Oct 11 2014

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack

It’s one of the most devious marketing concoctions that I’ve ever seen: The combining of two of the three things I spend most of my money on… collectible figures and video games. Of course, Skylanders did it first and while I admired the concept, I was able to keep otherwise disinterested. Then Disney got into it with Infinity 1.0, and while I was surely tempted by getting a set of The Incredibles and playing their adventures, it wasn’t enough to get me to buy the whole setup. But that third thing I mentioned spending money on? Comic books. And with Marvel now brought into the fold of Disney’s figure based gaming system, Infinity 2.0, I could no longer sit by on the sidelines. In fact, I barely lasted longer than a couple of weeks from the launch.

Obviously, video games aren’t something that I review here, but I’m making an exception because these are also figures based on one of my favorite properties. I’ll give some impressions of the game at the end, but for the uninitiated let me at least try to explain what this whole Infinity 2.0 thing is all about. The Starter Kit comes with the game disc, the portal, the three figures (Iron Man, Thor, and Black Widow), the Avengers Play Set piece, and two Power Discs. The portal is the interface you use to unlock the content tied to the pieces and it lights up when you put the pieces into place. There’s one hexagonal space and two circular. The hex space is for either the Play Set piece, which is basically the main game you’re going to play, or Power Discs that are tied to the Toy Box, which is sandbox type area where you can play other games or make your own with a comprehensive editor. It’s kind of like a cross between Animal Crossing and Minecraft with mini-games and the ability to create and script your own mini-games. Everything you do in the Play Set game unlocks stuff or gives you currency that you can use in the Toy Box. Sound complicated? It really is until you’ve spent some time sussing it out.

Right now there are three Play Sets available: This Avengers (included with the Starter Set), Ultimate Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The later two each come with two figures. Individual figures are also sold and each one is tied to a specific Play Set. The game limits what figures you can use with which Play Sets although with Crossover Coins you can make a couple exceptions. For example in The Avengers Play Set, there are 10 coins for Rocket Raccoon and 10 for Nova and if you collect them all you can import those figures into The Avengers Play Set, but that’s the limitation of the crossover. On the other hand, any 2.0 figures, and 1.0 figures, for that matter can be used in Toy Box. So, if you have a Marvel related Toy Box game, you can still buy yourself an Elsa from Frozen or a Lightning McQueen from Cars and use them in it. The figures are actually just stylized statues, roughly four inches tall, but they are much better quality then I was expecting. I heard some early reports about really bad paint, but I went with the first set I picked off the shelf and they are absolutely fine in hand. The same goes for the one individual figure I bought. Let’s take a look at the three…

Iron Man is pretty cool, but he’s definitely my least favorite figure of the three. I don’t think the style works for him quite as well as the others and the coloring on him seems a little dull. Still, there’s some good detail on him and it’s a classic pose. Just because he comes up bottom of this batch doesn’t mean that I don’t still dig him a lot. The base portrays a broken piece of concrete with the interace disc on the bottom so he can sit on the portal.

Of the three characters, I’ve spent the most time playing as Iron Man in the game, and he is tons of fun. He flies, hovers, and has some vicious combos that change it up between melee and close range. The animations for his attacks are really fluid and look great. I love the way he’ll punch one guy, blast another with his repulsor and smack another one without missing a beat. Once I got him leveled up and followed a very offensive path on his skill tree, he was a veritable killing machine. Also, his special move, an area-clearing missile barrage, is so damn satisfying and hasn’t gotten old yet.

Thor is a particularly nice piece quite chunky too. I really dig his pose a lot, as he stands drawing Mjolnir back a little and has his cape swishing all about him. He has the same shattered concrete style base, but it’s angled upward a bit to help the composition of his heroic pose. The paint on this figure is the weakest of the three, but that’s only because there are a few black smudges on his cape, otherwise it’s still pretty good.

Of the three characters, I’ve played as Thor the least, but I’m going to remedy that this weekend by starting a new game and spending some quality time with this Asgardian. I’ve got nothing against Thor, it’s just that I happened to start with Iron Man and Black Widow and they just happened to monopolize my time. Like, Iron Man, Thor can fly and his ranged attack, while slower because he has to wait for Mjolnir to return to him, is still pretty powerful. He also has some pretty lightning attacks and some great quips.

Black Widow may be my favorite figure of the bunch, partly because I love her kinetic pose and partly because I think she just looks adorable as a Disney-fied character. Hey, Black Widow is a Disney Princess now! She’s got her iconic stinger bracelets and even a gun holstered on her hip. Yes, folks, this is a Disney statue packing an automatic pistol! The paintwork on this one is really exceptional too. Yeah, she’s mostly black, but it’s impressive how they were able to get to those hard to reach bits, like the hourglass emblem on her belt buckle.

As a playable character, she’s easily the most limited since she can’t fly, but I find that makes her interesting in her own right. She needs to rely on summoning motorcycles to get around fast and can utilize strategically placed trampoline pads to get to the tops of buildings. Of course, you could just wait until you’ve unlocked one of SHIELD’s flying motorcycles to help her get around too. Her combat is fast and fun, although you actually have to unlock her ability to dual wield pistols. Special moves include a cloaking skill, called “The Widow’s Veil,” and her “Widow Sting,” which unleashes a satisfying chained electrical attack!

I haven’t messed around with Toy Box yet, but I’ve played through The Avengers game once and have started a new one with different characters. The gameplay is very reminiscent of a LEGO game, and that isn’t a bad thing. You basically roam an open city and take on missions, nearly all of which are just excuses to make you fight lots and lots of Frost Giants. The story progresses a bit with some boss encounters and as you fight your character levels up and you can spent points on unlocking new skills or improving existing ones. You also collect currency to spend on stuff in the Toy Box. The main game is not very deep, it’s a tad buggy, and the occasional herky-jerky frame rate is inexcusable for how simple the graphic style is, but man is it fun. Each character is distinct enough to make it worth playing through separately, although you can swap out figures to change characters at any time. While most of the time death isn’t really punished, there are some fights where if you die you’ll have to swap out your dead figure for another one. I really dig that.

At $75, I don’t think the price here is unreasonable, considering a lot of new games are starting at $59.99 and this one comes with the figures and the USB portal. On the other hand, if you’re already an adopter of Infinity 1.0, I imagine it would be irksome to have to pony up for another Starter Kit. Consolation may come in the fact that Disney made some vast improvments to the Toy Box and in the end, that’s probably where most of the time will be spent long after the three Play Sets have been beaten to death. I really dig the figures as collectibles, and I can see myself going all out with buying them. At about $15 each they aren’t such a great value solely as collectibles, but when you add in the unlockable content I think it more or less costs out. I didn’t really get into the Power Discs at all, but I’ll save that for next weekend when I check out another one of the figures.

Sep 29 2014

Street Fighter: Cammy Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

In their never ending (and hugely successful) campaign to separate me from all my monies, Kotobukiya has expanded their line of Bishoujo statues to include the Street Fighter franchise. Their first release was Chun-Li and she was absolutely fantastic. I think their second choice was an obvious one. It had to be Cammy. Now as much as I love Chun-Li, Cammy and me, we got a much stronger bond. You see, I don’t only know her from Street Fighter but also from the ludicrous amount of time I’ve put into playing as her in Cannon Spike on the Dreamcast. Dear god, I love that game so much that just by mentioning it I’m required to summon all my willpower not to go play it right now. Ok, hang on… I’ll be right back.

What? No, I wasn’t playing Cannon Spike! I went to take pictures of the package. And there it is! It seems as if Koto has been reserving their white boxes for the comic book ladies and going with these black boxes for their peripheral lines like Street Fighter and Tekken. I kind of prefer the white because it makes all that gorgeous artwork stand out more and I think it accentuates the statue inside a little better, but that’s all just a matter of personal taste. Aside from the coloring of the box, everything else here should be instantly familiar to any Bishoujo collector. You get a generous window on the front and smaller ones on the top and side panels. The box is decked out all around with the gorgeous character art of Shunya Yamashita and the back shows a shot of the actual statue. The coming soon shot on the back is none other than Juri. I gotta be honest, I’m surprised that their third outing for the line isn’t Sakura, but I’m down with Juri too, especially since we’ve already had a look at the statue.

And there she is… absolutely gorgeous. Let’s kick things off with composition. Cammy assumes a wide stance and is turned at the torso to eye the opponent behind her. She’s got one hand balled in a fist and drawn close to her cheek and the other arm stretched out to zero in on her foe. For once, Koto didn’t have a free flowing mane of hair to work with, but they went all out on Cammy’s long and snaking braids, which swirl beautifully around her person, and she’s even got a couple sprigs of hair arching down off of her forehead. One of the things I love the most about this statue is the way the composition works on several display angles. In fact, I’m not even sure, what the intended “centered” position of the statue is, because I can find two positions, or “sweet spots” where she looks perfect.

The first of these“sweet spots” features a prominent view of Cammy’s caboose. That thong has always been one of her most captivating features and that fact has certainly translated to this statue. When viewed from directly behind, Cammy has one arm reaching straight out and her right eye peeking out at the beholder. The second angle that I really like turns the statue about a quarter clockwise and brings her face forward and places her derriere in profile. Here, her attention is focused to her left which makes for a great place to put Chun-Li.

With her green leotard and combat boots Cammy is a much simpler design than Chun-Li, but there’s still plenty of great detail where it’s needed. I love that the tops of her boot laces are sculpted in separate pieces of soft plastic and you can see her socks peaking up above her boots. The paintwork is immaculate, right down to the camo patterns on her legs. She’s even got little panel lines and rivets on her wrist bracers. The creases on leotard and her beret look great as does the carefully sculpted braiding in her long hair. The muscle tone in her arms, shoulders, and thighs is all beautifully defined as is the underlying bone structure in her pelvis.

As for the portrait, with only two Street Fighter statues so far, I still think that this sub-line features some of Koto’s finest head sculpts in the entire Bishoujo line. It might be just because the Street Fighter gals fit the bishoujo style without having to be compromised as much as the Marvel and DC ladies, but whatever the case their work here has been phenomenal. With all that having been said, I think Cammy here possibly has my favorite head sculpt out of all the Bishoujo’s in my collection. I know that’s saying a lot, but there’s just something about her eyes and the sly smile on her lips that does it for me.

As always, the paintwork here is superb. Most of the Bishoujo pieces in my collection showcase the contrast between the matte of the ladies’ skin and a glossy latex costume, but Cammy here is almost entirely matte. She does have a bright red metallic sheen on her arm bracers, but that’s it. The rest of the statue relies on a nice deep hunter green for her leotard as well as the camo paint on her legs, a matching red for both her beret and socks, and pleasing yellow for her hair. The paint lines are all crisp and there’s no slop anywhere to be found.

And then there’s the stand. Cammy comes on what is basically a clear oval base that looks like it’s laid onto the circular style base that Chun-Li featured. Once again, the bottom of the disc comes off and you can insert one of two printed clear overlays into the base and button it back up, or leave them out entirely if you prefer. Your choices of graphics are either a plain Street Fighter logo or a piece of character art, and as with Chun-Li, I’m going with the logo. I’m still not a big fan of this system, as the bottom and insert tends to fall out when I pick up the statues. I do, however appreciate that it allows you to position the logo to accommodate the angle you choose to display the statue. Then again, I know who Cammy is and where she came from, so I don’t really need the base to tell me.

While many statues on the market these days are creeping forever upward in price, Koto has managed to keep their Bishoujo line fairly centered. Cammy set me back a mere $55 and for the quality and workmanship on display here, I think that’s a pretty damn great price, especially when other companies are offering cold cast pieces at about the same scale with weaker paint and sculpts for almost double the price. I know I say this in just about every Koto review that I write, but I still think these pieces are some of the best values in statues on the market today and that’s a big reason as to why I keep coming back and having to expand my shelves. Naturally I’ve already got Juri pre-ordered, but it’s going to be a long wait, so maybe I’ll have to hold myself over by picking up some more of the Tekken ladies.

Sep 5 2014

Star Wars Black: Bastila Shan (3 3/4” Scale) by Hasbro

A little while ago Hasbro released Knights of the Old Republic character Bastila Shan in their Vintage Collection. This made yours truly very sad because this figure was very poorly distributed and it was only available for exorbitant scalper prices. The evil scalpers didn’t care one jot nor piffle that I loved KotR with all my heart and desperately wanted some figures because the only way I can express my love for something is to buy little plastic versions of it. The same was pretty much true for all the Knights figures Hasbro released and so I was forced to go without. Fast forward to now and Hasbro has managed to scratch out a few of the bastard points they earned from me by re-releasing Bastila as part of that most dubious of endeavors… the Star Wars Black 3 3/4” line. A line where just about any good figure appearing in it has been repacked or bumped from another line. And that brings us to today’s feature!

As mentioned, the original release of Bastila came on a snazzy looking, albeit completely nonsensical and ret-conned, vintage-style card. This re-release comes on the crappy and thoughtless Star Wars Black card. Don’t worry, I’m not even going to complain about the packaging this time. Hasbro could have dropped her into a used sardine tin and I still would have happily purchased this figure. Now, the last thing I want to do is piss all over this gesture of good will, but it would have been even better had Hasbro released the rest of those expensive and hard to get Knights figures in this line. Even if they dropped one into each wave it would have been a great way to get characters like Revan, Malak and HK-47 into the hands of desparate collectors like me. Oh well…

And there she is! It’s funny how instantly iconic Bastila’s costume has become for me, but then I did spent well over 100 hours on just the first KotoR alone, so at one point all these character designs must have been burned into my retinas. And rightly so, because Bastila is a great character, and certainly among my favorites in the Expanded Universe that I guess doesn’t exist anymore? Huh. Now I’m kind of depressed. Anyway, Hasbro did a wonderful job sculpting the Old Republic equivalent of her Jedi garb. I like this rather sleek and less bulky look, not only because Bastila was easy on the eyes, but because it seems like it would be easier to fight with as opposed to draping yourself in layers of window treatments. I like the scrollwork sculpted into the brown leather portions of the outfit and there’s some particularly nice detail work on the pouches of her belt. The strips of skirt are made of soft plastic and they don’t inhibit the leg articulation too badly.

The portrait here is decent enough. It’s not that amazing a likeness of the in-game model, but considering Hasbro’s track record on the 3 3/4” ladies, I’ll take what I can get. The paint looks fine under normal viewing, but as is often the case with figures in this scale it breaks down a bit the closer you get. Yeah, the skin tone is a little bit waxy, but in the pictures that’s mostly enhanced by my studio lights. I do really like the one wisp of hair that’s drawn across her forehead just below her hairline. It’s a characteristic that was in the game model and a nice bit of attention to detail to include it on the figure.

Despite the mold being more than a few years old, the articulation here is decent for modern Hasbro standards. You get ball joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. There are swivels in the wrists and in the waist. Unfortunately, the hips use the tired old T-crotch, which Hasbro just will not give up on.

Bastila comes with both a lit and unlit version of her double-bladed lightsaber. The unlit hilt is pegged so that it can attach to her belt, which is always a welcome feature. The lit one features yellow blades and she can hold it pretty well in her left hand while her right hand is sculpted to be doing some kind of Force hocus-pocus Battle Meditation mumbo-jumbo.

I absolutely love this figure and I’m thrilled to finally be able to get it at a decent price. In fact, I was able to pick her up from the Interwebs for only $10, which is about a fifth of what she was going for in some of the scalper channels. Hasbro has been putting the bro back in Hasbro lately by using current lines to re-release hard to get figures. They did it in the Infinite Series with Omega Red and I hope they keep it up. The only thing that makes me sad about owning this figure is that it reminds me I’m missing all the other Knights of the Old Republic figures. And that Hasbro never made a 3 3/4” scale Ebon Hawk, but that’s a rant for another day.

Jul 5 2014

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Yesterday I kicked off my look at Hot Toys’ Ada Wong figure. We covered the figure and the outfit and a few of the accessories, but today we’re going to go into full accessory overload, because this chick comes packed with a lot of goodies. Indeed, I’d say have to say that I haven’t had this many accessories bundled with a Hot Toys figure since I bought Resident Evil Alice way back when.

Let’s start out with what is probably Ada’s most signature sidearm and that’s her grapple gun. The detail on this piece is quite spectacular right down to the pearl handles and the ring up front where the cord coils up inside. It actually looks like some kind of crazy steampunk weapon. I honestly can’t remember what this gun looked like in the game, but I did go back and watch Resident Evil Retribution recently and this accessory is the spitting image of the gun used by Ada in the film.

The grapple gun comes with two separate grapple hooks. There’s a retracted one that fits into the barrel if you want to pose her ready to fire. You also get the deployed grapple on the end of a string with a little plug that drops into the barrel of the gun. The plug simply pulls right out, so you can’t actually use it to support any weight, but as great a display as it would make, I doubt I would trust it to be hanging the figure from it even if it did.

Next up is Ada’s crossbow and this is a truly impressive piece. It’s quite large and features actual string rigging and a foot stirrup. There’s a removable bolt so you can display it loaded or unloaded and the bolt can be pegged in two different positions, cocked and un-cocked.

I absolutely love the work that went into this weapon and it’s very probably the piece that I’m going to display her with the most. It’s worth noting that as front-heavy as this piece is, Ada’s hands and ratcheting joints are strong enough to hold it in a firing position without any trouble.

Of course, sometimes you want to bring something to the party with a little more oompf than a crossbow, and that’s where Ada’s M1928 drum-fed Thompson sub-machine gun comes into play. Oh yeah! I’ve always loved the Thompson and as impressive as the crossbow is, this gun is the real gem of the set for me. It’s absolutely friggin gorgeous and really outshines the one that came with my First Avenger Captain America. Yeah, they are different models, but this one is just so beautifully detailed that I can’t stop admiring it. If it wasn’t for the drum, I’d probably give it to Cap.

Obviously the drum is removable and you get that great exposed painted bullet peeking out of the top. There’s also a flip up site on the back. The finish on the metal and the wooden grips is just superb. Is there anything sexier than a hot chick holding a vintage sub-machine gun? I don’t think so. I love this thing more than any human being should love a sixth-scale toy weapon. Hang on, let me take a cold shower and smoke a cigarette…

OK. Better. The last of the weapons in Ada’s arsenal is the shotgun, and this is the only piece in the whole set that feels like it was just tossed in to beef things up. Not that this set really needed any beefing up. The weapon features a second hand grip under the barrel so Ada can easily wield it with both hands.

The shotgun is a totally static piece, so you can’t work the action on it so it doesn’t have quite the same gravitas as the pistol or the Thompson, but it’s still a solid sculpt with some nice weathering. It’s not a weapon that I tend to associate with Ada, which also makes it feel like a bit of an afterthought. But, hey, free shotgun! What the hell am I complaining about?

And we’re not done yet, because you also get her briefcase with a whole bunch of stuff in it. I presume the vials are samples of the virus, but I have no idea what the other stuff in here is. What I do know is everything tiny piece comes out and everything is super detailed and all nestled in foam. Very impressive!

And with that, I’m spent. In the end, I can comfortably say that I am delighted that I bought this figure because she certainly represents a wonderful effort from Hot Toys. I will certainly admit that she’s a strange release, as she comes from a game that was out years ago and even the movie she was featured in is now old news. Nonetheless, I’m glad they got her released because Alice is a lot less lonely on my shelf now. Still, I am surprised that Hot Toys released Ada at such a high price point. Don’t get me wrong, even at $199 I think she’s worth every penny, but I don’t think the fan demand for this figure is going to be there. The up side of that is that I’m sure she’ll turn up at e-tailers discounted later on down the road, so I’m hoping enough collectors get to pick her up and appreciate what a great figure she is.

Jul 4 2014

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

Every now and then I have this weird dilemma where I hesitate to buy something but keep coming back to it. Part of my brain says, “If you really wanted it, you would have bought it straightaway, so you don’t need it.” The other half of my brain counters with, “If you didn’t really want it, you would have forgotten it by now.” That’s the internal struggle that’s been going on within me ever since Hot Toys revealed their Ada Wong figure. I have only a handful of instances where I truly regret not buying something, and at least two of those are Hot Toys Resident Evil figures. And in the end, that’s probably why I finally pulled the trigger on this one. Plus, I had some money kicking around in Paypal, so in reality she only cost me about $70. Today we’ll check out the packaging, the figure and outfit and tomorrow we’ll look at the shitload of accessories included.

There’s the box and I dig it a lot. It’s white with a very artsy deco of a CG model of the lovely Ms. Wong and the Resident Evil 4 logo. So, here’s where I really had to justify this purchase, because I got her to accompany my lonely Hot Toys Resident Evil Alice figure. And that’s what makes this version of Ada so cool. Yes, she’s technically from the video game, but she’s certainly passable as Ada Wong from Resident Evil Retribution. The portrait isn’t quite that of actress Bingbing Li, (Wow, that’s really her name? I had to look it up!) but it’s close enough to make this figure perfect for display beside Alice. In fact, they could have easily sold Ada as a Movie Masterpiece and I don’t think anyone would have given it a second thought. Not that I’m not happy to have a figure from the game. How much do I love Resident Evil 4? I own copies of it for three different consoles. Anyway, back to the package…

The front of the box is a folded flap that holds in place via a magnet. Open it up and you reveal a tray of weapons and gear on the inside of the flap and a window in the box showing the figure, her extra hands, and the figure stand. It’s a very nice presentation and possibly one of my favorite box layouts. As always everything is totally collector friendly, although it was a bitch getting some of the plastic off the figure, particularly the pieces that were placed between the body and the dress. The stand included is very similar to the basic figure stand included with just about every Hot Toys figure. The only difference here is that instead of a crotch cradle, you get ring that partially encircles Ada’s waist, more like a traditional doll stand. Ok, let’s get Ada set up and check her out!

Ada is a very simple figure by Hot Toys usual standards, but that doesn’t make her any less impressive. She comes wearing her trademark red qipao dress, which features some very neat stitching and a floral motif running up the left side. There are a few stray threads here and there, which I will eventually trim, but otherwise it’s a beautiful costume. It’s also a mighty tight garment that is perfectly designed to shows off Ada’s fine figure. Her outfit is rounded out by a scarf and a pair of high heels. While technically part of the accessories, her ensemble is punctuated by a thigh rig that includes a holster for her sidearm, a sheath for her knife and a case for her cellphone. Yeah, these are accessories, but I’ll still include them today as part of the outfit. Also part of her accessory is her pair of sunglasses. They’re extremely fragile and it can be quite frustrating to get them to stay on, but they do look nice, so I’m glad Hot Toys included them.

The figure itself uses a rubber skin to conceal the joints in the elbows and knees and I still haven’t decided how I feel about it. It’s certainly a good idea when you’re dealing with a figure that has exposed elbows and an exposed knee, but it’s possible that it makes the exposed ankle and wrist articulation a little more jarring. With companies like Phicean turning out some incredible looking female figures with all the joints concealed, I wonder why Hot Toys hasn’t ventured into similar territories yet. Anyway, the skin looks pretty amazing and lifelike. It has an alarming tendency to get marked up when you touch it. The markings, however, brush away with a stroke of a finger. It’s a little creepy, but I have to admit it makes that bare leg look pretty damn sexy. Hopefully it won’t tear like some of the “skin” on previous figures.

As already mentioned, the portrait here is designed from the CG model used for Resident Evil 4 and it looks great. I was a little concerned that Ada’s face might suffer a lack of realism because it isn’t based on the likeness of an actual person. That’s certainly not the case. The paintwork on the eyes have that wonderful, and slightly unsettling, spark of life and the sculpted hair looks great. The skin tone is amazing, right down to the subtle trace of freckles that you can make out when you get in really close and even the lips are gorgeous.

Ada’s thigh rig is like a sexy utility belt. She’s got room on there for her pistol, cell phone, and stiletto. I’ll confess that I do find it a bit bulky and in the end, I’ll probably wind up displaying her with just the weapons on there. It took a lot of work to get the straps rigged right and they will still occasionally slide down her leg when I’m posing her.

The cell phone is a simple enough static piece, although it’s improved by the hinged hard shell case that secures it to her leg. There’s not much more to say about it, other than she comes with a hand that does a pretty good job of holding it.

The “Punisher” automatic pistol is every bit the awesome piece of hardware that I’ve come to expect from Hot Toys’ sixth-scale arsenals. It’s a wonderfully detailed piece with a removable clip and the slide on the action really works. The door to the chamber is painted silver and the exposed bullet in the clip is painted brass. Ada sports a pair of gun-toting hands so that she can wield it left or right, or with both hands when she really needs to take aim and blast a Licker between the eyes. The Punisher fits nicely into the holster, and saints-be-praised, Hot Toys went with a magnetic top flap on the holster rather than a tiny and delicate snap. Magnets, Hot Toys, make all your holster flaps with magnets from now on!

I’ll also point out here that the Punisher comes with an add-on laser sight, which I think is really going above and beyond. The tiny piece simply clips on to the top of the pistol and does have to be removed in order for the gun to be holstered. It’s just one of many little touches that Hot Toys could have easily left out of the box and I wouldn’t have missed it, but really adds value to the overall package.

Last up is the teeny-tiny silver stiletto dagger. For what should be a rather forgettable accessory, I really dig it. It fits beautifully in the tiny sheath and it’s just the kind of weapon that a femme fatale like Ada might keep up there. What’s more, Ada has a hand that’s absolutely perfect for holding it, despite the fact that it’s just so goddamn small.

For what is essentially the simplest Hot Toys figure in my collection, I’m still very impressed with how Ada came out. I have to admit I was a little hesitant picking her up because she’s probably the closest thing to a “doll” I have in my collection. Then again, I’m a middle aged guy who collects toys, so I’m not sure that I need to worry about crossing over any lines that mark the threshold of social approval. Hell, if those Jem and the Holograms dolls put out by Integrity Toys weren’t so hard to get and expensive, I’d probably be collecting those. Anyway, Ada just looks amazing and is surprisingly fun to pose.

Ok, I’ve already run over for the day, so I’m going to break here and when I come back tomorrow we’ll check out all the rest of the accessories that came with Ada. Because this dolly comes with a virtual arsenal of goodies.

May 30 2014

DC Unlimited: Injustice Green Lantern by Mattel

It’s Friday, it’s been a long week and I have a long working weekend ahead of me. Next week is going to be something of a themed week so I was hoping to squeeze in MOTUC’s Battle Lion today and that didn’t happen. I haven’t even gotten around to opening him yet and I needed something quicker and easier for today so I could start drinking earlier than usual. Oh, hello Injustice Green Lantern! You’ve been sitting in the corner of the closet since before Christmas. Let’s open you up and check you out. This shouldn’t take long.

Ah, it’s refreshing to see this packaging again! I really do miss my 6-inch DC figure fix. Sure I’m planning on buying a lot of DC Collectibles figures this year, but on some level it just isn’t quite the same. As far as I’m concerned, the Unlimited off-shoot of DC Universe Classics had the best package design. That added panel of character art on the front really ties the whole thing together beautifully. I’ll note here that I still have not played Injustice, but I do have it and it is sitting on my rather copious pile of games. Maybe when I get tired of Dark Souls kicking my ass, I’ll finally unwrap it and pop it in. Anyway, I absolutely loved the Injustice Batman figure so I’ve got some high expectations for Green Lantern…

Oh… Ok. Obviously these figures are beholden to their character designs in the game and while Batman’s new digs were downright awesome, Green Lantern’s are a lot less exciting. No, scratch that. Injustice Green Lantern is just downright boring to me and that’s certainly going to color my reception of this figure. The redesign of his Lantern costume is kind of lazy. His shirt has been turned into a tunic with shoulder pads and side straps to hold it on, while the arms and legs are covered with exaggerated ribbed muscles. I just don’t find the redesign in any way creative or cool looking. Maybe the outfit doesn’t lend itself to the bad boy treatment as well as the others. Of course, even if you do like the design, this figure still isn’t all that great.

The portrait, for example, is another big stumbling block for me. The face sculpt is very soft for a DCUC figure. None of the detailing in the nose or mouth is very well defined at all. The paint around the mask and hairline is also pretty sloppy for a 6-inch figure. But beyond that the entire portrait just doesn’t work for me. This doesn’t look like Hal Jordan, it looks like the guy with the receding hairline that comes up from IT to fix the copier.

Aside from some sloppiness on the head, the paint on the figure is pretty solid overall. I’ll definitely give props to the way they painted his tunic around the Lantern emblem. The way the green gets darker as it moves away from the emblem does create a cool effect that the Lantern is actually illuminated. You also get some sharp emblems on his arm bracers and the power ring is painted.

The articulation is in line with Injustice Batman, which means it’s missing some key points from the DCUC style. There’s no ab crunch, but more importantly there are no swivel cuts in the biceps. Those bicep swivels are pretty much non-negotiable for me and my 6-inch figures and it really pisses me off that Mattel nixed them from these figures. Hal comes off as feeling rather stiff and while you can certainly get him into some different poses, none of them are all that exciting.

So, considering I only dropped about six bucks on this figure, I’m not too bummed out about it. He’s not terrible. Oh, we’ve seen some real shitty Green Lantern figures out of Mattel back when that movie was out and this figure doesn’t come close to being as bad as any of them. But it isn’t a figure that grabs me in any way. The real kicker is that Mattel only produced a handful of figures based on the Injustice video game and with all the cool character designs in that game, Green Lantern is one of the few they decided to produce. I would have much rather seen figures of Aquaman or Wonder Woman. But for figures of those characters, I’ll have to turn to those tiny DC Collectibles sets.

May 2 2014

DC Unlimited: Injustice Batman by Mattel

With all the Marvel Legends love around here these days I’ve been really missing DC Universe Classics something fierce. Why is it that Hasbro can make Marvel 6-inch figures perform so well at retail but Mattel couldn’t? In the end, it might have something to do with Hasbro’s deft marketing of even comic based figures as movie tie-ins. Either way, I was jonesing bad enough that I went into my private stash of DC Unlimited. I’ve had some of these figures sitting around unopened since before Christmas just waiting for an occasion like this when I needed a fix. Today we’re going to check out Batman from the Injustice: Gods Among Us video game.

Ah, it’s nice to see this packaging again. I always enjoyed the presentation for Mattel’s 6-inch line, but I think it hit its peak with the Unlimited releases. While I’m not currently buying any of their 4-inch line I like that they retained this style for those figures. I find it strangely comforting to still see it hanging on the pegs at Target. You get a great look at the figure and a really nice piece of character art on that angled side insert. Beautiful!

I’ll have to confess to not having played Injustice yet. As much as I love fighting games, I tend not to buy them until they hit the bargain bins unless they’re a Capcom or SNK release. I don’t have many friends who are into fighting games and I don’t enjoy going online and getting my ass kicked by a 13 year old while he tells me about how he made sweet love to my sister last night. Little f’ckers! I have, however, watched a ton of videos of people playing the game and it looks like a lot of fun and something that I’ll need to pick up sooner or later. Of course, glancing at the stack of unopened games on my shelf, it’ll likely be later rather than sooner. Anyway, let’s open up Bats.

The character designs for the game have been hit and miss with me, but Batman got a gorgeous makeover. It’s all about the armor. Oh, that gorgeous armor. It’s not a drastic departure from Bats’ regular look, but the two-tone grey and black and the sculpted reinforced plates just make this one of the most attractive Batsuits I’ve seen in a while. Everything looks so beautifully curved and chiseled and the intricacies of the armor are married so perfectly with the glossy sheen of the plastic. Just check out all the detail work in the abdomen and the stylish redesign of the utility belt. Man, that’s awesome. You also get those cool bladed fins on his gauntlets and I really dig the way the cape starts at the top corners of his breast plates and cascades back over his shoulders. The sculpt and coloring here goes above and beyond what I’m used to seeing in the DCU line. What’s not to like? Well, the knee and shin guards seem out of place. The matte grey doesn’t match the rest of the armor making them look rather tacked on.

I think the biggest departure here from traditional Bats is found in the helmet. It’s more armored and some may find the combination of black blue and grey a little much. Personally, I like the way it carries on the motif of the rest of the suit. I also dig the creepy pupil-less eyes. About my only complaint here is the ears. They’re pretty soft and bendy, so they don’t stand straight up like they’re supposed to.

The articulation here is pretty good. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows and feature swivels and hinges in the wrists, but sadly no bicep swivels. The legs have the usual DCUC style hips, ball joints in the knees, swivels in the lower thighs, and hinges in the ankles. The chest appears to have a ball joint, but all it seems good for is a swivel. Lastly, the neck has a ball joint with a nice range of motion.

The only reason I picked up this figure was because it was part of Amazon’s crazy pre-Christmas deals. I think I wound up getting him and some others for about $6 each. He turned out to be a hidden gem for me, as he’s definitely one of my favorite Batman figures in my 6-inch scale collection. While not all the designs in Injustice are as cool as Batman, I’ve enjoyed this figure enough that I might try to hunt down a few more. I know I have Green Lantern sitting in my pile of unopened figures, but I think a purchase of The Joker is a must.

Mar 22 2014

Quake II: Strogg Tank by Resaurus

I know! I haven’t been doing a lot of Saturday features lately, but the truth is I’m getting really behind on the stuff I need to cover, so I decided to stake out a couple of Saturdays for some of the older stuff I’ve got sitting in the hopper. I even heard a rumor that Vintage Vault may be returning next month!

Today we’re revisiting one of the little companies that spearheaded the partnership between video game and collectible action figures: Resaurus! I’m also celebrating the fact that I have finally completed my Quake II collection. Or is that re-completed? Because more than three years ago I reclaimed my Quake II figures from a storage tote to feature them here on FFZ only to have the Strogg Tank take a nose dive off the table and shatter at one of the joints. Holy shit, I was pissed! I took all the care in the world to lovingly pack these figures away where they rested safely in storage for years. Then, the one day I take them out the best piece out of the collection bites the dust. It’s taken me a while to finally replace him, but I got a great deal on him last week from a fellow collector.

And yes, he was still in the package! Granted, the package has seen better days. The bubble is dented, the card is bent, but I don’t care because this guy is coming out. Part of the damage is because he got shipped to me in a mailer bag, but to be fair, this guy is so freaking heavy that it’s hard to find him on a card that isn’t heavily shopworn. The front of the card lets the toy speak for itself, whereas the back shows off some of the other figures in the line. Resaurus’ packaging was never their strong suit, but their figures kicked ass, so let’s get this guy out and ready for action…

The Strogg Tank lives up to his name as he is an absolute beast of a figure, which is fitting because he was an absolute f’cker in the game. He stands about a head taller than Iron Maiden and he’s one bulky hunk of plastic. But as heavy as he is, I think his most impressive feature is the attention to detail that Resaurus poured into him. Unlike the other Stroggs, there aren’t a lot of organics left to this guy. I’m not sure how much of the body is suit or just robot, but the only exposed living tissue is his squishy lump of flesh that passes for his head. And even that has seen better days as he’s missing one of his eyes. It’s no surprise that he looks pissed and the only way he knows how to express his emotions is by firing rockets at people. Luckily he happens to have a rocket launcher mounted on his right shoulder.

From the neck down this guy is mostly comprised of gears, pistons, cables, and killing hardware. It’s a very busy sculpt that takes every opportunity to show off weathering and damage. One of my favorite examples of this is the prominent crater blown into the left part of his chest armor. It shows exposed wires and mechanics and it contrasts so well with the intact right portion that proudly bares his Strogg emblem. I also love the real springs in the pistons that attach his feet to his legs. That looks amazing, but as we’ll see in a moment, it wasn’t the most clever of design choices. Luckily the paintwork here has the chops to back up such a detailed sculpt. The military matte looks like real metal and the silver dry brushing that shows scraped paint and distress looks phenominal. I think the reason this guy looks so formidable is because he’s taken such a beating and is still standing there trying to kill you. The Strogg Tank just doesn’t give a shit!

Another very cool detail on the Tank is the set of exposed gears, which can be seen through the holes blown into his left leg armor. Even better, you can remove the panel and get a better look. And I’ll go you one further… the gears actually turn when you articulate the leg. So cool!

The Tank features fairly basic articulation, but it works for a guy who generally needs to just stomp around and shoot at you. His arms rotate at the shoulders and are hinged at the elbows. His legs rotate at the hips, are hinged at the knees, and hinged again at the ankles. His head turns and when it does the rocket launcher turns with it, so he can aim it just by looking. The launcher does fire, but the three rockets are all molded as one piece. Also, the head snaps back to the front whenever you let it go. I presume that’s a result of the mechanism that ties in with the launcher.

So, here’s the huge design flaw in this figure. Each of the ankles is attached to the legs by two relatively small cylinders. They’re the ones with the springs around them. These four cylinders are the only things holding that massive figure up. These are load bearing cylinders and they are in no way up to the task. Not only are they not thick enough to support this figure’s weight, but they are made of pretty brittle plastic that isn’t getting any stronger with age. These are what broke on my initial Tank when he fell off the shelf and the ones on this figure are already getting stress marks like they’re going to pop. There’s just no way this design was ever going to stand the test of time and I fully expect to have to replace this figure yet again sooner or later.

And that wraps up my look at Resaurus’ Quake II line. It was long overdue, as I featured the rest of this line all the way back in April of 2010. If you like what you’ve seen, be sure and check out my features on the rest of the figures. I absolutely adore this line, not only because they’re so much fun, but because they take me back to that really cool time when Resaurus had built up a little community of collectors around their website and the worlds of video games and toys seemed to intersect so seamlessly. Like most of the Quake II line, the Strogg Tank is not a difficult figure to find. The asking price tends to be all over the place, but if you’re in the market for one you should be able to nab a carded example for between $20-30. When you consider the age of the figure as well as the craftsmanship that is not a bad deal at all. I tend to think if he were on the pegs today he’d end up being in the $40-50 range, but then these days the only company that comes to mind that would be capable of turning out a figure like this would be NECA. Just watch out for those damn pistons and try to keep him from taking a shelf dive.

Mar 19 2014

Street Fighter: Chun-Li Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

In case you haven’t heard, Kotobukiya is out to bankrupt me this year. The fact that I’ve branched out to collecting their ArtFX+ statues has been bad enough, but they also seem to have thrown their Bishoujo line into high gear, full speed ahead, let’s take every last damn penny poor old Fig has in his meager coffers too. What’s that? The Marvel and DC stuff isn’t doing it fast enough? Let’s start with Street Fighter! Anyway, Chun-Li is the obvious first choice for this new sub-line of Bishoujo and certainly a favorite of mine. But then what red blooded male gamer hasn’t fantasized about being strangled by Chun-Li’s copious thighs. What’s that? It’s just me? Did I share too much? Ok, moving on… Hyakuretsu Kyaku!!!!

Chun-Li comes in a window box that should be readily familiar to all collectors of this line. The windows allow you to get a teaser of what’s inside and is, as always, collector friendly. But the statue is wrapped in plastic and held between two plastic trays so you’ll want to free her from her prison to get a good look at her. Long time Bishoujo collectors will note that the box is black instead of white. Koto seems to do this on most of the non-Marvel or DC related statues. Both my Ghostbusters Lucy and my Tekken Christie Montiero statues came in black boxes. I don’t have a big problem with it, although I do believe I prefer the white. Of course, the deco includes all the great artwork by Shunya Yamashita and you also get some photos of the statue on the back. Oh, look! Cammy’s coming! I’m pretty damn excited about Cammy!

Chun-Li comes out of the box already attached to the base, but she is easily removable if you want. She attaches with a solid stepped tab that snugly fits inside the right foot. The balance is impressive and it allows for the dynamic high kick pose, which suits the character so well. It looks just like she’s in the middle of her Lightning Kick attack. Indeed, the “frozen in time” element on display here is one of my favorite things about this piece. and that’s all thanks to the thoughtful sculpting. Her qipao dress swirls around her legs and the ribbons from her ox horn hairstyle float around her head. It’s always impressive to me when a statue can convey energy and movement on this level.

As for the sculpt itself, the Bishoujo style works perfectly for Chun-Li without having to deviate from the character’s own style. Naturally, the DC and Marvel statues look like the characters with an intentional Bishoujo treatment, while Chun-Li looks like Chun-Li. It’s just a comfortable fit. Her portrait portrays an effortless “pretty girl” expression that works with the pose while not quite deliberately mugging for the camera. Her iconic and chunky spiked bracelets are present and the gold scrollwork on her dress is all integrated into part of the sculpt. Of course, this is Chun-Li and one’s eyes are drawn almost immediately to her powerful legs, which look superb from the detailed musculature of her thighs right down to her laced white combat boots.

The coloring on this figure hits all the right points and the paintwork is as immaculate as I’ve come to expect in this line. Unlike a lot of these statues there isn’t any high gloss paint at work here, which suits the character art. The gold looks great against the blue of her dress and there’s just enough sheen on the costume to contrast slightly with the soft plastic of her skin tone. The brown used for her tights is perfect and there’s just a hint of lavender paint on the top laces of her boots. Chun-Li’s colors are certainly iconic (as long as your Player 1) and this statue celebrates that fact.

Chun-Li comes on a clear base that opens and allows you to insert one of two graphics if you like. One just has the Street Fighter logo, the other features some of Shunya Yamashita’s art. While the one with the character art is certainly striking, I find it a bit busy and distracting, so I went with the simple logo. The same system of base and insert was used for the Tekken statues and I’ll confess that I wasn’t all that keen on getting it reproduced here. I think it looks OK but whenever I pick up my Christie Montiero statue, the bottom always drops out and the graphic slides out. Thankfully the base on this statue snaps together much better and it isn’t a problem.

Chun-Li set me back $55, which is right about what I usually expect to pay for a new Bishoujo statue. Sometimes I hold off to see if I can get a deal, but seeing as how Chun-Li was the first in this sub-series, I was somewhat worried about there being a run on her, so I locked her in with a pre-order. She is still available at some retailers, but apparently Koto sold out pretty fast on their own site, so anyone still on deck over this one might want to consider jumping into the pool. Either way, I’m hoping these initial offerings do well because I’d really like to see this line continue. I think Sakura would be the most likely choice after Cammy. After that who knows, but I’m gunning for Poison, Ibuki, and Elena. They would all be instant purchases for me.

Jan 20 2014

Bioshock Infinite: Motorized Patriot by NECA

It’s been a long time since I looked at NECA’s Bioshock figures, but then this offering is only their third release in the line and it took them a long time to get it out. I make it no secret that Bioshock Infinite was my favorite game of last year and it’s probably single handedly responsible for getting me back into gaming again… and I’ve come back to gaming hardcore. Once I played Infinite I knew I had to have some figures and NECA obliged by giving us Elizabeth and a Boy of Silence. Now they’re finally upping the ante with one of the game’s “Heavy Hitters.” It’s the Motorized Patriot and he cannot tell a lie… he’s going to murder the shit out of you motherf’ckers in the name of Freedom.

Holy hell, that’s one gigantic blister pack. It’s possibly the largest I’ve ever seen. While lesser companies would have buckled and put this guy in a box, NECA stood their ground and vac-sealed this plastic behemoth sonvabitch into a perfect prison of plastic. Because the bubble takes up the entirety of the package, the presentation here lets the bubble insert do the talking and the back of the insert has a little blurb about this guy. The Motorized Patriots were a major pain in my ass in the game. They were relentless and they took a ton of damage before dropping. Plus, once I got used to fighting one of them, the game would start throwing a pair at me. On the other hand, it was always fun to take control of them and make them fight for me. Anyway, I’ve been waiting to get this figure in hand for what seems like an eternity, so let me go find a razor blade and slice this guy out… And back! Opening the seal on a normal sized NECA figure usually produces enough glorious plastic fumes to make me feel like I’m going to pass out. Imagine what opening something this big is like? I seriously think I slipped into an altered state of reality for a few moments. That smell of plastic is what tells you you’re getting your money’s worth. Well, that and the fact that this thing weighs a ton.

If you’re unfamiliar with the game, the Motorized Patriot is basically a robot. Think of it like one of those animatronic figures from the Hall of Presidents, only this one carries a chain gun and wants to give you a patriotic suppository made out of white hot lead. NECA did an amazing job crafting this guy into action figure form. His Colonial Era outfit is recreated all in soft plastic with rips and tears in the knees and right elbow to reveal his robotic joints. The overcoat is layered onto the figure and it’s damn gorgeous. The sculpt features all the little buttons, clasps, wrinkles and stitching that I’ve come to expect out of NECA’s superb detail work. The huge brush-style epaulettes are glorious and he has clockwork gears and wheels exposed on his back and hips. The figure also features a lot of useful points of articulation. I’m not going to run through them all, because it’s tough to see what all is there under the layers of plastic clothing. I originally didn’t care because I thought I’d be content to always pose him firing his weapon, but the truth is there’s a lot more fun to be had with him.

Patriot’s portrait is a grizzly visage of George Washington with a cracked porcelain style mask and a powdered wig. His noggin is nestled in the high collar of the coat, but you can still get some good movement out of the ball joint in there. Creepy!

Of course, one of my favorite things about this figure is the set of soft goods flags that come with him. Each one is crafted to look old and tattered. They come attached to poles, which fit into sockets on the back of The Patriot. You can leave them hang free like a cape or you can tuck them into the gilded loops on his back to make them appear more like wings. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen softgoods used this effectively to enhance the appearance of an action figure as these flags. They’re simply brilliant and they just look perfect on the figure.

The Patriot features two extras: First off, you get a second head in which the mask and hair has been blown away revealing the robotic skull underneath. It’s made to look part metal but with a nose and jaw carved out of wood. There’s one fake human eye remaining and the other has been blown out of the socket. The skull matches the exposed robot joints on the body quite well, making for a great effect. The heads swap out pretty easily, although I thought it odd that that the post and ball joint is part of the head and not the body.

The other accessory is his big ass chaingun. This weapon is a very cool piece and includes a working crank that rotates the gun barrels. On the downside, the handles are too big for his hands and the overall gun is ridiculously fragile. Those two things don’t mix well because you have to apply a lot of force to get the handles into his hands. The crank is designed to separate from the gun to avoid breaking, which is good, but the main handle isn’t, and that’s not so good. The handle on mine broke on the very first try to get it into his hand. In retrospect, it seems impossible for it not to break as it’s attached with such a thin point of plastic. I will likely be able to glue it back, and eventually I’m going to have to put a pin in there to keep it from breaking again. I think a swap out hand holding the handle that attached to the gun would have been a better way to do this.

The Motorized Patriot retails for around $30-35 depending on where you get him. It seems right in line with NECA’s larger deluxe figures and yet it still feels like a pretty good value. Sure, I could bitch about the handle on the gun breaking. It’s a big deal and even in hindsight I don’t think I could have avoided it, but it is something that can be fixed. I could also probably take issue with his size as I think he should scale bigger when compared to Elizabeth or the Boy of Silence, but he’s so damn gorgeous I can’t help but love him. In fact, my only real complaint about this guy is I don’t have a Booker DeWitt figure to stand next to him on the shelf. NECA showed off an early test shot of a Booker figure a little while back. I do hope he’s still coming! I also still need to pick up one more Boy of Silence.

FigureFan Zero

Action Figure Reviews, Toys & Collectibles…

Tag Archives: video games

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes Starter Pack

Street Fighter: Cammy Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Star Wars Black: Bastila Shan (3 3/4” Scale) by Hasbro

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 2

Resident Evil: Masterpiece Ada Wong Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys, Part 1

DC Unlimited: Injustice Green Lantern by Mattel

DC Unlimited: Injustice Batman by Mattel

Quake II: Strogg Tank by Resaurus

Street Fighter: Chun-Li Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Bioshock Infinite: Motorized Patriot by NECA

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