Monthly Archives: August 2022

Aug 8 2022

Marvel Legends (The Watcher Wave): Heist Nebula by Hasbro

Welcome friends, to another Marvel Monday, as I continue my trek through The Watcher Wave of Marvel Legends! Yes, I really am this far behind! This assortment is largely inspired by the Disney+ What If? series, which didn’t really hold my interest the first time I tried to watch it. However, in the interest of being a good host, I’ve been trying to re-watch some of the episodes before checking out the corresponding figures, but I can’t say the results have been all that much different. I just don’t think these Disney+ Marvel series and I are ever going to click. But, let’s press on and have a look at what Hasbro is calling Heist Nebula…

Yeah, I should have paired Nebula up with T’Challa Star-Lord when I reviewed him, but I didn’t have enough time to cover two figures that week, so they each get their own chance at the spotlight. The Heist part of her moniker refers to Nebula’s scheme to steal The Embers of Genesis from The Collector in the What If T’Challa became Star-Lord episode. As I said last time, the episode plays with some cool ideas, also has some real dumb ones, and once again it was a struggle for me to really stay interested. A lot of the OMG, STAR-LORD, YOU’RE THE GREATEST got old fast and I actually laughed out loud when Nebula first showed up looking like a recolor of Jessica Rabbit. Anyway… Nebula comes with the body and some other costume parts for The Watcher Build-A-Figure, which was remains my main motivation for buying this wave.

If there’s been one running theme in my reaction to the figures in this wave, it has to be the colors. They’ve all been such beautifully colored figures, and Nebula here is no exception. It may seem like a strange thing to start out with, but dammit, the purple of the outfit, the electric blue shade of her skin, and the bright blonde hair, all just make for such a striking deco. I think these figures look a lot more vibrant than most of the characters did on screen, and that’s a good thing! The sculpt is excellent, giving us lots of little details and textures in the costume, making this figure look like she would fit right in with the MCU or modern comic Legends releases. Which is odd, because they went in the exact opposite direction with Star-Lord, making him mostly smooth and stylized. But I’ll swing back to that at the end.

The portrait looks absolutely fantastic when viewed with the naked eye, but the hair has a lot of issues when you punch in close with the camera. There’s a lot of weird blemishes to the paint, and quite a bit of mold flashing. Still, these aren’t problems outside of extreme closeups, so I’m fine with it. Obviously, they were going for a stark contrast from the borg-ified version of MCU Nebula, and it works pretty well, although I’m pretty sure Sue Storm wants her MILF hair back. The hair is sculpted separately from the head to give it some nice depth, as it covers her left eye entirely. As for the face sculpt, I absolutely love the shape of the nose, and the lovely little smirk they gave her. Very pretty!

The articulation is a return to the standard female form, which is a bit disappointing after the proper double-hinged shoulders and bicep swivels we got with Captain Carter. As a result, she only sports 90-degree flex in those elbows. It’s not like I really thought that was going to be a running change, but hey a collector can hope, right? Everything else in the articulation is fine, except for the feet, which do that weird thing where the heels aren’t attached to anything, as the hinge is further up the foot and at the front of the ankle. These can make getting the right manipulation of the ankle difficult for some poses, and it’s just weird. Nebula comes with two sets of hands, one pair of gun-toting hands, one left fist, and one right hand with splayed fingers.

Yup, two gun-hands, but only one gun, which is kept in a functional holster on the right hip of her gun belt. The gun belt looks great, but it rides up when you put the figure in wide stances, which tends to happen when a piece like this is sculpted separately to float on the hips. I dig the futuristic sculpt of the gun, but the trigger guard is so narrow, she can barely get her trigger finger through it. At first, I thought it might have been squished, but I think that’s really how it’s supposed to be.

Heist Nebula is a gorgeous looking figure, with just a few areas presenting opportunities for polish and improvement. But I think the biggest issue for some people who are enthusiastic about this Wave may be the jarring difference in style between this one and Star-Lord. When checking out Star-Lord, I mentioned that he was so stylized that he felt like he belonged in a different line entirely, and I think that’s super apparent when you put these two figures together. And yet, they’re pulled from the same episode and animated in the same style. Still, overall I love what they did here, and while I’m not sure where she’ll end up in my Legends display, she’s a welcome addition to the collection!

Aug 5 2022

Doom Eternal: Classic Doom Slayer by McFarlane Toys

It’s hard for me to think of a video game franchise that has stayed as consistently fantastic as Doom. It’s one of those games that I can vividly remember playing for the first time when it was released, and it’s crazy to look back at how unnerved playing it made me. Little did I know what was to come! The series spawned some amazing sequels and map packs, before going away for a while. It came back as Doom 3, and while this wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I thought it was a pretty great game, albeit a very new direction for the series. The modern updates, Doom and Doom Eternal, would eventually deliver that one-two punch of pure visceral action that most fans were looking for, and these two remain among my favorite video game updates of all time. I’d go so far to consider the 2016 release of Doom about as perfect a game as I have ever played. Crazy to think that until now I didn’t have any Doom toys, right?

Well, in fairness there haven’t been a whole bunch. Heck even Quake II did a lot better on that front. McFarlane eventually scooped up the license, and it took me until their release of the Classic Doom Slayer to get me to bite. Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of McFarlane’s figures, but I thought The Witcher releases turned out pretty good, and so I’ve been picking up a few of their other figures here and there. Doom Slayer comes in a window box with a giant gold sticker, proclaiming this as part of their Gold Label Collection. I honestly have no idea what that means. I’ll also point out that this is released under the Doom Eternal license, because the Classic Doom look was available as an unlockable skin. Let’s check out Mr. Doom Guy!

Out of the package, I think this guy looks pretty sweet, even with one glaringly non-authentic element. McFarlane built him like a tank, which he would have to be to face the unending onslaught of hell demons. I am not at all a fan of the Predator-style shoulder cannon, as it’s just a little too much on the nose and looks really out of place with the Classic gear, but the rest is just fine. This cleaner and simpler look really scratches my itch when compared to the hyper-detailed look of the modern Doom Slayer armor. Hell, I love how OG Doom Guy is barely even wearing much armor. Hell, he’s got short sleeves, and a little exposed window in his gut that basically says, “Dear Hellspawn, Please Slash Here! Go On… Try It!” His upper body is kitted out with shoulders and protective hear not unlike that of a Football player. And even this setup is bulkier than what we saw him wearing in the original art, but it still looks great to me, complete with the wear and tear sculpted into the armor. The military-style trousers have some very nice detail in the stitching and the various rumples and wrinkles. He’s got some heavy duty knee pads, and some big chonky boots. The belt is nice too, with sculpted pouches and some ammo across the front of his waist.

If the sculpt takes a few liberties, I think the colors really nail the original look quite brilliantly. The bright green on the upper body really pops and contrasts with the darker greens used for the rest of the fatigues. The flesh tone for the exposed skin looks nice, and you get some additional silver paint hits for the fixtures and snaps on his gear. I really dig this deco!

And the helmet! Oh, boy do I love this helmet! You get the grill on top, the chonky cheeks, and the snout-like breathing unit on the front. It’s a nice mix of functional design and possibly intentional intimidation factor. The silver-gray paint looks sharp without looking shiny and new, and the sculpt has plenty of battle wear, including scrapes and some pock marks. The visor is exceptionally well done, in that it has a bit of a clouded look to it, and while it’s completely opaque matte paint, it almost looks like if you get in close enough you could catch a glimpse through it.

If there’s one place this figure stumbles it’s in the accessories. Doom Guy should have an arsenal at his disposal, and the figure only includes a gun and an arm blade attachment. And yes, the arm blade is the same one that came with McFarlane’s regular Doom Slayer, and it doesn’t really belong on this Doom Guy. Oh what I wouldn’t give for a chainsaw! Still, it looks really cool, and it’s a beautifully sculpted piece, so it’s hard to get mad at it. Plus, it’s entirely removable if you’d rather not display the figure with it. When all is said and done, I believe I will leave it on him.

And that brings us to the Doom Eternal Super Shotgun with the meat hook attachment. Once again, it’s a beautiful accessory and a very nice representation of the weapon from the game. And yet this one pisses me off, because the least McFarlane could have done was sculpt us a Classic Super Shotgun for this figure. I’ll also toss it out there that with the limited range in the elbow articulation, he can’t really pose with it all that well, nor could I get his off-hand to cradle the foregrip.

And finally, you do get a standard McFarlane figure stand, and these things are just the bare minimum worst. It’s a black disc with a peg and the Doom logo stamped on it. These always seem too small for the figures, and I’m not even bothering to take it off the packaging.

Yeah, I’m kind of missing the point of this figure, since it is emphatically not supposed to be the Doom Guy from the original game. But I knew that going in, and tried keeping that in mind while taking a look at him. I would have liked a legit release of the original Doom Guy, and this is simply my consolation prize, and it’s a damn nice figure at that. I’d definitely be down to pick up some of the Demons from the game if McFarlane committed to making a bunch of them, but for now I think this figure will be a one-off for me to place in my Gaming Room.

Aug 1 2022

Marvel Legends (The Watcher Wave): Zombie Captain America and Zombie Hunter Spidey by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday, and I am continuing to work my way through the What If? inspired Watcher Wave! And just in case I don’t manage to squeeze in all three reviews this week, I’m doubling up today with a look at both figures from the Marvel Zombies episode. I decided to actually try to watch these again before reviewing the rest of the figures, and while I thought this episode had a strong opening, I still wound up wandering away from the TV to do dishes, scoop cat litter, or otherwise keep me occupied. For a 30 minute show, that’s not a great endorsement, but I don’t think it was all bad.

Hasbro gave us two figures in the wave based off of this episode, and I can’t help but think they should have just made this episode the entire wave. Or at the very least, I think Zombie Wanda should have been included over Zombie Hunter Spidey. At the very least we could have got an Ant-Man head in a jar with Cap, since he doesn’t come with a BAF part, but I’m guessing Hasbro predicted he would sell just as well without one.

And it was a pretty good call, because this is a fantastic figure! All the zombies in the episode looked really cool, and Hasbro really nailed it when bringing this creepy Cap to action figure form. Despite the animated style, there’s plenty of great detail here, both in the costume, and in his damaged zombie bits. There’s a ton of new sculpting here to depict Cap’s traditional MCU-style outfit tattered and shredded. He’s got one boot on, and the other ashen foot bare with the scraggly bits of the pants leg hanging down. Likewise, his left sleeve is torn off at the shoulder. All the distress to the uniform looks great!

But what really looks exceptional are the gaping holes in his legs, where you can see clear through between the tattered uniform and his exposed bone. That is so cool!!! There’s some blood and meat hanging around these wounds, and you also get a bit of exposed ribcage peeking out of the hole under his left armpit. There’s some blood spray around the wound and some more spray on his bicep and shoulder. I also dig the yellowed tint of the usually white area around his abs. Beyond that I dig the sculpting on his belt and shoulder harness, and the gold paint on his chest star and the rest of the fixtures. This is just an amazing sculpt, with some damn nice paint to back it up.

And the head sculpt is no slouch either! You can see through torn sinews in his jaw, which is a very nice touch. His mouth looks to be sculpted from a separate piece and stuck into his undead maw. The helmet also looks like it’s sculpted separately from the rest of the head, giving it some nice definition, and I love his broken chin strap just hanging down in the breeze. His pupiless eyeballs look appropriately spooky and there’s blood splatter on his chin and neck. Simply fantastic!

And since even undead super soldiers need their trusty shield, Cap comes with his. It’s red, silver, and blue colors still shine, but like its bearer, it’s been splattered with blood for a nice effect. The interior has the usual double strap to slip his rotting arm through. This is an absolutely fantastic figure, and my only minor gripe is that they didn’t make it so you could pull him apart at the waist. Probably asking a bit too much, but it would have been cool nonetheless. Let’s move on to Spidey…

Zombie Cap is a tough act to follow, and while this version of Spider-Man isn’t as impressive, it’s still a surprisingly nice figure. We get what is essentially an animated-style version of the MCU Spidey Suit, and it looks really nice! I want to say this is most like the suit from Homecoming, but to be honest, he’s had so many in just three films, that it’s hard for me to keep track. Either way, I love the coloring here, with the bright red and pale blue, interspersed with some heavy black borders. The sculpted web design doesn’t have a wash to bring it out, but that might have been to give it more of an animated look. He does have some weathering to the suit, I guess to signify his tribulations through the zombie apocalypse. These don’t look bad, but I could have easily done without them entirely.

You get both a masked and unmasked head included. The unmasked portrait is a decent animated approximation of Tom Holland. It’s not bad, it’s not exceptional. Maybe I’m spoiled after the Peggy Carter portrait.

The masked head is also somewhat unremarkable, but certainly not bad. I dig the extra big eyes, but the lack of wash in the webbing sticks out here. This head on my figure was also a really tight fit on the ball joint.

The lack of the extra crunches in the shoulders here is unfortunate, as I’ve come to expect those with my Legends Webheads, but that’s not to say that otherwise the articulation is anything but exceptional here. You do get two sets of hands: One pair of fists and one pair of thwippy hands. I really dig the pronounced webshooter bracelets on this figure, even though it’s hard to line them up with the thwippy hands all the time.

And Zombie Hunter Spidey does indeed come with Doctor Strange’s Cloak of Levitation. It looks like an entirely new sculpt, as it fits the figure very well, despite not actually pegging in anywhere. This was kind of a blink and you miss it moment in the episode where the Cloak landed on Spidey’s shoulders, which makes for an odd reason to make the figure. Then again, I was doing other things while watching, so maybe I missed something.

For a wave based on a show that I really don’t care much about, I confess that these figures have been really good. Zombie Cap features some fantastic sculpting and paintwork, and definitely has me craving some more Marvel Zombies from the episode. As for Spidey, I wasn’t convinced that putting him in Strange’s cloak would make me want this figure, but to be fair, it’s a very nice effort even without the Cloak, and I’m glad to have him!