May 30 2016

Marvel Universe Legends: Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Noir by Hasbro

Marvel Monday continues to take a short sabbatical from the 6-inch Legends line so that I can check out some figures from other corners of the Marvel Universe. I spent a couple weeks with some Sixth-Scale Hot Toys, now it’s time to turn to the other end of the spectrum with the 3 3/4-inch figures. I have to be honest, I’ve been re-evaluating my need to keep collecting this line, but it’s not like there are a lot of releases, so I keep on hanging in there. Let’s see if today’s acquisitions get me any more excited about it…

Oh, look! It’s been re-branded… AGAIN! Gone are the terrible bland and boring black cards of the Universe Infinite Series and in its place we get something a bit better. The cards are still black and bland, but at least we’re back to some original character art on each card. Meh. Nothing beats the colorful old Universe packaging. And wait, these are called Legends now too? But… the 6-inch line… that’s called… OMG, WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE WATCHER ARE THEY SMOKING OVER AT HASBRO THESE DAYS??? Sod it, I’m just going to call them Marvel Universe Legends. I’m going to open up Spider-Man Noir first.

While it’s been quite a few years since his debut, I was first introduced to Spider-Man Noir in the pages of Edge of Spider-Verse and rather enjoyed seeing the exploits of the darker Depression-Era Peter Parker. Hopefully, Hasbro is going to start mining Spider-Verse more for figures and I’ll confess I was very glad to see Spidey-Noir get a release, even if I would have preferred it in the 6-inch line. It’s also a bit of a bummer to not have any enemies from Earth 90214 for him to fight.

Obviously, there isn’t a lot of paint here. He’s black and gray and has silver eyes. Everything on the figure is textured, his boots feature buttons up the sides, the pants are rumpled and include pouches on the thighs. The shirt has sculpted button down flap and a high collar. The hood has sculpted stitching, silver goggles, and a sculpted wrap around the mouth area. He looks like he’s wearing a really creepy gimp mask, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the head sculpt strikes me as a little too soft.

There’s a ton of articulation here, so let’s run through it. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and hinges in the elbows. The legs have rotating hinges and swivels in the hips, double hinges in the knees, swivels at the tops of the boots, and the ankles are hinged and feature lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint just below the chest and both a hinge and ball joint in the neck. In theory, that’s all great, but I’m not a big fan of these hips and the way the shoulders are designed, you can’t really get his arms all the way down to his sides. He seems like he should be a lot more fun to play with than he actually is. Moving on to Ms. Danvers…

Captain Marvel has become one of my favorite characters in the Marvel Now! era, so it’s nice to see her 6-inch Legends figure getting a 3 3/4-inch companion release. This is a much simpler figure than Spidey-Noir, and I’m rather surprised that Hasbro didn’t just go back to the buck used for the Modern/Classic Ms. Marvels. The costume is almost entirely painted, but the paint looks great and the lines are sharp and clean. Compared to the really rough paint on the past Ms. Marvels, this one is a huge improvement. She wears her scarf tied around her waist, which appears to be the same piece used for the Modern Ms. Marvel figure from several years back. The head sculpt is quite good and looks a lot like the one used for the 6-inch Legends Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel features a serviceable level of articulation, although it’s limited compared to recent female bucks in the line. In fact, it doesn’t even have the waist swivel from the Modern/Classic Ms. Marvel figures. You do get rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, but no bicep swivels, and oddly enough no wrist articulation at all. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. Despite the reduction in articulation, I actually like this buck a lot. It’s a lot less wobbly than some of the more super articulated MU figures and yet still plenty of fun to play with.

Both Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Noir are solid additions to my Marvel 3 3/4-inch collection, although Carol is my definite favorite here. I expected to like Spidey-Noir a lot more, but in the end he’s just OK. Really, my big gripe with this line continues to be the price. These are going for anywhere from $12.99 to $14.99 on the pegs these days and that’s really steep. Add to that the distribution in my area is atrocious. I was lucky enough to pick these up at the lower end of that spectrum from a really great online retailer, but right now Spidey-Noir is going for upward of $18-20 on Amazon, which is crazy for what you’re getting. Even at the regular price, it’s shocking that Hasbro couldn’t have thrown in a gun for Spidey and an alternate masked head for Carol. I feel sorry for 3 3/4-inch Marvel completists. Lately I’ve just been adopting an attitude of buy what I can get at a good price and just let the rest go.

May 26 2016

Transformers Animated: Swindle by Hasbro

Transformers Thursdays have been slim pickings these days. I’m awaiting the release of Unite Warriors Bruticus and arrival of my Deluxe Groove, I’m still mulling over whether to pick up MP Shockwave, and maybe one day I’ll finally buy the Leader Class Skywarp that’s been languishing on the shelf at Target. But today it just so happens that I did pick up a Transformer last week, thanks to a hook up on Twitter. It’s been a long time coming, but I finally added TF: Animated Swindle to my collection, which just about completes my Deluxes for this series. I bought him loose, so no package shot. Instead, I’ll jump right in and have a look at his alt mode.

The Consensus seems to be that modern Swindle should be a Humvee and that is indeed what the TF:A version is. While this series favors highly stylized vehicles, Swindle’s actually looks fairly normal. Swindle has a few sculpted panel lines, but that’s about it, and there is some rather unsightly mold flashing on his driver side quarter panel near the hood. There’s also very little in the way of paint apps. He gets by mostly with tan colored plastic. The front grill and windshield are both a rather striking translucent purple and the side windows are painted purple to match, albeit rather unconvincingly. A little black plastic trim, black wheels, some shockingly pink headlamps, and he’s good to go. Oh yeah, he also has that glorious Decepticon emblem stamped right on his hood.

Swindle comes with his rather large blaster, which can peg right into his roof and give him the extra firepower that any respectable Decepticon demands. You can also plug it into the side, but I prefer it as a top cannon. The fit is disappointingly loose, but to make up for that it can fire a missile. Transforming Swindle is just satisfying enough for a Deluxe and holds a few fun surprises, like the way his hands come together to form the hood. There’s some clever plate shifting there and the resulting robot form is pretty damn sweet.

Yes, one of the most remarkable things about this line is the way the toys were able to mimic those highly stylized animated designs and still work as functional Transformers. Swindle is a nice approximation of his animated counterpart. I should note that the back panels can be positioned in a few different ways and I like to mix it up. I think they look better sticking out to the sides, but that can get in the way of aiming his arm cannon, so it helps to be able to point them upward. There’s some fun stuff going on here, like his rather large, albeit somewhat impractical, claw hands and I really dig the appearance of even more of that translucent purple plastic. The way the tires make up the bottoms of his feet is pretty cool too. Also note, the detailing on the lower torso is the front of the vehicle mode faked out. If I had one gripe about Swindle’s design is that his chest is just a little too close to the iconic look of Optimus Prime for my taste.

But then I look at that face, and how can I not love him? Swindle features some giant eyes with some lovely purple light-piping and a smarmy grin that totally suits the character. One thing even the detractors of T:FA must admit, these robots had a lot of personality.

The arm cannon is awkwardly large, but that’s not to say he can’t aim it. Once again, I wish it stayed on better. I might have to pop a little glob of blue tack into that hole to better seal the deal. Oh yeah, if the giant arm cannon isn’t getting the job done, Swindle has a little surprise hidden in his chest…

Say hello to my leetle friend! Yes, he has a flip out gatling gun. A little lower and he’d really have something to brag about! I actually didn’t know about this gimmick going in and it was a pretty neat surprise.

One of these days I need to go back and revisit the TF: Animated line. I was a little worried about how well this figure would hold up after jonesing after it for so long and there being so much time between now and when I was collecting these figures back in 2008. Turns out, I dig this guy a lot and I even had some fun with Lugnut and Oil Slick when I pulled them out for a little group shot. Animated was one of those queer little detours in what passes for a Transformers continuity that I was fine with at the time, so long as I knew a more traditional line was lurking around the corner. These are clever designs and ultimately fun toys, but given my inability to get into the current Robots in Disguise line, I don’t know how receptive I would be if this line released now. I do know that I’m a little more motivated now to take stock of what I have and maybe pick up the last TF:A figures that I’m missing!

May 9 2016

Marvel Legends (Red Onslaught Wave): Red Onslaught Build-A-Figure by Hasbro

Here we are at the and of this wave’s run and I’m finally able to put all these pieces together and build Red Onslaught, a BAF that has truly left me with some mixed emotions. While not one of my favorite characters, I’m willing to believe that getting Onslaught in Legends format would have made many fans happy. Getting Onslaught merged with a clone of The Red Skull? Hmm… you may be on shakier ground there, Hasbro.

As I’m sure y’all know by now, Red Onslaught is built from the parts spread out between the seven figures in this wave. These include the two legs, two arms, torso, cape, and head. Technically, there are nine parts, as the shoulders are separate pieces, but were included with the torso piece in Mockingbird’s package. Everything fits together pretty easily and while he’s overall pretty sturdy, I did have one of his legs pull out a couple of times when posing him.

While I’ve certainly hinted at Red Onslaught not being high on my want list of characters, I cannot deny that this is one damn gorgeous figure. He’s suitably tall for a BAF and the look of the armor, with its clean and lovely contours, is just amazing to me. From the sculpted muscles in the legs and the various segmented plates in the chest to that ribbed sections on the inner thighs, the sculptors spared no expense and the result is a figure that commands attention as if screaming from the shelf… YOU VILL NOTICE ME!!! And check out those shoulders! They’re enough to make the collective Paladins of Azeroth feel pangs of jealousy. As if the sculpting on this piece weren’t enough, the mix of all that shiny crimson and purple is a veritable feast for the eyes!

The back of the figure showcases that wonderful… cape? Well, let’s go with cape for lack of a better word. It’s actually more like a giant carapace that pegs right into his back.

The portrait is a wonderful piece of work as well, even if most collectors would have probably preferred something a bit more Magneto-like sitting up there. Don’t worry, according to Hasbro, it’s coming! Either way, rather than blast it for what it isn’t, I’ll just go ahead and say it’s a fantastic sculpt with some amazing paintwork to back it up. The piercing eyes and individually painted teeth look great and the wash helps bring out some of those wonderful details in the skull.

The articulation here is about what I expect out of my BAFs, and that is to say it’s not all that much different than the individually packaged figures. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, with swivels in the biceps. The fact that the shoulders are hinged mean that you can move them a bit out of the way, but they’re still going to interfere a bit with the arm movement. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, hinges in the ankles, and swivels at the tops of the thighs. The only issue here for me is the ankle hinges. They don’t allow for any forward movement and that makes old Red Skull topple backwards sometimes. Finally, you get a ball joint in the chest and another in the neck.

That’s it. That’s really all I’ve got. Truth is, I didn’t really have a dog in this hunt when it came to this wave’s BAF because I’m just not vested in this version of the character. With that having been said, he’s a strikingly gorgeous figure and he’ll be a welcome and imposing addition to my 6-inch Marvel shelves. After all, the name of the game for me with Marvel Legends is always about that ever expanding universe building and Red Onslaught certainly fits that bill and caps off what was a very solid wave of figures.

And just to note, I’ll be taking a break from Legends for the next couple of Marvel Mondays to look at some of Hasbro’s 3 3/4-inch offerings as well as some Hot Toys, but when things do swing back to Legends in a few weeks I’ll be kicking off the Absorbing Man Wave… And eventually I’ll double back and look at that Rhino Wave… Assuming I don’t complete that Giant Ant-Man wave first.

May 5 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: G2 Stunticons Box Set by Hasbro, Part 4: Menasor!

Here we are at the final installment of my look at Hasbro’s Generation 2 Stunticons. I’ve already checked out Motormaster and the four Deluxe figures, but before we get to Menasor, let’s take a quick look at the runt of the litter: Blackjack!

I was curious to see what they would do with the tiny Stunticon sports car, since Blackjack is the one figure that Hasbro didn’t have a G2 original to reference. They went for a purple and blue deco that matches Motormaster fairly closely and I think it looks fine. He sports a blue G2 Decepticon emblem on his hood and the windows are painted black. You can still plug his axe onto the back of the car to form a spoiler and what I like to think is a roof cannon, because… why not?

The transformation here is still as simple and clever as always. The robot mode balances out the color scheme by exposing more of the blue. I still like the way the wheels are angled back on his shoulders and the bulk of the car’s top becomes his backpack. He’s a great looking little Legends figure.

Plenty of ball joints makes for solid articulation and he can hold his axe in either hand. The only thing missing is a Decepticon emblem somewhere on his front. I like my Transformers to wear their faction symbols proudly. Based on the transformation, it’s easy to see why he doesn’t have one, and it was an issue common to the previous Blackjack.

For a mold that’s been around the block three times already, I think this guy still holds up well. I’d put this one tied with the original Blackjack release as my two favorites and Hot Rodimus bringing up a distant third. But enough about Blackjack… let’s form G2 Menasor!

So, some of you may recall that I wasn’t all that keen on Menasor’s combined mode the first time around and I’m sorry to say that this G2 version doesn’t do a lot to improve on that. Of course, my issues with Menasor had nothing to do with his paint job, so I wasn’t expecting a repaint to solve anything. With that having been said, this version feels slightly more stable to me. Just getting the previous release to stand beside him was a chore. Unfortunately, he still suffers from a host of problems, like the shoulders coming un-pegged every time I move his arms, and the fact that Blackjack will not peg into the chest on his own. I used heaping helpings of blue tack to get him to stick for the photos and even then he popped out a few times. This guy is just no fun at all to play with because he keeps falling down or falling apart.

As for the coloring… it’s brilliant! The fact that they matched the coloring between Blackjack and Motormaster makes for a good looking chest piece, at least while he stays in place. My preferred combination here is the same as the other Menasor with Dead End and Wildrider making the legs. It works for this deco pretty well as it gives the upper half a more uniform color and makes the legs really pop. It’s a striking deco to be sure.

In the end, I always knew this series of Features was going to be anti-climactic because Menasor remains my least favorite of the three Combiner Wars teams that I own (the others being Defensor and Superion). But just like the first time around, I bought these guys mainly for the individual modes and as a team, these figures did not disappoint at all. They look incredible on the shelf and owning them has convinced me to grab the G2 Superion set as well because I just really want a Generation 2 shelf in my modern Transformers display. With an MSRP of $99, the value here feels about right, figuring on four Deluxes at $16 a piece, a Voyager at $25, and a Legends at $10. I was able to grab these guys for $85 and that made the deal all the sweeter.

Next week, Transformers Thursday is going to go back into a short hiatus, so that I can work a three-parter into the middle of the week. It should return the following Thursday, but it’ll likely remain spotty throughout the Summer as I wait for Takara’s Unite Warriors teams to be released.

May 4 2016

Star Wars: May the 4th “The Force Awakens” 3 3/4-inch Figure Opening Special!

Strap yourselves in, kiddies, because it’s Star Wars Day and I’m celebrating by opening up the pile of 3 3/4-inch Force Awakens figures that I have slowly amassed and stacked in the corner. All eight of them! You’ve heard of speed dating? Well this is going to be speed reviewing. Quick and dirty. Let’s face it, while these figures are fun and all, they don’t require a lot of time. This will also help me to get caught up on the older figures so I can start hunting for some of the more recent releases that have been rather difficult to find.

Here they are in the packages… God, I still love these packages! If I had to do it over, I might have considered keeping all my TFA figures sealed, because they really do look amazing on the cards. The character art is fantastic and the coloring is bright and catches the eye. If all I collected was Star Wars, I would have definitely picked up a couple of each and hung these things all over my walls. But, I’ve got a lot of figures to cover, so let’s get right to it and start off with…

X-Wing Pilot Ello Asty! Asty was a bit more than a background character, as he actually had a couple of lines in the film, and boy did I hate his voice. He sounded like an obnoxious 80’s cartoon character. Also, this is another X-Wing Pilot to go into the Resistance X-Wings I don’t have. I’ll confess, I wasn’t too excited to get him because I was expecting this to be a recycled X-Wing Poe with a new head, but it’s actually a distinctly different sculpt, so color me surprised. On the other hand, this isn’t a huge improvement over the crappy Poe figure either. The white paint on the vest shows some chips and I still don’t like the painted yellow visors.

Asty comes with a little pistol that fits into the angled holster on his left leg and he can hold it in either hand. I’ve got to try to keep an eye on this one, since I already lost Poe’s. The Build-A-Weapon piece can peg into his back and double as a pretty cool winged jetpack.

Next up is General Hux. I haven’t been able to add him to my 6-inch Black Series collection, so I guess this little guy will have to do for now. He’s a really nice figure. The head sculpt isn’t a bad likeness for this scale, the hat looks good and he comes complete with those epic sideburns and his even more epic space lapels! The silver First Order emblem on his shoulder and striping on his sleeves looks sharp. I also like the way they worked the trench coat into the 5-POA style.

Hux comes with a tiny pistol, which can be held in either hand, but there’s no holster for it. His weapon piece is… surprise! Another jetpack! I actually dig this piece because it looks like it can double as a drone or flying droid. The next figure I opened is the Snowtrooper and it occurs to me that I already reviewed him a little while back. This is a second one I bought so that I could do this…

Yeah! Hux looks bitchin’ when flanked by a couple First Order Snowies. Also, I’d be totally lying if I said I was going to stop at just two of these guys. It’s a really great little figure.

Next is The Guavian Enforcer is one of my favorite new designs in the film. I don’t mind that they had short screen time. That’s all part of the fun of Star Wars and universe building with action figures! This is a fantastic sculpt with a crazy amount of detail all over his outfit. It’s hard to believe the X-Wing pilots and this figure are part of the same series because they vary so much in quality. The coloring here is great too. Not only does the deep red and black deco look great, but the paint is all sharp. He’s definitely one of my favorite figures in this line, and I’ll have to pick up some more to form my own little Death Gang.

The Enforcer comes with a short blaster rifle that he can wield in either hand. His weapon part is a large white and blue sniper rifle. He can hold it just fine on its own, and it can also combine with Hux’s drone.

Next is the Resistance droid PZ-4CO. I was very anxious to pick up this guy because a love collecting droids in this scale. Also, let’s face it. Apart from BB-8, this is the only other 3 3/4-inch droid we got out of the movie. 4CO is a delightfully bizarre design that’s basically a variant 3PO body with a long hunched neck. I love that the body is similar to 3PO’s, but still a brand new sculpt and the head is really cool. There’s some nice detailing all over this guy and the blue plastic with gray and red paint apps look great. 4CO comes with a pair of boosters that can attach to the figure’s legs. I hate them and immediately cast them into The Bottomless Tote of Forgotten Accessories!

And how about Goss Toowers? Like more than a few TFA figures, I had no idea who this guy was until I read the back of the package. Apparently, he’s a mechanic that worked at the Resistance Base. I’ll have to watch my Blu-Ray again and see if I can spot him. I have virtually nothing to say about him. He’s not a bad figure, just kind of a dumpy looking alien with a helmet and overalls. It features a decent sculpt and OK paint. The fact that you can only see his eyes reminds me a bit too much of Constable Zuvio. He comes with a small laser pistol, which may replace the one that belonged to X-Wing Pilot Poe’s, which I lost. Hey, if the Ugnaughts were good enough to get figures and stand on my shelf, than Goss Toowers can too. Oh yeah, his Build-A-Weapon part is a giant component with a tiny handle that looks ridiculous if he holds it. It too is getting banished to TBToFA!

Did someone say Constable Zuvio? Well, here he is! By receiving a figure and not actually being in the movie for more than a frame, he has probably garnered more attention than if he were to have been a co-star. I don’t care about his conspicuous absence. He’s a cool looking alien and I’ve already created an elaborate backstory for him in my head. His 6-inch Black Series release was a solid figure and this little guy is too.

Zuvio features a removable backpack and his staff-gun-poleaxe thing. His Build-A-Weapon parts are a pair of axes. I like these, mainly because you can shorten the handles into pegs and he can hold them pretty well. I think I have all the parts to build whatever it is they go to, but I’m not motivated enough to find out. How many figures is that so far? Seven?

Well, just to prove I can count to eight, I’ve got one more figure to open up. This is Poe Dameron in his Resistance outfit and also one of the boxed “Armor Up” figures. Unlike the carded figures, these packages are collector friendly. They feature the same great looking style of colorful character art as the carded figures, although they take up an awful lot of space for just a 3 3/4-inch figure and accessory, so I don’t plan on keeping it.

I’m not a big fan of this “Armor Up” gimmick, which explains why Poe is the first one of these I bought. Unfortunately, I believe this is the only way to get Poe in his Resistance outfit in this scale. The head sculpt is laughably goofy at certain angles, but passable at others. Either way, I think this is a better likeness than the 6-inch Black Series figure, and that’s kind of a sad commentary on how hit-or-miss that line is. Poe comes with an impressive blaster rifle.

I think it’s funny that Hasbro used separate sculpts and paints for the Poe and Finn figures, especially when these are supposed to be the exact same jacket. This is one of the few instances where it would have made more sense to reuse the jacket and arms and they blew it.

The Armor Up piece is some kind of space-suit jetpack thing. I’ll confess that I find this appealing in a goofy Expanded Universe kind of way. Not that I’d consider displaying the figure with it, or buying up any more of these.

Phew! And that wraps up my May the 4th Figure Openingpaloosa while happily emptying out a corner of my Toy Closet. When it comes to 3 3/4-inch Star Wars figures, I keep coming back for more. My need to collect these things was imprinted in me at a young age, and I simply have no choice. I genuinely don’t even mind the 5-POA style any more. I think I’ve finally accepted it as charmingly retro. Either way, every time I open a new one of these figures I find myself wanting to hunt down more. There are still plenty of background characters that Hasbro could make, and I’m hoping that we may still see some more releases before things turn over to Rogue One merchandising.

May 2 2016

Marvel Legends (Red Onslaught Wave): Taskmaster by Hasbro

It took well over a month of Marvel Mondays, but I’m finally at the last packaged figure in the Red Skull/Onslaught Wave! And yes, I saved my most anticipated figure for last. Although with how great Demolition Man/Scourge turned out he’s going to be a tough act to follow. Let’s look at Taskmaster!

This is the last time we’ll be seeing the packaging from this wave, but I’ll bet you the next wave I look at won’t be much different. I know because I’m looking at them all stacked in the corner. Taskmaster comes in a standard window box and it is totally collector friendly. There’s a good deal of stuff packed in there, including the Red Skull head for the Onslaught Build-A-Figure. It’s also the last part I need to cobble that big boy together.

So, this isn’t my Taskmaster, but I knew that coming in. I do, however, think it’s a great looking figure. I had to do a little digging to find out that this design is based off of his appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, a show that I have never seen. Obviously, I would have preferred something a little more classic in design, but there are enough common elements here to make this work for me. The buck feels a little slight to me for the character, but that might be because I’m used to seeing him with a large billowy cape. The figure includes a nice mix of painted buck and original sculpting. The legs are heavily armored and feature a silver plastic. There is a little of that swirly effect in the plastic, which I’m not overly fond of, but here it just looks like brushed steel, so I don’t mind it. Similar armor appears on the forearms, and you get sculpted elbow and knee pads, and some kick-ass boots. Literally. I mean, I think he kicks people in the ass with these boots.

Taskmaster features both a waist belt and a shoulder rig, each of which are separate pieces. The belt has sculpted pouches and a sweet little belt buckle. The shoulder straps have sculpted guns in the holsters. Usually guns sculpted in the holsters piss me off, but in this case, it would have been tough to do removable guns in the shoulder rigs without it looking too big and awkward. The paint here shares a similar deco with Scourge of black, silver, and white only here it’s more evenly balanced out. Everything is pretty sharp and clean, and I especially like the silver painted fingers.

You get two portraits for the figure. The stock head is closer to the classic Taskmaster with only with the skull silver with a little gold mixed in, instead of white. The skull mask is a brilliant piece of sculpting and the hood is sculpted separately from soft plastic and permanently attached to the head.

The other option is the Udon designed head. This is also a really nice looking piece, and while I prefer the workmanship and look of the classic head on it’s own, I have to sadly admit that to me, the Udon head’s style fits this body much better.

The articulation here is top notch. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels in the biceps. The ankles are on rotating hinges, but also feature lateral rocking movement. The torso has a swivel at the waist and an ab crunch hinge in the chest. Lastly, the head is ball jointed and hinged.

In addition to his extra head, Taskmaster comes with his shield and an energy sword. I assumed the shield would be a repaint Cap shield, but it’s totally smooth on the back, so I think it’s new. The paintwork on the front is damn near perfect and you get the familiar hinged clip and peg on the back so he can wear it on his back or equip it on his wrist.

The sword has a sculpted black hilt, and while the orange blade is rather soft and gummy, it does catch the light quite nicely.

Like his fellow “Mercenary of Mayhem,” Scourge, Taskmaster is a figure that really makes me stop and realize what a great time it is to be collecting Marvel 6-inch. As solid as many of the Legends figures are, it’s easy to take them for granted, especially when the pegs seem to be getting flooded with new ones every couple of months. But Scourge and Taskmaster are figures that just come together so beautifully, and are so damn fun to play with, that I need to just smile and say, “Thanks, Hasbro. You guys make a lot of stumbles, but you’re really kicking ass when it comes to Marvel Legends. Please, don’t ever stop.” Next Monday, I’ll finally put this wave to bed with a look at the Red Skull/Onslaught Build-A-Figure!

Apr 28 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: G2 Stunticons Box Set by Hasbro, Part 3: Dragstrip and Breakdown

Transformers Thursday continues to chug along thanks to this multi-part feature on Hasbro’s Generation 2 Stunticons Boxed Set. Today I’m checking out the last two limbs in the box, Dragstrip and Breakdown. As I mentioned last time, these are straight repaints of the Combiner Wars Stunticons that I looked at when they came out, so we’re going to be focused mostly on the new coloring. We already looked at the packaging a couple of features back, so let’s dive right in and start with Breakdown and his alt mode!

Awwww, yeah! This is the type of thing I think of when I think G2. Breakdown’s previous off-white and blue deco has been replaced with a glorious teal, accompanied by a black hood, purple trim, and gold painted windows. You also still get some nice silver paint hits for the headlights, front bumper, and wheels. The hood features a G2 Decepticon emblem and the windshield is engraved with “94 Racing” as opposed to the “15 Racing” of regular Breakdown. This is one rad looking ride that looks like it was plucked right off the streets of Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto.

All of those colors translate well to his robot mode. The teal is more balanced out with purple and that lovely silver. To be honest, this mold hasn’t really held its appeal to me all that well, but I will say the crazy color palate here is at least a lot more interesting than the mostly off-white of his former incarnation. My only complaint here is that the tiny teal G2 Decpticon emblem on his chest is rather awkwardly placed and tough to make out. Breakdown comes with the same sword-gun combo, only this time painted maroon and silver. Moving on to Dragstrip…

Hooooly shit is this some kind of awesome! To say that I was never a fan of the first Dragstrip’s coloring would be a Unicron-sized understatement. But this? The black and blue coloring on this car shouldn’t work, but it’s really tickling my retinas in every good way imaginable. Toss in the yellow interior of the cockpit and the touches of silver on the wheels and suspension and I am in love. Granted, the Mirage repaint of this car swayed me on the mold already, but this one does it again with a much stronger intensity.

And that goes for the robot mode too! A figure that was mostly “blah” for me has been elevated to greatness with this new deco. The black and blue just looks so good together and the extra pop of that yellow from the cockpit is carried over in the form of his combiner port. Even the head sculpt, which I didn’t care for at all is now a thing of beauty. Dragstrip comes with the same gun/sword combo as his previous version. It’s not as cool as Breakdown’s but it’s not bad.

So, I’ve looked at five figures in this set and each and every one has justified the purchase. These two, in particular, were my least favorite of the CW Stunticon molds, but a fresh coat of 90’s paint works wonders for them. I absolutely love the way these vehicles and bots turned out. Now, if you remember my look at the first releases, I loved these guys as individual bots, and not so much for the combined Menasor mode. Can these new paint jobs win me over on the big guy as well? Well, we’ll find out next week when I look at the last figure in the set, tiny Blackjack, and then put them all together and see what we get!

Apr 25 2016

Marvel Legends (Red Onslaught Wave): Demolition Man by Hasbro

Another Marvel Monday, another Legends figure. I’m in the home stretch with my look at the Red Skull/Onslaught Wave and down to the very last slot of shared figures. These are the “Mercenaries of Mayhem” and if you haven’t guessed yet, I’m saving my most anticipated figure of this wave for last… so until then let’s check out Demolition Man.

Package Shot. Nothing new to say about it, so let’s take a minute to qualify who this figure really is. Yes, it’s Dennis Dunphy who was Demolition Man, but this is the character under the control of Hydra in the guise of Scourge in the pages of Captain America. Why they didn’t just name him Scourge on the box is beyond me, because I’d be pretty surprised if Hasbro let the name Scourge fall out of trademark what with it being the name of a character in their line of change-o-bots. I’d argue that having the name Demolition Man on the package isn’t even correct, but hey at least it only appears on the back. Also, Hasbro… make us a proper Legends Demolition Man! But hey, don’t take any of that Jameson-fueled ramble to mean that I’m not happy to get this figure. My Vol. 3 TPB of Brubaker’s Captain America is well read…

… and besides, just look at him! He’s pure 100% concentrated mercenary badass! After getting so many painted bucks, it’s always a treat to get a figure with some fresh sculpting and this guy has it plus layers of tactical gear. The buck looks all new to me, but then I’m terrible at spotting this sort of thing. He’s loaded with detail from the texturing on the torso to the segmented elbow pads, down to his distinctive looking boots. And while Scourge’s deco is derived mostly from black plastic, you do get some really sharp looking white and silver paint to spruce things up a bit.

Over that brilliant buck, Scourge is toting a tactical harness with enough pouches to make Deadpool jealous. You also get some nice gold paint on the shotgun shells he has on the cross belt. The main harness has a sheath for his combat knife and he’s got a second thigh strap holding a great looking molded holster for his automatic pistol. This is great stuff!

The head sculpt is an imposing mask, which would scare any villain straight. It features narrow red eyes and slits for a mouth flanked by two breather canisters. The only thing not armored on this guy are his ears. Again, the metallic silver paint on the mask and shoulders really pops against the black of the rest of the figure.

Scourge is loaded with great articulation. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels both at the thighs and tops of the boots. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the chest and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck.

You get three weapons with Scourge and they’re all excellent. First up is the combat knife that fits into the sheath. This is a sweet little military style combat knife with a sculpted brown grip and a black tanto-style blade. He can hold it beautifully in his left hand.

Next up, is the automatic pistol. The maroon and orange color scheme is certainly distinctive and the sculpt is spot on. Hasbro has gotten pretty funky with some of the pistols in this line now and then, but this sidearm is sized right and looks great in his hand. It also fits into the holster on his thigh.

Finally, when things get serious, Scourge can bust out his combat shotgun. This weapon features a solid sculpt and a deco that matches the pistol. It has a hand grip for the pump and some painted shells along the side of the receiver.

I started this feature with a little dig against Scourge saying I was saving my most anticipated figure for last, but I have to say, this guy is going to be a tough act to follow. He features an amazing sculpt, great paint, fun articulation, and some damn fine weapons. Scourge is an absolute home run in every category and he may indeed be the surprise breakout figure of this wave for me. He’s also a perfect example of why I think Hasbro needs to bring GI JOE to the 6-inch format. I think about the amount of fun I’ve had playing with this guy and I can only imagine a Real American Hero line getting the same style of treatment in this scale. I’d even be willing to full on subscription service for something like that, Hasbro, so long as the figures turned out as good as Scourge here. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if the last figure of the wave can beat this guy. I’ll find out next Monday when I finally open Taskmaster!

Apr 21 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: G2 Stunticons Box Set by Hasbro, Part 2: Dead End and Brake-Neck

It’s Transformers Thursday again and here we are at the second part of my look at Hasbro’s Generation 2 style Stunticons. Last time we checked out Motormaster and today I’m going to take a look at Menasor’s legs: Dead End and Brake-Neck, or Wild Rider, if you prefer. We already saw the packaging last week, so let’s jump right in with the alt modes! These are, of course, straight repaints of the original figures, so we’re mostly going to be talking colors here…

So, straightaway I love the Sideswipe and Sunstreaker vibe that I get off of this pair. In the world of 90’s toy repaints that usually land somewhere between Swatch Watches and a Trapper Keeper, these guys are really not that outlandish. They are, however, blindingly bright. Dead End adopts a sumptuous candy-apple red and Brake-Neck a brilliant yellow. But just in case their colors aren’t crazy enough, they advertise their Generation 2 pedigree with the giant G2 Decepticon emblems on their hoods. Both emblems are in each car’s base color against a black backdrop and I really enjoy that they match each other.

Dead End’s deco does mingle with the outrageous by having a bright blue front bumper. It looks like he needed to replace it and went to Wheeljack’s U-Pull-It and could only find a blue bumper from his make and model and will eventually get around to painting it later, but right now he doesn’t have the money for it. He also sports some totally bitchin flame streaks down the side and teeny tiny G2 Decepticon emblems on what looks like it could be his gas caps, but that doesn’t make sense because there are two of them and he’s not a Jaguar. Still neat, though. The coloring is rounded out by some relatively sedate silver painted windows.

Brake-Neck’s deco is mostly just more yellow. He does have a little gradient orange trim behind the front wheel wells. He also has this crazy pattern on the roof that sort of reminds me of the cover of Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut. The rear window is black, but the side windows and windshield are painted with a very vibrant blue. Alright, let’s transform these guys and check them out, starting with Dead End…

Again, he’s fairly subdued for a G2 coloring. You get more of that lovely bright red with a good mix of gray and black. The bright blue chest really makes the sculpted detail there stand out and the yellow, red, and blue paint on the head is just fantastic. I don’t recall being too smitten with this head sculpt when I looked at the original figure, but here I’m really digging it a lot.

Brake-Neck is a little more surprising in that he sports some of that bright blue from his windows on his upper legs and fists. You also get some beautiful silver and his chest is black. The real treat here is the Wildrider head with the purple face. Man, do I dig that! I’ll also point out here that while Hasbro has been notorious for using some really shitty yellow plastic in the past, this stuff is actually really nice looking.

Both Stunticons come with the same exhaust pipe truncheon, which can be held in their hands or pegged onto their vehicle modes. I’m slightly disappointed that they didn’t paint them different colors, but I suppose they were the same colors on the original releases too, so maybe I was expecting too much there.

For two straight repaints, I’m surprised at how excited I am by this pair. The coloring just looks outstanding on every level and a lot of that is owed to the beautiful quality of the plastic and the way it holds the vibrant yellow and red. They really are a couple of beautiful figures and as bright as they are, I’d say the coloring on these could probably even win over those crazy people out there who are adverse to the whole G2 thang. Next time, I’ll wrap up the limbs with a look at Dragstrip and Breakdown!

Apr 20 2016

Star Wars Black: Ahsoka Tano by Hasbro

If you follow me on The Twitters, you may have seen me carrying on like a big baby over the fact that while shopping at a BIG online retailer, I had a BAD experience shopping at that particular TOY STORE vis-a-vis this figure. Of course, I’m not going to mention them by name here (I have too much class for that!) but truth be told I’m still a little bitter over the way they handled it and the fact that I basically got screwed out of something I ordered. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but in this case Ahsoka has been rather difficult to find and prices online have been pretty outrageous. Thankfully a friend was able to hook me up without raking me over the coals too badly.

Here’s Ahsoka in her box and there’s really nothing new to to say about the packaging. Yes, the Star Wars Black Series is now becoming home to characters from what remains of the Expanded Universe. I suppose you could put Ahsoka here in the same category as the realistic version of Kanan that I looked at a week or so ago. Either way, the small corner of the EU that has not been dismantled by the Disney buy-out still includes The Clone Wars and Rebels. I’ve never been a big fan of The Clone Wars series, but OH MY GOD, DID YOU SEE THE SEASON TWO FINALE OF REBELS??? In that context, Ahsoka seems like a perfect companion to the Kanan figure and she also justifies me buying some prequel figures in this line a while back.

Yes, this is Ahsoka done with more realism and less of her more familiar stylized look. It’s not the first time we’ve seen her done this way, I think the first time was in the 4-inch Vintage Collection line, and like Kanan, I think this look suits her. I’m presuming that this is meant to be the older version of the character appearing in Rebels as she does look like an adult. Her outfit isn’t the most complex of designs, but I think they’ve managed to capture it pretty well here from her detached sleeves down to her knee-high boots. The skirt is comprised of soft plastic layered over a soft goods skirt, which is a nice touch and it’s designed to have enough give so as not to inhibit the hip articulation too badly.

Something about that skirt makes Ahsoka look like she’s sporting quite a badonk. Note to self: Immediately commit suicide for using the term badonk. I don’t remember her having such a large caboose in the show, but as the late, great Freddie Mercury sang: “Fat bottomed Togruta girls make the rocking galaxy go round!”

The portrait here is quite good in terms of sculpt. I particularly like the shape of her face in profile. Sadly, the paint is another story. The blue stripes on the tendrils are all over the place, which I suppose give them a little bit of an organic feel. Those are natural, right? Do Togrutas paint those? Is that a racist question? I feel like I should be backing out of this line of questioning. The other issues I have with the paint include her facial markings, which are a little off center and the eyes, which aren’t even. None of these issues really ruin the figure for me. Indeed, they’re not as apparent from the naked eye, and as always mileage may vary from figure to figure.

The articulation here is pretty good. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and ankles. The legs have ball joints in the hips and double hinges in the knees. There are swivels in the thighs, a ball joint in the chest, and a hinge and ball joint in the neck. On the downside, Ahsoka is sporting some pretty tiny feet, so getting her to remain upright in some of those action poses will require either a lot of patience or a good stand. I recommend NECA’s stands for use with most of these 6-inch Black figures. Obviously the tendrils inhibit her neck articulation quite a lot. I could get some side to side movement, but very little up and down.

Naturally, Ahsoka comes with her two lightsabers and there’s honestly not a lot to say about them. The clear blades are removable and the hilts can be hooked onto her hips.

Ahsoka is a very solid figure. I like her a lot and I continue to be a big fan of these realistic treatments of the animated characters. The sculpt is excellent, the articulation is solid, it’s only in the paint where she disappoints. Granted, what’s here is no worse than what we’ve been seeing in a lot of releases in the Black Series. And let’s face it, this line has been all over the place in terms of paint and sculpt quality. But, I’m making a point of calling it out here because Ahsoka is so hard to find and a lot of people are going to be tempted to pay a lot of money for her. If you want to buy her on Amazon right now she’s going to cost you between $45 and $60, and that’s a lot of money for what you’re getting.

FigureFan Zero

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