Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0084: Batgirl

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

BATGIRL

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

Greetings and welcome to the end of the week. We’ve done it once more, and I continue to be proud of us for making it here.  We did it again, guys!  We’re back with following up on some Batman & Robin stuff, because why not, I guess? So, here’s a second look at Batgirl!

“Gotham City becomes a very cold place when Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane triple team to plot the icy demise of Batman and Robin. The crimefighters respond immediately by using the Batcomputer deep within the Batcave to develop an array of cutting-edge weapons that can be used in their battle against this multitude of fiendish foes. Discover the Secrets of the Batcave! – secret technology that gives Batman , Robin and Batgirl the ultimate ability to save Gotham City!”

Back in April, I jumped into the Batman & Robin line with a look at the “& Robin” portion of the film.  Today, I look at the central character who doesn’t get named at all.  I mean, seriously, isn’t it a little odd that the film where you explicitly call out Batman and Robin as your title characters is the one where you add in Batgirl as your third protagonist?  Isn’t that a little weird?  I think it’s a little weird.  Look at me, armchair quarterbacking a movie from 1997.  That’s a real good use of my time, right?  Yeah…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batgirl was released in the first wave of Batman & Robin product from Kenner, hitting shelves in 1997 to tie-in with the film.  Unlike the various Batmen and Robins, she didn’t get any sort of adjective in front of her name; she’s simply “Batgirl.”  Man, no goofy Kenner name is just a bummer.  Did they even try with Batgirl in this thing?  Oh, right, I’ve seen the movie: the answer is “no.”  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  So, right off the bat (heh), let’s address the inaccuracies of the figure.  As I brought up in my Robin review, the whole Batman & Robin process was quite expedited, so the figures were working from early costume designs.  In Robin’s case, that was all well and good, because he kept his design, but in Batgirl’s case, that means she’s a bit off from her film appearance.  The big change is the full cowl in place of the domino mask she was sporting in the final product.  It’s not a particularly attractive design, at least as implemented on the figure.  She’s also got the wrong version of the bat symbol, and is missing a lot of the ribbing and such that ran throughout the body suit, making for a much more basic looking design.  There is also a removable cape, which actually is a pretty decently designed piece. Her paintwork is fairly basic stuff.  She’s rather monochromatic, but that’s honestly a bit more faithful to the film than most of the color schemes to come out of this movie.  Batgirl was packed with a “Battle Blade Blaster” and “Strike Scythe,” which are the weird green and black things.  They don’t correlate to anything in the movie, but they certainly exist, now don’t they?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned in my Robin review, Batman & Robin was the first Batman movie I saw in theaters, and despite its lackluster quality, five-year-old me really enjoyed it.  Being the big thing of the summer, a whole bunch of the tie-in figures wound up as birthday presents for me that year, including Batgirl here.  She’s not necessarily one of my favorites, and that was the case even as a kid.  She really only served as my Batgirl until the Animated figure found its way into my collection and replaced her.  She’s okay, I guess, and like the rest of the line, honestly better than the movie that spawned her.

This review is another pandemic shutdown review, written almost two months before it ultimately published.  I originally had it slotted with a different number and a publish date a month earlier, but it got bumped off the schedule to make way for the Siege Ultra Magnus Spoiler pack, which I was eager to get out quickly, I guess.  The mystery of it excited me.  The actual review here is pretty good, I think.  The shut down stuff definitely gave me some time to work on my craft, and I still think these are some of my best reviews.  I was missing her “Strike Scythe” at the time, but it turned up in the six years that have followed, so here’s an updated photo.

#4095: IG-11 — Nevarro Marshall

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

IG-11 — NEVARRO MARSHALL

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“The blasted fragments of the assassin droid hero undergo a complete rebuild and reprogramming, including the addition of marshal stripes that denote IG-11 as Nevarro’s new protector.”

Two Star Wars: The Black Series Reviews? In the same quarter? Is that legal?  Well, yeah.  But is it ethical? That’s a far more complex issue.  So, it would seem I’ve exhausted my admittedly kind of small Episode I collection, which means it’s time to move onto the next thing.  But, before I do another retro dive, I happen to have a new Star Wars figure, so why not give that a bit of focus?  With the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu, the whole Mandalorian side of the franchise is getting a little bit more focus from the toys, mostly based on the movie, but with a few non-movie ones as well.  The Mandalorian’s third season was kind of sparse on its own toy coverage at the time of release, but there’s been some filling in since then, and we’ve finally gotten my most anticipated figure from the season, the rebuilt IG-11 as Marshall of Nevarro!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IG-11 — Navarro Marshall is figure 46 in the Mandalorian sub-line of Phase IV of Star Wars: The Black Series.  He’s hitting alongside the second batch of Mandalorian & Grogu product, and is the only show-based figure in the bunch.  There was a white-boxed “First Edition” release to kick things off, followed quite closely by the standard release.  As the name implies, the figure is based on IG-11’s slightly modified appearance from the end of Season 3’s last episode.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  While the last two IG-11s re-used the quite inaccurate IG-88 mold, this time around, he’s making liberal re-use of the brand-new parts introduced with the deluxe IG-12 in 2024.  The 12 parts were far better scaled and just more screen accurate then the 88 mold, so it’s a much better starting point, for sure.  This release gets a new torso, to showcase his proper droid-ness, as opposed to the remote control compartment of 12.  While I won’t deny it looks the part, I was disappointed by the removal of the built-in hinge joint used on the original IG-88 mold.  It gave him a lot more posing options, and this figure is a lot stiffer by comparison.  It does otherwise look very nice, though, and the detailing is all quite sharp.  He also gets a new belt add-on piece, complete with holster, as seen in the show.  IG-12’s color work was rather on the basic side, and while Marshall IG-11 isn’t quite back to the level of his original release in terms of accenting, he’s at least a bit of an improvement over 12.  In particular, his silver is a more consistent and more proper metallic finish, as opposed to the swirly, kind of translucent shade of the IG-12.  He also gets all of the fancy, eye-catching Marshal stripes, which gives him a nice splash of color, and his paint application is notably pretty clean.  IG-11 is packed with his blaster pistol, which fits in his holster.  You can sort of get him to hold it in one of the hands, but it’s really tricky, and doesn’t stay well, so it’s not super advisable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been anticipating this figure pretty much since the show appearance, but especially since IG-12’s release, since I figured Hasbro would be eager to re-use the molds.  I believe I said at the end of the IG-12 mold that I’d kill for this figure, though I did re-negotiate a bit on it before the end.  I did say I’d pay good money for it, which I did, in fact, do.  12 was cool, but he was really always just a place-holder for this guy.  He took a bit longer to get here than I expected, but I’m glad he’s here.  Issues with the torso articulation aside, I really quite like this mold, and I’d still definitely buy at least an IG-88 built from these parts.

#4094: Combat Ready Roboto

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

COMBAT READY ROBOTO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

Back in May, two weeks before the Masters of the Universe movie hit theaters, I looked at the Mekaneck figure from its tie-in line and joked about how the film was already being labeled a “bomb” despite, you know, not being out yet.  Well, came out and…I mean, yeah, it didn’t do great at the box office. It does sort of feel like it’s one of those “repeat it enough times and it becomes the truth” sort of deals, if I’m honest, where the discussion of it “bombing” well in advance of its actual release did sort of drive some people away, but what do I know.  Well, I know that despite it’s box office performance, they’ve already greenlit a sequel.  I also know that I saw the movie in the theatre and immensely enjoyed it, having pretty much no notes.  I have no notes about a movie with Jared Leto in it.  That’s astounding.  I mean, okay, if I had one note, it would be “don’t bring back Jared Leto for the sequel” because I think part of the success is that he could have been replaced by literally anyone, but I’m getting distracted and off topic here.  As I’ve discussed before, my rule when it comes to most MotU collecting is sticking to the same batch of characters.  Obviously, I already got Mekaneck, but one of my other favorites, Roboto, who is voiced in the movie by Kristen Wiig, was also included, so I kinda had to get her

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Combat Ready Roboto is from the second deluxe series of the Masters of the Universe movie tie-in line, which hit right before the film’s release in May.  Given Roboto’s more sizable role in the movie, her early inclusion in the line certainly makes sense.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and she has 18 points of articulation.  Due to the nature of the figure’s action feature, Roboto’s left arm isn’t *really* articulated, so I’m not counting any of it’s “movement” in that number.  Roboto is scaled in such a way that she’s notably taller than the main figures, but not quite as much taller as she should be.  It’s not uncommon in these sorts of lines, and for the style, I think it works well enough, but she should technically be at least another inch or so taller for accurate scaling.  What articulation is present is all pretty solid, and an improvement on even the already pretty great standard set-up that Mekaneck got.  The ankle joints in particular prove quite useful in keeping the figure balanced.  The sculpt does a respectable job of recreating Roboto’s movie design.  Roboto’s been prone to some adjustments of design over the years, and the film takes that a bit further, with a more modernized approach to the look, which essentially rebuilds her from the ground up.  That said, there’s enough common design elements to tie her back into the vintage look, meaning she still looks like conceivably the same character.  In terms of actual sculpt quality, some of the technical details are perhaps a bit soft, but she’s generally solid for the scale and style.  As noted above, the left arm, which is in cannon mode, is tied into the “Combat Ready” action feature.  Twisting her waist raises the arm upward at the shoulder, and opens up the cannon…a little bit.  It’s honestly not a terribly impressive feature, and it gets kind of easily lost in all the other details.  It’s also a shame that you can’t move the shoulder at all independent of the feature, and there’s no way to lock the feature in place, so she’ll always just have her arm down by her side when idly posed.  Roboto’s color work is generally basic, but covers all of the necessary details, with no real omissions.  I guess there could be some more accenting or smaller detailing, but all the important stuff is there.  The best work is definitely on the head, and I also really like the clear chest plate piece.  

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost broke for Roboto when I ordered Mekaneck, but the two weren’t in stock at the same time, so I held off.  But, I had some other stuff I wanted, and needed to pad out an order to get free shipping, so I found myself in a situation where I’d literally be paying more not to get her, and how could I resist at that point?  I actually hadn’t yet seen the movie when I ordered her, but by the time she arrived I had, and I was all the more happy to have snagged her.  While she’s a bit more finicky than Mekaneck, she’s still a lot of fun, and I’m really enjoying Mattel doing the whole actually fun toys bit again.  That’s a neat change of pace.  And now I wait to see if they do a movie figure of a certain mid-credits appearing character I’d quite like to own.

#4093: Ice Terror Mr. Freeze

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ICE TERROR MR. FREEZE

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

When the first Batman movie came out in 1989, they just had the one villain, but by Returns, they’d decided they needed to up the stakes with two, which was kept for Forever.  By the time of Batman & Robin, it was apparently just not frantic enough, so they upped it to three villains, all of them classically unrelated.  In a movie featuring Bane, a tall, imposing, muscular villain with a notable accent, Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast as Mr Freeze, which is the obvious, undisputed set-up, right?  Arnold as the cryogenics expert?  Well, at least he got to make lots of ice puns.  After “Heart of Ice” revamped the character and gave him a tremendous amount of depth, Batman & Robin definitely did some major back-pedaling.  That said, almost 30 years removed, it’s a pretty amusing Arnold performance.  And, as with everything else about the movie, there were certainly some cool toys.  Let’s look at one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ice Terror Mr. Freeze was one of the two deluxe figures in the initial product drop for Kenner’s Batman & Robin tie-in line.  It’s one of the two Mr. Freezes at launch, neither of them really even approaching movie accurate, but we’ll get to that.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Ice Terror Mr. Freeze was a mostly unique sculpt.  The head’s the same as the Iceblast Mr. Freeze from the standard series, but from the neck down he’s unique.  The first batch of tie-in figures for the movie were especially affected by the rushed production schedule, and I’ve somewhat discussed that with the Batgirl figure, but the early Mr. Freezes were especially inaccurate.  I suppose you could argue that there’s a general silhouette here that’s sort of close to the film, and what’s visible of the face has more than a passing resemblance to Arnold, but beyond that?  It’s totally removed from what we see on the screen.  There’s…well, there’s certainly a lot going on.  He’s got lots of tubes and stuff, which, I guess isn’t a terrible concept for the guy.  He does seem a bit small for an Arnold Mr. Freeze, but that’s more of a line-wide issue, I feel.  The colors aren’t very accurate either, at least in their placement. The actual colors aren’t really too far, and he’s ultimately a bit closer in that regard than Iceblast was.  In general, it’s just a good Mr. Freeze color scheme, so I can’t really knock it.  In order to justify this as a deluxe release, Ice Terror Mr. Freeze gets a rather sizable accessory set-up.  Not in quantity, mind you, just in actual size, as he includes a “Street Chill Dragster” which is a three-wheeled vehicle thing that also transforms? It’s not a terribly involved thing, and the transformation is almost negligible, but I guess it’s not terrible.  Also included is the “Ice Crystal Rocket,” which is a big bazooka thing, which he can either mount on the dragster or hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The summer of 1997 brought me a whole selection of figures from this line, and this guy was one of the batch I got as birthday presents.  Even before it had totally sunk in with me that maybe it wasn’t a very good movie, I was a bit more critical of Schwarzenegger as Freeze, because I was such a big fan of Michael Ansara’s animated performance.  So, in that regard, this guy wasn’t really ever my default Freeze the way the original Animated figure was.  He did, however, serve as a pretty fantastic basic sort of villain.  I lost his dragster over the years, but recently got a replacement.  He’s really far removed from the movie design, but it’s undeniably a fun figure.

#4092: Marvel Girl

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

MARVEL GIRL

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Blasting out of the Marvel Universe are its most powerful heroines, the She-Force! Joining together to fight evil are mutants Marvel Girl, Wolfsbane and Dazzler along with Avengers Tigra and Ms. Marvel. Challenging the threat of the Brotherhood of evil Mutants, the She-Force has what it takes to get the job done. Using their combined abilities, the She-Force takes down the Brotherhood in one explosive battle!”

In a nice bit of segue from last week’s Dazzler review, let’s talk about what has thus far been the quiet uniting theme of this month’s Marvel reviews, X-Factor.  X-Factor was, from the start, a plan to re-unite the original five X-Men in a new book, with the notable caveat that one of those five, Jean Grey, was very much dead at the time. The original plan was for Dazzler to join as the group’s fifth member, which actually made it far enough along that her joining a team with Beast was referenced at the end of their shared miniseries.  But, when Kurt Busiek pitched a compelling way to bring back Jean while still preserving the end of the “Dark Phoenix Saga,” plans changed, and Jean returned, briefly going back to her Marvel Girl monicker, albeit with a new costume to match the rest of the team.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Marvel Girl is the last figure from Series 6 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Hall of Fame, a Puzzle Zoo Exclusive line.  She likewise wraps up this assortment’s second go at the “She-Force” banner for the line.  This was the second Jean Grey in the line, both of them under the “She-Force” banner.  I guess they were trying to make up for how generally absent she was from the X-Men line?  She’s seen here in her green and yellow X-Factor costume, specifically the tweaked version of it where she’d switched from the full cowl to just the face mask part (likely a choice dictated by parts available, but it’s ultimately the better look).  Interestingly, this makes her the wrong costume to match the X-Factor Cyclops from X-Men Series 1, since he was in his white and blue from the second batch of costumes. Given she’s also taller than he is, it’s probably not the end of the world, though.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and she has 8 points of articulation.  She’s making use of the Spider-Woman mold, specifically the modified Jessica Drew version, which removed the action feature and added in elbow joints. Honestly, it’s not a bad set-up.  Apart from the lack of neck articulation (which was usually pretty spotty on the long-haired figures anyways), it’s a solid sculpt, with a good, basic set-up for details.  It lacks any extraneous details to throw it off, and it’s just generally a pretty okay match for Jean’s look of the era.  Her paint work is generally not too bad.  The yellow on green is a little bit wobbly around the edges, but the face is quite clean, and the accenting on the hair is quite nice.  Marvel Girl is packed with a rather odd back-pack weapon thing, originally packed with Ninja Psylocke.  It’s…well it’s odd, but that was true of most of the Hall of Fame accessories.  They were mostly just trying to fill up the box to justify the price.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I didn’t personally own this figure as a kid, my dad did, on the basis of it being one of the few easily available Jean figures at the time, so I do remember it being around the house.  I can’t say I have much memory of her beyond that.  I got mine a few years ago, at the same time as the Dazzler figure from last week.  While not top-tier in terms of costumes, it’s not a terrible design at all, and it makes for a solid all around figure.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0083: Iceboard Robin

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

ICEBOARD ROBIN

BATMAN & ROBIN (KENNER)

G’day and welcome to Friday.  Here at the end of the week, it’s always important to note that the week is, in fact, ending, and we’ve all made it through another one.  Yay us!  Rather than just looking back on the week, of course, I like to be a bit more retrospective than that, and today, I’m returning to Robin!

“Gotham City becomes a very cold place when Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane triple team to plot the icy demise of Batman and Robin. The crimefighters respond immediately by using the Batcomputer deep within the Batcave to develop an array of cutting-edge weapons that can be used in their battle against this multitude of fiendish foes. Discover the Secrets of the Batcave! – secret technology that gives Batman , Robin and Batgirl the ultimate ability to save Gotham City!”

After the box office success of Batman Forever (I know, I’m surprised, too), Warner Brothers decided to fast track its follow-up, Batman & Robin, with its entire production process coming in at under two years, which, when you’re dealing with a block-buster of this caliber, isn’t a lot of time.  The end result was less than stellar.  Batman & Robin holds the lowest earnings of any Batman film to date, and is still regarded as one of the worst comic book films ever made.  With all that said, it did succeed on one front: it was a pretty excellent toy commercial.  The toyline that accompanied the film was easily the best part of the whole thing.  Amazingly, though I dove into the Batman Forever line, I have as of yet not looked at any Batman & Robin figures.  I’ll be changing that today, with Iceboard Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iceboard Robin was released in the first basic series of Kenner’s Batman & Robin line, which hit shelves in 1997, alongside the film.  The first series had two Robins included, with this one being the “standard” movie Robin.  The figure stands 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Robin sported an all-new sculpt.  Robin is actually the most fortunate of the film’s main characters, as he was the only one whose design didn’t change during the production process, meaning his was the only standard figure that was actually film accurate.  Additionally, Robin’s design, which was a pretty nifty merging of more classic Robin characteristics with the then current Nightwing costume from the comics, is really one of the nicest of the film’s designs in general, if you can get past the general Chris O’Donnel-ness of the head.  The sculpt does a nice job of capturing the look from the movie, and is generally a lot sturdier and more sharply detailed than the Forever figures were.  Pre-posing on this figure is at a minimum, but he’s a little better than the straight standing poses of prior figures.  There’s a more natural stance here, and it’s actually pretty darn nice.  The cape is a plastic piece, as were most of the capes on this round of figures, and it plugs into his back fairly securely.  Robin’s paintwork is pretty basic, which the majority of stuff being molded plastic.  However, the red detailing of the uniform is pretty cool, and has a slick metallic finish to it.  Iceboard Robin was, stay with me on this, packed with an iceboard, which is really just a big, goofy stand.  He also included a missile launcher, but mine is missing that piece.  Oh no, whatever will I do?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was too young to see Batman Forever in theaters (though I sure got in on those toys), but Batman & Robin hit at the perfect time for me to be all about it.  I was very excited prior to the film’s release (and even after, if I’m honest, because I loved it.  In my defense, I was 5), and this guy was part of the hype.  At the time, Toys R Us was running a promotion where you got reprints of Robin, Batgirl, and Mr. Freeze’s first appearances if you bought one of the toys from the tie-in line, and my mom was awesome enough to take me over one day after work.  Unsurprisingly, given my more recent collecting habits, I opted for Robin to be my qualifying figure purchase.  Quality of the film and of the actor playing Robin aside, this figure holds up well, and is just a genuinely fun offering.

Behold, a shutdown review!  Yep, this was from the middle of April in 2020, as I was starting to worry about how to keep the daily reviews going without a consistent source of new stuff.  Which is, honestly, kind of funny in my current spot, when I’m working from a lot more back catalog offerings than I really ever have been before.  If anything, it’s reviews like this one that got me more comfortable with going back to the stuff already in my collection more frequently.  While my figure had his iceboard at the time of his review, he was missing all his weaponry.  I actually found his missile launcher while going through boxes of parts, and got a second figure for the staff, so he’s all complete again.  I actually quite like the staff; it’s silly, but i like it.

#4091: Obi-Wan Kenboi – Jedi Knight

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

OBI-WAN KENOBI — JEDI KNIGHT

STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO)

“As the invasion of Naboo rages outside, Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi battles the evil Sith Lord, Darth Maul, in a fierce lightsaber duel. The outcome could change the galaxy forever!”

It’s a bit like a game of ping-pong with the Star Wars: Episode I figures, right?  Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon to Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon.  And just like that, we’re back to Obi-Wan!  Can you believe there’s another Obi-Wan? Well, probably, because you saw the title, and then the photo, and now you’ve read his bio and also my opening remarks about him, which all adds up to another Obi-Wan.  So, here we go, looking at another Obi-Wan!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Jedi Knight is a 2000 release for Hasbro’s Star Wars: Episode I line, part of an assortment meant to coincide with the film’s home video release.  The aim was to re-introduce some main looks, so that’s really what he does.  He’s another basic Obi-Wan.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Though the prior year had granted the Jedi characters extra movement, the second year of the line returned to the basic set-up used in Power of the Force.  It’s not amazing or anything, but it’s fine.  The sculpt was all-new, and would more or less remain unique.  It’s different from the others.  Arguably, it’s a bit better, at least in some sense.  It’s a more standard pose, and it goes for a mixed media approach, with a cloth skirt piece to his tunic, as well as an actual braid piece.  His head sculpt is notably a closer match to McGregor than the earlier offerings, and it’s aided by not having the weird plastic braid blocking his articulation or being at risk of breakage.  The sculpt is otherwise kind of basic, but does what it needs to.  His color work isn’t too involved, but works well enough.  The colors match the earlier figures well, and the application is all pretty clean.  Obi-Wan is packed with his lightsaber, communicator, and a CommTech stand, which, rather amusingly describes him as “Jedi Padawan,” in contrast with the figure’s title.  I don’t believe we’d gotten the communicator before, so it’s a neat extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 2000, I already had three Obi-Wans from Phantom Menace, and I don’t think there was any way I was convincing my parents to buy me a fourth, even if I knew it existed at the time, which, admittedly, I didn’t.  I’ve only come to know about this one in more recent years, and I didn’t exactly jump on it.  But, with Power of the Force wrapped up, and me jumping back into what I owned of Episode I, I felt a little twinge of a need to have all the standard Episode I Obi-Wans, and this one was pretty easy for me to snag from Yesterday’s Fun while I was on vacation this year with my family.  He’s not anything particularly crazy or notable, but he’s intriguing from a progression of the line sort of perspective.

#4090: Phobos & Time Traveler

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

PHOBOS & TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS REACTION+ FIGURES (SUPER 7)

These Micronauts reviews are just becoming a downright regular feature these days, aren’t they? I can’t say I’m all that displeased about this development.  Super 7 has actually been having some decent luck with their relaunch of the brand, in contrast to just about everyone else that’s tried, and I have to kind of admire them for that.  Or, at the very least, reward them by, you know, actually buying the product.  It’s really the best I can offer.  So, let’s look at the latest Micronauts that I bought!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Phobos and Time Traveler (Orange) are the fourth series of Super 7’s Micronauts ReAction+ Figures line.  After jumping up to three figures for the last set, we’re back to two for this round, which is sort of interesting, because there were two Time Travelers last time, and there were two Time Traveler colors left, but only one is present here.  Maybe they’re just trying to space them out for more usage of the mold? Maybe there’s already a plan for a totally new mold next assortment and they’re using the last color to offset it? I don’t know, and I don’t want to get myself to worked up about it, I guess.  These are the two we got, and I’m focusing on them.  They’re a pretty quick turnaround, hitting about a month or so after the last set.

PHOBOS

Mego was big on re-using parts as much as they could, and Micronauts did a lot of that.  One of the notable moves they had on getting more use out of the “Trons” was to give them each a nemesis.  Biotron’s was Phobos, more of a playset/vehicle like Biotron in the original line.  But, with Biotron scaled downwards for this line, Phobos has been sized to match….mostly because he’s just re-using the same parts.  Like his vintage counterpart, Phobos is identical to Biotron from the neck down.  It was a good sculpt the first time, and it remains a good sculpt here.  Topping it off is a brand-new head sculpt, based on Phobos’ distinctive two-faced head from the original.  It’s quite a piece of beauty; both sides of the original are present, in quite a faithful, if scaled down, recreation.  Phobos’s color work is generally a good recreation of the original.  Mostly, he relies on molded colors, and he also gets some chroming for his head and hands.  Technically, the sides of his torso should also be chromed, but as they’re no longer separate parts like the original, they’re just painted silver, much the same as they were on Biotron.

TIME TRAVELER

With only two Time Traveler colors the first time around, it’s not even remotely surprising that he’s getting a follow-up.  He’s sort of a signature of the line and all.  This time around, he’s the orange one.  Very different.  Obviously, he’s mostly a parts re-use from the other two.  I did really like the sculpt the first two times, and that’s still true now.  I did notice, however, that the head’s a lot softer this time around; I wonder if they’re suffering from some mold degradation already?  As with the other two, the only sculptural difference here is his chest plate, which is the “volt meter” design from the original, which is also my personal favorite. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If I’m honest, I was a *tad* let down by this set’s announcement.  It’s my own fault.  After Series 3, I was filling my head with visions of King Atlas, the Green Baron, and Space Glider.  This pair is…a more realistic outcome.  Honestly, in hand, I still really like them.  Phobos is downright fantastic, and I’ll never knock getting another Time Traveler.  I’m certainly hoping for something slightly more adventurous for the next set, but these aren’t bad at all.

#4089: First Mate Robin

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

FIRST MATE ROBIN

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

“An orphaned street urchin rescued years before by Buccaneer Batman, First Mate Robin now stands shoulder to shoulder with his captain the put down the terrifying pirate threat.  Facing down entire pirate bands with his customized blasting cannon, swift cutlass sword and unbridled temper, First Mate Robin is relentless in his desire to wipe out the ruthless evildoers he holds responsible for sending his parents to their watery graves.”

While it’s only been since 2024 that I discussed Legends of Batman, Kenner’s Elseworlds-inspired Batman comics line from the ‘90s, I haven’t talked about my personal favorite subset of the line since way back in 2017.  Remember when the cast were all just sort of pirates?  Well, we’re back with the pirates, with the sidekick to….well, one of the Batmen.  Not Pirate Batman, but specifically Buccaneer Batman, who is specifically called out in the bio and was released in the same series.  Let’s take a look at First Mate Robin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

First Mate Robin was released in the third series of Legends of Batman, which also included the pirate versions of Batman and Joker, for a nice little subset.  This was the second of the two Robins in the line, neither of them standard.  Like Crusader Robin, he was later recolored for a WB Store exclusive, but the one seen here is the original release.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s got a bit of pre-posing going on, with sort of a mid-run kind of thing.  That said, he’s far more stable on his feet than most of the line, so I can’t really knock it.  His sculpt was totally unique, and like the other pirate figures, not based directly on any comics design that I know of.  Like Buccaneer Batman, he takes the broad-strokes of Robin’s classic design, and sort of rebuilds them as a Pirate design.  It’s got a lot of neat elements in place, and is a bit more “plain clothes” than the Batman design, which I think works a bit better for Robin.  Like Batman, he gets a belt running across his chest, bearing his logo.  In his case, it’s not as off-placed as Batman, so it feels less like it was afflicted by marketing.  His cape is a separate removable piece, with a rather notable split at the collar than has trouble staying in place.  Robin’s color work leaves some spots of his rather detailed sculpt notably unpainted, opting for more of the prominent details.  Things like buckles and bandanas get left unpainted.  Also, I’m pretty sure his torso is supposed to show part of his chest exposed (if the art on his card is anything to go by), but it’s painted white like his undershirt instead.  As with Crusader Robin, First Mate Robin’s hair is a lighter brown, rather than black, presumably a vestigial element of Chris O’Donnell’s casting in the role.  First Mate Robin is packed with the blasting cannon and cutlass mentioned in his bio, as well as a Skybox trading card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While my memory of specific marketing for a lot of the figures I own is rather vague, the Pirate figures are not one of those cases, as I vividly remember the TV commercial for them, and the corresponding excitement I had for getting them.  Robin was a gift for my fourth birthday, alongside the corresponding Batman, and the two of them spent a lot of time sailing around in my Fisher Price pirate ship.  While both Batmen from this theme have action features to contend with, First Mate Robin is just a pretty solid basic figure, with a fun design and a rather impressive sculpt.  He could perhaps stand to have a slightly better paint job, but for the era, it’s not terrible.

#4088: Dazzler

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

DAZZLER

MARVEL HALL OF FAME (TOY BIZ)

“Blasting out of the Marvel Universe are its most powerful heroines, the She-Force! Joining together to fight evil are mutants Marvel Girl, Wolfsbane and Dazzler along with Avengers Tigra and Ms. Marvel. Challenging the threat of the Brotherhood of evil Mutants, the She-Force has what it takes to get the job done. Using their combined abilities, the She-Force takes down the Brotherhood in one explosive battle!”

Alison Blair, aka the Dazzler, was originally dreamed up as a collaboration between Marvel Comics and Casablanca Records, first as “Disco Queen,” then “Disco Dazzler,” then simply “Dazzler,” as an attempt at a multimedia character, existing not just in the comics, but also as a “real” performer, much like the Archies, with albums, animated appearances, and possibly even real life performances as well.  The multimedia element proved difficult to make work on a reasonable schedule, and ideas kept shifting, and ultimately Marvel opted to just make her a proper Marvel character, introducing her in the pages of X-Men, before allowing her to move out into the wider universe.  Though never exactly A-list, she’s gotten quite a following over the years.  Despite debuting in 1980, she would get her first action figure until well into the ‘90s, with a figure I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dazzler was released in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Hall of Fame line, a Puzzle Zoo-exclusive line of repaints and re-issues.  Series 6 was the second batch of “She-Force” figures for the line.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  As with the rest of the line, Dazzler is a total parts re-use.  In her case, it’s Black Cat’s head on Invisible Woman’s body.  Interestingly, this exact same combo was used for Jean Grey in the Famous Couples two-pack.  Honestly, it might work a bit better for Dazzler, since the hair in particular feels like a pretty good match for her disco-era look.  The body is decent enough, though it’s a more conventional super her suit than Dazzler’s bell-bottomed disco jumpsuit.  There are some adjustments to her overall look, so as to better match up with the sculpted costume elements of the body, which is a little surprising, since Toy Biz tended to just ignore such things outright.  The paint work does an okay job of capturing her look.  It’s largely basic, but the eye details are pretty sharp, and the hair gets some nice accent work.  The paint on the hair is a little tacky, though, and prone to catching a lot of dust.  Dazzler is packed with a recolored pair of Jubilee’s roller blades, as well as her effect piece.  While the skates aren’t quite the right vintage for Dazzler’s, it’s an inspired re-use to say the least, and the effect piece is also nice, even if it’s a little awkward in her hand.  Also included is a Fleer trading card, which for my figure was a Cyclops.  That’s pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing this figure when she was relatively new. However, my only exposure to the character at the time was “Pryde of the X-Men” and her brief appearance in X-Men: The Animated Series, both of which use her ‘80s flashdance look, so I didn’t really connect with this design.  In more recent years, I’ve gained a better appreciation for the older look (though I do still sort of prefer the later design), so I finally tracked her down, when she was part of a collection that Cosmic Comix bought about five years or so ago.  She’s a good example of the parts re-use approach being a solid way to expand the line-up when used well.  There are some minor oddities, but mostly she’s a good approximation of the character, and it’s clear who she’s supposed to be when on the shelf.