Tag Archives: hasbro

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rebels: Darth Maul, Seventh Sister Inquisitor, and Princess Leia by Hasbro

I’ve got one more set of reviews in me for today and I’ve lost track at what update this is for 5-POA’PALOOSA. I can tell you that I have four cigarette burns on my arm to keep me going. What’s that? No Rebels love yet? OK, let’s remedy that right now. For the life of me, I can’t understand why Hasbro has had so much trouble getting this line off the ground, despite the series spinning a rich tapestry of characters ripe for the action figure treatment. The original line was short lived and difficult to find, to the point where I still can’t find Agent Kallus for under twenty bucks. In the meantime, Hasbro continues to pepper whatever the current line is with s smattering of Rebels releases.

Case in point, both this two-pack and single carded figure were marketed under the Rogue One line, and these aren’t repacks, but rather their first releases. As always, I’m loving the artwork on these packages. Let’s start off with the Versus Two-Pack and The Seventh Sister!

I would not have believed this character design would have lent itself to a 3 3/4-inch figure very well, but Hasbro sure proved me wrong. She’s magnificent and this is an instance where the 5-POA style really suits her. I couldn’t imagine working additional jointing into her super thin arms and legs without compromising the look of the figure, let alone have the figure be stable. It’s crazy that she can even stand by herself, which is a gripe I’m going to have with one of today’s other figures. There’s a decent amount of sculpted detail on her outfit, but it’s the paint that really carries the day. I love the contrast of matte and gloss black used here, plus some silver and white, as well as the Imperial emblems stamped on her shoulders. The head and helmet are about as perfect as I could expect in this scale.

The Seventh Sister also comes with some pretty cool accessories. First off, you get her little probe droid. The head can plug into the circle on her back. Take it out and plug in the legs, and he can hang out on her shoulder or go off scouting. It’s hard to believe that Hasbro was able to make this work at this tiny scale.

She also comes with her mask. It simply goes right over her face and tucks under the helmet to hold it on. This thing looks great and holds in place very well. Once again, a pretty cool feature for a 3 3/4-inch figure!

And finally, she has her lightsaber, which she can hold in either hand. It’s got the same circular ring design to the hilt that we saw with the previous Inquisitor figures. Moving on to Maul!

To know me is to know that I’m no fan of Darth Maul. I thought he was a non-character in The Phantom Menace, and while various aspects of the Star Wars Expanded Universe had tried its best to flush him out and make him interesting, I just can’t give a crap. Needless to say when he turned up in Rebels, I really wasn’t impressed. But, I’m not going to hold any of that against this figure, because it’s pretty damn nice. The pants feature a nice texturing, he’s got sculpted knee pads, gloves, and a shoulder strap. And while all that is well and good, the best thing here is the crisp paintwork for his chest and arms. The black and red pattern is sharp and snappy and looks great. The head sculpt is also a winner, right down to tiny horns on the top of his head.

Maul comes with a hood, which fits right over his head and looks pretty good on him. It shrouds his face pretty well, although a little light in there really brings out how creepy he looks.

He also comes with his double-bladed lightsaber. Pfft. Remember when this thing was the coolest thing ever? It’s only fitting that he show up on Rebels where all the Inquisitors carry them like it’s no big deal.

And we can’t look at a Versus Two-Pack without some goofy big weapon and Mauls is so damn big that I had to bust out a figure stand just so he could hold it without toppling over like a jackass. This thing looks familiar and I’m sure it’s been recycled from another set. And god help me if I don’t love it. Oh, I think it looks stupid on Maul, but I’m sure I can find someone else to put it on. I really dig this Versus pack and while I would have guessed it would have been really popular, it seems to not be selling all that well. The Target in town had dozens of these and it’s been deeply discounted at a lot e-tailers. And speaking of figures that you can pick up for stupid cheap… let’s move on to Princess Leia!

I seem to remember this figure being crazy hard to find at first, but now she’s everywhere. Last I checked you can get her as an Add-On item through Amazon for less than three bucks. If you want to do conversion on that, it means that I would need to trade like seven of these Leias just to get me one Agent Kallus. That’s crazy! I’m not sure why that’s the case because I don’t think she’s a bad figure at all. She’s wearing a very McQuarrie-esque costume, and I think the head sculpt is great. The downside is that she will not stand on her own, which makes no sense to me. If The Seventh Sister can stay vertical, I don’t know why Leia can’t.

Leia comes with two accessories: A standard E-11 Blaster and a zipline accessory, which struck me as being very familiar, but it’s actually not the same one that came with Cassian Andor. Hey, I don’t care what you say, I would have loved to get one of these as a kid. I was always ziplining my figures all over the damn place with string. I think this thing is pretty damn cool.

It’s a shame we have to get by with table scraps thrown into other lines in order to get our Rebels action figure fix, but quite frankly, I’m just glad Hasbro is still releasing them here and there. All three of these figures are no-brainers and I’m happy to have them in my collection, even if nobody else seems to want them. Yes… even Maul! OK, that’s going to do it for me today. I’d like to say I’m going to rest up, but in reality I’m off to do my actual paying job that allows me to buy all this shit! Come on back tomorrow morning, and we’ll start fresh with a whole bunch of more figures!

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Galen Erso, Jyn Erso (Imperial Infiltrator), and Admiral Raddus by Hasbro

Congratulations! If you’ve stayed with me this long then you’re a real trooper. Unless you’re just finding this review at random and then you’ve missed out on watching a grown man grinding himself down to a weeping nub from reviewing too many action figures in a very short period of time. And this show is just getting started. Right now, I’m going back to Rogue One with an assortment of figures that I didn’t pick up until the very tail end of the line. Actually, Rogue One figures were mostly off the pegs by the time I got around to getting this trio.

Here are the packaged shots, which I borrowed from Hasbro’s official images because I opened these a while ago. Note Jyn’s image has her helmet on in the package, but she actually came with the helmet beside her on the tray. Otherwise, there’s not much else to say about the cards, so let’s jump right in and start with Galen Erso…

For a while it looked like we weren’t going to get a figure of Galen at all, but I’m glad Hasbro delivered in the end. I’m not so happy that the figure isn’t that good. Granted, I didn’t expect him to be the most exciting figure around, what with him just being an older guy in an variant Imperial uniform. The tunic is fairly familiar, but it’s colored teal around the shoulders, perhaps signifying he’s in the Engineering Corps? The belt is standard Imperial issue and he has a patch on his shoulder that is unfamiliar to me. The head sculpt might be halfway decent with a better paint job, but it looks like the work of a bad custom job. What a shame!

Galen comes with a pistol, although he has nowhere to store it. I don’t recall him actually having a sidearm in the film, nor would I expect Krennic to allow him one, but I’ll never scoff at getting an extra accessory.

And speaking of extra accessories… Oh, look! It’s another zipline! We’re going to see at least three of these before the weekend is over. What’s crazy is that this is entirely different than the one that came with Cassian Andor. I can’t believe that Hasbro is actually creating different versions of these for different figures! The fact that Galen comes with one also makes me believe that there were even more deleted zipline scenes in Rogue One than I had originally imagined. Like maybe Galen didn’t die on that landing platform. Maybe he ziplined to safety! I guess we’ll never know.

Oh yeah, Galen also comes with this rather large mouse droid. Yup, it’s the same one we just saw with General Hux from The Last Jedi. I’m guessing at this point Hasbro was just tossing whatever they could in there to make a scientist figure more attractive to the kids. I’m surprised they didn’t make the mouse droid actually fire the zipline. If you can’t tell, Galen is a little disappointing, but in the end, I’m still glad to have him in the collection.  Moving on to his daughter…

This is Jyn in her Imperial Ground Crew disguise while infiltrating the Scarif Base. And as you might expect, this is the exact same figure as the regular Ground Crew figure, only with Jyn’s head popped on top of it. She also comes with a soft plastic removable helmet, which fits really well and looks good. If you passed on the Ground Crew figure, this is a nice pick up, because she really can double as either figure. It’s also a pretty damn nice sculpt.

Jyn comes with the same batons as the regular Ground Crew figure as well and she can hold these in her hands or they can store on the slots in her back. I couldn’t remember whether they were supposed to store with handles up or down, so I may have them in wrong. I suppose I could have checked a shot from the film, BUT GIVE ME A BREAK I HAVE A LOT OF GOD DAMN FIGURES TO REVIEW THIS WEEKEND!!!

And lastly, she comes with this ridiculously large missile launcher, which she can’t even hold without putting her on a stand. It’s a great looking sculpt and a cool design, and I may wind up giving it to one of my 6-inch figures. It did come with a purple blast effect missile, which shot into the other room the moment I took it out of the package. Normally, I’d go look for it, but I’m in the middle of a review marathon here. I like this figure a lot, but that’s not surprising, since I liked the Ground Crew figures enough to buy a couple of them. I really wish we got this version of Jyn in the 6-inch Black Series. It’s hard to believe that Hasbro passed on doing a 6-inch scale version, but Hasbro did it in Sixth-Scale. Craziness! Next up… Admiral Raddus!

Yes, I saved the best of this trio for last. I’m never going to turn down a chance to pick up a member of the Mon Calamari brass, and this is such a great little figure! I love his short and stocky build. It makes him look like an old warhorse. I picture him walking the battle lines like a fishy version of Rommel, barking orders to the troops! The uniform features some wonderful detail, including ribbed sections behind the knees, behind the biceps, and on the shoulders. But the real draw of this figure is the superb head sculpt, and the fact that the jaw is hinged, bringing him to a whopping SIX points of articulation. Want to hear something even crazier? This won’t be the last time we see a hinged jaw on a 3 3/4-inch figure this weekend! What are the odds of that, eh?

Raddus comes with a pretty beefy blaster pistol, but for when the shit really hits the fan, he also has this giant rifle that shoots a bolt of hot flaming death out of it! Like Jyn, Raddus also can’t hold his missile launcher without putting him on a stand.

All three of these figures are fairly solid releases, but Galen easily comes out on the bottom thanks mostly to some terrible sloppy paint on his head. I like Jyn because she harkens back to some of the past Kenner figures we got of our heroes in disguises. But Raddus is the star of this show, and the fact that he got such an excellent figure in this scale almost makes up for the fact that he didn’t get the 6-inch Black Series treatment.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars “The Last Jedi:” Luke Skywalker, Jedi Training Rey, C-3PO, General Hux, and Kylo Ren by Hasbro

Star Wars 3 3/4-inch Weekend is cruises onward. This is the third installment of what I’ve decided to call 5-POA’PALOOZA, I’m on my second pot of coffee and feeling one with The Force and maybe a little jittery from all the caffeine. Tired of Rogue One stuff? Ok, we’ll take a breather. For now, let’s fast forward to five more figures in the initial assortment from The Last Jedi.

As will be the case for a few of these 5-POAPALOOSA Reviews, I opened these figures a while ago, so I cribbed these official packaged shots from Amazon, which is only fair because that’s where I bought them. I’m also pretty sure I’ve paid for at least one of their warehouses, so it’s about time they paid me back a little. Anyway, I really dig this package design. It’s white and clean and some of the character art is wonderful. Look at that picture of 3P0! I think that’s borrowed from some vintage art, because I remember obsessing over a very similar piece of art when I was young. Also, I finally had some time to play around with that Force Link thing, which they were demoing at Target a few weekends back. Can’t say I’ll be buying one anytime soon. And with that ringing endorsement… Let’s start with Luke Skywalker!

It was both cool and frustrating, how difficult it was for me to find this figure on the pegs. Cool because I love that the figure is so popular, frustrating because he shouldn’t be that hard for kids to find. I eventually gave up and bought him online with the rest of these. This is a very simple figure of Luke as we saw him at the end of The Force Awakens. He’s in his light colored robes and cloak and I think it’s just fabulous. The head sculpt and paint are particularly solid, I love that they added gray to his beard with some halftone printing. There’s even some detail in his tiny mechanical right hand.

The plastic cloak fits the figure quite well by just resting on the shoulders. It comes off easily to reveal all the little details sculpted into Luke’s outfit. Again, for a simple outfit, they did some nice texturing to the fabric and some different shadings. The belt has a silver buckle, a sculpted pouch, and a tiny hook for the lightsaber hilt that he does not come with! In fact, the only thing he comes with is his robe. I’ve got nothing else to say, except I love him! Next up… Rey!

Rey sports her somewhat new-looking costume. Actually it strikes me as mostly the same as her Jakku costume, only gray instead of tan. I’m glad I didn’t pop for the Hot Toys figure of her outfit from the end of The Force Awakens, because it doesn’t look like she’ll be wearing it much. I do, however, have the 3 3/4-inch version and maybe we’ll see that before this weekend is over. Anyway… The sculpt here is very well done, with a number of different textures and details on display. The paint on her costume could have been a little tighter in some places, but it’s not bad. I do think the likeness is a big improvement over that initial release of Rey from The Force Awakens. I realize that’s a back-handed compliment, but I don’t think this one is too bad. Unlike Luke, some of Rey’s costume is cast in softer plastic and layered onto the figure itself and some of her hip articulation is hindered by that. But then if you’re after good articulation, these figures aren’t for you, anyway.

Also unlike Luke, who came with bupkis, Rey comes with three accessories: Her staff, her pistol, and Luke’s lightsaber. The pistol fits into the holster on her right hip, and I can’t show it to you because I lost it, goddammit! In my defense, it was very small and I recall being pretty drunk when I opened these. Then again, I think I may have lost the same gun for each of my 3 3/4-inch Rey figures. The staff is similar to what we’ve seen before, with a plastic shoulder strap. It is a new sculpt, but I’m guessing it’s supposed to be the same staff.

The lightsaber has some nice detail in the hilt, and it does have a ring, so theoretically you could hang it on Luke’s belt, but the blade is not removable, so in practice you can’t. All in all, I think this version of Rey is decent, but probably not the star of this show. This version of Rey was also released as a two-pack with the Praetorian Guard. Will we be seeing those this weekend? Maybe! Next up… Goldenrod!

I actually never picked up the 5-POA C-3PO from The Force Awakens, so this is my first figure of him in this scale in quite a while. I’m not sure if this is that same mold or not, but I will say it’s a fantastic little sculpt, the proportions are great, no details are missed, and the coloring is superb. Even the paintwork on the wires in his exposed midsection is super clean and precise. It’s nice to see he got his gold arm back. Or did he have that at the end of The Force Awakens? I think he did. It must be time to watch that one again!

Another nice bonus is that articulation isn’t as important with 3PO because he isn’t all that agile in the films. I barely even miss it here. I honestly didn’t expect to be this blown away by a 5-POA 3P0 figure, but if you’re in the market for one, this is a great one to get. I actually like it loads better than the allegedly premium Vintage Collection release, and I’ll just go ahead and say that it’s my favorite version of Goldenrod in this scale. Moving on to the bad guys, cue the Imperial March… here comes General Hux!

The Hux figure from The Force Awakens was pretty good, but this one is better! The most obvious difference is that he’s not wearing his officer’s cap and the likeness is far superior. This is a damn fine head sculpt for this scale. He’s wearing the same uniform with black trench coat, but this time Hasbro took a different approach with it, but sculpting the coat out of soft plastic and sculpting sleeves on the arms. This is the method they used for the 6-inch Black Series figure and it looks fantastic on this little guy. On the downside, you probably won’t be able to get him seated in any vehicles, because of the coat.

Hux comes with a blaster pistol, but sadly no holster to store it in. That was a gripe I had with TFA version too. Where does he keep that thing when he’s making those spittle-spewing speeches? He also comes with a mouse droid. I’m sure this guy is recycled, but I’m not sure if I own the previous release or not, so I’m happy to have this one. OK, that’s four figures down and one to go. Let’s wrap it up with a look at the biggest asshole in Star Wars history…

Kylo Ren is back and apparently now that he’s murdered his loving father in cold blood, he doesn’t have to hide behind a mask any more! His outfit has changed a little. He’s traded in his longer black robes for something more like a tunic. It has the same overall texture as the original Kylo figure, and the same sculpted belt. In addition to losing his mask, he’s done away with his hood and now has a cape that he wears on his shoulders and it’s easy to take off for when he needs to throw down. The cape looks great from the front, but it gives him a hunchback look from the back. I think the likeness here is pretty good for this scale. They did a nice job accentuating his scar, although it doesn’t have the creepy metal mesh, it’s just a red line. Still, neat though.

In addition to his cape, Kylo comes with his wicked and now very iconic lightsaber. He can hold it in either hand. Before I wrap this up, let’s take a look at the new versions of three of these figures with their counterparts from The Force Awakens.

Like I said earlier, Rey’s likeness on TLJ figure may not be a masterpiece, but she’s a huge improvement over the first TFA release. I think the Hux is a huge improvement from head to toe. Both Kylo Ren figures are pretty solid, but I’m surprised at how bad ass he looks without the helmet. I’m going to enjoy that in The Last Jedi.

The last time I visited with The Last Jedi 3 3/4-inch line I was notably impressed, and that impression remains with these figures. I guess I can understand collectors dismissing these out of hand because of the limited articulation, but these are all very solid sculpts and great looking figures. 5-POA or not, the appeal is clearly still here for me, and I’m looking forward to grabbing up more of these! For now, I’m going to splash some cold water in my face and be back in a little bit and get back to Rogue One!

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Jedha Revolt 4-Pack by Hasbro

Welcome back to 5-POA’PALOOSA, a name I came up with because “Star Wars Three-and-three-quarter Weekend” just doesn’t roll off the tongue.  I’ve got more Rogue One coming at you, this time with the Jedha Revolt 4-Pack, which offers up a trio of 3 3/4-inch Exclusives, two of which were bewilderingly never released in the 6-inch Black Series.

You know I love the packaging on the two-packs, well this is just like two of those stuck together. It’s collector friendly, a big window shows off all the figures, and you get some lovely character art in the bottom right corner. The set includes… Saw Gerrara, Edrio Two Tubes, Jyn Erso in her Jedha outfit, and an Imperial Hovertank Pilot. This set kind of feels like they just needed to toss all the remaining releases into one box so that they could get on with promoting The Last Jedi. Let’s start with Saw!

Wow, this is a pretty ambitious sculpt for this scale and price point! Saw’s suit was pretty complex on screen and Hasbro did a damn fine job recreating it here for the 3 3/4-inch line. He’s got his various breather hoses, the robotic right leg, old man sandal, and I really dig the cape, that looks a bit like he re-purposed it from an old flag. When I first got this figure in hand, I must have spent a good five minutes just turning it over and checking out all the nice work they did on the sculpting and paint. Even the likeness is solid, and here was Hasbro’s big chance to actually paint a wonky eye on purpose! Sorry, Forest, I love you, man!

Saw comes with two accessories, his walking staff and his pistol. The staff is actually useful, because Saw can be a bit difficult to keep standing without it. The pistol features a cool and unique design, fits into a holster on his right hip, and he can hold it in his right hand. The staff can be held in either hand. Next up… Sergeant Jyn Erso!

I didn’t really get a good look at this set when I bought it, and I just assumed Jyn would be a repack figure that was thrown in just to fill out the set and so Hasbro could get some money back, but then I remembered the single carded release featured her Eadu outfit. I’m like 99% certain this figure is exclusive to this set, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong. [Edit: I’ll correct myself! Yes, this figure did get a single carded release… carry on!] In any case, this is a simpler sculpt than the Eadu one, but I think this is the better Jyn figure, mainly because the likeness is better. She comes with the sculpted head wrap on, but you can take it off without even popping the head.

In addition to the head wrap, Jyn comes with her blaster pistol, which fits into the holster on her right hip, and she can hold it pretty well in either hand. If you’re in the market for a 5-POA Jyn Erso figure, I think this is the one to get. Next… Edrio Two-Tubes!

Edrio was one of the aliens that seemed to get featured a lot before Rogue One hit theaters. I assumed he was just going to be another Constable Zuvio, but at least Edrio had some screen time and a few lines. I think he would have made a damn cool 6-inch Black Series figure, but this smaller scale consolation prize isn’t too shabby. Hasbro invested all the usual rumples and wrinkles into the sculpted outfit here and the grimy paint-wash is really well done. And while his name would suggest otherwise, he actually has three tubes, two coming off his face, and one running from the control box into his belt. The chest box is rather reminiscent of the ones worn by the various fighter pilots. Also, the paint and sculpt on his deep set eyes is particularly creepy. I love this figure!

Mr. Two-Tubes comes with his rather unique looking rifle. which is very long, very thin, and rather fragile. I gut a stress mark on mine just from having him hold it near the muzzle. And because it’s so long, and Edrio is just a 5-POA figure, he tends to look better holding it like a walking stick, than he does holding it like he’s about to fire it. On to our final stop… The Hovertank Pilot!

Crazy enough, the one character in this box that had the least screen time is the one of the two that also got a 6-inch Black Series release, but I’m just as happy to have him in this scale too, especially since it looks like we’re actually getting a 3 3/4-inch scale Hovertank at some point down the road.

Hovertank Pilot comes with his carbine. It’s a cool sculpt and has a nice silver wash on it, but there’s not a lot else to say about it.

For as good as it is, this set languished on Amazon at deep discounts for a long while. I think I paid $11 for mine, which makes it worth it just for the Saw or Edrio figures alone, but to be honest, there isn’t a bad figure in this set.  I seem to recall this one releasing fairly late in the game, so maybe a lot of collectors were already done with the Rogue One line. That was my mentality when I passed it over at full price a couple of times. It was already getting tough to find some of the last releases, like Bodhi Rook, at decent prices, and I was ready to give up. Whatever the case, I’m glad I picked it up.

Dec 9 2017

Star Wars Rogue One: Baze Malbus vs Stormtrooper… Plus Chirrut Imwe and Cassian Andor by Hasbro!

With The Last Jedi nearly upon us, I promised myself that I would get caught up on reviewing some of the past 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figures that I have piling up in the back of the closet. Why so many? Because as much as I enjoy them, the 5-POA figures don’t really lend themselves to exciting reviews or exciting pictures, so I usually save them up to do a wave at a time. Then I forget and it gets to me too much to deal with. The only way to go now is to do some speed reviewing! To that end, throughout this weekend, I’ll be dropping a bunch of reviews for the 3 3/4-inch figures that are lying around here. How many is a bunch? As many as I can possibly cobble together without going insane or dying from plastic fume inhalation, so between now and some point this afternoon, I’ll be dropping a new review every hour with some random figures, vehicles, or whatever. Then tomorrow, I’ll do it all over again. You’re going to get some Rebels, you’re going to get some Force Awakens, definitely some Last Jedi, and right now you’re going to get some Rogue One! Let’s get crazy…

I opened some of these backlogged figures a while ago, so I’m not doing packaged shots for all of them, but I will try to get at least one for each grouping or grab some of Hasbro’s official packaged shots. Here’s the delightful, compact window box for the Baze and the Stormtrooper. The box is collector friendly and features some fantastic character art. I love these little sets and I’m happy to see they’re continuing into The Last Jedi line, even if the initial offerings are underwhelming. The other two figures that I’m looking at today: Chirrut and Cassian were both single carded releases, but we all know what that looks like by now, right? I’m not going to cover articulation, because these are all standard 5-POA figures, so you know what you’re getting. Let’s start with Captain Andor…

Cassian features his Eadu outfit, which is the same version we initially got in the 6-inch Black Series line. The heavy blue jacket with the fur-lined hood certainly looks like cold weather gear, but much to my surprise they really never featured that kind of environment in the film. The sculpting here is fantastic for this scale, and I’d even go so far as to say that there isn’t much here that the 6-inch Black Series figure did better. You still get all the sculpted gear on his belt, as well as the little wrinkles and rumples in the jacket and trousers. The paint is very well done, with little hits of silver on the belt buckle and the gear. Even the likeness is probably on par to the 6-inch line, so really the only thing lacking here is the better articulation and the ability to remove the helmet.

Captain Andor comes with his little silver pistol, which he can hold in either hand and use to murder panicking contacts in back alleys when they’re about to compromise his cover. It also fits securely in the sculpted holster on his right hip.

Of course, all of these figures still come with a big gimmicky weapon or accessory. Cassian’s is a zipline and it’s surprisingly cool. The main piece clips onto his arm and the string feeds through the two pulleys. Each end of the string has a grappling hook on the end. I get the feeling that there were a lot of zipline sequences pulled from this movie during edits. Either that or someone at Hasbro just really loves ziplines. Whatever the case, I imagine this accessory is pretty fun for the kids. Next up… Chirrut!

Chirrut Imwe features his sculpted robes, as well as a separate sculpted piece, which fits over his shoulder and includes a cape on the back and whatever that thing is supposed to be on the front. This extra piece gives his outfit a little more depth and complexity for a figure in this smaller scale. If you split his legs, you can see that Hasbro sculpted the legs and the inner details of the robes as well. There’s some ribbed texturing on his left sleeve and he also has the white guard on his left forearm. I think the likeness here is pretty good for this scale and the paint for the eyes and eyebrows is very clean and accurate.

Chirrut comes with his staff, which is sculpted to look like a gnarled old piece of wood. It also has a sculpted cap on the top and a grip, both of which are painted gray. He can hold it in either hand, but the articulation really limits what you can do with it.

Chirrut’s gimmick accessory is this bow-caster type rifle. I think it’s supposed to be the one he used to shoot the TIE Fighter down in the film. This thing looks more like a crossbow, than a rifle, but it’s not too bad as far as these things go. It did come with a red missile and I have no idea where it is. I’ve checked all the cat’s usual stashes. Onward to Baze…

Baze Malbus is part of the two-pack and as such he comes with the most stuff. The basic figure is very well done. He’s got his tan jumpsuit with the red and white armor bits. There’s some nice rumpling and texturing sculpted into the suit, and he has some pouches attached to his belt. The paint here is pretty solid as well and the likeness is fine for this scale. There’s a slot in his back so that you can attach his mega-blaster backpack.

The drum tabs in and secures pretty well. I haven’t had any issues of it popping out on me. It’s neatly painted with a red and silver deco, and it includes a sculpted black sash. The cable from the gun is permanently attached to the bottom of the drum and it’s flexible enough so that you can still move Baze’s arm a bit while he’s holding the weapon. The only issue here is that the drum makes him pretty back heavy. It looks like they tried to account for this by having his legs sculpted sculpted so that he stands with them slightly part. It helps a little, but getting him to stand with the backpack takes some finesse.

And then there’s this thing! Yes, Baze also comes with a big gimmicky missile launcher. These things are almost always terrible, but I have to confess… I love this one!  It attaches to the figure with a pair of shoulder pieces and can fire two missiles. There’s a cable that comes off of it and connects to a hand-held trigger. The cable is made to look like the one on his regular weapon and there’s some especially nice sculpted detail in the launcher itself as well as some silver dry brushing to give it a weathered look near the tubes. It looks like Hasbro really put some love into this thing, plus it really fits Baze’s role as a Heavy Gunner. Our last stop… The Stormtrooper!

There’s not much to say about this guy, other than the Rogue One Stormtrooper sculpt is pretty fantastic and I have a ton of them. This one doesn’t include the extra chest piece that came with the single carded release (which is no great loss), but he does have an orange pauldron. The paint is clean, especially on the helmet, and he comes with a standard E-11 Blaster.

As far as 5-POA figures go, I give all of these high marks. The sculpting on all the figures is well done, the paint is pretty solid, and they all come with the accessories I would expect to get. It seemed like it took a while to get a solid group of the Rogue One Rebels assembled, but Hasbro got us in there in the end, with more to follow. And now I can just sit back and enjoy this collection of characters that are all dead.

Dec 7 2017

Transformers “Power of the Primes:” Slug by Hasbro

Let’s all take a moment to bow our heads and mourn the passing of Titans Return. I think it was one of the best modern Transformers lines Hasbro has ever done. Bold statement? Yes. But that’s how I feel. Oh, I’ve still got more reviews coming from that line, but as far as Hasbro is concerned, it’s done and its replacement, Power of the Primes, has arrived. I thought I should at least check some of these new figures out while they’re still fresh, and where else better to start than with the Dinobots, Slug and Swoop!

Behold, the Power of the Primes packaging! The presentation is nearly identical to Titans Return and to Combiner Wars before that, which suggests just how much Hasbro is trying to tie these lines together.  This deco has never been my favorite, but then I don’t save the packaging, so it’s not a big sticking point for me. I do, however, really dig the character art on the card, and in case you haven’t guessed, Slug is the new name for Slag. We’ve had some modern Dinobots over the years, and plenty of Grimlocks, but never has Hasbro given us a full on team of G1-inspired Dinobots until now. We’ll see them all released in Power of the Prime, and like it or not, they will be a Combiner Team.

With that said, it’s time for full disclosure: I was thrilled when these Dinobots were first revealed, but a lot of that exaltation burned off when I found out that they were going to be a Combiner Team of Deluxes with Grimlock as the torso/Voyager Class. Now, I’m not inherently against making the Dinobots into Combiners. I respect Hasbro for trying new things. But by making them combiners, they were locked into these size classes, and that’s the root of my disappointment. In my opinion, proper Dinobots should have been Voyager Class figures with Grimlock as a Leader Class. Obviously, I knew this going in, but it’s still going to color my reviews. OK, let’s start with Slug’s dinosaur mode.

Well, this is pretty damn good! Just one look and there’s no doubt who this cybernetic Triceratops is supposed to be. Aesthetically, Hasbro did an admirable job giving us a proper update to G1 Slag. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say that this is one of the best sculpts we’ve seen in a Deluxe Class figure in a while. Just look at how much detail they packed into this little guy. There are panel lines, little hatches and vents, segmented joints in the legs, and the pattern in his collar looks fantastic. I also really dig the sculpted circuitry that can be seen through the translucent plastic discs in the hind legs and in the tail. You even get some pegs to put some Titan Masters or Prime Masters on his back.

The deco is also pretty spot on to what I would want in a modern Slag. Much of Slug’s coloring is derived from his rich gray plastic, but you also get some black and gold paint, as well as the previously mentioned yellow-tinted clear plastic. A little red can be glimpsed from his undercarriage and his horns are red as well. There are even a couple stickers near the base of his tail. The only thing I would have added would be some silver paint to his collar, but I guess you have to leave something for Takara to do in order to tempt the importers.

The articulation here is very basic, but not too bad. The front legs are ball jointed at the top and have ratcheting hinges in the middles. The back legs rotate at the tops and have hinges in the middles as well, but these middle hinges can only work backwards. His mouth can also open thanks to a hinge in the lower jaw that is also part of the transformation. In truth, there’s not a whole lot to work with here, but at the same time, it doesn’t really feel like he’s missing a lot, except for maybe a swivel in the neck.

Slug comes with two accessories: His gun and his Prime Armor. I’ll get to the Prime Armor at the end, because it involves this line’s running gimmick, and is not something I’m going to focus on in any reviews after this one. I mention the rifle now, because you can plug it into his back if you want your Triceratops to have some added firepower. Before moving on to his robot mode, let’s do some size comparisons…

Aaaaand, Yikes! Not only is Slug a Deluxe Class figure, but in his Dino mode, he’s a damn small Deluxe Class figure. He’s barely bigger than Legends Class Bumblebee and Deluxe Class Hot Rod practically dwarfs him. And here’s where the disappointment sets in. Now scale has always been a funny thing when it comes to Transformers, but The Dinobots are supposed to be giants and this scaling just doesn’t work at all for me.

Transforming Slug into his robot mode is pretty easy and mostly involves just folding the back half into the legs. It’s not that dis-similar to the G1 toy, assuming I remember that correctly and the result is that this damn fine little Dino turns into a damn fine little robot. Like the Dino mode, Slug’s robot mode hits almost all the right points that I’m looking for in my updated Slag. The rear Dino legs land on the lower legs, the lower jaw becomes the chestplate, and the top part of the Dino head frames the robot head. It all looks great, and the deco matches almost perfectly. His proportions are fine, although I think he could have used some more bulk. It’s almost like something is missing.

Oh yeah, it’s his wings, and this is my only real sticking point with the robot mode design. The Dino mode’s back actually looks like it’s sculpted with a fake hinge, which is kind of like a big tease. I think if this part did hinge open and press in closer to the back, it would have made this robot mode perfect, instead of just really close to perfect. Maybe that was too much engineering for a Deluxe Class, but considering how relatively simple everything else is, I don’t think that’s really the case. Oh well.

The head sculpt is fantastic and the red painted eyes look especially nice. They’re so bright and vibrant it actually looks better than a lot of the light piping effects I’ve seen int he past. You can actually turn Slug’s head, which is something I wasn’t counting on, but I’ve only been able to get it to turn a bit and I really need to get your fingernail in there to do it.

As already mentioned, Slug comes with a rifle, which e can hold in either hand. Alas, he does not come with a sword, which is a real bummer. I’ve been trying to swear off Third Party Transformers and kits lately, but if someone out there cares to make a weapons pack for these Dinobots, I’d probably pull the trigger on that.

Unfortunately, size is an issue in robot mode as well as in Dino mode. It’s not quite as egregious here, but still an issue nonetheless. At least he’s bigger than a Legends Class now, but as you can see, he’s roughly the same size as Deluxe Class Hot Rod. If he were a little bulkier, I might have been a bit more forgiving, but he still seems really puny for a Dinobot. OK, our last stop is going to be a quick look at the Power Armor, because it’s the key to unlocking the entire gimmick behind Power of the Primes…

And as gimmicks go, it kinda sucks. This giant plastic albatross plugs into the chest and yes, it is as unwieldy in person as it looks in this picture, if not more so. The idea is that you take the clear plastic cover off and plug one of the Prime Masters into it. That’s supposed to give him enhanced powers based on whichever Power Master he bonds with. The powers are outlined on a card that comes with the figure. Unfortunately, this is more of a pretend kind of thing, whereas the Titan Master gimmick was a practical part of the design. Yes, these are toys for kids, and that’s great, but I’m not getting anything out of it. It’s worth noting that the Power Armor will double as Combiner parts as well. The other bummer is that unlike the Titans Returns figures, which each came with a Titan Master, here the Prime Masters are sold separately. I haven’t picked up any of those yet, but in a fine example of Transformers Body Horror, the Titan Masters are also compatible with the Power Armor.

And holy shit! It’s like, hey “Hot Rod, let me borrow Firedrive, so I can get some of his powers. Also, I’m going to use your face to deflect laser blasts aimed at my chest! Sound good?” Oh wait. This is supposed to be Slug talking. “Me, Slug use your face as shield!” OK, this isn’t really the intended use, because Prime Masters turn into chips and not heads, but I’ll still happily choose to ignore this gimmick. On the plus side, it doesn’t really effect the toy itself if you just choose not to use it. Also, the Prime Masters come in G1-style Pretender Shells, and that makes this nonsense all worthwhile!

Wow, that seemed like a really long write-up for a Deluxe Class Transformer, but I had a lot to say. And in the end, Slug turns out to be quite the mixed bag for me. Taken on his own, he’s a great figure and a superb homage to G1 Slag re-imagined as a Deluxe Class release. And that’s what makes the downside all the more of a bummer, because his size really is a deal-breaker for me. No, I’m not sorry I bought him, because it’s going to be cool to have a cohesive G1-style team of Dinobots, but they just don’t interact all that well with the other figures. It’s a case of Hasbro coming sooooo close, but not quite. Next Thursday, I’m going to double down and check out not only Swoop, but we’ll also see that the Power of the Primes Dinobots can get even smaller with Legends Class Slash!

Dec 4 2017

Marvel Legends (Gladiator Hulk Wave): Thor Odinson by Hasbro

Welcome back to my trek through the Gladiator Hulk Wave of Marvel Legends! I’m nearing the home stretch, with just two more comic based figures to look at until I can build the Incredible Champion of Sakaar! Today I’m checking out Thor, or as the package calls him, Marvel’s Odinson. Call him Odinson, call him Unworthy Thor, but he’s still Thor. Because my friends, Thor is still Thor even if unworthy to wield Mjolnir. But that’s a subject on which I will vent a little more next week when I look at Jane Foster Thor. Or maybe I’ll just let it go. We’ll see. I actually loved the idea of an unworthy Thor storyline, but I didn’t feel like Marvel did anything interesting with it. Will new Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski haul Marvel Comics out of the dumpster fire it’s in? I guess we’ll find out. Can it get any worse? I genuinely don’t believe so.

Odinson shares the same slot with Ares as the two “Nine Realms Warriors,” and like Ares, there’s a lot of plastic in this box. Thor himself ain’t no lightweight and when you add in his accessory, Jarnbjorn, and the massive Gladiator Hulk torso, you get a pretty full tray crammed in there. I should note that I might have skipped this figure if it weren’t for the BAF parts, because a variant is included in the SDCC “Battle for Asgarde” set, which I still have sitting unopened in the corner waiting for me to do another Marvel Week. There are, however, some pretty big differences between the two figures, so in this case having to double-dip isn’t too bad.

And the figure isn’t too shabby either! While a good chunk of this costume is just painted buck, Odinson features enough unique sculpting to satisfy me. The black sleeveless shirt is just painted onto his chest with a little cutout up top. See, dudes can wear boob windows too! Eat your heart out, Power Girl! I love how the tops of the trousers are sculpted and tied off with a piece of rope, because down-on-his-luck Thor can’t afford proper pants that fit, nor a belt to hold them up! I jest, but it’s a really nice touch. The boots feature sculpted flares at the knees, and sculpted brown straps tying them in place at the tops and down near the ankles. He also has a pedestrian pair of wrist bracers, which are sculpted as separate pieces.

The cape is really nice! It’s cast in bright red plastic with a silver painted fastener off-set near his left shoulder. The back shows it all tattered with a rough bottom edge and various holes. Still, it’s very thick which eschews realism and gives it a decidedly comic book look. Of course, if you’d rather go without it, you can just pop the head and remove it.

Speaking of heads, this one is a bit of a poser. It genuinely looks fine to me with the figure in hand, but then I take pictures up close and this happens. YIKES! It looks like someone pinched the middle of his face and his eyes are popping out. You ain’t unworthy, you just too ugly! It’s a shame, because the face is very chiseled and angular with some beautiful definition in the sculpt. It looks a little more gaunt than normal Thor, which is a nice touch for hard-luck Thor. The hair is sculpted so that it’s blowing off to the side, which is admittedly a rather singular look, but it works well enough for me. Bottom line is that if you keep a safe distance, it’ll look fine. You’re just going to have to trust me on this one.

The articulation holds no surprises, but we’ll run through it anyway. 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, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso features both an ab crunch and a waist swivel, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. The hinges are all solid, and he’s an all around fun figure to play with.

Odinson comes with one accessory and that’s his trusty axe, Jarnbjorn. For a substitute weapon, this thing is beautiful! Hasbro decorated out the axe head’s socket with some lovely scrollwork and an ornate, spiked tip. The curved handle has sculpted wood texture running through it, and grip is ribbed with silver rings at each end. This is one of the most beautiful weapons Marvel Legends has given us in quite a while!

Whatever my feeling about the particulars of the comics, and they’re not all bad, Unworthy Thor is a great idea for a storyline and I’m glad they did this figure. There was a little while where I thought it was going to be totally exclusive to the SDCC set, and while I did wind up getting it very easily, that’s not always the case. It’s probably a good thing that the figure made it to regular retail too, making it available to the collectors who were unable to get the exclusive set, or maybe just didn’t want all of those figures. Next week, I’m going to put this wave to a bed with a look at the last boxed figure, Jane Foster Thor, and the Build-A-Figure, Gladiator Hulk!

Nov 30 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Revolver and Six Shot by Hasbro

Hasbro has been rolling out their new Power of the Primes line at retailers this past week, and yes I have already picked up the first wave. But, I’m not ready to give up on Titans Returns just yet. Maybe next week I’ll start busting into some of those Deluxes. For now, I’m checking out Six Shot, a Leader Class figure that I would have probably skipped if I didn’t come across him at half price. I know, that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but let’s see if this big bastard can surprise me.

Six Shot and I do not have a history together. His original toy was released pretty late in the game, when I was around 15 and just not into toys anymore. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but it would take me another 15 years and a healthy amount of disposable income, to come back around to buying toys again. But even if I wasn’t taking a toy-buying sabbatical back in 1987, I don’t know that I would have been interested. I’m just not all that into the law of diminishing returns that tends to apply to Transformers with more than two alt modes. And so with that context being laid out, let’s open this beast up. As a Leader Class, Six Shot comes in a nice big window box and packaged in his robot mode, and in this rare occasion I’m going to start there before working my way through his various alt modes.

And yes, I know I’m in store for some pretty iffy alt modes, but let’s first take this time to enjoy how great this robot mode looks, because I think it’s going to make up for a lot of those sins. I can feel the G1 styling coming off this guy in waves and I love it. He’s big and his design hails from a time when robots weren’t ashamed of their boxy bodies. It doesn’t look like Hasbro tried to reinvent him or ultra-modernize him. They just rebuilt him with better articulation, improved proportions, and better sculpted detail. For fans of the original, all the points are still there. He’s got wheels and treads mounted to his arms and beautiful wings rising up from behind his back, not to mention chest wings! There’s a decent amount of sculpted detail to the body, including some panel lining and details intended for his many alt modes. There’s also a delightful generic nature to his robot mode that doesn’t give away much about what he’s going to turn into. Wings? Wheels? Treads? Holy shit… is that the undercarriage of a wolf head hanging off his ass? We’re in for quite a ride!

The coloring is really tight too and a damn near perfect homage to the original toy. You get that distinctive green plastic for the torso and upper shoulder pylons, the white for his arms, the purple for his lower legs, and the rest all filled in with black. The wings on his back are painted with that gorgeous silver that Hasbro has been using lately, and also includes some green and purple paint hits. There are some foil stickers too, and unlike some of the other stickered figures in Titans Return, these aren’t placed in areas that are likely to cause problems down the road. Sure, all stickers eventually peel, but these look like they have a chance to go the distance.

Six Shot’s Titan Master is called Revolver, which is a perfect name for him. He’s a pretty typical little HeadBot and mimics Six Shots green and white color scheme. There’s no other paintwork on him and he features the typical robo-noggin articulation with a swivel in the neck, ball joints in the shoulders, and hinges in the hips and knees of the fused legs. Also like the bigger Bots in this series, Revolver’s head mode sits inside a larger helmet to help him scale out for the larger robots, but still make him workable on the Deluxe Class figures. As for his head mode, it’s all white with red eyes and a big mouth plate, and as cold and featureless as ever.

Six Shot comes with twin rifles, which can fit into each of his hands. It’s worth mentioning that these are a really tight fit. His articulation allows for some fun action poses, but since he lacks ankle articulation, or really ankles of any kind, he can look a little clunky in some of those poses. Yes, the chest wings do get in the way of his shoulder articulation, but you can hinge them out to move them out of the way. Likewise, his pelvic flaps are also hinged so as not to impede that hip articulation.

You can also combine his guns together for when you want to make a stronger statement. Dual wielding Six Shot is definitely a more iconic image for me, but I kind of dig the way this combined gun looks. OK, so we lingered long enough on what an awesome looking robot Six Shot is. Let’s move on to those alt modes.

First up is the truck and it’s not too bad. It has a clearly defined purple cab with silver windshields, a very boxy front and two angled pieces that look like a snow plow or maybe some kind of ramming scoop. It’s kind of weird how the drivers sit in the open cabin area, but at least I can tell what they were going for here and I don’t hate it. It hints at some Earth truck designs, but it works best as just a squat Cybertronian transport. It rolls pretty well on four wheels and there are a few different places you can put the guns.

When viewed from behind, it can get a little confusing as to which is the front and which is the back, because there’s a little driver cabin facing the back as well. Honestly, it looks just as good driving this way as it does the other. Indeed, if you point the guns to the back, you can practically make a new mode out of this. A big part of that is because the back of this truck mode is pretty close to the front of the tank mode, so let’s check that one out next.

I don’t know that the word tank really describes this thing. It’s more of a general attack vehicle. Like the truck, it’s not too bad. It would have been cool if they could have had the top pieces open up to reveal rocket packs or something. This vehicle kind of reminds me of a cross between some of the Transformers: Cybertron designs and Transformers: Animated Blitzwing’s tank mode.

The driver’s cabin can open and Revolver can sit inside. There are also some pegs scattered around so you can load it up with other Titan Masters before sending it into battle. In all fairness, I can’t say this thing is all that much worse than Broadside’s jet mode, and he was just a Triple-Changer not a Six-Changer. I’m going to give this one a pass too. The truck and tank modes take care of the land-based vehicles, next we take to the seas with the submarine mode.

Yes, this is the submarine mode.. I’m stating that clearly up front because there’s absolutely no reason that any sane person would come to that conclusion without being told first. This mode can also be termed a goddamn abstract leap of faith. Now, I’m willing to cut Hasbro a little slack on this, because it’s really just G1 Six Shot’s pistol mode turned upside down, but you can’t go around making robots turn into guns in this day and age. That would be crazy and irresponsible. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Doesn’t Hasbro sell Nerf guns that look a lot more like real guns than this stupid thing. Guns that actually shoot projectiles and are called guns? Stop trying to apply logic to the situation. There’s definitely a double standard going on. Let’s just accept that and move on. Anyway, this mode is crap, but I’d probably be a lot cooler about it if it weren’t so blatantly obvious that the front is just the truck mode with guns stuck on the front, and if there were some way to reconfigure the clearly visible wheels on the back into some kind of propellers by just having them point to the rear. Next up, we take to the skies with the Space Cruiser mode.

The space cruiser mode is really solid, and definitely my favorite of all of them. This mode alone justifies Six Shot as a Transformer to me. I dig how the front portion looks like it could be a carrier deck for receiving fighters. There’s a tiny cockpit in the center, but the actual cockpit is behind that where Revolver can sit inside the translucent panel. Or, you can keep him as the head and just fold the helmet inside to get it off the back of the ship. There’s a single fold down landing gear to help this thing stand, and the guns tab into the ends of the wings to give it some added firepower. OK, that leaves us just one mode left, and I saved the best for last.

Just kidding, it’s the Winged Wolf mode! This mode is not only crap, but it makes me really angry, and I’ll tell you why. The other modes may have been so-so, but they more or less incorporated generic components into them to make them work. It’s almost like they’re just ancillary fan modes that the designers were able to come up with in order to make Six Shot a Six-Changer. In this case, they literally sculpted and added a wolf head just for this goddamn terrible mode, so there’s no excuses. What I’m trying to say is: THIS IS ARGUABLY THE MOST INTENTIONAL MODE SIX-SHOT HAS AND IT LOOKS AWFUL! Not only does it look bad from all angles, but from the side it just looks like the robot mode bending backward with a dick gun and a wolf head coming out of his chest. Yes, this mode triggers me. Sorry, but I can’t help it.

In the end, Six Shot does not change my feelings toward Six-Changers, but I don’t want to end this review on a sour note. There is undeniably a lot to love about this figure. In fact, I think Six Shot is arguably one of the most faithful G1 updates that Hasbro has ever done, and that alone is worthy of celebration. The robot mode looks great, has fun articulation, and while his alt modes are understandably a mixed bag, they follow those of the original toy almost perfectly. I have to imagine that anyone who has fond memories of Six Shot as a kid is going to absolutely adore this figure… even his goofy and f’ugly Winged Wolf mode! Granted, that’s not me, and I still think I would have ended up skipping this bot at full price, but at the $25 that Amazon was blowing him out for, I can’t say that I’m sorry to have picked him up. If nothing else, he’s another big bruiser to add to my Decepticon shelf, and he looks mighty fine towering over the Deluxe Class figures.

Nov 28 2017

Star Wars Black: First Order Stormtrooper (Amazon Exclusive) by Hasbro

While I’m saving my pile of 3 3/4-inch Star Wars toys for the week leading up to Episode Eight, I’m still trying to get through the rest of this stuff beforehand. And that’s not an easy feat, because it keeps rolling in. Today’s release reminded me how surprised I was to see that Hasbro didn’t reissue the First Order Stormtrooper as part of the 6-inch Black Series figures for The Last Jedi. Nope, instead we got a regular Stormtrooper and the Stormtrooper Executioner, which was OK, but nothing really special. Yes, there’s still plenty of time, but maybe it had something to do with Amazon offering this pretty cool exclusive version with a whole bunch of extra gear.

Behold, the Amazon Exclusive First Order Stormtrooper and his snazzy packaging! The box features a bowed front with pictures of three different flavors of Stormtroopers: Regular, Riot Control, and Heavy Gunner. Based on the size of the box, you might be inclined to believe that all three are in here, but nope. You get one Stormtrooper and all the gear to make any of the three you want. The back of the package features another piece of monochrome art with a closer look at everyone’s favorite space-faring thugs. The graphics are actually on a sleeve, which lifts off to reveal…

Some windows, which feature a very familiar Imperial pattern, and a First Order emblem. These are actually folded flaps secured by velcro, which open to reveal the figure on his tray, flanked by all his goodies. I don’t tend to save the packaging for my Black Series figures, but I think I’ll make an exception here. It looks so nice, it’s totally collector friendly, and it’ll give me a place to keep all this stuff. Let’s start off by looking at the regular Stormtrooper.

There aren’t a lot of surprises here, and despite a few minor differences in paint, he appears to be the same figure we’ve been getting all along. That’s not a bad thing, because this was always a pretty solid release. The plastic has a nice shiny finish to it, although the black paint could have been sharper in a few areas. I’m still surprised how I’ve taken to this design since it was first revealed. My first knee jerk reaction was that Disney shouldn’t have messed with such an iconic design, but it’s really grown on me over the last few years.

Articulation is identical to what we saw with previous First Order Stormies. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinged knees, swivels at the tops of the thighs, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a ball joint under the chest armor and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. I have no real issues with the points here, except for the elbows, where the sculpt doesn’t allow for enough of a bend. Some double hinges would have been nice there, but Hasbro seems to save those for the Marvel Legends and not the Black Series. I can’t imagine why, but I wish they would reconsider.

He comes with the same blaster and pistol that we saw with the regular release of this figure for The Force Awakens. Both weapons have a tab on the side, which can plug into the slot on his leg for storage. They’re both great sculpts and feature white and black decos to match the armor, and with a little silver trim on the scope. Before we move on to the rest of the gear, here’s a quick picture of him alongside the regular release Stormtrooper and the Riot Control Stormtrooper.

Which one is which? Don’t ask me. I’ve already mixed them all up. The biggest difference in the paint that I can see is on the belt. There’s a black dash painted on the box that is second to the left on two of them, but third to the left on the other. Let’s move on to the accessories and start by kitting him out as the Riot Control Stormtrooper

This guy, made famous in The Force Awakens by FN-2199, is equipped with his electrified baton and riot shield. The shield is basically the same one that came with the Riot Control Stormtrooper that was packed with Poe Dameron in his Resistance jacket. It features two soft straps, one to go around the forearm and the other can be grasped in the Stormie’s hand. It can take a little work to get him to hold it right, but once it’s in position it looks great. The baton, on the other hand is a new sculpt and where the previous one was just a static piece, this one has articulated tongs that can be turned around to make it look like it’s activated. I was pleasantly surprised that they produced an entirely new piece for this set. Now let’s go for the Heavy Gunner!

Oh boy, do I love the way this guy looks. The equipment includes a heavy artillery vest, which fastens around his torso and fits the figure perfectly. There’s also an ammo pouch, which you can clip to the vest, and a backpack that plugs into a peg on the back of the vest’s straps. Of course, he isn’t a Heavy Gunner without a big gun, so you also get his Mega-Blaster.

This is a pretty damn big gun with the same white and black deco as the smaller weapons. It also has a hinged grab-bar on the side. I love the look of this thing, but I do wish he could hold it better. His right hand seems to be sculpted pretty well for it, but it’s so bulky that it’s hard to get it into the crook of his arm. It also doesn’t help that the figure doesn’t have a lot of range of motion in those elbows. Now, I’m not saying he can’t hold it. I’ve been able to get some pretty good poses of him ready for action, but it isn’t as comfy a fit as I would have liked. Fortunately, he really doesn’t have to hold it…

Because it comes with this mount and stability bar, both of which peg into the bottom of the weapon. OK, so if we’re to assume the Hot Toys version is accurate, the stand is actually supposed to fold up under the gun when it’s not in use, but I can forgive Hasbro for going this route for the 6-inch figure.

You also get one final piece of equipment, and that’s a pair of binoculars. These are surprisingly nice, with a very detailed sculpt and a hinge that lets them fold up in the middle. Unfortunately, it’s pretty tough to get him to hold them like he’s using them.

If you can’t tell, I’m very pleased with this set. I’m always happy to add another Stormtrooper to my collection, and the versatility that comes with swapping out all this gear makes this figure a lot of fun. It’s even more fun if you already own a few First Order Stormies to borrow some of the gear. The Amazon Exclusive Stormtrooper retails at about $35. I’m OK with that price, but if you break it down the extra $15 seems a little steep, even with all these accessories in the package. At least you do get some nice premium packaging to store it all in and to date, this is the only way to get a Heavy Gunner Stormtrooper in the 6-inch Scale.

Nov 27 2017

Marvel Legends (Gladiator Hulk Wave): Ares by Hasbro

Howdy, folks! Thanksgiving may be behind us, but I’m always thankful for another Marvel Monday! After a brief Thor: Ragnarok-related detour last week, I’m finally back on track and continuing on with the Gladiator Hulk Wave of Marvel Legends. I’ve already checked out the MCU figures, and today I’m starting with the comic based figures and Ares!

The movie branding may be gone from the packaging, but this is still a Thor-themed wave. Ares shares a slot with Thor Odinson as one of the “Nine Realms Warriors” and this may indeed be one of the heaviest Marvel Legends boxes in all of those Nine Realms! Not only is Ares a bruiser, but he comes with a lot of stuff, including Gladiator Hulk’s massive hammer. Back in the day, Toybiz released Ares as a Build-A-Figure, but I never got around to completing him. I did, however, pick up Hasbro’s 4-inch Marvel Universe Infinite, or whatever they were calling it back then, Ares and that little guy remains one of my all time favorite Marvel figures in that scale. Can this release live up to that kind of pressure.

Hell yeah he can! Just check this guy out. This Greek God of War is a damn powerhouse and he looks fantastic. I do have a few quibbles about him, but we’ll save that for articulation talk. For now, let’s just bask in all there is to love here. For starters, the sculpting looks fresh and new and that’s always a treat in a line that makes use of a lot of recycled parts. The chest armor is sculpted as part of the buck and features simulated studded shoulder straps to hold it on, his mid section is characterized by sculpted leather and a wide belt, and there’s some nice texturing on the trousers. His right arm features a studded wrist bracer and spiked elbow pad, while his left has a segmented leather sleeve running up to his bicep and another one of those spiked elbow pads. Ares also features a functional sheath on his right leg to hold his knife.

And then you’ve got some excellent coloring! Ares’ black armor is dominated by the sharp Skull and Crossed Swords printed on his chest. You get some precise silver paintwork on the edges of the chest-plate, as well as the studs on his straps and wrist bracer, and again on his belt buckle. But the real star of this figure’s paint is his boots. No offense intended, but the gorgeous tarnished metal effect of his leg armor looks too good to be on a Hasbro figure.

I love the head sculpt, but ironically every time I look at it, I’m just reminded of DC’s Black Adam. I think it’s the chiseled facial features and the haircut. It’s not really a bad thing, but something I funny. Maybe Hasbro should keep this head sculpt in mind for after they buy out Mattel and launch DC Legends. Yeah, probably never going to happen, but I can dream. With that having been said, there’s a lot of personality in this face and I really dig his wry smile.

Of course, Hasbro even equipped him with a removable helmet. The helmet fits perfectly and looks great, although I’d argue that the bare gold plastic is the weakest part of this figure’s deco. The glossy black paint is a nice touch, and the bristles on the come have a cool wash added.

So let’s talk articulation, and here’s where the figure stumbles just a tad in a few places. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and has swivels in the biceps. I really would have loved to see double hinges in the elbows, because those elbows he has don’t have a lot of range. I can’t even get 90-degrees out of them. Plus, you don’t really need rotating hinges in the shoulders when you have a bicep swivel. The legs have those old fashioned ball joints in the hips. They work pretty well with the figure, but still look a little out of place. Below that, you get double hinges in the knees, swivels at the hips, and both swivels and lateral rockers in the ankles. The torso features a really nice ball joint in the chest. The neck has only a ball joint, and boy do I miss the additional hinge Hasbro usually tosses in there. Ares is perpetually looking down a bit.

In addition to Hulk’s arm and huge hammer, Ares comes with his own extra large sword and axe. The axe is a formidable looking weapon with a double edged head. It features some sculpted scrapes and scratches showing heavy wear and the edges are painted silver. The grip is segmented and Ares can wield it in either or both hands.

As much as I love the axe, I think the sword is the more impressive of the two weapons. It’s a pretty utilitarian design, with an elongated two-handed grip, a simple gold guard, and a massive blade with some nicks and cuts sculpted into the edges. My only complaint here is that Ares doesn’t have a loop on his back so he can wear it when he’s not using it.

And finally, Ares also has a dagger in his scabbard for when he grows weary of simple butchery and wants to get in close and do some fine cutting. The dagger is painted and sculpted to match the sword pretty well.

Oh yeah, it’s also worth mentioning just how perfectly Ares fits in with the Masters of the Universe Classics figures. Hey, that’s good to know for when Hasbro buys Mattel and they launch the MOTUC Legends line and OMG, I KNOW NONE OF THIS WILL EVER HAPPEN, I’M JUST KIDDING!!! Oh, and don’t worry, the skirmish depicted above was just a misunderstanding based on Ares’ choice of chest armor. They eventually cleared everything up and had laughed it off over a couple droughts of Eternian Ale.

Ares is one of those figures that I would wholeheartedly recommend even to collectors who aren’t into Marvel characters or Marvel Legends. He’s just a beautifully done figure with some great accessories and he’s loads of fun to play with. Sure, some tweaks to the articulation would have been welcome, but Ares is a freaking tank of a man, so the fact that he isn’t super agile is probably understandable. With how solid the MCU figures in this wave have been, it’s nice to see that Hasbro is maintaining that standard with the comic based figures too. Next week, I’ll check out Thor Odinson!