May 15 2015

Star Wars Black: Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise by Hasbro

Last week I checked out Bossk from Hasbro’s most recent wave of 6-inch Star Wars Black. It was one of those annoying half-waves that was bogged down by two repacks from the previous wave, in this case Chewbacca and the Tie Pilot. Both of those were excellent figures, but I’ve already got them, and if I decide I want another Tie Pilot there’s been one languishing on the shelf of the Walgreens around the corner for weeks now. Nope, all that’s left for me here is the Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise, and I suspect that’s barely even a new figure. Let’s take a look.

Han comes packaged with his helmet off, which is no big surprise as it allows you to tell the difference between Han and the real Stormtroopers. This figure was a no brainer for Hasbro as it allowed them to kitbash a release on the cheap and in all honesty, it’s not a bad score for us collectors. Yeah, I was one of those idiots who immediately tried to do a head swap between the Stormy and Han when I first got them only to find Hasbro was too smart for me and that the ball joints weren’t the same size, thus preventing fans from easily making this figure on their own and now having to shell out an extra Andy Jackson.

And yes, as expected, this is a straight repack of the Stormtrooper body with the head from the Han Solo release. The only modification Hasbro had to do was make the heads fit by adding a longer neck post with a smaller ball joint and putting a “turtleneck” ring around it. I’m not throwing that up as a criticism, there was no reason for any changes as the Stormtrooper body is excellent. It’s easily one of my favorite things to come out of this line. So, yeah, Hasbro… milk that puppy for all its worth! The only differences I can see on my figure come from the paint. The soles of Han’s boots aren’t painted gray like the regular Stormy’s, but they are still painted around the edges. Also, the bottom of Han’s crotch is left white, where it’s painted black on the Stomtrooper. I know, riveting stuff, right?

While the head is the same sculpt as the regular Han Solo release, this one looks a little better and I mostly attribute that to normal variations in paint. Some people have had issue with the likeness here, but I really don’t. It’s certainly not spot on, but if Hot Toys can’t get Harrison Ford right on their $250 12-inch figure Indiana Jones figure, I think this is pretty solid for a $20 6-incher. As for the helmet, I expected it to be a trainwreck because it’s sculpted out of softer plastic, but it holds its own compared to the regular Stormy head. There are a few issues with the paint, like the black on his chin is a little off to the side, but I would imagine that’s not exemplary of all figures, some may do better and some worse. It fits on the figure beautifully, which is no small feat considering Han’s copious 70’s coif, and it won’t come off unless you pull it off.

Obviously, the articulation here is identical to the regular Stormtrooper, so rather than go through it all again, I’ll just refer you back to that review.

In addition to his Stormy helmet, Han comes with the same E-11 Blaster that came with the regular Stormtrooper. It’s still an amazing sculpt, fits into the holster, and this time around Hasbro actually painted the chamber on the receiver. Why is that even there? Is that where you load more lasers into it? Maybe it’s where the battery goes? Or, maybe it’s because the prop was made out of a Sterling machine gun.

So, some may cry foul at this release being a quick and easy cash grab on Hasbro’s part, but I think it’s a worthwhile addition. The “Stormtrooper Disguise” figure is almost as old as the Star Wars action figure line itself, first appearing in the Power of the Force rebranding that came after Return of the Jedi. Although if my memory is serving me well, I think Luke was the only one that got the figure treatment back then. Besides, if you don’t want the Han, just slap that helmet on him and you’ve got yourself another Stormtrooper! I do think Hasbro did us collectors a diservice by including this one in a wave that was already half full of repacks, but that’s only because I rely on buying the case packs in order to get all the figures at a reasonable price. When I need to buy partial packs or individual releases, I usually get hit for more money and that was certainly the case with Bossk and Han here.

May 14 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Dead End by Hasbro

Howdy, folks, and welcome to Transformers Thursday! Yeah, last week I ran into some complications with content because my studio was ripped apart, so I’m trying to play a little catch up this week. Today I’m opening up the very last Stunticon, or at least the last one until Wildrider (or whatever they’re calling him) comes along. I saved Dead End for last because next to Motormaster, he was my favorite Stunticon as a kid. What abritrary reason made me choose him over four other relatively personality-less cartoon robot cars? I couldn’t tell you, but I’m sure it was well-reasoned. This being the case, I’m coming into this figure with some high expectations, so you better not disappoint me Hasbro!!! Hang on, while I take a fortifying sip of Jameson. Ahhhh. Good stuff. Let’s look at the package…

Yes, it’s the same packaging we’ve been seeing all along and it’s growing on me, especially since there’s a free comic book in there. I haven’t mentioned it before, but I really dig the way they do a data sheet on the character on the back cover of the comic. I’ve really got nothing else to add at this point. Dead End is packaged in his robot mode, but we’re going to start with his alt mode, because that’s just how I roll.

So, straightaway I’ll say that Dead End takes the top spot as my favorite of all these Stunticon alt modes. Yeah, Breakdown was the closest to his original G1 alt mode, but this here is on snazzy looking car. He’s a little more rounded out than his original G1 namesake, but the maroon body, black painted windows, and the off center racing stripe all conspire to warm my GeeWun-loving heart. Sure, he wears his Decepticon emblem on his hood instead of the door, but I’m Ok with that and the grey on the side panels give him a little modern zing. I do, however, wish the hood emblem was straight. It looks like they tampo’d it on an angle to line up with the contours of the hood, but the result is really aggrevating my OCD. Ah, but even that can’t mar what is an otherwise beautiful little evil sports car.

Dead End features three weapon ports, one on top and one on each side just behind the front wheels. You can use these to weaponize him up by pegging in his… ah, exhaust pipe. Yeah, other than the combiner part, this grey pipe is all you get. I suppose it looks kind of OK pegged into the side, but, no… not really. We’ll circle back to that pipe when we get to the robot mode.

Transforming Dead End is as simple as these Deluxes tend to get and the engineering doesn’t really hold any surprises. In fact, he actually has a lot in common with Breakdown, particularly in the way he has a chest flap that closes down to partially cover the combiner port. The way the windshield and front of the car folds onto his back is also similar, but Dead End got the better end of this deal. Instead of the ugly inside crater of the car shell showing, Dead End’s backpack shows off the hood of the car. As far as car kibble backpacks go, this is about as stylish as you can get. I also really dig the head sculpt on this guy. It’s a great looking portrait for a ‘Con and I’m glad to see he got the Sunbow style mouthplate.

The deco in robot mode features a lot of the same maroon and gold, although you do get a good amount of dark gray plastic thrown into the mix. While Dead End is far from traditional Decepticon colors, I think the dark deco works really well for him and I love the tiny little Decepticon emblem on his chest. It looks like it belongs there, whereas the other Stunticon faction emblems look like they were stock on as an afterthought.

As much as I find this bot mode to be pure love, I still have a few little quibbles. The elbows use that annoying style of hinge that attaches at the end of the two halves of the limb. I call it “hollow elbow” and while there is probably absolutely no reason why a robot couldn’t function like this, I just think it looks weird. You also get a grey socket thing sticking on the inside of his right leg that looks rather conspicuously out of place. It’s there to attach the foot or hand in combiner mode and it does just come off if you don’t want it there. I did think the short lower legs would bother me on this figure, but they really don’t at all.

Dead End’s choice of weapon is an odd one indeed, because it’s basically just an exhaust pipe. Normally I prefer my Transformers to have guns, swords and axes will do in a pinch, but just giving him a big pipe? I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I suppose going into battle with nothing but a giant pipe is kind of bad ass and represents a certain degree of thuggery befitting of a ‘Con. On the other hand, it seems like a really stupid thing to do when 95% of the other robots out there are going to have guns and the other 5% probably have swords. Anyway, Dead End can wield it like a club, or there’s a peg on the side so he can wield it like a PR-24 police baton.

Even with some minor gripes, Dead End is easily my favorite of the Deluxe Stunticons. That’s not to say the others are bad. I’ve actually enjoyed these guys quite a bit. Yeah, I was a little iffy on Dragstrip at first, but he’s grown on me a lot. I expected to hate Breakdown, but he’s actually pretty cool. Really, that just leaves Offroad as the odd bot out, and that’s not because he’s a bad figure, but mainly just because I see him as an imposter. Next Transformers Thursday I will revisit the Stunticons for one last time to take a look at their combined form, Menasor. At the risk of spoilers, I’ll just say this… writing that piece is going to require a lot of Jameson. Meaning I’ll need some booze to get through it. Because Menasor sucks.

May 5 2015

Star Wars Black: Bossk by Hasbro

I know, I know. Yesterday was May the 4th aka Star Wars Day, but I really wanted to wrap up my Age of Ultron Trifecta. I’m making up for it today with a long overdue revisiting of Hasbro’s 6-inch Black line. Man, it feels like forever since the last time I checked out a figure from this series, and it has been a while: Back in January when I featured the Tie Fighter pilot, to be exact. Some of that has to do with me skipping a few figures along the way, particularly the Yoda and one of the colored Clone Troopers. Even this current wave wasn’t a complete buy-in for me. I can’t even remember exactly what four figures comprised the case, but the only two I picked up were Bossk and Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise. I decided to go with Bossk first because… well, it’s Bossk and it was really never a contest. Sorry Han, we’ll check you out next time.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging, so let me just take this opportunity to say how happy I am that Hasbro started getting into the Bounty Hunters early on with this series. Yeah, we’re still waiting on some staples of the line and there are plenty of characters (or versions of characters) that we should probably be getting before a one-line-wonder like Bossk. On the other hand, anything that brings me closer to a complete set of 6-inch Bounty Hunters makes me happy. Oh yes, kids, 6-inch Dengar better damn well be coming! Anyway, I like Bossk and I always have. If for no other reason, it just tickles me that his outfit is a reused costume from the 1968 Doctor Who story “The Wheel in Space!” That’s just rad!

It’s probably most appropriate to start with the costume because it’s also one of the greatest opportunities this figure has going to the 6-inch format. Sure, Hasbro has managed to cram an impressive amount of detail into some of the flight suits on the 3 3/4″ figures, but the larger scale breeds better opportunities for attention to detail and I think they took good advantage of it with this figure. Bossk’s flight suit is quite complex and that’s certainly reflected here. I don’t pretend to know what all this stuff does, but all the straps and cables, and hoses hanging off of our Saurian friend here looks great. Bossk features that same type of harness that we saw with X-Wing PIlot Luke. It’s a soft plastic rig that connects to the belt and loops around his thighs. It’s all also connected to the hose that runs into his vest. You also get a hose running out of the front of his suit, runs around to the back and connects into his vest, probably to help circulate his lizard juices. The mostly yellow jumpsuit is sculpted to look like its bunched up around his knees and he has those familiar silver bands of cylinders running around his legs. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve grown to accept Bossk’s outfit as iconic and this figure nails it quite well.

The exposed lizard parts are also very nicely detailed with sculpted scales and the claws on his fingers and toes. Ah, but it’s the head sculpt that really drives the beauty of this figure home. It looks fantastic and the inclusion of an articulated jaw was a somewhat risky and bold choice. Truth be told, it doesn’t open all that wide, but I think that’s what makes it such a neat little touch. And surprisingly, the added articulation doesn’t detract from the quality of the portrait at all, so I think it was a worthy addition.

The paint on this figure is mostly good. There are some black spots on my figure’s arms, which looks like rubbing of the paint, or possibly transfer from some of the black applications. Aside from that, the detail work around the silver fixtures of the costume is all quite well done and the wash looks pretty good. They also picked the perfect shade of slightly washed out yellow plastic for the jumpsuit. If I had one major complaint it would be that the painted eyes on my Bossk are all googly. Ugh, come on Hasbro, you come so close and then you blow it with the little stuff. Ah well, I suspect I’ll be able to fix that by filling them in a little more with a sharpie, but it’s something I shouldn’t have to be doing on a twenty dollar collectible figure.

He may have stood there on the deck and did nothing in the movie, but Bossk’s figure still features all the articulation I’ve come to expect from this line. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, have swivels at the thighs and below the knees, and the ankles feature hinges and some generous lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso, but it really doesn’t offer a whole lot of movement, the neck, however is both hinged and ball jointed and I’ve already mentioned that sweet hinged jaw. Most of this articulation is as good as it sounds, with the one stand out being the elbows. The way the arms are sculpted doen’t give Bossk a lot of range of motion there.

Bossk comes with one accessory and that’s his laser rifle. It comes complete with shoulder strap and while it’s a fairly simple sculpt, it looks good and his left hand is sculpted in just the right way so that he can grip it comfortably and hold onto it securely. On the downside, because of the limited elbow articulation, I can’t get him to hold it both hands very convincingly.

Yes, the 6-inch Black line continues to have its ups and downs, but releases like Bossk pull me in and remind me why I’m collecting this line. He’s a great figure, with just a few little issues here and there, that ultimately makes me all the more excited for the up and coming IG-88 release and I sincerely hope the rest of the Bounty Hunter scum are going to be turning up in the next year or so. Now if we could just get Hasbro to stop repacking figures from the previous wave into the new ones, I could finally go back to buying cases and not having to get individuals or pairs of figures from scalpers.

May 4 2015

Marvel Legends (Thanos Wave): Iron Man, Mark 43 by Hasbro

I’m just now coming off the high of the Age of Ultron weekend. I actually got out to see it twice, while also viewing some of my Marvel Blu-Rays too and I’m still pretty pumped. If only I had some freaking toys from the movie to look at… Oh yeah, I do! If you haven’t been following along with my Marvel Legends madness, I’ve already looked at two of the three Age of Ultron figures from the Thanos Wave of Legends and today I’m checking out the last one and it is indeed Tony Stark in the Iron Man, Mark III armor! But before jumping in, can I say how disappointed I am that the movie doesn’t have its own line. Yeah, apparently there were some 3 3/4″ figures with five points of articulation that got clearanced out before the film even hit. And you have that weird 2 1/2″ line that feels like Hasbro wanted to do something, but not really commit to it. Well, I suppose I should count myself lucky that these three figures found their way into the Legends line.

There’s the packaged shot and since I’ve got nothing new to say about it, I’ll touch on a few words about Tony’s new armor. So, even a geek like me has trouble keeping up on all of Tony’s different suits, but a few do stand out to me. My favorites are unquestiongly the Mark III and the Mark VII. The Mark 42 debuted in Iron Man 3 and I was pretty iffy on it, mainly because of the saturation of gold over the red. It has grown on me a little bit and I think it looks better in certain formats. The Mark 43 is basically the same armor with the gold turned down a lot and I think to much better aesthetic effect. I think this one is a move back in the right direction, but truth be told, I think I’ve officially reached armor fatigue when it comes to all the new designs.

If you were here for Friday, you may remember that the Age of Ultron Captain America was a repaint and remold of the Winter Soldier figure. Well, in this case the Mark 43 is a straight repaint of the Mark 42. That having been said, it’s impressive how some of the changes make certain aspects of the sculpt stand out as different. I can see collectors who passed on the 42 actually digging this figure a lot. It really is funny how much difference a fresh coat of paint can make.

Obviously articulation is identical to the Mark 42, but let’s run through it anyway. 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, swivels at the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and hinges in the ankles. There’s a ball joint in the torso and both a hinge and a ball joint in the neck. What’s here is pretty good, but I would have loved some lateral rockers in the ankles. Also, the right arm on my figure doesn’t want to go all the way down by his side, which is kind of strange since the Mark 42 doesn’t have the same problem.

You do get one potentially nice bonus with this figure over the Mark 42 and that’s the extra Tony Stark head with the opened helmet. Granted, it is not one of the better headsculpts that we’ve seen in the Legends line, and that’s me being generous. It’s actually pretty terrible. I’m not sure if it’s the sculpt or the paint or a combination of both, but it actually looks like a bad mannequin head of Downey Jr. When I think about some of the great portraits we’ve seen in the Legends line over the last few years, this one is just baffling. Hell, in this very wave we got the unmasked Steve Rogers head, which is a work of art compared to Stark’s melon. One cool thing is that since the helmets on the 43 and the 42 are identical, you can do the head swap on the Mark 42 as well.

Repaint or no, I’m happy to have this figure in my collection. Granted, the Mark 43 is only the second of the movie armors that I own in this scale, so my shelves aren’t exactly packed with MovieVerse Starks. It’s a bit of a shame that Hasbro didn’t toss the Mark 45 into this wave, but I’m sure the lure of a quick and dirty repaint was too much for them to resist. The unmasked head could have definitely been executed better, and some extra hands would have been nice, but all in all, this one is still a solid, albeit not stellar entry. Of course, it still feels odd just getting these three and I can’t help but hope we might see some ofther Age of Ultron figures in forthcoming waves of the Legends line.

May 1 2015

Marvel Legends (Thanos Wave): Captain America by Hasbro

It’s Friday, May 1st and that means Age of Ultron is out in the theaters now and like myself, many of you are still reeling from the excitement of having seen it at least a couple of times. Fear not for spoilers, because all I’m going to say is that it lived up to all my expectations and yet a lot of it is still settling in. Better than the first? Hmm… probably not, but still an amazing ride and further proof (as if we need it at this point) that the team of Marvel and Disney know how to bring comic action to the big screen. To commemorate the movie’s launch, I am taking the opportunity to check out the last two of the the three Age of Ultron figures that were released as part of the Thanos Wave of Marvel Legends. If you missed out on Monday, it was The Hulk. Today I’m looking at Cap and when I come back for Marvel Monday, I’ll take a look at the Iron Man, Mark 43 armor. Let’s go. soldiers!

There’s the packaging and I’ve got nothing new to say about it, other than all the movie figures have the Age of Ultron branding up at the top. I will, however, take this opportunity to talk a little about Cap’s new uniform. The evolution of Cap’s costume has been interesting. We got the original WW2 style look in The First Avenger. A very big departure to a modern look in The Avengers. Then in The Winter Soldier he donned the Captain Rogers homage that was the STRIKE Suit before he literally went back to his WW2 costume (albeit ret-conned with some tweaks). And that brings us to Age of Ultron where he’s wearing what I can best describe as a mix of the STRIKE Suit and ret-conned WW2 outfit. I like it a lot, but I’m still deciding whether I like it enough to justify another Hot Toys Cap purchase. Luckily picking up the Legends version is not such a weighty decision.

When I first held this figure in hand, I thought it was a straight repaint of the STRIKE Suit Cap, but comparing the two reveals there are significant tweaks to the mold, mostly in the torso. That’s fine, because I’m a big fan of the former figure and seeing it dressed up in the red, white, and blue is making me love it even more. The belt still seems a bit on the thick side, giving him what looks like a shelf surrounding his waist, but otherwise the contours and proportions are excellent. The new paintwork is overall fairly clean. I like the silver detailing on the buckles of his shoulder rigs and the fingerless gloves are a nice touch. All in all, this is a great looking figure that serves up the best of both worlds, but if you’re looking for a completely new body, you’ll be disappointed.

If you have STRIKE Suit Cap then you obviously know what to expect from the articulation here, but if this is your first time with this mold, I’ll run through it anyway. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, swivels in the biceps, and double hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have swivels in the thighs and tops of the boots, double hinges in the knees, and the ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. Cap can swivel at the waist, he has an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and his head is both hinged and ball jointed. STRIKE Suit Cap spent quite a while on my desk before getting put on the shelf and I had a lot of fun playing around with him. The same will likely be true of this guy.

This Age of Ultron release also includes everything that came with the STRIKE Suit figure. For starters, that means you get two portraits, one masked and one unmasked. The masked head looks to me like a straight repaint of the STRIKE Suit Cap, while the unmasked is the exact same head, untouched. Both heads are pretty good. The paint on the masked head could be a tad sharper, but I have no serious complaints. The unmasked head is a good looking sculpt, although I’ve got to squint a little to see the likeness. It probably works better as a comic book head than one matching Chris Evans.

In addition to the two heads, you also get two sets of hands: One pair of fists, one pointing left hand, and one saluting right hand. Again, these are the same pieces that came with STRIKE Suit Cap. I was happy to get them there and they’re welcome here as well.

Lastly, you get Cap’s trusty shield, which is the same STRIKE Suit Cap shield, which has obviously been repainted to the more traditional colors. By now I’ve practically got a drawer full of Legends scale Captain America shields, but I think this is one of my favorites because it actually has straps like the real thing, as opposed to the hinged peg and clip system. The paint job on the front is beautiful and the sculpted straps on the inside can slide onto his arm without even removing the hand. On the downside, there’s no way to attach this thing to his back.

With the crazy number of Legends Captain America figures that are populating my shelves these days, I have to admit that this release didn’t have me all that excited. That having been said, he turned out to be an excellent figure and possibly one of my favorite versions of him in this scale. The sculpt was already a winner and I think these colors work beautifully on it. Plus, getting the extra portrait and hands just sweetens the pot. I’m hoping that when the time comes I’ll be content to own this version of Cap in the Legends scale and save a little money on the Hot Toys, but I won’t know for sure until the time comes and I can see what my bank account looks like.

Apr 30 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Offroad by Hasbro

It’s Thursday again, and that means I get to open up a new Transformer and yup, it’s another Stunticon! I’ve been pretty happy with these guy so far and now I’ve only got two left to open before I can cobble them all together into Menasor. Which Stunticon is it going to be today? Why, Offroad of course! Ah, Offroad. As a kid he was my very favorite of all the… HEY! Wait a minute… who the hell is Offroad? Yes, friends, just like the Aerialbots had their very own imposter in the form of a helicopter named Alpha Bravo, the Stunticons that I know and love have their own ringer and he’s a Pick Up Truck named Offroad. Where the Primus is Wildrider? He’s supposedly still coming. In the meantime, Offroad arrives on the scene with a mold that can be better refashioned into members of other combiner teams. This displeased me up until I found out that we’d still be getting Wildrider, so let me take in a breath of tolerance and see what this guy’s all about.

Offroad comes packaged in his robot mode with his weapon and combiner part beside him, all plastered in front of a lovely free comic book. At least the back of the package has a blurb about Offroad that admits he’s the newest member of the team, not like some Poochie that they tried to retcon in without thinking we would know about it. But hey, he’s a Decepticon car and by my very nature I love Decepticon cars. That philosophy hasn’t failed me since Hasbro decided to repaint Armada Sideswipe into Oil Slick. *shudder* Anyway, this is case where my outlook is still fairly optimistic. Let’s start with his alt mode.

This is certainly not a bad looking little truck. The detail in the front grill, headlights, and bumper is pretty good and I really like the wheels. It’s also worth mentioning that with his charcoal colored body and red painted windows, Hasbro did their best to give him G1 Wildrider’s colors. Hell, he even sports the same off center Decepticon logo on his hood. Still, Offroad manages to bust out on his own a bit with those red color splashes on his doors. The alt mode holds together quite tightly and rolls along great.

Offroad features no less than four ports to peg in his weapon, two on the sides and two on the truck bed, but considering he comes with an axe, none of them do all that much in terms of weaponizing him. I guess the axe shaft kind of looks like an exhaust pipe, but given the positions of the peg holes, that doesn’t help much. There’s also a tab so you can attach the combiner part, which doesn’t look as great as it did with Breakdown, but I can still get behind it.

Transforming Offroad is about as simple as it gets for a Deluxe Class toy. The only real clever thing here is the way his legs extend outward. Otherwise, the arms pulling out from the sides and the bed of the truck becoming the legs is pretty standard stuff. He is a little mis-transformed in the package as his backpack does drop down a little bit to put the wheels right on the back of his shoulders. Looking at him from behind doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

While Hasbro tried to pay respects to Wildrider with Offroad’s coloring in car mode, the robot mode abandons any further homages. Still, this is a pretty solid robot mode. The exposed combiner port on his chest doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it does on Dragstrip and he’s got some neat things going for him. The car door armor on his shoulders is well placed and I really dig the sculpted and painted springs on his lower legs. The backpack also feels more natural than Breakdowns does, despite it being clearly visible from the front. It gives me a little bit of a Huffer or Pipes vibe the way it forms a hood.

And then there’s the head sculpt, which on its own merits is quite good, but it still feels out of place to me on one of these figures. It doesn’t shout Stunticon to me and I’m not a big fan of the green painted face, despite the fact that the sculpt of that face is quite good. Every time I look at this noggin I feel like I’m looking at a Cybertron figure. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, but again, it just seems strange on a Combiner Wars figure in 2015. Of course, this could all just be the booze talking. I’m on my third Maker’s Mark since I started writing.

Articulation on these figures has been pretty good and Offroad is no exception. You get ball joints in the shoulders and some oddly strong ratcheting hinges in the elbows. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and feature hinges in the knees and swivels in the thighs. The neck is ball jointed and you do get a swivel in the hip. Offroad is not super-articulated by any means, but he is just limber enough to make him fun to play around with.

Offroad comes with an axe, which I find to be rather disappointing because I tend to like at least one gun with my Convertobots. I suppose I could have him hold the combiner part as some kind of quad-barreled gun, but that just doesn’t do it for me.

Call me a foolish old GeeWunner, but I think I would have liked Offroad more if he weren’t masquerading as one of my beloved Stunticons. There is nothing inherently bad about this figure and I have a feeling I’ll warm up to him a little more once I get a proper Combiner Wars Wildrider to replace him. That having been said, this team is shaping up pretty nicely and I have only one more to open before I can get my combining thang on. I’ll also note here that I totally approve of what I’ve seen of the way Hasbro has resculpted and repainted this figure to be First Aid, so there’s another reason that Offroad does not deserve my scorn. He’s not my favorite of the Stunticons so far, but he ain’t bad either!

Apr 27 2015

Marvel Legends (Thanos Wave): Hulk by Hasbro

What? You thought that just because I did a whole week of Marvel Legends last week that you’d be spared Marvel Monday? HA! Just for that I have a good mind to do another Marvel Week. I should, really, because Age of Ultron premiers this Friday here in the US and I am going to be pumped for it all week. But, I do have other stuff to look at so I’ll resist that urge. On the other hand, I can’t promise you won’t see the other Age of Ultron figures from The Thanos Wave appearing here on Friday and Saturday. Anywho, let’s move things along with a look at The Hulk!

Here’s the obligatory package shot. I don’t have a lot new to say other than it’s impressive that Hasbro was able to cram him into a regular sized Legends box and include a BAF part to boot! The top of the package features the Avengers: Age of Ultron logo and the back has a shot of the figure and the usual little snippet about the character. I’ll confess I was really excited to get this figure because The Hulk is another one of those Walmart exclusive Avengers figures that I missed out on last time and I’ve sorely missed having a Legends Hulk in my collection. Of course, this is the Age of Ultron version, so I had to make some compromises. Let’s SMASH the packaging and see what he’s all about.

So, it’s The Hulk. What could they possibly change in terms of design for the new movie? Well, that’s my one sticking minor sticking point here. At some point I guess they designed Bruce Banner some stretchy pants so he doesn’t have to go through all those pairs of torn purple trousers every time he changes. It makes sense, but it departs from The Hulk design that I know and love in a big, big way. I get it, that they’re trying to sell more action figures, but the new pants make me very glad I picked up The Hot Toys Hulk from the first movie and very sad I didn’t get the Legends Hulk from the first movie. Ah well.

Everything else here in terms of sculpt is pretty damn great. I’m going to assume that a lot of this figure is reused from the first Avengers Hulk, which would make sense. The head sculpt is absolutely fantastic. From the broad nose to the gritting teeth, they did a wonderful job captured the Hulk’s likeness for this scale. There are some odd differences in the texturing on the rest of the body, which could tell a lot about Hasbo and their tendency for parts reuse. The torso is totally smooth, whereas there’s a lot of texturing and veins sculpted into the arms. Just for shits and giggles I grabbed my incomplete Ultimate Green Goblin BAF only to find that torso does indeed have some sculpted detail. Why not go with that torso? I’m not sure. Also, the upper legs are textured in line with his new trousers, whereas the bottom of the legs are textured like smooth skin. The part of the pants that extend below his knees are just painted there. No big deal, but worth mentioning.

The articulation here is good on paper, but a little frustrating in practice. First, let’s run down all the points! You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, hips, and wrists. There are double hinges in the elbows and knees. You get swivels in the biceps and thighs. The ankles feature both hinges and some really generous lateral rockers. There is no swivel in the waist, which is a big disappointment, but there is a ball joint in the torso, which helps along with rotation. The head is ball jointed, but sadly there is no hinge, which means that if you put The Hulk in that typical ape-like hunch, you can’t really get him to look forward. Boo! Also, the legs feature a lot of movement, but for most of it, they like to go really wide, giving Hulk a rather uncharacteristic sumo wrestler vibe. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still loads of fun to play with, but there’s some things he just can’t do as well as I’d like.

All gripes aside, Hulk is a great figure, but this is one case where I wish Hasbro had totally cheaped out and just repacked the Hulk from the first movie, especially since that original Hulk is selling for upward of $45 on Teh Ebays these days. Do a pair of pants really matter? Nah. Only when I over think it. The torn pants always represented the unpredictable and savage nature of The Hulk busting its way out of Bruce Banner and it’s certainly a trademark for the character. Giving Hulk a version of a uniform may make sense, but I never saw Hulk as the type to conform, much less allow anyone to brand him with a trademark (in this case, the Avengers “A”). The Thing might wear pants that match his team’s colors, but The Hulk? Really? And yes, I realize these are more creative issues I should be taking up with the movie (and I suppose even the Marvel NOW! comics) and not the figure, but in the end I’m not letting them ruin my enjoyment of either.

Apr 25 2015

Marvel Legends: Agents of SHIELD 3-pack by Hasbro, Part 2

It’s Saturday, my vacation is almost over and that makes me a sad puppy. Hopefully playing with some new Marvel Legends can cheer me up until the dark din of Monday morning hits me and my mood is irrecoverable. Yesterday, I started looking at this Agents of SHIELD boxed set with Agent Phil Coulson and found him to be a fresh and new figure. Today we’re going to be looking at Nick Fury and Maria Hill and things are not going to be so fresh and new. Reuse of parts is common in these multiplacks and that’s going to become pretty apparent today with two recycled bodies. We’ve already seen the packaging, so let’s jump right in and start with Nick Fury.

Before I get going, let me point out that this seems to be a repack of the Legends Fury originally issued as part of the Walmart exclusive Captain America: The First Avenger line. I never saw those figures on the pegs, so I’m coming at this like a new release, or at least new to me. I like this figure, I like it a lot. I think it looks fantastic on its own. But it sure is hard not to look at it and see a head pop-and-swap from the Red Skull a few waves back because that’s almost exactly what this figure is. The only stand out difference is the coat and pants going from grey to black. Does it work as Fury? Absolutely! I think it works better as Fury than the Red Skull. Is it annoying that I can’t unsee it? You betcha! Especially so when the two figures are likely only going to be a shelf apart in my display case. It’s also the same basic body we saw with The Punisher, and that coat was not only previously used for Red Skull and The Punisher, but Fantomex as well (and did that “Marvel Knights” Blade figure ever actually come out? If so, there’s another!). But hey, I absolutely love this coat. It’s wonderfully textured and looks fantastic and next to Frank Castle, I think Fury is the best use of it.

I’m also very fond of the aesthetics of this particular body. Again, there’s a ton of little detail work on the texturing of the pants and shirt. The sculpted and functional holster on the leg looks great and Fury makes use of the extra holster in the shoulder rig that was used with Red Skull. For a line that makes a lot of use of generic bucks and painted costumes, I can appreciate the sculpted detail here. The boots are painted glossy black to stand out from the rest of the black and there’s some fine silver paintwork on the buckles and snaps.

The head sculpt rounds out the package quite nicely. It’s a great likeness for Samuel Jackson, at least in this scale and price range and when you put the whole thing together, I think this figure really captures the character beautifully.

Now, you may have noted that I commented on how I like the aesthetics of this body, well the articulation is another matter. All the points are there, but the way the shoulders and hips work can be rather annoying. The arms can’t really be put down at his sides, so you’re mostly relegated to action poses. The hips can do a little better, but you really have to fiddle with those ball joints a lot and even so, this figure is really tough to stand on his own.

Fury comes with a pair of automatic pistols, which are nicely scaled (particularly when compared to Red Skull’s obnoxiously large red sidearm). They feature decent sculpts and even some blue paint apps, which makes them a little SHIELD-y to me. They fit nicely in both holsters, but unfortunately, Fury only has one hand that’s really designed to hold a gun, but that’s OK, because I can hand one off to Maria Hill. And that brings us to…

Yes, Agent Hill is also a mostly recycled body, in this case taken from the recent Winter Soldier version of Black Widow. Again, it’s a logical bit of reuse, and in this case the body has received an entirely new repaint (blue) to make it a somewhat more distinctive figure. There are also some less added silver paint apps to the fixtures of her gear, as well as the absence of Widow’s trademark emblem on the tummy, that help separate the two. On the downside, reuse of this body means that you also get the holsters with the guns permanently sculpted into them. Still, even with its flaws, I really like that Black Widow figure and this one works a little better because I’m pretty sure that that Cobie Smulders is taller than Scarlett Johansson and this figure is pretty tall when compared to Fury or even the STRIKE Suit Cap. Ironically, Widow’s hair still makes her a smidge taller than Hill.

Speaking of actresses, the likeness on Agent Hill is certainly passable. I don’t think it photographs all that well, but in person it’s quite good. I’m not sure I could randomly identify the head if it were given to me, but in the context of the uniform, it’s pretty easy for me to recognize who it’s supposed to be. She even has her trademark ear piece.

Hill doesn’t come with any accessories, but as I mentioned before I believe I’ll be handing off one of Fury’s guns to her. Her right hand is sculpted to hold these guns perfectly. The left hand is sculpted into a fist, which unfortunately looks more like a ham painted in a flesh tone.

Like I said in the opener, these sets are usually all about parts recycling, so that’s something to keep in mind. Companies like Hasbro and Mattel recycling bodies doesn’t bother me, especially if it helps us get figures that otherwise might not be in the budget and certainly not when its used to this good effect. As far as I’m concerned, every one of these figures would have been a worthy purchase on their own so grabbing all three for fifty bucks feels like a pretty good deal. Certainly good enough that I didn’t hesitate to buy it when I saw it, whereas I waited until deep clearance to buy Hasbro’s last Legends 3-pack.

Apr 24 2015

Marvel Legends: Agents of SHIELD 3-pack by Hasbro, Part 1

Well, I hope you all enjoyed yesterday’s little break from Marvel Legends Week, because today it’s back to business, this time with the Agents of SHIELD 3-pack. This Toys R Us exclusive features Agent Phil Coulson, Agent Maria Hill, and Nick Fury himself. These are, of course, all versions based on the Marvel MovieVerse, which is appropriate as we are just one week away from the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron and I couldn’t be more psyched. In the wake of watching the amazing Daredevil series on Netflex, I actually thought I’d give the Agents of SHIELD series a second go, but I find myself still having to push myself to complete an episode, so I’m not sure how long I’ll last this time.

Much like that far more questionable Captain America, Radioactive Man, Ms Marvel set that I featured a couple of weeks back, these figures come in an elongated window box showing off the goods. It’s totally collector friendly as all you need do is open up one of the flaps and slide out the tray. I thought this set was going to be impossible to get a hold of, but it turned up on TRU’s website fairly quickly and surprisingly enough did not sell out immediately. Quite the contrary, it shortly went on sale. Today I’m going to check out the packaging and Agent Coulson and tomorrow I’ll swing back around to look at Fury and Hill.

Agent Coulson was a great choice for the Marvel Legends series as he’s been one of those common threads trailing along through the films from the beginning. Coulson comes sporting a brand new suited body, which I hear tell was actually created for the up and coming Chameleon figure and yet somehow managed to land on the shelves first here on Coulton. It features the usual vest-style of jacket with the arms sculpted to look like sleeves. The tie is also a separate piece and features a crisp blue and silver diagonal stripe. The paintwork is rounded out with some sharp silver paint on the belt buckle and glossy black for the shoes. I think they could have done a better job matching the black on the sleeves and jacket, but otherwise this body is a really nice piece of work and I can imagine there’s a lot of potential for Hasbro to repurpose it quite a bit. Just think of how much mileage Mattel got out of some of their DCUC suited bodies, eh?

You get two different heads with Coulson, one with sunglasses and one without. The regular head is a fairly good portrait. It’s a little stylized, but I’m pretty sure I could have recognized it as Clark Gregg if I didn’t already know who it was supposed to be. The features are quite well definied and he has a little bit of a smile. The other portrait is possibly even a little closer in likeness. The sunglasses are very neatly painted and this one features a more serious expression. Hasbro rarely has to deal with real actor likenesses in the Legends line, but it’s nice to see they can do it right when they have to.

As for articulation, The Son of Coul is a surprisingly agile figure. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, swivels in the thighs, and the ankles are hinged with lateral rockers. Phil has a swivel in the waist, a ball joint in the torso, and both a hinge and balljoint at the neck. For a guy in a suit, Coulson is all sorts of limber.

Besides the extra noggin, Phil comes with the weapon he briefly wielded in the first Avengers movie. It’s the one that SHIELD retro-engineered from The Destroyer technology and the one he shot Loki with. It’s a big gun with some really intricate sculpting and a little orange paint on the barrel. He can hold it comfortably in both hands.

Oftentimes these Marvel multipacks, whether they be Legends or Universe, feel like quick cash grabs with thrown together figures, but that’s definitely not the case with Agent Coulson. I would have been totally happy to buy this guy off the peg for the usual $20. He’s an excellent figure and feels fresh and new. The likeness is good, the articulation is great, and the extra head and the weapon just sweeten the pot. We’re off to a great start with this set, so join me tomorrow and I’ll be back to look at Nick Fury and Maria Hill.

Apr 23 2015

Transformers Combiner Wars: Breakdown by Hasbro

If you follow the day-by-day doings here at FFZ, then you know I’m in the middle of a Marvel Legends Week, but I’m still going to observe the tradition that is Transformers Thursday around these parts. Afterall, I’ve got me some Stunticons to look at!!! A couple of weeks back I looked at Dragstrip and today we’re pressing on with Breakdown.

Once again, I’m so happy to see that Hasbro is carrying the Comic Packs over to this new line. Sure, I still prefer the packaging deco used for Generations, but when you toss me a free funnybook, I’m libel to forget all about superficial things like what the package that I’m about to throw away looks like. Breakdown comes packaged in his robot mode, but as you’ve probably already guessed, I’m starting out with his alt mode.

Just like the good ol’days, Breakdown is an off-white Lambourghini and a fairly good one too. There are the inevitable seams running around the body of the car and some of those gaps never seem to close up as much as I’d like no matter how much I fiddle with it, but all in all I’m pretty pleased with what we got here. The black paint on the windows looks great, as does the red on the hood with the Decepticon emblem prominantly displayed. I love me my Decepticon cars and I love them more when they proudly advertise what they are. Breakdown also sports some blue striping on the lower edge of his sides and there’s some silver paint for the lights and part of the front bumper. I could have probably done without the “15RACING” printed on the windshield, but it’s not a dealbreaker for me.

Unlike the other two Combiner Wars Deluxes that I looked at, Breakdown actually makes great use of his combiner part in alt mode. It pegs just behind the spoiler and creates an external engine thingy that does a good job of mimicking the cannon that pegged into the original toy. Or if you prefer, you can leave that off and just plug Breakdown’s weapon into the roof. Either way, if you like weaponizing your cars, you have options!

Breakdown’s transformation has a few neat things going on. I like the way the legs fold out and the way the chest plate folds under to form the front bumper is pretty cool. Unfortunately, the result is a robot mode that has some issues. You should note that he comes mis-transformed in the package, but I’ll get back to that in a minute.

Let’s start with the good stuff! Breakdown is among the minority of the CW Deluxes that doesn’t show their combiner port as part of their chest and I like that. The plate that covers it up is nicely sculpted and the blue and silver paint look really good on him. The tiny off-center Decepticon emblem is a tad disappointing, but even still I like the makeup of this guy’s torso. Also well worthy of praise is that head sculpt, which I think actually outshines the one Fansproject used for their own Not-Breakdown. The squared off “helmet” and red face really sell the character to me. Good stuff!

Alas, that brings us to the not so good stuff. Those legs, for starters, are pretty rough. The lower legs are way too bulky and having that much hollow space on display doesn’t work for me. It makes him look stocky. I’ll admit it’s actually falls in line with the original G1 toy design, but I’d rather have more of a Sunbow aesthetic with my Generations figures. Is it just my personal preference? Sure, but that’s what these reviews are all about. The arms also seem rather flimsy to me, especially in relation to the boxy chest and bulky lower legs.

Lastly, there’s the backpack. I’ll concede that it tucks away nicely enough so that it’s all but invisible from the front and that’s something that fixes a major concern I had when viewing the figure in the package where it’s flipped up and visible from the front. On the other hand, it still looks rather bulky from the side or behind. And, so long as I’m getting crazy nit-picky here, it sure would have been cool if the whole thing could have been raised just a bit to put those wheels on his shoulders like the G1 design.

Breakdown comes with a cool weapon that can double as either a rifle with a bayonet or a sword. It’s a great design made all the better because Hasbro coughed up the cash for a silver paint app on the blade.

If you absolutely want to get that combiner part stowed away on Breakdown, you can peg it into his back. It does add a lot more bulk to what is an already rather unsightly backpack, but it works better for me than the way awkwardly Dragstrip’s pegged onto his shoulder. Either way it’s a moot point for me because I’m perfectly happy leaving the combiner parts separate from the figure when they’re not in use.

I picked Breakdown to go first because I honestly thought I was not going to like this figure at all and I wanted to get the bad out of the way. Surprisingly, even with all my many gripes, that’s not at all the case and I actually find myself liking him quite a bit. He’s not at all a bad Transformer, but he does strike me as being rather dated. The issues I have him with him feel like issues I would have if I were looking at a figure from the Unicron Trilogy era, particularly those hollow legs and the backpack. That having been said, there’s still plenty to love here and I do believe I can overcome the rough spots and embrace this guy as my Generations Breakdown.

FigureFan Zero

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