Aug 14 2014

Transformers Classics: Megatron by Hasbro

It’s Thursday and around these parts that means Transformers! As much as I’ve enjoyed my tour of the Generations Legends Class line for the past month and a half, I’ve sadly run out of figures. I am, however, still on the hunt, so I’ll be circling back around to it eventually. For the time being, I’ll be turning my optical receptors back to some unfinished business in the Classics and Universe 2.0 lineup. I was surprised to find that the figure I’m looking at today has escaped my feature spotlight these last four years and now that I’m doing it, I think that might have been an intentional oversight. Nonetheless, I’d say it’s long past time to dust off Classics Megatron and give him his due. Naturally, the packaging for this guy is long gone, so we’re going to jump straight in and look at his alt mode.

At the time, I don’t think anyone could have predicted that Megsy would be appearing in the Classics line as a gun and yet here he is. Sort of. He’s definitely a pistol, but Hasbro had to use their creative license to give us a design far from anything realistic. And so we wound up with what is often the bane of most nerds and fanboys… the dreaded compromise! Yes, Megatron is a gun again, and no he’s not a Walther P38 or even anything resembling any kind of real world firearm. Instead, what we got is something that resembles, more than anything else, some kind of Nerf blaster. Now, I can appreciate going for a sci-fi style weapon and I think the concept could have worked, if only the end result looked better than what we got.

About the only thing here vaguely reminiscent of Megsy’s old gun mode is the scope and the trigger. There’s a chamber, which vaguely resembles some kind of revolver and I’ll never understand the ridiculousness of having to put an orange plug on the end of a barrel of a toy gun with a design like this. Thank god for that plug in the barrel or kids would be holding up 7-11’s with old Megatron left and right. Yeah, it only adds to everything else that is unfortunate and wrong about this gun mode. I’ll also throw in the fact that the handle grip is way too small, not only for an adult hand but to look proportionally correct with the rest of the gun. It’s perhaps worth noting that you can pull the trigger and it clicks and you can actually look through the scope, but none of those “features” help to sell this alt mode to me. In fact, Classics Megatron would have to have one hell of an amazing robot mode to make up for this.

And sadly that he does not. What he does have is a fascinating transformation that at least has me respecting and admiring what Hasbro tried to do here. I’ll even go so far as to say that there are a number of things that I do like about this robot mode. The contours of the legs are nice and while only one of them form the grip for the gun, they are symmetrical to look like they might have split apart during transformation like the G1 toy. The way the scope becomes his fusion cannon is also spot on fabulous, even if it does have a hideous orange plug on the end. Wait… why does the toy need an orange plug on the end of the SCOPE?

The head sculpt is also pretty damn good. The shape of the helmet is very reminiscent of the G1 Sunbow look and while Hasbro has taken some liberties here with the face, I still like it a lot. The lightpiping effect in the eyes is also excellent, even if green was a strange choice to go with.

Unfortunately, just about everything else about this guy feels wrong to me. There’s nothing in the chest that nods back to the old days. Remember, this is the Classics line, Hasbro, give me something else to work with here. Also the asymmetry of the shoulders really bugs me, especially since the left one displays that ugly orange plug. And I’ve obviously saved the biggest gripe for last because those giant wings that form the two half shells of the gun mode are just a shame.

The coloring here is also really inappropriate. I’m normally a big fan of purple in my Decepticon decos, but when you mix it with the neon green and orange, it just doesn’t work for a Classics style Megatron. The coloring on the Japanese Henkei version goes a long way to save this toy and I’d dare say that had Hasbro used that deco I would have been a lot more forgiving about the rest of this figure. For a while I considered picking up that version, but then I didn’t really want to invest more money in this mold.

And so I’m left with a real love-hate relationship toward this figure. I appreciate what Hasbro tried to do here and I understand that they had some unreasonable limitations working against them vis-a-vis the alt mode. Plus, I can’t deny that I’m able to pick up this figure and have some fun with him. He can still strike some pretty cool poses. On the other hand, there are just so many unfortunate design elements here that make him fail as a Classics style Megatron. And the fact that it is a character as important as Megatron makes that fail all the more epic. Ever since this guy was released, I’ve been on the hunt for another version of the character to stand in for my Classics Megatron, and the search still goes on. My War For Cybertron Megsy comes close, but then he doesn’t scale with Classics Prime. I’m anxious to see how Hasbro’s upcoming Generations Megatron turns out. Even if he isn’t a gun, I think the robot mode on that big guy has a lot of potential. Of course, I’ll still have that scale problem.

Aug 11 2014

Star Wars Black: Clone Trooper (Phase I) by Hasbro

The new wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars Black has arrived, but those of you expecting all new characters will be disappointed. This new case only adds two new figures to the mix: The Phase I Clone Trooper and Anakin Skywalker with the other two slots in this case occupied by re-releases of the Stormtrooper and Boba Fett. Normally this is where I would get all up in Hasbro’s grill, but reissues of the hard to find Boba Fett and the hotly demanded Stormy were actually a cool move on Hasbro’s part to help get these figures into the hands of collectors. I know I was happy to get another Stormtrooper, even if it meant having to suck down an extra Boba Fett. He’s a great figure and I don’t mind having an extra one boxed. Anyway, today we’re going to check out the Clone Trooper, another army builder that should be in rather high demand.

Hasbro has revealed a redesign for the Black packaging, but it won’t come until the next wave so what we get here is the same old stuff. It’s a very simple window box that shows off the figure pretty well and offers very little else. I’ve complained about the lack of artistic flair in much of Hasbro’s current package design, but the 6-inch Black series is the one line that I think suits it pretty well. I’ve gone on record saying that I was going to be very choosey about what prequel figures I buy, but this figure was a no brainer. I like the clones and the Phase I helmet is my favorite of the designs. It was also a no-brainer on Hasbro’s part as they’re now free to unleash an unending tide of repaints onto us.

So before I get to the actual figure, let me say that there are some aspects of the QC here that is pretty disappointing. My Clone has black marks scattered on his left leg and some on his left shoulder. The shoulder marks eventually rubbed off, but the marks on his leg haven’t. I’ve yet to try a Magic Eraser, but these are $20 collector figures Hasbro, I shouldn’t have to be trying to clean them up when I take them new out of the package. I’ll also note here that the hinges on this guy feel pretty mushy and even the finish on the overall plastic feels like I could easily scar it with my thumbnail. Sigh… it looks like Hasbro has been dipping into the economy plastic again.

I think the sculpting here looks pretty good. While most of the armor is sculpted as part of the buck, the black paint in the joints gives some credibility that it is indeed a suit of armor. The effect may not be as good as we saw with the Stormtrooper, but it’s passable. Overall the black paint is pretty clean, although the pins for the lower pins for the elbow hinges are right in the middle of the black undersuit and they are left white, which is obviously not optimal, especially for a figure in this larger scale. The paint apps on the helmet are not as crisp and straight as I would prefer and it sure would have been nice if they could have gone with a glossy black for the visor.

The articulation is satisfying, at least on paper. The arms feature swivel hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels at the biceps. The legs have ball joints with swivels in the hips, double hinges in the knees, and hinges in the ankles along with lateral rockers. There’s a pretty generous ball joint in the lower torso and the neck is ball jointed.

For the most part the jointing works fairly well with the armor. The big exception to that is the shoulder armor, which severely restricts the lateral movement of the arms. There’s absolutely no clearance so once the tops of these plates butt up against the torso armor, that’s as far as they’ll go. So granted, the Stormtrooper had a similar problem and I gave him a pass. But, the first time I tested the range of movement on the Clone Trooper, his left shoulder piece popped off with very little pressure and almost no warning. And no, it’s not meant to do that, so I had to glue it back on. Hasbro has done a much better job getting shoulder plates to work with articulation on some of their recent Marvel Legends. It’s a shame they didn’t do it here as well.

The Clone Trooper comes with two accessories, both guns. You get a blaster pistol and a rifle. Both are decent sculpts and while the pistol is a tad soft and rubbery, the rifle is surprisingly firm and stiff. Both of his hands are designed to hold weapons, so you can get some nice action poses with him and his little arsenal. It may be a valid complaint that Hasbro didn’t pack a Phase II head into the mix, but I’ll not take issue with it here.

One point that I will always come back to when looking at these 6-inch Black figures is whether the new scale is justified. Sure, Hasbro’s goal here is to squeeze more money from collectors by introducing a new format. But from the collectors’ point of view, the larger scale should only be justified because it can produce more detailed sculpts, better articulation, better accessories, and better paint. In short, the figures should be better than the 3 ¾” figures, otherwise why bother? In this case, the Phase I Clone Trooper has been done at least as well, and probably better in the smaller format and with the smaller version, you don’t have to sacrifice his interactivity with ships and vehicles.

Obviously, I’m not blown away or even impressed by this figure. Keep in mind, I’ve got about a dozen figures in this series that I’ve opened so by now I’ve set my expectations on what this line will offer and this Clone just falls short. The black marks on his leg armor are annoying, but not devastating. I may still be able to get them off and even if I can’t, well… Clones get dirty in action. I was, however, hoping for firmer joints and that I wouldn’t be reaching for the glue right after opening him. Is he terrible? No. But, in the end, he’s a decidedly average figure and doesn’t match the quality on display in either of my 6-inch Black Stormtroopers or my Sandtrooper. It’s possible I got a lemon, and yes, given the opportunity I will take a chance on a second one, but all in all I was hoping for better.

Aug 7 2014

Transformers Generations: Legends Class Skrapnel by Hasbro

It’s Transformers Thursday again, and I’m still pressing on with my look at the Generations Legends Class figures. Today’s feature has a place near and dear to my heart because it’s Skrapnel. Who? Just consider him copyright-challenged Shrapnel. Yes, that’s Shrapnel as in the leader of the Insecticons. Man, do I love the G1 Insecticons and the fact that Hasbro brought them back in this size assortment is really one of the main reasons I decided to start collecting the Generations Legends in the first place. The only way this release could be any better is if Hasbro did something crazy like… oh, I dunno, maybe bundle a totally random tiny homage to Reflector in there too. Oh wait… THEY DID!!!

The figure comes on the now familiar and extremely cool G1-inspired cardback, complete with that retro grid pattern and some great character art. Damn, that’s some purdy presentation! The only way Hasbro could have possibly improved these cards is if they made the Decepticon grid deco purple like back in the old days. Skrapnel is packaged in his robot mode and so is his buddy Reflector. That’s a first, because all the other Targetmasters were carded in their alt modes. I’m guessing Hasbro didn’t think a camera would be that exciting. Fools! Learn to cater to your fanbase, Hasbro! Who cares if kids don’t like it… they don’t got no monies and they can only beg so much from their parents. I’m an adult with a great paying job. Give me a Deluxe Class Reflector and I’ll buy it! Alright, enough of that… let’s start with Skrapnel’s bug mode…

Just like the original G1 character, this Skrapnel’s alt mode is a cyber-stag-beetle. I don’t usually start out by talking about the deco, but a huge part of the appeal of the original Insecticons has always been their awesome colors. The black, purple and yellow looks so striking and Hasbro recreated it here for this homage quite beautifully. Sure it’s missing the translucent yellow chest plate and the chromed out pincers, but it still looks amazing. These will always be my favorite Decepticon colors, which is probably why I also love Skywarp so much.

As far as robotic beetles go, this version of Skrapnel is a bit sleeker than the G1 original design, and that ain’t a bad thing. I also dig how high he stands on his legs. There’s quite a bit of clearance between his body and the ground and I think that gives this mode a lot of credibility. There isn’t really a head on this critter, but seeing as how he’s a cyber bug, I guess he doesn’t really need one. There’s really no articulation in the insect legs, but you can open and close his giant pincers, which is certainly cool. One of the pincers on mine is a little droopy, but not too bad.

Skrapnel’s transformation has some cool things going for it. The way the panels on his back shift to the sides to become his legs and the flip that the torso does are both pretty surprising for such a small figure. The result is a fantastic little representation of the Insecticon we all know and love. Sure, he’s got some insect leg kibble hanging off his arms and more on his back, but I actually think it works for the aesthetic rather than against it. Skrapnel is a bug bot and he’s proud of it. Unlike a lot of Transformers, Scrapnel’s deco is identical in robot mode to the alt mode, and in this case that’s not a bad thing at all. He’s gorgeous!

He’s also lots of fun to play with thanks to his copious amount of ball joints. You get ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. His articulation is actually so good it kind of stands out that his head doesn’t turn. That’s been the case for me wtih most of these Legends Class figures.

And then there’s Reflector. I want to love Reflector, I really do. I appreciate Hasbro trying here. I mean, what other chance do we have of getting a camera Transformer from Hasbro? None! And yet, he’s really not that impressive. His camera mode just barely passes as a camera. I mean, it’s obvious if you know what it it’s supposed to be, but maybe not so much otherwise. As for his transformation… let’s face it none of these Targetmasters are terribly complex, but Reflector’s bot mode is literally just the camera standing up on his lens. But what the hell, it’s fine.

The gun mode is a bit better. You can plug it into Skrapnel’s alt mode for a pretty cool looking cyber-beetle-tank. It’s also not too oversized for Skrapnel to wield in his robot mode. Still, like most of these Targetmaster guns, I think they work best in the hands of a Deluxe or Voyager Class figure.

Last time, when I looked at Swerve, I went on about his scale and that he was clearly intended to interact with the regular Classics/Generations figures over his own Legends Class. Skrapnel actually falls awkwardly inbetween classes. If you stand him up next to Legends Megatron he’s taller because of his antenna, but otherwise stands shoulder to shoulder to him, which makes him a tad too big. Now, if you stand him with some Generations Deluxes, he’s pretty small, but I actually think this pairing works better. Hey, they’re Insecticons, why not have them be a little smaller? In the end, it’s a compromise either way, but I think I’ll be displaying Skrapnel with my regular Generations figures and not with the Legends. Oh yeah, so long as we’re on about scale, it’s worth pointing out this…

Legends Skrapnel is almost the exact same size as the original G1 Shrapnel. Cool!

It’s probably a given that my first choice would still have been to get a set of G1 inspired Insecticons as Deluxe Class figures. And sometimes I burn my arms on the stove as punishment for not picking up Fansprojects’ Not-Insecticons when I had the chance. So in a sense, Skrapnel here is a consolation prize. The fact that he’s a Legends Class figure is not ideal, but Hasbro still did a beautiful job on him and I love him all the same. What’s even better is that Hasbro recently showed off Legends Class Bombshell and confirmed that Kickback will be following not long after and it’s going to be mighty cool to have a complete set of updated Insecticons, even if they are little guys.

Aug 6 2014

Star Wars: Droid “Special Action Figure” Set by Hasbro

I’ve still been on a bit of a Star Wars kick lately, which mostly amounts to me finally getting around to opening some of the figures in my receivings stack and getting them featured here on FFZ. A couple of years back Hasbro released some neat tributes to the old Kenner three-packs with modern figures in the old style Kenner packaging. Yup, it was pretty much an extension of the Vintage Collection. At one point Amazon was selling these sets for six bucks and I said, “why not? I like droids!” and I tacked it on to one of my orders.

Despite growing up during the heyday of the Kenner Star Wars Toy Age, I have no recollection of the original three-packs. I’ve seen them on collector sites and from time to time at Toy Shows, but I don’t think I ever saw these as a kid. Maybe I just wasn’t interested in them because I already had the figures. Anyway, the package consists of a vintage style Kenner card that sort of morphs into a window box at the bottom to display the three figures. It’s a great reproduction of the original package and deliciously nostalgic, but at the same time kind of bland because there’s very little artwork on the front. Nonetheless, it’s still plenty cool.

The back shows all three of these recreated sets that Hasbro produced. I can’t vouch for the “Villain Set” but I’ve seen lots of photos of Kenner’s original “Droid Set” and the “Android Set.” Wait, Android Set? It’s got Chewie, R2, and 3PO, how does that constitute an Android Set??? Oh, never mind. The set we’re looking at today contains R5-D4, Death Star Droid, and Power Droid, and that makes it a nice tight set focused on the Jawa droid sale on Tatooine. Sadly, the packaging is not collector friendly as the bubble is still glued to the backing, so you’re going to have to do some damage to get these droids free.

I’ll just take these figures in order going from left to right and that starts us off with R5-D4. The body of this mold has been around the block a couple times, starting out life as Vintage Collection R2-D2, and even this R5 is a straight repack of an earlier release, complete with the glued down front access door. Not that I’m complaining because I think this figure happens to be pretty great.

He features the usual removable third leg, which is how I think the Astromechs should always be done in this scale. Hasbro, I love ya, but cool it with the third leg that’s tied to the head rotation. Oh wait, there’s still a head turning gimmick… D’oh! In this case the head is tied to a second antenna that comes out of his head. It’s a pretty crappy gimmick because you have to have R5 turning his head all the way over his shoulder to get it to stick up. Always with the head turning gimmicks, Hasbro, enough is enough, eh? Actually, I take that back. Give me an R5 figure that actually blows his top. That would be cool.

The only discernable difference between this R5 and the previous release in my collection (other than the missing antenna) is the paint. This new release is much cleaner, particularly on the head and it doesn’t have the extra silver paint slop around the eyes. I’m not usually a fan of Hasbro’s attempts to dirty things up with paint, but in this case I actually like the weathered one better. Either way, this R5 is still a great figure and I’m glad to get another one.

Next up, we’ve got Death Star Droid, also known as RA-7. For some crazy reason I was obsessed with the original Kenner Death Star Droid as a kid. I used to pair him up with R5 and they used to be the Imperial versions of R2 and 3PO and show up in all my stupid adventures. Old habits are hard to kick, and since then I’ve always tried to get whatever figures Hasbro made of this guy. After my Great Star Wars Purge, I only have two RA-7’s left, I thought this one would be another repaint of them, but not so! It’s a completely different figure.

Yeah! Gotta love that funky purple RA-7. He’s from the Marvel Comic Pack with everybody’s favorite comic, The Jawas of Doom! But that’s a feature for another time. The biggest giveaway is this new figure’s enormous head, which I’m not all that keen on. I don’t know if it’s really more screen accurate or not, but it looks kind of ridiculous next to the other two Death Star droids with the more sensibly sized noggins.

The other big giveaway is all the extra articulation. My other RA-7’s only have the five basic points plus swivels in their waists. This guy has ball jointed elbows, hinged knees, and a ball joint in the torso. Honestly, the added elbow articulation doesn’t really do much to enhance the figure, but at least with the knees he can sit down and take a load off. I’m pretty sure he was sitting down in the Sandcrawler, so that’s a big win to anyone looking to recreate that scene. Oh, and then there’s this…

Yeah, he just pulls apart, which leads me to believe this figure is just a bunch of repainted Build-A-Droid parts. The new grey paintjob is pretty good and it makes him stand out among his two brothers. While he’s not quite the same without that bitchin’ chrome finish from the original Kenner figure, I still like this figure a whole lot. That’s OK, he’s still cool enough. And now I have a Death Star droid that can get blasted into a million pieces.

And last up is the Power Droid. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Oh, crap… not another one of these stupid boxes on legs. Yeah, I have a couple of these Gonk Droids, so I wasn’t expecting much either. But it turns out this one is the only completely new figure in the set, or at least I’ve never seen him before. He’s a nice surprise because he looks pretty screen accurate and he doesn’t have any kind of stupid walking gimmick like previous releases. In fact, his legs just have regular hinges at the tops and at the ankles. I really dig the paint wash on him too. And then there’s this little surprise…

Yeah, I already spoiled it in the earlier pictures, but it sure surprised the heck out of me. You can lift off the top and reveal his smooth and creamy caramel droid center. Actually he’s just full of droid parts. There’s some extra paint hits in there, but that’s a bout it. Ok, so after all the fuss, he really is just a box on feet and there’s not a lot else to say about this guy. But I still love him, dammit!

I’m pretty sure these sets were originally Target Exclusives. That’s the only store I ever recall seeing them in and boy were they clogging the pegs for a long time. I remember scoffing at the original MSRP that put them at about $25 and they hung around the clearance endcaps for a while too. Yeah, for three figures, twenty-five bucks really isn’t that bad, and I wasn’t buying Star Wars at the time anyway, so it’s not like I was the intended audience for something like this. Somewhere along the way Amazon must have nabbed a ton of these because they still have them on sale. They’re not six bucks anymore, but they’re only ten, and at two-fitty a figure, that’s still a nice deal. Now I just wish I had forked up the money for that Original Trilogy Collection Sandcrawler so I can fill it up with all these nifty droids.

Aug 4 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Wasp by Hasbro

Poor Janet Van Dyne, it’s not enough that she gets slapped around by her husband, but she hasn’t been getting a lot of love from Hasbro either. I remember how pissed off I was that neither she nor Hank Pym were going to be in The Avengers film. Outrageous! How can you omit the two founding members? Of course, after basking in how awesome the movie turned out, I quickly forgot my haughty principles and shut the hell up. Wasp sort of got her due in the Avengers Assemble cartoon (it was a great portrayal), but then that got shit-canned. And now Ant-Man is getting a movie (assuming the production stops imploding) and she’s still left in the dust. Well, at least now she’s finally been represented in the action figure aisle, possibly for the first time since that Legends MODOK wave from the Toy Biz days. Unless, of course, you count the tiny wasp that came in the Secret Wars comic pack.

Here we see Wasp comes in the drab and joyless Marvel Infinite packaging. Blah. These cards are an opener’s dream come true because they’re so ugly I actually want to shred them to pieces to get the toy out.

This figure features Wasp in her most recent comic look and at 3 ¾” scale if you want to imagine she’s shrunk down, you can even consider this a 1:1 scale figure. Neat! Just like we saw last time with Ant-Man, Wasp makes use of a pretty standard buck and uses paint apps to make up her costume. She’s cast in black plastic and there’s a little bit of gold paint used for the deco on her torso and the soles of her boots. The gold looks nice next to the matte black of the rest of the costume. There’s some uneven application of the paint on her chest, but the rest of the deco is sharp and overall it still looks pretty good.

Of course, the other aspect of Wasp’s costume is her wings and I absolutely love the way Hasbro handled these. They actually come detached from the figure and make use of hinged pegs that fit snugly right into her back. Between rotating the pegs and working the hinges, you can get a pretty good range of poses out of them. The wings themselves are cast in a clear yellowish green plastic, which look great.

The portrait on this figure is among one of my favorite Marvel Universe headsculpts that Hasbro has turned out so far. It’s clearly defined and attractive with some very sharp paintwork on the eyes and lips. What really makes it work is the wonderful pixie-style hair sculpt. One look and there’s no mistaking it… that’s Janet! As Wasp uses one of the more modern female bucks, the figure delivers a good degree of articulation. The shoulders and elbows are pegged and hinges and the wrists have swivels. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, double-hinged at the knees and feature swivels in the thighs and lower legs. The ankles are hinged and have lateral rockers. There’s a ball joint just under her chest and the neck features both a hinge and a ball joint.

As with Ant-Man, Wasp comes with a tiny static version of herself. It’s pre-posed in flight with some basic paint apps and translucent wing parts. This piece is a tad bigger than the tiny Ant-Man and I’ve actually managed to not lose it. I dig that Hasbro includes these bonus items, but I really have no use for it and I can’t even think of a decent way to display it.

I’ve been waiting for Wasp to get her due in action figure form for a while now and I’m so happy to finally get her. This is a great little figure and it’d be really cool if we could see a repaint in her classic red and blue costume, which happens to be my favorite. I wish there were some way Hasbro could have worked a simple flight stand into the deal, but I can see where that would have been cost prohibitive. Still, I have to say, crappy package design aside, Marvel Infinites has been impressing me a lot so far, and I’ve only just started opening these!

Jul 31 2014

Transformers Generations: Legends Class Swerve by Hasbro

If you haven’t read the More Than Meets the Eye comic from IDW you are missing out on one of the best comics of all time. That’s not hyperbole, that’s really how I feel. It’s got something for everyone and as far as I’m concerned, the book has managed to create some of the most memorable characterizations of any Transformers fiction to date. One of those characters is Swerve and everybody loves Swerve! Well, everybody except the crew of The Lost Light. They kind of hate him. But either way, the MTME iteration of the character finally got his own official action figure from Hasbro and that figure has quite suitably landed in the Legends Class assortment.

There’s the packaging and I’m still digging the G1-style deco and the bitchin character art that Hasbro is using on these cards. Ok, I’ll admit I would have liked to see Swerve holding a drink, but I’m guessing that such a thing wouldn’t have been deemed acceptable on a toy package. Remember, kids, learn to love booze early and it’ll make life so much more bearable. Either way, at least they included his awesome shit-eating grin. Swerve is packaged in his robot mode beside his Targetmaster, Flanker, who is in his jet mode. Let’s start with Swerve and his alt mode.

Swerve is a pick-up truck, which works for me. The truck mode isn’t overly encumbered with sculpted detail, but it does have some nice attention spent on the front grill and headlights. Yeah, there is major seaming working against it on the sides of the truck, but that’s something that often plagues Deluxes too, so I’m not going to make a big deal about it when talking about a Legends Class toy. The coloring is bright and appealing, with a satisfying red plastic that is sparsely deco’ed out with some white and silver paint apps and black painted windows.

The Legends Class figures, or any Transformers for that matter, aren’t exactly slaves to scale, and that goes extra for Swerve. So far we’ve seen a tank, a jet, a truck, and a sportscar, and none of them have really been in scale with each other and yet they still seem to belong in the same line. Well, Swerve’s is the first alt mode here that clearly feels like it was designed to interact with a different line. When you put him next to his fellow Autobot Legends Class alt modes, he just looks too big and chunky to belong. Is that a bad thing? Well, I’ll come back to that in a bit.

Transforming Swerve is pretty damn easy. It’s so easy that it harkens back to the old G1 Minibot days. You unfold his legs from the back, pull out his arms and tuck the hood behind his back. The result is a pretty spectacular little version of the Lost Light’s resident barkeep.

Yup, that’s Swerve alright! From the detailing on his chest to the way his wheels land on his shoulders, Hasbro did a wonderful job on this guy, despite the simple conversion process. His robot mode also brings a lot more color to the table by showing off his white torso and his silver upper legs. Plus, with ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, and hips, and hinges in the knees, you can get some decent poseability out of this little scrapper. I do wish his head would turn, but as it is it can only look up or down.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Swerve without that smarmy expression and Hasbro nailed that pretty well too. This isn’t the sharpest head sculpt I’ve seen in the Legends Class, but it certainly gets the job done. I will, however, note that Swerve unfortunately has some sloppy paintwork. The silver on the grills on either side of his head aren’t fully painted in and there’s a big dallup of silver in the top right corner of his right chest gril. There’s also a bit of the red plastic bleeding through his white face paint. It’s not the end of the world, but if I find another on the pegs with better paint, I’ll definitely pick it up.

So, back to that whole scale thing. Despite being a Legends Class figure, Swerve feels like he was intended to interact with the regular Generations line. Stand him next to Legends Optimus and he stands bulkier and even a smidge taller than the Autobot leader. On the other hand, put him beside Classics Rodimus and he feels right at home. My guess is that Hasbro wanted to get the figure out for the Classics/Generations line and the Legends price point was the only way they could do it and I certainly applaud the decision.

Swerve’s Targetmaster, Flanker is a little blue jet. He’s a simple little guy, but his paint unfortunately reflects some of the paint issues with Swerve. The white striping on his wings is rather spotty and the blue plastic is bleeding through in afew spots. His jet mode is Ok, but the lack of detail in the nose makes me want to consider him more of a drone than a proper jet. I do, however, dig his robot mode a lot.

Where Flanker really shines is his gun mode. He converts into what looks like a three-barreled minigun of some kind and it’s totally bad ass. It also doesn’t look as terribly oversized as some of the other Targetmaster guns in this line. Sure, I would have preferred Hasbro find a way to give him his “My First Blaster” gun, but it’s at least comforting to know that the third party companies have that accessory covered.

The price point, packaging, and Targetmaster may put Swerve in the Legends Class assortment, he’s still going to be going straight onto my Classics/Generations shelf. I think it’s awesome that Hasbro was able to recognize that this was a character fans would want and I have to say this is one of the first Hasbro releases where I can honestly say that I’m happier to have their version than the third-party Swerves that are out there. Maketoys “Trash Talk” comes closest to getting the job done, but it’s a little too white for me, and with the big gulf in price differences, I don’t even consider Hasbro’s official figure a compromise. Now if only Hasbro would get us some more crewmembers from The Lost Light, I’ll be a happy camper.

Jul 29 2014

Star Wars Black: Darth Vader (3 ¾” Scale) by Hasbro

If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to work one Star Wars feature into each week when possible. I’m doing this not only because getting a box of my old vintage Kenner figures has rekindled my love for the stuff, but also because I have a heck of a lot of Star Wars figures sitting in a pile in the corner waiting to be opened. The 3 ¾” Black line has been hit and miss with me, but mostly miss. Nonetheless, it’s figures like Vizam that give me renewed hope. Today I’m opening Darth Vader because I really need another Vader figure… yeah, like I need a barbed kidney stone lodged in my urethra. Even after my great Star Wars toys purge from a few years back I still have tons of Vaders. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop me from picking up this one last Christmas when Amazon was practically giving them away with a qualifying order.

There’s the packaging and man do I love it. No, wait… love isn’t the right word. Oh yeah, now I remember… I friggin hate it because it looks like garbage. Normally we can rely on the clear view of the figure to help elevate the presentation, but here we have black Vader against a black card. It doesn’t help. I should probably note here that this is Vader from The Empire Strikes Back, specifically inspired by the “We’d be honored if you would join us” dinner party scene. But before you get the cold sweats and flashbacks to the scene specific figures of the Attack of the Clones days, fear not. The specificity of this figure mostly relates to the accessories. I hate to admit it, but even though I own a hundred Vaders in this scale, it’s been so long since I got a new one, I’m rather excited to check this one out.

And here he is out of the package. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this figure before and I’m pretty sure I own it already. He’s got a few strange quirks about him, but I still dig him a whole lot. For starters, the use of soft goods here is excellent. The cape feels really good and falls about the figure as well as a 3 ¾” scale garment with almost no weight to it can be expected to. But it’s the addition of the second layer of cloth underneath that really makes this guy stand out for me, particularly the way it’s fitted under the shoulder cowl and belted. The cape comes attached via a hole that passes through the neck post, but I found it to fit better if you pass the post between the cape and the neck chain. The helmet looks pretty good to me, but I’m not one of those people who could point out all the differences from one movie to the next. It does have a very nice “new car” shine to it and that makes me happy.

The figure does have a couple of minor setbacks. First, the middle of his cowl seems to be pushed in. It looks like a bantha kicked him right in the plate there. I’m not sure if that’s a problem with just mine or with all of these figures, but it’s hard to ignore it. It doesn’t look as bad when viewed from an angle, but I can’t not see it when viewing the figure dead on. The other issue is the head, which tends to pop off rather easily. I tend to have to push down a bit when turning it to keep Vader’s noggin from separating. I think it has to do with the cape material being between the head and body.

The articulation here is Ok, but not great. The shoulders and elbows are ball jointed and there’s are swivels in the wrist and again in the neck. Vader can also swivel at the waist. Alas, Hasbro is really sticking to the T-crotch design and it feels rather backward when compared to the rest of the figure’s articulation. I’d blame it on this guy being a repack, but the T-crotch has also been plaguing the Vintage Collection too. Beyond that you also get ball joints in the knees and ankles. Vader isn’t exactly an action star, so he’ll still be able to do most of what I want him to, but I would have enjoyed the ability to get him into a wider stance.

Vader comes with three accessories: His lightsaber, a swap-out hand with effects part, and Han’s blaster. The lightsaber is pretty self-explanatory. It looks good, but it is one solid piece, so you can’t detach the blade for a deactivated hilt and even if you could there’s no place on his belt to peg it into.

The other two accessories are meant to recreate the dinner scene at Cloud City where Vader deflected Han’s laser blasts and then force-yanked his gun away from him. I give points to Hasbro for trying something here, but in all honesty I don’t think it works. Effect parts are often hard enough to pull off in larger scales and here it just doesn’t look anything like what it’s supposed to. As for the blaster… I recently realized that the Han that came with my Legacy Falcon doesn’t have his anymore, so I was able to hand it off to him.

There was a time when I thought I would rather stub a cigar out on my genitalia than buy another Darth Vader figure. And it’s very probably that this exact figure is already somewhere in one of my storage totes. Now, with all that having been said, I do like this figure quite a bit. It’s not perfect, and I’ll concede that’s kind of disappointing. How many decades has Hasbro been making Vader figures in this scale now? You’d think they could finally produce one that hits all the right points. An update to the T-crotch really would have been a welcome improvement and it takes a lot of effort to futz with his cape to make it look just right. Otherwise I’ve had some fun playing around with him, and now I think I’m going to stand him up on the shelf in front of my Imperial Shuttle because I have no idea where the Vader went that came with that ship. He was definitely worth picking up on the cheap.

Jul 28 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Ant-Man by Hasbro

I love Hank Pym. He’s one of those wonderfully flawed and ultimately very “human” characters that are oftentimes scarce in mainstream comic books. Of course, sometimes it’s hard to love him, but I think that’s what makes him such an interesting character. Anyway, the sad truth is that up until now I had absolutely no representation of his Ant-Man persona in my collection. But now, thanks to the new Marvel Infinite Series, I finally have me an Ant-Man figure. And thanks to the wonders of Pym Particles, he’s a figure that can fit in with my Universe, Legends, and hell even my Hot Toys Marvel figures.

There’s the packaging and I’m still not a fan. There’s no craft of presentation here. All this does is protect the figure and allow you to get a good look at what you’re buying. As far as I’m concerned Hasbro might as well dropped it into a Ziploc bag and wrote Ant-Man on it. Blah!

Ant-Man makes use of the same slender buck that Hasbro used for their previous Hank Pym figure, Yellowjacket. This is also one of those figures that rely almost entirely on paint apps for the costume details. In this case, you get his red costume with blue and black deco and there’s an effective use shading to give the outfit a little more depth. Yes, from the neck down Ant-Man is an extremely simple figure, but in the case of this character it certainly works. Articulation consists of ball joints in the neck, chest, shoulders, hips, and ankles. The arms feature hinged elbows and swivels in the biceps. The legs have double hinged knees and swivels in the thighs.

The head sculpt is where it’s all at. I’ve always the design of Ant-Man’s helmet and Hasbro did a nice job reproducing it here for the 3 ¾” scale. The front part of the mask is actually sculpted separately and permanently attached to the helmet. Having it separate from the face gives the portrait a lot of depth and credibility and I’m surprised to see something like that done in this scale. Even the deep set eyes are clearly defined and look great. Critics may take note of the lack of antennae. I don’t think that was an oversight, but rather just a concession that it would have been impractical to do them, make them look right and have them not break off.

Ant-Man comes with one accessory… himself! Yes, it’s a tiny little PCV version of himself, which features some remarkably good sculpting and paintwork for such a teeny little piece. I thought this was going to be the same pack-in that was included with the Marvel Universe Yellowjacket figure, but it’s actually brand new. It’s also something that I lost almost immediately after opening him up. It must have dropped onto the floor during the photo shoot and in my house anything that small that drops onto the floor instantly becomes the posession of the cat. Poor tiny Ant-Man no doubt currently resides in the kitty’s personal cave of trophies that is also sometimes known as “under the sofa.” Perhaps the little guy will find some ants under there to help him escape.

Ant-Man is one of those characters that was mighty high on my list for the Marvel Universe line and it’s good to see him finally getting the spotlight in the Infinite Series, especially when his film seems to be languishing in developmental purgatory. Speaking of which, it’s kind of odd to me that Hasbro went with Pym over Scott Lang, since it is the latter that will be taking on the mantle of Ant-Man in the movie, but I’m glad they did because finding out that Hank Pym wasn’t going to be the focus of the Ant-Man film really knocked it down a couple notches for me. Either way, as simple as this figure is, Hasbro did a fine job on him and it’s great to have him in my collection. Next time I revisit the Infinite Series we’ll check out Wasp!

Jul 24 2014

Transformers Generations: Legends Class Megatron by Hasbro

Wow, it’s Thursday again. The week just flew by and it’s time for more Transformers goodness. We’re in the fourth week of my infatuation with the Generations Legends line and so far everything about these little toys has been nothing but kittens and rainbows. Well, sadly that trend is going to end today with Megatron because I’m just not digging this guy as much as the others. Let’s take a look…

Here’s the packaging. Well, the deco is still awesome, but I can’t say the same for the character art. Oh, the artwork is just fine, but when you get down to it, I just don’t like this design for Megatron. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Megsy comes packaged in his robot mode with his Targetmaster, Chop Shop beside him in his bug mode. There isn’t much new to say here, so let’s start out with Megatron in his vehicle mode.

Megatron is a tank, and honestly if he isn’t going to be a gun, this is my preferred Megatron alt mode. If you can’t be a gun, be a tank! Interestingly enough, Hasbro actually used the Legends Class assortment a few years back to get us a new G1-style gun mode Megatron, but I was ignoring the Legends line at the time so I never picked him up. Anyway, I don’t have a lot of quibbles with this Megatron’s alt mode. Sure, you can see his hands on each side of the cannon, but even though they’re right there, I don’t think it looks too bad. It’s a rather f’ugly mode, but it still works well enough for what it is. Overall, there’s some nice detail in the sculpt, particularly in the tiny faux treads, and I appreciate the fact that the turret can rotate. I’m not a fan of the plastic they used for the two parts on the back of the turret, which becomes Megatron’s shoulders. It looks cheap. I think it’s the weakest of the Legends alt modes I’ve looked at so far, but for a toy this size, I’m willing to give it a pass.

Transforming Megatron is pretty simple and apart from maybe the way the lower legs pack in there’s nothing terribly clever here. The result is a fairly decent representation of a version of Megatron that I just don’t happen to enjoy all that much. Honestly, I think a big part of my problem with this design is the coloring. It’s that black chest and head with the yellow hazard striping effect. The Megatron I know wouldn’t walk around looking like that. That’s not to say that the quality of the paintwork here isn’t excellent. The yellow hits are crisp and the little touches of red around his midsection and elbows are welcome. I still maintain that there’s better and more complex paint on these little guys than a lot of the Deluxes I’ve seen in the past few years. Either way, with a more G1-style deco I could probably be more accepting of this figure.

Megs features decent articulation for this size class. You get ball joints in the shoulders, elbows, and hips, and hinges in the knees. Some of his transforming parts don’t lock in as well as I would like, but he’s still a fun figure to play with. The tank cannon works OK as his arm blaster. It’s a little thin to drive the homage home, but at least it’s there. It’s also ball jointed, so you can shift it between the outside of his arm or have it like he’s holding it like a gun.

And then there’s Chop Shop! I was unusually excited to see this guy because the old Deluxe Insecticons don’t tend to get any love these days. I never owned any of the originals as a kid, but I was certainly curious about them, mainly because they didn’t look anything like the rest of the official Insecticons, who were official in my eyes because they were actually in the cartoon. I like Chop Shop’s beetle mode a lot and while his robot mode just consists of standing him up, I still think it’s pretty cool. Again, the sculpt and paint on these teeny little figures is impressive to me.

I guess it’s a misnomer to call Chop Shop a Targetmaster, since his weapon mode isn’t a gun, but rather a giant pincer claw. It’s also not really an independent mode at all. You’re just sticking his beetle mode on Megs’ arm and you can work the claw by opening and closing the back half of the beetle. Personally, I think it works better as a shield. Man, that would suck being the Transformer that turns into a shield for another Transformer! I was kind of hoping I could stick Chop Shop onto Megs’ back because positioning the pincers behind his head would give him a cool Armada Megatron look. Sadly, the socket on Megatron’s back is too big for the peg. It seems like either a wasted opportunity or a tease. You can also stick Chop Shop on top of Megsy’s tank mode, but it just looks like exactly what it is, a giant beetle riding on top of a tank.

So, Megatron is not one of my favorites in this line, but that doesn’t make him a terrible figure. Most of what’s here works just fine and my real issue with him is just my personal disinterest in the design. I’m certainly not sorry I added him to my collection. At $10 a pop, these little figures aren’t exactly a high risk gamble. Next Thursday, the Legends Class train will roll on with a look at a very highly anticipated figure… Swerve!

Jul 22 2014

Marvel Universe Infinite: Death’s Head by Hasbro

While he may bask in relative obscurity, the character we’re looking at today wears a veritable aura of greatness about him. Well, he does as far as I’m concerned! Through the pages of Marvel comics, he has hob-nobbed with The Transformers and Doctor Who alike. He is a conduit for tying together two of my favorite franchises of all time and for that I can’t help but revere him. I also can’t help but sit here in slack jawed amazement as I stare at this figure on my desk. He is Death’s Head! Hasbro made a Death’s Head figure! Holy shit!!! I have no packaging to show you, because this fella came to me loose from the proprietor of the spectacularly awesome toy review site, Starscreamersrants. Go check it out. Seriously… go now. I’ll wait.

<Let’s see what’s in the paper today. Well, look at that. A big ass hole opened up in Siberia. That can’t be good. Can’t be long until demons start spilling out of that. I bet right now they’ve got Spetsnaz teams headed down there to dynamite that thing closed before the para-dimensional invasion begins… >

HUH? Oh, you’re back. Ok. So, Starscreamer was content enough to scoop me on the review before bartering the figure into my greedy hands and sparing me having to risk getting my throat cut by going down to 17^th Street and buying the figure from my dealer. Anyway, the packaging is the same horridly boring and uninspired dreck that we saw last week for the Cyclops review and we’ll be seeing a lot more of it in the future so I need not dwell on it.

And there he is in all his glory. Hot damn, it’s Death’s Head! Even if I had no idea who this character is, I’d still fall in love with his wild and colorful design, which is beautifully portrayed in this figure. I mean, I just look at this guy and my imagination runs wild.

The body is built straight off of the Marvel Universe Colossus figure and I think that was a great choice. The only notable resculpting done to the buck is the addition of the new and bulkier boots and new hands. The silver paintwork on the arms and legs is also kept, albeit made a smidge more vibrant. The biggest changes come in the addition of the shoulder and cape piece, which is removable, and the new belt and skirt ensemble. Hasbro put some beautiful work into these new pieces. I love the pitted and pock-marked armor on the shoulders and the battle scrapes and scars on the boots and skirt pieces. Very nice!

Of course Death’s Head sports a new sculpt for his… Death’s head! This guy’s portrait has more personality than anyone I can think of. He’s basically a metal skull, horned demon, with the jowls and under bite of a bulldog. It’s readily apparent that sweet, sweet love was poured into this head sculpt and it is most certainly appreciated. And as great as the overall sculpt is, this figure is also enhanced by some beautiful coloring. In addition to the aforementioned silver paint, you get some really beautiful metallic blue mixed up with the yellow, red and even some gold on his belt. This is what a comic book figure is supposed to look like. It’s like watching colors having sex. Seriously, I’m looking at him now and my eyeballs are aroused.

As he’s built entirely on the Colossus buck, Death’s Head features the same articulation as his predecessor. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips and ankles, double-hinged knees, and swivels in the thighs. There’s a ball joint in the torso and the neck is both hinged and ball jointed.

Death’s Head comes with a few accessories to aid him on his bounty hunting. You get a classical spiked mace and a short handled axe. Both pieces are cast in metallic silver and the axe has some great weathering in the sculpt to show that Death’s Head gets a lot of mileage out of his weapons. You also get a small bronze colored target shield that can clip onto either of his wrists. The shield can also be clipped onto his back and there are slots on the shield to hold both his weapons.

Normally I would say that Death’s Head’s obscurity as a character, at least in the US, is going to restrict the appeal of this figure to only a small number of collectors out there. On the other hand, his quirky character designed coupled with the wonderful job Hasbro did on the figure have me reconsidering that. It’s hard for me to imagine that many Marvel Universe collectors are going to see this beauty on the pegs and dismiss him just because they aren’t familiar with who he is. I know I’d pick up this figure even if I had no history with the character at all. Possibly the only sad thing here is that even with two scales of Doctor Who figures out there, Death’s Head isn’t compatible with either of them. That’s OK, though. I think he fits in OK with the Classics and Generation line of Transformers, and that’s probably where I’m going to display him.

FigureFan Zero

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