Feb 10 2016

Star Wars Rebels: AT-DP and Driver (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

Hasbro sure hasn’t made collecting their 3 3/4-inch Rebels line easy or fun, but then if you visit here often you’ve already heard me bitch about that fact on multiple occasions. And while I’ve managed to collect all the good guys in the line, I’m still hunting a few Imperials. The AT-DP Driver was one of those and thanks to this Target Exclusive “value pack,” I was finally able to get him bundled with the AT-DP vehicle. Ironically, I didn’t actually find this at Target, but rather from Amazon and at a damn good price, too!

The goods come in a mostly enclosed box. I dig the style here. It’s not as attractive as some of The Force Awakens packages, but it looks decent and the artwork is very evocative of the first episode of the show. What’s crazy is how tiny the actual name of the vehicle and figure are all the way down in the right hand corner. The box has a “Target Exclusive” sticker on the front as well as a little window to the left showing off the figure. I passed on this vehicle a bunch of times, mainly because it was crazy expensive on the secondary market. So it was kind of nice to get it and another of the elusive figures for a cool twenty bucks. TWENTY BUCKS! At one time the figure alone was going for close to that.

There’s a little bit of assembly required here. You just have to attach the legs, feet, and the chin gun. Once there on, there on, so there’s no going back into the box. There’s also a very small sticker sheet with all of five tiny stickers. First impressions of this thing are better than I expected, but to be honest my expectations were really low. The plastic feels a bit on the cheap side, but it certainly is scaled beautifully. I mean, this thing is super tall and it looks massive next to the figures.

The sculpted detail isn’t too bad either. Considering that it’s based off of a rather simplified and stylized design, I’d say there’s enough panel lines and whatnot on here to let it hang with the live action toys. Paint apps are limited to a few different shades of gray and a little bit of orange black. There’s very little articulation on this thing. The legs only move at the point they connect to the body. The driver’s compartment rotates left and right and the chin gun raises and lowers. Not sure what the point of even giving the legs any articulation was since the vehicle can’t hold a pose unless the legs are straight up and down. On the other hand, I will say that this will stand fine on its own, which is more than I could say for my Vintage Collection AT-ST, which was loaded with leg articulation and would collapse into a pile if I looked at it funny.

The head sort of has room for two figures. The main hatch opens up and there’s a smaller circular hatch that opens as well. If you ever owned any of the AT-ST toys, you know what I’m talking about. There’s a driver’s seat and a second “seat” behind it, which is really just able to have a figure stand on it, while the top half sticks out the hatch.

The chin gun holds the toy’s only action figure and that’s the firing missile. As far as action features go, it’s not bad because it doesn’t mess with the look of the toy. Naturally, I’ll be displaying it with the missile removed. Moving on to the Driver…

The Rebels figures are all 5-POA, retro style and given the stylized sculpts, I’m OK with that. This figure, in particular, though just feels like it came right out of a Kenner casepack era 1981. That’s sort of a compliment… or at least in this case, it was intended as one. It’s a good sculpt, not much paint, but what’s there is solid. He comes with a standard E-11 Blaster. I really dig this guy a lot.

Overall, I’m really happy with this set and not only because it got me one step closer to completing my Rebels figures. Granted, I’m pretty sure the AT-DP originally retailed for $29.99 by itself and that’s crazy talk. But twenty bucks for the figure and vehicle? Now you’re talking, Hasbro! If I had the display space, I’d easily pick up a second one of these and I may still do that, because I’m quite mad. It seems as if Hasbro has done bundles for three out of the four vehicles released for Rebels, as I was able to pick up the the Inquisitor’s Advanced TIE Protoype as well and at the same great price. So unless I happen upon a friggin General Kallus, when I next revisit the Rebels line we’ll take a look at the TIE.

Feb 8 2016

Marvel Legends: “Age of Ultron” Black Widow (AoU 4-pack, Part 2) by Hasbro

Last Monday I checked out Thor from the Age of Ultron Marvel Legends 4-pack and today I’m moving on to Black Widow. While Hasbro has been under attack lately for a perceived slight on female action figures, truth be told the Legends line has been producing its fair share of femme fatales. Yes, you can argue that even after being in a slew of MCU movies, this is only the second such release of Natasha in the current Legends line, but then again this is also the first time we’re getting Legends MCU versions of the boys in this box too. What’s my point? I dunno. Let’s look at the figure.,,

Widow’s costume didn’t change too much from Avengers 1 to Avengers 2, but the AoU version is still my least favorite. I don’t hate it, but at the same time I’m just not a big fan of the added light effects for her widow’s sting. That all having been said, I was expecting a straight repaint from this figure and was surprised to see that wasn’t the case. Instead, she’s a kitbash between Winter Soldier Widow and the Maria Hill that came in the Agents of Shield 3-pack. As a result, the two Black Widow figures look very similar upon a cursory glance, but under scrutiny, there’s a fair amount of difference. The biggest changes are in that taught little tummy era. The WS version had her Widow emblem sculpted into the middle of the zipper and there was texturing on the suit itself. Here the suit is smooth and the widow emblem is gone and it’s all just zipper.

The belt is the other easily notable change. Previously, the belt was part of the buck. Now it’s a separate piece, attached to the holsters, and just sort of floats with the articulation. Also, the widow emblem resurfaces here on the belt buckle. Everything else is more or less the same. The flat circles are still on the shoulders where the SHIELD patches were on the previous figure, but now they’re just left blank. Also, the finger-less gloves from the WS version are now full gloves. And yes, the biggest bummer about the figure hasn’t been fixed, her Glocks are still sculpted into the holsters and are not removable. BOO!

The head sculpts on the two Widows are very close. Keep in mind, WS Widow came with two portraits, one from the first Avengers and one from Winter Soldier, and I’m comparing with the Avengers head because the hair is the same shorter style. And while the two heads are fairly close, the head on the AOU version is still notably better. The eyes are sharper, the contours of the face are a little better, and the lips a little fuller. She also lost the odd spray-on tan that the previous figure had. It’s actually quite a nice likeness for this scale and price point.

Articulation here is identical to the previous Widow, but it’s been a while, so let’s run it through. The legs feature ball joint in the hips, double hinges in the knees and ankles with both hinges and rockers. There are swivels in the thighs, but the holsters impede that movement a bit. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. Yes, the wrists are still pegged in, so if you want to swap the hands out with the previous Natasha… go for it! Lastly, you get ball joints in the torso and the neck. Of course, it helps to have a figure stand handy, as those tiny feet don’t support her that well in action poses. Normally my clear NECA stands work fairly well for Legends, but in this case the pegs were too loose, and I had to dig out some of my Legends hexagon stands.

Widow comes with her pair of taser batons. I really don’t like these, either in execution or concept. As accessproes. they’re just crappy little pieces of plastic painted blue at the ends. They’re very bendy and they don’t look like anything. Also, since she comes with gun hands (and remember, no guns!) she can’t even hold them well. It doesn’t matter. The widow sting shouldn’t require batons and these babies are going to the Tote of Forgotten Accessories.

I was not expecting a lot out of this figure and she actually surprised me. Sure, it’s just a kitbash with some new paint effects, but the figure works surprisingly well and getting an improved head sculpt was a nice treat. And while I’m still not a big fan of the added light effects to the costume, I’ll admit the paint used for them looks rather striking on the figure. I can now retire the Avengers head on my older Widow and pop the Winter Soldier head back on it. So far this set is a solid two for two… next Monday, I’ll move on to Bruce Banner!

Feb 4 2016

Transformers Cybertron: Crosswise and Smokescreen by Hasbro

I am officially declaring February “Unicron Trilogy Month” because I don’t forsee myself picking up any new Transformers for a little while and I really need to start clearing out some of these totes of change-o-bots that I’m not keen on keeping anymore. I decided I might as well feature these figures on Transformers Thursdays before I banish them to Ebay or just dump them wherever. Those of you who have been hanging around FFZ’s Transformers Thursdays for a while have been through this phase before. So grab a couple of shots of Energon or whatever helps you cope. Today we’re winding our chronometers back about ten years to 2005 and 2006 to check out Cybertron Crosswise and Smokescreen. I’ve got no packaged shots to show you, so let’s just jump right in with Crosswise’s auto mode.

I’ve gone on record saying how much I liked Cybertron for it’s alt modes. What little I’ve seen of the show suggested that it wasn’t rooted entirely on Earth so we got a lot of cool futuristic cars and Hasbro didn’t have to worry about paying license fees to real car companies. Win-Win! Crosswise is a pretty bitchin’ black sportscar with a rounded snub-nosed front, a cool looking front intake and a spoiler that looks conspicuously like it could double as a gun. There’s even a flame-shamed missile that will plug into it. My only other observation here is that I think he would have worked better as a Decepticon. He just looks evil.

Because evil is the new black. Or something like that. The nearly all black deco here is as simple as it gets, with a little gray and gold, a little red and white, and some translucent green windows. To me, this is an example of fewer paint apps as a style choice and not because Hasbro’s being cheap. There’s also a sharp Autobot emblem tampo’d on the hood. Nope, not bad at all!

As a Cybertron figure, Crosswise features a CyberKey activated gimmick. Plug the key into his rear bumper and it deploys two hidden rocket packs. As far as CyberKey gimmicks go, this is about as good as it gets. Now that I’ve gushed a lot, let’s take a look at the robot mode…

Oh, boy. Unfortunately, Crosswise’s robot mode looks really half baked. On the one hand, he features that familiar old Autobot configuration that uses the front of the car as the upper chest. It’s the purest and most noble of all Autobot designs, dating all the way back to the Datsuns of 1984. It’s also this figure’s best attribute. Once you look past that, you’ve got to deal with a couple of sticks protruding awkwardly up from behind his shoulders, big door kibble jutting awkwardly off his shoulders, and the end all and be all of my Transformers pet-peeves… the dreaded permanent roof shield. Yikes! Roof sheilds were one of the worst things from Robots in Disguise back in 2000 and it’s here to haunt me again.

I do dig the headsculpt here quite a bit. The extra gold paint on the “helmet” looks great and the translucent green visor over the eyes is nice too. The Cybertron line certainly knew how to produce some lovely robo-noggins.

For armaments, Crosswise can wield his spoiler as a handgun and his CyberKey gimmick still works in his robot mode, only now you are literally sticking the Key right up his butt. This deploys the rocket packs from his shoulders, which is easily my favorite thing about this figure. That having been said, I was never all that fond of this mold back in the day, so naturally when Hasbro repainted it a year later, I bought it again. Wait, what? WHY DID I DO THAT? Oh yeah, because I was a completest idiot. Seriously. I can remember finding this figure on the pegs. Did I think, “Hey, there’s a repaint of that figure I didn’t like all that much from last year?” No, I screamed, “SWEET! I found a new Transformer!” And I bought him.

Smokescreen is a straight repaint of Crosswise, with no tweaks to the mold at all. The auto mode looks pretty cool with the traditional Smokescreen deco right down to the 38’s on the doors. You still get the spoiler-gun and the CyberKey gimmick is still available.

When I said no tweaks to the mold, I really meant it. Hasbro didn’t even give this guy a new head. The more dynamic color scheme makes for a nice change, but even the best of new paint jobs inspired by GeeWun fan-wankery isn’t enough to save this mold.

Crosswise and Smokescreen were pretty iffy to me back in 2005-2006 and the ten years that follows has not been any kinder to them. Yeah, there are certainly worse Transformers out there, probably several from these years too, but these guys really feel like they could have been saved by a few minor tweaks. Yes, you can mis-transform those sticks so they point down instead of up, but they’re still terrible kibble. A little more thought from the design team and I could have met these guys halfway. As they are, though, I’m not going to be sad to see them go.

Feb 1 2016

Marvel Legends: “Age of Ultron” Thor (AoU 4-Pack, Part 1) by Hasbro

I’m officially between waves of Marvel Legends, so before embarking on another one, I thought I’d spend some time running through this boxed set of four figures that Hasbro released based on the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. I’m pretty sure this set was an Exclusive, but I’m not sure who had it. I never saw it in the wild, but I spent a lot of time hovering over the BUY-IT button on Amazon at the original price of eighty bucks. Fortunately, I hesitated and in this case it paid off, because shortly after the holdays, I snagged it for half that. Ten bucks a pop for Legends figures that I need to complete my teams? I’ll do that all day long!

The figures come in a nice, long window box with a deco very similar to what we saw with the Agents of Shield 3-pack. The set includes the Age of Ultron versions of Thor, Black Widow, Bruce Banner, and Hawkeye. Considering that we already got single boxed versions of AoU Captain America, Hulk, and Iron Man, this set neatly ties up most of the loose ends by rounding out the core team. Yeah, we’re still missing Scarlet Witch, Vision, and Quicksilver, but I’m pretty sure we can forget about them ever happening. I’m going to cover one figure each Marvel Monday throughout February and I guess we’ll just run left to right, so let’s start with Thor.

Ahhh, it’s damn nice to see this guy’s Cinematic Universe version finally getting a proper Legends release. Previously, the only 6-inch scale movie version of The God of Thunder that I own was the Walmart Exclusive figure based off his original movie and featured here way back in the beginning of 2012. It was a passable figure at the time, but times have changed, and he was also a little too small to really work with the Legends figures. This new version is an improvement on just about every level. Yeah, truth be told, I prefer the design of the armor that Thor wore in his first movie and in The Avengers, but I still dig this look plenty.

Here you get the darker and bare-armed look that was first introduced in his second film and carried over into Age of Ultron. The sculpt of the outfit is beautifully executed here and it’s layered on in some places to give the armor a lot of credibility. Details include the tiny sculpted rivits and panel lines to the cross-thatch pattern of the exposed chainmail on his thighs. The contours of the boots are beautifully done and the silver, pale gold, black, and a little blue make for a striking deco, especially when framed against the vibrant red cape. The plastic cape is textured and looks great. The one thing I do like better about this costume is the prounounced set of discs that secure his cape to his shoulders. On the downside, the cape is rigid and unforgiving and since it’s plugged into his back, you can’t really pull it away from the figure. This means that the cape puts a major dampener on a lot of potentially great action poses.

The portrait is leaps and bounds better than Hasbro’s previous effort. Depending on the angle, I’d say it runs from a passable likeness to a pretty good one. The short beard is particularly well done. The hair looks great, but like the cape, it’s at odds with the articulation. Getting the head to turn side to side works fine, but there’s no upward movement, which nixes a lot of options for decent flying poses.

So, speaking of articulation, Thor’s got plenty of great points. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and rotating hinges again in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso that offers a beautiful range of motion, and you get the ball joint in the neck, which thanks to the hair, might as well have just been a swivel. It’s a shame that the cape and hair work against what is some pretty decent engineering, but that’s sadly the case here.

Thor features a nice version of Mjolnir, with sculpted wrap on the handle and a lanyard. Hasbro has done quite a few of these in the 6-inch scale and they’ve all been pretty good. This one is no different. He can hold it just fine in either hand.

I’ve got to say, this first figure alone goes a long way to justifying me buying this set. Even if it’s all down hill from here (and from a cursory glance I have no reason to believe it will be), I’ll have something to show for my forty bucks. The hitherto absense of movie Thor in the Legends line made no sense to me. In fact, not having all of the movie characters in Legends makes no sense to me. Hasbro makes 6-inch Marvel figures. Disney makes Marvel movies that rake in tons of cash. Why would you not want to capitalize more on that? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to see comic inspired characters like Batroc the Leaper and Hellcat on the pegs, but waiting this long to get Thor and still not having a MCU Scarlet Witch, Vision, or Quicksilver? That’s just madness. Ah well, next Monday, we’ll keep this train rolling with a look at Age of Ultron Black Widow!

Jan 27 2016

Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker and Wampa by Hasbro

I’m patiently awaiting the arrival of new 6-inch Star Wars Black figures, so in the meantime I thought I’d deal with some unfinished business with one of the older Deluxe sets. The Luke and Wampa two-pack has been sitting around here waiting to be opened for months now and with all the pictures of snow lately, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a look! Oh, but don’t expect any pictures of these guys in the snow. I live in Florida and lately my idea of chilly weather is when it plunges into the low 60’s. Brrrr. Seriously, I don’t even own a jacket.

The package is similar to what we saw with the Hoth Deluxe set. It’s a boring black box with a huge window that offers a great look at the toys inside. They were kind of going for a diorama display what with Luke hanging upside down in the box, but it really doesn’t work for me. It’s collector friendly, but I can’t see any reason to keep it so it’s going into the bin. Let’s start with The Wampa!

I’ve owned several of these snow beasts before, including the original Kenner version, The Saga Collection release, and the 30th Anniversary Collection version, but they were all scaled to the 3 3/4-inch range. This guy is obviously a lot bigger and overall he looks pretty good. Every inch of this guy is covered in sculpted fur and I really dig the way the articulation cuts are sculpted in a jagged fashion to accentuate the fur. He’s got huge hands perfect for swatting Jedi off their Tauntauns and big, powerful feet to help stabilize him in various poses. The fur is a mix between white, yellowed, and a little grey. It looks OK, but it isn’t an exceptional paint job, especially not for a figure that’s this big.

The beastly portrait is passable, but again nothing to get excited about. This guy scared the living shit out of 10-year old me when I first saw him in The Empire Strikes Back and I think they did a decent job sculpting his ugly mug here. I do kinda wish they made the mouth an actual hole like with the Kenner version. For some reason that aspect of the toy really creeped me out. I used to try to make him eat the figures’ guns. As with the rest of the figure, the paintwork here doesn’t add a lot. The blood around the chin and teeth is weak and the yellow and gray paint around the eyes and nose doesn’t hold up. The Wampa may impress with his size and heft, and I think this figure could have been something special with a really good paint job, but as it is, it’s pretty average at best.

Another gripe I have against the Wampa is that Hasbro opted to make his right arm removable, which in itself is not a bad idea, but they did it in a way that limits the shoulder articulation in that arm. Instead of a ball joint, you just get a rotation. This is a case of the gimmick not really being worth the sacrifice of articulation, at least not to me. Besides, which, there’s really no reason they couldn’t have made the arm removable and kept the ball joint. Hasbro does it for Marvel Legends Build-A-Figures all the time.

With that having been said, the articulation here is still overall excellent. The other shoulder features a rotating hinge and the same in both elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles. There are swivel cuts in the thighs and lateral rockers in the ankles. There are two ball joints in the torso and another in the neck. When you get down to it, the Wampa is capable of doing just about any pose I would want him to do. Alright, enough about this snowy beast, let’s take a look at Luke…

With four versions in the 6-inch Black line, Luke Skywalker has had his ups and downs. I think the X-Wing Luke was fantastic, the Jedi Knight Luke was disappointing, and Bespin Luke fell somewhere in between. This one lands somewhere between Bespin and Jedi Knight. It’s passable in almost every way, but it doesn’t do anything to make it stand out. The outfit is reproduced with the quilted pattern on the vest and knees, the insignia on the chest and shoulder, and some overall nice rumpling and detail. His belt features not only a working holster for his blaster (complete with retaining strap), but also a hook for his lightsaber hilt. Those two features always go a long way in my book. But are we getting anything here that Hasbro hasn’t done at least as well (if not better) in the 3 3/4-inch scale? I don’t think so.

And then there’s the portrait. It’s a shame to say it, but I’ve reached a point where I really temper my expectations from the likenesses on these figures. This one depicts Luke with his face all messed up from The Wampa attack with some blood and bruising. This is a head sculpt that I would have been far more forgiving of if it were on a smaller scale figure. Here, it’s just not that great. And once again, the paint quality just isn’t there either, particularly with respect to the eyes. But, oh look! Softgoods! Sure, it’s just a strip of cloth coming off the helmet, but at least they still work it into the line every once and a while. There are no goggles, but I’ll point out that you can take Hoth Han’s goggles and put them on Luke’s hat.

Articulation here includes rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows, but sadly only swivels in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivel cuts at the thighs, double hinges at the knees, and have hinges and lateral rockers at the ankles. There’s a ball joint at the waist and both a ball joint and hinge in the neck. I can get some decent poses out of Luke and the joints all feel good and solid. I’ll also point out here that Luke has an extra pair of pegholes on his feet to help him ride the Tauntaun that came with Han.

Luke comes with both is blaster pistol and his lightsaber. The blade can be removed. We’ve seen these accessories before. Unfortunately the lightsaber hilt doesn’t have the same nice silvery paint as the hilts included with X-Wing and Bespin Luke. It’s just flat gray. The blade can still be removed.

It probably sounds like I don’t much care for these figures, but that’s not really the case. It’s a fun set and I don’t think either one is terrible, but at the same time I think these figures illustrate how frustrated I am sometimes with the 6-inch Black line. Neither really show the true potential of the larger scale figures. I’d say the Wampa is mostly let down by the mediocre paintwork and well-intentioned gimmick. Luke, on the other hand, perhaps by the fact that Hasbro has done this figure at least as well in the smaller scale Vintage Collection line. I’m not sorry I picked up this set, it’s a nice companion to the Deluxe Han and Tauntaun, I just wish Hasbro would invest a little more work into this line to make it as great as it could be.

Jan 25 2016

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

Six figures and a whole lot of Marvel Mondays later and I’m finally ready to build my Hulkbuster. I always find the Build-A-Figures to be a nice slice of pie for desert after a hearty meal of regular Legends figures, but this time it’s different. I don’t think I’ve anticipated a BAF as much as this since way back to Terrax. Maybe Groot. Either way, I’m excited… so let’s see what we’ve got…

Obviously there’s no packaged shot because this guy’s parts were spread out over seven releases, but there he is all laid out and ready for assembly. Most BAFs consist of six parts (four limbs, torso and head), but Hulkbuster is made up of two extra pieces. Instead of one torso you get a pelvis and front and back halves of the torso. Assembly may be a little more complex, but everything still goes together easy peasy.

And what a beast he is! Now this is a BAF! It brings me back to the days of the truly giant DCUC Collect & Connect figures like Stel or STRIPE. The scaling on this guy feels really good, especially when standing next to the Age of Ultron armor, which was worn by Tony while wearing this armor. The proportions are appropriately chunky and he just looks like a powerhouse. A couple of my favorite points of interest include the contours of the lower leg armor, the giant slabs of armor on the forearms, and the curved plates that make up his shoulder armor. There isn’t an over abundance of panel lines, so it doesn’t quite give off that hyper-detailed movie look, but it works just fine for me.

The bulk of the figure is cast in luscious red plastic, which sports a nice sheen, with minimal amounts of those swirly patterns that rear their ugly heads in Hasbro’s plastic sometimes. I hate those. Some of the gold, like the forearm pieces, are bare plastic, while other gold parts are painted. There’s a slight difference between these parts and overall I would have liked a more consistent metallic finish throughout, but then I feel guilty about complaining because so much about this guy is just magnificent. The deco is rounded out by some nice touches of gray.

Articulation is pretty close to what we’re used to seeing in regular Legends figures. Obviously, the chunky sculpt of the armor is at odds with some of the articulation. Let’s face it, the Hulkbuster suit isn’t supposed to be an acrobat, so I’m pretty happy with the level of posability here. If there’s anything that nags at me, it’s the way the pelvis hooks to the upper torso. There’s a ball jointed post to make the connection, but the ball joint doesn’t swivel. The socket grabs it too tight and if you try to do the swivel it just twists the post. With that having been said, he is an amazingly fun figure to play with.

Despite a few really minor and picky little issues, I think this figure is a total home-run. It’s exactly the kind of release that the BAF concept was created for. Take a figure that is too big or too complex for a regular release and get him to the collectors by parting him out. Hasbro has given us some real treats since the Legends line returned back in 2012, but it’s hard to think of too many that impressed me as much as having this beast on my shelf. He was worth the wait, and he’s probably going to spend a long time on my desk getting played around with before he finally migrates to my Legends display shelf.

And that’s finally a wrap for this wave. I’m going to spend the next handful of Marvel Mondays going through the Age of Ultron Avengers boxed set and then we’ll start digging into the Rhino Wave!

Jan 18 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Thundra by Hasbro

It’s taken me an unusually long time to get through the Hulkbuster Wave of Marvel Legends. I started this endeavor all the way back in November for crying out loud. Well, it’s finally almost done as today I’ll be opening the final figure in the assortment. It’s Thundra. Let’s do this.

Thundra shares a slot with Valkyrie and as such her name is not printed on the front of the package. All she gets is the moniker “Fearless Defenders,” which isn’t bad since it’s pointing out the fact that Hasbro has been doing a little team building with the ladies. Not that The Fearless Defenders is a tightly knit group. Anyway, this lovely little box also holds the final piece I will need to build the Iron Man Hulkbuster Armor and it’s only through an uncommon burst of willpower that I have resisted putting him together as yet. Ah, but that’s a subject for next Monday. Let’s get a look at Thundra…

And here she is… what the hell is she doing in this wave? Thundra’s history is one of alternate futures and pure comic book craziness. The only reason I know her at all is from my early bond with Fantastic Four, where she happened to debut in the very same year I was born. As a teenager, I used to peddle my bike downtown and hunt badly worn copies of FF (among other comics) at the local used book shop. Fast forward about 30 years and I can’t say as I recall running into her again the (unfortunately) short lived 2013 run of Fearless Defenders and ultimately again in The End of The Fantastic Four. I understand that she’s currently appearing in Squdaron Supreme, but I’ve got a lot of backlog to get through before that ever gets to the pile on my nightstand. Where was I? Oh yeah, I’ve got a figure to look at!

Thundra relies heavily on paint apps for her costume, although the defined muscles in her exposed abs suggest some new sculpting there. From the waist down, she’s got red painted pants with gold lightning stripes running down the sides and gold painted boots. The top is a sort of one sleeved red sports bra affair with a painted gold stitch pattern running diagonally down the top. The outfit is wrapped up with a painted arm bracer on her left wrist and a belt hanging on her hips. All in all, it’s a nice looking costume. The deco is certainly appealing and the figure pops beautifully on the shelf, even when displayed amidst a bevy of brightly colored costumed heroes.

The head sculpt here is as solid as they come. Thundra is quite pretty with a lush mane of red hair and a flashy row of gritting teeth between her neatly painted lips. They also used a particularly striking bit of emerald green paint for her eyes. Last, but not least, you get a silver tiara peeking through her hair above her forehead.

Articulation is good, although she does feature those hip joints that require some extra fiddling to get the legs to do what you want. There are swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles feature both hinges and lateral rockers. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, and you also get swivels in the biceps. There’s a ball joint just under the chest and another in the neck. Granted, the sculpted hair renders the neck articulation all but inert.

In addition to the giant Hulkbuster piece, Thundra comes with a ball and chain and surprisingly it’s not a repack of the one that came with some of The Wreckers. This one has a much more dainty ball on the end. I think she took this off a Doom-Maiden in the comics…

I may have made much ado about Thundra being a bit of a back bencher character, but I actually really like this figure a lot and for me every character contributes to my universe building, so it’s all good. I’m also doubly anxious now to pick up Misty Knight and get bolster my Fearless Defenders roster even more. Besides, there’s always someone out there that is going to be totally excited over a character that seems inconsequential to the majority. Hell, I’m still waiting for a new Legends Moon Knight.

Jan 11 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Valkyrie by Hasbro

I’ve got just two more figures in the Hulkbuster Wave to check out before I can cobble together my Hulkbuster. Believe you me, that it’s taken all my resolve and willpower not to jump the gun and tear these last figures open to get the big guy assembled. Especially since at the rate I’m going, I still two more weeks. Anyway, today’s figure is Valkyrie. Somehow I wound up saving the two ladies in this assortment for last…

And there’s the figure in the package. You’ll note that Valkyrie shares this slot with Thundra and as a result her name isn’t on the front of the box. Instead you get, “Fearless Defenders” It still amazes me that Hasbro is willing to put out the lesser known characters and not even put their names on the front of the packages. Sometimes, you show balls Hasbro. Anyway, Valkyrie is also one of those characters that Hasbro is double-dipping on, as we got her in the 3 3/4-inch Universe line last year.

If you have that Universe figure, you have a good idea what to expect here, as this is every bit the same version of the character. That having been said, it’s also an improvement on almost every level. Take note for your Star Wars Black series, Hasbro, because this is how you upscale a figure and take proper advantage of it. It’s interesting, because technically, there isn’t a whole lot to Valkyrie’s costume. It’s mostly painted black body suit, but few details almost all include new sculpting and that carries the figure a long way. The four armor points on her torso, for example, are all sculpted as well as painted. The belt is new and actually attached to the figure, rather than just dangling on her hips, the downside being that you can’t stick her sword through the belt for her to carry, like you could with the Universe figure. The only details that get by with paint alone are her bicep straps and wrist bracers, and they look just fine.

I really dig the head sculpt here. The portrait has a lot of character and shows that Hasbro has come a long way with female faces since the unfortunate Madam Viper. The paint on the pupils is a little uneven, but you can’t tell unless you get up really close with a camera. The sculpting on the hair is also quite good, although the braids do tend to jut out in front of her a bit too much. I really wish there was some way Hasbro could have done these in plastic that could bend and hold its form. The braids are also the biggest difference between this figure and the 3 3/4″ version, which had much longer hair.

The articulation here is actually pretty close to what we got in the 3 3/4″ figure, with just a little give and take. The arms have rotating hinges at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. There are also swivels in the biceps. The legs have rotating hinges at the hips, double hinges in the knees, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and swivels at the hips. There’s a ball joint just under the chest and another in the neck. The one point I miss the most is the extra hinge in the neck. Hasbro has been including that point in just about every Legends figure I can think of. I’m not sure why it didn’t make it into this one, but it’s absence is very noticeable to me.

In addition to the enormous Hulkbuster arm, Valkyrie comes with her trusty sword, Dragonfang. The hilt sculpt is a lot more subdued than the smaller Universe version and I like it a lot more. It’s just a classical looking cruciform sword.

Valkyrie turned out to be the unexpected breakout figure of the wave, and that’s saying something because this has been an overall solid assortment. She looks great and she’s loads of fun to play with. It’s always nice to see Hasbro put some extra work into the characters that aren’t exactly top tier and I think that was certainly the case here. And with Valkyrie joining my Legends ranks of Spider-Woman, Hellcat, Black Cat, Black Widow and Captain Marvel my Fearless Defenders are shaping up nicely. Especially with Misty Knight in the next Wave I’m buying. And that will segue me right into Thundra on the next Marvel Monday.

Jan 7 2016

Transformers Combiner Wars: Legends Class Groove by Hasbro

Like yesterday, today’s Feature is fueled by a little something that I was Christmas gifted by a friend and co-worker who happened to know I like me my convertorobots. It’s Legends Class Groove and it was a pleasant surprise because I didn’t have him and probably wasn’t going to buy him, but was still a little curious about him. And hey, it’s Transformers Thursday, so that’s convenient!

A sloppy gift-wrapping job has left this card a little worse for wear. Good thing I’m not one of those MOSC sickos! Seriously, MOSC collectors… no offense. I’m my own kind of sicko. Anyway, this little Protectobot comes packaged in robot mode, but I’m starting with his alt mode. Oh yeah, Hasbro, cool it with these damn plastic strips, especially on these tiny figures. I hate these things and it took me forever to get the figure out.

So, as any red-blooded geewunner would guess, Groove is a police motorcycle and a fairly good one. This is one of those alt modes where you can tell they made some sacrifices to balance out the robot mode, and I’m hoping that paid off. The coloring is a pretty basic black and white and grey with a little red and gold, and an Autobot emblem tampo’d on the side surrounded by a star. There’s also a kickstand to help display him as a motorcycle. So, all in all he’s not bad, but nothing amazing. I find it rather difficult to get his two back halves to peg together closely, so there’s a nagging gap. Let’s see if his robot mode can wow me…

OK, I can get behind this. While he lacks that certain hint of G1 aesthetic that many of the Combiner Wars figures have captured, I still think this is a pretty good bot mode, especially considering that it spawned from a motorcycle. The proportions aren’t bad at all and while I find his arms to be a bit messy, he works rather well for me. The healthy dose of ball joints and hinges also make him a rather fun fella to play around with. I can’t say I’m all that enamored with the head sculpt, but I’m willing to let it slide. Of course, like Blackjack and Rodimus, Groove has another alt mode that allows him to merge with Defensor and form a chest piece. How does that work out?

Mmmm… I didn’t think I was going to dig this because of how far the chest sticks out now, but I think I kinda like it. He adds some much needed color to Defensor’s torso. Groove secures very well to the chest too, which is ironic considering how complex this alt mode is. Blackjack couldn’t stick to Menasor’s chest for shit and that was just his car mode.

And while I really hope that Deluxe Groove someday gets a Stateside release, I’ll confess having a more properly scaled motorcycle on the team is pretty neat.Over the years there have been some pretty weak motorcycle Transformers and some of the worst have come from the Scout/Basic/Legends scale. Thankfully, Groove is not one of them. I think Hasbro made the right call taking back a little from his alt mode to make his robot mode shine and the more I play around with him the more I dig him. He’s definitely a welcome new member of my Protectobots!

Jan 4 2016

Marvel Legends (Hulkbuster Wave): Vision by Hasbro

As promised, it’s back to business as usual, folks, so welcome to the first Marvel Monday of 2016! I’ve got unfinished business from last year in the form of the Hulkbuster Wave, so let’s get cracking with a look at the next figure in the line… Vision!

Oddly enough, Vision shared a slot in this wave with Dr. Strange, which made no sense to me for just about any reason I can think of. But let’s go with, he’s goddamn Vision and shouldn’t have to share a slot with nobody. Because he shares the slot his name doesn’t appear on the front, only the moniker: “Marvel Heroes.” Yeah, it had to be that generic to put these two together. The only other thing notable about the package is that Vision’s cape comes detached from the figure and upside down on the tray to make room for the bulky Hulkbuster crotch.

I’ll confess I was hoping a bit for a Cinematic Universe Vision, but this is most definitely the comic version. That’s OK. I’ll take it. I need a Vision on my Legends shelf. The figure features one of the slighter male bucks and relies primarily on the paint for his costume, but it’s one of the more dynamic paint schemes we’ve seen in this line. There are three different shades of green making up the bulk of his costume, including a dark green, a metallic green, and a lighter flat used for his lower legs. This combined with the yellow “V” on the shoulders and chest and the red face and hands really make the figure pop nicely. If I had one nitpick about the paint on the body, it would be that the yellow paint makes the seams on the shoulders look rather obvious.

The cape clips around Vision’s neck and also plugs into his back. It is rather narrow in the center, but bellows out at the end and it’s long enough to reach the floor and serve a little support assistance for standing him. That having been said, I really didn’t find it got in the way of the more dynamic poses.

I really dig the head sculpt here. Vision sports a rather determined look and his features are a bit exaggerated to give him a nice, non-human, visage, with high cheek bones and a very pronounced brow. On the downside, Hasbro got a little sloppy with the paint and there are a couple of small drips of yellow on his forehead, which have proven to be rather stubborn to remove.

There’s plenty of articulation to go around on Vision. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders with a satisfying ratchet to them. The elbows are double hinged, there are swivels in the biceps, and the wrists have rotating hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, the knees have double hinges, and there are swivels in the thighs and the lower legs. The ankles feature hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a swivel at the waist, an ab-crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Vision features a fist on his right hand and an open left hand to offer a little variety in posing.

Vision is a damn solid figure with just a couple of little quibbles that keeps him from being a slam dunk, and honestly, those issues could just be on my figure. It’s one of the ongoing pitfalls of having to buy my figures sight unseen and online. If there’s one thing I can say about 2015, it solidified my habit of buying my figures almost exclusively online because I just don’t have the time to go hunting and even if I did the stores here are so poorly stocked it probably wouldn’t matter.

FigureFan Zero

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