Sep 21 2010

GI JOE The Pursuit of Cobra: Doom Cycle with Storm Rider by Hasbro

Hasbro has of late been a little sporadic in showing their love for the Dreadnoks, and that’s a sad thing for someone who loves them as much as I do. Granted, most of my affection goes toward Ripper, Buzzer and Torch, but there have still been some cool additions to the gang since they first debuted. Now, it’s been a while since we’ve seen anything from them. They weren’t featured at all in the Rise of Cobra movie, nor did they get any of the “off-screen” figure treatment that also came out of the RoC line. It’s only fitting that they finally get a nod inThe Pursuit of Cobra. Bring on the Doom Cycle!

The Doom Cycle is one of the smaller, Alpha Class vehicles, but don’t let that deter you. The few PoC Alpha vehicles we’ve seen thus far have been so much better than the puny, simpistic, and overpriced ones offered in The Rise of Cobra line. You wouldn’t think that a motorcycle designed for a 3 3/4″ figure could be all that much to crow about, but Hasbro sure put some real love into this thing. As an Alpha Class, the toy comes in a simple window box that shows off the cycle and figure very well. The back shows photos of the toy and Shadow Rider’s filecard can be found on the bottom of the box. The insert can be removed and converted into a little backdrop diorama. These backdrops have been hit and miss with me, but I absolutely love the one that comes with this toy, as it’s basically a burning apocalyptic city-scape that I can imagine using for all sorts of things.



The Cycle itself is a three wheeled chopper, cast mostly in black and grey with a little red. The sculpted detail work on the engine is very nice and the gas tank has great custom artwork with the words “Doom Cycle” and a screaming skull. An additional paint app or piece of clear plastic for the headlamp would have been a good touch, though, as it is it’s just left grey. The Cycle rolls along really well on rubbery tires and it’s designed to work perfectly with the figure, so you don’t have to wrestle with him to stay on.


The hidden (ok, not so hidden) weapons on the Doom Cycle reminds me of one of the old MASK toys. Press the button near the back and you deploy a fan of blades. Press the button on the front button and two shotguns flip up by the handlebars and two skewer blades deploy by the front wheel. The great thing about these gimmicks is that they really don’t detract from the design of the toy itself. I’ll admit, the fan blades on the rear don’t strike me as all that useful, but you can’t go wrong with a pair of combat shotguns mounted on your handlebars or two giant blades protruding from the front of your bike.


And then you also get the new Dreadnok figure, Storm Rider. On paper, Storm Rider may sound somewhat generic. Yeah, he’s a biker dude in a leather jacket and blue jeans, but he’s executed really well. His jacket is personalized on the back with “Dreadnoks” and “Australia” and the sharp detail in the tiny badge on his pocket is very impressive. His arms have various finely illustrated tatts, including the Cobra emblems partially obscured by his rolled up sleeves. His right leg has a sculpted holster, which will hold the revolver that comes with him. His mask is black with what looks like two streams of bloody tears coming down and really reminds me of Raziel from the Soul Reaver games. Even if I wasn’t starved for a new Dreadnok figure, I’d still love this guy. And he suits the Doom Cycle perfectly.

Storm Rider’s black mask can be removed by popping his head off and on again. It looks good on him when he’s riding, but I like the figure just as much with it off. The face sculpt is good (is that a little James Marsters in there?), his shades are sculpted to his face, and he’s got a cool little gray mohawk sculpted onto his bleached white hair.


I do have a couple of nits to pick with this figure. First off, his hands seem to pop off pretty easy, and they’re small enough that you need to be careful about losing them, so if you get him, be careful! Second, his elbow hinges are painted black, which looks rather unsightly against the skintones of his arms. Lastly, my Storm Rider will not stand for love or money, and a figure stand was not included. I robbed the one in the pictures from one of my RoC figures. Hasbro seems to frequently change their minds a lot as to whether to give pack-in figures stands or not and it can get a bit aggrevating.

As most of the Dreadnok’s have signature weapons, Hasbro gave Storm Rider here some kind of spike shooter. It looks like an industrial power tool, like a nailgun of some kind and it has a hose attached to it. You can peg the weapon onto the Doom Cycle and there’s a place to plug in the hose too, but the hose just danlges when Shadow Rider is using it while off the bike.

Even with the few missteps, I absolutely love love both the Doom Cycle and Storm Rider. I’ve wanted a generic bike for my Dreadnoks for a while, and this one certainly fits the bill. If space weren’t such a concern for me, I’d have no problem picking up three more of these for Torch, Buzzer and Ripper. But first, I’d have to pick up Buzzer as he is still woefully absent from my Dreadnok gang. First the Ghost Hawk and now this. After the average-at-best Alpha Class toys from Rise of Cobra, it’s so nice to see some really decent stuff coming out in Pursuit of Cobra.


Sep 20 2010

Smurfs (for a Dollar!) by Jakks Pacific

[Ok, so I’m totally spent from the Star Wars Ultimate Battle Pack three-parter and I’ve had a real crappy Monday back at work. Before I get into some of the other new toys waiting in my In Box, I wanted to take it easy so I delved into my folder of unpublished articles and came up with this one that I wrote at some point last year when I picked up these Smurfs. But just so you hardcore Smurfheads don’t think this article is one big tease, the Smurfs are back at Target’s Dollar Spot. I haven’t looked through the new assortment yet, so I don’t know if they are the same as the ones I got last year. Enjoy. -FF] 


If you are a frequenter of Target, no doubt you’ve wandered into that shitty, poorly kept mess that they keep behind the cart corral in the front of the store. I think its official name is the Dollar Spot and you can sniff it out by the fumes of the cheap, petroleum based plastic wafting up from it. While you would expect such a pit of consumer depravity to be full of knock-off crappy junk, it’s surprising just how much officially licensed crappy junk they get in there. It’s not uncommon to see merchandise from Transformers, Marvel, DC, Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake, Littlest Pet Shop, Star Wars, even Family Guy. The problem is these items are rarely toys and more often crappy stickers, journals, notepads, pens, and the like.

Anyway, I was lured into this vortex of conspicuous consumption by one of these licensed stickers or notebooks or something, but whatever it was, I forgot all about when I saw the pile of bagged Smurfs sitting in a caged up pen for one measily dollar each. Just how many different ones were produced, I do not know. Most of them seemed to be the same three that I got here, but I didn’t dig through all of them, as the fumes of cheap Vietnamese rubber was making me woosy. I had to be content enough with getting Papa, Smurfette and Brainy, three of the most instantly recognizable personages among what was practically a clone race of little blue elf-rats.

Yeah, you might not have guessed it, but I loved the Smurfs. I used to watch the cartoon on Saturday mornings and try to figure out whether Gargamel was trying to eat them this week or spin them into gold or just melt them in a spoon and shoot them directly into his veins. Who knows? Maybe he popped them like Viagra. Whatever the case, there was just something infectious about that stupid cartoon that kept me coming back for more.

Somehow, the Smurfs wound up a lost piece of 80’s pop culture. Toy aisles are full of Transformers and GI Joes and Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony, but until now… no Smurfs. Yeah, they’ve always been available in specialty shops or online, but no major presence in the toy aisles. You had to really want a Smurf to actually hunt one down and by one. Nevertheless I can still remember when I was a wee lad and I used to peddle my bike downtown to that now extinct creature called an independent toy store, and right next to the Star Wars figures was a huge display case full of these little blue bastards and their carts and mushroom houses and all sorts of stuff. Of course, I never actually bought any. There were always way too many Star Wars figures, GI Joes, or Transformers to allow me to throw any money into the Smurfs.

So for you young’uns or just the general uninitiated, Smurf figures are basically just little rubber statues of little blue people who only wear pants and a floppy sock hat. They are all more or less identical except for the accoutrements that give them their personality. There were a ton of different Smurfs plus a ton of different variations on each Smurf. I mean, if you think it was evil of Hasbro to make you buy a Bespin, Hoth and X-Wing Pilot Luke, be thankful you didn’t have to buy 1,000 different Greedy Smurf figures to complete your collection.

These dollar Smurfs look just like the originals and I believe they are exactly the same size. While the original Smurfs came in little boxes, these come rather unceremoniously in little clear plastic bags. They are articulated, but don’t get too excited, because apart from turning their heads, there’s precious little you can do but move their arms just a tiny bit. Still, compared to the original Smurfs, these are like super-articulated. They are made by Jakks Pacific now, and they are incredibly well-made figures with good paint work too. There’s only a bit of slop on my Papa Smurf’s nose. Brainy Smurf is holding a book and wearing his trademark look of smugness, Papa is holding out his arms wide in some kind of magnanimus gesture and Smurfette is posed looking as whorish as ever.

The funny thing is, after mentioning to someone that I found these, they merely shrugged and said, “Target has a whole shelf full of Smurf stuff over in the toy section, you dumbass!” I couldn’t believe it, but he was right. They had lots more Smurfs mounted on cardbacks, Smurfs riding in primitive log cars, and even a bunch of different mushroom cottages. How could this be? How could the Smurfs have returned without my knowledge? Probably because they were squeezed into the plush animal aisle far away from the action figure aisles. The sad thing is they’ve all but disappeared again. When the retailers reset after Christmas the new Jakks Smurfs were consigned to the clearance bins and are now gone. I sort of wish I had picked up some more. Thankfully they’ve popped up in the Dollar Spot again for another chance. So grab them if you see them!

 

Sep 19 2010

Star Wars: The Rise of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Pack (TRU Exclusive) by Hasbro, Part 3

Welcome to the third and final part of my look at the Rise of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Pack and the entire reason I bought this set: Slave-1. Hasbro has been teasing us with a Super Slave-1 toy for a while now, and here it finally is. Now, I’ve already heard some rumbling complaints from fans who were expecting something a lot bigger. In truth, this Slave-1 is about 20-25 percent bigger than the past Slave-1 releases. It isn’t quite the facelift that the Falcon or the AT-AT got, but it is an extremely nice upgrade. Considering Slave-1 isn’t in the same size class as either of those two toys, I think Hasbro did a fine job in settling on how much bigger to make this ship. After all, proportionally speaking, this Slave-1 upgrade is pretty much right in line with the new Falcon. Yes, there are a few directions that Hasbro went with this ship that I take issue with, but size is not one of them.



The sculpt and paint job on the ship are absolutely fantastic and was obviously designed for life beyond the more simplistic style of The Clone Wars. In short, this ship is every bit as detailed as any regular Star Wars toy, at least that’s the case on the outside. The panel lines are nicely executed, there’s a ton of sculpted detail in the areas where the stablizer wings attach, and the bottom/back part of the ship is just brimming with details, which is a good thing, because this bottom portion of the ship is highly visible when Slave-1 is orientated in flight mode. The paint job is especially good, and while those of you looking for an ESB version will be disappointed, I’m happy to overlook the difference. The hull’s paint job is nicely weathered, making this ship look so much more like an Attack of the Clones Slave-1 and not one based off the Clone Wars series. The interior of the ship is a big step down, though. There are a few sloppily applied stickers on the inside cabin, but precious little else in the way of detail.


This Slave-1’s play features are basically a hybrid of the Vintage/POTF2 version (opening back compartment) and the Attack of the Clones version (opening cockpit) to give us the best of both worlds. Let’s start with the cockpit.

The opening cockpit is one of those play features where Hasbro is taking liberty with the ship’s design to help you get a little more fun out of it, since this panel was never seen to open on the actual ship design. It’s similar to what Hasbro incorporated into the cockpits of the Millenium Falcon toys to allow you to have access to that part of the ship. It wasn’t necessary with the Vintage/POTF2 toy, since you could put a figure into the cockpit seat (or bed?) and then flip it into position. But in the case of this ship (and the Attack of the Clones version) you need to open this hatch to put the figures into the cockpit. This huge portion of the ship swings up and locks into the open position with a very scary click that makes me think I’m hurting something.


This version of Slave-1’s cockpit allows for three figures, one pilot in front and two in the backseats. They are basically standing in the compartments with clips to hold them in place. If you are planning on putting Jango or adult Boba into these seats, you’ll need to use one with a removable jetpack. With the stabilizer’s unlocked, the cockpit will use gravity to orientate itself in the upright position like a gyroscope, so the pilot is always looking straight on in the direction that the ship is flying. The pilot and passenger area isn’t quite accurate to what we’ve seen, but I do like it very much. It’s impressive enough to be able to get three figures into it.

Opening this cockpit hatch also reveals a cargo slot at the base of the ship, which is obviously designed to store a carbonite slab of Han Solo. Unfortunately, the POTF2 slab won’t fit, but the more recent Saga version (yep, that annoying half-melted one) will slide right on in. It is, however, a snug fit, and if you push it in too far, you’re going to need a pen or something to coax it out again. Again, this isn’t at all accurate to what we’ve seen, but it’s still a nice little addition to the ship.

The side panel on Slave-1 lifts up to reveal a compartment inside. There isn’t a lot going on in here, but at least it adds extra room for cargo or passengers or whatever you want. There’s access to the cockpit, but you can’t really get figures in or out of the pilot seat this way. There’s also a peg on the wall, which I’m guessing is to store either Jango or adult Boba’s jetpack, but there’s no official word anywhere as to the function of this peg. I haven’t checked Jango’s backpack yet, but the VOTC version of Boba’s backpack clips on pretty well. There’s also a grid or vent that looks into another part of the ship, which we’ll see in a minute. As I said earlier, the amount of detail in this compartment isn’t stellar, but there are a lot of pegs to stand figures, and a fair amount of room.

Ah, but here we get to what I consider to be the most disappointing (possibly the only disappointing) thing about this vehicle. Despite the fact that the boarding ramp on the back slides down, there is no access into or out of the ship from this point. There’s a fake hatch sculpted on the inside of the compartment, and only part of a fake hatch sculpted on the outside. I think this was a huge mistep on this toy’s design, and in a way can be considered a step back from the Vintage/POTF2 version. Yeah, I can live with it since the ship has so much else going for it, but it really sticks in my craw. It’s like if Hasbro had the gangplank on the new Falcon not really lead into the ship.

Slave-1 features two rotating cannons on the tail boom, both of which fire missiles. It’s also got two bombs that store in sockets on the bottom of the ship and can be ejected by pressing buttons on either side of the ship’s base.


Slave-1 has one last play feature. There’s a hatch that opens above the fake boarding ramp and lowers down to reveal a compartment with a removable cell for holding captured quarry. This is the area that the grid in the main compartment looks into. I’ve heard more than a few fans complain about this gimmick as being silly, but I don’t see a lot wrong with it. At worst, I’d compare it to the little escape shuttle in the updated Millenium Falcon that can be ignored. In fairness, you can remove it entirely and use this compartment to store the carbonite slab instead of putting it in the front of the ship. Now whether or not including this gimmick prevented Slave-1 from having a working boarding hatch under it, is another matter. if that was the case, I highly disapprove.

All in all, I am very happy with this new Slave-1. It is by no means perfect and the fake boarding ramp will always bug me, but many of Hasbro’s greatest Star Wars toys have involved compromises, and this Slave-1 is no different. Still, it’s bigger, it takes play features from all previous versions and incorporates them together nicely, and it even adds a few surprises. Nonetheless, despite Hasbro’s coy and non commital answers at various Q&A sessions, I think we can all agree that there’s a 99 percent chance this ship will be released again with ESB accurate colors, probably with a Boba Fett figure and Han Solo Carbonite slab (painted without the melting effect) thrown in. I’d even wager it’ll happen next year, so if you just can’t justify the price tag for all this stuff, you can probably wait with confidence that you won’t be disappointed.

As for the price tag on this set… two ships five figures and a $109 price tag. Good deal? Well, it’s not a bad deal if you collect the Clone Wars toys. If you factor in that the figures would run around $7-8 each if you bought them all carded, then that’s about $37 right there. The Jedi Starship fits into Hasbro’s boxed vehicle assortment, which are selling for about $25 now, and that brings the total up to $62. If I set aside the fact that I wouldn’t have purchased the figures or the Starfighter on their own, that makes Slave-1’s cost nearly $40, and I don’t think that’s outrageously high. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this box for kids, and one really nice new version of a classic ship for us adult collectors.

Sep 18 2010

Star Wars: The Rise of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Pack (TRU Exclusive) by Hasbro, Part 2

We’ve looked at the figures from this Ultimate Battle Pack, so now it’s time to check out the first of the two vehicles: The Jedi Starfighter. Obviously, this toy is based off the Clone Wars era starfighter, which I don’t find quite as appealing as the one that superceded it in The Revenge of the Sith. Still, it’s a cool little ship with some nice features. This particular toy is a repack that has been released several times since 2008 as part of Hasbro’s $20-25 medium sized vehicle assortment. The only version of this Jedi Starship that I’ve ever owned was the Obi-Wan Starfighter that came with the Hyperspace Ring. It was the same basic design, but lacked some of this ship’s gimmicks, so this toy is essentially new to me.

My first impression of this starfighter was that it seems to lack the heft of other Star Wars toys in this size class. As I said, I have never owned this exact mold before, so I may be entirely off base here, but it feels like Hasbro may have skimped on the plastic quality a bit when producing this one. It just doesn’t feel as heavy or sturdy as the plastic used in Slave-1 or any of the other ships I own in this size class. The sculpt is very nice, as it features a good number of panel lines and details. There are no stickers to apply, although the Republic emblems are already in place. The paint scheme is ok, a little drab, and the paint lines are kind of sloppy in places. I think my biggest complaint, is that the ship looks a bland with no other paint apps or weathering or stickers. Maybe it’s designed to look a little more clean and cartoony because it’s a Clone Wars toy, I don’t know. But when I compare this ship to my Revenge of the Sith Starfighters, there’s a huge difference.


The rear cockpit opens to reveal a nicely detailed interior, which can seat either Mace or Anakin or most other figures. Just in front of this cockpit is the Astromech droid slot. There’s actually a hinged hatch that opens so that you can put the droid in and close it around his head and shoulders. It’s a nice feature as it keeps the droid locked in place and he won’t come flying out if you’re inclined to have your ship whooshing around the room and doing barrel rolls. The inside of the droid slot compartment is actually nicely detailed and features a cockpit that is clearly intended for a humanoid pilot, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

The starfighter includes three firing missiles/laser cannon. Two are mounted on the top and the third is concealed in a channel under the ship. It can be easily pulled out to fire or to serve as a third landing strut.

This starfighter’s main gimmick is that you can pull it apart to become two separate ships. The back portion resembles a smaller, cruder prototype of the Jedi Starfighter seen in Revenge of the Sith. The front has two spring loaded wings that deploy when the ships are separated. So here’s where I get confused. On first glance it seems like the ship made up of the front portion is meant to be piloted by the Astromech, but then the slot obviously is designed to accomodate a humanoid figure. Of course any figure sitting in there and piloting this smaller ship would be exposed to the vaccuum of space. I’ve seen most of the Clone Wars cartoon, and I’ve never seen one of these ships split apart, so I’m really unclear on what the purpose of it is. If anyone out there knows, feel free to drop me a comment. Either way, it’s a pretty cool gimmick that doesn’t interfere with the overall design of the toy, so I’m fine with it.

As a pack-in ship, this starfighter is a pretty nice item. I wouldn’t have bought it on it’s own, as I’m not overly fond of the design, but now that I have one in my hands, I may actually wind up keeping it. It’s a cool little ship, but there’s nothing about it that makes me all that excited.


Sep 18 2010

Star Wars: The Rise of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Pack (TRU Exclusive) by Hasbro, Part 1

Never in a million years did I think I’d be dropping a hundred on another Star Wars item so soon after picking up the gargantuan AT-AT last month, much less on what is essentially a Clone Wars set, and yet here we are. In fairness, this isn’t just one toy, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t buy it for basically just one of the toys in the set, and that is of course the new Slave-1. I tried to convince myself to wait for the inevitable Empire Strikes Back themed release, which would likely contain just Slave-1 and a couple of figures, but there was no getting out of it and I crumbled. Didn’t I stop collecting Star Wars stuff a couple of years back? Yeah, I thought that was me, but maybe not.

This Ultimate Battle Pack consists of the brand new Slave-1, Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter, and five Clone Wars figures: Boba Fett, Mace Windu, R8-B7, Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu. So, as I gather it, the content of this set is based on one of the later episodes of season two of The Clone Wars series. I have seen most of the show, but watching it is such an extremely low priority for me that I’m probably five episodes or so behind. It doesn’t matter. Even if I’d seen it, I’m sure I would have little interest in the five figures included in this set. The Jedi Starfighter is decent enough, and I guess as long as I’m now compelled to own one, it’s not a bad thing to have a Mace Windu and R8-B7 to go along with it, but yet another Anakin? Or young Boba and cartoony Bossk? Hells no. They’re bound to be consigned to one of the dreaded hodge-podge totes in the deepest, darkest recesses of my toy closet or perhaps tossed on The Block, also known as Ebay.

Anyway, I’m going to divvy this review up into three parts. First we’ll look at the packaging and the figures. Next we’ll look at the Jedi Starfighter, and we’ll save the main attraction, Slave-1, for last. That way, if you have no interest in the Clone Wars stuff, you can just wait for Part 3 to turn up. Probably tomorrow.

The box for this set is understandably large, as it contains two mostly assembled ships and a handful of figures. But it isn’t as large as the box for the AT-AT. It’s probably as long, but only about half as tall. The packaging includes a front panel illustration of Slave-1 and Mace Windu’s fighter blasting away. There are two windows to display the five figures. The box also proudly proclaims that Slave-1 is over 18″ long, that the figures come with the accoutrement needed for that crappy card battle game, and that this is indeed a Toys R Us exclusive set. The back panel shows actual photos of the toys and some of their action gimmicks. Tear the box open and you find that the Jedi Starfighter is completely assembled and Slave-1 just requires you to attach the stablizer wings. The figures’ stands and cards come in a baggie, along with the instruction sheet, a small sticker sheet, a dice, and the missiles. You could conceivably pack everything back up into the box again, but getting the stablizers off again once they are attached isn’t at all easy, nor is it recommended.

Ok, let’s look at the figures.

Let me start out with the disclaimer/reminder that I am not a big fan of the character designs for the Clone Wars series and so none of these figures are at all aimed at me and my collecting tastes. As for this particular assortment: I’ve got way too many Anakin figures already. I can live with the Mace Windu and R8-B7 since they compliment the Starfighter nicely. I have no interest in owning a young Boba Fett figure, especially since Slave-1 will be going to my fully growed up Fett. And as for Bossk, I’m perfectly happy with my VOTC version. Nonetheless, I’ll try to give each figure his due and be respective of their proper context, and above all not offend anyone who digs these style of figures. Of the five figures, two of them (Anakin and Mace) are repacks, whereas the other three are brand new and exclusive to this set.

The Anakin figure is the least cartoony of the bunch. In fact, I’d dare say he could pass easily for a regular Star Wars figure. I don’t have a lot to say about him, although I will point out that his face is scarred up and he looks pissed. He is nicely articulated, with ball joints in his head, shoulders, elbows and knees, basic joints at the hips and a swivel waist, and he comes with his lightsaber and a stand. Interestingly, he has a socket on his belt to hold a lightsaber hilt, but the light saber he comes with does not have a removable blade and he does not come with a separate hilt to attach there. All in all, I think this is a very good version of Anakin, but chances are most of the people buying this set already have one.

Mace Windu isn’t too bad either. His face is definitely stylized, but not ridiculously so. Mace comes with a Clone Trooper helmet as well as three pieces of removable Clone armor, but the armor on his forearms is part of the sculpt. He also comes with a stand and his purple lightsaber. Like Anakin, his lightsaber is one piece, without a detachable blade. The articulation on this figure is a bit subpar for today’s standards. He’s ok from the waist up, with ball jointed neck, shoulders and elbows. Below the waist, however, he only has standard joints in his hips, but at least this allows him to sit in his starfighter. His waist features one of those annoying spring loaded gimmicks to make him snap back. I’m told there’s a far better Clone Wars-styled Mace figure hanging on the pegs now, so this throwback isn’t likely to excite anyone and if you already collect the Clone Wars, there’s a good chance you own him already anyway.

I really like R8-B7, despite his simplified cartoony sculpt. He actually looks like he could fit in with regular Star Wars figures as a variant design. His legs rotate at the “shoulders” and have hinged “ankles” and his head turns 360 degrees. His third leg is removable so you can have him standing still or rolling. What I really like about him are all the little gimmicks. His front has two doors that open to reveal a retractable claw and a laser gun or welding arm or something. His back also has an opening panel that reveals a grappling hook. He’s also got a sensor-periscope thingy that pops out of his head. Hasbro packed a lot of cool stuff into this simple little droid figure.

Bossk is an extremely nice figure for this style and I’m guessing that if you collect the Clone Wars figures, this guy is going to be a really big deal to own. His sculpt is certainly simplified to maintain the cartoony appearance, but still hits all the points and overall he looks pretty decent with a nice balance between the two styles. The biggest difference is in his forearms, which are much longer, thinner and rubbery, which give him an enhanced lizard-like appearance. Bossk’s articulation sports balljoints in his shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles as well as his torso. His neck rotates, no balljoint there, and he has standard leg joints in his hips. Bossk comes with his blaster rifle and a stand.

I have the least to say about Boba Fett, because he’s basically just a bratty looking kid in desparate need of a haircut. The sculpt is pretty good, as is his articulation. He has balljoints in his neck, shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles. His hips have standard leg joints. His right hand looks like it is sculpted to hold a blaster, but he doesn’t come with any accessories apart from his stand, so maybe it’s sculpted so that he can pick his nose.

The figures each come with their collector card and stand. Yes, even the droid comes with a stand. You can plug the cards into the stands and have them fight each other by rolling the dice and checking numbers against each other.

So yeah, I’m not really the target audience for these figures and I tried not to be too hard on them. I suppose if you are a collector of the Clone Wars figures then the exclusives in this set are pretty cool. True, you are getting saddled with two pretty common figures, one of which is a subpar repack, but then I guess only two out of five isn’t so bad.

Next time… we look at Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter.

Sep 18 2010

Transformers Generations: Autobot Drift by Hasbro

Drift was a strange choice for the Generations line. With so many classic and popular Autobots and Decepticons awaiting their chance at an updated form, it just seems odd to be introducing a brand new character to what is essentially a line of updated classic figures. In fact, the only other Transformers figure to bear the name was a Minicon. Does that make Drift any less welcome? Nope. Mainly because he happens to be one of the coolest designed Autobots I’ve seen in a while.

Drift comes mounted on the new Generations style card in his vehicle mode. The artwork is nice and there’s a cool bio blurb on the back about how he used to fight for the Decepticons. Good thing I open these things, because I ordered my Drift figure from Walmart online. The .97 cent shipping is a great deal, but the cards get totally mangled in the paper shipper envelopes they use.

Drift’s car form is a somewhat generic, but overall nice looking sports car. I like the clear windows, the spoiler and profile are also nice. On the downside Drift’s colors are a pretty blah. He’s mostly white with some red splashes on his sides and red stripes on his hood. He’s also got Asian-style emblems emblazoned on his doors, which I’m not crazy about. This guy could have at least used a little more silver to liven things up. I have to imagine that Hasbro has a repaint of this figure in mind and I’ll be looking forward to it, because a figure this well designed really needed a more interesting paint job.

In robot mode, Drift is just plain cool, thanks to a fairly unique style of transformation and some really neat features. The way his legs fold out of the rear of the car is nothing new, but I absolutely love the way the front quarter panels become his shoulders, along with some snazzy double-hinged plate action. Not only does it look great, but it adds to the arm articulation quite a bit. The way the windshield becomes his chest is also a bit different to what we’ve seen before and it looks nice. Drift also has a great, classic looking head sculpt. His mostly white paint scheme as a car gives way to more of a two tone in his robot form, which I’ll confess looks quite good.

Now, I’ll admit I’m not all that big a fan of swords and knives with my Transformers. But even I cannot deny that the real cool thing about Drift is the way his doors become scabbards with removable tanto knives. I absolutely love the way this feature was designed. Very clever. Drift also comes with a huge two handed sword that stores on his back while he’s in robot form or underneith his auto form. Awesome! Every last detail of this figure’s sculpt and transformation were amazingly well conceived.

Based on the initial news, I wasn’t all that happy that Drift was going to be taking up a precious slot in the Generations line up, but now that I have him in hand, I’ll admit he’s a fantastic figure and well worthy of a seat amongst the other Classics style Autobots. I’ll still be looking out for that repaint, though, and right now I’m thinking that in a repainted form, he’d make a mighty fine Decepticon.

Sep 13 2010

Vacation

I’ll be on vacation for most of the rest of this week. Well, not really vacation, but I’ve got family coming in, so it’s pretty unlikely that I’ll be able to post any updates until this weekend.

I picked up a few things in the last couple days and hoped I would get on with them, but it just didn’t happen. Here’s a taste of the big’un for now.


See y’all Saturday or Sunday.

 

Sep 11 2010

Doctor Who: Earthshock Cyberman Leader Helmet (LE 500) by Weta

I never thought a Weta product would ever land in my blog. It’s not that I don’t appreciate their products, quite the contrary, I love drooling over their new product images each time they come out. I especially love their line of trippy retro-style ray guns, but not to the point that I could justify their $500+ price tags. It’s just not in my budget, and the smaller scaled ones don’t interest me. Weta has been securing the rights to doing other licensed products. Recently, they’ve acquired the license to make products based off the District 9 movie, and they’ve had licensing agreements with the Beeb to do Doctor Who related items for a little while now.

One of Weta’s newest lines of Doctor Who based products is a series of limited edition scaled helmets. These have included a Sontaran helmet, an Ice Warrior, a Time Lord headpiece and cowl, and the Cyberman Leader head that we’re going to look at today.

The helmet comes in a very nice illustrated box with a decor similar to what Character Options has been using for their Classic style figures. There’s a blue swirly background with the Doctor Who logo from the 2005-2009 series. Every panel of the box shows a photo of the helmet from a different angle, so you definitely can see what you’re getting despite it not being a window-type package. The back panel has a couple of paragraphs about Doctor Who in general and the side panel has a blurb about the episode, Earthshock and the Cyber Leader.

The first thing I noticed about this box is how freaking heavy it is. Before I could even get it all the way out of the shipping box, I began feeling a sense of satisfaction with my purchase. Inside the box, the helmet rests safely encased in two styrofoam trays with a QC sticker seal attached.

The helmet itself is cast in metal with a silver painted finish and encases the black, matte polystone stand from which it cannot be removed. The only seam that’s present is on the sides of the neck, which I believe is a detail copied from the actual prop and not part of the manufacture process. Either way there are no other visible seams in the sculpt, which is something I am particularly happy about. The mesh screen in the eyeholes is nicely reproduced, as is the segmentation on his “ears” and handlebars. The chin plate is transparent plastic revealing the black stand underneith. The appropriate rubber hosing protrudes from each side of the helmet and runs back to a socket on the stand, since the lower portion of the Cyberman where these would plug in is not recreated here.

The stand itself has a hexagonal base and the matte black finish really contrasts nicely against the silver finish of the helmet. The base stands on four protective rubber grommets and the bottom contains the production information, including the signature of sculptor, David Tremont and the production number, in this case 487 of 500.

The Cyber Leader helmet set me back sixty bucks. It is admittedly quite an extravagance for me since I’m not usually into statues or busts, and this piece definitely falls into both of those categories. Nonetheless, the Earthshock Cyberman has always been my favorite of all the Cyberman designs and considering the limitation of this piece to only 500, the price seemed like a good deal. Still, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what to expect, but now that I have it, I can’t say as I have any buyer’s remorse. It’s a beautiful, well-crafted piece which will get a prominant place in my display case.

 

Sep 10 2010

Transformers Generations: Cybertronian Bumblebee by Hasbro

The first wave of Generations figures included two figures from the Transformers video game, The War for Cybertron. These are heavily G1-based reinventions of the characters we all know and love, only in their Cybertronian (ie. Pre-Earth) forms. We already looked at one of these two figures, Optimus Prime, now it’s time to look at the spunky little Autobot warrior, Bumblebee.

 

The War for Cybertron figures come on the same cards as the regular Generations figures. Unlike the other Generations Transformers, however, Prime and Bumblebee are both carded in their robot forms. I’m still loving the artwork on these cards. The back features a cool little bio blurb about Bumblebee being a courier on Cybertron. Oh yeah, my card is bent to shit because it was shipped by Walmart Online in an unprotected mailer bag. That’s not a complaint mind you. At 97 cents for shipping, I’ll happily accept a mangled card.

Bumblebee’s Cybertron from is an egg-like car. It’s a really cool design that looks like something straight out of Tron. The windows are clear, tinted plastic and the car rolls along really nicely. There’s not a lot else to say about this alt form. It’s obviously not the design from the original cartoon series, as that Bumblebee was more like a hovercraft with stubby wings. Still, this is a nice, original design that suits the character really well. Unfortunately converting him into his alt mode is a real bastard. Bumblebee is primarily a shell-former, and even when all his parts are folded in perfectly, I still can’t seem to eliminate all the gaps on his various plates. At least he does lock together pretty well.

Bumblebee’s robot mode is pretty good, although it has a few sticking points. His torso is a little abbreviated, and at certain angles he seems to have the physique of Dr. Robotnick from Sonic the Hedgehog. If you’re scoping him out from behind he looks particularly bulbous because he’s wearing half his car shell as a backpack. I really love the new head sculpt, though. He’s still got the little G1-inspired horns too. I also love the way parts lock around his wheels to form his feet. It’s very clever. The good definitely outweighs the bad here and I think he makes a fine figure.

Bumblebee has two red, translucent retractable energon blades on his arms and he also comes with a blaster pistol that can be stowed away in either his robot or vehicle forms.

You can pick up Bumblebee for around $11.99 at most toy retailers. These have been pretty easy figures to find, at least in my parts. I’m not quite as fond of him as I am the Optimus Prime figure, but he’s still quite a good figure in both design and execution. Thus far, the Generationsline is batting 4 for 4. Now, bring on Soundwave and Megatron!!

 

Sep 9 2010

Star Wars: Pirate Speeder Bike with Cad Bane by Hasbro

As soon as I saw this set, I knew I was going to have to buy it. No, I’m not a big fan of the Clone Wars series (I just can’t get past those goofy, stylized character designs), although I’ve seen most of it. As a result, I’ve never been tempted to buy any of the figures until Cad Bane came along. I love Westerns. I love Clint Eastwood. When you mix those things together with Star Wars to create a Bounty Hunter character, you’ve pretty much got me hooked. Make a figure of him bundle it with a cool Speeder Bike and my money is yours, Hasbro.

The packaging is a sort of hybrid between a window box and a pegged cardback. It shows off the figure and vehicle nicely and it converts to a little backdrop diorama too, which is always a nice touch. I don’t find a lot of appeal in the Clone Wars packaging artwork. It just seems too confused and busy, but then it’s hanging on the pegs next to the vintage style stuff, so it’s hardly a fair comparison. Either way, this packaging is serviceable. Let’s start off with the figure.

Ah, Cad Bane. Even his ridiculous name works for me, although it makes me wonder how long it will be until Lucas just gives up his thinly veiled names completely and introduces a character named Jerk Badguy or Nast E. Douchebag. Either way, Bane’s character design is an obvious homage to the classic American Western icon. He is the Star Wars equivalent of The Man With No Name right down to his wide brimmed hat and dual pistol belt. Maybe there’s more Lee Van Cleef in him than Clint Eastwood, but either way I’m surprised he’s not wearing a poncho. Maybe I can find my Hawkbat figure and make him one. Seriously, the only thing missing here is a tiny little cheroot hanging out of the corner of his mouth. The other thing I like about this figure is that it is sculpted to fit in just fine with the non-cartoony Star Wars figures in my collection. Try doing that with the Clone Wars version of Count Dooku!

Bane is designed to fit perfectly on the Speeder Bike, and yet apart from a slightly wide stance, nothing was sacrificed for it, as he is a great stand alone figure too, with excellent articulation. His hat is removable, as is his shoulder bag. His blasters fit into his belt holsters too. He’s got all sorts of controls and gadgets sculpted onto his arm bracers and he’s even got the jets on his legs that he used to fly around in the show. They did a good job recreating his character, but not making it overly stylized and cartoony. Like I mentioned earlier, this guy will fit in with regular Star Wars figures quite nicely.

The Speeder Bike is really cool. I’m pretty sure this one has been released before, but it is new to me. It has a nice chopper-style front stablizer, seats for two figures, and a clip on the back to hold Cad’s blaster carbine (also included). There are also twin blasters that can flip out of the rear stablizers to give it some firepower. Bane sits on the bike really well, and the pedals have pegs to help keep him seated if you are so inclined to zip him around the room on it.

In addition to the figure and vehicle, you also get a figure stand, a game card and a six-sided dice. These trappings are for the new card battle type game gimmick that Hasbro launched with their 2010 Star Wars figures. The idea is you plug the card into the stand, you face it off against another figure and its card, you roll the dice add up some numbers and see who wins. Sounds fun, right? How did I ever manage to play with figures when I was a kid without this ridiculous convaluted system? I guess video games, Pokemon and Yugioh have robbed kids of all the remnants of imagination so this sort of thing is necessary now. At least the gimmick doesn’t detract from the toys at all, and the stand is still perfectly serviceable.

This set cost $15.99 at Walmart and I think it was a pretty good deal. I’m not sure what the centerpiece of this set is supposed to be, the figure or the bike. I’m guessing it’s the bike since that’s what’s stressed in big letters on the package. I’ll confess, I bought it mainly for the figure, since I haven’t seen him carded alone yet, but the bike was a really nice bonus too.