Jul 17 2013

Doctor Who: Ice Warriors (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

In the interest of trying to be topical, I’ve decided to just push through with a Doctor Who 3 ¾” scale figure trifecta. Yesterday we checked out the Daleks, today we’ll look at the Ice Warriors and we’ll wrap it up with the Cybermen tomorrow. The move to the new scale has been rocky so far with some good and some bad. Let’s see which side of the fence the Warriors from Mars fall on…

There’s the packaging and it is virtually identical to what we’ve already seen with The Doctor and Clara. You also get the same generic “DWARTIS” style figure stand, which was understandably missing from the Daleks. This figure is based on the new Ice Warrior design introduced in the episode “Cold War” although only one Ice Warrior was shown in the episode, so I’m surprised that CO didn’t release the figure as Grand Marshall Skaldak. I’m guessing they went the generic route to encourage kids and collectors to troop build these, but what sad fool would bother doing that?

Yeah… Getting multiple Daleks was a given, but even surprised even myself when I picked up more than one Ice Warrior. The problem with this new line is that they don’t take up a lot of room and they are relatively cheap, so my restraint has been failing me. Besides, I do love the Ice Warriors. Like the Daleks, the NuWho design of the Ice Warriors is pretty faithful to the classic one. I always assumed the armor was their natural shell, but “Cold War” dispelled a lot of things we thought we knew about these Martians. Anyway, let’s get him out and see what we’ve got…

The figure is pretty good. It features a lot of detail in the sculpt, showing all the little segmentation and craggy lines in the armor. The likeness of the head is particularly nice for the smaller scale. I can’t help but wonder that if he was in the old five-inch scale, whether we might have been given a swappable head, sans helmet, but I guess we’ll never know. The torso is a bit bulkier and more barrel-chested then I think it should be, but I haven’t re-watched the episode since I got the figure, so I could just be remembering wrong. Another quibble is the lack of a gun in his wrist. I know it was sort of built into his sleeve in the episode, but a little sculpted knob or painted bit would have helped. I may wind up robbing some big-ass gun from my POTF2 figures for these guys. Either way, I’m still totally happy with the way the sculpt came out. As for the coloring, the only paint apps on the figure are the red for the eye shields, and that’s really all it needed. Otherwise, the figure is cast in a very cool, slightly metallic green.

Articulation on this new line has been all over the place, so let’s see what we’ve got here. His arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and hinged at the elbows. There are sadly no swivels in the biceps or wrists, but since he isn’t really sculpted with a gun, I guess that’s not such a big deal. The legs are also ball jointed at the hips and have swivels in the waist. There is no articulation in the torso at all, but he can turn his head. All in all, I’m fairly pleased with the articulation here. Even Skaldak was a lumbering dude when he was in his armor, so I didn’t need thee guys to be super-poseable.

The Ice Warriors are definitely a solid effort and one that was desperately needed for this inaugural wave of the new line. They don’t quite equal the pure win of the new scale Daleks, but they’re definitely executed much better than The Doctor or Clara. I’m also not terribly heartbroken that the NuWho Ice Warriors are exclusive to the smaller scale. Sure, given my druthers, I would have liked at least one of these in my five-inch collection, but the design is close enough to the Classic versions and I have four of those standing on my shelf, so I’m good.

I opted not to buy any of the new scale Weeping Angels, so tomorrow we’re going to wrap up this wave with a look at the Cybermen!

Jul 16 2013

Doctor Who: Daleks (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

Like it or not, the NuWho scale change is upon us. A couple of weeks back I checked out The Doctor and Clara, last week it was the TARDIS, and today we’re looking at Daleks. While we Who collectors can wring our hands and gnash our teeth over the fact that we will never get a five-inch scale Clara, or Series 7 Ice Warriors or Cybermen, the Daleks released in CO’s new 3 ¾” line are undeniably a welcome treat. These guys have already been released in the old scale and I have plenty on my shelf to go with my five-inch collection, so there’s no heartbreaking exclusivity issue. Not to mention, I’ve wanted proper 3 ¾” scale Daleks for my other non-Who figures to fight for as long as I can remember. This is win-win, folks, so long as they turned out better than the last two figures we looked at. Here’s a spoiler… they did!

This is the same packaging as we saw last week. The only real difference is that there is no figure stand included.

That’s right, Mr. Dalek! As much as I like the New Paradigm Daleks as toys (not so much on the screen), I’m glad CO went with the regular NuWho Dalek for this scale, or RTD Dalek if you prefer. This is the now familiar coppery colored Dalek first introduced in the Series 1, Ninth Doctor story, “Dalek.” I’m also happy to report that these little guys are like shrunken down versions of their larger scale predecessors with fantastic sculpts and nice clean paintwork. Seriously, if you own the larger scale versions, you should know exactly what to expect from these little little beauties.

Interestingly enough there appear to be some variant Daleks in the line. Some variations are as subtle as the different length eye stalks. So far, I’ve picked up four of these little guys and only one of those has the smaller eye stalk, so it’s clearly a chase figure. But apparently some black Daleks have also turned up in circulation in the UK and are fetching high prices on the secondary market.

Articulation is identical to CO’s five-incher Daleks. The head turns, the eye stalk can raise and lower, and the arms are on ball joints. If you turn him over, he even has the same locomotion as the other Dalek figures, with two wheels in the back and a rotating wheel up front.

If you can’t tell, I’m thrilled with these little Daleks. They take everything that is great about the larger versions and reduce them to the 3 3/4″ scale. Honestly, even if CO hadn’t rebranded NuWho into this scale and just produced these Daleks, I still would have bought a ton of them for the sheer crossover potential alone.

The only downside. Even with four in my collection now, I have another on the way to me. Will I stop there? Who knows!

Jul 15 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Ultron by Hasbro

If you’re keeping score at home, Marvel Monday is usually reserved for Marvel Universe figures, but I’m using July to catch up on some of my Legends figures, specifically the second half of Hasbro’s Iron Man themed wave. Today’s figure is Ultron… wait, Ultron? In an Iron Man themed wave? Well, I guess he’s an Avengers villain and considering that Marvel recently had a little something called Age of Ultron going on, I can forgive them for squeezing Ultron into here. Truth be told, I was really looking forward to getting a Legends scale Ultron in my collection. And then I got him… aaaand… ok, lovely Jameson… help me through this one with your alcoholy goodness.

There’s the packaging for this isolated little stand-alone wave of Iron Man Legends. It is also the “Iron Monger Series,” which means we get another Build-A-Figure part for Monger. This time it’s the head. I’ve said all there is to say about this packaging in the past four looks at this wave, so let’s move on.

Ok, where to begin? Let’s get my biggest (and really only major) issue with this figure out of the way first. It’s the plastic. I don’t like it. The bulk of this figure is cast from this awful-looking swirly silver plastic that just screams “cheap” to me. It’s also inconsistent in that some parts have a subtle blue hue to them while others have a slightly gold or tan hue, and still others are dead silver. Ultron is a figure that uses hardly any paint apps whatsoever, so it’s kind of important that they get the quality and look of the plastic right and I’m sorry to say, this stuff just doesn’t cut it for me. I can understand not wanting to paint the entire figure in metallic silver, paint is expensive, but if you’re not going to paint him, Hasbro, use better looking plastic.

And that’s a shame, because the sculpting on this figure is pretty incredible. Ok, the boots put me off a tad, as they seem rather chunky, but everything else is impressive. I like the segmented sections of his arms and legs, as well as the slight bulk to his chest and shoulder armor. Turn the figure around and he’s got a really cool spine sculpted into his back. The head, however, is what really ties the figure together for me. They really nailed the ant-like homage in Pym’s design, the red paint apps on the eyes and mouth really make the head pop. There’s a lot right with this figure, and that’s what ultimately makes him rather disappointing.

Ultron sports a ton of useful articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs swivel at the hips, have double hinged knees, and swivels and hinges in the ankles. He can also swivel at the waist and he has an ab crunch hinge in the torso. Poseability is not one of this figure’s problems.

It could be that I’m making the look of the bare plastic on this figure into too big of an issue and I’m rather interested to see what other collectors thing of him. It could also be that I was so excited to get this Ultron in hand that my expectations were set pretty high. But in fairness, those expectations were based on Hasbro’s own preliminary photos where it looked like Ultron had a much nicer silver sheen rather than swirly cheap-looking plastic. I don’t mind so much when they use this stuff sparingly, but when it’s used on practically the whole figure it just doesn’t look right to me. Next Monday, we’ll take a look at the last figure in this wave… Iron Man’s Mark 42 armor!

Jul 13 2013

Femme Fatales: Steampunk Lexi by Diamond Select

Yesterday I made the long trek to my “neighborhood” comic shop. It’s about a forty-five minute drive, so I usually make an afternoon out of it by taking a few years off my life and getting a burger and sack of fries at Five Guys before heading into the “shop-o-nerd-bliss” to see what kind of trouble I could get into. Besides picking up a Deadpool hardcover and the third TPB of Brubaker’s Winter Soldier, I also came home with this little honey. I don’t collect Diamond’s Femme Fatales line, but poor Lexi has been languishing there for a long while and discounted deeply enough that I was persuaded to put her on my shelf.

The package is what I’ve come to expect from PVC statues. It’s nothing special, just a window box that shows you the goods. There’s a photo of the statue on the back along with a blurb about Lexi and what inspired her creation. It’s also pretty badly shelf-worn, which is probably why they were clearancing her out. Inside the statue is cradled between two clear plastic trays. There’s no tape or anything, so she’s easy to get out and the package is totally collector friendly. Out of the package, Lexi stands about nine inches tall, putting her roughly in scale with a lot of other PVC statues on the market. She was designed by Art Asylum and sculpted by Sam Greenwell,

Straightaway, I really like the styling on this piece. As much as it’s advertised as steampunk, the sculpt reminds me a lot of a retro 40’s or 50’s style. I think I’m getting most of that from the portrait and the fact that Lexi is slightly chunkier than a lot of the anorexic female statues we see. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but that’s what I come away with. She’s also pretty conservatively dressed compared to a lot of the half-naked chick statues on the market (and on my shelf). If you’ve seen any of DC Collectibles new Bombshells of the DC Universe, it gives me that same kind of vibe. The pose is excellent. Lexi is standing with one leg back and one hip thrown seductively to the side. She’s holding up a weapon in her right hand, which is cocked at the elbow and she has a smaller gun concealed behind her back. She’s looking off to the side with a sly expression and smiling knowingly.

The outfit is cool and looks like something you might see on a cosplayer at a convention, and we’ll come back to the cosplay concept in a tick. She’s got high-heeled boots, thigh-high stockings, a skirt and corset, and a leather half jacket. Of course, she’s also wearing goggles up on the top of her head, because you can’t be steampunk without goggles! The detail in the outfit is quite good, although the skirt is a tad thick. The texturing and paintwork both add a nice level of credibility to the sculpt. Indeed, the paintwork on my piece is just about flawless, right down to all the tiny little silver buttons and the laces on her boots. I really dig the base, which is comprised of three giant, weathered looking gears.

The weapons are cool, so long as you can get past the fact that her primary sidearm looks uncannily similar to a repainted nerf gun. Seriously, it’s the N-Strike Maverick! I like the design, but it seems like they could have come up with something more original. On the other hand, it brings us back to the whole cosplay vibe, which I think gives this piece a lot of unique charm. I do find the lack of a holster rather conspicuous. Where you going to put that thing when you’re trying to eat a hot dog at the concessions stand, hon?

In the end, I’m glad I took Lexi home with me, but it has to be considered that at $25 she was pretty far from the original retail, which I understand was closer to forty bucks. I’m not saying that she isn’t worth that from a quality standpoint. She’s certainly an exceptionally nice looking statue and doesn’t have a lot to apologize for. I keep coming back to the 40’s vibe this piece throws off and I find myself liking it even more. On the other hand, I don’t think I would have paid out that much for a non-licensed statue. I will say that now that I have some experience with this line, I am tempted to hunt down the Dawn or Darkchylde statues.

Jul 12 2013

Doctor Who: “Spin and Fly” TARDIS (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

So far CO’s new 3 ¾” action figures aren’t exactly lighting my fire. In fact the first two we looked at, The Doctor and Clara, were barely passable and that’s even with me grading on a really generous curve on the count of I love all things Doctor Who. Well, today we’re cranking things up a notch with a look at the new 3 ¾” scale TARDIS. I am fortified with Jameson and ready to go…

The TARDIS comes in a window box that reminds me a lot of the packaging for the last five-inch scale TARDIS I purchased. I believe that was the “Christmas Adventure Set.” In any event, the point is that the package still retains a lot of the same look as the older figures, right down to the now (thankfully) obsolete “DWARTIS” logo. Ok, BBC, enough with that shit already. Get rid of it! The window gives you a pretty good look at the TARDIS inside and the back and side panels point out some of the various features. There’s no “Try Me” feature, as the TARDIS does not come equipped with the three AAA batteries that you’ll need for the FX. The box is collector friendly and unlike the last TARDIS I bought, this one is pretty easy to get out.

While I think I shall always prefer the super weathered and decrepit look of the 70’s TARDIS, I’ve become pretty fond of the one currently used in the series, particularly the return of the “St. John’s Ambulance” crest. CO’s new version is more or less just a scaled down version of the last 11^th Doctor TARDIS, albeit there is a brand new illustration inside depicting the current console room interior. Seeing as how the Classic TARDIS toys haven’t had any inserts, I wasn’t expecting this, and it is a very welcome inclusion. The front doors are still independently spring-loaded and they will each lock in an open position. The door for the phone cubby doesn’t open, but that’s fine with me. The “Police Box” and “Pull to Open” signs are all stickers, which seem pretty strongly affixed. The coloring is nice and the wood texture is all sculpted in, making this a great looking toy with little detail sacrificed for the drop to the smaller scale.

On the down side, CO chose to put the battery compartment on the back of the TARDIS instead of on the bottom, or perhaps inside. That means that while the toy looks great when viewed from three of the four sides, the back looks ugly, with a big seam running through the doors and an exposed screw head. In fairness, this was a problem on the some of the other TARDIS toys they’ve released. It’s not a critical flaw to me, as my TARDIS inevitably wind up standing in display cases with the back to the wall and out of sight.

What’s that? You say you want gimmickry? Well, they don’t call this the “spin and fly” TARDIS for nothing. It comes with a clear plastic base that you can plug into the bottom so you can spin it! It does not, however, fly, and CO made the effort to point that out on the package! The spinning gimmick does nothing for me, but this is a line designed for kids, so it gives me no small delight to know that kids somewhere will be running through their houses spinning their little toy TARDIS with glee!

The lights and sound are confined to the flashing lamp on the top and the demat and remat sounds. As with past TARDIS toys, the sounds are activated when you pick up the TARDIS or put it down. The SFX on this one are on par with the very first Flight Control TARDIS, which is a very good thing. Some of the recent SFX TARDIS releases have had a truncated sequence, but here it’s nice and long and I love it. The lamp flashes during the demat and remat sequences and then stays lit for a short while after and eventually goes into sleep mode.

This new 3 ¾” scale TARDIS costs around $20 to $25 depending on your importer. I always recommend the amazing folks at Who North America for all you Doctor Who merchandising needs, but they are currently sold out. As for the value, I’m probably the wrong person to ask, because I’m willing to pay almost anything for Doctor Who toys and merchandise, so when you offer me a TARDIS that’s scaled with so many of my other collections, I’m happy to plunk down the Andy Jackson and not think twice. In the end, this is an excellent toy, possibly proving that there’s hope for the 3 ¾” line yet.

Ok… now let the crossovers begin!

Jul 11 2013

Mordles by Toyfinity!

I often lament that I don’t spend more time and money on the vintage portion of my collection. It tends to be a fallback for when current releases are slow, but with a list of pre-orders longer than my arm I’m having enough trouble keeping up with new stuff. That having been said, a huge part of what makes me a toy collector today is still fueled by nostalgia so it’s fun for me to look back whenever I get a chance.

In 1985 Ideal invited unsuspecting children to “enter a world of unspeakable horror” with Rocks & Bugs & Things. R&B&T were toys that I never had as a kid, but one of my best friends did. He had a lot of oddball stuff that I loved playing with whenever I went over to his house. Bloodstone scared the shit out of me because he reminded me of that freaky claymation thing from Troma’s Basket Case. Seriously, I was terrified of that toy! But any toy line that had characters named Gravel Guts, Blooderfly and Wicked Cricket instantly won my undying love, even if they didn’t get any of my parents’ money. R&B&T also featured the creepy little Mordles, which were basically food for all the horrible critters. Anyway, fast forward to now and intrepid toy collector and all around jewel of the community, John Kent, secured the rights to some very cool, but mostly forgotten, toy licenses. R&B&T is one of those licenses and he has seen fit to once again unleash Mordles upon the world!

These brand new Mordles come in a pack of 10 and they are baggied with a printed, folded and stapled card. The artwork is cool and the back of the card has a little blurb about the origins of these extraterrestrial critters and a nod to the original toy line. While the packaging may seem simple, it harkens back to the kind of cool little collectible toys that I used to toss away my allowance on at the corner Rite Aid. I almost didn’t want to take them out of the bag, because they all look so adorably angry at being all jammed in there together. Nevertheless… let’s bust them out!

Looking like an unholy mash-up between angry gummi bears and marshmallow peeps, each of these ten little guys are unique and brimming with personality and attitude. I’m betting the group I have here could strip the flesh off a man’s arm in about sixty seconds. Seriously, they’re all looking at me like they hate me! They’re each molded in bright yellow plastic with blue paint apps for their eyes, teeth and toenails, but they are also available in a reverse color scheme. I half expected these to be super bendy and squishy, but they’re actually made out of very nice, high quality plastic. I thought I’d be able to choose a favorite, but each one has his own charms, and it’s just impossible to choose one over the others. These things are loads of fun and I’ve already used them as a plague of creatures sent by Skeletor, a gaggle of imps summoned by the evil wizard, Kelek, and extraterrestrial pests that have infested the TARDIS.

The yellow set also comes with a very cool bonus… a Manglor Egg! I may not have had any Rocks & Bugs & Things, but I sure as hell had me a Manglor and it was awesome. Truly a stroke of toy design genius, a Manglor was a rubbery figure that you could rip apart and stick back together. They were tons of fun to play with, but sadly, once you ripped that sucker apart, it was never going to be quite the same again. Why a Manglor Egg with a set of Mordles? I’m guessing it harkens back to Toyfinity’s philsophy that all toy lines are beholden in some way to their predecessors and that toys are the most fun when you mix them up with other toy lines. In this case, it certainly rings true, since the Manglor Egg makes a great storage vessel to contain my unruly Mordles and keep them from infesting all my other toys.

The regular pack with egg is $16 and the “Crawler” set is only $12 and you can buy both over at Toyfinity’s website. Nostalgia was the main drive to get me to purchase these, although I’ll confess I also felt obligated to buy a set because I really respect the initiative and what these little guys represent. It’s sad to think how many toy licenses that mean something special to us collectors are just wasting away and it’s pretty damn cool that someone is able to breathe new life into some of them again. I really dig these little guys and I’ll definitely be picking up a batch of the blue ones as well. But above all, these little guys make me excited to see what Toyfinity has in store for their up and coming Robo Force figures.

Jul 10 2013

The First Avenger: Red Skull Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Alrighty, I’m back to finish up my look at Hot Toys’ Red Skull figure. Yesterday we covered the figure as he comes out of the box, but as we all know about Hydra, “cut off one head and two more will take its place!” so it’s only natural that this figure comes with a spare head. Wait, doesn’t that mean he should have two spare heads? Well, I was never very good at the maths. Let’s pop his noggin and take a look.

I’m still relatively new to Hot Toys figures and I’ve never swapped a head on one before, so I got to pop my cherry on this one. Boy, was I nervous! It took a lot more force than I thought it would, but thankfully everything went Ok. I gushed enough about the Hugo Weaving sculpt sculpt yesterday, but I gotta say the actual Red Skull portrait is every bit as amazing. The wizards at HT have done their usual magic, in this case reproducing the make-up used for the film. Christ, this guy is creepy looking, with the same great spark of life in his eyes and a grim visage. As impressed as I am with the Weaving likeness, I have to confess that this is the head I’m going to be using for display. It seems a crime to keep the other head, as nice it is, tucked away in a box, but truth be told, I doubt I’ll be swapping them out much.

Of course, besides the head switch you also get the full length leather trench coat, which is f’cking glorious! I was not looking forward to the ordeal of getting this thing onto the figure, as I’ve heard some horror stories online. In practice, it wasn’t nearly as tough as I thought it would be. The coat is cleverly designed with a series of interior snaps that help the coat fit snugly and stay in place. The interior snaps were a little tough, but once those were on, everything else went plenty smooth. There’s also a redundant Velcro belt that cinches the waist tightly so that you can put the regular belt on top of it and it won’t pop off.

Once the coat is on, and a little futzing later, it looks incredible. The material is pliable and feels great. The silver buttons coupled with the embossed Hydra belt buckle, the red piping and Hydra emblems on the shoulders, all contrast nicely with the rich black faux leather. The coat also fits quite well. I was afraid it was going to look puffy and awkward when worn over the uniform, but it’s an impressive piece of tailoring. I can’t see myself ever wanting to display the figure with the coat off again.

And then there are the accessories. First off, you get the basic Hot Toys figure stand. This one is identical to the one that came with my Captain America figure, only with the Red Skull nameplate. You also get the Cosmic Cube and a pistol. The Cube is just a clear blue plastic cube. It’s a simple piece, but since it played such a big role again in Avengers, I’m happy to have one. He can hold it well enough in either of the open hands, but for best results there’s a hand specifically made for clutching it. The pistol is a very cool piece and is one of the custom Hydra weapons designed to be powered by the Cube’s energy. It’s a fairly well detailed piece, right down to the visible wiring.

The frustrating thing about Red Skull is that he’s two figures in one, and unless you have an extra body and pair of boots lying around, you can’t enjoy both at once. So who to display? Johann Schmidt or Red Skull? Fortunately, it’s an easy decision for me. I love the Weaving head sculpt, and he looks great in his uniform, but once I popped on the Red Skull head and the amazing trench coat, I knew that was the way he was going to reside on my shelf. At $200, he’s a bit pricey for a figure with very little accessories, but with two amazing head sculpts and that great coat, I think it’s easy to see where the money went. Besides, I think the days of Hot Toys offering figures for under $200 are soon coming to an end. It took me a while to getting around to buying him, but he’s a gorgeous figure, and I’m thrilled to finally have him standing next to my First Avenger Captain America.

Jul 9 2013

The First Avenger: Red Skull Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

This week I finally added Hot Toys’ Red Skull to my collection. It was an inevitable purchase since Cap’s movie was my favorite among all the stand-alone Avengers films, and “The First Avenger” Cap was my very first Hot Toys purchase. Buying Red Skull was a no brainer. Nonetheless, he kept getting pushed back again and again in favor of other stuff. Luckily, he’s hung around at Sideshow long enough for me to finally buy him. For all intents and purposes, Red Skull is two figures in one, so I’m going to look at him in two parts. Today we’ll cover the packaging and the Hugo Weaving likeness and tomorrow we’ll check out the real deal in his black jacket and all his skullified glory!

In a way, I’m surprised this figure exists. Weaving has gone on record that he wasn’t enamored with the role and wouldn’t be interested in doing it again. Fair enough. Honestly, the film did a fantastic job developing Cap as a character, but didn’t do nearly as much to build up Red Skull as a formidable and multi-layered villain. Nonetheless, Weaving did a great job with what the script offered him, and I’m mighty glad he consented to lend his likeness to the figure.

The packing is the same style used for The First Avenger Cap figure, which is great, because anything else would aggravate my OCD. The box has a faux leather deco with a giant and sinister looking Hydra emblem emblazoned on the front. It also has the name of the film on the bottom. I don’t think Red Skull would appreciate the fact that his figure’s box has Cap’s name on it and not his. Thankfully, the back of the box features a shot of the figure with his Skull head and leather overcoat, along with a list of the people who contributed to the making of the figure.

Open the lid on the box and you reveal a cardboard insert covering the tray with yet another shot of the figure. This time it’s him in his uniform and sans coat. The cool thing about this packaging is you get a nice sampling of all the different display options the figure offers as you go through the process of opening it. On the inside of the lid, there’s an enclosed tray with the figure’s overcoat.

Lift the insert and you finally reveal the figure and get the first look of him as Johann Schmidt, with the Hugo Weaving head attached. The figure is flanked by the usual array of extra hands and accessories that one associates with Hot Toys releases.

Here’s a surprise, the likeness is pretty fantastic. Hey, it’s Hot Toys, what do you expect? I have to imagine that Mr. Weaving has been reproduced plenty of times in action figure form, but it’s hard to imagine anyone nailed it quite as well as this one. He certainly has a very distinctive face, and I’d wager that that helps with the sculpting process. The skin tone is eerie and the eyes have that faint spark of life to them that only Hot Toys knows how to do. Schmidt offers a stern, but otherwise neutral expression. Besides the likeness being spot-on, they also included the incidental little scars by his ears that betray his mask. Very cool! It’s almost a shame that he comes with two heads, because I’m really going to be torn on which one to display the figure with, but more on that later.

I really like the styling on Schmidt’s uniform. It’s very retro-future-nazi looking, if that’s a real thing and the material feels like it’s a nice quality. There are a lot of fashionable little touches to add to the complexity, like the straps on the arms, the pockets, and the epaulettes. The red piping is beautifully done and adds that extra little snap to what is otherwise just a solid grey outfit. I do think it could have used an extra Hydra insignia somewhere, but that’s really the fault of the film designers and not the figure. As it is, the only Hydra emblem is the one embossed on his belt buckle. The high collar is executed quite nicely. It’s glued down so to maintain its shape and it hugs the neck very well. I was afraid it would require a lot of futzing, but happily that’s not the case. The uniform looks solid right out of the box.

The figure comes with a total of six hands, all gloved. He’s boxed with two fists attached. There are three additional choices for the right hand. You get one open hand, one designed to clutch the cosmic cube, and one designed to hold his gun. There is only one alternative for the left hand, and it is a regular open hand. A cube clutching left hand would have been nice, as my preferred pose would be pistol in one hand cube in the other. You can still make it work with his open left hand, but not as well. I think this was a bit of an obvious oversight by the design team. You also get an extra set of posts for the hands in case you snap one off.

The articulation seems pretty standard for Hot Toys. I’m hardly an authority on the line, as this is only my fourth figure, but he can do most poses that I would want. The uniform offers a little bit of restriction in the shoulders, but it’s not nearly as restrictive as the shoulders of Captain America’s uniform.

And, I’m going to break there. I’ll go away and do some tinkering with the figure and when I come back tomorrow we’ll check out Johann transformed into Red Skull as well as the accessories.

Hail Hydra!!!

Jul 8 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Iron Patriot (Rhodey) by Hasbro

It’s time once again for Marvel ~~Universe~~ Legends Monday! This has been a polarizing summer of movies. Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Into Darkness… battle lines have been drawn in the Interweb forums and fanboys have been having at each other over these films. I quite enjoyed Iron Man 3, although I’ll admit one of the sticking points for me about the movie early on was the use of the Iron Patriot armor. It took me a little while to come around and concede that copyrights being what they are, there was no way we were ever going to get Norman Osborne and The Dark Avengers, so having War Machine don the paintjob and the name only made sense. I can (begrudgingly) see that now and have accepted it. Debates over the use of the character aside, I love the aesthetics of the War Machine armor in the movies, and I must admit it certainly looks sexy decked out in the Iron Patriot colors.

We’ve already looked at the three figures that make up the first half of this Iron Man Legends wave. There’s not much new here. The character art looks fine and the figure is mounted on his tray beside the Iron Monger BAF part.

Iron Man 2 had its own line of Legends scale figures, and I’m guessing that this release is based off that War Machine mold, but I don’t own it and the Jameson is making me too fuzzy to do proper research, so I’m only guessing. Either way, I confess that I really love this sculpt. It’s both curvy and angular in all the right places and there are plenty of little panel lines to spruce things up. What I’m not as keen on are some of the plastics being used here, particularly the bare red plastic used for the hands and arms. It’s a little swirly, and it doesn’t hold up to the beautiful metallic blue and silver used for the rest of the figure. The quality also doesn’t feel quite up to par. It’s hard to put my finger on what it is exactly. The seams are a bit uglier than usual as well.

And speaking of paint, it’s worth noting that my figure has some stray paint on the face mask. If I was buying this guy off the pegs, I probably would have passed and tried to find a better one, but I got him sight unseen online. In retrospect, it sort of looks a little battle damage-y, so I can live with it. I am, however, really happy with the way the little tampo marks came out, particularly the Lt. Col. James Rhodes on the breast plate. It’s just a nice cool touch.

Patriot comes with a detachable shoulder mounted gun. There are two peg holes in the back so it can be positioned over either shoulder, but it really only looks right to me over his left shoulder. The gun features a swivel, as well as a hinge so that it can fold up or retract entirely behind his back. Of course, you can also just pull the whole thing out if you prefer.

Let’s roll out the articulation… The head is ball jointed and hinged as well, which gives it that little extra bit of movement that I love. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double-hinges in the elbows, and hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed in the hips, swivels in the thighs, double-hinges in the knees, and hinges and swivels in the ankles. There’s also a ball joint in the torso that features a really nice range of motion. It’s also worth mentioning that the shoulder armor is soft, rubbery plastic so as not to impede the range of arm movement. What does bother me is that the sculpted armor on the wrists won’t let the left hand bend back to bring his palm repulsor to the ready unless you cock the arm at the elbow.

Despite my issues with the plastic and a couple of paint flubs, I still really like this figure. He’s far from perfect, and that’s a shame because he could have been a homerun if not for some of the niggling little issues. That having been said, he looks damn fine on the shelf and he really is fun to play around with. It’s too bad the QC guys were asleep on the job and let this one slip out the way it did. Not a terrible figure, but he doesn’t live up to some of the better work we’ve been getting out of the Marvel Legends line.

Jul 6 2013

Zenescope’s Alice in Wonderland: Alice Liddle by CS Moore Studios

Ah, Zenescope, your comics are one of my favorite guilty pleasures. There’s nothing like a little gore, horror, and T&A to keep me coming back. I got hooked through Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but I think they really hit their stride with their Wonderland chronicles. That’s no small feat, since it seems like everyone and their mother has done a “dark and twisted” version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, but Zenescope’s treatment just scratches my itch. Enter the unique sculpting talents of Clayburn Moore and you’ve got a match made in heaven. Moore Studios is going to be producing a number of figures based on Zenescope’s books, and the first release in that series is Alice herself.

That is some striking packaging! Alice comes on a very large card and in a sizeable bubble. The card is bright and colorful and further enhanced by the use of a reprint copy of Alice in Wonderland #1 as a backdrop to the figure. The included comic features an exclusive cover for the release of this figure with a big portrait of Alice and her white rabbit. The figure is mounted in her tray, slightly off center with her stand and accessories surrounding her. “Ages 14+” …really? The back of the card promises future releases of Sela, Calie, and Queen of Hearts. I’m rather surprised they didn’t start with Sela, the star of GFT, but I’m looking forward to seeing her.

I’ve always been a fan of Moore’s sculpting talents. Sure, it helps that most of his subjects are gorgeous and half-naked chicks, but in this case he really outdid himself with the head sculpt. Moore managed to capture the beauty Alice from Robert Gill’s artwork and still add a modicum of his own personal style. It’s almost a shame that so much of her face is shrouded by her bangs, but it certainly suits the character design. I’m also pleased that they went with what appears to be painted flesh tones as opposed to bare plastic. As much as I love Moore’s figures, some of his past efforts have had a shiny, waxy look to the skin, but Alice here is perfect.

Speaking of perfect, let’s migrate down below the neck and check out that body. Oh my! The pose is strategically chosen to show off… well, let’s face it: T&A. Her back is arched and her arms are out to her sides. Yes, Alice does indeed spend most of the book parading about in this outfit, and the figure’s costume lacks a couple of small details, like garters on the stockings and laces across her cleavage. This version of Alice also sports a pair of stilettos, as opposed to flats. Still, artistic license aside, it still manages to hit all the right spots quite well. The half-corset leaves little to the imagination and as for the skirt, well it might as well not be there. The ruffling on her tiny outfit is nicely sculpted and I really dig the almost metallic sheen used for the blue paint. In fact, all the paintwork on this figure is expertly applied with sharp edges, and little or no bleed or slop.

If you’re familiar with Moore’s action figures, you know not to expect much in the way of articulation. Alice does little to buck that trend. She technically has six points of articulation, but the swivel cuts in her waist and neck are almost useless. She has swivel cuts up in her hips, so you can get her to do the splits, or sit in a rather suggestive way. But really, the most useful points of articulation here are the rotating cuts in the shoulders, and even those will only take you so far. Nope, this figure is primarily intended to stand there and look pretty, and she does that quite well.

You do get some accessories with Alice. I’ve never met a Moore figure that didn’t come with a stand. In this case you get a very nice little splotch of bright green grass with some mushrooms. The paintwork on the stand is exceptional, particularly on the shrooms. You also get a croquet mallet, a “Drink Me” bottle, and Alice’s white rabbit. All are nice pieces, but apart from crowding them around the stand, you can’t really do much for them. Alice isn’t even designed to hold the mallet.

Hopefully you can find Alice hanging around your local comic shop, along with some of Zenescope’s comics. If not, there are plenty of online alternatives, including Zenescope’s own storefront. Recently, they were doing a nice sale on their Wonderland titles, so I took the opportunity to upgrade my digital comics to TPBs and I tossed Alice into the shopping cart as well. At around $20, she is definitely a nice piece. If you’re a collector of Moore’s figures, you should find her a nice addition to your collection. If you read the Wonderland books, she’ll look nice on your Zenescope bookshelf. And if you just want a dead sexy figure celebrating Alice in Wonderland, you can’t go wrong here!

FigureFan Zero

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Zenescope’s Alice in Wonderland: Alice Liddle by CS Moore Studios

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