Nov 11 2010

DC Justice League Unlimited: Attack From Thanagar Boxed Set by Mattel

Moving on to the second of two Justice League Unlimited Figure sets that I rescued from Ross, is Attack From Thanagar. I’m pretty sure this one is based off the three part story arc from Season 2 called Starcrossed, but I’m a bit fuzzy on it. I think I saw it when it was strung together as a movie. Either way, I think this set is a lot cooler than the Eclipsed set because it’s chock full of Hawk People. And Hawk People are cool.


The package is exactly the same as the last set we looked at, which is a good thing. I like it so much I spent a considerable amount of time carefully scraping and peeling the Ross sticker off of it so I could use it to display the figures. The front of the package has a little explosion of text that points out that this set is the first release of Paran Dul, Hro Talak and Lt. Kragger. It doesn’t say anything about Hawkgirl being new, but she’s definitely not the “regular” masked Hawkgirl sculpt. She’s the “I just got to Earth and I’m going to lead the way for a friggin invasion” Hawkgirl. Maybe this figure was released before? I don’t know, I’m new to the whole JSU thang. The Green Lantern is the same sculpt I got in the last set and you also get Batman.

Talak and Kragger share the same body sculpt but with different paint decos and they have different heads. The different heads do an ok job of separating the figures apart, and I really like Talak’s. But there isn’t enough variation in the paint to really fool me into realizing they’re the same figure designed to be wearing two different kinds of pants. It’s ok though. I like the figure and I’ll take all the Hawkmen figures I can get. The belt and harness on each figure is also a separate soft plastic piece.

Similarly, Paran Dul and Hawkgirl also share the same body with different paint decos and differet heads. The difference here is a lot more striking, probably because the paint decos are a lot different, but also because of the vast difference in the head sculpts. Paran is wearing a helmet, which conceals most of her head and face. Hawkgirl on the other hand, is letting it all hang out. I absolutely love her head sculpt. It’s just adorable and features some excellent, clean paintwork on the face. She’s definitely my favorite figure in the box.

I really don’t have much to say about John Stewart. He’s a pretty simple sculpt and basically relies on his paint job to distinguish him. He’s the same figure we looked at yesterday in the Eclipsed set only without the purple shards painted on him and with his pupils back.

As for Batman, I’m guessing that if you are a JLU collector, then this guy is going to be a duplicate. I can’t imagine most fans not already having Batman. Since these are my first JLU figures, I’m perfectly fine with him being in the set, especially since he’s one of the few Leaguers that wasn’t in the last set. He’s a really great looking figure, with a much more sensible (read less stylized) sculpt than Superman from the Eclipsed set.

All the guys in this set have the same five points of articulation: Head, shoulders and hips. The girls have the shoulders and hips, but their heads don’t turn. I can understand Hawkgirl’s limitation because of her sculpted hair, but I don’t see why Paran’s can’t.

There are sadly no accessories, which seems like a big missed opportunity to give some maces or other weapons to the Hawk People. You do get the same paltry two figure stands in the set, because those stands probably cost half a cent to make and Mattel doesn’t want to go broke giving you one for each figure.

So yeah, when you get down to it, this set cheats a lot with two sculpts being repainted into four figures, and two straight repacks. That may severely diminish the value for anyone who already collects the line. As a starter set, it’s much better and there certainly isn’t a bad figure in the box, so long as these highly stylized sculpts are your bag and you don’t have a problem with Hawk People.

Nov 10 2010

DC Universe Classics: Wave 15 Martian Manhunter and Jemm by Mattel

It’s probably safe to say that for most collectors, Martian Manhunter is the most anticipated figure of Wave 15. Why? Because he’s the last figure needed to be released to complete the Justice League. [Except for me, since I still haven’t got Hawkgirl yet. Grrr. -FF]. Martian Manhunter was also released as a variant in this wave, which featured his more alien head and his right hand morphed into a blade weapon. I’m probably not going to hunt that one down, so we’ll only be looking at the regular version. Alongside, Martian Manhunter, we’re also going to look at Jemm. I was so sure these figures were going to be a repaint/minor resculpt of each other, and happily that turned out to be far from the case.


Yep, standard DCUC packaging. Not much else to say here, except these two figures were exceptionally stubborn to get out of their trays.

I think it’s a tribute to Martian Manhunter’s iconic design that he’s so simple a figure and yet simply fantastic. The head sculpt is amazing and exactly what I was hoping for. As with a lot of the DCUC figures, J’onn has a pretty generic body sculpt, although the musculature is nicely detailed, right down to the little veins in his arms. The cape is sculpted with a high collar and a red cord connecting it under his chin. I was expecting it to really throw off his balance, but he stands pretty well, considering.

There isn’t a lot of paintwork on this figure as most of it is cast in the appropriate colors. His torso, arms and legs are green, his boots and cape are blue, and he has a red soft plastic harness around his chest. Strangely enough, there’s a bit of stray red paint on the chest of my figure. It’s a bit unsightly, and considering the only red paint apps on this figure are probably his eyes, that’s some pretty bad slop. Here’s a perfectly good example of the pitfalls of buying figures online. I would have definitely flipped through the pegs to find a better one if I was purchasing in a store. Then again, I’d have no chance of finding even one of these guys in any of the stores in my area.

J’onn comes with the head and crotch pieces to build Validus. He also comes with the collector pin, which features Hal Jordan mugging in on his action. Hey, Hal, get your own pin! He doesn’t have any other accessories. It would have been cool if Mattel gave him a swappable arm sort of like they did with the Metal Men figures, Iron and Gold, but I guess that would have undercut sales on their variant figure.

Moving on from Mars to Saturn… as mentioned above, I was pretty sure Jemm was going to be a mere repaint and resculpt when I saw the early pics. It’s an easy mistake since both of them are bald muscular dudes with high collared capes. And besides all the people from Saturn and Mars look alike to us Earthlings anyway, right? But put the two figures beside each other and it’s easy to see that Jemm is a completely different figure. His build is a bit slighter, he has bracers on his arms and elongated alien fingers. Apparently, people from Saturn don’t have nipples either, while Martians do. Jemm’s headsculpt features pointed ears, a less pronounced brow ridge and, of course, the gem in his forehead. Even the sculpt of the cape is completely different.

While Jemm’s torso, arms and head are cast in red plastic, he has more paint apps than Martian Manhunter. From the waist down he’s two-tone blue and his arm bracers are painted silver and the gem is painted yellow. His cape is cast in soft powder blue plastic and the sculpted starfish clasp is yellow.
Jemm comes with the left arm piece of Validus and his collectible button, which has some of the best artwork I’ve seen on these little things to date. He doesn’t come with any other accessories.

Both figures have the same points of articulation. The head is ball jointed. The arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinged elbows. The legs have universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs and hinges in the knees and ankles. They each swivel at the waist and have the ab crunch hinge in the torso.

I think both of these figures turned out great. I know Martian Manhunter has been a hotly anticipated figure, and I really have no complaints about the finished product. Jemm, on the other hand, isn’t a guy I’ve been holding my breath to get, but he’s still a great looking figure and a nice compliment to his Martian “cousin.” I think Mattel could have gotten away with making Jemm on the cheap with a heavy reuse of parts and some different paint, but instead they went the extra mile to deliver a totally fresh and unique figure.

Nov 10 2010

DC Universe Classics: Wave 15 Ted Knight Starman and Jack Knight Starman by Mattel

My Wave 15 case of DC Universe Classics arrived a day early, so I’m going to take the Infinite Heroes figures that I was going to look at today and push them to the back of the week. Yeah, I’m just that excited to get started with looking at these guys. Buying them by the case seems to be the only way to go for me, since I’ll probably never see these figures at any store in my area and I really wanted to make sure I got all the Collect and Connect pieces to build Validus. So, we’re going to go ahead and start with the two versions of Starman.

Technically these two figures are variants, although they are obviously completely different figures, unlike say Martian Manhunter who’s variant is just a partial resculpt of the same figure. It’s important, because you don’t need to buy both of these versions of Starman to complete your C&C Validus figure. They both come with the same C&C part, on the same card and have the same collector button. Considering that to most people Starman is something of a B-lister, you may not want to have to buy two versions. I was actually more familiar with the original Starman, and picking up one of his sons in the role was just a cool extension of the history a character I already loved.

The packaging hasn’t changed much from the last time we looked at some DC Universe Classics, even though that seems like ages ago. You get the same huge bubble, that takes up the space of the entire cardback. The card features a montage of different DC character’s faces and the back panel offers a blurb about the character’s history and some of his powers. This is one of my favorite cardbacks on the market today because it packs so much useful information onto it. Not only do you get the character in a nutshell, but you also get photos of all the other figures in the wave. Needless to say, the bubble shows off the figures splendidly as well as the collector button.

Let’s look at Ted Knight first as he was the original Starman and the one that I’m most familiar with. He’s one of those DCUC figures that features a pretty generic body sculpt and depends primarily on his coloring to personalize his character. His outfit is mostly red with green boots, cape and super-panties. He’s got a yellow belt and star on his chest as well as his cape. Starman also has a brown soft plastic holster with a flip up retaining flap. If you have Blue Beetle or Captain Cold, you have a good idea what the holster is like. The paint apps are super crisp and bright with no slop or chipping. The head sculpt is excellent and I love the hood with the crest as it gives him a cool retro sci-fi look.


Ted Knight comes with the left leg of Valdius as well as Starman’s cosmic rod and a pistol. The rod is gold and features some basic sculpted detail. The pistol is silver, has a retro laser gun look and fits into his holster. He can hold either accessory in either hand. He also comes with the tiny little collector button.

His son, Jack, is a big departure from the original figure, which is significant because if I recall Jack wasn’t a big supporter of his dad wearing a goofy costume. As a result, Jack sticks to street clothes, which makes him a pretty unique looking DCUC figure. He’s wearing brown trousers, a green t-shirt and a black leather jacket. [This figure reminds me of a human Hellboy, probably because of the goatee, the jacket and the fact that his goggles look like Hellboy’s horn stumps -FF] He’s also got an amazing looking and elaborate star emblem painted on the back of his jacket. The sculpt is amazingly well done with a loads of detail in the wrinkles and folds of his clothes. The jacket also looks great with a high collar and a little star pin on his lapel. The head is also fantastic. His goggles are sculpted to his forehead and he’s got his little trademark goatee. I love the way this guy turned out.

Jack Knight also comes with the left leg of Validus and the same button as his father, which is kind of a bummer because the button shows Ted and not Jack. [But honestly, I don’t really care. These little buttons don’t do anything for me. It’s a nice little bonus, I suppose, and I don’t throw them away, but I have no idea where any of the buttons are that came with my other DCUC figures, and these will probably get lost in the bottom of some tote as well. -FF] Jack also comes with the larger and more impressive Cosmic Staff. It’s gold and sculpted with some cool details. He can hold it in either hand or in both.

Both Starman figures have almost the same points of articulation, which is pretty standard by now for this line of figures. You get ball joints in the neck, the arms have ball jointed shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists and hinges in the elbows. The legs have universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs, and hinged knees and ankles. The difference is in the torso, where Ted has the swivel waist and ab crunch hinge, but Jack has neither, presumeably because of the sculpted jacket.

Mattel did a great job with both of these figures, and I think it’s really cool that they offered up both versions. It’s impossible for me to decide which one is my favorite. I’m most familiar with Ted Knight as I’ve actually read some of his funny books and I love his retro Buck Rogers design. I’ve never been as fond of Jack, but I have to admit his figure turned out looking amazing. I may have to track down some of his appearances and give them a read through.

Nov 8 2010

DC Universe Week Begins: Justice League Unlimited Eclipsed Boxed Set by Mattel

Welcome to DC Universe week! I’ve got a lot of great stuff I want to get through in the next five to seven days, so I’m just going to dive right in with the first of two Justice League boxed figure sets that I picked up out of Ross’ Toy Graveyard last week. Now, I love me my Justice League cartoon. I’ll pop in the DVDs and have the show running in the background when I’m puttering around the house, mainly because I’ve watched them all so many times, I know what’s going on even if I’m not sitting in front of the TV and looking at it.

I really haven’t gotten into the Justice League Unlimited figures too much, mainly because when I’m looking for some smaller scale DC figures, I tend to prefer the less stylized and more realistic Infinite Heroes line. But, the beautiful thing about clearance and closeouts is that you can try out some stuff that you wouldn’t have otherwise picked up, and sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised.

As the title suggests, this set is based on the Season 2 episode, Eclipsed, in which Eclipso possesses a good chunk of the Justice League, leaving Flash to save the day. I love Eclipso and his back story, but I wasn’t crazy about his portrayal in this episode. Overall, I enjoyed the episode, but I would have gone a different route with him. Plus, his character design just looked more goofy than sinister. Nonetheless, this set includes Eclipso himself, in what the package exlaims is his first JLU figure form, as well as possessed versions of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Hawk Girl, and a regular Flash.

I love the package! It’s nothing fancy, and yet I still feel like I’m getting something really cool. The figures are laid out with three on top and three on bottom, each nestled in a clear plastic tray, with their names just under their feet. It’s a nice big, impressive presentation and it kind of reminds me of the old action figure carry cases they used to sell for the Superpowers figures. It’s also totally collector friendly. While most of my figures reside in totes or on the shelves, I chose to keep these six figures displayed in the package. Also visible in the package are two clear figure stands. Wait… two? TWO? Ok, so either Mattel can’t count or they wanted to be a bastard and short us four stands. Seriously, how much could those stands cost to make that they couldn’t afford to provide one for each figure? The back panel of the box shows images from the episode along with blurbs on each character.

Let’s start with the possessed Leaguers. Obviously, these are all repaints of the core hero characters, and when I say repaints, I’m overstating things a bit. The figures just have some purple triangles shards p ainted on them and no pupils in their eyes. It’s almost subtle enough that you could just use these figures as your regular Justice League team. The effect is more noticeable on the ladies, just because the trianglesshards are on their skin. Superman shows them off pretty clearly, but Green Lantern’s are almost lost in his darker colored costume. You have to look pretty hard to see them.

The sculpts are all pretty solid and very similar to the character designs on the show, although Hawk Girl is my favorite of the bunch. Mattel really did a nice job on her, and her big soft plastic wings are cool. Superman is my least favorite. He looks great from the waist up, but I think his lower half is way too scrawny, even for the stylized look. His posture is also a bit wonky as he tends to look like he’s leaning forward even when he’s not.

As mentioned, The Flash is the only one of the heroes that doesn’t have the shard-possessed deco, although he still doesn’t have any pupils, but then he never did. The paint deco on him is nice and crisp and overall he’s a pretty good figure.

Eclipso is the set exclusive and while he still uses a pretty basic body sculpt, his excellent paint deco really looks great. The eclipse insignia on his chest is nice and crisp and the purple eclipse circle painted on the side of his face is well done too. His face sculpt looks a little too cheesey for my tastes. I like the more demented look of the DC Universe Classics figure, but that’s kind of an apples and oranges comparison. For some reason, Eclipso only has a peghole in one foot, so you can’t really get him centered on a stand. Grrrr.

All of the figures have the same basic five points of articulation: Head, shoulders, hips. It’s a lot more useful on the male characters, since the hip joints on the females are closer to being just swivels. Actually, that’s only in theory. The two ladies can’t move their heads at all because of their big sculpted hair. Either way, don’t expect to get any of these figures into any dynamic action poses.

There are no real accessories to speak of, which is a shame. Hawk Girl should have at least come with her mace. You do get the paltry two figure stands, which are best saved for the ladies, because they’re a bit top heavy and have tiny feet.

All in all, this is an ok set. I’m not sure how much it originally retailed for. The label said $20, but I find it hard to believe that Mattel was releasing a six figure set for an Andy Jackson. I picked it up for $13.99, which is even better. I’ll give the set higher marks because these are my first JLU figures and so even these subtle repaints are new to me. If you already have the core League figures, I don’t know that these very episode specific variants are a must-have unless you’re a completist or you really, really want Eclipso and you happen to need The Flash. I still prefer the sculpts of the Infinite Heroes over these cartoony sculpts, although these guys do have a certain vinyl toy style charm to them that seems to be all the rage these days.

Nov 7 2010

Transformers Power Core Combiners: Double Clutch with Rallybots by Hasbro

I’m really busting chops to get in a couple extra reviews this weekend before I start on my week long DC Universe extravaganza tomorrow. Looks like I have time to slip in one more… how about some Transformers loving? So far my experience with the Power Core Combiners has been pretty good. I liked all the single carded Commander figures from Wave 1, and I really liked Bombshock and the Combaticons. The Skyburst and the Aerialbots were really the only ones I was lukewarm on… until now. Folks, I was really, really excited about getting this Rallybots set. Based on early pics, I thought the drones looked pretty good and the whole thing just gave me warm fuzzy nostalgic feelings that harkened back to the Go-Bot combiner, Puzzler. Well, I finally picked up this set and, well, it sucks. Or, to be fair, Double Clutch sucks. It’s been a long time since I’ve really given a Transformers figure a pasting, so here we go.

The package is the exact same type of window box used for the two Wave 1 Power Core Combiner sets. It shows off all four drones and, I’ll give credit where credit is due, Hasbro had the balls to show you Double Clutches crappy robot mode. I know. Why the hell did you buy it if you hated his robot mode? I guess I thought I would warm up to him once I had the figure in hand. But then I also thought his combiner form had potential. But we’ll get to that later on. The cardboard tray insert has a cool circuitry pattern drawn on it. Was that on the other sets? Did I just miss it? I’m too lazy to go back and look at my own reviews, so let me just say I like it and move on.

Despite the fact that he’s packaged in bot form, I’m going to start out with Double Clutch’s vehicle mode, so I can open with some nice things to say. His car mode is pretty good. The paint job is kind of boring, and the flames are too similar to the overall blue body to really pop like they should. Apart from that he’s a nice looking car and rolls along fine. But, hey, where’s his Autobot insignia? I really, really dislike it when my Transformers don’t show off their insignia in their vehicle modes. I realize doing so isn’t really helpful to them being robots in disguise, but I like it nonetheless. Double Clutch doesn’t have one showing at all. Boo!

Transforming Double Clutch is way more annoying than it should be, considering just how poor his robot mode is. You shouldn’t have to work this hard to get this kind of result. He’s short and squat, with a huge chest and crappy arms that interfere with their own articulation and legs that are ridiculously useless. I also hate the way his combiner posts just hang off his elbows. And oh, look! Double Clutch proudly wears his Autobot emblem on his right knee!

It’s not that Double Clutch is that complex a Transformer, because he’s not. The problem is the ball joints on my figure pop out just by looking at them. There’s nothing more fun than having parts fall off your Transformer a thousand times when you’re trying to convert him. At one point I had to get down and fish both his arms out from under my couch while spouting out a cacaphony of swear words. Oh yeah, I also hate that backpack thing that extends up behind his head and looks fugly.

The Rallybots, on the other hand are all pretty cool. Unlike some of the past drones they don’t look superdeformed or have unsighly springs showing (I’m looking at you, Aerialbot helicopters!). They also all show off Autobot insignias, so right off the bat, I like them more than Double Clutch, even though they don’t transform.

Just when I thought I hated Double Clutch with every ounce of hate I could muster, I went through the process of converting him to his torso combiner mode, and low and behold, I found more hatred to hate him with. HATE! The problem here is getting his arms/doors to bend back and peg into these two pegs behind each of his shoulders. It’s flipping impossible to do it and every time I try, his ball joints in his elbows pop out, the parts go flying, and I cry. After about thirty minutes of fiddling with this thing and muttering to myself like a lunatic trying to solve The Hellraiser, I finally just pegged the pieces in with the ball joints detached. It was the only way I could make this mode work. I should also note that the red drone doesn’t really autoconvert like he should. I have to pry part of him apart to make it work.

That’s what you get when you’re done. It’s not terrible, but the fact that the shoulders aren’t secured right means that the arms pop off whenever you try to move them. Folks, I will never combine anyone with Double Clutch again. In fact, I may just bury him in the backyard. Fortunately, I have another street worthy Power Core Commander who can make use of these cool drones… Huffer!

Ah, that’s much better. I love Huffer and these cars go really well with him.

Fortunately, I got this set at Walmart while they have their Rollback in effect, meaning I got it for $15 instead of $20. It’s still a lot to pay for four drones and a figure I will never touch again, but they work so well with Huffer, I’m not really too upset that I bought the set.

Nov 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary: Cobra Stinger with Driver by Hasbro

One of the great tragedies of my childhood was that I never owned the original Cobra Stinger. Yeah, so I guess my childhood was pretty good, but damn if I didn’t want the Stinger something fierce. At least a couple of my friends had them, so I got to play around with them from time to time. When Hasbro announced an updated version was coming out in the tail end of the 25th Anniversary series I was so excited. Then it was cancelled and reborn as a tough to get online exclusive. It was like the Toy God just wanted to taunt me and then punch me square in the balls. Needless to say, I was pretty amazed when I stumbled upon one at Ross nearly two years later. Collecting is funny that way.

The packaging is the same as the Arctic Hiss we looked at last time. Once again, the packaging looks great, but it’s pretty prone to damage. I’m thinking my Hiss and Stinger may have come out of the same case because the packages are both damaged in almost the same place. The cardboard insert is decked out with a cool animated desert motif to make for a nice diorama. The back panel shows photos of the vehicle and figure detailing the features. The bottom panel has filecards for both the vehicle and the figure.


As with the vintage version, this modern Cobra Stinger is a repaint/remold of the GI JOE Vamp. The most notable difference is the swivel gun has been replaced with a missile rack and there’s added armor plating around the cab. The doors swing up and all three pieces can be removed as they are just clipped onto the rollbars. The hood has been slightly resculpted. It no longer opens and instead of the shovel it now has a clip to hold an assault rifle. At the back of the vehicle, the gas cans on the Vamp have been replaced with a running board with pegs for two figures to ride on the back.

There aren’t really many paint apps to speak of, as everything is molded in black and grey. There’s just a couple of areas on the front painted silver.The Cobra emblems and the spider insignia are pre-applied stickers, but you get a nice sheet of stickers to apply yourself.

The missile rack turns 360 degrees and raises and lowers. The four missiles just peg into the rack. It will hold them in place, but it doesn’t take much to knock them askew or have them fall off altogether. As mentioned last time, the missiles and rack are the same setup that came with the Arctic HISS.

The Stinger Driver is almost a direct repack of the Stinger Driver that was released as part of the Cobra Legions 5-pack way back when. The most notable difference here is his mask is painted red instead of black and he has black webbing sculpted on his helmet. He also has a much bulkier set of webgear, complete with a pistol holster in the back. I found him to be very difficult to get seated in the vehicle unless I removed his webgear, but once I did that he fits in just fine. He comes with a figure stand, a dagger, a pistol and an assault rifle.

It’s always an amazing thing to pick up a toy that you wanted so bad as a kid, but for whatever reason never owned. It’s even better when you get it for such a steal. Granted, this isn’t the vintage one, but I’m content to own the 25th Anni. toys over the vintage stuff any day. In retrospect, I don’t know why I didn’t just fork over the cash for this thing when it first came out, but it worked out in the end. Cobra has had a lot of great vehicles over the years, but this one remains one of my favorites.

Nov 7 2010

GI JOE 25th Anniversary: Cobra Arctic Hiss with Driver by Hasbro

Remember the frustration around the last wave of the 25th Anniversary vehicles? First we got to salivate over the photos, then we got word that the wave was cancelled. Later, we were told that they would be sold through at some online retailers, only to find they were available in limited quantities and much higher price points. By the end, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who was selling them and for how much. All I know is that I was never able to get one at a decent price. It wouldn’t have been so bad if one of these vehicles wasn’t the highly desireable update of Cobra’s Stinger Jeep and a brand new Arctic variant of the Hiss Tank. I long ago made my peace with the fact that I probably would never be getting these. And then one day I’m picking through the dreck at Ross’ Toy Department and there they both are… and for about nine bucks each. Um, yeah. Today we’ll take a look at the Arctic Hiss.

The vehicle comes in a largely clear box, sort of like a fishtank package framed in cardboard. It’s the same general package that Hasbro was using for all their 25th Anni. vehicles in this assortment. The interior inserts have a cool animated style arctic motif creating a diorama environment. It’s very nice for showing off the toy, but as you can see from my package, it was pretty fragile. I’m not sure if this was from getting beaten up in retail limbo for the past two years, but thankfully the toy is still packaged well so as not to get easily damaged when the box is distressed. The back shows off photos of the toy and details its features, while the bottom panel has filecards for both the driver and the vehicle.


This arctic version is a repaint and slight remold of the 25th Anniversary Hiss Tank, which in turn was basically the same as the vintage Hiss Tank only with a remolded cockpit to make it roomier for the larger modern-style Joe figures. Apart from the obvious white deco, the other most noticeable difference is that the traditional dual cannon has been removed from the turret and replaced with a missile launcher. The missile rack and missiles are exactly the same parts used for the Cobra Stinger.

The other change is the added parts on the sides. There is a rectangular collar piece that is fitted to lay around the top of the vehicle. The collar has notches in it where you can hang the equipment rack and the bedroll. They can be removed or hung on either side. The bedroll is just a molded piece of plastic, but it still looks pretty nice when put in place.

One of the really cool things about the variant parts on this Hiss Tank is that all of them are compatible with the regular Hiss. You can swap out the missile rack and hang the equipment collar, offering a number of options for customizing.

There’s not much to say about the paint deco on this toy. It’s basically molded in black and white and it makes for a striking combination, but apart from that there aren’t any actual paint apps. There are Cobra emblem stickers already applied, as well as a HUD sticker on the windshield, plus you get a sheet of stickers to put on yourself. Hasbro even included a bunch of numbers so that you can customize the ID number of your particular Hiss.

The Arctic Hiss comes with a Hiss Driver figure, which is repaint of the 25th Anni. Snow Serpent with different legs below the knee and a repaint of the regular Hiss Driver’s head. It makes for a nice figure and the new paint job is very cool indeed. The tiny gold paint apps on the buckles of his webgear is particularly amazing for such a seemingly insignificant little detail. His uniform is white with black fur bracers on his arms and black webgear. He comes with a personalized figure stand, a pair of binoculars and an assault rifle.

I don’t tend to go all ga-ga over Arctic themed vehicles in the Joe line, mainly because I don’t tend to buy a lot of the Arctic themed figures to go with them. That having been said, I’m pretty happy with this purchase. But at $8.99 how could I not be? The figure alone was pretty much worth the price of admission. And while I wasn’t planning on picking up many of the Pursuit of Cobra carded figures, I think I’m going to have to break down and buy that Arctic Destro just for this Hiss.

I’ll be back soon with a look at the Cobra Stinger.

Nov 6 2010

Doctor Who: Underhenge Six Figure Set by Character Options, Part 3

Ah, the new Daleks. Love em or hate em, they’re a fact that Who fans will have to come to terms with. Personally, I don’t think they’re as awful as some people think. They do have a certain 1970’s technocolor appeal to them that reminds me a bit fondly of the Peter Cushing Dr. Who feature films. On the other hand, the coppery Daleks created for the modern series were pretty much perfect updates to the originals, and as far as I’m concerned, I was sorry to see them go. Still, this is Doctor Who, where anything is possible, so who knows whether or not these new Daleks are here to stay. We’ll just have to wait and see. Either way, we’re here to talk about the figures and not debate the merits of the new design. [Haven’t watched the episode, Big Bang yet? Remember, as River says… Spoilers! -FF]


The “New Paradigm” Daleks are color coded according to their function, and the red Dalek included in this set is apparently your standard soldier or drone. I’m kind of surprised that CO didn’t decide to include the white Dalek in this set, since that’s the one that speaks. Anywho… whatever you think about the new design, I think you have to agree that Character Options did a wonderful job reproducing it for their action figure line. It’s much bigger than the previous modern series Daleks, mostly because of the thicker bumper on the skirt. The other distinctive part of the design is the hunchback and the indented black strip on the back. I’ve been told that this is a hatch designed to allow the Dalek to swap out and store spare weapons or appendages, but we haven’t seen this feature in action yet. The new Daleks also apparently have an organic eye in the stalk, which wasn’t quite so apparent in the series, but it is pretty obvious on the figure. I think this is really the only aspect of this figure that I don’t like.  

The paint job on the Dalek Drone is excellent, which is quite a relief since CO has had a lot of quality control issues on Dalek paint in the past. The red is high gloss and the blacks are matte. There’s very little slop or bleeding in the paint to speak of. I have to say, having this figure in hand has really improved my feelings toward the new Dalek design. It’s undoubtedly a great looking figure.

The petrified Dalek is identical in sculpt to the Drone. The stone finish is just like the one used on the petrified Roman. The surface is peppered with a realistic gritty texture that makes the faux stone appearance very convincing. Unlike the petrified Roman, this figure actually makes sense as it was featured pursuing The Doctor through most of the episode Big Bang.

The articulation on both figures is identical, and very similar to past Dalek figures. The Dalek still rolls around on three wheels. The energy gun and sucker arm are both positioned on ball joints, and both can be removed. The eye stalk is no longer just on an up and down hinge, but now it situated on a ball joint just like the Dalek’s arms.

And that wraps up my look at the Underhenge set. Most e-tailers have been selling it for around $60, which isn’t too bad at about ten bucks a figure. On the other hand, chances are you’re getting some figures in this box that you wouldn’t have bought on their own, so only you can decide whether it’s worth it in the end. I would certainly not hesitate to say that there isn’t a bad figure in the box, but then I still question CO’s logic of giving us Romans when we still haven’t gotten figures like Rory, Liz Ten or any of the Silurians.

Nov 6 2010

Doctor Who: Underhenge Six Figure Set by Character Options, Part 2

So, I mentioned something about not dropping any spoilers in Part 1. In the course of writing Part 2, I decided it was inevitable. So if you haven’t seen The Pandorica Opens yet, and you don’t want anything ruined, you better tread carefully here. On the other hand, it was broadcast a long time ago, so go watch it already, eh? The next two figures we’ll take a look at from the Underhenge set are the Roman Autons. These are both exactly the same sculpted figure, but one is a regular variety and the other has a petrified stone finish. I was a little disappointed that this sculpt doesn’t include anything at all to signify it as being an Auton and not just a regular Roman soldier. I really would have liked it if CO had incorporated the same kind of removable half-hand that they did on their older Auton figures. Granted, we spend most of the episode, The Pandorica Opens, unaware that the Romans are plastic agents of the Nestene Consciousness, so I guess I’ll have to give CO a little wiggle room on this point.

If you’ve been collecting CO’s Doctor Who figures for a while, then you may remember that this is not the first Roman figure to be released in the line. A little while back, CO released a two-figure set based on the Series 4 episode, The Fires of Pompeii. This set included a Roman soldier and a Pyrovillian Magma Creature. This Roman utilizes some parts from that previous release, but there’s enough new here to make this guy look completely new, even when standing next to the older figure.

So which parts are new, and which parts have we seen before? The legs and the armored torso are both the same, although this new figure has a new soft plastic skirt and a completely resculpted belt. The new figure is also wearing a soft plastic removable cape, which further helps to distinguish him from the older figure. Both the sword and the dagger are the same, although they have been switched on the new figure so that the dagger is on the right and the sword is on the left. As with the original figure, both weapons are removable from their scabbards and can be held in his hands. The biceps are the same ones used on the old figure, although the forearms are new as the Underhenge Roman is wearing armor here. The headsculpt is completely new, although there are a lot of similarities between the two helmets. The new figure is clean shaven whereas the old one wore a beard.

The paint job on the new Roman also serves to distinguish it form the older one. The armor has a more tarnished, weathered look and both the scabbards and hilts of the weapons have new decos. One strange thing on the new figure is the dark color used on his legs, which doesn’t match the skintones on his face, hands or feet. It almost looks like he’s supposed to be wearing some kind of leggings, but I doubt that was the intent.

I don’t have nearly as much to say about the Petrified version of this figure. I was expecting it to just be a solidly grey repaint, but as it turns out, CO actually did some texture work on the figure to make it feel gritty like stone. The only place that isn’t covered with the petrified finish are the blades of his weapons. It’s a really cool and realistic effect and a nice example of CO going above and beyond. However, even as well as this figure is executed, it’s still something of a toss-aside for me. Apart from standing in the backdrop, the Petrified Autons didn’t feature at all in the storyline.

Both figures feature the exact same articulation. The head rotates. The arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivels in the bicep and wrist and hinged elbows. The legs have universal movement in the hips, swivels in the thighs and ankles, and hinged knees. The figure also swivels at the waist.

The Roman is an absolutely beautiful figure and should be a double treat if you’re just into historical figures. The attention to detail is great and he supplements the older Roman figure nicely. Still, I don’t think these two figures are going to persuade anyone to buy this set if you weren’t already convinced. I suppose you could just pretend the Roman is Rory, or perhaps try your mad custom skills at making him a Rory head. As for the reasons I think most people are going to buy this set? We’ll get to them in Part 3.

Nov 6 2010

Doctor Who: Underhenge Six Figure Set by Character Options, Part 1

One of the oddest things about Doctor Who figures in the last year is how much the Classic releases have been overshadowing the figures based on 2010’s Series 5 characters, when traditionally Character Options has been pushing the modern series figures and supplementing them by throwing us older fans a wave of Classics here and there. Lately, it’s been the other way around. After nearly a year, there’s only been one wave of figures so far based on this last Series. That is until this box set hit the shelves.

If you missed out on seeing the two-parter series finale of Doctor Who this year, then this set is probably going to confuse the hell out of you, as it’s rather an ecclectic assortment. It consists of a repack of Amy Pond, a Roman Auton, a red Drone “New Paradigm” Dalek, a Sontaran General, and petrified stone versions of the Auton and Dalek figures. Not knowing the story behind this cadre of characters could be enough to make your head explode. And yet, to prevent potential spoilers, I won’t go into the reasoning behind the stone figures, but I will say the stone Dalek is a lot more relevant a figure than the stone Auton.


The set comes in a rediculoulsy long window box that lines all the figures up in a row, with the two big Daleks flanking each side. Seriously, just look at it standing next to CO’s big R/C Dalek.  

The package includes the blue backdrop seen in the Series 5 packaging as well as the Series 5 logo. The back panel shows a photo of each character from the episode and includes a little blurb. The front also notes that the Underhenge Dalek is an exclusive to this set. [Also worth pointing out, nowhere on the package is this set actually called the Underhenge Set. I’m just using that name for my own reference. -FF] The figures are secured in the tray with twisties, but overall the package is pretty collector friendly and you can return the figures to the box for storage or display if you so desire it.

As already mentioned, Amy Pond is a straight repack. I’ve already got her, but considering she sold out pretty fast at most e-tailers, and she tends to go for a premium on Ebay, I think it was a good idea for CO to repack her. She’s also going to be available again on a single card in one of the next upcoming figure assortments before the end of the year. I’ve already reviewed her, so I’m not going to go through it all again here. Suffice it to say she’s a really good sculpt and a very nice figure. The only real difference I can see between my single carded Amy and this one are some minor variations to the paint apps on her face. This Amy’s eyes are a little larger, which I think better fits the likeness. Apart from that, these two figures are identical.

The other figure in this set that we’ve seen issued before is the Sontaran General. This figure was originally released as General Staal and was available only as part of the Series 4 inspired Sontaran Strategem set and even though the Sontarans are a clone race, he features an entirely different headsculpt from the much more common single carded release of Sontaran Commander Skorr.

The headsculpt on General Skorr was really fantastic, but this sculpt blows him out of the water. It’s an overall incredible likeness and if you wanted General Staal and didn’t pick him up, now you can get him with this set. Besides having a new headsculpt, the General’s head can actually turn, which Skorr’s can’t. Some collectors have reported problems getting his helmet on, but mine fits on my figure with no worries, just like the Commander Skorr figure.

The General’s body is a complete reuse of Commander Skorr, some have reported the paint job having a more metallic finish to it, but I find the difference to be negligable at best. Unlike the other Sontarans, the General comes with a swagger stick instead of a rifle, which is fine by me, because I like to outfit my Sontarans with the chunky old Star Wars: Power of the Force 2 weapons, and I’ve got plenty of them to go around.

The Sontaran has great articulation. Apart from the already mentioned rotating head, he has 17 points. His arms rotate at the shoulders, have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinges at the elbows. His legs have universal movement at the hips, swivels at the thighs, hinged knees and ball joints in the ankles. A common problem with the other Sontarans has been loose joints and feet that fall off. So far, the General here hasn’t taken any headers off the shelf, so it might not be an issue with this one. At least not one that I’ve seen yet.

Words cannot express how much I love these Sontaran figures, and that goes double for the General here.

So, both of these are great figures, but unless you’re a completist, I don’t think either of these figures make this set a “must have.” You can still get the Sontaran Strategem set for a pretty decent price online and as I mentioned, Amy will be available again. In Part 2, we’ll start looking at the brand new figures this set has to offer, beginning with the Roman Autons!!