It seems like forever ago that the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hype train pulled into the station with a wet thud and then chugged on off into the sunset. I’m on record saying that I didn’t love or hate the movie, it was just something I watched and have since mostly forgotten. But, just like Crystal Skull, at least it meant new toys, and while I’m waiting for more of the 6-inch Adventure Series figures to show up, I decided to have a look at today’s worthless bronze medallion.
OK, it is neither worthless or bronze, and I don’t even know what to call it. It’s not what I would consider a prop replica, so let’s go with roleplay item? Yeah, that sounds right. It’s officially part of the Adventure Series much in the way Hasbro has released helmets and lightsabers as part of their Star Wars Black Series. But it’s definitely aimed at collectors, because how many kids are running around asking their parents for a plastic toy of a Hebrew artifact designed to locate the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant? Actually, I would have loved to have this when I was a kid, but I guess I was a pretty weird kid. I’m almost positive this was an online exclusive, because I never saw it in any of the toy aisles. It comes in a simple fully enclosed box with some nice artwork of Indy using the Medallion in the Cairo Map Room.
Out of the box, the set includes three pieces: The Medallion, a very abbreviated version of the staff, and a base. You will need to have a screwdriver handy to pop in the two AA batteries needed for the light effect. I think Hasbro did a great job designing the whole display piece, as it’s perfect for putting on a desk or bookshelf and it has a pretty nice shelf presence to it without actually including the entirety of the really long staff. There are actually four holes that you can put the staff into, but only one is the correct one that will light it up. OK, that’s kind of clever, I see what you did there, Hasbro.
While the base isn’t terrible, I definitely think it’s the weakest element of the whole set. It is, however, fairly heavy, as it holds the batteries and electronics. In addition to the holes for the staff, you get some deeply cut hieroglyphs and some spray to look like sand. The edges are sculpted to look like rock to give it a kind of pedestal display effect. Like I said, nothing here is bad, but I think the hieroglyphs look a bit too chunky and fake. Then again, it’s a toy and not a high end replica, so I should probably cut it some slack.
The Medallion itself is actually quite impressive in terms of the sculpt and finish. I’ve seen some rather expensive replicas of this piece get the finish all wrong by making it shiny gold and not antiqued bronze. Yeah, there should be a bit more of a sheen to it than this one has, but it still looks better to me than a bright mirror polish I’ve seen on the metal ones. The sculpted detail is quite nice with with all the feathers in the bird and the Hebrew lettering laid out around the circumference. I also think the red crystal in the center looks great. Overall, it feels like it’s sized pretty correctly, albeit maybe a tad too thick, but I’m not even sure about that. The Medallion can be detached from the staff just by pulling it off, but it’s a bit scary because it locks in pretty tight. It would have been cool if Hasbro included a chain.
There’s a triangular button on the top of the front of the staff that will activate the lights when you press it and turn them off when you press it again. This causes the red crystal in the center (OK, slighly off-center) to light as well as the lettering around the edges. Yeah, Hasbro took some liberties with this effect, because I’m pretty sure the lettering on the prop was not intended to be lighting up when the sun struck the central crystal. Still, it does make for a really cool effect, and it’s more impressive than just the crystal being lit. So, a bunch of demerits for lack of screen accuracy on the light feature, but I’ll take back a few of those to honor the Hasbro designers who made a cooler looking effect. I will say the lights are pretty bright and readily visible even in a well lit environment.
Yeah, that’s it. A pretty short review today, but there’s only so much I can say about this thing. I picked up the Headpiece for just under $50, and I’m actually pretty happy with it, especially since I haven’t been seeing it clearanced out yet. Sure, it’s a plastic toy so it’s not going to win over the prop replica collectors, but I wasn’t about to drop a ton of money on any of those and this makes for a nice display piece among my Indiana Jones figures and vehicles. It’s an oddball item for sure, but I think it’s cool that Hasbro took a risk and delivered something like this.
A few weeks back I started checking out the latest assortment of comic based 1:12 scale femme fatale figures from LooseCollector and Executive Replicas. The first figure to get the spotlight was Red Sonja and today I’m turning my attention everyone’s favorite blood sucker from Drakulon, Vampirella. This is actually not the first Twelth-Scale figure of Vampy I’ve looked at here, with the first being from TBLeague, who also produced her in a full Sixth-Scale figure as well. What can I say? I do love me some Vampirella.
The packaging here is the same format we saw last time with Red Sonja. You get a very attractive and colorful window box with some excellent character art on the front, back, and both side panels. The back also has a blurb about Vampirella and everything about the packaging is collector friendly. This is a great presentation, and it even matches the Coffin Comics figures that LooseCollector has produced. Line all the boxes up on the shelf and it makes for a nice presentation!
Vampirella comes out of the box wearing even less than Red Sonja, but if you’re familiar with the character, well that’s to be expected. I never know what to call her red strappy sling of an outfit. It’s kind of like a one-piece swimsuit with everything cut out but the edges. And those edges are strategically placed to cover her nipples and vampy hoo-ha. And yes, it must be pretty cold in the dungeon because her vamp-nips are at full attention. Also, I always get a good laugh out of the fact that this skimpy sling of an outfit has a collar. Of course, the outfit is sculpted as part of the figure, as are the boots, the bicep cuffs, right forearm bracer, and left wrist cuff. The crimson paint for the costume looks good, but doesn’t pop quite as much as it could have. The paint lines aren’t exactly razor sharp, but there’s certainly no slop to speak of. The gold painted cuffs and accents look nice and the boots are done in a matte black. I think they also did a nice job with the skin tone. This is a nice looking figure!
Vampirella has two head sculpts and these share one sculpted hair piece. The first head has a neutral and rather innocent expression, while the second has her in full-on fierce vamp mode. I dig both of these and the paint is very clean on each face. It’s cool how they changed her eye color for the vamp face from green to red. The earrings are sculpted as part of the hair piece, and the hair itself looks great and sweeps to the side. And while I do like both portraits, I’m probably going to display her with the vampy head the most. It just looks so much more dynamic and interesting.
You do have an option of adding a cape to the outfit if you like. It’s cast in plastic and it looks pretty good, but I think it’s a shame to cover up her back half. To put it on the figure, all you do is pop off the head and the cape hangs around the neck. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll display her with it or have her go capeless.
Now, unlike TBLeague’s seamless body Vampirella, this one does show off all the cuts and joints, which is to be expected, but can look a bit jarring on a mostly nude figure like this, but I’m not really bothered by it. The articulation here is identical to what we saw on Red Sonja, which means she’s using the single-hinged elbows with swivels in the biceps, and hey they work pretty well. Although, I do think the elbow hinges are the least attractive joints on the figure. The arms are rounded out with rotating hinges in the shoulders and hinged pegs for the wrists. There’s a ball joint in the neck and under the chest. The hips are ball jointed, the knees are double-hinged, the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, and you get swivels in the thighs. The joints here worked perfectly right out of the box, with nothing stuck, which is a pleasant surprise these days. She’s lots of fun to pose and play with and she has pretty solid balance for a figure with high heels, but that balance goes out the window if you put the cape on her.
There are a total of three sets of hands included with the figure: One relaxed set, one clawing set, and a set for holding her daggers. The clawing hands are great and go perfectly with the vampy head. Each set of hands has painted red nail polish.
The matched set of daggers are also quite nice. These have bat-style crossguards and silver blades with black grips and gold pommels. The blades are jagged and hooked a bit at the tips giving them a creepy look. The grip hands work really well with these. I don’t really associate these daggers with the character, but who am I to argue with some bonus weapons.
Finally, you get a little bat buddy to perch on Vampirella’s finger. There’s a ring on the bottom of the bat’s feet that just slides into one of her fingers. It’s the same method TBLeague used for their Vampirella and it works great.
As with Red Sonja, Vampirella here retails for about $80 and yup, that’s definitely on the far end of premium for a figure like this. I really do love her a lot, but she doesn’t impress me quite as much as LooseCollector’s Sonja. Sonja felt like she came with more stuff, but I think when you factor in the second head and cape for Vampirella, it probably all evens out more or less. It’s also worth considering that TBLeague’s 1:12 seamless body Vampirella is still available at a lot of online retailers and averages just about $10 more. The two figures present a very different feel from each other, but if I were only going to buy one, I think I would stick with the seamless one. With all that being said, this Vampirella is lots of fun to play with, she looks great, and I am really enjoying this line a lot.
Somewhere along the way, Hasbro’s Black Series has lost me. Sure, some of it has to do with Disney curb-stomping the brand into the gutter these last few years, but I’m kind of tired of so many repacks and repaints when there are still so many of the old Kenner figures that still need to be done. The 40th Anniversary of Return of the Jedi should have given us so many figures, and instead we got a couple new ones and a bunch of old stuff repacked on vintage style cards. Case in point, I haven’t looked at a SWB figure here in eight months! Sure, in some cases I get backlogged, but in this case, I just haven’t been buying any of the figures. But, I did pre-order Bastila Shan and she showed up, so let’s do some Black Series today!
I’ve expressed my undying love for Knights of the Old Republic several times here on FFZ, and even the mere act of checking out this figure has me thinking about it being time for yet another replay. And I will forever be bitter that Hasbro didn’t get to do a big marketing push alongside the game. I mean, here we are twenty years later and we still have only seen a few characters released as figures. It’s a crime, so the least I could do was support this release of Bastila Shan like I did back when Darth Revan was released. Anyway, Shan comes in the fully enclosed plastic-free packaging with the GAMING GREATS logo on the front. You get some character art on the side, and everything here is collector friendly.
Straightaway, this release is such a huge improvement over the 3 3/4-inch Bastila we got way back when. It’s not so much just the new opportunities that come with the jump up in scale, but just the coloring and accuracy of her costume as well. There’s a great sense of layering here with the tan bodysuit being the figure base and the burgundy tunic being cast in soft plastic and worn over the body. Even the top edges of the boots convey a very nice sense of depth, like the figure is actually wearing them. The flaps that drop from her waist on the front and sides are made of pretty pliable plastic and I’m pleased to say that they tend to work pretty well with the articulation. A lot of the coloring here looks like it’s done through the plastic, but the paint lines are nice and sharp too. AND YES, THAT’S A GODDAMN CAT HAIR ON HER BOOT IN THE SECOND PICTURE WHICH I DIDN’T NOTICE UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!!!
The head sculpt is solid, but maybe not exceptional. The facial details are printed on and look fine in hand, while breaking down a bit as you punch in with the camera. The hair sculpting is excellent, but I just don’t see a whole lot of likeness there for the character in the game. I gather that Shan has been in a lot of other media since the game, so maybe this portrait is based more on one of those? Either way, it’s certainly not bad. Maybe a little less shadowing under the eyes would have helped.
The articulation here is mostly great, with the one throwback being the arms. We get the usual rotating hinges in the elbows instead of double-hinges and bicep swivels. Yup, Hasbro loves doing this with the ladies and I have no idea why. Normally, I’ve come to except it, but it hurts a bit more here when trying to get her to wield her lightsaber with both hands. Other than that, you get some great range of motion in the hips, there are double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. The ball joint in the waist has some decent range, and you get a ball joint in the neck. She’s fun to play with, but I’ll be happy if the rotating hinges in the elbows get retired.
Her lightsaber is her only accessory and it comes with two yellow blades that can be pegged in and removed. The hilt is pretty big as far as lightsabers go, and you get some nice silver paint on the ends and black for the grip in the middle. I really hate how gimmicky and ridiculous the lightsaber designs have become, from the spinning blades to whatever the hell grimdark Rey had in whatever movie that was. Still, I kind of have a soft spot for this one, since it reminds me of how badly I wanted a Double Brand in Phantasy Star Online.
I like this figure a lot. No one thing about it is particularly amazing, but it all comes together into what is a very solid Bastila Shan figure, and that’s what I’m here for. And maybe that sums up a lot of my feelings for the Black Series lately. It’s almost always totally competent, with the occasional flourish here and there, and that’s fine when it’s turning out characters I want. But as Hasbro continues to milk previously released figures with Carbonized and Christmas repaints, I’m left waiting for characters we should have had ages ago. Where were my Skiff Guards for the RotJ 40th Anniversary? Where are the rest of my Ewoks? Where’s my Crix Madine? That’s fine… my wallet is happy for the reprieve.
Last week I kicked off my look at the first assortment of Cosmic Legions with Olek Thygar and I mentioned that I was shorted one figure in my shipment. Well, T4H customer service got on that pretty damn quick and sent out the missing figure. So, let’s bump him to the head of the line and check out Kraggnar!
Kraggnar is the second biggest figure in this assortment, so I was pretty excited to get him open and take a look. The packaging is the same style of window box we saw last time. You get a blurb about this series on the right side panel and a little bit about Kraggnar on the left, and it’s all collector friendly. Hailing from the planet Quarvum, Kraggnar is described as a builder and architect, and now a prisoner of Hvalkatar Prison. He has now been tossed into the gladiatorial battles in the Cell Block known as GraveRing.
And he is indeed a big boy. If you’re familiar with the Mythic Legions line, than this fella would qualify as an Ogre Class, so he outclasses the regular figures in both heft and height. Like Olek, Kraggnar has a very scaly reptilian-like body, which I’m sure will be put to dual purpose in Mythic Legions if it hasn’t been revealed already. Indeed, even the ports in the back where his second set of arms plug in will likely be used for wing inserts. Also like Olek, I am in love with the vibrant shades of color used on the skin here. In this case, it’s orange and it goes from light on his chest to darker as it gets to the extremities, where it becomes very deep and just pops beautifully. The scales feature an array of both deep and softer cuts and everything about this guy’s anatomy just looks superb.
Kraggnar sports a set of futuristic gladiatorial armor, which includes heavy forearm cuffs on all four of his arms, an x-shaped harness with a light blue stone in the middle, a belt with a furry loin cloth, and grieves on his lower legs. All of these pieces are colored in a rich metallic silver and feature some sculpted weathering. The arm cuffs and chest harness are all removable, while the belt and grieves are sculpted as part of the body. I also really dig the loops on the arm cuffs and the big ring on his back, suggesting that the guards have to chain this beast up every now and then.
You get two heads included with Kraggnar and while they are both excellent sculpts, the variation here is pretty minimal. The first head is a neutral expression, while the second has a slightly more prominent brow and gritted teeth, giving him a bit more fierce of an expression. The quality of both portraits is excellent with more of that lovely scaling to the skin. I really like his blue eyes, and there are some nasty looking gashes between them, which makes me wonder what creature scored such impressive hits on a combatant this imposing. I will likely keep the second head displayed on the figure nearly all the time, as I think it just has more personality.
There are no surprises here in the base articulation, although it’s worth pointing out that the second set of arms mirror the same articulation as the front set. You also get a pair of fists, and all six pairs of hands will work with either set of arms. The back arms stay put really well and the joints are capable of holding them up despite their considerable weight. Unfortunately the same can’t always be said for the hips and I have had this brute do the splits a few times because of the considerable weight of his upper body. But, he will stay upright if I don’t make the stance too wide.
If you happen to be adverse to your orange space ogres having two sets of arms, you can remove the rear set and insert the provided plugs to fill in the holes, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want to go this route.
Kraggnar comes with one weapon and it’s a giant space mace. I really love the design of this thing, as it almost looks like it’s just a repurposed component to some space ship or giant piece of machinery. The coils running through the center also suggest maybe it has some kind of electro-shock properties. The paint on it looks really good, and the weapon definitely suits the figure.
As the second biggest (and second most expensive) figure in this initial assortment, Kraggnar does not disappoint. He is an absolutely gorgeous figure both in terms of sculpt and coloring. He’s an imposing beast on the shelf, but so much fun to pick up and play with. I guess my only nitpick here is that I would have preferred TFH nix the back plugs and use that plastic for another set of hands or maybe another accessory, because there’s no way I’m ever going to display this brute without all four of his arms!
My DC Multiverse collection has been growing exponentially and there’s so many figures to choose from when it comes to deciding who’s turn is next here. But, there are a couple of waves that I’m particularly excited about getting to, so they’ll get the bump to the front. Today I’m kicking off what I hope will be just a two-part look at the four figure Build-A-Bane Wave based on The Dark Knight Trilogy, and I’ll probably throw an extra Gold Label figure in at the end. Let’s start with Batman and Scarecrow.
I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. It’s mostly collector friendly and it shows off the figures well. You also get the usual black disk stands and collector cards included. Batman comes with Bane’s legs and Dr. Crane comes with his arms, and boy is it refreshing to only have to pick up four figures in a wave to complete a figure, RIGHT HASBRO? I have to toss out my ubiquitous disclaimer that I’m not the biggest fan of this trilogy or Nolan’s films in general. They’re fine, I guess. The first and third tend to put me to sleep, while I like the middle one the most. With that having been said, I think the movies did a fine job imagining some of these characters. Certainly enough for me to want the figures. Let’s start with Batman…
To me this suit was 90% perfection, assuming you count the cowl as 10%. Yes, I like the Keaton suit better, but if you’re going for realism over comic in your Batsuit, than this is how you do it. The suit has a wonderfully tactical look to it and this figure pulls it off quite nicely. The sculpted gaps between the armored plates show the textured undersuit and the chiseled muscles in the abs are superb. The bat emblem is a little too subtle for me, but I get that was an artistic choice. The vastly diminished profile of the cape works well with this look too, as it hugs the body and only fans out at the end. The gold belt is just the chef’s kiss of the whole ensemble. I’m not well versed in the movies to pick out any inconsistencies or differences between the films, but for my money, this is a great looking Batman figure.
If there’s anywhere this figure stumbles a bit it’s the head, and I’m having a hard time deciding whether it’s actually the figure or just the design of this cowl which I have never liked. The overly round shape is just goofy to me and it’s amplified by the round cut out for the face. I think McFarlane did OK with what they had to work with here, but it remains the one thing I don’t like about this suit.
Articulation is everything you’d expect from the DC Multiverse line. I think I’ve covered enough of these figures where I’m not going to run through it every time. I will say that the range of motion here is all quite nice. The shoulder armor is the only place where there’s some inhibition, and even those are designed to flex as much as possible. I have to imagine that what we get is pretty comparable to what movement in an armored suit like this would be like. Batman only comes with the one set of hands, with the left hand balled into a fist and the right hand designed to hold accessories.
And those accessories come in two varieties. the first is his grapple gun, which is a really nice sculpt and cast in gold plastic to match the belt.
Next up we get three gold batarangs. Why three? Don’t know. I guess it’ll come in hand when I inevitably lose one or two. These are simple accessories, but they are made out of nice stiff plastic, which is nice. I probably would have preferred we only get one and they use the rest of the plastic to make a hand better suited to holding them, or just another fist, but now I’m nitpicking. How about some Scarecrow?
Scarecrow was pretty cool in The Dark Knight Rises, but if it weren’t for the C&B parts, I probably would have passed on this one. And now that I have him I’m kind of glad I didn’t, because McFarlane did an impressive job on this guy, especially with all the layering. Under the straightjacket trench coat you have a fully sculpted suit, but really it’s the detail on the straightjacket sculpt that just blows me away. The texturing on the threads is so intricate, along with all the straps and loops and the ragged edges look great. I also dig the way all the loops in the straps look like suckers on a tentacle. I especially love the way the arm straps just lash out from his arms. You also get a really nice black wash over the tan plastic, making it look extra shabby and dirty.
The head sculpt is great too, as it looks like there’s a whole head sculpt under there, even if it is probably just the eyes. Instead of just doing the whole head as one piece, this makes the eyes look really deep set and extra creepy and adds tons of credibility to the hood being an actual hood. And man, is that hood disgusting. I think the white stuff is supposed to be the maggots from one of the fear gas scenes, but either way it’s just so delightfully gross!
There are no accessories here, but you do get two pairs of hands with Scarecrow, and I honestly can’t understand why they bothered. I would have rather those hands went to Batman. The right fist and the left reaching hand are really all I will ever bother with.
Both of these figures turned out really nice. I think I have one of Mattel’s old TDK Trilogy figures around here somewhere and I can surely retire that one in favor of this release. Still not a fan of the cowl, but even still I think it’s a great Batman figure. Without the C&B part, I would have written off Scarecrow as one of those $12 clearance picks ups that I come across with this line, but it turns out he’s pretty damn cool. Next week, I’ll wrap up this wave with The Joker, Harvey Dent, and the C&B Bane… oh, and one extra Gold Label figure that I mentioned earlier.
Much of the last half of the 90’s for me was being teased by pictures of the Metal Slug series in gaming magazines and knowing that I’d never be able to play it. Scratch that, I actually did get to play the first Metal Slug in an electronics store that had a NEO GEO AES demo unit on display. I played that and Cyber-Lip and then found how much they cost and that ended that pipe dream. About five years later my dreams came true, and by that I mean I got Metal Slug X for the PlayStation. It was a stripped down, tweaked and modded version of Metal Slug 2, but I didn’t give two shits because I was finally playing a Metal Slug game at home. Yeah, you kids with your emulators and digital downloads have no idea what it was like in the Gaming Dark Ages. Fast forward to now and I have close to a dozen legit ways to play the entire Metal Slug series in my Game Room. What could possibly be more incredible than that? How about Metal Slug action figures! Enter Tunshi Studio, a company I never heard of. They revealed a series of 1:12 scale figures based on Metal Slug 3 and despite them being pricey releases from an untested company, I pre-ordered the first two: Marco Rossi and a Rebel Soldier. I was originally going to look at both figures today, but by the time I got through all the stuff included with Marco, I decided to spit them up.
Here’s the packaging and it is one inspired presentation! The box is made to look like the compartment on the Soldier Select screen with Marco looking through the window. It’s made of very heavy cardboard stock and has a magnet that secures the tri-fold front flap. Inside, the figure comes in a nested clear plastic tray with a little compartment up top for an instruction booklet that includes a rundown on the articulation under the softgoods outfit. YES SOFTGOODS! I actually swapped the heads before taking this packaged shot, so let me swap them back and we’ll take a look at Marco as he comes out of the box!
And, hot damn! This guy looks amazing! The super articulated body reminds me of the bodies that Storm Collectibles are putting out, and that is very much intended as a compliment. These joints are easy to work with, move fluidly, and include double hinges in the elbows and knees. The figure is dressed in a pair of baggy green trouser fatigues, a white sleeveless t-shirt and an orange vest with double pockets on each side. He’s got a belt, wrist bracers, and some absolutely phenomenal sculpted boots. Normally I would not have believed softgoods were a smart move for figures in this scale and license, but boy does it work beautifully here. The tailoring is pretty clean, but there are a few loose threads I may trim. I like that the pants are baggy so as not to inhibit his articulation.
You get two head sculpts, with the first being a somewhat neutral expression. I think the sculptors did a great job translating the rather unique 2D art stylings of the game to 3D plastic. Marco has a determined, downturned mouth, a pointy nose and eyes that look like they have seen some serious shit. And believe me… they have! The sideburns look great, he’s got a dirty white headband, and that ridiculous lock of hair that zig-zags its way over his forehead. There’s some nice shading on the skin and the yellow hair is bright and snappy.
With that having been said, this second head is the one I’ll be going with most of the time. The mouth is wide open showing off his teeth in an exclamation of joy at the sight of everything exploding around him. Marco looks like he enjoys his work and revels taking on this new threat in the game’s third installment.. Spoilers… it’s aliens… again.
In addition to the two heads, you get a passel of hands. These include fists, a pair of accessory holding hands, a left thumbs up hand, and a right trigger finger hand. All of these are super easy to swap out.
Marco also comes with a softgoods backpack as part of his outfit. This attaches using legit shoulder straps and looks great on him. It’s a fantastic bonus that really adds a lot of value to the figure.
If you guessed this figure comes with guns, you’d be right! You actually get two, which may seem light considering the number of weapons in the game, but most of the weapon upgrades you pick up just convert your rifle into firing something new. Also, I think Tunshi spread them out a bit as incentive to buy more figures. First off, Marco comes with his semi-automatic pistol, which is his default weapon in the game offering unlimited ammo. It’s cast in black plastic and has some excellent detail in the sculpt. There is no articulation or removable magazine.
Next up is HEAVY MACHINE GUN with the multi-purpose under-the-barrel tube. This is another great sculpt with some sharp detail. The pump actually slides and the stock and pump are both cast in brown plastic and you get a little more brown on the grip. Marco comes with a wide grip left hand so he can cradle the pump in it.
You also get a HEAVY MACHINE GUN effect piece that plugs into the barrel and looks really damn cool! I should note that the HEAVY MACHINE GUN is a power-up in the game, activated when you pick up the container marked H, and as you can see you get the power up icon as well. This is actually a blank with a magnetic H included for each side. It definitely gives it a more premium feel than just printing or a sticker.
Marco’s secondary attack in the game is his stock of grenades and you get a lovely potato-masher style stick grenade to toss at those enemy bosses. Luckily he gets more than just one in the game.
The final weapon in Marco’s arsenal is a combat knife, which is his default attack when he gets close enough to an enemy to shed blood. Or white sweat if you’re playing the US version. Once again, this is a beautifully detailed piece with a painted silver blade and a serrated back edge.
Moving into some basic equipment, Marco comes with a walkie-talkie and a field canteen. Both of these work well with the left open grip hand.
You also get a whole pile of other extras and a box to keep them in. The biggest item here is the rocket for the RAWKET LAWNCHAIR upgrade. I think Tunshi missed an opportunity here because the blast effect part isn’t compatible with the tube under the gun and it isn’t removable, so it’s hard to really incoporate this piece into the display. Other bits include a magazine, an ammo belt, a medal, a lump of shit (no really!), and eleven metal cartridges.
And finally, you get a really nice display stand with a bendy support post and a waist clip. The base has a sculpted wood planking cover that can be slid in and out and there are clips so it can be attached to the bases of other figures for one continuous display.
At $145, Marco was certainly not cheap, but I can definitely see where the money went. The body is excellent, the softgoods look great, and there are just a ton of goodies in this box for play and display. Plus, when considering price, I think you probably have to factor in the limited appeal of this niche market. Metal Slug has definitely reached a wider audience in the last ten years or so, but it’s way past its heyday, so I have to imagine that the production on these figures isn’t huge. The first assortment included Tarma Roving, who’s outfit is mostly a palate swap, a Rebel Soldier and a Rebel Soldier two-pack with some exclusive accessories. I’ll be checking out the Rebel Soldier in a week or so. I haven’t picked up Tarma yet, but I probably will. I might even go for the Soldier two-pack, since it has some exclusive extras. I do have the two ladies, Fio and Eri, on pre-order.
If there’s one thing SDCC did this year (besides making me want to spend a lot of money), it’s give me a jumpstart to get through some of my backlog. Although Super7’s reveals for their Ultimates Silverhawks left me a bit cold. There were no new characters, just metalized reissues and repaints. But, it did remind me to get cracking on going through the second wave of figures here, and that brings us to today’s pick… Steelheart and her bird buddy Rayzor!
We’ve seen the packaging many times, so I won’t go into it again, other than to say it’s beautiful and collector friendly. If you need to get caught up, the first wave included Steelwill, Bluegrass, Mon-Star, and Windhammer. And yes, technically that was supposed to be the second wave and the one I’m starting today was supposed to be first. But let’s not get into that again. Steelheart is the sole female of the Silverhawks team and she’s also the twin sister of Steelwill. LET’S WING IT!!!
Steelheart follows this line’s very animated stylings, which means the paint is designed to approximate the look of their cartoon counterparts, rather than the vintage toys. I’ve gone on record supporting this direction, and I’ll talk a little bit more about that at the end with regard to the SDCC reveals. The blue finish has a bit of a sheen to it and you get some metallic blue bands around her left bicep and above the left knee. Steelheart also has her real flesh right arm exposed from below the elbow down. You do get some paint crunched in the shoulder joints, but after a bit of articulation it works itself out. The sculpt is simple enough with a few panel lines here and there, as well as talons on the backs of her heels. But overall the figure gets by mostly with smooth curves. I really love the way she looks.
As with her brother, you get a choice of three different head sculpts. The one on the figure in the package is fairly neutral with the hint of a smile The second looks like they were going for something a little more serious, but I think the differences are very slight. And finally, you get her masked head. The paint is simple but clean and I think it does a decent job of conveying the cartoon character’s likeness. I just think there should have been a bigger difference between the expressions for the first two heads to justify including both.
The articulation here is identical to what we’ve seen with the other Silverhawks. Super articulated these are not, but you do get a bunch of rotating hinges that get the job done. In the case of Steelheart, I do wish there was more movement in the ball joint under the chest, as it mainly just twists and offers almost no up and down movement. I also wish the head was capable of looking up a bit more for those flight poses. QC has been a little spotty on this line, especially with Steelheart’s brother, but I’m happy to say I didn’t have any scary stuck joints or breakage on Steelheart. Everything moved the way it was supposed to right out of the box. Naturally you get a nice assortment of hands with the figure. These include fists, relaxed hands, accessory holding hands, and karate-chop-flight hands.
As with Steelwill, Steelheart comes with an extra pair of arms with the wings attached. These can be swapped out for winged flight poses and these arms are not articulated at the elbows. You can also still swap out the shoulders to have the open gun ports available for both the winged and non-winged arms, but I think that option is more trouble than its worth. I do have a question as to whether or not the wing arms came out as intended. If you look closely, the wings overlap the arms just a little bit, and it really feels like that should be on the back of the arms, but here it’s on the fronts. Why can’t you just swap them? Because Steelheart’s right forearm and hands are bare and because the wings would be concave in the wrong direction. This isn’t a huge deal, I’m not even 100% sure it’s an error, and I think the wings still look great, but it is another example of what may have been a factory issues with this line, and those do seem to be adding up.
Oddly enough, Steelheart does not come with a lot of accessories. Her brother came with a couple of guns, Bluegrass came with his guitar, but apart from her bird buddy, Steelheart only comes with the blue laser beam effect parts that we saw with the other Silverhawks. These can be plugged into the gun ports on the shoulders, and I think they look cool.
Steelheart’s bird is Rayzor and you get two versions of him: One perched and one in flight. Both versions have articulation in the legs and neck and they look pretty cool! The bird buddies were more of a thing in the toyline, and I don’t recall them even being introduced in the cartoon until pretty far into its run, so I think it’s great that we’re getting animated versions of them here.
Steelheart is a solid addition to the Silverhawks team. I was happy to have no paint flubs, frozen joints, or breakage, but then again that’s stuff that I shouldn’t even have to worry about when dealing with a $55 collector figure. But it does bring me to the issue of the SDCC reveals and why I’m probably going to opt out of the metallic reissues. Super7 just seems to be having a rough time with this line, and while I love the figures I have, and I’m looking forward to the next wave of new characters, I’m not really prepared to risk issues with repaints. Those paint jobs are going to have to be really pristine to look good and I’m not sure I want to take that gamble. If initial reviews look good, and they’re available, maybe I will bite. But right now I’m just happy with what we’ve got. And no… I’m not interested in Tiger Sharks. Next time I revisit this line, we’ll check out the powered up version of Mon-Star!
This has been one of those months where several really, really, REALLY old preorders have finally started to roll in. Last time we checked out some of Cosmic Legions, which had a two year wait time, and today I’m starting in on a trio of 1:12 scale comic figures by Executive Replicas/LooseCollector that I preordered back in October of 2021. So yeah, a little less than two years on these as well. Executive Replicas seems to handle licensing in partnership with a few action figure producers. In the past they have been hooked up with Phicen/TB League to produce a number of Sixth-Scale seamless figures from smaller comic properties. while LooseCollector seems to focus on these One-Twelve Scale figures, and I’ve looked at a few of those here as well. This latest assortment of femme fatales included Vampirella, Purgatori, and Red Sonja, and I’m checking out Red Sonja today.
The packaging for these figures is pretty simple but very nice and totally collector friendly. The figure comes in a window box set in a clear plastic tray with her extras laid out around her. You get character art on the front and the Red Sonja logo up at the top. There’s more character art on the side panels, and still more on the back panel along with a blurb about the character and figure. LooseCollector hasn’t really branded this series with a name, but the figures and packaging match up perfectly with the Legacy Series figures they did for Coffin Comics.
Here’s Red Sonja out of the box and looking fabulous! The body has the same feel of the Coffin Comics figures, but there are a few changes, which I’ll run down with the articulation. The sculpting here is excellent, giving our girl a toned and muscular body. She’s wearing her iconic silver scale chainmail bikini armor, which is sculpted as part of the body. There’s some excellent detail to the boots, and I love how they are designed to have openings in the fronts, as if she weren’t showing enough skin already. You also get some sculpted thigh plates, gauntlets that run up to her elbows, bicep rings, and a framework gorget on her shoulders.
The paintwork here is very well done. There’s a deep chocolate brown used for the boots, gauntlets and various straps and belts. The silver used for the armor pops nicely, as does the gold, which is used sparingly. Finally, the skin tone is warm and even throughout.
I really do love this portrait, although I would have really liked to see a second head with a more fierce expression. The one we got gives her a, “Oh yeah, this is going to be fun” expression as she’s about to go into battle. I think it really captures the determination and beauty of the character. Her brow is downturned, there’s a little wrinkle to the bridge of her nose, and her lips are slightly parted to show a flash of teeth. Her eyes are perfectly printed and I love the high gloss red they used on her lips. The flowing red hair is also great, with wild strands flowing everywhere, and there’s a bit of a gap from the shoulders so that it doesn’t impede the head movement too badly. And I have to throw some admiration at that gorget again. It’s a pretty intricate piece for this scale, and I love how it turned out.
The articulation is nearly identical to what we got in the Coffin Comics figures, which is overall very good. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint under the chest and at the top of the neck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinged pegs in the wrists, and single hinges in the elbows. Now, the Coffin Comics figures changed up the single hinge elbows to rotating hinges when going from Lady Death to Hellwitch, and I would have preferred they kept that change here, but it still works fine. All the joints work fine right out of the box, which is more than I can say for some of the figures being produced by the big boys these days. I should also note that this figure has some incredible balance, especially considering her high-heeled boots. I had very little difficulty getting her to stand in some fairly dynamic action poses.
Red Sonja comes with a number of weapons, as well as three sets of hands. The hand options are fists, relaxed, and weapon gripping. Honestly, that’s the right number of hands. I get hand fatigue from some of these companies that include a thousand hands. It’s enough with the hands!!! As for the weapons, first off we have her beautiful double-handed sword, and this is gorgeous. The stout, blade is painted silver and the hilt has a gold pommel and crossguard with a black extended grip. There’s some beautiful scrollwork sculpted into the crossguard.
The articulation works well to get the figure to wield the sword with both hands.
Next up is a pair of crude fighting knives. These have dark, curved blades with a primitive hammered finish and the grips are sculpted to look like leather wrappings. I had completely forgotten that these were going to be includes, so they were a pretty cool surprise.
And finally, you get a pole-axe, which is a wonderful looking weapon. You get a single blade with a spiked back, a spiked pommel, and sculpted leather wrappings along the length of the shaft. It’s definitely an attention getter!
Red Sonja was definitely worth the wait! Granted, I had a good idea what to expect from my experience with Lady Death and Hellwitch, and I’m glad to see LooseCollector delivering on quality and consistency. And above all a figure that is an absolute joy to play around with. She looks great, the joints all behave the way they should, and there were zero QC issues, which sadly seems like an extra bonus these days. Sure, at $70 this figure clocks in at the far side of expensive, but that’s literally the price you have to pay for these smaller batched figures from smaller companies. LooseCollector has already put up some more figures for pre-order and I’m in on all of them. In the meantime, I’ll be showcasing more of this assortment in the very near future.
It’s finally here! After almost two years since the preorder closed, the first wave of Cosmic Legions figures arrived and I’m ready to start digging in. For those unfamiliar, they are basically a sci-fi version of T4H’s wildly popular fantasy based Mythic Legions figures, which have been going strong for a little while now. I went All-In on this first wave, although T4H didn’t pack one of the figures in the box, and I’m trying to solve that issue with them now. Wouldn’t you know it, it had to be one of the expensive ones! Anyway, I’m starting off with what seems to be the main protagonist of the wave, Olek Thygar, because we got two versions of him in this initial assortment.
Here’s the packaging for both figures. T4H has finally transitioned from bubbles on cardbacks to full on window boxes. I like these better, but they are putting the accessories on a tray mounted inside the side of the bubble, which is kind of awkward to get to. The left side panel has a blurb about the line’s narrative and the right has a blurb about the character. I’m not going to get terribly deep into the fiction of this line, but Hvalkatar appears to be an intergalactic prison where Olek finds himself thrown into, and eventually I guess leads a revolt. GraveRing is a particularly nasty Cell Block where the prisoners are made to fight in gladiatorial combat between bouts of hard labor. So, the GraveRing version of Olek sees him as a gladiator and the other version has him in a spacesuit with weapons, so I’m guessing it’s after the revolt? I really don’t know. Like Mythic Legions, the narrative and character bios are there to take or leave… let’s just enjoy the figures! We’re going to start with the Hvalkatar version as it is the more complex figure with the most accessories.
There are a few different display options for this figure, but I’m starting him off in his full-on space suit with the dome helmet. The detail on this figure is just mind blowing and while most of the intricate detailing of the suit is sculpted as part of the body, T4H have added some separately sculpted pieces here and there to add to that complexity, making for an exquisite layered effect of depth and interlocking plates. The articulation style here is pretty much identical to what we’ve seen in Mythic Legions, and the figure is still built on a modular model. For customizers who want to mix and match, Cosmic is compatible with Mythic, but that sort of thing is beyond what I’ll be looking at here. I am happy to report that neither of these figures had any joint issues and they articulated fine right out of the box.
The boots and gloves hint at Olek’s alien anatomy with only three fingers on each hand and what appears to be two giant toes. There are peg holes located on the gauntlets and the front and back of the torso. These are part of a new play mechanic that runs throughout this line, and we’ll explore these a further in a bit. The coloring here is quite beautiful. The armored pieces of the base suit are matte black and gray with an orange undersuit, shown mostly in the pants. You get some more orange trim throughout and some gorgeous metallic blue trim as well. All the paint operations are sharp and clean.
The helmet is removable and you can even remove the orange-tinted dome separately. This brings me to one issue with the figure and that’s the helmet not locking securely to the figure. Not only does it leave a gap in a few spaces, but it seems to be designed to be held on by friction alone, which does not do the job at all. It’s not a critical problem, but considering how much thought and design T4H puts into these figures, this one seems like a really uncharacteristic oversight.
And that brings us to Olek’s portrait, which is absolutely beautiful. He has a gorgeous blue color with bright red piercing globes for eyes. The skin is heavily scaled with deep fissures and definitely has a dragonesque motif, particularly in the scaling on the neck. Olek also has a gold fixture placed on his forehead, which I suppose could be ornamental for his race or perhaps serve some kind of purpose. I really love the sculpted detail inside the helmet, and there are even some paint apps in there too.
You get a completely different style helmet as well, which is a lot more streamlined. This head also comes with a separate neck piece, which is completely enclosed extension of the space suit. The helmet is designed to be form fitted to Olek’s head and it gives the figure even more of an alien profile, which is pretty cool. You also don’t have to deal with the fit issues of the larger domed helmet. The orange shield is even removable so you can get a better look at the fully sculpted face under it. This neck piece is also useable with the regular head and can be incorporated into the dome helmet for what I think makes for a better overall look. If you like display options, this figure certainly has you covered! Let’s start checking out accessories and weapons!
One of the coolest little extras is this holographic readout that plugs into the peg hole on either of the gauntlets. Similar pieces will be a recurring theme in this wave and this one makes for a really neat effect. It’s cast in translucent plastic with green tint at the bottom and a frame around the green text panel.
And while we’re on the subject of those arm peg holes, Olek comes with a pair of pop-up blasters for them as well. I really dig these a lot!
Olek comes with a matched pair of pistols, and here’s where we can get into the other peg holes on the suit. The figures come with an assortment of translucent pegs (two short and two longer) and these clear cylinders can be placed into the ports to secure weapons to them. In this case, the pistols work pretty well attached to the peg holes on the back. I have yet to find a good use for the peg holes on the front of the suit, as those seem to be oddly placed to attach anything.
The pistols sport some excellent detail and are painted in a speckled gray finish. They work really well with the included trigger finger hands, and I guess I should point out here that Olek comes with two sets of trigger hands, one designed to hinge up and down and one side to side. If you want to beef these guns up, you can also plug the arm blasters into the peg holes on the sides.
Next up is his heavy blaster rifle, which again is intricately sculpted and finished to match the pistols. This has a scope, a non-removable magazine and looks totally bad ass. It also has a peg hole, but I haven’t found a really good place to attach it. Again, you can beef it up by adding one of the arm blasters to the side. I have to say, I am really digging the gun designs in this line so far.
The final accessory is a big one! It’s listed as an extra heavy blaster, but to me it looks like it’s a digging tool, like a jackhammer. I’d like to think this is a piece of equipment that the guards gave to the prisoners to go out and mine asteroids as it has a big chisel-like wedge at the end. Maybe Olek is using it as a weapon like Isaac Clarke in Dead Space. Either way, this is a gorgeous piece of kit with lots of sculpted detail and lots of paint hits to the shell and the various components. There’s a grip on the back and a grab bar on the front so he can hold it like a chain gun and use it to pulverize rock or prison guards. And that covers this version of Olek, let’s move on and check out the GraveRing version…
And here he is, stripped of his space suit and ready for gladiatorial prison combat. There isn’t as much to talk about here as with the previous figure. This version of Olek reuses the belt and legs from the space suit, as well as the arm bracers from the gauntlets. His feet, hands, and upper torso are all bare showing off that beautiful blue scaled skin, and I am absolutely in love with the gradients of blue used here, it’s just so gorgeous! I also really dig that Cardassian-like neck. And holy crap is the sculpting for his back scales just incredible. This version comes with several more pairs of hands than the last one, including relaxed hands and various types to hold accessories.
The head sculpt is partially resculpted and it’s kind of fun to speculate as to why. The gold fixture is missing and in its place is what looks like three more exposed eyes. It actually looks like the gold piece was ripped out and this is a wound left behind. His horns are also grown longer. Maybe his species normally cuts these and he left them to grow long for combat? Either way this is a beautiful portrait!
Now in terms of accessories, this version comes up really short when compared to the last version. You get a new hologram piece for his gauntlet, this time it looks like an image of a spaceship. It’s cast in translucent green plastic and has some very nice detail. I just really dig the way these hologram pieces look.
You get a staff, which is kind of plain looking and strikes me as a Mythic Legions throwback. I guess the guards don’t want the gladiators to have powerful weapons. Makes sense. This one does, however transform into a flail.
Well, not really, but it’s supposed to and you get the pieces to make it look like the top comes off and connects to another piece with a chain. It looks like it would come in handy for whacking opponents in the head or tripping them up so you can make the kill.
I remember really being on the fence about picking up both versions of Oleg, but in the end I’m glad I did. The first version is definitely the more interesting figure, but that’s to be expected because at $48 he sold for $11 more than the second version. Meanwhile, the second has it’s own charms with all that exposed blue scaly skin. So far, I dig the peg system for attaching weapons and accessories to the figures, as it gives me a nostalgic feel for the old Centurions line by Kenner. So far Cosmic Legions manages to secure its own identity, while still being planted firmly in the Mythic Legions system. Indeed, I think we’ve already seen a Dragon Man figure teased using parts from Olek and it will be interesting to see what other crossover T4H and customizers can do.
It’s hard to believe that I haven’t revisited the Classified line since April, but then again I have been getting caught up on the Super7 G.I. JOEUltimates line, so that’s the excuse I’m going with. Nevertheless the Classified figures have been piling up and it’s time to remedy that today as we look at David Katzenbogen, aka Bazooka!
Yeah, I am not a fan of this art. This might be cool as an art print, but why Hasbro thinks this is a good way to convey what’s in the box for an action figure line is beyond me. It looks like something you’d find hanging on the wall at wine and cheese night at the community college art show. At least you get a small picture of the figure on the front and more on the back panel. I was excited to get Bazooka because I was a big fan of the vintage figure, and I always thought the cartoon did him dirty. The Bazooka figure I played with was a fast and decisive thinker, just like his filecard noted, and not a slow, dimwitted guy who could barely articulate his thoughts into the English language. G.I. JOE was supposed to be the best of the best, and my vision of this character fit that ideal a little better.
In terms of sculpting, Bazooka was one of the simpler figures for Hasbro to produce, but he still looks great. His standard issue trousers have some sculpted pockets and are tucked into high black boots. This is all contrasted by his bright red football jersey with blue and white numbering and sleeve stripes. Yeah, the numbering is interrupted by the cut for his chest ball joint, but it’s not like that could be helped. He has a pair of green wrist cuffs and a black belt with silver buckle that is attached around his waist. This looks good, but it can have a habit of riding up when posing him. I really dig the build Hasbro gave him, as he’s a pretty buff figure all around with some nice muscle definition in his arms.
While Bazooka has standard Classified male articulation, the jointing on this guy feels a little weird. The joints offer a little more resistance and sometimes when I thought I had tweaked them, they revert back to the way they were. I’ve found that working the figure has resolved this a bit, and I’m hoping that the more I play around with him, the more cooperative his joints will get. Because of his dual handed weapon, Bazooka comes with two trigger finger hands, and that’s cool because these can double as fists well enough.
The portrait is really good, even if it strays a bit into caricature, I’m not looking for super realism on my Classified figures and I dig when they get a bit stylized. He’s got a power house of a neck, a beefy cleft chin, high cheek bones, and a bushy mustache and eyebrows. The paint could be lined up on that stache a little better, but it’s not too bad. The helmet has some sculpted wrinkles to show it’s got a cover on it and I love how one of the chin straps flies off to the side. There ain’t no way those straps are going under that monument of a chin anyway! The helmet is removable and you get a neatly combed coif with a sharply defined part.
All of Bazooka’s accessories fit on his back, which is pretty cool. You get the backpack that holds four of his bazooka rounds and two arms to attach the bazooka across the back. The pack is cast in olive green plastic with some nice detail. The four compartments up top house the bazooka rounds, of which two are left plain, one has a painted yellow tip, and the other has some nose art on it. The bazooka has some excellent detail too and the padding on the side is painted black.
There’s also a sling if you prefer to have the bazooka over his shoulder. I imagine it can be difficult to get through doors with it stored horizontal on the pack.
The back of the bazooka is pegged and swings open so you can load in one of the rounds. I think this is a great idea, but this piece comes off way too easily. You can also have a round peeking out the front as if it’s about to fire or in the process of firing. I like to pop the yellow tip in there because it’s easier to see. I think Hasbro really missed an opportunity here not to give us a smoke trail to show the round leaving the tube and a blowback effect part for the back. They’re doing some amazing effect parts with the multi-packs and Bazooka would have been a great opportunity to introduce some here.
Lack of effect parts aside, I think Hasbro did a great job on this figure. He’s a great mix of realistic military MOS with the colorful characters that the G.I. JOE brand brings to the table. His gear is fun to play with and it’s always a plus for me when a figure can carry everything they come with. Now if we can get Alpine and Quick Kick to display by his side, I’ll be even happier!
FigureFan Zero 