Jun 3 2016

Blackest Night (Series 2): Indigo by DC Direct

It’s another DC Friday and today I’m digging all the way back to DC Direct’s Blackest Night series with a look at Indigo. I bought this one a few months back when I was re-reading the collected trades of Green Lantern to get all caught up for ReBirth and realized that Inroque was a character that I didn’t have in my collection. Like a lot of Lanterns, she didn’t get a DC Universe Classics release and so I had to make do with DC Direct. These DC Direct figures tend to be hit or miss for me, so let’s see what we’ve got…

Ahh, the bad old days of the sealed clamshell. They’re OK if you want to cover your walls in MOC figures, but they don’t do me any favors. In this case, the packaging is also pretty wasteful, but I think they did that to accommodate some of the larger characters. Anyway, it’s attractive enough and shows the other figures on the back of the insert. Using a sticker on the outside of the bubble wasn’t a great call, as it tends to peel at the edges. Try to drum up a little empathy for me as I go find my razor and hack my way into this package.

Generally speaking, I felt the sculpts were the high points of most of the later DC Direct figures and Indigo here reflects that. This figure captures her unnaturally lithe alien form quite nicely. Every part of her costume is part of the sculpt, from her soft plastic loin cloth to her short top. The arm wrappings even have some loose strands coming off to make them a little more convincing. It’s all very nice and very faithful to the character.

If there’s one place that DC Direct has often let me down, it’s the paint, but that’s not really the case with Indigo. The whites and flesh tones, which have a habit of looking dirty and rubbed actually look quite good here. Her skin looks nice and even and the white paint used on the wrappings is clean and evenly applied. The metallic blue and silver used for her outfit makes for a striking contrast against the matte of her skin. Lastly, her blue tattoos are crisp and straight. I really don’t have a lot of complaints here.

And yes, I’m even very fond of the portrait. The alien shape of the face looks spot on, and I dig the way they did her tendril-like hair cascading neatly down the back and spilling onto her shoulders. Her narrow black eyes look characteristically creepy under those sweeping eyebrows, the little touch of makeup over the eyes is a great touch, and the small pursed mouth is perfect.

Articulation has never been DC Direct’s strong point and so I don’t expect much in that area. What we get here includes ball joints in the shoulders and neck, hinges in the knees and ankles, and a “V” crotch in the hips, which allows for limited forward movement, but a fair deal of backward movement. At this late point in DC Direct’s game, I can’t imagine anyone was buying these figures and expecting a great deal of pose-ability. You can do some different things with her arms, but the legs are pretty limited.

Indigo comes with two accessories: Her staff and a figure stand. The staff is nicely done and includes a transparent blue crystal in the head. She can hold it very firmly in her left hand.

The stand is a blue transparent disk with the Indigo Tribe emblem outlined in white. And that brings me to one weird thing about Indigo and that’s the fact that her left leg is so notably shorter than her right. You may have noticed that all my pictures have her standing with one leg in front of the other. That’s because if I peg her into the base with her feet together, her left foot just levitates above the stand. I’m not sure if that’s just an issue with my figure or all of them, but it’s an odd oversight.

DC Direct’s Indigo turned out to be a pleasant surprise. And that’s a good thing because the character hasn’t been made available in any of the other DC lines. While these are generally not intended to scale with Mattel’s DC Universe Classics figures, I find that the alien Lanterns will display well enough with the DCUC figures. I was able to pick her up for $20 shipped, which was about what the original MSRP would have been. The Blackest Night series tends to be all over the place, with some selling well below the original retail, and others quite a lot more, so I’ll consider myself lucky.

Jun 2 2016

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

I’m winding down the last few days at work until vacation and that means I’ve got a lot of shit to do and not a lot of time for bloggery. So today I’m coming at you with a quick-and-dirty Feature of a figure that I’ve basically already looked at. The First Order Snowtrooper Officer was released late last year as a Toys R Us Exclusive and was followed more recently by the regular rank-and-file version, which I’m checking out today. This also enables me to open these guys and get two more figures off of the pile on the floor of the closet. And eureka… the pile is almost gone… I can see carpet!

Packaged shot! You don’t need to talk about the packaged shot. I don’t need to talk about the packaged shot. There’s nothing new to report. There’s nothing new to report. You can move on. Moving on…

Last time, I commented about how I like the Original Trilogy Snowtroopers design better than these First Order guys, and I’m sticking to that. of course, that’s also like me saying, I like prime rib better than cheeseburgers. It’s all good, and this new design is still plenty cool. Plus, these are now among my favorite 6-inch Black Series figures, or at least my favorites from The Force Awakens assortment. The quality of paint and plastic is excellent. What should be glossy is glossy, what should be matte is matte, and while there aren’t a ton of paint apps, what’s here is all pretty nice and sharp. The consistency between these two figures is also a lot better than the handful of regular First Order (or Imperial) Stormtroopers I have. Don’t even get me started on the drop in quality between these guys and my Flametrooper. There’s a good reason I only own one of them.

As expected, these guys are identical to the Snowtrooper Officer in both sculpt and paint. The only difference is their lack of paldron. The backpacks simply peg into the back and alas, there’s still nowhere to clip the guns, but maybe that was the case with the costumes as well. And speaking of guns, the guns are the same too. I really dig the sculpt and paint on these rifles.

Obviously, articulation is the same as we saw on the Officer as well. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, but still no bicep swivels. The legs have ball jointed hips, and yes that pesky kama still restricts the movement a bit. The knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the thighs and the ankles feature rotating hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso and the neck is also is ball jointed. The articulation isn’t totally ideal, but it’s plenty good for what we’ve been seeing out of the 6-inch Black Series.

Suffice it to say, I love these figures and getting them open and playing around with them has made me realize how badly I want the 6-inch Black Imperial Snowtroopers. It’s worth noting that Hasbro seems to have recognized the demand for troop builders as these guys were double packed in their case and they are readily available at several retailers for under the usual $20 retail. And yes, that means I’ll probably be picking up at least a couple more.

“The Lieutenant’s been hit!”
“Pfft. Officers… AmIright?”

Jun 1 2016

Street Fighter: Poison Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

It’s Bishoujo time again and today I’m revisiting the Street Fighter line with a look at Poison. Poison is a character that I associate more with the Final Fight games than I do, Street Fighter, and that’s probably because of two reasons. First, all the controversy around her gender identity seemed to start with Final Fight, and two the fact that she wasn’t a playable fighter in Street Fighter until either Street Fighter X Tekken or Ultra Street Fighter IV. I honestly can’t remember, which came out first, but I think it was the former. As for the first point, it’s not really an issue here, as the Bishoujo line only includes chicks, even when the original subject matter is male (i.e. Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and the upcoming Edward Scissorhands). The second point isn’t an issue either, as I’m just happy to be getting this gorgeous statue of her.

Poison comes in the typical Bishoujo Statue box with windows all around to let you see the statue inside, plenty of sultry art by Shunya Yamashita, and the black deco that Koto uses for the Street Fighter and Tekken themed statues. This one is particularly tall and thin, just like Poison! Everything is collector friendly. Alas, ever since I filled up an entire closet with empty statue boxes, I’m at the point where I have to pitch the plastic trays and flatten out the box for storage. Poison comes attached to her base and all ready for display, although there are a few options, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Um, wow! Yeah, I’m tempted to end it there, because I’m struggling to find other words. Poison is posed with her left leg kicking out a bit behind her, her left hand pulled up near her face, and her right arm extending outward and holding one of her accessories. In the case of most of these pictures I went with the handcuffs because it’s easier to get close with the camera and still get in the entire statue. The skimpy outfit consists of a very abbreviated tank top, a pair of cut-off jeans, red high heels, a leather collar, and a biker hat. There isn’t a lot to say about the costume, because there isn’t a lot of it. I dig the way they sculpted one of her tank top straps off her shoulder and over her arm. You also get some real chain used on her shorts and on her hat. Since Poison is wearing very little in the way of clothes, the quality of the skin tone is crucial here, but that’s never been an issue with Koto’s Bishoujo line and it certainly isn’t here. You even get some nice shading to pick out the detail in the muscle definition in her mid riff. Damn, this is one sexy figure!

Poison’s purple hair cascades down her back all the way down to her butt, effectively covering a lot more of her than her actual clothes do. Some other nice touches on her outfit include the gorgeous red paint on her shoes, the wrist bracer on her right arm, which serves the double purpose of concealing the swappable hand, and the bangle on her left wrist. The paint apps on the buckle and rivets in her collar are particularly well done.

And that brings us to the portrait, which is simply amazing. No, I said the portrait… it’s the thing right above what you’re looking at now. This may be one of my favorite head sculpts of all my Bishoujos and that’s saying quite a lot. You do have to get down a little low to take it all in, because it’s partially covered by the visor on the cap and you also have some strands of hair blowing in front of it. The paintwork on the deep blue eyes and pink lips is as sharp and clean as ever.

As mentioned earlier, you get a couple display choices for her right arm. You can go with the handcuffs or the riding crop. Either of which carry on the overt bondage theme here. The riding crop is permanently attached to an extra hand, so it’s just a matter of popping out one and pegging int he other. The handcuffs, are not attached to the other hand, so you can tuck those into the chain on her shorts, which is where she often wears them in character art. I like the idea of being able to display both accessories on the figure at once, although the riding crop takes up a lot more display space.

The Street Fighter line continues to use these clear plastic disks as stands. Like the Tekken statues, you can pop off the bottoms and put in either of two included inserts. One has the Street Fighter logo and the other some character art. I tend to go with the logo on these and the character art on my Tekken pieces. My only gripe about the stand is that the wedges that support her feet are white plastic instead of clear. Not a big deal, but hey, I figured I had to nitpick something because otherwise this statue would be perfect.

Another Bishoujo and another win for both Kotobukiya and my display shelves. I actually had Poison pre-ordered, so I spent the full retail of around $60 on her and I’m perfectly fine with that. But, Bishoujos haven’t been selling out like they used to, so chances are she’s available for a good $5 to $10 less if you hunt around for her. She’s only the fifth release in the Street Fighter line, but I’ve been all-in for this line so far and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

May 31 2016

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Tygra by Mezco

It’s been almost five years since Mezco embarked on bringing out the beloved Classic Thundercats in a giant 14-inch Mega-Scale figure format. There were times along the way that it felt like the team might never see completion. And while it seems unlikely that we’ll ever see a Wily Kit and Wily Kat, we finally have a core team of cats with the release of Tygra! I’ve made no bones about being a huge fan of this line. At a time when Ban Dai couldn’t decide what to do with the Classics line, these releases came as a bright ray of shining hope in the unfortunately short-lived Thundercats revival of 2011. Needless to say, I’m pretty damn excited to finally have this figure in hand.

The boxes have been fairly consistent throughout the five year stretch. Tygra comes in a very colorful window box with the glorious Thundercats logo emblazoned across the front and side panel. You get some damned beautiful character art of Tygra on the front and the rest of the cats on the other side panel. There are some minor changes for each of the different cats’ boxes, and Mumm-Ra came in a black box because he’s so damn evil, but these are collector friendly and look mighty nice when all lined up on the shelf. Provided you have a shelf big enough to contain them all. With a little patience required to untwist some twist-ties, Tygra comes out of the box and all set to go!

And looking damned good! The sculpt walks the fine line between being sparse enough to maintain the animated style, while offering enough detail to make for an interesting and appealing figure. The bulk of the sculpting here is in Tygra’s impressive muscle tone. His cat feet are fully realized, and all of the details that make up the costume are part of the sculpt as well as the deco, including the Thundercat emblem on his chest. While these are billed as “action figures” it should be noted that articulation is fairly limited and Tygra is sculpted in an action-ready stance. The bulk of useful articulation is in the head and arms. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders, a swivel in the middle of the left arm and another at the right wrist. The legs swivel at the hips and again at the tops of the boots, but these are mainly there to help shift the balance and achieve a good footing. In the end, I found I could get some good variations out of him, but like the other figures in the line, it’s best to temper expectations on posing.

The paint here is solid, but does show some rough patches under close scrutiny. The tiger stripes look particularly nice and the muted shades of blue and green that make up his costume all look right on point and are fairly clean. Some of the lines could be crisper and the paint more even, especially around the border of his left sleeve. Nonetheless, Tygra is still an attractive looking figure and I’m only going to expect so much from the quality of paintwork on a piece this big with a price this reasonable.

The portrait is where this figure really shines. I think the sculpt does a wonderful job capturing the character’s likeness and I really like how the rather fierce expression matches the action-orientated stance of the figure. These are definitely cats that are prepared to do battle with some mutants. The teeth and the eyes are just amazing.

Tygra comes with his bolo whip, which fits comfortably in his right hand and has a wire running throughout so that it can be put in a variety of positions depending on the look you’re going for. It’s here where I really have my only gripes with the figure. I feel like a collapsed bolo would have been a nice extra. I also wish the whip itself was a little longer so that I could get it snake around him a few times while holding his hand over his head. Of course, then I remember the price point here, and I feel bad about asking for more.

I brought up price a few times throughout this Feature and that’s because Mezco has been able to keep this line at a $35 price point (give or take a little, depending on where you buy it). And while I may nitpick an imprecise paint line here and point out some missed opportunities with the accessories, the truth is that I think what we’re getting here is an amazing deal. While jumbo figures have become something of a trend nowadays, the sculpt, paint, and overall quality on these cats is leaps and bounds better than what I’m seeing in the slightly larger 18-inch Star Wars figures on the shelves. Indeed, these feel a bit more like collectibles and not like mass produced toys. In the end, I’m truly grateful that Mezco saw this line through to at least give us the four major cats and Mumm-Ra. These make for an absolutely epic display. I’m still considering buying the second release of Lion-O just so that I can get Snarf. And hey, if they do decide to get us a Thunderkitten two-pack, I’d be totally down with that.

May 30 2016

Marvel Universe Legends: Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Noir by Hasbro

Marvel Monday continues to take a short sabbatical from the 6-inch Legends line so that I can check out some figures from other corners of the Marvel Universe. I spent a couple weeks with some Sixth-Scale Hot Toys, now it’s time to turn to the other end of the spectrum with the 3 3/4-inch figures. I have to be honest, I’ve been re-evaluating my need to keep collecting this line, but it’s not like there are a lot of releases, so I keep on hanging in there. Let’s see if today’s acquisitions get me any more excited about it…

Oh, look! It’s been re-branded… AGAIN! Gone are the terrible bland and boring black cards of the Universe Infinite Series and in its place we get something a bit better. The cards are still black and bland, but at least we’re back to some original character art on each card. Meh. Nothing beats the colorful old Universe packaging. And wait, these are called Legends now too? But… the 6-inch line… that’s called… OMG, WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE WATCHER ARE THEY SMOKING OVER AT HASBRO THESE DAYS??? Sod it, I’m just going to call them Marvel Universe Legends. I’m going to open up Spider-Man Noir first.

While it’s been quite a few years since his debut, I was first introduced to Spider-Man Noir in the pages of Edge of Spider-Verse and rather enjoyed seeing the exploits of the darker Depression-Era Peter Parker. Hopefully, Hasbro is going to start mining Spider-Verse more for figures and I’ll confess I was very glad to see Spidey-Noir get a release, even if I would have preferred it in the 6-inch line. It’s also a bit of a bummer to not have any enemies from Earth 90214 for him to fight.

Obviously, there isn’t a lot of paint here. He’s black and gray and has silver eyes. Everything on the figure is textured, his boots feature buttons up the sides, the pants are rumpled and include pouches on the thighs. The shirt has sculpted button down flap and a high collar. The hood has sculpted stitching, silver goggles, and a sculpted wrap around the mouth area. He looks like he’s wearing a really creepy gimp mask, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the head sculpt strikes me as a little too soft.

There’s a ton of articulation here, so let’s run through it. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have rotating hinges and swivels in the hips, double hinges in the knees, swivels at the tops of the boots, and the ankles are hinged and feature lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint just below the chest and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. In theory, that’s all great, but I’m not a big fan of these hips and the way the shoulders are designed, you can’t really get his arms all the way down to his sides. He seems like he should be a lot more fun to play with than he actually is. Moving on to Ms. Danvers…

Captain Marvel has become one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Now! era, so it’s nice to see her 6-inch Legends figure getting a 3 3/4-inch companion release. This is a much simpler figure than Spidey-Noir, and I’m rather surprised that Hasbro didn’t just go back to the buck used for the Modern/Classic Ms. Marvels. The costume is almost entirely painted, but the paint looks great and the lines are sharp and clean. Compared to the really rough paint on the past Ms. Marvels, this one is a huge improvement. She wears her scarf tied around her waist, which appears to be the same piece used for the Modern Ms. Marvel figure from several years back. The head sculpt is quite good and looks a lot like the one used for the 6-inch Legends Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel features a serviceable level of articulation, although it’s limited compared to recent female bucks in the line. In fact, it doesn’t even have the waist swivel from the Modern/Classic Ms. Marvel figures. You do get rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, but no bicep swivels, and oddly enough no wrist articulation at all. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. Despite the reduction in articulation, I actually like this buck a lot. It’s a lot less wobbly than some of the more super articulated MU figures and yet still plenty of fun to play with.

Both Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Noir are solid additions to my Marvel 3 3/4-inch collection, although Carol is my definite favorite here. I expected to like Spidey-Noir a lot more, but in the end he’s just OK. Really, my big gripe with this line continues to be the price. These are going for anywhere from $12.99 to $14.99 on the pegs these days and that’s really steep. Add to that the distribution in my area is atrocious. I was lucky enough to pick these up at the lower end of that spectrum from a really great online retailer, but right now Spidey-Noir is going for upward of $18-20 on Amazon, which is crazy for what you’re getting. Even at the regular price, it’s shocking that Hasbro couldn’t have thrown in a gun for Spidey and an alternate masked head for Carol. I feel sorry for 3 3/4-inch Marvel completists. Lately I’ve just been adopting an attitude of buy what I can get at a good price and just let the rest go.

May 28 2016

KanColle: Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi “Super Premium” Prize Figures by SEGA

In case you missed the memo, Saturdays at FFZ are all about the anime figures now. And that’s convenient, because I am on a serious Kantai Collection kick and have been picking up a lot of figures from this series. Today, I’m not looking at one, but rather three figures from SEGA’s “Super Premium” Prize Figure series. Yeah, I couldn’t decide which one of these gals to start with, so I just figured I’d do all three Destroyers from The Third Torpedo Squadron.

The figures come in pretty standard window boxes and with hardly any English… nope, not even the character names! Just the full title of the series, “Fleet Girls Collection KanColle Animation Sequence!” Yeah, that’s a mouthful. The boxes are color coded to match the girls within, so Fubuki’s blue and Mutsuki’s green match their school uniforms. And Yuudachi’s is pink, um… because… Poi? There’s some nice character art on the side panels and overall, these look nice but the boxes are a little on the flimsy side and prone to shelfwear.

It’s worth noting that SEGA isn’t kidding around when they call these “Super Premium” as the boxes measure 10-inches high and the figures, at about 9 1/2-inches from the base to their masts are a full 1/7 Scale. No, they’re not your average Prize Figures, and I was positively shocked by the size of them. The gals come all assembled. Just peg them into their bases and they’re ready to launch! Let’s start with Fubuki…

Special Type Destroyer Fubuki is clad in her blue and white school uniform and all geared up and ready for battle. It’s a pretty passive pose (as is the case with all three girls), but I like hers the most out of all three. Sure, something a little more action orientated would have been fun, but I think this pose works especially well when displaying them together. She has a pretty neutral expression, although definitely the most serious of the three, and I like how her hair is blowing just a little bit off to the side.

The sculpt is all around solid, albeit a little soft on the hardware pieces. Her armaments include two 61cm triple torpedo mounts on her hips and her 12.7cm twin gun mount held at her side in her right hand. Her rudder heels look great as does the tower, smokestacks, and mast assembly on her back. Next up…

Mutsuki! Besides the coloring, Mutsuki’s uniform features some nice changes from Fubuki’s, including a different collar and a button down blouse, and full stockings. She also has a slight smile and her right hand raised to her chest. Nothing about Mutsuki’s character really stuck with me from the series, other than her being Fubuki’s sidekick for most of it.

Her armaments include two 61cm triple torpedo mounts on her hips, although these are different configurations than Fubuki’s, with the tubes exposed and criss-crossing straps securing them to her legs. She wields her 7.7cm machine gun mount on her left hand, held down at her side. I really dig her smokestack and mast assembly, as it comes equipped with two racks of depth charges. Mutsuki’s heel rudders aren’t nearly as pronounced as Fubuki’s and only one can be partially seen. And that brings us to…

Poi! Yuudachi is without a doubt one of my favorite characters in the series. She’s just hilarious. This is Yuudachi before her sudden remodel. Her mostly black uniform is more distinctive than those of her fellow Destroyers, but the white trim and red stripes help add a little color. I really dig the way they sculpted her long blonde hair fanning out around her. She also appears to be the most cheery of the three Torpedo girls.

And speaking of torpedoes, Yuudachi sports two 61cm quadruple torpedo mounts, fitted out with oxygen powered payload. As for her hand weapon, I believe this is the 10cm twin high-angle gun mount. The way she holds it across her chest makes her look like she’s the most ready for action of the three. Her backpack is the simplest of the three, with just the one stack and the mast. It’s very cool that the girls each have unique masts.

The paint on all three figures is good, although not as crisp and clean as one might expect from the pricier figures. For example, there are a few stray spots of white on Fubuki’s right sleeve. With that having been said, there’s nothing else that stands out as bad at all. In fact, there’s even some lovely little touches like the tiny anchors on Fubuki’s socks, the deco pattern on Mutsuki’s stockings, or the fine striping on Yuudachi’s collar and sleeves and on Mutsuki’s skirt. The three Fleet Girls all come with the same style base. It’s a simple pentagon shape cast in translucent blue, which is appropriately suggestive of the water. The figures peg into the base with satisfying clicks, which holds them perfectly.

I can’t say enough good things about these figures, particularly when you bring the pricing into the mix. When they arrived, and I first saw the size of these figures in the boxes and equated that with the average price of $20 each, I was afraid the quality wouldn’t be there to back up full-sized figures. Remarkably, these gals pull it off quite nicely making these possibly the best values I’ve ever picked up in my somewhat modest years of Japanese figure collecting. SEGA also did two of the Carriers in this line, Kaga and Akagi and I’ll certainly be getting to those in the near future.

May 27 2016

Justice League War (DC Animated Movie Series): Superman and Wonder Woman by DC Collectibles

Marvel may be ruling the world of live action movies, but DC has long been kicking ass with their animated direct to video presentations. Justice League War was one of these and boy was it great. Superb characterization, a really fun Batman vs. Superman fight, some dude called Wonder Woman a whore and got outed as a transvestite, and overall a really good feature length treatment of the first story arc from The New 52’s Justice League book. Rather than just bring us animated Jim Lee art, these films tend to skew a little more stylized and if nothing else that gives them the opportunity to market action figures of the same characters to idiots like me.

Now let me say straightaway, that I would have included Batman here, but for some inexplicable reason, they didn’t make a Justice League War version of Bats. Shazam? Sure! Batman, nah! That seems really shortsighted to me, but they did release him from Son of Batman, naturally I have him and I’ll get to him eventually. Anyway, the packaging here looks nice, but it’s a simple bubble on card affair and not collector friendly. You get some stills from the feature behind the figures and character art on the right panel insert. The figures are numbered, with Superman and Wonder Woman being #2 and #4, respectively. Let’s start with Superman!

Oh, boy. This is a stylized re-imagining of the New 52 look, and I think the work on the costume is pretty solid. Keep in mind that this line uses some buck sharing, so with the exception of the cape, all the details on Superman’s costume are achieved with paint alone. I like the rich shades of blue and red they used and for the most part the lines are fairly sharp. The intricate panel lines of the comic look have been toned down to just a few. The package suggests these might glow in the dark, but I don’t see much evidence of that. There are a few unfortunate globs of glue on my figure, one by his right cape attachment and another on his left bicep. These were priced about the same as regular DC Collectibles figures, but the quality control on Supes could have been better.

The cape is OK. It’s not too heavy and it doesn’t drag on the floor, so it doesn’t inhibit wider stances. There’s no S-shield printed on the back. I can’t remember if he had it in the film, but I’m guessing not. Moving on to the portrait…

Sweet Kryptonian Jesus!!! While everything from the neck down is passable, I don’t know what is going on with this head sculpt. It’s like someone cast older Robert Z’Dar to play Supes. Too soon? Sorry Z’Dar fans. Anyway, this portrait is just all sorts of wrong and I’m hoping that the mold got pinched in production or something, because I don’t want to call anyone out on their work. Phil Ramirez sculpted him and he’s a talented guy. I have lots of his work in both action figure and statue form, so I’m just not sure what happened here. The promo pictures were actually spot on and should have been enough to warn me off the figure, but I remember thinking, there’s no way the actual figure’s portrait is going to look like that. I have no one to blame but myself.

Articulation is pretty good for a DCC release. You get rotating hinges in both the shoulders and elbows, as well as swivels in the biceps. The wrists look like they have swivel cuts, but mine won’t budge and I don’t want to twist them off trying. The legs are ball jointed and the knees are hinged. And lastly, you get a ball joint in the neck. Let’s move on to Wonder Woman…

Diana is an entirely different story, in that she’s excellent in almost every way. Granted, you have to buy into the the stylized design, and the fact that her costume got a pretty unique overhaul for this movie, but I happen to like it a lot. Wonder Woman is the only female in the Justice League War series, but I believe they might have recycled some of the parts for the buck for Mera from the Throne of Atlantis.

Either way, her costume is also all achieved through a deco of red, blue, and silver paint, coupled with some flesh tones. There are a few lines that could have been sharper, there’s a stray spot of silver on her left heel, but all in all, I think the paint is good here. Her sculpted lasso is permanently attached to her hip.

While Superman looks like he caught a freight train full of bees with his face, Wonder Woman’s portrait, sculpted by Jack Mathews, is very well done and quite faithful to her likeness in the film. The painted features on her face are very sharp and I especially dig her ponytail.

The articulation here is close to Superman’s, just minus the bicep swivels.

Wonder Woman comes with her short sword. It’s a welcome accessory, because she used the sword a lot in the movie… even to inadvertently demand ice cream at the point of a blade.

I’d call my first foray into the DC Animated Movie Series to be a hit and a miss. Superman would have been fine if not for his unfortunately weird face, but I’ve got nothing but love for this Wonder Woman. In fact, she’s so good it makes me all the more sad that I don’t have a decent looking Superman to go with her. Ah, well… I also have a lot more of the Animated Movie Series to open, because most online retailers were blowing them out at $9.99 and I can’t help myself.

May 26 2016

Transformers Animated: Swindle by Hasbro

Transformers Thursdays have been slim pickings these days. I’m awaiting the release of Unite Warriors Bruticus and arrival of my Deluxe Groove, I’m still mulling over whether to pick up MP Shockwave, and maybe one day I’ll finally buy the Leader Class Skywarp that’s been languishing on the shelf at Target. But today it just so happens that I did pick up a Transformer last week, thanks to a hook up on Twitter. It’s been a long time coming, but I finally added TF: Animated Swindle to my collection, which just about completes my Deluxes for this series. I bought him loose, so no package shot. Instead, I’ll jump right in and have a look at his alt mode.

The Consensus seems to be that modern Swindle should be a Humvee and that is indeed what the TF:A version is. While this series favors highly stylized vehicles, Swindle’s actually looks fairly normal. Swindle has a few sculpted panel lines, but that’s about it, and there is some rather unsightly mold flashing on his driver side quarter panel near the hood. There’s also very little in the way of paint apps. He gets by mostly with tan colored plastic. The front grill and windshield are both a rather striking translucent purple and the side windows are painted purple to match, albeit rather unconvincingly. A little black plastic trim, black wheels, some shockingly pink headlamps, and he’s good to go. Oh yeah, he also has that glorious Decepticon emblem stamped right on his hood.

Swindle comes with his rather large blaster, which can peg right into his roof and give him the extra firepower that any respectable Decepticon demands. You can also plug it into the side, but I prefer it as a top cannon. The fit is disappointingly loose, but to make up for that it can fire a missile. Transforming Swindle is just satisfying enough for a Deluxe and holds a few fun surprises, like the way his hands come together to form the hood. There’s some clever plate shifting there and the resulting robot form is pretty damn sweet.

Yes, one of the most remarkable things about this line is the way the toys were able to mimic those highly stylized animated designs and still work as functional Transformers. Swindle is a nice approximation of his animated counterpart. I should note that the back panels can be positioned in a few different ways and I like to mix it up. I think they look better sticking out to the sides, but that can get in the way of aiming his arm cannon, so it helps to be able to point them upward. There’s some fun stuff going on here, like his rather large, albeit somewhat impractical, claw hands and I really dig the appearance of even more of that translucent purple plastic. The way the tires make up the bottoms of his feet is pretty cool too. Also note, the detailing on the lower torso is the front of the vehicle mode faked out. If I had one gripe about Swindle’s design is that his chest is just a little too close to the iconic look of Optimus Prime for my taste.

But then I look at that face, and how can I not love him? Swindle features some giant eyes with some lovely purple light-piping and a smarmy grin that totally suits the character. One thing even the detractors of T:FA must admit, these robots had a lot of personality.

The arm cannon is awkwardly large, but that’s not to say he can’t aim it. Once again, I wish it stayed on better. I might have to pop a little glob of blue tack into that hole to better seal the deal. Oh yeah, if the giant arm cannon isn’t getting the job done, Swindle has a little surprise hidden in his chest…

Say hello to my leetle friend! Yes, he has a flip out gatling gun. A little lower and he’d really have something to brag about! I actually didn’t know about this gimmick going in and it was a pretty neat surprise.

One of these days I need to go back and revisit the TF: Animated line. I was a little worried about how well this figure would hold up after jonesing after it for so long and there being so much time between now and when I was collecting these figures back in 2008. Turns out, I dig this guy a lot and I even had some fun with Lugnut and Oil Slick when I pulled them out for a little group shot. Animated was one of those queer little detours in what passes for a Transformers continuity that I was fine with at the time, so long as I knew a more traditional line was lurking around the corner. These are clever designs and ultimately fun toys, but given my inability to get into the current Robots in Disguise line, I don’t know how receptive I would be if this line released now. I do know that I’m a little more motivated now to take stock of what I have and maybe pick up the last TF:A figures that I’m missing!

May 25 2016

Heroes of the Storm: Arthas (Warcraft) by NECA

I’m continuing to dig through the pile of figures waiting to be opened on the floor of my closet and I’m proud to say that I can finally see carpet and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! This time I’m returning to NECA’s Heroes of the Storm line and after a brief interlude with Diablo’s Tyrael back in April, it’s back to Warcraft with Arthas!

This is the fourth time showcasing this packaging, so I don’t have much new to say about it. We’re back to the sealed clamshell, which is most decidedly not collector friendly and therefore requires a trusty, and preferably not cursed, blade to open it. It also rewards you by releasing the sweet, noxious gasses of plastic goodness. Ahhh, nobody gives plastic fumes like NECA does. So good!

Arthas, aka The Lich King, needs no introduction to any followers of Warcraft lore. He’s as iconic a character as they come and NECA did a beautiful job here reproducing him in action figure form. The proportions, with chunky hands and feet, convey that delightfully distinctive WoW style that is instantly recognizable and this figure is absolutely packed with rich sculpted goodness. From the hammered finish on his boots, to the amazing skull-adorned armor plates on his legs, arms, waist, and shoulders, every little detail of The Lich King’s gear is lovingly recreated here. All the armor plates are sculpted over a cross-thatch chain mail texture that give the suit a satisfying feeling of depth. Oh, and is that soft goods I see?

Indeed it is! You get a purple cloth sash and cape, which are certainly not firsts for NECA, but definitely this line. I dig it!

Arthas’ portrait is mostly obscured by his elaborate helmet, complete with the spire-like spikes that rise off the top in a crownly fashion. Strands of his blue hair cascade down the sides and if you get in there close enough you can make out his eyes and mouth. It looks like there’s a fully realized head sculpt under that helmet, and that kind of effort impresses the hell out of me.

The paint on this figure is phenomenal. You get a muted mix of grays and silvers with copper painted rivets and borders. The mix of drab grey and metallic silver does a fine job of picking out all the careful texturing and sculpted scrollwork on some of those armor plates, as well as weathering. I especially love the effect in the eyes of most of the skulls, which use various shades of blue to give off an illumination effect. It’s brilliant. The paint is rounded out with some buffed brown for the leather gauntlets and straps and some tan for the tufted fringe on the gauntlets and boots.

For a guy in a clunky suit of armor, Arthas sports some damn fine articulation. NECA kitted him out with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. He’s got swivels in the wrists, a swivel in the waist, a ball joint under the chest and a ball joint in the neck. Both the knee and shoulder armor are soft plastic so as not to inhibit those joints. I had to do a little gentle coaxing on one of the elbow hinges, but once I got him warmed up the joints all feel great and he’s a pretty limber fellow.

The Lich King comes with one accessory, and as any Warcraft fan could have guessed, it is indeed the cursed sword Frostbourne. It’s lovingly recreated with the iconic ram skull at the center of the guard and the blade features a tarnished paint with a copper center. The hilt is designed to come apart so as to stick the hilt into the enclosed fingers on his right hand from the bottom and the top part of the hilt and blade into the top, pegging them together in his grip.

NECA is absolutely killing it with the HotS line and I can’t say enough good things about these guys. Of course, that’s coming from someone who doesn’t even play Heroes of the Storm, but rather I collect this because it’s populated by familiar characters from Blizzard games that I have played. But even if I’d never spent a single day venturing in Azeroth, I think I’d still be buying these. The crazy money I spent on The Four Horseman’s Mythic Legions figures (which should be shipping any time now) prove that I’m a sucker for 6-inch scale fantasy and there’s no doubt that Arthas fits that bill nicely. Now I just have to pick up the Deluxe Stitches figure and I’ll be all caught up!

May 24 2016

Masters of the Universe Classics: Vultak by Mattel

It’s been almost a couple of months since I last looked at anything from Masters of the Universe Classics. But, last week I got a new package from Matty on my doorstep, so today I’m opening up Vultak, who’s motto should be better late than never. Or rather it seems that should be the motto of the Collector’s Choice 2016 line, since we’re seeing a lot of delays. I’ll confess, I don’t remember a lot about this guy, but with a ton of MOTUC figures now on my shelf, I don’t think there are any surprises left in this line…

…unless Vultak turns out to be an “Evil Flying Zookeeper.” Well played, Matty. I stand corrected. Well, at least there’s nothing new to say about the packaging. It’s the same awesome presentation we’ve been seeing all along, except for the lack of bio on the back of the card. Besides having a ridiculous title, Vultak is a member of The Evil Horde, and unfortunately made an appearance in the She-Ra Filmation cartoon, which meant that I was contractually bound to watch it for this Feature. The episode is called “Zoo Story” and it was about 24 minutes of pure agony. Despite having the word “story” in the title, there was no story, just a shallow mystery surrounding animals disappearing from the ironically named “Freedom Forest.” Who took them? Vultak, of course! Hordak’s Evil Zookeeper! What a cheat! How were we kids supposed to figure that out when we never saw this asshole before?

Anyway, the episode may be terrible, but Vultak is a pretty cool figure. He sports a standard buck, cast in gray, complete with standard belt and fuzzy diaper. The bulk of his costume comes from his black vest with red Horde emblem sculpted on the front and his abs are painted black to give the illusion that it’s part of the vest. He also has webbed reptilian feet, which I thought we’d seen before, but the ankle articulation makes me think they may be new.

Speaking of seeing things before, he’s also wearing the wings from Mattel’s DC Universe Classics Hawkman figure. Not a bad choice for recycling and they look really good on Vultak. The coloring on this figure is pretty basic, but makes for a very pleasing deco. The red Horde emblem combined with the blue paint for the wrist cuffs, boot fringe, and belt, really contrasts beautifully with the gray and black. The wings have a slight purple about them.

Besides the wings, the head sculpt is the real draw here. It’s not only a good likeness to the Filmation character, but it packs a lot of personality all on its own. Keep in mind, Hordak didn’t have this guy run the Zoo for wildlife preservation. He didn’t even do it so he could sell tickets and make a profit. He did it just because he’s a dick and wanted to keep a lot of animals locked up in cages. They literally point that out in the episode. Look into the face of this figure and you are looking at the type of degenerate that would run that kind of place. He looks like a real sicky who is way too proud of himself. Seriously, I love that he’s smiling.

You get all the usual MOTUC articulation, which includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinges in the elbows, swivels in the wrists, ball joints in the hips, hinges in the knees, a waist swivel, a ball jointed neck, and an ab crunch hinge. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers that I believe are the ones introduced to the Club 2.0 2016 Filmation line. I’m not a big fan of the way they look, but the rockers are nice. Finally, the wings are hinged where they connect to the back and and hinged again to allow them to extend.

Vultak comes with two accessories. You get the ubiquitous Horde crossbow, but it’s a new sculpt with a feathered wing motif. Matty should consider releasing some kind of specialized weapons rack to display all the individual Horde Crossbows. They’ve had some really cool and varied designs over the years.

You also get a pretty cool leash with a collar that opens and then pegs closed. I don’t have any animals to put it on, but it also works for capturing Rebellion scum. Especially when they’re do-gooders trying to free the animals in your zoo.

Will I ever grow tired of collecting these figures? Probably not. Vultak is as solid a figure as they come and he makes me happy that I subbed the Collector’s Choice line. While double dipping on animated versions of characters I have already was too much to ask, I’m glad we’re still getting new releases this way. Especially when they’re Evil Horde members like Vultak. I’ll take all the Horde figures I can get! Plus, getting my MOTUC shipments every other month keeps my Matty fix going a little longer until the Thundercats start shipping.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Yearly Archives: 2016

Blackest Night (Series 2): Indigo by DC Direct

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

Street Fighter: Poison Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Tygra by Mezco

Marvel Universe Legends: Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Noir by Hasbro

KanColle: Fubuki, Mutsuki, and Yuudachi “Super Premium” Prize Figures by SEGA

Justice League War (DC Animated Movie Series): Superman and Wonder Woman by DC Collectibles

Transformers Animated: Swindle by Hasbro

Heroes of the Storm: Arthas (Warcraft) by NECA

Masters of the Universe Classics: Vultak by Mattel

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