X-Men vs. Sentinels

X-Men vs. Sentinels

Hasbro Marvel Legends

The 20th Century Fox/Disney deal may just have been finalized, but Hasbro had already talked some sense into the Mouse some years back to open the floodgates on X-Men figures.  And the rain just won’t stop!  After such a long drought, I’m drowning in them!  This a a look at a couple of waves and exclusives pieced together in one epic battle scene.

The Sentinels are rereleases from the Marvel Masterworks figures some years back, but this time in classic comic colors and packaged with a “Days of Future Past” Wolverine.  An Amazon exclusive, the set was priced a bit high for an old sculpt ($100), but I was able to hold out until a sale at Christmastime.  $50 was such a steal that I ordered two!  They join my two X-Men classics Sentinels (who I refer to as “Mark I” models) and my Toy Biz Legends BAF Sentinel (Mark II).  Five is always a decent number for army builders:  one leader, two on each side.

They are pretty heavy figures with decent enough articulation for their size.  I mean, it’s not like Sentinels ever did the splits in the comics or anything, so why do they need to here.  Usually they are seen walking like robots, flying with arms at their sides, or reaching out to catch mutants.  The figures can do all of that just fine.  The head movement is a little restricted with the light up features, but...

Oh, light and sound features!  The button on the chest activates a plethora of voice clips and sound effects while the face and eyes light up.  Cool, but they could have sacrificed this if it meant bringing the cost of the overall figure down.

The DOFP Wolverine is a decent pack-in, but there’s something off with that headsculpt.  Too squashy and the eyes too far apart?  I dunno...something odd about him.  The body is a retool from the Old Man Logan figure, but sports different texturing on the pants and details on the boots.  He has his comic-accurate leg holster.  Not sure about the gun, though...they try an get away with that laser pistol too often.

Seen fighting my army of Sentinels on the Ready Setz Urban Playset 2.0 are pieces of the Apocalypse wave (Tiger Stripe Wolverine, Multiple Man, Storm, Magneto, Psylocke, and Sabretooth), the Sauron wave (Bishop, X-23) and Walgreen’s exclusive Magik.  

Tiger Stripe Wolverine and Sabretooth are welcome upgrades from the Toy Biz days and essential if you love the Jim Lee/90’s toon look.  The sculpts and paint are fantastic.  Two complaints:  Wolverines head “fins” should bow out a bit more, and extra heads would have been nice.  How about a neutral Sabretooth face and...c’mon...how many Logan heads has Hasbro produced and reused already?

I’m not a huge Psylocke and Multiple Man fan, but they do look great in the ever-growing roster.  Psylocke’s outfit here has a more purple than blue sheen to it...not sure if that is a negative or positive...and the face sculpt, while decent, isn’t as close to the Jim Lee look as I would like.  Multiple Man is great, even if he does some with a repurposed jacket.  He also comes with two extra heads!  It’s like they assumed we would want some army building variants here!  Good on you, Hasbro!  Three of MM is enough for me, one for each expression.

Storm and Bishop might be my favorites of this bunch.  Punk Mohawk Storm!  The only thing better would be her Giant Sized X-Men costume, which we still do not have.  Bishop is just flat out perfect, page to figure.  I had the bald variant Toy Biz Bishop, who was always a bit oversized.  The noggins matched up okay, so I dremeled him out an alternate look.  Bishop can also used the translucent purple hands from Magneto to simulate his energy channeling power.















Magneto is pretty great, though I’m still waiting for the perfect, classic suit.  I’m not sure purple lighting bolts illustrate magnetic powers, bust its better than nothing I guess.  You do get his 90s Jerry Curl alt-head, which will come in handy when his classic replacement finally arrives.  It’s good, but not ass good as the X-Men Classics helmetless Mags head from Toy Biz.  Another simple dremel project...BAM!  Another style for the Master of Magnetism.

Magik is a Walgreen’s exclusive that comes with a lot of cool new (2 swords) and used (translucent red Ghost Rider skull, red Lockheed, blue lightning/flame effects) accessories.  Her mystically armored arm is appropriately spikey and looks great.  I would have preferred her in a classic X-Men/New Mutants outfit, but all black really works for showcasing her dark powers.  X-23 is the "new Wolverine" suit that I wish had come out before I bought the X-Force costume.  This one came with the foot blades and an alternate, unmasked head.  Sadly, quality control failed me here..the foot blades were so loose I just glued them in place and one of her hand blades was completely missing.  I had to customize the missing blade.  Sorry, Hasbro...one blemish on an overall great batch of figures here.

As far as characters and variety, Hasbro is absolutely crushing it.  All of these guys in one shot and I'm still behind on X-Men!  More to come, including the mentioned Apocalypse and Sauron BAFs, Professor X and the Shadow King, and even more Deadpool!  Surely you aren't tired of Deadpool, right?

The Infinity Gauntlet

The Infinity Gauntlet

Legends Series prop - Hasbro 

So, this came out close to a year ago for $100.  It's a full-scale prop that features an articulated finger system when you put it on, lights, and sounds.  Walmart had a shelf space for it cheaper than anywhere else at $88.  They either got a few that got snapped up and never restocked, or my areas never got them at all.  Flash forward to last week, and I see a shelf with six of them and a clearance tag of $66.  Woot!  Even better, when we got it to the registers...it rang up for $44!  What a steal!  Or is it...

Meh.  It's a great looking piece if you are into the movies and the original comic relic, but beyond that, I couldn't imagine paying $100 for it.  Glad I didn't find it at $88, because having it in hand, above $50 is pushing it.  I mean, you would think the articulated finger gimmick would be fun, but that "technology" has been around for so long and you can find the same kind of grabber toys in Wally's cheap-o toy section.  There isn't much light and sound variation, and to be honest, the clanky metal sound whenever you move the fingers gets annoying quick.  There's no "on/off" switch so you're stuck with the clanking unless you unscrew and unplug the batteries.

The thumb flange is a bit hard to operate, even as a large adult with full-sized hands, and lacks range to really pick anything up well.  You can point, web-shooter/devil hand, "call me", and flip the bird, but that's about it.

There is a lock switch that keeps the Gauntlet in a fist for display, and display is about all you will want to do with it anyway after the 5-minutes of fun wears off.  Again, this is only recommended for die-hard MCU or comic fans and prop collectors.  All others, resist temptation unless you can find it super cheap.

Stranger Things Ghostbusters

Stranger Things Ghostbusters

McFarlane Toys Convention Exclusive

Though it is a bit heavy on nostalgia over story, I don’t hate Stranger Things.  And although McFarlane figures are a bit fragile and overpriced, I won’t pass up a Ghostbuster-related product like this on clearance.  I got this boxed-set for $27 at Gamestop a few weeks back, and it’s not too shabby at that price point.  

There are some small details here and there that should make you feel a bit better about buying four similar looking figures.  This includes some variations of buttons and labels on the proton packs, and the double-Venkman name patch is a great show-specific nod.  Dustin fairs the best with accessories, coming with Dart and the ghost trap.  Unfortunately the trap pedal is glued to the side of his pack and the opening doors have a tendency to pop off.  Will gets the show and era specific camcorder, while the rest get nothing.  C'mon, not even pillowcases of candy?  The head sculpts do resemble the actors decent enough, and each figure has a clear, foot-peg stand with the Stranger Things logo on it to help them balance on your shelf.

What's with the weird, ratcheting-looking joints?

The figures do have a pretty decent articulation scheme for someone who remembers early McFarlane “statue” figures.  Be careful and go slow with the joints, possibly giving these a hot water soak to loosen them up before posing.  Like NECA, tight joints and paint slop equal breakage.  Also, getting both hands positioned to hold the wands can be a bit of a trick.

"If he's cool, then you be Winston!"

As you can see, these size up well with the Diamond Select Ghostbusters line.  And did you hear that Wolf Finnhard is going to be in Ghostbusters 3:  Dawn of the Junior Ghostbusters?  Buying these figures is a one-way ticket to custom city, baby!  Wait...kids in Ghostbusters?  Didn’t they learn anything from the baby?  And casting a Stranger Things kid seems a bit lazy, don’t you think?  I remember seeing a couple of the other kids testing for Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace and thinking at least one was better at line reading than Jake Lloyd...but, hey, Jake Lloyd was the go-to kid actor of his time.  All of the Stranger Things kids can be a bit grating at times...feeling that they are screaming their lines.  Now, I have no idea where they are going with this casting or how big a part it actually is...and I know they fast-tracked this movie to get it done by next year...but I hope that this isn’t an area where taking a bit more time would have made the product that much better.  Hell, we’ve already waited several decades for a decent Ghostbusters sequel, so what’s another couple of months?  Jumping the gun, they missed out on seeing Jack Dylan Grazer’s comedy chops in the spectacular “Shazam.”  Again, who knows if the role is supposed to be funny or straight...but we did see him in in “It” alongside Wolf...who was supposed to be the funny one? *shrugs* 

*Just repeat to yourself...”It could never be as bad as GB 2016” and “I have the Ghostbusters 3 I always wanted: Ghostbusters the Video Game."

Note - At the time of publication, this set is still available on Gamestop.com for under $40.

"He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?"

WWE Howard Finkel Wave

WWE Howard Finkel Wave

Mattel - Walmart Exclusive

We all need a little Fink in our lives...or at least on your WWE classics shelf.  One of the most popular in-ring announcers from yesteryear finally make it to plastic form with the help of Walmart and some notable companions.  Seeing as how poor Howard might pegwarm hard as a solo release, they chopped him up and distributed him piece by piece with a classic wrestler.  What's more, each wrestler is featuring a new outfit that had not been previously done by Mattel!

Not to undersell his career as a whole, but Cowboy Bob Orton was more or less remembered as an accessory to Rowdy Roddy Piper in the WWE.  This might single him out as the least exciting of this wave, but his first figure was waaay back in the early days of the Mattel line.  So, if you dont already have him, he's worth adding to the collection...you may never get another chance!  This one does come with a hat, which is great for me, as my Elite figure was purchased from Ebay missing his.

This is the third outing for Rick Rude in plastic, and only the second in long hair format.  While Elite Series 40 was perfection, ladies and sweat hogs collector's could always use more of the Ravishing One.  The purple tights are nice, but it's hard to do any of his signature posing with basic articulation.  C'mon...he at least needs an ab crunch for all that classic hip thrusting!

Finally!  The Million Dollar Man in green tux!  He might be better off with soft-goods clothing and Elite articulation (as he does look a tad bulky and stiff),  but it's not like he's gonna wrestle in it or anything.  For what it is, it's great for cutting all those classic promos.  More with Virgil later!

The most demanded figure of this wave has to be Iraqi-sympathizer Sargent Slaughter.   I mean, its really the only noticeable costume change for him, and quite an infamous one.   He gets more accessories than your standard basic, featuring removable sunglasses and headdress.  Now we're only missing Iron Sheik redressed as Colonel Mustafa...maybe in a two-pack with crazy Desert Storm Hulk Hogan?

The Howard Finkel figure is a great bonus to this wave.  A black tux may not be all that exciting, but you do get a fully, Elite-articulated figure with a microphone accessory.  And, as I said before, how can you collect this era and pass him up?  These figures do run a couple dollars more than your average basic ($12), but all-in-all its worth it.