Monthly Archives: August 2023

Aug 28 2023

Jem and the Holograms: Jem Premier Collection Statue by Diamond Select

It might surprise some people to know that I am something of a Jem collector, although I haven’t featured any of the toys here on FFZ. At least not yet. My vintage Jem collection is pretty modest by some standards, but I have the essentials and I’ll share a few pictures right now before digging into the focus of today’s review.

I have pretty nice, and mostly complete examples of Jem, Aja, and Kimber, but no Shayna. I also have a second Jem dressed as Jerrica. On the Misfits side of things, I have Pizzazz, Roxy, and Stormer. I have a complete boxed Star Stage and a complete Rockin Roadster, both of which still play the cassettes!. I’m really happy with this collection, and Shayna is the only doll I still actively search for at a decent price. Anyway, I’m always on the lookout for new Jem merch and needless to say I got all hot and bothered when I saw Diamond was doing Jem in their higher end Premier Collection statue line.

And here’s the box, which is quite big, as this is a roughly 11-inch scale figure on a decent sized base. DST started licensing some Hasbro franchises for their more budget friendly Gallery Series statues where we’ve seen a few GI JOE pieces so it only stands to reason that they would look at some of the other goodies in Hasbro’s stable. Sadly, Hasbro seems content to do nothing with leading rock ladies of the 80s, so they damn well should let other companies do it. Even Super7 got in on the action with a couple of ReAction figures and you can see those carded in one of my collection pictures above. And every day I dream that I will wake up and find out that Super7 is doing Jem in their Ultimates line. Wouldn’t that be something! Jem actually got a bit of a revival back in 2012 when Integrity Toys released a fairly extensive line of high end Jem fashion dolls. These were pretty damn expensive back then and they have grown to ridiculous prices now. Sadly, I do not have any and they are spectacular. But, I do have this statue, so let’s set her up and see what we’ve got!

Here she is standing up on the stage, rocking out, and looking well… Outrageous! The figure comes as one piece and all you have to do is peg the rod on her left foot into the base and she’s ready to go. I’m really going to go into full-on gush mode, because I literally love every last thing about this statue and the way she turned out. The pose is absolutely superb and ripped right from the opening of the cartoon. She stands with legs apart (oh god, does she have great legs!), microphone raised, her free hand open behind her and strikes a pose worthy of a magazine cover… or even a statue!

The costume colors and design follow her animated look, and I’ll do a comparison with the original Hasbro doll at the end. This means less sparkle and more pink and red. Her short dress is pink with the belt-sash thing being red and her high heeled shoes also pink. The skin tone is nice and even. The colors just pop so beautifully here and all the paintwork is excellent. Even her fingernails are painted pink and you get some lovely metallic gloss on the microphone.

The portrait could have made or broke this whole shebang but boy did they nail it here. Jem is absolutely beautiful and the paintwork for her eyes and makeup is all razor sharp. Her lovely face is framed by that beautiful big cotton-candy colored hair. Boy did I love me some 80’s rock ladies with big hair. Must have been what fueled all those teenage fantasies I had about the Wilson Sisters. These Dreams, indeed. Anyway… Where was I? Oh yeah… if you look close you can see her earrings under all that hair. It’s Showtime, Synergy!

The base is also an inspired piece of work with the Synergy computer behind her on the circular stage. The computer casing is painted in a nice metallic silver and you get some purple panels and frames around the displays, and the sculpted musical keyboard and foot pedals. And best of all you get Synergy’s image in the central monitor, which looks like it was ripped right out of the cartoon. Don’t get me started on the huge disparity between Synergy’s doll and her cartoon look. I never liked the look of the doll and that’s why I don’t have it in my collection. Well, that and it’s pricey and hard to find in good condition. The satin gold finish on the stage is quite striking, and you’ll notice they left the stars on the front gold instead of painting them red like shown on the box. I’m all for the change. I think what we got just looks classier.

Like most Premier Collection statues, this piece is limited to a production run of 3,000. It’s numbered under the base and also on an art card you get in the box. And holy hell, did I come up with a low number! Not too shabby! I really like these cards as a bonus. It’s something that even Sideshow doesn’t do with their vastly more expensive limited statues. Good on you, DST!

If you can’t tell, I’m in love with this statue! But I was almost heartbroken, because when I got to my computer after work to pre-order, it was already sold out everywhere. I couldn’t believe it. Luckily a few weeks later one of those retailers put up some more and I got in on that action faster than Pizzazz kicking a puppy. At $199 this is definitely one of DST’s most expensive releases in their Premier Collection line, but honestly it was worth every penny and if they gave Pizzazz the same treatment, I’d be down for that for sure. Heck, I’d even love to see them do all the characters in the Gallery Series, because I’d buy every damn one of them! Well, not Rio because screw that guy. Jem is mine! And as for you, Hasbro… there’s clearly a demand for Jem merch and it’s long past time you should get to work on that. Or maybe Jem should get a new agent.

Aug 25 2023

Batman (1966 Retro Series): Boxing Batman and Riddler by McFarlane

It’s hard for me to imagine what the 1966 Batman series must seem like to people who didn’t grow up watching it. But I sure as hell did and I loved it. My brother has always been the furthest thing from a comic book or sci-fi nerd as you can get, but two things we could always bond over was watching the original Star Trek series, and 1966 Batman. And maybe that’s why I still have so much love for this wacky series. I collected the Mattel line that was issued sometime around 2013, and it looks like now I’m collecting McFarlane’s line too. I’ve been playing a lot of catch up, since I literally only started collecting it once McFarlane opened pre-orders for re-issues of the first Batman and Robin figures, but I’ve been buying a lot of toys to make up for lost time. Anyway, today I’m kicking it off with the boxer versions of Batman and the Riddler.

It probably seems strange to start with variants, especially since the excessive number of variants in this line ha been garnering its share of criticism, but it’s hard for me to nitpick when I see how deep the line is going on characters, vehicles and playsets. Plus, there’s the old adage, if you don’t like them don’t buy them. I’m not buying all of them, but I was pretty excited to get this pair from the Season 3 episode Ring Around The Riddler, where The Riddler tried to take control of the Gotham Boxing racket and the episode culminated in a boxing match between Batman and the Riddler. As far as goofiness goes, it’s par for the course, and as a kid the idea of seeing Batman box The Riddler was almost too much for my little brain to process. What’s that? Talk about the packaging? Oh yeah… these figures come on colorful cards with the Batman Classic TV Series logo. They kind of look a little like rack toy packaging, which might have been intentional, I don’t know. It’s charming to be sure, but nothing outrageously special. Still, I bought a double of Boxer Batman to keep sealed, so let’s rip these guys open.

As you can imagine, these are cheap ways to reuse a lot of parts from the original releases of these characters, but to be fair there’s some nice new sculpting here too. Batman dons his usual costume but happens to be wearing a large pair of yellow boxing trunks over it. You also get a much exaggerated version of his belt with the gold buckle on the front. The boxer motif is rounded out by a pair of boxing gloves that he’s wearing over his regular bat gauntlets. Everything about this figure is deliciously ridiculous and honestly, if you wanted to buy just one figure that best sums up this show, I think this one would be a good choice. Apart from the boxing paraphernalia, the costume sculpt is pretty clean and simple, epitomizing the on-screen costume. The pale gray and blue really look good as does the yellow and black bat symbol printed on his chest. The softgoods cape looks pretty good from the front, but maybe not so much from the back.

I think the head sculpt is fine for a retro-style figure, but I don’t see a lot of Adam West in it. The cowl does look very nice right down to the linework on the eyebrows and nose.

As with Batman, The Riddler is wearing his regular villain costume with the boxing trunks and gloves on top. His trunks are kind of mauve, which looks pretty snappy against his bright green outfit. I really love the giant RIDDLER belt buckle. The costume itself has very little in the way of sculpted detail, although I absolutely love how he’s just wearing a pair of regular loafers painted green. The printed question marks are all pretty crisp.

As for Riddler’s head sculpt, I think this is a better likeness than what we saw on Batman. Frank Gorshin will forever be The Riddler to me and I’d easily put him on par with Romero’s Joker in the series. He had a manic energy that was just wonderful to watch. I like the flash of teeth here and that the mask is sculpted rather than just painted on.

The fact that McFarlane calls this a Retro line probably refers to the articulation more than anything. It’s not as limited as it could have been, but it certainly has its limits when compared to the DC Multiverse series. Actually what’s most limiting is the use of the t-crotch, which doesn’t allow for any lateral movement in the hips and is definitely what feels most retro here. You do, however get rotating hinges in the elbows and knees, which is fairly modern. The head is ball jointed, the waist will swivel as will the wrists, but there’s no ankle or chest articulation. Nonetheless, I found these to still be pretty fun to play around with, especially when adding a figure stands to help them out in action poses.

The only accessories included here are plastic versions of the comic-style exposition balloons that would appear on the screen during the fights. Batman comes with BIFF and THUNK while Riddler comes with WHAMM and OUCH. The have rings so you can clip them onto the figures’ wrists. These are OK, but I really want to like these more than I do. It’s a very nice effort, but in execution I think it falls kind of short. I actually wouldn’t be critical of them here as they don’t feel like they are replacing actual accessories, but that was the case with other figures, as we’ll see in the weeks ahead.

I really love these figures and I had a lot of fun opening them and playing around with them. I don’t know that the whole retro vibe is really there. Back in the day we had Mego Batman figures and some Corgi cars, but nothing like these. Honestly, the Retro tag is probably just to separate them from the DC Multiverse level of articulation. Either way, I’m really glad I finally plunged into this line and when I next visit with it we’ll be checking out an exclusive lunchbox full of figures!

Aug 23 2023

G.I. JOE Classified: Torpedo by Hasbro

My pile of GI JOE Classified figures is stacking up, so I really need to double my efforts to get into these. Three reviews a week seems like a lot of work, but it isn’t enough to keep up with all the toys I want to look at. In a lot of cases, I’ve been doubling up on figures in each review, but I feel as if there’s too much great stuff to talk about with the Classified figures and I want to give each one their own review. So, let’s take a dive under the water today and check out  Ed Leialoha, aka Torpedo!

I was probably around thirteen when I got the first Torpedo figure and he was one of my absolute favorites for a while. Keep in mind, my first experiences playing with GI JOE was with the 12-inch figures. My Uncle had given my brother and I his whole collection and we were always playing with them. When I started getting the new 3 3/4-inch JOEs, I tended to really take to the ones with a lot of gear, so figures like Snowjob and Torpedo were among my favorites because all their gear reminded me of playing with the bigger figures. Also, whenever I would get a new JOE my Dad would explain a lot of the filecard stuff to me, as he was a military history buff. I can still remember getting Torpedo and him telling me all about Navy SEALs and what they did. I think he was happy to see me move from playing with Star Wars to GI JOE because it was something he could relate to a little more… at least until things started getting really goofy. Anyway, Torpedo comes in a fully enclosed box with some excellent artwork. Inside you get a cardboard foot locker with all his gear in a tissue paper bag.

Here is the base figure before suiting up to dive under the waves and boy does he look great! Hasbro did very little to change that iconic black and gray suit, and I’m certainly happy about that. They did add some paint to the belt, which adds a bit of detail, but my favorite addition is the little sonar instrument he has attached to his right wrist. He also adds a brace of pouches strapped to his left thigh and a sheath for his combat knife on his right thigh. You get a soft plastic shoulder harness with a couple of red pouches added to his right shoulder, and a black one on the left. This is exactly how I like to see my Classified figures, with deep roots in the vintage original and just enough modern flourishes to make if feel fresh.

The head sculpt is pretty good, but I think they uglied Ed up a bit. Hey, not every JOE can be as handsome as Chuckles, and to be honest I think the portrait gives him a lot of personality. The skin tone is also excellent, especially considering my vintage Torpedo looked like he had jaundice. There is some pretty bad paint slop around the lines of the hood where the black paint is over sprayed onto his skin. It’s tolerable when the figure is in hand, but it looks absolutely terrible when you punch in close. If he shows up for clearance, I may try my luck on another, otherwise I can live with it. Let’s check out some of his weapons before he hits the water.

I really dig how Hasbro is improving the knives in this line. For a while we were just getting simple sculpts cast in black plastic, but here we get a red painted grip and a black blade with a serrated back and a nasty looking clip to the point. This fits perfectly in the sheath and he can comfortably wield it in either hand.

Next up we get a sweet little automatic short-barreled rifle with a removable magazine. This is a great bonus, since the original figure only came with his harpoon, and sometimes even divers have to exterminate Cobras on dry land. The sculpt on this little weapon is very detailed, and while I don’t recognize the model, the design definitely looks like it’s grounded in reality. OK… time to suit up and go below!

Much like the vintage figure, Classified Torpedo has a pair of flippers and an O2 tank for his back, but here we actually add a face mask. The backpack is a pretty big departure from the vintage design, but I still like it a lot. Gone are the thruster-like side pieces and the red tanks, all abandoned for a simple and streamlined black tank. The flippers are cast in soft plastic and actually fit around his feet, rather than just pegging into the bottoms. They also have holes so you still have access to the foot pegs, which is a great little touch.

The mask has hoses that peg into the O2 tank and it just fits right over the head with soft plastic straps. This is such a great addition to the figure, as I had to use my childhood imagination that there was some kind of shield over vintage Torpedo’s eyes. The goggle lenses are painted silver and you get some red gray paint hits on the breather apparatus. The tubes even seem to stay put when I articulate his head, which is a nice surprise, as I thought they’d be popping out left and right.

Finally, you get the harpoon gun. A lot of folks were complaining about how rubbery and warped this thing was, so I was a bit worried when I opened the bag of accessories. It is indeed rubbery and warpy, but mine is actually not too bad. I like the sculpted loop to hook it around his arm, and there’s a clip on the bottom of the O2 tank to store it horizontally across his lower back.

Dare I say that Classified Torpedo is a direct hit? Well he is in my book! He’s the textbook example of what I look for in these figures. The base body lines up beautifully with the vintage design, while the scuba gear is all given a well needed modern update. The bendy harpoon gun is a tad disappointing and the paint on the head could have been a lot cleaner, but there’s so much else to love here, I’m not going to let it sink my enjoyment of this figure. The only sad thing here is that I don’t have a Cobra Eel for him to fight, and who knows if I ever will. Hasbro decided to make it an Amazon exclusive and it sold out fast and scalpers are selling them at double the price or more. Still, I think I’ll keep the nautical theme going for my next Classified review… but will it be Cobra or another JOE? We’ll see…

Aug 21 2023

Popup Parade (Cowboy Bebop) Spike Spiegel and Faye Valentine by Max Factory

A short while back I picked up some Popup Parade figures at my not-so local comic shop and was pretty happy with them. Well, last week I was back in that area and they had some more at a bit of a discount and my impulse control failed me so I picked up a few more. Honestly, I think what did me in here was the fact that I have never been confronted with Cowboy Bebop figures while out and about, so I could hardly say no and quickly picked up the four they had. Actually, now that I think about it, these are probably the only Cowboy Bebop merch that I own, which goes to show you how little there is out there. Anyway, let’s have a look at Spike and Faye.

Popup Parade’s packaging has it’s ups and downs. I love how it’s almost all plastic (take that, Hasbro!) and that they actually work as their own display cases since all but the back of the figures are exposed and there’s plenty of room for light to get in. On the downside, the branding is really subtle with the character names in tiny fonts and nothing that shouts the Cowboy Bebop franchise. Still, everything here is collector friendly and I will likely display the figures in the packages for the time being. At roughly 7-inch scale, these are definitely in the prize figure class, and each come with generic black display bases to plug the figure into. Let’s start with Spike…

Be careful with this guy! My figure’s ankle snapped while I was gingerly inserting the pegs into the stand, and no wonder because they are very thin and delicate. I was able to glue it back with no problems, but who wants broken toys right out of the box? I like the pose they went with here. Spike exudes what I can only call his characteristic casual confidence, with one hand shoved in his pocket and the other arm drawing up his weapon. And might I add, it’s nice to see Spike exhibiting the proper trigger discipline! They really nailed his lanky proportions as well as the appearance of his suit, which isn’t heavy with detail, but does have some nice rumples and rolled up sleeves. The popped collar and the loose necktie are nice touches as well. The coloring on the suit looks pretty good, but the paint on the tie could have been sharper.

I think the portrait is a pretty good likeness, but it took a little bit for the hair sculpt to grow on me. At first it looked off, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. Spike’s chaotic coif is not something that is easy to reproduce in 3D, but I think what we got works well enough. Spike’s eyes are drawn very sharp and I love the little hint of a smirk on his broad thin line of a mouth. My biggest gripe with this figure is the skin tone which looks rather pale and waxy. It’s often a complaint that I have with lower end prize figures, but I’ve seen it done better at this price range. Still, all in all it’s a decent figure. How about Faye?

I’m happy to report there were no breakages with Faye, but then only one of her feet peg into the base, so there was no need to stress her. Once again, I think they did a great job with this pose Faye looks down over her shoulder, while shifting her weight to one foot as she racks the slide of her pistol and gets ready for action. This figure has several sweet spots to choose from when positioning her on the shelf. Her outfit is a lot more complex than Spike’s with the jacket tied around her and resting on her elbows and I like that they sculpted the tops of her stockings, rather than just paint them. There’s also a nice sense of depth to her boots, as her ankles disappear into them. I thought gold was an interesting choice for her top and shorts, as I would have gone with yellow, but it definitely makes the figure pop. No pun intended. The peach colored stockings, aqua colored boots, and red jacket all make for a great looking deco.

The head sculpt is a homerun and, just like Spike, her features are printed perfectly sharp. The hair looks fantastic as it billows out around her face a bit as if being tussled by a sudden head turn. But yeah, the skin tone looks even a bit more waxy here than on Spike, and it’s certainly more obvious because Faye is showing a lot of skin. Does it ruin the figure for me? Heck no. It’s just one of those things that these cheaper prize figures often struggle to get right.

I paid $30 each for this pair on sale, and that was down from the $45 they were stickered at. Thirty feels about right, while the original retail is way too high. I like them and I’m happy to have them on my shelf, but I think SEGA and TAITO are doing figures on par or in some cases a smidge better quality than these at even less. And while those are nice and all, they aren’t Cowboy Bebop characters, and that’s what ultimately won me over on this pair. Next week I’ll swing back and finish off the set with a look at Jet Black and Edward!

Aug 18 2023

DC Multiverse (Dark Knight Trilogy): Joker, Two-Face and Bane by McFarlane

A couple weeks back I checked out the first half of McFarlane’s Dark Knight Trilogy figures with Batman and Scarecrow. Today, I’m looking at the second half of that wave with Joker and Two-Face, which also gives me the rest of the Collect-To-Build pieces to finish off Bane! The night is darkest just before the dawn, so let’s go…

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, other than if it weren’t for the Bane figure parts, I probably would have just picked up Joker and Batman in this wave. But then I was very happy with how Scarecrow came out, so I have no regrets yet. I should note that I opened these figures a while ago and am using McFarlane’s official solicitation packaged shots, which shows a weird, almost metallic paint scheme for Joker and that’s obviously not what we got on the final figure. Two-Face comes with Bane’s torso and Joker comes with Bane’s head and three sets of his hands. Let’s start with Two-Face…

So, this is the figure in the wave that I was probably least excited about, but now that he’s in hand, I think he’s a pretty cool figure. Sure, he’s a guy in a suit, but I really like what McFarlane did with the damage to the jacket, which is both sculpted and painted on. Overall, I like McFarlane’s suit body a bit better than Hasbro’s Marvel Legends version, but I’d say they’re both more or less on the same level. The sculpted sleeves on the arms definitely match up with the suit-vest a lot better here. The jacket has a nice trim fit and the slacks have a hint of a crease running down the legs. The ball joint under the chest is handled well and the tie being sculpted separately looks great. You even get a little texture to the suit, shirt, and tie for that added pop.

Of course, the head sculpt is the main draw here and it has it’s ups and downs. McFarlane’s portraits work great for comic characters, but they definitely fall short when it comes to their movie figures. There isn’t much of a likeness to Eckhart and the paint on that side of the face is too basic to look all that realistic. The damaged side is pretty horrific, and I mean that in a good way, although I think it could have used a glossy wash to bring out some of that gore. I think this portrait works fine for having a Two-Face in my DC Multiverse collection, but it’s probably going to disappoint people looking for a solid version from the film.

Articulation is standard stuff here for the Multiverse line, which is as solid as always. Dent’s left hand is sculpted with his coin, which was a great choice, while his right hand is sculpted with a trigger finger. Of course, you’ll have to pick up one of McFarlane’s gun-packs to give him a shooter for that hand. All in all, I like this figure a lot, but he didn’t surprise me into loving him , like Scarecrow did. If not for the Bane piece, I would have happily gambled on picking him up at clearance, but I’m sure not angry at picking him up at full price. Moving on to Joker…

This is the figure I was looking forward to the most in this wave and he does not disappoint. I’ve seen a lot of gripes about how he turned out, and I honestly can’t understand them, because I think he looks fantastic. I really dig the billowy sculpt to his purple trench coat and the sculpted sleeves blend with it pretty well. The green vest and shirt collar and tie are all sculpted together, which still looks fine, although they are missing the patterns from the screen worn costume. Finally, the baggie purple striped pants lead down to his brown shoes. There’s also a sculpted gold chain leading from under the vest.

I think the portrait was a sticking point with some collectors’ early reactions, but I like how it turned out. It’s certainly not perfect. The makeup should have been more spotty and rough, but I’m still very happy with what we got. In terms of movie based likenesses, I’d say this is one of McFarlane’s better ones.

Like Two-Face, Joker comes with a trigger hand but no gun. Honestly, if McFarlane couldn’t give us a gun, they should have just given us a knife instead, which feels conspicuously absent from this set. Even a hand with a playing card sculpted into it would have been welcome. The left hand is sculpted into a fist.

You do, however, get a big pile of cash, which is a damn cool accessory, and works great as a throne for him to sit on. So yeah, I’m going to go against the grain and say that I love how this figure turned out. A few tweaks could have made it even better, but I dig him. And that brings us to Bane!

I’m a little saltier about this figure since McFarlane revealed the Gold Label Bane with his coat. It sold out fast and even if it didn’t, I wasn’t about to drop another $45 just to get the coat. I think it was a pretty shitty use of the Gold Label line and companies need to watch how they screw over collectors by reissuing better versions of figures so soon after the initial offerings. With that said, this one looks pretty good. The tactical vest has some pretty sharp detail, I love the wrappings around his right wrist and hand, and the rugged pants are replete with sculpted pockets. All in all pretty nice work!

The portrait is pretty good. It actually looks like the eyes are printed rather than painted. There’s also some nice dry brush weathering on the mask. The lines between his skin and the mask have a little slop here and there, but you have to punch in pretty close for it to be a problem.

Despite being a Collect-To-Build, Bane has all the usual articulation seen in the Multiverse line. I did have some issues with the legs staying put with this figure, but after a lot of cursing and excessive force, I think I finally got them to stay put. You get three sets of hands with Bane, which feels a little excessive. These include fists, relaxed hands, and gesturing hands. I would have much rather we got a knife or playing card hand with Joker rather than these, but I’ll take them anyway.

I don’t buy a lot of Multiverse Waves when they first come out, but this one I jumped on and I’m still glad I did. Especially since these don’t seem to be dropping in price as fast as some of these figures tend to do. While I’m not as big a fan of these movies as most, I do love these versions of the characters and they are certainly a massive step up from the shitty Mattel ones I have from forever ago. Oh wait… we’re not quite done yet…

Yeah, I also bought the Gold Label Joker for some reason. It’s made even more ridiculous by the fact that this is a Jokerized Joker. Yup. I’m probably not going to open this one, and all I can say is it must have been the product of one of those nights of heavy drinking and retail therapy, because otherwise I’m not really sure why I bought it. I do really like the paint on this figure’s portrait, so that’s something. Also the Jokerized Bane head is kind of cool too. But I certainly will not picking up any of the other Jokerized figures in this wave.

Aug 16 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): Vorgga and Zeerian Spyre by The Four Horsemen

I’m committing myself to getting through the first assortment of Cosmic Legions figures in a timely manner, so as not to create the backlog problem, I had with Mythic Legions. Heck, I still haven’t opened that last wave of Mythic Legions and I really want to get around to it sooner or later. As for Cosmic Legions, so far I’ve checked out Kraggnar and both versions of Olek Thygar. Today, I thought I’d tackle two of the ladies in the line with Vorgga and Zeerian Spyre!

As we saw last time, T4H have switched to using window boxes, which I like. The boxes are colorful, have dedicated character art, and blurbs about the story and character on the side panels. On the downside, the extras are all stored on a tray mounted inside the bubble. I’m not a fan of this, as they are a pain to get out and they leave a lot of open space on the trays. Just look at all that void in Zeerian’s packaging. It’s deceptive because she does come with a lot of goodies and I think the presentation would look better with them placed all around her. But, who knows if I’ll still have these boxes in a month or so, so it’s no big deal to me. Let’s start with Vorgga.

Vorgga looks like a badass, and that’s because she’s kind of a space special forces agent for the Interorbital Perimeter Guard. As such, she’s clad in a pretty cool suit of space armor. Her muscular arms are left exposed, she’s got shoulder pieces that peg into the back just like the Mythic Legions line uses, and a belt with lots of pouches, each with individually painted straps and buckles. The detail on the armor is quite nice, and most of it has a rounded and organic shape to it. She also has a rather large backpack, which is removable and works with her weapon, which we’ll see in a bit. The mix of teal and silver looks great on this figure and you also get some copper paint hits. I like the gradient colors on display in the boots, and there’s some brushed weathering on the shoulders.

You get two head sculpts to choose from, one with a breather mask and one without, both of which are quite beautiful. Vorgga has sculpted markings all over her face with a tan and red deco and various bright blue panels that match her blue pupiless eyes. Her skull is elongated in the back and terminates with a bound ponytail, and she has long pointed goblin-like ears. It’s a very distinctive looking portrait with some striking colors.

The head with the breather mask looks slightly angrier in the eyes and the lower half of the face and cheeks are encompassed by the mask, which looks absolutely phenomenal. As much as I dig the first head, I think I’ll be displaying her with this masked version most of the time.

Vorgga also has a rather distinctive tattoo printed on her upper left arm, which I think is a really cool touch.

Vorgga does not come with a lot of stuff, but she she goes for quality over quantity with an enormous heavy blaster. Yes, this is a slightly modified version of the jackhammer-like digging tool we saw bundled with Olek. This time it has a dual barrel on the front and a slot on the side to feed in what is either a charging cable or some kind of belt-fed ammo. The other end plugs into the bottom of the backpack, so I’d like to assume it’s just a big ass battery to power that gun.

The positioning of the wide ammo belt can sometimes be at odds with her legs, but it works OK most of the time. It’s possible that feeding it into the side would have worked better, but I’m no space weapon engineer, so who am I to nitpick the design? Either way she looks amazing when she’s wielding this thing and I can just imagine her clearing out entire corridors of rampaging alien scum.

Just like with the Olek figures, here you get a set of clear rod-like pegs that can fit into ports on the figure to secure things, but Vorgga really doesn’t have anything to secure to them. I don’t really see a use for the ones on her gauntlets, but you can use them on the backpack ports to attach the gun by pegging it into the slot for the ammo belt. I’m not sure if this was intended, but it works really well and despite the weapon’s big heft, she can take the weight just fine without toppling over.

Wow, do I love this figure! I dig the alien anatomy of her portrait and her armor is just gorgeous. A few more extras would have been nice, but there’s a lot of plastic in that heavy blaster, backpack and ammo belt, so I get it. At first I assumed Vorgga was meant to be some kind of security force for the prison, but having reviewed the narrative, I guess she was thrown into the GraveRing as well. Granted, I don’t hang too much on the narrative, I’m just here for the figures and I do hope we get some more Edgehounders like her in the line. Next up… let’s look at Zeerian Spyre!

Zeerian has one of the most intriguing backgrounds in the narrative. A disgruntled scientist, she fled her homeworld and joined up with a mysterious organization called The Mortal Thorn, which ultimately landed her in the prison. The base figure here is pretty simple compared to Vorgga, but she makes up for it with more gear and some softgoods. The bulk of the body is a smooth bodysuit with a sculpted tabard sort of piece running from the shoulders down the center of her torso and connecting with the belt. The suit is mostly gray with the tabard being very light brown. The belt has a big buckle and lots of pouches on the sides and back. Her gauntlets and boots are really cool in that they have an angular sci-fi look to their sculpt, but are painted brown to look a little more pedestrian. I really dig the pieces at the top back of the boots which look like some kind of jump jets. My only real gripe here is that the sockets and slot in her back are very exposed and unsightly, but we’ll see some fixes for that in a bit.

You get two head sculpts here, with the main difference being the hair style. One has the left side sculpted all tidy and brushed back while the right side is grown long and cascades over that side of her face. The portrait itself is pretty with some soft features. The blue skin tone looks good and the spots are nice as well. The second head has the bulk of the hair on the right side of down to just a single group of strands, allowing you to see more of her face.

You also get a breather mask, which unlike Vorgga’s is an actual accessory and can be used on either head, but I find it works best on the second one. It looks cool, but it’s only held on by friction and has a habit of sliding off from time to time.

And then there’s the softgoods poncho, which I have mixed feelings about. It’s a nicely tailored piece with a hood and a large emblem on the back. Probably the best thing about it is that it has wires running through all the edges so you have plenty of opportunities to shape it as you want it. I plan on exploring it’s potential some more, but for now I’m probably going to display the figure without it.

You may remember that Olek came with a hologram piece for his gauntlet, and Zeerian sees a return to that with a translucent purple ringed planet. I love this effect and I’d be interested in T4H selling just a pack of these in different colors and sculpts.

As for weapons, Zeerian comes with the same pair of pistols we saw with Olek. These are great sculpts, but one running gripe with me and this assortment of figures is the heavy reuse of accessories. At least they are cast in a new color. Once again you can use the clear peg rods to attach them to the ports on the figure, and I think these look pretty good positioned back just behind her hips. Zeerian only comes with two sets of hands and they are both trigger-finger hands. The only difference is in the hinge where one rocks forward and back and the other side to side.

Her main weapon is this banger of a sniper rifle, which can be pegged into her back using the clear rods or by using the sling. If you go with the pegs, it actually attaches in the holes that are normally used for these figures’ shoulder armor, but since Zeerian doesn’t come with any shoulders, it’s a good opportunity to use them for something. The rifle is massive, measuring longer than Zeerian is tall. It’s packed with detail in the sculpt and the stock even has a bit of a woodgrain to the sculpt. The sling has a working clasp and the scope can be removed.

It’s a little tough to get her to shoulder it because it’s such a long boi, but I think it works. I’m guessing this thing has some pretty impressive reach.

While Zeevian is definitely one of the less complex looking figures in this assortment, I really love how she turned out and I have had a great time playing around with her. I think she packs a lot of personality, and that’s saying something considering the rather unique makeup of this assortment’s characters.

With five figures down, I have so far been absolutely delighted by Cosmic Legions’ debut. While the DNA doesn’t stray far from what makes Mythic Legions so great, this line wasted no time in developing a personality all its own. I’m almost at the halfway mark, and next week I’m going to bust out this wave’s biggest brute of them all!

Aug 14 2023

Indiana Jones Adventure Series (Raiders of the Lost Ark): Staff of Ra Headpiece by Hasbro

It seems like forever ago that the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hype train pulled into the station with a wet thud and then chugged on off into the sunset. I’m on record saying that I didn’t love or hate the movie, it was just something I watched and have since mostly forgotten. But, just like Crystal Skull, at least it meant new toys, and while I’m waiting for more of the 6-inch Adventure Series figures to show up, I decided to have a look at today’s worthless bronze medallion.

OK, it is neither worthless or bronze, and I don’t even know what to call it. It’s not what I would consider a prop replica, so let’s go with roleplay item? Yeah, that sounds right. It’s officially part of the Adventure Series much in the way Hasbro has released helmets and lightsabers as part of their Star Wars Black Series. But it’s definitely aimed at collectors, because how many kids are running around asking their parents for a plastic toy of a Hebrew artifact designed to locate the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant? Actually, I would have loved to have this when I was a kid, but I guess I was a pretty weird kid. I’m almost positive this was an online exclusive, because I never saw it in any of the toy aisles. It comes in a simple fully enclosed box with some nice artwork of Indy using the Medallion in the Cairo Map Room.

Out of the box, the set includes three pieces: The Medallion, a very abbreviated version of the staff, and a base. You will need to have a screwdriver handy to pop in the two AA batteries needed for the light effect. I think Hasbro did a great job designing the whole display piece, as it’s perfect for putting on a desk or bookshelf and it has a pretty nice shelf presence to it without actually including the entirety of the really long staff. There are actually four holes that you can put the staff into, but only one is the correct one that will light it up. OK, that’s kind of clever, I see what you did there, Hasbro.

While the base isn’t terrible, I definitely think it’s the weakest element of the whole set. It is, however, fairly heavy, as it holds the batteries and electronics. In addition to the holes for the staff, you get some deeply cut hieroglyphs and some spray to look like sand. The edges are sculpted to look like rock to give it a kind of pedestal display effect. Like I said, nothing here is bad, but I think the hieroglyphs look a bit too chunky and fake. Then again, it’s a toy and not a high end replica, so I should probably cut it some slack.

The Medallion itself is actually quite impressive in terms of the sculpt and finish. I’ve seen some rather expensive replicas of this piece get the finish all wrong by making it shiny gold and not antiqued bronze. Yeah, there should be a bit more of a sheen to it than this one has, but it still looks better to me than a bright mirror polish I’ve seen on the metal ones. The sculpted detail is quite nice with with all the feathers in the bird and the Hebrew lettering laid out around the circumference. I also think the red crystal in the center looks great. Overall, it feels like it’s sized pretty correctly, albeit maybe a tad too thick, but I’m not even sure about that. The Medallion can be detached from the staff just by pulling it off, but it’s a bit scary because it locks in pretty tight. It would have been cool if Hasbro included a chain.

There’s a triangular button on the top of the front of the staff that will activate the lights when you press it and turn them off when you press it again. This causes the red crystal in the center (OK, slighly off-center) to light as well as the lettering around the edges. Yeah, Hasbro took some liberties with this effect, because I’m pretty sure the lettering on the prop was not intended to be lighting up when the sun struck the central crystal. Still, it does make for a really cool effect, and it’s more impressive than just the crystal being lit. So, a bunch of demerits for lack of screen accuracy on the light feature, but I’ll take back a few of those to honor the Hasbro designers who made a cooler looking effect. I will say the lights are pretty bright and readily visible even in a well lit environment.

Yeah, that’s it. A pretty short review today, but there’s only so much I can say about this thing. I picked up the Headpiece for just under $50, and I’m actually pretty happy with it, especially since I haven’t been seeing it clearanced out yet. Sure, it’s a plastic toy so it’s not going to win over the prop replica collectors, but I wasn’t about to drop a ton of money on any of those and this makes for a nice display piece among my Indiana Jones figures and vehicles. It’s an oddball item for sure, but I think it’s cool that Hasbro took a risk and delivered something like this.

Aug 11 2023

Vampirella by LooseCollector

A few weeks back I started checking out the latest assortment of comic based 1:12 scale femme fatale figures from LooseCollector and Executive Replicas. The first figure to get the spotlight was Red Sonja and today I’m turning my attention everyone’s favorite blood sucker from Drakulon, Vampirella. This is actually not the first Twelth-Scale figure of Vampy I’ve looked at here, with the first being from TBLeague, who also produced her in a full Sixth-Scale figure as well. What can I say? I do love me some Vampirella.

The packaging here is the same format we saw last time with Red Sonja. You get a very attractive and colorful window box with some excellent character art on the front, back, and both side panels. The back also has a blurb about Vampirella and everything about the packaging is collector friendly. This is a great presentation, and it even matches the Coffin Comics figures that LooseCollector has produced. Line all the boxes up on the shelf and it makes for a nice presentation!

Vampirella comes out of the box wearing even less than Red Sonja, but if you’re familiar with the character, well that’s to be expected. I never know what to call her red strappy sling of an outfit. It’s kind of like a one-piece swimsuit with everything cut out but the edges. And those edges are strategically placed to cover her nipples and vampy hoo-ha. And yes, it must be pretty cold in the dungeon because her vamp-nips are at full attention. Also, I always get a good laugh out of the fact that this skimpy sling of an outfit has a collar. Of course, the outfit is sculpted as part of the figure, as are the boots, the bicep cuffs, right forearm bracer, and left wrist cuff. The crimson paint for the costume looks good, but doesn’t pop quite as much as it could have. The paint lines aren’t exactly razor sharp, but there’s certainly no slop to speak of. The gold painted cuffs and accents look nice and the boots are done in a matte black. I think they also did a nice job with the skin tone. This is a nice looking figure!

Vampirella has two head sculpts and these share one sculpted hair piece. The first head has a neutral and rather innocent expression, while the second has her in full-on fierce vamp mode. I dig both of these and the paint is very clean on each face. It’s cool how they changed her eye color for the vamp face from green to red. The earrings are sculpted as part of the hair piece, and the hair itself looks great and sweeps to the side. And while I do like both portraits, I’m probably going to display her with the vampy head the most. It just looks so much more dynamic and interesting.

You do have an option of adding a cape to the outfit if you like. It’s cast in plastic and it looks pretty good, but I think it’s a shame to cover up her back half. To put it on the figure, all you do is pop off the head and the cape hangs around the neck. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll display her with it or have her go capeless.

Now, unlike TBLeague’s seamless body Vampirella, this one does show off all the cuts and joints, which is to be expected, but can look a bit jarring on a mostly nude figure like this, but I’m not really bothered by it. The articulation here is identical to what we saw on Red Sonja, which means she’s using the single-hinged elbows with swivels in the biceps, and hey they work pretty well. Although, I do think the elbow hinges are the least attractive joints on the figure. The arms are rounded out with rotating hinges in the shoulders and hinged pegs for the wrists. There’s a ball joint in the neck and under the chest. The hips are ball jointed, the knees are double-hinged, the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, and you get swivels in the thighs. The joints here worked perfectly right out of the box, with nothing stuck, which is a pleasant surprise these days. She’s lots of fun to pose and play with and she has pretty solid balance for a figure with high heels, but that balance goes out the window if you put the cape on her.

There are a total of three sets of hands included with the figure: One relaxed set, one clawing set, and a set for holding her daggers. The clawing hands are great and go perfectly with the vampy head. Each set of hands has painted red nail polish.

The matched set of daggers are also quite nice. These have bat-style crossguards and silver blades with black grips and gold pommels. The blades are jagged and hooked a bit at the tips giving them a creepy look. The grip hands work really well with these. I don’t really associate these daggers with the character, but who am I to argue with some bonus weapons.

Finally, you get a little bat buddy to perch on Vampirella’s finger. There’s a ring on the bottom of the bat’s feet that just slides into one of her fingers. It’s the same method TBLeague used for their Vampirella and it works great.

As with Red Sonja, Vampirella here retails for about $80 and yup, that’s definitely on the far end of premium for a figure like this. I really do love her a lot, but she doesn’t impress me quite as much as LooseCollector’s Sonja. Sonja felt like she came with more stuff, but I think when you factor in the second head and cape for Vampirella, it probably all evens out more or less. It’s also worth considering that TBLeague’s 1:12 seamless body Vampirella is still available at a lot of online retailers and averages just about $10 more. The two figures present a very different feel from each other, but if I were only going to buy one, I think I would stick with the seamless one. With all that being said, this Vampirella is lots of fun to play with, she looks great, and I am really enjoying this line a lot.

Aug 9 2023

Star Wars Black Series (Knights of the Old Republic) Bastila Shan by Hasbro

Somewhere along the way, Hasbro’s Black Series has lost me. Sure, some of it has to do with Disney curb-stomping the brand into the gutter these last few years, but I’m kind of tired of so many repacks and repaints when there are still so many of the old Kenner figures that still need to be done. The 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi should have given us so many figures, and instead we got a couple new ones and a bunch of old stuff repacked on vintage style cards. Case in point, I haven’t looked at a SWB figure here in eight months! Sure, in some cases I get backlogged, but in this case, I just haven’t been buying any of the figures. But, I did pre-order Bastila Shan and she showed up, so let’s do some Black Series today!

I’ve expressed my undying love for Knights of the Old Republic several times here on FFZ, and even the mere act of checking out this figure has me thinking about it being time for yet another replay. And I will forever be bitter that Hasbro didn’t get to do a big marketing push alongside the game. I mean, here we are twenty years later and we still have only seen a few characters released as figures. It’s a crime, so the least I could do was support this release of Bastila Shan like I did back when Darth Revan was released. Anyway, Shan comes in the fully enclosed plastic-free packaging with the GAMING GREATS logo on the front. You get some character art on the side, and everything here is collector friendly.

Straightaway, this release is such a huge improvement over the 3 3/4-inch Bastila we got way back when. It’s not so much just the new opportunities that come with the jump up in scale, but just the coloring and accuracy of her costume as well. There’s a great sense of layering here with the tan bodysuit being the figure base and the burgundy tunic being cast in soft plastic and worn over the body. Even the top edges of the boots convey a very nice sense of depth, like the figure is actually wearing them. The flaps that drop from her waist on the front and sides are made of pretty pliable plastic and I’m pleased to say that they tend to work pretty well with the articulation. A lot of the coloring here looks like it’s done through the plastic, but the paint lines are nice and sharp too. AND YES, THAT’S A GODDAMN CAT HAIR ON HER BOOT IN THE SECOND PICTURE WHICH I DIDN’T NOTICE UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!!!

The head sculpt is solid, but maybe not exceptional. The facial details are printed on and look fine in hand, while breaking down a bit as you punch in with the camera. The hair sculpting is excellent, but I just don’t see a whole lot of likeness there for the character in the game. I gather that Shan has been in a lot of other media since the game, so maybe this portrait is based more on one of those? Either way, it’s certainly not bad. Maybe a little less shadowing under the eyes would have helped.

The articulation here is mostly great, with the one throwback being the arms. We get the usual rotating hinges in the elbows instead of double-hinges and bicep swivels. Yup, Hasbro loves doing this with the ladies and I have no idea why. Normally, I’ve come to except it, but it hurts a bit more here when trying to get her to wield her lightsaber with both hands. Other than that, you get some great range of motion in the hips, there are double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. The ball joint in the waist has some decent range, and you get a ball joint in the neck. She’s fun to play with, but I’ll be happy if the rotating hinges in the elbows get retired.

Her lightsaber is her only accessory and it comes with two yellow blades that can be pegged in and removed. The hilt is pretty big as far as lightsabers go, and you get some nice silver paint on the ends and black for the grip in the middle. I really hate how gimmicky and ridiculous the lightsaber designs have become, from the spinning blades to whatever the hell grimdark Rey had in whatever movie that was. Still, I kind of have a soft spot for this one, since it reminds me of how badly I wanted a Double Brand in Phantasy Star Online.

I like this figure a lot. No one thing about it is particularly amazing, but it all comes together into what is a very solid Bastila Shan figure, and that’s what I’m here for. And maybe that sums up a lot of my feelings for the Black Series lately. It’s almost always totally competent, with the occasional flourish here and there, and that’s fine when it’s turning out characters I want. But as Hasbro continues to milk previously released figures with Carbonized and Christmas repaints, I’m left waiting for characters we should have had ages ago. Where were my Skiff Guards for the RotJ 40th Anniversary? Where are the rest of my Ewoks? Where’s my Crix Madine? That’s fine… my wallet is happy for the reprieve.

Aug 7 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): Kraggnar by The Four Horsemen

Last week I kicked off my look at the first assortment of Cosmic Legions with Olek Thygar and I mentioned that I was shorted one figure in my shipment. Well, T4H customer service got on that pretty damn quick and sent out the missing figure. So, let’s bump him to the head of the line and check out Kraggnar!

Kraggnar is the second biggest figure in this assortment, so I was pretty excited to get him open and take a look. The packaging is the same style of window box we saw last time. You get a blurb about this series on the right side panel and a little bit about Kraggnar on the left, and it’s all collector friendly. Hailing from the planet Quarvum, Kraggnar is described as a builder and architect, and now a prisoner of Hvalkatar Prison. He has now been tossed into the gladiatorial battles in the Cell Block known as GraveRing.

And he is indeed a big boy. If you’re familiar with the Mythic Legions line, than this fella would qualify as an Ogre Class, so he outclasses the regular figures in both heft and height. Like Olek, Kraggnar has a very scaly reptilian-like body, which I’m sure will be put to dual purpose in Mythic Legions if it hasn’t been revealed already. Indeed, even the ports in the back where his second set of arms plug in will likely be used for wing inserts. Also like Olek, I am in love with the vibrant shades of color used on the skin here. In this case, it’s orange and it goes from light on his chest to darker as it gets to the extremities, where it becomes very deep and just pops beautifully. The scales feature an array of both deep and softer cuts and everything about this guy’s anatomy just looks superb.

Kraggnar sports a set of futuristic gladiatorial armor, which includes heavy forearm cuffs on all four of his arms, an x-shaped harness with a light blue stone in the middle, a belt with a furry loin cloth, and grieves on his lower legs. All of these pieces are colored in a rich metallic silver and feature some sculpted weathering. The arm cuffs and chest harness are all removable, while the belt and grieves are sculpted as part of the body. I also really dig the loops on the arm cuffs and the big ring on his back, suggesting that the guards have to chain this beast up every now and then.

You get two heads included with Kraggnar and while they are both excellent sculpts, the variation here is pretty minimal. The first head is a neutral expression, while the second has a slightly more prominent brow and gritted teeth, giving him a bit more fierce of an expression. The quality of both portraits is excellent with more of that lovely scaling to the skin. I really like his blue eyes, and there are some nasty looking gashes between them, which makes me wonder what creature scored such impressive hits on a combatant this imposing. I will likely keep the second head displayed on the figure nearly all the time, as I think it just has more personality.

There are no surprises here in the base articulation, although it’s worth pointing out that the second set of arms mirror the same articulation as the front set. You also get a pair of fists, and all six pairs of hands will work with either set of arms. The back arms stay put really well and the joints are capable of holding them up despite their considerable weight. Unfortunately the same can’t always be said for the hips and I have had this brute do the splits a few times because of the considerable weight of his upper body. But, he will stay upright if I don’t make the stance too wide.

If you happen to be adverse to your orange space ogres having two sets of arms, you can remove the rear set and insert the provided plugs to fill in the holes, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go this route.

Kraggnar comes with one weapon and it’s a giant space mace. I really love the design of this thing, as it almost looks like it’s just a repurposed component to some space ship or giant piece of machinery. The coils running through the center also suggest maybe it has some kind of electro-shock properties. The paint on it looks really good, and the weapon definitely suits the figure.

As the second biggest (and second most expensive) figure in this initial assortment, Kraggnar does not disappoint. He is an absolutely gorgeous figure both in terms of sculpt and coloring. He’s an imposing beast on the shelf, but so much fun to pick up and play with. I guess my only nitpick here is that I would have preferred TFH nix the back plugs and use that plastic for another set of hands or maybe another accessory, because there’s no way I’m ever going to display this brute without all four of his arms!