Oct 5 2011

Tomb Raider: Lara Croft 1:6 Scale Talking Figure by NECA

So long as I was looking at two 1:6 scale video game queens this week, I thought I might as well make it a trifecta by digging out Ms. Lara Croft herself. Lara’s been no stranger to the action figure and collectibles market, and much like her games, her history in plastic has been pretty hit and miss over the years. Today we’re going to take a gander at NECA’s large scale talking figure. But, before we get started, let’s get some semantics out of the way first. NECA calls this thing a figure, but in reality it’s more of a statue with limited articulation. With that out of the way, let’s see what we’ve got…

Lara comes in a pretty nice window box. It’s nothing special, but it does get the job done and shows off the figure pretty well. While this figure is certainly based on the Tomb Raider: Legend game, Legend doesn’t actually appear anywhere on the box. You can get everything out without tearing it up too badly, although I opted to keep some of the accessories on the tray, but more on that in a bit. I tend to like storing my 12-inch figures in their boxes in a bookcase, so the collector friendly nature of the box is welcome.
The statue is very faithful to the way Lara looked in the Tomb Raider: Legend game. NECA usually does a fine job with their sculpts and Ms Croft here is no exception. She’s a bit more realistically proportioned, particularly in the ta-ta’s department and her aqua shirt and short shorts have given way to a brown half-shirt and well… short shorts. Ok, so some things never change. I have absolutely no quibbles about the sculpt itself. Her face is attractive, with a stern look. Her hair is sculpted and her pony tail is shorter than we’ve seen in the older games and curled down the front of her shoulder. The skin texture is pretty realistic, with a little muscle sculpted in, but not too much. Her equipment is meticulously created from her boots with the socks peeking out the top, to her belt buckle, to her backpack and the string of grenades lining the back of her belt. Lara also has a pair of holsters for her guns. The only thing I can complain about here is the rather unsightly seaming along the sides.
The paintwork here is a little hit and miss. It’s generally pretty good where it counts, but there is some unsightly slop along the top of her shorts. There’s also a bit of smudging around the flesh paint. That part doesn’t bother me so much since it just looks like she got a little dirty from crawling around in tombs. I’ve actually seen more paint issues on statues that are a lot more expensive than this one, so I’m not going to come down to hard on these issues.
Articulation? Yes, there are in fact seven points. You get a rotating head, ball joints in the shoulders, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. For a figure, that sucks. For a statue, that’s pretty good. You’ll have to make the call on which. You can basically just position which way she’s pointing her guns.
Speaking of guns, Lara does come with some accessories. Yep, two of those are her automatic pistols. They feature detailed sculpts and can be removed from her hands and put into her holsters. She also comes with a shotgun, grenade launcher and the Excalibur sword. They’re all cool enough pieces, but her pose doesn’t really allow her to hold any of them very convincingly, so that’s why I left them on the insert. Lastly, you get a plain black oval base with a peg to plug into the hole on the bottom of her foot. The stand isn’t necessary to stand her up, but it does help. I think I would have liked either a shield with the title of the game or a base made to look like actual ground.

As you may have noticed, this is a “talking figure” which means she’s got a sound chip in her and spouts off a bunch of phrases recorded from the game. There’s an On/Off switch on her and a large button below that. Press it and you get to hear a different phrase each time. I’ve got a couple issues with this gimmick, the least of which is, why bother? Lara doesn’t really have a retinue of catch phrases and nothing she says here is all that memorable or great. But the bigger problem is the sound quality of the clips is just terrible. There’s a ton of background hissing and there’s a ridiculous amount of extraneous breathing that should have been filtered out. It sounds like it was recorded over the telephone… with a bad connection… while the actress was half asleep. The lovely Keeley Hawes voiced Lara in several of her games, and I believe Legend was one of them, but whether or not this is actually her voice, I just can’t tell. The quality is just that bad.

Nonetheless, here’s what she says…
  • Grand entrances are always impractical, that’s what makes them grand.
  • Well, this is a tomb. I’ll make them feel at home.
  • From this moment, you’re every breath is a gift from me.
  • Death by irony is always painful
 All in all, NECA’s Lara ain’t a bad statue. Not at all. She looks great on the shelf and really captures everything there is about the character as she appeared in this particular game. On the other hand, the sound gimmick is absolutely horrible and pointless and should have been left out. It serves no purpose other than to inflate the cost of the statue. Pretend it doesn’t exist and you should be very happy with this piece if you decide to add it to your collection. I picked up mine on clearance for about $20. Not a bad deal.
Oct 3 2011

Perfect Dark: Joanna Dark (Deluxe Armored Version) 1:6 Scale Figure by Blue Box

Last time we checked out the standard version of console first-person shooter queen Joanna Dark by Blue Box, this time we up the ante a bit with a look at the Deluxe version of the figure. A lot about this figure is similar to the last one, so I’m going to make it a quickie.

BBi used the exact same package for both the regular flavor Joanna and this one. It’s a sturdy half tube that displays the figure pretty well and serves equally well as storage. The back panel shows both figures. Not much else new to say here.
This version of Joanna uses the exact same body as the previous version, but features a slight resculpt to the head and different hands. If you read yesterday’s review than you’ll understand I’m perfectly fine with this arrangement. The figure’s body is excellent with a solid level of poseability and the head sculpt is very nicely executed with superb paintwork. The hands this time are sculpted wearing fingerless gloves, and you actually get a second pair to switch out. Why? No idea. The hands that come on the figure are perfectly adequate, so I’ve never even taken the second set off the bubbles. The change in the head sculpt only involves the addition of an earpiece and microphone.
The Deluxe nature of this figure mostly factors in with her outfit, which is a lot more complex than the simple pleather body suit seen on yesterday’s feature. This Joanna features a black body stocking, black combat boots, blue pleather pants, a pleather half-jacket that clasps at the front, and pieces of vac-metalized armor for her arms and legs. She also has a belt with a loop that serves as a holster for her sidearm. There’s a lot of really nice little details on her outfit, including sculpted ammo on her boots and belt and jacket. I think the armor pieces are a bit much and they don’t really stay in place all that well, but you can always remove them if you choose.
                           As with the regular version of Joanna, this armored version also comes up short in the accessories, as she includes only a single handgun, this time a larger silver automatic pistol with a scope. It’s a nice looking piece, complete with removeable clip, but just like the other Joanna figure, I had to lend her some weapons from my stash to really make her feel complete.
If memory serves, this version of Joanna sold for around $30. While she’s definitely lacking in the accessories department, she’s still a really nice figure for a 1:6 scale in her price range. The outfit looks great, although I do prefer her without the vac-metal pieces. Blue Box did a really nice job with these figures and it makes me wish they had been able to do a Lara Croft in a similar style, scale, and price range. Joanna still turns up from time to time on Ebay and is definitely worth a look if you can grab her for at or below her original price tag, just make sure you’ve got some extra weapons kicking around to help complete the package.
Oct 2 2011

Perfect Dark: Joanna Dark 1:6 Scale Figure by Blue Box

It’s going to be a slow week for acquisitions, as I’ve got some other financial responsibilities. Nonetheless, the show must go on and so I’m spending a good part of this week poking around my toy closet for some older stuff that’s worth checking out. Today’s installment is takes us back into the world of video games for BBi’s 1:6 scale Joanna Dark figure. While I still try to put in some time behind the controller, I’m not the gamer that I was ten or so years ago and as far as Perfect Dark goes, I wasn’t a huge fan of the franchise. I did have a good amount of fun playing the original on the N64 back in the day, but I thought the Xbox 360 sequel was thoroughly wretched and could never be bothered to finish it. Nonetheless, I do enjoy picking up the occasional 1:6 scale figure, especially if its a bad ass femme fatale and Joanna certainly fit the bill when BBi produced a couple of figures based on her.

Joanna comes in a sturdy half tube with a window that shows off the figure very nicely. It’s a pretty compact design that doesn’t waste any space and yet doesn’t sacrifice anything in terms of presentation. Granted, it wouldn’t work so well with a lot of current 12-inchers on the market as they tend to come with a lot more accessories than Joanna does. The accessories she does come with are discretely taped inside the bubble and there are indentations for her feet on the bottom of the tube for her to stand. The backdrop of the tube’s interior has a computer style readout and circuit schematics printed on it. Needless to say, this packaging is extremely collector friendly. The back panel shows off this figure as well as the other Joanna Dark figure that BBi produced [which we just might be checking out tomorrow! – FF]                                
Out of the tube, we find that Joanna comes in a pretty simple, one-piece, black pleather body suit. The arms have a cool coiled, ribbing to them, but apart from that, it’s pretty straight forward, with excellent stitching, but not a lot of detailing. It does fit the figure very well, and zips up in the back. The suit is augmented by a simple belt that hangs loose on her hips, a thigh strap on her left leg, and a shoulder harnass with a holster for her sidearm.
I think Blue Box did a remarkable job with Joanna’s head sculpt, particularly when you keep in mind that this is an older figure without a high end price tag. The face is pretty and the paintwork is far better than I’ve seen on some recent contenders from other companies. BBi went with sculpted hair, which was probably a good call cosidering her short hairstyle and the price point of the figure.
Joanna is wonderfully articulated, although I’ll beg the pardon of the hardcore 1:6 scale collectors if I don’t count off every joint. I realize that the subtle differences in articulation on these figures is of paramount importance, but getting her suit on and off to study the joints is a real bitch. Suffice it to say she has a very articulated body, with soft rubbery hands to help her grip accessories, and a pair of flat feet inside her boots.
It’s only in the accessories that Joanna comes up ridiculously short. I’ve taken the liberty of digging through my 1:6 scale armory to provide her with some additional firepower, (I think she looks particularly great with the combat shotgun) but keep in mind that she only comes with one weapon and that’s her tiny little automatic pistol. She can easily hold the pistol in her right hand and it fits nicely into her holster. The pistol has a removable clip, complete with a tiny copper bullet painted in at the top of the magazine.
I seem to recall this figure retailing for around $19.99 when first released. I picked up both of these in the corner of an indie game shop on clearance. I think they were about $10 each.  I’m tempted to say she’s an amazing figure for that price, but then I think she’d be a really solid figure for even twice that. The body and head sculpt are both excellent, articulation is solid, and her outfit is nicely tailored and fits well. The only place she stumbles is in the lack of weaponry or accessories, and that’s something BBi could have easily fixed. Joanna doesn’t turn up on Ebay as much as she used to, but you can still sometimes find her in the $30 range. I’m sure the Perfect Dark franchise doesn’t have the appeal it once did, but if you’re into this scale and want a solid female action figure to add to your collection, you can do much worse than Joanna Dark.
Oct 1 2011

Young Justice: 4-inch Series, Wave 2: Vandal Savage and Black Canary

Time to round out the second wave of Mattel’s 4-inch Young Justice figures. This time around we finally get one very cool baddie in figure form and another single-carded adult hero to add to our collection. It’s Vandal Savage and Black Canary. And since these are the last two figures from the assortment, we’ll check in and see how the Hall of Justice C&C set is coming along.

Cool packaging? …check. I’ve said all I have to say about the Young Justice carded figures. I’m still really digging on the packages. Once again the back panel of the card contains the character portrait and bio blurb as well as an illustration of what parts your getting for the Collect & Connect Hall of Justice.
Let’s kick it off with Vandal Savage. Savage has been committed to figure form before by DC Direct, but surprisingly he has yet to appear in the DC Universe Classics line. Either way, this is the first time I’ve owned the character as an action figure and I really like what Mattel did with him. The figure features all new tooling, which is a nice change from the reuse of parts and the similar styles we’ve seen in a lot of the figures through the first two waves. He retains more of his cromagnin features than some of his past character designs, and certainly a lot more than his DC Direct figure. His overcoat is cast in soft, rubbery plastic ands certainly makes him look distinctive in this line of otherwise bland bucks. The head sculpt is pretty good, and I like the red coloring on the eyes, as well as the glossy finish on his boots and gloves.
Vandal features the basic five points of articulation that is standard for this line. He has a rotating head, his arms rotate at the shoulders and his legs rotate at the hips. He also comes with a chunk of meteor that has granted him his immortal status. It just looks like a yellow-grey blob and it’s really tough to get him to hold it, but then accessories have been more or less throwaways for this line so far.
On the flipside is Black Canary, who has been released as a figure a whole bunch of times and in a whole bunch of scales. In addition to this one, I already have the character in the Infinite Heroes line and in DC Universe Classics, and I’ve come pretty close to picking her up in 1:6 scale a couple of times. Like Vandal, Canary is a completely new sculpt, but that’s to be expected since she’s the first 4-inch female figure in this Young Justice line. She’s still pretty simple, but I really like the headsculpt and the paint apps on the face are nice and clean. I was never that crazy about the Infinite Heroes version, so I’m particularly happy to have this one in my collection.
Yep, you get the same five points of articulation here, and it’s praticularly irksome with Black Canary, since you can’t get any decent action poses out of her. They might as well have just sculpted her standing in mid scream. She does comes with her battle staff.
And there it is, the Hall of Justice as it stands with all the pieces from Wave 1 and 2. I’m a little peeved that Wave 2 leaves us with parts that can’t be connected. The first batch of figures was good about allowing you to connect what you’ve got, but here I’m left with two extra parts until I can get the next assortment of figures. Just to recap, there are 12 figures bundled with HoJ parts spread out through three waves, so that means I’ve still got four figures to go before getting this baby complete.
And there’s Wave 2. The third Wave of Young Justice 4-inchers is slated for the Fall, so I’m hoping they hit the shelves soon. Considering two of them are repaints, it shouldn’t be too much work to get them out. I can’t say as I’m jonesing for the Wave 3 figures so much, but dang I am really excited to finally get my Hall of Justice completed. As for the figures themselves, yes I still regard these figures as woefully overpriced, so if you haven’t picked up any of these yet, proceed with caution.
Sep 30 2011

Trash Pack: Trashies by Moose

Time for a little something different today, but first it’s story time! When I was a kid I used to peddle my bike downtown to the Woolworth’s “Five-and-Dime” where they had almost an entire aisle of novelty candy and cheap little junk just made for kids to blow their allowance on. There was everything from Pac Man and Donkey Kong candy in little arcade machine boxes to MUSCLE figures, to capsule slime, and Wacky Wall Walkers, not to mention trading cards devoted to Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and even ET. I bring up this little nugget of nostalgia because today’s entry feels like it would be right at home nestled in that aisle those many years ago. They’re called Trashies and if you like collecting fun little useless pieces of rubber, than these things are aimed right at you!

This Trashie came blind bagged in a little foil packet. The blind bag seems to be all the rage these days, whether it be Lego Minifigs, Halo Megabloks, Playmobil, or whatever. It’s a system designed to excite and frustrate the collector. On the one hand, it’s fun because you never know what you’re going to get. On the other hand it’s frustrating because… well, you get the idea. You see, there are 166 different Trashies and they range from Common to Rare to Ultra Rare to Special Edition. The idea here is that you can get together with like minded lunatics collectors and trade them. I have a Common that you need? Give me a Common that I need. I have a Rare that you need? Give me 12 Commons that I need. I have a Special Edition that you need? Fuck you, I’m putting it on Ebay. See how it works? Fun! So let’s tear open the bag and see what the heck Trashies are all about.
Inside the bag you get a fold out that looks like the Periodic Table of Elements. It shows all the available Trashies, their names, their numbers, and roughly what your chances of finding them are. You also get a neon green plastic garbage can. Flip the top open and you dump out what is basically a tiny rubber pencil topper. Yep, Trashies are tiny sculpted rubber “figures” designed to look like critters, or bugs, or animated pieces of garbage. I got #118. The chart tells me he’s called Scummy Squirrel and that he’s Common. He’s a blue squirrel eating a piece of garbage… or possibly a turd. Nice. There’s a surprisingly high amount of sculpted detail on something so small and rubbery. The colors aren’t bad either as you don’t see blue squirrels everyday. But that’s really all I have to say about him.
If blind bags aren’t your thing, you can collect Trashies in 5-packs, but I’m pretty sure those only show you one of the figure’s you’re getting, so it’s still a crap shoot. You can also get the Special Edition Trashies by buying larger sets like a metal trash can collector case or a garbage truck. Am I going to collect these things? Not a chance. The only reason I have this one is because Toys R Us was giving them away with each order on their website. I’m not opposed to them, mind you, and I don’t even know how much they cost, but I’ve got enough hunks of plastic to collect without going out of my way on something like this.
Sep 28 2011

Young Justice: 4-inch Series, Wave 2: Superboy and Captain Atom by Mattel

Mattel seems to be rushing out the 4-inch Young Justice figure with great haste. I just recently found all of Wave 1 at TRU, when Wave 2 started popping up all over online. I was able to pick up the first three figures of Wave 2, and I’m still hunting for the third. Today we’re going to take a look at Superboy and the first adult superhero in the line, Captain Atom.

Yep, there’s the same packaging we saw for Wave 1. I still like it a lot. The deco is very colorful and comic book inspired and the big bubbles display the figures very nicely. If anything maybe the bubble is too roomy. I still think it’s really clever the way the package uses an illustrated false back under the bubble to conceal the Collect & Connect pieces for the Hall of Justice. If you want to display these guys carded, the presentation won’t be marred by chunks of a building. The back panel of the cards have the character profiles and portraits and an illustration of what C&C piece you’re getting with the figures.
Let’s look at Superboy first. He’s a really solid likeness that once again relies more heavily on paintwork than sculpting. The head sculpt, however, is extremely well done and fits the animated character perfectly. The rest of the body also falls in line with the overall likeness, with his simple S-shielded black T-shirt, blue jeans and black boots. Astute collectors will note that Superboy uses the same torso and arms as Aqualad. The figure still looks fine, even with the reuse of parts, but considering the price point here, it does bug me a bit. It’s most noticeable in the arms when the two figures are standing next to each other. Superboy comes with an odd accessory, which looks like he ripped the exhaust system out of somebody’s car. In reality, it’s probably just supposed to be a piece of metal he’s bending with his super strength.
Next up is Captain Atom. I was pretty happy to pick him up since I don’t have either the JLU or the DC Universe Classics versions, and so this is my first figure of this character in my collection. Although, in fairness, I would have rather had Mattel do Red Tornado in this wave instead, since he’s more prominent in the cartoon. Captain Atom is a completely new sculpt, making him bigger and a little bulkier than the kids. His paintwork is as simple as it gets. He’s all silver with red boots and gloves and his red emblem tampo’ed on his chest. Nonetheless, the paintwork is all pretty sharp. Despite being a new sculpt, Atom’s hands are in almost an identical position to all the kids, which is just sort of weird. Atom comes with a piece of energy that clips onto his hand. The effect on this isn’t so great, but Atom is still a sharp looking figure.

Yes, I’ve now got two more pieces of the Hall of Justice, but I’m not going to show the progress until I get to the next figures in Wave 3: Vandal Savage and Black Canary.
These figures continue to be a guilty pleasure for me. I still think they’re over-priced and under-articulated and now the reuse of parts isn’t making me much happier. And yet I still dig them on some level and will be continuing to buy the line. I wouldn’t go recommending them to anyone who isn’t already in love with Mattel’s Infinite Heroes or JLU lines, because I think they’re likely to disappoint everyone else. I was able to get this pair plus Vandal Savage off of Amazon at regular retail price and even netted some free shipping. The fourth figure in the Wave, Black Canary, is going to be a little bit more difficult to score at the retail price. Looks like she’s going ot be Cheetara all over again. [I was actually able to score her off of TRU’s website a few days ago, so I’ll have a look at Vandal and Black Canary in a few days! -FF]
Sep 27 2011

Doctor Who: Series 6, Wave 2: Idris by Character Options

Last time we looked at Uncle, one of CO’s newest Doctor Who figures and from one of my personal favorite Series 6 episodes,“The Doctor’s Wife” and this time we’re checking out what is probably one of the most anticipated figures from this assortment: Idris. We don’t know a lot about who Idris was before the malevolent entity, House, decided to empty the consciousness of the TARDIS into her body, but once that deed was done, she became the TARDIS personified, which opened up one of the coolest dynamics Doctor Who has seen in possibly forever. The Doctor was finally able to converse with his oldest of companions: His stolen timeship itself.

Idris comes in the same package we saw with Uncle. Again, I really dig the design. It’s functional, easy to get into, and still looks pretty good. Also like Uncle, Idris’ package makes a big fuss about the fact that it comes with all the extra “Flesh” crap. The back panel shows off the rest of the figures in this assortment.
As with Uncle, Idris’ sculpt is pretty solid, although I don’t think the likeness is really spot on. Character Options has gone on record saying that they haven’t mixed things up with their sculptors, but I can’t help but think the likenesses were just a bit better a few years back. Unlike River Song, the strongest point of Idris’ likeness is actually her hair. The face isn’t bad, just not the epitome of actress Suranne Jones, and there’s a bit of ugly seaming around her neck. The rest of the figure is pretty standard, with the dress bearing a good resemblance to the character’s onscreen attire. Not the most exciting looking figure around, but then she’s the TARDIS… and a woman. She’s a woman and she’s the TARDIS.
                     
Once again, the articulation seems to have taken a step back in the shoulders, as Idris has no ball joints in her arms. We’re back to last year’s style of articulation, which honestly in a figure like Idris doesn’t bother me too much. It’s not like I need her to be an action hero. Of course, the sculpted dress does inhibit whatever leg articulation she has. You can get a little bit of repositioning out of her legs, and it’s a bit tough to get her to stand up properly without falling over backwards. Once nice surprise, is that she can swivel at the waist.
I won’t bother talking about the “Flesh” stuff again. If you like bags of “Goo” you get another one with Idris as well as another pointless “Flesh Mask.” Apart from those treats, we do get one tiny little accessory with Idris that is really cool: A Time Lord Psychic Container. Yeah, it’s just a tiny cube with what looks like Elmer’s Glue squirted in it, but it’s still a much welcomed addition when compared to all the “Flesh” crap.
Just like Uncle, Idris set me back $15 plus shipping. Yep, it’s a little steep, but again, this is an import, so I’m not going to complain. Idris is one of those characters in Series 6 that I absolutely wanted to get in figure form, so I’m very glad CO gave her the plastic treatment. I still think they should have just included her with the Junk TARDIS Playset, but either way at least I have her in my collection. Besides, which, in the world of Doctor Who, anything is possible. Maybe we’ll see Idris again.
Sep 25 2011

Doctor Who: Series 6, Wave 2: Uncle by Character Options

If you harken back to my look at the Junk TARDIS Playset then you may remember me saying how much I loved the Series 6 episode, “The Doctors Wife.” Good thing too, since it was the basis for a fair number of figures in addition to that awesome playset. Today we’re going to look at one of the figures produced from this episode, Uncle, an eccentric survivor patchworked together from various parts harvested by unfortunate aliens and at least a few Time Lords. I loved the character in the episode (“I’m Uncle… I’m everybody’s Uncle”), but considering he didn’t last too long before dying, I’ll concede that he’s an odd choice for a figure. But hey, I was glad to get him and I’m sure more fans wanted a figure of Uncle then Rory anyway.

There’s that Series 5 & 6 figure packaging. I’m still pretty fond of it. It’s simple, much easier to get into than those annoying clamshells used on older figures and it looks nice. The only change worth noting is that there’s a baggie of “Flesh” stuck on the card behind each figure in this wave, which the card proudly announces along with the inclusion of a “Flesh Mask.” Ok, we’ll get to that stuff in a bit. The back panel of the card shows other figures in this assortment. It’s a little better than the last assortment.
As mentioned, Uncle is a patchwork guy in a patchwork uniform. We don’t know a lot about who he was, but he was lured to the asteroid-entity called House and kept alive by replacing his organs and parts with stuff scavenged from less fortunate beings. His uniform looks like it’s a hodge-podge from armies from different time periods, which is what I think is the coolest thing about his whole appearance. His outfit basically looks like something out of Time Bandits, which certainly fits a character from Doctor Who very well. The sculpting of the uniform is quite good and faithful to his on screen appearance. In fact, CO actually remembered to sculpt him with two left feet. Cool! The head sculpt, on the other hand is really just passable. Not bad, not great, but passable. Uncle does come with a second head that has the hat removed to reveal the stitches in his skin as well as his alien ear.
Uncle’s articulation takes a slight step back from the last batch of Who figures we looked at. If you were expecting ball jointed shoulders like we got with Leela, River Song, and even The Silents, you’ll be disappointed. Uncle has the same old rotating shoulder joints and all the other articulation seen in the Series 5 figures and before. His head rotates side to side; His arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists as well as hinged elbows; His legs have universal joints in the hips, hinged knees, and swivels above each boot. It’s not bad as far as articulation goes, but it’s frustrating to go back to the shoulders sans any lateral movement.
In addition to the extra head, Uncle comes with… eh… Ok, I have no idea what the hell it is. I vaguely remember him holding it in the episode. It might just be a walking stick he cobbled together from trash, but it really does look like it might be some kind of device. Either way, it’s pretty big and he looks cool holding it. As for the rest of Uncle’s accessories… I’m not usually one to bitch about extra accessories. If you don’t like them, just toss them, right? But for some reason CO’s decision to include a baggie of “Goo” and a “Flesh Mask” with each figure in this wave is just stupid, especially since almost none of these characters have anything to do with that story. The “Flesh Mask” is particularly stupid as it doesn’t even fit on the figures, and even if it did, what’s the point? Or is the final episode of Series 6 going to reveal that everyone is a Ganger? Bah!
Uncle set me back about $15 plus shipping. Yeah, the Who figures have been creeping up there a bit lately, although I’ve certainly paid more for some in the past. Taking into account that these are imports, I’m not going to complain too much, but the prices are making me more selective about the ones I buy these days and I suppose I could understand Uncle not being high on some collectors’ lists. Nonetheless, I liked him and the episode a lot and he makes for a very distinctive figure to stand on my ever increasing Doctor Who display shelves.
Sep 23 2011

Captain America: Crossbones (Comic Series) by Hasbro

Here’s the last of the three new Captain America figures I picked up last week, and OMG, it’s Crossbones. When looking at the Hydra Soldier, I commented that I never expected to find him at retail. Well, that goes double for Crossbones. He’s a pretty sought after figure in the sea of Cap variants, and yet there he was hanging right on the peg. Cool!

Once again, it’s the Captain America movie-inspired card. I think I’ve said all I have to say about this packaging. It looks great and really makes me want to buy the figures, but not enough to buy a dozen stupid mission-themed versions of Cap. Crossbones is a pretty hefty guy so he fills out the card nicely, along with his small arsenal of weapons. The insert in the bubble points out that this figure is from the Comic Series.
Hasbro did a fantastic job commiting Crossbones to plastic. The last time I remember seeing this guy in figure form was as part of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends and that was a pretty amazing figure. Does Hasbro’s smaller scale version of ‘Bones hold up? Yeah, it really does. There are a few minor differences, like this one has sleeves and kneepads. Hasbro did actually manage to get quite a bit more sculpted detail into this smaller figure, and that’s very impressive. The mask looks great and the paint apps are nice and crisp. Most of the sculpting here went into his bulky vest, which is detailed right down to each and every ammo pouch, the zippers, and the combat knife. Have I said impressive yet? I did, but hey it fits. This is an impressive little figure.

Crossbones features Hasbro’s standard modern 3 3/4″ figure articulation. The drawback is that his sculpted vest inhibits the torso articulation. He does, however have all the rest of the goodies including the double hinged knees, and yes those god awful ball jointed hips. Either way, Crossbones is a very poseable figure.
Accessories? Crossbones has three weapons. You get two small submachine pistols and an assault rifle. He can hold the weapons in either hand, but only his left hand is sculpted so that his trigger finger can slip through the trigger guard. The weapons are nicely sculpted, but I take issue with the decision to cast them in green plastic.
So, wow. I never expected to actually own this figure, but if I ever did I had high expectations and they really panned out well. I realize Crossbones isn’t on the top of everyone’s Marvel villain action figure list, but the Captain America movie line made for a great way to release him. Something just tells me that if he were released as part of Marvel Universe he wouldn’t have turned out nearly this well. I think a lot of my excitement just comes down to this: I now have a Crossbones figure in scale with my GI JOEs. Damn, how cool is that?
By figurefanzero
0
Sep 21 2011

Captain America: Hydra Armored Soldier (Movie Series) by Hasbro

I’ve only got time for a quickie today, which works out pretty well since I just so happen to have a new Captain America figure to check out that won’t take me too long. If you’ve been hunting this line, there’s a good chance you’re having the same problem we all had with the Iron Man 2 figures: Lots of variations of the main man himself, in this case Cap, and not a lot of the baddies. I was actually amazed to find one of these Hydra soldiers hanging on the pegs in plain sight, since not only is he one of the more uncommon figures in the line, but I’m guessing some people out there have got to be army building him.

We’ve seen this packaging twice before when looking at Red Skull and Battlefield Cap, but I’ll say it again, I really love Hasbro’s Marvel movie packaging. You get a big illustrated picture of Cap dominating the card and the little Avengers Assemble emblem on the other corner. The bubble is pretty big, and a good portion of the real estate is used to house the Hydra soldier’s terrible gimmicky oversized weapons. You’ll note that this is one of those figures that Hasbro had to add the name “Marvel” to, presumeably over copyright issues, which makes me wonder who else out there owns the name Hydra Armored Soldier. Hmm.
Honestly, I’m somewhat underwhelmed by this guy. For a so-called “armored” soldier, he really isn’t. He’s just a guy in a uniform and tunic with some web gear. I don’t have any particular complaint about him other than he just looks kinda drab and boring. The head sculpt is rather unique, though, thanks to his distinctive looking helmet, but there’s not a lot else to say about him. The body features a good amount of sculpted detail and he even has a tiny Hydra patch painted on his sleeve and little “H”s on his boots. I’m guessing that belt looking thing coming out of his backpack along his right arm is supposed to be belt fed ammo, but I can’t be sure about that. So, basically, this guy is just some poor minimum wage schmuck that Cap can hit in the teeth with his shield. He’s ok looking, but nothing special.
The Hydra Soldier has every bit of articulation we’ve come to expect from Hasbro’s modern 3 3/4″ figures, including those terrible ball jointed hips. Have I mentioned recently how much I hate these hip joints, Hasbro? I really hate these hip joints, Hasbro.
I’m a little more decisive in my take on this figure’s weapons: They suck. He comes with a repack of the huge missile launcher we got bundled with Red Skull, and another equally huge and ungainly weapon. Hasbro screwed the pooch on this one. He should have at least been bundled with some kind of assault rifle.
Every hero needs legions of nondescript cannon fodder and that’s exactly what we get with the Hydra Armored Soldier. I don’t like him well enough to want to army build him, and that’s probably a good thing because I doubt I’ll ever see many more on the pegs anyway. Maybe I could see picking up one more to flank my Red Skull as guards, but that’s it. He’s not a bad figure by any means, and I suppose he could add a little diversity to your GI JOE’s if you want to mix things up a bit. As with all the Cap movie figures, he runs around $7-$8 depending on where you pick them up and that’s not a bad deal.