Monthly Archives: June 2023

Jun 30 2023

G. I. JOE Ultimates: Battle Android Trooper by Super7

Happy Friday, everyone! Well, I’m working through the weekend so that sucks, but at least I can still enjoy spending a bit of my Friday talking about toys. The second wave of Super7’s GI JOE Ultimates has arrived, and I’m eager to start digging into it, but before I do I have one last figure from the first wave to look at. So let’s check out Cobra’s Battle Android Trooper, better known as BAT to his close friends.

Here’s the awesome packaging, which is pretty much the same as what we saw for Cobra Commander, complete with a cover sleeve and blue camo pattern. The window shows off all the goodies and you get a little blurb about the BAT on the back panel. It’s no secret that I loved the BATs when they were introduced to the Sunbow cartoon. After having to suffer through dozens of episodes of Cobra troopers ducking enemy fire, the cartoon finally had an enemy that could be shot, blown to bits, impaled, crushed, and violently dispatched in every other way imaginable because they are only robots. But the real reason I love them is because they just look so damn cool.

And here’s the BAT fresh off the assembly line and ready for action! The black matte jumpsuit coupled with the blinding canary yellow for the boots, belt, and epaulets is such a bizarre combination for a combat trooper, and yet it looks so sharp and iconic. The Ultimates BAT also features some crisp metallic silver paint for the tops of the boots, the gauntlets, and just some general pop all around the figure, and I can’t overstate how great this paint looks. There’s a brown pistol holster on his left hip, a pair of sculpted grenades hanging from his shoulder strap, and does anyone know what that silver thing strapped to his right leg is supposed to be? Because I sure don’t.

The BAT carries a rather large backpack, which serves to carry his interchangeable arm attachments, and we sure will come back to those in a bit. The backpack clips into square peg holes on the figure’s epaulets, and it works fairly well, but if you pick up the figure with your fingers touching the backpack, it will likely pop off. It’s not that big a deal when posing and displaying the figure, but this is a case where maybe a peg in the back might have been preferable. Especially since, I really never display my BATs without the backpack on.

The helmet is pretty spot on for the Sunbow animated BAT design. Yo get a smooth and rounded noggin with a rather prominent T-shaped red face shield. And that emotionless blank slate of a face is a big part of what makes these things so scary to me.

One of the more iconic design beats of the Cobra BAT is the clear shield over the exposed bank of circuits on display in the chest, and it is very well done here. You get a wall of sculpted gray mechanisms with some green, yellow, red, and blue wires and devices embedded in there. The clear plate can also be removed and we’ll get to the purpose of that peg hole in a bit when we look at the damage display options.

While BATs are essentially walking weapons themselves, they do come with two standard issue guns. The first is the pistol that can be stored in the aforementioned holster. It’s got that great pseudo sci-fi design that a lot of the Sunbow pistols had and he can hold it in either of his gun hands quite well.

And he also comes with this rifle, which also sports a decidedly sci-fi flavor to it. both of these weapons are cast all in black plastic and they have that minimalist approach to sculpted detail that lends itself so well to being a cartoon model.

And now we get to the swiss-army-knife nature of the BAT’s arm attachments. There are three extra attachments that store in the backpack, which include a pincer claw, a driller arm, which I think is actually meant to be a laser, and what I think is supposed to be a torch of some kind. These attachments can be swapped out to replace either hand and they pop off pretty easily. The BAT also comes with a bunch of different regular hands, which include relaxed, fists, and gun toting hands. If the BAT is using one of his special attachments, you can even store the displaced hand in the backpack.

And since the cartoon had so much fun blowing up and damaging the BATs, Super7 included a number of damage options. You get an blue electrical discharge effect part that can be plugged into the hole in the chest compartment. You also get a damaged head with more of the blue electro discharge effect. And for total cranial destruction, you get just a neck stump with electro discharge spitting out of the top. Just be prepared to have to work to get that neck stump out of the figure once you put it in, because there isn’t a lot to grab onto.

You also get a severed left arm, and I like to pop the chest effect part into the arm stump. Not too shabby! The colored wires coming out of the damaged arm are a nice touch.

I think it’s safe to say that I really love this figure, since I wound up buying three of them, and there may be a couple more in my future. I can display this trio with a variety of attachments or even have one blown up and another partially damaged. There are definitely a lots of cool options!

And that wraps up the first wave of Super7’s GI JOE Ultimates and I am absolutely smitten with this line. The initial character assortment was pretty good, and while I loved each of these four figures, I think the BAT may be the stand out for me. Sure, I’d argue we should have had a Cobra Trooper in the line first, but I dig these so much that I’m not going to complain. As I said earlier, I’m eager to dive in to the second wave, but I’m going to take care of some business over on the Silverhawks side of things before coming back to JOE Ultimates in a week or so.

Jun 28 2023

Indiana Jones Adventure Series (The Last Crusade): Indy, Kazim, and Donovan by Hasbro

The fifth Indiana Jones film hits theaters this weekend, and I’m still debating whether I want to see it in the theater or just wait for streaming. I wish I was more excited about it, but between its hugely troubled production history and the fact that even the trailer and John Williams score couldn’t get me excited, I’m just not feeling it at all. And that’s saying something since Raiders of the Lost Ark remains one of my all time favorite movies. But enough about all that, we’re here today to talk about action figures and The Last Crusade. It was the first Indy flick I was old enough to see on my own and I thought it did a great job toning down the darker themes of the second and embracing more of the rip-roaring adventure of the first. Throw Sean Connery into the mix, and you’ve just got a case of pure movie magic.

Hasbro released three figures so far based on Indy’s third outing. These were each stand alone releases not tied to any Build-An-Artifact gimmick. I’m also pretty sure these were each exclusive to various retailers. I was going to pass on these, as I don’t consider any of them to be absolute must-have releases… well, maybe one… but when it comes to Indiana Jones toys , I guess I’m an easy mark. The packaging is the same as what we saw with the Build-An-Ark Wave, so let’s just jump in and start with Indy himself.

This release was referred to as Professor Jones, but it’s really just the gray suit he wore while traveling to Venice. Obviously, this is not the most exciting looking action figure out there, but I’m surprised at how much I’ve taken to it. I think the pants and sleeves do look a little chunky, but overall the suit is executed pretty well, with the usual soft plastic vest and sleeves sculpted on the arms. The vest under the coat looks really nice, as does the striping on the shirt and the perfect bowtie. Bowties are cool! The outfit is rounded out with his brown leather shoes. There’s nothing extraordinary here, but it all looks pretty good.

The head sculpt is solid and this is the first time we’re getting Indy with no hat in this line. There’s some things I like about this portrait more than the regular Indy head, and I dig how prominent they made the scar on his chin.

Indy comes with three accessories, and surprisingly none of them are weapons! The first is the Grail Diary wrapped as a mail parcel. It’s simple enough, but well done with a sculpted string and some postage markings on one side. He can hold it pretty well in either hand. “I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers!”

Next up is the rather grizzly makeshift torch that he constructed in the Venice sewer using a human bone. I love this piece and the flame effect looks really good. You could probably use this accessory in a number of different Further Adventures scenes as you play with your Indy figures!

And finally, you get one of the Grail Markers in the form of Sir Richard’s shield, and this piece is absolutely gorgeous. The large kite shield includes the inscriptions on the front with red and white paint, and a rather shabby looking back showing some rust and wear. The shield actually has two arm straps, so Indy could wield it like an actual shield, which would have been cool to see in that sequence. All in all, I think Hasbro delivered a solid figure here with all the right accessories to push it over the edge. Now let’s check out Kazim!

Kazim, member of The Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword was a pretty cool side character. Having a secret organization designed to protect the artifact Indy was after was a new and interesting idea for the third adventure. And I have to admit, I’m amazed that we got a 6-inch scale figure of Kazim, because we didn’t even get him in Hasbro’s last 3 3/4-inch line, and that was pretty extensive. Kazim sports a striped double-breasted suit with a rose on his lapel and a sculpted collar and necktie under it. The suit looks a little puffy, but not too bad.

To me, the portrait looks a little more like a caricature than realistic. I can’t quite place the actor’s name but his fez is familiar. YEAH, I WENT THERE, DEAL WITH IT!!! Still, the face has a lot of character and I like the deep creases around his nose and the bushy mustache. To be honest, I was most excited about this figure because of the little arsenal he comes with, so let’s check out the guns!

First off, you get an awesome little C96 Mauser, which seemed to be the official weapon of The Order. I love the sculpt and the finish on this little pistol and it’s definitely a cool weapon to circulate around the Indy figures. The barrel is extremely thin and fragile though, so I gotta be really careful if I bag this figure with his accessories. I may wind up folding it in a piece of cardboard.

Next up is Mauser bolt action rifle, which looks to be a mish-mash of different styles. Even so, I think the detail in the sculpt is quite nice on this one, but it feels rather undersized to me. Even if it was intended to be a carbine, I think it would still be too small and besides, the barrel would look different. My only other grip here is that a little woodgrain sculpt or paint would have looked nice. Unfortunately, this one is a thumbs down for me. Although I was impressed that he could get into a pretty decent firing pose with it.

But all is redeemed with this sweet MP28. Yes, the sculpt feels a little toony and again I’d like to see some woodgrain on the stock, but I loved seeing this gun in action during the boat chase and I’m thrilled to have a version in this scale for my little plastic peoples. Kazim is a fun figure, but I probably should have waited until he turned up at clearance. Moving on to our last figure… Walter Donovan.

Donovan was a pretty cool villain for the third film, and I’ll admit I didn’t see his heel turn coming, but then I was a dumb kid when I saw this movie so that’s my excuse. It probably doesn’t hurt that I absolutely love Julian Glover and would you believe this is my third figure bearing his likeness? Obviously one of the others is General Veers from The Empire Strikes Back, and the third is Count Scarlioni from Doctor Who! Donovan comes sporting his desert expedition outfit, which consists of a military style coat, belted at the waist and some flared military-style trousers with high boots. The sculpting on the costume looks great and his black shirt and striped tie look really sharp.

The head sculpt is… OK. I don’t see a whole lot of Glover in it and I probably couldn’t guess who it was from just the head. It would probably go like this, “Who’s that?” “Julian Glover!” “Oooooh, right. I see it now.” I think the portrait is perhaps a little younger looking than it should be based on his appearance in the film. There’s a bit of slop on the gray paint along his hairline, but all in all I’m OK with what we got here.

You also get an alternate “He chose poorly” head, which is really cool. It’s not as mind-blowingly gruesome as Toht’s melting face from the first wave of figures, but it’s still pretty gnarly and a very nice bonus.

Donovan comes with three accessories, the first of which is a gun, which is a kind of piss-poor approximation of his Walther PPK. It’s just kind of chunky and bland and I don’t like it. But hey, it’s a gun.

Next is the piece of the Grail Marker tablet, and boy did Hasbro do a beautiful job on this piece. The lettering is so sharp and legible it just looks fantastic.

And finally, we have one of the false Grails that Elsa chose for Donovan to drink from. It’s a nice little sculpt and a pretty good representation of the screen used prop.

All three of these are pretty decent figures, but I think I would say that only Donovan is what I would consider a must-have, because it’s nice to have at least one villain from The Last Crusade. We did get Ernst Vogel in Hasbro’s last 3 3/4-inch line, so maybe it’s possible we’ll see him again, and Hasbro has already revealed that we’ll be getting an Elsa Schneider figure in a future wave, so that’s cool. Professor Indy wins me over with some excellent accessories, and while I like two of Kazim’s three guns, he’s the one I could take or leave. There was one more Exclusive released in this assortment, but it was Club Obi-Wan Indy from Temple of Doom. I haven’t picked that one up yet, but I probably will, and if so I’ll probably check him out with the rest of the Temple of Doom figures when they finally ship.

Jun 26 2023

Marvel Legends (GotG v3): Nebula and Rocket by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday this week as I am working my way through the somewhat recently released Build-A-Russian-Space-Pooch Wave of Marvel Legends. So far I’ve checked out Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis from the BAF assortment, as well as the Deluxe Groot, which is admittedly a peripheral release but still part of the gang. Today I’m finishing up the Guardians proper with Nebula and Rocket, and that will just leave two more figures to go, plus the BAF.

I’ve said my piece about this packaging. I like it well enough but I’ll also be happy to see the end to these windowless boxes. It also baffles me as to why Hasbro didn’t list the figures in this wave on the back like they used to do, but I bought the wave all in one shot, so I guess it didn’t matter. As for the characters, let’s be honest, it Guardians 3 was Rocket’s movie, and perhaps even his trilogy all along, if a certain line of otter dialogue is to be believed. As for Nebula, I’ve really enjoyed her a lot more ever since Endgame and it was interesting to see her get a bigger role in this one, even over her sister Gamora, who is conspicuously absent from this wave of figures. Anyway… let’s start with Nebula!

It’s Hasbro, so I was expecting Nebula to share a body with Mantis, and that is certainly the case. Still, considering the amount of new sculpting in this wave, I can’t say as I really blame them. I loved this uniformed body on Mantis, and I love it here just the same. There’s some excellent sculpted detail in the costume and the blue and red just pop so beautifully. The belt is a separate sculps from the body and it’s nice and snug around the waist.

Of course, you do get a newly sculpted arm with some really cool detail that looks like some kind of synthetic muscular weave. Like the regular arm, it’s pinless in the elbow and has a really tight bend which I love.

The head sculpt is excellent and reflects the differences from the last time we saw her in the Legends line as part of the Mantis BAF wave. The sculpt here is a little soft but it works fine. Still, I’m not sure I like it more than the metallic paint and Borg-like eye business going on with the previous release. Still, that’s apples and oranges, because we’re dealing with two different versions fo the character. I’ll just say what we got here is fine and leave it at that.

Nebula makes out really well in the accessories department, as she comes with no less than three weapons. The first is this little pistol, which is a cool design, but probably the least interesting of the weapons. Also, it’s so small I almost wound up throwing it out with the tissue paper it was wrapped in.

Next up is a sword attachment for her cybernetic arm. This one just pegs in by replacing the hand for and gives off some awesome Terminator 2 vibes. The sculpt carries on the cyber-sinew pattern of the arm and has some orange paint on the edges. The sword really makes me wish they had given her a right gun hand so that she could wield both gun and sword, but it’s still pretty cool.

And finally, you get a nice big rifle. It’s cast in gray plastic and I love it. She can hold it really well too. I wish they had painted the hole in the barrel black, but I might go ahead and remedy that with a sharpie. Ok, let’s move on to Rocket Racoon!

YES! He finally uses is full name in the movie, and embraces his inner Racooness, which was fun to hear. And yes, this is easily the best Legends Rocket I’ve seen yet. Plus, he looks so damn adorable in his little uniform! Just about all the details survived being shrunk down to racoon size, including the Guardians emblem on his chest and the belt. The colors still look great here although the red is a little more muted. The uniform even has a hole in the butt where his floofy tail juts out.

The articulation here is pretty impressive for such a tiny body. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The hips are ball jointed, there are swivels in the thighs, and ball joints under the chest and in the neck. He can be a little tough to balance on his tiny feet, but you can always use the tail for support in a pinch.

The head sculpt is by far the best we’ve seen for Rocket in this scale. I’m blown away by the amount of detail in his exposed teeth.

Rocket comes with one accessory and that’s his the huge blaster that he’s been carrying since the first movie. This is such a cool and complex design. It’s also made to work well with Rocket’s tiny hands and has a loop in the stock that goes around and under his shoulder.

With the core team of Guardians assembled, I have to say this has been a fantastic wave. I was a little hesitant to pre-order these as opposed to waiting for clearance, but I’m glad I pulled the trigger, because these are going to get a prime display spot on one of my shelves. But we still have two more figures in the wave to check out and the BAF, so we’ll swing back for one more Marvel Monday next week to have a look at those!

Jun 23 2023

Ultra Street Fighter II: Ryu by Jada Toys

I would never consider myself an expert at Capcom’s Street Fighter series, it’s still been an enduring thread running through most of my video game playing years. I dabbled in it back in its early days, I tried to get good when it came home to the Genesis and SNES, but it probably wasn’t until Street Fighter III on the Dreamcast that I really started to dig in. Of course, there have been many lines of mech for Street Fighter over the years, but I think SOTA Toys line of figures tends to be looked back on the fondest. Storm Collectibles has a line going, but at around $100 each, I had to shy away from those, in favor of their Golden Axe figures. But now, Jada Toys is producing figures at a much more appealing price point and the first one of these has landed. Let’s have a look at Ryu!

My first indication that Jada knew what they were doing is seen in the package design, which is so fun and stylish! You get a little arcade cab-style box with the dual joystick set ups and the health bars on the top for two players. Ryu can be seen in the “screen” which is a clear window set against a pixelated background from the game. The box is collector friendly and gives you a great look at the figure and all his accessories. I’ll definitely be displaying these in the packages!

Out of the box, Ryu feels rather unique in hand. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time with either Hasbro or McFarlane these days, but I really enjoyed exploring what this figure had to offer when I first started messing about with him. Ryu’s classic character design comes through in the sculpt, and there are some nice flourishes like the cloth material texturing that runs through every bit of his costume. I expected the belt and below the costume to be all one piece, but as it happens the entire top is worn by the figure and actually belted, so that’s pretty cool. The costume is sculpted as part of the legs, but the way the ragged cuffs hang down over the ankles makes it look like the figure is searing pants as well, and that makes for a great effect. You also get some texturing on the belt and some Japanese symbols in gold. This figure takes every opportunity to flourish with what is a pretty simple costume design.

The sculpted musculature under the costume is well defined. You get some visible veins in the arms, and the hands and feet both have some pretty sharp sculpts in the fingers and toes. Even the red gloves have some excellent texturing and the red adds a nice pop to the figure’s colors, even though they probably shouldn’t be red. The bare skin is all achieved through colored plastic, and there’s a bit of a plastic sheen to him, but I don’t find it all that distracting.

Ryu comes with two heads: A rather determined looking pre-fight expression and a holy-shit-imma-gonna-kick-yo-ass expression, and I think both of these look great. The faces on both are painted so they have a bit more of a matte finish to them than the rest of the body, but again I don’t find it all that obvious or distracting. The painted skin and the printed eyes all look fine with the figure in hand, but as you punch in closer it tends to look like pancake makeup. The sculpted hair hangs down over the red bandanna to add some depth to the portrait, and I also love how his eyebrows overlap the bandanna as well. The bandanna ties hang down on the first head and blow off to the side on the second.

Obviously, articulation is going to be important on a Street Fighter figure, and I’m happy to say that Jada really brought a lot of it to the table here. I don’t have any first hand experience with SOTA’s offerings, so I can’t make comparisons. Storm’s will certainly offer more, but that’s to be expected with bigger figures at a much higher budget. The arms have both rotating hinges in the shoulders as well as butterfly joints. The elbows are double-hinged, there are bicep swivels, and you get hinged pegs for the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double-hinged knees, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint at the waist and another under the chest, and the the neck has a ball joint at the base and again up in the head. Many of the joints have a ratcheting effect, which makes them pretty strong and an absolute pleasure to work with!

I’ve got to say that the balance on this figure is absolutely amazing. He can balance on one leg pretty easily without assistance.

You get two pairs of hands with Ryu: One set of fists, and one pair for palm strikes or performing a Hadouken. You also get the Hadouken effect part and a stand for it. The effect part is absolutely gorgeous with a iridescent swirl of blue energy inside it and you can even see Ryu’s hands in it as he projects it. The stand plugs into the bottom and it’s hinged in two places.

At $25, Ryu feels like a pretty solid value when compared to what other companies are offering, and this figure just does so much stuff right. The articulation is well thought out and well implemented. The use of colored plastic over paint makes him look clean and vibrant, and everything here just screams quality and polish. I was originally going to just cherry pick this line, but with Ryu now in hand, I think I’m going all in!

Jun 21 2023

G. I. JOE Ultimates: Duke by Super7

The second wave of Super7’s Sunbow-inspired GI JOE figures have arrived and that means I have to kick my lazy ass into high gear and get through the rest of the first wave so I can dip into the hot newness. I’ve already covered half of the first wave with Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes, so let’s hit the third today and check out Sgt. Duke Hauser.

Just like Snake Eyes, Duke comes in a window box with a green camo sleeve over it. Pull off the sleeve and you get treated to the figure and an array of extra goodies! The presentation for this line is just top notch stuff! Boy, I can still remember the day that little white mailer from Hasbro showed up with my mail-away Duke figure. I was so excited to get him and have a brand new leader to whip my JOEs into shape. Many Duke figures have come and gone into my collection since then, but I’m so excited to have a faithful treatment of Duke from the Sunbow cartoon.

And everything about this figure just screams cartoony goodness! Not that the original Duke figure was all that different from his toon version, but here we get animated Duke in all his glory. Upon first inspection, the colors really grabbed me first. The bright tan, almost ochre shirt is so vibrant and it goes so well with the bright green trausers. The boots are brown with a lighter brown striping running up the center and crossed by two bands. A lot of Duke’s basic coloring is achieved through the plastic itself, and that vibrant shiny finish lends itself brilliantly to the cartoon look. And being based off the cartoon model, the sculpting here is kept simple. The detail in his shirt is soft, there’s some light rumpling to the trousers, and his sleeves are rolled almost to his elbows, as if he’s ready to get down and fight for some mutha-lovin freedom. YO JOE!

Duke’s belt and shoulder strap are both separate pieces and sculpted in soft brown plastic. You get a gold painted belt buckle and fastener on the strap, along with some sculpted pouches. He also has his parachute jump badge on the right hand side of his chest, which is incorporated into the sculpt as well as painted. As for articulation, you know what to expect here, folks, and you probably either love it or hate it. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say you either hate it or are OK with it. I’ve gone on record many times, I’m happy to go to Classified for my agile and highly articulated JOEs, and leave the more moderate poseability to the toon figures. Would I like more than barely 90-degrees out of those shoulders? Sure I would, but I’m still Ok with it. What’s the hand situation, you ask? How about four pairs! Fists, accessory holding, gun holding, and pointy fingers!

You get three heads to choose from, and I am extremely pleased with all three of them. They did a great job capturing toon Duke’s portrait from the prominent brow to the cleft chin. His blonde coif is impeccably combed and you get some immaculate printing for his eyes and eyebrows.

The other two heads include a shouty head and one wearing a comm headset. I really love how they changed up the expression for the headset version, rather than just slap it on the same neutral head. Here Duke has his lips parted a bit as if he’s speaking into the microphone. The shouty head is possibly my favorite. I don’t think it’s easy to get this look right in the sculpt, but I do believe they nailed it here, as he is in full YO JOE!!! mode. Superb!

Now, while this is clearly Sunbow Duke, Super7 gave us all the extras we need to display a majestic blending of toon Duke with that original Real American Hero figure release, namely his his combat helmet, backpack, and binoculars. He’s not really known for any of these things ine cartoon, but it’s a wonderful bonus to be able to kit Sunbow Duke out in these trappings. The helmet fits well, and even works with the comm headset, which is the combo I like the best. On the other hand, the binoculars are a little big and awkward, and thanks to the articulation limitations, he can’t really use them convincingly,

The backpack is a great looking accessory, and I love that it’s worn with actual straps, cast in soft plastic, rather than pegging into the back like the Hasbro figures. It’s an excellent recreation of the assault pack issued with that first figure, with some extra paint to boot, including some sharp silver on his entrenching tool.

He also comes with a recreation of the green submachine gun issued with that first figure. It’s cast all in green plastic and has some soft sculpted details, including a skeletal stock.

Of course, you also get the ubiquitous standard issue Sunbow laser rifle, and I’ll never get tired of expressing my love for this simple design. There’s just something about it that’s so well designed and sparks the imagination. It’s like a cross between an M1 Garand and a sci-fi blaster. I sincerely hope that we keep getting one of these with every JOE released, and if not, Super7 needs to issue a pack of them for sale separately.

The final accessory is a walkie talkie, which is a welcome addition to Duke’s gear. It’s a simple black box with an antenna and a screen showing the frequency and some kind of dial indicator on the bottom. Alas, the hand designed to hold it doesn’t really do a good job, so I had to use a bit of poster putty to keep it there. And hell, I totally forgot to mention the separate wrist-watch that Duke comes with. Be damn careful of that when you swap out that hand!

I’m three figures into this line and still loving every minute of it! Duke is a great representation of his animated counterpart and it’s great that they included some of the Hasbro figure accessories. Next week I will wrap up the wave with a look at the Cobra BATs!

By figurefanzero
0
Jun 19 2023

Marvel Legends (GotG v3): Drax and Mantis by Hasbro

Hey, it’s another Marvel Monday, how about that! A couple of weeks ago I started my look at the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 figures with Star-Lord and Deluxe Groot, and today I’m pushing things along with Drax and Mantis!

This wave comes in the fully enclosed boxes, which Hasbro promises will be going away soon in favor of a return to the window boxes. I actually really like the look of these boxes. You get some nice character art on the side panel and the photos have been matching the figures pretty well. My only real complaint here is that it doesn’t show all the figures in the wave on the back like the window packages did. I’m not sure why they dropped that here, but it can be confusing if you aren’t sure which figures you’re looking for to build the Space Doggo. It just seems like weird omission. Let’s start with Drax!

It’s still kind of weird to see Drax wearing a shirt. I was half expecting him to yell, “Your flimsy cloth materials cannot contain me!” and rip it off at some point in the movie. But as I said last time, I absolutely adore these uniforms and they look great on the figures. Drax is as chonky as ever and the body uses an interesting mix of pinned joints for the knees but pinless joints for the elbows. The detail in the uniform is quite nice with just about every detail included in the sculpt rather than just being painted on. I particularly love the raised bronze Guardians insignia in the center of the chest. And the colors here are to die for. The vibrant blue and red mixed with the black just looks so damn snappy! All the usual articulation is here and all the joints feel great.

This is undoubtedly Hasbro’s best Drax head sculpt, but that should be no surprise since it’s been six years since we got the last MCU version of Drax in the Legends line. The likeness to Batista in the make up is spot on and his facial markings are part of the sculpt as well as painted in. The expression is pretty neutral, but everything about this portrait works for me.

Drax comes with his fighting knives, which have been included with each of the two prior releases of the character. I’m not sure if these are the exact same sculpts, but they look very similar. They are cast in pale gray plastic and have details sculpted into the grips as well as some markings on the blades. And despite the new uniform, I was happy to see that he still has the scabbards in the boots to stow them when he’s not in full-on stabby-stabby mode.

Drax is just another fantastic figure in this wave, and I have absolutely zero complaints. Sure, it’s a departure from his iconic look, but what can I say? I just love the uniforms! With the price hike forever in the back of my mind, this is one figure I did not mind paying the full $25 to get. The sculpt and paint are both top notch and pretty much everything you get here is brand new. Moving on to Mantis…

Here we get our first look at the ladies version of the uniform and once again it looks great! The finish on Mantis’ outfit is more matte than Drax’s which has a bit of a sheen to it. I’d also say that her red striping is a little less vibrant too. Neither issue is enough to bother me when they’re standing side by side, but worth pointing out nonetheless. Mantis sports pinless joints in both her knees and elbows, and I’m happy to see both double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps. She also has a ball joint under the chest instead of the ab crunch hinge we see on Drax and Star-Lord.

And like Drax, we get a brand new head sculpt for Mantis. It’s still crazy to think that she was a Build-A-Figure when last released. This new noggin is a huge improvement over the last one, which wasn’t bad. You get a softer and more natural face with a far more realistic skin tone. The eyes are also phenomenal this time around and I like the sculpting on her pronounced eyelashes. The hair looks good and has some green highlights, and her antenna have a slight lilt to them. This is all around great work!

Mantis does stumble a bit because of her complete lack of extras. Yup, apart from the Cosmo BAF part, she has no accessories whatsoever. Now, I can’t off hand think of any accessories that she should have come with, but maybe at least give her an extra pair of hands. The hands she comes with are very specific with the right hand gesturing with two fingers, as if she’s focusing her telepathy, and the left hand just relaxed. She’s a beautiful figure, but at the $25 price point, she just needed something extra to justify the cost.

With four figures down, I still have four more to go before we can put together the Russian Space Pooch, but I have to say that I am really digging these figures a lot so far. Sure, I was a little lukewarm on Groot, but maybe he’s growing on me. HA! These figures are definitely helping me to come out of the general malaise I’ve felt about Marvel Legends for most of last year, and I’m genuinely excited to open up the next pair so let’s shoot for another Marvel Monday next week and check out Rocket and Nebula!

Jun 16 2023

ReAction (G.I. JOE): Battle Android Trooper by Super7

I have reviewed a number of ReAction figures here on FFZ, but I have yet to give any of the ReAction JOEs the spotlight. It’s not an intentional slight, but nonetheless one that I will rectify today. And it works out perfectly, because I kind of ran out of time and needed something quick to look at!

Yup, I’ve been collecting this line pretty hard since the beginning, mainly to them display on card, but in the beginning I was buying some doubles for openers, and I still keep an eye out for sales to get more openers. If you’re unfamiliar with this line, they’re basically 5-POA figures based on the Sunbow cartoon character designs with some cool expanded universe kind of stuff in the way of troop builders. I think the figures themselves are quite good, but the real magic here for me is the figure on the card, which look absolutely spectacular. And while all of these have been great, the recent release of the Cobra BAT was so exceptional that it motivated me to go ahead and start reviewing some of these.

Here he is on the card, and yes I did pick up a pair of these so I could open the one we’re looking at today. The card oozes vintage goodness with the iconic GI JOE logo and the character art set against an explosive backdrop. The figure comes on a bubble with some of his accessories positioned beside him. I got one of these punched and the other unpunched, so let’s tear into that punched one and have a look!

Straightaway, I have to say that the sculpted detail and paintwork on this BAT are both exquisite, especially for this type of 3 3/4-inch retro-style figure. I have yet to review Super7’s Ultimates BAT (coming soon!) but in a lot of ways this simple little 5-POA figure captures all the detail of that larger and more complex figure quite well. The transparent chest piece is a real stand out with the fully sculpted and multi-color wires and mechanisms on full display inside. But there’s a lot of other cool details worthy of shout outs, including the tiny belt of grenades hanging off his shoulder strap, complete with teensy tiny painted buckle, and even the ribbed padding on the inside of his functional pistol holster. I mean… wow! This is great stuff!

The BATs colors have always been a great combo of matte black, metallic silver, and bright canary yellow and all of those colors are on full display here. The silver paint in particular looks sharp and shiny and the yellow just contrasts so well with the black. The Cobra emblem tampo on his shoulder patch looks awesome too. You really have to punch in close to notice any slop in the paint, but it is mostly noticeable around the silver collar.

The BAT retains the backpack from his other versions, which is still capable of holding his swappable hand attachments. Both hands are designed to come off, but the left hand on my figure feels a little tight and I don’t want to risk dislocating the peg, so I’m sticking to swapping out his right hand. The extra attachments include the usual pincer claw, laser gun, and drill arm, making it fun to display a whole squad of these guys, each kitted out a little differently.

You also get two conventional weapons, which include a pistol and a rifle. Either of his regular hands are capable of holding either weapon, and you can stow the pistol in his holster when it’s not in use.

I usually review ReAction figures in groups because there’s only so much you can say about these figures and only so many ways you can shoot pictures of a 5-POA figure. But I really felt that this guy needed his own spotlight. It feels like Super7 just poured the love into this figure and went above and beyond. I paid the full twenty bones for my first one, but was able to get a second on sale through Amazon at $15. It would be cool if Super7 released a three-pack of these at a little better price. I’d love to pick up a few more, but even I have to concede that these little beauties are pretty pricey for what they are.

Jun 14 2023

Dungeons & Dragons (Golden Archive) Xanathar by Hasbro

I don’t think the Dungeons & Dragons movie was anywhere near the marketing hit that Hasbro was hoping for. They barely got most of the figures out by the time the movie had come and gone. I liked the Honor Among Thieves a lot, but I wasn’t interested in the figures. I am, however, especially happy that Hasbro seems to be utilizing its D&D license beyond the movie tie in, because the subject of today’s review shows there’s a lot of potential here!

Enter Xanathar! The mysterious crime lord of Waterdeep. Art Connoisseur, Gourmand, and Lover of Goldfish. Oh, and he also happens to be a Beholder, one of the most iconic beasties of D&D lore. When the credits rolled on the movie without a Beholder making an appearance, I didn’t know whether to shout in disappointment or admire the restraint. Nonetheless, here we are with a Xanathar figure and you could knock me over with a preverbal +1 Feather of Shocking! Xanathar comes in a fully enclosed box with an awkard slice taken out of the upper right corner. There’s some wonderful art as well as some pictures of the toy itself. He comes wrapped in tissue and there’s some assembly required, as you have to plug in each of those eye stalks to get him ready for display!

And with the full eye stalk installation complete, I have to say this is an absolutely fantastic looking figure with a lot of potential in cross compatibility. There’s some superb detail in the sculpt, which includes scaly, somewhat reptilian looking skin. He even has a pair of subtympanic shields like an iguana, in this case situated on each side behind his main eyeball. There are horns jutting out, ridges running down his back, and plenty of leathery creases and folds to the skin that all look great. Other great little touches include the intricately sculpted gold bands placed around some of his eye stalks, one of which is a Ring of Proof Against Detection. He even has a sculpted golden ring through a piercing on his bottom lip. Each of the eye stalks are connected with ball joints, so while there isn’t any articulation in the stalks themselves, there’s a decent range of motion where they meet the body. The paint is also excellent with a pale blue on the upper part of the body gradually becoming yellow for the face and undercarriage.

And wow, is there a tremendous amount of detail in his mouth, which can be placed on full display by opening his hinged jaws, and boy is it gross in there! In addition to the rows of jagged pointy teeth, he’s got pink gums, and the papillae on his tongue are fully realized in what is an incredible sculpt! So what’s that translucent thing up at the roof of his mouth? Well let’s talk eyeball!

Xanathar’s one big eye is very well done with a glassy lens and a very detailed retina. My only complaint here is that I wish the eye were opened a bit more. It’s quite narrow and while it does make for a somewhat devilish look, I would have loved to see that eyeball showcased more prominently. The eyeball is fully articulated and can be manipulated via that translucent lever-knob thing up at the roof of his mouth. Fiddling with this control can make his eye turn left and right and even up and down. It’s a lot of fun!

Xanathar comes with two accessories: A stand and his fish bowl. The stand is a pile of gold with a concave top for him to rest in and it works pretty well. It’s also a fantastic sculpt with individually sculpted coins and a skull and other pieces of treasure peeking out from the pile. I’d also bet I can find a lot of crossover uses for this pile of wealth with some of my other fantasy lines. With that having been said, I think it was a huge oversight not to include some kind of translucent stand to make it look like Xanathar is levitating.

The fish bowl may confuse some, but Xanathar did indeed have a pet fish named Sylgar. It’s actually likely that he had several fish named Sylgar, with his attendants swapping out new live fish for the deceased ones, perhaps without the Beholder knowing. This is a fun accessory with Sylgar appearing to float inside the bowl thanks to a translucent plastic stand… JUST LIKE XANATHAR SHOULD HAVE HAD!

Xanathar is intended to be roughly 6-inch scale, which would make him compatible with the Honor Among Thieves figures, but he also scales incredibly well with Hasbro’s own figures from the D&D cartoon. I also think the aesthetic fits really well too and they look great together! While I didn’t have time to include a comparison shot, I think he’s scales a little too small for NECA’s D&D figures or for Mythic Legions, but heck it still kind of works.

On the flipside, I think he looks fine with smaller scaled figures. If you like your Beholders huge, he’s pretty damn intimidating beside a Vitruvian HACKS figure. And I think he fits in perfectly with the old LJN AD&D figures. I don’t know how many more D&D figures we’ll get out of Hasbro so it’s fun to explore the crossover potential.

Make no mistake, Xanathar is a bizarre release. It’s the kind of stand out piece you might expect to get from a robust and successful toyline. Instead, he’s one of a handful of releases that exist outside the cartoon and the movie. With that being said, he is a fantastic figure, and I think he was well worth the $50 price tag. My guess is that lack of demand will mean he’ll turn up at a discount eventually, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance, and I really wanted to encourage Hasbro to do more figures like this. I love him!

Jun 12 2023

Silverhawks Ultimates: Windhammer by Super7

The next wave of Super7’s Silverhawks has arrived and I’m anxious to dig into it, but I’ve still got some unfinished business with the initial wave, so let’s wrap up things up today with a look at The Limbo Galaxy’s master of the elements, Windhammer! I’ve already checked out Mon-Star, Bluegrass, and Steelwill, so feel free to get caught up if you need to!

As always, the packaging for these figures is wonderful. The villains get a red foil sleeve that lifts off the window box to reveal the figure and all the goodies inside. Windhammer is a pretty beefy figure, but his package is sized on par with the two Silverhawks of the wave, and pretty small compared to Mon-Star’s. And while there’s plenty of goodies in this package, it still feels like he comes up a bit lighter in the extras than his wave-mates. Perhaps it’s because he’s the only figure in this wave not to have a bird-buddy.

Oooh, softgoods! Yes, Windhammer comes wearing a cloth tunic, which does a good job replicating the burlap sack-looking garment that he wore in the cartoon. Indeed, it sure looks a lot better than the sculpted plastic tunic on the original Kenner figure. The tunic is secured at the waist with a brown plastic belt, giving him something of medieval look, rather than a galactic gangster. The vibrant turquoise plastic used for his skin is actually closer to the Kenner figure than the cartoon look, which was more gray. I like it, but I just find it to be an interesting choice since most of these figures have been hugging the cartoon aesthetic over that of the vintage toys. I have absolutely no idea what the inspiration behind this Windhammer’s character design is, but he’s certainly cool looking and contributed to the rag-tag nature of Mon-Star’s gang.

The head sculpt hits that sweet spot between being goofy and terrifying. He’s part goblin and part gargoyle and looks like he’d be just as much at home skulking through dungeons in a D&D campaign as rampaging through space. The sculpt here is excellent and there’s a ton of personality in that ugly mug. The bulging yellow eyes, the bloated upper lip, fanged teeth and long pointed ears all contribute to a face that can not easily be forgotten. The portrait is punctuated by a ridiculous cascade of dirty-blonde hair reaching all the way down to his butt.

You also get a second portrait with his copious coif blown to the side and the mouth agape to show more teeth. This head is perfect for displaying Windhammer invoking his elemental power and causing the winds to whip up!

Windhammer’s chonky frame offers some pleasingly strong joints and I’m happy to say that I experienced no issues with stuck joints or any problems whatsoever. It seems like the Limbo Mob has escaped the need for the hair dryer so far. I would have liked a bit more range of motion in those elbows, but because of the sculpted muscles, he can’t quite pull of 90-degrees. As expected, you get a whole passel of hands with the figure, five pairs in all. These consist of relaxed, fists, pointers, and two pairs of accessory holding hands with slight variations to the grip. The hands swap out easily, and I had a lot of fun playing around with this guy.

Windhammer’s main accessory is his trademark tuning fork, which he uses to call forth the powers of wind and lightning. It’s all the more amazing, since it can somehow do this in the vacuum of space. I’m tempted to ask how that works, but then I’m reminded of a little ditty that suggests I repeat to myself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax” The tuning fork is about as simple an accessory as you can get, with a dark gray finish, and it’s a stout piece with no signs of bending or warping. But, the real fun with this piece comes in the effect parts!

First off, you have a translucent yellow energy swoosh that creates the illusion of some really dynamic movement.

Next, there’s a translucent yellow lightning effect that looks really cool. This can be used to allow Windhammer to call down lightning to fry the Silverhawks dead in their tracks.

And finally, you get a rock and wind effect part, which allows Windhammer to bury the Silverhawks in an avalanche of space rocks. This piece was the one I was least interested in before getting the figure in hand, but it actually turned out to be one of my favorites. The effect is really well done.

Windhammer turned out absolutely fantastic! He may not have been the most personable character in the cartoon, but it was always fun to see him in a fight, and the included effect parts really convey that beautifully. The sculpt and coloring here are both on point and I think the decision to go with the softgoods elevated the figure a great deal. And that puts this wave to bed, with two Silverhawks and two Limbo Mobsters on the shelf. Next week, I’ll start digging into the next wave with a look at Quicksilver himself!

By figurefanzero
0
Jun 9 2023

Masters of the Universe Origins: Roton by Mattel

It’s been a couple of months since I last reviewed anything from the Masters Origins line, and that’s just wrong! My backlog for this line is pretty severe, so let’s dig back in with a look at a vehicle! Because if there’s anything that’s more wacky than the inhabitants of Eternia, it’s the crazy vehicles they try to kill each other with. So far Skeletor’s evil garage already has the Land Shark parked in there, and now it’s time to make room for The Roton!

The Roton comes in a glorious window box with some lovely vintage style art and the 40th Anniversary foil sticker on the right hand corner of the back flap. This vehicle started life as a Walmart Exclusive and I dropped my pre-order the moment it went live. Then my order sat in limbo until Walmart decided to cancel it. Holy shit, do I hate Walmart Exclusives! The toy spent a while going for double on the secondary scalper market before it started turning up at some other online retailers and I was eventually able to get one. And thank God for that, because I was getting ready to feed the scalpers on this one! The basic vehicle comes out of the box all ready for action, so let’s see what we’ve got.

What do you get when you combine a bumper car with a buzzsaw and then give it some creepy monster eyes? The Roton, of course! The vehicle’s black glossy body features a partially sculpted spinal column on the back and a hideous monster face on the front. Stickered panels adorn the sides with what looks like green reptilian skin fused with circuitry and dark magic tech from the bowels of Snake Mountain. The driver’s cabin is just one big bench seat with two joysticks, and there’s a pair of red laser guns, which can each swivel to fire in just about any direction. If I had one nitpick, I wish there were some dashboard stickers in there showing a few control panels.

Around the center of this devilish dodge-em car is the red buzz saw blade, which spins as you push the vehicle along, while also making a nerve-racking clicking noise, which is probably the last thing a lot of Eternian do-gooders hear before being diced into pieces by this engine of hell. And then there’s the eyes. The stickered eyes are just generally unsettling with red bloodshot pupils and fibrous veins protruding from the corners. Are these just the Eternian version of nose art, or is this thing actually a fusion of machine and monster? No, don’t answer. I don’t want to know!

The seat has plenty of room for most Origins figures, but Skeletor is the obvious choice. It’s no secret that the Origins figures aren’t all that great at sitting down, but it works pretty well. There’s something about Skeletor sitting in this thing that just scratches that toyetic itch so brilliantly. It’s just a glorious pairing of blue and purple Skeleton Lord with black and red killing machine. Roton was an inspired toy in the vintage line, and it still is today in the Origins revival. But we’re not done yet!

The designers went back to the vintage Monogram model kit and added the armored face plate and driver’s cage and boy is this going above and beyond! Both pieces are cast in beautiful red plastic and you get some white pate on the face plate for the eyes and teeth. Both pieces peg in securely and just add a wonderful display option or even a way to create variations if you happen to have more than one Roton for your collection. Sure, I would have rather had a Skelcon figure like the one included with the Classics Roton, but recreating the pieces from the Monogram model makes this release all the more unique.

The Classics vehicle came with a stand, which is sadly lacking from this release. Now, you could argue that this is a ground vehicle so why include a stand, but I’d like to think this is capable of flight too. For what it’s worth, there is a socket underneath the Roton that is compatible with the stand that came bundled with the Wind Raider.

“Myeaaah! I’ve got you now you muscled boob! Taste the blades of Roton!”
“Wait.. what are you doing? Where’s reverse???”
“STOP IT!!!”
“You’ll never get me in here…”
“Trap-Jaw… you said this thing was He-Man proof!”
*MYEAAAHHHing Intensifies*
“ARGHHHHHH!”

I got my Roton for $35, which feels a little pricey compared to some of the other Origins vehicles, but then I was so happy to be able to finally get one, I didn’t hesitate over the price. I was hoping this one would eventually get down to the Wind Raider prices, because that hits below $20 every now and then on Amazon and I have about half dozen of the damn things. I’d love to pick up at least one more, but only if it went on sale, and that doesn’t seem likely at this point. Either way, this is a fantastic toy and a welcome addition to Skeletor’s crazy fleet of attack vehicles.