Monthly Archives: June 2017

Jun 16 2017

DC Super-Villains: Johnny Quick and Atomica by DC Collectibles

It’s no secret that Forever Evil and Injustice League constitute a comic arc that is saturated with bad guys. Much of it reads like a who’s who of DC Super-Villains. And yet there are two characters in that weighty roster of scumbags that stand out as being truly horrible people. Yup, they would be Johnny Quick and Atomica. Holy shit did this pair feature in some great panels and some of their antics made the rest of the Crime Syndicate look like boy scouts by comparison. DC Collectibles released the entire New 52 Crime Syndicate as part of their Super-Villains line. A few weeks back, I had a look at Deathstorm and today I’m checking out this pair.

Johnny comes in the same type of window box that DCC has been using for all their New 52 figures, although they have been going with a black deco for the Super-Villains line accompanied by a splash of color themed for the character within. It’s collector friendly and shows the figure off well. So well, that I could see I had a problem as soon as I got him out of the shipping box. Apparently, there have been issues with the paint on Johnny’s vest fading and that’s certainly what happened here. I considered sending him back, but he was really cheap so let’s press on…

Here he is out of the box and faded chest paint aside, I love almost everything about this figure. What I didn’t love is that his left foot fell off right out of the tray and I had to glue it back on. Sheesh… the plastic gods are not smiling on me today. Anyway, the costume has a delightfully cheesy, retro flavor to it that contrasts beautifully with the fact that Quick is such an evil bastard. I get a strong Super Sentai vibe off of this design and I really love it.

There’s some wonderful attention to detail in the sculpted suit, which includes ribbing on what I presume is the exposed body suit, and lots of jagged, lightning-like edges on the armor and gauntlets. The brilliant metallic paint looks fantastic… except on his vest where it has faded. Yeah, that vest issue really sucks. It’s obviously  supposed to match the rest of his costume, but it’s gone so pale that it looks like another color paint entirely. At first, I thought it was sun fading, but it’s like that on the front and back. This is apparently a problem with this figure, as I’ve seen a handful of other reports from collectors with similar issues. It almost looks like it’s painted that way by design, but I know better. Anyway, the rest of the paint is pretty good, and I like the mustard tone they used for the glove, boots, and trim.

The head sculpt here is great. While Quick was certainly a shit-bag in the comic, he had fun being one, so I would have liked to see a smirk or something, but I guess the determined expression works for me. The large bug-eyes and the back swept helmet are also pretty cool. Again, if the face was painted to match the helmet, this guy would look like he jumped right out of a Super Sentai show. I’m ready to move on to discuss his articulation, but before I do, both shoulders are stuck, so pardon me while I boil some water.

Ok, so that fixed the right shoulder up great. The left shoulder is still a little sticky, but we’ll press on. One of the most surprising things about this figure is how great the articulation is. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and hinged elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles have hinges and swivels, but in my case that now includes only the right ankle since the left foot is now glued on. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch in the torso, and the neck is ball jointed. And… OH FOR F’CK’S SAKE!!!

And then that happened. So, suffice it to say… this figure is cursed. From a bad paint job to two joint issues, he’s just a mess and I’m really disappointed. I love the design of this guy, I loved to hate him in the comic, and now I can’t even enjoy him on my shelf. Let’s bag it and just move on to Atomica.

Yes, Johnny also comes with his tiny girlfriend, Atomica. She’s a character that played a pretty big part in the New 52 Justice League and she’s had an appropriate amount of love from DC Collectibles. She last graced the pages of FZZ as a DC Icons figure and a damn good one at that. Of course, this one is a simple static piece, but very well sculpted and painted for such a tiny gal. They even sculpted her itty bitty goggles down around her neck. And I don’t have to worry about any of her limbs falling off because she doesn’t have any joints. She does come permanently attached to a clear disc base.

Well, needless to say this DC Friday didn’t go as planned. The only good news is I picked up Johnny Quick on clearance, so he was dirt cheap and I’m not out that much money. The bad news is, I love this figure so much, I’m considering trying my luck a second time. I know, it’s rewarding bad QC and it’s potentially throwing good money after bad, but I really want this figure on my shelf.

DS: “Sucks, dude…”

DS: “Let’s go murder some people. That always makes you feel better.” 

S-W: “I know I should be more sympathetic, but he’s kind of a dick.” 

Jun 15 2017

Evil Bug Corps: Hypno by BadCube

Last week, I kicked off my look at BadCube’s Not-Insecticons with a review of the leader, Claymore, and found him to be an excellent bug-bot. Today I’m pressing on with Hypno, who you could possibly argue is inspired by a certain Transformer called Bombshell. But I’m sure that BadCube’s lawyers would suggest otherwise. The Bug Corps are scaled to go with Takara’s Masterpiece Collection and as I write this are readily available at a few online retailers for some very good deals.

I bought my Bug Corps as a set, but they come individually boxed. The boxes have some nice artwork on the front, but are otherwise unremarkable. The figure comes packaged in his robot mode, between two clear plastic trays. You also get a beefy instruction book that covers all three figures, a character card, and an Energon cube. I should also note that I’m looking at the “Collector’s Edition” set, which for a little bit more money gives you some chromed parts and translucent chests. Let’s start with the bug mode!

Hypno’s cyber-beetle mode is a fantastic update to the original G1 toy. This new design retains the large boxy body with rounded edges as well as the down swept head, large bug eyes, six legs, and long silver proboscis. He features some simple sculpted panel lines, which are just enough to add detail and still let him keep something of a smooth, animated appearance. The coloring here features a lot of black plastic, which has a nice satin finish, yellow plastic for his eyes and under his belly, and purple plastic for the head. The deco is rounded out with some red and blue paint hits on the body for detail and that gorgeous chrome on his proboscis.

This is a really solid bug that locks together perfectly, and the die cast gives it some decent heft for a figure this size. One of the things I dig the most about this guy is his set of chunky and fully articulated legs. Each leg features several strong hinges, and the legs are capable of holding Hypno so that his undercarriage isn’t resting on the ground. I’m not entirely sure why this pleases me so much, but it does.

Once again, this premium edition features the transparent yellow panel on the top of the head, and he has some surprisingly good articulation in the proboscis. Not only can it hinge up and down, but the front of it can swivel. The plate on the front of his head also floats on a joint, so it can move a bit side to side to get an even better range of motion out of that chromed out sucker.

Here are some side-by-side shots of Hypno in his bug mode with other figures. He’s obviously a lot bigger than the original G1 toy, which is no surprise as those were quite small and roughly equivalent to the modern Legends Class. The shot of him beside Streak shows he’s just a bit bigger than the MP cars. As with Claymore, I think this scale holds pretty well as the original Insecticons were about on par with the original Autobot cars. So far, I’m thrilled with the way this guy turned out, but how about his robot mode, eh?

Not bad at all! I found transforming Hypno to be a bit more fiddly than Claymore, but really not by much. A lot of the engineering involves his robot legs packing and unpacking into the back of the bug. There’s also a clever flip that happens inside his torso to exchange the robot head with the front of the bug head. Another key point worth mentioning is that his proboscis actually detaches to become his weapon in robot mode and I think that works great. BadCube selected some iconic aspects of the original toy to remain, like the tenuous way the arms attach to the shoulders, but they also streamlined a lot too. There’s virtually no bug-kibble on the arms at all, just the blasters that he has on his forearms. I will say that I think the front of Hypno’s lower legs look a bit unpolished, but it’s not all that bad, and they added some paint hits to help spruce it up.

The back of Hypno presents a very clean robot. Again, there’s really no bug-kibble to be seen. Even the two insect legs that reside back here are folded up neatly on his little yellow backpack. The back of the legs look even more refined than the front, with some blue and red paint down near the ankles. About the only thing I can gripe about here are the exposed screw heads, and that’s to be expected. Also, the backpack serves as a storage for Hypno’s gun. It simply clips right on.

Bombshell always had the most distinctive head sculpt of the Insecticons, and by sheer coincidence so does Hypno! I’ve always loved the mouth plate on this guy. It looks like a knight’s visor. The paint used for the eyes casts a cool shimmer effect, which can look like light-piping from certain angles. And, of course, on top Hypno has a faked out diminished version of his proboscis, which can be angled up and down for firing Insecti-shells. Once again, the chest plate on these “Collector’s” versions is clear plastic and he has some silver painted panels down near his abs.

The articulation here is right on par with Claymore. The arms feature universal movement in the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows with swivels, and swivels in the wrists. The legs have rotating hinges in the hips, with some lovely clicking ratchets, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. He can rotate at the waist and he has a ball joint in his neck.

As mentioned earlier, Hypno comes with a chromed gun, which is actually formed from the insect mode’s proboscis. It has a spatula-shaped handle that tabs into a slot inside either of Hypno’s fists and holds it pretty well.

And finally, Hypno comes with the same type of Energon cube that we saw with Claymore. Yup, it’s just a squishy cube of pink plastic, but cool nonetheless. Finally, let’s check out a couple of size-comparison shots.

Hypno towers over the original G1 version of Bombshell and he comes up just a little short of Masterpiece Streak, which feels perfect to me. I really dig the way these two styles fit together, making Hypno quite welcome on one of my official MP shelves.

As I mentioned last time, this “Collector’s Edition” of the Evil Bug Corps set me back $140, which makes these guys about $47 each and I think that makes them an incredible value. Indeed, it’s hard to find many MP scaled third party convertorobots of this quality for under $50 these days. The engineering is complex enough, but not overly fiddly, the tolerances feel fine, and there’s nothing involved in the transformation that feels like it can damage the toy. Yup, in the end, I give Hypno two Proboscises up. Sorry, I’ll never get to use that word again, so I might as well go nuts. Anyway, that’s two bug-bots down and my love for the Evil Bug Corps remains unshaken. These guys look fantastic together, and I’m all the more excited to bring the final member of the trio in next week when I look at Kickback… I mean… Kickbutt!

Jun 13 2017

Star Wars Black (Rogue One): Sergeant Jyn Erso (Eadu) by Hasbro

Most of my backlog of stuff right now is Marvel related, which means I’m finally getting caught up on the other lines I collect. That also means I’m hitting the bottom of the piles and finding the stuff that I’ve been pushing off to the side for a number of weeks. Today, I decided to finally open up the Exclusive version of Jyn Erso in her Eadu outfit.

This figure is part of a series of Deluxe Exclusives from Kmart and as such it comes in a larger box to accommodate the base, but otherwise it’s the same branded Black Series packaging. There’s some terrible monochrome character art on the front that doesn’t look much like Felicity Jones to me, but I’m convinced that Hasbro is doing that so the figure’s portraits look better by comparison. Anyway, this presentation is very similar to the Exclusive Kylo Ren and Rey that Kmart had for The Force Awakens, hell it may even just be a repainted base. I don’t know, as I passed on those. In fact, the only reason I picked this one up was because it was so damn cheap, but I’ll come back to that at the end.

Eadu Jyn uses a lot of Jedha Jyn, but there’s also a fair bit of brand new sculpting here too. From the waist down, she’s the same, and I’m going to assume the torso is the same too, but it’s buried under her new rain parka, so it doesn’t matter. The arms have newly sculpted sleeves to match the parka and she has a breather mask that hangs around her neck and connects to a tank behind her left hip. The new sculpting for the outfit looks great, and seeing as how we got this version of Jyn in the 3 3/4-inch line, it’s cool to finally have it in the 6-inch line as well.

There’s some pretty good paint wash on the parka to give it a grungy, well-worn look and even a few holes here and there. We also get some silver paint on some of her gear. The sculpt and paint on the bodies are generally pretty solid on these figures and this version of Jyn is no different.

The head sculpt is very similar to the Jedha Jyn, but it’s definitely new, or at least reworked. Here she has her ears exposed through her hair. The quality of the sculpt is about the same, with very soft features and I think the likeness is only there if you know what you’re looking at, and even then that might be a reach. As usual, the paint is extremely basic giving Jyn that wonderful dead-inside look to her eyes and uneven paint on her lips. Hasbro has obviously shrugged off any credibility for making this a true “Collector’s” line when it comes to the paintwork on the heads.

She does come with a removable helmet, which is definitely a welcome feature. It fits really well and looks good on the figure. The paint on the helmet is a little rougher than the rest of the figure, but it kind of works because it makes it look worn and chipped. Jyn can also wear her breather mask, with the head strap designed to fit around the helmet. I sometimes question whether these 6-inch figures really use the scale to their advantage, and here’s probably one of the few good examples of that. The breather mask just looks and works a lot better here than it did on the 3 3/4-inch figure. Then again, that was a 5-POA figure and not something premium like the Vintage Collection. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison here.

As for other accessories, Jyn includes the same pistol that came with the Jedha version and she still has a functional holster to store it in. She also comes with an E-11 Blaster. You can never have too many of those! And finally, she has a little cylindrical device and I have absolutely no idea what the hell it’s supposed to be. It’s almost bizarre how prominently featured this thing is in the box. If I were to make a guess, it looks like it’s supposed to be a rope coiled tightly around something. I seem to recall there was a zip-line scene that was cut from the film. Maybe this has to do with it.

I saved articulation for last, because it happens to be the thing that comes damn close to breaking this figure for me. The points are all identical to Jedha Jyn, so that’s not the issue, but the legs are so loose and gummy on this figure, it makes her really hard to pose and stand up. I don’t know if it’s shoddy plastic, or because she was packaged in an action pose on the base, but this is the worst I’ve seen in a 6-inch Hasbro figure in a long time. It literally feels like the kind of cheap Chinese knock-off you might get loose off of Ebay for a couple of dollars.

Oh yeah, and how could I forget the base. It’s a decent sculpt and it has peg holes for her to stand on. This sort of thing isn’t a big draw for me, but I can imagine that some collectors will enjoy it and she does look pretty good posed on it.

There are no Kmarts in my area any longer, and even when there were, I rarely ventured into them as they tended to be like the Beirut version of Walmart. No offense to Beirut. The only reason I wound up with this figure was because Amazon was blowing them out at $11 a pop and I said, “well shit… why not?” If it weren’t for the wobbly legs, Jyn would be a decent figure, but I think she’s also an easy pass. Meanwhile, the Black Series continues to be such a roller coaster for me. There are still figures that I pick up that delight me and justify why I collect this line, and then there’s figures like this one, which are just so damn average that they make me wonder why do I still bother.

Jun 12 2017

Marvel Legends (Titus Wave): Nova, Vance Astro, and Titus by Hasbro

Since I detoured last week and I’m now officially three waves of Marvel Legends behind, I’ve decided to pack the next three weeks worth of Legends reviews into one sitting and knock out the rest of the Titus Wave today. I’ve got two packaged figures left and the Build-A-Figure, so in the interest of brevity I’m just going to throw out a few thoughts on each figure and otherwise let the pictures do the talking.

I really hate throwing multiple figures into one review, because it craps all over my tired and repetitious formula nuanced flow. Anyway, the packaging is all more or less the same, so I’m only showing off Nova in the box in order to keep today’s triathlon as brief as possible. Do you think they branded Nova big enough? Anybody going to miss that? No? Didn’t think so. Keep in mind, that this is Sam Alexander, as opposed to Richard Rider, who we got a few years back in the first Guardians of the Galaxy wave! Sam’s was a fun and pretty well received book, so I think this figure was probably high on a lot of people’s lists.

Nova is appropriately built on a smaller, teen buck and it makes all the difference in creating a distinctive new member of the Nova Corps for my display. There’s also a surprising amount of new sculpting on this figure. The gold boots are simply painted on, but you get new sculpting in the gauntlets and torso. The dark blue and gold deco of the Nova Corps is always a favorite of mine and I’m in love with the gold paint they used here. It’s very shiny and consistent. I also really dig the head sculpt, although the plastic used for that famous helmet looks a little rough in a few areas.

Nova’s articulation is pretty damn good, especially for a little guy. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and hips, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs have ball jointed hips, double hinges in the knees, and swivels at the tops of the boots and again up in the thighs. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. The torso includes a waist swivel and an ab crunch, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. This is a great looking figure and does the character proud.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that Nova comes with a tiny Phlish figure. I really have to give Hasbro props for adding something like this, but seriously, what am I supposed to do with it? It just lies there waiting to be lost. Sorry, Phlish, but I’d much rather Nova just came with The Nullifier instead. Next up… Vance Astro!

I last encountered Major Victory in Fight for the Future, part of the double-sized Guardians 45th Anniversary issue. Wow, has it been three years already? Vance and his team of Guardians rescued Geena Drake from a slave camp. He made quite the entrance, with Cap’s coveted shield preceding him by at least a couple of panels. But ultimately it felt like a glorified a cameo. Why are we getting this figure now? Who cares, he’s a character with a far reaching pedigree and he’s pretty cool too!

Yes, he’s definitely the “budget saver” of this wave, as there’s zero original sculpting from the neck down. That said, his deco looks sharp, particularly that snazzy metallic blue. The paint lines are pretty clean and he has his little crest tampo’ed on the left of his chest. The head sculpt looks damn cool with that shiny blue finish. Articulation is your standard Legends fare, which I just recounted with Nova, so in interest of brevity I’m not going to run through it all again.

Appropriately enough, Vance comes with Cap’s shield, which is recycled from one of the countless versions of Legends Captain America that we’ve seen over the past few years alone. It has a red back and features the familiar wrist clip with a peg to store the shield on his back. My guess is that Vance isn’t going to be high on a lot of collectors’ lists, but I’m happy to have him. And that brings us to the BAF of the wave… Titus!

Like Vance, Titus may not have been high on a lot of people’s lists either, but unlike Vance, Titus is a pretty new character, and a short lived one at that. Or wait… didn’t he come back shortly after? Either way, none of that makes him any less welcome to me. No sir. Why? Because he’s a giant space tiger with a cyborg eye and a gun arm for Chrissakes! If you haven’t been keeping track, Titus is built with six parts scattered throughout this wave (Don’t forget, Star-Lord didn’t come with one!), making him a pretty standard BAF. As a former Special Ops of the Nova Corps, his buck features the very attractive dark blue and gold deco, but lacking the Nova symbol on his chest. He’s got a sculpted robot right arm, which looks very Colossus-y and leads into a massive four barrel instrument of death. His other arm is punctuated by a grasping tiger claw.

This head sculpt! I have to tell you, this is a thing of beauty. Besides all the great sculpted fur and that partially agape jaw, and those teeth, I think it’s the angry wrinkling in his nose that impresses me the most here. The cyborg eye is pretty cool too. When you set out to sculpt the portrait for an alien tiger cyborg, it’s pretty much guaranteed to have some personality, but Hasbro really went above and beyond here. I love it.

And articulation is what we’ve come to expect from most of the BAF figures. It’s actually quite similar to what we saw with Nova and Major Victory. The only real differences are single hinges in the elbows and Titus doesn’t have the extra swivel in the lower legs. Still, not bad at all for a big guy!

And that’s a wrap for the Titus Wave, another very solid assortment of figures and I really dig that Hasbro broke the Guardians Vol 2 wave into two so we could get more comic based characters. I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll be jumping into the Mantis or Warlock Waves next, but before I go with either of those, next Marvel Monday will be another Trifecta of Legends reviews (I promise, this isn’t going to be a regular thing) as I address some unfinished business with a fairly old wave of figures.

Jun 10 2017

Playmobil Ghostbusters: Ecto-1 with Winston Zeddemore and Janine Melnitz (#9220)

I know, it’s been quite a few weeks since I’ve done an Anime Saturday post and I’m not doing myself any favors, because the prize figures and Figmas have been backing up on me something fierce. I didn’t have the time to do one this weekend either, but I really wanted to get to checking out this Ghostbusters Playmobil set earlier in the week and when it didn’t happen, I decided to suck it up and review it this weekend. As for Anime Saturday, it will return next weekend. I’ll be on vacation by then and spending it watching a lot of anime and playing a lot of video games, so I’ll be good and ready for it… Promise! 

It’s been six years since I last opened up a Playmobil set and with the Ghostbusters Anniversary this past week, it felt like the time was right to break that terrible streak and check out one of the new Ghostbusters Playmobil sets. Playmobil and I go way back and rather than waste time here, I’ll refer you to this post back in 2011 when I talked a little bit about what the line has meant to me. Quite frankly, I’m just too damn excited to dig into this set right now, so let’s Go… Ghost… Busters! Oh, wait. Wrong Ghostbusters. My bad…

In terms of packaging, Playmobil hasn’t changed much. The larger sets still come in boxes that are easy to open and pretty good for storing the toys in when you’re done. I usually like to take one of the biggest boxes in a series and use it to store the contents of a bunch of sets. In the case of this series, Playmobil eschews the regular bright blue deco in favor of one a little more faithful to the Ghostbusters brand. One of the most curious things about Playmobil is that they never put the name of the sets on the box. Instead sets have simple numbers, similar to LEGO. They’re also quite content with showing off the toys themselves rather than waste your time with a lot of fancy box art. Back in the day, Playmobil had a great series of space toys called PlaymoSpace. They should have done that here. PlaymoBusters. PlaymoGhost. Mmm… Maybe not.

Ah, there’s nothing quite like breaking into a box of Playmobil. Inside, you get the partially assembled Ecto-1, several bags of pieces, instructions, and stickers. These aren’t really building sets, but there’s a lot of fun to be had putting everything together. Playmobil is all about lots and lots of accessories and pieces and everything working with everything else. The bulk of assembly for Ecto-1 involves the wheels and all the gear on the top. It took me about a half hour to get everything together and stickered. You also get some slime splashes in the box, which are made of rubbery plastic and stick to the car. Probably cool for the kids, but I haven’t bothered to take these out of the plastic. Anyway, before we get to the main attraction, let’s check out the figures!

As the box states, the set comes with Winston Zeddemore and Janine Melnitz. Obviously, Playmobil is engaged in marketing shenanigans here, making you buy a bunch of sets to get the whole team, but I’m fine with that. I’ve now decided that I’m getting them all anyway and I absolutely love that they put Winston and Ghostbuster Janine in what will likely be the most desired set. If you’re familiar with Playmobil figures, there’s nothing new here. They come on standard male and female bodies, with articulation in the neck, arms, and hips.  The printed uniforms are really nice. I like that they didn’t just use the same printing, as there’s a little bit of variation on the belt gear between the two figures. The printed portraits are pretty great too. I just can’t look at Winston’s face without smiling. That’s a face that tells me “if there’s a steady paycheck involved, I’ll believe in anything you want.”

The proton packs are quite detailed, especially by Playmobil standards. They even include the tiny warning labels and the wands can store on the backpacks by plugging them into the sides. The packs themselves clip onto the figure around the shoulders and waists. The figures can hold the wands slung under their hands to sort of mimic the way they were wielded in the movie.

You also get a pair of proton streams that plug right into the end of the barrels. At this point, I’ll remind everyone that Diamond Select released $25 Ghostbusters figures with proton streams that had no way of attaching to the wands and later had to rectify that by including adapters if you bought more figures. Hey, I’ve got nothing against DST, but I think it’s funny that between the two, Playmobil got it right.

You also get a Ghost trap with a foot pedal. The doors on the trap are hinged and you can open it. There’s a sticker that depicts the horrible pocket torture dimension that the ghosts are sucked into.

And finally, you get a PKE Meter, which is just a static piece with a sticker for the display, but cool nonetheless. Moving on to the real showpiece of this set…

The Playmobil Ecto-1 is absolutely glorious. What I love the most about this thing is that it doesn’t feel overly stylized or super-deformed to make it kiddie friendly. It’s just a damn nice reproduction of the vehicle in the 4-inch scale. Sure, some of the stickers make it look a little animated. It’s definitely a toy first and a showpiece second, but I think it looks damn great. As a Playmobil fan and middle aged child, I’m happy to play with it, but as an adult collector, I’ll be proud to display it too.

There are a fair number of stickers to apply, but I was happy to see that all of the Ghostbusters logos are printed directly onto the vehicle. Some nice touches include the official-looking Ecto-1 NY licensed plates and the fact that the headlights are actually clear plastic, even if the spot lights are just stickers. The tires are actually rubber and the hubcaps are removable. I’ll also note here that the Ecto-1 features electric lights and sounds via three AAA batteries. Some of you may know that I’m not all that into electronics in toys like this, so I haven’t even picked up any batteries for it yet. The box says it has a siren and the lights flash. If I ever get around to trying it out, I’ll attach a video.

Playmobil did a nice job with the crazy array of equipment and sensors on the top of the vehicle. You get all sorts of hoses and tanks and god only knows what else up there.

The back door opens up to have access to equipment storage. You can even fit the proton streams in there if you want. Still, it’s kind of hard to get in there from the back, but luckily the entire top lifts off.

Here you can see there are places to put up to four proton packs and a place for a single ghost trap. This is also how you get the figures into the front seat, since the doors don’t open. There are also two additional seats in the back so you can fit up to four Ghostbusters in the Ecto-1 at any one time.

The going price for the Ecto-1 seems to be around $50-55, although I was able to grab one off Amazon for $45 shipped and I’m pretty content with that price. Granted, you could probably get a bigger Playmobil pirate ship with a lot more pieces for around the same price, but no doubt some of the cost here is going to the license. And that alone is pretty special, because I can’t recall Playmobil ever doing licensed sets before. There’s no doubt about it, this set is fun and Playmobil put a lot of thought and love into designing it. It’s probably not a surprise to anyone that I immediately ordered three more sets, which should be rolling in over the next week. I have not ordered the Firehouse Playset yet, but it’s going to happen. God help me, I have no idea where I will put it, but it’s going to happen.

Jun 9 2017

Batman Returns: Premium Format Catwoman by Sideshow

For years now I’ve been ogling Sideshow’s Premium Format statues, but it wasn’t until Power Girl that I came close (oh, so close!) to pulling the trigger on one. I’ve managed to tell myself I didn’t have the space to collect these quarter-scaled behemoths and the fact that they run in the $400-500 price range also helped keep me away. Nonetheless, when Sideshow was running a Giveaway for the Power Girl I entered. I also entered a few more. I didn’t win Power Girl, but I sure as shit won the Batman Returns Catwoman! So, it just goes to show you, people do win these things! There was about a six month lead time before it shipped, and I was responsible to pay the shipping, which came to about $45, but eventually a mammoth box showed up at my door and I was pretty damn excited to check it out!

The statue ships in a standard Sideshow mailer and is without a doubt the largest box I have ever received containing a single collectible. My neighbors probably thought it was a new dishwasher. People who collect these things regularly probably think I’m just adorable at how impressed I was, but that’s OK, because I’m not ashamed to admit it. Inside the mailer, you get a colorful, fully enclosed box, that basically houses a massive brick of Styrofoam. Sorry for the crappy flash picture, but there was no way I could get this thing onto my photo area. It was difficult enough to get it rigged to handle the statue, let alone the box it came in.

The statue requires a bit of assembly and there are no instructions included. You can always visit Sideshow’s site if you need to download a PDF or watch a video showing the assembly. In this case it was pretty easy. The base is one solid piece, and makes up most of the whopping 12 pounds that this statue weighs. The figure itself pegs into the base via a metal rod. I’ve heard tons of horror stories about the rods on Premium Formats not going in smoothly, but this one went in fine. The arms and head attach via powerful magnets, and the whip just needs to be coiled around the body.

When all set up, Catwoman stands a respectable 22-inches tall, which puts the figure at about a quarter scale and includes around 4 or 5 inches for the impressive slab of a base. I absolutely love the pose, which has Selina leaning seductively on a corner of brickwork, one foot in front of the other, and her whip coiled around her body. I think the stance here really nails Michelle Pfeiffer’s body language in the film, while also perfectly accentuating the beautiful curves of the figure in that ever-so-tight suit.

I was a bit surprised that this figure features no mixed-media, unless you count the whip. It’s not uncommon for these PFs to feature completely stitched costumes, but Catwoman is done entirely with sculpted polystone and paintwork. I’m fine with that, especially when the outcome looks this good. The high gloss paint used on her latex outfit certainly gets the job done, creating a mirror finish like a brand new car. The individual stitches are each sculpted and painted white with the seams splitting here and there to show her skin. Even the laced strings for her corset are sculpted up and down her back. The matte finish on the boots offers a nice contrast to the rest of the gloss black.

I really dig the portrait. Her eyes are gorgeous and the paint used on her lips is shiny and crisp. Despite the high prices, it’s not unheard of to experience paint issues on PF statues, or at least that’s what I gather from years of living vicariously through reviews and message boards. I’ll confess that even though I didn’t pay for her, I was plenty nervous unwrapping the head, as well as the rest of the body, for fear of some glaring paint problem. In the end, I needn’t have worried because the paint on this lady holds up to the sticker price of the piece. There aren’t any blemishes on the finish or any askew brush strokes. I know a few people have had issues with the head not seating properly in the neck, but mine doesn’t have any play in it at all.

Another great little touch are her nails, which are patterned after their haphazard look in the film. They also happen to be pretty damn sharp! I’d also imagine that they’re probably the most delicate parts of this entire piece.

The diorama section is a piece of Gotham rooftop set upon a beveled circular base. It’s a great choice for the figure and the brickwork is extremely convincing both in appearance and even to the touch. You also get a little chimney pipe in the corner. Selina’s boots stand flush with the rooftop surface keeping her steady and sure. The bottom of the base actually features a full color illustration along with the numbering and limitation. I usually post pictures of these when reviewing statues, but with how large and heavy this thing is, there’s no way I was going to risk it. However, I will say that mine is #616 of 2,500. Ironically, that’s one of the lowest numbers I’ve ever received on one of these limited pieces. Even most of my DC Collectibles statues are in the 2,000’s.

Getting this Catwoman statue into my collection was a pretty exciting event for me. It’s my first Premium Format and it’s the first time I ever won something as amazing and valuable as this statue. Unfortunately, it’s really turned me on to these pieces and the temptation to get another is burning inside me. On the other hand, I was lucky enough to find somewhere to display this one, as I happened to have an accent table in the corner of my Den that’s perfect for her, but I can’t imagine where I would go with another. Not to mention the huge box is sitting in one of my storage closets and taking up almost half the floor space! With a retail of $450, she’s probably the most expensive single collectible I own, and I have to say I think she’s certainly worth the money. I’ll confess that I have a hell of a lot of Catwoman items in my collection, and while this isn’t the Premium Format I would have chosen to sink that much money into, I’m still very pleased to own it. Plus, she seems to have been a pretty popular piece, as Sideshow’s site is already flashing the Low Stock warning on her page.

Jun 8 2017

Evil Bug Corps: Claymore by BadCube

I promised y’all that I had plenty of Transformers to keep Transformers Thursday going through most of the Summer, but I didn’t say they’d all be official products. Nope, today I’m going back to the world of Third Party convertorobots, a place I haven’t visited in nearly two years. It would be premature to say I’ve given up on the 3P stuff, but I’ve obviously pulled back on it a lot. I do, however, still have some unfinished business, like finally getting a set of Masterpiece-quality Insecticons. Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback have always been among my favorite G1 characters, and there’s been no shortage of 3P versions to choose from. It was a recent deal on Bad Cubes’ Evil Bug Corps that finally got me to take the plunge.

These fellas were sold as a set, but they came individually boxed, and they’re each certainly worthy of their own reviews, so I’m starting today with Claymore, who could very possibly be mistaken for Shrapnel, but I’m sure that wasn’t intended at all. The figure comes in a rather unassuming enclosed box. There’s some cool artwork on the front, but not a lot else of note. Inside, Claymore is packaged in his robot mode, between two clear trays. He comes with a beefy instruction book that covers all three figures, a file card, and an Energon Cube. I should note that Claymore comes packaged with his pincers off. They snap into place via ball joints and I’m a little apprehensive about popping them on and off a lot, as it’s bound to stress the socket’s plastic. It’s a tad annoying, because if you want to put him back in the box, you have to take them off again. Anyway, let’s go ahead and start with his alt mode.

Claymore is a cybernetic stag beetle and if you’re looking for a faithful update to the original toy’s alt mode, this is definitely it! This bug is beefier and certainly locks together better than his G1 predecessor, but still retains all the familiar characteristics. You get the squared off body, the dual thrusters in his bug butt, the thinly disguised robot arms on the sides, and the long yellow feet. The bits of added die cast also give the figure a satisfying degree of heft. The coloring on this figure is absolutely perfect. Keep in mind, we’re looking at the premium “Collector’s Edition” release, which means the pincers and head are beautifully chromed out and the hatch on top is translucent yellow plastic. The black has a nice satin-matte finish, the purple is just the right shade for a proud Decepticon, and the yellow on the feet really pops.

In addition to locking together really well, this mode features a few other notable improvements. The pincers, as mentioned earlier are ball jointed, so you can get a lot of nice movement out of them. Besides opening and closing, they can be raised and lowered and moved independently of each other. It’s fun to play around with them and they can be posed to give him a lot of personality. Also, the chrome shield that covers Claymore’s robot face is not connected to the pincers, so you don’t have to reveal the robot head when you open and close them. The feet are not only hinged at the body, but also at the front tips, so you can have Claymore rear back a bit, which makes for a nice angle for display in his bug-bot mode.

If your curious about size comparison, he’s certainly a lot bigger than the G1 originals. Well, obviously… those bugs were tiny! In beetle mode, Claymore is about on par with a Masterpiece car, actually just a little bit bigger, which feels perfect to me. Now, transforming this guy is obviously a lot more complex than the original toy, but it’s actually not that bad at all for a Masterpiece-level figure. Not to get ahead of myself, but I find Claymore to be the easiest of this buggy bunch by far. Most of the work lies in packing and unpacking the robot legs, which is to be expected. The clearances and tolerances all feel good, and while I certainly had to consult the instructions the first time I took him from bot to bug and back to bot, I have been good to go on my own after that.

All of those successes from his beetle mode translate beautifully into a fantastic robot mode that hits all the points I’m looking for in a Masterpiece style Shrapnel. The proportions on this guy are great and he’s a damn solid robot. In fact, the only thing I’m going to gripe about here is the way the halves of the chrome face shield kind of just hover there above his shoulders a little too much in the foreground. If BadCube could have hinged these to fold backwards, I’d consider this fella a perfect 10. As it is, I’m thinking he’s approaching a solid 9. I just thought I’d get that quibble out of the way because it’s literally the only negative thing I have to say here. So, allow me to hit some of the cool high points…

I love this head sculpt and the silver and metallic red paint used for the face is very striking. Claymore does include an alternate smirking face, but the difference to me is negligible and I doubt I’ll ever go through the bother of swapping it out. The sculpted detail on the translucent yellow chest plate is great. It’s hard for me to imagine going for the yellow-painted-chest version on these figures. Maybe the appeal there is that it looks more like the animated style, whereas this is more like the toy. And yes, I do plan on slapping a Decepticon emblem on there when I get around to it… maybe for the final group shot. Finally, I really dig the metallic blue strips on the sides of his chest. They add that little extra pop to the deco.

The forearms feature mounted guns. which are always handy when you’re a member of an Evil Bug Corps. These are also articulated as part of the transformation, so if you want to give them an extended firing mode, that option is available to you.

The beetle legs pack pretty neatly away on his back and offer a convenient place for Claymore to store his gun. All in all, he’s pretty good looking from the back. You do get some exposed screw heads, but even those aren’t terribly obvious or unsightly.

If you remove the gun from his back, you can also make out some of the silver paint detailing, which is a really nice touch when you consider it can only be seen here or when looking at the beetle mode from underneath. BadCube could have totally left this out and nobody would have noticed.

The gun is painted in the same satin-silver as the figure’s upper legs. This is also the same paint used on the pincers on the regular edition set. The handle is a little odd, as it’s just a flat square that tabs inside the hand and then you close the hinged knuckle around it. It’s worth noting that Claymore is the only one of the three that doesn’t have a specific function for his gun while he’s in bug mode.

Claymore’s articulation is excellent. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, there are swivels in the biceps and wrists, and the elbows are double jointed. The legs have ratcheting hinges in the hips, which supply a satisfying click when re-positioned. The knees are double hinged and the ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers for those wide stances. There’s a swivel in the waist and the neck is ball jointed. All the joints on my figure are nice and tight, although I do feel like the ball joints will loosen fairly quickly and may eventually need some dabs of furniture polish, because I can’t stop playing with this guy.

Again, on the issue of scaling, Claymore’s robot mode dwarfs the G1 toy, but more importantly it scales beautifully with the Masterpiece cars. If you don’t count his antenna, Claymore comes in just a little short of MP Lambor, and I think that’s right where he’s supposed to be. The style of the designs match quite well too.

The included Energon Cube is just a squishy cube of pinkish plastic, but a nice addition nonetheless. And we all know how Shrapnel loved his energon… energon.

My longing after 3P Insecticons goes all the way back to FansProject’s Causality bugs, a set that I procrastinated on just a little too long before it was sold out at most retailers. After that it was a long internal struggle over whether to go with Fans Toys bugs or this Evil Bug Corps by BadCube. There were many pros and cons for me and in the end, it was just so close to call that I wound up at a stalemate. I couldn’t decide and wound up buying neither. It wasn’t until this set became available on clearance at a certain E-tailer that I decided to pull the trigger. And judging by Claymore alone, I’m very glad I did. The “Collector’s Edition” set was $140 (about $20 more than the regular editions), which makes Claymore about $46. Not bad at all for a Masterpiece scaled Third Party change-o-bot. The quality is certainly here and the engineering is just complex enough, but not overly complicated. Next week, we’ll press on with a look at Bombshell… er, I mean… Hypno!

Jun 6 2017

Marvel Comics: Quarter-Scale Deadpool by NECA

I know, yesterday was Marvel Monday, and that’s the day I set aside for all my Marvel Comics toy rambling, but sometimes I’ve got to make exceptions, and NECA’s amazing Quarter-Scale Deadpool seems like one of those times. While this is certainly not NECA’s first Marvel character in this enormous scale, previous efforts, like Iron Man and Captain America, have been grounded in the MCU. On the other hand, Wade Wilson here represents their first foray into the comic-based characters, and I was really excited to see what NECA would do with it. You think you can handle 18-inches of rock hard ‘Pool? Well, I know my little photo stage can’t, so pardon me while I go make some modifications to accommodate this beast of a figure.

The line is called EPIC MARVEL and Deadpool is appropriately Figure #00. The massive figure comes in a standard window box, much like previous releases, but this time it’s positively littered with art, quotes, and gags befitting The Merc With A Mouth. Before I even opened the figure, I had a great time looking over every square inch at the box to see all the creative stuff they plastered on it. Putting this much effort into the packaging art is love of the craft, plain and simple, and nobody does it quite like NECA. I have looked at several of NECA’s Quarter-Scale figures before, but if you’re new to this line and want a little help conceptualizing how big this figure really is, check out a shot of the box next to Hasbro’s 6-inch Marvel Legends Deadpool…

Yeah. It’s big! The package is collector friendly up to a point. You can get the figure out by clipping all those wire ties, but the accessories are all sealed to the sides of the cardboard tray with bubbles. This is unfortunate, because there’s a lot of great art on the inside of the tray too, and while some time, patience, and careful slicing with a razor can get these pieces out with minimal damage, it’s not really ideal for preserving the packaging. I tend to keep these figures in their boxes, so I spent a lot of time getting the accessories out. But now that he’s out, let’s start with the figure itself…

Sweet Chimichanga-Eatin’ Jesus… Just check him out! As I already mentioned, this design is based on the character’s comic book appearances, but clearly NECA had some artistic license when designing him, similar to what Sideshow did with their Sixth-Scale ‘Pool. The design here is absolutely superb and the way its conveyed in the sculpt is pure poetry. The suit itself is a mix of textured matte red plastic, some smooth black matte plastic, and some high gloss black paint on the shoulders. Frankly, I think the shoulders might have looked better left matte like the rest, but it still looks fine. There’s so much detail here that I’m just going to take us on a tour around Deadpool’s magnificent body and call out some of the highlights. Where better to start than with…

The crotch! It wouldn’t be Deadpool without a ton of pouches and he’s got a nice selection of these on his belt for storing his tchotchkes, Kleenix, Polaroids of Siryn sleeping, and Bea Arthur’s toenail clippings. There’s more sculpted detail on any one of these pouches than your average off-the-peg 3 3/4-inch action figure. All the eyelets and fasteners are painted in metallic silver, and you get a nice wash over the brown to make them look like rich Corinthian leather. He also has his signature Deadpool belt-buckle and some canister grenades. This shot also gives a nice view of the texturing on his uniform as well as his manly ‘Pool bulge.

If we come around a bit to check out his right thigh, we can see some more pouches and the holster for his sidearm. The sculpted straps look great, along with more silver painted fixtures. I like the brush marks on the panels of the holster itself, and the sculpted screw heads.

Just below his holster is a sheath for his knife. Again, nice job here on the sculpted screws and paint. It all looks really convincing.

Checking out Deadpool from the back shows off his impressive sword rig. The crossed scabbards hold his twin katanas as well as a sai. The sword rig is the one real complaint I have with this figure. It’s held on with two pegs and thick tabs that fit into recessed areas on his back. I found it a little tough to get it in all the way, especially with some fear of snapping those little pegs. It seems to work best on my figure when I put the bottom peg in first, then insert the top, and press the whole thing in as hard as I can. It seems to hold fine when he’s standing there on display, but when I’m playing around with him, it will tend to pop out again. To avoid frustration, I’ve found it best to take it off when messing around with him a lot.

And just to show you how much love and attention NECA put into this guy, check out the soles of his boots. God, I love this!

And here’s a shot of Deadpool’s handsome mug. The mask features some wonderful depth to the sculpt, from the texturing to the tiny rivets, and the recessed eye panels. You also get a very expressive look, with his one eye popped and the other eye squinting and his brow rumpled. Some might cry foul that there’s only one noggin in the box, but I can easily forgive that when I consider how many other goodies are included with the figure. But before I get to all the accessories, let’s do a run down on the articulation…

The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs feature rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the thighs and double hinges in the knees. The ankles are hinged, have lateral rockers, and the feet are hinged about halfway to the toes. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is ball jointed. The joints on this guy feel fantastic and he’s a lot of fun to pose, although sometimes it feels like wrestling with a small child, because he’s just so damn big. He’s also extremely well balanced. I hardly have any trouble getting him to stay standing no matter what pose I put him in.

Deadpool comes with a total of seven different hands, most of which are tailored specifically for holding his various weapons. Although you do get this sweet left hand with his branded knuckles. Oh, Deadpool, don’t ever change. Let’s look at some guns…

‘Pools prolific arsenal of prodigious pew-pews includes a pistol, a sub-machine gun, and an assault rifle.

The pistol reminds me of RoboCop’s Auto 9, which was a modified Beretta 93R. I love the design of this thing and the sculpt is outrageous. It’s cast in black matte plastic and features some silver paint apps. It’s an entirely static piece, so there’s no working action or removable clip. It’s interesting that NECA went with a single distinctive pistol like this, rather than the usual twin automatics that we often seen Deadpool wielding. I’m actually glad they went this route as it just makes this version of the character all the more distinctive.

The sub-machine gun is another great looking weapon. Like the pistol, it’s cast in black plastic, and is static with no moving parts or removable clip. It does, however, have some great notations by Deadpool on one side and ‘Pool’s symbol stamped on the other. Oh yeah, there’s even a tiny Deadpool charm hanging off the back sling ring.

And the final entry for the guns is this assault rifle fitted with a scope and a grenade launcher. This sucker has a lot of character and includes some sculpted and painted tape on the stock, a couple of magazines taped together to one side and another pair of magazines, which are removable. All three of these weapons make for a strong statement, but sometimes you want to add a little personal touch to your killing, and that’s where the edged weapons come in handy…

‘Pool’s assortment of cutlery includes his twin katanas, a sai, and a fixed blade knife.

The sai is very simple, although it does have a cool sculpted wrap handle and I really love how it has that hole in his scabbard rig for storage.

The fixed-blade knife is a marvelous little piece. The detail on the grips is amazing. I do, however, find it to be a little diminutive for Deadpool. I doubt I will display him holding it very often, but it sure looks great in the sheath on his leg.

His katanas are really the showpiece here. They feature fully sculpted wrapped hilts with a red and black pattern, because Deadpool knows how important it is to accessorize. The tsubas are also fashioned to look like Deadpool’s iconic symbol. The blades are beautifully painted in metallic silver and feature some Japanese lettering sculpted right into the blades. These fit perfectly in the scabbards, are easy to draw, and he’s got a pair of hands that grip them splendidly.

Deadpool retails at $109 and I’ve got to say that’s a mighty good value for what you’re getting here. The figure alone is an absolute work of art and uses a full four pounds of plastic. Add to that plenty of great articulation and a ton of extras and it’s easy to see where all the money went in a release like this. It’s also easy to see where all the love went. Quarter-Pool feels like nothing less than a passion project, which granted is the case with a lot of NECA’s releases. With four of these Quarter-Scales already on my shelf, I have to be careful about how many I buy. Space is always a premium for me, but Deadpool here was an instant purchase the moment I saw him.

Jun 5 2017

Marvel Legends: The Invisible Woman & HERBIE by Hasbro

What’s this? Where’s the rest of the Titus Wave? Yeah, I’m interrupting this Marvel Monday’s regularly scheduled content because Sue Storm arrived from Walgreens.com the other day and I thought I’d try to be timely and relevant for a change and check her out. Fear not, I’ll be back to the Titus Wave next week. In the meantime, continuing the weird pairing of Marvel Legends Exclusives with Walgreens, comes the first of what I hope will be a complete set of The Fantastic Four! I was lucky enough to have a Twitter buddy tip me off to her going up on the website, only to find three more of her sitting on the shelf a couple days later. Go figure!

Now, besides being exclusive to a place that I usually only associate with buying frozen pizzas and cold medicine at 9:30 at night, this is an unusual release because of Marvel’s politics of business. Disney has been punishing The Fantastic Four for being owned by another film company, so their comic book was burned to the ground and the toys have been non-existent. They were doing the same with the X-Men for a while, but they caved on that pretty quickly. As a reader of The Fantastic Four comic since I was a wee lad, it pains me to admit that the X-Men carry a lot more weight and I could understand that black listing them wasn’t as feasible as doing it for Marvel’s First Family. Anywho, the Sue comes in a typical Legends window box, beautifully branded for the comic with a “4” emblem on the backer tray and their name printed across the front!

And here she is, a very simple but lovely figure. Sue Storm features a standard female Legends buck with the entirety of her costume painted on. That is to say she’s blue with painted black boots, gloves, belt, collar, and her “4” emblem tampo’ed on her chest. The shade of blue is a fair sight paler than what Hasbro used for their Marvel Universe 3 3/4-inch Fantastic Four boxed set from a while back, but I still like it a lot.

The only gripe I have here is the unsightly hole in her back, but I guess I can live with it. Seems like it wouldn’t be a big deal for Hasbro to fashion a bunch of plugs for these and just stamp them out in an appropriate color. But hey, I have a Sue Storm Legends figure, so I should probably stop complaining and shut the hell up now.

The portrait here is fantastic. She’s pretty, the paint for her blue eyes is straight, the red for her lips is razor sharp, and her blonde hair is sculpted in a way so it doesn’t impede her neck articulation too badly. My figure does have a couple scratches in her forehead, presumably from the molding process. I can probably live with it, but it’s nice to know there are three more of these sitting on a shelf around the block from me if I decide to go for another one.

The articulation includes all the usual points we see in most Legends female bucks. The legs are ball jointed at the hip, have double hinges in the knees, and swivel cuts in the thighs. The ankles have hinges and some generous lateral rockers. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The torso has a ball joint under the chest and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. I still get a bit irked that Hasbro can’t include bicep swivels in the female Legends bucks. Maybe someday.

Hasbro did go a little extra on this figure by giving her a translucent right arm and an extra translucent left hand. The arm features a little color tinting, blue for the uniform and black for the glove, making it look like she’s phasing into invisibility, which makes for a pretty cool effect.

HERBIE is definitely a cool bonus. He feels like an up-scaled version of the figure that came in the Universe set, but I’m going to guess that he’s a brand new mold. The plastic feels really good and the blue and green paint apps on the body look sharp. The only articulation here is the ball joint on his neck, but he does come with a transparent stand to make him look like he’s hovering.

Sue Storm is about as simple a figure as you can get, but that doesn’t make her any less welcome. And while I’ve never been a huge fan of HERBIE, getting him bundled in this package is still a treat. We’ve already seen pictures of Johnny Storm, also coming as a Walgreens Exclusive, and I’m hoping that Hasbro is going to deliver Reed and The Thing at some point down the line. I have the Marvel Universe Fantastic Four boxed set and I love it, now I really want the family in the Legends 6-inch scale.

Jun 2 2017

Arkham Origins: Dr. Harleen Quinzel, The Electrocutioner, and Lady Shiva by DC Collectibles

It’s been over a week since I last had a day off from work. I’m exhausted and keeping up with FFZ’s content this week has been a real drain on me. Nonetheless, with just one day left, I wanted to finish off the week so I could collapse and rest for the weekend. Let’s see, what did I have scheduled for this DC Friday? Oh, shit… a box set of three figures? Oooook, let’s get to it…  As some of you may know, I’ve been picking up the figures based on the Arkham video games, even though I’ve only played the first two so far. I really like the designs for a lot of these characters and in some cases these allow me to get characters into my collection that aren’t otherwise available. This Arkham Origins set caught my eye at a game store a little while back and the price was right, so it went home with me.

The figures come in a pretty standard window box with the back showing off all the other figures available in this series. This set is actually my first from the Arkham Origins game, but definitely won’t be my last. The crazy thing about this series is that the figures tend to run all over the place in terms of cost. This set was pretty cheap, while some of the individually packaged figures have become crazy expensive. Let’s start with Harley… whoops, I mean Harleen!

I’m not sure why, but DC Direct, and now DC Collectibles, have had some issues in the past with females in civvies. They tend to look more clunky than they should, but I’m happy to say that’s not the case with Dr. Quinzel here. She sports a black skirt, red blouse, and white lab coat and there’s some really nice detail here, including the sprig of holly on her lapel, her security badge, and even the diamond pattern belt buckle that hints at the costume design for her future alter-ego. Indeed, I really dig how even the colors here are just a rearrangement of Harley Quinn’s classic look. Granted, the knee joints are a bit clunky, but otherwise this is a great looking figure. And speaking of joints, the articulation here is fair. Most of the useful points are in her arms, with rotating hinges at the shoulders, hinges in her elbows, and swivels in her biceps and wrists. The legs have swivels hidden up under the skirt, the aforementioned hinges in the knees, and she has a t-crotch, which is inhibited quite a bit by the skirt. Finally, she has a ball joint in the neck.

Even the portrait is pretty damn stellar.  Keep in mind, DCC’s paint tends to fall apart when you get in real close with the camera, but to the naked eye, this is a phenomenal head sculpt with some really great paintwork to back it up. The eyes are unfortunately uneven, but it’s really hard to tell that without a zoomed lens, and these have got to be some of the best eyeglasses sculpted in this scale that I’ve ever seen. Also, check out how the collar on her blouse pops up instead of just being sculpted as part of the buck. That’s a great touch!

Harleen comes with one accessory and that’s her clipboard. She can hold it in either hand, but it’s really intended for her right. It would have been cool if they could have printed a sheet of paper on it with The Joker’s file or something, but as it is it’s just empty.

I’ve wanted a figure of Harleen for a while now, and this one really scratches that itch. It’s a great sculpt and while she may not be the most exciting figure when it comes to articulation and accessories, she looks great on display. Next up… The Electrocutioner!

Even though he’s based off the video game, The Electrocutioner is everything I could hope for in a DCEU version of the character. The bulky electro suit is packed with details, from rumples to stitching, to all the little bits of wire that presumably make shoot electric bolts of death. In the tradition of modern comic book movies, it takes a very comic-booky design and ramps it up with a dose of realism. I particularly love the battery packs strapped along each of his sides. The heavy armored chest plate, boots, and knee pads give him an even more formidable look. And while he’s mostly a dark figure, he has some bright yellow and blue on his cables that makes him stand out. He also has some red striping added, which forms a “V” on his chest, reminiscent of some of his comic appearances. All in all, I think this is a damn cool design.

The head sculpt is also excellent and features a gruesome area of scarring on the left side of his face, where the flesh has practically been stripped down to the muscle. The red paint in the left eye is a particularly nice touch.

Like Harleen, the articulation here is fairly good, but has a few unfortunate restrictions. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows, and the wrists can swivel. That’s all great, but the hips are a simple t-crotch, which is disappointing. The knees are, however, double hinged, and he has swivel cuts at the tops of his boots. There’s no articulation in his chest, but his neck is on a ball joint. Overall, I don’t mind the curtailed articulation here all that much, because Electrocutioner is a freaking tank and doesn’t really need it.

The Electrocutioner is completed with a pair of extra hands with open grips. I don’t feel that these were really necessary and I doubt I would have missed them if they were omitted, but it’s always nice to have options. The yellow cables simply unplug from the fists to allow you to change them out. I don’t really have a whole lot of history with Electrocutioner from my romps through reading DC Comics, but he’s a cool character and this is a great looking figure.  And that brings us to the final figure… Lady Shiva!

I was really impressed with the look of this figure before I even got her out of the box. The finery on her top is not only a great design, but DCC did a wonderful job translating it to this figure. Everything is sculpted from the gold fasteners to the sash tied around her waist and the gold fixtures at the ends and the paint really pops against the rest of the black costume. In reality, it’s probably not the most versatile attire for martial arts, but we’re talking comics and video games here, so I’m happy to sacrifice plausibility for a fantastic looking costume like this one.

Again, we have an excellent portrait with some nice depth to the face coming from the way it’s framed by the hair. I also dig the jade colored paint they used for her eyes. The articulation here is almost identical to what we saw on Harleen. The swivels in the legs are at the boots instead of up in the thighs, and Shiva has a better range of motion in the hips because she isn’t inhibited by the skirt. With that having been said, articulation that I found acceptable in the previous two figures feels really limited here. Shiva should be able to all kinds of crazy moves and poses, and you really can’t do much of that with this figure.

Lady Shiva comes with her sword and scabbard. There is unfortunately nowhere to attach the scabbard to the figure, which makes it fairly superfluous. Otherwise, the sword is a nice enough piece and her right hand is sculpted to hold it perfectly.

My guess is that this set was around $50-60 originally, but I got it on clearance for around $30 and that’s not a bad deal at all. In truth, I bought it mostly for Harleen and was just pleasantly surprised by the other two. All three of these figures look fantastic in terms of both sculpting and paintwork and really show that DCC at their best. The articulation is certainly lacking a bit, although the nature of Harleen and Buchinsky makes it more forgivable. In the case of Shiva, it hurts a little more. All this figure needed was some ball jointed hips to make her truly shine.

I had originally planned on doing an Anime Saturday post tomorrow, but I’m going to bow out in favor of some recoup time. Appropriately, I’ll be spending this DC Friday night seeing Wonder Woman and I’ll spend the rest of the weekend doing as little as possible!