#4012: Brimstone Love

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BRIMSTONE LOVE

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“The proprietor of the Theater of Pain, Brimstone Love is in the business of suffering! This shape-shifter takes personal interest in the souls he seeks to exploit, making sure to document and record every torturous moment, and ensuring a healthy profit on the blackest of markets. He has currently taken an interest in the lives of the X-Men, dispatching his seekers to hunt the mutants down and bring them into Brimstone Love’s web of calculated cruelty.”

In the ‘90s, Marvel launched a whole line of comics that was set in the future of the Marvel universe, in the year 2099, at that time over a hundred years removed from the main continuity.  Mostly, these days, it exists as the background of the creation of Miquel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099, who was far and away the most conventionally popular of the bunch, but they had equivalents for most of the major Marvel titles at the time, which of course included X-Men.  While X-Men 2099 and its cast have largely faded into obscurity, they did at the very least get their own dedicated toyline, covering not just the team, but also some of their antagonists.  Once such antagonist was Brimstone Love, a guy whose name is Brimstone Love…and, yeah, I don’t actually have another thing to say about him.  Name’s cool, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brimstone Love was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line.  He’s the only non-team member in the first series, but still a notable character from the early run of the book, fitting with the rest of the figures.  The figure stands 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He lacks a neck joint, and also elbows, but does get a waist swivel, albeit one that’s somewhat spring-loaded for an “attack” feature.  Brimstone’s sculpt was all new to him, and remained unique to him for all of Toy Biz’s run.  I guess that makes sense, since it’s rather a unique design, and there’s little call for such a sculpt to be repurposed for other characters.  It’s generally not a bad recreation of Ron Frenz’s illustrations of the character.  He’s got a distinctive set of proportions, matching Brimstone’s admittedly very ‘90s build from the comics, and the angular nature of the musculature is certainly distinctive.  His cape is a separate piece, which can be removed, though it’s not really designed with that in mind.  It’s not actually affixed, mind you, but sits around the neck, sort of free-floating.  His color work is decent enough, again matching the comics look.  The bulk of him is this a pretty neat metallic blue, and he’s got a splash of red going on, which keeps things from getting too monotonous.  Brimstone is packed with a flame effect attachment, as well as what I have to assume is maybe a set of brass knuckles?  I don’t know, and the packaging didn’t say.  The flame is flat and opaque, but generally fine.  The knuckles are the same color, and fit well over the figure’s hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I think I’ve maybe read one issue of X-Men 2099 over the years, so I can’t say I know much of the characters beyond what I’ve loosely gleaned from the tie-in toys.  Brimstone is one of those characters that I really don’t know, but I snagged him as part of a lot that had pretty much all of the other X-Men 2099 figures, back a few years ago.  Most of them were incomplete, but Brimstone notably had all of his parts, as well as his cardback.  He’s an interesting figure.  Kind of limited in what he can do, but he certainly casts an imposing silhouette. 

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0065: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

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LUKE SKYWALKER in STORMTROOPER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Welcome to the end of another week!  Once more it’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Jumping back over to the Star Wars side of things, I’m revisiting Luke Skywalker, of the disguised as a Stormtrooper variety!

 “Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in.”

So, apparently there was this movie released yesterday. Star Wars? Kind of a big deal I guess. While I’m still totally up to date on the actual Last Jedi stuff in my collection, I still have plenty of older figures in the backlog. And, since I looked at the Stormtrooper Disguise Han Solo two weeks ago, why not take a looksie at his companion Luke figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper was released in the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II, as that year’s third variant of Luke, and the fifth overall Luke in the line. This was our second Stormtrooper Disguise Luke, following the one released in the original Power of the Force line. He’s about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. Despite how it may look, the only re-used piece on this guy is the torso, which is the same one used on the Stormtrooper Han. Nevertheless, he’s still the same height as Han and the basic troopers, meaning he’s not actually short for a Stormtrooper. Instead of Han’s more pre-posed look, Luke has a more generic standing pose, which looks decent enough. He still follows the general style of the line, so he’s far more muscle bound than any of the troopers we see on screen. But, like I said with Han, if you’re gonna have the style, I guess it’s best to stick with it. His head is a re-working of the early PotF2 Luke head. It’s not one of the better Hamill likenesses, but it’s not as terrible as some of the early sculpts. Plus, it means he fits with the rest of them, which I suppose is for the best. The paint on Luke is fairly straight forward stuff. It’s pretty clean overall, and matches up with the rest of the line pretty well. Luke was packed with a removable helmet (the same one included with Han) and a standard Stormtrooper blaster. It’s a pretty standard set of extras, but more than one accessory is always nice with a Star Wars figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Han as a mail-away, I was on the look out for this guy. It took him a little while to hit, but I ended up finding him at Another Universe, the comic book store in the local mall. I was pretty excited for him, and he makes for a pretty cool pairing with Han to be sure.

This review went up the day after the release of The Last Jedi.  It would have most certainly been written before I saw the movie, more than likely a week or two in advance.  I had no idea at the time what kind of response we were in for.  Man, what a wonderfully blissful time that was, huh?  As far as the actual review, this one was pretty well on point.  I think he’s generally an okay figure, albeit a rather dated one.  The only thing missing from my original was his blaster rifle, which I’ve since replaced.  Yay, he can shoot people now.  Also, for some reason I didn’t have turnarounds for this guy, so I’m adding those too!

#4011: Pote Snitkin

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POTE SNITKIN

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Pote Snitkin worked as a helmsman for Jabba the Hutt. The Skrilling piloted one of Jabba’s desert skiffs before foolishly battling Jedi Luke Skywalker over the Great Pit of Carkoon.”

There are a great many Star Wars characters with multiple action figures under their belt.  Even some of the more minor ones.  In particular, the earlier you are in the run of the line, the more likely it is that there are other versions of the characters.  Power of the Force has a lot of characters who are prone to multiple releases, but there are a few unique ones in the mix.  Today, I’m looking at one of the unique ones, Pote Snitkin, a rather minor character from the Jabba sequence at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.  Let’s take a look at Pote!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pote Snitkin is the last of the four figures in the Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II from 1998.  He is also, notably, the last single carded figure from the line that I’m reviewing here on the site, which is pretty nifty.  The figure a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  While he’s got the standard articulation set-up for the line, he’s notably pretty restricted by how the sculpt is laid out with it all.  The neck joint in particular is without much range, and the shoulders don’t do much in the default configuration.  That said, his outer poncho piece is removable, which frees up the shoulders a bit more.  The actual sculpt quality is quite strong.  He’s got a lot of depth, with plenty of texture work.  He very much feels at home in the lived-in look of the Star Wars universe, and exhibits some of the most in depth sculpting of the line at this time.  Pote’s got a decent build to him, being notably bigger and bulkier than the standard figure, which just gives the sculpting more of a canvas to work with.  He’s a little bit pre-posed, especially on the arms, but it’s all rather natural, and he looks fine just standing.  Pote’s color work is, much like the sculpt, quite strong.  The base colors seem a decent match for the movie, and he gets a pretty nice selection of accenting, which helps to further emphasize the level of sculpted detailing.  Pote is packed with a force pike, a blaster rifle, and a Freeze Frame…that doesn’t actually have Pote in it…since it’s apparently his “view” of Luke clearing the skiff.  Kind of an odd choice, but there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had none of the Fan Club figures as a kid, as I didn’t actually know they existed, so Pote was not for child Ethan.  Pote’s not for most of the Ethans up to this point, because it actually took me a little bit to get one.  He’s easily the least frequently appearing of the four figures, I’m sure in no small part due to this being his only figure.  As it happens, Pote is, as touched on above, the last single carded figure I needed for my set, who I finally managed to snag on eBay.  He’s a really strong figure, actually, quite possibly the line’s finest sculpt.  There’s a lot to like there, and it’s aged very well, while still feeling right at home with the rest of the line.  Feels like a pretty fitting final single to pick up.

#4010: John Carter

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JOHN CARTER

TARZAN: THE EPIC ADVENTURES (TRENDMASTERS)

“The Warlord of Mars!  Faster, smarter and a better swordsman than any Martian warrior, John Carter has no equal!”

Writer Edgar Rice Burroughs is perhaps best know for his creation Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, but Tarzan isn’t actually Burroughs’ first enduring pulp hero.  That would be the star of his “Barsoom” series, John Carter, Warlord of Mars.  John Carter is a precursor to…well, just about every major sci-fi hero since, so, you know, kind of a big deal.  Despite his significance in the world of fiction, John’s not had the same level of success as Tarzan.  They both had Disney movies, but one has a Phil Collins soundtrack that shaped a generation, and the other is the victim of executive in-fighting and got essentially no merchandising.  Tarzan’s gotten a lot of merch over the years, especially action figures.  Carter?  Well, he’s got a couple.  Here’s one of them.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

John Carter was released as part of Trendmasters’ 1995 Tarzan: The Epic Adventures line, specifically under its “Conqueror of Mars” sub-line.  He was available one of three ways.  First, as part of a two-pack with the Thark O Mad Zad, then in a larger nine figure boxed set, and then finally alongside his wife Deja Thoris.  The figure stands (or crouches, anyway) 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 3 points of articulation.  Movement is limited to swivels at the neck and both shoulders.  None of the joints are fully unobstructed, especially the shoulders, but there’s a bit of variety to be had nonetheless.  The sculpt to this guy is unique.  He’s sporting some intricate armor, which is a little larger and more involved than we usually see John in, but it’s also not totally out of place.  He’s incredibly pre-posed, to the point that a Total Justice figure looks tame.  He’s got a very serious deep lunge going on.  All of that pre-posing makes the exact proportions of John seem…off?  The arms are most certainly too long for the rest of the body, but at least they’re bent at the elbows, so as to better hide it.  His head is a reasonable enough rendition of John.  The scream is kind of an odd choice, as that’s more of a Tarzan thing, but it works in a sort of action oriented sense.  John’s color work feels pretty true to the illustrations of the character.  He’s kind of orange, but less-so than Deja Thoris, suggesting it’s just from all the time he’s spent on the red planet.  John was packed with a sword and small pistol, allowing for him to really get into that action-oriented orientation.  For action.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew Tarzan from all manner of media tie-ins when I was a kid, but didn’t know John Carter prior to this line.  In my defense, I was three.  Given it was a Tarzan line, I was more invested in Tarzan, but my dad, a pretty big Barsoom fan, was eager to track down that particular set of characters, which got me interested in just who the heck they were.  I subsequently read the first book, which got me pretty invested in Carter as a character.  Not too long after, I tracked down this one for myself, picking him up loose, sometime in the early ‘00s.  He’s a goofy figure, but there’s limited options for Carter, so it’s always nice to get anything at all.  And there’s no denying this guy has a certain charm about him.

#4009: Dr. Polaris

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DR. POLARIS

DC SUPER HEROES (HASBRO)

“Doctor Polaris’s electromagnetic powers were recently boosted by the mysterious entity known as Neron.  These powers, which are now part of Polaris’s body instead of being generated by weapons, provide the evildoer with forcefield protection as well as staggering strength.”

Interspersed with their overabundance of Batman-centric lines in the ‘90s, Kenner did try a few not-Batman DC lines, to mixed results.  There was a larger focus one, Total Justice, which only made it three series, each one a smaller run than the last.  There was a fourth assortment, which got pretty far in the process before being scrapped.  So far that there were molds to be used later, when Hasbro decided to revisit them as a run of two-packs for their direct market line.  Each series of Total Justice had one token villain, which, had the line continued, would have been today’s focus, Doctor Polaris, who had just gotten a major overhaul during the “Unleashed” storyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Polaris (as it’s written on the name part of the box, even though it’s spelled out in his bio on the back) was one half of a two-pack from Hasbro’s DC Super Heroes line.  The other half was a Kyle Rayner variant, which would have been in the assortment.  It’s a pretty solid pairing, since Polaris is a GL villain, and had just been re-established with Kyle in the comics.  The figure stands almost 6 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He was quite sizable, which was kind of odd, since he wasn’t usually that large in the comics.  The update to his powers had made things a little bit nebulous, though, and they liked to have a larger villain figure, so I guess it wasn’t the worst thing.  The sculpt was all-new to this guy, based on Polaris’s updated design from the ‘90s.  I’m a sucker for this look, as tied to that decade as it may be.  It’s goofy, but when is Polaris *not* goofy?  His sculpt is slightly pre-posed, but certainly on the more minor side for Total Justice.  Mostly, it’s just sort of an idle stance, and I think it works.  His cape is quite dynamic in its flow, and that’s also quite nice; gotta love those arching shoulders.  Doctor Polaris’s color work is a good match for his comics look at the time.  He’s got a lot of metallic finish, which gives him an armored appearance that works well for the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was the second of these two-packs I got (after the Superboy & King Shark set), picked up from Cosmic Comix back when it was still new.  I think I bought the set more for the GL at the time, but he wound up being sort of “meh” for me, ultimately, while I found myself rather quickly attached to Polaris here.  It was my first introduction to the character, and I’ve ultimately always thought of this look first and foremost because of it.  I think it’s just a solid, fun figure. 

#4008: Forearm

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FOREARM

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“This Evil Mutant loves to fight! Forearm’s favorite boast is that he’s the best in hand-to-hand-to-hand-to-hand combat. It’s not a hollow boast either-Forearm can clobber a dozen attackers in seconds. Locked doors can’t keep him out for long, either. His rapid-fire piledriver punches can buckle steel! Though he can use guns if he has to, Forearm prefers to fight with his fists. Because he’s so good at it, Magneto the leader of the Evil Mutants is only too happy to let him!”

You know the expression “too cute by half?”  Well, if I were to refer to today’s focus, Forearm, as having a name that was too cute by half, and we factored in that his starting point is actually twice the mode for a person, would that mean that, relative to others, you he might be too cute by a whole?  Or am I just overthinking this?  I did, after all, adjust my second sentence there to replace “average” with “mode” because I realized it was incorrect to say the average person has two arms.  So, you know, probably overthinking it.  Not like Liefeld when he came up with Forearm, a guy who has four arms.  He really just went for the obvious on that one, right?  Yeah.  Forearm is so not overthought that his bio up there mentions Magneto, a guy I’m not sure Forearm has ever actually worked for, but not Stryfe, the guy that Forearm was working for when this figure came out, who was in fact included in the same very series.  But I’m back to overthinking it.  Let’s just review Forearm, the man with four arms.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Forearm is the final figure in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Force, a nine figure line-up that’s only actually got three members of the team, which is an odd kind of start, especially relative to how X-Men launched.  Perhaps they were just building for longevity?  I suppose they kind of won out on that one.  Where was I?  Right, Forearm.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  He gets extra movement thanks to the extra arms, but offsets it a bit with a lack of knee joints.  I guess it helps keep him a little more stable on his feet.  I do like that this figure, unlike some other more-than-two-armed people, gets separate shoulder movement for each arm, albeit tied into his “punching” action feature.  Forearm’s sculpt is pretty much on par with the others from this first assortment.  It does a respectable job of capturing the character’s look, and not looking too dated…you know, apart from the character’s general design.  His hair is undeniably an odd shape sticking up out of the headband all flat like that.  It looks not unlike a pot-pie, something I can demonstrate with a handy photoshop courtesy of my boi Tim.  Look at that silly pot-pie lookin’ hair.  Otherwise, though, the proportions seem fine, and the level of definition on the details is pretty sharp.  Forearm’s paint work is fine.  Generally basic, and not the most appealing set of colors, but it works well enough.  In addition to his overabundance of arms, Forearm includes a weird sort of double-nun-chuk thing, which he can fling about with his action feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have Forearm as a kid, but I do quite distinctly remember him being on the back of the boxes of other figures I had.  He does have a pretty neat visual, especially if you’re just going by what’s on the back of the box.  It took me a little while to finally track him down, but I got him with a larger batch of loose X-Force figures that got trade into work a couple of years back.  He’s neat.  He makes me chuckle about a number of tangentially related things, and that’s always a fun bit.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0064: Avalanche

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

AVALANCHE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

The week, she is once more at an end.  Honestly, feels like it flew by, but maybe not in the best way.  But, the main point is, we made it to Friday!  Alright!  Go us!  Let’s have another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, this time jumping back over to my little Toy Biz Marvel corner of the world with a return to Avalanche!  Why would anyone want to return to Avalanche?  Your guess is as good as mine.

 “A mutant with the ability to control earth and rock, Avalanche’s powers earned him a place in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Now operating largely on his own, or in the company of his allies, the Blob and Pyro, Avalanche strikes not so much out of hatred for normal humans, but from a desire to make a profit!”

Back in the ‘90s, the X-Men were super hot, and by, extension, the various X-Men spin-offs were super hot. X-Force, the spawn of everyone’s favorite artist Rob Liefeld, was inexplicably successful, but only the actual team seemed to get real notoriety. The villains were mostly forgettable, however, so for the toyline Toy Biz borrowed a few classic X-Men baddies, including today’s focus character, Avalanche!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Avalanche was released in Series 5 of Toy Biz’s X-Force toyline. He was the second of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants figures featured in this particular line, following Pyro. Seeing how the two of them were a semi-recurrent pair on X-Men: The Animated Series, it was a pretty sensible inclusion, I suppose. The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. He got extra disk joints on his hips, which I guess was kind of nice. It does seem a little bit odd that Avalanche of all people got extra special articulation, but I’m not gonna fight it. HIs sculpt was all new to this particular figure, and it was fairly decent for the era. The proportions are a little exaggerated, obviously, but given that he was in the X-Force line, it’s actually fairly balanced. There articulation could perhaps be worked in a bit better, but it’s not awful. The details of the costume are pretty clean, and I do like the intensity of the expression on what we can see of his face. It’s a bit of a shame that his helmet is permanently affixed, since he had it off rather frequently on the cartoon, but it looks good, and that’s ultimately the most important thing. Avalanche’s paintwork is fairly standard, mostly silver and blue. It looks decent enough, though it’s perhaps not the most thrilling color scheme. Avalanche was originally packed with an “Exploding Rock Platform” which demonstrated his powers via action feature. My figure was purchased loose, however, so he doesn’t include this piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Avalanche is a rather recent addition to my ‘90s Marvel collection, picked up over the summer from Yesterday’s Fun. They had a number of old X-Men figures, and this was one I kept meaning to grab, but never got around to. He’s a pretty decent figure of a character I admittedly don’t have a ton of attachment to. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have him, and he brings me one step closer to completing this collection.

In 2017, when I wrote that review, I was batting back and forth between more comical reviews and more serious ones, and Avalanche wound up as the latter.  Alas, it means my witty intro about how he never got much of a a character arc beyond “being Pyro’s buddy” wasn’t until I reviewed his Marvel Legend.  I instead used this one to rag on X-Force a bit, which, you know what?  Fair.  My review of the actual figure seems pretty solid.  Still really don’t know why he got the extra movement on the hips, but it is what it is.  In 2017, he was missing his stand, but in 2026, he’s got it once more.  It’s a rather neat piece, and demonstrates the powers about as well as I think you can.  It also keeps him very stable, which comes in handy with those hips.

#4007: Ree-Yees

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

REE-YEES

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Even with a court full of conspirators, Jabba the Hutt never suspected Ree-Yees as a potential assassin. Ree-Yees cut a deal with the Empire to destroy Jabba, but fate would save that role for Princess Leia.”

Missed it by *that* much.  Like, do you ever think that Ree-Yees tried to play it off to the Empire like he was actually somehow responsible for the deed?  Just to see how far he could take it?  I mean, who could blame him.  Well, the Empire, I guess.  And they have a history of being less than pleasant to the people that cross them.  Don’t do it Ree-Yees, you’ve got so much to live for!  Or maybe you don’t.  I don’t really know you all that well.  I have your action figure though.  Let’s review that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ree-Yees was released in the final 1998 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II.  The final assortment was largely repacks, with the only actually new figures being Ree-Yees here and the Death Star Trooper.  Given general diminishing interest in the line at the time, as well as the heavy repacking, Ree-Yees and the Trooper were both rather rare at retail, at least at the time.  The Trooper was at least given an identical re-release as part of a weapons pack, but Ree-Yees was not so lucky, so he remained one of the more rare pieces from the line.  Of course, we’re still playing by PotF pricing rules, so he’s not exactly going to break the bank.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt was unique to him, at least at the start.  It did wind up re-used for the Disney Parks-exclusive Star Tours version of Ree-Yees, but it’s still the same guy.  It’s actually a pretty nice sculpt.  The details are all really sharp, and it matches up well to his design in the movie.  He’s got a bit of pre-posing, but it’s not a bad set-up, and he ultimately looks pretty natural just standing there.  The figure’s color work is cleanly handled.  I quite like the metallic purple shade on his outfit; it’s pretty unique and stands out with the other figures.  Ree-Yees is packed with two different blasters, as well as a Freeze Frame slide showing Ree-Yees on Jabba’s Sail Barge.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In all my years tracking down Power of the Force figures, I think I’ve seen Ree-Yees in the wild once?  He doesn’t show up often, and I wasn’t in a position to buy him at the time, so I didn’t, and kind of regretted it.  He’s been on my list since, but, as I neared the end, I ultimately broke down and bought him on eBay, because he was a good price, and, well, I still needed him.  He’s probably one of the stronger alien figures from this line, so he feels like he was worth the wait.

#4006: Casey Jones

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

CASEY JONES

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

My first taste of Super 7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line, back in early 2022 (which was somehow *four* years ago), was Casey Jones, the Turtles second human ally, who was added to the line in its fourth assortment.  Today, in what I feel almost certain is going to be my *last* Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates review, I’m taking a look at another Casey Jones.  As with Donatello last June, however, this Casey is based not on the original vintage run, but rather the later ’00s run, which is also vintage.  Yes, it’s Casey Jones from the 2003 series!  Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Casey Jones is part of Series 13 of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates line.  It’s the second of the 2003 cartoon-based sets, this time focussing on the supporting players, after Series 12 tackled the updated versions of the Turtles.  This is the third Casey in the line, following his original toy-based figure and the Mirage-inspired repaint.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Like the Donatello I looked at last year, Casey shows off the revamped articulation set-up for the line, most notably sporting double joints on the elbows and knees.  He’s also got generally better range of motion than earlier figures.  Honestly, the only joints that don’t really work well for me are the ankles, which have plenty of backwards movement, but really need to be able to move forwards a bit more.  Also like Donatello, Casey is based not on his 2003 Playmates figure, but directly on his animated counterpart.  The sculpt does a solid job of translating the look into three dimensions, certainly a bit stronger of a take than Playmates.  The articulation is mostly worked in pretty well, but I will say the elbows are a bit unsightly, especially given that he’s got bare arms.  Given the design of the joint, it’s admittedly hard to change it up much, but it looks a bit messy when viewed from the front.  His standard head has the mask attached.  It’s a separate piece (though non-removable), so you can make out his face underneath it, which looks quite cool.  His hair is also a separate piece, molded in a soft rubber, which actually doesn’t block his neck movement much at all.  His second head is an unmasked one.  It’s largely consistent with the masked one, but not quite as impressive.  I don’t feel it quite lands Casey’s look from the show, making him look far older and more serious than I tend to think of him.  I’ll definitely be sticking with the masked one.  Casey’s color work is a lot of molded plastic, as we’ve come to expect from Super 7.  It works perfectly fine here for the most part.  There’s obviously still a bit of paint, which is of mixed results.  The application’s a little messy around the edges, especially on the stripes on his pants, and the painted skin tone doesn’t really match up with the molded color.  Casey is packed with the previously mentioned alternate head, as well as three sets of hands (in fists, gripping, and open), his sports bag, a hockey stick, a golf club, and two baseball bats.  While the accessories are certainly all nice enough, there’s definitely a feeling of sort of bare minimum here, especially relative to the price.  It seems odd to not at least have a separate mask piece, or possibly an unmasked head with a different expression, made especially notable because the one shot on the box that actually comes from the show has a smiling Casey with the mask pulled up to the top of his head, something that this figure emphatically can’t do.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was on the fence with this line back when Donatello hit, but opted to grab him, and ultimately enjoyed the figure, so I decided it was worth my time to jump on a preorder for this figure too, because I didn’t want to miss out if he ended up being a shorter run.  Honestly, at a certain point, I was kind of expecting him not to actually make it out, given the general direction of things.  So, I was a little surprised to get the in-stock email, but certainly not unhappy.  In hand, I’m still certainly not unhappy.  He’s actually quite a nice figure….removed from his price point.  But that’s become the elephant in the room here, I think.  He’s more expensive than the first Super 7 Casey was, and he comes with a lot less stuff.  And sure, there’s more engineering going into him, but at the end of the day, he feels comparable to a Marvel Legend, and he’s almost twice as much.  I don’t regret getting him, and I ultimately have made my piece with what I spent.  My initial desire was to have an April to go with him, but given her recent announcement also came with an announcement that the price is jumping another $10, I just don’t know that I can justify it.  At least I’ll have this pretty cool Casey figure.

#4005: Impulse

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

IMPULSE

JLA (HASBRO)

“Bart Allen, the 30th century grandson of The Flash, Barry Allen, inherited his bloodline’s powers but no ability to control his super-speed. After reaching the age of 14 in only two years, he was brought to the 20th century. Having been raised in an artificial environment, Bart is just learning the ways of the real world as he attends Junior High School in Smalltown Alabama.”

While the Golden Age Flash didn’t have a sidekick in the traditional sense (though he did have a trio of comedic “sidekicks” for a little while, much like Plastic Man, Alan Scott, and Wonder Woman did during the same period), Barry Allen got one relatively quickly in the form of Wally West, aka Kid Flash.  Wally remained in the role until Barry’s death in Crisis, at which point Wally got promoted to just “Flash.”  It was almost a decade before Wally would get his own sidekick, a revamp of the Kid Flash idea, Bart Allen, aka Impulse.  Bart wound up rather successful in his own right, eventually taking on both the Kid Flash and Flash monickers.  But Impulse was always his coolest, and it got him the action figures first.  Let’s take a look at one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Impulse was released in the third series of Hasbro’s JLA line in 1999.  Like Superboy, he was also available in the fourth boxed set, released through comic book stores and the like, along with Robin, the other piece of the “Young Justice” trio from the assortment.  This was Bart’s first figure, albeit only by a slight bit, as DC Direct also released one very close behind.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As with the rest of the line, he’s heavy on the re-use.  He gets a new head, but his torso is the frequently re-used retool of Superman’s, and he’s also got the arms from Black Lightning and the legs from the Flash.  The head is sort of an attempt at approximating a few different artist’s looks for Bart into one, along with folding him into the general line aesthetic, and it’s not awful, but it does feel a little small.  The Black Lightning arms are a little long for the body, but the gloves at least match pretty well with Impulse’s design.  The legs have a good running sort of pose to them, but the boots are definitely *not* Bart’s from the comics.  To be fair, they really weren’t Wally’s either, so it’s kind of whatever.  In general, like Superboy, the figure is really bulky for Bart, who was always pretty skinny and appropriately teen (in fact even pre-teen) like in the comics at the time.  This appears to be some sort of imaginary older Bart as Impulse sort of figure.  His color work is decent enough, but the biggest issue is definitely that the orange of the outer portions of his lightning bolts is too close to the red, so the distinction is largely lost.  Also, he’s got no pupils for some reason.  Beyond that, the application is pretty clean, so there’s at least that.  Impulse is packed with a display stand, this time in white.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My first exposure to Impulse was an issue of his solo series, which got handed to me as a free give-away at an early Baltimore Comic-Con I attended, more than likely *in* 1999.  I loved the issue, and it got me into the whole series (which I had a subscription to until its cancellation years later).  I developed a particular attachment to the character, and ended up getting this figure, I feel almost confident at the same time as Superboy.  He’s never been a perfect figure, but he’s always been one I very much appreciated.