Tag Archives: hasbro

Oct 18 2017

Star Wars Black: Death Squad Commander by Hasbro

Hooray for more bonus Wednesday content! Unless five days in a row is more than you can take of my inane toy banter, in which case… Boo! More bonus Wednesday content! The truth is, I really want to get through the last few Black Series versions of the original “Kenner Twelve.” Especially now, because getting the last two have been rather problematic. Again, the Jawa and Death Squad Commander have so far only been released on the 40th Anniversary vintage-style packaging and they never turned up in my area. Eventually, I bit the bullet, paid a couple of bucks extra, and picked up today’s figure online.

As much as I grumble about it, these figures sure do look amazing on the vintage cards. Believe me, if Star Wars was my one and only collecting focus, I would have picked up a set to hang on the wall. And I’m sure it will even gave me a slight pang of regret when I tear this baby open in a few seconds.  Although, I do think Hasbro missed a huge opportunity to release a vintage-style green uniformed version on the 40th Anniversary vintage card and release the black one in a regular box, but what do I knew, eh? Let’s get with the ripping!

Now, I may be biased because I do love me some Imperial figures, but I think this guy turned out great. Granted, there’s nothing terribly complex about him. He’s just a dude with a badass sounding name in a black uniform that pushes buttons all day. I mean, what does the Empire call its accountants? Murder Force Commandos? What’s that? These guys carry out the orders to blow up entire planets and kill billions? OK, fair enough. I guess their name is earned after all.

The sculpted uniform is very well done, complete with the front flap detailed on the tunic, and just a little bit of texturing to show off the material. I particularly love the use of matte black for the uniform and gloss black for the boots and gauntlets. There’s also a crisp silver Imperial emblem stamped on his left shoulder. The wide belt features the large silver plates on the front, which helps to break up all that black, and it includes a functional holster on his right hip. The proportions on the figure are perfect, and he looks very smart and trim in the uniform.

I’ve always thought that this helmet design was pretty cool, although as a kid I somehow never made the connection between this helmet design and Vader’s helmet. I can’t remember when I had that epiphany, but ever since I tend to look at these guys with a sense of wonder. Did they design the helmets as a tribute to Vader? If so, that’s odd, because Vader seemed more like just a right-hand man to Tarkin in the original Star Wars. Were they just both cribbed off of an old Samurai design and there is no in-universe explanation? Am I overthinking this way too much? Whatever the case, they did a really nice job with this helmet, although it does look like it would be really heavy and awkward to wear all day, especially when you spend most of your time at a computer terminal.

The helmet is removable, which I’ll admit I did not see that as a given, so it was a really nice surprise when I got him in hand. It fits the head well and the chin strap does it’s job. The generic head sculpt is also pretty well done, although he still suffers from the same extremely basic paintwork as most of these Black Series portraits. The paint isn’t bad, the eyes are fairly straight and the eyebrows and hairline are clean, but it’s nothing special either. And do I detect a little bit of guilt in that expression for having pushed the button that vaporized Alderaan? Nah, probably not.

The articulation here is pretty good. He features rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, along with swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, with double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. The portion of the tunic that goes below his belt is fairly soft and I was pleased to see that he can easily go into a kneeling position. Alas, he does not have an articulated murder button finger, although the trigger finger on his right hand can work for gesturing or pressing buttons.

Death Squad Commander comes with a BlasTech DH-17 Blaster Pistol, or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. This point confuses me because I generally associate this design with Rebel weapons and I think I would have preferred getting the more Imperial-looking E-11 Blaster with this guy. I seem to recall that’s what the vintage figure came with. I guess they were both made by BlasTech and there’s no reason why Rebels and Imperials wouldn’t use the same model. A friend and I bandied this about a little via texting while I was playing with this guy and he swears Imperials were seen using the weapon in the movies. That’s good enough for me. Either way, it’s a great sculpt of a cool design, and I appreciate the silver paint on the muzzle.

Obviously, I dig this figure a lot and I seriously hope that Hasbro gets around to putting him in a box as a regular release, because I’d definitely pick up a few more. That’s the other thing that pisses me off about the 40th Anniversary line. The only three figures that were new (Tusken Raider, Jawa, and this guy) are all potential troop builders and all very tough to find here. Thankfully, Hasbro has since rectified that with a boxed release of the Tusken Raider and his price has come down quite a lot since, so I’ll likely pick up a few more of those. If the same thing happens here, I’d grab two more of these as well. The Jawa? Well, that’s a whole different story, and I hope to get to checking him out next week.

Oct 16 2017

Marvel Legends (Vulture Wings Wave): Tombstone by Hasbro

I didn’t think I was going to make it back for a Marvel Monday Double Feature tonight, but I ultimately decided that I could polish off the second half of the “Sinister Villains” without needing too much time. Besides, if I’m going to get through this wave and into the Gladiator Hulk Wave before Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters, I’ve got to get busy on these reviews. So, let’s take a gander at Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone!

The package is identical to what we saw this morning with The Beetle. This time there isn’t quite as much packed into the tray, just the figure and the Vulture Wing part. Also, to get in the mood, I have a Pepperoni Tombstone Pizza in the oven that’s going to be ready in like ten minutes, so let’s get right to it.

There were two directions Hasbro could have gone with this figure: Broad shouldered and business suit, or bulked out and well… whatever the hell this is he’s wearing. It is a pretty iconic look for him so either way would have worked for me, but I’m thinking this look required a little less effort in the sculpt. Indeed, while this is a pretty distinctive looking figure, it is a fairly basic one as well, and he doesn’t have the snazzy paint job that Beetle has to make that simple buck really stand out.

The bulk of the outfit is just matte black with a couple of loose cuffs around his ankles and wrists, also matte black. Everything is just black. Jesus, it feels like I’m talking about Hotblack Desiato’s stuntship (And if you don’t get that reference, Don’t Panic… just Google it). At least the belt breaks things up a little bit with a dark gray, a belt buckle, and some sculpted studs. I think it would have been cool if Hasbro went with the traditional soft-plastic vest with sculpted arm-sleeves look, but instead we just get some lines forming the open jacket and the ashen skin of his bare chest. Even the high collar looks like it might just be attached to the buck. I’ll admit that it looks a little cheap to me.

Ah, but once we get up past the neck, this is where the figure really shines. Hasbro has turned out some truly spectacular headsculpts in the modern Legends line, and Tombstone here is yet another example of that. Lonnie really is an interesting character, and this portrait captures him perfectly right down to his sharpened teeth. It really elevates this figure from an average budget-minded release in the wave to something special.

The articulation here is standard modern Legends fare, but let’s run through it anyway. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinged shoulders. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. He has a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge under the chest, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed. He does have that issue annoying issue where his arms won’t hang close to his sides, but I’m willing to turn a blind eye to that. And so is Daredevil. In fact, two of them!

Before wrapping up, I just wanted to say how much I wish they had given Tombstone an extra pair of accessory holding hands. Yeah, I know he doesn’t come with anything for him to hold, but it would have been nice to be able to have him be able to grab Spider-Man. Even one fist and one graspy hand would have been cool. The fists are a little limiting, although fine for if you want him always ready to spar and throw punches.

I wouldn’t say Tombstone is a great figure, but maybe I’d say he’s a great treatment of the character? Does that make any sense? He’s perfectly serviceable as he is. A solid figure through and through, but he definitely feels like the figure designed to make the rest of the wave cost out and that definitely holds him back a bit. But hey, if that’s what Hasbro has to do to get characters like this one swinging on the pegs in 2017, I’m fine with the compromise.

Oct 16 2017

Marvel Legends (Vulture Wings Wave): Beetle by Hasbro

Holy hell, someone at Hasbro sure loves The Beetle. We’ve already had the Janice Lincoln version in The Absorbing Man Wave and the Ultimate Beetle from Earth-1610, as part of The Ultimate Green Goblin Wave, and now we’re getting Abner Jenkins, the original article! That’s right, all you True Believers who were upset that Hasbro was dicking around with them other Beetles can now rest easy. Your day has finally come. Me? Well, I really dig the other two figures, and I always knew they’d get to Abner soon enough.

Beetle shares the same slot in this assortment with Tombstone as one of the “Sinister Villains” and there sure is a lot of stuff in this box! He comes with his wings and shell pieces detached, as well as one of the VTOL pieces needed to build the MCU Vulture’s wings.  Putting on Beetle’s own wings and shell is as easy as plugging them into his back and he’s all ready to go.

The coloring! So pretty! I rarely start out talking about the paint job on a figure, so when I do, you know I’m really pleased with the result. Here’s one example where the paint and colors carry the day and take this figure from potentially average to absolutely gorgeous. I’m in love with this metallic green and purple combo. The shimmery green plastic reminds me of the factory paint on my first Ford Mustang. I think it was called “Hunter Green,” but whatever the case, I think this is beautiful. Couple that with the eye-melting sex that is the metallic purple on the boots, pelvis, and gauntlets and it’s easy to overlook how little sculpted detail is on this figure.

Beyond the coloring, my favorite thing here is the beetle shell on his back. The pieces swivel to open and close, so you can display him with his wing’s retracted and the shell closed or open it and peg in the wings for when he’s ready to take to the skies. Marvelous!

Do the wings look familiar? They’re the same translucent purple flappers that we got with the Janice Lincoln Beetle. The main wings are mounted on rotating hinges and the smaller ones are pegged into the larger ones so they will swivel. All four have sculpted veins running throughout them and they really look great with the purple and green deco of the suit.

The head sculpt is simple, but really captures that classic comic look. The purple paint matches the rest perfectly and the giant gold eyes really pop.

The articulation makes this bug loads of fun to play with. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, along with swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the shoulders. The legs are ball jointed up in the hips, have double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. He has a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge under the chest, and his neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Hasbro has done well by The Beetle, now in his many forms, and these have been among my favorite additions to Spidey’s rogue gallery. Personally, I think he was well worth the wait, not only because he turned out beautifully, but also because we got two other great figures running up to this release. I first opened him up back on Friday and he’s been on my desk all weekend for me to fiddle about with while watching Netflix or working on projects. I have to imagine that even if I had no interest in Spider-Man or Marvel Legends (OK, I can’t really imagine that, but bear with me), I’d love to have this figure in my collection. Will I be back tonight with a Double Feature? No guarantees, but I’m going to do my best!

Oct 11 2017

Star Wars Black: Tusken Raider by Hasbro

I’m finally counting down to a complete set of the Black Series versions of the “Original Twelve” Kenner figures, with only three left to review. These have been ridiculously tough for me to get at reasonable prices as they were each originally released on the 40th Anniversary Vintage Style cardbacks and I’m still plenty sore at Hasbro for going this route. The only 40th Figures I ever saw in my neck of the woods were the repacks of Obi-Wan, Tattooine Luke, and Princess Leia, which clogged the pegs everywhere. Fortunately, I’ve since been able to hunt down the Jawa and Death Squad Commander without getting too badly beaten up on the price.

And thankfully today’s figure, The Tusken Raider, was re-issued in the traditional boxed package so he’s finally easier to come by at his regular retail price. Oh, I still haven’t been able to find him locally, but I was able to grab him online. I’ve got some great memories of this figure from the Kenner line and he’s remained a favorite, which is surprising because that goddamn ambush scene jump-scare scared the living shit out of me when I was a kid. I was like 7 years old when my parents took me to see Star Wars and that one scene is the only thing I remember from that day. The only reason I was able to get my shit back together was because I didn’t want to be the reason the family had to leave and miss the rest of the movie.

And holy crap, does this guy look amazing! Ain’t no vinyl cape here! This is easily some of the best use of softgoods Hasbro has done in this line. And yes, I realize that’s not much of a compliment, but nonetheless I really like it. I don’t know what this stuff is, but it looks like they actually dug up mummies and used the gnarled and nasty mummy bandages to make the Tusken Raider’s cloak. If so, I got to say, that’s some dedication and I approve! It fits the figure pretty well over his plastic sculpted robes, all of which are textured quite nicely. Now, I just have to keep myself from pulling on any of those random threads.

Additional detail to the outfit includes the brace of ammo pouches that run across his waist and the crisscrossed bandoleer straps across his chest. The paintwork on the pouches feature a nice watch to make them look like warn brown leather and both the pouches and the straps have individually painted fixtures to make them look like bronze or brass. The head sculpt is excellent too. From the protruding eye cylinders and head spikes, to the roller around his neck, and that creepy orifice he calls a mouth. The paint is overall solid too, except for a little brown slop on his silver nose thing.

The articulation is pretty typical for a robed Black Series figure, which means all the points are there, but the range of motion could have been better. You basically get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the waist and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. My biggest issue is that even with the slits up both sides of the soft plastic robes, posing his legs can get frustrating. If you have the Obi-Wan figure, than you know what I’m talking about. It makes me really wish they had gone with softgoods below the belt. The other problem is that the lower hinges in the knees have limited range of movement because of the way the lower leg is sculpted. It’s a bit of a bummer. but comes nowhere near ruining the figure for me.

The Tusken Raider comes with three different mace heads for his gaffi stick, which was a really nice surprise. I haven’t read any reviews of this guy prior to opening him, so I wasn’t expecting that. These pieces just peg and unpeg from the base of the stick and they all look great. I was already hoping to find a couple more of these guys and now that magic number will likely be three so I can have one with each style of stick.

He also comes with his musket, which is beautifully detailed. It has a rather 19th Century Moroccan flavor to it and features a scope, a reinforced stock, and various paint hits to the bits and bobs. Now, his right hand is sculpted with a trigger finger, but because of the limitations in the elbow joint, it’s really tough to get him to draw his weapon up to his cheek like he’s firing it, but I was able to get it close enough.

I’m more than a little surprised to say that the Tusken Raider now ranks among my favorite figures in the Black Series. Some minor articulation gripes aside, this figure feels closer to that impressive first wave than most of what I’ve picked up since. He features a fantastic use of softgoods, a solid sculpt, and it feels like they really made an effort with the paint. Toss in all those extra gaffi stick parts, and you can count me very pleased with the way this fellow came out. Had they gone with softgoods for the lower skirt, I think he would have been damn near perfect.

Oct 9 2017

Marvel Legends (Vulture Wings Wave): Cosmic Spider-Man by Hasbro

As promised, I’m back with an extra-helping of Marvel Legends goodness on this Marvel Monday. Earlier today I looked at Spider-Man and tonight I’m looking at… Spider-Man! There are actually no less than three figures in this wave simply called “Spider-Man,” but of course they are all unique figures. This one is a comic-themed release and can be regular Peter Parker hosting the Uni-Power, or Cosmic Peter Parker from Earth-13, or simply Captain Universe, depending on which head you want to display him with. Ahhh, but I’m getting a-head of myself (HA!). Sorry. Let’s look at the damn figure…

Holy shit, look at that box! The packaging on mine got really chewed up, possibly literally. As if there are dogs roaming the warehouses in Amazon making snacks of the merchandise. But I care not. He was super cheap and I just toss the packages anyway. I do get a kick out of the fact that Cosmic Spidey is looking down like he’s ashamed of the state of his packaging. Well, let’s get him out of there and we’ll start out with the stock head.

If you’re more of a casual Marvel fan, this figure might be giving you a little case of Deja Vous because the color palate is very similar to the Vance Astro figure we got back in the Titus Wave. Indeed, the lovely metallic blue paint appears to be the same, although the white here is comprised of a striking pearlescent white plastic. Overall I think the effect here is much better and absolutely gorgeous even if it does play havoc with my camera’s color balance. The connected circle patterns are neatly painted and he has some white speckling that looks great. He may be just a basic buck, with virtually no unique sculpting from the neck down, but the coloring here elevates that buck to something truly special.

Indeed, Hasbro probably could have gotten away with just repainting the Vance Astro head for this one, but they didn’t. Now, I’ll be honest, I have very little memory of this appearance, other than Spider-Man was fighting some Super Sentinel and there was a follow up What If? ish about him actually keeping the Uni-Power and retiring as Spider-Man. I’m also not a huge fan of the look here, as it’s basically the Captain Universe cowl with Spider-Man’s mask appearing through the mouth hole. Meh, it’s OK, the paintwork is excellent, but I can tell you right now this is the head that will get the least display time. And by least, I really mean none.

Next up, we have the Earth-13 Peter Parker head from Spider-Verse and oh boy did I love this scene. Uni-Powered Pete basically tells the Spider Totems to scatter and heroically proclaims, “I’ll handle this!” only to get his ass kicked by Solus, Patriarch of The Inheritors. It was a sobering experience for the Spider Crew who were quickly learning that nobody was going to be able to save them. Anyway, this is a great looking sculpt and it would definitely be the one I’d go with for my default display if it weren’t for…

Regular masked Captain Universe! Actually, I’m calling this one Ray Coffin and I can’t even tell you how stoked I am to have this figure. Captain Universe is a cool idea and all, but the fact that he originates from the Micronauts Universe raises his coolness factor in my book by a thousand fold. Now I can say I have a modern Micronauts figure on my shelf, and not those shitty ones Hasbro did for the SDCC Exclusive set. Needless to say, this is the noggin that I’ll be displaying 99% of the time.

Hasbro could have easily just popped the stock head on this guy and made Captain Universe the cheap-o figure of this Wave, but I think it’s really cool that they dropped the two extra heads into the box as well. If this figure drops in price on Amazon like some of the pegwarmers out there, I can easily see myself picking up one more so I can at least get one extra for my Spider-Verse shelf. And with Spider-Man Noir and Spider-Punk both revealed, that shelf is getting more and more crowded!

Oct 9 2017

Marvel Legends (Vulture Wings Wave): Spider-Man (Hoodie Suit) by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday again and time to embark on a brand new wave of Marvel Legends! I’m so backlogged, that I had a lot to choose from, but I went with the Spider-Man: Homcoming inspired assortment because the flick is due out on Blu-Ray in a few weeks, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it again. Now if things go well and I can double up a few weeks, I’ll be able to cruise right into the Thor: Ragnarok wave right as that one hits theaters! And speaking of doubling up, I’ll be doing that today, so let’s jump right in and check out Spidey!

In the title I called him “Hoodie Suit” Spidey. “Homebrew Suit” Spidey works too. One of my favorite things about Homecoming was how they did the switcheroo on the suits. In the Raimi film he started with the crappy homemade suit and by the time he was ready for the climactic final battle with Goblin, he was in the polished new one. Here he started in the spiffy Stark Tech suit, but went back to his crappy homemade suit for the final battle in order to make a point that clothes do not make the (Spider)man. It was sort of the same point that Tony learned in Iron Man 3. Anyway, I thought that was just all kinds of neat and one of the reasons why I love the movie as much as I do.

And I really loved this costume in the movie. It was a fun palate swap homage to the Scarlet Spider costume with a few tweaks. As for this figure? Um… I like it, but I don’t quite love it. Part of the problem here is that it feels really flat. There’s some nice texturing in the socks and some decent sculpted wrinkles in the suit, but otherwise, the lack of detail makes it feel more like a comic based figure and not an MCU figure. Maybe that’s the point and I’m just missing it. Also, I don’t recall his wrist bracers being all silver. I thought they were red with silver cartridges. And speaking of coloring, my biggest issue here is that the red looks too dark. It wasn’t so much a deep crimson as it was a bright candy-apple red.

I do dig that Hasbro included two different hoods, so you can display him with it up or down. If you have the Spider-Gwen figure than you know how this works. But the head itself could have used a few more tweaks to the goggles to make them match the on screen appearance a little better. And what, no drawstrings on the hood? A little more facial definition sculpted into the mask would have been cool too. Again, it’s just kind of bland. Am I being too picky? Maybe. Either way, I definitely prefer him with the hood down, so I went with that look for most of the pictures I took.

The articulation here is solid enough. Granted, he doesn’t have the butterfly shoulders like we often see in our Legends Webheads, but everything else is as expected. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, with double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, with double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles have lateral rockers and hinges. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch in the torso, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged.

Homebrew Suit Spidey also comes with two pairs of hands: Fists and thwippy hands!

I don’t usually discuss the BAF parts until the end of the wave when I’m ready to build it, but I’ll make an exception here because Hasbro is trying something truly new and exciting in this Wave. It’s not a Build-A-Figure, but instead the parts will build something to enhance a figure in the Wave. In this case, it’s the MCU Vulture’s wings. Now to give credit, Mattel first tried something different in their Multiverse line by doing a Collect & Connect roleplay Batman Grapnel Gun, which isn’t quite the same thing, but does show the same kind of thinking outside the box. I was surprised to hear a fair amount of criticism from some fans over this idea, but I think it’s brilliant and I hope Hasbro does more with it in the future.

 

I know I harped on him a lot, but this is by no means a bad figure. He just kind of feels a little underwhelming to me. Again, maybe that’s the point, because it’s an underwhelming homemade suit. I’d probably be more forgiving if the colors were a little more accurate and a little extra paint on his bracers, but I’m certainly not sorry I picked him up. Of course, if I wanted to put my money where my mouth is, Hot Toys is doing a figure with this outfit, but I don’t like it enough to blow $220 on it. The Stark Tech Suit? Yeah, I’m probably going to go for that one! In the meantime, web-swing back later this evening and I’ll have a look at another version of Spider-Man in this wave!

Oct 4 2017

Star Wars Black (Rebels): Hera Syndulla by Hasbro

I’m not bringing back regular Wednesday content. Honest! I’m not. But I’ve got about a month before things get crazy for me at work again, so I thought I’d take advantage of it and try to get caught up. As a result, I’m doing TWO Star Wars Black Series reviews today: Hera from Rebels this morning and the Stormtrooper Executioner from The Last Jedi later tonight.

Hasbro has been killing it with their realistically styled 6-inch Black Series figures from the Star Wars Rebels cartoon. These have been among my favorite Black Series releases, despite the fact that I’m forever woefully behind on watching the series. I think I’m just going to have to grab the Blu-Rays and binge that shit one of these weekends. Still, I’ve been hoping against hope that they will at least get around to completing the crew of the Ghost and now we’re one step closer. So far we’ve had Kanan and Sabine, and technically you could add Ahsoka to that mix. Today I’m checking out Hera!

The figure may be pulled from Rebels, but the packaging here is branded just like all the rest of the Black Series in full monochrome glory. I’m not a big fan of the character art they went with here, but that’s been a sticking point with me for most of these releases. Then again I toss the packaging anyway, so I’m not going to get upset over it. I actually wound up ordering Hera from an online retailer a few days before finding three of her on the pegs at a local Target. Then I saw the paint was all over the place and got worried, but turns out the one I got is pretty solid. Anyway… I love Hera, I love me some lady Twi’leks, so this was a hotly anticipated release for me!

I’ve always been a little perplexed by Hera’s outfit. At first, I thought it was just a typical flight suit with the top zipped down and worn down around her waist. But the more I watched, the more I realized it’s like some kind of flight-suit overalls. Whatever the case, I like it. It gives her the unmistakable look of a pilot in the Star Wars universe, while not over encumbering her upper half. The flight suit portion is cast in orange plastic and suitably baggie and includes the typical straps that come down off her belt and encircle her legs. Above the waist, she wears a tan-green long sleeve shirt with a reinforced armor vest and shoulders. There’s a nice bit of sculpted detail in the armor pieces, including some scratches from wear and tear. Otherwise, this is a fairly simple outfit, very close to the CG model in the show, and it looks great in this realistic format.

Hera features a functional holster on her right ankle, and as you all should know by now functional holsters make me happy. Also, while I’m down there I might as well mention that she has extremely tiny feet. These can make her a bit of a chore to stand, especially when attempting action poses.

I couldn’t be happier with the portrait here. Hera’s face is beautifully sculpted and features a fairly neutral expression with just a hint of a smirk on her lips. The paint applications on her eyes and lips are crisp and perfect, as are the patterns painted on her tendrils. The hood has some sculpted ribbing and the goggles are actually sculpted as a separate piece and include tinted clear lenses, but they cannot be lowered over her eyes.

The articulation here is solid, with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips, double hinges in the knees, swiveils in the thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. She has a ball joint under her chest, and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

Hera comes with her little blaster pistol, which is a pretty unique design. It’s as ugly as sin, but it’s also discrete. I’d like to think she keeps it because it’s reliable and trustworthy and has gotten her out of more than a few scrapes. She can hold it in either hand, but her left hand is clearly sculpted with the trigger finger. I don’t remember her being left-handed in the show, and it wouldn’t make much sense to have the gun on her right ankle if she was, but I’m not about to get too worked up about it.

And here we are, another Rebels 6-inch Black Series release, and another excellent one at that! I could say I wish she came with some more stuff, like maybe a tool kit or an A-Wing helmet or something, but I’m still plenty happy with what we got. I’m also glad that Hasbro put the Stormtroopers back onto the pegs, because I picked up a couple more to go with her! It’s probably not a coincidence that two of the three Ghost crew left may be tough to do in the new style. I’m really curious to see what a realistically sculpted Ezra will look like, and I can’t even imagine what they’re going to do with Zeb. Hopefully we’ll get Chopper next.

Oct 2 2017

Marvel Legends: The Human Torch by Hasbro

I promised I’d be back to Marvel Legends this week, but before jumping into a new wave, I thought I’d take a look at the newest Walgreens Exclusive and the second member of Marvel’s First Family to be released in this Fantastic Four assortment. It’s Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch!

As odd a marriage as Walgreens and Marvel Legends may sound, it’s been a blessing for me. Distribution is generally bad here and store exclusives can be tough for me to come by, but not these. Indeed, my Walgreens currently has six Sue Storms on the shelf, a Black Ant, and just a week or so ago I saw the yellow Daredevil from a while back. I haven’t seen Johnny show up there yet, but Walgreens has also been really good about getting these available online for those of us not willing to take chances on the luck of the hunt. The package is branded for the team, so you get a big “4” emblem on the tray insert and the “Fantastic Four” logo on the front.

Johnny is cast in a translucent red and orange plastic, which does a nice job of reproducing his “Flame On!” effect, allowing the figure to get by without much in the way of paint at all. There is also some original sculpting on the lower legs and forearms to simulate flames. There’s a faint trace of his costume with the belt running across his waist and the darkened collar, and there’s a “4” emblem tampo on his chest.

The figure also comes with a flame effect part that rests on the shoulders and pegs into the back, very similar to the ice piece that came with Iceman in the first X-Men Wave. I haven’t decided whether I’m a fan of this piece yet or not. I wish it was colored to match the rest of the body a bit better. As it is, it’s a lot more yellow, but I’m happy that it’s designed to be removed. The head has the same issue as it’s a lot more yellow than the rest of the body, but it doesn’t bother me quite as much as the shoulder piece. The details on the face can be a little tough to make out given the translucent plastic, but Johnny is wearing a characteristic smirk and the paint used for the eyes and eyebrows is nice and sharp.

The articulation here is pretty standard stuff for a Legends 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 elbows, swivels in the thighs and lower legs, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

In addition to the shoulder flame effect part, Torch comes with two sets of hands and two additional fire effect parts. The stock hands include a right fist with some flame sculpted on it and an open left hand. The extra set are both simple fists, which are designed to interact with the flame parts. These appear to be the same pieces that came with Sunfire, and we’ve seen them a few times before that representing everything from flame to magic.

All in all, I think this figure turned out great and I’m so happy Hasbro and Walgreens are doing these. I’ve been a Marvel Comics reader ever since I was a kid. Books have come and gone out of my life, but The Fantastic Four is one of the few books that I always read. In fact, the only thing that could shake us apart was Marvel cancelling it. Little did I know it was for the better, because I can’t even imagine what a contemporary FF comic would look like given Marvel’s current trend of releasing 99% dogshit. But hey, I’m a True Believer. Things have got to right themselves sooner or later. In the meantime, I’m extra thankful that we’re getting these Fantastic Four figures and for my stack of back issues and trades.  Reed Richards is scheduled for release next, and at that point, I’ll pretty much pay whatever I have to to get a Legends Ben Grimm. You hear that, Hasbro? Make it happen!

 

Sep 28 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Flameout and Twin Twist by Hasbro

I was supposed to be going back to Voltron content this week on Transformers Thursday, but then I stumbled across Top Spin and all bets were off! Finally, my Neo-Jumpstarters are complete and I couldn’t wait to start gushing about this Titans Return update to the other half of my favorite Transformers Duo! So, sorry Voltron, maybe next week.

Here’s a quick peep at Twin Twist in the package before I savage it to get at him. I won’t bore you with more tales about how I loved the G1 Jumpstarters and about how I was ostracized on the playgrounds because of it. Don’t worry, the subsequent therapy did wonders for me and I can now admit in public again that I am and have always been Pro-Jumpstarter. Also, I can’t believe that I neglected to mention the bio on the back when I reviewed Topspin, but these fellas’ Titan Masters give them some pretty cool powers. Freezeout gives Topspin the ability to freeze his foes in whatever mode they are in. Flameout overloads his foes transformation mechanisms triggering a “mode-switching meltdown.” Yeah, I don’t usually bother with the bios on these figures, but that’s some rad shit! Anyway, let’s start with Twin Twist’s alt mode…

Yup, Twin Twist retains his good old drill tank mode, which does a fairly good job of hiding that it’s a remold of Topspin’s Cybertron fighter mode. Well, apart from the back, which is mostly identical from the top, although from the back you can see that Topspin’s quad thrusters have been removed. The cockpit and surrounding area are the same, but Twin Twist trades in the angled wings for a pair of tank treads and the twin pylons on the front for drills.

Twin Twist’s deco is basically a palate swap of his Jumpstarter bro, although instead of white those parts are more gray. The intakes on his back are now painted yellow and framed in red, which looks quite nice. The silver paint used for the drills looks great too. Honestly, I have to confess to liking Topspin’s alt mode a little more, but that was the case with the originals as well. I mean one is an alien starfighter and the other is a drill tank. I don’t know what we were smoking in the 80’s to formulate such a love affair with drill tanks. They turned up in every goddamn cartoon property I can think of. I think 12-year old me would be heartbroken to find out that even as far in the future as the year 2017, nobody gives a shit about drill tanks. Seriously, they never even come up in conversation.

Because giant drills aren’t always useful in a shooting war, Twin Twist sports a couple of guns, which can be fitted in two different locations on the tank mode. You can attach them above the treads, which is where I prefer them, or lower on the treads. I like the fact that you can elevate the guns to lob shells at the enemies. It makes this alt mode feel a little more tank like.

Flameout, Twin Twist’s Titan Master, is cast all in one color plastic, but he does have a painted visor, which is pretty cool. Of course, he can sit inside Twin Twist’s cockpit and looks damn fine doing it. Twin Twist’s transformation is nearly identical to Topspin’s. Nope, no instant jump transformation here. Let’s check out his robot mode!

So, once again we can see that Twin Twist shares a lot with Topspin. In fact from the front the only evident differences in the mold from the neck down are in the upper arms. And that’s fine because it carries on the tradition of the original toys. Of course, the Twin Twist mold trades in the shoulder wings for shoulder treads. They’re certainly not as elegant, although I think they add some nice bulk to him from the side, and don’t look too bad from the front. The palate swap also does a nice job of distinguishing them apart and I especially like the yellow and red paint operations showing on Twin Twist, along with that silver painted hatch on his chest. I get just a hint of Gundam RX-78-2 off of this deco. Just a whiff.

From the back, those shoulder treads are a lot more unsightly to me and the crisscrossed cockpit and drills don’t look quite as refined as Topspin’s pylons. Still, plenty of Transformers aren’t going to win any prizes when viewed from the back, so I’ll cut Twin Twist here a little slack. At least his lower legs fill in with back plates.

The head sculpt is pure poetry. It’s everything I loved about the original, including a stout bucket head, a classically noble Autobot face, a nice clean silver paint job and some perfect blue eyes. Flameout, you make a fine head and you’ve got nothing to apologize for… except maybe your name.

Twin Twist’s guns are identical molds to those carried by his brother Topspin. I love these designs, although the hollow-sided nature of many of the Titans Return guns continues to irk me just a bit. And yes, you can still combine them into one big gun for when you need to deal…

QUAD DAMAGE, bitches!!!!

And so, I finally have my Titans Return Jumpstarters and I am a very happy little robot collector. I love these guys and I imagine they will be Wreckin’ and Rulin’ my desk for quite a while before they finally make the journey to the display case. They really are that much fun. And if you’re wondering why I did comparisons to the Mech Ideas Not-Jumpstarters in my Topspin review but not here, it’s because I already sold those third-party figures off. They were not bad little bots, but this is an instance where I think the cheaper, official ones are just that much better.

Sep 26 2017

Star Wars Black: Grand Admiral Thrawn by Hasbro

I’ll be honest, when Disney announced that they were wiping the slate clean when it came to the bulk of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, I didn’t shed many tears. I read a lot of those books in my teenage years and early 20’s, but I only ever really took to certain parts of it. Nevertheless, I was certainly happy to see that Grand Admiral Thrawn survived the purge and was forever cemented into canon with his appearances on Star Wars Rebels. Did Heir to the Empire ever happen? Who cares… Thrawn is alive and kicking and he got a 6-inch Black Series figure!

Indeed, in that sense I suppose we can consider this figure a continuation of the realistically-styled versions of the Rebels crew that we’ve been getting peppered throughout the Black Series. Whatever the case, Thrawn was first released as an SDCC Exclusive with a whole bunch of extras and some spiffy packaging. That stuff was neat and all, but I’m perfectly happy having picked up his vanilla retail release… well, mostly perfectly happy. Let’s check him out!

Here he is and don’t he look damn spiffy! The special white version of the Imperial uniform was finally seen on the big screen in Rogue One, and boy did it look grand. Yes, pun intended! Here Thrawn is sporting the form fitting white tunic with with gold epaulets, the rank insignia on the left of his chest, and what are those, pens? tucked into his tunic one either side. He has some additional adornment on his collar, the puffed out military-style pants, and black matte boots. The wide belt includes a functional holster for his sidearm. All that is great, but here’s where I’ve got to give some serious props to Hasbro…

This figure appears to share next to no parts with Director Krennic, and that’s a big deal to me. While Hasbro is able to share parts in their 6-inch Marvel Legends line all the time, the Black Series affords a lot fewer opportunities. If there was ever a figure (besides Astromech droids) where it would have been understandable to share a buck, it would have been here. And yet, apart from maybe the boots (but I don’t think so), these are two totally unique figures. Just putting the two figures beside each other shows that Krennic is built on a shorter buck, none of the sculpted wrinkles in the pants line up, and there are significant differences all around the uniform. That’s pretty damn cool!

Overall, I think the portrait here is pretty good, although the paint does tend to break down a bit the closer you get. There are some excellent details in the sculpted facial features, particularly in the angular cheeks and around the nose. The hairline is also painted very neatly and overall, he has an appropriately stern look on his face. The eyebrows are a bit overstated for my taste, the eyes look fine, but the purple paint on the lips is sloppy and I could have done without it entirely. It looks a bit like he’s been hitting the Spice too hard. Oh wait, wrong franchise. Still, all in all, not bad.

Thrawn’s articulation is right in line with what I’ve come to expect from the Black Series. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs have ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, swivels up under the tunic, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the chest and both a ball joint and swivel in the neck. Not bad for an Imperial Officer.

While the SDCC Exclusive release was flush with extra goodies, this retail release includes only one, and that’s his sidearm. This is a really cool and unique blaster design and it fits perfectly in his holster. But come on, Hasbro? Not even a Ysalamiri to keep The Force at bay? I’m perfectly fine without the entirety of his art collection, but there was certainly room in that package for something else.

Well, lack of accessories no withstanding, I really do love this figure. Thrawn looks great, and the fact that he’s an all new figure was a welcome surprise. I’m all about getting as many Imperials as I can, so I’m hoping that some Imperial Officers can’t be far behind. In the meantime, I’ll keep my eye open every now and then for the SDCC version. I doubt it’ll ever turn up for what I’d be willing to pay, but it never hurts to look around.