Mar 30 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Legends Class Bumblebee by Hasbro

It’s Transformers Thursday and today I’m opening up another figure in the first wave of Titans Return Legends Class releases. Bumblebee was going to be an pass for me, but I found it easier and cheaper to buy the entire assortment in order to get my hands on Kickback and Gnaw. Let’s find out how that turned out for me…

It seems like we just had a Legends Bumblebee, but it looks like that last one was back in 2014. That Generations release was a damn fine little toy and even after two years, it’s going to be a tough act to follow. Granted, that one was going for more of a Fall of Cybertron look, whereas this one is definitely G1 inspired. The packaging shows off the figure in its robot mode and features some of the best character art for Bumblebee that I’ve seen on a toy package. I’ve also gotta say how much I love that they included his original G1 motto on the back of the package. Reading it literally made me smile.

The auto mode holds no surprises and I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. Hasbro went for a generic, yellow compact, which is about as close as you can get to a VW Bug without having to pay out for the license. There’s quite a bit of ugly seaming on the hood, especially for a Legends Class toy, but all in all I’m content with this alt mode. It displays particularly well with some of the Generations Legends cars like Windcharger and Swerve.

The yellow plastic is bright and fresh and matches the yellow paint pretty closely. The deco is rounded out with some black windows and striping. In addition to the Autobot emblem on the roof, Bumblebee even features some silver and red paint operations. As much as I’d love to see a Legends Class VW Bumblebee, this is a fair substitute.

The transformation here is not as overly complex as some of the Legends and the resulting robot mode reflects that. It’s a very traditional looking G1 Bumblebee, almost to a fault. You get the roof chest and the hood split into feet. All that is somewhat refreshing and the head sculpt is a total winner.

He even looks pretty clean from the back, albeit with some unsightly hollow feet. I wish they could have sculpted that disc he had on his back in the Sunbow cartoon, but I guess they needed somewhere to put all that COO and copyright crap.

Unfortunately, I’m having a problem getting past those arms. The bulky and over-sized biceps with those stubby little forearms make for a really bad combination. Do they ruin the figure for me? Yeah, I’m going to have to say they kind of do. Surely they had some engineering to spare that they could have used to fix those things. Instead, what we got feels a little lazy. I know that we’ve seen worse on bigger Transformers in the past, but I feel as if this little guy could have been a total winner if they had just found a way to fix those biceps.

In the end, I would have been totally fine with passing on this figure, but I don’t really mind owning him. I don’t have time or patience for toy hunting like I used to, but the few times I’ve ducked into a toy aisle, none of these Legends were on the pegs. Nope, not even this one, which seems like he should be warming those pegs. That’s Bumblebee’s job isn’t it? Anyway, I just kind of look at it like spending a little extra to get Gnaw and Kickback, and getting Bumblebee tossed in for free. Hey, whatever helps me sleep at night, right? And I probably shouldn’t be too hard on this little guy. I’ve certainly paid more for worse Transformers in my collection. It’s also a little easier to be more forgiving of a Legends Class, both in terms of complexity and price. On the other hand, the previous Legends Bumblebee, while certainly going for a very different style, is also a much better proportioned and engineered figure, so I probably shouldn’t be apologizing for this one.

Mar 27 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave): Hobgoblin by Hasbro

It’s another Marvel Monday and I’m continuing with my very untimely slog through the Space Venom Wave. Will I ever be current with this line? Well, I’m no math expert, but I think the numbers are against me. Maybe I’ll do a Marvel Legends themed week at some point and bust out a whole wave to help get caught up. In the meantime today I’m checking out Roderick Kingsley as The Hobgoblin!

And here’s a quick look at him in the package before I tear it to shreds. You’ll note that his name doesn’t appear on the front, as he shares this slot with Electro as one of Spider-Man’s “Evil Adversaries!” It feels like only yesterday that we got the Phil Ulrich version of Hobgoblin as a Build-A-Figure, but that was back in 2015. Wow… how time flies. No wonder I have so many of these damn things waiting to be opened. I wonder how many unopened Marvel Legends they’ll be pulling out of my home after I die? Anyway, the Ulrich Hobgoblin was a fantastic figure, but it seemed like a lot of fans were crying foul that we got that version released before this one. Well, everybody can calm down now, because Kingsley Hobbie is out and he’s pretty damn fantastic.

If you were expecting a lot of reuse here, you should be pleasantly surprised to find that’s not the case. This Hobbie looks appropriately beefier and features a good deal of new sculpting. Most notably, the scale-mail on his arms and legs is all sculpted in and looks great. I think he borrowed it from Deathstroke. I dig the amount of detail in the gauntlets and buccaneer boots, particularly the sculpted fraying of his boot cuffs and the upturned toes. Finally, you get a wide belt sculpted onto the tunic. There isn’t a whole lot of paint on the buck, but the metallic blue looks fantastic and it compliments the orange nicely.

Hasbro did a particularly nice job on the cape. It’s ragged and shredded and it’s painted with a grimy wash to match the hood perfectly. It’s also removable simply by popping off the head.

The stock head is a fantastic sculpt and appropriately less stylized than the Ulrich Hobbie head. The vacant red eyes are awesome, and while the paint on the teeth could certainly have been better applied, It doesn’t really detract from the portrait much for me. The hood is completely separate from the head itself and you can even take it off. But, what’s that? This head isn’t maniacal enough for you. You want a fully cracked-out look with more tongue. No problem!

The alternate head features a protruding tongue flanked top and bottom by walls of vicious looking teeth. This head also features some yellow pupils painted in on the eyes. This is some great work, and it pains me to say that I’ll probably never really use this head for display, but it’s nice that Hasbro through it in there.

Overall, the articulation here is pretty good, although I have a tiny quibble about the shoulders. The rotating hinges there feel a bit ratchety and there’s really no reason for it that nonsense in a figure this scale. Otherwise, the points include: Double hinges in the elbows and knees, swivels in the biceps, thighs, and boots, rotating hinges in the wrists, ball joints in the hips, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, a swivel in the chest, an ab crunch hinge, and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

In addition to the extra head, Hobgoblin also comes with some excellent accessories. You get his satchel, which hangs off his shoulder. It’s a great little sculpt and features some silver paint on the buckles. Hobbie’s metrosexual man bag allows him to carry his spare bombs, and maybe a few sundry items for when he wants to freshen up.

Yup, bombs! Hobgoblin comes with a single glowy yellow bomb, which he can hold pretty well in either hand. And no, you can’t put it in his man bag.

And finally, he comes with his glider. Yes, it’s a very simple piece, molded in pretty soft gray plastic, and maybe a little undersized, but he looks great on it. There are loops to stick his feet through and the upturned toes of the boots help lock them into place.

Other than a few tweaks in the shoulders I’ve got nothing but praise for Hobbie here. He’s no doubt an important figure, and when you consider how many Spidey-themed waves we’ve had, it’s surprising that it took Hasbro this long to get to him. It’s even more surprising that they released the Ulrich Hobgoblin before this one, and both of them before The Green Goblin. What? No, the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF doesn’t count! Honestly, though, the priority of releases here really doesn’t bother me. I’m in Marvel Legends for the long haul, and at the rate Hasbro is pumping out the releases, they’ll get around to everyone sooner or later. I just hope that Squirrel Girl is going to be sooner rather than later.

Mar 20 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave): Spider-Woman (Ashley Barton) by Hasbro

If you’re a casual comic fan and collector of Marvel Legends, then sorting out the who’s who with some of these Spider-Man themed figures is likely to bring on some migraines of epic spidey-sense proportions. A lot of this confusion can be blamed on Spider-Verse, which threw together a wide range of characters from a wide range of universes. I found it to be a great read and I’m really stoked that we’re getting our share of figures from the fallout. Enter Ashley Barton. Bad-ass descendant of Peter Parker’s daughter and Clint Barton from one of them other universes, and who’s figure I happen to be opening today!

Ashley shares her slot with Silk, so her name doesn’t appear on the front of the package, instead it just says “Web-Slinging Heroines.” In fact, her name doesn’t really appear on the back either, so this figure is aimed at people who are up on their funny books. Everyone else is just going to be scratching their heads. And as expected, Hasbro opted to not go with printing “Spider-Bitch” on the package, although seeing that in the toy aisles would have been a hoot and certainly would have brought a whole herd of outraged Florida moms out from their dens. Oh yeah, see all that empty space in the bubble above the BAF part? That would have been a perfect place for some extra hands, but let me come back to that point, because I’m getting ahead of myself.

I really dig this character design and I think Hasbro did a fine job translating it to action figure form. Granted, this is achieved mostly through paint, and I would have liked to see some sculpting to separate the bare shoulders and biceps from the sleeves, but what we got here still works well enough. The darker tones of red and blue really suit the character and I’ll confess to being a little envious of where the spider emblem has parked itself. There are a few smudges on my figure, but overall the paint is pretty sharp, and that’s impressive seeing as how intricate the web pattern is. Hell, even the pins in the knee joints are painted properly, something that we can’t always take for granted with these figures.

And speaking of details… I’d know that Barton family ass anywhere. Spectacular!

The head sculpt is something else that I really dig about this figure. They captured Ashley’s look perfectly, right down to the multiple earrings. Here we do get some sculpted lines separating where the mask ends and her skin begins. I love the way the sculpted hair covers over part of the mask. I’d definitely rank this portrait pretty high on the list of greats.

The articulation here is pretty standard stuff for the female Legends bucks, which means its serviceable, but not exceptional. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. There are swivels in the thighs, but none in the biceps or lower 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. This buck seems a little lacking under normal circumstances, but when its a member of the Spider-Family, it just doesn’t feel agile enough. I can’t even get her leg up for those really high kicks.

And then there are the hands. Hasbro got me used to expecting a passel of extra hands with my Spidey figures. Ashley here has no extras, just the one fist and one accessory-holding hand with no accessory to put in it. If they weren’t going to give her multiple hand options, I’m not sure these were really the way to go here. It just seems oddly limiting.

It may sound like I’ve had more than my usual share of complaints here, but truth be told I like this figure. She looks great on the shelf and lately I’m all about picking up the figures based on characters that are new to me. It’s all about the Universe building, right? Or in this case, the Spider-Verse building. I would have liked to see Hasbro retire this female buck by now in favor of some double-hinged elbows and bicep cuts, but at this point, I don’t think its going to happen any time soon. And when a figure looks this good, I guess I’m OK with that.

Mar 14 2017

Star Wars Black Series (Knights of the Old Republic): Darth Revan by Hasbro

Ah, Knights of the Old Republic! It was a pivotal experience in my long history of gaming. I don’t think I can properly quantify how many hours I put into it and I loved every second of every play-through. In fact, I remember my knee-jerk reaction to playing Mass Effect for the first time was that it was just KotoR with all the Star Wars elements boiled away. Back in 2003, I would have spent all my disposable income on KotoR toys. If only Hasbro had pushed the marketing of this game like they did with Shadows of the Empire. I wanted a dedicated line. I wanted figures of all the characters, I wanted the Ebon Hawk scaled for the figures. I wanted an electronic HK-47 that I could carry around and complain about people to. And I got nothing… NOTHING!!! Well… almost nothing.

If i recall correctly, we owe this 6-inch Black Series release to a fan poll. Now, in fairness we did get a few 3 3/4-inch figures from KotoR scattered about over the years and we even got Revan in the 30th Anniversary Collection line. But that was like five years too late and at a time when I was clearing out most of my Star Wars collection because one day I woke up and gazed in horror at all the Prequel crap that I bought. When I think about it, I should be a lot more excited to have this figure in hand than I am, but I’ll swing back to the reasons for that at the end.

Revan’s design always felt just a little too derivative of Vader to me. Granted, the mask was necessary due to complications of his true identity, but the black cape and robes struck me as a wee bit lazy. We need a new villain, just put a mask and black robes on him. So, why do I give Kylo Ren a pass? Because imitating Vader was the whole motivation of that character. Now, with all that having been said, I still think Revan is a cool looking character and this figure does a nice job with the design. The sculpted gold pieces of his armor and that giant ring in the center of his gut contrast nicely with the use of the soft goods. And in the end, I think it’s the mix of sculpted plastic cloth and real cloth that represents this figures greatest strengths and weaknesses.

For starters, the cape looks fantastic. It’s very thin and light material that rests naturally on the figure and works well with the tattered and frayed edges. The use of cloth on the inner robes looks fine too, and I have no problem with the use of the sculpted plastic cloth over it. Maybe the red sash would have looked good as cloth, but I won’t quibble over it. Also, the sculpted cloth on the sleeves is a no brainer. Nope, from the neck down, I’ve got only love for this guy and the decisions Hasbro made when making him.

Above the neck, however, is a different story. My main gripe is with the decision to use a sculpted plastic hood and having it molded as part of the shoulders. It looks fine, but it really hurts the figure’s pose-ability. Yes, his head will turn in there, but it looks odd when turned too far to the left or right because the hood is blocking so much of his face. I think a cloth hood would have looked great on him and it could have been pulled out of the way to accommodate the head turning. But if Hasbro was dead set on going plastic, they should have made the hood a separate piece that could turn with the head. Apart from that, I think the helmet looks great. The mix of red and silver paint really makes the figure pop and the weathering, well it’s a little heavy handed, but it’s not bad. The rest of the articulation is standard stuff for the Black Series, at least on paper, but in practice, Revan just isn’t as fun to play with as he could have been.

Darth Revan comes with his two lightsabers, and I’ve got to be honest, as much as I played this game, I didn’t even remember him having two until I went back and looked at some of the art from the game. The designs on these hilts are really cool, particularly the one with the purple blade. And yes, both blades can be removed easily by simply un-pegging them. Sadly, there’s nowhere on his person that you can hang the hilts.

Even with my issues over the hood, I like this figure a lot and I’m happy to have him, even if probably doesn’t sound like it from this review. The problem is that getting Revan is dredging up all the same disappointment I had long ago when we didn’t get a dedicated KotoR line. Don’t get me wrong, with entire forests of printed Star Wars canon being wiped away with the stroke of a Mickey Mouse pen, I’m happy to see that KotoR is being acknowledged and therefore is presumably still canon. But the proper way to do this would have been an entire wave. Six figures… Revan, Malak, Bastila, Mission, HK-47, and whoever the hell you want for the last slot. I’d take T3-M4, just because I dig that design, but I suppose you could throw Carth or Zaalbar in there instead. I mean, if Hasbro can stack their waves of Legends with Comic Book designs, surely they could spit out a wave of KotoR figures. Now would have been the perfect time too, because Hasbro is drumming up support for The Last Jedi and needs peg fillers. Man, just thinking about that assortment of figures is killing me.

Mar 13 2017

Marvel Legends (Space Venom Wave): Miles Morales Spider-Man by Hasbro

Alrighty folks, after a brief detour to Bishoujo Town last week, Marvel Monday is back to Legends and it’s time to kick off a brand new Wave! Well, a brand new, um… old wave. It’s the Space Knight Venom Wave and these figures can only be considered new because I haven’t opened them yet. In case you ever wondered, nine times out of ten I do actually wait to open figures until I’m ready to review them. As you can imagine, there’s quite a stack of unopened Legends boxes in the corner, not to mention a bunch of other things. I am soooooo far behind! Anywho, I’m kicking off this wave with Miles Morales, because I was particularly excited to get this figure, and because he’s long overdue.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, other then that Hasbro could have wrapped this figure in an old newspaper and I still would have forked over the cash for him. This is yet another Spider-Man themed wave, and I hope you’re not tired of them, because we’ve already had another one hit the pegs since and there’s no end in sight! On the subject of Miles Morales, it’s staggering to me that someone out there in Hollywood didn’t realize that they could have avoided the whole issue of reboot fatigue by putting Miles up on the big screen instead of another Peter Parker. It would have been perfect timing and it would have spared us those terrible Amazing Spider-Man films. But it all seemed to work out because Homecoming looks like it’s going to be excellent and it’s certainly paying respects to Ultimate Spider-Man in the way they Ganke’d Miles’ best friend for the movie. Eh? See what I did there. Spider-Puns! Ok, let’s look at the figure!

I wouldn’t have put it past Hasbro to deliver us Miles on the usual Spidey buck, but instead we got a smaller, more age appropriate build and I love it. I also love this costume design. It’s a more minimalist approach to Spidey 616’s duds, consisting of a nearly all black suit with the crimson deco only appearing on the arms, chest, back, and head. It’s clean, it’s simple, and the red looks striking against the black. I also really dig the way the Spider’s front legs on his back seem to morph into those shoulder stripes. This is one slick Spidey suit! The paint on my figure is overall quite good, with just a few minor stray red marks on what is otherwise pretty neat and sharp.

You get two heads with the figure: Masked and unmasked and both are excellent. The masked head features sculpting around the large white eyes and the web pattern just painted on. The unmasked head is just an all around great sculpt. They did a nice job capturing the comic art and I really like the little grin Miles is showing.

The articulation here is certainly solid enough, although it is missing the shoulder crunches that we have been getting with most Spider-Man Legends figures. Yes, I would have liked if those points were included, but I think it’s a worthy trade off for getting Miles on the smaller teenage buck. Why couldn’t we have both? I dunno. Budget? Either way, the articulation here is pretty standard stuff for Legends. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels at the thighs and lower legs, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a swivel in the chest, and ab crunch hinge in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The joints are solid and feel great, making it damn hard for me to put this figure down.

In terms of accessories, Miles comes with the usual passel of hands that we’ve been seeing in a lot of Legends Spidey releases. You get a pair of fists, a pair of thwippy hands, and a pair of hands with splayed fingers. It’s still amazing to me that Hasbro hasn’t cooked up some web accessories for these figures yet. I’d happily take an accessory pack priced at $20 with a crap load of different webs, but from what I hear accessory packs are usually death on the shelves. Then again, NECA has been releasing them for their Alien and Predator lines, and DC Collectibles for their DC Icons line. I know, those are both more collector-orientated companies, whereas Hasbro has to make the retailers happy in order to get space on the planograms. A con exclusive, on the other hand, would be cool. Just repack one of the million recent Spider-Man figures with a bunch of web accessories and slap forty bucks on it. If the webs are good, I’d buy it.

To those of you who are getting all Spidey’d out, all I can say is I’m sorry. I get it. But with the lasting popularity of Spider-Verse, a new Spider-Man flick on the horizon, and Hasbro’s natural inclination for variants, you pretty much have to expect that they’re going to milk that spider for everything its worth. I certainly don’t mind, especially when it gives us a character like Miles, who I’ve been hoping for almost all the way back to when the Legends rebooted. And that’s probably why I resisted the urge to review both Ultimate Spider-Man figures together. Yeah, I’m trying to get caught up, and doubling up figures helps me get there, but I just thought this dude deserved his own day in the spotlight. I’ll probably wind up pairing up Ultimate Peter Parker with the Build-A-Figure when I get to the end of the wave.

Feb 28 2017

Star Wars Black: Princess Leia (A New Hope) by Hasbro

One of the things that’s had me most excited about the 6-inch Black Series was getting all of the original 12 vintage figures in this new format. Well, Hasbro showed off the remaining releases at Toy Fair last week and collectors who are willing to double dip will even be able to get them on vintage style cardbacks. They look great, but I don’t have the money or space to buy all these figures again just so I can tear them open or hang them on the wall. As it is, I already have totes full of the carded Vintage Collection 3 3/4-inch figures that I hardly ever see. Anywho, with the original version of Princess Leia now in my collection, my 6-inch heroes from A New Hope are complete and all I’m waiting on is the Jawa, Death Squad Commander, and Tusken Raider to complete the Twelve… pretty cool!

This figure has had its share of controversy as many Princess Leia figures have had to suffer ever since the day Power of the Force 2 unleashed the dreaded “Monkey-Face Leia” on our collections. It’s safe to say that some of the early shots of this one didn’t look so good. I made a decision that, once in hand, if I thought this this one sucked really bad, I wasn’t going to review it out of respect to the late Carrie Fisher. The fact that you’re reading this means that wasn’t the case. Now, I’m not going to tell you she’s fantastic, but… well, let’s just go ahead and dive in.

For starters, there’s very little sculpted detail visible on this figure, and that’s because of her softgoods outfit. Gown? Is that the right word? Maybe? I’m going to call it a gown. From the neck down all you can really see are her hands and boots, and the belt which cinches the gown to the figure. And yes, the belt and gown are both removable and she has a fully painted white outfit and boots underneath. The gown is easily my favorite part of this figure. I’m glad they didn’t go for a complete sculpt here. The fabric fits the figure very well, the stitching is pretty good with just a few stray threads here and there, and there are some areas, like the neck collar, where it’s actually quite impressive. The material is very thin and it’s slit a bit up the sides to not interfere with articulation too badly.

They also included the hood, which is another check I’ll add to this figure’s plus column. It doesn’t fit flush with her back when it’s down, but that’s to be expected with the lack of weight that an outfit in this scale exhibits. Overall, I think it looks better down than Obi-Wan’s hood does.

And then there’s the portrait. So, I was expecting the worst and I don’t think that’s what I got. No, it’s not very good either. At some point I’m sure there was some Carrie Fisher in there, but I think most of it got lost in the transition from prototype to final product. And the fact that it got the bare bones minimum effort when it came to the paint doesn’t help either. My guess is this will be another Black Series figure that someone paints up really nice and shows that it could have worked in the right hands, but clearly those hands aren’t working in Hasbro’s factories. I’d say that this portrait might have been acceptable on a 3 3/4-inch figure, but not so much in a 6-inch “collector’s line.” I seem to say that a lot when reviewing these figures. On a more positive note, I think the hair sculpt is pretty good.

The underlying articulation is right in line with what we’ve seen from many 6-inch Black Series figures. I couldn’t quite get her to hunch down to R2’s level to feed him the Death Star Plans, but I was able to fake it by getting her down on one knee.

Leia comes with two accessories and they’re both guns! And why not? Princess Leia is an ass kicker. The first thing we see her do is take out a Stormtrooper with this first weapon. Yes, it’s her “Defender” sporting blaster, which she carried on the Tantive IV right before getting captured. This design is one of my favorite weapons in the film.

Hasbro also threw in an E-11 Stormtrooper blaster, which she used later on during the escape from The Death Star. We’ve seen plenty of these guns released in the Black Series, but I’m always happy to get another! Now, before wrapping up there’s just one more thing to look at, and that’s scale. Consistency of scale has been a challenge with this line, and Princess Leia is one of the biggest (literally) examples of that.

Here are all the 6-inch Black Series Leias together. Back when I looked at Leia in the Boushh disguise I was notably irked about how badly they flubbed the scale on that figure. She’s a giant compared to the original Slave Leia release. Here we can see that they reined things in a bit and scaled this figure almost perfectly with her bikini-clad counterpart. Sure it just makes Boushh Leia look all the more freakishly tall, but at least they didn’t compound the error by doing it again. Which likeness do you think is the best? Granted, none of them are ideal, but I think I’d go with Slave Leia followed by this one.

It’s never a ringing endorsement to have to say a figure could have been worse, but that’s what I’m thinking here. The truth is, given my ever deflating expectations for the 6-inch Black Series, I found this version of Princess Leia to be perfectly passable, and yes that’s intended as a left-handed compliment. From the neck down, I’m extremely happy with the way she turned out and I think this is some of the best use of softgoods that the line has seen to date. And while the portrait is far from being on point, I don’t think it’s all that much worse than some of the other likenesses we’ve had here. Indeed, comparing it to some of the larger and far more expensive Princess Leia releases in the past sort of puts things in a better perspective. Word is that the re-issue in the vintage-style packaging got a face lift, both in paint and sculpt, and the prospect of that might tempt me to try my luck with another.

Feb 27 2017

Marvel Legends (Abomination Wave): Eel and Abomination Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

Here we go… it’s time to wrap up the Abomination Wave with a look at the last packaged figure, Eel, and then I’m going to stick around and put together The Abomination Build-A-Figure. I’m doubling up today, partly because I’m falling so far behind in opening my Legends figures, but also because I don’t have a whole lell of a lot to say about Marvel’s Eel.

Now I don’t want to piss all over The Eel. His alias (two characters have held the name) is not without some pedigree, with the original incarnation going all the way back to the 60’s in the pages of Strange Tales, where else? Throughout the decades, he’s served any number of teams from the Thunderbolts to the Serpent Society and he’s appeared in a number of relatively recent Marvel event books from Civil War to Original Sin. The blurb on the back makes it sound like he has an innate power to conduct electricity, but as far as I knew, he’s just a dude in a special suit. But hey, I’m no Eel expert.

Based on the costume, this is most likely Eddie Lavell, as opposed to Leopold Stryke who had a simpler deco on his mask. Obviously Eel is the budget-saving figure in the Wave. Although when you consider that Wonder Man and Cap got by with mostly painted bucks and Iron Skull was a repainted Mark 42 Armor, it feels like Hasbro did a lot of budgeting in this assortment. Nonetheless, for me Eel is the one figure that really smacks of being easy-peasy-cheap-and-breezy. The buck features zero original sculpting and it’s possible that we’ve even seen that masked head before. If not, then that’s the only original sculpting on this figure. Even the electro-effect hands came from Electro.

Still, I have to say I love what Hasbro does with these masked head sculpts. You can really see a lot of cool details in the facial features underneath. In this case, the chin and the nose are hinted at, and it looks like he’s snarling. The pupil-less yellow eyes are a nice touch.

With that having been said, the coloring is somewhat attractive and the paint is clean. With the almost neon splashes of purple and blue, he looks like my Freshman Year Trapper Keeper from 1986. Articulation is standard for the line and he has a pair of regular fists if those effect-part hands aren’t to your taste.

Personally, I really like the effect hands, and as you may know, I’m generally not really into effect parts, but these are fun and add a little something extra to a figure that really needed it. In the end, I’m going to have to surprise even myself and say I kind of like this figure. Eel is well done for what he is, and if this is the worst I have to buy to get a BAF part, I’m OK with that. And speaking of BAF parts, let’s move on to Abomination.

Yup, this is about as simple as a Buid-A-Figure can get. Six parts consisting of two arms, two legs, a body, and a head. Everything goes together super easy.

Like The Enchantress from the Dormammu Wave, Abomination was originally released as part of last year’s SDCC Exclusive Raft set. Wait, wasn’t Dormammu previously released as an SDCC Exclusive too? Wow, Hasbro is making a habit of this. And yet still no retail release of Magick. BOO!!! Anyway, the sculpting on the two figures is identical with this version only being set apart by a brand new paint job. The sculpt is genuinely superb. I feel like Hasbro could have cheaped out here and reused parts from the Ultimate Green Goblin BAF, but this looks all new to me and I really like it.

The detail in the craggy skin is phenomenal as are all the disgusting warts and bumps scattered about his body. The scales and ridges on his shoulders and back are also excellent. You get pretty standard Legends articulation here, with the only real cut being single hinges in the knees, as opposed to doubles.

The head sculpt doesn’t disappoint either. I do have one tiny nitpick and that’s the seam that runs above his eyebrows is a little obvious. If this were a high end figure, I’d say that was a legitimate gripe, but here I think it’s entirely forgivable, especially when every other thing about the portrait is so damn good.

As for the paint job, I think it’s terrific. It’s far more dynamic than what we saw on the Exclusive version. You get gradations of green starting mostly dark on the extremities and back and lightening up on the chest and face. I’m kind of torn on it. On the one hand, I think it looks a lot more interesting, and ironically more like a premium figure, than the SDCC version. On the other hand, I think I’d have to say the Exclusive is more accurate to most of the comic art I’ve seen. I definitely prefer this one, with my only issue being the paint on his shorts looks really flat compared to the rest of the figure.

And there we have it, another Wave of Marvel Legends in the bag. While this assortment tends to get crapped on, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The Abomination, Wonder Man, and Captain Britain are all characters that I’m very happy to have on my shelf. The MCU version of Scarlet Witch was long overdue, and the rest are just solid universe builders. Of course, I seem to be in the minority on that opinion, because with the exception of Scarlet Witch, Amazon was blowing these figures out for as little as eight bucks a pop at one time. But hey, more for me. On the next Marvel Monday, I’ll be taking a break to look at some Marvel goodness from a line that I haven’t shown in a long while, and then I’m going way back to check out some Spidey villains before moving on to the Space Venom Wave. Oh boy, am I behind!!!

Feb 24 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Fortress Maximus by Hasbro, Part 2

So, if you were here yesterday you witnessed a middle aged man practically brought to tears of joy by the magical thing that is a giant toy robot. I checked out Fort Max’s robot mode as well as his Titan Master and his Titan Master’s Titan Master. Today it’s time to check out the alt modes, and I’m going to start things off with his Battle Station Mode. Once again, I’m going to apologize for the quality of these pictures, but I had to get really creative with the lighting and backdrop in order to snap pictures of this beast.

So here’s the Battle Station. I love this mode and I don’t care that it’s basically just Fort Max lying on his back with his arms over his head. It’s cool, dammit! This thing is probably intended as a land vehicle, but I’d like to think of it as an ocean faring vessel, but it could really even work as a space ship if you want. It’s all up to your imagination. The legs form two forward pontoons with two massive dual-cannon gun emplacements, while the arms form landing strips for aircraft. Yeah, the upper legs and pelvis are just connective tissue.

Cerebros forms a Command Tower in the middle of this behemoth, with Emissary free to stand on top and shout, “I’M KING OF THE WORLD!” Now, I realize this is Titans Return and Fort Max is designed to be manned by the tiny Titan Masters. Indeed, there are foot pegs all over this thing and these little bots certainly give Fort Max’s alt modes an incredible sense of scale. But I’m going a different route here because how often do I get to say, LET’S BUST OUT THE MINI-CONS!!!

Yeah, if you thought I could resist the opportunity to load up Fort Max with Mini-Cons the moment I transformed him, then you just don’t know me at all. Let’s take a quick tour!

The front pontoons are probably not the best place for Mini-Cons to gather, as I imagine the blasts from those cannons are pretty fierce. But I’ve got a couple doing maintenance checks on the left pylon. I know what you’re saying. Stormcloud is a speedboat, what does he know about fixing cannons? Well, he’s taking some engineering extension courses from Powerlinx Blackout. Just go with me on that one. Meanwhile the other pontoon is being used as a makeshift helipad… Haha, see what I did there? Makeshift is using it as a helipad! OMGWTFLOL!!! Anyway, it’s worth mentioning here that the right foot on my figure does not lock into position like it should. I had to use a little blue-tack to hold it in place. That’s disappointing, but I guess not catastrophic. I wonder if this is a common issue or I just got lucky. Moving on to the middle…

There’s not much to do in this middle section. It’s just a place for the Mini-Cons to hold their adorable little Mini-Con meetings. I’ve got Blackout chilling and watching the skies with his AA-gun arms while Payload drones on about whatever Mini-Con’s drone on about. Probably how much it sucks to carry Sky Blast on his back all the time.

Over here, Waterlog is being lowered into the water by one of the cranes. Dammit, I can’t remember his name. Meanwhile, Sky Blast is standing by on his launch pad.

The runways are loaded with Mini-Con jets waiting to fly their sorties in case Starscream and company happen to show up.

And finally, I’ve got Waterlog’s twin… um, Other Waterlog, standing by to launch out of the bay in the back.

There’s a lot of fun to be had here with the Battle Station mode, and yes there’s an entirely other mode to play with. Insert G1 transforming sound here.

Now the City Mode is just as awesome and it looks great, but in fairness it offers more or less the same play areas as the Battle Station mode, just in a slightly different configuration, so there’s not a whole lot to be said about this mode that hasn’t already been said.

The central Command Tower is still there, although now the back of it is facing forward. It looks good, and I dig the way the little Autobot emblem can be seen near the top. This time, I’m using the top of the tower as a launchpad for Sky Blast. There’s some room here and there for other Mini-Cons to congregate, but there’s not a lot of areas here that are specifically designated to interact with figures. You can open up the translucent compartment to have access to a little room in there and maybe use it as a prison.

At the front ground level of the city we have a couple of garages, which work really well for the Mini-Con cars. This is probably the biggest difference between the two modes. The Battle Station didn’t have a lot of places for the cars to live, whereas here they do. I wish the main ramp wasn’t so steep, though.

The box hanging off Fort Max’s leg serves as a gunner station with Cerebros’ gun attached to it. You can also detach this and use it as a tank, but it’s a bitch to get off.

The two front runways from the Battle Station are here, just separated from each other. They still serve as runways for my Mini-Con jets to launch from. You also get the two large gun emplacements on the sides with room for more launching areas or helipads or whatever you want. Like I said, we’ve seen most of this in the last mode, so there isn’t a lot new to talk about here. It’s still a great looking city, certainly a lot better looking than Metroplex’s city mode and, if I happened to choose this mode to talk about first, it would have been the Battle Station getting the shorter end of the stick when discussing the various features. As always, there are some different configurations you can play around with, but most of them are just going to be slight variations on what we’ve already seen. I should also note that while I get the most fun out of using Mini-Cons with the alt modes, Fort Max is still big enough to interact with the Deluxes and the tiny Titan Masters really give him an even grander sense of scale.

In case you didn’t notice, I’m impressed with Fortress Maximus and I’ve been having too much fun playing around with him. And finally getting him is all the sweeter for me since I never owned the original G1 toy. The closest I came was owning the Car Robots Brave Maximus, which I wound up selling off when the prices for him were going through the roof and I needed money to feed my video game addiction. I’ve felt bad about that decision for a long time, but now that I finally have a modern update of the old mold, I’m at peace with it. This guy looks amazing standing next to Metroplex and I can’t even imagine how cool they’re both going to look when displayed with the Titan Class Trypticon. Now I’ve got some major re-arranging to do as I try to make a new shelf for my Titans!

Feb 23 2017

Transformers Titans Return: Fortress Maximus by Hasbro, Part 1

Well, I’ve been saving this big bot for a while now and with Toy Fair getting my toy collecting juices flowing (I’m talking about you, Trypticon… Lotion and tissues were involved!), I thought this week would be a good time to open him up. In order to give Fort Max his due, I’m going to take a couple days to look at him and that means no DC Friday tomorrow. Sorry, but it takes me a long time, and some serious DIY bullshit, to rig up my sad little photo stage so that it’s big enough to shoot something like this. So, while I’m on the subject, let me apologize in advance for the lighting in this review. My set up is designed mostly for figures in the 4-inch to the 12-inch range, so I had to just do the best I could and I can’t say I’m terribly pleased with the results. Anyway, today I’m going to check out the packaging and his robot mode and tomorrow I’ll have a look at his two alt modes. And with that out of the way, I think I would be remiss if I didn’t state what most of us have been thinking ever since this toy was first shown… OMFG, FORTRESS MAXIMUS GOT A MODERN UPDATE AND HE’S ABSOLUTELY FREAKING HUGE!!!!

Hell yeah, he is! This isn’t so much a love letter from Hasbro as it is a giant, heavy package of sex in plastic transforming robot form. The last time I saw a Transformer this big he was in a Generations box and his name was Metroplex. Well, the deco may be different, but the box is right about the same size as we saw with Metro. Alas, the artwork here is landscape, whereas Metro’s was landscape on one side and portrait on the other. Why does that make any difference? Because I have Metro displayed standing on top of his box and I use the box itself to store other Transformers. Yeah, I can still do that here, but the artwork just won’t be orientated right. It’s fine, I’m about to start mixing up my Transformers display anyhow and see if I can find a shelf for these two Titans. Besides, here we have another Transformers figure clocking in at over 2-feet tall and I’m complaining about the box, so I’ll just shut the hell up now so we can open it and see what’s inside…

Fort Max is built using some parts shared with Metroplex, so there are going to be some general similarities here. The first of which is how he comes in the box with one arm detached. Unlike Metroplex, Fort Max’s arm actually detaches again, so if you want to store him in the box, that’s do-able this time. Mercifully, Hasbro used the regular string to secure him (with the exception of two invisible elastic bands), so getting him off the cardboard tray is as easy as snip, snip, snip.

Also included in the box is a folded instruction sheet, a profile card, and a glorious foil sheet of stickers! STICKERS!!! I love putting on stickers. At least for the first five or ten minutes and then I’m ready to be done with it. It doesn’t help that putting stickers on Fort Max is like trying to dress a large fussy child for church. If this is going to be anything like it was with Metroplex, I’ll start with him standing on the table and soon have him across my lap, over my shoulder, and just all over the place. Well, wish me luck. I’m off to sticker him up, and after a lot of teeth grinding and a few expletives, I’ll be back to try to get this review rolling…

Aaaand back! The stickers didn’t seem as bad as with Metroplex and I think they go a long way to spice up the look of the toy. There are a few strips I left off, which I may decide to put on later. But before looking at the big bot, let’s check out his Titan Masters. Yes, Fort Max has not one, but two Titan Masters. Yo mama so fat even her Titan Master has a Titan Master! Seriously, this is like one of those Russian nesting dolls. I’m going to start small and work my way up!

First, you have Emissary, feel free to call him Spike if you want, and I don’t have a whole lot to say about this tiny bot. He’s basically similar to your average Titan Masters, featuring the same level of articulation with ball joints in the shoulders and neck and hinges in the hips and knees of his fused legs. He’s molded in the same dark gray, light gray, and blue plastics as the big guy himself and he does have some paint on his face, which really goes a long way to make these little bots look better. Like the Titan Masters we got in the first wave of Deluxe’s this one just feels a bit more premium than what we’ve been getting since.

And in case you were wondering, he is indeed compatible with the other figures in the line. Here he is with Hot Rod standing in for Firedrive. Of course, Emissary is intended to transform into the head for…

Cerebros, who transforms into Fort Max’s head. This guy is roughly Deluxe-sized and he’s a damn cool looking robot. He’s got great proportions and a nice boxy G1 look that I just love to death. His chest is a silver grill that conceals some lights and a speaker. Connecting Emissary’s head mode to him causes his chest to light up, fires off some start up noises and he says his name in a cool synthesized voice. Pressing the head down again will activate some firing sounds. The deco uses most of the colored plastics used on Fort Max himself and yet Cerebros manages to look rather distinctive.

I particularly dig how he has a shroud on his back to cover up the Fort Max face. Having a giant face on your back may be alright if your a tiny Titan Master, but I don’t think it would have been very excusable for this guy. The articulation here is pretty much spot on for a Deluxe-sized figure too. He’s a very solid figure and loads of fun to play with all on his own.

The head sculpt is fantastic. He’s got a rounded black “helmet,” a prominent mouth plate, and a blue visor. And yup, you can pop any Titan Master you want on there if you want to change out his noggin.

Cerebros has a gun, which is stored in Fort Max’s clear chest compartment when you take him out of the box. It also has room to seat a Titan Master, but I’ll get to that tomorrow when we look at the alt modes! Transforming Cerebros into Fort Max’s head isn’t much more sophisticated than transforming the little Titan Masters. You fold his arms in front of him, fold the legs up to the sides, and flip up the face shield. Doing this activates the familiar G1 transforming sound and with him in his head mode and plugging the noggin into Fort Max’s body makes the ancient Titan speak his name. And with that, we can finally have a look at Fort Max himself!

Ooooh YEAH! If this doesn’t get you hard, there’s something wrong with you. Or maybe that’s the other way around. Either way, I’ll confess that by reusing parts, I was afraid this guy was going to come off as a Metroplex masquerading as Fort Max, but it doesn’t at all. Yes, if I look carefully I can see some of the same features in the forearms and lower legs, and the hands are the same, but if I didn’t already know about parts sharing, I’m not sure I would have identified it until I stood the two together and really scrutinized them. Nope, when I look at this beauty all I see is a fantastic modern update to the Fort Max toy I wanted so badly as a kid. I think the thing that strikes me as most immediately impressive is how great one of these Titans looks with some color. No offense, Metro, I still love you, but the blue, red, and gray plastic, coupled with some lovely silver paint apps all looks so damn good here, and it really picks out all that wonderful sculpted detail in the mold. And there are a ton of details! This guy just wears it well.

The back shows off more of those amazing details. It also shows the two ramps that drop behind his arms. These are easily the only awkward thing about the robot design, as I guess you could call them base mode kibble. They don’t really get in the way much when I’m posing him, but they can look a little awkward when his arms are up. That having been said, the original G1 mold had them too, so who am I to complain?

In fact, if I were to complain about anything it would be that Max is rather light on the ordinance, at least as far as the Hasbro release is concerned. Metroplex came sporting a massive shoulder cannon and a pair of hand guns, which could mount on his shoulders. Max has knee guns. And that’s pretty much it. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some knee guns, and I get that they were going for an exclusive enticement with the sword, but I would have really liked his rifle, and I kind of miss the flip out hip cannons that the original toy had. At least, you can take Cerebros’ gun and mount it to various ports on Max, including his left shoulder, which looks pretty good. OK, that’s enough griping… that’s really all I’ve got for the griping.

Cerebros forms a truly fantastic head sculpt. Max looks quite the noble bad ass and if you press the button on his chest his eyes will light up and he’ll make all sorts of battle noises, powering up noises, and he’ll even utter “Autobots” and “Decepticons” from time to time. Fort Max is not much of a conversationalist, and I always thought it odd, at least in the Sunbow cartoon, that the bigger the robots got, the dumber they sounded. In addition to the great head, you can really see some of the amazing sculpted detail in this closeup. From panel lines to gears, to sculpted turrets, they really decked him out. I dig the translucent plastic they used for his chest compartment too. This toy just looks so amazing!

There’s no doubt that Max is happiest when he’s standing at attention. He’s quite stable that way and, like Metroplex, I know I can stand him on the shelf like that and not worry about him toppling over. Of course, there’s also plenty of articulation to play with too. Max features some heavy ratcheting joints, similar to what we saw with Metro, and the arms can hold whatever pose I put them in and the legs do a pretty good job of holding Max’s substantial bulk if you don’t get too crazy.

With that having been said, I’m pretty pleased with some of the wide stances and action poses I’m able to get out of him. It does take some work, finding that sweet spot where he will balance. And if you give him too wide a stance, his legs are inclined to slide outwards and do the splits. I wouldn’t be comfortable posing him like this for a long period of time, but it does make him surprisingly fun for such a large and bulky figure, let alone one that transforms into two alt modes.

If any part of Fortress Maximus isn’t totally blowing my brain out the side of my skull, it’s just because Metroplex came first and stole some of his thunder. But that shouldn’t take anything away from him. In fact, and I’m going to get a little sappy here, playing around with this figure really made me feel like a kid again. There’s something about a toy like this that is just so grand and so magical that it personifies that perfect Christmas morning or that especially amazing birthday. It literally fills me with joy to know that there are companies out there like Hasbro that are willing to take risks and say, “Who cares if kids these days just want Apple Watches and tablets and XboxStationWiiUs? We’re going to make a goddamn giant robot and we’re going to convince retailers who are already crazy stingy about their retail space to put it on their shelves. Not only that, but we’re also going to do it again at the end of the year with a giant robot dinosaur.” It makes me want to stand up and applaud. Now, I have absolutely zero insider information when it comes to my hobby. I’m just a guy that runs a silly toy blog. I don’t go to Toy Fairs and talk to Hasbro reps, and I don’t own any of their stock. But I’m willing to bet that they know that this thing is aimed at us collectors and they do it anyway. It’s something that Mattel had to set up a subsidiary mail order company called Matty Collector to do. It’s really something special and a little part of me has to believe that somewhere out there a kid actually asked for this for Christmas, got it, and had the time of his life opening it.

And with that, I’m going to break today so I can come back tomorrow and look at his alt modes.

Feb 20 2017

Marvel Legends (Abomination Wave): Wonder Man and Captain Britain by Hasbro

Yesiree, folks, I’m doubling up on another Marvel Monday so I can try to get caught up with opening Legends figures before we hit the middle of the year. I’m about a wave and a half behind when it comes to opening what I’ve got, but I still need to pick up the Sandman Wave and the Guardians of the Galaxy v2 Wave is starting to hit stores along with the second X-Men Wave. Jeepers! Anyway, today I’m checking out the last two heroes from the Abomination Wave and these happen to be two characters I’m very happy about getting on my shelf: Wonder Man and Captain Britain!

There’s no doubt that this wave feels like a collection of odds and ends and this pair continues to drive that point home. Not that I’m complaining. So far, this wave has given me the MCU version of Scarlet Witch and some pretty cool and obscure variants of Captain America and Red Skull. Simon Williams’ release in the modern Legends line feels rather overdue, especially since his brother, Eric hit the line a couple years back as part of the Ultron Wave, so let’s start with Wonder Man!

To be honest, there isn’t a hell of a lot to say about this guy. As expected this is a pretty basic figure, and when it comes to original sculpting there isn’t a lot to be found here. With the exception of the wrist bracers, everything else below the neck is achieved through a painted buck. That’s not to say it doesn’t work splendidly. The paint is pretty clean and sharp and the black and red deco of his costume looks fantastic.

Of course, the head sculpt is new and I really dig it. The red paint apps for the eyes look fantastic and the facial details are well defined. I’d definitely rank this among the better portraits in the modern Legends line, and that’s saying a lot because there have been some great ones!

Wonder Man comes with a pair of charged ionic energy fists, which can be used in conjunction with the energy effect parts. Yup, we’ve seen these before, now cast in translucent purple. The effect parts fit a little loosely on his wrists, but they still look pretty rad when combined with the ionized fists.

Ultimately, I’ve got no complaints with this figure. He’s just a great example of how Hasbro is able to do justice to a character without having to go nuts with brand new tooling. And that’s not a little thing, because cost saving figures like these are a big part of how Hasbro is able to churn out so many figures and even hit on some of the characters that aren’t exactly A-Listers. Moving on to Captain Britain…

Brian Braddock sports his Union Jack-inspired costume and actually features a lot more sculpted detail than I was expecting. He’s built on one of the beefier modern Legends bucks and includes sculpted wraps on his forearms, boots with three sets of buckles running up the fronts, and a wide belt. The coloring on this figure is superb. The white is very clean and the combination of red and metallic blue really makes the figure pop. Toss in a little gold on the buckles and the printed crests on his shoulders and you’ve got a damned great looking figure.

The head sculpt also shines on this guy.I really like how they sculpted and painted the eyes even though they are set pretty deep in the mask.

The articulation on both Captain Britain and Wonder Man are both identical. 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 swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, and double hinges in the knees. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers, the waists have swivels, there are ab crunches in the chests, and the necks are both hinged and ball jointed.

Prior to these figures, I only owned these characters as part of Hasbro’s 3 3/4-inch Marvel lines. Captain Britain was part of the Captain America: The First Avenger line and Wonder Man was released through Marvel Universe as a completely ionized energy version. Although I think they did a regular version too. Needless to say, I’m thrilled to get these 6-inch versions for my Legends shelf. Now, the only question is with Captain Britain done and Marvel’s recent interest in giving the X-Men their proper due, does this mean I may be able to start putting together the Excalibur Team? I sure do hope so! Next week, I’ll wrap up this wave with a look at Eel and The Abomination Build-A-Figure!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

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