Monthly Archives: March 2018

Mar 16 2018

Vitruvian HACKS: Warrior Skeleton by Boss Fight Studios

Yesterday, I reviewed the last Mythic Legions figure that I had left to open. I also realized how woefully behind I am on that other Kickstarter line that I collect. Boss Fight Studio’s 4-inch Vitruvian HACKS line is well into Series 2, some of which I’ve already looked at here, but I’m still not done opening and reviewing the first series. So, let’s start knocking these out today with a look at the Warrior Skeleton! Ever since I first saw Jason and the Argonauts as a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the images of Harryhausen’s skeletal armies making war against the Greek heroes. So much so, that I was surprised and a little disappointed that the initial offering of HACKS didn’t include any. Well, it took a wee bit longer, but they finally delivered.

I’ve shown off this packaging plenty of times, but I still enjoy it so much. The figure comes in a bubble set on landscape-orientated card with some great original artwork of the character on the front, and a classic “Collect Them All” presentation on the back, along with a bio about the character. Although, today’s figure isn’t a specific character, but rather an undead army builder. I actually own two HACKS skeletons, which were included as bonuses in some of my orders. They’re neat, and they gave me a great feel for the skeletal sculpt, but both of them are cast in hot pink plastic, so I don’t have much use for them. But this guy? Oh, hell yes!

The skeleton comes out of the package with remnant pieces of Greek armor, presumably from when he was alive. His ensemble includes a pair of gold grieves on his lower legs, gold armor pieces on his right forearm and bicep, and a gold shoulder piece on his right shoulder, held on by sculpted straps. He’s also wearing a hoplite-style skirt to protect his vacant skeletal modesty. The skirt has an ornamental gold buckle on the front and painted lacings on the back.  I’m pretty sure we’ve seen all of these pieces before on other figures, but then it’s the mix-and-match nature of HACKS that makes it such a versatile line. All of these pieces are beautifully detailed and painted, but the shoulder armor stands out as being especially nice.

In theory, you can take all the armor off this guy if you want to have a plain skeleton for your display. I say “in theory” because I was not able to easily remove the grieves. I’m sure I could, but I didn’t want to stress anything on the figure by forcing them. Either way, the skeleton buck is excellent, especially for a figure in this scale. It has a finish that looks like authentic weathered bone and some of the highlights of articulation include rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips, as well as double hinges in the knees, hinges in the ankles, and ball joints in the neck and middle of the torso. The lower jaw will even open a bit. Some of these joints are super thin, but I didn’t feel like normal handling and posing was ever going to present a problem. I will say that I found it difficult to pose him without his legs looking pretty wonky, but maybe skeletons aren’t too stable when they stand.

The skull looks really fantastic. There are some great cracks and fissures sculpted into it and I really dig the weathering. The sculpting on the teeth is rather soft, and it’s hard to make them out from certain angles, but let’s remember that this is a 4-inch scale figure.

The figure comes with a helmet, but I think it’s a shame to cover up that wonderful skull, so I doubt I’ll be displaying him with it, unless I get some more and I want to vary them up a bit. It’s gold with a black comb on top, and again it’s an accessory that we’ve already seen several times in this line, but that doesn’t make it any less welcome. This one may wind up getting loaned out to one of my other figures.

Of course, every Skeleton Warrior needs his weapons, and this fellow comes with some cool ones. Like his armor, we’ve seen all of these weapons before, as they have been released with previous figures. First off, he has a short sword which he can carry through a strap on the back of his skirt. It has a leaf-shaped blade that’s painted silver, and a simple hilt painted gold. He can hold it perfectly in either of his boney hands.

Next up, he comes with a spear. It has a leaf shaped blade at one end, and a sharp, spiked cap at the other. The shaft is gold and the blade and cap are painted silver.

And finally, he has his shield. This is the same large round shield we’ve seen plenty of times before in the line. Here it’s gold with a black Kraken painted on the front and a black border running around the edge. The interior features a grab bar and a soft plastic sleeve, both of which allow him to hold it quite securely, and the front has a hammered metal finish sculpted into it.

The Skeleton comes with the same Boss Fight Studios stand that we’ve seen with each and every figure. He does not have peg holes in his feet, but they included these translucent pieces that will peg to the stand and you can slip his feet through them.

I really dig this figure a lot. Yeah, his legs are tough to work with and it’s hard to get them to not look a bit awkward when he’s standing on his own, but I can live with that. The skeleton body itself is practically worth the price of admission, but when you toss in all the cool weapons and gear, he really is an amazing little figure. This fellow was issued in one of the later waves of Series 1 and I actually missed out on his release completely. Luckily I was able to track one down at Kokomo Toys. I hope the folks at Boss Fight turn out something similar for their Series 2 line, because I’ll take as many Warrior Skeletons as I can get.

Mar 15 2018

Mythic Legions: Templar Legion Builder by The Four Horsemen

There’s a lot going on with Mythic Legions these days. The Advent of Decay Series looks like it’s on course for a Summer release, I just got an email to confirm my shipping address for The Colosseum figures, and T4H will be reopening pre-orders for Advent of Decay at the end of this month. For a while, I was keeping a reserve of figures to hold me over, opening and reviewing one of them every month or so. But now I’m down to my very last one and I can’t hold off any longer. Let’s check out the Templar Legion Builder!

T4H has yet to make any notable changes to the Mythic Legions packaging. Will they for the new series? I guess we’ll find out this Summer. In the meantime, I still like what we got. The figure comes on a generic card with a very large bubble that lets the figure do most of the talking. There’s a bubble insert with the Mythic Legions logo on the front and the side panel has a little bio personalized for the character. These are totally collector friendly as well. If you’re unfamiliar with the subtleties of the line, the Legion Builders are slightly cheaper figures with fewer paint apps, and intended as army fodder for collectors who take the word Legions in Mythic Legions very seriously. Also, if this guy looks familiar, that’s because he’s basically the troop-builder version of Sir Godfrey.

Since I already reviewed Sir Godfrey, I’ll focus on some comparisons here. And yes, it’s easy to see that this Templar has more in common with Godfrey than not. Below the neck, the body is identical from the armor to the tabard. The only difference in the armor sculpt is the that this Templar comes with a rather pronounced neck guard. However, he also comes with the more diminished one that Godfrey has, so you can swap it out if you want to make them look even more alike. The tabard is painted identically to Godfrey’s, with a striking red cross against an immaculate white background, but this Templar does not feature the gold accents on the armor that Godfrey’s has.

The Templar wears the same Great Helm as Godfrey with the same reinforced gold strips forming a cross on the front. However, the individual rivets on the rest of the helmet are not painted gold. And while Godfrey’s helmet features a noble plume coming off the top, this Templar has a simple spike. I dig it a lot!

As with most Mythic Legions figures, you also get a pair of shoulders, which peg into holes in the back. These are completely different from Godfrey’s, so between the reinforced neck guard and these new shoulders, the Templar does start to look a little more distinctive. I really like the combination of the two, and while it’s nice to have options, I display almost all of my Legions figures with their shoulder armor on. And I’ve got to say, even with about a dozen Mythic Legions Knights in my collection, the novelty has yet to wear off. I find myself still falling in love with these when opening another. The sculpted detail is as superb as ever, from the tiny rivets and scrollwork etched on the plates, to the exposed chain mail in the joints. And the silver armor matched with the classic white and red Templar colors makes for a fantastic looking figure. Shall we move on to accessories?

Obviously, the Templar comes with the same brown sword belt we’ve been getting with just about every figure. The sword itself is the same mold as Sir Godfrey’s, but the hilt is painted all in one color and it’s more of a pale bronze than the deeper gold used for the pommel and cross-guard on Godfrey’s. It has a nice, stout blade and looks like a serviceable weapon for a rank-and-file knight.

The shield, on the other hand, is identical to Godfrey’s in every way. It’s sort of a Kite Shield only with the sides curving inward and a crest along the top edge. The face is painted white with a red cross to match the tabard. On the inside, there’s a swiveling clip to attach it to the Templar’s wrist. I still like this system a lot as you can orientate the shield whichever way you like independent of the position of the arm. I still wish T4H would release plugs for the figures’ back with pegs so they can wear the shields on their backs when not using them.

Next up, he comes with a really cool halberd, and this is the first time I’ve seen this weapon in the line. It may have been released in one of the weapons packs, but it wasn’t bundled with any of the figures in my collection. The shaft is gold with a pointed cap at the bottom and the silver blade on the op features a rather stylish profile. I hope we get some more of these bundled with figures in the future.

And last but not least, the Templar comes with his standard set atop a pole. It’s the same idea as the one that came with Baron Volligar, only with a different crest, and obviously a different flag. T4H released a bunch of these battle standards in separate sets, but like the weapons packs, I passed on them so I could funnel more money into the actual figures. I can’t say I regret passing on them, but I am glad to finally have a couple.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Templars, and Sir Godfrey is one of my favorite figures in the entire Mythic Legion line. I KNOW I SAY THAT ABOUT ALMOST EVERY ONE! SHUT UP! THIS TIME I MEAN IT!!! So it should come as no surprise that this Templar Legion Builder is up there pretty high too. For a while I thought maybe he was too similar to Godfrey and I shouldn’t have bought him, but now I’m kind of wishing I had picked up two, so I could have them flanking Godrey on each side, one with the battle standard raised high and another with the halberd, both poised to defend their Commander. And that brings me to the end of my run on the current Mythic Legions line. I’m hoping to get word on the Coliseum figures shipping soon, but I only picked up two figures from that set, plus the Cyclops, which won’t be shipping until later. Then it’s just a short wait until Summer when Advent of Decay hits and I’ll be swimming in these awesome figures once again.

Just a quick disclaimer, there’s a very good chance I won’t be posting any content tomorrow due to real life intrusions. If I do get a chance to whip something up, it’ll probably post later in the afternoon, but no promises. Either way, I’ll be back for Anime Saturday. 

Mar 13 2018

Masters of the Universe Classics: Hawke by Super7

As promised, Tuesdays in March are going to be all about Masters of the Universe Classics, as Super7 shipped out their first Collector’s Choice Wave a couple of weeks back and I am pretty excited to keep tearing into these. Last week I opened up evil slaver bastard, Lodar. This week I’m checking out the only one of the Heroic Masters in the wave, Hawke, the “Heroic Feathered Fighter!” Um, really? Did you even watch that episode?

Ah, it feels so good to be seeing this packaging again! Super7 may be running the show now, but they’ve kept the packaging 100% faithful to the Matty Collector style. I still get a warm and fuzzy feeling every time I get ready to open one of these. I know some folks were miffed that Super7 didn’t move to a collector friendly package, but I’ve been ripping these things open for years now, and I’m not about to worry about that now! They also brought back the bios on the backs of the cards, which I certainly appreciate, because I know next to nothing about some of the characters in this wave. Of course, you don’t need to be a He-Manologist to recognize that Hawke is an Avionian. Oh yeah, and the bio declares that she’s also Stratos’ sister. And supposedly, she was under some kind of spell when she did all that betrayal shit, so I guess it doesn’t count.

While Hawke is part of the Collector’s Choice assortment, she would also fit right in with the Filmation figures. She appeared in the episode “Betrayal of Stratos” and oh, boy did I hate her voice. She was also a pretty horrible person. The figure adopts a simple sculpt to match the Filmation design and does a great job of it. Just like her animated counterpart, her costume features a sleeveless gray bodysuit with blue birdy-panties and maroon thigh-high boots. The only real sculpted detail on the whole outfit are the cut lines radiating down from her neck to her chest. Like I said, she’s simple, but she looks good and I do dig the combination of colors.

As an Avionian, Hawke features wings on her arms with sculpted feathers. These are attached to the bracelets on her wrists, and she has matching bands around her biceps. Much has been said about Super7’s female figures and how their hips are awkward. I haven’t been following HipGate too closely, but I’m pretty sure it involved this figure and the Filmation Teela. I also recall them saying they fixed it. Well, I’m not sure if it’s the same issue or not, but Hawke has a pretty wide thigh gap. I’m told that there are women out there who would kill for that kind of thigh gap, but in this case, I think it makes the figure look a little strange when standing. On the other hand, it’s not so much a problem when she’s in an action pose, so it didn’t take me too long to get over it.

I like the head sculpt a lot, as it’s basically a female version of Stratos, thankfully without the weird Amish-birdman beard. She has the very iconic Avionian goggles, a helmet with three crests running down the top, perfectly painted lips, and a short coif of reddish-orange hair spilling out the back of the helmet. There’s a little paint rubbed on my figure’s goggles just above her right cheek, but I really didn’t even notice it until getting in close with the camera. The head does sit pretty low on the neck and this obscures the neck entirely when viewing the figure from the front. Still, all in all it’s not a bad head. But wait… there’s more!

Hawke also comes with an extra head, which I believe is supposed to be Stratos’ wife, Delora. It’s pretty much the same head sculpt, but with longer blonde hair spilling out the back of the helmet. I think I may actually display the figure as Delora, because Hawke was such a lying, scheming, traitorous bitch in the cartoon. Maybe if she came with a cage, I’d keep the Hawke head on and put her in it. I hear the bird people have a thing about cages.

The articulation is similar to what we’ve been seeing in the Matty MOTUC figures, but with one huge difference that I neglected to mention in my Lodar review, and that’s the hinged wrists. Otherwise, she has rotating hinges in her shoulders, bicep swivels, and hinged elbows. The legs are ball jointes at the hips, have swivels at the tops of the boots, hinges in the knees, and both hinges and rockers in the ankles. There’s no waist swivel, but she does have a ball joint under her chest and the neck is ball jointed. But don’t expect to get much movement out of the neck joint. Between the sculpted hair and how low the head sits, it’s not much use. Also, my figure feels a bit more loosey-goosey than most of the other MOTUC figures in my collection. I didn’t have a problem with Lodar, so maybe this is just an isolated problem. She can stand and pose well, but it still feels like there’s too much play in some of the joints.

In addition to the extra head, Hawke comes two weapons. The first is her sword, which is a really cool and classic design. The hilt features a detailed sculpt with a ribbed grip that almost looks like it’s made to extend and contract for single or two-handed fighting. It has a short crossguard and a rather stout blade. It’s a pity there’s nowhere that she can wear it.

The other weapon is a gun, some kind of smokescreen gun, I think, which I’m not crazy about at all. It’s a weird and awkward design and she can’t really hold it all that convincingly. It does have a leather-like carry strap, which seems like it might be a first for Masters Classics. I think I’ll stick with the sword.

I think I was looking forward to Hawke the least out of this assortment, so I can’t really say she disappointed me. She’s not a bad figure, but there’s nothing about her that really blows me away either. Super7 did a nice job recreating the Filmation look and the extra head is a nice bonus, but there’s just a few too many little nagging things about this figure that keep her from being a homerun. I’m still happy to add her to my collection, and I’m pretty confident that she’s going to be the only underwhelming figure in the wave. But I guess we’ll test that theory next Tuesday as I open another figure in the assortment.

Hawke: “But why, Skeletor? I got you the Egg of Avion!”

Skeletor: “Myeahhh! Yes, and I’m rewarding your betrayal with more betrayal. It’s called irony, Birdbrain. Look it up!”

Mar 12 2018

Marvel Legends: Black Panther (Okoye Wave) by Hasbro

It’s time to start in on an all new wave of Marvel Legends, and hey, look at that! I’m actually getting to the Black Panther Wave while the movie is still in the theaters! But collecting Marvel Legends is like fighting Hydra, complete one wave and two more take its place. I still haven’t opened or reviewed the Sandman Wave, and I haven’t started buying the new Deadpool, Spider-Man, or Infinity War Waves. And I am most definitely not complaining, Hasbro. Keep ’em coming!

Yeah, I called this the Black Panther Wave, but only half of the figures, plus the Build-A-Figure, are from the movie. There are also three random comic-based figures tossed in, and only one of those has me excited, and no it’s not the half-naked Namor! I know we’re getting Everett Ross in a two-pack, but no Klaw or Shuri? That’s just unforgivable. Anyway, the packaging is the same old thing with some nice branding on the front to tie it into the film. Let’s take a look at the figure, and I’ll do some comparisons with the Civil War version along the way.

Appropriately enough, the new suit features an all new sculpt, so don’t go thinking Hasbro cheaped out on this one. Honestly, they probably could have and I wouldn’t have noticed the difference until the movie hit Blu-Ray and I could really scrutinize the design. Indeed, getting these two figures side by side is the first time I’ve really taken the time to look the changes made to the costume. I was surprised to find so many differences. The sculpted lines in the costume are all different patterns and the new costume doesn’t feature quite as many of them. But the most obvious difference for me is in the necklace, which is a lot simpler.

The coloring is the same matte black with silver accents and Hasbro did a nice job on the little bit of paint that’s here. All the silver apps are nice and clean on my figure. The new costume has some rather aggressive spike-like bits painted on his gauntlets, whereas the old look just had a painted border at the edges. You get more of those silver spikes around the tops of his his boots, where the older costume had none. All in all, there’s a little more silver on this release and it’s more of a pure silver, whereas the older figure was more of a silver-gray.

The masks are quite different too. I think the old one looks a lot more severe. The silver lines that converge on his brow make him look a lot more aggressive to me, as do the points on the ears. The new head is a little more rounded. If you were to ask me to choose a favorite between the two, I’d be leaning toward the Civil War release, but they both look great, and in the end it’s just a matter of taste.

You also get an unmasked head, and holy shit, if you ever want an example of Hasbro being a company looking to improve, just check out this two years of progress. I remember being rather favorable toward the head on the Civil War figure, but oh boy does it look dated compared to this one. The likeness to Chadwick Boseman is very much on point. If I’m going to nitpick, I think the hair could have been done a little better on the new figure. It’s a little too precise and has a painted on look to it. But still, overall, this is a fantastic new likeness. I really hope they can start bringing this kind of portraiture to the Star Wars Black Series at some point in time.

In terms of articulation, you get all the same points in the Civil War version. That means the arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows, swivels in the biceps, and hinged pegs in the wrists. The pegs in the wrists allow you to swap hands, between fists or attack hands. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles feature both hinges and rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch under the chest, and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. So what’s the difference? Hasbro upgraded to the lateral hinges in the shoulders, and that’s pretty damn cool.

 

Apart from the extra hands and head, T’Challa doesn’t come with any additional accessories, and that’s fine. I can’t really think of anything he’s missing.

If I had missed out on the Civil War release, I’d be very content to have this figure representing the MCU Black Panther in my collection. Yes, aesthetically I gave the edge to the previous one, but this is still a beautiful figure and the added articulation makes it all the more fun to play with. Not to mention the unmasked head is a huge improvement. Initially, I wasn’t really sure we needed another Black Panther figure so soon, but this release proves me wrong. On the next Marvel Monday, I’ll check out Killmonger!

Mar 10 2018

KanColle: Destroyer Teruzuki (Moon Viewing Version) by Taito

Welcome to another Anime Saturday! I’m a little bummed out today because my vacation is coming to a close, so I’m drowning my sorrows this morning in coffee and opening up a new figure to cheer me up. It’s been a little while since I dipped my toe into that sweet, sweet pool of Kantai Collection prize figures, so it’s time to remedy that by unboxing another one of Taito’s lovely Fleet Girls. This time I’m checking out the Akizuki Class Destroyer, Teruzuki! This is the “Moon Viewing” version which is sort of akin to the “Day Off” figures, some of which I’ve looked at before. I’ve actually been on the hunt for SEGA’s Super Premium version of Teruzuki, as that one is all geared up, but I have yet to find a domestic source for her. In the meantime, I wound up buying this one just to get her in my collection. And also because Taito usually does some really nice work with these figures.

Teruzuki comes in a fully enclosed box with some shots of the figure on the front and side panels. It’s an attractive enough box, but these things are so flimsy that they’re usually pretty rough by the time they get to me. This one was even wrapped in plastic and it still took a pounding. The only English on the box is on the top and bottom panels where it has the figure’s name. You get the ubiquitous JAMMA logo in the upper corner and there are perforations to make handles on the sides.

The back panel of the box shows her paired up with her sister-ship, Akizuki. These two Fleet Girls are sold separately, but they’re actually meant to be displayed together. Inside the box, you get some extra bits of reinforcing cardboard and the figure is wrapped in plastic with a little minor assembly required. And as always, these figures are scaled at about 8-inches or so.

And here she is all set up and looking adorable. I really dig the pose here. Teruzuki is leaning forward and proudly offering up a box of Dango, which as I understand it are like sweet dumplings and are often enjoyed at the Otsukimi, or Moon Viewing Ceremony. Her sailor uniform is pretty typical stuff with a short pleated skirt, black with white stripes and a white top with a black collar with white stripes to match the skirt. She also has a bright orange neckerchief to add a little color to the ensemble, and it’s secured below her collar with her Anti-Aircraft Fire Detector. What a great little detail! Her outfit is rounded out by a pair of white knee socks and tall red rudder boots.

From the back, we can see that despite this being a leisure figure, she still has her arming mount on the back of her waist. One of the reasons I really want to get a regular version of Teruzuki is because her gear includes a really cool and distinctive pair of drum magazines that she wears on her thighs.

The portrait is nice and simple. Her blue eyes are printed looking off to the side and she’s offering a little smile. I love the golden propellers at the ends of her pigtails. Her headband is also marked “61” in Japanese, as she is part of the 61st Destroyer Division.

Her mound of tasty Dango are neatly stacked in a pyramid with white linen unfolded to display them. If anyone out there knows how to make Dango, be sure and send me a batch because they sound delicious.

Like the fan favorite Fleet Girl, Shimakaze and her Rouchouchan, Teruzuki is accompanied by her own adorable little sentient gun turret, in this case referred to as Chou-10cm-hou-chan. This little guy is mounted on a ball jointed post and hovering over the base, so you can position him whichever way you like. The guns are articulated and he has one view port closed to make it look like he’s winking. He also looks like he’s sucking down a Dango, probably the one missing from the top of the pyramid. As you can see the base is a simple clear plastic hexagon and Teruzuki is positioned on it so the flat side behind her can sit flush with the opposite side of her sister ship’s base. There’s no name inscribed, which is fine by me. Taito doesn’t tend to put the girls’ names on the bases.

And here’s a shot of her with Taito’s Battleship Yamato “Day Off” figure, just to show that they scale really well together. The OCD in me wishes they would stick with one style of base, but I guess they each have their merits. Also… So much food being served… now I’m hungry.

It’s been a while since I bought this figure, but I seem to recall her being a whopping $13 shipped off of Amazon. Honest, folks. I don’t get any kickbacks from mentioning Amazon, but it really is a great place to grab some of these figures. Anyway, I really like Teruzuki a lot. Taito continues to deliver some especially sharp sculpts and clean, vibrant paint for figures in this price range, and all with a wonderful attention to the character’s personality and appearance. Naturally, I picked her up with the “Moon Viewing” version of Akizuki, and I’ll be checking out that figure next Saturday, as long as time permits.

Mar 9 2018

Masters of the Universe Classics: Quakke by Super7

The last Tuesday of the month is not usually something to get upset about, but in this case it means I’m opening up the last figure in my “Collector’s Choice” wave of Masters Classics from Super7. Yeah, I’ve got the next wave pre-ordered, but who the hell knows when they’ll ship, so if I want any MOTUC love in the interim, I may have to dig into my stash and open some old Matty ones. In case you hadn’t noticed, Super7 packed some nice variety into this wave. We got a character from the Mini-Comic, we got a Filmation style character from the cartoon, we got a member of the Evil Snake Men, and now we’re getting an Evil Space Mutant. Let’s take a look at Quakke!

New company, same old packaging. Super7 wisely kept the presentation intact after they took over the reigns. I’m sure this was a huge deal for collectors who do the Mint On Card thing and didn’t want anything to change. Super7 even restored the bios to the backs of the cards. I don’t have a lot of appreciation for the New Adventures of He-Man cartoon, or even the toys for that matter, but I do love me some Evil Space Mutants. These guys are fun, colorful, and creative, and I think the designs really carried the torch for what the vintage toy line was all about. I also like the idea of Skeletor getting into space and having to find a whole new collection of buffoons to order about. I was really excited about getting this one, so let’s see if he lives up to those expectations.

And just when I thought these Space Mutants couldn’t get any crazier looking Quakke shows up and drops the mic! For starters, this is a crazy complex sculpt and his ramshackle techno-suit is just brimming with detail. The torso is covered with a soft plastic vest, which also attaches to the shoulder armor, and even the right shoulder has a hose attached to it that runs down the arm and connects just below the elbow.

His armor is a mix of copper and silver colored plates, with sections of a black, ribbed under-suit showing through here and there. I love all the hoses and rivets, and vents, and mismatched plates. He also has a big screen on his chest that looks like the read-out on an oscilloscope. Beyond the copper and silver armor, he sports some blue segmented pants, and the bare sections of his arms reveal his red skin.

Quakke’s got a crazy looking red mug with a pair of bugged out eyes and a snarling mouth, displaying a whole wall of teeth. His ugly face is framed by his copper colored helmet, which looks as haphazard as the rest of his suit, and also appears to have taken a direct hit at the top, because there’s a nasty crack running down it.

Quakke comes with his signature weapon, which also happens to have one of the best weapon names ever: The Grabatron Meteormace! It’s actually a large three-fingered grabbing claw on the end of a stick designed to hold some meteor chunk he found. “Hey, look! It’s a rare space rock! I’m going to invent something to grab it with so I can hit people with it!” If that doesn’t perfectly sum up the Space Mutants, I don’t know what does. The claw isn’t articulated, but it does hold the meteor surprisingly well thanks to three little notches in it. The meteor also splits apart like the one with the original toy. I seem to remember the original just having rock textures inside, but this one houses some kind of crazy electronic instruments. I’m not sure what that’s all about, but it looks cool.

Quakke was a great figure to end this wave on and he does not disappoint! Super7 took the original toy design and ran with it, adding so much more detail and personality to what was already a pretty unique looking figure. Plus, his weapon is crazy and adds a lot of value to the overall package. He also looks great lined up with my Matty Evil Space Mutants. I’d say he’s easily tied with Fang-Or as my favorite in this assortment and he has definitely left me wanting more.

Mar 9 2018

Alien: Lambert in Compression Suit by NECA

The folks at NECA are damn busy people trying to give the proper love to a lot of different franchises. That’s why I can forgive them for taking so long in getting back to releasing figures the original Alien film. I also get that a lot of this has to do with what likeness rights they can and cannot secure and other behind-the-scenes stuff. But I do love Alien and I was always hoping they’d come back to filling out the roster of the Nostromo crew. On the downside, there’s still no Brett or Parker, but hey look… It’s Lambert!

Yes, Joan Lambert, navigator on board the Nostromo and one of the crewmembers chosen to accompany the ill-fated survey of planet LV-426. She made out a lot better than Kane on the survey, but the Xenomorph later punched her ticket back on the ship, and off-camera no less! NECA has been sticking to the sealed clamshell packaging for the regular releases in their Aliens and Predator lines. And I’m cool with that. They may not be collector friendly, but they do give up that wonderful rush of pure plastic fumes when I cut into them.

Lambert is the fourth figure based on the Compression Suit body sculpt. We got both Ripley, Dallas, and Kane from the original film and later Amanda Ripley from the game Alien Isolation. Hey, it’s an amazing sculpt, so I don’t mind that NECA dipped their bucket into this well more than a few times. Of course, each of the suits featured their own unique deco, and Lambert’s may feature my favorite coloring of the bunch.

Indeed, even now I still found myself lost in all the rich details of this sculpt upon opening her up. High points include the ornamentation on the shoulders, the quilting on the mid-section and upper arms, the lacings on the elbows and knees, and the the pads that are strapped onto the lower legs. Extra props go out for the little things, like the painted patch on her left ass-cheek and the personalized strip across her chest. I also love the green-coppery patina that they gave to the parts that are supposed to be metal. The suits look old and well-worn, and that really adds to their character. Indeed, the entire design of the suit looks like just the kind of DIY patch job that a commercial towing vessel might use. It’s both wildly imaginative and hideously practical and it gave NECA an opportunity to run wild with the detail.

Lambert comes with two heads, which is pretty cool considering Kane only came with the Facehugger head, something I’m still a little bit miffed about. Anyway, this is a pretty solid likeness to the Veronica Cartwright.

The alternate head features her with a horrified look and I think this sculpt is downright amazing. I would imagine that it’s hard enough to do decent likenesses, but when you toss in rather extreme expressions, it seems like it would be a lot tougher. Either way, NECA nailed this one perfectly, and I like that it also features her wearing the hood for the suit, while the other one just had her sculpted hair. Another cool detail is that her hood is completely different than the tanker-style cap on the Dallas figure. NECA just loves all those little details!

The helmet is identical to the Kane’s and comes apart into two halves. To put it on, you just pop the head, put on the lower piece, reattach the head and snap on the top piece. The sculpt here is every bit as impressive as the rest of the suit with all sorts of little controls and bits and bobs littered around it. The oxygen tank/backpack includes some detailed paint apps as well, and I love the two furnace-style knobs stuck onto the back. There are two tubes coming off the top of the tanks, which plug into the slots on the helmet.

Articulation on the figure is great on paper, with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. There’s also a ball joint under the chest and in the neck. The sculpt, however, does impede a lot of movement. For example, there’s virtually no range of motion for the bend in the elbows, but the suits didn’t look terribly agile, so I’m fine with that.

Lambert comes with two accessories, and they are the same ones that came with Dallas and Kane. First up is the pistol. I’ve said it before, I absolutely love this design. Like most everything else in the Nostromo equipment lockers, this looks like a wonderful patch job. At the core it looks like a traditional 20th Century handgun grip and trigger assembly, but with a cylindrical body and a cone for the laser emitter. There’s a scope mounted on top, and what looks like a laser scope slung underneith, because who doesn’t need a laser scope for their laser gun! There’s some great diamond texturing and I can even make out the detail in the brackets that hold the extra bits on. Lambert’s right hand is sculpted to hold the gun. Oh yeah, and I still think the loop holster is a rubbish design, though. It’s tough to get the gun to hang in it, and if I needed to fast draw that weapon I’d probably be dead by the time I got it out.

The flashlight is just a box with a light emitter on the end and something protruding out of the back. The left hand is sculpted to work really well with the carry strap.

Lambert is an excellent addition to the Nostromo crew and another way to showcase this fantastic suit sculpt. And NECA, if you want to get your money’s worth out of the likeness rights here, I’d be happy to pick up Lambert in her regular jumpsuit as well. I was able to grab Lambert for about $20 and I’m still hunting for the two Xenomorphs that make up the other two-thirds of this assortment. And yes, I’m still going to hold out hope that some day we’ll get a Brett and Parker two-pack, but until then, it’s nice to have the LZ-426 survey team complete.

Mar 8 2018

Red Sonja “Scars of the She-Devil” Sixth-Scale Figure (Deluxe Edition) by Phicen/TB League

Phicen, who now seem to be calling themselves TB League, is quickly becoming my favorite Sixth-Scale action figure company behind Hot Toys. Equipped with their always impressive seamless female bodies, they’ve been turning out some amazing boxed figure sets based on some indie comic properties, as well as totally original designs. So far I’ve reviewed three of their four figures from Zenescope Comics, as well as Dynamite Comics’ Vampirella. I’m getting really behind on all my Sixth-Scale reviews, so today I’m checking out the Deluxe Edition of Red Sonja, yet another femme fatale from Dynamite Comics.

This is Phicen’s second release of Red Sonja, dubbed “Scars of the She-Devil.” The first sold out very quickly. This time around, they fixed some complaints about the head sculpt and hair color, gave her a battle damaged look by adding some scarring, decked her out with new accessories and changed up her armor. In short, this isn’t a re-release to add more figures into circulation, but rather an entirely new version. And because this is the Deluxe Edition, they bundled her with a diorama style display base. The figure comes in this massive mailer box with the figure’s regular box inside and a giant brick of styrofoam to hold the base.

Sonja’s box looks great and it’s much wider than most standard Sixth-Scale figure boxes. It’s fully enclosed with a tri-fold front flap securing to both sides by magnets. The front and side panels have photos of the actual figure and the back panel has more photos as well as a little blurb about Red Sonja herself. Lift off the top to reveal a foam tray with the figure and her accessories, and as usual the head comes separate and wrapped in plastic to protect the hair and paint. I have to say that the quality and presentation here is really premium and it blows away the flimsy sleeved window boxes that we’ve been getting from Hot Toys lately.

As mentioned, Sonja comes out of the box in need of having her head attached. You also have to gird on her her sword belt, but apart from that she’s all set to go. Not that there would be a lot to put on her otherwise. Her outfit is appropriately nearly non-existant, with just a scale mail bikini top held up by some rather ornate shoulders, and a couple of patches of scale mail to protect her coming and going down there in her nether regions. The scale armor bits are sculpted plastic and they look great with bright and lustrous metallic silver paint. These pieces are secured with brown leather straps, and they stay put quite well while posing her. She also has a pair of bronze guards on her thighs and some great looking brown boots and gauntlets. Both feature some nice sculpted rumpling to make them look like leather, and the gauntlets have some etched scrollwork as decorations. While the boots look great, they do not allow for much range of motion in the ankles, so her feet won’t always be flush with the ground in those wide stances, but I found that she balances really well. As for the gloves, swapping out her hands means swapping out the whole glove, and oh boy is that a pain in the ass. I’ve since settled with giving her a weapon gripping hand on the right and a relaxed hand on the left, but there are more to choose from if you’re feeling particularly patient. I’ll also note that Sonja also comes with a bronze band for her left upper arm. You can have a look at it on the package shot, but I’ve opted to forgo that piece in favor of a more minimalist presentation.

The sword belt hangs loose around Sonja’s hips and holds a sculpted plastic scabbard for her sword, which is most comfortable when slung just behind her right hip and sweeping across the back of her legs. I think the body they chose is a pretty good one. It’s appropriately tanned, rather fit, and not as ridiculously endowed in the chest as some of their more prolific body types. As always, that seamless skin covers a stainless steel skeleton, which is capable of some very cool articulation. They still don’t have the look of bent elbows quite right, but everything is really uncanny, especially the knees and abs. As the name suggests, this “Scars of the She-Devil” version of Sonja features various battle wounds, which was something I wasn’t so sure I was going to like, but turned out looking pretty damn good. Not only do they look realistic, but I think the design team applied just the right amount of them without going overboard. I also dig how they’re all positioned on her front, because Red Sonja always faces danger head on!

Speaking of heads, Sonja’s got a right pretty one. I think the original release had a decent portrait, but I like this one a lot too. As to which is better? It probably just comes down to a matter of taste. Either way, the paintwork on the eyes and lips is quite good, as are the eyebrows and eyelashes. Phicen isn’t near Hot Toys quality on their faces, but then again these aren’t real likenesses, so they probably aren’t trying to be. As a result, there’s a little more doll than action figure in these heads, but I’m OK with that. The hair color has actually been toned down a bit, some may argue it’s still too bright, but it’s definitely not as electric as the first release. Again, I dig it just fine. It comes with some product in it to keep it from going all crazy, and I found that it isn’t too hard to keep under control. One nitpick I will grant is that her rather serene expression doesn’t lend well to action poses, but I don’t think we’ll see a point where they start including alternate heads, because quite frankly these boxes are stuffed with enough goodies as it is. Besides, I tend to display my Sixth-Scale figures more in the museum-style, so this expression will do nicely. Let’s move on to the accessories!

First up is, Sonja’s sword, which fits fairly snugly into the scabbard on her belt. The sword features a sculpted handle that looks pretty close to what I remember seeing her carry in the comics. The grip is painted brown, while the pommel and crossguard have a bronze finish. It also features a diecast metal blade, which was a damn nice surprise. In the past Phicen accessories haven’t always felt terribly high end, so it’s nice to see they’re working on improving. The blade has some blood spray caked onto the blade, and despite having a nice heft to it, her grip can support its weight securely.

Next, she comes with a sculpted plastic shield, which features a brown surface that’s all nicked and scarred up. There’s a silver band running around the edge, silver ovals studding the middle circlet, and at the center it has a silver disc with a single spike protruding from it. On the flipside, there’s an elastic strap to go over the inside of her elbow and a grab bar, which works really well even with the relaxed hand.

The last piece in her arsenal is her massive battle axe. This thing has a wicked looking blade with silver edges to make them look sharpened. There’s some gore smeared on the blade as well, which looks a little over-the-top, but damn I love it. The grip is sculpted to look like it’s wrapped with brown leather strips and there’s some red cord tied around the bottom of the shaft. Unlike the sword, the axe is all plastic, and that’s probably a good thing, because it would be extremely heavy if the blade were metal. As great as they are, a couple of weapons and a shield isn’t exactly a crazy amount of accessories for a so-called Deluxe figure, but then I’ve yet to bring out the centerpiece of the set… Behold, the base!

Yes, the Deluxe version of Red Sonja comes with this stepped rock base with a dragon’s head and right claw rising up out of it. This thing is outrageous. I literally could not believe it when I took it out of the styrofoam. It’s crazy heavy and the sculpting and paintwork are absolutely superb. It requires a little bit of assembly, the dragon neck plugs into one slot and the claw into another. I can’t get over all the detail in the dragon’s mouth and the intricate scales.

The rocks have a number of foot pegs offering several options for posing Sonja on it. Yup, foot pegs. Phicen includes peg holes on most of the costumed figures’ feet just like a 3 3/4-inch or 6-inch action figure. The pegs hold fairly well and I’ve yet to have Sonja take a shelf dive, so whether you want to just stand her on it, or actually have her battling the dragon, there are some pretty cool display options here. I think the base only added like $25 to the Deluxe Edition’s price, which seems like a steal to me. It elevates what was already a really great figure to an epic showpiece.

Thinking back, I remember how broken-hearted I was when Red Sonja’s first release sold out before I could put in my order. Phicen’s figures are like that. Some sell out in pre-orders, other linger around for a while, but either way once they sell out, the prices on the secondary market skyrocket. Now, I realize that things sometimes happen for a reason, and I’m glad I missed out on that release, because I love everything about this version more. The armor is cooler, the axe and shield are better, and I even turned out liking the battle damage. But it was the addition of the dragon base that really goes above and beyond. The retail on this Deluxe Edition was $180, which puts her about middle of the road for high end Sixth Scale figures, but when taking in the complete package, I feel a great sense of value with this release, and that’s not something I can say about a lot of my Sixth Scale purchases these days.

Mar 6 2018

Masters of the Universe Classics: Lodar by Super7

Holy shit, it sure was weird to type that title, and yes the first time I did it, I typed “by Mattel” out of sheer mucle memory. Nonetheless, when Mattel decided to shut down Matty Collector it didn’t mean the end for Masters Classics. Nope, instead they turned over the reigns to Super7, a company that I knew only as the ones that gave birth to the ReAction figure line before they gave that away to Funko. Although they still do ReAction style figures, so I’m not sure what all happened there. Anyway, Super7 have actually tested the waters and turned out a couple of “Ultimate Editions” of previously released MOTUC figures, but the ones that arrived at my doorstep last week are the first Super7 Masters for me. It’s been a long wait. Indeed, it’s been so long that I couldn’t even tell you when I pre-ordered these. Needless to say I’m really excited to start opening these up!

This is a case of the “Collector’s Choice” assortment, which consists of four all new characters from various corners of Masters lore. Super7 also simultaneously released a “Club Grayskull” assortment, which is a wave of four Filmation-style versions of previously released characters. As much as I’d like to collect the Filmation style, I exercised some rare self control and told myself I wasn’t about to buy a second version of each figure I already own. But four new figures based on characters that haven’t been done yet? I signed up for that in a heartbeat. And then I signed up for it again when the pre-order dropped for the second assortment. The figures were $35 each with the caveat that you had to buy them by the wave, so that meant $139 per assortment and no cherry-picking. I’ll admit that all-or-nothing clause kind of pissed me off at first, until I realized I was going to buy all four anyway. Also, I think if you buy one of the two waves you can cherry-pick figures from the other? I’m not to clear on that point. At least they didn’t make us buy all eight, because if they did I probably would have. Anyway, that’s enough of a preamble, let’s dig into the first figure and he is Lodar!

Well, that sure looks familiar! The packaging is pretty much identical to what we’ve been getting all along from Matty Collector. Each carded figure even comes in the same style mailer box. Now, I do tear these open, so it wouldn’t have bothered me much if they had changed the packaging. Hell, if they shipped them in baggies and knocked some dollars off, I probably would have been fine with that too. But, it’s still nice to get that clear continuity in terms of the presentation. I’ve always loved this package design and if I were a rich man with a lot of space, I’d have doubles of all of these figures to keep sealed. One key difference on the card is that Super7 brought back the bios on the back. Some of you may remember these were dropped from the final figures in the Matty Collector line. I’m happy to see them return, because without it, I would have no idea who Lodar is. His tagline calls him the “Evil Master of Celestial Magic” but he looks more like a thug, and his bio kind of supports that. Apparently he’s from one of the mini-comics and he’s some asshole who captured a city called Targa and enslaved the population. Magic comes into the picture somewhere, but I think, “Evil Slaver Bastard” would have been a better tagline.

Out of the package, Lodar looks like someone who just stepped out of a Road Warrior movie. Only purple. This is a really simple figure, but I have to say I dig him a lot. From the waist down he’s got a typical Masters-style belt but eschews the classic furry diaper for a pair of slick black trousers with a purple, segmented V drawing attention to his groinular region. He’s also got some wicked spikes on the soles of his boots. Above the waist, he’s showing off a lot of that flashy purple skin and the plastic they used is fantastically vibrant. He’s got a pair of spiked wrist bracers, a strap on his right bicep, a half-vest, which is tied at the front with a giant cross-stitch, and a pair of spiked shoulders that he may or may not have borrowed from Beast Man’s wardrobe.

Just about everything about Lodar feels like the same old Masters Classics line.  I know some people were reporting some issues with their figures, but I don’t have any with Lodar. In fact, Matty was getting a little sloppy with the QC on the last batches of figures, and it’s nice to not see any of that evident here. The hands feel a little softer than most of my other MOTUC figures, but that just makes it easier for me to get the weapon in his hand, and he holds onto it quite firmly. The buck seems more or less standard MOTUC fare and I’m not going to break down the articulation because I’ve reviewed over a hundred figures in this line and it’s all been the same. I suppose you could argue that the level of articulation here is getting a bit dated, but I wouldn’t want to see them change things up this late in the game. Oh yeah, he does have ankle rockers, which hasn’t always been the case.

The head sculpt continues to drive home the Road Warrior-y vibe that I get off of Lodar. It’s a tight-fitting helmet with spiked mohawk and a face mask with breather slits. The only aspect of Lodar’s face that’s showing are his eyes. The closer shots show off the hammered metal pattern on his shoulder armor, as well as the sculpted rivets. If this were still part of the actual Masters toyline, it would have been cool for them to give Lodar a post-apocalyptic dune buggy with a skull on the front. Yup, you can probably tell I don’t know anything about this character.

Lodar comes with a nasty looking spiked mace as his weapon of choice. It’s a simple weapon, mostly black with purple spikes and matches his own color palate rahter well, proving that even evil slaver bastards know how to accessorize.

Lodar also comes with this set of manacles and chains attached to a disc, which I presume is supposed to be bolted down to a dungeon floor. This is a fun accessory, especially if you’re into some weird bondage shit with your action figures. The cuffs are made of soft plastic and clip easily around most of the MOTUC figures’ wrists. Ironically, it’s kind of hard to get them on Lodar because of his spiked bracers. The plate their attached to doesn’t actually secure to anything, but a little blue-tack would probably work wonders getting it to stick to the floor or even to a ceiling.

As I think I mentioned earlier, I pre-ordered these figures so long ago that I forgot about them for quite a while. It wasn’t until pre-orders for the second wave came up and Super7 started talking about these shipping out that I started to get really excited. And when they finally arrived I realized how much I’ve been missing this line. After getting at least one MOTUC figure a month for I don’t know how many years, I was really sorry to see the line wind down, although my bank account was probably relieved. There have been some rocky roads between then and now, but I’m delighted to see that Super7 is taking up the reigns and if Lodar is any indication, it looks like Masters Classics is in good hands, I just wish Super7 could have done the same for ThunderCats. Anyway, I’ve got three more of these figures to look at, and I’ll be clearing Tuesdays for the rest of the month to do just that!

Mar 5 2018

Marvel Legends (Man-Thing Wave): Man-Thing by Hasbro

It’s that time again at the end of a wave of Marvel Legends where I get to collect all the pieces together and cobble together my Build-A-Figure. Now, I don’t always like to admit it, but there are holes in my Marvel knowledge that come from being selective about my reading. There are characters I only know by name and history, and Man-Thing is certainly one of them. I don’t think he makes an appearance in a single book on my shelf. Still, he’s got a truly twisted background that I really should explore someday, but for now I’ll just have to be satisfied knowing that he’s one of the few Marvel characters that originated from my adopted home state of Florida.

Man-Thing consists of six parts, spread out over the entirety of the aptly named Man-Thing Wave. That includes two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head. Now, I’m not one of them fancy plantologists, but I was able to figure out how to put him together. Doing so, however, require a lot of strength and tolerance for pain in my hands, because this guy did not go together easily. Both the head and the legs required a lot of force and left plant texturing imprinted on the palms of my hands.

While I don’t read his books, I’ve always really liked Man-Thing’s design. It reminds me of something out of the old Inhumanoids action figure line. Hasbro really went all out on the sculpt with this fellow, and other than the bottoms of his feet, I can’t find even the tiniest spot that isn’t covered with some kind of intricately sculpted veggie motif. Even the hinges in his elbows are covered in sculpted detail. That’s pretty cool.

Amidst the tangle of vines, you get some shaggy looking grass hanging off his forearms, palm fronds on his feet, some mushroom caps jutting out of his right thigh, and a mossy buildup on his back. Despite the overload of detail in the sculpt, there isn’t much going on with the paint on this figure. The body itself is mostly just green plastic, with some wash to give some areas more of a yellowish-green look and give the sculpt some depth. Also, he does have his fingernails and toenails painted. I guess what I’m trying to say is some individual paint hits to some of the specific detail would have been nice, but still the figure still looks great. Nonetheless, I’ll bet some people with skills (not myself) could do a beautiful job painting this figure up.

The head sculpt is every bit as good as the body, and this is where I think this design really shines. I noted earlier that he reminds me a bit of The Inhumanoids line, Tendrill to be specific, although going back to a picture of that figure there really isn’t that much resemblance. It’s probably the distinctive tendrils that are formed from his uni-brow that gives him that Inhumanoids/Eldar God vibe. Those rooty tendrils are painted brown and they frame his large red eyes. It really is a great design and this figure carries it splendidly.

The articulation is pretty standard BAF fare. He has rotating hinges in his hips, and these come already attached. The legs attach via the rotating hinges in his thighs. He also has double hinges in his knees, and both hinges and rockers in the ankles. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The torso has both a swivel in the waist and a hinge for an ab crunch. The neck is ball jointed, but because of the hunched shoulder he can mostly just tilt his head from side to side and look up just a little bit. I should note that my figure’s left arm was fused at the elbow, but a little heat loosened it up.

Of course, in the category of comic book based plant-thing figures, Mattel still takes the top prize with their DC Universe Classics Swamp Thing figure from a little ways back. It’s probably not fair comparing them, since Man-Thing is a retail Build-A-Figure and Swamp Thing was an SDCC Exclusive that ran around thirty or forty bucks, but I couldn’t help myself from checking them out side-by-side. Swamp Thing’s spongy rubber skin is still really cool, but it’s the extra paint apps that really make Swamp Thing stand out.

One of the greatest things about universe building with action figures is that it lets me discover characters I had little to do with before. Sometimes it’s just the design and artistry that I dig, but more often then not it will spark an interest and I’ll go find some books and do some reading. That’s probably going to be the case here with Man-Thing.

And that’s another fantastic wave of Marvel Legends in the bag. Part of me wishes that this was a full-on Netflix Wave with both Luke Cage and Danny Rand included, but then I realize that Blade and Bullseye are my two favorites in this assortment and I should probably be careful about what I wish for. Either way, Hasbro continues is still killing it with Legends. I was originally going to backtrack to either the Sandman Wave or the SDCC Battle For Asgarde set, but instead I think I’ll jump to the Black Panther Wave next, so I can actually look at some of those figures while the movie is still in theaters!