Mar 14 2013

World of Warcraft: Demolisher Attack by MegaBloks

Once again, I’ve managed to kick my World of Warcraft habit, but I’m still picking up the Megabloks sets now and then. This time around, I’m up against a WoW set bigger than anything I’ve looked at before. It’s the Demolisher Attack and at 299 pieces, it’s twice the size of Sindragosa and The Lich King. Let’s check this beast out!

The set comes in a massive box with some really nice, colorful artwork. In the past, MegaBloks has had a habit of using oversized boxes with a lot of extra room, but that’s definitely not the case here. This big box comes stuffed with 7 bags of unnumbered bricks, a bag of mystery loot, an instruction booklet, and a B&W addendum sheet because I guess they screwed up when printing the book. You also get a single loose brick, which they either threw in there because they forgot it or whatever. When you’re done you get ~~everything~~ almost everything (more on that later!) you need to build a Horde siege engine, an Alliance outpost and three minifigs. As always, let’s check out the minifigs first.

MegaBloks’ WoW minifigs, or micro-figs if you prefer, always impress the hell out of me and that’s the case with this pair too. You get a Horde Blood Elf Death Knight, Severin, and an Alliance Human Warlock, Markov. The Warlock even comes with his Voidwalker Minion. As usual, the minifigs come assembled and the sculpted detail and paint work on these tiny guys are amazing. You can break down their armor and swap it between figures, which is awesome because it means that any minifigure can loot another after he ganks him. Severin comes with a mace and Markov comes with a staff and they each have clips to store the weapons on their backs. Once again, Megabloks, these figures are absolutely stellar!

The Demolisher siege engine takes up more than half of this set’s parts and it was a very fun and satisfying build. It’s bigger and more intricate than I had anticipated, and while it does make use of some rather large pieces, like the wheels and a frame, it still uses plenty of other smaller parts, so building it doesn’t feel like a cheat. Indeed, there are at least a few very tiny parts involved, so try not to sneeze while building it!

Some highlights of this cart of rolling destruction include a working catapult on the front, beautifully sculpted and painted wheels, a cauldron on the back to store flaming projectiles, Horde standards on each side, and some cool spikes and chains that really add a lot of character to the model. I’m still not a big fan of the swirly paint used on some of the brown bricks, but it isn’t as unsightly here as in past sets. On the contrary, I just love the way this thing looks!

There’s a single seat with a peg to hold a figure, and while The Demolisher is really only designed for the single pilot, the whole thing is big enough to have a couple extra passengers, maybe hanging off the back. The finished build holds together very well and it rolls along great. The printed addendum page seems to correct the instructions for rigging the rubber band for the catapult. It’s nice that they found and corrected the error, but it reminds me that I’m not dealing with the higher quality standards of Lego here.

Completing the Demolisher would have left me plenty satisfied, but it’s nice to know that there’s more to build, and the Alliance outpost is no slouch either. While the bulk of the tower is made from two panels, the base of the structure is a pretty involved build. I love the way the set uses a mix of rounded and regular stone pieces to give it a realistic masonry style and the paintwork on the “stone” bricks works quite well. You do, however, have to be extra careful when doing the build because the difference between rounded and squared bricks is subtle in the illustrations. With a similar architecture and design, building this outpost offers a nice taste of what the Stormwind set is going to be like. No monies in the budget this week… must… resist… buying Stormwind set.

The outpost features three levels, and while not terribly large, you can easily get a figure on the second and third floors and two or three on the ground floor. The second floor features a Horde shield in the wall and a clip to store a weapon. The outpost doesn’t feature an actual base, so if you happen to have a spare Lego base kicking around you may want to make use of it here. It’s not necessary, though, as the building holds together just fine without it. I’m pretty sure I could drop this thing and it would hold together. On a carpet, mind you… I’m not crazy! You also get a firing catapult, which can be mounted on the roof or placed strategically around the outpost.

Alas, this really fun set suffers from one flub: Mine was missing a piece, and that piece was a big ladder. Now, on the plus side, it’s a good thing that the set wasn’t missing something crucial to completing the build. The ladder is a nice extra for the interior of the outpost, but it’s probably the one piece in this set that could be missing while not being essential to the build. On the other hand, it’s a huge f’ing ladder… how do you leave that out??? If it were a small piece, I’d have given MegaBloks the benefit of doubt and assume I lost it, but there’s no way I could have lost the ladder. I was half hoping my mystery loot would be a ladder, but nope… it was a nice pair of spiked red shoulders. The infuriating thing is that I had 17 extra pieces in the set. If only I could melt them down into a ladder.

[Update: While I was going to just let it go, I wanted to give Megabrands a chance to make this right, and I’m glad I did. Their customer service was really cool and professional about this and quickly had the part on its way to me. I was expecting to be told I needed to produce a receipt or buy the part. Nope. No charge, and no proof of purchase required. You’re a class act, Megabrands, and my Alliance Warlock will appreciate being able to reach the second floor of his doomed little outpost.]

Missing ladder notwithstanding, Demolisher Attack is a great set. You get three awesome little figures, and everything you need to have a battle. And since I only roll Horde, I love that the Alliance outpost doesn’t look like it will stand a chance against the Horde Demolisher! Yeah! Horde gonna roll right over you! Suck on that, Allie bitches!!! Nothing against Severin, but I’ll probably have one of my Goblins or Orcs driving the Demolisher, just because. But yeah… The build is not only satisfying, but rather challenging since the bags aren’t numbered and you’re dealing with nearly 200 pieces all at once. I had a lot of fun putting it together and I’m already looking forward to my next WoW set.

Mar 13 2013

Transformers Prime: Cyberverse Star Hammer w/ Wheeljack by Hasbro

I’m still working my way through the TF: Prime lot that I got from Ross last week. Today we’ll check out the Cyberverse Star Hammer vehicle bundled with a tiny Legion Class Wheeljack. While I haven’t picked up a whole lot of Cyberverse, I generally dig the idea of making a small line of Transformers that have vehicles and playsets. It taps into the whole Action Master and Micro Master gimmicks from back in the day. The Star Hammer looks more like a ground vehicle to me, but it’s obviously patterned after Wheeljack’s spaceship, the both delightfully and ridiculously named “Jackhammer,” as seen in the episode “Loose Cannons.”

The toy comes in a window box that shows off everything you get and does a good job of showcasing the various features of the toy, even if it doesn’t tell you much about what it’s supposed to be. While the Star Hammer is the bulk of what you’re paying for here, I’m going to start off with Wheeljack.

I’m not gonna lie, this guy is kind of impressive. His vehicle mode is solid and it looks like a shrunk down version of the Deluxe toy. He’s mostly white plastic with a black windshield and he has some red and green paint apps, that we’ve all come to associate with the Wheeljack character. The transformation engineering is pretty good for such a small toy and when you’re done converting him you get a good looking little robot. Between the paint apps, quality of the plastic, and the engineering, I honestly feel like this little guy is better executed than some of the Deluxes I’ve looked at recently. The paint work alone on this tiny bot is a thousand times better than what we got on Deluxe Bumblebee. Hey, Hasbro. How come you can paint this guy’s tail lights, but you can’t do it on the $15 figure of one of your main characters? Even his articulation, which features ball joints in the shoulders and hips and hinged knees makes him a perfectly playable little figure. Wheeljack also has a pair of blue translucent energon blades, which he can hold in his hands or clip onto his roof in car mode. This little guy is fun!

The Star Hammer is basically a mobile weapons platform, with a one-seat cockpit and two configurations. One mode has the side panels perpendicular to the ground, the other angles them out more like wings and deploys the two large missile launchers forward and reveal gunner stations in the back. The first mode allows for one figure to sit in the cockpit, the second mode allows for two more to stand behind the launchers. The conversion is automatic just by sliding the lever on the top. The design is nothing special, but it is a pretty good toy version of Wheeljack’s ship as seen in the cartoon.

The electronic gimmick lights up a translucent blue energon blaster, which is attached to the toy via a big ugly cable. The idea is that you can detach it and have other figures wield it, so long as they don’t stray too far from the vehicle. The LED is extremely weak and while it’s supposed to light up the entire gun on the top of the cockpit, it barely lights up the little one. If you have any of the TF: Prime Voyager Class figures, you’ll know how little to expect from the light up gimmick. If you’re into this thing for the electronics, you might be disappointed.

I don’t think the Star Hammer is a bad toy, but I’m not really wowed by it either. The conversion is cool enough and it feels like it’s made out of better, sturdier plastic than we’ve been usually getting out of Hasbro these days. If nothing else, it is a fun way to give your little Legion Class dudes some major firepower to ride around on. I think it says a lot that I’m more impressed with the little Wheeljack figure than the Star Hammer itself. If the idea of giving your Transformers converting vehicles doesn’t already excite you, then I doubt this thing is going to win you over. On the other hand, if you’re all about the concept, than you’ll likely get some fun out of this set. All I know is if I had a little Wheeljack like this guy when I was a kid, I wouldn’t have ever left the house without dropping him into my pocket.

Mar 12 2013

Star Trek Starship Legends: USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (“Wrath of Khan”) by Diamond Select

Science fiction has given us countless space faring vessels over the decades. Many have been one shot wonders, while select few have come to be considered iconic. But for my money there has never been a space ship more iconic, more graceful, or more beautifully designed than the Constitution Class Refit Enterprise. The ship made its debut in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but it wasn’t until Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan that we really got to see the ship in all its glory, both trekking through the stars and slugging it out ship-to-ship in a bitter fight to the death. If I were to use one word to describe this incarnation of the Enterprise, that word would be “noble.” I can’t say exactly why, but she has a glorious nobility to her that has always embodied the values of Star Trek to me. And now, I finally have the Starship Legends version of this ship in my collection. Yep… too bad it’s a piece of garbage. Now would be a good time to remind you of my colorful language disclaimer. Ok, let’s do this… Set phasers to maximum disappointment.

We’ve recently seen the Starship Legends packaging for the Enterprise-D and the Bird of Prey, so this Enterprises’ box should look pretty familiar, although it is a lot more compact and while the other ships came completely assembled, the WoK Enterprise requires you to attach the warp nacelles. This worried me at first, as I like the option of storing the ship in the box. Fortunately, the nacelles can be easily removed again for storage. You get that same blue starfield deco, which looks ok, but doesn’t really convey the Star Trek franchise to me and the combination of the Classic Series font and the image of Kirk in his Classic Series uniform just feels out of place for a ship based on the feature films. The box is fairly collector friendly, although the two pieces of the stand are sealed under plastic, so you will have to tear them up to get those pieces out. Still, you can do it with minimal damage and return everything to the box, which is a good thing, because this is a toy that I’m not anxious to display.

Let’s start with the few good things I have to say about this Enterprise: First, let’s talk about the sculpt. The sculpted detail on this piece is bewilderingly awesome. From the tiny panel lines to the faint Aztec pattern, Diamond obviously did their research and meticulously etched it all into the hull of this toy. Second, let’s talk about the hull’s finish. I wasn’t too sure how much I’d like the pearlescent finish on the plastic, but in person, it really brings out all that detail in the sculpt. If you manipulate the ship in your hands and shift the light around its surface, it really brings out all of those amazing and intricate little patterns. Lastly, there’s the lettering. The lettering on the ship all looks crisp and clear. From the large and obvious printing on the top of the saucer section to the minuscule “United Federation of Planets” on the sides of the saucer and the sides of the primary hull. The lettering is excellent. That’s it, folks… the rest is all downhill from here.

The quality of the plastic on this piece is downright terrible. It feels flimsy and cheap like a ten dollar model kit. There’s a huge gulf separating the quality of this plastic and the stuff used for Diamond’s most recent Bird of Prey. If you silhouette this ship against a light, you can practically see right through it. Seriously, I can see my fingers right through the saucer section! That’s bad enough, but when you activate the lights, they bleed through the flimsy plastic hull and make for a terrible effect. But we’ll get to the electronics in a bit. I’m not done harping on the shitty plastic yet. The top rear of one of the nacelles looks like it was repaired with some kind of gloppy glue and it looks like crap. That right there is a complete absence of quality control. If I purchased this second hand on Ebay, I would accused the seller of shenanigans. Seriously, Diamond? You’ve got to be kidding me with this shit.

The paintwork on the ship is also pretty bad. There’s bleeding and slop all over the place and the deflector dish is painted black. Yes, black. Holy fucking shit on a tribble, why in the name of all the holy mother-fucking Gamesters of Triskelion would you paint the goddamn deflector dish black? Looking at it, it’s hard to imagine it wasn’t a decision that was made to deliberately ruin the whole thing, especially since this the toy is designed to light up.

Which brings me to the electronics. I could take this opportunity to bitch that there’s no option to display the ship with just the lights on, like there was with the Enterprise-D or the Bird of Prey. But that’s ok, because the light effects are so terrible, I wouldn’t want to. They basically just come on in sequence with the sound effects. Diamond made no effort to simulate actual running lights or any of the Enterprise’s on screen lighting effects whatsoever. The back of the bridge lights up, the impulse engine lights up, the area around that shitty black painted deflector dish lights up, and the interior of the warp nacelles light up. Virtually all of the lights that you see are actually just bleeding through the cheap plastic. The ship doesn’t look that great as it is, but it looks worse with the lighting effects illuminated. That’s quite an achievement.

The sound is a mix of sound effects and voice clips from the movie. I suppose I could bitch about the fact that most of the quotes are taken from instances that don’t actually take place on the Enterprise, but this thing is such a mess, I’m going to give it a pass. Here’s the rundown on the audio…

Kirk: “Fire!” [ship phaser effects]
Khan: “From hell’s heart, I stab at thee!”
SFX: Warp
Kirk: “I don’t like to lose.”
SFX: Alert Claxon
Khan: “Let them eat static.”
SFX: Impulse
Khan: “Fire!” [ship phasers effects]
SFX: Hand phaser(!) … What. The. Fuck?
Khan: “Times up, Admiral.”
Kirk: “Lock phasers on target and await my command.”
SFX: Ship Phasers
Khan: “Time is a luxury you don’t have.”
SFX: Explosion
Kirk: “Kirk to Spock.”
SFX: Transporter Effect
Kirk: “I don’t believe in a no win scenario.”
Kirk: Khan scream!

Wrath of Khan is a highly quotable film, so there’s some good material here, and I’m also a huge fan of the film’s sound effects. The transporters and the phasers sound particularly good.

I took a lot of issue with the stands included with The Enterprise-D. Well, the stand that comes with this ship is in some ways better and in some ways worse. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the stand itself is unbelievably cheap. The other stands featured two sides coming up from the Starfleet insignia base, making up a triangular cross-section, whereas this one only has one, making it seem like a totally deliberate way to shave a couple pennies of cost out of this thing. When I first took it out of the box I literally thought I was missing a piece. I mean it really is insulting and shameful to have a stand this shitty for a $60 collectible. On the plus side, the ball joint will actually hold the ship upright, which I attribute mostly to this Enterprise weighing a lot less than the Enterprise-D. There is an extra battery cover, which can be swapped out so the bottom of the ship doesn’t have the hole in it for the stand. It seems like a nice bonus, but than I realize the hole for the stand is the least part of this ship’s problems.

I have had nothing but good experiences with Diamond Select and Art Asylum in the past, which is probably why I’m so incredibly surprised and irritated over what a terrible ship this is. It’s so far beneath the other releases in the Starship Legends line, that it feels like it’s some kind of terrible and cruel joke. It just fails on so many levels that it’s almost inconceivable that Diamond would have the nerve to pack it into a box and sell it for $60. SIXTY DOLLARS!!!! Even at a third of the price, I couldn’t have been happy with this thing. I just look at it and think, what a waste of money! Even the novelty packaging Enterprise model that holds my 2009 Star Trek Blu-Ray is better quality collectible than this unfortunate piece of garbage.

Computer, initiate destruct sequence… I’m going to get some Romulan Ale and drink to forget.

This Feature was Re-Shot on 4/23/15

Mar 11 2013

Marvel Universe: Kang by Hasbro

I would understand if readers out there assumed that I stopped collecting Marvel Universe figures. The last time I looked at one was way back in November 2012 and I haven’t bought any until now. The truth is, I can’t find any on the pegs around here, and I refuse to pay a premium for them online. Here’s a novel idea, Hasbro, why don’t you sell the current figures on your website instead of listing them as sold out. Don’t you make these goddamn things? Haven’t you now missed profit goals and laid people off for the second fiscal period in a row? Don’t you want to sell them and make money for your shareholders and keep jobs for your employees? I can sort of understand the problem with retailers not having them, what with distribution issues or peg cloggers, but these are YOUR figures and YOUR website. Put enough of the current releases on your web store so people can buy them and you make money. Simple enough? Anyway, at least I’ve found that if I’m patient, Hasbro’s online shop finally gets enough of the older figures I missed out on so that I can rack up enough to get free shipping. I guess I have to be happy with crumbs. Ok, enough rant… today we’ll start with Kang.

When you drink as much as I do, you get distracted and confused rather easily, hence the empty package picture. At some point when I was heavy into the Jameson, I likely muttered something like, “c’mere Kang, you’re the only one who understands me” and ripped him open, oblivious to the fact that I hadn’t yet taken a packaged shot. Remember kids… booze makes you stupid. But it also silences your demons, lets you fall asleep, and helps you to cope with life. Forget Kang, booze, you’re the only one who understands me.

I’ve got to admit, as much as I sometimes hate to collect this line, it feels great to be holding a new figure, especially one that’s pretty far up on my Want List. The packaging is the same as we saw last time, with the jagged bubble and the “Collectible Comic Shot” which is just a tiny piece of cardboard with a comic cover printed on it. You’ll also note he’s called “Marvel’s Kang” which is Hasbro’s way around copyright issues. I question, why not just go with “Kang the Conqueror?” Surely they could copyright that and it sounds much better than the alternative. Oh well. I don’t think Kang’s character art is among the best the line has offered, but it’s still pretty cool. The back of the card has a little bio and MODOK taunting you to collect them all by reworking the acronym for his name. Fun!

Let’s break Kang down into two categories: one good, one bad. If we’re dealing with the sculpt and the paint, he does very well. Check out that head sculpt, it’s fantastic, and I really dig the way they made the cowl and helmet two pieces. Instead of just a standard, painted buck, Kang’s got a loose fitting tunic. It looks like the torso could be from Dr. Strange, but if I’m not positive at a glance, than that’s good enough for me. The bottom of the tunic is part of the new belt and he’s got some bitching thigh-high future despot boots. The coloring on the figure is just as good. His amazing future suit is green with subtle and effective wash. The boots, gauntlets, helmet, and cowl are all metallic purple, and his face is a great shade of blue. No doubt, Kang is a gorgeous little figure. Oh yeah, he comes with a gun too!

Ok, now the bad stuff… quality control! For starters, the swivel cuts in the thighs have huge caps in them. I could already see them before I took the figure out of the package. It’s bad enough that I probably would have left him on the peg if I were buying him in the store, but since he was a web order, I didn’t know until he was already in hand. Trying to screw them tighter helps a bit, but eventually they return to their natural state, leaving those annoying gaps. Next up, his legs are pretty messed up out of the package. This issue I’ve managed to fix a bit with a blow dryer, but it pisses me off that I have to. He’s not even in any kind of dynamic pose in the package. It’s just god awful cheap plastic. Hasbro, if you’re going to send out figures like this, at least start putting stands in the packages again.

In terms of articulation, Kang doesn’t disappoint. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and wrists. He has hinged elbows and double hinged knees. There are swivels in his biceps, thighs, and just under his knees. His ankles feature regular hinges as well as lateral rockers, and he has a ball joint in his torso. Not bad!

Remember how I said that sometimes I hate collecting this line? Kang is a great example of why. Hasbro delivered an amazing looking treatment of the character, but when you get down to the QC issues, he sure doesn’t feel like a ten dollar figure. Overall, the great paint and sculpt wins the day and makes me happy to have him in my collection, but in the unlikely scenario that I actually see him on the pegs, I’ll likely try to look for an upgrade without the big gaps in the thigh cuts. I shouldn’t have to do that, but it is what it is.

Mar 9 2013

Star Wars Vintage Collection: Weequay and Wooof by Hasbro

A couple of weeks back I promised I’d be hunting down more Vintage Collection Skiff Guards and I have indeed done just that. If I promise you I’ll take out the garbage or leave the toilet seat down, I’m probably lying, but a promise to buy new toys is a promise I always keep. The next two nefarious sand pirates to join my crew are Weequay and Wooof. Wooof? WOOOF??? This guy is Klaatu. What the hell is this Wooof nonsense all about? Well, in a flurry of Jameson-fueled irritation, I found my way to a wiki article that is telling me that he was called Klaatu but then the original production name for him was Wooof, but then it says they were two different characters, and now I’m just as confused and back to just saying screw it… I’m calling him Klaatu. It helps that I got him loose, so there’s no evidence he was ever named Wooof.

So, I’ve got no card to show you for ~~Wooof~~ Klaatu, but there’s Weequay’s card. As you can see, this isn’t the imposter, known as “Skiff Master Weequay,” that we looked at last time. No sir, this is the Weequay I grew up with and the one that will always have a special place in my fanboy heart. Look at him standing there proudly on the bow of his skiff. So noble… so magnificent… so Weequay! Since time began, Weequay figures have been sculpted with only one thing in mind… to hold their force pikes across their chests and mimic that… dare I say? Iconic pose. But now we finally have an articulated version that can do so much more. Let’s get him open and check him out…

Weequay has always had pretty good figures, and the Vintage Collection version just does some fine tuning. He’s not the most intricately sculpted of the Skiff Guards, but that’s more on his character design than anything else. Weequay sports his trademark ribbed brown leather vest with shoulder guards and a simple belt with some sculpted pouches. There’s no functional holster, but in fairness the on screen character didn’t have a holster either.

The head sculpt is fortified with all that raisin-headed goodness that I expect from my Weequay figures. He looks perpetually pissed off, as if letting us know that even an awesome job where you throw prisoners into giant sand vagina monsters can get to be a chore after a while. As with Skiff Master Weequay, I think Hasbro could have done a better job sculpting his braids, but they’re not bad. Weequay’s articulation includes ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. He has a T-crotch, swivels in the wrists and he can swivel at the waist. He comes with his pike and a hold out blaster. Well done, Hasbro.

And then there’s Klaatu. I gotta tell you, Hasbro went above and beyond on this guy. The head sculpt is fantastic. It’s as expressive as you can get from a lizard man in this scale. His vest is sculpted over an armor plate and his belt secures a softgoods skirt that looks like it’s some kind of crazy Tatooine goat hair, but I’ll concede that it’s probably not.

Klaatu features a removable hood, a removable bandolier strap, and a functional holster. Hooray for functional holsters! He comes with the same force pike (but different paint job) as Weequay and a very cool hold out blaster. Klaatu features ball joints in his neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. He has a T-crotch and he has swivel cuts in the waist and wrists.

Weequay and Klaatu are a seriously cool pair of figures. If the Vintage Collection’s aim is to produce truly definitive versions of characters, Hasbro certainly succeeded here. Granted, I’m a little biased since I love the Sarlaac sequence in RotJ so much, but it’s just great to see these guys get such amazing figures. I grabbed them for ten bucks each and now my Tatooine Skiff is just that much nearer to being fully crewed. That leaves Kithaba and Nikto and I’ll be checking them out next week.

Mar 8 2013

Marvel Super Heroes: Spider-Man’s Spider-Cycle Chase (#76004) by Lego

I seriously set out today to buy another DC Lego set, but before I could decide which Batman set would interest me the most, I saw this “Spider-Cycle Chase” and all bets were off. The name of the set is so misleading. “Spider-Cycle Chase” sounds like something I would never buy because: A) I already have a Spider-Man minifig and I don’t need another, and B) I hate the idea of Spider-Man using gimmicky vehicles. What they should have called this set is “OH MY GOD, IT’S NICK FURY’S FLYING CAR AND OH YEAH, YOU ALSO GET A VENOM MINIFIG SO BUY THIS SET RIGHT NOW!!!” First Deadpool, than J. Jonah Jameson, and now Nick Fury and his flying car. Lego, you know how to push my Marvel buttons.

The front of the box illustrates everything that is awesome about this set. Venom is standing on the hood of Fury’s flying roadster while Fury shoots a missile at his head. Meanwhile, Spider-Man is coming from the other direction in a FLYING F’ING MOTORCYCLE and shooting webs at him. All the while, Venom looks like he’s about to jump away at the last minute and let the two crash in classic Looney Toons fashion. All this craziness translates into: “buy this set for it contains fun within.” I should point out that like the last Spider-Man set, this one appears to be based on the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon. It’s a show I’ve never seen, but there’s no reason why this set can’t fit in with my other Marvel Lego.

The set contains instructions, a comic book, a small sticker sheet, a loose strand of webbing, and three baggies containing a total of 237 pieces. It builds three minifigs, two Venom tendril mines, Spidey’s motorcycle, and Nick Fury’s car. Where should we start? Minifigs, assemble!

Spider-Man is no doubt the disappointment in this set, only because I had to get him again. I know this is bound to happen, but it’s still annoying. He’s still a great minifig, but the paint on his eyes is a little rubbed, so I’m glad I have another one. On the other hand, he comes with the same web strand as my other Spidey, so it’s nice to have two of those. Venom is awesome. Lego really nailed the printed face and he has a bunch of tendrils coming off of his back. Nick Fury is an animated style Nick Fury, but there’s no reason he can’t hang with the minifigs in my Avengers themed Lego sets, and since I don’t have a Fury minifig yet, he was a welcome addition to my collection. He comes with a little gun. You also get these two little Venom tendril pieces. I have no real use for them, so I’ll just mention them here with the minifigs.

I envisioned Spidey’s motorcycle as being something to toss into a bin and forgot about. Like I said earlier, I don’t like the idea of Spider-Man having gimmicky vehicles. On the other hand, it is an amazingly cool little design and the way it converts from motorcycle to hover cycle really is brilliant. It’s probably one of my favorite little Lego vehicles to date. Lego Deadpool will certainly have to steal it for when his Vesper is in the shop.

But make no mistake, the reason I bought this set was for Nick Fury’s car and I must say, Lego did a wonderful job on it. It’s a green one-seat, convertible roadster. I love the use of the tan bricks for the interior, because we all know Fury would demand rich Corinthian leather in his ride. The printed instrument panels look great, and I love the hinged spoiler on the back. Obviously, the car has two surprises. Wait… can surprises be obvious? Probably not…

First, the wheels fold in Back To The Future style to convert the car into hover mode. Secondly, there’s a concealed missile launcher that folds up out of the back. The only complaint I have is that it’s almost impossible to flick-fire the missile because you can barely get at the back of it. Still cool, though.

This set was $20, which definitely seems right when you consider the piece count. I will say that the build seemed to go a lot faster than usual, but maybe that’s because I was particularly anxious to get the car completed. The engineering of the build is definitely clever and even with the duplicate Spider-Man, it was still a good value. Keep the Marvel sets coming Lego, and I’ll keep buying them!

Mar 7 2013

Transformers Prime: Sergeant Kup by Hasbro

TF: Prime has had its tenuous run in the toy aisles and now it’s time for Beast Hunters to replace it. You know what that means? All those TF: Prime figures that I couldn’t find because the pegs were clogged with Bumblebees and Cliffjumpers are now starting to show up in the Toy Graveyards better known as Marshalls and Ross. I scored quite a bit of Prime goodness on my last trip through there, and today I’m going to look at the best of my finds: Sergeant Kup. He’s a figure that I would have gladly paid $15 for if I found him at Target or Walmart, but as it turns out, I was destined to find him sitting at Ross for $6.99.

It’s been a while since we saw the TF: Prime packaging. I still dig it a lot. The extra-long card, the character art, the pleasing deco, it makes me want to buy any Prime figure that isn’t f’ing Bumblebee. This one includes a DVD with an episode of the show on it. ~~I saved the DVD, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet.~~ Actually, I sat down and watched it just before posting this feature. I thought Dreadwing was pretty cool, but if I had to listen to Bulkhead call Wheeljack “Jackie” one more time, I think I would have vomited. Kup comes carded in his vehicle mode, so let’s start there.

Kup’s alt mode mingles with his G1 roots by being a greenish pick-up truck, only instead of having a Cybertron design, he’s definitely an Earth style vehicle. He has four doors and two big black drums in his bed, which convert into his guns. They can also be removed and pegged into his doors to give him some firepower in alt mode. He features clear windows, some nice coppery paint for his front grill and roof lightbar, and some light green accents on his hood and doors. With a little effort, you can even open his hood while he’s in his truck mode. Changing him to robot mode is pretty easy, despite some very clever engineering.

Man, do I dig Kup’s bot mode. He’s a little stocky, but he has a clean, humanoid design that is both original and inspired. Kup looks like he can take a pounding, as his head sits protected in his recessed engine compartment with part of the front bumper making his shoulders and a clear, faked-out windshield plate on his chest. The head sculpt is excellent and fits the character well. I’m not crazy about the way the hood hangs off his back, and it’s blatantly obvious that a simple hinge would have fixed this, but this figure already has more engineering than I’ve come to expect out of modern Deluxes, so I won’t complain too much. The sculpt itself is busy with detail and he’s a good example of how when used correctly with the right sculpt, even a moderate level of paint apps can make the figure look great.

What can Hasbro possibly do to make this figure any better? Give him a pair of great weapons. Kup comes with two big hand cannons. They don’t shoot anything, they don’t convert into anything, they just look great. He can clip them onto his arms, but I prefer him holding them. You can, however, combine them together to make one big cannon, which he can wield on his arm like a Megatron-style fusion cannon. Yes, these things are very cool and they even store sensibly in Kup’s alt mode.

Kup is easily my favorite of the Prime Deluxes in my collection, and it goes to show you that even Hasbro’s downsized Deluxes can make me happy. He’s a great mix of original engineering, fun articulation, thoughtful paintwork, and a great sculpt. He’s also brimming with personality, which is always a plus for me because I haven’t been into the Prime fiction at all. It’s a shame that poor casepack ratios and pegs choked with Bumblebees prevented this figure from seeing the light of day in my local toy aisles, but I certainly won’t complain about being able to pick him up for half price.

Mar 6 2013

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dogpound (Nickelodeon) by Playmates

It was a good Christmas for Playmates and their new TMNT line. The pegs were emptied out in all the Targets and Walmarts around these parts and the prices of many of the figures quickly doubled and tripled online. Of course, that’s not so good if you wanted to actually buy them. Thankfully, the TMNT section is slowly getting replenished and this morning I was able to find a couple of figures that I’ve been hunting for quite a while now. One of those figures just happens to be today’s feature… Dogpound!

There’s the now familiar TMNT figure packaging. It’s bright, it’s obnoxious, it’s in your face. It also makes me want to buy these things by the cartful. The front shows off the figure wonderfully, and the back has a clip-out filecard for the character and pictures of all the other glorious figures. I’m not watching the show, but I’m happy to see that Playmates is adding to the Turtles universe by creating new characters. Dogpound is one of those newbies, so let’s see what he’s all about.

Plastic is crazy expensive right now, but you wouldn’t know it from this guy. He’s a huge slab of plastic crammed into a basic assortment figure card. In fact, Dogpound is so big that you actually have to assemble him by plugging in his tail and back spikes. It reminds me of my Star Trek Mugatu, also made by Playmates. The figure is mostly hollow, and that’s probably a good thing, because he’s got quite a heft to him as it is. If he were solid plastic, kids would be killing each other by chucking Dogpound figures at each other’s heads in the schoolyards. Dogpound figures would be regulated and you’d need to go through a 10-day waiting period to buy them.

Call me immature… or maybe it’s the couple of Jamesons I’ve had, but I can’t stop laughing when I look at Dogpound’s face. I’m serious. I’m giggling right now. Look at it. It’s hysterical. I don’t think that cheesy grimace narrow eyes and those big eyebrows will ever get old. He’s definitely going to stay on my desk for a while. Hell, I may carry this guy around in my pocket so that whenever I’m having a bad day at work I can pull him out, look at his face, and make everything better. I’m still giggling. Look at his face!

Moving beyond Dogpound’s amazing mug, the rest of the figure is like a cross between a werewolf and Crash Bandicoot on steroids, with Sonic the Hedgehog’s spikey back. His fur is sculpted all over his body and he has little purple Hulk pants with spiked kneepads. His left arm is a lot bigger than his right and it has spikes coming out of his wrist to give him a little extra turtle shredding power. The coloring on the figure is pretty good, with a dissolve between the orange and white fur. I think my only complaint here is that the sculpted straps on his chest and back aren’t painted. I’m guessing Playmates blew some of their paint apps budget on this guy by making him so damn big. It seems like a good trade off.

Unless you’re a turtle, articulation hasn’t been one of this line’s strong suits. Nonetheless, I would argue you get everything you need to have fun with these guys, and Dogpound remains true to form. He has ball joints in his shoulders and hips. His head can swivel, but because it’s located on the front of his torso, it doesn’t so much as turn, but cock from side to side. It’s like Dogpound is hearing a strange noise. He also has swivels in his forearms and his waist. Yes, hinges in the elbows would have been awesome, but I’m still pretty happy with what we got. Besides, I can pose him with his arms out wide like he wants a hug.

Dogpound doesn’t come with any accessories, unless you count his tail and back spikes. Because he’s so big, I don’t feel cheated by not getting anything with him.

God, these figures are so much fun! I came pretty close to paying double for Dogpound online a couple of times. Obviously, I’m glad I waited and got him for $8.88 at Walmart, but I wouldn’t have been disappointed had I paid more. I love him to pieces and like most of the basic TMNT figures, he’s an amazing value at this price. He’s also a great addition to the TMNT roster. Just because I’m not watching the series doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what it’s adding to the TMNT mythos and characters like Dogpound definitely enrich the franchise. And yes, I’m still laughing at his face.

Mar 5 2013

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Panthro by Mezco

Ban Dai’s attempt to rekindle the magic of Thundecats may have fizzled out, but thankfully we still have Mezco working to complete the team in epic statue/figure form. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t pick up Panthro until after Cheetara was confirmed. I adore these statues and while Lion-O and Mumm-Ra could hold their own alone on my shelf, I didn’t want to have Panthro be the odd man out if Mezco decided that enough was enough. Of course, by not supporting the line and buying Panthro on release it would have served me right if Mezco abandoned the line because not enough people bought Panthro. But I have since remedied that by pre-ordering Cheetara and I’ll gladly do the same for every new statue Mezco reveals for this line now that it’s hit critical mass. Anyway, he arrived on my stoop a couple of days back, so let’s see if he’s cool enough to hang with the others.

An epic figure requires epic packaging, and that’s certainly what we have here. Panthro comes in a big, heavy window box with the same overall color and feel as Lion-O’s box. One side panel has the gorgeous Thundercats logo running down the side and the other panel has a shot of all the cats in action. It’s a different piece of artwork than what was used for Lion-O’s as it has Panthro wrapping around to the front. The box is totally collector friendly; you just need to clip Panthro’s tie wraps to get him out. You will, however, want to take better care than I did removing his baggied nun-chucks, because the tape will tear the illustration on the back of the tray. I’ve always been a fan of the classic Thundercats artwork and these boxes are fabulous tributes to that colorful animated style. It’s bright, colorful and gorgeous and I will likely keep these boxes for as long as I own the figures.

While the package says “action figure,” you may want to take that term with a grain of salt. The whole statue-vs-figure debate rears its ugly head again! Yes, he has some articulation, which we’ll get to in a bit, but enough of this guy is static for me to question the term action figure, so I’m fine just going with figure. It’s semantics, I know. As for his size… Well, Mezco calls these things Mega-Scale for a reason. They are big. They’re not as big as NECA’s 1/4 scale figures, but you’re still getting an impressively large piece that clocks in at around 14-inches tall.

As with Mezco’s other Mega-Scale figures, Panthro is rotocast, so the sculpt leans a little to the soft side, but even so, I have no complaints about it. Granted, the bulk of the sculpt here is found in Panthro’s muscle definition. The spikes on his harness are stout and durable and he sports his trademark split-toe ninja style boots. He comes out of the box with one hand sculpted to hold his chucks and the other with his palm held out, but we’ll come back to that in a few ticks. Panthro gets by without a whole lot of detailed paintwork, as his color pallet is mostly just purple and lighter purple. Mezco went light on the paint wash, which I think is a good thing as it’s just enough to bring out the details in his muscles. The paint on the sculpted Thundercats emblem is quite good, but I’m thinking that maybe some high gloss finish would have made it pop more. The biggest opportunity for improvement on my figure is the bit of bleeding around the base of his harness spikes, but even that isn’t so bad.

Mezco captured Panthro’s portrait quite well. He’s definitely in kick-ass mode, with just a bit of a scowl, but they didn’t overdo it with the ferocity in his expression, so if I choose to pose him with his chucks at rest, the expression will work well enough for me. The paint on the eyes is super crisp, but mine has a little bit of odd paint marks around his lips and the tip of his nose. I’m not sure if this is just a wash that’s gone wrong, but eventually I will try to clean it up a bit with a magic eraser.

Ok, here comes articulation. Panthro has ten points, as follows: A ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel cuts in the wrists, swivel cuts at the top of his boots, and swivel cuts in his ankles. He also has a swivel in his waist. The four swivels in his legs are mainly to tweak him so he can stand depending on what you do with his arms and waist. With the neck, shoulder, and wrist joints, you can certainly get a few different display options, but the biggest choice in displaying him actually comes from one of his extra pieces.

None of the official photos I saw of this guy showed him holding his chucks in both hands. I was hoping and hoping that he would come with a swappable left hand, and I was very happy to see that he does. Heck, it even says so right on the box. While I like the idea of holding his chucks in one hand, the fact that they use a real chain between them means that one is always just going to be dangling, unless you want to get creative and maybe run one of the twisty ties through the chain to give it a dynamic swinging look. Nope, my Panthro will always be displayed grabbing his chucks in both hand and ready to smack down some mutants, and I’m really glad Mezco gave us the option.

I always dug Panthro in the original cartoon, because he wasn’t a stereotypical character. He was both a big burly fighter, but he had the smarts to invent and work on all of the Thundercats tech. He’s exactly the kind of cat-of-all-trades that you want in your corner if you find yourself marooned on a hostile planet. Mezco’s figure certainly does the character justice. He isn’t as packed with extras like Lion-O, nor does he have any flashy mixed media like Mumm-Ra, but Panthro comes with everything he needs. And most importantly, he looks great standing next to Lion-O and once we get a few more cats, this is going to be one seriously epic display. At $35, this guy is a whole lot of figure at a ridiculously reasonable price point.

And now… the long wait until Summer for Cheetara to be released.

Mar 4 2013

FarScape Series 2: Aeryn Sun (The Mutation) by Toy Vault

It’s Monday and that means it’s time for more Farscape. Today I’m busting into Series 2 with a look at our favorite Peacekeeper protagonist, Aeryn Sun. Aeryn is a pretty good example of the kind of character that makes the show work for me. You can see her changing as a person throughout the course of the show, and it’s never forced or contrived. The credibility of her character comes from excellent writing and certainly the performances delivered by actress Claudia Black. I’m kind of surprised it took Toy Vault until their second series of figures to get to her, but with only four figures per series, I guess they had to save someone for later. So far, Toy Vault’s been delivering some great figures in this line. Can they keep it up? Short answer… apparently not.

The Series 2 packaging is more or less the same as what we’ve been seeing all along. The card is still inspired by Moya’s design and features a huge bubble, which displays the figure and the accessories quite well. There’s an illustrated insert that has the character’s portrait, name and a list of her accessories. Flip it over and you can see some changes on the back. There’s finally a photo of actual figures, in this case only the four from Series 1. You also get screen shots of the characters offered in Series 2.

I’ve got a lot of gripes about this figure, but I’m going to start with my biggest. Why would you take one of the main characters of your license and make her one and only figure based on one scene from one episode in which she is physically altered to not look like herself??? The episode in question is aptly named, “DNA Mad Scientist” and in it, some crazy alien with cyber-goat legs(!) gives Aeryn Pilot’s DNA, which causes her to slowly mutate into one of Pilot’s species. This figure is practically sculpted from a specific screen shot, where Aeryn lifts her shirt up to reveal the scaly patches of alien skin on her stomach. The mutated areas, which also include her right arm, are sculpted not just painted on, and Toy Vault never did a remold or any other release of the character. Sure, maybe the company expected the line to go beyond two waves, but still… this kind of thing should be a variant, not the first and only release.

In terms of sculpt, Aeryn is ok, but definitely the worst of the Farscape figures we’ve looked at so far. The portrait is almost there, although it kind of looks like Claudia Black with some kind of wasting disease. I suppose you could argue that she was definitely sick in this episode so… bravo, Toy Vault! There are, however, some nice touches to the rest of the sculpt, particularly her belt and gear, and the way the functional holster actually works like it did on the show. The alien skin is also executed quite well as is the effect of her pulling up her shirt with her left hand. You can see the beginnings of a little insect-like leg. Gross.

And that brings me to the point that this figure is also the most pre-posed of the bunch. Sure, articulation hasn’t been this line’s strong point, but make no mistake, Aeryn is far more statue than action figure. Again, she’s designed to be reproducing a very specific scene, which renders her left arm useless for anything else. She has a whopping four points of articulation: Her arms rotate at the shoulders and her hips have swivel cuts. But three of her points are completely useless. The left arm is always supposed to be right where it is and the hip swivels are only good for making minor adjustments to the legs so she can stand better. The right arm can rotate up or down, but why bother? You’ll notice I didn’t mention any neck articulation. The head and hair are all sculpted as part of the torso.

Aeryn comes with a bunch of accessories, but with the pose she’s in who cares? You get her pistol, a rifle, two syringes, and an analyzer. Technically, she can hold any of the accessories in her right hand, but neither the analyzer nor the rifle look very convincing. The rifle itself looks good, but it has a ratty looking strap on it and you can’t really tuck the stock on the inside of her elbow, so she looks really awkward holding it. The pistol probably looks the best in her hand, and it can also clip into her holster, which I absolutely love. That feature alone makes me wish Toy Vault had done another version of the character with the same working holster. In fact, they could have reused everything from the waist down and I would have been happy. I suppose I’ll probably end up displaying her with the large syringe, like she’s about to jab it into her stomach.

I’ll come right out and say it. This figure pisses me off. If we got this later on down the road, after a regular version of Aeryn, I could have liked it a lot more, but as the only version of the character to stand beside her shipmates? No way. The concept would have worked beautifully as a 1/8^th scale stand-alone statue, and I probably would have bought it, but as an action figure in this line it just sucks. Toy Vault had a good thing going, but they stumbled and face planted on this one.

Alas, I’m going to have to put Farscape Monday on hiatus for a little while. I’m looking to pick up some more figures, so I will come back to them eventually. In the meantime, next week we’ll kick off Marvel Mondays as I try to get through the bunch of Marvel Universe figures on my receivings pile.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

World of Warcraft: Demolisher Attack by MegaBloks

Transformers Prime: Cyberverse Star Hammer w/ Wheeljack by Hasbro

Star Trek Starship Legends: USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (“Wrath of Khan”) by Diamond Select

Marvel Universe: Kang by Hasbro

Star Wars Vintage Collection: Weequay and Wooof by Hasbro

Marvel Super Heroes: Spider-Man’s Spider-Cycle Chase (#76004) by Lego

Transformers Prime: Sergeant Kup by Hasbro

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Dogpound (Nickelodeon) by Playmates

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Panthro by Mezco

FarScape Series 2: Aeryn Sun (The Mutation) by Toy Vault

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