Transformers Generations Voyager Class Blitzwing 30th Anniversary Action Figure Review

After a good year or so on hiatus the Transformers Generations line is back (once called Classics) and from what we've seen it could prove to have the most amazing offerings ever. Right off the bat we're treated to two VOYAGER class TRIPLE CHANGERS Springer and Blitzwing. Yeah, you don't see Voyager class TC's very often. In fact the only one I know of is the Transformers Animated Blitzwing tho I'm sure there's more. Today we're reviewing the 30th Anniversary Transformers Generations Blitzwing. Springer's review will follow a few days later. Let me spoil the review for you really quick, without the modifications mentioned at the bottom you're going to have a difficult time enjoying the figure. Get a screwdriver and some sandpaper handy.

Blitzwing's sculpt is solid. He's an excellent homage to the original figure. The chest designs, panel sections, and head make him seem very G1 in appearance. He sports three different faces as well which are based off his Transformers Animated design. They're sculpted in soft plastic but look great. The tank treads on his legs and flat feet are a welcome change from the jet-exhaust-legs he's always had and work for the overall look. The arms, hands, and everything else is sculpted in the Generations blocky form as well.

Articulation has been done quite nicely and is only lacking in a few areas.
Blitzwing's head is only a cut joint due to the face-change feature but doesn't hurt his look that much. His ankles are on great ball joints, all his major joints swivel or hinge, and he's only lacking a waist joint in terms of major features. Blitz can be posed in some pretty neat positions and could hold his sword in both hands if the handle was long enough. His knees are hinged towards the back leading to a gap showing in the front when bent but have decent range.

Paint application is clean but faded in some areas like his forearms and some of the grey on his limbs where there wasn't a strong enough spray to cover. Blitzwing's head is painted yellow instead of cast and loses some detail as the yellow paint is VERY thick in places. All three face applications are clean and detailed. There's a little tackiness to them as they're cast in soft plastic but the paint shows no sign of wanting to rub off. However...the yellow paint of his helmet will pick up the purple paint inside the nosecone unless you remove it which will be covered in the mods I suggest at the end of the guide

Transformation is dealt with in three forms. One being his robot form which is already transformed for you out of the box. Getting him into plane mode is relatively easy with a few flips and folds. The wings are a little short and the feet don't quite look like thrusters, more like flattened rocket boosters, but I do like how he has Jetfire-esq pods on the top now. Eveything pegs together fairly well except for the legs not snapping completely in against the torso which can be fixed as explained in a bit.

Blitzwing's tank mode is definitely recognizable as a tank but is the weakest of the three with gaps leaving it with a less than solid look. The arms just line up beside the cannon to form the turret (which can turn and raise) and the front has a fairly wide space on either side where his hips extend for clearance. The plane rear fins flaps and feet just kind of sit there in the back rather than fold up to make anything. But it's definitely a tank of some sort because I can see treads. A missile can be inserted into the barrel and fired by pulling back on the cannon thus replicating a cool 'recoil action'. It's a pretty neat feature and gets rid of any obtrusive buttons/lever fins so like to see this on more figures.

Accessories include the aforementioned missile, his trademark arrow-shaped sword, and a small rifle that doubles as the tank's top machine gun. The wings have ports underneath them where missile pods could have gone tho none are included. Blitzwing's action features are the launching missile and a neat feature where you can spin his face down to reveal the monocle-eyed face or black-and-red crazy face that he had in the Animated series. Each one looks great but some may find it difficult or impossible to spin the faces...leading me to the next section of the review.

Quality control... this figure is rife with issues. Right off the bat you will find the shoulder pegs are too short to lock inside the chest (or the chest is too wide) and thus the whole shoulder assembly unfolds whenever you move his arms up. Then there's the issue with the helmet being too large to fit inside the nosecone and paint rubbing off. Inside the helmet there's often too much paint inside and on the rod that the faces spin on making them hard to turn. These three issues led to many people returning the figure but there's a quick fix to each one.

To fix Blitzwing's shoulder issue one must unscrew the five screws
from his back and sand down the edges on his back that meet to the front of the torso, and alternately the screw posts that touch the back section so that the two halves come together. Take off the thickness of an American quarter on the sections circled in red in the picture and that should do it. To fix the nose cone issue you have two options. One, take acetone and wipe all the purple paint out of the inside of the cone and then take apart the cockpit and remove the spring that pushes his head up. But the best way is to take a large engraving Dremel tool bit and hollow more of the nosecone out. This removes the paint and gives the head more room all at once. To fix the spinning face just unscrew the head and sand off the yellow paint on the rod the faces spin around. If they still hit then glue the chins of each face to the back of the next head, making the three spinning faces one solid wheel.

So what's the verdict on the long awaited redesign of Blitzwing? Without the fixes in place he's going to drive you crazy unless you sit him on the shelf in robot mode and leave him alone. But if you want to pose/transform him more often you will need to fix him, otherwise he'd be a pass for me. His size is great, his articulation, paint, all that is great. But those QC issues hold him back from being a great figure. I can even forgive the gap-tank as the plane is a pretty neat design and I love how he looks in robot mode. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has him and Springer (who has NO qc issues and is a GREAT figure!) and you can also snag them on Amazon with free shipping on orders over $25. Blitzwing and Springer are also showing up at Targets tho they sell out the very day they hit the shelves it seems. Stay tuned for Springer's review!

Iron Man Marvel Legends "Iron Monger Series" Mark 42, Movie Iron Patriot, Ultron action figure review

 The last three figures in the Iron Man Legends line have finally surfaced and you can complete your Iron Monger Build-a-Figure! These are released three per wave just like the first set, which can still be found on the shelves at the time of this writing. They're under the Marvel Legends line technically but have Iron Man card art in the corner with the packages being your basic bubble card-backed ones. We get the Iron Man III movie mark 42, Movie Iron Patriot, and Ultron. So how do these figures stack up? Let's find out.

Sculpting for the Mark 42 is straight from the movie and looks sharp. All the tech detail is there with a great headsculpt and armor separation lines. The knees look a little odd from the side when bent because of the kneepad cut but that's not noticeable head on. Iron Patriot's sculpt is also dead on to the movie with the nifty separated faceplate sections and redesigned look. The wrist-guards are glued on this time and won't be lost like the ones on IM 2 War Machine which were loosely hinged.

Ultron's sculpt is the Titanium man body with a new head and shoulder
pads. This works for Ultron pretty well and only the feet look a little off with the large treads. You can easily trim them down with a hobby knife however. Ultron's new headsculpt is a perfect classic Ultron and looks really nice with his open mouth and ear antenna. A bit of the detail is lost being that he's almost entirely silver but it's still there.

Articulation for Mark 42 is amazing. Everything twists, turns, and bends. He has the new 45 deg ankles that allow side-step motion and can even get into the ground-pound pose that's almost an Iron Man trademark now. His shoulderpads don't limit the articulation as they're softer plastic. Mark 42's ball jointed torso moves in all directions as well. Only the wrist guards hinder the ability for this palm to face forward but are still soft rubber enough for partial movement. 90 deg angle ball hips are back and allow for perfect leg posing!

Iron Patriot's articulation is a little more hindered as his feet can't move to the side because of the ankle guards and his wrist guards block up against his forearms preventing the repulsor-palm motion. Other than that he has the same style and excellent range of motion of the Mark 42. His shoulder pads are hinged and flexible allowing for any arm movement. Ultron's Articulation is the same as the Titanium Man I reviewed a while back and only lacks side ankle movement and has the 45 deg hips. Other than that he's golden, er, silver.

Paint apps are pretty clean all the way around. Mark 42 has a nice gold/red definition to him with a metallic red plastic used for the base and while there's a little slop around some edges it's nothing a dab of Testors Acrylic Gold paint can't fix. His eyes and chest repulsor are really nicely detailed, the eyes having the black outline. Unfortunately his right hand repulsor isn't painted. Iron patriot's metallic blue plastic base is stunning and the paint was applied neater than the Mark 42. None of the figures have the new plastic layering technique the Bleeding Edge Iron man from the earlier wave had however.

Ultron's paint apps consist of an entirely bright metallic silver plastic as the
base with a tiny bit of blue airbrushing in places and some red on his face/shoulder pads. He may look a little plain at first but Ultron was always a shining silver robot and the swirly metallic plastic will grow on you. Only Iron Patriot comes with an actual accessory, a removable and fully articulated shoulder gun which can aim any direction and fold up against his back. The other figures come with the parts needed to complete your Iron Monger BAF.

And what a BAF he is! Iron Monger is a direct upscale of the 3 3/4" Iron Man II figure of Iron Monger. He looks menacing and the metallic blue plastic is sharp. The eyes, chest, antenna, and hoses are the only thing painted but he still looks great. His articulation is equally amazing with a great neck and ab joint, great shoulders and legs with plenty of rage. Only his wrists are slightly blocked from turning all the way due to the arm guards. Once assembled he's a good inch and half taller than the other figures.

So what's the verdict on the second wave of Iron Man Legends? If you're building Iron Monger you'll need them. Ultron could be a pass if you already have the Marvel Select version but this one is much better to scale and has better articulation. Mark 42 and Iron Patriot are excellent figures especially if you like the movie style figures. I'd recommend picking up all six in the series to complete Iron Monger. You can always sell him or single figures you aren't interested off on Ebay if you want to make some of the money back you spent. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has them here or you can snag them at Amazon with free shipping if you spend more than $25.

Superman Man of Steel Movie Masters Jor-El Action figure review

The new Superman reboot movie simply titled 'Man of Steel' is coming up and the toys are already hitting. Some of the kid-based ones possibly give away spoilers as to the enemies he fights and a possible movie plot. Here we're taking a look at the Movie Masters Jor-El from the collector based line, judging from the addition of  'Adult Collector' printed across the package. He's Superman's biological father that stayed on Krypton and is played by Russel Crowe in the movie.

Sculpting for Jor-El is startlingly detailed given we had a fairly lackluster Green Lantern Movie Masters offerings before this. The armor is an instant stand-out with all sorts of tencho-organic looking features and a textured under suit. You can make out the 'S' on his chest, the Superman family crest as it's explained, with strands of armor 'growing' around it. Russel Crowe's face is instantly recognizable and done with equally excellent detail that's just a step or two below NECA quality. There's also the addition of flexible hoses that run underneath Jor-El's arms to his back.

Paint application is cleanly applied with no slop anywhere. The armor is a
two-toned metallic that has been highlighted with a brass color and really makes the detail pop. The blue under suit has airbrushed shading as does Jor-El's flesh tones of his face and neck. The eyes, beard, and hair are carefully painted with the beard standing out having some nice shading. While there's not that many different shades of color here they work for the knight-armor style of design.

Jor-El's articulation is standard Mattel style except he's lacking an ab-crunch or tilt-ankles. Every joint has decent range of motion save for raising his arms straight up as the hoses restrict how far they can move. That means no flying poses for Jor-El here. Decent ball jointed neck movement and nearly 90-deg  hips mean you can get him into some interesting poses nonetheless. I would like to someday see tilt ankles return to mattel's offerings especially now that Hasbro has perfected them with their Marvel Legends line. His shoulderpads are permanently attached to his shoulder balls but really don't get in the way of articulation all that much but strike the collar before moving all the way up.

Accessories have always been the bane of Movie Masters figures either
giving us useless ones (Batman crime evidence/mini-masks) simply nothing (lack of any MM Green Lantern constructs) or impossibly hard to complete BAFs (TDKR Bat-Signal-good-luck-building-it parts). Here we only get a stand cast in a steel color with a yellow S painted upon it. The stand is textured but lacking any sculpt to the S which is simply painted on making it look sort of cheap. Jor-El stands just fine without it and the peg is slightly larger than the foot hole meaning you'll really need to twist it on.

So what's the verdict on Superman's Papa here? He's in interesting figure both in appearance and possible customizer fodder. I'm sure people have been wanting a Russel Crowe at some point and this is the first 6" version we've received. However the $16.99 and up price point is going to be a big turn off especially since there's no BAF part or decent accessory. Jor-El is scaled a little under 6" making him work with some figures but look shorter than most DCU/Marvel Legends. He does scale well next to the Batman and Green Lantern Movie Masters which were shorter than 6" to begin with so that may not be a deal-breaker for everyone. You can find the Man of Steel Movie Masters series at your normal mass-market retailers like Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us.

NECA Jungle Patrol Dutch figure review (Predators Movie line)

Woah. I honestly never thought I'd see Arnold Schwarzenegger's character Dutch in action figure form and when I was asked to create one for ToyFare Magazine issue #121 back in 2007 it was because they figured he'd never get the action figure treatment either! But NECA is once again grabbing the wheel and steering the industry standard to another incredible level. Jungle Patrol Dutch can be found in the first wave of 2013 Predator figures that also includes Predator and Dutch wearing his jacket smoking a cigar. You can effectively create different versions of Dutch by buying both and swapping parts. So, let's find out how he stacks up against what's out there shall we?
 
Packaging is your basic card back with bubble blister you've seen all the other Predators on so let's move right to the figure. Dutch's sculpting is out of this world excellent. His skin has texture, his separate rubber vest, separate we gear, seam-stitched pants, veins on his neck and arms, stubble, and and unmistakable Arnold headsculpt that's right at the top with a Hot Toys Dutch head. Yes it's that's good, just smaller. Even his boot laces have a criss-cross texture to them. It's honestly something to behold as NECA has surpassed McFarlane, SOTA, Mezco, possibly every other company currently making toys on the market in terms of detail. Not even the import figures I own have this level of detail on them.

Paint application has been taken to an art form here. Dutch's slightly
translucent plastic skin tone has been given a flesh colored wash and dirtied up to look like honest to god skin. His eyes are spot on, just enough face paint, hair with shadows and highlights, and then you get to the outfit he's wearing. The camo pattern is complete and clean all the way around, even lining up when you position his legs so that you almost can't tell there's joints hidden there. A grimy splatter here, a bit of mud scuffed here, and you have a super realistic combat paint job.

NECA is often hit or miss when it comes to articulation but here's it's a home run. Everything moves and everything is on a ball joint. Dutch's ab crunch, waist, inner hips, and neck range allow you to bend him like a snake. Want Dutch to lean out from behind a corner and look over his shoulder? Done. Lay down prone and aim? Done. The only thing he has trouble doing is a full crouch as he only sports single pin knees but it's still impressive. His ankles turn and are on double rockers. And best of all almost all the joints are cleverly hidden. I use to whine if a figure didn't have the 50-part-joint-count of a Marvel legends. NECA proves you can do the same with half that. His balance is also perfect. The pose you see below of his throwing his knife on one foot requires NO hidden support.

Dutch comes with three accessories, his trusty assault rifle, pistol that sheaths on the right and combat
knife that can be sheathed on the left. His vest and belt are separate pieces but will only come off if you heat him up with a hair dryer and pop his head/arms/waist apart. It's not hard to do once you get the plastic soft and won't harm the figure as long as you pull straight out and twist slightly. His joint pegs are thick and incredibly durable too. I don't see any QC issues here and let's hope this continues in with their Aliens/Colonial Marines figures coming next month.

So what's the verdict here on Dutch? Buy him now, don't wait. At every Toys R Us I've been to there's only been one left on the shelf. I'm going to pick up at least two extra of each one for customizing parts. He's a perfect standard military action figure with crazy articulation. Chris from Resident Evil, Bionic Commando (or just Commando, heh) GI Joe characters, this body is perfect. Dutch is somewhere between 6" and 7" scale so you can fudge him into both Marvel Legends and Player Select lines. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store will be getting them in any day so you're guaranteed one through preorder. Your local comic shops should get them in too. In the end NECA is blowing away all other companies in terms of bang for your buck and we're going to see some amazing things with the upcoming Aliens line...I cannot wait!