Jul 5 2013

Star Trek: Captain Kirk and Khan by Diamond Select

Ever since the first reveal, I have been rather perplexed by Diamond’s new Star Trek… Figures? Statues? Collectibles? I don’t know what to call these things. They’re episode-specific dioramas that are exactly the same scale as the line of Classic Trek figures that they were putting out just a couple years back. It was a line that was subsequently shit-canned because they weren’t selling well enough. And granted, that’s a notion that is well illustrated with any stroll down the clearance section of that collectible action figure aisle at Toys R Us. Maybe Diamond is banking on more interest with a new Trek movie in theaters, but if that’s the case why not just bring out the actual figures again? Well, I’ll revisit that question more in a bit. For now, let’s look at the item in question. The initial assortment consisted of Spock and a Horta from “Devil in the Dark” but today we’re checking out Kirk and Khan from “Space Seed.”

The package for this thing is enormous, at least it is for a card and bubble meant to hang on a peg. The bubble is massive and shows off both the Kirk and Khan figures along with the parts to the backdrop. Also visible in the bubble is Kirk’s extra set of legs and a pair of swappable hands. It’s a weird presentation that does a good job showing you all the pieces, but creates a crazy scene of disembodied human parts. The bubble is reinforced on one side with cardboard that features a nice side illustration of Kirk and a corner of the bubble has the Classic Enterprise. The idea here is to recreate the epic fight between Kirk and Khan in Engineering and give you a few different display options…

No, you’re not looking at some tragic transporter accident. That’s all the pieces you get to customize Kirk in the display. There are two different sets of static legs, one set of hands clutching the conveniently club-shaped Engineering component, and a set of open palm hands. The Kirk torso is articulated with a rotating head, ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. This begs the question… WHY NOT JUST GIVE US A FULLY ARTICULATED FIGURE? Can it really be more cost effective to include a second set of legs, when Diamond could have just repacked the Kirk figure they’ve already produced with this new head? We’re just talking about a T-crotch, knee hinges, and thigh swivels. The scale is identical… Diamond, you probably still have the figures sitting in your warehouse somewhere. I just don’t understand what they were going for here! PLEASE… SOMEONE MAKE ME UNDERSTAND!!! IT’S HALF A FIGURE ALREADY… JUST CUT OUT ONE EXTRA SET OF LEGS AND GIVE US THE OTHER HALF!!!

Unlike Kirk, Khan is a completely static piece designed to peg into the console and be abused by Kirk. Khan has been released before by Diamond in this scale, but not in the red jumpsuit, so at least the new non-articulated sculpt here makes sense from a cost perspective. I’m very pleased with the sculpt, particularly the likeness. But in the end, this Khan is still just window dressing.

The Engineering section consists of a fairly large plastic base that plugs into the upright console. The wall behind the console is cardboard with two printed sides to give you two display options. The original piece was supposed to be plastic, but Diamond said it didn’t cost out in the end. I’m fine with it. It looks good and since a lot of the Classic Trek sets looked like cardboard anyway, it’s strangely appropriate. The only downside is durability and storage. I do love the console, and I’ll confess it’s the main reason I purchased this set first over the Horta one, because I thought it would be cool to have this backdrop for my proper Classic Trek figures. And indeed, Scotty looks awesome standing against it.

Putting it all together, you do have several options to tweak the display, but the ensemble is designed for two specific configurations. The first has Kirk standing on the deck and pummeling Khan with the engineering rod. This is my least favorite of the options, because Kirk seems awkwardly bent and unless you tweak it just right it looks like he’s attacking Khan’s crotch with it. Kirk was a dirty fighter, but I don’t remember him beating on Khan’s balls with an implement. You can also use the open palm hands to make it look like Kirk is just slamming Khan into the console. Either of these poses make me wish Kirk’s head was ball jointed so he can look up at what he’s doing. But hey, since the hands with the rod are interchangeable with the hands on my proper Kirk figure, I can just use that figure in the display to much better effect. So again, I ask… Diamond, why didn’t you just pack the old Kirk figure in with this thing?

The other display option has Kirk doing a jumping kick into Khan. This configuration makes use of a clear plastic rod that pegs into the console and into one of Kirk’s sets of legs. The rod holds the figure in place extremely well and the illusion of mid-air-kick Kirk is really well done. I definitely prefer this display option as it looks a little more natural and you can tweak Kirk’s hands in a number of ways. Hell, you can even have him kicking Khan with the engineering rod raised over his hands for QUAD DAMAGE! Admittedly, “Flying Kick Kirk” makes better use of the unique Kirk that comes with the set, but I submit that Diamond could have just as easily bored a hole for the clear rod into a proper Kirk figure’s legs and still made it work.

If it sounds like I’m picking on this set, it’s just because I generally don’t understand it. That doesn’t mean I don’t like it. It’s an awesome display piece and it does a great job combining a bit of customization and playability of action figures with a statue-style environment. If we didn’t already have proper Classic Trek figures in this scale, I’d be even happier with this set, but as it is, it seems like such an odd thing to do. The photos above illustrate how well it works with the Classic Trek figures that Diamond already have made. At around $22, you certainly get a lot of stuff for your money, so it’s not a question of value, it’s just my own morbid curiosity as to how a set like this can be expected to sell better than a new round of proper action figures.

Jul 5 2013

1,000 Articles!

Hey, folks… guess what?

Yup, welcome to FigureFan Zero’s 1,000th article. Actually, this isn’t the article. I’m posting the article next. This is just me pointing out that I’m at 1,000 articles. Technically that makes this the 1,000^th update and the next thing you read will be the 1,000^th article.

Christ, I’ve kind of screwed this whole thing up.

Anyway, after three-and-a-half years of doing this nonsense, I’ve busted into the four digits. That’s 1,000 features of a middle aged guy gassing on about toys, action figures, and collectibles. Thanks to anyone who is still tolerating my daily alcohol-fueled ramblings illustrated by poorly lit pictures of cat hair clinging to toys. I’ll confess, I don’t remember all of it, but it must have been a fun ride for me, because I’m still doing it.

As for everyone else… I’ll try to do another 1,000 just to spite you.

Jul 4 2013

Causality: CA-11 Down Force by Fansproject

Man, I have a crap-ton of third-party not-transformers on pre-order, most of which at this point are very, very late. I was sure I’d see the next Uranos figure from TFC before the end of June, or maybe one of Fansproject’s Headmasters, but nope, all of that shit has rolled over to July. Thankfully, I did get the next release in Fansproject’s (“Don’t call them Stunticons!”) series of Super-Evil-Deception-Robots- That-Transform-Into-Cars-And-Do-Stunts! Call me, Fansproject, I’m available to write your box copy! I’ll tap dance my way through all those legal loopholes! Anyway, this one bears a purely coincidental resemblance to a certain yellow Formula-1 racer named Dragstrip. Let’s check him out!

I’m a big fan of the Causality packaging. The grid pattern is delightfully reminiscent of the package deco used for a line of transforming robots that I vaguely remember collecting in the 80’s. Was it ChangeFormers? No, that’s not right… but it was something like that. This package has a yellow tint to it, which gives the box a unique look while still being uniform enough with the others so that they all look great lined up on the shelf. You get a window that shows off the figure, which is boxed in his robot mode, along with some bitchin’ character art, and lots of actual photos that let the toy speak for itself.

Inside, the figure rests in a plastic tray with his pistol beside him. Behind the tray you get a baggie with the folded color instruction sheet and his color profile card. There are no twisties or anything holding the figure in and the box is totally collector friendly.

As usual, we’ll start with Down Force’s vehicle mode. While obviously inspired by G1 Dragstrip, this car is more at odds with the original G1 toy than either Car Crash or T-Bone. There are still some Formula-1 characteristics, to be sure, but the car is beefier and rather more futuristic looking. I’m not a big fan of Formula-1 cars in my Transformers, particularly not Dragstrip’s’ six-wheeled model, so this was a good trade-off for me, but for others it may be too much of a deviation from the intended source material. The back of the car holds together really well, but the front assembly can unpeg rather easily when handled.

The car is cast almost entirely in yellow plastic. There are a few red paint apps to spice things up, most notably the stripe on the spoiler, and there is some silver paintwork up front over the front axle. The headlamp covers and canopy are blue clear plastic and there’s some black paint around the canopy. All told, it’s an attractive car, although possibly a little bland. Maybe some actual racing numbers would have helped it out. The design also makes it rather challenging to find somewhere to place his Decepticon faction sticker.

Transforming Down Force seemed like a nightmare the first time I did it. It’s not because he’s overly complex, but because the instructions aren’t at all helpful. Going from car to robot is somewhat logical, but going from robot to car didn’t feel intuitive until I did it a couple of times. Once I saw what was going on, I realized that this guy is by far the easiest of the three to work with.

So, let’s talk robot mode. Aesthetically, Down Force fits in quite well with his chums, T-Bone and Car Crash. The torso and legs are pretty simple looking and straightforward. The spoiler makes for good knees, although I’m not terribly keen on the tiny feet, but they aren’t a dealbreaker for me. They just seem vestigial and almost pointless. I like the design of the chest, which is probably the biggest nod back to the original G1 concept. Alas, like his car mode, Down Force’s chest doesn’t offer a prime place to slap a Decepticon logo on him.

The head sculpt is solid and fits the same style used for his brothers. I like the way the canopy on his back peeks up behind the head, and is actually connected to a nifty head reveal mechanic. I wasn’t sure at first about the purple and blue deco for the head, but it has grown on me a lot. It’s certainly distinctive!

Down Force’s shoulders are splendidly complex for such a little figure and definitely one of the stand out elements of the design. The way his fenders make up his shoulder armor looks great, but they aren’t without their issues. The parts that form the shoulders all fold together rather well, including those pieces that are attached by an arm with a ball joint at either end. The forward facing prongs even look cool, although I wish FP had found a way to sculpt them to look like guns. The problem with the shoulders, however, is that nothing really pegs into anything. If you manipulate Down Force’s arms by grabbing the lower arm, everything is fine. If you try to move them around from the upper arm, the shoulder assembly’s tend to shift apart. It’s a little annoying, but not nearly the fatal flaw that plagued Hasbro’s recent Blitzwing design.

I’ve been very happy with this line so far, and Down Force doesn’t disappoint. From initial pictures, I was a little worried that this guy wouldn’t fit in with the others, but now that he’s in hand, I can set those worries aside. Sure, he does feel a little removed from the first two figures, but I think that’s mostly because Car Crash and T-Bone shared a lot of the same mold. Nonetheless, the three can definitely hang together as a team. At around $59.99, he’s definitely pricey for what is essentially a big Scout or a small Deluxe, but such it’s about right for a third-party Transformer these days. That’s three down and two to go… Next up is Last Chance, hopefully arriving sometime this month!

Jul 3 2013

Doctor Who: Clara “Oswin” Oswald (3 3/4″ Scale) by Character Options

Yesterday, I looked at the new 3 ¾” Doctor figure from Character Options, and I was less than delighted with the final outcome. I promise you that this initial wave of figures will improve as we get into the baddies next week, but not today. Today we’re looking at The Doctor’s sexy little companion, Clara. Hang on, I’m going to need to pour a glass of Jameson for this one.

There’s the packaging. It’s the same as what we say yesterday, so let’s not dwell on it.

CO had a few different outfits to choose from for the Clara figure, but they decided to layer her with two coats over her dress. The result is that she looks bulky, and that kind of dampens the appeal of this particular character. Knowatamean? Not that I think they could have accurately reproduced Ms. Coleman’s curves in this scale. Oh no. You would need plastic craftsmen far more talented than CO’s stable to make that happen. Anyway, the body sculpt is passable and there’s some decent paintwork for the pattern on her dress. The legs on mine came a tad warped out of the package, but she will stand on her own. She’s also nicely scaled against The Doctor as she comes up to just past her shoulder.

And then there’s the portrait. Wow. It’s weird, because I can kind of tell it’s supposed to be Jenna Louise Coleman, but it looks like she’s puffing out her cheeks and pulling a mad face. They got the hair right, and she does have a pretty round face, which is reflected here, but it’s a little too round and puffy and the paint on her eyes make them look like they’re bugging out of her head. There’s also a huge blue blotch of paint on the back of her head.

Articulation on Clara is different from The Doctor and I find that to also be weird. It’s supposed to be a cohesive line of figures, CO, so pick an articulation style and go with it. Anyway, instead of ball joints in the shoulders, Clara has simple rotating joints. To make up for it, she has swivel cuts in the biceps and forearms, and she has hinged elbows. She has hinged knees, and her head rotates. Presumably, she has a T-crotch, but her dress renders any articulation above the knees useless. You won’t get a lot of action poses out of Clara, but I suppose she’s articulated enough to make soufflés.

Clara comes with two accessories. You get the same figure stand that came with The Doctor, and you get a red handbag. The handbag seems pretty pointless. I don’t even recall her carrying it much in the show. Something more useful would have been cool, like maybe the laptop from “The Bells of St. John.”

All told, Clara falls in about the same level of mediocrity as The Doctor. The sculpt is barely passable and the articulation isn’t great. But Clara feels like a bigger disappointment simply because this figure is the reason we won’t be getting her in the five-inch scale. I’ve already got three different 11^th Doctors in my 5-inch scale collection, so that wasn’t such a big deal. But with Clara, here’s where it begins to sink in. This is what we got instead of what would have surely been a better figure in the old scale, and there’s just no reason for it. Maybe if CO releases a console room, and not a cardboard one, it will be worth it down the line, but we’ve seen no indication that that’s going to happen. Next week, things in the 3 ¾” Doctor Who line will improve as I go through the rest of the wave.

Jul 2 2013

Doctor Who: The 11th Doctor (3 ¾” Scale) by Character Options

“Change, my dear, and it seems not a moment too soon.”

– The Sixth Doctor, The Caves of Androzani.

Yes, we are indeed getting change from Character Options, but I’m not so sure about whether it was a moment too soon. It’s no secret I loved CO’s five-inch scale Doctor Who figures, although I’ll concede that I bought a lot more of the Classic line than the NuWho figures. The reason, of course, wasn’t the scale, but rather the figures based on the current series were often victims of poor character selections and the releases were few and far between. I can tick off a dozen figures from either Series 6 or 7 that I would have bought in an instant, but we never got them. Whatever the reason, CO has decided to take the line to a more “standard” 3 ¾” scale, and I’ll concede that introduces some intriguing possibilities of The Doctor and company intermingling within my other collections. Of course, it also alienates all future releases from our existing Who collections, so whether it was worth the change remains to be seen. Today we’re checking out The Doctor!

The packaging, for all intents and purposes, is just a shrunken down version of the card and bubble that we got with the last waves of 5-inchers. The card is generic with a TARDIS illustration on the front and a circular bubble showing off the figure and the accompanying stand. The bubble insert has the figure’s name and the “DWARTIS” logo. Seeing as how that hasn’t been part of Series 7b, I wish they would have dropped it from the package design. The packaging isn’t a big deal to me, as I rip them open and toss them, but that having been said, the presentation here is just stale. Considering this is a brand new line and a brand new scale, I think CO would have been smart to rebrand them into something different and more exciting.

The back of the cards show the other figures in the line, as well as some of the cardboard playset-diorama things that are also available over in the UK right now.

When the scale change was announced, there was a lot of complaining among collectors about how that scale couldn’t possibly hold the same quality of sculpt as the old line. Soon, CO showed off a prototype of The Doctor and it assuaged a lot of people’s fears. Unfortunately, the final product is nowhere near what we saw in that original teaser figure. It’s overall pretty meh. The head sculpt is barely passable and the closer you get to it the worse it becomes. Some companies, particularly Hasbro, have had some amazing head sculpts in the 3 ¾” scale lately, and in that context this figure doesn’t fly. I doubt most could identify it as Matt Smith, but if I told someone who it was supposed to be, some might say, “oh yeah, I can kind of see the resemblance now.” There have been horror stories looming about the paint on the face. Googly eyes, mad eyes, and boss eyes have been in abundance. I’m happy to say the paint on my figure isn’t overly terrible, although there is some stray paint near his chin. Overall, the head sculpt here seems primitive.

As for the rest of the figure: You get The Doctor in his longer coat with vest, shirt, and bow tie. Bow ties are cool. The coat is sculpted in soft, rubbery plastic and hangs down below his waste and is securely glued to the torso. There’s very little sculpted detail to the coat, making it look smooth and rather unconvincing as an actual garment. The shirt and vest fare a little better. Ironically, I think the trousers and shoes look the best. The figure’s proportions are ok. Maybe his arms are a little long. His right hand is sculpted to hold his Sonic Screwdriver, which is provided.

Articulation on The Good Doctor is subpar when compared to the competition. His head can turn, his arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists. His legs have a standard T-crotch and he has hinges in the knees. He appears to have swivel cuts at the ankles, but mine don’t seem to want to turn and I’m not going to force them and risk twisting off his feet. You can get some poses out of him, but he’s still a rather stiff figure. Swivels in the biceps and ball joints in the hips would have helped a lot.

Besides the Sonic Screwdriver, The Doctor comes with a figure stand molded to look like the “DWARTIS” logo. Again, the DW thing isn’t being used anymore, so it feels kind of inappropriate here. On the other hand, the shape and style makes for a decent stand.It is, however, fairly large considering the size of the figure, and the peg is oddly placed, so if you have the logo facing you with the figure pegged on it, there’s a lot of wasted, empty space in front of the figure.

And there we go. Character Options’ new 3 ¾’ line is off to a dubious start. Frankly, based on initial reactions around the InterToobs, I was expecting worse, and indeed comparing The Doctor to some of Hasbro’s best efforts make him look laughable by comparison. I can certainly tell this is a first foray into the scale on CO’s part because it clearly shows. On the plus side, The Doctor does scale quite well with other leading lines, so you can finally do those Doctor Who-GI JOE-Star Wars-Marvel Universe crossovers that you’ve always wanted to do. At $10 each, these he isn’t priced too badly for an import figure and I’ll be looking at the rest of the wave in the near future. I’m not at all sorry I bought him, and as we’ll see other figures in the wave fared much better. I’ll be back tomorrow to look at Clara.

Jul 1 2013

Marvel Universe: Blastaar by Hasbro

While Hasbro seems to be dropping the ball on their movie properties, they have certainly upped the ante on Marvel Universe. I’m not just talking about the overall quality of the figures, but also the character selection. MU is a line that I was seriously considering abandoning last year, but I’m glad I didn’t because I would have missed out on a lot of cool figures. This Marvel Monday’s entry is a prime example of that. Oh yes, folks… it’s Blastaar!

Oops, my bad… it’s MARVEL’S Blastaar, because somebody at Hasbro was sleeping on the job in the copyright department. In package, Blastaar just warms the cockles of my Fantastic Four Fanboy heart. The character art has him leaping right out at you and he’s a big boy that certainly fills up the bubble. This is one of those MU figures that offers up a satisfying heft when you pull him off the peg. He was the only one I’ve seen so far in the wild, and I probably would have punched anyone in the throat that tried to get to him before I did.

The back of the card shows the figure, as well as the other two figures in this wave, and a little bio blurb of this big boy. Once again, Dazzler decks out the bottom of the card with some collecting advice. Can, I dig it you ask? Oh yeah, Dazzler. I can dig it.

Blastaar is a fine example of the logical reuse of parts. The legs, torso and forearms are all recycled directly from Juggernaut (and various other MU big boys) and given a fresh coat of paint. He has a simple grey and blue deco, with the grey being very similar to the type used for Apocalypse, while the blue is slightly darker and features less of a sheen. The bracers on his wrists are new to the sculpt, as is the circlet around his neck. It all works quite well and ensures that Blastaar is a beefy enough figure to hang with the likes of Apocalypse and Thanos. Yeah, he’s a little generic, but it suits the character design.

While Blastaar’s body is somewhat generic, the head sculpt makes up for that in spades. This guy’s ugly noggin is packed with detail and personality. He’s got the one buggy eye, a mouthful of carefully sculpted and painted teeth, even something as simple as the ears are worthy of note. I’m also really pleased with the way his wild mane of hair came out. He looks like he’s about to start stroking out with rage. Fantastic!

The articulation here is the same we’ve seen with most of the husky MU figures. There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and torso. The arms have swivels in the biceps and and forearm, and the elbows are hinged. The legs have swivels in the thighs and just above the boots, the knees are double hinged and the ankles have single hinges. The characteristics of the buff sculpt impede some of the points of articulation, but he can still do a lot more than just stand there and look menacing.

No accessories, but Blastaar does come with the super wonderful tiny piece of printed cardboard that Hasbro suggests is a cool collectible. If I cared at all about the Comic Shot, I would at this point say that I would have preferred a Fantastic Four cover over The Avengers one. But either way, these get thrown out with the packaging, so I care not!

Sure, Blastaar is basically a kitbash with a new head, but I have no issues with these when they’re done right and this guy is done right. Yes, Hasbro could have made the costume a little more distinctive, but on the other hand the fact that I can walk into a big box toy aisle and buy a Blastaar figure kind of blows my mind. If this is what they needed to do to make that happen, I’m cool with that. I was already a fan of this buck and the head sculpt drives the whole figure home perfectly.

And… once again, I’m caught up on my Marvel Universe Collection features, so for the next four weeks, Marvel Monday will be changing over to features for the Legends scale figures. Unless, of course, I happen to stumble upon a boon of MU figures that I need. After that… well, we’ll see!

Jun 30 2013

Sunday Funday: Hack/Slash!

Hooray for Sunday. This afternoon will consist of me, my patio, an H. Upmann Corona Major, a generous rock glass of Jameson, and the first three volumes of Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash. This is the kind of stuff that makes slaving through the work week worthwhile.

I’m actually not going to spend a lot of time talking about the misadventures of Cassie and Vlad. Suffice it to say, I love this comic. Last year, I read them all digitally and now I’m buying the TPBs for my bookshelf. I’ll probably do a proper feature on them some Sunday in the future. I’ve got many more volumes to go.

Nope, I just wanted to give a shout out to the Ebay Seller Rivalrycomics, because they’re so professional and awesome. I bought Hack/Slash Vol. 3 from them and they quickly messaged me to let me know that it had some light shelf wear and a bumped corner and apologized and said if I wanted to cancel the order or take a discount they’d be fine with that. I know where they’re coming from. I owned and operated a book shop for eight years. I did a lot of Internet business, and I know how hard it is to accurately represent collectibles when it comes to condition. Collectors can be crazy picky!

Anywho, I said it was Ok because I was mainly looking for a nice reading copy, it was a really good price on the book to begin with and the shipping was free. Well, they still tossed in some extra comics, including a super cool reprint Tales from the Crypt issue. They must have read my mind, because I don’t think they could have possible selected a cooler bonus comic. It’s awesome!

And even after all that, the book I originally ordered was in great shape! So, it’s cool to see people who deal in collectibles who are so meticulous about condition. These guys get it. They’re professionals. They’re bros. They care. That’s the kind of people I love to do business with. I do a ton of business on Ebay, whether it be buying toys, comics, or old video games, and I’ve crossed path with my share of skunks and swindlers, so it’s all the better when you encounter some professionals. So, if you’re looking for some comics or video games, hit up their Ebay Store. Maybe they have something you’re looking for. I know I will be ordering from them again.

Jun 29 2013

DC Universe Classics: Captain Boomerang by Mattel

My quest to fill in the holes in my DCUC collection continues. Today I’m celebrating the recent pick-up of Captain Boomerang from the Ebays at a pretty good price. He harkens back to Wave 18 and came to me loose, sans the Apache Chief C&C piece, but he was still clutching his boomerang, bless his little heart. The last time I saw Digger Harkness pre-reboot he was killed after murdering the shit out of Dick Grayson’s father to impress his own son, Owen. Yes, Identity Crisis had some lovely father-and-son bonding moments. And yes, he was resurrected after that. More recently, Boomer has been mixing it up with Deadshot in the pages of the “New 52” Suicide Squad comic, which I do enjoy quite a lot. As I said, there’s no packaging so we’re just going to dive right in with a look at the figure.

While technically, this is Digger Harkness, the figure works fine for Owen Mercer as well. For a villain, I always thought Boomerang had a dashing looking costume. Sure it’s all drab EVIL colors, but the combination of the trenchcoat, skullcap and flowing scarf really works for me. Besides, if you want to use him as Owen, he’s ain’t all bad anyway. Either way, Mattel did a bang-up job translating the ensemble into plastic form. The trenchcoat is designed as a vest with the arms sculpted to look like sleeves. Both Hasbro and Mattel use this trick a lot and I think it works fine in this scale. Digger has his trademark bandolier strap of boomerangs slung across his chest and each one is individually painted. I think it would have been cool if they had left one loop empty to tuck his loose one in, but oh well.

Boomer’s head sculpt is definitely among my favorites in the DCUC line. The likeness is great and the expression is priceless. The unshaven look is sculpted right into his face, and the paintwork on his eyes and eyebrows is clean and vibrant. Even the texturing on his hat is cool. It’s a great portrait with a ton of personality.

Articulation is standard DCUC fare, plus a couple of extra hinges. You get ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have bicep swivels, wrist swivels, and DOUBLE-hinged elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC joint, thigh swivels, DOUBLE-hinges in the knees and hinged ankles. His torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. The nice thing about his coat design is that it doesn’t impede his articulation much at all!

Boomerang comes with… wait for it… a boomerang! Well, mine came with “A” boomerang, I’m not sure how many the figure originally came with. He can hold it fairly well in his right hand.

I’m always happy to add another figure to my DCUC rogues gallery, especially when the figure turns out as well as Boomerang. It’s funny, but as I look at my shelves it’s apparent that Flash and Batman are winning with the most bad guys. But in all likelihood, Boomerang will be chilling with Deadshot a lot more than with Captain Cold, Mirror Master, or Zoom. Damn, I really need to get me a Gorilla Grod and Mattel, you really need to make a King Shark. Get on that, please.

Jun 28 2013

Star Wars Expanded Universe: Kyle Katarn by Hasbro

I’m opening some Star Wars figures this week, so I should be getting some related features up throughout the course of July, and I decided to kick it off with one of my favorite unsung heroes of the Expanded Universe… Mr. Kyle Katarn! The first half of the 90’s presented us PC gamers with all sorts of great outlets for our Star Wars love. I shudder to think how much time I spent, fingers gripping a flightstick, playing the X-Wing and Tie Fighter games. But when LucasArts took the first-person shooter gameplay of hits like Doom and Duke Nukem and interjected it into a brand new narrative set in the Star Wars universe, I was in heaven. If you wanted to know what a mid-90’s era Star Wars fanboy orgasm on the PC looked like, here it is…

Yup, it’s a pixelated mess… but it was the shit! I can still hear the glorious midi soundtrack building to a crescendo as I take out Stormtroopers with my E-11 Blaster. Yeah! Take that, bitches! Getting my hands on this game was a HUGE deal to me and I played it like crazy… over and over again. You know those hardcore Korean gamers that have to be ripped away from Starcraft to save them from dehydration? Well, that’s crazy… this wasn’t anything like that… forget that… I just really loved Dark Forces and played it a lot. And while sadly Dark Forces has yet to get the action figure attention of Shadows of the Empire, it wasn’t left out completely.

Vader looks so damn cute on the POTF2 cards. He looks like a pug wearing a helmet. While it doesn’t say so on the package, Katarn is basically part of the Power of the Force 2 line. Instead, the figure gets the “Expanded Universe” moniker, and while the package also suggests Kyle is from Dark Forces, I’m pretty sure he didn’t sport the beard until appearing in the subsequent pseudo-sequel Jedi Knight. I would have preferred a clean-shaven Kyle. Jedi Knight was a fine game and all, but I always liked the blaster-toting, space pirate mercenary aspect of Star Wars better than the mystical Jedi Knight bullshit, hence my love for Dark Forces. It was a shooter with no mystic bullshit. As much as I liked seeing Kyle come back, did he really need to become a Jedi? DOES EVERYONE NEED TO BE A JEDI??? Anyway, you’ll also note the package proclaims it can be converted into a 3-D diorama! We’ll get to that in bit!

Kyle himself is a decent looking figure for the period. He isn’t nearly as ridiculously buff as some of the POTF2 figures and the sculpt really strides that line between vintage and modern. I dig Kyle’s outfit a lot. It definitely has a little Han Solo smuggler vibe to it, particularly in the belt and holsters, but the rest of the design is rather distinctive. He’s got an armor vest, kneepads, and some chunky boots. It’s an original looking ensemble, but one that definitely fits the Star Wars universe. There’s some unfortunate paint splatter on the back of my figure, and I’m not a fan of the spray used on his boots, but all in all, not bad!

The likeness is good enough for a character that is based off a computer drawing, although later Katarn would be depicted in the flesh through FMV and the figure is even passable for the actor. The paintwork on the eyes and beard is all quite solid too. Granted, you don’t see a whole lot of Kyle in Dark Forces, as it’s a POV shooter, but the character has had plenty of face time since, and this figure does him proud. In the context of POTF2 figures, this is a pretty fantastic head sculpt.

Kyle features only six points of articulation. You get the usual head, shoulders and hips of the vintage figures, with an additional swivel in the waist. He’s a tad pre-posed with a wide stance. It makes him look great on the shelf, like he’s ready for action, but sadly it also makes him rather incompatible with most vehicle cockpits. But hey, it’s not like Hasbro ever gave us a Moldy Crow for him to ride in. By the way, Moldy Crow is the worst name for a spaceship ever. If Shipwreck from GI JOE had a spaceship, I’m pretty sure that’s what he would name it.

Weapons! Dark Forces was all about weapons, but Kyle only comes with two. First, you get his modified Bryar blaster pistol. It’s somewhat close to the pistol in the game, but it doesn’t have the magazine on the side. In terms of default FPS weapons, this one was pretty nice and accurate. The other weapon is either the Imperial Repeater or the Packered Mortar Gun? It doesn’t look much like either weapon model, as I remember them. Of course, my favorite weapon in the game was the E-11 Rifle. It’s understandable he doesn’t come with one and only fitting that he should have to kill one of my Stormtrooper figures and take theirs.

And then there’s the 3-D Play Scene! Yes, if you carefully follow the instructions, the cardback will fold out into this little display area with a landing bay and an Imperial Shuttle. Look, it’s a cool concept and pretty ambitious for a package that is just a cardback. It’s also a concept that Hasbro has made better use of since with boxed figures and vehicles. In practice, it’s not all that impressive, but I give Hasbro major points for the effort.

I picked up Kyle a couple months back at a toy show for a fiver, along with some other POTF2 era EU figures, all of which I’ll try to get to over the course of the coming weeks. Katarn later got an updated figure as part of a Comic Pack, which I probably would have picked up if it paired him with Jan Ors, as opposed to comic book adversary, Yuuzhan Vong. In hindsight, I probably let my bitterness over the lack of a Jan Ors figure overwhelm me on that decision, and I wouldn’t mind having a better version of Katarn in my collection. I’ll have to keep an eye open for him on the Ebays. But seriously, Hasbro, where the hell is Jan Ors?

Jun 27 2013

The Dark Knight Rises: Movie Masters Batman by Mattel

It seems to be my week for buying figures based on movies I’m not a big fan of. Oh, Dark Knight Rises was ok, but suffice it to say, I didn’t go ga-ga over Nolan’s Batman films. Nonetheless, I picked up Bane and Catwoman when I found them for cheap at Ross, and so I knew that sooner or later I would be compelled to buy Batman. Just like with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, I don’t have to be a fan of the movie to like the costume design, and I do indeed love Batman’s costume in Dark Knight Rises. It’s Pub Night for me, so I’m going to try to roll through this quickly.

There’s the packaging. It’s as appropriately brooding and depressing as the movies themselves. We already saw it when I featured Bane and Catwoman a little while ago, so I won’t dwell on it. You do get a piece to build the Bat Signal, but since I’m not getting all the figures, the parts get chucked with the packaging. Let’s get Bats out and have a look…

As much as I loved the bat costume from DKR, I don’t think I really got a great look at all of its intricacies until holding this figure. It’s a stunning piece of work, with all sorts of little plates and gubbins making up Wayne’s protective armor. Mattel should be commended for getting this amount of detail into a figure in this scale. The sculpted mesh texture between the individual armor plates give the figure a beautiful sense of depth and credibility, while the mix of matte and gloss black further compliment the complexities of the figure. There are some cool little devices sculpted onto the utility belt, which is finished off with a metallic gold paint. The soft and rubbery cape is fairly narrow, which is nice as it stays out of the way when Batman is engaged in ass-kicking.

There’s not as much to say about the portrait, since very little of the face is showing and not much is required in the way of likeness to the actor. That’s fine, as I was never sold on Christian Bale in the role.

Articulation is close to Mattel’s DCUC standards. There are ball joints in the neck and shoulders. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and the elbows are hinged. The legs have hinges in the knees and ankles, swivels in the thighs, and the usual DCUC hips, which allow for lateral movement. There’s a swivel at the waist, but no ab-crunch hinge in the torso.

Bats comes with no accessories, just the previously mentioned Bat Signal part. I would have much rather had a figure stand. An EMP gun or a grapple gun would have been nice too.

Batman is a beautiful figure and another fine addition to Mattel’s Movie Masters line. I’m happy to have him on my shelf beside Bane and Catwoman, and I’ll likely throw Man of Steel Superman into that display as well to round out my DC movie collection. Wait a minute… does this mean I need to finally break down and buy a Hal Jordan Movie Masters figure from that shitty Green Lantern movie. Oh, f’ck… I think it does.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: