The Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club

Marvel Legends - Hasbro

One positive of the Coronavirus has been the postponement (And hopefully death of) San Diego Comic-con and their awesome-yet-nerve-wracking exclusives.  Hasbro had their own virtual convention and sold their planned exclusives via Hasbro Pulse.  Shockingly, I had no trouble getting their product...like this fantastic Hellfire Club boxed set.

Arguments for wether or not a period-costumed dude would sell in the standard way aside, I would have fought the usual hordes to get my hands on important X-Men villain, Sebastian Shaw.  He was featured in both the animated series AND played by Kevin Bacon in a movie...I think Hasbro underestimated this character with the 30+ crowd.  However, he does have a unique sculpt that they might not get much mileage out of outside of more Inner Circle figures.

They appropriately double-dip with a new head and paint job for Donald Pierce.

And while I’m glad to have a standard “bad guy’ Emma Frost in my line-up, Hasbro got to double dip on sculpts to make Jean Grey/Selene.  Don’t get me wrong, they all look great, but is this set worth $80?  

“The White Queen welcomes you to DIE!!!”

Character wise, yes.  Presentation wise, yes.  This is another box I am keeping, because it practically folds out into a parlor room diorama.  The gate-fold box is shiny and beautiful, and the invitation to the Inner Circle sealed on the back of the group portrait was a nice surprise.

The negatives to this set boils down to ankles and accessories.  Donald’s ankles in particular can barely support his weight rocking back and forth.  Both girls have high heels that may require special stands for proper posing.

While you do get one alternate head for Jean/Selene, the rest of the accessories are prepackaged/repaints.  It’s disappointing that there are no accessories to demonstrate the characters’ powers.  Not even a single reuse of previous mutant power effects. So, I’ll have to dive into the toy bin to find something to simulate Shaw’s energy absorbtion/rechanneling and Selene’s energy vampirism.  At least Donald has some cyborg hands...ugh...courtesy of Dr. Doom?!

I guess the real accessories to this set are higher priced add-ons...revealed at Pulsecon and for sale shortly after:  Hellfire Guard army builders!  Follow-up coming soon!

The Strange Lives of Batman

The Strange Lives of Batman

DC Multiverse - Mattel

SDCC exclusive set

Another San Diego Comic-Con exclusive?!  Ugh!  Oh well...I've said before that I'm alright with character variants being offered up as exclusives, but not character exclusives.  Then Batman comes along and makes me a damn hypocrite.  I can't pass up Silver Age shenanigans, even if it's paying for what is essentially the same Batman figure four times over!

Four Batmen in one helluva box!  Another box "keeper" here...making me more of a hypocrite, dammit.  But it looks just like one of those bonkers, 80-Page Giant covers!  (I'm not just being a hipster here...I have 80-Page Giant # 1, 15, 16.)  It's got a semi-translucent, plastic slipcover that comes off to reveal the figures in comic panel recreations:  Negative Batman, Zebra Batman, Rainbo Batman, and a standard Batman with multiple accessories.

They all look great.  This Silver Age Bats is slimmer, but more articulated than Mattel's previous effort.  The paint on mine are clean for the most part.  The only complaint I have here is that the capes on Zebra and Rainbow are a flimsy, almost paper thin plastic.  Negative Batman is actually translucent in spots, which is a nice demonstration of the gimmick.






  

The accessories included are alternate heads and face plates to recreate even more crazy Batman variants from gimmicks past:  Alien Batman, Rip Van Batman, and Robot Batman!  The mouth area of all the Batmen can be removed to plug in the beard and robo-chin.  And the heads pop on and off with ease for the Alien look and...saving the best for last...a standard Bruce Wayne head!

So long, Ben Affleck noggin, comic Bruce is finally here.  I think it looks fine on the suited WWE body I have been using for his daytime attire.  If only there were a matching, unmasked Dick Grayson head as well.

I won't detail the background on these oddball looks, but I will provide links for those scratching their heads "why?"  To further answer "why" I needed these...well...I have a Batcave and a problem.  Of course I need Batman variants to stand around as alternate suits or trophies of his past!  It's a no-brainer!

Zebra Batman

Negative Batman

Rainbow Batman

I, of course, did not go to SDCC to get these.  Mattel had a ridiculous online preorder for pickup at the show only.  And then they "sold out" at the show.  If you believe that, Gleek.  I paid about $40 over the asking price in Ebay blood money/shipping.  I gritted my teeth in doing so, but I don't regret it now.  Seeing all the Bat-suits on display in my cave was worth it.

Anyway, enjoy a look at said cave.  It's made up of Mattel's massive BvS playset (the one good thing that came of that movie), various figures (from Mattel's Batman 2003 line, DC Superheroes, DC Universe Classics, DC Multiverse), multiple accessories (batarangs, Batmobiles, Batcycles, Batjets, 1966 Batcomputer), and some custom additions (smaller Batcave section from a kiddie line, Jurassic World massive T-Rex, printed giant penny, Joker Card, blueprints, posters).

NECA Ninja Turtles: The Capture of Splinter

NECA Ninja Turtles:  The Capture of Splinter

NECA - SDCC exclusive

Ugh...another round of chance with nabbing SDCC exclusives.  I was lucky to grab NECA's last Turtles set on the second day of the mouse-clicking, heart-stopping, agony-inducing madness, and it was no different this year.  Seconds spent in checkout...lag...and they're gone.  Tweaked some technique the second day...success!  Others weren't so lucky.  Oh well...they'll get another shot at individual releases via Gamestop soon enough.  For now, let's take a look at what the fuss was all about.

This set was all about Shredder for me.  I mean, I would want a movie Splinter and Foot Soldiers if offered, but the main baddie is always top priority.  My turtles had to stand around for so long to get someone to fight!  Better late than never, Shredder does not disappoint.  

He's got the expected, excellent NECA articulation (though remember to work those joints slowly or boil to avoid breakage),  a removable mask to reveal his scarred face, and a wire-piped removable cape.  The cape in the movie is such an oddity.  He only has it in his reveal scene and it's design is...well...Zubaz were popular around that time.  It goes with all the shiny sparkles on his costume, I guess.  In any case, NECA did a great job with the costume accuracy.

He has a couple of different hands.  Ones to hold specific weapons like his spiked bo staff and hidden dagger.  He has a stretchy, cloth waistband which I found puzzling until I saw that this tiny knife and it's sheath was included.

The Foot Soldiers are great, as expected.  They come with several sets of weapons and hands to brandish them.  Also included in this set is a weapons rack to hold all of their gear.  The ax from the antique store scene might be my weapon of choice.  The only thing lacking here is that I wish one had a flat, open palm hand with fingers together.  You know...for delivering special messages.  SMACK!

Splinter is the icing on the cake.  He comes with arm shackles and a box to help recreate his capture in the warehouse.  He is smaller and thinner in areas than most NECA efforts (he was a sort of Muppet after all), so be careful with those arms and legs.  It's too bad they didn't mold the crate out of plastic and given us a section of chain link fence to suspend him from.  For the latter, I will be looking to wrestling figure playsets.  There's got to be some loose "Hell in a Cell" pieces out there somewhere.

The packaging was nowhere near as fun as the VHS tape recreation with the turtles.  Even if I wanted to keep this one, UPS mashed one side of the box to hell.  NECA should share some of the blame, as the outer box they packed this rather expensive set did not include or allow for any padding.

Overall, I am pleased to add these to my collection.  It wasn't as exciting as the Turtles release, but I couldn't see myself having those and not going in for these.  I do hope this ends my days fighting NECA's horrible pre-order system...though I can see sweating over a Tokka, Rahzar, and TMNT II Shredder in the near future.

Flashback:  other NECA Turtle reviews.

NECA Turtles box set

NECA ooze cannister