Sep 23 2015

Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” (Jungle Mission) Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma by Hasbro

I get the idea that Force Friday proved to be more of a hit with Hasbro than it did with the fans. Stores quickly sold of of all their figures and to my surprise the 3 3/4″ line seemed to be among the hardest to track down. Even the e-tailing juggernaut Amazon has been dry. Luckily Toys R Us added some to their website about a week after the big day and I was able to order most of the initial assortment before they disappeared again. The figures are assorted into “mission” categories (Desert, Snow, Jungle, and Space), which feels rather weird for a Star Wars line, but it’s not something that’s really emphasized, especially if you’re like me and have no interest in the lame build-a-weapon gimmick. Yeah, take a good look at those pieces in the package, because I’m not going to bother to show them again.

The figures come on cards which are folded over to envelope the edges of the bubble. It’s kind of weird and hard to describe, but it gives the card the illusion of being made from thicker stock. At first, I thought this meant that I’d be able to carefully cut the tape and slide the bubble out, but there’s still plenty of glue making these decidedly un-collector-friendly. The packages themselves look amazing with some wonderful individualized character art and Kylo Ren’s mask and lightsaber up at the top. With Hasbro’s ho-hum package design lately, it’s nice to see presentation that looks this good swinging on the pegs again. I imagine they’ll be a real treat for Mint on Card collectors. Me? I’m an opener, so let’s tear these babies open and check them out. I’ll start with Kylo Ren…

As everyone knows by now, these are very basic figures and the articulation here is a straight 5-POA style exactly like the old Kenner figures only with a ball joint in the head instead of just a swivel. Like it or lump it, it is what it is. That having been said, Kylo Ren, the mysterious hooded villain, is reproduced here quite well in the 3 3/4″ scale thanks to a surprisingly detailed sculpt. The entirety of his robes are textured with a crossthatch pattern, the arm wraps are sculpted and even the insides of his robes if you move his legs apart reveal his sculpted legs underneath. The hood is part of the head sculpt, but the cape is a separate piece that can be removed if you pop off Kylo’s noggin. There’s not a lot of paint here, but that suits the design. You do get a little silver on the mask and a little on the belt buckle.

Naturally, Kylo Ren comes with his unconventional lightsaber, which looks great for the smaller scale and even includes the crossguard blades cast in clear red plastic. The only downside here is that the blades don’t come out, so the only display option is to go with it activated. Moving on to…

Captain Phasma! This character’s popularity has already reached critical mass via what I like to call “Boba Fett Syndrome.” We know nothing about her, but her bad ass chromed out Stormtrooper armor sure is bringing all the boys to the yard. It’s nice to see that this isn’t just a re-used Stormtrooper and that she’s properly sized and about a full head and shoulders taller than the troops. I don’t think anyone was expecting a vac-metal figure in this scale, but the silver plastic Hasbro used does a fairly decent job. There’s a few stray black marks here and there, but otherwise the paint is sharp and clean.

Phasma comes with her cape, which is cast in soft, pliable plastic and is removable by popping the head off the figure. She also comes with her blaster, which can tab onto her leg and can be held fairly well in either hand.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with this pair, articulation not withstanding. The plastic feels good and the sculpts are quite detailed. They look great standing on the shelf and only really disappoint when I take them down and start fiddling with them and their limited poseability takes over. I’m sort of warming up to the idea of looking to the 6-inch scale for my articulation and relying on these smaller figures for the whole retro-charm thing. I can understand collectors not embracing these, but I find I’m totally fine with them and at $7.99 a pop, they seem to be priced right.

Sep 22 2015

Tekken: Nina Williams Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Collecting Koto’s Bishoujo statues these days is like trying to keep your head above water. The releases are coming fast and furious and if you don’t keep up you’ll die in a watery grave. Actually, no you’ll just have to pay a lot more for what you missed out on through the secondary market, because most of these statues, particularly in the Tekken series, shoot up in price like crazy as soon as they’re discontinued. Yes, sadly, I have to face facts that there’s at least one Tekken gal that will probably never land on my shelves for this very reason, (I’m looking at you, Alisa Boscono!) and I’ll probably eventually lay down the $80 or so bucks that Jun Kazama is going for these days. I didn’t want that to happen with Nina Williams, because she’s been my gal ever since I first played the original Tekken.

Nina comes in a rather compact window box. Don’t forget the Tekken pieces are scaled slightly smaller than Koto’s other Bishoujo lines. The box is black, features the Tekken Tag Torunament 2 logo and some great shots of the artwork by Shunya Yamashita, which inspired this piece. The back panel has some shots of the statue, a little blurb about Nina and a teaser image for the next release, which just so happens to be Nina’s sister, Anna. Inside the box, Nina is wrapped in plastic and secured between two clear plastic trays. She comes attached to her base and all ready for display, but I found it easier to remove the base to get all that plastic off of her. Thus far all, or at least most, of these statues have been from characters introduced later in the series, but Nina’s been around as long as the franchise has and even starred in her own game on the PlayStation 2, Death by Degrees, which shipped with a Tekken 5 Demo Disk. This gal has done it all!

And here she is in all her glory. she’s caught turning around and winding up for a lethal side kick. Koto loves showing off the balance on these pieces with the girls often posing on only one leg and these are often my favorites. This one in particular works really well from multiple angles, either with Nina looking straight out from the display shelf, or kicking off to the side.

In keeping with the theme of this series, Koto went for Nina’s modern look. I believe she first wore this outfit in Tekken 5 and she’s been donning this as her Player 1 outfit ever since. She’s wearing a two-piece purple camo tactical suit (because… video games!), which allows her to show off a little mid-riff, with the top belted to her bottom in the front and back. The pants include integral high-heeled boots, wrapped with belts, silver reinforced plates on the interior of her legs, armored knee-pads, and a sheathed combat knife strapped to her right thigh. Her top is a bevy of straps and belts with long sleeves, thick gloves, and bare shoulders.

Nina’s portrait is a thing of beauty. She wears a sly smile on her perfectly painted lips with her pretty eyes glancing off to the side. Somebody’s about to get a whooping! Her blonde hair is cinched in a ponytail with strands framing her face and blowing every which way. Interesingtly, Koto seems to be shying away from the transparent hair effect in some of their current pieces. I’ve always been a fan of that look, but I can’t say as I really miss it here.

The coloring on this piece is overall rather soft and muted, even with the crazy purple camo pattern on her tactical suit. Even the metallic silver used on her legs isn’t the super shiny stuff that Koto likes to use. You do get some high gloss purple on the insides of her legs near the knees, the back of her collar, and some more used on the soles of her boots. The paint is immaculate with plenty of silver used on the buckles and rivets holding her straps together. As always the skin tones are perfect.

The base consists of the simple clear disk we’ve been seeing on all the Tekken pieces. While I find these are tough to keep free of fingerprints, I appreciate the economy of space they present. As always, you get a number of graphical inlays that you can put inside the base to customize your statue. I do believe I’ll end up going with the character art.

I have to admit, when I started collecting the Tekken Bishoujos way back in 2012, I never imagined Koto would keep it going this long. What’s even more impressive is that the line ran for three whole years before releasing a primary character like Nina Williams. That right there was probably a sign that they were in it for the long haul. I grabbed this statue for the ridiculous low price of $45, which is practically unheard of these days, but even at the full retail of around $60ish, I think she’s well worth the money.

Sep 21 2015

Marvel Legends: (Eric O’Grady) Ant-Man by Hasbro

“You [Hank Pym] are so frustrating. This is why you have fewer action figures than all the other Avengers” -Eric O’Grady, Ant-Man and Wasp.

I’m taking a slight detour from my jaunt through the Legends Hobgoblin Wave to look at this one-off Walgreens Exclusive. Sometimes having crippling insomnia comes in handy because when I stopped by the corner drug store to replenish my supply of precious sleep-granting Unisom I happened to notice this fella on the shelf and snatched him up. It’s Eric O’Grady as Ant-Man… er, Black Ant!

Despite being a Walgreens Exclusive, the package is right in line with what we’ve been seeing from the Ant-Man Wave with the Ultron BAF. There’s no sticker or any other indicator that the figure is an exclusive either.

And here he is, Eric O’Grady… Thunderbolt, Secret Avenger, womanizer, all around scumbag with a heart of gold. His is likely not the first or even the second name that springs to mind when you hear Ant-Man, and indeed he’s a relatively new creation that starred in his own short-lived book before getting shuffled off to other publications. If you want my recommendation, I’d say go read the Ant-Man and Wasp mini-series by the wonderful Tim Seeley, in which he teams up with Hank Pym as The Wasp. It’s a fun read, although this isn’t the suit he wore in it. In fact, technically O’Grady never wore it at all, but rather his Life Model Decoy did and not as Ant-Man but as Black Ant. Yeah, it’s confusing… let’s look at the damn figure.

O’Grady features a very lean buck, which I can’t place, but I suspect comes from the past Legends line, before the current reboot. At first, I thought it was a resculpted Yellow Jacket, but the hips aren’t right for that. Either way, the costume is almost entirely painted on and while there’s some instances of the black plastic bleeding through the red paint, it still overall looks pretty good. The belt is a new piece, which just hangs on the hips. There’s a hole in the back, which presumes the previous owner of this body had a cape.

The head sculpt is quite outstanding. I love the helmet, particularly the configuration of the communication device on his chin and the way the antenna look. The visible lower half of O’Grady’s face has good definition and the neon orange paint used for the eyes and other details really makes the otherwise dark figure pop.

The articulation is above average for Legends, thanks to the added shoulder crunch hinges. I love those things! Additionally, the arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at the thighs. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features a swivel at the waist, ab crunch hinge at the torso and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. There’s no mushy joints here, either.

You know it’s a beautiful day to be a Marvel Legends collector when a) Hasbro is turning out characters like Eric O’Grady and b) stores like Walgreens are interested in stocking them. Conversely, Black Ant is a perfect exclusive in that most casual collectors won’t be broken hearted if he’s tough to find. Ironically, with the way things work around here, I have an easier time finding Hasbro figures at Walgreens then anywhere else, so I do hope the retail chain keeps these coming. It’s an easy way to get an extra twenty bucks out of me when I stop by to pick up Unisom, cat litter and frozen pizzas.

Sep 18 2015

DC Comics Super-Villains: “New 52” Joker by DC Collectibles

Those that know me, know that I don’t get really deep into Batman’s comics. I do, however, try to read the collections that revolve around important story arcs. That’s what dragged me into finally reading “Death of the Family” and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. Conversely, I’ve only really been collecting the DCC figures related to the books I’ve been reading, so naturally The Joker now had to be on that list. This figure has actually been on my want list for a while and when he turned up on clearance at an online retailer, I tossed him in my virtual basket, along with a bunch of other “New 52” figures I was still missing.

The package is the same style window box as we’ve been seeing from DCC all along, complete with extended back and J-hook. In this case, however, they did switch up the deco quite a bit. Instead of the white box with purple swipe down the front, we get black and green. I presume the black is for evil and the green is Joker’s hair? I dig this more than the normal boxes, but I’d still like to see some character art or something more comic-book-y. Everything is collector friendly, but I don’t keep these boxes.

And here he is out of the package and he looks great! If you need any proof as to how unswervingly popular the Joker has been as a character over the decades, you need only look at the ridiculous number of ways he’s been depicted over the years. He’s had so many different looks that it’s hard to keep track of them all and this incarnation, after his face had a run in with The Dollmaker, is one that goes for shock value. To be more specific, this figure is based on Joker after he has returned to Gotham and reclaimed his face and is basically wearing it as a mask. I gotta tell you, I dig this look and DCC did a wonderful job bringing it to life in action figure form.

We might as well start with the portrait, because… damn! All the little staples and hooks holding the face on are realized in the sculpt and neatly painted, while the face itself shows the macabre wrinkles and stretch marks. Around the border you can see the reddish-brown exposed muscle and I love how deep the eyes are set into the sculpt. The detail in the teeth is also impressive and the whole thing is topped off nicely by his tuft of green hair. You could argue that a lot of DCC’s subject matter doesn’t give them the opportunity to strut their stuff as much as this guy does, but they sure stepped up when that opportunity arrived. Bravo!

The outfit consists of mechanic’s overalls from Joe’s Garage, which includes a convincing amount of sculpted rumples and wrinkles. I dig the oversized work gloves and the sculpted laces on the boots. The real star of the outfit, however, is the tool belt, which not only includes a bunch of sculpted tools, but places to store some of his extra accessories.

The articulation here is very good for a DCC figure. That may sound like a loaded compliment, but it isn’t meant to be. Sure, apart from the waist swivel, there’s no articulation in the torso, but everything else here is plenty serviceable. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs feature a T-crotch at the hips (probably the most disappointing thing about the figure), hinges in the knees, and swivels in the ankles. The head rests on a generous ball joint. All the joints were fine right out of the package, and nothing feels like its in danger of snapping.

DC Collectibles isn’t big on accessories with their figures, but Joker hit the jackpot. He comes with four implements of torture and murder in the form of everyday tools. You get a hammer and a wrench, both of which can be stowed in the loops on his belt. You get a pair of needle nose pliers, identical to the ones sculpted into his back pouch. And finally, you get a nasty looking serrated knife.

This figure is outstanding on just about every level. The sculpt and paint are both top notch and if we’re grading articulation on a curve, even that is better than your average DCC figure. I would have been perfectly happy picking him up at the MSRP of $20, but grabbing him for $13 was all the more sweeter. He is easily my favorite DCC figure standing in my display at the moment, and that’s saying quite a bit because as I said, I’m pretty selective about the Batman books that I read. But hell, I like this figure so much, I’ll probably go scoop up DCC’s Trinity set so I can have a proper DCC “New 52” Batman to go with him. Next Friday I’ll keep this DC Collectibles train rolling along with a look at a brand new Harley Quinn figure.

Sep 17 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: First Aid by Hasbro

Here we are, it’s Transformers Thursday again and today I’m opening the last of the Deluxe Protectobots. I saved First Aid for last for no particular reason at all, so don’t read anything into the order here. Somebody had to be last. Truth is that so far this lineup can do no wrong and I’m rather excited to see what this guy has in store for me. So let’s take a quick look at the packaging.

Nothing new to say here. First Aid is packaged in robot mode and you get a free comic, which is always a treat. Also, the bio on the back is the first one of the Protectobot Bios that doesn’t make the character sound like a homicidal killer, which is a nice change of pace. You know, because they’re called Protectobots. As usual, I’m starting out with his alt mode.

First Aid is a futuristic looking ambulance. He’s also similar to Streetwise in that he uses the core design of another mold, but there’s so much resculpting that you wouldn’t really know it. In this case, First Aid is built off of Offroad, and if I hadn’t been privy to that information beforehand, I doubt I would have been able to tell until I started to transform him.

Overall, I think this is a solid alt mode, although the sides feature a lot of jagged seams, which sort of reminds me of Universe Ratchet, and while that’s not a good thing, it isn’t enough to ruin the toy for me. When going into car mode, it helps to give him that final squeeze that seems to snap all the plates together and diminish the seams. The coloring is pretty basic with blue windows, a silver grill, and some red on the sides, but it’s still a bright and pleasing deco that really pops. My figure has some stray red marks on the driver’s side, but nothing too bad. There are also peg holes on the sides if you want to store his axe.

As mentioned, transforming him is identical to Offroad and the result is oh, so satisfying. In robot mode, you can make out some more of the Offroad connection. He wears the front of the car as a backpack with wheels behind the shoulders and the torso is the exact same sculpt. Beyond that, everything else is new. Even the shoulder door-armor is different. The new deco for robot mode is mostly red and white, with some nice touches of blue and silver. The “RESCUE” tampos from the alt mode land perfectly on his shoulders. This is a great looking figure!

Naturally, First Aid is sporting a new head sculpt and it is pure G1 love. The pronounced crest on the “helmet” looks just like the combiner post head from the original figure and the blue and silver paint looks great. There’s a little red spray on his visor, but you have to get in pretty damn close to notice it.

In addiiton to the combiner foot/hand part, First Aid also comes with an axe. This is a repaint of the same weapon that came with Offroad, recolored to black with a silver blade. It’s kind of a good fit, because rescue workers often carry axes to hack there way through debris and it doubles nicely as a weapon.

This jaunt through the Protectobots Deluxes has just gotten better and better. Blades was nice, Streetwise was very solid and Rook and First Aid are absolutely top notch. It’s impressive to think that everyone but Rook here are either repaints or remolds of previously released figures. I’d dare say that this team has come together just as well as the Aerialbots and I absolutely love that set. There’s only one figure left to look at before moving on to Defensor, so next Transformers Thursday, I’ll check out Hot Spot!

Sep 16 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics: Buzzsaw Hordak by Mattel

At last, I’m getting around to opening up the final Masters Classics figure from August: Buzzsaw Hordak! This was one of the first figures in this line that I can remember not really being terribly excited about getting. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Evil Horde and I love Hordak, but did I really need yet another variant of the guy? Let alone one that looks almost exactly the same as the original? Well, let’s see if Buzzsaw can win me over.

Nothing much new to say about the packaging, although it’s worth pointing out that the up and coming Dragstor figure is pictured on the back of the card and looking great. The bio is downright weird and attributes Hordak’s buzzsaws to a mutation brought on by attempting to steal time travel secrets without the Cosmic Key. Um, what? Firstly, what does one thing have to do with the other and secondly, that’s a pretty convenient mutation. In the end, there’s only one answer… because, Masters of the Universe! If you can’t accept that, I’ll ask you to take another look at Snout Spout. I rest my case.

So what we have here is basically the same Hordak figure (which I reviewed back in 2010 and recently revisited!) that we got originally only with some paint variations and the chest gimmick thing. Instead of wearing a vest over a regular MOTUC buck, Buzzsaw’s got a totally new torso, but it still looks very much the same. The loin cloth is shorter on the new figure, but that’s the only noticeable change to the sculpt. In fact, with the chest door closed up, the only real differences are the silver-grey used for the trim on the original Hordak’s outfit has been changed to glossy black paint and the weathered looking grey belt has been changed to straight silver. The face on my figure is a little paler than the original too. That’s not to say what’s here isn’t good. The paintwork on this figure is excellent and overall, he looks fantastic.

Of course, with the whole point of this figure being the gimmick, I doubt many will display it with the chest door closed. Nope, if this guy is going to take up valuable space on the shelf, you might as well showcase that gimmick. That having been said, I don’t care much for it as a display option. It’s just an open compartment with the buzzsaw piece rattling around in there. You can balance it on the tab that secures the door to make it look like it’s getting ready to launch, but even that is rather precarious. For a gimmick that required an entirely new torso to be sculpted, this still manages to feel like an afterthought.

Obviously some articulation had to be sacrificed to make this work, but only the ab-crunch. Everything else is intact and right in line with what we’ve been seeing all along from the MOTUC male buck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in both the biceps and the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have hinges in the knees, and ankles, and swivels up near the hips. The neck is ball jointed and there is still a swivel in the waist.

Besides the buzzsaw piece, Hordak also comes with his crossbow. It’s the same piece that came with the original Hordak only now cast in white plastic with red paint apps for the eyes. Sadly, Matty chose not to repack the staff from the original figure, which seems kind of cheap on their part.

In case you haven’t already guessed, I’m pretty underwhelmed by Buzzsaw Hordak. I imagine that collectors anxious to get modern versions of all the vintage toys will be happy to get him, and that’s cool. I suppose he’s a decent pick up for collectors who missed out on the original Hordak, but then that’s not an expensive figure on the second hand market, so if that was the case, you’re probably better hunting down the original. I don’t know what else to say. It’s not often that my Matty Masters Sub disappoints me, but this is one time that it did. This is one that I would have happily skipped had I the option to.

Sep 15 2015

Star Wars “The Force Awakens” Assault Walker with Stormtrooper Sergeant by Hasbro

Over the weekend, I did some sniping at Hasbro’s Force Awakens 3 3/4″ line, or more specifically at one particular toy, which should have been an easy success for Hasbro, but turned out not so good. Holy shit, Hasbro, how long have you been making X-Wings for? And most of them up until now have been pretty good. Sheesh! Anyway, lest you thought that meant I wasn’t getting into the smaller scale line, I’ll re-assure you that I already had a lot of this stuff ordered. And yes, while I did cancel Poe Dameron’s X-Wing, the rest of the stuff is still either here or on its way. Today I’m opening up the Assault Walker and Stormtrooper Sergeant.

With so many ho-hum packages from Hasbro in the toy aisles these days, I have to give credit where credit is due, because this one is a fantastic piece of work. It’s got all the color and excitement that toy packaging should have. There’s some amazing artwork on the front with laser blasts and explosions and Kylo Ren staring at you from the corner with his lightsaber and holy shit, this makes me want to tear open this box and start playing. The box is almost fully enclosed with just a little window for the action figure. It’s also got that J-hook on the back flap so it can hang on a peg or sit on the shelf. The back of the box has actual pictures of what you’re getting and the whole thing is totally collector friendly. Ah, but as pretty as it is, I’m still going to shred it and pitch it. Let’s start with the figure…

The Stormtrooper Sergeant figure appears to be only available in this set and I’ll confess that was what made me buy it. He isn’t even included in the Amazon Exclusive Troop Building Pack. That having been said, he’s basically just a First Order Stormtrooper with a black pauldron, which is removable by just popping off his head and slipping it off. I really dig that, because now I can have either the Sergeant or just a vanilla trooper.

The plastic on this figure feels great and the paint, what little there is of it looks pretty good. There’s a little slop here and there, but most isn’t noticeable when not scrutinized by the camera. Even the gun managed to retain the white paint apps that we saw on the larger 6-inch Black figure and it still tabs into his leg for storage. I was expecting something that felt cheap, but I’d say the quality is in line with the regular Star Wars figures and better than what we saw with Rebels. Of course, the five points of articulation are still the order of the day and to some people that’s just unacceptable.

The Assault Walker, which I’ve opted to call the AT-AW, is extremely reminiscent of the AT-RT released in the Revenge of the Sith line. It’s a one-person vehicle that will almost certainly not be actually in the movie. That’s cool with me, I’ve enjoyed the whole off-Screen toy idea ever since Kenner’s Mini-Rigs and this thing definitely gives me the same warm and fuzzy vibe. That having been said, this thing is super tiny. When I pulled the cardboard tray out of the box, the first thing I noticed was they could have easily fit two of these in there.

There’s no walking gimmick or anything like what we saw with the AT-RT. This toy is as simple as it gets. The legs are hinged at the tops and again at the ankles, but not in the middle, with ratchets that are strong enough to hold it up. Frankly, I’m surprised we got ankle hinges because the Scout Walker from Rebels didn’t even have those. The chin gun can rotate left and right, and the handle bars fold down so the Stormtrooper can grip them. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t actually sit in this thing. Nope, he stands in it.

The sculpting is actually pretty good. There’s plenty of detail all over the place and even the paintwork isn’t too bad. There’s no actual paint on the body or legs, but the front armor piece and the feet are dark green with some yellow accents and there’s even some jungle camo on the armor plate. Yup, if you look on the side of the box, there’s an emblem that identifies this as part of the Jungle Mission Collection.

At $20, I’m a little conflicted on this set. The figure is pretty good, so long as you’re willing to pretend it’s 1977 again and there’s no such thing as elbows and knees yet. Frankly articulation on these figures isn’t a huge deal to me and in some cases, I can appreciate that these 5POAs can stand up better and straighter than, let’s say some of the heavily articulated early Marvel Universe stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t prefer the limited articulation, but as long as the sculpt and paint is there, I can live with it. As for the Walker, it manages to toe the line between being a goofy and credible design. I could easily see one of these things animated into the backdrop of a scene and not think twice about it. And if you consider that the figures are selling for between $7.99 and $9.99 when you can find them, then I guess the vehicle isn’t a terrible value. If I were a kid, I’d have fun with this thing. As an adult collector, it looks OK standing on the shelf. Mostly, I’m just happy to have the Stormtrooper, especially considering the going rate for them on the scalper’s market is about the same as this one with the vehicle.

Sep 14 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Ultimate Spider-Woman by Hasbro

Sorry about Marvel Monday being cancelled last week, but I had me some Star Wars to look at and now it’s back to business. Today I’m opening my second figure in the Hobgoblin BAF Series and it is indeed Jessica Drew from the Ultimates Universe as Spider-Woman. If you know me, then you know I don’t spend a lot of time in the Ultimates Universe. I’ve got nothing really against it, but I don’t have enough time to read all the regular comics that I want to without delving into the made up universes within other made up universes.

There’s the packaging and unlike last time the top reads “Spider-Man” as opposed to just “Marvel” and that’s the case for the rest of the figures in this wave. You’ll also note that Spider-Woman doesn’t appear on the front of the package anywhere, because she shares this slot with the other “Warrior of the Web,” May Parker Spider-Girl. As always, the window box shows off the figure quite nicely and you also get a good look at the Hobgoblin BAF part, in this case the torso. You also get a good look at my big mitts reflected in the plastic, because I’m a great photographer. Seriously, I do weddings. Anyway, let’s bust her out and take a look…

Brown is not the first color I think of when I think of my Spidey costumes, so this is not one of my favorite designs. Granted, it’s kind of a reddish brown. Maybe a chocolate brown? The pearlescent white paint does help jazz things up and I really dig the head sculpt. You can just about make out some of her facial features under the mask and the hair blowing off to the side looks great. Also, the…

What?

WHAT??

WHAT???????

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Welp, it’s not really worth going on, is it? The arm snapped right off at the elbow with practically no force applied at all. Hell, it might have just been held on by paint. Although the rest of this figure’s joints are janky as all hell, so I’m not sure what’s going on here. Obviously, this has been a huge problem with Funko’s Legacy line and a lot of DC Collectibles figures over the last year, but this is the first time it’s ever happened to me with a Hasbro figure. I guess, that’s a pretty good track record, but it still sucks when it happens. Oh, well. At least I got the BAF part. And honestly, if this had to happen to any figure in this wave, I’m glad it was this one.

As for next Marvel Monday… I’m going to take a break from the Hobgoblin Wave to check out a certain Walgreen’s Exclusive and then we’ll get back to it the week after.

Sep 12 2015

Star Wars “Saga Collection:” Rogue Two Snowspeeder by Hasbro

Ahhhh, The Force Awakens has got me with Star Wars toys on the brain again, but not entirely in a good way. I’ve had a blast looking at the 6-inch Black figures last week, but watching reviews for some of the other stuff is really pissing me off, especially since I have some of it on order. The particular offender of this new batch of toys is Poe Dameron’s X-Wing, which sadly looks like a piece of crap when it should be the flagship toy of the line. This caused me to go digging through closets and totes and come up with some Star Wars stuff that I’ve been meaning to look at forever. Today is going to be a bit of a hodgepodge of a Feature, because I’m looking at a vehicle and two figures, all from separate eras of Hasbro’s Star Wars line, but which go so well together. Let’s start with this awesome little ship…

Released as part of Hasbro’s “Saga Collection” back in 2006, this Rogue Two Snowspeeder was a Target Exclusive that featured some really snazzy diorama packaging and what I believe was the first action figure of Zev “I found them!” Senesca. This beauty was from a time when Target was doing a lot of Star Wars exclusives around Christmas, (Gotta take a look at that Imperial Shuttle someday!) and I remember heading out one day with finding this ship as my sole goal in life. Luckily it was pretty easy to find. In fact, the Target I went to had two whole endcaps full of these things. I’ll note here that I have no idea what happened to poor Zev. He’s probably at the bottom of a Tote somewhere, but he was never the selling point of this set for me. Ironically, one day I will come across him and proclaim… “I found him!”

The Snowspeeder is excellent and hails from a time when Hasbro really knew how to make great looking and fun vehicles without breaking the bank on the price point, or even having to invest a crazy amount of effort. The ship features some solid paint apps with nice weathering and just a few tampos to depict markings on the hull. The detail in the sculpt is impressive and everything about this toy reminds me why this is one of my favorite Star Wars ship designs. I can still feel what it was like to take my vintage Kenner Snowspeeder out into the backyard and crash it into the snow. Good times! I live in Florida now, so no snow, but boy do I have good times when I bust out my Sandcrawler!

For a small ship, the dual person cockpit has plenty of room for both pilots. Sure, if you open up the canopy it looks like Luke has to pilot it with his feet, but with the canopy closed they look great in there. Lest my point is too subtle, you can barely fit the one figure into the Force Awakens X-Wing without buttering him up and forcing him in there. Heh. That’s how you get him in. You use the force! Ahem… Moving on…

Hasbro didn’t futz around with any unnecessary electronics on this thing and in my mind that’s always a good thing. Instead, there’s just a few solid play features. The air brakes open up, the gun on the back rotates, and there’s a folding landing gear on the bottom, which is lowered with a lever. That’s it! Simple and fun! Imagine that? Not even a firing missile!

While not having Zev with the ship irks my OCD a bit, truth be told I ditched him in that Tote so many years ago, because I wanted to give this ship to Luke and Dak, inaccurate hull markings be damned! And those are the two figures I usually have manning the cockpit.

Luke is from the “Saga Legends” line from not too long ago. It was the one that included those stands that worked with some kind of collectible card game, because let’s face it, kids can’t play with action figures unless they have cards with rules and all that jazz, right? Riiiiight. Despite the silly pack in, this is one of my favorite Luke Skywalker figures in the 3 3/4″ range. The detail is so impressive, right down to the little hooks and pouches on his belt and the helmet is just amazing for this scale. When I often talk about the 6-inch Black Series not being a big enough improvement to justify the larger scale, this is the sort of thing I’m talking about. This is just a great little figure.

He also came with a removable helmet, a lightsaber hilt, and the grapple hook he used to take out the AT-AT Walker. The grapple gun isn’t the best of accessories, but hey, they tried. About my only gripe here is that I don’t seem to recall the saber including a blade and that kind of stinks. Maybe I’m wrong, though.

Dak Ralter, Luke’s trusty (and ultimately doomed) gunner, was originally released as part of the “Vintage Collection” back in 2010 and again in the 3 3/4″ Black Series last year. Crazy enough, I have both of them, probably because I forgot I had the first one, saw the new one at the store and said, “heeeey, I need that guy for the backseat of my Snowspeeder!” That’s cool, though, I always had a thing for the Rebel Pilot figures and you can never have too many of them. While I was never thrilled with the somewhat bewildered look on this guy’s face, it’s still hard to argue with how much detail is in the facial sculpt here. It also represents another great rendition of the Rebel Pilot Suit in this scale. The helmet isn’t as impressive as Luke’s but still damn good. He comes with a blaster and a rifle. Neither did him very much good when the AT-AT Walker foot crushed him. Canon tells us he was killed instantly when the blast hit the cockpit. I’m not so sure…

I feel kind of mixed about featuring a great toy like this to try to prove a point, but anger fueled me to write it. This Snowspeeder retailed for around $30 and even back then I thought it was a great deal. Now, I’m looking at Poe Dameron’s X-Wing at $50 and I think it’s outrageous. Yeah, I get it, there’s inflation and all that, but the state of Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ Star Wars line in light of how huge this new movie’s release is going to be is really disgraceful. And I can’t get behind people talking about vintage charm when it comes to the new line. Just look at this Snowspeeder. Even the original Kenner release had electronics and this one doesn’t. You see, it’s simpler, but the quality and fun is there. The guns aren’t all warped right out of the package because of shite plastic, the scale is good even if not entirely accurate, and it’s clearly designed to interact well with the figures. Is that so much to ask, Hasbro? Really???

Sep 12 2015

Justice League Dark: Constantine by DC Collectibles

Since Force Awakens took up a lot of the week, I thought I’d toss out a bonus feature today. Last week I checked out Zatanna from the Justice League Dark comic and as promised I’m back now to check out Constantine. I’m really pushing through the “To Read” comic stacks on my nightstand, and I’m going to be getting back to this one soon enough, but based on the dozen or so issues that I’ve read so far, it’s a book that I really dig. I’m a big fan of Mattel’s Signature Collection Constantine figure, so I’m interested to see how this one will stack up.

I still think that DCC’s packaging for these figures is pretty “meh.” It’s a simple window box with an extended back equipped with a J-hook. It’s bland and not very exciting, but at the very least it does show the figure off quite well and it is totally collector friendly. I guess that’s something. Also, I don’t feel obligated to keep it.

While I’ve had some differences with Zatanna’s wardrobe in this book, Constantine’s classic look survived the transition to the New 52. He’s still wearing his trusty long brown duster, collared shirt and disheveled necktie, all of which is wonderfully reproduced here for the figure. The coat is the usual vest with sculpted sleeves trick and I think this is one of the better executed examples of that.

The coat is sculpted to splay out at the bottom and it’s cast in very pliable plastic, so it doesn’t impede leg articulation at all. The sleeve on his watch arm is rolled up and the other extends to his wrist. I really dig how the ends of the belt hang off the coat. It adds a lot of credibility to the sculpt. The same goes for the collar, lapels, and the necktie. I can’t come up with a single quibble about Constantine’s outfit. It’s just perfect.

The portrait, on the other hand, gives me mixed feelings. It reminds me of a young, anime-style David Bowie and considering the design history of the character, that’s right on target. This is, of course, the New 52 version, and the characters are supposed to be younger and that’s definitely reflected here, although even in the comic he tends to have some stubble, which is the main place where this portrait is at odds with the character art. The crazy eyes also make him look like a crank junkie. All in all, I prefer the Mattel portrait, but this one is certainly interesting.

Articulation here is serviceable, but there are a couple things missing that I would have liked to see. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, but sadly there are no wrists swivels. That was a gripe I had with the Zatanna figure too. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and knees, but there’s no ankle articulation. There’s no articulation at all in the torso, not even a waist swivel, but the neck is ball jointed. In hand, the figure is still fun to play with, but it could have been better with just a few added points. At least the joints all feel good, with nothing stuck or fragile.

No acccessories, but that’s understandable. What were they going to give him, a cigarette? Actually, now that I mention it, two of the fingers on his right hand are individually sculpted and rather flexible. I imagine I could make a ciggy out of some rolled up paper and tuck it in there. He does at least have a nicely sculpted wrist watch.

I like this figure a lot. It nails the outfit perfectly and while the portrait is a bit weird, it’s certainly got a lot of personality that lends itself to the character. Somewhere between the Signature Collection version and this one, there’s probably a perfect figure to be had. Either way, it’s nice to have a current version of Hellblazer to stand beside my Zatanna. Sadly, DCC didn’t venture much further into Justice League Dark when it comes to figures. There’s no Deadman or Madam Xanadu. They did, however, produce figures of Pandora and Swamp Thing, both of which I’ll be getting to eventually.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” (Jungle Mission) Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma by Hasbro

Tekken: Nina Williams Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Marvel Legends: (Eric O’Grady) Ant-Man by Hasbro

DC Comics Super-Villains: “New 52” Joker by DC Collectibles

Transformers Combiner Wars: First Aid by Hasbro

Masters of the Universe Classics: Buzzsaw Hordak by Mattel

Star Wars “The Force Awakens” Assault Walker with Stormtrooper Sergeant by Hasbro

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Ultimate Spider-Woman by Hasbro

Star Wars “Saga Collection:” Rogue Two Snowspeeder by Hasbro

Justice League Dark: Constantine by DC Collectibles

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