Nov 8 2016

Masters of the Universe Classics: General Sundar by Mattel

I think in my mind I’ve already detached myself from MOTUC, because I keep forgetting that I have new figures to look at. Not to mention a Castle Greyskull and Battle Ram and a sizable robotic horse to open. No, I haven’t lost my love for this line, but I think I’m just beginning to make peace with the fact that it’s almost done. So, maybe it’s not an issue of forgetting them, but wanting to take my time and savor the final releases because soon there will be no more. That having been said, I was really looking forward to today’s release, which arrived on my doorstep several weeks back and today’s the day I felt like finally opening him up.

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There’s nothing to be said here about the packaging that hasn’t already been said these past many years. Fans of the Filmation She-Ra series will note that the spelling of this guy’s name has changed from Sunder to Sundar because, copyright lapse? Probably. Anyway, the bios on the back of the cards are gone, but I remember a good deal about the two episodes that Sundar appeared in and how unlikely Sundar’s character arc was. Yup, he’s a Horde General with honor, which makes little sense, who all the sudden decides that Hordak and his taxes are unreasonable… shortly after he’s thrown a poor old farmer and his wife into prison for not paying their taxes after they were arbitrarily doubled that morning. Yeah, I see what they were going for here, and I appreciate that kind of depth in a kid’s show that was basically a toy commercial, but it’s still pretty weak.

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This figure, on the other hand, is amazing. There’s something about the Horde Trooper aesthetic that I just adore and that’s on full display here. Sundar wears a modified version of the Horde Trooper armor, which features the same pale gray plates with exposed black ribbing at the joints. His chest plate is missing the sculpted Horde emblem, but he makes up for it with a dashing red cape that “secures” to the front of his shoulders with two bronze clasps, which also match his belt buckle. There’s some wonderful detail sculpted into the armor itself, particularly on the legs and forearms. One o fmy many weaknesses is sci-fi/fantasy armor and this is just a great example of that.

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The head sculpt features a helmet sculpted onto the underlying head to give it some depth and credibility. It’s a relatively simple helmet design with the nose and mouth exposed and large holes for the eyes. The top is adorned with a Grecco-Roman style brush crest. It’s worth pointing out here that my figure has a few nagging little QC issues, like a chip of gray paint near his right eyebrow and some glue residue on the helmet in front of the crest. There’s also some rubbing on the front of his chest plate, but that last bit I’ll just write off as some battle scuffing. I hate to say it, but it really does feel like some of these final figures aren’t getting as much QC as the bulk of MOTUC releases. There’s nothing here that ruins the figure for me, but keep in mind, this guy was around $38 shipped, so even the little flubs can be annoying.

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The articulation here is a bit of a departure from what I’m used to seeing in the MOTUC line, but then this guy does look like he’s comprised of mostly new tooling. The big change here is the use of rotating hinges in the elbows and knees, as opposed to just regular hinges. In fact, this guy is all about the rotating hinges, as he also has them in the shoulders and hips as well. There are swivels in the biceps, wrists, and at the hips and chest. You get the usual ab crunch hinge hidden under the chest plate and the neck is ball jointed. The ankles have hinges and possibly lateral rockers, but I really can’t get much movement out of them.

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Sundar comes with his pair of stun pistols, each housed snugly in his twin holsters. These are cool little designs and he looks great dual wielding them. Oddly, the trigger finger on his right hand doesn’t seem like it was designed with the gun in mind, so he tends to hold it on a bit of an angle.

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You also get this Horde axe. I don’t recall him having this in the series, but it’s been forever since I’ve seen his episodes. Whatever the case, it looks wonderful when matched with one of the Horde Troopers’ shields. It’s pretty cool that Mattel threw in the axe when you consider that Sundar also comes with a trio of extra heads…

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Yup, these bonus noggins are actually for the Horde Troopers so you can spice up your ranks with a little variety. As I understand it the one in the middle is a Naval Trooper and the one on the left is the design helmet from the Horde’s earlier days. I have no clue as to the purple monster face helmet, but it’s a damn fine sculpt.

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Will I get much use out of these? Probably not. I only have two Horde Troopers and I plan on keeping them with their stock heads. There was a rumor that Mattel was going to be re-releasing the Horde Trooper sometime in November, but with things at Matty Collector winding down in just two short months, I’m not finding that likely. If I can get another Trooper, I’ll definitely display him with the Navy Head.

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Sundar is definitely one of my favorite MOTUC figures this year, and that’s saying a lot because there have been quite a few excellent releases. It also shows once again that I don’t need any special affinity for a character to love the figures in this line. The front of the card may say Former Horde General, but I’ll likely keep Sundar displayed with my Horde army because he looks so amazing standing beside Hordak and flanked by a pair of Troopers. The extra heads were also a fantastic bonus and continues to show that Matty is trying to get as much extras into the hands of the collectors before the curtain drops on this wonderful line.

Nov 7 2016

Marvel Legends (Rhino Wave): Ghost Rider by Hasbro

How about that Ghost Rider on Agents of SHIELD, eh? I actually haven’t seen it, I’m just trying to make a review of a figure from a very old assortment sound topical. I love me some Ghost Rider, but I’ve suffered through almost two seasons of AoS. That was more than enough to know it’s not for me and not even Ghost Rider is enough to get me to come back for more. But hey… we got a new Ghost Rider in Marvel Legends, so Yay!

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While I believe this is generally considered to be a Spider-Man themed wave, there’s no such branding on this package. Although, I’ll give this one to Hasbro as Spider-Man and Ghost Rider have had their share of Team Ups. This is also one of those figures that shares a slot, in this case with Misty Knight, so neither name appears on the front, just “Heroes for Hire.” That moniker works for Misty, but Ghost Rider? Mmm, not so much. This is actually the second appearance of Ghost Rider in the modern run of Marvel Legends. He was actually one of the first figures released way back in 2012. Of course, that was based off of his contemporary look and this is…

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Classic! Yup, we’re getting back to Ghost Rider’s roots here, albeit with a black suit instead of blue, but that’s alright. I’ll gladly take it! While this body has been around the block a few times, this is my first hands on experience with it. I never did find an AIM Soldier and I didn’t pony up for the comic version of Peter Quill in that Guardians boxed set. Whatever the case, it looks absolutely fantastic here. The lanky body fits the character perfectly as does the sculpted button down front flap on the tunic. I think the Marvel Universe figure did the same buck sharing for its versions of the AIM Soldier and Quill. You gotta go with what works, whatever the scale.

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From the neck down the coloring here is about as simple as you can get. The buck is predominantly glossy black with some white trim painted on the outline of the tunic’s flap and around the inside of the high collar. Throw in a little tarnished silver paint for the belt and chain and you’ve got the extent of Ghost Rider’s color palate.

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But it’s really what Hasbro did with the portrait here that takes this figure up a couple of notches. I mean, damn this is great stuff. The sculpt of the skull mixed with the beautiful orange translucent plastic used for the flames around the neck and crown. This looks absolutely amazing and even the way the skull is painted but the orange bleeds through it is a fantastic effect. And we even got a hinged jaw. So cool! Also, thank god the flame effect on the head is all one piece. The extra piece of flame on my previous Ghost Rider Legends figure constantly pops off and goes missing.

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Unfortunately, this figure isn’t an entirely smooth ride, so let’s talk articulation. The points that I’ve come to expect from my modern Legends are all there. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels at the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and ab crunch in the hinge, and the neck is ball jointed. So what’s the problem? Well, for starters the hinges in the elbows and knees are super soft and gummy. It’s bad enough that my figure’s right leg was warped in the package and I had to do some heat treatments to straighten it out. The other issue is the top hinges on the elbows are really loose. The right one even has trouble staying up. And there’s no amount of heat that’s going to help that. Bummer.

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I’m also a little bummed that there are no accessories included, other than the BAF part of course. Even the 3 3/4-inch Marvel Universe version of Ghost Rider came with a chain. It seems like a reasonable expectation, but nope. Fortunately, I was able to raid my Thundra figure for her ball and chain and it works quite well. So well, she may never get it back and I might just snip the ball off the end.

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If it weren’t for some soft plastic and loose joints, Ghost Rider could have been very nearly a perfect ten. I still dig the original release of the character from Wave 1, he looks so bad ass, but this is the Ghost Rider I know and love and Hasbro did a beautiful job on him. One of these days, I may hunt down another and see if I make out any better with the joints the second time around.

Nov 5 2016

Pop! Vinyl (Fairy Tail): Natsu and Lucy by Funko

It’s hard to believe that I haven’t looked any Funko Pop!s since the very beginning of the year. Especially considering how many of these damn things I have stacked around the place. I swear, they multiply like Tribbles or Gremlins or some other fictional critter that breeds out of control. Anyway, I thought I should check some more of these things out before the end of the year, and what better occasion to look at some Fairy Tail Pop!s than on a lazy Anime Saturday! It’s also a convenient excuse to look at something pretty quickly because I’m heading off to the Medieval Fair today!

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If you’ve seen one boxed Pop! than you’ve more or less seen them all. Natsu and Lucy hail from the Pop! Animation line, one of the approximately two billion categories of these adorable little plastic figures. Indeed, I would not be surprised to learn they have an entire line of Hungarian Cabinet Maker Pop!s. While a lot of my Pop! buying comes from impulse buys, I actually sought these two out, because Fairy Tail is awesome and sadly there just ain’t a lot of merchandising around these characters. Let’s start with Natsu

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Natsu Dragneel is immediately recognizable to me thanks to his hot pink spiked hair and his somewhat iconic outfit, which has been faithfully recreated on his tiny little body, from his white checker-patterned scarf and little belt buckle to his sandals. He even has a ball of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic boiling in his right hand. The paint on this one is fair by Funko Pop! standards. To be honest, every time I buy one of these, it’s like rolling dice. I’ve had ones with near perfect paint and others where they look like they were painted by blind hamsters. Here, the orange striping on the outfit is pretty good, but there’s some rubbing on the brown sandal straps. On the downside, this one is a bitch to keep standing. I actually had to put a spot of tape on his foot to keep him from falling over for these snaps. Considering Natsu has a problem with motion sickness, we’ll just call this an action feature. Moving on to Lucy…

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Lucy Heartfilia isn’t quite as instantly recognizable to me, but in fairness she changes up her outfit in the series quite frequently and her Pop! form loses some of her womanly features. Here, the best details to identify her with are her whip, coiled on her belt and complete with the little heart finial at the end, and the keys on her belt that she uses for her Celestial Spirit Magic. She also has one of the keys in her left hand and her Fairy Tail Guild stamp on the back of her right hand. Knowing who she is brings the head into a more recognizable light, but this is one Pop! where you really need to know the character pretty well to recognize her outside of her box. Like Natsu, the paint on this one has its highs and lows. There’s some chipping on her boots and her right bracelet, but otherwise nothing too bad. I actually really dig the colors on her. The bright yellow, blue, and white look great together. Ironically, Lucy comes with a stand to keep her upright. Natsu could have used one of these.

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So, Fairy Tail Pop!s are a thing and now I do indeed have a pair of them on my shelf. There are three figures in this little series, with the third being Happy. I haven’t picked him up yet, but I probably will at some point just to complete the set. I doubt I’d review him alone, so if I do wind up getting him, I’ll just tack him on here in an Edit. As for Lucy and Natsu, these are actually a decent pair of Pop!s and I’m glad I picked them up, but they don’t quite scratch my itch for owning some actual figures or statues from the Fairy Tail anime. Nonetheless, I guess they’ll have to do for now.

Nov 4 2016

The Flash (TV Series): Heatwave by DC Collectibles

I’ve been on a statue kick for the last few DC Fridays, so today I’m going to mix things up and open one of the ga-jillion DC action figures waiting on the heap in the corner. DC Collectibles impressed me with their TV versions of The Flash and Leonard Snart, so let’s see how they did with Heatwave!

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Mick Rory is part of the second wave of The Flash TV Series figures, although these have only been two to a wave so far. Nonetheless, the packaging is identical to what we saw used for Barry and Leonard. Heatwave is actually number four in the series. I still have to track down the third figure, Reverse Flash! Anyway, the packaging here is clean and attractive and totally collector friendly.

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Out of the package and Heatwave is looking pretty good, although I wouldn’t say spectacular. He’s wearing a fire-retardant suit from the Central City Fire Department, complete with scorched shoulder patch and CCFD printed across the back. The suit features some decent detail work, including wrinkles, some stitching, and pockets. I particularly like that they sculpted the steel plates on the toes of his boots. The paint wash over the suit looks good and kind of gives it a little sheen to simulate the flame resistant qualities of the material, although it really doesn’t match the fabric used in the show very well at all.

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The articulation here is the same as what we got with Captain Cold. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists are rotating hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and have double hinges in the knees. The ankles appear to be on ball joints, but the cuffs of the pants inhibit most of their movement. Finally, the neck is ball jointed. The elbows here give a little better range of movement than Snart had.

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The portraits in this line have been a little soft, and Heatwave here is no exception. I think it’s a passable likeness to Dominic Purcell, but it could have used something in the way of whiskers and perhaps a more expressive face. Heatwave is a loose cannon and the rather calm expression here doesn’t reflect that.

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Of course, he wouldn’t be Heatwave without his flame gun and DCC has done an admirable job recreating it as an accessory here. There’s a hooked tab on the hip that looks like it’s supposed to fit into the slot on the side of the gun, but the connection is too loose to hold the gun. Luckily you cans till hook the hose on the top and have him wear it that way. The gun design itself is crude and ugly, just like Heatwave. The figure also comes with a total of three sets of hands. You get a pair of fists, and two pair of accessory holding hands, which seem rather redundant.

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Ultimately, Heatwave isn’t the most exciting figure around, but a lot of that has to do with the character design. I think DCC did a solid job recreating him here and he looks great displayed next to his partner in crime, Snart. To be honest, I’ve decided I’m going to be All-In on both the The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow figures, so Heatwave was a must have for me either way. I don’t know that I’d recommend anyone run out and buy him, but I’m not sorry I did.

Nov 3 2016

Mythic Legions: Sir Godfrey by The Four Horsemen

Yes, I know it’s Thursday. I know there should be transformable plastic robots on your screen right now. But, it’s been a crazy couple of days for me at work, I haven’t felt all that great, and so I had to take a day off of toy bloggery to recoup. Yes, that means Transformers Thursday is getting bumped, but to be honest, I don’t have any new Titans Return figures to look at today anyway. Hopefully next week. So here’s what I had planned to post yesterday… More Mythic Legions!

Last week I got the figures that I ordered from Wave 1.5, and I’m already pissed that I only bought two from this assortment. I had a lot of things going on, money was tight, but I keep asking myself, “Would eating Ramen for a week really have killed ya, you fat bastard?” Where was that measured council a couple of months ago when I needed it. Oh yeah, I also dropped $100 on one of the Deluxe Trolls in this Wave, so that’s where most of the monies went. He’s shipping later. Anyway, in the end I picked out the two that I couldn’t live without and today we’re going to look at Sir Godfrey, The Templar.

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This may be Wave 1.5, but the presentation of the package has not changed at all. It’s the same cardback and same bubble insert. There’s a little bio about the character on the right hand panel of the insert and the whole shebang is totally collector friendly. In the Mythic Legions universe, the Templars are a sect of noble, but disgraced warriors aligned with Sir Gideon in the never ending battle against Gorgo’s evil. And while Mythic Legions may be a fantasy series, Sir Godfrey’s design is based on the real Templar warrior monks of history.

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I always loved reading about these guys, and the myths and legends that have grown up around their Order and their distinctive white tabard with red cross looks amazing accompanied by the Mythic Legions armored buck. From the neck down, this figure is simply a repaint of Sir Gideon, but oh, what a repaint it is! The full plate armor is given a brushed steel look with some fabulous silver paint and the trim is all painted in gold. The armored sculpt is just as gorgeous as ever and the new paint combined with the white and crimson makes this quite possibly one of the most striking figures in this impressive line up. As always, the figure comes out of the package without his shoulders, and while any of these figures look fine displayed without them, I think this design works particularly well when left shoulder-less.

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Nonetheless, they’re here if you want them by simply pegging them into the sockets in his back. They are perfectly matched with the rest of the armor and definitely give Sir Godfrey a more bulked up look. They also frame the tabard rather nicely. Add the brown sword belt, and this holy warrior is ready for action.

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The helmet is the standard Great Helm type and is the same sculpt we saw included as Sir Gideon’s alternate head and the head on one of the Knight Legion Builders. The gold painted cross pieces are beautiful and all the rivets are painted gold as well. Godfrey also has a crimson plume rising from the top of his helmet.

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Sir Godfrey comes with the same style of shield we’ve been seeing all along in this line, only it’s silver with the front painted with a crimson cross on a white field to match his tabard. The shield clips onto the figure’s wrist and can be rotated and orientated independently of the arm’s position.

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And since no knight would be complete without his trusty sword, Godfrey comes with the smaller single-handed cruciform sword we’ve seen a few times before. This is the same sword that came with Gideon, painted with a gold hilt.

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And what’s this? A brand new weapon! Yes, Godfrey also comes with this great looking flanged mace. The head is painted to match the armor and includes gold painted rivets. The shaft is sculpted with a wood grain pattern and painted brown. I’m really stoked to finally be getting a new weapon for my Mythic Legions arsenal and this one makes good sense here as the old myth goes that some sects of warrior monks were compelled to carry bludgeons so as not to shed blood.

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If you’ve been reading my Mythic Legions reviews from the beginning, you’ve probably become tired of hearing me say “this is my new favorite figure in the line. No, really, I mean it this time!” Well, I think I really do mean it this time. For reals! Not only is Godfrey a gorgeous figure, but he touches on one of those wonderfully romantic and thrilling aspects of medieval history that I love to read about. He also tugs at my nostalgia strings by reminding me of how much fun I used to have with the vintage Marx Knights back when I was a kid. I wish I had the funds to order a second one of these at the time, but that’s OK, because T4H had me covered by offering a Templar Knight Legion Builder in the last wave, so I was sure to pre-order one of them as well. Next Wednesday, I’ll check out Prixxus!

Nov 1 2016

Star Wars Rogue One: Moroff and Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader by Hasbro

It’s been a few weeks since my little binge on Rogue One figure reviews, so it’s probably time I started up again if I’m ever going to get through all of these before the movie comes out. I’ve already looked at the first wave of 6-inch Black Series figures, so today I’m beginning to turn my attention to the 3 3/4-inch stuff. Let’s start with one of the two-packs!

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We’ve seen these nifty little window boxed two-packs for The Force Awakens and Hasbro is continuing to release them for Rogue One. These used to be called Mission Packs, but they’ve added VS. between the character portraits, so I’m going to start calling them Versus Packs. The new branding, with the Death Trooper art on the upper right corner looks great, as does the rest of the character art. The presentation here is so colorful and exciting, I’ve been tempted to keep the boxes, and considering my space limitations, that’s a high compliment indeed! Let’s start off with Moroff!

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Wow, look at this guy! He’s a Gigoran, his species basically looks like what you would get if a Wookie and a Wampa had sex, and I love him. I don’t recall seeing Moroff in the trailers. I’m hoping this won’t be another case of Zuvio Syndrome, where the character doesn’t even show up. But even if it is, I think he’s a great looking character and figure. If Hasbro gets us this guy in the 6-inch Black Series, that’s going to be one massive beast of a toy. According to his bio, he’s a heavy gunner mercenary, and that’s all the information I really need to enjoy this figure.

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The sculpted detail in the fur covers the entire figure and he has a chest harness and some gear sculpted right onto the body. Further detail includes some leather texturing on the harness and the tiny rivets that hold it in place. The head sculpt features two tiny wide set eyes and some kind of breather apparatus over the lower part of his squished face. This character doesn’t feature a very diverse color palate, but the paint operations that are here are very good. The gear is neatly painted brown and gray, the insides of his hands are brown, and you even get some yellow wash on parts of his white fur and a darker shade around his eyes.

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Moroff comes with a pretty cool gatling-gun style rifle, which is both a great sculpt and a pretty unique design. But if you want your giant Wampa-Wookie to pack a little more punch, Hasbro’s got you covered with this…

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GAH! As if Hasbro didn’t invest enough plastic into the figure, the backpack and heavy guns he comes probably uses enough plastic to make two more regular sized figures. The attention to detail that they put into this formidable piece of kit is truly amazing for this scale. It has a painted bed roll strapped to the top and a bunch of extra missiles sculpted to it. The two launchers come with translucent red missiles and they can be fired by pressing the button on the back of the backpack. Lord knows, I’m not a big fan of over-sized missile launchers with my Star Wars figures, but I absolutely adore the way this thing turned out. It looks great and it’s actually fun to mow down Stormtroopers with the missiles.

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While probably not intentional, you can also clip the rifle to the backpack so he can lug all his gear at once. This figure is so much fun and packs so much personality, he’s instantly become a favorite of mine. Let’s move on to the Scarif Trooper.

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As I understand it, Scarif is the tropical planet we see in the trailers featuring the AT-ACT Walkers on the beaches, which would make these Scarif Troopers the beach troopers we see in that battle. This figure is specifically referred to as a Squad Leader, so I’m assuming the regular Scarif Troopers will feature different paint schemes. Now, I do like all the trooper designs we’ve been seeing so far, but I do get a sense of kit-bashy elements in these designs.

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That having been said, this is still a pretty cool looking figure. The sculpted detail in the armor is very sharp, particularly on the backpack and chest area. The contours of the armor pieces are clearly developed and the paint is very clean, except where it’s intended to look weathered. Even the cloth effect on the plastic kama is well executed.

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The trooper comes with a cabine that has an over-under barrel, a site, side mounted clip, and a short stock.

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Of course, both figures feature the straight five points of articulation. And with all the talk we get from Hasbro about reduced articulation in favor of better sculpts and paint and accessories, this is one of the first packs in a while where I can see that truly being the case. These are some great quality figures and I love the idea of getting a Versus Pack with a couple of adversaries to fight each other. You can give this box to a kid and he could have plenty of fun with it. Plus, with a retail of about $15, it feels like you’re getting a lot of plastic for your money here. Due to some overzealous ordering, I wound up with two of these and I’m OK with that because I think Moroff works as a pretty cool troop builder too.

Oct 31 2016

Marvel Legends (Rhino Wave): White Tiger by Hasbro

No, you haven’t fallen into a time warp, I’m just really behind on my Legends figures and I’m only now in the process of making my way through the rather dated Rhino Wave. Today I’m checking out White Tiger, so let’s kick it off with a quick look at the packaging…

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White Tiger shares her package with a giant Rhino torso piece that probably consists of more plastic than she does. She’s also packaged so that she’s un-enthusiastically raising her hand either to strike down one of her foes, or hail a taxi cab. I’m not sure which. I think this is actually the Ava Ayala version of the character, but I could be wrong on that one. I haven’t encountered White Tiger much in my Marvel readings. I’ve got nothing else to say about the package here, so let’s get her out and check out the figure… uh… wait, what?

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JOL:”Hey, what are you doing? It’s Halloween and it’s Marvel Monday. You should be doing a Feature on me. I have a Jack O’Lantern for a head. And my name is Jack O’Lantern. I’m basically Halloween personified.”

What the hell, Jack? I did a Feature on you already.

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JOL:”Well that showed poor planning. You should have saved me for Halloween. Look at how Halloweeny I am!”

Dude, I reviewed you back in June. I couldn’t wait. It would have held up my look at that whole wave.

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WT: “Do you mind? I’m being reviewed here. You already had your turn!”

JOL: “Hush up, woman! The men are talking!”

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WT: “Excuuuuuse me? What did you just say?”

JOL: “All I’m saying is that I was a perfect fit for Halloween on a Marvel Monday and you screwed it up. I ooze Halloween. Just look at me. I’m scary.”

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SW: “I lost an arm. That’s kind of scary.”

JOL: “GET OUT!!! We’ve all seen your stump, woman! Now take it away!”

WT: “Yeah, seriously Jessica. That review was like a year ago and nobody remembers it. You need to get over that.”

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SW: “Aww… It’s not fair. Hasbro used the same female buck for us, and your arms both work.”

JOL: “Jeezus. She’s a real downer”

Look, can I get on with it? I have to do six of these Features a week and I’m already a borderline alcoholic. You’re holding me up.

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JOL: “Ooooh, poor you! You drink a lot and have too many toys to review… Fine! Piss all over Halloween with this crappy choice of a figure review. I wash my hands of it!”

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WT: “Grrrrr…. THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!”

JOL: “Unhand my face, you wretched woman!” 

WT: “You want a review? Here’s one. Let’s talk about articulation. For starters, your head is on a ball joint…”

<POP>

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WT: “GOTCHA!” 

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JOL: “Is this a good time to point out that this is just the author’s way of diverting us from the fact that he has no real interest in you as a character and nothing really worthwhile to say about you as a figure? Or that he mainly just bought you so he could get a Build-A-Figure part?”

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Happy Halloween, Toy Hounds! …And for what it’s worth, I actually kind of dig White Tiger.

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GR: “You know, I’m in this wave. You could have reviewed me. I’m a little Halloweeny.”

Shit. He’s right. Whelp, next week on Marvel Monday… GHOST RIDER!

Oct 29 2016

Strike Witches: Perrine Clostermann 1/8 Scale Figure by Furyu

It’s another beautiful Anime Saturday here at FFZ and while I’d like to say I’ll be spending it split between anime watching and video gaming, the truth is I’ll be working most of the day. But at least I can still enjoy a little of the morning by having my coffee and checking out an anime figure. This time I’m going with another of Furyu’s “High Quality” Strike Witches.

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The package design is similar to the Charlotte Yeager figure I looked at quite a few months back. The figure comes in a colorful box with windows on the front and top. There’s very little in the way of English here, but at least it tells you who the character is and the name of the series. Although, if you didn’t already know that, I don’t know why you’d be buying this. While the packaging is collector friendly, the cardboard on these boxes tends to be really flimsy, so I don’t know how well these will hold up to storage. The base requires some very simple assembly before Perrine is ready for display.

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And here she is all set up and looking fantastic! If you aren’t familiar with the anime, Strike Witches follows the adventures of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, comprised of young women who cast magic, have animal ears and tails, and fly around with pants that look like WWII fighter jets. They’re also our last line of defense against an alien invaders.

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Perrine is smartly dressed in her military-style blue tunic with gold buttons and striping on the sleeves. Her outfit consists of a fairly simple sculpt, but you do get some appropriate wrinkles, pockets, and the aforementioned buttons. The top features a slight billowing effect to suggest that she’s flying up high in the air and adds a little energy to the piece.

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The portrait here is pretty good. I like her surprised expression and they did a wonderful job with her glasses. The bright yellow paint on her wild, windblown hair is a bit splotchy in some places, but it’s not terrible. Her eyes are perfectly printed with an unusual yellow shade that matches her hair. Perrine’s familiar is the French Chartreux cat, so she has black cat ears popping out from her hair and a long cat tail protruding from under the back of her jacket. The tail is tastefully done, which is surprising when you consider how much fan service is in this series. Seriously, if you ever want to die of alcohol poisoning just play a drinking game called shot for panty shot. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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Perrine’s Striker Unit is modeled after the French Arsenal VG-33 light fighter. It’s not an aircraft that I’m all that familiar with, certainly not as much as Charlotte’s P51 Mustang-inspired gear, but it looks great. you get some deep cut panel lines, details in the engine, and a grey and olive green camo deco. The props are cast in a clear plastic and they do spin.

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When not casting her formidable lightning based magic attacks, Perrine is partial toward wielding a Bren machine gun. The weapon is recreated here with a very detailed sculpt and nearly perfect paint job. It’s also easily removable from her hand so you can inspect it all over or even let a similarly scaled figure borrow it for a while.

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The base here is pretty much identical to the one that came with Charlotte. It uses a cup to cradle one nose of the Striker Unit and a clip to hold it further up. Oddly enough, I find the figure stands a little better if I don’t actually clip it to the leg, but rather just rest it there.

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I don’t know why it took me so long to come back to this line. I was very pleased with my Charlotte Yeager figure and this one makes me just as happy. In addition to enjoying the anime a lot, I really dig the contrast on these figures between the cute girl designs and the hyper realistic military hardware. The sculpt and paint on this figure are both remarkably good, especially for a piece in this price range. Yup, at $25 shipped, I’ll buy figures like this all day long and worry about where I’m going to find room for them later.

Oct 28 2016

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: Catwoman (Ver. 2) by DC Collectibles

I’ve been running up to Halloween with some looks at horror figures, but with today being DC Friday, the best I could do was a certain black (suited) cat lady. Also appropriate because yesterday was Black Cat Day. Yeah, I’m going with that…

On the last DC Friday, I took a look at Diamond Select’s Catwoman statue from their DC Animated Series and today I’m going to keep the Selena love going with a look at her second statue from the Cover Girls of the DC Universe. Catwoman was my first foray into this line since it re-launched and with a dozen or so of these statues on my shelf, I’ve now come full circle.

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As always, the statue comes in a fully enclosed box with pictures of the piece on the front and side panels. You get an adorable cat head logo on the top and the back panel teases two of the statues that I’ve already looked at: Bleez and Black Canary. Catwoman is packed snugly between two styrofoam bricks and wrapped in plastic. The only assembly required is inserting the metal pegs on her feet into the base.

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This new version of Catwoman features a pretty conventional pose for this line. She’s standing with her weight on her left foot and her right leg slightly bent and her heel off the base. She toss her left hip to the side ever so slightly and has her whip seductively coiled around her shoulders and is holding it from each end. It’s not the most original composition out there, but I still like it. It suits the character and it conforms more closely with the direction this line has taken since the release of the original Catwoman statue.

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The costume is a very simple black body suit. Apart from some seams on the legs and some more running up the front and back, the only real detail to be found is in the rumples and wrinkles. It’s enough to make the suit look realistic without interrupting the beautiful contours of her body. She also has the ring zipper pull in the middle of her chest so… um… Batman can have easy access? Traditionally, I remember this pull usually being silver, but here it looks more gold. The boots each have three sets of belts securing them and her gauntlets flare out to points as they approach her elbows.

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The paint finish on the body suit, gloves, and boots is all done in a satin finish black, which is a pretty stark contrast to the ultra high glossy suit that the first version of Cover Girls Catwoman wore. I kind of dig this change, since there are so many different interpretations of her costume in the comics. Sometimes it looks like a rubber suit, sometimes it looks like cloth. In terms of painted details to the costume, this is probably the simplest deco since Platinum came out and she was literally all one color. I’m not really complaining, the paint on the costume looks great, in fact, it’s practically flawless, but there just isn’t a whole lot of variety to it. Ironically, she tends to be a magnet for cat hair, as you can probably see a stray white kitty hair or two in the pictures.

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As great as everything is from the neck down, the portrait is easily my favorite thing about this figure. The tight hood is beautifully executed with the sculpted goggles down over her eyes. The lenses are tinted yellow, very clear, and offer a great view of her perfectly painted eyes, which glance off to her left. She has a slight, mischievous smile and the paint on her lips is just about flawless. In fact, the only complaint I have over the paint on this piece are a few tiny spots on her skin. There’s a little area of bleed on the left edge of the unzipped portion of her suit where it meets her chest. There’s also what looks like a tiny air pocket in the paint in her cleavage. I wasn’t looking, I swear… I just sort of noticed it! Both issues would be so minor they wouldn’t be worth mentioning if they weren’t in such a prominent area. I think they’re mostly annoying because the rest of the paintwork on this piece is just so good.

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Last time we saw Cover Girls Catwoman she was on a rather elaborate diorama style base. Here she’s been made to conform to the classic oval style base the line has been using for a while now. It’s painted silver around the edges, with a black cat icon at the cardinal points, and black on the surface. The limitation is hand numbered on the bottom. Mine is #1,918 of 5,200.

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So, now that I’ve got two Selenas on my Cover Girls shelf, which one do I like better? Well, from a technical standpoint, I think this new one is more polished. The paint on the costume is flawless, the portrait is pretty, and she’s about as solid a statue as they come in this price range. The original has much more dynamic composition, a lot more personality, and the glossy paint on the suit really catches the eye. On the other hand, the paint on the earlier piece isn’t quite as sharp, the skin tone is rather flat, and the portrait isn’t quite as good. It’s still a solid piece, but I think I’ll be pulling her as well as the first versions of Harley and Poison Ivy to make up their own little display vignette on another shelf and that’ll make room for some more of the oval-based Cover Girls. They just feel more like a unified line.

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Originally, I wasn’t going to double dip on Catwoman, at least not until I got caught up on the other characters I needed in this line. As it so happens, someone was offering her for a price I couldn’t refuse and I just had to do it. These ladies retail for $99, and while I think that’s most often a fair price for what you’re getting, the truth is most e-tailers seem to knock twenty to thirty percent off the price to be competitive. I was able to pick up Selina for $63 shipped and I’ve certainly got no regrets at adopting this kitty cat.

Oct 27 2016

Transformers Titans Return: Rewind by Hasbro

Well, I’ve done two days of horror figures for the week before Halloween, but today is Transformers Thursday and unless I want to run my feature on Mindwipe again, I got nothing both Halloweeny and Transformery to look at. Thinking back, I should have picked up Wheelie for today because he’s orange and slightly pumpkin shaped. But hindsight is 20-20, so instead, let’s check out Legends Class Rewind!

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I find this packaging to be almost indistinguishable from the Combiner Wars Legends figures. Still not a huge fan of the design here, but I’m just going to shred it, so it’s no big deal. I will say that I dig the character art, especially since it isn’t a goofy picture of the character’s head flying off or docking. The sticker on the bubble tells me in four different languages that he’s compatible with something, but not what. Flip it over and I find that he does indeed work with the Leader Class Blaster because he’s a cassette… right? RIGHT??? Well, no.

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OK, Hasbro, so you call this mode a “Spy Tablet.” I want to follow you on this. It’s the 21st century. Nobody uses cassettes anymore, so you don’t want to have the cassettes turn into cassettes. Tablets are a thing now, so you think, “let’s do that!” …But we’re also going to make the tablet’s screen look like a cassette for absolutely no logical reason at all. Well, here’s an idea. If you’re going to print a cassette tape on the screen of the shitty “Spy Tablet” mode… JUST MAKE THE GOD DAMN ALT MODE A CASSETTE!!!! I mean, seriously, for the love of Primus… what’s the point? Not to mention this thing looks more like a micro cassette recorder to me than any kind of phone or tablet. And not to kick an alt mode when its down, but the stickers on these look like crap and are already starting to peel off. I could end my rant right now, but I’m not going to.

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Because, nothing about this alt mode makes sense to me. I think if I were eight years old, I’d be less confused about getting a toy that turned into a cassette. Especially since my parents are going to have to explain what that is on the sticker anyway. Not to mention the fact that he’s still designed to go into a portable stereo alt mode. And now I’m thinking about how happy I am they didn’t make Blaster transform into an iPod docking station. Also… HIS NAME IS REWIND!!! Hell, if I had a kid, I’d rather have to explain to him what a cassette tape was than have to explain that and why there’s a picture of a cassette on the screen of a data tablet… that’s named Rewind. Jeez! Who knew a slab of plastic could get me so upset? But, I’d seriously rather they just went with a straight out slab of plastic and called it a Data Slug mode. Or, here’s an idea… some kind of digital video camera.

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If I had to say one good thing about this mode, the designers were clever enough to make it so that he can store his gun by tucking it in the side. That’s pretty cool. Well, at least he has another mode…

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The tank mode! This isn’t exactly appropriate for Rewind as I know him, and as far as alt modes go, it’s pretty weak. It’s a tank in the most abstract sense of the word. At least the red and silver paint looks pretty sharp. Still, at least this is something I would be able to play with as a kid. There’s a port on the side of the turret that can take another weapon and there are tiny pegs on the top of the turret where you can stand some little head robots. All in all, it’s OK for a tacked on second alt mode, and frankly much better than the first.

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Luckily the robot mode is here to save the day and make me quit my childish bitching over a toy designed for eight year olds. Yeah, his arms are a little beefy in general, and his forearms in particular are a bit ugly, as the right one looks finished and the left one is all hollowed out. Y’all know by now I’m not a big fan of this bare gray plastic, but in small amounts like this it doesn’t bother me so much and at least the red, silver, and yellow paint apps smarten him up quite a bit.

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I also kind of dig that you can see a good part of the cassette sticker on the back, so I can delude myself into believing he turns into one. He does have hollow leg syndrome, but on a Legends Class toy, that’s to be expected.

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The little head sculpt is fantastic, and they even sculpted on the little camera beside his visor. I wish they had painted it, but that will be an easy fix with a Gundam Marker. Yup, this is undoubtedly Rewind to me and i really dig this robot mode. Overall, there’s a good range of articulation here and that, combined with how solid he is, makes him a fun figure to play around with.

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Rewind can hold his gun in either hand, or you can plug it into his forearm. That’s pretty cool.

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Reunited and it feels so good!

I’ve been avoiding buying any of the so-called cassettes, simply because the animal ones look pretty lame. Keep in mind, that may change, because they’re pretty cheap and I’m a hopeless Transformers addict. But, I picked up this one simply because he’s Rewind and I needed him to put next to my Chromedome and finally reunite these two bots. He was a character I cared nothing about in the G1 continuity, but he sure as hell gave me the feels in MTMTE. And so shitty alt modes be damned, I’m glad I bought this guy because he’s a great little figure and he and Chromedome look great together!