X-Men 20th Anniversary

 X-Men 20th Anniversary 

Wolverine, Cable, and Domino

Hasbro - Marvel Legends

What better way to celebrate the death of the Fox X-Men franchise (The New Mutants was good enough, and not deserving of all the hate), than with all-new action figures from it’s 20 year history.  What?!  What kind of sense does that make?!  Well, I for one am glad there are some fans of these movies working on Marvel Legends right now.  I’m always gonna love these films, the good and the bad.  Especially when it comes to the main man, Wolverine.

Wolverine made Hugh Jackman a star, and Hugh Jackman made Wolverine a name in my household.  I never cared much for the character until that first X-Men movie (and the Origin comic the following year) gave him some humanity and depth.  This action figure is as deserving of a spot on the shelf as Chris Reeve’s Superman and Michael Keaton’s Batman.  Not just for the legacy it represents, but it’s been done so, so right.

The head scan is perfection.  The nose, the eyes, the hair...even the whisker detail...it’s all perfect.  Every angle you turn it is undeniably Hugh/Logan.  Plus, you get two portraits:  one neutral, and one rage mode. 

The body sculpt, I believe, is all new...no shared parts for Marvel Legends is pretty rare.  The arms have the appropriate amount of veins for dicing and slicing baddies...the butterfly shoulder joints help, too!  This is the first figure to sport Hasbro’s new pin-less arms.  Neat, I guess, to make it even more lifelike...but why didn’t they do the same for the legs? 

For a plain jeans and beater look, there are lots of detail in the body sculpt:  texturing in the ribbing of the shirt, and the pants have some rough stippling to convey the look of denim.  The jean textures really help the paint do its work, too.  They’ve done some great fading on the upper legs, as a worn pair would have.

The dog tags are detailed enough for such a small accessory.  Not that your can read them, but you get it.  He has the big, Indian belt buckle that makes this figure a dead ringer for Logan’s look from the Mansion attack in X2.  There’s only one small detail Hasbro missed...no wrist watch.  Oh, well, they did throw in a pair of bone claw hands, even if those aren’t scene or outfit accurate.  My only real gripe is the lack of standard, no-claw, hands..but I’m sure I’ve got some spares laying around, or that will be remedied with the inevitable, next Wolverine figure release.

This figure is an Amazon exclusive, available now.  It is priced a little higher ($25) than your standard Legends, but you are getting a unique sculpt with some new tooling and an alternate head.  Again, the head sculpt is amazing...probably the best of the real scans so far.  Though the scans on Cable and Domino are superb as well!  

Cable is a Walmart exclusive, hitting now.  Like the character, the figure is equally as busy looking in design.  Metal detailing? Check.  Lots of gear and pockets.  Check.  

My favorite detail is the teddy bear on his belt.

He has a small firearm that is actually removable from it’s holster.  Shocking, as Marvel Legends are 50/50 for guns sculpted into holsters vs removable.  

His big gun has two swapable attachments.  Not sure what they do...maybe a grenade launcher for the one?  Shotgun? Anyway, while one is ported onto the bottom of the gun, the other fits into another holster slot on his belt.  Wow!  Two holsters with removable weapons on one figure!  Hasbro, we’re going to start expecting this from now on.

Domino also gets a gun that can be removed from a holster!  And two uzis...with tiny bayonets?  I’ll have to watch Deadpool 2 again to see how they make use of those....but looks cool, nonetheless.

Another great likeness here, and the costume appears to be screen accurate. 

She has an alternate head with goggles resting on her brow and a slightly different expression.  I love her hair...it’s made of an almost translucent, gummy plastic that has a unique and potent plastic smell.  Squishy and scented?  Not on the box, but bonus!

So we got a figure from the beginning of the X-Men motion picture saga and two from the end.  There are more coming here and there, but it will be interesting to see which movies and characters Hasbro cherry-picks from.  I could go for just about anyone...except for Fakepool in Wolverine Origins.  If they wanna joke that one out like Jar Jar in Carbonite for a San Diego exclusive, be my guest.  

Musical Mutagen Tour

Musical Mutagen Tour

NECA - SDCC Exclusive

San Diego Comicon was killed by Coronavirus, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to the symptoms of action figure exclusive madness.  Three years running now, NECA has been making fans pull hair out and weep in a matter of seconds and a fury of refresh button clicks.  I have been one of the lucky ones, scoring both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie packs and now...the Coming Out of Their Shells Tour!  Er...Musical Mutagen Tour?  What?  Aren’t copyrights/licensing rights just full of surprises?

This set of four turtles is definitely a unique time capsule of strange embarrassment.  Not the franchise’s proudest moment...the beginning of the end, really.  Moms hated all that ninja-ing and nunchucks nonsense, so how about we have them play instruments and sing?  How are they playing those guitars with only three jumbo pickle-sized fingers?!

Who am I kidding...I was there, and I ate it up!  I got the promo cassette tape and poster from Pizza Hutt and was ready to soft rock!  My loving parents suffered through the stage show and bought me and my sister some souvenir bandanas, too.  If you didn’t get to live it, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube, if you dare.  Some things are best left in the past...

Anyway, for better or worse, these figures look great.  Oh those creepy, Showbiz Pizza quality eyes and mouths!  NECA has faithfully brought them to life, complete with hinged jaws.  

The bodies are appropriately shared by the earlier movie figures, but you get all new sneaker feet, multiple hands, cloth leg warmers, cloth jean vests, attached microphone headsets, and “Kiss” inspired star and swoosh eye things for Mike and Leo.  

You also get a “pizza” for them to hand toss...in a game of frisbee.  I think it is supposed to be one of those things they throw to the crowd, anyway.  If it is an actual pizza, it looks as crappily appetizing as Papa John’s.

Let’s check out those instruments:  two guitars, a keytar, a saxophone, and an electronic drum kit.  Raph played sax in show, but I never felt that appropriate.  Contrary to popular belief, the saxophone has never been cool when it comes to rock and roll.  It works best as an accessory to comedy and goofball antics...which pairs better with Michelangelo’s character.  Raph has that attitude...and needs to shred, man!  (No pun intended.)

I was forced to buy the set through Target (barf) with a convention exclusive bundle of a T-shirt, backstage pass, event ticket, tote bag, and guitar picks.  $25 mark up for all this, but I do like the t-shirt.

The box folds out into a big display stage...one rare time where I will not be trashing the packaging.

Fake track listings.  Wouldn’t be a problem if Disney would just hurry and absorb the Turtles like everything else.  Mickey has a way of getting around legal holdups, y’know.

Posing the characters with some 80s hair band tunes playing in the background was a lot of fun.  Ever wanted the Ninja Turtles to perform Ratt’s Round and Round?  Dreams do come true! Well, if you were lucky enough to be able to shell out (no pun intended) $150 for these.  Like past exclusives, once they’re gone, they’re gone...to that overpriced EBay listing in the sky.

Iron Man 2020

Iron Man 2020

Hasbro - Marvel Legends

The future is now!  And by looking at Iron Man 2020, it missed the geekdom steampunk fad by about five years.  But that doesn’t mean that this Walgreen’s exclusive figure is a dud...you’ll just have to figure out where he fits in your multiverse.

Jagged metal teeth, big shoulder cogs, belt gizmos...all over the excellent Marvel 80th Anniversary edition Iron Man sculpt.  (Sorry, I never got around to reviewing that one proper...but he has popped up in other reviews.) The red and gold are amped up on this edition, and he features artist-appropriate (read: creepy) eyes behind the mask.  He’s also got an extra set of hands for his power effects.

His blast effects kinda steal the yet-to-be-released deluxe War Machine’s thunder.  The small hand blasts are nothing new, but the boot thruster cloud is.  It comes in two pieces that fit together naturally to act as a stand.  This new accessory really does add some value to a mostly repurposed armor.  The only downside to the figure is no alternate Arno Stark head.

Speaking of streampunk, I also recently finished the Crimson Dynamo build-a-figure from the lackluster Black Widow movie wave.  (I wonder if that movie ever came out in Iron Man 2020’s timeline?). He’s not the ideal, classic look of the character, but he’s big, bad, and totally rad.  I dig the shoulder smoke-stacks and the translucent blue cooling tanks on his forearms.  They really add to that Soviet 80s charm!

Also also...I picked up the Iron Monger BAF that missed out on as part of an all-Iron Man K-Mart wave some years back.  (Does K-Mart still exist in Iron Man 2020’s timeline?).  I got him on eBay during the height of Coronavirus hysteria, and didn’t notice the shipping address until I had it in-hand:  New York, New York!  Yikes!! Time for a bath, Obadiah! (Does Coronavirus exist in Iron Man 2020’s timeline?)

 

“I said...”

“MAINTAIN SIX FEET APART!”

More Iron Men to add to the ever-growing hall of armors.  Watch out Batman, that wannabe playboy is tryin to catch up to you in my collection!

Third Doctor Who and TARDIS

Third Doctor Who and TARDIS

Character Options

I assume a past dip in the economy was was made Character Options’ 5-inch Doctor Who classics figures stall out.  But recently, there has been a fair amount of classic series love trickling out as store exclusives in the UK.  I have to sweat a little to find them and maybe pay a bit more for them as imports, but it’s not really breaking the bank so far.  The third Doctor, Jon Pertwee, is my favorite and, having missed the last exclusive TARDIS set, I wasn’t going to let this one go.

The Doctor’s suit and TARDIS deco are based on their appearance in the serial, “The Monster of Peladon.”  Both of his trips to Peladon (Curse of Peladon is the first) are great stories.

The jacket is a dark green, that could be mistaken for blue at first glance.  The same for the shirt, except light green/blue.  It’s not my favorite of his many looks, as I tend to gravitate toward the more flashy lapels, capes, and riding boots.

The sculpt is more of the same...this is my fifth Third Doctor figure?  However, I think the paint on this one is much better, really bringing out his hair, eyes, and facial features.

No accessories this time around.  C’mon...it’s hard enough not to lose the few tiny sonic screwdrivers I have for this guy.  Even if he doesn’t use it in this particular story, I know he has it on him!  And even if he didn’t wear a cape this time, use your imaginations...we know you have the sculpt and it isn’t that much plastic to spare.

I guess you could call the TARDIS accessory enough.  It looks great, but is pretty bare bones.  No lights and sounds this time.  Worst of all, they didn’t bother to sculpt over the battery box and speaker holes from previous incarnations.

The doors still function as before:  push to open, and one has a quick-shut button on the floor.  There is no cardstock backdrop to simulate the ship interior, so you’ll have to print your own.

Gripes aside, the paint job on the wood grain looks spectacular.  Love that lighter blue!  The windows are appropriately dirty, as is the police box signs.  There’s no phone inside, but the signage looks great.

I paid $60 shipped from a UK seller on Amazon.  It’s a little lightweight of a set, but it was the only way to get it.  Probably the last TARDIS I will need, and that’s a relatively small price to pay to get them to keep the classics line going.  Just need a few more companions and I should be able to close the door on this collection.