Jun 4 2018

Marvel Legends (Sasquatch Wave): Cable by Hasbro

Hello, Toyhounds, and welcome to another installment of Marvel Monday. The day where I try to ease the pain of the worst day of the week by opening up a new Marvel Legends figure. I know, I’m supposed to be randomizing my Marvel Legends reviews, but this time I’m sticking with the Sasquatch Wave because after lamenting Deadpool’s lack of accessories last week, now I think I found where they all went. Let’s take a look at Cable!

Of course, the politics of business are keeping us from getting figures based on Deadpool 2, but that hasn’t stopped Hasbro from cashing in with another wave of comic-inspired Deadpool figures. You may remember that we got a more modern version of Cable back in the Juggernaut Wave, but now Hasbro’s coming at us with a more classic version and I couldn’t be happier!

Cable may be from the future, but this figure looks like he jumped straight out of the comic panels of the past! The same pages that I used to flip through in college while waiting for class to start. Ah, the 90’s! I was an adult off on my own for the first time and yet clinging to the youth I left behind me with comics. As you can see, Cable is a beast of a figure, thanks in part to the large buck, but even more so to the ridiculously (I mean that in a good way) bulky gear that’s strapped to him. Most of that stuff is on his torso, but that doesn’t mean Hasbro skimped on him below the belt. The boots alone feature some wonderful attention to detail from the sculpted laces, and all the little lines of stitching to the thick treaded soles. Cable’s trousers also include sculpted knee pads and of course a brace of pouches strapped to each of his thighs. They even sculpted in his back pockets.

Cable sports a heavy-duty belt with a great weathered leather look to it, and guess what? More pouches!!! They come in all different sizes, flanking the manly and industrial looking belt-buckle. His blue shirt is dominated by the two gigantic shoulder pads and straps. The shoulder pads are sculpted in brown plastic and have a padded look, while the straps themselves are green with more pouches front and back. Seriously, how does he even get to those ones on his back? His right shoulder pad features a strap of grenade rounds, each painted gold, and the left strap has a row of brown leather pouches that look like they’re probably for extra magazines. If he were a videogame boss, these would be the targets to aim for! His hands feature large gauntlets and his mechanical left arm has a nice coat of metallic silver paint.

The portrait here is killer. Cable features a shock of white hair, which is molded separately from the head to give it that extra little bit of dimension. His teeth are clenched in his best patented Cable Battle Grimace™ his right eye is pupil-less and scarred and his left eye has an effect part to show it shining. I was not sure how well that eye piece was going to work for me in person, but now that I have the figure, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. It’s just perfect. Of course, Cable is also sporting the giant communication device attached to the left side of his head and he also has the high padded collar with that giant X-branded travel pillow hanging off of it.

Now, as it is there’s enough extra plastic and tooling here to put a strain on the cost of this wave, but I haven’t even got to the extras yet, and as I said earlier, this is probably where all of Deadpool’s guns went. For starters, Cable comes with his stupid-big pulse rifle. This thing is so obnoxious and ridiculous that he can’t even fit the stock against the inside of his shoulder. I mean, this figure ain’t no wimp and the gun is still too big for him. Keep in mind, that isn’t a complaint, because this gun is a celebration of everything that was EXTREME about 90’s comics.

So, yeah… the pulse rifle is just a big hunk of sci-fi killing hardware. It’s cast in a dark blue plastic and has some nice detailing on it, as well as some sculpted scrapes. The hand grip and trigger guard look almost comically small compared to the rest of the weapon, and the shoulder stock is just a massive slab of plastic. It also has a hole on the side so it can peg onto Cable’s back for carrying.

If the Giga-Pulse Rifle is a little too overstated for your tastes, Cable comes with two smaller weapons, both of which are designed with a nice sci-fi flare, but still manage to keep a bit of realistic flavor. The first is kind of like a gatling-handgun. It’s not a petite gun by any means, but he can wield it a lot more comfortably than the rifle.

The next weapon in Cable’s arsenal is a double-barreled handgun. I really dig the design on this one, as the back half looks a bit like the old 19th century black powder pistols. I’m not sure if Hasbro got these ideas from any particular comic, but if they’re original designs my hats off to them, because they’re both pretty cool. Cable also has a loop on his belt that works like a cross-draw holster for this gun, but it’s the most awkward holster I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s not the holster, but just how bulky Cable is with all his gear. It looks like it would be hard to draw the weapon when the shit hits the fan. Still, at least with this holster, the back peg for the rifle and one free gun hand, Cable is capable of carrying all his weapons at once. Which brings me to one nitpick. I really wish they had given him a gun-holding left hand instead of the open hand.

Oh yeah… the articulation here holds no surprises. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders and wrists, double-hinged elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a waist swivel and an ab crunch hinge, while the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Of course, despite all the usual points, Cable’s bulk and extra gear makes him a little less agile than your average Legends figure. Indeed, he feels more like a Masters of the Universe figure, but I still find him to be loads of fun to play with.

Next to Domino, Cable was my most anticipated figure in this wave and I have to say he does not disappoint. The sculpt is fantastic and the weapons are plentiful. Sorry, Deadpool, but it looks like Cable got all your extras. Now, I will admit that I would have been just as happy if Hasbro had given us his blue-and-yellow costume, like we got in the 4-inch Marvel Universe line, but here’s hoping that Hasbro delivers that one at some point down the road. In the meantime, I promise next week to detour out of the Sasquatch Wave and hit one of the others that I’m woefully behind on.

May 28 2018

Marvel Legends (Sasquatch Wave): Deadpool by Hasbro

It’s a crazy summer for movies. It seemed like Infinity War was just pushed out by Deadpool 2, and now it’s already getting brushed aside with the release of Solo last week, but I’m still riding high from the great time that El-Poolio’s sequel delivered and I’m anxious to see it again while it’s in theaters. Alas, because of toy-movie-comic-business-politics, Hasbro won’t be including any Deadpool 2 movie-based figures in the Legends line, but we did get a wave of Deadpool-inspired comic book figures and today I’m here to check out the chimichanga-muchin-mo-fo himself, Deadpool. Who? DEADPOOL!!! Can I hear it one more time? Nope, we did that last time. I’m not doing it again. We actually get two versions of the Merc With A Mouth in this wave, both X-Force and regular flavor, and today I’m checking out Redpool.

What the shit-balls is this? Look at how empty the tray is! The last Legends Deadpool came so packed with extras that they couldn’t even fit a BAF part in there. And they didn’t bother with one here either. Yeah, I know, it’s because he’s Deadpool and everyone is going to buy him anyway, but at least the last time I didn’t miss it amidst all the cool accessories. When I first saw this package, I practically did a double-take because the tray is so vacant. I almost thought one of those scalper assholes raided the cookie jar and took all his weapons. Cripes, what a bummer. I wonder if the figure is any good?

Lucikly the figure itself is excellent. The Juggernaut Wave Deadpool (see link above) gave us a more modern take, whereas this version takes us back a bit. Everything about it looks more clean and classic. Gone are the armor pieces on the arms and legs in in their place we get a more streamlined bodysuit, with a red-and-black mix that favors the red. The bulk of the costume is achieved through black paint and some beautiful red plastic that looks like it popped straight out of the comic panels. You also get a good deal of added parts, which include black cuffs for the wrists and ankles, a ring of pouches on his right thigh, a ring of pouches on his belt, a shoulder strap, and the rig of crossed scabbards to store his swords on his back.

I will concede that the added pieces could have used some colors. The belt pouches are left red, which does give him a more streamlined look, but I think these would have been better brown, as would the pouches on his thigh. They did, however, do a nice job painting in the emblem on his beltbuckle, and the buckles on his shoulder rig are neatly painted silver, so it’s not like Hasbro didn’t try. The sculpted detail on these pieces is quite nice, as all the pouches have their little flaps and buttons, and the shoulder straps are studded with tiny sculpted rivets. Again, this is a great looking figure, and I’ll concede that my minor gripes with the coloring of his gear is just my personal preference.

While the last Deadpool came with two heads, masked and unmasked, I’ve already established that this package includes the bare minimum, so we gotta make due with just the one masked head. Hasbro went with a much more serious, kick-ass expression here, and that works for me. The black eye cut-outs are actually part of the sculpt, and there’s some nice wrinkling inbetween the eyes to show Deadpool is not happy about something. Instead of the comical one eye-popped, this Deadpool is kind of squinting as if he’s about to issue a serious beatdown. Or maybe he’s mad because someone took away all his guns.

Deadpool features the lateral shoulder crunches in the torso, which was a very pleasant surprise. Otherwise, the articulation is pretty standard stuff for a modern Legends figure. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in both the thighs and lower legs, double-hinges in the knees, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders and wrists, double-hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The torso has an ab-crunch hinge, a swivel at the waist, and the head is both ball jointed and hinged. This is very fun figure to play around with, and I imagine he’ll be hanging out on my desk for quite a while.

Here’s a shot of Deadpool not holding the pistol that he does not come with in his right hand, which is clearly sculpted to hold a gun, and even has a trigger finger for said gun. In case you missed it earlier, there’s no gun. It is absolutely impossible for me to overstate how ridiculous it is that Hasbro couldn’t have taken one of the dozens of pistols they’ve used for this line and tossed it into this goddamn package. Yes, I have plenty of guns that I can give him, but the omission of a simple handgun just reeks of cheapness and penny-pinching. I mean, OK, so a full arsenal of guns didn’t cost out? Fine, whatever. Give him a goddamn pistol!!! Legends is rarely stingy on the accessories, so on those few occasions when they are, it stands out like a sore thumb.

Deadpool does at least come with his swords, but I can’t say as I’m all that happy with these. I’m certainly no expert on Japanese swords, and I’ll grant you that Deadpool’s swords have changed a bit over the years, but I’m not a fan of these shorter straight blades. The long katanas we got with the last Deadpool were more to my liking.

I’m not going to harp on it too much, because they fit well in the scabbard and they did a nice job sculpting and painting the hilts. The blades are left bare gray plastic and would have certainly benefited from some metalic silver paint, but whatever. He’s definitely fun to pose with them in his hands, but ultimately they still feel a bit underwhelming to me.

And so, I’m in a weird place with this figure. The figure itself is excellent and loads of fun, but I’ll say it again for the umpteenth time: I’m beyond disappointed by the lack of extras. I’ll admit that Hasbro went above and beyond with the Deadpool from the Juggernaut Wave, and they can’t do that with every figure, but there’s a chasm between what we got with that figure and what we got with this one. In the end, I’m probably going to go back and take the weapons away from the 2012 X-Force Deadpool (since that figure has not aged well, and he’s getting replaced in this wave anyway), and give those guns to this figure. It’s not like I don’t have enough extra armaments for him, but it’s the principle of the matter.

May 7 2018

Marvel Legends (Sasquach Wave): Domino by Hasbro

How many waves of Marvel Legends am I behind now? I think it’s like four or five, but I’m trying not to actually look because it’s only going to depress me. These figures seem to be selling really well here, because I keep finding remnants of the more recent waves on the pegs. Hopefully that’s making up for the tons of figures from the first Guardians of the Galaxy Wave that got re-ordered for the second movie and are clogging up the clearance endcaps at my local Target. Anyway, you might say I got lucky on my last trip through and found a lone Domino swinging on the pegs amidst some pieces of the Thor: Ragnarok Wave. And since I just bought my tickets for Deadpool 2 on next Thursday, I’m pretty pumped to look at some Deadpool content.

Domino is part of the second Deadpool-inspired Wave, which is obviously cashing in on the new movie, without actually including any movie-based figures. Part of me is sad that we aren’t seeing any movie figures, but then I see the great comic-based characters we are getting and I don’t mind so much. Also, Hasbro is using this wave to give us a huge Sasquatch Build-A-Figure, and that certainly cheers me up! And as someone who has always crushed hard on Domino, I was thrilled to see her included in the assortment!

And here she is! Domino comes all decked out in her tight 90’s-era black cat suit and looking absolutely fabulous. There are any number of previous female Legends that Hasbro could have raided for this buck, but with the figure in hand, I’m not recognizing any of them. Granted, I’m not the best person at spotting recycled parts, but I do believe what we have here is a new sculpt. The nearly all black buck features some subtle details, like the tailoring seams in the suit, and some not so subtle like the knee and shin armor and arm bracers. She also has sculpted straps and buckles holding on the leg armor and a belt sculpted onto the buck. Additionally, Domino comes with two separate sculpted pieces, a very detailed belt that hangs on her hips, and a shoulder rig, that doesn’t seem to serve much of a practical purpose, but definitely adds to the figure’s aesthetics. As one might expect from the character, there isn’t a lot in the way here of coloring. What you do get is some silver paintwork on the leg armor, bracers, and belt buckle. Her hands also feature finger-less gloves with the exposed fingers painted on.

The head sculpt is definitely a big win for the figure. The face sculpt is very pretty and captures so much of what makes me so smitten with Neena. The short hair is sculpted from a separate piece to give that extra convincing bit of depth in the way it frames her face. She has her trademark black spot around her left eye and some dark electric blue paint for her lips and pupils. This is a great looking portrait!

Articulation is the only place this figure falls short, and I mainly say that because Hasbro still refuses to give the Legends ladies double hinged elbows. Sometimes it’s not a huge deal for me, but I really wanted them here on Domino. The rotating hinges allow for the arm to bend 90-degrees at best. Serviceable, but at this point, it’s just not fair that the dudes are getting the better elbows and the chicks are getting the shaft. Otherwise, the arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, and no bicep swivels. Grrr. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, there’s a ball joint under the chest, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Domino comes with two weapons, both of which are very purple and very sci-fi-y. Neither of these things would have been my first choice. I would have much rather had some realistic guns cast in black or gray, but these aren’t terrible. The sculpts do have a lot of nice detail to them. Unfortunately, she can’t hold the pistol terribly well and it tends to droop a bit in whichever hand I put it in. Also, it would have been nice to give her a way to wear these, or at least the pistol. A hip peg on the belt and another on the back of the shoulder rig would have been most welcome.

Nitpicks aside, I am absolutely in love with this figure, which most certainly was not a given. When I dig a character as much as Domino, I’m always afraid of being disappointed when that character’s figure rolls around. Sure, the elbow articulation is a sticking point with me, but that’s been the case with a lot of the Legends gals, so I’m not going to single out Domino over it. Truth be told, when it comes to everything else, I think they really nailed this one, so much so I’m thinking of picking up a second just to keep boxed. I’m excited to see what Zazie Beetz does with the character in Deadpool 2, but from the little snippets I’ve seen of her in the trailers I’m not too worried.

Jun 27 2017

Marvel Comics: Lady Deadpool Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

That’s right… Marvel Monday was yesterday, but I’ve got so much Marvel stuff to look at, I’m extending it out to today. That means you get an extra helping of Marvel Monday without the Monday! Besides, I’m also falling behind on my Bishoujos. Case in point, this one dates back to last Summer and it is indeed Lady Deadpool! I was originally going to take a pass on this release, but I was pretty disappointed by Diamond Select’s Marvel Gallery Lady Deadpool and decided that I’d try my luck with the Bishoujo version. But I really didn’t need luck, because with Kotobukiya, it’s never a gamble.

Now, I know what you’re thinking… Take a pass? But it’s Bishoujo and it’s Deadpool and it’s Bishoujo Deadpool? It’s the self-proclaimed Chickee of Chimichangas appearing in your most favoritest statue line of them all! Are you feeling alright? Yes, but for some reason the whole Bishoujo Lady Deadpool thing didn’t click with me, and I’ll get into one of the reasons why in a bit. Anyway, Wanda Wilson comes in a typical Marvel Bishoujo box, white with windows on the front, top, and one side panel to let in plenty of light and see the goods inside. There’s also some wonderful character art by the great Shunya Yamashita, on which this statue is based. Everything is collector friendly, so let’s get Ms. ‘Pool out of the package and check her out!

So, now things are clicking, and it’s hard to deny that this is a very attractive statue. Leave it to Koto to take an idea that I’m lukewarm on and still win me over at first sight. Wanda stands with her left knee bent and her heel off the ground, striking her sexiest of poses. She gestures to herself with her left thumb and proffers a trademarked grenade in her other. Because even if she does hail from Earth-3010 and is packing lady parts, she’s still a Deadpool and she’s still gonna blow some shit up. There is absolutely nothing groundbreaking about this pose. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say it feels like they played it safe, but it’s executed quite beautifully and it just works for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the sheer kineticism of her snaking pony tail. Even if most of the composition here is pedestrian, that hair is pure poetry. I’ll also concede that this statue has several sweet spots to view her from.

I suppose a lot of the appeal here also has to do with Koto’s unswerving dedication to craftsmanship. The coloring on this piece is gorgeous. It eschews this line’s frequent love affair with high gloss finishes and serves up a combination of sassy matte reds and blues for Ms ‘Pool’s costume. It may not pop quite like a lot of the other Bishoujos on my shelf, but the red is deep and rich and I love it. And if you’re looking for something shiny, you get it in her wrist and ankle cuffs, as well as her bicep bands and collar. The quality of the paint application is quite nearly flawless too. I also appreciate that all the details on this costume are part of the sculpt, so you get raised piping on the borders between black and red. You also get some tantalizing rumples in between both bosoms and buttocks!

This Deadpool may not be packing a bulge in the nether regions, but you do get a belt with plenty of pouches and a kick ass belt buckle with a brushed silver finish. I find it a little odd that the buttons on the pouches aren’t painted, because Koto is not one to ever skimp on the paint. That leads me to believe it was a deliberate decision, they did after all paint the fixtures on the shoulder rig, so I guess I’m OK with that.

Her back is decked out with her sword rig and twin katanas, again all cast in brown. The grips feature sculpted brown wraps with some gold paint showing through. Again, it’s kind of a dull coloring for her swords, but here it’s clearly intentional because the paint hits are there and the effort was made.

And that brings us to the portrait, which is replete with Deadpooliness and certainly befitting of Lady Sassy Pants of the House of ‘Pool. Wanda has one eye popped and one eye squinting and you can clearly make out her dainty little nose jutting out from the middle of the mask. It looks fantastic. But, is it really a Bishoujo statue if the figure is masked? Of course not, and that’s why Koto always gives us a second, unmasked portrait. In this case, the alternate look not only involves a pop-and-swap for the head, but also the left arm, which includes the mask.

So, depending on what you’re reading, Wanda either is or isn’t as scarred up as her Earth-616 Dudeoppleganger, but either way, this feels more like a chick in Deadpoolette cosplay than the real McDeal. Maybe it’s because she’s too cute, maybe it’s because the unmasked hair doesn’t match, or maybe it’s because the first time I actually saw this statue it was the SDCC 2016 Exclusive that had her holding a bunch of Comic Con swag. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic portrait. She’s adorable and the coloring is beautifully done. I don’t want to take anything away from the workmanship here. It’s just that this one reminds me of those Freddy, Jason, and Chucky Bishoujos, which are also akin to chicks in cosplay. You may have noticed that I passed on each of those.

Our last stop is the base, which is a simple disc with the Deadpool logo on it. Could it ever have been anything else? Nope. It’s perfect!

I absolutely do not want to sound overly critical of this statue, because it really is an exceptionally nice piece. I’ve never experienced anything even remotely akin to Buyer’s Remorse with any of Koto’s figures and this one is certainly no different. She’s beautiful and she’s going to look great on my Bishoujo shelves. I just feel that this particular character was a bit of a reach for the line. But then maybe I’m overthinking this piece way too much and maybe I should just try to enjoy it for what it is. Wanda slipped in just under the recent Bishoujo price hikes, which means she hit most retailers at around $60, but I don’t think she’s been selling as well as others, because here we are a year later and she’s readily available from a number of sellers for considerably less.

Jun 6 2017

Marvel Comics: Quarter-Scale Deadpool by NECA

I know, yesterday was Marvel Monday, and that’s the day I set aside for all my Marvel Comics toy rambling, but sometimes I’ve got to make exceptions, and NECA’s amazing Quarter-Scale Deadpool seems like one of those times. While this is certainly not NECA’s first Marvel character in this enormous scale, previous efforts, like Iron Man and Captain America, have been grounded in the MCU. On the other hand, Wade Wilson here represents their first foray into the comic-based characters, and I was really excited to see what NECA would do with it. You think you can handle 18-inches of rock hard ‘Pool? Well, I know my little photo stage can’t, so pardon me while I go make some modifications to accommodate this beast of a figure.

The line is called EPIC MARVEL and Deadpool is appropriately Figure #00. The massive figure comes in a standard window box, much like previous releases, but this time it’s positively littered with art, quotes, and gags befitting The Merc With A Mouth. Before I even opened the figure, I had a great time looking over every square inch at the box to see all the creative stuff they plastered on it. Putting this much effort into the packaging art is love of the craft, plain and simple, and nobody does it quite like NECA. I have looked at several of NECA’s Quarter-Scale figures before, but if you’re new to this line and want a little help conceptualizing how big this figure really is, check out a shot of the box next to Hasbro’s 6-inch Marvel Legends Deadpool…

Yeah. It’s big! The package is collector friendly up to a point. You can get the figure out by clipping all those wire ties, but the accessories are all sealed to the sides of the cardboard tray with bubbles. This is unfortunate, because there’s a lot of great art on the inside of the tray too, and while some time, patience, and careful slicing with a razor can get these pieces out with minimal damage, it’s not really ideal for preserving the packaging. I tend to keep these figures in their boxes, so I spent a lot of time getting the accessories out. But now that he’s out, let’s start with the figure itself…

Sweet Chimichanga-Eatin’ Jesus… Just check him out! As I already mentioned, this design is based on the character’s comic book appearances, but clearly NECA had some artistic license when designing him, similar to what Sideshow did with their Sixth-Scale ‘Pool. The design here is absolutely superb and the way its conveyed in the sculpt is pure poetry. The suit itself is a mix of textured matte red plastic, some smooth black matte plastic, and some high gloss black paint on the shoulders. Frankly, I think the shoulders might have looked better left matte like the rest, but it still looks fine. There’s so much detail here that I’m just going to take us on a tour around Deadpool’s magnificent body and call out some of the highlights. Where better to start than with…

The crotch! It wouldn’t be Deadpool without a ton of pouches and he’s got a nice selection of these on his belt for storing his tchotchkes, Kleenix, Polaroids of Siryn sleeping, and Bea Arthur’s toenail clippings. There’s more sculpted detail on any one of these pouches than your average off-the-peg 3 3/4-inch action figure. All the eyelets and fasteners are painted in metallic silver, and you get a nice wash over the brown to make them look like rich Corinthian leather. He also has his signature Deadpool belt-buckle and some canister grenades. This shot also gives a nice view of the texturing on his uniform as well as his manly ‘Pool bulge.

If we come around a bit to check out his right thigh, we can see some more pouches and the holster for his sidearm. The sculpted straps look great, along with more silver painted fixtures. I like the brush marks on the panels of the holster itself, and the sculpted screw heads.

Just below his holster is a sheath for his knife. Again, nice job here on the sculpted screws and paint. It all looks really convincing.

Checking out Deadpool from the back shows off his impressive sword rig. The crossed scabbards hold his twin katanas as well as a sai. The sword rig is the one real complaint I have with this figure. It’s held on with two pegs and thick tabs that fit into recessed areas on his back. I found it a little tough to get it in all the way, especially with some fear of snapping those little pegs. It seems to work best on my figure when I put the bottom peg in first, then insert the top, and press the whole thing in as hard as I can. It seems to hold fine when he’s standing there on display, but when I’m playing around with him, it will tend to pop out again. To avoid frustration, I’ve found it best to take it off when messing around with him a lot.

And just to show you how much love and attention NECA put into this guy, check out the soles of his boots. God, I love this!

And here’s a shot of Deadpool’s handsome mug. The mask features some wonderful depth to the sculpt, from the texturing to the tiny rivets, and the recessed eye panels. You also get a very expressive look, with his one eye popped and the other eye squinting and his brow rumpled. Some might cry foul that there’s only one noggin in the box, but I can easily forgive that when I consider how many other goodies are included with the figure. But before I get to all the accessories, let’s do a run down on the articulation…

The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs feature rotating hinges in the hips, swivels in the thighs and double hinges in the knees. The ankles are hinged, have lateral rockers, and the feet are hinged about halfway to the toes. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is ball jointed. The joints on this guy feel fantastic and he’s a lot of fun to pose, although sometimes it feels like wrestling with a small child, because he’s just so damn big. He’s also extremely well balanced. I hardly have any trouble getting him to stay standing no matter what pose I put him in.

Deadpool comes with a total of seven different hands, most of which are tailored specifically for holding his various weapons. Although you do get this sweet left hand with his branded knuckles. Oh, Deadpool, don’t ever change. Let’s look at some guns…

‘Pools prolific arsenal of prodigious pew-pews includes a pistol, a sub-machine gun, and an assault rifle.

The pistol reminds me of RoboCop’s Auto 9, which was a modified Beretta 93R. I love the design of this thing and the sculpt is outrageous. It’s cast in black matte plastic and features some silver paint apps. It’s an entirely static piece, so there’s no working action or removable clip. It’s interesting that NECA went with a single distinctive pistol like this, rather than the usual twin automatics that we often seen Deadpool wielding. I’m actually glad they went this route as it just makes this version of the character all the more distinctive.

The sub-machine gun is another great looking weapon. Like the pistol, it’s cast in black plastic, and is static with no moving parts or removable clip. It does, however, have some great notations by Deadpool on one side and ‘Pool’s symbol stamped on the other. Oh yeah, there’s even a tiny Deadpool charm hanging off the back sling ring.

And the final entry for the guns is this assault rifle fitted with a scope and a grenade launcher. This sucker has a lot of character and includes some sculpted and painted tape on the stock, a couple of magazines taped together to one side and another pair of magazines, which are removable. All three of these weapons make for a strong statement, but sometimes you want to add a little personal touch to your killing, and that’s where the edged weapons come in handy…

‘Pool’s assortment of cutlery includes his twin katanas, a sai, and a fixed blade knife.

The sai is very simple, although it does have a cool sculpted wrap handle and I really love how it has that hole in his scabbard rig for storage.

The fixed-blade knife is a marvelous little piece. The detail on the grips is amazing. I do, however, find it to be a little diminutive for Deadpool. I doubt I will display him holding it very often, but it sure looks great in the sheath on his leg.

His katanas are really the showpiece here. They feature fully sculpted wrapped hilts with a red and black pattern, because Deadpool knows how important it is to accessorize. The tsubas are also fashioned to look like Deadpool’s iconic symbol. The blades are beautifully painted in metallic silver and feature some Japanese lettering sculpted right into the blades. These fit perfectly in the scabbards, are easy to draw, and he’s got a pair of hands that grip them splendidly.

Deadpool retails at $109 and I’ve got to say that’s a mighty good value for what you’re getting here. The figure alone is an absolute work of art and uses a full four pounds of plastic. Add to that plenty of great articulation and a ton of extras and it’s easy to see where all the money went in a release like this. It’s also easy to see where all the love went. Quarter-Pool feels like nothing less than a passion project, which granted is the case with a lot of NECA’s releases. With four of these Quarter-Scales already on my shelf, I have to be careful about how many I buy. Space is always a premium for me, but Deadpool here was an instant purchase the moment I saw him.

Oct 17 2016

Marvel Gallery: Lady Deadpool by Diamond Select

I’ve been really digging DST’s budget line of comic statues lately, and while most of my attention has been on their DC pieces, they’re Marvel line is starting to pick up some steam. I’ve already checked out their Captain Marvel and Spider-Gwen and today I’m having a looksee at Lady Deadpool from Deadpool Corps!

This fairer sex Deadpool comes in a window box that lets you get a good look at the piece from almost all angles. And let’s face it, being able to inspect the paint is no small thing when picking one out at the comic shop. But, as we’ll soon see, it doesn’t help me. There aren’t any local comic shops where I live and I have to buy online and sight unseen. Had this statue been released a little earlier it would have probably fallen under DST’s Femme Fatales line, but they’re branching out to include the dudes, hence the new name, Marvel Gallery. But fear not, these statues look right at home when displayed with DST’s Femme Fatales.

Getting Ms. Pool set up is as easy as putting the katana sword into her left hand. Starting out with the first of three ingredients that make up a statue, the composition here is excellent. Lady-D stands ready for action with swords in hands, one held out in front of her, and the other drawn up behind her. Her body language, the flexing muscles in her arms, her bent knees, and the snaking stream of hair all conspire to make this a highly kinetic piece. I think it’s a beautiful compromise between action and vanity pose. The other wonderful thing about this pose is that it doesn’t rely on that one and only “sweet spot” for display options. This piece is designed to look great from almost any angle.

With Lady Deadpool getting high marks for composition, it’s time to look at the sculpt and here too, DST did a very solid job. It’s a beautiful rendition of the female form with some excellent attention to detail in the musculature. The costume itself is pretty simple, but every aspect of it is part of the sculpt, which not only includes the straps, but the less obvious things like the border lines between the red and black sections of the outfit.

Still, I do get a general animated feel out of this piece, which is fine. And there’s still plenty of lovely little details to appreciate. No matter the universe, the ‘Pools love their pouches, and Lady-D has a generous throng of them running around her belt. The trademark Deadpool belt buckle is fully sculpted and the detail on the sword hilts is excellent. I don’t remember Lady Deadpool having the abbreviated scabbards, but they look OK. And yes… she’s got a great bum too!

With great composition and a solid sculpt, the only thing left is the paintwork, and I’m sorry to say that’s where this statue stumbles and falls right in front of the finish line. A casual glance at Lady-D and all looks fairly good. There is some general rubbing on both the black and red areas of the suit, but I can live with that. The paint looks serviceable with the statue tucked into one of my display shelves. Alas, when you power up the lights and get in to really have a good look, everything starts to fall apart. For starters, the statue looks dirty and I’m not talking about intentional weathering. If I bought this piece second hand, advertised as new in the box, I’d probably think I got swindled. The black paint on her right bicep band is all scratched up, and the paint on her hair just looks atrocious. It’s all splotchy and again it just looks careless and dirty. The overall finish is also pretty inconsistent. In some places it looks glossy in others it looks matte.

The base is decent enough. It’s a section of concrete with a little bit of wall and some pipes. It’s nothing outrageous, but it serves its purpose and gives the statue a little bit of context too.

Between the Femme Fatales, the DC Animated Series and now Marvel Gallery, I own quite a few of DST’s statues in this price range and this is easily the most disappointing one of the bunch. The biggest shame is that there’s a fantastic statue here that is just begging to be painted well. Granted, I picked this statue up for around $30, but even as a budget piece I expect better than what I got here. I’ll concede that it’s certainly possible that I just got a really bad one, but I’m not willing to roll the dice and try again. In fact, I’m about as poorly skilled a customizer as you’re likely to find, but one day I may just try my hand at repainting this thing. Whatever the outcome, it would make for an entertaining follow up Feature.

Next week on Marvel Monday, I’ll be cranking up the time machine and going back to the Rhino Wave of Marvel Legends. Because those things are still sitting in the corner waiting to be opened.

Sep 5 2016

Marvel Legends (Juggernaut Wave): Deadpool by Hasbro

Alrighty, folks, it took a whole lot of Marvel Mondays, but I’m finally opening the last figure in this fantabulous X-Men wave. And it’s Deadpool! Who? DEADPOOL!!! One more time? MUTHAF’CKIN DEADPOOL!!!!! And that’s regular red Deadpool, not some bullshit X-Force Deadpool like we got a few years back. I’m just kidding, I love me some X-Force, but seriously, Hasbro, we shouldn’t have had to wait so long for regular flavor ‘Pool. And just so I don’t have to stretch this wave out any longer, I’m going to come back tonight with a look at the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s have a look at Wade’s package. I mean his box. I mean the receptacle he came in. Oh, god. I can’t stop.

It saddens me that this is the last time I’ll set eyes on this delightfully snappy packaging. It also saddens me that I didn’t have the room to keep them all. Thankfully, I’ve snapped pictures of all of them, so from time to time I can pour myself a Jameson and admire the pictures of these figures from before I tore them open like a goddamn savage. There are a few nice personal touches, like the X emblem on the top being replaced by Deadpool’s insignia. As you can see, Deadpool’s tray is absolutely packed with stuff. So much stuff, that there wasn’t even room for a BAF piece. That’s right, Hasbro made it so that you don’t have to buy Poolsy in order to build Juggsy. Why? Because they knew he’d sell anyway. Why? Because he’s Deadpool! Who? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! Let’s tear open this chimichanga-munchin-mo-fo and see how he turned out.

Deadpool comes to us donning his familiar red and black costume with sculpted wrist bracers, shin armor, belted boots, and a whole bunch of added belts and pouches. This figure is a great example of a measured mix of costume-painted-on-buck with just the right amount of new sculpting and extras to make it feel like a fresh and new figure. The coloring is gorgeous, with a mix of matte and gloss black and some vibrant red. Yeah, I would have liked a little more paintwork on the belts. They sprang for silver paint on the boot buckles, which makes it a little jarring that we didn’t get any on the belt straps and pouch buttons. But hey, this ain’t NECA, it’s Hasbro, and in the end the figure still looks damn great.

From behind we can not only check out Deadpool’s fine caboose, but also the functional double-scabbard harness for his katana swords. There’s also a lot going on around Deadpool groin-ular area, so let’s have a gander at what he’s packing around his nether regions!

Oh, baby! As I said before, you get plenty of pouches, along with Deadpool’s signature belt buckle. The rest of the belt (and pouches) is all cast in one piece of brown plastic. You do get some green paint on the two grenades. I think it would have been cool to have these painted up in the Deadpool style, like Sideshow did with their Sixth-Scale figure, but I suppose I should be happy they weren’t left brown.

On the other side, we can see many more pouches, as well as get a good look at the two functional holsters for his automatic pistols. One is slung across the front of his waist, so he can draw across with his left hand. The other is positioned on his right hip so he can draw with the right arm. Y’all know I love me some functional holsters, so these make me a happy camper.

There are two portraits with this figure. The first is his regular masked noggin and I think Hasbro did a solid job on this one. It’s just expressive enough with the one eye popped and the other squinting, going for a very singular Deadpool look, but at the same time, I don’t think it’s so specific that it doesn’t work as a head for every occasion. There’s some nice sculpted stitch lines in the mask and you can see his furled brow sculpted in there as well. The paint here is sharp and clean.

The unmasked portrait is an absolute work of art. It features all the craters, nooks, and crannies in Wade’s troublesome complexion with a wonderful paint job to back it up. Seriously, the shading and variations in paint that make up the skin here feels totally beyond what Hasbro has ever been capable of in this line. Here, Deadpool offers a maniacal toothy grin with pupil-less yellow eyes. I will note that this head was an absolute bitch to get on, and I may have to go in there with a blade and clean out some of the plastic around the socket. You’ll also see that I rarely used this head in any of the pictures for this Feature. That’s in no way a slight against it. I think it’s magnificent, but it also goes for a very specific look. That having been said, I’ve already pre-ordered another Deadpool so I can display him with this head.

Wade Wilson is a nimble guy, so articulation here is important, and I’m happy to say that the figure delivers quite a bit. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels at the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and an ab crunch hinge in the torso. And lastly the neck features both a ball joint and a hinge. It’s pretty standard stuff for the modern Legends body.

Now, before I get into the accessories, I do have a couple of bones to pick with Mr. Pool and I feel bad doing it because this really is an outstanding and fun figure and Hasbro packed a lot of stuff into this package. Firstly, this is a figure that really needed more hands. If you read enough of my Features, you know that I’m not big on swapping out hands, but here’s a figure that could have used it. He can interact well enough with all his accessories. I’m surprised at how well the gun holding right hand can still work with the taco. But that same hand kind of looks like he’s drinking tea with his pinky out. It sort of works for Deadpool, because he’s a goofball, but at the same time, a more conventional right hand would have been nice.
Secondly, I certainly appreciate all the weapons, but at this point in the game, getting 6-inch scale guns without any paint operations feels super cheap. Take the pistols shown above. The lack of paint there is really obvious to me. Sometimes, it isn’t warranted, many guns look fine just left all black, but the decision to cast these in gray-silver plastic as opposed to black might not have been the best one. I could see leaving off the paint on 3 3/4-inch scale weapons, but not here. OK, enough griping, let’s take a look at Wade’s impressive arsenal…

We already saw the pistols. Great sculpts, nicely sized, needed some paint. Moving on…

The grenade launcher is nice. Pretty good sculpt. I would have been happy with this cast in black plastic. As it is… it needs more paint.

Deadpool: “When it comes to guns, it’s not what you do with it, it’s the size that matters!”

And then you’ve got this thing. I have no idea what it is. If it’s intended as a specific design, I don’t recognize it. It looks like a Cosplayer made it out of cardboard and then spray painted it silver. But hey, it’s a big goofy gun, so I’m fine with it. And speaking of goofy…

Deadpool: “Here’s the part where I hit em with the punch line!”

Yes, it’s a bazooka with a giant comical boxing glove at the end. This reminds me a lot of an accessory that came with one of my Movie Masters Joker figures from Mattel. I think it’s great, but if you want something a little more conventional, the glove on the end is removable and you’re left with just a big bazooka, and who doesn’t love that? And that’s all the guns out of the way, but this is Deadpool. He slices, he dices, he likes him some edged weapons…

First, we have this lovely tanto-style combat knife that can be stored in the sheath sculpted into his right leg. And look! They painted the grip black! Marvelous!!!

And, of course, Deadpool comes with his trusty twin katanas, Bea and Arthur. These appear to be repaints of the ones that came with Hasbro’s X-Force Deadpool from a while ago. They’re nice accessories, and here too we get some paint on the grips. The interior is red and the wrappings are black, because Deadpool likes to accessorize, bitches. Weapons are all well and good, but sometimes you gotta take a snack…

And so Wade comes with a glorious plastic taco. Hey, if Hasbro can bundle a slice of pizza with Spider-Man, than getting Deadpool a taco is a no-brainer. Is this the first time an action figure has been bundled with such a scrumptious looking Southwestern snack? I would have to imagine so. There’s just one more thing to point out before I wrap this up…

Yeah. Remember how I chastised Hasbro for not getting us the traditional red Deadpool along with the X-Force one, since a repaint was such a quick, easy, and obvious cashgrab? Well, sometimes it’s better to wait. I really loved that figure when I got it and I can remember reviewing him quite favorably. But just looking at the two together shows that X-Force Deadpool has not aged well. He’s short and scrawny, and he’s got those terrible ball hips. Damn, it’s crazy what a little time and perspective can do to an action figure. Now I just find myself wanting to repaint this one into X-Force Deadpool. I think that’s irony.

“Everybody wants some!”

Deadpool: “Take him out, but don’t mess up the cape. I want the cape.”

Sinister: “I can hear you. I’m standing right here.”

Deadpool: “Excelsior!!!”

When I read back through this Feature, I thought it sounded like I came down a little harder on Deadpool than I usually do with Marvel Legends. I think that’s mainly because the figure is so good, and I love the character so much, that it just needed those few little more tweaks to elevate it to truly amazing status. A little paint on the weapons, and a couple of expressive hands, and this would have been all the better. But really, I’m talking out of my ass, because this is a still a great figure as is. He’s so great a figure that even after looking at the seven fantastic figures that preceded him in this wave, I’m still ending on a high note by featuring him last. Indeed, you can tell how much fun I’m having with him just by the number of pictures that I snapped, and trust me there were plenty more. This is a figure that will reside on my desk for a long time, because I want him to always be within arm’s reach. And that finally wraps up my look at the packaged figures in this wave. Come on back later this evening and I’ll have a look at the Juggernaut Build-A-Figure! But not before I do a hack job of emulating one of my favorite Deadpool pages (Deadpool #27, 1997).

Deadpool: “You smug little… Speaking of games, ever play Street Fighter?”

Logan: “Kitty!”

**SNIKT!**

Deadpool: “Yay! Now is fighty time! fighty time!”

Feb 13 2016

Pop! Vinyl (Marvel Comics): Deadpool by Funko

It’s a geek overload weekend, between Toy Fair and the Deadpool movie opening to great box office takings. I’m probably going to go see Deadpool on Tuesday when the crowds die down and I’m not obsessing over Toy Fair coverage. So, while I’m chilling at home never far from my Twitter Feed and taking in all the new plastic news, I thought I’d grab another Pop! Vinyl off my stack and take a look. Deadpool seemed appropriate.

Granted, Funko have released well over a dozen different Deadpools in their addictive Pop! Vinyl format. The one I’m looking at is #20 in the Marvel Series and also their first release of the character. Although this particular figure was released in a whopping nine different variations, so if you’re a dedicated ‘Pool fan, then have fun tracking all of those down. This is Inception level character milking of the first degree that few companies other than Funko could pull off. Anyway, the box is standard fare for the Pop! series and it is naturally collector friendly. While I’m ashamed to say my Pop! collection has been growing rather quickly, I still keep them boxed. Hopefully I have the wherewithal to stop myself before I have a closet of Totes full of loose Pop!s.

As a Marvel licensed Pop!, Deadpool is an actual Bobblehead with a spring inside his giant noggin that makes it jiggle all over the place like a jonesing crack addict. I much prefer the regular fixed head Pop!s, but due to licensing issues with Hasbro, Funko is forced to make all their Star Wars and Marvel Pop!s in this manner. It’s not a big enough issue for me to get me to boycott them, but it does make me be extra choosy when deciding whether or not to buy a Star Wars or Marvel Pop!.

Deadpool dons his classic red and black outfit with plenty of pouches and wields a machine pistol and katana in his hands. It’s an instantly recognizable rendition and loaded with ‘Pool personality. The paint on mine is a little rough, though. There’s some fading on the brown belt across his strap where the red plastic is showing through and a spot of black paint on his left foot. On the other hand, the tampos on his giant face is crisp and they did a nice job painting his little belt buckle. These are mass produced items of the highest order, so unfortunately some paint flubs are inevitable.

I like the little sculpted tip of his hood that hangs off the back of his head. From the back you can also see lots more pouches on his belts and a little silver painted pistol in his holster. If I had one complaint it would be that both his scabbards are empty and yet he’s only holding one sword. Hey, Deadpool, where’d your other sword go? Yeah, I know, it wouldn’t have worked with the giant head. I’m still going to be picky about it.

If you want a little snapshot of Pop! Vinyl economics, despite being about three years old and the first release of the character in this format, this Deadpool is still readily available and not terribly expensive. Sure, even at $15 he’s going for one and a half times the original retail, but my point is if you’re hunting him, it won’t break the bank. Some of the variants, on the other hand, tend to get a lot pricier. I’m disappointed in myself enough already for picking picking up these Pop!s as impulse buys, if I ever catch myself paying a premium for one, I hope someone out there loves me enough to do an intervention.

Nov 17 2015

Marvel Comics: Deadpool Sixth-Scale Figure (Exclusive) by Sideshow, Part 2

Yesterday, I kicked off my look at Sideshow’s Sixth-Scale Deadpool by checking out the figure, the portraits, and a plethora of hands. Today I’m wrapping it up with a look at all the other extra bits. I’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in and start with Deadpool’s trusty pistols…

‘Pool’s automatics are beautiful little pieces right down to the steel finish and the custom painted ‘poolified grips. Sideshow is no stranger to producing top notch looking weaponry in this scale and these guns certainly continue that trend. The receivers do slide back and while it looks like the magazines are removable, I haven’t been able to get mine out and I don’t want to force the issue. Sooooo, maybe and maybe not. The weapons fit comfortably in the holsters and the magnetic retaining flaps keep them in place and the special gun hands are absolutely perfect for displaying these tools of death. Pistols are often the least impressive accessories with these types of figures, but I think these really shine and fit the figure the best.

Next up are his twin Katana swords, which come in plastic scabbards and feature beautifully sculpted grips that match Deadpool’s red and black deco. The scabbards feature metal clips, which can be attached to the web harness on his back. The clips on these are super delicate and I’ve already had to reattach one. Fortunately, it’s not a breakage, just a clean detachment that was easy to fix. I would have preferred Sideshow had gone with magnets like they used to hold their Major Bludd figure’s backpack in place, but I suppose this works well enough. But yeah… magnets, Sideshow… magnets!

The sword blades are plastic, but very pointy and sharp! The special sword hands work beautifully for these pieces, although they can also be used with the gun hands to angle the blades a bit more. And as long as we’re on the subject of blades…

‘Pool also comes with a tanto knife with a sheath and a clip. You can really put this anywhere on the figure that there’s a strap to attach it to, but I think it was designed as a boot knife. It has a shiny plastic blade and there’s not a whole lot more to say about it. It’s just a nicely executed little bonus.

Blades are all well and good, but sometimes when you need to dispatch bad guys you want to go all shooty on their asses and even your pistols aren’t enough. That’s when you pull out this big boy. I usually pride myself on my firearm knowledge, but I have no idea what this thing is and Sideshow identifies it only as an assault rifle. Whatever it is, it’s big, it’s got some beautiful weathering and it even has a detachable scope, because what fun is it to blow heads off when you can’t see them explode up close and personal?

If shooting and slicing doesn’t do the job, Deadpool can fall back on making things go boom with his pair of custom grenades. You get two of these little hand painted jewels and they are absolutely adorable. And with little clips on each one, you can attach them to Deadpool’s rig in a myriad of places.

We’re done with Deadpool’s arsenal, but there’s still a couple of extras to look at and to use them Deadpool will require his stand. The stand is pretty stand-ard (haha!) stuff with a crotch-cradle and a hexagonal base. The base has a printed graphic on it, which I notice some people are pretty nit-picky about, especially on the Hot Toys figures. I really don’t mind these at all. It looks great and supports the figure well. In this case, there are also three holes in the post behind the wire stand to accommodate wires for the speech bubbles.

Yes, easily the most unique set of accessories included with the figure are the speech bubbles. You get one white and one yellow and they attach to the stand with the wires. You also get a sheet of stickers with phrases and whatnot. It’s a very cool idea, but I can’t imagine the stickers will survive all that many times being removed and reattached, so I’m not going to go nuts with them. Using dry-erase bubbles, in conjunction with the stickers might have been a better way to go. It’s a very novel concept and one which I appreciate a lot, but to be honest, I don’t know that I’ll get much use out of them. And that brings us to the last accessory…

The exclusive Headpool from Deadpool Corps! This little guy is an amazing piece of sculpting and paint and a bonus which definitely made going through Sideshow for this figure very worthwhile. You have to get in real close to appreciate all the disgusting detail Sideshow invested in this head. Deadpool Corps was a damn great book and including the extra version of ‘Pool was a great idea. Like the speech bubbles, he connects to the base using a wire to help him hover. I also appreciate that the design allows you to display the figure with both speech bubbles and the Headpool all at the same time. Nice!

If you can’t tell by the length of this piece, I really, really love this figure. Sideshow’s Deadpool is absolutely outstanding. I’ll confess that somewhere along the line after the release of the Deadpool movie trailer, I started wondering if I had done the right thing. You can’t tell me that there isn’t going to be a Hot Toys version of Deadpool based on the movie. Nonetheless, I’m glad I didn’t falter and that I let the pre-order ride, because in hand this figure is everything I wanted him to be and more. I love the modern and realistic costume design, the articulation is tight and the body suit isn’t too restrictive, and the accessories are fantastic. So how about that price? At $230, Sideshow have now officially positioned themselves at an equal footing in the market with Hot Toys. Indeed, Deadpool was actually twenty bucks more than my last Captain America figure from Hot Toys. And that’s with no likeness rights here and none of that extra work required to craft the actor’s likeness. On the other hand, Deadpool has a lot more accessories. Is it a trade off? Well, I always imagined the cost and effort that went into a figure’s likeness was a considerable sum, so I’m at a loss to see how the comparison works out. On the other hand, the quality and workmanship in this figure is at a premium and the number of extras is off the charts, so the value is certainly there. I could go back and forth on the cost issue forever, but in the end, I love the figure and have zero buyer’s remorse, and I guess that’s good enough for me. Now I just have to decide if Sideshow’s Punisher is worth the same price tag.

Nov 16 2015

Marvel Comics: Deadpool Sixth-Scale Figure (Exclusive) by Sideshow, Part 1

Deadpool. The Merc With A Mouth. El hombre que ama Chimichangas. He can be a polarizing character, but to me he’ll always be a favorite. I’ve probably re-read more of his comics than any other single character’s out there and that’s because to me they have staying power. If I have 15 minutes to kill, I’ll often crack open a Deadpool omnibus or grab a TPB and enjoy an ish. And don’t even get me started on Cable & Deadpool. I wept real tears when that run ended. Anywho, it’s a great time to be a Deadpool fan because we’ve got a film coming with a trailer that gives me nothing but confidence in the project. We also got this excellent figure from Sideshow Toys. I pre-ordered this guy back in November of 2014(!) and while it was a loooong wait, I’m excited to finally have him in hand. My schedule is a little tight this week, so I am going to be looking at Deadpool in two parts. Today we’ll check out the packaging and the figure and tomorrow the accessories. It seems only fair, since I found I have a lot to say about this guy.

The figure comes in a shoebox style package that at first glance feels right at home on the shelf beside my myriad of Hot Toys boxes. It’s got some nice art that I’d be tempted to say is a little too artsy-fartsy for Deadpool if it didn’t look so damn great. If you netted the Exclusive from Sideshow, you’ll also see a silver sticker on the front stating the fact.

Lift the box top and you get an illustrated cardboard insert and under that lies the figure packed neatly in foam cut-outs. The foam protects the figure nicely and under it is a tray that contains the bulk of ‘Pool’s accessories. There’s nothing wrong with this internal packaging style, but it feels just a tad lower rent than what I’m used to getting Hot Toys figures. Maybe I’m just a bigger fan of the molded plastic trays over the foam. I dunno. Either way, it’s just something that’s going to sit on my bookshelf, so let’s cast it aside and check out the figure.

Sideshow has become masters of taking iconic character designs from comics or cartoons and making them look real. This was particularly evident in their GI JOE Cobra figures and Deadpool feels a lot like that same kind of treatment. While we now have a real movie Deadpool to compare, this version of Deadpool was conceptualized beforehand and still looks like he would be right at home strutting his stuff on the big screen. Indeed, I might even go so far as to say I like this version a little better than the design we’ve seen in the Deadpool trailer. But s’all good. I don’t want to knock anything in that trailer. One thing is clear, Sideshow spared no ~~expenses~~ pouches in executing this design and the result is a deliciously busy costume that is positively bristling with bits and bobs and just general detail.

All told there’s about 20 beautifully crafted pouches covering our pal ‘Pool, each of which is clipped on and can be removed or readjusted to suit your taste. You also get Deadpool’s trademark belt buckle to help him look stylish and keep his pants up, but more importantly secure his two pistol holsters. The holsters feature retaining flaps with magnet latches, which are so much better than delicate snaps or buttons in this scale. Under the Liefeldesque web of straps and pouches, Deadpool sports a nicely tailored combat suit made of black and crimson fabric. The black bits feature a stitched quilted pattern and the suit is further reinforced with some plastic armor bits on the shoulders, knees, and forearms. If I had one nitpick on the costume it’s that my figure’s fly seems to prefer to stay exposed. But hey, that’s so Deadpool!

Deadpool comes with two portraits, each of which are super easy to swap out, thanks to this rather odd neck post. Instead of just a regular exposed ball joint, there’s this cylinder that fits into the head. The noggin fits on smoothly and you don’t have to apply any force at all to get the head off. A single finger on the shoulder and a gentle tug will do the trick. On the flip-side, don’t try picking up your figure from the head only, as you’ll likely wind up with a catastrophe. The stock head is standard Deadpool, while the other features a goofier expression as if he’s trying to peer through the fourth wall. There are also some subtle differences in the configuration of his hood between the two portraits. The sculpt is pretty damn good on both, and while you’ll never be able to perfectly match sculpted fabric with real fabric, the heads still look great on the figure.

If there’s one thing Sideshow has learned from Hot Toys, it’s that if you’re going to charge a lot for a figure, you’ve got to throw in a lot of hands. ‘Pool comes with no less than five different sets. You get the usual assortment of pedestrian meathooks, including fists, gun holding hands, and sword holding hands, but you also get some pretty cool and rather unique expressive hands to work with, which can be a lot of fun. Changing them out, on the other hand, is a bit of a chore. They’re a tight fit on the pegs and the plastic arm bracers tend to get in the way. Anyway, you can use the hands to relive great Deadpool moments, or make up your own…

ssdpool11

“Did you see that? I totally just sucker punched Kitty Pryde right in the gut!”

“Peace! Haha… I’m still going to kill you!”

“Hey Black Widow… Dat ass is fiiiiiiine!”

“Gramps… Dude! Ya only got like six pouches on that outfit. You gotta get more pouches. It’s all about the pouches! I know a guy, I’ll hook you up!”

To be continued, tomorrow… Same ‘Pool Time, Same ‘Pool Channel!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: deadpool

Marvel Legends (Sasquatch Wave): Cable by Hasbro

Marvel Legends (Sasquatch Wave): Deadpool by Hasbro

Marvel Legends (Sasquach Wave): Domino by Hasbro

Marvel Comics: Lady Deadpool Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Marvel Comics: Quarter-Scale Deadpool by NECA

Marvel Gallery: Lady Deadpool by Diamond Select

Marvel Legends (Juggernaut Wave): Deadpool by Hasbro

Pop! Vinyl (Marvel Comics): Deadpool by Funko

Marvel Comics: Deadpool Sixth-Scale Figure (Exclusive) by Sideshow, Part 2

Marvel Comics: Deadpool Sixth-Scale Figure (Exclusive) by Sideshow, Part 1

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