Tag Archives: retro-style

Nov 20 2024

Transformers: The Movie Retro G1 Autobot Hound by Hasbro

As I’m packing up parts of my collection, I’m finding lots of odds and ends that never got their turn at the spotlight here on FFZ. And since these things are going into storage for a while until after my movie I wanted to take the opportunity to have a look at them. Today’s figure is a one-off purchase for me, despite Hasbro releasing a handful of figures in this format. And even then I waited until he was on pretty deep discount to bite. And that surprised even myself, seeing as Hound was one of my favorite Autobots in the early days of the Sunbow cartoon and one of my favorite G1 figures as well! It feels like Hasbro has a number of these G1 reissues on constant rotation, but the parade usually includes Soundwave, Blaster, Rodimus and sometimes Optimus Prime, whereas seeing Hound again was something new! Also, it’s kind of a busy week for me, so today’s going to be a quickie!

I’ll say straightaway that I’m not a fan of this packaging and that’s probably a big reason as to why I waited for him to get clearanced. Don’t get me wrong, it’s colorful, and there’s some great art here showing Hound in both modes. Also, the movie logo on the extended backflap with Unicron in the background is quite nice. But, if I’m buying a G1 reissue, I want it in the old G1 style packaging. Granted, this release happened during Hasbro’s plastic-free packaging phase, which probably precluded them from the old timey window box, so I guess this is a decent substitute. The back of the box shows the figure in both modes and you get a nod back to the old clip-and-save file cards, plus a lot of ugly multi-language print.

Of course, Hound’s vehicle mode is a military jeep and as near as i can tell uses the same molds as the original toy and the package even exclaims the official JEEP license. I always loved this vehicle mode as the open nature made it seem like the toy had to be extra clever to hide it’s engineering. I also really loved that it had actual seats, even if I never had any figures tiny enough to sit in him. You do get some diecast metal in addition to the plastic, which gives the toy a decent heft for it’s tiny size. Sadly all the chromed bits are replaced with off-white plastic, which is done under the guise of this being an animated version of the toy. The body is also a paler shade of green, and I will note that they did a pretty good job matching the color of the plastic with the diecast.

There are no stickers, but you do get a few tampos, including the the yellow triangles on the sides, as well as a yellow star and red Autobot insignia on front fenders. As with the original toy, the windshield is hinged, the gun in the back can pivot as well as raise and lower, and both the spare tire and gas can are removable. This is still a pretty attractive vehicle mode, even though I’ll always prefer the deeper green and chrome from the original toy.

The robot mode tells a lot of the same story. With the chrome gone and the paler green, it loses some of it’s pizzazz, but overall still looks good. The robot design is fantastic and fairly close to the animated counterpart, with the one exception being his tiny T-Rex arms. In this mode you get a rifle and a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, both the same style that came with the original figure. You even get three missiles on a sprue for the launcher. Hound’s little head is so tiny, it was hard to punch in for a look, but it’s nice to see they added some blue for his eyes. The figure does suffer from the same extremely limited articulation that we saw in a lot of the Class of 84 Autobot Cars, although many of those had hinges in the elbows and swivels in the wrists, whereas Hound can only move his arms at the shoulders. And yet somehow I still managed to have tons of fun with him back in the day.

All of this series of movie branded reissues seemed to go to clearance pretty quickly. I believe they started out as Walmart Exclusives, but eventually found their way to just about every toy retailer online. I want to say he retailed for around $35 when first released and while I would have definitely snapped him up if he were in proper G1 packaging, I think I wound up getting him for around $12. It’s nice to have a G1-style Hound in my collection again, as this is probably the first since my original when I was a kid. But, if you’re looking for something to replace your original toy, this probably ain’t it and I think most people would have rather seen a release closer to the chromed beauty that was the original release.

Sep 11 2024

DC Super Powers: Green Lanterns and Sinestro by McFarlane

It’s been more than a few months since I checked in on McFarlane’s Super Powers line, but I have still been collecting them! The truth is, I don’t usually review the individual figures unless I have a vehicle to bring along. As much as I love these guys, there’s only so much I can say about and do with 5-POA figures. But, seeing as how McFarlane dropped a bunch of Green Lanterns on us in the last few waves, I thought I’d just check them all out at once. Especially since I’ve been looking for an excuse to sit down and open them all! Not to mention McFarlane’s weird crowdfunding project for some new Super Powers vehicles and figures just ended and thanks to some shenanigans, we’ll actually be getting those!

The packaging for this line is so damn fine it really makes me sad to open them. And believe me it takes every scrap of my admittedly poor willpower to keep from buying doubles of every figure. And yeah, I do have a couple of extras from the first wave that I kept carded just to have an example of the packaging for display. The original Super Powers package design gives me about as much a nostalgic dopamine hit as the vintage packages for Star Wars, G.I. JOE and Transformers, and that’s saying a lot. That blinding blue and yellow deco with the red trim, the logo nestled in an exploding field of stars, it created a hypnotic state of excitement that triggered kids to beg their parents for them. McFarlane has done a beautiful job paying homage to it here without quite doing a straight up copy and the character art on each card looks fabulous. The assortment I’m looking at today includes Guy Gardner, Hal Jordan, Kilowog, and Sinestro. Hal was produced in the original Kenner line, but I don’t believe we ever got Gardner or Sinestro, and the line closed up shop just before Kilowog was introduced in the comics. And yeah, four figures is more than I usually tackle in one review, but I’ll be quick! Let’s start with Hal!

McFarlane’s Hal Jordan is not all that different from the original Kenner figure. It’s the same costume with just a bit of change to the shade of green. It hits all the same classic costume beats with the green top and undies, shoulders and boots. Add to that the black sleeves and leggings, white gloves, and crisp Lantern Corps emblem on his chest and you’ve got a pretty conservative update. I want to say the original had sculpted lines for the shoulders and edges at the top of the leggings, but this one just has paint lines. You do, however get some sculpted lines at the tops of the boots. There are definitely similarities with the head sculpt, but I think this one is much better. You also get a very prominently sculpted ring on his right hand.

As we’ve seen before, this line keeps the articulation of the vintage figures, so you get the classic five-points, plus hinges in the knees. The original figures usually had an action gimmick, but that’s been nixed from this modern line, and I can’t say as I really miss it. Hal comes with a lantern battery, which he can hold in his left hand. This is such a fantastic homage to that original Kenner figure, it’s almost like having a minty fresh original.

Moving on to Guy Gardner, this is a character I would have loved to see in the Kenner line and I think McFarlane did a great job imagining what that figure might have been like. The black, green, and white deco matches Hal’s pretty closely, but you do get a fair bit of new sculpting here, including unique boots, the collar and lapels of his jacket, along with his belt and gauntlets. He even has sculpted detail on his turtleneck.

The head sculpt is a nice balance between retro and modern-retro. The sculpt is better than we would have seen back in the day, even nailing his bowl cut. But, the eye printing really evokes that old vintage Kenner charm. Like Hal, he has a ring sculpted and painted on his right hand, and his left hand is designed to hold an accessory, but no battery for him.

The last of this assortment of Green Lanterns is Kilowog and this may be my favorite of what is a really strong collection of figures. He’s a beautiful slab of retro-styled plastic with chiseled muscles giving him just an all around magnificent shelf presence. You get sculped edges on the boots, gloves, collar, and shoulders, with just paint lines at the tops of his black leggings. The head sculpt is fantastic, and if I were to nitpick anything here it’s that the portrait looks a little too good to be a genuine retro figure. And yeah, that’s more of a compliment than a gripe. The deep set eyes look superb! Kilowog doesn’t come with any accessories, both hands are balled into giant fists, and he does have his ring sculpted and painted on his right hand.

And finally, we get a lovely classic blue-suited Sinestro, and I’ll confess I was surprised to find, when I poked around in the old Kenner catalogs, that he didn’t get a release in the original line. Here we get sculpted boots, belt, bracers, and high collar, while the pattern on his chest is simply painted on. The black and blue looks great together and there’s some white trim along the top and bottom of the belt. His purple skin color is wonderfully vibrant and really makes the figure pop on the shelf.

Once again, the head sculpt here is probably a little too good to really evoke the vintage Kenner line. His pinched face is just perfect, as is his immaculate hair. But we do get the retro-style eyes which helps keep the Kenner spirit alive. His pointed ears look sharp and even the raised eyebrows are sculpted as well as painted. Sinestro dons a sculpted and painted yellow ring on his left hand and his right hand is sculpted to hold his yellow lantern battery.

This is a great assortment of figures and represents why I love this line so much! Add these to the excellent Jon Stewart that we got in the first wave and we’ve certainly had some love for the Green Lantern Corps! And as much as I dig having a minty Super Powers Hal Jordan, it’s the classic characters we haven’t seen before that really get me excited. I’m not sure I can pick a favorite here, but I’m actually leaning a bit toward Sinestro. McFarlane initially released him in his more modern yellow suit, which may have been an exclusive, because I didn’t see it anywhere until the scalpers got him. And all I can say is I’m so very happy that the classic blue suited release wasn’t the more limited release, because this one is perfect.

Jul 29 2024

Batman (1966 Retro Series): Joker, Penguin & Riddler by McFarlane

Late last year I started digging into McFarlane’s Retro 66 Batman line by checking out Boxing Batman and Riddler, as well as The Dynamic Duo and The Batmobile. And since then, I’ve let this line fall to the wayside and it’s long past time I get back to looking at some of these figures again. I’ve waxed nostalgic in those previous reviews with my love for the TV series, so I won’t go through it again here. I would imagine that people who didn’t grow up with it don’t know quite what to make of it’s goofiness. You kind of just had to be there. Nonetheless, I’ve been sitting on a lot of these figures and vehicles for a while, so today I’m going to serve up a look at a triple trifecta of terrors in the form of Joker, The Penguin, and The Riddler!

As we saw last time, these figures come on colorful generic cardbacks with bubbles that showcase each figure quite nicely. Beside the figures are the accessories, which in this case all amount to just the fighting exposition balloons that you can clip onto their wrists. I don’t hate these, but I would have rather we got something else in terms of accessories. We certainly didn’t need them with every damn figure. Either way, take a good look because we’ve already seen what these are all about and I won’t be showcasing them much in the review. These packages are not collector friendly, so let’s get to tearing. I’ll start with Joker, move on to Penguin, and I’ll just touch on Riddler a little bit since I already checked out the Boxing version. Also, I’ll be staging these figures in McFarlane’s Villains Lair playset, which I may or may not come back to review in the future.

Cesar Romero will always be the first person that comes to mind when I think about The Joker, although I can happily acknowledge that we’ve certainly had some great versions and performances since. Here, Joker comes wearing his rather iconic pink suit. There’s some nice layering here to the sculpt with the jacket and waist coat worn over the sculpted green shirt and cravat. I also love how the coat tails hang down the back in the old-timey style. There’s some sculpted detail in the jacket, including lapels, a chest pocket, and buttons, but only the buttons on the waist coat are painted black. He’s got black shoes and the gloves are painted purple and feature some decent detail to the stitching.

The head sculpt is excellent and sports a solid likeness of Romero. My only nitpick is that they didn’t sculpt his mustache, which they used to just paint over with the clown makeup, but that’s a minor thing. The green hair is sculpted separately from the head, giving it an immaculate hairline. I love that they sculpted him in the middle of an open mouth laugh, and the printing for the makeup, eyes, and eyebrows is all sharp. McFarlane isn’t always known for great likenesses, but they definitely nailed it here.

The retro-style nature of these figures comes in the limited articulation, but that’s not to say it’s simple 5-POA. You actually get rotating hinges in the knees, shoulders, elbows, and wrists, a swivel in the waist and a ball joint in the neck. The most archaic and limiting thing here is the T-crotch, which offers no lateral movement, and the complete lack of articulation in the ankles. It’s also worth noting that Joker’s coat tails keep him from sitting down. There’s still fun to be had with here, but the limitations can be frustrating, especially if you’re used to McFarlane’s DC Multiverse offerings. And if you want to pose them in anything like an action pose, stands are recommended.

Need I say it? When I think about The Penguin, the image in my mind will always be Burgess Meredith. You have to understand that I was almost 20 years old by the time anyone else had portrayed these villainous roles as live action characters. And talk about perfect casting, Burgess was a master at his craft in being over the top sinister. Here he is sculpted in his tuxedo with an open coat and a white, untucked shirt. He’s got white spats sculpted onto his black shoes and white gloves. The outfit is rounded out by a pink bow tie. Because bow ties are cool… QUACK! The sculpted details on his white shirt are pretty soft, but it is textured, so that’s something. They got his portly dimensions down perfectly too.

As for the head sculpt, this isn’t the slam dunk that we got with The Joker, but it’s still very good. The paint and facial printing is decent and I like that the monocle is a separate piece of clear plastic attached over the eye. The smile looks good, and yes, it’s a shame we couldn’t get his cigarette holder poking out of there, but I’m guessing that was prohibited by Warner Bros. The purple top hat is sculpted separately from the head and permanently attached.

The articulation is the same as we saw with The Joker, but for some reason Penguin doesn’t have peg holes in his feet, so that’s annoying. And he’s another character with coat tails, so he can’t sit down. McFarlane really should have considered that when they put out a playset for these figures that centered around a table and chairs! Also, it’s pretty unforgivable that he didn’t come with his umbrella. How do you release The Penguin without his umbrella??? They did include one in the Villains Lair playset, and I’ve included that with the figure in the above shot. Neither of his hands are sculpted to hold it, but you can hook it around his wrist.

Finally, three’s Frank Gorshin as The Riddler, and yup… he’ll always be MY Riddler, but he hasn’t exactly had a lot of competition since. This is essentially the same figure we saw as a Boxing variant, only sans the sculpted trunks and boxing gloves. The rest of the costume is identical and looks good. I liked when Riddler wore the suit and bowler hat, but I think this tended to be the more iconic look for him in the show. The question marks are crisply printed against the green body suit, and I love that they sculpted his loafers. He does have peg holes in the feet and since there’s no coat tails, he can actually sit down… finally someone can!

This is definitely the weakest head sculpt of the three. It’s a passable likeness, but the sculpt is rather soft and it’s not a terribly iconic expression. The hair is sculpted as part of the head, but the mask is separate, so that adds some nice depth to the portrait there. Maybe part of the problem here is that Gorshin doesn’t have as many over the top characteristics to pin the sculpt to, but in the end I think it’s serviceable for the scope and price point of line.

These figures retailed for about $17.99 each, which isn’t bad for the scale and quality, and I think most of them have been reissued since the original releases. In my experience these could be tough to find in the wild, because the pegs were often clogged up with some of the less desirable variants. I really enjoy these figures and I respect the commitment that McFarlane has made to keeping this line going. It’s undoubtedly a niche market, being retro-style figures based off a show from the 1960’s and that makes it all the more impressive that the line has been so expansive. Obviously, these aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m thrilled to have these villains on my shelf and inhabiting their lair. But we’re not done with the villainy yet. Next week I’ll be back with four more baddies to join the cabal. Same Bat Time, Same Bat Channel!

Dec 7 2020

Marvel Legends: (Retro Series) Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy by Hasbro

Hasbro’s retro-carded offshoot of Marvel Legends really pisses me off. These figures look so amazing on the cards, but with very few exceptions (Some ReAction and some Star Wars Vintage Collection), I do open open all of my toys. And I sure as hell don’t have the space to collect doubles to keep a set carded. Of course, some of these releases are simply recycled figures in new packaging, but some, like today’s pair, are brand new. As of now, I’m only picking up two figures from this wave, so let’s check out Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy!

Here they are carded, and they are simply magnificent to behold. The colors are bright, the artwork is crisp, and the figures look fantastic on their crystal clear bubbles against this nostalgic canvas. Even the backs of the cards mimic the old Toy Biz stylings. What’s more, Hasbro uses some durable and heavy stock for these cards, making them a lot easier to find in good condition and that’s obviously a big plus for all the collectors who plan on keeping these carded. The cards are so durable, that it’s actually a bit tough to tear them open. Again, a very good thing! Let’s start out with Gwen!

Truth be told, I’ve always been more of an MJ kinda guy, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got anything against Gwen. Indeed, it’s great to finally have a figure of her in the modern Legends line up. And I have to say, Hasbro did a fantastic job on this figure. Ms. Stacy is dressed in a textured black top with a purple skirt, a green jacket, and high-heeled boots that come up to the tops of her calves. I really like the black and purple deco, because it makes me think Gwen may be a closet Decepticon sympathizer. Yes, I jest, but I really do like these colors. The jacket uses the familiar trick of being sculpted sleeveless and in soft plastic, with the sleeves sculpted as part of the arms. In this case, there is a bit of a gap between the arm holes on the jacket and the sculpted sleeves. It may irk some people, but it doesn’t really mess with the illusion for me. If I had one gripe about the figure it would be that the hands look a little oversized, but maybe that’s just me.

The jacket is sculpted in a slightly open position, with maybe just a bit of billowing to show off her outfit. The belt is sculpted so that it comes away from the jacket and looks pretty good. I really dig how the belt is brown and the loops are green, rather than just sculpting it all in one color to match the jacket. It may sound like a little thing, but I think it adds a little premium feel to the figure. The heels on the boots are a little chunky, and I was happy to find that I didn’t have a lot of difficulty getting her to stand. At the same time, she isn’t a figure that’s terribly well suited for extreme action poses, because the skirt does impede her hip movement a bit, despite slits to help out. There are no surprises in the articulation, and since I’m cramming two figures into today, I won’t run down all the points here.

The head sculpt is excellent, but that’s pretty much to be expected from Marvel Legends at this point. Hasbro continues to stick with paint for their comic characters over the more realistic halftone method that they have adopted for their MCU figures, and I’ve got no complaints here. The paint for the eyes is crisp and clear and I like the softer pink paint they used for her lips. Her long blonde hair is held in check with a simple black headband, and as it spills down the back, it fans out a bit as if by the same light breeze that billows her jacket. It’s really nice how they matched the two.

Gwen comes with a few welcome accessories. First off, she has her Trapper Keeper and her High School Year Book. The Trapper Keeper is cast all in aqua plastic and has some sculpted details, where the Year Book actually has printing on the front cover. Her left hand is sculpted to work with the accessories pretty well. I would have liked a swap-out right hand to help her carry them to class, but I guess that’s what Peter is for!

She also comes with a rolled up copy of the Daily Bugle, which is a very welcome accessory indeed!

And finally, Gwen comes with a Mary Jane head, which I thought was a really strange inclusion. Can we not let Gwen have her own figure? Especially since we got a Mary Jane in a two-pack about five years ago. Well, I’m never one to complain about something extra and it is a very nice portrait indeed. I think it works OK on this body, although MJ’s hair is kind of at odds with the sculpted lapels on the jacket. But in the end, I think this body just works better for Gwen then it does MJ.

If you’re wondering, the new MJ head is too small to work on the previously released Mary Jane figure, and even if it wasn’t, the skin tone is all wrong. Honestly, I like the previous released MJ head. I’m especially fond of the freckles. OK, let’s move on to Peter Parker!

We’ve had an unmasked Peter Parker head bundled with Spider-Man before, but I think this is the first time we’re getting an entire Peter Parker in the modern Legends line. If not, I must have slept on it. Either way, I always thought this figure would come double-packed with a Spider-Man, but the Retro Series seems like as good a place as any. Parker’s civvies include a blue button down shirt, brown leather jacket, blue jeans, and some very white sneakers. The sculpt of the shirt is interrupted by a ball joint under the chest, but otherwise looks fine. They did a particularly nice job with the jacket, right down to the sculpted elastic cuffs, popped collar, and slick glossy finish. The vest and sculpted sleeves trick works better here than on Gwen’s, because the arms fill out the holes and drive the illusion home. You get a little gold paint on the belt buckle, and that’s about all I have to say about the body sculpt here. Oh yeah, the hands look a little too big here too. Is that a running theme with this pair or is it just me? Is hallucinating large hands on action figures a symptom of the COVID? Maybe I need some time off from work. Just think of how many reviews I could get done!!!

Moving on to the portrait aaaand, let’s talk about those glasses, eh? Holy shit, do they look goofy! I totally get what Hasbro was going for here, but I’m just not sure it works well on the figure. Maybe it’s just a question of classic panel art not translating all that well to plastic. The rest of the head sculpt is excellent, and sure, he does have fully sculpted and painted eyes under there, so if you want to lose the glasses, it’s not that difficult to do it without defacing the figure. They’re basically just tabbed into the sides of his head and held fast with a little glue. With all that being said, I’ll probably leave the glasses for now. I do really dig his hair sculpt.

Naturally, Peter comes with his trusty camera, and here’s maybe why his hands look big. This is a chunky camera and he needed some meaty paws to properly hold it. I like that they went with a more traditional looking camera, although maybe kids these days don’t even know what it’s supposed to be. This reminds me that my camera is on its last leg and I’m going to need to invest in a new one real soon.

Ah, but the real star accessory here is the Spider Sense head. It’s easy to forgive those hideous glasses, when we get an alternate head that is this amazing. Everything about this one works for me. I love the startled expression on the exposed part of his head, and the clear sculpted line running between the mask and his face. I’ve been waiting for Hasbro to do something like this for a while now and I’m happy to finally have it.

As much as I would have loved to collect this entire wave and cover my wall with them, I had to be good and just pick up Peter and Gwen. I may pick up the Daredevil if he turns up on sale at some point down the road. And yeah, I wouldn’t mind just having the Spider-Man and Gobbie to keep carded as showpieces, but no… I have to draw the line somewhere. And retro packaging or not, these are both great figures. I would have been just as happy to have gotten these in a two-pack and not had to cry over the torn packaging.

Jan 21 2019

Marvel Legends (Vintage Style): Ant-Man and Wasp by Hasbro

Well, after a whole week of Marvel Legends reviews it’s refreshing to start a new week and get into something diff… oh, riiiiight… It’s Marvel Monday. Well, hopefully everyone isn’t all Marvel’ed out, because apparently we have one more day of this! Today I’m mixing things up just a tad and opening a couple of the Vintage Style figures. Let’s have a look at Ant-Man and Wasp!

This is my first time checking out figures from one of these special waves, and they’re mainly special because of the packaging. Some of these have been repacks, some are brand new figures. I have picked up a few of these in the past, and while I’m always tempted to leave them carded, that just ain’t me. The card-and-bubble is designed to invoke the packaging from Toybiz’s Marvel Superheroes line and it certainly does that. On the downside, they are not collector friendly, so it’s time to get with the shredding. Let’s start with Ant-Man, but first, I’m going to change backgrounds because Wasp’s wings don’t show up all that well against the white!

I’m such a huge fan of this classic Ant-Man suit, and it’s crazy to me that it’s taken so long to get it in the modern Legends line. It’s also a bit crazy that he’s coming as part of this retro-inspired sub-line, rather than in one of the proper waves. No, in the end it doesn’t matter, but I find it worth mentioning nonetheless. The figure itself is very nearly a straight repaint of the Eric O’Grady figure we got as a Walgreens Exclusive back in 2015, and it works just fine for that purpose.

The costume relies almost entirely on the coloring of the buck, with only the belt as original sculpting, and by original, I mean that too was borrowed from the O’Grady figure. Replacing the mostly black buck, we get a mostly red suit, with blue boots, gloves, and ant-undies, and a black stripe running up the chest, forming a circle, and then terminating in a collar. There are some discrepancies in the red, where the red paint doesn’t quite match the red plastic, but overall I think the coloring looks good.

The biggest change to the figure is found on the head, or more specifically the eyes. The O’Grady figure had his eyes painted over as red lenses whereas Hank here has his eyes visible. At first, I thought this was actually a change in the sculpt, but nope, it’s just paint. Otherwise, the helmet is now silver. The grim expression isn’t my first choice, but it works OK. My only concern with this figure is the fragility of the antenna. They look great, but most of my Legends live in baggies and I always have to make sure Black Ant is at the top of the box so his antenna don’t get crushed or warped. I may avoid that here, as I’m probably going to have this pair on display somewhere.

The articulation is identical to the Black Ant figure, right down to those lovely shoulder-crunches. And since I’m looking at two figures today, I’ll be lazy and refer you back to that review for the details. Let’s move on to Wasp!

Janet has had a veritable ton of different costumes in the comics, and to be honest, I’d probably buy more than Hasbro would ever care to release. This one, wouldn’t be high on that list, but that’s mainly because I don’t recall her ever actually wearing it in any of my funnybook readings. I do recall it being released by Toybiz around 2006 as a variant of The Wasp in that Modok Wave. It saw very limited production and I think it ranks up there as being one of, if not the, rarest Toybiz Legends figure. So, while there are at least a dozen other Wasp costumes I’d like to have seen here instead, I do appreciate what Hasbro was doing here.

While Hank was a straight repaint, Janet here is nearly a straight repaint. In this case her body and wings are recycled from the Ultron Wave Wasp, released back in 2015. And while I don’t really have any association with this costume, I do dig it a lot. The blue body suit and white boots and gloves looks great, albeit maybe a bit too Fantastic Four-ish. The arrows pointing down from her thighs are an interesting choice, but I do like the way her black collar forms the “W.” The wings are also the same molds as Ultron Wave Wasp, but now cast in a pinkish-pearlescent and semi-translucent plastic, which compliments the coloring of the costume quite well. Articulation is all the same as the previous Wasp, and once again I’ll just refer you back to that review for the details.

The head sculpt is different from the 2015 Wasp and while I like both, I’m going to give this one the nod. The hair is more of a bob than a pixie cut and the paint on the eyes and lips are sharp and clean.

Each figure comes with a miniaturized version of the other. We’ve seen both of these before, but mine usually wind up in accessory bins, so I’m happy to have a couple more. Sure they’re just simple and tiny sculpts with some rough paint on them, but there’s only so much you can do with these, and to be honest, these look about as good as the miniatures that came with the Hot Toys Ant-Man, so I’m not complaining.

I love what Hasbro is doing with this line, or at least some of it. To be fair, I only picked up two figures from the first wave, Black Widow and The Punisher, so I haven’t been double-dipping on the figures I already have just to get them in the retro-packaging. This pair were must-haves because I love the characters and quite frankly, I’ll buy all the Classic versions of Hank and Janet that Hasbro will pump out. Seriously, Hasbro, call my bluff… I dare you! As for the rest of the wave, it’s mostly figures that I already own, so unless I come across a great deal on them and decide that I want to hang them on my wall, I doubt I’ll be revisiting this retro-series any time soon.