Monthly Archives: December 2023

Dec 29 2023

G. I. JOE Classified: Snow Serpent by Hasbro

It’s the last review of the year and final installment of my little Snow Joe Trilogy! I had originally hoped to get all these in before Christmas, but that clearly didn’t happen. But it’s still December and the wintery theme is still appropriate, so let’s do this! So far, I’ve checked out Snow Job and the Arctic BAT, and today we’re headed back into the icy tundra and having a look at Cobra’s predators of the winter wonderland: The Snow Serpent!

Like Snow Job, this guy is a Deluxe, which means he comes in a bigger box, costs more, and has a beefier inventory of accessories. The original Snow Serpents were released somewhere around 1985/86 and I was lucky enough to have one of these fellas to fight Snow Job. But he really just snuck in at the point where I stopped playing with toys a lo and very well may have been among the last GI JOE figures I got as a kid. I remember being really confused at how the filecard lumped these Serpents in with the Cobra Eels. I get that they’re both specialists, but it basically stated that Snow Serpents were just Eels with additional cold weather training. I quickly tossed out that idea. But I did like the fact that these guys were considered some of Cobra’s absolute elite troopers.

And here he is kitted out with most of his gear. Hasbro really played it close to the original figure on this one, and I’m loving it! The white fatigues are reinforced with sculpted fur around the neck, shoulders, and forearms with just a little yellow added to these to give the fur some natural color. The blue torso rig is blue with a T-7A style parachute pack across his front, and he has matching blue thigh rigs with holsters for his sidearms. There are insignia markings on both biceps and he has a pair of white removable snow shoes, which much to my surprise are different than the ones that came with Snow Job. This is a great looking figure and I expect the Real American Hero purists are going to love it! Or maybe they won’t. They can be a fickle lot.

The head sculpt also follows the original figure’s design beat for beat, but with a lot more detail. The helmet is white with silver caps over the ears. The black face mask has sculpted breather vents, and the goggles have a very vintage, almost WWII look about them, right down to the lovely orange rust spray around them. He also has a pair of blue tinted goggles, which can be worn up on top of the helmet, or pulled down over the goggles in the mask.

The Snow Serpent’s backpack may look familiar, and that’s because it’s a straight repaint of the one that came with Bazooka. This time it’s black frame with an off-white pouch. It has four slots to clip in the included bazooka rounds and there’s are two hooks on the bottom so he can store the bazooka across his butt. The bazooka is also the same one that came with David K. with some gray paint added to this mostly black tube of terror. The back piece can swivel open and you can load in the rounds. The bazooka is a stand in for the EK99 Anti-Tank missile that came with the original figure, which might irk some vintage fans, but I think it’s a great substitute and it even gives the Snow Serpent three more shots.

As for the rest of his ordinance, the Snow Serpent comes with a matched set of automatic pistols and a small combat knife. The pistols are nicely detailed, cast in all black, and have holes in the barrels for effect parts (not included). The knife is nothing special, and in what might be a Classified first, there is nowhere specific to store the knife on his person, unless you just want to tuck it into some of those thigh straps.

For something better than pistols and not as overstated as a bazooka round, the Snow Serpent has a fairly traditional looking AR-style rifle with a carry bar and a removable magazine. It’s a departure from the AK-style weapon of the original figure, but it’s a great sculpt and realistic looking, so I’m cool with that.

And we’re not done yet, because he also comes with this smaller grease gun-style sub-machine gun. It has a scope and a removable magazine and it reminds me of the weapons the Cobra troops often carried in the Sunbow cartoon, so naturally I love this one too! Like the pistols, both of these weapons have holes in the barrels to accommodate whatever effect parts you might have lying around.

If you want to give your Snow Serpents an upgraded look, Hasbro included a sculpted gray wolf pelt for some extra warmth and added intimidation factor. I can’t say I prefer this look, but it is a really nice option. The whole wolfy ensemble is made up of a head piece and a cape that pegs into the back and has the two front paws hanging over the shoulders. It’s kind of ghoulish for a Hasbro toy, but it looks really bad ass. There is a peg hole in the pelt so you could technically put the backpack on behind it, but it doesn’t work that well, but it makes sense that not every Snow Serpent would be toting a bazooka so if you have more than one, you can mix and match..

Finally, the Snow Serpent comes with a Cobra branded snowboard, and this is a really fun accessory. There are slots and pegs for the figure’s feet and he stays on it really well. There’s a raised Cobra emblem on the top and some digital camo and the Snow Serpent insignia on the back. Just imagine having five wolfman with sub-machine guns speed into your camp at the dead of night shouting COBRA! Holy shit!

Pretty much every Cobra army builder in Classified has been a direct hit for me, but I feel like these Snow Serpents raise the bar even a bit higher. Everything gels so perfectly to make this an incredibly fun figure. The selection of equipment is excellent, and the sheer amount of accessories certainly justifies the Deluxe price point. I picked up two of these, so I will be displaying one with the wolf pelt and one kitted out with the bazooka. I’d love to get two more, but I’m really trying to be good about not doing any more army building. With this pair and the Arctic BAT patrolling the tundra, Snow Job is going to need some reinforcements. We need a Classified Frostbite, STAT, but that probably wouldn’t happen without a HasLab Snowcat. Count me in!

Dec 27 2023

Transformers (Studio Series 86) Dinobot Snarl by Hasbro

I had a few Transformers reviews I was hoping to sneak in before the end of the year, but looks like I’ll only have time for one. The current stuff Hasbro has been doing with the franchise doesn’t interest me much, but I have so many of these convertorobots that I have yet to spotlight here, so I can keep this love train rolling. Today’s changerbot brings us one step closer to finally completing the mighty Dinobots, with the release of Snarl! And if you need to get caught up, I’ve already checked out the Studio Series versions of Grimlock, Slag (YES, SLAG, I SAYS!), and Sludge.

Snarl comes in the same style of fully enclosed boxes as the last release, while the first two came in window boxes. There’s some great character art on the front, but the rest of the box deco is pretty bland. You do get an illustrated cardboard backdrop inside, but I pitched it all a while back as they don’t do a lot for me. Yes, Snarl has been on my shelf for a while now. But even still, it’s crazy to think that it’s been over two years since Hasbro started us on this journey with the release of Grimlock. Launching an apology tour to make up for those tiny Dinobots from Power of the Primes. Of course, Snarl was one of the two additional Dinobots added to the team by Wheeljack because the first ones worked out so incredibly well, and by that I mean not at all. Project Dinobot was such a clusterf’ck the Autobots had to deactivate them and seal them up in a cave, and I’m pretty sure Wheeljack had to wash Prime’s trailer for a whole year to show how sorry he was. I never owned Snarl as a kid, so this I was pretty excited to check out this one. Let’s start with the Dino mode!

Snarl is what we used to call a Stegosaurus, but since the scientists have been retconning all the dinosaurs I learned about as a kid, I don’t know what the damned dinosaurologists call him these days. Everything from my childhood has been a lie. Anyway, this is a pretty nice update to the original vintage toy with the same running stylistic changes we’ve seen in the past Studio Series Dinos. The orignal toy’s transparent head is now a sort of yellow gold, as is the front legs and lower back legs, which were a combination of clear plastic and vac-metal gold on the original figure. The rest of the original vac-metal parts, namely the back spikes and tail, have been recreated here with a really nice satin-finish gold. I do wish this gold was used for the head and legs too, but I still dig what we got well enough. The rest of the body is split between gray and red plastic, with some black and blue bits showing through. There are some panel lines and other details on Snarl’s skin, which again recreates the detailing on the original toy quite nicely.

I’m not crazy about Snarl’s butt. It looks like it ends too abruptly and the tail should stick out more rather than just hang down. But, to be fair, it’s more or less what we got on the vintage toy as well, so I will begrudgingly accept it. Snarl holds together pretty well for a robotic dino-potato, and he has two joints in each leg and his little trap door of a mouth can hinge down to show his displeasure with the world. I love him!

Even without the satin gold paint on Snarl’s head, I think Hasbro has done a pretty nice job keeping this looking like a cohesive team in their dino modes, especially considering the amount of time between each of these releases. Part of me was worried that we’d get a repeat of the Legends Class Insecticons. There was so much time between those releases, they barely matched by the time they were all released. But, Snarl fits right in and these guys all display great together. So, how about the robot mode?

Well, I feel as if Hasbro has been focusing on the robot modes for this run of Dinobots and Snarl certainly keeps that trend rolling along, because his robot mode is absolutely gorgeous! Like his brothers, Snarl is a big hulking beast of a bot, having a powerful looking upper body, but still maintaining some overall excellent proportions. And interestingly enough, while vintage Snarl had my least favorite bot mode among the original Dinobots, this one may very well be my favorite of the Studio Series Dinos, thanks to the beautiful way they streamlined the way his tail splits behind his shoulders. Between that and the way his spikes land on his back and the fronts of his legs, he just looks amazing!

The head sculpt is also pretty fabulous. Snarl’s portrait shares the most in common with his brother Sludge, as they both have silver painted faces with black “helmets.” Snarl’s angled horns give his head’s silhouette a bit more of an aggressive look to it. I also dig his pouty lip, which really plays to his grumpy demeanor. The silver face paint is gorgeous, as is the blue they used for his eyes. I also got to say, I’ve always been weirdly fascinated with the crosshairs he has on his lower chest. That was a sticker on the original toy, but here it is prominently sculpted in. It always felt to me like it was supposed to serve some kind of intended function.

The articulation here is right in line with the previous releases, making Snarl a big boy that’s also loads of fun to play with, unless we’re talking about the actual transformation, which can be a bit of a chore. I’ve said in the previous Dinobot reviews, that I felt as if Hasbro overcomplicated the engineering on these toys a bit. Considering that the original toys looked pretty good in both alt and robot modes, I’m not sure that much re-engineering was necessary. In Snarl’s case, however, I’ll allow it, because they really did some wonderful tweaks to make the bot mode look so much better than the original toy. I had to transform all four back and forth for this review so I was able to really compare the process for each and, oddly enough, I feel like Snarl here is still one of the easiest of the four to transform.

One of the running gripes with the Studio Series Dinobots has been Hasbro’s stinginess in handing out swords. All three of the previous releases came with guns but no swords. Well, with Snarl we finally get a sword… and no gun. Goddammit, Hasbro! Well, at least it’s a really nice sword! The design is pretty sexy and it has a lovely painted silver satin finish.

And there’s also a peg on the side of the sword, so Snarl can store it on his back. It’s nice that he can hide it back there so as not to make the other Dinobots jealous that he got one and they didn’t, otherwise they might shoot him with their guns. And while we’re back here can we just take a moment to marvel at how cool the sculpting on the backs of Snarl’s split tail looks. Usually robot backs are just get hollow sadness and exposed screws, but the intricate patterns here are just gorgeous!

I absolutely love this figure, and he may actually be my favorite of the Studio Series Dinobots. Considering how amazed I still am that we didn’t get a full set of Masterpiece Dinobots, these Studio Series releases have been carrying that weight and doing a pretty decent job of it, especially considering they are regular retail releases. They all look great together in either modes, and now we just have to wait and see if we’re going to get Swoop to round out the team. It seems like maybe we should have seen something teased by now, but I’d like to think that even with all of Hasbro’s current woes, they will be able to deliver him eventually.

Dec 25 2023

G. I. JOE Classified (HasLab) Cobra HISS Tank by Hasbro, Part II

Merry Christmas everyone! If you didn’t check in yesterday, I kicked off a two-part look at the HasLab HISS on Christmas Eve. I like to try to celebrate Christmas by featuring a big toy or playset most years. You know, the kind that we would only have a chance of getting on that biggest of toy gifting days! I had a few contenders this year, but wound up pushing the HasLab HISS to the front of the line, because oh boy, I would have lost my little mind if I found something like this under the tree! In Part I, I covered the four included figures and today we’re going to tackle the HISS Tank itself. This big boi was a challenge to shoot, as I’m still working out the kinks on a bigger staging area, so apologies if the photos look rough. I’m going to start with some generalizations with the toy more or less straight out of the box, and then we’ll kit it out and take a tour around it!

First off, the HISS is suitably big without being obnoxiously huge, and the build quality is fantastic with only the act of attaching the canopy making me a little nervous. Just about everything about this toy and its features reflects careful thought and design. I’m also happy to report that the profile and general look of Cobra’s new Classified High Speed Sentry is as iconic as ever! There are few display options for the HISS, thanks to some of the mix-and-match parts, but when you take it out of the box and attach the guns and canopy, it’s extremely true to the original toy design, if that’s the look you’re going for. You get two options for the canopy: A simple clear one for that vintage look, and a modern one with red trim and opening gull-wing side hatches. These attach similarly to the way the vintage one did, by squeezing two nubs into the holes so pressure holds it in place and creates a hinge. There is no way I feel comfortable doing this more than once, so I decided to pick a canopy and stick with it, and I went with the modern one because I just think it looked cooler and more premium. It also makes it more convenient for the Driver to pay tolls and go pick up fast food at Drive-Thru windows. I’m not saying that you can’t safely swap these out without stressing or breaking the plastic, but I’m just not willing to try it.

The bulk of the toy is cast in black plastic with not a lot of paint on the main body, apart from some subtle black and gray striping. The bare plastic looks good, but it does tend to show finger prints here and there. You do get some dry brush weathering on the cannon, which looks like they have seen a lot of use. There is a sticker sheet included to customize the tank, but it also has all the markings it needs printed on it, so I won’t be messing with the stickers at all. The sculpted detail feels about right in line with the vintage toy with just a little more added for the bigger scale. These include panel lines, rivets, hatches, and the like. The front headlights and rear tail lights feature electronics, and I’ll take a look at those in a bit. The cannon turret rotates 360-degrees and uses the same tab-key system as the original toy, keeping it locked in until the tab lines up with the slot and then it will come out. One of my only nitpicks on this whole toy is that the turret doesn’t rotate as smoothly as I would have liked. The treads are rubber and do actually work, allowing for a pretty smooth roll. There is a folding tail hitch on the back, which will hopefully be used by a future SMS release, and oh boy is that going to look awesome!

And here’s a quick size comparison with one of the recent re-issued 3 3/4-inch scale HISS toys… Now, let’s start getting this thing ready for battle!

First off, you get two options for armor plating on the wheel assemblies. These plates peg in very easily and help to keep the damned JOEs from blowing holes in your wheels. The first gives you something closes to the original toy, but I’ll stick with the second more detailed one, as I’m going for the most modern look I can get. There’s some nice red paint on the vertical slats and some gray and light gray striping, as well as some more markings printed in blue and white. These look awesome!

You can also attach an extra armor plate on the turret between the cannon barrels, and this is another addition that I really love. I can’t imagine anyone enjoys sitting up there and getting shot at, so at least this shield adds some forward protection. It has some sculpted bolts and a raised cobra emblem, which looks great. It also helps that the Gunner is the smallest of the figures, so at least she presents the smallest target and can more easily hunker down behind that armor shield.

Hasbro has also included a pair of articulated miniguns to the sides of the gunning station. There are also optional ammo canisters for these, but I’m not crazy about the way they look and they make it even more busy in that turret, so I will leave them off. The miniguns can rotate as well as hinge up and down. It’s a lot of firepower for one person, so I’d like to think that the miniguns have some kind of autonomous motion tracking option, with the gunner taking control of them only when targets of opportunity get too close for the main cannon. Either way, giving the HISS some broadside and rear attacking capabilities is a wonderful upgrade! Just don’t shoot them behind you if you’ve got troops riding on the tailgate!

Another added bit of firepower is the chin gun. This whole assembly is beautifully detailed and plugs right into the socket under the nose of the tank. It’s a strong connection, but it is designed to be removed if you want to change things up. It has full rotation and can hinge up and down. There are some lovely paint details on this, including some red and silver accents and some metallic purple on the barrels to show a little stress from firing. You also get some crisp Cobra emblems printed on the sides. It’s another modern touch to the HISS that I will be keeping on all the time!

As I mentioned earlier, the modern cockpit has gullwing hatches that open on either side. It would be a tight fit to extract the figure through these, but in reality, I’m sure the Driver could scramble through them if the canopy malfunctioned and the Tank was about to blow.

The interior of the cockpit is phenomenal with a five-point harness that fastens with a peg behind the Cobra buckle. The seat cushions are textured, and there’s a control yoke on the right arm rest and a throttle on the left. The Driver fits in perfectly and the straps to the harness can pull out and feed back into the slots to help make it snug after he’s seated.

The detailed dashboard has light up screens, as well as a translucent Heads Up Display. You also get a cool light that floods the cabin in an eerie red glow. This is without a doubt one of the coolest cockpits for any vehicle that i own.

There’s a removable engine access cover just behind the cockpit so you can give the HISS a tune up between missions.

There are two access ladders that fold down from the sides to help the Gunner or Driver get into position. These are cast in red plastic and I love how they close and secure into the recessed compartments. There are also grab bars located at the top to help a figure hang on.

There are no pegs on the rear deck plate, but there is a railing up top, so you can still have some troops riding on the back. They stay put pretty well when gripping the rail. Two fit comfortably, and you could even squeeze in a third in pinch. That will come in handy when the set of HISS Fire Team figures arrives. Although, I can’t deny that the regular troops look best on the back. I remember as a kid how badly I wanted an extra Cobra Trooper so I could have a couple on the back of my HISS.

The back of the HISS has a fold down ramp to open up the interior for access to The Tactician’s area. Here, there’s a Cobra-themed seat and a weapons rack on the wall across from it. When you drop the boarding ramp, it triggers a red interior light. It’s admittedly pretty cramped quarters in there, but it’s still a great addition to the HISS design. While I do like the weapons rack, I think I would have preferred to get a computer and instrument bank on that wall, or better yet have an option between the two. But, I suppose the Tactician can use his wrist device for computing firing solutions and mapping waypoints and the like, so maybe it isn’t necessary.

If you want even more firepower on your HISS, Hasbro included a pair of six-pack missile launchers and these look absolutely brutal! There are two holes with flip up hatches on the sides of the HISS that these plug into. The individual missiles are removable, the launcher assembly can angle up or down, and even extend out when they are ready to fire. I love the way these things look, but I’m thinking these should be reserved as a load out for special missions. They definitely make for a great variant if you were lucky enough to get more than one of these babies.

The external electronics include light up headlamps with an array of red lights between the top lights and a projector between the bottom lights that paints a red Cobra emblem on the ground in front of the tank. You also get red tail lights on the back. A lot of times, I can take or leave electronic features in toys, and will usually advocate for leaving them out to control costs, but I have to admit that I really do enjoy most of the lighting features on the HISS. The headlamps are nice and bright and really give the toy a premium feel, as do the red tactical lights in the rear compartment and cockpit, and the light up dashboard. I thought the Cobra projection was kind of cheesy and, while it is admittedly a really neat effect, I haven’t really changed my mind on that.

Hasbro absolutely hit it out of the park with this release! It’s not the biggest vehicle to ship this year, as it’s still dwarfed by Super7’s Thundertank or McFarlane’s Batwing, but it is as big as it needs to be and it is just packed with great options and well executed features. What’s more, the build quality is superb and the electronics really enhance the toy rather than feel like a needless extra. This feels like a rugged and proper high end toy, rather than just an expensive display piece. I have had it parked on my coffee table since I got it and I find myself constantly playing around with it as I’m watching TV or listening to podcasts and music. It really is that much fun and all I can say is that if the Dragonfly turns out half as good, I may lose my damn mind when it arrives. Of course, all of this should be the case because at $300, this toy wasn’t cheap. And in case you can’t tell from my ramblings, I consider it money well spent. Especially if you factor in the four figures that would have run about $25 a pop at retail and the Cobra Commander is going for upward of $100 himself on the aftermarket. It would be cool if Hasbro could put together a stripped down budget version of this beauty at a retail-friendly price point. but I don’t see that happening.

And all that’s left is for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and extend my warmest thanks for stopping by and spending a little bit of your holiday with me. I’ll be back on Wednesday and Friday with the last reviews of 2023 and then we can kick off the New Year on Monday. Be safe and be well!

Dec 24 2023

G. I. JOE Classified (HasLab) Cobra HISS Tank by Hasbro, Part I

It’s Christmas Eve and it’s time for my semi-annual “If-I-Have-Time-For-It” Super-Special Christmas Review. I like to squeeze these in on the years when time allows, and check out something extra big or cool or both. Growing up, Christmas for me was all about hoping to get that one big playset or toy vehicle that I could never have hoped to get any other time of the year. Yes, there were some toy wants out there that even outclassed a mere birthday. But on Christmas? Well, anything was possible on Christmas! And coincidentally, the HasLab Classified Cobra HISS Tank arrived a short while ago, and I knew I had to put this under the proverbial tree for this year’s Christmas Review. I’m breaking this review up into two parts, so today we’ll check out the figures that were included and tomorrow we’ll have a look at the HISS Tank itself.

To the unaware, HasLab is the moniker Hasbro uses for their big crowdfunded projects. These are solicited releases that are considered too big and expensive to get retail space. They show off the toy, set a price, and let you know how many backers they need to make it a reality. So, it’s basically a pre-order, but if not enough people pre-order it, then it doesn’t get made. It’s a bit controversial, as many will tell you that the second largest toy company in the world shouldn’t have to resort to these tactics. Maybe so, and I do reckon there are some sketchy things behind it, but if I see one I like, I back it. So far I’ve backed four: The Mandalorian Razor Crest, which I have not yet reviewed here, but someday. The giant Marvel Legends Galactus figure, this HISS Tank, and the GI JOE Dragonfly Helicopter, which is currently in production. The HISS comes in a big box to hold this 6-inch scale tank with some beautiful artwork on the box, and some assembly required for the HISS and all it’s parts. You also get a separate box inside which has the four individually packaged figures that were included with the project: Cobra Commander, The HISS Driver, The HISS Gunner, and The HISS Tactician. Let’s start with the Classic Cobra Commander…

Only not really, because I’m not going to open this guy just yet. Sorry, but I’m betting we are going to get a wide release variant and so for now I’m leaving him carded. We got a Classified version of Cobra Commander a while back, and it was a pretty good figure, but Hasbro decided to offer a more classic version of him for this HasLab project. For the record, I think that was an awful idea, because you shouldn’t bundle figures this important and desirable with expensive and limited vehicles and playsets. But, since they gave him the infamous Mickey Mouse misprint on his chest emblem, I would bet that we’re going to see him as a wide release with that emblem fixed, thus allowing this one to still be an exclusive and yet still allow the figure to be had by all. I’ll just say that the figure looks great, he has some cool accessories, and the card is magnificent. Hopefully we’ll get confirmation of a retail release before my willpower gives out and I tear this one open.

The HISS crew all come in fully enclosed boxes, numbered 99-101. While the boxes are similar to the regular Classified releases, the artwork is specialized to make them stand out as unique. You get the Cobra HISS logo at the top of each peg flap and a red tint to the lettering and artwork. The Tactician even has a Ron Rudat facsimile signature on the front, which is a pretty cool way to commemorate the 100th figure in the series. Rudat, of course, being a legendary designer who logged something like three decades at Hasbro before moving on to other things. Each figure comes in a cardboard tray with an illustrated back along with a cardboard foot locker containing their accessories sealed in a branded tissue bag. Let’s start with the Driver!

This guy is based very closely on the vintage figure that was bundled with the original Real American Hero HISS Tank, and he looks damn sharp! He dons familiar red fatigues with an armored chest and shoulder piece with a blue front shield and a bold silver Cobra emblem. This rig is actually worn by the figure with soft plastic straps holding it in place under his arms and across his back. The shoulder piece is painted with a rich and glossy red that stands out against the duller matte finish of the fatigues. He has a sculpted belt with some blue accents to the buckle, a molded holster strapped to his right thigh and some serious kicks in the form of thigh high armored boots. These have a chonky angular design and a high gloss black finish. The HISS Driver is probably the most iconic Cobra vehicle operator to me and this figure offers a fantastic update to that classic design.

The helmet really hasn’t changed much at all. It features the silver visor and featureless black faceplate. There’s a mohawk-like crest ridge on the top and an stylized snake head in the center. The generic and impersonal nature of the helmet always made this guy seem extra intimidating to me. The helmet has a lovely gloss finish, but the paint on the top edge of my figure’s visor could have been a bit sharper.

A new addition to the design is this cool control device on the right arm. It has a bit of a Fallout Pipboy kind of vibe with arrays of buttons and a display screen. I imagine it can be used for everything from communicating with the HISS crew to receiving data. How about a less useful addition…

Boxing gloves? The HISS Driver comes with a pair of fists, but these are enlarged and reinforced face punchers. I honestly don’t get these at all. Is it some reference that I’m missing? I don’t know, but it’s a weird thing to give a Tank Driver. I guess if his tank gets disabled he comes out swinging? Yeah, these are going into The Dreaded Tote of Forgotten Accessories. Regardless, articulation on this fella is right in line with what we’ve been seeing in Classified up to this point, even including crunches in the shoulders. His joints feel good and he’s fun to play with.

The HISS Driver comes with a standard automatic pistol as a sidearm. This trusty weapon has some great detail in the sculpt and it’s nice and compact. The barrel has a hole if you want to use some effect parts from other Classified releases, but there weren’t any included here.

He also includes this rather unique sub-machine gun. I’m not usually a big fan of these crazy modern gun designs, but this one is kind of cool. It has a rather large detachable magazine, a very short barrel, and a fixed bayonet, which is painted silver. On the downside, the design makes it really tough to get it into his hand, making me wish for something a bit more practical. But, minor quibbles about accessories aside, I’m pleased with what Hasbro did with this design. It pays homage to the vintage figure, while giving it a little shot of modernity. Not bad for a figure that’s going to spend most of his life in a cockpit. Next up… The Tactician!

I won’t spend nearly as much time on The Tactician, because he’s just a straight repaint of the HISS Driver right down to the accessories. The Tactician’s suit is mostly black with some red paint on the shoulders and the front panels of the lower boots. The belt is red and the Cobra emblem is red. The only thing left unchanged from the Driver is the helmet. I wasn’t really excited for this figure, but now that he’s in hand, I think he looks great, and it only occurred to me that his deco is such a close match for the HISS Tank itself, being mostly black with some red trim.

The pistol and rifle each have a lick of red paint to personalize them a bit, and yes he comes with boxing gloves too.

In my mind, The Tactician is just Cobra’s name for Tank Commander, so this guy will sit inside the bowels of the HISS and relay orders and run the show. Like the Driver he’s got one of those fancy wrist computers, so I’d like to think he can use that to receive new data, and bark his orders to the Driver and Gunner. The Driver will always be the iconic face of the HISS, but I love that Hasbro created this guy. Sure, the concept isn’t original, but he may be one of my favorite additions that Classified has made to Cobra canon.

And finally, we have The Gunner, who is basically a female version of The Driver with all the same beats on the uniform design, but in a slighter female build. As a result, you can interchange her with the official Driver if you want. As we’ll see tomorrow The Gunner fits fine in the cockpit, but it would be a bit more roomy for this lady. On the other hand, she makes for less of an easy target for GI JOE sharpshooters while she’s exposed up in that turret. I think the uniform translates well to this body and all the same wonderful sculpted details are present. She also shares the same articulation in the arms, including the shoulder crunches. It’s a nice surprise to have none of that single rotating hinge elbow nonsense here! The same wrist device is present here as well, so she can communicate with her teammates or work out firing solutions.

Unlike her peers, The Gunner gets a whole new head sculpt, and I’m not just talking a smaller lady head, but it has some subtle changes, including added detail to the face mask, which is interesting. Instead of being completely smooth, you get a defined stipe down the center in line with her nose and some angled vents on each side of where her mouth is. The forehead emblem is also angular here and she has sculpted disks over her ears. I’m not sure what purposes the variations serve on the female helmet, but it’s cool to get some additional detail in the sculpt.

The Gunner shares the same weapons as her two teammates, with the pistol and rifle being painted exactly the same as The Driver’s.

And yes, she even comes with the reinforced fists, which don’t look as enlarged as the ones included with the Driver and Tactician. They actually look like normal fists with a bit of reinforcement over the knuckles.

You want more guns? How about this kick ass tactical shotgun with a removable drum magazine! Damn, this thing is really sweet. You get some sharp sculpting on the rails and the foregrip, and the shells in the drum are individually painted. Very nice!

And we’re not done yet, because she also comes with a couple of melee weapons: An entrenching tool and a pick-axe-hammer and these are a bit of a poser to me. The entrenching tool kind of makes sense, as you might need to dig under the tank to repair the tread, but the hammer-pick-axe just looks like some kind of crazy Dreadnok weapon. Also, I’m not sure why there looks like a bite has been taken out of the shovel. Weird!

And that’s the HISS Tank crew and I must say I dig them a lot. The Driver is pretty much a perfect update to the vintage figure, which was always a favorite of mine. And doing the Gunner as basically just a female version of the same figure lets me swap her out as Driver if I want to change things up. I also like that the Tactician is repainted to set him apart from his subordinates, and the fact that his uniform color coordinates with the tank is both hilarious and awesome. The boxing gloves are pretty weird, as are the melee weapons, but I don’t hate them. Also, the choice to give The Gunner, the one unique sculpted figure in this set, all the extras wouldn’t have made much sense if these were individual retail releases, but as a group I guess it doesn’t matter. And now that we have the crew together, it’s time to get to sleep and see if Santa leaves them a big tank under the tree for them to crew!

Have a happy and peaceful Christmas Eve, everyone, and I hope to see you back here in the morning!

Dec 22 2023

G. I. JOE Classified Arctic B.A.T. by Hasbro

Well, if snowy battlefields haven’t gotten you into the Christmas spirit yet, you better get festive fast, because ready or not, it’s right around the corner. So welcome to the second stop in my snowy Yuletide GI JOE trifecta. This blizzard of military Christmas spirit started on Monday with a look at Snow Job, and today I’m having a look at Cobra’s specialized Arctic Battle Android Trooper. Because… the regular BATs get too cold when they go out in the snow? OK, maybe these are equipped with more anti-freeze and wear chains on their boots. Either way, let’s bundle up and check him out!

This is not the first appearance of an Arctic BAT here on FFZ, that honor went to this guy way back in 2015 as part of Hasbro’s 50th Anniversary line, so the idea of BATs specialized for Arctic conditions is not exactly new. I do indeed love me some Cobra BATs! They were introduced into the Sunbow cartoon to give the JOEs an enemy they could shoot and “kill” without any actual bloodshed because they are just machines. I dig the Classified BAT design a lot, and boy have I amassed a fair number of them! As a result, I pre-ordered a few of these new Arctic BATs from different retailers. One arrived before the others shipped, and that was sure lucky, because after getting this guy in hand, I promptly cancelled the rest. Read on and find out why this guy left me cold. Sorry…

So, the Arctic BAT is built off the same body as the regular BAT, and that’s fine. It makes sense as this is presumably just a tweaked variant and to be fair, Hasbro did a lot to personalize this figure. In addition to the suit being painted white, the boots are now gray with some snappy silver paint and you get more of that silver paint on the arms, which were left matte gray on the regular version. There are two thigh rigs added, one of which has an integral holster, there’s a new belt piece with some pouches, and you also get two new pieces of shoulder armor strapped around his biceps. The backpack is recycled from the regular BAT but cast in gray plastic now, and as we’ll see, it really serves no purpose here.

The stock head is similar to the regular BAT, but painted white and with a cool looking polarized shield as a visor. Oddly enough, it’s even advertised with printing on the side of the helmet. This sort of protection is usually to help against eye strain, so I’m not sure why the robot needs it. I guess UV-blocking screen would be helpful if the BAT is transmitting back video or pictures in order to improve their quality. Sure why not… let’s go with that.

The alternate head is a lot cooler to me. It’s got a cyclops-like central dome camera with an array of red sensors surrounding it. There’s also a grill for what I suppose is a speaker. This design really strides the line between looking functional and cool for the sake of looking cool. If I were army building these guys, I would use this head as the squad leader. Also, much to my chagrin, this head will not fit on my regular BATs, as the balls are different sizes, which really surprised and irked me, because I would have totally given this head to one of my regular BATs to make him some kind of specialist.

You also get three different chest plates to choose from. The regular one with the Cobra emblem is the one I’ve been using for most of the photos so far. It’s the same basic design as the one on the regular BATs, just painted white. Likewise, you get a repaint of the damaged plate, which has some cracks and a big dent. I remain rather lukewarm on these armor chest plates, as the visible circuitry from the classic BAT design is just so iconic to me.

The third option is like a tactical vest with some utility pouches sculpted in and I actually like this one the best, mainly because the other two are constantly falling out. I’m not sure why, as I don’t have that problem on my regular BATs and it should all be the same mold, but it’s pretty annoying and this one stays put pretty well. I also think it looks good with the second head, and makes the figure look more distinctive. The exposed circuitry in the chest compartment is painted with a bright metallic blue with some of the larger components painted black. I really like how they sculpted detail into the inside of the chest plate as well.

You get the same style pistol that came with the regular BATs, but here the holster is swapped, so now he wears it on the right hip. I like this gun design a lot, and he can hold it well in either of his robotic arms.

And you get this big rifle, and I flippin’ hate this thing. It didn’t come wrapped in cardboard, so the barrel on mine is bent right out of the box. The design is just stupidly huge and awkward and the strap is really annoying and cumbersome and I may just snip it off. The only cool things here is the bottom frame hinges down to replace what I guess is a battery magazine that charges the rifle. I’m assuming it’s meant to be a directed energy weapon, because it doesn’t look like it takes regular ammo. Also, there’s a hinged bipod and the suppressor can be removed from the tip of the barrel. Either way, this thing is getting pitched into the dreaded Storage Tote of Forgotten Accessories, never to be seen again.

The exclusive new weapon attachment is a chainsaw and it looks as bad ass as you might imagine a robot with a chainsaw for a hand would look. Unfortunately, you only get the one weapon attachment, which I think is really cheap on Hasbro’s part. Sure they did some new sculpting for this figure, but they also saved a lot because the whole body is recycled, so I don’t think it’s asking much to pack in the same weapon attachments that came with the regular BATs, or heck at least include the claw. The lack of extras is driven home by the fact that the recycled weapon storage backpack serves almost no purpose. The chainsaw does not fit in the top storage slots and if you peg it into the side it just falls right out. So really the only thing the backpack is used for is to store whichever hand the chainsaw is replacing.

Alas, this release is mostly a miss for me, and wow does it feel strange being disappointed with a Classified figure. That almost never happens! It’s doubly weird, considering how much of this figure is borrowed from a genuinely great one. I’ll concede that the core figure is fine, but there are so many little other things that bug me about it, I’m sure glad I only got stuck with the one. Why don’t the regular chest plates stay on? Why can’t I store the chainsaw in the backpack? Why do you have a big stupid looking NERF rifle? Fortunately, the chainsaw is compatible with my regular BATs, so one of those guys will inherit it and this sucker can go pound snow. So, we’ve hit a bit of a downer in this trilogy of reviews, let’s hope we can end on a high note next week when I check out the Snow Serpent.

In the meantime, swing back here on Christmas Eve, as I will be kicking off a two-part review for Christmas! Or should I say, Christ-HISS! Eh? Seriously, please come back.

Dec 20 2023

Masters of the Universe Origins: Skeleton Warriors by Mattel

I was hoping to get a few more MOTU Origins reviews in before the end of the year, but time has caught me up and I’ll have to settle for just this one! There are some pretty cool figures in my backlogged stack, but the one that I’ve been most excited to check out is this two-pack of evil Skeleton Warriors. Now, these are some pretty sweet army builders, but so far my willpower has prevailed and I limited myself to only one set. But, seeing as how they are still readily available at most online retailers, my strength is tested every time they get served to me in an online Ad.

Origins has given us some truly epic packaging art throughout it’s run and that continues to be the case with this two-pack. The extended back flap has a vintage-style battle scene showing a whole army of these bony bastards taking on a squad of Eternian Palace Guards, and the good guys look like they’re getting pushed back! Where the hell is He-Man??? Better hope Prince Adam isn’t one of the casualties on the ground, or it’s going to be a long wait! The window shows off the two figures and the bevy of weapons included and proudly advertises that these bone brutes even glow in the dark! I love skeletons. I love army builders. I love things that glow in the dark. How could I not love these? It’s like a plastic trifecta of awesome!

Out of the box, you can see that these are basically just repaints of the same figure, and I’m cool with that. Sure, it would have been nice to get a couple of different heads in there with helmet variations, but maybe Mattel was trying to keep the price low for army builders. Each warrior has a chest harness with a winged crest on the front, armored skirts, and ugly monster feet boots. The bodies are cast in a glow in the dark plastic giving them a slightly translucent and ghostly appearance under normal light, which is pretty cool. The paint variation is mainly seen in the shoulders and skirt, where one has silver and the other has purple, but you also get the helmet trim on one painted orange and the other silver. I’ll concede that the purple looks more appropriate for a minion of Skeletor, but I like the silver just fine too. The orange is a bit out of left field, but whatever.

The detail in the skulls is a little soft, but that’s understandable considering the use of the GITD plastic. Still, if you get in close you can see some pretty nice sculpting in there, both on the nose hole and teeth, as well as some cracks and fissures on the bone. There are pupils painted in each of the eye holes, but they are recessed quite a bit, so it can be hard to see them unless they are in direct light.

Despite the unconventional bone-bodies, the articulation here is right in line with the regular Origins figures. I will say I found it a little more difficult to find and work the joints at first. A little bit of uncomfortable force was needed at first, but with a little play they loosened up. Each figure has left and right accessory holding hands, which is nice because they come with a lot of weapons!

In total, you get five weapons and a shield, which ain’t too shabby. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen most of these before. I recognize a few from the Snake Mountain Playset, Scare Glow’s halberd is in there, as well as Pig Head’s spiked flail, and one of Ram Man’s axes. All of the weapons are cast in the same bright neon green plastic, so I think we’re seeing a few of these in green for the first time.

I really dig the sword and shield combo and the axe and shield combo looks pretty cool too. It kind of makes me wish we got two shields in the box, but hey that’s a good reason to buy another set at some point. But… I’m trying really hard to be good and not to do that.

The spear and halberd are a nice combo if you want these guys to stand around and guard doors all day. I think the spiked flail is my least favorite. It’s not bad. I ain’t mad at it. But it doesn’t do a lot for me either.

And yes, these guys do indeed glow in the dark! Just let them soak up some rays and they emit a gorgeious green glow when the lights go out. I’ve been fascinated by GITD toys ever since I was a kid, so this kind of thing is always a big hit with me. I’ve also had my share of toys that claimed to be GITD but in reality the effect was barely noticeable. That’s certainly not the case with these calcified cads, because they glow super bright!

I picked up this set for $30, which feels like an uncommonly good value, especially since the Origins figures have gone up to about $20 each at most places now. $15 per skeleton and a bunch of weapons is a deal that’s hard to beat in today’s brutal glowy toy skeleton market. Trust me… I hunted long and hard and could not find a better deal on a set of plastic boney bastards. Mattel must have produced a ton of these, because I have to imagine that a lot of collectors are getting more than one set, and yet they are still available at regular price at all the usual online retailers. Either way, I can’t recommend this set enough. Even if you aren’t a big Origins collector, I’m willing to bet you need a two-pack of glowing skeleton soldiers in your life. There’s a lot of cross-over potential here with other toy lines or just to have on your desk for fun.


Dec 18 2023

G. I. JOE Classified: Snow Job by Hasbro

It’s probably no secret that I’m not that big into Christmas these days, but in an effort to project the spirit of a Yuletide winter wonderland, I’m going to embark on a trio of snow-related GI JOE reviews, with two landing this week and the third next week. And what better JOE to kick things off with but Snow Job! With his big beard, fondness of frolicking in the snow and handing out gifts of righteous death to all those naughty Cobra troops, he’s practically the JOEs answer to Santa Claus!

I think I mentioned back when I reviewed Torpedo, that my favorite RAH figures were the ones that came with a lot of accessories and were super specialized. That’s probably because I got my start with GI JOE on the original12-inch figures, which were all about accessorizing and gearing up for different missions. Well, Snow Job certainly fits that bill as he is a full-on Deluxe, which means he comes in a bigger than average box and has a ton of extra goodies. I also have a fondness for Snow Job because he was one of the first RAH figures I ever got. My memory is a little uncertain as to whether it was him or Tripwire, but I do know that when I got Snow Job I also got the Polar Bear with him!

Superficially, Classified Snow Job sticks pretty close to the original RAH figure, but to be fair there really wasn’t a lot to work with there as he was basically just in a white snow suit with a few minor details of paint. This updated version takes that idea and runs with it, and boy does it look fantastic! The white Arctic fatigues are still here with some very pale gray added here and there to break up the monotony of the white, plus black boots and gloves. But he now has a bunch of brown gear added, including a chest harness with some pouches, a belt with some more pouches, and a holster strapped to his right thigh. The brown works surprisingly well with the otherwise monochrome deco, making for a super sharp and clean looking figure!

As for the head, you have the option of going with the hood up or down. The hooded head has a tight fitting cowl and the hood is a separate piece that fits around the head itself. You also have the option of putting on his polarized goggles and wearing them up on his forehead or down over his eyes. The head sculpt is very well done with a full red beard and obviously offers a lot more personality and character than the vintage figure.

To display him with the hood down, there’s a hood piece that fits on the figure like a collar to go with the second head. It’s mostly the same portrait, but now with his full coif of ginger hair on full display. I do like this head a bit better than the first, but I’ll still likely be displaying him all bundled up most of the time.

Snow Job comes with a lot of stuff, and amazingly he can store everything on his person, but before we get to kitting him all out, we’ll take a quick look at his sidearm. It’s a pretty standard looking automatic pistol with a nicely detailed sculpt. There’s a hole in the barrel so you can use any effect parts you have from other JOE weapons. He can wield it in either hand and it fits well into the holster.

And then there’s all this! Snow Job’s backpack is not only beautifully sculpted and detailed, but it can carry every other accessory that comes with the figure. And that’s pretty impressive considering his equipment consists of skis, poles, snow shoes, and a sniper rifle. The skis slide into straps on the sides, the poles clip in behind them, the snow shoes tab in at the bottom and the rifle slides right down the middle. This guy is no joke, because I remember how bad it was walking to school in the snow just carrying a few books and my lunch.

The snow shoes peg into the bottom of his feet and also slide onto the fronts of his boots. Not only are these great in the snow, but they do a decent job of helping to stabilize the figure with all that weight on his back.

The skis also peg into the bottoms of his feet, similar to the RAH figure, and he can grip the poles with ease to help him swoosh through Cobra camps with guns blazing in the middle of the night like a blur of white death. Part of me wishes they had kept the skis white, but the black is fine. I also like that they painted in the fixtures brown, as well as the tips of the ski poles silver.

And finally, you get a really cool sniper rifle. This is an absolutely gorgeous sculpt with plenty of detail and a removable magazine. Like the pistol, it has a hole in the barrel to work with any effect parts you have lying around.

Snow Job represents everything that makes the Classified line so outstanding to me. He’s a wonderful update to the original toy, perfectly riding that line between respecting the source material and adding some unique and original beats. He’s also got a great collection of equipment and can even carry everything he owns, thanks to the clever design of that backpack. The only shame here is that I no longer live in a climate where I can take him out and play with him in the snow. Actually, scratch that… I never want to live anywhere where it snows ever again. I’ll make do with styrofoam and crumpled tissue paper just fine.

By figurefanzero
0
Dec 15 2023

DC Multiverse (Atrocitus Wave) Black Lantern Superman & Batman and Collect-To-Build Atrocitus by McFarlane

As promised, I’m back for part two of my look at the Blackest Night themed wave of DC Multiverse. If you need to get caught up, I checked out Kyle Rayner and Deathstorm a couple days back. This wave has been out there for a little while, and you are likely to see some older DC Multiverse reviews turning up here from time to time as I try to get caught up on a stupidly huge backlog.

The packaging is standard DC Multiverse stuff, but the Collect-To-Build assortments come in wider boxes to accommodate the extra body parts. As always you get the figure stand and collector card sealed to the back of the cardboard tray, otherwise these window boxes are collector friendly. I’m a big fan of the Blackest Night story and was happy to collect the DC Universe Classics releases, so needless to say I’m excited to be opening these as the boxes have been lined up on my shelf for a while now. Let’s start with Superman!

As far as nightmare versions of Superman go, this one is pretty damn freaky. The black suit is covered with that basketball-style texture that’s become synonymous with modern superhero costumes these days. The silver trim against the black makes for quite the striking combo, especially since the silver paint is so shiny and vibrant. He’s got segmented bracers on his forearms and a gross necrotic yellow tint to his skin, which is followed up by sculpted veins and fissures in the arms. His cape is a shredded mess, falling off the back in several strips and looking ragged near the bottom edge. I like that the bold S-emblem on his chest is all sculpted in an extremely pronounced fashion, giving it some wonderful depth. About the only thing I don’t like here are the ball-shaped ankle joints, which break up the flow of the boots, and are left as unpainted gray plastic.

The head sculpt is fantastic, with more of the necrotic flesh and a nice bit of paint wash to bring out some of the details and create some shadows. The creases and cracks in the skin are appropriately gross, his nose is completely rotted off, and the sunken black around the red eyes look like he’s literally burned the area out with excessive use of his heat vision. A familiar hint of his trademark cowlick makes the whole visage even more unsettling. And the real winning feature here are the corn kernel teeth! This is just great stuff!

I’m passed the point of running down the articulation for this line, as it remains constant throughout. Suffice it to say, it’s pretty damn good and Supes is fun to play around with. He does not come with any accessories, and his only set of hands are balled into fists, which works for me! Next up… Batman!

Black Lantern Batman is an equally imposing bit of horror with an absolutely stellar costume sculpt. The gray suit has more of that texture sculpted throughout, as well as some seemingly purposeless straps that run from his thighs up to connect at his abs at a point. There are some pouches sculpted on his belt, and both the bat symbol and the Black Lantern Corps emblem are sculpted as well as painted, which is a wonderful touch. The silver emblem really pops on what is an otherwise muted deco. The blue boots and gloves are segmented and have jagged blades coming off of them. Ah, but what I really love here are the spikey bits growing out of his shoulders that look like partially mutated bat wings, which give him a really creepy silhouette. The rest of the cape is tattered at the edges.

The head sculpt here is OK, but it’s a big step down from Superman’s. You get the same yellowed necrotic skin showing around the lower half of the face, and the mouth is open in a perpetual scream, showing rotting teeth and some nice depth to he bat-maw. It’s creepy for sure, but nothing about this sculpt reaches the sharpness or complexity of Superman’s and the white pupils on the eyes feels like an afterthought. It’s not terrible, but this one just feels like it was sculpted and painted on a Friday afternoon.

Again, you get some solid articulation here and no accessories. His hands are both sculpted in a grasping or reaching fashion, which is pretty good for displaying him in shambling zombie-like poses. Both Bats and Supes are solid figures. Oddly enough, I’d say I like Batman’s body the best and Superman’s head sculpt the best, but either way the compliment each other really well. Now let’s build Atrocitus!

The last time I got an Atrocitus figure was twelve years ago as part of Mattel’s DC Signature Collection and that review is worth a click just to see how unbelievably shitty my photographs were back then, as opposed to average and passable now. Anyway, this Atrocitus is a straightforward build with the body, head, shoulder piece, and four limbs making up the parts. I had a ridiculously difficult time getting one of his arms to peg in before noticing that it was because the loose shoulder ring was backwards. Once I popped that out and corrected it everything went fine. I really appreciate McFarlane’s approach to doing only four figures for their Collect-To-Build stuff, but these can be a lot harder to get together than Mattel’s old line. With that having been said, Atrocitus is together and looking big, imposing, and pretty damn fine!

The black suit is textured and you get some nice sculpted panel lines in the boots and gauntlets, which can be easily overlooked in all that bright red plastic. There’s some extra glossy red paint used for the tabard that runs down his chest, and the snappy silver Red Lantern Corps emblem is sculpted as well as painted. I particularly like the way the abs piece hangs down over the pelvis to avoid that rubber diaper look that this line is known for. The black and red deco looks amazing and conspire to create a superb deco.

The head sculpt is pretty good, although the huge wall of teeth feels a little lacking. I’m not sure if it’s the paint or sculpt or both, but I feel like it could have been better. With that said, I like the texturing to the skin and the various creases and crevices in the downturned brow and the piercing golden eyes. The face is bookended by armor cheek pieces and that is surrounded by the high collar on the shoulder armor.

Despite being a big and bulky, cobbled together rage monster, Atrocitus sports all the articulation points of the regular figures and I didn’t have any problems with the limbs coming apart at the connection points. He has his right hand balled into a fist and his left hand open and kind of relaxed, which work well for posing and he’s just a whole bunch of fun.

I think this was a pretty solid wave of figures, and one where I would have easily purchased each one even if the Collect-To-Build incentive wasn’t there. Indeed, I’m hoping that we get another Blackest Night themed wave eventually or at least some more Red Lanterns, because I really loved how Mattel gave us quite a few. Granted, with Necron being a Mega Fig release, the next logical Collect-To-Build is already taken. Which reminds me, I still need to pick that one up. The MSRP on these figures is $24.99 each and at the time I’m writing this review, this wave is pretty widely available at discount. Heck, even a while back I was able to pick them up for under $20 each. I’m certainly glad I did, but I would have been just as happy getting them at full price.

Dec 13 2023

DC Multiverse (Atrocitus Wave) Kyle Rayner and Deathstorm by McFarlane

I’m going to try to make McFarlane a semi-regular weekly thing going forward, because I’ve barely scratched the surface of showcasing those figures here. So, let’s get things started with a look at one of the Collect-To-Build waves. McFarlane has streamlined this process a lot when compared to Marvel Legends or the old DC Universe Classics line, by requiring the purchase of only four figures to complete a CTB figure. I like that because it not only means less money, but it lowers the chances of having to buy a figure I don’t want in order to get all the CTB parts in a wave. Well, at least statistically. Today I’m going after the Blackest Night themed wave with the parts needed to build Atrocitus, and I’m starting with Kyle Rayner and Deathstorm.

The packaging is a little wider than normal in order to accommodate the extra figure parts, but otherwise it’s the same old DC Multiverse window boxes. These display the figures and extra parts beautifully and would be collector friendly if it weren’t for the figure stand and collector card being sealed against the cardboard backdrop. That used to bother me, but then I realized I didn’t have room for these big boxes so I have initiated the great purge to recycle them all. Kyle comes with Atrocitus’ torso and Deathstorm has his head and shoulder armor. Let’s start with Kyle!

I really like Kyle Rayner, but he’s still pretty far down there on my list of favorite Green Lanterns. Still, I was happy to be getting him on my DC Multiverse shelf and all in all I think this is a pretty solid figure. My first impressions left me not liking the shade of green they went with. It’s more of a lime-olive than the emerald I’m used to seeing on the Green Lantern Corps. It’s grown on me a bit since, I think it looks good, but it still doesn’t feel quite right. There isn’t a whole lot of sculpted detail on this costume apart from the basketball texturing, but you do get sculpted tops of the boots and gauntlets, and his ring is sculpted onto his right fist.

I like this portrait a lot, especially Rayner’s cheesy grin. The mask is sculpted separately from the face, which adds a lot of depth and makes it look like something the figure is actually wearing. The hair sculpt is also separate, allowing for some of the strands from his bangs to dangle over the mask. I dig it!

The figure sports the standard Multiverse articulation. The joints all feel great, but I’m always going to lament the absence of thigh swivels in these figures. There are no extra hands, and the figure comes with the right hand balled into a fist to show off his ring and the left hand sculpted to grip his accessories: The lantern and a sword power construct.

Both the lantern and the sword are cast in some extremely bright lime colored semi-translucent plastic, which makes for a nice glowy energy effect. I do like the sword a lot, but given Kyle’s abilities to come up with some extra creative constructs, it seems a little pedestrian, but that’s OK. Let’s move on to Deathstorm…

Oh wow, is this a departure from the bright and grinning visage of Kyle. Deathstorm has long been a favorite design of mine from the Brightest Day run and this figure does a great job bringing him off the page and into plastic! The costume is fairly simple with a mostly smooth body that gives way to sculpted corruption as it gets closer to the head. You get some sculpted arm bracers and sculpting for the boots. The silver bands that wrap around his thighs and come to a point below his chest are sculpted as well as painted, as is the chest emblem and the lines radiating from it. The shoulder armor flares at the edges, giving him a really cool silhouette.

Oh and that head sculpt is really something special! The rictus grin and piercing eyes are so damn cool. The skull itself has some great sculpted detail brought out by a charcoal black wash, which compliments it beautifully. And the grayish-almost purple semi-translucent flame effect coming off the head just ties it all together so perfectly. Holy crap, this looks so damn good!

The articulation holds no surprises, and you get only the stock pair of hands. The left is sculpted in a sort of grasping motion, while the right is designed to hold his one accessory: His Lantern. The Lantern is simple enough, but it looks good with a matte silver finish.

Seeing as how much I loved collecting the various Lantern Corps in the DC Universe Classics line, I was mighty excited to get this assortment, and so far I think it’s off to a great start. I’m a bit at odds as to whether I like this Kyle better than the DCUC release. I think the detail and portrait are better here, but I like the coloring of the uniform on Mattel’s figure more. On the other hand, we never did get a Deathstorm out of the DCUC line, and even if we did, it’s hard to imagine this one wouldn’t totally trump it, because it is absolutely awesome. I’ll swing back on Friday for the second part of this wave, and we’ll check out the CTB Atrocitus as well!

Dec 11 2023

Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron AT-AT Walker (Hoth) by Jazwares

It’s the middle of December and you know what that means? Cold and snowy scenes! Well, not where I am in Florida, but all the more reason to turn to snow to evoke the Christmas Spirit! And I’ll be going with that theme a few times as we march toward Christmas! And today’s review is actually even more Christmas related, because the original Kenner AT-AT Walker was probably one of the most memorable toys I can remember opening on a Christmas morning and I have fond memories of dragging it out into the snowy backyard and playing with it until my face nearly froze off. Granted, today’s offering is a lot smaller than that one, but nonetheless still pretty cool!

I really dig the packaging Jazwares uses for this line. It consists of a huge window showing the toy against an illustrated battle scene. The included mini-figures and Speeder Bike are also displayed front and center, and you get some snappy foil on the box too! And it’s a sizeable box for a toy released as part of a MICRO Squadron. The box also calls out some of the toys features, including the electronics. Sadly, there is no Try Me feature, and you’ll have to supply your own batteries. Everything is collector friendly and the Walker comes out fully assembled. I will likely display this little beast in the packaging because it looks so damn good in it. Let’s have a look at the little figures first.

There are five figures included with this set: General Veers, Luke Skywalker, an AT-AT Driver, and two Snowtroopers. It’s a good assortment, but I really wish Jazwares could have squeezed one more figure in there to give us two Drivers. And if not, I’d rather have had another Driver than Luke, since we got a similar version of him with the Snowspeeder. Either way, bigger vehicles like this make a strong case for Jazwares to release figure packs, but I don’t think that’s likely to happen. Anyway, the detail on these little guys is really good considering their size. You even get some dirty wash on the Snowtroopers, and little details like Veer’s rank insignia. Even the Imperial emblems printed on the Driver’s helmet are better than the ones on my 6-inch Black Series figure, and that’s pretty impressive. As usual, you get four points of articulation on each figure, allowing them to sit and move their arms at the shoulders.

The AT-AT looks spectacular, and this toy really gives me a sense of being a shrunken down version of the big AT-AT Hasbro did a short while back. The Micro Galaxy line continues to deliver on some very detailed sculpts even on the smaller ships, so they were able to really go nuts on this one given the bigger canvas they had to work with. The armor is covered with panel lines, vents, and other bits and bobs with only some exposed screws on the interior of the legs to muddy the realism. Much of the toy is left in pale gray plastic, which looks great with a bit of understated weathering. I can’t emphasize that enough, because the heavy handed dirt and weathering on the Endor release made that one an easy skip for me.

If you’ve handled Kenner or Hasbro’s AT-AT toys, the articulation here should be readily familiar. You get strong rotating joints where the legs meet the body and again at the knees and ankles. The leg joints hold fast and make this a fun toy to pose and play with. You also get jointing in the neck tube, which is covered with a soft rubbery plastic. The cheek guns can rotate just like on the older toys. There are buttons on the front side and top which will activate the electronics. This includes lights in the cockpit, voice clips from The Empire Strikes Back, laser blasts, and the stomping and whirring of the leg motors. The sampling is all very loud and clear and I think it really adds a lot of value to the toy.

Both the head and body can be opened to reveal interior play areas. The interior of the head really reminds me of Hasbro’s big boy, as it has room for two Drivers and a place behind the seats for Veers to stand, along with a clip to hold him in place. It’s a great use of space with some nice detail to the controls. It’s just a shame that one of those Driver seats will always be vacant.

The body section opens up completely by lifting off part of the roof and side. I really wish Hasbro’s did this with theirs, as it gives better access to the interior, which in this case includes three areas: An upper seating area for the assault troops, a garage for up to four Speeder Bikes, and a deploying area with light up computer stations.

There are no less than ten seats in the upper area, plus room for officers to stand and brief the troops. Again, it’s sad that I’ll never have enough figures to fill this, but if this Walker ever drops in price like the Falcon did, I’d be down for at least one more. But that won’t even fill one side of these chairs!

Like the big Hasbro toy, this one also has a winch that can be lowered and in this case it makes for a good way to deploy the Speeder Bikes to the ground or raise cargo up to the interior. The speeder looks like it’s the same one that was available in the small mystery boxes. Again, lots of nice detail for such a tiny toy and it seats a figure really well. It also comes with a tiny stand. I should note that you also get a grapple hook for Luke to climb up and plant his detonator, but I didn’t bother much with it because the string is too long and he just winds up dragging on the ground.

I have to admit, at $60 I had my doubts about this thing, but once I had it in hand I was completely sold on it. Indeed, I think it’s safe to say that Jazwares has produced one of the best AT-AT Walker toys ever made. Sure, it’s hard to compete with the appeal of the ones that can hold 3 3/4-inch figures, but the amount of detail and play value that Jazwares packed into this toy really makes it stand out as an absolute gem. The detail and finish on it makes it a perfect display model for your desk or shelf, while still having all the interactivity of a truly fun playset. And considering what the big ones go for these days, $60 for this beauty ain’t so bad.