Sorry so late again folks but found some new figures this weekend and decided to do something different. A bit of comparison with a bit of a light review. So as always lets get into it. Fixing problem images in the morn - AGM As you can see we are looking at three very different types of figures today. First, a set of Superman the Movie figures from last year (? Maybe two years ago?), specifically Toys R Us exclusives Jor-El and Kal-El in Kryptonian garb and holographic Jor-El.

 

Sigh…These figures are impossible peg warmers and I picked up the three of them for about 6 bucks total as Toys R Us has them in clearance, dozens of them trying to unload them. These figures suck. Suck suck suck. They made a jillion of these for the movie and I’m sure they sold plenty of them as little kids like superheroes, but imagine how many they might have sold if the movie was actually something adults and kids could enjoy! I don’t want to get started on a rant on how disappointing that entire movie was and how I hope someone takes the reins from Bryan Singer and his nostalgic inspired mess, but these figures suck as much as the movie.

 

As I’ve said in the past, these figures have the Old School Bat-Man articulation. In fact, they have worse as the legs cannot even go straight 90 degrees and end somewhere half way up. On top of that, all three figures are the same. The body is the exact same one, down to the paint and the sculpt. The heads seem to be the only difference. Neither of which is fantastically impressive but I guess I wasn’t supposed to open the robes. And holographic Jor-El is just the same sculpt in a clear plastic.

 

In the end, only get any of these toys now if you have a kid who breaks his all the time. Then go crazy, buy a bunch! You’ll save lots in the long run in terms of money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next on today’s holiday hit list are a few of Hasbro’s ML Wave 2. Specifically, Colossus, Danger, and Classic Captain America. Starting with my least favorite, that would have to be Danger. A cool concept, the Danger Room given sentience and physical form, this figure isn’t great but its far from the worst..

 

Its not that its a bad figure, as its a good sculpt with a good paint job that looks like the character it should look like, but I feel as if there were some very weird choices made with its construction. The feet are odd because I guess they tried to make them look like, well, mechanical hooves almost, or something plain not human. And they succeeded but the character seems to have trouble standing because of it.

 

Which could be because the figures head is so back heavy that in my experience it tends to fall in whichever way it tends to be hanging, which is problematic too, as the neck joint on mine came very loose and therefore the head tends to fall sometimes back or forward due to its own weight.

 

There are no joints in the hands leading them to be left in a static pose. But everything else comes with a standard number of joints, feet arm, shoulders, knees, legs, leading for good posing if you balance it well enough on its feet. The wings are also a cool addition although it also makes it impossible for it to stand unless properly braced.

 

Danger is ok, not great, not horrible. Its just kinda there. But the sculpt is good, so at the very least if you can brace it right its a good statue.

 

Captain America is a pretty cool figure. He pulls off the old school Cap feel well, with the half mask and classic shield. I’d say this Cap comes pretty close if not almost exact to matching past Cap’s in terms of pose ability, but the torso are the big difference.

 

I could be nit picking but something about the new legends torso’s seems ugly. I think its because they are all being made like miniature BAF’s and they have this weird stomach split to allow them to bend. The past legends seem to have hidden it better or maybe more of them just had the smaller stomach and upper torso on top so it flowed nicer. Either way thats the main part of this figure that I hate.

 

Other then the torso mid section, the paint is good, again pose ability is nice and it makes a fine addition for anyone wanting a classic Captain America.

 

Movie Colossus? Really? Did we really need this figure? More then a year after the last X-Men movie no less?

 

Sigh…well Movie Colossus may honestly be the best Marvel Movie action figure so far. His sculpt is good and unique, they make him a huge character too, easily standing a head over the newest Captain America. His skin is even cool as its got a very different feel and you can feel the ridges where it seems to separate between each steel ridge. The uniform is also a cool representation of the movie uniform quite a bit better then the countless wolverine and cyclops figures uniforms we saw with the move versions of these figures.

 

And hey! Bonus! Colossus has totally articulated fingers on one hand at least. Well not totally articulated but they can move and that is better then the static pose or fist you get most times. Out of the three of these Colossus might actually be the best in creativity, sculpt and overall look, which is just odd to say that about a movie figure.

 

 

 

Last, the winners of this weeks reviews, we have Legendary Heroes Series 2 Marv, Ann O’Brien, and Stryker. These are good figures, but they too are not totally without fault.

 

First Marv, the big bruiser from Sin City who was out to avenge Goldie by any means necessary. This figure is very cool looking. its got that gritty Sin City feel to it, which makes it stand out quite a bit from all the others and actually a little out of place. Marv’s whole paint job on everything but his “nice coat,” has a look very reminiscent of some serious cross hatching from the actually book images.

 

Under the coat the paint remains pretty good for what I could see. The coat actually comes sealed a little to hold it closed, but I broke the glue holding and you can see Marv in his white tee, with his cross necklace and black pants. The figure is very good but the inability to remove the coat does cut down on some of its mobility as you can’t tilt his body up or forward like many figures in these lines, but his head does a good enough job of looking down and up to make up for it.

 

His arms also seem to have a decent range of motion not perfect and not as complete as say someone like Captain America, but he does have fingers that can be moved and posed so I think the helps the figure. The legs run into the same problem as the coat does get in the way, but the figure looks like it could be forced into sitting positions and possibly a kick with a bit of effort and some patience. Marv is cool, although I wish they made a variant sans coat.

 

Stryker is another cool figure. He’s gets cool points for being the only Legend Style figure with four arms so far, with three of them being on his right side. Its a very weird thing to see in a toy but I think Marvel Toys got it right when they made this. The Stryker figure has three fully articulated arms on his right side that can be switched between by rotating his left shoulder allowing them to change position or just point in different directions if so desired. Each hand also has articulated and semi articulated fingers so they can hold a couple guns that come with the figure.

 

The paint job on the figure isn’t bad but it doesn’t quite flow. The skin and clothing of the figure has a very realistic, grungy feel to it, but there is a slight bit of metalic paint on his chest next to where his metal arms are joined to his body. The metal there is totally a different style then the metal on his face and arms, so it cheapens the effect by looking out of place and fake while the rest of it looks chiseled and sculpted in. Bad call on whoever made that decision, but I assume it was easier to do that then try to sculpt half the body normal and the other half totally different, but maybe a better paint job could have made up for it.

 

The rest of the figure is pretty standard fare for Marvel Toy Legends, articulated legs and feet, hands, arms, shoulders, forearm, neck and ponytail. I look forward to some more CyberForce figures to join Stryker and RipClaw, or maybe even some Codename Stryker team figures, like Kill Razor.

 

 

 

Last, is Ann O’Brien from the series Monkeyman and O’Brien. Ann is probably one of the best sculpted female figures I have ever seen. Kudos to them for finally finding a good balance between pose ability, attractiveness, and faithfulness to costume.

 

 

 

I still hate the hard, unmovable plastic hair, but it looks good as does the figures face, unlike past atrocities such as the face of Rouge. Her hands are immovable and stuck in their pose, and the forearms can’t be turned, but there is wrist movement.

 

 

 

The paint job and costume are very cool and the mobility of the lower body is cool. I have to wonder if the reason this figures sculpt is so good is because the costume isn’t revealing. Many times I get the impression female figures are resculpted to figure out how to show off those “wow, how does her costume stay on points” that we see in the comics. Eitherway, more female characters need to be made with this sculpt as it is solid and is leaps and bounds better then most that have come before.

 

 

 

And that seems to be it folks. I technically made it before the deadline of Monday but having trouble with the pics, so will have them up soon as soon as I can get them converted and uploaded. Either way, everyone have a good X-Mas!

 

Posted in DC, Marvel, Marvel Toys\Legendary Heroes, Toys |