Tag Archives: avengers

Jul 17 2024

Marvel Legends: Hawkeye and Sky-Cycle by Hasbro

While I have picked up a newly released figure here and there, I mostly continue to play the cheapskate with Marvel Legends, and bottom feed the sales and clearance. Most of the times it pays off, and when it doesn’t, I’m not too worried about missing a figure or even an entire wave here and there. I have boxes and boxes of these figures and I’m happy to pull back on adding to them. Nonetheless, I definitely wanted this classic Hawkeye with Sky-Cycle when it was first released, but most of the figure and vehicle combos have lingered on the shelves, and this one was no different. It has since turned up at Ollie’s for really cheap, but that place is filthy and disgusting and I hate going there, so I was willing to pay $4 more online and have it shipped to me for free.

Hawkeye and his ride come in a fully enclosed box with a mostly white deco. Until now, the closest thing I have to a classic Hawkeye in this line is the one way back in 2015 in The Allfather Wave, and that was a modern look based loosely on his classic costume. We did get a retro-carded one back in 2018, which I feel was closer, but I never did pick that one up, so this one definitely fills a hole in my Avengers line up. There’s some nice shots of the figure and vehicle on the box and everything here is collector friendly.

Straightaway, I absolutely love the colors here. The purple and bright blue look smashing together, especially when you add the metallic finish to the shoulder piece. The sleeveless bodysuit is achieved mostly with colored plastic, but you do get cuts in the chest to allow the straps to lie almost flush in the channels, which is really cool. The buccaneer boots are cast in purple and are left smooth with just a bit of rumpling, as opposed to the textured finish of the previously mentioned releases. The bicep bands and wrist bracers appear to be recolored and lifted from the retro-carded figure, but the belt and chest harness are new, with the scale-mail shoulder piece reaching all the way up his neck. There’s a shoulder strap with painted buckle across his chest and his sash is made up of a printed cloth piece that hangs down below the belt, front and back. I feel as if this is the first time we’ve had softgoods on a Marvel Legends, so that’s certainly something. I don’t expect it to be the start of a trend, though, as it was likely just implemented here so he could ride the Sky-Cycle.

The head sculpt is good, and I’m pretty sure this is brand new. It has the pointy extensions to the eye mask, which the previous versions did not have. The raised “H” is still present on his forehead. The sculpted lines around the eye mask are well done, making it look like something actually worn by the figure. His ears are exposed and you get a strong jaw and a pretty pronounced chin and nose. The printing for the eyes and lip shading are on point.

Hawkeye is built on a pinless body with pretty standard articulation, and the slighter build definitely fits him well. There are lateral crunches in the shoulders and you get leg swivels in both the thighs and above the boots. Unfortunately, the jointing on my figure is a tad gummy, particularly in the elbows and knees. It’s not enough to ruin the figure for me, but it is disappointing. The figure includes both fists and accessory holding hands.

As for accessories, Hawkeye comes with his bow, quiver, and a single loose arrow. The quiver is the same one we got with the previous Hawkeyes I’ve mentioned, and I’m sure we’ve seen it at least one time before that. It’s a complex and modern design and I wish we got something more simple and traditional. The bow, on the other hand, is very simple, lending itself more to his classic look. It’s yellow with a black painted grip and a terrible, chonky plastic string. The arrow is mostly gray plastic with red painted fletching and a knob on the back to help the figure hold it. He can sort of pose as if he’s knocking the arrow, but with the string being plastic, he can’t draw it very well, so it doesn’t really work for an action pose. Let’s move over to the Sky-Cycle.

This vehicle requires just a slight bit of assembly, as you have to snap the bottom onto the body and the windshield onto the front. There’s also a semi-translucent stand that connects to the bottom with a ball joint and socket. This stand is the same design we’ve seen Hasbro using with Star Wars Speeder Bikes and whatnot. As far as Marvel Legends vehicles go, this is way simpler than any of the motorcycles or scooters we’ve seen, as there’s no moving parts. It does look really good and there’s some nice sculpted detail, even on the bottom where you can see the two VTOL engines. It’s mostly all cast in a gunmetal gray, but you do get some brown for the seat and black for the thruster cones on back. There is also some paint on the instrument panel between the handlebars.

I think this is a nice little set, until you factor in the original MSRP of $50, which is just nuts! Even if you grant that these figures are going for $25 these days, I can’t come up with $25 for the Sky-Cycle. It’s got no moving parts, virtually no paint, and it doesn’t come close to other vehicle-figure bundles that we’ve seen retail for less. It’s no wonder the price has been slashed everywhere, including Hasbro Pulse, where it’s down to half price. I picked it up for $25 with free shipping, and I’m pretty happy about that, because I’ve been watching it for a while now. I do wish Hawkeye got a new quiver and a bow with an actual string, but other than that I think he turned out really well.

Apr 29 2024

Marvel Legends (The Avengers): Giant-Man and Wasp by Hasbro

It seems like most of my Marvel Legends buying these days is stuff on deep discount, but every now and then Hasbro tosses something out there that gets me a bit excited. This time it was a new two-pack featuring Hank Pym as Giant-Man and Janet Van Dyne as The Wasp. It was an interesting reveal, coming shortly after the Giant-Man HasLab project just squeaked by, begging the question why wasn’t this pair of figures part of that project? If these were included, it would have given me the push I needed to back it, but since it wasn’t, I was able to pick up the figures off of Pulse and saved myself about $200 and the bother of finding somewhere to stand that huge figure. What was even more surprising is, this pack went up with a lot of people, myself including, believing it was a pre-order, but it actually shipped right away!

And here’s the snazzy packaging! Hank and Jan come in a colorful window box with a white front and lots of artwork on the side panels and the back. The figures are set against a blue background and when combined with the red and blue Avengers logo, this presentation really pops beautifully! The window is absolutely cluttered with accessories and extra hands and heads, making this feel like a decent value at the $50 price tag. I’m going to start with Hank, but let’s check him out as Giant-Man first…

We last saw Hank Pym as Giant-Man in Marvel Legends ten years ago as part of the Ultron Wave, and HOLY SHIT… TEN YEARS??? That was an OK figure, but it was definitely not my preferred version of the costume. Here, we finally get the good stuff, as Hank dons the bright red and blue suit, and the coloring here is absolutely gorgeous. Sure, the red paint above the zig-zag patterns on his boots doesn’t quite match the red plastic on the legs, but it’s a minor discrepancy on a tiny area. The black V-decoration on the torso is pretty sharp and you get a segmented silver belt worn around the waist, which does have a habit of riding up and needing adjusting.

The head sculpt shows some excellent definition in the facial features and it looks like the lower face is sculpted separately from the rest of the mask allowing for razor sharp lines. The red hood is broken up a bit by the white shingles on the sides of the head, the eyes are printed very well, and his antennae sweep up prominently from his brow.

The proportions on this figure are certainly a lot better than what we got last time and it features the wonders of pinless technology. The articulation follows the usual Legends formula with the bonus of butterfly shoulder crunches. You get two sets of hands, which include two graspy hands, as well as a right trigger finger hand and a left fist. The trigger finger hand is a strange choice, but it does actually work well with some of his accessories.

And I do enjoy that one of his accessories is a Quinjet. Is it supposed to be something that Hank shrunk down or is it a normal sized jet for Giant-Man to play with? I like to imagine it’s the later and he flies it around making whooshing noises, while The Avengers trapped inside scream in terror.

Swap the head and toss on his white coat and you have a Hank Pym to putter around in his Lab. The coat is surprisingly well tailored, considering this is kind of a first for modern Legends. It fits the figure nicely, the stitching is pretty tidy and while it lacks a ubiquitous pocket of pencils, I like it a lot. Had I picked up that West Coast Avengers boxed set, I would probably use the jacket on that Hank Pym figure, but with how much that set is being discounted these days, I may wind up with it eventually.

The head sculpt looks to be the same as the one included on Hank in that set and I dig it a lot. Pym is sporting his best serious scientist expression and the hair is sculpted as a separate piece and attached to the head.

Pym comes with a number of science accessories including including two pieces of glassware, which if my High School Science Class serves me well, I believe are a Florence Flask and an Erlenmeyer Flask. These are both frosted with some blue plastic inside ot look like liquid. You also get what looks like a data pad or perhaps a circuit pulled out of Pym’s latest invention. I guess it could be whatever you want it to be. Whatever the case, it’s a nice assortment of science lab stuff for Pym to work with. Now, let’s move on to Janet…

We’ve had plenty of Wasps in Marvel Legends, but I do believe that this is the first time we’ve got Janet in her classic (and IMHO best!) costume. The red dress with the flared shoulders, the high boots, the black undersuit, and the plunging neckline exposing her blue W, and the canisters on her belt… I just love this costume! If you have any of the previous Wasp figures from Legends, the wings should be familiar to you. Hasbro has certainly got their mileage out of these. The two sets plug into her back on hinges with the lower wings pegging into those, offering a good deal of posability.

Like Hank, you get two heads for Janet: One in costume and one out and both are gorgeous! The costumed head features her pointed cowl, complete with headset and antennae. The antennae are actually jointed inside where they connect to the head and can be articulated a little bit, which is really cool. The microphone on her headset can also be raised or lowered. The face is sculpted separately from the hood, offering a clean line between the two. And boy is the face beautiful! The printing on the eyes is just about perfect, there’s some nice color to her cheeks and her lips are fantastic!

And the other head is quite spectacular too! It’s a different face sculpt with notable differences to the eyebrows, but otherwise pretty close. The vintage style coif is sculpted separately from the head in an almost chocolate brown plastic with some adorable curls at the ends. I’d definitely say Janet here ranks up there among Hasbro’s best female portraits.

Like Hank, Janet’s body is pinless and if I still reviewed Legends figures as much as I used to, I’d probably stop pointing that out by now, but it’s still kind of new to me. It’s really nice to see the gals getting double hinged elbows and bicep swivels as opposed to just the rotating hinges in the elbows. The joints here all feel really nice and you get two sets of hands: One pair of fists and one pair of gesturing hands.

With Legends going for about $25 these days, the $50 price tag on this set seems about right. Actually if you include all the extras, it’s probably even a bit better. Given how much I love these characters, this set was a must-have for me and with it being a Pulse Exclusive, I wasn’t willing to risk not getting it to see if it would eventually be clearanced at the Pulse Outlet. I buy so few new Legends these days, I don’t feel bad about splurging on a set like this. Both figures are excellent, but for me it was getting the classic costume Wasp that really made my day!

Oct 25 2023

Marvel Legends (Khonshu Wave): Zombie Scarlet Witch and Zombie Iron Man by Hasbro

How weird is it to have a Marvel Legends review turn up in the middle of Halloween festivities, eh? Well, I love comics and I love Halloween so I jumped at the opportunity. And who knows? Maybe this won’t be the only Comic-Halloween crossover this week! Anyway, I had already stopped collecting complete waves of Legends by the time this second What If? inspired assortment hit the stores, and to be honest the only reason I picked up these two were because they hit deep discount on Amazon. The Konshu BAF actually looks pretty cool, but there’s no way I’m buying an Agent Woo or another Disney+ Loki figure to build him.

These figures come in the windowless packaging and honestly I don’t mind it much for Marvel Legends. The images on the boxes tend to be pretty close to what you get inside and by now most people probably know what to expect from this line. Besides, I throw these boxes out anyway. As the front of the package boldly exclaims, these are based on the animated What If? series from Disney+. This was the last of the D+ Marvel shows I tried to watch in good faith, but I couldn’t get through most of the episodes. Let’s start with Scarlet Witch…

Oh wow, this figure turned out great! She’s got a wonderfully creepy Deadite vibe going on and while the eye is inevitably drawn to the magnificent hair sculpt as the stand-out feature, everything about this figure is really well done. While it’s based on an animated design, I think it toes the line well enough to work with the regular MCU or comic figures. The outfit includes a shredded version of Wanda’s MCU look with the red overcoat over a red corset, black trousers, and black boots. There are holes sculpted into the jacket and the sculpted sleeve arms have similar damage and even display some exposed bones. You could possibly argue that the costume looks a bit too clean, but I can’t deny how beautiful the colors are here. The red is gorgeous and looks great alongside the matte and gloss black.

But as great as the body looks, the portrait remains the real showpiece here. The crazy hair is absolutely superb as it flies in every which way. The head sculpt shows a Zombie Wanda with a fierce visage, her downturned mouth showing teeth, blood smeared on her face and her eyes all glassy and void of pupils. This has got to be one of my favorite Legends head sculpts in a long while!

The articulation is better than we see with many Legends gals, as the elbows are double hinged and complimented with swivels in the biceps. The elbows are pinless but the knees are not. She comes with one pair of hands, which are of the spell-slinging variety and you get two hex power effect pieces to snake around her wrists. Because Zombies are bad enough, but hex-powered Zombies will really ruin your whole day. Let’s shamble on over to Zombie Iron Man…

This figure looks pretty good, but Zombie Wanda is a hard act to follow, and Undead Tony ain’t quite up to the challenge. The suit has a bit of Extremis flavor to me with just a bit more bulk and organic curves from the MCU models. I like it a lot and the red finish has a beautiful new car shine to it with some splotches of filth sprayed very sparingly here and there. There’s a little sculpted damage to the suit, including a missing panel on the right side of his abs, showing some exposed ribs, and a piece taken out of the left forearm. A bit of gold and silver painted accents add to the figure’s sharp deco.

The head sculpt here is pretty good, but again not nearly as good as Wanda’s. This one looks a lot more animated, which is fine considering the source, but some of the details, like the sprayed on mustache, is wanting. Still, the rotted holes in his cheeks and the open mouth cavity are pretty damn cool. He also has a rotted out nose and two yellow pupil-less eyes. The hair sculpt is a bit chunky, but not bad at all.

Zombie Stark comes with two pairs of hands and two repulsor blast effect parts. The hands include one pair of fists and a pair of open repulsor hands, which have no articulation in the wrist. The effect parts are the same pieces we’ve seen before. Here they are cast in translucent blue and they plug into the holes in the open hands.

I picked up these figures at $13 each and I’m really happy I did, especially since I already had Zombie Cap from the previous What If? wave and these three look great together. Wanda is the stand out figure in the trio for me, but Iron Man and Cap are no slouch either. It’ll be interesting to see if Hasbro dips into this well again, and to be honest now that I have three of them, chances are I might not wait for clearance if any other Marvel Zombies turn up. Now, if only I had some DC Zombies to look at on Friday… hmm…

May 26 2023

Marvel Avengers: Rocket Mech Armor (#76243) by LEGO

Happy Friday, folks! I’m kicking off a three-day weekend today, but I didn’t have a lot of time leading up to it, so today’s review is going to be a bit on the short and sweet side. But, I did have so much fun building and playing around with this tiny LEGO set, that I wanted to share it here, and today seemed like a perfect time!

Yes, this is a small set, weighing in at just under 100 pieces in two tiny bags. That builds the Rocket Mech Suit and includes the Rocket Raccoon Minifig. I normally don’t go after LEGO sets this small, because they’re just a big tease. By the time I start getting into it and enjoying the build, it’s all over. But, this one just caught my eye and I like to fiddle with stuff while I watch TV, so I cracked it open and wound up assembling it in about 15 or 20 minutes. Let’s start with the Minifig!

This Minifig certainly does Rocket proud… mostly. There is something missing and that’s his tail, but as we’ll see in a few seconds, the set makes up for that. The head sculpt is very nice with some excellent printing and his mischievous grin gives him a lot of personality. He’s got some gold printing on his orange jumpsuit showing the front and back of his vest. He also comes with a nice big gun, which is assembled from three different pieces. Very cool stuff!

And then there’s the Mech Suit, which I absolutely adore. The chest hinges down to reveal the cockpit for the Minifig to stand in. It would have been cool to put in some of those control sticks pieces, but you just have to use your imagination that he’s controlling it. The chest hinges closed leaving just Rocket’s head peeking out of the Suit.

The Mech is mostly orange and brown with some black and gray trim. There’s also a printed piece for the chest. And for a simple set, this Mech has some really fun articulation with ball joints at the shoulders, hips, and ankles, and four hinged fingers on the left hand. The suit can also pivot 360-degrees at the waist. The arms and legs are made out of the same solid, bent orange pieces, so there’s no articulation in the elbows or knees, but it still makes for a surprisingly fun figure to play with. And there’s there’s that big tail to compensate for the Minifig’s shortcomings! The tail is all spikey and full of bristles and it makes me grin like an idiot knowing that Rocket intentionally put a racoon tail on his Mech Suit because… why not? I also love the two thrusters on the back with the blue engines, and these can also articulate a bit.

Thanks to the ball joints in the ankles, the Mech has surprisingly good balance and the friction in the ball joints is sufficient to hold the limbs in place and not have it flop over.

Of course, the big attention getter here is the giant 6-stud cannon that he has in place of a right hand, because we all know how much Rocket loves his guns!

And that’s it! This set was an impulse buy at just under $15 and I am so very glad I decided to let it follow me home. Sure, the build wasn’t the most satisfying, as it was practically over before it started, but it was short-lived fun nonetheless. And in this case the finished model is where the fun really kicks in. I’ll likely have this Raging Raccoon Mech Suit on my desk for a long time to give me something to fiddle around with between projects. This one is highly recommended. It also won’t break the bank, which is pretty rare for a good LEGO set these days!

Dec 15 2021

Avengers Endgame: Captain America (2012) Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

We’re in the Endgame now! Or, more accurately, I’ve come full circle. My very first Hot Toys figure was Captain America from The First Avenger, which I reviewed ten years ago, give or take a couple of weeks. Woof! Those were some terrible photos! And here I am, reviewing what I planned to be my last Marvel Hot Toys purchase… and it would have been if I hadn’t since pre-ordered a new Black Widow. Well, maybe the second to the last. Unless we get a bunch from the new Spider-Man movie, and then all bets are off. Anyway… It’s fitting to start and (almost) end with Cap. One of my favorite Marvel characters, and one that I feel was translated almost perfectly to the MCU.

The First Avenger Cap was actually a consolation purchase, as I missed out on the Cap figure that I really wanted. Some may scoff, but Cap’s costume from the original Avengers flick is my favorite of them all, and I was hugely disappointed to miss out. But now, it seems like it was for the best, because thanks to the Time Travel elements of Endgame, Hot Toys got us a new version of 2012 Cap, without having to do a blatant do-over, and it looks to be a vast improvement. Let’s take a look!

Hot Toys rebuilt this figure from the ground up, which means new body, new tailored costume, the works! As I understand it, the only reuse here is the collection of hands. The costume recreates everything I loved about this look. It’s clean, relatively simple, and most of all it’s bright and colorful. I like that it uses actual fabric, rather than the thin vinyl material that so many of these characters wore. It looks and feels more durable, and offers a nice, rugged texture. The suit consists of various reinforced panels of cloth, all secured with immaculate stitching. The bright blue really pops, especially next to the red and white striping around his middle, and the red and maroon plastic used for the boots and gauntlets.

The boots consist of two pieces: A ball jointed foot, and a sleeve that makes up the rest. This allows for plenty of articulation in the ankles and a flat-footed stance. There’s still a seam where they meet, but it’s worked into the sculpt pretty well, so as not to be terribly obvious. It is, however, necessary to sometimes make sure the two pieces are lined up correctly. The chest star and epaulets are cast in plastic and attached to the cloth, making them stand out, quite literally. The belt features a brace of bulky pouches, and it rests fairly snug above his hips.

Cap comes with two heads, one masked and one not. The masked is likely the one I will display the figure with most of the time, and it is a beautiful piece of work. The helmet and mask are intricately detailed with some great texturing, sculpted stitch lines, and some immaculate silver paint for the “A” and the wings on the sides. There’s a very nice depth to the sculpt as well, making it look like the helmet and mask were actually sculpted on top of an unmasked head, even if that wasn’t the case. The neck piece is extremely long and sockets deep into the figure’s chest, and when combined with the high collar of the suit, leaves no neck seam at all.

The unmasked head sculpt is also excellent. Considering Hot Toys has been sculpting Chris Evans’ noggin for ten years now, it goes without saying that they’ve gotten pretty damn good at it. Besides the likeness being spot on, the paint is as amazing as usual. The eyes are lifelike, the skin tone is so real it’s eerie, and even the sculpted plastic hair looks totally on point. I also love the appropriately self-righteous expression, with the stern look and slightly furled brow. Despite this being the third MCU Hot Toys Cap in my collection, this is the first time I’ve had an unmasked head sculpt. It’s about time!

Obviously, Cap comes with his iconic shield, and it sure is different than the one that came with my First Avenger Cap! That figure’s shield had a high gloss, metallic finish that looked beautiful… for about a year and then the paint started flaking off of it. I eventually had to buy a third-party replacement. This time around, we get a more sensible, somewhat satin finish to the red, blue, and silver frisbee, and I think it looks great! The flipside is sculpted with reinforced plates and rivets, and has an arm strap and a grabber strap, which work very well with the figure, making it easy to put on and take off. Unfortunately, the straps still have working plastic clasps, which are so fragile I can all but guarantee will eventually break. Cap comes with the appropriate hands that will allow him to hold the shield on the left or right side. Unfortunately, there’s no way to attach it to his back, which seems like a huge oversight.

As I’ve said many times, I don’t expect a lot of range of motion in my MCU Hot Toys, usually because of restrictive costumes, but I was hoping for a little bit more on this one. In this case, I’m not worried about pulling stitching or over-stretching material, it’s just that the muscle padding gets in the way. As a result, he gets about average movement for these figures, but nothing crazy. On the plus side, it doesn’t seem like keeping him in an action pose is likely to damage the costume.

In addition to the shield and extra hands, Cap comes with Loki’s Staff, which is recycled from the Bruce Banner figure, which I believe was recycled from Avengers Loki. If you don’t have it, it’s a great addition and a beautiful piece. On the other hand, if you’ve been collecting for a while, you probably do have it, and in that case, it’s not all that exciting.

What is pretty damn cool is the big aluminum case to put it in! This spiffy piece of luggage has a foam interior with a cutout for the staff and handles on two sides. It’s an impressive accessory, and it kind of needs to be, considering that Cap doesn’t come with a whole lot of anything else. Still, the only other thing that I could have asked for would be a mask for him to hold when using the unmasked head. That would have been cool.

As always, the final thing in the box is the stand. I don’t have a lot to say about this one, other than it looks good and gets the job done. The artwork is quite nice, and the hexagonal base is functional without taking up too much real estate on the shelf.

It’s hard to really express how thrilled I was to see this figure get made. Not getting Hot Toys’ Avengers Cap was probably one of my biggest collecting regrets over the last ten years. I just think this is his most iconic appearance in the franchise. It really straddles that line between realism and cheese. The colors scream comic book to me, and while I will admit this look wouldn’t have worked for the tone of the later movies, I liked Cap’s uniforms less and less with each redesign. The original shot up in price on the second hand market pretty quickly, so my chances of ever getting it were slim to none. And now I have an improved version on my shelf and I just can’t stop smiling!

Sep 13 2021

Marvel Legends Iron Man Helmet by Hasbro

It’s been a busy weekend for me, and I’m a little pressed for time on this Marvel Monday, so I thought I’d stick with something that would be a little quick and easy. Hasbro has been using the Marvel Legends moniker to release some toy versions of full-size MCU prop replicas, and while I’ve been able to resist a number of them, I’ve been snapping up most of the wearable helmets. I actually already reviewed the Ant-Man Helmet a little while back, but the one I’m looking at today was actually my first purchase in this line. Let’s check out the Iron Man helmet!

As with Ant-Man’s helmet, this one comes in a fully enclosed box with lots of pictures of the toy inside. The pictures on the box appear to be re-worked a bit, but I’m not going to complain too much because the look of the actual item isn’t too far from the pictures. The helmet comes fully wrapped in plastic to protect the finish, which is most welcome! While the helmet does not require any assembly, you will need a screwdriver to get into the battery compartment if you want to make use of the electronics.

Out of the box, this thing is pretty impressive for a toy! It is a fully enclosed piece and can be worn and removed just by slipping it on over the head. I’ll get to more on that when we open her up. On the outside, it seems like a pretty good recreation of the on-screen prop. One of the things I miss about the early Iron Man armors is the fact that the helmet was a physical object and not just something that magically appears thanks to the help of CG special effects. As with the real deal, this helmet is more about smooth curves than it is about hyper-detail. As a result, panel lines are used sparingly, there are a few faked out bolts, but not a lot more to distinguish the sculpt. And that’s fine by me!

But what impressed me the most at first sight was the quality of the paint. Let’s face it, mass produced toys are not usually known for their precision of paintwork. Hasbro has gotten a lot better, but when you consider something this big, there’s a lot more room for things to go wrong. Amazingly, the finish on this is damn near flawless. The gold used for the face plate is perhaps not quite as luxurious as it looks on the box photo, but it is very nice. It goes for more of a sumptuous satin finish, rather than something bright and reflective, and I dig it a lot. The red on the other hand, does manage to achieve that lovely new-car shine that Stark’s suits tend to flaunt. It’s similar to some of the better finishes they’ve used for the Legends MCU Iron Man figures. I have to scrutinize this thing pretty closely to find any imperfections. Mine has a slight blemish behind the left ear, which really only shows up under bright light, and I can’t be certain it wasn’t something that happened after it had been on display.

The electronics include the light up eyes, which are clearly visible even under the bright studio lights, offering a cool, blue hue when fired up. These will sometimes activate when I pick up the helmet, but always when I remove and replace the face plate.

Removing and attaching the face plate also sets off a litany of sound effects, like servos firing and clamps releasing. It’s very well done and sounds as if all sorts of stuff is going on inside the helmet. The face plate comes completely off and then can be attached in the up position, where it is held fast by magnets. No, it’s not actually sliding up there, and it’s recommended to remove all contact between the two pieces before putting it in that position so as to avoid scratching the finish. The face plate is extremely secure whether in the up or down position, and it makes me wish that Hasbro had used similar magnets to hold the back plate on their Ant-Man Helmet. That one uses a pair of weak friction hinges, which fail every time.

Inside, the helmet does have some finished details, but it also has some more practical stuff going on, like the straps that come in contact with your head. These are adjustable and the helmet, while snug, does fit fairly well on my adult-sized cranium. Still, I will admit that It does get a little claustrophobic in there after a while.

The face plate is also detailed with some interior sculpting on the back. I like the hexagonal patterns, the gears in the cheeks, and the vocalizer plate right where the wearer’s mouth is positioned. The eye slots are surprisingly large on the inside, and yet don’t seem out of scale on the outside.

This helmet set me back about $99 when I got it back in 2019, and if you hunt hard enough, you can probably still find some retailers selling it at that price, although others seem to be asking a good $30 more in some cases. Ultimately, I’m extremely pleased with how this came out, and I’d say that it’s easily the best quality of any of the Hasbro helmets I’ve picked up, and that includes both Marvel and Star Wars. Not only does it look pretty close to the real thing, but the engineering and use of magnets makes it feel a bit more like a premium collectible than a high priced toy. Sure, you can do a lot better, if you want to invest an additional $300-400, but this one suits me just fine! And yes, these chrome paper towel holders make excellent display stands!

Jan 25 2021

Avengers Endgame: Nebula Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

I’m giving the unending parade of Marvel Legends a week off on this Marvel Monday so I can turn my attention to a new Hot Toys arrival! And on that subject, I believe I may be approaching the end of a long journey, as I started collecting Marvel Hot Toys nearly ten years ago, and now some 30 figures later, all of that feels like it’s coming to an end. I have a few on my shelf left to review, and a few more pre-orders waiting to ship, but I have a grim sense of foreboding that I am not going to enjoy the post-Endgame run of the MCU, and as such probably won’t be investing top dollar in the figures any more. I mean, it may end up being a decent movie, but am I going to want a shelf full of Hot Toys Eternals? Probably not. I bring it up now, because I’m acutely aware of it and that makes Nebula’s arrival feel less routine than some of the others have been.

Hot Toys have been all about delays these days, distancing their releases from the respective movies by quite a bit. I imagine part of that is Covid-related, but I actually had one of my Sideshow statues delayed because of some kind of nautical catastrophe. And while I’ve been cancelling some, I let Nebula ride it out. And while Nebula is billed as an Endgame figure, I see her as a way to finally complete my Guardians of the Galaxy collection. Sure, she was given a lot of screen time in Endgame, and ultimately a satisfying character arc, but I associate the character most with Guardians Vol. 2. Anyway, the package doesn’t really convey the price of the figure inside. It’s a fragile window box housing a vac-formed plastic tray with an illustrated sleeve around it. Although, I have to admit that the artwork on that sleeve is absolutely breathtaking, particularly the colors. I don’t save these boxes anymore, but I could be persuaded to flatten out this sleeve and tuck it away somewhere, because it’s just too pretty to pitch. But enough about the package, let’s get her open and see what we’ve got!

Plucked from Endgame, this is Nebula in her Ravager garb, and if she’s only getting one Hot Toys figure, I’d say this version was a pretty good choice. Although, I still would have liked one from either of the Guardians flicks, since we didn’t get Ronin and it would have been nice to get bad Nebula as a villain stand in. Still, the Ravager style outfit displays well with my original Guardians Star Lord and my Guardians Vol. 2 Yondu, so I’m a happy collector. The space-pirate outfit consists of a very tight-fitting maroon one-piece, which is stitched together in a bit of a patchwork fashion, and while this isn’t one of the flashiest costumes out there, Hot Toys did it proud by recreating all of its little idiosyncrasies. Every stitch of it has some form of texturing, plus there are multiple layers with different types of fabrics, reinforcements, piping, belts, and buckles. When I first got the figure out of the box, I had a great time just studying all of these little details and marveling at how with something like 50 Hot Toys figures on my shelf, the attention to details never ceases to impress me. I especially love how the sculpted bits that make up the boots and bracers and gloves pair so seamlessly with the actual fabric aspects of the suit.

Some particularly noteworthy highlights are the reinforced shoulder pads, the Ravager badge on her right bicep, and the gun belt, which has a holster for her sidearm and straps to hold her baton in the back. Although, I’m a little unclear as to why she only carries one back there when she fights with two. The holster actually needs to be attached to the belt via two small hooks, and I don’t mind telling you that it was a daunting task to finally get it on. I had to rely on tweezers and I think I got through almost the entire Podcast I was listening to before I actually got those hooked. On the downside, because the figure is literally stitched into the suit, the articulation is severely limited up in her groin. I really can’t get much of a wide stance at all without fear of popping those stitches. At the same time, the boots are all sculpted in one piece, so forget getting her feet flat all the time. As a result, from the waist down, this is not a very dynamic figure to play with or pose.

Of course, this version of Nebula has a completely exposed cybernetic left arm, which mostly consists of sculpted panel lines, but does have a few areas where the innards are exposed. These areas feature some finely detailed wires and servos, some of which are individually painted. The joints are sculpted into her fingers and the mesh on the hands look great. While we’re on the subject of hands, Nebula comes with three sets (fists, relaxed, baton holding) and a right gun hand. My only gripe about the cybernetic arm is the limited articulation. It’s got a rotating hinge in the shoulder and another at the elbow, but sadly no swivel in the bicep. Maybe they thought that would look bad, but what’s here still feels rather limiting.

That brings us to the portrait, and for this I only have praise. Nebula’s on screen make up is nothing short of amazing. After following Karen Gillan in Doctor Who for so many years, I can only catch glimmers of familiarity of the actress as Nebula, and that’s high praise to her acting abilities as well as the make up effects. And this portrait continues Hot Toys’ mostly unswerving ability to capture likenesses for their figures. The two shades of blue used for her skin are rich and the metallic sheen on the darker middle is particularly beautiful. I also love how they managed to still create that realistic speckled skin tone even through such unconventional colors. The eyes also feature that lifelike spark that Hot Toys always manages to capture in these portraits. The expression is fairly neutral, which was what Nebula often showed in the films. A second head sculpt with gritting teeth and rage would have been welcome, but Hot Toys seldom seems to do multiple portraits these days. Finally, the exposed cybernetic plate on her left side and around her eye looks fantastic.

Nebula does not come with a whole bunch of accessories and extras, but what we did get is pretty good. For starters, her pistol is a real thing of beauty. I love the gun designs in the Guardians flicks, and this one looks like it shares a little heritage with Star Lord’s Elemental Guns. At the very least they look like they come from a shared Universe. The grip has an intricate honeycomb pattern and the rest of the tiny details include a knob on the back, little screws, and there’s even some burn marks painted around the three vents near the muzzle. The top piece is ivory, the bulk of the body is painted with a brushed steel finish, and there’s a little metallic blue and gold on some of the fixtures. It’s quite a striking piece!

Her other weapons are her batons. We already saw that she has one collapsed one to store in the back of her belt, while the other two are sculpted in the extended position. There’s some great detail in the handle sculpts, but as great as they look, it’s hard for me to get too worked up over a couple of batons. They do work well with the hands that are designed to hold them.

You also get some blue electrified effect parts, which can be snaked around them. Sure, these are basically the same types of things Hasbro includes with some of their Star Wars figures to convey Force energy, but they still look mighty nice when fitted around them, and I may actually keep these on when I’m displaying her.

As always, our last stop on the Hot Toys review train is the figure stand, and here we get one branded for Endgame. It features a hexagonal base with a standard, adjustable crotch cradle post. Her name is printed kind of unceremoniously on the front, instead of using one of those metallic name plates. Also, the printing is ever so slightly askew. Ah well. You do get some really nice and colorful artwork on the base with the Avengers Endgame logo and the Ravager emblem. And yeah, I really wish they had given her the same style of stand the rest of the Guardians had, because this one looks really out of place in that display.

Nebula represents all the usual quality and craftsmanship that I’m used to seeing out of Hot Toys. They’ve been doing this a long time, and they are freaking great at it. This is simply a gorgeous figure that captures the character as best as anyone is ever likely to do in action figure form. With that having been said, the limitations of the suit on her articulation can be quite frustrating. Granted, I usually go with some pretty reserved poses for my figures, so it’s not going to hurt my overall, long-term enjoyment of the figure. But on the same note, I do like to play with them in front of the camera every now and then and have fun with them. Sadly, Nebula is one of those figures that will have to be content with standing on her stand and looking pretty. As for value, at $235, this one really needed an extra head or something to justify that extra $25-30. Even still, I can’t say as I’m feeling even a shred of buyer’s remorse. The Guardians of the Galaxy characters have been some of my favorite Marvel Hot Toys releases and I’m thrilled to finally put Nebula among them. At this point the one hole remaining in my Guardians display is Mantis, who was shown off back in 2019 and is still teased on Sideshow’s website, but I haven’t seen any new activity lately. If she is finally offered, I’ll be down for a pre-order. But until then, Nebula marks my final addition to this bunch of sixth-scale A-Holes. Although, I will admit that I’m a little tempted to double-dip on Gamora now.

Dec 21 2020

Marvel Legends: The Infinity Gauntlet by Hasbro

Wow, this weekend was a beast. I don’t even want to think about how many hours I wound up working. And that means that I got seriously short changed on time for today’s Marvel Monday. I was going to check out some more figures from the Deadpool movies, but seeing as I’m under a time crunch, let’s check out this big goddamn Gauntlet that’s been sitting in the corner intimidating the cats for about a year.

It’s weird seeing the Marvel Legends moniker on something that isn’t an action figure, but Hasbro has been using the series to release some of their 1:1 prop-replica toys. I’ve only reviewed one here so far, and that was the Ant-Man Helmet, but they’ve also done Mjolnir and Captain America’s Shield just to name a few. The Infinity Gauntlet comes in a fully enclosed black box with some pictures depicting the item inside. It’s big and heavy and that gives you a great idea of the plastic behemoth that waits for you inside. It comes out of the box fully assembled, but you will need to install some batteries if you want to get the electronics up and running, and believe me, you are going to want to do that!

The reality bending glove is fashioned all in plastic and I’m pleased to say that Hasbro did not skimp on the size. It looks appropriately huge and awkward when worn by a mere human, but then again it’s meant to! But more on how it functions in a bit. Besides the impressive size, I thought the finish is pretty nice. The entire piece is cast in an antiqued bronze colored plastic, which thankfully looks rich and substantial rather than cheap. It even has a nice metallic sheen to it in some areas, particularly the fingers. I’m glad they went this route, because painting this thing would not only be expensive but also probably make it prone to chipping and wear. It looks like a weathered artifact rather than a shiny new construct, and while that doesn’t necessarily make sense, since it was newly forged in the movie, I dig it. There are some nice sculpted details in the Gauntlet, including scrollwork patterns, rivets, and some plates that are made to look like they are overlapping each other. You also get some sculpted chainmail around the thumb and what are meant to be segmented plates in the fingers.

As for operating the Gauntlet, because it is so big, your fingers don’t actually go into the fingers of the glove, but rather pass through rings that in turn manipulate the fingers when you pull on them. It’s a really clever piece of engineering that allows the glove to work on a much smaller hand than it was designed for. It works really well, allowing each finger to be manipulated on its own. On the downside, you really can’t make a convincing snapping motion with the fingers, but that would have been way to sophisticated with the kind of toy we’re dealing with here. There’s a switch on the Gauntlet right below the big yellow Mind Stone, which can be used to lock or unlock the fingers in the closed position. You’ll note there are some visible screw holes in the palm of the Gauntlet, and while they don’t ruin the toy for me, it would have been cool if Hasbro included some plugs to fill those in, especially at this price point.

Of course, the Infinity Stones are embedded in their proper sockets and they look great. Each one is a unique sculpt and cast in translucent plastic colored to match the respective stones. And here’s where the electronics come in! The battery compartment is concealed in the outer portion of the sleeve. It’s a pretty big door, and if you know what you’re looking for it’s pretty easy to recognize it for what it is. On the other hand, it doesn’t look terribly obvious either. And in case you are wondering, the stones are not removable.

The Stones illuminate whenever you are manipulating the fingers, and they will continue to stay lit for a little while after you put the Gauntlet down. The lights are extremely bright, so much so that I didn’t even have to dim the studio lights for them to show up in the pictures. Just realize that if you are donning this Gauntlet in a room with normal lighting, they are going to look all the more intense! In addition to the lights, you get some great sound effects, including the whirring of the finger joints and the hum of power coming from the Stones. I’m generally not a huge fan of the electronics on these types of prop-toys, but in this case, I think they really add to the overall display and value of the piece.

I hesitated on this piece when it first came out and I’m glad that I did, because I was able to get it at the deep discount of about $70. Nowadays it seems to be going for around $125 on Amazon, but I’m willing to bet that there are still deals to be had. It’s certainly a well constructed and well designed prop-toy. It’s extremely sturdy and I’ll bet it can withstand a good amount of punishment without breaking. The electronics effects are fantastic, and the engineering inside the glove is clever and functions just the way its intended. Granted, I don’t wear this thing a lot, but it does make for an impressive display piece in the corner, and when I happen to glance at it, it usually invokes a big smile and sometimes compels me to put it on for a bit. Of course, there are better replicas of the Infinity Gauntlet out there, but obviously at greater cost, and in most cases not wearable. Ultimately I was glad I picked this one up and I have been keeping an eye out for the Endgame Power Gauntlet that Hasbro also did. I think the two would look great displayed beside each other.

Sep 7 2020

Avengers Endgame: Thanos Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

Since I’m between waves of Marvel Legends, I’m going to divert my attention elsewhere on this Marvel Monday, and shift the spotlight to Hot Toys! Wow, it’s been a while since I reviewed a Hot Toys Marvel figure. I still have a few more Marvel Hot Toys to review, a few on pre-order, but my confidence in the future of the MCU has been waning, and I have a feeling that my days of collecting Hot Toys Marvel may be drawing to a close. It makes me a little sad, but my wallet very happy. Speaking of which, let’s take a look at The Mad Titan himself, who recently snapped his fingers and made half my toy budget for the month disappear! I passed on Hot Toys Thanos twice before. The Guardians of the Galaxy version with the throne looked great, but it was also a little small and I didn’t have the scratch for it back then. It was a shame because it’s the only Hot Toys release from that film that I didn’t buy. Next came the Infinity War version, and that was an easy pass because his costume was just so boring that I couldn’t justify the price tag. This armored up Endgame one was obviously the one I was waiting for!

Big Boi’s come in Big Boxes! If you’ve been with me for some previous Hot Toys reviews, you may know that I don’t think much of their packaging. They usually have pretty artwork, but the cardboard is super flimsy and they’re little more than window boxes with sleeves around them. I just think the price I’m paying warrants something a little more impressive. Hell, I don’t even keep most of these boxes anymore, because they take up too much space for what they are. That’s pretty much true for Thanos here, but I will admit the size itself is impressive! Thankfully, Thanos comes out of the box with most of his armor on and pretty much ready to go!

And here he is looking absolutely superb! Thanos not only towers above my other Hot Toys (well, except for The Hulk), but he’s also a hefty mo-fo with a lot of girth. Everything about this guy feels substantial. The figure depicts past Thanos who followed The Avengers back to future Earth in full battle gear. Yes, this could also pass for Thanos in the very beginning of Infinity War, and I’ll come back to that idea eventually. Hot Toys did a beautiful job on his armor, which is comprised of golden plastic plates over more flexible and textured black plastic. I was happy to see that it’s not sculpted as part of the figure itself, but an actual suit. I’m not sure if they did this to reuse the previous Thanos body, or just to be awesome, but it adds so much to the figure’s complexity. He even has cloth pants under his leg armor. The gold plate pieces are exquisitely painted, giving off a look that is so convincing, it’s almost surprising to touch it and feel that it’s just lightweight plastic. These pieces feature some panel lines, as well as a number of nicks and scrapes acquired in past battles, giving the suit a very lived in look. There are also some tarnished spots in the paint to make it look well weathered. Hot Toys didn’t go too nuts with these effects, as they sure wanted to sell a proper battle damaged version of this figure too, but what’s here is just enough to make it look like the armor has been well used. I also really dig the copper colored pieces on his chest, just to mix things up a bit.

Despite being worn, the bulk of the armor is permanently attached to the figure, but the right arm bracer can come off. The left can’t, but more on that later. The bicep pieces are held on by the straps and friction and they stay in place quite well. There’s a decent amount of clearance in the shoulders, so the arms can be posed without me being too worried about scraping or breaking these pieces. But as with most Hot Toys, you just don’t want to try to get the arms raised much higher than the shoulders. The arms are covered with a rubbery skin, quite similar to what we saw on The Hulk. It looks great, but I’m not terribly keen on how the skin folds at the elbows when the arms are flexed. It just looks a bit too much like what it is, rubber covering an articualted arm. I think I might have preferred that they went with regular exposed elbow joints here. Then again, if he’s in a pose with his arms fairly straight, it does look much better with the seamless joints. It’s a compromise. And while on the subject of articulation, I’ll give credit to the ratcheting joints they designed for him. This is a hefty figure, but he has no troubles standing on his own and his joints tend to stay where you put them. You can use Thanos’ joints to tweak some cool poses, but nothing too extreme. Of course, that’s usually the case for most Hot Toys.

I’m not sure if the regular portrait is recycled from the Infinity War figure, but whatever the case, it’s everything I would expect from Hot Toys these days. Seeing as how they have all but perfected capturing actor likenesses with remarkable realism, a CG version of Josh Brolin is probably no great shakes for them. Still, I don’t want to take away from how amazing it turned out. The purple skin tone looks great and matches the arms perfectly. If you get in really close you can make out all sorts of little creases and natural looking textures in the skin. His well-defined facial features are recreated flawlessly here as is his giant ball sack of a chin. The deep set eyes also have that wonderful spark of life that only the best paint in the industry can convey. Of course, you do get the visible jointing between the head and neck, but it’s mostly apparent when the portrait is viewed from the back or side, and it’s to be expected. The head is attached via a balljoint, and it is easily popped off to swap it out with the second portrait.

Here we have angry and defiant Thanos, and it is a powerful portrait indeed. Thanos bears his titanic teeth in a grimace of rage. I often imagine that it’s far more difficult to convey emotion in these portraits, but you wouldn’t know it from how well this turned out. The sculpting and paint on his teeth is truly amazing. It’s going to be a tough call to decide which portrait to display on the figure regularly. Chances are it will be the first, but only because I plan on displaying him in a fairly neutral position. Nevertheless, I’ll likely be changing it up fairly often. Hot Toys really needs to follow in the path of NECA Toys and release some kind of display method for extra heads. I usually just wind up resting them on the display stands.

Thanos also comes with his helmet, which fits easily onto either portrait. I was very afraid that this was going to be a tight fit and would risk damaging the paint every time I wanted to put it on or remove it, but I’m happy to say that’s not the case. It looks like a form-fitting piece, but it doesn’t feel like it’s rubbing much when it goes on. Heck, it fits so well that I could be convinced it was part of the head sculpt if I didn’t know better. Once again, the gold paint here is exquisite and the weathering is especially well done, with lots of little scrapes and some pitting. The helmet presents another dilemma on whether to display with it on or not. Right now, I have the figure holding the helmet in his left hand. And that brings me to hands!

You can’t buy a Hot Toys figure and not expect to get a bunch of hands. Thanos comes with no less than four sets. You get fists, relaxed hands, graspy hands, and accessory holding hands. These attach via some pretty chunky ball joints, and they are a real breeze to get on and off. I have my share of Hot Toys figures that don’t get their hands changed out often because they are difficult to get off, or I’m afraid I’m going to snap the wrist pegs, but the benefit of having a big figure like this is the hands are a lot easier to work with. The fists work really well with the more expressive portrait.

Thanos’ big accessory is his double-bladed sword, and it is indeed an intimidating weapon! When held vertically it’s taller than the figure and Hot Toys did a great job with this design. The blades have deeply etched designs on the flats of the blade and if you look really closely you can not only see a faint damascus pattern in the blade, but also the marks on the edges where it has been sharpened. That level of detail really blows me away.

As amazing as the sword looks, it’s rather deceptive when picked up, mainly because it’s so incredibly light. I really feel like they should have done something to beef this up a big, particularly with how tight the grip is. Maybe they could have made the the framing pieces on the backs of the blades die-cast. Unlike everything else about this figure, I felt like I needed to be super cautious when putting the sword into his hand. Indeed, I’ll likely leave the hand attached to the sword from now on. It feels like a good idea would have been to have the sword split apart in the middle of the grip, so you could pass one end through the top of his hand and the other through the bottom and peg them together.

The last accessory included in the box is the Infinity Gauntlet, which is something of an anachronism, since this version of Thanos never had it. Nonetheless, Hot Toys had it made for the Infinity War Thanos, and it’s cool that they threw it into the box here, as it can transform this version of Thanos into the one from the beginning of Infinity War, so long as you’re willing to overlook the fact that all the Infinity Stones are present. Accurate or not, I will be displaying him with the Gauntlet, just because it looks so damn cool. This piece is attached by pulling the left arm off at the joint where the bracer starts and plugging in the Gauntlet. Like everything with this figure, it goes on easy-peasy. There is a light up feature included, but it’s disappointingly dim. Maybe the batteries I got aren’t at full strength, but it really wasn’t worth the effort of showing it off. In addition to rotating at the arm, the gauntlet has a ball joint at the wrist, which also allows you to pull off the fist and replace it with an articulated Gauntlet.

The articulation here includes double hings in the fingers and a rotation in the thumb. It’s not quite good enough to get his fingers into a snapping position, but I like the added articulation a lot. In the case of both Gauntlets, the gold finish is quite luxurious and it’s given a deeper and richer finish than the armor, making it look newer. The sculpted details look great, as do the individual Stones. And since the electronics are in the lower portion of the Gauntlet, the articulated hand shares the same light up feature as the fist.

Finally, Thanos comes with a figure stand, which is similar to the regular Hot Toys bases, only a lot bigger. And yet it feels like it’s not quite big enough. In a moderate stance, Thanos’ feet hang over the edges of the stand. But it still works just fine. The base has a colorful image of the Avengers logo disappearing into dust and the logo proper closer to the front. The base has a nameplate on the front as well. I like the way it looks a lot, but I’m a little surprised they didn’t go for some kind of diorama base like they did for The Hulk.

Sometimes patience pays off and that was certainly the case here. I really wanted a Hot Toys Thanos in my collection, but the Infinity War outfit just didn’t do anything for me, especially not at such a titanic price. This guy, however checks all the boxes. He’s huge and imposing and he comes all decked out in his battle gear. Plus, the inclusion of the Infinity Gauntlet was a wonderful bonus. He’s a commanding presence on my shelf, and I had to rework a whole bunch of my Hot Toys collection to find room for him. Still, he was worth the effort, as well as the $415 price tag! With the exception of the Marvel Hot Toys that I have on pre-order, this could very well be the last MCU figure I purchase, so it was pretty cool that it was such a great figure!

Feb 17 2020

Marvel Legends (Banner Hulk Wave): War Machine by Hasbro

I’ve had a week off, but now I’m back to work and feeling a bit salty about it. Thank God for Marvel Mondays, because opening a new Marvel Legends figure is like applying a soothing balm to the beginning of the work week. After a long run of X-Men and a couple of Deluxe Riders, I decided to go full random today (for reals!) and I dipped my grubby claw (complete with Infinity Gauntlet Oven Mitt) into the unopened pile of despair that clutters my Toy Closet. Oh look, I came up with War Machine from Avengers: Endgame. Cool!

I first visited with this wave way back in November when I opened up Pepper Potts in the RESCUE Armor, but I haven’t been back to it since. I’m not actively building this BAF, so I’ve been giving the parts to my nephew. Unfortunately for him, War Machine doesn’t come with any. And yeah, this wave is a bit of a mixed bag and lacks the kind of focus I would have liked to see in the wake of Endgame, but Hasbro seems to be getting to everyone eventually if not all in the same wave. As for the armor, I’ll confess to being really confused. Rhodey got hit hard during Thanos’ attack on Avengers HQ and came back in the Iron Patriot armor? I think that’s right. But then where does this suit come in? I really need to re-watch that movie. Either way, the suit got a major overhaul for Endgame and since I feel like I didn’t get a good enough look at it in the movie, I’m excited to check out this figure.

To borrow a phrase from Tony Stark, War Machine has been juicing or something because he’s gone and got himself all kinds of swole! Oh, and I absolutely love it. This is what War Machine ought to be about. A powerful, lumbering machine of… well, WAR GODDAMMIT! But besides filling out his silhouette, the design looks so damn sexy. Proportionally, this new suit throws a lot more weight into the lower arms and legs, making it look like a powerhouse. And there’s so much gorgeous detail on this guy. The chest features those two blade-like silver slashes accenting rectangular painted red lights, which serve to give the suit a wonderfully aggressive attitude. You get some circular silver hatches below that as well as some vents, which gives him a strong mech vibe. There are also all sorts of panel lines and bits and bobs sculpted into the back. I’ll note here how much I love the plastic they used for this figure. It’s thick and chalky and heavy. It just feels so solid!

The head-sculpt follows the more substantial feel of the rest of the suit, by having almost no neck, or rather the neck is well concealed behind blocks on either side of the head. Extra panel lines in the face plate give it a reinforced feel, and there’s a Y-shaped recess connecting the chin and the “mouth.” The new suit retains some of the markings that Rhodey’s had on previous suits, in this case incorporating the military-style stars and chevron tampo on the left shoulder plate, and the 006 on the left side of his chest. If I have one gripe, it’s the sticker they used for the arc reactor, it looks rather bland and unconvincing. Articulation actually retains most of the usual Legends points. The big exception here is no double-hinges in the elbows and I guess that’s understandable. I am happy to see the shoulder armor flips up to allow for better range of shoulder movement.

The post on the right shoulder features a ball joint to mount the rather imposing cannon. There’s no half-assed retracted mode, and I get the feeling that this is a suit that just keeps it deployed most of the time. It dwarfs the shoulder cannon from the previous suits and I dig the ball joint, as it gives it a lot more stability and fluid movement than the old hinged ones. Hasbro also hit it with some red paint apps on the front, and that goes a long way.

And when a shoulder cannon just isn’t enough to get the job done, arm cannons, which peg into holes under the forearms, can be deployed. These are almost ridiculously large.

I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I’m coming out totally in love with this figure. The new design is just so imposing and awesome, and Hasbro translated that into an impressive hunk of 6-inch action figure. Everything about this figure puts the older suit to shame, and about the only thing I can complain about is that it didn’t come with a Rhodey head. Sure you get a couple of big guns, but I feel like the unmasked head should have been a no-brainer. I’m keen on picking up the Iron Patriot version, but I have yet to see it at retail and I fear my window may have closed on that one. It might be time to start considering paying a little extra and getting it online. And to be honest, with how great this one turned out, I think it might be worth it.