Titan Hero Sentinel

 Titan Hero Sentinel

Marvel, X-Men '97 - Hasbro

Everyone's favorite comic-adapted cartoon is back!  No, not Batman: The Animated Series.  Okay, everyone's second favorite comic-adapted cartoon is back!  X-Men '97 is on the way with some new toys to boot!  Marvel Legends six-inch scale will be later, but the four-inch Epic Hero scale is beginning to hit stores now, along with a compatible Blackbird jet and and one big baddie:  the Sentinel.  

These "Titan" figures are about fourteen inches tall and can be good enough to stand in with Legends figures.  (Thank goodness for the Arcade Game and fighting games for allowing us to fudge scale on these army builders.) 

They aren't super articulated, but sport more than standard, twelve-inch scale Hasbro offerings.  Paint and detail are minimal, but they match the cartoon and the comic source material.  Big, solid robots...nuff said.

As for army building, I went in for two...for now.  I've already got the Haslab Sentinel as Master Mold, a couple of Marvel Universe, one Toy Biz build-a-figure, and two re-released/upgraded 90s Toy Biz.  Robots get upgraded all the time, so my head canon changes to explain the size and design differences.

These new ones are $22 each, but I got mine as Amazon Warehouse steals for $15 (damaged packaging).  I like them enough to add a few more down the line, but will also keep my eyes open for another deal before I jump.  

If you don't have any Sentinels to menace your mutants, you cant lose with these.  If you like army building, they are worth picking up as well, even if you have more advanced "machs."  Grab them now to reenact the soul-crushing opening from the original series where (spoilers) Morph bites it and Beast gets incarcerated for several seasons! 

Saurozoic Warriors

Saurozoic Warriors

Boss Fight Studio

Boss Fight Studio was already becoming one of my favorite toy producers with their recent Popeye line, Bucky O'Hare, and Zorro Hacks figures.  And now they've gone an done this...created an original line that should appeal to action figure collectors of the 80s and 90s.  Kids of all ages love dinosaurs, too!

Saurozoic Warriors are anthropomorphic dinos in bright, fantastical colors and proportions akin to Ninja Turtles or Toxic Crusader.  What's not to love?  Boss Fight has even gone the distance to flesh out a backstory for each character, all coming together to for one colossal conflict. 

One faction is total ceratopsian.  Triceratops is my personal favorite dinosaur, so I love that the central character/leader here is of the three-horned persuasion.  His battle-scarred eye puts him over the (cera)top!

The Brachiosaur is a close runner up.  The execution on the neck and head alone are great!  So great, that this one needed a double dip.  A Big Bad Toy Store exclusive gives us a skeletal paint job.  The new deco is built into the story, but I don't mind pretending that he's a completely different sauropod solider for army building's sake.

The "tank" of this group is the stout and wide Stegosaurus.  If the sculpt alone didnt ooze "bad attitude, they gave him a leather vest and the biggest gun of the group to solidify his bad-assery.  Its a little strange that the stego is the only humanoid dino here to retain a tail.  I guess its only of the identifying features of the stego, so hard to go without?  Or it just balances him holding the big-ass gun.

The ceratopsian guard is the army builder of the group.  Im glad they have the gas mask to help solidify them as the foot soldiers.  Also gives off the Toxic Crusader vibe I mentioned above.

While billed as a 6-inch line, these scale a bit small in comparison to other lines.  I think they are right at home with Masters of the Universe Origins, not only in scale, but in articulation and the shared techno-barbarian themes.  Maybe in an effort to resurrect the Snake Men, a time portal reach back beyond Preternia and out popped these guys?  Go ahead and connect them with a Battle Bones origin!

These do run a bit high ($30) for figures of this scale, but the fun-factor and rarity of being an original line makes them easy to support.  The waves should also be spaced out with enough time to budget for them.  Another wave is on the way, and I cant wait.  No sign of a Tyrannosaurus Rex yet...would make an awesome deluxe figure, Boss Fight.  Bring 'em on!

Aunt May and Doctor Octopus

 Aunt May and Doctor Octopus

Special Guest:  The Spot!

Hasbro - Marvel Legends

We've been given plenty Alfreds.  A handful of Commissioner Gordons.  Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and Perry White have made the cut.  In the same department, Mary Jane Watson, Gwen Stacy, and J. Jonah Jameson.  Still, when it comes to great supporting character's in comics, one big name has eluded both the extensive Toy Biz days and early Hasbro.  No, Jarvis, sit down...I'm talking about Peter Parker's biggest fan, Aunt May!  

Toy Biz did make the strange choice to include Aunt May in their 8-inch cloth-clothed Mego throwback line.  The execution was...um...lacking, to be kind.  Granted, most depictions of the character up to that point made her look pretty decrepit.  That old catcher's mitt puss:

Spider-Man the Animated Series in 1994 gave Aunt May a much needed facelift.  And a blonde-ish dye job to maker her younger?  I don't mind this in comparison to the overboard approach with Marisa Tomei.  I know Marisa is pushing 60, but c'mon...who was Uncle Ben in that universe?  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson?!

The animated look is a good medium if this is the only figure we are going to get of her.  Not too animated, there's an appropriate amount of wrinkles and lines on the face.  The outfit has an appealing amount of color, and is a step up from aprons and house shoes.   While she should have been packaged in an "Amazing Friends" boxed set, they did ensure she'd sell better than just being partnered with Ms Lion.

Animated Doctor Octopus is here as well!  I can't remember if the cartoon covered the "Doc Ock marries Aunt May to get at her newly inherited nuclear facility" plot, but I'm sure he at least menaced her a time or two.  

As a kid, I was always puzzled by the slightly muscular, accented approach to the character.  Digging into greater Spider-Man lore, one could assume this take was inspired by the the failed approach to bring web-head to the big screen in the late 80s/early 90s:  the one where James Cameron was to direct Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Octopus.  I dig it, and would welcome a retool of Doc in his white suit (specifically thinking Erik Larsen's art) with this as a base.

One big area he has over the traditional, dumpy Marvel Legend figure, is the bendable tentacles.  He can mostly support his own weight if you want the tentacles to do the walking, and you can get better poses than before.

This set is a Hasbro Pulse exclusive.  This may be a 50/50 for most, but I was all in as soon as I saw the promo pictures.  Now, if you'll excuse me, my Aunt May figure is off to beat her 984 pies baked record as detailed on her Marvel Universe trading card:

Bonus!  A fairly obscure Spidey/Daredevil adversary, The Spot, makes his six-inch debut!  I don't mind that his animated form is weird and gangly since you cant see his face.  Just pretend that its a side effect of traveling through his interdimensional portals!

McFarlane 1989 Batmobile

 McFarlane 1989 Batmobile

The Flash - DC Multiverse

Did anyone ever think it was possible to want a toy from a movie so bad, but they didn't really care about the movie itself?   Well, technically, it's from a different (and we're 100% positive "better") movie.  Nostalgia and a beautiful design from a bygone era in Hollywood is all this needed to be a success.  It may be part of the last gasp from the abhorrent DC Snyderverse, but its hard not to get a lil excited about the return of Michael Keaton and our Batman!

Getting the bad outta the way first, it's too shiny.  A finger print magnet.  Im not sure it it's mega reflective in the new movie or if this was the wrong call on the plastic.  Also, the canopy is a weird shade of gray.

But that's nothing a lil tape and spray paint can't fix!   It was good enough for the $60 price tag before, but with a little Krylon Matte Black you get perfection.  Okay, so the canopy is a bit off in shape and it's a one seater, but good enough for me.  Im not about to go hacking it apart.  Two seats?  What imaginary scale figure line are folks hoping for?  There's not going to be a Vicki Vale figure in the cards.

"Security? Who let Vicki Vale into the Batcave? I'm sitting there working; I turn around, there she is. "Oh hi, Vick - come on in."

The new McFarlane Batman figure fits with a fit of fidgeting to get the ears in.  The Neca Batman has room to spare.

Speaking of, the new batsuit looks pretty good in this scale.  I can definitely see the Keaton likeness in the sculpt, but might need a better paint job to really hit it home.

This car sold out by the afternoon on the morning it was released across every retailer imaginable.  Im sure there will be a rerelease for those that missed it, or even a proper 89 deco version.  I wasn't taking any chances.  This may be my favorite movie car of all time, edging out the Ecto-1 and Delorean Time Machine.  I buy just about every version and scale I see.  But you already knew that:

So join in and party like it's 1989!  Or at least throw some shade at Hasbro and their $300 version of Ghost Rider no one wanted.  Food for thought for the next Ghostbusters movie, ya jerks.

Oh, look, Hasblow...a decently-scaled Batwing for $40 from Spin Master!

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