Tag Archives: hasbro

Dec 23 2022

Dungeons & Dragons (Cartoon Classics): Hank and Diana by Hasbro

If you have any doubt that we’ve been living in a Golden Age of 80’s Toys Revivals for the past few years, look no further than the fact that we are finally getting action figures from the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon! Honestly, I’m at a point where if we can check off new action figures from Bionic Six, Kidd Video and Mighty Orbots, I could finally die a happy man. The D&D cartoon is one of those few 80’s properties that was pretty popular, but somehow managed to escape the toy treatment. That’s no small feat for a time when nearly all cartoons were just thirty minute toy commercials! Hasbro has had the D&D license for a little while now, and it looks like they’re finally doing something worthwhile with it. I was a big fan of the LJN AD&D figures back in the day, and was always happy to see when some of those characters made cameos in the cartoon, but now we’ve got the real deal. Hasbro is releasing the entire party of adventurers, along with Dungeon Master and Venger, in a few waves, and I just got in Diana the Acrobat and Hank the Ranger!

If you’re unfamiliar with the cartoon, the premise was six kids get on a Dungeons & Dragons ride at the local amusement park and find themselves transported to the fantasy world… FOR REALS! With the help (and I use that word loosely) of the enigmatic Yoda-like Dungeon Master, they each get assigned a character class, a magic weapon, and are forced to travel the realm trying to find their way home. It took me a while before realizing that the little shit was just using these kids to do his dirty work each week while dangling the way home in front of them as a possible reward.

The figures come in Hasbro’s new no-plastic packaging, which is admittedly pretty colorful, but of course does not let you see what the figures look like until you open the packages. I do like how it mimics a card and bubble style, and I may wind up keeping these packages. I especially love how the edges are going to line up to form a group shot of the party! Let’s start with Diana!

So, Diana lost her saving throw against bad QC and her right elbow snapped right out of the package. I repaired it with glue so I could go on with the review, but that’s a pretty big mark against her from the start. So, be careful with the joints on this lovely young lady, because the breakage happened with a simple attempt at manipulation and no force at all. With that said, I do like the overall sculpt here, as I think they captured the character’s costume very well. Her shaggy two-piece acrobat bikini looks good and includes a gold belt with brass studs, gold bicep bands, and a gold gorget with a brass design on it. The boots have sculpted wraps, which are painted red against the brown base color and some sculpted shag around the top edges of the boots. Unfortunately, the plastic looks really rough in some areas, particularly around the backs of the legs, where there’s some ugly seams and mold flashing. You can see more of this around the shoulders. It gives the figure something of a bootleg feel. There’s also a mess of gold spray on my figure’s top, which is really unfortunate when you consider how simple the paint deco is. Almost nothing about this figure feels polished.

I like the portrait a lot, but I’m not sure it’s a particularly great likeness to the cartoon character. It looks more stylized and it feels like something we might have seen had the actual figure been released back in the 80’s. Was Hasbro going for a retro look here? I highly doubt it, but it kind of works for me on that level.

The articulation is overall pretty decent. The arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists. The shoulders and wrists move fine, but the elbows can barely pull 90-degrees. And obviously my figure’s right elbow can’t move at all because it’s been glued. The hips are ball jointed, and while I thought the furry diaper would hinder the hips, she can still take a knee and very nearly do the splits. She does have double-hinged knees, which is nice, and there are swivels at the tops of her boots, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint up under her chest and in the neck. The joints feel a little gummy, and I just didn’t feel like she was a lot of fun to pose and play with, which is a real shame for an acrobat.

Diana comes with two accessories, both variants of her staff. They’re cast in a neon green plastic, which I like because it reminded me of the plastic used for the accessories that came with the old LJN AD&D Kelek figure accessories. Yeah, I doubt that was intentional, but whatever! The standard pole is as simple an accessory as you can get, while the other has some magical effects like it’s being spun. Let’s move on to Hank the Ranger!

Like Diana, I think this figure nails the costume pretty well. Hank sports an olive green tunic with silver studs, and green long sleeves and leggings protruding from it. His brown buccaneer boots have olive green tops, he has a wide brown belt with a silver buckle. Straightaway, this figure sports far better QC than Diana does. There are no noticeable paint flubs, no rough plastic around the joints, and everything looks so much more polished. I’m very happy to see the bump up in quality here, and I’m very interested to see if my replacement Diana will match it. On the downside, Hank’s natural stance is a little weird. His arms don’t quite hang straight at his sides, and when you combine that with the action orientated sculpt of his right hand, he feels like a figure that is either meant to be pre-posed or has some kind of action gimmick.

The portrait is OK, but I don’t like it as much as Diana’s. I think the contours of the face are exaggerated, making him look a lot younger than he’s supposed to be. Or maybe there’s a little Robert Z’Dar in there. It’s serviceable and certainly not terrible, but not great either.

Hank features the same basic points of articulation as Diana, but it feels like some of his range of motion isn’t quite as good. There are slits on the shoulders of the tunic that help a bit with the shoulders, but obviously the tunic still restricts the shoulder movement. The same is true for the part of the tunic that hangs below the belt. I also think the billowy sculpted sleeves give his elbows a bit less range as well.

Like Diana, Hank comes with two versions of his weapon, the magic missile. One is the dormant bow, and the other is when its activated and ready to fire. The regular bow is cast in a yellow-gold plastic.

The activated bow accessory is cast in translucent yellow plastic and it looks really cool, but Hank’s articulation really doesn’t allow him to use it all that convincingly. His left hand is sculpted to be drawing the magic bolt, but the elbow bend just isn’t enough to make that reach work. He does look pretty good posed as if he just released it and the bolt is about to fire. Oh yes, I neglected to mention that the figures come with D&D dice (one each), which is a cute addition, but I’m not sure how many fans of the cartoon actually played the game.

Well, this has been a rough journey with a lot of bumps in the road. Even without the elbow break, the QC on Diana is simply unforgivable, and while Hank faired a better in that department, he still had his share of problems. I’m obviously not as happy with this pair as I had hoped to be, but I’m not giving up yet. I should have Bobby the Barbarian arriving soon, and when I do that review, I’ll be sure to include how my replacement Diana turned out. I’m hoping Hasbro can still turn this line around, but right now it looks like it might be a case of these just being better than nothing. And that’s an endorsement that nobody wants.

Dec 19 2022

Marvel Legends (The Controller Wave): Quake and SHIELD Agent Two-Pack by Hasbro

It’s the second to the last Marvel Monday of 2022 and I’m continuing my jaunt through The Controller Wave! Last week I checked out the new version of Madame Hydra, so let’s just get both of the ladies of this assortment front and center. And that brings us to Quake… or is it Maria Hill? It’s both! And since this seems like a good opportunity to toss in the SHIELD Agent two-pack that Hasbro released a little while back, let’s have a look at those figures as well!

While this release is intended to be either Daisy Johnson or Maria Hill, Daisy wins out and gets the name Quake on the front of the package, and that’s the head that comes on the figure. Maria’s head is off to the side, as well as two pairs of her hands, and the BAF parts. We’ll start with Quake…

Here’s a great example of a pretty simple figure that works very well. Quake consists of a blue femme buck with painted white boots, sculpted shoulder straps that are also painted white, and a belt and two thigh straps, which are sculpted separately and worn on the figure. You also get a zipper pull running down the front of the top, which reminds me of the zipper pull from the original Madame Hydra that they left off the one in this assortment. Did they leave the zipper pull off of this Madame Hydra figure just so Viper and Quake wouldn’t look so similar? Maybe! You do get a spiffy SHIELD insignia printed on her left shoulder. The only thing I really have to nitpick here is that the chest doesn’t run very flush with the lower abdomen. It’s no big deal, but it does give the figure a little bit of a mismatched appearance.

The portrait is pretty good, although I don’t have a huge attachment to this character so I can’t really comment on the likeness. I can barely even remember what she looked like in the comics. I do like the hair sculpt’s tussled look. The printing on the eyes and lips do their usual thing of looking blurry when you get in close with the camera, but it looks fine with the naked eye. The seam running down the center of her throat is a little unfortunately placed.

Quake’s gauntlets are very well done, consisting of sleeves that fit over the forearms and the hands that peg in afterwards. They’re sculpted with the fingers opened and spread as if she’s working her mojo. And look! Quake is sporting double-hinges in the elbows and bicep swivels! It’s always nice to see a female Legends figure get this articulation upgrade. The rest is right in line with what we usually see in the Legends ladies, making Quake loads of fun to pose and play around with. And with a quick swap of head and hands, you can turn Quake into…

Maria Hill! And I think the transformation works pretty well. Sliding off the gauntlet sleeves reveal white painted gauntlets underneath, and you get a choice of splayed figure hands or gun holding hands. The gun is a compact automatic pistol and serviceable but not really special. I do think it would have been cool if Hasbro included an attachable holster or something, because Agent Hill doesn’t have anywhere to put her shooter when she’s not holding it.

The Maria portrait is pretty decent, with a shorter and more tidy coif. I like the stray strand that crosses over her forehead. She also has her trademark earpiece and microphone on the right side of her cheek. I like this look enough that I probably would have picked up a second figure to display as both, but this one has crept up in price a bit lately, and it’s more than I’m willing to spend now. It does make me wish Hasbro would release a female SHIELD agent two-pack. I’d be all over that! And speaking of which…

Here’s the SHIELD Agent two-pack that Hasbro did release. I’m pretty sure this was a Pulse Exclusive, and I got it back in the beginning of the year along with the Skrull Soldier that released at the same time. The figures come in a fully enclosed box with some nice artwork on the front, and you get a tissue-paper bag with all the extra stuff to customize your agents.

I gotta be honest, I was not thrilled with these when I took them out of the box. The joints are horrifically gummy and it took a lot of work just to get them to stand naturally without looking weird. They are identical, with the same blue buck with painted white boots and gauntlets and SHIELD patches stamped on their shoulders. They also share the exact same gear, which includes a shoulder strap with a chest holster and non-removable pistol painted silver, double waist belts with plenty of pouches, and a double thigh strapped holster on the left legs with more pouches. The gear looks really bulky and awkward, and why include a faked out gun holster on the chest when they have functional holsters on the hip? All this stuff bothered me at first, but the more I played around with them, the less irksome it became, and eventually I was able to have some fun with them.

The figures come out of the boxes wearing full tactical helmets with painted visors and breathers. One visor is painted red and the other is silver, which in itself is kind of weird. I appreciate the desire to make them look a little different, but why would you have two different color visors? Maybe I’m over thinking it. Besides, you also get three unmasked head sculpts to mix things up.

To show SHIELD’s ethnic diversity, the heads include Caucasian, African-American, and Asian portraits, all of which are excellent sculpts, especially considering they’re just supposed to be generic dudes. I’m not sure if these are based off of Hasbro employees or just completely made up, but I think they did a great job on all three, making me wish I had a third body to display them all on. Oh, I get it! Hasbro wants me to buy another two-pack! Well, that’s no going to happen, but I do like these unmasked heads better than the helmets.

As for the other extras, you get some pairs of hands, and some weapons. You get a pair of gun holding hands for each figure, but you only get one pair of fists between them, which I thought was really cheap. You also get a set of gesturing right hands, one pointing with one finger, and the other pointing with two. They’re all good choices, but not including a pair of fists for each figure really cheeses me off. As for the guns, each figure gets an identical pistol, which is kind of a futuristic design, or at least not like any pistols I’m familiar with.

Additionally, you get two identical rifles, a third with a foregrip, and a BFG with a red magazine. The guns are OK, but I don’t really love any of the designs. I would have rather had some real-world weaponry included with these guys, but at least it’s a pretty generous assortment.

These figures all go together very well, which makes it rather serendipitous that I waited to open the SHIELD agents until now. Quake works great as either Daisy or Maria, and I even liked trying out the Daisy head without the gauntlets as a generic female SHIELD agent. Yes, the SHIELD agents took a little time to grow on me, and I’m still not a fan of how bulky their equipment looks, especially the pouches on the thigh straps, but in the end they won me over and I’m glad I picked them up.

Dec 14 2022

G.I. JOE Classified: Crimson Guard by Hasbro

A short while ago, when I reviewed Tomax and Xamot, I mentioned just how infatuated I was as a kid with The Crimson Guard and its Commanders. Some of it probably just had to do with the hot newness of new figures and a new dynamic in the cartoon, but I think it mostly had to do with just how unbelievably cool the Crimson Guard designs were. With their snappy red uniforms and their full helmets, they pissed all over the average Cobra troops, who in all fairness, by now were painted as mostly inept buffoons in the cartoon. Sure, the Crimson Guard wouldn’t wind up being much better, but at the time they were introduced, there was hope.

I also had hope that we wouldn’t have to wait too long to see these troops arrive in the Classified line, and as it turns out they came out even sooner than I expected. Yeah, as the 50th numbered release, that doesn’t exactly make them early releases, but with the way Hasbro has been cranking out the Classified figures, we didn’t have to wait too long. I mean, what’s it been, only two years since that first wave? Damn, Hasbro! Anyway, I’ve had this figure in hand for a little while now, but I was waiting to get a few more in before I finally sat down to spotlight them. Now, I’ve got a small squad of them, so let’s get started!

And Merry Christmas to me! Just look at this beautiful bastard! As I’ve pointed out many times in my Classified spotlights, Hasbro seems to be sticking to extremely conservative updates to these figures lately, and that suits me just fine. Doubly so in the case of The Crimson Guard, because you just don’t mess with perfection. This Classified version takes the original RAH figure design and just adds more detail, without making any drastic changes. You do get some well-defined knee pads, a double-strap thigh holster on the left hip, and a knife sheath on his right hip. There’s also the addition of a sword, which was an absolutely inspired addition to the figure design. The crimson fatigues are just the perfect shade of red plastic, with high black boots, gloves, and lots of silver trim to round out what is a visually stunning color palate. The buttons and edging on the front panel of the tunic were always part of the original figure sculpt, but now we get them beautifully picked out with that snappy silver, as well as the chest insignia. Meanwhile, the shoulder braid and epaulets are left gray. Oh, and the texturing on the tunic is superb! I dare say, this design hasn’t looked this good since Sideshow produced it in Sixth-Scale.

The helmet and mask also stick to the RAH roots, but again with lots more detail. The thin silver slit forms a visor and there’s a silver breather bisecting the rest of the black mask. The texturing on the tunic shows off really well in these shots, as does the epaulets, and the little details in the insignia on his left breast and the collar.

The backpack design is lifted directly from the original figure, only this time its cast in black, rather than red, and I approve wholeheartedly. The addition of black here just adds more balance to the deco. The edges have a leather-like texture with sculpted eyelets and straps, and there are angled slats running down the center. A peg on one side allows you to stow his rifle, while a peg hole on the other allows you to stow his sword and scabbard, and more on those in a bit. Yes, this figure can easily carry all the gear he comes with, and that’s always a plus in my book! Let’s breakdown all the gear, starting with the cutlery.

The combat knife is one of the better ones I’ve seen in this line. Nothing against past blades, but many have been a bit insubstantial and cast in all black. Here we get a silver painted blade, with a nice swollen edge, a serrated back, and a chunky grip. This knife not only looks great, but it fits perfectly into either of his very trigger-orientated hands. I love it!

And then there’s the sword, which as I said earlier, suits the figure so well, it’s hard for me to believe this didn’t happen sooner. It has a black hilt with a rather traditional modern military hilt with a curved knuckle guard, and a straight silver blade. The blade fits perfectly in the scabbard, which in turn pegs into a hole on his left hip. Yes, you can attach the sword to the backpack as well, but I’m not sure why you would want to. It looks great on the belt, and doesn’t really get in the way.

Moving on to the firearms, The Crimson Guard has a compact no-nonsense automatic pistol with a simple sculpt and cast in all black plastic. There’s a little checkered texturing on the sides, and all in all it has a solid realistic profile to it.

And finally, he comes with the real showpiece of his arsenal, a Colt M4 Carbine, which is probably my new favorite weapon issued in this entire line. This sculpt is absolutely fantastic and sports some amazing detail from the telescoping-style stock to the carry bar, and removable magazine, it all looks so damn good. But, I think it’s the bayonet with the silver painted blade that’s really the icing on this cake. Some may be disappointed that it isn’t the style of rifle that came with the original figure, but it pleases me to no end that Hasbro still went with a real world design for this figure’s weapon, and that they did such a wonderful job recreating it here.

With only a couple weeks left in the year, it’s not premature for me to throw out there that The Classified Crimson Guard is one of my top figures of 2022. Indeed, the fact that I’m not yet prepared to call it my favorite figure of the year just speaks to what an incredible year it was for action figures. Well, that and I don’t want to make any snap judgements like that without putting some more measured thought into it. But is he in the Top 5? Most definitely! Top 3? Very possibly. This is just an example of a design that I love so much being executed with absolute perfection. Classified has been an absolute treasure trove for amazing Cobra army builders, and this fellow may indeed be my favorite one yet. I’ve got six of these guys in my army so far, and I’m still open to picking up a few more. It makes me feel sorry for the Classified JOE’s, because they are getting more and more outnumbered with each passing release.

Dec 12 2022

Marvel Legends (The Controller Wave): Madame Hydra by Hasbro

After meandering about with some one-offs, multipacks, and a statue, I’m headed back into opening a new wave of Marvel Legends. Well, not really a new wave, but new to me. Counting today, there are only three Marvel Mondays left in the year, so I doubt I’ll get through all these figures before the end, but let’s see how far we can get. I’m kicking off The Controller Wave with a look at Madame Hydra, a do-over of a character that was released all the way back in Wave 2, about ten years ago!

Here’s the packaging, and it’s nice to see this window, because I’ve had some bad luck with Hasbro’s new fully enclosed boxed figures. But more on that at a later date. Here we get Madame Hydra surrounded by her accessories and a big chonky leg for The Controller BAF. Let’s tear this box open and dig right in.

So, straightaway, this isn’t a huge departure from the character design we saw in the first release. She’s still wearing the green body suit, but here her boots are painted on as a brighter green, instead of a metallic olive. I approve of the color change, as it really makes this figure pop! Her gloves are painted instead of sculpted, which is a bit of a step down, although you do get a sculpted ring around the biceps where they end. I do miss the zipper and pull on the previous figure’s top, as its absence here also feels like a little bit of a downgrade. Although, if you’re looking for a cleaner comic look, this one may be the favorite. The proportions here look a lot better, although that’s pretty much all thanks to the legs, which are less spindly and no longer have those terrible looking ball joint hips.

The sculpted belt is all new, and cast in bright green to match the boots. It’s a criss-crossed double-gun belt with a functional holster on each hip. The buckles and snaps are painted gold, and there’s a really nice Hydra insignia stamped in gold on each holster. I really dig this belt!

The portrait on the first release was a huge bone of contention with collectors, as being really angular and ugly. This one is technically an improvement as it has a much more traditional rounded face, but there’s something about it that’s just not selling it to me. The mouth seems a bit weird, like it’s too close to the nose. That may be caused by the heavy handed green lipstick. The eyes are OK, and have some decent green eyeshadow. The hair is very chunky and is sculpted so as to partially cover the right part of her face. It looks fine, but it’s a real pain when trying to get her to turn her head. To be honest, I was never too bothered by the previous portrait, as it certainly looked villainous, albeit downright ugly. I’d say this one is still an improvement, but maybe not as much as I would have hoped.

Even after ten years, the articulation here is pretty much the same as what we saw in Madame Hydra V1. In fact, the only real difference is the previously mentioned hips. I’ll forever be thankful Hasbro jettisoned that design, even though it doesn’t make a huge difference in range of motion, the current hip joints are easier to work with and look so much better. This Madame Hydra seems to have a little bit more range of motion in the elbows, but since they’re still rotating hinges, she can only manage about a 90-degree bend. Otherwise the figure sports some pretty solid articulation, even if it hasn’t changed much over the course of a decade.

Madame Hydra comes with two sets of hands: Fists and gun-toting hands, and she also comes with a pair of matched Lugar-style pistols. These are amazing little guns, with some excellent detail in the sculpts and some beautifully painted grips, which have something like a snakeskin pattern. The previous figure came with a similar pistol design, but it was really oversized. She also came with a rifle, while this new release does not.

In the end, I do like this figure a lot better than the first release of Madame Hydra, and I’ll certainly be retiring my old figure in favor of this one. The few gripes I have here are pretty little nit-picks and the good far outweighs the bad. And yes, Wave 2 Madame Hydra did have to surrender her rifle to this new version, because she won’t be needing it while she’s rattling around at the bottom of a storage tote in the back of a closet. This was a solid figure to start out the wave with, and if the rest of the assortment can keep it going, I should be in for a treat!

Dec 7 2022

Star Wars Black Series: Cassian Andor and B2EMO by Hasbro

A friend of mine once argued that beyond The Original Trilogy, Star Wars was incapable of any real depth and new ideas. I proffered that Rogue One shattered his argument, but he insisted that even Rogue One was just propped up by familiar imagery that we’ve seen over and over again. We had to agree to disagree on that one, but I understood his underlying point. And then came Andor, a series that even he had to agree expanded the Star Wars franchise beyond the same old, same old. Andor is so well-written that it’s almost unbelievable that it came from the same production company that gave us Obi-Wan and Book of Boba Fett. It introduces us to characters that are motivated and relatable, showers us with finely crafted and memorable dialogue, and does more to expand the Star Wars Universe than well, almost anything I can think of. Of course, all this comes at the cost of a lot of action. The show is slow and plodding. It’s deliberate and measured. So did I actually want action figures from this kind of show? You bet I did!

And Hasbro answered the call with this initial offering: A two-pack featuring the titular Cassian Andor and his droid B2EMO. This set started life as a Pulse Exclusive, but just this week it was offered up as a wide release by other online retailers. As far as I can tell, the retail release is identical to the exclusive, but if you went with Pulse, you got the figures in hand at about the same time it was going up for pre-order elsewhere. So, I guess that’s something!

The packaging here is very nice! You get what looks like an enclosed box, but it’s actually a slipcase holding two windowless boxes that slide out of opposite ends. Each of the figures is secured with twisty string, and they look quite striking against the red trays. And yeah, B2 looks a little awkward levitating in the middle of his human-sized tray. Let’s get them out of there and start with Cassian himself!

Well, I actually didn’t expect as much color as we got on this figure. Not that it’s all that flashy, but the blue shirt looks nice, as does the gold buckle and fixtures on his smuggler-style belt. The overcoat is a reddish-brown and the tunic is two-tone green. All in all, for a show that is pretty drab on screen, I think the deco on this figure pops pretty well. The sculpt work that went into the costume is very impressive. We get all sorts of stitching, rumples, and layers. It perfectly characterizes Andor as the common rabble that he is, with maybe just a hint of swashbuckling flare.

I’ve gone back and forth on this portrait. It’s definitely a huge improvement from the Rogue One versions, and I think the likeness is good from certain angles, but maybe not from dead on. The hair sculpt is especially well done, and the facial hair is pretty good too. The printing makes the details look rather blurry up close, but it looks fine as long as you don’t punch in too close.

The articulation here is a bit better than I was expecting, and by that I mean the bulky plastic costume doesn’t really inhibit anything. Alas, there are no double hinges in the elbows or knees, but instead rotating hinges. You do still get thigh swivels, but no bicep swivels. It’s not ideal to me, but it works OK, although the elbows can only manage 90-degree bends. The ankles are hinged with lateral rockers, there’s a ball joint at the waist, and the neck rotates at the base and has a ball joint further up in the head. Andor features two trigger-finger hands, which is kind of strange since he only comes with one gun.

The gun is a simple pistol, which was showcased a few times in the series. I like this boxy no-nonsense design. It’s not as flashy as some of the weapons of the Star Wars Universe, but it fits the pragmatic nature of the series to a tee. All in all, I’m very pleased with the way Cassian came out. There’s definitely some room for improvement, but overall not bad. I wish I could say the same about B2EMO…

Yeah, this guy is just a huge disappointment. Granted, the design doesn’t offer quite as much to work with as an Astromech, but this little salvage droid deserved better than what we got here. My biggest complaint are the feet, which are rubbery and not really straight. Hasbro couldn’t even throw this poor droid some actual wheels so he could roll. Instead he just has sculpted treads under the feet. All this makes him feel really cheap. I do like the rusted finish on his body, as well as the sculpted pitting, but he could have used something to bring out those panel lines. I may have to bust out a Sharpie and do it myself. You get one orange foot, suggesting that it was replaced at some point and Cassian couldn’t be bothered to paint it. It’s also really hard to make out any of the detail around the inside of his head, although I’m happy they gave his lens a little red to help make it out better.

In terms of articulation, B2 can close up into a box and then open up in three stages. He can turn his head and he can extend his feet out, which is something I didn’t even notice him doing in the series. The big disappointment here is that his head isn’t on some kind of ball joint so it could angle upward. If this were a 3 3/4-inch figure, I would have been OK with all these nitpicks, but… I don’t know, I was just expecting something a lot more impressive than what we got for a 6-inch scale figure. Maybe if we got his charging station, that would have helped him feel a little more substantial.

I got this set for 25% off when Hasbro was running their Pulse sale, and that certainly helps me accept B2 for what he is. Needless to say, I’m a lot more impressed and satisfied with the Cassian figure. I certainly don’t have any buyer’s remorse, but now that the set is available at multiple retailers, the chances of it turning up at deeper discounts or clearance is a lot better. Personally, I want to support the figures Hasbro releases for the Andor series so we will get more, otherwise, it probably would have been prudent to wait for a better price on this set.

Dec 5 2022

Marvel Legends (Retro Fantastic Four): Psycho-Man and The High Evolutionary by Hasbro

While this is the first time these are appearing here on FFZ, I have been collecting the Retro Carded Fantastic Four figures since they first started hitting the toy aisles. But, since I originally set out to collect these mint-on-card, I haven’t actually reviewed any. Well, now that these are turning up on the cheap at some online retailers, I have been buying doubles to open. I don’t know that I’ll get a complete second set, but for now I thought I’d open up two of the baddies of the assortment: Psycho-Man and The High Evolutionary!

Oh, I do love me this packaging! You get the beautiful Fantastic Four logo at the top with the team depicted just below the 4. The large bubble showcases the figure and also has some personalized character art at the bottom of the bubble. The card is made of decently hefty stock, so as not to easily bend or tear, making them perfect for mint-on-card collectors. I got this set from Amazon and even with their firm belief in using zero packing materials whenever possible, they arrived in great shape. The cards also featire both a J-hook and a balanced bottom surface, so these beauties are at home either hanging on the wall or standing on a shelf. Let’s start with Psycho-Man!

Encased in his suit of armor, the microscopic Psycho-Man features a deliciously distinctive character design that manages to be retro and yet still pretty fresh. The white suit consists of heavy rumpled leggings and stocky boots, which look like they’re straight off an Apollo Astronaut. These are encased in a framework of metallic green rods and rings. His torso is clad in a white sculpted tunic, with a partial green-paneled belt, a green gorget, and green gloves that run all the way up to his armpits! The simple deco looks amazing thanks to the beautiful metallic green paint contrasting with the bright white. It’s all so delightfully Kirby, no wonder I freaking love it! Alas, there’s a little bit of rubbing on the green paint at the bottom back of my figure’s tunic, but better there than in the front, I guess.

When it comes to Psycho-Man’s portrait, it’s hard not to be reminded of one of Kirby’s major DC creations, and I am of course referring to Darkseid. I think it’s the way the face is nestled in that hood, and the harsh contours of the face. The gold brings the only reprieve from all that green and white, with almost circuit-like lines protruding down his forehead. The two pupil-less white eyes gaze straight through my soul, and he looks decidedly displeased. It’s wonderful!

Despite the chonks of his armored suit, Psycho-Man sports the usual Legends articulation. Granted, you don’t have quite the same range of motion in the elbows and knees as you might with the leaner figures, but it’s still not bad. The tunic does impede the hip articulation ever so slightly, but the framework on his legs do not, which is pretty impressive. It’s worth noting that some of the joints are built on hinged pegs, which I found a bit odd. Maybe he was originally designed to be a Build-A-Figure.

You get one accessory with Psycho-Man, and that’s his Control Box. It’s a pretty simple sculpt, but a nice looking piece of kit, with the emotions, HATE, DOUBT, and FEAR clearly labeled on it. His right hand is sort of designed to hold it, but it’s a little snug. OK, let’s move on to The High Evolutionary!

Another banger of a Kirby villain with a batshit crazy past, The High Evolutionary really transcends The Fantastic Four, but it’s still nice to get him in this style packaging. Wyndham comes sporting his silver exo-suit, which is characterized by tight horizontal ribbing and some fine muscle tone. He has bright crimson gauntlets and boots, and a matching tunic and sash with a wide and spiffy belt, all decked out in silver studs and some pointed shoulders to look extra imposing. I do like the subtle variety found in the matte plastic used for the tunic and the glossy stuff used for the boots, but I’m not fond of the creases we get from the molding process with this particular plastic. Still, overall this guy looks great!

The head sculpt is solid, but is ultimately let down by the quality of this plastic. It does have a nice glossy sheen, but it doesn’t hold the sculpted details very well. As a result all those lovely panel lines just end up looking rather soft. We also get some more of the molding creases. On the plus side, the yellow eyes look decent, and I love the silver painted panels on the top of his head and the cut-outs in his mohawk. The close ups hot here also shows off some of those unfortunate creases in the tunic’s plastic. It’s certainly not as bad to the naked eye when you’re just holding the figure in hand, but it still somewhat mars what would otherwise be a gorgeous figure.

And as long as I’m piling on the criticism of the plastic, the jointing in the knees and elbows here is kind of mushy. Otherwise, the articulation is solid, and the slits on the sides of the sash help to not inhibit the hip articulation too badly. Herb does not come with any accessories, but he does have an extra pair of hands, giving him one set of fists and one set of open relaxed hands. He actually comes out of the package with one of each equipped.

I really dig both of these figures a lot! The coloring on this pair is gorgeous, and I’m very excited to add them to my Legends lineup. I think Psycho-Man comes out on top among the two, and that’s partly because I love his design so much and partly because Hasbro did such a fine job with it. It may sound like I came down pretty heard on The High Evolutionary, but even with his flaws, he’s not a bad figure, and one that I have had on my Legends Wanted List for a long while now. Both of these fellas are available right now for pretty cheap through some of the big online retailers, and I’m glad I was able to get doubles to open!

Nov 30 2022

Transformers (Studio Series 86) Rumble by Hasbro

My schedule is really tight this week, and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it back here at all after Monday, but I was hankering to open up a new toy, and I just managed to squeeze in enough time this afternoon to shoot Studio Series Rumble. I haven’t really been collecting any of the Core Class figures, but I absolutely had to grab Rumble to see how well he would go with my Earthrise Soundwave!

Good God, I hate this packaging! Either go with a fully enclosed box, or go back to plastic windows, Hasbro! It’s bad enough that I have to risk getting a robot with boogers and candy residue stuck on it, but in a moment you’ll see my new reason to hate this packaging. So, I had this guy on pre-order through an online retailer, but I just so happened to stumble upon Rumble at the store while doing some food shopping. This was the only one they had and the box was smashed, but I decided I would get him anyway and cancel the pre-order later. Then I got home and opened him…

And this is what I saw! Now I’m going to assume that one of his Thruster Guns wasn’t actually stolen, but rather it just fell out of the sleeve and right out of the package BECAUSE IT HAS NO GODDAMN WINDOW TO KEEP THE SHIT IN IT!!! Now, this is not a huge deal, because I do still have the pre-order in place, but still… this is some serious bullshit. If having plastic windows on packaging means the world has to drown in its own seas of chemical soup so I can get my toys with all their accessories, then so be it! But this shit has got to stop, Hasbro. If you aren’t going to enclose the box, you need to secure the accessories better. Anyway, let’s get Rumble clipped off the backing and check him out.

I should take this opportunity to point out how much I absolutely love Rumble in the Sunbow cartoon. He had more personality than a lot of the other Decepticons, and a spectacular Napoleon complex to make up for his small size. On that note, it’s with the highest of praise that I say how great this little figure turned out. The sculpt is fantastic, particularly the circuitry on his chest that mimics the original toy very nicely. You also get a surprisingly diverse color palate for such a small figure. In addition to the two-tone blue and purple plastic, you get some off-white for the feet, some metallic purple accents, and even some red and yellow panels in the legs. The head sculpt is also just about perfect. I don’t know why, but I love how puffy his cheeks look. It’s like he’s pondering on something stupid to say. You want me to nitpick something? OK, I wish the feet were painted silver. Maybe I’ll try out a Sharpie on them, since I’ll eventually have two of these little buggers. Articulation is surprisingly good too, although the lack of elbows is a little disappointing.

If you are lucky enough to get both Thruster Guns, they can be worn on his back, or pegged to his forearms, just like the original G1 figure. Like the feet, I would have loved to see these painted silver, but with all the rest of the coloring on the figure, I can see why that didn’t cost out.

Of course, you also get the attachable pile drivers, which are absolutely fantastic. To put them on, you just fold in Rumble’s fists and socket them in. The pistons don’t actually move, but boy does he look great with these things equipped.

The transformation here is about what I expected. It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it does make for a decent cassette tape, and thank Primus for that! He doesn’t turn into a data chip or a PDA, or a chunky disk. It gives me a little sadistic pleasure that a lot of kids are going to have no idea what the hell this is supposed to be. Meanwhile I’m still over here using one of these ancient beauties to load Zaxxon on my Atari 400 computer!

And his cassette mode does indeed fit into Earthrise Soundwave. It’s a tad snug, but it works! Let’s check out some comparison shots with the other recent cassette releases!

I think Rumble is a huge improvement over Eject, as far as cassette to robots go. I don’t want to hate on Eject, because I actually like his translucent blue parts a lot, but these two don’t really match up all that well.

And here’s Soundwave’s menagerie when you pair up Rumble with Earthrise Leaserbeak and Ravage. Laserbeak still impresses the hell out of me, and he looks great next to Rumble. Ravage? Eh. There’s some impressive engineering going on there, but I honestly like the original G1 toy better than this update.

Rumble is without a doubt the breakout hit of the year for me. OK, maybe he’s not the best Transformers figure I got this year, but he certainly is the best official toy treatment of the guy since his original G1 release. And I’d dare say that he’s made me a lot happier than some of the more bigger and more expensive bots I got recently. He’s ridiculously fun to play with, and he looks amazing beside Big Daddy Soundwave. It’s too bad the experience had to be dampened by Hasbro’s shit packaging, but hopefully the next one I get will have all the parts in there. Lesson learned, if you are buying him at the store, check in there for the guns!

Nov 23 2022

G. I. JOE Classified: Serpentor and Air Chariot by Hasbro

As someone who started playing with the Real American Hero toys back when the line was first released, I don’t think anything suitably prepared me for the bat-shit crazy rollercoaster that would envelop the toyline by 1986, when Serpentor arrived to take over the reigns of Cobra. Sure, Cobra Commander was portrayed as a buffoon in the Sunbow cartoon, but he sure looked the part of a serious terrorist leader in his smartly cut military uniform and terror mask. Silly snake lisp or not, he looked like a dude that you could take seriously. Then he got replaced by a freaking zombie-clone-military genius in a carnival snake suit, and somehow it all made sense. I’m sure part of it had to do with a bunch of Cobra agents getting so tired of being bested because of Cobra Commander’s hairbrained schemes, that they didn’t think they could do any worse. But a lot of it had to do with the way Serpentor was portrayed. Yes, he looked ridiculous in that suit, but he was so goddamn terrifying, that nobody was going to call him out on it. This was an undead warrior who could summon snakes and throw them like javelins. He was prone to rage, and not like the little tantrums that Cobra Commander had. When Cobra Commander got upset, he usually threw a chair into a TV monitor. When Serpentor got pissed, he seemed capable of twisting someone’s head off. And that’s why I love him and why I’m so excited to see him appear in the Classified line!

Unfortunately, Serpentor was released as a Pulse Exclusive, which I think was a pretty shitty idea on Hasbro’s part. Everyone was going to want this guy, and getting in on the pre-order was exactly the kind of white-knuckle affair that has been trying my toy collector patience as of late. Just the fact that he’s going for twice the retail price since selling out is proof positive that Hasbro needs to rethink its distribution strategy. But, with all that having been said… Boy did Hasbro go all out on the packaging here. There’s a corner-slipcase that slides off to reveal what looks like the Cobra Lab that engineered this big baddie, as well as the garage where his Air Chariot was built. Open up the slick hybrid DNA-Cobra Insignia and you reveal the figure and some cases containing his accessories. Pull out the entire tray and you reveal the unassembled Air Chariot. It’s some absolutely wonderful presentation that looks like a Convention Exclusive, and the character art absolutely kicks ass. Let’s start with a look at the figure first, and then we’ll check out the Air Chariot. Buckle in, Snakelings, this will be a long one!

And… Wow, what a gorgeous figure! I’m pleased to report that Classified Serpentor doesn’t deviate from his original vintage toy design. Indeed, this is a pitch-perfect update, which captures all the beautiful eccentricity of the snake suit we first saw way back when, only with a lot more detail and realism added to the sculpt. The scaly copper suit features a golden snake belly running up the chest, and a similar motif down on the boots. Green armor plates are added to the knees and thighs, as well as scaled green fingerless gauntlets on his forearms. His belt is a snake wrapped around his waist, with the centered snake’s head looking out with the most adorable little expression, which I will have to admit is kind of unintentionally hilarious. DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE A HAVING A LITTLE CHORTLE WHEN THEY GAZE UPON MY CUTESY SNAKE FACE BELTBUCKLE??? SIR, NO SIR! Similar green snakes touch tails at the center of his chest and coil under his arms, and up around the tops of his shoulders. The ensemble is punctuated with a green cloth cape, complete with a quilted scale pattern. Classified Serpentor definitely takes this ridiculous design and absolutely owns it. This guy looks like the worst combination of crazy and terrifying, just like a proper undead snake emperor should be. As far as the suit is concerned, Hasbro nailed it and I wouldn’t change a thing!

Hasbro did something rather interesting with the portrait, which I didn’t know about until opening the figure. He comes out of the box with a fixed cobra headdress, which prevents any neck articulation, as it essentially fuses his head to his upper back. I’m not sure this was entirely necessary, as I think the alternative that we’ll see in a bit is every bit as good, but I guess it’s nice to have options. Either way, the sculpt is fabulous with some lovely detail in the Cobra hood, and the way the snake’s mouth opens to frame Serpentor’s face. And what a face it is! Serpentor looks like he’s eternally cross with whoever happens to be in front of him. He has a dour scowl on his face and narrowing red eyes. Hot damn, this is an impressive sculpt, only brought down a few pegs by the pudgy snake fangs that dangle in front of his brow. Yeah, those could have been done better, but that’s literally the only thing I can find to nitpick with this figure so far.

To swap heads, the cobra hood and top of the snake head comes off as one piece and gets replaced as two. Thus, Serpentor’s head is no longer attached to the hood and can articulate freely. Again, I think this looks fine, and I can’t imagine ever again bothering with the other pieces. The face sculpt is the same, and to be honest, had Hasbro not included the fixed style headdress, I wouldn’t have missed it at all. All things being equal, I would rather have had a shouty angry face to swap out instead of the fused snake hood. Onward to the accessories!

First off, Serpentor comes with his extendable blades on his right arm, although they aren’t actually extendable, but rather create the illusion with two different pieces: One with blades retracted, and one with them extended. These simply tab into a slot in the arm. I remember my original figure having a sculpted silver thing on that arm, but I’m not sure I knew that’s what it was. It’s a cool weapon, but even the retracted piece is a bit cumbersome. I would have liked to have had a plain plug to pop into the socket as well.

Hey, remember in the cartoon when Serpentor would grab one of the snakes off his shoulder, make a javelin out of it and impale his enemies with it? Well, here you get one of those snake javelins! Can you imagine working at a place where your boss throws living snake harpoons at you when you don’t perform effectively? Yeah, no thanks!

Next up is this rather regal looking Cobra scepter. Because wearing an entire snake suit doesn’t quite drive the point home enough, right? This comes across as a bit much to me, and I may wind up giving it to Cobra Commander. It is a nice piece, though. I appreciate that Hasbro even painted the rubies at the base of the shaft.

How about a short sword? This bitchin piece of cutlery has a funky, futuristic-style silver blade and a gold hilt with yet another Cobra head sculpted on it. I love the fact that Serpentor carries a sword around instead of a gun, no doubt a callback to all that historic warrior blood he’s gut pumping through his undead veins. I kind of get a little bit of a Roman Gladius vibe off of it. Pity he doesn’t have a scabbard or a loop or something to carry it. OK, so we got a snake javelin, a snake scepter, a snake-hilted sword… what’s left?

An goddamned snake, that’s what! This is kind of weird accessory, since it doesn’t seem like it’s really made to interact with Serpentor, so I guess you just put it by him. Maybe it’s a pet? Or a distant relative? Maybe it’s transformed Cobra Commander? It’s a damn fine sculpt and I sure don’t mind getting it in the box, but it might have been cooler to have it sculpted so that it could wrap around his arm or neck, or allow him to wear it in some way. But hey… Bonus snake! And that wraps up Serpentor’s plethora of accessories, so let’s move on to his rather iconic vehicle, The Air Chariot!

Part of me was not absolutely sure that we were going to get this vehicle when Serpentor was first teased, especially since we didn’t get Zartan’s Swamp Skier, and boy am I still bitter about that! But it’s hard to stay mad when I’m holding this absolute work of toy art in my hands! The Air Chariot is big and beefy and absolutely packed with detail, and a few cool little features. The bulk of the toy is cast in gold plastic, but you do get some beautiful gold and copper paint applications to pick out the detail and make it shine. There are some panel lines and hatches sculpted in the hull, and the bolted panels on the wings give it a bit of a retro WWII vibe. I also love the hazard warnings and other practical markings that really harken back to the stickers on the original RAH vehicles. All it’s missing is a couple dozen NOT A STEP signs. These little touches give this crazy design a grounded sense of realism that sells it wonderfully. The massive guns can articulate indepentently of one another, and can also be removed and wielded by The Cobra Emperor himself, should the Air Chariot get shot down and Serpentor has to make a last stand.

Some fun features include three retractable landing gear, and a VTOL engine that can spin, but only by flicking it. It doesn’t have a trigger mechanism or anything like that. The cobra’s mouth even opens to reveal a gun and folding fangs. I think the only thing missing is a clear flight stand. I don’t want to complain too much, because I really am absolutely in love with this toy, but not including a stand similar to what Hasbro gave to the Star Wars Black Series Speeder Bikes feels like a huge oversight.

Serpentor can mount his Chariot by using the foot pegs and grasping the steering column. It’s a perfect fit, and I imagine that he would stay put, even if I were to whoosh it around the room making pew pew noises and shouting THIS, I COMMAND! But I’m a 50yo dude, and I would never do that, so I can’t say for sure, riiight?

At $80, I confess that I balked at the price a little, even when I slammed that pre-order down, but from the moment I took this out of the shipping box I have been beyond impressed with what we got. From the first class packaging and presentation to the superb figure and the intricate detail on the Air Chariot, this set is an absolute winner and well worth the price to me. And seeing how well Hasbro executed the Air Chariot makes me excited for future prospects of the Trouble Bubble and perhaps the FANG. After coming off the high of reviewing Tomax and Xamot, and now this, I have to say that GI JOE Classified has been one of the most consistently impressive toy lines of this year. I’d say only Super7’s Ultimate ThunderCats have been given Classified a run for its money, and that may not be a fair comparison, since one is designed for retail and one is not. Which brings me back to the Pulse Exclusive thing. Hasbro, you gotta fix that and make Serpentor available as a wide release through online retailers. A figure this great, and a character this important, shouldn’t be hard to get.

Nov 21 2022

Marvel Legends (X-Men): Mojo by Hasbro

Welcome to another Marvel Monday! I’m still meandering about and having a look at some one-offs and multipacks before starting in on a new wave of Marvel Legends. This week, I thought I’d keep the X-Men love rolling along with a look at the Deluxe Mojo release. So grab your favorite carbonated beverage, have a seat, and whatever you do, don’t touch that dial! We don’t want to tank the ratings!

I love Mojo! Or to be more accurate, I love all the backstory that surrounds him and the Mojoverse. It’s just the kind of batshit crazy sci-fi and on-the-nose satire that I love to find in my funnybooks! So naturally I was excited to the Grand Poobah of The Spineless Ones drop into the new Marvel Legends! This is the regular retail release of Mojo, but it was preceded by a multipack, which I believe Hasbro was calling an SDCC Exclusive. That set came with Longshot, Dazzler, and a Baby Wolverine. I was close to pulling the trigger on that release, but the Dazzler looked a lot like the retro-packaged release I already have, the Wolvie wasn’t really impressive, and I decided to just gamble on Longshot getting a release later on down the road, because… C’MON, HASBRO, YOU HAVE TO!!! Honestly, if it had included Spiral, I probably would have jumped at it, but now we know we’re getting her as a retro-carded release. Anyway… Mojo comes in a fully enclosed box with all his pieces wrapped in tissue paper. Yes, there is assembly required on this one, making me wonder if he wasn’t originally designed to be a BAF, like the old Toybiz version. The upper body and belly come in two pieces, the chair is three pieces, and you get two heads, two cables, and two sets of hands. Actually, a couple of the pieces are pretty large, so I doubt it really would have worked as a Build-A-Figure. Well, let’s slap this slug together and see what he’s all about!

First impressions? Mojo is a big, satisfying figure, but the sculpt is a mixed bag and Mojo himself looks really bland and in desperate need of more paint apps. Where’s the sickly slime? Where are the bumps and pustules? It’s just a lot of smooth skin. Couldn’t even paint them nipples, Hasbro? All in all, the deco is so simple, he looks more like an animated version. Actually scratch that, because I re-watched Mojoverse from the X-Men animated series while I was opening him, and the cartoon version really had more detail than this figure. The deco comes up especially short when compared to the delightfully gross look of the old Toybiz Legends release. You get a little bit of reddish shading around the bottom edge where his body meets the chair, and a little more around the shoulders and elbows, but that’s really it. What a shame!

The chair, on the other hand features some pretty nice detail, even if it is mostly just left as bare gray plastic. A little wash would have been nice, but all we get is some blue and red paint hits for some of the simulated lights I really dig the exposed nest of wires at the back of the chair, and the rather gross machine elements that intrude their way into Mojo’s flesh on the sides. It’s also cool how his skin is pressed in where the clamps secure him to the chair. The chair rests on four clear plastic bumps to give it the illusion that the spider legs are holding it up. Each of the legs are articulated with rotating hinges where they meet the body and at two other points, but they clearly aren’t up to the task of supporting the weight of Mojo and the chair. And that’s fine, the effect still looks good. You also get two grabber arms coming out of the front with the same rotating hinges to pose them. One has a partially closed claw, which is good for grabbing onto X-Men arms and legs, while the other is open. The hoses that connect to the back of the chair and into Mojo’s shoulders hold fairly well, but they did pop out a few times when I was posing him. The scorpion-like tail that arches up over the chair with its brace of weapons is rigid and not poseable.

The two portraits are pretty good. I especially like the detail in the cybernetic hair and all the little probes and wires coming down to hold his eyes open. This first head is my favorite of the two, as it has his mouth open and his tongue licking out between his agape jaws. It’s an excellent sculpt, and while the paint here is a little better than the rest of the body, I still feel like it needed more. There’s a splash of gloss around the mouth to give it a bit of slimy look, but the figure needed a lot more of that to keep it from looking so flat. The tongue and teeth really could have used a gloss coat too. The few scattered pimples on his neck, just serve to remind me how little else there is in the way of body detail.

The second head just features a big toothy, dementated grin. It’s still an excellent sculpt, but let down a little by the sloppy paint lines between gums and teeth. Everything else here is just as good as the first head, but I doubt I’ll display this one much at all. The other one is just so much more dynamic and expressive. I should note that I found it exceedingly difficult to get this head onto the ball joint. I had to use a lot of force to get it on, which is all the more reason for me not to swap them out very often.

Mojo’s articulation includes rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps. double hinges in the elbows, and pegged hinges in the wrists. You get two sets of hands, one are sort of open-grabby hands, the other set includes a right pointing hand, and a somewhat closed grasp that can be used to hold a figure. The upper body is on a ball jointed stalk, and the neck is set on a kind of dog bone ball joint. He attaches to the chair via three pegs, a strong central one and two smaller ones, so he is incapable of turning his body in the chair. Overall, I have no gripes with the articulation. He can do pretty much everything I want him to.

In the end, I like this figure a lot, but I don’t love it. At $55, there’s a lot of plastic here, two excellent portraits, and a lot of good articulation. But the paint apps are severely lacking. I’m totally fine with the chair, but Mojo himself needed some more detail in the body. Ideally, I would have liked to see more sculpted detail, but I really think that a decent paint job alone could have remedied the blandness that I’m seeing. It’s worth noting that the SDCC Exclusive got a bit more paint on the body, and that would really piss me off if it wasn’t executed in such a half-assed manner. The SDCC deco basically just amounts to some gray spots, and I’m it’s kind of a toss up to me, whether it actually looks better or worse than this retail release. In terms of larger Deluxe figures, this one is passable, but not nearly as impressive as the MODOK release.

Nov 14 2022

Marvel Legends (X-Men): Excalibur Set by Hasbro

I’m between waves of Marvel Legends, and I’ve given more than enough time to HasLab Galactus, so I thought I’d knock out a look at some of the multi-packs and one-off Legends releases populating my backlog. I do have a couple of new waves to get to soon, as I did finally decide to complete The Controller Wave and The Bonebreaker Wave, so I’ll likely be jumping into one of those in December. Today, let’s have a look at this wonderful Excalibur three-pack, featuring Meggan, Shadowcat and Captain Britain… oh, and Lockheed too!

I was pretty damn excited when this set got revealed, but it finally shipped and arrived right before I was preparing to move, so it got lost in the shuffle, and I found it in a box after I was moved and unpacking. So, don’t misconstrue the fact that I’m only getting around to opening it now as any kind of disinterest. Indeed, I remember talking in the Comments Section of the last Legends Captain Britain review about how cool it would be to finally get Meggan in this line. And holy shit, that was almost six years ago! The window box is colorful and shows off the figure well, even if some of the character art doesn’t reflect the actual versions of the costumes in the box. Either way, the presentation looks so good, I will be returning to the package for display after I’m done! Let’s start with Captain Britain!

Rule Britannia! As mentioned, we last saw Captain Britain in Legends as part of the Abomination Wave back in 2017. It was a different costume, and I’m still a bit torn on which one I dig more. These are both excellent figures, but I’m leaning toward the earlier release just a bit. This costume is a bit cleaner and simpler, with the red, white, and blue pattern confined to his upper body and terminating to all white at the gauntlets and down to the knees. The bold red X on the chest looks nice and sharp, and his blue boots have some cool sculpted flares where they meet the knees. The paint quality here is excellent, but you do get the mismatched red pins showing on the inside of his elbow joints, which is a big bummer to a lot of collectors, but I can’t get too worked up about it.

There are two heads to choose from, with the main difference being the beard. The mask here is more of a hood and cowl, rather than the helmet that we got on the last Brian Braddock figure, and while I find the previous style more familiar, I actually like the look of this hood quite a bit, especially the rather prominent chin guard, and the way his facial features can be seen through the top of the mask. It definitely gave the sculptor a little more to work with. All in all, this is a great portrait!

The bearded head has some issues with the beard itself, where the paint looks like it was rubbed off on the mustache. It also looks like he has crumbs in the beard. It’s definitely a QC fail, but luckily I don’t have any attachment to the bearded Braddock. I’m guessing this is a modern thing, maybe from X-Men Gold? This head will not be getting a lot of display time.

As with his last release, Brian is built on one of the larger Legends bucks, making him an absolute bruiser. You get all the usual points of articulation, and the joints are all solid and strong, making him loads of fun to pose and play with. He also comes with two sets of hands, which include fists and his sword holding hands. And that leads us to…

Excalibur! This is a really nicely sculpted sword with some inlay patterns in the blade, a ribbed black grip, and a disk pommel. I would have really liked to see the blade painted silver to give it a little extra pop, but the bare gray plastic works well enough. The grip is extended to allow for two-handed use, but I think it looks just fine in one hand. OK, let’s move on to Meggan!

Even six years ago, Legends was turning out a lot of varied characters, but I don’t think I ever really expected Meggan to get the figure treatment, but all bets have been off long since then, and now I don’t think character is truly off the table! I dig the more mystical flavor of her powers and I’m always going to love a fellow Doctor Who fan! Meggan uses a pretty standard female buck and gets by with paint for her costume details. The hunter green bodysuit with black deco looks great, and the paint lines are even used to complete the bare shoulder look. Likewise, we get paintwork extending the her anklecuffs down the tops of her feet and between her toes. I think the bare feet are new sculpts, as I can only remember seeing some male figures sans shoes.

The portrait just oozes character… and hair! I think this is the first Marvel Legends figure to actually have dimples, which is a worthwhile achievement for Meggan. Overall, I like her smile and the way it even translates to her eyes, but I suppose a case could be made that the expression straddles that line between delighted and crazy. The flowing copious coif of hair isn’t quite enough to make Medusa jealous, but there is a lot of it. Luckily it hovers up off the shoulders a bit so as not to impede the neck articulation too badly at all. The hair is also positioned so as to showcase her cute pointed ears.

Meggan has the standard female Legends articulation, which means we trade bicep swivels and double hinged elbows for rotating hinges in the elbows. It’s never a good trade, but it is what it is. She does not have any accessories, but she does come with two sets of hands, which includes fists and the mystical spell-slinging splayed-finger hands that we have seen many times over, and they work well with her character. All in all, the joints here feel good, and while her hair is composed of a great deal of plastic, I was surprised at how little difficulty was involved in getting her to stand up… at least in neutral postures. Moving on to our last stop… it’s Shadowcat!

We last saw Kitty Pryde in Legends way back in 2016 as part of the absolutely smashing Juggernaut Wave and wearing her traditional black and yellow X-Men suit. Here we get her as Shadowcat in her Excalibur garb, or at least a fairly close approximation of it. The costume is mostly vibrant blue, with a slightly lighter shade of blue used for her tights and sash. We get some new sculpting here in the poofy-sleeved top, complete with stylish popped collar. We’ve certainly seen the belt sash more than a few times, but it works pretty well for the costume. One thing i am glad to see here is that Shadowcat is a little more reasonably sized than her Kitty Pryde release, which was rather tall.

I am very pleased with the portrait here! She’s pretty and is offering a beaming smile, as if she’s about to tell the readers that some of the content of this issue may be offensive to natives of Alpha Centauri. The mask is part of the face sculpt, which is always nice as it adds a little depth. The hair could have been a bit more curly, but I’m really nitpicking now. The hair rides a little bit over her shoulders, but it still gets in the way of neck articulation a little bit.

Shadowcat’s articulation is right in line with Meggan’s, and yup that means that we get the rotating hinges in the elbows instead of the better articulation that the dudes get. Hasbro appears to be chainging this up a bit with some recent releases, and I’m hoping that they will eventually phase out their terrible practice of articulation discrimination. You get the same two styles of hands here as we saw with Meggan, so fists and splayed finger hands.

Shadowcat comes with Lockheed, and he’s a cool little sculpt cast in soft plastic. The tail is coiled a bit, and I assume that’s intended to wrap around her neck so he can sit on her shoulder, just like the Kitty Pryde figure. Unfortunately, Shadowcat has more hair and less shoulder, so it doesn’t work quite as well. Still, there are some fun ways to display the two.

Wow, is this a wonderful little set! I remember pre-ordering this one the moment it went live, and it’s one of those instances where it paid off. The set sold quite well, and while you can still get a number of the other X-Men multipacks at or below retail, this one seems to be only available now at higher prices on the second-hand market, or sellers are piecing out the individual figures. Yes, there are some costume inconsistencies, but I’m still thrilled to have this trio on my shelf! I am a bit surprised and disappointed that we haven’t had Rachel Summers turn up in a wave since this release, but here’s hoping that happens sooner rather than later.