Reviews

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Blurr

Like Combiner Wars previously, Titans Return isn’t a total homage to only Headmasters. There aren’t a ton of Headmasters to pull from so some character who weren’t originally Headmasters get roped into the mix as well. I’m not super keen on picking up a lot of the non Headmaster Titan Masters, the way I passed on all of the non combining Combiner Wars characters. Blurr however is a character seriously in need of an updated toy, and this Blurr is a really good representation of the original Blurr, especially compared to the previous Generations Blurr. The old Blurr is a good toy, it’s not a particularly great G1 Blurr.

The best part of this updated Blurr is how lithe his design is. Blurr is known for being fast. He has a sleek fast car, he talks extremely quickly, he should have a fast robot. The Generations Blurr was based on the Drift Mold, and it had a ton of chunky car kibble that kind of restricted a lot of his movement. I mean no, the toy doesn’t move on it’s own, but it helps if the design conveys the idea behind the character.

Also, unlike the Generations Blurr, Titans Return Blurr’s vehicle mode looks much more like the original G1 Blurr’s Cybertronian car. The core difference is that the little Titan Master can ride in the car’s seat and drive it. Transformation is pretty simple but it works well and does the job very well.

The Titan Master is pretty much the same as all of the others in this line, aside from the little pop up head crest. In head mode, there is a little bit that pops up to form Blurr’s head crest. It’s a small but nice detail.

One last side note, this figure was remolded into Titans Return Brainstorm, and is exclusive to Walgreens stores. From what I can tell pretty much everything that applies to Blurr, applies to Brainstorm, though there is a bit of remolding. I don’t intend to pick up TR Brainstorm since I am happy with the Generations Brainstorm, but I wanted to point out that this mostly applies to the other toy as well.

The overall verdict though for Blurr is that it’s an all around really nice Transformer. He’s definitely one of the better figures in the Titans Return line up. Despite not originally being a Headmaster, the added gimmick of the little robot pilot adds some nice fun to the design.

S.H. Figuarts – Ranma (Female)

Feb 22nd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Getting Sailor Moon Figuarts was a surprise. But not a huge surprise when you consider there was a new redesigned series put out recently. Getting Ranma 1/2 Figuarts was the real surprise. For the most part the anime Figuarts I see tend to be based on newer anime and manga that I’ve never heard of. But here we are, with Ranma 1/2 in glorious highly articulated plastic form. Sadly it kind of seems like we’ll never actually get Panda Genma who was featured when these were announced.

The first release is the female version of Ranma. In case you are unfamiliar with the premise, Ranma is a harem comedy anime series and manga, which follows the various romantic relationships surrounding Ranma and his crazy pack of friends and enemies. The gimmick of the show, is that a lot of the characters carry some sort of curse, generally originating from the Jusenkyo Springs where they change into a different form and back when exposed to hot or cold water. In the case of the title character, Ranma transforms between a boy and girl due to Ranma falling into the Spring of Drowned Girl.

That’s a pretty gross oversimplification, but that’s the general idea. Originally shown in the announcement were both male and female Ranma as well as a giant Panda Genma, Ranma’s father. Ranma here is pretty awesome, probably my favorite Figuarts of all of the ones I own (though Tuxedo Mask is a close second).

A lot of what I like is just how well balanced she is, which is really essential given the martial arts nature of the series. Part of the plot of Ranma is that everyone has some sort of crazy martial arts fighting style. Being able to pose Ranma doing martial arts moves really helps sell the figure.

She also has a great selection of alternate faces. There’s a big smile, a small smile, a frowny serious face and the embarrassed face. That last one is a lot of fun since as one might imagine, a dude turning into a girl could result in a lot of embarrassing situations.

There is also a good assortment of accessories and alternative hands. The female version of Ranma also includes a hot kettle, which compliments the cold water bucket included with the male counterpart.

In case you can’t tell, I really like this figure. Probably the biggest downside is that she’s a little boring without some of the other Ranma Figuarts to go with her. Also, if you’re not a fan of the source material, there really isn’t a lot of incentive to pick her up. This is definitely the best Ranma figure available, since it both looks good and is loaded with articulation and parts, in traditional Figuarts style.

Review – Marvel Legends – Juggernaut Wave – Deadpool

Feb 20th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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I’m a little torn on Deadpool here. He’s a pretty great figure. Not the perfect Deadpool necessarily due to a few minor design issue but he’s solid. He also comes with a ton of accessories and no Build-a-Figure piece for Juggernaut. Which is why I’m torn. What Deadpool represents is essentially what I wish we got from Marvel Legends as a line. Dump the dumb BAF aspects, load up more accessories, alternate heads, weapons, effect parts, alternate hands.

Yeah, it’s a dumb reason to dislike a figure, it’s more that I dislike the concept he is presenting, because it’s what I want from every figure. How much cooler would Havok be with a screaming head and an energy blast that strapped to his chest somehow. How much better would that boring Phoenix be with a flaming base and fire ball parts to strap on to for dynamic attack poses? How about a nice Ice base for Iceman to thrown down on? Is Deadpool representative of what we could have without BAF bits?

Enough talk about non Deadpool things though, that’s sort of tangential to the main topic here, and not totally some weirdly meta thing for a Deadpool related review. Also, referencing that it’s a review within a review isn’t meta and 4th-wall-ish either.

Deadpool has one really great thing going for him, his accessories. He has so many accessories that a few of them seem really pointless and dumb and out of place next to the others. The swords, the pistols, the knife, all have nice built in storage on Deadpool, which is great. The rocket Launcher could even peg onto his back. The alternative head makes sense, Deadpool with and without mask. The Taco’s fun. Then there are the two screw silver guns, they look ugly, they don’t really fit too well with the theme of everything else, personally, and they just don’t even need to be there.

Which just exacerbates my previous frustration, not only does he get a mess of accessories, he has extra mostly useless crappy accessories!

Honestly Deadpool only really has two real flaws. One, he has this goofy pinky finger sticking out hand. This problem could have easily have been fixed with a spare, normal hand, maybe in place of one of his useless extra guns. But it didn’t happen, it’s kind of really weird.

Then there is the part where he’s crazy hard to find, because, well, Deadpool. He had a super popular movie, he doesn’t have the saddle of a BAF piece and he’s a really good figure all around.

Review – Transformers – Generations – Brainstorm

Feb 16th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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If you’ve been keeping track, you might have noticed that I’ve gone through all of the original 7 Headmaster’s remakes from Titan’s Returns. You might have been expecting the last review here to cover Titan’s Return Brainstorm. Well, you’d be almost correct. The thing is, I have Generations Brainstorm already, and I don’t really need Titan’s Return Brainstorm, so instead, you’re getting Generations Brainstorm.

If you follow some of the recent lines just before Combiner Wars, it kind of felt like Hasbro was exploring and experimenting with ideas for future lines. We got Scoop with his Trigger masters, and the Minicon combiner team, and Brainstorm here, the first Headmaster in years, I believe since Transformers Energon with it’s Omega Supreme and Minicon head. Before that was Armada Sideways with his swappable headmasters.

As our first modern Headmaster, Brainstorm is pretty good. There were some early reports about issues with the neck joint on the Headmaster and body, but rumor has it that problem was fixed. He even fakes the classic power level gimmick with a flip down panel inside his chest that activates when the Headmaster is attached.

The Headmaster itself is a little iffy though, the arms are large chunks with the arm bits painted on in the appropriate areas. He looks nice for the most part for such a small figure though. He works well with his little cockpit in space ship mode.

The new headmasters though aren’t compatible at all. There is a size difference for starters, which breaks the port set up. In the broader sense though, I like the size difference here just because it makes for some nice variety from “All Deluxe scale”. I also am not huge on swapping the heads between bodies, so I don’t really mind that there is a lack of compatibility.

So I’m not saying the Titans Return Brainstorm is bad, he’s based on one of the better molds in the line, but I just really like this version of Brainstorm from a few years earlier in Generations.

Mafex – The Dark Knight Joker

Feb 15th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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I’m not a huge fan of the “Nolan Batman” films as a whole, but The Dark Knight is one of my favorite movies in the broad sense. Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises, both are kind of mediocre, The Dark Knight is so good though. A lot of this is because of the Joker as the villain. Loving Heath Ledger’s Joker isn’t an uncommon opinion at all for sure. Unfortunately, in the US, Mattel has the license for DC figures, and produces most of them. Mattel, honestly, isn’t the greatest toy company, mostly because they tend to have wonky articulation and really spotty assortments. The Dark Knight Rises 4″ line had cases of like 23 Batmans and 1 Bane or something ridiculous. There was a version of The Joker released in the US, but I really wanted something nicer.

Enter Medicom and Mafex, and their Dark Knight Joker. This isn’t Mafex’s first figure, though they don’t put out a ton of product. Actually, especially previous to this Joker, Mafex has had a really awful reputation for releasing really crappy figures. Not so much from a design standpoint but from a quality standpoint.

I’d heard that they had gotten better with this release, and I opted to go ahead and pick up the Joker here as my first figure from their releases. I have to say I was not disappointed. Though I also need to say, there are still some quality issues, particularly in the joints on these figures. As of writing this review, I’ve picked up three figures from the Mafex line, and all of them have had joint issues of some kind, most often in the neck. My Joker sometimes has problems with his arm falling off.

Aside from this issue, I’m really satisfied by this figure. The sculpt is great, the weapon assortment is great. The smiling head is a little too happy, which is kind of weird, but the normal glowering head is spot on great, and it’s really the onle that would be used most of the time anyway.

There’s a bit of hindrance to articulation by his coat, though the Joker, especially this iteration of the Joker, is pretty slow and shuffling in his movements anyway. He’s not exactly an athlete or a ninja on any level.

So the question is, is it recommended? It’s probably the best Heath Ledger Joker available in this scale. That said, the join issues could be a turn off. I’d recommend him, but not for a tremendous mark up, unless you’re a huge fan of this Joker. I add the last part because now that we’ve moved on to the DC Cinematic Universe and the Suicide Squad Joker, this Joker probably isn’t going to get any sort of future release in a better line (Figuarts).