Monthly Archives: November 2017

Nov 30 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Revolver and Six Shot by Hasbro

Hasbro has been rolling out their new Power of the Primes line at retailers this past week, and yes I have already picked up the first wave. But, I’m not ready to give up on Titans Returns just yet. Maybe next week I’ll start busting into some of those Deluxes. For now, I’m checking out Six Shot, a Leader Class figure that I would have probably skipped if I didn’t come across him at half price. I know, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but let’s see if this big bastard can surprise me.

Six Shot and I do not have a history together. His original toy was released pretty late in the game, when I was around 15 and just not into toys anymore. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but it would take me another 15 years and a healthy amount of disposable income, to come back around to buying toys again. But even if I wasn’t taking a toy-buying sabbatical back in 1987, I don’t know that I would have been interested. I’m just not all that into the law of diminishing returns that tends to apply to Transformers with more than two alt modes. And so with that context being laid out, let’s open this beast up. As a Leader Class, Six Shot comes in a nice big window box and packaged in his robot mode, and in this rare occasion I’m going to start there before working my way through his various alt modes.

And yes, I know I’m in store for some pretty iffy alt modes, but let’s first take this time to enjoy how great this robot mode looks, because I think it’s going to make up for a lot of those sins. I can feel the G1 styling coming off this guy in waves and I love it. He’s big and his design hails from a time when robots weren’t ashamed of their boxy bodies. It doesn’t look like Hasbro tried to reinvent him or ultra-modernize him. They just rebuilt him with better articulation, improved proportions, and better sculpted detail. For fans of the original, all the points are still there. He’s got wheels and treads mounted to his arms and beautiful wings rising up from behind his back, not to mention chest wings! There’s a decent amount of sculpted detail to the body, including some panel lining and details intended for his many alt modes. There’s also a delightful generic nature to his robot mode that doesn’t give away much about what he’s going to turn into. Wings? Wheels? Treads? Holy shit… is that the undercarriage of a wolf head hanging off his ass? We’re in for quite a ride!

The coloring is really tight too and a damn near perfect homage to the original toy. You get that distinctive green plastic for the torso and upper shoulder pylons, the white for his arms, the purple for his lower legs, and the rest all filled in with black. The wings on his back are painted with that gorgeous silver that Hasbro has been using lately, and also includes some green and purple paint hits. There are some foil stickers too, and unlike some of the other stickered figures in Titans Return, these aren’t placed in areas that are likely to cause problems down the road. Sure, all stickers eventually peel, but these look like they have a chance to go the distance.

Six Shot’s Titan Master is called Revolver, which is a perfect name for him. He’s a pretty typical little HeadBot and mimics Six Shots green and white color scheme. There’s no other paintwork on him and he features the typical robo-noggin articulation with a swivel in the neck, ball joints in the shoulders, and hinges in the hips and knees of the fused legs. Also like the bigger Bots in this series, Revolver’s head mode sits inside a larger helmet to help him scale out for the larger robots, but still make him workable on the Deluxe Class figures. As for his head mode, it’s all white with red eyes and a big mouth plate, and as cold and featureless as ever.

Six Shot comes with twin rifles, which can fit into each of his hands. It’s worth mentioning that these are a really tight fit. His articulation allows for some fun action poses, but since he lacks ankle articulation, or really ankles of any kind, he can look a little clunky in some of those poses. Yes, the chest wings do get in the way of his shoulder articulation, but you can hinge them out to move them out of the way. Likewise, his pelvic flaps are also hinged so as not to impede that hip articulation.

You can also combine his guns together for when you want to make a stronger statement. Dual wielding Six Shot is definitely a more iconic image for me, but I kind of dig the way this combined gun looks. OK, so we lingered long enough on what an awesome looking robot Six Shot is. Let’s move on to those alt modes.

First up is the truck and it’s not too bad. It has a clearly defined purple cab with silver windshields, a very boxy front and two angled pieces that look like a snow plow or maybe some kind of ramming scoop. It’s kind of weird how the drivers sit in the open cabin area, but at least I can tell what they were going for here and I don’t hate it. It hints at some Earth truck designs, but it works best as just a squat Cybertronian transport. It rolls pretty well on four wheels and there are a few different places you can put the guns.

When viewed from behind, it can get a little confusing as to which is the front and which is the back, because there’s a little driver cabin facing the back as well. Honestly, it looks just as good driving this way as it does the other. Indeed, if you point the guns to the back, you can practically make a new mode out of this. A big part of that is because the back of this truck mode is pretty close to the front of the tank mode, so let’s check that one out next.

I don’t know that the word tank really describes this thing. It’s more of a general attack vehicle. Like the truck, it’s not too bad. It would have been cool if they could have had the top pieces open up to reveal rocket packs or something. This vehicle kind of reminds me of a cross between some of the Transformers: Cybertron designs and Transformers: Animated Blitzwing’s tank mode.

The driver’s cabin can open and Revolver can sit inside. There are also some pegs scattered around so you can load it up with other Titan Masters before sending it into battle. In all fairness, I can’t say this thing is all that much worse than Broadside’s jet mode, and he was just a Triple-Changer not a Six-Changer. I’m going to give this one a pass too. The truck and tank modes take care of the land-based vehicles, next we take to the seas with the submarine mode.

Yes, this is the submarine mode.. I’m stating that clearly up front because there’s absolutely no reason that any sane person would come to that conclusion without being told first. This mode can also be termed a goddamn abstract leap of faith. Now, I’m willing to cut Hasbro a little slack on this, because it’s really just G1 Six Shot’s pistol mode turned upside down, but you can’t go around making robots turn into guns in this day and age. That would be crazy and irresponsible. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Doesn’t Hasbro sell Nerf guns that look a lot more like real guns than this stupid thing. Guns that actually shoot projectiles and are called guns? Stop trying to apply logic to the situation. There’s definitely a double standard going on. Let’s just accept that and move on. Anyway, this mode is crap, but I’d probably be a lot cooler about it if it weren’t so blatantly obvious that the front is just the truck mode with guns stuck on the front, and if there were some way to reconfigure the clearly visible wheels on the back into some kind of propellers by just having them point to the rear. Next up, we take to the skies with the Space Cruiser mode.

The space cruiser mode is really solid, and definitely my favorite of all of them. This mode alone justifies Six Shot as a Transformer to me. I dig how the front portion looks like it could be a carrier deck for receiving fighters. There’s a tiny cockpit in the center, but the actual cockpit is behind that where Revolver can sit inside the translucent panel. Or, you can keep him as the head and just fold the helmet inside to get it off the back of the ship. There’s a single fold down landing gear to help this thing stand, and the guns tab into the ends of the wings to give it some added firepower. OK, that leaves us just one mode left, and I saved the best for last.

Just kidding, it’s the Winged Wolf mode! This mode is not only crap, but it makes me really angry, and I’ll tell you why. The other modes may have been so-so, but they more or less incorporated generic components into them to make them work. It’s almost like they’re just ancillary fan modes that the designers were able to come up with in order to make Six Shot a Six-Changer. In this case, they literally sculpted and added a wolf head just for this goddamn terrible mode, so there’s no excuses. What I’m trying to say is: THIS IS ARGUABLY THE MOST INTENTIONAL MODE SIX-SHOT HAS AND IT LOOKS AWFUL! Not only does it look bad from all angles, but from the side it just looks like the robot mode bending backward with a dick gun and a wolf head coming out of his chest. Yes, this mode triggers me. Sorry, but I can’t help it.

In the end, Six Shot does not change my feelings toward Six-Changers, but I don’t want to end this review on a sour note. There is undeniably a lot to love about this figure. In fact, I think Six Shot is arguably one of the most faithful G1 updates that Hasbro has ever done, and that alone is worthy of celebration. The robot mode looks great, has fun articulation, and while his alt modes are understandably a mixed bag, they follow those of the original toy almost perfectly. I have to imagine that anyone who has fond memories of Six Shot as a kid is going to absolutely adore this figure… even his goofy and f’ugly Winged Wolf mode! Granted, that’s not me, and I still think I would have ended up skipping this bot at full price, but at the $25 that Amazon was blowing him out for, I can’t say that I’m sorry to have picked him up. If nothing else, he’s another big bruiser to add to my Decepticon shelf, and he looks mighty fine towering over the Deluxe Class figures.

Nov 28 2017

Star Wars Black: First Order Stormtrooper (Amazon Exclusive) by Hasbro

While I’m saving my pile of 3 3/4-inch Star Wars toys for the week leading up to Episode Eight, I’m still trying to get through the rest of this stuff beforehand. And that’s not an easy feat, because it keeps rolling in. Today’s release reminded me how surprised I was to see that Hasbro didn’t reissue the First Order Stormtrooper as part of the 6-inch Black Series figures for The Last Jedi. Nope, instead we got a regular Stormtrooper and the Stormtrooper Executioner, which was OK, but nothing really special. Yes, there’s still plenty of time, but maybe it had something to do with Amazon offering this pretty cool exclusive version with a whole bunch of extra gear.

Behold, the Amazon Exclusive First Order Stormtrooper and his snazzy packaging! The box features a bowed front with pictures of three different flavors of Stormtroopers: Regular, Riot Control, and Heavy Gunner. Based on the size of the box, you might be inclined to believe that all three are in here, but nope. You get one Stormtrooper and all the gear to make any of the three you want. The back of the package features another piece of monochrome art with a closer look at everyone’s favorite space-faring thugs. The graphics are actually on a sleeve, which lifts off to reveal…

Some windows, which feature a very familiar Imperial pattern, and a First Order emblem. These are actually folded flaps secured by velcro, which open to reveal the figure on his tray, flanked by all his goodies. I don’t tend to save the packaging for my Black Series figures, but I think I’ll make an exception here. It looks so nice, it’s totally collector friendly, and it’ll give me a place to keep all this stuff. Let’s start off by looking at the regular Stormtrooper.

There aren’t a lot of surprises here, and despite a few minor differences in paint, he appears to be the same figure we’ve been getting all along. That’s not a bad thing, because this was always a pretty solid release. The plastic has a nice shiny finish to it, although the black paint could have been sharper in a few areas. I’m still surprised how I’ve taken to this design since it was first revealed. My first knee jerk reaction was that Disney shouldn’t have messed with such an iconic design, but it’s really grown on me over the last few years.

Articulation is identical to what we saw with previous First Order Stormies. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, swivels at the tops of the thighs, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a ball joint under the chest armor and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. I have no real issues with the points here, except for the elbows, where the sculpt doesn’t allow for enough of a bend. Some double hinges would have been nice there, but Hasbro seems to save those for the Marvel Legends and not the Black Series. I can’t imagine why, but I wish they would reconsider.

He comes with the same blaster and pistol that we saw with the regular release of this figure for The Force Awakens. Both weapons have a tab on the side, which can plug into the slot on his leg for storage. They’re both great sculpts and feature white and black decos to match the armor, and with a little silver trim on the scope. Before we move on to the rest of the gear, here’s a quick picture of him alongside the regular release Stormtrooper and the Riot Control Stormtrooper.

Which one is which? Don’t ask me. I’ve already mixed them all up. The biggest difference in the paint that I can see is on the belt. There’s a black dash painted on the box that is second to the left on two of them, but third to the left on the other. Let’s move on to the accessories and start by kitting him out as the Riot Control Stormtrooper

This guy, made famous in The Force Awakens by FN-2199, is equipped with his electrified baton and riot shield. The shield is basically the same one that came with the Riot Control Stormtrooper that was packed with Poe Dameron in his Resistance jacket. It features two soft straps, one to go around the forearm and the other can be grasped in the Stormie’s hand. It can take a little work to get him to hold it right, but once it’s in position it looks great. The baton, on the other hand is a new sculpt and where the previous one was just a static piece, this one has articulated tongs that can be turned around to make it look like it’s activated. I was pleasantly surprised that they produced an entirely new piece for this set. Now let’s go for the Heavy Gunner!

Oh boy, do I love the way this guy looks. The equipment includes a heavy artillery vest, which fastens around his torso and fits the figure perfectly. There’s also an ammo pouch, which you can clip to the vest, and a backpack that plugs into a peg on the back of the vest’s straps. Of course, he isn’t a Heavy Gunner without a big gun, so you also get his Mega-Blaster.

This is a pretty damn big gun with the same white and black deco as the smaller weapons. It also has a hinged grab-bar on the side. I love the look of this thing, but I do wish he could hold it better. His right hand seems to be sculpted pretty well for it, but it’s so bulky that it’s hard to get it into the crook of his arm. It also doesn’t help that the figure doesn’t have a lot of range of motion in those elbows. Now, I’m not saying he can’t hold it. I’ve been able to get some pretty good poses of him ready for action, but it isn’t as comfy a fit as I would have liked. Fortunately, he really doesn’t have to hold it…

Because it comes with this mount and stability bar, both of which peg into the bottom of the weapon. OK, so if we’re to assume the Hot Toys version is accurate, the stand is actually supposed to fold up under the gun when it’s not in use, but I can forgive Hasbro for going this route for the 6-inch figure.

You also get one final piece of equipment, and that’s a pair of binoculars. These are surprisingly nice, with a very detailed sculpt and a hinge that lets them fold up in the middle. Unfortunately, it’s pretty tough to get him to hold them like he’s using them.

If you can’t tell, I’m very pleased with this set. I’m always happy to add another Stormtrooper to my collection, and the versatility that comes with swapping out all this gear makes this figure a lot of fun. It’s even more fun if you already own a few First Order Stormies to borrow some of the gear. The Amazon Exclusive Stormtrooper retails at about $35. I’m OK with that price, but if you break it down the extra $15 seems a little steep, even with all these accessories in the package. At least you do get some nice premium packaging to store it all in and to date, this is the only way to get a Heavy Gunner Stormtrooper in the 6-inch Scale.

Nov 27 2017

Marvel Legends (Gladiator Hulk Wave): Ares by Hasbro

Howdy, folks! Thanksgiving may be behind us, but I’m always thankful for another Marvel Monday! After a brief Thor: Ragnarok-related detour last week, I’m finally back on track and continuing on with the Gladiator Hulk Wave of Marvel Legends. I’ve already checked out the MCU figures, and today I’m starting with the comic based figures and Ares!

The movie branding may be gone from the packaging, but this is still a Thor-themed wave. Ares shares a slot with Thor Odinson as one of the “Nine Realms Warriors” and this may indeed be one of the heaviest Marvel Legends boxes in all of those Nine Realms! Not only is Ares a bruiser, but he comes with a lot of stuff, including Gladiator Hulk’s massive hammer. Back in the day, Toybiz released Ares as a Build-A-Figure, but I never got around to completing him. I did, however, pick up Hasbro’s 4-inch Marvel Universe Infinite, or whatever they were calling it back then, Ares and that little guy remains one of my all time favorite Marvel figures in that scale. Can this release live up to that kind of pressure.

Hell yeah he can! Just check this guy out. This Greek God of War is a damn powerhouse and he looks fantastic. I do have a few quibbles about him, but we’ll save that for articulation talk. For now, let’s just bask in all there is to love here. For starters, the sculpting looks fresh and new and that’s always a treat in a line that makes use of a lot of recycled parts. The chest armor is sculpted as part of the buck and features simulated studded shoulder straps to hold it on, his mid section is characterized by sculpted leather and a wide belt, and there’s some nice texturing on the trousers. His right arm features a studded wrist bracer and spiked elbow pad, while his left has a segmented leather sleeve running up to his bicep and another one of those spiked elbow pads. Ares also features a functional sheath on his right leg to hold his knife.

And then you’ve got some excellent coloring! Ares’ black armor is dominated by the sharp Skull and Crossed Swords printed on his chest. You get some precise silver paintwork on the edges of the chest-plate, as well as the studs on his straps and wrist bracer, and again on his belt buckle. But the real star of this figure’s paint is his boots. No offense intended, but the gorgeous tarnished metal effect of his leg armor looks too good to be on a Hasbro figure.

I love the head sculpt, but ironically every time I look at it, I’m just reminded of DC’s Black Adam. I think it’s the chiseled facial features and the haircut. It’s not really a bad thing, but something I funny. Maybe Hasbro should keep this head sculpt in mind for after they buy out Mattel and launch DC Legends. Yeah, probably never going to happen, but I can dream. With that having been said, there’s a lot of personality in this face and I really dig his wry smile.

Of course, Hasbro even equipped him with a removable helmet. The helmet fits perfectly and looks great, although I’d argue that the bare gold plastic is the weakest part of this figure’s deco. The glossy black paint is a nice touch, and the bristles on the come have a cool wash added.

So let’s talk articulation, and here’s where the figure stumbles just a tad in a few places. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and has swivels in the biceps. I really would have loved to see double hinges in the elbows, because those elbows he has don’t have a lot of range. I can’t even get 90-degrees out of them. Plus, you don’t really need rotating hinges in the shoulders when you have a bicep swivel. The legs have those old fashioned ball joints in the hips. They work pretty well with the figure, but still look a little out of place. Below that, you get double hinges in the knees, swivels at the hips, and both swivels and lateral rockers in the ankles. The torso features a really nice ball joint in the chest. The neck has only a ball joint, and boy do I miss the additional hinge Hasbro usually tosses in there. Ares is perpetually looking down a bit.

In addition to Hulk’s arm and huge hammer, Ares comes with his own extra large sword and axe. The axe is a formidable looking weapon with a double edged head. It features some sculpted scrapes and scratches showing heavy wear and the edges are painted silver. The grip is segmented and Ares can wield it in either or both hands.

As much as I love the axe, I think the sword is the more impressive of the two weapons. It’s a pretty utilitarian design, with an elongated two-handed grip, a simple gold guard, and a massive blade with some nicks and cuts sculpted into the edges. My only complaint here is that Ares doesn’t have a loop on his back so he can wear it when he’s not using it.

And finally, Ares also has a dagger in his scabbard for when he grows weary of simple butchery and wants to get in close and do some fine cutting. The dagger is painted and sculpted to match the sword pretty well.

Oh yeah, it’s also worth mentioning just how perfectly Ares fits in with the Masters of the Universe Classics figures. Hey, that’s good to know for when Hasbro buys Mattel and they launch the MOTUC Legends line and OMG, I KNOW NONE OF THIS WILL EVER HAPPEN, I’M JUST KIDDING!!! Oh, and don’t worry, the skirmish depicted above was just a misunderstanding based on Ares’ choice of chest armor. They eventually cleared everything up and had laughed it off over a couple droughts of Eternian Ale.

Ares is one of those figures that I would wholeheartedly recommend even to collectors who aren’t into Marvel characters or Marvel Legends. He’s just a beautifully done figure with some great accessories and he’s loads of fun to play with. Sure, some tweaks to the articulation would have been welcome, but Ares is a freaking tank of a man, so the fact that he isn’t super agile is probably understandable. With how solid the MCU figures in this wave have been, it’s nice to see that Hasbro is maintaining that standard with the comic based figures too. Next week, I’ll check out Thor Odinson!

Nov 24 2017

DC Multiverse (Ares Wave): Queen Hippolyta by Mattel

As promised, I’m back to dish out an extra helping of content on this beautiful Post-Thanksgiving, DC Friday evening. It’ll help make up for taking yesterday off, and also start to balance the scales against all those damn Marvel Monday Double Features. I so desperately want to give DC Comics action figures some love, they just have to give me something to work with. So… continuing on through the DC Multiverse Ares Wave, let’s check out The Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta!

This is one of those figures that I may not have bothered with if I weren’t hunting all the C&C parts in the wave. Shhh… don’t tell Hasbro and Mattel, but this strategy to get me to buy an entire wave usually works. The package is identical to what we saw earlier today, only with photos of Hippolyta on the front and side panel. It’s also branded for the Wonder Woman film at the top J-hook flap. Everything is collector friendly, and these look pretty good lined up on the shelf with the character photos showing.

But forget about pretty good, because this figure turned out surprisingly great. I mean, just look at this lady! For a figure of a relatively minor character, Mattel invested a crazy amount of work into this one. And nowhere is that more evident than in her beautiful armor. The sculpted layers, the tiny etchings, the eagle motif on her chest, I’m quite beside myself. This is so far removed from what I’m used to seeing in the Multiverse line. Even the skirt has a lovely snakeskin like texturing to it. The gold and copper deco looks luxurious and the whole ensemble gives off this wonderful Art Deco vibe.

Hippolyta also sports sculpted armor pieces up near her shoulders, and bracers with sculpted straps. Over her armor, she dons a sleeveless cloak on  with a sculpted fur lined collar. It looks great, but it’s also easy to take off if you want to give her a little more range of motion.

The facial features on the head sculpt are a bit soft, but certainly not bad. At the right angle I can see a little resemblance to the actress in there, but not a whole lot. The sculpting on display in the crown, however, is superb, as is the detail in her hair.

Hippolyta’s articulation is identical to the Diana figure I looked at this morning, so I’ll just refer you back to that review. The cloak obviously inhibits things a bit, particularly with the legs, but if you take it off, it frees her up a lot, thanks to some strategic slits in the skirt.

Queen Hippolyta comes with two weapons: A spear and a sword. The spear is measures a bit longer than the figure itself and features a smooth brown shaft and some nice sculpted detail on the golden tip. She can hold it in one or both hands.

The sword features a rather ornate gold hilt with swirling patterns making up the guard. The stout blade is painted silver and has two fullers running down the center. The grip is extended, so she can wield it in one or both hands, and her articulation allows either option.

Hippolyta was certainly a pleasant surprise. Diana was a solid figure, but I think this one raises the bar quite a bit. I don’t know if it’s because they’re DCEU based figures or if Mattel has been upping their game with this line in general, but I’m happy to have picked up this figure, not to mention finally dug it out and opened it.  Next Friday, I’ll open up Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor and maybe just throw together the Ares Collect & Connect figure too!

Nov 24 2017

DC Multiverse (Ares Wave): Diana of Themyscira by Mattel

Well, I saw Justice League last week, and to my surprise I actually loved it. Yes, I appear to be in the minority, and I’ll grant you that my emotions were probably grading it on a curve, but I don’t care. This was the first time I came out of a DCEU film happy and it felt great. So great, that I bought up all the Multiverse movie figures. Then I realized I needed to get caught up reviewing some of the ones that I had kicking around and unopened, so I made myself a deal. I’d finally go through the figures from the Wonder Woman movie, before I allowed myself to open up any from Justice League. I can be a real strict asshole sometimes, but fair enough. And since it’s been a little while since I’ve had a proper DC Friday, let’s double up and check out a couple of them today, starting with Diana of Themyscira!

Here’s the DC Multiverse packaging and it’s pretty much the same as we saw when I last attempted to review a wave of these. Remember that? I got through a little more then half of the Doomsday Wave before I gave up in disgust because the figures were so awful. Oh, I’m going to finish that wave some day… I promise! As for Wonder Woman… I came away from seeing it the first time liking it, but not loving it. Or to be more precise, I loved the first half and really didn’t like the second half. Nonetheless, I picked up all the DC Multiverse figures back then and it’s going to feel good to finally open them with a renewed confidence in the direction of the DCEU. The package features some lovely photos of Gal Gadot in costume on the front and side panel, and the back shows the rest of the figures in the wave. Surprisingly there are only four figures needed to collect in order to build Ares, although there are two additional figures not pictured, which I think were exclusives. I’ll check them out in a couple of weeks, after I’ve finished with these.

So, this figure depicts Diana donning her native garb, and overall I think it’s a pretty good effort. The dress has a subtle texture and features a metallic copper color up top and a tan skirt, which gradually gets darker toward the bottom. There’s also some darker copper paint on the straps to give the outfit a little added pop. The bracers feature panel lines and sculpted straps holding them in place. They’re neatly painted silver with gold borders on the edges, and she has sculpted brown wraps around her hands. The knee-high sandals are also sculpted and painted, although my figure has a little splotch of brown paint on her right toe.

The skirt is cast in a separate piece of soft plastic and attached at the waist. It’s rather thick, and it isn’t all that flattering from some angles, like there’s a little too much gear in her saddlebags, if ya know what I mean. Again, not bad, but maybe could have been executed a little better and with thinner plastic. There’s a part in the front of the skirt by her right knee, which helps a little with articulation, but I went ahead and razored it all the way to the top to make it a little less restrictive.

The head sculpt isn’t great, especially when you get in close with a camera, but in hand it doesn’t look terrible either. Alas, it also doesn’t look much like Gal Gadot. I do, however, really like the detail in her hair and the way the ponytail is executed. On the downside, they could have done a better job matching the flesh tone between her torso, which is a shade darker, and her head and arms, which are a shade lighter.

The articulation here is actually much better than what I’ve seen in my past run ins with the DC Multiverse. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. Oh look, Hasbro! 6-inch female figures can have bicep swivels! Her legs have rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in both the knees and ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist, no articulation in the torso, and a ball joint in the neck. Again, the biggest issue here is that thick skirt, which really hinders the hip articulation, unless you’re willing to do a little modification.

Diana comes with two accessories, the first of which is her sword. I thought it was supposed to be The Godkiller, but the pommel design doesn’t match what we saw on screen, so I think it’s just a regular sword. The sword is a cool little sculpt, with a gold hilt and a silver painted blade. There are sculpted symbols running down the center of each side of the blade, presumably meant to be Greek lettering. Mine came out of the package rather warped, but I was able to get it to straighten out fairly well. Sadly, there’s no loop on her hip or back to store the sword, but then I’m not sure if I remember her wearing it while she was on the island.

The other accessory is her Lasso of Truth. It’s sculpted in a coil and cast in very soft gold plastic. Like the sword, there’s nowhere on the figure to attach this, so she just has to hold both.

Overall, I find myself liking this figure quite a bit, even though there’s certainly room for improvement. Granted, much like the Justice League movie, I set my expectations pretty low here, based on my past experiences with DC Multiverse, so I’m probably being a lot more forgiving than I should be. The head sculpt and paint are a long way from what Hasbro is doing with their MCU figures in Marvel Legends, although I’d say the rest of the figure holds its own pretty well. My original plan was to look at Queen Hippolyta now too, but I went a little long discussing Diana, so I’ll come back later tonight to check her out.

Nov 22 2017

Vitruvian HACKS (Series 2): Aiyana (Autumn Elven Archer) by Boss Fight Studios

With the second wave of Vitruvian HACKS Series 2 upon us soon, I thought I’d better kick it into high gear and have a look at another figure from the initial wave. And with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, it seemed like the optimal time to check out Aiyana, the Autumn Elf Archer!

I won’t go on about the packaging, because it hasn’t changed from Series 1, and we’ve already seen it twice in Series 2. It’s basically a horizontal card with a plastic bubble and covering, which allows it to display like a classic carded figure, but still be collector friendly. You get some nice artwork on the front, some character information on the back, and pictures of the other Series 2 figures that are available to collect.

Aiyana harkens back to the Series 1 figures by offering a standard buck with all of her outfit sculpted in separate pieces and actually worn on the figure. It’s quite an achievement for 4-inch scale figures, and since it’s all removable, it gives you some options to mix and match with other figures if you want. The costume certainly has a strong autumn flavor and includes a separate top and bottom, as well as wrist and ankle bracers. All of the pieces are sculpted with fall colored leaves, cloth, and what looks like vines or twine, giving the outfit a very primitive look. What doesn’t look primitive is the craftsmanship that went into the sculpt and paintwork. The detail on the tiny leaves and wraps is quite extraordinary and the mix or orange, yellows, and browns makes me want to run outside and play in a leaf pile. There’s a hole in Aiyana’s back, which we’ll soon see can equip her quiver, but it can also take a peg from any number of import figure stands for those action poses. I’ve covered the articulation in these female bucks quite a few times in the past, so I’ll forgo it here and refer you back to one of my earlier reviews.

I like the head sculpt well enough, although from certain angles the lips can look a little odd. The hair is sculpted from a separate piece and the way the bangs hang over the forehead gives it a nice sense of depth. The paint on her eyes, eyebrows, and lips is fairly simple, but applied with precision, and her pointed ears are a lot more understated than what we saw on Laguna, her cavern dwelling cousin a few weeks back.

As an archer, Aiyana comes with the tools of her trade, which include a bow, a quiver, and a bunch of arrows. The quiver pegs right into the hole in her back and is painted to look like leather. It has some sculpted lacings holding it together and it can comfortably hold three arrows, but I can get a fourth one in there if I really want to. The figure actually comes with six arrows total. The bow is a pretty simple sculpt, with a painted grip, and there are notches in the ends so that you can string it if you want. I may eventually do that, but for now, I left it the way it is, so we’ll just have to use our imaginations.

Aiyana features breaks in between her fingers where she can hold the arrows very securely and knock them into our imaginary bow string. The articulation works beautifully too, so you can get some nice poses of her withdrawing an arrow from her bow, or preparing to shoot.

 

What happens when an Autumn Elf runs out of arrows? She relies on her twin daggers, and I absolutely love the distinctive designs on these fearsome blades. There are slots on each side of her quiver where you can store these. Or if you prefer, there’s also a loop on the back of her skirt where you can tuck both of these into. I’m not sure if this is the intention, as I have a little fore knowledge about what this is used for on another figure, but I think it works pretty well for the daggers. Either way, it’s possible to get her to carry all her gear on her at once, well… except for some of those surplus arrows.

In addition to the weapons and extra arrows, Aiyala comes with some extra hands and the standard Boss Fight Studio figure stand. The pegs do not go that far into the holes on her feet, but I was still able to get it to work. I should also note that this figure has some incredible balance and even with a quiver full of arrows on her back, she can stand pretty well on those tiny bare feet without the aid of a stand. The mid-air poses and one legged stances? Well, that’s a different story.

So far, Vitruvian HACKS Series 2 is firing on all cylinders. And while I confess to grumbling a little about having to leave the Greek Hoplites and snake monsters of Series 1 behind, it hasn’t taken long for this new Fantasy theme to win over my heart. I really dig the diversity of this first wave, especially the fairies and the elves. And we haven’t even met The Orcs yet. But I’ll remedy that the next time I revisit this series. In the meantime, these figures should still all be available on Boss Fight Studios’ webstore and even at about $25 a piece, I’ve got no complaints!

And just a reminder, I am taking tomorrow off for Thanksgiving, but Transformers Thursday will be back next week, and I am planning on being back the following day with DC Friday. In the meantime, I have plenty of things to be thankful for, but I’m particularly thankful for everyone that reads my toy nonsense, comments, emails or tweets me. I have met so many wonderful people doing this silly blog, and you all make it worthwhile. I count so many of you among my friends, even the ones I’ve never met. Have a happy Thanksgiving, be well and be safe! 

Nov 21 2017

Star Wars Toybox: Rey by Disney

In case you missed it, Disney has introduced a new line of articulated action figures based on the character designs from the now defunct Disney Infinity video game. I loved Infinity, and holy crap, did I blow a lot of time and money on it! Even with the online features shut off, I’m still afraid to fire it up again, or I’ll lose myself in that damn Toybox creating levels or just wandering around as any one of those dozens of damn figures I bought. Well, last week I looked at Thor from the Marvel Toybox and today I’m checking out Rey from Star Wars.

As you can no doubt tell, the packaging goes for utility over flash. The only real artwork is the character portrait on the side panel insert. Otherwise, it’s just a big bubble on a boring card that lets you see the figure you’re buying. Rey is #2. in the Star Wars Toybox series, I think #1 is Kylo Ren, but don’t worry, even though I’m doing them out of order, I’ll get to them all eventually. The packaging is not at all collector friendly, but there’s really no reason I’d want to keep it anyway, so let me shred this thing to pieces and we’ll have a look at Rey.

Like her Infinity counterpart, this figure features Rey in her Jakku outfit from The Force Awakens. I think they did a wonderful job capturing the Infinity style, while also embellishing it a bit for the larger scale and incorporating the articulation. To keep with the animated style, the sculpted detail is kept to a minimum, while still producing a great looking figure. The belt and outer layer of the robes are cast in a separate piece of softer plastic and worn over the figure, which gives her outfit some extra depth. Other sculpted detail includes the arm wraps, the pouch worn on the back of her hip and some simple boots. The coloring is mostly found in the plastic, although there is some paintwork as well. For the most part the paint application is neatly done, although there’s a little bit of slop between the flesh tones of her legs and the brown of her boots.

The head sculpt is also pretty damn close to her Infinity counterpart, a lot closer in this case than Thor was to his. Her hair includes the sculpted triple-buns and the paint applications for her eyes, eyebrows, and lips are all sharp and precise. She looks both adorable and fierce at the same time.

The articulation includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. She has ball jointed hips and hinges in the ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. While the points are all the same, the range of motion feels a little bit better here than on Thor, because the sculpt here isn’t as much of a hindrance. Although, the loop that her robes make under the belt on her left hip does get in the way of that leg a bit. Even with some restrictions, she’s a hell of a lot of fun to play with.

Rey comes with Luke’s lightsaber with the blade permanently ignited. Her right hand is designed to hold it, while her left hand is sculpted for Force casting. I like the lightsaber a lot, but I’ll confess to being a bit disappointed that she didn’t come with her staff as well. It doesn’t seem like it would have been that big a deal to sculpt one for her, and since she uses a lot less plastic than Thor, it probably should have costed out at this price point. But then what the hell do i know?

As with Thor, Rey sells for $12.99 and appears to be exclusive to the Disney Store and their website. Thor sold me on the Marvel Toybox line instantly, and now Rey has done the same for this Star Wars Toybox series. I just wish they had more figures to show. The only other figures for the Star Wars Toybox right now are Kylo Ren and a First Order Stormtrooper. It feels like we needed Finn in there to even things out. Nonetheless, I’ll be grabbing more of these, so they’ll all be turning up here eventually.

Nov 20 2017

Marvel Legends (Thor Ragnarok): Thor and Valkyrie by Hasbro

I’m supposed to be pressing on with my jaunt through the Gladiator Hulk Wave today, but before moving on to the comic-based figures in that assortment, I thought I’d make a quick detour to check out this Thor: Ragnarok two-pack that I just picked up. I’ve seen this flick two times now, and I’m glad to see it’s faring so well at the box office and among critics. It’s so damn fun!

This set is a Target Exclusive, although it doesn’t actually state that anywhere on the package, and contains a variant of the Gladiator Thor figure I already looked at and Valkyrie. I’ll get a little grumbling out of the way right now about how this should have been an Executioner and Valkyrie two-pack, because I really wanted a Legends scale version of Skurge GundrothSon, and this would have been a perfect opportunity for Hasbro to do that. Instead, they took the opportunity to wring some more money out of an existing mold. Hey, it’s business. I get it. BUT I STILL WANT MY GODDAMN KARL URBAN EXECUTIONER FIGURE! Let’s start with a quick look at Thor.

So, from the neck down, this figure is identical to the Gladiator Hulk Wave version, including the shoulder strap and removable torn cape, but the right leg armor piece is not included. This was an amazing sculpt then and still is now, not to mention backed up by some fantastic paintwork. I’ll refrain from going on about it again and just refer you back to the original review that I linked above if you missed it and still want all the details and articulation.

The head is all new, depicting Thor without the helmet and with the warpaint cleaned off his face. This is a great likeness, and definitely the high point of this figure, since it depicts his look through most of the movie. I love how they even worked details of the haphazard haircut, which he got from Stan Lee, into the sides of his head.

The other thing that sets this figure apart is its accessories. For starters, Thor also comes with two pairs of hands: One for pair for holding a sword, and one pair for casting lighting. Fortunately he comes with both of those things. The lightning is just a web of translucent blue plastic. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that this was recycled from a Star Wars figure. There isn’t an obvious way to get it onto the hand, so I just wound up interlacing it between his fingers through trial and error, and eventually got something that worked.

The sword is massive and features a really nice sculpt. There’s some intricate scrollwork molded in the hilt and the blade features a rather unique design as well as some nice weathered paint. The grip is long enough for him to equip it in both hands, and his articulation allows it, so you can do some nice poses with him wielding this massive blade. In the end, this figure walks a fine line between being an unnecessary repack and a worthwhile pick up. It feels like Hasbro did enough to make it not feel completely superfluous, but then you are still basically buying a figure that you probably already bought if you’re building the Gladiator Hulk BAF. Let’s move on to Valkyrie!

With so many great performances, it really means something to say that Tess Thompson stood shoulder to shoulder with the best of them in this flick. I loved MCU’s Valkyrie’s backstory, she had a nice little character arc, and I’m not ashamed to say I left the theater rather smitten with Ms. Thompson as well. Now, if I had my choice, I probably would have went with her Asgardian costume (YUM!) instead of her scavenger garb, but considering she wore this look through most of the film, I can understand why Hasbro went with it. Her armor consists of a sleeveless coat, the bottom half of which is attached to the buck to give it some depth and allow the waist articulation to be hidden under it. It’s cast in a soft gunmetal blue plastic with some nice painted silver borders. The rest of the body features more of the same, as well as some black for her trousers, gloves, and arm wraps.

Half capes are apparently all the rage on Sakaar, because Valkyrie is sporting one as well Thor. Hers is cast in soft blue plastic and attaches to her left shoulder armor. She also sports twin daggers sculpted onto her hips. It would have been cool if these were removable, but they sure look good. Her left inner thigh also has what I believe is the remote control to the restraining bolts used on the slaves. Whoops, I’m sorry. I meant to say “prisoners with jobs.” Lastly, Valkyrie has a thin belt, which hangs loose on her hips. All in all, I’d say Hasbro did a nice job on her costume. The color palate doesn’t allow it to be overly flashy, but the silver paint hits and the blue cape do help a little.

The portrait is pretty solid, although I will say this is one of those cases where it looks a lot better in hand than in close up photos. The white paint around her eyes looks like it’s actually made up of chain links, but since it isn’t terribly crisp, it looks like just straight lines. The printing on the eyes themselves could have been a little clearer too. There’s also an unfortunate mold line running right down the middle of her neck. The sculpt, however, is excellent, I love the pony tail, and I think that this is a pretty good likeness, but not one of the Hasbro’s absolute best.

Valkyrie sports pretty female Legends articulation. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, but no bicep swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have hinges and some very generous lateral rockers. There’s a waist swivel hidden under the armor, and a ball joint just under her chest. The neck has both a ball joint and a hinge. The skirt is designed so that it doesn’t inhibit her hip articulation too badly. I still felt that the figure poses a little stiff, and I think double hinges in the elbows would have helped a lot.

Valkyrie comes up a little light on accessories, although she does come with Dragonfang, the fabled Sword of the Valkyries, and a scabbard. The sword certainly looks the part. It’s a sharp little sculpt with a white hilt, silver pommel, and blue blade, but it’s so damn small and soft that it’s hard to keep it straight and looking all that convincing. It also tends to swim around in her grip because the hilt is so thin. The result is what is supposed to be a majestic and feared sword comes across as a rather frail and impotent looking weapon.

I’m glad I picked up this set, even if I still insist Hasbro should have just packed the extra Thor head in with the single release and gave us Skurge instead. It’s not so much that I mind double dipping a bit to get a figure that Hasbro wouldn’t have put out separately, but rather I don’t see them having any other opportunities to put out characters like Executioner or Heimdall. It’s not like we’re going to get another wave of Ragnarok figures, even if they could have easily padded it out with Banner in Stark’s clothes, The Grandmaster, and Odin in his grandpa clothes, all wrapped up with a Korg BAF. And yes, I would have bought the shit out of that wave! Still, with the way Target works, I’m sure this set will be up on clearance before you know it, so the waiting game might be the way to go on this one. Next Monday, I promise to get back to the Gladiator Hulk Wave and start in on the comic-based figures with a look at Ares!

Nov 17 2017

Marvel Netflix: Daredevil 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

2017 has been a slow one for me with Hot Toys. I’ve only reviewed a couple this year (Finn from The Force Awakens and Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy), and I’ll probably only get to one or two more before the year turns over. That’s not to say I’m not still interested. I actually have two currently on pre-order now, and I’m still trying to crunch some numbers and see if I can swing a few more I’m eyeing up. It’s a tough line to budget responsibly and they sure aren’t getting any cheaper, but that’s part of what makes it so special when a new one shows up. Today’s figure is especially cool, because it’s Hot Toys’ first crack at a character from one of Marvel’s Netflix series: Matt Murdock as The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen! I just call him Daredevil. It’s coo. We tight like that.

Hot Toys presentation isn’t what it used to be. The days of magnet secured wraparounds and high quality boxes have given way to flimsier pedestrian window boxes in illustrated sleeves. Scaling back the presentation has been going on for a while now, so I’ve learned to temper my expectations. Granted, to me the boxes are mainly just a place to keep the extra bits, but when you’re paying a lot for a figure, it’s nice to get a little something special in the presentation. Now, with that having been said, Daredevil’s box is pretty attractive and they actually put his name in braille on the front, which I thought was a clever touch. Inside, the figure comes on a tray with his extras laid out in compartments around him. There’s also quite a few pieces for the stand, more than usual, but I’ll get to that towards the end of the review.

I was extremely pleased with the design of Murdock’s suit in the series. It pays respect to the comic while still giving it that realistic, tactical feel that these live action comic book adaptations need. And as usual, Hot Toys has done some pretty solid work reproducing the costume here in all its sixth-scale glory. The suit features a mix of red textured material with black and red reinforced plates on the chest and shoulders, as well as black reinforced patches on the elbows. You also get some strategically placed silver rivets. The trousers have hard plastic knee pads, and the boots feature sculpted laces and treads in the soles, and are sculpted in two pieces to allow for articulation in the ankles, which is something that I wish Hot Toys would standardize on all their figures.  The tailoring is spot on with some flawless stitching, but at this point I wouldn’t expect anything less.

The fit of the costume probably has a little more room in the crotch than the on screen counterpart, but that allows for a little more articulation in the hips. If you’ve been reading my Hot Toys reviews, you no doubt are aware that I spend very little time discussing the articulation on these figures. That’s partly because I have a hard time knowing what’s going on under the clothing, and partly because it’s not a crucial element for me. I’ve been collecting Hot Toys long enough to know not to expect a lot of useful articulation and I’m fine with that. In this case, the range of articulation is better than I expected, but still limited in areas like the shoulders and the hips. With all that having been said, when it comes to the costume, I’ve got almost no complaints here, in fact I only have one.

There are two holders for his batons on his left leg. These are cast in rubber, have some nice weathered paint, and are secured by two straps that warp around his leg. The idea is that you can put the two halves of the baton in here like a holster. It was only after a great deal of terrifying effort on my part that I was able to get them in. It was even scarier trying to get them out. So do they work? Yes, technically they do. But there’s no way I’m going to risk putting them in there again. At worst case, I’m afraid of tearing the holster off the suit trying to get them out. At best case, I fear the friction against the tight rubber tubes might rub the paint off of the batons. Now, in fairness, I will probably never display this figure without the batons in his hands, but come on, Hot Toys. This is an expensive figure, and everything on it should work perfectly. Especially when it’s something this simple.

The cowl is without a doubt my favorite thing about the costume in general, and this figure in particular. It’s beautifully sculpted and painted. I love the deep lines between the plates, the panel lines around the eyes, and the perfect shape of the horns. The eyes are also quite stunning and just a bit creepy. They use a transparent red plastic that shines beautifully under the right lighting. The underlying hood is textured and if I didn’t know better, would easily have me convinced that it’s not all one sculpted piece. OK, well technically it isn’t because the cowl does lift off so that you can switch out the two different lower face plates for the two expressions. The first face plate features a neutral expression and I think it offers a great likeness to Charlie Cox, or at least the lower half of his face. The shape of his lips is very distinctive, and the sculpt here captures that perfectly. Additionally, the sculpting and paint for his five-o-clock shadow, as well as the overall skin texturing is amazingly lifelike.

The other face plate features gritting teeth and some bloody battle damage. Before I got this figure, I was pretty sure I was going to instantly default to the neutral expression for my display. Now that I have it in hand, however, I may rethink that. It’s not that the first one isn’t great, but the second one is just so over-the-top amazing. The paintwork on the bloody wounds looks phenomenal, and I’m blown away by the sculpting and paint involved with his gritting teeth. Yup, I think this is the look I’ll wind up going for. I’ll also take this opportunity to say that I’m more than a little disappointed that we didn’t get an unmasked likeness. No, it’s not that common for Hot Toys to issue two separate head sculpts with their figures these days, and yes, I obviously knew going in that it wasn’t coming with one. But I feel like it may have been omitted just so that they could include it with a variant release later on down the road. I guess we’ll see. I just think being able to display him unmasked and with a sculpted cowl in his hand would have been really cool.

As always, Hot Toys includes plenty of hands. In his case, Daredevil includes three sets. You get one set of fists, one set of relaxed hands, and one set of baton-holding hands. The detail on these is all really nice. They feature textured black palms and finger tips with padded red backs, and reinforced black knuckles that look like they can do some serious damage. I found that popping the hands on and off was particularly effortless with this figure, which has not always been the case with my Hot Toys in the past.

In addition to the hands and extra face, Daredevil’s accessories are limited to the three different configurations of his baton. First, you get one with the two pieces fitted together. I find it odd that they included the extra piece, rather than just have the two halves connect, but I guess I shouldn’t complain about an extra accessory when the count in the box is already fairly low. The sculpting and paint on all of the batons are excellent. They’re sculpted in red textured plastic, with metallic silver paint on the ends.

The second version has the batons split into two. These are the ones that are also supposed to fit into the holster and gave me so much trouble. At least they fit perfectly into his hands.

The final version of the baton features a wire connecting them like a pair of nunchuks. All of these are great pieces, but I confess that having the only accessories being variations of essentially the same piece of equipment makes the extras on this figure feel even more wanting. It’s not that I think he needed much more to feel complete, but he definitely needed something more to fill out the price point.

While the figure feels light on accessories, it also feels like Hot Toys tried to make up for it with the stand. The basic stand features the usual crotch-cradle post and a base that’s made to look like a street, including asphalt and puddles of water. It also features the ubiquitous nameplate on the front, this time with not only the character’s name, but also a cityscape etched behind it. All in all, this stand feels like an embellished version of what we’ve been getting with most of the recent releases, and it’s a good one to go with if you’re like me and trying to squeeze him into an already crowded display case.

You also get two additional pieces, a riser and a sidewalk piece to put behind the base to create something a little more elaborate. There’s some really nice detail at work in the sidewalk piece. It includes not only a sewer set into the curb, but part of a crumbling brick wall, some broken pipes, and a bunch of broken glass. It doesn’t actually attach to the regular base, but rather just sits behind it, and the two look great together without needing all that much extra real estate on the shelf. However, if you want to go all out for your Daredevil display, you do get one more option.

This is an illustrated cardboard backdrop that tabs together and stands behind the display base. With dozens of Hot Toys releases under my belt, I never got anything like this before, and while it’s a simple bonus, it’s also a welcome one. I think this looks great, and if I had the shelf space, I’d definitely be using it, but as it is, I’m going to have to have a couple of figures behind Daredevil and this will just block them from view. Maybe someday when I inevitably have to expand my Sixth-Scale shelves, I’ll work out the space to utilize this piece.

I like this figure a lot, and it’s really cool to finally have a Netflix Marvel figure join my MCU shelf. They display wonderfully together and it makes me hope that somehow we might get to see Daredevil team up with some of the MCU characters on the big screen, or even the small screen for that matter. With all that having been said, the super tight baton holster is an annoying design flaw, and even with the elaborate stand options, I feel like this figure comes up a little light when it comes to value for dollar. But that seems to be an ongoing issue with Hot Toys as their prices continue to creep up. Daredevil set me back $230, while he feels like he would have been closer to $200 just a year or two ago. I get it that costs rise, and I have no idea what licensing costs them, but lately I worry about Hot Toys pricing themselves out of business, or more likely, pricing me out of collecting them. And with that having been said, Doctor Strange is due to show up at my door sometime next week, and Netflix’s Punisher won’t be far behind, so hopefully I can squeeze a few more Hot Toys reviews in before the end of the year.

And that’s a wrap for this Marvel Week. I should have things more or less back to normal next week, although I will be taking Thursday off for Thanksgiving. I’d like to say that this week got me caught up on my Marvel backlog, but truth be told it didn’t even make a dent in it, so I may have to do another one of these sooner or later. 

Nov 16 2017

Marvel Toybox: Thor by Disney

It’s Day Four of Marvel Week, and I got rather long winded yesterday, so I’m going to tone things down today with a simpler (and mercifully shorter!) review, but one that I’ve been rather excited to get to. You may remember a little thing called Disney Infinity. It was one of those Toys-To-Life things, which allowed you to collect figures and use them in a video game world. I freaking loved Disney Infinity! Seriously… just look at this shit!

This doesn’t even include the ones I bought at the end that I haven’t even opened yet. I collected a ton of the figures, I’ve spent time playing them all, and I’ve lost countless hours in the Toybox designing bullshit levels, and maybe a couple of good ones. Infinity had a good run with three different releases spanning dozens of figures and incorporating both Marvel and Star Wars before Disney finally pulled the plug. And now in a move that I never in a million years could have seen coming, Disney has introduced a series of articulated action figures based on those Infinity designs. HOLY SHIT, I AM SO ON BOARD FOR THIS!!!! Let’s check out the first figure in the Marvel Toybox lone… The Mighty Thor!

The packaging is about as basic as you can get. The figure comes in a large bubble on an unassuming card. It gives you a great look at what you’re getting, but there isn’t much else in the way of artwork of flashy presentation to tempt you. Seriously, Disney, for a company that is basically based on artwork, you kind of dropped the ball on this package design. But that’s OK. It just makes me not feel guilty about shredding it to get to my figure. The back of the package shows off four other figures in the Marvel Toybox series, including Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. And yes, there’s also a Star Wars Toybox Series, and I’ll be checking one of those figures out next week!

If you compare Toybox Thor to the original Infinity figure, you can see that Hasbro made some tweaks to Thor’s design, but this is still undoubtedly the same style. He’s lost a helmet, gained a beard, and the piping on his armor has changed from yellow to blue. With all that being said, I love what they did with the design and it’s hard to believe that I’m actually holding an articulated Infinity figure. The sculpted detail is kept to a minimum to preserve the simple animated look, but all the important stuff is still there, like the discs on his armor, the wraps on his boots, and all that chiseled Asgardian muscle. I also really dig the head sculpt. The coif of hair is cast in a separate piece of plastic, crowning his rather perturbed expression. He looks like someone just nicked his tankard of ale. The paint applications on the face are pretty clean too!

The rest of the coloring on the figure appears to be achieved mostly through colored plastic, but there are some paint applications as well. Overall, the paint is clean, but I should note that my figure had two rather unsightly paint drips on the right boot, but I was eventually able to get these off with some water and a Qtip. The cape is made of a fairly soft and pliable plastic and lifts easily away from the figure to allow for those wide stances.

Thor comes with one accessory, and yes it is Mjolnir. The mighty hammer is a solid chunk of plastic with a sculpted wrap grip, which can fit securely in The Thunder God’s right hand.

The articulation here is pretty good, but the stylized sculpt does restrict the range of motion on some of the points. Thor features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. The hips are ball jointed, the ankles are hinged, there’s a swivel in the waist, and the neck is ball jointed. The elbow and knees are somewhat limited, which can be a little frustrating. Also, the sculpted hair makes it so the head can only turn side to side a bit. Still, there’s plenty of fun to be had here. He’s just so solid and chunky and fun to play around with!

 

Wow, was this a pleasant surprise! These Toybox figures seemed to come out of nowhere, and I just recently discovered them because someone sent me a link. They appear to be Disney Store Exclusives, at least that’s where I found and ordered mine. They run $12.99 each, which feels about right for what you’re getting. I have no frame of reference for how well Disney’s exclusive toys sell, but I can promise you that I’ll be doing everything I can to support this line and keep it going. And as for now, I can see Thor will probably be residing on my desk for a little while, because I’m having a hard time putting him down.