Monthly Archives: December 2022

Dec 30 2022

Coffin Comics (Legacy Series): Hellwitch by LooseCollector

It’s FFZ’s very last review for the year and I decided to go with a figure that arrived only a couple of days ago and one that I was pretty excited to open! Last year Coffin Comics debuted their first 6-inch scale Legacy Series action figure with Lady Death and it turned out to be a damn nice figure. The back of the box teased a number of possible future releases, and here we are a year later with the first on that list, Hellwitch! And with Coffin Comics publishing their Wargasm event comic this year, pitting Lady Death against Hellwitch, this figure couldn’t have come at a better time! But before we jump in, let me warn you that this review will get R-Rated by the end, so if the sight of nekkid plastic bewbs offends you, you might want to dip out before that happens!

Hellwitch comes in the same style window box as Lady Death, making for a very slick presentation. The front window shows off the figure nicely, while still managing to conceal the optional R-Rated piece. The side panels have some excellent character art, while the back panel shows a shot of the figure and has a little blurb about the character. The bottom teases four possible figures in the series, although we already got Lady Death, and I even picked up the crimson variant of that figure which I’ll check out here sometime in the near future. The figure is produced in partnership with Executive Replicas and LooseCollector, and I’ve expressed my confusion about what these companies actually do in the past. My best guess is that Executive Replicas secures the licensing and LooseCollector actually makes the figures. They have a number of other indie comic figures in the works, and they were the ones who gave us Taarna and Avis from Heavy Metal. Hellwitch comes out of the package with her wings off, so you’ll just need to plug those into her back via ball joints and she’s all ready to go.

And boy does she look great! The body style is extremely similar to the one used for Lady Death, but as near as I can tell the only recycled parts are the feet. Hellwitch winds up showing off even more skin than Lady Death, and every bit of her skimpy outfit is incorporated into the sculpt, rather than just painted on. That outfit includes a black top with silver studs, a black bottom with some silver accents, black boots with silver tops, silver bracers on her forearms, silver claws, and a studded choker collar. I really dig the slight orange tint to her skin and it looks a lot better than it did in the solicitation photos. I especially love how they did the wings. These are cast in a relatively thin plastic and beautifully painted. They connect with ball joints, which hold them in place very well and allow for some different posing options. They do make her a bit back heavy, but thankfully they can be used to stabilize her by resting the bottom tips on the ground.

The portrait is gorgeous, and includes her various silver piercings as part of the sculpt. There’s a ring in her bottom lip, a stud running through the bridge of her nose and two studs over her right eyebrow. The paint work on her yellow pupil-less eyes, lips, and eyebrows is all immaculate, and you get a little touch of eye shadow above the eyes. Her brown hair cascades out around her and two segmented silver horns protrude from the top of her head. I love everything they did here!

The articulation is similar, but not identical to what we saw with Lady Death. The biggest departure is in the arms. The rotating hinges in the shoulders and hinged pegs in the wrists are the same, but where Lady Death had bicep swivels and hinged elbows, Hellwitch has rotating hinges in the elbows. Despite being different, it doesn’t really change the poseability of the figure. The legs are ball jointed in the hips, have double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and hinges and rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint under the chest, and the head attaches to the body with a swiveling peg and a ball joint up top. Just like Lady Death, you get two sets of hands, one relaxed and one set capable of holding her weapon. And yes, Hellwitch’s chest is removable, but we’ll save that for the end.

Hellwitch comes with her magic demon blade, which is cast in translucent green plastic and looks amazing. I don’t know what kind of plastic they used for this accessory, but it catches the light better than any effect part I’ve seen in other action figure lines. She can wield it in either hand, and the hilt is long enough for her to grip it with both, but I think it looks best as a one-handed weapon, especially because of the knuckle guard. And that brings us to the final accessory in the box, and that’s her swap out chest.

The chest piece is held on by magnets, which do a pretty good job keeping it in place and makes switching over to the bare breasted look quick and easy. The skin tone on both chest pieces match the rest of the figure very well, and you even get fully painted demon nipples! I do not remember this feature being advertised, so you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found this to be a display option. No, it’s not the way I’ll be regularly displaying her, but as I’m fond of saying, it’s always nice to have options!

Because of the niche market and probably small production runs, these figures sure aren’t cheap. Hellwitch weighs in at about $70, which is the same as her nemesis Lady Death. But here’s an extra kick in the teeth… I pre-ordered Hellwitch with Coffin Comics early last year. I moved since then, and I’m sure you can guess where this is going. Coffin Comics did send out an email saying they had started to ship the figure, and I quickly replied asking them to update my shipping address. I got an email back saying the figure had already been delivered, and who knows what happened to it. As a result, I wound up pre-ordering it again through an online retailer, so I pretty much wound up paying double for her. Ouch! Still, the Hellwitch comics have been absolutely killer over the last couple years, and I’m very happy to have the character represented as an excellent action figure.

And that will wrap up my reviews for the year! I will stop back on New Year’s Day with something, and then regular reviews will continue with the next Marvel Monday!

Dec 28 2022

Marvel Legends (The Controller Wave): Blue Marvel, US Agent, Speedball, Thor, and The Controller BAF by Hasbro

Welcome, friends, to the last Marvel Monday Review of 2022… and it’s on a Wednesday! Yup, instead of being productive, I decided to be really lazy on Christmas and just drink, eat, loaf around, and watch a bunch of videos and I can’t say as I regret it. But, I didn’t want to crap out on the last Marvel Monday Review, so not only did I bump it to today, but I’ve decided to speed-review the rest of The Controller Wave, so as not to end the year in the middle of a wave! So, that’s four figures plus the Build-A-Figure to check out today. LET’S DO THIS!!!

I already checked out Madam Hydra and Quake, and I didn’t buy the Iron Man from this assortment because he didn’t come with a BAF part, so that leaves us with this happy band of four figures to open. That’s a lot to cover in one sitting, so I’ll be brief where I can. We’ll go ahead and start with Blue Marvel!

I was very happy to see Adam finally get a figure in modern Legends, and I think this one turned out great. The costume is mostly comprised of a painted buck, but you do get fully sculpted boots with laces, plus a belt and a jacket. The coloring on this figure looks pretty sharp, with a mostly blue suit and black and white trim. The paint lines are clean, and thanks to the design of the suit, the unpainted pins in the elbows and knees don’t create a mismatched eyesore. I really like the sculpted stitching on the jacket and the chunky collar.

The head sculpt is excellent, with some great definition in the facial details. The hair is sculpted separately to create a clean hairline and I dig the creasing around his eyes and the prominent brow.

Blue Marvel comes with two sets of hands, one being fists and the other being what looks like accessory holding hands, but he doesn’t come with anything to hold. He does, however, come with some energy effect parts. These are cast in clear blue plastic and fit over his fists. I’m never going to complain about extra hands, but I think Adam would have been fine with just the fists. Either way, I love this figure and he’s definitely one of the highlights of this assortment. Next up… Speedball!

Speedball is a pretty simple figure, at least from the neck down, and built off what appears to be one of the Spider-Man bucks, as I’m pretty sure I recognize the pancake feet, plus he has the lateral crunches in the shoulders. The costume is achieved entirely through paint, but I have to say I really like what they did here. The molecular pattern on his boots, gloves, and belt looks really cool, especially against the blue of the suit.

I do like the head sculpt as well. The goggles are extremely well done, with yellow lenses that show his painted eyes behind them. His tuft of hair is certainly distinctive and you get the same cool molecular pattern on his hood. Very nice!

I’m glad they went for the extra articulated body here, but I think Robbie could have used an extra pair of hands, certainly more so than Blue Marvel. As it is, he’s the only figure of these four that doesn’t come with a second set of hands, so you know I gotta call him out. He only has fists, and I think either relaxed hands or the running kind with the fingers tightly closed into a chop would have suited him really well. Still, a very cool figure! Next… Thor!

This is Herald Thor and of all the figures in this assortment, this is the one I would have liked to single out and review solo if I had just one more Marvel Monday before the end of the year. I really dig everything about this figure. The black tunic and armor pieces over the traditional checkered silver armor looks great, especially with the red belt and bands on the boots and the white added to the tunic. The cape also has some great paint on the interior going from purple to red at the bottom. The spikes in the knee pads and arm bracers are a nice touch too!

The portrait is easily one of the most unique looks we’ve had for the character. He sports extremely long pale blonde hair, a black head band, and his eyes are light blue with white pupils, giving him a really creepy affect. The chiseled facial features give an awesome severity to his expression. This is great stuff!

Thor comes with a translucent blue version of Mjolnir with a lightning part that wraps around it and makes for a really cool effect! You also get two pairs of hands, one being fists and the other including a right hand to hold the hammer and a left hand that looks like it’s poised to cast forth a bolt of lightning.

And we aren’t done yet, because Thor also comes with the Ravens, Hugin and Munin, each of which are unique sculpts. One is posed at rest with his wings tucked in, while the other is in flight. This is an absolutely awesome, and easily my favorite release in this wave! The last figure to open is US Agent!

Yup, I saved the dud for last. I think this is the second release of US Agent in the modern Legends line, as I can recall getting the first release way back in 2012 as part of the third wave. Heck, I even remember also reviewing that figure the week after Christmas, so how’s that for serendipity! And I honestly can’t figure out what the point of this release is, because it’s practically the same costume with just a few tweaks. You get the same red gauntlets and buccaneer boots, the same pattern on the chest, which is a little wider here, and a simpler and cleaner belt, which I think works a bit better for a classic comic look.

The head sculpt appears to be lifted directly from that previous release, and if it’s not well it’s pretty damn similar. I don’t think it’s aged well, nor do I think it’s a particularly great sculpt to begin with. The bulbous nose is off-putting, and the facial features are really soft. I just don’t like it.

You get two pairs of hands, which include one set of fists, a right hand to hold the shield from the edge and a relaxed left hand. These later two hands are perfect for displaying him about to throw the shield. The shield itself has a new paint job and omits the star in the center that the previous release had. It’s equipped with both a peg and a clip, so he can wear it on his back or attached to his wrist. This is an OK figure, but nothing for me to get too excited about. It’s marginally better than the original release, but I’m not sure why we got him again at all. TO THE BUILD A FIGURE!!!

The Controller is your reward for buying six out of the seven figures in this assortment and he goes together exactly like most other BAFs do. Plug the arms and legs and head into the torso and you’re good to go. I’ll freely admit that this BAF was what compelled me to hunt down all the figures in this wave and I’m overall pretty glad I did, as it’s a really nice looking figure, even though the reuse of the collar and shoulder piece from the Deluxe Thanos release is super obvious. The two-tone blue costume looks good and I do like the super glossy finish on the Thanos piece.

The portrait is a real winner too! The Controller’s craggy face looks fantastic and they did a wonderful job with his expression. The deep set pupil-less eyes and the downturned mouth showing a flash of teeth looks like he’s about to kick some serious ass.

And hey, you get two pairs of hands too! And guess what? One of those pairs is a set of fists! The other pair includes a relaxed left hand and a right hand clutching a pair of Slave Discs. Very cool! I will note that while this big guy features all the usual articulation I expect to see in a BAF, the elbows have almost no range of motion because of the way they’re sculpted. You just get the teeniest bit of bend there.

And there you have it, the last wave of Marvel Legends for 2022. Overall, I think this was an excellent assortment with just US Agent there to offer up one slot of mediocrity. The ladies were great, Thor is amazing, I’m very happy to have Blue Marvel, and Speedball was there too! On a side note, this is actually the second to the last complete wave of Marvel Legends that I have in the pipeline to review, although I have quite a few multi-packs waiting to be opened. This coming weekend I’m going to be putting up some of my collecting resolutions for 2023, and one of the big ones is centered around Marvel Legends, so you won’t want to miss that! In the meantime, I’ll see you all back here on Friday for the last review of the year, and I have no idea yet what that will be!


Dec 25 2022

Merry Christmas!

I’m dropping by today to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday! It’s hard to believe that this is the 12th Christmas that FFZ has been around and kicking! A sincere thanks to all of you who stop by to read my toy-related nonsense and drop me a line from time to time.

I was planning on shooting a Marvel Monday review today, but I’ve just been slobbing around and drinking heavily, so I’m going to take tomorrow off and bump the last Marvel Monday of the year to Wednesday and then do a normal Friday review!

See ya in a few days!

By figurefanzero
0
Dec 23 2022

Dungeons & Dragons (Cartoon Classics): Hank and Diana by Hasbro

If you have any doubt that we’ve been living in a Golden Age of 80’s Toys Revivals for the past few years, look no further than the fact that we are finally getting action figures from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon! Honestly, I’m at a point where if we can check off new action figures from Bionic Six, Kidd Video and Mighty Orbots, I could finally die a happy man. The D&D cartoon is one of those few 80’s properties that was pretty popular, but somehow managed to escape the toy treatment. That’s no small feat for a time when nearly all cartoons were just thirty minute toy commercials! Hasbro has had the D&D license for a little while now, and it looks like they’re finally doing something worthwhile with it. I was a big fan of the LJN AD&D figures back in the day, and was always happy to see when some of those characters made cameos in the cartoon, but now we’ve got the real deal. Hasbro is releasing the entire party of adventurers, along with Dungeon Master and Venger, in a few waves, and I just got in Diana the Acrobat and Hank the Ranger!

If you’re unfamiliar with the cartoon, the premise was six kids get on a Dungeons & Dragons ride at the local amusement park and find themselves transported to the fantasy world… FOR REALS! With the help (and I use that word loosely) of the enigmatic Yoda-like Dungeon Master, they each get assigned a character class, a magic weapon, and are forced to travel the realm trying to find their way home. It took me a while before realizing that the little shit was just using these kids to do his dirty work each week while dangling the way home in front of them as a possible reward.

The figures come in Hasbro’s new no-plastic packaging, which is admittedly pretty colorful, but of course does not let you see what the figures look like until you open the packages. I do like how it mimics a card and bubble style, and I may wind up keeping these packages. I especially love how the edges are going to line up to form a group shot of the party! Let’s start with Diana!

So, Diana lost her saving throw against bad QC and her right elbow snapped right out of the package. I repaired it with glue so I could go on with the review, but that’s a pretty big mark against her from the start. So, be careful with the joints on this lovely young lady, because the breakage happened with a simple attempt at manipulation and no force at all. With that said, I do like the overall sculpt here, as I think they captured the character’s costume very well. Her shaggy two-piece acrobat bikini looks good and includes a gold belt with brass studs, gold bicep bands, and a gold gorget with a brass design on it. The boots have sculpted wraps, which are painted red against the brown base color and some sculpted shag around the top edges of the boots. Unfortunately, the plastic looks really rough in some areas, particularly around the backs of the legs, where there’s some ugly seams and mold flashing. You can see more of this around the shoulders. It gives the figure something of a bootleg feel. There’s also a mess of gold spray on my figure’s top, which is really unfortunate when you consider how simple the paint deco is. Almost nothing about this figure feels polished.

I like the portrait a lot, but I’m not sure it’s a particularly great likeness to the cartoon character. It looks more stylized and it feels like something we might have seen had the actual figure been released back in the 80’s. Was Hasbro going for a retro look here? I highly doubt it, but it kind of works for me on that level.

The articulation is overall pretty decent. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The shoulders and wrists move fine, but the elbows can barely pull 90-degrees. And obviously my figure’s right elbow can’t move at all because it’s been glued. The hips are ball jointed, and while I thought the furry diaper would hinder the hips, she can still take a knee and very nearly do the splits. She does have double-hinged knees, which is nice, and there are swivels at the tops of her boots, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint up under her chest and in the neck. The joints feel a little gummy, and I just didn’t feel like she was a lot of fun to pose and play with, which is a real shame for an acrobat.

Diana comes with two accessories, both variants of her staff. They’re cast in a neon green plastic, which I like because it reminded me of the plastic used for the accessories that came with the old LJN AD&D Kelek figure accessories. Yeah, I doubt that was intentional, but whatever! The standard pole is as simple an accessory as you can get, while the other has some magical effects like it’s being spun. Let’s move on to Hank the Ranger!

Like Diana, I think this figure nails the costume pretty well. Hank sports an olive green tunic with silver studs, and green long sleeves and leggings protruding from it. His brown buccaneer boots have olive green tops, he has a wide brown belt with a silver buckle. Straightaway, this figure sports far better QC than Diana does. There are no noticeable paint flubs, no rough plastic around the joints, and everything looks so much more polished. I’m very happy to see the bump up in quality here, and I’m very interested to see if my replacement Diana will match it. On the downside, Hank’s natural stance is a little weird. His arms don’t quite hang straight at his sides, and when you combine that with the action orientated sculpt of his right hand, he feels like a figure that is either meant to be pre-posed or has some kind of action gimmick.

The portrait is OK, but I don’t like it as much as Diana’s. I think the contours of the face are exaggerated, making him look a lot younger than he’s supposed to be. Or maybe there’s a little Robert Z’Dar in there. It’s serviceable and certainly not terrible, but not great either.

Hank features the same basic points of articulation as Diana, but it feels like some of his range of motion isn’t quite as good. There are slits on the shoulders of the tunic that help a bit with the shoulders, but obviously the tunic still restricts the shoulder movement. The same is true for the part of the tunic that hangs below the belt. I also think the billowy sculpted sleeves give his elbows a bit less range as well.

Like Diana, Hank comes with two versions of his weapon, the magic missile. One is the dormant bow, and the other is when its activated and ready to fire. The regular bow is cast in a yellow-gold plastic.

The activated bow accessory is cast in translucent yellow plastic and it looks really cool, but Hank’s articulation really doesn’t allow him to use it all that convincingly. His left hand is sculpted to be drawing the magic bolt, but the elbow bend just isn’t enough to make that reach work. He does look pretty good posed as if he just released it and the bolt is about to fire. Oh yes, I neglected to mention that the figures come with D&D dice (one each), which is a cute addition, but I’m not sure how many fans of the cartoon actually played the game.

Well, this has been a rough journey with a lot of bumps in the road. Even without the elbow break, the QC on Diana is simply unforgivable, and while Hank faired a better in that department, he still had his share of problems. I’m obviously not as happy with this pair as I had hoped to be, but I’m not giving up yet. I should have Bobby the Barbarian arriving soon, and when I do that review, I’ll be sure to include how my replacement Diana turned out. I’m hoping Hasbro can still turn this line around, but right now it looks like it might be a case of these just being better than nothing. And that’s an endorsement that nobody wants.

Dec 21 2022

Clint Eastwood Legacy Collection (Dirty Harry): Harry Callahan Sixth-Scale Figure by Sideshow

My backlog of pre-orders at Sideshow has been slowly whittling down this year. Some actually shipped, a couple I cancelled, and a handful have been bumped back to 2023. But the Dirty Harry figure had to be one of the fastest turnarounds in all my experience with Sideshow. He was revealed and put up for pre-order in March and here he is squeaking in at the end of the year and landing in my hands by December. That’s crazy fast in the world of Sixth-Scale figure pre-orders where delays can often roll wait times into years instead of months. It’s almost enough to make me forget how absolutely insane it is that we got an officially licensed release of a Harry Callahan figure in the first place!

I could write volumes on what Clint Eastwood’s film career has meant to me over the years, but let’s stick with the one particular film related to today’s review. Released the year before I was born, Dirty Harry is an absolute classic of police drama cinema and like many of Clint Eastwood’s films, it’s become a go-to watch of mine for lazy, rainy Saturday afternoons. Hell, even though it was released only one year into the decade, it would go on to characterize the gritty 70’s cop film genre, thanks partly to a successful string of sequels, but mostly because it’s such a wonderfully watchable flick with an absolutely batshit crazy villain. It practically introduced the tough-as-nails, doesn’t-play-by-the-rulebook cop trope that was, and largely still is, appealing to a nation sick of rampant crime. Nowadays, it’s also a movie out of time. There’s throwaway dialogue here that would never fly in a world with today’s ultra-fragile sensibilities, and that’s what makes this seemingly impossible release so unbelievably welcome. I’m curious as to whether Sideshow got any flack for choosing to pursue this decidedly un-politically correct license, but it seems to have done well for them, because while the figure did not sell out in pre-order, it is already listed as Low Stock Remaining. Anyway… the shoebox-style package features some beautiful art from the film, which conveys the gritty subject matter. It’s the first release in Sideshow’s Eastwood Legacy Collection, and you do get a stylish band around the inner tray with a facsimile of his signature. Otherwise, the presentation here is everything you might expect from a Sideshow figure.

Callahan comes out of the box all ready for action, and ready to patrol the filthy streets of 1971 San Francisco. Wearing his trademark herringbone jacket, gray slacks, a white button down shirt under a burgundy sweater vest, striped tie, and black shoes, he’s the epitome of 1970’s fashion. I find that it’s a lot easier for these companies to successfully reproduce flashy superhero costumes in this scale, than it is to make convincing everyday clothes, and with that in mind, I’m extremely pleased with how the tailoring on this outfit came out. The jacket is a work of art, complete with elbow pads, buttons, a sharp interior lining, and some immaculate stitching. The trademark herringbone v-pattern in the jacket’s stitching is absolutely gorgeous. The same can be said about the impeccable tailoring found in the “twenty-nine-fifty” pants and the vest. The tie is a little stiff, but still looks great. The only thing I can nitpick is the collar takes a lot of futzing to make it sit right, and even then I think it looks just a tad too puffy. The costume also includes a dress belt, a shoulder holster for Harry’s trusty wheel gun, and a really spiffy watch on his left wrist. The jacket is removable, but I’m not messing with taking it off. A finely tailored suit may not be the most exciting thing to see on an action figure, but it sure looks great here!

The portrait is an absolute homerun. When the figure was first revealed, I remember wishing that it was Hot Toys doing it, mainly because I think they were better equipped at doing portraits, and I was a little skeptical about the figure looking as good as the solicitation shots. I’m happy to say the final product is an absolutely fabulous likeness. I think a Hot Toys portrait could have awarded a little more nuance to the paint, maybe made the eyes pop with a little more life, but I am still one hundred percent satisfied with what we got here. It would have been easy to lean into a caricature, but I feel like the sculptors swung for the stars and it paid off big time. The bulging brow, the squinted eyes, and the prominent chin all look superb. I also really dig the way Sideshow recreated Eastwood’s majestic bouffant. It’s a fabulous sculpt, which compliments the portrait perfectly. It would have been great to have had an Exclusive with an extra head with more of a sneer to it, but this one will still do just fine.

The accessories are a bit on the light side here, as Harry only comes with his gun and badge, along with a hefty selection of hands. I think the most obvious omissions here are the yellow money bag and the switchblade that he sticks into Scorpio’s leg, as both seem like they should have been included. I suppose you could argue that the outfit isn’t right for those scenes, but still. The hands are pretty standard stuff, with a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of fists, a right hand designed to hold his badge, another designed to hold his gun, and a left hand designed to cup around his right wrist to stabilize his aim when firing. To make the last hand work, you really need to take the jacket off, which is a shame because it would have been great for recreating one of his more iconic poses. There’s some padding in the figure, which can curtail the range of motion a little, and you get more of that in the shoulders of the jacket, but all in all, the joints feel good, and not at all floppy, as has sometimes been the case with Sideshow’s figures. I’ll also note how nice it is that each hand comes with its own hinged peg, so swapping out the hands is extremely quick and easy, and there’s never a worry about snapping a peg like there sometimes is with Hot Toys figures.

The badge is very nicely done, with a beautiful recreation of his ID. The wallet is meant to stay open, so he’ll be perpetually flashing the badge. I would have really liked to see a left hand for holding it, so I could pose him with his gun drawn and his badge out, but then that might have been a little out of character for Dirty Harry.

As for the gun? “My, that’s a big one!” Naturally, “this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world” and it’s an excellent sixth-scale representation of Harry’s favorite sidekick. The detail includes the checkered grip, safety lever, and the chamber even spins and can flip out. You even get a little rubbing to the blueing around the edges and where the chamber spins, showing that it’s seen its share of action. The weapon is a tad fragile, and once I got it into his hand, I doubt I’ll take it out again, since it’s the only reason that hand would ever be used. With all that having been said, I would not mind picking up a diecast version of this gun and giving Callahan an upgrade.

The last thing in the box is the thing I have the least to say about and that’s the stand. It’s perfectly serviceable with a plain black hexagonal base and an adjustable crotch-cradle in the post, but it represents the absolute bare minimum in effort on Sideshow’s part. This is an expensive figure, and the base gave Sideshow an opportunity to flex a bit and do something cool, and they just passed. I would have loved to see a shield on the front with Dirty Harry and the facsimile Eastwood signature under it, but really just any kind of personalization would have been nice.

Even with this figure in hand, it’s still hard to believe I own an officially licensed Dirty Harry figure, let alone one of this quality and released in 2022! At $275, the price on this one seems high for a figure without a lot of accessories, but I probably would have mashed the pre-order button even if that price tag topped $300. Just don’t tell Sideshow that! What makes me even more ecstatic is that this is only the first of three figures in this line so far. Blondie from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and The Preacher from High Plains Drifter are both up for Pre-Order now. Naturally, I’ve committed to each of those figures, and oh boy, am I hoping for a Josey Wales! Indeed, I’d much rather Josey Wales was released before The Preacher, as I just think he’s a far more iconic character and an overall better movie. But the real question is will the universe bless us with Philo Bedoe and Clyde from Any Which Way But Loose? That could be too much to hope for, but at this point, I won’t rule out anything!

Dec 19 2022

Marvel Legends (The Controller Wave): Quake and SHIELD Agent Two-Pack by Hasbro

It’s the second to the last Marvel Monday of 2022 and I’m continuing my jaunt through The Controller Wave! Last week I checked out the new version of Madame Hydra, so let’s just get both of the ladies of this assortment front and center. And that brings us to Quake… or is it Maria Hill? It’s both! And since this seems like a good opportunity to toss in the SHIELD Agent two-pack that Hasbro released a little while back, let’s have a look at those figures as well!

While this release is intended to be either Daisy Johnson or Maria Hill, Daisy wins out and gets the name Quake on the front of the package, and that’s the head that comes on the figure. Maria’s head is off to the side, as well as two pairs of her hands, and the BAF parts. We’ll start with Quake…

Here’s a great example of a pretty simple figure that works very well. Quake consists of a blue femme buck with painted white boots, sculpted shoulder straps that are also painted white, and a belt and two thigh straps, which are sculpted separately and worn on the figure. You also get a zipper pull running down the front of the top, which reminds me of the zipper pull from the original Madame Hydra that they left off the one in this assortment. Did they leave the zipper pull off of this Madame Hydra figure just so Viper and Quake wouldn’t look so similar? Maybe! You do get a spiffy SHIELD insignia printed on her left shoulder. The only thing I really have to nitpick here is that the chest doesn’t run very flush with the lower abdomen. It’s no big deal, but it does give the figure a little bit of a mismatched appearance.

The portrait is pretty good, although I don’t have a huge attachment to this character so I can’t really comment on the likeness. I can barely even remember what she looked like in the comics. I do like the hair sculpt’s tussled look. The printing on the eyes and lips do their usual thing of looking blurry when you get in close with the camera, but it looks fine with the naked eye. The seam running down the center of her throat is a little unfortunately placed.

Quake’s gauntlets are very well done, consisting of sleeves that fit over the forearms and the hands that peg in afterwards. They’re sculpted with the fingers opened and spread as if she’s working her mojo. And look! Quake is sporting double-hinges in the elbows and bicep swivels! It’s always nice to see a female Legends figure get this articulation upgrade. The rest is right in line with what we usually see in the Legends ladies, making Quake loads of fun to pose and play around with. And with a quick swap of head and hands, you can turn Quake into…

Maria Hill! And I think the transformation works pretty well. Sliding off the gauntlet sleeves reveal white painted gauntlets underneath, and you get a choice of splayed figure hands or gun holding hands. The gun is a compact automatic pistol and serviceable but not really special. I do think it would have been cool if Hasbro included an attachable holster or something, because Agent Hill doesn’t have anywhere to put her shooter when she’s not holding it.

The Maria portrait is pretty decent, with a shorter and more tidy coif. I like the stray strand that crosses over her forehead. She also has her trademark earpiece and microphone on the right side of her cheek. I like this look enough that I probably would have picked up a second figure to display as both, but this one has crept up in price a bit lately, and it’s more than I’m willing to spend now. It does make me wish Hasbro would release a female SHIELD agent two-pack. I’d be all over that! And speaking of which…

Here’s the SHIELD Agent two-pack that Hasbro did release. I’m pretty sure this was a Pulse Exclusive, and I got it back in the beginning of the year along with the Skrull Soldier that released at the same time. The figures come in a fully enclosed box with some nice artwork on the front, and you get a tissue-paper bag with all the extra stuff to customize your agents.

I gotta be honest, I was not thrilled with these when I took them out of the box. The joints are horrifically gummy and it took a lot of work just to get them to stand naturally without looking weird. They are identical, with the same blue buck with painted white boots and gauntlets and SHIELD patches stamped on their shoulders. They also share the exact same gear, which includes a shoulder strap with a chest holster and non-removable pistol painted silver, double waist belts with plenty of pouches, and a double thigh strapped holster on the left legs with more pouches. The gear looks really bulky and awkward, and why include a faked out gun holster on the chest when they have functional holsters on the hip? All this stuff bothered me at first, but the more I played around with them, the less irksome it became, and eventually I was able to have some fun with them.

The figures come out of the boxes wearing full tactical helmets with painted visors and breathers. One visor is painted red and the other is silver, which in itself is kind of weird. I appreciate the desire to make them look a little different, but why would you have two different color visors? Maybe I’m over thinking it. Besides, you also get three unmasked head sculpts to mix things up.

To show SHIELD’s ethnic diversity, the heads include Caucasian, African-American, and Asian portraits, all of which are excellent sculpts, especially considering they’re just supposed to be generic dudes. I’m not sure if these are based off of Hasbro employees or just completely made up, but I think they did a great job on all three, making me wish I had a third body to display them all on. Oh, I get it! Hasbro wants me to buy another two-pack! Well, that’s no going to happen, but I do like these unmasked heads better than the helmets.

As for the other extras, you get some pairs of hands, and some weapons. You get a pair of gun holding hands for each figure, but you only get one pair of fists between them, which I thought was really cheap. You also get a set of gesturing right hands, one pointing with one finger, and the other pointing with two. They’re all good choices, but not including a pair of fists for each figure really cheeses me off. As for the guns, each figure gets an identical pistol, which is kind of a futuristic design, or at least not like any pistols I’m familiar with.

Additionally, you get two identical rifles, a third with a foregrip, and a BFG with a red magazine. The guns are OK, but I don’t really love any of the designs. I would have rather had some real-world weaponry included with these guys, but at least it’s a pretty generous assortment.

These figures all go together very well, which makes it rather serendipitous that I waited to open the SHIELD agents until now. Quake works great as either Daisy or Maria, and I even liked trying out the Daisy head without the gauntlets as a generic female SHIELD agent. Yes, the SHIELD agents took a little time to grow on me, and I’m still not a fan of how bulky their equipment looks, especially the pouches on the thigh straps, but in the end they won me over and I’m glad I picked them up.

Dec 16 2022

Aset the Egyptian Goddess of Magic (Black Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

As usual, I’m way behind on my TBLeague reviews. I added quite a few of these figures to my collection in 2022, and I only got around to checking out three or four of those here. So, with only a couple of weeks worth of reviews left for the year, I thought I’d squeeze at least one more in before the end! Today, I thought we’d check out another one of TBLeague’s Egyptian themed figures, which seem to be pretty successful for them, because they’ve expanded this line quite a bit over the last couple of years.

As always, the figure comes in a heavy duty shoebox style package. None of that flimsy Hot Toys paper-board here! The top of the box is a tri-fold cover that connects to the sides with magnets, and offers only a symbol on the front panel as a tease. The back panel does, however, have a picture of the figure. Inside, Aset comes nestled in a black foam tray with her head detached and a bunch of accessories spread around her. I picked this one up on the second hand market, and it was missing a couple of the less important accessories, like The Ankh, but it seemed like a good exchange for the discount I got on her. This figure was available in two variants, either Black or White, which denotes the coloring of the costume, and a few minor style changes. There’s a little bit of set up required for her costume, so give me a minute to do that and we’ll get her ready to go!

And here is Aset in all her Egyptian splendor! TBLeague went with one of their more reasonably busted bodies for this figure, and I think it works pretty well. I also like the tanned skin tone. Her costume consists of a sculpted plastic top with shoulders, a plastic belt, along with a cloth skirt. The outfit’s deco is on the darker side, with an emphasis on weathered bronze over bright and shiny gold, but there is a bit of blue and white mixed in there. She has ornamental bicep cuffs and wrist bracers, each with some flashy red gems in them. Her high strap sandals are made from two pieces, the sandaled feet and the straps which slide onto her lower legs. These fit a bit loose, but that’s really the only gripe I have about the costume, which otherwise fits perfectly. The plastic belt can ride up a bit in wider stances and action poses, but that’s to be expected. The top is laced on with string, and there’s quite an excess, so some may want to do some clipping, but I usually leave it be. The costume is clearly designed to showcase the seamless body, and it looks great!

I really dig the head sculpt here, and I always like to point out how TBLeague has come a long way with their portraits. They don’t really do expressive faces, but they sure know how to do pretty ones. The skin is warm and soft, and the paintwork on the lips and eyes is impeccable. Aset features some relatively short black hair, which isn’t too bad to keep under control. She also features an absolutely epic headdress, which includes a bird on the front with wings forming a crown-like tiara. There’s a ring of cobras, a giant red stone at the top, and a flurry of sculpted feathers wraps around the sides and back of her head. The headdress is cast in a softer plastic so it can go on and off the head without fear of rubbing or scratching.

There’s one more costume piece, and that’s her cloak. This ties on with strings, and has a strong wire running through the edges to allow it to be posed with the figure. It’s black on the outside with some fur trim up at the top. The inside has a some red at the top, black in the middle, and a gold crescent running along the bottom and some gold geometric linework radiating from the top to the bottom. This is a beautiful garment, but I think I prefer the figure without it. It’s also incompatible with her wings. Yes, wings. We’ll get to those in a bit.

You get three sets of hands with Aset. Two are variations of relaxed hands, and one pair is designed to hold her accessories. Swapping hands for the first time on these figures is always a crapshoot. Sometimes they can be stubborn and if you aren’t careful you can pull the metal connector out of the wrists socket, but in the case of Aset, they seem to swap out pretty easily. All of the hands are sculpted with an array of gold rings on the fingers and red paint on her long fingernails. You only get the one pair of feet, but they are also nicely painted with red nail polish.

As for accessories, Aset comes with a rather vicious looking curved sword. It has a bird-themed hilt and even some bronze feathers on the back of the lower part of the blade. The blade itself has a painted finish, which is pretty convincing as metal. There’s a bit of a weathered patina to it, but it can still shine in direct light. Back in the day, TBLeague used to do diecast metal for their blades, and while they still do every now and then, this one is plastic and I’m fine with that. It looks every bit as good and doesn’t have the extra weight to stress the figure’s arm joints.

Aset also comes with this rather tall scepter with a sort of fan or floral motif at the top. It’s a pretty basic piece, but she looks great holding it, and I feel it’s a little more in character than the sword. And that brings us to her rather majestic set of wings!

These beauties peg directly into the figure’s back, and boy do they look great! The connecting points do not have hinges, but you can angle them up or down a bit because the pegs swivel. It’s a pretty strong connection and despite their impressive wingspan, they stay in place without drooping. The wings are cast in a fairly lightweight plastic, that still manages to hold the detail of all the individual feathers. I’ll note that the original figure came with a backplate that can be used to cover up the peg holes when the wings are not in use. This is one of the pieces my discounted figure was missing. It isn’t a big deal to me, as I plan on always displaying her with the wings, but even if I didn’t, the cloak does the job of covering the peg holes just fine.

Lastly, you get a pretty good sized base to display her on. This elongated pedestal has some ornate sculpted designs on the sides and top. It also has a flexible wire post to support the figure in standing poses by securing the figure around the waist. One of my biggest criticisms of TBLeague in the past has been their habit of including beautiful bases, but no way to secure the figure to it. It’s nice to see they’ve been addressing this issue with some recent releases.

Aset was originally released at around $190, but I got mine for $150 because she was an opened box and missing the Ankh and backplate, and I considered that a steal. Even at the original price, there’s plenty of value here, and had the opened box opportunity not presented itself, I would have definitely bought her new. With TBLeague seemingly focusing more on original concept figures over licensed characters, this Egyptian line has been a real treat. The mix of Egyptian iconography, beautiful ladies, and fantasy element works so well, and I hope they keep it going. I still have a handful of these figures to check out, and while I doubt I’ll get to any before the end of the year, I’m going to make a resolution to get caught up!

Dec 14 2022

G.I. JOE Classified: Crimson Guard by Hasbro

A short while ago, when I reviewed Tomax and Xamot, I mentioned just how infatuated I was as a kid with The Crimson Guard and its Commanders. Some of it probably just had to do with the hot newness of new figures and a new dynamic in the cartoon, but I think it mostly had to do with just how unbelievably cool the Crimson Guard designs were. With their snappy red uniforms and their full helmets, they pissed all over the average Cobra troops, who in all fairness, by now were painted as mostly inept buffoons in the cartoon. Sure, the Crimson Guard wouldn’t wind up being much better, but at the time they were introduced, there was hope.

I also had hope that we wouldn’t have to wait too long to see these troops arrive in the Classified line, and as it turns out they came out even sooner than I expected. Yeah, as the 50th numbered release, that doesn’t exactly make them early releases, but with the way Hasbro has been cranking out the Classified figures, we didn’t have to wait too long. I mean, what’s it been, only two years since that first wave? Damn, Hasbro! Anyway, I’ve had this figure in hand for a little while now, but I was waiting to get a few more in before I finally sat down to spotlight them. Now, I’ve got a small squad of them, so let’s get started!

And Merry Christmas to me! Just look at this beautiful bastard! As I’ve pointed out many times in my Classified spotlights, Hasbro seems to be sticking to extremely conservative updates to these figures lately, and that suits me just fine. Doubly so in the case of The Crimson Guard, because you just don’t mess with perfection. This Classified version takes the original RAH figure design and just adds more detail, without making any drastic changes. You do get some well-defined knee pads, a double-strap thigh holster on the left hip, and a knife sheath on his right hip. There’s also the addition of a sword, which was an absolutely inspired addition to the figure design. The crimson fatigues are just the perfect shade of red plastic, with high black boots, gloves, and lots of silver trim to round out what is a visually stunning color palate. The buttons and edging on the front panel of the tunic were always part of the original figure sculpt, but now we get them beautifully picked out with that snappy silver, as well as the chest insignia. Meanwhile, the shoulder braid and epaulets are left gray. Oh, and the texturing on the tunic is superb! I dare say, this design hasn’t looked this good since Sideshow produced it in Sixth-Scale.

The helmet and mask also stick to the RAH roots, but again with lots more detail. The thin silver slit forms a visor and there’s a silver breather bisecting the rest of the black mask. The texturing on the tunic shows off really well in these shots, as does the epaulets, and the little details in the insignia on his left breast and the collar.

The backpack design is lifted directly from the original figure, only this time its cast in black, rather than red, and I approve wholeheartedly. The addition of black here just adds more balance to the deco. The edges have a leather-like texture with sculpted eyelets and straps, and there are angled slats running down the center. A peg on one side allows you to stow his rifle, while a peg hole on the other allows you to stow his sword and scabbard, and more on those in a bit. Yes, this figure can easily carry all the gear he comes with, and that’s always a plus in my book! Let’s breakdown all the gear, starting with the cutlery.

The combat knife is one of the better ones I’ve seen in this line. Nothing against past blades, but many have been a bit insubstantial and cast in all black. Here we get a silver painted blade, with a nice swollen edge, a serrated back, and a chunky grip. This knife not only looks great, but it fits perfectly into either of his very trigger-orientated hands. I love it!

And then there’s the sword, which as I said earlier, suits the figure so well, it’s hard for me to believe this didn’t happen sooner. It has a black hilt with a rather traditional modern military hilt with a curved knuckle guard, and a straight silver blade. The blade fits perfectly in the scabbard, which in turn pegs into a hole on his left hip. Yes, you can attach the sword to the backpack as well, but I’m not sure why you would want to. It looks great on the belt, and doesn’t really get in the way.

Moving on to the firearms, The Crimson Guard has a compact no-nonsense automatic pistol with a simple sculpt and cast in all black plastic. There’s a little checkered texturing on the sides, and all in all it has a solid realistic profile to it.

And finally, he comes with the real showpiece of his arsenal, a Colt M4 Carbine, which is probably my new favorite weapon issued in this entire line. This sculpt is absolutely fantastic and sports some amazing detail from the telescoping-style stock to the carry bar, and removable magazine, it all looks so damn good. But, I think it’s the bayonet with the silver painted blade that’s really the icing on this cake. Some may be disappointed that it isn’t the style of rifle that came with the original figure, but it pleases me to no end that Hasbro still went with a real world design for this figure’s weapon, and that they did such a wonderful job recreating it here.

With only a couple weeks left in the year, it’s not premature for me to throw out there that The Classified Crimson Guard is one of my top figures of 2022. Indeed, the fact that I’m not yet prepared to call it my favorite figure of the year just speaks to what an incredible year it was for action figures. Well, that and I don’t want to make any snap judgements like that without putting some more measured thought into it. But is he in the Top 5? Most definitely! Top 3? Very possibly. This is just an example of a design that I love so much being executed with absolute perfection. Classified has been an absolute treasure trove for amazing Cobra army builders, and this fellow may indeed be my favorite one yet. I’ve got six of these guys in my army so far, and I’m still open to picking up a few more. It makes me feel sorry for the Classified JOE’s, because they are getting more and more outnumbered with each passing release.

Dec 12 2022

Marvel Legends (The Controller Wave): Madame Hydra by Hasbro

After meandering about with some one-offs, multipacks, and a statue, I’m headed back into opening a new wave of Marvel Legends. Well, not really a new wave, but new to me. Counting today, there are only three Marvel Mondays left in the year, so I doubt I’ll get through all these figures before the end, but let’s see how far we can get. I’m kicking off The Controller Wave with a look at Madame Hydra, a do-over of a character that was released all the way back in Wave 2, about ten years ago!

Here’s the packaging, and it’s nice to see this window, because I’ve had some bad luck with Hasbro’s new fully enclosed boxed figures. But more on that at a later date. Here we get Madame Hydra surrounded by her accessories and a big chonky leg for The Controller BAF. Let’s tear this box open and dig right in.

So, straightaway, this isn’t a huge departure from the character design we saw in the first release. She’s still wearing the green body suit, but here her boots are painted on as a brighter green, instead of a metallic olive. I approve of the color change, as it really makes this figure pop! Her gloves are painted instead of sculpted, which is a bit of a step down, although you do get a sculpted ring around the biceps where they end. I do miss the zipper and pull on the previous figure’s top, as its absence here also feels like a little bit of a downgrade. Although, if you’re looking for a cleaner comic look, this one may be the favorite. The proportions here look a lot better, although that’s pretty much all thanks to the legs, which are less spindly and no longer have those terrible looking ball joint hips.

The sculpted belt is all new, and cast in bright green to match the boots. It’s a criss-crossed double-gun belt with a functional holster on each hip. The buckles and snaps are painted gold, and there’s a really nice Hydra insignia stamped in gold on each holster. I really dig this belt!

The portrait on the first release was a huge bone of contention with collectors, as being really angular and ugly. This one is technically an improvement as it has a much more traditional rounded face, but there’s something about it that’s just not selling it to me. The mouth seems a bit weird, like it’s too close to the nose. That may be caused by the heavy handed green lipstick. The eyes are OK, and have some decent green eyeshadow. The hair is very chunky and is sculpted so as to partially cover the right part of her face. It looks fine, but it’s a real pain when trying to get her to turn her head. To be honest, I was never too bothered by the previous portrait, as it certainly looked villainous, albeit downright ugly. I’d say this one is still an improvement, but maybe not as much as I would have hoped.

Even after ten years, the articulation here is pretty much the same as what we saw in Madame Hydra V1. In fact, the only real difference is the previously mentioned hips. I’ll forever be thankful Hasbro jettisoned that design, even though it doesn’t make a huge difference in range of motion, the current hip joints are easier to work with and look so much better. This Madame Hydra seems to have a little bit more range of motion in the elbows, but since they’re still rotating hinges, she can only manage about a 90-degree bend. Otherwise the figure sports some pretty solid articulation, even if it hasn’t changed much over the course of a decade.

Madame Hydra comes with two sets of hands: Fists and gun-toting hands, and she also comes with a pair of matched Lugar-style pistols. These are amazing little guns, with some excellent detail in the sculpts and some beautifully painted grips, which have something like a snakeskin pattern. The previous figure came with a similar pistol design, but it was really oversized. She also came with a rifle, while this new release does not.

In the end, I do like this figure a lot better than the first release of Madame Hydra, and I’ll certainly be retiring my old figure in favor of this one. The few gripes I have here are pretty little nit-picks and the good far outweighs the bad. And yes, Wave 2 Madame Hydra did have to surrender her rifle to this new version, because she won’t be needing it while she’s rattling around at the bottom of a storage tote in the back of a closet. This was a solid figure to start out the wave with, and if the rest of the assortment can keep it going, I should be in for a treat!

Dec 9 2022

Kamen America Maquette and Other Merch by Iconic Comics

Here’s a little something different for this Friday, as I’m going to gas on about some comics and merch! I make it no secret that some time ago, I began turning away from the two mainstream comic publishers, because… well, to put it bluntly, their books turned to shit. It happened first with Marvel and much later when the infection spread to DC, and it was like watching a couple of dear friends that I’ve known since childhood dying from an incurable disease. As a result, I started seeking my comic fix with indies. A lot of my money started going to Zenescope and the rest went to crowd-sourced books on Kickstarter or Indigogo. Unfortunately, the crowd-sourced scene presented its own set of challenges. When the books showed up, they were usually excellent, but in a lot of cases, they didn’t show up. Indeed, I recently had to get refunds on some books that were now two to three years late. Enter Iconic Comics and Kamen America!

One shining beacon of excellence in the indie comic scene has been Iconic Comics, hooking me with their Kamen America series and then getting me into Black Hops and Soulfinder. The Kamen America books tell the tale of fashion designer Carly Vanders, who obtains super powers and becomes Kamen America, an on-the-nose send up to the Henshin genre. Over the course of six books (so far!) and a couple of cross-overs, we follow the adventures of Kamen America and her friends, The Kamen Corps, through thick and thin, friendship and betrayal, and epic battles. It’s hard to put my finger on one thing that makes these books so special, because they’re actually quite the pitch-perfect medley of great art and colors, fantastic quippy dialogue, fun humor, and loads of heart and soul. But, if pressed, I would have to point to the characters. I was invested in these characters from the early pages of Stars and Strife, right up until the last pages of Daughters of Liberty, and with the end of each book, I cannot wait for the next. Luckily the creators, Mike Pellegrini and Timothy Lim have the whole publishing thing down to a tee. The books are done by the time they’re projects go up, and they always ship on time. At this point, it’s almost ironic to see this franchise on a crowd-funding site, because everything works like clockwork and the timely delivery of a quality book is guaranteed. The series started with floppies, which I’m proud to have in my collection, and has since graduated to beautiful hardcover editions, and has even seen its first hardcover omnibus.

Each of the volumes have offered some cool merch, including everything from badges to pins, collector cards to calendars. But most notable has been the series of acrylic standees. These have been a no-brainer ad-on for each of the volumes and they really convey all the colors and art found within the comics.

We even got a plushie of Badger the Capybara, the official mascot of The Kamen Corps. This big, beautiful softie is colorful and adorable and will forever be sitting on the desk of my comic-themed office judging me with his indifferent Capybara peepers. He comes clad in a personalized, blue zippered tracksuit with the Kamen America logo stitched on the back proving that this franchise has become so big that it is even churning out merch for the lucrative and untapped Capybara market.

But the real gem of Kamen America merch is the roughly 8-inch resin maquette that was offered up with the Daughters of Liberty campaign! The figure comes in a heavy duty, enclosed box and nestled in a foam tray cut to her specifications. There’s a minor bit of assembly here, as you have to peg Carly’s feet into the base and then tab the long trail of her yellow sash into her back. Once that’s done, she’s good to go!

Comics is one thing, but creating statues is another, and so I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to get here. Even some of the big boys can’t get statues right. Have you seen some of the stuff that Dynamite has put out? WOOF! But, these guys haven’t disappointed me yet, so I was ready to slap down the not too inconsiderable $250 bones, which got me this maquette, as well as the book, Badger, and all the other goodies. And I probably shouldn’t be surprised that this figure turned out so great. The sculpting is sharp and the colors are vibrant. The composition of the piece features Carly in what I would consider her pretty iconic pose with fists up, feet turned slightly inward, and a smile, which represents the unswerving positivity and charm of the character.

The paint lines are sharp, and there’s not a flub or spot of slop to be found. There are a few specs from the black foam that I should have done a better job of blowing off before taking the pictures, but they were easy to miss. The colors here pop so beautifully with the crimson of her long boots to the bright yellow of her hair and sash. The white is super clean, with no signs of anything bleeding through, but what really wowed me was the metallic blue and gold used for her one-piece. Exquisite! The base is a muddy disk, which if you read the comics, has a certain significance to it, and its scattered with some blue rocks. Fairly simple, but it works!

The portrait is excellent, right down to her sculpted earrings and adorable trademark ahoge. And even when punched in this close with the camera, the paint lines hold up pretty well. There’s a little gap that can be seen around her hair, but it’s barely noticeable when viewing the figure on the shelf and at eye level.

As a toy collector, I’m always going to want some kind of physical representation of the media I love. Whether it be movies, video games, or in this case comics. I have a compulsive need to have characters that I love displayed on a shelf, and so I was really excited when this maquette was revealed. There were only 200 of these available for the campaign, and I’m pretty sure they all wound up selling. I don’t usually make it a habit of spotlighting stuff on FFZ that can’t be found for sale, but this was a case where I wanted an excuse to talk about the comics and this awesome figure. And while the figure may be difficult to get, the comics are all available through Amazon or Iconic Comics directly, and I can’t recommend them enough. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fall in love with the characters, and when it’s all said and done, you’ll want more!

.