Jun 23 2023

Ultra Street Fighter II: Ryu by Jada Toys

I would never consider myself an expert at Capcom’s Street Fighter series, it’s still been an enduring thread running through most of my video game playing years. I dabbled in it back in its early days, I tried to get good when it came home to the Genesis and SNES, but it probably wasn’t until Street Fighter III on the Dreamcast that I really started to dig in. Of course, there have been many lines of mech for Street Fighter over the years, but I think SOTA Toys line of figures tends to be looked back on the fondest. Storm Collectibles has a line going, but at around $100 each, I had to shy away from those, in favor of their Golden Axe figures. But now, Jada Toys is producing figures at a much more appealing price point and the first one of these has landed. Let’s have a look at Ryu!

My first indication that Jada knew what they were doing is seen in the package design, which is so fun and stylish! You get a little arcade cab-style box with the dual joystick set ups and the health bars on the top for two players. Ryu can be seen in the “screen” which is a clear window set against a pixelated background from the game. The box is collector friendly and gives you a great look at the figure and all his accessories. I’ll definitely be displaying these in the packages!

Out of the box, Ryu feels rather unique in hand. Maybe it’s because I spend so much time with either Hasbro or McFarlane these days, but I really enjoyed exploring what this figure had to offer when I first started messing about with him. Ryu’s classic character design comes through in the sculpt, and there are some nice flourishes like the cloth material texturing that runs through every bit of his costume. I expected the belt and below the costume to be all one piece, but as it happens the entire top is worn by the figure and actually belted, so that’s pretty cool. The costume is sculpted as part of the legs, but the way the ragged cuffs hang down over the ankles makes it look like the figure is searing pants as well, and that makes for a great effect. You also get some texturing on the belt and some Japanese symbols in gold. This figure takes every opportunity to flourish with what is a pretty simple costume design.

The sculpted musculature under the costume is well defined. You get some visible veins in the arms, and the hands and feet both have some pretty sharp sculpts in the fingers and toes. Even the red gloves have some excellent texturing and the red adds a nice pop to the figure’s colors, even though they probably shouldn’t be red. The bare skin is all achieved through colored plastic, and there’s a bit of a plastic sheen to him, but I don’t find it all that distracting.

Ryu comes with two heads: A rather determined looking pre-fight expression and a holy-shit-imma-gonna-kick-yo-ass expression, and I think both of these look great. The faces on both are painted so they have a bit more of a matte finish to them than the rest of the body, but again I don’t find it all that obvious or distracting. The painted skin and the printed eyes all look fine with the figure in hand, but as you punch in closer it tends to look like pancake makeup. The sculpted hair hangs down over the red bandanna to add some depth to the portrait, and I also love how his eyebrows overlap the bandanna as well. The bandanna ties hang down on the first head and blow off to the side on the second.

Obviously, articulation is going to be important on a Street Fighter figure, and I’m happy to say that Jada really brought a lot of it to the table here. I don’t have any first hand experience with SOTA’s offerings, so I can’t make comparisons. Storm’s will certainly offer more, but that’s to be expected with bigger figures at a much higher budget. The arms have both rotating hinges in the shoulders as well as butterfly joints. The elbows are double-hinged, there are bicep swivels, and you get hinged pegs for the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double-hinged knees, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint at the waist and another under the chest, and the the neck has a ball joint at the base and again up in the head. Many of the joints have a ratcheting effect, which makes them pretty strong and an absolute pleasure to work with!

I’ve got to say that the balance on this figure is absolutely amazing. He can balance on one leg pretty easily without assistance.

You get two pairs of hands with Ryu: One set of fists, and one pair for palm strikes or performing a Hadouken. You also get the Hadouken effect part and a stand for it. The effect part is absolutely gorgeous with a iridescent swirl of blue energy inside it and you can even see Ryu’s hands in it as he projects it. The stand plugs into the bottom and it’s hinged in two places.

At $25, Ryu feels like a pretty solid value when compared to what other companies are offering, and this figure just does so much stuff right. The articulation is well thought out and well implemented. The use of colored plastic over paint makes him look clean and vibrant, and everything here just screams quality and polish. I was originally going to just cherry pick this line, but with Ryu now in hand, I think I’m going all in!

Jun 21 2023

G. I. JOE Ultimates: Duke by Super7

The second wave of Super7’s Sunbow-inspired GI JOE figures have arrived and that means I have to kick my lazy ass into high gear and get through the rest of the first wave so I can dip into the hot newness. I’ve already covered half of the first wave with Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes, so let’s hit the third today and check out Sgt. Duke Hauser.

Just like Snake Eyes, Duke comes in a window box with a green camo sleeve over it. Pull off the sleeve and you get treated to the figure and an array of extra goodies! The presentation for this line is just top notch stuff! Boy, I can still remember the day that little white mailer from Hasbro showed up with my mail-away Duke figure. I was so excited to get him and have a brand new leader to whip my JOEs into shape. Many Duke figures have come and gone into my collection since then, but I’m so excited to have a faithful treatment of Duke from the Sunbow cartoon.

And everything about this figure just screams cartoony goodness! Not that the original Duke figure was all that different from his toon version, but here we get animated Duke in all his glory. Upon first inspection, the colors really grabbed me first. The bright tan, almost ochre shirt is so vibrant and it goes so well with the bright green trausers. The boots are brown with a lighter brown striping running up the center and crossed by two bands. A lot of Duke’s basic coloring is achieved through the plastic itself, and that vibrant shiny finish lends itself brilliantly to the cartoon look. And being based off the cartoon model, the sculpting here is kept simple. The detail in his shirt is soft, there’s some light rumpling to the trousers, and his sleeves are rolled almost to his elbows, as if he’s ready to get down and fight for some mutha-lovin freedom. YO JOE!

Duke’s belt and shoulder strap are both separate pieces and sculpted in soft brown plastic. You get a gold painted belt buckle and fastener on the strap, along with some sculpted pouches. He also has his parachute jump badge on the right hand side of his chest, which is incorporated into the sculpt as well as painted. As for articulation, you know what to expect here, folks, and you probably either love it or hate it. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say you either hate it or are OK with it. I’ve gone on record many times, I’m happy to go to Classified for my agile and highly articulated JOEs, and leave the more moderate poseability to the toon figures. Would I like more than barely 90-degrees out of those shoulders? Sure I would, but I’m still Ok with it. What’s the hand situation, you ask? How about four pairs! Fists, accessory holding, gun holding, and pointy fingers!

You get three heads to choose from, and I am extremely pleased with all three of them. They did a great job capturing toon Duke’s portrait from the prominent brow to the cleft chin. His blonde coif is impeccably combed and you get some immaculate printing for his eyes and eyebrows.

The other two heads include a shouty head and one wearing a comm headset. I really love how they changed up the expression for the headset version, rather than just slap it on the same neutral head. Here Duke has his lips parted a bit as if he’s speaking into the microphone. The shouty head is possibly my favorite. I don’t think it’s easy to get this look right in the sculpt, but I do believe they nailed it here, as he is in full YO JOE!!! mode. Superb!

Now, while this is clearly Sunbow Duke, Super7 gave us all the extras we need to display a majestic blending of toon Duke with that original Real American Hero figure release, namely his his combat helmet, backpack, and binoculars. He’s not really known for any of these things ine cartoon, but it’s a wonderful bonus to be able to kit Sunbow Duke out in these trappings. The helmet fits well, and even works with the comm headset, which is the combo I like the best. On the other hand, the binoculars are a little big and awkward, and thanks to the articulation limitations, he can’t really use them convincingly,

The backpack is a great looking accessory, and I love that it’s worn with actual straps, cast in soft plastic, rather than pegging into the back like the Hasbro figures. It’s an excellent recreation of the assault pack issued with that first figure, with some extra paint to boot, including some sharp silver on his entrenching tool.

He also comes with a recreation of the green submachine gun issued with that first figure. It’s cast all in green plastic and has some soft sculpted details, including a skeletal stock.

Of course, you also get the ubiquitous standard issue Sunbow laser rifle, and I’ll never get tired of expressing my love for this simple design. There’s just something about it that’s so well designed and sparks the imagination. It’s like a cross between an M1 Garand and a sci-fi blaster. I sincerely hope that we keep getting one of these with every JOE released, and if not, Super7 needs to issue a pack of them for sale separately.

The final accessory is a walkie talkie, which is a welcome addition to Duke’s gear. It’s a simple black box with an antenna and a screen showing the frequency and some kind of dial indicator on the bottom. Alas, the hand designed to hold it doesn’t really do a good job, so I had to use a bit of poster putty to keep it there. And hell, I totally forgot to mention the separate wrist-watch that Duke comes with. Be damn careful of that when you swap out that hand!

I’m three figures into this line and still loving every minute of it! Duke is a great representation of his animated counterpart and it’s great that they included some of the Hasbro figure accessories. Next week I will wrap up the wave with a look at the Cobra BATs!

By figurefanzero
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Jun 19 2023

Marvel Legends (GotG v3): Drax and Mantis by Hasbro

Hey, it’s another Marvel Monday, how about that! A couple of weeks ago I started my look at the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 figures with Star-Lord and Deluxe Groot, and today I’m pushing things along with Drax and Mantis!

This wave comes in the fully enclosed boxes, which Hasbro promises will be going away soon in favor of a return to the window boxes. I actually really like the look of these boxes. You get some nice character art on the side panel and the photos have been matching the figures pretty well. My only real complaint here is that it doesn’t show all the figures in the wave on the back like the window packages did. I’m not sure why they dropped that here, but it can be confusing if you aren’t sure which figures you’re looking for to build the Space Doggo. It just seems like weird omission. Let’s start with Drax!

It’s still kind of weird to see Drax wearing a shirt. I was half expecting him to yell, “Your flimsy cloth materials cannot contain me!” and rip it off at some point in the movie. But as I said last time, I absolutely adore these uniforms and they look great on the figures. Drax is as chonky as ever and the body uses an interesting mix of pinned joints for the knees but pinless joints for the elbows. The detail in the uniform is quite nice with just about every detail included in the sculpt rather than just being painted on. I particularly love the raised bronze Guardians insignia in the center of the chest. And the colors here are to die for. The vibrant blue and red mixed with the black just looks so damn snappy! All the usual articulation is here and all the joints feel great.

This is undoubtedly Hasbro’s best Drax head sculpt, but that should be no surprise since it’s been six years since we got the last MCU version of Drax in the Legends line. The likeness to Batista in the make up is spot on and his facial markings are part of the sculpt as well as painted in. The expression is pretty neutral, but everything about this portrait works for me.

Drax comes with his fighting knives, which have been included with each of the two prior releases of the character. I’m not sure if these are the exact same sculpts, but they look very similar. They are cast in pale gray plastic and have details sculpted into the grips as well as some markings on the blades. And despite the new uniform, I was happy to see that he still has the scabbards in the boots to stow them when he’s not in full-on stabby-stabby mode.

Drax is just another fantastic figure in this wave, and I have absolutely zero complaints. Sure, it’s a departure from his iconic look, but what can I say? I just love the uniforms! With the price hike forever in the back of my mind, this is one figure I did not mind paying the full $25 to get. The sculpt and paint are both top notch and pretty much everything you get here is brand new. Moving on to Mantis…

Here we get our first look at the ladies version of the uniform and once again it looks great! The finish on Mantis’ outfit is more matte than Drax’s which has a bit of a sheen to it. I’d also say that her red striping is a little less vibrant too. Neither issue is enough to bother me when they’re standing side by side, but worth pointing out nonetheless. Mantis sports pinless joints in both her knees and elbows, and I’m happy to see both double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps. She also has a ball joint under the chest instead of the ab crunch hinge we see on Drax and Star-Lord.

And like Drax, we get a brand new head sculpt for Mantis. It’s still crazy to think that she was a Build-A-Figure when last released. This new noggin is a huge improvement over the last one, which wasn’t bad. You get a softer and more natural face with a far more realistic skin tone. The eyes are also phenomenal this time around and I like the sculpting on her pronounced eyelashes. The hair looks good and has some green highlights, and her antenna have a slight lilt to them. This is all around great work!

Mantis does stumble a bit because of her complete lack of extras. Yup, apart from the Cosmo BAF part, she has no accessories whatsoever. Now, I can’t off hand think of any accessories that she should have come with, but maybe at least give her an extra pair of hands. The hands she comes with are very specific with the right hand gesturing with two fingers, as if she’s focusing her telepathy, and the left hand just relaxed. She’s a beautiful figure, but at the $25 price point, she just needed something extra to justify the cost.

With four figures down, I still have four more to go before we can put together the Russian Space Pooch, but I have to say that I am really digging these figures a lot so far. Sure, I was a little lukewarm on Groot, but maybe he’s growing on me. HA! These figures are definitely helping me to come out of the general malaise I’ve felt about Marvel Legends for most of last year, and I’m genuinely excited to open up the next pair so let’s shoot for another Marvel Monday next week and check out Rocket and Nebula!

Jun 16 2023

ReAction (G.I. JOE): Battle Android Trooper by Super7

I have reviewed a number of ReAction figures here on FFZ, but I have yet to give any of the ReAction JOEs the spotlight. It’s not an intentional slight, but nonetheless one that I will rectify today. And it works out perfectly, because I kind of ran out of time and needed something quick to look at!

Yup, I’ve been collecting this line pretty hard since the beginning, mainly to them display on card, but in the beginning I was buying some doubles for openers, and I still keep an eye out for sales to get more openers. If you’re unfamiliar with this line, they’re basically 5-POA figures based on the Sunbow cartoon character designs with some cool expanded universe kind of stuff in the way of troop builders. I think the figures themselves are quite good, but the real magic here for me is the figure on the card, which look absolutely spectacular. And while all of these have been great, the recent release of the Cobra BAT was so exceptional that it motivated me to go ahead and start reviewing some of these.

Here he is on the card, and yes I did pick up a pair of these so I could open the one we’re looking at today. The card oozes vintage goodness with the iconic GI JOE logo and the character art set against an explosive backdrop. The figure comes on a bubble with some of his accessories positioned beside him. I got one of these punched and the other unpunched, so let’s tear into that punched one and have a look!

Straightaway, I have to say that the sculpted detail and paintwork on this BAT are both exquisite, especially for this type of 3 3/4-inch retro-style figure. I have yet to review Super7’s Ultimates BAT (coming soon!) but in a lot of ways this simple little 5-POA figure captures all the detail of that larger and more complex figure quite well. The transparent chest piece is a real stand out with the fully sculpted and multi-color wires and mechanisms on full display inside. But there’s a lot of other cool details worthy of shout outs, including the tiny belt of grenades hanging off his shoulder strap, complete with teensy tiny painted buckle, and even the ribbed padding on the inside of his functional pistol holster. I mean… wow! This is great stuff!

The BATs colors have always been a great combo of matte black, metallic silver, and bright canary yellow and all of those colors are on full display here. The silver paint in particular looks sharp and shiny and the yellow just contrasts so well with the black. The Cobra emblem tampo on his shoulder patch looks awesome too. You really have to punch in close to notice any slop in the paint, but it is mostly noticeable around the silver collar.

The BAT retains the backpack from his other versions, which is still capable of holding his swappable hand attachments. Both hands are designed to come off, but the left hand on my figure feels a little tight and I don’t want to risk dislocating the peg, so I’m sticking to swapping out his right hand. The extra attachments include the usual pincer claw, laser gun, and drill arm, making it fun to display a whole squad of these guys, each kitted out a little differently.

You also get two conventional weapons, which include a pistol and a rifle. Either of his regular hands are capable of holding either weapon, and you can stow the pistol in his holster when it’s not in use.

I usually review ReAction figures in groups because there’s only so much you can say about these figures and only so many ways you can shoot pictures of a 5-POA figure. But I really felt that this guy needed his own spotlight. It feels like Super7 just poured the love into this figure and went above and beyond. I paid the full twenty bones for my first one, but was able to get a second on sale through Amazon at $15. It would be cool if Super7 released a three-pack of these at a little better price. I’d love to pick up a few more, but even I have to concede that these little beauties are pretty pricey for what they are.

Jun 14 2023

Dungeons & Dragons (Golden Archive) Xanathar by Hasbro

I don’t think the Dungeons & Dragons movie was anywhere near the marketing hit that Hasbro was hoping for. They barely got most of the figures out by the time the movie had come and gone. I liked the Honor Among Thieves a lot, but I wasn’t interested in the figures. I am, however, especially happy that Hasbro seems to be utilizing its D&D license beyond the movie tie in, because the subject of today’s review shows there’s a lot of potential here!

Enter Xanathar! The mysterious crime lord of Waterdeep. Art Connoisseur, Gourmand, and Lover of Goldfish. Oh, and he also happens to be a Beholder, one of the most iconic beasties of D&D lore. When the credits rolled on the movie without a Beholder making an appearance, I didn’t know whether to shout in disappointment or admire the restraint. Nonetheless, here we are with a Xanathar figure and you could knock me over with a preverbal +1 Feather of Shocking! Xanathar comes in a fully enclosed box with an awkard slice taken out of the upper right corner. There’s some wonderful art as well as some pictures of the toy itself. He comes wrapped in tissue and there’s some assembly required, as you have to plug in each of those eye stalks to get him ready for display!

And with the full eye stalk installation complete, I have to say this is an absolutely fantastic looking figure with a lot of potential in cross compatibility. There’s some superb detail in the sculpt, which includes scaly, somewhat reptilian looking skin. He even has a pair of subtympanic shields like an iguana, in this case situated on each side behind his main eyeball. There are horns jutting out, ridges running down his back, and plenty of leathery creases and folds to the skin that all look great. Other great little touches include the intricately sculpted gold bands placed around some of his eye stalks, one of which is a Ring of Proof Against Detection. He even has a sculpted golden ring through a piercing on his bottom lip. Each of the eye stalks are connected with ball joints, so while there isn’t any articulation in the stalks themselves, there’s a decent range of motion where they meet the body. The paint is also excellent with a pale blue on the upper part of the body gradually becoming yellow for the face and undercarriage.

And wow, is there a tremendous amount of detail in his mouth, which can be placed on full display by opening his hinged jaws, and boy is it gross in there! In addition to the rows of jagged pointy teeth, he’s got pink gums, and the papillae on his tongue are fully realized in what is an incredible sculpt! So what’s that translucent thing up at the roof of his mouth? Well let’s talk eyeball!

Xanathar’s one big eye is very well done with a glassy lens and a very detailed retina. My only complaint here is that I wish the eye were opened a bit more. It’s quite narrow and while it does make for a somewhat devilish look, I would have loved to see that eyeball showcased more prominently. The eyeball is fully articulated and can be manipulated via that translucent lever-knob thing up at the roof of his mouth. Fiddling with this control can make his eye turn left and right and even up and down. It’s a lot of fun!

Xanathar comes with two accessories: A stand and his fish bowl. The stand is a pile of gold with a concave top for him to rest in and it works pretty well. It’s also a fantastic sculpt with individually sculpted coins and a skull and other pieces of treasure peeking out from the pile. I’d also bet I can find a lot of crossover uses for this pile of wealth with some of my other fantasy lines. With that having been said, I think it was a huge oversight not to include some kind of translucent stand to make it look like Xanathar is levitating.

The fish bowl may confuse some, but Xanathar did indeed have a pet fish named Sylgar. It’s actually likely that he had several fish named Sylgar, with his attendants swapping out new live fish for the deceased ones, perhaps without the Beholder knowing. This is a fun accessory with Sylgar appearing to float inside the bowl thanks to a translucent plastic stand… JUST LIKE XANATHAR SHOULD HAVE HAD!

Xanathar is intended to be roughly 6-inch scale, which would make him compatible with the Honor Among Thieves figures, but he also scales incredibly well with Hasbro’s own figures from the D&D cartoon. I also think the aesthetic fits really well too and they look great together! While I didn’t have time to include a comparison shot, I think he’s scales a little too small for NECA’s D&D figures or for Mythic Legions, but heck it still kind of works.

On the flipside, I think he looks fine with smaller scaled figures. If you like your Beholders huge, he’s pretty damn intimidating beside a Vitruvian HACKS figure. And I think he fits in perfectly with the old LJN AD&D figures. I don’t know how many more D&D figures we’ll get out of Hasbro so it’s fun to explore the crossover potential.

Make no mistake, Xanathar is a bizarre release. It’s the kind of stand out piece you might expect to get from a robust and successful toyline. Instead, he’s one of a handful of releases that exist outside the cartoon and the movie. With that being said, he is a fantastic figure, and I think he was well worth the $50 price tag. My guess is that lack of demand will mean he’ll turn up at a discount eventually, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance, and I really wanted to encourage Hasbro to do more figures like this. I love him!

Jun 12 2023

Silverhawks Ultimates: Windhammer by Super7

The next wave of Super7’s Silverhawks has arrived and I’m anxious to dig into it, but I’ve still got some unfinished business with the initial wave, so let’s wrap up things up today with a look at The Limbo Galaxy’s master of the elements, Windhammer! I’ve already checked out Mon-Star, Bluegrass, and Steelwill, so feel free to get caught up if you need to!

As always, the packaging for these figures is wonderful. The villains get a red foil sleeve that lifts off the window box to reveal the figure and all the goodies inside. Windhammer is a pretty beefy figure, but his package is sized on par with the two Silverhawks of the wave, and pretty small compared to Mon-Star’s. And while there’s plenty of goodies in this package, it still feels like he comes up a bit lighter in the extras than his wave-mates. Perhaps it’s because he’s the only figure in this wave not to have a bird-buddy.

Oooh, softgoods! Yes, Windhammer comes wearing a cloth tunic, which does a good job replicating the burlap sack-looking garment that he wore in the cartoon. Indeed, it sure looks a lot better than the sculpted plastic tunic on the original Kenner figure. The tunic is secured at the waist with a brown plastic belt, giving him something of medieval look, rather than a galactic gangster. The vibrant turquoise plastic used for his skin is actually closer to the Kenner figure than the cartoon look, which was more gray. I like it, but I just find it to be an interesting choice since most of these figures have been hugging the cartoon aesthetic over that of the vintage toys. I have absolutely no idea what the inspiration behind this Windhammer’s character design is, but he’s certainly cool looking and contributed to the rag-tag nature of Mon-Star’s gang.

The head sculpt hits that sweet spot between being goofy and terrifying. He’s part goblin and part gargoyle and looks like he’d be just as much at home skulking through dungeons in a D&D campaign as rampaging through space. The sculpt here is excellent and there’s a ton of personality in that ugly mug. The bulging yellow eyes, the bloated upper lip, fanged teeth and long pointed ears all contribute to a face that can not easily be forgotten. The portrait is punctuated by a ridiculous cascade of dirty-blonde hair reaching all the way down to his butt.

You also get a second portrait with his copious coif blown to the side and the mouth agape to show more teeth. This head is perfect for displaying Windhammer invoking his elemental power and causing the winds to whip up!

Windhammer’s chonky frame offers some pleasingly strong joints and I’m happy to say that I experienced no issues with stuck joints or any problems whatsoever. It seems like the Limbo Mob has escaped the need for the hair dryer so far. I would have liked a bit more range of motion in those elbows, but because of the sculpted muscles, he can’t quite pull of 90-degrees. As expected, you get a whole passel of hands with the figure, five pairs in all. These consist of relaxed, fists, pointers, and two pairs of accessory holding hands with slight variations to the grip. The hands swap out easily, and I had a lot of fun playing around with this guy.

Windhammer’s main accessory is his trademark tuning fork, which he uses to call forth the powers of wind and lightning. It’s all the more amazing, since it can somehow do this in the vacuum of space. I’m tempted to ask how that works, but then I’m reminded of a little ditty that suggests I repeat to myself, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax” The tuning fork is about as simple an accessory as you can get, with a dark gray finish, and it’s a stout piece with no signs of bending or warping. But, the real fun with this piece comes in the effect parts!

First off, you have a translucent yellow energy swoosh that creates the illusion of some really dynamic movement.

Next, there’s a translucent yellow lightning effect that looks really cool. This can be used to allow Windhammer to call down lightning to fry the Silverhawks dead in their tracks.

And finally, you get a rock and wind effect part, which allows Windhammer to bury the Silverhawks in an avalanche of space rocks. This piece was the one I was least interested in before getting the figure in hand, but it actually turned out to be one of my favorites. The effect is really well done.

Windhammer turned out absolutely fantastic! He may not have been the most personable character in the cartoon, but it was always fun to see him in a fight, and the included effect parts really convey that beautifully. The sculpt and coloring here are both on point and I think the decision to go with the softgoods elevated the figure a great deal. And that puts this wave to bed, with two Silverhawks and two Limbo Mobsters on the shelf. Next week, I’ll start digging into the next wave with a look at Quicksilver himself!

By figurefanzero
0
Jun 9 2023

Masters of the Universe Origins: Roton by Mattel

It’s been a couple of months since I last reviewed anything from the Masters Origins line, and that’s just wrong! My backlog for this line is pretty severe, so let’s dig back in with a look at a vehicle! Because if there’s anything that’s more wacky than the inhabitants of Eternia, it’s the crazy vehicles they try to kill each other with. So far Skeletor’s evil garage already has the Land Shark parked in there, and now it’s time to make room for The Roton!

The Roton comes in a glorious window box with some lovely vintage style art and the 40th Anniversary foil sticker on the right hand corner of the back flap. This vehicle started life as a Walmart Exclusive and I dropped my pre-order the moment it went live. Then my order sat in limbo until Walmart decided to cancel it. Holy shit, do I hate Walmart Exclusives! The toy spent a while going for double on the secondary scalper market before it started turning up at some other online retailers and I was eventually able to get one. And thank God for that, because I was getting ready to feed the scalpers on this one! The basic vehicle comes out of the box all ready for action, so let’s see what we’ve got.

What do you get when you combine a bumper car with a buzzsaw and then give it some creepy monster eyes? The Roton, of course! The vehicle’s black glossy body features a partially sculpted spinal column on the back and a hideous monster face on the front. Stickered panels adorn the sides with what looks like green reptilian skin fused with circuitry and dark magic tech from the bowels of Snake Mountain. The driver’s cabin is just one big bench seat with two joysticks, and there’s a pair of red laser guns, which can each swivel to fire in just about any direction. If I had one nitpick, I wish there were some dashboard stickers in there showing a few control panels.

Around the center of this devilish dodge-em car is the red buzz saw blade, which spins as you push the vehicle along, while also making a nerve-racking clicking noise, which is probably the last thing a lot of Eternian do-gooders hear before being diced into pieces by this engine of hell. And then there’s the eyes. The stickered eyes are just generally unsettling with red bloodshot pupils and fibrous veins protruding from the corners. Are these just the Eternian version of nose art, or is this thing actually a fusion of machine and monster? No, don’t answer. I don’t want to know!

The seat has plenty of room for most Origins figures, but Skeletor is the obvious choice. It’s no secret that the Origins figures aren’t all that great at sitting down, but it works pretty well. There’s something about Skeletor sitting in this thing that just scratches that toyetic itch so brilliantly. It’s just a glorious pairing of blue and purple Skeleton Lord with black and red killing machine. Roton was an inspired toy in the vintage line, and it still is today in the Origins revival. But we’re not done yet!

The designers went back to the vintage Monogram model kit and added the armored face plate and driver’s cage and boy is this going above and beyond! Both pieces are cast in beautiful red plastic and you get some white pate on the face plate for the eyes and teeth. Both pieces peg in securely and just add a wonderful display option or even a way to create variations if you happen to have more than one Roton for your collection. Sure, I would have rather had a Skelcon figure like the one included with the Classics Roton, but recreating the pieces from the Monogram model makes this release all the more unique.

The Classics vehicle came with a stand, which is sadly lacking from this release. Now, you could argue that this is a ground vehicle so why include a stand, but I’d like to think this is capable of flight too. For what it’s worth, there is a socket underneath the Roton that is compatible with the stand that came bundled with the Wind Raider.

“Myeaaah! I’ve got you now you muscled boob! Taste the blades of Roton!”
“Wait.. what are you doing? Where’s reverse???”
“STOP IT!!!”
“You’ll never get me in here…”
“Trap-Jaw… you said this thing was He-Man proof!”
*MYEAAAHHHing Intensifies*
“ARGHHHHHH!”

I got my Roton for $35, which feels a little pricey compared to some of the other Origins vehicles, but then I was so happy to be able to finally get one, I didn’t hesitate over the price. I was hoping this one would eventually get down to the Wind Raider prices, because that hits below $20 every now and then on Amazon and I have about half dozen of the damn things. I’d love to pick up at least one more, but only if it went on sale, and that doesn’t seem likely at this point. Either way, this is a fantastic toy and a welcome addition to Skeletor’s crazy fleet of attack vehicles.

Jun 5 2023

Marvel Legends (GotG v3) Groot and Star-Lord by Hasbro

How about we do a nice Marvel Monday like the good old days, eh? At the beginning of the year I said I was pulling back on the Marvel Legends figures, and I’ve mostly been sticking to that. The Guardians Vol 3 Wave is the first complete wave I’ve picked up this year, and this is the first time I’m actually doing a Marvel Legends review since January! I am going to be covering this entire assortment and the Build-A-Figure Cosmo over the next month or so, and today I’m starting with the Deluxe Groot and Star-Lord himself. So lets fly away together into the forever and beautiful sky!

The figures come in Hasbro’s plastic free packaging, which means no windows, and yes word is we’re going back to window boxes at some point soon. Groot is not technically part of the Guardians 3 Wave and while Star-Lord is, he doesn’t come with a piece to build Cosmo. How did I like the movie? I liked it quite a bit, but I could have done with less of the animal misery porn peppered throughout. I appreciate that they were trying to give weight and tragedy to Rocket’s backstory, but it really messed with the tone of the movie. I particularly found the cybernetically grafted animals to be pretty ghoulish and upsetting and I wish they had confined it to the beginning of the movie so it could be easily skipped. As it is, I doubt I’ll re-watch it a lot. Let’s start with Groot!

OK, so this is without a doubt my least favorite version of Groot from a design standpoint. If I’m ranking the Groots they pretty much start at the top with the original and decline in my favorability until we get to this one. In a movie that was absolutely dazzling in its overall visual creativity, this Groot just looked like a guy in a rubber suit. He also didn’t sport a lot of personality either, but whatever. Hasbro’s take on this version is OK, considering what they had to work with, and they certainly invested some effort into the sculpt, but I don’t know. He kind of looks more like a chocolate sculpture than he does a tree-person. There’s plenty of detail to be had, and I appreciate the odd springs that jut out here and there and the patches of moss and greenery. They did a pretty cool job blending muscle and bark to make it look genuinely organic, but like the on screen version, this looks more to me like an animated Groot then one from an MCU film.

The portrait is a pretty good approximation of the movie, but there’s something about this design that I really don’t like. That having been said, they did a really nice job on the eyes. They’re well printed and actually look like they have a spark of life to them.

The articulation here is quite good, and despite his odd anatomy, he sports most of what we’re used to seeing in a standard Legends figure. The shoulder bark doesn’t inhibit the movement there too badly, and I was pretty pleased at the range of motion in those elbows. Most of the joints are fairly well mixed with the sculpt, although the ball-shaped hips stand out a bit. Groot comes with two sets of hands: Fists and relaxed.

Groot comes with a pair of wings, which we saw him flex in the third act of the film while escaping The Great Evolutionary. The wings come in two pieces, which plug together and then go into the hole in his back. There’s no articulation, and while the sculpt is decent, it follows the very cartoony aesthetic theme of this figure. They look decent, but I think most people would have wanted the extra arms with guns.

And finally, Groot comes with a baby version of Rocket, which is a cute accessory, but it also looks like it’s made of chocolate, and doesn’t look anything like baby Rocket in the movie.

Groot isn’t really a bad figure, but he ain’t great either. I think a lot of the blame goes to the movie design for just not being very interesting. As mentioned, I would have preferred extra arms to make his full-on berserker mode, especially since they made this a Deluxe release. Hell, it was originally listed at $50 before it settled down to $40, and either way that’s just too much. Let’s move on to Star-Lord.

Straightaway, it’s awesome to get a figure of Star-Lord in uniform, but as this movie giveth, it also taketh away. And as Quill finally dons an iconic Guardians uniform he also loses his helmet. It’s the MCU’s equivalent of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown at the last minute. Now, with that having been said, I really dig this figure a lot. The sculpt features a bit of the panel lining we’ve come to expect from the MCU costumes, but the blue and red combo is simply gorgeous. His hands look a little chunky, but everything else is just top notch. The belt is actually a separate sculpt worn by the figure and the insignia on his chest is sculpted as well as painted gold.

The portrait is quite good, and I think it’s safe to say this is the best Chris Pratt likeness that Hasbro has given us. It’s crazy to think how far they’ve come since the figure from the original movie. The printing on the beard does break down a bit as you zoom in close, but it looks fine with the figure in hand.

And with standard male Legends articulation, Star-Lord is lots of fun to play around with. I probably would have preferred a ball joint under the chest to the ab-crunch hinge, but that’s just me coming off a bunch of DC Multiverse figures and going back to Marvel Legends. It’s fine. One thing that I felt was odd was how deep set the pins are in the knees. They’re set so deep it almost looks like they’re black.

Quill comes with his trusty pair of blasters, while they’re pretty simple they get the job done. Likewise, he only comes with one set of hands to hold the guns, and that’s fine because I’ll likely always display him with his weapons drawn.

Suffice it to say I dig Star-Lord a lot more than I do Groot. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I have buyer’s remorse, because I still want to put him on display with the other figures, but I definitely should have waited for him to hit clearance. It’s possible he will grow on me… no pun intended! As for Star-Lord, he’s a great looking figure and I’ll have to dig out one of the other releases to see if I can swap the masked head on this body to create the look that the movie robbed from us. And speaking of robbing things, I gotta steal away Wednesday’s review, as I’ll be busy with other stuff for the next couple of days, but I will be back on Friday with something for sure.

Jun 2 2023

Medieval Spawn by McFarlane

Yes, I’m doubling up on McFarlane this week, but at least I’m not pulling from the same franchise! Truth be told, I got this guy earlier last the week and loved him so much that I just had to shoot some pictures and throw him into the spotlight. It brings me back to the days of collecting Dark Age Spawn and damn do I wish I still had those wonderful unarticulated beauties.

Spawn comes in a fairly big box with his two big weapons on the tray beside him. There’s a huge wrap-around window so you can look at the goods and a cool illustrated green flame printed on the cardboard behind the clear tray. I picked this guy up online, but if I were confronted by him in the toy aisles there’s no way I could have resisted this! Everything is collector friendly, except the figure stand. You’ll need to tear that off the cardboard to get at it.

Medieval Spawn a brute of a figure with a ridiculously complex sculpt and lots of layers. The base figure is absolutely covered in scrollwork, chainmail texturing, and hammered metal finishes, depending on which part of his armor you’re studying. I can’t think of too many figures at this price point with this much sculpted detail. You really have to take some time and turn this figure around in your hand to take it all of it in and really appreciate it. Even the cape has a fantastic finish that makes it look a lot more like cloth than your run of the mill plastic action figure cape, and those skull clasps are a great touch. Another great little bit is the way the right shoulder plate is actually skewered by the spikes on the silver plate under it and bursting through. And speaking of spikes, I hope you don’t have weak and soft little pussy hands, because this guy has spikes all over that will jab you as you fiddle with him. TAKE THE PAIN!!!

The layering I mentioned really gives the figure a sense of wearing a multi-piece armor rig. And just look at this belt! It’s painted in a pale gold and there is so much going on with the sculpt. On top of that is the gray bone of the skull with chains protruding from it and encircling Spawn’s waist. And boy do I wish the chains were painted as well as some of the other bare gray plastic bits. Still, it’s understandable. There is a lot of color on this figure as it is, and when you throw in all the work put into the sculpt and extra attached plastic, I’m sure anything more just didn’t cost out. I’m not trying to make excuses, but with all the love poured into so many aspects of the figure, the bare plastic doesn’t feel like they cheaped out to me. This is a lot of plastic as it is for a $20-25 figure.

The head is not so much encased in a helmet as it looks like it has two halves of a helmet bulted directly onto Spawn’s head. These pieces are beautifully painted in a tarnished silver with a rough sculpted finish to resemble forging marks, bolts, and even more scrollwork patterns. The green eyes practically glow from their slits. It’s a magnificent portrait.

The articulation works well with the figure and features all the usual points we’re used to seeing in McFarlane’s modern Spawn line. The double hinges in the elbows give him a respectable range of motion for a heavily armored figure and he can take wide stances well, even with his signature giant right leg. You get just the one set of hands, and they are both designed to grip his implements of punishment, so let’s check out those weapons!

The sword is big, but not ridiculously big. It would be if anyone else was holding it, but since this is a beefy figure, it looks right at home in his hand. Unfortunately it isn’t painted, but the gray plastic here looks good and it has some rune’s carved into the blade. It’s bendy, but not not terribly so. The cross guard is hefty and basically looks like a mallet with a blade coming out of it.

His other weapon is an actual mallet, or a warhammer to be precise. This beauty is cast in the same gray-silver plastic as the sword and has a great hammered finish to the head and the shaft is segmented for easy grip. Speaking of grip, it took a bit of effort to get Spawn’s hands open enough to get the weapons in. Suffice it to say he has a snug grip on these accessories.

I picked up this figure online for $22 and boy did McFarlane deliver a lot for that price point. Medieval Spawn is an absolutely spectacular figure, and I imagine he’ll be made even more spectacular by some of the customizers willing to throw just a bit more paint on him. But that’s sure as hell not me, and I’m perfectly happy with the way that he is. Still, that’s not saying I wouldn’t be interested in him turning up as a Gold Label sometime in the future.

May 31 2023

DC Page Punchers: Ocean Master and Black Manta by McFarlane

I’ll confess, I don’t really understand McFarlane’s Page Punchers line, other than they’re figures bundled with comics. I guess they even come in different scales now. Even weirder is that they have DC Direct on the packaging, which really brings me back to the old days of DC figure collecting. Regardless, the Page Punchers that I’ve been picking up are the ones that are scaled with the DC Multiverse series, and today we’re checking out two infamous scourges of Atlantis: Ocean Master and Black Manta!

The figures come in packages with huge windows! Take that Hasbro!!! You get the figure and accessories on a clear tray set in front of a copy of an Aquaman comic, each with cover art of the respective figure. It looks great and it’s collector friendly, and hey… free comic! Yes, it’s the same comic with different covers, and it appears to be made exclusively for these figure releases. It’s got some solid art and recounts a showdown between Black Manta and Aquaman. You also get the standard black disk stand and collector cards that come with the DC Multiverse figures. Ocean Master just gets a quick cameo in the comic, but let’s start with his figure anyway!

Damn, I really love this design for him and the sculpt is outstanding! The costume retains many of the broad strokes of his classic costume, but with a healthy slathering of gritty realism. Orm’s outfit consists of a black body suit with several different types of texture. There’s a cracked surface from the waist down, a finer chain mail texture for the arms and abs, and a jagged shell-like armor for the upper torso. The boots, arm bracers, shoulders, and belt are all finished off in an antiqued gold paint that looks very nice, and you get more of that jagged shell-like motif on these pieces, especially the shoulders. Finally, there’s a red crest on his chest, which matches his cape. I really like the sculpt of the cape with the finer rumples up near the top, where it’s bunched up and it slowly fans out around his feet to a jagged bottom edge.

The mask also borrows from the classic look, but dialed all the way up to nightmare. There is something that is so damn creepy about this head sculpt, and boy do I dig it! The gold mask has horns pointing up and down, a flat triangular piece over the nose, and fins fanning out over the ears. He’s got a super creepy fishy upper lip and the two bulbous red eyes just stare straight into my soul. This is top notch stuff!

In addition to the standard DC Multiverse articulation, Ocean Master sports an extra set of hands, which is pretty unusual for McFarlane’s DC releases. These include a set of relaxed graspy hands and a set of hands to hold his trident.

And the trident is indeed a very cool accessory. It’s cast in gold plastic and has some wonderful sculpted detail all over, including what looks like some old chain wrapped around the base of the forks. The plastic is a bit bendy, but it’s not too bad. This is an absolutely fantastic take on the character and a beautifully executed figure. I genuinely love every single thing about it, and it’s hard to believe this is the first time the character has made an appearance here on FFZ since the Matty Signature Series figure ten years ago! So, let’s slide on over to Black Manta! This dude has always been a favorite of mine since the Super Friends cartoon and yet I’ve only checked out two of his figures here on FFZ before. The first was part of the DC Universe Classics Undersea Assault set back in 2010. The other was from the DC Collectibles Super-Villains wave.

And hot damn is he looking good! Like Ocean Master, this figure takes a lot of the character’s classic beats and just gives it a kick of modern realism. The proportions of the suit give him a bit of a creepy lanky vibe in the limbs. The bulk of the suit has a chain mail like texture and even some of the sculpted plates have a bit of coarse finish. He’s all black with some red panels here and there and a silver disk in the center of the chest piece to make him pop. On the back he has a rather understated breather unit on his back with the tubes leading into the helmet, and there are two silver exhaust ports. angled downward.

The helmet still has the familiar saucer shape to it from his more classic appearances, with a scooped out silver “face” and two elongated red lenses. It looks great, albeit a lot less exaggerated and bulbous than some of his older designs, and while I do like it a lot, it’s not going to replace the classic look as my favorite anytime soon.

Manta comes with twin blades which can be pegged into his arms to look like they are being retracted and deployed. These attach very securely and he looks all sorts of bad-ass while wielding them.

You also get a bladed pole-arm with some sexy curves in the shaft and in all black with red accents to match the suit. The blade is painted silver with some cut-outs in the blade and a vicious double-pointed tip. Unlike Ocean Master, Manta only comes with one set of hands, so you get a left fist and a right gripping hand for the spear.

It’s safe to say that I am completely blown away by this pair of figures. Not only are they cool modern designs for the characters, but the figures are executed brilliantly. These are some crazy complex sculpts with some lovely detailing and texture work on both. The paint is sharp and clean, and they just look fantastic on the shelf together. The rest of this wave consisted of Aquaman and Aqualad, which I’m waiting to see if I can find at discount. I already have the Endless Winter version as an all around excellent Aquaman for my DC Multiverse shelf, but the Aqualad looks good and is pretty tempting.