Jan 22 2024

DC Multiverse (Mr. Freeze Wave) Batgirl, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze by McFarlane

As promised on Friday, I’m back to finish up with McFarlane’s send up to the 1997 schlock classic, Batman & Robin. I already checked out The Dynamic Duo, so let’s jump right in and have a look at Batgirl, Poison Ivy, and the Collect-To-Build Mr. Freeze!

The packaging is the same as what we saw last time, and standard stuff for the DC Multiverse CTB Waves. Each figure comes with a standard black disk figure stand, a collector card with a promotional image from of the character from the film, and parts to build Freeze. Batman & Robin came with Freeze’s limbs, while Ivy comes with the torso and Batgirl comes with the head, shoulders, and freeze gun. There were also some icy effect parts scattered throughout the wave. Let’s start with Batgirl!

Batgirl’s one-off appearance in these films was portrayed by Alicia Silverstone and I think I would have been a lot happier with that if they at least made her a redhead. Oh yeah, and she was Alfred’s niece for some reason. I wasn’t a fan of any of this, but she sure did look good in the suit. And I do indeed love this suit! The sculpt here is really good, but there are some minor unintentional color variances because of the different materials used. As a result some parts are glossy while others are very dull matte. The only thing about this that is off-putting is how it makes the diaper-piece stand out more than it should, otherwise I dig what we got here. The cape is sculpted exceptionally well and I love the way all the folds and rumples look in it from the back.

The head sculpt is passable, but I think it’s let down the most by the flat paintwork. Honestly, I’d have no idea who this was supposed to be without the context of the mask and suit. Like Robin, the mask is sculpted separately which makes for some clean lines between it and her face, but the same can’t be said about her collar, where there is some overspray of flesh tone on the suit. There’s also a bit of black smudging on her neck. The hair is also sculpted as a separate piece and looks good, but it does inhibit her neck articulation quite a bit and sort of just hovers over the front. It’s a far cry from what Hasbro is doing with their Legends portraits, but I think we can all agree that DC Multiverse is at it’s best with comic based portraits and not actor likenesses.

You do get the same level of articulation here as with the Dynamic Duo and I always love that this line doesn’t discriminate when it comes to poseability, unlike Hasbro’s Legends. They added a bit of chonk to Batgirl’s heels to help her be a little more stable and that helps, but she can still be a little tough to keep standing in dynamic poses, especially with the weight of the cape pulling her back. This is definitely one that will need her stand to keep her upright on my shelf. As with Batman and Robin, she comes with fists attached and no other hands. I like her a lot, but I think the other two Caped Crusaders turned out better. Moving on to Ivy..

I’ll start by tossing out an unpopular opinion bomb and stating that I’m not a big fan of Uma Thurman. Part of that is me just not liking a lot of film’s she’s been in, but also I just don’t find her to be that charismatic or appealing. With that having been said, she seemed to have a good time playing Ivy in this flick and she sure put a lot more energy into it than Silverstone did Batgirl, so I’ll give credit where it’s due. She had a bunch of different looks in the film and if I know Todd, he’ll find a way to capitalize on that, but for now we get the one that’s most like her more iconic comic appearances. She’s wearing a one piece which is beautifully sculpted out of leaves and given a nice wash to bring out the detail. The outfit also features a pair of light green sleeves, and tights that start out dark green and gradually go to black when they reach her high heeled boots. There’s some ivy sculpted onto her left leg and I think this outfit turned out looking great!

This portrait is easily the best of the wave and while that may sound like a loaded compliment, it really is just all around excellent. The bright orange hair features a really nice sculpt and the ivy half-mask over her eyes are separate sculpts giving this portrait some nice depth. The paint for the eyes and lips are also sharp and clean. This may be some of McFarlane’s best work when it comes to action figure portraiture.

And once again, we get standard DC Multiverse articulation, although the hair really gets in the way of her head movement. Her heels have less chonks than Batgirls, but she has no cape dragging her back, so it’s possible to get her to stand, but it can still be tricky so she will also be using her figure stand to stay up on my shelf. Ivy is the only figure in the wave to not have two fists, instead she has an accessory holding hand on the right and an open hand on the left. I dig that they sculpted a leaf into her open hand, that’s a cool little touch. This figure turned out great, and I wasn’t surprised to see her sell out fast at some of the online retailers that I usually frequent. And now… The Iceman Cometh…

It’s safe to say that Schwarzenegger’s Iceman is the main reason I ever re-watch this film. It’s so stupidly over the top it just screams 1966 Batman with a budget. Beyond that Arnold seems like he’s having an absolute blast and his suit and makeup are both works of art. I honestly think you’d need Hot Toys working at the top of their game to really pull off anything that comes close to this on screen glory in action figure form, but for a 7-inch entry, what we got here ain’t bad at all… but I’d fall just short of calling it great. The sculpting is excellent and there is a lot of detail packed into this suit. I also like the proportions of the body, especially the big shit-kicking boots. The head seems a little small, but it is a guy in a power suit, so it’s permissible. What’s really missing here is the paint. You get a vibrant blue on the panels that were lit in the movie, located on his lower and upper legs, biceps, and chest, but everything else is cast in silvery plastic. It has a decent finish, but would have looked so much better with some silver foil paint, or even just a wash to bring out more of that wonderful detail.

The head sculpt is very good, and the use of that translucent blue plastic for the helmet looks exquisite. It’s a shame we couldn’t get more of that effect for the lit panels on the suit. The flesh tone of the face doesn’t quite jibe with the on screen makeup, as Freeze had more of a sparkly face, but it still looks good. I will note that if you look closely, the paint on the lips doesn’t really match the sculpt of the mouth, but that’s not something that’s really obvious when viewed with the figure in hand. The shoulder pieces are cast in a softer plastic and so the silver there doesn’t look as vibrant as the rest of the suit.

The articulation here is fairly similar to a regular packaged DC Multiverse figure, although you do only get single hinges in the knees and elbows. Everything else is textbook right down to the hinges in the feet. The arms can just about do a 90-degree elbow bend, and the shoulders plates are designed to hinge up and down to allow for decent range of movement there. I initially had some problems with the legs detaching, but I don’t think they were in all the way. A little heat and pressure got them seated better and they stay put pretty well now.

Freeze comes with two accessories: A freeze gun and an ice blast effect part for it. I have absolutely no idea what happened to my effect part. I can see it in the packaged shot, but I haven’t seen it since. It’s possible one of the cats carried it off to their Treasures Den under one of the sofas. The gun sculpt is excellent and his right hand is designed to hold it perfectly, along with the foregrip for the left hand. DC seems to be giving McFarlane a little slack lately when it comes to including sci-fi themed guns. Overall, I like this figure a lot. There are certainly opportunities for improvement, and who knows? Maybe McFarlane will release him as a Gold Label with a better deco, like they did with Collect-To-Build Bane and the coat. Part of me would like to see what a Gold Label version would look like, while part of me doesn’t want to endorse that kind of scummy business practice.

Oh yeah, you also get a four other ice effect parts, which I think are meant to go on the other figures to make it look like they have been frozen. Two of these are obviously meant to go over the hands, the other two are a little more nebulous in their intent. I really need to hunt around and see what some other collectors have done with these.

And that’s the DC Multiverse Batman & Robin wave! All in all this is a nice set of figures, and I’m really glad McFarlane took a risk on these, and even happier that the risk seems to have paid off. While these have been going in and out of stock at some retailers, you can probably still assemble the wave at retail cost if you hunt around a bit. At the time I’m posting this, Amazon has them all available for just a few dollars above retail each. A lot of the Ebay listings I have seen seem to be without the Freeze parts. More than half the time I’m willing to play the waiting game on DC Multiverse, but this was one assortment I pre-ordered and I’m glad I did. I would love to see a Gold Label Ivy, repainted as one of her other outfits in the movie, and I’m hoping to see some more figures from these wacky films.

Jan 19 2024

DC Multiverse (Mr. Freeze Wave) Batman and Robin by McFarlane

A lot of people sure hated the 1997 comic book extravaganza that was Batman & Robin. On one hand, it’s easy to see why. Batman just came off of two excellent grimdark films and then completely flipped the script on the third and fourth. On the other hand, it’s basically a case of “What if we did goofy 1966 style Batman with a big budget and lots of stars?” And yeah, I was all for that, so screw the haters. It’s a terrible movie on so many levels, and yet I adore it. Heck, I probably love it even more because so many people hate it. And can I say that I will forever mix up the titles of the third and fourth movies. Is it just me, or does it seem more natural to go from Batman & Robin as the film that introduces Robin and then go to Batman Forever for the next installment? Anyone else with me on that?

Normally, the idea of this film getting a toy revival would be insane, but welcome to the 2020’s where nostalgia driven adults drive toy sales and literally anything is fair game. Enter McFarlane Toys with a wave of four figures and a Collect-To-Build Schwarzenegger Freeze, and we’re in business! And much to my surprise, the collectors were on board for it and these figures sold out fast at a lot of online retailers. The wave consists of four figures, which include Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Poison Ivy, and each contain parts for the Mr. Freeze figure. These come in your basic DC Multiverse packaging, enlarged to contain the CTB parts and each figure comes with a standard black disk stand and a trading card with a movie still of the character. Let’s start with Batman!

You know the deal: Keaton skipped out after the first two, Val Kilmer was on board for just the one, so George Clooney was hauled in to don the cowl for the 1997 film. I think he played a better Bruce Wayne than Batman, but he certainly isn’t one of this film’s biggest problems. The suit got a redesign with more black, less yellow, and the nipples are still here from Batman Forever’s first suit. Even with the Batnips, I like this suit a lot. From the chiseled abs to the sculpted bat symbol in the chest, McFarlane did a nice job bringing out the details in it. I’m not sure I ever noticed the sculpted bat shields on the front of the boots before, but they make for a nice touch. The cape flows well off the shoulders and spreads out a bit as it reaches the floor, looking full but not too obtrusive.

The portrait is solid, but not exceptional. Honestly, that could be anyone under that cowl, but with rotating actors playing the role at this point, I’m not that hung up on the likeness. I do like the way the sculpt distinguishes the holes around the eyes and where the face is painted to maintain the continuity. The ears bend in at the tips more than they should, which is probably more a side effect of them being bendy, rather than an intentional design choice. The biggest detractor here are the seams running up the sides of the head, which aren’t nearly as apparent when not punched in with the camera.

Standard McFarlane articulation is the order of the day, and while that’s mostly good, I will forever gripe about the lack of thigh swivels. The ball joints in the ankles are usually a problem for me too, but because of the all black suit, they aren’t as big of an eyesore here. Everything else is fine, and I found this figure to be lots of fun to play around with. There are no extra hands, so Batman gets by with his punchy fists and that works. So, how about that Boy Wonder?

Holy Holdovers, Batman, Christopher O’Donnell survived the shakeup and returned as Robin for the 1997 film, and he got treated to a very Nightwing inspired suit. I didn’t mind his look in Batman Forever, but I really prefer this one. A lot of it is sculpted to match Batman’s from the belt buckle to the Bat shields on the boots, but here we get a splash of color in the crimson bat symbol on the chest, which carries over to the shoulders. The cape is more understated than Batman’s with it dropping only about to the knees and giving a little swish to the left.

The head sculpt isn’t bad. I think they got his lower face down pretty well, especially the jaw structure. The eyes are let down by some very basic paint. I do love that the mask appears to be sculpted as a separate piece making for a sharp outline against his face. The hair is also separately sculpt and sports some nice detail and a clean hairline. I’ll rate this one higher than Batman’s, but they’re both fine.

Robin’s articulation is identical to his partner, making him equally as fun to play with. He also only comes with the attached fists, so no extra hands. The joints on both figures worked well straight out of the box, but I don’t usually have issues with stuck or loose joints on McFarlane’s figures, so no surprises there.

Obviously, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this pair in plastic, as Hasbro pumped out toys for the film back in the day. But it is cool to see them getting released as more detailed and better articulated figures for the collector market. And obviously there was a market for these, with some retailers beginning to restock them, so there should be enough to go around. It will be interesting to see if McFarlane capitalizes on that with some more suits from these films. In the meantime, I’ll be stopping back on Monday to check out the second half of this wave: Poison Ivy and Batgirl, as well as the Collect-To-Build Mr. Freeze! Have a great weekend!

Jan 17 2024

Cosmic Legions (Gravenight): Aius Cyppiteon by The Four Horsemen

I really wanted to finish up my review of the second wave of Cosmic Legions last year, but there were a lot of distractions arriving in November and December and in the end I came up two figures shy of that goal. I’m going to try to remedy that as early as possible so I can sneak in a few Mythic Legions figures before new stuff starts to arrive so let’s dig in today with the second to the last figure from Gravenight… Aius Cyppiteon.

By now these window boxes should be familiar. I like them well enough, but I have decided that I’m going to pitch the trays, flatten out the boxes and tuck them somewhere until I eventually toss them out. When it comes to storage space, the struggle is always real, and I’d rather conserve space for more figures than empty boxes. According to the narrative, Aius Cyppiteon is another one of the hapless alien gladiators made to fight in the bowels of Hvalkatar Prison, and while he may not look like a viable combatant, his race have a telepathic advantage. Let’s get this Grayborn out of the box and check him out!

Straightaway, if you’re a fan of the whole Area 51 Gray Alien aesthetic, this guy should be right up your alley. He’s got the lanky gray bod and the bulbous head with giant black soulless eyes. The body is nicely textured all over, giving his skin a realistic look, and there’s some brown and purple wash in there to bring out some of the sculpt and make all that gray a bit more dynamic. With that having been said, the figure’s coloring still looks a lot flatter and less interesting than what was shown on the solicitation shots. There’s not a lot of costume going on here. He has a softgoods skirt that’s held up by a pair of sculpted brown belts. These have some copper disks and a little silver paint hits to the buckles and fixtures, and remind me joust how good TF4 are at sculpting and painting plastic to look like seasoned leather! He has a pair of gray grieves on his lower legs, and a single forearm bracer on his left hand.

The figure comes with two shoulder pieces, and I’m not a fan of these. They plug into the back as usual, but since the figure is bare chested, what’s supposed to be holding them on? Well, similar to some Mythic Legions figures, you get a shoulder strap to make it look like it’s securing one of them, so I guess the other is supposed to just stay in the package? Yeah, that’s weird. Also, the figure has such narrow and downswept shoulders the armor piece still just looks like it’s awkwardly floating there. Beyond that the piece itself is nicely done, and looks like it’s fashioned out of some sort of alien crustacean shell.

The head sculpt is very nice and really hammers home that Area 51 look. The eyes are just beautiful and creepy at the same time, and the purple paint around the eyes looks great. There’s some scarring on the figure, no doubt from fighting matches in The Gravering, some of these are just painted on while others are in the sculpt. But, there is a jagged cut through the head over the right eye that looks more like damage to the mold than it does an intentional scar. Aius comes with a security key that hangs around his neck on a very thin piece of string. It tends to get twisted when I hang it under the shoulder strap, but looks awkward if I hang it over the strap.

The articulation is standard stuff for the line, although there was a slip of paper included in my case that warned about heating up Aius’ chest joint before working it as it might snap. Mine was indeed frozen right out of the box and while heating it up seemed to help a little, it still feels like moving it too much will twist it off, so I’m just going to let that joint be for now. You do get a decent number of extra hands here, which is fortunate, because the figure isn’t exactly laden down with accessories.

The first of those accessories is a staff that we saw all the way back in my very first Cosmic Legions review of Thygar. The official canon calls this a Metor Hammer Staff. I wasn’t terribly impressed with this piece then and seeing it again isn’t helping any. Thygar’s Staff came with a second version to suggest that it can convert to a flail, but you don’t get that here. I will say, it does suit this figure more, as I can see him trekking across a lonely alien landscape with it. The staff is painted gold and has some green wash to give it an aged patina, or perhaps a hint of energy contained within.

The second and last accessory is this riot shield, which I don’t think suits the look of this character at all. Hey, I know it’s not my narrative, but this shield looks like it would weigh about as much as Aius himself and the figure agrees, as the spindly hinges in the elbows can’t support its weight for long before it drops to rest on the ground. The accessory looks really good, with The Gravering emblem crudely spray painted on the front and I’ll likely wind up giving it to one of the other figures because it certainly won’t be displayed with Aius.

On a side note, you can disassemble the shield to make it smaller and a little more appropriate for Aius’ build. it’s a little better, but I’m still going to be giving this shield to someone else.

If you can’t tell, I found Aius Cyppiteon to be a pretty underwhelming figure, and easily the most disappointing release in the line so far. Which isn’t too bad, because he’s really the only disappointing release. The base body is fine, I like the aesthetic, but there’s just not a lot going on here to win me over. In fairness, he didn’t seem like a good value at the time of the pre-orders either, but since I was going All-In, he came along for the ride. I’ll probably end up keeping him, unless he starts going for crazy money on the secondary market. Either way, I’m glad I didn’t save him for last, because I didn’t want to end these reviews on a downer, and I have a feeling the next and last figure is going to be a lot more interesting.

Jan 15 2024

Star Trek (Deep Space Nine) Quark Sixth-Scale Figure by Exo-6

From the original series up through Enterprise, if you asked me what my favorite Star Trek is, the answer would probably be whatever one I happen to be watching right now. OK, maybe not Voyager, but there’s some love to be had there too. But, if you really pressed me for one definitive answer, it would probably be Deep Space Nine. It’s a series that clicked for me right from the beginning, has very few episodes that I would consider bad or skippable, and most importantly, I just love the characters so damn much. Exo-6 is giving us sixth-scale versions of the station crew with Captain Sisko already on my shelf, Odo and Kira on pre-order, and our friendly neighborhood barkeep and swindler, Quark arriving just a short while ago. There’s so many reasons to love Quark as a character. He represents a side of the Trek Universe that we rarely ever saw, and never before in a main character: The dark and smarmy underbelly. It would have been easy to write him as the crook with a heart of gold, but they didn’t go that lazy route. Yes, he’s a crook that usually does the right thing in the end, but it takes a lot of kicking and screaming to get him there. And he’s the perfect payoff for The Ferengi, a race that was introduced way back at Farpoint Station to be the main adversary of The Federation, an idea was abandoned after the first season. Not to mention Quark and Odo make up one of the best double-acts in history. And boy did I come very close to not pre-ordering this figure.

And there’s why. The solicitation photos for this figure looked absolutely awful and they even used a really bad one on the front of the box. The likeness is terrible and to me it just looks like one of the generic Ferengi from the first season of Next Generation. I held off pre-ordering until it started selling out everywhere and then I hit the panic button at a retailer that just happened to have a few pre-orders left. When I got the box in hand, I winced and regretted what I had done, but then I opened it and regret was replaced with delight…

The final release looks so damn fantastic! Quark comes out of the box all ready to pour you a drink and cheat you at the Tongo table. For a show that has a tailor as a regular character, I don’t really regard the costume designs on DS9 to be all that memorable, but Ferengi fashion is so gaudy and fine! Quark features his stained-glass style jacket with latinum clasp holding it closed over his multicolor vest, while green trousers disappear into his matching green rubber boots. The tailoring is immaculate and one of the things I love about these figures is it gives you a chance to see details you don’t always notice in the show. Like, I never realized Quark’s trousers had those narrow flaps running down the outside of the legs. On the downside, the suit has a snug fit around the Ferengi’s groin, making those wide stances a risk to popping stitches, so I wouldn’t try it. Also, the plastic boots hinder what ankle articulation is hidden down there. I suspect that will be an issue with Odo and Kira too, as they wear similar boots.

The portrait is such an unbelievable surprise, as I think it is an absolutely spot on likeness for Armin Shimerman in his makeup. You get a little part to the mouth showing off his sharpened teeth, his bulbous nose and darkened eyes, and a prominent brow that transitions into those magnificent lobes! It’s rare that you see improvement between the solicitation shots and the final product, actually its often quite the contrary, but in this case it looks like an entirely different head sculpt. I’d question what EXO-6 was thinking going with those original photos to sell the figure, but it did sell out rather quickly, so I’ll keep it to myself. Normally I’d say this portrait was a home run, but it’s more appropriate to say it’s like hitting it big at the Dabo table!

You get an interesting assortment of hands in that just about all of them are designed to work with accessories. And yes, that means no fists or generic relaxed hands. I can’t say the omission of fists really bothers me, as they aren’t really in character for Quark. You do, however, get a pair of hands designed to perform the traditional Ferengi gesture of greeting. Technically, the base of the hands should touch, but I wasn’t quite able to make that happen because of the padding in the suit. I feel like if I worked the material enough it could happen, but it would be a lot of effort to get him in a pose I don’t plan on using much. In any event, each of the hands have painted black fingernails, and I was never sure if Ferengi painted their fingernails or if that was the natural color.

Moving on to accessories, Quark comes with a lot of latinum. You get a big ingot, as well as some bars, strips, and slips. These are cast in a pleasing gold finish and have sculpted markings on one side and rough cut edges on the bars, strips, and slips. The opposite sides are left blank, and I’m not sure if that’s how they’re supposed to look in the show or if EXO just decided to detail one side. Whatever the case, they look great in his hand.

Next up, you get a Ferengi PADD. This is a nicely detailed recreation of the prop with a gold finish, raised Ferengi insignia on the back, and a sticker to depict the screen. He has a hand perfect for holding it, but as a word of warning, don’t let Quark convince you to put your thumb print on the screen without reading it first!

And finally, you get a bound copy of the Rules of Acquisition, along with a stylus. The book is a really impressive piece with a bronze sculpted cover that opens to reveal a bunch of individually printed pages inside. There are also two illustrated stickers on the inside of the front cover, I believe one of which is the Seal of the Ferengi Trade Authority. EXO went above and beyond on this one!

Quark comes with a left hand that is designed to cradle the book and it has a peg on the hand that fits into a peg hole on the back of the book. It’s not a terribly secure connection, but it does work, and a a few of the other hands are useful for holding the book in various ways. It’s hard to quibble about the accessories here, because you get a lot more than what came with the basic release of Sisko, and everything is well done. Still, I would have liked to see at least one bottle of booze thrown in. I do have an assortment of liquor bottles in this scale, but they’re all stupid hooman drinks and I’d like to get some futuristic space bottles for him.

As always, our final stop is the base and figure stand. EXO is going with the same stand for all of these figures, so you get a hexagonal transporter pad style base with a crotch cradle to support the figure. There is no name plate, but you do get some clips and a replacement base cover if you want to connect a bunch of stands together and make one big transporter base.

Wow, did this figure turn out great! Considering how EXO-6 has been nailing just about every one of these Trek figures, I probably shouldn’t have doubted them, but I’m glad I took a chance and was able to get that pre-order in before getting shut out. The retail here was $220, which is what I would consider the lower-middle end of sixth-scale figures these days, and considering the quality on display here, I’d say it was well justified. It would have been really cool if they did a Deluxe release with a lot more accessories, because there’s so much more that could have been tossed in, including the previously mentioned alien bottles, his hacking kit of isolinear rods, or one of them lovely Dabo Girls. OK, that last one is asking too much, but still! Right now I can’t wait for Odo to ship so I can have those two on the shelf together!

“I’m going to make a fortune selling cheap, unlicensed replicas of the station to those stupid hoomans!”

“QUARK!!!!”

Jan 13 2024

Legends of Laughter: Joan Rivers by Nacelle & Stand Up! Records

The Nacelle Toy Company has been making their mark with some interesting licenses lately, among them a reboot of Robo Force, Biker Mice From Mars, and Sectaurs. But they’re also producing a series of figures showcasing some of the legends of stand-up comedy, one of them being a veritable National Treasure of one-liners and comebacks: The one and only Joan Rivers. And what’s even cooler is the figure received an Exclusive edition from Stand Up! Records to commemorate her second album release in 1969, The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album. I know I’m dating myself, but back in the day my brother and I used to listen to our parents’ stand up comic records, and I have fond memories of running down the grooves in many of these albums, particularly Bob Newhart, Jonathan Winters, and yes Joan Rivers! So, naturally as a fan of classic stand up and a vinyl record collector, this was right up my ally. This exclusive edition is limited to only 500 figures and the folks at Stand Up! Records were kind enough to send one along for a look!

The figure comes in a collector friendly window box, completely redesigned for this limited edition with a red carpet and velvet ropes illustrated on the box and some curtains on the card behind the tray. It makes for a fantastic presentation and the figure displays very well in the package. As someone who grew up with major insomnia, I used to watch a lot of the late night talk shows, and over the years, Joan Rivers has put in some masterful appearances on them. I definitely recommend hitting Youtube for some of these appearances, because they are still as funny as ever. Later, I would get my fill of Rivers on her own talk shows in the late 80’s and early 90s. Younger folks, or just those who are more into pop culture than classic comedians, may better remember her as the voice of Dot Matrix in Spaceballs, not to mention Rivers becoming an official member of the MCU with her cameo in Iron Man 3. Yup, she’s canon! Joan could dish it out, but she also had a special brand of self-deprecating humor as well, and was all too willing to point that rapier wit back upon herself. I think that was a big part of what made her comedy work so well. In the end, she would point out that comedians were “here to make you laugh. If you don’t get it, then don’t watch us.” And with that having been said, let’s welcome our next guest of the program… Joan Rivers!

The figure comes out of the box all ready for display and looking great! Seeing her immortalized in plastic reminds me of her quip, “I’ve had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware.” Solicitation photos for the standard release show her in a black evening gown and a white boa, whereas the Stand up! Records limited edition presents her in colors to match her 1969 album cover. And I have to say I dig the combination of midnight blue dress and bright mauve coloring on the boa for this edition as it really makes the figure pop on the shelf. The dress is all one solid color, but you get some expertly sculpted stitching, wrinkles and rumples, especially around the bottom where the plastic garment pleats around her feet. I’ll spare Joan the indignity of being flipped upside down, but she does have fully sculpted high heels under there and she has no trouble standing on her own.

The head sculpt depicts Joan in her heyday and I think Nacelle has done a great job on this portrait. The painted skin tone is warm and even, and the painted detail on her eyes and mouth are both absolutely immaculate. The hair is sculpted as a separate piece from the head, giving the portrait a lot of depth and allowing her bangs to hang over her forehead, while it also sweeps away at the bottom so you can even see her sculpted ears. It’s very nicely done without any of the flubs I’m used to seeing in some of the larger figure companies’ releases. As Joan would say, “My makeup team was nominated for Best Special Effects.”

Ms. Rivers sports several points of articulation, including rotating hinges in her shoulders and pinless double hinges in her elbows. I’m just going to let that sink in, because Hasbro has only recently been doing pinless double elbows for some of their 6-inch female figures, and here’s Nacelle giving them to Joan Rivers right out of the gate. She also has swivels in her neck, waist, and wrists. There’s no leg articulation (well, technically there are no legs!) as only the feet are sculpted, but the plastic dress wouldn’t have supported much movement in the legs anyway, so I’m fine with that. Joan said it best: “If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.”

Does she come with accessories? You betcha! Sure, we’re used to seeing a lot of guns and swords with figures around here, but in this case you get a microphone and a stand: The perfect arsenal for a warrior of wit! The mike is painted in silver with a black grip and can sit in the cradle of the stand or she can hold it in her right hand for that perfect pose!

It’s surprising to me that the great Joan Rivers has not been immortalized in plastic before now, especially with how many companies are doing more and more focused and unique licenses. Still, it seems like a no-brainer for MEGO or even NECA, who has turned out their fair share of musical performers and TV personalities. Heck, how has Mattel never made a Joan Rivers Barbie? Well, whatever the case, it’s cool to see this Queen of The Salty One-liners finally get her due. Likewise, it’s great to see Nacelle executed this figure with such panache. She may not be super articulated, but the quality of the sculpt and paint are top notch and definitely sets her up to stand proud with the big boys of the action figure market. And while the regular retail release looks great, I think the colors and presentation of this Stand Up! Records limited run shines a bit brighter! And at the time of writing this, she is still available for purchase on their website!

Jan 12 2024

DC Multiverse (Collector Edition) Alan Scott Green Lantern by McFarlane

Just last year, McFarlane unleashed the new Collector Edition figures onto the market with a hefty $10 price jump over the regular DC Multiverse releases. I was all ready to make my first foray into these pricier figures to see if they seem worth it when McFarlane goes and drops an online store exclusive Infinite Crisis wave for $40 a pop, and I was like holy heck, what are they smoking over there? I mean, I’ll admit that I’m the king of dropping too much money on toys, and even I am not tempted by these kinds of figures at that price. Were they hoping to make these Collector Edition releases seem cheap by comparison? I honestly don’t know, but I’m really interested to see what the collector backlash is going to be like. But for now, let’s get back to the Collector Editions… These seem to be based on more classic or essential versions of characters in the DC Multiverse for an added premium. I was skeptical about how this whole thing was was going to turn out, but decided to give it a try with the first character that really tempted me… Alan Scott! Growing up on Hal Jordan, I can still remember when my uncle blew my little mind by telling me there was another Green Lantern before him and giving me some of his ratty old comics and I devoured the hell out of them. In retrospect, that was probably one of my first realizations that a whole DC Universe had existed for decades before I discovered it. What can I say? I was still really young and dumb and relatively new to reading comics that weren’t Spider-Man or The Fantastic Four.

The packaging is similar to the regular DC Multiverse releases, what with the black box and blue insert behind the tray. “McFarlane Collector Edition” is printed in silver foil lettering up the left side of the front panel and the collector card is now displayed on the tray in its own display stand. On first inspection, that card display is the only thing that really seems to call out that this release is anything special that should make it pricier, and I’ll talk about at the end.

Out of the box, is there anything that really sets this figure apart from the regular releases? Nope. You get the same basic body type and articulation that we’ve been seeing all along. Now, that’s not to say this isn’t a very nice figure, because it certainly is! Apart from the boots, belt, and cape, the figure uses a generic body, but you do get his ring sculpted on his right hand. The colors are beautiful with a deep red for the top and boots, a hunter green used for the pants, and some gold paint for the trim on the boots, belt buckle, and cape clasps. The lantern emblem on his chest is just printed on, but it’s nice and sharp. Factor in the purple and lighter green on the cape, and you have a dazzling deco straight from the comic panels of the Golden Age.

The portrait is very solid, giving Scott some well defined facial features and a rather determined expression. I love the way the high collar on the cape frames his face with one corner licking over a bit more than the other. The mask is sculpted with lots of depth, and the hair is separate from the head giving him a clean hairline. There’s a bit of overspray of the mask’s purple paint onto my figure’s left eye, which is ironically a bigger paint gaff than I’ve had on any of the regular releases. It’s not terribly noticeable unless I punch in close, but still pretty unwelcome for a higher priced Collector figure.

Alan comes with two accessories: His lantern and a power effect part. The lantern can be held in his left hand, while the effect part fits over his right fist. There are no additional hands included, which seems a bit weak for a pricier collector figure. With that having been said, the accessories are quite nice and are cast in a bright neon green semi-translucent plastic.

And then you have the collector card with the stand and as I said earlier, this is the only thing about this whole package that feels really different than a regular Multiverse release. Was anyone asking for this sort of thing? I certainly wasn’t. My cards go into sleeves in a binder and get forgotten about. And quite frankly I’m betting that a lot of these cards just get thrown away with the packaging by figure collectors who just don’t care about them. The cards are cool bonuses, but putting them on a stand takes up about as much shelf real estate as another figure, and like a lot of collectors, I can’t spare that room. Now, I will say that I think Alan Scott is one of the nicer DC Multiverse figures I’ve picked up last year, but there is simply nothing about the figure itself, be it additional paint apps or sculpting, that would justify being sold at a premium. And since I tend to pick up a lot of my regular Multiverse figures on sale, I’m not willing to put up $30 a pop for these unless it’s a figure that I really can’t live without. My biggest concern is that Todd will be using these premium editions for the classic and iconic versions of legacy characters that a lot of collectors have been asking for from this line, when they really should be done as regular releases. I have no doubt you’ll see a few of these Collector Editions land on FFZ in the future, but they will probably be few and far between. And you sure as hell won’t be seeing any figures from that $40 each wave until they hit deep discount bundles on Todd’s site.

Jan 10 2024

Elf Archer (White Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

Regular visitors will probably get tired of hearing this, but 2024 is going to be a year for unfinished business on FFZ. I’m looking to catch up on my backlog, especially areas that were neglected last year. And boy do I have a backlog of figures from TBLeague! I only reviewed one TBLeague figure last year and that was way back in February when I checked out their Ramses The Great. I’ve been really obsessed with their Egyptian themed figures, but today I’m going to venture back into their fantasy based offerings with the Elf Archer!

As always, these figures come in a shoebox style package with a trifold cover that is secured to the sides by magnets. The art is very minimalist, showing just her crown on the front and arrows on the side panels. It’s very pleasing to the eye and mysterious, not to mention a bold move to not picture the figure on the front. The figure and accessories inside are nestled in black foam and when you open the box you are immediately enveloped in a soothing aroma of tea. No, seriously! This figure was available in two versions, white and black, which only refers to the coloring of the outfit. Many times TBLeague will use these variants to change up the accessories, head sculpt, or hair color, but that isn’t the case here. The Elf Archer requires quite a bit of set up to get her kitted out, including attaching her plastic armor pieces, so let’s get her ready and have a look!

This is definitely one of the most complex outfits I’ve seen from TBLeague in a while. It’s also the one of the more modest outfits, as TBLeague often likes to show off lots of synthetic skin on these seamless bodies. In this case, she’s nearly covered from head to toe, so you have to settle for a flash of thigh under all those layers. The costume is extremely regal and consists of a white, long sleeve top with a combination bodice on top and tailcoat below the waist. I may not know what to call it, but it looks great! The outer garment has some beautiful gold leaf patterns and a wire running through the edges to allow for some dynamic posing. There’s a bit of green cloth trim around her waist, and under that she has a short green skirt with a pointy-leaf motif. The plastic armor pieces include high-heeled armored boots, with lacy leggings peeking out the tops, armored bracers on her forearms, elbow pieces, and shoulder pieces. There’s a green leather-like shoulder strap and a soft green cloth mantle surrounding her neck. The tailoring here is immaculate and everything fits the figure beautifully. It certainly gives her a majestic look, and despite all the layers nothing really gets in the way. I do, however, have two minor issues with it. The gem under her chest tends to get askew pretty easy, as you’ll see in some of the pictures where I neglected to straighten it. Second, there is some color transfer from the green shoulder strap to the white fabric under her arm. Granted, I’ve had this figure on display for about a year now and that sort of thing is inevitable. It might be a reason to consider favoring the black version of the costume, but I like the coloring on this one a lot better, so I’m happy to live with it.

The portrait is quite nice, with a some absolutely wonderful paint. Her eyes are shiny and reflective, and her lips are painted with a high gloss to give them a moist sheen. You also get some excellent rosy pigmentation in her cheeks. Her pointed ears are directed more outwards than upwards, which is rather evocative to an anime-style elf. The blonde hair is quite voluminous and can be a bit of a chore to tame. It’s rooted to allow it to part on each side of her face and in front of her ears while the rest cascades down her back and includes two sets of braids. Like the outfit, there is some seriously cool complexity in this coif. I’m sure a little styling gel would help, but I’m not going to start styling dolly hair. Gotta draw that line somewhere! Her outfit includes a soft plastic crown that fits around her head. It has a nature motif that’s evocative of antlers and tree branches. She also has a rather large pendant that hangs around her neck.

As always, the Phicen seamless body is built on a steel skeleton with some very realistic articulation hidden inside. There is virtually no restriction from the costume itself, making her lots of fun to play with and that’s certainly not always the case with some other companies’ sixth-scale offerings. She’s also an incredibly well balanced figure and I was impressed at how easily it was to get her to stand on those high-heeled boots without any assisted support. She comes with three sets of hands, which include relaxed, gesturing, and accessory gripping and these are all easy to swap out thanks to the steel ball joints in the skeleton’s wrists.

Elf Archer also includes an optional hood, which snaps onto the green mantle, includes adorable little slits for her ears to pass through, and two long flaps that hang down her back. As much as i dig the crown, this hood is going to be my preferred look for her on the shelf, as I think it suits her role as an archer and gives her a bit of a Robin Hood vibe. It’s kind of a shame to cover up those braids, but at the same time, the hood helps keep the rest of that hair in check.

Her accessories include a bow, a quiver, and five arrows. The quiver is plastic and hooks onto the shoulder strap behind her back and can hold the arrows by simply sliding them in there. The recurve bow has a sculpted wrapped grip in the center and an actual string. She can hold it with either her left or right hand, depending on which shoulder you have the quiver slung over.

The arrows are all identical with some pretty vicious looking heads and sculpted plastic fletching on the backs. The tips have some nice gradient paint going from silver to black and the fletching is painted green with a little wash to bring out the detail. Her gesturing hands can do a pretty good job of knocking the arrow by placing the shaft between her fingers, and even her grippy hand has a gap between the fingers to keep the arrow in place. Between the hand design and the articulation, the only thing that keeps her from doing a full draw is the tension on the string, which I don’t want to pull too far as it may snap.

I picked up the Elf Archer for $189 and I’m certainly satisfied with that, especially considering how hard it is to find any Sixth-Scale figures under two hundred these days. The only real downside with this figure is the lack of stand. TBLeague is wildly inconsistent on this point, including lavish diorama bases with some figures while completely ignoring others. Still, as the price of these continue to creep up to that $200 mark, I think it’s about time they start throwing in a generic figure stand as the absolute minimum. I also would have liked to get some kind of blade with her, either a dagger or a short sword. My guess is that a lot of the cost for extras went into the complexity of her outfit and all those extra armor bits, and that’s cool. As she stands, she’s quite an exquisite figure and one that I’m happy to have in my collection. She’s a huge step up from the last fantasy-themed TBLeague figure I looked at. This white version seemed to perform better at retail, as she is sold out at all the regular places I could think to look, but the black version is still available at many of those.

Jan 8 2024

Marvel Legends (No Way Home Wave): Spider-Man, Spider-Man, and Sandman by Hasbro

What’s this? Marvel on a Monday? A sort of… Marvel Monday? Yeah, well don’t get used to it. I do have more Marvel Legends reviews planned for the first half of 2024, but I’m not ready to bring back Marvel Mondays. I am, however, ready to dig into the second half of this No Way Home themed wave of Marvel Legends! On Friday I checked out the Tom Holland Spider-Man along with MJ and Matt Murdock and today we’re checking out Tobey Maquire Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield Spider-Man, and Flint Marko, aka Sandman!

As with last time, this assortment comes carded rather than boxed, but the standout oddity here is having Garfield Spider-Man appear on his own movie card, Amazing Spider-Man 2, as opposed to following the No Way Home theme like the rest. I’m sure this had to do with some kind of Fox-Disney rights issues, but it’s still odd to see. If you think multiverses are confusing to navigate, try corporate copyright law! And yes, the No Way Home cards are still inaccurate as they feature the wrong suit for the Holland Spider-Man. There are no BAF parts in this wave, as both the heavy hitters, Doc Ock and Green Goblin, were released as higher priced boxed Deluxes, and I’ll be getting around to them soon! Let’s start with Maquire Spidey…

I still adore the Raimi Spider-Man movies and can even find something to love in the mostly awful third outing, so it’s really cool to get this suit as a modern Legends figure. While the other two suits in this wave could very well stand in as a modern comic look for me, this one will always be totally unique to these movies and so I love the design as it’s own thing. The basic suit colors are very traditional with the bright red and dark blue looking as classic as ever, but it’s the addition of the silver webbing pattern that makes it so distinctive. Sure, thanks to the PlayStation games, Spidey has almost as many suit variants as Iron Man, and I’m not a big fan of that concept, but back in the early 2K’s this variant was a big deal to me and I thought it was totally bad ass. The execution is great, with the webbing and emblems all part of the sculpt and in this case the blue parts of the suit are textured as well as the red.

The head sculpt looks wonderful and the paint on this one fared better than what I got on my Holland figure. The silver on the lenses isn’t quite perfect, but there’s nothing here that is easily noticeable with the naked eye. Also, I really love the way that chest emblem is layered on top of the raised web pattern.

Of course, you get the unmasked head as well, and this one is not the slam dunk we got for the Holland likeness. I can definitely see a bit of Toby in there, but that’s with a bit of squinting and a lot of imagination. Less nose and more cleft chin would have been the way to go. Granted, I was a little shocked when I saw how much Toby aged in No Way Home before I reminded myself that at 51 I’m practically an old man and I’m not one to talk.

There are no surprises in the articulation, other than having to heat up the figure to get the ball joint in the chest to loosen up. The poseability is identical to the Holland figure, and the pinless joints are always welcome in my Spider-Mans as unpainted pins were often an eye sore on these figures. This guy is just tons of fun to pose and play with.

Toby Spidey comes with the same two hands as when he was first issued in that three-pack, so you get one pair of thwippy hands, a right fist, and a left graspy hand. And here’s the biggest disappointment, as it sucks that Hasbro couldn’t pony up for the same three sets that came with the Holland figure. That’s especially true when you consider this is the second time they are selling this figure, albeit with the addition of the unmasked head. Regardless, it’s a great figure and a much needed replacement to my horribly dated 2003 magnet-hands Toy Biz figure. In truth, I’ve been waiting for a figure like this for a long time, and I am thrilled to have it! Let’s move on to the Garfield Spider-Man…

It’s no secret that I hated the Amazing Spider-Man movies. Someone actually gifted me the Blu-Ray as a misguided, but well intentioned, Christmas gift, and that’s the only reason I ever watched it. I only begrudgingly made it through the first one with a scowl on my face and the trailers made me not even want to try to watch the second. I’ll concede that the problem was more the writing and bad creative decisions than it was Andrew Garfield, but he still got his share of the blame from me. I wasn’t looking forward to seeing him show up in No Way Home, but I have to admit, he was great in it, and he really sold me on how likeable he could be given the right framework to hang his performance on. The suit design was one of the only things I liked about those movies, but I kind of feel this figure misses the mark. The sculpt is fine, but the colors are so dark. I shot this figure with the exact same lighting as the other two Spider-Mans and it just managed to absorb it and still come out way too dark. Also, I got more of an electric blue vibe off the screen used suit which just isn’t conveyed here at all. At least the texturing looks really good.

The head sculpt is fine. I like the pearlescent paint used for the lenses, but they didn’t convey the compound-eye style of the lenses. Maybe that’s asking a bit much for this scale.

The unmasked head doesn’t reach the heights of the Holland likeness, but I think it’s more on point than the Tobey likeness. The hair sculpt is a little chunky, but they got his outrageously tall pouf down pretty well. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the way this sculpt came out and the printing on the facial features is pretty solid too.

As for articulation and extras, I’ve got the same praise and nitpicks as I did with the Tobey figure. The poseability is excellent, once I gave him a bath in hot water to loosen up that ball joint in the waist, however, it actually tightened up again the next day and manipulating it makes me feel like I’m going to twist it off. And, like Tobey, he comes with the same two sets of hands that were included when he was first released in the three-pack. This isn’t a bad figure at all, but it’s by far my least favorite of the three web-heads. But to be fair, some of that has to do with the suit being my least favorite as well.

Our final stop for this assortment is Flint Marko as Sandman. I wasn’t all that excited about this figure based on the solicitation shots, but in hand he’s actually surprised me quite a bit. The sand texture that covers the figure is extremely well done and it’s bolstered even more by some excellent paint work. This would have been an easy figure for Hasbro to cheap out on, but the the final product feels like they actually put some work into it, especially for what is likely to be a one-off body. The pinless body features some solid articulation, but it does lack the shoulder crunches and ab-crunch hinge that we got on the Spider-Mans. Still, the lone ball joint under the chest is perfectly serviceable.

The portrait manages to convey the character likeness while still being just a sandy facsimile. It actually does a remarkable job of recreating what the CG looked like in the film and that’s pretty cool.

While Toby and Garfield were hands poor, Marko makes out big time with two regular pairs and a pair of enlarged hands with adapter pieces for the forearms. So, you wind up with normal sized graspy hands and fists, and the bigger graspy hands too. I actually would have preferred one large graspy hand and one large fist, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. I don’t really have much else to say about this figure other than this Sandman came out really good. I was initially surprised they didn’t make him a BAF release for this wave, but in the end it worked out just fine.

And that’s the Marvel Legends No Way Home wave! All around, this was a solid wave, and really the only figure I had a lot of gripes with is Garfield Spidey, and that’s probably mostly due to personal taste. Sure, I would have liked to get an extra set of hands with the Sony Spider-Mans, but it was nice to see the extra big hands with Sandman. Also, I sure am glad I didn’t pony up for the No Way Home three-pack, but it’s not going to stop me from chastising Hasbro for re-releasing three figures so soon with bonus heads. That’s a really shit move and it just punishes collectors for running out and buying your figures. Probably not something you want to do, when a lot of people are already inclined to wait for clearance when so much Hasbro product is hitting discount stores. I have both the Deluxe Green Goblin and Doc Ock on deck for the near future, but I don’t know when I’ll get around to doing another complete wave of Legends. I did buy a bunch on deep discount late last year to complete some BAFs, so maybe I’ll run some speed reviews of those in the coming months.

Jan 5 2024

Marvel Legends (No Way Home Wave): Spider-Man, MJ, and Matt Murdock by Hasbro

I only looked at two complete waves of Marvel Legends here on FFZ last year, so let’s check one out in this first week of the New Year! Hasbro rolled out this No Way Home wave during one of their Fan Channel steams, which kind of worked like a Hail Mary Wave, because it actually got me excited to buy some Marvel Legends figures again, rather than just bottom feeding when they hit the clearance bins. It was a smart move to go back and revisit this film, because besides Guardians Vol 3, it was one of the few MCU films in the last few years that didn’t fall flat and had the appeal to sell merch. I think there are a lot of factors that go into Hasbro’s current financial woes, but you won’t convince me that Disney’s mismanagement of Star Wars and Marvel aren’t a huge part of it. Neither one has the gravitas they did when Hasbro signed the licensing agreements.

Anyway… This wave was released on cards rather than in boxes and there is no Build-A-Figure, so what you see is what you get. The assortment consists of six figures: All three Spider-Mans, MJ, Matt Murdock, and Sandman. The cards are heavy stock, which should please mint-on-card collectors, and the art is pretty enough, but there’s no retro charm here that makes me sad to tear into them. Also, it’s kind of odd that the art they chose for Tom Holland Spider-Man isn’t wearing the same suit as the figure we got, but I’m cool with that because the figure features my favorite suit from the films. Let’s start with Spider-Man!

Oh yeah, this is peak MCU Spidey for me right here. The classic blue and red deco looks so gorgeous! You get a fully sculpted web pattern on the red bits, a raised spider emblem on his chest and back, and some nice texturing on the red, while the blue is left smooth. The spider emblems are sculpted on, although it’s weird how the one on his back is so much more prominent than the one on his chest. Still, with all the gimmicky suits that have been showcased over the years, between the movies and the games, this is quite possibly my favorite and it’s great to see it released on the updated body.

You get two heads, one masked and one unmasked. The masked head is standard stuff in terms of sculpt, but has some issues that I didn’t notice until I punched in close with the camera. The white on the right eye bleeds into the top edge of the lens, while the center of the web pattern is offset toward the right eye. The first issue doesn’t bother me, as it’s not that noticeable with the figure in hand, but the second issue is pretty annoying, but it’s not going to ruin the figure for me.

The unmasked head is quite spectacular and it really shows how good these likenesses can be when Hasbro is on their game. Everything about this noggin is just wonderful from the sculpt to the printing and even the color in his cheeks. I even love the disappointed dachshund look he’s got going on, which is pretty faithful to some of Holland’s emotes on screen. The hair is a separate sculpt, which creates a clean hairline and looks fantastic. This is quite simply one of Hasbro’s best likenesses at this scale.

The body is built with the new pinless engineering, which is a huge win for a Spider-Man figure as unpainted pins are often an eye sore on these the Spideys. You do get a little of that still evident in the armpits, but it’s still a big improvement. Otherwise articulation in the arms and legs is standard stuff, and you do get the standard Spidey shoulder crunches. The combination of a hinge down in the waist and the ball joint in the chest is pretty cool. It’s definitely a fun figure to play with. Sure, the pattern of the suit breaks up when you work the ball joint in the chest, but it’s kind of unavoidable.

Spidey comes with three sets of hands, and you probably can guess what they are: You get a pair of fists, splayed wall-crawler hands, and thwippy hands. About the only thing missing here are any web effects. Hasbro experimented with these a bit in the past, but it sure would be nice to get a couple thrown in now and again. I didn’t buy the No Way Home three-pack Hasbro put out a short while ago, but as I understand it this is the same figure but with the new unmasked head included. Needless to say I’m glad I waited. This turned out to be a great figure and definitely my favorite version of Holland Spider-Man to be released so far. Moving on to MJ…

I believe this is the second version of MCU MJ in Legends, with the first being released in a Homecoming two-pack. I certainly don’t remember getting one from Far From Home. Either way, we get a bit of recycled parts here from that Homecoming release, mostly from the waist down with repainted pants and repainted socks. Instead of wearing a jacket, this time she’s got on a striped sweater, which is layered onto the figure, giving it some nice depth, and having the sleeves sculpted onto the arms. Because the legs are reused they have pins in the knees, while the newly sculpted arms are pinless. Unfortunately, the arms go with rotating hinges in the elbows, rather than the double-hinge elbow and bicep swivel, which I prefer.

You get one head sculpt, which appears to be entirely new. It’s not quite the total slam-dunk that we got with Peter, but I think the likeness is still pretty damn great. Once again the printed features are very much on point and I like the way they sculpted some strands of hair dangling on each side of her face. While I still quite like the heads included with the Homecoming version, I think this one is technically better in just about every way.

Michelle comes with two sets of hands, fists and open, which I assumed were going to be reused from the previous MJ figure, but the open hands are actually different and much more natural looking. She also comes with The Machina de Kadavus, the cube that Dr. Strange used to contain his wonky spell. It’s a pretty complex accessory and definitely a welcome addition to the figure. On to our last stop… Matt Murdock!

Murdock’s cameo in the film was a total surprise to me and I really got a kick out of it, and it’s pretty cool to have a figure of Netflix Daredevil in full-on lawyer mode. Yeah, it’s just a suited body but I was surprised to find that it was pinless, as I wasn’t aware that Hasbro had invested in a pinless suit body yet. Or is this the first? Sorry, but I just haven’t been paying very close attention to Legends this past year. The suited body looks great, but I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. I like that the tie is sculpted separately to hang down and the sculpted arm sleeves do a passable job lining up with the jacket.

The head sculpt is definitely the weakest likeness of these three figures, but I don’t think it’s a total miss. I’m not sure I could recognize Cox in there if you just handed me the head, but knowing who it’s supposed to be I can definitely see it. The glasses are pretty well done for this scale and the tinting looks pretty good.

Murdock comes with two accessories: His mobility cane and the brick that was thrown through Parker’s window. I like the idea of having him do all sorts of crazy Daredevil combat with the cane. The brick is pretty well done for what it is and is almost certainly my first vandal brick accessory, so I can cross that off my bucket list.

So far, I’m enjoying this wave quite a bit. As much shit as I give Marvel Legends these days, it feels great to get some figures that I’m interested in again. The Holland Spider-Man is definitely my favorite of the trio, being the best representation of the character in my Legends display. MJ is a nice upgrade from what was already a pretty solid figure. Murdock is fun. I probably could have gambled on him turning up on clearance, but it was just easier to pre-order the whole wave. When I come back on Monday, we’ll check out the second half of the wave with the other two Spider-Mans and Sandman!

Jan 3 2024

Darkstalkers: Morrigan Aensland Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Before any of you Koto fans get your hopes up, I’m not really starting to collect Bishoujos again. No, seriously. I’m not! It just so happened that a few of these went up for deep discount during the Holiday Sales and I got weak. That’s why I picked up Mai from King of Fighters and that’s why we’re here today with a certain busty succubus from another fighting game franchise. Truth be told, there isn’t enough Darkstalkers merch out there and I’m pretty much compelled to buy anything Morrigan related that isn’t in the $1000+ range. Now if that happens to go 50% off, I’d be in real trouble. It’s actually been almost ten years since Morrigan last graced FFZ, and it’s long past time I remedy that!

Koto always does a nice job with these boxes, serving up some wonderful character art and providing ample windows on the front, top, and side panel to let the light in and see what you’re getting. They’ve also started making the boxes a bit more durable, which is nice as I do tend to keep these. The statue comes wrapped in a lot of plastic, but if you unwrap it and put her back in the box, she displays really well in it. Morrigan is all assembled and ready to go, but she does have some rather fragile points and a modicum of care should be spent unwrapping these, as I could easily see them snapping.

And oh boy does she look enticing! Clad in her classic trademark outfit, Morrigan dons a matte black one-piece with ruffled white top and her ample bosom nearly spilling out. Hey, you can’t be a modest succubus, it just doesn’t work! Below that, she has mauve tights (and I do mean tight!) with printed bats, and black high-heeled boots, Her arms are adorned with long orange sleeves that end in loop between her fingers. Meanwhile her batwings jut from her back, flanking her on either side. All of the costume is executed beautifully, but I really have to give extra props to the texture work on the outside of the wings. It’s not something I expected to see, as a smooth surface would have been more evocative of the animated aesthetic, but I really dig it and I’m glad that Koto decided to go that route.

The pose is quite iconic and designed to showcase all of Morrigan’s best assets. She is in mid stride with her right foot out in front of her left, while bent forward to simultaneously show off a little succubus T&A. And not to get too inappropriate about it, but man the way the one piece practically disappears between those cheeks is some A-Level sculpting! I will confess, I would have liked to see her posed in one of her victory stances, like levitating with her legs crossed, but this works fine. And as always, the coloring on these statues is just lovely. The range of black and purple and blue-green makes this statue pop, and her skin tone is warm and even with some shading to catch the eye.

The head sculpt is playful and a lot more in character than the last Morrigan statue I reviewed. Here she looks like she’s jumped right out of the game. The sculpting on her mouth is absolutely fantastic with a hint of teeth showing up top and her tiny pointed tongue slipping out. The hair sculpt is also outrageously good as the strands of super vibrantly colored blue-green hair whip all around her head. The eye printing is colorful and precise, and her head wings are as adorable as ever with some gorgeous deep purple paint on the membrane. This portrait is a perfect victory!

You never know what kind of base you’re going to get with these figures. Sometimes just plain disks and sometimes a more environmental affair, like this one here. It’s a stony floor with some excellent paintwork creating a vibrant glow where Morrigan’s feet touch the ground and reverting to a grayish-blue stone color around the edges. I do dig it a lot!

Go back through my old Koto Bishoujo reviews and you can see that I almost always ended them by calling these the best value in statue collecting. Well, those days are done and these now sell for about twice what they did back then. Case in point, Morrigan here retailed at $129 and while the quality is definitely there, it’s just beyond reach of what I’m comfortable paying for these. I picked up Morrigan on sale for $79, which was right about the price of these figures when I decided to start tapering off. I’m happy to have her in my collection and she will get a prime display spot in my Game Room. And I’ll keep an eye out for Lilith to see if she happens to dip in price at some point too, otherwise I’ll be content to own the Pop-Up Parade figures of this pair when they eventually ship next year.