Tag Archives: exclusives

Feb 10 2016

Star Wars Rebels: AT-DP and Driver (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

Hasbro sure hasn’t made collecting their 3 3/4-inch Rebels line easy or fun, but then if you visit here often you’ve already heard me bitch about that fact on multiple occasions. And while I’ve managed to collect all the good guys in the line, I’m still hunting a few Imperials. The AT-DP Driver was one of those and thanks to this Target Exclusive “value pack,” I was finally able to get him bundled with the AT-DP vehicle. Ironically, I didn’t actually find this at Target, but rather from Amazon and at a damn good price, too!

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The goods come in a mostly enclosed box. I dig the style here. It’s not as attractive as some of The Force Awakens packages, but it looks decent and the artwork is very evocative of the first episode of the show. What’s crazy is how tiny the actual name of the vehicle and figure are all the way down in the right hand corner. The box has a “Target Exclusive” sticker on the front as well as a little window to the left showing off the figure. I passed on this vehicle a bunch of times, mainly because it was crazy expensive on the secondary market. So it was kind of nice to get it and another of the elusive figures for a cool twenty bucks. TWENTY BUCKS! At one time the figure alone was going for close to that.

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There’s a little bit of assembly required here. You just have to attach the legs, feet, and the chin gun. Once there on, there on, so there’s no going back into the box. There’s also a very small sticker sheet with all of five tiny stickers. First impressions of this thing are better than I expected, but to be honest my expectations were really low. The plastic feels a bit on the cheap side, but it certainly is scaled beautifully. I mean, this thing is super tall and it looks massive next to the figures.

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The sculpted detail isn’t too bad either. Considering that it’s based off of a rather simplified and stylized design, I’d say there’s enough panel lines and whatnot on here to let it hang with the live action toys. Paint apps are limited to a few different shades of gray and a little bit of orange black. There’s very little articulation on this thing. The legs only move at the point they connect to the body. The driver’s compartment rotates left and right and the chin gun raises and lowers. Not sure what the point of even giving the legs any articulation was since the vehicle can’t hold a pose unless the legs are straight up and down. On the other hand, I will say that this will stand fine on its own, which is more than I could say for my Vintage Collection AT-ST, which was loaded with leg articulation and would collapse into a pile if I looked at it funny.

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The head sort of has room for two figures. The main hatch opens up and there’s a smaller circular hatch that opens as well. If you ever owned any of the AT-ST toys, you know what I’m talking about. There’s a driver’s seat and a second “seat” behind it, which is really just able to have a figure stand on it, while the top half sticks out the hatch.

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The chin gun holds the toy’s only action figure and that’s the firing missile. As far as action features go, it’s not bad because it doesn’t mess with the look of the toy. Naturally, I’ll be displaying it with the missile removed. Moving on to the Driver…

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The Rebels figures are all 5-POA, retro style and given the stylized sculpts, I’m OK with that. This figure, in particular, though just feels like it came right out of a Kenner casepack era 1981. That’s sort of a compliment… or at least in this case, it was intended as one. It’s a good sculpt, not much paint, but what’s there is solid. He comes with a standard E-11 Blaster. I really dig this guy a lot.

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Overall, I’m really happy with this set and not only because it got me one step closer to completing my Rebels figures. Granted, I’m pretty sure the AT-DP originally retailed for $29.99 by itself and that’s crazy talk. But twenty bucks for the figure and vehicle? Now you’re talking, Hasbro! If I had the display space, I’d easily pick up a second one of these and I may still do that, because I’m quite mad. It seems as if Hasbro has done bundles for three out of the four vehicles released for Rebels, as I was able to pick up the the Inquisitor’s Advanced TIE Protoype as well and at the same great price. So unless I happen upon a friggin General Kallus, when I next revisit the Rebels line we’ll take a look at the TIE.

Nov 18 2015

Star Wars Black (The Force Awakens): Riot Control Stormtrooper and Poe Dameron by Hasbro

Wave Two of The Force Awakens 6-inch Black Series is being fickle. I have the wave pre-ordered, but now all the figures, except Captain Phasma are showing up everywhere. I can’t buy them and cancel my pre-order because then I’ll probably never get that chromed Stormy beauty and so I’m destined to wait. Well, at least there have been some exclusives to tide me over. I’ve already looked at the TRU Exclusive Snowtrooper Officer and today I’m checking out Target’s Exclusive Riot Stormtrooper and Poe Dameron 2-Pack.

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The figures come in a window box that manages to capture the deco of the single boxed figures. You get monochrome character portraits on the front lower right corner, the red backdrop behind the tray, and the one red side panel, albeit without any numbers for the figures. The packaging is totally collector friendly and gives you a great look at what you’re getting. Let’s start with Poe, since this is the first version of him I have in this scale.

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Most of what we’ve been seeing of Poe has been him in his X-Wing pilot suit, but this is regular Resistance Fighter Poe in the Galaxy Far Far Away’s version of a Members Only Jacket, which appear to be very popular in the film because we also saw it on the 6-inch Finn figure. Is it just the same figure with a head swap? Surprisingly, no. In fact, I don’t see any shared parts at all, except maybe the hand sculpts. Poe sports new trousers, boots, and a shirt with a plunging collar. Even the jacket and arm sleeves, which would have been logical recycled parts, are new on Poe. His jacket sculpt is sharper and more defined, and even has a number of different details to make it distinctive. It’s also more of a brown and less of a caramel color. The paint is OK, the red shoulder patch application is a little ham-fisted, but not too bad. He also has some spray on his knees that makes it look like he’s been kneeling in the sands of Jakku. Finn was a damn good figure, but everything about Poe from the neck down is just a bit better.

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The portraits, on the other hand, are the other way around. I don’t see a lot of Oscar Isaac in the Dameron head sculpt, whereas I think the Finn figure is a pretty solid likeness for John Boyega. That having been said, my expectations on the 6-inch Black likenesses have been tuned down a lot this year, so I’m not terribly disappointed. The hair sculpt is decent, the paint on the eyes is good, although the paint used for his unshaven face looks a little blue to me.

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The articulation here is identical to what we saw on Finn. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The chest and neck both feature a ball joints.

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Poe comes with two accessories: HIs flight helmet and a blaster rifle. Like Finn’s gun, Poe’s looks rather large and unwieldly and not very much like a Star Wars weapon, aside from the muzzle tip, which kind of looks like the old Rebel blaster muzzles. The helmet is a decent piece of work, although the paint is a little rough around the edges where the yellow plastic shows through. It kind of just looks like weathering. Let’s move on to the Stormtrooper…

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I don’t have a lot to say about this guy, as he is a straight repack of the regular First Order Stormtrooper, including both of his guns, with just a couple pieces of extra gear. Actually, let me qualify that… my Riot Trooper is missing the little ding in the right shoulder armor that both of my regular First Order Troopers have. That’s the only difference that I can see. Now, don’t mistake that as a complaint. I’ve only been able to find two of the 6-inch First Order Stormies, so I’m happy to get another one, especially when its bundled with some extras and a new figure as well.

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The two extras are a riot shield and a baton. While I suspect the shield is a bit of Expanded Universe equipment and not actually see in the flick, it looks good and is designed to match the armor. It’s held on the arm by two straps, but unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be designed to come off and the backstrap is seated right in his elbow articulation. I did a little snip-snip with mine and carefully cut one end of the back strap to make it removable. This allow allows him to equip it with the front strap in his hand and it gives him his elbow articulation back. All of the pictures I took for this feature were shot after I clipped it off.

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That baton is like a futuristic version of the police issue PR-24 baton with some nice sculpting and painted detail. It looks like it’s meant to have a mechanism in there, so I’m guessing it’s a stun baton.

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This two-pack seems to be selling for $39.99 at Target stores. I actually got mine off the website and used some scraps off a couple of Target Giftcards to get it closer to $30. Either way, it’s a pretty sweet deal. I like both figures a lot and I’m especially happy to get yet another First Order Stormtrooper for my little squad. But now I think I’m all out of Exclusives, so I’m back to waiting for my pre-order of Wave Two to roll in. Maybe I’ll pass the time by picking up some more of the 3 3/4″ figures.

Sep 21 2015

Marvel Legends: (Eric O’Grady) Ant-Man by Hasbro

“You [Hank Pym] are so frustrating. This is why you have fewer action figures than all the other Avengers”  -Eric O’Grady, Ant-Man and Wasp.

I’m taking a slight detour from my jaunt through the Legends Hobgoblin Wave to look at this one-off Walgreens Exclusive. Sometimes having crippling insomnia comes in handy because when I stopped by the corner drug store to replenish my supply of precious sleep-granting Unisom I happened to notice this fella on the shelf and snatched him up. It’s Eric O’Grady as Ant-Man… er, Black Ant!

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Despite being a Walgreens Exclusive, the package is right in line with what we’ve been seeing from the Ant-Man Wave with the Ultron BAF. There’s no sticker or any other indicator that the figure is an exclusive either.

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And here he is, Eric O’Grady… Thunderbolt, Secret Avenger, womanizer, all around scumbag with a heart of gold. His is likely not the first or even the second name that springs to mind when you hear Ant-Man, and indeed he’s a relatively new creation that starred in his own short-lived book before getting shuffled off to other publications. If you want my recommendation, I’d say go read the Ant-Man and Wasp mini-series by the wonderful Tim Seeley, in which he teams up with Hank Pym as The Wasp. It’s a fun read, although this isn’t the suit he wore in it. In fact, technically O’Grady never wore it at all, but rather his Life Model Decoy did and not as Ant-Man but as Black Ant. Yeah, it’s confusing… let’s look at the damn figure.

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O’Grady features a very lean buck, which I can’t place, but I suspect comes from the past Legends line, before the current reboot. At first, I thought it was a resculpted Yellow Jacket, but the hips aren’t right for that. Either way, the costume is almost entirely painted on and while there’s some instances of the black plastic bleeding through the red paint, it still overall looks pretty good. The belt is a new piece, which just hangs on the hips. There’s a hole in the back, which presumes the previous owner of this body had a cape.

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The head sculpt is quite outstanding. I love the helmet, particularly the configuration of the communication device on his chin and the way the antenna look. The visible lower half of O’Grady’s face has good definition and the neon orange paint used for the eyes and other details really makes the otherwise dark figure pop.

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The articulation is above average for Legends, thanks to the added shoulder crunch hinges. I love those things! Additionally, the arms have 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, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at the thighs. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features a swivel at the waist, ab crunch hinge at the torso and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. There’s no mushy joints here, either.

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You know it’s a beautiful day to be a Marvel Legends collector when a) Hasbro is turning out characters like Eric O’Grady and b) stores like Walgreens are interested in stocking them. Conversely, Black Ant is a perfect exclusive in that most casual collectors won’t be broken hearted if he’s tough to find. Ironically, with the way things work around here, I have an easier time finding Hasbro figures at Walgreens then anywhere else, so I do hope the retail chain keeps these coming. It’s an easy way to get an extra twenty bucks out of me when I stop by to pick up Unisom, cat litter and frozen pizzas.

Jun 16 2015

Planet of the Apes (Classic): Gorilla Soldier Infantry 2-Pack by NECA

Let’s call the first part of this week “unfinished business with multipacks” shall we? Yesterday I finally opened the MOTUC Star Sisters and today I’m busting out NECA’s box of Gorilla Soldiers from the Classic Planet of the Apes movies. Rather then go through it again, I’ll point you to my other Features in this line if you want to hear me gassing on about how much these movies meant to me as a kid or more importantly how amazing these figures have been. Suffice it to say, I’m thrilled that NECA started doing this series and I’ll continue to support it every step of the way.

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This pair of militant gorillas comes in a window box with a deco very similar to the single boxed Gorilla Soldier. It shows off the figures very well and it is totally collector friendly, which is a good thing because there’s a fair amount of accessories to keep track of. While these soldiers did appear in the original Planet of the Apes, it wasn’t until Beneath the Planet of the Apes that we got to see them mobilized en masse. Those scenes are still my favorite thing about that film.

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Obviously, there’s a lot of parts sharing between this pair and the single pack Gorilla Soldier, but there’s just enough variety to keep things interesting. All three figures share the same base body with the same coloring. The biggest difference is the single pack ape has a balrdic and these guys are wearing backpacks. The backpacks are actually worn by the figure using straps, but the connection point is glued together. So, technically, the pack should be easily removable with the stroke of a razor blade, but it’s not meant to come off. I generally don’t recommend the defacing of such beautiful figures, but it does offer some easy customization possibilities if you want to get multiple sets. The pack doesn’t open, but it looks great. I really dig the stitching and the leather look of the pack.

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The head sculpts are where the real variety is at. These guys have a more neatly groomed mane around the neckline. It’s rounded off, whereas the single pack ape’s was uneven and scraggly. One of these soldiers has a black face and the other’s is brown. It looks like there are minor variations in the sculpted lines in their faces and the positioning of the mouth. As always, these are fantastic sculpts, with sharp detail and wonderful paintwork.

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The articulation here is the same on each figure as well as the single pack soldier. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists and the legs have the same at the hips, knees, and ankles. You get lateral rockers in the ankles, a generous ball joint at the waist, and a ball jointed neck. These guys aren’t going to do any advanced acrobatics, but this is some solid and serviceable articulation to have fun with.

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Accessories! One of the biggest selling points of this pack early on were the accessories that NECA was teasing us with on Twitter. The pack contains, two rifles, two poles, and two truncheons. The truncheons are the same pieces that came with the single pack soldier, only without the lanyard piece. You also get swappable right hands to help them hold these. I do kind of miss the ability to hang these on the belt like you could with the single pack figure, but I suppose the omission adds variety.

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The human-hunting poles are identical, simple pieces sculpted to look like wood with thick black string winding around them. By sliding tthe plastic loop at the lower end of the pole upward you can make a lariat to loop around human necks. I love these things, but where are the humans, NECA? WHERE ARE BRIGHT EYES AND NOVA??? OR POST LOBOTOMY LANDON??? Seriously, I just want some humans to go with my apes, please!

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And finally… the guns! I was expecting straight repacks of the rifles that came with General Ursus and the single pack soldier and I was half right. One of the guns is the Ursus gun, but the other is a brand new piece with a brown stock and a retractable bayonet. Holy shit! A retractable bayonet! This is such a cool accessory!

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On a final note, I’ve had a few people ask me about the clear plastic stands I use in some of my 6-inch figure reviews. They are NECA’s own stands, sold in packs of 10 and they work with varying degrees of success on NECA figures. They’re fine for the Apes, but the one NECA figure in my collection that just will not stand up, Bioshock Infinite Elizabeth, doesn’t peg into them well enough to keep her upright. The stands do work pretty well with Mattel’s Masters Classics line and some Marvel Legends, but at an average of $17 for a pack of 10 stands, they aren’t cost effective for wide use throughout my collection. Still, I’m happy to keep a couple packs around for my NECA figures.

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Despite being a Toys R Us exclusive, and my general distaste for TRU’s online shopping experience, I was able to grab this set online without any difficulties a while back at the MSRP of $29.99 and they are still readily available at that price. Considering the single pack figures in this series set me back about $20 each, the price here is really great. You get more accessories than any of the individual figures came with plus two fantastic sculpts. I’d call that a bargain. In fact, I’m continually tempted to go back for one more of these sets before they disappear. In the meantime, NECA has been showing off some teases of a third wave in this line, and you can bet I’ll be on board when they finally ship.

Apr 25 2015

Marvel Legends: Agents of SHIELD 3-pack by Hasbro, Part 2

It’s Saturday, my vacation is almost over and that makes me a sad puppy. Hopefully playing with some new Marvel Legends can cheer me up until the dark din of Monday morning hits me and my mood is irrecoverable. Yesterday, I started looking at this Agents of SHIELD boxed set with Agent Phil Coulson and found him to be a fresh and new figure. Today we’re going to be looking at Nick Fury and Maria Hill and things are not going to be so fresh and new. Reuse of parts is common in these multiplacks and that’s going to become pretty apparent today with two recycled bodies. We’ve already seen the packaging, so let’s jump right in and start with Nick Fury.

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Before I get going, let me point out that this seems to be a repack of the Legends Fury originally issued as part of the Walmart exclusive Captain America: The First Avenger line. I never saw those figures on the pegs, so I’m coming at this like a new release, or at least new to me. I like this figure, I like it a lot. I think it looks fantastic on its own. But it sure is hard not to look at it and see a head pop-and-swap from the Red Skull a few waves back because that’s almost exactly what this figure is. The only stand out difference is the coat and pants going from grey to black. Does it work as Fury? Absolutely! I think it works better as Fury than the Red Skull. Is it annoying that I can’t unsee it? You betcha! Especially so when the two figures are likely only going to be a shelf apart in my display case. It’s also the same basic body we saw with The Punisher, and that coat was not only previously used for Red Skull and The Punisher, but Fantomex as well (and did that “Marvel Knights” Blade figure ever actually come out? If so, there’s another!). But hey, I absolutely love this coat. It’s wonderfully textured and looks fantastic and next to Frank Castle, I think Fury is the best use of it.

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I’m also very fond of the aesthetics of this particular body. Again, there’s a ton of little detail work on the texturing of the pants and shirt. The sculpted and functional holster on the leg looks great and Fury makes use of the extra holster in the shoulder rig that was used with Red Skull. For a line that makes a lot of use of generic bucks and painted costumes, I can appreciate the sculpted detail here. The boots are painted glossy black to stand out from the rest of the black and there’s some fine silver paintwork on the buckles and snaps.

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The head sculpt rounds out the package quite nicely. It’s a great likeness for Samuel Jackson, at least in this scale and price range and when you put the whole thing together, I think this figure really captures the character beautifully.

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Now, you may have noted that I commented on how I like the aesthetics of this body, well the articulation is another matter. All the points are there, but the way the shoulders and hips work can be rather annoying. The arms can’t really be put down at his sides, so you’re mostly relegated to action poses. The hips can do a little better, but you really have to fiddle with those ball joints a lot and even so, this figure is really tough to stand on his own.

Fury comes with a pair of automatic pistols, which are nicely scaled (particularly when compared to Red Skull’s obnoxiously large red sidearm). They feature decent sculpts and even some blue paint apps, which makes them a little SHIELD-y to me. They fit nicely in both holsters, but unfortunately, Fury only has one hand that’s really designed to hold a gun, but that’s OK, because I can hand one off to Maria Hill. And that brings us to…

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Yes, Agent Hill is also a mostly recycled body, in this case taken from the recent Winter Soldier version of Black Widow. Again, it’s a logical bit of reuse, and in this case the body has received an entirely new repaint (blue) to make it a somewhat more distinctive figure. There are also some less added silver paint apps to the fixtures of her gear, as well as the absence of Widow’s trademark emblem on the tummy, that help separate the two. On the downside, reuse of this body means that you also get the holsters with the guns permanently sculpted into them. Still, even with its flaws, I really like that Black Widow figure and this one works a little better because I’m pretty sure that that Cobie Smulders is taller than Scarlett Johansson and this figure is pretty tall when compared to Fury or even the STRIKE Suit Cap. Ironically, Widow’s hair still makes her a smidge taller than Hill.

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Speaking of actresses, the likeness on Agent Hill is certainly passable. I don’t think it photographs all that well, but in person it’s quite good. I’m not sure I could randomly identify the head if it were given to me, but in the context of the uniform, it’s pretty easy for me to recognize who it’s supposed to be. She even has her trademark ear piece.

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Hill doesn’t come with any accessories, but as I mentioned before I believe I’ll be handing off one of Fury’s guns to her. Her right hand is sculpted to hold these guns perfectly. The left hand is sculpted into a fist, which unfortunately looks more like a ham painted in a flesh tone.

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Like I said in the opener, these sets are usually all about parts recycling, so that’s something to keep in mind. Companies like Hasbro and Mattel recycling bodies doesn’t bother me, especially if it helps us get figures that otherwise might not be in the budget and certainly not when its used to this good effect. As far as I’m concerned, every one of these figures would have been a worthy purchase on their own so grabbing all three for fifty bucks feels like a pretty good deal. Certainly good enough that I didn’t hesitate to buy it when I saw it, whereas I waited until deep clearance to buy Hasbro’s last Legends 3-pack.

Apr 24 2015

Marvel Legends: Agents of SHIELD 3-pack by Hasbro, Part 1

Well, I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s little break from Marvel Legends Week, because today it’s back to business, this time with the Agents of SHIELD 3-pack. This Toys R Us exclusive features Agent Phil Coulson, Agent Maria Hill, and Nick Fury himself. These are, of course, all versions based on the Marvel MovieVerse, which is appropriate as we are just one week away from the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron and I couldn’t be more psyched. In the wake of watching the amazing Daredevil series on Netflex, I actually thought I’d give the Agents of SHIELD series a second go, but I find myself still having to push myself to complete an episode, so I’m not sure how long I’ll last this time.

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Much like that far more questionable Captain America, Radioactive Man, Ms Marvel set that I featured a couple of weeks back, these figures come in an elongated window box showing off the goods. It’s totally collector friendly as all you need do is open up one of the flaps and slide out the tray. I thought this set was going to be impossible to get a hold of, but it turned up on TRU’s website fairly quickly and surprisingly enough did not sell out immediately. Quite the contrary, it shortly went on sale. Today I’m going to check out the packaging and Agent Coulson and tomorrow I’ll swing back around to look at Fury and Hill.

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Agent Coulson was a great choice for the Marvel Legends series as he’s been one of those common threads trailing along through the films from the beginning. Coulson comes sporting a brand new suited body, which I hear tell was actually created for the up and coming Chameleon figure and yet somehow managed to land on the shelves first here on Coulton. It features the usual vest-style of jacket with the arms sculpted to look like sleeves. The tie is also a separate piece and features a crisp blue and silver diagonal stripe. The paintwork is rounded out with some sharp silver paint on the belt buckle and glossy black for the shoes. I think they could have done a better job matching the black on the sleeves and jacket, but otherwise this body is a really nice piece of work and I can imagine there’s a lot of potential for Hasbro to repurpose it quite a bit. Just think of how much mileage Mattel got out of some of their DCUC suited bodies, eh?

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You get two different heads with Coulson, one with sunglasses and one without. The regular head is a fairly good portrait. It’s a little stylized, but I’m pretty sure I could have recognized it as Clark Gregg if I didn’t already know who it was supposed to be. The features are quite well definied and he has a little bit of a smile. The other portrait is possibly even a little closer in likeness. The sunglasses are very neatly painted and this one features a more serious expression. Hasbro rarely has to deal with real actor likenesses in the Legends line, but it’s nice to see they can do it right when they have to.

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As for articulation, The Son of Coul is a surprisingly agile figure. 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, swivels in the thighs, and the ankles are hinged with lateral rockers. Phil has a swivel in the waist, a ball joint in the torso, and both a hinge and balljoint at the neck. For a guy in a suit, Coulson is all sorts of limber.

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Besides the extra noggin, Phil comes with the weapon he briefly wielded in the first Avengers movie. It’s the one that SHIELD retro-engineered from The Destroyer technology and the one he shot Loki with. It’s a big gun with some really intricate sculpting and a little orange paint on the barrel. He can hold it comfortably in both hands.

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Oftentimes these Marvel multipacks, whether they be Legends or Universe, feel like quick cash grabs with thrown together figures, but that’s definitely not the case with Agent Coulson. I would have been totally happy to buy this guy off the peg for the usual $20. He’s an excellent figure and feels fresh and new. The likeness is good, the articulation is great, and the extra head and the weapon just sweeten the pot. We’re off to a great start with this set, so join me tomorrow and I’ll be back to look at Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

Apr 2 2015

Masters of the Universe Classics: Oo-Larr (“Jungle He-Man”) by Mattel

I know what you’re thinking… It’s Transformers Thursday…. where are the eff’ing Change-bots? Why am I looking at a nearly naked dude in a furry diaper? Well, truth be told I’m fresh out of new Transformers to look at so I’m putting Transformers Thursday on a very brief hiatus. But don’t worry. The Transformers Will Return After These Messages! If not next week, TT will definitely be back the following week, depending on how soon it takes for my current Pile of Loot to arrive from BBTS. Yup, there be some robots in there! So instead, allow me to get caught up on my March Matty Collector figures, because it is April already and in just a week or so, I’ll have more figures shipping. I already checked out Huntara and so the figure for today is the 2015 Club Eternia Exclusive and it is Oo-Larr. Truth be told, I have very little to say about this guy, but that should by no means be interpreted as him being a bad figure. It’s just that as someone who is predominantly in this line for the figures and not so much the fiction, a lot of what this figure represents is admittedly lost on me.

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As I understand it, Oo-Larr is one of the earliest expressions of the He-Man character in fiction form. That is to say, this was He-Man (often called “Jungle He-Man”) in the original vintage mini-comic. However, in an attempt to blend all corners and variations of the Masters mythos into one bubbling pot of consistency, the idea was put forth that He-Man is a mantle adopted by many different defenders of Eternia over the years. According to the bio on the back of the package, Oo-Larr was the last person to take up the title of He-Man before it passed to Prince Adam. Apparently, this concept has caused many die hard fans of the Masters Mythos to lose their shit. I have absolutely no problem with what Matty is doing here, but again, I’m pretty tough to offend when it comes to the Masters canon. Matty could print that Teela was actually the product of a drunken orgy between Orko, The Sorceress, and all three of Man-E-Faces’ faces and it really wouldn’t bother me at all. I came for the 80’s nostalgia and stayed for the figures. S’all good! But even to those fans that discard the character as Oo-Larr, this is an important release because it’s a version of He-Man that has never been given a figure before. In other words, there’s something in this release that should appeal to different fans on different levels. To me? It’s just a guy in a furry diaper.

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With all that having been said, this is a great looking figure, at least for what it is, and Mattel certainly invested some love and new tooling into it. For the first time we get bare forearms and bare feet as well as what I believe to be a newly sculpted proto-fur-diaper. On the flipside, there’s not a lot more to talk about. Apart from the brown loin cloth there’s no paint apps to speak of. Just a whole lot of… gulp… man flesh. By the plain-ness of this figure alone, I suspect that it might make good fodder for customizers, but considering it did not go up for sale to the general public, it probably won’t be all that easy to get for such nefarious purposes.

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Oo-Larr comes with a head that features the longer hair that characterized He-Man in the vintage comic. Again, it’s all about portraying that version of He-Man in figure form and it’s going to mean a lot to many fans. Just not to me. It is a great sculpt, though. There’s more of a savage aspect to it, and if you like that version of the character, you can do a little simple kit-bashing to make the He-Man figure of your dreams.

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Speaking of swapping parts, the figure also comes with an alternate head and this one does interest me. It’s a Classics take on the vintage He-Man figure’s head and it’s glorious. I am actually so glad that Mattel included this piece, I’m seriously considering picking up a second He-Man figure from their Essentials Sale just so I can display one with this noggin. It just looks fantastic mounted on top of the regular Classics He-Man.

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Articulation here is the same as any male buck in the line. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps and wrists, and hinged elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, hinged at the knees and again at the ankles. Oo-Larr can swivel at the waist, has an ab-crunch hinge in the torso and a ball jointed neck. It’s solid articulation, but the sculpted muscles do impede some of that poseability.

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In addition to the extra noggin, Oo-Larr comes with two accessories. First off, you get a really cool looking primitive spear. The head of the weapon is sculpted to look like it was actually fashioned with pressure flaking. I really like this piece a lot and it compliments the prehistoric look of the figure beautifully.

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Next up is a sword, which looks pretty advanced when compared to the spear. Nonetheless, It’s a simple, trusty broadsword design with a utilitarian bronze colored handle. I really like getting generic sword designs like this one because I can share it between a whole bunch of different figures. I’m pretty sure Oo-Lar isn’t going to keep this one for long. It just looks too anachronistic in his hands.

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Oh yeah, and remember that Ax I mentioned that came with Huntara. Well, that really belongs to Oo-Larr and I think it compliments his spear far better than the sword does. It’s also a wonderfully sculpted piece with weathering on the ax-head and an angled wooden shaft handle.

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So, I can’t say I was terribly excited to get this figure, certainly not as much as some fans were, but there’s still some great stuff here if you know the history and are willing to appreciate it. I will say that “Jungle He-Man” is exactly the kind of figure that belongs in a Subscription Exclusive slot like this (far more than a figure like Shadow Weaver with more mass appeal) and it’s nice to see Matty paying tribute to the hardcore fans in what may very well be the last year of the Sub as we know it. While the figure may be a bit bland, both head sculpts are excellent, as are the weapons. As is usually the case, I came into this release no caring very much and came away happy to have it in my collection. I think I’ll probably wind up displaying Oo-Larr along with Vikor, Battleground Teela, and Battle Lion off on their own little section of the shelf.

Feb 27 2015

Marvel Legends: Ms Marvel, Captain America, and Radioactive Man (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

I just got in the new Allfather Wave of Marvel Legends, but before moving on to opening those, I have unfinished business in the Legends Universe. Some time last year Hasbro rolled out this Marvel three-pack as a Target Exclusive. I saw it a couple times on the shelves, but it didn’t seem worth the fifty bones they were asking for it. As it turns out a lot of people felt the same way because the set piled up on clearance and I was eventually able to grab it off the website for about $33 shipped. Since then it’s sat in my closet waiting for just the right day to be opened. I guess today’s that day.

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The figures come in a fairly impressive window box with “Collector’s Edition” across the top and the characters names on the bottom. The set itself doesn’t really have a name, which aggrevates my OCD just a bit. There’s some nice comic art on the side panels and the back of the box has pictures of the figures and blurbs about the characters. The whole ensemble is fairly collector friendly, as you can simply open the side flap and slide out the tray. Space being the valuable commodity that it is for me, I certainly won’t be keeping the box. Let’s start with Captain America…

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Who’s up for a kit-bash? Collectors of the Legends line should find this figure pretty familiar as it’s just a repaint and remold of the Ultimates Cap that came out in 2013 as part of the Hit Monkey Wave. Apart from the paint, the most notable differences are his jacket being swapped out for a shoulder rig and the holstered pistol missing from his right hip. The new paint includes swapping out the gray pants for blue ones and stars painted on his shoulders. I liked the original release of this figure a lot, but this one? Mmm… not so much. The paint isn’t nearly as good as the Ultimates Cap and those stars on the shoulders were a bad idea because they’re painted right on the hinges and only line up if his arms are positioned a certain way.

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Cap comes with two accessories: First you get an alternate head, which is the same one used on the Steve Rogers that was included in the initial Wave of Legends’ return back in 2012. It’s a great head sculpt and probably the best way to go when displaying this figure to at least set it apart from the Ultimates Cap. The other accessory is obviously his shield, which is the exact same one that was bundled with Ultimates Cap.

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Now don’t get me wrong, the sculpt on this figure is still good and I still really dig the detail on his equipment belt. The articulation is also great and he is most definitely a fun figure to play around with. In the interest of getting through all three figures in one Feature, I won’t run down the articulation, but rather just refer you back to my look at the Ultimates Cap. If you don’t own that figure, this is a decent pick up, but I’d still recommend the predecessor.

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Next up is Dr. Chen Lu, Radioactive Man, and we’ve got another figure borrowing heavily from Hasbro’s toychest. The most obvious is the reuse of the head from the 2012 comic version of Drax the Destroyer released as part of the Arnim Zola Wave. While I was all for getting a Radioactive Man in the Legends scale, when I heard about the reused noggin I did not expect to be receptive to this figure at all. Turns out I like it just fine. The green translucent plastic used for the buck makes for a nice effect and the I have to say the Drax head works surprisingly well for me. I really don’t have anything else to say, except that he comes with no accessories and features the standard Legends style articulation, which is to say it’s quite good.

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In case you haven’t guessed by now, I saved the figure I was looking forward to the most for last. In fact, it wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that I pretty much bought this set to get Ms. Marvel. This version of Carol, in her Warbird costume, had a less than stellar Marvel Universe treatment (mostly due to terrible paint) back in 2010 and given Hasbro’s proclivity to double dip on a lot of characters in both scales, I’m surprised it took this long to get her. Was it worth the wait? Mostly.

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Ms Marvel appears to be built on the female buck that I first encountered as part of the SDCC Exclusive Thunderbolts set and used for Moonstone and Judith Chambers. It’s a great body (har har) with solid articulation and no mushy hinges. From a quality standpoint, this figure exhibits a little sloppiness. There’s mold flashing hanging off her feet and some of the flesh paint on her thighs and arms manages to be uneven, chipping and gloppy all at the same time. I wouldn’t say the paint issue is terrible, but it isn’t great either. It’s one of those figures that you can look at and tell it was part of a multi-pack because the quality just doesn’t live up to the single carded figures. On the other hand, Carol makes up for some of the low points with a solid head sculpt and the paint on the face and the tampo of the gold lightning bolt on her chest is pretty crisp. She also features her trademark red scarf tied around her waist. In this case, it’s a molded piece of plastic that hangs loose on her hips.

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I can’t say this set was a “must have,” but at a deep discount of about eleven bucks a figure, I’m fairly satisfied with the purchase. I think Ms Marvel would have been better had she been issued as a single carded figure, but even as she is, she gets the job done. Radioactive Man is certainly a nice addition to my Avengers Rogue Gallery and as for Cap, well I could have done without him. He’s an interesting variant, but unlike the other two figures, certainly not one that I would have purchased on his own.

Oct 21 2014

Star Wars Black: Imperial Shadow Squadron (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

Well, it didn’t take long to for Hasbro to repaint the Star Wars Black 6-inch Speeder Bike and Biker Scout. I just got around to looking at that set last week and now this new set landed on my doorstep. This new box is a Target Exclusive and contains black repaints of the Biker Scout and Bike along with a repainted Sandtrooper. Why? Because they’re SHADOW SQUADRON! I’m not usually up for these sort of repaints, but I happened to be online when this set dropped onto the website (it didn’t take too long to sell out) and I had a Target Giftcard with some monies left on it, so I figured why the hell not? Let’s check it out…

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It may be a special exclusive, but the box is still mostly black and featureless. It’s pretty similar to what we got with the Speeder Bike set only elongated to include the extra figure and weapons. The back drop is illustrated with a still from A New Hope where the Falcon was sitting in The Death Star’s hanger bay. Yup, these Shadow Troops are so damn stealthy we couldn’t even see them in the movie. Why did they have a Speeder Bike sitting on the deck there? Because… shut up! Anyway, the box is still collector friendly and I may just save this package to keep the figures in there because I’m not sure how well they will fit into my regular 6-inch Black display.

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Let’s start with the Shadow Scout and Speeder Bike. I just looked at the original versions of these things last week and so I’ll try to be brief. It’s obviously the same figure with a new coat of paint and the new deco consists of black armor with dark gray used for the bodysuit and the abdominal area. You also get some gray and silver paint hits to pick out the details in the sculpt and an Imperial insignia neatly printed on the left of his chest armor. The black alternates between a straight matte finish and some areas with bit more gloss. I really dig how the ankle holster and straps are painted to stand out from the boots. I’m really impressed with the way the deco on this guy came out.

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I’ll defer on a rundown of the articulation and just point you toward my review of the regular figure for that. The joints aren’t at all mushy and he is lots of fun to pose. And yes, he still comes with his little pistol and I did manage to avoid snapping the trigger guard this time.

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If the Shadow Scout impressed me, the new deco on the Speeder Bike absolutely wowed the hell out of me. I mean… damn. The paint finish on this thing is absolutely fantastic. Once again you get a couple different styles of black, both matte and glossy and the combination makes this piece really shine. Toss in some gray plastic and some silver paint hits and you’ve got a piece that pops like crazy. The Bike also comes decked out with Imperial insignia stamped on each side of the back and a smaller one dead center between the handlebars. If Hot Black Desiato, the lead singer of Disaster Area, owned a Speeder Bike, you could be damn sure this would be it! And yes, I like to think that Hitchhikers exists in the same universe as Star Wars.

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The handlebars are a bit warped on mine, but if I display it with the Shadow Scout riding it, it’s impossible to tell. It also comes with the same tringular stand. Yes, the stand still feels all soft and cheap as hell, but damn if it doesn’t work great and add some options to the display.

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Lastly, you get the Shadow Stormtrooper Commander looking equally dapper in his black and dark gray deco. This is actually a repaint of the Sandtrooper, rather than the straight Stormtrooper (yes, there are differences in those two sculpts) and he also comes with the pauldron. Once again the deco here just looks phenomenal. The deco still consists of a mix of matte black and slightly glossier black with the bodysuit in dark gray and some grey and silver paint hints to pick out the details in the helmet.. The pauldron looks exceptionally sharp with a matte black surface surrounded by a glossy border. I guess my only complaint here is that he didn’t get an Imperial insignia stamp. I think one would have looked good on his chest armor and that way my OCD wouldn’t be acting up over the fact that the Scout has one and the Stormy doesn’t.

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I think it would have been cool if Hasbro had included the holster for the E-11 blaster on this guy. No chance to add a functional holster to a figure should ever be ignored and doing so would have given us a cool hybrid Stormy that was unique for something other than his deco.

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The Shadow Stormy comes with his E-11 Blaster and you also get the rifle that came with the original Sandtrooper and the one that came with the original Stormy. The E-11 comes in the Shadow Stormy’s hand, but the rifles are mounted between the figures in a community pot, so I guess they’re up for grabs. I seem to remember in the Battlefront games the Biker Scouts were also snipers, so I’ll likely give him one of the rifles.

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This set retails for $50, which is pretty damn good considering the Speeder Bike and Biker Scout alone went for $40. Between free shipping, a 5% Redcard discount, and some scraps left on a Target gift card, I netted this set for $30. I thought when I got it I would feel like a sucker for buying the ubiquitous “cool” black repaints, but once I got these toys open and out of the box I knew I did the right thing. By every right, this set should have been nothing more than a quick and dirty repaint cash grab, but I have to give it to Hasbro, they did a really nice job on it. Sure, they exist because they’re black and black Imperial armor look bad ass, but it genuinely feels like care was put into the re-deco and a lot more that was put into some of the regular stand alone figures… I’m looking at you Prequel Obi-Wan!

 

Oct 1 2014

Marvel Legends Infinite: Agent Venom by Hasbro

So, I had originally planned on looking at DC Collectibles Starfire today, but my figure turned out to be all kinds of broken, so I’m working on getting a replacement. I also just made up a new rule. If a DC figure fumbles too badly to be reviewed then Marvel gets to take the ball. I suppose the reverse would be the case. Fair is fair. Anyway, today’s figure, Agent Venom, comes from that curious new breed of Walgreens Exclusives. Nope, that’s not a typo. I didn’t mean to say Walmart. As odd as it seems, Walgreens is indeed asserting their presence in the action figure game by signing exclusive deals with companies like Hasbro, Funko, and even Character Options to make them the only source for certain characters from Marvel, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Doctor Who. I actually had some luck getting one of the Doctor Who exclusives, but my hunt for Agent Venom proved fruitless. Luckily, thanks to this awesome dude, I was able to get me an agent Venom without having to carve out a piece of my kidney for him on Ebay. Although, his price on the secondary market does seem to be calming down.

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I’ve got no packaging to show you, as I just asked that he be mailed to me loose or in a tray or whatever way possible. Suffice it to say, Agent Venom comes in a package very similar to what we’ve been seeing in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Infinite line. Since there is no packaging to speak of, I’ll take the opportunity here to say that this was a character I desperately wanted in the Legends line. Flash Thompson is a fantastic and compelling character to me on every level. I loved that he didn’t get left out of the Superior Spider-Man run. Some of the interchanges between him and Doc Ock were priceless. And Agent Venom’s involvement in the affairs of Spider-Island was easily my favorite thing about that whole story arc. Well, him and J. Jonah, of course. It was cruel blow to find out that Flash was going to be a hard to find exclusive, and I’m really thrilled to have him in hand.

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Cast entirely in black plastic, Agent Venom is an imposing looking figure. The sculpt here is fantastic and I’m particularly fond of the armor pieces that look like a cross between sports equipment, riot gear, and crustacean parts. You get a mix of what looks like fabricated straps with that cool bumpy texture that looks and feels a bit like natural shell. Most of the torso bulk comes from a soft rubbery vest that’s laid on over the figure’s buck, which thankfully has the shoulder pads attached. This means that they can flop up and down to avoid hindering the shoulder articulation. It works so much better than putting them on a hinge as I don’t have to worry about them popping off like the ones on the Space Armor Iron Man figure included in the recent Guardians wave. The paintwork on the figure consists almost entirely of his white markings. I know some have complained about rough paint on this figure, but I’m actually pleased with mine. I think the paint itself could have been laid on a little thicker, as the black tends to bleed through in some areas, but apart from that the lines are pretty crisp and there’s no slop to speak of.

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In addition to all that great armor, Agent Venom sports a well stocked equipment belt, which is all sculpted in one piece. The belt features enough pouches to make both Rob Liefeld and Deadpool jealous. He’s also got a canteen, smoke grenades, regular grenades, and a combat knife. Oh yeah, he’s also got a sculpted hip holster with a permanently attached automatic. And the silver paint on that gun is the only other paint on the figure apart from those white markings. Wait, what? The gun doesn’t come out of the holster? Boo. Agent Venom needs weapons!

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Well, ask and you shall receive. Flash actually comes with four guns. You get a pair of gray automatic pistols, a gray sub-machine gun, and a black pistol with a laser scope (oh, look! One more paint hit!) mounted under the barrel. Nice! And like a lot of other people who get this figure, I’ll be giving those matching pistols to my Winter Soldier Black Widow who also suffered from Guns-sculped-into-the-holster Syndrome.

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In addition to an embarrasment of guns, Agent Venom also comes with a single piece of four tendrils that plugs into his back. The ends of the tendrils are sculpted into little “hands” to hold his guns, although this feature works with somewhat mixed results. It’s still a very cool option.

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The articulation on this figure is great. There are no mushy joints and all the right points are there. His arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the gloves. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, although they are those somewhat frustrating ones that require you to reposition the joint to make it work in different positions. The legs have double hinged knees, swivels at the top of the thighs, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. Agent Venom can swivel at the waist, and despite wearing the vest he can still hinge forward and backward a bit in the torso. He also has a hinge and a generous ball joint in the neck. He’s well balanced and loads of fun to play with!

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Man, do I love this figure and I am absolutely thrilled to add him to my Legends shelf. Whether or not Walgreens having exclusive figures pans out to be a benefit or headache to collectors remains to be seen. On the plus side, I’ve got at least three Walgreens within a 20 minute radius of my home, whereas the nearest Toys R Us is about an hour away. On the downside, distribution seems to have been a little spotty so far, but I suppose we need to give it time. In the case of Agent Venom, however, we have a figure that was cancelled from a previous wave and then still left out when that wave found it’s way to TRU’s shelves. As a result, I would have been happy to get this figure in my hands no matter who wound up offering it. Hey, Walgreens, how about that red Legends Deadpool? Maybe you can work your mojo with Hasbro and get your hooks into that one too!