The Black Hole

The Black Hole

Disney Classics - Diamond Select Toys

The Black Hole is a totally underrated oddity from the dark days of Disney.  You know...back when they didn’t own everything and were forced to take risks to stay competitive? You occasionally got something truly dark, scary, and twisted.  Like a movie about a derelict spaceship perched on the edge of a black hole, run by a mad scientist and his reanimated corpse crew, and policed by a murderous robot.

Scream, Anthony Perkins, scream...Maximillian, the silent, cycloptic, kill-bot is back!  He is really massive, even for a 7-inch scale.  I would have to watch the movie again and compare his size...he may be too big?  He would probably look just fine next to a 12-inch figure.  No matter, he’s awesome.  And for an all crimson paint job, DST did some great metallic silver weathering here and there.

All of Max’s deadly gadgets are here!  His multiple arms can be outfitted with regular claws(closed or open), spinning claws, and electric bolts.  The arms are hinged, and in sets of three on a rotating disc. His “legs” hinge outward, and his hover skirt has hinged flaps for different flight poses on his massive flight stand. His waist and head can be rotated 360.

My favorite accessory is the alternate head with the eyes of Dr. Reinhardt behind the visor, terror-stricken in gazing at the piles of burning corpses in Hell.  Oops...spoilers!  See, pretty dark, huh?

Disney tried to lighten the tone with some R2-D2-esque companions in V.I.N.CENT and B.O.B.  They’ve got the rounded, soft edges and big eyes...but they also have some tough hardware.

They have opening panels here and there to attach extending claws and prods.  Their heads can bob down into their torso for defensive mode.  V.I.N.CENT’s head extends up a step further for his overdrive offensive.

The bots also have different hover knob attachments and flight stands.  Unfortunately, these stands are similar to the ones that came with DST’s Ghostbusters figures.  Like with Slimer, the stand can barely support the weight of these figures.  This may be the only detractor from this series.

As a bonus, the figures come with a platform, railing, and cardboard backdrop to form a small diorama of the Cygnus ship interior.  DST did a great job with these cult classics, along with TRON and the Rocketeer.  These are the deluxe versions that you would find online or in the comic shops.  Walgreens is supposed to have some variants, cheaper but with less accessories.  They haven’t shown yet, but that may be due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  So, if you’re stuck inside during these times, order a set of these online and revisit The Black Hole on Disney +.

The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer

Disney Classics

Diamond Select Toys

I love that someone at Diamond Select has a soft spot for cult, live-action Disney movies.  Tron, while delivering the goods with the core characters, stumbled with the last minute, cost saving measure of deleting the Recognizer ship pieces.  Luckily, the Rockteer is here with a $#%*-ton of accessories to save the day!

Since Funko produced a Rocketeer figure a handful of years back, I had to ask myself if I really needed this one.  Is it worth the upgrade?  Well, yes, and then some...especially if you start with Funko’s terrible quality control in using clear, brittle plastic to secure joints.  While their figure looked great, mine needed a Gorilla Glue leg to hip fusion shortly after being removed from the box.  Also, while it did come with an unmasked head, Diamond Select said “Hold my beer.”

With DST, you get the Billy Campbell head, bare hands, several sets of gloved hands (that you can actually see the pack triggering mechanisms better on), removable jet flames, a flying jet flame display base, card stock pack blueprints...and the pack is removable!  Yes, succeeding where they could not with their Ghostbusters figures, they made the pack removable with a porting uniform chest piece and pegs accessible on the rear left side of the figure.  

The new figure also looks great, and the articulation is comparable to the Funko release.  It beats the latter with double elbows, but sacrificed the double knees.  Not a big deal, as I figure bending his knees in unnatural poses would just lead to getting his calves melted off in the pack flames.  One bend and the ability to point his feet downward was all they needed to succeed.

Funko only wins in one area...and it’s a pretty big one to me.  NO GUN.  You get a gloved hand with a grip-and-trigger finger, but NO GUN.  Is it because Diamond is more of a family line?  Even if DSTs hands were tied on this, I’m glad someone felt my pain and slipped in that trigger finger.  So, thanks, broken Funko figure...yoink!  Thanks for the piece, idiot!

Apparently this figure is part of a line called Disney Classics, which sounds awesome, but is a bit of a head scratcher.  I mean, after Tron and Black Hole (coming up soon!), what else can we expect?  Does this extend to the Touchstone banner?  I would love to see a Dick Tracy line...or better yet, Roger Rabbit!  Keep em coming Diamond, puh puh puh puh please!

Go get 'em, kid!

More "Disney Classics" reviews:
Flynn - TRON
Kingdom Hearts TRON

Flynn - TRON

Flynn

TRON Diamond Select figures - Walgreens Exclusive

Bless you, Diamond Select.  Taking a buried-by-Star-Wars Disney property and showing it some love and light of day.  Their first TRON figures were worked into the Kingdom Hearts line, and they were fantastic.  Now, they are doing a three figure wave of Tron, Flynn, and Sark, each with piece of a buildable Recognizer ship!  Before those drop, single packs without the ship pieces are already hitting Walgreens stores.  Other than the ship piece, the notable difference in offerings is this figure.

What?!  They made the standard blue Flynn figure an exclusive?!   Yup.  The Flynn in the main line is the red disguise.  Normally, I would shun this type of promotion, but I have handful of WG stores in my town and they seem to be plentiful.

Best of luck to those TRON fans without a handful of WG stores in their radius...you will not want to miss out on this one.  I think he has slightly upgraded articulation compared to the Kingdom Hearts figures, and includes his disc and a display stand.  The sculpt on these are also more defined, less cartoony than the KH versions.  

Likeness wise, I can see young Jeff Bridges here.  It's not as strong as the prototype pics, but he's definitely there in certain angles and lighting.  Like most toys, a stronger paint job can make all the difference.  Everything else about the program suit looks great:  strong lines, bright paint.  His tunic is a flexible, rubbery material that doesn't hinder his articulation much and still allows you to port his disc to his back easily.

I am looking forward to adding this guy to Diamond's growing TRON offerings.  I'm off to print off a Master Control cardstock background!  End of line...

TRON Kingdom Hearts figure review

Tron

Tron

Diamond Select - Kingdom Hearts

'Member Tron?  Tron Legacy?  You know...the successful revisiting that turned a profit but Disney shelved any potential sequels after they bought out Star Wars?  Fuck you, Bob Iger...

Anyway...new Classic Tron figures!  And they actually look like Bruce Boxleitner and David Warner!  I hope someone gives Mr. Warner one of these or it was part of a likeness deal because, with all the great movies he's been in, I don't think he's ever had a figure like this.  There's still hope that "Evil" will see the light of day on account of a new Time Bandits series in the works.

The figures look great and sport more articulation than was expected from the early promo images.  They looked like they may not have any knee articulation.  Final product?  Double-jointed knees!  The paint and lines are clean and my only gripes are that the costume is a bit restrictive with elbow movement and they did not come with identity discs...but I stole some fudge-ably scaled, glow-in the-dark ones from their smaller, retro counterparts!

Sora and Goofy look awesome, all decked out for the grid.  Articulation is similar with earlier versions of these characters.  Sora has the Tron-ed out Keyblade and Goofy gets nothing.  Aw, c'mon!  Small weapons getting cut as saving measures can't reduce cost all that much!  Not as much as you would save cutting a full character from...hey, where's Donald?!  Ugh...guess we'll have to keep our fingers crossed for a Walgreens budget release...

The lack of Donald is even more baffling considering the third pack from this Kingdom Hearts wave.  Mickey in his robes is the main draw here, and the larger Heartless is all-new...but another standard, inarticulate Darkness?  Sure, he's got a nifty, translucent purple paint job, but we couldn't even get a reused Keyblade for the Head Cheese?!  At least these negatives aren't as disappointing as the world selection for KH3!

I threw in a Tron Legacy Clu figure that I picked up on Ebay.  I didn't buy these with the movie's release, as they were slightly larger in scale than most figures I collected.  He's about 7.5 inches tall...so not too bad next to these new figures.  The articulation is not great, but I did always think the electronic gimmick was neato.  With the press of a button, a young Jeff Bridges flickers in the helmet and spouts several lines of dialog, appearing to be moving his mouth in an old school video sort of way.

If you like Kingdom Hearts, these figures are a win.  If you like Tron, these are a super win.  Get 'em while the gettin's good.  It's surprising that Disney let these guys out to play.  Tron isn't even featured in KH3...must be some big fans over at Diamond Select!  End of line...

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts

Diamond Select Toys

Kingdom Hearts has always been a weird concept:  Final Fantasy meets Disney.  I've never been a FF fan, but anything that can breathe new life into classic cartoon characters is more than welcome.  Donald Duck is a wizard?  Sure, why the hell not!  Mickey Mouse with a sword?! Has he been allowed to be this violent since the 1930s?!  The awesomeness of the concept and gameplay should be enough for you to stomach nonsensical, Japanime-style storytelling.  Recommended!

Anyway, Diamond select began producing 7-inch scale KH figures last year.  Most figures come in multi-packs in stores, online, and comic shops ($25).  Walgreen's and Gamestop have produced a handful of paint-variant exclusives ($10).  Sometimes, accessories and character exclusives.  The Walgreen's Mickey has so far been the only way to pick up Pluto.  I hate character exclusives, but this one was pretty easy to find.

Articulation varies character to character, and is sometimes hindered by costumes or size of the figure.  Even with some limitations, they look great.  Pete and Goofy may be my favorites so far.  At least one more wave has been announce at this time:  Tron and Sark with Sora, Goofy, and Donald in their Tron outfits!  New Tron figures?!  No problems, only solutions!

This may be the best line of Disney action figures ever produced.  If you're a fan of the games, or just Disney characters, they are worth picking up.

Life-size Keyblade foam prop that I picked up at a comic convention for $25.

Some of the single-packed figures have been clearanced at Walgreen's for $5.  Roxas was worth it just for the Oathkeeper keyblade.  Happy hunting!