May 9 2013

Transformers Unleashed: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

In the last month or so, I’ve checked a few of Hasbro’s very cool Star Wars Unleashed statues. Hasbro had a good thing going on with this line and in an effort to make lightning strike twice, they tried the same thing with Transformers. The difference? The Star Wars statues seemed like a genuine attempt to bring attractive display pieces to collectors on a budget. The Transformers statues seemed more like a quick and dirty cash grab amidst a sea of other movie related merchandise. I should be able to wrap this one up mighty quick and we can all go on with our business.

I don’t have the packaging for this wonderful object d’art any longer, but I seem to recall it coming in some sort of window box. I also need not confess to actually buying it, as it was a present from the former Mrs. FigureFan. I’m tempted to say it was well-intentioned, but unfortunately she turned out to be quite a vindictive headcase, so it could have just as easily been gifted out of spite. Anyway, the idea here is that in the true nature of the Transformers, this is actually two-Two-TWO statues in one! On one side, it’s Prime in his truck mode, but turn it around and there he is in his robot mode. You see? It’s like a Transfromer but it’s a statue!

The alt mode portion of the statue depicts Prime in his movie truck form, launching himself off a cliff against a backdrop of terrible looking translucent plastic flames. The cliff looks like it’s carved out of chocolate and there’s a huge Autobot insignia sculpted into the side. Only part of the truck is actually here because it’s partly obscured in the so-called fire. I never minded Prime being an extended front cab, but I was never a fan of this coloring. There’s way too much blue, and this statue seems to add even more. Apart from that, there are some stray splotches of paint. All in all, this looks Ok, I guess, but it’s nothing spectacular. Maybe the flipside will be better?

Nah, not really. The pose isn’t bad. Prime is bent down on one knee with a fist held out in defiance and his other arm converted into his gun. Giving Prime an arm that converts into a gun never seemed right to me. It just doesn’t fit the character. But then again, before Revenge of the Fallen I wasn’t used to seeing my childhood hero rip people’s faces off either, so I guess I need to get with the times. Either way, the statue is just being faithful to the source material, so I can’t blame it for that. In fairness, there’s a lot of sculpted detail on this guy, but it’s still not enough to effectively convey the crazy complex “bag of scissors” aesthetic of the Bayformer designs. There’s also way too much bland grey plastic here and not enough painted detail. The head is pretty unspectacular as well. The sculpt is really soft and you can’t really even see his eyes.

It’s hard to put my finger on exactly where Hasbro went wrong with this piece. Sure, aesthetically this is far from my favorite version of Prime, but I was still able to appreciate his Leader Class movie toys. Ultimately, I think most of the blame lies in the super soft sculpt not being able to capture the intricate design. Had this been a statue of old school G1 Sunbow Prime, I think it could have been spectacular. In concept, the whole turnaround gimmick showing off both modes may not have been inherently bad, but the execution just doesn’t result in a piece that I’m all that keen on displaying. And so, Prime here resides on the tip top shelf of display case in the corner. Mostly out of sight and out of mind.

May 1 2013

Marvel: The Invisible Woman Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Ok, we’re on the final leg of this Marvel Trifecta. After today, I promise no more Marvel until next Monday. Hey, speaking of Marvel… people who know me know that I am driven by my undying love for The Fantastic Four. If you put a gun to my head and told me to pick only one comic that I could read for the rest of my life, I would instantly say FF. Well, that’s not entirely true. I would beg and plead a lot to not make me choose between my many children, but I’m pretty sure Fantastic Four would win the day. It’s the one comic that I’ve followed most consistently throughout my life and in the end, it’s the one that I can always get the most enjoyment out of, no matter who’s at the helm. That having been said, today’s Bishoujo statue has been on my want list for a very, very long time. Coincidently Koto’s treatment of the lovely Sue Storm has also been sitting at my local comic shop for a very long time. And so, I decided the time was right, and I went down there to pick her up about a week ago AND THE FILTHY BASTARDS HAD SOLD HER!!! So I tossed her in my Pile of Loot at Big Bad Toy Store before shipping it out.

If you’ve seen one boxed Bishoujo statue, you know what to expect from most of them. Sue comes in a white window box that lets you get a little peak at the goods, but because she’s wrapped in plastic and trapped between two plastic trays, you don’t get that good a look. The panels feature the wonderful character art by designer Shunya Yamashita and the back of the box has a little blurb about the character and statue along with a photo of the actual piece. Sue Storm is a great character. She’s strong, smart, beautiful, a wife and mother, and she does it all without sacrificing her independence. Oh yeah, the box also trolls me by reminding me about the Jean Gray statue, which I don’t own and which is slowly making its way into the three digit price range on the collector market. Bastards!

Starting out with the portrait, Sue’s face is extremely angular and the sculpt is quite soft, even for a Bishoujo. She’s got her head cocked a bit, she’s looking off to the side, and she’s twirling her windblown hair with one hand. It’s ok, but I think Sue deserved better. I’m tempted to tell myself it’s an older statue and Koto has come a long way, but there are plenty of older Bishoujo’s that can hold their own with the current crop. I guess what I’m saying is Sue’s face is a little disappointing. It’s not a deal breaker, but it could have been better. Maybe it’s me… maybe I just hold the character up to higher standards.

The body on the other hand is fantastic. Her pose is pure cheesecake with one hand on her hip and leg bent in front of the other. It looks like she just pwned the enemy and is striking a pose while Reed takes a shot for their scrapbook. Just the silhouette on this piece alone is dead sexy. Her costume is pretty simple, as it’s just the traditional long sleeved version of the Fantastic Four outfit, complete with the “4” painted on her chest, but it’s the coloring on the costume that blows me away. Koto used a gorgeous, deep iridescent blue that I can’t possibly duplicate with my shite camera and non-existent photography skills. Suffice it to say, you really need to see this piece in person to appreciate the coloring. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before.

Of course, one of my favorite things about this piece is the way Koto utilized the clear plastic to depict Sue phasing into invisibility. The effect is most apparent on her feet and hands, but there’s also a tiny bit on the tips of her hair. It’s an amazingly successful effect, particularly the way the clear parts blend with the opaque.

Every time I look at this statue, it reminds me of Botticelli’s famous “Birth of Venus” and I think it’s partly the pose, but mostly the base. Of course Botticelli’s Venus was painted emerging from a clamshell and Sue is standing on the dying, broken hand of the Mole Man’s giant monster, from the cover of Fantastic Four #1, with the shell of her forcefield dissipating at her feet. It’s almost too close not to be intentional, but either way it gives me a chuckle. The giant sculpted hand for the base is very cool and nicely detailed. I’m not entirely sold on the forcefield shell, the plastic is a little too heavy and opaque to drive home the effect one hundred percent. It was a nice try though.

If it’s fair to judge the popularity of retired Bishoujo statues on their aftermarket value, than The Invisible Woman is probably one of the least popular. She was released back in 2011, where a number of her peers have increased in value, while she still lingers at around $45-50. It could be that The Fantastic Four isn’t as popular these days, but I’m also tempted to think it’s because this statue is rather tame by Bishoujo standards. Let’s face it, for a lot of collectors, the appeal of this line is in the titillating skin and cleavage, and Sue is fully clad from head to toe. But I think this piece shows that you don’t have to dress like a slut to be sexy. Sue pulls it off. And maybe that’s why she remains my favorite MILF of the comic world.

Apr 23 2013

Star Wars Unleashed: Clone Trooper by Hasbro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apr 16 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apr 13 2013

DC Comics: Bishoujo Wonder Woman Statue by Kotobukiya

Here’s one that’s been on my want list for a long time. She’s also been sitting on the shelf at my local comic shop taunting me to buy her every time I go in for a visit. Sure, she’s about ten bucks more there then I could get her online, but my last visit just seemed like the right time to pull the trigger. And I’m fine with dropping an extra tenner on a collectible if it means supporting a small business. Anywho, Wonder Woman happens to be one of my favorite books in the New 52 and I’ve recently picked up the first two collected volumes in hardcovers. I’m enjoying revisiting them just as much as when I went through these twelve issues for the first time on my Kindle. That probably explains my sudden incentive to finally buy Koto’s Bishoujo statue. Sure, this is Wonder Woman before they put her in pants in #600, and then changed her up again for the New 52 Reboot, and that’s cool because as much as I am enjoying her new book, I still dig her more traditional look best.

Alas, your pal FigureFan was hitting the Jameson pretty good the other night and decided to open her up before taking the in-package shots. Sure, she’ll go back into the box, but I didn’t feel like putting her back in once I had her on my shelf. Besides, you get the idea. The presentation here is very standard for Koto’s Bishoujo line. You get a box with windows on two sides, as well as on the top. The other panels consist of a mix of the original art design for the statue and some photographs of the actual piece. There’s also a blurb about Wonder Woman and the statue on the back. The box lets you get a passing look at what’s inside, but she’s wrapped in plastic and sandwiched between two plastic trays, so you’re not yet seeing her at her best. There’s also some assembly required on this piece, so you really need to bust her out of there to fully appreciate what you’re getting. As always, the package is collector friendly. My statue’s box is a little rough around the edges, but I think she’s been banging around that comic shop for quite some time.

What sort of assembly is required? Well, Diana comes already affixed to her base. You just need to put her lasso in her hands and place the spears and helmet on the base. The way the lasso works is very clever. Each of the loops has a break in the top with each side pegged to go into her hands. The result is an effect that actually looks like she’s holding a coiled rope, when in fact it’s all cool fakery. The spears are inserted into tiny slots in the cloak behind the shield. The helmet doesn’t peg or fasten down in any way so you can just place it anywhere you like, or leave it out entirely if you prefer.

Out of the box, all assembled and hot damn, this is one gorgeous statue. The pose is very simple, with WW standing tall and favoring one hip ever so slightly. Her arms are held out at her sides, clutching her golden lasso, which runs behind her back. Her head is cocked a little down and to the right. In theory, I like the positioning of the head, but it does mean that you really need to pick up the statue and peak underneath to get a good look at her face. The face is classic Bishoujo, enhanced by some exceptionally well-sculpted hair blowing off to the side. She’s also wearing her trademark gold tiara and she even has a pair of red star earrings.

WW’s body type is just the right balance of power and femininity. She’s definitely all woman. Koto was extra generous with her upper assets, but that’s to be expected with these statues. The enhancement is noticeable, but not quite taken to ridiculous proportions. Her skin is beautifully sculpted and has that great, soft and realistic texture that Koto manages to nail on these statues every time.

Of course one of my favorite things about the Bishoujo statues is the way Koto contrasts the soft skin tones of the ladies with the costumes and this statue is no exception. WW’s one-piece outfit is exquisitely reproduced and uses some of the most gorgeous metallic red paint that I’ve ever seen. It’s so vibrant, it makes the metallic gold look somber by comparison. The blue is no slouch either. The same luxurious red is used for her high heeled boots. There are some brush strokes showing up on the white of her boots. It doesn’t detract much from the statue, but it’s conspicuous just because the paint on my Bishoujo statues is generally peerless.

You never know what Koto’s going to do where the base is concerned. It could be anything from a simple disk to an all-out environment and Wonder Woman’s base is pretty elaborate. The disc is sculpted with a rough ground texture. On it is a sculpted, crumpled cloak with a beautifully painted shield resting on top at an angle and the aforementioned spears protruding from behind it. If there’s one gripe I have about this statue, it’s the layout of the base. The spears stick out pretty far beyond the back of the base, meaning this piece takes up a lot of precious display space. If you have a place of honor for the statue and planning on displaying her alone, it’s probably not that big a deal. On the other hand, if you are adding her to a somewhat crowded shelf of other statues, you may want to consider removing the spears to economize your space. Also, while the helmet is an extremely nice piece, but it because it doesn’t attach to the base I tend to forget it’s going to fall off when I pick up the statue.

I’ve only been collecting these statues for a little over a year, but my collection is growing and I have to say Wonder Woman is probably my favorite one on the shelf right now. It may just be that I’m smitten by “new purchase” love, but I think she’s going to stand the test of time. As with Power Girl, I think Koto was able to deliver the bishoujo style here without compromising one iota of the character. It’s a totally iconic piece, and those are the ones that I love the most. I tend to forget how much I enjoy these statues until I actually get a new one and then I fall in love with the line all over again. There are a couple more sitting at the comic shop, and I’m really tempted to drive over there next weekend and give them a home as well.

Apr 9 2013

Star Wars Unleashed: Boba Fett (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

I’m mostly up to date on my new receivings and that means I can start digging into some Toy Closet Finds for the next couple of weeks. It’s something I should have been doing all along, but sometimes I do get caught up trying to be topical by featuring new releases. Anyway, today we’re going to check out one of Hasbro’s Star Wars Unleashed series. I loved the idea of bringing affordable collectible statues to mass market retail, and so naturally I was a big fan of this line, at least I was before it became all about miniatures. I owned quite a few of these statues at one point, but most of them were sold off in my Great Star Wars Purge of 2008. We’ll start out with the man himself, Boba Fett.

This is the Target Exclusive version of the statue, which was offered around Christmas of 2006. Originally, these statues came carded and required some assembly, but Walmart and Target secured the rights to reissue four of the statues fully assembled and in these super cool plastic drums. If memory serves, Walmart got Jedi Luke and Darth Vader from their showdown in Return of the Jedi, whereas Target got Boba here and General Grievous. Shortly after they came out, Target had an entire endcap of these guys and they were clearance down to about $6.98. How could I resist?

The presentation here is crazy awesome. It’s not the most storage friendly package, as it’s really easy to get dings or creases in the plastic. I attribute mine surviving to the fact that it’s sat up on a shelf and has been virtually untouched since the day I bought it. The drum is graced with a very vintage style deco and it offers a nice look at the statue inside. The package deco is only marred by the giant “Only at Target” emblem, which is unfortunately not something that can be removed. The back of the drum has a blurb about The Fett and the inside has a really nice piece of artwork designed as a backdrop for the statue. Hasbro went out of their way to make this statue fully displayable in the package, but you really can’t get all the nuances of this great piece without removing him. The drum is collector friendly and you can lift the statue out and clip away the heavy twisty ties, which secure him to the plastic tray.

By God, this statue is awesome! Granted, it’s a far cry from being true to Boba’s final moments, screaming like a girl as a blind man pushed him into the maw of a giant sand-vagina-monster, but then Unleashed was always about putting Star Wars characters into outlandishly stupendous poses. What we have here is more like a statue of Fett’s demise as commissioned by his Fan Club. He’s depicted going down fighting in a blaze of glory, jetpack firing on full power and rifle blasting away into the Sarlaac with defiance. It is, nonetheless, a majestic display and the pose perfectly conveys a ridiculous amount of energy and excitement for a static piece.

The detail on Fett himself is striking. There’s subtle texture work over every part of his jumpsuit, right down to the stitching, and even some distressed areas. The armor is recreated with all the familiar dings and dents, and there are even a few extra nicks and scratches on his chest plate that aren’t familiar to me. Even his sash, while blown a bit out of proportion for dramatic effect, is fully textured and features fraying at the edges and some holes. Hasbro obviously designed this piece to stand up under close scrutiny and it does that well.

As great as the sculpt is, the paintwork also rises to the occasion. Besides recreating all the familiar green and ochre of Fett’s armor, it’s the distressing that impresses me the most. The rubbed steel is present on the jetpack and the various gashes and dings on his armor are all painted in silver. Yes, some of the silver paint is a little heavy handed, but I don’t it’s enough to detractfrom the overall aesthetic.

About the only place this statue falters is in the base. The Sarlaac tentacles are excellent, and positioned very well with one wrapped around his leg and the other two snaking up for a better grasp. Even, the clear orange plastic used for the blast from the jetpack works wonderfully to hold Fett aloft. No, the problem I have with the base is the Sarlaac itself. Sure, it’s undersized but that doesn’t bother me. What does is the way the orange plastic from the blast fills it up and makes it look like some kind of gelatin desert… with teeth.

While this piece has a nice heft to it, you statue collectors out there may find the plastic a bit wanting in some areas. There’s still some unfortunate bendy quality going on in a few places. Many Unleashed statues were notorious for this and at least a couple of mine didn’t survive storage because of warping plastic. Indeed, the rocket on Fett’s jetpack seems to warp a bit to the side and only a little bit, but otherwise, this is a nice solid hunk of plastic.

A lot of Star Wars Unleashed statues have come and gone out of my collection, but this one has always been one of my favorites. Once again, I really applaud Hasbro’s development of the entire Unleashed line, and looking at this piece it’s hard to believe that it was sold off the shelf of a big box toy retailer and for around twenty bucks. Sure, we aren’t talking about Gentle Giant of Sideshow here, but this statue is an excellent piece of work and for the price, it just couldn’t be beat. At some point next week, I’ll swing around and check out the Unleashed version of General Grievous and see how he stacks up.

Mar 5 2013

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Panthro by Mezco

Ban Dai’s attempt to rekindle the magic of Thundecats may have fizzled out, but thankfully we still have Mezco working to complete the team in epic statue/figure form. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t pick up Panthro until after Cheetara was confirmed. I adore these statues and while Lion-O and Mumm-Ra could hold their own alone on my shelf, I didn’t want to have Panthro be the odd man out if Mezco decided that enough was enough. Of course, by not supporting the line and buying Panthro on release it would have served me right if Mezco abandoned the line because not enough people bought Panthro. But I have since remedied that by pre-ordering Cheetara and I’ll gladly do the same for every new statue Mezco reveals for this line now that it’s hit critical mass. Anyway, he arrived on my stoop a couple of days back, so let’s see if he’s cool enough to hang with the others.

An epic figure requires epic packaging, and that’s certainly what we have here. Panthro comes in a big, heavy window box with the same overall color and feel as Lion-O’s box. One side panel has the gorgeous Thundercats logo running down the side and the other panel has a shot of all the cats in action. It’s a different piece of artwork than what was used for Lion-O’s as it has Panthro wrapping around to the front. The box is totally collector friendly; you just need to clip Panthro’s tie wraps to get him out. You will, however, want to take better care than I did removing his baggied nun-chucks, because the tape will tear the illustration on the back of the tray. I’ve always been a fan of the classic Thundercats artwork and these boxes are fabulous tributes to that colorful animated style. It’s bright, colorful and gorgeous and I will likely keep these boxes for as long as I own the figures.

While the package says “action figure,” you may want to take that term with a grain of salt. The whole statue-vs-figure debate rears its ugly head again! Yes, he has some articulation, which we’ll get to in a bit, but enough of this guy is static for me to question the term action figure, so I’m fine just going with figure. It’s semantics, I know. As for his size… Well, Mezco calls these things Mega-Scale for a reason. They are big. They’re not as big as NECA’s 1/4 scale figures, but you’re still getting an impressively large piece that clocks in at around 14-inches tall.

As with Mezco’s other Mega-Scale figures, Panthro is rotocast, so the sculpt leans a little to the soft side, but even so, I have no complaints about it. Granted, the bulk of the sculpt here is found in Panthro’s muscle definition. The spikes on his harness are stout and durable and he sports his trademark split-toe ninja style boots. He comes out of the box with one hand sculpted to hold his chucks and the other with his palm held out, but we’ll come back to that in a few ticks. Panthro gets by without a whole lot of detailed paintwork, as his color pallet is mostly just purple and lighter purple. Mezco went light on the paint wash, which I think is a good thing as it’s just enough to bring out the details in his muscles. The paint on the sculpted Thundercats emblem is quite good, but I’m thinking that maybe some high gloss finish would have made it pop more. The biggest opportunity for improvement on my figure is the bit of bleeding around the base of his harness spikes, but even that isn’t so bad.

Mezco captured Panthro’s portrait quite well. He’s definitely in kick-ass mode, with just a bit of a scowl, but they didn’t overdo it with the ferocity in his expression, so if I choose to pose him with his chucks at rest, the expression will work well enough for me. The paint on the eyes is super crisp, but mine has a little bit of odd paint marks around his lips and the tip of his nose. I’m not sure if this is just a wash that’s gone wrong, but eventually I will try to clean it up a bit with a magic eraser.

Ok, here comes articulation. Panthro has ten points, as follows: A ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, swivel cuts in the wrists, swivel cuts at the top of his boots, and swivel cuts in his ankles. He also has a swivel in his waist. The four swivels in his legs are mainly to tweak him so he can stand depending on what you do with his arms and waist. With the neck, shoulder, and wrist joints, you can certainly get a few different display options, but the biggest choice in displaying him actually comes from one of his extra pieces.

None of the official photos I saw of this guy showed him holding his chucks in both hands. I was hoping and hoping that he would come with a swappable left hand, and I was very happy to see that he does. Heck, it even says so right on the box. While I like the idea of holding his chucks in one hand, the fact that they use a real chain between them means that one is always just going to be dangling, unless you want to get creative and maybe run one of the twisty ties through the chain to give it a dynamic swinging look. Nope, my Panthro will always be displayed grabbing his chucks in both hand and ready to smack down some mutants, and I’m really glad Mezco gave us the option.

I always dug Panthro in the original cartoon, because he wasn’t a stereotypical character. He was both a big burly fighter, but he had the smarts to invent and work on all of the Thundercats tech. He’s exactly the kind of cat-of-all-trades that you want in your corner if you find yourself marooned on a hostile planet. Mezco’s figure certainly does the character justice. He isn’t as packed with extras like Lion-O, nor does he have any flashy mixed media like Mumm-Ra, but Panthro comes with everything he needs. And most importantly, he looks great standing next to Lion-O and once we get a few more cats, this is going to be one seriously epic display. At $35, this guy is a whole lot of figure at a ridiculously reasonable price point.

And now… the long wait until Summer for Cheetara to be released.

Jan 31 2013

Dusty Trails: Corporal Smith by Dusty Trail Toys

This week of Toy Closet finds chugs along and our next stop is 2003. Ah, 2003. It was the heyday of my trips to the KB Toy Liquidators at the local Outlet Mall. GI Joe was featuring SpyTroops, those Ninja Turtles were still representing, and <sniff> Palisades <sniff> was still alive and churning out those awesome muppets, none of which I ever bought. You also had McFarlane Toys trying to let adults know that it was ok to buy action figures, so long as they were basically just statues. Personally, I was always skeptical, but some companies jumped on board this philosophy and Dusty Trail Toys was one of them. Kicking off their short time in the sun, the company produced “Dusty Trail, Action Series 1” which was a collection of six action figures statues based on an odd mix of generic historical characters ranging from WWII Soldiers to Pirates all represented in about a 6-inch scale. I actually owned three of these, but the Gunfighter and the Pirate were broken somehow, leaving me with just Corporal Smith, whom I never got around to opening… until now. Let’s do it!!!

Just look at the packaging! The sealed clamshell case with printed insert has got McFarlane wannabe written all over it. It also hasn’t aged well as the clamshell has gained a nice hearty yellow tint that makes it look as if it spent the last decade fermenting in a bucket of piss. The back of the insert has shots of the other statues in the line and a little blurb about Corporal Smith. I think they would have been better off just calling him “WWII American Pathfinder,” rather than drumming up some hokey character name like Smith, but I won’t hold that against him. Speaking of holding, the sickly color of the package is making me nervous, so I’m going to hold this thing far away from my face when I cut into it. I’ve opened plenty of toys a lot older than this one, but I’m seriously afraid I’m going to let loose some kind of dangerous bacteriological plague.

With the package opened, there were thankfully no spores, but I did get that same overpowering plastic smell that comes with opening any McFarlane clamshell for the first time. Will the similarities never end? The package promises “some assembly required” but all you have to do is plug the huge peg on Smith’s left boot into the base and put his Thompson submachine gun in his hands. Getting Smith pegged into the stand was a trial in itself. I’m not sure if the peg expanded over time, but it seemed way too big for the hole. Giggity.

Ok, there’s actually a lot I like about this piece, so let me get the one glaring problem I have with it out of the way: His pose. Smith is designed so he’s stepping off the base and I absolutely hate that. What’s the point of having the base at all if he’s going to be hanging off of it like that? Is it supposed to be some metaphor about the toy being so action packed that he’s jumping right off his own base? Probably not. The other problem is that judging from the pictures, the foot that’s extending off the base is supposed to be hovering and in reality it just rests on the display surface, which means Smith is almost more horizontal than vertical. I realize that I’d probably hunch down pretty low if I had a bunch of krauts (hey, I’m allowed to say that, I’m German!) shooting at me, but I think he’s leaning forward way too much for the pose to look natural.

With the negativity out of the way, I have to say this statue represents some very impressive sculpting, and I’m not even going to qualify that by pointing out that it’s a 10 years old piece made by a small upstart toy company. They myriad of gear strapped all over Smith is recreated in stunning clarity and detail. He’s got a backpack, a canteen, a “U.S.” embossed holster for his .45 automatic. He’s got his web belt, entrenching tool, combat knife, and at least a half dozen other pouches, which I cannot identify but in no way do I doubt their authenticity. Included amongst all that detail are the various wrinkles in his fatigues and the meticulous recreation of the netting and camouflage on his helmet. Even the head sculpt is phenomenal. Smith’s expression is a visceral, war-weary battle cry frozen in time. Magnificent!

Incredibly enough, the paintwork manages to live up to the sculpting. The camo pattern on Smith’s fatigues looks great, the brown for the leather of his knife sheath and pistol holster looks totally authentic, and the tiniest of details are painted right down to some of the stitching and buttons and clasps. The shoulder patches are also crisp and even though the print is tiny, you can still easily read, “Airborne.” If you hold the figure up and peek in just under his left armpit, you can read the gold painted lettering on his smoke grenade. It’s almost totally hidden on the statue, and yet these guys took the time and care to paint it. Cool.

Corporal Smith’s base doesn’t quite live up to the rest of the statue’s perfection. It’s designed to be part grass and part sandbags. The grass pattern is sculpted and painted, but the sculpt is rather soft. The Thompson submachine gun, on the other hand, is a gorgeous little piece that outshines most other 6-inch scale weapons I’ve seen. The sculpting is detailed right down to the receiver action and the wood stock and grips are all carefully painted. It practically looks like a Hot Toys weapon shrunken down.

Sadly, the Dusty Trails line was quickly swept off to the clearance and closeouts stores, which is where I picked up mine. In terms of quality of paint and sculpt, Corporal Smith deserved better than that. This is a piece that could go toe to toe with some of the best offerings in its class, but I can’t deny it was a strange assortment of statues and I’m guessing that the marketing just wasn’t there. Maybe had they decided to do a wave of WWII based statues, then a wave of Gunfighters, then Pirates, there would have been a little more of a feeling of cohesion for collectors to get their arms around. Either way, we’ll never know and Dusty Trail Toys has since gone down that dusty trail and into the sunset. As for Corporal Smith, well I have an entire bookcase in my library devoted to WWII history and I do believe he’s going to live out his days on one of those shelves.

Jan 25 2013

DC Comics: Bishoujo Power Girl Statue by Kotobukiya

It’s been over a month since I last checked in with Koto and their awesome line of Bishoujo statues. Yes, I still have some older ones to look at, but Power Girl just arrived on my stoop yesterday, and I was plenty anxious to check her out. Giggity! Surprisingly, she’s actually my first Bishoujo statue from the DC side of the fence. I pre-ordered her a ways back, completely forgot that she had been released, and found that she was sitting around in my Pile of Loot, so I quickly gave the go-ahead to send her on her way to me. I love Power Girl. Even though I’ve converted to reading my funnybooks exclusively by way of digital device, she’s one of the few DC characters that I still have complete runs of bagged and boarded and I’ll still buy any books she appears in if I come across them at the comic shops.

Yep, Koto does packaging well. Looming space concerns make me really picky about the packages I save, but I never toss a Koto package. Besides being collector friendly, the Bishoujo packages feature the gorgeous concept art that I simply have to keep. If you’ve purchased these statues before, you should know what to expect in terms of packaged presentation. Power Girl comes in a white box with windows on the top, front and right side panel. The left panel has a huge color illustration inspired by the work of Yamashita Shunya. The back panel has a comparison of concept art to statue and a great blurb about Power Girl and the statue on the bottom. And, Oooooh, The Huntress is coming soon! Giggity! Ok, that’s the last giggity, I promise. Of course, despite the three windows she’s still wrapped in plastic, you really need to open it up and remove her from her plastic trays to get the full effect. So let’s go ahead and do it.

Some Koto statues require minimal assembly, but Power Girl comes out of the box all ready for display. While many of my favorite Bishoujo statues have been based on candid action shots, there’s something to be said for an obvious pose. I really liked the sultry and gratuitous stance Koto used for their vastly underappreciated Ghostbusters Lucy statue, and I’m totally digging the one they used for Power Girl every bit as much. I just love the fact that she’s blatantly mugging for the invisible camera, tossing her hip to one side and flexing her arm. She’s just the right mix of Kryptonian muscle and curves and the pose is coy, sexy, boastful, heroic… it’s brilliant.

Kara’s been made over with the typical bishoujo face with big blue eyes and a sweet little smile. She’s turning her head to the side, but her eyes are looking straight at the invisible camera. Her short blonde hair is ruffled by the wind and looks awesome, with one strand protruding upward. I’m really glad Koto didn’t go with the transparent effect for her hair. It works sometimes, but I don’t think it was necessary for short hair like this.

Power Girl’s outfit consists of her white skintight one-piece with her iconic boob window, blue gloves and high heeled boots, a red cape and a red belt that hangs off her hip. The metallic gold belt buckle and cape clasp round out the package nicely. Koto went in an interesting direction with her one-piece as the glossy finish and exaggerated seams make it look like it’s intended to be leather. I’ve always imagined it was just spandex or cloth, but I’m seriously digging on this look and I’m not some freak with a rubber fetish… at least not one that I was previously aware of. The boots and gloves have the same great glossy leather finish. The sheen of Kara’s outfit really contrasts beautifully with the soft matte flesh tones. And with her legs, cleavage, and flash of derriere, Kara’s showing an ample amount of skin. Much of my Koto collection happens to involve a lot of black and drab outfits, so it’s nice to have Power Girl to add some color to my shelf, and I absolutely adore the coloring on this statue.

For the base, Koto went with a silver textured disc that looks like it’s supposed to be stainless steel. The texture is cool and it’s embossed with “Power Girl” in case you couldn’t quite recognize her… um… face. It’s a simple, clean looking design that compliments the statue’s bright, beautiful colors.

And that’s the Bishoujo take on Power Girl! Back when I first started collecting this line, there were certain Marvel and DC characters, which I thought were a perfect fit. My beloved Power Girl was one of those and I knew Koto would get around to making her sooner or later. She’s a lot simpler than some of the other statues I’ve looked at, but there’s a certain minimalist elegance that works well for this piece. There was no need to complicate her with an elaborate base or diorama set up, because she does just fine all on her own. She’s also packed with personality that strides both the familiar character from the comics and this new bishoujo version. Well, done, guys… she’s outstanding! Now, I’m kind of anxious to pick up the Supergirl or Wonder Woman to go with her.

Dec 19 2012

The Sandman: Death Statue by Mattel

Today we’re going to take a break from all the MOTUC stuff and check out one of the non-He-Man related things I picked up at Matty’s Sale: The sassy Death statue from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. I was first exposed to The Sandman comics back when I owned a used & out of print bookstore. I never knew what was going to come through the front door and one day it happened to be a guy with a panel van filled with 4,500 comics to unload. They were all bagged and boarded and ran the gamut from the 70’s to current stuff. I didn’t sell comics, but I couldn’t resist and we came to an arrangement. Eventually, I culled through the collection, keeping what I wanted and setting up the rest in the back corner of the store on card tables. Some of the ones I pulled were Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

I make no bones about being a Neil Gaiman fan. Besides really enjoying his original comic work, many of his efforts have spilled over into so many other mediums and franchises that I hold dear. When Mattel revealed their Death statue for the 2012 San Diego Comic Con, I was certainly interested, but with so many other things vying for my collecting dollars, I ultimately had to pass. Most of the time, when you pass on SDCC exclusives, the ship sails and second chances are expensive (Screw you, Sky Striker Starscream!!!). But every once and a while, the items are readily available afterwards at the same price. In this case, I was able to do even better, as Matty Collector had a ton of these still available for their Cyber Monday Sale.

While nowhere on the box does this statue claim to be an SDCC Exclusive, the gorgeous and elaborate packaging certainly betrays it as being some kind of special item. As with most Matty Collector items, Death comes in a mailer box, but rather than being a boring white carton, this one is all black with Death’s ankh printed on one side and a really nice minimalist portrait of her on the other.

Inside the tasteful mailer box, things only get better. The statue comes in a three-quarter window box with an elaborately illustrated frame and insert, placing Death in an animated graveyard environment. The back of the box has a portrait and a little blurb about the character. She’s secured on a transparent tray and hovering slightly above her skull base, and the various windows let you enjoy the statue from every angle except the back. If ever there was an argument against opening a collectible, this presentation would be a pretty convincing one. I mean, I open everything, and even I was really tempted to leave Death mint in sealed box. However, after some really careful clipping, I was able to get Death out of her box without destroying the packaging.

So, the first thing to realize about this statue is that it’s molded out of regular old plastic. If you’re a collector of statues, you’re probably used to PVC, polystone, cold-cast porcelain, or pretty much anything other than this mass market grade plastic. Besides making the statue remarkably light (seriously, there’s no heft to this thing at all!), this kind of plastic shows seam lines and just can’t hold a sculpt as well as the more premium grade materials. Now, all that having been said, the sculpt is a solid enough effort, and this is by no means a bad looking piece.

Death is posed standing, with her right hand bent at the elbow and resting on her hip, and her other hand resting suspiciously close to her “hoo-hoo.” Actually, I think the designers were going for having her left thumb hooked into her belt and you can kind of see that. There are swivel cuts in her shoulders and torso, but Death is obviously sculpted to be in a very specific pose and I haven’t had any luck using the articulation to her benefit. Otherwise, there’s some good detail work in the sculpt. The laces on her boots and the buckles on her belt are all pronounced, and you get the little wrinkles on her tank top. She also has her ankh pendant hanging around from her neck on a string… OMG, that’s mixed media folks!!! Still, there’s nothing here you wouldn’t see done in a similar fashion on a well executed 6-inch action figure.

Death’s head is looking slightly downward and this is really the only thing that irks me about the pose because it kind of hides her face. The neck is ball jointed, but there’s no room for her to look up, only side to side. The ability to swivel the head is certainly more useful than the rest of the articulation, but I really would have preferred an option to have her looking forward and not perpetually downward. My guess is the designers wanted to make her look coy, and if you turn her head all the way to one side, it kind of works ok. The sculpting on the head is easily the best part of the statue, as it captures the character quite well and I particularly like that the hair is sculpted as a separate piece.

The paintwork has its ups and downs. The paint on the face is excellent. Her eyes and lips are perfect, and the grey wash on her hair is used sparingly and to good effect. The quality of the paint breaks down a bit between her tank top and her armpits. There’s definitely some slop going on there. There are also a few stray marks along the back of her pants. The lace holes on her boots are all painted silver, as are the studs and buckles on her belts.

Death comes separate from her base, with peg holes in her feet to secure her to it. Her feet aren’t sculpted to make her boots flush with the base, so I don’t really get the feeling that she’s naturally standing on it. Nevertheless, the skull base is a really great looking piece. There’s not a lot of paintwork, but the sculpt speaks for itself, and it does have a cool aged patina. Unfortunately, it’s hollow, so it adds to the lightweight feel of the statue.

If you collect statues, I’d caution you that Death probably isn’t going to meet your expectations. The lack of heft alone is likely to disappoint. On the other hand, if you just happen to be a Sandman fan and you’re looking for a good representation of Death to display on your shelf, this statue certainly gets the job done. It’s a competent piece, although it still feels like it started life as an action figure. As far as value goes, this statue originally retailed for $30 (closer to $40 if you ordered it off Matty and had it shipped). Now, normally that’s pretty cheap for a collectible statue, but for a plastic statue made by a mass market retailer like Mattel? Eh, maybe not so much. In hand, however, the elaborate presentation of the packaging helps bolster the value quite a bit, and I can honestly tell you that I’ve seen far more expensive statues turn out a lot worse than this one. Ultimately, I’m glad I picked her up. She’ll look nice on my Bishoujo shelf, although more than likely she’ll wind up going back in her box for now, as I definitely want to keep the whole presentation intact.

Tomorrow I’ll turn my gaze back to the last MOTUC figure that I picked up from Matty’s sale… It’s Vikor!

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: statues

Transformers Unleashed: Optimus Prime by Hasbro

Marvel: The Invisible Woman Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Star Wars Unleashed: Clone Trooper by Hasbro

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

DC Comics: Bishoujo Wonder Woman Statue by Kotobukiya

Star Wars Unleashed: Boba Fett (Target Exclusive) by Hasbro

Thundercats: Mega-Scale Panthro by Mezco

Dusty Trails: Corporal Smith by Dusty Trail Toys

DC Comics: Bishoujo Power Girl Statue by Kotobukiya

The Sandman: Death Statue by Mattel

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