Aug 31 2013

Marvel Legends: Black Panther by Hasbro

I know, I know. I skipped an entire wave. What the hell happened to the Hit Monkey wave, FigureFan? You only looked at Ultimates Cap! I’ll get back to that wave eventually. I just so happened to be shipping my Pile of Loot and I threw these guys in. I was tempted to do an entire week of them, but instead I’ll try to space them out over the next couple of weeks, because I have a lot of other stuff to get to as well. I’m also writing this on the morning after some epic drinking, so pardon me if I’m a tad incoherent from the hangover. The show must go on! Anyway, I’m kicking the wave off with Black Panther. Why? Not because I have any special affinity for the character, but because he’s the first figure I grabbed out of the pile.

Hasbro hasn’t tinkered around with the Marvel Legends packaging since it’s relaunch. It’s still awesomely obnoxious and delivers concentrated comic booky goodness. The character art is rather simple, but then I suppose there’s only so much you can do with Black Panther. The top of the card points out that this release is part of the Rocket Raccoon Build-A-Figure wave and indeed there are two tiny raccoon arms on the tray beside the figure.

I had my doubts about this figure, mainly because of the early production shots. They made his head look too big and his coloring seemed off. I just wasn’t feeling it. I’m happy to say, however, with figure in hand things have changed. Don’t get me wrong, there’s not a lot to him, but that says as much about the character design than it does Hasbro’s effort. The figure uses a simple male buck and I approve of the body style. He’s muscled, but not overly so. Black Panther is all about crazy acrobatics in his fighting and I think this slighter build properly reflects that. The hand sculpts go a long way to add to the figure’s personality, as they look like he’s ready to claw the shit out of somebody. I do think there are a few missed opportunities here to spruce up the figure. A removable cape would have gone a long way to make him more exciting, or possibly the tribal necklace he sometimes wears. As he is, he’s just kind of bare bones.

The head sculpt is excellent. I really dig the way you can make out the structure of his face under the mask. The silver eyes look great, as does the furled brow. The absence of a mouth always made him look extra creepy to me and that’s no less true for the figure.

As for the paintwork… well, Black Panther is a guy in a black suit. Hasbro added a little spice to the figure with the blue comic style shading. I’m not usually a big fan of this effect, at least not when Hasbro is doing it, but it looks ok here. They had to do something, rather than just stamp out a black figure. On the other hand, I’m not sure about the striping on the gloves and boots. I probably would have preferred that they left that out.

One thing any Black Panther figure should have is top notch articulation and this guy mostly succeeds there. You get ball joints in the shoulders and hips. The arms feature swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows and both hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs have swivels in the thighs as well as a the tops of the boots. The knees are double hinged and the ankles have single hinges. The torso swivels at the waist, has an ab-crunch hinge and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The only thing I would have added would be the shoulder crunches seen on some Marvel Legends figures, but what’s here is still plenty good and he is definitely a fun figure to pose.

I’ll happily admit that Black Panther isn’t among my top tier Avengers, although I have warmed up to him in recent years. I do really dig his back story, but as a character himself, I can still usually take him or leave him. That having been said, he’s still a pretty major player in the Marvel Universe and I definitely wanted him on my shelf. Hasbro did a solid, albeit very conservative, job on this figure. He doesn’t rank among their better efforts like Steve Rogers, Thor or Punisher, but there’s really nothing wrong with him either.

Jul 27 2013

Avengers: Thor Movie Masterpiece 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

While I am most certainly not going for an entire set of Hot Toys Avengers, (sadly, my wallet won that fight) I have been cherry picking the characters I want the most. I kicked myself for not picking up the first Hot Toys Thor, but as was the case with Black Widow, sometimes taking a pass on a first effort pays off later. The Avengers Thor is said to be a huge improvement over the initial release and looking at photos of the figure online finally wore me down to the point where I threw him on Flex Pay. Four months later and the God of Thunder has shown up at my doorstep. I often do these figures in two parts, but Thor is a pretty simple, albeit spectacular, figure so I think I can probably do him justice in just one shot.

The packaging is designed to mesh with all the Hot Toys Avengers. You get a sleeve with a B&W shot of the character’s portrait and “The Avengers” in foil lettering. The top of the box has Thor’s name in big type and the sides have his Mjolnir symbol. Pull the sleeve off and you reveal a window box showing off the goods. It’s a very basic presentation compared to some of Hot Toys’ previous efforts. I suppose it’s fair to expect a lot of bells and whistles in the packaging for a $200 figure, but honestly the simplicity doesn’t bother me a whole hell of a lot. Besides, the $200 price point is pretty much Hot Toys’ new bottom line. Sure, I do keep the boxes for these figures, but mainly as a means of storing the extra parts and in case I ever need to put the entire figure away at some point down the road. At the very least, your Avengers boxes will look nice and uniform on the shelf if you are collecting the whole line.

The layout of the figure in the tray should be readily familiar to anyone who has picked up one of Hot Toys products before. The figure comes partially wrapped in plastic with the extra hands and accessories flanking him on both sides. In this case, the cape is passed through a slit in the tray, which seemed to do a nice job keeping it from getting all rumpled. The personalized figure stand is placed between the legs. Everything fits into the tray snugly. It’s a good economy of space without making everything seemed cramped.

While Thor’s appearance varied a bit throughout The Avengers, Hot Toys recreated him in his full sleeved armor. I think that was a good choice because I absolutely love the scale armor turned out for the sleeves. It’s rubbery and looks dead on to the movie outfit. They also hide the joints, which would have been the big downside of a bare armed version. I suppose you could take the sleeves off if you wanted, but I tend to follow this rule about futzing too much with my $200 figures: I don’t do it. The arms also feature bracers on his wrists, which are strapped around bright red cloth sleeves. Yes, the rubbery sleeves do inhibit the arm movement, but not much more than First Avenger Cap’s uniform shoulders did. Sure, it would be nice to pose him with Mjolnir above his head calling down the thunder, but I knew that was an issue going in, so it wasn’t really surprising or disappointing. Articulation whores will certainly take issue at this, but I think the trade off was a worthy one.

The chest armor looks outstanding. It’s sculpted with cutouts to show the garment underneath, giving the outfit a very convincing and layered look. I am a big fan of the armor design from the movie and it’s captured really well here. The pleather trousers have stitched stripes and the boots are actually two parts. You get the ball jointed feet plugged into the ankles and the top of the boot is separate. It still looks great and serves to offer a little more poseability in the ankles than stiff boots would have allowed. The trade off is that the ankle joints require you to fiddle about a bit to get him to stand in some positions. And then there’s the cape… by Odin’s beard, I love the cape! It’s bright red fabric and the way it hangs over the shoulder armor gives it that iconic hovering look that we’re so used to seeing in Thor’s design. The back of it is tailored to hang in folded layers. I was a little concerned that the cape was going to require a whole lot of adjusting to make it look right, but it’s designed to look fine right out of the box.

Thor’s portrait has come a long way since HT first showed him off. Early shots were a bit spotty but the final product turned out just fine and I think the likeness to Chris Hemsworth is up to their usual impeccable standards. Yes, from certain angles the mouth can look a bit derpy, but let’s face it Thor isn’t necessarily the braintrust of The Avengers team. The hair is the only minor issue I have with the figure and that’s just because sculpted hair this long tends to take away from the realism of the rest of the head sculpt. But when you consider the alternative is rooted, I’ll take the lesser of two evils. The truth is it still looks fine and it’s flexible enough so as not to inhibit the head movement too much.

If you’re looking for an abundance of accessories, Thor will disappoint. You get a copious amount of hands (more on that in a bit) and just two other items. But seriously, what does Thor need other than Mjolnir? It’s the one thing that was absolutely required to come with the figure and it is indeed a very nice piece. I knew the head was going to be die cast metal, but I was still surprised by how satisfyingly heavy it is. The grip on the handle is sculpted and painted and there’s a lanyard attached to the end.

The other cool piece is the Cosmic Cube in the containment tube. Ha! That rhymes! Like Mjolnir, this is an extremely nicely crafted accessory. It’s also one that was really not necessary and so it makes for a great bonus. I had originally though this accessory came with Loki and not with Thor. Maybe it was issued with both figures, and I just missed that.

And no discussion of a Hot Toys figure would be complete without… HANDS! Seriously, does anyone actually use all these hands? Thor comes boxed with a pair of fists, but there are three additional pairs, which include two open hands, two partially open hands, two hands for holding Mjolnir. You also get an extra left hand, which seems to be designed for holding Mjolnir out at an angle. I’m not sure what that one is all about. It might be the one designed to hold half the containment tube so that Loki can hold the other. I’m not big on swapping hands. Obviously the right Mjolnir hand will stay put. The left one may vary between a fist and the open hand. You also get a couple of extra wrist posts in case you snap the ones on the figure by swapping out all these hands.

No doubt about it, Thor is another amazing effort from Hot Toys. I always have those little twinges of trepidation when ordering these things, but whenever they show up I’m always glad I did. He looks amazing on my shelf, and I really envy the collectors that are putting together this entire team because those displays are going to be EPIC! Granted, at $200 Thor ain’t cheap. He doesn’t come with a lot of stuff, but there’s nothing conspicuously absent either. Like I said earlier, $200 is the new bottom line for Hot Toys and for the most part, the days of the $160 figures are probably over. But hell, I still think he’s well worth it. The only downside is that now I’m seriously re-considering whether I need Loki on my shelf… and he is still available at a few retailers.

Jul 15 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Ultron by Hasbro

If you’re keeping score at home, Marvel Monday is usually reserved for Marvel Universe figures, but I’m using July to catch up on some of my Legends figures, specifically the second half of Hasbro’s Iron Man themed wave. Today’s figure is Ultron… wait, Ultron? In an Iron Man themed wave? Well, I guess he’s an Avengers villain and considering that Marvel recently had a little something called Age of Ultron going on, I can forgive them for squeezing Ultron into here. Truth be told, I was really looking forward to getting a Legends scale Ultron in my collection. And then I got him… aaaand… ok, lovely Jameson… help me through this one with your alcoholy goodness.

There’s the packaging for this isolated little stand-alone wave of Iron Man Legends. It is also the “Iron Monger Series,” which means we get another Build-A-Figure part for Monger. This time it’s the head. I’ve said all there is to say about this packaging in the past four looks at this wave, so let’s move on.

Ok, where to begin? Let’s get my biggest (and really only major) issue with this figure out of the way first. It’s the plastic. I don’t like it. The bulk of this figure is cast from this awful-looking swirly silver plastic that just screams “cheap” to me. It’s also inconsistent in that some parts have a subtle blue hue to them while others have a slightly gold or tan hue, and still others are dead silver. Ultron is a figure that uses hardly any paint apps whatsoever, so it’s kind of important that they get the quality and look of the plastic right and I’m sorry to say, this stuff just doesn’t cut it for me. I can understand not wanting to paint the entire figure in metallic silver, paint is expensive, but if you’re not going to paint him, Hasbro, use better looking plastic.

And that’s a shame, because the sculpting on this figure is pretty incredible. Ok, the boots put me off a tad, as they seem rather chunky, but everything else is impressive. I like the segmented sections of his arms and legs, as well as the slight bulk to his chest and shoulder armor. Turn the figure around and he’s got a really cool spine sculpted into his back. The head, however, is what really ties the figure together for me. They really nailed the ant-like homage in Pym’s design, the red paint apps on the eyes and mouth really make the head pop. There’s a lot right with this figure, and that’s what ultimately makes him rather disappointing.

Ultron sports a ton of useful articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms feature swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and hinges and swivels in the wrists. The legs swivel at the hips, have double hinged knees, and swivels and hinges in the ankles. He can also swivel at the waist and he has an ab crunch hinge in the torso. Poseability is not one of this figure’s problems.

It could be that I’m making the look of the bare plastic on this figure into too big of an issue and I’m rather interested to see what other collectors thing of him. It could also be that I was so excited to get this Ultron in hand that my expectations were set pretty high. But in fairness, those expectations were based on Hasbro’s own preliminary photos where it looked like Ultron had a much nicer silver sheen rather than swirly cheap-looking plastic. I don’t mind so much when they use this stuff sparingly, but when it’s used on practically the whole figure it just doesn’t look right to me. Next Monday, we’ll take a look at the last figure in this wave… Iron Man’s Mark 42 armor!

Jun 17 2013

Marvel Legends: Ultimates Captain America by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again! I’ve got some new MU figures on their way to me, but until then, I’ll just have to substitute a Marvel Legends figure for today: The Ultimates version of Cap! Captain America has already had his share of love from the new Legends line, with Steve Rogers and Bucky Cap, but I’m not complaining, because I do love Captain America, and as it turns out this figure is pretty fantastic.

There are no real changes to the packaging since the last wave. It’s still as delightfully obnoxious and in-your-face as a comic book figure package should be. The character art is a little wanting, but that’s ok because the huge bubble displays the figure well, and draws in the eye. Cap comes with his shield beside him, and despite the package exclaiming that Cap is part of the “Hit Monkey Series” there is no BAF part included with this one. My guess is that Hasbro knew this guy would sell by himself, and in my case they were absolutely right.

Out of the package and oh, shit, this guy is all sorts of awesome. I’m not a big fan of the Ultimates books. I tend to turn to them when I have nothing else to read. That having been said, I do tend to like the character designs a lot, and Cap here is a perfect example of why I do. It’s the magnificently rugged, battlefield look that I love so much. It made perfect sense that the movie costume drew so heavy from the Ultimates design, because this looks like proper WWII Cap, thanks to all the added gear.

He’s got a softer plastic vest with pouches and a painted buckle, and his belt has sculpted ammo pouches, grenades, a combat knife, and canteen. It all looks outstanding! It’s a shame his gun is not removable, but it’s sculpted and painted well enough that I thought it might be. All of the gear is cast in soft brown plastic with some bright silver paint apps.

All that gear is placed onto an excellent body. The gloves and boots are slightly oversized to keep the chunky Ultimates aesthetic going, and the head sculpt conveys a delightfully self-righteous and pissed-off Rogers. The paint on the figure is also executed quite well. Yes, there’s a little chipping and bleeding on the white, which is clearly not intentional, but I think it adds to the weathered look of the character design.

Naturally, Cap comes with his trusty shield, which is the same sculpt as the one that came with last year’s Steve Rogers. It does, however, have a fresh coat of paint, which includes a slightly more metallic finish to the front and the back is painted grey now, instead of red. The shield can clip onto his arm, or peg into the hole on his back.

POA Roll Call! There’s nothing new here in articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, hips, and ankles. The arms feature swivels in the biceps and gloves, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs have swivels in the thighs and boots, and double hinges in the knees. The torso swivels at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. Apart from the usual annoying qualities of those Hasbro hip joints, the articulation is fab.

Hasbro has delivered a number of 5-star figures in the new Legends line. Well, for my money, this version of Cap certainly takes his place alongside the likes of Thor, Punisher, and the first Steve Rogers figure, as one of them. He looks fantastic and he’s so much fun to play with, he’s probably going to land on my desk for a week or so before getting put up on the Legends shelves. Yes, a removable gun would have really sealed the deal, but even still, this figure has nothing to apologize for. He’s a fine example of everything I want out of this line… aside from good retail distribution. That still sucks.

Ok, with Marvel Monday out of the way, it’s going to be a DC theme up through to the end of the week. I may deviate Saturday for something different… we’ll see!

Jun 15 2013

Avengers: Iron Man Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Lest you thought that NECA’s impressive quarter-scale Captain America figure was a one-shot deal, I present to you the second in their quarter-scale Avengers series: Iron Man! Donning the Mark VII, my favorite armor in his wardrobe, Tony Stark arrived this week to keep my gigantic Steve Rogers company on the shelf. I don’t think this guy needs much more of an introduction, so let’s just get to it!

Much like Cap, Iron Man comes packaged in a long window box, but this one has been completely redesigned to feature a red and gold motif to match the character. The window has some printed graphics, made to look like a HUD, that point out the LED effects. The back of the package features a little blurb about Stark in the Avengers and has a list of people who worked on the design of the figure.

Slide the tray out and you’ve got some work to do. Iron Man is held in with tons of twisty-ties. By the time I was finished I had a ridiculous pile of twisty-ties and black plastic bars on the floor beside me. Apart from the pair of swappable fists, that’s all that’s in the box. I was surprised there wasn’t an instruction sheet about the electronics or battery changing or something. I think I may swallow all the batteries just because I wasn’t warned not to. As with Cap, the package is totally collector friendly and you can just put the figure back in the tray and slide him back into the box for storage or display.

Ah, there’s a reason this armor is my favorite… it’s just gorgeous. I was a wee bit concerned that seeing it in this large scale might change my mind, but it’s only reinforced my love for the design. The mix of sweeping curves and angles scratches my itch right where it counts. The detail represented here doesn’t approach Hot Toys quality, but there’s plenty of fine touches to make it work. Some of the panel lines could have been cut a little deeper to be more convincing, but I’m only offering that up in an attempt to be critical of what is a quite marvelous sculpt. Iron Man stands at almost the exact same height as Cap. Some may point out that his legs are thinner, thus dispelling the illusion of a guy in a suit of armor. I can see that, but at this point, just about every Iron Man figure I’ve seen falls into this trap and I’m at the point where such things don’t bother me anymore.

The paint on the figure is excellent. The red is similar to that rich and beautiful stuff Hasbro used on their Iron Man 2 figures. It sports a brilliant sheen and gives the Mark VII that great polished new car look. There are obviously different grades of plastic used here, some hard, some soft, but the red is consistent throughout the entire piece. The gold isn’t as brilliant as the red, but still works for me. The silver looks more like a brushed steel finish and it really ties the whole deco together nicely.

One of the cool things about doing the Mark VII in this scale is the ability to do justice to his flight backpack. The figure has six hinged flaps, which can be deployed upward to give Stark a little extra flight power. Very cool!

At this point, it’s worth mentioning that Iron Man feels like a far more delicate piece then Cap. Cap is a solid hunk of plastic, which I would have no problem swinging like a cudgel. Iron Man isn’t necessarily fragile, but there are more moving parts involved in the armor (particularly the shoulders and jet pack) and the smooth surfaces and metallic paint are probably more prone to scratches and dings. I have no doubt Cap would survive a shelf dive from the top of any bookcase and come away unscathed, Iron Man most certainly would not.

Iron Man sports a decent amount of articulation. He’s definitely a giant action figure, although you don’t get the same range of motion from some of these joints as you would in your average Marvel Legends. There are ball joints in his neck, shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles. His arms feature bicep swivels and hinged elbows. The legs have swivels just below the hips, and double hinges in the knees, and his feet are hinged in the middle. His torso features what appear to be ball joints in the waist and torso, but apart from a little twisting in the torso, the movement here offers a lot of resistance, and quite frankly I don’t want to force it. As with Cap, the hip movement is probably the most restrictive, although you can still get a fairly wide stance. The foot hinges are useful because Iron Man is rather top heavy, so by bending the toes down a tiny bit, you can get him to stand quite solidly upright. His shoulder armor is hinged, and if you pop them out, you can clip them back on, but the clips are tiny, so I would not recommend stressing them. Ball jointed connecting arms might have worked better for the shoulders, allowing them to float, but what’s here still allows for an awful lot of arm movement. The bottom line: You won’t get this Iron Man into a punching the ground pose, but you can still get him to do some cool stuff.

Cap comes with two extra hands, both in fists. I’m not a big fan of swapping out hands unless it’s necessary for holding specific accessories. That’s especially the case here since the stock fists have the LEDs in them. Truth be told, I doubt I’ll ever swap the hands. Nonetheless, it is really impressive that NECA was able to deliver both lights in the hand repulsors AND allow for swappable hands.

So, how about them electronics? Iron Man features four (I’m counting the eyes as one) independent LED lights. By independent, I mean that there are four teeny-tiny switches: One on his back, one on the back of his helmet, and one on each of his forearms, near the wrists. Flip these on and the light show begins. The Arc Reactor light in the chest is ridiculously bright and the eye lights are not too shabby either. The palm repulsors are yellow and a lot dimmer, but still quite adequate. He certainly makes an impressive display when all lit up.

Like Cap, this figure is “limited” to 7,500. That may sound like a lot, and while the quarter-scale Cap was easy to get (he’s still available at most e-tailers), Iron Man seems to have sold like wildfire. His pre-order was sold out at my usual supplier, but I was able to sneak in a pre-order with the fine folks at Entertainment Earth before he sold out there as well. At about $90, he feels like a pretty solid value. I’m not just saying that because he’s huge. The quality of the figure is excellent and the electronics are surprisingly well implemented. In terms of engineering and construction, he’s a very different figure from Cap, and yet the two display wonderfully together. NECA appears to still be moving forward with the next installment in the line, a quarter-scale Thor, and while no pictures have been seen, the rumor is he has already been sculpted. He’ll certainly be more like Cap, although I’m hoping they go for a soft goods cape. NECA also does’t seem to be backing away from the outrageous claim that hey are doing a Hulk in this line as well!

Jun 3 2013

Marvel Universe: West Coast Avengers 3-pack by Hasbro

It’s a Marvel Monday triple-play today with a look at one of the fairly recent Marvel Universe 3-packs. Since I spent this past weekend reading Moon Knight’s exploits on the West Coast, I thought it would be timely to check out this West Coast Avengers set. It contains Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and War Machine. It seems like they could have come up with someone other than Hawkeye, someone more West Coast Avengers exclusive, but given he’s the main reason I bought this set, I won’t complain too much.

If you’ve seen any of the previous multi-packs, you should know exactly what to expect here in terms of packaging. It’s the same style of window box we saw with the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy. There’s some nice character artwork and the figures come spread out on a tray in various action poses. The package is quite collector friendly, if you’re inclined to keep it for storage or display. Let’s start off with Hawkeye…

Hawkeye’s been available twice before in the Marvel Universe line: Originally in a Secret Wars comic pack and again as Dark Avengers Hawkeye, which was really Bullseye in costume. Ok, I guess technically that’s only once. This version is a slight repaint of the Secret Wars release with some resculpting to the arms. He’s a pretty complex figure for the MU line in that he includes a harness and tunic sort of thing over the regular MU buck and a removable quiver of arrows that slings over his shoulder. I like the head sculpt well enough, although it is a tad soft. There’s some slop around the face, but otherwise the paintwork is nice and clean, presenting him in his iconic purple and blue deco. All in all, this is a solid representation of comic Hawkeye in figure form and I’m pretty pleased to finally have a comic accurate Hawkeye on my shelf. In addition to the quiver, you also get a bow and arrow.

Because Hawkeye is based off an older figure, there’s a little less articulation than what we’re seeing now. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms have swivels in the biceps and wrists, and the elbows are hinged. The legs feature double hinges in the knees, swivels above the boots, and hinges in the ankles. There’s also a ball joint in the torso. It’s not a bad degree of poseability, although it’s frustrating that you can’t really get his arms down.

Next up is Mockingbird and she is not a bad pick up for the MU roster. She uses a very standard female buck, so she does feel a little dated. The only original sculpting on the body is in the tops of her boots. Still, Hasbro makes up for that with a really great head sculpt. Her mask looks terrific and her long hair is sculpted to fall both in front of and behind her shoulders, and doesn’t inhibit her neck movement too badly. Her costume is painted on with a simple black and white deco. There’s a little bit of slop along the lines. It’s definitely not the cleanest paint job in my MU collection, but I’ve seen a lot worse… I’m looking at you Ms. Marvel! She comes with her fighting stick, which can separate into two and I’m pretty sure it’s just a repaint of the weapon that came with Daredevil.

Mockingbird features the older style female MU articulation, which means no swivels in the biceps or thighs. You do get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips. The arms have hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists. The legs have double-hinges in the knees and hinges and swivels in the ankles. She can swivel at the waist and has an additional ball joint just under her chest. Honestly, the dated articulation bothers me the most on this figure because I’d like my Mockingbird to be able to pull off some cooler moves than she’s capable of.

And last up is War Machine. I’ve saved him for last because he is a straight repaint of the Iron Man 2 figure, which I have in my collection and featured waaaay back in March last year. Hey, I’m not complaining, because this is a great sculpt and I adore this new paint job. Rhodes is done up in his black and white deco and holy crap it looks awesome. The black has a subtle metallic finish and the white parts are a beautiful pearlescent white. I’m not big on double-dipping on repaints, but this one was well worth it… he’s gorgeous! War Machine comes with the same two effects parts as the Iron Man 2 release, which fit over his weapons to simulate firing. As is often the case with MU effects parts, I can take them or leave them. I’ll concede, however, that these are better than the usual translucent blob that goes over the hands or that terrible energy funnel that has come with most of the Iron Man figures.

War Machine features ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, and hips. His wrists have hinges, but there’s no bicep swivels. The legs have double hinges in the knees and swivels and hinges in the ankles. There’s some kind of ball joint or swivel in the torso, but it barely moves. In addition to the regular articulation, War Machine’s shoulder weapons are hinged to angle onto his back and his shoulder armor pieces are hinged to allow for greater arm movement.

Yes, this set features some classic double-dipping and the figures feel rather dated compared to the current MU single carded offerings. But these sets are all about value so a lot of this is to be expected. I got mine for $20 and that’s not bad for three MU figures these days. Both Hawkeye and Mockingbird fill some holes on my MU shelves and the War Machine repaint is just bad ass enough to have warranted a purchase, even if he was alone. Granted, if you already own Secret Wars Hawkeye, this set might give you pause, but even then it’s probably worth it if you can get it for an Andy Jack. It’s definitely the most accessable and least expensive among the current crop of these multi-packs. I’m still hunting for the others at a more reasonable price than what I’m seeing.

May 20 2013

Marvel Universe: Scarlet Witch by Hasbro

Holy crap, is it Monday again already? That means it’s time for some Marvel Universe. I finally gave up on finding Scarlet Witch on the pegs. Actually, I gave up on that a while ago, it was just a matter of resigning myself to spending scalper prices on her via The Interwebs. Let’s see if Wanda was worth the extra dollars… her brother Quicksilver says she is… Oh snap! Incest jokes… do they ever get old?

Speaking of getting old… package shot! We see it every Monday, so let’s not dwell on it. The character art is quite excellent and Scarlet Witch fills out the bubble surprisingly well for a female type. I think it’s partly the pose, partly the cape, and partly the effects part. As usual, the “Comic Shot” offends me.

The back of the package has a really odd shot of the figure that is actually missing one of the swivel cuts in the left leg. Weird. She also has a rather lengthy bio describing her powers. It could have been summed up in just five words: “Chick can f’ck with reality.” I’m stunned to see that I actually have all the figures pictured on the back. Kang, Punisher and She-Hulk… they’re all pretty excellent. MODOK is doing his thing on the bottom of the card, sucking at Hasbro’s corporate teat. I love you MODOK and I long for the day when you will appear in a Marvel major motion picture. Let’s see the “average Joe popcorn munchers” try to wrap their brains around you! Actually, once Rocket Raccoon hits the big screen, your debut will probably be somewhat anti-climactic. Ok, enough with the jibba-jabba… let’s bust this witch out.

The portrait is easily the best thing about this figure. The head sculpt gives Wanda a pretty face and the way her tiara (or whatever you want to call that thing) is sculpted looks mighty good for a figure in this scale. One of the top corners on my figure’s tiara is bent a little. I almost thought that was part of the sculpt, but it’s not pictured that way on the back. The hair sculpt is fantastic, particularly the way it looks from behind and the way some strands overlap the tiara. I’m also happy that the added hinge in the neck post means she avoids that whole hunched shoulder look that Jean Grey suffered from. It’s obvious Hasbro put some time and effort into the head.

Unfortunately, the rest of the figure is pretty average. The torso looks too plain. There’s no sculpted muscle tone or anything in her stomach, making it look really basic. I like that the tops of her thigh boots are sculpted, and the high-heeled boots are ok, but she’s got some serious cankles going on. CANKLES!!! Her feet are also kind of stubby and crushed. There’s also something off about her legs. It’s really tough to make them look natural. I like the way her hands are sculpted so you can give her a nice hocus-pocus style pose. The cape is a little longer than it needs to be, but I’m guessing that might be so you can pose her slightly levitating. You can also just pull the cape back a bit so she can stand with both feet on the ground. Unfortunately, Wanda is huge when posed next to my Secret Wars Magneto. On the other hand, the paintwork on my figure is quite good. I absolutely love the shade of red they used. It’s vibrant and shiny and it suits the character very well. The purple is also a nice shade and matches up with the red to produce a very pleasing and accurate deco.

Besides the crappy “comic shot,” Scarlet Witch comes with an energy blast effects part that fits over her hand. I’ve never been a big fan of MU’s effects part. This one will likely go into a baggie and be forgotten.

Wanda’s articulation includes ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and ankles. She has swivels in her wrists, thighs, and again in her lower legs, just below the knees. The knees are double-hinged, and she has an additional hinge in her neck. There’s no waist swivel, but she is ball jointed in the upper torso. The big things missing are bicep swivels. I would much rather have had bicep swivels than the extra pair of swivel cuts in the lower legs.

Scarlet Witch and I have a bad relationship when it comes to action figures. I’ve purchased the old Toy Biz Marvel Legends version of her twice now and each time I wound up with paintwork that looked worse than a botched custom job. I’m glad to finally have a decent figure of her, even if it is in the smaller scale. She’s not one of the best figures to come out of this wave, but she is a solid enough effort. I was ultimately able to get her for $15. Call me Mr. Unreasonable, but that’s more than I like to pay for my 3 ¾” figures. Nonetheless, living in one of the dark pockets of the country that gets zero Marvel Universe distribution, sometimes you just got to bite the bullet.

Apr 30 2013

Avengers: Captain America Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Yeah, I know, yesterday was Marvel Monday, but I’ve decided to keep the week going with a trifecta of Marvel stuff, because that’s just how I roll. The availability of space has always been at odds with my collecting habit. So, what do I go and do? I buy a goddamn quarter-scale Captain America figure, that’s what! It’s the first purchase that I’ve made in a while that had me starting to wonder if I have a serious problem. The saner voices in my head told me that buying this thing was against all reason, because I have nowhere to put him and he’s probably destined to hang out in his box by my Mezco Thundercats Mega-Scale figures. On the other hand, everything about this guy is EPIC, and I have a lack of willpower, and that combination is the unholy formula that brings us to today’s feature.

Cap here is my first quarter-scale figure. Yes, I knew how tall he was when I ordered him, but it wasn’t until I got him in hand that I really comprehended it. The box is massive and it doesn’t waste a lot of space. I’ve included my 3 3/4” Hasbro Cap for comparison. I love the deco on the box; it’s colorful and really captures everything that Cap is all about. Given how huge the box is, I expected mine to be pretty messed up in shipping, but it’s pretty heavy duty and apart from a ding on the top and some scratching on the large window, it’s not bad at all.

The back has a list of people who worked on the figure, not unlike you might find on a Hot Toys box, which is pretty cool because if something’s messed up you know who to blame. The box is totally collector friendly as Cap is just tied to the tray, which slides right out. A fair word of warning, the plastic fumes from a regular NECA figure are bad enough, now magnify that by about six times. When I pulled the tray out and the fumes hit me, I was afraid I was going to pass out and wake up 50 years later. Because… like Cap got frozen… and he slept a long time… the fumes… they were… ok, moving on.

Out of the box and Cap is one remarkably solid hunk of plastic. There’s a lot of heft here. I could seriously wield this thing like a weapon and do a lot of damage with it. Just to further put his size in perspective, your average Sixth-Scale figure comes up to his belt! It’s amazing to me that the durability on this piece matches its size. If he weren’t so expensive I’d be tempted to grab him by the leg and drag him around the neighborhood and have adventures with him. But I wouldn’t want to wreck him by doing that. And also, I’m 40.

Ok, so he’s big and he’s heavy… how’s he look? Fantastic! Let’s start with the portrait. NECA did a great job with the likeness to Chris Evans and the way the mask is sculpted there’s a lot of convincing depth to it, even though the whole head is molded in one piece of plastic. The flesh paint on the face looks solid and while there’s a little slop under his chin, the rest of the paintwork on the head is just about flawless. The wings and the “A” are all part of the sculpt and they’re meticulously painted in a high gloss silver.

The rest of the costume is faithfully recreated with all the little loving details. Every tiny square millimeter of the costume is textured, giving it a seriously realistic look. In fact, I’ll go one better. The Cap costume in the movie looked a little too puffy, like soft padding to me. The texturing on this figure makes it look more rugged and credible, like there’s a body-armor quality to it and it would have a chance of surviving an engagement with an enemy. But besides the texturing all the little seams and stitches are present, and oddly enough, I think I’m most impressed by the sculpted teeth on the zippers. The gloves look great and even the treads on the soles of his boots are sculpted as if they’re a prominently visible part of the figure. I have zero complaints about the sculpt on this guy… it’s every bit as epic as the size of the figure.

The paint is vibrant and gorgeous. The combination of deep blue, bright white, and the crimson captures everything that is Captain America. The extra little touches of silver on the star and epaulets and zippers and fasteners all really make the figure pop. However, the paint is not perfect. There’s a tiny bit of bleed around the red and white vertical striping on his torso. There’s also a little rubbing on the white vertical panel on his left side, thankfully behind the shield. There’s a few tiny marks of red spray on his belt. All these imperfections are minor to say the least, and pretty understandable when you consider the amount of surface space being painted here. I’m also reminding myself that this guy clocks in at under $100, and honestly, I’ve seen similar little paint issues on far more expensive pieces, so I’m not complaining.

Cap comes with his shield (well, duh!) and two interchangeable hands. The figure is boxed with his fists on, while the extra hands include a right hand designed to hold the shield as if he’s about to throw it, and a left hand that’s just splayed out. The hands are attached with pegs and just pop in and out. The first time I did it a bunch of red paint flakes appeared and I freaked out, but they were just from the inner post. Phew!

The shield itself is an impressive piece. The paint on the front surface is metallic, and while it’s not as vibrant as the Hot Toys shields, it is very attractive. I was worried whether NECA was going to be able to pull off an acceptable metallic paint job across a surface as large as this shield, but they certainly did. If you look really closely, you can see some scratches on the inner red circle above the star, but you really need to get in close to see those imperfections.

The back of the shield is fully sculpted and features two permanently attached soft plastic belts. To get Cap to hold the shield, you just need to pop off the hand and slide the loops through the arm. Some may take issue that the hand isn’t actually holding the inner strap, but I think it looks fine the way it is, and the shield stays in place quite well.

Cap has a ton of good articulation, but he is by no means what I would call “super” articulated. Make no mistake, this is an action figure and not a statue. You can get him into a lot of great poses, but some of his joints don’t have the same range of motion as you would find on a smaller figure with similar joints. Here’s what you get… There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. The legs feature hip joints not unlike Mattel’s DCUC style, which allows for a wide stance. You also get swivel cuts in the thighs. The torso features a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the torso. About the only joint here that isn’t terribly useful is the torso ball joint. It offers very slight movement, which is why I’m particularly glad that the waist swivel is there. Swivels in the biceps would have went a long way, but the ball joints in the elbows help a bit in their absence. Overall, what’s here is really good and serves to make Cap as fun to play around with as he is impressive to look at.

And there you have it… am I at all sorry I bought this figure? Nope. Do I have any idea where I’m going to put it? Nope. In the end, my guts told me he was too spectacular to pass up, and now that I have him, I can say it was a great decision because I absolutely adore this figure. NECA supposedly limited this guy to a production run of 7500, but he’s still readily available at a number of e-tailers and his price hasn’t even begun creeping up yet. Quite the contrary, the MSRP was $99, but I got him from BBTS for $85. You get a lot of figure for that price, and while I was a little late at getting my Pre-Order in for the Quarter-Scale Iron Man, I’m hoping I can still get it fulfilled. If I do get Iron Man, I’ll likely pull a shelf out of one of my bookcases so the pair can be displayed as they deserve to be.

Apr 1 2013

Marvel Universe: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday and as usual I’m recovering from a weekend of bacchian debauchery mixed with working a lot. I’ve accordingly selected an MU figure that will not require a lot of my time so that I can crawl back under the covers and try to wish reality away to the cornfield. Today we’re looking at Steve Rogers. He’s one of those figures that have been given both the Universe and Legends treatment, and while I’m not usually one to double-dip between scales, it tickled me to have a Steve Rogers that can hang out with my GI Joes and show them how to take care of business. Besides, the Legends version of Steve Rogers was one of my favorite action figures of 2012, so I was curious to see how the 3 ¾” version turned out.

It’s the MU packaging! Steve here is actually from one of the older waves, before Hasbro replaced a useful, value-added figure stand with a stupid little piece of cardboard printed to look like a comic cover. Great idea! The package has the SHIELD emblem on the front and the back shows three other figures in the wave. I purchased none of these! I didn’t feel the need to own Sub-Mariner in a speedo, I already have the Ultron from the Secret Wars pack, and Darkhawk… seriously, Hasbro? Darkhawk??? Actually, the joke’s on me because if I had actually seen him on the pegs, I would probably have picked him up. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of the character art used here, but the figure sure looks great under the bubble with his stand behind him and a pair of guns. Even from just seeing him in the package, I knew this was a figure I had to buy. Still, it seems like there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on it… oh well… it’ll come to me.

Straight away, this figure reminds me of a shrunken down version of the Legends figure, and that is very high praise. In fact, I have only two negative things to say about Rogers, so let me get them out of the way first. The quality of plastic doesn’t feel as good as the better single-carded figures. This feels like the gritty, softer stuff Hasbro liked to use in some of the older comic packs. It’s not bad enough to ruin the figure, by any means, but it does keep this figure from achieving a status of near perfection in my eyes. Fortunately, none of the joints on my figure are warped, which is usually the case with this softer plastic. The other negative point is that Rogers is missing a socket in his back. I can’t quite remember why that omission is important… oh well… I’m sure it’ll come to me.

So, first off Steve’s portrait is excellent. It doesn’t have all the personality that the Legends figure had, but I’m giving Hasbro a break for the smaller scale and because the head sculpt is just really clean and looks great. Even the hair is impressively done. The bulk of the figure uses a very nicely articulated, muscular buck with a mix of paintwork and added parts to customize the outfit. The shoulder harness and belt are new, separate pieces and fit the figure really well, as do the belted wraps on his lower legs. Even the hands on this guy are impressive, with uniquely sculpted fingerless gloves and wonderful paint.

In fact, all the paintwork on this figure is solid. Sure, there are a few stray marks here and there, but the white printed emblems on his shirt and shoulders looks bright and crisp, as do the stripes running down his trousers. Even the tiny silver buckles on his gear and gloves are lovingly dressed with a little metallic silver paint. I’m not always a fan of the paint wash Hasbro uses for the MU figures, but here I think it does more good then harm.

In addition to his personalized stand, Steve comes with a handgun and an assault rifle and… oh yeah, that’s what I was forgetting… WHERE IS HIS SHIELD??? Ok, so I agree that it isn’t a necessity for this appearance of the character, but since Hasbro included it with the Legends version, it seems conspicuous by its absence here. In fairness this guy has already won the Marvel Universe accessory jackpot since two weapons and a stand is better than the usual NOTHING AT ALL! Not a huge deal, as I have plenty of 3 ¾” scale shields lying around, but then the absence of a hole in his back to peg it is kind of annoying too. As for the guns, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this rifle a half dozen times already and the pistol… my cat batted it off a desk and into his litter box. I’m not going in after it. My cat is an asshole.

All quibbles aside, Steve Rogers is a fantastic figure. He’s got a solid sculpt, great paintwork, and lots of cool little attention to detail. Best of all, this is the version of Cap that I’ve always envisioned as being perfect for my most coveted of all fanboy-fueled Marvel-GI Joe crossovers. Watch out, Cobra!

Mar 23 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Iron Patriot by Hasbro

In honor of the forthcoming Iron Man 3 movie, Hasbro has hijacked a wave of Marvel Legends to produce six Iron Man themed figures. Actually, they’re coming out in two small waves of three figures each, but collecting all of them will give you the parts needed to construct a comic version Iron Monger BAF. I was quick to roll my eyes at the thought of more Iron Man figures in the Marvel Legends line, but then I saw the actual Iron Man 3 figures that Hasbro released. Yeah. Considering how unbelievably shitty they look, getting some Iron Man loving in Marvel Legends seems like a nice bone to throw to the collectors. I haven’t committed myself to buying all of these yet, but I couldn’t resist grabbing Iron Patriot when I saw him in the toy aisle the other day.

The packaging is a hybrid of Marvel Legends and Iron Man 3. Although it still retains the “Legends” moniker on the bubble insert, the top of the cards read “Iron Man” and it features an illustration of that terrible new Mark 42 Armor. It also includes the “Avengers Initiative” emblem, which suggests a tie in to the movie-verse despite the comic book nature of this figure. The back of the card shows the figure in photo and in illustration and has shots of the other two figures from the first half of the wave with the final three blacked out. All in all, I think the presentation here is good, even if the BAF part overshadows the actual figure. Let’s bust him open and check him out…

But wait? Haven’t we seen this figure before? Yes, he’s a repaint of Extremis Iron Man from the initial wave of the Marvel Legends relaunch with a slight resculpt to the chest. That was a figure that underwhelmed me enough to make my Biggest Disappointments of 2012 list. Why buy him again? Well, partly because I do love me some Norman Osborne and Dark Reign, and partly because… well, it’s amazing the difference that a nice paint job can make. The quality of the paintwork was one of my issues with the original figure, while the size and articulation were the others. At least this figure corrects one of those problems.

I’m still underwhelmed by the lack of panel lines and detail in the sculpt. I like the overall contours of the figure, but it still seems rather bland for a 6-inch scale piece. Besides the resculpted star on the chest, Iron Patriot also features swapped hands from the Extremis figure, where the right hand is now opened to show the repulsor in the palm and the left hand is now partially closed into a fist.

Obviously, the big difference here is the paint. I’m always a sucker for the Iron Patriot deco, and Hasbro has done a fairly good job with it here. The metallic blue used on this figure is gorgeous, and I’m also pretty fond of the pearlescent white. The red is a little inconsistent. It has a nice metallic finish on the lower legs and upper chest, while the effect on the forearms and shoulder armor isn’t quite as brilliant. Still, I’m nitpicking here, overall the paintwork is a solid effort and I’d say an overall improvement in quality over the original.

Despite fresh paint and a little tweaking to the mold, Iron Patriot has the same articulation as Extremis Iron Man. It’s important because one of my major issues with this mold is the hip joints. I’m generally not a huge fan of Hasbro’s ball jointed hips, but they’d be welcome compared to what this guy’s packing. While you can still achieve a fairly wide stance, the forward and backward movement of the legs is inhibited by the sculpt. And the wide stance doesn’t help a lot with no ankle rockers. Granted everything else is pretty good. There are ball joints in the neck, shoulders, wrists, and chest. The elbows and knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the biceps, thighs, and ankles, and the neck has an extra hinge to look up. I would have added a waist swivel too, but nobody asked me.

Iron Patriot doesn’t come with any accessories, but you do get the big torso for Iron Monger. I wasn’t really chomping at the bit to build this guy, but I have to say I’m impressed with the paintwork and sculpt on the torso. Maybe just enough to change my mind.

I picked up this guy for around $15 and it certainly beats the inflated priced I’ve had to pay when hunting down some of the other Marvel Legends figures. I still have issues with his articulation, and I still think he’s undersized. That having been said, I’m still happy to have him on my shelf. As mentioned earlier, I haven’t decided on whether or not I’m going for this whole wave in order to build Iron Monger. I guess that’s going to depend on how many I can find on the pegs or whether I would need to hunt them down. Either way, this is a solid, albeit not spectacular figure.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: avengers

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Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Ultron by Hasbro

Marvel Legends: Ultimates Captain America by Hasbro

Avengers: Iron Man Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Marvel Universe: West Coast Avengers 3-pack by Hasbro

Marvel Universe: Scarlet Witch by Hasbro

Avengers: Captain America Quarter-Scale Figure by NECA

Marvel Universe: Steve Rogers by Hasbro

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Iron Patriot by Hasbro

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