Oct 29 2015

Transformers Cybertron: Brakedown and Brakedown GTS by Hasbro

It’s time again where I’m between new releases and therefore must dip into the Bottomless Totes of Convertobots to come up with something to talk about on Transformers Thursdays. This serves a double purpose as I’m really looking to downsize my TF collection, so looking at some of these figures again helps me to decide whether to keep them, ship them off to my nephew, or try to get a couple bucks for them on Ebay. Today I dropped my hand into that copious pit of plastic and pulled out a baggie containing these two little Scout Class figures from the 2005 Cybertron series. Let’s start with Brakedown, and then check out his repainted form as Brakedown GTS!

Brakedown’s alt mode is a bitchin’ Cybertronian racer and it beautifully reflects some of the wonderful and imaginative alt modes that came out of a line where the designers weren’t constrained to just Earth vehicles. This thing is absolutely packed with detail and the brown and gold deco mixed with the translucent yellow pieces looks so good, it’s kind of a shame they went with just a light gray plastic for the rest of the trim. The big translucent yellow wheels gives me a warm and fuzzy Tron vibe too, which is always a good thing. What’s also cool about this car is the fact that when I first got it, I had no idea how it was going to transform, something that was not too common for the smaller Scout Class toys.

Of course, part of the mystery of Brakedown’s transformation comes from the removal of a size-able piece to form his gun. Some may cry foul at parts-forming, but the idea of taking out what could be the car’s engine to form a gun makes for a nice Targetmaster/Powermaster mash up to me.

Brakedown’s robot mode is all in all quite good with just a few blemishes to get in the way of greatness. I’m not a fan of the way the car’s front frame extends up over his back and he’s got tiny little forearms. Neither of these are dealbreakers for me, but that backpack does make him a bit back heavy and the ankle hinges on my figure have become a bit loose with age and those two things do not make for a happy combination. The head sculpt on this guy is pretty cool. I like the design of his “helmet” and those eyes feature some truly great light piping.

The gun can be held in either hand and it can be activated with the use of a CyberKey, which just flips out the bayonet. Not one of the more spectacular or dynamic CyberKey conversions, but neat nonetheless.

The repaint, Brakedown GTS, uses the same gray plastic parts, but updates the brown and gold to an aqua blue with red and yellow accents. Also, the yellow translucent plastic is replaced with regular black. In robot mode, you also get some sharp gold paint apps on the legs and arms and the “helmet” is painted silver. On the downside there’s no light piping in the eyes, just some tiny red painted peepers. The ankles on my GTS version are even looser than on the regular release, making this one a real challenge to stand up without his gun in hand to counterbalance his weight.

It’s hard to believe these figures are ten years old already. Where has the time gone? Looking back, I’ve found Cybertron to be a rather hit and miss line with me, but this pair definitely falls into the hit column. I love their alt modes and while the robots could have used a few simple tweaks, I still dig them a lot. My only other gripe here would have been to change them up as different characters, as I’m not a fan of having a repaint of the same character. Indeed, if I had my choice, I would have made regular Brakedown a Decepticon and kept the GTS version as an Autobot.

Oct 28 2015

Star Wars “The Force Awakens:” (Space Mission) Poe Dameron and TIE Fighter Pilot by Hasbro

I’ll confess that last week’s trailer for Force Awakens has done its job and whipped me into some serious anticipation. It’s also motivated me to take my last look at the initial assortment of Force Awakens 3 3/4″ figures. So far, I’ve looked at two figures from each of the Desert, Jungle, and Snow Mission series and that just leaves the Space Mission Poe and TIE Fighter Pilot, so let’s blow this thing and go home.

I’m still quite in love with this packaging. The cards look amazing and it’s so nice to see individualized character art on each one and not just a small headshot on a bubble insert. Alas, they are not collector friendly, which leads me to the admission that I really wish I hadn’t opened any of these. I know, at about eight bucks a pop, it wouldn’t break my bank to get doubles, but I’m not about to get involved in all that. Anyway, let’s start with Poe.

As this is the Space Mission Series, Poe comes in his X-Wing pilot gear, which pays homage to the OT flight suits, but still manages to be rather distinctive. The sculpt on the suit is pretty wonky and while there are some nice details, like the texturing and all the rumples, there’s something off about this figure to me. It kind of looks like it’s a poor custom job made from another figure using sculpey. The paint, especially around the white vest, is also rough. But hey, he does come with a little functional holster for his tiny pistol. I guess that’s something.

And yet my biggest criticism here is the permanent helmet on the head. Hasbro has been doing removable helmets on their pilot figures for a while now, so this strikes me as a particularly cheap way to get collectors to buy the X-Wing, which includes a Poe figure sans helmet. It’s also worth noting that the head on my Poe is crazy loose. Top it off with the fact that it isn’t a paritcularly good head sculpt, what with the super thick visor.

Poe’s Build-A-Weapon piece can peg into his back to form a kind of VTOL jetpack sort of thing. It’s kind of dopey, but still infinitely better than Finn’s shoulder-mounted machine guns. In case you can’t tell, this figure is not impressing me. Let’s try the TIE Fighter Pilot…

Now, this guy should have been a slam dunk, seeing as how all the 3 3/4″ Stormtroopers have been quite good, but here’s another one that I think Hasbro stumbled on. The body is fair enough with some decent detail and some minimal paint apps on his chest boxes and insignia on his shoulders, but the helmet sculpt is so soft, I can barely make out any of the details. Maybe it’s just the fact that it’s black on black on black, but I really have to get the light to shine on that head just right to pick out what’s going on there. He comes with a little pistol, but no holster to put it in.

The TIE Fighter Pilot’s Build-A-Weapon piece is a chair. I shit you not. It’s a chair. Getting the piece that comes with the Resistance Trooper will allow you to build a sort of gun turret kind of thing.

This Space Mission Series is easily the most disappointing assortment in the wave and really drives home why I wish I had kept these carded. On the cards, these figures were enhanced by some great packaging, loose they’re mediocre at best. Neither figure is all that remarkable and if you’re not already sold on this line, I doubt this pair will do it. At some point, I’m going to swing back and check out the Resistance Trooper from this assortment and Constable Zuvio, but I don’t have either figure yet and with the sour taste these two have left, I’m not in a big rush to pick them up.

Oct 26 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Man by Hasbro

Egads, it’s been a long trek through this wave of Marvel Legends, but here we are at the final boxed figure, and it is none other than old Web Head himself, Spider-Man. I was very happy Hasbro included him in this wave, because before now I didn’t have a plain old vanilla Spider-Man for my 6-inch shelf. I’ve got Raimi Spider-Man (a figure which has not aged well), Shitty Reboot Spider-Man (shitty reboot, but not a shitty figure), Superior Spider-Man, 2099 Spider-Man, but regular old comic book Spidey? Nope! So, here he is…

It’s the same packaging we’ve been seeing here on Monday for weeks now and I’ve got nothing new to add, other than it contains some fun little extras, as well as the last piece I need to build my Hobbie figure.

We’ve got the same basic buck, with a few modifications, that we saw for Spidey 2099 and Superior Spider-Man with a brand new paint job. I don’t think there’s another Marvel costume that I like more than regular old Spider-Man, and it’s all in the colors. There’s just something about that red and blue mixed with the web pattern and the big white eyes that I find so aesthetically pleasing, and this figure drives it home.The shades of blue and red on this guy are just plain gorgeous. Sure, there are a few blemishes, like the unpainted pins in the inside of the arms, or the miffed web pattern on the lateral shoulder hinges, but overall, this is a great looking figure.

A familiar buck means familiar articulation! Spidey features rotating hinges in the shoulders on top of shoulder hinges. The rest of the arms feature double hinged elbows, rotating hinges in the wrists, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso swivels at the waist, has an ab crunch hinges, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. Not bad!

Accessories! It doesn’t always happen, but every once and a while Hasbro blows a kiss to one of these Legends releases and bestows upon it a passel of extras and that’s what works here to take a very good figure and make it just that much better. Spidey comes with a total of three pairs of hands: Fists, web thwip hands, and open hands. By now, you all know I’m not all that big on changing out hands, but Spidey is one of those few characters where I think it really is a must.

You also get the goods that makes figure affectionately referred to as “Pizza Spidey.” That would be a slice of delicious pizza and a head with the mouth exposes so he can enjoy that delicious pizza. What’s cool here is the pizza is actually flavored plastic, so if you lick it it tastes like pepperoni. Go on try it! Haha, I got you to lick plastic for no reason. Sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. I hope I haven’t completely lost your trust.

Considering how many versions of Spider-Man have been released in the Legends line since it’s return, it’s nice to finally get a standard version of the webslinger for my shelf. A few minor paint issues aside, this is a great figure and my 6-inch Spidey-Verse is just about at that critical mass where it’s going to need its own shelf. And that’s impressive, considering I still haven’t finished off the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Green Goblin BAF Wave. And speaking of BAFs, next Monday I’ll finally put this wave to bed with a look at the Build-A-Figure Hobgoblin!

Oct 22 2015

Transformers Generations: Brainstorm by Hasbro

A couple of weeks back, I ducked into a Ross for the first time in ages to see what toys they had kicking around. They’re usually good for cheap Transformers every now and then and while they appeared to be picked pretty clean, I did manage to grab some Hero Mashers as well as Brainstorm, one of the few Generations figures I failed to pick up when he was out at the regular stores, mainly because I was quite satisfied with my Fansproject Smart Robin. But for ten bucks? Pfft, why not?

While the Combiner Wars packaging has grown on me, this Generation stuff was where it was at. Nostalgic G1 grid pattern? Check! Awesome character art? You got it. I love this deco so much. Brainstorm is packaged in his robot mode, but as usual, let’s start with his alt mode…

Brainstorm is a single seater starfighter, and it’s a passable design from certain angles. From the front, he’s kind of sleek with a nice set of twin blasters mounted on the nose, some stylishly angled wings, and a flip up canopy for his little robot pilot.

Unfortunately, as a whole package, this alt mode isn’t very good. I usually like to try changing my Transformers for the first time without the instructions, and I’m usually successful at it. Here, I was convinced I was doing something wrong and that was because the box doesn’t show the alt mode from the back. Once I looked at the instructions, I was able to see that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. It really is supposed to look like that. It looks unfinished, like it’s missing the top back of the ship. There’s no clever engineering or complexity here, it’s just the legs and arms folded back and that’s exactly what it looks like. You could argue that the original G1 toy transformed more or less the same, and I would agree. But then I think the original toy had an all around more solid looking alt mode.

Brainstorm’s little pilot, let’s just call him Arcana has a similar problem to his partner’s alt mode. He looks good from the front, but turn him a little bit and you realize he’s just an upside down head on legs. I’d also argue here that the original Arcana toy looked better than this in robot mode. That’s not just nostalgia talking. I’m looking at a picture of him right now.

In robot mode, it’s easy to see that the designers were working from this mode and going backwards. It shows because that iffy alt mode was sacrificed to deliver this damn great looking robot. Oh, I’m not terribly fond of the way the ungainly shoulder wings jut off to the sides, but they can be angled back or swept back all the way to fix that. The cockpit in the chest and the great proportions make for a beautifully bad-ass design. The coloring is pretty much the same in either mode with a pleasing mix of light blue, white, and gray plastics. The deco is rounded out with a little silver and red paint for trim and yellow and orange paint on the face.

Plugging Arcana into the neck causes the cockpit seat to flip down to display his stats just like in the old days. And yes, this noggin fixes the only complaint I had about my Fansproject Smart Robin. Mouth plate!

Brainstorm’s twin nose cannons are best detached during transformation and they can be wielded as dual handguns or, much like Smart Robin, they can be stored on his back, which is pretty cool.

Despite a lot of bitching, I wouldn’t say I was disappointed with this figure. The alt mode definitely shows a lot less thought than I’m used to seeing Hasbro put into their changebots, especially for a Voyager Class figure, but with a robot mode this good looking, it’s hard for me to do anything but love this guy. I’m still going to look to Smart Robin as an all around better designed figure, but Brainstorm sure looks nice standing alongside some of the other Voyager Class Generations Autobots on my shelf.

Oct 19 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Girl by Hasbro

It feels like it’s taking me forever to get through this wave of Marvel Legends, but I’m finally nearing the home stretch. Today I’m checking out Spider-Girl who shares a slot with the Ultimates Spider-Woman. In the past when Hasbro has done this, the two variants in a slot shared the same BAF part, but in this case, you actually need to pick up both spider ladies in order to build your Hobbie. Now that the variants are shipping in the same case, I’m a big fan of doing things this way, so I don’t have extra BAF parts kicking around.

Package shot! Is there anything new to say? Not really. Because this is one of those slot-sharing figures, neither May Parker’s real name or alias actually appear on the front of the package, only the back. Instead the front features the “Warriors of the Web” moniker. It’s also worth noting that with both Hobgoblin’s head and wings included, there’s probably just as much plastic devoted to the BAF parts here as the actual figure.

May uses the same buck as the Spider-Woman variant in this slot. That was easy to deduce because the right arm on my figure is fused at the elbow. Considering the other figure’s elbow broke with almost no force applied, I dropped her right into a pot of boiling water and everything worked out fine. With that having been said, I think this is a great looking figure. The costume is a wonderful design that both pays homage to classic Spidey, but with the larger spider emblem, darker blues and her more prominant mechanical web shooters. The coloring on this figure is fantastic, with just a few hiccups where the shoulder hinges interrupt the web pattern and the unpainted blue knee pins.

She’s also inherited that fine, fine Aunt May Ass. Maybe MJ had something to do with it too.

Articulation consists of rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, with those odd elbow hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and feature lateral rockers. You get a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

I like this figure a lot, despite the fact that I’m not a big fan of the What If books and I’ve never read Amazing Spider-Girl or Spectacular Spider-Girl either. I’m far enough behind on my regular comics, without dipping into the shenannigans of Earth-982. She looks great, the colors are pretty, and she has an interesting backstory and I’m always happy to pad out my Spidey shelves. Next Monday I’ll take a look at the final boxed figure in the wave, Spider-Man himself!

Oct 15 2015

Transformers Hero Mashers: Megatron and Soundwave by Hasbro

It’s creeping into that time of year when the stores I don’t tend to think of for toys start inflating their otherwise paltry toy sections for Christmas. One of those stores is Ross, the shabby discount clothing chain that dabbles in closeout selections. They’ve been a good source of cheap Transformers for me in the past. I got almost my entire Animated collection there for half off, so it’s worth a looksee every now and then. I haven’t been there in a while, but after throwing back a bunch of drinks at a bar in the same strip mall, I decided to stagger in. I came out with these two Hero Mashers.

I’ve been tempted by this line for a while, but with me unloading so many Transformers from my collection lately, buying any of these felt like a fool’s errand. Nonetheless at $6.99 each, I couldn’t resist. If you’re unfamiliar with the line, they’re basically action figures with pop-off parts that are interchangeable with each other. Hasbro’s also got this line going for Marvel and Star Wars and it must be popular because it’s been bleeding over to different companies. I’m pretty sure Playmates has one going for the TMNT line. Anyway, I should note that I have almost no interest in the mash-up gimmick and that I bought these solely because they remind me of glorified Action Masters.

I don’t have much to say about the packaging, other than they are colorful window boxes and my Megatron box is badly damaged. They’re obviously aimed squarely at kids and I think it’s neat that they put the characters on the side panel in case you want to keep the boxes on a bookshelf. They are collector friendly, which would come in handy to keep all the extra parts in the tray, although I’ve opted to pitch the packaging.

Stripped away of all those extra parts, these figures really do scratch that Action Master itch for me, only these are obviously bigger and more articulated. The G1 motif is there, albeit with a little more stylized charactersistics in Megatron. There’s also a rather impressive amount of sculpted detail on these guys and solid paint (especially on Soundwave) considering the age group their aimed at. In fact, my only complaint is that Soundwave looks naked without his Decepticon emblem on his chest tape door. OK, one more gripe, I wish Megatron’s fusion cannon didn’t have that long post. But these are rather insignificant nitpicks from an adult collector about a kiddie toy line and that in itself is commendable.

The articulation works in conjunction with the swappable parts system. The figures are basically loaded with rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, neck, and ankles, and with swivels in the wrists. The lower limbs of these joints features a socket and peg allowing you to pull the joint out and replace with another. There are also sockets all over the figures to peg in weapons or extra bits. I could totally see this being hours of fun for kids, and while the concept approaches a certain morbid sense of body horror for the Marvel and Star Wars characters, it almost makes sense with these robot characters. Hell, even ignoring the swappable part gimmick, it’s fun to have Transformers figure with blow-apart limbs!

Megatron comes with a backpack, two parts that could serve as weapon pods or jet attachments for the backpack, a shoulder cannon, a missile for his Fusion Cannon, an Energon Mace, and Sideswipe’s arm. The backpack looks great on him, but you can’t use it along with the shoulder cannon. It’s either or. Obviously, my favorite part here is the Energon Mace.

Soundwave comes with a couple of pieces that look like they might be intended as batteries, a black and gold gun, his iconic shoulder cannon, his hand gun with missile, and Skywarp’s arm.

And it’s hard to deny the appeal of cobbling together Megawave and Wavetron. Or, maybe not. At the original MSRP of about $13 each, I’ve considered picking these up a bunch of times, but seeing them at $7 each and with the booze coursing through my veins, the purchase was a no brainer. Even now that I’ve sobered up I’m glad I bought them. They’re fun and quirky and kind of neat. Although I can’t say for sure I’ll be picking up many more of these, unless good old Ross stocks more of them for Christmas. Maybe I’ll do a sampling of some of the Marvel or Star Wars versions just for giggles.

Oct 12 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Spider-Man 2099 by Hasbro

It’s another lovely Marvel Monday and I’m continuing my push through the Hobgoblin Wave. Today I’m digging into the dwindling stack of figures with a look at Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. I took a good part of the 90’s away from comic book reading and worrying about real life. When I came back to get caught up, I was at first intrigued by the different 2099 series, but in the end I never became a huge fan. With that having been said, it’s safe to say that Spider-Man 2099 and Doom 2099 were my favorites.

The packaging is the same as we’ve been seeing in this wave. You get the Spider-Man logo at the top and the figure’s name at the bottom. The window shows off the figure nicely along with the two BAF parts he comes with, Hobgoblin’s leg and sword. Given 2099 Spidey’s appearance in the Superior Spider-Man comic, I was a little disappointed we didn’t get him in the last Spider-Man wave, but now all that’s forgiven.

And speaking of Superior Spider-Man, this guy is built on the same buck as that figure with new hands and head and some added barbs to his forearms. There’s also a peg hole added to the back for his cape. Of all the things to come out of the 2099 books, I gotta say this costume is probably my favorite. It’s dark and a little sinister and it reflects the shitty world that O’Hara comes from quite nicely. And boy did Hasbro do a fine job recreating it here for the figure. The dark blue metallic paint is gorgeous and it pairs beautifully with the crimson. The paint on this figure is pretty clean too.

The web cape pegs right into his back and is appropriately cast in a milky, semi-clear plastic. It looks like it’s molded to be blowing off to the side, which is alright, but I think I would have preferred a more symmetrical look to it. Angled to the side a bit it looks fine, but straight up and down it looks a little weird. I’m nitpicking, I know.

I was both surprised and pleased to see that the patterns on Spidey’s mask are actually part of the sculpt. It would have been really easy to just paint a blank head and I’m glad that Hasbro decided to go the extra mile.

Because Spidey is built on the Superior Spider-Man body, he sports some exceptionally good articulation, and let’s face it, that’s something any Spider-Man figure should boast. The arms feature that extra lateral hinge in the shoulders that I love so much, along with rotating hinges. The elbows are double jointed, there are swivels in the biceps, and the wrists have rotating hinges. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double jointed at the knees, and ahve swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. The torso can swivel at the waist, has an ab-crunch hinge, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed. The double hinges are a tad gummy, more so than on my Superior Spider-Man, but they’re not too bad.

Having O’Hara make an appearance in Superior Spider-Man was a treat in itself, but doubly so when I consider that there’s a good possibility that we owe this figure to that appearance. Either way, I was thrilled to see this figure make it into this second Spider-Man assortment. This costume has been a favorite of mine for a while and it feels great to have it represented on my Legends shelf, especially since I was never able to find the Marvel Universe 3 3/4″ version at a price I was willing to pay. If it had to be one or the other, this is the scale I’d prefer to have him in.

Oct 10 2015

Star Wars “The Force Awakens” (Desert Mission) Finn and Flametrooper

I’m continuing to chip away at the initial assortment of Force Awakens 3 3/4″ figures. So far I’ve looked at Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma from the Jungle Mission and Rey and a Stormtrooper from the Snow Mission. Let’s move things to the desert today and open up Finn and the First Order Flametrooper.

I’ve already gushed on and on about how much I love these packages, but damn, don’t they look nice? Individual character art right on the card, great colors, a big bubble to show off the figure. It gets me a lot more excited about buying action figures than the bland packaging Hasbro has been using for Star Wars Black and Marvel Universe Infinite. I hope this is a sign of things to come. Let’s start with Finn…

This version of Finn is associated with Jakku and it’s the exact same outfit that we saw used for the 6-inch Black figure. This is a really solid sculpt for the smaller scale and apart from the obvious hit to articulation, I don’t think much is lost from the 6-inch figure. The jacket is sculpted in soft plastic and layered onto the figure like a vest with sculpted texture on the shirt underneath. The illusion of the sculpted arm sleeves actually works better with the simple rotating shoulder hinges. The portrait is excellent with a solid likeness and sharp paint. Once again, the eyes are painted looking up, which is getting to be a weird trend for Hasbro and this character. It’s perhaps worth noting that Finn is ever so slightly pre-posed as he stands naturally with one foot slightly in front of the other.

Finn comes with the same style blaster as the 6-inch figure, which makes me reconsider my prediction that the weapon might not be in the film. It still looks rather large and ungainly to be a carried in the movie, but I’m probably wrong about that. At least this time it’s cast in gray plastic and not in the same color as the jacket. Alright, that’s enough about Finn… moving on to the Flametrooper…

I was really excited to get this guy, mainly because he isn’t available in the 6-inch scale yet. I dig the design of this armor a lot and, to my surprise, the Flametrooper doesn’t share any parts with the regular Stormtrooper. I’ve always loved the idea of specialized Stormtroopers, especially when they involve new armor and not just different colors painted on them. The helmet design is pretty damn sinister looking.

Naturally, the Flametrooper comes with a flamethrower, which consists of a removable backpack that pegs into place and the gun connected with a flexible plastic hose. Not sure why the hand held piece has to look like a friggin assault rifle, but it’s neat nonetheless. I also love the little OII sculpted into the backpack. It’s a nice little nod back to the Imperial Stormtroopers.

The build-a-weapon pieces included with these figures are a little better as standalone pieces than what I’ve seen so far, but they’re still plenty goofy. Finn’s looks like a tracked robot with twin machine gun arms and it can be pegged into his back. The obvious downside here is that they had to put a hole in his back just for this gimmick and I’d rather they didn’t. The Flametroopers’ piece can be used as a big, bulky shield. If you connect them together, you do get what I think is a pretty cool looking little robot. It works fine as it is, but the third figure in this assortment, Constable Zuvio will add blade pieces. Frankly, I haven’t decided whether I’m picking him up yet.

With six of these figures now opened, I find I’m still rather soft on them. The sculpts are not bad for what they are, but I’m not sure I’m feeling motivated to keep collecting them, at least not with the 6-inch Black series out there promising releases of all of these characters. On the other hand, when they’re available at $7.99 a pop, it’s kind of hard for me to resist. I’ve still got two more to open before I make any final decisions, so sometime next week we’ll check out Poe Dameron and the First Order Tie Pilot from the Space Mission!

Oct 8 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Starscream (Leader Class) by Hasbro

It’s the first Transformers Thursday in a while that I’m not talking about Protectobots, but I am still sticking with the Combiner Wars line this week. Back in July, I checked out Hasbro’s bold new take on the Seekers with their Leader Class Thundercracker, built from the Generations Jetfire mold and if you haven’t read that Feature, I suggest glancing back at it. Starscream is, as expected, a repaint of the same figure so I’m going to try to be brief and focus on the minor differences.

Not much different to say about the box. It’s the now standard Combiner Wars deco with Starscream packaged in robot mode. There is no comic book included, but you do get a nifty art card. While there are some troublesome twisty ties to remove, the package is totally collector friendly. Let’s start with his alt mode.

Yup, the mold is identical to Thundercracker and it’s basically the Jetfire mold without the booster pieces and with a brand new pair of wings. This is a very attractive jet mode and works beautifully for me as a Seeker. I’m also still impressed that the cockpit actually opens. Nice! The new deco is very pretty and looks appropriate for Starscream. The off-white plastic is a little light, but not too bad, and the striping on the wings coupled with the Decepticon insignia look outstanding. All the paint is crisp and clean and when you toss in a little blue plastic trim and the yellow tinted cockpit and I’m very pleased with how this jet came out.

Transformation is identical to Thundercracker and Jetfire and I like the engineering here a lot. It’s relatively simple, but there’s some clever stuff happening. Probably not the depth of engineering everyone is going to be expecting from a Leader Class toy, but in my old age, I’m getting to appreciate figures that can convert back and forth without too much frustration.

Obviously, the robot mode is also identical to Thundercracker, except for the new deco, which carries forward the same red, blue, and off-white as the jet mode. Again, I think the colors here are great and this robot mode makes for a fantastic updated Seeker. The only thing I’m really missing are the shoulder scoop towers, and I’m throwing it out there to all you third-parties… if you want to make a set of shoulder scoops for these guys, I’ll buy them. There are even obvious crevices where they could be made to fit. Easy money! I’m just saying!

Of course, the cockpit on the chest is faked out and Starscream actually wears the nose of the jet mode down his back. It’s the biggest departure from the traditional Seeker look, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. I still would have liked it if the front of the wings were finished like the back, but I’m sure that would have added a lot of cost to production.

The only real disappointment here is that the head sculpt isn’t new. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great looking noggin, and at least the face is painted differently, but for a Leader Class repaint, I would have thought Hasbro could at least pony up for a new head with a douchebag Starscream smirk. I would have much preferred it to the dopey crown.

Yes, the crown is the only thing really new here and I’m really tired of this running gag based off such a small scene in the original movie. It can go into the Tote of Forgotten Accessories and rattle around in there with my MP Grimlock crown.

Of course, you also get all the guns that came with Thundercracker. I like the null rays, but I still wish they pegged into the biceps rather than the forearms. You can get them into some great positions, but they sometimes impede articulation more than I would like. The smaller blue guns can still be mounted on his legs and wings, or just leave them off if you think they pollute the Seeker homage. I’m actually fine with them. Lastly, you get the same missile launcher handgun that came with Jetfire and Thundercracker, this time in black. I’m definitely giving this one to Jetfire so I can deep six his red blinged out gun. But be warned, this thing has a hair trigger and I’ve already had to wrestle the missile away from the cat a couple of times.

There are no surprises here at all. Starscream is the straight repaint we all expected and I imagine he’ll be as polarizing a figure as CW Thundercracker. As someone who doesn’t like the Masterpiece Seekers enough to pony up the coin for them, I’m content for now adding Starscream to my MP Decepticon shelf, alongside Combiner Wars Megatron and Soundwave (and soon Shockwave!). I think he’s a great looking figure and now all that’s left is to sit back and wait for Leader Class Skywarp. And man, do I think this mold is going to look amazing in the deco!

Oct 5 2015

Marvel Legends (Hobgoblin Wave): Anti-Venom by Hasbro

Well, it took me a couple of weeks of diversions, but I’m finally back to looking at the Hobgoblin Wave of Marvel Legends. I’m just now approaching the halfway mark and as I reach over and pull one off the stack, it just so happens to be Anti-Venom! Ah, but if you read the title, you already knew that…

Not a lot new to say about the packaging, other than it has Spider-Man at the top, signifying the theme of this wave and the character’s name at the bottom. Anti-Venom is a big boy, so he fills out the bubble quite well and there’s just barely enough room to squeeze in that puny little Hobgoblin BAF part off to the side. I’ll admit, since I still haven’t found Toxin or Carnage from the last Spider-Man wave, Anti-Venom feels a bit like a consolation prize. But, hey, a prize is still a prize.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this is a reuse of the Toxin body, which is certainly appropriate. Anti-Venom consists of a simple white buck with the black spider emblem painted on. The body has a bit of a chalky look in some areas, but overall it’s solid and the paint is sharp and clean with just one chip on the stripe running down the right side of his abs. Some might consider the deco bland, but I have a thing for monochromatic figures and Legends has brought us more than a couple.

There’s a hunk of symbiot thorns coming out of his back, which pegs into the hole there. It’s a tad loose, and I may just go ahead and glue it into place.

The head sculpt is also a solid effort with a high gloss black paint used for the face and yellow for the eyes and inside the mouth. The seams on the jawline had me hoping for an articulated jaw, but no such luck. Yeah, I know, I was reaching.

The articulation here is everything I could ask for from a modern Legends. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels at both the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have some satisfyingly deep lateral rockers.

Anti-Venom was no doubt an easy release for Hasbro, consisting of just a new paint job and a tweaked head. There are no surprises to be had here. That doesn’t make him any less welcome, though. He’s a great looking figure and another significant name to cross off my Legends list. He also seems to be the dud of this wave as he’s readily available at deep discounts from various online retailers. Ah, but if this figure is considered a dud, Legends is doing all right by me!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: hasbro