ve made good on their word. I couldn’t be happier! Check it out…

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This box is a work of art and that’s not just me spraying hyperbole. If you were a kid of the 80’s and you got your hands on a big toy then you will instantly recognize this box. It’s made of the same chunky cardboard stock with a full color illustration pasted to the front and line drawings on the other panels. Holding this giant box in hand brought me back to countless Christmas mornings when I would hold aloft a new Kenner Star Wars playset or the huge Kraken figure from Mattel’s old Clash of the Titans line. This box isn’t so much a box, but a replica of 80’s style toy packaging. And don’t even get me started about the gorgeous artwork on the front. The sumptuous painting matches the style of single carded figures perfectly. You even get the little picture-in-picture insert of the toy itself showing how big it is compared to the regular 3 3/4″ Cthulhu.

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The left and right side panels each feature the same line drawings of the original four figure wave and invites you to Collect Them All! Wait, no. It isn’t an invitation. It’s a demand! The Elder God demands that you buy these action figures! (No, really, go buy them. They’re back in stock at a lot of e-tailers and well worth the money. I’m thinking of picking up a second set to keep carded.) I also love the wrap around border encompassing the header, “The Exciting Universe of H.P. Lovecraft.” The style here just nails it beautifully.

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Lastly, the back panel continues more of the line art style that was common for these big boxed toys in the 80’s. This is amazing stuff! Look at that innocent kid with the bowl cut deciding the fate of The Professor, nay of THE ENTIRE EARTH! I’d like to think that he carries Cthulhu around all day with him like a My Buddy doll. For pete-sakes if this figure was around when I was a kid, that’s what I’d be doing. We’d be inseparable. A huge part of me, as tired as I am, wants to bust this big boy out right now, but I know I’ll enjoy it more if I do it tomorrow and that’s when I’ll be back to open him up and unleash him upon my collection. But it’s worthwhile to note just how happy I am with this thing and I haven’t even gotten past the box yet. It’s that good! And that’s why I have to extend my sincerest thanks to the team at Warpo for getting this thing out there for collectors like me to buy.

Nov 3 2015

Star Wars Black (The Force Awakens): First Order Snowtrooper Officer by Hasbro

I didn’t think I’d be seeing another Star Wars Black figure until the next full Wave arrives, but thanks to Toys R Us I have a little something to tide me over via their Exclusive Snowtrooper Officer. I was a little pissed off when I first saw this figure revealed and I mistook it as news that the regular First Order Snowtrooper was going to be a TRU Exclusive. Afterall, sometimes those are impossible for me to get hold of. I settled down a lot when I saw it was just the Officer variant and as it turned out I had no difficulty getting it off their website anyway.

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The box is right in line with what we saw in the first wave of 6-inch Force Awakens figures. It’s tweaked from the original 6-inch Black line with a larger piece of monochrome character art and a nice red background, which makes the figure pop in the package a little more. Both side panels now tell what the figure is, which was one of my gripes about the older style boxes. The red panel, however, does not designate a number for this figure, presumably because it’s an Exclusive. And speaking of Exclusives, the box does have the silver “R” sticker on the window identifying it as such.

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Think you’re safe from the First Order just because it’s chilly where you live? Think again! Much like The Empire, TFO has specially bundled up troops to invade your icy world and oppress you. I’ll confess, I don’t like the design of these guys as much as the classic Imperial version, but I do still like it a lot. The biggest similarity is the kama, but in this case it looks like it’s evolved more into a trench coat and I ain’t hating it. I do, however, wish they had sprung for some soft goods because the plastic kama does impede the leg articulation quite a bit. But more on that later.

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I dig the helmet design a lot. It’s nearly featureless design, little gas mask nubs and creepy, almost non-existantly narrow eye slit conspire to create a rather disturbingly blank visage. To me, the more impersonal you can make a soldier the scarier he is and these guys are quite a bit scary.

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Since this is an Officer, the figure does include the rank-defining pauldron on the right shoulder and in this case it’s red. Ah, I bet Hasbro is thanking their lucky stars for the original Sandtrooper Pauldron that has since given them the ability to sell variant figures with very little effort. I presume the piece is removable, but my figure’s noggin is on there pretty good and I didn’t want to risk pulling it off and breaking the neck post. The backpack, on the other hand, is easily removed. It comes separate from the figure in the package and simply pegs right into the back. Obviously the bulk of the figure is white, although Hasbro did mix up that white to use a nice glossy coat on the armored parts and a matte for the cloth. It’s subtle, but nonetheless appreciated. A little black paint here and there and the big red pauldron are the only other real coloring to be found. Still, what’s here is pretty tidy.

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Articulation is serviceable, but there aren’t an over abundance of points. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, but sadly no bicep swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, but that plastic kama restricts them quite a bit. The knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the thighs and the ankles feature rotating hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features a ball joint, which is cleverly masked under the chest armor and the neck also is ball jointed. Even with all that being said, the figure feels rather limited. Not to make excuses, but I imagine that might be fairly accurate for a soldier all bundled up in arctic gear.

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Besides the backpack, the Snowtrooper Officer includes his rifle, which is not only a very nice sculpt, complete with scope and extended stock, but also features some lovely white and silver painted accents. His right hand is sculpted to hold it, complete with trigger finger that fits in the guard.

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This guy really doesn’t hold many surprises, but I do like him a lot. A little cloth would have gone a long way to improve the range of leg movement and reinforce that this is a premium line for collectors, but there I go again setting my expectations for 6-inch Black a little too high. Still, I don’t want to go out bitching about what is a rather nice figure. I’m very glad to have been able to find him and I’ll look forward to scooping up a pair of the regular Snowtroopers when they make their appearance.