Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0067: Luke Skywalker – Ceremonial Outfit

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — CEREMONIAL OUTFIT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

It’s Friday!  Welcome to Friday!  We made it Friday!  I mean, I hope.  I’m writing this on Sunday, and really just hoping for the best here, because boy has it sure been touch and go, huh?  But let’s not think about that.  Let’s think about the past, specifically mine, as we flashback for another figure addendum, with a return to Luke!

“In the main throne room of a Massassi temple, Luke Skywalker receives an honorary medal for his part in the destruction of the Imperial Death Star.”

There’s a lot of potential Luke Skywalker variants out there. He got one distinct design for each movie, plus his pilot gear, and at least one other major look for each film. For A New Hope, he actually has four distinct looks. My personal favorite is one that doesn’t actually appear for all that long; it’s the snazzy dress outfit he wears during the film’s final scene, set during an award ceremony. It’s had less figures than other looks, but as a variant of Luke Skywalker, it’s still had its fair share.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in his Ceremonial Outfit was released as part of the 1997 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II. He was the seventh of the eleven Lukes in the line, and the second-to-last unique outfit, prior to the line switching over to variations of Farmboy Luke. It was actually one of two Ceremonial Lukes released in 1997, the other being part of the Princess Leia Collection. It was a good year for a look that hadn’t yet seen an action figure release. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. This Luke marked the debut of Kenner’s second POTF2 Luke head sculpt. As noted in the past, it’s not really much closer than the first attempt at a Hamill likeness, but I do tend to prefer this one. The rest of the sculpt is unique to this particular figure. As far as this line goes, it was pretty solid. Sharp detailing, reasonable proportions, and a fairly neutral stance, all of which add up to an above average figure from this particular line. The paintwork on Luke is pretty standard stuff, which is to say the colors are a good match for the film and the application is all sharp. There’s no slop to speak of, and everything stays within its appropriate lines. Luke was packed with a blaster pistol and his medal from the ceremony, which are both missing from my figure, sadly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was a fairly early Luke in my collection, and is probably one of the Power of the Force figures I purchased closest to his initial release. I got him from KB Toys, during a trip to the mall with my Grandmother. He was purchased alongside a whole bunch of others, but the others were all meant to stay at her house, with this guy being the one who would be going home with me. He’s remained a favorite of mine, and served as my go-to Luke for a good chunk of time. 

In 2017, I got pretty serious about making Power of the Force reviews a regular feature every other Saturday, and by March of 2018, when this review was originally published, I’d kept it going for quite a while.  I pretty much managed to keep it that way until March of 2020, when, you know, everything fell apart.  This was before my big dive back into the line, mind you, so I thought I was actually getting close to wrapping things up.  Quaint.  My actual review feels pretty basic, but not bad.  Missing at the time were his two accessories, which are now his once more.  Check out that medal and blaster action!

#4019: Luke Skywalker in Endor Gear

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LUKE SKYWALKER in ENDOR GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The Star Wars Mint is officially re-instituted with this limited edition series! New gold-colored coins feature character images from the classic silver-colored coin release-all with brand new reverse-side stampings specially designed for this exclusive commemorative offering.”

If you haven’t gathered by this point, there’s a running theme with the Power of the Force reviews that at a certain point, Kenner was so desperate to have more product to sell in the ‘90s that they were literally come up with just about every excuse to throw a figure in the box with something.  The height of it’s definitely the computer game, but they also revisited some old favorites from the original line, namely coins.  Yes, it’s like printing money…you know, expect it’s not actually legal tender in any sense of the word.  But coins!  Like before!  Also, it provided a fantastic excuse to once more release several of the heavy hitters, which was always a great idea.  So, here’s Luke Skywalker, yet again!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Endor Gear was part of the “Millennium Minted Coins” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II, a Toys “R” Us exclusive set of deluxe release figures, which were all dropped in 1998.  Luke was seen here, as noted by the name, in his Endor Gear from Return of the Jedi, a look that had been released alongside the Speeder Bike the year prior, but hadn’t gotten a “single” release.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Structurally, there’s undoubtedly similarities between the two releases of this look, but there’s not quite as much parts re-use as you might expect.  It’s ultimately just the head and poncho, which is honestly not a terrible set-up.  The poncho’s made of a stiffer material this time around, so it’s detailing is a little sharper, and it holds its shape a little better.  The underlying body is new, and it’s not bad.  A little pre-posed, but not to a crazy degree, and it properly gets his sans-vest look.  It’s honestly a little surprising that Kenner never threw a non-helmeted head on this body for a more standard final duel Luke, but I suppose the line has kind of hitting critical mass here.  The paint work is notably quite refined for this release.  Kenner put the extra price on these figures into the paint, and that’s especially notable on Luke’s poncho, which has a lot more variation than the vehicle pack-in, and is generally closer to the pattern seen in the movie.  Luke gets a version of his green lightsaber, as well as the coin that was the selling point of this whole thing, along with a pretty cool stand for both Luke and the Coin.  The coin itself if a replica of the original Luke in Endor Gear coin, but now gold, and with a generic backing, rather than the one with writing on it.  It’s honestly a pretty cool piece, and I appreciate the included stand, so that I don’t just have to sort of prop it up somewhere awkwardly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t much of a Toy “R” Us kid in the ‘90s, and I certainly wasn’t looking for slight variations of figures I already had to get an extra piece I wouldn’t have cared about as a kid, so I didn’t have any of these as a kid.  Luke here was actually the first of them I tracked down, by a good margin.  I got him several years ago, when pulling items from a larger Power of the Force collection.  As has become the theme with my more recent PotF reviews, he’s been sealed most of that time, and I finally opened him up in preparation for this review.  I wasn’t expecting much of him, and was mostly just buying him to complete my run, but he’s actually a really nice figure, that genuinely improves on the prior release, and feels like a slight step-up from the main line.  The coin’s also not as silly and pointless as I’d expected, so I kind of dig the whole thing.

#4018: Major Don West

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

MAJOR DON WEST

LOST IN SPACE (TRENDMASTERS)

The 1965 sci-fi show Lost in Space began in the far off year of 1997.  In 1998, a year *after* the original show took place, and 30 years after the original show ended, it was somebody’s bright idea to reboot things with a movie.  And they sure did that.  Lost in Space is…well, it’s a movie with actors and sets, and things happening.  It’s also not very good.  Got a sizable marketing push, though, including a bunch of toys from the show and the movie, courtesy of ‘90s toymakers Trendmasters.  Series regular Major Don West was portrayed in the movie by Mr. Joey Tribianni himself, Matt LeBlanc, making him, I believe, the only Friends regular to get a proper action figure.  So, let’s look at that, and ask the figure the oh so important question: How you doin’? (Spoiler: not great)

THE FIGUE ITSELF

Major Don West was released in 1998 as part of the one and only basic figure series for Trendmasters’ Lost in Space movie tie-in line.  Don is based on his “space suit” look (if you can really call it that) from the sequence onboard the derelict ship, which was where most of the marketing push came from.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Trendmasters was definitely taking a page out of the Kenner playbook on this line, in terms of scaling, articulation, and overall style.  Unfortunately, they kind of missed the mark on the style part.  The sculpt is unique to this figure, and that’s good, because it avoids letting this sculpt infect any other figures.  It’s…well, it’s not great.  The head sculpt is supposed to be Matt LeBlanc, but it looks more like Joe Pesci.  The proportions are a mess, with the head and hands much larger than they should be relative to the figure’s very scrawny body.  He’s sort of pre-posed, but like half-heartedly so, so he’s just awkward looking.  Awkward.  That’s really the best word for the whole thing.  His paint work is fine.  It’s inoffensive, which is a high mark compared to the sculpt.  It manages to not break anything worse…mostly.  Not sure what’s going on with those bloodshot eyes, though.  They don’t help the overall look.  Don was packed with his helmet and blaster from the derelict sequence, as well as one of the larger “spider” creatures that they battle.  The helmet is comedically large, but it does at least do the cool flipping down over his face bit, which gains extra significance on the figure, because now you don’t have to see his face.  Honestly, I love that for him.  The gun is fine, but he struggles to hold it properly.  And the spider is a spider.  So, they didn’t mess that up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this movie in the theatre opening day.  I had books, I had toys, I had everything.  That included this guy here.  I remember the toy commercials for this line, and this guy was in there, and I had to have him.  He got played with a lot that summer.  He got snuck into kindergarten with me.  He’s…not good.  Bad, even.  Like, I’ve got all the nostalgia, but oh boy is this a bad figure.  Trendmasters did alright by the robot, but the humans are *rough*.  But, as you can see, the nostalgia’s been enough to keep him in my collection for almost thirty years, so I guess that’s good for something, right?

#4017: The Creeper

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

THE CREEPER

THE NEW BATMAN ADVENTURES (KENNER)

You know, I can’t believe this, but going back to double-check some numbers, I realized that this will be the third time I’ve talked about the Creeper here on the site, which feels like a really high number.  Sure, I like the Creeper fine, but three times?  When he’s only got six figures total?  Weird.  Am I gonna have to track down those other three Creepers now?  No, I really can’t.  I can’t do it, guys.  Right, so today, I’m looking back at the Creeper, a very rare instance of Steve Ditko (of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange fame) creating a character for DC outright, rather than creating it for someone else and then just having them purchase it later.  Originally, he had no notable ties to any other major DC heroes, but in the ‘90s, he inexplicably showed up in The New Batman Adventures, getting his own focus episode “Beware the Creeper,” which re-worked his origin story to include Batman and the Joker.  And he also got his first action figure* that way!  Yay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Creeper was released as part of Kenner’s The New Batman Adventures tie-in line, hitting with the second push of product in 1998.  He was one of two notable “new” figures, the other being Bruce Wayne.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He had an all-new sculpt, based on his design from the show.  In terms of accuracy, this one’s pretty good.  I mean, in general, TNBA’s tie-in figures were more on-model than earlier Kenner offerings, but Creeper in particular sticks very close to his animated counterpart.  While he’s still doing the line’s general “just standing there” posing, he’s got a lot of character in his stance, with crazed hands, and a notable hunch, which his neck extended forward.  His head sculpt matches well with the character’s on-screen likeness, translating his pretty nicely into three dimensions.  His signature boa is a separate piece here, which is sort of an odd choice, but to their credit, it’s molded to his torso in such a way that it actually stays in place pretty well.  His paint work is generally very basic, but it does well.  Mine’s taken a bit of wear over the years, but not tremendously so, so he ultimately looks pretty good even now.  It’s interesting that his hair is black, rather than having any sort of green to it, but that’s the approach they took with this line’s Joker as well, so it’s not too out there.  Creeper was packed with a television camera, referencing Jack Ryder’s role as a reporter on the show.  The plate on the back can be slid to show Jack, or flipped over to reveal Creeper.  The whole thing also turns into a bit cannon of some sort, because why not?  I do quite like that the missile is designed to resemble a microphone.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw this figure a great many times when he was new, and did *not* buy him…largely because I was really looking for that Bruce Wayne, who was more desirable at the time, meaning every store had not Bruce, and a whole peg of Creeper.  I caught his episode of the show after he’d disappeared from retail, so when I wanted one, I had to get a little help from Cosmic Comix.  He’s easily one of the best figures from this line.  He’s on model, he’s unique, and he’s got a gimmicky accessory that’s on brand and also not intrusive, which is all super cool.

*Though it almost wasn’t his first; Creeper was on the shortlist of figures had Kenner’s Super Powers continued in the ‘80s, and would have made his debut there.

#4016: Metalhead

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

METALHEAD

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Powerhouse member of the outlaw mutant group the X-Men, Metalhead uses his power to absorb the properties of any metal he touches in fierce battles as he and his teammates rebel against corporate control. Recently, Metalhead has morphed into a larger, more monstrous version of his original self, and is currently trapped in an alloyed state possessing at once different properties of the many metals he’s absorbed.”

So, there’s this guy, he’s a mutant, and he’s a member of the X-Men, but not the original X-Men, a later iteration of the team, and he turns into metal, and then at one point, he gets locked into his metal state, and he can’t turn back, and it causes him all sorts of angst.  But, I’m not talking about Colossus today!  No, I’m talking about the *other* guy with that backstory, Metalhead.  He’s totally different!  He lives in the year 2099!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Metalhead is part of the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 line.  He’s well placed, as a main member of the team, who got quite a bit of focus in the book’s run.  This is his second, post monstrous transformation look, which is admittedly the slightly more distinctive of the two.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s definitely more restricted on the movement, lacking elbows, knees, or even a neck joint.  He does at least get a swivel at the waist, so, you know, he can turn…sort of.  Metalhead’s sculpt was new to him, and remained unique through the Toy Biz run.  It’s big and its bulky, and it’s got some heft to it, so he stands out well from the rest of the line (apart from Brimstone, who’s also big and bulky, I suppose).  He’s rather cartoony and a bit silly, but again feels like he’s a respectable recreation of Ron Frenz’s artwork from the book.  There’s a rather obvious lever on his back, which moves his arms up and down, all crazy action feature like.  Metalhead’s color work is pretty solid.  The base colors match the comics, and the transition from gold to silver on his skin tone is quite nicely handled.  There’s a bit of slop on some of the other spots, especially those silver bands on his legs, but overall not too shabby.  Metalhead is packed with an absurdly large gun thing, which fits very tightly into his left hand.  It splits apart in the middle, for, umm, reasons?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve brought up before, the only X-Men 2099 figure I had as a kid was Meanstreak.  I got pretty much everyone else from a big lot of loose Toy Biz figures that came into work five or so years ago.  While last week’s Brimstone Love was complete, Metalhead here was missing the front half of his gun.  That was it.  How embarrassing.  I had to buy a whole extra Metalhead just for the front of his gun.  Honestly, though, it’s not so bad.  While he’s not exceedingly posable, he’s certainly got a neat presence, and he’s fun to mess around with.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0066: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  We have once more made it to the end of the week!  Oh boy, that was rough, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Once more, we’re looking into the world of Toy Biz, with a second look at Wolverine!

“When it comes to fighting Evil Mutants, the X-Men know there’s no one better than Wolverine! With his razor-sharp adamantium claws, his lightning-quick reflexes and his unmatched combat experience, Wolverine can outfight anyone! Thanks to his super-fast mutant healing ability, in just a few short hours he’s totally healthy and ready for action again, no matter how serious his wounds!”

Would you believe there was a time when a Wolverine figure was an exciting and new thing? I know, that’s a bit hard to grasp. But, until Mattel’s Secret Wars line, there were no Wolverine figures at all. And that one wasn’t even all that good! He’d have to wait until 1992 for a second go, courtesy of Toy Biz’s then-newly-launched X-Men line. He would be the first of very, very many.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released in Series 1 of the X-Men line. He was actually unique amongst the 5-inch X-Men figures for being in Wolverine’s brown costume. It was still his current look when these figures hit (which is more than could be said for a number of his Series 1 compatriots), but it was quickly replaced by the returning tiger-stripe design, which would be the main focus for a good decade. The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall (making it one of Toy Biz’s few offerings to truly stick to Wolverine’s proper stature) and he has 7 points of articulation. His sculpt was new to him, and remained unique for all of Toy Biz’s run. It’s a pretty decent one for the time. While it doesn’t quite eclipse the likes of Magneto and Nightcrawler, it’s still really quite good. The build of the body is probably the strongest aspect; Wolverine figures tend to overlook his distinctive stature, so this one getting it down so well is certainly notable. The head’s not quite as strong. This was really the first time that Logan’s hair was translated into three dimensions, so they were still sorting it all out. It ends up looking a little goofy and sort of impossible, but it’s not terrible. Wolverine’s paintwork is reasonable, though not anything outstanding. The base colors are all pretty decent recreations of the comics look, and he’s rather eye-catching. There’s some unevenness with the lines in a few spots, especially on the torso. Wolverine was packed with his mask, which works surprisingly well for the scale, as well as a katana. He was also the first Wolverine to feature the popping claw action, which allowed him to simulate Wolverine’s signature “snikt” move. It robs his arms of any elbow movement, and the claws are required to be rather small to facilitate. That said, it works reasonably well, and is certainly fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was too young to get Wolverine new, and he wasn’t one that was prone to showing up later on. Fortunately, Cosmic Comix had me covered there, and I got this guy not too long after getting into collecting. He’s actually not a bad figure, and despite the sort of odd removable mask, it was one of the better Wolverines from the line.

This was written in the summer of 2018, and, if I’m honest, I remember very little about writing it.  Looking at the reviews around it, I think I probably wrote either during or immediately before my family vacation that year, so I might have had my mind on other things.  It was also the year of Infinity War, and the onslaught of Marvel product that accompanied it, so I might have even been a little burned out.  I think I did alright by him in the writing, though.  The only thing missing when I reviewed him was his katana, which I’ve since found, so aha, here it is!  He can’t hold it especially well, but I guess it’s still cool.

#4015: Cruisemissile Trooper

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

CRUISEMISSILE TROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Can you believe there was a time when a toymaker felt that there weren’t enough characters and concepts in the Star Wars movies to keep a toyline going, and decided to introduce their own?  Well, okay, there were actually a couple of times.  During the vintage run, Kenner had come up with some in-house creations, notably the “mini rigs”, which were smaller scale vehicles, and they had even proposed a continuation of line post-Jedi that would have used new concepts.  By the ‘90s, though, things were more locked down…apart from one particularly odd-ball item, dubbed the Cruisemissile Trooper.  Based on nothing seen in the films or any other official material, the Cruisemissile Trooper is nevertheless the modern line’s first Expanded Universe offering…such as it is.  But what is it?  Well, let’s explore that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Cruisemissile Trooper was released under the Power of the Force II banner in 1997, officially as part of the vehicles line-up, though exactly how he’s classified can be a bit touchy.  It’s a vehicle, for sure, but there’s also a figure worked into it, and he’s not actually removable.  Also, the name very much suggests that the Trooper himself is the main focus, with the actual ship not getting its own name proper.  Whatever its distinctions, the whole contraption measures just over 10 inches long, has 4 points of articulation (where hinged flaps can fold out) and a sliding plate to reveal the Trooper’s head.  The actual Trooper is scaled to match the 3 3/4 inch figures of the main line (albeit only being an upper half; there aren’t actually any legs in there), and has a proper neck joint, as well as joints on the shoulders that move, but are too loose to hold an actual pose.  The figure’s sculpt is clearly patterned on the basic TIE Pilot sculpt, though he’s been modified to work better within the context of the Cruisemissile set-up.  Said set-up is a big, flat, pointy, arrowhead shaped thing that wraps all around the figure.  It looks a bit like a Star Destroyer got ‘90s-ized…which I suppose is fairly accurate.  There’s a lot of panelling and grates.  I don’t know that it *quite* lands the Imperial aesthetic, but it wouldn’t look entirely out of place with prequel era offerings.  You can fold out the back to reveal a pair of missile launchers, while the front flaps fold out from underneath to form wings.  Pushing back the slide towards the back pulls back the “hood”, allowing the spring-loaded trooper to pop his head up.  This was a gimmick that Kenner was fond of in ’97, offering a similarly-styled set of vehicles in their Batman & Robin tie-in line.  Color-wise, the vehicle is a lot of grey and silver, with some red thrown in for a bit of pop.  There were a fair number of decals, which kept it consistent in styling with the other vehicles of the time.  The Trooper is painted, albeit very basically, and is mostly white, which is a good contrast from the TIE Pilots.  The set included two missiles, but no other extras to speak of.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t have a Cruisemissile Trooper as a kid.  I think I recall one of my friends having one?  I definitely had the equivalent Robin vehicle from the Batman & Robin line, so I was familiar with the concept, prior to tracking one of these down as an adult.  I say “tracking one down,” but in actuality, it’s one of those items that just landed in front of me at the right time.  I don’t know entirely what I think of it. It’s such a goofy idea, and it’s kind of unclear what it’s supposed to be, or how it ties into anything else.  It feels like they started with the gimmick and worked their way backwards, and never quite found their footing.  Not having any sort of follow-up to it doesn’t help, I suppose.  It’s just this one-off piece, a remnant of a direction the line *could* have gone, but didn’t, a lot like the early deluxe figures from the line.  I can’t say it’s not a fun toy, and I certainly found myself fiddling with it a lot during my review process, which isn’t a bad sign.  It’s just…odd.  I’ll take odd over boring, though.

#4014: Captain Nathan Hale Bridger

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

CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE BRIDGER

SEAQUEST DSV (PLAYMATES)

“Name: Nathan Hale Bridger

Rank: Captain

Assignment: seaQuest DSV 4600

UEO Military ID#: AI147-5024-TS9

Security Access: Indefinite

Date of Birth: November 10, 1963

Character Profile: Passionate, decisive leader. Extremely intelligent and inquisitive. Diplomatic and open minded. Dedicated to maintaining peace. Advanced degrees in geology and biology. Driven by great love for the sea and its exploration.

Personal History: Original lead designer on NORPAC Confederation’s Project seaQuest, 2007. Death of only son during military combat led to resignation of commission, 2010. Took refuge on isolated Caribbean island to pursue marine research. With rescued bottlenose dolphin, Darwin, pioneered method of rudimentary communication between humans and dolphins using hand signals. Close relationship developed. Assumed command of refitted seaQuest at request of Admiral Noyce, 2018.

Mission Specialty: Responsible for acting as intermediary, balancing concerns of Commander Ford’s Navy personnel and Dr. Westphelan’s scientific crew aboard seaQuest.”

Nine years ago, I brought up a thing I don’t often discuss around here: the ‘90s!  Okay, not that, but it *is* something *from* the ‘90s, namely SeaQuest DSV, the Amblin-produced sci-fi series that had a really great debut season, and then also two more seasons after that.  There was a lot of push behind the show at the start, including, amongst other things, a line of figures from Playmates, who were in the thick of handling the Star Trek license at the time.  The covered the majority of the show’s cast, including its lead, Captain Nathan Bridger, portrayed by veteran actor Roy Scheider.  Let’s take a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Nathan Hale Bridger was released in the first and only series of Playmates’ SeaQuest DSV tie-in line in 1993.  As the show’s star, his presence was kind of a guarantee.  Notably, this marked Scheider’s first time as an action figure (and his last time too; NECA solicited one for their Jaws line, but his estate pulled the rights before release), which was pretty cool.  The figure stands just shy of 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  The SeaQuest figures had an articulation scheme similar to Playmates’ Trek line, but tweaked to actually be a bit better.  They get proper t-hips, rather than the somewhat pointless v-hips, and also had thigh swivels (which Trek only had on the larger First Contact figures).  It means that Bridger gets a rather impressive movement scheme, should you wish to go all action oriented with him.  Bridger’s sculpt was totally unique to him.  Like with the articulation, Playmates was clearly aiming to keep these figures in line with their Trek stuff stylistically.  They’re the same style, but, again like the articulation, they seem a bit improved.  The detailing’s a little sharper, and the uniform has less areas of smooth coverage, and the internal proportions are a little better, with the head in particular being smaller relative to the body than the Trek figures tended to be.  There’s a lot of nice character specific elements on his uniform, like Bridger’s slightly more casual layout, with rolled up sleeves and a more zipped down collar.  The main selling paint is the head sculpt, which is honestly a pretty respectable likeness of Scheider, so you can pretty clearly tell who he’s supposed to be without much of a hint.  Apparently, though, Scheider didn’t feel the same, and went back and forth with Playmates and their factories regarding the exact nature of it, which is rumored to have played a part in the short-lived nature of the line.  The paint work on this figure is pretty good.  Generally, it’s pretty basic application, especially on the head.  The uniform gets some pretty impressive work on all the markings and insignias, though, and ultimately the only detail missing his his name on the front of the uniform.  Bridger was packed with a Stun Gun, PAL (Personal Audio Link), SeaPoc computer, mammal vo-corder, away team launcher with undersea spelunking hook, and display stand.  It’s a pretty nice selection of standard issue stuff, for the most part.  The launcher and spelunking hook are definitely goofy and gimmicky, but they’re also totally removed from the main figure, so they don’t really ruin anything.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed SeaQuest and its tie-in figures in their initial run (being under two at the time), but came around pretty quickly, thanks to the show’s consistent re-runs on the Sci-Fi Channel, and the fact that my dad had a full set of the figures.  Bridger’s not my *first* figure from the line, but he’s a very early one,  purchased for my by my dad, some time in the late ‘90s.  He mostly got mixed in with my Trek figures (especially the Cadet Data, given the similar uniform set-ups), which got him some decent play when I was a kid (which resulted in the bald spot my figure’s got on the back of his head).  He’s really not a bad figure, and showed that Playmates was very much throwing their all behind what was an unproven property.  It’s a shame it didn’t pan out, but he’s a nice figure.

#4013: Metallo

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

METALLO

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

Early in the production of Batman: The Animated Series, the producers realized that, if they intended for the show to have a long run, they’d need to rely on a deeper stable of foes than just the heavy hitters from Batman’s rogues gallery.  To help with this, they put effort into rebuilding some of the more obscure characters into antagonists of depth equal to their more popular counterparts (with their revamp of Mr. Freeze serving as perhaps the most successful case of this).  When the same team moved onto Superman: The Animated Series, they took a similar approach to Superman’s rogues.  One of the beneficiaries was Metallo, who was granted a new design and a revamped and more streamlined origin story, resulting in a fan-favorite, who also got an action figure along the way.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Metallo was released in Series 4 of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series line.  As with the rest of the assortment, his domestic release was handled by Diamond Distributors, as US retailers had bailed on the line after Series 2.  He was re-released with a slight paint tweak as part of a four-pack, which also included Supergirl and Bizarro from the same assortment.  The figure seen here is the original single release.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He’s got the standard movement for the line, which is the usual Kenner 5 POA, plus a waist swivel.  Metallo’s sculpt was all-new to him, and would remain unique, apart from the previously mentioned boxed set version.  It’s generally a pretty good one.  The STAS figures were all a slight departure from the show designs, but Metallo sticks closer than most.  His legs are maybe a little bulky, but that’s really it.  Otherwise, he recreates the show’s updated design for the character nicely.  The strongest parts are the exposed portions of his robotic skeleton, which sticks very close to the animation model.  The human portion of the head is a little more detailed than the animation model, but feels consistent with the character, enough that it’s pretty clearly the same guy.  The rest of the sculpt is clean and basic, which is what it needs to be.  His chest features the cavity that holds his Kryptonite heart; the cover is on a hinge, and pushing the button on his back pushes the heart forward, making it “beat” and opening the cover to reveal it.  It’s not quite the way it works on the show, but it’s a cool enough gimmick to feel worth it.  Metallo’s paint work is generally on point.  The general color work is basic, but matches his coloring from the show well.  The robotic side gets some really nice accenting, with the only small slip-up being that they didn’t paint the remnant of his shirt cuff the correct tan color.  Otherwise, it looks really cool.  Metallo was packed with a somewhat goofy hover bike thing, which also doubles as a really big shoulder cannon thing.  Either way, it’s got a missile that it can launch, which is silly, but fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I remember how hard this assortment was to get, Metallo especially.  A friend of my parents had a display in his house with all of his DCAU figures, and Metallo was one of them, and one that I was always particularly fascinated by.  At some point, my dad took note of this fascination, and tracked one down on eBay, and thus I had my own Metallo.  This guy got a lot of play time when I was a kid, and remained one of my favorites.  Revisiting him, I still very much like him.  There were a lot of compromises made on these figures, but Metallo has very few of them, and it results in a fairly accurate figure, which is also just quite a bit of fun.

#4012: Brimstone Love

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

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.