Monthly Archives: October 2020

Oct 30 2020

Halloween III: Season of the Witch Box Set by NECA

Happy Happy Halloween, folks! Well, for tomorrow anyway! This year, I was patient enough to put something away until October so I could have a special review for the occasion. And what better item than this celebration of the twisted novelty company, Silver Shamrock from Halloween III!! It’s well known that this flick did not get a lot of love when it was released, and that’s understandable, as it was an attempt to reboot The Shape’s own franchise into an anthology series, writing him out of it. As a teenage horror hound, I was obsessed with this movie when I first caught it on cable, because it was so damn dark, demented, and batshit crazy. It’s got stolen ancient ruins, an evil corporation, killer cyborgs, and Celtic magic amplified through modern technology! It plays out like part mystery-suspense thriller and part horror film, with a dash of sci-fi thrown in for good measure. And as much as I love Michael Myers, I still enjoy Season of the Witch more than probably two-thirds of the Halloween sequels. Of course fast forward to today and the movie has grown into its own and developed a decent cult following, but that’s a given because if it didn’t we wouldn’t be talking about Halloween III merch 38 years later. And who else to bring it to us but NECA. I’m still kicking myself for not picking up their Tom Atkins Night of the Creeps figure to stand in as Dr. Dan Challis and display with these guys. Maybe I can still pick it up on Ebay. HOW MUCH!?! Well, f’ck me!!!

NECA loves to wow collectors with presentation without going too over the top, and the packaging here does indeed wow me. This set really does feel like something that could have been offered as a special Convention Exclusive. The box has an illustrated sleeve with the film’s logo on the front and the Silver Shamrock logo on the back. There are also illustrations of The Big Three masks on the side panels. Otherwise what we get here is understated and all in black.

Pull off the sleeve to reveal the box inside and you get an advertisement for Silver Shamrock masks on the back, reenacted with the figures and accessories. This looks exactly like something you would find in the pages of Fangoria magazine back in the day. There’s even an order form to clip out! The front has a window that shows you the Trick-or-Treaters, each wearing one of The Big Three masks, and their accessories all laid out. I’m not sure whether NECA considers these part of their Retro-MEGO-Inspired line, as they are fully articulated bodies wearing softgoods clothing. but the packaging and wealth of extras make these feel more like their Ultimates series to me. I guess it doesn’t really matter either way. Let’s open this thing up and we’ll start with a look at The Witch!

The Witch is the most unique of the three as he’s wearing a sort of satanic gown. The body is covered in a black robe with a jagged cut at the bottom and cuffs of the sleeves. There’s a smock-like piece that covers from his neck down to his waist. This garment has orange borders and some orange ribbons tied just below his neck. The hood is sculpted in plastic, to show that it’s part of the mask, although it could be removed if you wanted to. The tailoring on the costume is very well done and it fits the figure well. The gown is a little snug, but I can still get some decent movement out of the figure beneath it. The ribbons are a bit much, and I may wind up retying them and snipping them down a bit. I really appreciate the work NECA put into sculpting the shoes, as each figure has different style shoes as a sort of reminder that these are kids wearing Halloween costumes.

As with all of the masks in this set, The Witch is a real work of art… warts and all! The sculpt and paint are everything I expect from NECA’s craftsmanship and attention to detail. I especially like the paint around the eyes that show a bit of the kid’s face and eyes behind the mask. Yeah, technically the hood part of the mask was actually fabric in the film, but I think they went the right direction going with plastic as it’s just easier to manage. Besides, it blends pretty well with the cloth outfit.

Next up is The Skeleton, wearing a black jumpsuit with a skeleton printed on it and a pair of sneakers! This little guy looks great! This figure really emphasizes what a great idea it was to go for softgoods outfits, as the effect really does look like a kid wearing a costume.  There are a few loose threads here and there, but otherwise the tailoring on the costume is excellent and the printed bones look especially nice.

The Skeleton mask is a beautiful sculpt with some crazy attention to detail. The cracks and fissures and pitting just goes to show you that Silver Shamrock made some great looking masks. I especially like the slit in the back allowing for it to be put on over the head. All three masks have the deadly Silver Shamrock tag, made with the shavings of ancient Celtic magic stone baked right in! It’s perfect for transmitting those child-killing techno-druid-magic signals! GOD I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! I can’t help but admire how NECA was able to get such tiny printing on that tag and still have it be readable. If I were to make a little gripe, it would be that I’m pretty sure when Dr. Challis is captured and has the mask on him you could see his eyes through the holes, but here you can’t.

And last up is the Jack O’Lantern (or is that Jack O’Lantern Witch?) and he’s always been my favorite of the three masks. I would have killed to own a replica of this one when I was a teenager. Of course, now I’m grown up and they are available, but I’ve yet to pull the trigger. Maybe someday! This costume is basically the Skeleton jumpsuit without the skeleton printed on it, but once again we get a different pair of shoes  Yeah, of all three costumes, this is kind of the laziest, but at least the kid added a hat for good measure.

Yup, the Silver Shamrock mask was just the pumpkin, but later in the movie we saw an enterprising young trick-or-treater add the witch hat, so you can go either way since the hat is removable and simply pegs into the stem on top of the mask. From behind we can see the Silver Shamrock tag, but what’s this? They cheaped out and didn’t add the slit in the back like they did on the Skeleton mask? Nope, they got it right. That slit wasn’t on this mask in the movie. I do wish they had included the pirate hat that we saw one kid wearing on top of this mask in the flick, but now I’m just getting greedy.

Each of the figures comes with their own Trick-Or-Treat bag. If we’re going by the Ad on the back of the box, Skeleton gets a fancy printed one, while the other two just get paper bags. The printed one is laminated, while the other two feel like real paper bags. It helps to crinkle them up a bit to make them look more authentic. With a little patience, they can hold them fairly well. Of course, this year, Halloween is more about tricks than treats, because when the kids gather around their TV’s to watch The Big Giveaway with their masks on, their little heads collapse into nests of snakes and bugs! Naturally, NECA included alternate heads to depict this horror!

JESUS CHRIST!!! If these aren’t pushing the limits for toys… Oh, that’s right I mean Adult Collectibles! The masks all show evidence of deteriorating with strategically placed snakes coming out of mouths and eyeholes. What’s really creepy with these is if you look close enough you can see the kids eyes behind at least one of the eyeholes. It’s grizzly stuff!

NECA also included a television with a lenticular sticker on the screen that alternates between The Magic Pumpkin and the Silver Shamrock logo. If you have a keen eye, you can see that this is a repaint of the television included with their Nightmare on Elm Street accessory set from the “Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!” scene. I never did pick that set up, because we didn’t have any figures of the victims to display with it, but either way, this was a clever bit of recycling on NECA’s part and it’s a great looking piece. Each figure also comes with a second pair of hands made to grasp at their heads in pain as they die horribly. FUN!

If you can’t tell, I really love this set, and I appreciate NECA for giving us stuff like this. Again, we’re talking about a cult movie from nearly four decades ago, and here we are getting action figures from it. NECA is one of the very few companies out there doing this on a grand scale. I personally haven’t seen this set in a Target or a Walmart (maybe it was a little too much for them), but the point is that a lot of their similar products are hitting big box retailers and that’s a wonderful thing. With that having been said, it gives me a heavy heart that I’ve been unintentionally neglecting NECA reviews around these parts. This is my first NECA review since early July, and I was shocked to see that I’ve only had three NECA reviews this entire year. It’s not that I’m not buying the figures, but with only three reviews a week and so much to look at, NECA has sadly been overlooked lately. I’ve got to fix that, and start giving them their due!

Oct 29 2020

Imperial Guardian Sixth-Scale Figure by TBLeague/Phicen

I’m a day late today, but this week has been kicking my ass at work and that’s going to be a running theme as we get deeper into Q4. I’m going to do my best to stay committed to three reviews a week, but I may be shuffling them around a bit as to when they actually go live. So let’s get to it with another look at a TBLeague sixth-scale figure! Yes, folks, TBLeague is continuing to stoke their furnaces with my hard-earned dollars with a seemingly never ending stream of their boxed figure releases. This time I’m opening up one of their more recent concept figures, The Imperial Guardian! What Empire is this battle maiden guarding? I guess that’s up to you, but I have a feeling she’s going to look great doing it.

The packaging and presentation is pretty typical fare for TBLeague these days. The open shoebox is made of sturdy cardboard and features a tri-fold cover which connects to the sides with magnets. From an artistic standpoint, it’s not one of their flashier boxes, but as always it relies entirely on pictures of the figure to do the talking. A good number of TBL’s releases these days are based on indie comic characters, but as I mentioned above, this one is a purely a concept figure with no fiction (at least none that I’m aware of) to back it up. A little blurb about this original character on the back of the box would have been welcome, but judging by the poor quality translation in the care and instruction manual, I can understand why they didn’t. Inside the figure comes nestled in foam with her head, armor pieces, and accessories positioned around the body. A second foam tray under that holds her rather long spear. Let’s get her all set up and check her out.

There’s a lot to love here, but I think what attracted me to this figure the most is the bit of Jean D’Arc vibe I’m getting off of her. TBLeague’s concept figures tend to flirt with the historical, but in the end they do their own thing. Fair warning, this figure requires a bit of work to get her ready for display, as the only armor she’s wearing when she comes out of the box is her chest piece and corset. Everything else has to be put on, and while most of it is pretty straightforward, it took me a while to get the armored skirt on and laced up. There’s a lot of excess string, but I will likely wind up trimming that down. Possibly one of the most notable things about this figure is the fact that she isn’t showing much skin. Indeed, you get a glimpse of thigh between her skirt and leg armor, but that’s it. It’s unusual for a TBLeague release to be covering so much, since these are built around the seamless body and the outfits are usually skimpy to show off that seamless bod. So, where TBL usually uses it to great effect, in this case, she could have easily gotten away with a regular jointed body as the outfit covers almost everything. As a result, collectors who are into this line for the skin and more outlandish costumes, may be a little tepid on this release.

But that’s not to say this isn’t an absolutely fantastic looking figure. The Guardian is wearing a red long-sleeved top and pleated skirt with the armor worn on top of that. The individual armor pieces are all cast in plastic, but the sculpt and paint make them totally convincing as actual metal armor. Heck, removing these pieces from the tray, I was tricked into expecting them to have a lot more weight than they do. Each of these pieces is painted with a weathered copper finish. There are sculpted rivets and some interlocking plates, as well as some general pitting. The armor corset is softer and more flexible to allow her freedom of movement in that region. She has leather-like bracers on her forearms under the armor pieces there and stockings, which extend up past her grieves and can be seen behind the knee armor. The straps and buckles on her chest armor are sculpted, but the others are all working buckles and straps that actually hold on the armor pieces. I dig the combination of the copper armor with the red skirt, as well as the bits of red cloth that show between the armor pieces. She also has a decorative pair of red cords that run from her right shoulder and across her chest.

The head sculpt features very short rooted hair, which stays in place and looks fantastic. I actually thought this head was recycled from their Zenescope Mercy Dante figure, and while they are indeed quite similar (and the hair is nearly identical), this one is still entirely new. I’m pretty sure I say this every time, but when it comes to portraits, TBL has really upped their game in the last few years. The paint is superb and realistic. The eyes have that spark of life, which is often elusive to all sixth-scale figure producers except Hot Toys. The paint used for the lips is a deep glossy red, and the skin tone is a little pale, but quite lifelike with a rosy hue to the cheeks.

While it’s a shame to cover up that beautiful portrait, the final piece to the armor is a tight fitting and fully enclosed helmet with an adjustable visor. Getting the helmet onto her noggin is a scary prospect, as it is extremely tight fitting, and I worry about messing up the hair or scratching the paint on her head. The ears in particular make it tough to get on, but with a little partience and care I was able to do it. Although I will probably need to use a pencil to tuck the hair on the right side of her face into the helmet the rest of the way, I could probably leave it as is and it will still look fine. The helmet shares the same coppery metal finish as the rest of the armor and features a hinged visor and a hinged face plate, each of which are independent of each other. There’s also a bright red plume that spills out the back like a long ponytail, which looks quite striking.

Closing the visor reveals a pretty non-nonsense helmet design. If you look closely, you can see that the visor doesn’t really line up with her eyes. If I take another crack at adjusting it, I might be able to fix this, but I really don’t want to rub it on the head any more than I am doing, so I will likely leave it like this. Take away the studio lights, and you can’t really see in there well enough to know that it’s not aligned with her eyes anyway. Since I don’t want to be putting the helmet on and removing it a lot, I will likely display this figure with the helmet on and the visor up, as that gives me the best of both worlds. Because the armor pieces took up most of the room in the tray, there are sadly not a lot of other accessories included with this figure. You do get three pairs of hands, which include fists, accessory holding hands, and relaxed hands, and these are all very nice sculpts with some detailed work on the armor. The only other accessory included is her long spear. Nope, you don’t even get a stand, so I had to dig into my box of generic sixth-scale figure stands.

The spear is a nice enough piece, and it even includes a grizzly coat of blood on the tip, showing that the Imperial Guard is not a ceremonial position, but a skilled warrior. I really like the design of the blade, as it’s practically a short sword mounted on a pole. The shaft is smooth and it terminates in a pointed cap that looks like it could do some damage as well. The spear works well in her accessory hands, and she looks great holding it! Still, I really feel like this figure needed a sword and scabbard. Sure, I could borrow one from another figure, but I’d rather not deprive one of my other TBL ladies of their weapons. I also think a red ribbon, streamer, or standard is called for on the spear. Heck, I could probably fix that myself, even with my non-existent DIY skills.

 

As a basic figure, the Imperial Guardian set me back about $160 and she is indeed a very beautiful figure for that price. TBL has managed to keep the cost of their figures locked in for a while now, and I maintain that these offerings continue to be among the best value in the sixth-scale market these days. Everything that’s here is expertly crafted and looks absolutely amazing, but to be honest, I felt like the accessories needed to be padded out a bit more to make this figure feel complete. This would have been an excellent opportunity for TBL to offer a Deluxe version (as they frequently do) with maybe a sword, scabbard, and shield, or perhaps just a sword and some kind of battle standard. As it is, I think the extra armor pieces just took up most of the budget. Still, a great figure with some opportunities to bulk her out if you’re game for a little sixth-scale accessory hunting on Ebay.

Oct 26 2020

Marvel Legends: Hellfire Club Boxed Set by Hasbro, Part 1

As I may have mentioned last week, I’m stepping away from doing consecutive reviews of particular Marvel Legends waves in order to get to some multipacks, exclusives, and older figures. That’ll probably be the case through to the end of the year, but who knows? Maybe I’ll work at least one more complete wave and Build-A-Figure in before the end of the year. For now, I’m kicking this madness off on this glorious Marvel Monday with a look at the Exclusive Hellfire Club 4-Figure set that was released through Hasbro’s online Pulse store! The set includes The Inner Circle of The Club: Sebastian Shaw, Donald Pierce, Jean Gray (or Selene Gallio if you prefer), and Emma Frost. I originally planned to check out the whole set today, but I ran a little long, so instead we’ll look at the packaging along with Shaw and Pierce, and some accessories, and next week we’ll check out the ladies.

Hasbro has been well known for their elaborate Marvel Legends boxed sets, many of which released as San Diego Comic Con Exclusives. But with no Comic Cons happening, they’ve been seeking other routes for these impressive sets. I think this one was referred to as a PulseCon Exclusive, but whatever the case, it became available to Premium Members of Hasbro Pulse first and then to everyone else later. Now, I have had some terrible experience with Pulse this year. Most of what I pre-order shows up through Amazon Prime first and cheaper, so I wind up cancelling the Pulse pre-orders. I’ve also been shut out on a lot of pre-orders because they sell out so fast. Well, this time I was able to get in and get out without too much bother, but it has since sold out. The packaging here may be their best yet, as it not only relies on a special box, but also multiple cool components of presentation. On the outside, it cuts all the class of the prestigious and exclusive club that it represents. There’s an embossed iron gate on the front to keep the riff-raff out and an impressive gold and crimson foil H-seal in the middle. The back panel of the box features framed portraits of the figures inside.

Break the velcro seal and the front opens to reveal an illustrated portrait of the Inner Circle and it is a magnificent piece of art! The back of this card has an envelope that contains a facsimile letter. The obverse sides of the flaps have portraits of each of the four characters, and finally we get to the tray of figures, presented with a backdrop showing the luxury of the Hellfire Club’s parlor. I’ve managed to pick up nearly all of the modern Legends SDCC Exclusive sets, and none has really come close to how polished the presentation is here. Hasbro just put a ton of love into this one and it shows. So, let’s dig in and we’ll start out with a look at Sebastian Shaw!

Don’t judge me, but I sure do dig me some fancy 18th Century formalwear. Seriously, if it were socially acceptable to dress like this today, I’d be down for it! I’d also go by the name Martin Chuzzlewit and carry a silk hanky and a tin of snuff around with me. And who would have thought we’d get a beautiful example of this historic wardrobe with a Marvel Legends figure! Sebastian’s sculpted apparel includes a navy blue gentleman’s jacket with vest, all sculpted in soft plastic as one piece, with the sleeves sculpted onto the arms. The sculpt is great, the vest isn’t too bulky even if the arms are, and the jacket includes a stylish tail that extends down the backs of the legs. The vest is red with a textured pattern, and the jacket includes brass painted buttons and a flared collar. The jacket sleeves have exposed ruffles that would make Jon Pertwee proud. Superb! His gray culottes end just above his calves to expose his white socks (no doubt silk!) and his buckled shoes. Considering how limited the uses for this body must be, it’s nice to see Hasbro put so much work into it. It’s the perfect outfit for sitting in overstuffed chairs by the fire, sipping brandy, and discussing how you’re going to exert your wealth and power to control the world government.

Hasbro also did an admirable job on Mr. Shaw’s portrait, complete with a vintage-style ponytail, tied with a ribbon, impressive mutton chops, and a devastating widow’s peak. High arched eyebrows and a broad, smug grin, completes the head sculpt nicely. As has often been the case with the Legends villains, this likeness is just brimming with personality. Shaw has an affable face, and those are the villains that you have to watch out for!

Despite his stuffy outfit, Pierce still enjoys all the usual points of articulation I expect out of my Legends dudes. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinged knees, swivels in the thighs and the tops of the socks, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, double-hinges in the elbows, swivels in the biceps, and hinged pegs in the wrists. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab-crunch hinge buried up inside that coat, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. What a great figure! You might say that its so nice, Hasbro used it twice! In the same boxed set!

Donald Pierce is a straight repaint of Shaw from the neck down. And while it may seem rather cheeky to recycle a whole body in the same set, I honestly don’t mind it here. This costume is so well done and in fairness it works just fine for both characters. It probably doesn’t hurt that since both figures are brand new to me, it doesn’t feel as much like a rehash. I’m not even sure if that makes sense or it’s just that HasBRO kool-ade that I coif working its magic. Now, I will say that I wish Hasbro had added some tiny bit of sculpting trickery to set them apart, like maybe change up the cravat. But I’m still OK with what we got. Pierce’s outfit is decked out in more earthy tones with a brown jacket and slightly green culottes, while his vest is a green. He has the same cravat as his colleague as well as the same shoes.

And once again we see a portrait just brimming with personality. The facial features are wonderfully detailed, the eyes are a striking blue and he has a broad and somewhat imposing smile. While Shaw came across as more congenial to me, Pierce looks to be hiding malice, and not really hiding it too well. The articulation is obviously identical to what we saw with Shaw, but before moving wrapping this up for the day, we can check out some of the gents’ accessories.

For starters, you get a pair of fists, which can be used for either Shaw or Pierce, but I’m going to go ahead and give those to Shaw, because Pierce comes with his very own and very specific replacement cyborg hands! And might I say that there’s nothing quite as cool looking as a bloke in fancy dress sporting a pair of cybernetic meat hooks. The right hand is sculpted as a gun-holding hand and the other is kind of a graspy hand. But wait? Gun holding hand? Guns??? Yup, let’s check out the guns!

These both look familiar, so I’m pretty sure we’ve seen them before and both are very sci-fi designs. No doubt these are the best technology money can buy! The pistol works best with Pierce’s Cyborg hand and Shaw can hold the rifle quite well. Are they shining examples of 6-inch scale weaponry? Nah, not really. They’re cast in black plastic with no paint applications and the sculpts are a little soft. But I’m never going to complain about getting some extra guns in with my action figures.

You also get the Hellfire Book, which is a really cool little sculpt. It’s molded so that it’s perpetually open so that the members can peruse it’s page. The binding has a nice leather-like texture to it and there’s raised letterings sculpted into it. The front cover also bears the Hellfire H-insignia. Yup, the same one that’s on the front of this boxed set. Inside the book there are some charts and squiggly lines to denote text. I’ve been a book collector nearly all my life, so I can really appreciate getting such a cool little book in this scale. Sure Boss Fight Studios has done it better and in a much smaller scale, but this little plastic tome is still really neat.

And finally, you get both Wolverine’s mask and Magneto’s helmet as trophies. These are beautiful little accessories, and I wish there was a little shelf above that fireplace on the backdrop where you could display them. I don’t have anything else to say about these pieces, except that they’re welcome bonuses. And with that, I’m going to break for today. I’m also going to reserve any final judgements on this set until next Monday when I review the other two figures, but so far I’m digging this set more than most of the recent Legends Comic Con Exclusives. In my mind, exclusives should be comprised of figures that were never likely to make it to the toy aisles, and I think that fits these two fancy gents to a tee. Sure, Hasbro has amazed me with the obscurity or downright bizarre nature of some of the characters they’ve sent to the pegs at my local Walmart or Target, but I think these fellows would have been pushing it. Come on back next Monday and we’ll wrap it up with a look at Emma and Jean… and Selene!

Oct 23 2020

Star Trek Starship Collection: Enterprise NX-01 Refit (XL) by Eaglemoss

I don’t like to piss in other people’s Raktajino, but it’s hard for me to think of anything more depressing than CBS’s vision of modern Star Trek. But in an effort to practice the optimism of Gene Roddenberry, I can say that it has given me a new appreciation of some of the past Trek series that didn’t always get my full attention. For example, I always liked Enterprise, but in recent re-watches, I’ve come to actually love it. And after re-watching a few great episodes this week, I thought I’d have a look at another one of Eaglemoss’ larger XL ships: The Enterprise refit!

The SS Enterprise comes in a fully enclosed box and sandwiched between two styrofoam blocks. The only assembly required is putting the stand together. But what’s this you say? This isn’t the Enterprise from the series? Correct! This refit was intended to represent the eventual evolution of this Warp-5 ship design. As the included magazine details, the NX-01 was originally designed with this refit in mind, so that it could be easily integrated when the time came. Maybe in Season 5? But sadly it never happened in the show. Nonetheless, it shows how perfectly the ship’s evolution would lead into the Constitution Class from The Original Series.

The XL indicates that this beautiful ship is one of the big boys. These special editions are more than twice the size of Eaglemoss’ regular ships of the line, allowing for more detail in the sculpt and paint applications, and I have to say everything about this model came together brilliantly. It’s given a pewter-like finish that nicely reflects the rather distinctive coloring of the NX-01’s hull in the series, while still maintaining those subtle, but oh so lovely, aztec patterns, which were introduced in the motion pictures. Furthermore, the sculpted detail on this ship is positively off the charts. From the panel lines to the tiny windows and ports, the sculptors did a phenomenal job taking every advantage of this model’s larger size. And one of the coolest things about this refit design is that the ship can still be viewed from certain angles without being able to tell it’s the refit. That’s how seamless the design incorporates this change. But view it from the right sweet spot, and the projected lineage of this ship is clear!

So, what’s new? Well, the most obvious is the addition of a secondary hull similar to what we would eventually get in the Constitution Class. Here it’s a little atrophied in comparison to what would come, and it’s nestled a bit more directly under the saucer. As one might imagine, this addition adds a tremendous amount to the ship’s power capabilities, crew compliment, and additional systems. Besides the neck attachment to the saucer, the secondary hull component is also supported by extending the warp nacelle struts further down and into it. It all looks so natural, and indeed the only thing about this design that I find peculiar was the decision to retain the deflector dish on the hull when a larger one dominates the front of the new drive section. Maybe it was just not worth the effort of removing it, and it could stand to serve as a replacement if the new one gets damaged.

Let’s take a quick spin around some of the more stand out points of interest on the ship. There are some sharp paint applications worth noting, especially the red wireframe that begins at the two forward phase cannon hatches and extend back to just behind the bridge dome. You also get some yellow and red paint on the cargo loading hatches positioned to the port and starboard of the bridge. The deuterium resupply assemblies on those twin humps are painted in a slightly more copper finish, and of course the registry NX-01 and SS Enterprise is printed neatly on the dorsal front of the saucer. The flipside of the saucer is every bit as detailed.

Moving elsewhere, I love the paintwork on the nacelles, where you get the registry at the center of a red racing stripe, which terminates in an orange delta at the front. The interior nacelles feature some translucent blue plastic and the bussard assemblies are molded in translucent orange plastic and have the cool points coming off of them. The broadsides of the secondary hull have the three pronged racing stripes terminating in the orange delta, and the SS Enterprise printed in cursive script is really damn cool. I will note that the secondary hull has a bit less detail than the rest of the ship. I’m not sure if this was intentional, or just because this piece was designed off of something with less reference material. Either way, I don’t think it hurts the model at all. The I think if I have one nitpick on the model, it would be the new deflector dish, which looks a little too plasticy and low-detail when compared to the rest of the ship. Then again, it does give it a bit of that retro-charm of The Original Series Connie Class.

As always, this ship comes with a display stand, which features a heavy black metal base and a translucent armature that grabs the model behind the saucer and lovingly cradles it for your viewing pleasure. I also dig that they went for an understated look for the base, rather than go a gimmicky route and making it a Delta insignia. I think this design just looks more classy and doesn’t detract from the model itself. These display stands really do feel premium, complete with a felt pad on the underside. Would it have been cool to put a name plate on the base? Hmm… maybe. I suppose the name and registry on the hull does that job well enough.

I absolutely love this ship! Funny story, but I actually ordered this one online thinking it was the regular NX-01 from the series. When I got it, I was surprised to find otherwise. For a moment, I was tempted to send it back, but I wound up opening it and falling in love with it. I really wish they had upgraded to this design in the series. It actually would have made sense right before the Xindi Excursion, and it’s a shame that we’ll never see this baby in action on the screen. It really would have threaded the needle from this prequel series to The Original Series. But at least I have this kick ass model of it, and she sure does look nice lined up on the shelf with the other ships of the line!

Oct 21 2020

G.I. JOE (Retro Collection) AWE Striker and Crankcase by Hasbro

The love that GI JOE has been getting these days is causing my heart to swell, and I’ve been doing my part to support the return of the Real American Hero in every way possible. Case in point, I probably have five or six AWE Strikers in storage and yet I simply could not resist picking up another one when I saw it on the shelf. I was also surprised to see that I had never reviewed any of the pass releases here, so this one got pushed to the head of the line.

The original Real American Hero line had some of my favorite package art, and that’s really saying something, because the 80’s had a ton of toy lines with great looking packages. But the GI JOE stuff felt so iconic to me, even back then, and the action scenes on the front of the boxes and cards always made me want to play with the toys. This 2020 release of the AWE Striker mimics the original 1985 box quite well. From the artwork and window for the figure on the front to the filecard on the back, Hasbro nailed it.

The box even feels like it’s made out of the heavier corrugate stock they used to use as opposed to the flimsy cardboard employed now. My only complaint is that Crankcase’s filecard is multi-lingual and rather abbreviated. Inside the box, the vehicle comes wrapped in plastic and in need of some assembly and it even includes a sticker sheet! But before I put it together, let’s have a look at the figure.

Crankcase is styled to fit right in with the modern JOES introduced in the 25th Anniversary Collection, meaning that they are a bit bigger than the vintage JOEs and a little better proportioned. I’m thrilled they went this way because I don’t think they plan on releasing a lot of figures in the Retro line and so these toys can just slide right into my existing collection. Heck, Crankcase even comes with the same style of personalized stand that we got with those 25th Anniversary figures! I’m happy to say that this new figure’s design sticks close with the ’85 version of Crankcase. He has the same green top, with sleeves rolled up, black gloves, khaki trousers, and brown boots. He also has brown web gear, which is removable, although the gun sculpted in the holster is not. And that’s the only shame about this figure: He doesn’t come with any weapons.

He does have a removable helmet and an excellent head sculpt. The detail is great and his orange hair color matches that of his predecessor. The only big difference is this version has a beard, where I’m pretty sure ’85 Crankcase just had a mustache. OK, let’s move on to the AWE Striker…

The required assembly is quite simple. You just have to snap on the roll cage, attach the wheels, and pop on the cannon, antennae, and a hose. Then slap on the stickers and she’s good to go! It’s hard for me to think of a more versatile and fun vehicle for the JOEs. Oh, there were plenty of vehicles that I liked more, but you’d be hard pressed to pick a better all-purpose way to get your JOEs into trouble.

It’s been a long time since I played with the original toy, but this one looks like the spitting image of what I remembered. Is it the same mold? That I couldn’t tell you, but it is date stamped 1985 on the undercarriage. I can say that it looks nearly identical to the 25th Anniversary release, with the most notable change being the color of the seats. [Sadly, I don’t have easy access to that vehicle right now, but I do plan on digging it out of storage in the near future and I will update with comparison shots when I do!] Either way, I cannot overstate how impressed I am with the detail on this vehicle. For what is a rather small and inexpensive toy, the designers went absolutely crazy making sure every little bit was crafted with a sense of purpose and realism.

For starters, the AWE Striker has a working suspension, which you can test just by pushing down on the chassis. The front wheels do turn, as does the steering wheel, but they are not linked together. The front ramming bar has two headlamps with clear plastic on the fronts, there are mesh running boards on the sides for JOEs to ride on, and the engine cover can be removed to show a very detailed engine under it. That’s a nice touch if you want to have your JOEs performing maintenance or have it blown off by a direct hit from a Cobra weapon.

 

The cabin has sculpted padding in the seats, a static shifter, and the passenger side has a targeting camera which connects to the cannon on top with a hose. The cannon cannot only rotate, but also pivot up and down a bit, and I can’t say enough how happy I am that Hasbro resisted putting a giant missile into this weapon. Indeed, there are no play gimmicks, no bells or whistles, no lights, just pure 100% fun!

The AWE Striker set me back $24.99 at Walmart and I think that’s a great value. The craftsmanship on display here is top notch and with a figure included, you’ve got everything you need to go on some adventures in the backyard. You’re even better off if you can dig out three 25th Anniversary figures and load this puppy up! Sadly, this vehicle sold out damn fast on Walmart’s site and my store hasn’t restocked. I was smart enough to pick up two of the HISS Tanks (review coming soon!), but I really wish I had grabbed one more of these as well!

Oct 19 2020

Marvel Legends (Sugar Man Wave): Dark Beast and Sugar Man Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

Well, it was a bit of a reach but I managed to get through an entire wave of double-features! And that brings me to the final packaged figure in this Age of Apocalypse themed assortment… Dark Beast! So let’s have a look at him and then we’ll put together the Suger Man Build-A-Figure and put this awesome assortment to bed!

Here’s one final shot of the packaging with that wonderful David Nakayama character art on the side panels. Dark Beast is a big boi and so despite Sugar Man being made up of an unprecedented number of pieces, Beast still doesn’t come with a BAF part. He does, however come with Sugar Man’s hammer. OK, I guess that’s kind of a BAF part.

Beast is probably my favorite alternate-timeline character from Age of Apocalypse. Missing out on Xavier’s kind teachings, he lives up to his name by leading horrific experiments in the name of Apocalypse! He’s almost the complete opposite of the McCoy we all know and love, possessing all of his intelligence and none of his ethics and nobility, and that makes him all the more terrifying to me. If you were expecting a straight repaint of the Beast body from the Caliban Wave, prepare to be a little surprised, as this figure represents Beast after he got rejuvenated by Mr. Sinister and given some new legs. So the pelvis and the legs down to the swivel cut below the knees are segmented cybernetic legs and the rest of the body is borrowed from the previous Beast. You even get the extra hands too! The coloring is all around fantastic. Beast’s body is dark gray with a black wash to bring out some of that wonderfully sculpted hair and texture. Meanwhile the legs have a deep metallic blue sheen.

The other dramatic difference here is the new head sculpt, which is both awesome and bad-ass. He looks to be every bit of the bastard that he is. Complete with a sadistic grin, and a coif that would make Logan proud! He also has braided bands on his hair and some rings in his pointed ears, which frame his face and make him look a lot more savage. This head sculpt alone has rocketed Dark Beast up to my favorite figure in this wave. Sorry, Weapon-X and Jean, you guy shave been overthrown. At least you got to bask in the glory of being my favorites for a week.

Despite some new parts in the legs, the articulation here is identical to the previous Beast, so I won’t go into details, other than to point out that with the shoulder crunches and the hinges in the feet, he’s one of the most articulated figures we’ve seen in Legends since the Toy Biz days. He’s just loads of fun to play around with and the extra fist and flat hand-stand hand add a lot of possibilities. And with all seven of the packaged figures out of the way, that brings us to this guy…

That’s it. That’s the review. They should have sent a poet, because I have no words… but I’ll try. It’s no secret that I love the Build-A-Figures, and there have been some truly spectacular ones going all the way back to Terrax. But they don’t often get character designs this imaginative to work with. I honestly don’t know what’s more impressive, the amazing work that Hasbro put into Sugar Man, or the fact that he exists at all. If you ever had cause to doubt that Hasbro was committed to this line… like if the 10,000 figures a year they release (minor exaggeration) isn’t enough proof, something like this should do it. Sugar Man is horrible, twisted, and almost certainly too demented-looking to grace the modern Big Box toy aisles. And yet here he is! In terms of construction, this is the most complex and atypical BAF we’ve seen in the modern line. As such it reminds me a lot of Toy BIz’s M.O.D.O.K. BAF. Sure, I could take this opportunity to ponder on why we got Sugar Man before M.O.D.O.K., but then I don’t want to question any aspect that went into the decision to make this guy. In terms of pure weirdness, if you’re going to top Sugar Man, Hasbro, you have to do an Egg Fu BAF. YOU HAVE TO!!!

Sugar Man’s hunched body is mostly obscured by his giant head. Indeed, from the front he just looks like a giant head on legs. The legs are puny by comparison, and while they’re fully articulated in every normal way, I didn’t find a lot of that articulation too value added. I was able to tweak them to help him stand, but that was about it. Other than his blue trousers, the only other element to his costume is a black belt and black suspenders. The belt has some crude silver buckles, and there are some colorful novelty buttons sculpted onto the right suspender. There’s also a loop for him to store his hammer. It’s tough to get it in and out of there, but I still think it’s a nice touch. Sugar Man’s four arms feature four unique hands. One is pointing, one is grasping, one is balled into a fist, and one is designed to hold the hammer. Each of these connect to the torso with rotating hinges, allowing for all the usual articulation in each appendage.

As for the portrait? I mean holy hell what can I say about this nightmare? His giant mouth is lined with jagged teeth and comes equipped with a lewd tongue that snakes out and looks absolutely disgusting. He’s got a broad nose, bushy eyebrows, two squinting red eyes and a bushy tuft of hair on the top. Hasbro did an absolutely fantastic job modeling this nasty piece of work in 3D plastic.

As already mentioned, Sugar Man comes with his Hammer, which is a Mjolnir looking implement with SUGAR sculpted into one side. He can hold it well in his lower right hand, but the bicep swivel isn’t up to the task of supporting its weight so it tends to flop if I don’t have the arm positioned right.

Wow, this wave was a treat and a half. Hasbro introduced some great new characters as well as alternate versions of some we got before. It’s been a while since I purchased an entire wave of Marvel Legends in one shot instead of hunting them down individually, but that’s exactly what I did here. I was just really eager to get my hands on all of these figures and put together the BAF, so it was nice to not have to hunt for a change. And this is the last regular Legends figures that I’m going to feature on Marvel Monday for a little while. Rather than dig into another wave, I’m going to check out some boxed sets and exclusives for the next few weeks.

Oct 16 2020

Star Wars “The Mandalorian” Remnant Stormtrooper Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

It’s well known that Hot Toys are pricey, so it’s not a line of figures that I tend to look at for picking up multiple variants or repaints. So, when I picked up the Stormtrooper a little while ago, I hadn’t planned on picking up any more. But it only took one drunken night of browsing Sideshow’s website along with some Reward Points and a Gift Card burning a hole in my pocket to get me to pull the trigger on this variant Stormtrooper. Drunk or no, I reasoned that I was already all in for the other Hot Toys figures from The Mandalorian, so there was no point in stopping now.

I make it no secret that Hot Toys packaging doesn’t impress me and nowhere is that more feeling stronger than when it comes to their Star Wars line. These boring boxes feature no flare of presentation or craftsmanship. It’s just a receptacle to get the figure to me. OK, so they splurged and added a colorful, illustrated wraparound band to this one, but it feels like a cheap afterthought. But hey, I should be thankful because I don’t have the space to keep all these boxes anyway, so I only keep the ones that feel like something special, and those are few and far between. Inside the box, the Remnant Stormtrooper lays on a tray with his extra hands and accessories around him.

To some, this may just be a dirty Stormtrooper, but I really dig what these guys represent. I can’t believe anyone bothering to read this review hasn’t watched at least the first season of The Mandalorian yet, but just in case… The series takes place after the events of The Return of the Jedi and recognizes that Galactic Empires, even defeated ones, don’t go away overnight. And that’s a pretty insightful concept for Star Wars. The galaxy is replete with planets where the local remnants of Imperial rule grasp desperately for a hold on their now baseless power. The Stormtroopers may still be at their posts, but as evidenced by their degraded armor, they’ve seen better days. As a result we have the Remnant Stormtrooper! After the unexplained, magical appearance of The First Order in the Sequel Trilogy, I found the world of The Mandalorian a lot more believable and interesting. And I just love the idea of a splintered Empire with Moffs and their Stormtroopers going it alone. The Empire ain’t sending any more replacement armor and the pomp and circumstance of inspections are a thing of the past. Hot Toys did a beautiful job taking their bright and shining galactic enforcers and making them slum it.

A good deal of this review will be making comparisons to the previous Hot Toys Stormtrooper, which I reviewed early last year, and I’ll have some comparison photos at the end. To be honest, I was expecting a straight repaint, but instead Hot Toys gave us what is practically a brand new figure. The biggest differences can be found in the abdominal armor, which is completely new, and the belt, which is now made entirely of plastic, where the previous one was plastic and cloth. Overall, the armor detail on this figure is a lot sharper in places, particularly on the detail in the back plate, but I think it would be safe to say that the majority of this armor is different, subtle in some ways and obvious in others. Is one better than the other? I guess it’s a matter of preference. The previous one looks more classic to me, and while I haven’t scrutinized any screen shots, I’m guessing these changes are made to reflect actual changes in the costumes for The Mandalorian series.

As has been the case with Hot Toys troopers, the underlying body is wearing a black body suit and the armor pieces are worn on top of that, rather than being sculpted as part of the body. Exceptions include the boots and helmet. Even the body suit is different, with the previous release being mostly plain cloth and this one having more of a quilted texture, which feels more in tune with the sharper detail on the armor. Either way, I’m always happy to see cloth as opposed to vinyl used for the suit, but unfortunately it only opens up the range of articulation a little bit. There is a nice range of motion in the arms, but not so much in the legs, and it’s hard to tell what exactly is holding it back.

The helmet also varies a bit from the previous Stormy, particularly around the chin and the vents on the cheeks. The helmet also feels like it sits a little higher off the shoulder, which would probably make it compatible with a pauldron if you happen to have one and want to make him an officer. Another notable difference is in the goggles, which were tinted green on the previous figure and here appear to be just black. And now is as good a time as any to discuss the weathering, which is really well done. All of it is achieved through paint, despite the fact that many of the chips look convincing enough that I thought I would be able to actually feel them on the armor. The chipping is particularly heavy on the helmet, perhaps because it gets thrown around a lot, and on the left shoulder. There’s also some yellowing around the edges of most of the armor pieces, and some splotches of general dirt and what looks like pitting from rust. It all looks great, but I’d be curious to see if the weathering is identical from figure to figure. Not that I’m planning on picking up a second, but that would probably be a deal breaker to have two or more with the exact same chipping patterns.

The last Stormtrooper was pretty light on the accessories, so I wasn’t disappointed to see this one is too. You do get the usual passel of extra hands, including fists, relaxed hands, weapon holding hands, and the like. These are very easy to swap out, which is always welcome, although positioning the arms can sometimes cause the forearm armor to shift forward and knock the hands off their pegs. It’s not a big deal and I’m happier to have them pop off now and then as opposed to being so hard to pop off that I’m afraid I’ll snap something.

And of course, you can’t have a Stormtrooper without his trusty E-11 Blaster. This looks like it’s borrowed directly from the previous Stormtrooper, and that’s fine because it’s an absolutely beautiful little blaster. The attention to detail is fantastic as always, and the folding stock is articulated, albeit rather fragile. Unfortunately, the Remnant Stormy does not come with a holster for the weapon, like the regular release did. I’m not sure if this was omitted for canonical reasons or just because Hot Toys didn’t want to toss it in, but seeing as how they don’t usually cheap out, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Much to my surprise, this box did contain one additional weapon, and that’s the SE-14 Light Repeating Blaster Pistol. This was a great little bonus, as I’ve never had a nice version of it for any of my figures. The sculpt lacks the complexity of the E-11 Blaster, but it’s still an excellent little piece, which he may wind up sharing with the other Stormtrooper. And not to sound ungrateful, but the inclusion of the pistol makes me wish even more that they had given him a holster so that he could carry both.

As always, our last stop on these reviews is the figure stand, and this one is both generic and functional. They did actually print Remnant Stormtrooper on the name plate, which I was happy to see, although I was surprised that they did not brand it with the series name.

The Remnant Stormtrooper probably isn’t a must-have, even for people who are going to be collecting other Hot Toys from The Mandalorian. Once again, if I wasn’t made extra impulsive by a bottle of Jameson, I probably wouldn’t have made this purchase. But ultimately, I’m very glad that I did. While this could have been a cheap-and-quick cash grab, Hot Toys put a lot of work into this release and the result makes for a distinctive looking figure, even when he’s standing right next to the vanilla Stormtrooper. And as I mentioned at the outset of this review, the whole concept of the fragmentation of the Remnant Empire is easily one of my favorite concepts introduced in the franchise and this fellow represents it well. I think this figure retails for just a tad over $200, but by the time I was done throwing coupon codes and reward points at him, I stole him for about $90. Well worth it if you ask me!

Oct 14 2020

Masters of the Universe Origins: Teela and Evil-Lyn by Mattel

The new Masters of the Universe Origins line stands as a shining example of how my willpower, when it comes to toys, is total shit. I swore I wouldn’t get into collecting these, because I already have a nearly complete collection of MOTU Classics. Then I told myself I would just pick up He-Man and Skeletor to see what they’re all about. Now I’ve picked up or pre-ordered just about everything the line has to offer, including the upcoming Castle Greyskull. So yeah, I’m pretty spineless when it comes to setting limitations for myself. So with that being said, let’s have a look at the first two ladies of the line: Teela and Evil-Lyn!

The vintage style packaging is as awesome as ever, and while there’s no original art on the front, the cards are still personalized to each figure. The Retro Play explosion points to the marrying of classic designs with new articulation, and you even get a mini-comic bundled behind the figure. Alas, these packages are not collector friendly, so be prepared to tear into them to get your figures out. But I’m honestly OK with that, as I’m sure it helped to keep the cost of the figures down. Let’s start out with the Heroic Warrior Goddess, Teela!

Teela comes packaged with her snake armor and headpiece on, but I’m going to set it aside for now to look at the basic figure. She’s clad in her white and gold one-piece bathing suit-style armor, which probably isn’t the most practical for protection, but at least her mid-riff is covered. Not all warrior-babes can make that claim. The sculpting here is great from the ram horns on her chest to the belt and other pieces of flourish. The gold here isn’t terribly flashy, but it gets the job done. Alas, mine has a paint flub in the form of a gold dot under the point of the left ram horn. As far as paint blemishes go, it isn’t the worst, but it was impossible to detect in the package under that headpiece. Her arms feature bicep cuffs and wrist bracers with some sculpted scroll work patterns, and she has the standard barbarian boots with sculpted fur cuffs and wrappings. The body type is a good compromise between feminine form and buff fighter. And as with He-Man and Skeletor, she’s built on a modular body, which can come apart at all the joints.

I was never a big fan of the vintage Teela’s portrait, because she had a baby face, which was a far cry from the red-headed temptress from the Filmation cartoon. So, I’m happy to say that the Origins version strikes out on its own. With her somewhat puffy cheeks and petite nose, there’s still a tie to that vintage head sculpt, but this one just works a lot better for me. The paint for the eyes and eyebrows looks great, and the coloring on her lips is quite subtle. Her sculpted red hair is done up in her trademark fashion, complete with gold headband.

I really only have one little complaint about the figure itself and that’s the knee jointing. It works fine in practice, but there’s something about the design that just looks a little weird. I think they were trying to conceal it, by covering the joint as much as possible. Honestly, it bothers me less and less each time I play around with the figure, but I thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless, especially since it seems to be a fairly common complaint with the figure.

Teela comes with her snake staff and her small shield, both of which are cast in a maroon colored plastic. Origins doesn’t seem like it’s going to be going for any paint applications on the accessories, and that’s fine as it’s a nod back to the vintage figures. I was a little concerned as to how well she would be able to hold the staff, but she can grip it pretty well. The shield has a handle for her to hold it and it can also be looped through her fingers. Either way, it stays on without any issues. The outer face of the shield has some sculpted scroll work patterns and a formidable spike in the center. I hope we get a weapons rack with some extra accessories at some point, because I would love to have a sword to give her.

And finally, here she she is wearing her snake armor with headpiece. This accessory is molded in soft plastic and fits around her face, while tabbing together at her back. I’ve never been a huge fan of Teela wearing this, probably because I was more in tune with the Filmation cartoon than the toys and comics. Still, I have to admit it looks really good on the figure and it features some excellent detail in the sculpt. Let’s move on to Teela’s counterpart, the Evil Warrior Goddess Evil-Lyn!

In keeping with the vintage figures, from the neck down Evil-Lyn is a straight repaint of Teela, but I feel like the change in color palate is drastic enough to make it work. Her armor has been changed to a combination of purple and light blue, with her bicep bands and wrist bracers more of  powder blue. Likewise, the boots have been changed to a flashy purple and black. Combine this new outfit colors with her rather iconic yellow skin and you have what I find to be a strikingly different looking figure with the exact same sculpt. And happily, my Evil-Lyn has escaped any of the paint flubs that my Teela suffered.

As for the head sculpt, once again Mattel has developed a nice compromise between vintage and update. Evil-Lyn has some rather distinctive eyes and a mouth that is slightly parted to show her teeth in a dour expression. The helmet actually looks like it’s sculpted from a separate piece, which creates a gap between it and her face making it look very convincing. For a moment I thought it was actually removable. Mattel backed off of the whore makeup that the original Evil-Lyn wore in exchange for a much more subdued look. The paint for her facial features is all sharp and crisp and while there’s a little slop on her helmet, particularly around the skull motif, it’s not something I really noticed until getting in close with the camera.

In terms of articulation, I mostly discussed knees when talking about Teela, so it’s worth noting that these ladies feature an identical level of excellent poseability, especially when compared to the originals. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels at the tops of the boots, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck.

Evil-Lyn’s accessory count doesn’t compare to Teela’s. In fact she only comes with her wand, and it’s a fairly simple sculpt. She can hold it quite well in her left hand, but her right hand’s grip is a tad too loose for it.

I was amazed to be able to pick up these figures at my local Walmart, which usually has nothing new in the toy aisles. Maybe there aren’t as many collectors of this line around my neighborhood because I’ve had more success finding Origins figures than anything else. So far I’ve been able to nab four figures, one Battle Cat and the Sky Sled all at the same Walmart and that’s practically unheard of for this store! And apart from the small paint flub on Teela’s armor and weird knee structure, I’ve got to say these turned out great. As with the initial pair, these figures set me back $14.99 each and with a lot of figures roughly in this scale selling at the $20 range, that feels about right in the current market. I think part of me was hoping that I would be disappointed by this line so I could pass on collecting it, but truth be told, each new release makes me love it all the more.

By figurefanzero
4
Oct 12 2020

Marvel Legends (Sugar Man Wave): Sunfire and X-Man by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday and I’m continuing my cruise through the Age of Apocalypse themed Sugar Man Wave of Marvel Legends. I’ve been taking this assortment in pairs and today brings us to the fifth and sixth figures: Sunfire and X-Man! I had a crazy work schedule this weekend and I’m really pressed for time. Can I hammer out a brief double review today and still do these figures justice? Yes, I believe I can!

Here’s a quick look at the boys in their packaging and take note that each one comes with a pair of arms for Sugar Man, because he’s a four-arm-having sonovabitch! I’ll also once again point out that David Nakayama is doing the spine art for this wave. I’ve been a big fan of his work ever since I discovered his cover work for Zenescope Comics, and it’s awesome to see him contributing art for Marvel Legends! Let’s dig in! And I’m going to start things off with Sunfire!

We last saw Sunfire about three years ago as part of the Warlock Wave. That was a great figure and I am a huge fan of his classic costume. But here we have alternate reality Sunfire after having gone nuclear to halt Apocalypse’s attack on Japan. It bought some time to evacuate and left him in horrific shape, but boy does it make for a cool look. And you know what else is cool? Translucent figures!!! Yeah, I love me some translucent plastic and Sunfire is made of it from head to toe. I think this is more or less the same body used for the previous figure, albeit with different hands. At least it maintains the lateral crunches in the shoulders. The body is cast in a lovely clear yellow plastic with some orange highlights and black accents to make up the details of the suit. He has some flame effects sculpted into his forearms, while his right hand is balled up into a fist and his left looks like it’s about to unleash some major power. Absolutely awesome!

The head sculpt, if you can call it that, is a mask nestled in a mantle of fire. The mask itself is white with the red circle in the center representing the Land of the Rising Sun. The two slits for eyes bleed forth in red-orange flame, making him look like an avenging spirit. The sculpted flame around the mask has a bit more orange to it than the rest of the body and it just looks amazing.

The articulation is pretty much identical to what we saw in the previous release. I think this body is borrowed from one of the Spider-Man releases. In addition to the previously mentioned shoulder crunches, the arms also feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows and knees, swivels in the biceps, waist, thighs, and lower legs, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. Needless to say he’s as much fun to play with as he is good looking! Moving on to X-Man!

As expected, this figure is based off of his appearance in his self-titled book from the Age of Apocalypse and that’s a very good thing, because I can’t stand what Marvel has done with Nate’s design in recent years. Here we get the classic Jim Lee X-Men colors of yellow and blue only with an emphasis on the blue. The yellow is relegated to trim and some abbreviated striping, as well as his belt. It all looks fantastic and that yellow really pops beautifully against the blue.

Nate features a short jacket, which tapers at the waist and features some serious lapels! It’s molded as a soft plastic vest with the sleeves sculpted as part of the arms. You get some additional new sculpting at his collar and the belt is a separate piece fitted snug around his waist. Take away the shoulder crunches, and X-Man features the exact same articulation as Sunfire.

Hasbro did a beautiful job with this portrait, but that should come as no surprise since they really nailed Cable both times they’ve done him. Nate has a grim expression as a beautiful effect part explodes from his left eye. His shock of brown and white hair parts in the middle and frames his face around the eyes. Simply superb!

Both of today’s figures are fairly simple, with some flourishes of brilliance. For Sunfire, it’s a cross between the lovely translucent plastic and the amazing head sculpt that wins me over. As for X-Man? Well, a snazzy jacket, bitchin eye, and that wonderful one-two punch of yellow and blue carries that figure beautifully. This pair are two more great additions to what has turned out to be a super fun wave of figures. And I’ve still got one more to open, so next Monday we’ll have a look at Dark Beast and then we’ll build the Sugar Man Build-A-Figure!

Oct 9 2020

Star Wars: The Mandalorian “Vintage Collection” Imperial Troop Transport by Hasbro

Feels like it’s been a while since I checked out a Star Wars vehicle, and I’ve got quite a stack of them from the Vintage Collection, piling up in the corner and waiting to be opened. One of the ones that had me the most excited was the Imperial Troop Transport from The Mandalorian. Of all the fan service that Disney could have packed into that series, who would have guessed that one of the biggest would be a nod back to an old Kenner toy? And this is after the Troop Transport got a previous nod (and toy) in the Rebels 3 3/4-inch line. The ITT has become one popular little vehicle. I never owned the original toy when I was a kid, but my best friend did and I loved playing with it, despite it’s boxy and impractical design it somehow quickly became iconic to me.

And boy does this thing look great in the vintage packaging! Mine arrived a little rough around the corners, but hey… IT’S VINTAGE!!! Getting beaten up in shipping gives it character! You get shots of the toy in action on the front and back panels as well as some close up shots on the side panels. The ITT comes nearly fully assembled, so you can get a pretty good idea of the vehicle’s size before you even open the box. And yes, that means it can go back into the box for storage, which is always a HUGE plus for me with these Vintage Collection releases. It’s also worth noting that there are no electronic features, so if you like pretty lights and sounds, you’re out of luck. On the other hand it also means you don’t have to have any batteries handy, either. I really think they missed an opportunity at packing in a Remnant Stormtrooper with this vehicle, but I’ll have more to say on that later. For now, let’s open this baby up and check her out!

Based on its appearance toward the end of The Mandalorian Season One, the Imperial Troop Transport takes the old Kenner design and peppers it with realism. And rather than beat around the bush, let me just toss out the best and worst things about the ITT right away: It’s got some amazing detail and it’s too small. Now, I wouldn’t go so far as to say this is quite as nice a piece as the Rogue One Hover Tank, but that vehicle is damn hard to beat when it comes to its weathered paint scheme and its great attention to even the tiniest details. The Transport comes pretty damn close, though. For starters, the sculpt is packed with all sorts of little hatches, panel lines, vents, piping, and everything the design needed to make it look like a real vehicle. Coupled with the greasy and grimy paint weathering, this cool deco goes a long way to convince me that this is a relic of the old Empire that’s been dragged back into service by the locals to try to maintain a scrap of power and bully the population. Much like the grubby Stormtrooper armor worn by the Remnant, this thing has seen better days, and it seems like the days of Imperial disciplined maintenance are a thing of the past.

There aren’t a ton of features on the outside. There are a pair of blaster cannon protruding from slits in the cheeks of the cab, and there’s a turret on the top that can rotate. That’s pretty much it. The vehicle does have some concealed wheels on the bottom, so it will roll, even though it’s intended to hover. It’s a shame they couldn’t have done something similar to the old Kenner Landspeeder and made them a little springy to improve the hover effect, as the simple engineering on that toy still impresses me and I think that would have been a cool feature here. If you flip the vehicle over you can check out all the amazing detail packed into an area you that you are likely never going to actually see, and that’s pretty cool! There are a series of vents, which I presume are repulse engines of some kind and a bunch of other bits and bobs.

The back of the vehicle opens up to reveal the interior and allow the Stromtroopers to burst out with E-11’s blazing. It seems like it would have made more sense to have the back drop down like a tailgate, giving the troops a ramp to descend, but I guess this design affords the disembarking troops some protection from strafing fighters.

The interior is also accessible from the top, which lifts off to reveal more amazing detail. The deck plates are fully sculpted and there’s a section over the cab that reveals some of the inner machinations of the vehicle. I suppose this could serve as a service hatch. There are some other features inside that we’ll check out in a bit. As a stand alone model of the Troop Transport seen in the series, I have no complaints at all, as this thing is absolutely gorgeous. But at this point, I’m going to grab a bunch of Stormies and we’re going to see how things go down hill once we start playing with it.

The cockpit opens up via the two side doors and… Wow is it cramped in here! It took some doing just to get the Stormtroopers seated in a reasonably convincing manner. There’s a ton of great detail in the cabin, but it’s tough to appreciate it because of the crazy tight quarters. I really wish the top piece that came off included the top of the cab as well. That way I could position the drivers better and maybe even get their hands on the steering yokes. I could also get to see all the work that went into sculpting this area. Such a simple change would have made a huge difference. I do like how there’s a window between the cab and the back compartment, and they did a great job detailing the interior of the doors.

The ITT is most known for the human pockets on the sides, which betrayed the true purpose of the toy being to hold figures. As a kid, I couldn’t imagine anyone owning SIX Stormtroopers to fill it up! I mean, holy smokes were some parents made of money??? But now I’m all grown up and I can buy as many Stormtroopers as I want. Who thought it was a good idea to have troops exposed in these side-pockets, rather than ride inside the armored transport is beyond me. I imagine this thing pulling up to deploy with six corpses slumped in the compartments. But I do like how they incorporated it into the show and had the troops pouring out of it. I think I actually said out loud, “Cool! So that’s how that works!” My cats were confused and unimpressed. Only two of these compartments open up, which is INCREDIBLY cheap for a toy that costs this much. How does seventy dollars buy me only two opening hatches? The doorways leading inside from each side pocket are also very small, which would be forgivable if you climbed up some stairs to get out through it, but the way it is you really have to use your imagination to make it work. And I’ll tell ya… imagination is made for $20 Troop Transports. Not ones that cost this much, Dammit!

There’s a hatch on the top that opens so you can have a Stormtrooper poke his head out, maybe as a spotter or something.  Unfortunately, doing so really shows off the limitations of that turret. The opened hatch blocks its line of fire, and while we’re on the subject notice how if they started firing that thing it would head-shot all the Stormtroopers on the sides of the vehicle! It all harkens back to the running theme of this review… the ITT is too damn small.

As we saw, the back opens up to allow troops to disembark, but the hatch is so low they can’t even stand up under it. It’s hard to believe stumbling out of this thing at a low crouch is an ideal way to enter the heat of battle. And what you’re seeing is also the same clearance as exists inside the vehicle with the top closed. That means the Stormies can’t even stand up in this thing when it’s buttoned up. So let’s go inside and have a better look.

There are some cool ideas going on in here. Firstly, there’s a weapons rack for your Stormy’s guns. I wasn’t really able to make it work very well. Also, the toy is $70, could you not fill the rack with some guns to pad out the value??? There are folding seats inside, which is a neat, but it’s so tight inside that there’s barely room for two occupants to sit opposite each other. It works better if you stagger. The seats are also so low that they have to sit awkwardly or with their legs all the way out. Needless to say, a Stormtrooper can’t stand in here with the top on and so the whole thing just feels very limiting and not a lot of fun. Now, I understand that Hasbro frequently down scales ships to make them work, but the ITT isn’t an example where that should have been necessary. I feel like if this thing were 10% bigger it would have made all the difference in the world. And considering that it has no electronics, no pack in figures, and not a lot of play features, it seems like they should have been able to make it bigger within the price point.

I suppose the Imperial Troop Transport makes a worthy display piece if you want to throw some troops on it and display it on your shelf. But if you’re hoping to have any fun playing around with it, you may want to keep those hopes in check. It’s clear Hasbro put a lot of love and craftsmanship into the sculpt and paint, but then they stumbled at the finish line by under scaling it so much. And I honestly can’t see where all the money went with this toy. Hell, the Rogue One Tank was overpriced too, but at least it had a lot more complexity to it. Keep in mind, I only paid $50 for my Troop Transport, and it still feels like too much. When I had a hankering to review a Star Wars vehicle today, I probably should have gone for the Black Series 6-inch Scale Snowspeeder. It was a much more impressive toy, and I kind of feel bad that I bumped this one ahead of the line.