Sep 11 2014

Transformers Universe 2.0: Inferno by Hasbro

I’m just about done closing the gap of older Classics/Generations figures missing from the FFZ Archive. In fact, unless I discover a hold out among my storage totes, Inferno here may very well be the last one. That means that if I don’t find a Roadbuster this weekend, next week I may be dipping back into the Unicron Trilogy toys for Transformers Thursday fodder. Hey, nothing wrong with that! Anyway, the Generations line has been mostly about Deluxe figures, and I’ve been happy about that because the Deluxe Class has always been my personal ideal size for Transformers figures. Inferno, however, like a lot of Universe 2.0 figures, bucked that trend by presenting us with a Voyager Class figure. It was a logical enough choice, since the original Inferno was notably taller than the regular Autobot cars. As usual, the box is long gone, so we’re going to jump right in and check out his alt mode.

Yup, you guessed it… Inferno is a fire truck. I have actually looked at his cousin, Reveal the Shield Grappel, so this mold has appeared on the pages of FFZ before, despite the fact that Inferno came first. Inferno isn’t one of those traditional full-blown hook and ladder firetrucks, but rather a somewhat truncated one with a water cannon on top. I know next to nothing about firetrucks so I’m not sure if this is something real or not, but it certainly looks convincing enough and I have a feeling that by nixing a ladder on top, Inferno dodged the same kibble-arm bullet that poor Grappel suffered.

Indeed, Inferno is one of the most realistic looking vehicles to come out of the entire Classics-Universe-Generations line. The sculpt features some insanely intricate detailwork, particularly on the sides where all the little vents, plating and fire-stopping doo-dads are recreated. The white paint and lettering and numbering on the sides also goes a long way to make this a great looking toy. And finally, you get lots of clear plastic for the windows, headlamps and roof lights, all of which gives the vehicle some major class in my eyes. Sure, if you view the vehicle from the top down you can make out a set of robot arms and hands, but otherwise, this vehicle is practically without fault. I’d dare say that Inferno looks so good, it’s almost like he belongs in a different line altogether.

The water cannon on top can swivel, raise and lower and shoots a translucent blue missile made to look like a blast of water. So, is that really supposed to be water or an actual weapon that looks like water? Or can he switch between water and a real weapon? It would be embarrassing to try to take out a Decepticon with a blast of water, or conversely, to try to put out a fire by shooting energy weapons at it and blowing up the building. Am I overthinking this? Ok, let’s transform Inferno and check out his robot mode.

Hot damn! Not only is Inferno’s vehicle mode great, but his robot mode is a damn fine piece of work too. In fact, when viewed from the front, I’d say he’s very near perfect. His broad chest is comprised of the front of the firetruck and there’s some really neat stuff going on with the way the panels fold up behind his shoulders and on his forearms, the front wheels fold into his hips, and how his front bumper just drops to become his pelvis. All those clear plastic pieces are on display here and once again go a long way to give him that extra special realism and classes up the figure big time. By Primus, I love this guy!

Generations always impresses me with the head sculpts, and Inferno here is no exception. The portrait is very evocative of the original G1 character with a clean, silver painted face and some gorgeous light piping for his blue eyes.

Yeah, Inferno has a few blemishes. The biggest for me is the way he’s a bit two-dimensional in design. Like I said before, he looks nearly perfect from the front, but get a side view and he looks a bit like he’s missing his back half. View him from behind and he looks rather hollow. His arm cannon is also a little awkwardly placed. It’s slung down under his arm, which is fine for when you actually want him using his arm as an arm, but I’d much rather it land on the outside of his arm, as it would make it easier for him to aim convincingly.

Ah, but none of these quibbles can extinguish my love for this figure. Eh? See what I did there? Extinguish? YEAH! I’m drinking, baby!!! Inferno is a gorgeous figure and I definitely see him as one of the high points in what is already a pretty remarkable line of figures. I was certainly happy to see the mold get re-used in Reveal the Shield as Grappel (pronounced “Solar Storm Gra-pelle!”), although thanks to some annoying crane arm kibble, Inferno remains my favorite of the two. And I’m only now realizing how sad that huge Protectobot Hot Spot-shaped hole in my collection is making me, so I highly doubt this is the last time we’ll see this mold appear here on FFZ.

Sep 5 2014

Star Wars Black: Bastila Shan (3 3/4” Scale) by Hasbro

A little while ago Hasbro released Knights of the Old Republic character Bastila Shan in their Vintage Collection. This made yours truly very sad because this figure was very poorly distributed and it was only available for exorbitant scalper prices. The evil scalpers didn’t care one jot nor piffle that I loved KotR with all my heart and desperately wanted some figures because the only way I can express my love for something is to buy little plastic versions of it. The same was pretty much true for all the Knights figures Hasbro released and so I was forced to go without. Fast forward to now and Hasbro has managed to scratch out a few of the bastard points they earned from me by re-releasing Bastila as part of that most dubious of endeavors… the Star Wars Black 3 3/4” line. A line where just about any good figure appearing in it has been repacked or bumped from another line. And that brings us to today’s feature!

As mentioned, the original release of Bastila came on a snazzy looking, albeit completely nonsensical and ret-conned, vintage-style card. This re-release comes on the crappy and thoughtless Star Wars Black card. Don’t worry, I’m not even going to complain about the packaging this time. Hasbro could have dropped her into a used sardine tin and I still would have happily purchased this figure. Now, the last thing I want to do is piss all over this gesture of good will, but it would have been even better had Hasbro released the rest of those expensive and hard to get Knights figures in this line. Even if they dropped one into each wave it would have been a great way to get characters like Revan, Malak and HK-47 into the hands of desparate collectors like me. Oh well…

And there she is! It’s funny how instantly iconic Bastila’s costume has become for me, but then I did spent well over 100 hours on just the first KotoR alone, so at one point all these character designs must have been burned into my retinas. And rightly so, because Bastila is a great character, and certainly among my favorites in the Expanded Universe that I guess doesn’t exist anymore? Huh. Now I’m kind of depressed. Anyway, Hasbro did a wonderful job sculpting the Old Republic equivalent of her Jedi garb. I like this rather sleek and less bulky look, not only because Bastila was easy on the eyes, but because it seems like it would be easier to fight with as opposed to draping yourself in layers of window treatments. I like the scrollwork sculpted into the brown leather portions of the outfit and there’s some particularly nice detail work on the pouches of her belt. The strips of skirt are made of soft plastic and they don’t inhibit the leg articulation too badly.

The portrait here is decent enough. It’s not that amazing a likeness of the in-game model, but considering Hasbro’s track record on the 3 3/4” ladies, I’ll take what I can get. The paint looks fine under normal viewing, but as is often the case with figures in this scale it breaks down a bit the closer you get. Yeah, the skin tone is a little bit waxy, but in the pictures that’s mostly enhanced by my studio lights. I do really like the one wisp of hair that’s drawn across her forehead just below her hairline. It’s a characteristic that was in the game model and a nice bit of attention to detail to include it on the figure.

Despite the mold being more than a few years old, the articulation here is decent for modern Hasbro standards. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. There are swivels in the wrists and in the waist. Unfortunately, the hips use the tired old T-crotch, which Hasbro just will not give up on.

Bastila comes with both a lit and unlit version of her double-bladed lightsaber. The unlit hilt is pegged so that it can attach to her belt, which is always a welcome feature. The lit one features yellow blades and she can hold it pretty well in her left hand while her right hand is sculpted to be doing some kind of Force hocus-pocus Battle Meditation mumbo-jumbo.

I absolutely love this figure and I’m thrilled to finally be able to get it at a decent price. In fact, I was able to pick her up from the Interwebs for only $10, which is about a fifth of what she was going for in some of the scalper channels. Hasbro has been putting the bro back in Hasbro lately by using current lines to re-release hard to get figures. They did it in the Infinite Series with Omega Red and I hope they keep it up. The only thing that makes me sad about owning this figure is that it reminds me I’m missing all the other Knights of the Old Republic figures. And that Hasbro never made a 3 3/4” scale Ebon Hawk, but that’s a rant for another day.

Sep 4 2014

Transformers Universe 2.0: Sunstreaker by Hasbro

Ah, it’s Thursday again and time to sit around the campfire and talk about little plastic robots that turn into other little plastic things. As promised last week I’ve gone to my Transformers laden shelves and snatched down the other half of the Lambor Brothers… Sunstreaker! I mentioned last time that the Universe 2.0 Sideswipe-Sunstreaker duo was the first time I can remember Hasbro deliberately engineering a mold to serve different transformations for different characters. It’s a practice that they’ve had a lot of success with since, one of my favorites being the Tracks and Wheeljack shared mold that still blows my mind. I’ve got no in-package shot, so let’s go right to the alt mode!!

And there he is in all his canary yellow Lamborghini goodness! As a kid, I loved Sunstreaker. He had a totally unique robot mode and there was just something so cool about him that my other Autobots always wanted him to go on missions with him. I think I also might have considered him to be Bumblebee’s older brother just because they were both yellow and that’s how such things work in robot biology when you’re 10 years old. Where was I?

Oh yeah, this bitchin Lamborghini mode! Sunstreaker’s sculpt is identical to his brother Sideswipe, so we’re only dealing with a recolor here. Also, like Sideswipe, ‘Streaker gets by with very little paintwork and mostly colored plastic. Anyone who’s read my Transformers features before probably knows that the yellow plastic Hasbro uses is often hit or miss with me. In this case, however, it’s a total hit. This is no shitty cheap looking swirly yellow plastic. It’s vibrant and looks amazing. Just compare this guy to the recent IDW Generations Bumblebee or better yet TF: Prime Deluxe Bumblebee and you’ll see what I mean. Once again, I dig that there aren’t a lot of seams running all over the car. Apart from the doors you just have one seam running down the back and bisecting the rear. You still have those great clear plastic headlights, the windows retain the same black paint used for Sideswipe, but unlike his brother, Sunstreaker proudly displays his Autobot emblem in auto mode, right on the top of the roof. Right on, Sunstreaker! Be proud of your Autobot heritage!

Sunstreaker also sports a personalized license plate, in this case it reads“WE R 84.” It’s cool, but I think an abbreviation of Sunstreaker would have matched Sideswipe better. Honestly, the only real complaint I have with the coloring here is that the intakes on the engine piece are left bare grey plastic and don’t look as sharp as the painted ones on Sideswipe. Even so, these two cars look great together!

Transforming Sunstreaker is virtutally identical to Sideswipe. The main difference is that you’ll be reversing the torso and arms. In my Sideswipe feature, I probably commented on how much I love the engineering here, but let me say it again anyway. Everything packs in to the auto mode so beautifully and converting the figure in either direction is engaging and fun. The result is the same design as Sideswipe from the waist down, but a new look for the torso and obviously a brand new head sculpt.

Once again, Hasbro did a beautiful job with the updated portrait, but that was par for the course on the Classics and Universe 2.0 lines. These along with Generations have had some of my favorite head sculpts of all time. The face is beautifully sculpted and neatly painted and Sunstreaker features rather distinctive “ears” similar to the ones on the original G1 toy. I also like the way they spring out during his head reveal.

The deco here is basically Sideswipe with a pallet shift. You get the yellow in place of red and grey plastic in place of white, with much of the black staying the same. Sunstreaker features the same translucent blue plastic inlays on his thighs, which look great, but I can’t help but think it would have been neat to see those cast in yellow instead. As with his engine intakes, the only gripe I have here is that Sideswipe’s pistol is left in bare grey plastic, which isn’t as attractive as his brother’s snazzy black and white weapon. Considering how vain he is about his appearance, I would expect Sunstreaker to have more bling on his gun.

Sunstreaker is an amazing figure all on his own, but both he and Sideswipe are all the more impressive when displayed as a pair. Yes, there’s a lot more similarities between the two this time around than could be found in their G1 toys, but I still can’t help but admire what Hasbro was able to achieve here with what is essentially the same mold. This pair definitely rank in among my favorite of all the Classics/Universe 2.0 figures. To me they achieve everything that this line set out to accomplish.

Sep 1 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Grim Reaper by Hasbro

I’m continuing to push through my sizable backlog of Hasbro’s 3 3/4” Marvel figures. Today I’m popping back to the initial wave of the Infinite Series to check out Eric Williams, aka Grim Reaper! I was thrilled when Hasbro revealed they were finally adding this character to the action figure line. The history of Grim Reaper and his brother Wonder Man is a compelling one and I really like the way the story arc was handled on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. They also did a pretty good job portraying Grim Reaper as a semi-regular bad ass.

I’m going to try to tone down my repeated criticisms of the Infinite Series packaging, mainly because it’s just getting tiresome. Instead I’ll just take this time to point out that while Grim Reaper has been kicking around the comics for a long time, his character design has remained fairly consistent. Sure, they took a lot of liberties for his animated design in EMH, but the character design on display here is versatile enough to work for a number of different periods throughout the Marvel comics timeline.

Grim Reaper uses a fairly lean buck and relies mostly on paintwork for his costume. The color scheme uses a subtle mix of black and dark blue to give him that great old school comic book style deco. The white skull and crossbones painted on his chest is a bit uneven in the shading, but overall not too bad. The purple cape is sculpted to sweep away from the figure’s legs and it doesn’t reach down to the ground. Both features help to not to inhibit the leg articulation.

The head sculpt here is quite good for the scale. Besides his distinctive mask with the double “horns” protruding from each side, Eric is sporting a pretty crazy expression that gives the figure personality in spades. I’d have to go back to Marvel Universe Constrictor or Bullseye to find a figure of a villain with a portrait as good as this one. The paintwork around the mask is a little sloppy, but you have to get in pretty close to notice it.

Obviously, Grim Reaper’s most notable feature is the scythe grafted onto his right arm by The Tinkerer. The appendage looks good and doesn’t warp too badly despite being cast from very soft plastic. I will take issue with the articulation here, because there doesn’t appear to be a swivel at the post where it is inserted into the arm. It’s a crazy oversight and it really limits some of the attack poses you can get out of him. This restriction is rather disappointing.

The rest of the articulation is both fine and predictable for the line. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. There’s also a swivel in Grim Reaper’s left wrist. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and double-hinged at the knees. There are swivels in both the thighs and lower legs, and the ankles have both hinges and lateral rockers. The torso has a swivel in the waist, a ball joint in the chest, and the neck features both a hinge and a ball joint.

And so with the addition of Grim Reaper to my Marvel ranks, I can tick another important villain off my Marvel action figure want list. Overall, I think Hasbro did a nice job with this guy, particularly with that wonderful portrait. The one sticking point for me (no pun intended) remains the lack of a swivel in his scythe. It seems like it had to be pegged in there anyway, and I’m guessing they opted to glue it in, which is a real shame. Besides the ability to rotate it for greater posing, it would have been cool to have it detach as well. It’s not a big deal when he’s standing on the shelf, but it sure puts a damper on the fun when posing and playing around with him.

Aug 28 2014

Transformers Universe 2.0: Sideswipe by Hasbro

Until some new Generations start showing up in my area I’m going to continue to spend Thursdays looking backward through the Classics/Universe 2.0 line. Today’s random grab off of my shelf is none other than that sexy red Lamborghini Sideswipe. I haven’t really looked at this figure since Sideswipe got the Masterpiece treatment so it should be interesting to see if this toy still holds up. As is often the case with these older figures, I’ve got no in-package shot, so let’s jump straight to his alt mode.

After being revamped for the Bay movies as a silver Corvette it’s nice to see him in his original red Lamborghini mode again. I can’t remember whether or not Hasbro actually got the license and my knowledge of Lamborghini models isn’t intimate enough to tell whether or not this is the real deal, but it sure looks close enough for me. Not only does Sideswipe’s alt mode look great, it’s impressive how few seam lines it has. Apart from what you would normally find on the doors, there’s just a single seam running down the back. Not too shabby at all!

The alt mode does not feature a whole lot of paintwork, but the economy of colors works fine. The bulk of the car is molded in a pleasing red with just a few areas where you can see some swirly patterns in the plastic. You get some red stripes on the sides, a few yellow paint hits near the front and painted black windows. The rear of the car is painted black and you get a customized license plat that reads, “SWIPE!” The entire package is rounded out by some nice looking silver wheels, clear plastic headlamps, and a removable engine pegged into the top. All in all, this car mode looks great and locks together beautifully. I’d say it holds up wonderfully. The only thing I think he’s missing is a nice big Autobot insignia centered on the hood.

And just for the hell of it, here’s a peek at the undercarriage. Look at that! That is one well-packed Transformer. It also gives plenty of clearance for rolling the car and it even includes storage for the gun!

In his robot mode, Sideswipe represents the same mix of original design influenced by the character’s G1 roots that characterizes the rest of the Classics/Universe 2.0 line. I gotta say, I’m still digging it as much as when I first got him. You get the same folded down hood as a chest as his original toy and the Autobot insignia finally makes its appearance. The biggest departure on this design comes in his lower legs where the rear bumper splits apart to become his knees. It’s not as streamlined as his original design, but I still think it works pretty well. My only complaint here is that I wish those two bumper pieces actually tabbed into place somehow. All in all, I get a strong Alternators vibe from this robot mode, and that ain’t a bad thing at all!

The engine piece reattaches to his back to form a sort of jetpack, which is certainly a nice touch although it’s also completely optional if you want to leave it off.

The deco here is gorgeous. Sideswipe retains a lot of his red and black motif, but you also get the addition of white for his arms, upper legs, an upper chest. The design also adds to brilliant pieces of transparent blue plastic to his thighs which goes a long way to make the figure’s colors pop.

The Classics and Universe 2.0 lines rarely disappoints when it comes to the G1 inspired head sculpts and Sideswipe here is no exception. The portrait here is absolutely brillaint from his horned helmet to his neatly painted silver face. The blue light piping effect in the eyes is also highly effective and absolutely gorgeous.

Sadly, Sideswipe does not come with his shoulder mounted missile launcher, despite the fact that there are clearly peg holes to accommodate such a weapon. He does, however, come with a very nice pistol that doubles as his exhaust pipes when in auto mode.

I absolutely loved this figure when it first came out and even after Sideswipe’s Masterpiece treatment, I still love this figure today. Hasbro delivered with a beautiful auto mode and a kick-ass robot mode. The engineering at work here is inspired and he’s an extremely fun figure to play around with. The other really cool thing about this figure is that it’s one of the first instances that I can remember where Hasbro designed a mold that would accommodate independent engineering and work as a separate character. In this case, that character is the other half of the Lambor brothers, Sunstreaker, and we’ll go ahead and check out that figure next Thursday!

Aug 25 2014

Star Wars Black: Toryn Farr (3 3/4” Scale) by Hasbro

I can’t believe I’m back to doing a Star Wars feature a week, but for good or for ill it certainly seems like something I’m collecting again. Last week I checked out the excellent Snowtrooper Commander and today I’m going to keep the Hoth snowball rolling with a look at Toryn Farr, th communications officer at Echo Base. It’s unbelievable but true, Toryn is proof that there are still characters out there that have yet to get the action figure treatment. It’s nice to see Toryn finally honored with a figure, but at this point if you’re a Star Wars character and your first figure is being released after Bespin Ice Cream Maker Guy, you should probably take it as a slap in the face.

There’s the packaging. I still think it’s crap. I think the next wave is the one scheduled for a redesign in which we get a diecut card in the form of a Tie Fighter Pilot. I’ve got some things to say about that, but I’ll wait until the packaging comes across my desk first. Anyway, Toryn looks a bit lost in that big bubble and since her two accessories are black, I can barely make them out. But, screw this whole package design, let’s get her out of there…

I expected Toryn to be a quick and dirty recycle of the Hoth Princess Leia that we got a little while ago in the Vintage Collection line and I was partially right. The body is lifted directly from that Leia and given a slightly darker wash. Oddly enough the hands are both new and the jacket, while very similar in the pattern has a higher collar and a different rank insignia thingy on the left of the chest. I’m not going to pop in the movie and check to see how similar the two outfits were on screen, so just off the cuff let me say that I don’t have a problem with the reuse here. It makes sense that they would both be wearing some kind of standard issue fatigues and the fact that Hasbro bothered to make her a new vest is good enough for me. The new head sculpt is pretty good, especially considering Hasbro’s track record with the ladies. Toryn is sporting some rather intense cheekbones but all in all I think it’s a pretty attractive portrait and a fairly good likeness.

Since the body is shared with VC Hoth Leia, Toryn features the same mixed bag of old and new articulation. You get ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, knees, and neck. That’s all good, but then we scale back with a simple swivel waist and the old T-crotch for the hips. The complete lack of any articulation in the ankles is curious, but considering the character, I don’t know that it’s a critical omission.

Toryn comes with two accessories, a rebel blaster and a set of headphones. I lost the blaster that came with my Hoth Leia so chances are Toryn’s weapon is going to her. I’m cool with Toryn just sitting around taking calls on her headset. “Hi, you’ve reached Echo Base. We’re under Imperial attack right now and cannot take your call. Please leave a message after the beep.” Not to belittle her job, she did give the firing order to disable a Command Star Destroyer. That’s pretty badass!

I like this figure a lot and I think it’s plenty cool that Hasbro is still finding characters to produce. I can’t say as I’ve sat around pining for the day that Toryn Farr joined my collection, but then every additional Hoth figure I pick up gets me just a little more motivated to go out to Michaels, get a crap ton of styrofoam, and build an Echo Base playset. I’m also always happy to see another female character get the action figure treatment, particularly when they’re just in a supporting role.

Aug 21 2014

Transformers Universe 2.0: Autobot Hound by Hasbro

Holy crap, it’s Thursday again and that means I have to come up with another Transformer to review. Well, today I’m keeping the Classics train rolling along with a look at one of my favorite Autobot characters, Hound, as he appeared in the Classics/Universe line. As a kid, I loved Hound because he was such a cool dude, he had a neat Hologram gun, and he’d rather be admiring how beautiful the Earth was than fight Decepticons. That, of course is G1 Hound, not to be confused with Age of Extinction Hound who murdered a helpless creature in a cage because he was… and I’m quoting here… “Too ugly to live.” He was also voiced by John Goodman and when Optimus Prime said, “Autobots Roll Out!” I expected Hound to say, “I don’t roll on Shabbas!!” ZING! Anywaaaay… the Universe 2.0 version of Hound also came with Ravage and I’m guessing it’s because at one point the Hound helped to capture him. Obviously, the packaging for this figure is long gone, so let’s jump right in and look at Hound’s alt mode.

The original G1 Hound was a green army Jeep. This new incarnation is also a green army Jeep… sort of. I think Hasbro tried to go with something more modern looking, but to me the end result makes him look less realistic and more toyish. In fact, only the government issue green and the white stars on the front fenders suggest he’s a military vehicle. That having been said, I like the big off-road wheels and the huge ramming bar on the front. There’s even a sculpted winch on the front bumper. Considering how absolutely gorgeous G1 Hound’s alt mode is, and I think it still holds up beautifully, this new incarnation misses the mark a bit, but I guess it still works for me.

The interior is pretty well done, complete with bucket seats and a fairly detailed dashboard. I have a soft spot in my heart for open top vehicle modes that manage to reproduce a somewhat convincing driving area and Hound certainly does that. Some stickers or paintwork would have gone a long way to pick out the details in the dash, but it’s still pretty good.

The rear machine gun from Hound’s G1 days is gone and in its place is an area where you can store Ravage. There’s two flip up tabs that fit the holes in the cassette mode. But more on the Decepti-kitty in a bit…

Hound does come with one weapon, his missile launcher, and it’s damn frustrating. It can be tabbed into either of the seats, and I can’t say as I like the way it looks there. Meh!

Hound’s robot mode is pure love to me, even though it does feature some departures from his original design. The ramming bar on his chest changes up his aesthetics quite a bit, and yet I still like it because it makes him look more rugged. Two of his wheels land on his shoulders, and again as far as original tweaks to the design go, I like the way it looks a lot. I also really dig the way his feet are proportioned. It really nails the Sunbow aesthetic quite well. From the back, Hound isn’t quite as refined. His lower legs are completely hollowed out and so is the area behind his head. I try not to judge Transformers too harshly from the back view so I’m going to let it pass.

While the body may take some liberties with design, Hound’s portrait is pure G1 goodness. The blocky helmet looks great as does the sculpt in his face. And, oh my god, the blue light piping in his eyes. So beautiful!

Hound’s missile launcher is just as frustrating in his robot mode. It’s designed so that it can clip on behind either shoulder, but not very well. It looks awkward and it falls off really easy. This is the one aspect of this figure’s design that really wasn’t well thought out.

Luckily it can double as his handgun, but it’s a poor substitute for his iconic hologram gun. I know that Third Party companies have fixed these problems, but I never took advantage of those releases. Maybe someday, providing I can still track them down.

And then there’s Ravage and as already mentioned he is indeed a cassette. Sadly there’s no tampo with cassette tape details, instead what you get is basically a plastic rectangle with a couple holes in it. I guess it’s totally possible that some kids buying this figure would have no idea what Ravage’s alt mode is supposed to be. God, I’m old! Ravage’s Jaguar mode is very cool thanks to a rather clever bit of engineering that adds a lot of depth to him. His legs are fully articulated and in lieu of the proper Masterpiece Ravage, I have this guy sitting at the feet of my MP-10 Soundwave. And if you miss his side mounted guns, once again there are Third Party companies out there that have you covered.

It may sound like I have a lot of issues with Classics/Universe Hound, but the truth is I like this figure a lot. Like many figures in this line, he’s definitely a reimagining of the character but at the same time he doesn’t completely forget his roots. Yes, I would have preferred a more realistic Jeep mode and yes I wish they had designed his missile launcher better and included his hologram gun, but I’m still very satisfied having him on my Classics shelf and I’ll even go so far as say he’s one of my favorite figures in the display. But I still wish I had kept my Alternators Hound.

Aug 20 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Omega Red by Hasbro

It’s that time of the week where I open another Marvel Infinite Series from my pile and today’s random grab into the stack turned up Omega Red! This figure was originally released in the final wave of the Marvel Universe line, and as is often the case when lines end, he was ridiculously tough to find. I remember hitting the Targets around here a bunch of times trying to find him on the pegs and never with any luck. I even came close to paying a scalper prices for him online. But my laziness and procrastination paid off because Hasbro got him back into the hands of collectors by repacking him in the Infinite Series. And I’m mighty grateful to them for it!

Damn, this guy knows how to fill out that bubble, and considering how big the bubbles are on these Infinite Series cards, that’s really saying something. I guess there’s also something to be said for the minimalist crap design of the package here, because when I look at it all I see is the Marvel tag up top and an awesome looking figure below it. Everything else just seems to melt away into the background. I’d like to think that the strategy here is “Let the figure sell itself!” rather than, “Let’s be cheap and not pay for good artwork!” Yeah…

And there’s Omega Red out of the package and looking like every bit the vicious piece of shit that he is. Seriously, going by some of the darker aspects of his backstory, I’m kind of surprised that someone like this got a mainstream action figure, let alone a re-issue. But don’t get me wrong, I’m mighty glad he did. Arkady is a great character and I’m not just saying that because I love just about everything that ever flowed from John Byrne’s prolific noggin. Villains are there to be hated and that’s never been a problem for Omega Red because I’ve always found him to be a bastard through and through. But, I digress…

Everything about Omega Red makes him a stand out figure. Hasbro built him on a larger sized buck. He’s obviously not Juggernaut or Thanos big, but he’s big enough to hulk over most of the other characters. The base body is a nice combo of red and white with a tasteful wash over the red to bring out the detail in his muscles and a blue wash over the white in his upper arms and face, which I’d like to think is meant to depict his Carbonadium poisoning. The body is rounded out with some newly sculpted pearlescent white boots and a separately sculpted harness and shoulder pads. The overall coloring on this figure is magnificently striking, I particularly love the Omegas on his gauntlets, and even on a shelf of colorful characters Omega Red stands out.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention what a great job Hasbro did on Arkady’s head sculpt. The portrait here is one of pure rage and his face is nicely framed by his cyborg parts. The hair sculpt is also particularly great and the Omega on his headband ties the whole thing together.

The articulation here is quite good, and pretty much in line with most of the modern MU/MIS figures we’ve seen. His arms have rotating pins at the shoulders, hinges at the elbows, and both the wrists and biceps have swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double hinged at the knees, with swivels in both the thighs and lower legs, and hinges in the ankles. He’s got a ball joint in the torso and another in the neck. He is definitely a fun figure to pose, although I wish he had swivels in his lower arms, because sometimes the tentacles won’t do what I’d like.

Speaking of the tentacles, Omega Red’s carbonadium tendrils are sculpted in soft plastic, but they’re definitely pre-posed. You can bend them, but they tend to go right back to where they were. It seems like they’re socketed into his lower arms, but I haven’t had any luck removing them, so I’m guessing they aren’t made to come out. Seems like making them detachable would have been a nice substitute for them actually retracting, which of course wouldn’t work in this scale.

And so, a figure that I was almost ready to pay $40 landed in my collection for a mere $10. Needless to say he was a very sweet deal and I can’t recommend him enough. He was definitely the showpiece of Marvel Universe’s last wave and while he’s got some heavier competition in Wave 3 of the Infinite Series, he definitely shines as one of the better figures in this assortment.

Aug 19 2014

Star Wars Black: Snowtrooper Commander (3 3/4” Scale) by Hasbro’s

Now that I’m all caught up on the Black 6-inch line, I can start picking away at some more of the 3 3/4” figures waiting to be opened. This time it’s the newly released Snowtrooper Commander and I had a lot of trepidation over buying this one. The Stormtrooper and Biker Scouts that Hasbro released in this line were not all that great and so when this guy turned up at HasbroToyShop, I was hesitant to order a full squad without having him in hand first. I wound up ordering a couple along with some other figures and hoped for the best. Well, those hopes paid off because this is a really fantastic figure! Let’s check him out…

At some point in the near future, Hasbro will be re-branding the packaging on this 3 3/4” line. I don’t know that it will be much better, but I doubt it could be worse. The only good thing I have to say is that the white Snowtrooper stands out nicely against that hideous black card. Also, it’s worth noting that this is a Snowtrooper Commander! It’s been a long time since Star Wars was my number one nerd attraction, so I have no idea what the differences would be between a Commander and a regular old Snowtrooper who is likely to get shot in the face or torn apart by Wampas while storming Echo Base. That having been said, I’ll just be considering these guys my run-of-the-mill cannon fodder variety Snowtrooper.

And here he is out of the package and ready for action. I gotta say, I love this figure! I don’t know how much of this fella is new and how much is recycled. The only other recent Snowtrooper I own in this scale is from the VOTC line and that one is still carded and packed away in a storage tote. I’m pretty sure the pistol holster on his kama is new, and maybe that’s supposed to be one of the things that sets him apart as a Commander. Star Wars collectors feel free to weigh in and tell me how ignorant I am!

The sculpting on this figure is fantastic and it really drives home why I love this design so much. It goes beyond my general love of all things Hoth. I think it’s the hood that just makes these guys all the more creepy and sinister looking than your regular Stormtroopers. Also, and I’m not sure there’s any film evidence to back this up, but I always got the impression that these guys were just better in combat than the Stormies from warmer climes. The chest armor is part of the figure buck, but it’s executed well enough that I could have believed it was layered onto the figure. The shoulders are also designed so that the hinges don’t muck up the aesthetics of the armor like it did with the Stormtrooper and Biker Scout. Everything about this figure shows care and forethought and, at the same time, beautifully showcases all the bad decisions Hasbro made with those other two figures.

There’s obviously not a lot of paintwork here, but what there is of it is crisp and clean and so much better than the hack job they did on the recent Stormtrooper release. Look at his backpack and you’ll see two tiny hits of gold paint… there’s no other gold anywhere else on the figure. They busted out that color exclusively for those two little bits. That’s so cool!

The articulation here is pretty solid with my one gripe being the continued use of that pesky T-crotch, which in this case is less of an issue because the plastic kama inhibits the leg articulation quite a bit. Otherwise, it’s all good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders and elbows and swivels in the wrists. You also get rotating hinges in the knees and ankles, a ball joint in the lower torso and again in the neck.

Snowy Commander comes with two weapons. First you get a little pistol, which looks a bit too much like Han’s blaster for my liking, but who am I to scoff at an extra pistol, eh? It also fits snugly into the holster. The other weapon is the newer version of the E-11 Blaster that includes the folding stock. It still impresses me that Hasbro was able to do that on such a small scaled weapon. Sure, it tends to fall apart at the hinges, but I’m impressed nonetheless.

And so the 3 3/4” Black line continues to be a total grab bag of wonderful surprises mixed with crap. Buying this line is like reaching blindly into your bag of Halloween candy and hoping to pull out an Almond Joy and not a handfull of razor blades. This figure is every bit as polished as the Stormtrooper and Biker Scout were sloppy and shameful. As you can see, I quickly picked up a couple more and I’m hoping that a simple squad of four will be enough to satisfy me. But if I ever see another one of these guys hanging on a peg in the wild, I doubt I’ll be able to walk by without tossing him in my cart. And if Hasbro can upscale this guy and give him a softgoods kama and a few more tweaks, I’ll be really happy to get him in the 6-inch scale too!

Aug 15 2014

Star Wars Black: Anakin Skywalker by Hasbro

I started out this week looking at the Star Wars Black 6-inch Clone Trooper and I wasn’t all that impressed with him. That’s unfortunate because apart from the extra Stormtrooper, that was the figure I was most looking forward to getting. The only other new figure in the wave is Anakin and the only reason I own him is because I bought the whole case and he tagged along for the ride. This guy has a couple of strikes against him from the get-go. One, he’s a Prequel figure, which aside from the Clones and maybe Jango Fett, I’m not actively collecting. Two, I expected him to heavily reycle parts from the Prequel Obi-Wan, another figure that I was not at all impressed with. I know, we’re off to a bad start here, so let’s take the high ground (so stupid) and just jump in and get this over with.

I’ve got nothing new to say about the packaging. It looks good and does a great job of showing off the figure and his extras. I love the way the lightsaber and extra head just seem to hover there in the package. Anyway, this should be the last time we see this box deco before the redesign in the next wave. Anakin comes with two portraits, so we’ll start off with the noggin he comes with out of the box.

I already said that I was expecting a nearly straight repaint of the Obi-Wan figure and that’s not at all what we got so kudos to Hasbro on that. In fact, I’m really impressed that Hasbro practically did an entirely new sculpt for the Anakin body. Sure, there’s obvious differences, like the bracer on his right forearm, the belt, and the boots, but even the areas on the robes where shared parts would have been sensible have different texturing and fold patterns. After having scrutinized both figures side by side I’m still having a problem finding anything that’s directly recycled without some tweaking. There are also some cool and more subtle differences like the way Anakin’s shoulders crest upward a bit at the ends. I had some issues with the Obi-Wan body feeling a bit too bulky, but I don’t find the same issue here, but I think that’s mostly because Anakin had a bigger build.

The figure comes boxed with his regular head, which I think is a passable enough likeness. It’s certainly about on par with the Lukes and Han from past waves and I’d argue it’s better than the Obi-Wan portrait. I think my only gripe here is that since they included his “evil” Darth Vader head, they might have gone for a less angry looking expression for his normal noggin. The most notable difference in the Vader head is that the messier hair and the eyes, which are painted red. It feels like it needed a little something more to make it stand out. Maybe a paint wash or some dark circles under the eyes would have helped. Still, all in all it’s not bad.

Articulation here is pretty much the same as we saw with Obi-Wan. You get a limited ball joint in the waist and the neck features both a ball joint and hinge. 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 the ankles feature both ball joints and lateral rockers.

As with Obi-Wan, Anakin comes with his trusty lightsaber with a detachable blue blade. The blade is a deeper blue than Obi-Wan’s and it’s also a bit thicker. The hilt is nicely detailed and painted and it’s also pegged so that it can be attached to the belt.

I was originally planning on unloading this figure, along with Obi-Wan to a more prequel minded collector, but much to my own surprise, I liked Anakin enough to convince me to keep him and Obi-Wan both. I can’t say as he’s all that much better than some of the 3 3/4″ treatments, so he still fails the “is the new scale living up to its full potential” test, but he still turned out much better than I expected. I think the plastic sculpted robes look better on him than on Obi-Wan and I really appreciate all the effort Hasbro made to make him a unique sculpt when they could have easily just recycled the Obi-Wan body. On the whole, I think the 6-inch Black series is still a win, but this most recent wave has really shaken my confidence, especially since the best two figures in it are from previous waves. But, we have a new assortment due to ship soon, so hopefully Hasbro can restore this line to a more solid footing.

FigureFan Zero

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