Aug 17 2015

Marvel Legends (Ultron Wave): Giant Man and BAF Ultron by Hasbro

It’s been a long trip since starting this wave with Ant-Man many weeks ago, but now I’m finally up to the final boxed figure and, oh what the hell, we’ll check out the BAF today too just so that I can finally put this wave to bed. The final figure is Giant Man and he also gives us a right leg, the last piece needed to put together the BAF Ultron.

And look! It’s actually Hank Pym! Yes, while all the packages in this wave have Ant-Man stamped on the top and very ant-y illustrations on the side panels, only a select few (Wasp and Ant-Man) of these figures until now could really be considered Ant-Man related. Unless you want to argue that the three villains have all had run ins with The Avengers, and there’s your rather tenuous connection. And since I don’t think we’ll be seeing a Michael Douglas figure anytime soon, Giant Man here is as close as we’re likely to get to Pym for the time being. I find all this pretty ironic since you could practically build an entire wave of figures just out of Pym’s knack for changing costumes and identities.

Giant Man is a very simple figure, with his entire costume being achieved via a painted buck.. Normally, that would be fine, I actually really dig this costume, but unfortunately, the craftsmanship just isn’t here. The red plastic that they used for a good portion of this figure feels exceptionally gummy and it doesn’t seem to hold the black paint very well. There’s chipping to the black as well as some transfer from the black onto the red. What’s more, the lower boots are sculpted in black plastic and it bleeds through the red paint, which doesn’t match the rest of the figure well to begin with. You also get a cape hole in the back from whatever character this buck was originally used for. Besides looking a bit off, the figure feels rather cheap in hand, which is rather unusual for the Legends line.

The real shame here is that as rough as the body is, the head sculpt is quite good. The definition in the face sculpt is fantastic and the paint lines are all crisp and clean. I especially dig the soft plastic antenna. This head really needed a different body to attach to.

Articulation is standard stuff for this line. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, the elbows are double hinged and there are swivels in the biceps. THe legs are ball jointed at the hips, the knees are double hinged, the ankles have hinges and rockers, and there are swivels in both the thighs and at the tops of the boots. The torso features a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge, and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. While he can take and hold a lot of good poses, the elbow hinges are all rubbery, which is always disappointing.

I’ve got no problems with Hasbro painting costumes on bucks as opposed to throwing in a lot of new sculpting, but if you’re going to do it, you have to do it right. Giant Man, from the neck down, looks like a barely competant custom job and that’s too bad, because I was really looking forward to this guy, especially to use with my Universe scaled figures. But hey, at least he gave us a leg, so let’s put that sucker in and check out…

ULTRON! Yes, this is indeed Marvel Cinematic Universe, James Spader Ultron and if you’ve collected this entire wave than you have the head, torso, arms, and legs needed to assemble him. He’s a big guy, easily a head and shoulders above your average Legends figure. It wasn’t until seeing this figure (and the Hot Toys one) that I realized Ultron was so damn big and it certainly justifies his existence as a Build-A-Figure. I’ve only seen Age of Ultron a couple of times and I’m really anxious for it to hit Blu-Ray so I can start scrutinizing it a lot more for details such as this. It’s a busy movie and there’s a lot of stuff to see.

The sculpt here is pretty good with a lot of detail to the armor. Yeah, in some areas it doesn’t quite live up to all the fine points of the movie design, but for a Legends BAF it gets the job done and it looks really nice on the shelf. I do like that both of his hands are sculpted to look like they’re shooting beams out of his palms.

I also really dig the head sculpt. What the body lacks in some details, I think the figure makes up for in the portrait, which captures the movie look perfectly. The paint does feel a little flat in some areas. You get a base grey plastic with some silver sprayed over some areas and a little red here and there. A more deliberate deco would have helped a lot, but again, what we got is serviceable and when the light hits it just right the silver paint does look exceptionally nice. I certainly like what they did here a lot better than if they had just sprayed the whole thing silver, or used the crappy looking plastic that they did for the last Legends Ultron.

The articulation is overall pretty good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinged elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels at the top of the thighs, double hinged knees, and hinged ankles with lateral rockers. Ultron can swivel at the waist and has an ab crunch hinge. The neck is ball jointed and hinged. The cut through the waist looks rather awkward when swiveling, but that can’t really be helped.

The movie version of Ultron is a design that really needs a higher end figure to do it justice, but I think what we got here is pretty damn good. I can’t say as there are any figures in this wave that I would have passed on if it weren’t for needing the BAF part. It was overall a solid assortment, which happily added quite a few villains to my shelves while also expanding my Marvel Cinematic Universe Collection by two. I’d say that Giant Man was the biggest let down here, and it’s possible that a lot of that has to do with the QC on my specific figure. Either way, with this wave down, I’ve still got a lot of figures to pick up to stay current, including The Hobgoblin Wave, which I initially passed on, The Hulkbuster and Rhino Waves, which are just starting to trickle out, and I’m still considering going back and finishing up that Amazing Spider-Man 2 Wave just so I can finish up that Ultimate Green Goblin. Phew! You’re killing me, Hasbro, but don’t stop!

Aug 7 2015

Marvel Legends (Ultron Wave): Grim Reaper by Hasbro

So, because I’m doing a whole theme week thang next week, I decided to bump Marvel Monday up to today. I’ve just got too many Marvel figures lying on my stack and waiting to be looked at that I can’t afford to lose a week. I’ve only got two figures left in this wave before I get to the Ultron BAF and today is all about Eric Williams, aka Grim Reaper!

There’s the obligatory packaged shot and since I have nothing new to say about it, I’ll take the time here to point out that Grim Reaper is another one of those Legends figures that Hasbro has also recently produced in the Universe/Infinite 3 3/4″ scale. Considering that both releases are the same version of the character, I’ll likely be referencing that other figure at least a couple of times. I’ll also point out that I was very happy to see this guy get released in the Legends scale and I really dig how he was handled as a semi-regular baddie in the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon.

Grim Reaper’s costume is comprised mostly from a painted buck and there isn’t a whole lot of paint. You get a very dark blue body, which is missing some of the paint highlights that the smaller version had. The skull and crossbones is printed on his chest and despite a little chip on one of my bones, it looks fine. He has a silver wrist bracer painted on his left arm and the trademark scythe grafted onto his right arm by The Tinkerer.

If you read my look at the smaller version, you may remember my biggest gripe there was the lack of a swivel in the scythe and I’m happy to report that this Legends figure has it. It’s also worth pointing out that the design of the scythe is a little different here. It’s missing the sharp point and looks more utilitarian. You also get a cape that pegs into the back of the figure and is a lot less obtrusive than the wide, billowing plastic garment that came with the smaller version.

The current Legends line have given us some pretty epic maniacal villian portraits. We saw a good one last week with Tiger Shark and who can forget the mug on Constrictor? Well, Grim Reaper follows along in those footsteps with a head sculpt that just oozes personality and batshit craziness. I thought the Universe version was great, but this one definitely ups the ante. I get the feeling that the sculptor really has some fun with these and it is most definitely appreciated.

Articulation here is what I’ve come to expect from the Legends line. The arms feature rotating hinges at the shoulders, double hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps. The scythe has the aforementioned swivel at the base and the left hand has a rotating hinge. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, with swivels at the thighs and tops of the boots. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. You also get a swivel at the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the torso and the neck is both ball jointed and hinged. While he’s a lot of fun to play around with, Grim Reaper does suffer from some pretty soft hinges the elbows.

Hasbro has been pretty good about getting us a fair number of villains in their modern Legends line and I say keep them coming! Afterall, what good are superheroes without costumed bastards to fight? And that philosophy makes Grim Reaper a fine pick up for my collection. And yeah, it doesn’t hurt that doing so furnished my BAF Ultron with his left leg. That’s five down and Only one more figure in this wave to go! When Marvel Monday returns the week after next, I’ll check out Giant Man!

Aug 4 2015

Star Wars Black: IG-88 by Hasbro

So many figures to cover, so much unfinished business. I decided to go with Star Wars Black today, as I’m down to the last figure in this most recent wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars series and I saved my most anticipated figure of the assortment for last… It’s everyone’s favorite assassin droid bounty hunter who’s head moonlights as a bar fixture in Mos Eisely. The one… the only… IG-88!

Behold.. packaging! It’s a souless black box that holds my figure and saves Hasbro a lot of money that they would otherwise have to spend paying artists to make an attractive, presentable box. But at least they pass the savings on to us. Well, not really. It’s still a twenty dollar figure. Er, this is awkward. Let’s just open him up and check him out.

Right off the bat, I’m going to say that this figure is a totally mixed bag for me. The sculpt is pretty good, albeit maybe a bit soft. It shows all the little bits and bobs from the on-screen prop, but it still kind of just looks like an up-scaled 3 3/4″ figure. One thing that I do think is particularly cool is that it actually has the holes in the head and I think this is the first time we’ve seen that accurately reproduced in an IG-88 action figure. The bandolier strap is a separate piece, but it pegs into his shoulder to keep it straight and it does include a functional scabbard on the back for his vibro axe. Yes sir, in terms of sculpt there is a lot to love here.

What’s not to love is right in line with my biggest fears about this figure and that’s that he would turn out a mushy, soft plastic mess and that is sadly pretty close to what happened. His thin arms and legs are bendy plastic, which doesn’t effect the arms much, but it’s terrible for the legs. It takes a ton of fussing to get him to stand as straight as he can, and that ain’t saying much. It’s tough to tell if that’s just because the soft plastic is warped or if one leg is a smidge longer than the other. Either way, it’s annoying and getting him to stay upright without a figure stand can be frustrating.

For a design that is basically a stick figure, IG-88 features some impressive and fun articulation, and here’s where he gains back a lot of my favor. The arms rotate at the shoulders and have lateral movement there as well. There are also rotating hinges in the elbows, which are hidden so well, I didn’t think it was even there at first. The legs feature a standard t-crotch at the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs and ankles. He can swivel high up in the chest and has an ab-crunch, as well as a rotating neck. He’s a tough cookie to get standing, but I’m certainly happy with the poses he can pull off. The wires also seem to have enough slack to allow for a decent range of movement.

IG comes with three weapons: A blaster, a rifle and a vibro-blade. I already mentioned the scabbard on his back can hold the vibro-blade, but it can also hold either one of the weapons. Pegs on the wrists allow IG-88 to “hold” his guns in those static claws and it works extremely well. How the hell do you get him to hold his blade? I have no idea. I pretty much just sits on his back for show.

I was going to beef about his size, especially when I remember the old Kenner figure to be so tall. But then looking at some pictures of the Bounty Hunters in Empire Strikes Back made me think IG-88 wasn’t so tall after all so I guess the scale works well enough.

Forming an opinion on this guy was a veritable roller coaster ride. The sculpt is solid enough, I love the articulation, the weapons are cool, I only wish he were stable enough to stand straight. What saves the figure is the cool dynamic poses you can put him in, which look fine and distract me from the fact that he leans to the side when not in action. I own the Vintage Collection version of this figure, which has comparable articulation, but it’s still carded, so I find it quite the novelty to have an IG-88 that can actually do stuff.

Aug 3 2015

Marvel Legends (Ultron Wave): Tiger Shark by Hasbro

It seems like every other Marvel Legends wave has them. That one figure that a lot of people buy just to get the BAF part. This time around, that seems to be poor Tiger Shark’s lot in life. I kind of get it, there are a ton of characters out there more important than Tiger Shark that collectors would like on their shelf, but I for one love these back-bencher releases. Such a huge part of lines like Marvel Legends is about universe building for me and that means that if it’s a good figure and a character I know, I’m happy to get them. If Legends were a more limited line, I might take issue about Todd here taking up one of those precious slots, but Legends seems to be going strong and right now I think there will be plenty of time to get to everyone.

There’s the packaging. You’ll note that this is still a self-proclaimed “Ant-Man” wave, which doesn’t make a lot of sense with some of these releases. I tend to just refer to these waves by whoever the BAF and since I toss the packaging, Hasbro could call it whatever they want. Tiger Shark comes with one of Ultron’s arms and he’s just chomping to get out of there, so let’s rip this open and check him out.

One time Olympic swimmer… now part man, part shark (and with a little bit of Namor’s genes rattling around in there) Tiger Shark looks every bit as ridiculous as his name would suggest and man do I love it. The costume relies entirely on a painted buck, giving Tiger Shark his distinctive orange suit with metallic purple boots, gloves, and a jagged stripe running down his torso. Unfortunately, the paint job on this guy isn’t all it could be. The orange paint on the torso appears to be over some rather dark plastic, which bleeds through, particularly at the seems, and there’s some scrapes and scratches here and there. Also, the orange paint doesn’t match the orange plastic as much as I would like… same goes for the purple.

What Todd lacks in crisp paint and sculpted detail in the body he makes up for with a pretty spectacular head sculpt. His purple mask includes a prominant fin running down the middle of his head like an aquatic mohawk. And those teeth! He’s bearing a full set of vicious, jagged pearly whites that really give him a lot of character. A little mold flashing on the head continues the trend that Tiger Shark’s QC isn’t up to this line’s usual standards.

I can’t place the last time we saw this buck, but it sports some pretty good articulation, as well as a hole in the back, presumeably for a cape worn by its last user. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have rotating hinges in the ankles, swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, and double hinges in the knees. He has a swivel in the waist, an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and neck with both hinge and ball joint.

So, Tiger Shark has a few more cosmetic issues then I would have liked, but nothing too terrible. He’s far from an A-lister and as such he may be lost on some collectors who would have rather seen Ultron’s right arm bundled with a more recognizeable or prominent character. To each their own. I’m always happy to add more villains to my Marvel Rogues Gallery and when it comes to crazy cats like Tiger Shark, I say the more the merrier. Now maybe we can get that Namor, Hasbro? Or how about a Baron Mordo to round out The Offenders?

Jul 28 2015

Star Wars Black: Princess Leia in Boushh Disguise by Hasbro

I’m working to get caught up on a lot of figures lying around here before new stuff starts piling up on top of it and I need to call in an archaeologist to dig my way out. And so, today I’m jumping back to the last wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Black series. I started this wave a week or so ago with a look at Commander Cody, today we’ll check out the second Princess Leia figure in this series and it’s her in the Boushh disguise from Return of the Jedi.

There’s the packaging and I’ve got nothing new to say about it, so let me take this time to ponder what the hell is going through Hasbro’s collective head with character selection these days. OK, maybe not character selection per say, but rather the versions they’re choosing for Princess Leia. She’s cropped up twice now in this series and both are from the beginning of Return of the Jedi. The fact that we haven’t seen a New Hope version of her yet is just criminal. Not only is that version of the character the most iconic to me, but I also think it’s some of her best moments in the saga: All on her own, fighting against Vader to safeguard the plans that she knows will put an end to the Empire. All I want is her white outfit, a couple of hair buns and that bitchin’ long barreled pistol, is that so wrong? Hot Toys gets it. That’s why that’s the first version their doing of Leia. And have you seen that figure? It’s gorgeous! What? Oh yeah, back to Hasbro’s Boushh Leia…

By now you all should know my take on this line. I have a litmus test that begs the question, is this figure better served by being in the larger scale? I’ll come back to that in a bit, but let me start out by saying that I think this is a very solid figure. All the regular points that I touch upon in my features, like the sculpt and paint look fine. Indeed, there’s some lovely little touches like the gold paint on the cartridges on her shoulder strap, the Ubese lettering on her backpack and the softgoods half cape that hangs down her back, which both Ubese and Mandalorians seem to love so much. These are all solid efforts.

I’m torn on the portrait. On the one hand, Leia sports a pretty face and some well sculpted hair. On the other hand, I don’t see any Carrie Fisher in there at all. The Slave Leia figure’s likeness wasn’t a hit either, but I think there was a bit more resemblance there than here. The paint is also rather off. The brown from her hair line splotches unevenly on her skin, the lipstick doesn’t really match her lips at all and the eyes, while not totally wonky, aren’t terribly precise either. None of this is a huge deal for me as I will likely keep the helmet on her all the time, just like I did with my Kenner figure when I was a kid.

And the helmet is indeed a nice piece of work. Not only do you get a lot of great sculpted detail, which is not always the case on these softer plastic removable helmet pieces, but some really nice weathering paint. It fits on the figure very well too. It’s also perfect for that Breen custom I’ve always wanted to do.

The articulation features a nice range of points, only slightly marred by the sculpted robes. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, and have swivels in the thighs. The ankles have rotating hinges as well as lateral rockers. The rockers are nice, but with the restrictive plastic skirt, it’s tough to get a wide stance to use them. There’s a waist swivel hidden under her belt, a ball joint in the torso, and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Boushh-Leia comes with four accessories. You get her removable helmet, a removable backpack, a thermal detonator and her staff-gun thingy. Seriously, what is this thing? If it’s a rifle how the hell does she hold it with no stock or trigger? Is it some kind of staff weapon cattle prod? I’ve been pondering this question since I was a kid. The detonator is a tiny ball of plastic that can peg onto her belt or be held in her hand. Yes, Vader couldn’t get a peg for his lightsaber hilt, but goddammit if we’re not going to let Boushh put her bomb on her belt! As tiny as the detonator is, Hasbro still managed to get some silver paint onto it.

Scale continues to be an issue with this line. Just look at the difference between these two Leias. It’s even worse than the discrepancy we saw between regular Han and Hoth Han. This is a $20 collector line, why is it so hard to get the scale right on these figures from wave to wave?

But, getting back to my original point, because here’s an instance where Hasbro has released this version of the character in both the 6-inch and 3 3/4-inch Black lines almost at the exact same time. I don’t own the smaller scale version, although I may pick it up for the purposes of comparison, but the pictures that I’ve seen tell me that the smaller scale version is every bit as good. Softgoods cape? Check. Removable helmet? Pleeeease… the original Kenner figure had that! Articulation? A few changes there, like the smaller figure appears to have rotating hinges in the knees as opposed to double hinges, but let’s just say comparable articulation.

And so once again I ask myself, is the point of this line just to sell us up-scaled versions of these characters? Or is it to deliver us versions better than what we could get in the smaller scale? It’s increasingly obvious that the answer is the former. Now, you could argue that’s a credit to how good Hasbro has become at making the smaller scale figures, but I would argue it just devalues these 6-inch figures as a collector line. And yet here I am… still buying them. And maybe it’s not fair to unload all of this on this particular figure. It’s been the case all along and I’ll reiterate that I think this is a solid figure. Maybe It’s time to just accept that these are more or less up-scaled figures and not dwell on this stuff so much in the future.

Jul 27 2015

Marvel Legends (Ultron Wave): Bulldozer by Hasbro

In the past, Hasbro has had a rather annoying track record for showing off Marvel Legends figures only to have them never make it out to retail. I’m still waiting for that red-suited Deadpool. And what happened to Emma Frost? And what about the final team member of the Wrecking Crew? Well, at least they have us covered on that last one. Originally planned as a running change for Wrecker’s slot in the Rocket Raccoon BAF, he never did make it to the pegs. But now, back from oblivion, Bulldozer has finally shown up as part of the Ultron Wave.

At this point there isn’t much notable about the packaging, except maybe to pointlessly speculate why Bulldozer is appearing in an Ant-Man package. I’ve got to tell ya, folks, I thought I’d have to throw a lot of extra money to some dirty scalper to get this guy in hand. He debuted on Amazon in the $35 range, but soon settled at a more reasonable $21 and I quickly grabbed him up. Like all the Legends Wrecking Crew, Bulldozer is a big boy and he fills out his package nicely, with only a little extra room for that BAF Ultron arm.

Out of the package, Henry Camp is a formidable presence on the shelf. He’s built off the same large buck as his chums, Thunderball and Piledriver. I can remember a lot of fans having issues with these guys being so damn big, but I was fine with it, mainly because it allowed them to stand toe to toe with the massive Thor figures Hasbro has served up in the current Legends line. Besides, I like this buck a lot. It’s big and chunky and tons of fun to play with.

Bulldozer’s costume is comprised of bulky pieces reinforcing his orange jumpsuit. The sculpting on these pieces is really nice, complete with huge rivets and a lot of pitting and scratches to make them look weathered and used. The same techniques are used on his helmet. The head sculpt is pretty good, but it’s rather obvious that it’s all one piece. I think it would have been cool if they had layered the helmet onto the head to give it a little depth.
Articulation is identical to the rest of the Wrecking Crew. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs have rotating hinges in the hips, double hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. Bulldozer can swivel at the waist, he has a hinged ab crunch, and the neck is hinged and ball jointed.

Bulldozer doesn’t come with any accessories, but he really doesn’t need any. Hey, we all have that extra ball and chain that came with Piledriver, so feel free to lend it to him. Or you can just have him beat on people with Ultron’s arm.

Hasbro started this team waaaay back in 2012 with the second wave of the new Marvel Legends and I’m so glad they finally wrapped it up. I’m sure a lot of obsessive collectors out there can sympathise when I say completing a team helps me sleep better at night. And besides these guys look great together on the shelf! Thanks, Hasbro!

Jul 26 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Titan Class Devastator by Hasbro, Part 3

Yeah, the boozing snuck up on me yesterday and I was in no condition to finish up this three part Feature, so here we are on Sunday to wrap things up before I move into a brand new week of toys and tomfoolery.

Before I get with the combining, let me just say a few things about the Constructicons as a team. All lined up on the shelf, I think they look fantastic and a lot of the oddball feelings I had about them, concerning the plastic and the simpler articulation has melted away and been replaced with that warm fuzzy feeling of having a collection of (mostly) G1 faithful Constructions in the Voyager scale. There are certainly some nits to pick here, but as individual robots making up a combiner team, I think Hasbro did us proud with these fellas. I’ve been in love with this dirty half-dozen since I was a kid and these are certainly the best versions of the characters I’ve owned.

While they’re woefully out of scale with most of the other Combiner Wars figures, they do fit in beautifully with CW Leader Class Megatron. And yes, he is wearing the DX-9 Upgrade Kit, which I’ll be looking at on this coming Transformers Thursday.

And if they fit in well with Leader Class Megsy, that means they’re pretty close to Masterpiece Scale too. Mixmaster, for example is just a bit taller than MP Lambor and that works for me. Even the aesthetics work together fairly well.

And one last size comparison shot shows that they can easily hang out with Warbotron’s Not-Combaticons. I think Sly Strike and Scrapper look damn fine together. But we’re here to make with the combining, so let’s go ahead and do it. It’s generally best to start with all of them in their vehicle modes, although it probably doesn’t matter so much with Long Haul. I was happy to see that combining these guys is very similar to the original toys, at least in principal, with the main differences being the various pegs and tabs that help secure strong connections.

Case in point, the legs should be familiar to anyone who’s played around with a G1 Devastator. While I wouldn’t have it any other way, this leads to some stability issues with Scrappers foot mode. Sometimes he likes to bend in the middle, which can at times assist the stance and articulation, and other times can undermine it. Naturally, there are no ankle rockers, and that sometimes creates issues with wide action stances. The only other quibble I have here is the absence of silver paint on Mixmaster’s cab foot, which will be remedied in the Takara version.

The connections between the legs and Long Haul’s pelvis mode are brilliant. Each leg tabs in multiple places and not once have I ever had the legs come apart even when manipulating those heavy ratchet joints in the hips. It’s easy to see now why Long Haul had to put on so much weight for this update and I whole hardheartedly approve. The knees also feature some nice strong joints, but they are placed rather high on the figure, up near the connection points. It’s understandable why it’s done this way, but worth pointing out nonetheless.

Getting Hook and the arms all connected is where things got a little tricky for me. There are a couple of crucial locking points between Hook and Long Haul, which are easy in themselves, but doing it while getting three other tabs to line up and connect can be a bit of a pain. Fortunately, wrestling with this toy isn’t as scary as some of the 3P combiners, because a) This guy is a toy made to be played with and b) He’s about one fourth the cost of your average 3P combiner team, which makes me a lot less nervous about handling him. The way the arms attach is quite clever in that the treads of Scavenger and Bonecrusher lock into place and the shoulder articulation is in the vehicle itself. The back treads are stabilized with tabs connecting to Long Haul’s arms and the front treads are stabilized by the chest piece.

Which brings us to the three extra parts: The chest piece and the two hands. The chest piece is a work of art. It’s beautifully sculpted in the same brilliant purple plastic as the rest of the set. The Decepticon emblem looks great and there’s some nice red and silver paint hits to round it out. It attaches at several points and offers some nice stability to the chest and shoulders. It’s also very solid. I’ve yet to have it pop out while playing with him. The arms simply peg into the stumps provided by Scavenger and Bonecrusher and they’re well proportioned, although I do wish they were purple instead of black. I believe that’s something else Takara will be fixing, at least where the fists are concerned.

There are no big surprises in the back. Most of Devy’s other side is dominated by Long Haul’s dump truck bed and it looks good.

The head sculpt is amazing and while the Unite Warriors version will come with an alternate portrait with eyes, I’m glad Hasbro went with the visor because it’s my preferred look for this big guy. Alas, there’s no ball joint in the neck, but he can turn his head from side to side.

The last two extra pieces connect to form Devy’s rifle, which looks fantastic. He can hold it securely in either hand without the need of support pegs or trickery. It is worth noting here that there aren’t ratchets in Devy’s elbows and while he can hold the rifle aloft, I did have a few instances where the elbow gave way and twisted around. Also, as I believe I mentioned before, all of these extra combiner bits have alternate weapon modes, but I haven’t bothered with any of them. Another good reason to consider the Takara release is that it will come with the individual guns for the Constructicons.

The Masterpiece Scale of the individual bots translates pretty well to the combined mode. Of course, scale was all over the place in the Sunbow cartoon, but with the MP cars coming up to Devastator’s knees, I think that works pretty well for me.

Of course, if you want to employ a little mass shifting magic, it’s a lot more fun to have him interact with the Legends Scale figures.

There’s no doubt about it, Combiner Wars Devastator is a love letter from Hasbro to old school Transformers fans dripping with sloppy kisses and maybe even a courteous little reach around. I certainly never thought we’d ever get an official product like this one and it’s an instance where I’m very happy to have been proven wrong. Was the motivation behind this guy driven by the popularity of the expensive 3P combiners? Maybe, but in the end all that matters to me is that Hasbro is doing such amazing things. I may have said this already, but I do think it would have been interesting to see this guy in the Deluxe Scale to fit in with the other Combiner Wars gestalts. Part of me is a little sad that I can’t have Devy face off against my CW Superion or Defensor. It’s also possible the individual robots would have worked better, but then I look at this behemoth and say, “Nahhh, they made the right call.” With something like this standing on my shelf, along side the Titan Class Metroplex, I truly believe that the sky is the limit for Hasbro and the TF brand. I mean hell, we’re even getting a new Sky Lynx! Can a new Trypticon possibly be that far behind? I think not. In the meantime, the Unite Warriors version is due to ship at the end of the year and while that’s some bad timing for me and my wallet I’m going to make every effort to work the Takara version into my budget and show my support for such a wonderful endeavor.

Jul 24 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Titan Class Devastator by Hasbro, Part 2

Alrighty, folks, I’m back to check out the second half of Hasbro’s Combiner Wars Constructicons. Yesterday I looked at Scrapper, Mixmaster, and Long Haul and today is all about Bonecrusher, Scavenger, and Hook. Let’s go ahead and take them in that order.

Bonecrusher stays true to form with a bulldozer alt mode, which features molded treads an articulated front plow, and a fair amount of detailed sculpting, particularly on the outsides of the treads. He also comes dangerously close to melting my eyes with all that neon green and showing very little else in the way of color diversity. You get a little silver paint on the side vents, some purple paint on the windows of the cab, and some black on the robot parts showing from the back. All in all, it’s a tight little construction vehicle that rolls along on some wheels concealed inside the treads and pays respect to the original toy. Unlike the trio we looked at yesterday, Bonecrusher actually features some relatively complex transformations, with some pretty impressive results.

The original G1 Bonecrusher was my least favorite of all the Constructicons because his robot mode was awkward and even as a kid it didn’t work for me. This updated version bucks that trend and becomes one of the best this new bunch has to offer. Most notably, he’s surprisingly well proportioned and best of all he has some of the best articulation in this whole set. You get proper ball jointed elbows and even lateral rockers in the ankles. Oddly enough, the first time I played around with him, I had all sorts of trouble keeping his crotch together, but I haven’t had that problem since. Maybe I just didn’t have it locked together properly.

Bonecrusher features a fantastic head sculpt, which invokes the original G1 character beautifully. The way the back of the plow becomes his chest works remarkably well here and there’s a ton of sculpted detail and paint to reproduce the look of the sticker on the original toy. I can’t say enough how much I love this new silver paint Hasbro is using. It really looks great with the red and purple paint and you get a Decepticon emblem right in the middle of his chest. Beautiful! I didn’t have any high hopes for this guy, but he’s probably my favorite figure in this set, next to Scrapper.

Also running high in my favorites is Scavenger. The alt mode here is a familiar backhoe and thanks to some purple paint on the sculpted treads, he isn’t quite the green-overkill assault on the eyes that his tracked-brother Bonecrusher is. You also get some purple paint on the cab windows, a little silver on the scoop hydraulics, and some red and silver vents on the sides. Sadly, Scavenger cannot pivot on his tracks, but you do get two points of articulation in his scoop arm, so that’s not too bad. Like Bonecrusher, Scavenger has a relatively complex transformation, which results in another great looking robot.

A lot of what i said about Bonecrusher is the case with Scavenger here. The way the treads form the legs is almost identical and while Hasbro could have easily gotten away with repainting and reusing the same treads here, they are actually completely new sculpts, which is cool. Scavenger also features the better articulation with ball jointed elbows. The crane arm folds up into his back as best as can be expected. It’s still rather obtrusive, but surprisingly enough Scavenger isn’t terribly back heavy and I have no problems getting him to stand up.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Scavenger’s head sculpt, mainly because of that weird box that makes up his mouth plate, but I’m still glad that Hasbro reproduced it faithfully here and they did a nice job with it too. The familiar silver plate that makes up Scavenger’s chest is also recreated nicely with more of that beautiful silver paint.

Last up is the leader of the Constructicons, Hook. Again, we get a very faithful recreation of the original G1 vehicle mode, in this case a boom crane truck. Hook features a fair amount of color diversity, at least within the confines of the Constructon deco. You get a lot more purple showing than some of the other figures and also some black on the wheels and side panels, and a little bit of silver on the hook itself. Hook has a bit of an undercarriage, which prevents him from rolling as well as I would like. Also, the crane will not rotate, which is understandable. What’s not as understandable is that the boom doesn’t extend, although it does at least raise and lower on a hinge.

Hook feels like he has a lot in common with Scrapper in the way he transforms and he does have some little drawbacks. Unlike Mixmaster, Hook’s back kibble does drag on the ground, so when he’s standing, he’s usually also leaning on the hook. You can angle it back further if you want him in a deeper stance, so it’s not that big of a problem. One annoying characteristic is the way his feet can pop off when I’m posing him, but at least he does have lateral ankle rockers. The arms technically have elbow hinges, but they’re placed a little too far down for my taste. Plus they’re those weird hollow elbows made up of a hinge on the end. I’m mostly content to just pretend he doesn’t have any elbow articulation at all.

The head sculpt is fantastic and I’m pleased that the plate hovering above his shoulders doesn’t interfere with the head articulation at all. Hook does have a combiner link making up his chest, so his torso isn’t quite as stylish as all the others, but it still looks good thanks to some great sculpting and a little paint work.

And that wraps up my look at the individual bots. I dig these guys a lot and getting them was such an amazing surprise that I’m hesitant to nitpick a lot. Nonetheless, when you look at how great Scavenger and Bonecrusher came out in terms of articulation, I really wish they could have done a better job with the others. I’ll also point out that the lack of individual guns is a huge issue with me, making it more likely that I will be picking up the Takara release later on down the road. Yes, the combiner parts have some afterthought weapon functions, but nothing in my opinion that is worth bothering with here. Nonetheless, each figure has its own charms and they look absolutely fantastic displayed on my shelf as a team. Ah, but let’s face it, the real draw of this set is the ability to build a giant Devastator and tomorrow I’ll be back to do just that!

Jul 23 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Titan Class Devastator by Hasbro, Part 1

Ever since the Toy Fair in Germany earlier this year I’ve been waiting to get my hands on Hasbro’s latest bombshell reveal… A Titan Class Devastor comprised of Voyager sized versions of all six original Constructicons. I mean, holy hell, I can’t think of too many toy lines getting as much love these days as Hasbro is showing toward their change-a-bots. Of course, since then we’ve been treated to peeks at two other versions, including an SDCC Exclusive and Takara’s own with some added articulation. I went with Hasbro’s for now, but I’m not ruling out picking up the Takara version later on down the line. This Feature is going to be broken down into three parts. Today I’ll check out the packaging and the bots that make up Devy’s lower half: Scrapper, Mixmaster, and Long Haul. Tomorrow, I’ll check out Hook, Bonecrusher, and Scavenger. And on Saturday we’ll take a look at Devastator himself.

The package here is pretty damn simple, and I don’t have a lot ot say about it. It’s a completely enclosed box, which is not nearly as big as the Metroplex box, despite them both being classified as “Titan Class” figures. The deco is in keeping with the style introduced for the Combiner Wars line with a landscape style front and some really nice artwork of Devastator doing what he does best. On the back of the box you get pictures of both the individual vehicles and robots, as well as the combined mode. Inside the box is a cardboard tray, which has the figures in their vehicle modes. You also get one character card for Devastator (sadly, none for the individual bots), and a huge folded instruction sheet. It’s all totally collector friendly, and while I do still have my Metroplex box, I doubt I’ll hang on to this one.

Before getting into specifics, I’ve got to say that these guys are an odd bunch and I feel like I need to offer up a disclaimer. They definitely feel like up-scaled figures in that they are very simple and chunky and feature rather limited articulation. The plastic used here also feels lighter than what I’m used to getting and I suspect that has something to do with making the combined mode work without being too heavy. In all honesty, if someone had handed me one of these figures without me knowing what it was, I would bet money that it was a knock-off, albeit a mighty nicely sculpted one. I know, that sounds bad, but the truth is when all is said and done, I’m able to look past that, because so much of this set is executed so well. It’s just worth noting that if you’re expecting the same quality, detail, and complexity of other Voyager figures, you aren’t going to find it here. These guys are scaled to work with the Masterpiece figures and they scale well with a lot of individual 3P combiner figures like Worbotron and Feral Rex, but the style and detail in the sculpt isn’t there to back it up. On the other hand, they do look just fine displayed alongside Leader Class Megatron. Anywho… let’s start checking out the individual figures and I’m going to start with Scrapper, because he’s always been one of my favorites…

Scrapper is probably my favorite of the entire lot because he looks like a properly updated version of the original toy. His vehicle mode is what I like to call a scoop-dozer, because I have absolutely no idea what you really call these things. It’s a pretty good rendition of the original vehicle mode with a fair amount of panel lines, sculpted bolts, ladders, vents and all the other bits and bobs. He rolls along on four chunky wheels and you get some nice articulation in the scoop.

There are virtually no paint apps showing on Scrapper’s vehicle mode other than the purple on the windows and a Decepticon emblem on the roof. You do get a little hint of purple plastic peeking out here and there from his robot parts, the black wheels, and a whole lot of glorious neon green plastic. I’ve heard some people complain about the green being off. It’s definitely brighter and more intense than the original toys, but it works just fine for me.

Scrapper’s transformation is pretty simple. There’s a little more going on with the legs, but otherwise it ain’t all that different from the old G1 toy and damn it the results aren’t amazing. This is every bit a larger and modern update to the Scrapper toy I knew and loved as a kid, and that is wonderful. You do get some hollow caverns in the back of his lower legs, and no articulation in the elbows, well none other than swivels, but just looking at him standing on the shelf makes me happy.

It’s obvious that all of the paint apps went into the robot mode and there is indeed a lot of nice work here. What was once stickers on the G1 toy are now replaced with sculpted detail and some beautiful red and silver paintwork. You also get another big Decepticon emblem on his chest and a little gold trim on his waist. And check out the head sculpt. It’s pure old school goodness. I absolutely love this figure!

Moving on to Mixmaster, here we have a pretty big departure from the old G1 toy. He’s still a cement mixer, but a different style, with cabs on the front and the back. I’ve been told by someone who would know this is a legit design, but it feels so weird compared to the more simple G1 design. The drum is now angled up on the front, at least I think that’s the front. Holy crap is this a confusing design! You get the same black, purple and green deco on Mixmaster, with a little silver on the side tanks, front grill, and the smokestacks. In all honestly, he’s probably got just as much paint as most Deluxes shipping these days, and probably a few Voyagers too. Still, I can get behind this design, especially when the transformation preserves so much of the look of the original robot.

Yup, that’s Mixmaster, alright, right down to the twin cannons positioned on a shelf over his head. He’s even got the twin wheels positioned on his arms… beautiful! He does feature a cement drum tail hanging off his back, but it’s not too bad and it doesn’t need to rest on the ground to help the figure stand up. Mixmaster also features hinged articulation in the elbows, which is definitely one up on Scrapper.

I love the headsculpt on this guy, as it feels like a nice homage to the old toy. And as with Scrapper, you get all kinds of great sculpted detail on his chest along with some gold, silver, and red paint in place of stickers. Whatever points Mixmaster might lose because of the crazy new truck mode, he easily recoups for a bitchin’ robot mode.

And now we come to the big elephant in the room… Long Haul. Long Haul was my first Constructicon as a kid and so I have a special level of affection and nostalgia for this guy. He’s still a dump truck, and he’s a mighty big one, which makes me think of him as a hybrid of the original toy and the Revenge of the Fallen version. Besides being a big boy, Long Haul has some nice sculpted detail, and with some black, purple, and silver paint showing, he’s a little more dynamically colored, but you do still get an awful lot of neon green. I loved this mode to begin with, but once I got a look at that Decepticon emblem above the front grill, it was on a whole new level of greatness.

Of course, there’s been a lot of hate thrown Long Haul’s way because in robot mode, he’s a bit husky. So what? It’s been 30-years since we’ve seen this guy and he’s let himself go a little. I’m a somewhat portly middle-aged fellow, so I can relate, Long Haul. You won’t get any fat-shaming from me. All kidding aside, the thing I loved the most about G1 Long Haul was the way he wore the front of his vehicle mode as his chest, similar to some of the Autobots, and this design keeps it real. Sure, he’s got little stubby arms, but so did the original toy. The bottom line is that Hasbro had to make this guy a powerhouse in order to take on the center of Devastator and I’m fine with that.

No, I think if I had one gripe about Long Haul, it would be that I wish they had painted his “helmet” black like the others. I don’t dislike his head. It’s got an interesting Cylon motif going on, but it just doesn’t match the others and that bugs me a little bit. Otherwise, Long Haul’s robot mode features some nice silver and red paint apps and there’s that Decepticon emblem on top of the grill. Don’t let the haters get you down, Long Haul, I’ve got your back!

Despite my initial disclaimer, I hope I’ve made it clear how much I like these figures. Yes, they’re a bit strange, and it’s so hard for me to put my finger on why these figures feel so different from any other Transformers Hasbro has been putting out lately. Yes, there are some paint apps I would have liked to see added, but there’s also some particularly nice paintwork on display here as well. Maybe it’s just the recognition that they seem to have started life as something smaller, or maybe that’s not even true. I’d be really curious to see how they would have turned out as Deluxes, putting them more in scale with the rest of the Combiner Wars, but then I’m getting ahead of myself, as I still have three more figures to look at. Tomorrow, I’ll be back to check out Hook, Bonecrusher, and Scavenger.

Jul 20 2015

Marvel Legends (Ultron Wave): Wasp by Hasbro

I’ve made no secret about the fact that I was initially disappointed the Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t include Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne in The Avengers, but then everything turned out so well, I’ve since been content to let it go. Hank is finally getting his screen time in theaters now, albeit taking a backseat to Scott Lang. Janet, on the other hand, well I don’t want to go into spoilers this close to the film’s release, so let’s divert our attention away from the movie and into the pages of the funnybooks…

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging here. Wasp comes with her wings detached, so you just have to plug the bottom ones into the top ones and then peg those into her back. She also comes with the torso BAF piece for Ultron. I’ll note here that this is the same version of Wasp that we got in the Marvel Universe scale not too long ago, and that release was a mighty damn fine figure, so I’ll probably be making some comparisons throughout.

And there she is, wings attached and all ready to go! Janet is donning the modern black and gold suit, which is not my favorite look for her, but I don’t dislike it at all. The costume gets by with a black female buck and gold painted detail only. There’s gold trim around the soles of her boots, on the palms of her hands, and the deco on her torso. Most of the paint is applied pretty well, although some of the decorations around her chest could have been a bit sharper. Wasp features those oogity-boogity spell-casting hands that we’ve seen on a lot of the ladies lately. I would have probably preferred at least one fist, if not both. I usually picture her launching her Wasp Stings from her fists and not opened hands. But, hey… no biggie.

The wings look great. They’re cast in a transparent yellowish-green with sculpted veins (or whatever you call those things) making them look a little icky. The Universe version of Wasp came with only two wings, but the Legends has four, with two plugging directly into her back and the other two socketing into the primary wings. It offers a good deal of articulation and I haven’t had any problems with them coming out while posing her.

The portrait really could have made or broken this figure and I’m happy to say it turned out fine. Janet is sporting her pixie cut, with hair a little shorter than what we got on the Universe version. I have heard horror stories about the paintwork on her eyes, mine look just fine and the paint on the lips is pretty good too. Her hair features some lighter brown highlights.

Articulation is the usual female buck fare. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders and wrists and double hinged at the elbows. Alas, there are no bicep swivels. I really wish Hasbro would finally make those standard on all the Legends figures. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinges in the knees, and swivels in the thighs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. She has a ball joint just below her chest and her neck is ball jointed and hinged.

Once again, Hasbro has been serving up some solid figures in their Legends series and Wasp here is no exception. The only real complaint I have about Wasp here is that between her lithe legs and back-heavy wings she can be a little difficult to stand. Luckily Legends figures aren’t too difficult to fit and I’ve found that the NECA and (ironically) DC Collectibles stands work pretty well with these. Of course, the cool thing about having a matching Legends and Universe version is that I think the two look great displayed next to each other, similar to the set up that Bowen did for one of their contemporary Wasp statues. I like this figure a lot and it’s even possibly motivated me to hunt down the red and blue costumed version (my favorite look for her) from that old MODOK Wave.

FigureFan Zero

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