tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31415989252061309112024-03-08T09:58:32.169-06:00Jin Saotome's Five Minute Toy ReviewIt's five minutes of your life you'll never get back but at least you can read about some cool action figuresJohn Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-91425183316050942142015-02-19T16:44:00.000-06:002015-03-08T00:58:47.801-06:00Marvel Legends Infinite 'Odin Wave' Hawkeye, Iron Fist, Sentry, Thor, Machine Man, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel figure review<br />
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Well there was a pretty large gap between my last review and this one, my apologies but moving takes quite a bit of time. Fortunately I was able to pick up the latest Marvel Legends series in town, the Avengers Odin build-a-figure wave. The case packout is one of each character except there's two of Hawkeye. So if he's sitting on the pegs all by himself you can be sure someone bought the whole series at once. You get Machine Man, Iron Fist, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Sentry, Thor, and the female Captain Marvel inn this one. Hasbro is trying something new as well here, there's no variant characters...instead two of the characters come with variant build-a-figure pieces. So passing up Scarlet Witch for Captain Marvel... or Machine Man for Sentry will still net you a complete Odin or King Thor depending on your choice. Let's dive into the review!<br />
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Articulation for the wave is a mix of excellent and decent because of the body re-uses here. Machine Man, Witch, Captain Marvel, Sentry, and Hawkeye all shine in this department. After all each shares one of the newer bodies and sports all the sweet points. Thor is based on armored version in the Terrax wave so he's missing ankle tilts, the double elbows, and has those weird cut-knee-pads. Iron Fist shares the Bigtime Spiderman mold so his hips are 45 angled balls but he still has amazing range of motion. Hawk's ab crunch is slightly hindered by his vest but he can still move within it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MLOdinWave_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MLOdinWave_005.JPG" height="200" width="162" /></a>Sculpt for the wave consists of body re-use but in a good way. From top to bottom Scarlet Witch's body is actually a completely new mold, not Emma Frost's as one would suspect. And where she could have shared Black Cat's boots even those are new. It's sleek, sexy, and with more defined abs. As mentioned Iron Fist shares BT Spidey's mold. Machine Man and Hawkguy use the basic everyone-mold, Sentry the Hyperion/Toxin body, and Captain Marvel the Miss Marvel body. This really isn't an issue because most of the bodies have great movement and sculpt.<br />
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If you already have Thor from the Terrax wave this one has new arms and head. And like that one his head motion is limited to looking left and right because of the sculpt. Paint work for the set is pretty clean across the board with some exceptional shading work and some characters left lacking. Machine Man looks amazing with his shiny metallic purple plastic and blued-steel accents. Captain marvel has a great two-tone wash on her hair and precise tampograph details on her uniform. Both Sentry and Iron fist feature airbrushed body shading that bring out detail.<br />
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Hawkeye's two-toned purple looks sharp as does his Winter Soldier shared cyber-arm done in metallic plastic. Scarlet Witch gets a hair wash and a really nice airbrushed cape. Her face has been painted perfectly and features just a hint of eye shadow. Thor has a shaded cape and helmet/weapons but lacks any flesh detail or costume shading making him somewhat plain <br />
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Accessories are plentiful here! Iron Fist blows everyone away with eight different hand poses! From the chop, tiger claw, and fist, you can recreate just about any kung-fu pose. Captain Marvel has her helmeted alt head and Jubilee's energy effect. She also comes with Odin's axe. Machine Man has bendable extendo-arm sections and two extra fists! You can actually double the arms to form a really long one too. <br />
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Now for the build-a-figure, it's the Allfather Odin himself! As I mentioned you get a choice of parts. You can use Odin's helmeted head with right eye patch/scepter and red cape if you buy Witch. King Thor's alternate Destroyer armored left arm comes with Machine Man. Fortunately this BAF doesn't have locking limbs so you can pop on the King Thor head with the left eyepatch and swap arms at your leisure. Bravo Hasbro! Odin has great articulation including tilt ankles. You get an all new sculpt here as well and his armor has a gritty wash to it as if he's seen many a battle. His sword, scepter, and axe all look nice tho his scepter is plain gold plastic and could have used some paint.<br />
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I'm pretty sure I covered all the important nuances in the wave but if I missed any let me know. With all said and done you're wondering what the verdict is? Go out and hunt these down! Granted most have body re-uses but that's the norm these days and it's done very well here. You won't get to cherry-pick your paint apps because of the single character assortment in the case besides Hawkguy but thankfully they're all pretty clean. Scarlet Witch will be bought up by scalpers the same as Captain Marvel but you'll have the most fun out of Iron Fist and the quirky Machine Man in my opinion. If you don't like to hunt just <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=marvel%20legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">pick them up at Big Bad Toy Store</a> or refresh the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=marvel%20legends&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps&linkId=F74QPICIHMDWZS6C">Amazon page</a> until they show up back in stock (like right now at the time of this post!)<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-70865677367471311162014-09-11T00:46:00.000-05:002014-09-11T12:59:24.919-05:001/6th scale TOA Heavy Industries Synthetic Human by 1000Toys action figure review<br />
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This week I'm covering a different scale of figure in my review, a 12 inch (commonly called 1/6th scale) Synthetic Human by 1000Toys. Normally I focus on 6-8" figures but here we have something pretty special. Only a limited number of these were produced and you had to be lucky enough to be picked from 1000Toy's sale drawing in order to purchase one. Various toy reviewers received one to review for free and there was a variant offers at SDCC 2014. This is 1000Toy's first foray into the world of action figures. How does the Synthetic Human fare? Let's find out.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_002.JPG" height="200" width="167" /></a>The Synthetic Human ties in with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomega_%28manga%29">Biomega Manga</a> and comes in an extremely sturdy, collector-friendly box. The outside has a light canvas texture with some logos. Inside is perfectly cut foam that houses the Synthetic Human and the two extra hands.There's a foam lid that protects the front of the figure and a cover page of sorts that protect it. The thumb notches to pull the box apart are located at the top and bottom rather than the sides. Getting the box open is somewhat challenging given the vacuum caused by the two halves and the lack of properly spaced notches to hold the inner section with.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_004.JPG" height="176" width="200" /></a>Sculpting for the Synthetic Human is nothing short of an amazing replica of human form. Like a cross between i-Robot, wooden artist model, and a skeleton, the design is sleek and detailed. Every joint and seam is cleanly designed and there are sculpted plugs over the screw holes that keep the design smooth. Different ports/vents dot the body in various places and the Synthetic Human even has a belly button, something I found charmingly funny given its name. A customizer could have a field day with all the different ways to modify such a perfect blank canvas such as this figure like the way the SDCC 2014 variant was done. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_005.JPG" height="200" width="146" /></a>The Synthetic Human's faceplate can be removed revealing the robotic skeletal head underneath which is extremely detailed if not downright frightening! The eyes have tiny sculpted pupils and actually move via pegs inside the skull when you take it apart. Each segment of the body has a clean sculpt all the way inside the joint and there's very little gap that shows when posing, a credit to the design. Symthetic Human's fingers and toes have plenty of detail as well, nothing is skipped over.<br />
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It's the articulation department where the Synthetic Human truly shines. You can very well create any pose you wish with the range of motion offered in this figure and balance as well. From standing on one foot to a full crouch, the Synthetic Human can do it all. The eyes and jaw of the inner skull move and the neck motion is outstanding. The torso/abdomen is segmented and can arch any direction. The toes and heel are positionable for precise stances and the shoulders/hips have multiple pivots/hinges at many junctures. The fingers are not poseable (tho that would have been an amazing feat) but you can swap out an open or closed fist. I'm not a collector of 12" figures so I can't compare him against Hot Toys True Type bodies but he has to be up there in range of motion.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_006.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>Paint work for the Synthetic Human gives the figure a robotics-factory-production feel, the main body shell being a glossy white with matte grey-green under sections. There's panel lining all over the figure and a very light grey wash has been applied to the white along the edges helping to define each section. In all it's very clean work and the grey plastic joints blend in well. Synthetic Human's inner skull has an amazing amount of detail too with each tooth outlined and a speaker/port inside the mouth. The red/black pupils look very cool especially when moved to give the figure a lot of personality.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SyntheticHuman_009.JPG" height="159" width="200" /></a>The only accessories the figure comes with are the two extra clenched fists that can be swapped out from the wrist peg. The pegs have tips that grip inside the joint unlike Revoltech pegs which slide out without a stop to them. Some sort of swappable faceplates or spread-finger or gripping hands would have been nice seeing as the relaxed hands don't do a great job of holding articles. I can't really count the lack of accessories against the company seeing that this is their first product and the future figures look to have all sorts of gear and weaponry. <br />
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So what's the verdict here on the Synthetic Human? If you're a 12" scale collector and want something really unique looking, track one down. If you like amazingly posable, i-Robot type factory-production humans, this guy is your best bet. But you're going to have a very tough time getting a hold of one. Right now <a href="http://toa-1000toys.com/">1000Toys is only holding drawings</a> for purchase orders (and in VERY small amounts) in which you only have 24 hours to enter and hope you're picked. From there you have to <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574630529&toolid=10001&campid=5335817025&customid=Case&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2FToys-Hobbies-%2F220%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_nkw%3Dheavy%2Bindustries%2Bsynthetic%2Bhuman">turn to Ebay and pick one up</a> or choose the SDCC variant. The Synthetic Human is a great leap into the 1/6th scale market for 1000Toys and they look to have even more offerings in the future.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-56409331871071366172014-08-29T20:01:00.001-05:002014-08-29T20:03:43.792-05:00Marvel Legends Walgreens Exclusive Agent Venom action figure reviewWelcome to this week's three-minute toy review! Hah I kid but this review focuses on just one figure tonight, the long awaited release of Agent Venom. If you haven't been keeping up with the comics Flash Thompson has the symbiote suit now and while he lost his lower legs during combat the symbiote creates them for him. Hasbro has come out of left field and made this a Walgreens drug store exclusive, eight Venoms per case. Yep, you won't have trouble finding him...unless you don't live near a Walgreens. He runs the standard $19.99 and sits in a nifty pre-hung display rack that's usually located near either of the toy aisle endcaps. But is he worth hunting down? Let's find out.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_001.JPG" height="200" width="128" /></a>Right off the bat you'll find that Agent Venom's sculpt really, really shines. The headsculpt is slick with goggle-like bug eyes. Venom's base body is the Shield Agent/Steve Rogers/Drax, also being shared by the Toys R Us exclusive Magneto but you won't see much of it as its covered in some great looking armor. It's done in a bumpy organic sculpt with brand new lower arms and legs. The chest piece is intricately done as is the belt full of grenades and weaponry. There's a holster on his right leg with a non-removable gun on it as well. Venom's fingers are in a cool gnarled pose that allows him to hold different sized weapons.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_002.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>Paint work comes in one shade, white on black plastic. You'll want to compare as the very fine eyeliner can be skewed and the white logo is actually a tampograph, meaning paint that's been applied with a stamp rather than sprayed on. This lends to some symbols being all crisp white and some having missed the sculpt with black specks showing through at the crevices and organic sculpt. However this doesn't actually look terrible and can fall in the way of accidental shading. Just snag a jar of Testors Model Master Acrylic white paint and you can easily touch him up. I wasn't kidding either that's it for his paint work, yet he still looks amazing.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_003.JPG" height="200" width="155" /></a>Articulation for Agent Venom is top notch! While some of you may not want to fall back towards the ball-hips they're hardly noticable. His shoulderpads are on thin flexible strips and move out of the way. Every joint including the ab crunch has excellent range. His wrists turn at the upper forearm where the armor meets and he has side-tilt ankles. Pose him however you like, Agent Venom has great proportions and range of motion.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/AgentVenomReview_004.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>You're in for an accessory extravaganza here. Agent Venom's chest armor and belt are removable. He comes with four guns and a wicked looking symbiote tendril attachment on his back that can wield them. Three of the guns are Hit Monkey's so they're a bit on the small side (tho your Black Widow would benefit from them!) but not a noticeable with the tendrils holding them. The other gun is Steve Roger's and looks better in the actual figure's hand. Removable armor and a bunch of guns, that's pretty decent. <br />
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So what's the verdict on Agent Venom? You're probably reading this review on your cellphone walking through a Walgreens right now looking for him. And if you aren't, you should be. This is one awesome figure and I'm having a hard time putting him down. Even if you aren't a huge fan of this Venom customizers can always use the weapons and armor for other figures and that head is practically Spiderman Noir material. The problem is not living near or IN a country with a Walgreens. Hasbro cut out the scalpers by making the entire case Venoms tho his card shows all the other Spiderman Infinite characters as if he were a variant of the assortment. You just need to ask some friends to keep an eye out for you, he won't be hard to find. I'd plug my sponsors here but you're really only going to find him at Walgreens, tho various 3rd parties on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MLJH8SK/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00MLJH8SK&linkCode=as2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&linkId=I2MTNKYY7BRCTPAA">Amazon</a> and <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574630529&toolid=10001&campid=5335817025&customid=Case&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp2050601.m570.l1313.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xwalgreens%2Bagent%2Bvenom%26_nkw%3Dwalgreens%2Bagent%2Bvenom%26_sacat%3D0">Ebay have him in stock</a> at various markups if you can't stand to wait.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-66643680306401751992014-07-17T14:46:00.000-05:002014-07-17T14:46:40.618-05:00Mavel Legends Infinite Guardians of the Galaxy action figure review (Groot build a figure wave)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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According to fans everywhere the big summer movie expectation lies with Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, a rag-tag team of galactic misfits that are out to save the...galaxy. This week's review has the Marvel Legends Infinite series in the spotlight again with the complete GotG set under scrutiny. Starlord, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, comic Nova, and the build-a-figure Groot make up this very unique set. Packaging is no surprise and is the same collector friendly Marvel Legends Infinite style we've seen in the Spider-Man and Captain America 2 reviews earlier. It allows you to replace the figure for resale or storage at any time and I hope all action figures move towards this style.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_002.JPG" height="200" width="162" /></a>Sculpting for the whole line is amazing with extra detail paid to just about every aspect of these figures. Starlord's jacket has all sorts of tech paneling on it, Drax's tattos are raised on his skin, you can make out each hole in Gamora's fishnet body stocking, and even each individual claw on Rocket's tiny paws. Starlord's mask is really well done and the hair coming out from the edges looks sharply defined as do his boot rockets.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_004.JPG" height="200" width="151" /></a>Nova is the one you've all been waiting for in his 'Annihilation' comic costume. His helmet is a three-piece design and looks perfect, all his gold armor sections separate as well with detailed costume lines. Rocket Raccoon is a cute little figure with plenty of facial detail, fur, and his tiny flightsuit detail showing. Iron Man is in his cosmic comic armor and is a remold of the Bleeding Edge version with a new head and arms. <br />
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Groot is the big winner here with so much wooden detail it's incredible they managed to get it all down. Twisted gnarled branches make up his limbs with mossy texture to them as well as the wood grain look. Tiny twigs sprout from his head and arms. The whole sculpt is a work of art. Gamora is quite pretty for a female Legends sculpt and has a great body design. There's tons of detail on her as well including tiny bootstraps and excellent flowing hair. The facesculpt really does look like the actress where as Starlord's alternate head sculpt isn't spot on to his.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_003.JPG" height="200" width="148" /></a>Now it's time for articulation. First off everyone but Gamora and Rocket have side-swivel ankles. Poor Rocket doesn't get any lower body articulation either, the same as his comic build-a-figure version was shorted. He does sport fully articulated arms, a ball head, waist, and tail however. Gamora's hips don't move out to the side more than a couple millimeters making her hips more like a T-crotch design. That's the bad. The good is that everyone else has articulation that's well designed. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_007.JPG" height="200" width="146" /></a>Drax can literally do the splits and actually has the most range of motion out of all the figures for such a buff guy! Nova can get into some amazing flying poses and his flexible shoulderpads swivel up out of the way very well. Starlord's coat doesn't get in the way at all and can be posed flipped up in the back with a little patience. Iron Man has the same great movement as his previous mold leaving Groot. He's tall and lanky with great range of motion, and tho he has single jointed knees they work great. His hips are 45 deg angles but don't look odd when bent to the side given his tree-trunk anatomy. A great ball jointed neck gives hims plenty of personality too.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_005.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>Now for the paint applications. I'm happy to say everyone is fairly cleanly painted with very little slop. The eyes on Starlord's unmasked head are a little odd with thick pupils and eyelashes much like a GI Joe has. Drax has some amazing looking eyes with red iris rings and reflective dots. His tattoo paint is applied on top of the sculpt correctly for the most part with only a couple areas shifted. Rocket's fur has a great wash and his Raccoon coloration is really great looking with different shades of fur. Gamora's metallic blue sections shine as does the amazing metallic gradient of her hair.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy_006.JPG" height="200" width="155" /></a>Both Iron Man and Nova are cast in metallic plastic that give off a great shine. Nova's chest ports are bright and Iron Man's arc reactor has fading color tones. The wash on Starlord's coat really brings out the detail inside and out. I'm impressed with his mask too, it's very well done. Groot sports paint highlights and mossy green detail over a primarily light brown plastic and looks great, though a wash may have been a better choice to bring out detail. <br />
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Accessories for this line are great on some and lacking with others but balance out, Starlord taking top marks. He comes with an alternate head, orb, two blasters, a tape deck, and headphones he can wear. The tape deck really threw me for a loop with all the tiny detail. Gamora comes with an odd looking sword, Drax with two daggers that fit into his boots. Nova and Iron Man have zip unless you count the Groot parts. Rocket comes with one of the best looking guns I've seen with tons of tech detail and a paint wash. He also comes with the giant cannon Starlord wields in the movie and it fits against his chest.<br />
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So what's the verdict on these Guardians of the Galaxy? You're going to want Nova and Starlord even if you're not keen on his movie look because of all the awesome stuff he comes with. Drax is surprisingly great, Gamora looks sleek, and you're going to need the rest of the figures regardless to build Groot. He's so very worth it, tall, poseable, and unique looking. <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=guardians+of+the+galaxy&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has them all</a> with sets and a few singles. You can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&keywords=guardians%20of%20the%20galaxy&linkCode=ur2&qid=1405626204&rh=n%3A165793011%2Ck%3Aguardians%20of%20the%20galaxy&rnid=2941120011&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&linkId=VKWGFKWRKXZF326I">get some great deals on the figures at Amazon right now</a> as they dip below retail some days or hover at normal price. Unfortunately Nova is one per case as is Rocket and the two are getting bought out. Don't forget to see the movie and look for Nathan Fillion as Nova, back in a sci-fi role once more!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-78616692615287237422014-05-30T18:27:00.000-05:002014-05-30T18:27:36.013-05:00Captain America Marvel Legends Infinite: Black Widow, Winter Soldier, Mandroid action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sorry for the long delay between reviews but here's part 2 of the Marvel Legends Infinite Captain America series. This is the second (and third) wave of the figures that complete your Mandroid Build-a-Figure. Aside from Mandroid the last three figures are all movie figures which is probably why they were released later as not to spoil anything.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap6.JPG" height="200" width="142" /></a>Sculpting for Black Widow, Cap, and Winter Soldier are brand new bodies with no re-used parts. Widow is the big draw for collectors as she completes your movie Avengers team and she's well worth the wait. Her suit looks accurate with plenty of seams, straps, buckles, and wrist stingers. Her headsculpts are attractive if not a slightly bored expression but with very nicely sculpted hair. You can definitely tell this is Johansson's likness. Black Widow has holsters but the guns are permanently sculpted there so you'll need to supply your own pistols. Both sets of hands look great, trigger and open-palm.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap5.JPG" height="200" width="180" /></a>Captain America and Winter Soldier's sculpts are equally as detailed with some neat looking boots and suit designs sharply defined. The sculpt really works with the articulation here and any pose looks dynamic with very little gapping. Steve and Bucky's unmasked heads only barely resemble the actors they're based upon and like the Electro head from the ASM2 figures are more of a generic look. The masked heads work more for the movie look here. Bucky's cyber arm is wicked cool and Cap's alternate pointing/chop hands work for saluting, combat moves, there's a lot of posing possibilities!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap4.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>When it comes to articulation these figures are absolutely gold. Widow's range of motion is great even with her single elbow joint. The long hair alt head is limited because of the sculpt but her torso joint helps with that. Her open palms aren't jointed however so she can't do the hands-flat-on-floor pose which is what I suspect they were there for. Tho heeled like Black Cat's, Black Widow's ankle joints are done better and are pretty useful tho they will take some effort to balance. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap3.JPG" height="200" width="143" /></a>Steve and Bucky's articulation and range of motion have me overjoyed. They can reach out, lean back, forwards, side-step, and everything looks natural. Their wrists are jointed too so Cap can salute or open-palm strike. Interestingly enough these figures don't have cut calf joints, their boots are separately molded in plastic and glued on. I'm not a big fan of calf motion and the ankles give you all the motion you need here. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap2.JPG" height="200" width="133" /></a>Paint apps are surprisingly detailed all the way around. Black Widow has multiple suit tones, straps and buckles painted galore. Winter Soldier's body has a great dark wash that brings out the detail and Captain America's suit has definition. Even Widow and Bucky's hair has a light shading wash done. Uh, Bucky shouldn't be staring into exhaust pipes of cars. What's mean to look like the eye shading is too spread out on his face and looks downright strange. Widow's SHIELD logo tampos are sharp looking as is Winter Soldier's star.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap7.JPG" height="200" width="145" /></a>There are accessories a plenty here in this wave with everyone getting an extra head and Steve and Widow with an extra set of hands. Bucky's sniper rifle is a remold of the weapon that came with the Hydra solider but Cap's shield is a brand new sculpt...and...it's huge. The shield was either accidentally flattened out or scaled for a 7" figure because this sucker covers more than just his torso. The big letdown is that Black Widow doesn't come with any guns yet has trigger-hands to hold them. The upside is that you can complete your SHIELD Mandroid and let me tell you, this thing is a beast!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/MovieCap9.JPG" height="180" width="200" /></a>The Mandroid battle suit is a partial remold of the Iron Monger BAF with a new torso, head, and forearm weapons. The whole thing is cast in a very nice metallic silver plastic and the giant SHIELD logo on its chest looks sharp. The head is on a full ball joint but the shoulder cannon can only swivel, not tilt. Basically it's a free giant robot and who can turn those down? It has the same great range of leg articulation with a bit of elbow restriction that was present with Monger. <br />
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So what's the verdict on these last figures? They're some of the best movie Marvel Legends yet and you're going to need them to complete Mandroid. <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Marvel%20Legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Snag them at our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store</a> in singles or sets so you can get Black Widow at retail price or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Captain%20America%20Infinite&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ACaptain%20America%20Infinite&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">camp Amazon for deals</a> when they restock. Either way you won't be sorry especially if you loved Captain America: Winter Soldier movie and want to recreate some of those fight scenes. Now where's our 6" Batroc?<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-27454534040154052692014-03-17T12:37:00.000-05:002014-03-17T12:40:22.578-05:00Captain America Marvel Legends Infinite: Hydra/AIM Soldier, Baron Zemo, Marvel Now Cap figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin3.JPG" height="200" width="146" /></a>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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin10.JPG" height="200" width="127" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin5.JPG" height="200" width="162" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin9.JPG" height="176" width="200" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin6.JPG" height="200" width="159" /></a>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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/CapInfin11.JPG" height="200" width="140" /></a>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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Marvel%20Legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">head over to our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store and snag a set</a>. Alternately you can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Captain%20America%20Infinite&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ACaptain%20America%20Infinite&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">camp Amazon and try to catch them</a> when they're restocked or purchase your favorites separately.<br />
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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.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-77841675342203318922014-02-25T21:08:00.000-06:002014-02-25T21:09:52.886-06:00Spider-Man Marvel Legends Infinite Series: Black Cat, Amazing Spider-Man, Superior Spider-Man, Ultimate Green Goblin figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Its amazing how many Marvel Legends figures have hit in the last few months with complete series already into their variant waves and new ones ready to drop in tune to the slew of Marvel movies on the horizon. This is part two of the Marvel Legends Spider-Man series review and features Black Cat, Amazing Spider-Man, and Superior-Spider-Man (also known as SpOck because it's Doc Ock's mind in Peter Parker's body. Yeah, comic weirdness). The finished Build-A-Figure is the Ultimate Green Goblin and makes this review a bit longer than normal.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite2.JPG" height="200" width="135" /></a>We'll start with the sculpts which are all brand new body molds with the exception of Black Cat's lower torso which the SDCC Moonstone/Satana share. Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) is a thin body with embossed webs instead of raised like the movie character. Other than the movie front/back symbols this will basically pass for your classic Spidey. He shares the <a href="http://jinsdangerousblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/ultimate-spiderman-ultra-strike.html">special layered-plastic technique we covered before</a>. That red and blue on his torso isn't paint, its bonded plastic. The webbing is cut in as thick lines instead of the normal thin lines leading to it looking a bit squarish. Spidey does have some rather large gaps in his hips and shoulders which allow his articulation to shine.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite3.JPG" height="200" width="122" /></a>Black Cat's sculpt is voluptuous and full of detail with great looking fur sections and a face sculpt that's actually pretty. The hair sculpt is . Her small clawed hands look great as do her high heeled boots. It's interesting to see brand new legs and arms instead of just fur sections glued to the new female body sculpt. Superior Spider-Man (Spock) has a thinner more 'teenager' body that's all new as well. His fingertips have little grip-nubs on them and his headsculpt is a little more alien-looking than the normal Spiderman style. It appears the wrong size pins were used in his limbs as you can see the pronounced nubs sticking out of the sides. ASM fares a little better in the nub-department except you can see the red of them against the inside of the blue arms.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite7.JPG" height="200" width="188" /></a>Articulation for ASM is downright fantastic. He can pose in almost any way you can imagine such as the classic leg-over-arm or squatting hunched. A new shoulder style has been adopted here, one with the entire shoulder free-floating on a single post instead of locked in top and bottom. This allows for him to reach straight up but leaves a large gap in the shoulder. The shoulder won't break off the post as it's thick pvc plastic but can become loose. Spock has the same shoulder style without the gap and it looks much better. Both Spider-men can cross their arms in front of them and even stand on one leg so there's some great balance in this mold.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite6.JPG" height="200" width="166" /></a>Black Cat's articulation is decent enough but her elbows are severely hindered by the bicep sculpt and the fur cuffs, not even being able to get into a 90 degree angle unless you cut away some of the black plastic. This is due to the hinge-cup joint instead of a pin-hinge. Her torso range is excellent as are her legs, tho due to the angle of her high heeled boots her 45 deg ankle rocker isn't as useful as the other figures using this style. Black Cat's hair keeps her from looking up or down but side to side range is acceptable. Oddly enough her wrists are hinged sideways instead of up and down meaning she can't place her claws out towards anything. This was probably so she can wield the whip in a better fashion.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfinite5.JPG" height="200" width="136" /></a>Paint applications for ASM are cleanly applied with most figures but check the eyes as they can be painted off-kilter. There's a nice black wash in his weblines and the layered plastic fills in the need to paint the torso. Spock's paint work is basic with a little red on primarily black plastic. The 'sloppy' lines on his face and chest are actually accurate to the comic where his costume now looks like it has true spider webs covering it in an asymmetrical style. However they're thick and some figures have missing or mis-alinged sections so check yours carefully before purchase. Black Cat's paint is nice with a clean face and great blue shadows in her fur and hair. Everything else is just black or white plastic. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/ggult2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/ggult2.JPG" height="200" width="153" /></a>Each figure comes with a few accessories. ASM and Spock have an extra pair of 'thwip' hands and parts to the Build-A-Figure. Spock's hands in general are huge and it shows with the thwip set. Black Cat has her claw-whip made from soft plastic and it looks quite neat. She also comes with the torso of the BAF. Now the reason to purchase all the figures in the set becomes clear, you can assemble the main accessory, a 9 inch tall Ultimate Green Goblin. He's based on the Avengers Walmart movie Hulk body with a reused torso and legs. He looks wicked with spikes all over his arms, horns, and those tattered Hulk pants. The fire effects are amazing looking and you'll be using them in all sorts of ways others than just clipping them to Goblin. Catch fire to everything!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/ggult3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/ggult3.JPG" height="200" width="153" /></a>Green Goblin's paint work is so-so with the spines a bit sloppily painted and no other tone of green for his skin, However the dark green works here and the flames add some color. The black flames don't really clip on like the arm flames but hang on his shoulders like a backpack of sorts. They'll fall off if you turn him upside down. Goblin's articulation is excellent, the same as Hulk's and with the new open-claws can slash at Spiderman convincingly. <br />
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So do these figures justify an out-of-pocket expense? Well, yes, especially since we haven't had a good classic Spider-Man filler or Black Cat in a long time. Superior Spider-Man could be a pass especially if you hate the new story arc but the body style is really nice and you'd be one part short of Green Goblin otherwise. Snag this set and all the other <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Marvel%20Legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Marvel Legends Infinite series at our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Amazing%20Spiderman%20legends&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">head over to Amazon</a> with your fingers crossed they're still at retail price. Now for some more pictures.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-34563720875282384392014-02-18T15:11:00.000-06:002014-02-18T15:14:19.332-06:00Transformers Generations Deluxe class Scoop and Armada Starscream action figure review<br />
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Transformers Generations is a line that's full of surprises especially with the introduction of Beast Wars characters and now even more characters from different series that have been 'upgraded' to Generations design. Today we're looking at Scoop with his Targetmasters and Starscream done in his Armada look. Both are Deluxe class figures and are available alongside a new wave of Voyager class figures as well. You get a comic with each one and if you've been collecting each figure from every wave the story continues with each comic. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream3.JPG" height="200" width="140" /></a>Sculpt for Scoop is a very nicely proportioned bot with big clunky feet and a giant scoop on his back. From the back only his lower legs exhibit a hollow feeling but the area is well hidden from the sides. Flip-out hands are the newest thing it seems and this does leave the forearms hollow from the sides. Scoop's headsculpt is great and so are the little details on his chest and feet that pay homage to the original design. You even have the forearm ports so he can wield his Targetmasters as the G1 mold did, since they didn't fit in the original's hands. Fortunately Generations Scoop can hold them correctly.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream2.JPG" height="200" width="151" /></a>Scoop has great range of motion with every joint functional aside from lacking swivel wrists or an ankle hinge. He can look up, place his hands on his hips, and even kneel due to the double knee joint that the transformation gives him.This allows for some pretty epic running or leaping poses. Scoop's paint is clean for what's there and applied solidly with no under/overspray. However the yellow paint (or yellow ABS plastic) was apparently budgeted out leaving his scoop and head orange where they had originally been yellow. It's a small price to pay and the seasoned customizer could easily spraypaint both.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream8.JPG" height="200" width="165" /></a>Transformation for Scoop isn't overly complex but it does involve more than just the normal folding/turning motions. The result is a nifty construction loader. This form has a little issue of the front tires scooting outwards because of the small tabs used to connect it to his chestplate but other than that it's fine. The greatest thing about Scoop's alt mode is that he can drive himself. The top of the cab folds over his head like a helmet and allows him to look out his window. His accessories are his two Targetmasters just like the original G1 version had. They're very well sculpted with ball jointed shoulders and can be stacked, tho this look somewhat odd. The neat feature of these is that the handle can be removed from between their ankles giving them a better bot look. There is also an extra 5mm port hole on the handle to stack other weapons on them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream4.JPG" height="200" width="149" /></a>Starscream is back in his Armada look and boy does it look sweet. His headsculpt is deadly serious. The large missile ports on his shoulders can now be folded back out of the way and so can his wings. If you remember the original Armada Starscream's wings came off to become his swords, this new figure being able to replicate that look without actually removing them. His overall design is a great homage to the original. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream5.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>Starscream's articulation gives him the full range you expect with the exception of only flip-up hands, no ankle pivots, or waist joint. His shoulders have a neat flip-up design with an extending yellow arm hinge to fill in the gap allowing him to slice outwards with his sword to an extreme angle. The paint work is solid and quite close to the original aside from the shoulders and chest being primarily red rather than black.l. The lightpiping for his head looks amazing and lets his orange eyes glare out.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Scoopscream6.JPG" height="200" width="178" /></a>Starscream's gimmick is the missile launchers on his shoulders. As mentioned they fold back but also have moving yellow intake sections when pressed from behind. These missiles are launched with pressure instead of a catch so when slung over his shoulders the back extends quite far. It looks funny but doesn't present any balance issues thanks to his large heels. Instead of the entire wing being removed for a sword two clear folding swords deploy from beneath the wings that Starscream can hold. They store nicely underneath and looks sharp.<br />
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Transformation is perhaps one of the simplest I've seen in a Transformer. Starscream folds in half like an upside down taco to make his bot mode...and that's about it. His arms just swing back against his body in alt mode. What's frustrating is that his nosecone is made of rubber and extends farther underneath the cockpit making up the two pegs that attach to his crotch. If these pegs were hard plastic they'd actually work as intended but as it stands they only weakly plug in allowing Starscream to unfold if the cockpit is bumped. His alt mode is a nice enough looking jet that's very close to the original. You can even swing the arms forward like the Armada one had, tho it looks much better with them tucked behind the wings out of the way.<br />
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So what's the verdict on these? Scoop is a great addition to any collection and has a solid feel to him, plenty of articulation, and a great design. Plus everyone loves construction bots I believe. You get not one but two Targetmasters as well. Starscream is dynamic looking and if you're a fan of his Armada design a definite winner. Expect a lot of seeker repaints with this mold. There's nothing major to watch out for except losing time posing these guys on your desk and possibly losing the Targetmaster's ankle handles as they can pop off pretty easily. Our sponsor <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=transformers%20generations&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has them as well as the next wave</a> for preorder or you can f<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=transformers%20generations%20scoop&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Atransformers%20generations%20scoop&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">ind them on Amazon</a>.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-35337676672168039892014-01-10T18:03:00.002-06:002014-01-10T18:05:18.025-06:00The Amazing Spiderman 2 Marvel Legends Infinite Series: Carnage, Electro, Beetle (Green Goblin BAF) action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin7.JPG" height="200" width="148" /></a>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!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin3.JPG" height="200" width="134" /></a>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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin6.JPG" height="200" width="167" /></a>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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin4.JPG" height="200" width="155" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin8.JPG" height="200" width="163" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/SpideyInfin9.JPG" height="200" width="141" /></a>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. <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Marvel%20Legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Snag this set at our Sponsor Big Bad Toy Store</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Amazing%20Spiderman%20legends&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">head over to Amazon</a> 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.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-1866039030095850112014-01-08T12:13:00.000-06:002014-01-08T12:13:23.908-06:00Marvel Legends Jean Grey, Black Panther (Rocket Raccoon BAF series) action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Marvel Legends are finally hitting the shelf again and en'masse with no less than FOUR different series (two under the Marvel Legends Infinite rebrand) on the shelf right now. Here we take a look at two characters from the Rocket Raccoon Build-A-Figure series, Jean Grey and Black Panther. The other characters in the line are Hawkeye, Scarlet Spider, and Wrecker. All but Hawk and Spider come with parts for Rocket.<br />
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Sculpting for Jean is quite nice and her look is the iconic Jim Lee version we've been after for ages. Her body is based on the Hope Summers type I reviewed earlier but with new sculpt on the shoulders, thighs, and lower legs that include rocker feet. Jean's headsculpt is great with a serious look and some nicely sculpted hair. A non-removable X-belt is set on her waist and gauntlets on her arms that swivel. Her hands are actually the 2-pack Invisible Woman's hands and work great here.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth5.JPG" height="200" width="143" /></a>Jean Grey's paint applications aren't extensive but whats there is clean. There's great face detail, shiny metallic blue, and her hip pads are gold metallic. Even her fingernails are painted the same shade as her lips to match. Her hair is molded in color but looks just fine without shading, tho you could easily add some highlights or shadows yourself. She sports full articulation with no hampered areas other than not being able to reach straight up due to her shoulder pads. They are soft plastic so there's a little give to them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth3.JPG" height="200" width="129" /></a>Black Panther appears here in his classic outfit and utilizes the new body mold that's going to be the standard these days for any average height hero. It has an extremely nice sculpt to it and features new hands and head. The hands look sharp and will work for a variety of gestures, also future characters (Magneto anyone?) The range of motion you can get out of Black Panther is wonderful, enough to achieve any leaping, fighting pose you could think of.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JeanPanth4.JPG" height="200" width="143" /></a>Paint work on Black Panther is also excellent with great blue highlights on his body and perfect lines on his gloves and boots. People have complained that his gloves and boots are jarring to the smoother blue shading so why weren't they done that way? Fans will <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/Jungleaction23.png">recognize this as his classic look</a> rather than his modern all black look. Once you have that in mind the paint apps make sense. Both figures come with parts to make Rocket Raccoon as their only accessory which I'll cover later as a separate figure.<br />
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So what's the verdict on this pair of superheroes? Fans of Jim Lee's X-men team will hunt Jean down to the ends of the earth. If you already have the Toybiz Black Panther and prefer his modern look you could almost skip this one. Customizers however couldn't ask for a better base body and already Deadpool-ish head. Our Sponsor <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Marvel%20Legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has the whole set and the other new series of Marvel Legends Infinite</a> as does <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Marvel%20legends%20figure&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AMarvel%20legends%20figure&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">Amazon where they occasionally go on sale</a>. Buy him up for fodder! So there you have it, two more great figures for your Marvel Legends collection.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-82484235945912524062014-01-08T11:34:00.001-06:002014-01-08T11:35:20.645-06:00NECA Kenner Predators (Predators series 10 Lava Planet, Nightstorm, Hive Wars) action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Kenner Aliens and Predator series released back in 1992 have ended up some of people's most memorable action figures from their childhood and NECA has gone back in time to recreate some of the Predators! Here we take a look at Nightstorm, Lava Planet, and Hive Wars Predator action figures. They're all made with existing Predator bodies but with new limb, weapons, and armor sections.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred2.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>I don't normally cover packaging so a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=neca+predators+series+10&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ZIHNUsqKNrTMsQTsuoHwDA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=597#q=neca+predators+series+10+packaging&safe=off&tbm=isch">quick google search</a> will show you the retro 90's style artwork of the packages, this time in cardback instead of full plastic bubble which is usually the NECA theme. The figure sculpting is as always, out of this world. (See what I did there?) Lava Planet Predator uses the standard City Hunter body with a new mask and right arm with great extending blade. His entire body is made of clear red plastic with the exception of his mask, the eyeholes clear red however.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred8.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a>A sharp eye will notice there's no paint on the figure's back but there's a reason for this. It allows you to place in in front of a light source and have his body light up through the back. Red shows through the lava paint deco, around the armor, and even through the machete weapon he holds. This effect is loads of fun and harkens to the original figure. Lava Planet's articulation is the same as your current Predator warriors and comes with Tracker Predator's shoulder cannon. The new extending arm blade is great and looks like the one the vintage figure had.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred7.JPG" height="200" width="143" /></a>Nightstorm Predator uses the Super Predators Berserker body which is a tad taller but thinner than the rest. There's new armor everywhere all done in an Egyptian style. Across his scarab styled mask are <a href="http://avp.wikia.com/wiki/Nightstorm">Yautja markings that read 'Kenner Tribe'</a>, an easter egg for diehard Predator fans that can read the native language. Sculpting is amazing on the figure but also on the inside of the helmet with all sorts of tech detail that could have been left blank. It fits on beautifully and Nightstorm is the only NECA Predator with a removable mask currently.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/KenPred6.JPG" height="200" width="156" /></a>Nightstorm's claws extend but look as if they originally were designed to fold up and back onto his gauntlet into slots tho the hinge isn't a working one. His leg articulation is slightly hampered due to the V-crotch of the Super Predator body design and his neck is restricted up/down by the dreads and larger golden collar. The shoulder cannon's turret spins and he comes with a large golden staff with a skull on top just like the vintage figure had.<br />
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Nightstorm's paint work is amazingly detailed with all sorts of metallic shades, black detailing, and oxidation to it. The bicep and thigh armor are new designs and have a tendency to slip down the limb so you could remove them for use on other figures or glue them in place. The straps do help hide the thigh articulation cuts however which was a nice touch. <br />
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The Hive Wars Predator features the Jungle Hunter body with brand new upper and lower arms. The mask is a City Hunter Predator with additional sculpt down the middle of it. The detail of the new armor's sculpt is great and features a raised checkerboard pattern. Paint applications on Hive Wars is slick with a dark blue fading to light blue and eerie green eyes. A nice glossy wash on the skin is applied evenly, not too thick and contrasts well with the matte armor.<br />
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Hive War's range of articulation is great being able to look up and down effective, he's only missing the ball jointed waist using the Jungle Pred swivel here. So close! A new scythe-like weapon is included just like the vintage figure had and looks wicked. His arm blades don't extend but look like they were originally designed to slide on a track, tho this effect may have been ditched last minute. A new rear flap sculpt completes Hive Wars Predator giving him a really unique look.<br />
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So what's the verdict on the newest series of NECA Predators? Buy them, they're amazingly designed figures. Even if you're not a fan of the Berserker body the new armor/mask/paint work is enough to warrant it. And at less the price of your average 6" figure you get a taller one with superior paint and sculpt. Our Sponsor <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=NECA%20Predators&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has them in singles and sets</a> along with other series. You can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&keywords=neca%20kenner%20predator&linkCode=ur2&qid=1389202366&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aneca%20kenner%20predator&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20">find them on Amazon on sale</a> as well if you're lucky. Add to your Predator clan with these figures, you won't be sorry!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-35647768194107001112013-10-13T20:07:00.000-05:002013-10-14T00:39:36.015-05:00Sen-ti-nel R:08 Riobot BX-02 Blodia Action Figure Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When someone refers to a toy as their 'grail' they're usually talking about a vintage toy they had as a child or an exclusive figure that's extremely limited. Rarely do they refer to something that just came out, but that's my case here. That being said I'll try to be objective as I can in this review...try being the operative word here. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the <a href="http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Cyberbots/Blodia-type_Models">Blodia</a> it's the mecha <a href="http://capcom.wikia.com/wiki/Jin_Saotome">Jin Saotome</a> pilots in the original <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberbots:_Full_Metal_Madness">Cyberbots</a> game and whose giant fist/vulcan cannon pulverizes opponents in Marvel vs Capcom 2 as a special move. That's right, the Sen-ti-nel company produced a high-end action figure based on an 18 year old game for a system nobody owns (sega saturn) that just happens to be one of the only three Cyberbots/Jin Saotome official merchandises in existence. If you want to talk about a niche product this is it by definition. Well let's get to that review. ((Warning, this is going to take you ten minutes to read, no 5-minute toy review here!))<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia2.JPG" width="160" /></a>Normally I skip the packaging unless it's really, really nice. Well it's really, really nice this time. The Blodia comes in a semigloss window box with a velcro flap ala Hot Toys with the entire thing being collector friendly with a dual part removable tray. The graphics are great, you get the Blodia's diagram specs on the side and posed samples of the figure on the back. Inside the flap is a large sticker with the production team on it in English. I assume if you peeled it off you would see the Japanese writing instead or perhaps its blank and was added last-minute. Either way it's a permanent sticker. But man this packaging makes me wish every action figure was done this way.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia5.JPG" width="153" /></a>Sculpting for the Blodia is quite possibly perfect. I've looked at various art, diagrams, and even matched it up against the diminutive<a href="http://www.ncsx.com/2009/100509/sr_shooting_robotics.htm"> Yujin Blodia PvC</a> and everything appears to be in exactly the right place. Corners are sharp where they're suppose to be and beveled when designed. There's diecast handles, foot treads, multi-sectional arm panels, the shield and weapon pod, everything is cleanly sculpted. The only thing that breaks up the sculpt is the occasional seam line, most noticeable on the diecast knees and feet. But it's diecast and well, that's perfectly acceptable.<br />
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The Blodia's design needs mention here. Everything moves. Every flap, panel, and hinge. Joints like the ankle and knee have hidden extending sections that run on rails or slide up inside something else. The back of the leg folds in to accommodate the bend of the knee while the upper thigh extends downward as the hidden knee panels slide into view. Then you get to the torso which has a multi-directional hinge, a folding ab crunch, extending collar section, and rotating ball shoulders attached to a giant swivel ball inside the chest.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia6.JPG" width="150" /></a>Wait that's not all! both the Blodia's arms extend, separate pistons locking in both closed and open positions. The left arm which houses the arm spikes (also diecast) extends further with the back section sliding out to reveal the exhaust port for the punch effect. The right arm features a telescoping peg that the shield attaches to that when extended runs across a rail allowing the shield to rotate and cover any section of the arm. I'm not even to the hands yet, just wait.<br />
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The Blodia's comes with two sets of hands, one set of solid sculpted fists and the other pair a fully articulated set. This makes no sense because the fully articulated hands can perfectly mimic a closed fist as the design even allows for the fingertips to be tucked into the palm. Instead of including a repatative set of hands we could have been treated to something like, oh, say a miniature version of the mecha's pilot that could stand in its hand? But these articulated hands...the fingers have three joints, they raise up and spread apart just like real fingers. They're metal pins and tight. Speaking of metal pins they seem to be everywhere on this figure. There are no screw holes and every joint section is covered, hidden, and makes for a completely jointless look.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia10.JPG" width="155" /></a>The Blodia's articulation if you guessed is incredible. Because of all the extending sections the range of motion is unhindered in every moving part of the figure. It can raise its arms all the way up, kneel, facepalm, even stand on its toes. The poses you can get out of the Blodia are great and the only thing that doesn't work are the heel wheels, they're fixed posed and have some sort of piston up under them. It would have been really cool to have rolling rubber heels but I can't fault it.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia11.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia11.JPG" width="155" /></a>Paint application for the figure is flawless as it should be. There's no bleed, so slop, no overspray. The white sections are a metallic pearl and the red is a nice semigloss. The diecast claws and handles are left unpainted which is a cool touch. The Blodia's shoulder and kneepads have slight battle wear on them which is actually real wear, the diecast showing under the scuffing. There's also a light black panel lining on the armor and every little bolt is painted giving the figure a clean but detailed look. Tiny tampos that say things like [Warning Electrical Hazard] are cleanly applied and can be read with a magnifying glass.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/blodia7.JPG" width="130" /></a>Accessories for the Blodia are the two extra hands, shield, a clear-topped stage with a claw arm and post for the Bit (weapon pod). The Bit is just as cleanly designed and has tiny moving fins. A set of instructions show you all the range of movement, sliding arm features, and accessory attachments. Tho it's written in Japanese the pictures get you by as what to do with each part. The Blodia's arms and torso can be detached and I'm wondering if they can be swapped with the parts for the Riot/mass production Blodia styles (jet/tank waist, power arm).<br />
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The Blodia stands 6.5 inches tall which puts it in scale, I think, with the Armored Core and Front Mission figures as well as deluxe sixed Transformers. Jin Saotome is often seen <a href="http://fenixware.net/fab/images/chars/move/jin_mvc.png">being lowered from the Blodia's hand</a> so that should give you an idea of its size. I would have loved an 8" scale Blodia. Heck I would have been fine with a model kit. But Sen-ti-nel's was able to shove all the tiny moving parts into a 6" figure which really impresses. So what's the verdict? Well are you a Cyberbots/Jin Saotome fan? If so you track this figure down through heaven and hell because I seriously doubt Cyberbots will see any other merchandise. If you just like mecha it's neat to have but you're paying an import premium price for a property you're probably not familiar with. <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Riobot&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store has the Blodia, Riot, limited 2player version, and Mass Production version.</a> Wait, you mean Sen-ti-nel made FOUR Cyberbots related figures? Ok, they must be huge fans of the game. Fingers crossed and we may someday see a Jin Saotome figure somewhere. Figma, D-arts, are you listening?<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-21329564142101250872013-08-10T18:18:00.000-05:002013-08-10T19:43:33.595-05:00Star Wars the Black Series 6" Sandtrooper #03 action figure review<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.statisticbrain.com/star-wars-total-franchise-revenue/">Star Wars toys has dwarfed the movie's revenue</a> 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper2.JPG" width="151" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper4.JPG" width="136" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper7.JPG" width="177" /></a>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.<br />
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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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper6.JPG" width="140" /></a>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!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/sandtrooper10.JPG" width="141" /></a>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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=3184&category=9517&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store</a> or on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Star%20Wars%206%26%2334%3B%20Black%20Series%20figure&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AStar%20Wars%206%26%2334%3B%20Black%20Series%20figure&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">Amazon with free shipping</a>. 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.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-79110529478679128952013-08-07T20:54:00.001-05:002013-08-07T21:29:27.378-05:00NECA Aliens series 1: Corporal Dwayne Hicks action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks2.JPG" width="166" /></a><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks3.JPG" width="176" /></a>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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/hicks4.JPG" width="120" /></a>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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=neca%20aliens&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=neca%20aliens&linkCode=ur2&rh=n%3A165793011%2Ck%3Aneca%20aliens&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games">on Amazon usually with free shipping</a>.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-15384089226420440792013-07-16T09:03:00.000-05:002013-07-16T09:03:39.723-05:00Superman Man of Steel Movie Masters Faora and General Zod (Kryptonian Armor) action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With Superman the Man of Steel movie climbing higher on the charts the first series of 6" Movie Masters figures are beginning to disappear from the pegs. Fortunately there's a new wave to restock that contains an older General Zod in Kryptonian Armor and his right hand lady, Faora. How do these figures match up with current and past offerings? Let's take the review train to Krypton!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod2.JPG" width="130" /></a>Sculpting for Zod is pretty impressive. The headsculpt appears to be an older version with a beard this go around but what really sets him apart from the first version is the incredible armor. Its overlapping scales are detailed and tech-looking with just the slightest hint of a 'Aliens' in the design. Zod's black undersuit where it shows through the armor has the same micro-texture as the rest. The helmet Zod comes with looks fearsome, like an organic breather unit and I swear the face took cues from a Storm Trooper if I look close enough. A great tattered cape rounds out Zod's look.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod3.JPG" width="143" /></a>Faora's sculpting is equally as detailed with nice armored sections, tho less of them, and gives her a Medieval look with the shoulderpads and elbow armor. More of her undersuit is showing and there's lots of micro-detail on that. This doesn't appear to be her combat armor as the clips from the film show her with shoulderpads that are the same size. Faora's face sculpt is pleasant to look at with strong features, tho with certain paint apps missing it looks more like the actor without her makeup on. Her cape is more textured than Zod's and looks great draped behind her. Faora has a non-removable blade on her left him as well.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod5.JPG" width="138" /></a>Paint apps for Zod consist of his armor molded in black with silver drybrushing over the edges to give it a worn appearance. His helmet is the same way with the top fading to clear. I would have liked to see more highlights on his lower arms and legs but perhaps that's the way its suppose to look. Faora Has more color to her with lots of bronze highlights and an airbrushed cape as well as Zod. But she's just woken up and forgot to put on her black eye-liner and blue contacts. Without this distinct look there's definitely something missing about her wearing the armor and being Faora.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod8.JPG" width="145" /></a>The articulation for these figures varies with high and low points. Zod has now standard Movie-Master articulation missing ankle rockers and an ab crunch, only having a cut waist now. His armored skirt gets in the way of his leg articulation and only allows him a 20 deg range of motion unless you feel like cutting the straps/plates away that sit in front of his thighs. Zod's shoulder pads are part of his arm so there's no hindrance when raising his arms. He even has separate trigger fingers indicating that he may have been styled to hold a weapon at some point. Faora fares much better in articulation range except that her shoulderpads are part of her torso, tho they are flexible and don't stop her arms from moving up very much. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/zod4.JPG" width="134" /></a>Accessories are scarce once again here. Zod comes with his neat removable helmet and base, Faora only coming with her base. She has a sculpted knife on his left side but can't wield it. With clenched fists it wouldn't do her much good anyway. You'd think with her knife play being part of her character she'd have something to hold. Some of the other Movie Masters come with things like shackles or a prop-like Kryptonian command key. <br />
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So what's the deal with these two galactic fugitives? They're pretty neat armored figures especially Zod with his Vader-esq appearance. A little paint on Faora's face would go a long way and a good customizer can fix her right up. Our sponsor Big <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=movie%20masters&utm_source=jin%2bcustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=jin%2bcustom/">Bad Toy Store has them all for preorder</a> (or perhaps in stock by the time you read this) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=man%20of%20steel%20movie%20masters&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Aman%20of%20steel%20movie%20masters&sprefix=man%20of%20steel%20mo%2Caps%2C253&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">Amazon is also an easy way of snagging them</a>. They can also be found in stores but keep selling out as the Movie Masters series is the only decent line of Man of Steel figures out there for retail. <br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-23619415906122133312013-07-01T17:35:00.000-05:002013-07-16T08:57:41.860-05:00NECA Pacific Rim Jaeger Crimson Typhoon and Kaiju Knifehead action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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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<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim3.JPG" width="196" /></a>The Kajiju Knifehead's sculpt is really nice as it deals with monster-like <br />
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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim5.JPG" width="168" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim6.JPG" width="193" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/pacrim7.JPG" width="160" /></a>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 <a href="http://www.pacificrim-movie.net/media/pacificrim_kaiju_battle_new_still_2.jpg">compared to the screen-look</a> of the Kaiju where they run across the body in a more natural way. Still Knifehead will fit right along side your Godzilla figures.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=NECA%20Pacific%20rim&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">singles or better priced sets at Amazon with free shipping</a> in most cases or find them at <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=3206&utm_source=jin%2bcustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=jin%2bcustom/">our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store</a> 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.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-70325865299203996362013-06-26T19:41:00.000-05:002013-06-30T22:36:20.045-05:00NECA Aliens series 1 Alien Warrior 2013 action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw1.JPG" width="127" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw5.JPG" width="165" /></a> 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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/alienw4.JPG" width="158" /></a>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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=NEC12133&mode=retail&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">black/red Genocide 2-pack being offered</a> and the battle-damaged ones/different colors we'll be seeing in wave 2 and hopefully 3,4,infinity that this line deserves. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=neca%20aliens&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">Head over to Amazon and pick up the Alien and the Colonial Marines</a> with free shipping or our sponsor <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=neca%20aliens&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store to snag sets and singles</a> as long as they have them in stock. And now it's time for more pictures!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-30178418003711723172013-06-21T12:30:00.001-05:002013-07-16T09:04:03.149-05:00Iron Man 3 Assemblers Striker Iron Man action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The incredibly popular Iron Man movie series has spawned some pretty neat looking movie armors. Striker Iron Man is one of the new suits that you actually see in the movie's final battle and is a construction suit of sorts with two jackhammer arm attachments. We now have a figure of him and it's part of the Assembler series where you can mix and match all four limbs and heads of the figures to create different combinations. Packaging is the same as all the other Assembler figures and you may miss the new series if you don't look closely as they're just now hitting. How will Striker strike you as a figure? Let's find out.<br />
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Sculpting for Striker Iron Man is pretty decent. The head looks detailed with the armored tech plates on it as does the chest with the arc reactor partially protected by the breastplate sections. The arms have large jackhammer units permanently attached there and while the sculpt is a little soft looking they still look pretty dangerous. Unfortunately these aren't the super detailed super articulated Iron Man 2 movie figures as Big Retail has dictated to toy companies they want lower a lower unit cost and they had to cut just about every corner there was to cut. Still the legs/feet look neat with their knight-armor scaled sections and large heft to them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/striker3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/striker3.JPG" width="123" /></a>Articulation is immediately disappointing as is the case with all the Assemblers so far with one exception that I'll get to later. Striker has a ball head, ball shoulders, T-crotch hips, and thaaaaat's it. We're back to 1980's articulation folks and it's that way with all of the Hasbro/Mattel movie-themed 'kids lines'. His head is the only thing that can give him personality when posing and since his jackhammer arms are slightly bent they can't even be aligned for a punch. Striker's jackhammers are glued on to the arms so in theory a customizer could tear them off and affix them to other more articulated arms.<br />
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Paint application is general mass-market quality with some sparkly darker gunmetal sections, green ports, and the bright yellow arms. The black caution stripes are cleanly applied as is most everything but there's some bleed or transparency to the yellow here and there. Striker's base plastic is a really nice dark silver which feels the same as what the Iron Man Legends figures are made of.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/striker6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/striker6.JPG" width="128" /></a>Action features for this line are "25+ interchangeable armor combinations" according to the package. The head, arms, and legs are all easily removable and can be swapped among the figures. However because this is a kid's line the legs and arms come off very easily and will do so just posing him. You also get two extra arms and two plug-on missile attachments. The missiles are nice looking and could be used for anything. They plug on to the arms, legs, or back.<br />
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The accessories are those two arms and the missiles. One of the arms looks like a Gatling wrist cannon and the other one looks like a Plasma blade from the Halo series and even has the crackling energy around it. It also has an elbow joint. Yep. Why only one arm? It allows Striker (or whoever you affix it to) the extra posing options but no other limb does. The arms have paint bleed from the black/white/gold contrasting paints especially the Plasma-arm.<br />
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So what's the verdict here? If you're building a movie-themed Armor Vault he is one of the onscreen suits you saw and standing still looks pretty neat. I actually like the fact you can swap everything out and 'customize' your looks. But the lack of joints really kills this line especially since here we see they can add them. If you're looking for Striker to customize his parts onto a better body you can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZZ0CEO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AZZ0CEO&linkCode=as2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20">snag him from Amazon</a> pretty cheap along with other new Assemblers like the cool looking <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AZZ0D6G/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00AZZ0D6G&linkCode=as2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20">Crosscut Iron Man</a>. Hasbro, if you're listening, we would buy the hell out of these if they were only decently made (or just make a 6" line for us!) because these designs are just eye candy.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-91976673427558102342013-05-24T11:28:00.000-05:002013-07-16T09:04:32.075-05:00Transformers Generations Voyager Class Springer 30th Anniversary action figure review<br />
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Following up this week's <a href="http://jinsdangerousblog.blogspot.com/2013/05/transformers-generations-voyager-class.html">Transformers Generations Blitzwing review</a> here's the second triple-changer in the wave, Autobot Springer. You may get mixed, biased reviews about him online because of the massive influx of Warbot Defenders, the 3rd party Springer, that went up on ebay when he was announced. A lot of the elite collectors who shelled out a hundred bucks for a<a href="http://www.transformers-universe.com/content/images/Imagemaps/FansprojectWarbotDefender_Map.jpg"> smaller, less articulated, lego-brick-esq</a> 3rd party figure are raging because it's no longer desired. Some have gone so far as to demand hasbro provide them with renumeration for their loss (you didn't make the character soon enough so it forced me to overpay for a copyright infringing stand-in!) and one internet manchild even started a propaganda plot on multiple sites trying to convince everyone the line was cancelled so they'd drop their preorders. It was a sad, sad day for Transformers fandom but it just goes to show you how passionate fans get about the Transformers license. Springer actually had a deluxe Generations done of him just last year in the form of the Asia exclusive repaint of Tomahawk <a href="http://jinsdangerousblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/transformers-generations-springer.html">that I reviewed here</a> so you can have both scales in your collection. How does he stack up against his buddy Blitz and today's current offerings? One word: <i>DAMN</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer1.JPG" width="150" /></a>Springer's sculpting is to put it lightly, absolutely 100% astoundingly amazing. He looks like Springer, his proportions are perfect, his headsculpt is flawless, and I cannot find one gripe about how he appears in robot form. In an era of hollow Transformers Springer is not one of them. Ok I take that back. The insides of his thighs have hollow spots BUT THAT IS IT. Every other part of him is filled in solid with sculpt. His hands are even sculpted with more detail than normal. I was floored by the difference of design between him and Blitzwing. Heck, him and any other Transformer I own. Springer is just that impressive looking. Hasbro even went to the extent that you can extend his shoulder pauldrons up and to the side to simulate his look in Last Stand of the Wreckers. The moving pads serve no other transformation purpose other than to give you a bonus look to him. Bravo!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer4.JPG" width="135" /></a>But with an amazing sculpt you're expecting a brick right? Nope. Springer's articulation is above and beyond what we have previously had and borders on Masterpiece level. His ball jointed shoulders can be raised an lowered on dual joints, his head has a great ball joint, hinged and swivel wrists, waist that turns, and full range of motion on every limb including moving toes and heel. His feet are sculpted in a side-step angle so he has no ankle rockers but that's the only missing part. Springer can hold his sword in both hands (or at least mimic it since the handle is too short for that), aim any direction, side kick, uppercut, it's truly amazing. This range of articulation coupled with the sculpt means you will get some great looking poses out of him.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer3.JPG" width="144" /></a>Paint application here is very clean and consistent over the entire figure. His main colors are molded in plastic with little painted details here and there to break up the colors. Springer's chest is very bright yellow and you may want to do some panel lining or something to bring out the detail that's on there but lost because of how bright the plastic is. The inside of his rims are painted, yay! That's been missing on what, 90% of all recent Transformers? Even the tiny wheel nubs of his knee guards are painted. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer2.JPG" width="184" /></a>Springer's accessories include a large double barrel missile launching gun and a transforming sword that doubles as his rotor blade. Both are excellent, the gun having a double-trigger that fires off the missiles separately depending on how far you push it. Springer's rotor sword has multiple hinge spots that allow you to twist, transform, and lock it into place in both modes. It also looks awesome in both modes without sacrificing sculpt for functionality. The sword stores underneath in car mode and the cannon attaches with a special hidden clip underneath in helicopter mode. The cannon's handle is also hinged so you can aim it up/down when it's on top of the car, how cool is that? You can also combine both weapons to form a Gunblade!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer6.JPG" width="152" /></a>Uh-oh here comes the transformation part. A triple-changer that looks good in robot form, but what about the other two? They're perfect, done, go buy him. That could be the end of the review, heh...but I'll elaborate. Springer's armored car mode rocks. It's sleek, large, and there's no kibble from his other modes. In fact there's no feet, hands, head, or anything sticking out of ANY of his modes. This is a first for me because even Transformers with just two modes usually have some kibble or parts showing. It's even all hidden when you flip the car upside down. What sort of wizardry is this hasbro...and why haven't you been doing this from the start?<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer7.JPG" width="167" /></a>Helicopter mode is no slouch either and it's remarkably simple to get Springer from robot to car, or car to copter, or any direction of transformation simply because each part of him is engineered perfectly. Everything pegs securely into something. Arms become doors which become fins. Feet become wheels which become tail sections. The hood of the car slides back and the sides lock on to become the cockpit and the copter mode doesn't suffer at all. I could very well see someone buying three Springers just to display him in each mode because they look that good.<br />
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I apologize if I sound like I'm gushing over this figure and have a bias. I actually look for problems and love figuring out fixes (like poor Blitzwing's issues, yikes). But I have nothing to fix on Springer and enjoyed him right out of the package. This is very rare for me and I'm still looking at him thinking we just got the next Generation of Transformers figures right here. Springer even looks good from the back! Compared to his buddy Blitzwing in the same assortment you have a Masterpiece figure here.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer8.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Springer8.JPG" width="200" /></a>So what's the verdict on Springer? You buy him. You find him, you order him, you trade for him, you add him to your collection and never let him go. Our sponsor <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=Springer&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has him</a>, Blitzwing, and even his remold/repaint Sandstorm who looks equally awesome. You can also <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Transformers%20Generations%20Voyager&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3ATransformers%20Generations%20Voyager&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">snag him from Amazon and get free shipping</a> when it's sold directly from Hasbro not a private store, and you order $25 or more. So there you go. Springer is my favorite Transformer in my entire collection now. Not because of the character but because he's a solid, super articulated voyager class figure with great accessories, three great modes, and thoughtfully designed in every aspect. Hasbro/Takara if you keep making figures like this you'll put 3rd party companies right out of a job.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-88829356320652843002013-05-19T02:51:00.002-05:002013-05-21T14:23:38.911-05:00Transformers Generations Voyager Class Blitzwing 30th Anniversary Action Figure Review<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_002.JPG" width="147" /></a>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.<br />
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Articulation has been done quite nicely and is only lacking in a few areas. <br />
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.<br />
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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<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_008.JPG" width="150" /></a>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.<br />
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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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_007.JPG" width="113" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Blitzwing_004.JPG" width="200" /></a>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.<br />
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To fix Blitzwing's shoulder issue one must unscrew the five screws <br />
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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/menu.aspx?menu=2339&category=9050&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has him and Springer</a> (who has NO qc issues and is a GREAT figure!) and you can also <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=generations%20Blitzwing&linkCode=ur2&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Agenerations%20Blitzwing&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps">snag them on Amazon</a> 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!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-36905860130691041922013-05-07T05:31:00.005-05:002013-05-07T05:31:56.177-05:00Iron Man Marvel Legends "Iron Monger Series" Mark 42, Movie Iron Patriot, Ultron action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_006.JPG" width="148" /></a>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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_003.JPG" width="135" /></a>Ultron's sculpt is the Titanium man body with a new head and shoulder <br />
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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_002.JPG" width="153" /></a>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!<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_004.JPG" width="145" /></a>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 <a href="http://jinsdangerousblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/6-titanium-man-iron-man-armored-avenger.html">Titanium Man I reviewed</a> a while back and only lacks side ankle movement and has the 45 deg hips. Other than that he's golden, er, silver. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_007.JPG" width="154" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_008.JPG" width="178" /></a>Ultron's paint apps consist of an entirely bright metallic silver plastic as the <br />
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. <br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/IronGroup_010.JPG" width="155" /></a>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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=iron%20man%20legends&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store has them here</a> or you can snag them at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Iron%20Man%20Legends&linkCode=ur2&tag=jinsaosdantoy-20&url=search-alias%3Daps%22%3EName%20Your%20Link%3C/a%3E%3Cimg%20src=%22https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=jinsaosdantoy-20&l=ur2&o=1">Amazon with free shipping</a> if you spend more than $25. <br />
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John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-54688531662363779982013-05-02T15:31:00.003-05:002013-05-02T15:35:20.091-05:00Superman Man of Steel Movie Masters Jor-El Action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_002.JPG" width="147" /></a>Paint application is cleanly applied with no slop anywhere. The armor is a <br />
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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_004.JPG" width="136" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/JorEl_005.JPG" width="151" /></a>Accessories have always been the bane of Movie Masters figures either <br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-29676329331779382992013-04-22T23:13:00.000-05:002013-04-22T23:13:33.451-05:00NECA Jungle Patrol Dutch figure review (Predators Movie line)<br />
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Woah. I honestly never thought I'd see Arnold Schwarzenegger's character Dutch in action figure form and when <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/BatSentry/Dutch.html">I was asked to create one for ToyFare Magazine</a> 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?<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_001.JPG" width="128" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_002.JPG" width="177" /></a>Paint application has been taken to an art form here. Dutch's slightly <br />
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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_004.JPG" width="166" /></a>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.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/DutchJungle_005.JPG" width="237" /></a>Dutch comes with three accessories, his trusty assault rifle, pistol that sheaths on the right and combat <br />
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.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/search.aspx?search=predators%20dutch&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store will be getting them in any day</a> 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!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-6646977005679428642013-03-20T01:05:00.001-05:002013-03-21T18:17:37.295-05:00Ultimate Spiderman 'Ultra Strike Spiderman' action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There's a new Spiderman series out called Ultimate Spiderman which has different scales of figures including a 6" one. Be warned however that this is a kid-targeted line which features incorporated gimmicks and far less articulation than even past children's lines had. I was however surprised to find a "super poseable" Spiderman in this assortment and decided to see if he was worth the $12.99 price tag. However I needed to find one with a head first....<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey1.JPG" width="182" /></a>Whoops, someone on Hasbro's packaging design team is getting fired. Open-packaging may get kids to interact with the figure in stores leading towards a higher pitched scream and product-clutching-fingers when mom says no, but it's a nightmare for retailers. Sticky fingers, scratched paint, and in this case missing heads. Yes the ball jointed heads of these figures pop right off and you'll be seeing quite a few looking like this in Walmarts or other low security retail giants. That is except for Target which sends a shock troop of employees down the aisle if a child sneezes on a product. With only one paper twisty to hold them in I've seen two packages sans figures entirely.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey4.JPG" width="125" /></a>Sculpting on Spiderman is simple, nostalgically classic which isn't to say it's without detail. The web lines are sharply defined and there's plenty of muscle detail. Spidey's eyes are perfect and there's no soft sculpts like we've seen in the line before this one. It's not a Marvel Legends style sculpt but rather looking like the cartoon character on which it's based and surprisingly like the old Animated Spiderman series which is why I picked up the figure in the first place.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey6.JPG" width="128" /></a>Articulation isn't truly as 'super-poseable' as the package states but it does have more joints than the other figures in the assortment which have T-crotches and no elbows. This particular Spiderman has ball shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and those great 45 deg ball ankles. The lack of waist or ab crunch hurts the figure's posability and you'll have to carve away some of the crotch plastic to get him into a full 90 deg sitting position. The same can be done to the back of his legs to improve the range of motion there as the ball-in-cup joints don't have the greatest of range. Still he has better movement than the last Spiderman Classics series which you can still find in stores. He also has surprisingly good balance and can be posed on one foot like in the picture to the left. No wires or stand here folks.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey5.JPG" width="150" /></a>Most of the paint work is done using the new plastic-layering technique. The red on his body, forearms, and legs is actually bonded to the blue plastic instead of being painted. The only part painted is the blue of his biceps, black lines, and eyes. While this doesn't give you any washes or highlights (this is a kid's line remember) the plastic layering is super precise and there's 0 bleed with the colors touching. I could get use to this technique if it was refined enough to do minute detail like a figure's eyes or symbols. Here it's used well but overall the figure is basically cast in color.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/UltSpidey2.JPG" width="132" /></a>Accessories include a dart shooter that clips on to his arm but will instantly find itself in the fodder bin. Pull back on the dart and it weakly leaps from the shooter. Eh, at least it wasn't built into his arm right? The dart has a hole in it which I suppose was suppose to have a web-string tied on there but was ditched at the last moment. Most 'super-poseable' figures lack weapons to budget in the extra joints. Perhaps we could have gotten a waist cut or hinges if that dart shooter had been left on the design table.<br />
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So what's the verdict with Ultimate super-poseable Spidey here? He's not a terrible Spiderman but he's not Amazing Spiderman either. The $12.99 price tag is lower than the $20 we're used to paying. For the price cut you get cut paint apps and so-so articulation. He's scaled just fine to fit in with your Marvel legends and a customizer could get his joints working much better, maybe even give him that waist he's sorely lacking. He has a solid heasculpt as does the Nova in the series but you'll have to find one that hasn't been pilfered. You can find this Spiderman line everywhere and fiddle with his limbs to see if he's a fitting Animated Spiderman stand-in for your collection.<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3141598925206130911.post-42152587617330090082013-03-16T00:21:00.001-05:002013-03-16T00:25:25.721-05:00Transformers Beast Hunters Deluxe Bulkhead action figure review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Transformers Beast Hunters is an interesting concept although the premise of the show seems to be the Autobots being the hunted, not doing the hunting. We have all sorts of new designs (or new parts on old characters) which aren't actually going to be featured in the show but ended up as toys. Bulkhead gets his first deluxe class treatment here in the newest Beast Hunters assortment along with Starscream, Ripclaw, and Smokescreen. Before we continue I'll ask you to go in with an open mind about this figure...but most importantly don't think of him as Bulkhead. An odd request I know but you'll figure out why soon enough.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_002.JPG" width="138" /></a>Sculpt is, well, rather unique. Bulkhead gets an armored knight look here with a chest protector, layered armoring on his limbs, and a bumper spikes. Only the jawline hints that Bulkhead is under all this armor as his visor and blue horn-lights conceal any other identifying features. The front waist guard looks great and overall his sculpt is really nicely detailed with all sorts of tech/armor/panel work. But overall you really can't tell this is Bulkhead from first glance, especially with his Roadbuster-esq colors...which I think may be the point.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_004.JPG" width="156" /></a>Paint work is clean and smooth where applied. The knight-like chest piece is done sharply with black grate lines in the silver. His windows, tech detail, and waist-grille is also nicely colored with more than the usual single paint application. The base plastic however is a little lacking. Again they went with a swirl of pigment for a 'marble effect' but there just wasn't enough swirl and it ends up looking like trash got melted in with the plastic. Only his doors, forearms, and thighs have this swirl, well more like molded-in-debris effect. Yeah it's kinda funky but let's keep reviewing.<br />
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Articulation is AMAZING. The range of motion for his arms, legs, and feet are perfect and his ball jointed toes give him great stability in all sorts of poses. The head guard can be lowered and the shoulder guards raised up and locked in place. The back wings can fold in somewhat like a protective shell as well. Bulkhead can kneel, run, uppercut, aim, you name it and I was totally thrown off guard as to how much his articulation plays a part in turning the figure to my favor. My only nitpick is that his wrists don't turn but that's it. Everything else is spot on.<br />
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<a href="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotome/Blog/Beasthead_003.JPG" width="177" /></a>Bulkhead's accessory is a spinning dragonsaw which works quite well and looks pretty neat. Depress the trigger and the blade spins quickly. He can hold it in his hand, on his forearm, pegged on the roof, or on the doors. Holding it he looks like some sort of buzzsaw wielding Space Marine. Transformation is simple and very satisfying. Flip, fold, tuck, and you're done! I can't really find any fault in transformation and that's another plus for the figure. Alt mode is an armored car, somewhat reminiscent of Bulkhead's vehicle mode but not really as the colors and knight like scale armor lead you towards a different feel. It looks great, pegs together securely, and is larger/stands taller than most deluxe vehicles.<br />
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So what's the verdict? I'm going to deck him out with weapons and will now have my Transformers Prime Roadbuster. I really expected to hate this figure and passed him over many times. The whole spikey-armor-Bulkhead theme is silly until I looked at him as being something else. A customizer could swap heads and make all sorts of different characters from this mold. The articulation and cool design (not being Bulkhead) was enough to instantly win me over and he makes for a solid deluxe figure (that isn't Bulkhead!). Our sponsors <a href="http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=HAS22487&mode=retail&utm_source=Jin%2BCustom&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Jin%2BCustom">Big Bad Toy Store</a> and <a href="http://www.pastgenerationtoys.com/Transformers-Beast-Hunters-Transformers-Hasbro/b/6395164011">Past Generation Toys have him</a> as well as the rest of the series. So what is this guy? An armored Autotrooper? Roadbuster? Space Knight? It's up to you, or perhaps he's just Bulkhead with a whole bunch of armor on him. But either way he's definitely worth picking up!<br />
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<br />John Mallamashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09353521297928119965noreply@blogger.com0