Avengers “Age of Ultron:” Hawkeye 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

Marvel Legends has been totally dominating Marvel Mondays lately, so let’s go for something different today. I was really hoping to be looking at Hot Toys’ Scarlet Witch right around now, but they keep bumping her back and now it looks like March is Wanda’s new target date. So, let’s look at Hawkeye instead. This figure has been out for a little while now, but the fact that it took me this long to get to him shouldn’t be taken as an indicator of any lack of love for the character or Renner’s portrayal of him in Age of Ultron. He had a lot of great moments in the film and they were well deserved considering he spend so much of the first Avengers as a brain-washed Loki-lackey. It was nice to see him take the center stage for some of the new film and considering how expensive the first release has become on the secondary market, this is a release that really needed to be out there.

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While I’m no stranger to Marvel Hot Toys, this is my first HT figure from the Age of Ultron film, so the package design is new to me. The figure comes in a window box with an illustrated sleeve wrapped around it. I do prefer the shoebox style as they tended to be more durable and feel more like premium packaging. This isn’t bad, though, and honestly I really just keep the packaging as a place to hold all those extra bits that never make it to display. The front of the sleeve has a picture of Hawkeye in action with the Age of Ultron logo and points out that this figure is #289 of the Movie Masterpiece Series. There are a lot of goodies in this box, so let’s get started with a look at the figure itself.

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Hawkeye sported two costumes in Age of Ultron, one being close to his original Avengers look and the other being this snazzy new jacket. I like this look a lot, as it’s sort of a mix between a trench coat and a modern take on the medieval arming coats worn by archers in the old days. The tailoring on the new outfit is superb right down to the reinforced sleeves (complete with straps and buckles) and the T-shirt he wears under the jacket. The zipper is a bit big, something that Hot Toys still struggles with, but it’s mostly concealed under the flap, so it’s not an eyesore. The extra padding on the jacket looks great, as does the purple nods to the character’s comic costume. I was afraid that the bulky jacket would be puffy and restrictive, but it’s neither. It’s a beautiful form-fit for the figure and as far as costumes go, this is one of the least restrictive outfits that I’ve seen on a Hot Toys figure in a while.

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The back of the jacket has another zipper, which I find is best left undone to allow for a wider range of hip movement. Also, there’s a cool mesh liner that can be seen through the gap, which just furthers my respect for whoever tailored this thing. The jacket also features a plate to attach the quiver. The pants are also beautifully done, with knee pads and reinforced patches, and the boots exhibit some great sculpting, especially in the laces . While technically accessories, the speed-loaders are as much a part of the costume as anything else. These are magnetic pieces that adhere to the outside of the boots. They stay on quite well unless you bump them, but occasionally I had to re-position them while I was posing the figure.

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The portrait on the original Hot Toys Hawkeye was pretty damn good, and I think this one pushes the envelope a little further. As with all of Hot Toys’ portraits, they tend to have a certain sweet spot that really drives the likeness home, but I’m pretty satisfied with this one all across the board. The realism in the skin tone is downright eerie and I especially like the hint of five-o’clock shadow. Very nice.

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If you prefer your Hawkeye with shades, there is a pair included with the accessories and they fit the figure perfectly. I’m really tempted to go with these as my default display, but then I feel guilty covering up any part of the hard work they did on the face sculpt and paint. Moving on to the rest of the accessories…

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Holy crap, look at all this stuff! In addition to three sets of hands (What? Only six hands? Oh, Hot Toys, you’re slipping!) You get a regular bow, a collapsed bow, two pieces that make up the quiver, a crazy number of arrows and shafts, an assortment of three basic tips, and another assortment of Clint’s “special” arrow tips, which include the one he used on Scarlet Witch when she tried to fiddle with his brain. At first, I thought a lot of this stuff was extra, but by the time I was done filling the quiver, I was left with one arrow for the outside slot and one for Clint to knock into the bow, plus the specialty tips.

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It takes a while to load up the quiver, but the end result looks amazing. The instructions show you how to position everything and since all the tips are removable, you can customize them to your heart’s content. Twelve of the arrows are complete arrows, and eight are just shafts to fill out the quiver. Once the arrows are all loaded, the two halves go together with the help of magnets and some pegs. The entire thing then slots into the plate on the jacket making it very easy to attach and remove. All the complexity and effort that went into the quiver is one of the things that really make these figures shine. They could have just as easily just sculpted the quivers and arrows as one piece and had one or two be removable, but it wouldn’t have looked anywhere near this good.

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The collapsed bow is one of those neat extras that sadly I will probably never use. It’s a beautiful piece with loads of detail and a checkered purple and black finish. The folded parts of the bow are on actual hinges too, making it really feel like it could deploy into the full weapon.

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Of course, the full bow is the baby that he’ll be displayed with and it is indeed a sexy piece of kit. It has the same checkered finish as the collapsed bow and it’s strung with just enough slack and elasticity that I’m not afraid to pose him with it drawn. Although, it’s probably not recommended to keep it drawn for long periods of time. It also functions surprisingly well. While posing him I accidentally fired off more than a few arrows and they had quite some distance on them.

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The figure comes with relaxed hands attached, but I imagine that I’ll be keeping the ones designed to work with the bow on him most of the time. My only gripe here is that the fingers designed to draw the bow doesn’t have any spaces between the fingers. As a result, you have to knock the arrow into the string above or below the hand instead of between the fingers. This is easily fixed with a straight razor cut between the fingers, but I’m not sure I’m going to do anything that extreme.

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Naturally, Hawkeye comes with a figure stand. This is the first of my Hot Toys Avengers to not feature the traditional black oval stand. Instead, it’s more in style with what they used for the Guardians of the Galaxy figures. There’s a silver name plate with the AoU logo and an illustrated surface with the Avengers “A.” I like it, it offers a lot more room to display the figure, but I’d be lying if I said the different stands on the same shelf doesn’t annoy my OCD.

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Hawkeye was the last member of the core team that was missing from my Hot Toys Avengers shelf. I didn’t start collecting these beauties until a good deal of the original Avengers figures had already sold out, so being able to finally add Hawkeye to the team is a big deal for me. He’s a fantastic figure, which usually goes without saying when it comes to this line, but more importantly, he comes with a very satisfying collection of accessories, and that’s something that’s been missing from a lot of Hot Toys’ releases lately. When you take into account all those extra bits, plus the beautifully tailored outfit and solid likeness, the $219 price point actually feels reasonable. Or at least as reasonable as you can get in the high end action figure market. I’ve certainly paid more for less. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I spent around $110 worth of Reward Points, bringing him down to a $109 steal. Now hopefully in a couple weeks, I’ll be able to revisit Hot Toys’ Age of Ultron line with a look at Scarlet Witch, with Vision due to follow on in April.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Ships and Figures by Hasbro

I can still remember seeing the first images for Hasbro’s Guardians of the Galaxy ships and thinking, “Holy crap, they’re going full Star Wars on this movie and it’s going to be so amazing!” Then the facts came out that the ships we were seeing were scaled for tiny little 2 1/2-inch figures and that threw a bucket of cold water on my celebration. I’m not sure why. To this day one of my favorite of the lesser 80’s toy lines is Kenner’s MASK, and those figures were right about at the 2 1/2″ scale. In the end, it didn’t matter because I had too many other things vying for my wallet to be able to start in on this line and even when it was swept away on clearance, I stayed away. Fast forward to a week or so ago and a friend of mine decided to get rid of his Guardians collection and I took it off his hands for the cost of shipping it to me. Hey, that’s what friends are for!

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And behold! I should note that this is not a complete set. It’s actually missing the Sakaaran Necrocraft and one of the figure packs. But it’s still a good chunk of it. It’s rare that I try to tackle most of an entire toy line in one Feature, let alone in bonus Saturday content, but the circumstances here just seemed to warrant it. Frankly, I’ve got too much else to look at without taking up half a dozen regular Feature slots with these toys. But, I’ll confess I had a whole lot of fun opening these up yesterday, putting them together and applying all the stickers. STICKERS! I LOVE ‘EM!!! It was kind of like Christmas in February. Anyeay, there’s a lot here to look at. I’m not going too terribly in depth. Let’s dive right in with the ships. We’ll start small with the Nova Corps Starblaster and work our way up.

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It’s almost too weird to wrap my head around the fact that I’m holding a toy of a Nova Corps spaceship. Wow! We comic book nerds live in wondrous times! I really enjoyed the ship designs in Guardians and the Nova Corps patrol ships are a great example of why. The shape and color scheme give it an insectoid vibe, like a wasp or hornet, and this is a pretty cool recreation of the ship we saw on the big screen. The eight wings are all textured and the main body of the ship also has a little bit of sculpted detail, but Hasbro didn’t go particularly wild on it. The ship includes an action feature that deploys all the wings in unison when you fold out any one of them.

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With the wings deployed, this is a fairly sizable toy, which leads me to believe they were on to something when they went with the 2 1/2-inch scale. The wing span would have been enormous on a proper 4-inch scaled ship. The wings include peg holes where you can attach a missile launcher and some weird translucent red weapon pieces. I’m not a fan of the extra parts, but at least they are optional and I can leave them in the box.

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The Patrol Ship comes with a Nova Corps Officer. I’ll deal with all the figures in a bit more detail at the end. The canopy on the ship opens up and there’s plenty of room to put the figure inside. There’s also a surprising amount of detail sculpted into the cockpit. Moving on to the Warbird…

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This is the Ravager ship that Rocket Raccoon was flying toward the end of the flick when defending Xandar against The Dark Aster and it’s another example of what I love about the ship designs from the film. It’s a bit unconventional, but evocative of a flying wing. While the detail was sparing on the Nova Corp ship, Hasbro went to town on this one. The sculpt features all sorts of panel lines and vents and machinery in the engines. It really looks damn good. The grey plastic has a bit of a sheen to it and the black and deep blue makes for a pleasing deco. The rest of the markings on the ship are achieved with stickers.

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The action feature on this one is a lot more subtle than the Nova ship. The top wings can be angled ever so slightly in an higher position. It’s really barely even noticeable. Of course, the cockpit also opens up and the included Rocket Raccoon figure can sit inside. Actually, he just kind of lays inside, since he’s a totally static figure. Again, there’s some nice sculpted detail in the cockpit. Yes, you also get a missile launcher and more of the translucent weapon parts to peg in around the ship if you want to. Next up… The Milano!

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Star-Lords ship is the biggest one in the line, although it’s obviously scaled quite a bit back from how big it really should be in relation to 2 1/2-inch figures. I’m cool with that, because if Hasbro hadn’t taken creative license with the size, it would have been massive. Like the Warbird, The Milano is loaded with sculpted panel lines and little details along the hull. The gray plastic is the same used on the Warbird and it looks great here, particularly with the blue and yellow deco. The extra color and markings come from the stickers. And yet again, you get a missile launcher and extra translucent weapons to peg on if you want.

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Two of the wings are articulated and can fold back or be positioned in line with the other wings. It’s not a big deal. You also get some electronics in the toy. It makes a few different attack sounds and the angled “T” on the nose of the ship lights up and flickers. The canopy opens and the cockpit can fit three figures. Again, it’s definitely scaled back, but I think it’s cool they made extra room for more than just one figure.

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Speaking of figures, they mostly come in two-packs, although the one with Rocket is a three-pack. What sucks about these is that Hasbro packed them in a way that if you’re going for a complete set of figures and ships, you can’t avoid getting doubles. Star-Lord comes with The Milano, but he also comes packed with Gamora. You want Groot? You’ve got to buy both Rocket and the Nova Officer, which come with the Warbird and Nova ship. On the brighter side, Drax comes with Korath, so no double dipping there, and while Ronan comes with Star-Lord again, it’s the long jacket version, so at least it’s not the same figure. Each of the figure packs come with one large missile launcher and a sprue of translucent weapons, all of which are goofy over-sized junk. At least the missile launchers, which are way too big for the figures can be mounted on the ships for extra firepower. On second thought, I suppose even the translucent ones can be added to the ships. The figures themselves are pretty rough. Their hands are oddly large to be able to hold the crappy accessories and all of them (except Rocket) have five points of articulation. Let’s run through them real quick…

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Star-Lord is ironically one of the worst. His head is hilarious and he won’t stand up unless you lean him forward. Gamora is passable for the scale, I guess. They did actually sort of get a little bit of the likeness in there.

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Drax and Korath are fairly decent, I guess. They actually got all of Drax’s tats painted onto him and Korath’s armor looks pretty cool for such a little figure.

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Groot looks surprisingly bad, considering he was the biggest figure they had to work with. Rocket is passable, although he’s obviously way out of scale, otherwise he would be too tiny. At least his tail makes it so he can stand.

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I’d say the Nova Corp Officers are the best. They’re colorful and the uniforms look pretty good. Also, it’s not so bad having a couple of these, since they can be seen as troop builders.

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In the end, I’ll say that I was surprised by how decent the ships are and not at all surprised by how forgettable the figures turned out. The line definitely pulls at some of my nostalgia strings. Maybe a little bit of MASK, but also a little bit of Mattel’s Battlestar Galactica ships from the 70’s that got pulled from the market because of missile choking syndrome. Apart from having Gamora and Drax to sit in my Milano with Star-Lord, I could have easily done without the separate packs of figures. Which makes me think that Hasbro should have just not bothered with the separate packs and just bundled all the figures with the ships. I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to bother picking up the Necrocraft and the Ronan figure pack. I’m not as fond of the Sakaaran ship designs and I don’t really want to buy another Star-Lord just to get a tiny Ronan. I suppose this line was a valiant effort on Hasbro’s part and it’s just a shame that the market wouldn’t have supported a proper 3 3/4-inch line. A Millennium Falcon-sized Milano with a back that came off and doubled as a playset would have been amazing.

Disney Infinity 2.0: More Marvel Figures, Part 2!

I gotta be honest here, with the extra content I did this weekend and with the pressures of Christmas Week upon me, Monday kind of snuck up on me and kicked me in the nuts. As a result, I’ll be staying true to Marvel Monday, but I won’t be opening another Legends figure today, because I just don’t have time. Instead, I’m going to take a quick look at the remaining Marvel figures in my Disney Infinity 2.0 collection, something I was intending to do over the weekend before I went all Star Wars crazy.

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I have packaged shots this time, because I found all of these swinging on the pegs in one shot at Target and they were only $5.50 each. The only figure I didn’t buy was Green Goblin, because I just don’t like the look of him. He’s not the Gobby I know and love so I didn’t feel I needed him. At least not until my OCD kicks in and the agony of realizing that there’s JUST ONE FIGURE IN THIS SERIES THAT I DON’T HAVE becomes unbearable. Anyway, the packages are attractive, but simple. Each figure also comes with a character card, which I believe can be used in the PC version.

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Oh yeah, they also had the Power Disc blind bags for $1.50 each, so I bought a heaping handful of them. It was only after I had opened a bunch that I realized none of them were Marvel 2.0 discs. They were all 1.0 discs. Meh, you can still use them in the 2.0 and 3.0 Toy Boxes. I did get one RAREZ in there, but also a bunch of doubles. F’ck these things. OK, let’s start off with the two figures from Guardians of the Galaxy….

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It’s Yondu, and ain’t he just adorable? This figure draws pretty heavily from the movie and I can even see a little bit of Michael Rooker in there. This figure ranks pretty high on my list and I think they did a beautiful job on him. I particularly love all the details in his outfit. His boots look great, he’s got a little dagger on his sleeve and he’s got his flying arrow poised and ready to be unleashed. The blue paint used for his skin is mighty pretty too.

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Next up is Ronan. It’s a crying shame we didn’t get a movie version of Ronan from either Hasbro’s Marvel Legends or Hot Toys. I can’t really say this one invokes a lot of sentiment from the movie design either, but maybe a little. Either way, it’s another of my favorites. He’s a beefier figure than most and I love the stance. He’s standing defiant with his hammer and ready to judge me with that adorable little Disney-fied face of his. Awwww. The paint on this guy is great too!

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Moving away from Guardians and into the Ultimate Spider-Man Playset comes Iron Fist. He’s cool. I dig him. But I just don’t feel like he’s anything special. The pose is decent, his iconic costume is conveyed in the sculpt and paint, but he just feels a wee bit bland. Still, I bet he’s fun to play in the game.

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Finally, the last figure that I needed in The Avengers series: Falcon! This guy is obviously more comic based than movie, although his movie costume can be unlocked in the game. I was a little cool on this one until I got him out of the package and saw his gorgeous translucent red wings. Very snazzy. I also dig his pose a lot. He just looks a tad out of place with the other Avengers, which do feel more influenced by the Cinematic Universe.

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Alas, I haven’t had a chance to play as any of these characters yet. But with how much time I’m spending in the 3.0 Toy Box, I’ll definitely be swapping these guys onto my Infinity Platform to take them for a spin. I do still have a little bit of unfinished business with my Infinity 1.0 and 2.0 Collections and I’ll try to swing back next weekend with a look at the rest of the collection, so I can finally get into checking out the 3.0 Star Wars stuff. Of course, 3.0 also has some new Marvel figures as well as a brand new Marvel Playset coming too!

And yeah… next Monday I’ll pick up where I left off with the Hulkbuster Wave of Marvel Legends.

Disney Infinity 2.0: More Marvel Figures, Part 1!

The Evil money-grabbing entity known as Disney has already unleashed Infinity 3.0 on us and I begrudgingly took the plunge, even though I felt as though I wasn’t fully finished with 2.0. Nonetheless, before I get into checking out the new stuff, I thought I’d deal with some of the unfinished business with 2.0, as I’ve got these things everywhere. I’ve already looked at The Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy, so today I’ll start checking out the some of the other Marvel figures on my shelf. I’m not going to bother with in-package shots today, as I’ve had most of these opened for a while now. I’m looking at them on a Saturday because I don’t like to take up a normal weekday slot with this sort of thing. I’m behind enough on my regular Features as it is. Let’s kick it off with Loki…

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Loki is the last figure I needed from The Avengers assortment and while I never actually used him with my 2.0 set, I have been messing around with him in the 3.0 Toy Box and he’s a surprisingly fun character to play. I also really love everything about the figure. Loki’s got a treacherous, lurking pose going on and a devilish grin on his mug. His trademark horns are present and he’s even clutching the Chitauri Sceptre in his left hand. There’s some nice sculpted detail on his outfit too and the paint on mine is pretty clean. He’s a great way to finish off what was a solid line of little figures for The Avengers. And that brings me to the Spider-Man figures…

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The Spider-Man Playset came with Spider-Man and Nova, and I think this set was actually directly linked to the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, rather than just Infinity’s own thing. I was surprised to find the Spider-Man Playset to be my least favorite of the three, but that wasn’t the fault of the characters. Spider-Man is lots of fun to play and his figure is pretty damn great too. He’s crouched and looking like he’s ready for action. The web pattern is sculpted into his suit and the paint is very bright and clean.

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I’ve never seen the show, but I understand Nova was a pretty big supporting character, so he was a good choice for the second figure bundled with the Playset. I can’t say as I’ve ever been a huge fan of the character and I’ll confess, this figure has yet to even sit upon my Infinity Platform so I can’t comment on how he plays. The figure itself is not bad. They did a nice job capturing the stylized version of his costume and he strikes a nice, heroic pose. Next up is Nick Fury…

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I thought Fury was an odd fit for the Spider-Man set, but seeing as how he’s an NPC in the Avengers set, he wouldn’t have fit in there as a playable character. I haven’t actually used him in the Spider-Man Playset, but he’s been  a “go-to” character for me when playing around in the Toy Box, especially when I’m building mindless shooty levels. They did a really nice job on the figure. I love his cross-armed stance and the way his trench coat bellows off to the side. I’d say the portrait is also one of the best. And that brings me to the last figure for today… Venom!

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Like Nova, Venom hasn’t actually been on my Infinity Platform yet. In fact, he’s the only figure in today’s Feature that I actually had to open just to photograph. If his play style is anywhere near as annoying as fighting the Symbiots in the game, then he’s probably a force to be reckoned with. Anyway, I really love the look of the figure and he’s about on par with The Hulk’s size. There are some uneven spots on the paint, and a glossy patch on his right shoulder, but nothing too bad.

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All in all, this is a great set of figures and thanks to the staying power of the Toy Box, I’m still getting a lot of play time out of them, although with 3.0 out now, there’s a lot more little guys competing for time on the Infinity Platform. You’ll note that I dubbed this Feature, Part 1. Part 2 will probably be coming next weekend as I have at least another four Marvel figures kicking around to look at. In that case, though, none of them have actually been opened yet so I may try to spend some time with them in the Toy Box beforehand.

Marvel Comics: Wasp Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Kotobukiya continues to have their sites set on my wallet as they released no less than four Bishoujo statues in the last month or so. Marvel, DC, Tekken, Street Fighter, all the franchises have been represented and I’m dying over here. So far, I’ve picked up today’s statue and Zatanna, which I’ll look at next week, and I’ll likely be picking up Sakura and Anna Williams in the next couple of weeks. But for now, let’s check out the lovely Ms. Van Dyne…

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As usual, Koto’s comic based Bishoujos come in a white window box, decked out with the wonderful artwork of Shunya Yamashita, which inspired this piece. You get a great look at the statue inside the box and while the wings are detached, they are mounted in the tray to mimic how they will look on the statue when displayed. I’ll let you all in on a little secret. Janet was one of my first comic book crushes and I blame her for my lifelong attraction to chicks sporting a pixie cut. Wings have always been optional.

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The back of the package features some shots of the statue along with a little blurb about the character and the Bishoujo line itself. Everything is collector friendly, which is frustrating because it makes me save the packages and by now I have half a closet overflowing with my Bish Boxes. Also, Lady Deadpool from Deadpool Corps is coming soon. God dammit, Koto. You play rough. Wasp comes out of the package already attached to the base, so all you have to do is plug in those wings and she’s good to go.

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Oh yeah! Wasp is pretty adorable to begin with, so she was just made for this line and the design team obviously had a lot of fun with her. She’s sporting a playful, whimsical pose with one toe splashing down in a pool of water and the other foot kicking up behind her. Her arms are raised with palms out and fingers in a mischievous little flourish, her wings jut up behind her and she looks over her shoulder with an exuberant face that would light up the darkest dungeon of any secret AIM base.

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Janet is donning her modern costume, which is basically a skin-tight black bodysuit with the gold pattern cupping her breasts and running down to her nether regions. As far as costumes go, this one didn’t require a lot of detail, but I will say that I love how the pattern on the front of the costume is more than just slightly raised, When coupled with that sumptuous gold paint, which also appears on the insides of her gloves and the souls of her feet, this makes for a simple, yet quite striking piece. The paint is immaculate and contrasts beautifully with the slick, glossy black finish of the rest of the suit.

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The wings are also beautifully executed. They’re cast in a sturdy transparent plastic, which is nice because I had concerns about them being fragile. the top edges are neatly painted black along with the stems that come out from the suit. The wing membranes have a wonderful iridescent shimmer about them that catches the light to produce a myriad of colors.

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The portrait is lovely and again reinforces how well the character works in the Bishoujo format. Her short hair is sculpted to look a bit tussled and I’m still noting the lack of Koto’s age-old trick of using transparent plastic near the edges. I always liked that, but Wasp’s hair is so short here that it didn’t really need it. Her big beautiful eyes are precisely painted as are her lips. Her mouth is open and you can even see a row of sculpted teeth in there. Lovely!

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Also, lovely. Damn, Mr. Pym, you were a lucky man while it lasted.

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I’ll confess that while it’s nicely executed, I find the base rather puzzling.  I’m not sure why they decided to go with water, other than maybe to provide a medium to show her in flight and just barely touching down. The sculpting on the splash, and the subsequent ripples, does add a bit of energy to the piece. It might have been cool to have gone with something that would have put her shrunken form in context. Ah, what am I saying? This is a gorgeous piece, and I shouldn’t be nitpicking it.

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There are times when I think Koto has to work a little harder to make some characters fit the Bishoujo aesthetic, but The Wasp is one that is such a no-brainer that I’m surprised it took them this long to get around to her. I’ve been chomping at the bit to get this statue ever since the concept art was first revealed and in hand, she does not disappoint at all. I nabbed her via a pre-order for around $60, which is toward the higher end of what I usually pay to get my Bishoujo fix, but I feel like the value is still there. And with the way some of the few statues I’m missing are climbing in price on the secondary market, I’ve been less interested in hunting for bargains and more willing to drop pre-orders and not worrying about missing out. In the next week or so, I’ll swing back around and check out Zatanna, another lady that I’ve been desperately waiting to see make an appearance in this line.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket and Groot 1:6 Scale Figures by Hot Toys, Part 2

Yesterday I took a look at Hot Toys’ Rocket Raccoon and, as promised, today I’m back to look at his giant buddy Groot! We already checked out the packaging, so let’s just jump right in…

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Hoo boy, is this a big and weighty figure! Even with a bit of a hunch, he stands a full head and shoulders above your average human sized Hot Toys figure. That’s doubly impressive considering that every tiny spot of this figure is covered with sculpted bark. The look and texture of Groot’s skin is beyond realistic. When I touch it I fully expect to feel wood rather than plastic. And it’s not just the wood grain on his skin, but the vines and tendrils that wrap around his arms and legs and the little sprigs that randomly crop out form various places on his body. This is a sculpt fashioned with love. I have no doubt of that!

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The paintwork is also phenomenal. There are subtle shades of brown for the bark and green for the vines. I think my favorite thing about the paintwork, however, is the little hints of green around some of the bark pieces, which looks like moss growing on an overturned log. Simply stunning.

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The stock portrait is Groot’s regular stoic expression, which is a dead ringer for his big screen counterpart. Again, it shows that the wizards at HT are not only good with human likenesses, but can recreate just about anything in plastic. The painted eyes definitely have that spark of life and while I don’t like to throw the word around to often, this portrait just strikes me as perfect.

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The alternate portrait, which I believe is a Sideshow Exclusive, is his angry face, and boy you don’t want to get Groot angry. In this case, it’s not a complete head swap, but rather the front of the face comes off, sort of similar to the way Figuarts and Figma does it. If you’re going for an action pose on the shelf, this portrait really sells it.

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Articulation consists of a lot of really chunky and powerful rotating hinges. He also has a ball joint in the upper chest. While the smooth hinges are visible in the elbows and the backs of the knees, Hot Toys went a long way to try to conceal the rest. The hips, for example are shielded by some bark plates attached by hinged arms. I love the little touches like that!

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In addition to the extra portrait, Groot comes with some extra hands, of course! The figure has a pair of relaxed hands attached when he comes out of the box. The second pair are angry, grabby hands. You also get an extra right hand with translucent fingers to simulate him blooming those glowy spores. You also get an extra pair of wrists posts in case you snap one off. Good thing too, because I snapped one off. With nearly 20 Hot Toys figures on my shelves, that’s the first time I’ve ever had that happen to me.

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Groot comes with the same style stand as Rocket, which also matches the ones used for Gamora and Star-Lord. In this case the rod and waist clamp makes perfect sense to handle this tall and rather heavy figure. However, you also get a very clever connecting piece, which allows you to attach Rocket’s stand to Groots and pose the little guy riding on Groot’s shoulder.

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“Quit waving to the camera. Yer making us look like a bunch of idiots!”

If ever I needed a reminder that I collect Hot Toys figures as a form of art, Groot is the figure to do it. The sculpting, attention to detail, and overall craftsmanship on this piece really is awe inspiring. And while the $360 price tag here is no small thing, it’s hard for me to believe that the character could be done better justice in a more expensive statue. Indeed, the fact that Groot turned out so wonderfully allows me to push a little of the cost of this set into his column and away from Rocket. Hey, whatever I have to do to sleep at night, right? Don’t get me wrong, they’re both great figures, and I couldn’t imagine displaying one without the other, but Groot is without a doubt the star here. Hot Toys’ has been killing it with their Guardians lineup ever since Star-Lord first shipped and while I’m still a little disappointed we won’t see a Ronin or Nebula the Guardians themselves have been a welcome treat. And that just leaves the question: Where’s Drax? While the figure remains in licensing limbo, a new prototype was shown as recently as July and is currently pencilled in for a 2016 release. I feel pretty confident he’s coming, but for now nothing has been set in stone. Why would it be set in stone? Shut up, Drax, it was a metaphor.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket and Groot 1:6 Scale Figures by Hot Toys, Part 1

With some new Hot Toys figures rolling in, it’s long past time that I get around to reviewing this pair of figures from Guardians of the Galaxy. Seriously, this pair has been on my shelf for so long that I forgot I never gave them the spotlight. So, in keeping with the theme of Marvel Monday, I thought I’d put off my return to the Legends Hobgoblin Wave just one more week in favor of these beauties. These figures were available separately or together in the bundle I’m looking at today. I’m going to kick things off with a look at the package and Rocket, and tomorrow I’ll swing back and look at his arboreal buddy, Groot.

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Holy hell, that’s a big box. I mean, I’ve yet to buy a Premium Format Statue, so everything is relative, but still. It’s big! It’s not quite as big as Hot Toys’ Hulk, but it’s no slouch either. It’s taller than a regular Hot Toys figure box and more than twice as wide. Surprisingly, everything comes laid out in a single tray and that includes both figures, two stands, an alternate head and hands for Groot, alternate hands and feet for Rocket, Rocket’s gun, and a pair of potted Baby Groots. The deco is designed to match the look of the Star-Lord and Gamora boxes, and that makes me happy because I actually save these packages and my OCD gets aggravated when things don’t match. The star-field and grid background still remind me of the kind of 80’s cheese you’d see on a VHS tape sleeve or PC game box. Hopefully that’s intentional. The character art of Rocket & Groot is fantastic. The only complaint I have about the packaging is that the box itself is made of pretty light cardboard stock and for a box this big, it tends to get shelf worn pretty easy.

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Rocket is a rather unconventional Hot Toys figure, what with him being so small and being a rodent. He features fully sculpted fur, which was a sticking point for me until I got him in hand and realized it was the right way to go. Doubly so since I’ve seen some rather dubious pictures of their flocked Chewbacca figure. Instead, there isn’t even the tiniest space on this figure that doesn’t feature some sculpted detail and that’s impressive. Rocket’s costume consists of his little orange jumpsuit, which is cloth and beautifully tailored. I imagine it’s hard enough to tailor 1:6 scale clothes, so I’m doubly impressed with all the little stitching on this smaller raccoon space suit. It’s also reinforced with all the plates, shoulder pads, and harness seen on the big screen outfit.

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The portrait features Rocket with a rather fierce look on his little face. I like it a lot as it shows some wonderful little sculpted teeth and I think it captures his personality quite well. Although considering his size, it seems like HT should have ponied up for an alternate head. It doesn’t feel absent in this two-pack, but certainly in the single boxed figure. The wire whiskers are a great touch and the glossy paint on his nose makes it look appropriately wet. Hot Toys is no stranger to producing life like eyes on humans, but it turns out they can do some mighty fine peepers on a raccoon as well, because these look great.

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The articulation feels more like a conventional action figure than a usual HT product, but that’s a given considering his size. I don’t usually go into detail on articulation with my HT figures, because the points are covered up and it’s not a sticking point with me on these figures. With Rocket, it’s pretty easy to see what’s there and he’s pretty much got rotating hinges all around and an extra ball joint at the base of his neck. The tail is a straight ball joint and it does have a habit of popping off when posing, but it just pops right back on again. The figure stands surprisingly well on his tiny little feet and appropriately enough, you can use the tail to counterbalance him.

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It wouldn’t be a Hot Toys figure without extra hands, would it? No exceptions for raccoons! Rocket comes with a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of adorable little fists, a pair of hands designed to work with his gun, and a pair of feet. The extra feet remind me of the “action feet” that Sideshow used to include with some of their 1:6 Scale GI JOE figures as a substitute for articulation in the middle of the foot. Options are nice, but I frankly have no need for these.

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Rocket comes with his trusty rifle, which is about as tall as he is. The attention to detail that HT put into this piece is almost ridiculous and in the few short years that the flick has been out, this weapon has become as iconic to me as anything in Star Wars. I should note that I found it extremely difficult to get Rocket’s gun-gripping hand around the grip and now that I have, I doubt I will ever take it off, even if I swap hands. Ah, but y’all know me and the fact that I don’t often use a lot of the extra hands and I can’t imagine ever wanting to display Rocket without his weapon.

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I might as well talk about the Potted Groots here, because I see them mostly as accessories for Rocket. The original solicitation for this set advertised a Potted Groot as the Sideshow Exclusive for this set, but it does indeed come with two. One is just the stalk with the head and the other has his arms out like he’s dancing. These are beautifully crafted little pieces and I always have one of them displayed on Rocket’s base, even though the big Groot is behind him.

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Speaking of bases, Rocket comes with the same style of figure stand that we saw with Star-Lord and Gamora. The only difference is rather than the crotch-cradle stand, Rocket features a transparent rod that plugs in and an adjustable gripping claw for the waist. This style of stand may seem like overkill for the little raccoon, but Hot Toys went this route for reasons that will be clear in tomorrow’s wrap up.

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I usually talk financials at the end of a Feature, but I’ll toss it in here because it pertains mostly to Rocket. As part of the $360 set, Rocket’s price seems palatable to me, because in my head, I’m figuring Groot could be a $260 figure, but the $160 HT is asking for Rocket alone seems outrageous. At that price, he should have come with a second portrait and possibly even the Hadron Enforcer to sweeten the pot. It’s not a question of quality or craftsmanship, because that’s certainly all there, but when I consider that some of my first full sized Hot Toys were around $160-170, I just can’t see where all the money went. Maybe it’s a moot point, because I can’t imagine too many people buying Rocket without Groot and like I said, in my mind the two-figure bundle seems more reasonable, at least as far as Hot Toys prices are concerned.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back to check out Groot!

Marvel: Jubilee Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I’ve never been a big fan of the Jubilee character. She was annoying as hell in the otherwise enjoyable animated X-Men series from 1992 and I guess that has unfortunately forever stained her character in my eyes. That’s OK, though, because I don’t have to be in love with a character to appreciate when Koto gives them the Bishoujo treatment and in this case I found myself actually excited to get my hands on this statue. After all, if I can find room on my shelf for Kitty Pryde, why not Jubilee?

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As usual, the statue comes in a white window box that features some gorgeous artwork from Shunya Yamashita and some pictures of the statue itself.  The “Coming Soon” teaser on the back is She-Hulk, which is the first comic-related Bishoujo that I’m passing on. There’s’ just something about her face that is off-putting for me. Maybe if she turns up for cheap I’ll give her a try. Anyway, inside the box, the figure is secured between two clear plastic trays and the only assembly required is pegging her into the base and deciding which glasses to put on her head. Not much else to say here, so let’s dig right in.

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Egads, there’s so much to love here, I don’t know where to begin. First off, the pose is great. Jubilee is standing with legs apart, her left hand stretched out to one side and her right hand drawn upward as if ready to unleash a fireworks show. Actually, I get a chuckle because if you put a microphone in her right hand it would look like she was doing an Elvis impersonation. I would have expected something a little more frivolous and playful for this character, but I do like what we got quite a bit. It’s definitely a mugged shot, but you still get a hint of energy.

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The outfit hits all the familiar points of Jubilee’s costume only diminished quite a bit, because skimpy outfits and Bishoujo go so well together. she’s wearing blue and white high top sneakers, a pair of teeny blue shorts with a belt slung low on her hips, a very small and tight tube top and her trademark yellow jacket, which has been cut in half. While there isn’t a whole lot to her outfit, what is here is packed with great detail. The sneakers feature individually sculpted and painted laces, with the top laces undone, and I really like how the legs actually disappear into the sneakers. It adds a lot of credibility and they don’t just look like part of the sculpt. The shorts feature all the wrinkles and stitching and the belt buckle is a well-defined “X” with another “X” pinned to her chest. The belt is actually sculpted in place, but I think it would have been neat if it was just left to hang loose.

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The jacket looks exceptionally good. It’s bright, glossy yellow and I love the way it whips up around her, complete with that stylish 90’s high collar and bunched up sleeves. Jubilee also features a black arm wrap on her left arm and some bangles and a black featureless glove on her right. The paint on her costume doesn’t miss a beat and, as always, the high gloss paint contrasts beautifully with the softer tones of her skin. There’s a constant war on my Bishoujo shelves between the forces of color and darkness Jubilee will definitely help balance out the color among some of the darker decos like Storm, X-23, Black Widow, and the like.

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The portrait here is nothing short of fantastic. It’s almost a shame that because of the angle of her head you need to be at eye level or lower to really appreciate how great Jubilee’s face turned out. The paint on the eyes and lips are perfect and she’s very pretty. The short hair is sculpted in layers and is certainly one of the more complex hair sculpts I’ve seen out of this line. The portrait is rounded out nicely by a pair of earrings and a choker collar with a pink “X” pendant hanging down. Right now, I’d have to say this ranks as one of my favorite Bishoujo portraits to date.

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You get two pairs of sunglasses, one rectangular futuristic style and one regular. Swapping them out is as easy as slipping them on and off of her head. I haven’t quite decided which ones to go with, but since changing them is so easy, I may just do a swap every now and again. The glasses are the only place on the statue where the paint is anything less than perfect. The pink paint is a little uneven on the rims and you do get a couple of flecks of pink on the glass itself, but nothing too bad.

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But minor paint flubs not withstanding, if there’s one place where this statue falters a bit for me it’s the base. Jubilee comes on a simple clear plastic disc base, nothing new there, but in this case it’s been yellowed and has sparkles added. It casts some interesting colors when viewed from some angles, but most of the time it just reminds me of old, yellowed plastic, which is probably the opposite of the look they were going for here. It’s not a deal breaker for me, but I do wish they had gone a different route. I tend to waver on the clear plastic stands, but I would have definitely preferred it to what we got here.

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And so Koto has worked their magic on me again, proving that I don’t even need a strong attachment to the character to appreciate the beautiful design and workmanship they put into these pieces. Jubilee is actually the 25th Bishoujo statue on my shelf, and 26 is already sitting in the corner waiting to be opened. It’s hard for me to think of a line that has been as consistently exceptional as this one.  As for price, it took me a little while to find this statue for under $60 and even then it was only by a few dollars. I fear the days of snagging Bishoujos for under that mark are almost behind us. That’s not to say I don’t still find good value in these pieces, but with Kotobukiya seeming to ramp up production these days, it gets more expensive to keep up. And considering that I’ve suffered the penalty of not keeping up before (crazy after-market prices), the pressure is on to pick these up as soon as they come out if I’m going to keep satiating my Bishoujo fix.

Disney Infinitey 2.0: Guardians of the Galaxy

Yeah, it’s a little Sunday bonus feature this week as I’ve been on a bit of a Infinity 2.0 kick lately. With 3.0 Star Wars announced and on its way (I’m so excited!!!), I thought I better throw things into high gear and start opening and playing with the crapload of 2.0 figures that I’ve got around here. I’ve already looked at all The Avengers figures and I’ve played that Playset through at least once with each character. Now it’s time for The Guardians of the Galaxy!

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I don’t have in-package shots of everything, but there’s the Playset 2-pack that comes with Star-Lord and Gamora. The Playset piece is a clear plastic Milano and it unlocks the new game to play with any of the Guardians pieces. As always, playing through the game with different characters will unlock all sorts of new toys for the Toy Box and awards plenty of opportunities to earn heaps of blue sparkles so you can buy those toys. I can’t stress enough how much fun I’m having screwing around with the Toy Box.

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There’s the entire team… what a bunch of A-Holes! Rocket, Groot, and Drax are each sold individually and they are all playable in the game. The game itself takes place in Knowhere with missions being doled out by Cosmo and The Collector with Yondu as a supporting non-playable character and Ronan as the Boss. Knowhere is full of all sorts of classic video game tropes like moving platforms, rails, gun turrets and the like. It makes for a bit more interesting environment than The Avengers NY stage, but I did find the level design a bit confusing. There’s a little more 3D platformer-style puzzle solving in this Playset and this time around you’re fighting Sakaaran instead of Frost Giants and I found the diversity of enemies in this game a lot better than in The Avengers Playset. I got burned out on fighting Frost Giants a lot quicker than I did the baddies in this game. Eventually you do get to travel to The Dark Astor and fight your way to Ronan for the final battle. You can also collect Crossover Coins in the game to unlock Iron Man and Nova as crossover characters, providing you own the figures. Since none of the Guardians can fly, playing through this Playset as Iron Man or Nova gives you a brand new perspective and allows you to reach areas that were otherwise closed off to you.

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I’ve grown really fond of the style and execution of these little statues. I love my little set of Avengers and now I’m equally smitten with my cute little stylized Guardians. They’re plenty cute and yet still manage to convey all there is about the characters themselves. For stylized statues of this size some of them have some pretty great attention to detail. Star-Lord’s mask and guns, for example, are particularly well done. I also think Gamora is just adorable in this re-imagined Disney Princess look. I’ve seen some criticisms of the paint quality on the Infinity statues, but honestly, I haven’t had many issues and most of these I purchased online, sight unseen. Sure, some of the lines aren’t as sharp as they could be, but these are small inexpensive game pieces, not high grade collector items.

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The in-game versions of the characters all have their own thing going on. Naturally, Star-Lord is very shooty and he can hover a bit with his ankle jets. Gamora has both a sword and gun attack. Rocket is even more shooty then Star-Lord. Groot can punch into the ground and have his branches surface right under a distant enemy. And Drax is all a spinning deathtrap of deadly knives. They all have their little catch phrases appropriate to the characters to give them an extra dash of personality.

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I bought these back when one of the Big Box retailers was having a huge sale on them. The Playset pack was only $20 and the single pack figures were $9 each. There are two more Guardians figures available, Yondu and Ronan, and I’ll definitely be picking them up and featuring them here at some point. Neither are playable in the Guardians Playset, but as always, they can be used in the Toy Box. In the meantime, I’ve got to try to rip myself away from tinkering in the Toy Box so I can get started on playing the Spider-Man set through with all of those figures.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora 1:6 Scale Figure by Hot Toys

The second release in Hot Toys’ Guardians of the Galaxy line is here and it is none other than Gamora! Man, do I have a thing for green girls! I’m guessing it started way back when I was an adolescent watching Star Trek. Factor in that GotG is currently one of my favorite movies of all time and it should be no surprise that I was beyond excited to get this lovely lady into my collection. While I’ll admit that the big screen version of Gamora lost a little bit of her hard edge from the comics, I still liked the treatment of the character and Zoe Saldana did a damn fine job bringing her to life. So far Hot Toys’ track record has been pretty good about releasing the Guardians figures on time. Both Star-Lord and Gamora made their original estimated window of release. Rocket and Groot, on the other hand have now been pushed back a month… twice. And what about Drax? Where the hell is he at? The pre-orders still haven’t dropped and I’m getting a little worried that the team may not be complete. Anyway, it’s worth noting that I’ve been sitting on Gamora for quite a few weeks now as I work my way through my backlog of other acquistions, so today’s Feature is long overdue. Let’s look at that packaging…

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If you like gaudy cheese then these Guardiaans packages will be right up your ally. I do’t hate them, but they do lack the reserved style and gravitas of some of the other recent Hot Toys releases. I’d like to think of it as intentionally designed to match the crass and retro charm of the movies’ anti-heroes, so let’s just go with that. The figure comes in a simple window box with a sleeve over it. There’s an illustration of Gamora on the front looking all sexy and badass, the Guardians logo on the top and a throwback 80’s grid pattern that still reminds me of something you might see on an old PC game box.

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The boxes are designed to match and have the characters’ name on the side panel set against a starfield. Star-Lord’s box was dark blue and Gamora’s is green. All in all, not bad. Gamora comes on a single tray with her stand and extra bits. You will have to do some careful cutting of plastic wrap on the hands and feet and head, but once you free her she’s all ready to go.

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And what a beauty she is! One of the coolest things about this figure is all the detail that I feel like I’m seeing in her costume for the first time. Yeah, I’ve seen Guardians half a dozen times in the cinema and probably another dozen times on Blu-Ray, but it’s a dark movie and it’s tough to pick out a lot of those details. I’m particularly talking about the metallic blue scribbles running from her shoulders all the way down to her boots. These highlights show up beautifully on the figure and really make the outfit pop. The mesh front also looks great and gives offers more than a hint of cleavage and a peek at her bellly button.

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Gomora’s belt featues various silver painted fixtures and a “holster” to hold her collapsed sword. I know, sheathes and scabbards hold edged weapons, but neither of those terms really apply to this thing, so I’m going with holster. She also has sculpted plastic bands tied around her right thigh and a strap across her left thigh. The boots are a rather distinctive design with cut outs in the heels and some cool texturing on the fronts. The super tight pants can be a little restrictive to hip articulation and the boots don’t offer a lot in the way of ankle articulation. Of course, that’s often par for the course with Hot Toys’ figures. I’d wager that I could get a little more movement out of her legs if I tried, but at the same time I don’t want to risk pulling the stitching.

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The arms are fully enclosed with that rubbery skin we’ve seen before. I only own one other HT release with this on it and that’s their Resident Evil Ada Wong, who actually has it on both her arms and legs. I like it a lot, but it does make me a little more leary about posing the figure. I’ve seen a couple horror stories about the inner mechanisms tearing through Gamora’s arms, and I can just barely make out a bump, probably from the joint, under the skin in her left bicep that might be the problem. The instructions are very specific about what you can and can’t do with them, and I feel like as long as I support the bicep with one hand when articulating with the other, things are going to be OK.

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And that brings us to the portrait, which is pretty spectacular. It’s a dead ringer for Zoe in the makeup and the detail is all there right down to those thin silver patterns and scars on her cheeks. This is one of those HT portraits that, with the right lighting and a photographer far better than myself, could easily be made to look like the real thing. The rooted hair, which is often a matter of contention for collectors looks pretty good right out of the box. It helps that Gamora’s hair just falls free and is a little wild, so styling isn’t necessary. I do like how it can be swept to one side or the other and it’ll sort of stay there for a wind blown look. The metallic red highlights are also a nice touch.

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One place that Gamora comes up short is in the accessories. This is a Hot Toys figure, so you know you’re going to get extra hands, and while I’m not someone who gets a lot of use out of a passel of extra mitts it at least adds value to the figure. In this case, however, you only get a total of three pairs, and by HT standards, that’s not a lot. The figure comes with the relaxed hands attached and the tray has a pair of fists and a pair of weapon holding hands. That having been said, the hands do look great and come complete with the sculpted and painted rings on her fingers and painted fingernails. The sculpted wraps around her forearms do a nice job of concealing the wrist joints and enforcing the illusion that the entire figure is covered with “skin.”

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She also comes with two versions of her sword, one collapsed and one extended. It looks very nice, but the extended one feels super delicate because by design it’s a very thin blade with a forked tip. Here’s an instance where a little diecast would have probably helped. Considering the cost of the figure, if you’re only going to put a couple accessories in the package, you might as well go all out.

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And finally you get her stand, which is the same one that came with Star-Lord only with a new nameplate. I like the bases on these a lot. They’re roomier than the regular Hot Toys stands and feature a graphic to simulate the deck of a spaceship. They’re going to look really sharp when displayed together with the entire team.

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Gamora is a great figure, but she’s also an extremely basic one. Action figures are, afterall beholden to the character designs they are based on, and there isn’t a whole lot to Gamora to make her compex. Mores specifically, she doesn’t have a lot of gear. She has just the one signature weapon, and so while some may find her wanting on the accessories and extras, especially when compared to Star-Lord, the truth is she still feels complete to me. Value, on the other hand, is a different matter entirely. Gamora does slip in at just under $200, a rare thing for Hot Toys these days, but when you consider how light she is on the extras, it doesn’t feel like such a great deal. One might argue that the rubber skin on the arms adds cost, but then my Ada Wong figure has the same on both her arms and legs, came with a crap-ton of weapons and extras, and she shipped at the same price. In the end I’m sure some of it comes down to the likeness and licensing fees, but I’m sure a bigger part of it is Hot Toys knowing they can goose collectors for a high demand item. For me, it was still worth the money to have such a fantastic representation of the character on my shelf, but it’s going to be hard for me to keep collecting HT with any gusto if prices continue to climb. And I’m really starting to feel the pinch in the wallet.

Currently, Rocket and Groot are still on schedule for release next month. After two delays, we’ll see if that finally sticks. In the meantime, I’m going to try to revisit Hot Toys next week with a look at STRIKE Suit Captain America from The Winter Soldier.