Reviews

Review – Transformers – RiD – Steeljaw

Like a lot of folks it seems, I pretty much avoided the Transformers Robots in Disguise line early on in it’s release. Most of the toys seemed, and were, pretty mediocre. There also was an extremely one sided assortment of mostly Autobots. In fact, Steeljaw was the only Decepticon until something like wave 4, which is really annoying on a lot of levels. One thing that Transformers always felt like it had going for it above other lines was a pretty good balance of heroes and villains. What good is a hero with no one to fight after all?

Even more annoying, the Decepticon designs on the show itself are all super interesting and unique. There’s a neat animal theme running in the robot modes, which gives them fun heads and little design queues related to their respective animals. Steeljaw, for example, is very obviously wolf themed. From his wold head to his wolf tail, he’s one of the more obvious animal designs. The vehicle itself is also somewhat wolf-like in it’s styling.

While his design is pretty neat, Steeljaw is also one of the weaker toys in the line. The main issue is the “This should have been a Voyager” problem that pops up occasionally. The larger size would have allowed a bit better balance and a few more joints while also stopping the robot from being so small and stocky. As he is, because of his weird joints in his legs he pretty much needs the tail as balance to keep him upright, which is a shame because it’s nicely jointed and would be great used for more dynamic poses.

He also has some weird sliding arm/elbow joints that feel a little fragile and leave his arm movement options a little stiff. I guess the point is, the robot mode is cool looking, but it’s really only usable in one or two poses, due to the awkwardness of the toy.

Steeljaw is basically the physical embodiment of the early problems with the Robots in Disguise line, all wrapped up in a nice package. The design is ambitious but suffers for it. He should have been a larger price point, but RiD had no Voyager price point. He was the only Decepticon for a while, and while he looks nice in a group assortment with the eventual, later, Decepticons (which are mostly pretty stellar), he’s probably not worth putting a ton of effort into tracking one down.

Funko Legacy – Firefly (Malcolm, Kaylee, Jayne, Zoë, Wash)

Jun 7th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

1 comment

Funko is a pretty controversial company among toy collectors, by which I mean collectors more like me and less of the “casual” variety. Their primary line is the Funko Pop Vinyl line, which amount to small uniformed statues. Funko has also had a few “actual” figures recently in their Funko Legacy line, which so far has mostly been Firefly or Game of Thrones related, though they did a set of Bethesda related figures for Fallout and Skyrim as well as The Book of Life and The Rocketeer. These figures are done in a style very similar to what NECA does for a lot of their lines. Six inch figures with mostly decent articulation and a pretty good attention to detail to the source material. They also seems to have inherited a lot of the issues that NECA figures often have however in stiff or fragile joints and sometimes dodgy sculpt choices.

There are 6 total figures in this line and 5 characters. Jayne Cobb has a version with and without his iconic yellow and orange knit hat from the show. Having one version with a swap-able head or hat accessory would have been cool but I guess it was easier just to do two versions. The Hat version is a store exclusive, but as near as I can tell, it’s exclusive to everywhere, that the regular figures are found anyway.

I’m going to touch a bit on each of the figures before wrapping up with some thoughts on the set as a whole.

Malcolm Reynolds

Malcolm, the captain of the crew, is probably the most well rounded figure of the set. This is good since he’s probably the most desireable figure of the line up, being sort of the main characters. The articulation is good, the sculps is good and looks like Nathan Fillion. He has a bit of an issue in his design where his hips are a bit too wide, but it’s an issue that spans across the line and isn’t exclusive to this figure.

He includes two accessories, a shotgun and his pistol, both of these guns can be held appropriately and both can be stored int he holster on his leg (individually, not together). The paint is a little spotty in a few places, but this is also an issue that runs across the line.

Zoë Washburne

Zoë is almost as nice as Malcolm in terms of well roundedness. The sculpt isn’t quite as nice in the face and head but it’s still recognizable as the character. She has a pair of guns, one of which has holster attached to her belt. Her hips also have some of the wideness issue that Malcolm has, but her proportions make her look less pear shaped than Malcolm, so it’s not quite as noticeable.

Wash (Hoban Washburne)

What use is Zoë without her husband? Wash is probably my favorite figure of the line. The sculpt all around is pretty good, though I’m not sure why is face is so heavily washed. His hair is a little odd, but overall, his outfit does a good job of hiding the major sculpt issues present int he other figures (goofy elbows, weird hips). He portrays the nerdy goofyness of the character.

To just drive this home, while Wash doesn’t include any weapons, he does come with two small dinosaur toys. Wash was shown playing with these toys a few times up on the bridge of the ship, where he spent a lot of his time. His hands are both sculpted to allow him to hold both dinosaurs well, which also gives him some kind of fun “claw hands” for regular poses as well. The dinosaurs themselves are very nicely done.

Kaylee

So, moving on to the bottom of the barrel zone, I’ll start off with Kaylee. I want to like Kaylee, and she is so close but there’s just a few off putting things and one bad experience that has pulled her way down in my book. First, the sculpt is a little iffy. The face is a too puffy and mine has a bit of a derpy eye going on. Her accessories are irritatingly light as well, especially given she is the smallest figure. She only has her wrench, which works, but a few more tools, or maybe a chunk of machinery as a prop would have been a nice way to offset the value proposition here.

My main issue comes from her hands. While across the line, I’ve had to deal with a few stiff joints, one of the hands on my Kaylee broke right off, with almost zero “effort”. I glued it back on, so at least she has a hand, even if it’s now stuck in one position, It’s still an irritating issue. She feels like she is more prone to this issue since her arms are considerably skinnier than the other figures in the line. A couple fo more accessories and less fragile joints, and I probably would completely overlook the slightly off face sculpt.

Jayne Cobb

Then there’s Jayne Cobb. I debated a bit on which version I wanted but ultimately opted to pick up the one with his hat. I don’t need two Jaynes and the hat is a fun and memorable piece from the show. Jayne really solves a lot of the issues that the other figures had, and I suspect part of this is due to his two figure release. In terms of “background” in the design and budget area, the dual release should have effectively double the budget for this figure’s design. The joints look better, partially due to his larger size, but he also includes three accessories, his knife, his pistol, and his gun, Vera.

My issue with the figure is that I can’t get him to hold Vera. It’s a nice looking gun, and I’ve seen where other’s have gotten the gun into his hands, but the hands on my Jayne are too stiff and tight to fit the larger gun into either hand. I also worry about breaking the gun as well.

Which leads me into the overall line, and it’s many issues. These are relatively cheap figures, at $20 each (less these days since they are on clearance anywhere that still has them). Still, there are wonky quality issues across the board. The paint on all of these figures have some issues, it’s not clear how much is just shoddy work and how much is intentional to make things look “dirty”. There are ugly plastic seams plaguing almost every figure as well, especially on hands and arms where there is flesh tone paint. The joint designs are functional, but very ugly, just take a look at the elbows on Jayne and Zoë, or the wrists on all of them. These figures really feel like they could have benefited from a higher price point, put towards polishing them up. The basic idea and execution is there, everything just falls short in some pretty major ways. The details on Kaylee’s overalls and Wash’s shirt both are great, and the two mini Dinosaurs are really good, it’s a shame this level couldn’t have been executed consistently across the line, especially since this is essentially Funko’s “Collector” level line.

The other shame is that the line is effectively dead as near as I can tell. We’ll probably never get River, or Simon, or Inara, or Sheppard Book. Which is a bit of a shame because Firefly is a fun cult series that really could use a nice set of figures.

Are the figures worth picking up? At this point they can be had pretty cheap, they aren’t the best, but if you’re a fan of the show it’s likely the only chance you’re ever going to have to get figures from the show, and at sub $15, most of the figures are worthwhile. Wash and Malcolm are pretty fun figures to add in with say, Star Wars Black figures. Jayne and Zoë are both allright, though flawed a bit. Kaylee, not so much, at least the one I have isn’t great.

S.H. Figuarts – Mace Windu

May 3rd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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I have a sort of general philosophy I like to follow when writing reviews. I like to give good points and bad points and let the reader sort of make the final conclusion on if something seems good or not. There are really too many subjective factors to give a definite yay or nay on most things.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have much to say about Figuarts Mace Window that is negative. I really just don’t, the figure is damn near perfect and it’s definitely the best toy Mace Windu us ever going to get. I suppose that, as a Star Wars Figuarts, he’s a little pricey than some people might want to pay. Also the cuts for his joints are a little ugly looking in some poses. But these are kind of nitpicky level complaints.

Mace Windu includes 6 sets of hands, and 2 heads, one angry and one more smug/neutral. He also includes 2 light sabers, one with a peg to hang off of his belt and the other to be held, with or without the blade.

The sculpt on everything is amazing, which is helped by the fantastic paint job. The heads do a spot on job of capturing Samuel L. Jackson down to little wrinkles in his forehead.

He pose ability and stability are also great for a lot of really exceptional dynamic posing. His open hands are great for “force action”. He can perfectly wield his light saber in one or two hands. The details on the head and expression work great for attacks and neutral poses.

Basically what I’m saying is, if this figure interests you, he’s great and well worth picking up. It’s every bit as awesome as it looks, probably more so.

Figma – Stand Alone Complex Motoko Kusanagi

Mar 22nd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Ghost in the Shell’s Motoko Kusanagi is kind of a hard one to pin down for a real “definitive look”. Unlike a lot of anime, cartoon, or even comic characters, she has had a pretty wide array of styles over her various movies and shows. There is a general theme of “tough” and “short purple hair”. Aside from that there have been a variety of tactical suits, jackets, and various spandex sort of outfits. This particular figure is based on the Stand Alone Complex Anime series. Stand Alone complex is an alternate timeline version of the story from the popular movie and manga, Ghost in the Shell.

There aren’t any particularly great figures of Motoko from the original series from what I can tell. I haven’t really seen any of Stand Alone complex though I like the original movie and have read some of the manga. Of the various versions of Motoko available, I felt this one more capture the essence of what I personally think of as the character, though this design feels “younger” and a bit more, anime, for lack of a better term, than I’d really prefer.

It’s a decent design though and the sculpt and articulations are pretty clean. There’s something a little funny going on with the articulation I can’t quite place though. It works well enough for posing, but she kind of looks a little wonkey in some poses, like things don’t quite line up naturally.

Motoko includes 5 sets of hands in various poses, a Figma stand, three faces (smiling, frowning, yelling), two hairs (one is “windswept”), a pistol, an assault rifle, and an extra set of boobs. I’m not entirely sure about the boobs, I think one is slightly larger but they look really the same. Several of the hands are pretty specialized around holding the weapons, in particular the special right hands for holding each gun.

Figma Motoko has a problem I’ve encountered with the few Figma toys that I do have. Her hair falls off way to easily. If you lean her forward at all the hair has a good chance of slipping right off her face. It’s a good sized chunk, so it’s easy to find if it falls, but it’s kind of a nuisance.

So overall verdict, it’s an alright figure, like a lot of the line, but it’s not quite the version of The Major I wish I had. I’m kind of hoping that the live action Ghost in the Shell movie will see a bit of a resurgence in merchandise and some more, better figures. I’d love to get a Batou to go with Motko. I am also kind of surprised there aren’t more SH Figuarts from Ghost in the Shell, considering Bandai makes Figuarts and owns the rights to GitS. That’s probably one of those screwy “The media company is different than the products company” deals.

Review – Marvel Legends – Dormammu Wave – Doctor Strange (Movie)

Mar 20th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

1 comment

The Doctor Strange wave of Marvel Legends, the one with the Dormammu Build a Figure, is the perfect example of how awful and mismanaged Marvel Legends waves can get. For starters, there was recently a boxed set for SDCC centered around Doctor Strange that included a Brother Voodoo, Astral Doctor Strange (Comic not movie, granted), and a Dormammu, non Build a Figure version. So, ok, the SDCC sets are not the easiest to get, but there also aren’t a ton of Strange fans I imagine clamoring for these characters, so doubling up like this instead of making less overlap seems like it would have been a better route. To add some additional insult, this wave also included a comic Doctor Strange that is essentially identical to the one included in the very recent Hulkbuster wave. Then there’s the extremely mediocre Astral Movie Strange, which is a clear version of the normal version reviewed here, minus the accessories. The Astral form strange, honestly, would probably have been better done with clear colored plastic matching his normal form, though I imagine the cost there would have been too much vs the basic transparent that we got. More annoying is that we don’t get figure of Wong or The Ancient One, both characters who could have really used figures, based on how cool they were in the movie.

I’m not here to rant about this poorly done wave of figures though. I have not, nor do I plan to pick up any more figures from it than I already have (3 total, one because it was on clearance). Instead, I want to talk a bit about the Movie Doctor Strange figure. This figure kind of feels like the end result of the price paid for that pretty lame Astral Doctor Strange. Where Astral strange has no accessories and is all translucent plastic (and, incidentally, the same mold as this one), this figure has many accessories and a pretty well done paint job and sculpt.

The core figure is effectively Cumberbatch’s Dcotor Strange as he appears in his “final form”. He’s in his complete robes, he’s wearing his cape, he’s got the Eye of Agamotto. He comes with an extra set of hands for some more varied looks as well as a shield like magic effect. The cape is removable, and even stands up on it’s own (if you’ve seen the movie you will know the cape kind of has a mind of it’s own. The Eye of Agamotto is also removable. Removing the came and Eye, give you kind of an early learner Doctor Strange. The removable Eye of Agamotto is also useful given the nature of what the Eye is for, possible future options of posing and interaction with other toys. Without going into too much detail.

A poseable cloth goods cape could would have been cool but that’s not really Marvel Legends’ way of doing things so it’s pretty forgivable. At least the cape is designed to stand on it’s own well. Where he could really use a bit of cloth goods is in his lower tunic bits, since the plastic limits the articulation he has in his legs, Doctor Strange isn’t really a martial artist but he is pretty dynamic, and he does come from a monastery of martial artist monks.

The extra hands are nice, and while he doesn’t have a sling ring accessory, they work for making the sort of gesture shown to operate the sling ring. Having one with the slink ring molded on would have been nice but that’s ML for you. There are some problems, at least on mine with mold flashing. I’m actually kind of ok with this problem, in this case, because it makes his hands look a bit dodgy and well, part of Doctor Strange’s origin was having his hands crushed in a car accident. Spoilers I suppose but it’s a very early and moderately trivial event in the whole scheme of things.

The movie version of Doctor Strange is one of the better Marvel Legends we’ve gotten recently, and definitely is the winner of the wave as far as quality and parts.