Tag Archives: hasbro

May 11 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Flintlock and Sergeant Kup by Hasbro

Behold! For the long, dark night has ended and I have a new Converto-change-a-bot® to look at on Transformers Thursday! Yup, I’m pretty excited about it, especially since it’s part of the new wave of Deluxes, because I have been totally digging the Titans Return Deluxes! And it’s Kup! Oh, excuse me, Hasbro lawyers… Sergeant Kup! With how terrible Hasbro’s distribution is around here, I don’t even want to tell you what kind of backroom deals I had to do to get this guy in a reasonable and timely manner. …Best not to dwell on it. …Ebay. It was Ebay. But he was actually only a couple of bucks over retail, so I did good.

The card art features Kup’s properly perturbed and cranky looking head descending onto his geriatric-robo-body. Or is that Flintlock’s head? These Head/Titan Masters always confuse the hell out of me. Anyway, the last time we saw Kup was as part of the Generations line back in 2013. I thought it was a nice looking figure with some clever engineering, but it wasn’t really my G1 Kup so I recently sold him off in anticipation of this release. Shrewd move or hasty mistake? Let’s press on and find out. Kup comes packaged in his robot mode, but I’m starting with his alt mode.

Now this is an alt mode for Kup that I can get behind! My biggest issue with Generations Kup was that he was an Earth truck. Here we’ve got a pretty cool looking Cybertronian truck that’s certainly inspired by the original toy. The two-tone blue deco is very evocative of the original and I think it looks great in spite of the fact that there aren’t a ton of paint apps here. You do, however, get some nice sculpted details in the mold, which includes panel lining and a bunch of hatches on the sides.

The clear canopy that opens to reveal the driver’s compartment, and of course his Titan Master buddy Flintlock can fit in the driver’s seat.

Kup’s guns are designed to mount in the back of the bed, where they mainly just fill up that space. You can turn them around to have them fire behind him, or even combine them to form a gunning station for a Titan Master. There are also ports on the sides where they can be pegged in as well. All of these are pretty cool options. With the guns out of the bed, you can also make use of some of the tiny foot pegs and load up the back of the truck with Titan Masters.

And here’s a quick look at Flintlock. Still no paint apps on these little guys, but I like him. Articulation still consists of ball joints in the shoulders and neck. The legs are fused together, but have hinges in the hips and knees.

Kup’s transformation features some cool engineering. I really dig the way the side panels of the truck fold to become his lower legs, and the way the canopy forms his chest with the front of the truck behind it. The robot mode borrows more from the original toy than it does the Sunbow character art, especially in terms of the squared off shoulders and arms. There’s not a lot of that rounded and more organic aesthetic that was introduced with the movie designs. Well, maybe a little in the legs, but even that is a stretch. I thought that was going to be a big sticking point for me and this figure, but it really hasn’t been. I credit that to how clean and well proportioned this robot mode looks.

Another cool feature about the figure is how Kup can store both of his guns on his back. It doesn’t add too much bulk to him and it actually kind of looks like a jetpack, albeit a hollow one. Also, thanks to that clever leg transformation that I mentioned earlier, Kup doesn’t suffer from hollow leg syndrome when viewed from behind. That’s always a plus!

The deco here is more of the same that we saw in his alt mode, but you do get the addition of some of that dark gray, which breaks up all that blue and blue. He also has some yellow paint accents and an Autobot insignia at the top of his chest. I’ll confess the arms below the shoulders strike me as a bit unfinished. A few paint hits there would have helped, but all in all I think the coloring here is pretty good.

The head sculpt is pretty sweet too. The rounded style of his “helmet” and the cranky, scowling mouth is perfect for him. He looks like he’s about to scream, “Hey you damn petro-rabbits… get off of my lawn!” In the shot above, you can probably see a little mold flashing on the edge just in front of his face. I could have done without that. but I guess you have to get in pretty close to really notice it.

Kup comes with a pair of twin guns and I love these things. They’re pretty short and compact and he looks great dual wielding them. You can also stick them together to form a double-barreled weapon with a place for a Titan Master to sit. Personally, I prefer them as separate guns, but it’s always nice to have options.

If you can’t tell by now, I’m extremely pleased with the way Kup turned out. Stylistically, there were certainly some compromises here, but I’m cool with that. He’s a great looking figure and I think he fits in quite nicely with Titans Return Blurr, Hot Rod, and even Generations Arcee. I’m getting into the mindset that Hasbro can do no wrong with the Titans Return Deluxe figures, and that appears to still be the case with this latest assortment. I’m actively hunting down Perceptor and Top Spin, and I’m even pretty stoked for Quake. To be honest, I’m even looking forward to getting Krok.

May 8 2017

Marvel Legends (Titus Wave): Yondu by Hasbro

Guardians Vol 2 is in the theaters, and what a fun ride it is! It’s got action, laughs, and some wonderful characters, and a soundtrack that’s so cool it has no business being in a modern Hollywood flick. I’ve only been to see it once so far, but I’ll likely be back when I can find some time next weekend. And as careful planning and professionalism luck would have it, I’m also in the process of checking out the new Guardians themed wave of Marvel Legends. Last week I looked at the new Star-Lord figure and today I’ll be checking out Yondu!

No spoilers here, but I will say that I was happy to see Yondu play an expanded role in the new movie and Michael Rooker was fantastic in it. Of course, I was disappointed last time that Yondu didn’t get a Legends figure, but all is forgiven now, as thanks to the inclusion of two head sculpts, this figure can really work for either movie. I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, so let’s dive right in!

Captain Udonta’s outfit features his long duster and other Ravager garb, and boy did Hasbro go nuts on the detail here. The jacket itself is replete with rumples, stitching, reinforced patches, textured areas, and even a bit of wear and tear. For all the times that Legends gets by with a simple (and perfectly suitable) painted buck, it’s figures like Yondu that show Hasbro can really shine when dedicating themselves to an entirely new sculpt. Under the coat, you get more of the same, including texturing on the vest, individually sculpted buttons, as well as all sorts of buckles and straps. As soon as I had Yondu out of the package, I spent a good deal of time just turning him over in my hands and getting lost in all the amazing minutia of his outfit. All around, this is nice work!

Ravager outfits aren’t the most colorful costumes, so Yondu gets by without a whole lot of paint. Still, what’s here is pretty good. You get some gold fixtures on his coat, including the Ravager emblem, which turns out to be pretty critical in one hilarious little movie sequence. The shoulder strap is painted a lighter brown to distinguish it from the coat. Under the coat, you get some additional paint for the buttons of his vest and the harness he’s wearing over it. Of course for some great added color, we can look to the portraits!

The stock portrait features Yondu with the crest we saw in the first film, and part of the second. Overall, I think this is a really solid sculpt and a pretty good likeness to Rooker. The paint for the eyes is applied clean and straight, and while the paint for the teeth is passable, it could have been a tad sharper at the corners of his mouth. I’m also considering taking a silver sharpie and coloring a little silver on his teeth. Still, I’m nit-picking on a figure that has very little to complain about.  I like the grimacing expression and the fact that the whiskers are part of the sculpt is pretty cool.

The second head features Yondu with his fin. This is something of a plot point in the film, but I mainly like it because it nods back to the look of the character in the comics. The sculpt and paintwork on the fin are both particularly good. You can also see here that he has the scarring sculpted into the side of his head, which is actually present on both head sculpts. This sculpt also features Yondu’s lips pursed up into a whistle, which makes this portrait work particularly well if you plan on displaying him with his arrow in action.

And speaking of action, the articulation here is identical to what we saw last time with Star-Lord. In case you missed that review, here’s a rundown… You get rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips. have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in both the thighs and the boots. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. Yondu wasn’t exactly super agile in the films, as he lets his arrow do most of the work for him, so I think the pose-ability here is far more than adequate.

In addition to the extra head and the Titus BAF part, Yondu comes with his deadly arrow. The arrow here actually features an effect part so that you can display him with the arrow flying out of its sheath on his belt. The effect works surprisingly well, but I do think it was a little cheap of Hasbro not to drop a second arrow in the package, so you could put it in the sheath for when he isn’t using it. Ah, but considering all the work they put into the figure, I’m inclined to give them a pass on that.

I may only be two figures into this wave, but so far Hasbro is really nailing it with these Guardians Legends. Like Star-Lord, Yondu is a great figure and hits all the right points from sculpt to paint to articulation. I’ll confess that I will very likely be picking up a second Yondu, just so I can display one from each movie and an extra arrow to snip the effects part off of. And while I know it’s just a pipe dream, I really wish there was some way that Hasbro could get us a figure of Kraglin in the Legends scale. Hell, even if they boxed him with a repacked Yondu, I’d still buy that in a heartbeat. Anyway, on the next Marvel Monday, I’m going to finish off the MCU Guardians in this wave with a look at Drax.

May 2 2017

Star Wars Black (Rogue One): Director Krennic by Hasbro

I’m really pressed for time today (and that may be the case for the rest of the week), so I decided to dig into my stack of unopened 6-inch Black Series figures and find one that I could do justice to in fairly a brief amount of time. I ended up with Director Krennic! Did I mention I’m pressed for time? So, let’s go!

Now, to be clear, picking Krennic for a quick-and-dirty review isn’t meant as any slight against the character. Truth be told I was captivated by this guy from his very first scenery-chewing appearance. Part of my love for Krennic has to do with the way his character was written, but a lot of credit has to go to Ben Mendelsohn, who was absolutely fantastic in the role. As great as it is, Star Wars has not been a saga I look to for deep and complex villains, but Krennic actually felt more like a fleshed out character as opposed to just a foreboding guy in a suit. GO AHEAD, FIGHT ME!! In fact, of all the characters in Rogue One, I’d say that I enjoyed Krennic and Bodhi Rook the most, because they felt the most like real people to me.

Hot damn, do I love the Imperial uniforms! Krennic dons his very smart looking, and rather uncommonly seen, white Imperial officer’s tunic and jodhpur-style trousers. It’s a fairly simple sculpt, but it looks absolutely fantastic. The insignia on his chest is sharp and there are some subtle rumples on the tunic to replicate the look of cloth. But if we’re talking great looking plastic cloth, kudos has to go to this cape.

At first, I’ll confess to being a little disappointed that Krennic didn’t come with a cloth cape, but the sculptors did a really fine job on this plastic one. Between the wrinkles and the tailored seams, I’d be hard pressed to tell that it wasn’t actually made of cloth if all I had to go on was some pictures. It’s also very easy to take off the figure, as it just rests on his shoulders.

As for the portrait, it’s pretty damn great. Wow, did I just say that about a 6-inch Black figure? I did! Of course, it’s still a fairly soft sculpt with some very basic paint, but the likeness is undoubtedly there.

Removing the cape allows for a better look at the functional holster on his belt, which holds his rather unique looking gun. Both of his hands are sculpted to hold it fairly well.

The articulation here is pretty standard stuff for the Black Series. You get rotating hinges in his shoulders, elbows, wrists, and hips. He’s got double hinges in his knees, and his ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in his waist and both a hinge and ball joint in his neck. I really wish we could get some bicep swivels on these figures, although in the case of Krennic here, I guess he doesn’t need to be super-pose-able.

And there we have Krennic, a great character and a great figure! I love this guy so much that I picked up three extra Death Troopers (before I even had Krennic), just so that I could set him up on the shelf behind him. The only sad thing is that Krennic is probably the last of the 6-inch Black Series figures from Rogue One I have to look at. It still kills me that we didn’t get Bodhi or Saw, but then I’m still trying to hunt those down in the 3 3/4-inch versions. In the wake of Krennic’s release, we’ve already seen images of the up and coming 6-inch Black Admiral Thrawn. I’m hoping that these releases have broken the seal and we’re going to start getting some more Imperial Officers, because I’ll army build the hell out of some of them once Hasbro starts releasing them.

May 1 2017

Marvel Legends (Titus Wave): Star-Lord by Hasbro

It may be Marvel Monday, but I already have my sights set on Thursday, because I have my tickets to see Guardians Vol 2 at the local CineBistro, where I’ll be sitting in a recliner made of rich Corinthian leather and sipping on a spiced bourbon while a space-raccoon cracks wise and kills things on the big screen in front of me. It seemed only fitting today to kick off the Guardians-themed wave of Marvel Legends, so let’s do just that with the second Marvel Legends version of the MCU’s Peter Quill.

While this is a Guardians Wave, Hasbro has populated it with a mix of figures from both the comics and the MCU. Indeed, only three of the seven figures (eight if you count Titus) here are from the film, and that’s something that I absolutely love about what Hasbro is doing with Legends these days. The comics are actually getting a bigger focus than the soon to be billion dollar blockbuster. How cool is that? And don’t worry, the rest of the Guardians Vol. 2 team is still coming, split into another assortment. Let’s bust Quill out of here and check him out.

Hasbro last took a crack at MCU Star-Lord back in 2014 with the release of the original film… and what a difference a few years makes! I’m not going to shit talk that original figure, because I do still like it a lot, but I’ll be happy to point out the improvements when we get to the portrait. In the meantime, here we have Star-Lord in his updated look for the sequel.

His costume isn’t all that different from the first film, but I really like that he has the shorter coat now. He wore both the duster and the jacket in the first film, and since we only got the duster version last time, it’s nice to get the other option this time. There’s a good deal of sculpted detailing in the jacket, and that includes texturing, some reinforced areas, and piping. As is often the case, the jacket is basically a separate vest with sculpted sleeves to create the illusion that it’s all one piece. This allows you to pull back the flaps and get a better look at the shirt underneath.

His t-shirt has the printing across it that we’ve all seen in the trailer. Pratt himself has explained that this is some kind of licensed merch from the Guardians Universe and even suggested that it’s the brand name for some kind of candy. I really love that idea. From the waist down, things are pretty simple and straightforward. There’s a lot of sculpted detail on the trousers and boots, but nothing extraordinary or worthy of mention. I did notice that his thrusters are conspicuously absent from his ankles and I’m wondering if there’s a reason for that. If there is, I guess I’ll know soon enough. Star-Lord also includes pegs on his hips so he can wear his guns. These work quite well if he’s standing with his legs straight, but the guns tend to pop out when you give him wider stances.

The portrait is such a huge improvement over the original Legends Star-Lord. I think the first one works as maybe an animated version, but this one actually bears a decent likeness to Pratt. The facial hair is part of the sculpt and not just painted on like last time. I really couldn’t be happier with how this head turned out.

He also comes with an alternate masked head. This sculpt reflects some changes in the actual movie mask as well as some overall sharper sculpting. There are some new gold detailing on the back and overall, I’d say the paint here is much sharper, particularly on the eyes.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the new head does fit perfectly on the 2014 figure. There is a slight difference in the skin tone, but it’s close enough to work for me. And that means I’ll definitely be picking up a second Guardians 2 Star-Lord and retiring that old head.

The articulation here is pretty much the same as we saw on the last Quill figure, and that’s not a bad thing. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips. have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in both the thighs and the boots. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint just under the chest, and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. I’ve had this guy on my desk for days and I’m still not tired of playing around with him.

If this figure comes up a little short anywhere, it’s in the accessories. Star-Lord doesn’t include a BAF part, and doesn’t come with his Walkman like the original Quill did. Sure, I could always borrow that one, since I have two of those figures, but I’d say it’s odd that they didn’t at least repack that one in this box. As we’ve already seen, he does come with his twin blasters, which are beautiful sculpts. I love the designs of these guns.

While a few more accessories would have been welcome, it’s hard for me to find any other faults with this figure. Hasbro did a fantastic job on all fronts, but it’s the improvement in the likeness that really hits home. I won’t be double dipping on the Hot Toys Star-Lord, I’m still happy with mine from the first movie, so it’s nice to be able to have Quill from the sequel represented on my Hasbro 6-inch shelf. Next week, I’m going to be pressing on with the MCU figures, while the hype for the movie is still high and after I’ll be digging into the comic based figures.

Apr 20 2017

Star Wars Black: R5-D4 (Gamestop Exclusive) by Hasbro

Once again, I must disappoint all you Convertorobot fans, as it is Thursday and I have no new Transformers to look at. Maybe next week. We’ll see. In the meantime, let’s check out a robot that does not turn into anything!

I was mighty peeved to find out that the infamous droid with the bad motivator was coming to the 6-inch Black Series as a Gamestop Exclusive. There’s only one of these stores in my area and going in that place subjects me to a vortex of screaming kids, punks trying to sell games for drug money, and pushy salespeople trying to get me to opt in to some membership card or magazine. I hate the place. Besides, they’re closing stores left and right, so maybe giving them an Exclusive isn’t the best idea, Hasbro. Next you’ll be giving exclusives to other sinking retail ships like K-mart… oh, riiiight. Well, it turns out my anger was all for naught, because I was able to pre-order this guy on their website pretty easily and he showed up on my doorstep yesterday.

Hasbro is doing over-sized vintage cardbacks for the 40th Anniversary. A lot of these have been re-issues of “The Original Twelve” and I think these look terrific and I really dig how they will stand for easy display. So far, I’ve managed to keep myself from buying a set to keep carded, but that resolve may buckle if retailers start doing sales on these.. R5, however, is currently only available in this packaging, so I had no choice this time. Oh yeah… and thanks Gamestop for putting your obnoxious sticker on the card. It probably comes off, but it’s a shitty thing to do to an item that is being sold in collectible packaging. Good thing I bought this droid to open.

The back of the card is pretty damn cool too. It shows the twelve figures that are getting this carded treatment. All are re-issues, with the exception of the Sand Person, Jawa, Death Squad Commander, and I suppose Darth Vader, since he’s supposed to at least have a new head sculpt. There’s also a shot of the Early Bird-inspired display set that Vader comes with. Yup, I pre-ordered that thing. I have no willpower. And speaking of no willpower, as you can probably guess, these carded figures are not collector friendly and as good as it looks, I’m about to tear this one open.

Here he is, and as expected from the neck down he’s a straight repaint of R2-D2, and that’s not a bad thing, because this is a pretty damn good Astromech body. All of the familiar panel lines are sculpted in, and I really dig the hoses on his feet. Besides the red accents, R5’s deco also includes some light weathering, whereas I had to do my own on R2 with a mechanical pencil. I think they distressed him just the right amount. It doesn’t look heavy handed at all.

The head is also a very good sculpt and escapes the big fault of the R2 figure by not having those eyesore seams running up the sides. R5’s head still has seams, but they’re very well hidden. The antenna is made of bendy plastic, but it doesn’t seem like it will be prone to warping. You get a little bit of weathering on the head, but maybe here it could have used a smidgen more. The paint on the eyes is sharp and clean and the hologram sticker strip that runs around his neck looks nice, although I already had to stick the end of it back on, so I’m not sure how long that sticker is going to last.

As with R2, the third leg still retracts by turning the head. I wasn’t a big fan of this feature when I first saw it, but I’ve cooled on it a bit. It just seemed rather gimmicky for a collector line, but then the Black Series’ collector line credentials have been pretty shaky. I should also note that R5 doesn’t share any of the opening panels in his head that R2 had. It seems like they could have given us a swap-out panel with a bad motivator, but nope!

The two vertical side panels, on his front, however, do still open and he does have his little arms that swing out. It probably would have been easy for Hasbro to just glue these shut and not worry about them, so I’m pretty happy to see they survived.

In every way, R5-D4 is a great little figure. in fact, the only issues here for me are price and availability. At $22, you’re paying an awful lot for very little. R2 came with a bunch of extras and R5 comes with squat. It makes me wonder if he was made an exclusive release just to justify the price tag. Why not R5 and a couple of Jawas in a window box for $50? That would have been a nice deal. Plus, making him exclusive to Gamestop is just bewildering to me. I’ve never even seen Star Wars figures in a Gamestop outside of maybe Funko Pop! Vinyls. Luckily, I didn’t have to actually go in a Gamestop to get him. I pre-ordered mine when it first went up on the website and it became “Unavailable” not long after that. Disappointing collectors by making a deal with a dying game retailer? Not cool, Hasbro. The better way to go would have been to put him in a window box for wide distribution and let the vintage carded packaging be your exclusive. Ah, but what do I know?

Apr 17 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave) Ultimate Peter Parker Spider-Man and Space Venom Builf-A-Figure by Hasbro

Here we go, folks, it’s time to wrap up another wave of Marvel Legends. I’m doubling up today by opening up the last packaged figure in the assortment, Ultimate Peter Parker, and then I’m going to check out the Build-A-Figure, Space Knight Venom. I think Venom would have probably been a more apt fit for the Guardians of the Galaxy Wave, but then we would have missed out on Titus, so I’m perfectly happy with the way this all played out. I’m also happy to finally be putting this wave to bed so I can get started on that Titus Wave… and the Sandman… Oh, and the Warlock Wave. Holy shit, I’M SO FAR BEHIND!!!

Here’s one last look at the packaging for this wave, although it’s not really remarkable in any way. Well, except for the fact that one of Spidey’s hands fell out of its spot on the tray. Peter shares a slot in this wave with Miles Morales under the name, “Ultimate Spider-Men!” and if I’m not mistaken that means that every figure in this wave was in a shared package. Seems like that’s a first, but maybe I’m mistaken. There are so many damn Legends waves flying at me these days, it’s hard to keep them all straight.

Now, before you roll your eyes at another Spider-Man, consider the fact that we really haven’t had a Peter Parker figure since “Pizza Spidey” back in 2015. Also, this Ultimate Parker is built off the smaller teen body that we just saw used for Miles Morales. And that alone makes this a very worthy release for me. The paint on this figure is immaculate, with some sharp web patterns and just the right shades of blue and red. On the downside, like “Pizza Spidey,” the pins in the elbows aren’t painted to match the blue of the inside sleeves. Personally, it’s not a big deal for me, but I know it was a bone of contention for a lot of collectors out there. Whatever the case, I really dig this costume a lot and translates beautifully to this figure.

And we finally get a fully unmasked Peter Parker head! Sure, it’s Ultimate Peter, but I’m content to use it for 616-Parker until the real thing comes along. It’s nicely sculpted, appropriately goofy, and an all around great piece of work.

In addition to the extra head, Spidey comes with the usual sets of hands we’ve come to expect from the Legends Spider-Man figures. These include fists, thwip hands, and hands with splayed fingers.

While this teen body lacks the shoulder crunches from most of the previous Spider-Man figures, the articulation here is still plenty good. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in both the thighs and lower legs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and wrists, the elbows are double hinges, and there are swivels in the biceps. The torso has a waist swivel, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. While the hinges on my figure are nice and strong and not at all gummy, my Spidey’s right shoulder hinge has barely any give at all. I’m pretty sure a little heat will fix it, but I haven’t had the time to give him the treatment yet.

Of course, Ultimate Peter Parker also includes the final piece I need to build Space Knight Venom! Venom: Space Knight gave us a brand new chapter in the Flash Thompson continuity. I’ve only read the first few issues, but it was a pretty great read that will definitely bring me back some day when I’m caught up on my other funnybooks. You could probably argue as to whether or not Venom needed to be a BAF, but if he wasn’t, I fear that we’d just get a straight painted buck, and not some of the extra sculpting we got for this figure. As far as BAFs go, Venom is as simple as you get. There are six pieces, including four limbs, a torso, and a head. Everything goes together very easily.

Ah, but put all those pieces together and what you get is a work of monochromatic art! As simple as this design is, I absolutely love it. He’s a beefy, black buck with a surprising amount of sculpted detail. The white Spider-emblem on his torso? That’s all part of the sculpt. While subtle, he’s also got some cut lines on his forearms and his legs, as well as some exposed ribbing in the area just below his head. The white paint is so bright and beautiful, without much in the way of the black bleeding through, and he has patch tampos on his shoulders. For what is essentially just a black and white figure, Venom is quite pleasing on the eyes.

This beefy buck includes some solid articulation. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and wrists, have hinged elbows, and there are swivels in the biceps.The legs have rotating hinges at the hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers.  The torso has a waist swivel, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. All of these points conspire to make Space Knight Venom not just a great looking figure, but one that’s lots of fun to play around with.

It’s hard for me to quibble with this wave. It gave us some classic villains, as well as some new heroes from across the Spider-Verse, and there isn’t a stinker in the assortment. Indeed, it doesn’t even feel like there’s a budget figure in this lot either, despite the fact that we got straight body recycling between Ashley and Cindy and again between Miles and Peter. Yeah, I could still harp on the fact that Electro lacked some regular hands, but I’ve already beat that drum enough. On the next Marvel Monday, I’ll be switching my attention over to the statue side of things. My Marvel statues have been building up, and I might have to start looking at them on another day of the week so I can keep from getting too behind on Legends. Either way, I’ll be coming back the following week to kick off a brand new wave Legends of figures. If only there were a new movie coming out that first week in May that I could tie in with. Hmm…

Apr 10 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave): Silk by Hasbro

I make it no secret that Marvel and I are at odds these days when it comes to most of their comics, but thankfully, there are some that I have remained unshaken on, and those are The Amazing Spider-Man and some of the related off-shoots. I’ll confess, I never wanted the awesome pages of Superior Spider-Man to come to an end, but I was happy to find that Peter Parker getting his body back wasn’t the end of the ride for me. It wasn’t a clean break and there was plenty of great stuff carried over and even some cool new characters. One of those was Cindy Moon, aka Silk!

Silk shares her slot with Ashley Barton, Spider-Woman, as the “Web-Slinging Heroines” and she was a great choice of character for this wave. Spider-Gwen may be the most popular breakout Femme Web-Fatale of the Spider-Verse, and while I enjoy Gwen’s book well enough, I actually think Silk’s is a lot better and the character deserves a much bigger piece of that spotlight. Her book started very strong, tugged at some of those loose strings from Superior Spider-Man, and hasn’t disappointed me yet. I still think it would have been cool to get a figure of her in her original webbing “costume,” but this one works for me too.

Silk not only shares the packaging with Ashley, but also uses most of the same buck with paint applications used to reproduce her costume. The only key difference that I can see below the neck is the chest piece, the sculpt of which left less to the imagination than this one does. Oh yeah, and Silk has one fist and one splayed hand, rather than the double dukes we saw on Barton. The paint on my figure strikes me as a pretty average effort, with some unfortunate slop between her chest and her neck, but the rest of the lines are pretty sharp. The gray and black deco doesn’t really pop all that much and I’m not a big fan of the lack of transition from the red webbing to the black, which looks more gradual and better executed in the comic. Still, it’s a presentable paint job and some of the fault here may be in what I feel is a costume design that tends to look better in the art than on a figure.

Hasbro graced us with two different heads, one masked and one unmasked, although these look to be more variants that completely different sculpts, and that’s fine. Both of these are great sculpts, but it probably goes without saying that I’ll be getting the most use out of her masked head. That is unless the slop on her chest bothers me enough to buy a second figure and then I can have the best of both worlds. That’s cool, because one of the things these two noggins have in common is a set of beautiful eyes.

I think the unmasked portrait is particularly stunning. As for likeness, well, here’s where there’s a bit of a disconnect. Obviously they went for a look that would fit in with the Legends line more than the stylized art of Lee, Ford, or Fish. But beyond that, I think she looks too old. Also, while I love the dimension and complexity that they gave her hair, I would have liked Cindy’s shorter look better. This may sound like a lot of gripes, but rest assured, I really do like these head sculpts. Although, I can’t deny that a Goblin-Serum alternate head would have been pretty damn rad.

Because Silk shares most of Ashley Barton’s body, the articulation is the same. She has rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. There are swivels in the thighs, but none in the legs. The knees are ball jointed, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. There’s no swivel in the waist, and just a ball joint under the chest. The neck has the usual ball joint and hinge combo. Like i said with Ashley, the articulation here is serviceable, but feels a little lacking for a Spider-Verse character. I just expect my Spider-babes to be a little more limber. Nonetheless, there’s fun to be had with her.

As a fan of the comic, Silk was pretty high on my list of anticipated figures for this wave, and overall I’m pretty happy with what we got. Whichever head sculpt I go with, they both do a lot to elevate the figure and make it really shine. Indeed, for what is essentially “Yet Another Spider-Man Wave” Silk is just another addition to what has been an impressive assortment of figures.  Next Monday, I’m going to wrap up this wave with a look at the Ultimate Peter Parker figure and the Space Venom Build-A-Figure!

Apr 6 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Legends Class Gnaw by Hasbro

In case you hadn’t noticed, my last two Transformers Thursdays have been leading up to today, as I’ve been saving my most anticipated figure in this assortment for last: Gnaw the Sharkticon! First introduced in Transformers: The Movie, this ravenous horde of cybernetic beasties served as a form of execution for all who were condemned to death by The Quintessons. That sounds pretty bad ass, until you realize that the Sharkticons are a bunch of dumpy, goofy-looking dummies. Nonetheless, they were certainly something new and different and for whatever reason I thought they were cool. Unfortunately, they also came out at that weird time for me where I was still watching The Transformers cartoon, I definitely saw the movie, but I wasn’t really getting that many of the toys anymore. I kind of still wanted them, but my Christmas and Birthday gift requests were leaning more toward video games than toys. Which means that this Legends Class release is actually the first time I ever owned a Sharkticon. Am I excited? You betcha!

I’ve got something to say about Hasbro’s choice of size here, but first, can we just talk for a moment about that card art, because… HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT CARD ART! The bat-shit crazy, cracked-out green eyes, the massive teeth, the sharp claws. That particular flavor of nightmare fuel is not what I think about when I think about these guys. Kudos to whoever drew that, because it makes me see the Sharkticons in a whole new light. Now, about the size. When I first saw pictures of the toy, I was excited. Then I heard it was a Legends Class and I was really disappointed. Now I have the figure in hand and I’m realizing that it was a perfectly acceptable decision to go the Legends route. I’ll still argue that he’s a tad too small, but not so much so that I can’t accept him being in scale with the Deluxe figures. I’d also argue that the smaller size makes him more ideal for army building, but then I’ve had a hell of a time just getting my hands on one. Normally, I start my change-o-bot reviews with the alt modes, but let’s go with the robot mode this time…

I’ll just come right out and say it… I absolutely love this robot mode, but do I have a few complaints? Sure. The arms hanging off the backs of the feet is a textbook example of unsightly kibble. I kind of get the idea that the designer just threw up his hands and said, “Screw it… I got nowhere to go with them!” One might argue that they serve a function as heel spurs, but Gnaw already has those. I’ll also add that I wish the row of teeth in front of his head didn’t come up quite so high because it obscures his face quite a bit. But, with those gripes aside, I think this guy looks fantastic. The design manages to capture the familiar look of the G1 movie aesthetic and even smooth out the proportions a bit so he doesn’t look quite so ungainly. There are some lovely sculpted panel lines and detailing, and while a good deal of the coloring here is in the plastic as opposed to paint apps, the coloring is spot on perfect, right down to the bizarre choices of pink and blue used in the original toy, only more sparingly here. If I can get a couple extra Gnaws, I may try to color his teeth with a silver marker, but otherwise, I love the deco.

OK, so from the back, things aren’t as great. The top half of the alt mode is peeping back at you and looks like he’s going to wave. You also get some hollow areas and unfinished screws. Obviously, the Legends Class is held back a bit by budget and size, so let’s just say that it’s best not to look at Gnaw from the back.

Moving on to better things, the head sculpt is a wonderful update to the original toy. It’s not nearly as goofy looking. I always loved the shape of the Sharkticons’ “helmet” and they did a great job painting the eyes.

Like the original toy, Gnaw has a little spiked flail that he can wield in either hand and serves as his tail in his alt mode. And with that skillfully interjected segue, let’s turn to his alt mode. The transformation here has some cool and unexpected things going on and the result speaks for itself.

Yup, the “shark” mode represents pretty damn well, offering only a few things for me to nitpick. I don’t really care for the way his robot hands are exposed behind his feet and I wish that seam running down his face closed up a little better. Or perhaps I should say, I wish it stayed closed up a little better. Otherwise, I really love what we got here. The deco here shows off some more purple, and I can’t say enough great things about the plastic they used for his eyes. So much about this figure just feels so much more “premium” than your average Legends Class release, and that’s coming from someone who tends to really enjoy this Class quite a bit. The plastic looks and feels great, the colors pop, and even with some notable drawbacks in the design, the end result succeeds brilliantly.

I honestly didn’t know what I was going to think about Gnaw once I got him opened up. I wanted him to be great, but part of me was still wishing they had designed him as a Deluxe Class figure. Now, I’m not going to lie, part of me still wishes they had gone that route, but mostly because I’m curious as to what they would have done given a little more complexity of design. Truth be told, I’m totally satisfied with what we got in this little package and I’m going to do my best to try to track down as many of these little buggers as I can without paying scalper prices. The Sharkticon is an update that was long overdue, and Titans Return seems to be the perfect venue to revisit a lot of those overdue updates.

Apr 4 2017

Star Wars Black (Rogue One): Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus by Hasbro

Rogue One hits Blu-Ray today, and I’ve already been down to Wally-Mart to mingle with some scary people and pick up my copy. Even after seeing this flick four times in the theater, I was still anxious to get it on home release and see it again. It seemed only appropriate that I also spend today opening up Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus from the Star Wars Black 6-inch series. Let’s check them out!

This was a weird pair of releases in that Hasbro just seemed to tuck them into a mostly recycled wave. Now, like Marvel Legends, I tend to buy my Black Series figures by the case, because there’s always one or two that are hard to find. I really didn’t want to do that here, because it meant getting doubles of figures I didn’t want. Luckily there were a few online retailers that offered them up as a pair for just a couple of bucks over the usual retail and I was able to get them with no fuss and no muss. I’m still more than a little miffed that we didn’t get a Bodhi Rook or Saw Gerrera in the 6-inch line to finish out the Rogue One team, but I am really happy we got this pair. For a movie that a lot of people complain has no heart, Rogue One managed to pack a lot of soul into these two characters.  Let’s start with Chirrut…

I really like Chirrut’s costume and I’m really thankful that they didn’t just give him some boring brown Jedi-inspired robes. What we got is a great look for a “space monk” and it fits in perfectly with the Star Wars Universe. Hasbro took the opportunity to give us some soft goods robes, but as usual mixed it up with sculpted plastic as well. I think the effect here is overall pretty good, but I get a big disconnect between the plastic on top and the robe on the bottom. It looks more like he’s wearing a skirt, whereas the actual costume extended up to his shoulder. On the other hand, the cloth doesn’t impede the range of motion in the legs, which is a welcome treat. The articulation here is pretty standards stuff for the line and he’s loads of fun to pose and play with.

The robes that hang off his back are molded as part of the cross strap, and I don’t think they really look like part of the overall garment, but I know what they were going for here, so I can at least see it for what it’s supposed to be. I do like the two cloth straps that hang off of him. These can be positioned to give him some sense of momentum when posing him in action scenes. It may sound like I’m nitpicking the costume here a lot, but let’s face it, this wasn’t a terribly easy costume to do in this scale. Hasbro made some compromises and in the end I think it looks good and doesn’t interfere with the fun of playing with the figure, so I’ll call it a win. But is there really anything here that they couldn’t have done in a Vintage Collection style 3 3/4-inch figure? Nah.

The head sculpt is passable, but it’s exceptionally soft. I think it’s a decent likeness, which I can easily recognize in the context of the costume, but probably wouldn’t as just a head. As is often the case with this line. a competent paint job would probably go a long way. There’s a big disconnect between the sculpted eyebrows and what’s painted there. This feels more like passable 3 3/4-inch scale work than it does 6-inch scale work, but if that’s not something I was willing to accept at this point, I wouldn’t still be buying this line.

Chirrut comes with two accessories: His staff and a rifle. I was initially tempted to say that the staff feels too small for him, but after looking at some pictures of him in the film, as well as the upcoming Hot Toys release, I think it’s pretty close.  There’s also a fairly good amount of sculpting and paint work for what is essentially just a big stick. The wood is textured and there’s a grip and a reinforced tip.

The rifle is a strange piece indeed. When deployed it reminds me a bit of Chewie’s bowcaster. It feels a little cheap and flimsy, but in fairness it’s a very thin weapon and it has several points of articulation, from the rotation in the center to the two hinged arms. Toss in some paint apps, and I’d say Hasbro did the best they could with this weapon in this scale. I do wish it had a shoulder strap on it so Chirrut could wear it across his back. I’ll probably just tie a piece of string to it. Moving on to Baze…

Baze, the heavy gunner of the team is an all around nice piece of work. His overalls are sculpted with plenty of rumples, stitching, and pockets. It’s a little soft, but overall pretty good. The armor pieces feature some nice weathering and appear to be additional pieces laid onto the buck, which make them a lot more convincing. The belt and pouches are also separate pieces attached to the buck and there’s some great detail in the chest piece. Articulation is just as good as Chirrut as far as the actual points go, but Baze’s chunky buck makes his range of motion a little more limited, particularly in the upper legs.

From the back, Baze has a rather large slot for his backpack. It’s unsightly, yes, but I’d rather have it there with the option of being able to take off the pack, than have the pack permanently attached. I suppose they could have gone with actual working straps, but that seems to be asking a lot from this line. Still, the 5-POA, 3 3/4-inch Rey figure from The Force Awakens had a backpack with actual straps and all. Just saying…

The head sculpt here is actually pretty damn good and with some better paint it probably could have been phenomenal. Either way, I would have no troubles recognizing this likeness with or without the context of the body.

The backpack, which is the laser gun equivalent of an ammo drum tabs right in and features some great paint and sculpted details as well as a sculpted sash that hangs off the back. I haven’t looked into the tech behind this thing, but I’d like to think that it’s just a giant generator needed to power his repeater blaster. The cable tabs into the bottom of the drum and the other end goes into the blaster where an ammo magazine would be if it were a conventional rifle.

The cable has a good amount of flex in it, but it does sometimes impede the poses I’d like him to do. Add to that the fact that the drum on his back makes him pretty back-heavy and very prone to toppling backwards. I don’t want to beat up on Baze that badly, because he’s a great looking figure and still pretty fun, but he’s at his best when he’s just standing there beside his buddy Chirrut with his rifle at the ready.

While I have some nitpicks here and there, I think Chirrut and Baze turned out to be pretty good figures, especially when considered within my tempered expectations of the 6-inch Black Series. They each have their strong points and when taken as a pair they compliment each other beautifully. They also make for a fantastic display with the other members of the Rogue One team. Yes, I’m still upset over the Bohdi-shaped hole in my display. I thought Rook was a great character, and came the closest to having something resembling a fully fleshed out arc. It was great to see him going from reluctant spy to full-blown self-sacrificing hero.

Apr 3 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave): Electro by Hasbro

If you follow me on Twitter, than you may know how I enjoy my leisurely Sunday mornings with a pot of coffee and my Marvel Legends figures. That’s when I usually write the next day’s Marvel Monday feature and it’s become one of the few specific times that I set aside to write and photograph. Alas, I’m going on a vacation this week, so I spent most of Sunday at work getting things wrapped up. As a result, I had to work on today’s review rather late Sunday night and didn’t have a lot of time. So, sorry if today comes out as rushed. Anywho… Last week, I checked out Hobgoblin, the first of this wave’s pair of Spider-Man’s “Evil Adversaries.” This week, I’m wrapping up this devilish duo with another figure that I was extremely excited to get my hands on. It’s Electro and he comes to us in all his comic-inspired glory!

There sure is a lot of stuff packed into that bubble. You got an extra head, those effect part hands, a BAF part. And… oh, hey… they must have put the normal hands on the bottom of the tray, behind the logo. That’s weird. Let’s just open him up and… OH, SWEET JESUS… HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY NORMAL HANDS!!!! Now to be honest, I’m so late opening this figure that I knew coming in that Electro doesn’t come with normal hands, but my outrage over this omission is so powerful, I had to communicate it in the form of drama. Knowing that this guy has a major strike against him going in, let’s see what we’ve got…

Firstly, I’m so happy Hasbro delivered on a classic comic version of Electro and there’s definitely a lot to love here. The bulk of the costume is achieved entirely through paint, but it looks terrific. His yellow lightning bolts are crisp and sharp, and the black, yellow, and green deco is fabulous. He’s built off one of the Spider-Man bucks, which means he certainly sports some excellent articulation. The legs feature ball jointed hips, double hinged knees, swivels in the thighs, and both hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and wrists, double hinged at the elbows, and have swivels in the thighs. The torso features a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge, and you get those wonderful lateral crunches in the shoulders. Finally, the neck features both a ball joint and a hinge.

The figure comes packaged with the more modern head, complete with the burned on “mask.” I gather that this look wasn’t terribly popular with the fans, but I actually dig it. It helps that the head sculpt here is absolutely phenomenal. Hasbro loves to go all out with their villain portraits, and here’s another one that’s just brimming with character. Of course, I said I dig this look, but that doesn’t mean that this head is going to spend any time on this figure while I’m displaying it. Nope.

Because I can never get enough of his classic masked look. This is the Electro I know and love, and this is the head he shall wear. Yeah, I always feel kind of bad tossing a work of art into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories, but I don’t see myself buying a second figure to display both heads.

Ah, but then we have the hands. These are the same hands we saw quite recently on Marvel’s Eel and even then they were recycled from the Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s version of Electro back in the Ultimate Green Goblin Wave. Don’t get me wrong, I like thee hands, but even Eel got some fists. How is it that Hasbro couldn’t pony up for some god damn fists here? Just use the same ones and paint them black. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK FOR??? I should also note that these hands are kind of a double fail, because even though I shot this figure with the hands he came with, I like the look of Eel’s yellow effect hands on this figure better, so these will probably go to him.

Electro is a great figure and he could have been a total home run. He’s got fun articulation, the costume and classic mask does the character proud, and the option of the more modern portrait is always nice to have. But it all comes down to those missing hands. And their absence is only compounded by the fact that not including them seems like such a stupid and cheap oversight on Hasbro’s part. Well, Eel is pretty cheap, I suppose I could pick up another one of him, bust out a Sharpie and customize my own set of fists.