Feb 5 2019

Purgatori Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

I’m on vacation this week, so I’m going to try to work a few extra reviews into the mix to dig out from how behind I am. One of the things I want to focus on this year is getting out from under my backlog of Sixth-Scale figure reviews, and since the newest offering from TBLeague (formerly Phicen) showed up a couple weeks back, I thought I’d bump her to the head of the line. These guys have been making a nice little niche for themselves combining their amazing seamless Sixth-Scale bodies with various ladies from the indie comic scene. Some of these characters I only know peripherally, like Arhian: Head Huntress and I buy them mainly because I like the figure, but I’m well acquainted with today’s lady in question!

Once we got Chaos! Comics’ Lady Death, I was hoping Brian Pulido’s Purgatori wasn’t far behind, and here she is! She comes in shoebox style packaging, with the lid being gate-folded cardboard that clips onto the sides with magnets. This has become the standard for TBLeague’s figures and I’m happy for it. It looks beautiful, the box itself is sturdy, and overall it just feels suitable for a high end collectible figure. Purgatori comes nestled in a foam tray with her head and extra bits around her. Beneath that there’s another foam tray that houses her two sets of wings. Let’s get her set up and take a look!

If you were expecting a lavishly tailored and complex costume, than you’re probably not familiar with the character. When it comes to clothing, Purgatori firmly believes less is more, and that’s fine because it’s a shame to cover up the seamless beauty of the Phicen body. Indeed, TBLeague’s version adds a little more outfitting for Purg than I’m used to, with the inclusion of the two black sleeves. I realize that she’s sometimes drawn wearing these, but I’m used to seeing her without them. Normally, I’d write these off to being there to hide the seams, but that’s definitely not the case here. Still, I thought I would wind up taking them off, but they’ve grown on me, so I’m leaving them on. The body itself features a beautiful red skin coloring that matches the character art perfectly and makes for a very distinctive looking figure, even when surrounded by TBLeague’s other ladies of horror comics.

As for the rest of the costume, Purgatori features a pair of black high-heeled boots, which look like they may have been re-purposed from Lady Death. They’re pretty non-descript, but they do have a pair of clip-on straps to hold them up. Her bikini bottom is black with gold trim and paired with a belt and a silver horned death’s head buckle. Her wrists feature sculpted bracers with bangles at both ends, all painted in gold, her finger-less gloves are sculpted as part of her hands and also feature some gold painted finery. Next, she sports a hard plastic brassier, black with painted gold edges. And finally, her shoulders are adorned with sculpted skulls, which slide on over her arms and hug her biceps. And while the outfit is indeed fairly simple, it all fits well and looks great.

I wish I could say the same about the wings. Purg comes with two pairs of wings, one closed up and the other extended outward. These are all cast in translucent red plastic and secure into her back via pegs. The sculpting on these is excellent, as they’re textured and even have some holes in the membrane. They also feature a little bit of paint for the bone points. Unfortunately, these are a far cry from what I remember seeing in the prototype images used for the solicitations. Those showed the wing frames painted to make them look more solid, and there was even some paintwork applied to the membrane. The final pieces just look like what they are: Translucent plastic. And so, the final production pieces are definitely lacking, and while they aren’t enough to ruin the figure for me, they are a disappointment.

The open wings are absolutely huge, so much so that I can barely get her into my little studio area with them on. Obviously, that means that they take up a lot of display space on the shelf, so I doubt I’ll be using them as my default. The fact that they can swivel when connected to the body, does at least give some leeway and if you have more vertical space than horizontal, you can angle them all the way up and they hold in place pretty well.

The head sculpt is excellent, although since it isn’t stylized it isn’t going to match a lot of the character art found in the comics. Nonetheless, I do dig it a lot. She’s damn pretty for a demoness, and I’m particularly impressed with the paintwork on her eyes. The black rooted hair trails down her back, and while I tend to use a little styling gel to get the hair tamed on these figures, I think I’m going to leave Purg’s hair a little wild. The twin horns that protrude from her hairline are articulated and they look great. Finally, Purgatori features a tight choker collar, which was probably the hardest thing to put on the figure, and an ankh pendant attached with red string.

The articulation on these figures remains as impressive as ever. I have no idea which Phicen body this is, but the stainless steel skeleton that lurks beneath all that seamless red silicone skin is a thing of wonder. The figure not only has the usual points one would expect from an articulated Sixth-Scale figure, but it also supports all kinds of subtle adjustments that the human body is capable of. This includes throwing the hips to one side or another and even lower neck articulation buried in the upper torso. And the fact that there isn’t much costume here to inhibit poseability, Purg offers a lot more hands-on fun than you’re average Hot Toys or Sideshow figure. Even better, none of the movement feels delicate or scary.

When it comes to accessories, Purgatori does come up pretty short. I attribute that a bit to the wings counting as accessories and using up a lot of plastic, as well as space in the box. It’s probably also due to the fact that the last bunch of TBLeague figures I got were technically considered Deluxe Editions. Whatever the case, in addition to the two sets of wings, and a total of three pairs of hands, Purg only comes with two additional accessories. One is this kris dagger, which features a very sinister looking curvy blade, a brown sculpted grip, and gold painted cross-guard and pommel. I’m really on the fence over this piece, as it’s nicely executed, but the hilt design is really chunky to the point that it looks a little over-sized.

The other accessory is a gold chalice full of hot and bubbly blood and with a bit of the stuff spilling out over the side. The paint applications on this piece are especially nice and pretty damn convincing. I’ll likely be using this for her regular display. Now is as good a time as any to point out the complete lack of a figure stand, which for a Sixth-Scale figure is pretty inexcusable. Who is going to pose a $160 figure without some kind of support and risk it taking a shelf dive? Sure some of my other TBLeague figures came with decorative diorama bases that didn’t work all that well as stands, but I’d happily take one of those over nothing at all. Thankfully, I have a small stockpile of generic Sixth-Scale stands for just such an occasion.

At $160, TBLeague is continuing to keep their releases well under the $200 mark, and that’s no small feat in the Sixth-Scale figure market
these days. I like the figure a lot, but I would have much rather dropped an extra $20 if they had offered a Deluxe Edition that came with a figure stand and extra paint on the wings. Previous TBLeague releases at this price point felt more complete, whereas Purg here feels like they had to make some cuts to keep her at this price point. Either way, I’m glad I got her, and I’ve even pre-ordered the Exclusive Shanghai Comic Con variant that they’re calling Lady Bat.

Feb 4 2019

Marvel Legends (Kingpin Wave): Silver Sable by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday where I’m tossing randomness to the wind and pushing a new arrival to the head of the line. The Kingpin Wave has started showing up online and I grabbed me the two ladies of the wave, along with a certain young vigilante. Silver Sable just happened to be on the top of the stack, so let’s go ahead and have a look at her first. OK, I actually have another reason to look at her first, and I’ll get to that very shortly.

As you can tell from the box, this is going to be another Spider-Man themed wave. This time there are seven figures in the assortment, but only six needed to complete the Wilson Fisk BAF. Most waves have left me content to grab figures at a leisurely pace as I find them, but I’ll tell you right now that I’ll be looking to wrap this one up pretty quickly, because I want me that Kingpin real bad. Like the Kree Sentry Wave, the packaging here still features the change that has the window as a cover for the tray and not part of the box, so I guess this is something that Hasbro is sticking with.

So, my first thoughts are… SILVER SABLE!!! It’s about damn time, right? My second thoughts are… She looks damn great!!! And finally… But wait, why does she look so damn familiar? And the obvious answer is that she’s mostly just a repaint of Lady Deadpool, the figure I just looked at last week. The sculpted gauntlets are new and look nice, but from the neck down the rest is all recycled from Wanda Wilson, including the belt, thigh pouches, and the shoulder rig.

Granted, it all looks great on Ms. Sablinova, but I think the belt is the biggest giveaway, because it’s so damn distinctive looking. Maybe if I wasn’t reviewing these figures in two consecutive weeks it wouldn’t have been so apparent. With that having been said, the coloring on the costume is fantastic. The silver buck with lighter silver paint looks quite striking and the plastic they used for all the added gear matches the lighter silver paint quite nicely. As much as I was a little underwhelmed with Lady-D, I’m properly impressed here. Although, those thigh straps are still a pain in the ass to keep in place when I’m playing around with her.

The head sculpt is also excellent. Sable is sporting an all-business expression, the silver headband looks great, and the hair itself is sculpted so as not to mess with her neck articulation much at all. The paint on the eyes and lips is straight and clean. I think my only nitpick here would be the eyebrows, which kind of look like they were just drawn on with a silver Sharpie. And since I mentioned articulation, I’ll just refer you back to last week’s Lady-D review rather than go through it all again here.

Silver Sable comes with two weapons and since recycling is the word of the day, it’s not too surprising that these guns aren’t new. We last saw these included with Domino and this time they’re recast in black plastic, which I think looks a lot better than the previous blue. I like these designs a lot, although to be honest, I think I would have been happier if we just got two of the same pistol. I’ll also note that I wish we could have had a holster for the pistol. Sable can hold the rifle just fine in either hand, but her grips are a little too wide to get a tight grip on the pistol, leaving it to flop about in her hand a bit.

In the end, I like this figure a lot more than I should. I mean, I kind of want to (metaphorically) piss all over it because of the heavy recycling, but I can’t because I think she looks fabulous, she’s fun to play with, and she’s probably going to be on my desk for a while. And it’s not like Hasbro sent me this figure as a review sample. As always, I paid for it with my own hard-earned dollars, so I’ve got no guilt about saying it. I dig her a lot. And with that having been said, I’ll happily take a more classic version of the character if Hasbro wants to take another crack at her in a future wave.

Feb 1 2019

Predator (Dark Horse Comics): Ultimate Ahab by NECA

It’s been a few weeks since I opened some NECA goodies, so let’s remedy that on this fine Friday by plunging into their Predator pool and pulling out something new! I’ve still got two of the three figures from Series 18 to look at, but I think I’m going to set those aside and instead open up another of their Ultimate Series, and one that’s been sitting around for way too long. Let’s check out Ultimate Ahab!

Pulled from the pages of Dark Horse’s Predator comics, Ahab is an Elder Predator with a bit of an obsession over hunting Engineers (as in Space Jockies not people who drive trains or design bridges!) and oh my, what a great choice he is for the Ultimate Series treatment. As always, the packaging here consists of a window box with a front flap covering the window. It’s got plenty of pictures of the figure as well as some kick-ass artwork, and everything is collector friendly. The fact that these are some of the few action figure packages that I actually keep should speak volumes about how much I dig them, but saving the boxes also comes in handy to keep all those extra goodies! They don’t call these Ultimate for nothing!

After the uniquely crazy look of Broken Tusk, Ahab is kind of a return to basics, or at least a much simpler and streamlined outfit. He’s got the usual net-motif sculpted into his torso and legs, as well as armor on his lower legs, forearms, shoulders, and the upper left part of his chest. The outfit is rounded out with a simple belt, thigh armor, partially covered by sculpted fur, and an alien skull hanging around his neck. He also features a stylish crimson cape, which is made of an exceptionally nice material and hangs down just a bit below his waistline. Obviously, the comics and other associated Predator fiction has given us a wide array of different looking Predator outfits, and while I dig the more distinctive ones, it’s also refreshing to get back to basics.

The paintwork is excellent and the figure exhibits all the usual flourishes I’m used to seeing on these guys. Ahab’s Yautja flesh varies from a sickly pale yellow to orange, and he’s got several natural markings on his skin, particularly at the inner thighs and shoulders. The armor isn’t as heavily weathered on this guy as some of my other Preds, but it has just the right amount to make it look lived in and well used. There’s also a bit of gradient brown on the sculpted fur patches.

The exploits of Ahab’s hunts are written all over his face. His right eye is missing and flesh has grown over the socket. He’s also missing his right upper mandible, and there are some scars interrupting the spotting on the top of his head. But he’s still a handsome devil and I will never stop being impressed by the work NECA puts into the Predator dreadlocks, with each one separately sculpted. And while it’s not actually part of his head, now seems as good a time as any to talk about the hose that connects the shoulder armor to the piece of chest armor. With my past Preds, articulating the arm would cause this to pop out of the hole on the chest armor. That’s fine, because otherwise it would severely limit that limb’s articulation. Unfortunately, this one appears to be glued in, because instead of simply popping out, the tab broke off in the hole. I may glue it, I may leave it out, or I may just snip it off entirely.

Instead of a swappable head, Ahab actually comes with a wearable mask. This is held on mostly by friction, but it fits pretty well and leaves his mandibles exposed. The interior also features some great detail, and I love that NECA bothered to paint the interior of the eyes red.

Ahab’s arm bracers conceal the usual Predator gadgets. The left arm has his flip up computer and his right arm houses his twin extending blades. You can also swap this piece out for one with triple blades, which is a damn cool bonus. And if you don’t want either sets of cutlery getting in the way, you can remove them and attach the bracer piece to have them retracted all the way in.

Ahab also comes with a satisfying number of weapons, the first of which is his shoulder-mounted plasma-caster. If you’re familiar with NECA’s Predator figures, than you’re familiar with this piece. It clips onto the shoulder and features the same level of detail in the sculpt and paint finish as the rest of Ahab’s armor, blending in perfectly. The caster itself is positioned on an articulated arm allowing it to target his pray. I love the look of these as display pieces, but they tend to get in the way of the head articulation, so I tend to use them for regular display, but not when I’m playing around with the figure.

Next up is his spear. It’s got a beautifully sculpted blade with serrated hooks trailing down the top of the shaft. The middle is sculpted with a thick grip and the far end terminates into a sharp point. Ahab comes with a pair of accessory holding hands, which allows him to wield this in one or both hands. Although it should be noted that it’s a delicate piece, and some care should be taken when getting it into his fingers. NECA also included a small clip that can be attached to his back to hold the spear, but I doubt I’ll use it since the cape gets in the way.

The Smart Disc is an accessory we’ve seen before and it’s always a welcome addition. It’s painted gold and features some great sculpted detail, along with finger holes to work with one of the right hands. The only downside here is that he doesn’t have a place to store it when he’s not using it.

And I saved my favorite weapon for last, and that’s the Engineer rifle. The design of this weapon is just so damn cool and it brilliantly reflects the HR Giger techno-organic motif seen in the Engineer’s spaceship. The way it coils around it looks like some kind of worm-like creature is wrapping around Ahab’s arm. I’d love to get another one of these to give to one of my Engineer figures, but I’m sure as hell not going to take this one away from Ahab.

The final accessory is the skull and spinal column of an Engineer. It’s a beautiful, albeit grim, sculpt and features a gray painted finish.

I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of adding new Predators to my collection, and Ahab here is yet another great example of why. The team at NECA clearly loves these alien hunters so much, and that comes out in all the beautiful details and wonderful craftsmanship and bevy of accessories. It’s hard for me to choose favorites here, but Ahab surely takes a place right beside the Jungle and City Hunters as my top Predators. And best of all, since I never owned the original NECA release of Ahab, I didn’t even have to double-dip to get this Ultimate edition.

Jan 30 2019

Mythic Legions (Advent of Decay): King Bromdenn Ironjaw by The Four Horsemen

The Dwarf faction did not factor into the Advent of Decay assortment too heavily, and that’s understandable. T4H had a lot of newcomers to deal with and were also introducing females into the some of the existing factions. But this newest assortment did give us the Dwarven King, Bromdenn Ironjaw, and that’s pretty damn special. And to make things even more intriguing, we get a lot of backstory about the state of Dwarven politics, thanks to his bio. Apparently King Ironjaw has not only made a lucrative alliance with the Goblin Kingdom, but he’s also leaning toward allying himself with the dreaded Gorgo Aetherblade! I’m not usually all that big into these bios, but this slice of politics in the Realm of Mythoss is pretty cool. And it seems like when it comes to politics, the Dwarves of Mythoss don’t f’ck around!

And damn, King Ironjaw does indeed look like a tough customer. As far as the body goes, there isn’t a whole lot new here. With the exception of the shoulders, the King uses the same body as his namesake, Thord Ironjaw. But it’s hard to tell much about his armor from a casual glance, because ause of all the other stuff going on here. For starters, Ironjaw has both a flowing red cape and a black hair-sash (sorry, don’t know what else to call it!) over his shoulders. Between those and his monumental beard, a lot of his armor is covered up. But fear not, we’ll see more of it in a little bit. What we can see suggests a full suit of black plate armor with gold and brown accents. This is the first time I’m seeing the line use hair as a garment. It’s a cool little addition of mixed media and it looks damn good on him. Advent of Decay uses this new addition to Mythoss fashion sparingly, but we will see it again!

And as good as the costuming is, it’s the head sculpt that really takes this figure above and beyond, at least for me. Sure, the face sculpt itself isn’t terribly different from previous Dwarves. I think they’re still working a bit of that John Rhyes Davies likeness and a little Gimli resemblance ain’t a bad thing. Still, it’s the majestic beard that stands out the most here. This copious coif of red whiskers is twisted into a series of heavy braids down his front, and some are “secured” with sculpted gold rings. It’s a veritable wall of beard and it covers the entire front of his torso. It’s matched by a pair of dominant eyebrows over his piercing gaze and somewhat bulbous nose. And then there’s the crown, which features a gold and ebony deco and a brilliant design. It’s shape and scroll-work patterns reminds me a bit of the Dwarf art and architecture from the Elder Scrolls games. And even better…

It is indeed removable! I was not expecting that when I got the figure, but it’s a wonderful option to have him standing with his crown in hand and to be able to check out his bald head. There’s another head included in the package, but let’s save that for a bit and look at the weapons instead. The Dwarves of Mythoss are accomplished weapon-smiths, so it’s only right that King Ironjaw should come with some very special weapons. None of what’s included here has turned up in any of my previously opened figures, so they’re all new to me, but it is worth mentioning that these have been included as part of a Dwarf Weapons Pack.

First off, he comes with this mighty hammer that basically doubles as a kingly scepter. This piece is painted gold and features twin cylindrical hammer heads with segmented rings and silver medallions. The butt of the shaft is fitted out with five silver tipped spikes, and if you want, you can actually remove the hammer head altogether, turn the shaft upside down for more of a scepter look. Not too shabby. Despite being taller than the King himself, I have no doubt that he could wield this thing pretty well in battle.

Next up is this gold-bladed broadsword with a stocky ebony hilt and an angular cross-guard. The gold finish on the blade is brushed over an emerald blade to give it a rather interesting finish. It has an extended grip for two hands, and it looks like the perfect weapon for a Dwarven King.

Equally impressive is his shield. Indeed, this is easily the most distinctive shield out of all the ones I’ve seen so far. It has a bearded face sculpted into the center of the ebony face with a gold border around the edges and silver bolts “securing” it. You get some geometric patterns sculpted into the face as well. Like the crown, I get a strong Elder Scrolls vibe off this piece and I love it. It looks particularly nice when accompanied by the sword. I could easily see this piece hung proudly above Ironjaw’s throne.

And finally, King Ironjaw comes with an axe. It’s relatively demure when compared to the sword and hammer, but I believe that it may be the most attractive weapon of the three. It features the same striking black and gold deco with a turned grip and a spiked butt cap. The axe head itself has a brilliant finish and I love the textured black inlay. It’s such a beautiful and deadly looking weapon! And that brings us back to the other head.

Ironjaw comes with this rather smart looking helmeted head. It’s the classic knight helmet sculpt that we’ve seen more than a few times before, only here it’s painted with the same black and gold deco as Ironjaw’s armor and it features a winged dragon motif on the top. I love the way this thing looks, but I cannot in any way believe that it’s Ironjaw wearing it. Where does his beard go? Is it some kind of Dwarven magic? Does he stuff it all in his mouth? Does he wrap it around his head to form helmet padding? It just doesn’t work. But… if I take off the hair sash…

Now we have a damn fine looking Dwarven Knight! It also gives us that much better look at Ironjaw’s armor that I promised earlier. I won’t spend a lot of time gushing over the armored sculpt, because we’ve seen it all before and I’ve done my gushing many times over. But damn, that deco is gorgeous and this guy looks so good! Am I ever going to display the figure like this? Nope. Never. And what a shame, because now I really wish I had the budget to pick up a couple more Ironjaws back when the pre-orders were going on. It would have been cool to turn a pair of these into the King’s personal bodyguard. Ironjaw would look pretty damn rad with a pair of these guys flanking his throne or preventing the Heavenbrands from approaching to protest the King’s impending pact with their sworn enemy, Gorgo Aetherblade.

And so what we have here is another great looking figure with lots of options for display. No, I’m not really still kicking myself for not having bought more Ironjaws. It’s tough enough to find room to display all the other figures in this rapidly growing line. I can easily let something like that go. But if you were keen on troop building the hell out of some of these guys, I think a bunch of Ironjaws kitted out with the helmets would look great as the King’s Royal Guard. Or just peppered into a display with a bunch of the Dwarf Legion Builders. As things are, though, I’m happy to have him as the King. Now, that’s not to say I wouldn’t mind The Four Horsemen cooking up a throne for him. Maybe bundle it with another Dwarf weapons pack? That would make me plunk down some serious mythril.

Jan 28 2019

Marvel Legends (Sauron Wave): Lady Deadpool by Hasbro

It’s time again for Marvel Monday and today I stuck my true-believing meat-hooks into a big box of unopened Legends figures and pulled forth none other than Lady Deadpool! The fates were good to me, as she’s the first figure I’m opening from the Sauron Wave, a Build-A-Figure that I am rather anxious to put together! Definitely more anxious than I am for this figure.

The Sauron Wave gives us a mix of Deadpool and X-Men characters, and I can tell right away from the back of the box that this one is going to be all about highs and lows, but with one figure kind of hanging out in the middle. That figure just happens to be Wanda Wilson. But let’s set aside my feelings about the rest of the wave’s assortment and instead focus on Lady-D. I didn’t want to like Deadpool Corps. Even to someone like me, who adores The ‘Pool, the concept of tossing a bunch of Deadpools, from across the multi-verse, together seemed like way too much pandering. Eventually I begrudgingly read it, and I begrudgingly loved it, and I begrudgingly bought the hardcovers. It was fun and stupid and sometimes that’s all I’m looking for out of my funnybooks. And with that context in mind, let’s check out Wanda!

Hey, it’s a basic female buck in Deadpool colors! Well of course it is, what else would I be expecting? The red is very red, the black is very black, and the paint lines are very… well, they could have been a lot sharper. Normally I’m not a huge stickler about this, but when the bulk of the costume comes from the paint, I’d like some crisp lines. Indeed, from the neck down, the only original sculpting on this figure comes in the form of her attached gear, all sculpted in soft brown plastic. This includes patches strapped to each of her thighs, a belt-o-pouches around her waist, and a shoulder rig, with a modest two-pouches, positioned under her right armpit. The sculpts have some nice detail, the belt buckle is painted in a silver and black variation of the old Pool emblem, and my only real complaint here is that the thigh straps are held up only by friction, so they have a habit of sliding down her legs. I’ll likely just end up securing them each with a drop of glue.

The head sculpt is surprisingly expressive, with Lady-D’s eyes narrowed and the shape of her furled brow clearly transmitted through her mask. She looks like she’s either trying to make outs something far off on the horizon, or trying to comprehend the stupidity of the person she’s about to kill. The stitch lines around the black areas are sculpted in, but what really saves this noggin from being ordinary is the wonderful stream of hair that spills out of her hood and coils its’ way down her back. It looks great and it’s really the one thing about this figure that stands out as special.

Accessories include her twin katanas, each with red painted grips. These are nice swords, but I wish they had painted the blades silver instead of leaving them as flat, gray plastic. Her grip on them can be a little loose, but they will usually stay in her hands. The only real downside here is that she doesn’t have any scabbards on her back to wear them. I was extremely disappointed by this omission.

As for articulation, well no surprises here. Like most of the Marvel Legends gals, Wanda doesn’t get the double-hinged elbow treatment, nor does she get any bicep swivels. Instead her sword-swingers get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips, double-hinged knees, swivels int he thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The torso has a ball joint under the chest and there’s both a hinge and ball joint in the neck.

Wanda comes with one more accessory, and that’s Headpool! And this little floating zombie noggin is the sole reason I’m not complaining about there being no guns in the package. The sculpt here is excellent and the paint is surprisingly tight for such a tiny accessory. Headpool also comes with a clear plastic stand, but it sits pretty low. In all the pictures, I put the stand up on a shot glass before painting them out of the pictures. So don’t expect Headpool to float that high up without some assistance.

Lady Deadpool is a fun and decent-looking figure, but not one that I was really jonesing to own. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy to have her, just that there are plenty of other characters I would have wanted first. To me, Lady-D is more a gimmick or a gag than an actual character. I think she may have been better served being put out in a box set like they did with the 4-inch version a few years back. But like I mentioned earlier, she’s certainly not ranking in at the bottom of this wave, but for that dubious distinction, we’ll have to wait for a future Marvel Monday.

Jan 25 2019

DC Gallery: Catwoman by Diamond Select

How about a DC Friday for old time’s sake? Once upon a time I could fuel DC Friday every week with a seemingly unending offering of figures from Mattel and DC Collectibles, not to mention there were statues galore! Well, DC Collectibles killed off their Icons line, Mattel just lost the license to Spin Master, and I’m trying to not buy as many statues these days, because I’m all out of room to display them. Nonetheless, Diamond Select’s DC and Marvel Gallery series continues to be tough to resist. And their new version of Catwoman was an impossible temptation! So let’s take a look at this feline temptress!

For the unacquainted, DST’s various Gallery series are a budget line of roughly 9-inch scale PVC statues that grew out of their old Femme Fatales series. They later branched out to DC Animated Series statues before ultimately embracing all of Marvel and DC. The statue comes in a box with windows on the front, sides, and top panels, which offer enough visibility that you could just about get away with displaying these in the package. That works for me, because I ran out of shelves long ago, and now I display most of these as a wall of the stacked boxes. While the DC Gallery’s previous versions of Catwoman have been based on her animated appearances, this one is drawn from her more modern comic look. Of course, everything here is collector friendly, and Catwoman comes out of the box all assembled and ready for display!

And this is a case where the composition and overall style had me mashing the pre-order button the moment I saw pictures in the solicitation. Sure, when it comes to Catwoman I’m an easy mark, but having her perched on the giant Egyptian-styled cat-head turned my head in a big way. She sits on the top of the statue with one leg bent under her and the other dangling down, while leaning slightly forward on her hands, both clutching at the statue in a very cat-like manner. I’d like to imagine that she just crept her way into the skylight of the Egyptian Wing at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities, pounced down onto the head of this giant statue and is now sizing up the various lasers and security cameras that stand between her and whatever coveted bauble she happens to be after. There’s something to be said when the composition can send my mind to working up context for the figure and that’s exactly what happened here.

Despite being a fairly modern look, Catwoman’s costume gets by with a fairly low amount of detail, and that is in no way a slight against the sculpt. Her body suit relies on some neatly sculpted stitch lines and it’s smooth contours accentuate her curves and muscle tone in all the right places. The finish looks black, with just the right amount of gloss to make it look like leather, and under the right light it can give off a purple sheen. The front of the suit features a silver zipper, which is pulled down just enough to show off her kittens, and that low plunge is balanced out by a high collar.

And while the suit itself is simple, that’s not to say there isn’t some great detail to be found. The boots in particular are wonderfully done, with sculpted laces running part of the way up and interlaced through the eyelets. The excellent sculpt is finished off with a high gloss black to differentiate them from the rest of the suit, and the same finish is used on Catwoman’s gloves.

Her brown whip, which doubles as her belt, is coiled around her and sculpted with a very fine braided pattern. It loops around her waist four times, held in place by a silver belt-buckle, and terminates with the segmented grip protruding from behind her right hip.

And that brings us to the portrait, and DST did a fine job on it! I love the way the mouth is sculpted with the lips slightly apart to show off her pearly whites, her nose is perfect, and while I don’t really associate this likeness with any one artist, I still think she looks great. The cowl is sculpted with the same stitch lines we see in her suit, and the paint lines between the cowl and her skin are clean and sharp, even around the chin strap. One of the things that particularly impresses me here are the lenses in her goggles. They’re remarkably clear for a piece in this price range, showing off her green eyes. Hell I think the lenses here look every bit as good as the ones on DC Collectibles’ second Cover Girl Catwoman statues, which retailed at more than twice the price.

And that brings us to the base, which not only compliments the figure beautifully, but really elevates the whole statue. The Egyptian cat head features a large loop earring in each ear, some geometric patterns around the base, and a Egyptian eye motif on the collar. It’s all sprayed in a gold finish, which has just the right amount of sheen to it. It’s quite simply marvelous!

With over two dozen of these Gallery statues in my collection, I usually only have the space to have a handful on display at any one time. So it’s quite the compliment to say that this one is going to be immediately taking up one of those spaces, and bumping someone back into their box. I just haven’t decided which one yet. This is a piece that I was super excited to get from the moment it was revealed, and now that it’s in hand, I’m happy to say she does not disappoint. Toss in the fact that she was only $44 and it’s hard not to love and appreciate what DST has been doing with this line. Every time I think I’m out, they release a beauty like this one to pull me back in!

Jan 23 2019

Mythic Legions (Advent of Decay): Knubnik by The Four Horsemen

Welcome back to another Mythic Legions Wednesday! If you’re keeping track, this is the twelfth week and my twelfth figure review from Advent of Decay, which means I’m not quite a third of the way through, and that’s fine by me, because I am having an absolute blast going through this series! It’s been a while since I reviewed Snagg, so revisiting the Goblins is something that’s long overdue, so let’s check out another one of these little green meanies. This time it’s Knubnik! God, I love these names!

While Snagg was identified as a treacherous Goblin thief, Knubnik is identified as King No’Glin’s chief assassin. He’s also called one of the most vile and loathsome of all the Goblins, and I just have to wonder what kind of shit you have to get up to in order to earn that moniker! He shares some of Snagg’s parts, the torso armor and legs, but he deviates with his full armored sleeves and and heavy gauntlets, and a set of crude and jagged shoulders. Perhaps the most amazing piece of re-use on this figure is the sculpted belt piece, which was last seen here on Juno The Crusher. It’s such a distinctive design and yet it looks so different with the darker deco, I’m just amazed how well it works for two completely different figures. And speaking of the deco, the coloring on this guy is exactly what I would expect from a Goblin: Dark and grimy. The armor has a tarnished iron finish, the boots are caked with mud, but he still has some bright and shiny silver paint on select points, as well as some dirty gold for the exposed chain-mail in the joints.

The head sculpt shares all the basic Goblin features we saw with Snagg, but the face is broader and more squat. His wide and sour mouth is fixed in a disapproving glower with twin tusk-like teeth rising up from each corner. The battered and pitted helmet features holes cut out for the ears, sharp cheek guards, and a single spike rising from the back. The head is also framed by a collar studded with the long teeth of some foul beast. It would be impossible for me to choose a favorite portrait between Snagg and Knubnik, but I really dig how distinctive each one is. They’re both just packed with personality.

You also get a second head, which is sans helmet, but otherwise the same likeness. I can’t imagine displaying this figure without his helmet, but the second head would come in handy if I had picked up a couple and wanted to kit them out as two different Goblins, or even use one of these noggins on a different Goblin altogether. It’s almost a shame to keep this one in an accessory baggie.

As an assassin, Knubnik doesn’t come laden down with weapons, but he does have a decent little assortment. First off, he has this stout dagger with a gray hilt and a silver blade. It’s a repaint of the flashier one that came with Snagg, and this one looks like it’s all business. And let’s face it, every assassin has to have a favorite dagger for the quick-and-dirty work.

Next up, he has this primitive looking axe with a bone handle and unusual blade. We last saw this implement included with The Boarrior and it fits really well here too. The finish on the bone looks great, and I dig the sculpted leather straps that are intended to help hold the blade in place.

Finally, you get this deliciously low-rent mace, and I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’m seeing this accessory. The handle is a simple shaft sculpted to look like wood, with a cap on the end, while the head is a simple globe with studs to help it crack those particularly stubborn skulls. As always, the mace head is detachable from the shaft, so you can go wild with customizing here. While these Goblins are just little fellas, I think the mace is still sized pretty well for him.

I am absolutely smitten with the Mythic Legion Goblins, and Knubnik is yet another fine example of why. He gives me everything I’m looking for in a Goblin: Dark and dirty armor, some crude weapons, and a mug that even a mamma Goblin probably wouldn’t love. This guy is probably going to forever preside as right-hand-man to my King No’Glin when I finally get my Goblin display up and settled. And while there’s a Goblin Legion Builder for amassing an army, I think this guy would make a pretty good rank-and-file soldier too, or perhaps even a Goblin General.

Jan 21 2019

Marvel Legends (Vintage Style): Ant-Man and Wasp by Hasbro

Well, after a whole week of Marvel Legends reviews it’s refreshing to start a new week and get into something diff… oh, riiiiight… It’s Marvel Monday. Well, hopefully everyone isn’t all Marvel’ed out, because apparently we have one more day of this! Today I’m mixing things up just a tad and opening a couple of the Vintage Style figures. Let’s have a look at Ant-Man and Wasp!

This is my first time checking out figures from one of these special waves, and they’re mainly special because of the packaging. Some of these have been repacks, some are brand new figures. I have picked up a few of these in the past, and while I’m always tempted to leave them carded, that just ain’t me. The card-and-bubble is designed to invoke the packaging from Toybiz’s Marvel Superheroes line and it certainly does that. On the downside, they are not collector friendly, so it’s time to get with the shredding. Let’s start with Ant-Man, but first, I’m going to change backgrounds because Wasp’s wings don’t show up all that well against the white!

I’m such a huge fan of this classic Ant-Man suit, and it’s crazy to me that it’s taken so long to get it in the modern Legends line. It’s also a bit crazy that he’s coming as part of this retro-inspired sub-line, rather than in one of the proper waves. No, in the end it doesn’t matter, but I find it worth mentioning nonetheless. The figure itself is very nearly a straight repaint of the Eric O’Grady figure we got as a Walgreens Exclusive back in 2015, and it works just fine for that purpose.

The costume relies almost entirely on the coloring of the buck, with only the belt as original sculpting, and by original, I mean that too was borrowed from the O’Grady figure. Replacing the mostly black buck, we get a mostly red suit, with blue boots, gloves, and ant-undies, and a black stripe running up the chest, forming a circle, and then terminating in a collar. There are some discrepancies in the red, where the red paint doesn’t quite match the red plastic, but overall I think the coloring looks good.

The biggest change to the figure is found on the head, or more specifically the eyes. The O’Grady figure had his eyes painted over as red lenses whereas Hank here has his eyes visible. At first, I thought this was actually a change in the sculpt, but nope, it’s just paint. Otherwise, the helmet is now silver. The grim expression isn’t my first choice, but it works OK. My only concern with this figure is the fragility of the antenna. They look great, but most of my Legends live in baggies and I always have to make sure Black Ant is at the top of the box so his antenna don’t get crushed or warped. I may avoid that here, as I’m probably going to have this pair on display somewhere.

The articulation is identical to the Black Ant figure, right down to those lovely shoulder-crunches. And since I’m looking at two figures today, I’ll be lazy and refer you back to that review for the details. Let’s move on to Wasp!

Janet has had a veritable ton of different costumes in the comics, and to be honest, I’d probably buy more than Hasbro would ever care to release. This one, wouldn’t be high on that list, but that’s mainly because I don’t recall her ever actually wearing it in any of my funnybook readings. I do recall it being released by Toybiz around 2006 as a variant of The Wasp in that Modok Wave. It saw very limited production and I think it ranks up there as being one of, if not the, rarest Toybiz Legends figure. So, while there are at least a dozen other Wasp costumes I’d like to have seen here instead, I do appreciate what Hasbro was doing here.

While Hank was a straight repaint, Janet here is nearly a straight repaint. In this case her body and wings are recycled from the Ultron Wave Wasp, released back in 2015. And while I don’t really have any association with this costume, I do dig it a lot. The blue body suit and white boots and gloves looks great, albeit maybe a bit too Fantastic Four-ish. The arrows pointing down from her thighs are an interesting choice, but I do like the way her black collar forms the “W.” The wings are also the same molds as Ultron Wave Wasp, but now cast in a pinkish-pearlescent and semi-translucent plastic, which compliments the coloring of the costume quite well. Articulation is all the same as the previous Wasp, and once again I’ll just refer you back to that review for the details.

The head sculpt is different from the 2015 Wasp and while I like both, I’m going to give this one the nod. The hair is more of a bob than a pixie cut and the paint on the eyes and lips are sharp and clean.

Each figure comes with a miniaturized version of the other. We’ve seen both of these before, but mine usually wind up in accessory bins, so I’m happy to have a couple more. Sure they’re just simple and tiny sculpts with some rough paint on them, but there’s only so much you can do with these, and to be honest, these look about as good as the miniatures that came with the Hot Toys Ant-Man, so I’m not complaining.

I love what Hasbro is doing with this line, or at least some of it. To be fair, I only picked up two figures from the first wave, Black Widow and The Punisher, so I haven’t been double-dipping on the figures I already have just to get them in the retro-packaging. This pair were must-haves because I love the characters and quite frankly, I’ll buy all the Classic versions of Hank and Janet that Hasbro will pump out. Seriously, Hasbro, call my bluff… I dare you! As for the rest of the wave, it’s mostly figures that I already own, so unless I come across a great deal on them and decide that I want to hang them on my wall, I doubt I’ll be revisiting this retro-series any time soon.

Jan 20 2019

Marvel Legends (Kree Sentry Wave): Kree Sentry Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

After a steady diet of Marvel Legends for dinner all week, it’s finally time for dessert. And in this case, dessert means taking all those delicious BAF parts and putting together the Build-A-Figure Sundae. Of course, in this case the Sundae is a killer alien robot! So, let’s wrap up this long-ass week with a look at the Kree Sentry!

The Sentry is comprised of your standard six BAF parts: Four limbs, a torso, and a head. Obviously, there are seven figures in this wave, so you could opt out of buying the regular suited Captain Marvel and still build this guy, because Hasbro knows you’re probably going to buy that one anyway. Putting this guy together is as simple as simple gets and all the parts fit nice and easy.

And does it get any more Kirby than this? The design is a nice mix of chunky angular robot parts with organic curves in the upper arms and legs and I dig it a lot. He reminds me of a smaller, stockier Sentinel. There are a ton of cut lines running throughout the figure, as well as lots of segmented plates, and vents. There are hardly any paint apps on this guy, and the coloring is a simple one-two punch of snappy silver and deep metallic purple, plastic which looks fabulous. Some might argue it could have used a wash, but I kind of like the comic minty-fresh look.

In terms of size, the Sentry ranks up there for being pretty big and beefy as far as BAFs go, but depending on what kind of Sentry you’re looking for, he could be considered undersized. I know these guys ranged from massive to roughly man-sized in the comics, so technically this guy could work fine with the rest of the Legends collection, but I think I’m going to opt to display him with my 4-inch figures. I like big bots and I cannot lie.

The head sculpt is so wonderfully weird by modern sensibilities, but hearkens back to a time when these kinds of designs ruled the day. The blue energy waves that fills the eye are just missing some of that patented Kirby crackle speckling. Other high points include the jigsaw mouth, the dome ears, and the skull piece, which is basically the knitted cap of the robot world. There’s a bit of purple plastic bleeding through the silver paint on his face, but it’s not too bad.

Articulation is pretty standard stuff. The legs have rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the upper thighs, double hinges in the knees, and both hinges and rockers in the ankles. The ankle rockers don’t have a whole lot of play because of the sculpt. The torso has no waist swivel, but there’s a ball joint under the chest, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, there are swivels in the biceps, and hinges in the elbows. Again, the sculpt can be pretty restrictive when it comes to the elbows. The Sentry has his right hand sculpted into a fist and his left hand is opened ready to fire off a blast. I really dig the sculpted aperture in his palm.

 

I’ve got to be honest, the Kree Sentry wasn’t even on my radar, let alone my wish list, but now that I have him, I’m glad Hasbro made him. It’s surprises like this one that makes the Legends line so much fun to collect. And while on the subject, Blast you, Hasbro! Why you gotta be making potential army builders into BAF’s? It would be damn cool to have a couple more of these.

And that’s a wrap for this Marvel Legends week. I really enjoyed this wave overall. It’s a great mix of predictable movie-based characters with a couple of excellent comic-based figures pulled out of left field and tossed into the mix. Of course, the Legends love is going to continue for one more day, because tomorrow is Marvel Monday! I won’t rule out the possibility of another Legends themed week coming up, maybe to look at the new Black Panther wave, but for now, I’ll be digging back into my pile of outdated shame!

Jan 20 2019

Marvel Legends (Kree Sentry Wave): Captain Marvel in Bomber Jacket by Hasbro

I started this week with Carol, so I might as well end it with her too! We got two versions of Captain Marvel in this wave, one in her official MCU suit and this variant, also in her official suit, but with her bomber jacket on over it. Some may have hoped for another character in the wave instead, but I was sold on this figure the moment I saw it.

After a week of this wave, I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. You will, however, note that that this is the version of Carol you have to buy if you want to build the Kree Sentry. Back in the day, Hasbro would have just included the same part with both figures, but they’ve gotten wise to that. I do appreciate that they actually cooked up different character art for the back of the package to reflect this look. And the way they posed her on the tray holding Goose gets my vote for best packaged Legends figure ever. Seriously, I may need a second to keep sealed.

Obviously, this figure features a lot of parts-sharing with the other Captain Marvel. The torso and legs are all the same, and the jacket is the usual illusion comprised of a soft plastic vest with the sleeves sculpted onto the arms. And so from the neck down, the arms and hands are the only new pieces of sculpting here. At first, I thought they just recycled the flat hands from the other figure, but these feature a little more curving to the fingers and the thumbs are out, making them perfect for holding her furry friend. And yup, you can use the two sets of hands that came with the other Carol if you want to. The jacket is pretty simple, but it looks great. There are sculpted elastic rings around the sleeves and waist, sculpted lapels, and there’s a printed image on the back

The biggest addition to the figure is the new head sculpt, which features Carol with slightly windblown hair and smiling. I’m really glad to see the expression on this one, since there’s been some criticism in the trailer of Carol not emoting much and just looking darkgrim or expressionless. Personally, I’m not worried about it. Marvel has never had a big problem with balancing their movies with levity and keeping them lighthearted. Of course, the heads are interchangeable between the figures, a great bonus for owning them both. The printing on the facial features doesn’t do it any favors in close ups, but it looks great in hand and with the naked eye.

Articulation here is identical to the other Captain Marvel, so let’s skip it and head straight to her accessory. It’s another version of Goose, and this time he’s not in creepy restraints, and instead just looking adorable. He’s a static sculpt, but the pose is versatile enough so that it not only works for being held by Carol, as he is in the package, but also standing on his own with one paw outstretched and the other drawn back as if he’s playing.

I’m a little surprised, but this figure quite possibly turned out to be my favorite in what was a pretty strong assortment of figures. I just really dig the costume with the jacket over it, and it’s definitely my favorite portrait of the three. It would have been just as easy for Hasbro to go with a repaint of Captain Marvel in the Kree Uniform colors, and while I’ll still happily pick that one up if they do it, it’s nice to see that they didn’t settle for the low-hanging fruit. And that wraps it up for the individual figures, come on back later tonight and we’ll check out the Kree Sentry!