Oct 4 2013

Batman (Classic TV Series): The Riddler by Mattel

Here we go… it’s the last figure from Mattel’s first wave of 1966 Batman figures. I saved The Riddler for last because he’s probably my least favorite of all the villains from that TV series. I don’t hate him, but for whatever reason, I just didn’t dig him as much as Joker and Penguin, or even King Tut and Egghead. I think I just found his riddles too damn annoying. Anyway, Mattel’s figure is based off Frank Gorshin in the role, so let’s take a look at how he turned out…

We’ve seen this packaging on no less than four occasions already, so there’s no point in gassing on about any more. Robin’s dopey quote is new and the back of the card has a little blurb about the character and some artwork that is specific to this figure. Suffice it to say that I really like the presentation that Mattel went with here. It’s fun and it captures the wacky spirit of the show.

The Riddler is certainly the simplest figure in this wave. You get a lean buck cast in green plastic with purple paint for the gloves and belt. Oh yeah, there’s also a bunch of question marks stamped on him. That’s not a complaint against the figure, rather just a commentary on the costume we’re dealing with here. Mattel did a good enough job for what they had to work with.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about the likeness here, but I’m not really sure why. For a mass market, $15 figure, I think the portrait is perfectly fine, albeit a little soft. Sure, we’ve seen better in even smaller scales, but it’s certainly not terrible. The eyes could have been set a little deeper behind the mask, and maybe Mattel could have gone with a more jovial and less angry expression, but I’m still pretty happy with what we got.

Riddler features all the standard DCUC style of articulation. The arms have ball jointed shoulders, hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist, he has an ab crunch in the torso and a ball jointed neck. Oddly enough, the ball joint in the neck doesn’t allow for much more than just side to side movement.

Naturally, Riddler also comes with the collector card and stand. Riddler’s stand says “Ka-Pow!!!” I’m still digging the artwork on these collector cards a lot and the fact that they double as a backdrop for the stand is cool. They are also each one frame of a complete panoramic view of the Batmobile in the Batcave…

Yep, it’s a great idea, but you really can’t see the backdrops with the figures on the stand, so it probably could have been executed better.

And that wraps up the first wave of Mattel’s 1966 Batman figures. I really enjoy these figures, probably enough so that I will pick up the Batman & Robin two-pack just to get Robin. I’m also still waiting for the Catwoman figure, which I have on pre-order. Word is that Mattel has signed a merchandising deal with Yvonne Craig, so I’m really hoping that a Batgirl figure might be coming down the pike as well. I would certainly buy a second wave of these, especially if they rounded out the Rogue’s Gallery of the series.

Oct 3 2013

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen: Leader Class Optimus Prime by Hasbro

Welcome to another Transformers Thursday, where I dig my mitts into a random drawer and pull out a Transformer figure from days gone past. Actually, if you want to know a secret, lately it hasn’t been very random! Today, I was going through some of my Optimus Primseses and I realized that I had yet to give this particular toy his due here on FigureFan Zero. Love them or hate them, the Michael Bay movies are part of the Transformers Universe, and while I’m not here to debate the merits (or lack thereof) of the movies, I can’t deny that at least some good toys have come out of the franchise. There were a ton of different versions of Optimus released in various scales for each of the three movies, but I only ever picked up one of them and that’s the toy we’re looking at today. I’ve had him for a while, there’s no in-package shot, so let’s just jump right in and look at his alt mode.

The movies saw Optimus’ alt mode revamped into a modern day extended cab. I hated it the first time I saw it. I thought the colors were all wrong, the flames were tacky, and he shouldn’t be an extended cab. You can probably only imagine how I feel about this toy. Actually… I freaking love it! It was this toy that eventually sold me on Prime’s new alt mode because it’s just so big and beautiful and majestic. It’s a beast of a vehicle mode, and I can only imagine how incredible it would look with a trailer, but then I remember he didn’t have a trailer until Dark of the Moon. Anyway, the sculpt here is excellent, right down to the little rivets! You get rubber tires and even the tiny Autobot insignia on his hood ornament. It’s a solid truck toy, that dominates the shelf and rolls along great.

I’m still not sold on the flames, but I can’t deny that the paint and deco is beautifully reproduced here. Sure, some vac-metal silver would have looked a lot better than the matte grey plastic, but in the long run, this stuff will last longer without getting chipped and worn. I need only look at my MASK Rhino for proof of that.

Yes! There are even electronics! I was surprised to find that they still work, as most of my electronic Transformers have drained the batteries long ago and I can never be bothered to replace them. There’s a button on the roof, which when depressed lights up the windshields and sounds Optimus’ air horn. I approve! This is a fun and great looking vehicle and one of the few Transformers that I am tempted to always display in his alt mode just because I love it that much. Can the robot mode possibly stack up? Well that depends…

Transforming Prime is rather fidgety, but you would expect that for a Leader Class toy. I used to have a big problem with it, but these days I can switch him back and forth relatively quickly without consulting any instructions, so it’s not too bad. There’s a lot of clever things at work here, like the way the feet auto-morph, the way the back wheels pack onto the legs with additional hinges so you can still pose him, and the way all the rest of the crap packs away on his back to form a backpack. And then there’s the electronic head reveal. Unclip the thing on the bottom of his torso and his chest auto-morphs, his head pops up, the windshields light up, and it plays some cool sounds. It just has that great gee-whiz quality that brings out the kid in me.

So, earlier I said his robot mode demands some qualification. If you’re looking for a great match to the move version of Prime, this isn’t really it. On the other hand, I find it to be an awesome amalgam of G1 and Bayformer characteristics. You can see how they tried to base it on the movie version, but the boxy torso and the bulky arms and legs, give him more of a shoebox G1 design. What some may call this toy’s failing, I celebrate as an amazingly original look that does away with much of that “bionical” feel in favor of something more substantial and familiar. Yes, the deco still shows too many flames for my taste, and yes, vac-metal in place of the grey would have made this guy look even more amazing. But still, I just adore the way this figure looks on my shelf.

Even the head sculpt on this guy strikes me as a more generic Prime than a really good approximation of the movie portrait, and that works for me too. I will say that the absence of any light piping for the eyes seems rather conspicuous. In a Transformer this size, I tend to take that feature for granted, and I think it would have looked great.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have some issues. A lot of stuff wants to come unclipped when you handle him. His hinged shoulders will sometimes open up, the backpack sometimes unpacks, and despite his heavy ratchet joints, his ankles still aren’t always up to the task of holding his great bulk. I’m not entirely sold on the way the knees hover too far out, and you can see in a couple of pictures where his right knee just kept wanting to flop down. You have to flip the knees back into place almost every time you reposition his legs. And while the back wheel assemblies are hinged to allow the knees to bend, you have to fiddle with them separately to make that happen. All gripes aside, though, I still love this guy!

Prime doesn’t have a traditional rifle, but he does have one that folds out and attaches to his right hand. It will deploy automatically as you push the sliding lever on the bottom of his forearm. The gun will fire a missile, but I have no idea what happened to mine. It’s probably become feline contraband behind the sofa in what I like to call The Cat’s Lair.

Hasbro released a new Leader Class version of Prime for Dark of the Moon and as many will point out it looks a lot more like the movie version of Prime than this one does. But then that’s why I never bought it. The truth is, I love this toy as a stand-alone piece, and I would have been a lot happier if Optimus Prime in the movies, and all the Transformers for that matter, looked more like this clunkier beauty than how they turned out. Hasbro certainly never intended it this way, and I’m sure they did the best they could, but I’m glad they weren’t able to nail the likeness, because this figure is awesome and as far as I’m concerned what we got here is so much better than what could have been.

Oct 2 2013

Masters of the Universe Classics: Batros by Mattel

Wow, we are officially at the halfway mark for Matty’s Filmation Club. Yes, Batros was last month’s figure, but I’m still rather backlogged with my receivings so I’m only getting to him now. But hey, it’s October! Halloween is coming and Batros seems somehow appropriate.

There’s the awesome green brick, Greyskull-inspired MOTUC packaging. Once again, despite the fact that Batros is a release in their spin-off Filmation sub, the package is identical to the mainstream releases. There isn’t even a sticker on the bubble that says, “It’s Filmation, bitches!” That’s fine for me because I’m about to tear this thing up to get at my toy. But first, let’s check out the back panel of the card.

Of the six figures pictured, I am missing only Stinkor and Webstor. I really need to pick those guys up. You also get the usual bio, in this case declaring Batros as a Master Thief, only more awkwardly worded as “Evil Master of Theft.” I am reminded of the exchange between Yuri Orlov and Andre Baptiste Sr.: “They say that I am The Master of Theft, but I believe it is you. “I believe it’s Master Thief.” “Thank you, but I prefer it my way.” What’s that? Oh, shit… I thought I could distract you all with a Lord of War film reference to make you forget that I’m committed to watch the episode this guy is in. Ok dokey… The episode in question is called “The Great Books Mystery.” Let me pour myself a Jameson and I’ll be back in about 25 minutes.

So, all the books in The Palace have gone missing! I could see this being a problem, because I adore books, but the King’s main concern isn’t the books themselves, but the great loss of knowledge. Yes, it’s only natural that a society that has lasers and robots doesn’t have any of that precious knowledge stored on computer archives. Oh yeah, before that we get to see Adam and Teela at Gym Class and nothing beats Adam and Cringer’s expressions while checking out Teela’s ass as she climbs the rope. Ok, let me just jump straight to Batros. He stole the books so that the people will force the King to step down and make Batros the Emperor of all Eternia. Seems legit. Despite his insane scheme, Batros is pretty badass and he shoots lasers out of his hands that sometimes create snakes out of thin air. He quickly bests Teela, Orko, Beastman, and Trapjaw, and presents himself to Skeletor as his equal. The two partner up to go after Greyskull, making The Great Eternian Book Caper really just a red herring to tie in with the weekly PSA about how awesome reading is, when it should have been how you’re going to burn in the special hell, if you steal people’s books. Seriously, I don’t lend books to anyone. Oh yeah, Prince Adam’s birthday gift of choice is a book of unicorn pictures… ‘nuff said. Is that enough? Can I get to the figure now?

Good! Because Batros is a pretty cool figure. You get a basic MOTUC buck sculpted in a really nice, pale purple. The familiar bracers and belt are painted glossy black and the furry boots and diaper are painted blue. There’s nothing groundbreaking on the body, but you do get a new chest harness with a bat emblem sculpted onto the front of it.

The head sculpt is excellent! It works wonderfully as a modern update to the Filmation character. I’d say it stays closer to the artwork than Icer did, but that was a good choice on both fronts. The hair texture for the hood is great and I particularly love the little notches in his bat ears… nice touch. The lower part of the cowl is a separate piece, so as not to interfere with the head articulation. Tiny little fangs and the yellow eyes with black mascara tie the portrait up nicely.

And then there are the wings. I wasn’t sold on the wings in the initial press shots of this figure. Later, I saw the artwork and thought better about them. Now that the figure is in hand, I’m still a little torn. The wings are sculpted directly into the figure’s biceps. They’re scaled correctly. They have a nice, leathery texture sculpted into them. They look really good in a few key poses. But there are other poses, where they don’t look so good, because they just seem to stop at his shoulders. It begs the question… is this guy actually part bat or a guy in a bat costume? I don’t know, but the wings don’t always look natural.

Articulation is standard MOTUC fare. Do I really need to go through it? Oh, alright. The arms feature ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. His legs feature ball jointed hips, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist, has the ab crunch in his torso, and a ball jointed head. The nice thing about the wings is that they don’t inhibit his articulation in the slightest.

Batros comes with an amazing spiked mace. I don’t remember him having it in the episode, so I’m not sure if this is a repack from a figure I don’t have, or an homage to someone else’s weapon. Either way, this thing is bad ass and he looks great holding it.

And that, my friends, is Batros. Despite the fact that I waffle over his wings, I still think this is a really great figure and another slam dunk for the Filmation Sub. He’s a great treatment of another one-off villain that looks perfectly at home standing on my shelf amidst all the other freaks and weirdoes of Eternia. He’s fun to play with and another reason I’m so very glad I subbed this little sub-line.

Oct 1 2013

Function X-2: Quadruple-U by Fansproject

Fansproject continues to be one of the forerunners of the whole third-party transforming robots scene. They impressed me with their “Cars That Turn Into Evil Robots But Are Most Definitely Not The Stunticons” team and more recently, I was able to finally pick up Code, the first release in their “Transforming Robots Whose Heads Also Turn Into Robots But Are Most Definitely Not Headmasters” line called Function. The next Function figure in the line is Quadruple-U, a figure that some may say bears a striking resemblance to the Hasbro G1 toy, Weirdwolf. Let’s check him out…

The packaging is similar in format to Code’s. You get a blue folding shoebox type deal with a clear illustrated sleeve that fits over it. I do dig the artsy nature of this packaging, but I’m sure there are plenty of collectors who would have preferred a more traditional window box. I can see the merits of both, but when you’re paying $60 for a Deluxe sized Transformer, it’s nice to have it presented in a package style that you wouldn’t see sitting on the shelf at Walmart. It does look really nice standing on the shelf beside Code’s box, and I imagine will look even better with FP’s third Function figure, Smart Robin, on the other side of it.

Slide off the sleeve, open the box, and you reveal Q-U in robot mode between two clear plastic trays. His sword is bagged and there is an instruction booklet behind the figure at the back of the box. I know that I usually start with alt modes, but since this guy’s alt mode is a robotic beast, I decided we’ll just kick it off with his robot mode.

And what a spectacular robot mode it is! Q-U takes all the essence of the G1 figure, throws some spices into the pan and… BAM! It kicks it up a notch. You still get that great classic G1 boxy look to an extent, but there’s so much going on with this guy’s sculpt that you get the best of both worlds with a superb modern update. The balanced proportions, the stylish raised shoulders, the way the wolf head tucks neatly on the back, it all works so beautifully. Yes, this is one dead sexy looking robot! I’m reluctant to ever throw around the word perfect, but Q-U’s robot mode comes damn close in my book.

If there’s one thing about Q-U’s design that keeps him from that perfection, it’s the rather unusual hand designs. He doesn’t have conventional fists, rather he sort of has paws with a long hinged thumb that closes up the hole, allowing him to hold his weapon. Unless you count the stylish wolf head on his back, the hand designs are one of the few areas where this figure makes a sacrifice for his alt mode. Is it bad? Not at all, just unconventional and somewhat surprising at first. Truth be told, they still work great and this is an alien robot, so why should he have to have human looking hands?

If the sculpt and design is amazing, the deco is just as good. Like Code, Q-U primarily makes use of colored plastic with paint apps used sparingly. It’s a great way to go if you’re using good plastic and the quality of the plastic here is fantastic and the yellow and blue-green colors make for a vibrant figure. The grey and black balances out the deco nicely and the little bits of red paint pop beautifully.

Q-U comes with his jagged sword, which he holds quite well. It’s also worth noting that the figure has four different fold out points where it can be attached for carrying. By folding down the handle you can attach it to either hip point, or either shoulder. It’s a wonderful idea, which really shows how FP is willing to go the extra mile to add value and features to their figures. In practice, it works only Ok. It looks a little strange hanging off the shoulder. I prefer it on the hip, but even there, it’s held completely horizontally, instead of at a more stylish and functional angle.

Obviously, the whole point of the Function line is to pay homage to the Headmasters, so Q-U’s head pops off to transform into a tiny robot. Let’s call him Not-Monzo. The head sculpt itself is amazing. The helmet is wonderfully complex and there’s even a translucent red visor over the painted yellow eyes. Popping the head off allows you to unfold it into the nifty little guy. It’s pretty straightforward, except for the visor piece, which requires a tad of finesse to slide it into place.

Transforming Q-U is a delightful surprise. In theory, he’s very similar to the old G1 toy. The arms become the front legs, the legs become the back legs, and the wolf head flips up from the back. How can FP possibly update that? Well, there is some enormously clever engineering at work here. The sides of the torso, for example are on hinged arms, so that it actually becomes longer and leaner for the wolf mode, while still allowing a cabin for the Headmaster to ride in. The upper legs join together around the sword-tail to form the back half of the wolf with the bottom of the robot legs folding out and doing this crazy thing to become the back legs.

With transformation complete, you get a really sleek looking robo-wolf. Comparing this guy to the stubby original Hasbro toy is as fun as it is unfair. How dare you, $10 toy from the 1980’s not look as good as this $60 toy from 2013!!! You suck!!! Seriously, though, the alt mode is every bit as good as the fantastic robot mode. He does tend to favor standing with his ass up in the air, much the way my cat stands when he wants the base of his tail scratched, but it’s a good look. It makes him appear as if he’s ready to pounce. The legs retain good articulation and even the mouth will open and close.

As already mentioned, Q-U’s wolf mode can open up to form a driving cabin for Not-Monzo. I absolutely love this feature as it reminds me of being able to put the little figures into the old Diaclone toys and makes the whole Headmaster gimmick function in both modes.

I could probably go on and on fapping figuratively to how great Quadruple-U turned out, but I’d rather just wrap things up now and actually go play with the toy. While there is no shortage of third-party developers out there now putting together impressive Transformers homages, I think Fansproject remains the one truly consistent front runner in the group. Q-U and Code are both exactly what I want out of third-party transforming robots and while $60-70 is still a lot to pay for a large Deluxe Class figure, you can clearly see where every penny went into the quality and engineering of this toy. Bring on Smart Robin and Diesel, Fansproject. Bring them on and take my goddamn monies!!!

Sep 30 2013

Transformers Generations: Trailcutter (IDW Comic Pack) by Hasbro

It seems like forever ago that I got Hasbro’s wave of IDW Deluxes and yet I’m still working my way through them. Today we’re going to check out Trailcutter, better known to some of us old GeeWunners as Trailbreaker. This release is a double payoff for me because a) We never got Trailbreaker in the Classics format and b) He’s a Hasbro release based on a Transformer as he appears in a comic that I’m actually reading!

I’ve spilled a ton of electric ink on how much I love the idea of comic packs, so I’ll try not to waste a lot more time doing it here. Suffice it to say the packaging on this guy is fantastic. Trailcutter comes packaged in his robot mode in front of a spotlight comic and on a very G1-inspired cardback. An action figure and a comic… how can you go wrong? I’ve been no stranger to Transformers comics off and on over the decades. I was a faithful reader of the original Marvel book right up until the end… more or less. I dabbled in some of the stuff that followed and even found that old Armada comic to be surprisingly good. I enjoyed The War Within and I loved The Last Stand of the Wreckers. But it wasn’t until More Than Meets The Eye that I once again went all in on a Transformers title. MTMTE isn’t just a great Transformers comic, it’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read… and I’ve read a lot of comics in my 40+ years on this planet. On paper it sounds like the dumbest idea for a TF comic ever and yet in execution, every panel is like gold. This included issue, a Spotlight on Trailcutter, gives you just a mere morsel of that book’s awesomeness. Trust me, if you aren’t reading MTMTE go read it and come back. The first four volumes are available already in TPB. Go now… I’ll wait!

Oh shit, I forgot. We’re here to talk about a toy. So… moving on to the figure itself, let’s start with Trailcutter’s vehicle mode. In keeping with tradition, he’s still a black SUV. For some reason this guy reminds me a lot of Generations Perceptor, although Trailcutter has four wheels and isn’t a halftrack. I dig the countours of the front of the vehicle and the sculpted winch on the bumper. Also, the striping on the sides and the bold Autobot emblem on the hood all give the eye something a little more than just black to look at. Trailcutter isn’t your typical SUV out to bring the kids to a soccer match either. Nope, he’s got his big forcefield emitter sticking up off the top of the roof and two guns facing forward. If you want to make him a little less threatening and more street accessible, you can take the cap off the back of the SUV and remove his guns, but the emitter remains. He’s a nice looking vehicle, but he does share a common problem with many Deluxe Transformers these days… he’s kind of small. He’s close to the same size as many of the Classic/Universe/Generations cars of yesteryear, but he’s an SUV, so he should be bigger.

Transforming Trailcutter into his vehicle mode is a little fidgety. He’s one of those figures where everything needs to be just perfect to get him to fit together in alt mode and even then, it’s a little tough to close all the gaps. Getting him into robot mode, on the other hand, is pretty easy. The result is overall good, but I he’s not getting away from me without getting a few nits picked. Let’s deal with those first. He doesn’t have an Autobot symbol on him in robot mode. It’s a tiny oversight that just bugs me a bit, so let’s let it go because the bigger issue is size. Just like his vehicle mode, his robot mode is small. Yes, it’s been an ongoing issue with Deluxes ever since TF: Prime rolled onto the scene. It doesn’t always bother me, but Trailcutter should be at least as big as most of his Autobot peers. He stands just as tall as your average Classic Deluxe, but that’s including his forcefield emitter. In reality his head comes up to the shoulders of most of his peers. He still displays just fine with my Classics figures, but in perfect world he would have been bigger.

All that aside, I really dig Trailcutter’s robot mode. He has a nice and powerful broad-shouldered look that doesn’t come away as being stocky despite his relatively shorter height. The way the front of the vehicle forms his chest is just the kind of classic Autobot design that I can never get enough of. And the headsculpt is a home run, which I’m happy to say homages the G1 style a little more than the comic style. As much as I love the current crop of Nick Roche IDW art, I’m not always so enamored with the organic quality of the faces. I know why they do it, to make the characters more expressive and easier to relate to, but I prefer something more mechanical and G1 in my figures’ portraits. The deco here is phenomenal and driven mostly by the color of the plastic over actual paint apps. You still get plenty of the black from the SUV showing up, but it’s now mixed with some beautiful red and grey accents and just a smidgen of blue.

Trailcutter comes with a shield-gun thingy that basically forms the cap of his SUV mode. Some of you might have thought I was going to call him out on this piece, but, I don’t have a big issue with it. It’s not integrated into the robot mode, so you can set it aside if you want. There are also a couple of different ways you can peg it onto his back if you want to store it.

So, yeah, Trailcutter has his shortcomings… see what I did there? But I still like him a lot. In fact, he’s definitely my favorite of the IDW Comic Pack wave so far. He has a great design in both modes and Hasbro’s team did a phenomenal job reverse engineering this guy from the IDW artwork and making him into a great looking and ultimately fun figure to play with. He’s already got a spot on my Classics shelf, filling a hole that has been vacant for far too long. Now I’m chomping at the bit to find Hoist, so my original Autobot updates can be yet one more step closer to being completed.

That’s three down, and one more IDW Comic Pack from the intiial assotment to go. Next week, we’ll check out Orion Pax!

Sep 28 2013

Marvel Legends: Hawkeye and Rocket Raccoon by Hasbro

I started this week with Marvel Legends, so I might as well end it that way. Hawkeye is the last carded figure in this wave that I have yet to cover, and I’m long overdue putting this assortment to bed. I usually look at the Build-A-Figures in a separate feature, but Rocket Raccoon is a pretty small and simple figure, so I’ll tack him on at the end.

Here’s the Marvel Legend’s packaging. Hard to believe this stuff has been out for so long already. I still dig the presentation here a lot, but the character art seems to be taking a dive on the recent release. The art for Hawkeye makes him look more like a Sigma Six character to me, rather than Marvel’s famous master archer. Oh well, it’s all getting chucked in the garbage anyway. Hawkeye fills out his bubble quite nicely, particularly with his compound bow and quiver situated on either side of him. You’ll note that he comes with no raccoon parts.

Obviously, this figure references the modern version of Hawkeye. I’ve seen a lot of hating on this design, but I have absolutely no problem with it at all. It definitely leans more toward the feature film Hawkeye than the Classic version of the character we all know and love, but change isn’t always a bad thing. Hawkeye is built on a slight muscular buck, which gets by mostly using the paintwork in order to define his costume. In fact, apart from the new head sculpt, the only new sculpting here is in the belt and shoulder harness, which are separate pieces. The bulk of the buck is black with some really snappy metallic purple paint for the chest and boots. His gloves and arm bracers are painted on as well.

As for the head sculpt, I really like the portrait on this figure. Maybe there’s a little Jeremy Renner in there, and maybe it’s intentional. Either way, I just dig the quality of what Hasbro did here. The hair and glasses are particularly well done. Why does an archer wear sunglasses? Duh! They’re special anti-glare specs with a built in LCD display by developed by Stark Industries to further enhance his already uncanny marksmanship skills. All that was complete bullshit, but I like the sound of it!

Hawkeye features a great level of articulation. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, double hinged at the elbows, swivel at the biceps and have both hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and boots, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles are hinged and have slight rockers. His torso features an ab crunch hinge, a swivel at the waist, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The figure does suffer a bit from soft hinges in the elbows and knees, making posing him feel tad mushy at times.

Obviously, Hawkeye comes with his bow and quiver. The quiver pegs into the hole on his back. The bow is my only real issue with this figure. It looks great, but it’s kind of hard to get him to grip it well. It doesn’t look like there’s any specific area where he is supposed to grip it. Obviously, I know jack shit about compound bows, so I’m sure it’s just my ignorance at work here. I’m just glad they didn’t sculpt it with an arrow already nocked.

Soft joints aside, Hawkeye is probably my second favorite figure out of this batch, right behind Wrecker. I don’t mind the modern look of the character and I think this figure pulls it off brilliantly. What’s more he is lots of fun to play around with and I think he looks great posed alongside Steve Rogers, Black Panther and Modern Age Thor. Hopefully we’ll get that Legends scale Black Widow soon.

And, as promised, here’s a quick look at the BAF, Rocket Raccoon. You only needed to buy three figures (Jean Grey, Black Panther, and Wrecker) in this wave to build him. His parts consist of a head, two arms, a body, a tail, and his gun. The figure is quite similar to the tiny Rocket that came with the Marvel Universe Guardians of the Galaxy boxed set. His articulation is limited to ball joints at the shoulders, neck, and tail… and a hinged mouth!!! All in all, he’s very well sculpted and a nice looking piece. He also displays quite well next to Drax, but in the end he just makes me want a comic accurate Legends scale Star-Lord all the more.

Phew, and that finally puts an end to this wave of Marvel Legends. All in all, I think this was a solid wave. Even Scarlet Spider, my least favorite in the bunch isn’t a bad figure if you take away the scaling issues. Anyway, with these guys behind me, now I can start going back and picking up the rest of the Hit Monkey wave. I’ll likely be doing that one figure at a time, so it may take a while.

Sep 27 2013

Batman (Classic TV Series): Penguin by Mattel

Honest, folks, I am trying to get through my new receivings in a timely manner. Averaging six features a week seems like a lot, but not when the pile of unopened figures in the corner is slowly growing rather than shrinking. Anyway, if you read my look at The 1966 Joker figure than you know what Ceaser Romero’s portrayal of the character meant to me. Well, that’s a thousand times truer for Burgess Meredith as The Penguin. This is likely the case, not only because Meredith was brilliant in the role, but because I just don’t think there have been any iconic portrayals of the character since. Danny Devito’s version was too influenced by Tim Burton’s weirdness for my taste. I can love Romero’s Joker and still respect what Ledger and Nicholson and the like did afterwards, but I can’t imagine anyone other than Burgess Meredith ever being The Penguin to me.

There’s the packaging. We’ve seen it three times already, so I don’t have a lot of new stuff to add. Robin’s stupid quote has changed and there’s new artwork and copy on the back of the card. I still enjoy the fact that they bothered to emboss the bubble with the classic comic-inspired fight exposition gibberish that was such a big part of the show. I’ve been hankering to open this guy for over a week now, so I’m going to get right to it…

Penguin is built on an appropriately tubby buck, which suits the character quite well. The tux is a little bland, but I can’t fault it, because it sticks to the source material pretty closely. I like the little details like the ill-fitting pants, the spats on his shoes, the sculpted gloves, and the coat tails that hang off the back. The layered on clothes work so much better for Penguin than for Joker, just because it adds weight to a character that is supposed to be stocky. The bland, white expanse that makes up his shirt could have used a little more something. Maybe sculpted wrinkles or a little texture, but for what is essentially a mass market figure in this price range, I’m pretty happy with the body.

The head sculpt requires me to offer a little more give and take in my acceptance. Yes, I do think it’s a pretty good likeness of Burgess Meredith in the role. The silly make-up used on the show certainly helps the caricature quality of the sculpt. The monocle is rather odd. It’s like the eye was sculpted to hold a monocle, but instead of putting one in Mattel just painted the rim. It looks fine if you don’t get too close, but on closer inspection, if I didn’t know better, it almost looks like something might have fallen off in the package. And then there’s the cigarette holder. It was a bold move to attempt it, since it is part of this Penguin’s iconic look, but they had to make it way too thick and there’s no white paint app for the cigarette at the end. I’ve gone back and forth on this one, and in the end I think I’m still glad they did it, even if it didn’t come out as well as I had hoped. I should also note that my Penguin has a stray black paint mark on the top of his hat. I have high hopes that Magic Eraser will save the day.

If you were worried about a portly fella like Penguin getting shafted on articulation, fear not. Sure, it’s pretty obvious there’s no ab-crunch, but everything else in the DCUC style made it intact. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, have swivels in the wrists and biceps, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the DCUC style hip joints, swivels in the thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. Penguin’s neck is ball jointed and he can swivel at the waist. Not too shabby.

What’s this??? An accessory for The Penguin??? Yeah, these figures have been light on accessories (ie. Nonexistent, except for Batman’s surf board) but they couldn’t very well have released Penguin without his umbrella. It is a nicely sculpted piece with a painted tip and a bendy handle that helps get into either of his hands. You also get the same style stand that we saw with the other figures. Penguin’s says “AWK!” which I like because it kind of sounds like a bird noise.

Of course, you also get the collectible card that doubles as a backdrop for the stand. One one side it features another panel in a Batcave scene. I’ll get a picture of them all together for the last feature in this wave. The front has a portrait of Penguin on a podium. I’m really digging these cards as extras, probably because I used to enjoy the old collectible Lobby Cards from the cinemas. The artwork is quite good and it’s an overall nice and well-executed bonus.

So, Penguin is pretty good, although there are a few little tweaks that could have improved him a lot. If you aren’t sold on this line, Penguin probably isn’t going to be the figure that pushes you in favor of collecting them. On the other hand, he’s about what I was expecting so I can’t say he disappointed me. I’d say he’s roughly on par with The Joker and not at all a bad figure, so long as my nostalgia goggles are affixed firmly to my head.

I’ve only got one more figure in this wave to look at, The Riddler, and I’ll try to get back to him early next week.

Sep 26 2013

Transformers Universe: Tankor by Hasbro

I had planned on keeping the Robots in Disguise thing going for Transformers Thursday, but I ran a little light on time this week, so instead I dug around in one of my drawers for a ~~quick~~ suitable substitute. Today we’re revisiting Hasbro’s Universe line. Not Universe 2.0, mind you, but the one that came before that. The one that consisted mostly of questionable repaints of a lot of toys few collectors ever wanted to see again. One of those releases came to us from the pages of Beast Machines and it was a boxed set of Tankor and Obsidian repaints. I have no idea what happened to the Obsidian figure (no great loss!) but the Tankor mold has always been one of my favorites. I looked at the Beast Machines version on FFZ a long while ago, so let’s see how Universe treated him.

Why do I love Tankor so much? Because he’s a kick ass Cybertronian tank and for unknown reasons that may have little to do with his configuration, his turret and cannon remind me of the tanks from the original Tron. I dig his four sets of treads, all brimming with sculpted detail, his front capture claw, and the Cylon-like visor and grill on the front of the turret. He just looks all sorts of mean and nasty. It’s a fantastic design, which was obviously the result of a lot of love. Of course, the turret turns and the cannon can raise and lower and it also fires a missile that is sculpted to look like an energy blast.

Tankor had a pretty wild paint scheme to begin with, so his Universe counterpart isn’t too bad off. The green is a slightly different shade, the grey and red has been replaced with a weird tan, and he has some crazy purple and silver splotches that I like to think of as some kind of energon damage. All the great striping and chevrons that were on the original toy’s fenders are still here, the pallet has just been changed up a bit. And yes, if you’re wondering, the hatch that opened to reveal his Predacon spark crystal on the original toy, now opens to reveal a painted Decepticon insignia. Cool!

Transforming Tankor into robot mode is both simple and clever. His legs do a cool flip to wind up on the other side of his torso and the translucent red plates wind up as armor for his arms and shoulders. As a robot, Tankor’s design is just as grizzly and warlike. His huge, bulky arms have built in saw blades and his hands are serrated lobster claws of death. You do not want a hug from Tankor. It’ll f’ck you up! The deco remains about the same as when he’s in tank mode with the tan replacing the grey and some gold detailing on his chest rather than the yellow from the Beast Machines figure. I can’t say I like it better than the original toy, but it’s cool that it makes him unique amidst my little army of Tankors.

The head sculpt is fantastic! Tankor sports a deep set visor with light piping that reveals a single Cylon eye and if you move his head it seems to travel from one side to the other. He also has a giant bear trap of a jaw that is articulated. Mounted on his left shoulder is his enormous cannon, proving that he doesn’t lose any firepower no matter which mode you find him in.

And so in the end, Tankor didn’t do too badly at the hands of the crazed colorists in charge of the Universe line. It’s not an improvement, but like I said, having one uniquely colored Tankor gives me a commander for my drones, and that’s cool. I will, however, concede that this release was a wasted opportunity for a better repaint. I would absolutely love to get this guy in traditional black and purple Decepticon colors, or maybe just black and steel grey. But truth be told, I love Tankor no matter what color he is, and I try not to think about how sad it is that he’s a perverted reincarnation of poor, noble Rhinox.

Sep 25 2013

DC Universe Signature Collection: Huntress by Mattel

Yes folks, Club Infinite Earths continues to wind down. After this month’s figure, there are only three releases left and truth be told Huntress here is the last one that I was really looking forward to. That means that assuming every figure that has come before has been a homerun, in the end I had little interest in about a quarter of the entire 2013 lineup. It’s no wonder that the 2014 sub didn’t make it. Anyway, let’s try not to piss in Huntress’ cornflakes over Matty Politics, let’s just check out the figure…

It’s the same compact little window box we’ve been seeing all year. While I liked the packaging better before this year’s revision, I’m still fan of this style. If I had the space and these figures weren’t going directly into my DCUC display shelves, I would have certainly kept all of these boxes, but as it stands I’ve just been clipping out the back panels and tossing the rest.

The back panel has a little bio for the character and some artwork. I’m usually a big fan of the Signature Collection character art, but every now and then they stumble and I think this is one of those cases. Huntress doesn’t look bad, but there’s something off about her face to me. She looks like someone doing cosplay at a convention and it’s the morning after the big drinking binge. It’s certainly not the art that was the basis for the figure’s sculpt and that makes for a strange detachment between package and product. It’s not the first time we’ve seen this, but it’s a pretty minor problem for me.

Out of the package and Huntress is certainly a very solid figure. When I usually get a new DCUC style figure my mind begins to automatically dissect it to identify all the reused parts. Which body is it? Where’d he get that cape? Etc. etc. That wasn’t the case with this gal. While there’s obviously a standard female buck under there, she’s just brimming with newly sculpted bits and paintwork. The boots and gloves are brand new, as is the belt and the thigh straps and cape. The result is what feels like a totally fresh, new, and original figure. I love DCUC to death, but after years of collecting, that sense of new and original is not what I usually feel when getting a new figure in the line. All the newly sculpted bits here are quite good. The padded look of the boots, along with their straps and buckles, is executed particularly well. I love the scalloped look of her gloves, the holstered gun on her right leg, and all the pouches on her belt and thighs are nifty. The cape isn’t long enough to get in the way of posing, but it does make a nice support when trying to get her to stand in some tricky positions. Initial shots of the figure made me fear she was going to be a little chunky, but in hand, she looks great.

The head sculpt is also something that I was a little uneasy about early on. The final result is quite good. I wouldn’t call it one of CIE’s best efforts, but it gets the job done rather nicely. In fairness, between the mask and her hair, there’s a lot going on with her portrait. I do like the way her hair is sculpted to hang down over part of her mask and the face is certainly pretty with clean paintwork. If I’m assessing Huntress’ head sculpt a little lower than the norm, it probably says more about the outstanding quality of other portraits in the line than it does about any real failings on this one.

Overall, the paintwork here is pretty good. Unfortunately the only spot of slop on the whole figure is in a rather conspicuous spot, on her right shoulder, but even that isn’t all that big a deal unless you’re getting in real close with a camera. The white cross painted against her black top is nice and sharp, as is the border around the window that shows off her tummy. The shade of purple used is excellent and every little snap on the pouches and buckle on her boots has been carefully painted. Even the small parts of the gun in the holster are brushed with a metallic finish.

Huntress features all the articulation I expect in this line. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows, and have swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC style hinge at the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and the thigh swivels are cleverly hidden just under the straps and above the knees. She can swivel at the waist, has an ab-crunch hinge, and a ball jointed neck.

Naturally, Huntress comes with her trusty crossbow. It’s a simple piece, sculpted in soft plastic, but it’s a solid enough sculpt and painted with a nice shade of metallic purple. Both of her hands are sculpted so as to hold it securely and she can even grip it in one hand and cradle it in the other.

Huntress is an awesome figure and it’s kind of sad to see this kind of craftsmanship coming out of the line in its dying months. If Mattel was able to deliver a figure like this every month, I have no doubt Club Infinite Earths would have flourished for years to come. There are few figures that I regret getting, but Huntress is still one of the only ones that feel like she’s actually worth the price of $27 shipped. That having been said, I understand a little about how costing things out works in the business and it takes a lot of simple repaints and kitbashes to bankroll so much new tooling on a figure like this, but with more subscribers it wouldn’t have been as big an issue. Maybe that’s a Catch 22… I don’t know. What I do know is that this figure belongs is a high point in the line and she belongs in every DCUC collection. When considered with just a few other releases, Huntress easily justified the entire 2013 sub for me.

Sep 24 2013

Function X-1: Code by Fansproject

Every now and then every collector suffers one of those missed opportunities. You hesitate, you lose out, and you brood over it. It doesn’t happen that often to me, but Fansproject’s Code (aka Not-Chromedome) was one of those times. I didn’t pre-order him because I honestly didn’t expect him to be that hot an item. When he was released and I was ready to buy, he was gone. I got into a few bidding wars on Ebay later only to find that this one had gone beyond what I was willing to pay for him. It was time to let him go. Well, Primus smiled upon me last week as e-tailer TF Source got some extra Codes in stock and I was able to toss him in with my order of Quadruple-U. I realize that it would have been more topical to look at Quadruple-U first, since he’s a brand new release, but the truth is, I couldn’t wait to bust open Code and check him out.

Until now, the only Fansproject figures in my collection have been the Causality figures. I was a little surprised that the Function line (which seems to be focused on “Not-Headmaster” releases) comes in a very different type of package. There’s no window box with colorful artwork this time. Nope, Code comes in what is sort of like a plain brown shoebox with a folding cover. The artwork and lettering are all printed in white on a clear sleeve, which fits snugly around the box. Like I said, it’s a very different style of presentation, and while I don’t like it as much as the more traditional window box, it does have its charms, and it does make the item feel more special and limited, as opposed to something that would look at home on a big box retailer’s toy shelf.

Open the box and you get the figure in his robot mode nestled between two plastic trays. His weapons are bagged and the folded instruction sheet is on the bottom of the box. Everything is totally collector friendly, which is cool because for now I tend to keep my third-party transforming robots in their original packaging. Let’s stick to tradition and start out with his vehicle mode.

Code is a somewhat Cybertronian car, very similar to the original G1 Chromedome toy. He’s about the size of a large Deluxe Transformer, which makes him bigger than FP’s Causality figures, but as a vehicle he scales rather well with Hasbro’s recent Generations Deluxes. His auto mode isn’t terribly sexy, the brown and cream colored deco is far from flashy, but the homage is as solid as it could be. There are very few paint apps here, as most of the coloring is in the plastic, which is always a good thing in my book. I think the front bumper and headlights could have been better defined, and it doesn’t roll all that well, but otherwise I’m really happy with this alt mode.

There are a couple of noteworthy features to Code’s auto mode. First off, the cockpit does lift open to reveal a space for his Headmaster buddy (oh, let’s call him… Not-Stylor) to sit inside. He pegs in between his legs and there’s a fold up steering yoke for him to grab. Very cool! You can also attach Code’s two guns to the back of the car to give him some nice alt-mode firepower, just like with the G1 Chromedome toy. His guns are hinged at the handles so the barrels can be leveled straight forward. It’s this kind of little bits of engineering that really impress me. Adding a couple of hinges to the guns may sound like nothing, but there’s a reason why toy companies are cutting articulation to the bone… it’s expensive.

As for Not-Stylor, he’s about what I expected from a Headmaster figure. He looks quite good for what he is and he just folds up into a ball to form Code’s familiar looking noggin. I was worried he might feel flimsy, but he’s got the same high quality plastic feel as the rest of the toy.

Code’s transformation is both clever and amazing. I’ll confess, I thought it a bit overly complex the first time I attempted it, but then it’s so cool the way the hood travels along the little track, passes off to the pelvis so that it can rotate around and do what seems impossible and become his chest. I can’t help but appreciate what the designers did here and it provided me with a real gee-whiz moment the first time I did it. The plastic is high quality and nothing about the transformation feels dubious or risky. On the contrary, considering what’s involved it feels quite comfy and after a few times, I was able to do it rather quickly. Everything fits together nicely.

And yes, the payoff is certainly worth it. Code has a beautiful robot mode that makes him look like the latest in Takara’s masterpiece line. He’s a wonderful amalgam of the G1 toy and the IDW art. It’s the clean, boxy G1 feel of this guy that really grabs me and makes him look like he just stepped out of the Sunbow cartoon or a panel of a comic. Thanks to his clever transformation, his hood is actually his chest and not faked out, and his cockpit lands neatly on his back. The wheels pack into his legs and into his torso quite well leaving virtually no kibble or blights on his bot body. The end result is he appears more like a non-transforming articulated figure rather than a working transformer. The headmaster’s excellent head mode really ties the whole figure together wonderfully. His robot mode stands a little larger than the current crop of Hasbro Deluxes, but not so much that it wouldn’t work in a display.

The headmaster plugs right into a notch in the middle of a rotating plate so that you can still turn his head. The downside is that it isn’t ball jointed, so he can’t look up. The rest of the articulation includes ball joints in the shoulders and hips. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and double hinged elbows. The legs swivel at the thighs and have double-hinged knees. I would have really liked some rockers in the ankles, but he’s an exceptionally well-balanced figure so can still stand quite well in various poses without them. And this is definitely a fun figure to fiddle about with and pose.

Code comes with his two red rifles, which are nice sculpts and include some white paint on the scopes and barrel tips. He can hold them in both of his hands making him ready to dish out the hurt on Decepticon fools.

I seem to recall Code originally sold for around sixty bucks. I paid $90 for the re-stock and that’s a lot less than I would have paid had I kept bidding on him on Ebay. As far as third-party robots go, it’s not that bad a price. I paid $60 a pop for FP’s Not-Stunticons, and they are notably smaller than Code. The truth is, I would have probably still been totally happy with him if I paid a lot more. It’s worth mentioning here that I never owned Chromedome as a kid. I did have him in the vintage G1 collection that I had about 15 years ago, but that collection is long gone. I liked him well enough, but it wasn’t until I started reading the More Than Meets The Eye comic that I had a desire to own him again. Fansproject brought Code along at just the right time and this figure does that character justice in every conceivable way. I absolutely adore this figure and I’m so happy to have had the opportunity to pick him up without getting killed on the price!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: