Jan 15 2016

Femme Fatales “DC Animated Series:” Batgirl by Diamond Select

It’s DC Friday again, and today I’m jumping back into Diamond’s new line of statues based on the ladies of the DC Animated Universe. Since this off-shoot of DST’s Femme Fatales line debuted back in October, I’ve already picked up Poison Ivy and two versions of Supergirl and today it’s Batgirl’s turn.

While it’s basically the same style of window box DST has been using since the line debuted, the DC Animated Statues are each getting their own deco to match the theme of their respective series. I like that they’re doing this because the regular Femme Fatales packaging wasn’t all that exciting or engaging. In this case the deco is themed for Batman: The Animated Series and so the box matches the one used for Poison Ivy quite nicely. Windows on the front, top, and side panels all allow for a pretty good look at the statue and everything is collector friendly, should you ever wish to box Batgirl back up for storage. The statue comes sandwiched between two clear plastic trays and there’s no assembly required. Let’s get her out and take a look…

Sculpted from the Bruce Timm art style, this version of Batgirl features her traditional grey bodysuit with blue boots, gauntlets, cape and cowl along with her yellow belt and bat insignia. While I wouldn’t be opposed to double-dipping on her black and yellow costume, I’m glad DST went with this one. It’s just a bit more iconic to me. The costume doesn’t feature a lot of detail, that’s all part of the simple animated style, but the tight costume doesn’t leave much to the imagination when it comes to her bat curves. Her adorable little cape bellows out behind her and the head sculpt is certainly faithful to the art that inspired it. The cowl and mask is part of the sculpt and her hair spills out the back. And yes, she also has a nice little bum.

The pose here is a fun one. I’m torn on whether she’s about to break into a run, throw the batarang in her right hand, or if she’s just posing for the camera. Either way, it’s a nice mix of whimsy with a hint of action and it suits the character well.

The singular thing about doing statues based on this simple animated style is the importance of a nice clean paint job. The paintwork on Batgirl is overall fairly solid, but there’s a few areas where I would have liked to see some improvement, most notably the outline around the bat symbol, where there are some uneven lines. Otherwise, there’s a few stray marks on the grey bodysuit, most notably an off-color spot just above her belt buckle and another on her butt. Yeah, I’ve seen worse paintwork on more expensive statues, but that doesn’t completely excuse it. I will also note that I think the hair could have used a more red in it. What we got is more of a straight chocolate brown.

The base suggests Batgirl is standing on the roof of a Gotham City Police car with one foot up on the light bar. This is easily my favorite base in the line so far as it’s evocative of the simple art style and still communicates a bit of environmental context.

Three statues in and I’m still digging these DC animated ladies a lot. Yes, they’re budget statues and as such the more discerning statue collectors are likely to turn their noses up, but I think the scope of the line marries the simplistic Bruce Timm style perfectly. These aren’t going to replace Koto’s Bishoujos as my favorites any time soon, but then again these run between half to three-quarters of the price, so at $35, there’s some decent value here. Batgirl’s paint is the weakest of the three, but that could be just my specific statue and it’s still not terrible. My eye is often drawn to the spot on her tummy, but I may have some success smoothing that out. DST seems to be averaging about one release a month on these, with Harley hitting right about now and Catwoman and Hawkgirl both on deck to ship in the months ahead. There’s also an Exclusive Talia Al Ghul, which I’ve been trying to resist, but I’m thinking I may wind up getting.

Jan 14 2016

Transformers Legends: (LG-15) Nightbird Shadow by Takara

I distinctly remember, back in the 80’s I used to get up on Sunday mornings, pour myself a big bowl of cereal (probably Cap’n Crunch) and watch the Transformers cartoon before my parents hauled me off to church. I’m not gonna lie, most Sundays I would spend the whole time replaying the episode in my head, but then there was that one episode, Enter the Nightbird that had me so pumped, I’m surprised I didn’t just stand up in the middle of Sunday Mass and scream, “WATCH OUT, OPTIMUS, SHE’S PLAYING ROBOTO-POSSUM!” It was a great episode and I always wanted a Nightbird figure because she was a giant female robot ninja, and if you need any more reason than that, you must be very empty inside. About the only thing Nightbird didn’t have going for her was she wasn’t a Transformer… well, now she is!

This is my first time dipping my toe into Takara’s Transformers Legends line, not to be confused with Hasbro’s Legends line. On our side of the Pacific Legends means tiny little bite-sized Transformers, whereas abroad it has consisted of repaints of Deluxe toys and a few unique characters. I do dig the packaging here quite a bit. It’s a compact window box that displays the figure in her vehicle mode with a very G1-inspired grid deco, some bitchin’ character art, and a lot of copy that I can’t read. You get a fold-out instruction sheet with some very wacky looking comic pages and a poster too. Everything is collector friendly, which is a definite plus because there are a lot of accessories here to keep track of.

As already mentioned, Nightbird is an actual Transformer now, and as you can probably tell from her vehicle mode, she’s a repaint (and ever so slight remold) of Generations Arcee. This futuristic convertible is one of my favorite alt modes in recent history and it looks rather spectacular repainted in the black and silver Nightbird colors. You also get purple seats to complete that classic Decepticon deco and a tinted yellow windshield. The only changes to the mold can be found in the very tip of the hood. While Nightbird started life as a free agent, here she proudly bears a Decepticon logo on her hood and it looks great.

As with Arcee, there are still several ports on this vehicle to take the weapons she comes with. So you can really arm Nightbird to the teeth even when she’s cruising around on the roads of Cybertron. Of course, some of the weapons look better on her alt mode than others.

Transformation is identical to Arcee, which means it’s a lot easier going to robot mode than packing everything away into vehicle mode. Still, once you know what you’re doing, neither conversion is all that difficult. There’s a little more remolding evident in the robot mode, all of which can be found on the torso, and of course the new head. While the new sculpting is appreciated, I have to say I’m really amazed at how incredibly well this figure works as Nightbird with so little tweaking. In fact, if I didn’t know it already, and if it weren’t for the car kibble backpack, I’d be hard pressed to guess that this wasn’t created specifically to be Nightbird.

The new head is a fairly simple yet fantastic sculpt and features some rather nice light piping in the eyes, which I utterly failed to capture here.

In the cartoon, Nightbird was able to keep all the Autobots at bay with her cunning Ninja tricks and her action figure sports a nice arsenal of weaponry. For starters, she has the same two guns that came with Arcee, both black this time. I like the design of both these guns, but they sit rather high in her hand making them look a bit awkward when she’s wielding them. Thanks to the side tabs, she can also attach them to her hips as if they were holstered.

Also included are Arcee’s swords, this time cast in yellow translucent plastic. I like these pieces a lot and she looks great holding them. It’s a pity that they didn’t include side tabs so she could wear them on her hips with the blades flat against her, rather than sticking out awkwardly.

Last and certainly not least, you also get a pair of energon sai, which are a welcome addition to the arsenal and very appropriate for the character. Like the swords, these are also cast in clear yellow and while all the weapons are appreciated, it’s the sai that are going to be displayed on her person most of the time. These can also be tabbed into her forearms or comfortably worn on her hips. Very cool!

As an import, the price on the Takara’s Legends figures are certainly steeper than the Hasbro Deluxes. Nightbird set me back just a bit under $30 and that seems to be the going price for these. Yes, you do get an extra pair of weapons and I think overall the paint is of better quality than what we see on the American releases, but this is a case where I was really paying for a character that I really wanted and had very little chance of ever making it Stateside via Hasbro. Chances are this will be a one-shot dip into this line, but even at about twice the price of a Generations Deluxe, I have no regrets. Nightbird is an amazing little figure and one that I’ve wanted for a long time.

Jan 13 2016

Mortal Kombat X: Kitana by Mezco

Last year, the folks at Mezco wowed me with the first assortment of their Mortal Kombat X line and the second assortment hit just at the tail end of 2015 and it’s been hanging around waiting to be opened for the better part of a month now. Today, I’m checking out my most anticipated figure of that second wave, the deadly and lovely Kitana!

The packaging is largely unchanged from the first wave. You get a funky shaped card and a bubble molded to look like the MK emblem. It’s a snazzy presentation that shows off the figure quite well, but it’s totally unfriendly to collectors and so it’s getting torn open and pitched. FigureFan vs Packaging… FIGHT!

BRUTALITY!

The sculpting on this line has been top notch from the get go, and Kitana keeps that delightful trend chugging along. The top half of her outfit is layered onto the female buck to add a lot of depth and credibility, not to mention a little bit of lovely side-boob. That’s side boob… not to be confused with Noob Saibot. Extra sculpting is used for the ornamentation on her shoulder guards, gorget, and breast armor, all of which looks great. I’m not a huge fan of the baggy parts of her costume that puff out of the tops of her leggings, but that’s more an issue I have with the character design and not the execution of the figure. The leggings include sculpted stitching and there are extra armor pieces for her knees. The coloring also serves to back up the sculpt quite nicely. I really dig the shade of blue they used here too. It’s very similar to the wonderful blue they used for Sub Zero’s costume.

Kitana has a pair of tabs on her back, which are obviously designed to interact with her weapons, I’m just not a hundred percent sure how. It’s similar to the deal with Scorpion where you had to figure it out for yourself. I was able to clip her blades in there, but it’s tentative at best and there are rather conspicuous slots on the fans that make me think they’re supposed to go in there somehow.

The portrait here is very well done. Even though half her face is covered up, the paint on the eyes is enough to carry the day. Definitely a pretty lady.

Kitana features some solid articulation very much in line with what we saw on the previous figures. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have rotating hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels at the thighs. There’s a ball joint at the waist and another at the neck. Her posability is perfectly serviceable, but these are fighting game figures, so there is definitely room for improvement. I would have certainly liked a greater range of motion in the hips at least. I’m also happy to say, I’ve never had any issues with stuck joints when dealing with Mezco’s products.

The package includes no less than four pairs of hands, which is certainly impressive for a figure in this scale. You also get two sets of weapons. First, Kitana has her regular blades. These include blue painted handles and etched blades. They’re great little pieces, but let’s face it, they’re upstaged by her amazing fans…

Yeah, I’m a big fan of these fans! Yeah, technically, they’re meant to be the same weapon as the regular blades. They look amazing and she can hold them beautifully. I can’t imagine I’ll be displaying her without these very often as they remain her trademark weapons for me.

Kitana is another solid addition to this wonderful little series. Mortal Kombat hasn’t been a big deal for me for a long while, so it’s a testament to the look and quality of these figures that I’m collecting them at all. The paint and sculpt on these have been superb across the board and I really wish that Mezco would snag some more licenses and produce more articulated figures in this scale, rather than just churning out semi-articulated Breaking Bad statues. Unfortunately, the fate of the MKX line doesn’t seem all that rosy and Mezco hasn’t been very upbeat about the likelihood that the line will continue into 2016. The next two figures in the wave are Quan Chi and Kotal Kahn and you can expect me back with a look at those in a week or so, as soon as I’ve cleared some more of the rest of my backlog!

Jan 12 2016

Doctor Who: “Night of the Doctor” Eighth Doctor by Character Options

It’s become part of my Doctor Who viewing routine to watch the new episodes and lament over how almost every single character would have gotten an action figure back in the heyday of Character Options’ 5-inch line. Oh, the missed opportunities over the last couple of Series. Now, we’re lucky to get a handful of figures a year. And I do mean lucky, because I’m sincerely grateful for every single release these days. That goes double for today’s because it’s the version of The 8th Doctor from the six-and-a-half minute short, “Night of the Doctor!”

If you picked up either version of The 12th Doctor figures last year, you’ll know just what to expect from the packaging. The figure comes in a window box very much in line with what a lot of the big toy companies are doing with their 6-inch figure lines. The deco is a sumptuous blend of old and new, the window shows off the figure beautifully, and everything is totally collector friendly. Needless to say, I like it!

The back of the box gives you a little blurb about the great Paul McGann as The 8th Doctor and the short “minisode” that the figure is based on. When it comes to that 1996 Fox TV movie, my motto has always been “hate the movie, love The Doctor!” That’s probably why I dig this short so much. It not only gave us a precious few more minutes of McGann on screen as The Doctor, but this time it was brilliant and it finally gave him a proper (and superb!) regeneration scene as well as legitimized his Big Finish Audio Adventures by having him rattle off the names of his companions. Lovely.

It’s no secret that I’ve been disappointed with the QC in the last few figures in this line. I’m happy to say that this figure shows improvements on a massive scale. The paint is near perfect and there are no loose, pulled, or wobbly joints. Naturally, I had to get him online, so when I was ready to cringe when I pulled the package from the shipping box. Needless to say, I was pleasntly surprised with what I got! I absolutely adore this costume. It’s like a blend of Edwardian gentlemen meets steampunk high plains drifter and the sculpt and paint used to bring it to life are both implemented beautifully. There’s all sorts of detail in the vest, including the unbuttoned bottom button and the chain to his fob watch running off to the side and disappearing under the coat. The coat is the usual vest faked out with sculpted arm sleeves and it works brilliantly here. The boots include individually sculpted laces and the open shirt collar with cravat looks great. The paint used to make the worn leather finish on the boots loos particularly nice.

The portrait is fine, but under close scrutiny it looks rather soft. It’s a decent likeness and certainly sets itself apart from the McGann portraits Character Options has delivered in the past.

With fewer figures being produced each year, you’d think that CO would have cut back on the articulation, but this Doctor is probably the best articulated figure this line has ever seen. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature a t-crotch in the hips with added lateral hinges. The knees are hinged and there are swivels in both the thighs and the tops of the boots. There’s a swivel at the waist and again at the neck.

The Doctor comes with three accessories. First, you get the bandoleer strap that he took from Cass, the woman he failed to save. It’s a very key accessory, as the woman died refusing to trust The Doctor because of his connection to the Time Lords. Her death was in effect the last straw that led to him finally agreeing to take up arms and fight to end it. The strap is removable and very similar to the one seen sculpted under the jacket of The War Doctor.

Next up you get the Sonic Screwdriver, which is a wonderful little piece because it matches the design of the ones carried by the classic Doctors.

Finally, you get the chalice that was given to The Doctor by the Sisterhood of Karn, containing the Elyxyr of Life, which allowed him to undergo a customized regeneration. It also figured in that wonderful little sequence where he canonizes his Audio Adventure companions before drinking: “Charley, C’rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly, friends, companions I’ve known, I salute you. And Cass, I apologise…. Physician, heal thyself.” Freaking brilliant.

At this point every 5-inch scale Doctor Who figure I can add to my shelf is a rare treat. This one, especially so because a) It’s a version of The Doctor that I badly wanted and b) the craftsmanship on display here is exceptional. He’s definitely going to replace my current 8th Doctor on my Shelf of Doctors. Seeing that CO is still capable of producing a figure this nice makes me just want more. Fortunately, I do happen to have another new one to check out next week: It’s Missy! Well, she couldn’t go around calling herself The Master, could she?

Jan 11 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Valkyrie by Hasbro

I’ve got just two more figures in the Hulkbuster Wave to check out before I can cobble together my Hulkbuster. Believe you me, that it’s taken all my resolve and willpower not to jump the gun and tear these last figures open to get the big guy assembled. Especially since at the rate I’m going, I still two more weeks. Anyway, today’s figure is Valkyrie. Somehow I wound up saving the two ladies in this assortment for last…

And there’s the figure in the package. You’ll note that Valkyrie shares this slot with Thundra and as a result her name isn’t on the front of the box. Instead you get, “Fearless Defenders” It still amazes me that Hasbro is willing to put out the lesser known characters and not even put their names on the front of the packages. Sometimes, you show balls Hasbro. Anyway, Valkyrie is also one of those characters that Hasbro is double-dipping on, as we got her in the 3 3/4-inch Universe line last year.

If you have that Universe figure, you have a good idea what to expect here, as this is every bit the same version of the character. That having been said, it’s also an improvement on almost every level. Take note for your Star Wars Black series, Hasbro, because this is how you upscale a figure and take proper advantage of it. It’s interesting, because technically, there isn’t a whole lot to Valkyrie’s costume. It’s mostly painted black body suit, but few details almost all include new sculpting and that carries the figure a long way. The four armor points on her torso, for example, are all sculpted as well as painted. The belt is new and actually attached to the figure, rather than just dangling on her hips, the downside being that you can’t stick her sword through the belt for her to carry, like you could with the Universe figure. The only details that get by with paint alone are her bicep straps and wrist bracers, and they look just fine.

I really dig the head sculpt here. The portrait has a lot of character and shows that Hasbro has come a long way with female faces since the unfortunate Madam Viper. The paint on the pupils is a little uneven, but you can’t tell unless you get up really close with a camera. The sculpting on the hair is also quite good, although the braids do tend to jut out in front of her a bit too much. I really wish there was some way Hasbro could have done these in plastic that could bend and hold its form. The braids are also the biggest difference between this figure and the 3 3/4″ version, which had much longer hair.

The articulation here is actually pretty close to what we got in the 3 3/4″ figure, with just a little give and take. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. There are also swivels in the biceps. The legs have rotating hinges at the hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and swivels at the hips. There’s a ball joint just under the chest and another in the neck. The one point I miss the most is the extra hinge in the neck. Hasbro has been including that point in just about every Legends figure I can think of. I’m not sure why it didn’t make it into this one, but it’s absence is very noticeable to me.

In addition to the enormous Hulkbuster arm, Valkyrie comes with her trusty sword, Dragonfang. The hilt sculpt is a lot more subdued than the smaller Universe version and I like it a lot more. It’s just a classical looking cruciform sword.

Valkyrie turned out to be the unexpected breakout figure of the wave, and that’s saying something because this has been an overall solid assortment. She looks great and she’s loads of fun to play with. It’s always nice to see Hasbro put some extra work into the characters that aren’t exactly top tier and I think that was certainly the case here. And with Valkyrie joining my Legends ranks of Spider-Woman, Hellcat, Black Cat, Black Widow and Captain Marvel my Fearless Defenders are shaping up nicely. Especially with Misty Knight in the next Wave I’m buying. And that will segue me right into Thundra on the next Marvel Monday.

Jan 9 2016

Pop! Vinyls (Army of Darkness): Ash by Funko

Damn these ridiculous things! I bought a few Doctor Who and Fallout Pop!s last year and swore it wasn’t going to be a gateway into anything, and now I’ve got more of these things then I’d care to admit. I’ve decided that the weekend would be the best time for me to start looking at these things, as well as some Disney Infinity figures and other items in my collection not worthy of occupying a regular weekday slot, so here we go…

Here is the insidious little box that called to me from the shelf. Ash is #53 of what I’m assuming is their movie series. But Funko is so prolific with these things that any time I see a number less than 10,000 on these things I call foul. I’ve been keeping the boxes for now, but I can foresee a day when I will have Totes with hundreds of loose Pop!s just spilled into them. Someone, please stop me before that plays out.

The back panel is odd, because instead of showing you what other POP!s are out there to buy it just has a poster from the film. Man, that was a great poster! Now, I realize that this particular Pop! is from Army of Darkness, but the real reason I wanted to look at Ash today was to give me a platform to talk about the TV Series, Ash Vs Evil Dead, which just wrapped up it’s first season and… HOLY SHIT, RIGHT??? This was a series that they could have totally phoned in and fans would have still eaten it up with a Candarian spoon. But the creators didn’t do that. No, instead they delivered what has got to be some of the most unique TV ever produced. This show is beyond a love letter to the fans. It’s a full on blow job letter to the fans. It’s just absolutely incredible and impossible and I can’t believe something like this was actually made and put on television. Needless to say, I loved it and can’t wait for more. OK, back to the damn Pop!

One of the thing that impresses me is the way Funko is able to take just one aspect of a character’s appearance and work it into the generic giant Pop! head and make the character recognizable. Here it’s Ash’s cowlick. The scar is neat too, as is the one raised eyebrow. I almost wish they had glued a chin on the bottom of the face, but that would have been going beyond the Pop! aesthetic so I can understand why they didn’t.

Now, I’m not saying I would recognize this head as Bruce Campbell by itself, but that’s where the body comes in and Funko did a nice job here. You get the torn blue shirt, the chest straps, the boomstick, and the chainsaw hand and all are produced quite well for this scale and scope. There’s just something about a figure this cute holding murder implements that makes me happy. The paint here is not bad at all. There’s a stray fleck of black here and there, but otherwise it’s pretty neat and the brushed steel look of the chainsaw blade is actually quite good.

So, I originally told myself just Fallout and Doctor Who (and yes, I have more of those to look at), but the problem here is that after you buy your first Pop! you start to notice them a lot more. Beforehand, they were just noise on an endcap at Target and now they sing to me as I make my sweep through the action figure aisle. Because lord knows, I really need more useless pieces of plastic to collect!

Jan 8 2016

DC Comics Designer Series (Greg Capullo): “New 52” Catwoman by DC Collectibles

It seems like a while since I did a DC Friday, so I’m getting back on point today by opening up another DC Collectibles figure. This time it’s the Designer Series Gregg Capullo Catwoman! Now, as many of you know, I’m not a regular reader of Batman comics, but I did go out of my way to read Death of the Family and rather enjoyed it. Of course, I’ve been an avid follower of Catwoman’s New 52 book. As a result, I tend to associate Guillem March’s art with New 52 Catwoman more than Capullo’s, but I still like what Capullo did in the Batman book and was happy to pick up this figure based on his art.

The packaging is quite similar to what we saw when I looked at the Flash TV Series figures and the deco is right in line with DCC’s regular New 52 window boxes. The biggest improvement is the angled window with the character’s name running up the side. The only real drawback here is how much wasted space is in that box. The tray looks very sparse and it could have used some art behind it with a little more punch to compensate. Everything is collector friendly, but with storage space ever the great enemy, I’ll be pitching this box.

Selena comes all decked out in her trademark skin-tight bodysuit. It’s a pretty simple outfit, enhanced by some wrinkles here and there and some very precise silver paint on her front zipper and the buckles on the sides of her high-heeled boots. I would have liked a little more gloss on the suit, but the matte finish that they used doesn’t look at all bad. They certainly got her curves in all the right places.

The head sculpt is damn nice, with her large, gold goggles and her cute little pursed lips. Getting in close makes the paint on her lips and nostrils seem a little weird, but it looks fine with the naked eye. Bonus points: I used the word “naked” in a feature about Catwoman. My Google hits are going up already! A second head with the goggles up would have been nice, as there was certainly plenty of room for it in the package, but I guess it was not to be.

The articulation here is decent enough for DC Collectibles’ standards, but a little lacking from what I’d like in my Catwoman figures. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels at the gloves. The legs feature a T-crotch at the hips, hinges in the knees, and swivels in both the thighs and at the tops of her boots. There’s no torso articulation, but there is a ball joint in the neck. Let’s face it, Catwoman is all about the acrobatics, so the posability here feels stiff and limiting. Then again, at this point anyone buying DCC figures and expecting limber articulation is really just kidding themselves. I will say that she can stand surprisingly well in those high heels, at least when she’s not doing anything. The more action orientated poses require a figure stand.

Catwoman comes with one accessory and that’s her whip. I really like this piece, as it’s made out of rubbery plastic and features a split end and a lanyard around the handle.

All in all, I’d say this is a pretty nice figure. She retailed at around $20 originally, but most of the figures in this wave have been hitting clearance around the Interwebs and I was able to pick up Selena here for around seven bucks. Not a bad deal at all, although getting her is really just driving me more to pick up DCC’s Heroes vs Villains 7-pack to get the Catwoman bundled in that box.

Jan 7 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Groove by Hasbro

Like yesterday, today’s Feature is fueled by a little something that I was Christmas gifted by a friend and co-worker who happened to know I like me my convertorobots. It’s Legends Class Groove and it was a pleasant surprise because I didn’t have him and probably wasn’t going to buy him, but was still a little curious about him. And hey, it’s Transformers Thursday, so that’s convenient!

A sloppy gift-wrapping job has left this card a little worse for wear. Good thing I’m not one of those MOSC sickos! Seriously, MOSC collectors… no offense. I’m my own kind of sicko. Anyway, this little Protectobot comes packaged in robot mode, but I’m starting with his alt mode. Oh yeah, Hasbro, cool it with these damn plastic strips, especially on these tiny figures. I hate these things and it took me forever to get the figure out.

So, as any red-blooded geewunner would guess, Groove is a police motorcycle and a fairly good one. This is one of those alt modes where you can tell they made some sacrifices to balance out the robot mode, and I’m hoping that paid off. The coloring is a pretty basic black and white and grey with a little red and gold, and an Autobot emblem tampo’d on the side surrounded by a star. There’s also a kickstand to help display him as a motorcycle. So, all in all he’s not bad, but nothing amazing. I find it rather difficult to get his two back halves to peg together closely, so there’s a nagging gap. Let’s see if his robot mode can wow me…

OK, I can get behind this. While he lacks that certain hint of G1 aesthetic that many of the Combiner Wars figures have captured, I still think this is a pretty good bot mode, especially considering that it spawned from a motorcycle. The proportions aren’t bad at all and while I find his arms to be a bit messy, he works rather well for me. The healthy dose of ball joints and hinges also make him a rather fun fella to play around with. I can’t say I’m all that enamored with the head sculpt, but I’m willing to let it slide. Of course, like Blackjack and Rodimus, Groove has another alt mode that allows him to merge with Defensor and form a chest piece. How does that work out?

Mmmm… I didn’t think I was going to dig this because of how far the chest sticks out now, but I think I kinda like it. He adds some much needed color to Defensor’s torso. Groove secures very well to the chest too, which is ironic considering how complex this alt mode is. Blackjack couldn’t stick to Menasor’s chest for shit and that was just his car mode.

And while I really hope that Deluxe Groove someday gets a Stateside release, I’ll confess having a more properly scaled motorcycle on the team is pretty neat.Over the years there have been some pretty weak motorcycle Transformers and some of the worst have come from the Scout/Basic/Legends scale. Thankfully, Groove is not one of them. I think Hasbro made the right call taking back a little from his alt mode to make his robot mode shine and the more I play around with him the more I dig him. He’s definitely a welcome new member of my Protectobots!

Jan 6 2016

Star Wars Hot Wheels: First Order TIE FIghter and Poe’s X-Wing Fighter by Mattel

I got some cool stuff here and there from people for Christmas, but it was the little thoughtful things that touched me the most. Today’s two Hot Wheels spaceships came from a co-worker and were exactly that. I think she bought them as partially a gag gift, because she was clearly taken aback by how delighted I was with them. A while back I featured some of the other Hot Wheels ships in this line and I’ve been meaning to get back and pick up some more. It’s Hot Wheels… Force Awakens style, baby!

The packaging is nothing outrageous, although I am totally impressed that Mattel prints individual card art for each of these vehicles and you get a very nice look at the ship through the bubble. I’ll confess, I’m rather confused by the whole wide array of tiny Star Wars ships on the market today. Hasbro’s got a couple of their own lines going on, Mattel has these, and I hear tell that Disney stores have their own as well. I’ve been quite happy with the Hot Wheels ships I’ve purchased so far, so I was very happy to get some more in the line. Let’s pop these open and we’ll start off with Poe Dameron’s X-Wing…

Man, I love this fighter and that’s mostly because of some of the great scenes it featured in. One of my favorite of those scenes was when Poe’s fighter came ripping over the water on the planet Takodana and inspired his squadron with the great line, “Don’t let these thugs scare you!” God, I loved that. That one line characterized Poe better than three movies worth of dialogue did for any Prequel character. Anyway… this is a really nice piece considering the scale. Yes, it’s a little chunky in the wings and wing cannons, but it’s nothing that really ruins the aesthetics of the tiny model. The body is die cast metal, giving it some nice heft, and the wings are plastic. The cannons aren’t at all bendy and they’re straight as an arrow, which is more than can be said about Hasbro’s bigger and far more expensive version of Poe’s X-Wing. There are plenty of panel lines and other details in the sculpt and the paint is pretty sharp. The wings are permanently fixed in the attack position and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Moving on to the TIE Fighter…

Yeah, if the X-Wing was really nice, this little TIE Fighter is downright fantastic! Like the X-Wing, the TIE Fighter features a die cast metal body and plastic wings, or in this case solar panels. Yeah, we see a little chunkiness in the antenna, but otherwise I’d say this ship is near perfect for the scale. I particularly like the texturing they did for the panels and the fact that they are really solid pieces without fear of warping. The paint here is also gorgeous. The silver trim on the cockpit window is sharp as is the red stripe. I gotta get me at least one more of these babies!

Both ships come with the same snazzy clear plastic stands, which double as little “Flight Navigators” for your index finger, providing it isn’t as old and large as mine.

I think the going rate for these are around five bucks and I think they’re well worth it. These lines do tend to irritate me sometimes with their lack of relative scale, but in this case the X-Wing and TIE Fighter display beautifully together and I’m now rather anxious to hunt down the Original Trilogy counterparts to these excellent little ships and maybe pick up a few of the other offerings. Nice job on these, Mattel!

Jan 5 2016

Friday the 13th (Part VI, Jason Lives): Ultimate Jason Voorhees by NECA

Ever since I was a teenager, Jason Voorhees and I have been late night buds. I had a slew of Friday the 13th films on VHS and I used to watch them fairly often. One of the first jobs I ever wanted was to be a special effects wizard, which started with a desire to build model spaceships for sci-fi flicks and quickly escalated to wanting to learn how to do gore effects for horror movies. Unfortunately, it’s a lot more about computers than latex and squibs these days and my childish dreams of doing the craft have evaporated, but my love for gore cinema never diminished. Needless to say, when NECA added Jason to their “Ultimate” series, I was a happy little Camp Crystal Lake camper.

Damn, this franchise had some great movie posters! In keeping with the previous Ultimate releases, Jason comes in a seemingly enclosed box with a front flap secured by velcro. It opens to reveal a window that shows off the figure and all the accessories. All of the boxes in this series have a sweet bloated VHS sleeve feel to them, which fits the scope of the line beautifully. Did I mention that the illustrated backdrop of the tray is Jason’s open grave? Marvelous! This figure is based off of the franchise’s 6th outing, Jason Lives, which is among my favorites in the series (although it still resides firmly under its successor, Part VII: The New Blood). Jason isn’t f’cking around in this one and kicks things off by punching right through someone’s chest. Classic! Let’s get Jason out of the box and check him out… Ch Ch Ch Ch, Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Hot damn, this is love at first sight! Jason’s outfit is totally faithful to the sixth chapter of his saga and comes all kitted out with his murderin’ tools. The outfit consists of a sculpted button-down shirt, filthy trousers, and a pair of boots for all that stalking. The detail in the sculpted cloth is fantastic with all the appropriate little wrinkles and stitching. The same holds true for the work gloves, which include the sculpted cinch, tailored seams, and texturing that makes them look like unfinished hide. There are some lovely blood stains on his clothes, and I particularly appreciate the ones in places where they’re hard to make out without scrutinizing the figure under the light.

The sculpted belt includes functional sheathes for both his bowie knife and his machete, and his UMSC ammo pouch with the throwing darts sculpted peeking out of the top. Everything looks great here, but I really have to call out the incredible work NECA did on the sheath for the hunting knife, right down to the separate pouch and strap for the sharpening stone. Simply beautiful! Naturally each of the buttons on the belt and ammo pouch are individually painted. I really love this level of craftsmanship.

Moving on to the portrait. Jason actually comes packaged with his mask off, but I started with it on, for obvious reasons. It’s a great recreation of the hockey mask worn in the film and it’s not only removable, but it’s designed to be worn just like the real thing, with soft plastic straps that fit over the head. My only real nitpick with the figure is wondering how it would have looked if the the eye holes were actual holes and not painted in. I think I might have looked neat that way, but what we got is still plenty good.

Under the mask, we can see that spending some time in the dirt, hasn’t done Jason any favors. Man, this is grody. The rotting skin and exposed muscle look like strips of beef jerkey and the portions of the skull peeking through are awesome. I actually own two of this guy, and I plan on displaying him masked and unmasked.

Articulation here is solid, but there aren’t quite as many points as on some of the other figures in this series. Jason has rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, and ball joints in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed in the hips and have rotating hinges in the knees and ankles. There’s a ball joint hidden under the shirt, just above the waist, and another in the neck. Some swivels in the thighs and biceps would have been nice, but truth be told, Jason wasn’t the most agile of dudes, and I can get this figure to do most everything I want him to.

Accessories! You get some nice pieces with this figure, but before going on I’ll point out that there is a swappable right hand, designed to hold his cutlery, and mine was a bitch to get on because the peg seems more willing to pull out with the hand. Getting it out was a pain in the ass. In the end, I was able to get the hand on, but I doubt I’ll be swapping them again. The one I removed is designed to hold the fence post, and the swappable hand works just fine for that anyway.

The fence post comes from the beginning of the movie when Tommy and his chum dig up Jason’s corpse. Tommy goes apeshit and rips this post off the fence and stabs Jason with it. Of course, lightning hits it and we all know what a little electricity will do to a corpse, right? Soon Jason is up and at ’em and using the fence post in a particularly great kill. That whole opening sequence really is superb. Some of the best this franchise has to offer. The post that comes with the figure pegs together to make it easier to slide it into the tight grasp of his hands.

Next up you get both the bowie knife and machete. These are nicely sculpted and painted and they fit snugly into their respective sheathes.

I dig the knife a lot, but I can’t imagine not displaying Jason with his machete.

Lastly, you get Jason’s grave marker. A lovely little bonus accessory that will look great displayed in front of the figure.

Jason is another great addition to what is quickly on its way to becoming one of my favorite action figure lines. The sculpt is outrageous, the accessories are on point, and he’s got just the right amount of articulation to make him fun to pose. And with a price tag of about $21, the value vs craftsmanship of this line continues to astonish me. Most importantly, I can finally add Jason to my shelf with Ultimate Leatherface and Freddy figures! Word is that NECA doesn’t have a Michael Myers in the works, but that can’t stop me from dreaming.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Monthly Archives: January 2016

Femme Fatales “DC Animated Series:” Batgirl by Diamond Select

Transformers Legends: (LG-15) Nightbird Shadow by Takara

Mortal Kombat X: Kitana by Mezco

Doctor Who: “Night of the Doctor” Eighth Doctor by Character Options

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Valkyrie by Hasbro

Pop! Vinyls (Army of Darkness): Ash by Funko

DC Comics Designer Series (Greg Capullo): “New 52” Catwoman by DC Collectibles

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Groove by Hasbro

Star Wars Hot Wheels: First Order TIE FIghter and Poe’s X-Wing Fighter by Mattel

Friday the 13th (Part VI, Jason Lives): Ultimate Jason Voorhees by NECA

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