#4157: Red Tornado

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

RED TORNADO

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Red Tornado was constructed by Thomas Oscar Morrow to counteract the Super Heroes who interfered in his schemes. However, the android’s frame was possessed by a wandering wind elemental, and achieved unanticipated power and sentience.”

Back in April of 2025, I broke from my string of McFarlane Super Powers reviews in order to look at a stray Kenner Super Powers figure I hadn’t yet reviewed, and that figure was Red Tornado.  Oh how the turntables.  Despite his presence in the original line and relative obscurity compared to others who got an update in the newer line, Red Tornado made his way into the McFarlane line’s last dash of figures, and he’s the figure I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Tornado is the second figure in Series 15 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation.  He’s figure 74 in the line-up, and marks Red Tornado’s second time in the style, following the original Kenner release.  The original figure used his classic attire, at this one sticks to the same set-up.  It makes a degree of sense, but there’s a part of me that sort of wishes we might have gotten his first appearance look, given McFarlane’s overall focus on the JSA in the last few assortments.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Reddy is built on the original Nightwing base body, which means he’s a bit oversized compared to both the original run and most of the later run McFarlane stuff.  Given there are a lot of other body types available to choose from at this point, it does seem like an odd choice, especially given its lack of flared gloves and cuffed boots that are usually signature to the character’s design, but are overlooked here.  He gets a new head sculpt, and it’s fine.  I like the smile.  It feels nice for the character.  It’s maybe a little soft, and the whole sculpt feels like a bit of a let-down compared to the dedicated sculpt of the original Kenner figure, but taken on its own, it’s not too bad.  He gets a separate cloth cape, which is actually made up of multiple different colors of fabric stitched together, making for a nicer overall appearance than the original cape, and it certainly holds up to wear a bit better.  Red Tornado’s color work is rather on the bright and colorful side, which is proper.  It makes the most of not having the sculpted lines to follow, and I think the stripes might be a bit too thin, but in general, the application is clean, and he does look rather striking.  This figure has no accessories, and since he’s on the Nightwing body, this release doesn’t have the ability to spin like his vintage counterpart.  You’ll just have to pretend.  With your imagination.  Crazy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t say this was a figure that really enthused me upon announcement.  When Kenner ended their run, we were four members away from a Satellite era JLA line-up, so I’ve been waiting for McFarlane to add literally any of them to the line-up since the start.  The finally added their first Satellite era figure and it was Red Tornado, one of the ones we already got, which I can’t help but feel was a bit of a wasted slot.  Obviously, my heart is behind Elongated Man, but I’d have been happy to see Canary, Zatanna, or Hawkgirl, too.  Tornado’s…I mean he’s fine, but he’s at best a pale imitation of the Kenner figure.  Early in the line, I think he’s a figure I could have gotten behind, but this late in the game, I just find him more than a bit frustrating.  I can’t hate him, because I can’t bring myself to hate a semi decent Red Tornado figure, but…frustrating.  He’s just frustrating.

#4156: Wolverine 4th Edition — Weapon X

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE 4TH EDITION — WEAPON X

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“A top-secret government project transformed the Mutant named Logan into the unbeatable warrior Weapon X. He was given unbreakable adamantium claws and a battle simulation helmet which created imaginary battle scenes that looked virtually real. Using these unique training weapons, Weapon X sharpened his combat skills to perfection. The ultimate secret agent, Weapon X later used his high-tech training to become the heroic X-Man Wolverine!”

Sometimes, I still get the oddest nostalgic twinge for some of my “Day of” bulk reviews, and I think about revisiting the idea for a fourth go, but then I remember how viscously exhausting they are, and decide to leave well enough alone and just remember the joy of thinking back on it as a done thing.  One of my favorite “Day of” sets to revisit is “The Day of the Wolverines,” where I bought, and then reviewed, a huge chunk of the Toy Biz 5-Inch Wolverines.  I do occasionally pick up new Wolverines, not in that set, including some of the variants of figures from that batch.  The first entry of that day took a look at Weapon X Wolverine in his standard colors, but today I’m looking at his first color variant!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine 4th Edition — Weapon X was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1992.  The initial release was with brown shorts and green cables, as reviewed on The Day of the Wolverines, but as with other releases around the time, KB Toys got its own paint variant, unique from the standard release.  The figure is just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  The mold is identical between releases.  It’s a nice one, and kind of a step above the other Wolverines in the same assortment (and honestly the Spy Wolverine from Series 4, as well).  It’s a very technically impressive sculpt, with decent balance on the proportions, and sharp detailing and smaller detail work. The change-up in the paint work that makes up this figure’s selling point is, admittedly, rather minor.  In place of the brown shorts and green cables, he instead grey shorts and red cables.  The exact coloring of such things varied in the comics, so this is really no more valid than the standard.  Like the standard figure, Weapon X includes his helmet, cables, and harness.  Like the core figure, the colors are altered a bit.  The helmet’s visor is purple instead of blue, the cables are red instead of green, and the harness is a medium brown with light green gizmos instead of tan with yellow gizmos.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had the standard Weapon X sans accessories, and when I got a complete one, it was another standard.  I wasn’t sure about needing all the colors, but this one was mixed into a much larger batch of loose figures I picked up online a little while back.  Much like the Olive variant Spy Wolverine, I do find myself oddly fascinated by this KB Toys-exclusive color scheme.  Maybe I’m just a sucker for KB? Probably.  I do really think this guy’s neat, though.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0098: Doctor Doom

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

DOCTOR DOOM

SECRET WARS (MATTEL)

Hey ho and welcome to Friday everybody!  And isn’t it a great Friday?  I like to think so.  It’s the end of the week, and I like to wrap them up the way I always do, with a little bit of flashing back.  Today, I’m jumping back into Mattel’s Secret Wars with a return look at Doctor Doom!

If you asked me who I though the greatest super hero in comics was, I probably wouldn’t be able to give you a single answer. Maybe I could give like a list of five or so, but that’s the best I can do. The best super VILLAIN in comics, though? That’s easy. It’s Doctor Doom. No question. He’s as good as it gets, mostly because he doesn’t shy away from being an absurd comicbook caricature. He’s ridiculous, his plans are over the top and needlessly complicated, and he likes to speak in the third person a lot. He’s just a very fun character. Of course, movie makers decided that they could “improve” on that, resulting in two rather terrible live-action takes on the character, but I digress. Despite being the number one foe of the Fantastic Four, who were all represented in Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line, Victor Von Doom wouldn’t get his first action figure for another decade. I’ll be looking at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Doctor Doom was released in the first series of Mattel’s Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars line. Doctor Doom has an interesting place in the line. He had a rather prominent role in the tie-in comic series produced by Marvel, but it’s worth noting that three of the four members of the Fantastic Four were also prominent in the series, yet Doom is the only FF-related character that the line released. Slightly odd if you ask me, but given how much of this line relied on using the same basic pieces for every figure, I guess Mattel just didn’t want to justify the costs of new molds for the likes of Sue or Ben.  Anyway, this figure stands 4 ½ inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Rather than going with the classic Doctor Doom design (because, hey, it had only been around for 20 years. Nobody was attached to it or anything), this figure gets a Mattel original design. It keeps a lot of the same basic cues as the usual Doom look, but gives him a more generic battle armor sort of look. To be fair, the design did appear in the comic tie-in towards the end, but I feel that was more to tie-in with the toy than working the other way around. Despite the line being mostly built on the same basic body, Doom actually uses none of the standard parts. That’s not to say he’s totally unique; he shares his arms and legs with Iron Man. Though Doom’s armor is usually not as sleek as Iron Man’s, but they’re close enough that it works alright. The right leg has been slightly tweaked to add a leg strap (apparently Doom was ahead of the ‘90s pouch craze), which works well enough. Doom has a unique head and torso, which are…decent? They don’t suck. There are even some fun little details, such as the jetpack on the back of the torso and the little rivets on the faceplate. Individually, they really aren’t bad, but they don’t work very together. The weirdest thing is the head, which has Doom’s signature hood, which ends rather abruptly. It’s almost as if it was sculpted to rest on top of some sort of cape piece, but no such piece was included. At one time, Doctor Doom had a rather complicated paint scheme on the torso, but Secret Wars figures are notorious for their paint wear, and this figure was no exception. As it stands, my figure’s only paint is on the head, for the eyes and mask, which are basic, but pretty well handled. Doctor Doom originally included two blasters and one of the wonky lenticular shields that all of the line’s figures had.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Doctor Doom last weekend at Balticon. I got him from the same vendor’s table where I got Bane, so he was another $2 figure. Secret Wars really isn’t a line I saw myself getting very invested in, but I keep finding them for pretty good deals. Doom is probably the weakest figure I’ve looked at so far. He really shows off a lot of the line’s flaws, especially with the toy-original design. Still, he’s not the worst figure I’ve ever owned, and I like having him for the novelty.

This figure was my first proper review of a Doctor Doom after moving to my more finalized review structure, which meant it was the first time I got to talk about how much I enjoy Doctor Doom as a character, and how much I dislike his movie incarnations.  And this year, we’re getting another go at the movie Doom…and I’m apprehensive, but that’s not the point of this entry, now is it?

The figure review here I think is pretty solid.  I didn’t love this figure then, and I still don’t.  He’s definitely awkward (as is most of the line).  Of course, my original review featured a figure that was badly worn, and had no accessories.  What if I had one with pristine paint and all of his parts?  Well, I got my hands on one, and I couldn’t help but do an update.  I’ll admit, all the extra stuff does make him a bit more fun.  The paint is more intricate, and I love how the guns can be stored on his body.  It’s just kind of neat.  Not the greatest figure, but neat, nonetheless.

#4155: Matchstick

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MATCHSTICK

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Matchstick is a clone pilot in Shadow Squadron who goes on a fatal mission to destroy a Separatist ship. He flies a Y-Wing fighter/bomber to attack the Malevolence, a huge vessel armed with a deadly ion cannon. His Y-Wing is damaged while passing through a large nebula, a mishap that results in dire consequences for the trooper.”

Would you believe it if I told you that for the third week in a row, my dive into Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line was going to be a look at a clone?  I mean, you probably would, right?  There were a lot of clones in that show.  Kind of the point, I guess.  The show had all manner of different clones, many of them with names, even when they might be relatively throw away characters.  But, that gave the toyline something to put on the box, and a great way to keep rotating through molds.  And that’s how you get figures like today’s focus, Matchstick!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Matchstick was released in the second year of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars line, numbered CW34 in the line-up.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in “Shadow of Malevolence”, his only appearance, where he’s a rather standard Phase I Clone Pilot, albeit with a somewhat unique helmet decoration.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  As with many of the Clones in the line, Matchstick exists through a lot of parts re-use.  He’s using most of the first standard Clone mold, but swaps out for Captain Rex’s head and upper torso, so that he can get a removable helmet.  It’s a good selection of parts, as it always is, and it makes for a nice match for the show, which is also quite fun to mess with.  He gets a new helmet piece, detailing his pilot style helmet.  It works really well, and ends up being one of the more screen accurate helmets we got from the line.  It’s surprising how well it scales, honestly, without much loss in terms of detailing or fit.  His paint work is mostly just basic stuff; he was mostly just a shiny.  That said, he gets some really fun toothy grin graffiti on his helmet, which makes him nice and unique looking.  Matchstick was packed with  a heavy gun missile launcher (like was included with the ARF Trooper) and a standard DC-15 blaster rifle.  He’s just a pilot in the show, but it’s nice to get the extras, and I’m always a fan of the heavy chain gun mold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember Matchstick being released, but I never had the luck of finding one at retail.  Given the sheer number of clones I *did* pick up during the original run at retail, I wasn’t too concerned about it at the time, but I did always kind of want one.  During one of the larger batches of figures traded into All Time while I was working there, this guy came in sans accessories, and was kind of cheap at the time, so that’s when I snagged him, ultimately replacing his accessories along the way.  He’s not one of the more prominent clones or anything, but there weren’t a ton of pilots in the line, and he’s a unique one, so that makes him worthwhile.

#4154: Professor X

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

PROFESSOR X

X-MEN: THE MOVIE (TOY BIZ)

“Charles Francis Xavier possesses the most powerful mind on earth. The mutant telepath also known as Professor X can read the thoughts of others, impose his own will to take over other people’s minds or erase their memories. This visionary has dedicated his life to fighting for his dream of peaceful co-existence between man and mutantkind. To aid in this crusade, he founded a school for gifted youngsters to secretly train young mutants to control their amazing powers. Xavier now uses his special abilities to lead his clandestine team of “X-Men” into battle against Magneto and his brotherhood of evil mutants.”

It has been a week since the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart, and, honestly, I’m still kind of at a loss for words about it.  I never got the chance to meet him, but he had an immense impact on my life (along with many, many others), and there’s this sort of a hollow feeling about the whole thing still.  Sir Patrick took on many roles in his 86 years, but he devoted decades of his life to the roles of Jean-Luc Picard and Charles Xavier, both part of rather merchandise driven franchises, so he did at least get his fair share of action figures along the way.  His final film performance will be in December’s Avengers: Doomsday, where he reprises the role of Charles Xavier for the ninth and final time.  I’m jumping back to the very beginning of this particular journey, with his figures from the very first X-Men movie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Professor X was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men: The Movie tie-in line, released alongside the second series in the spring of 2000, to coincide with the release of the first movie.  There were two variants released, with different suit colors.  The standard release was the blue suit with the red tie, while the slightly rarer variant was the black suit with the silver tie.  The figure is just under 6 inches…long I guess would be the best way to describe him?  Tall is incorrect, because he doesn’t stand.  He has 12 points of movement, but I hesitate to call it all articulation.  Why all the roundaboutness?  Because the figure’s hip and knee joints are super loose, so they cannot hold a pose or even really sustain the figure’s weight.  That would make this perhaps the only Xavier mold to properly recreate his paralysis, so kudos to Toy Biz on that.  The mold was new to this line, and it’s a little bit awkward at times, especially compared to the more naturalistic sculpting of some of the line’s other figures.  He’s a bit stiff, and most of the articulation is rudimentary in its implementation.  There are some interesting quirks to the mold; there’s two peg holes in the back meant to connect him to his chair, as well as an additional sort of lever, which moves his arms upward, for some sort of magnetic feature that’s kind of odd and hard to understand the utility of.  The head sculpt is an interesting piece in that it’s kind of hard to address its quality without talking about the paint.  The original release, the blue suit, leaves the head’s skin tone unpainted, which leaves the sculpt with very little resemblance to Stewart.  The black suited variant, however, fully paints the head, resulting in a far better likeness.  It’s honestly astounding how much of a difference the paint application can make.  Both versions of the figure include the same chair, a rather involved piece of work, with a magnetic feature on the back and a pull-back motorized feature for the wheels.  It’s an accurate recreation of the signature chair used in the movies, and Toy Biz would also re-use the same mold for their Marvel Legends Professor X a few years later.  Professor X also included a Cerebro helmet accessory, which I’m unfortunately missing from both of my figures.  The second round of figures from the movie also included a third Professor X variant, this time sporting his non-metal chair from his visit to Magneto’s jail cell at the end of the movie.  The main Xavier figure uses the same mold, with a third paint scheme (and once again paints the skin on the head, for a far better likeness), while the chair has been modified to be a little closer to the one from the end of the movie.  It’s not a perfect recreation of the piece seen in the movie, since it just changes the wheels and arm rests, but it gets the idea across.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The release of the first X-Men movie is the first time I can really recall being hyped for a movie release.  I followed all the news and casting announcements closely, and I was very excited about Patrick Stewart’s presence, as he was honestly the only actor I knew beforehand.  When the figures hit, obviously, my first figure was Cyclops, but when my Nana took my cousin Rusty and I to Toys “R” Us to pick out some figures for a “hey you finished school” treat, I got to pick out two more X-Men and I chose Jean and Professor X.  There was some back and forth about the choice, and a definite push to get me to buy Magneto and Wolverine instead, but I couldn’t be swayed, so I got my Jean and Professor X.  That was the blue suited Xavier, with the spotty likeness.  I got the clear chair Xavier next, courtesy of a trip to KB Toys with my Grandmother (which also got me Civilian Cyclops), and I kind of figured that was it for my movie Xaviers.  But, when cleaning my room a while later, I found a Toys “R” Us gift card I didn’t know the value of, and my parents told me I could get whatever the value of the card would cover.  The card had somewhere in the area of $2 on it, so I was left digging through the clearance bin, which is how I found the variant Xavier, thus rounding out the set.  None of them are great figures, but there are limited options for Stewart Xavier figures, and to that end, I do quite like them.

Sir Patrick Stewart brought an immeasurable level of class and depth to every one of his very many roles (yes, even the Poop Emoji), and had a sincere presence that’s not easily found.  He was also, by all accounts, just a very good person, who stood up for those he felt needed it, and we could honestly use more people like him.  Losing him is huge, and his presence will very much be missed.

#4153: Batman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

BATMAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“As a child, Bruce Wayne watched as his parents were brutally killed in Gotham City’s Crime Alley. Traumatized by their deaths, he devoted his life to becoming the world’s greatest weapon against crime– the Batman.”

As prevalent as the character may be in toy form, I don’t actually review *a ton* of Batman figures around here, mostly because I think I’m just largely tapped out on buying new Batman figures these days?  McFarlane’s tenure with the DC license has had a lot of Batman figures, and their Super Powers line has Batman as its recurrent character.  Despite that, I’ve only thus far picked up and reviewed a single Super Powers Batman (I guess technically reviewed a Batman Beyond as well, but I feel like that’s different).  Well, they’re selling the figures in sets now, so I can’t avoid it if there’s a Batman variant, and if I’m gonna buy him, I guess I might as well review him.  So, here’s this Batman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman is the first figure in Series 15 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, where he’s officially numbered 73 in the overall line-up.  He’s the 12th Batman released in the line.  The figure is just the tiniest bit over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  This Batman marks the seventh use of the updated classic Batman mold, which was the only other Batman I’ve looked at from this line.  It’s clearly aiming to be a pretty close replica of the original Kenner mold, and it’s a good one at that.  I get why they keep using it.  What makes this release special?  The coloring.  The first release of the mold went for a pretty straight classic Batman blue and grey color palette, and subsequent uses have all tweaked it in some way.  We’ve gotten one subsequent take on that scheme through the crowd funded release, which was darker than the first version, and now we’ve got this one, which is…also darker?  Its aim is to be an early ‘90s Batman, per the naming, and I guess it does that fine, but it’s also not super different, aside from just being different.  It’s definitely a bit of different for different’s sake.  I know the Series 4 release was pretty hard to get, so I can’t say I fault McFarlane for wanting to put out another go at the mold with the blue and grey, but I also can’t say it’s terribly exciting.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very excited by the reveals of 13 and 14 of this line, but 15 was the first one where I just felt largely underwhelmed, and this Batman is certainly a large piece of that.  Maybe I’d feel different if I hadn’t gotten the Series 4 figure? I don’t know.  I do know I only have this one because I wanted the set.  He’s…fine.  Like, not bad, but just not anything to really give any much thought to.

#4152: Galactus

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

GALACTUS

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Feared throughout the cosmos, the nearly omnipotent Galactus must consume the life energies of entire planets to satisfy his burning hunger! Only the herculean efforts of the Fantastic Four and Galactus’s former herald, the Silver Surfer, have prevented the world-devourer from making a meal of the Earth! But, should he return, the future of all mankind will once again be in doubt!”

Just before my winter hiatus last December, I wrapped up my reviews of the all the standard figures from Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four toyline.  I didn’t, however, quite look at *all* the figures, because they weren’t all exactly created equal.  If you’re doing really much of anything at all with the FF, you’re bound to run into their big, planet-eating foe, Galan of Taa, the Devourer of Worlds, best known as Galactus.  Galactus has a number of appearances on Fantastic Four: The Animated Series, and his herald Silver Surfer was present in the first series of the tie-in toyline, so it made quite a bit of sense for the big G to be included as well, and in fact he was, with a deluxe sized figure that I’ll be taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Galactus was released in 1995, alongside the first series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  He was his own stand alone release, a deluxe item offered up in a similar fashion to the dragons from the Iron Man line at the same time, and also somewhat like the Sentinel released in the X-Men line the year prior.  Galactus did differ from those other releases, however, in his use of electronic features.  The figure stands just under 14 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  In terms of scaling, Galactus is clearly not quite the towering giant he tends to be, relative to the others, he’s got a good 9 inches on the standard figures, making him larger enough visibly to sell the idea, while not being so large as to be an impractical size for play and display. Galactus’s articulation is very much a restricted thing, with motion at the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and neck.  The neck is a very small degree of back and forth movement, and the arms, though certainly better in their range, still aren’t really doing much other than sitting at his sides or raising up a bit to hold his accessory.  Due to the electronic features, there is no movement at all in the waist or legs, so he’s a bit more statuesque in that regard.  He’s mostly just meant for standing there and looking rather menacing, which, to be fair, is kind of his main deal.  The mold was brand-new to Galactus at the time (tough the main bulk of it was later re-used for a second deluxe Galactus figure as part of the Silver Surfer tie-in line in 1998), patterned on his classic comics design, as well as aligning with his design as seen in the cartoon at the time (specifically his appearance in Season 1).  It’s more on the basic and stripped down side in terms of detailing, going for broader strokes, softer detailing, and some simpler line work.  The proportions are notably on the chunky side of things, and his head, already enlarged by the helmet, seems a bit too large for the body it’s sitting upon.  There are also some compromises made for the sake of the action features, with a mount on the torso for his accessory, as well as holes in the eyes where the pupils would be, in order to make way for the light up feature, and a spot for a speaker in his abdomen.  The most jarring of these is definitely the mount on the torso, but that’s easier to explain away as having a practical use on his armor, I suppose.  Though certainly leaning more into the toy side, the sculpt does still do a decent enough job of bringing his design into toy form, and it certainly fits well with the other figures stylistically.  The figure’s “horns” and skirt pieces are separate, removable parts on this release.  The horns can warp a bit (as seen on my figure), but do click into place securely.  The skirt pieces….don’t click into place securely, especially the back one, which will fall off at just about any given chance.  Galactus’s color work follows the usual hallmarks of his design, with a lot of purple and blue.  There’s some rather notable issues of matching between the different parts of his assembly, which is a little odd, but the design has enough segmentation to at least hide it a bit more.  Galactus was packed with a large “drill” accessory, which he can hold in front of him and which connects to the front of the figure.  There are actually two variants to the exact connection style of the drill, as seen in the photo, but the Galactus figure’s connection appears to remain the same.  There is a lights and sounds feature to the figure, and the drill interacts with this as well, but between the two copies of this figure I currently own, I wasn’t able to get either working to test it out.  For shame.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got my original Galactus, at least in part, because he was defective.  The local KB Toys had one whose electronic features didn’t work, so he was discounted, and my dad bought it so that he and my granddad could repair him and get him into working order, and, boom, working Galactus.  For a while, anyway.  This guy got carried around a lot to a lot of different things and certainly got a lot of play time before spending about a decade in the garage, without most of his parts.  In recent years, I’ve put some more serious effort into returning him to his original glory, and found all of his original parts, minus a single horn for his helmet.  Do you know how difficult it is to find just a single horn for a Toy Biz Galactus?  Really difficult, I’ll tell you.  The most practical way to go about it, it turns out, is just buying a second, complete, Galactus, which I in fact did (well, my Dad did, swooping in to buy the second one for me like he did the original) over the summer, when I found one for a good price at Yesterday’s Fun while vacationing with the family.  Perhaps this figure isn’t quite as impressive as the more recent HasLab release, but he certainly fills out the Toy Biz Fantastic Four line-up nicely, and I’m happy to have him back together again.  There: now I’m actually done with the Fantastic Four reviews.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0097: B.A.T.

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

B.A.T.

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO (HASBRO)

Hey there, it’s Friday.  Well, that sure is nice, I suppose.  Made it to the end of the week and all.  Aren’t we all so proud?  I am.  Okay, so let’s do that whole Flashback thing I like to do at the end of the week, once more jumping back into the world of G.I. Joe, with a return look at the original Cobra B.A.T.!

After being a fairly straightforward military-based line of toys, and then a mostly down to earth adventure series for the first 20 years of its life, in the 80s, G.I. Joe gave up on that whole real world thing and threw caution to the wind. Okay, that’s not true. The first year of the 3 ¾ inch line was actually pretty modest. Then 1983 added Destro and Gung-Ho to the line and all bets were off. Prepare for the neon colors, the wacky specialists, and even the Battle Android Troopers!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The B.A.T. was released in the 1986 series of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (which, as I noted in my Lifeline review, was a pretty good year for the line). The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 15 points of articulation. That’s one more point than most of the line! Structurally, the figure was all new at the time, though his pieces would get used for a few other figures (though, none of them were B.A.T.s. It depicts the B.A.T. in its Cobra uniform, but there are actually some nice hints at it being a robot under the clothes, rather than just a normal person. The details are generally pretty sharp, at least for a figure of the time, and the mechanical arms in particular are very nicely detailed. The B.A.T. definitely looks unique from the other Cobra forces, while still fitting in great stylistically. The figure originally had a lenticular piece in the middle of the torso, detailing some of the B.A.T.’s internal mechanics. Sadly, my figure does not have this piece. The paint on the B.A.T. is decent, though not the greatest thing ever. The orange/yellow bits are a bit on the sloppy side, especially around the edges. That said, the overall look is pretty good. The Bat is pretty well accessorized, with four different right hand attachments (normal hand, claw, flame thrower, and gun), as well as a backpack to hold the extra attachments. Also, my figure has a small pistol thrown in, but that isn’t from the original figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up the B.A.T. loose from local toy store All Time Toys this past summer. I’ve always loved the B.A.T. design, and I’ve had several of the figures over the years, but I never had the original. Now I do! He’s a pretty nifty little figure, though I do think he’s been surpassed by a few of his successors.

This review was published in November of 2015, about two months after I got the figure.  I believe I slotted him in relatively quickly for review, but the fall of 2015 was honestly a really populated time for new items in need of review.  I’d gotten more inventive in how I mixed things up to keep the reviews more unique over that summer, and I was keeping that going at the time.  The review proper I think holds up pretty well.  It’s one of my briefer text pieces, but that’s not always a bad thing.  Missing at the time of the original review was the figure’s chest lenticular, which I’ve since found a replacement for.  It adds a nice bit of pop to the figure, and certainly makes him look more, you know, finished.

#4151: Clone Trooper — 501st Legion

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

CLONE TROOPER — 501st LEGION

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The clone trooper forces are gathering together for their next mission – and they want you to join them! With your own Republic Army Identification Card, you can become a member of the most elite fighting force in the galaxy. Your destiny awaits – join today!”

Listen up, here’s the story, about a little guy who lives in a blue world, and all day and all night and everything he see’s is just blue, like him, inside and outside.  

Oh, hey there, didn’t see you guys come in, you know, here on the website.  I was just singing thematically and what not.  What about?  Today’s Star Wars review, who’s another Clone, but his gimmick?  Well, he’s blue.  Da-ba-dee, da-ba-di.  Or some such.  The original clones were blue when they were Lieutenants, but by the time of Revenge of the Sith, the colors signified Legions and Battalions, not ranks.  The blue was then shifted to Anakin’s Legion, the 501st, and The Clone Wars would retroactively make the blue markings on Phase I armor represent the 501st.  And that’s how we get where we are now, looking that this rather blue figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Trooper — 501st Legion was released right around the same time as the initial Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in push in 2008, designed to coincide with the theatrical film’s release.  He was a Walmart exclusive, seemingly chosen by color, much like his counterpart Commander Fox.  Unlike Fox, however, the 501st Trooper didn’t suffer a price bump, instead maintaining the standard price point for the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The 501st Trooper uses the exact same mold as the original basic Clone Trooper mold from the line’s launch.  While it’s not quite as show accurate, it remains my favorite standard clone sculpt for this line, so I love seeing all of its uses, even if there aren’t all that many of them.  The paint work is where this guy changes things up, of course, with the most obvious change-up being the addition of the blue markings that signify he’s from the 501st.  The exact shade of blue used was always a bit back and forth.  This one’s on the lighter side, in contrast to the much darker blue used on the Rex from the initial launch.  It’s an odd bit of inconsistency, but I don’t hate the blue chosen here, so I’m not really complaining.  In addition to the extra details, the 501st Trooper also removes the heavy wash from the original clone, so that this guy ends up looking a fair bit cleaner.  While Fox, despite his higher price point, actually had less accessories than the figure whose mold he was sharing, the 501st Trooper not only gets the medium blaster and rocket launcher included with the standard Clone, but also includes the long blaster as well.  The blasters have a slightly brighter silver wash than the main assortment counterparts, which makes them look rather unique.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been much of a Walmart shopper, but I was especially not one when this figure hit, especially because the one closest to my parents house had an atrocious toy section, so there was no chance I was going to find this guy.  I knew he existed, and always kind of wanted one, but it just wasn’t really meant to be, at least not until later.  The first one of these I came across actually wound up going to Max, who also really wanted one, and I was already getting a bunch of other clones at the same time, so I let it slide.  When he decided to thin out his collection a few years later, I still hadn’t gotten one, so he passed it along to me, and here he is, having been in my collection for a bit now.  Like most of the early clones from this line, he’s a pretty fantastic all around figure, and just a lot of fun.

#4150: Jetstorm

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

JETSTORM

BEAST MACHINES (McDONALD’S)

In this site’s 14 year run, there have been only two McDonald’s Happy Meal toy reviews, and only one of them was actually written by me.  These days, they don’t tend to be anything all that impressive, but back in the day, back in the ‘90s?  Well, also then they were frequently not that impressive, let’s all be honest.  But every so often you got some that went above the grade.  Offered something at the very least close to the level of quality you might actually even intentionally pay money for.  Today’s one of those.  Let’s talk about Beast Machines.  After a successful three season run with Beast Wars, Hasbro decided they wanted a sequel show, with the remaining cast of Wars returning to Cybertron after leaving prehistoric Earth, and facing Megatron and his army of Vehicons.  While Beast Wars was certainly no stranger to some pathos and serializing of the story, Machines took it even further, and the results were…well, they were mixed to say the least.  Between the two shows, two of the surviving Maximals, Silverbolt and Rhinox, found their sparks reformatted and transferred over to the bodies of two of the Vehicon generals, Jetstorm and Tankor.  Intrigue!  Silverbolt’s kinda my guy when it comes to Beast Wars, so keeping with that theme, I do also kinda like Jetstorm, and I’m looking at his Happy Meal toy today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jetstorm was released as one of the 9 available toys in McDonald’s Beast Machines promotion, which ran in August of 2000, alongside the show’s second season’s debut.  They covered pretty much the whole core cast of the show, with figures that could transform into both modes for the characters, at least to some degree.  In his robot mode, Jetstorm is about 3 1/2 inches tall (I won’t say “stands” for reasons I’ll get to shortly) and he has 7 workable points of articulation.  So, why not “stands?” Because he really doesn’t.  In the show, Jetstorm would simply hover around when in his robot mode, and as such doesn’t *really* have legs.  The Hasbro figures (which were all quite off model) just gave him legs.  This one, on the other hand…well, you can split the nose of his jet mode in two and make it sort of sit flat, so there’s I guess sort of a way to make him stand like that.  It’s not really very stable, though, and obviously not accurate.  For most of the photos, as you can see, I’ve got him on a flight stand I personally provided, but he’s otherwise not great with remaining upright.  How’s that sculpt, though?  Honestly?  Not terrible.  Sure, he’s kind of chunky and clunky and all the other “unkies,” but compared to what Hasbro put out in the main line, it’s probably the closest any Jetstorm figure gets to actually being show accurate.  He’s even kind of posable, and also pretty decently painted, again, given the market here.  He transforms into his jet-mode, as you would expect, and it’s obviously gonna be pretty simple, but it works well, and the mode is sufficiently different from the robot one, as well as being decently accurate to the show model.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I watched a *little* Beast Wars when it was on, but not much.  Beast Machines, on the other hand, I actually saw a lot of in its first run.  Fox Kids was also running Avengers: United They Stand and Digimon in ’99, so I got into pretty much watching the whole block, Machines included.  I didn’t *love* it, but I dug the Jetstorm stuff, and then some re-runs of Wars caught me up to speed on Silverbolt, and I really liked him, so that kind of stuck.  Back in 2000, my cousin Rusty got this guy, and he didn’t really care about it, so I ultimately got to keep it, and I always rather liked it.  I couldn’t tell you what happened to it over the years, but I missed it.  Seven years working at a toy store gives you a lot of access to pretty much everything, so I did eventually see this guy come through, and Max pretty much forced me to take him home.  He really had to twist my arm on that one, I swear.  He’s fun.  He’s basic and clunky, and definitely a toy that came packaged with some food, but within the confines of what he is, he’s really cool.