May 16 2013

Hellboy 2: The Angel of Death by Mezco

I’ve taken care of most of my new receivings for the week already, so today I thought I’d do a Toy Closet Find and then for the rest of the week I’m going to be dredging out some older DCUC figures. But Hellboy 2, really? I know, right! I spotted this guy on the top shelf of one of the bookcases in my library and decided he needed his day in the sun, especially since there has been a little buzz lately about a possible third film. Despite being a comic junkie, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read a Hellboy book. That having been said, I enjoyed the movies, probably mostly because I really dig Guillermo del Toro’s flicks, particularly the creature designs. I didn’t pick up any of Mezco’s other Hellboy 2 figures, but when I saw The Angel of Death here, well I couldn’t resist him because he was my favorite creature design in that movie. I mean… how can you not love this…

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Yeah! That right there is some good old fashioned nightmare fuel. The packaging is long gone, but let’s just say he came in a window box and get right to it.

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The sculpt here is really spectacular, especially considering the body is rotocast. The body and cloak are just like a hollow cone, but it suits the design well. One of the creepy things about this guy is you can’t really tell where his body ends and his cloak begins. The fractured, eyeless face is awesome as are all the little sculpted teeth. Creepy! The massive wings are truly breathtaking. Every single feather is meticulously sculpted on both sides. I think Mezco might have gone a little overboard on the size of these babies, but they’re so majestic looking on the figure, I’m not complaining. 

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The paintwork on this figure isn’t exactly dynamic, but it’s not supposed to be. He’s brown, he’s dark grey, and lighter brown, and the eyes in the wings are painted with a high gloss to make them stand out. Overall, he looks ancient and dusty just like he’s supposed to.

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Ah, but is he an action figure or a statue? I’m not a fan of arguing semantics, so let’s not try to pigeon hole him. Because of his teepee style construction, Death’s only articulation is in the arms and wings. His arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, whereas his wings have hinges and ball joints. There aren’t a ton of poses to work with here, but you can tinker a bit. And herein lies my one complaint about this guy. The wings are designed to be removed, as they are off the figure in the package. As a result, the ball joints have a problem holding their massive weight. It’s not uncommon to find his wings in a different position a few hours later because they droop. It’s a little unsettling when every time I look at this thing its wings are in a different pose than I last left it.

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Mezco does nice stuff, and I’m sometimes surprised that I don’t own more of their collectibles. It wasn’t until their Mega Scale Thundercats that I really began to take notice of them. I think it has a lot to do with a general lack of interest in a lot of the licenses they’ve secured. I don’t remember how much I paid for this thing, but I think I picked it up at one of the big bookstore chains and I’m pretty sure it was deeply discounted. I’m finding more and more that Books-A-Million and Barnes and Noble are good hunting grounds for toys and collectibles. You don’t think to go there to buy this sort of thing, and since nobody else does either the stuff tends to sit around and go clearance. Either way, it’s a nice one-off piece that fits right in displayed on one of my shelves of old and out-of-print occult books. Few guests that I have over that see it know what it is, but most agree that it looks damn cool.

May 15 2013

Cover Girls of the DC Universe: “New 52” Catwoman by DC Collectibles

Today’s feature almost didn’t happen, because the USPS temporarily lost my Catwoman statue. To be more accurate, they claimed it was delivered and after a few days of me insisting it wasn’t, bitching at them, and finally letting them know it was insured (why didn’t THEY know that?) it magically turned up in my postbox. In fairness, I get a lot of shit mailed to me every week, some USPS some UPS (and some by whatever cracked out sorcerers Amazon uses to get stuff thrown on my doorstep from a moving vehicle 12 hours after I ordered it) and this was the first time I’ve ever had a problem like this. Yeah, I consider myself pretty lucky. Catwoman is one of the New 52 books that I’m still reading regularly and I enjoy it quite a bit, so when I was able to get a decent deal on this statue, I really couldn’t resist.

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This piece comes in a fairly bland white box with some pictures of the statue on it and a little blurb on the back. “Catwoman is ready to whip the Dark Knight into shape if he tries to stop her!” I’m guessing that’s some kind of kinky S&M reference, because every encounter Batman and Catwoman seem to have in the current book involves them screwing. The back also shows off two other statues currently available. Harley Quinn is actually sitting in my Pile of Loot at BBTS, but I’m not digging Poison Ivy enough to buy her. Anyway, there’s not a lot else to say about the box. It gets the job done, but considering we’re dealing with a comic book company, a company that is all about the graphic arts, you’d think they could come up with something more attractive than the presentation here. The statue comes wrapped in plastic and nestled between two styrofoam trays.

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Out of the box, Selina stands atop a decorative finial on a rooftop. One leg cocked, she’s glancing back over her shoulder, goggles up, her whip is coiled around her, and she’s carrying a novelty kitty-cat backpack full of jewels. I can’t argue with the pose, it’s a little seductive and it captures all there is about the character pretty well. If I had one thing to nitpick it’s that the pose makes it difficult for me to decide on how to display the statue. I suppose it’s intended to be displayed with her head looking straight out at you, and that does indeed look nice. On the downside, you miss out on some of the other assets she has on display, and at this angle the cat chasing her is obscured by her leg. Still, all in all, I’ve got no complaints about the pose.

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In hand, the statue has a satisfying heft for its size. It’s a cold cast porcelain piece, rather than the PVC plastic that make up most of the statues in my collection. The portrait, Sam Greenwell is the sculptor here, is certainly competent, but it’s not stellar. There’s a reason some statues are considered “high end collectibles” and sell for hundreds of dollars and others don’t, so I’m willing to be a little forgiving here. Selina’s face is pretty and it’s close to the comic art by Guillem March, but it’s not a slam dunk. The short spikey hair must have been a challenge to get right, but I think they did a good job. I do wish the strap on the goggles was sculpted or painted to stand out from the hair just a bit more.

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The rest of the statue is quite nice, although in fairness her leather bodysuit doesn’t require a lot of detail so it lends itself well to this kind of statue. There are a few seams and wrinkles, and the zipper is detailed, but most of what’s here is smooth, glossy black curves. The whip is actually a soft rubbery material (OMG, IT’S MIXED MEDIA!!!) and I like the texturing on the backpack. The base looks good and as far as architecture goes it’s about as Gotham City as you can get without actually putting a gargoyle on it. The cat on the base is a nice touch. I like how it’s suspended in mid jump and how it looks like it’s mesmerized by and chasing the frayed end of Catwoman’s whip.

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Paint has been a hit and miss affair with the DC Cover Girls line. Honestly, I think the paintwork on my Catwoman is quite good. Again, this is a pretty simple statue to paint, as the bulk of the body is just coated in high gloss black. The detail work on the zipper is pretty good, as are the flesh tones. The one thing that stands out a bit is her right eye looks just ever so slightly droopy and uneven, but it’s not enough to ruin the piece for me. In fact, I didn’t really notice it until I was really scrutinizing it for this feature. The paintwork along her hairline is pretty solid as are the lips.

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I like this statue a lot, but it feels a little less impressive than past statues in this series. It feels like there’s been some cost cutting since the days of Cover Girls’ production limitations and Adam Hughes’ sculpts. But I also need to remind myself that some of those statues could be hit and miss as well. For example, I have desperately wanted to pick up the Cover Girls Starfire statue, I still hope to one day, but I’ve yet to see one with acceptable paint. I could also mention that while DC Collectibles no longer limits the production on this line, they haven’t lowered the price accordingly. Catwoman’s MSRP is $99, and when you see what you can get from Kotobukiya for less, that seems rather high. I picked up mine for $65, and that seems a lot closer to the mark. All in all, I’m satisfied and I’m happy to have her on my shelf.

May 14 2013

Transformers Beast Hunters: Smokescreen by Hasbro

Folks, I am not going to be big into Beast Hunters. No, really. I’m not. I know I’ve said that before about TF: Animated and TF: Prime and in the end I bought a lot of them. I really don’t see that happening here. There are a few figures that may tempt me just because it’s such a rare treat to go to a store and actually buy a toy off the pegs these days, but I’m going to be mighty picky about any of the figures in this line that I buy. That having been said, Smokescreen was a no-brainer. He’s one of a pair of figures (the other being Shockwave) that seemed like they were planned for Prime release and so their spikey Beast Hunters rubbish are just extra bits that can be taken off and thrown away in order to give you a regular old Prime figure.

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I’m not going to get into my thoughts about the direction Beast Hunters is taking the show. I haven’t watched it regularly anyway, so I don’t really feel entitled to discuss it. With the exception of Transformers comics, I’m only about the toys these days. I’ll just say that I’m sure Hasbro is trying to come up with fresh new ideas to sell the figures and, to be honest, if I were a kid I’d probably be all over this concept. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of the new packaging. TRANSFORMERS PRIME BEAST HUNTERS is quite a mouthful and the new deco just doesn’t do anything for me. Smokescreen is carded in his robot mode and there’s a sticker on the bubble advertising The Hub, which I’m frankly surprised still exists.

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The back of the card shows pictures of both modes and it looks like Hasbro has really cut down their bio-writing staff because Smokescreen just gets a single line. Ok, I’m done with the packaging. As usual, I’m going to start out with Smokescreen’s alt mode.

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As expected, that alt mode is a sports car and overall I think it’s pretty good. He’s got a sexy, curvy look to him. The bulk of the toy is cast in an off-white plastic with some nice red and blue paint apps and “38” on the doors to provide me with a cool little G1 fanwank. I like the tinted clear windshield and the tinted yellow headlamps. Yes, it feels like it’s missing some paint apps on the bumper and tail lights, but all in all, this is a pretty solid little car mode. I’ve got no complaints.

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There are peg holes on the roof and sides of the spoiler to plug in Smokescreen’s weapon, which is a net launcher. Blah! Fortunately, you can remove the rubbery net and turn it into a perfectly serviceable little gun-slash-missile launcher.

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Smokescreen also comes with his “Shadow Quill Armor.” It’s a rubbery piece of armor that fits over the front of the car kind of like an automotive bra. I gotta say, I’m not hating the way it looks on the car mode. It feels a tad out of place on a car with this kind of sporty paint job, but it gives him some nice ramming spikes, and I’m certainly down with that.

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Transforming Smokescreen is a wee bit fidgety, but it’s also rather fresh and clever, and the end result is a robot with a lot of interesting stuff going on. You’ve got some really cool shoulder armor, doors that hang off his sides and kind of remind me of the holster/scabbards on Generations Drift and Blurr. The chest plate is kind of a fake out, as it’s obviously intended to be a crunched down version of the front of the car. I know some people don’t dig the whole fake out thing on Transformers, but it doesn’t bother me so much here. About the only downside to this guy is that he’s best viewed from the front because from the back he looks rather hollow and unfinished. Oh, and yes, you can put his “Shadow Quill Armor” on when he’s in robot mode, but it looks like ass, so I won’t be doing that.

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Smokescreen’s coloring in bot form is pretty close to his alt mode deco. He’s still mostly off-white, although he does feature some nice red and blue paintwork on his arms and legs, a blue stripe down the front of his chest, and yellow paint to simulate his headlights in his chest. I don’t know if it’s the design of his robot mode or the deco or a little of both, but I do get a little bit of a Gundam vibe off of him. I think the only gripe I have is the paint apps on the head could have been executed a little better. It’s not bad, just a little bland. It might not just be the paint. To be honest, a lot of the Prime styled head sculpts look a little too much alike to me.

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Articulation has not been a problem with the TF: Prime figures, and it isn’t here either. Smokescreen’s got a lot of poseability, making for a very fun figure. His shoulder armor can angle up so as not to inhibit his arm movement. His shoulders are hinged on a little post and then ball jointed, and his arms have swivels in the biceps and hinges in the elbows. His legs are ball jointed at the hips and then hinged at the knees and ankles. He can swivel at the waist and his head can turn side to side.

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I haven’t been paying much attention to the Beast Hunter pegs, so I’m really glad I happened to spot Smokescreen on my last trip through the toy aisle. Whether or not I choose to get any more Beast Hunters figures, he makes a nice addition to my TF: Prime Autobot lineup. And that’s pretty cool, because I was all but certain I was done adding to that collection. To sweeten the deal he was only about $13, which is a couple bucks less than most of the Deluxe TFs have been as of late. I was rather tempted to pick up Ripclaw as well, but I decided to save him for another time. Now if only I could stumble across Shockwave, I’ll be a very happy camper.

May 13 2013

Marvel Universe: Beta-Ray Bill by Hasbro

Welcome to Marvel Monday, my continuing journey to get through all my Marvel Universe figures… and today is all about Beta-Ray Bill. I’ve always found Bill to be a very cool character, even though I’ve only occasionally encountered him in my funnybook readings. That having been said, he wasn’t really on my “must have” list for action figures, but he’s still a welcome addition to my collection. Hey, if you’re one of the few worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, then you’ve got the chops to hang out on my Marvel shelf. Let’s take a look!

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Yep, that’s the current incarnation of the Marvel Universe packaging. Bill really fills out the card nicely and I totally dig his character art. Also present is the wonderful “Comic Shot,” and by “wonderful” I mean, I’m about to flick it at my cat so at least he might get some use out of it. Wait for it… nope. He’s not interested in it either. Anyway, I was in the middle of tearing Beta-Ray Bill open when I screamed out the revelation, “Oh shit, I didn’t take the package shot yet!” and that’s why it looks a little worse for wear. Usually when that happens, there’s alcohol involved. In this case, I was just really excited to get the figure out.

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The back of the card has one of the more lengthy bios I’ve seen on an MU package. I’m guessing Hasbro thought a lot of people might not know who poor Bill is and thus his background needed an explanation. Hey, he got an episode in “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” so the kids should at least recognize him. You also get another little quip from Rocket Raccoon… Ha ha… “free of clowns” Ahh…Wait… I don’t get it. Getting Bill out the package is a project and a half. Between all the invisible rubber bands and his cape passing through a slit in the tray, I almost had to chew him out.

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Since he wears what is essentially a set of Thor’s Asgardian armor, one might expect Bill to be a quick kitbash from previous Thor figures. In the early days of MU, I would have expected Secret Wars Comic Pack Thor with a horse head thrown on him. But no. I’ll hand it to Hasbro. They didn’t take the low road here. In the tradition of most of the recent MU figures, they stepped up and went all out on this guy. Beginning with the portrait, the head sculpt is excellent. The Asgardian helmet looks amazing and while the wings are a little soft, they aren’t warped at all. I totally dig the eyes, and the head has a special treat which we’ll touch on when we get to talking articulation… aw, hell, I’ll just ruin it now… HE HAS AN ARTICULATED JAW!!!

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If the torso is recycled from a previous Thor figure, I sure can’t tell. In truth, it looks too lean, so I’m guessing it’s new. Either way, the discs on the armor are all actually part of the sculpt and he has a belt that hangs loose around on his waist. The legs appear to be new sculpts as well, with armor plates on the thighs and knees. The cape is a brand new piece and it has two pegs to secure it to the pair of sockets in Bill’s back. This is easily one of the better executions of the Thor style cape as it fits snugly on the figure, but it can easily be removed for when Bill needs that extra room to take care of business. I’ll also note here that the quality of Bill’s plastic is really excellent. There’s no warping or sense of soft joints.

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As great as the sculpt is, it’s the coloring on this figure that impresses me the most. Bill is sporting one of the better paint jobs I’ve seen in this line, and that’s not intended as a loaded compliment. He’s gorgeous! The black and light metallic blue used for his torso looks amazing and when combined with the metallic gold of his belt and boots, the figure really pops. Toss in the darker metallic blue for the leg and shoulder armor and the bright white of his gauntlets, and this figure’s color palate screams comic book beauty! Even better, the quality of the paint is immaculate.

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Naturally, Bill comes with his trusty hammer, Stormbreaker. It’s a relatively simple accessory stamped out in gold plastic, but it really completes his ensemble nicely. He can wield it in his right hand and his left hand is left clenched in a fist for punching fools.

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Bill features all the articulation we’ve come to expect from the current crop of Marvel Universe figures. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and ankles, have swivels in the thighs, and double hinges in the knees. He has a ball joint in the torso and can swivel at the waist. Technically, Bill has a ball jointed neck, but he can really only turn his head from side to side. The reason? Because he has a goddamn hinged jaw, that’s why! A hinged jaw!!!! Well played, Hasbro.

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Even if you have zero interest in Beta-Ray Bill as a character, you should buy this figure. Why? Because every bit of him is gorgeous! Hasbro really has been delivering the goods with the latest waves of Marvel Universe and Bill here is a perfect example of the added quality that Hasbro has been investing into the line. A year or so back I was wondering why I was paying $10 a pop for these figures, but in Bill’s case he’s worth every penny. It does my heart good to see Hasbro turning this line around over the course of the last year, but it also thrills me to no end when they invest this kind of effort into a character that is, well… let’s just say not an A-lister. In fact, I’ll go one better, Bill is probably in my Top 10 MU figures so far. He really is that good!

May 12 2013

Sunday Funday: The Last Starfighter Blu-Ray

So, I really didn’t need anything from Wally World, but I convinced myself to drive down there the other morning because I was jonesing for an action figure or a Lego set or something. So much of my stuff has been coming to me by way of the Internets lately. I don’t really miss the hunt, but every once and a while, it is nice to actually buy something and not have to wait a week to have it in hand. Anyway, I didn’t do all that well in the toy aisles, but I did spend some time rummaging through the HUGE drum of $7.88 Blu-Rays that that they have set up in the middle of the aisle. I honestly hate going through these things. Trying to find anything in it is like digging a hole in the sand. It just keeps closing up and you can spend an hour just flipping through copies of Ace Ventura, Face Off, and Happy Feet. Also, I feel like a homeless person picking through a giant garbage can looking for something I can use to decorate my cardboard box shack.

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Well, I was just about to call it quits before I came up with this forgotten gem. When I say forgotten gem, I mean I really did forget this movie existed. Once I set eyes on it, however, it all came rushing back to me. I could remember my parents taking me to see it in the theater. It came out in 1984, which means I was 12. That right there was what made my parents so awesome. They had no hope of enjoying anything this movie had to offer, and yet they flushed their Saturday afternoon down the drain because they knew it would make me happy. Maybe my Dad got a kick out of the effects, but my Mom must have been bored to tears, but she did it because she is a great Mom. (And that’s my shout out to my Mom on Mother’s Day!).  I loved this movie and I can well remember renting it more than a dozen times when it finally became available on VHS. It celebrated almost everything that I loved about life as a 12 year old boy: Aliens, Space Ships, and Video Games.

Now it’s been over a decade since I saw it, and I was excited to pop it in and see whether it could possibly hold up. Now granted, the last time I watched this, I was a 14-year old munching on some Cap’n Crunch, and now I’m a middle aged nerd with a rock glass of Jameson in my hand. So, does it hold up? Well, with just the right amount of nostalgia and whiskey… yes, yes it does.

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Trailer park washout Alex dreams of heading to the big city and making something of himself, but he’s stuck fixing people’s fuse boxes and dropping quarters into the local Starfighter arcade machine. Of course, it’s all a test to find someone capable of joining The Star League and piloting a Gunstar against the forces of the evil dictator-wannabe, Xur. There’s a lot I love about this story, but mostly it’s the stuff that’s non-conventional. Alex is clearly a video game nerd, but he’s not really a loser. He’s got a pretty girlfriend, he’s got friends to hang out with, but most of all, he’s got the support of his little trailer park community who turn out in droves to cheer him on when he’s beating the machine’s top score. Seeing all those people cheer him on is just one of the greatest video-gaming moments of cinema. Some of you young people may not be aware, but it wasn’t always cool to be a nerd like in today’s world of top grossing comic book movies and Xbox. Stuff like this and Tron were a really big deal.

Robert Preston gives it his all as Centauri, who shows up in his flying car to take Alex to the Star League base. Yes, kids, if an old stranger shows up and tells you to get in his cool car, you climb on board! That’s what we learned from The Last Starfighter! Anyway, I still love the “Star Car” as much as I did as a kid and I still remember screaming inward at the screen when Alex asked to be taken home rather than help. “What the hell are you doing??? They’re going to let you fly a f’cking spaceship with a lizard man and shoot lasers!!!!” I had forgotten about this plot-point in the movie, and this time I was yelling at the screen out loud in a Jameson fueled rage.

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The subplot with Beta Unit Alex holds up pretty well for me too, mainly because of the cool special effects scenes. I remember seeing a lot of screen grabs and articles in either Starlog or Fangoria, or a similar magazine, about the makeup and effects. I used to love those kinds of magazines and how they showed everything that went into practical effects, and now I have a hankering to pull my old stack out for a future Sunday Funday. That kind of shit made me want to ask for a bunch of latex and air bellows for Christmas so I could learn how to do it and get a job in an SFX company. Good thing I didn’t, because now it’s all done by computers, and I spend too much time sitting at a computer desk already.

Speaking of computers and effects… Last Starfighter was hyped because it was one of the first movies to showcase CG effects in place of model ships. Watching the movie again, I thought the hardest thing to accept would be the Tron-like CG effects as realistic spacecraft. To my surprise, they actually look quite spectacular on the Blu-Ray cut. Not realistic, mind you. There’s no part of me that is convinced they’re real ships, and I still prefer the good old studio model kit building for my space ship effects, but I can’t deny that this stuff just looks neat. NEAT!!!

Sometimes, I drop $8 on a budget movie, watch it and think, meh… why did I bother? That wasn’t the case here. I enjoyed watching this one again and I can see myself popping it in again sometime down the road. In fact, I’ll probably watch it again this week for the commentary and extras. Oh, and while Sunday Funday is all about taking a break from toys, I’m not opposed to a toy tie-in if I can do it. Check out this amazing little piece on the unproduced Last Starfighter action figure line at the awesome Plaid Stallions blog. Or how about this ridiculously cool Lego Gunstar.

May 11 2013

Doctor Who: The 11th Doctor Sixth-Scale Figure by Big Chief Studios, Part 2

Aaaaand I’m back to conclude my look at Big Chief’s 1:6 scale 11th Doctor figure. The guys at Big Chief packed The Good Doctor with a lot of accessories based off of items that we’ve seen featured in various episodes. Some are great, some are kind of cool, and some I could have done without. But first…

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I’m going to start out with the figure stand, only because the stand is easily the most disappointing thing about this figure, and I don’t want to end the feature on a low note. Rather than just a simple stand, Big Chief delivers a bit of an environment. They were going for a stand that looks like a section of the clear platform that surrounded the TARDIS console in Series 5, 6, and 7A. The look is certainly there, but the stand has enough issues to make me wish they hadn’t tried it. For starters, it feels rather cheap. The stand comes in two parts: You get the base and the post, which supports the figure. The base looks good, but it’s so light and flimsy feeling.

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The post snaps into the side of the platform and it features the same type of extendable wire piece that Hot Toys stands use to hold the figure’s crotch. The problem is that it positions the figure all the way in the back of the platform, leaving this large bit of empty floor in front of him. I suppose the idea here was that you could lay out all the accessories on the base in front of him, but I don’t want a bunch of little bits lying around like that, and so it’s just wasted space that pushes the figure back on my shelf. If the post came out of the middle of the base, I would have liked it a lot more. Actually, I would have been a lot happier with just a more functional figure stand and a cardboard illustration of the TARDIS for him to stand in front of.

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HANDS!!! The 10th Doctor was fond of carting about his spare hand in a bubbling jar, so why shouldn’t the 11th Doctor have a whole bunch of extra hands? “You Time Lords, you’re like worms. Lob a bit off and it grows back!” You get three pairs of mitts and they are replaced with the same post system as Hot Toys figures. The only difference is these hands are more soft and rubbery, so while the post sockets are actually smaller, I find the hands much easier to swap. I’m not a big fan of swapping hands on my figures, but some of these are definitely required if you’re going to pose him holding some of the accessories.

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As for the actual accessories… you get a whole bunch of stuff gathered from Series 5 and 6 episodes. Obviously the one thing The Doctor can’t live without these days is his trusty Sonic Screwedriver and you actually get three of these little beauties: The 10th Doctor’s Sonic and two versions of 11’s Sonic, one opened and one closed. They are simple enough pieces, as they are rather tiny, but the sculpts and paint on all three are pretty solid. I doubt I’ll have the 10th Doctors Sonic out of the tray much, but the other two will get a lot of use. The closed one will reside in his inside jacket pocket and the open one will likely remain in his hand.

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The “Lash Up” device is like a homebrew mobile phone. I have no recollection of this device in the series at all. Was it used in “The Girl Who Waited?” I just can’t place it. It’s a great looking little accessory, but I don’t have much use for it.

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Next up is the Nano Recorder. This is a gun-like device that The Doctor used to implant recorders under the skin of his team when going up against The Silents. It’s a device that didn’t have a lot of screen time, but at least I can remember it from the series context. Besides, if Character Options can make a roleplay toy based on it, I’m not going to harp on Big Chief for tossing it in as an accessory here. Once again, a cool little piece, but not one that I will likely ever display with The Doctor.

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And then we have his handkerchief and the bit of exploded TARDIS. I’m pairing these up because The Doctor used the handkerchief to reach into the crack in time and pull out the piece of TARDIS. “Hey, Moffatt, I’m still waiting on you to explain that one! Why the hell did the TARDIS blow up???” Anyway, the handkerchief comes folded neatly and looks great. The chunk of TARDIS is arguably the best looking accessory because the paint work on it is really impressive. It looks genuinely distressed. Very cool!

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Ah, the Psychic Paper! We haven’t seen a lot of it lately. I know some fans complain that he uses it too much like a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card, but I think it’s a clever way to bypass a lot of explanations as to why he turns up where he’s not supposed to be. Besides, it isn’t nearly as annoying to me as the new Sonic Swiss Army Knife that somehow functions like a tricorder. That really, REALLY bugs me. I think it’s time to bring the Terileptils back to destroy that thing. Wait… where was I? Oh yeah, the Psychic Paper is just a cool little rubbery piece of plastic. I’ve been trained against the use of it by the Headless Monks, so mine is blank when I look at it.

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Moving on… we have the Time Lord Consciousness Cube as seen in “The Doctor’s Wife.” It’s basically just a little frosty transparent cube. Originally, it was inferred that it might light up, but it’s so small that would have been pretty tough to do. There’s not a lot to it, but it is a cool piece, and one that I may actually display with the figure from time to time.

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Last, but not least, is the invitation from “The Impossible Astronaut.” It’s just a tiny little envelope with a card inside, and yet it’s possibly the most impressive accessory here. It’s so damn tiny and yet all the little printing on it looks so great. The fact that it even opens and has the invitation inside is all the more amazing.

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And that wraps up the inventory of accessories. Cyberman not included! Honestly, after all the trepidation on my part, in the end I’m extremely happy with this figure. The quality of the figure’s body, the articulation, and most of all the likeness, are all well worth the money and as you see, you get a ridiculous number of accessories and extras. Sure, the tailoring on the costume can use some tweaks and bobs, It’s easily the figure’s weakest point, but even still, it’s a very solid effort for a first figure. I think Big Chief established themselves quite well with this initial offering and I’m very anxious to see what else they have coming. We’ve already seen pictures of the 10th Doctor and Amy Pond figures and we’ve seen lots of teasers from the upcoming 4th Doctor figure. I do believe I’m on board and I won’t be as hesitant to pull the trigger next time.

May 10 2013

Doctor Who: The 11th Doctor Sixth- Scale Figure by Big Chief Studios, Part 1

I don’t think I’ve ever done as much hand wringing over buying an action figure as I have over The Good Doctor here. I wanted this figure so, so badly when it first came out, and I even had the money set aside for it. But some of the early in-hand pictures of the outfit worried me. At $200, the price worried me. The fact that it was Big Chief’s first attempt at an action figure of this type, well that really worried me. In the end I took a pass. I just couldn’t justify $200 on such a risky venture. But $120? Yeah, I could do that. And that’s the deal I got on this figure last week from the fine folks at TFAW.com. I don’t mind telling you, that I was still a little squeamish about doing it. But in the end I couldn’t resist. You’ll find that comparisons to Hot Toys products are going to be a running theme in this feature. Hey, if you’re going to put out a 1:6 scale figure and charge $200 for it, it’s only fair to be judged against the quality of your peers. There’s a lot to say about this guy, so I’m going to start out today with a look at the box and the figure, and then tomorrow I’ll be back to look at the accessories. Let’s get to it… Geronimo!!!

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The box is right in line with what I expect when I buy a higher end collectible figure. In fact, it’s a little more elaborate than what I got with my Hot Toys’ Black Widow. The front panel has gold printing with “Doctor Who” in the center along with the “DWARTIS” logo. The side panels feature shots of Matt Smith and the BBC logo. The back panel shows a full shot of the figure and a blurb. I grant bonus points for mentioning his “cool bow tie.” The blurb also points out that it is officially licensed from the BBC. All in all, this is quite an attractive box, which feels right at home next to any of my Hot Toys figure boxes.

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A number of people have reported receiving the boxes in rough shape, and the consensus seems to be that a lot of the wear happened in the factory or warehouse, rather than from retailers. Mine certainly has a few scuffs on it, but overall it’s in pretty good shape.

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The box features a wrap-around front flap that opens to reveal the figure behind the window. The inside of the flap shows an assortment of shots of the figure holding the various accessories. The box is easily opened from the top to reveal two trays. The first holds the figure and accessories; the second holds the stand in two parts and has a packet with a few more accessories. Again, with the exception of the second tray for the stand, I’m getting a major Hot Toys vibe off of the way the figure sits in the tray, plastic wrap around the head, and accessories and extra hands fanned out on each side. Overall, I give Big Chief high marks for the presentation.

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Let’s start out with the likeness… Yep, that’s Matt Smith alright. It’s obvious that Big Chief studied some of what Hot Toys does with their head sculpts, because the influence on this piece is telling. Besides the likeness being pretty damn close, I’m really happy with how the sculpted hair turned out. You could argue that the bangs coming down the right side of his face are a tad chunky, but overall I think it’s good. The paint on the lips and eyes are extremely similar to what Hot Toys does, giving the figure that undefinable spark of life. Even the paint that makes up the skin tone looks quite lifelike. For their first figure, Big Chief really slammed the head straight out of the park. I don’t think it’s on par with Hot Toys’ best efforts, but it’s definitely in the same league as their more average efforts, and that’s not a bad thing.

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The articulation on this figure is what surprised me the most, because The Doctor has some crazy articulation going on. Big Chief devised an excellent and quite durable base body for this figure. I’m not about to strip him down to see what’s going on, but Big Chief provides a nice shot of the body’s articulation HERE.  Between the excellent articulation and the fact that his outfit isn’t at all restrictive, I find I can get a lot more poses out of him than most of my Hot Toys figures. Granted, The Doctor doesn’t necessarily need to be super-articulated, but it comes in handy when he needs to bust out the Venusian Aikido. It’s also great for any of the normal poses like checking his watch or wielding his Sonic Screwdriver. I’ll also note that some of the joints in the body are designed to pull out if placed under too much stress. One time when I was swapping his left hand, I was absolutely certain I broke his arm. Nope, it just pops right back in.

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So far, so good. But it’s the outfit where I was afraid the figure would stumble, and while it looks a lot better in person than in Big Chief’s production shots, there are certainly some nagging issues here. The jacket is an impressive piece of tailoring on a number of levels. The pattern on the tweed looks excellent, the teeny-tiny buttons look great, the elbow patches are awesome, and the lining is particularly good. There’s even an inside pocket for his Sonic. Indeed, the jacket would be perfect if it weren’t for the bit of puffiness around the seams of the front flaps, particularly on the left flap. It makes the jacket look like it’s a little thicker and heavier than it should be. Yet touching it, it feels just right, as it’s totally soft and pliable. I’m tempted to try to iron it to get a sharper crease, but I don’t want to risk damaging it. The tiny buttons do terrify me, as a couple of collectors have had them pop off while changing around the hands. Mine are fine so far, and I’ve done a lot of fiddling about with this figure, but they’re so tiny, if one were to pop off, I’m pretty sure it would be gone forever. The Doctor also sports a wrist watch on his left hand.

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The shirt underneath the jacket has a collar which looks a tad too puffy and heavy. It can be fussed into control, but one side of the collar often wants to pop up in front of the bowtie. The bowtie itself looks like it’s actually tied, proper and that’s cool. Bowties are cool, even in one-sixth scale! In truth, the bow tie is on an elastic band, although you can make adjustments to the front. The elastic suspenders are nicely done, and the trousers look and fit great. The shoes are nicely sculpted as well. Honestly, if Hot Toys hadn’t raised the bar so high for 1:6 scale costume tailoring, I wouldn’t even be dwelling on the issues here. The outfit is very good, especially for a first attempt at a figure like this, but it simply is not up to the Hot Toys standards.

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Ok, I’m well past my average length for a feature, so I’m going to break here and come back tomorrow to start checking out The Doctor’s crazy amount of accessories, as well as the figure stand.

May 9 2013

Transformers Unleashed: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

In the last month or so, I’ve checked a few of Hasbro’s very cool Star Wars Unleashed statues. Hasbro had a good thing going on with this line and in an effort to make lightning strike twice, they tried the same thing with Transformers. The difference? The Star Wars statues seemed like a genuine attempt to bring attractive display pieces to collectors on a budget. The Transformers statues seemed more like a quick and dirty cash grab amidst a sea of other movie related merchandise. I should be able to wrap this one up mighty quick and we can all go on with our business.

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I don’t have the packaging for this wonderful object d’art any longer, but I seem to recall it coming in some sort of window box. I also need not confess to actually buying it, as it was a present from the former Mrs. FigureFan. I’m tempted to say it was well-intentioned, but unfortunately she turned out to be quite a vindictive headcase, so it could have just as easily been gifted out of spite. Anyway, the idea here is that in the true nature of the Transformers, this is actually two-Two-TWO statues in one! On one side, it’s Prime in his truck mode, but turn it around and there he is in his robot mode. You see? It’s like a Transfromer but it’s a statue!

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The alt mode portion of the statue depicts Prime in his movie truck form, launching himself off a cliff against a backdrop of terrible looking translucent plastic flames. The cliff looks like it’s carved out of chocolate and there’s a huge Autobot insignia sculpted into the side. Only part of the truck is actually here because it’s partly obscured in the so-called fire. I never minded Prime being an extended front cab, but I was never a fan of this coloring. There’s way too much blue, and this statue seems to add even more. Apart from that, there are some stray splotches of paint. All in all, this looks Ok, I guess, but it’s nothing spectacular. Maybe the flipside will be better?

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Nah, not really. The pose isn’t bad. Prime is bent down on one knee with a fist held out in defiance and his other arm converted into his gun. Giving Prime an arm that converts into a gun never seemed right to me. It just doesn’t fit the character. But then again, before Revenge of the Fallen I wasn’t used to seeing my childhood hero rip people’s faces off either, so I guess I need to get with the times. Either way, the statue is just being faithful to the source material, so I can’t blame it for that. In fairness, there’s a lot of sculpted detail on this guy, but it’s still not enough to effectively convey the crazy complex “bag of scissors” aesthetic of the Bayformer designs. There’s also way too much bland grey plastic here and not enough painted detail. The head is pretty unspectacular as well. The sculpt is really soft and you can’t really even see his eyes.

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It’s hard to put my finger on exactly where Hasbro went wrong with this piece. Sure, aesthetically this is far from my favorite version of Prime, but I was still able to appreciate his Leader Class movie toys. Ultimately, I think most of the blame lies in the super soft sculpt not being able to capture the intricate design. Had this been a statue of old school G1 Sunbow Prime, I think it could have been spectacular. In concept, the whole turnaround gimmick showing off both modes may not have been inherently bad, but the execution just doesn’t result in a piece that I’m all that keen on displaying. And so, Prime here resides on the tip top shelf of display case in the corner. Mostly out of sight and out of mind.

May 8 2013

DC Comics Unlimited: “New 52” Flash by Mattel

As promised, today I’m back to check out the fourth addition to my “New 52” DCUC-style Justice League. The Flash has had a lot of love from Mattel over the past couple of years. We finally got Jay Garrick, we got Mirror Master, soon we’ll be getting Wally West, and now Barry Allen joins the ranks in his reboot costume. I only read the first couple issues of the current Flash book, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and I have the first two volumes of the collected editions on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I am, however, up to date on my Justice League reading and while I think the story took a nose dive around issues #8 to #12, I enjoy the chemistry between the characters, and I really like Flash in that book.

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The packaging here is the same as we saw yesterday with Wonder Woman, so we can just take a gander and move on. I still really dig the art on the big side panel, although in this case, I think they took it from Flash’s own book, rather than Jim Lee’s awesome Justice League art. The packages are so big that the lack of a C&C part is rather conspicuous, but I’m perfectly fine with Mattel not going down that route again with these guys. I already have the All-Stars New 52 Superman and I probably won’t bother with Hawkman.

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I was disappointed to see that Mattel incorporated the lightning effects into the figure. I didn’t like these on my DCUC White Lantern Flash, and I don’t much like them here either. On the plus side, they are all removable. On the downside, removing the one in his back leaves a big hole there. Here would have been a great opportunity for Mattel to toss in a little piece of red plastic to fill it in, but this is Mattel, and I know them better than to expect that. Ok, on to the figure.

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I really dig Flash’s current costume, and I think it looks particularly nice on this figure. He’s molded in a vibrant red plastic, and the added yellow piping just makes the costume look more dynamic and interesting. The apps for the yellow striping are applied with razor sharp precision on my figure. I remember when first reading Justice League, the back of the book had some artist design notes for the new costumes and pointed out that all the emblems should be raised whenever the characters were reproduced in 3D form. Mattel has been true to that directive on all the figures so far, and Flash is no exception. His emblem is sculpted into his chest and apart from his boots, represents the only real sculpted detail on the costume. The boots are somewhat similar in design to Superman’s and even a little bit like Batman’s. I like the added detail a lot.

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Barry’s head sculpt is excellent. Yes, he’s a little stern looking. Maybe a slightly more light hearted expression would have worked too, but what’s here is fine. The lightning style panel lines are sculpted into the hood and the lightning on the sides look great and are surprisingly not made of super flimsy rubbery warping plastic.

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Naturally, Flash features your typical DCUC style articulation, which includes, ball joints in the head and shoulders. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have the usual DCUC hip joints, swivels in the lower thighs, and hinges in the knees and ankles. He has a swivel in the waist and an ab-crunch hinge in the torso.

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Flash is a nice figure, stupid effect parts notwithstanding. So far, I’m fairly happy with DC Unlimited. For a while there, I was tempted to just go the DC Collectibles route and get the whole Justice League in one shot and be done with it. Sure it would have been cheaper, and I wouldn’t have to wait, but I’ve become so used to having the DCUC style articulation in my DC figures, that I’m glad I went this route. Hopefully we’ll be getting Hal, Aquaman, and Cyborg soon too, although if Mattel makes me wait long enough I can’t say I won’t go back and pick up the “We Can Be Heroes” set at some point down the road.

May 7 2013

DC Comics Unlimited: “New 52” Wonder Woman by Mattel

Last week I hit y’all with a triple play of Marvel, and yesterday I did my usual Marvel Monday. In case you’re all Marveled out, I thought we’d see what’s going on in the other camp. Today and tomorrow I’ll be delivering a one-two punch from Mattel’s DC Comics Unlimited series, and we’re starting with Wonder Woman. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I really dig the New 52’s Wonder Woman. The art isn’t among my favorite of the current DC books, but it gets by. The story, on the other hand… conceptually, the story is just everything I wouldn’t have expected. The first year played out as a bizarre tour of the tortured relationships between Diana’s extended family, The Olympian Gods. The take on these Gods is nothing short of brilliant. Their dialogue is dry and witty, their character designs are fresh and original, and in a lot of cases, their characterization is so entertaining that they make Wonder Woman take a backseat in her own book! I can see why this sort of thing would irk Wonder Woman fans to no end, but ultimately the book is so imaginative and entertaining to me, I’m willing to forgive what sometimes feels like a bait-and-switch.

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DC Unlimited is just another one of the confused splinter lines which rose from the ashes of the now defunct DC Universe Classics. Like the Signature Collection, or the short-lived All-Stars, these figures are designed to be right at home on your DCUC shelves, while drawing primarily from characters as they appear in contemporary DC Comics media. I had a lot of fun poking fun at the “reinvention” of the DCUC line into DC All-Stars when the package and branding barely changed at all, but the packaging for DC Unlimited got a full revamp, and the result is pretty spectacular.

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The cards really stand out on the pegs, thanks to the huge panel of artwork inside the bubble. The artwork featured here comes from Jim Lee’s Justice League, rather than WW’s own book, which is a good thing, because I think that book looks far more dynamic and exciting. The back panel features a little blurb about the character and brings back the little list of stats. Overall, this packaging is just every bit as colorful and exciting as a comic book action figure deserves.

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The first thing I noticed about WW was that she seems rather smallish, so much so that the regular DCUC WW stands about a head taller. On the plus side, all the New 52 figures have been smaller than their predecessors, so Diana fits in fine with my DC All-Stars Batman and Superman. I’m not sure if Mattel did this to save plastic or just because these are supposed to be younger versions of the characters, either way it does make them stand out when displayed with DCUC figures.

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That having been said, what’s here is quite good. The skin tone on Diana’s face is a bit waxy, but the sculpt is beautiful. Again, she’s patterned after the Justice League art as opposed to Cliff Chiang’s larger eyed version from the Wonder Woman book. The hair is particularly well sculpted, although it does render her neck articulation useless.

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DCUC used to get by with a lot of painted costumes, but that’s certainly not the case here. With the exception of her arm band, every detail on Wonder Woman’s outfit is actually sculpted onto the figure. That includes not only the boots and bracers and the crest running along the top of her “swimsuit” but also all of the panel lines, the stars, and the choker. Her lasso is permanently coiled and attached to her hip, and she has an oddly placed loop on her butt to hold her sword. The sword came out of my package warped to hell. I was able to straighten it out and it looks pretty good in her hand, but it’s still a very soft and flimsy piece of plastic. The one downside of the sculpt is Mattel’s decision to plaster the copyright information in huge lettering across Diana’s back. Yes, some of it is obscured by her hair, but it’s really ugly. This kind of thing belongs on the bottoms of the feet or inside of the leg in tiny letters, not like a billboard on the figure’s back.

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Wonder Woman’s paintwork is mostly ok, but it varies a lot. The paint on her face is solid, although there is a stray mark between her eyebrows. The paint on her one-piece is practically immaculate. On the other hand, the white striping on her boots is rather sloppy. I do like the red and blue and silver they used, although I’m not a fan of the blue boots over the old red ones. But that’s an issue I have with the character design, not Mattel’s figure.

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Diana’s articulation offers most everything you would expect to find in a DCUC figure. The arms are ball jointed in the shoulders, hinged at the elbows, and have swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have the usual DCUC joint in the hips, which allow for lateral movement, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the biceps. There is no ab crunch hinge, instead, there’s a swivel in the upper torso. It feels like it might be a ball joint, but it really only allows for side to side movement. The neck is ball jointed, but as already mentioned, the sculpted hair renders it useless.

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Overall, I think Wonder Woman turned out ok. She’s not exceptional in any way, just competent. There are some tweaks here and there that could have made her a better figure, but she fits in fine with the growing ranks of my New 52 Justice League. I picked up mine online for around $18, which feels a little steep. I think these figures are closer to $15 if you can find them on the pegs, but there’s only one store in my area that even stocks DC Unlimited and all they have is Hawkman, and I’m not keen on his new design to pick warrant a purchase.

Ok, folks, time to pay the kitty, I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at DC Unlimited Flash!