Jun 25 2016

Strike Witches: Charlotte Yeager 1/8 Scale Figure by Furyu

It’s been a bitch of a work week for me, but now it’s Saturday and that means I get to open another anime figure! Today I’m trying to mix up the nearly unending flood of Kantai Collection with some Strike Witches. Because what’s better than a bunch of chicks with warship parts stuck to them? A bunch of magical chicks with animal and fighter plane parts stuck to them! OK, not really better, but still plenty cool! There’s a fair number of companies that have done Strike Witches merch, but today I’m checking out Charlotte Yeager from Furyu.

The packaging is pretty typical for this kind of thing. You get a window on the front and top panels and shots of the figure on the side panels. I particularly enjoy the 501st Joint Fighter Wing / Strike Witches insignia on the bottom. Alas, my box is really beat to hell. Apparently good packing is a trade off for bottom feeding on the price. But, so long as it’s authentic and not a bootleg, I don’t care. Charlotte comes between two plastic trays and there is a little bit of assembly required on the base as well as putting her Browning Auto Rifle in her hand. I’ll confess, I was pretty surprised at the size of the box and figure when I got her. At $23, I wasn’t expecting a full 1/8 Scale figure of this quality.

And what a beauty she is! Shirley dons her brown jacket, green tie, and very little else besides her Striker Unit, which is based on the P51D Mustang. She poses proudly with her left hand on her hip, her Browning Auto Rifle resting on her right shoulder and her chest puffed out. Little details like her belt buckle, the wings pinned on her chest, are nice touches. The girls of the 501st don’t believe in pants, which helps facilitate the copious amounts of fanservice shots that pepper every episode. I’d suggest a drinking game based around that, but it would probably kill me, and I ain’t no lightweight when it comes to booze! The M1918 BAR is a separate piece that fits in her hand. It’s not easy to get in there, so I doubt I’ll be taking it out again. It is a nicely sculpted and painted piece, but the barrel is made of pretty soft plastic that is prone to warping.

Her portrait is solid, although the skin tone on her face and elsewhere is a little pale and flat. It just doesn’t have that soft and realistic skin coloring that I see on a lot of better statues. She does have perfectly printed eyes and a cute little smile. I think they did a very nice job on her hair, which blows off to her side, and is, of course, topped off by her rabbit ears. I never did quite understand why she doesn’t sport a little cotton tail instead of the rather long bushy one she has, but to be honest, I’m willing to suspend a lot of my questions while watching an anime like this one.

The paint on the upper body isn’t terrible, but there are a few flubs here and there. There’s an obvious spot on a couple of her blowing strands of hair, the necktie could be a little sharper, and there’s a little bit of spray here and there on her jacket. These things would be unacceptable on a higher end piece, and to be fair companies like Taito and SEGA can pull off better paint at this price point, but I’m still really picking at things.

Down below, the Striker Unit mostly impresses with sculpted and painted panel lines and rotating propellers. In fact, there’s only one area where the paint lets me down and that’s the black and white stripes on her left knee area. They’re notably fuzzier than the ones on the right. Other than that I love what they did here. The silver paint looks particularly nice and shiny and the registry numbers and star emblems are sharp, as is the yellow and orange deco near the props. I like the fact that they went with actual propellers, rather than the clear discs to make it look like they’re spinning fast. I just prefer it this way. The base is clear plastic and designed to hold the figure and be noticed as little as possible. The simple disc cradles the left tip of her Striker Unit in a little cup while an arm holds the inner leg. It works well and allows the figure to be removed and held fairly easily.

While there are a few areas for improvement here and there, it’s hard to complain when you’re talking about a fully scaled 9-inch figure for under twenty-five bucks. And as far as the few areas of problem paint, well that could admittedly just be on my piece. It’s not like I can go into a store and scrutinize three or four different ones and choose the one with the best paint. The truth is this is a great looking piece and she has definitely encouraged me to continue collecting this line. I don’t have the budget right now to be hunting down the Bandai or Figmas of these characters, but Furyu’s line will do quite nicely.

Jun 24 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Katana by DC Collectibles

It’s Friday! Let’s check out some DC Comics stuff! This week I’m staying on with the Cover Girls statues line and opening up one of the more recent releases, Katana! She’s a cool character, who I believe is going to be getting a lot more merch in the days ahead, so long as the Suicide Squad movie performs well. This version is from the recently defunct New 52 continuity, which is appropriate, as that was where she got her first solo book. I also rather enjoyed her time in Birds of Prey.

There’s not much new to say about the box. With nearly a dozen of these statues on my shelf, I’ve showcased the packaging quite a bit and not much has changed. Katana comes in an enclosed red and white box with various shots of the statue and some teasers of what’s coming up or also available on the back panel. The statue is wrapped in plastic and encased between two pieces of styrofoam. The only assembly required is to peg Katana’s feet into the base and they fit in quite easily.

The Cover Girls line has been a hearty mix of museum-style poses along with some hints of action and on that scale of things Katana comes close to going for all out action. She stands with feet apart and her sword, Soultaker, drawn up to her shoulder and ready to strike. And yet, it still passes for something like a staged shot and I don’t think it goes too far off point. She still looks perfectly at home when displayed with her fellow Cover Girls. Besides, this is a pose that really conveys so much of Katana’s character, and so in terms of composition, I’d say she’s damn near perfect.

The costume features her New 52 armored body suit that looks great without the need for a whole lot of sculpted detail and does it’s best to show off her lovely curves. You do get panel lines running throughout and a cool and consistent metallic charcoal paint that meshes beautifully with the rich matte crimson on her lower leg armor and the quilted sleeve on her right arm. The body suit also features some exposed ribbed black areas in the joints and down the spine, presumably to give her more flexibility. Her scabbard hangs off her back and you also get some sculpted pouches on the small of her back. While the paint scheme and overall sculpt are fairly simple here, everything looks exceptionally clean and this is arguable the best paint I’ve seen in the line to date.

All that praise applies to the head sculpt as well. The beautifully sculpted portrait is two-tone with the lower face painted in matte gray, just a tad slighter than the suit, and the top half in white with the Rising Sun on her forehead. Her blue eyes are sharp and straight and her short hair ruffles ever so slightly in an imagined breeze. I love how her expression offers just a hint of joyful anticipation at the fight that’s about to come.

Katana’s sword looks good, although the sculpt for the hilt is a little on the soft side. Hey, I’m really looking for things to complain about and that’s the best that I can come up with. The blade is straight and while I’m going to be sure and be careful with it, it doesn’t feel overly fragile.

The base consists of the now standard oval with a charcoal and crimson deco to match Katana’s costume. The emblem on the sides consists of a simple red disc suggestive of the Rising Sun. The limitation is hand numbered on the bottom of the base, with mine being 561 of 5,200 statues produced. I think this may be the lowest number Cover Girl I own.

Katana is a wonderful addition to my Cover Girls shelf and definitely a triumph for this line. What’s even better is at the time I publish this Feature, she’s readily available at a few online retailers at close to half the original MSRP. I picked up mine for $55, and damn was that a steal! Considering that DCC has already started doing second versions of some of the gals in this line (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman) it’s nice to see that they’re also hitting on some of the less high-profile characters like Katana here. She’s a great release for the line and a worthy pick up for folks who just love the character.

Jun 23 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: Groove (Deluxe Class) by Hasbro

LAST TIME ON THE TRANSFORMERS… “The Protectobots are dispatched from Cybertron and arrive on Earth to aid the Autobots in their never-ending war against the eeeeevil Decepticons!”

Prime: “Welcome, comrades. It’s good to see you all aga… Wait…”

Prime: “Who the hell are you?”

Groove: “It’s me, Prime! I’m Groove!”

Prime: “The hell you are!”

*CRUNCH!*

Prime: “Ahhhh, There’s Groove! Help me get him out of his stasis pod!

Blades: “Holy Primus! It’s like the Alpha Bravo incident all over again!”

Prime: “What was that?”

Blades: “Nothing! I didn’t say anything!”

Yup, better late than never! The Deluxe Class Groove that made his debut in Japan has finally come Stateside, so we can all finally throw away our Legends Class Grooves or awkwardly keep him as part of the team as Mini-Groove. Although, Deluxe Groove is still pretty tough to find at a reasonable price. He turns up on Amazon every now and again for retail and quickly sells out. Me? I paid $25 for him. A lot of dough for a Deluxe, but it was an amount I was comfortable paying in order to get him and be done with it. Besides, it’s only a couple of bucks more than if I bought him at one of those swanky rich folks Toys R Us stores where they jack up the prices 20% based on the surrounding demographics. The packaging is typical Combiner Wars fare, although for some reason they showcase him combining with Sky Lynx rather than Hot Spot and the rest of the team. I’ve been waiting a while for this guy, so let’s get him open and check him out!

Motorcycle Transformers… don’t get me started! The modern Transformers aesthetics have allowed a finer balance between alt mode and robot when it comes to these two-wheeled convertobots, but if you’re shooting for a robot mode that’s a little more boxy to match the glory days of the Transformers, you’ve got to sacrifice a little in the alt mode to get the job done. Groove’s motorcycle mode does that and I think it’s just enough to get the job done. I can point out all sorts of nitpicks about this mode. The hands are obvious, the windshield is so undersized that it would be useless, and the overall body is pretty big and boxy. But you know what? I don’t care about any of those things. This is an overall solid motorcycle that does what it needs to do in order to get me Groove as a limb for Defensor.

The deco is pretty simple with a whole lot of white, some black, and a little bit of gold and silver. The white plastic they used on this guy looks outstanding. It’s very bright and crisp and has a nice quality feel to it. You get a bright blue translucent windshield with an Autobot emblem stamped on it and some sharp looking translucent red lights on the front. “POLICE” is printed on both sides near the back of the seat. I really dig the way the guns attach to the lower back of the bike to form exhaust pipes. They also have translucent red lights as well. The alt mode is rounded out by a little kickstand that folds down to hold the bike upright. Transforming Groove is fairly straight forward and makes use of some common Combiner Wars engineering, like the way the legs extend out and retract back into themselves.

The result is a super solid robot mode that uses a lot of the design tropes we’ve seen in the Combiner Wars Deluxes, but also introduces enough new stuff to make this figure feel almost fresh. Yup, you still get the hinged combiner port exposed in the chest. That’s something that bothered me a lot when this line debuted, but I’ve mellowed on it a lot and now I don’t really mind it at all. The overall design is a beautiful blend of boxy G1 with modern streamlining. The rear wheel splits in half to preserve symmetry on his legs and the silver engine parts look great as his arms. The mostly white and black deco adds a lot more gold to the mix.

From the back, Groove wears the front assembly of the bike as a backpack. It’s bulky, but it’s also fine by me. Much the way the Aerialbots wear most of a jet on their backs, this is something that I just find endearing.

Groove’s head sculpt is packed with personality. Although, I’ve got to be honest, I don’t remember a lot about the personalities of the G1 Protectobots. There wasn’t a lot of it in the cartoon to really imprint on me at a young age. I’m getting a major Beast Wars Dinobot vibe off this guy, but flipping back through some of my Marvel comics shows a pretty good likeness to the comic art. He does looks like a cop that you do not want to be pulled over by. Still, I’m maybe just a little disappointed that Hasbro didn’t opt to give him a motorcycle cop porn ‘stache. Oh yeah… he’s also got some epic light piping.

Articulation is what you would expect out of the Combiner Wars limbs and that means a nice assortment of ball joints and hinges. These may be very simple Deluxe figures when it comes to the transformation engineering, but I think that makes them a lot more fun to play with in robot mode. Groove is solid, sturdy and fun to pose.

Of course, we already got a peek at his weapons on his alt mode. They are twin guns, which make him the second best armed Protectobot next to Hotspot. OK, maybe if you count Blades’ arm rockets he could be in the running too. These are great looking weapons and the translucent red lights on the tops make them look all the more distinctive.

You know, I started getting some major Combiner Wars fatigue when Hasbro started putting out the limbs based on the G1 Autobot cars. That and my decision to wait for Takara’s Combaticons meant that I’ve been sitting out this line for the last few waves. But that shouldn’t come as any kind of indictment against Combiner Wars as a whole. I’ve really enjoyed this line a lot and Groove here has reminded me of that. He’s a great figure and well worth the extra ten bucks or so that I had to kick in to get him. Also, I was just kidding about tossing away Legends Groove earlier on. He’s still a fine little figure for my Legends collection. I just don’t have a place for him in my Defensor. Wait? What’s that? Did I forget something?

Awww, yeah. As with all the Combiner Wars figures, Groove is capable of forming a leg or an arm, but screw that. He’ll always be a right leg in my Protectobot gestalt. And a damn fine leg he is. While I appreciate the whole “Scramble City” flexibility, I’m set in my ways and I like to stick with my favorite configurations. In this case, it’s Groove and Streetwise as the legs and Blades and First Aid as the arms. Don’t get me wrong, Rook is a fantastic figure and he made for a serviceable limb, but it just ain’t the same without Groove in there. Getting him into the mix really elevates Defensor even further in my esteem and he comes close to rivaling the Superion as my current favorite Combiner Wars gestalt.

Indeed, even in their individual bot modes, these guys are absolute aces in my book. Now bring on Unite Warriors Bruticus!!!

Jun 22 2016

Mythic Legions: Gorgo Aetherblade by The Four Horsemen

In case you missed last week’s memo, Wednesdays are going to be all about Mythic Legions figures for the foreseeable future. I have a lot of figures to get through and by the time I’m close to getting through all of them, I’m hoping my additional pre-orders will be shipping. My first venture into the line featured the lead hero, Sir Gideon Heavensbrand, so it seemed only right to go to the lead villain next, Gorgo Aetherblade!

I’ve said most of what I need to say about the packaging last time, so we’ll just take a quick look. It’s collector friendly and most of the accessories come baggied behind the tray. The cards are generic, but there’s an insert with a little profile about the characters on the bottom right panel of the bubble. It’s worth noting that the trays are not designed to hold the figures with their shoulder armor on, which becomes annoying for caped figures like Gorgo if you want to keep putting them back into the package when you’re done with him. For the time being, I’m keeping these packages, but they may eventually suffer a purge when I get tired of them taking up space.

Gorgo has a full suit of plate armor and uses the same arms and legs as Sir Gideon, but his drastically different deco hides it well. This dude is dark and sinister and invokes a feeling of intimidation and instant dread. The armor is black with some gorgeous red and gold accents. The paint on this guy is absolutely luxurious. From the detailed border work down to the tiny rivets, everything is crisp and clean. As mentioned, he comes without his shoulders attached, and while he looks totally complete without them in place, they do add a lot of impressive bulk and also allow for him to don his cape.

As with all the figures in this line, the shoulders peg into the holes in the back. In this case, you take the cape and fold the edges so the holes each match up with the respective shoulder peg before popping them on. It took me a while to figure out exactly how the capes on these figures work. They have a natural, narrow profile, but can be puffed out with a little futzing. Gorgo’s is a nice, soft red cloth, which definitely adds to the majesty of the figure.

Gorgo’s head is nested in the center of a copious neck guard, which makes him a lot less susceptible to having his noggin lobbed off. The helmet features some beautiful contours, which curve in at the cheeks and give his diagonal eye slits a more prominent and sinister feel. You also get more of the same beautiful gold, red, and black deco on display. In fact, the only part of the figure that deviates from this color palate are the realistic looking antlers, which protrude from the sides of his helmet. As with Gideon’s wings, these are not only articulated, but also removable and can be swapped out with the side elements from any of the other helmets in the line.

The articulation for Mythic Legions is mostly uniform across the board, so what we get here is identical to Sir Gideon. That includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, as well as ample rockers in the ankles to steady him for those wide stances. The waist is ball jointed, as is the neck. The neck guard is soft plastic and is designed to shift if need be to accommodate the neck movement. You can get some lovely wide stances and rather dramatic action poses with these guys, despite the complex and heavy look of the armor. And once again, if there’s a joint, the figure can be easily disassembled at that joint for mix-and-match customization.

Gorgo doesn’t come with as wide an assortment of goodies as Sir Gideon, which is a little odd seeing as he was the other Backer Reward offering at the $45 level. Still, you do get some cool stuff with him. For starters, he comes with his sword and shield. The sword features an elongated grip and a leaf-type blade that swells a little toward the point. The hilt is painted black and red to match his armor and the blade features some nice silver metallic paint. Both the blade and cross guard give it a very Tolkien look to me, which is something I dig a lot. The shield is the same basic accessory that came with Gideon only with a new coat of arms painted on it. It clips onto the figure’s wrist and the clip can pivot 360-degrees.

Gorgo’s other weapon is his his giant axe. This can be configured with either a single or double-sided blade. It has some black and red to match his armor motif, but also introduces silver to brighten up his arsenal. There’s something about the coloring on this weapon that makes it look a little too modern for my taste. It just strikes me as something you might see in a sci-fi flick. It’s OK, but we’ll see this axe again several times bundled with other figures, and with decos that I like a lot more.

Lord Aetherblade makes a fantastic adversary for Gideon and is a remarkably striking figure. The recycled parts feel appropriate and are especially well concealed by the dynamic new paint scheme. This is exactly the kind of dude I could be caught doodling on my Trapper Keeper back in Middle School while day-dreaming about getting out of class and playing some Dungeons & Dragons. And it’s nice to see that Sir Gideon wasn’t a one-hit-wonder when it comes to the high quality of these figures. Gorgo just feels fantastic in hand and he’s super fun to play with and pose. While my faith in this line was never really in question, now that I’ve had some serious time to play around with the two main characters, I can already tell that I’m in love with what these figures have to offer. Next Wednesday, I’ll take a break from the knights and check out one of the Skeletons!

Jun 21 2016

Marvel Gallery: Captain Marvel Statue by Diamond Select

I know, Marvel Monday was yesterday, but Mondays are going to be tied up with Legends figures for a long while now, so the Marvel goodness will be spilling out into other days now and then. Today I’m looking at Diamond’s first Marvel Gallery statue, which is, for all intents and purposes, a Femme Fatales statue by another name as she fits in at the exact same 9-inch scale and sits at the same price point. It’s my understanding that DST changed the name of the Marvel series because they will be incorporating dudes into this line. Fair enough!

Despite the name change, the box is right in line with what we’ve been seeing out of DST’s Femme Fatales statues. You get the same four panels of windows to show off the statue inside and a deco that is personalized for the character. If anything this box feels just ever so slightly more premium with some nicer coloring and a spiffy satin finish to the art. The statue comes between two clear plastic trays and there’s no assembly required. She’s ready to go right out of the box.

This statue looked amazing in the promo pics and I’m happy to say all that goodness transferred to the final product. In hand, the statue looks quite striking for such a relatively low end piece. I’m especially fond of the pose they went with here that has Carol levitating, one knee bent and her arms gently out to her sides. It’s a very graceful look and while far from an action pose, it still manages to convey a little bit of energy and majesty to a gal who has become one of my favorite modern Marvel characters.

There’s a fair amount of sculpting involved in the costume. In fact, none of the detail is conveyed by paint alone. Instead, you get some great details like the brass buttons running up the sides of her boots and gloves, the sash tied around her waist and secured with a medallion, and especially the starburst symbol on her chest. Even her gloves have subtle stitching lines running throughout. Add all those little flourishes to her beautiful curves, and you’ve got quite an eye catching display piece. Carol proves that you don’t have to show a lot of skin to be a drop-dead sexy superhero. She’s class!

The paint quality in the Femme Fatales line has been overall solid, but I’ve seen it falter every now and then, mostly on a couple of the DC Animated pieces. I’m happy to say, the paint is quite good on Carol’s costume. The shades of red and blue are vivid and smooth and contrast beautifully with the bright gold paint. There’s really no slop to speak of and the lines are clean thanks in part to the way they are integrated into the sculpt.

Did I mention she has a nice bum? She has a very nice bum. The figure does feature some seaming from where it was assembled. You can see these in the shoulders and again around the right leg where it meets the aforementioned very nice bum. We don’t tend to see these in a lot of higher end pieces, so they may prove to be distracting for some. Considering the low price point here, I don’t mind them much here, especially since it mainly looks like the sort of cuts you would get in action figure articulation.

The portrait sculpt is excellent. I’m particularly pleased with the way the hair came out. It’s wonderfully detailed and has a little bit of glitter in the paint that makes for a rather interesting effect. That having been said, the eye makeup is a bit much for me. The look to the eyes leans a little more toward the Dexter Soy art than it does the David Lopez run, but it doesn’t quite match either exactly. That having been said, I think what I’m seeing is more an artistic choice than a comment about the quality of the paint. I think she looks absolutely fantastic when viewed from straight on, but there’s something a little off when she’s in profile.

The base is a jagged burst of energy with a gradient orange and red paint that gives it a rather brilliant and almost luminescent effect. In the right lighting it almost looks like it’s glowing. It does a nice job supporting the figure and I like that her lower foot is still suspended just slightly above it to give her that levitating effect.

I’ve been a champion and collector of DST’s Femme Fatales line long before it started dipping into the mainstream comics, and I’ll happily categorize Captain Marvel as another win for this line. Or, if you want to get technical, a very nice debut for the Marvel Gallery line. I was looking forward to getting this one ever since she was first solicited and so I had her pre-ordered at the MSRP of $40, which is actually just a wee bit less expensive than what the DC Animated statues are being released at. On the other hand, if Marvel Gallery is anything like Femme Fatales, e-tailers seem to be rather competitive when pricing these statues, so shopping around for a deal may be worthwhile. Captain Marvel has already been follwed by Jane Foster Thor, which I’m still on the fence over because I’m not enamored with the sculpt. On the other hand, Spider-Gwen should be out next month, and I’ve already got both the regular and SDCC versions of her on pre-order!

Jun 20 2016

Marvel Legends (Absorbing Man Wave): Speed Demon by Hasbro

Greetings Toyhounds, and welcome back to another Marvel Monday, wherein I attempt to soothe the sting of Monday’s misery by opening another Marvel Legends figure. Today puts me three figures into the Absorbing Man Wave. Morbius and Jack O’Lantern were excellent, and today we’re moving on with yet another baddie, Speed Demon!

Speed Demon shares a spot with Beetle as the “Superior Foes of Spider-Man.” While the names of these shared slots are usually just schlock, in this case we actually get characters drawn from the book of the same name, which is something that I dig a lot. And it’s nice to see that Hasbro didn’t release him under his other alias, The Whizzer, because that just sounds like someone who likes to urinate in public places. A villainous act? Yes, but hardly worth the attention of Spidey or The Avengers? Anyway, Squadron Supreme, Sinister Six, even sometime member of The Thunderbolts, James Sanders has a pretty rock solid resume. Did I mention he comes with Silvermane’s head on a toy car? Hell, yeah! Let’s open these guy’s up!

I’m usually terrible about recognizing and identifying the re-used bucks on these figures, but this one jumped out right away as the one used for Superior Spider-Man. It might just be because I love that figure and play around with it a lot. Either way, it’s a good choice for a speedster. as it’s quite lean and very well articulated. The only point of contention I would have are the rather flat feet. But hey… fists!

As expected, Speed Demon’s costume is achieved entirely through paintwork. He has a pleasing red and dark blue deco with some gold stripes and lightning bolts. The paint quality is sharp and clean, and yeah, we still get those annoying white production numbers on the back of the leg.

Hasbro clearly has a good time with their villain head sculpts. They seem to always be brimming with personality, and that’s certainly the case here. Speed Demon sports a cheesy grin as well as his red goggles. The facial features are a little on the soft side, but still a solid effort.

Articulation here is a little better than your average Legends figure, thanks to the additional lateral hinges in the shoulders. Otherwise, you get rotating hinges in the shoulders, and wrists, double hinges in the elbows and knees, and swivels in the biceps and thighs. The ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a waist swivel and an ab crunch hinge. The neck is both ball jointed and hinged. Speed Demon’s hinges are all nice and tight and even feature some ratcheting.

An addition to Mr. Creel’s torso, Speed Demon comes with a pair of flat hands for running, which definitely takes a page from the last couple of DC’s Flash figures I’ve picked up. These seem to have become must-have extras included with speedsters. And of course you get this…

Silvermane’s head mounted on an RC Car as a direct nod to Superior Foes of Spider-Man #3. I don’t think I could adequately put into words how much I adore this thing or how much quirky love it shows on Hasbro’s part for including it. It features a fully realized head sculpt of Silvermane mounted on a ball joint and he looks suitably angry to be suffering such a humiliation. It’s a great sculpt, although mine has a few stray bits of paint on the forehead, which is all the more infuriating for Silvermane, since he can’t wipe himself off! The car itself is just a static piece of plastic, the wheels don’t roll and the antenna pulls out a little too easily, but I’m not going to hold any of that against it. In fact, it really makes me realize how badly I’d dig getting a proper Silvermane in that bitchin’ android body of his.

I have a feeling that in terms of character selection, Speed Demon may be low on a lot of collectors’ lists, but I’m very happy to have him. He’s a solid character with a rich history and I am in love with the idea that Hasbro would take a specific book and use it to fill one of these rotating slots. Indeed, it’s made me rather excited to check out Beetle next Monday and I’ve also gone back to the Ultimate Goblin Wave to pick up that Boomerang that I missed. While I’ll admit he isn’t as exciting to look at as Morbius or Jack O’Lantern, I’m still scoring him in the plus column, currently giving this assortment a score of three out of three.

Jun 18 2016

Figma (FigFix #001) “Kantai Collection” Shimakaze (Half Damage Version) by Max Factory

It’s an exciting (and somewhat delayed) Anime Saturday today, because not only am I checking out a new KanColle figure but also my very first Figma FigFix! FigFix is a relatively new(ish) line, which I believe started in 2014, and the best analogy I can make is that these are sort of to Figmas what Figuarts Zeros are to Figuarts. In other words, non-articulated. But keep in mind, that’s coming from someone who has yet to own a Figuart Zero, so that analogy could be flawed. Anyway, I picked up Shimakaze because she’s a real hoot in the series and right now her actual Figma is netting prices that are a bit too rich for my blood, so I thought this would be a good way to get her into my collection, at least for now.

The package is very similar to that of a regular Figma and distinguished mainly by the brighter colors. You still get a window looking in on a tray with a lot of parts. If it weren’t for the FigFix on the box, I’d be hard pressed to identify this as something different, at least at first glance. Shimakaze is the very first release in this series! Let’s get it open and set her up.

Shimakaze is displayed on a standard Figma stand, which is necessary because her pose has her hovering with legs bent and not able to stand. I really enjoy the fact that Figma went with the “half-damaged” version here, because it still allows room for this and the regular Figma release in any display. Speaking of which, Shimakaze is not only perfectly scaled to display with regular Figmas, but her face is also removable and compatible with the faces of the regular Shimakaze Figma, so if you have the other figure, you can change her expression. Again, I really dig the way they made the two able to interact and compliment each other.

Shimakaze is clad in what’s left of her familiar uniform. Her top has mostly been obliterated leaving behind just enough for a smidgen of modesty. Her low riding skirt shows that one of the straps on her underwear has snapped, and her colorful, candy-striped stockings have holes in them. About the only thing that’s survived intact are her rudder boots and her gloves. As always with Figmas, the paint is bright and clean.

On her back, Shimakaze is armed with her five-tube torpedo launcher, which sets her apart from Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi who all wear their torpedoes on her hips. This also makes her attack style rather distinctive and I love the way she drifts to the side and bends forward to unload these babies into the water. The launcher assembly is removable from the figure and the arm for the stand pegs right into it.

The portrait is excellent. She has a hilarious surprised expression as if she still can’t believe she got hit. her detached anchor is sculpted to part of her hair as if its been blasted off. Even her bunny ear hair ribbon is tattered. The skin tones on the figure are smooth and even and she even has a little bit of red in her cheeks showing that she’s embarrassed the enemy scored a hit on her. The neck is the only articulation on this piece, and once again, you can change out the expression if you own the regular Figma of the character, although I think the expression here is perfect.

Of course, you can’t have Shimakaze without her posse of Rensouhou-chan backing her up. These adorable little animated gun mounts come in three different sizes and have some articulation in their heads and guns. The smallest pegs into an arm that curves up from the main stand to allow him to hover just over her shoulder.

The other two have their own stands with ball jointed arms to allow you to customize your display exactly the way you like. Each of these little buggers are also depicted in damaged mode with their guns bent and the look of anguished defeat on their adorable little faces. The crossed band aids on the biggest of them is a wonderful little touch. Of course, these little buggers will make excellent accessories for the regular Shimakaze Figma as well.

I really had no idea what to expect when I ordered this, but in the end it really is exactly what it claims to be. It’s a Figma without the articulation. It sounds like a ridiculous concept, since Figmas are all about the pose-ability, but I’m proof positive that these serve a purpose. Shimakaze’s regular Figma tends to go for around $75-80 these days, whereas I was able to pick up the FigFix for closer to $40. I wouldn’t normally find these non-articulated versions to be acceptable replacements for the regular ones, but it does offer a nice alternative in this case. I haven’t actually featured any of the regular KanColle Figmas here yet, but I have a growing collection of them and at the very least now I can display Shimakaze with them and she’ll do fine until I can track down the regular version.

Jun 17 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Poison Ivy (Ver. 1) by DC Collectibles

I’m switching it back to the statue scene this week on DC Friday and heading all the way back to the beginning of the second series of the Cover Girls line. I wasn’t all that smitten with this first version of Poison Ivy, especially when compared with what came later, but it’s one of the few early releases that I didn’t have, it’s become a bit pricey on the secondary market, and I was made an offer on this one I couldn’t refuse. Does Ivy manage to win me over? Let’s find out!

The packaging hasn’t changed much since the line was rebooted. You get the same fully enclosed box. It’s mostly white and it has some shots of the statue. Inside, the statue comes wrapped in plastic and between two styrofoam bricks. There’s no assembly required and there’s no statement of limitation on this one. It wasn’t until later releases that DCC began limiting the runs to 5,200 and hand numbering them.

And this is indeed the New 52 version of Ivy and it’s a design that I never really understood or much cared for. Just what’s up with the black leotard? To me it doesn’t fit with the whole plant motif. And the leaves and vines on top of it? Are they sewn in? Does she grow them around it after she puts on the leotard? It’s just a weird design. With that having been said, I’m OK with the pose here. It’s designed to show off the curves of her body and with both arms over her head, she holds a single rose bud in her left hand.

The costume design here is relatively simple, as it’s just a lot of matte black. There isn’t a lot of muscle definition showing through, but the shapes and curves are certainly pleasing. But with all that simple space, I would have hoped the sculptor would have paid more attention to the clusters of leaves. In some areas, they’re well defined, but in others they just look like mush. On the plus side, the green paint is applied well and there’s hardly any slop to speak of.

And that brings us to the portrait and this is the part of the statue that could have probably won me over, but it just doesn’t. Again, part of this has to do with my lack of enthusiasm for this version of the character. The black and green eyes are a little too demonic for me, and the black patterns on the face are as weird a choice as the black leotard. There’s something a little too sinister about this portrait. I know, she’s a villain, but here she looks like some kind of Deadite. The expression looks a little too forced as well. Again, the paint here is pretty solid, though, so my issues here are more from the design than the technical merits of the piece.

Easily my favorite thing about this statue is the base. Currently the Cover Girls line utilizes uniform oval bases, but early on in the reboot, the statues featured personalized environment style bases and DCC did some pretty cool things with them, as showcased here. I really dig the way the vines sprout up from the ground and weave their way around her body. It’s a really cool effect for a statue in this price range and I think they pulled it off wonderfully. As for the base itself, it showcases some of the best sculpting and paint on the entire statue. It feels like there was a lot of love put into this aspect of the statue and it makes me wonder if the line would have been better off sticking with these environmental bases.

Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for this piece, as I’ve admitted to not being a big fan of this look for Ivy, so the fact that this statue leaves me a little cold, should be taken with a grain of salt. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. The paint is sharp and clean on the figure and fairly exceptional on the base. The sculpting is solid work, although the leaves on the costume could have used better definition. I don’t dislike it, but I don’t love it either. And none of that is surprising, considering my rather odd motivations for buying it. I mainly wanted it to complete my trio of Batman femme fatales from the early days of the reboot, and at $65, she was an extremely good deal for a Cover Girls statue that has been out of circulation for a while.

Jun 16 2016

Transformers Animated: Ratchet by Hasbro

As promised, I’m back with the second half of a Transformers Thursday double-feature. Hopefully this helps to make up for the lack of contend lately. Tonight I’m checking out Ratchet from the TF: Animated line, a Deluxe sized figure that I’ve had for a while, but never found his way into the spotlight. I’ve got no packaged shot, so I’m going to dive right in to check out his alt mode.

And I am not really digging it all that much, and for a number of reasons, but mostly because it’s rather f’ugly. The off-white, almost gray, plastic does nothing for me and even when coupled with the burgundy, I’m just not a fan of this deco. The paint is pretty rough too, with some sloppy lines and it’s a shade or two off from matching the colored plastic that it’s supposed to. There’s also some annoying scratches on the roof, which is yet another example of some of the poor QC that reared it’s ugly head on several of my figures from this line. Toss in a lot of ugly seaming, and those big hinges on the sides, and there’s just not a lot to love here.

The translucent blue plastic used for the windshield, lightbar, and rear lights is nice. The Autobot emblem printed on the hood is cool. At least Hasbro slapped some yellow paint apps on the headlamps, those are all pluses. But then you get some more really sloppy paint on what I assume is supposed to be a tow winch on the front, and the painted blue windows on the side doors is another turn off for me. Ratchet’s alt mode is also pretty small, especially if you park him next to Bumblebee. Let’s see if the robot mode can save this figure…

OK, not bad. I definitely like the way the front of the vehicle forms the chest. G1 Skids would approve! The proportions aren’t bad, and I love the he forms a backpack that can hold his tools. The only thing I’m not fond of here are the huge panels jutting up off his shoulders. A couple of simple swivels would have been nice to swing these down and make them look less cumbersome. They weren’t nearly that bad in the animated model.

The coloring doesn’t bother me as much here either, probably because we get a lot more of that burgundy paint and plastic. Although, you can still get a good look at all that scratching on his backpack. It’s disappointing that he came right out of the package like that.

The head sculpt is solid and a good representation of his cartoon counterpart. I like that they kept the one cracked horn. He looks appropriately grumpy too.

Ratchet has a few accessories and play gimmicks. Firstly, he has these fold-out implements in his arms. I can’t remember whether these were weapons or tools, but I suppose they could be used for either. They’d probably come in handy for rock climbing too.

And you also get a bunch of tools, which clip into his backpack, and which can be clipped into his hands as well. These are a really cool idea and give the figure a lot of added personality.

Yeah, Animated Ratchet is a mixed bag. His alt mode is disappointing on a number of levels, but I think the robot mode is more than enough to redeem him, at least in my eyes. He’s fun and he looks great alongside the rest of the Autobots. If you haven’t checked out my other Transformers: Animated features, I have finished re-shooting all of them. Unfortunately, while I set out on this endeavor with the hopes that I would feel comfortable unloading my TF: Animated collection to make some room and generate some cash for other figures on my want list, things didn’t go as planned. Not only have I decided to keep these toys, I now feel a burning need to pick up some of the others I’m missing. So don’t be surprised if we see more of these guys popping up on Transformers Thursdays in the near future.

Jun 16 2016

Transformers Animated: Bumblebee by Hasbro

It’s no secret that I’ve been hard up for content for Transformers Thursdays, but today I’ve got a little compensation to offer in the form of a Transformers: Animated double feature. This past weekend I had my Animated collection out to do some re-shoots for their old Features and I realized that neither Bumblebee nor Ratchet ever had their due. I did a little digging to find out why, and found that I started the Features for these figures, but never finished them. I’m going to look at Bumblebee this morning and then swing on back later this evening with a look at Ratchet. I’ve got no packaged shot to offer, so let’s jump right into Bumblebee’s alt mode…

In keeping with modern tradition of making Bumblebee a little yellow sportscar, that’s exactly what we get here. The yellow plastic looks pretty good and even the transparent windshield pieces that have parts painted yellow match the base coloring pretty well. There’s an off-center black stripe running down the top of the car, and because Bee modeled himself after Captain Fanzone’s car, he has a little police light on top. Other paint apps include the red tail lights, some very faint metallic paint on the headlamps, and a silver Autobot insignia on the driver side of the rear bumper. Naturally, there are some unsightly seams on the car, but overall, I dig this alt mode.

Bumblebee comes with two rocket boosters that can peg into the rear sides. These attachments look like adorable, bloated atom bombs and feature some nice silver paint and translucent blue plastic.

Bumblebee’s robot mode is still an amazing sight to see, because it manages to produce such a creatively stylized robot figure out of a working Transformer. That’s something this line has generally been terrific at, but I think that goes double for Bumblebee because his proportions in the cartoon are so unconventional. Sure, the entire chest is a fake-out. The plates that make up the top of the car wind up on the back of the figure, but c’mon… this is still great stuff!

Despite all that car shell winding up on the Bumblebee’s back and lower legs, these pieces are neatly tucked away, so you don’t get a lot of ugly kibble. Plus, the plates on the backs of his legs serve as heel spurs. The modest backpack tabs together and acts as a storage for his bombs, which when attached make for a cool jetpack.

I suppose, if I had to nitpick something here it would be the feet. They look disjointed where they connect to the leg, so they’re not quite as clean as they could be, but when the rest of this figure looks so damn good, I can give them an easy pass.

The head is just fantastic. It captures all the personality of Bumblebee in the cartoon and serves up some very effective light piping for the eyes. I really liked this look for him, especially with the tiny little horns. Mine has a little scrape on his chin, but otherwise the paint is solid.

All this and solid articulation too? Yup. Bee features a satisfying array of both ball joints and hinges, making him a truly fun figure to play with and pose. Surprisingly, the rather large door plates on his forearms don’t really get in the way of the fun.

Bumblebee does have one little play gimmick. He has two translucent pieces folded into his arms that can deploy and connect to form an energy weapon. I don’t remember this from the series, but it’s been ages since I’ve watched it, and I never saw the whole thing. I recently got a good deal on the whole series on DVD, so I’m going to start going through it next week.

I was a little apprehensive about looking at these figures for the first time, so long after the fact. I find that a lot of older “modern” Transformers haven’t held up for me all that well and that’s why I’ve unloaded a lot of my Cybertron and Energon toys. Plus, it took a while for me to warm up to this style. I wasn’t fully on board until I had some of the toys in hand. I had originally taken these guys out of storage to photograph with the hopes that I could justify parting with them and generating some space and cash for other things on my want list, but that just hasn’t been the case. I still have a soft spot in my heart for this line in general, and I think Bumblebee is among Animated’s best figures.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Yearly Archives: 2016

Strike Witches: Charlotte Yeager 1/8 Scale Figure by Furyu

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Katana by DC Collectibles

Transformers Combiner Wars: Groove (Deluxe Class) by Hasbro

Mythic Legions: Gorgo Aetherblade by The Four Horsemen

Marvel Gallery: Captain Marvel Statue by Diamond Select

Marvel Legends (Absorbing Man Wave): Speed Demon by Hasbro

Figma (FigFix #001) “Kantai Collection” Shimakaze (Half Damage Version) by Max Factory

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Poison Ivy (Ver. 1) by DC Collectibles

Transformers Animated: Ratchet by Hasbro

Transformers Animated: Bumblebee by Hasbro

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