Captain America Marvel Legends Infinite: Hydra/AIM Soldier, Baron Zemo, Marvel Now Cap figure review

Marvel Legends is officially dead, all hail Marvel Legends Infinite! According to Hasbro the 'Marvel Legends' series will no longer ship as a stand-alone line. Instead they will be released as movie tie-in lines that will feature both movie characters as well as comic versions related to the movie. Case in point, the Captain America Legends line out now. It's working out quite well and we're getting a slew of new characters along with variants. Here we look at the AIM and Hydra soldiers, Marvel Now Captain America, and Baron Zemo. The build-a-figure is the SHIELD Mandroid, an armored robot looking thing which will be covered as a separate figure in part 2 of this review.

We start off with the AIM Soldier, an excellent brand new sculpt that's actually going to be the base body of a future comic Starlord figure. The unpainted stars on the gloves and buttons down the front are a dead giveaway. The body has lots of leathery detail, folds, and creases. AIM Soldier's headsculpt is what we've been waiting for, the Beekeeper look! It looks awesome moving around at the inset collar. The boots are molded separately in black and attached to the lower knees which is a nice touch. Add the classic AIM belt and you have a great looking figure.

The Hydra Agent uses the familiar medium build body and this works great for him. A new headsculpt looks far more menacing than the last Hydra Agent and his gear is removable as well leaving you with a perfect base body for customizing (tho you probably won't want to, he's only one per case). Baron Zemo shares the same general body using the US Agent mold with a new headsculpt, holsters and belt. Both bodies are excellent in design and proportion for the characters they're used for. Zemo's head is brand new and has awesome looking sculpted seams running down it.

The Marvel Now Captain America is a completely new sculpt from head to toe and is filled with detail like the honeycomb pattern on his armor and armor straps along his lower arms/legs.The right hand is a sculpted fist so he won't be holding anything but his left hand can. I'm a big fan of the headsculpt and the belt, tho his upper torso nicks the top of the belt when you turn his waist. Other than that his sculpt is great.

Articulation for the AIM soldier is top notch with a huge range of motion in all the limbs. There is a bit of a gap in the shoulder but it allows clearance for the raised sections of the shoulders not to rub. Side-swivel boots make for great running poses and the head motion allows him to look around in lots of direction thanks to a high set ball joint inside. The Hydra Agent's articulation has been covered many times before with the basic medium body build and needless to say is perfect with no issues.

Baron Zemo shares the same body as the Hydra Soldier and has the same excellent range of motion. The loincloth isn't hindering (it can be removed too) and he can even sit if you work with it a bit. However the sword gets in the way if you tuck it in the front sheathing. Instead put his gun in there and slip the sword behind his back webgear strap 'Blade style' for an easier time. Captain America's articulation is wonderful with one small exception, his biceps are so large the upper hinge joint barely moves at all, acting like a single hinge instead of a double. Other than that he can leap, dive, and crouch like anyone else.


Paint apps are clean through the whole wave thankfully. The AIM soldier is primarily cast in yellow and black plastic and the Hydea Soldier in green and yellow. There's some orange shading on Hydra but none on AIM tho he doesn't suffer from it. Zemo sports great paint work with orange shading, linework on his mask and chest, even his accessories are fully painted! Cap A has nice bright colors without any shading but there's enough breaks in the design to look detailed. A bit of an issue tho, his ab crunch is so flush to the hinge the paint can scrape off if you're not careful. Same with the grey under his arms, there's almost no clearance against the shoulder socket. A bit of carving with an X-acto knife can fix this, just be careful.

Accessories are plentiful here! Cap gets his standard folding clip-peg shield which is cast in a nice metallic red plastic and stores on his back. He also comes with a piece of the Mandroid, as does everyone. Hydra agent has removable webgear/belt and two brand new weapons, a crazy looking long-rifle and large ray gun. Both sport great paint apps and the Hydra symbol! AIM Soldier has similar weapons that are new designs and sport the AIM logo/colors along with a removable bandoleer. They're great and could be repainted to work with anyone. Zemo comes with a leopard-handled pistol, hard plastic broadsword, and removable webgear. The pistols aren't removable from their holsters, tho they do sport two emblazoned 'Z's.

So what's the verdict on these figures? If you're a Marvel Legends collector or even an Avengers fan you can't pass up these 'army builder' troops. Captain America's new mold and Zemo's modern look are great additions. You'll have trouble finding these in stores as they're one per case aside from Cap so your best bet is to head over to our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store and snag a set. Alternately you can camp Amazon and try to catch them when they're restocked or purchase your favorites separately.

There are 'variants' too, Red Skull and Baron Zemo being stand-ins for the AIM and Hydra goons and both have Mandroid Arm parts but ship in the same assortment. The second wave will contain the last three figures needed to make Mandroid, movie Black Widow (one per case), Winter Soldier, and Steve Rogers. This wave only has Red Skull and Zemo in it. The third and perhaps final assortment contains Black Widow (two per case so don't pay scalper prices), Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers, and the Marvel Now Captain America. Hasbro spread it out so you'll get an equal number of Mandroid heads, torsos, and limbs, just not in the same wave.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 Marvel Legends Infinite Series: Carnage, Electro, Beetle (Green Goblin BAF) action figure review

Remember when Marvel Legends was just Marvel Legends? Each year they get more and more titles tacked on to them. Recently it's a great excuse to attach Marvel Legends to a movie title and get retailers to order that series. While there's only two figures in this series from the movie, don't tell Big Retail that! Here we take a look at some of the bad guys, Marvel's Electro, Spawn of the Symbiotes, and Deadliest Foes. To save money the names 'Carnage and Beetle' aren't on there so they can share the same package as Boomerang and Toxin.

Normally I skip the packaging unless it's something special. Well folks, it's something special. We now have COLLECTOR FRIENDLY PACKAGING. Open either side flap and slide out the tray. There's no twisties either. Some cases have the side flaps taped while others are open. The packages themselves are excellent looking. The black background is matte but all print and pictures are a slightly raised gloss. It makes them look like real collectibles on the shelf. On the back is a quick bio and pictures of the other characters (Black Cat, Superior Spiderman, and Amazing Spiderman) that make up the wave.

We'll start with Carnage first. His sculpt is based on the current body (US Agent, Black Panther, Hawkeye, etc) with brand new lower arms and legs. These have tendril wisps sprouting from them and even the feet are new. Carnage's head and hands are classic looking and the claws are flexible enough to grasp objects. There is no raised sculpt on the body, the black lines are paint but that's how he appeared in the comic anyway.

Carnage's articulation is top notch and the range of it allows for dynamic leaping/slashing poses. Like the other figures reviewed here he can look almost straight up or down thanks to a vastly improved ball jointed head. Everyone has the new tilt ankles! His paint work is primarily cast read plastic with clean black squiggles. His face has the pink inner mouth and is equally cleanly applied. His accessories include a 'tendril backpack' that attaches to him or any of the other figures with a port on the back for strangling-spawning-action!

Electro is supposedly Jamie Fox's character in the new movie tho the headsculpt looks like a generic bald human and nothing like the actor. His body is a unique sculpt all the way around and has burnt/melted sections, I suppose from him gaining his powers in the movie perhaps. There's all sorts of ports on his suit and a neat collar. Electro's paint work is a cleanly applied light blue airbrushing to the black cast plastic and some rusty burnt color to the damaged sections. His clear blue head and hands are opalescent as well and look pretty neat.

Electro's articulation has plenty of range and only his ankles are slightly hindered from the forward/back motion because of his pants cuffs. Side to side they're great. He comes with the most accessories, an extra head with charged-eyes, two electric blast hands, and two fists. The fists are tiny, watch out or you'll loose them. They pop in and out snugly.

The Beetle is his current almost robotic-looking incarnation with another completely unique sculpt. He's slender with detailed bands along his red undersuit with a great headsculpt. On his forearms are raised blasters and his large two-toed feet make for easy posing. The Beetle's paint work is a bit more involved with separated silver sections and big yellow eyes. His wingpack sports a great looking green-to-yellow gradient to it as well.

The Build-a-Figure for this wave is Ultimate Green Goblin which is the Avengers Walmart exclusive Hulk body and upper legs. Everything else are new sculpts with a bumpy, scaly texture and broken horn tips. The paint is a little messy on the horned parts unfortunately. Here even the accessories have accessories! Goblin's arms come with awesome looking removable flames and Carnage comes with the head/black flame. These flame effects can be clipped on to other figures just for kicks or used for custom flame effects.

So what's the verdict here? These figures are nice, really nice. They're sturdy, everyone has fully updated articulation and range of movement. All the pvc plastic is firm, not rubbery as well. While they don't have amazing paint jobs what's there is clean and looks great. The ability to put the figures back in the boxes is something we've needed to truly make Marvel Legends a collectors line and is a welcome change. Snag this set at our Sponsor Big Bad Toy Store or head over to Amazon and see if you can catch them on sale but watch out, their Super Saver Shipping has been raised to $35 worth of product now. It's still a deal if you're buying them all tho.

Star Wars the Black Series 6" Sandtrooper #03 action figure review

Star Wars as I'm sure you're aware is a movie-turned-worldwide phenomenon that has ingrained itself within our culture. Virtually anyone living in an industrialized nation knows what a Lightsaber is or recognizes Darth Vader's glossy helmet. The merchandising, more specificity Star Wars toys has dwarfed the movie's revenue and we have had decades of 3 3/4" and 12" tall plastic figurines of our favorite characters. Well get ready because now we have The Black Series! These are six-inch scale figures that fit along side your Marvel Legends and DC Universe figures. I picked up the Sandtrooper because of the Stormtrooper's iconic look. How does he fare in this scale? One word: Amazingly.

Packaging isn't something I talk about often in my review but here it needs special mention because it is 100% collector friendly. The outer cardboard slips off to reveal the plastic tray in which everything can be removed and put back in to store. The rectangular box is the perfect size, easily stored, and looks great with its matte black sheen and orange graphics. It's a little taller than a Figuarts/Figma box and I would love to see this style of collector friendly continue.

One thing that struck me about the packaging is that there's just a quick bio of the figure on the back and NO ADDITIONAL FIGURE ASSORTMENT PICTURES. This has to be a first! Every other Star Wars package has the back filled with 'ads' for their other figures, vehicles, or roleplay toys. Not this one. Overall it's very classy and does a great job of displaying the figure and its accessories.

Sculpting for the Star Wars Black Series Sandtrooper appears to be spot on perfect. The proportions look correct, the eyes set correctly. The hands, armor, everything looks just as how you remember a Sandtrooper appearing on the screen. Everything from the helmet down to his pointed toes looks authentic and full of detail. There's wrinkles in his black under suit and nicely sculpted pouches on either side of the belt. Tiny vent details on the helmet stand out as well.

Articulation for the Sandtrooper is a perfect super-articulated mix between GI Joe, Marvel Legends, and Star Wars. And I mean perfect. He has a double ball jointed neck, ball shoulders, bicep swivels, double elbows, hinged wrists (up down for right, side to side for left ala GI Joe hands) an amazing ball jointed ab crunch, new ML style ball hips with the upper thigh cut, double knees, and ball/side-step ankles! This means you can put the Sandtrooper into any conceivable position. Sitting with legs crossed, hands on hips, even prone aiming his gun. The range with tilt you can get out of the neck is amazing too.

Paint apps for the Sandtrooper are consistent with zero slop, well unless you count the weathering. All the black, mask details, and other detailing is cleanly applied. He even has glossy black eyes that look like lenses! The weathering however is reversed. Instead of a wash being applied as tho sand has been blown and stuck in the pits of his armor China gave him a wipe of tan as if he's rubbed up against something dirty. This works tho because you still have definition and the sand weathering is two tone, part red clay and part tan.

Ditch the Sandtrooper's shoulder pad accessory and you have a dirty Stormtrooper! But the accessories he comes with are plentiful and perfectly done. A backpack plugs on with a clip for the shoulder covered by some pouches, a nice touch. You get a regular blaster pistol, rifle, and heavy blaster, all of which can be fitted into various gaps of his backpack to store for those long desert patrols. There's various pant apps on the two larger weapons like silver weathering and brass/grey details too. Now this is what I want to see for a figure's accessories!

So what's the verdict here on the first six-inch offering of Star Wars figures? I love the Sandtrooper and can see people army building this guy and his eventual Stormtrooper buddies. You may see a lot of negativity on the web about the Black Series but it's mainly from elitists that wanted to see 3A get the license. We all knew Hasbro would never give up a 6" scale for Star Wars and people will just have to get over it. The Sandtrooper is a solid, well made, and incredibly detailed figure that comes with a ton of accessories in a collector friendly package! Why pay $40+ for a Figma or Figuarts when you can have this guy at half the price? Sandtrooper and the rest of the Black Series can be snagged at our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store or on Amazon with free shipping. The 6" Black Series will also be available at Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target, but have instantly sold out he moment they hit the shelf. Hasbro appears to have another hit on their hands and hopefully this will help bring the 6" scale back onto the pegs.

NECA Aliens series 1: Corporal Dwayne Hicks action figure review

When Aliens threaten to overrun the galaxy who's there to stop them? The Colonial Marines, that's who! Straight from the movie Aliens comes Corporal Dwayne Hicks (played by Michael Biehn) and NECA has given both him and Hudson (Bill Paxton) the action figure treatment. Here we'll be taking a look at Hicks today and how he matches up against the Alien Xenomorph Warrior we reviewed a few posts back.

Sculpting for Hicks is spot on. From the gear, armor, pant pleats, right down to his boots. The headsculpt is a younger Michael Biehn and way more recognizable than the Kyle Reese sculpt that came out in NECA's Terminator line. There's all sorts of sculpted texture on his pants and his arms even have hair on them! Hicks' armor is multi-piece and while glued together looks great without hindering his articulation. His kneepads are even separate being strapped on from the back.

Hick's articulation is AMAZING. If you thought Dutch from the Predator series was articulated for a military-style figure wait till you get a load of Hicks. Right away you'll notice he has double jointed knees that allows him to kneel down for a defensive position. everything is ball jointed, everything has extremly good range of motion, and most of the joints are very effectively hidden from view. Hicks can aim his pulse rifle or shotgun any way he chooses and look great doing so. His toes and wrists are also hinged.

Paint ops are top notch here and coming from NECA that's no surprise. Hicks' camouflage patter in remarkably well done with proper overlapping shades instead of the usual mess when camo is applied to a figure's sculpt. His skin has a grimy look to it and his armor/uniform has a dirty look as if he's been crawling around an Alien hive all day. Hicks' bicep sports his tattoo which is readable as is the wording all over his armor taken straight from the movie. That's some pretty nifty detail right there.

Hicks sports some impressive accessories as well. He comes with the all important, iconic M14A Pulse Rifle with it's rubbery strap perfect for draping over his shoulder. Should that fail he has his 'close encounters' shotgun which comes in its very own back sheath. Wait, a door needs to be welded shut! There's also a tiny welding torch that can be detached from Hicks' belt! All the accessories look great and the Pulse Rifle even has realistic weathering and silver scuffing.

So what's the verdict here? Hicks is an outstanding representation of a Colonial Marine and you'll need him on your team as NECA is collecting licenses for other cast members along with a few surprise Marines. All those accessories, awesome articulation, and spot on paint apps for UNDER $20 makes NECA's offerings like this one a beacon of hope in an a market of ever increasing prices and decreasing quality. You can snag Hicks, Hudson, and the Alien Warrior at out Sponsor Big Bad Toy Store or on Amazon usually with free shipping.

NECA Pacific Rim Jaeger Crimson Typhoon and Kaiju Knifehead action figure review

Pacific Rim looks like it's going to be the movie of the summer. Giant robots vs giant monsters with giant special effects going on. Did that robot just pick up a battleship and use it like a baseball bat? Yeah just take my $18 now. NECA toys is on top of things with the license for this hopefully epic throwdown by offering us a line of 7" figures and an 18" Gypsy Danger. Here we take a look at the three-armed Crimson Typhoon and the four-armed Knifehead. Are they cool? Let's find out.

Sculpting for the Jaeger Crimson Typhoon is decent but somewhat soft around what is supposed to be straight-edged mechanical sections like the arm framework under the armor. This is because the entire figure is made from PVC like all of NECA's 7" scale offerings. It's hard to grab giant-robot-detail in that material but they did a fairly good job of it. The mono-eye is great, the clawed hands, and curved outer armor are all captured well enough. There are a lot of seam lines on the larger left claw

The Kajiju Knifehead's sculpt is really nice as it deals with monster-like
detail. Fleshy folds, claws, and razor sharp looking teeth stand out along with the large blade-like protrusion from its head. The leathery skin looks very detailed but there's some sort of one-directional 'mesh' design covering it almost like someone laid a cloth over raw clay. The figures were supposed to have been created directly from the movie's 'digital files' so perhaps this is some sort of pixel or wire framework leftover? It's only noticeable up close and everything else about Knifehead like his tiny eyes and flipper-tail look perfectly monstrous.

Articulation is a mixed bag between the two figures. All of Crimson's main joints like his hips/waist/shoulders are double-ball-jointed allowing for excellent flexibility and rang. The legs are single hinge as are the arms and he lacks bicep or wrist swivels meaning you'll need to rely on the shoulders to turn the arm slightly. It's not terrible but NECA could have done so much more with the articulation if they had just given it ball-in-cup or just more ball joints like they usually do.The lack of tilt ankles hurts the leg posing.

Knifehead's articulation is severely limited to a hinged jaw, cut shoulders, hinge elbows, cut/ball hips, hinge knees, and a bendy tail. You can tell this was a direct-from-stature articulation job as there is gapping on the neck and elbows instead of a fluid sculpt around the articulation. The hips while having a ball joint in them have such small range outward it's more like a cut joint tho you can still get a little extra pose option here and there. I would have loved to see some head/neck articulation as that is THE most important joint to give a toy personality while posing. The bendy tail works great and the plastic isn't too rubbery or too hard, it's just right. His front arms are static and I really wish they could be posed.

Paint application for Crimson is molded in color brick red that's been darkened up by a dirty 'oil wash' with the inner sections black using silver highlights. Tiny tampograph Japanese names, symbols, and tech detail really help the look. Make sure you compare paint jobs because I saw some with plenty of slop around the eye and waist. Knifehead's paint is excellent. The sea-worn greys it uses, gloss black claws, and mouth give the figure a screen-worthy look. The yellow lines that run across the skin are too thick and clean compared to the screen-look of the Kaiju where they run across the body in a more natural way. Still Knifehead will fit right along side your Godzilla figures.

So what's the verdict for these two figures? I didn't pick up Gypsy Danger yet but Crimson Typhoon and Knifehead are a good start to the series. They both have heft to them so you feel like you're getting your money's worth. While they could have been better articulated (a skilled customizer could replace a lot of Crimson's joints with Revoltech ones) these are some pretty cool giant mecha vs giant monster toys. You can snag singles or better priced sets at Amazon with free shipping in most cases or find them at our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store along with other great movie merchandise. I'm really REALLY hoping this movie does well and from all the trailers and interviews it looks like it will. Hopefully we'll see all the Jaegers and Kaiju done by NECA this year, hopefully seen at the 2013 SDCC.

NECA Aliens series 1 Alien Warrior 2013 action figure review

Aliens, it's the movie redefined sci-fi horror for a lot of us back in the 80's when it was released. That terrifying Alien from the first movie was now multiplied by the hundreds! NECA has tackled the license before with great results and here we have Aliens series 1 with the Alien Warrior, Hicks, and Hudson. I'm still waiting for the two Colonial Marines but let's take a look at the 'army builder' of this wave, the Xenomorph Alien Warrior.

Right off the get-go you know you're in for a treat because if it's one thing NECA is known for it's sculpting monsters/aliens/creatures of all sorts. The Alien Warrior's sculpting is top notch. Every ridge, boney protrusion, and claw is rendered in amazing detail. The headsculpt is the best I've seen for a Warrior and I have to say it it rivals the Hot Toys and Revoltech by being more movie accurate with the larger cheek bones and incisors/molars that lock together when you close its mouth. The tail is bendy and sculpted wonderfully as are all the tubular and pipe designs. The feet seem to be a new design, less actor-boot like and more bestial with splayed toes.

Articulation is AMAZING. Double jointed elbows/knees allow the Alien Warrior to crouch, stretch, hunch, and even crawl. The hips are socketed so that they remain covered but can get more than a 90 deg angle upwards. Ball jointed wrists and side-step ankles are even better. But what about the crawl? Unplug the center spike from his back (it's not glued, just a pop-in type) slide the head back on the slider under the skull, and tilt it back. His head can lay nearly straight back and looks great for that ceiling-crawl-scene towards the end of the movie. Its mouth also opens and inner jaw slides out when it's feeding time!

Paint work on the Warrior is straight up movie-accurate, the brownish black ones we see for the first time that start coming out of the walls. The base black plastic has nice dark gray shading and light brown highlights that translate into a smooth transition instead of a muddled mess like some Aliens in the past. A shiny wet gloss was applied with nice silver teeth and a grey-white inner mouth. There's no slop but then again we're getting highlights on raised surfaces so it would be hard to tell if anything did stray from the design.

 I'm inclined to say there are no true 'action features' about the Alien Warrior because opening mouths are usually tied to articulation. However inside the mouth is his little inner mouth! It's not spring loaded and it's kind of difficult to tug it down and outwards but it looks good once its down and tucks neatly up inside when the mouth is closed. The tail is also bendy and can be wrapped around other figures or used to help balance the Warrior. Scale is large or this guy, he's taller than a Predator who in turn is taller than a human like Dutch or Hicks, so the Alien really has some presence at over 8" tall. Fortunately all his joints allow you to get him down into hunches so he doesn't look like a giant.

So what's the verdict here? I've owned every domestically released Alien/Aliens figure made aside from the giant Kenner original one and have held/posed the import ones including the snap-kits, Hot Toys, Revoltech, Aioshima, Halcyon, etc. This is my favorite Aliens Warrior BY FAR because the sculpt, articulation, paint, sturdiness, and 'army builder' feel of it all works together. And by army-building I mean to say NECA has a black/red Genocide 2-pack being offered and the battle-damaged ones/different colors we'll be seeing in wave 2 and hopefully 3,4,infinity that this line deserves. Head over to Amazon and pick up the Alien and the Colonial Marines with free shipping or our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store to snag sets and singles as long as they have them in stock. And now it's time for more pictures!