Monthly Archives: February 2021

Feb 26 2021

Hero HACKS: Zorro by Boss Fight Studios

Oh man, Zorro has been around for a long time! Born in the pulp stories of the early 20th Century, his legend has lived on in film and television ever since. I don’t know how he rates nowadays, but Zorro was still a big deal when I was a kid. Granted, I was only two years old when Frank Langella donned the cape in The Mask of Zorro, but I remember years later my dad making popcorn and my brother and I watching it with him and having a great time. I also remember my brother having a really cool 12-inch action figure of Zorro, that he got while we were living in France. I used to beg him to play with it all the time, but he was having none of it. The best I got was to fight his Zorro with my 12-inch Kenner Indiana Jones figure. Whip vs Whip! Maybe it wasn’t so fair because Indy did have the gun. Anywho… Zorro had a bigger budget theatrical outing in 1998, and while I wasn’t a huge fan of that version of The Mask of Zorro, it was still good fun. On the other hand, I absolutely loved the swashbuckling cheese-fest that was the 1990 TV Series and it remains a guilty pleasure to this day! Needless to say, I was beside myself with glee when Boss Fight Studios announced that Zorro would be joining their new Hero HACKS line of 4-inch figures. The initial offerings include a single carded figure and a boxed set featuring Zorro and his horse, Tornado. Today I’m opening the single figure!

Zorro comes packaged in the same style as BFS’s Vitruvian HACKS, and that’s a very good thing indeed. The package offers the best of both worlds, with a colorful card and a collector friendly blister, so you can take him out and play with him and return him to the package for an awesome display piece. The landscape orientation of the cardback is quite distinctive and I love the artwork on the front. To the left of the character art, there’s a sizable bubble that shows off the figure and his extra goodies. As a side note, one of those extra goodies is a branded Hero HACKS figure stand, and as was the case with Flash Gordon, the pegs don’t fit the feet very well, so I had to make due with a generic stand for this review. Let’s check him out!

Presented in 4-inches of poseable plastic, Zorro looks as iconic as ever. The body features an all black outfit with sculpted rumples and wrinkles, high boots, and swashbuckling gauntlets. There’s a sculpted sash tied around his waist, and they did a particularly nice job sculpting and painting the laces at the collar of his tunic. The plastic cape fits around the figure’s neck and also has a peg that secures it into a hole in the back, along with two silver buttons on each side of the neck to offer a splash of color. Finally, there’s a loop hanging off his waist so that he can wear his sword, but more on that in a bit. For a figure that does not feature a lot of color or even a lot of overt detail, Zorro looks absolutely amazing.

You get two head sculpts with the figure, one masked with an all-business expression, and one unmasked with a beaming smile. The broad brimmed hat is sculpted separately from the head and fits securely on either one. Both portraits are excellent with some nice detail in the mustache. I didn’t see a lot of value in the multiple heads included with the Hero HACKS Flash Gordon, but here I think the decision to include two was a fantastic one.

The articulation right in line with previous HACKS figures, which means a whole lot of hinged pegs holding the figure together. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, with some great range of motion in the legs and the shoulders. The elbows, on the other hand, only give about a 90-degree angle and that’s it, and I would have liked some swivels in the upper legs, but still overall not bad at all. The cape isn’t too restrictive, but it can be easily removed if Zorro needs to fight unencumbered. He also comes with two sets of hands, one pair for holding accessories, and one pair of open hands, which can be rather expressive.

Zorro comes with his two trademark weapons: A sword and bullwhip. The rapier is an absolutely beautiful accessory. Yes, the hilt is a tad oversized, but it’s easily forgiven considering the complexity of the guard. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sword of this type attempted in such a small scale and I have to say that BFS nailed it. The sword looks great both carried on Zorro’s hip or being wielded in either hand. In addition to the sexy curves of the hilt, the blade is stout enough to not be too bendy, and the silver paint on the guard and blade contrasts nicely with the black grips. One word of caution is the crossguard can bend a bit when worn against the cape, something I didn’t notice at first. Fortunately, I was able to straighten it out without any problems, but I’m not sure how many times that will work before it crimps and falls off. But, now that I know to be careful with it, it shouldn’t be a problem!

The bullwhip is fashioned from soft rubbery plastic, which will hold it’s intended form, but is also totally flexible. It features a detailed, braided sculpt with a loop at the grip and a frayed tip. It’s soft enough that it can be coiled, but it won’t stay like that on its own and Zorro can’t really hold it when it’s coiled up. For that reason, I would have loved to get a second version of the whip that was coiled and perhaps could peg onto his belt.

Hey, ya know what? I freaking LOVE this figure! I think it’s fab that Boss Fight took the opportunity of Zorro’s anniversary to get us some figures and boy did they deliver. The only downside here is there’s no one for him to fight. And quite frankly I doubt it’s in BFS’s plans to get us some Spanish soldiers. But that’s OK, as a stand alone figure he’s absolutely amazing. And playing around with this guy has just whetted my appetite for the boxed figure and horse. Chances are I’ll be opening that one for a review in the very near future!

Feb 24 2021

Danger Girl: Premium Format Abbey Chase by Sideshow

If you come to my home enough times, chances are eventually I will pour you a glass of Jameson and take you on the mandatory tour of my J. Scott Campbell collection. You’ll see books, art prints, action figures, statues, and I may even make you play a level of the PlayStation game. It’s OK. Just act interested. Oooh and Ahhh a few times, and you will be free to leave and go about your business. What can I say? From Danger Girl to Gen13 to his work on exclusive covers for any number of comic book companies, I love this man’s work and I love to share it with people I know. And as I was reorganizing some pieces of the collection this past weekend, I thought I might as well showcase Sideshow’s Premium Format of Danger Girl star, Abbey Chase!

This is where I usually show off the packaging, but the box for this gal is so damn big, that I had to put it in storage and it is not easy to get to. So instead, I’ll just show off some of my different editions of the original Danger Girl series. Signed Treasury Editions? Check! Signed Deluxe Edition? Check! Signed Ultimate Collection in both Hardcover and Trade paperback? Check and Check! As for the figure, she’s roughly quarter-scale which tends to be the standard for Sideshow’s Premium Formats, measuring in at just over twenty inches including the base, and sculpted in polystone with some mixed media elements. Abbey requires just a little bit of simple assembly before she’s ready to go, and I’m happy to report that everything fit well, which isn’t always the case. Sideshow offered two versions of this piece: A regular edition of 1,000 and an Exclusive of 500. Naturally, I had to get the Exclusive!

The composition of this figure sees Abbey caught in mid stride, half action hero… half runway model. Her right foot in front, her right hip thrust to the side, her left hand resting on the other hip. Her right arm is cocked at the elbow as she holds aloft her trusty automatic pistol, while flames lick up around her feet. Our hero cuts a perfect compromise between a museum-style pose and a whiff of action.. While not a perfect match, the design here looks like it was influenced by Abbey’s appearance on IDW’s Danger Girl: Gallery Edition, which collected a series of covers and pin-ups. And a mighty fine choice it was!  And I can’t help but appreciate those wonderful stylized proportions! I can practically hear the self-righteous Social Media Mobs screaming, BUT WHERE ARE HER POLYSTONE ORGANZ?????

When it comes to her outfit, Abbey has donned a few different looks over the years (sometimes not wearing much of anything!), this figure showcases the look that I would consider her most iconic. It’s simple enough, and starts with an extra-tight white t-shirt. Or maybe that’s half a t-shirt. Moving down we get a pair of tight pants fashioned from a mix of black leather, green spandex, and mesh, and finished off with a pair of high black boots. Abbey sometimes wore a matching jacket, but I’m not sorry that they left it out here. The t-shirt is part of the sculpt, and the paint really needs to be called out here, especially on the back where it gives off the effect that the material is so thin that her skin is showing through it. Man, that is a cool effect!

The pants introduce the mixed media element to the statue, as they are fully tailored out of three different types of material and sewn onto the figure. Once upon a time, it seemed like all Premium Format figures were required to have some element of mixed media to them, but that hasn’t been the case for a while. Indeed, of the four PF figures I own, Abbey here is the only one that showcases some aspect of tailoring in the costume. If her pants were all just black leather, I would have been fine with them sculpting it, but they really took the opportunity here, especially with the mesh panels, to make this aspect of the costume shine. And I can’t even imagine how difficult it is to stitch pants onto a polystone statue with that level of perfection. The final aspects of her costume worth pointing out ar ethe sculpted gloves and the DG-branded belt buckle!

Taking a look at the portrait, I think Sideshow did an excellent job bringing JSC’s stylized likeness of Ms. Chase to a fully fleshed out 3D form. This can be a tricky portrait to display, since her hair casts a shadow over the left side of her face. Ultimately, I have her displayed on a shelf which brings her eyes nearly level with my own, which helps to appreciate all the beauty hiding under there. I dig Abbey’s expression, which is about 90% business and 10% playful smirk. The paintwork on the face is very clean, the eyes have a bit of a lifelike sheen to them and the lips are painted with a luscious gloss coat. The hair is sculpted separately from the head, which gives her a razor sharp hairline, and I like the way the ends lick off to the side above her shoulders.

The gun is nicely detailed, and features a silver brushed finish that makes it look like it’s a bit weathered and well used. And shame on Abbey, for not practicing proper trigger discipline! On the other hand, I do love how she holds her pinky extended. That’s class!

Our next stop on this review is the base, and what a beast of a base it is! It’s sculpted and painted to look like it’s made from a solid iron ingot, and believe me when I say it weighs about as much too. The steel finish has a luxurious satin finish to it and the Danger Girl logo really pops on the front with the red and purple paint and the silhouette of Abbey over the D. The semi-translucent plastic flames attach firmly to the base with some powerful magnets, making for an especially nice effect. The bottom of the base has the Danger Girl logo again as well as Abbey Chase Premium Format Figure and mine is hand numbered 212 of 500.

And lastly we have the Exclusive incentive, which is a generously oversized metal art card and stand, showing off the concept art that was used for the creation of the statue. This is my favorite kind of incentive. Often, Sideshow will go with optional swap-out parts as the incentive, and those are nice, but they aren’t something I usually take advantage of, whereas I have this art card displayed beside the statue at all times.

The Exclusive has since sold out at Sideshow, but the tragedy is that the regular edition is still up for grabs. And keep in mind, she went up for pre-order back in 2017. Originally, I had hoped we might get a Sydney Savage as well, but I fear that the sales were probably not strong enough to support another one. Happily, JSC has continued to partner with Sideshow with both his Spider-Man and Fairytale Fantasies line, some of which I have reviewed here. It’s probably a pipe dream, but I’m still hoping that one day they may do a maquette with Abbey, Sidney, and Natasha. And you can bet that I’d drop a pre-order for a Caitlin Fairchild Premium Format figure the moment it got solicited. But that’s probably just a dream too. In the meantime, I’m thrilled to have Abbey here as one of the showpieces of my JSC collection.

Feb 22 2021

Marvel Legends (Strong Guy Wave): Deadpool by Hasbro

ARE YOU SICK OF DEADPOOL YET??? That’s a question Hasbro seems to be screaming at us these days with every few waves of Marvel Legends. But, I guess someone had to take over for the crazy number of variant releases of Iron Mans and Captain Americas that we used to get. We’ve already seen one version of Poolsy in his so-called X-Men outfit and now we’re getting him in the more traditional (and less on the nose) look with the blue and yellow deco. It may not be as cool as Pirate Deadpool or as wacky as Underpants Deadpool, but I was actually happy to see this one get released. What can I say? I’m part of the problem! At least I never bought that Rainbow Deadpool 5-pack. And I’ve seen that clearanced down to like ten bucks.

Hey, you got your Deadpool in my X-Men wave! Yup, this assortment feels like Hasbro didn’t have anywhere to go with some of these Deadpool figures so they stuffed them into what could have been a full X-Men wave. But hey, they could have just as easily made it a full Deadpool wave too, so count your blessings, you Deadpool haters! Anyway, there’s nothing new to say about the packaging, so let’s press on.

As you might expect, El-Poolio here is kit-bashed from a bunch of past Deadpools. The body appears to be borrowed from the Wade we got a couple years back in the Sasquatch Wave, which was also used for the above cited X-Men Deadpool. And that’s not a bad thing, because it sees a return of those wonderful lateral crunches in the shoulders and the extra set of swivels in the lower legs. In terms of articulation, this body is just a wonder to play around with and even has a pretty nice balance. Also borrowed from that earlier Deadpool are the wrist and ankle cuffs, now repainted yellow to match the new deco. And speaking do deco, I simply adore the colors that Mr. Pool is showcasing here. The bulk of the suit is blue, but has some nice yellow piping and it looks sharp!

The belt and shoulder harness is borrowed from the Deadpool Corps Deluxe Riders Deadpool, which was in turn borrowed from the 2012 X-Force Deadpool. Yeah, I’m amazed that Hasbro is still digging that deep for parts and accessories. The panoply of pouches are brown, while the chest and shoulder straps are now yellow. He’s got a red X-logo in the center of the harness and his patented Pool-emblem on the lower belt buckle. It looks good on the figure, but the belt rides a little high, because the 2012 figure was a lot shorter. The last splash of yellow on the suit comes from his choker collar and the areas around his eyes on the mask. Roll it all together and this is a beautiful suit.

Because this figure borrowed the harness and scabbards, it’s only natural that the twin katanas are recycled too. Each hilt has been repainted with blue grips and a yellow tsuba to accessorize with the costume. Deadpool doesn’t like to be laughed at by the fashionistas. The blades are cast in that weird almost transparent white plastic, which I will likely wind up coloring in silver with a Sharpie or Gundam marker. All in all, these are some of the best swords we’ve seen with Deadpool, and I’m always happy to see them again. The only thing I don’t like about them is the way the tips of the blades peek through the scabbards. And while Pool only comes with a set of trigger hands, they hold the swords quite well.

In addition to his cutlery, Deadpool also comes with a pair of guns, both of which are cast in pale silver-gray plastic. The pistol has a bit of a sci-fi vibe going for it, but it’s not too crazy. Sadly, there’s no holster on his belt for him to carry it, although I suppose you could just tuck it in there.

The second is this decent sized assault rifle, which again is a little bit out there in its design, but still looks like it could be a credible real-world weapon, I suppose. I’m fairly sure we’ve seen these guns somewhere before, but I can’t readily place them. And as much as I love you guys, I’m not going to go picking through 300 or so Legends weapons to find matches!

Another Deadpool or no, I think this is a great looking figure. Normally, I’d say that if you’re sick of Deadpool just don’t buy him. But if you take that advice you’ll have a headless Strong Guy in your display, so I guess you’re kind of stuck. And maybe that’s a legit complaint about all these Deadpoolses we’ve been getting. Then again, having to buy a figure you don’t really want every now and then is one of the pitfalls of Build-A-Figures. That’s why Hasbro does it! Personally, I’m OK if we take a break from Deadpool himself for a little while, but there are still some associated characters I’d like to see hit the pegs. Once again, Hasbro, where the hell is my T-Ray?

Feb 19 2021

GI JOE Classified: Cobra Infantry by Hasbro

I probably don’t need rehash all the anger and frustration that came with making the first release of the Cobra Trooper in the Classified line a hard to get Target Exclusive. It was a bad move on Hasbro’s part, more so because at the time, I’m not sure anyone knew that the figure would get a variant widespread release in the near future. I was lucky enough to get one of those Cobra Troopers, and I was happy for it, but sure I wanted a couple more. OK, maybe a couple dozen more. Well, fast forward to now, and I was thankfully able to pre-order six of the new release of these bad boys. I have four in hand, and two more on the way, so let’s check this figure out by way of comparison to the Cobra Island version I reviewed a little while back.

The packaging looks as great as ever. Maybe I’ll keep one of their boxes, but with space being a premium around here, I probably won’t.

The figure is the exact same sculpt as the Cobra Island release, and I’ll reiterate here how awesome a sculpt it is! To me, this is a perfect imagining of the Cobra Trooper. It captures all the necessary beats of the classic uniform, but gives it a double injection of realism and hyper detail. You get texturing throughout the uniform, including some reinforced patches. There are armor plates on the shins, knees, and forearms, and some cool extra little touches like the sculpted Cobra emblems on the backs of the gloves. The uniform itself is about the same color as the Exclusive release, maybe just a touch paler blue. This fellow does have black painted pads on the outsides of his hips and upper legs, and some gray paint around the edges of his kneepads.

The figure is wearing the same tactical vest as the previous release as well, which encompasses the entire torso and includes the waist belt. This features sculpted straps and pouches, a working holster and sheath on the front, another working holster on the back, and some peg holes on the back to peg in extra gear. Finally, there’s a Cobra emblem embossed and painted on the chest. The only difference here comes in the coloring. It was previously black, now it’s pale blue with gray paint on the belts and straps. I think I prefer this deco on the vest, as it keeps faith with the original Cobra uniform deco just a bit more.

The head sculpt is also identical, with the only discernable difference being the skin color on the new figure being a little darker. The helmet is once again removable, and friction does a nice job of keeping it in place, even when I’m posing the figure.

So what else is different? Only the omission of some gear. The new figure still comes with the knife, twin pistols and the sub-machine gun, but lacks the goggles, larger rifle and the arm-band. Yeah, it’s a shame the rifle couldn’t have been included, as I think the arm-band would have been enough to make the Cobra Island an exclusive, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker for me.

This is an absolutely amazing figure, and without a doubt my favorite iteration of the Cobra Trooper to date. I was strongly tempted to pay out the nose for two more of the Cobra Island Troopers, and now I’m so glad that I didn’t. I’m perfectly happy with my single figure, who’s arm band serves to identify him as the Commander of the rest of my troops. I’ll probably give his rifle to one of these new ones and make him a sharpshooter. What’s more, these seem to be pretty obtainable, with pre-orders still open at a number of online retailers. Alls well that ends well, I guess. But I think Hasbro could have saved themselves a lot of fan anger had they just labeled the Cobra Island version as an Officer and assured fans that the troops would be coming in wider release and better supply.

Feb 15 2021

Marvel Legends: Deluxe Thanos by Hasbro

Hello, fellow Toycoholics! It’s Marvel Monday again, and while I had planned to keep pressing on with the Strong Guy Wave this week, a new version of The Mad Titan arrived and I thought I had better give the big guy priority. In other words, I’m just really excited to open him up! Obviously Thanos needs no introduction, and I believe this is the third comic version of him to hit the modern Marvel Legends line, with the first one being a Build-A-Figure from a wave released around 2015. That figure was later re-issued with some tweaks and extra bits as a Walmart Exclusive Deluxe, and now we get what is essentially a new figure. I skipped out on the second release, because it was so similar to one I already had, but this one looked too good to resist.

The packaging is certainly nice! So nice, I may be tempted to keep it. You get a fairly large window box with The Infinity Gauntlet title plastered on the front, the Infinity Stones spread across the top panel, and some fantastic character art on the back and side panels. There’s even an illustrated cardboard backer behind the tray depicting Thanos’ throne, although there’s so much plastic crammed into this box, it’s hard to make it out until you open it. Since I already reviewed the BAF version of Thanos, I’ll focus on doing some comparisons throughout. So let’s open this baby up, and make it snappy!

So, straightaway, this is a much cleaner and more classic look for Thanos than the previous ones, and I dig that a lot. He’s roughly the same height as the 2015 BAF, but he comes off as being a wee bit chunkier to me, a lot of which has to do with the hands and feet. The body is more rounded and organic than the sharper and more angular buck of the previous release. BAF Thanos looked like he was wearing some kind of cybernetic armor. Here, he’s just got a tunic and body suit, which is a lighter and more vibrant shade of blue. Gone are all those techno bits, and what detail there is consists mostly in his ripped musculature. Here, Thanos is wearing a some beefy and shiny gold boots and gloves, as opposed to the duller wrist bracers and ankle cuffs on BAF Thanos. Instead of the dull techno girdle on the previous release, here he as some gold trim on his tunic, as well as a plain and simple gold belt and a gold stripe running up the middle of his tunic.

Thanos’ golden gorget has a bit of a swirly pattern in the plastic and is sculpted to match the musculature in the buck. It’s more tight fitting around the neck and it stays in place, as opposed to the BAF’s which tended to flop all over the place. I really dig the painted gold straps that run under the arms. In addition to the simpler, cleaner look on this figure, I just can’t say enough things about the coloring on this figure. The lighter blue and the shinier gold really make the figure pop beautifully, like he’s jumping right out of a comic panel, as opposed to the dark blue and dull matte gold on the BAF. This is just an absolutely gorgeous figure!

The head that comes on the figure features a very similar helmet to the older BAF. The ear discs are a little bigger, there are some other minor variations in the brow ridges, but overall they’re a pretty close match. The paint on my figure’s head could be neater, particularly where the gold is concerned. It’s not something that’s too noticeable with the naked eye when and the figure in hand, but it becomes quite apparent in close up shots.  The portrait itself is excellent, with a slightly darker purple skin and plenty of crags and lines in the face. Here, Thanos’ mouth is agape, but he’s still showing plenty of teeth. He’s got a turnip nose, and black pits for eyes with tiny bright blue irises, that almost glow under the right light. Here, I’m a little less inclined to call the newer version an absolute winner, as I still really like the previous portrait. I’ll call it a toss up. If you are after swapping the heads, I find that it’s not a very good fit, but you can probably make it work, more or less.

You also get the optional King Thanos head, which is a pretty cool bonus, but not one that I’m likely to display him with. I really dig the high crown and it looks fantastic when matched with the gold gorget. This future Thanos’ face is a little more craggy and gnarled, and he offers a broad smile with just a narrow slit of teeth visible. The beard is the real showpiece here. The sculpted white hair looks amazing, as it snakes downward toward the middle of his chest. I’d like to pick up a pack of those NECA head stands so I can at least display this noggin beside the figure.

My biggest complaint about the previous BAF Thanos was that it didn’t come with an Infinity Gauntlet, but we get two versions of it with this figure, and that’s awesome! One is sculpted as a grasping hand, and the other is poised to make the snap that was heard around the Universe.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely adore this figure! My initial plan was to take a pass on this Thanos, because my Marvel Legends collection is getting so far out of hand. It takes up more space than almost any other facet of my collection and so I really need to start thinking twice about double-dipping on characters. But I am so damn glad that I took a closer look at the release and decided to buy him. Marvel Legends is one of my favorite action figure lines to collect, so when I say how absolutely delighted I was opening this purple bastard, that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s just that clean and colorful and stunningly iconic look that makes me feel like a kid again and makes me want to bust open some short boxes and start thumbing through my funnybooks. This figure is just a little bit of magic captured in plastic form, and it’s a perfect example of why I love collecting this line so much. I Predict this guy is going to be a resident of my desk for quite a while before he gets moved to the shelf.

Feb 12 2021

Hero HACKS: Flash Gordon by Boss Fight Studios

Folks, I freaking love the 1980 Flash Gordon movie. I’m not talking I love to laugh at it, or I dig it in an ironic way. I mean, I adore it in the most honest and unapologetic way imaginable. I was only 8 years old when it hit theaters and I was robbed of that experience. But I made my parents rent the hell out of it when it hit VHS and I’ve probably owned every home release of the movie since. I have the movie poster, I have the soundtrack on vinyl, and I have picked up just about every bit of merchandising I could get. The film is so rich with amazing character and costume designs, my dream has always been that it get an action figure treatment as exhaustive as Star Wars. Like, give me a figure of every character on screen! I would army build the hell out of half the denizens of Ming’s Court. Alas, a definitive toy line continues to elude me. Bif Bang Pow did some decent 7-inch figures (which I reviewed OVER TEN YEARS AGO!) as well as some MEGO style versions, but that’s about it. UNTIL NOW! Boss Fight Studios has been branching out their HACKS line beyond just the Greek Mythology and Swords and Sorcery with a number of different licenses and the 1980 Dino De Laurentiis Opus is one of them. They have revealed a few figures, but Flash himself is heralding the line with a special tin lunchbox release.

If you were a child of the 70s or 80s, you no doubt remember it as the Era of Licensed Lunchboxes! Getting ready for the new school year involved my poor parents pouring money into clothes and shoes and books, but all I cared about was who I was going to represent this year on my lunchbox. That was always the question. What would it be this year? Would I be drinking my chocolate milk out of an ALF Thermos? Spectacular! I’ll confess, I never had a Flash Gordon one, but I would have been proud to tote my bologna and cheese to school in a sacred tin tabernacle with the visage of Max Von Sydow and Sam Jones printed on it. And here  it is! The front of this collector’s tin has some artwork inspired by the poster and it is absolutely outstanding. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the box.

Holy Hot Hail, what happened to the rest of it? The disconnect between the art on the front and the other sides is really quite palpable. I suppose you could argue that some of those vintage lunchboxes didn’t always have the best quality art, but this stuff is pretty dreadful. Is it intentionally bad? I just don’t know. Flash and Dale on the back panel are particularly offensive. Prince Barin and Prince Vultan aren’t quite as bad. Klytus is there on the other side panel along with some fellas from Ming’s Court. With the front panel looking so great, this tote is certainly displayable, but I wish they had done a better job on the rest of it. If you’re going to go for special presentation, I’m not sure that this is the way to do it.

Inside, Flash and his extra bits are laid out on a clear plastic tray that fits perfectly inside the tote. I really like the way they did this, especially with the branded figure stand in lieu of any kind of interior packaging art. On the downside there is a hell of a lot of empty space in there, which kind of showcases how light this figure is on the accessories. I’ve been collecting HACKS since the original Kickstarter, and it seemed like most of the figures came with an abundance of extras, so all that open air on the tray is pretty conspicuous here. Well, let’s get Flash out and have a look.

HACKS is billed as a 1:18 scale line, which generally puts Flash here in the 3 3/4 to 4-inch range. However, HACKS figures tend to be a little chunkier and so I find that Flash looks a little oversized when displayed with most Hasbro figures in this scale. I think some of the reason for that is because these figures are designed to be modular to allow for customization. Whatever the case, This figure is based on Flash’s appearance early in the film, and it was a good choice for the debut figure. He dons his self-promoting white T-shirt, a pair of khaki slacks, and some sneakers. In terms of sculpt and paint, I think everything about this figure is excellent. Sure, the outfit doesn’t require anything complex, but it nails the look of the character perfectly. The printing on the shirt is crisp, as is the red borders on the neck and sleeves. I love the way the pants cuffs fall about the sneakers, and the sneakers themselves showcase a ridiculous attention to detail. Flash is even wearing a removable silver watch on his left wrist. The only thing here to mar the look of the figure is the peg hole in the back, which doesn’t serve a purpose on Flash, and the screw in his butt that holds the figure together.

You get three head sculpts, all of which are decent likenesses for Sam Jones in this scale. The figure comes wearing a smiling expression, and that’s my favorite of the bunch. I just think it captures Flash the best. The other two convey more aggression or determination. Quite frankly, I don’t think there’s a big enough difference between the other two heads to warrant including both of them. It’s nice to have options, but I would much rather that plastic had gone into a weapon or other accessory.

HACKS articulation is pretty solid, but I wouldn’t call these guys super articulated. The arms have hinged pegs for the shoulders, elbows, and hands. It’s not bad, but you can only get about a 90-degree bend in those elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinges in the knees, and sadly no swivels in the thighs. The ankles seem to be on rotating hinges, but with the cuffs sculpted the way they are, the best I can get out of them is a swivel. That’s a shame, because the ankles won’t allow the feet to go perpendicular with his legs. As a result, Flash always wants to fall backwards, which is why I’m using a stand in all of the pictures. Why not use the official HACKS stand? I’ll get to that in a bit. Finally, you get a ball joint under the chest and a double ball joint in the neck. The joints on this guy all feel great and he is fun to play around with, but some points could have used a little fine tuning. And that brings us to the rest of the extras! In addition to the two extra heads, Flash comes with a total of five hands. You get a pair of fists, a pair of accessory holding hands, and a left hand that is pegged for the one accessory he comes with. If you want to get any use out of those generic accessory hands, you’ll have to provide your own guns or swords or whatever you want to arm him with.

That one accessory is the football-shaped tribute to Ming that Flash uses to run his Quarterback moves during the fight in the Court.  The piece is very well done, with an excellent sculpt and great looking paint. I also appreciate the way they designed it to peg into the open hand. But as good as it is, it really doesn’t feel like enough to round out this package. I realize that Flash was wearing a different costume when he brandished the sword and went full on freedom fighter, but I still feel like they should have given him a gun or something. How about that gold gauntlet that one of the guards shot at him. It could have been sculpted to go around his neck with an effect part. That would have been cool.

And finally you get the branded figure stand, which doesn’t work because the pegs are way too thick for the holes in his feet. This is weird, because all my HACKS figures have come with similar stands, and I’ve never had a problem with them before. With four different pegs on the stand, you’d think at least one of them would work with the figure. Bundling a stand with a figure that doesn’t fit the figure seems like a pretty big mess up to me. It’s especially vexing when the figure won’t stand up by itself.

Obviously, I had some issues with Flash, but truth be told, there’s a lot to like about this figure. He looks great, he’s fun to play with, and I’m always going to be happy to have a new figure from this film. But here’s the thing, this little guy cost $45 and that’s just crazy. The overall lack of quality found in the artwork on the lunchbox doesn’t make it worth the extra cost. I would have much rather had this figure carded and given him a few more extras. Or round it up to $50 and make it a two-pack with the red and black tank top version of Flash they’re releasing. Heck, even with the regular carded releases coming in at $28 a pop, I’m still going to support this line because I’d like to see it go the distance. Alas, my fear is that we’re just going to get a handful of figures before this line fizzles. I certainly don’t expect to get any of the cool guards or soldiers, that kind of depth would be something better suited to Super7’s ReAction line. Still, it would be nice to see pre-orders up for Vultan, Dale, Zarkov, or Princess Aura. Right now the only other figures up for pre-order are Flash v2 and Prince Barin. Come on, guys, at least get Ming and Klytus in there. Ah well. I guess time will tell.

Feb 10 2021

Transformers (Netflix Series): Bumblebee by Hasbro

For decades, Hasbro has skirted their obligations to Bumblebee’s true heritage by not making his alt mode into a VW Bug again. Sure, some of that came from his change into a Camaro in those shitty movies, but even before that, it seemed like Volkswagen wasn’t interested in licensing to them, or maybe Hasbro wasn’t interested in paying out. Either way, we had to wait for the Takara Masterpiece figure to see Bumblebee once again strut his stuff as a Classic VW Bug. But all that’s behind us, as the last movie made him a VW Bug again, and I guess that’s something good to come out of that mess of a film franchise. Maybe that paved the way back to the figure I’m opening today. Jeez, when did Transformers toys become so complicated? Anywho, I can hardly believe that it was all the way back in June of last year when I reviewed Earthrise Cliffjumper. Damn, it feels like it was only a few weeks ago. I remember doing a lot of nitpicking, but ultimately being pleased with that figure. I also remember imagining how they were going to rework him into Bumblebee. Well, they did. And we’re going to look at it. Today. Let’s go!

Bumblebee is part of the Netflix Series tie-in, which is calling itself the War For Cybertron Trilogy and these figures come in white boxes. Yeah, it’s kind of weird to get Bumblebee in this mongrel off-shot, sub-series, but whatever. Once I throw out the package, this figure will fit right into the Earthrise or Kingdom series. And after a few generous pours of my friend Jameson, I won’t even know (or care about) the difference. Speaking of alcohol… I’ve tried watching the Netflix series, but I couldn’t make it through the first season, despite really wanting to like it. I decided to embark on the second season armed with a bottle of liquid courage, but all it did was make extra sad and depressed. The animated models look great, but the grimdark atmosphere is kind of stifling and I’m not a big fan of how they choose to portray some of the characters. But none of that makes this figure any less welcome and I’ve ranted on long enough. Let’s look at the damn toy! Like Cliffjumper, Bumblebee is packaged in the Deluxe assortment class, but he is much smaller than your average Deluxe. We’ll start with his alt mode!

OH, MY BEAUTIFUL DIESEL-POWERED DEUTCH BEAUTY!!! With no practice in a long while, I was worried Hasbro might not be able to pull off a VW Bug as an alt mode again. I mean, even the G1 original toy wasn’t a proper Beetle, but rather a Super-Deformed version. This Bug looks like it might be a little longer in the hood area than is accurate, but I’m no expert and either way it’s not bad looking at all. Indeed, I absolutely love it! The car mode locks together quite nicely and while there are some unsightly seams where the panels link up, it’s nothing that I’m not used to by now. The chonky curves are gorgeous and it is indeed licensed as there’s a Volkswagen insignia sculpted onto the hood right in front of the windshield. There are lots of great little details in the scul;t, like the vents over the engine compartment in the rear, as well as additional air vents behind the rear side windows. I can even make out the handle on the front of the hood. Great Primus, it’s so awesome to see the little guy’s alt mode return to his roots.

The Bug makes use of a rather deep yellow in terms of plastic and paint. The painted areas match the plastic quite well, and even has a bit of a metallic sheen to it. I love that, because sometimes the yellow plastic Hasbro uses tends to look cheap, but not here! The yellow also looks great next to the blue-tinted transparent windows. Some other paint flourishes include silver paint on the wheels, the headlamps, and even the windshield wipers and door pulls. The tires are black and so are the front and rear bumpers. And finally, you get a little red on the tail lights and an Autobot insignia stamped offset on the hood. What? You want me to complain about something? Fine! I wish they had detailed his license plate instead of just leaving it blank. Happy?

Bumblebee comes with the exact same giant bazooka as Cliffjumper, which means it can be broken down into parts to convert Bumblebee for water travel. This entails using the bipod for skis under the front wheels, using the tubes as pontoons, and the back piece as a stabilizer on the undercarriage. I liked this feature on Cliffjumper a lot, and I still like it here. On the other hand, Bumblebee lacks the port on top that Cliffjumper had to properly weaponize his alt mode, but that’s not a big deal for me. So, the alt mode gets a big thumbs up, let’s see how the robot mode turned out.

Not bad at all! Bumblebee transforms the same as Cliffjumper, which means you do have to take the back part of the car off in order to convert him. If that bothered you with Cliffjumper, it’ll likely do the same here. I’m not a huge fan of it, as I think it’s a cheat, but I’m willing to let it slide here because I really do love the resulting bot mode. Bumblebee sports a rather broad slab of chest, but I don’t think it works against the figure. His feet are still kind of big, but they don’t feel as bad as the giant clodhoppers that we saw on Cliffjumper. I remember calling out those cylindrical parts of the arms on Cliffjumper and saying how they look out of place on him, and that’s because they were always meant for Bumblebee here. Sure, he wears the back half of the car mode on his back, but as far as backpacks go, it’s not that bad at all. Indeed, I think it fills him out nicely.

The head sculpt is certainly on point! It would have been a shame to come all this way and not get the portrait right, but Bumblebee’s noggin turned out great. I would have liked the eye paint to be a little more blue and vibrant, but otherwise, I’ve got nothing but praise. From the horns on his rounded “helmet” to the silver paint on his face, Hasbro captured the character exactly as I always picture him.

I already pointed out that Bumblebee comes with Cliffjumper’s bazooka, and while it’s a damn cool weapon it feels out of place for this little guy. Fortunately, it can be broken down into smaller bite sized chunks. As smaller pistols, I think they work much better for Bumblebee. And if you absolutely don’t like the backpack and still want to use all the parts, it can be removed and turned into a shield, but I’ve never been a fan of that sort of thing.

Maybe it’s the booze making me all emotional, but this tiny scrapper posing as a Deluxe Class figure has made me so damn happy. It feels like such a momentous release, finally returning Bumblebee to his roots and doing it with style. Both the alt and robot modes kick ass, and it’s doubly impressive that Bumblebee and Cliffjumper manage to be so distinctive while still sharing all the same engineering and internal parts. Even in the context of mammoth releases like Scorponok and Omega Supreme, this little fella stands out as one of my favorite Transformers releases of late. And holy shit, that’s saying a lot because Hasbro has been successfully beating the Transformers drum consistently and without fail. And by Primus, it’s a great time to be a Transformers fan!

Feb 8 2021

Marvel Legends (Strong Guy Wave): Black Tom by Hasbro

For anyone who dropped me a line during my absence last week to see if I was face down on the bathroom floor onto a busted bottle of Jameson, your concern was genuinely moving. But fear not, my current Jameson bottle is very much in tact, and I am working may through a triple-pour as we speak. Work last week was another double quarter-pounder of bullshit with extra pickles and I had to eat every last bite before I could go on vacation this week. But hey… VACATION! Last time I tossed out that word I was taking a vacation from posting content because of too much work. Now it means I’m actually off work and I can work on some content! In all seriousness though, this place is obviously still in a state of flux as I try to work things out and get back onto track. One way or another it’ll happen. I find myself thinking back to the early days of FFZ when I rarely tapped out a review in a sober state and it’s possible that all I need to do is drink more. As for today… it’s another beautiful Marvel Monday, I’m home in my JimJams, and I’m ready to open up some new Marvel Legends. Let’s keep things going with the Strong Guy Wave and a look at Black Tom Cassidy!

HOLY SHIT, HASBRO MADE A BLACK TOM FIGURE!!! I don’t know why I’m surprised at anything Hasbro gives us in Marvel Legends these days, but maybe this is more a state of general happiness than surprise, because Tom Cassidy has been on my short list for a little while. The Strong Guy Wave has been something of an X-Men/Deadpool split, but Black Tom strides the line and fits in both sides quite nicely. Sure, the character has had a history that goes back with the X-Men well before Deadpool was ever inked onto a page, but he’s also appeared in a number of Deadpool books too, so this assortment feels like a perfect opportunity to get him into the mix. Oddly there’s no bold X-Men logo on the top or front panel, nor is there a Deadpool logo, but rather just the generic Marvel logo. And I care not, as this package is about to get shredded.

Tom Cassidy has been around almost as long as I have, but he was definitely an established character by the time I was old enough to start getting my peanut-butter smudged fingers onto my first Marvel Comics. I’m pretty sure I first met him as a result of a big score at the downtown used book shop where I bought most of my funnybooks. They had a whole box of ripped covers that they were letting kids pick through, so long as you actually bought some comics. I remember trying to ride home on my bike was a challenge, because I was laden down with so many floppies. The freebies were in gnarly shape, but I didn’t care, and two of them were issues of Uncanny X-Men involving an adventure in Cassidy Keep! Brother to Banshee, and someone that I’ve found to be a fairly sympathetic villain, I’ve been anxiously waiting for Hasbro to give Tom Cassidy the Marvel Legends treatment. And they did a damn fine job too! Built on a primarily black buck, Tom has a sculpted high collar, which dips in the front to form a point at the middle of his chest. Also, his boots and gauntlets are sculpted to flare at the edges. The result is a very distinct looking costume which is achieved through a nice balance of paint and new sculpt. His emblem is painted in red across his chest, with minimal bleed through, and he has a tight fitting red belt. Every bit of this costume looks great, but I especially love the black and red deco. It just looks so snappy!

What a portrait! I shouldn’t be surprised as Hasbro rarely flubs head sculpts in this line, but I like that they took the extra time to pack Tom’s noggin with personality. He sports a sharply detailed face with a dastardly grin and some fantastic sculpted hair, which includes bushy eyebrows, mustache, and goatee. The paint for the hair and the eyes is sharp and on point. This is just an all-around great looking portrait, which captures the character beautifully.

Black Tom’s articulation features all the great points I expect out of Marvel Legend‘s plastic dudes. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double-hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and yes there are additional swivels hidden at the tops of his boots. He has an ab-crunch hinge, a swivel in the waist, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. He’s loads of fun to play around with!

Tom comes with one accessory, and it is indeed his shillelagh, a knotted wooden fighting stick that he can use to channel the blasts of his mutant ability. It’s got a pretty bitchin’ stylized skull sculpted onto the end of it. Either hand is sculpted to hold it pretty well. And while I’m not usually one to ask for effect parts, I feel like one of them would have been a welcome inclusion here. But I’m sure I can fish something out of the accessory bin that will suit him.

Hot damn, it’s good to be back and opening toys again!  And I gotta say this one really tickled my jumblies. I’m always down for another X-Men baddie, but Black Tom here really pounds on that nostalgia button. His appearances are not the most prolific of the X-Men foes, but it’s always a real treat for me when he pops up. Deep down inside, I probably never doubted that Marvel Legends would get around to him eventually. Hell, I don’t think this line is going to stop until every last Marvel character has been pressed into plastic. But it kind of odd that we got a Tom Cassidy release before Banshee. And while we’re on the subject, I’ll happily take Syren as well. And since this is at least a partial Deadpool wave… where is T-Ray for crying out loud??? This would have been a perfect assortment to toss him into.