Oct 10 2016

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Black Panther by Hasbro

Thanks to a little doubling up along the way, I’m already at the final boxed figure in the Marvel Legends Giant Man Wave. And that’s a good thing, because I still have the entire Rhino Wave to look at from forever ago, and the Doctor Strange Wave is starting to trickle in. What’s that? Abomination Wave? Dammit! I’m still so far behind. Well, let’s wrap up this one with a look at a very highly anticipated figure… Black Panther!

Here he is in package, a sight that I never got to see out in the wild. T’Challa was in hot demand and for a while the only way to get him seemed to be going the online route and pay out the ass for him. Lucky for me things calmed down after a short while and I was able to find him online at regular retail price. Black Panther comes with an alternate head and the last piece I needed to build my Giant Man figure.

Freed of his cardboard and plastic prison, Black Panther looks absolutely amazing. I know some people who were put off by the hyper-detailed MCU costume, but I actually quite like what they did to his Vibranium suit. It’s a big budget movie, they couldn’t have the guy running around in cat pajamas. It also gave Hasbro a chance to shine by recreating the more complex design in action figure form, and they did a mighty fine job with it. There’s no simple painted buck here, rather every panel line and texture is present and part of the sculpt. Indeed, there’s scarcely any tiny portion of this figure that isn’t adorned with some piece of detail work.

As for paint, the figure obviously gets by mostly with a whole lot of matte black plastic, but you do get some very fine silver paint apps for some of the suit’s accents, as well as the necklace. Yup, I love what they did with the necklace too. It keeps the tribal theme of the classic costume, but recreates it with a high-tech metal look. The hands are drawn up in claws, which works great for all the action poses, and the claws on his fingertips are painted too! And yes, Hasbro is still painting those numbers on the legs to make them as obvious as possible. Thanks, Hasbro!

As already noted, you get two heads with the figure, one masked and one unmasked. The masked one looks great and features more of that intricate sculpted detailing along with some more silver paint. And once again, the silver paint apps here are sharp and on point. Beautiful! I should also note that T’Challa’s cat ears are pretty sharp and pointy. They very nearly got me when I was pressing down to pop this head back on.

The unmasked head is also a very welcome treat, especially since T’Challa spent a good deal of Civil War unmasked. I think you could argue for or against whether this likeness is passable for Chadwick Boseman. I’ll concede that it’s a little soft, but I happen to think it’s pretty good for this scale. Either way, I will complement Hasbro on a solid sculpt and some very clean paint apps.

Articulation is extra important for this figure since Black Panther is quite the agile kitty. Legends was never quite going to capture the level needed for this guy to really shine, we’ll leave that for Figma or Figuarts, but what’s here is still pretty good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, the elbows are double hinged, and there are swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged in the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. What’s more the joints on this guy feel great.

Black Panther could have been an easy figure for Hasbro to half-ass, had they chosen to leave out a lot of the finer details in the suit, but I’m happy to say they gave it their all with this release. He also comes pretty close to being my favorite of the wave. In fact, the jury is still out on whether I’d go with T’Challa, Nuke, or Fury as my top figure here, but it doesn’t matter, all three are excellent. I’m also happy to be adding another Civil War figure to my Legends shelf. With Scarlet Witch coming up, I’d really just like to see an MCU Vision to finish things off.

And just so that I can put this wave to bed, come on back later tonight and I’ll have a look at the Giant Man Build-A-Figure!

Oct 9 2016

Star Wars Hot Wheels (Rogue One) Tie Striker Vs X-Wing Fighter and Rebel U-Wing Fighter by Mattel

How’s about a little bonus Sunday content, folks? I started playing around with these new ships today and decided that since the week ahead is already packed, I’d slip in a quick look at these today. I started collecting the Hot Wheels ships last year, I was pretty happy with what I got, and I’ve been meaning to get back to them. The new Rogue One offerings seemed to be a good jumping back on point.

I like the packaging on these. The cards have been re-branded for Rogue One and you get unique card art depicting the ship that’s in the package. The two-pack consists of a Tie Striker and an X-Wing (Red Five to be specific) and the single pack is the new U-Wing design. I don’t want to nitpick but I would have thought that the Tie Striker and U-Wing would have made a better Versus Pack, since they are the two new ship designs that everyone seems to be focusing on. What? It’s just a marketing ploy to get me to buy the X-Wing again? Well, that makes sense. Anyway, let’s start with the U-Wing Fighter.

So, there’s a lot of speculation over what kind of ship this is. It’s called a “fighter” on the package, but in the trailer it looks like it doubles as some kind of drop-ship for troops. Either way, I really dig the design a lot and this little fella is a damn fine recreation of it. And yes, I’m in the camp that is getting a strong Buck Rogers vibe off this ship and that is not at all a bad thing.

The body is die-cast and the wings are plastic, but you get some nice cut panel lines on both. Some aspects of the ship, like the front guns are a tad chunky and the engines on the back are sculpted rather soft, but these are pretty small ships and overall I think they did a nice job with it. The paint features some yellow and blue markings, some of which shows some weathering. You get black paint on the canopy windows, and some gray on the engines and engines.

The wings are also articulated. I wasn’t certain that would be the case, so it was a nice surprise. I’ve seen the Hasbro 3.75-inch version of this ship with the wings positioned angled forward, but a lot of the concept shots I’ve seen have them angled back. This Hot Wheels version is capable of doing both. I really dig the swept back look. Moving on to the Versus Pack, let’s look at the Tie Striker!

Another new design from the upcoming film and one I like a lot. It’s basically an elongated Tie Fighter body with what looks like a Tie Interceptor wing cut in half and stuck on each side. Egads, that’s a terrible description, but the end result is quite cool looking. The Hot Wheels version sports a lot of sculpted detail and some nice texturing in the wing panels and this fighter features four laser ports under the canopy. You also get some very convincing looking weathering, which includes scorched black areas and some burns on the wings. The battle damage looks amazing, although it makes me wonder if there’s a single packed clean version.

Once again, the body of the ship is die-cast and the wings are plastic. And, as with the U-Wing, the Tie Striker’s wings are articulated and can be angled upward or downward. And that brings us to the X-Wing…

Probably the least exciting ship of the three, only because it has a sense of been there, done that. Truth be told, I don’t own the regular Hot Wheels X-Wing, just Poe’s from The Force Awakens, so I didn’t mind picking this one up. The X-Wing is a good looking ship with lots of cut panel lines and sculpted detail. The paint is mostly limited to the red and yellow markings and the black paint used for the canopy windows. The guns on the wings are a little chunky, but again, these are pretty small ships, so I’m willing to forgive a lot. Alas, this is the only ship of the three that does not have articulated wings. S-Foils are indeed locked in attack formation.

If you haven’t noticed, Mattel has also redesigned the stands for these ships. The old ones were designed so you can put them on your finger like a ring… or at least a kid could. These abandon that concept in favor of simple discs. The stands look a little misleading in the package. The connections are sculpted to look like they might be hinged, but they’re not. You can’t even swivel the arm in the stand or the ship on the arm. So, really, you’re not getting anything other than a more conventional stand with the ship’s faction on the base. They do work well, and the sockets are the same as the ones on the old ships, so I’ve been able to use either type of stand with any ship in my fleet.

I really like these little ships a lot and I’ll definitely be picking up some more and possibly even backtracking to get some of the ones I’ve missed. The U-Wing was $6.99 and the Versus Pack was $9.99, which overall feels like a decent deal for what you’re getting. In a world where action figures are getting more and more expensive, it’s great to have a cheap fix like these ships to collect. My one conflict here is whether or not to try out any of Hasbro’s Titaniums. I have yet to pick up any of those and I’d be real interested in hearing opinions from anyone who has had some experience with both lines.

Oct 8 2016

KanColle: Submarine Ro-500 (Day Off Figure) by Taito

After a brief hiatus last week, Anime Saturday is back in action. And… surprise! I’m here to look at another Kantai Collection Prize Figure from Taito. And yes, it’s another “Day Off” figure too! Today’s is actually an extra cool piece, because it’s the adorable Ro-500, the second upgrade of Kriegsmarine U-Boat U-511, remodeled for service in the Imperial Japanese Navy. Ro is another character pulled from the browser game and not the anime series. I always thought it was sad that there were no submarines in the anime. All the more reason for us to get a second series or movie so they can diversify the Fleet Girls a bit. Anyway, let’s check her out…

The box is pretty standard stuff for this line. It’s completely enclosed and mostly pink with a red and white striped deco along the bottom. You get some nice shots of the figure inside and the text on the box is almost exclusively in Japanese. The figure comes baggied and requires some assembly. In this case, it actually took me a little while to figure out how to get her and the torpedo attached to the base properly using the three rods, despite the inclusion of an instruction sheet.

Ro is my fifth “Day Off” figure in this series and she’s definitely one of the more unique pieces. Ro-chan is reclining in a life preserver, wearing a one-piece swimsuit, and enjoying a refreshing ice pop as she goes tubing along the invisible waves. The clear plastic stand uses three rods to peg into and hold the preserver at an angle while the torpedo tabs into the side of one at a downward angle across the front. One of the coolest things about this piece is that Ro herself just sits in the preserver, so you can easily take the figure out and get a closer look.

By now, it’s well known that I’m extremely happy with the quality of paint and sculpt that Taito puts into these figures and Ro-chan here is certainly no exception. In fact, I’d rank her up there among the better ones in my collection. Some nice little details include the treads on the bottom of her slippers and the anchor bracelet on her right wrist.

The blue and white deco on her swimsuit is nice and sharp as are the paint lines on the preserver. The rope around the preserver is also neatly painted. The torpedo is a wonderful addition to the display and features a great shade of metallic steel paint that has a slight purple tint to it and the front and rear propellers are painted gold. The skin tones on Ro herself are soft and even.

I like the portrait here a lot too. Ro-chan features her very pale blonde hair, including the pink flower, waving all around her and framing her face with those perfectly printed eyes. Her mouth is open, either smiling or about to chomp on her ice pop, or perhaps both. The sculpted treat even has a bit about to drip off of it. That’s some lovely little attention to detail.

From my experience, buying Taito’s Prize Figures means satisfaction guaranteed, especially when you consider the price. I got Ro-500 for under $20 shipped and that’s just a crazy low price for a chunk of anime plastic this beautiful. She scales nicely with all my other Taito Fleet Girls and I think she looks particularly good displayed besides Shioi, her fellow submarine sister! I’m hoping I get enough time this week to write up a Figma for next Anime Saturday, but if not, I’ve still got plenty of Prize figures to fall back on.

Oct 7 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Bleez by DC Collectibles

A few weeks ago, I remember lamenting the fact that Cover Girls was already awarding second versions of statues to A-listers like Wonder Woman and Catwoman when there were still so many lesser known characters that hadn’t been done at all. Well, behold the counter-argument: Red Lantern Bleez! With a tragic history and muddled allegiances, I best came to know Bleez in the pages of New Guardians. She’s a delightfully odd choice for a slot in the Cover Girls line, and you know what’s even odder? She’s quite possibly the best statue this line has produced.

This box is huge! It dwarfs even the largest Cover Girls box I have in my storage. Aside from that, there isn’t a whole lot else to say about it. It’s fully enclosed and houses a brick of styrofoam that protects the statue inside. The only assembly required is to peg the figure into the base, and this was a little trickier than usual. It was a tight fit and single metal peg did not want to go all the way in. Eventually, I settled for getting it most of the way in. For all I know, that’s as far as it’s meant to go and at least the statue feels perfectly stable.

All set up, Bleez is an impressive sight to behold. While she’s still scaled with the other Cover Girls releases, her elevated pose clocks her in at almost 11 1/2-inches as opposed to the 9 to 10-inch average of the rest of the line. She floats above a sea of flames with one knee drawn up in front of the other and the grizzly vestiges of her once magnificent wings fanned out behind her. She dons her own seductive take on the Red Lantern uniform with long black leggings connected to her one-piece with sculpted straps. The paint on this piece is stunning, both in quality and application. The matte black is coupled with a sumptuous metallic crimson on her gloves, breast cross-straps, and pointed shoulders and it contrasts nicely with the soft blue of her skin. The Red Lantern Corps emblem is sculpted into the center of her chest and flawlessly painted. There’s some great muscle definition sculpted into her abs and, well let’s just say that the rest of the tight costume leaves little to the imagination, despite covering most of her up pretty well.

The skeletal wings are a huge draw for this piece. While the bulk of the statue is the typical cold cast porcelain we’ve seen in this line, the wings feel like resin. Obviously this was a good choice. I don’t know if it’s even possible to produce something like these bones in porcelain, but this way they’re far less likely to snap and help to alleviate some weight from the back. What’s here feels fairly sturdy and the coloring is just perfect.

I particularly like how they sculpted the seams in the backs of her boots and leggings and… nah, just kidding. This is really just a gratuitous butt shot.

And then you have the magnificent portrait. Bleez offers a broad smile and flashes her yellow eyes, with her face partially framed by the crimson high collar of her costume. The hood and mask are beautifully sculpted and feature some very sharp paint lines. She also has a pair of bat wings on her head that would make Capcom’s Morrigan and Lilith jealous. Did I mention the paint? Well, let’s bring it up again because it is absolutely superb and definitely some of the best I’ve seen in this line to date.

The base features the same standard oval style that we’ve been seeing for a while now, but it’s cast in a beautiful translucent red plastic with the flames licking up around her feet. The metal post is just barely visible from the back of the statue if you get in close, so the levitating effect is pretty cool. You still get the limitation hand numbered on the bottom of the base. Mine is 1,413 of 5,200.

This iteration of the Cover Girls line has been solid, and I really enjoy collecting it, but few of these ladies have really blown me away like this one has. Everything about this statue shines, from the sculpt, to the paint, to those amazing wings. I was grinning ear to ear from the moment I took her out of the package and set her up. With over a dozen of these ladies on my shelves, this is without a doubt one of the best. The only shame here is that some collectors may pass up this lovely piece because the character is undervalued or perhaps just not well known. And if that’s the case, I’d say Green Lantern: New Guardians is worth a read.

Oct 6 2016

Transformers: Titans Return Xort & Highbrow by Hasbro

Ugh, I’ve got too many good things ending this week. Yesterday was my last Mythic Legions feature for a while and today I’m wrapping up the second wave of Titans Return Deluxe figures. My last figure for this round is Highbrow and his little head buddy Gort… er, I mean Xort. Damn you, Hasbro, protect your trademarks!

Here’s the gratuitous packaged shot and I have nothing new to add. I don’t particularly love these card designs, but the bubble does show off the figure quite nicely, and to be honest, these figures tend to speak for themselves. They could be hanging on the pegs in used Ziploc bags with sandwich crumbs in them and I’d still be happy to buy them. Highbrow is packaged in his robot form, but as you probably already guessed, I’m starting with the alt mode. But first, I have to deal with all these goddamn plastic tethers.

True to his G1 namesake, Highbrow is a dual rotor attack chopper. I’ve never been a big fan of this design, mainly because the original toy didn’t look like it could get off the ground, and the aerodynamic feasibility of this one also leaves me in doubt. Now, that having been said, it’s a toy, so I’m willing to suspend a little belief and enjoy it for what it is, and truth be told there’s a lot to dig about this chopper.

The three blades on the original toy have been reduced to just two and the whole aircraft has been made a lot more sleeker. The biggest improvements are in the cockpit and nose section, which have been streamlined for a sexier look. The tinted red canopy has a painted and sculpted framework that looks absolutely fantastic and the nose features a single chin gun. I’m a little bummed out that the wings no longer end in downward angles, like the G1 toy did. I think that would have made it look a little more aggressive, but then it also would have impacted the robot mode, so I’m OK with the change.

The colors on this chopper are both beautiful and evocative of the original toy. You get a lot of snappy blue plastic and a good deal of pale gray. Additional paint apps include some red stripes, some charcoal colored intakes on the sides below the cockpit, and more charcoal paint on the rear stabilizer fan rotor. There’s also a lovely Autobot emblem stamped on the back. This toy is proof positive that you don’t need a lot of those ‘spensive paint operations to make the coloring look good.

Xort is your typical little head robot. I think I’ve introduced them all that way, but truth be told there isn’t a lot new to say about these guys. They all have that same basic articulation, with the legs fused together and points at the knees, hips, shoulders and neck. While Hasbro has nixed the paint apps for all the other Nebulons (are we still calling them that?) in this wave, Xort here held on to his, so you get a little teeny bit of silver paint on his visor. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it makes all the difference to me.

Highbrow’s canopy is hinged at the front and opens to reveal a cockpit for Xort to sit in. It’s not terribly roomy, but he does fit in there with enough clearance to close the canopy without any issues. There’s also a hinged landing gear under the cockpit, but it’s not really necessary if you have the wing guns attached.

Wing guns, you say? Yes, you also get a pair of guns that mount under the wings.

These can also be mounted on each side of the cockpit, which looks kind of cool. God help me, I want to buy another so I can load him up for quad damage. Use all the gun ports!!!

The guns can also be combined to form an outrigger gun for one of the little fellas to operate, and wow does this look like a bad idea. Not only does Xort look really uncomfortable, it looks downright dangerous. But I do appreciate Hasbro’s desire to offer a lot of play value to these toys and if I were a kid, I’d probably be fine with this, no matter how goofy it looks. Let’s transform Highbrow and check out his bot mode!

Oh my, I think I’m in love! Transforming Highbrow is very simple and intuitive. You just fold his legs out from his tail section and his arms fold out from his side pontoons and wings. The cockpit section folds back to form a backpack, the chest panel pulls out a bit, and you slap on the noggin. It may be a simple conversion, but the results are absolutely fantastic. You get some nice sculpted panel lines and detail and the deco stays more or less the same here as in chopper mode, with just a few extra paint apps showing on the upper arms.

Granted, he’s not quite so attractive in the back, but there’s nothing too bad here. The cockpit backpack stays in place and isn’t at all cumbersome. It does make him back heavy, but the heel spurs do their job to keep him upright. The rotor blades on the back of his arms are left loose to spin, but they don’t pose much of an annoyance when playing with him. The only shame here is that the transformation doesn’t require a twist in the middle, because that leaves him with no waist swivel in robot mode. On the other hand, it does give me at least one thing negative to say about this figure, because I got nothing else to gripe about.

Xort makes for an excellent head with a clean and classic Autobot portrait. I really like the gray they used for the face and the visor looks great against the charcoal colored “helmet.” This shot shows off those lovely paint apps in the upper arms, and there’s a sharp Autobot emblem printed on the chest plate which housed the tech specs in the original G1 toy. Funny enough, I get something of a G1 Topspin vibe off of this guy, and that’s not a bad thing. Despite the gimmick, I really loved the aesthetics of the G1 Jumpstarters in robot mode. I felt that they were pretty close to the overall look of the Sunbow animated aesthetic.

Of course, Highbrow’s chopper guns can be used as twin rifles when he’s in robot mode, and boy does he look like he’s ready to kick some can.

Highbrow is a triumph in simple and elegant Deluxe Transformer design and proves that when Hasbro is on its game, we don’t always need to look to high priced third party products to deliver the characters we want. He looks amazing in both modes, and he’s a fun toy to play around with. I’d argue he’s about as perfect an update to the G1 toy as you can get, while still keeping things simple and fun and at the Deluxe price point. Hell, I could apply that last statement to nearly all the Deluxe figures in Titans Return so far. I’d say even the weakest figure in this line (for me that would be Skullsmasher) is still a totally solid release and I can’t wait the next wave to start shipping. This is probably my favorite two waves of Deluxe Transformers to come out since I can remember.

Oct 5 2016

Mythic Legions: Orc Legion Builder by The Four Horsemen

Well, here we are at last. After something like 18 straight weeks, we’re at the final Mythic Legions Wednesday. I’d say it’s a sad day, but then I look at the magnificent shelf of figures and realize that isn’t the case. And besides more are on the way. I didn’t save any special figure for the last slot. In fact, we’re just checking out one of the Legion Builders, which are sort of the budget figures in the line, but considering the consistency of quality here, he’s still a fine release to end on. Once again, I don’t have a package shot, because I prematurely put them all into storage. D’oh! But just click back to any one of the Mythic Legions features and you’ll get a good idea of what to expect from the presentation.

As a Legion Builder, this guy is basically a rank-and-file soldier for the dreaded Orc army and he fits that bill quite well. As one might expect by now, this soldier is a composite of parts from both The Urkku and Urzokk. He has the full plate armor of Urzokk, minus the upper arms and upper legs, which are left bare. He also features those same chunky and angular boots, gauntlets, and shoulder armor that these Orcs like to wear. The armor is painted entirely in a darkened iron finish, which is wonderfully appropriate for an Orc Trooper. And while the Knight and Dwarf Legion Builders were almost all one color, this guy mixes things up a bit by showing some of his green skin. My figure has some stray armor paint on his right shoulder, which is one of the very few examples of paint flubs that I’ve seen in this line. Luckily, I can pass it off as just dirt.

From the back, you can see the sockets for the shoulder armor as well as that rather annoying square slot that currently serves no purpose. I know, it’s compatible with the wing packs, T4H are selling, but who is going to put wings on an Orc? WHO??? Once again, I say they should release plugs with sockets to allow the shields to peg in there. This guy doesn’t come with a shield, but a similar plug with a clip on it could be used to hold the axe across his back. That would be cool!

The head is a straight repaint of the one used on The Urkku, with the helmet painted to match this darker armor. It makes sense, as both are anonymous troop builders. I still really dig the design of this helmet, especially the crest, and the way it shows off the Orc’s tusks and pointed ears. The helmet features some wonderful pitting and a formidable nick across the crest, probably from a hero’s axe.

In terms of weapons, this Orc Trooper comes with both the long two-handed and short single handed swords, each painted to match the armor. You also get the brown belt, which can be worn on the hip or across the chest. This allows for a nice bit of variations if you have several of these guys. Display him with one shoulder, no shoulder, sword across the back, sword on the hip, you’ve got options! If they come up for sale again, I’m after two more. My one complaint about the Legion Builders has been where the weapons were painted all gold, which doesn’t really suit troops. In this case, the dark color makes them look perfect as common issue weapons. I would have been happy if all the Legion Builders’ weapons were painted like this.

And the axe makes its final appearance. Once again, you can swap out the blades to make it single or double. Again, this piece looks great in the darker color.

Yes, it’s hard to believe that this guy featured as one of the budget Legion Builders, because he’s still an incredible figure and I’d argue the best of all the Legion Builders I own. Better than the skeleton? Oh, riiiight, you didn’t get that one. SHUT THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW!!!! Anyway, I don’t want to get all sappy, because I’ll have more Mythic Legions features before the end of the year, and we’ve got tons of new figures set to release in the near future. So let me just say this: Mythic Legions is an action figure line that is so good, it’s made me re-evaluate some of my other collecting habits. It’s one of the first times in a while that I’ve actually sold some stuff off in order to afford the initial offering, and I still regretted not picking up everything. I’ve also planned to trim other areas of my collecting next year to prepare for the onslaught of Wave 2.0. Among all the stuff vying for my disposable income, Mythic Legions has actually become a top priority, and that’s saying a lot.

Oct 4 2016

Ash Vs Evil Dead: Hero Ash and Eligos by NECA

OK, now where did I leave off from last Tuesday? Oh yeah. It’s a great time to be an Evil Dead fan. After waiting decades for the fourth movie in the franchise, we wind up with a whole TV series. When it was revealed, I was the first to roll my eyes. “Oh no. Don’t do this. There’s no way you can make Evil Dead work as a series. It’s going to be terrible. You’re going to kill any chances of a quality sequel.” Since then, I’ve swallowed my words like a hick chick swallows a Deadite’s flying eyeball. Ash Vs Evil Dead is a triumph. It’s craft. It’s high art. It’s horror taken to new levels. You may think I’m joking, but I’m not. It respects the source material, but also elevates it. It is so much better than it has any right to be, and I thank the great High Priests of Kandar that it’s been so successful. And hey, it also means… MORE ACTION FIGURES!!!

Who loves you, baby? NECA does. And they love Evil Dead too, which is why they’re delivering the goods. The first assortment of figures includes two versions of Ash (don’t you worry, I’ll get to the other eventually) and the demon, Eligos. These releases come in snazzy window boxes with decos branded to match the show and character art on the bottom left corner. Let’s look at Ash first!

As you can probably tell, this is definitely not the gritty Evil Dead 2‘s younger, dirtier version of Ash. Sure, he still dons his blue button down shirt and brown pants, but his duds are brighter and cleaner. The entire look of this figure embraces the crystal clear HD look of the new Starz series, as opposed to the older films. He’s a little chunkier too, and I can’t help but wonder if NECA sculpted a girdle under that shirt. Yeah, probably not.

The outfit features all the great attention to detail that we usually get from NECA, including rumples, wrinkles, and stitching. Ash’s DIY harness is sculpted as part of the shirt, and he has a functional sheath for his boomstick on his back

This may not be an “Ultimate” release, but you still get plenty of stuff in the box, including two portraits. The standard head features a fairly neutral expression, whereas the other has Ash gritting his teeth in battle and shows a little more dirt. Both heads are excellent sculpts and reflect the likeness of older Bruce Campbell quite well. I’m normally one to go for the neutral expression for everyday display, but in this case, I like the second offering just a little bit more.

Ash comes with his chansaw attached to his stump and it is a beautiful piece of work. The red paint on the body features a paint wash and the attention to detail is fantastic. The side grip bar is pegged in, so not only is it articulated, but it will pull out rather than break, if you stress it too far.

And speaking of articulation, what you get here is mostly what I’ve come to expect from NECA’s “Ultimate” figures, and even features a couple of notable enhancements in the way of double rotating hinges in the elbows. These allow for a much better elbow bend than previous releases. Beyond that you get rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the wrists, rotating hinges in the knees, and ball joints in the hips. The ankles feel like ball joints, there’s a ball joint in the waist, and another in the neck.

Moving on to accessories. Ash comes with his double-barrel boomstick, which fits into the sheath on his back. His left hand is sculpted to hold it and includes a trigger finger. The painted wood finish on the stock looks great, as does the blued finish to the steel.

He also comes with a second forearm with his “power glove.” The sculpted detail on this thing is probably even more impressive than the chainsaw. It looks simply amazing. You can also pop the glove off and put on an included stump piece that makes the chainsaw look like it’s compatible with the power glove. Moving on to Eligos…

This is the fellow that they summoned at the bookshop to tell them how to undo what Ash did with the Necronomicon. That didn’t go so well. Eligos happens to be one of my favorite effects in the first season. Not only is he a great design, but the distortion they did to him looked so cool, as if he didn’t belong in this dimension. NECA did a nice job recreating his creepy gray skin and the exposed bloody parts. I didn’t realize until seeing this figure that Eligos had those weird animal-like lower legs and basically hands for feet.

Demon butt!!! The paint on this guy is perfectly disgusting. They used high gloss red for the hands and feet and there are trails of blood oozing out of his numerous open sores. Gah! The articulation on the body features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, and midway down his feet. My one complaint here is that there are no peg holes in his feet. I was actually surprised how easy I could get him to stand, but this is one figure that I would have liked to plug into one of NECA’s stands for long term display. I see him taking a lot of shelf dives.

The head is just as disgusting as the rest of the body. They packed a lot of detail into the teeth and exposed mouth.

Ash and Eligos are hitting stores now and run about $20 each. The third figure in the wave is Ash in his Value Mart uniform and I’ll probably be circling back to that release in a couple of weeks. As expected, NECA knocked these figures out of the park, and I hope these do well and this line continues to grow. NECA already has another three-pack planned to hit stores later this month and I’m hoping against hope that we get a Pablo, Kelly, and Ruby as well as maybe some more conventional Deadites. In the meantime, I can continue to live out my Ash Vs Freddy Vs Jason Vs Leatherface fantasies.

“Alright, Krueger. This is it! It’s just you and me now. Glove versus Saw.”

“I’m not one of your Deadite pussies, Ash-ley. I’m the f’cking Prince of Nightmares.”

“Krueger. In about two minutes the only thing you’ll be prince of is having my boot up your ass!”

“And don’t think I forgot about you two knuckleheads. You’re next!” … “Nice saw, by the way.”

Oct 3 2016

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Nuke by Hasbro

Welcome back to the second half of today’s Marvel Monday! If you joined me this morning than you know I was less than impressed with Hasbro’s treatment of Red Guardian. Hopefully, we can still end this day on a high note as I check out Nuke!

Nuke’s package is pretty much identical to what we’ve been seeing in this wave with some bitchin character art on the side panels. And with two accessories and the Giant Man torso all packed into that tray, this is a rather heavy package. I thought Nuke to be something of an odd choice for the Captain America/Civil War themed wave, although Cap and Nuke have certainly had their dealings. Personally, I love the character, and it was pretty cool to see him getting paid respects in the Netflix Jessica Jones series. Now, which pill gets him out of the package?

Straight out of the box, this is an impressive figure. His torso and arms are a bare buck with a soft plastic vest that fastens on the bottom with a peg. Below the waist, Nuke is packing a set of military issue trousers with pouches strapped to each thigh, worn knee pads, and some serious shit-kickers on his feet.

The attention to detail on the vest is appreciated. Not only is it loaded with texturing and sculpted pouches, but you get some grenades hanging off his chest on the left hand side and a row of shells across the right hand side, both of which are painted. And speaking of paint, the silver buckles and fixtures on all his belts are neatly painted with silver paint and you get a nice wash over the vest and belts to bring out some of the detail in the sculpt. The care put into the paint on this guy is everything we didn’t get on the Red Guardian figure that I looked at this morning.

The back of the vest features more great texturing and a huge sheath for his combat knife. You get more sculpted straps and there’s a brace of pouches running across the back of his belt. This guy is definitely packing some serious gear.

For the portraits, you get two head sculpts. The first is the regular head with the flat top haircut and the American flag tattooed right on his face. Hasbro loves to pack in the personality for its villain and anti-hero head sculpts and Nuke here is no exception. Yeah, he’s a little wall-eyed, but I think that adds to his overall demented look.

The second head features some battle damage, sans hair, and exposes parts of his cybernetic skull. The detail here is phenomenal, and I have to say it’s one of the best portraits I’ve seen come out of Legends in a while. The paint on this noggin is just incredible. It shows what Hasbro is capable of when they’re willing to put in the time and money. I’m guessing a lot of those commodities that would have went into Red Guardian were diverted to complete this little plastic masterpiece.

The articulation holds few surprises for a modern Legends figure. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, and the knees are double hinged. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch. And finally, you get both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. The joints on this guy are all rock solid. No gummy or frozen joints here!

Nuke comes with two accessories, both of them weapons. First off we have his chunky combat knife that he can stow in the sheath on his back. Yes, it’s cartoonishly big, but I still love it. It has a sort of GI JOE Sigma Six feel to it, and don’t even get started about how much I adored that line. What’s more… paint apps! A little while ago I was bitching about how it feels cheap to be doing weapons in this scale without any paint apps on them. Here we get a black finish on the blade with a silver painted edge and a green grip. It really makes the details stand out and I also dig the knuckle guard a lot.

Next up, we get this crazy looking rifle. And again… paint apps! It’s got a patriotic motif to it with red and blue and silver standing in for the white. It even has a star painted on the stock. Yeah, there’s some paint dribble on mine too, but this thing still looks great and I really appreciate the effort that went into painting it. Hell, a lot more effort went into painting this gun and the knife than the entire Red Guardian figure. Well, except for his shield. I still really dig his shield. Hey, Nuke… want a shield? It’s genuine Soviet surplus!

Last week, I was quick to proclaim comic Nick Fury to be the likely candidate for my favorite figure in this wave, but now I’m not so sure. Yes, Fury is certainly more iconic a character for me, and they did a beautiful job on him. But in terms of sheer craftsmanship and attention to detail, Nuke is a tough figure to beat. Hell, I’d recommend this one as a stand alone figure even to people who don’t normally collect Legends. The figure has tons of personality and he is so much fun to play with. It’s also great to see Hasbro invest so much time and effort in someone who isn’t exactly a top tier character. So, favorite figure in the wave? Well, let’s hold off on declaring a winner until next week when I look at the last packaged figure, Black Panther!

Oct 3 2016

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Red Guardian by Hasbro

Greetings and a very Good Marvel Monday Morning to you all. I’m doubling down on posts today with a look at two more figures from the Giant Man Wave of Marvel Legends so I can get through the tremendous backlog of these figures. I’ve got a quickie this morning with Red Guardian, and then I’ll be back tonight with a look at Nuke.

Here’s Red Guardian in the package, and yet another example of how Hasbro is willing to play deep when it comes to Legends. He may not be the most recognizable character on the pegs these days, but the Red Guardian moniker is one that reaches far back into Marvel history and is most certainly not a bad choice for a figure. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s just a bad figure.

I get Hasbro’s need to release at least one budget-conscious figure in the wave. Red Guardian is certainly that, as we’re dealing with a quick-and-dirty buck and shield repaint with a new head. Normally, I’m perfectly fine with that, but if you’re going to do it, Hasbro, you should at least put some effort into that new coat of paint and that certainly isn’t the case here. In Soviet Russia, quality controls you!

Yes, the paint here is pretty piss-poor. There’s a red smudge on the star on his chest and scratches all over the star on his back. The white on the buccaneer boots actually looks pretty bright and fresh, but those gauntlets are full of bleed through and just look dirty. The paint on the belt is also pretty rough. It’s a shame because the red used for the rest of the costume is quite nice and even includes some decent shading.

The head sculpt would be OK, if it wasn’t rife with mold flashing. This is the worst flashing I think I’ve ever seen on a production figure. The facial features are a bit soft, but no worse than some of the Captain Americas we’ve seen in the last few years. The paint around the mask is fairly well done, but the white crest is suffers from the same bleeding and dirty look as the gauntlets.

At least the articulation is good, eh? Well, on paper it is. Red Guardian features all the points I’m used to seeing in a Legends buck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed and feature swivels in the thighs and boots, double hinges in the knees, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a waist swivel, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. What’s the problem? First of all the elbow hinges are as gummy and soft as all hell. Secondly, the left knee on my figure was fused. I had to boil him to get it to work, and even then I thought it was going to snap off.

Is there anything I like about this figure? Yeah, the shield is pretty cool. Sure, it’s just the standard Cap style shield with the clip and peg on the back, but I really like the paint they did on it. The crimson is a nice deep shade and in the right light, the star actually looks like brushed steel. If they could invest this kind of quality paint in the accessory, why not the rest of the figure?

Red Guardian is a mess of a figure and almost everything about him shows that Hasbro just didn’t care about this release. I’m all for quick repaints when it suits a character, and this one would have been fine if they had put a little effort into it. I was actually looking forward to getting him in my collection, I’m glad he’s represented, but I just wish he looked better. How about a Legends scale Crimson Dynamo next, Hasbro? And don’t mess him up! Check back later this evening, and we’ll check out Nuke!

Oct 1 2016

Anime Saturday Shelfies

Sorry, folks. No new Feature today. I’m going to be out of town for part of the weekend and I just didn’t have time to whip anything up. Instead, have some quick-and-dirty Shelfies of my anime stuff. It’s something I usually save for Twitter, but I’ll probably start posting some more here as well…

The Prize Figure shelves are completely out of hand. I didn’t expect to need more than a couple to devote to this madness, but they filled up quick, and that doesn’t even include my Figmas and Figuarts. Right now, I only have room to display a few unboxed and the rest are just boxes in front of boxes and I have a few more in the corner that I haven’t opened yet and have no where to go with.

Lots of Bishoujos from Kotobukiya. I haven’t picked up any new ones in a while, but they seem to be slowing down a bit. I still say this is one of the best value for dollar lines when it comes to scaled figures.

The last two shelves are a mix of Kotobukiya and other odds and ends. When it comes to displaying my collection, I tend to have a rule that action figures can go into bins, but statues need to be displayed. I think that logic comes from the fact that toys can be put away when you’re done playing with them, but statues serve no other purpose than to be looked at and enjoyed. Once I run out of space for statues, I’m going to have a real dilemma on my hands, and it’s getting pretty close to that point now.

And that’s it for today. Anime Saturday will most definitely return next week with what will most likely be a look at another KanColle Prize Figure from Taito. Tomorrow’s my day of rest and then I cruise straight into Marvel Monday!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Monthly Archives: October 2016

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Black Panther by Hasbro

Star Wars Hot Wheels (Rogue One) Tie Striker Vs X-Wing Fighter and Rebel U-Wing Fighter by Mattel

KanColle: Submarine Ro-500 (Day Off Figure) by Taito

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Bleez by DC Collectibles

Transformers: Titans Return Xort & Highbrow by Hasbro

Mythic Legions: Orc Legion Builder by The Four Horsemen

Ash Vs Evil Dead: Hero Ash and Eligos by NECA

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Nuke by Hasbro

Marvel Legends (Giant Man Wave): Red Guardian by Hasbro

Anime Saturday Shelfies

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