#4034: The Avengers

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA, IRON MAN, THOR, & HULK

WORLD’S GREATEST SUPER HEROES (MEGO)

In 2018, Mego, the company that put licensed action figures on the map back in the ‘70s, returned from an almost four decade hiatus, to a rather different toy landscape, in terms of licensing.  Though they pioneered super hero toys in the ‘70s, the licensing for both DC and Marvel has been more locked up since they left the market.  Slowly, but surely, in their eight years back on the market, Mego has picked up some of their old licenses, first DC, and, with a lot of special work arounds, Marvel. Back in November, I finally got a chance to look at the first two Marvel sets, a little while after their initial drops.  Now, I get to look at the latest set while it’s more or less still new!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk make up the third Marvel set in the revived World’s Greatest Super Heroes line.  As with the prior two sets, these are exclusive to Disney, going up for order through their online store, as well as showing up in the parks and auxiliary locations (like Disney Springs) at the end of last month.  All four figures are packed in their own reproduction box, alongside a coin modeled after the ones available through Marvel’s in-house ads in the ‘70s.  This one’s a bit more anachronistic, though, showing the four characters included in the set with “THE AVENGERS” written along the side, which is a branding that didn’t *actually* include Hulk until shortly before the movie in the late ‘00s.  Like the FF set, all four figures included here are reproductions of original run figures, with no new characters like the Electro from the Spidey set.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

First up in this set, the figure I’ve kind of already reviewed…a little…sort of.  Cap was one of the figures re-done during Diamond’s short-lived attempt at reviving the Mego style for Marvel.  That set included a replica of the original figure and his box, alongside the updated parts, while this one is more direct.  The box is a little closer this time, notably with a window that better fits to the included figure than Diamond’s, but it’s still been slightly adjusted to add the three other figures from this set.  It’s amusing to see them change the sides, given that Spidey had a more authentic recreation, showing Cap on the sides, rather than the other figures he was included with.  Perhaps they wanted to be more properly on-brand this time?  Ultimately, it’s just a box, so I won’t sweat it too much.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  As with the prior sets, Cap moves over to the updated bandless construction body, which has become the new standard.  It’s generally more posable (aside from the bend on the knees), and generally more sturdy (again, aside from the knees).  Cap gets a replica of his original head sculpt, which is a better recreation than the DST version, which was a little squished and narrow.  This one remains more accurate to the original, which, as goofy as it may be, remains perhaps my favorite of the Mego sculpts.  Cap gets a replica of his original outfit, with his jumpsuit and plastic boots.  The boots are closer to the material of the originals, and the jumpsuit’s star is closer to the original, than we saw on the DST release, being a decal, rather than the sort of haphazardly affixed piece of pleather.  The original star fell off a lot, so hopefully this one stays in place a bit better.  Cap is packed with his shield, which is a recast of the original, right down to the creased decal.  Once again, it’s a bit better than the DST release, with a slightly cleaner and smoother application of the decal, closer to his vintage counterpart.

IRON MAN

Certainly one of the more impressive of the original Marvel run, the vintage Mego Iron Man is largely remembered for being one of the very few toy examples of Tony’s short-lived “nosed” armor, supposedly brought into existence when Stan Lee joked about how tightly artists were molding the armor to Tony’s face, and said they might as well show his nose.  It’s so short-lived and overlooked that for years more casual fans assumed the Mego figure’s nose was a mistake, or perhaps even evidence that he was originally meant to be a Dr. Doom to go with the FF.  Iron Man is based on the same updated body as Cap, now sporting the aforementioned schnoz-bearing head sculpt from the original.  Obscurity of the look aside, it’s not a bad sculpt at all, and it’s certainly clean and distinctive.  His outfit’s more involved than Cap’s, and more accurate to the source material.  There’s more stitching and piping, so it looks a fair bit like his comics armor.  He gets plastic boots, gloves, a belt, and his little uni-beam “button.”  The belt’s a softer material, and doesn’t quite fit the waist on the newer body style, but overall looks alight, as do the other plastic parts.  If there’s one downside to this figure, it’s the paint; something about the eyes on this updated release makes them look far more dead and lifeless than the original.  

THOR

Thor’s original figure was nothing if not involved.  He got a lot of new pieces, showing the genuine improvements that Mego brought to the Marvel line as in continued.  This figure makes use of all of them, bringing his unique head, complete with its rooted hair, to the updated body.  I do find the rooting on this release to be somewhat funny, since it leaves quite a noticeable bald spot on the top, but that also means his helmet sits a little more securely, so it’s an okay trade-off.  The actual head’s not a bad one; not sure it screams Thor to me personally, but it’s got some character.  His outfit has a lot of different parts, with a multi-piece jumpsuit with attached cape and vinyl “circles” on the front, a pair of cloth wrist bands, a pair of rubber boots, and a chromed plastic helmet.  It all assembles into a nice rendition of Thor’s classic look, with a lot of vibrant colors, and almost no exempted details.  Also included was Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir, which is using the solid head construction of the vintage releases.  It’s got small indents on the handle to allow him to better hold it one-handed, and is generally just pretty cool looking.

HULK

The most distinctive of the four included here in terms of core construction is Hulk, just like his vintage counterpart.  He’s using the updated bulked up body, introduced with The Thing in the last set, making him a 1/4-inch shorter than the other three, just like in the vintage run.  Like his original, he has his own, not rocky hands, as well as his unique head sculpt.  The body is more visible here, of course, and while it’s got more joints than the original did, they don’t break up the flow too badly, so it’s not too terrible to look at.  The head’s a good take on the ‘70s era Hulk, and is very well recreated here.  Just as in the vintage days, the only part of his outfit is his pair of tattered purple pants.  They’re not bad, but they’re obviously a different material than the original ones, which were purple all the way through, while these ones show some underlying white where the tears are.  Of course, there’s always been some back and forth about that in comics illustrations, even going back to the early days, so I don’t feel the white really makes him seem less accurate.  Other than that, Hulk’s a pretty basic figure, especially compared to the others in the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the nearly instant sell-outs of the prior sets, I was surprised by how long this one stayed available, and even had time to waffle on whether to buy it.  Well, not really whether to buy it all, but rather whether to buy it online, or wait a week for my first visit to Disney in two decades.  I decided to buy it online, partially because I didn’t want to miss it, and partially because I didn’t want to contend with brining a box this size back in my luggage.  I did end up seeing it in every spot that had the Marvel set-up, but ultimately I really was glad not to have to fly it back.  This set’s the one that I feel I have the most vintage knowledge on going in.  My dad had a Cap in his original collection, and it was always my favorite of the bunch, so much so that it was unofficially mine pretty much until I got the Diamond replica in 2015.  My dad didn’t have the others, and the Iron Man and Thor Megos in our joint collection when I was growing up were both definitively mine, so it’s cool to see them get updated.  Hulk, I don’t have much to do with, but I can’t say he’s a *bad* figure.  This set is certainly fun, and certainly splashy.  That said, I’ll admit to being the slightest bit bummed that it’s four retreads again, rather than mixing in at least one new figure.  With only Falcon remaining from the original Marvel Megos, I’m skeptical about getting another set.  I’d really like to, especially because I’d like to see Falcon get his update.  I’d also love to see some new characters to fill out the ranks some more.  I guess we’ll just have to see.

#4033: Robin

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

ROBIN

BATMAN (HASBRO)

“The son of gifted circus acrobats, DICK GRAYSON was left an orphan when a two-bit extortionist sabotaged his parents’ high-wire act.  Bruce Wayne, who lost his own family to a senseless crime, felt an instant connection to the boy and took him in.  Eventually, Wayne revealed his secret identity to the talented young man and made him his crime-fighting apprentice.  Now, as Robin, Grayson is a skilled and quick-minded fighter in his own right, and Batman’s most trusted comrade in justice.”

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve reviewed a proper figure of Dick Grayson as Robin.  Nightwing sure, but for Robin, we’re going back to 2021.  Heck of a jump.  For specifically the animated version, we’re talking about 2016.  Whole decade.  Anyway, 15 years before *that*, the DC license was still held by Hasbro, who were really just largely running on the remnants of what Kenner had done before, more or less just focussing on the Batman side of things until handing off the license to Mattel.  On the animated side, they did a lot of boxed sets, revisiting old molds and themes.  While predominantly focussed on the New Adventures era, there were a few The Animated Series figure mixed in as well, including today’s Robin figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin was released in the 2001 “Revenge of the Penguin” boxed set, under Hasbro’s wider Batman banner.  At this point, the bulk of the line was Mission Masters, but the boxed sets didn’t sport that title, rather just sticking with a rather generic “Batman.”  “Revenge of the Penguin” was a totally BTAS themed set, which was rare, sporting Robin, a Penguin I previously reviewed, Catwoman, and a wonky Batman variant.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s a total mold re-use of the Kenner animated Robin from 1992 (which had previously been used by Hasbro a year prior in their Spectrum of the Bat line), itself a neck-down re-use of the Batman Returns Robin figure from 1991.  At the time of this release, most of the mold was a decade old, which, honestly?  It’s not bad.  In part, it fits in fine due to how much Hasbro stagnated with the license, of course.  When you’re aiming to do as few new molds as possible, you aim to make them work match the ones you’ve already got.  It’s…well, it’s fine for its original intended use, as a realistic take on what would become the comics Tim Drake costume. It’s less ideal for an animated Dick Grayson, whose outfit was streamlined a bit, and who never sported anything close to the musculature detailed on this figure.  The head was at least an okay take on Dick’s original animation model, if perhaps a bit flattened and soft on detailing.  It did fit well with the other figures from the Kenner line, though.  He keeps the original’s two-tone cloth cape, which remains a pretty impressive piece for the scale.  A little unnatural in how it hangs, but generally very cool.  His paint marks the main change-up here.  In a general sense, it’s not drastically different, but the colors lean more toward the Mission Masters palette, where the flesh tones were very pale, the greens were more neon, and the “warm” colors were colder.  The actual application’s generally fine (though the black paint was really prone to wear), and he even gets an additional paint app on the neck, under the cape.  There’s a sculpted spot there that’s clearly meant to be a different shade than the rest of the torso, and the original just left it red.  This one…makes it green?  Still not a match for the cape, but points for effort.  Robin was packed with a missile launcher and missile.  It was originally packed with the Legends of Batman Crusader Batman, and it was one of Hasbro’s favorite accessories of this era, no matter how illogical or ill-suited it was to the figure it was packed with.  At least it’s in colors that match?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I missed the main runs of the Animated figures, the boxed sets were really my personal jumping on point for the style, and served as my earliest versions of a lot of the characters.  They were almost always birthday or Christmas gift fodder from family members, and this particular set was the latter, given to me by my Nanna.  Robin was my main interest.  I’d been making do with the Total Justice Robin as a stand-in for this look for far too long at this point, and was happy to get a better approximation.  He’s got some quirks of this era, but given how lazy and odd most of the late-run Hasbro DC product was, he’s honestly not bad.  He may be little more than a re-issue, but he was at least a decent choice for one, and one I definitely was glad to have then, and am still glad to have now.

#4032: The Punisher

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

PUNISHER

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

“The Punisher has an explosive arsenal designed to bring any criminal to justice! To “load” his weapon, thread the caps into the top of the Punisher’s back pack and advance them into position by raising and lowering the Punisher’s right arm. Once the caps are “loaded”, pull the Punisher’s arm back until it locks into position. Next, select from his arsenal his Bazooka, Uzi, Pistol, or Sniper Rifle, put it in his hand, aim, release the trigger on his back and watch how the Punisher’s arm realistically raises and lowers as each cap is fired! (Caps Not Included)”

In preparation for today’s review, I double checked some older reviews, as I do, and discovered I haven’t reviewed a Punisher figure since 2020.  Of course, I also reviewed, like, five Punishers in a single year span there, which is literally half of the Punishers I’ve reviewed, so I guess maybe I just exhausted my initial supply.  Today, I’m bringing him back around in the most me way possible, with a Toy Biz 5-inch figure.  In fact, it was his very first Toy Biz 5-inch figure, and his very first figure in general.  Let’s check that guy out! 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Punisher was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, and also saw a re-release in Series 4 of the line, which was predominantly a re-release assortment.  He’s sporting his classic design, which was still his main look at this point, as we hadn’t yet made it to the War Journal era.  The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  His sculpt would serve as the basis for the three other Punishers in this same line, as well as the talking one.  Like the other Series 1 figures from this line, he shows a lot of similar stylings to their DC Superheroes line, and by extension has a bit of an off-brand Super Powers feel.  Frank in particular feels quite soft around the edges for this particular character.  Not exactly the intimidating presence you might expect fro a guy that regularly mows down criminals.  His actual details are also rather soft, and sort of only partly formed.  Details like ears and jawline are sort of mushy.  I do appreciate that they at least put some folding and creasing around his ankles to properly show off his boots; it’s not the sort of detail you’d expect, but it’s cool.  Because Toy Biz was very much a fan of stealing the notes from other successful toylines, they took a page out of the Kenner Robocop book and designed Punisher to have a cap firing feature, worked into the back of the figure’s torso.  It’s a rather obvious construction, and doesn’t really line up with his design, so it represents hampering the final figure in a way that Toy Biz wasn’t really much for with later releases.  His paintwork was fine, but not really anything special.  There’s some decent base level work, and his insignia in particular is quite clean.  Other areas are a bit more prone to slop, and like a lot of the earlier figures, he’s rather prone to wear.  While the Punisher did *not* include the caps for his cap-firing feature, he did include four different weapons, though I don’t know that they’re quite the “Bazooka, Uzi, Pistol, & Sniper Rifle” indicated by the back of the box text.  Pistol and Uzi, for sure, but the other two are clearly an M-16ish sort of rifle and a shotgun.  Whatever the case, he can only hold them one at a time, which feels rather limiting, if I’m honest.  But, the variety is nice regardless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had no interest at all in the Punisher until Jon Bernthal played him in Daredevil, so the only one of him I had as a kid was the one that I couldn’t avoid getting because it was in a boxed set.  That said, I certainly remember the character, and this figure in particular was on the back of the box for other figures I got growing up, so I always had this sort of curiosity about this figure and his later variants.  A few years ago, a sizable batch of loose Marvel Super Heroes figures were traded into All Time, and this guy was among them, suprisingly complete.  He’s not great, but I’ll admit I wasn’t really expecting him to be.  He’s an interesting curiosity, though.

Flashback Friday Figure Addenum #0070: Sabretooth

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

SABRETOOTH

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  Which is actually almost true for me, but it’s actually last week’s Friday because I had to write all of this week’s reviews in advance.  So, I have no clue how this week went, or how desperately we all need it to end.  Personally, I’m just hoping we’re all still hanging in here.  We did it guys.  I’m proud of us.  Anyway, let’s get all flashback-y, and figure addendum-y, with some returning focus for Sabretooth!

“Sabretooth is Wolverine’s greatest enemy. Both are products of the Top-Secret Weapon X program. But instead of using his super-sharp claws and fighting abilities for good, Sabretooth became the Evil Mutants’ master assassin! Sabretooth has the same powers as Wolverine, including a mutant healing ability. What makes Sabretooth so dangerous is the fact that he’s even more savage in battle than Wolverine! When the two of them fight, it’s anyone’s guess who will win.”

Despite his connection to Wolverine, Victor Creed, better known as Sabretooth, first appeared as a foe to Iron Fist. Like fellow X-foe Mystique, he was an example of long-time X-scribe Chris Claremont spreading the love so to speak, and introducing characters he intended to use in X-Men in some of his other books. Whatever his source, he’s been an enduring foe for Wolverine and the X-Men, and was at the height of his popularity alongside them in the ’90s, when he got his first action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sabretooth was released in Series 2 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He’s based on Sabretooth’s original John Byrne-designed costume, which, interestingly enough, Sabretooth had just ditched in the comics at the time of this figure’s release. The early line was kind of plagued with things like this, which is why characters had a tendency to show up a second time pretty quickly (Sabretooth’s second figure would arrive just three series later). The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. Sabretooth lacked neck articulation, a surprisingly common phenomenon in the early years of the line. Unlike other figures this happened to, Sabretooth doesn’t really have any specific gimmicks preventing a neck joint from being added, so I guess it was just a design thing. Whatever the case, it’s a bit limiting on posing. Sabretooth’s sculpt was unique to him. It’s okay, but not really anything to write home about. It leans closer to the weaker of the Series 1 sculpts than it does the stronger Series 2 sculpts. The details are rather soft, especially on the face, the hair is rather oddly shaped, and the proportions are really on the scrawny side for a Sabretooth figure. His paintwork is pretty basic; the standard colors are all handled decently. The two shades of yellow for the fur and his hair are kind of close to each other, meaning they kind of blend together and look kind of odd. Sabretooth was packed with this weird sort of claw thing to hold. He also had an action feature, where the front plate of his stomach could be flipped back and forth. One side is clean, while the other has claw marks, thereby simulating his healing factor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time I was collecting, this figure had vanished from shelves, replaced by his more cartoon-indicative second figure, so that was the one I had. I picked this one up a couple of years ago second hand. Part of his appeal was being the first copy of this guy I’d seen without horrible paint scraping on the eyes. He’s not really a great figure…or even a particularly good figure. I guess if you really like his original costume, that’s a plus, but it’s not even the best version of that costume on the market.

This was a spring of 2019 review, and I recall being rather burned out at this point, which I think shows a bit in the writing.  Admittedly, Sabretooth isn’t the most inspiring of figures, so I can’t blame myself exclusively.  I think I did okay with the basics.  He’s really not a terribly impressive first outing for the character, so it’s nice that he got a second go so quickly.  When I reviewed him, he was missing his weird orange weapon thing.  But now he’s got it.  And it’s all weird and orange.  But it’s there.  So…you know, there it is.

#4031: Emperor Palpatine

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

EMPEROR PALPATINE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Bleh, it’s another Palpatine review.  I’m bad at intros for these because I just don’t know how to make him interesting.  “Somehow Palpatine returned” is exactly the level of care I personally have in Palpatine, so it landed right at home for me.  Anyway, here’s another Palpatine, from the period of Power of the Force where Kenner felt the need to make another Palpatine, seemingly for the purpose of having another Palpatine.  Palpatine.  Yep, here’s a Palpatine.  Also a coin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Emperor Palpatine was released in 1998 as one of the seven Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coin” figures from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 3 points of articulation.  Hey, check out all that crazy posability, right?  Like, he can slightly angle his head to either side.  Or slightly move his arms up and down.  The possibilities are endless!  While this line was a re-use heavy one, Palpatine was rather unique in that almost all of his tooling is new.  I mean, sure, he’s clearly modeled on the same basic sculpt that the electronic Palpatine was using, but this one is sans gimmick, and sans any trace of the gimmick, and also just a lot less boxy.  So, I guess that’s all pretty good?  Eh, I’ll consider it a win.  Otherwise, he’s really just a Palpatine figure that feels more or less like all the other Palpatine figures that the line offered up.  He’s an old guy in a black cloak.  Not a lot of room for fun there, really.  Even the paint looks essentially identical to the other Palpatines that preceded him.  The most notable thing here is that he gets a different finish on the clasp for his cloak, so it stands out a little more.  He gets a unique set of electricity effects, which are honestly pretty nice, as well as the stand and coin that all of these figures got.  The coin’s at least pretty nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I make it no secret that I’ve got very little love for Palpatine, and even less love for Palpatine figures.  But, I’m going for the complete run, and I’ve bought all the other ones, and this guy was in a big lot with everyone else, so I didn’t really have to think about it too much.  This one’s fine.  He’s better in terms of posing a detailing than anything other than the Flashback figure, and he’s also more stable on his feet (or lack thereof) than that one, so I think it’s generally the best Palpatine the line had.  And also, it’s the last one I have to review, which is quite nice.  Now I never have to talk about Palpatine again!

#4030: Darwin

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

DARWIN

SEAQUEST DSV (PLAYMATES)

“Name: Darwin (Male Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin — “Tursiops Truncatus”)

Rank: Non-Commissioned Officer

Assignment: Special Missions, seaQuest DSV 4600

UEO Military ID#: DD001-2018-NB0

Security Access: Classified

Date of Birth: Estimated as 2007

Character Profile: Playful. Trusting. Friendly to humans. Highly intelligent mammal. Extremely loyal to Captain Bridger. Special relationship with Lucas Wolenczak.

Personal History: Born in Caribbean waters. Rescued following gill net accident and trained by Nathan Bridger at Caribbean research center, 2015. Learned interspecies communication via hand signals, forming close bond with Bridger. Assigned to seaQuest, 2018, where Vo-Corder technology developed by Lucas Wolenczak allowed central computer to translate natural dolphin clicks and whistles into simple human speech. Uses dolphin tube system aboard ship to interact with crew and follow close friend, Lucas.

Mission Specialty: Dolphin Re-Breather allows prolonged dives at extraordinary depths without resurfacing — for strategic underwater assigments.”

Oh boy, I’m back to SeaQuest, aren’t I?  Bet you guys thought I’d get it all out of my system.  Well, no such luck!  I’m fully committed!  Or, maybe I should be committed.  I don’t know.  It’s one of the things.  In addition to its human cast, SeaQuest also had amongst its crew a creature more naturally adept to water, a dolphin.  Billed only as himself in the opening credits, Darwin the dolphin was, in fact, a rather convincing use of effects, largely relying on puppets, as well as “special vocal effects” by the legendary Frank Welker.  Darwin was a pretty big hit, and was ultimately one of only four characters to remain with the show for its entire run.  Not bad for a puppet.  Obviously, there was no way he was getting left out of the tie-in toys, no matter how short-lived the line may have been.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darwin was released in 1993, as part of Playmates one and only SeaQuest DSV tie-in assortment.  Darwin was actually short packed at the time of release, which, coupled with his popularity, made the figure quit a hot commodity for a while.  The figure is about 5 inches long and, while he doesn’t have articulation in a traditional sense, he does have some points of movement.  His two pectoral fins are able to be pushed inwards, which opens his mouth, and emits a squeaking sound, sort of as if he’s “talking.”  Darwin’s sculpt was all-new and unique to him.  Obviously, as a dolphin, he’s rather a departure from the established style.  He’s a pretty good recreation of a bottlenose dolphin, and specifically looks accurate to the models of Darwin we saw on the show.  He’s in a rather basic pose, and sculpting is fairly clean.  There’s kind of an ugly joint where the mouth is meant to open, but it’s on the underside mostly, so not crazy visible.  Darwin’s paint work is honestly more involved than you might expect, with all the proper color variation on his skin, plus fully painted interiors on his mouth.  For a line of this scale and style, that’s generally pretty rare, so the extra effort’s appreciated.  Darwin was packed with his Dolphin Rebreather, a rather sizable overlay piece, which attaches quite securely to the figure, and gives him a more distinctive flair.  He also includes a vocoder, sonar tag (missing from my figure), and display base with a special attachment to hold him in place horizontally.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember Darwin being difficult to get early on, and specifically remember my dad getting Darwin separate from the others because of his rarity.  I was always a fan of dolphins, so I always liked Darwin.  As such, he wound up as one of the figures I actually got as a kid, albeit years after the other two I had.  Cosmic Comix had one (literally the only SeaQuest figure I recall them ever carrying), so I bought it, and he’s just been floating around in my collection ever since.  There’s not a ton going on with this figure, but I still think he’s cool, and appreciate the efforts by Playmates to set him apart from just a generic dolphin toy.

#4029: Hawkman

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

HAWKMAN

TOTAL JUSTICE (KENNER)

“Born Katar Hol on the planet Thanagar, Hawkman escaped his oppresssive native world and made his new home on Earth, where he vowed to fight against injustice. He is equipped with an anti-gravity belt and enormous wings that give him the power of flight and allow him to launch aerial attacks against villains, swooping down and snatching them up in massive grip talons.”

Hey, it’s Hawkman.  When did I last talk about Hawkman?  …ah, yes, Black Adam tie-in.  Yikes.  Well it could be worse.  For instance, I could be talking about the absolute nightmare that was Hawkman’s backstory post-Crisis!  See, where most of the overlapping Golden and Silver Age incarnations were either similar enough to merge (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) or distinct enough to co-exist (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom), Hawkman got to be in the weird middle-ground where his two incarnations were far too different to be the same person (or even connected, really), but also way too similar to both exist.  So, there was sort of this grey area for a while, where everyone just pretended not to notice the issues, until Hawkworld came along and revamped the Silver Age incarnation of the character for the ‘90s, establishing along the way that he was new to Earth, making the prior appearances post-Crisis confusing to say the least.  It was quite a mess, eventually leading to DC just outright ditching the character for a bit, because they viewed him as “too confusing.”  (Grant Morison created Zauriel during their tenure on JLA in part because of Hawkman being off limits).  He would eventually get reworked a few more times, ultimately streamlining things a bit and making him more workable, but it was real touch and go there.  In the midst of the touch and go, we did get an action figure of the ill-fated Hawkworld version of the character, for better or for worse.  Let’s look at that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hawkman was released as part of the second series of Kenner’s Total Justice line.  It was his third figure, after the Super Powers and Toy Biz figures, and the first to be based on something other than his Silver Age design.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Unlike others in the line, Hawkman lacked neck movement, presumably due to the hair. There’s still a peg, it’s just at the middle of his head, where his mask meets his face, and it’s really odd and definitely not meant to move.  Beyond that, he does get the standard shoulder and hip movement, as well as additional movement for the wings.  Most of his sculpt would remain unique to him, as he was one of the few characters not to have any equal in the JLA line.  The wings got re-used for Zauriel, though, which makes sense, because they’re decent basic wings.  His sculpt is based on Katar’s Earth attire from Hawkworld and the bit of time that followed.  At it’s core, it keeps the general set-up of his original design, but definitely ‘90s-izes it.  There’s extra straps, and fingerless gloves, and, of course, the super long hair.  We had three rounds of that long hair thing in Total Justice, which is a pretty dense packing in of it all.  The sculpt is at least pretty good at what it’s doing.  It’s one of the absolute least pre-posed of the Total Justice sculpts, looking borderline like a normal person.  The musculature is still kind of nuts, but it’s the style, so we’re just finding it charming.  The wings and helmet are definitely the best part.  His paint work is fine enough.  It does a halfway decent job with the colors, but ultimately misses a bunch of details on the legs, which is kind of a bummer.  He gets no actual character-specific accessories, but does get the ever-so-present Fractal armor, which in his case is a big ol’ honking set of talons that mount to the shoulders of his chest plate.  It’s…it’s odd.  But, it’s there.  At least it doesn’t impact the core figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In the ‘90s, I was still a child, living the simple life of someone who didn’t know anything about the madness going on with Hawkman.  I just knew there was a Hawkman, mostly from Super Friends and old back-issues my Dad read to me.  So, I saw this guy at Another Universe, the comic shop in the mall my Grandmother always took me to, and I wanted him, because he was Hawkman, and Hawkman was a simple, not convoluted character, right?  And I showed him to my dad, who liked Hawkman, and he was…well, it’s not to say he wasn’t glad I had a Hawkman figure, but there was certainly some discussion about *what* Hawkman I’d just brought into the house (in a joking, sort of nurturing manner, of course).  Not so simple anymore.  Well, he remained simple and un-convoluted for me, at least until I had the Super Powers figure to swap in for him, so I consider all that a win.  Over the years, I lost some of his parts, but I slowly rebuilt him, and here he is, all complete.  As messed up as this period of time is for the character, the figure’s cool.  I’m not taking that away from him.

#4028: Breakdown

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

BREAKDOWN

X-MEN 2099 (TOY BIZ)

“Roaming the world of 2099 are a group of nomads called the Freakshow – men and women used as lab rats in the twisted experiments of corporate America. Breakdown is one of them. Genetically engineered to transmute the molecules of any object he lays hands on, Breakdown’s touch results in destruction. Enraged over being made outcasts in the name of science, Breakdown and the Freakshow are out for revenge.”

The 2099 imprint at Marvel was not shy when it came to world-building, and in the case of X-Men, they were pretty invested in creating equivalents for stuff from the present timeline.  Since the present day X-Men had their own band of “unsightly” mutant outcasts in the form of the Morlocks, X-Men 2099 had their own, the Freakshow.  And, since Callisto wasn’t around for her usual edgy leader duties, instead we got today’s focus, Breakdown!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Breakdown was part of the second (and ultimately final) series of Toy Biz’s X-Men 2099 toyline.  He’s a non-team member in an assortment that’s sparse on actual team members, which is a bit odd since they didn’t really come anywhere close to an actual team line-up, but hey, it is what it is.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Breakdown’s sculpt is another all-new one, and one that again remained unique to this figure.  It’s very much in keeping with the others in the line, so it looks a fair bit like Ron Lim’s illustrations for the series, and it also fits well with the other figures Toy Biz was doing at the time.  Dig that mullet, which is apparently back in style in 2099.  Or maybe it’s not.  He’s an outcast, after all.  The sculpt is largely basic in its detailing, but there’s a bit more texturing in what you can see of his skin.  You can also see more of that texturing through the magic of his “battle-damage” feature, which allows you to remove a segment of his costume on his torso.  It’s actually a pretty cool little feature, adding a fun little extra, while also staying in place pretty securely, and not being too incredibly obvious when it’s in place.  Breakdown’s color work is a pretty decent match for the character’s admittedly rather oddball colors from the comics.  Things are pretty clean for the most part (though my figure has a touch of wear), but there’s some coverage issues along some of the edges, notably his hairline.  Breakdown is packed with a whole other guy, namely Dominick, who is his sidekick.  At least, according to the box.  I don’t know.  I can’t say I really know Dominick, beyond his presence here.  I will say he’s a pretty neat li’l guy, and I do quite like him.  Like a lot.  Now I want to read all six of his appearances.  I would die for this guy.  Just straight up going all Rosa Diaz with the puppy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Breakdown loose with the rest of the line a few years back, but he was missing the Dominick figure, and as I have discovered in the process of writing this review, that’s apparently a deal breaker for me, so I tracked down another just to get Dominick.  Knowing nothing about either character, I gotta say, I really like this pair.  Definitely another solid offering from a line I knew very little about going in.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0069: Boba Fett

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

BOBA FETT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Well, here we are at Friday.  We’ve made it.  I mean, I hope.  Gonna be real, I’m writing this on Monday, and I’m already exhausted, so we’re just gonna see how it goes.  I mean, I guess you guys already know.  So, there’s that.  But speaking of uncertain timelines and moving back and forth, it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Let’s take another look at Boba Fett!

“The most notorious and fearsome bounty hunter in the galaxy is also the most mysterious. Many legends and stories have arisen over the years, but few facts are known of the man called Boba Fett, or his link to Han Solo’s past. Since the Clone Wars, Fett has worked as a mercenary, a soldier, a personal guard, an assassin, and most frequently, as the most expensive bounty hunter in the known systems.”

Is it safe? Can I come out? One never can be too sure when reviewing a Boba Fett figure. His fans are easily startled, but they soon return, and in greater numbers…or something like that.

So, yeah, looking at the Fett-man today. He’s had a lot of toys over the years, but they used to be fewer and further between. The return of the brand in the ‘90s got in on the whole ‘90s anti-hero fad, so he was pushed to the forefront. As such, he figured pretty prominently into Kenner’s relaunch, getting not one, but three figures in short succession. I’ll be looking at the first of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett was part of the first series of Power of the Force II figures, hitting in 1995. The fact that Boba made it into Series 1 was quite a feat, given his relative obscurity compared to the others in the assortment with him. It wasn’t really something that would happen again; he tends to be held back for at least the second assortment now. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. His sculpt was unique, and as an early offering from the line, he’s certainly filtered through the line’s distinctive style. The big thing is his overall build, which isn’t quite as absurd as a few of the others in the early line-up, but it’s still really puffy for the character seen on screen. Definitely some Mandalorian super-engineering going on here. Similar to the Stormtroopers, his armor takes a bit of a turn as well. Most notably, his helmet, specifically the visor, has taken a slightly different look from the movies. It’s a lot rounder at the edges and the visor is quite a bit wider than it should be. His view-finder is also quite a bit stubbier than it really ought to be; at it’s current length, there’s no way it would be able to come down in front of his eye. The rocket pack and the scarf/Wookie braids are both removable pieces. The rocket’s pretty decent, and actually stays on a lot better than later figures. The braids and scarf rely on a rather bulky shoulder piece to attach, which looks a little off when the figure is fully assembled. Later figures would definitely get these parts down better. The paint work on Boba is based on his slightly more colorful RotJ design, so he gets the blue and orange pack and the red wrist gauntlets. The figure actually does a pretty solid job of getting all of the painted elements in place, and he even gets the bits of chipped paint on the armored sections. Boba included his distinctive blaster rifle, a piece which is missing from my figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I didn’t have this figure; I had the deluxe version instead. And I didn’t even have that one on purpose. My cousin got two of them for his birthday, and I got to keep the extra. That figure went missing over the years, and in the mean time, I’ve picked up more of an appreciation for Boba. I got this guy from Yesterday’s Fun. He was out of his box, but still in his tray, and only missing the rifle, so I figured he was worth it. He’s a goofy figure. Since Boba’s a character that’s really only got the cool design going for him, I think he was hurt a bit more by a line that made everybody look really goofy. 

Re-reading this review, I remembered I used to have a troll!  What a guy.  Man, what a simple time, when I just had that one troll, and my biggest worry was upsetting him with my totally accurate Boba Fett takes.  I’m taking a big risk here, honestly.  Oh, well.

I will say, I think I was perhaps a tad harsh on this figure in my original review.  I mean, yeah, he’s goofy, but I see that as less of an issue these days.  I actually like the goofiness.  Anyway, when I reviewed him, he didn’t have his blaster rifle, but I’ve since found him a replacement, which makes him all nice and complete.  It’s neat.  Other than that, he’s really just as he was before.  Simple.  Nice.  Overhyped (joking…mostly).

#4027: Chewbacca

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

CHEWBACCA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Star Waaaaaaars!  Nothing but Star Waaaaaaaaars!  All with the Cooooooiiiiiins!  Every Thurdaaaaaaay!  Welcome to another Thursday here at the Figure in Question, a day for Star Wars stuff.  Not just any Star Wars stuff, though.  No, it’s Star Wars stuff with coins.  And figures.  And collectiblity.  And also things that are exceedingly similar to things that you already have.  Today takes things to almost a new level of “things you already have.”  This should be oodles of fun.  Let’s look at Chewbacca.  Oodles, I tell you!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Chewbacca was released in the Toys “R” Us-exclusive “Millennium Minted Coins” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II from 1998.  Chewbacca was still pretty much operating on “technically he’s got the same look in all the movies” principle, so he’s just got the one standard look here, much like elsewhere.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  While the last two Coin figures had new parts, Chewbacca is a total re-use of the standard Chewbacca mold from the first series of the line.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a distinct sculpt, but also one of the more inaccurate figures from the earlier run of the line.  It was replaced by more accurate figures the same year as this release, but I guess they weren’t on hand for this release.  Alas.  This one gets a radically different paint scheme, though!  ….Nah, I’m just kidding.  What he actually gets is almost the exact same paint scheme, but now there’s some additional grey drybrushing on some of the fur.  Is it worth it?  No, not really.  You’d probably miss it if you didn’t have both versions on hand.  But it’s different?  So, yay?  Chewbacca is packed with the standard bowcaster from the first release (but lacks the wonky blaster rifle), as well as the display stand and Millennium Minted Coin.  That’s where the oodles of fun comes in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve read my last two Millennium Minted Coins reviews, then you know I didn’t have any of these as a kid.  This one especially wasn’t really on my list because he’s almost exactly the same as the standard one, and I just didn’t know if I needed it.  Clearly I lost that particular battle, huh?  I bought a whole set of these on eBay, so that’s where this guy came from.  Nothing really special, much like the actual figure.  He’s…fine.  I mean, technically better than the original, but that’s not saying much.  Yay for completism!  It’s oodles of fun!