Tag Archives: avengers

Aug 23 2012

Marvel Super Heroes: Loki’s Cosmic Cube Escape (#6867) by Lego

[Yep, it’s another bonus update. I’m still working may through the backlog of plastic tat. I should be close to caught up by the end of this week, but I’m still expecting a few things to turn up in the mail any day now. –FF]

Aw, yeah… time for another venture into Lego’s world of Marvel Super Heroes. This time we’re checking out another one of the sets branded after The Avengers movie. This set is loosely based on the beginning sequence where Loki is escaping with the Cosmic Cube with Maria Hill leading Shield in the pursuit. I say loosely based because Maria Hill isn’t one of the minifigs in the set. Instead it is Iron Man doing the pursuit. On the other hand, it does come with a possessed Hawkeye and Loki and a SHIELD truck.

And there’s the box showing you what you get. Rip it open and you find two unnumbered baggies containing a total of 181 pieces. You also get an instruction booklet and a comic. To the minifigs!

As mentioned, the set includes Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Loki and they’re all pretty solid figures. Iron Man is comprised of simple, printed body, but his helmet is separate from his little Tony Stark head and the visor actually lifts open, which goes above and beyond. The mix of red and cold coloring is really nice too. The Hawkeye is also a pretty simple figure with a printed outfit, hair piece, two printed faces, one with shades and one without. He also comes with his bow. The quiver is printed on, which I thought was a bit of a cop out since Lego has plenty of quiver pieces that they could have repurposed for this set. Loki has a printed outfit, a single printed face, a cloth cape, his trademark horned helmet, and his Chitauri staff. You also get a Cosmic Cube piece. Iron Man is easily my favorite of the bunch, but they are all pretty solid efforts. No complaints here.

The rest of the pieces in the set all go to building the Shield 4×4 truck. I wouldn’t say it’s terribly movie accurate, but it is very nicely detailed and includes a light bar on the top of the cab, a ramming bar in the front, a removable fire extinguisher on the driver side, a clip for Hawkeye’s bow on the passenger side, two flick fire missiles on the sides, and a catapult gimmick in the bed of the truck that can launch a figure in the air. It’s a relatively small vehicle, with only one seat in the cab, but it looks great, particularly with the well-designed stickers all applied. Honestly, I don’t have a lot more to say about it.

The set took me about an hour to build, on and off and I had lots of fun doing it. If I were to have any gripes it would just be that there’s nothing really iconic about a SHIELD truck to me, although it does have the emblems and the SHIELD name on it, which helps. If you’re into Lego vehicles, this set should make you pretty happy, if you’re more into it for the Marvel stuff, then the minifigs may be the major draw of this set. At $20, it’s certainly a decent value for a Lego product, and a satisfying build.

Aug 20 2012

Avengers: Hawkeye by Hasbro

Yeah, I’m still busy assembling my 3 ¾” Avengers collection and Hawkeye is the second to the last of the core team I needed. I’m passing on that terrible Hulk figure and will be content with using one of my Marvel Universe Hulks as a stand in, although I may yet buy one of the Thors sans helmet and cape. Unlike Black Widow, Hawkeye was a take him or leave him figure for me. I wasn’t going to pay a premium, and if I didn’t get him I wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it, but the action figure gods were good to me and I found him hanging on a peg during my last trip to Target. Good thing too, because this guy turned out to be a pretty cool figure…

Avengers packaging… is there anything else to be said? Wait a minute… “Three Launching Arrows?” Holy shit, they turned Hawkeye’s signature weapon into a big, obnoxious missile launcher? Ah, but fear not, panic is not warranted. There’s an extra bow in there allowing me to immediately toss the launching bow and arrows into the dreaded Junk Tote of Doom never to be seen again. The back of the card has the usual little bio blurb that points out that Hawkeye’s skill with a bow is unrivaled in all the world and that he can hang with the Avengers. Hawkeye, I love ya to death, but I don’t care how good you are with a bow and how many gimmicky arrows you have… you’re still a bug compared to Thor and Hulk.

Hasbro really did a bang up job on Hawkeye’s sculpt. The head does look a little bit meaty to me, or maybe the neck a bit too thin, but it’s not something that cripples the figure’s looks. I will concede that if I look at him just right, he kind of looks like an adult Fred Savage. (“I love the Infinity Gauntlet… It’s so bad!”) Seriously, though, I think the likeness is pretty solid for a figure in this scale, and I’m glad they went with the shades that add to his bad-assery. And I hope y’all bought tickets to the gun show, because Hasbro really packed in the detail to the sculpted muscles in his arms. The outfit has some very nice little details, particularly the little buckles, zippers, and the SHIELD emblems are well done and everything is painted really sharp. His quiver is a sculpted piece that is permanently attached to his back.

Hawkeye sports the limited articulation that most of the movie Avengers figures feature. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, and ball jointed hips. The knees and elbows are hinged. There’s still some decent poseability to be had here, but it’s tough to get Hawkeye into a decent pose where he’s firing his bow.

Speaking of bows, Hawkeye comes with his ridiculous oversized missile firing bow and he also has the smaller bow that most collectors will keep for display. It’s a simple enough piece, but he can hold it pretty well.

Like I said at the beginning, I’m glad I was able to pick this guy up at a good price, because I wouldn’t have paid a premium for him, and then would have missed out on having a very solid figure in my collection. He looks great on display with his fellow 3 ¾” Avengers and like Black Widow he’s not a bad stand in for a GI JOE display. He seems to be hitting the stores with a little more regularity now, although I had to dig through quite a few Captain America and Iron Man 2 figures to get him. Yes, Iron Man 2 figures. Sheesh!

Aug 18 2012

Marvel Super Heroes: Captain America’s Avenging Cycle (#6865) by Lego

[Whoa! What happened to Star Trek Saturday?  I’m putting it to rest for a week or two and I’m going to use this slot to try to get caught up on all the stuff that’s piling up around here these last couple weeks. –FF]

Woe is me, I have contracted the Marvel Lego bug, and just when I was dedicating myself to completing the Lord of the Rings Lego collection. Frankly, I blame Deadpool, because I may never have started down this expensive path had Lego not included him in a set. Anyway, while I was stocking up on provisions the other day at Target I couldn’t help myself but pick up another set. This time it’s Captain America’s Avenging Cycle, and it’s considerably smaller than the first one I looked at.

There you go, it’s a pretty exciting little box. This set comes with an instruction book, a loose motorcycle frame, a small sticker sheet, and two un-numbered baggies, with a grand total of 72 pieces. Those pieces build three minifigs, a missile launcher emplacement, a Chitauri Air Chariot and Cap’s motorcycle. It didn’t take me long to throw this thing together, so let’s see what we’ve got. And as always, we’ll start with the minifigs.

First up, we have Captain America, and he is without a doubt the reason I bought this set. He’s a pretty simple minifig composed of just the head, legs, and torso, but the colors and printed details really mesh well to make him a cool little guy. Naturally, he comes with his trusty shield too.

The other two minifigs are Chitauri troops. I’m pretty ambivalent toward these guys. Like Cap, they’re pretty simple and each made up of just the three basic pieces. The printing is very detailed, but it kind of just looks like a jumbled mess of patterns. I blame the crazy Chitauri design, which was really the only thing I didn’t like about the Avengers movie. Either way, I’m sure Lego did their best with what they had to work with, but these guys just weren’t designed with the Lego treatment in mind. At least one of them does come with a pretty cool gun. And since they’re faces are just a jumbled mess, I’ve put one head on back-to-front just to mix them up a bit.

 

Cap’s motorcycle is absolutely killer for such a small and simple build. The colors match his own and it comes with stickers with his star emblem and a SHIELD sticker for the front. There’s a clip on the back so you can attach his shield to it. Part of me kind of wishes there was a clip on the front to attach it to the front of the bike in the more iconic way, but then the bike looks so good, I’d be hesitant to change anything. And most importantly, Cap looks awesome riding it. This will be a big win for my new Marvel Lego display.

Chitauri pieces are a mixed bag. I like the Air Chariot. It was a little more complex of a build than I thought it would be, which is very cool. It has some great looking jagged blade pieces and some gorgeous stickers to give it extra detail. There’s also a flick-fire missile mounted under it. The side wings can move up and down and the front shield-slash-control column can pivot forward and back. A set of handlebars for the front column would have been cool, but I can probably rob one of those pieces from one of my Atlantis sets. Either way, it still looks fine without it.

The other Chitauri piece, the missile launcher feels like just something Lego threw in to beef up the brick count. It reminds me of the kind of thing they tossed into at least a couple of the Alien Invasion sets, only they made a little more sense in those. Still, I could probably cannibalize the parts for one of my Pharaoh’s Quest sets since the brick colors are totally Egyptian.

This set was $12.99 and it seems pretty fair. While I’m overall satisfied with the set, I would have really preferred Lego broke with the movie and included Skrulls in this set instead of the Chitauri. Skrulls would have worked better as minifigs and I would have had a lot more use for them in my collection. There’s nothing particularly bad in here, and I’m sure kids will appreciate being able to get a little battle in a box like this, but ultimately, I would have been happier just getting Cap and his motorcycle in a tiny impulse set for about five bucks cheaper.

Aug 2 2012

Avengers: Skrull Soldier (Comic Series) by Hasbro

[Yep, it’s another bonus feature this week to try to keep me from falling too far behind. It’s nice to be finding stuff to buy once again! Next week is going to be a full week, with Monday through Friday devoted to Playmates’ Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and then moving on to business as usual for Vintage Vault on Friday and Star Trek Saturday. –FF]

Today’s figure brings me back to that agonizing buildup to the Avengers film when everyone was trying to figure out who the hell the bad guys were going to be. I really wanted them to be the Skrull or Kang, but when the first on screen images came out it was pretty clear the film was going Ultimates all over our asses and using the Chitauri as Loki’s army. In the end, Avengers turned out to be one of my all-time favorite movies, so I’m not going to quibble with the results and thanks to the wonderful little sub-line of “comic series” Avengers figures, we get a nice modern Skrull soldier figure, and a peek at what they might have looked like if they appeared in the movie.

We’ve seen plenty of the Avengers packaging here in the last couple of weeks, so I’ll be brief on the subject. Once again, it’s attractive, it’s serviceable, it shows off the figure and his oversized weapon very well. There’s no “Try Me” window in this one as there have been in the last couple of Avengers figures I’ve featured. The back panel shows off a picture of the figure and a little bio blurb. Let’s rip this baby open…

Holy crap, I adore this figure! I usually start with the sculpt, but I’m going to jump ahead this time to the coloring, because the colors on this figure are gorgeous. The combination of pale blue, metallic purple and silver are really inspired. It has all the vibrant beauty of a page right out of a brand new comic. The paintwork on the head is equally impressive. He’s a nice shade of green with a very well executed wash to bring out all of the tiny little details in the sculpt. Round it out with those piercing yellow eyes, and this figure is just a triumph of color.

And hey, that sculpt is not too shabby either. Granted, the sculpt truly impresses in the head where there is way more detail packed into this fellow’s face then you’re average 3 ¾” figure should allow. The armor has a simple, but streamlined design that almost looks retro sci-fi to me. His ab muscles are sculpted into the chestplate and there’s some nice work on the sculpted belt and the boots.

Of course, if you’re an articulation junky, you’ll be sorry to hear that the Skrull figure has the same level of articulation as many of the other Avengers figures. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees, and that’s it. The lack of wrist, ankle and torso articulation certainly hurts the figure, but the plethora of ball joints somewhat dulls the pain.

What’s this? Is this a goofy, gimmicky, oversized weapon that I actually like? Well, sort of. The Skrull Soldier comes with a giant two-headed energy axe. It’s not too bad by itself, but I really like the fact that you can pull the blades off and use them each as individual weapons. Don’t get me wrong, this thing isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea and I’m not saying I love it, but considering the nonsensical missile launchers Hasbro usually saddles us with, this weapon is actually kind of inspired and it’s probably the first one in ages that I didn’t either toss into the dreaded Tote of Doom or just outright pitch into the garbage can.

I never did get around to picking up that Marvel Universe Skrull figure and now I doubt that I’ll bother. This Skrull figure really tickles me in all the right spots and I’ll probably pick up a few more if I come across them on the pegs. One of the most frustrating things about loving this figure so much is that I can’t even put my finger on why I love it so much. Surely, a big part is just the coloring and the head sculpt. Whatever the case, this is easily one of my favorite figures to come out of the Avengers line, probably ranking just behind Black Widow. And given the Skrull is not a sexy redhead with boobs, that right there is quite a ringing endorsement.

Jul 24 2012

Avengers: “Fusion Armor” Iron Man Mark VII by Hasbro

A little bonus feature for this week. I’ve actually got a lot of stuff in this week, so I wanted to get through some extra stuff this week so I don’t get too far behind. We all know Tony Stark has more Iron Man armors than most people have pairs of socks, and damn if he doesn’t have the plethora of action figures to prove it. As much as I love the character in the comics and on the big screen, even I suffer from Iron Man figure fatigue. Nonetheless, I picked up this one because it’s the new armor in the movie and it’s the suit he’s wearing toward the end of the film when shit really starts getting real. Did I really need to own this one? Let’s find out…

It’s the Avengers 3 ¾” figure packaging… Yuppers. Is there any more to say? There’s a “Try Me” slot so you can spin the ridiculous saw blade weapon, which probably somehow hypnotizes you into forgetting you already own a dozen Iron Man figures and that you desperately need this figure in your collection. Once again, the packaging is attractive and serviceable. Let’s shred it so I can get to my figure.

So, the most obvious difference on this suit, from the previous Avengers Iron Man figure is the Arc Reactor in his chest has gone from being a triangle, back to being a circle.  I actually prefer the circle, and that’s why I bought this figure. It’s a lot bigger than the circle reactor on previous figures in this scale, and it looks like just a big white dot, which is disappointing. A little blue hue around the edges would have been cool, because it really looks like they forgot to paint it. The rest of the armor is quite nicely sculpted and is completely different from the previous figures in both subtle and not-so subtle ways. I like the additional sculpted bits on the shoulders.

I’m a little happier with the paintwork on this figure over the last one. The red is more glossy and vibrant and more like that awesome “new car finish” style lacquer that Hasbro used on the Iron Man 2 figures. The gold isn’t quite as vibrant and there’s a little slop on the back of his legs, but overall, the colors and paint on this figure pop nicely.

The articulation here is identical to the last Iron Man figure, which means it’s not that great. You get nine points and all of them are ball joints. That’s the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. Yep, there’s zero articulation in the torso and that definitely hurts the figure. There’s also a lot of limitation to the hip joints. I didn’t mind the diminished articulation so much in Thor, but you can’t really get Iron Man into any great poses.

Iron Man comes with one accessory and… wait for it… waaaait for it… Yep, it’s a piece of garbage. It looks like it’s supposed to be some kind of shield with blue energy that spins around it. I was going to throw it out, but my cat took a fancy to it and now all I have to do is put it on the coffee table and spin it, and the cat goes absolutely nuts playing with it. Maybe this should have been called Iron Man “With Bonus Cat Toy!”

As much as I should, I cannot hate on this figure. It looks great standing on my shelf besides my movie Avengers. I’m not a big stickler on articulation, so the figure’s biggest stumbling point isn’t a deal breaker for me. Did I really need this one? Nah… but at seven bucks, it didn’t really break the bank either. I suppose the real issue is that I should have passed on the first Avengers Iron Man figure and waited to get this one, because I didn’t need both of them. But that’s it, Hasbro, I’m done buying 3 ¾” Iron Man figures for quite a while now. And based on what I’ve seen of the armor design in Iron Man 3, I may be passing on that figure too. You can, however, sell me a Ben Kingsley Mandarin figure… because seeing that on the pegs… well, that’s just going to blow my mind.

Jul 23 2012

Avengers: “Cosmic Spear” Loki by Hasbro

For such a huge and wonderful movie, the Avengers didn’t have a lot of staying power in the toy aisles around here. The bulk of the stuff has already been supplanted by Amazing Spider-Man and the few pegs that are left for the Avengers 3 ¾” figures are choked up by Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America figures, because some retailers have merged the SKU’s on the four lines (Yes, if you haven’t guessed already, I’m in the retail biz). As a result, I’ve been relegated to ordering the rest of what I want online. Yesterday, I got a package from Toys R Us with a couple of the 3 ¾” Avengers, and today we’re going to check out Loki. I’m sort of excited, since I never picked up any of the previous versions of Loki in this scale.

We’ve seen the packaging for the Avengers line here before, and we shall see it again. I don’t have much new to say, except I’m still digging on it. It’s attractive and serviceable. There’s a “Try Me” cut out so you can see the pathetic oversized weapon in action, but I can’t seriously imagine pressing that button will sway anyone’s opinion in favor of buying this figure. The back panel shows off a big photo of the figure, as well as some of the other figures in the assortment, and you also get a little blurb about Loki.

Out of the package, I’m pretty impressed with the sculpt of the figure. The head sculpt isn’t exactly a dead-on likeness, but it’s still a nice sculpt, complete with helmet and his trademark horns. The body depicts him wearing his full Asgardian armor, which is actually layered with some soft rubber pieces hanging off his torso and then his cape on top of that, hanging off his shoulders. The layering gives a nice depth and complexities to the already solid and detailed sculpt. The bulk of the figure is black, with gold paint apps for his armor pieces, and some green fringe, and a green cape. The cape is sculpted so that it’s blowing a bit off to the side. It isn’t terribly intrusive, but I really do wish it were removable.The paint apps on my figure are clean and precise. The gold paint is particularly nice and vibrant, and the whole deco really makes the figure stand out nicely on the shelf.

Loki’s articulation is pretty limited compared to Hasbro’s past Marvel movie figures. He has a ball jointed neck; His arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and again at the elbows; His legs are ball jointed at the hips and again at the knees. He has no torso articulation at all, and he’s also lacking wrist and ankle articulation. It’s not ideal, and if articulation is a major factor for you, you’re probably better off going with one of the Loki’s from the Thor line. On the other hand, the joints on this guy are solid and he stands very well on his own.

You get two accessories with Loki, one of which being the shitty oversized gimmick weapon called the “Cosmic Spear” It’s basically an overcomplicated pole axe with two stubby little blades that come  out of the sides when you push the shaft up. I’ve seen worse… at least it isn’t a missile launcher, but I really have no need for it so into the Tote of Forgotten Gimmicky Oversized Weapons it goes. One day, I shall bury that tote in the backyard and teach the future generations never to dig there. Of course, the good accessory is his Chitauri Staff, which featured so prominently in the movie. It’s a pretty nice likeness of this distinctive weapon. On the downside, only one of Loki’s hands is sculpted to hold it, the other is a fist, so he can’t hold it in both hands, like I’d like him to.

No real surprises here. In the end, Loki is a fantastic looking figure with articulation issues. I’m happy to have him on my shelf beside my Marvel movie figures, and I think kids could have a lot of fun with him, but if you’re a collector into posing your figures, he’s likely to disappoint. I tend to display my figures in a standing position and take them down every now and again to fiddle about with them, so the articulation doesn’t really bother me too much. Either way, the real reason to buy him is to get the Chitauri Staff.

Jul 9 2012

Avengers: “Grapple Blast” Black Widow by Hasbro

If you’re on the hunt for Avengers figures, than chances are you know just how impossible this one is to find. Then again, considering there are none in my area, maybe they’re turning up everywhere else. Indeed, you may live in that Shangri-La where the pegs are crammed with Black Widows and Hawkeyes and dogs shit ice cream cones made out of solid gold. Nonetheless, the Avengers pegs here are still packed full of the initial wave of non-Avengers versions of Iron Man, Thor, and Cap, one of the dumbest moves I’ve seen Hasbro make, and believe me the list is a long one. I soon decided I would go the Ebay route, but quickly discovered that this little Scar-Jo is going for a shitload of money. Finally, I was lucky enough to get her bundled with another Marvel figure for what broke down to about twelve bucks each. So, let’s take a look…

It’s been a little while since we saw the Avengers packaging here, but that’s not my fault. Again, Hasbro, I want to buy your figures, but you fucked up the assortments and padded them out with lesser articulated versions of figures that I already have, so you’re not making it easy. Anyway, the figure comes in a big bubble mostly dominated by Black Widow’s ridiculous weapon. She’s holding one of her pistols and the other is mounted beside her head. The card art is pretty nice, and overall this is a serviceable and fairly attractive presentation, even if she and Hawkeye are excluded from the card art.

Out of the package and I am instantly impressed with the work Hasbro did on this figure. We could probably go back and forth on whether or not this is a great likeness of Scarlett Johansson, I happen to think it’s a very solid effort for a 3 ¾” figure. Either way, it’s hard to deny that his is one attractive lady. The face and hair are both sculpted beautifully and the paintwork is precise and truly impressive for this line. Hasbro, your Marvel Universe ladies in this scale have been a mixed bag when it comes to their faces, but guys, you hit this one right out of the ballpark!

In keeping with her on screen appearance, Black Widow’s costume is pretty low key. She’s nearly all black with just some blue-grey piping to break up the monochrome look. She still has her comic-style wrist bangles, only in black instead of yellow or grey, but the ankle bangles were nixed for the screen costume in place of slightly bulkier boots. She sports a plunging neckline, fingerless gloves, and a belt with two functional holsters that hangs loose on her hips. My only gripe with this sculpt is that her left hand isn’t really configured to hold her pistol, so I tend to keep that one in the holster. Apart from that, this is a great looking figure, which would probably even find a good home in any GI Joe collection.

Black Widow’s articulation is a nice surprise considering how many cut backs there are in the other figures. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders and elbows, and swivels in the wrists. Her legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivel cuts in the thighs, double hinged knees, and hinges in the ankles. The biggest stumbling point here is the lack of articulation in the waist or torso. Bottom line, not perfect, but she has a heck of a lot more articulation than the MU version of Black Widow and that figure was from before Hasbro started making these cuts.

Of course, this figure is called “Grapple Blast” Black Widow, which gives some insight into the horribly shitty giant weapon that comes with her. I generally have little patience for any of Hasbro’s oversized weapons, but this one is so particularly vile and useless that I can’t even see the point. Bits fell off of it when I tried to load it and I happily pitched it into the garbage the moment I was finished photographing it. No, Grapple Blast, you don’t even get to go into the forgotten tub of useless oversized Hasbro weapons. It’s right in the trash for you! Considering there’s probably almost as much plastic in that useless weapon than the figure itself, I really need to question Hasbro’s priorities when it comes to cutting costs on these figures. Oh yeah, she also comes with a pair of tiny automatic pistols.

I had pretty high hopes for this Black Widow, and I’m happy to say that the figure mostly surpasses my expectations. The sculpt is excellent and the articulation is better than most of the other Avengers figures in this scale. If only she were able to properly hold her pistol in her left hand, I’d say she was nearly perfect. Sure, I had to pay a bit of a premium for her, but given most of the Buy It Now prices on Ebay, I could have been beaten up a lot worse. Truth is, I wasn’t prepared to drop thirty bucks on her, and so I was really worried I was never going to get her into my collection. And with my pre-order for Hot Toys’ Black Widow secured, I can finally rest easy knowing I’m covered. I still need to track down the 3 3/4” Hawkeye, but he seems to be dropping in price on the secondary market, so if I can’t find him on the pegs, I’ll bite the bullet and get him online.

Apr 23 2012

Avengers: “Rocket Grenade” Captain America by Hasbro

Its the final installment of this little Avengers trifecta. So far, we’ve looked at Thor and Iron Man, now its time to see how Cap turned out in the new Avengers lineup. I went with “Rocket Grenade” Cap because the other version featured a gimmick built into his shield, and I prefer to be able to toss aside the gimmicky weapons. Cap needs his shield, so the choice was pretty clear.

Once again, this figure is part of the “Concept Series.” I’ve beat that dead horse long enough, so I’m not going to go into it again here. The packaging looks great and this time there is a “Try Me” hole to let you flick up the blast shield on the big, stupid rocket launcher that comes with the figure. Seriously, if pressing that button becomes the deciding factor for buying this figure, you’ve got problems. Just saying. So, here’s my big dilemma with this figure. I absolutely love Cap’s WWII era costume from the movie. But he gets a new, more modern costume in the Avengers movie. This is an Avengers movie figure. Why the hell, Hasbro, are you still releasing him in the costume from his movie and not the Avengers movie? Its like Iron Man’s triangle arc reactor all over again. Maybe Cap wears this for a bit in Avengers, but I doubt it.
Avengers costume or not, I adore this figure. I’ve always been a Cap whore and toss in how much I love his movie costume, and it should be no surprise that this one is really scatching my itch. The sculpt is absolutely fantastic. There’s so much tiny detailing on him, including the ultra-fine texturing on his tunic, the stitching on his shoulder pads and the wrinkles on his pants. The belt pouches are also amazingly detailed, and you can even see the tiny stitching and the embossed “US” on his holster. The head sculpt is excellent, particularly the depth between the mask and Steve Rogers’ face. Even the paintwork rises to the occasion, as there’s no slop here to speak of. Hasbro really nailed this figure dead on.
Cap’s articulation is the same as “Heavy Assault” Iron Man. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed hips and shoulders, and hinged elbows and knees. Again, its a far cry from what we saw in the Captain America movie figures, but you can still get some good poses out of him and he’s very solid and easy to stand.
Naturally, Cap comes with his shield. The sculpt is the same we’ve been getting, but this one has a really nice high gloss finish, which looks amazing. The back has a clip to go around his wrist. It also has a peg so he can wear it on his back. Only problem there is the figure doesn’t have a hole on his back to peg it into. Nice oversight there, Hasbro!
In addition to his trusty shield, Cap also comes with the titular and very stupid “Rocket Grenade” launcher. It does have a button that flips up the blast shield, and the handle folds up and down. I suppose in terms of big stupid weapons, this one isn’t the worst around, but its still going to be cast aside into the bottomless pit of my useless accessories tote.
All in all, I’ve been more or less happy with all three of the Avengers figures I’ve picked up, but Cap here is without a doubt my favorite. This figure has one amazingly detailed sculpt for a 3 3/4″ scale, the paintwork is solid, and this is the first time I’ve had a proper metallic finished shield for one of my Caps in this scale. The lack of a shield peg in his back really does hurt the figure, but when everything else is so good, I can try to look the other way. Of course, just like the other two figures, there’s a good chance you already have a good movie version of Cap and with better articulation, so you’re probably better off passing on this guy altogether.
Apr 22 2012

Avengers: “Sword Spike” Thor by Hasbro

[Sure, I’ve been taking Sundays off lately, but this week I decided to press on with my look at the three Avengers figures I picked up this week. They’re nothing special, so I didn’t want to drag it out. Today will be Thor and then I’ll wrap it up tomorrow with Cap. That will also push this week’s MASK edition of Vintage Vault back to Tuesday. -FF]

Our second forray into Hasbro’s new 3 3/4″ Avengers figures brings us to the Lord of Asgard himself, Thor. This is another one of those “Concept Series” figures, since they seem to be the only kind I can find, and I’m still not entirely sure what the “concept” angle is all about, since ALL the figures come with those ridiculous weapons. Anyway, enough preamble, let’s see what we’ve got…
There’s the package and looking at it I find myself getting a sense of deja vous because… wait… didn’t I… yes, I did… I looked at a figure called“Sword Spike” Thor back when the Thor movie figures were out. In fact, that one was the only movie Thor figure I wound up buying. Talk about double dipping… shame on you Hasbro! The packaging is pretty much identical to the one we saw with Iron Man. The big difference is an insert in the bubble with a shot of the figure, but no “Try Me” hole on this one.
This version of Thor is essentially the exact same figure as the movie “Sword Spike” Thor only with less articulation, a sculpted helmet, and a permanently attached cape. There are some very minor coloring differences, for example the cape is brighter, but for all intents and purposes it is the same sculpt from the neck down. That having been said, it is still a great looking figure. There’s a lot of cool detail sculpted into his chest armor and even the little scales in his chainmail. The headsculpt is quite a good resemblance and I do like finally having a helmeted movie version of Thor, since I passed on the ones that came out previously. I am rather glad that Hasbro permanently attached his cape this time, as my movie Thor figure’s cape does not want to stay on for love or money. Most of the paintwork on this figure is fine, but there is some really sloppy red paintwork on the legs.
Articulation is almost the same as we saw on “Heavy Artillery” Iron Man. You get a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders and hips. Hinges in the elbows and knees. In case you missed it, the big difference is that Thor only has hinges in the knees, rather than ball joints.
So, let’s look at “Sword Spike” Thor’s big weapon. Obviously its a… hey, wait a minute. There isn’t a sword anywhere in this package. Nope, just as you would not expect from the name, “Sword Spike” Thor comes with a big battle axe. As far as big stupid weapons go, this one isn’t all bad. I do kind of dig the gold, engraved axe head. Too bad it looks like its attached to a harpoon gun. There is a missile that shoots out of the top, which the package calls a “Launching Battle Spike” so at least there’s a spike in there somewhere, even if there is no sword. This version of Thor also comes with Mjolnir, which is essentially the same sculpt used for the movie figures.
Once again, this figure looks great, displays well, and he’s fun to play around with. The hobbled articulation at least adds a certain stability to the figure, but most collectors aren’t going to find that a worthy trade off. But here’s the real problem: If you’re holding this figure in your hand at the store, chances are  you can walk a couple of feet and find the same figure with better articulation on clearance from the Thor movie. And even if they aren’t on clearance, you’d still be getting the same figure with better articulation at the same price. This is the very reason why I wish Hasbro had varied the initial wave more. I’m very afraid that these figures are going to choke up the pegs and prevent us from getting movie versions of Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury. And even with that worry, I can’t recommend anyone run out and buy this one.
Apr 17 2012

Avengers: Quinjet by Hasbro

If you’ve gone out your door to any retail establishment in the past month, surely you’ve noticed the onslaught of Avengers merchandise. The toy aisles are certainly getting taken over, and while you have to cull through a lot of gimmicky crap to get to it, there is a fairly cohesive 3 3/4″ action figure and toy line to be found. A big hurdle Hasbro will surely face with Avengers is that they’ve already put out a lot of these figures already in their 3 3/4″ Marvel Universe, Thor, and Iron Man 2 lines. And that’s a big reason why I’ve passed these figures up the last bunch of trips to the toy aisle. I’ll circle back and get them eventually, but until then I thought we’d start out by taking a look at the Avenger’s Quinjet.

The Quinjet comes in a pretty big box with a little window showing the Iron Man figure that’s packed with it. While the packaging is nothing extraordinary, I have to say I really dig the overall presentation. The front panel shows an illustration of the jet along with profiles of The Avengers (well, the A-listers anyway. Hawkeye and Black Widow are nowhere to be found. Now you guys know how Antman and Wasp feel!) There’s a bit of a comic feel to the package with explosions declaring some of the features, like “Iron Man included!” and “2 modes!” Its nothing as gloriously obnoxious as the new Marvel Legends packaging, but it works. The back panel shows photos of the actual toy and some of its features, as well as some of the other toys and figures in the line. Let’s open her up, and slide out the cardboard tray…                                      
Wow, there’s a lot of empty space in there! The jet comes in four parts, so you’ll need to AVENGERS ASSEMBLE it! Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically, you just have to attach the two wings and the tail section. You also get a simple instruction sheet and a small sheet of stickers. Yay, stickers! If you’re careful, you can actually get the tail section off again and store it in the box, which is a big plus for me, since I have zero shelf space to display this thing.
Let’s go ahead and get the Iron Man figure out of the way first. He’s a pack-in figure through and through, which means don’t expect to buy this and cross Iron Man off your list of Avengers figures to buy. He’s actually a pretty nice sculpt, but his paint apps are severely lacking. He’s cast in red plastic, so he doesn’t have that nice, glossy new car sheen that past Iron Man figures have had and he just has a bit of gold painted accents, most of which are rather sloppy. Mine has a random dab of gold on the side of his helmet! He also features the old school standard of five points of articulation. The head rotates, his arms rotate at the shoulders, and his legs rotate at the hips. All that having been said, I can’t help but feel a nostalgic charm eminating from this figure. He really does feel like an 80’s figure, and on some crazy level, I kind of dig it.
As for the Quinjet itself… keep in mind, I don’t recall actually having seen it in any clips from the film, so I’ll give Hasbro some credit and assume the design is pretty close to what we will see on screen. I do have to imagine that this toy is severely undersized, as it really only has room for two figures inside: One in the cockpit and one in the back, however there are pegs on the top, so you could conceivably crowd most of The Avengers on this thing. Its really more like a fighter than a transport. I get the diminished size thing, and it doesn’t bother me too much. Hasbro was obviously shooting for a certain price point here, so compromises had to be made.
While the design doesn’t really jive with what I tend to associate with the Quinjet from the comics, the toy is still pretty nice looking. There’s a lot of sculpted panel lines and tiny bolts, the deco is a pleasing charcoal, gold, and grey, and it has a pretty cool looking profile. I’m not crazy about the speckled yellow plastic used for the canopy, but its not a deal breaker.
The Quinjet has a few gimmicks and play features. Obviously, the canopy opens up so you can put a figure into the cockpit. The back also has a hatch that folds down to reveal a little area inside with a single chair. The three landing gear can be folded up or down, and there’s a little clear clip that pulls out of the side of the jet so that you can simulate a figure flying beside the jet, under its wing. The major action gimmick is the two-mode conversion. Slide the rear engines back and the cockpit drops down a bit, the wings reconfigure to show off the VTOL engines, and a missile launcher pops up out of the top and can rotate 360-degrees.

The Quinjet retails for $29.99 and that seems about right. There aren’t any electronics in it, and while you might expect to find them in a toy at this price point, I don’t miss them. Its size is a bit bigger than Hasbro’s Star Wars ships that retail for around $24.99. Its a fairly solid toy, except for wings, which feel a little flimsy.
There’s no doubt Hasbro struggled with this to keep costs down, but with cutbacks in articulation and entire figure lines being shit-canned, struggling seems to be a running theme with all toy companies in 2012. Nonetheless, the Quinjet is a pretty cool toy and if you don’t feel as though your Avengers have need of it, you can always repurpose it for your GI JOEs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hasbro does that at some point later down the line.