Dec 9 2013

Function X-3: Smart Robin by Fansproject

Hell, yes! It’s time for more Third-Party Transformers goodness! Folks, I’ve got to say that of all the things I’m collecting now, I don’t think anything gets me more excited than getting a new Not-Transformer from Fansproject , MMC, TFC, or any of the other heavy hitters turning these things out. Smart Robin is the third release (if you don’t count the Code repaint) in Fansproject’s Function line of what are basically their own take on the old G1 Headmasters. And some might say that Smart Robin bears a resemblance to a certain G1 figure called Brainstorm. I’m sure it was totally unintentional as is the fact that if you scramble the letters in his name you can spell out “brainstorm.” As a character, Brainstorm has gotten some love lately in IDW’s More Than Meets The Eye comic, and as we’ll soon see that works for and against this figure. I’m going to buck tradition and just start with Smart Robin’s robot mode… but first, the packaging!

While most third-party companies are content with window boxes, FP is releasing their Function figures in these rather cool shoebox-style packages with an illustrated clear plastic sleeve. We’ve seen this before with Code and Quadruple-U so I won’t dwell on it too much here. Smart Robin’s box is grey and looks great with the illustrated sleeve in place. I like it, as it feels a little more special than something you would find on the shelf at Walmart or Target. It’s also pretty durable and totally collector friendly and the packages for all three Function figures look great lined up on a bookshelf. The figure comes packaged in robot form between two clear trays. Behind the trays there’s a baggie with his wing-weapons and another baggie with the folded instruction sheet and profile card.

The moment I got Smart Robin out of the box I was impressed. Two of the things I’ve come to expect from FP’s Function series are clean and beautiful robot modes and Smart Robin certainly delivers on these points yet again. To put it plainly, he’s gorgeous! The only jet kibble on display is there because it looks stylish, not necessarily because engineering required it. Fansproject really understands the ideal G1 aesthetic and how to make it work with a functional transforming figure. What we get, is just a very streamlined, beautifully proportioned, humanoid robot. The coloring has also been a strong point with the FP figures and that’s still the case here. Brainstorm’s coloring consists of mostly grey, dark grey and teal plastic with some scattered red, white, and orange paint apps. I still think Q-U has the more striking color scheme, it’s hard to beat that yellow and blue, but Smart Robin is still beautifully colored.

The wings on Smart Robin’s back are really the only overt clue that he turns into some kind of jet. Even the cockpit on his chest isn’t terribly obvious. Of course, the wings on his back can be unpegged and be wielded as guns. Any time a figure like this can store his weapons I think it’s a major asset, but when it’s folded this well into the design it’s just amazingly cool.

Now, let’s deal with what will be obvious to some. Smart Robin does not have the face plate that readers of the MTMTE comic would expect on an homage to Brainstorm. It’s going to be a sticking point for a lot of collectors. I’ll be honest, if I had my druthers, I would have wanted the faceplate, but the fact that it’s missing doesn’t diminish this figure for me at all. Indeed, the head sculpt is awesome and beautifully painted. Naturally, the head pops off and transforms into his little buddy, oh let’s call him Not-Arcana just to pick a random name out of the air. The transformation is basically the same as we saw with Q-U and he is a pretty impressive figure for such a tiny robot.

We’ve seen some pretty impressive transformation engineering from the Function line and Smart Robin does nothing to buck that trend. The quality of plastic here is superb and nothing about the transformation feels fragile or dubious. In a feat similar to the mind-bending change of Quadruple-U’s hind quarters, Smart Robin’s jet mode unfolds from his collapsed torso and forms the compartment for the cockpit. It’s very, very cool and creates a jet body that seems far too thin and sleek to have come from this robot. The other thing that I really enjoy is the way everything pegs together so securely. The way the wings fold out from inside the legs and the feet become the wing guns is amazing. The legs and arms, which form the back of the jet, all peg together snugly in about three different places. Everything about this guy is so wonderfully thought out and delivers a really great looking Cybertronian jet that doesn’t seem like it should be possible from the robot.

Brainstorm’s cockpit opens up and, as is the case with Code and Quadruple-U, Not-Arcana can sit inside the cockpit. This has always been one of my favorite things about the Headmaster gimmick and it’s nice to see that Fransproject has translated it so well for their versions. You also get three sets of folding landing gear.

Smart Robin is priced at around $60-70 at most e-tailers, which is right in line with FP’s past Function figures. If you aren’t already on board with third-party Transformers, spending that kind of money on what is basically a Deluxe Class figure is likely to produce sticker shock. All I can say is FP’s design and craftsmanship make it worth my money. This figure is a Masterpiece grade Brainstorm in everything but name only. It’s also worth pointing out that Fansproject isn’t the only one with a Not-Brainstorm figure on the market right now. Toyworld has also been dipping their toes in the Not-Headmaster pool and turned out their own version. I went with FP’s because Smart Robin is better scaled to their excellent versions of Chromedome and Weirdwolf. Toyworld’s figures are considerably larger, which doesn’t work for Brainstorm. Although, as we’ll see next week, it’s perfectly acceptable to me for a character like Hardhead. Anyway, this one has been another homerun for Fansproject’s Function series and I’ll be eagerly awaiting their next figure, which coincidently looks a lot like Mindwipe!

Dec 7 2013

Doctor Who: Sound FX Special Weapons Dalek by Character Options

I’m wrapping up the week with a Dalek Double Feature. Yesterday we looked at the Black Dalek Variant from the 3 ¾” line. Today we’re checking out this unique fella from CO’s 5-inch line. Yes, the Special Weapons Dalek! It turned up once in the 7^th Doctor story “Remembrance of the Daleks” without any explanation or backstory. All we knew from that appearance is that this badass pepperpot is capable of destroying a squad of Daleks with one shot. He had a cameo appearance in the more recent 11^th Doctor story “Asylum of the Daleks,” but you had to be pretty quick with the pause button to even see him. I like to think of this guy as the Boba Fett of the Doctor Who universe. People love him because he’s a mystery and looks cool, and similar to Boba Fett, details about the SWD have been fleshed out in “expanded universe” content of questionable canonicity. Sometimes known among the Daleks as “The Abomination,” he’s a Dalek that sports a weapon so powerful that his brain cannot be adequately shielded against its radioactive recoil. In short, every time he fires his weapon his brain gets dosed with rads and he gets angrier and crazier. It’s no surprise the Daleks only roll this guy out when the shit really hits the fan. It’s also no surprise that he wound up in the Dalek Asylum.

The SWD figure was originally released in the “Remembrance of the Daleks” Collectors Set, which was never brought over to the US. As a result, this guy has been crazy expensive and hard to get for us Yanks. It’s been a sticking point for me for quite some time, but CO has finally made things right by releasing him as part of this electronic Sound FX Daleks. He comes on a small card with a bubble large enough to contain his Dalek supremacy. The deco uses the current series branding, including the “DWARTIS” logo. It’s also a little misleading because it exclaims “SPEECH & SOUND FX” and “EX-TER-MIN-AAATE!!!” but in very tiny words it points out that the SWD doesn’t actually say anything. I’ll come back to that in a few ticks when we talk about the electronics.

The back of the card shows the other SFX Daleks in the wave. I’m really tempted to buy some more of these, but they are rather expensive, so I’m trying to control myself. There’s also a ridiculous amount of warnings and information printed on the back of the card. You’d almost think you were buying a real Dalek.

There’s no doubt that the SWD features a unique design. I used to refer to him as the WWI Dalek because he looks like a cross between a bunker and an early 20^th century war machine. While the skirt is standard Dalek through and through, the top half is what departs from traditional Dalek design and makes him so distinctive. There’s no eye stalk, just a shallow dome with a deep set ring that looks like it has what might be viewports all around it. There are no shoulder slats or mesh, instead his middle section is just smooth. And the biggest change is the giant cannon that replaces the usual plunger and gun arms. This appears to be the exact same sculpt as the original UK release of the figure and I’ve got no complaints. Articulation includes 360-degree rotation in the mid-section and his cannon angles up and down. He also sports the same style of wheels under his skirt that we’ve seen on all of CO’s Daleks.

While the sculpt here is fantastic, the paintwork was a sticking point on the original release of this figure. Many collectors complained that it was rather heavy handed, particularly the grease around the roundels. When the SFX version was announced I was hoping that it would receive a better paint job. Alas, this guy features the same caliber of paintwork. I think the antiqued brass or coppery parts look good, but the brushwork around the sensor domes is still pretty half-assed. It’s supposed to look like grease leaking from the domes, but instead it looks like just what it is, ham-fisted dry brushing. It looks passable from a distance, but the more I scrutinize it, the more it falls apart. That having been said, it doesn’t ruin the figure for me at all. This guy is supposed to look old, decrepit, and ugly and he does. Besides, I’ve waited too long to add this guy to my collection so I’m willing to be rather forgiving.

Obviously the big difference between this one and the original release is the added electronics. He has an On-Off switch under his skirt as well as a battery compartment. The SFX are activated by pressing a well concealed button comprised of one of the sensor domes on his left side. As already noted, the SWD doesn’t speak and I suppose that’s understandable since he never spoke in the episode, but I was still hoping that CO might have thrown in an “EXTERMINATE!” Maybe he’s not supposed to be capable of speaking. Anywho, if you press the button once it will activate a firing sound and if you double-tap it you will get both the firing sound and an explosion.

Paint notwithstanding, I really dig this figure and while there are still more than a few variant Daleks for me to collect, this guy is the one most conspicuously absent from my shelves. Unfortunately, the SFX Daleks run at a rather pricey $27-30 a pop at most e-tailers. That’s not a bad price for this guy, since it’s a lot cheaper than hunting down the original non-electronic release. However, considering the other SFX Daleks are basically just a lot of the same figures we’ve seen before with added electronics, I haven’t been eager to hunt them all down.

Dec 6 2013

Doctor Who: Variant Black Dalek (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

Today we’re going to take a gander at another one of CO’s variant Doctor Who figures! I’ve had a killer day at work and I just want to ease myself into a warm alcohol-soft stuper so I’m picking something I can get through pretty quickly. I’m going with the Black Dalek because he’s a repaint of a figure that I’ve already looked at. I’m tempted to call this guy Dalek Sec, but I think he’s just supposed to be a Black Dalek because, much like bowties, Black Daleks are cool. I haven’t decided where he’ll fit into my ranks, but right now I’m waffling between “Stealth Dalek,” “Dalek Commander” or “Black Hole Dalek.”

The package is the same we’ve seen in this line before with a generic card and an insert that simply reads, “Dalek.” Just like the regular Dalek release, he doesn’t come with a figure stand because he clearly doesn’t need one. The back of the card has the newer “Time Zone” playsets pictured.

The variant Cyberman had some new sculpting, but the Dalek here is just a straight repaint. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, because the Daleks are easily the high point of this entire 3 ¾” line. That’s not meant to be a back-handed compliment either. While the bulk of this line has ranged from fairly decent to downright poor, the Daleks are excellent figures with great sculpts. They are, for all intents and purposes, shrunk down versions of CO’s 5-inch scale figures. The regular Daleks came with two different eye stalk lengths, but of the five of those I own, only one has the shorter one and this Black Dalek follows suit with the longer stalk.

The paintwork here is absolutely fantastic. This guy has a beautiful high-gloss black for his upper half and sensor globes and a matte finish for his skirt and the screening under his dome. Toss in silver paint for the sucker arm, gun, and eye stalk, and clear plastic eye lights, and you have one beautiful looking pepper pot of hate. The articulation remains the same. The dome will swivel, the eye stalk can move up and down, and the arm and gun are each ball jointed. The Dalek rolls along beautifully on three wheels concealed up under his skirt.

I told you today would be quick, but the truth is there’s not a lot to say about this guy other than he’s a gorgeous repaint of a great sculpt. These Daleks seem way too good to be part of this line and I’ve been picking up the regular ones every time I come across them at a good price. For now I’m content with just owning one of the Black Dalek, but if they’re still around after all this Christmas madness subsides, I may pick up another two and make a “Black Hole Dalek” Squad.

Dec 5 2013

Transformers Armada: Demolisher with Blackout by Hasbro

Alrighty folks, Transformers Thursday is back in business. Sorry about last week, but taking Thanksgiving off was necessary for my sanity. Today I pulled a random figure from one of the many Transformers drawers and low and behold it is Demolisher from Transformers Armada. Ah, the Armada days. I took to this line like crack, and it was not uncommon for me to make midnight runs to three different Walmarts just to hunt down a pointless Powerlinx repaint of a figure that I already owned. I was in pretty deep. As a result, let’s check out both versions of Deluxe Class Demolisher. There’s no packaging to look at, so let’s just skip to the alt mode.

Demolisher’s vehicle mode is some kind of crazy mobile-missile-launcher-tank-thingy. As a rule, Armada tended to be fairly grounded in many of its alt modes, but Demolisher is an example of the designers letting their freak flags fly and I like it. I think a lot of my love for this toy has to do with it just being an unabashed war machine. Also, I won’t deny that the giant Decepticon emblem molded into the front tickles my fancy. While Robots in Disguise fiddled about with Predacons (and a few proper Decepticons), Armada brought the Decepticons back in full force and it was good to see this emblem on all the bad guys again. I really loved the way the Armada toys had the emblems included as part of the sculpt, rather than just paint apps or tampos. It may seem like an odd detail to fixate on, but then I’m a pretty odd guy. The mold here is crazy with sculpted detail, particularly on the tread covers. Hasbro did not skimp on the details here, nor were they frugal with the paint apps. I can’t even imagine a Deluxe Transformer nowadays having this much color. There’s even a paint wash over certain parts to further enhance the sculpting. This toy is just loaded with reasons why I still love Armada so much.

Of course, it’s hard to not love Armada when you get a little Transformer with each figure. In this case, Demolisher came with Blackout. He’s a little military truck with a simple and clean looking robot mode, but sadly not much of a face. He also has guns for hands, which if you’re a Decepticon, probably comes in handy. HA! I said it comes in HANDY! Obviously Blackout skipped the face line and got on the gun-arm line twice. Probably a good choice. Anyway, in terms of Minicon design, you can’t get much better than Blackout. He’s just a fun and solid little guy.

Before we get to Demolisher’s robot mode, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that there’s some pretty good play value packed into this Demolisher’s alt mode. His turret swivels, he can fire off two of his four missiles via the Minicon port, he can angle his top guns into various positions including to cover his own back. There’s also two ways Blackout can interact with him. In his truck mode, Blackout will plug right into the front to give Demolisher some chin guns and there’s a button on the back to eject him. There’s also a fold out seat in the back, which Blackout can use in robot mode. I love this last part because having the little bot operate the bigger bot in vehicle mode is so very Headmastery in concept. Headmastery. It’s a word. Look it up. Actually, it isn’t… so don’t.

Demolisher’s transformation is pretty simple, but still features some clever engineering, and man do I love his robot mode. He looks like the love child of a Transformer and a MechWarrior robot. The missiles coming up off the top of his shoulders look suitably imposing and the five gun barrels from his alt mode make up each of his hands. Let me rephrase that… HOLY SHIT, DEMOLISHER HAS GUNS FOR FINGERS!!! If that’s not cool enough for you, you can mis-transform his arms so that he still has his guns and missile launchers while in robot mode. It really plays off on the whole Mechwarrior vibe and I love it. This is a Decepticon that I would want alongside me in a fight. He’s just a lumbering machine of death.

The only gripe I’ve ever had with Demolisher is his head sculpt. Armada had some really questionable head sculpts, and Demolisher’s gritting teeth, black face and giant green left eye have always left me a little wanting. I can’t deny he has a lot of personality, but the portrait lacks the detail of the rest of the toy. That having been said, it’s kind of grown on me over the years.

Of course, many of the Armada figures were repainted into Powerlinx versions. I’m usually fine with repaints when they are used to make a new character, but repainting a figure to replace an existing figure as the same character doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Of course, that didn’t stop me from buying all the Powerlinx figures. In this case, Powerlinx Demolisher is a rather unnecessary repaint because I don’t think the recolor does him much justice. It’s not better, just different. The gold plating on the front looks good, and I don’t mind the maroon plastic replacing the tan, but the white camo-motif is pretty weird. I just don’t get what they were going for here. A much better repaint was released later on in the G1 Constructicon colors. It’s a beautiful figure, but one that I sadly lost in a flood about five years back. I don’t mean it was swept away by flood tides. I mean the storage flooded and the boxes were saturated with mold and had to be destroyed. As much as I wanted to save the toys in them, I wasn’t willing to risk getting tuberculosis in the attempt. I’ll have to replace him eventually.

Demolisher is about as fun a Transformer figure as I can think of. He’s chunky and packed with sculpted detail and play features. The engineering may have gotten more sophisticated over the years, but if I were a kid I’d much rather play with this guy than most of the Deluxe figures we’ve had in the last couple of years. There are plenty of figures from the Armada days that haven’t aged all that well, but I certainly don’t think that Demolisher here is one of them. In fact, I was quite surprised how much enjoyment I got out of pulling him out for this feature and playing around with him again. It made me want to put all my Deluxe Armada figures out on display again, and I even started eyeing some shelves to see if a display rotation was in order. Then again, if I do put my Armada Deluxes out it means I’d have to see this guy again. Maybe it’s not worth it.

Dec 4 2013

Star Trek Enterprise: Nausicaan Captain by Art Asylum

[Just a quick note, folks. Due to a scheduling snafu, today’s feature turned up briefly on Monday before I woke up saw it had posted, spit coffee all over my cat, and quickly took it down. If you happened by and read it before I took it down then I’m afraid there’s nothing new for you today. Although, I have since did some proof editing and added a couple new pictures, so you can consider this the Special Edition complete with blinking Ewoks and Greedo shooting first.]

As promised a week ago, I’m back with more Enterprise goodness recovered from the dark reaches of the Toy Crawlspace. This time we’re mixing it up by taking a look at one of the aliens in the line. I happened to find the Nausicaan Captain in one of those totes so I’m going to open him up and check him out. I seem to recall not caring a lot about this figure back when I was collecting these guys and I’m pretty sure I got him along with some others. Either way, I don’t seem to have been interested in him enough to bother opening him and he eventually found his way up into the dreaded Crawlspace.

The packaging is similar to what we saw with Malcolm Reed. It’s a massive bubble set on an equally beefy card. You get a panel lined deco on the inserts to replicate the ship’s hull; only this time it’s colored brown instead of grey to distinguish it as part of this “Away Team” series. I was never big on them using that term in conjunction with Enterprise. It was adopted during The Next Generation and never used in Classic Trek so it feels rather out of place in a show that was supposed to pre-date both. I should point out, I also was never fond of the writers using aliens that were introduced in Next Gen. It always seemed to me like those should have been races we first encountered after expanding beyond the territorial confines of the Classic Trek era. I’m sure there have been ret-conned explanations, so whatever. Despite all my issues with the series, I still tend to enjoy Enterprise a lot. Let’s bust open the Nausicaan and see what he’s all about.

I gotta be honest, I do not remember the episode with the Nausicaans, so I’m not judging this figure based on its screen accuracy. That having been said he really is a spectacular design and sculpt. His outfit has a somewhat primitive vibe that looks like it would have been at home in the Classic series. The tunic is rubbery plastic and layered onto the figure’s buck and features a very nice sculpted, texture. This is precisely the kind of detail that makes me love AA’s work so much. The outfit isn’t flashy or even all that interesting, but the design is elevated by AA’s craftsmanship and attention to detail. In other words: This Nausicaan was made with love.

The Nausicaan design went through some changes over the years and I wasn’t a big fan of this race’s revised look. These guys were a lot scarier and more alien looking early on and later became more humanoid and more in line with the generic Trek “alien of the week” formula. Regardless, the head sculpt is still a superb piece of work. The ridges and creases in his face are all really sharp and well defined, as are the horns and tusks. You don’t tend to see a portrait sculpted this well in mass market figures these days, proving that the inmates at the Art Asylum certainly were pros. The only nitpick I have here is the gloss paint used on the hair. I think it should have been matte. Another nice touch are the bone ridges in his knuckles. You do not want to get punched by one of these guys.

While the sculpting represents AA’s usual peerless efforts, the Nausicaan Captain got cheated in a few other areas. The Enterprise line didn’t usually skimp on the accessories, but all this guy comes with is his Plasma Pistol. He also got shorted on articulation. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees, and there are swivels hidden under the soft rubber of his boots. He can also swivel at the waist and his neck is ball jointed. He’s certainly poseable, but the standard swivels in the biceps and thighs are conspicuously missing.

Yeah, so I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to own a Nausicaan in this series. I don’t think they really belonged in Enterprise, I’m pretty sure they only appeared once, and I can’t even remember their episode off the top of my head. Nonetheless, as is often the case with Art Asylum’s work, this execution here overpowers the lacklustre subject matter. Sure the articulation could have been better, but this is still a great looking figure and a nice addition to my Enterprise shelf. Besides, there were only a handful of alien figures released in this line, so I guess beggers can’t be choosers. If you enjoy the Nausicaans feel free to check out the Playmates version of him, which I featured about a year ago HERE and holy crap, I seem to have been pretty ripped when I wrote that!

Dec 3 2013

Star Wars: A-Wing Starfighter (#42003) by Lego

Yup, it’s more Lego! When I went out yesterday morning for provisions at Wally World I was hoping to pick up one of the Lego City Coast Guard sets. Unfortunately, the Wally World here sucks and they had none. There once was a time when I could fall back on their decent Lego selection to make up for their horrid selection of action figures, but now it seems as if the entropy is spreading and their Lego aisle has been compromised. Part of the problem is that they cannibalized half a Lego aisle for model kits and paint. Really? Anyway, they did have Jabba’s Sail Barge and it was mighty tempting, but I can get it about $10 cheaper online and I really have way too many Sideshow Flex Pays hitting this month to be spending a hunny on a Lego set. So I went cheaper and got me this A-Wing to compliment the X-Wing I built last week.

Ah, the new deco! Gone is Darth Maul, the Poochie of the Star Wars Universe, and in his place is Yoda. Alas, it’s prequel Yoda and not cool and wise Original Trilogy Yoda. That makes it kind of an unfortunate even trade off. Why do I care? I’m not keeping the box.

Inside the box you get three numbered baggies containing 177 bricks, an instruction booklet, and a rather sizeable sticker sheet for such a small set. When all is said and done you get to build the A-Wing and three Minifigs. Minifigs? MINIFIGS??? Let’s check out the Minifigs!

Oh, Lego you had me at Ackbar. Seriously, Admiral Ackbar feels like an odd inclusion to this set, but he’s a big reason why I chose this one over a few other $25 selections. I like to think he’s included here because Lego secretly knows that at some point in Return of the Jedi Ackbar simply jumps into an A-Wing and flies off to blow up the goddamn Death Star himself. It’s a behind the scenes kind of thing. Anyway, if you don’t love Ackbar, you’re a fool. And if you don’t love Minifig Ackbar, than I don’t know why you bother even getting up in the morning, becauses all the joy has left your soul. The head sculpt is fantastic and I’d say that as far as Minifigs go, this one is a perfect ten. I just wish they gave him his trademark baton.

Speaking of odd inclusions… why the hell is Han Solo in here? At least Ackbar is a Fleet Admiral. Even if you don’t buy into the whole “he blew up the Death Star in an A-Wing” theory, then maybe he just came down to the flight deck to warn the A-Wing pilot about a trap? But Han Solo appearing in the set makes little sense to me. I’m not complaining though, as I have a pretty paltry collection of Star Wars Minifigs, so getting a staple character like Han is a nice pick-up. He comes with a blaster.

Last up, you get the A-Wing pilot, which is a no-brainer. This guy is really cool and features a very detailed green flight suit and a bitchin helmet. He has two printed faces and he comes with a wrench.

The build doesn’t feature a lot of surprises and I’m pretty pleased with the final model. The rear fins are a tad thick, but it’s Lego, so you have to accept some liberties with the aesthetics. The only other way to do them would have been to use specialty pieces molded in the shape of the fins, and I’m not a big fan of that in my Lego sets. The engines look particularly nice with the green translucent bits and the rings at the ends. The stickers are also well executed and do a nice job of enhancing the look of the piece.

The play features are pretty simple on this ship. You get a retractable landing gear and an opening cockpit. There are also flick-fire proton torpedoes on the sides. The laser guns were supposed to have black pieces at the end, but I was one short, so I had to use grey. I still think it looks alright, but that’s twice in one month where I’ve had color mix-ups in my sets. I hope you’re not slipping on the QC, Lego! Honestly, the other other black piece might have fallen on the floor and been eaten by the cat. Who can tell? One cool surprise was the way the back of the cockpit lifts out to give access to the reactor. I know it’s depicted on the back of the box, but I try not to look at that to avoid spoilers while building. Wow, that A-Wing pilot is pretty good if he can fix that starfighter reactor with just a giant wrench.

So, a cool ship and three solid Minifigs make this set a nice score for $25. If you’re looking for a quick Lego fix, this one should tune you right up. It didn’t take all that long to build, but it was fun and it’s hard to argue with the end result. The A-Wing seems to scale pretty well with the X-Wing I just built, and I’m really enjoying assembling an assortment of ships for my Rebel hanger. I think my next Star Wars ship will be the Z-95 Headhunter. I have fond memories of that one from the old X-Wing and Tie Fighter PC Games and I like the idea of going the Lego route to get ships that never got the proper Hasbro toy treatment.

Dec 2 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Ra’s Al Ghul by Mattel

Here we go! It’s the penultimate release in Matty’s nearly dead Club Infinite Earths line. Last month I was pretty smitten with Ocean Master: Great character selection and a rather well done figure. I wish I could say the same about this month’s figure. Ra’s does indeed represent a great character choice, but the figure leaves me rather cold for a number of reasons and I’m willing to bet I’m not alone on that!

There it is the Signature Collection box. We’re only going to see this one more time, folks. Well, maybe more if Mattel uses it for next year’s quarterly releases. I think these boxes have served us well. They offer a fairly compact and totally collector friendly experience and if I had the room I would have an entire shelf of these lined up with the character art on the side facing out. Of course, space being the valuable commodity that it is, I pitch the boxes. For a while, I was clipping the back panels and saving them as cards, but I don’t even do that anymore.

When it comes to DCUC and its satellite lines, I’ve been suffering from a bit of what I like to call “suit fatigue.” In reality, there haven’t been all that many figures released wearing suits, but when you’re talking about a line dealing with comic book characters, it seems like we got a disproportionate amount of them in the last two or three years. When I first saw Ra’s here in his green suit, I was immediately reminded of DCUC Wave 19 Sandman, but then Sandman had an older style double-breasted suit, whereas this one is more modern. And then it struck me… Ra’s uses a recolor of the exact same body as last year’s Black Mask. And so what we have here are two Batman villains released nearly a year apart, with the exact same bodies. Two figures that will inevitably be standing next to each other on my shelf. Man, that pisses me off!

I had every intention of flipping Ra’s on Ebay as soon as I got him. I’m sure he’s not going to be worth much, but I figured that if I could trade him for a bottle of Canadian Club, then at least I could get a cheap buzz out of the deal. Now, with that having been said, this figure looks much better in hand then in the pictures I’ve seen. I was compelled to open him up and check him out, and I have in fact decided to keep him. It’s not so much a question of the figure impressing me, but rather one of me not hating it enough to want to take the trouble of off-loading it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know!

The head sculpt isn’t one of the stronger ones in this line. Over the past two years, we’ve seen some exceptional portraits come out of the Signature Collection, but I won’t count this figure among them. In person I don’t find it as weak as I thought it looked in promo shots, but it’s just not a homerun either. There’s also a curious amount of mold flashing evident on mine. Did Mattel realize the line was kaput and just not care anymore? I don’t know, but let’s just label this portrait “about adequate” and move on.

As for the rest of the figure, I don’t have anything to say really. As far as suited bucks go, this one is not bad. The jacket is a tad bulky, but it’s a worthy trade off for having it layered onto the figure and giving it some depth and credibility. The tie is also sculpted as a separate piece, which is pretty cool. The cape looks Ok and is thankfully rather understated, but the chain that holds it in place is needlessly chunky, especially when compared to the character art. Still, as good as the figure looks, when he’s standing next to Black Mask you can clearly pick out all the same wrinkles and folds, and it’s rather annoying. Ra’s comes with a sword, or rather a ludicrously huge scimitar. Taken on its own, it’s not a bad accessory; however, it seems to me that a guy wearing a suit would have something a little more elegant and discrete. He looks kind of silly holding it. Seeing as this is a direct reuse of Black Mask’s body, I’m just going to assume you’ve read that feature and not bore you with the details of articulation.

It’s well known that I’m not the biggest Batman fan around, but even I have to wonder at the way Mattel seemed to non chalantly slip such an important character into the tail end of this line. He doesn’t feel like he was given any special love or care. It’s more like the guys were sitting around the office looking for parts to reuse and then just said, “Screw it, let’s just use Black Mask’s body and make Ra’s with it, so we can all get out of here and go over to Applebee’s for some sodium-enriched dinner specials and watered down drinks. The sad thing is that to me Black Mask is a far more effective figure, and I wasn’t exactly smitten with him either. In the end, Ra’s Al Ghul will stand in the back of my Batman display as a place holder until the pendulum swings back. At some point Mattel has to get all this Total Heroes bullshit out of their system and goes back to doing the DCUC style. I have to cling on to that hope.

Nov 30 2013

Doctor Who: Retro TARDIS Collectible Set by Biff Bang Pow

Damn you kids these days. Back in my day, our playsets were made out of cardboard and we were damn happy to have them! Yes, I’m just old enough so that Mego made up some of the very first toys that I owned. And yes, that means that some of my very first playsets were made out of laminated cardboard, including the bridge of the USS Enterprise and various Planet of the Apes environments. Of course cardboard also carried over to the early Kenner Star Wars playsets like the Ice Planet Hoth, Land of the Jawas, and the pretty freaking cool Palitoy Death Star. Now that I think about it, with playsets having become almost non-existent, maybe the kids these days would be happy to have cardboard playsets too. Where am I going with all this? Well, Biff Bang Pow made a retro-style cardboard TARDIS to go with their retro-style Doctor Who figures. And today we’re going to check it out.

The box is simple, fairly attractive and does have a smidge of retro charm. You get some illustrations and some photos of the playset inside. The back panel also shows the myriad of retro-style Doctor Who figures available from BBP. Wow, they made a lot of these. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of these figures. Even with the whole retro-style thing going on I think most of them look pretty awful. I have The 4th Doctor, who turned out a bit better than I expected, and I have the Sontaran who is Ok, but sadly suffers from some QC issues, like some cracked armor. One of these days I may pick up the Leela, just so I can have a set that harkens back to the Denys-Fisher 4^th Doctor and Leela. But that’s about as far into this pool as I’m willing to wade. Even this Doctor Who fanatic has his limits.

Open up the box and inside you have… well, basically another box. The TARDIS is a very sturdy cardboard box with a glossy illustrated surface that replicates the familiar details of everyone’s favorite Type 40 Time Capsule quite well. But make no mistake, this is still basically a fancy cardboard box. Even the stepped lamp on the top is made out of folded cardboard and smacks of papercraft. There’s a little bit of depth to the sides, such as the doors are set in from the corner pieces, but everything else is in 2D but printed to look like 3D.

The TARDIS opens along the right corner of the front side and the flap is secured quite well with magnets. The sides are designed to open so that they are straight with the sides that remain closed without putting a lot of stress on the creases and the bottom floor pieces will sort of lock open, probably more by coincidence than design. The inside of the TARDIS is decorated with printed roundels and the doors are drawn in on the left flap. I’m a bit surprised they didn’t draw in the viewscreen on the right flap. This is pretty basic stuff.

Like the rest of this set, the TARDIS console is completely made of sturdy, illustrated cardboard and comes in two pieces. The base connects to the console with tabs. It’s also not secured down in any way, so you can move it around if you want. When BBP first revealed this set and the price, I was almost certain the console would be a rotocast piece, but in the end that wasn’t the case. It’s a shame, because even the Mego Enterprise and Planet of the Apes sets had plastic set-pieces. Nonetheless, it’s about the right height, but not broad enough to really be in proper scale with the figures. The illustrations of the controls, however, are very nice and even accurate when compared against the pages of my old dog-eared copy of the TARDIS Technical Manual. The Time Rotor, on the other hand, looks rather weak. It’s hard to do a convincing transparent tube with cardboard.

One interesting gimmick is the inclusion of an electronic keychain that fits into the base of the console and can be activated to play the sounds of the TARDIS taking off and landing. You can use it with the set or just take it out and use it as a keychain to annoy your non-Whovian friends. On the other hand, my cell phone can do it better, so I guess there’s not much point. Still, it’s a clever way to add a little electronics to the set.

The set also comes with a rotocast K9 figure and I’ll be honest, this bonus single-handedly tipped me in favor of getting this set. Yes, it’s a hollow chunk of plastic, but it is nicely sculpted and painted and I just adore K9 too much to pass up a chance to own him in almost any form. He’s nicely scaled to the retro figures and makes a very nice display accessory for my BBP 4^th Doctor. Once again, if I ever get the Leela figure, this K9 will nicely round out the Denys Fisher homage.

If I were to sum up this set in a word, that word would be “charming.” It really does remind me of the old Mego days, particularly some of my Planet of the Apes and Hal Needham sets, and that is clearly what the folks at BBP were aiming at. But I can’t stress enough how much nostalgia will be the key to making this thing a worthy purchase for anyone. With an MSRP of $59.99 you are really paying a lot for some cardboard and a rotocast K9. My 11^th Doctor Console Room from Character Options was only ten dollars more than this and while it did have cardboard walls, it also featured a lot of plastic and a lot more detail. In short, this thing is ridiculously over priced. I don’t at all regret picking this up, but it should be pointed out that when it comes to Doctor Who merchandise, my fiscal sense can usually be summed up with the phrase, “shut up and take my money!” Still, there was a time when Doctor Who was niche enough that companies could justify expensive merchandise to cover their risk, but when you consider that I have a six-foot tall bookcase overflowing with Doctor Who toys and figures, I don’t think that flies anymore. In the end, this turned out to be a fun display piece, but too much money for too little.

Nov 29 2013

Masters of the Universe Classics: Seahawk by Mattel

Club Filmation has been very good to me. I subbed this thing on a drunken whim and I have to say alcohol did me right because I think every figure so far has been a hit. Today we’re checking out the penultimate release in the line: Seahawk. This is one of those figures where Matty pulled some shenanigans by announcing that he would not be available for Day of Sale purchase and only to those who did the sub. From what I’ve read he seems to be a fan favorite, although I honestly don’t remember him from the series, but I gather he’s famous for getting himself a slice of that Adora pie. I guess he’s also got some major chops because he actually had an episode named after him. By now, you know the Club Filmation drill and that I’ve committed myself to watching each of these characters’ episodes. I’m going to go pour myself a generous glass of Jameson and then it’s off to the Internets to watch “The Sea Hawk.” I’ll be back in about 25 minutes…

Wow, I forgot how much I dig the She-Ra intro. Maybe that’s just as bad as admitting to liking ABBA, but something about She-Ra’s opening seems so much slicker than the He-Man intro. Anyway, the story begins with She-Ra going to Seaworthy, a town of annoying little shits who all sound exactly like Orko and are being plagued by Captain Seahawk and his band of pirates. The pirates raid villages for supplies and then sell them to The Horde. Inexplicably, she decides to deal with the problem as Adora and we soon learn that Seahawk is the typical good man confused into doing bad things. But he’s not done doing bad things yet because he turns Adora over to Catra and Grizzlor to protect his own hide. Holy shit, Catra’s voice is annoying. I wonder if she has a sandpaper tongue, too. Anyway, it takes Seahawk’s portly skipper and some kind of magic sea fairy, which is never actually explained, to convince him otherwise. The episode culminates in a flying pirate ship attacking a Horde Zeppelin and Seahawk becoming one of the good guys. I’ll be honest, this one wasn’t as painful as some of the He-Man episodes I’ve had to watch. Seahawk made more appearances in She-Ra, but I’m running low on Jameson, so I’ll have to save those for another day. Let’s be looking at the figure, ARRRR!

Seahawk comes in a typical MOTUC style package. We’ve seen it tons of times but that has not dulled it’s sheen of awesome. I’d comment on the bio or other figures shown on the back, but I shredded the package and pitched it before I could get a chance. I’m an opener… that’s how I roll.

And there he is, behold the only pirate in Etheria with the manly chops to make booty calls to both She-Ra and Adora. Maybe that was only implied in the cartoon, but rest assured in my prolific Slash-Fics it happens on a regular basis. Wait, what? But before we get to the particulars, let me address the fact that some collectors appear to be butt hurt over the fact that the figure is all buffed out and that puts him at odds with his appearance in the Filmation cartoon. Seriously? That’s a complaint? This guy is built on the same style male buck as all the MOTUC figures and that is pretty much the point of the line. If Seahawk did get a vintage figure way back when, you can rest assured he’d still be all buffed out. It doesn’t bother me at all. It maintains the consistency of the line’s aesthetics and quite frankly I’m surprised that this is even an issue with some. Maybe it’s just non-subbers trying to convince themselves they don’t want him because he wasn’t available Day of Sale.

The portrait is pretty fantastic, as have been just about all the Club Filmation figures. You could argue that Nepthu was the only misstep there, and that’s just because he didn’t look evil. But, Seahawk’s noggin is an excellent sculpt, which takes the Filmation likeness and infuses it with a little Classics style realism. He sports a noble visage with a little spark of mischief. Even the color of his mustache is at odds with his red hair just like with the Filmation character, which makes me wonder if he’s a real ginger. I bet She-Ra knows… am I right?

Anywho, I am by no means a completist with this line, but Seahawk seems to feature a ton of new tooling. At least it’s new to me. If he’s borrowed a lot of parts, then they’re from figures that aren’t in my collection. The figure hits all the right points of Seahawk’s Filmation outfit, particularly the vest, which is a rubbery plastic removable piece, complete with stylish blue shoulder pads, roguish high collar, and swashbuckleriffic purple scarf. Hey, the other eligible bachelor in Etheria wears a heart on his armor, I think Seahawk can safely get away with a purple neck accessory. And speaking of purple, the colors on this figure really hit home. You get the chocolate brown leathery goodness of his gauntlets, boots, and vest, mixed with the blue fixturing. They aren’t two colors that one usually associates as an ensemble, but they look damn nice on the figure.

Seahawk comes with two accessories. You get his laser cutlass and what I assume is an energy shield. The cutlass could have been modeled a little better on the Filmation weapon. As it still had a sort of dagger blade when it wasn’t activated, and it would have been cool if we could have had a de-activated cutlass and belt sheath, but the sword we got is still plenty cool. I’m at odds with the shield. I think it looks pretty good when displayed on the figure, but I doubt I’ll keep it on him when he’s on my shelf.

In terms of character selection, Seahawk seems to have been one of the biggest selling points for the Sub. Honestly, that wasn’t the case for me, I just thought they all looked like great figures, and so far they all have been just that. I certainly can’t deny the appeal of having another figure to add to my Rebellion, and since I still don’t own Bow, Seahawk is currently the only rooster in Etheria’s hen house. He’s a fantastic figure and yet another reason why I am so very glad that I subbed this little line. With only one more figure left to release next month, I’m kind of sad to see it go, although Matty has been dropping hints that another mini-sub next year wouldn’t be out of the question. If it’s Club Filmation Part Deux, I’ll definitely be on board again.

Nov 28 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry, but I’m skipping Transformers Thursday this week and taking the day off. I worked until 2am last night; I’m going to spend today with family and then I’ll be back to work until the wee hours to try to control and coordinate the carnage of conspicuous consumerism known as Black Friday. I hope to be managing it from the safety of my posh bunker, but I don’t want any of my troops getting killed! So, if you’re going out tonight for shopping, try to take it easy and remember, nothing is worth getting trampled over, nor is anything worth trampling someone else over. Don’t compromise being a good person to get a good deal on a shitty doorbuster TV.

Everyone have a great day and I’ll see y’all tomorrow.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Function X-3: Smart Robin by Fansproject

Doctor Who: Sound FX Special Weapons Dalek by Character Options

Doctor Who: Variant Black Dalek (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

Transformers Armada: Demolisher with Blackout by Hasbro

Star Trek Enterprise: Nausicaan Captain by Art Asylum

Star Wars: A-Wing Starfighter (#42003) by Lego

DC Universe Signature Collection: Ra’s Al Ghul by Mattel

Doctor Who: Retro TARDIS Collectible Set by Biff Bang Pow

Masters of the Universe Classics: Seahawk by Mattel

Happy Thanksgiving!

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