Tag Archives: hasbro

May 6 2013

Marvel Universe: Beast by Hasbro

Alrighty then, I’m getting Marvel Mondays back on track with Marvel Universe features as originally intended… at least for the next month or so. Today we’re looking at Beast. I’ll be honest, I was going to pass on this figure, but I found him on clearance at a really good price, so I tossed him in my virtual shopping cart. I don’t have anything against Beast, it’s just that it’s been ages since I’ve read an X-Men book, and I haven’t read any of the current ongoing Astonishing X-Men. I do have the collected TPBs of the Joss Whedon run, so I’ll have to remedy that at some point. It’s worth pointing out that this isn’t one of my favorite designs for the character, so keep that in mind as we press onward!

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Yep, we’ve seen this packaging many times before. It’s the current style being used for the Marvel Universe figures, complete with that totally shitty little piece of printed cardboard that Hasbro tries to pass off as a collectible. Remember the days when you bought a Toy Biz Marvel figure and you actually got a full sized collector card? Hell, remember the days when you bought a Marvel Universe figure and you got a figure stand and a Fury File? Ah well. The packaging is nice enough. I guess Beast’s character art is pretty good. I mean, at least he doesn’t look like Kelsey Grammar.

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The back of the package has a little blurb about Beast and a shot of the figure doing a crazy handstand. It shows off the other three figures in this wave. I’m passing on that Spider-Man, and we’ll probably be looking at Beta Ray Bill next Monday. Oh yeah, this time the cardback features Rocket Raccoon schilling the figures. OH MY GOD, I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE GETTING A “GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY” MOVIE AND ROCKET RACCOON IS GOING TO BE IN A BIG BUDGET MOVIE!!! The Age of the Nerd has truly come to pass.

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I’m perfectly capable of setting aside my personal design preferences in order to appreciate a great sculpt when I see it. I may not be a big fan of Beast’s angry blue teddy bear look, but Hasbro sure did a nice job sculpting it here. The detail and the expression in that head sculpt are just incredibly well done, and all the exposed fur on the figure looks good. Even the gold piping on the costume is sculpted into place. For all the crap I give Hasbro for using so many painted bucks in this line, when they do decide to tool an entirely new figure, they always go all out. It’s a pleasant surprise, because I can’t see a lot of potential for reusing this guy.

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The paintwork is a solid effort. There’s some bleeding between the black and the yellow on the costume, but nowhere near as bad as I’ve seen on some MU figures. The gold used for the piping and the bracers has a nice, bright luster. Again, not a big fan of this costume design, but Hasbro did a nice job putting it on the figure. I do think the blue for Beast’s fur could have been a tad more vibrant, but I’m really reaching for things to pick at here.

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Beast is one limber little dude with a ton of articulation. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, wrists, torso, hips, and ankles. You also get swivels in the biceps and thighs. The elbows are hinged and the knees are double hinged. He has an extra hinge in the neck, and… holy crap, he even has hinges in his feet!!! There’s no waist swivel, but that torso ball joint really has a crazy amount of movement to it.

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No doubt, Beast is a stand out figure, especially for what is probably a one-off mold. He’s a great combination of amazing sculpt and wonderful articulation. If you’re a fan of this look for the character, you should be extremely happy with this guy. Me? I’m certainly content to have him among my legion of Marvel Universe figures, but I’d also like to see another release based on the older Jim Lee design. Regardless, I give Hasbro a lot of guff for a lot of MU figures not feeling like a great value at $10 a pop, but with all the work that went into Beast, he is well worth the price. I’m actually surprised that he’s so easy to find on clearance.

May 2 2013

Transformers Cybertron: Vector Prime by Hasbro

I had fun looking at Cybertron Metroplex last week, so I thought I’d pull out another one of my favorite Cybertron figures that has hitherto escaped being featured on FigureFan Zero. He’s Vector Prime and holy shit was I excited when I saw the pre-production photos of this guy. I thought he was one of the most gorgeous Transformers ever made. This guy reminds me a lot of the movie style designs that were appearing in the later episodes of the Sunbow cartoon. There’s no in-package shot, so let’s just go right to his alt mode.

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Hells yeah! Vector Prime is a bitchin space cruiser. One of the things I love most about this design is that his transformation is bewilderingly simple, and yet the alt mode works incredibly well. The ship rests nicely on the bulky backside, complete with wheels, and he’s got some cool guns slung under there as well. There’s also a firing missile concealed in the nose of the ship.

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There’s so much sculpted detail on this ship that it’s easy to get lost in the clutter. The surface of the ship’s hull is littered, and I mean LITTERED, with exposed gears and while Hasbro did paint some panels of these with a nice gold application, I really wish I had the customizing skills to have at the rest. A little paint and a lot of time and patience would make Vector Prime’s alt mode even more amazing. But even as he stands now, it’s hard to think of another Transformer that got this much attention to detail in the sculpt. One day, I may at least have a go at panel lining him. Damn, do I love the design of this toy!

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In addition to the crazy detail in the sculpt and the snazzy paint apps, Vector Prime makes good use of translucent blue plastic for the windshield, tiny wings, and some sensor devices on his undercarriage. And then there are the solar panel wings on the sides. They look great in the clear blue, but the plastic is very soft and these things are ridiculously prone to warping. I made the mistake of putting mine lose in a storage tote a couple of years back and when I took him out they looked like they were beyond hope. A lot of effort with a hair dryer brought them back close to their original state, but these things are not to be trifled with!

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Another cool feature of Vector Prime is the way he incorporates his minicon, Safeguard. Most minicons just do their own thing and you can stick them onto the larger robots for power ups, but I always thought there was missed potential to better incorporate them into the designs of the bigger robot’s alt modes. Hasbro did a pretty good job with figures like Cyclonus and Thrust, but then didn’t seem to bother with others. With Vector Prime, there’s an actual indentation where Safeguard plugs in to give Vector Prime a huge cannon. Nice!

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As already mentioned, Vector Prime’s transformation is as easy as it gets. You just fold his legs out, position his arms, fold the front half of the ship into a backpack, and turn the head to face forward. It’s ridiculously simple, and yet the robot mode is a thing of beauty. He has one of my favorite headsculpts of any Transformer from the period and all that great sculpted detail from his alt mode carries over beautifully into his robot mode. The angled shoulder armor looks great, and the backpack isn’t too bulky. The solar panels fold neatly to his sides, and I even dig the way the hull plates slide ever so slightly back to better reveal his fists. I also really love that huge round compartment in his chest. The whole figure hits that sweet spot of late Sunbow aesthetic when there was more of an outer space orientation to the show and we got to see a lot of older Cybertronians that we didn’t see earlier.

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Did I forget to mention that Vector Prime has a translucent blue sword that stores conveniently in his backpack? He does!

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Let’s not depart without saying something about Safeguard, because he’s on my A-list of cool minicons. His alt mode is a little spaceship with a very large gun. As already mentioned, he incorporates nicely into Vector’s alt mode and can quickly detach to fly off on his own. Because most of his alt mode is one big cannon, he can conveniently attach to either of Vector’s arms to give some added fire power. I kind of wish, Hasbro had given him a post to fit in Vector’s hand because then he would have been a proper Target Master. He can also store away by attaching to Vector’s backpack.

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Safeguard sort of mimics Vector’s transformation. He’s definitely one of the better looking minicons in robot mode. He could use a few more paint apps on his torso, but otherwise he looks great and has nice articulation for a minicon. His arms rotate at the shoulders and have ball joints in the elbows. His legs rotate at the hips and have hinged knees.

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Vector Prime is pure Transformer love. Hasbro went crazy with him and it shows. I’m always happy to get another space-faring alt mode, and the robot mode’s design is both beautiful and bad ass. There’s a ton of clever elements to the design of this figure, and yet the transformation isn’t one of them. But he’s a great example of how you don’t necessarily need an over engineered transformation to make an amazing figure.  He’s one of my all-time favorites, and he can usually be found standing on display with my Classics collection. The mold has been brought out a few more times since his original 2005 release. At the ’07 Botcon he was repainted into the glorious Alpha Trion. It was a great use for the mold and it is a strikingly beautiful figure. I’d love to add him to my collection someday, but not enough to blow $450-500 on him. He was rolled out again in 2009 in a rather unfortunately f’ugly repaint as part of the Universe 2.0 collection. If he’s missing from your shelves and you don’t want to splurge on the Botcon exclusive, I recommend going with the original release. You can still pick him up for at or below his original MSRP of about $20-25, and he’s worth every damn penny.

Apr 29 2013

Marvel Universe: The Punisher by Hasbro

I started Marvel Mondays many weeks ago to force me to get through the huge stack of Marvel Universe figures that I had building up in my receivings pile. I eventually got through them all and started padding it out with some Marvel Legends. But last week my BBTS Pile of Loot arrived bearing enough Marvel Universe figures to keep this going for another month or so. Today we’re looking at The Punisher. Much like Steve Rogers from a few weeks back, Punisher is an MU figure that has been released in the new Legends format as well. Also like that Steve Rogers, I found the ML version of Punisher to be an absolutely fantastic figure. Does this little guy have the chops to stand up to his bigger version? Let’s find out!

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There’s the packaging. If you’re buying Marvel Universe Punisher from a reseller, make sure the package looks like that. You don’t want to get Hasbro’s first attempt at this guy because it was total ass. Seriously, he had a big slab of pinched ham for a head and looked like Masters of the Universe reject, Punish-Or. On the downside, this new release has no figure stand or Fury File, just a crappy little piece of cardboard with a comic cover printed on it. Hasbro, you’re not fooling anyone by trying to pass off little “comic shots” as anything that adds value to the figure. It really crosses the line, Hasbro, and Frank Castle shows no mercy to anyone who crosses the line. It says so right on your own package.

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I’ll confess that I enjoy the running gag through each wave that has a Marvel character imploring you to collect all the figures. In this case it’s MODOK demanding that you turn them all into AIM soldiers. There’s something so strangely appropriate about MODOK schilling Hasbro products.

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Kicking it off with a look at the portrait, The MU version of Frank Castle is very close to the Legends version. It’s the same great “I’m determined to make you dead” expression and it works quite well. This is a man that is inviting you to a bullet buffet and it’s all you can eat. This 3 ¾” version is clean shaven, and I think it’s a good thing Hasbro didn’t attempt the five-o-clock shadow on the smaller figure. I’m really quite happy with the head sculpt the way it is. I don’t think I’d change a thing.

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Punisher makes use of a standard, painted buck with some extra parts for his gear. Alas, I’ve never big a big fan of Hasbro’s heavy use of blue wash on the white parts of the costume. I get what Hasbro is trying to do here, but it never really looks right and it gives me fevered flashbacks to the Stormtroopers in those initial Star Wars comic packs. I can live with it on the boots and gloves and belt, but it really works against the skull emblem on his chest. On the up side, I love the belt and holster rig. It fits the figure well and the FUNCTIONAL holsters have thigh straps. Hey, MODOK, you know what I always say about functional holsters?

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Damn straight, dude! You also get a working sheath on his boot for his combat knife. All of this is so cool that I’m willing to overlook the unfortunate paint wash.

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Speaking of holsters and sheaths, Frank comes with a decent assortment of artillery. You get his two automatic pistols, a combat knife, and a machine gun. The pistols seem kind of small for Frank’s overstated tastes, but I do enjoy the fact that Hasbro bothered to paint the receivers silver. I believe the machine gun is an MP-5, which is a nice addition. The combat knife has a serrated blade, for when Frank wants to get up close and personal, or possibly just sign his work. One thing worth noting is that Frank’s hands do not have the trigger fingers sculpted separately. That makes it very difficult for him to hold his weapons properly. It’s an easy fix. Just take a razor blade and cut between the trigger finger and the rest of the hand. It makes a huge difference!

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Punisher is based on one of the better bucks, so he features excellent articulation. The neck is ball jointed and also has the extra hinge for a wider range of up and down movement. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the wrists. The legs feature ball joints in the hips, swivels in the thighs and again at the top of the boots, double hinges in the knees, and hinges in the elbows. There’s a ball joint in the torso and he can swivel at the waist. I’ll also happily note that my figure is free of any warping or QC issues in the joints.

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The MU Punisher doesn’t quite capture all the amazing qualities of his Legends cousin, at least not as well as the Steve Rogers figures do. Nonetheless, I’m still very happy with the way this guy turned out. The paint wash is certainly disappointing and mars what could have been a perfect figure, but there’s always hope for a repaint or tweak later on down the road. In the interim, I’m certainly happy to have this guy in the 3 ¾” scale. He’s lots of fun to play around with and a worthy addition to any Marvel Universe collection.

Apr 27 2013

Transformers Cybertron: Metroplex by Hasbro

I don’t know about y’all, but I’m pretty damned psyched to get my hands on the new Metroplex that Hasbro showed off at Toy Fair this year. It’s a brand new size called a Titan Class and it will supposedly stand about two feet tall and feature both city and battle station modes, and yes it’ll be just a smidge taller than that certain huge combining robot that Mattel offered up last year. But talk about bad timing. Hey Hasbro, why do you want to go and take the piss out of Takara’s Encore Fort Max by upstaging what was the largest official Transformer of all time by a couple of inches? Anyway, I’m not here to debate the politics of the decision, nor am I suggesting that G1 Fort Max is any less amazing for it. Instead we’re here to take a look at the last big Metroplex figure that Hasbro delivered back in 2006 as part of their Cybertron line. While he’s got some issues, I like this figure a lot. He’s one of those select favorites that rarely ever gets rotated out of my active display. I don’t have an in-package shot, so let’s just go ahead and start with his alt mode.

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Metroplex is a… ahh… hmm. Well, he’s supposed to be a giant alien excavator, which sort of flies in the face of the fact that Metroplex, by his very name, should at least have some kind of city mode. Sure, it’s big and powerful looking, but it also feels like the alt mode is a second thought and if you look at it long enough, it’s easy to see that it’s more or less just a robot on all fours. Obviously, this was the biggest sticking point for fans accepting this version of Metroplex into their hearts. I don’t have a problem with a Transformer excavator, but I’m not sure it needed to be named Metroplex. I try to remind myself that the Cybertron toys were heavily tied into the cartoon series, but no matter how much alcohol is involved, my attempts to consume that particular fiction have all failed. Apparently, this Metroplex comes from the Giant Planet where Transformers grow to be really big and everyone seems overly obsessed with the unending task of building massive cities on top of old ones. Hey, at least there’s a city tie-in somewhere, right?

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With all that having been said, Metroplex’s alt mode is still kind of fun and fairly impressive looking, even if some of it doesn’t make sense. Based on the position of the digging wheel, the cockpit seems to be facing the wrong way. Of course, it works to slightly modify it into a crawling death machine with a giant chomping claw. Eat your heart out Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors… this is f’cking armed force on steroids! Yeah, well… it’s Metroplex’s robot modes that make me keep him on the shelf and out of the storage totes. Wait, did you say robot modes, plural? I did indeed. Metroplex has two robot modes, which I believe were referred to as work mode and combat mode. They’re fairly similar, but one is significantly taller than the other. Let’s start with the smaller of the two.

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Metroplex’s work mode is one big and chunky bot, supported by a marvelous system of heavy ratcheting joints. The joints are so ridiculously strong and noisy, that he practically makes that iconic G1 transforming noise just from the ratcheting joints alone. I’ve long forgotten what the official modes for Metroplex look like, but I do like using his cockpit head for his work mode. It’s a little nod to Omega Supreme and it also makes him look like one of the old Starriors figures from Tomy (Note to self: Do some Vintage Vault features with Starriors!). Sure, he’s got huge feet, but apart from that I really dig this guy’s proportions and overall aesthetic. There isn’t much of a G1 Metroplex homage at work here, but that’s ok with me, because not everything needs to be a nod back to something else for me to like it. The coloring is great, and the quality and finish of the white plastic used here is really nice. His deco is rounded out by a pair of sharp little Autobot insignia on his shoulders.

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Changing Metroplex into his battle mode involves some nifty engineering that unfolds the legs and the torso. In fact, it’s far more clever than what’s involved changing him from his alt mode. You do indeed get a much taller robot, and while the arms are more or less the same, there are enough changes here to make him stand out from his previous mode. Here’s where I like to roll out the true head, and therein lies the biggest G1 homage on the figure. I just love this dude’s head sculpt. He’s got the antenna on each side, similar to G1 Plexy and some cool light piping in the eyes. He also looks like he just stepped on a Decepticon and now needs to scrape it off the bottom of his foot.

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You may have noticed that a big part of Metroplex’s alt mode is conspicuously missing from from both his robot modes. Yes, the excavating arm detaches and actually turns into his weapon: A weapon that is gloriously named, Sparkdrinker. I think Sparkdrinker is supposed to be an axe, but it looks more like a mace to me. Inserting the Cyber Key causes the digger wheel to expand a bit. It’s not a terribly dramatic conversion, but I don’t care because as a weapon Sparkdrinker is both ridiculous and beautiful. It’s not terribly graceful or easy for him to wield, but if he hits you with it, you will most certainly die.

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The last thing worth mentioning here is Metroplex’s minicon, Drillbit. I love minicons, and I really do miss them. Drillbit is one of my all-time favorite minicons, probably right behind Leader-1. He has a great looking robot mode, and a pretty cool little drill tank mode. He can also clip on to Metroplex’s arms and make a convincing looking gun, or a drill weapon that basically drills into your face as he punches you. Awesome!

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And that, my friends, is 2006 Metroplex. I’m not terribly in tune with the ebb and flow of the Transformers community, but I get the sense that this guy isn’t terribly well revered and I think that’s ridiculous. He’s a huge, fun toy with great poseability and I never get tired of playing around with him or having my Classics Decepticons try to attack him en masse and fail miserably. I love his sculpt and deco and he just looks so majestic sitting there on my shelf. Granted, if you’re looking for a G1 homage, this isn’t it, but he’s a fantastic toy all on his own.

Apr 23 2013

Star Wars Unleashed: Clone Trooper by Hasbro

I had a lot of fun looking at those two Target Exclusive Star Wars Unleashed statues, so I thought I’d trot out the only other one that I still have in my collection. It’s the Clone Trooper from Attack of the Clones. I’ll confess, it may seem like an odd one for me to have kept, considering how many of the far more iconic ones that I sold off during The Great Star Wars Collection Purge. But just taking this statue off my shelf, I can instantly see why I kept it. It’s brilliant. Ok, granted, I’m guessing the real reason was because it wasn’t worth much in resale value, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s brilliant.

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I’ll throw some recognition to “Unknown Completed Ebay Auction” for providing me with an in-package shot. Mine has been loose since the day I got it. Usually, I’m fine with skipping the in-package shot if I don’t have one, but in this case I just wanted to show off how these statues were originally released when not in those snazzy Target or Walmart Exclusive drums. The presentation is far more functional, and the statues were packaged off their base, but it is damn impressive that Hasbro was able to get these things into a carded package. Granted, it was a very heavy carded package with a very big bubble. Nonetheless, between the artwork and the actual statue, the packages just screamed excitement!  

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Once again, Hasbro blows me away with the design here. Anyone can do a statue, but to create a scene with this much energy and feeling is impressive. Here we have one clone buggering on among the mud and misery, and with a less fortunate fallen comrade at his feet. It’s a classic war scene, which just happens to be clones from Star Wars, but it could have just as easily been depicting any real war with real soldiers. In the end, I think that’s what I love so much about this piece.

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I’m not a huge fan of Attack of the Clones, but I do love that phase of clone armor far better than the designs used for Revenge of the Sith. Part of it is because it’s more Mandalorian and less Stormtrooper, but in the end I think it comes down to the more pronounced fin on top… that’s just fab! I do prefer the all-white look, but I can live with the fact that one of these guys has some red unit paint.

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The sculpt on the advancing trooper is fairly simple, maybe a little soft, but it works and all the important details are here. His pose is excellent, as it looks like he’s just reached the top of a hill and he’s about to continue the charge against the damnable clankers. His weapon is unfortunately pretty soft plastic, and mine has warped a bit over time. I can get it to straighten out pretty well, but eventually it will return to a slightly curved position. And again, I’m talking about the gun here… on the statue.

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Of all the Unleashed Statues I owned, this one features the most impressive base, because it’s like getting an extra figure in the statue. The rock is sculpted and painted particularly nicely, but it’s the fallen clone that makes this base work so well. The rag doll manner in which his limbs are splayed out around him is pretty gruesome and he’s got a couple of laser blasts painted onto his chest plate. The only thing here that doesn’t look so hot is the shattered glass on his visor. It looks more like spider-webs than broken glass.

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The paintwork is probably the least impressive thing about this piece, only because of the dirt wash over the legs. It’s rather heavy handed and similar to that hokey spray effect Hasbro loved to use during the POTF2 period. I think it’s passable here, just because it matches the rock base fairly well, but it’s one of those things that definitely reminds me that this is a very low end statue. Apart from that there’s not a lot of paintwork here, just the red striping and black parts of the armor.

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Even during the times when I had all the remnants of my Star Wars collection put away, this statue has had a place on display somewhere. It’s just one of those pieces that I can put on a shelf or end table and it doesn’t require companion pieces or any explanation as to why it’s there. It’s just a great looking statue that I can acknowledge as such, and I don’t have to apologize for it because it’s from those Prequels. The sculpt and paint are decidedly average, but it’s the design of this piece that I appreciate the most. Just looking at it makes me want to start hunting down some of the Unleashed Statues that I let go. But right now I’m resisting. For once I start down that dark path, forever will it dominate my destiny.   

Apr 22 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Classic Iron Man by Hasbro

It’s Marvel Monday! I did ship my Pile of Loot from BBTS last week and there are a handful of Marvel Universe figures in it, so hopefully next Monday we’ll come round and start looking at MU stuff again. In the meantime, let’s finish off the first half of Hasbro’s Iron Man-themed Marvel Legends wave. As I’ve no doubt said in the past, I wasn’t terribly excited to get any of the figures in the first half of this wave, but once in hand the first two have been pleasant surprises. Let’s see if Hasbro can keep that ball rolling with… Classic Iron Man!

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Yep, that’s the packaging we’ve seen the last two times. Not much new to say here. The figure comes mounted on the tray beside one of Iron Monger’s legs, as well as a swappable variant helmet mounted on the other side. It’s worth noting here that Classic Iron Man is another repack, as he was originally released as a TRU Exclusive some time ago. That puts Heroic Iron Man as the only genuinely new figure out of the three. In this case, I don’t mind so much since I’ve never seen the TRU version of the figure, and I don’t have a 6-inch Iron Man on my shelf.

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Before we get to the rest of the figure, Iron Man is packaged with his “horned” helmet, which is a look that I’m not crazy about. It’s nice to have options, but I’m popping that baby off right now and forgetting it exists.

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Ah, that’s better. Over the decades, I’ve gone back and forth over my feelings for the classic armor aesthetic. I loved it as a kid, probably because that’s all there was. I turned on it at some point in the 90’s, and lately I guess nostalgia has kicked in because I’m back to digging it a lot. It’s those ribbed boots and gloves and the organic looking gold limbs that really drive home that memory of peddling my bike down to the Woolworths and leafing through comic books until I was thrown out for not buying anything. Part of what I dig most about it is that it looks appropriately primitive besides the various other armors and it’s cool to line them up “Hall of Armors” style to see the progression. But yeah, the rest is pure nostalgia. It’s that same clean and classic look that makes me love a lot of vintage sci-fi designs.

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There’s not a lot to say about the sculpt, other than it is fabulous. The muscles look great, particularly his abs and his back. That great ribbing, I mentioned earlier, is sculpted into the boots, gloves, and pelvic area. Unfortunately, the discs on his hips aren’t hinged so they will interfere with some wider stances, and I’m afraid to go too far lest I pop them off. As usual, Iron Man has one hand sculpted in mid repulsor blast and the other balled into a fist for punching fools. The soles of his boots are sculpted with repulsors and some panel lining too.

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Threre’s actually very little paint on this figure to speak of. Hasbro molded the bulk of him in red and gold plastics. The faceplate is painted gold, as are the little bit of forearms before the gloves. The paint matches the gold plastic fairly well. The red plastic looks more metallic than the gold, but all in all it’s a fairly attractive deco.

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Classic Iron Man features some very nice articulation. The neck is ball jointed, plus you get the extra hinge. The arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinged elbows, and swivels and hinges in the wrists. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double hinges in the knees, and swivels and hinges in the ankles. The torso swivels at the waist and features an ab crunch hinge. My only complaint here is the awkward ball joints in the hips. Sure they’re poseable, but you really need to work to get them to do what you want. Hasbro… stop using these!!!

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I didn’t include a shot of the BAF progress when I looked at Heroic Age Iron Man, but now that I’ve got two legs and a torso, I thought I’d put together what I can. Holy hell, Hasbro, why is it so difficult to snap the legs on this goddamn thing? I seriously had to put the torso against a wall and lean on the leg to finally get it to pop on. Apart from that, Iron Monger is looking mighty damn cool.

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And so, I tried to resist this trio of figures, but they turned out to be a nice little set, and Classic Iron Man here is certainly a worthy addition to my Hall of Armors. It’s worth noting that these were a lot easier to find on the pegs than other Marvel Legends waves. All three figures were plentiful at both the Target and Walmart in my area, so I didn’t have to hunt for any of them. They were all pretty much just impulse buys. Hopefully that will be the case with the second half of the wave, because those are three figures that I’m really excited about getting. Alas, if these three don’t start selling down, the second half of the wave will likely rot in the backrooms, and I’ll wind up paying a premium for those online in order to complete my Iron Monger.

 

Apr 17 2013

Tiny Titanium Transformers! by Hasbro

Work this week has been a bitch and I’ve been compensating by drinking even more than usual. That’s no small feat for me. The result is, I’m really washed out and was tempted to take a pass today. But the show must go on, so I’ve rustled up something quick and easy. Tiny Titanium Transformers! Alliteration… it’s fun!

Back around 2006, Hasbro was going totally apeshit with a line they called Titaniums. It was a nod back to the old days when certain people would have you believe that just the idea of adding diecast metal to a toy made it instantly great. I think the Titaniums originated with a line of Star Wars ships, a fitting use of the concept, but before you could say “cash-grab” Hasbro was spinning the idea out into all sorts of franchises and forms. You got big Star Wars ships, little Star Wars ships, shitty Transformers that actually transformed, statues of Star Wars and Marvel characters, Battlestar Galactica ships… eventually even Indiana Jones got in on the act.

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Yep, that’s a f’cking Mutt Williams Titanium. It was a crazy time in the toy industry… a time when cocaine was obviously as plentiful as snow in winter. And before you denounce me as an insane monster, keep in mind, I don’t own the thing, I cribbed that picture off of Ebay.

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Today we’re just looking at a handful of the little Transformers statues. I have no idea what the purpose of these were, but I bought a bunch of them so… bravo, Hasbro. You obviously won this round. On the other hand, I have no recollection of actually going into a store and buying them, nor can I imagine any scenario in which I would. I do remember what pissed me off about this line so much was the lack of cohesive source material. If they were all G1 guys, I would have probably bought them all, but instead what we got was a crazy selection of characters that meandered all over the Transformers franchise from Beast Wars to G1 to Energon and Cybertron. Keep in mind that these guys came with little Autobot and Decepticon insignia bases, which I have in a baggie… in a tote… somewhere.

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Let’s kick it off with Bumblebee and Jazz. These guys are cool, but you can already see how this line is all over the place. Jazz is obviously G1 Jazz with a very animated feel, but Bumblebee looks like he’s patterned more off the original G1 minibot toy with a Sunbow head sculpt. Don’t get me wrong, Bumblebee is probably my favorite figure in this bunch for that very reason, but it’s still weird. There is actually some articulation in these figures. Bumblebee can move his arms at the shoulders and his wrists swivel. Jazz can also move his arms at the shoulders and his legs swivel below the knee. I should also point out that only the torsos and feet on these guys are made of diecast, everything else is rubbery plastic. Still, this is a nice pair of tiny figures with some impressive paintwork.

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Next up is Sideswipe and Smokescreen. But wait, these are actually based off of the Alternator versions? THE ALTERNATOR VERSIONS??? That’s crazy! What could possibly possess Hasbro to do homages to the Alternators, when I could have had little G1 style Sideswipe and Smokescreen to go with my Jazz and Bumblebee? I just don’t get it. Oh yeah, I realize it looks like Smokescreen is urinating, but he’s supposed to be holding a gun and I can’t find it. Why Hasbro bothered to make the guns removable on these little figures is beyond me. The only value it adds is the ability to lose them, and that’s no value at all.

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Last up is Starscream. I really like this one mainly because of the base sculpted to look like exhaust and out of all the figures, he’s the one that reminds me of a little statue. He’s a little chunky, but it’s impressive how Hasbro managed to capture all his douchebaggery in such a tiny guy. I know he was repainted as Thundercracker, but by the time I saw that one I came to my senses and stopped collecting this line. I can’t remember ever seeing a Skywarp.

I also have at least one Optimus Prime from this line somewhere, but if I took the time to find him then this wouldn’t be a quick and easy feature. I seem to recall these things being around $6 or $7 a piece, which once again begs the question, “Why the hell did I buy these?” And then I remind myself that once upon a time my Transformers addiction was so bad that I drove to a Walmart at two in the morning so I could spend $35 on a repaint of Armada Optimus Prime. Obviously, I was out of control. Even as cool as a couple of these little figures are, they still serve no purpose in my collection. In fact, I had to dig them out of my junk drawer where they sat in a heap of rubber bands, dead AA batteries and used up pens.

Apr 16 2013

Star Wars Unleashed: General Grievous (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

Last week I promised I’d check out the other 2006 Target Exclusive Unleashed statue from Hasbro, and so here we are. As with Boba Fett, this statue was originally released carded as part of the regular Unleashed line, but it got a special repackaged re-issue for Christmas. Neither of them sold well in my area and soon Target had an entire endcap full of them at ridiculously low clearance prices.

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The packaging is the same as what we saw last time. You get a big drum with a vintage style deco. It displays the statue very nicely and even has windows on the top to let light in. The inner backdrop of the drom features a really nice illustration and the outer back of the drum has a blurb about Grievous. I’ve done my fair share of shitting on the Prequels, but I’ll concede that there were some cool ideas at work and I always thought Grievous was one of them. He was certainly a more formidable presence than Darth Maul and whoever the hell the main bad guy was in Attack of the Clones. I think it was a fat bug guy, or Jango Fett, or the Trade Federation guys, or maybe Dooku or Palpatine… whoever it was they weren’t as cool as Grievous. I like this guy.

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What I didn’t like was how difficult it was to get Grievous out of his drum. Boba’s tray lifted right out, but Grievous’ seemed to be affixed to the bottom of the drum. I had to go in with clippers and cut the twisty-ties. It took some effort, but I managed to get him out unscathed.

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At first glance, Grievous doesn’t shock and awe as much as the Boba Fett statue. Maybe that’s because Boba’s more iconic to me, but that one just seemed like a far beefier and more majestic piece than this one. But the more I examine Grievous here, the more I can appreciate what Hasbro did. For starters, this is about as dynamic as you can get from a static piece. Grievous is hanging off the side of what appears to be a bulkhead and he’s poised to lunge at you like a rabid Dalmatian on crack. His four arms are deployed, two wielding lightsabers, one wielding a blaster, and the last holding on to some rails. His talon-like feet peg into the wall piece and the statue balances itself amazingly well for not having a proper horizontal base. This statue’s pose just oozes energy and excitement.

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The sculpting on Grievous is adequate, but a lot softer than what we got for Boba. You can see some detail in the grey inner-workings of Grievous’ cybernetic limbs. The white armor plating is supposed to be mostly smooth and without a lot of detail. There are a few cracks sculpted into the armor here and there, but again they’re rather soft and not terribly striking. A lot of the really good detail that’s present is sculpted into the wall. It’s also worth mentioning that Grievous’ thin limbs really betray the quality of plastic. His arms are very bendy and I doubt this guy would survive well in storage without getting all warped.

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While the sculpt is ok, I think it’s the paintwork that fails this statue the most. The bulk of Grievous is cast in grey plastic, so most of what needed to be done was just paint the armor white. There are a fair number of brush strokes evident on the armor. That’s ok, I can let that slide as it tends to just look like weathering or possibly even what the paint would look like on the actual armor. There’s also a little variation between some of the armor that’s cast in a matte white plastic and the glossier paint used on other parts. But what’s more troubling is the slop. Granted, you need to get in pretty close to see it, but once you do, there’s an awful lot of it. The metallic green also seemed like a strange choice for the chest area.

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It may sound like I have a lot of gripes about Grievous, but the truth is, even with some flubs, this is still a pretty sweet display piece. When you consider he came off a retail shelf and was priced at about $20, I can be a lot more forgiving. If anything the exciting design of the pose makes up for the little technical gaffs, and I have to admit I would love to see this piece duplicated in a higher end statue. In fact, I’d go so far to say that I think the boys at Hasbro did a much better job with the design and pose on this statue than Sideshow did with their tribute to The General. If you’re a fan of the G-Man and you don’t want to blow the budget to represent him on your shelf, you can do a lot worse than tracking down one of these.

Apr 15 2013

Marvel (Iron Man) Legends: Heroic Age Iron Man by Hasbro

It’s Monday. It’s Marvel. It’s Marvel Monday. I’m all out of Marvel Universe figures from my new receivings, but I do have some in my Pile of Loot at BBTS, so I’ll probably be shipping that soon. In the meantime, there’s still Marvel love to be had. I went out to Target to get coffee this morning and came home with another Iron Man Legends figure. Despite the fact that the grocery is in the front of the store and the toys are in the back, for some reason I always have to walk through the action figure aisle to get to the market area. I guess I was never all that good at geography.

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Hey, we’ve seen this before! It’s the same style packaging used for Iron Patriot. I dig it. It’s a little Marvel Legends, and a little Iron Man 3. It displays the figure well and you get to see that you’re also getting one of Iron Monger’s gams. Not a whole lot else to say here, so let’s shred it!

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I am quite a big fan of the Heroic Age aesthetic, so this figure is right up my alley. It appears to be a brand new sculpt, but considering I haven’t collected Hasbro’s other 6-inch Iron Man lines in the past, there could have been an earlier release that got past me. Either way, it’s the proportions of this figure that really impress me. He’s sleek, but with just enough bulk to convince me that it’s a guy wearing armor. The sculpt hits all the right points as well. This armor isn’t replete with all the little panel lines as the current stuff, but there’s enough detail here to drive home the art styling featured in the comics.

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The deco here is the familiar red and gold we see with most of Stark’s armors. The figure is cast in a pearlescent red plastic with the gold bits painted on and the overall effect is pretty nice. The red plastic looks good, but it is a little swirly in some areas and I don’t like it nearly as much as that glorious thick red glossy lacquer finish that appeared on the Iron Man 2 figures. The metallic gold finish is neatly applied and quite brilliant. The figure is rounded out with some little blue paint apps and white in the eyes. All in all, this guy’s coloring is decent enough and he really pops on the shelf.

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Iron Man’s articulation is fantastic. He has ball joints in the neck, shoulders, and hips, and his neck features an extra hinge. His elbows and his knees are both double-hinged. He has swivels in his biceps, waist, and thighs. His wrists have swivels and hinges, and his ankles feature hinges and rocker joints. You also get an ab crunch hinge in the torso. I should point out that the hip joints are traditional ball joints and not those funky ones that Hasbro has been using a lot lately. Bottom line is that the articulation here feels solid and useful, and he is loads of fun to fiddle about with and pose.

Iron Man doesn’t come with any accessories or even a stand. Truth be told, he doesn’t need a stand. He’s such a solid and sure-footed figure he does just fine on his own. He does come with Iron Monger’s left leg.

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I’ll admit that I’m as big a victim of Iron Man fatigue as anyone else. I expected to open this figure and say, “Yup, that’s another Iron Man!” and just relegate him to the shelf and forget about him. But that’s certainly not what happened here. Nope, this figure turned out to be a real homerun and a very pleasant surprise. He looks fantastic and I simply cannot put him down. In fact, he’s going to receive the ultimate in action figure honors… instead of going on the display shelves, he’s going on my desk so that I can play with him on my downtime. Sorry, Dogpound… you had a good run, but Heroic Age Iron Man is taking your place!

Apr 12 2013

Star Wars Vintage Collection: AT-ST (K-Mart Exclusive) by Hasbro

How about a little more Star Wars for the week? Today we’re checking out Hasbro’s AT-ST from the Vintage Collection. This vehicle was originally released way back in 2009 as a Walmart Exclusive and then got repacked and re-released last year as a K-Mart Exclusive. Fun fact… There are no K-Marts left in my area, they’ve all closed down! The nearest one is about an hour away and going in there is really depressing. It’s seriously like some kind of sad, soulless retail gulag stuck in the 70’s. I try not to go there. But all that is beside the point because I bought mine from Amazon and it even qualified for free Prime shipping. EAT THAT, K-MART EXCLUSIVE!!!! A WINNER IS ME!!!! I was tempted to pick up the AT-ST Driver two pack as well, but then I figured I’m perfectly fine having it piloted by regular AT-AT drivers. If they’re qualified to operate a full blown AT-AT, seems like driving a chicken walker should be child’s play. I’ve been meaning to grab one of these for a long while now, and I’m pretty excited to get it open and check it out!

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Obviously, I’m a big fan of the Vintage Collection packaging. How can you not dig this? It’s just gorgeous. Although I’m not quite sure what’s going on with the scene. It looks like Vader is prodding Wicket with his lightsaber under the feet of the AT-ST in some kind of sick war atrocity game. “You’re next, Logray!” One side has the huge ugly K-Mart Exclusive medallion, and that sucks, but thankfully the other side is the same image only clean, so the box will still display well from one side.

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Inside, you get a cardboard tray, an instruction sheet, and a bunch of chicken walker parts. Yes, assembly is definitely required, and I was very worried that once assembled, this thing was never going to go back in the box. Indeed, most of the vehicle is designed to not come apart again, but you can still easily separate it into two halves and once that’s done, the AT-ST will fit comfortably back into the box for storage. I don’t have room for this on my shelves right now, so being able to keep it in the box is a huge appeal here. While there are some stickers, they are already applied, so all you need to do is snap this thing together and you’re ready to go stomp some Ewoks into goo.

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It’s been a long time since I owned the original Kenner mold of the AT-ST, but even without an eyeball comparison it’s pretty easy to see that this new version is bigger. It’s still nowhere near to being in proper scale to the 3 ¾” figures, but like the BMF Falcon and AT-AT and the Battlepack Slave-1, I find it to be a happy compromise between toy and scale model. I have, however, hunted down some pictures of the original Kenner toy, and I have to say I’m surprised at how much sculpted detail Hasbro seemed to drop from this newer toy. Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? I see a big difference in the detailing on the back of the head and the legs and actually prefer the vintage version’s detailing over this one. My guess is that Hasbro had to take some liberties with the legs on this thing to make them strong enough to hold the increased bulk, but it really messes with the aesthetics. This AT-ST has cankles… CANKLES!!! Why does it feel like everything has to be a compromise? Now, that’s not to say this toy is all bad… let’s see what she’s got, and we’ll start from the top and work our way down…

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The biggest draw about this new version for me was hearing that it could actually seat two figures. The interior of the cockpit is pretty simple and relies mostly on stickers for detail. The cockpit is pretty cramped and I had my doubts it would be roomy enough for two, but even my less than super-articulated Legacy AT-AT Drivers could both fit inside fairly well. Still, I would not want to take this on a long trip across Endor and have to share that cabin.

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Outside, the head now features two opening viewports on the front and an actual guard rail up top. As with the Kenner version, the top has the screen accurate hatch that opens, plus the entire top is hinged to open to get better access to the inside. The side weapons consist of a gun and what looks like a missile pack or grenade launcher, which I vaguely recognize from playing some Star Wars game with an AT-ST in it. Both weapons rotate 360 degrees.

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You have two options as to how you want to outfit the chin gun. You get a regular gun cluster that looks more film accurate and you get a set of firing missile launchers, which will likely appeal more to the kiddies, or at least that’s Hasbro’s intent. It’s a really cool idea to give us the choice. The missile launchers don’t look nearly as bad as I thought they might, but I still prefer the regular gun package.

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The construction of the legs is completely different from the old Kenner toy. Gone is the goofy walking gimmick and in its place is an extra articulation arm that really gives the AT-ST a lot of poseability more akin to what was seen in the films. Remember that scene where the AT-ST was freaking out and trying to keep its balance on top of the logs? This one can pretty much do that. It can also squat all the way down to assume a boarding posture to make it easier for the pilots to get in and out.

Unfortunately, the new legs are poorly designed for the one thing you will need them to do most of the time.. standing. The ankle hinges and the next set of hinges up are pretty strong ratchet joints. The actual knees, on the other hand, aren’t ratchets and they are in no way suited to hold the toy’s bulk. Why Hasbro didn’t make these ratcheting joints as well is beyond me because they seriously compromise the toy. I even tried over tightening the screws and it didn’t make a difference. There are some sweet spots, where I can get this thing to stand, but it will still collapse at the slightest provocation.

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The AT-ST’s deco isn’t all that great either. The paint on the legs look like this thing has been wading through piles of Ewok shit. I was not a big fan of the muddy feet on Hasbro’s Endor AT-AT and I’m not liking it much here either. There are a few other ham handed attempts at weathering and distress, but none of it looks that good and it’s inconsistently placed. It almost looks like they started doing it on the front, decided it didn’t look so good and just stopped.

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I’ve waited a long time to get this thing and in the end I’m rather disappointed. It looks decent enough on the shelf with some figures around it, but getting it to stand is a total bitch, all because Hasbro couldn’t be bothered to outfit it with an extra pair of ratchet joints. I’m not happy with the deco and it looks like its lacking a lot of detail from the original Kenner toy, particularly on the back of the head and the legs. At $25, I’m not completely sorry I bought it, but that’s a good ten bucks less than the MSRP, and quite frankly I was hoping for something a lot better. I was originally planning to get out a whole bunch of figures and have a blast shooting pictures, but I got frustrated pretty quickly and decided to move on to other things.