Oct 9 2017

Marvel Legends (Vulture Wings Wave): Spider-Man (Hoodie Suit) by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again and time to embark on a brand new wave of Marvel Legends! I’m so backlogged, that I had a lot to choose from, but I went with the Spider-Man: Homcoming inspired assortment because the flick is due out on Blu-Ray in a few weeks, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it again. Now if things go well and I can double up a few weeks, I’ll be able to cruise right into the Thor: Ragnarok wave right as that one hits theaters! And speaking of doubling up, I’ll be doing that today, so let’s jump right in and check out Spidey!

In the title I called him “Hoodie Suit” Spidey. “Homebrew Suit” Spidey works too. One of my favorite things about Homecoming was how they did the switcheroo on the suits. In the Raimi film he started with the crappy homemade suit and by the time he was ready for the climactic final battle with Goblin, he was in the polished new one. Here he started in the spiffy Stark Tech suit, but went back to his crappy homemade suit for the final battle in order to make a point that clothes do not make the (Spider)man. It was sort of the same point that Tony learned in Iron Man 3. Anyway, I thought that was just all kinds of neat and one of the reasons why I love the movie as much as I do.

And I really loved this costume in the movie. It was a fun palate swap homage to the Scarlet Spider costume with a few tweaks. As for this figure? Um… I like it, but I don’t quite love it. Part of the problem here is that it feels really flat. There’s some nice texturing in the socks and some decent sculpted wrinkles in the suit, but otherwise, the lack of detail makes it feel more like a comic based figure and not an MCU figure. Maybe that’s the point and I’m just missing it. Also, I don’t recall his wrist bracers being all silver. I thought they were red with silver cartridges. And speaking of coloring, my biggest issue here is that the red looks too dark. It wasn’t so much a deep crimson as it was a bright candy-apple red.

I do dig that Hasbro included two different hoods, so you can display him with it up or down. If you have the Spider-Gwen figure than you know how this works. But the head itself could have used a few more tweaks to the goggles to make them match the on screen appearance a little better. And what, no drawstrings on the hood? A little more facial definition sculpted into the mask would have been cool too. Again, it’s just kind of bland. Am I being too picky? Maybe. Either way, I definitely prefer him with the hood down, so I went with that look for most of the pictures I took.

The articulation here is solid enough. Granted, he doesn’t have the butterfly shoulders like we often see in our Legends Webheads, but everything else is as expected. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, with double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, with double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles have lateral rockers and hinges. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch in the torso, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged.

Homebrew Suit Spidey also comes with two pairs of hands: Fists and thwippy hands!

I don’t usually discuss the BAF parts until the end of the wave when I’m ready to build it, but I’ll make an exception here because Hasbro is trying something truly new and exciting in this Wave. It’s not a Build-A-Figure, but instead the parts will build something to enhance a figure in the Wave. In this case, it’s the MCU Vulture’s wings. Now to give credit, Mattel first tried something different in their Multiverse line by doing a Collect & Connect roleplay Batman Grapnel Gun, which isn’t quite the same thing, but does show the same kind of thinking outside the box. I was surprised to hear a fair amount of criticism from some fans over this idea, but I think it’s brilliant and I hope Hasbro does more with it in the future.

 

I know I harped on him a lot, but this is by no means a bad figure. He just kind of feels a little underwhelming to me. Again, maybe that’s the point, because it’s an underwhelming homemade suit. I’d probably be more forgiving if the colors were a little more accurate and a little extra paint on his bracers, but I’m certainly not sorry I picked him up. Of course, if I wanted to put my money where my mouth is, Hot Toys is doing a figure with this outfit, but I don’t like it enough to blow $220 on it. The Stark Tech Suit? Yeah, I’m probably going to go for that one! In the meantime, web-swing back later this evening and I’ll have a look at another version of Spider-Man in this wave!

Oct 6 2017

DC Designer Series: Wonder Woman (Frank Cho) Sixth-Scale Statue by DC Collectibles

DC Collectibles has been throwing some serious love to everyone’s favorite Amazon Princess with not one, but two Designer Series statues released within about a month of each other. In September we got the magnificent revamp of the Adam Hughes Cover Girls Statue, and now we’ve got a new release based on a stunning piece of art by Frank Cho.

If you’ve picked up any of DC Collectible’s statues than you have a pretty good idea about what to expect from the packaging. This piece comes in a fully enclosed box, mostly white, featuring plenty of shots of the statue. Diana comes encased in two halves of a styrofoam brick and requires very little assembly. Just peg her foot into the base via the metal rods and peg her sword into her hand and she’s all ready to go. The statue is limited to a production run of 5,000 numbered pieces and there’s a piece of tape on the flap with the individual number.

Great Hera! Just one look at the solicitation shots for this statue had me mashing the pre-order button. Yes, it helps that I adore Frank Cho’s work in general, but there was something specific to this piece that called out to me. Measuring in at about 12-inches tall, the pose has Diana standing poised to engage in battle. She has one foot on the base with sword and shield in hand and a determined gaze as her hair blows in the wind. There’s so much I love about this figure I hardly know where to begin. I think one of the things that struck me early on was how powerful she looks and that’s something very faithful to Cho’s art and credit also has to go to sculptor Jonathan Matthews. This Amazonian Princess has some muscle on her, particularly in those thighs and I just love the muscle definition sculpted into her back. I’ll also note how much I appreciate that the shield is being held in a manner so as not to diminish the figure itself by obscuring it from view. Even if you’re viewing her from dead on, it’s still off to the side just enough.

And then there’s the costume, which exhibits some magnificent sculpting and paintwork. The gold eagle and WW Belt look as if they are actually layered over the red corset, despite all being sculpted from one piece. The corset and bracers include sharp cut lines and the skirt is textured to look like leather with sculpted stars and border edges. The boots include sculpted creases where her ankle flexes as well as shin and knee armor with nicks and scrapes from battle. The deep crimson, lustrous gold leaf, and deep blue paints are masterfully applied with virtually no slop or missteps to be seen. And all of the colors contrast beautifully with her warm, soft skin tones.

The portrait is a classical beauty and her blue eyes are hauntingly bright. I love the attention given to her clavicle. The paint on the face is nice and clean, and the skin tone looks incredibly lifelike. The only place where the paint on this statue fumbles a bit is the star on her tiara. It’s not something I notice when admiring the statue on the shelf, but when I get in closer with the camera, I can see it needed to be a little sharper. They did a particularly nice job with the wind-blown hair.

Diana’s gear includes her sword, shield, and golden lasso.  The bottom part of the hilt is sculpted as part of her hand, while the blade and crossguard are one separate piece that pegs in through the top of the hand and holds together quite securely. The golden hilt features a sculpted, ribbed grip and a simple pommel and crossguard. The double-edged blade has a deep fuller running through the center and tapers rather quickly to a sharp point.

The shield is a striking piece of work on its own right. The face in adorned with a bird sculpted to look like hammered bronze, and a segmented border that looks like it might be meant to simulate a rope pattern. There are some stray scrapes in the surface to show the shield has seen some action. The reverse of the shield featured sculpted straps sculpted and painted to look like calfskin and are detailed down to the faux rivets that hold them into place. It’s also painted in bronze finish, which distinguishes it nicely from the gold paint on her costume. I’ve always loved her depicted as an actual warrior and while she’s strong and skilled enough to best most foes with her bare hands, she just looks so much more bad ass with her sword and shield in hand.

The golden lasso is attached to her right hip. The vibrant lasso is made of a strong rigid wire-like material and fashioned to resemble braided rope. It’s secured to her belt with a sculpted “leather” buttoned loop.

The base is pretty standard stuff. In fact, it’s identical to the one DCC used for the Adam Hughes Designer Statue. It’s a thick black disk with the familiar WW logo sculpted into it and painted in gold leaf. I really dig the way she’s only got the one foot on the base and the other on the ground beside it. It not only accommodates her action stance by allowing that one knee bend, but the fact that she’s only half on the base gives the whole composition that extra little dynamic kick to it. The limitation is noted on the bottom of the base. In this case, mine is #1,024 of 5,000.

After having the Adam Hughes Wonder Woman for only a few weeks, I never thought my head could be turned by another statue treatment of the character so quickly. That’s not to knock the Hughes Wonder Woman, because it’s a fantastic piece. Indeed, the two of these statues compliment each other perfectly. The Hughes statue has a smoother and less complex costume, emphasizing the more classic blue starfield panties, whereas this one features Diana as the grittier warrior princess. Despite being in the same Designer Series line, this statue was a smidgen pricier than the Hughes statue, but only by about ten bucks. Either way, she was well worth it.

Oct 5 2017

Voltron: Legendary Green Lion by Playmates

As I’ve been threatening for the past couple weeks, I’m switching gears back to Voltron on Transformers Thursday for a couple of weeks. I had actually planned on looking at both the Green and Red lions today, but when I stopped off at the store to finally buy them, Red was gone. I wound up ordering him online, but he won’t make it on time and the show must go on so Green is going solo today.

The packaging is essentially the same as we saw last time for Blue and Yellow. It takes a mighty big bubble and card to contain this kitty, but the packaging is colorful and looks great. The bubble insert has an ad for the Netflix series and also shows that the Green Lion can form Voltron’s left arm, once you collect all five of the Legendary Lions! Alas, this packaging is far from collector friendly, so give me a moment to tear it open and we’ll check out Pidge’s ride!

There are a couple of things that I dig straightaway. First off, despite being an arm, he isn’t much smaller than the two leg Lions. That’s a big step ahead from my Toynami Masterpiece Classic Voltron where Red and Green are considerably smaller. I’ll include a comparison shot of the three Legendary Lions at the end. Yes, I know the more uniform size is going to come back and bite me when I get them combined and deal with Voltron’s proportions, but right here and right now, I like the scaling. I also really love the individualized styling of each lion. Green is a little less boxy than Yellow and Blue, but they still fit in beautifully with one another. And despite Green having an elbow joint in the middle of his body, he still looks great, and it adds that little extra bit of articulation to what is already a very posable toy. All the joints in the legs are strong giving him the ability to hold almost any pose.

Overall, the coloring is pretty good. The green plastic is bright and both the green and the black plastic are shiny. They both really pop next to the flatter gray. I do wish the paint was a little tighter on these lions. It’s not terrible, but the white paint on the face could have used another coat. It’s got a few chips in it and you can see some unevenness in the brush strokes. Yeah, this is a fairly inexpensive toy, not a collectors’ item, so I’m willing to be a little more forgiving than usual.

And yes, the Green Lion also includes a tiny pilot sled, which can be loaded into the opening door in his belly. The package shows the pilot fully painted, but in reality it’s just a black molded blob sitting in the sled. The only thing that I find cool about these is that they give you an idea of the enormous scale of the Lions.

As we saw with the Yellow and Blue Lions, each one of these comes with a special weapon that attaches. Green Lion has a giant missile launcher, which pegs into his back. Pidge’s Lion is supposed to harness the power of nature, and this thing is referred to on the package as a “Vine Launcher,” but it shoots a blue missile like the Blue Lion’s ice beam. The least they could have done is cast this missile in translucent green plastic. I wasn’t a fan of Hunk’s big disk launcher, but I liked Lance’s weapon, Pidge’s here falls somewhere in between. It’s not as stylish as Lance’s, but at least it can pivot and fire in different directions. I don’t hate it.

The Green Lion also comes with Voltron’s Shield and the back half of The Blazing Sword. The shield pegs into the back of the lion and the sword can be held in the Lion’s mouth, thanks to the spring-loaded jaws. Pretty rad!

With the two previous lions already on my shelf, The Green Lion fell right in line with my expectations. He looks good and he’s a fun toy. He’s also a damn fine value for the money. Green ran me exactly fifteen bucks at the local Big Box and I’m impressed that Playmates can put out a toy this cool for so little money. Hell, that’s less than a 6-inch Hasbro figure and about the same price as a Deluxe Class Transformer. He’s a good sized kitty with lots of articulation and he includes a bunch of extra stuff. Next week I’ll check out Red Lion and then get back to a few Transformers before moving on to the Black Lion!

Oct 4 2017

Star Wars Black (The Last Jedi): Stormtrooper Executioner by Hasbro

As promised, I’m doubling up on content today to try to get caught up on some of the Star Wars figures that have been piling up. Today I’m checking out the First Order Stormtrooper Executioner! I haven’t had any luck finding this guy in my neck of the woods, but a friend of mine decided to troop build these and then thought better of it, so I took one off his hands at a good price. The downside? He shipped it to me loose, so I have no packaged shot. That’s OK, though, it’s the same old style window box and besides, this will be a quick review since I don’t have a lot to say about this guy.

What we have here is one of them there Stormtrooper variants, aka a repaint to sell more toys. But before I get too cynical about it, I should point out that he does have a unique function. The Executioners are specifically tasked with hunting down other Stormtroopers who have deserted. Sound familiar? I’m guessing that Finn isn’t an isolated incident and maybe after getting their Starkiller Base all blowed up, there’s been an epidemic of Stormtroopers breaking ranks and spliting. We’ll find out in a few months, but to me it seems likely that we may see a squad of these turn up in the new movie to hunt down Finn.

The sculpt appears to be identical to the vanilla flavored First Order Stormies, and that’s a good thing because these were great figures and I’d like to see them return to the pegs so I can get a few more of the regular ones. I really dig the glossy finish on these guys. Shiny Stormtrooper armor is love!

The Executioner is distinguished by his black shoulder armor with First Order logos, and a black stripe on his helmet. There are a few other minor paint differences between him and the regular trooper. For example, the satchel on his left hip is all black on the standard Stormy, but has a white front panel on this guy.

The Executioner is also characterized by a rather distinctive laser axe weapon. This is a short staff with articulated appendages on the head. These swing out and generate laser arcs when it is activated, thus creating a double-edged laser cutting blade.

The accessory includes two laser effect parts, which can be removed to display it activated or deactivated. In theory, I like the idea of following through with the executioner theme and giving him an axe, but in practice it’s pretty silly. It would be much more practical to just shoot the traitorous bastards. Unfortunately, that’s not an option, because mine didn’t come with a blaster. I texted my friend and asked if he forgot something, but I was surprised to learn that Hasbro didn’t bother to included it in the package with these guys. Bummer. I’ll probably give him one of the pistols from another Stormtrooper.

All in all, this is a cool looking variant, but I’m really not keen on his weapon at all and that puts a damper on the deal. If he came with a blaster, I would have tossed the axe into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories, but since that would leave him totally unarmed, I guess I’ll let him keep it. Who knows, maybe I’ll learn to love it. Originally, I had planned on picking up a pair of these, but now that he’s in hand, I think one will be enough unless he turns up for cheap on the aftermarket.

Oct 4 2017

Star Wars Black (Rebels): Hera Syndulla by Hasbro

I’m not bringing back regular Wednesday content. Honest! I’m not. But I’ve got about a month before things get crazy for me at work again, so I thought I’d take advantage of it and try to get caught up. As a result, I’m doing TWO Star Wars Black Series reviews today: Hera from Rebels this morning and the Stormtrooper Executioner from The Last Jedi later tonight.

Hasbro has been killing it with their realistically styled 6-inch Black Series figures from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon. These have been among my favorite Black Series releases, despite the fact that I’m forever woefully behind on watching the series. I think I’m just going to have to grab the Blu-Rays and binge that shit one of these weekends. Still, I’ve been hoping against hope that they will at least get around to completing the crew of the Ghost and now we’re one step closer. So far we’ve had Kanan and Sabine, and technically you could add Ahsoka to that mix. Today I’m checking out Hera!

The figure may be pulled from Rebels, but the packaging here is branded just like all the rest of the Black Series in full monochrome glory. I’m not a big fan of the character art they went with here, but that’s been a sticking point with me for most of these releases. Then again I toss the packaging anyway, so I’m not going to get upset over it. I actually wound up ordering Hera from an online retailer a few days before finding three of her on the pegs at a local Target. Then I saw the paint was all over the place and got worried, but turns out the one I got is pretty solid. Anyway… I love Hera, I love me some lady Twi’leks, so this was a hotly anticipated release for me!

I’ve always been a little perplexed by Hera’s outfit. At first, I thought it was just a typical flight suit with the top zipped down and worn down around her waist. But the more I watched, the more I realized it’s like some kind of flight-suit overalls. Whatever the case, I like it. It gives her the unmistakable look of a pilot in the Star Wars universe, while not over encumbering her upper half. The flight suit portion is cast in orange plastic and suitably baggie and includes the typical straps that come down off her belt and encircle her legs. Above the waist, she wears a tan-green long sleeve shirt with a reinforced armor vest and shoulders. There’s a nice bit of sculpted detail in the armor pieces, including some scratches from wear and tear. Otherwise, this is a fairly simple outfit, very close to the CG model in the show, and it looks great in this realistic format.

Hera features a functional holster on her right ankle, and as you all should know by now functional holsters make me happy. Also, while I’m down there I might as well mention that she has extremely tiny feet. These can make her a bit of a chore to stand, especially when attempting action poses.

I couldn’t be happier with the portrait here. Hera’s face is beautifully sculpted and features a fairly neutral expression with just a hint of a smirk on her lips. The paint applications on her eyes and lips are crisp and perfect, as are the patterns painted on her tendrils. The hood has some sculpted ribbing and the goggles are actually sculpted as a separate piece and include tinted clear lenses, but they cannot be lowered over her eyes.

The articulation here is solid, with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips, double hinges in the knees, swiveils in the thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. She has a ball joint under her chest, and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

Hera comes with her little blaster pistol, which is a pretty unique design. It’s as ugly as sin, but it’s also discrete. I’d like to think she keeps it because it’s reliable and trustworthy and has gotten her out of more than a few scrapes. She can hold it in either hand, but her left hand is clearly sculpted with the trigger finger. I don’t remember her being left-handed in the show, and it wouldn’t make much sense to have the gun on her right ankle if she was, but I’m not about to get too worked up about it.

And here we are, another Rebels 6-inch Black Series release, and another excellent one at that! I could say I wish she came with some more stuff, like maybe a tool kit or an A-Wing helmet or something, but I’m still plenty happy with what we got. I’m also glad that Hasbro put the Stormtroopers back onto the pegs, because I picked up a couple more to go with her! It’s probably not a coincidence that two of the three Ghost crew left may be tough to do in the new style. I’m really curious to see what a realistically sculpted Ezra will look like, and I can’t even imagine what they’re going to do with Zeb. Hopefully we’ll get Chopper next.

Oct 3 2017

The Muppets: Animal by Diamond Select

I last visited with Diamond Select’s Muppets line back in May of last year when I reviewed the entire first wave. I liked what I got, but after that, I got cold feet and assumed a watch and wait posture toward this line. There were some delays and whispered rumors that the line might not be doing well, especially in light of the unending comparisons to the Palisades line. I was nervous about tossing more money at a second wave only to see it be the last. Yeah, I know, that’s backward logic. I should have supported it, but that didn’t go so well for me with the DC Icons line. Either way, we’re now several waves in, the line seems to be going strong and I’m paying for my procrastination by having to hunt down figures like Statler and Waldorf at scalper prices. Meanwhile, let’s check out another of my favorite Muppets and drummer for Electric Mayhem… Animal!

I’m still torn on the packaging for this line. In typical Diamond Select fashion, the package is absolutely huge and absolutely not collector friendly. It makes quite a statement in terms of presentation, it has some great character art on the side panel, and it shows off everything you’re getting in the package perfectly. On the other hand, it’s crazy to see how much trash it creates after you’ve opened it and how long it takes to take off all those twisty-ties.  And if you are a MOSC collector (or retail store, for that matter), these take up a lot of space on the shelf. But these figures have been so much fun, I couldn’t imagine not opening them, so let me get a fresh garbage bag and get Animal free of his plastic and cardboard prison.

When it comes down to sculpt, DST seems to really know their way around The Muppets, and Animal here is no exception. All his crazy personality is beautifully captured here in plastic. His outfit consists of a hip and trendy red and yellow half-jacket with a pair of ragged cut pants tied at the waist. Call it Muppet Chic. The ensemble is topped off with his spiked collar and a real chain leash hanging down off it, long enough to touch the ground when he’s standing. The lanky proportions of the arms and legs are spot on, and it’s surprising how well he can stand on his own.

The coloring is really good and the quality of paint is fairly solid. His skin tone is just the right shade of orange, and while he doesn’t quite sport the same level of foam texture that the other company was able to achieve, it’s still impressive for this smaller scale. I really like the glossy finish used for his jacket that gives it a vinyl sheen. The paint application for his rope belt could have been a little cleaner, but I’m not going to make a fuss over it.

The head sculpt is definitely a winner. From the bushy eyebrows and crazy eyes to the sculpted fur that covers his face, this is undoubtedly the Animal that I know and love. The hinged jaw was a particularly nice treat, complete with painted tongue and adorable underbite. There’s a little slop of white paint around the teeth, but overall the paintwork on the portrait is respectable and clean.

The articulation in this line has had its ups and downs, depending on the shape of the individual character. Ironically, the characters with the lankier arms and legs seem to do better and so Animal feels like he has more posing options than say Fozzie Bear. The points basically consist of a passel of rotating hinges. You get them in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees. There are hinges in the ankles, and the hips and neck are ball jointed. A modicum of care is recommended when posing these figures, although Animal isn’t anywhere near as delicate feeling as Kermit. Animal’s hands feature holes in the grips designed expressly for holding his drumsticks.

And that brings us to the drums! As great as Animal is, it’s the nine piece drum set that really makes this set shine. You get a bass drum, a tom tom, floor tom, snare, three cymbals, a bass pedal, and a drum throne for animal to sit on. The detail in the set is great, and I really dig the gradient yellow-orange-red deco on the drums. The bass drum also features the artwork for Dr. Teeth’s Electric Mayhem. There have been quite a few different pieces of art to grace Animal’s bass throughout the years, but I think this one was a fine choice for the set. I imagine it would be pretty easy to print off the other Electric Mayhem logos so you could swap them out on your display.

The only downside of the drum set is that the posts are rather frail and some of the pieces easily topple over. It would have been nice if DST could have used metal for the bases to help them stand, but we’re already getting quite a lot of stuff in this package, so I can understand why that might be cost prohibitive. Eventually, I’m going to just cut a piece of poster board and use blue tack to secure the pieces down.

I really dig the importance that DST is placing in the accessories and set pieces for their Muppets line, and I think Animal and his drum ensemble is a great example of this line at its best. There probably aren’t going to be a lot of times where I call out DST over Palisades when it comes to The Muppets, but honestly DST’s drum set outshines what was included with Palisade’s version even if it is done at a smaller scale.

If I was wavering a bit after the first Series of figures, Animal here has put me back on track to believing in this line. I’m absolutely delighted with the way this set came out, and as importantly, I’m thrilled to see that DST is committed to getting all of Electric Mayhem out within the next couple of waves. My dedication to collecting The Muppets has been rekindled, so don’t be surprised to see a bunch more Muppet Mayhem in the coming weeks!

Oct 2 2017

Marvel Legends: The Human Torch by Hasbro

I promised I’d be back to Marvel Legends this week, but before jumping into a new wave, I thought I’d take a look at the newest Walgreens Exclusive and the second member of Marvel’s First Family to be released in this Fantastic Four assortment. It’s Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch!

As odd a marriage as Walgreens and Marvel Legends may sound, it’s been a blessing for me. Distribution is generally bad here and store exclusives can be tough for me to come by, but not these. Indeed, my Walgreens currently has six Sue Storms on the shelf, a Black Ant, and just a week or so ago I saw the yellow Daredevil from a while back. I haven’t seen Johnny show up there yet, but Walgreens has also been really good about getting these available online for those of us not willing to take chances on the luck of the hunt. The package is branded for the team, so you get a big “4” emblem on the tray insert and the “Fantastic Four” logo on the front.

Johnny is cast in a translucent red and orange plastic, which does a nice job of reproducing his “Flame On!” effect, allowing the figure to get by without much in the way of paint at all. There is also some original sculpting on the lower legs and forearms to simulate flames. There’s a faint trace of his costume with the belt running across his waist and the darkened collar, and there’s a “4” emblem tampo on his chest.

The figure also comes with a flame effect part that rests on the shoulders and pegs into the back, very similar to the ice piece that came with Iceman in the first X-Men Wave. I haven’t decided whether I’m a fan of this piece yet or not. I wish it was colored to match the rest of the body a bit better. As it is, it’s a lot more yellow, but I’m happy that it’s designed to be removed. The head has the same issue as it’s a lot more yellow than the rest of the body, but it doesn’t bother me quite as much as the shoulder piece. The details on the face can be a little tough to make out given the translucent plastic, but Johnny is wearing a characteristic smirk and the paint used for the eyes and eyebrows is nice and sharp.

The articulation here is pretty standard stuff for a Legends figure. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the elbows, swivels in the thighs and lower legs, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

In addition to the shoulder flame effect part, Torch comes with two sets of hands and two additional fire effect parts. The stock hands include a right fist with some flame sculpted on it and an open left hand. The extra set are both simple fists, which are designed to interact with the flame parts. These appear to be the same pieces that came with Sunfire, and we’ve seen them a few times before that representing everything from flame to magic.

All in all, I think this figure turned out great and I’m so happy Hasbro and Walgreens are doing these. I’ve been a Marvel Comics reader ever since I was a kid. Books have come and gone out of my life, but The Fantastic Four is one of the few books that I always read. In fact, the only thing that could shake us apart was Marvel cancelling it. Little did I know it was for the better, because I can’t even imagine what a contemporary FF comic would look like given Marvel’s current trend of releasing 99% dogshit. But hey, I’m a True Believer. Things have got to right themselves sooner or later. In the meantime, I’m extra thankful that we’re getting these Fantastic Four figures and for my stack of back issues and trades.  Reed Richards is scheduled for release next, and at that point, I’ll pretty much pay whatever I have to to get a Legends Ben Grimm. You hear that, Hasbro? Make it happen!

 

Sep 30 2017

Figma “Fate/Stay Night” Archer (Reissue) by Max Factory

What’s this? Two Anime Saturdays in a row? Well, I can’t promise this will go on, but after looking at the Figma version of Tohsaka Rin from Fate/Stay Night last week, I was mighty anxious to finally open up her Servant, Archer. I had this one on pre-order since it was first announced and it came in a couple of weeks ago. So let’s burn up one of our Command Seals and check this figure out!

I don’t have much new to say about the packaging. It’s typical Figma fare with a window on the front, some shots of the figure on the sides and back, and this compact little box is totally collector friendly. The figure number, in this case #223, is prominently indicated on the front. You’ll note I never pay much attention to the numbering on these figures and that’s because I try to be pretty selective about the ones I buy. Anyway, the box looks great when lined up on the shelf alongside the other Fate figures. As many of you probably know, I don’t tend to keep a lot of my figure packages, but I do keep all my Figma boxes so I have someplace to keep all that extra stuff. Although, as always, they include a branded Figma ziploc bag for the accessories.

Here he is free of all his protective plastic wrap and I’m happy to say he looks outstanding. I’ve had a thing for crimson trench coats ever since first seeing Trigun a couple decades ago and while Archer isn’t exactly wearing a trench coat, it has the same effect with the billowing skirt that fans out behind his legs. The crimson garment is continued up top with a sort of quarter-jacket over his shoulders and sleeves secured by what looks like a large silver clip on the back. There are also a pair of beautifully sculpted white ribbon ties, which are meant to help hold the two halves of the jacket together on the front. The underlying armor looks great, particularly the silver lining tracing around his chest and back. The belt and armor points on the backs of his sleeves are also painted with a nice silver, as are the armor pieces on his ankles and the toes of his boots. You get some cool straps around his legs, all painted pale blue.

The skirt is cast in two pieces of plastic, each one secured in the back with ball joints. This method allows them to articulate like they’re blowing in the wind or reacting to his movements. It also helps keep them out of the way of the leg articulation. Chances are if you have enough Figmas, you’ve seen this before. It always works really well, and I can’t emphasize that enough. Archer has one of those costumes that really wasn’t made to translate well off screen, but they did a beautiful job with it here.

Archer includes two different portraits, which is one less than I’m used to getting with my Figmas. You get one rather stoic or serious face and one shouty action face. I’m not going to gripe about the lack of a third portrait, as these two represent the sum of Archer’s emotional states. Unlike the usual Figma face-swaps, Archer’s hair is part of each face, so you don’t have to remove the front of the hair to change the face out. This makes it a little simpler, but still not too much different. Both faces are great. He’s got a slightly darker and yellow skin tone than usual, which is appropriate for the character. His eyes and eyebrows are perfectly printed and the open mouth looks particularly good.

And with swappable faces also come swappable hands. Archer includes a pair of fists and a pair of splayed finger hands. He actually comes with one more splayed finger hand, which is very slightly different and rather puzzling to me. He has a right hand with two fingers pointing. This hand can be used either as a gesture or to hold his arrow. And finally you get two accessory holding hands. So let’s talk accessories!

First off, Archer includes the twin swords, Kanshou and Bakuya and these are superb! They have sweeping cutlass-like blades and each one sports the Yin & Yang symbols on the hilt. Bakuya has a beautifully painted silver blade, but I especially love the honeycomb pattern on Kanshou’s dark blade. These fit snugly into the accessory holding hands and it’s nice to get some Figma swords that don’t feel ridiculously fragile… I’m looking at you SAO Figmas… ALL OF YOU! Yes, having a chunkier design makes all the difference.

Of course, Archer also comes with his bow, which is elegantly shaped, quite long, and all black. The accessory itself is great, but getting it into his hand was a frustrating affair. The grip doesn’t leave any space between his thumb and forefinger and the plastic used for the hand isn’t very pliable. Thankfully the thin guard plate can be un-pegged from the bow so as not to damage it and I was eventually able to get the weapon into his hand. Getting it out again was just as much the ordeal. It would have been helpful if the bow split into two halves, so you could put one in through the top of his grip and one through the bottom, and then peg them together.

Finally, Archer includes Caladbolg, the sword that he re-purposed as a ridiculously powerful arrow. This is an absolutely gorgeous piece of work from it’s ornate blue and gold hilt to it’s cork-screw silver blade. Max Factory knows how to produce some amazing looking weapons and this is another great example of that. The sword will fit comfortably into either of Archer’s gripping hands, but it’s really meant to accompany his bow.

Firing a giant and powerful sword out of a bow may look and sound great in an anime series, but recreating it practically here is a bit of a different story. The hand that is intended to knock the sword into the bow doesn’t hold it quite as well as I would have hoped, but I was able to make it work with a little effort.

Even a few issues interacting with some of the accessories, couldn’t make me love this figure any less. It seemed like it took forever for Archer to get his original release, and while I was watching it closely for a while, I must have moved on to other things because he eventually got released, sold out, and I didn’t know it until it was too late and he was selling for stupid money. I think that was like three years ago. I had this reissue pre-ordered as soon as I got wind of it and now that he’s in hand, I can stop beating myself up for letting the first release get away. I’ll confess that it’s getting harder for me to drop $65 on Figmas these days with so much else competing for my dollars, but I never seem to regret it once I get them in hand.

Sep 29 2017

Predator: Jungle Extraction Dutch by NECA

The sci-fi/action classic Predator turned thirty this year and NECA (who else?) was on the scene with an impressive wave of action figures to celebrate the film’s anniversary. Included in the assortment were no less than four versions of Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer (five if you count the convention exclusive!). Sadly, I didn’t have the budget or space to go all in on this wave, seriously even I have to draw the line somewhere, but I did grab two of the four retail release Dutch figures when they went up for pre-order, and I’m finally getting around to open one of these today!

The packaging isn’t quite as snazzy as NECA’s Ultimate figures, but it’s still plenty nice. Dutch comes in a collector friendly window box that shows off the figure beautifully, has a great shot of him on the back, and features 30th Anniversary logos on the side panels as well as the figure’s name. In this case “Jungle Extraction” version depicts Dutch early in the film and at the beginning of the mission to rescue the “Cabinet Minister” from the guerrilla camp. The figure and gear are laid out on a clear plastic tray with a printed insert showing the jungle viewed through the Predator’s thermavision.

Aliens and Predators may be NECA’s bread and butter, but Arnold Schwarzenegger is their jam, and this figure shows it. Dutch comes sporting his full fatigues, which include camo pants, a long-sleeved, button-down shirt, and a tactical vest. The open vest on the collar is sculpted to look like the shirt is actually a separate piece and you can see a bit of his darker green t-shirt peaking out. As I would expect from NECA, every little pocket, rumple, and stitch is meticulously detailed on this outfit, from the edges on his collar and the grenades on his vest, down to the laces on his boots.

Dutch’s outfit includes a functional holster for his sidearm and sheath for his combat knife, as well as a scabbard for his machete. The holster has a retaining strap, as well as a sculpted pouch for an extra magazine. The knife sheath has a sculpted pouch for a sharpening rod. The detail on these is uncanny, right down to the stitching along the edges.

As for the portrait, well like I said earlier, NECA knows Arnold. They’ve sculpted him young and old, and everything in between and so naturally this is a great likeness. I’m not usually a big fan of this glossy, unpainted plastic for the head sculpts, but I don’t mind it so much here. It looks like he’s sweating his ass off, and that’s appropriate for the jungle setting. Otherwise, there’s plenty of detail in the facial features, as well as his stubble, and yes they even sculpted the cigar into his mouth. Lovely! The paint on the hairline is nice and clean and the camo striping on his face looks great.

The articulation is the usual NECA fare with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. There’s a ball joint in the waist and another in the neck. I would have liked a little more range of motion in those elbows, but what we got is still plenty good.

As for weapons, let’s start small and work our way up. He comes with two knives, the smaller combat knife and the larger machete type. Both are beautifully sculpted with detailed hilts and silver painted blades. Neither of his hands are really designed to hold them, but I was actually surprised at how well they each looked in his gun hand with the trigger finger over the guard. Yes, they’re rather loose in his grip, but it works.

Next up, Dutch comes with his Desert Eagle. I just re-watched my Blu-Ray of Predator a few days ago and was surprised to find that Dutch never actually drew his sidearm at all in the film. He eventually loses it after he’s forced to take a swim. This is a pretty good sculpt, with both black and gray paint.

And last, but certainly not least is the AR-15 fitted with an M203 grenade launcher. Just like NECA knows their way around Arnold, they also know their way around weaponry and as a result this is a beautiful scaled recreation of the weapon carried by Dutch in the film. It has a bit of weathering to the finish and it includes a soft plastic carry strap so you can sling it over his shoulder.

Dutch set me back about $25, which is a little more than usual for a regular NECA release, but a lot of retailers were really pushing to sell these as a complete assortment and goosing the price on the individuals just a tad. That’s OK. Considering all the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into this figure, I’m perfectly happy with what I paid. You simply can’t go wrong picking up 80’s inspired action figures from the wizards at NECA and when the subject is Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know you’re going to be in for a treat. Indeed, I’m even starting to eye up the other two Dutch figures that I left on the table. But now I’m getting ahead of myself. In a week or so, I’ll double back and take a look at the Jungle Patrol Dutch!

Sep 28 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Flameout and Twin Twist by Hasbro

I was supposed to be going back to Voltron content this week on Transformers Thursday, but then I stumbled across Top Spin and all bets were off! Finally, my Neo-Jumpstarters are complete and I couldn’t wait to start gushing about this Titans Return update to the other half of my favorite Transformers Duo! So, sorry Voltron, maybe next week.

Here’s a quick peep at Twin Twist in the package before I savage it to get at him. I won’t bore you with more tales about how I loved the G1 Jumpstarters and about how I was ostracized on the playgrounds because of it. Don’t worry, the subsequent therapy did wonders for me and I can now admit in public again that I am and have always been Pro-Jumpstarter. Also, I can’t believe that I neglected to mention the bio on the back when I reviewed Topspin, but these fellas’ Titan Masters give them some pretty cool powers. Freezeout gives Topspin the ability to freeze his foes in whatever mode they are in. Flameout overloads his foes transformation mechanisms triggering a “mode-switching meltdown.” Yeah, I don’t usually bother with the bios on these figures, but that’s some rad shit! Anyway, let’s start with Twin Twist’s alt mode…

Yup, Twin Twist retains his good old drill tank mode, which does a fairly good job of hiding that it’s a remold of Topspin’s Cybertron fighter mode. Well, apart from the back, which is mostly identical from the top, although from the back you can see that Topspin’s quad thrusters have been removed. The cockpit and surrounding area are the same, but Twin Twist trades in the angled wings for a pair of tank treads and the twin pylons on the front for drills.

Twin Twist’s deco is basically a palate swap of his Jumpstarter bro, although instead of white those parts are more gray. The intakes on his back are now painted yellow and framed in red, which looks quite nice. The silver paint used for the drills looks great too. Honestly, I have to confess to liking Topspin’s alt mode a little more, but that was the case with the originals as well. I mean one is an alien starfighter and the other is a drill tank. I don’t know what we were smoking in the 80’s to formulate such a love affair with drill tanks. They turned up in every goddamn cartoon property I can think of. I think 12-year old me would be heartbroken to find out that even as far in the future as the year 2017, nobody gives a shit about drill tanks. Seriously, they never even come up in conversation.

Because giant drills aren’t always useful in a shooting war, Twin Twist sports a couple of guns, which can be fitted in two different locations on the tank mode. You can attach them above the treads, which is where I prefer them, or lower on the treads. I like the fact that you can elevate the guns to lob shells at the enemies. It makes this alt mode feel a little more tank like.

Flameout, Twin Twist’s Titan Master, is cast all in one color plastic, but he does have a painted visor, which is pretty cool. Of course, he can sit inside Twin Twist’s cockpit and looks damn fine doing it. Twin Twist’s transformation is nearly identical to Topspin’s. Nope, no instant jump transformation here. Let’s check out his robot mode!

So, once again we can see that Twin Twist shares a lot with Topspin. In fact from the front the only evident differences in the mold from the neck down are in the upper arms. And that’s fine because it carries on the tradition of the original toys. Of course, the Twin Twist mold trades in the shoulder wings for shoulder treads. They’re certainly not as elegant, although I think they add some nice bulk to him from the side, and don’t look too bad from the front. The palate swap also does a nice job of distinguishing them apart and I especially like the yellow and red paint operations showing on Twin Twist, along with that silver painted hatch on his chest. I get just a hint of Gundam RX-78-2 off of this deco. Just a whiff.

From the back, those shoulder treads are a lot more unsightly to me and the crisscrossed cockpit and drills don’t look quite as refined as Topspin’s pylons. Still, plenty of Transformers aren’t going to win any prizes when viewed from the back, so I’ll cut Twin Twist here a little slack. At least his lower legs fill in with back plates.

The head sculpt is pure poetry. It’s everything I loved about the original, including a stout bucket head, a classically noble Autobot face, a nice clean silver paint job and some perfect blue eyes. Flameout, you make a fine head and you’ve got nothing to apologize for… except maybe your name.

Twin Twist’s guns are identical molds to those carried by his brother Topspin. I love these designs, although the hollow-sided nature of many of the Titans Return guns continues to irk me just a bit. And yes, you can still combine them into one big gun for when you need to deal…

QUAD DAMAGE, bitches!!!!

And so, I finally have my Titans Return Jumpstarters and I am a very happy little robot collector. I love these guys and I imagine they will be Wreckin’ and Rulin’ my desk for quite a while before they finally make the journey to the display case. They really are that much fun. And if you’re wondering why I did comparisons to the Mech Ideas Not-Jumpstarters in my Topspin review but not here, it’s because I already sold those third-party figures off. They were not bad little bots, but this is an instance where I think the cheaper, official ones are just that much better.