Magic The Gathering (Legacy Collection): Chandra Nalaar by Funko

So, I bought some of these Magic The Gathering figures. I know next to nothing about the game, only that it’s played with cards and has something to do with wizards. I honestly didn’t even know it had characters to make figures out of. So why the hell did I buy these? Well, there are four reasons. 1) I have a problem. 2) I wanted to see how Funko’s Legacy line is improving for when they get around to doing Firefly figures. 3) They were really cheap. 4) I have a problem. I got nothing else to preference this little ditty with, so let’s just dig right in. We’re starting with Ms. Chandra Nalaar!

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There’s the box. It’s very similar to the packages we’ve been seeing for Funko’s Game of Thrones, Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars Black, and NECA’s Classic Planet of the Apes, just to name a few. I was a little apprehensive about buying these online, mainly because the paint and QC with Funko’s Legacy line has been pretty spotty, but they were cheap enough that I was willing to roll the dice, or in this case throw down my card. There’s nothing on the package to really tell me anything about this character so I went right to the source, Wizards of the Coast, to learn something about her. She’s a pyromancer and described as strong-willed and independent. Good enough, I can work with that.

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From what I’ve seen, this line strikes me as a fairly traditional fantasy line, but Chandra here is a bit of an exception, as she looks a little more steampunkish to me. That’s cool. As much as the concept gets played out, I still like a little steampunk in my fantasy. Chandra’s outfit is a sort of stylish mish-mash of chainmail reinforced with plates, some leather, and some strategically placed hoses. The detail on her outfit is exceptionally well done. From the texture of the chainmail to the rivets in the plate armor, even the wrappings of her sleeves and boots, and the fingerless gloves… it’s all top notch work.

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As wonderful as the figure is from the neck down, the portrait doesn’t disappoint either. Chandra sports a clean and pretty face sculpt with a magnifcent sprout of flame hair twisting off the top and a pair of goggles worn up right about on her hairline. The plastic used for her skin is a tad waxy, but I’m not going to complain about it because everything else about the portrait, including the eerie firey orange paint in her eyes is without fault. Stack this head and body sculpt up against most anything DC Collectibles has done recently and you’d have some pretty good competition.

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So the sculpt is fantastic, but does it have the paint to back it up? Oh yes it does! The armor has a nice tarnished gray finish and the leather is painted with a few different shades of supple brown. There are even subtle patterns painted on the edges of the sash wrapped around her waist. From the dark brown of her boots to the brilliant orange fire of her hair, the paintwork on this figure is something to be admired. Everything is crisp and spot-on beautiful.

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Articulation is one of the areas where Funko has been having the most problems with this line. It isn’t so much with the degree or design of articulation, but rather problems with frozen and snapping joints. I’m happy to say that nearly all of Chandra’s points of articulation were limber and serviceable right out of the package. The only point of contention is what appears to be a ball joint under her chest. There’s very little give to it and I’m not comfortable trying to force it for fear that I’ll snap the figure in half. Yes, I’d like that joint to work, maybe I’ll try a boil and pop, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me. As for the rest of the points… The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, have swivels in the upper thighs, and rotating hinges in the ankles. The neck is ball jointed. It’s worth noting that the armor plates on her shoulders and left arm are all made of flexible plastic and glued on so as to not interfere with the articulation. It’s a great way to go, unlike the hinged shoulder armor DC Collectibles used for that QC-disaster of a Starfire figure.

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If there’s anything I can nitpick Chandra for it’s that she’s light in the accessories. She comes with a ball of fire that she can sort of hold in her hand. Seeing as I know nothing about the character, I’ll assume she’s not big on anything but throwing fireballs. I certainly can’t point to anything missing, so I’ll just move on.

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While I started out this feature by kidding around about why I bought her, the real reason is that I just dig fantasy style figures and all of these character designs appealed to me. If you’ve read my Masters of the Universe Classics features then you should know I don’t need character or backstory to enjoy a good action figure. Nope, it’s all about design and coloring and craftsmanship and Chandra here hits all those points beautifully. I’m so pleasantly surprised at how well this figure came out and it’s instilled a lot more confidence in the belief that Funko is moving in the right direction with the Legacy line. You’ll note I pulled a lot of comparisons between Chandra and DC Collectibles’ products and that’s because I feel that’s the market that Funko is going for and if Chandra is any example of what they’re capable of, they have it in them to surpass the competition in sculpt and paint quality. So far, I’ve only picked up the three ladies of this line, so I’ll swing back next week and check out another. If all three ladies impress me as much as Chandra, I’ll definitely be picking up the dudes as well.

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Windcharger by Hasbro

I’m past the halfway point in checking out Hasbro’s first wave of Combiner Wars Legends Class figures. I’ve already looked at Bombshell and Powerglide, both superb figures, and today it’s Windcharger’s turn. This figure has an uphill battle to win the approval of a lot of collectors because his predecessor, Reveal the Shield Windcharger, was such a damn nice figure. I, however, don’t have that one in my collection, so maybe this guy will have a fighting chance with me. Let’s open him up and find out.

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The new CW packaging still feels strange to me, but since I’ll be buying very few Hasbro releases in this line, I’m not going to bother to try to get used to it. Windcharger comes packaged in his robot mode and comes with a collectible art card. The character art has been pretty good so far, although I’m not digging ‘Chargers all that much. Why does his head look so much like Megatron? Is it just me? Is that some wacky and bizarre thing from the comics that I missed or is it just a coincidence? Also, my package has cello tape across the top of the bubble as if the factory was having more problems getting the bubbles to stick to the cards. Why does it feel like so much of Hasbro’s stuff is being made out of someone’s garage these days? Those new 3 3/4” Avengers figures look like they came out of a .25 cent gumball machine. Anyway, I digress… let’s kick it off with Windcharger’s alt mode.

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‘Charger is a pretty bitchin’ low-profile sports car. He’s got a bit of modern Camero vibe to him and overall I like it a lot. You get some nice sculpted contours to the hood and sides, an integral spoiler, exhaust pipes sticking out the back, and there’s even a peg hole in the hood if you want to steal a Targetmaster Mini-Con from one of the Generations Legends and let him borrow it. The coloring is mostly red plastic, and while it does have some of that swirly nonsense going on, I don’t mind it so much in a toy this small. Some black paint on the windows and silver on the headlamps, grill and hood round out a simple but effective deco. All in all, this car is tight, holds together well, and rolls great.

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If you pick up Windhcharger and turn him over you can see most of what’s going on with his engineering. Getting him into robot mode is as simple as unfolding him and straightening everything out. Getting him back into auto mode is mostly about packing the legs underneath and the arms at their sides. He’s mostly ball joints, so you don’t have to worry about anything pulling out that won’t go back in, although one of the rear tires keep popping off when I’m changing him. It makes the toy feel rather cheap, but it does go back on without a fuss.

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Alright, so the biggest problem I have with this guy is his wonky proportions. The shoulders actually remind me of Armada Prime’s shoulders and that shouldn’t be a bad thing because I still adore that version of Prime, but they don’t work quite as well on ‘Charger here. The design seems confused over whether it was going for a bulky or lean robot and so we get the hulked out shoulders and spindly legs that don’t go well together. The car plates on his thighs help to balance things out a little, but not enough for it to really work for me. I think he can be made to look better in wide stances, but when you compare him to some of the other robot modes we’ve seen in the Legends Class lately, Windcharger feels like a stutter-step.

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That’s not to say it’s all bad. The head sculpt is on par with the excellent portraits we’ve been seeing in this line. There’s a lot of detail and neat paintwork packed into that tiny noggin. I also like how the front plates on his legs are faked out to look like the shuttered back of the original G1 Windcharger’s car mode. The coloring here is also quite good. You get a lot of the same red plastic from the car mode with some dark and light grey thrown in on the torso and limbs. It’s also worth noting that the side panels on his thighs can be displayed with the wheels front or back. The difference doesn’t really help the proportions, but I prefer them with the wheels facing front and that seems to be the official transformation.

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Windcharger does sport some good articulation. The shoulders are mounted on ball joints and attached to hinged arms and the elbows are also ball jointed. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and knees, and the ankles are hinged as part of the transformation. Also, despite his bulky top and demure lower half, he’s a fairly well balanced figure. As with most of these Legends figures, he’s a lot of fun to throw in my pocket and play around with during the day, especially when trying to get through those boring meetings at work. Just don’t let anyone catch you. Seriously, it’s embarrassing.

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Where to come down on Windcharger? I love his car mode, but I’ve got mixed feelings about the robot mode. The consensus among collectors seems to weigh heavily against this guy, but I can’t summon up any hatred for him. It’s not the best robot mode, but I’ve certainly seen a lot worse and in toys bigger and more complex than this guy. Hell, I’ve mailed about a dozen Transformers to my nephew in the last month or so that wished they looked this good. He’s a far cry from the sexiness that was the Reveal the Shield version, but taken on his own I don’t think he’s all bad and he scales really nicely next to the Generations Legend Bumblebee. Maybe this is a case of me being more forgiving of the Legends Class figures, but I’ve been far more disappointed with some Deluxe Class figures than I could ever be with this little guy. Indeed, I’d say that if this is the worst that Legends Class has given us lately, it’s a sub-line that’s doing pretty damn great.

Masters of the Universe Classics: Lizard Man by Mattel

Oh, happy day! I’m finally caught up on my Masters Classics figures! Sure, I’m opening last month’s figure today, but I’m doing it before this month’s figures have shipped out and I call that progress! Today’s offering is actually the first release for the 2015 Club Eternia Sub and it is Lizard Man. I have very little memory of the episodes this guy appeared in, but back in 2011 that once great site Topless Robot (I miss ya Rob) gave him 1-20 Odds that he’d ever get an action figure. It was a good call and the author’s reasoning was certainly sound. Lizard Man just didn’t conform to the standard Matty Buck and his release would be contrary to the entire MOTUC money-saving business model. And afterall, it did take almost four years to happen, who even could have guessed the Matty Collector Train would still be chugging along for such a long while?

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The only thing I have to say about the packaging is DAMN YOU MEKANECK FOR BEING THE ONLY FIGURE ON THE BACK THAT I DON’T HAVE!!! There’s also an intriguing sticker on the top corner of the cardback that tries to teach me how to get the best performance out of my glow-in-the-dark accessory. GITD? I had no idea! Anyway, Lizard Man’s tagline is “Heroic Cold Blooded Ally” and the bio laments the fact that being a good lizard causes him to deal with discrimination, because most of the lizard people on Eternia are assholes. Maybe it would help if people didn’t call him “Lizard Man” because that right there is some racist shit. That’s it. I got nothing else… let’s pop this guy out and take a look at him.

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Holy crap, I love this guy! Everything about him really shouts the Filmation aesthetic. Yeah, he’s just a lizard guy in a blue two-piece, but for a C-level character, T4H did a beautiful job on him. His lean stature makes him stand out in a sea of MOTUC bucks and I do believe most everything on this figure is brand new. Liz is mostly cast in a pleasing, deep green plastic and his belt and clothes are all sculpted right onto his body. There’s no real flexibility to the tail, but it is positioned to help the figure stand more easily, although he’s well balanced enough that he doesn’t need to rely on it. And check out the awesome webbing between his fingers! It’s done with a really thin plastic that’s semi-transparent and looks amazing.

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The head sculpt is chock full of personality. Lizard Man is sort of wearing a smile, although its hard to tell whether he’s happy or just being a lizard. The eyes are painted yellow with black slits for pupils and he has a blue hood sculpted on his head. It’s definitely Filmation through and through, maybe with a little bit of Don Bluth mixed in and that ain’t a bad thing at all. I think if I had one gripe about the figure as a whole it’s that he seems a little too tall. What little memory I have of him makes me think he should be significantly shorter than He-Man, but maybe that’s because he’s often seen hunched over.

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Despite the new buck, the articulation here remains pretty close to what we usually see in the line. Lizard Man’s arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels at the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have rotating hinges at the knees, hinges in the ankles and swivels at the hips. The neck is ball jointed and the figure can swivel at the waist, but there is no ab-crunch hinge. So we lose an ab-crunch but gain a little extra movement in the knees. What’s really fun about Lizard Man’s articulation is not so much found in the individual points, but rather that the lean body allows for a wider range of motion than the bulky, beefed-out MOTUC bucks. He’s certainly fun to play with!

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You get two accessories with Lizard Man, both of which are just random Filmation pieces bundled with the figure. Matty promised they were going to be doing this whenever possible and they have indeed delivered some neat stuff. The Diamond Ray of Disappearance comes from the very first episode of the series that bears the same name. It’s a permanently opened box with a GITD diamond inside that exiles your figures to another dimension. Actually, you may need to use your imagination for that to work. The bottom of the box has intended room for Skeletor’s fingers to help him hold it, which was a good idea in theory but has mixed results.

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The other piece is the Filmation version of Skeletor’s sword with the crossed bone hilt. It’s a nicely sculpted piece, but the fact that it’s left unpainted in bare gray plastic really makes it uninteresting to me. Why not cast the thing in purple? I think it would have looked better. As it is it just looks like an unfinished, prototype accessory. Still, I give Matty props for continuing to get us the Filmation accessories and so far the good have far outweighed the flubs. If I had some customizing skills, I’d probably try to paint it, but that’s never going to happen.

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As a character, I don’t know how many people were clamoring for a Lizard Man figure, but keep in mind, I collect MOTUC for the figures themselves and not so much the fiction or the characters. Yes, I started collecting the line largely based off of nostalgia for characters like He-Man and Skeletor, but the majority of the figures I get could have no fiction at all behind them and I’d still love them. Taking that into consideration, I couldn’t be happier with how Mattel has kicked off the final year for Club Eternia because Lizard Man is just a great figure. 2015 is going to be interesting as they’ll be bringing in a lot of lesser known names to the table, but again seeing as how the characters are secondary to me, I think I’m going to find a lot to love this year, possibly more so than most.

Lost Exo-Realm Cubrar with Tekour (LER-02) by Fansproject, Part 2

I’m back to wrap up my look at Fansproject’s Cubrar, Not-Slag, and it’s time to get to the transforming. Going from dinosaur to robot involves some clever engineering, although there are also some subtle double-hinged plates that need to be positioned just right to make some things work. I know, that’s the case for most changeable robots, but it the margin for error feels particularly small here. For example, if you miss a minor double-fold on the plate holding the dino legs, then getting them packed into the robot legs is an impossibility. It took me a little patience the first time, but after that it was easy-peasy. Changing him back into the dinosaur mode has its own challenges, particularly getting everything to pack in and close up just right. That’s where that extra sheet of instructions came in real handy. In the end, Cubrar’s transformation feels a lot more complex and fidgety than Columpio’s, but the tolerances and clearance all feel good and not at all scary.

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Like Columpio, Cubrar’s robot mode walks a fine line between G1 Dinobot and original design. It’s easy to see a lot of the stuff borrowed from Slag, the most obvious being the way the dino’s bottom jaw drops down to form the center of his chest and the top of the dino head forms a hood behind the robot head, complete with horns and all. On the flip side, Fansproject put enough of their own marks on this design to make it feel fresh. Probably my favorite departure from the G1 look is the way Cubrar wears the dinosaur’s neck crest as shoulder armor. It’s a beautiful touch and pretty damn clever the way it works. Also, rather than wear his bulky dino legs on the outside of his robot legs, they pack neatly inside, similar to what Columpio’s design did with his tail. This wonderful mix of old and new results in an absolutely fantastic robot mode. The proportions on this guy are just amazing and he follows he whole G1-but-not-G1 aesthetic that I love so much about most of Hasbro’s Classics and Generations lines.

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Cubrar also improves on a couple of issues I had with Columpio, particularly in the way the back kibble is handled. Cubrar wears the dino’s tail on his back in a similar fashion to the way Columpio wore his dino’s neck and head. But while Columpio’s was left to flop in the breeze, Cubrar’s actually pegs in securely, making for a more solid robot mode. Of course, the downside of this is that it locks up his waist pivot. It’s a shame the hinge for the tail couldn’t have been mounted higher to avoid this. The biggest issue I had with Columpio was how loose his hip joints were, although I was able to fix them with a little nail polish. You get none of that with Cubrar. Every joint on this guy is tight and solid and he holds a pose beautifully.

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Cubrar’s noggin is a bit beefier than Columpio’s, partly because his face is broader and partly because his “helmet” is larger. His face has plenty of character with large blue visor and an extra helping of lips and the silver paint is immaculate. And for those of you who are fans of Lockdown from Age of Extinction (Shame on you!!!), you can transform Cubrar’s face into a gun, or in this case, I guess it’s a flame-thrower. Yeah, it’s just a byproduct of the transformation, but a fun option nonetheless.

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The deco in Cubrar’s robot mode closely matches what we saw in dino mode. You get the same great gray and red plastics with some metallic blue and silver detail work and more of that satiny smooth gold. The colors on this guy really pop and they match Columpio perfectly. I’m hoping this is the coloring that we’re going to get all the way through to the end of the line.

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Accessories? Cubrar comes with two guns and a sword. The guns are a matched pair of short and stocky weapons, not quite pistols and not quite rifles. Individually they aren’t as cool as Columpio’s rifle with folding bayonet, but Cubrar sure looks great dual wielding them. The sword has a translucent red energon blade and is a very nice piece. Chances are I’ll wind up displaying him with the sword and one gun.

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As with Columpio, Cubrar can store two of his weapons by pegging them into his back flaps. I think the sword looks great positioned diagonally across his back. The guns can also peg in side by side, or you can go one gun and one sword. I think this storage gimmick works a little better than Columpio’s. The stored weapons don’t look as awkward this time around.

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And last but not least we have Tekour’s axe mode. I thought Drepan’s weapon mode was pretty good, but I think Tekour’s outshines it. Drepan was kind of a war pick, whereaas Tekour is just a bitchin double-bladed axe. It’s a damn solid weapon mode and the pommel of the handle is sculpted with a triceratops head, because Cubrar likes to accessorize, dammit!

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Tekour can also double as a rifle and while it’s basically just the axe held differently, I think it works really well. The stock does get in the way, as it doesn’t fit into the crook of Cubrar’s elbow, but he can hold it out in a pretty sweet firing position.

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With two Lost Exo-Realm figures on my shelf, I’m loving this line more and more and I’m getting really excited to see the team together, even though that’s going to be a long road to travel. The quality and engineering on Cubrar is up to FP’s usual impeccable standards and I’ve totally fallen in love with this aesthetic. The only hard choice will be deciding whether to display them in robot or dino modes because I really dig them both. Fansproject has been a little quiet on the Lost Exo-Realm front lately, but if things progress as they seem to be, their Not-Swoop may very well be next, but there are no pre-orders up yet, so at this point anything could happen. All I have to say is keep them coming, and I’ll keep buying them!

 

Lost Exo-Realm Cubrar with Tekour (LER-02) by Fansproject, Part 1

I feel bad. I’ve had Fansproject’s excellent Sigma-L on the pile waiting to be featured for months now and here I am jumping right over him to get to Cubrar. All I can say is, sorry Sigma, I’ll get to you next week. Pinky swear! It’s a great time to be a Not-Transformer collector when there’s this many great figures vying for my attention and in this case both made by the same company. Cubrar is the second in Fansproject’s Lost Exo-Realm line of giant robots that also happen to transform into giant robot dinosaurs and some might say that this one bears a passing resemblance to a Transformer known as Slag. I’ll probably be referring back to LER-01 Columpio quite frequently, so if you haven’t read that feature, you might want to start there and come back. Due to time and space constraints, I’m also going to serve this one up as a two-parter, so today I’m checking out the packaging, Cubrar’s alt-mode, and Tekour’s robot mode and tomorrow I’ll look at the rest…

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I love the presentation here, but I’m going to qualify that love by pointing out that Fansproject did a little bit of tinkering with the packaging. The same basic style is still there. You get that same great style of artwork as seen with Columpio and lots of pictures of the toy in both modes and various poses. The front flap is secured with velcro and opens to reveal a die-cut window showing Cubrar in his dinosaur mode. So what’s different? The box is a lot smaller than Columpio’s and more squared off at the cross-section. Don’t be fooled by that into thinking that Cubrar is a smaller figure, if anything he’s bulkier than Columpio. No, Fansproject achieved the box reduction by reducing space in the tray and securing Cubrar’s sword and guns in a baggie behind the tray. It doesn’t make for as impressive a sight when you lift the flap and look inside, but it’s not something I’m terribly concerned about.

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Fansproject also ditched the satin finish of the Columpio’s box for a more glossy look. The subtle changes in presentation, and the not so subtle change in size, does irk me a little bit. I do keep the boxes for my 3P Transformers and while these are designed to still resemble the same series, they don’t look very uniform on the bookshelf together. And while Cubrar’s box still looks great, it doesn’t have the same impact as Columpio’s did when I first held it. Still, taken on its own it sports a really classy presentation for a somewhat high end collectible figure. Inside the box you also get a simple folded instruction booklet and an extra page of errata with some tips on how to get him back in Dino Mode.

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Obviously, Cubrar’s dinosaur mode is a triceratops and I absolutely love it. It shares the same overall aesthetics as Columpio making for a great matched pair. The design is loaded with panel lines and he’s a tad stockier than Columpio making Cubrar resemble a walking tank. Naturally, Cubrar’s lower jaw is articulated and when you open it you reveal his flame-thrower, whih is a great call back to Slag. Cubrar features sockets on the “shoulders” of his back legs so you can plug in his guns or even his sword if you prefer. The articulation here is right in line with the first LER release, offering plenty of poseability in the legs, a segmented and articulated tail, and a ball joint in the neck. If I had one gripe, I’d say the horn on Cubrar’s nose is a little overstated, but then I guess it makes it all the more dangerous to Decepticons when he charges them.

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The coloring here is a perfect match for Columpio and that’s a very good thing because I really dig this deco. The matte gray plastic makes up the bulk of the figure’s armor with some metallic silver paint and vac-metal style bling around his crest. The regular retail edition also features that sumptuous satiny gold paint for the head, tail, and claws, as opposed to the vac-metal style used for the Con Exclusive release. Both have their merits and it’s hard for me to say I’d prefer one over the other without having the Exclusive in hand, but I certainly have no beef with the gold paint on this retail edition. It looks great! Lastly, you get some red highlights on the legs, some red showing through from his undercarriage and the red plastic used for his horns and the tip of his tail. I could have probably done without the red cap on his tail, as I think he would have matched Columpio better without it, but it ain’t bad.

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Columpio came with his little weapon-master buddy, Drepan and Cubrar comes with Tekour, and I have the same mixed feelings about this little guy as I did Drepan. On the one hand, he’s a really great looking little figure and he even comes with a pair of axes to wield. The detail and quality on this guy surpasses his tiny size and with ball joints and double-hinges all around, he’s even rather fun to play with. On the downside, like Drepan, Tekour has a huge stick coming off his back. It’s awkward and unsightly and there’s no real way to hide it. When you consider how much clever design work went into this little figure, it feels rather out of place to have that one glaring oversight.

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As with Columpio, Cubrar still features a transformable platform for his weapon-master buddy, Tekour, to ride on and this platform is one of the key things that Cubrar’s dino mode does better than his predecessor. When not in use, Columpio’s seat platform didn’t lock down and it left a conspicuous hole in his back. Cubrar’s platform closes up real nice and I wouldn’t be able to tell the even serve an alternate function if I didn’t already know it.

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And that’s where I’m going to call it quits for today. Come on back tomorrow and we’ll look at Cubrar’s robot mode, along with his accessories, and Tekour’s weapon mode.

Masters of the Universe Classics: Bow and Arrow by Mattel, Part 2

Well, it was a long and hard-fought struggle, but I’m finally ready to open my last backlogged MOTUC figure. That will give me plenty of time to get to Lizard Man next week and then I can just sit back and wait for February’s Sub to roll in. Yeah, I know, I still have the unopened Star Sisters kicking around somewhere, but they don’t count. I’ve had them forever and I’m saving them for a rainy day. Today I’m tackling the second half of the Bow and Arrow duo with Bow’s winged steed, Arrow.

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We don’t get to see the MOTUC beast box all that often, but here it is again. This one is taller than the one that housed The Griffin, but it’s still just a large window box with the same Greyskull deco that we see on the carded figures. For some reason I expected Arrow’s bio to be replete with wackiness, but it’s actually one of the most sane and pedestrian bio’s I’ve read in the entire line. Turns out he’s just a horse named Arrow that can fly. A lot of collectors seemed to be unhappy about Arrow being included in the Sub. Maybe they felt he belonged in the Club Etheria Mini-Sub? Maybe they just didn’t think that Bow was important enough to get his own ride? Or maybe they’re just a surly bunch that seem to nitpick everything that Matty does with this marvelous line of action figures? I don’t know, but I can’t blame Matty for wanting to reuse the Swiftwind mold, and since I don’t own Swiftwind, this toy is completely fresh and new to me. Anyway, Arrow comes packaged with his wings wrapped in plastic and tethered to the bottom of the tray, so let’s start with a look at the un-winged version of this stallion.

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With Arrow out of the box I have to say this is one beautifully sculpted horse. There are a lot of nice little details, like the contours of the muscles, the veins, and even the folds in the skin at the crook of his neck. The proportions seem really good too. He’s got a glorious, flowing tail that cascades out of his hinder and a mane of bristles that gives him a certain Grecco-Roman warlike quality. Most of the bridal and fixtures are part of the sculpt or permanently attached, although the reins and saddle are both separate pieces and the saddle can be removed simply by unclasping it down near Arrow’s belly. The reigns are cast in soft plastic, which make them easy to work with when trying to get a rider to hold on.

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Speaking of which, I was a little concerned about how well Bow was going to be able to sit on Arrow. We all remember Matty having to release an entirely new She-Ra figure in order to have her sit on Swiftwind. Well, the truth is that Bow, or most other MOTUC male bucks, is a comfy fit and looks pretty damn good riding on top of Arrow. The only issue is the stirrups, which don’t seem to work all that well with the position of the figure’s legs, so I just let them hang loose and ignore them.

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If you’re up for Arrow in all his winged glory, you need only remove the two “shoulder” pieces, which are plugged into hexagonal sockets. I make it sound easy, but holy hell it ain’t. I had to resort to prying these sum’bitches out of the horse with the handle of a box cutter. Once out, you just plug the wings into the sockets just like on The Griffin.

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Arrow does sport some wild coloring. The horse itself is a kind of odd tanish-white that makes him look like a white horse that’s gone jaundice. It seems like a strange choice considering the blue coloring on the artwork used for the bio. The horse itself does, however, have a pleasing and subtle pearlescent sheen to it. The wings feature a brightly colored plumage consisting of orange, mauve, and blue. The orange matches Arrow’s mane, tail, and hooves, while the mauve matches most of his fixturing. I don’t really find these to be super appealing colors, but the deco certainly makes Arrow stand out on the shelf.

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Arrow’s articulation consists of a lot of good points, but none of them have a wide enough range of motion to really make a big difference. You The legs all rotate a bit at the “shoulders” and they have hinges at the “knees” and again down near the “ankles.” The tail can swivel at the connection point, and there’s a hinge at the base of Arrow’s neck and again near the head. The result is you can do a little bit of tweaking, but not much in the way of action poses. In the end Arrow is mostly still going to be standing there.

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Why aren’t there more horses in action figure lines? The last one I picked up was probably the one for Hasbro’s 3 3/4” Indiana Jones figure. Whatever the reason, I’d love to see more because Arrow is a great figure and offers a really unique way to display Bow. Having him in hand makes me regret not picking up Swiftwind when I had the chance, but again… I really didn’t think Mattel was going to go all out for the Princess of Power line. I don’t know, maybe if I already had Swiftwind, I’d feel that Arrow was too redundant and unwarranted, but as things stand I’m glad to have a horse represented in my MOTUC display shelves. And NECA… if you’re listening, we sure could use some horses for those Gorilla Soldiers from your Classic Planet of the Apes line. Just saying.

Masters of the Universe Classics: Bow and Arrow by Mattel, Part 1

Yeah, I started this week with MOTUC love and I’m ending it that way too. It’s necessary as these are the last two figures I have backlogged from last year and I gotta get them open and out on the display shelves. Bow was released way back in the annals of Club Eternia, I want to say 2011 but I could be wrong. I didn’t get him when he was first offered and I’ve been watching him on the secondary market ever since, but at around $40-45, I was never willing to pull the trigger. When his trusty steed Arrow was announced as part of 2014 Club Eternia, I was hoping that they would bring Bow back and they sure did. I’m going to take a look at Bow today and Arrow tomorrow.

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There’s the packaging and all I have to say is, “Special Friend Who Helps She-Ra???” What the hell is that? It’s weird and wrong on so many levels. And if he’s secretly in love with Adora, then why does his heart frantically beat when She-Ra’s in danger? So many questions, so many answers I really don’t care to know. You’ll also note my figure’s package states, “The Original!” which is Matty’s bizarre way of distinguishing this reissue from the original release. Yeah, I still don’t get that. Anyway, I have little memory of Bow from the She-Ra cartoon, although I do remember him as being an Errol Flynn type. I didn’t pick him up when he was first offered because I honestly didn’t think Matty would release enough Princess of Power figures to make collecting them worthwhile. Looks like I was wrong about that because now I have an entire shelf of them. With Arrow coming my way, it seemed only natural I should pick up Bow.

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Bow is a rather dashing looking archer with a predilection for gold flare. His costume consists of a set of shoulders and chest armor with a short red cape. It’s all fashioned in one piece and the whole ensemble can be easily removed simply by popping off Bow’s head. The gold and bronze paint looks really nice and there’s even some beautiful scrollwork sculpted into the tops of the shoulders. I’m not entirely sure why, but Bow’s costume reminds me of El Dorado’s from DC’s Super Friends. Maybe it’s just all the gold, but I think Bow’s outfit is a lot more ostentatious and not as Aztec-y.

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His quiver is also permanently attached to this piece and is rather ornate and includes a horse motif (only the first example of Bow’s unsettlingly rampant horse fetish) and a number of arrows sculpted into it. The quiver also has a flexible plastic cord that fits around Bow’s neck and under his chin. The costume is rounded out by a pair of blue pants, gold bracers, and gold boots. There’s certainly nothing understated about Bow’s fashion choices and one might say that he looks FABULOUS!

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You do get one display option with Bow’s costume and that’s whether to go with the simple red circle in the middle of his chest or swap it out with the heart (which is accurate for both the vintage figure and the Filmation look). Wait? So why is the circle even an option and why is it the one packaged on the figure? I haven’t got a clue. Either way, it’s a fairly subtle difference and swapping them out is as simple as removing one plug and putting in another. Seeing as how the heart is both vintage and Filmation accurate, that’s likely the one I’ll go with.

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The chest piece is not the only way this figure gives you the best of both worlds, you also get a choice between a vintage style or Filmation style head. The vintage style noggin is the one that the figure is packaged with and it’s certainly a nice sculpt. He’s clean shaven and he has a rather elaborate gold head piece. There are a few blemishes on this head. I’m not sure if it’s part of the molding process or something caught under the paint when they slathered it on.

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The Filmation head is quite similar but features a mustache, heavier eyebrows, and the headpiece is gone. I haven’t decided yet which one will be the default look for my display. The mustache gives him a little more character, but I like the way the headpiece goes with the rest of his costume. In the end, I’ll probably lean toward this one because the sculpt is cleaner and the skin has a less waxy finish to it.

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Articulation is exactly what we’ve all come to expect from the standard MOTUC male buck. Or is it??? The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees and ankles, and have swivels near the hips. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab-crunch hinge in the torso and a ball joint in the neck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinges in the elbows, and… what’s this? Hinges and swivels in the wrists? Ok, that’s something you don’t see in a lot of the MOTUC figures! It helps a little bit with posing, but it’s still tough to get some truly convincing poses of him knocking an arrow.

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Moving on to accessories… well, they don’t call him Bow for nothing… surprise! He comes with a bow! Bow’s bow is a great looking piece. It’s pretty sizeable and cast in gold to match the rest of his blinged out costume. It has a sculpted grip and the top ends in a horsehead to match the one on his quiver. Once again, Bow really loves the horsies! The bow also has loops on the top and bottom in case you want to string it and it comes with a loose arrow.

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Lastly, Bow comes with a harp. Naturally, it’s gold it has a red jewel in it and carries on Bow’s horse obsession with a horsehead sculpted into the top. I think that’s the top. Truth is, I have no idea if that’s how you hold a harp, or if this is truly a harp. It could be a lyre. I’m pretty sure it’s not a lute. Anyway, the harp is a nicely sculpted piece and I think it’s a rather cool and unique accessory that gives the character some added personality and it’s an important tool in Bow’s attempt to get out of Adora’s Friend Zone. Although frankly, Bow, Etheria seems to be lousy with hot chicks and not a lot of dudes, so you might be narrowing your options a little too much there. Play the field, bro. That’s all I’m saying.

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Bow has been one of those few MOTUC figures that has been conspicuously absent from my collection for a while now. I’ve had him on my Amazon Wish List and as a Saved Search on Ebay, but I’ve never seen him at a price I was willing to pay. You can imagine how happy I was to see him go on the block again at Matty Collector and in the same month that Arrow was shipping. It was one of those times that Matty Collector did the right thing for collectors, and I didn’t even have to pay a premium for him. He’s a really great figure and considering how few dudes there are in the Great Rebellion, I consider him a pretty important figure in my collection. Not to mention that having Arrow and not Bow would have been unacceptable. And so tomorrow I’ll be back to check out Bow’s mighty winged steed and finally get this pair together.

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Powerglide by Hasbro

On the last Transformers Thursday I made a much deserved detour to take a look at MP-22 Ultra Magnus, but now I’m back on track to checking out the first Wave of Legends Class Combiner Wars figures. The line had a strong start with Bombshell and today I’m opening what is actually my most anticipated figure in this assortment: Powerglide. And away we go!

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Here’s the new Legends Class packaging. I can’t say I love it, but I don’t hate it. It’s just different. You do get some very nice character art, which is also included inside as a trading card. Hasbro has taken a few stabs at doing Powerglide in recent years, but never quite with lasting results. The Universe Ultra Class release was an interesting figure with a good sculpt, but the size was all wrong and it always baffled me as to why Hasbro decided to color it white. Back in 2011 we got a Cyberverse version, which at the time I was rather smitten with, but I can’t say as that figure has aged all that well. So, here we go again, but there’s something about just looking at the packaged toy that tells me that Hasbro might have done it right this time. Powerglide is packaged in his robot mode, but we’re going to start with his alt mode.

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Ah, the A-10 Warthog! It’s design inspired both the Cobra Rattler and the alt mode of good old Powerglide here. This version hits all the right points, but it does suffer from a few issues. The profile is there and the deep red plastic drives the G1 homage home. On the other hand, there is a lot of ugly jointing on the top and the gray plastic in the middle of the body looks rather out of place. The hinged rear stabilizers don’t lock in so they have a habit of getting knocked out of alignment, and you can clearly see his hands peeking out under the fronts of the wings. Jets with hands seems like a recurring theme in the Combiner Wars. I realize I just nitpicked a lot of stuff on this little jet, but this is a Legends Class figure, so I’m willing to cut it a lot more slack than I would a Deluxe or Voyager. Especially when the robot mode looks like…

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THIS! Awww, yeah! Slap a dress on me and call me the girl who loved Powerglide, because this is one awesome homage! The transformation is quick and easy, and yet if still features some clever moves and the robot mode’s proportions are fantastic. He’s got a nice broad, barrel chest and I really dig how well the wings peg into his shoulders so securely. The arms look really close to the Sunbow animated design as does the magnificent head sculpt. There’s not a lot of paint work on this figure, and that usually bugs me, but in this case the red and gray plastic is really all it needs, plus the blue eyes and the little bit of black here and there. Also, that huge Autobot emblem on his chest is gorgeous. I have to imagine that this is about as close as we’re going to get to the Sunbow design in action figure form, unless Hasbro actually learns how to do mass-shifting and get rid of those big engines on his legs.

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Speaking of the engines, the official robot mode has the engine pods shifted upward so the stabilizers can swing back behind his feet. I like it, but I think I like leaving them down even better. It adds a little more bulk to his lower legs and a cleaner profile above the knee.

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Even the articulation on this guy makes for a really fun action figure. You get ball joints in the shoulders, hips, and knees, and hinges in the elbows and ankles. The head can also turn as part of the transformation.

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It sounds crazy to say it, but this little Powerglide figure is possibly one of the best G1 updates Hasbro has done in a long time. Yes, the jet mode lacks some of the polish that the robot mode has, but when the robot mode looks this good, I would have it no other way. The only stumbling point here is that he doesn’t scale all that well with other lines. As one of the original Mini-bots, I can make Powerglide with some of my Classics figures, but not so much with the other G1 Mini-bots, like Bumblebee or Warpath, that got proper Deluxe Class upgrades. It’s a tad frustrating, since I think this figure could have been up-scaled to work as a Deluxe with very little tweaking. Nonetheless, as a stand-alone figure, this little guy simply can’t be beat and Hasbro seems to be channeling some of their best work into this Legends Class sub-line. Had I featured him last year, he probably would have found his way onto my Favorites of 2014 list.

Doctor Who: K9 Mark II Quarter-Scale RC figure by Character Options

I don’t like to throw around the term “Grail Piece” all that often, especially with something that was first released as early as seven or eight years ago, but today’s feature brings me mighty close to it. I’ve reviewed at least a few K9 figures on FFZ before, but they were mere trifles compared to this one. Originally released in 2007, I didn’t even know this toy existed until several years later when I was viewing a picture gallery of someone’s Doctor Who toy collection and saw the robotic dog standing majestically on a display shelf towering over the regular figures. I quickly inquired as to what it was and I was told it was Character Options’ Quarter-Scale version of the metal mutt based on his NuWho appearance in “School Reunion.” WHA-WHA-WHAAAAAT??? I’m pretty sure that was my reaction. I instantly became obsessed with tracking one down, but I quickly learned that there were few available on the secondary market and the ones that I did find were prohibitively expensive and would also require shipping from Great Britain. For a while I let the dream die, but in 2014 CO tweaked the toy and re-released it as a proper Classic Who version. and in doing so, made me very happy dude.

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And there he is in his gloriously large window box. The package features the current style deco that CO has been using for the Classic Who releases. I honestly still can’t believe I’m the proud owner of this toy! To understand my pure joy, first you must understand my childhood adoration of The Fourth Doctor’s best friend, K9. The precocious dog first appeared in the episode “The Invisible Enemy” in 1977, the very same year that Star Wars was released. Of course, I probably didn’t first see the episode until four or five years later, sometime around the age of 12 or 13, but I do remember that K9 almost instantly replaced R2-D2 as my number one childhood robot crush. Ever since then I dreamed of owning a really good K9 toy. Fast forward almost 30 years later and I’ve got a few decent K9’s on my shelf, including a couple of the 5-inch Scale versions from CO and an Eighth-Scale figure from Biff Bang Pow! They’re perfectly fine figures, but I was yearning for something that would bring me closer to the neigh impossible dream of owning an actual full-sized electronic K9, and while he’s not full-sized, this bad boy certainly scratches that itch!

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Sorry, I got a little side tracked there! Getting back to the box, it’s pretty standard stuff for this toy line only a lot bigger than what we’re used to seeing. K9 is secured inside with his access panel off and a “Try Me” button that lets you sample just a few of his voice clips. I will take this opportunity to squeee at the fact that John Leeson’s name actually appears on a toy box. SQUEEE! There, I did it. Leeson, of course, was the original voice talent behind K9, and although he was briefly replaced by the late David Brierly, Leeson eventually came back to the role and even reprises it several times for K9’s apperances in NuWho as well as K9’s own (terrible) Australian spin-off series. Leeson’s K9 voice is as iconic to me as anything in all of sci-fi-dom so it’s just nice to see him get credit.

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Just look at the size of this box! I snapped a picture of it beside the 5-inch Scale K9 figure for comparison. I’ll also note here that getting K9 out of his box was a royal pain in the ass. He was screwed into four plastic retaining straps from the bottom and one of the screws was quick to strip. It probably took me a full 20 minutes to finally free him, but once I did everything was most satisfactory! Speaking of screws, it’s worth noting that while K9 includes the AA batteries to make his “Try Me” mode work, he does require a 9-volt for the remote control unit, so you’ll need to keep that screwdriver handy. Also worth noting, this US release features an FDC sticker on one of the compartments. It came off fairly easy, but I still need to clean some of the sticker gunk off of him. But before we get to the electronic features, let’s look at the toy itself.

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With a few exceptions, the attention to detail and screen accuracy of K9 is quite well done. Some particular points of note include his antenna tail, the black bumpers around his base, the multicolored collar and accompanying dog tag, and the pull handle under his neck. He has his keypad positioned appropriately on his back, his name is on his right side panel, complete with sculpted faux screws and he has his computer monitor on his left side. The proportions here look great and while the coloring may be a little darker than what I’m used to seeing on screen, it could just be from the studio lights. On the downside, the left side of K9 exhibits gray circular plugs to cover the screws. It’s a little unsightly and obviously not screen accurate, but then I tell myself if Hasbro had done a toy like this, they probably would have just left the screws exposed, so I’m willing to live with it.

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K9’s head features a few other minor points of contention when it comes to accuracy. The antenna dishes used for the ears are solid plates, where they should be mesh, but I can certainly understand why that change had to be made. Secondly, K9’s blaster is positioned slightly lower than it should be. I believe the show prop had the blaster coming directly out of his nose. I’m guessing the change was made to make the mechanics easier to work with. Lastly, there’s no “mouth” slot for K9’s tape printer. It may sound like I’m nitpicking a lot, but honestly none of this concerns me or dampens my love for this toy. It’s just fun and worthwhile to point out the differences.

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K9’s removable panel lets you see his inner workings, although it’s really just a sculpted wall of components. It’s also clearly not been changed from the previous NuWho release and varies quite a bit from when we saw inside K9 in the days of Classic Who, which was usually just a mess of circuit boards, wire, and ticker tape. Anyway, taking off the side panel leads us into the electronics. When you first get him out of the package, you have to turn him from “Try Me” mode to the On position and doing so causes K9 to light up and go through his boot up routine. In addition to the lights inside the access hatch, the keypad on his back lights up and the red panel on his face lights up too. I’m going to break tradition, bust out my shitty phone camera, and get all video up in your faces…

Aw, yeah. That’s some good Leeson! The quality of the voice is absolutely fantastic. Once you’ve played around with the “Try Me” function and booted him up, it’s time to get serious and get out the remote control.

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It seems to be more or less the same remote that came with the 2007 release only it no longer has a huge antenna coming off of it. You get two control sticks to drive K9. Pushing both forward moves him forward, pulling both back moves him back, and combinations make him turn. He controls really well and I’m amused by the fact that the super loud electric motors in the toy sound about as obnoxious as the prop did in the show. The buttons activate different voice clips on K9 and some of them will say different things when pressed multiple times. I’ll bust out a video clip again as I run through his voice clips, but I don’t have enough surface on my studio desk to really drive him anywhere.

I like how the ears move when he says scanning now and I should point out that they also move whenever he’s in motion. It’s a shame they couldn’t get his eye to extend, but I guess that would have required a lot more engineering. You also have to be careful, because if you activate each button going up or down the controller you will unlock a secret little sequence where K9 goes absolutely berserk, rolls all over the place and babbles about detecting Time Lords and recognizing you as his Master. It’s a cool little easter egg.

Last, but not least, you have the blaster…

Like I mentioned before, the blaster is positioned lower than it should be, but I’m impressed at how far out it deploys and the sounds of it extending, firing and retracting are all spot on from the Classic show. Oddly enough, K9 will not move when his blaster is extended.

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Well, I’ve prattled on about my new robot pup long enough and all that’s left to say is he was expensive, but not unreasonably so. At $100, he’s a bit more than what I paid for either my 12-inch RC Dalek or Davros, but he does a bit more than those toys do. Is a hundred bucks a reasonable price for what you get here? Hell if I know. You see, even though now I have a huge display case overflowing with Doctor Who toys, I still remember that feeling as a kid when there was nothing at all. Without the Internet I didn’t even know those shitty Dapol figures existed. The best thing I had as a kid was an unpainted pewter K9 miniature intended for use with the Roll Playing Game and I thought that little piece of junk was pure gold. And so I still kind of have that mentality which could totally spawn conversations like this…

“How much would you pay for a Quarter-Scale Electronic K9 figure that’s remote controlled and talks.

Me: “A BILLION DOLLARS!!”

“It’s only $100”

Me: “SOLD!!!”

Yeah. So, when a measily three of them dropped onto the website over at Who North America, I jumped on it faster than you can say “Jelly Baby.” Considering how much the original 2007 toy went for on the secondary market, I’ve got no complaints. Indeed, I’m actually glad I never broke down and spent it, because I’m much happier with this Classic Who version. He’s not a perfect replica, but then he’s not meant to be. He is, however, a really solid and impressive toy, and I have a feeling that K9 will be residing on my desk for a long while before I finally find a place for him on my Doctor Who display shelves. That is, when he’s not chasing around the cat!

Marvel Universe Infinite: Valkyrie by Hasbro

I wasn’t planning on looking at Valkyrie this week, but two things brought me around. First, I’m on a big kick to get through a lot of unfinished business from 2014 and Valkyrie is the last Infinite Series figure that I have still waiting to be opened. Second, we’ve seen a lot of stuff from Hasbro of late suggesting that the 4-inch line of Marvel figures is going to be around for at least a little longer and that’s got me rather excited. It’s worth noting that Ares, a related figure in this Wave, was one of my favorite 4-inch figures from the entire year, so I have high hopes for Valykrie too.

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Here’s the packaging. BLAH! Hasbro, please change the packaging in 2015. Actually, don’t even worry about it. Just keep making the figures. I toss the packages anyway so I don’t even know why I care. I count myself as a fairly prolific reader of all things Marvel, but I have so few experiences meeting Valkyrie in my travels through my funnybooks. I must just not be reading the right books. The most lasting impression this character has made on me goes all the way back to her self-titled one-shot that was published in 1990-something. And honestly, the only reason I probably picked up that book was because it had a hot, scantily-clad blonde chick by Pablo Raimondi on the cover. Needless to say I’ll mostly be judging this figure on her own merits and not making a lot of comparison’s to the character.

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Here she is out of the package and the part of me that leans toward being a sexist pig kind of digs her revealing 90’s outfit a lot more. Fortunately, that’s only a little part of me so I can still find a lot to love about this more traditional Asgardian style of armor. Valkyrie’s buck gets by with very little sculpted detail, as the costume is entirely achieved by paintwork alone. That’s OK, though, as the paintwork here is particularly clean and crisp, especially on the circular points of her torso armor and her wrist bracers. The only other aspect of her costume is the belt that hangs loose on her hips.

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The head sculpt here is good, but the paint doesn’t back it up. Hasbro put in a lot of effort on her hair, including the two long braids, with one falling down her front and one down her back when her head is faced forward. The face is also clean and pretty. On the downside, the eyes are a far cry from what’s seen on the package. It almost looks like she’s looking up. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but it does represent a major stumble on what could have been another homerun figure in this Wave.

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While Valkyrie does suffer from some slightly mushy knee hinges, the articulation here is otherwise solid and stable and there’s a lot of useful points. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and double hinged at the knees. There are swivels in both the thighs and again just below the knees. The ankles are hinged and also feature lateral rockers. There’s no waist articulation, but she does have a ball joint just under her chest and both a ball joint and hinge in her neck.

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Valkyrie includes one accessory, her enchanted blade, Dragonfang. While it doesn’t quite live up to the amazing detail Hasbro put into Ares’ axe it’s not at all a bad looking sword. You can even make out the tiny dragonhead sculpted into the pommel. The sword features a two-handed blade and, thanks to Val’s excellent articulation, she can easily wield it in one or both hands. There’s no specific way to secure it to her person, although you can pass it through her belt if you want her to wear it.

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Valkyrie is every bit a solid figure, although she doesn’t pack the “wow factor” that I got from Ares. And speaking of other figures from this Wave, if you lost track, it included Ares, Ant-Man, Deathlok, and Omega Red, all of which I would count as exceptional figures, and one dud: Cyclops. Leave it to Scott Summers to douche everything up, eh? That’s still a pretty good record and it made the subsequent Wave of mostly repacks pretty disappointing. Fortunately, we’ve seen some excellent looking figures teased for the line in 2015, which gives me some much needed hope after seeing the shitty looking toys Hasbro has planned for the Age of Ultron film.