Monthly Archives: April 2016

Apr 6 2016

Vitruvian HACKS: Amazon Elite Warrior (Kokomo Toys Exclusive) by Boss Fight Studios

I thought I was going to have to wait until Boss Fight Studios finally got around to shipping out more figures before I could delve into the lovely Vitruvian HACKS line again, but thanks to an Exclusive through Kokomo Toys, I’ve got a new figure in my dirty paws and ready to go. The Amazon Elite Warrior is exclusive to independent toy retailer, Kokomo Toys out of Kokomo, Indiana. I only know Kokomo Toys from their adverts on the What’s on Joe Mind? podcast, but I’ve seen lots of pictures of their store and it looks like The Promised Land might be in Indiana. I’m kind of glad they’re half a country away from me, because I could probably go bankrupt in that place.

azonleet1

The packaging is different this time around. Instead of a card and bubble, the figure comes on a tray in a form-fitting monochrome box. I know, usually exclusives come in better packaging than the trade releases, but that’s not the case here. And while it’s not as flashy as the presentation on the regular figures, it’s fine for what it is. You get an illustration on the front and a little blurb about the character on the back.

azonleet2

And here she is in all her glory. This is the first time I’m able to play around with a full-on female figure from this line. That is to say a lady that doesn’t have snake parts where her legs should be. And speaking of legs, I don’t find any of the wonkiness here that I experienced with my Spartan figures. These are some solid gams. She features a dark complexion with some tattoos painted on. She also features armor pieces similar to the Spartans and consisting of wrist bracers, full torso armor, front and back, and leg grieves. As before, the armor is all removable.

azonleet3

The paint here is excellent, with a bright, metallic silver used for the armor that makes for a nice change up from the bronze colored pieces on the Spartan and Coral Gorgon. Her “skirt” is black with silver studs. Overall, this armor ensemble feels a little more utilitarian than the Spartan, but I really dig it a lot and the bright silver contrasts nicely with her dark skin.

azonleet7

One cool feature on this figure’s armor is the loop on the back of the belt that allows you to store one of her weapons.

azonleet4

The portrait features a nicely detailed sculpt for a 4-inch scale lady. She has short hair and more tattoos painted on her face. Very nice!

azonleet6

The Amazon Elite comes with a wide variety of accessories, some I’ve seen before among the other figures and some are brand new to me. For starters you get not one, but two helmets. One is very similar to what we saw with the Spartan. It includes the high red comb and is painted silver to match the armor.

azonleet5

The other helmet is more of a utilitarian Barbute. There’s no comb or crest and it features the same brilliant silver paint. Both helmets fit the figure very well.

azonleet14

azonleet15

The shields in this line are quickly becoming my favorite accessories, and here’s another reason why. It’s the same basic sculpt as the one included with the Spartan Warrior, which means it includes that lovely hammered surface and the fully detailed interior with grab bar and sleeve. I actually found it much easier to get the female figure’s hand to hold the bar on this one. The front surface is painted with a traditional Greek warrior motif similar to what you might find on pottery of the period. It’s simply gorgeous.

azonleet18

azonleet8

Of course, no elite warrior would be complete without weapons and this gal comes with a nice assortment. First off, you get these cool light axes, which are brand new accessories to me. They have sculpted shafts with silver painted heads.

azonleet13

azonleet12

Next you get a beautiful long sword with a black grip and a stout blade. This one is also a brand new accessory to me.

azonleet10

Finally, you get the spear, which is a repaint of the one included with the Spartan Warrior and Cursed Stone Spartan. It features a leaf-shaped head and a spiked butt. Also included in the box is a pair of replacement hands with the hinges cut along the other axis, and the standard figure stand that has come with each of the figures so far.

azonleet17

azonleet11

azonleet9

azonleet16

This Exclusive is available for purchase through Kokomo Toys’ Ebay shop at the cost of $30. Yup, she’s ten bucks more than your average Vitruvian HACKS figure. It is a bit steep, and I’ll admit I hesitated a bit, but in the end, I’m glad I pulled the trigger. You get more stuff than with any of the four Wave One figures. And as it turns out, this is easily my favorite among my three humans in the line so far and give me a nice idea of what’s to come, as I have a few more of the female figures on order and waiting to be shipped to me.

Apr 5 2016

Star Wars Black (The Force Awakens): Han Solo by Hasbro

You’d have to be living under a bantha not to know that today is the day The Force Awakens releases on Blu-Ray and DVD, giving us the home version of the first Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi in 1983. I’m just gonna let that lie there.  I picked up my copy as well as going digital too so I could watch it over the weekend. I still adore this movie. The action sequences are awesome without being too over the top, well except for the tentacle monsters I could have done without, and the new characters are so endearing and instantly relate-able to me. But even after multiple viewings, I’m still surprised to find that Han Solo was one of my favorite things about the film. Ford broke out of his shell and gave us a fun and enjoyable performance. It seemed only right to check out his Black Series figure today.

oldhan1

The packaging… It’s black! It’s red! It’s figure #18!!! I do like the blurb on the back, which begins with, “The exploits of Han Solo are legendary…” Goddamn right, they are. From Scoundrel to Captain to General, when we were kids, this was the guy we all wanted to be when we grew up. And now he’s all grown up. And by that, I mean old. But don’t let that fool you, like Han in the film, this figure is pretty damn good!

oldhan2

For starters, I liked Han’s costume in TFA and this figure pulls it off nicely. It reminds me of a more grizzled version of his Bespin ensemble. The leather jacket is intricately detailed with stitch lines, rumples, pockets, and those silver tubes in his breast pocket. What are those? Seriously, if you have one of those books, tell me what those are!

oldhan3

The brown wash on the jacket is very effective in giving it a worn look. Hasbro seldom does a nice job with this type of weathering, but here it’s a home run. Even the high boots have a convincing leather texture and a sharp, high gloss finish. It kind of reminds me of a leather jacket that another character who looks like this used to wear. Hmmm. The whole ensemble is tied together by his trusty smuggler’s belt with the low slung holster on his right hip.

oldhan5

As for the portrait, it may be sad to say it, but I think this is Hasbro’s best 6-inch scale Harrison Ford yet. How crazy is that? They can’t quite get it right on the regular version, but this one is damn good. Don’t get me wrong, it still looks a little misshapen and wonky, but it’s easily identifiable to me and I think it looks a lot more like Ford does now than the original Black Series Han looked like Ford back then. I think this is one of those cases where they had a good sculpt and something in the factory went amiss. The only other thing really off here is the color of his hair. It looked a lot more gray on screen, where as this coif is brown with some gray highlights.

oldhan4

oldhan7

Naturally, Han comes with his trusty blaster and it too is a really nice piece of work. His right hand is clearly designed to hold it, as it has the trigger finger positioned correctly, but he can hold it in the off hand as well. The blaster also fits snugly into his hip holster.

oldhan8

oldhan10

oldhan11

The articulation is exactly what I’ve come to expect from this line. That equates to arms with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Legs that are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at the hips. The ankles are hinged and have some generous lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso and a hinge and ball joint in the neck.

oldhan9

oldhan15

oldhan14

oldhan12

I remember when I bought this case and thought, “WHERE THE F’CK IS MY AHSOKA TANO FIGURE? WHY DID YOU GIVE ME TWO LUKES??? NOW I KNOW WHY THE WORD “BAD” IS INCLUDED IN THE NAME OF YOUR STORE!!!” Wait, that’s not where I was going with that. Afterwards, I thought,“Oh, great. Old Han Solo is in this case. I’m sure that’ll be a great figure.” You see that was misplaced sarcasm, because it is a really great figure… at least by Black Series standards. Never would have I expected to enjoy this figure as much as I did. Simply put, it feels like a fitting final tribute to the lovable rogue. Because, I’m sure we won’t be getting any more Han Solo figures in the Black Series, right?

Apr 4 2016

Marvel Legends (Red Onslaught Wave): Sharon Carter by Hasbro

It’s yet another Marvel Monday here at FFZ and I am in the midst of running through the Red Onslaught Wave of Marvel Legends. I’ve already featured the Whirlwind and Cottonmouth as the “Forces of Evil” and today I’m going to look at the first of the two ladies that make up the “Agents of SHIELD.” It’s Sharon Carter!

sharcar1

Same deal as last time, the packaging is branded with a Captain America theme that includes a shield on the top flap and his name on the front. As this is one of those “variant slots” and shares it with Mockingbird, Agent Carter’s name doesn’t appear on the front, just the “Agents of SHIELD” moniker. Not to be confused with that TV Show that I just could not get into no matter how hard I tried. Seriously, for all you people who tell me I have a Marvel bias because I can’t stomach the DC Zack Snyder movies, I’m still willing to call the Marvel Cinematic Universe out when it deserves it. Marvel, that show sucks! Just stick with the movies… and the Netflix stuff. What? This has nothing to do with today’s Feature? Well, FINE, I better get back on track, hadn’t I? So, my point is that there isn’t much else new to be said about the package, so let’s jump right on in and look at the figure…

sharcar3

sharcar4

Heeeey, we’ve seen this body before! Yes, as most everyone (including my cat) suspected, Sharon is built off the same female SHIELD agent buck that has been floating around for a couple of years now. And while Hasbro has been doing some little tweaks and kit-bashing on this figure in the past, from the neck down this one is just a straight repaint of Maria Hill from the Agents of SHIELD 3-pack. The biggest change up here is the white suit, which I’ll concede does bring out some elements in the sculpt that weren’t as evident on the darker versions. It’s a good sculpt, with plenty of detail like texturing and piping, but this time around some of the details seem a little softer. Paint mostly consists of the black straps with some silver used on the fixtures, the holstered guns, and the zipper. The SHIELD emblem tampos on her shoulders look particularly nice.

sharcar8

sharcar9

The portrait isn’t bad, but it’s nothing outrageously special either. It looks familiar, almost like some of the Legends female head sculpts are blending together. I think the eyes are set a little far apart, but otherwise there’s not much to complain about here, other than the waxy plastic that doesn’t look like skin. The paint on the facial features is fairly solid and I do dig her sculpted ponytail.

sharcar6

With Sharon being the fourth version of this buck in my collection, the articulation holds no surprises. As a matter of fact… if Hasbro can keep reusing this buck, then two can play at that game. Let me just jump back to an earlier review and cut and paste and here we go… The arms are ball jointed in the shoulders and at the elbows and wrists. Sadly, there are no bicep swivels, but I’m coming to expect that omission in Hasbro’s female figures these days. The ball joints in the elbows make up for that a little. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double-hinged at the knees, and feature swivels in the thighs. The ankles have both hinges and rockers. There is no waist swivel, but you do get a ball joint in the torso and again for the neck. 

sharcar7

Agent Carter comes with her twin pistols, which really aren’t accessories at all because THEY ARE STILL PERMANENTLY SCULPTED INTO HER HOLSTERS. Gah! Hasbro, why do you keep subjecting us to this outrage? I’m guessing that you knew how many times you were going to recycle this figure, the least you could have done was give her some working holsters.

sharcar10

sharcar11

Instead she comes with this really weird looking gun. I really don’t like this gun. It’s weird. It’s also super soft and comes warped right out of the package. Hasbro has plenty of regular automatic pistols in their Legends scale. I would have preferred one of those.

sharcar14

sharcar13

sharcar12

sharcar15

sharcar16

As critical as I’ve been about her, Sharon Carter really isn’t a bad figure, but she definitely feels phoned in to me. I do find it strange, however, that Hasbro can take one of their standard generic bucks and repaint a different costume on it over and over and few people (myself included) think twice about it, but when they do it with a body as distinctive as this one, it’s obvious and becomes tiresome. Maybe that makes me a hypocrite. With that having been said, it is nice to have Agent Carter join my SHIELD shelf and I’ve got no regrets about buying her. I’m aware that there are collectors out there who are none to fond of this particular buck, but it works fine for me and the recycling here was totally logical and expected. I’m always up for more SHIELD agents, not to mention I needed that leg for Red Skull. Next Monday… Mockingbird!

Apr 2 2016

Star Trek: Acrylic Display Stands (Classic Series Phaser and Star Trek III Phaser) by Flux Dimensions LLC

For the longest time, I tossed and turned at night because of a serious and nagging problem in my life. The root of the problem? My collection of Starfleet weapons. I had no place to display them. They sat in a plastic tote waiting for me to take them out and play with them. I would feel them in my hand for a while, aim them, make some pew pew noises, and then they back into the tote they went. I longed for the day someone would come up with a solution so that I could go back to living a normal life free of worry. And now that time is here, thanks to a company on Ebay called Flux Dimensions. They make acrylic display stands for a number of collectibles, including the Star Trek ships and weapons made by Diamond Select Toys. I bought a pair of these stands: One for my Classic Original Series phaser and one for my Star Trek III phaser and I’m going to take a quick look at them today.

phastands1

The stands are advertised as custom made to order and some assembly is required. These factors worried me a little, because I envisioned slow shipping and potential assembly issues. Especially the later, when the item description advises that if the fit isn’t right you might need to glue it to achieve a tight fit. As it turns out neither were issues. The items arrived in a few days, each stand comprised of three simple pieces wrapped in plastic and with protective adhesive film, and the fit of the pieces was absolutely perfect.

phastands2

Both stands are fashioned from immaculate pieces of clear acrylic with custom etched bases and supports designed to cradle each specific weapon. The Star Trek III phaser stand includes the title of the movie in the familiar font along with “Type II Phaser” all flanked by two Starfleet insignia. The lettering shows some pixelation around the edges, but only when viewed up close. The tabs for the supports are the identical, so you can have the phaser face left or right and still keep the orientation of the base facing forward. This is kind of a big deal, since the DST phaser looks best when viewed with it facing right, as the screw plugs are on the obverse side.

phastands3

The stand for the Classic phaser is a little different. For starters it has “Star Trek” printed in the classic series font. But more importantly, instead of two supports suspending the weapon just above the base, this one cradles the butt of the hand grip. It works just as well, save for one little annoyance: You can’t reverse the orientation on this one, so the phaser is always going to be pointing to the left if you want the lettering on the base facing forward. In this case, that means the one screw hole near the beam emitter and the faint copyright information towards the back are both going to be visible. It’s certainly not a deal-breaker for me, but the option to display this one both ways too would have been welcome.

phastands4

With that little quibble aside, I have to say I’m totally delighted with these stands and very glad I purchased them. They are very attractive and great quality pieces. Granted, at $20 each (plus shipping) they are a little costly, not so much for what they are, but in relation to the collectible they’re displaying. These phasers only ran me about $35 each, which makes twenty bucks a relatively big investment to display them. That having been said, these really do class up these pieces so much that they’re well worth the price to me. Also, since the DST props are sized fairly accurately, these stands should work fine with the more expensive resin props sold at conventions. Either way, I highly recommend them.

As I mentioned earlier, Flux Dimensions sells a bunch of different stands, including ones to replace the shitty ones that DST includes with their Starships. They also make some for lightsabers, Sonic Screwdrivers, and some of the 3 3/4-inch scale Star Wars ships by Hasbro and Kenner. I do believe my next pick up from these guys will be for my Klingon Disruptor.

Addendum: Tim Sloan from Flux Dimensions was kind enough to drop me a line with a few additional details about their products. For starters, they are capable of customizing the stands to order, allowing the phasers to face left or right, which nicely solves the issue of exposing the side of the phaser with the screw plugs. Also, their products are available for purchase direct from their website tshobbies.com often at reduced cost when compared to their Ebay store. I highly recommend checking them out and browsing their product! 

Apr 1 2016

DC Comics: Black Canary Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

I think this is the fifth straight week of DC Fridays focusing on statues. I’ve looked at a Bishoujo, a couple of Femme Fatales, a couple of DC Cover Girls, and now I’m circling back around to Koto’s Bishoujo line for one last DC statue before moving back to some DC action figures next Friday. Black Canary is one of the newer releases in Koto’s DC Bishoujos and one I’ve been anxiously awaiting…

kotocanary1

Canary comes in a standard window box, mostly white with some lovely artwork from Shunya Yamashita. As always the packaging is collector friendly and you can get a good peek at the statue inside to see what you’re getting. The back panel has a little blurb about Dinah and teases the Raven Bishoujo, which I already looked at quite a few weeks back. I keep all of these boxes, but thirty-some statues in, that’s getting to be difficult with space being what it is. I fear the day may be coming where I have to toss the inserts and flatten out the boxes for storage. Anyway, Black Canary comes out of the box fully assembled and ready for display…

kotocanary2

kotocanary3

…and looking mighty fine, I might say. I’ll concede that the composition here is a strange choice. Canary stands with legs apart, her left hip tossed to the left and she appears to be stretching while she glances off to the side. Maybe she’s limbering up for a particularly potent Canary Cry? This line has never been about action poses, so actually having her shouting might have been too off point, but at the same time, I don’t think this pose says anything relative about the character. It’s not a bad pose at all, but it kind of strikes me as the art director not quite knowing what to do with her.

kotocanary4

kotocanary5

kotocanary6

Of course the figure itself is beautifully executed. Canary dons a black one piece with black leather half-jacket, black choker, a pair of high heeled buccaneer boots and short black gloves. And yes… fishnets! Koto has been on a real fishnet kick in this line lately with other recent releases like Zatanna and Anna Williams from the Tekken line donning these types of stockings. They look magnificent from the front or sides, and while they do have the usual seam running up the backs, but they are still relatively tidy. It’s pretty cool the way they seem to disappear into her boots. In terms of sculpting on the costume, you get your usual assortment of rumples and wrinkles and some nice stitching lines.

kobcan10

The portrait is standard Bishoujo fare, in other words great stuff. Canary has her head cocked downward and she’s gazing off to the side with one eye winking. She’s got a rather distinctive, wide closed-lip smile. Her long blonde hair flows off wildly to the left. I don’t think I’ve noted this for a while, but it seems like Koto is done with the transparency effect they used to use at the edges of the hair. Canary doesn’t have it and I don’t recall seeing it done in a while.

kotocanary8

The coloring on this piece is as simple as it gets. Her entire outfit is black, save for the silver painted zipper on the jacket and the circular medal on her choker. There’s also no use of high gloss here, so you don’t get the usual impact of the soft skin tones contrasting with the pop of the outfit. That having been said, the paint is all spot on, particularly on the face, which is razor sharp. The hair is bright, but appropriately soft.

kobcan9

The base is a mystery to me. It looks like it’s supposed to be rippling water, blue in the center and gradually radiating out to clear at the edges. I’d argue that it might supposed to show the soundwaves radiating through water from her Canary Cry, but she isn’t doing it. It’s not an unattractive base, but it makes little sense in this context. I think I would have preferred a simple disk.

kotocanary11

kotocanary12

If it sounds like I’ve been pretty critical of this statue, that shouldn’t be taken as a sign that I don’t like it. Quite the contrary. I’ve yet to be disappointed by this series and that record still stands. Black Canary is a great piece, but she lacks that certain something that makes each and every release in this line so amazing. From a technical standpoint, the paint, the sculpt… everything is spot on perfect and the costume is wonderfully designed. I think the pose and the base are the only stutter steps here, and even those are perfectly serviceable. Ah, but the great thing about this line is when you aim so high, if you miss your mark, you’re still doing pretty great. It’ll be interesting to see which DC lady Koto goes to next. Personally, I’m hoping they decide to revisit Supergirl soon.