Tag Archives: indiana jones

May 1 2023

Indiana Jones Adventure Series: Sallah and Marion (Raiders of the Lost Ark) by Hasbro

This week is going to be all about wrapping up loose ends, as I finish off looking at some figure waves that I started, in some cases, weeks ago. I try to keep my promises, but sometimes it can take me a little while! So, let’s kick things off by checking out the last two figures in the first assortment of Hasbro’s 6-inch Indiana Jones Adventure Series and then build us an Ark of the Covenant! So far, I’ve been up and down on this wave with mixed opinions on Indy as well as Toht and Belloq, so let’s see what happens in the final lap.

Once again, we get completely enclosed boxes with pictures of the figures. We already know that Hasbro will be stepping away from these and going back to window boxes for most if not all of their 6-inch figure lines. With that having been said, I think the art design on these does a nice job of conveying the heart and soul of the film franchise. At the same time, these also illustrate why these types of packages border on false advertising. And when it comes to disparity between box pictures and actual figures, Sallah and Marion are two of the biggest offenders in this wave. It’s probably always best to let the figure speak for itself through a window, even if it does mean shaving a few hundred years off of the planet’s lifespan, right? OK… let’s start with Marion…

This is Marion in the outfit she wore in Cairo, and to be honest, I think I would have preferred the version we got in the old Kenner line in Belloq’s dress. Kenner did do a version of this Cairo Marion but only as a static piece to go inside a basket in their Cairo Playset. Hasbro later did a 3 3/4-inch version in their line that released alongside Crystal Skull, and that brings us to now. To cut to the chase, this figure is what I would call passable. It doesn’t excel in any particular area, but it’s not a total trainwreck. I think the colors on the outfit are nice, and there’s some sharp printed patterns on her blouse, but ridiculously puffy garments don’t usually translate well to plastic, and I’ll just say that Hasbro probably did as good as anyone could turning this type of outfit into an action figure.

The portrait looks better in hand than I expected. There’s definitely some Karen Allen in there, but I think the zombie-like expression sabotages whatever credit the likeness may have had. I like that they printed her freckles and the hair is sculpted pretty well too. Then again from some angles any semblance of the likeness disappears. For a company that has a long history of failing to capture a certain actress’ likenesses who played a character in a galaxy far, far away, I don’t think this is that bad, but it’s not particularly great either.

Articulation is solid enough for this type of outfit, but those rotating hinges in the sculpted billowy sleeves can barely do 90-degrees and the same goes for the knees. You also get rotating hinges in the shoulders, wrists, and ankles. The hips are ball jointed and you get swivel cuts in the thighs. There’s also a ball joint in the waist and ball joints at the top and bottom of the neck. The ankles joints are big and bulbous balls, which are fine for posing, but look pretty bad. Fortunately they’re somewhat obscured by the billowy cuffs.

Marion comes with a frying pan, which if you ask me is a pretty sexist accessory for a female action figure. Yeah, I kid. It was actually used as a weapon while she was being chased through the streets of Cairo. And overpowering a dude that has a knife using only a frying pan is pretty bad-ass. The frying pan looks as basic as you can get and it’s made out of super thin plastic that looks almost translucent if you shine a light through it. Hasbro put no effort into it at all.

More impressive is the little traitor monkey bastard with his teeny tiny vest. This is a pretty great sculpt for such a little accessory and the paint is decent too, but it looks no where near as good as the picture on the box. There’s articulation in the neck and the base of the tail, which surprised me. I think he could have been sculpted a little better to attach to Marion’s neck or shoulder, but eventually I was able to make it work. Overall, this figure is OK, but it’s pretty lacking for a premium 6-inch collector line. Let’s see if Sallah does any better.

The short answer is… Nope. Again, there’s some stuff here that is passable and I have to acknowledge that it’s a guy in beige robes and there’s only so much you can do with that. There aren’t any flashy colors to draw the eye or complex costume to sculpt. The lower half of the robes are cast in soft plastic with slits running up the sides to help give his legs a bit of space to move. The robes are textured and there’s some brown sandy weathering brushed on here and there. The tan belt looks nice and I like the vest with the black fringe down the sides. I did find this figure very difficult to keep standing, as he kept wanting to fall backwards and I’m not entirely sure why. In terms of the body, it gets the job done and that’s about it.

The portrait is at least recognizable as John Rhyes Davies, especially in the eyes and nose, but the beard looks bad. The paint is sloppy and uneven. And what is going on with this neck? They gave poor Sallah some kind of turkey neck that’s way too long and juts out unnaturally. It looks like some kind of NPC video game glitch. Mine is also covered with mold flashing that makes his skin look like it’s peeling off. What a mess!

To add insult to injury, Sallah comes with some pretty crappy accessories. The shovel is a good call, but it’s just a warped wreck. The handle is all bendy and the shovel itself is made of the same super thin plastic as Marion’s frying pan. Even in the relative low light of these pictures you can see the light bleeding through the plastic. The handle is also too thin for him to really grip it very well.

The other accessory is just a coiled rope, and oh boy is that a fun accessory! You can put it on his shoulder or have him hold it. I would have literally rather just got a coil of actual string. At least that would have added some play value. How about a torch? How is it we didn’t get a single torch in this entire wave? I just don’t have anything more to say about this figure, other than it would be acceptable as a 3 3/4-inch figure, but not in this scale and certainly not at this $25 price tag, and that’s mostly how I feel about Marion too, albeit she is definitely the better of the two. Let’s move on to the Ark!

The Ark is assembled from a total of twelve pieces scattered across the five figures of the wave. Half of the pieces make up the carry poles, leaving the top and bottom, side pieces, and end pieces. As I collected the pieces together I did not have high hopes for this thing. It seemed like it was going to be way under scaled and some of the plastic looked terribly thin and cheap.

But, to my surprise, once it was all together I was pretty happy with the final result. The poles are a bit bendy and soft, but I think the finished Ark looks pretty damn good. It feels like it’s scaled quite well for the 6-inch figures and the carry poles work really well. I think the gold finish looks pretty nice, with more of a satin finish as opposed to high gloss. At least there’s none of that awful looking swirly plastic gold Hasbro uses from time to time. The bulk of the sculpted detail is in the lid, and that is indeed the real showpiece here. The angels look beautiful and the intricate sculpting on the little fence around them is quite well done. You did good on this one, Hasbro!

So yeah, this wave has been a bit of a roller coaster. It’s still odd to say that I still think Belloq is the best figure in the assortment, with Sallah taking the dubious prize of being the worst. Toht and Marion fall somewhere in the middle. As for the star of the wave… I had a lot of nitpicking with Indy, and while I think the figure showcases a lot of inexcusable little fumbles, he’s grown on me a bit more since that review. Indeed, he’s been on my desk for weeks now and I really enjoy picking him up and fiddling with him on my downtime. And despite my lackluster reception to this wave, I have decided to press on and pick up a few of the future releases in this line, so we’ll see how things go from here.

Indiana Jones will return!

Apr 28 2023

Indiana Jones: Escape From The Lost Tomb (#77013) by LEGO

I don’t have a heck of a lot of regrets in my decades of toy collecting, but one that I do have is not getting in on the previous Indiana Jones LEGO sets, because if you haven’t looked lately they go for a lot of monies. So, when LEGO announced some new sets to launch in advance of Indiana Jones 5, I jumped on board as quick as I could. There are three sets up for sale right now, two based on Raiders of the Lost Ark and one on Last Crusade, with a fourth based on Temple of Doom that mysteriously disappeared and may have been cancelled. I’ve already built two of the three sets, and I’m starting today Escape From The Lost Tomb!

Oh God, it’s so good to see Indy themed LEGO packaging again! It makes me want to bust out my Nintendo DS and re-play some LEGO Indiana Jones. I don’t know what kind of tortured PR rationale goes into naming these sets, but clearly The Well of Souls was off limits. Maybe the word Souls isn’t cultural sensitive enough in some countries. But whatever the case, this set depicts the final resting place of the Lost Ark of the Covenant from Raiders, and gives you everything you need to recreate the recovery of the Ark and the subsequent escape from The Well of Souls. At exactly 600 pieces and only one thick instruction book, this set is a fun and satisfying build that gives you the playset, the Ark, and four Minifigs. Oh, and also a whole lot of snakes! Why did it have to be snakes? Let’s start with the Minifigs!

The set includes four Minifigs: Indy, Marion, Sallah, and a Mummy and each of these is excellent. Indy looks as iconic as can be with his printed leather jacket, satchel and fedora-hairpiece combo. He even has his holster printed on his belt. He comes with his coiled whip, and I actually got two of them in the set. They did a great job on the whip, as it’s flexible and the end can even be plugged into a stud. Marion has her printed dress with hairpiece and she comes with a torch to fend off all those snakes. Each of these figures have two printed faces.

Sallah and the Mummy are also really well done. I do feel like they skimped on Sallah’s printing a bit as there’s nothing from the waist down, but he still looks good. He has a turban on his head and just the one face print. He doesn’t come with any accessories, which is a shame. They could have at least thrown in a shovel from some other set. The Mummy is suitably gross with some really intricate printing both front and back.

And here’s the Well of Souls all built and ready to be explored! I think the scale here is really good for a set of this size, as it recreates all the basic beats of the movie set without skimping. Even Kenner’s old Well of Souls playset didn’t include the two statues. There’s some excellent detail in the wall in the back with different textured bricks, some gaps to show it’s crumbling down and lots of stickers with hieroglyphs. There are a pair of sarcophagi on the back wall, flanking the alter that holds the Ark, and a little archway leading up to it. The statues are on swiveling bases, and the one on the right has a handle for a play gimmick we’ll see in a minute.

It’s worth noting that my set included two of the wrong pieces, for building one of the statues. If you look close you can see the two gray pieces that are holding the hips on the statue on the left, whereas the statue on the right is built correctly. It’s a lucky coincidence that the pieces they included were still able to be used in the build, even if it throws the coloring off a bit. I even went back through the instructions to see if I had used the wrong ones earlier, but nope. Anyway, I really dig the build on these statues and some of the creative uses of pieces for the abs and the face. Each uses three stickers to add some detail.

Speaking of detail, the hieroglyph stickers are fantastic, and one even recreates the R2-D2 and C-3PO cameo in the movie. I remember seeing that image in one of the books I got about the movie and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

The Ark itself is a pretty neat build. The pieces they used to recreate the angels on top is really creative and there are some stickers on each side to give it a little more detail. You also get the carry bars, so Indy and Sallah can transport it. Just don’t open it!

The back of the playset is a little unfinished, and you can see where some of the gimmicks are set up. I do like the little raised platform and covered hallway as it offers a little more play space for figures. On the right you can see a little chute that can be used to drop snakes into the front of the playset using the lever. They drop out to the left of the Ark alter right where the snake is coming out of the wall. It’s funny because I had no idea what that was going to be even when I was building it. Each of the snakes on the floor come with clips to keep them in place.

The main play gimmick in the set has the right statue fall back and knock down the wall, so you can recreate the scene where Indy pushed it over to make their escape. It’s very simple engineering and works well, but you have to hold the statue and wall in place if you transport the playset because there’s nothing holding either up. Some kind of catch might have been worthwhile. Still, I’m impressed how well everything holds together even after I knocked that wall down about a dozen times.

The final feature recreates the scene where Marion goes through the fallen wall and the Mummy springs out and scares the shit out of her (and 12yo me as well!). The Mummy Minifig hides under the raised platform and when you pull on the technic piece the platform swings out to reveal him. Again, a very simple bit of engineering that works beautifully. I also dig the creepy sticker in the alcove which features some spiderwebbing and mysterious eyes glowing in the darkness.

At $40, this is one of the few times I can say that a LEGO set feels like a decent value. This is a fun build, although there is some redundancy here as you are building the same statue twice. Still, with four Minifigs and some solid play gimmicks, this set recreates the sequence of the film very well and offers a bunch of fun display options when its on display on the shelf. It also reminds me of just what a perfect fit LEGO and Indiana Jones really is. If you aren’t up for the big challenge and price tag of the Temple of the Golden Idol set, then this is an excellent pick up. Or do what I did and just get both! I’ll be checking out the larger set when I revisit with this line in a couple of weeks.

Apr 10 2023

Indiana Jones Adventure Series: Major Toht and Rene Belloq (Raiders of the Lost Ark) by Hasbro

Just last week I was telling one of my toy collector buddies how I thought Hasbro was probably done with Indiana Jones after this wave and the few exclusives we’ve seen. And then Hasbro went apeshit and showed off something like two-dozen more figures, so boy was I wrong. I guess it makes sense, as The Dial of Destiny has got to be the really, really last time they’re going to wring any money from this license. Also, that newest trailer did not do much for my anticipation. I mean, I adore the first three Indy films, but everything about that trailer seemed tired and old. Will I see it? Yup. And hopefully I’ll be wrong on that count too. Anyway…The rest of the Raiders of the Lost Ark wave from Hasbro’s Indiana Jones 6-inch Adventure Series arrived from Hasbro Pulse, so I’m going to check out the rest of figures in pairs. Today I’ll have a look at the baddies with Renee Belloq and Major Toht and then I’ll swing back next week to look at Sallah and Marion and the Build-A-Ark.

The packaging is the same as what we saw last time with fully enclosed boxes. Inside, the figures comes wrapped in tissue paper with a map printed on it in gold and the accessories and the Build-An-Artifact parts are in a separate bag. I commented about my issues with these enclosed boxes when I looked at Indy, so I won’t go into it again now. I will say that of all the windowless boxes Hasbro has used, I like the look of this series the most. The art design really invokes the film, even if the pictures of the figures can be misleading. Let’s start off with Toht!

I have to admit, I didn’t think Hasbro had the balls to do it, but here we are: A 6-inch scale figure of a Nazi Gestapo torturer is swinging on the pegs down your local toy aisle. I’m also a little amazed that community outrage hasn’t recalled him yet, but it’s hard for me to understand the spectrum of over-sensitivity that the world runs on these days. I found Major Arnold Ernst Toht was one of the more memorable characters in Raiders. He served as both intimidating villain and comic relief, and he had a twisted sense of humor, with lots of memorable moments. There’s a great scene where Indy stops the German caravan and threatens to blow up everyone with a rocket launcher and in the background you can see Toht just walk over to a rock and sit down, like he’s just tired of all this shit and thankful for the rest. I laugh every time! And maybe the reason I’m gassing on about film memories is because I don’t have a lot to say about this figure. It’s an evil guy in a black suit. He has a soft plastic trench coat that fits over his shoulders, very similar to what the vintage Kenner figure had, and looks really good on the figure. It has a little texturing and decent detail in the sleeves and tailoring.

On first pass I think the figure looks good, albeit this is not a figure that required a lot of paint or even sculpted detail. Like I said, it’s a guy in a black suit. I like the exposed white shirt cuffs peeking out from the jacket sleeves, and the white collar and red striped tie looks good too. They did sculpt the tiny pin on the side of his chest, but it is understandably scrubbed of any actual details showing Nazi insignia. He’s got black gloves, with a trigger finger on the right and an accessory holding hand on the left. There’s nothing spectacular here, it’s all very serviceable. But, even the wrath of God couldn’t get Toht’s elbows and knees to bend, so I had to soak him in hot water for about five minutes. I honestly don’t understand it here, because there’s no paint in those areas, just black plastic. What the hell is sticking on these figures? Anyway, the articulation is similar to what we saw with Indy, and while the rotating hinges for the elbows and knees were disappointing for him, they seem a little more appropriate here.

The portrait isn’t bad, but it does fall victim to the fact that it’s hard to do wire-frame glasses well in this scale. The arms of the glasses are kind of thick and the paint isn’t as sharp as it could be. Yeah, those specs look awful. The portrait is a passable likeness for the actor, especially when viewed from straight on. But, there are some horrendous molding seams running up the side of his face that really bring the whole thing down. When I first saw these, I honestly thought the face was detachable and that the swap-out melted face wasn’t the whole head. Lately, the issues of mold flashing and seam lines is something Hasbro needs to get there arms around.

I do find it kind of strange that they made his hat removable, while Indy’s was not, but whatever. It reminds me of the scene where he takes his hat off to wipe his head revealing his male pattern baldness. Let’s move on to accessories!

Toht comes with a Luger pistol, which has a bit more detail than Indy’s revolver. You even get painted grips, which is nice. It’s still very soft and gummy plastic though.

Secondly, you get a swap out right hand with Marion’s Medallion burned into it. I think the sculpting and paint look really good on this piece, but it doesn’t go into the wrist peg all the way and so it looks pretty bad with the peg sticking up like that. I could probably go in there with a razor and shave out the socket in the hand a bit, but I can’t be bothered. Seriously, Hasbro. How do you screw up something as simple as this?

The final accessory is an alternate head with the face melting away, and this is really well done. Sure, the glasses still look bad, but I still think the sculpt and paint look great, and I am absolutely stunned that Hasbro had the balls to include something this grizzly in with the figure. It almost makes up for the shitty fit on the extra hand.

Ultimately, I think Toht is pretty average. There’s a few areas where he excels and a few more where he fails. I definitely think he could have used a few more accessories, like maybe the poker from the bar in Nepal, or the coat hanger that looked like a torture device. Hell, they could have included the actual Medallion with him too. Maybe the extra head ate up the cost on any more accessories. OK, let’s move on to Belloq.

This is Belloq in the Hebrew ceremonial outfit he wore while opening the Ark. We got a similar figure in the original Kenner line and I believe Hasbro did him in the 3 3/4-inch line that came out with Crystal Skull. I’m tempted to say I would have rather had Indy’s rival in his regular clothes and not something this scene specific, but I’ll just come right out and say that this figure looks so good, I guess I’m glad they did it. Sure, this costume gave Hasbro a lot more to work with than Toht’s black suit, but it feels like they just poured the love into this one.

The sculpted robes have a great layered look and the checkered tunic is outstanding. In addition to the sharp paint, there’s some excellent texturing and sculpted floral motifs here and there. The sash is sculpted separately and hangs down the front, and the jeweled chest board is also separate and attached with sculpted gold chains at the shoulders. The paint on the various colored stones looks great! I was expecting the boots and legs to be reused from Indy, but to my surprise they aren’t. Also, there are slits up both sides of the robes so as not to inhibit the leg articulation, and that’s nice, but it’s not like Belloq was doing a lot action poses in this scene.

I think the portrait here is excellent. The likeness is there and you get some incredible definition in the facial sculpt. The creasing around the eyes is particularly impressive. The head wrap has some sculpted Hebrew lettering on the gold plate, and while there’s a little overspray from the gold paint, you have to get in pretty close to notice it. Also, the grim expression just oozes character.

Belloq comes with one accessory, and that’s the Ram’s Head ceremonial staff. The right hand is designed to hold it, while the left hand is flat and evocative of the scene where he holds it over the Ark while reciting the Hebrew liturgy. It’s a great looking accessory with a white ribbed grip running down most of its length and really nice detail in the golden head piece. I do wish we got a second head sculpt with this figure. I realize it would be tough to sculpt Belloq’s head exploding, but I would have loved to see his terrified expression right before it happened. It would look pretty cool displayed next to melted face Toht. Of course, I’d be surprised to get Herman Dietrich, so we couldn’t display all three together anyway, which is a shame.

And that’s the villains for this wave. Toht is merely OK. I don’t hate the figure, but I don’t really love him either. A lot of my issues with him would have been fine on a 3 3/4-inch release, but this is a premium $25 6-inch figure, so I expected more polish. Belloq, on the other hand, turned out to be the breakout star here. The sculpt and paint are top notch, and I love the head sculpt. And since we found out this weekend that we are getting a plain clothes Cairo version of Belloq, I’m happier with this release even more! Next week, I’ll finish off the wave with a look at Marion and Sallah, and we’ll hunt down the Ark of the Covenant!

Apr 3 2023

Indiana Jones Adventure Series: Indiana Jones(Raiders of the Lost Ark) by Hasbro

Back when Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, Hasbro went wild with their 3 3/4-inch Indiana Jones line. We got figures from all the films, as well as mini playsets, vehicles, and even a big playset. The line was not terribly popular with collectors as the paint apps had a habit of being rather rough, but I absolutely loved the line for being super fun and very expansive. I still maintain that it was the best thing to come out of what was a pretty poor film. Fast forward to now and we have yet another Indiana Jones film on the horizon and one which I am really dubious about. But hey… more Indy toys! This time we’re getting 6-inch and 3 3/4-inch retro lines. The first pair of the 6-inch Adventure Series figures have arrived, so let’s start with the man himself. If adventure has a name, it must be Indiana Jones!

Yeah, I have no words for how much I love Raiders of the Lost Ark. It’s on a short list of what I consider to be perfect films. It’s not a move I can have on in the background either. If it’s on, it has my total attention, even though I know it by heart. Adventure Series Indy comes in a fully enclosed box, which looks nice, but also illustrates the problem with these boxes. The figure pictured on the front just isn’t what’s in the box, mostly because of the portrait. And I’m not talking about paint flubs or QC issues. We’re clearly seeing a pre-production figure as opposed to what actually shipped, and that’s where you wander into the nefarious Temple of False Advertising. Inside the box the figure comes wrapped in a paper bag with the accessories in a second bag. Both bags have maps printed on them, which is a nice touch. This wave is also doing a Build-An-Artifact thing, so Indy comes with the two angels from the top of the Ark of the Covenant. But I’ll save those for when I check out the last figure and have all the pieces.

At casual glace, everything looks fairly solid. Indy comes in his trademark leather jacket, which is cast in soft plastic with the sleeves sculpted as part of the arms. The sleeves don’t really match up with the arm holes well enough, making it really obvious that they aren’t part of the jacket, but that’s often the case with this trick. There’s a button-down shirt sculpted under that and his satchel is worn with the shoulder strap under the jacket. You can easily remove the satchel if you want. The detail on the shirt is very nice and there’s some great weathering on the jacket. The khaki trousers have rumpling down by the cuffs and there’s some sharp detail in his boots. I really don’t have any complaints about the body sculpt.

The head sculpt features a permanently attached fedora, which I don’t really mind that much, although for a $25 figure, not having it be removable does hurt the value a bit. There’s also some bad mold flashing on the brim of my figure’s hat. As for the portrait itself, I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s a far cry from what’s on the box. The more I handle the figure, the more I like it. Had the figure been sold in a window box, I don’t think I would have a problem with it at all, but when compared to the picture on the box it still feels like a bit of bait and switch. I actually think it most resembles Indy from some the painted movie posters, and that’s not a bad thing. Hasbro has certainly done some better likenesses in this scale, but they’ve done a lot that have been far worse too. The nose and mouth are undeniably Harrison Ford and they even worked his chin scar into the likeness. After a few days of mulling it over, and not looking at the photo on the box, I ended up liking this portrait quite a bit.

Nearly every joint on my figure was fused right out of the box, so Indy had to take a bath in the Hot Tub to get him limbered up. I sure didn’t want to snap any joints. The articulation feels like it takes a step back from some of Hasbro’s other offerings in this scale. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The hips are ball jointed, there are swivels in the thighs, a ball joint in the waist, and another for the neck. The hands are on dog bone-style double ball joints so they can be swapped out, with the peg in the arm and not in the hand, which is weird. You get a pair of fists, a gun-holding right hand, a whip-holding right hand, an idol-holding left hand, and a relaxed left hand. The elbows can do slightly better than 90-degrees, but boy do I wish they were double-hinged. The knee joints work alright, but they look absolutely awful when bent. Even the elbow joints look a bit bulbous when bent. Let’s look at accessories!

You get two versions of the iconic whip, one coiled to hang from his belt loop and one for action. The coiled whip looks very nice with some excellent sculpted braiding. Unfortunately, it is damn near impossible to close the loop and keep it closed. The peg is really soft and either doesn’t want to go into the hole or just pulls out a few seconds later. I was honestly amazed I was able to get any pictures at all with the loop closed around the whip. Sometimes the whip will stay in place for a while even after the loop’s peg pulls out, but eventually it will just fall to the floor. Something this simple should not be this poorly implemented, and especially not on a $25 figure.

The other whip is rubbery and wants to keep returning to a semi-coiled state. I can sometimes get a good pose with it, but it won’t do what I want it to do. I was thinking back to the Super7 ThunderCats Tygra figure, where his bolo whip would hold a shape and this one will not. I can’t believe Hasbro couldn’t work something out with a poseable wire, because that’s really what this accessory needed. And it’s no fun that it can’t be latched onto anything very well to make like he’s swinging. There were a bunch of different directions Hasbro could have gone with this version of the whip, but this just doesn’t work for me. At least this one still has the excellent braided sculpt as the coiled one.

Beside the whips, you get Indy’s revolver, which fits in his holster. The peg on the strap that holds the holster closed is almost as frustrating as the whip loop peg, but at least if it doesn’t stay pegged in, the gun can still stay in the holster. The sculpt for the gun is passable, but it’s real rubbery and kind of just blah. It does work well with the trigger-finger hand.

Finally, you get the fertility idol that Indy recovered from the temple at the beginning of Raiders. This is a nice little sculpt and while the gold plastic isn’t super vibrant, it looks good enough for me. Sadly, the hand that is designed to hold it really doesn’t work. I had to use a piece of poster putty to get it to stay in his hand for these photos.

Indiana Jones and the Death of A Thousand Cuts. It makes for an intriguing title, but a disappointing figure. I’m hard pressed to remember opening a figure that I wanted to love more, and yet there are just so many little things wrong with this one that it makes me kind of sad. Am I sorry I bought it? No. Indy is one of my favorite film characters and I’ll always buy him when he’s released as an action figure. This figure is by no means awful, but at $25, some of the aspects needed to be thought out a lot better, and I guess I had my hopes set high. It’s a rough start to the wave, doubly so since he’s the star, but we’ll see how the rest of the assortment pans out next time with Toht. Holy shit, they actually made a figure of the Nazi Gestapo agent Toht!

Apr 15 2011

Indiana Jones: Jungle Cutter Vehicle by Hasbro

A recurring theme in the Indy movies has been to include some cool and unusual vehicle as the background to one of the set-piece action scenes. Raiders had the Flying Wing, Last Crusade had that awesome tank, and Crystal Skull had the Jungle Cutter. Can’t think of what you would consider Temple of Doom’s contribution, but there’s always one nagging exception to every rule. The Cutter was one of only three larger vehicles that Hasbro decided to reproduce for the 3 3/4″ line, and while I would have rather had one of those amphibious jeeps from Crystal Skull, the Jungle Cutter here is no slouch and definitely toy worthy.

jcut1

The vehicle comes boxed in a great looking package with the traditional Indiana Jones style deco and a great art rendering of this rather unique looking vehicle in action. The back panel shows off a photo of the toy itself and points out some of its features. As with all three of the vehicles in the line, the box is designed to convert into a diorama, along with a bonus fold up cargo crate, which is a great little bonus if you’re willing to mangle the box, which I am not, as the box is otherwise fairly collector friendly. The toy comes with the two blades detached and you can easily take them off again to fit it back into the box for storage.

jcut2

Basically, the Jungle Cutter is a military-style tracked vehicle with a plow and two monstrous circular saw blades on the front. The treads are molded and the vehicle rolls along on wheels that are concealed underneath. Rolling the vehicle along causes the front blades to spin, which is a pretty cool feature. The sculpting on this thing is really nicely done. There are a lot of panel lines and simulated hatches, including sculpted latters leading up to the control cabin. The front of the vehicle has two molded rollers with simulated grinding teeth to chop up whatever trees it sucks in and two chutes on the back to spit out the sawdust. All of the military markings and lettering are painted onto the toy and there are no stickers to be applied.

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The control cabin has a seat that will fit most of 3 3/4″ figures, a control panel with levers and one side has a flexible plastic tarp with a window, while the other side has a molded rolled up tarp to allow for easy access.

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The spinning blades are spattered with paint spray to simulate mud, as is the plow. The Jungle Cutter has one really weird action feature, where pressing one of the smokestacks will shoot the plow off like a missile. I’d like to think that this is some kind of misguided attempt to simulate the vehicle exploding, but more likely Hasbro intended it as some kind of goofy secret weapon. It’s all good, though. So long as you don’t hit the fire button by accident, you can pretend it doesn’t exist.

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The Jungle Cutter retailed between $20-25 originally, which is about what Hasbro was asking for their Star Wars ehicles in this same size class. It’s not bad, as this is a good sized toy. Nowadays you can still pick it up in that price range from online retailers, or if you hunt hard enough, a lot less. The sculpt is very well done and I really like the way the blades spin when you push it. It’s certainly a cool and unique vehicle and considering its scale, it offers up all sorts of possibilities for customization across other lines. I can easily see Cobra modifying one of these things for some evil scheme of deforestation.

[And that wraps up Indiana Jones week. Obviously, this has been only a small portion of the line and its toys. I will most certainly be revisiting it again in the future to look at some more, but I want to get a few odds and ends in over the weekend before the new week starts on Monday. -FF.]

Apr 14 2011

Indiana Jones: 3 3/4″ Colonel Dovchenko and Irina Spalko by Hasbro

Hasbro brought Indiana Jones back to the toy aisles with the aim of producing figures from all the Indy films. But let’s face it, love it or hate it, the release of Kindom of the Crystal Skull was the only reason any of these figures were produced at all. In recognition of that fact, I thought I’d devote at least one day to looking at some toys exclusively from that film: The Russians! There were three single carded Russians released in the line. We got Colonel Dovchenko; creepy psychic chick, Irina Spalko; And a standard Russian Solider. Unfortunately, I never once saw the Russian Soldier on the pegs, so we’re going to have to leave him out for now, but let’s check out the rest of the Russian forces. I don’t have any of these carded, but just go back and look at the carded Indy’s from a few days back and you’ll know what to expect.

rusks5“Russians… I hate these guys.” Oh, wait, that was the Nazis. It’s kind of hard to hate on the Russians. I’ve devoted a great deal of my academic studies specializing in US and Russian relations and studying Russian history in general, and it’s tough not to be sympathetic toward them as a people. Bottom line, they don’t make great evil demons like the Nazis do. Nonetheless, considering the context in whichKingdom of the Crystal Skull took place, I think the Russians were a natural choice for the new baddies of the film, even if they couldn’t possibly manage to fill the Nazi’s jackboots. But enough about that, let’s look at the figures…

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Ok, so Dovchenko wasn’t all that memorable a villain. He was certainly no Belloq and no Mola Ram. I guess he was at least on par with Vogel from Last Crusade, who was pretty forgettable himself. I’m guessing most people probably just came away remembering Dovchenko as the guy that got eaten alive by ants. Still, all in all I think Igor Jijikine (Russian character actor and sometimes video game voice contributor) did a fine job playing him. And honestly, I thought his “oh, for love of god, shut up!” line was probably the best in the movie. Although that might be saying more about the movie than the actual line.

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Like a number of the Indy figures, Dovchenko’s sculpt is excellent from the neck down, but has some issues with his head. The head itself is pretty well done, and a fairly good likeness, but his sculpted officer’s cap is just way too big. It looks like Jiffy Pop is about to burst up through his head. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, and in fairness it only looks really bad when staring at it from directly in front. The uniform is nicely recreated here and overall, I’m pretty fond of this figure even with his big hat. I would note that the sculpting on the sleeves does unfortunately inhibit the elbow joints quite a bit. Dovchenko came with an automatic pistol and an AK-47 with a collapsed stock. The AK-47 is a particularly nice accessory, complete with a detailed sculpt and paint apps for the wood.

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Next up is Irina Spalko. I don’t really care for Cate Blanchett as an actress, and I really didn’t like this character in the film at all. Her Russian accent bothered me a lot more than Harrison Ford’s did in K-19, and that’s saying something considering all the flack poor Ford caught about that performance. Anyway, I couldn’t figure out whether Lucas and Spielberg were trying to make Spalko into some kind of sexy femme fatale, but with that bizarre Romulan haircut, I was having none of it.

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Nonetheless, Hasbro did a very good job bringing her to 3 3/4″ figure form. Considering Hasbro’s past issues with female head sculpts, Irina made out pretty good here. The likeness is passable and the paint apps are fairly neat. Her uniform is also really well done right down to the fine detail on her buttons and belt buckle. I really like the scabbard too, even if it doesn’t actually hold her rapier. Spalko comes with an automatic pistol and her rapier. The rapier is pretty close to the one that came with one of the Mutt Williams. Whatever I think of the character, I’ve got zero complaints about this figure.

I had originally planned on looking at the Jungle Cutter vehicle today as well, but I didn’t have time to photograph it, so there’s a good chance I’ll be doing that one tomorrow to end out Indy Week. There’s always a possibility I’ll get really motivated and even toss it in as an extra bonus feature, but to be fair, Friday I hit the corner pub pretty hard after work, so chances are I’m only going to get one more entry in before turning things over to the weekend.

Apr 13 2011

Indiana Jones: Deluxe Indiana Jones with Horse and Indiana Jones with Ark by Hasbro

So, in addition to the scads of Indys (and Mutts) that were clogging up the pegs, Hasbro released Indy four more times by way of the Deluxe boxed sets. These sets featured a figure and a small playset or vehicle or some other such item. Two of these Deluxe Indy sets featured traps similar to the ones encountered in the Temple in the beginning of Raiders. I didn’t buy either of these on principal, because I didn’t want to get two more of the same Indy figure. I did go ahead and buy the other two sets, which we’re going to look at today, both of which are based off of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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My all time favorite scene in Raiders begins when Indy steals a horse and goes after the truck with the Ark on it. In fact, this is one of my favorite action sequences in any movie ever. As a result, there was no way I wasn’t going to pick up that horse, even if it meant getting an Indy figure I didn’t need. Although, in fairness, there are enough unique points on this figure to make him worth owning.

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Yep, once again, we see Indy in his iconic getup with leather jacket and fedora. The biggest differences on this version of Indy are his gloved hands, which are screen accurate, and the fact that his satchel isn’t molded to his chest so it can hang behind him as he rides the horse. Apart from that, there isn’t a lot of differences between this figure and the other versions of Raiders Indy. From the neck down this is a great sculpt and an awesome figure. From the neck up? Well, his fedora is still sculpted to his head and I’m not all that crazy about the paint apps on my figure’s face, as he looks rather wall-eyed. He comes with a coiled whip to hook onto his belt and a revolver. All in all, not bad.

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The horse is excellent, and gave me pause to consider the fact that in all my years of collecting figures in this scale, I never owned one with a horse, unless you count the one Kenner released in the original Raiders of the Lost Ark figure line way back when. Unlike the old Kenner version, this one forgoes the galloping gimmick in favor of just good articulation and great sculpting. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure the upper half of the horse’s back legs are on backwards, as it looks like the knees are on the back. The horse comes with a molded plastic blanket and saddle and all the trappings of his harness and reins. He’s basically white, although there are some paint apps for his feet, and what I assume are to be mud or sand on the lower portions of his legs. Pretty much any of the Indy figures can comfortably mount the horse.

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The other Deluxe set, Indiana Jones with The Ark, contains another one of those variant Indy’s. This time he’s dressed in an Arab disguise as he was when he went into The Well of Souls. Underneith it all, this is a reuse of one of the previously released Indy bodies, but the newly sculpted head and the softgoods robe really work well and make this a great looking figure. He comes with an uncoiled whip, a revolver and a satchel, which fits on over the robe.

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The Ark itself is a beautiful sculpt, nicely scaled and yes you can open it and fill it with sand or vengeful angels or whatever you want. The only thing that bums me out about this Ark is what it doesn’t come with, mainly the carry poles. The sculpt is missing the slots that were designed to fit the carry poles and the poles themselves aren’t present, which is a step backward from the old Kenner one. I would have at least settled for, a cardboard fold together crate to put it in? Ah well. It still makes for a great display piece.

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Both of these sets retailed for about ten bucks, when they were released, but later they readily available on clearance too. Either way, they’re definitely worth the price. The Indy together with the horse makes a great display piece, one that I tend to keep out somewhere even when most of my Indy collection are away in totes. And as I pointed out earlier, its the only 3 3/4″ scale horse in my whole collection. As for Indy with the Ark, the Disguised Indy isn’t what I would consider an essential figure, but he’s nice to have. And The Ark sure is a must-have for collectors of this line.

Apr 12 2011

Indiana Jones: 3 3/4″ Indys by Hasbro

So what was the big issue with Hasbro’s Indiana Jones 3 3/4″ figure line? It was Indy himself and the fact that the case assortments were loaded down with different variations of the whipcracking hero. Ok, it wasn’t all Indy clogging the pegs. Mutt certainly didn’t help either, but either way by the time new waves of figures were coming in, the pegs were too clogged with Indys and Mutts to allow new figures any real estate. Nonetheless, today we’re going to take a look at four of the principal versions of Indy as featured from each of the four movies. We’ll save my favorite one of the bunch for last, as it will likely surprise you.

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The packaging for the Indy line is downright fantastic. The figures came on simple generic cards, but boy are they gorgeous. You got the iconic logo and Indy’s mug on every card with an illustrated whip snaking around the bubble. Each card uses a simple insert in the bubble to identify the figure and the film it’s based on. The bubbles are nice and big with room to show off the figure, often in a bit of an action pose, all the accessories, and the cardboard crate that included the “hidden artifact.” It’s unlike me to have a lot of carded figures from any line, but as it so happened it was cheaper to buy a whole case of figures to get the scarce Temple of Doom wave then it was to actually by those figures on Ebay, so I’ve got a number of these things kicking around.

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First up, let’s look at Indy from Raiders of the Lost Ark. He’s in the iconic outfit with a jacket that consists of a rubber vest with the arms sculpted to look like the jacket’s sleeves. It works pretty well and looks fine. The fedora is sculpted onto his head, which also looks fine, but unfortunately limits the display value. The head sculpt is ok, not great, but I guess it’s passable for a figure in the scale. The biggest issue I have with this figure (and I do mean BIGGEST) is the massive holster on his belt. It was a good try on Hasbro’s part to give us a working holster with a flap, but it just doesn’t work on a figure in this scale. It looks ridiculous and spoils the figure. The accessories include a revolver that fits in the massive holster, a coiled whip which can be hooked on his belt, an uncoiled whip, and the Fertility Idol. The uncoiled whip is a great reason to own this figure, as most of the other Indys only came with the coiled one. The Fertility Idol is no slouch either. But thanks to that damn holster, this is not the definitive Indy you want in your collection.

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Next, let’s jump ahead to Indy from The Last Crusade. He’s still in his iconic outfit with the same type of jacket sculpt and the fedora is still sculpted onto his head. The head sculpt on this one is marginally better and the paint on mine is pretty good, especially on the eyes. The big difference here is the chest sculpt, as he’s wearing a tie under the sculpted strap for his satchel. You’ll notice that the big holster issue has been fixed, and the figure looks a lot better for it. Besides, this figure doesn’t come with a revolver anyway. He does come with an MP-40 submachine gun and a coiled whip, which can be hooked onto his belt. I like this one much better than the Raiders Indy, it’s definitely a nice figure, but he’s lacking the basics in accessories and the tie is a little too scene specific to make him my go to Indy.

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Jumping back to The Temple of Doom, we get the first major variant Indy. He’s missing his jacket, his outfit is shredded and he’s all beat to hell. It’s certainly not an Indy figure for all occasions, but it sure fits the character’s appearance by the end of the second film. There’s some really nice sculpting on this guy, like the bandages on his hand, the Sankara Stones inside the satchel, and the shredded fabric of his shirt. Once again, the fedora is sculpted onto his head and the head sculpt is about on par with the Last Crusade Indy. Not bad, certainly passable. This time around, Indy comes with a coiled whip and his machete. The machete is pretty soft and prone to warping, but it straightens out pretty well.

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For figure number four, we appropriately come to the fourth film, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and another one of the major variants. It’s Indy without his jacket as seen during the jungle chase. For the first time, we’ve got an Indy without his fedora sculpted to his head. In fact, this figure doesn’t come with one at all. The sculpt is pretty nice, though, with a lot of good detail in his outfit and a pretty good head sculpt to boot, complete with peppered gray in his hair to show off that this is geriatric Indy. This version comes with a coiled whip to hook onto his belt and the Soviet-issue rocket launcher.

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And that brings us to my favorite 3 3/4″ Indy of the line, and yes he’s from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull assortment. Now, I don’t have the same hate for the fourth film that a lot of people do, but it is at the bottom of my list. [It’s actually second to bottom on my list as it can boast being 100 percent Willie Scott free. -FF]  But the reason I like this figure so much is that it’s still the best generic and iconic Indy of the bunch. The sculpting on the jacket is easily my favorite of all the figures, and the huge revolver holster problem has been fixed. But best of all, the fedora is actually removable on this figure, which gives him a wide number of options for display. Yes, he’s got the older head sculpt with the grey hair, but then that could just be dust from all the tombs he’s crawling through. This version of Indy came with a coiled whip, a revolver, and a swappable left hand holding the Crystal Skull. The torch in the picture wasn’t included.

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That’s not to say that these are all the Indy figures that Hasbro’s 3 3/4″ line had to offer. Indy was also packaged several times over in the Deluxe Assortment. Two of these figures included the traditional version with a little playset featuring some sort of trap to navigate. The other two? Well, we’re going to check out those tomorrow.

Apr 11 2011

Indiana Jones: Electronic Talking 1:6 Scale Indiana Jones by Hasbro

[If a theme week had a name it must be Indiana Jones!

Why? For no reason whatsoever, other than I don’t think I’ve ever featured Hasbro’s Indiana Jones line more than once or twice here on FigureFan and my recent acquisitions have been pretty slim these past couple of weeks. Indy is a line that had a rocky run, where early quality control issues coupled with terrible case assortments caused it to die earlier than most fans were expecting. And while many consider the line to be a failure, I’m not one of them. I got a bunch of great figures and toys out of this line, and overall I was more than happy with what we got.Most of what we’re looking at this week will be from the 3 3/4″ figures, but I thought I’d kick things off and get one of Hasbro’s 1:6 scale figures out of the way first. It’s worth noting that one of my most favorite toys of childhood was the Kenner 1:6 scale Indiana Jones figure that I got for Christmas one year. Obviously, it was back in the days before the Interweb, and I didn’t even know the thing existed until I unwrapped it. So picking up a new Indy figure in this scale was a real nostalgia trip for me, and that’s what a good deal of this blog is all about anyway. -FF]

Back when Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, there followed a torrential flood of Indiana Jones merchandising. Hasbro had the license to produce the everyday toys for the toy aisles, but a whole number of higher end collectible companies also landed limited rights to produce figures of their own. If you were in the market for a 1:6 scale Indy figure, you certainly had no limit of options and a wide range of prices to choose from. All of these figures had their good points, and yet all of them also had at least one or two glaring problems that kept me from blowing a stack of cash on any one of them. In the end, I decided that if I was going to buy a 1:6 scale Indy that I wasn’t going to be completely satisfied with, I might as well take the low cheap road. So, let’s take a look at Hasbro’s attempt.

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The packaging is typical of what I expect from a mass market figure in this scale. You get a window box that is pretty collector friendly, although the accessories have to be removed from the back of the cardboard insert. Most of them are just twisty-tied on it, but the Fertility Idol is sealed in a bubble, so I opted to leave it there. I like the deco of the box, especially the illustrated map background on the insert tray. Although I could have done without the adverts for Hasbro’s National Geographic Win A Trip contest. It doesn’t play well years later. There’s a Try Me hole in the window so you can reach in and poke Indy’s chest to make him talk, which is great if you plan on keeping him MIB or just want to entertain yourself while you’re in the store waiting to check out. More on this gimmick later.

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Out of the box, I think this figure makes a pretty good first impression. He has a removable softgoods outfit and a plastic removable fedora. The body is pretty close in line with Hasbro’s mass market GI JOE bodies in this scale. That is to say the articulation is pretty good, but not up to snuff if you’re used to picking up a lot of figures in the $100+ scale or even the more affordable Triad Toys figures. I realize that articulation is king when it comes to 1:6 scale figures, and I do not collect a lot of figures in this scale, so I’m bound to be a lot more forgiving than the enthusiasts out there. The head sculpt is not bad, although it’s definitely been compromised a bit to include the moving mouth gimmick. It seems a little rounder in the face, and while it’s impressive the neck still has articulation with the gimmick, the neck seems a tad short. It’s not quite Harrison Ford, but maybe close enough to be his stunt double. Even still, I honestly think this sculpt is more acceptable than at least one or two of the higher end Indys I’ve considered. I definitely applaud Hasbro’s decision to not sculpt the hat onto the head. The paint is pretty good everywhere except on the eyes, which are rather sloppily done.

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While the sculpt might be hit-and-miss, Indy’s iconic outfit is a home run. The pants and shirt and boots are spot on and the leather jacket is really good, albeit a bit chunky in the arms. At first I was bummed that the hat was plastic and not felt like it was in the old Kenner figure, but then I caught some pictures of the old Kenner figure and without my nostalgia I realized it didn’t look so hot. In the end, I think going with plastic was the better idea. His belt includes a loop for his whip and a removable holster for his revolver. I do really wish the shirt closed a little higher up on his chest to conceal the speaker in his chest, but this can be easily fixed with some tape or a simple stitch.

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Indy comes with the basic accessories. You get a revolver, a coiled whip and an uncoiled whip, and the Fertility Idol. It’s not a huge number of accessories, but not bad. Besides, it’s plenty easy to find a 1:6 scale assortment of WWI or WWII era weapons on the cheap. The whips are made of rubbery plastic and are both really well done. The issue I have here isn’t with the accessories but with the figure’s hands, which are not designed to hold any of this stuff really well. Hasbro really should have gone with the hinged fingers they’ve done on this scale of GI JOE figures in the past. You can get him to hold the stuff, but not really well. This is undoubtedly where the multiple hands usually included with the higher end figures helps out.

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The electronic gimmick is pretty good, and doesn’t hurt the figure too much. The button is situated really low on his stomach, so activating it is like poking the Pillsbury Doughboy in the tummy. You can keep pressing the button to make Indy’s mouth move, but it’s kind of a creepy looking effect. The sound on the voice clips is nice and clear, and while the package proclaims this figure is from Raiders of the Lost Ark, the voice clips are sampled from all of the original three films. The quotes include:

  • My name is Indiana Jones
  • Snakes, Why’d it have to be snakes?
  • Oooooh, Rats!
  • I hate these guys
  • I think we got a big problem!
  • Archaeology is the search for facts.
  • Trust me
  • I don’t know, I’m making this up as I go
  • Fortune and glory kid, fortune and glory.
  • That’s why they call it the jungle, sweetheart.
  • No ticket!

Indy retailed at $29.99, which wasn’t bad. It was certainly the cheapest of the 1:6 scale Indy figures by a long shot. It’s not perfect, but for a mass market figure I think Hasbro did a pretty fine job. I definitely would have preferred less electronics in favor of better hands, but apart from that I don’t have a lot of complaints about this figure at all. The best thing about this figure is that he’s still easy to find online and can often be picked up for less than his original retail. If you don’t want to drop $100 or more on one of the “better” figures, this one is a decent compromise.

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May 2 2010

Indiana Jones: German Troop Car by Hasbro

If clearance has a name, it must be Indiana Jones!

Its sad but true, there’s still fallout from Hasbro’s Indiana Jones toyline kicking around if you know where to look. I never saw one of these things at retail during the toyline’s lifespan, and then all of the sudden I stumble upon two of them at Ross’ toy graveyard for about seven bucks each. I was pretty excited to find it, because besides that elusive Vogel figure, this Troop Car was the last piece I needed to complete my collection. Couldn’t find it anywhere, now I have two. It never rains, but it pours.

The Troop Car is one of three larger vehicles released in the IJ toyline. The others included the German Cargo Truck from Raiders and the Soviet Jungle Cutter from Crystal Skull. The packaging is really sweet, and while they look like normal boxes, the inside trays actually convert to some cool little dioramas, provided you’re willing to trash the box to get it. The artwork on the boxes is somewhat reminiscent of the old Kenner line, only with a cool action packed illustration on the front and the toy images on the back, showing off the various features. In addition to the truck, you get three oil drums, a breakaway barricade, and a missile for the machine gun.

The toy itself is not as detailed as the Cargo Truck or the Jungle Cutter. Its a nice piece, but it just looks somewhat lacking. Some weathered paint apps or a sticker sheet would have gone a long way to helping it along, but then let’s remember that swastikas are a no-no. Still, what’s here gets the job done. There’s a spare tire mounted on the back, a decent looking grill and headlights on the front. The floor and runningboards are textured, there’s a clear windshield, steering wheel, and even a stick shift for the manual tranny.

The toy rolls really well and you can get it up to a good enough speed to really smash through the barricade and barrels. The machine gun on the back rotates and has a pegged platform to hold a figure. It also shoots a missile. Granted, that’s about all this thing does, but you can really load it up with figures. In addition to the gunner, there’s room for four figures on the seats and another four pegged on the runningboards. If you’re like me and acquired quite a few German soldiers from this line, you’ll have plenty of space for them on this ride.

My one big gripe with this toy is that the windshield and rollbar are made of soft rubbery plastic. I suppose its less likely to break, but if you store your car in the box, make sure its sitting upright or else you’ll get a little warpage like on mine. Thankfully it can be straightened out with a little patience and effort.

Overall, the Troop Car takes a backseat to the Cargo Truck as my favorite toy of the line, but then the Cargo Truck is work of art that’s hard to beat. This thing is not too shabby, though, and when you get past the fact that its a little bland, its actually a lot of fun. The bonus accessories are really cool and make great additions to display with the Cargo Truck and Motorcycle as well.