An Ode To Power of the Force

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

Yesterday, May 28, 2026, I published my very last Power of the Force review.  It was a big moment for me, and in honor of it, I’d like to take a moment today to discuss my journey to this point, both on the site, and somewhat behind the scenes.

On March 26, 2014, I published my first review of a figure from Kenner’s ‘90s Power of the Force line (referred to as “Power of the Force II” or “PotF2” by fans, to differentiate from the shorter-lived line of the same name from the ‘80s).  The subject was Luke Skywalker in Dagobah Fatigues, appropriately enough my very first Star Wars action figure, bought brand new off the shelf in 1996.  My site was less then six months old at the time, and was really just a way of filling time between college classes.  I recall this review specifically was written on an iPad I was *supposed* to be using for notes in my Accounting 101 class, which was particularly boring that night.  At the time, I viewed the whole exercise as more about a quick nostalgic look at a toy from my youth, filling space before I got to some cool new thing that excited me.  I only wrote one more PotF review in that first year, a two-for-one of Jawas, also from my old collection.

The presence of the line here on the site was fairly spotty for the next couple of years, until a need for content to keep up with the daily schedule I was so dead-set on keeping led me to make the line a bi-monthly feature in the spring of 2017.  Even then, I viewed it as a way to clear out my backlog of old figures to review, not really as the beginning of anything significant beyond that.  

When I started working at a toy store in the fall of 2018, it gave me an unprecedented level of access to vintage action figures in general, but especially Power of the Force.  I started with a more general “hey it would be cool to get more characters I don’t own” approach, still not fully plunging into completism just yet.  Early in my time at this job, I had the opportunity to buy *most* of the figures I was missing from the Expanded Universe set, my favorite sub-set of the line.  I was left a single figure shy of the run, and I actually resorted to hunting the last one down, marking the first time I’d done more than just wait for a Power of the Force figure to land in front of me pretty much since the line was new.  Suddenly the dam broke; I’d completed the sub-set and now I felt encouraged to go further.

From that point forward, it became a mission.  I had checklists, and notes on how far I was willing to go with variants.  My boss and co-workers gave me first crack at any ‘90s Star Wars collections that came in, and would even give me a heads up on specific pieces.  At first, I didn’t care too much about completing my originals, but the parts became easy enough to find, adding more to the fun of it all.  I could build elaborate schedules of themes for reviews, balancing and tying in with all sorts of outside elements.  Admittedly, I got overwhelmed by the scale of it a few times, leading to periods of time where I’d have stacks of unopened figures for months, sometimes years (there’s a whole other post rattling around in my brain about the fine line between “collecting” and “hoarding” that may yet surface).  As I pulled more and more of the common figures I needed from collections coming into work, I found myself slowing down significantly.  When I departed my toy store job last summer, I was in need of only 15 pieces to complete my run.

In the last 10 months, I’ve slowly worked my way to completing the run, while also cracking open the stuff I’d already bought, and cleaning up and re-completing old figures for some addendums.  It’s been an interesting experience working my way up to this point, especially as things near the end.  There was a bit of a middle-of-the-journey slump, where I got stuck reviewing the less exciting figures, with some I’m sure less exciting reviews.  But, especially as I’ve come closer to the end, I’ve found myself reveling in some of the quirks, and even finding some gems that I honestly didn’t expect to like as much as I did.  The end has brought me the same spark of excitement that I had in the fall of 2018, when I first tapped back into the line as a proper collection.  In the middle, I don’t know that I was really expecting that.  There have been a few times where I came very close to giving up on the goal, but I’ve managed to pull through it, and at the end of it, I can say I’m honestly glad I did.

Is Power of the Force the greatest Star Wars line?  Well, I don’t know exactly how you quantify that, but regardless, the answer is “probably not.”  It’s got one heck of a learning curve on it, and some of the craziest “you had to be there” choices you can imagine.  There’s a definite glut of just kind of middling product, where you can just absolutely see them trying to see what sticks, but at the core of it all, it’s just so frequently unapologetic that it’s supposed to be a toyline for actually playing with, meaning even a “boring” or “middling” entry is still a good offering in terms of just being a good, core action figure.  As some crazy valuable investment or high end collector’s line, it absolutely fails.  But, that’s also not at all what it was meant to be, whether the collectors of the time got that or not.  And as someone who was actually a kid when it started and got to experience it the way lots of fans experienced the original vintage line?  Boy, do I just love it.  What a fantastic 30 years of collecting this has been.

#4063: Mace Windu

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

MACE WINDU

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“In the days before Palpatine’s Empire began its reign of terror, the Galactic Republic governed the affairs of the galaxy from the capital of Couruscant. In addition, the city-planet was also the seat of the legendary 12-member Jedi Council. Wisdom and experience were equally as important as abilities in the Force among the Jedi Council members. For this reason, Mace Windu, a senior member of the Jedi Council, was especially honored and revered throughout the Galactic Republic.”

Hey, remember last week, when I discussed the “Sneak Preview” offerings from Power of the Force to give people a taste of the then-upcoming Episode I line?  Well, there were two items offered.  The STAP and Battle Droid were offered up at standard retail, but promoted on the back of the box and available via a mail-away promotion was Samuel L Jackson’s senior Jedi Council member himself, Mace Windu!  Yes, this is from the before movie times when we were all like “this Mace Windu guy is clearly gonna *do stuff* in this movie” rather than “wow, that Mace Windu guy really didn’t *do anything* in that movie.”  Look, whatever the case, let’s look at the novelty that is the very first Mace Windu action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mace Windu was offered up as a mail-away promotion for Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  He required a whopping six proofs of purchase from standard figures, largely because he was really operating as a covert way of clearing excess stock off of retail shelves in preparation of all that hot new Episode I product that was definitely going to be a long-term investment, right?  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Mace was sporting what was an all-new sculpt at the time, though he wound up sharing his head, torso, and legs with the standard Episode I Mace.  This one was unique in offering up Mace just sort of casually wearing his robe, rather than with the hood up, or without the robe entirely, which makes it a nice sort of straight forward figure.  The head has a serviceable likeness of Jackson, given it’s the only one before they started scanning likenesses with the Attack of the Clones figures.  It’s got a nice, neutral expression, which fits Mace pretty well.  The body sculpt gets a surprising amount of texture detailing, which works really well to sell all the different fabrics.  The sculpted outer robe is similar to that of the Flashback Anakin figure, though it’s distinctly different.  His paint work is decent, mostly just base work, but it’s clean.  He does get the tiniest little bit of mud splatter on his boots, which is actually a pretty cool touch.  Mace is packed with a lightsaber.  It’s hard to call it *his* lightsaber, since it’s very much blue, but that was the case for all his Episode I merch, since it was supposed to be that color, before Jackson requested a different color in Attack so that he could more easily find himself in fight scenes.  Since Mace never powers up his saber in Phantom Menace, maybe it was just a different color then?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly don’t recall this promotion at all, which is strange, since I was very much collecting the line at the time.  I vaguely recall the final figure, mostly seen at toy shows and comic shops around the time, always for far more than a seven-year-old would be looking to pay.  For whatever reason, even later, I just never got one, perhaps because he quickly became comically cheap.  As it stands, Mace gets the significance of being the very final Power of the Force figure I needed to round out my full run of all the figures.  Not on purpose or anything, mostly just because he happened to be the last one.  He’s also the last one I’m reviewing here on the site.  He’s a fitting, I suppose, as something of a transitional figure.  And, after almost exactly 30 years, my Power of the Force collection that started with a comedically muscled Dagobah Fatigues Luke is complete. Weird.

#4062: Commander Ford

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

COMMANDER FORD

SEAQUEST DSV (PLAYMATES)

“Name: Jonathan Devin Ford

Rank: Commander

Assignment: Executive Officer, seaQuest DSV 4600

UEO Military ID#: CT366-9917-JG2

Security Access: AIA

Date of Birth: June 10, 1989

Character Profile: Driven and highly disciplined. Cool under pressure. Fiercely loyal. A serious by-the-book sailor. Above average intelligence reinforced by tireless work. Excellent command instincts.

Personal History: Was a positive role model in tough East Chicago neighborhood. Enrolled in academy at age 18. Graduated top of cadet class. Received record scores in diverse subjects. Earned Distinguished Service Citation for relieving Capt. Marilyn Stark of command during Livingston Trench Incident, 2017. Youngest ship’s Executive Officer in the fleet, serving as second in command of seaQuest.

Mission Specialty: Responsible for seaQuest’s 88 member Navy crew operations and all undersea Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) Missions.”

At the end of its first season SeaQuest DSV discarded about half of its main cast, which was certainly a disappointing direction for a lot of their stories.  But, perhaps more disappointing was the direction of one of the few characters to remain with the show for its whole run, Don Franklin’s Commander Jonathan Ford.  As the SeaQuest’s Executive Officer, he gets a lot of focus during the first year, as he is naturally grown into the kind of character that could replace Bridger as the commanding officer.  Then, in the second season, they just sort of introduce another guy with the same general role, without getting rid of Ford, meaning that Ford is increasingly side-lined, which was as much a bummer as it was to watch the others depart.  But, there’s no denying that he gets a lot of cool stuff to do in the first season, and he was also lucky enough to get action figure coverage too!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Ford was released in the only series of Playmates’ SeaQuest DSV tie-in line from during the show’s first season.  He’s the last of the crew members included in the line-up, but certainly a very natural one, given his heavy focus, especially in the show’s earlier episodes.  As with Hitchcock, it’s a shame he doesn’t have a Krieg to trade jabs with, but at least he got made at all.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  His construction is very much the same as we’ve seen with all the others up to this point, and it continues to be a solid set-up.  Ford’s uniform is a bit more neat and tidy than the others, which suits his more straight and narrow personality on the show, with Playmates again using variations on details for the standard uniform to inject a little more character into the figures.  The head sculpt is decent; I don’t know that it’s quite as strong a likeness as some of the others in the line, but it’s not to say it looks *unlike* Franklin.  I’d still put it above most of the Trek likenesses.  Ford’s color work is much like the rest of the standard uniformed officers, with mostly basic work, but some quite nice smaller detail work on the insignias and markings.  Ford is packed with a Stun Gun, SeaPoc, Personal Audio Link, Away Team Launcher, display stand, and a small rubber manta ray.  His accessories are a lot less unique than the last few, but that isn’t all that out of place for Ford, and they did at least make sure he had a decent volume of parts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Ford at the same time as the Hitchcock figure I reviewed two weeks ago.  My parents had gotten me O’Neill and told me there were others, so I went out myself and decided to finish out my crew…to the extent that the line allowed me to, anyway.  There’s not a ton to say about Ford, I suppose, since he leans pretty heavily on what the rest of the line was already doing, but there’s no denying that he’s just as nice a figure as the rest of them, and it’s cool that he got to be an action figure.  It’s okay, Ford, in my mind Brody got left on the island and you’re still the cool one.

#4061: Parademon

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

PARADEMON

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“Although the Parademons of Apokolips wear protective armor and can fly, their true strength is in their numbers.  There are literally thousands of them, and, the acting together, they can overcome even the most powerful heroes.”

After the first year was really focused in on the heavy hitters, in terms of both heroes and their antagonists, subsequent years of Kenner’s Super Powers run would dial in a bit more on the weirder side of DC.  Jack Kirby was brought in to do some work on the line, and a focus was placed on his creations the New Gods, who would serve as a notable backbone for the antagonistic side of the line.  It also gave us I believe our earliest instance of an army builder in a super hero line, in the form of the Parademon!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Parademon was released in the second series of Super Powers, as one of the six Fourth World figures added to the line-up that year.  The figure stands a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and it has 7 points of articulation.  Most of the Fourth World characters got some degree of redesign for the line (only Darkseid and Mr. Miracle kept their originals), and the Parademon is pretty much the most divergent design of the bunch.  Steppenwolf and Mantis both got pretty hefty re-works, but the Parademon winds up sharing no elements with its original comics look.  Perhaps there was a feeling that there was too much green amongst the villains?  Or maybe that the proper Parademon look, with its more ogre-ish features, might not be as kid friendly?  It’s hard to say.  I’m hard-pressed to say this is a bad design, mind you.  It’s actually pretty decent, and feels like a respectable take on a retro-inspired alien design.  It just doesn’t really read as a Parademon.  That said, the sculpt is fun.  It’s more cartoony than the rest of the line, but maintains the same level of detailing and general stylizing, so it doesn’t feel out of place with the rest of them.  The color scheme, heavy on reds and oranges, feels a bit more like Firestorm than anything else from the line, but it’s generally unique, and certainly stands out on the shelf.  The Parademon was packed with a yellow blaster pistol, which is easily lost (especially since the hands don’t really grip it all that tightly), so there’s reproductions available.  The Parademon also featured a wing-flapping action feature, triggered by squeezing the legs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased the Parademon for myself, more than two decades ago.  I’d gotten $20 to Cosmic Comix for Christmas, and used $15 of that to buy an Elongated Man, so I had $5 left, and that ended up going towards this guy, mostly because I didn’t have it.  He lacked his accessory, bit in more recent years I’ve “completed” it with a replacement gun from Made Like Old.  It’s a kind of weird figure, in that it’s got pretty much no connection to the comics, but it’s certainly not a bad toy, and it’s memorable for it’s sort of out there nature.

#4060: Viper

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

VIPER

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Bursting onto the scene are the most powerful heroes and villains. Leading the pack against evil is the gamma-powered savage She-Hulk and the she-devil of the Savage Land — Shanna! Keeping to the shadows is the enigmatic ninja, Elektra, while Silver Fox relies on her training as a top secret government operative. But it is the Viper, who uses her powers and abilities for personal gain, no matter what she must destroy to get it.”

Okay, so here we are at Day 12 of the ever growing “Day of the Vipers,” where I look at every version of the—what’s that?  Oh, I’m getting word it’s not one of *those* Vipers.  It’s a totally different, completely unrelated Viper who works for a serpent-themed terrorist organization.  My mistake.  So, let’s look at this here figure of Viper, also known as Madame Hydra, though not for this particular figure.  She’s neat.  Maybe not as neat as a Cobra Viper, but still neat.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Viper is part of the seventh series of the Puzzle Zoo-exclusive Marvel Hall of Fame line, also the third and final to use the “She-Force” branding, as well as the final assortment of the line as a whole.  While the whole of this series is pretty heavy on kind of morally grey characters, Viper is kind of the most emphatically “bad” of the bunch, so I guess she’s the defacto “villain” of the bunch.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  As with the rest of the line, Viper is a total parts re-use figure.  Like Elektra, she’s using Light-Up Psylocke’s body, complete with the now non-functioning battery compartment.  It’s now topped off by the head from White Queen, which is…fine?  It doesn’t at all do Viper’s usual covering the eye look, and seems very short.  But, I guess it’s decently menacing.  The base body is fine, though, as the costume details match up closely enough to work.  She gets a soft-goods belt and…yeah, that part’s not great.  It just kind of looks like someone tied a green ribbon around her waist.  Which, I guess, isn’t inaccurate.  Her color work has a lot of green, which is nice, since it differentiates her pretty well from the other uses of the molds.  Some of the application’s a little sloppy, but it’s not awful for the most part.  Viper includes two black pistols, which are re-used from older molds, and are kind of silly.  She also included a card, which for my figure was Professor X.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember pretty much nothing about this figure.  My interactions with Viper in general have been minimal.  I liked her in Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and I *didn’t* like her in The Wolverine, and her comics appearances have never much inspired me.  But, she had this Toy Biz figure, and I do like those.  I think I got her at the same time as Elektra from last week.  She was certainly part of a larger batch of figures, I know that.  She’s fine.  Nothing fancy, but also nothing truly bad.  Well, maybe the belt, but it’s minor.  And, honestly, I don’t even think this is her worst figure (that would be the first Hasbro Legends release).

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0077: Clone Emperor Palpatine

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

CLONE EMPEROR PALPATINE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

*Sigh* …Somehow Palpatine returned…

Hey, so, you guys remember when I reviewed the Millennium Minted Coin Emperor Palpatine and I remarked that reviewing him meant I wouldn’t have to talk about Palpatine again? Well, there’s an addendum.  So…you know…gotta talk about Palpatine again.  Here we go.  Talking about Palpatine again.

“Six years after the destruction of the second Death Star, the galaxy is thrust into turmoil. A reborn evil threatens to enslave the galaxy, and the Republic’s closest friend – Luke Skywalker – may become their greatest enemy. With the power to transfer his consciousness to genetic clones, a younger, stronger Emperor Palpatine is perilously close to gaining total control of the galaxy forever.”

Following the conclusion of the original Star Wars movies, there was no immediate follow up planned. The prequels were still just a concept, and the sequel trilogy wasn’t even a glimmer in Kathleen Kennedy’s eye. The next best thing was the Expanded Universe, which fans latched onto pretty quickly. In the ’90s, in the midst of their re-launched toy line, Kenner created an EU-centered sub-line. Amongst that line were two figures based on the “Dark Empire” story, which included today’s figure, Clone Emperor Palpatine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Clone Emperor Palpatine was released in Kenner’s one series Star Wars: Expanded Universe line in 1998. As noted in the intro, this figure hails from “Dark Empire,” a story which sees Palpatine brought back in a series of cloned bodies. Without the name on the package to go by, you could be forgiven for not recognizing this as Palpatine, since he’s noticeably less wrinkly than he usually is. The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall (the EU figures were a little smaller) and he has 7 points of articulation. Where’s that extra point coming from you ask? Why, from his left wrist. And why just the left wrist? Because it’s actually just a side effect of making the left hand removable. It was actually pretty common around this period of Kenner’s Star Wars figures, before they realized they could do more with that joint than just detachable limbs. Now, you may have noticed my Emperor has no left hand. I lost it. Silly me. Palpatine’s sculpt was unique to him. It showed Kenner’s trend towards much less exaggerated stylings, and honestly feels more like a vintage figure than a lot of his compatriots. His robe is a separate, removable piece, which goes on and off pretty easily, and is a pretty solid sculpt to boot. The paint work on this guy is about on par with the rest of Kenner’s offerings around the time. It’s all cleanly applied, and the details are fairly sharp. It’s not terribly exciting, but there it is. Palpatine was packed with a light saber–blue, so as to leave everyone all confused and shocked. There was also this cool 3D fold-out playset thing with all of these figures. I really wish I still had that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t tell you exactly why I got this guy. I got him from the Farpoint dealer’s room, back when he was new. He shortly followed my acquisition of Luke from the same series. I think I just wanted someone to go with him.

Right, so there were *four* figures based on Dark Empire, past Ethan.  Get your facts straight!  This was a late 2017 review, so I was writing it in the lead-up to Last Jedi.  It’s funny, of course, because I had no idea at the time that they’d actually be using the Clone Emperor angle in Rise, thereby giving some more relevance.  Apart from the issue of how many Dark Empire figures there were, I do have some other notes about my review.  Mainly, though I say I can’t recall *why* I bought Palpatine, I actually can; I’d gotten Luke from the Farpoint dealers room, and was dismayed that he had a red lightsaber, which felt wrong.  Since this guy had a blue one, my Grandmother let me get him to swap the two.  This figure would also mark my only figure of Palpatine until I was an adult, because, as noted, I find the character kind of meh.  When I reviewed the figure, he was missing a hand, his lightsaber, and his fold-out backdrop.  I’ve since managed to replace all three, making him a much nicer all around offering.  There’s just no denying the coolness of those backdrops.  And there.  I did it.  I wrote about Palpatine.  And now I don’t have to do it again.

#4059: STAP & Battle Droid

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

STAP & BATTLE DROID

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The STAP is a small, one-pilot, repulsorlift vehicle outfitted with two laser cannons. It is extremely maneuvarable, making perfect for patrol, reconnaissance and battle. STAPs are operated by battle droids who function as the infantry of the Trade Federation army.”

In 1998, the world anticipated the first film in the long-anticipated Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Kenner (or rather Hasbro, who owned Kenner and were preparing to move operations in house and dissolve the Kenner brand), then quite deep into Power of the Force II, a decidedly OT-based line, was working on a dedicated line of figures for this as of yet unnamed Star Wars: Episode I, but before getting there, they injected a little bit of product into the currently running line.  In what became a standard practice for the Prequel era, a small selection of “Sneak Preview” items were dropped in advance, in order to help drum up interest.  For Episode I, the focus at retail was on a single item, a small vehicle and pack-in figure in the form of the STAP and Battle Droid, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The STAP and Battle Droid were a standalone “Sneak Preview” release from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II.  The set was dropped with a decent amount of fanfare (including an honest to god TV commercial) in 1998.  It’s a uniquely sized item for the line, not really occupying the same footprint as other small vehicle and rider set-ups from PotF.  It was definitely built more for display in package, which does me zero good, since I totally ripped that sucker open!

The Single Trooper Aerial Platform, or STAP, was a pretty solid choice for the first official prequel offering, since they remained a recurring element pretty much all the way through the end of Clone Wars.  This one was obviously an all-new mold at the time, but would see quite a bit of re-use over the years, again, up through Clone Wars.  It’s not hard to see why; it’s pretty accurate to the source material, fairly sturdy, and even has a pretty cool flight stand.  There’s a feature where the missiles launch when you push up on the foot plate, which is gimmicky, but still pretty fun.  The color work is pretty respectable, matching the movie’s tones pretty closely, and also offering up a nice amount of accenting, wear, and texturing.

Our first trooper from the new movies was the Battle Droid.  We got a whole lot of them over the years, but this one was the first, and he was designed specifically with the STAP in mind.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Since he was specifically designed to pilot, that means he actually gets working knee and elbow joints, which are surprisingly uncommon for small scale Battle Droids, given how easily they work into the design.  That said, he’s really not designed for standing on his own; his ankles are tilted back, and his toes are pointed inward, which makes him a bit precarious.  Also, his shoulder and elbow joints are very loose, in order to not hinder the action features on the STAP, so he just sort of flings them about when he’s not on the vehicle.  It’s kinda goofy.  He’s just a basic Battle Droid, with no command markings.  He’s got some shading, as well as a little bit of “wear,” and looks pretty much like all the other Droids from the movie, which is hardly a bad thing.  As essentially an accessory to the vehicle, he works well to do what he needs to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall *exactly* when I got this one, largely because it’s an exceedingly common piece.  A lot of speculators bought it, and pretty much no one opened it, so it’s everywhere.  It got traded in at work, like, a lot, so I had my pick of offerings.  One of the times it came in, I decided that was specifically the time, and thus, one came home with me.  You know, and then it sat, sealed, on my shelf, for a few years.  Yeah.  Look, I finally got to it, and that’s the most important thing, right?  Right.  I do like this set.  It’s basic and there’s some definite gimmicks, but I think it did a good job of selling hype for the movie, and it’s a pretty nice little piece.  If you want a neat little Battle Droid toy, you can’t really go wrong with this one.  And, thus, for the last time, I feel like I put off opening a Power of the Force figure for longer than I should have, because, at their heart, they really were pretty fun, right?

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#4058: Mekaneck

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MEKANECK — HEROIC HUMAN PERISCOPE

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

Did you guys hear that the Masters of the Universe movie bombed at the box office?  Isn’t that crazy, what with it not being out in theaters for another two weeks and all?  Feels like actually letting the movie come out in theaters *might* be an essential part of how it does in said theaters, but what do I know; I’m just a guy who writes about toys.  While the last Masters movie was pretty sparse on the colorful denizens of Eternia it included, this one seems to be going more in depth (hardly a surprise, given director Travis Knight’s Bumblebee did a similar thing with the Transformers in its Cybertron sequences), which means that they’ve also included my personal favorite Master, Mekaneck, heroic human periscope!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck is part of the second series of the basic movie tie-in Masters of the Universe line from Mattel, released in preparation for the movie’s drop in June.  He’s a one-per-case release, so he’s a little rarer, but he’s also Mekaneck, so I can kind of get it.  Honestly, I’m surprised he made out as quickly as he did at all.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation.  In terms of articulation, the line’s pretty closely following the Origins set-up, which is a solid selection of movement.  Style-wise, it’s a lot like the “core” lines Hasbro was doing for some of their movie tie-ins, like GI Joe or the Marvel movies.  I think Mattel’s implementation here is working a bit better, though.  Mekaneck has a sculpt that, as far as I know, is unique to him.  It’s possible he might share limbs with others, but I haven’t picked up any others from the line, so I can’t say for sure.  I can say it’s a pretty decent sculpt.  It looks pretty accurate to his appearance in the movie, at least based on what we’ve seen thus far, and it’s also a pretty respectable adaptation of Mekaneck’s usual look.  A little more rounded off, and most notably missing the furry shorts on the outside of his pants, but it certainly reads as Mekaneck.  His color work is on the basic side, mostly just getting the broadest of the colors.  This leaves a lot of details, especially on the arms and legs, just totally unpainted.  That said, it’s not a terrible look, as those are sections that can believably be all one color, and it’s well within what’s expected for this scale and style.  What application is there is cleanly handled, with minimal bleedover and no slop to speak of.  Mekaneck is packed with a small blaster pistol, which is rather a departure from his usual club, but let’s go with it, as well as two extended neck segments, which are similar to the Masterverse version in how they work.  I really do like the modular idea on the neck segments, and they add a lot of posing variety.  My only complaint is that I might like to have a few more of them, but the two included still offer a lot of options.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Mekaneck was announced as being in the new movie, I was kind of expecting him to be one of those “hey, here’s a crowd of people in one shot and they look vaguely like some guys from the toyline” things, and not really in any sort of focus.  I definitely wasn’t thinking of new toys.  So, I was a bit surprised when this guy just kind of started showing up places.  I had a handful of things I was putting off ordering from Entertainment Earth, so I got myself a nice little shipment of new stuff, and it’s this guy’s fault.  And honestly?  I’m okay with that.  He’s great for the price, and just a resoundingly fun little Mekaneck figure.  I’m a sucker for a resoundingly fun Mekaneck figure.

#4057: Green Arrow

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

GREEN ARROW

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

“Green Arrow uses an arsenal of ingenious trick arrows in his war against crime.  These weapons, combined with his keen eyes and steady hands, make him feared by criminals everywhere.”

A lot of Kenner’s inspiration for their Super Powers line was drawn from Super Friends, understandable, given the show was the defining take on most of the characters for a lot of people at the time.  They ultimately went deeper on the Justice League line-up than the show ever did, but even some of their deeper cuts, like Green Arrow, who had a guest appearance in the show, were still banking on that tie-in.  Though not as big a name as others (at the time; he’s certainly a lot more mainstream now), Green Arrow had a tendency to be one of the nicer figures of any line he occupied.  Was this one an exception?  Let’s find out.  Okay, no, I won’t string you along, that’s just cruel.  He’s not an exception; he’s very nice. Let’s get into the specifics.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Arrow was released in the second series of Kenner’s Super Powers line, one of four new JLA members added that year.  All of them built on the Satellite era line-up, which was still fairly current at the time.  This was Arrow’s second time as an action figure, following up on his debut during Mego’s run.  Both figures used his second, far more distinctive look, which is really a classic.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s got pretty much the standard articulation for the line, with the standard set-up, and the frequent “squeeze the legs” gimmick, which in this figure’s case is a “Power Action Archery Pull”, raising his arms up as if he’s taking aim with his bow.  His sculpt is on par with the quality of the rest of the line, which is to say it’s very good.  Proportions are generally well-balanced, and there’s plenty of costume details to keep things interesting.  Things like the little “G” buckle and the wrinkles in his boots are very cool, and give the whole thing quite a nice flair.  Everything below the neck on this guy was later re-used (with some light re-tooling to remove the knee joints) for Kenner’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves tie-in line’s take on the original emerald archer, albeit with a rather ill-sized Kevin Costner head shoved on the neck joint.  But, at the time, it was all unique to Ollie, and it looked really good.  He’s got a bit of pre-posing on the arms, to better work with a bow and arrow set-up.  The figure’s paint is pretty solid; there’s three whole shades of green, which gives him some decent variety.  Application is basic but clean, and he really does look the part.  Green Arrow was packed with his bow and three arrows, which are very nice pieces, but also very, very easily lost, which is why mine has a set of reproductions.  The bow is held securely in his left hand, and the arrows can either go in his quiver, or one of them clips to the bow, to aid in this “Archery Pull” gimmick.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, I got at least one Super Powers figure each year for Christmas.  This guy is one of the very few I specifically requested.  The year prior I’d gotten Green Lantern, and I really wanted to have this guy to go with him.  In order to make sure I got him, my dad actually bought me a rather sizable lot of Super Powers, which included my Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Superman as well, and accessories for a few others I already had.  Green Arrow was certainly the star, even without his accessories.  As with Aquaman, I recently “completed” him with a set of repro parts from Made Like Old, though he thankfully didn’t need the extensive paint work that Aquaman did.

#4056: Elektra

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

ELEKTRA

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Bursting onto the scene are the most powerful heroes and villains. Leading the pack against evil is the gamma-powered savage She-Hulk and the she-devil of the Savage Land — Shanna! Keeping to the shadows is the enigmatic ninja, Elektra, while Silver Fox relies on her training as a top secret government operative. But it is the Viper, who uses her powers and abilities for personal gain, no matter what she must destroy to get it.”

Oh, goody, it’s Elektra.  I sure do love Elektra.  Oh, wait, no, it’s the other thing.  I hate Elektra.  Okay, no, that’s not true either.  In actuality I’m generally indifferent on Elektra.  I think she can at times be *fine*.  I even outright liked her during Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil a few years ago.  But in general, I think she’s just kind of “meh.”  She had quite a force of interest behind her in the ’90s and ‘00s, though, so she wasn’t exactly inescapable.  Toy Biz, who held the license during her high point, made use of that popularity to give her a few different figures.  The first was a rather baffling repaint of Psylocke in an X-Men assortment, but she also got a couple of other…repaints, but at least they weren’t in an X-Men assortment.  Here’s one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Elektra was released in the seventh series of the Puzzle Zoo-exclusive Marvel Hall of Fame line, which was the third to bear the title “She-Force.”  This was the final assortment of the line as a whole, and by extension the final “She-Force” line-up as well.  Elektra’s costume choice is a very focused one that’s really not the norm for her, going with her bald look from around “Fall From Grace.”  It’s a noted departure from her designs up to that point, and she’d *just* abandoned it for something more in-line with earlier designs, but it’s part of the story that brought her back into the Daredevil supporting cast, and it also pairs off with the armored DD that Toy Biz did during their Marvel Super Heroes run…if you don’t mind him being a bit too short.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  The first Elektra was a repaint of the Light-Up series Psylocke.  This one continues with that in, admittedly, an odd way.  The body is once again light-up Psylocke, but the head is retooled from the Ninja Psylocke from later in the line, with the hair removed, a headband added, and a hole in the side for the trail of the headband, which is…just the remainder of the original figure’s sash?  Like, there’s still only one sash piece included, so you need to pick whether it goes in the head or the hip, and just leave a gaping hole wherever it’s not.  Why not just include two?  Budget, I guess.  Now, the weirdness regarding the body is this: Ninja Psylocke is herself a retool of Light-up Psylocke, with the spot where the batteries originally went filled in.  For whatever reason, Elektra is using the original version of the mold, so she’s got an empty battery housing.  Since they were already using the Ninja head, why not also used the modified torso?  Otherwise, I guess it’s fine.  The costume details between Psylocke and Elektra match up decently enough, and the head, while a bit awkward, isn’t terrible.  In terms of paint, she’s got a layout that matches her Light-Up figure, but the outfit is now white, her “resurrection” outfit.  Depending on which production run the figure’s from, she’s either a flat white or a pearlescent one; mine is the latter.  Elektra was packed with a sword, reused from Corsair, and not at all accurate to what she usually uses, but whatever.  She also included a card, which in my figure’s case was Gambit’s ex, Belladonna.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I owned exactly none of the Toy Biz Elektra figures growing up, so obviously not this one.  I sort of remember her existing, but I don’t know if I totally connected that she was the same character as the others.  I ended up adding her to my collection with a couple of other She-Force figures, which I want to say came from an antique mall?  I didn’t really think much about her at the time.  I still don’t, honestly.  She’s got some weird oddities in construction.  But, ultimately, it’s a pretty unique look, and not likely to get another run.