October 30, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Bishop

By Joe
He comes from the future with a warning.

We’re going to keep this Marvel/Mutant Monday thing going for one more week! After taking a look at a trio of figures from Hasbro’s new X-Men ’97 line of figures in its Marvel Legends catalog I’ve decided to do one more: Bishop. The first three figures I looked at were basically all missing pieces to the VHS line Hasbro did last year for X-Men, the animated series which aired on Fox in the 90s. Bishop wasn’t featured in that line either despite being the most frequent guest star in the series so it would stand to reason that I’d be interested in adding him as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, Bishop’s character received a redesign for the new show. It’s not incredibly drastic, but it removed his most mighty possession: his fabulous mullet.

Yes, Bishop decided to ditch the 80s haircut he had (despite being a guy from the future – maybe the mullet makes a comeback?) for something a bit more modern. He now sports a closely cropped head of hair, but largely maintains his look outside of that. He’s still sporting the yellow and blue, still has that kerchief about his neck, and also carries a big gun. Well, more on that last part later. Still, for someone like me who just wants to assemble the team from the show I grew up watching, it seemed like this was a figure I could skip. Then I saw him in a store, then I saw him again, and eventually I caved and bought the thing. I just like how it looks! Something about that yellow and blue will always appeal to me, but beyond that the figure looks better than a typical Legends release. It’s more in-line with how I would personally design the line if asked to so let’s dive into this one so I can explain what it is about Bishop that made me want to take him home.

He’s a bit bigger than your “Vulcan” body figures, but smaller than some of the villains presented in an oversized fashion. And yes, that is a custom Morph head.

Bishop stands at right around the 7″ mark making him the tallest figure in his wave. He’s composed mostly of blue and brown plastic with some yellow where it makes sense. His belt and the cuffs around his shoulders are soft, yellow, plastic keyed into the figure and secured with glue. The ends of his sleeves also appear to be yellow strips of plastic glued into place. The only paint needed on this figure was the yellow and black stripe down the body, the red and black X logo on the belt, and the details on his face. And perhaps to no one’s surprise, the painted areas are the weakest part of the figure and it’s mainly just that yellow stripe that runs the length of his body. All of the figures I found on the pegs had some issue with that part of the figure, either messy application or a chipped spot and I settled on the one that bothered me the least. The yellow isn’t as saturated as it needs to be so some blue shows through while the black line running down it gets messy in places. The easiest way for Hasbro to have prevented that would have been to cast the figure in yellow and paint on the blue and black, but Hasbro really doesn’t want to use that much paint so this is what we got.

I really like how the torso has a lot of mass to it.

Aside from that, I really like the presentation on this figure. I don’t have any other Bishop figures (I never even got the Toy Biz Marvel Legends one), but I believe most of what is presented here is new. He has a much sturdier build than most Legends figures I’ve encountered. His shoulders are broad, his chest has a lot of mass, and his proportions look great. I do think the cuffs at the shoulders help to minimize that low shoulder look a lot of Legends have and they also make the shoulders appear bigger. I’m guessing if I cut those off I’d be less impressed, but since they’re present I have to give the figure its do. I also really like the matte finish this thing has. It’s on the blue portions as well as the skin and it’s just really, really nice. There’s a temptation to seek out an older Bishop head that would better match the character I know, but I doubt any head I found, custom or official, would have the same finish. It means I’ll probably just have to get used to short haired Bishop, unless someone wants to sell custom pieces of hair since it appears to be a separate piece that’s glued down.

The gun is small and gummy, but it appears to look like the one from the show. At least the muzzle does.

The accessories for Bishop are like the other figures in the wave – terrible. It’s basically bare minimum type stuff here as Bishop has a set of trigger hands, a right fist, and a left gripping hand. I’m not sure why we need the gripping hand and trigger hand, I’d have preferred two fists, but either way the accessory count is too low. Bishop also has his gun which looks a lot like the one from the original show. It’s pretty small though and I wish it had more size to it. Maybe it’s accurate to the new show – I don’t know. In the 92 series, his gun wasn’t very consistent and there are some shots where it looks puny, but I would say it’s supposed to be on the bigger side. He has a holster behind his left shoulder that it slots into fine and the sculpt is solid on the weapon. It’s cast in gray plastic and unpainted so it’s certainly not flashy. There’s nothing else in the box though – no effect parts, no alternate head, no nothing. It’s Hasbro doing the bare minimum at a not bare minimum price point.

“I’ve still got my eye on your, cajun!”

Assuming much of what’s here is new, Bishop should articulate fairly well. Or at least as well as a burly fellow like him can. The head is on a double ball peg and it’s just okay. He looks down enough and the rotation is obviously fine, but looking up is severely limited. That’s because Hasbro just buries the lower part of the peg in the neck and doesn’t allow for as much range as it could. The shoulders are just hinged ball pegs and they rotate and can go out to the side to a horizontal position. The biceps swivel is fine and the double-jointed elbows bend past 90 without much fuss. The wrists swivel and the trigger hands have vertical hinges, the rest horizontal. In the torso is an ab crunch that’s pretty “clicky.” It basically has three positions: neutral, forward, and back. Going back just makes his belly stick out and he looks pretty silly, going forward is fine, but it’s not a great joint. The waist twist is a peg twist. The hips go out to the side well past 45 degrees though not to full splits. He kicks forward about 90 degrees, but doesn’t kick back very far. There is a thigh cut and a boot cut, though the thigh cut breaks up not just the striping down the left side of the figure, but also the sculpted pouches on the thighs so it’s a pretty useless joint. The knees will go past 90 degrees, and are on the tight side. The ankles hinge forward and back a good amount while also pivoting just fine.

“For the future!”

The articulation for Bishop is probably acceptable given he’s a big dude with a gun, he’s not here to do high kicks and such. My only real complaints are with how they did the joint at the head since he should have more function up there if they just did it right. I’m also kind of tired of these Legends figures with useless thigh cuts that break up the costume in unnatural ways because who is going to pose their figures in such a way? Put the rotation at the ball joint and it will look so much better. The torso also sucks and I’d like to see Hasbro ditch these ugly ab crunches in favor of double ball pegs in the abdomen. That will let the figure bend forward and back, especially if paired with a ball joint at the waist, while also providing tilt and rotation. It’s not something that’s really any more expensive to produce compared with what we have, it’s more a matter of changing over the infrastructure that’s the real cost. They’ve been doing it with pin-less joints for years now, a figure of mostly new tools like Bishop would have been a great place to incorporate more advances.

It’s not the Bishop I want, but he does look pretty nice.

The criticisms I have for this representation of Bishop are basically criticisms directed at Marvel Legends in general. For a Legends release, I think this Bishop is pretty damn good and it largely just comes down to the finish and proportioning. He’s supposed to big a big, burly, man and he is. He has the mass to his chest that so many figures lack. Just look at a figure like the well-received VHS Cyclops or the new Magneto from the side – there’s so little mass they’re almost flat. That’s not the case with Bishop and he looks a lot better than most figures as a result. He looks so good that I bought him when I had no intention of doing so. I probably could have waited for a clearance sale, but didn’t want to chance it. Now watch them re-release the figure with a ’92 inspired head (you know they will) so I can kick myself for giving Hasbro money in the first place.

If you’re interested in X-Men ’97 here are my other reviews on the line:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

October 27, 2023

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Orange Piccolo

By Joe

When Akira Toriyama set out to draft the plot for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero his original goal for the film was to take a favorite character of his and give him an upgrade. That character was Piccolo who had basically been left behind by the likes of Goku and Vegeta way back at the onset of The Cell Saga in Dragon Ball Z. After fusing with Kami, Piccolo was briefly the most powerful fighter on Earth, but he was soon surpassed by Cell, then by Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, and you get the idea. Following that arc, Piccolo was more like a resource for the heroes and sometimes fighter, but even when called upon, he usually just got whipped. And he was oddly okay with no longer being competitive, which I suppose is a reflection in a change in nature from the Evil King Piccolo to the Namekian he had become.

“Son! What happened?!”

That isn’t really fun though when it comes to story telling with Piccolo and it would seem that Toriyama wanted to have him be able to mix it up with the best of them again. Enter Orange Piccolo. Spoiler alert for those still waiting to see Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, but Piccolo makes a wish to the Eternal Dragon Shenron to have his latent power unlocked to defend the Earth from a new threat. Shenron grants the wish, but also does him one better and bestows a hidden power on the proud Namekian. Shenron is not usually known for his generosity, but since Piccolo (as Kami) created Shenron it would seem the dragon felt he owed it to him to give him a power not seen in ages. The movie doesn’t have time to explain it, but that power is an ancient one wielded by Namekian warriors. When their planet was in danger, the mightiest of the Namekian would turn to their Dragon Balls for a power boost. This is detailed briefly in the manga Dragon Ball Super and not the show or film, which is unfortunate because it sure explains a lot when it comes to Orange Piccolo.

He’s orange, buff, and feeling pretty good about himself.

Orange Piccolo is this buffed out state. We don’t know if this how the form was always represented, but I think we can assume the orange part is since it ties back to the actual Dragon Balls. As for the name, well that’s entirely due to Piccolo not having much imagination or time for fancy titles. The form’s name is basically an afterthought and a little bit of a joke that works with the Piccolo character. The only thing we really need to know is that Orange Piccolo is a really big version of Piccolo that’s orange and really powerful. How powerful? Toriyama suggests that he’s on Goku and Vegeta’s level in this form and likely behind Gohan’s new Beast form. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to assume that this is something Piccolo can now do at will or if he’ll need Shenron’s help in the future, but for now, he’s got a cool new form and it’s plenty powerful. Piccolo fans, rejoice!

Orange Piccolo probably marks the end of the Super Hero subline which has been a mix of general release and Premium Bandai figures.

What just might be the final release from Premium Bandai for Super Hero is indeed Orange Piccolo. The figure comes in the same Super Hero packaging as the previous releases only much bigger. And that’s because Orange Piccolo stands at around 7.5″, but beyond his height is his mass. Remember when Trunks got super buff in his fight with Cell? That’s kind of like what Piccolo goes through with this transformation. His head becomes more square-like, his neck is almost as wide as his ears, and his chest is massive. The flesh of his head, neck, and torso is a pale orange while his arms are a more saturated shade. He loses all of the lines on the normally green portion of his arms while the puffy areas remain yellow with a red rim (Super Hero followed the manga coloring so those areas were yellow instead of pink). That’s the basis of the transformation and you either like it or you don’t. I love these big, chunky, action figures so this works for me. At first, I was torn on Piccolo’s color change from green to orange as I think the green is just a part of his identity. Now knowing why he’s orange, I’m less bothered by it. It’s a neat way to call back to what the series is named after and strengthens the lore of the property (though it does raise questions as to why none of the Namekians tried this to stop Frieza, but we’ll just have to ignore that).

The size and the expressions are what sell this figure.

As a figure, Orange Piccolo casts an impressive…figure…on a shelf due to that size. The figure is comprised largely of orange and purple plastic with the purple gi closer to a fuchsia to simulate an aura. There’s some pink shading on the gi as well that’s heavier at the cuffs of the pants and the abdomen. The other paint is reserved for the yellow and red portions and it’s done okay. This figure is a “premium” release and cost $85 so I wouldn’t blame anyone for demanding a little more out of the red piping. The right shoulder on my figure is a little sloppy and there are spots here and there where it could be cleaner. The elbow hinges, which have the pattern continued onto them, are surprisingly clean. I’m a little concerned how these painted hinges will hold up over time, but their movement is smooth so it may be less of an issue than it would be with a cheaper product. The fingernails look like they may just be painted on and they don’t look great. The portraits, on the other hand, are terrific in keeping with Bandai’s output of late. This is a pretty typical release in that it mostly looks fine, but would look improved with a paint wash (especially on the boots) here and there, but that’s something Bandai doesn’t seem to like to do much.

“Oh my, if it isn’t that pathetic Namekian I nearly destroyed all those years ago.”

Like Gohan Beast, Orange Piccolo uses a rubbery overlay for the top of the gi. And like Gohan Beast, this is a mixed bag. On the plus side, you remove any visible joints in the torso. There are new cuts in the cuffs of the shirt though and they need to be accounted for when posing as the figure will look terrible if they’re exposed. The main drawback though is with the articulation. Piccolo has a double-ball peg in his diaphragm, but it’s rendered useless by the overlay. It does nothing aside from annoy as sometimes it will rotate with the waist which can prove irksome since his barely visible abs won’t line-up properly with his pecs. Underneath the overlay, the chest is fully sculpted and painted so if you wanted to you can remove it and have a shirtless, but better articulated, Orange Piccolo, but do you really want to do that to your $85 figure?

“WAIT! WHAT?!? AN ORANGE NAMEKIAN?!”

Like Gohan, the rest of the articulation is mostly fine. The head is on an oddly shaped joint, but it essentially functions as a double-ball peg. The head comes off easy, but it still moves well in tandem with a neck joint and you get up, down, and some nuance. The shoulders are on hinged pegs and that peg slots into a butterfly joint. The arms go out to the side at just about a horizontal position and rotate fine around the cuff of the shirt. The butterfly joint is pretty limited thanks to the overlay. There’s more forward than back, but I question the need to have it at all if it’s going to be this limited. There is a biceps swivel and a double-jointed elbow which does bend past 90 degrees even with the added bulk. The wrists are on hinged ball joints so they rotate and hinge just fine.

“I’ve been looking forward to this, Frieza!”

The waist is on a ball joint so there’s some forward and back to go with the rotation at that joint. The belt is a floating piece that may tab in on the back. The flatter portions of the gi overlay will be exposed if you bend the figure too far in any direction, but the belt can be positioned to remove that. At the hips, the legs go out to the side to almost full splits and Piccolo can kick forward to a horizontal position. They don’t kick back very far and there’s a thigh swivel there that works okay, but isn’t the prettiest joint. Double-jointed knees bend past 90 degrees and the ankles swivel at the top of the boot. Because the boot is such an odd shape, the hinge and ankle rocker offer little range in any direction, but you get a toe hinge!

Not to be forgotten, is Gohan’s new Kamehameha effect part. It can be used with Goku, as well, or even Gohan Beast.

Basically, all of the problems Gohan Beast has so does Piccolo, but because of his bulky appearance, it’s even more restrictive. That’s not necessarily a terrible thing though. While I want my figures to have as much range as possible, this version of Piccolo is unquestionably a bruiser and brawler. I think he has just enough and the only real change I’d implement is to dump that overlay. If the overlay was designed to be removed easily because he went shirtless in the film or something then the trade-off would be worth it, but otherwise I’ve been content with the all plastic approach to the torso of past figures. I did see some reports of people getting figures with loose hips. I can say mine are fine. They could probably stand to be a little tighter, but it isn’t an issue. It’s likely something that’s just going to vary from figure to figure. The rest of the joints are all nice and smooth.

As for accessories actually intended for Piccolo, it’s basically four portraits and some clenching hands and slightly less clenchy hands. In other words, not much.

The one area Orange Piccolo does feel light though is with the accessories. He has just three sets of hands: fists, open, and a slightly clenching hand. He does have four heads: stern, smirk, yelling, and teeth gritting. They all look great too and are viable, but that’s where it ends for Piccolo. Because this is the Super Hero subline, he apparently needs to come with parts for the Gohan Super Hero figure like all of the rest. That means he has a set of clenching hands with posts on them and a Kamehameha effect. It’s the same effect that came with Super Saiyan 4 Goku only now it’s the more traditional blue instead of red. And I like the effect and I like that it can actually work with both Gohan and Goku, but where’s Piccolo’s effect part? I’d rather get an effect part for the actual character I’m buying a figure for, not someone else. It’s nice to have, but did that effect part actually help sell more Orange Piccolo figures? I’m skeptical.

This is one tag team you don’t want to mess with.

Orange Piccolo is another A-/B+ release from Premium Bandai. I like the figure, but I do feel like it’s missing that extra ingredient to push it over the top. And that’s how I’ve felt about basically all of these Premium Bandai figures I’ve purchased based on the movie. And since this was a Premium Bandai release, it’s basically made-to-order so if you snoozed several months ago when it went up for sale you’ve already lost. The MSRP was $85 and those who bought Gohan Beast got free shipping. It’s likely more expensive on the secondary market, but if you must have an Orange Piccolo, that may be your only option. Dragon Ball Super is rumored to be coming back to television in the near future, so maybe when the anime gets to Orange Piccolo we’ll see a re-release of some kind, but that is probably a long way off at this point. The $85 is pretty pricey for what’s in the box. I can give it a somewhat tepid recommend at that price, but anything over $100 would be a really hard sell. Good luck!

Interested in other releases from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero?

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Son Gohan Beast

Last summer, fans of Dragon Ball were treated to a new movie: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The intended purpose of the movie seemed to be to take two somewhat forgotten characters in Piccolo and Gohan and give them a makeover. The manga and anime Dragon Ball Super has basically been a story about Goku…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super – Ultimate Gohan Super Hero

As part of the promotion for the film Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero, Bandai released a wave of action figures from its S.H. Figuarts brand of characters from the film. The neat thing was, these releases were actually really cheap relative to other SHF releases with a MSRP of just $35. Of the four,…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Gamma 1 and Gamma 2

Last year saw the release of a brand new film in the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The mouthful of a title was a bit of a throwback affair. It seemed that Toei and series creator Akira Toriyama wanted to use the film to return the spotlight to Gohan and Piccolo, two…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Film, toys

October 23, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

By Joe
Gambit has arrived.

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true household name. Wolverine was certainly the closest. He was featured in a lot of Marvel related ads and had his own solo comic series as well. Other characters showed up as guests on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends or in the pilot for the never was series, “Pryde of the X-Men” and the arcade game essentially based on it. My own familiarity with the team was mostly from the first run of ToyBiz action figures featuring Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Colossus.

Gambit was not featured in any of those things. For me as a kid in ’92, the first episode of the cartoon series was my introduction to the character and I don’t think I was a unique case. Gambit was the break-out star of the series, as far as I’m concerned. He was essentially designed to be cool. He’s probably over-designed, but somehow Marvel pulled it off. He looks ridiculous, and yet come 1993 that’s who I wanted to be for Halloween. I think it’s the trench coat that brings a lot of that “it” factor upfront and the way his face is framed with that unusual hood he wears and red eyes which adds a mysterious component. I remember thinking his gloves were cool, and for some reason exploding playing cards just struck me as bad ass. All of that allowed him to pull off the hot pink undershirt and that weird, blue, thing he wears around his neck area.

This figure should be pretty familiar to more dedicated Legends collectors.

Following the debut of X-Men, most of my peers would cite either Wolverine or Gambit as their favorite character. That’s just how it was. ToyBiz hit stores with Series 2 of its X-Men line around the same time and Tiger Stripe Wolverine (or Wolverine II) and Gambit were the two hardest to find. Maybe the character’s popularity has faded over the years, but I was surprised that Gambit wasn’t featured in the VHS line of Marvel Legends based on the show. I think the real reason for his exclusion was due to the fact that Hasbro had somewhat recently released a Gambit figure in the same getup on a retro card exclusive to Target. I think it’s even still available. The same was true of Rogue and I think Hasbro made a business decision not to compete with itself for both figures, but if you’re going to have a line of X-Men figures based on the animated series you have to have Gambit.

The heigh isn’t quite right, but I’m not sure it is with any figure in this line. Look at how massive Sinister is, for crying out loud.

Enter X-Men ’97 and its first wave continues to right the wrongs of the VHS line by including, among others, Gambit. This figure is basically a re-release of that Target exclusive with minimal changes that come down to a new head and new overcoat. I don’t have that Target figure, but as far as I know, everything else is the same including the accessories. The paint application is a little different to better reflect the new source material, but that’s it. Chances are, if you have that figure and you’re happy with it, you probably won’t need this one. I, on the other hand, just want an animated Gambit to put on my shelf with the rest of the animated X-Men so I grabbed this one along with Rogue and Magneto so lets see if that was a good decision or not.

The portrait is very animation inspired.

Gambit comes on the same card as the rest of the line with artwork from the show on the front. Out of the box, Gambit stands at approximately 6.25″ to the top of his head and 6.75″ to the top of his hair. Like the rest of this wave, the scale is suspect. Gambit is a bit too tall, but not egregiously so. The head sculpt will get the most attention here as it has a very animated look to it. It’s a very clean approach with few lines to make it easy to animate. I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t look like Gambit from the original series. It looks more like him than the Target figure, but that’s it. He looks reasonably enough like the art from the new show, so that’s fine. The paint is iffy though. The eyes are good and he doesn’t have lipstick, but the edge of the cowl isn’t clean. There’s a spec of flesh color on the right eyebrow of my figure and they added some stubble to his chin via paint. It’s on the character model, so I can’t kill it, but I wish it wasn’t there. The hair is huge and probably divisive. I don’t mind it though. Again, not at all accurate to the ’92 show, but looks fine for X-Men ’97 based on what I’ve seen. There’s no shading on it, but it’s probably fine for the source material.

Gambit comes with his staff, though I’ve never understood why he would need one.

And speaking of shading, you won’t find any on this figure. The coat is an overlay and it’s fine. It’s pretty stiff though and won’t pose at all, but it looks okay in a default pose. The sleeves are part of the sculpt and we’ve seen these before. The hands are unique to Gambit, at least the left hand with two finger gesture, so it’s odd to see fingernails sculpted onto the digits covered by the glove. They’re black, so the flesh part is painted which ironically covers up the fingernails to make them barely noticeable. Maybe this hand is reused for another figure? I don’t know, it seems odd to me. The torso is molded in pink and the blue portion appears to be molded in blue as well and keyed in. The very bottom of the shirt is painted pink and doesn’t match as a result. It’s pink over black plastic, which is an odd choice. I guess it’s because they wanted to do the legs in black so they could paint the pink thigh stripes, but it’s a lot easier to paint black over pink than the opposite. The pink stripes are also sloppy and the black shows through. The boots are just blue plastic and it shows.

It’s a very mixed bag on the presentation. Excepting the boots, the parts in molded plastic look fine, but the paint is bad. Gambit also has the same issue as Rogue in that the overlay coat isn’t snug enough at the shoulder. There’s plenty of pink showing between the sleeve and overlay when it didn’t need to be that way. It’s basically just another figure that is only concerned with the bullet points when it comes to the presentation, but the finer details are most certainly lacking.

Holy crap! An actual effect part!

Gambit does get to have more accessories, at least, when compared with Rogue and Magneto who both just got a hand swap. That’s not to say Gambit is loaded, by any means. He has his staff which is molded in blue, and to my surprise, it appears to be a darker shade than the boots. It’s a staff, so it’s fine. What’s not is the gripping right hand which is too loose for it. Gambit can hold it if you’re patient and careful, but it’s not good enough. And if you wanted a two-handed pose you’ll have to search for a new left hand somewhere because Hasbro didn’t provide one. I mean, you can kind of use the default left hand, but it looks a bit silly. Instead, they provided an effect part hand. It’s molded in a transparent pink plastic or acrylic and has three cards extending from an open hand with a swoosh effect. It looks fine, there are fingernails on the hand again for some stupid reason, but the swoosh kills it for me. It makes no sense because it extends beyond the hand in both directions. The swoosh should end at the front of the hand and extend only one side, not past the hand on both. It makes it look like an energy wave is shooting out with cards too. At any rate, there’s also a single card effect to place between the two fingers of the default hand. I like this one much better and it’s good, but no second portrait? No second gripping hand? No gripping hand that actually works?!

Though it’s not exactly a good effect part. That swoosh makes no sense, but Hasbro keeps re-releasing this damn thing.

The articulation is basically as expected with Gambit. The head is on the hinged ball peg that provides range up, down, and rotation, but zero tilt for more nuanced poses. The shoulders are hinged ball pegs that raise out to the side just past a horizontal position. The biceps swivel is fine and the single-hinged elbows give the figure better than 90 degrees at the elbow plus some swivel. The hands swivel and the gripping hand has a vertical hinge and the other a horizontal one. The torso has an ab crunch that goes forward pretty far, but the coat prevents much use going backwards. There is waist twist, but it’s pretty ugly because it just sits on a peg flush with the hips. The hips kick out to side about 45 degrees and kick forward all the way. There’s some range going back that’s stopped by the coat. There is a thigh cut for a swivel there and they put it in between two of the leg stripes so that’s a plus. The knees bend past 90 pretty far and there is a boot cut in the middle of the shin if you want it, but it’s ugly. The ankles hinge forward and back a solid amount and the ankle rocker is fine. My left ankle is pretty stuck at the hinge and I haven’t tried heating it up to free it.

This is definitely not the most fun figure to pose. The torso joints have acceptable range, but they’re of little use on this figure.

Aside from the left ankle, the rest of the figure is fine as far as joint tolerances go. Like Rogue, the shoulders are a bit tight, but with Gambit I don’t feel any binding at the joint. This one seems less gummy than the other two figures so at least the feel is fine. This is just one of the few figures where I wish Hasbro had inserted a butterfly joint. It would serve him well with his staff and cards, plus the coat would hide it. Double ball joints at the head and waist would also have improved the figure. I don’t think the ab crunch offers much use and a ball joint there that gets some rotation would be better. It’s a very dated approach to articulation, but Gambit’s unique attire means unique tooling is needed and Hasbro doesn’t want to spend money it doesn’t think it has to.

If he’s just going on your shelf then I guess this animated Gambit is passable. When that Mondo one shows up though he’s going to really look like a piece of crap.

The X-Men ’97 version of Gambit is essentially another compromised take on an animated character that will be acceptable for some and unacceptable for others. At $26, it’s too expensive for what’s in the box, but if you want an animated version of Gambit this is what you’re stuck with. And, for me, it’s mediocre, but passable. On the shelf with the rest of the crew, he looks okay. In hand and on its own, the figure isn’t much fun to mess with and a bit frustrating to pose the way I want to. Add the mediocre accessory load-out and frustrating gripping hand and it results in a below average action figure by today’s standards. Here I am essentially talking myself out of what little affection I have for this figure, but to summarize, if you (like me) just want a Gambit for your animated shelf it will probably get the job done. If you want something that’s an improvement over what Hasbro has already released, then you’re going to be let down. As seems to always be the case with Marvel Legends, you’re better off waiting for a sale.

Need to catch up on other X-Men animated Marvel Legends releases?

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mr. Sinister

This week, the long wait for an in-person San Diego Comic Con comes to an end. For the first time since 2019, attendees, creators, and the like will be invited back into the city of San Diego for a celebration of all things comics, movies, and general “nerd” culture. One of the many panels this…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

October 16, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

By Joe
Rogue is back with a facelift.

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance to fill in some gaps. That’s what drew me to Magneto, and that’s what is drawing me towards Rogue.

Rogue comes at us in the same style of card back as Magneto with artwork from the show on the front and a cross-sell on the back. Rogue is in her animated attire which is very similar to the costume Jim Lee designed for her in the comics, but with some minor differences. Her headband is just a headband with no knot on the back and her jacket is green instead of brown. Otherwise, she still has her two-toned hair and her yellow and green bodysuit. And her costume in the new show is the same as the costume from the old show. There is a style change going from the old show to the new and that’s reflected in the figure, but on the surface, this figure should be a candidate to serve as an animated Rogue in your X-Men animated series collection.

If you were introduced to Rogue via the 90s cartoon then you probably prefer her in the green jacket.

Rogue stands at about 6.25″ to the top of her hair. I was critical of the size of Magneto so I should do so here. Rogue is a bit too tall, not egregiously so, but she’s not perfect if that matters to you. I’m okay with it, personally. Her head sculpt is all new. The hair is done with two pieces: one brown and one white. It looks fine. There’s no shading which would probably help, but the two-toned nature of her design covers up for that. Her face and said hair are the most obvious change for the new show. She doesn’t have the big 80s hair she had before, and while her face looks fine, it just doesn’t look like Rogue to me. I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about her face that differentiates it from say Jean, and I think it’s how her eyes are shaped. Usually stretched a bit and diamond shaped. It looks close enough though to the image on the box so ultimately I’m fine with it, this is more information for those looking to fill in the ’92 collection. Her face does have some shine to it, which I don’t care for, but that’s hardly surprising for a Marvel Legends release.

Rogue stands mostly in-line with the other female figures from X-Men.

The rest of the figure is a mix of old and new. The jacket is a floating piece while the sleeves are sculpted. It looks fine, the X logo on her right arm looks pretty ugly, but I have no issue with the approach. The opening for the arms is pretty large though so it’s something you have to be mindful of when posing if you don’t want her to look like she’s wearing a vest. The upper torso piece is new to better match the new show. She’s still a tremendously busty woman, only now the suit isn’t so skin-tight that she looks like she has cantaloupes on her chest. Some might complain that her breasts have been slightly deemphasized, but I personally think this looks better. This new torso does appear to have a slightly different finish to it though, at least the upper part, as the yellow on top doesn’t match the yellow of her abdomen perfectly. It’s slight, but something I notice with the figure in-hand.

You have probably seen a similar meme before. Cartoonists and figure sculptors just love working on Rogue’s butt.

The other main difference between this Rogue and the previously released retro card figure (which I don’t have), is that the boots are now fully sculpted. That figure had the top of the boot represented by a floating piece, but now that’s just sculpted to the thigh. It looks okay. When fully bending the knee it’s probably not as good looking as the previous solution, but at least there’s no fussing with the extra piece. The majority of the figure is molded in yellow and the green is painted on and the paint application is mediocre. The torso is okay, I have some yellow spots but they’re hidden under the jacket, but the thighs are a bit messy. The green straps on the boots also aren’t cleanly applied. And something sure to irritate some, myself included, the green portion of her thighs doesn’t line up on the front and back of the leg. Meaning if you twist the thigh to line the yellow and green up properly on the front of the figure, it will be mis-aligned on the back and vice versa. That’s just annoying, but also speaks to Hasbro as I often get the impression they just don’t care about the details. There’s also a weird paint detail on the side of each thigh. It’s like an extra application of green, but on the plastic seem of the upper thigh. It’s on both sides and I don’t really know what’s going on with it.

“Momma!”

The figure looks fine, it’s just imperfect when some of those imperfections don’t really need to be there. The articulation is also mostly fine. The head is affixed via the usual Marvel Legends hinged-ball peg. For Rogue, it works okay as her hair hides the gap and odd angles when pushing her head all the way down or up, she just doesn’t have a ton of room for nuance posing. The shoulders are hinged pegs and they’re really tight. Perhaps this is the result of creating a new upper torso, but not new arms? They’ve been doing that for years though so one would think they’re experienced at it. The joint is tight though on Rogue and sometimes when rotating it feels like the peg is binding more than rotating. It’s unpleasant, to say the least. The elbows are single-hinged and bend about 90 degrees. There’s also a swivel which works fine. The wrists swivel and hinge horizontally and they’re fine.

“I hate you!”

The diaphragm joint feels like a double ball peg. There’s a little movement to either side and some tilt forward and back, but nothing extreme. It should rotate, but like the shoulders, the joint wants to fight any rotation and is prone to binding. The plastic they’re using is just too gummy. There is no waist articulation and the hips are big ball sockets. She can do better than 45 degrees, but splits are out of the question. She kicks forward pretty well, but she can’t kick back much at all because she’s got herself a pretty ample backside. There is a thigh twist, but the design of her suit means it looks bad when utilized. I would have preferred her hips be designed to swivel on the ball peg. The knees are double-jointed and they’re fine, though there’s some paint transfer from the green to the yellow kneecap on my figure. The ankles are hinged and feature a rocker. The range is fine, but they’re very “clicky” so you basically just have 3 or 4 positions they can get into as there’s no smoothness to the joint.

The glove is off!

The articulation is mostly there, but the quality of the plastic lets the figure down. Those shoulders are problematic as is the diaphragm joint. She should have a joint at the waist, especially considering she has a belt to hide it, but that’s a spot where Hasbro seems to favor aesthetics over articulation with its female figures and I can accept that limitation. She could have double-jointed elbows and it’s mostly Hasbro being cheap in reusing old parts that prevents that from happening. There’s no butterfly joint, but I don’t consider that a terrible loss. Even though she’s a figure that could benefit from being able to rear back in a punching pose. It’s another figure where the quality control, the finer tuning, lets it down so it’s not much fun to pose. She’s also difficult to stand which I think has a lot to do with her body being more slight and her head top-heavy. The lack of nuance with the ankles adds to the frustration.

Sorry Logan, no going back for Morph and Beast.

As was the case with Magneto, Rogue is not going to shine when it comes to accessories. Of those, she has just two: an ungloved right hand and a second left fist that is holding her removed glove. The left hand is reused from the last Rogue release while the right hand is surprisingly different. I’m sure it’s not new, but it’s more of a reaching hand, I suppose? She should have a set of ungloved open hands for grabbing other figures. A second portrait with a more aggressive expression would also be nice. If you want her to look like she’s going to syphon someone’s energy she kind of looks like a creeper with that smile she’s sporting. The cuffs of the gloves are at least separate pieces that slide off of her arm so at least you can make the ungloved hand look convincing, but it feels half-assed still. I feel like a good company would include a ’92 inspired head or something, maybe some effect parts, but that’s not Hasbro.

Rogue comes away feeling a lot like Magneto. This is a fine enough likeness of the new X-Men ’97 design and probably a tolerable stand-in for the ’92 series. Considering the VHS line from Hasbro rarely seemed to feature new tooling, chances are a ’92 Rogue would have just been the previously released retro card with some haphazard cel-shading. At least this figure doesn’t have that blemish. It has problems with the articulation though and the accessories stink. At $26, it’s a harder sell than it should be. I don’t regret buying it, but I can’t give it a full-throated endorsement either. This is the sort of figure one buys out of a sense of obligation: I have an animated X-Men shelf, and it needs a Rogue. It’s not really one that’s bought because it’s a terrific product, but that seems to sum up the Marvel Legends experience.

Interested in more figures based on the animated X-Men?

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mystique

The penultimate figure in this series is a bit of a curveball. When one thinks of the animated series X-Men, the first villains that come to mind are Magneto, Sinister, Apocalypse, Sabretooth, and then it gets muddled. Graydon Creed made quite the impression in the show’s second season and may even be the most hate-able…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Morph

This is it! This is the big one! Back on Halloween of 1992 Fox premiered X-Men and we were introduced to a character named Morph. For comic readers, it was a bit of a re-introduction as Morph was based on the character Changeling, but for copywrite reasons, had to undergo a name change. Changeling wasn’t…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

October 9, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

By Joe
New show, new toyline, that’s how the world works.

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card) and you probably don’t need to be a huge fan of the property to know that eight figures just isn’t enough to properly capture the series in action figure form. Fans can debate on what the biggest omission was and it would certainly be easy to select one of the several X-Men not included, but for me, the one I missed the most was Magneto.

Magneto has long been one of my favorite villains in anything. While he really wasn’t the big baddie he could have been in the show, he still had tremendous presence and was a captivating figure. I was delighted to see Mondo turn to him second for their line of sixth scale figures based on the show and they basically nailed the likeness of the character. In a perfect world, we would all be enjoying X-Men 97 right now, the sequel series to X-Men from the Fox days set to launch on Disney+ in early 2024. It was going to launch this fall which would have coincided with the 31st anniversary of the original show’s premiere, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. The show could be pushed back, but the tie-in merch was basically locked into their release windows so we at least have a new line of Marvel Legends based on the show to talk about.

He’s a bit of a slender boy.

As someone who is a big fan of that original animated series, I saw this X-Men 97 line as a chance to add to what Hasbro gave me in 2022. And I think some of that attitude is present in the character selection as we’re getting four characters right out of the gate not featured in the VHS line: Rogue, Gambit, Bishop, and the subject of this post, Magneto. Hasbro knows people like me will supplement that line with these figures which have a more animated look than a standard Marvel Legend release, even if it’s based on the new series instead of the old one. The characters are all coming on blister cards with artwork from the show on the front and they’re a mix of old and new tools. Unlike the VHS line though, these are definitely designed to resemble the source material where as the VHS line was very inconsistent with its approach. The line was actually pretty bad, if I’m being honest, but I keep buying this stuff anyway because nostalgia is a hell of a thing. If you think Marvel Legends are only getting worse these days then I guess I’m part of the problem as I’m still buying compromised visions of the characters I love.

There’s no cel-shading in this line, but he does have shadowy eyes. I just wish they went a bit heavier on the shading like the source material.

I’m looking at Magneto first because, as I said, he was the one I missed the most from the VHS line. He’s also the figure that best fits the style of the 92 series as not much has changed. I don’t collect enough Marvel Legends to know if the parts here are new or not, but they’re new to me. Out of the box, he stands at approximately 6.25″ to the dome of his helmet. We’ll get the accessories out of the way right now as he just has clenchy hands out of the box and a set of fists. He’s depicted in his classic attire from episode 3 of the original series: helmet, purple cape, red gloves. His costume changed here and there throughout the show. Sometimes he had purple gloves, something the part of his costume covering his neck and upper chest was red, but this is how he looked in Season One (and how he’ll presumably look, at least in the early going, of the new show). The crest on his helmet isn’t painted, but it doesn’t appear to be in the new show either. An outline might have helped though. The helmet has a very glossy appearance, but since it’s supposed to be metal I’m okay with that. The rivets holding his cape on are also shiny and there’s a little pearl quality to the purple portions of the wrists and shins. Those parts are painted, and the application is just okay. There’s some red poking through on the left shin of my figure and the lines aren’t all clean.

“Why is my hand shrunken when opened?”

The red portions of the costume are just colored plastic, but they have a nice, matte, finish. The cape is also colored plastic with a similar finish. I like how they sculpted in some shape into the shoulders which adds a little flair to the look. There is no cel-shading with this line, but Hasbro did paint the face with some black around the eyes as Magneto is often depicted in both the comics and animation. I like it, but I think they could have gone a little heavier with the black. There’s also some missed spots in between the eye and the eyebrow. The helmet is a separate, non-removable, piece and the face is painted underneath it. I don’t like the lipstick and I feel like his eyes are a little too high, but the face is okay enough.

The dainty hands are more pronounced when compared with Cyclops.

What I can’t shake though is the feeling that Magneto is just too small. X-Men 97 is a continuation of the original series so it stands to reason that the characters are the same size as they were back then. In that original series, Magneto was around 6’3″ and was basically eye-to-eye with Cyclops and Gambit if not a touch taller. With this figure, he is shorter than both Cyclops and Gambit. He’s also a touch slighter of build in comparison with the VHS Cyke. Maybe the new show is going for a slimmer profile with its characters and if so, criticism revoked, but the height is still an issue. Also of issue are the clenching hands which are almost comically undersized. Compare his open hand with Cyke’s two-finger hand and it’s like comparing a child to an adult. The fist hands are fine, and actually look like they’re reuse from Cyclops, and it’s even easier to see how small the clenching hands are by comparing them with the fists as there’s no way those two hands could be the same. The only big parts of the figure are his feet, which look terrible. They look like loafers and not boots. Magneto is a character that’s all about presence, so his size feeling off is a bigger deal here than it might be with other characters.

These two will never see eye-to-eye.

Articulation for Magneto is a touch limited for a Marvel Legends release, but that’s not exactly a deal-breaker. The head is on a hinged ball peg so you get range looking up and down, but it lacks the nuance of a double-ball peg. The shoulders are standard ball hinges and they raise out to the side past horizontal and rotate as far as the cape allows. The cape can be moved as it’s glued down to the figure’s chest, but also pegs into the middle of the back which can be popped out easily if you need it to. There are no butterfly joints, but I’m okay with that. There is a biceps swivel and double-jointed elbows that go past 90. They’re not the best looking elbows, and the entire figure has a bit of a gummy feel, but they work. The wrists swivel and both sets of hands feature horizontal hinges.

Lets bring in Gambit for another size comparison.

In the torso is an ab crunch that actually works really well going forward and back. There is a waist twist below the sash that works, but it gets ugly if you go too far. The hips are simple ball socket hips which can almost hit a full split going out to the side. They kick forward 90 degrees and kick back a little bit as well. There is the standard thigh cut which works fine and double-jointed knees that bend past 90 without issue. The ankles hinge forward and back and at least these ugly feet have solid range. The ankle rocker is also there and works fine.

If only he had an effect part of his own.

The articulation isn’t amazing or anything, but at least what is here works about as well as it could, minus the tactile issues. It’s enough for Magneto who basically just raises out his arms and floats around. What is lacking are the accessories since there basically is none. No un-helmeted head, no flight stand, no power effects. Just a figure with mis-matched hands. Is it enough? This figure cost me $26 and it’s a pretty bare bones release, all things considered. Any way you slice it, that isn’t great value. That’s probably why a lot of Marvel Legends are clearance buys for many people out there.

Yeah, he doesn’t look as good or come with as much stuff as the Mondo version, but it is almost a tenth of the price.

I bought this Magneto to go with my VHS set of figures. I know others are buying it for their comic collection. Presumably, there are people out there buying the figure to put on an X-Men 97 shelf, but with the show not out I guess it’s not surprising there isn’t a lot of folks going in that direction. For what I wanted out of this Magneto, it works. It’s undersized and lacking in bells and whistles, but otherwise looks the part. Is that worthy of your twenty-six dollars? That’s for you to decide. As for me, I don’t regret this one and compared to the VHS line he’s honestly among the better of those figures. It’s just a terrible value for what you’re getting, but as long as Hasbro is the only game in town it’s all we got.

Interested in more figures based on the animated X-Men?

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

The toyline of my dreams was announced last October. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television series X-Men, Hasbro is doing a dedicated line of Marvel Legends with figures based on the look of the show. The show was obviously inspired by the designs of Jim Lee, but there are differences in the…

Keep reading
by Joe

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Magneto

If you showed a random individual this blog and asked them what my favorite cartoon was as a kid I’m guessing they would go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they wouldn’t be wrong as that was my favorite for a time, but come 1992 I was starting to drift away from that show. Batman:…

Keep reading
by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Cyclops

I wasn’t sure he would make it in time, but Hasbro managed to ship Cyclops before the end of the year. Cyclops marks the final figure (for now) in Hasbro’s X-Men animated series subline of Marvel Legends. It has been…a ride. What was once a dream line of mine to see brought to fruition, turned…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television, toys

October 3, 2023

Plunderstrong Captain Blackjak

By Joe
That’s a pretty big gun.

In 2020, Lone Coconut, a small company out of the Dominican Republic, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a line of original action figures called Plunderlings. They’re basically little imp-like creatures with a pirate motif that have a very charming design. From an engineering point of view, they made for a smart toyline because every figure was nearly the same just with different paint and accessories to differentiate them. They were a hit too and Lone Coconut was able to fund the campaign and also find a partner in Big Bad Toy Store to release more figures beyond that campaign.

“I’m gonna tell my big brother!”

Last year, Lone Coconut returned with a new campaign: Plunderstrong and Plunderlong. As the names imply, these are new figures in the Plunderlings universe that happen to take on a different shape. The Plunderstrong is a hulking brute with broad shoulders, square-jawed heads and gorilla-like arms. The Plunderlong is basically a stretched-out version of a Plunderling: longer torso, longer head, longer everything (heh heh). Like the first campaign, this one was a success too. After having passed initially on Plunderlings, I decided I wasn’t going to miss out this time so I joined the campaign for one Plunderstrong and one Plunderlong plus some additional accessories. Product was supposed to arrive back in the late winter or early spring, but delays happened which isn’t unusual for a small producer like Lone Coconut. It’s now the fall, and the Plunderstrong is being shipped all across the globe as promised. As for the Plunderlong, there was some issue with the final factory output that needed to be addressed so that one will ship a bit later. Works for me, as now I can spread out my reviews so lets talk about the Plunderstrong I ordered: Captain Blackjak.

He’s obviously big compared to the Plunderling, but even compared to other figures this guy has some size.

Like the Plunderlings, the Plunderstrongs are essentially the same figure across the board with minor differences. Captain Blackjak is a true pirate figure, and as the name implies, his skin tone is black. He comes in a box that looks just like the one the Plunderlings came in right down to even having optional ears you can slot into the sides. The only difference is it’s much bigger. The Plunderstrong stands at around 6.75″ making him basically twice the size of a Plunderling. And that’s just in height. His shoulders are probably as broad as a Plunderling is tall and he has a big, barrel chest. The big beefy arms extend down to his ankles and he has oversized feet to help him stand. If the goal for this figure was to add some size to your Plunderlings display then mission very much accomplished.

Big, but not massive.

The sculpt on Blackjak is pretty basic. The body is basically a blank. It’s molded in gray and then painted over to give it a nice, matte, finish. This does mean it can be prone to paint imperfections and mine has a scratch in the left bicep which is unfortunate, but I do like the approach. The base head is basically a neutral expression and he has black eyes like the Plunderlings and some teeth poking out of his mouth. There is a belt and it’s soft plastic that’s either glued or pegged in place since it doesn’t move a whole lot. It’s pretty well painted, though they included bits of his torn, black, shorts poking out from above the belt as part of the sculpt and some of the edges are unpainted. Below the belt, the crotch is painted black and the torn parts of the shorts on the top of the thighs are separate pieces that snap onto the top of the legs. The one on my figure’s right leg wasn’t seated all the way out of the box so I had to take it apart and check it out. If you have a similar issue, just heat the piece up with some hot water and then snap it back in place. I couldn’t get it on without heating it.

Trying to do the “big” devil horns, but he can’t quite get his hands together.

The only other painted details on the body are the painted toenails and fingernails as well as the earrings. There are some optional parts including two additional portraits: an angry expression and a yelling one. The yelling one is painted very well and I like the toon quality of the mouth shape on it. The other hands are gripping hands and the fingernails are done well on that one. He also has some clothing which includes a pirate hat and overcoat. Both are done in black plastic with gold-painted trim and the paint is done very well on both. The hat fits into place via a magnet, and after having an issue with the magnets flipped around in their second production run of Plunderlings, I am happy to say they’re back to the direction they were in for the Kickstarter. The coat is designed to just fit over the figure’s shoulders, the sleeves aren’t real sleeves. It looks good though and it’s certainly a unique fit. It does hinder the articulation a little bit, but since it’s soft it’s pretty easy to pose the figure however you wish and then slide the coat on.

You’re going to want to track down the boom crate to get the most of the canon accessory.

Blackjak’s main accessory is his big, freakin’, canon. This thing is designed to be held by the handles on the front and rear and basically held sideways. The texture of the sculpt and the paint detail on it are terrific. It’s also very light so the figure can hold it with ease, but it’s also made out of a very hard plastic so there’s no give to the handles at all. As a result, it’s easy to end up with some paint rub when snapping it into the gripping hands. There are also three, gold, hooks included in the box that can slot into the back of the jacket. With the Plunderlings, these were used as weapon holsters. For this particular Plunderstrong, they’re essentially useless because the canon is so big.

I love this plume effect, but man do I wish it worked better.
This canon basically needs to be propped against something to take advantage of the blast part.

Unfortunately, to get the most out of your canon you need to get the Boom Crate. As far as I know, this is a Kickstarter exclusive, but maybe that will change in the future. The Boom Crate includes a blast effect for the canon, four types of projectiles, and another attachment to make the canon look like it’s loaded. The loaded accessory is just clear acrylic with a hinged ball peg at the end. You peg it into the canon, then peg one of the projectiles to the hinged peg to create the illusion that it’s been loaded into the canon. The projectiles you have to choose from include a gray, stone, canon ball, a black bowling ball, a brown coconut, and a black, spiked, ball with gray spikes. These work great, but there is a problem when you get to the blast effect. This is done with clear plastic that’s red-orange at the base that expands into smoke. The projectile plugs into the smoke portion and the effect looks great. The problem is this piece is quite heavy and getting Blackjak to stand and hold it is pretty damn difficult. I’ve managed to get the figure to do it here and there, but the stance never lasts very long as eventually the figure falls over.

These extra hands let him palm bowling balls and Plunderling skulls.

The other challenge with the Boom Crate is that the gripping hands that come with Blackjak aren’t that great. You’re better off using the hands from another Kickstarter add-on: the muscle crate. That set includes two fist hands, two open “palming” hands, and two “tea-sipping” hands. The tea-sipping hands, which have the index and middle finger in a pinching pose with the pinky finger extended, actually seem to grip the canon better than the gripping hands. It at least definitely helps to use one for whichever hand is gripping the front handle. It might not help much in keeping the figure upright, but I’m glad to have it. The palming hands work well to hold the various projectiles. They even have magnets in them and if you have any of the second-run Plunderlings you can have your Plunderstrong palm some heads with those.

I love the Hatchlings. Such a good idea for the extra heads.

The other accessories I shelled out for were some more Hatchling crates. The Hatchlings are small, barely articulated bodies that basically are a fun way to store the extra heads and hands. Well, with the Plunderstrong the hands no longer work, but the heads still do. As a result, Blackjak comes with a set of Plunderling fists and each Hatchling set comes with another set of fists so you can complete both Hatchlings since you’ll always have two extra heads. As kind of another bonus, the Plunderling heads work with the canon effect parts so you can simulate a Plunderling being shot out of a canon. I definitely like that, and the Plunderlong I ordered is essentially made for this. The Plunderstrong head can probably work as well, though it’s boxier and doesn’t seem to move as freely. I also had a hard time getting one onto the ball hinge, but I bet if I dunked it in hot water first it would go on much easier.

Since the plug effect for the boom crate is the same as the head peg, you can do some fun swaps.

That’s a lot of stuff covered, but we still need to talk about the articulation. How well does this big guy move? Pretty well, though there are some issues and peculiarities to point out. The head is on a ball hinge which isn’t my favorite setup. It’s okay as you’ll get some upward movement on the hinge and obviously it rotates fine. There’s very little nuance posing though and it doesn’t look down. To get these guys to look down at the Plunderlings, you’ll need to use the ball hinge in the chest. It’s a bit weird, but it does work to provide some forward and back movement. Go too far though and the hinge is exposed. There’s also no rotation there.

That also means the heads can snap into the canon parts.

At the shoulders, we get ball hinges with butterfly joints. The arms raise out to the side past 90 degrees and the butterfly lets the figure move forward and back at the joint a little. It’s not a ton, but it’s probably enough to be worth having. Some might not like how disconnected the shoulders look from the body, but I like the range and the size of the arms works for me. Past that, we get a biceps swivel which is fine and single joints at the elbow that will give you a 90 degree bend, maybe a little better. The hands peg in and all feature a hinge. Gripping hands have vertical hinges and the rest have horizontal – good! At the waist is a simple twist. The hips connect via large ball pegs and you get a little swivel on that ball joint plus a full thigh swivel where the thighs meet the shorts. The knees are double-jointed and bend well past 90 degrees while the ankles feature hinges and ankle rockers.

I actually got the figure to stand unaided for a moment, but it basically lasted long enough for this picture.

In terms of joints, there’s a mix of really tight and some loose. The wrist hinges on the gripping hands were very tight, I’d go so far as to say stuck, on mine. Most of the hinge joints were pretty tight, but I didn’t need to use heat to free anything up except for one of the gripping hands. And even there, the peg is pretty short and thick so I wasn’t overly concerned about breaking anything. The left shoulder on my figure was also partially disconnected out of the box, but it was easy to pop back in. The only loose joints are the hips. The right hip was okay, while the left was way too loose. My figure had no chance of standing with the canon as the added weight forced it into splits. I popped the leg off and coated the ball joint in glue, let it dry, then popped it back on. Now it’s much better and I may do the same to the right hip as it could be tighter. Swapping the heads and hands is also a little tough, but nothing has broken or seems stressed so I’m not considering that a critique, just an observation.

A small horde awaits!

Overall, if you enjoyed the Plunderlings then I think you’ll enjoy the Plunderstrong. The approach is essentially the same, it’s just a brand new mold. I like the design of the Plunderstrong and I think it’s a really fun character to look at. Captain Blackjak was just my favorite of the bunch, but there are others out there that also look pretty great. That said, the figure is not without its problems. The joint tolerance could be, and should be, better and I think that canon needed a little bit of refinement. If it was going to be so hard to pose the figure with that blast effect in the canon, then maybe the Boom Crate should have included a tripod like attachment for the canon? Something that would allow it to be handheld or stationary would have been cool. And it probably should have included a flame effect for the fuse. Are those nitpicks? Maybe to some, but these also aren’t cheap as they ran for 60 bucks a piece.

It’s a happy family.

If you would like to add some Plunderstrongs to your collection, your only avenues right now are either on the secondary market or via Big Bad Toy Store. They essentially partnered up with Lone Coconut on these and they ordered a bunch to sell. It will cost you extra though as BBTS is looking to get 70 bucks for each. That’s pretty steep, but this is coming from a small shop. I like supporting the indies, so I’m going to recommend getting at least one Plunderstrong. My review is for Blackjak and I’m pretty happy with this one, but probably any of them are just as good. It comes down to what your preference is as far as the looks go. Here’s hoping it won’t be much longer until the Plunderlong arrives!

Like buying action figures from smaller producers? Check these out:

Plunderlings Nomad Goyle & Hatchlings

Last April I posted a review of the Plunderlings Raider Fwush from Lone Coconut. I was pretty charmed by the little goblin-like creature and found the action figure to be pretty fun. It’s also always a little rewarding to know that in buying such a toy I’m supporting a small shop like Lone Coconut. When…

Keep reading
by Joe

Boss Fight Studio Sam & Max

Sometimes a toy comes along that I just can’t ignore. There’s just something neat about it, or the aesthetic so on point, that I want to own it even if I have little or no attachment to the source material. Such is the case with the Boss Fight Studio release of Sam & Max. I…

Keep reading
by Joe

Plunderlings Raider Fwush

When I first came across the Kickstarter drive for a series of action figures called Plunderlings I was almost instantly smitten. The little impish creatures reminded me of some characters I used to doodle as a kid. In my mind, they look a lot like what I used to draw, but given I was much…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in toys

September 27, 2023

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Sabretooth

By Joe
No one loves Sabretooth? I love Sabretooth.

It’s Halloween 1992. You’re sitting in front of the television with a bowl of candy and your costume in pieces. Coming on is a prime time airing of Fox’s newest superhero cartoon: X-Men. You’ve seen the comics at the grocery store and in other places. You know Wolverine, you know there’s a guy who shoots lasers out of his eyes and that the bad guy can stick to your refrigerator. Outside of that though, there’s still a lot to be discovered. The theme song kicks in composed by Ron Wasserman which gets your blood pumping. A dazzling array of colorful costumes and bright lights play before your eyes – it’s too much to take in with just a single viewing, but as the characters line up for a colossal battle they slam together and the logo “X-Men” overtakes them. The screen is then filled by the snarling, angry, face of someone you don’t know. He’s massive! And scary! And he sends a police car hurtling towards the screen!

That character is Sabretooth and he has the honor of being the first character shown in an episode of X-Men. In less than a year, the X-Men will practically be household names. It will be the highest rated show on Saturday mornings and it will stay there through reruns all summer finally ceding the throne in the fall to a little show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It’s kind of a big deal considering Fox was also airing Batman at the same time which was coasting off of Batman Returns and starred a character that had already been a household name for decades. As for Sabretooth, I had never given much thought to him being the first character we see in the show following the opening credits (which prominently displays all of the heroes and a bunch of the villains, including Sabretooth), but it was apparently by design. Sabretooth is the fourth release in Mondo’s line of sixth scale action figures based on X-Men, and on the inner flap of his box there’s a write-up for the character by the showrunner, Eric Lewald, and his wife and fellow writer Julia which explains why Sabretooth was chosen to essentially lead-off the series. And it’s because he’s big, intimidating, and scary. They wanted the viewer to understand why humanity would fear mutants. X-Men was not a show that was going to show its characters in stark black and white tones, and it was important to see how something like the Mutant Control Act could come about while also showing why it was fundamentally flawed in the episodes to come.

Sabretooth may be listed as figure 5 on the box, but he’s the fourth release.

It’s always fun to learn new details on decades old shows, but it’s also more fun to get a brand-spankin’ new action figure! As mentioned before, Sabretooth is figure number four in this line of action figures from Mondo, even though he was actually solicited fifth. Somehow, he leap-frogged over Gambit, but I’m not complaining. Spoiler alert, Sabretooth is probably the best year in the line and it’s a line that’s been trending in the right direction. Each release has been better than the last. While I subjectively prefer Magneto to Jubilee, I can’t argue that her figure is just a little bit better when it comes to function. Magneto had some ticks about him and his articulation is very limited due to his cape, but Jubilee remedied a lot of the little things. Sabretooth has an even cleaner sculpt and the quality control on the joints is superb. It’s not a perfect figure, but it is pretty damn close.

Poor Sabretooth…

Sabretooth comes in a massive box adorned with production artwork from the series and a new illustration by storyboard artist on the show, Dan Veesenmeyer. Sabretooth is the biggest figure in the line, so he gets the biggest box – makes sense. It has a front flap that opens up to reveal a window behind it, but Mondo packages their figures so well in plastic that the window isn’t very revealing for in-box collectors. It at least allows space for that write-up I mentioned which is both enlightening and pretty damn entertaining as it contains the line, “No one loves Sabretooth.” It also contains a reveal, of sorts, in that we the viewer are supposed to interpret that Sabretooth murders his son, Graydon Creed, at the end of the episode “Bloodlines.” The Friends of Humanity essentially leave their disgraced founder to suffer at the hands of Sabretooth and it’s hard to imagine the cold-hearted fiend taking it easy on the mutant racist just because they’re kin, but still a bit shocking to have his end confirmed.

He’s bigger than the others, but he could be bigger.

Out of the box, Sabretooth stands an impressive 12.5″ to the top of his head and around 13″ to the top of his mane. This makes him the tallest figure in the line, though he’s not much taller than Magneto. As was the case with past releases in this line, it’s likely that Sabretooth isn’t true sixth scale. The model sheet with height references from the show had him at 6.5′. You may think that’s too short and you would be correct as the model sheet has him with bent knees and hunched forward. I’m guessing that’s how he was supposed to be drawn more often than not, though in his early appearances we see him splayed out in a hospital bed which makes him look far bigger. Six and a half feet at sixth scale is exactly 13″, but this figure is 13″ when standing upright so it’s not exact. I personally get it as making this figure much bigger would make things a lot more difficult. Bigger equals more weight and that’s more of a burden on joints. It’s also added cost and this guy was already $240 as is. The figure can work at this size, and it’s actually more of a problem with Wolverine who came in much too tall. If he were the proper height the display would look better. As it stands, the only scale-related issue I have with Sabretooth is that he needed to be downsized not just in height, but all around, so his head size is small compared with the other figures in the line. Not egregiously so, but it noticeably and at this price point we have to get picky.

Who ya got? The egg-suckin’ piece of gutter trash or the runt?!

Issues of scale aside, the rest of the presentation on this figure is pretty damn fantastic. Once again, we’re dealing with a sculpt from Alex Brewer with the paint master being handled by Mark Bristow. This figure presents Sabretooth as he appeared in the show’s first season in which he made multiple appearances with most coming in the the show’s third and fourth episodes. This means he has the red-brown chest that continues all the way up to his cowl. Later appearances would have the red stop at his pecs. He also seemed to be drawn smaller in those later appearances, but we’re done dissecting his height. This edition of Sabretooth sports a costume design very similar to the Jim Lee redesign that was in the comics, but there are some subtle differences most notably being that the sleeves don’t feature any red on the back. Instead, they’re orange and the red begins at the gloves. Sabretooth’s costume always was a bit tricky to figure out as he looks almost nude, but his face is a different color implying it’s all a bodysuit. The episode “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape” would toss us a curveball though in having Sabretooth remove a glove revealing his forearm and hand to be the same color as his apparent sleeve implying he’s just plain naked. I think it was an animation error, but then there’s also a scene where Sabretooth basically transforms from a relatively normal looking person into the costume we see today so I have no idea what was going on there.

Sabretooth called the head of Talos an ashtray on the show which is kind of surprising that the censors allowed any reference to smoking to sneak in.

This version of Sabretooth is known less for the costume and more for just being a hulking monster. He is way bigger than he often was drawn in the comics and it’s almost all in his upper body. His shoulders and chest are just plain massive. His abs were also ridiculous with some shots in the cartoon giving him a 12-pack as his abs basically continued into his crotch. His design is over-the-top and I am here for it. This is how I picture Sabretooth in my head and basically every action figure I ever owned of the character have left me unimpressed because he just wasn’t big enough. For me, this figure is a long time coming as he looks like he stepped out of my VCR and into my room. While Mondo didn’t go as crazy on the abs as the show sometimes did, he does have an 8-pack and that feels appropriate. His shoulders and biceps are appropriately large as is the chest. His body tapers in towards his waist as it did in the show and his legs are long. The claws on his fingers are pronounced just enough and rather pointy too. We talk about shelf presence a lot in the action figure world, but this is a figure that has shelf presence to spare.

Protect yourself and your pet: buy a muzzle.

And a lot of that is due to the excellent paint job. The sculpts have been good in this line, but it’s the paint that really makes them next level. Anyone who turns their nose up at cel-shading on action figures has never held one of these figures in their hands. It’s impressive, and Mondo selected the exact right tones to shade this figure. Even better, is all of the black linework around every muscle and feature on this sculpt that really gives it that pop. And even with all of this paint, it’s applied in a very clean manner. You have to go hunting with this guy to find imperfections. Some of this has to be hand-painted so there will be some variations from figure to figure, but on my copy at least there’s little to no paint slop to be found. There’s just little spots here and there along the black lines where it could have lined up with the sculpt a little better, but it’s by and large pretty damn good. The only thing I would categorize as an eyesore on this figure are the elbows, which are unpainted. They have black linework on then, but the joint is bare plastic and it’s not a perfect match for the painted parts. It can be hidden some by bending the elbows. It’s also going to show up more under harsher lighting, and in my photos which I utilized a flash for most it’s more visible than it is on my shelf as I type this.

He sure does love his explosives!

Sabretooth comes with a pretty substantial spread of accessories, though he’s a character that also doesn’t demand a whole lot. For heads, we get two to choose from: snarling/yelling and an open-mouth smile. I think both work very well and suit the character and it is hard to choose between the two. I’ll probably go with the smirk more often than the snarl, but I do enjoy both. For hands, we get three sets: fists, C-grip, and what Mondo describes as dramatic. They’re basically open, clawing, hands and what I think many will choose to pose him with. The gripping hands work with a pair of accessories. One, is the head of Talos (or ashtray) from “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape.” It’s the head and the circuitry for the neck. Nothing articulates, but it’s painted very well and it’s a fun, episode-specific, inclusion. The other accessory he can grip is a handheld detonator and it goes with the explosives. This is from the episode “Cold Vengeance” where he and Wolverine battle in Alaska. Both aspects of the accessory are well-sculpted and well-painted and it’s another fun inclusion. I honestly can’t see myself ever displaying Sabretooth with the Talos head in hands, but I could with the explosives.

Does a mutant healing factor contribute to a healthy head of hair?

If you got the special timed edition of the figure from Mondo then you also got more stuff. For an extra 15 bucks, you get a third portrait of Sabretooth unmasked and sporting a smirk. This from the end of the episode “Bloodlines” referenced on the packaging flap. It looks great, but like the Fairy Tale Theater Jubilee head, it doesn’t match the rest of the figure as Sabretooth was out of costume for that scene. It’s still cool to get an unmasked head, but I’ll probably never use this and would have preferred a standard head with a new expression. Maybe unconscious? The timed edition also comes with the muzzle the X-Men put Sabretooth in when he was captured in “Beyond Good and Evil Part III.” You can basically slot it over either of the standard heads and then pop the head on to complete the effect and it looks pretty cool. It’s definitely a worthwhile inclusion. Lastly, we get a blaster and two trigger hands to hold it. The blaster is, once again, pulled from the episode “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape” and it looks accurate to the show. This is an item I can see getting added to my display when I want to change things up because it looks pretty damn cool. The trigger hands also work well with the detonator, arguably better than gripping hands.

Sabretooth isn’t really a gun guy, but he pulls it off.

For the timed edition, I’d say that’s a pretty robust assortment of accessories. And if you wanted to save a bit of money and go the standard route, I don’t think you’re missing out on anything essential. Sabretooth is a brawler at heart, so really just the heads and hands are all he truly needs, but I’m always happy to have more. Where this line is typically not that impressive is the articulation. The characters really didn’t move all that well in the show so one could argue they don’t need to do much, but why be limited by the source material if you don’t have to be?

“Ya done nice, girly! And as a reward I’ll finish you off clean and fast!”

Sabretooth has a double-ball for the head that lets him look up and down a bit and rotate. There’s some nuance posing, and perhaps more important than the range, it’s easy to swap heads without scuffing anything. The shoulders are standard ball-hinges and he can get his arm up to about horizontal and rotate. There’s no biceps swivel, but he does have a swivel at the elbow which contains a single hinge that will bend about 90 degrees. The wrists are hinged ball-pegs so he can rotate and move the hand up and down or in and out depending on the direction of the hinge. And unlike Wolverine and Magneto, I had no issues getting the hands to rotate on the peg. In the diaphragm, there’s a big ball joint that lets the figure lean back a bit and forward a bit. It can rotate and tilt to the side as well. The waist is another ball joint, but it’s deep in there and the figure has one of those rubber diaper pieces so you won’t get much back and forth, but you will get rotation. The hips are big ball pegs that allow the legs to go out to the side past 45 degrees. He can kick forward as well, but not a full 90 with minimal range going back. The thighs do swivel, and the knees are double-jointed with swivels above and below the knee. The ankle hinges forward and back and have an ankle rocker. It’s the only joint that feels a tad stubborn, especially the right ankle, so the range isn’t quite what I’d like.

“Back off, dweeb!”

The articulation is basic, and the figure is quite heavy so there are limits to how it can pose. Aside from the ankle, nothing was stuck. The knees are a touch looser than I’d like and I’m sort of questioning if the double-joint makes sense here. Between the bending and the swiveling, the figure can sometimes want to kick out. I have had no issues getting him to stand, but I often don’t feel comfortable leaving him be in some poses. It does work better to have the figure in a crouch, which makes sense for the character, and I did leave him standing unsupported for days without falling. Mondo does include its usual stand and it’s actually slightly different. There’s more weight in the base so it probably works better than it typically does. And it’s actually usable with Sabretooth since he doesn’t have a cape or giant coat to get in the way. I’m not presently using it, but I did consider it this time around.

With each release, it gets harder to find space, but it’s a good problem to have.

Mondo is not trying to give collectors a super articulated line, just enough to create some distinct poses. What Mondo prioritizes is the aesthetic and it’s hard to imagine anyone making a better Sabretooth figure than what we have here. I love this figure. This is the Sabretooth I wanted when I was a kid. Maybe not at this size, but definitely these proportions. The sculpt is awesome, the paint incredible, and there’s plenty of stuff in the box. I am as pleased as I could be with this release. If Mondo were doing this line at 1:12 scale they wouldn’t be able to keep the stuff in stock. By doing sixth scale, it does shrink the market because this line needs a lot of space and it’s not cheap to collect, but it is so much more satisfying to behold than what some other companies have done with this property. If you’re in on this line and cherry-picking, this is a cherry to go after.

If this review has you wondering about the rest of the line, see below:

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Jubilee

When one hears the phrase “mall babe” it implies a certain visual. Probably a short, young, girl with intentionally messy, short hair. There’s a certain confidence the phrase exudes so she has to have style. Maybe hot pink, bright blues, and certainly a long yellow coat with gloves to match! There has to be an…

Keep reading
by Joe

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Magneto

If you showed a random individual this blog and asked them what my favorite cartoon was as a kid I’m guessing they would go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they wouldn’t be wrong as that was my favorite for a time, but come 1992 I was starting to drift away from that show. Batman:…

Keep reading
by Joe

Mondo X-Men TAS Wolverine 1/6 Scale SDCC Exclusive Action Figure

When San Diego Comic Con was cancelled for 2021, many of the entities that would have sold exclusive merchandise at the event pivoted to web sales. And since the 2020 iteration of the famed event was also canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many seemed to expect the same for 2021, or the massive delays…

Keep reading
by Joe

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television, toys

September 21, 2023

Mezco One:12 Collective Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Green Ranger

By Joe
Say it with me: “It’s morphin’ time!”

Remember San Diego Comic Con? That event back in July? Well, it turns out people are still waiting on product tied to that event. It’s become such a huge event in the world of collecting that most companies that attend have some sort of event exclusive to either sell or give-away. The action figure producers of the world all go about distributing those in different ways. Some companies strictly sell product at the event on a first come first serve basis. Others like to make the product available online too for non-attendees. Some setup preorders that ship after the event while others open preorders for a future production run. In short, the whole concept of an “exclusive” is barely hanging on, but no one cares because if a company has a neat figure ticketed for the show then most would like to be able to buy it without going to San Diego.

The Green Ranger is only my second figure from Mezco joining the 1989 edition of Batman.

For Mezco, one of their exclusives this year was the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Mezco opted to sell the figure at the event and also allow fans to preorder one before the event which would ship once the event was concluded. NECA did the same thing and I got their set several weeks back. Mezco took their sweet time though and even though the event ended nearly two months ago, I’m just now getting my Green Ranger I paid for back in June. And that was after it sat in “label created” purgatory for a month in the FedEx app. Speed is clearly not Mezco’s strong suit. This figure, after all, was first unveiled more than 2 years ago. At least with this one Mezco didn’t put it up for preorder and take everyone’s money back in 2021, lord knows it was a long wait for Batman. Making the most popular Power Ranger a convention exclusive though was surprising, but maybe Hasbro limited the distribution. Either way, the figure is out and in people’s hands now and I’m here to tell you if it was worth the wait.

I’m not a huge fan of soft goods costumes on figures, which is why most of what Mezco puts out doesn’t appeal to me, but this figure works with about the only eyesore being this seam on the rear of the figure.

My experience with Mezco is very limited which I detailed in my Batman ’89 review not that long ago. In short, most Mezco figures don’t appeal to me. Their bread and butter is soft goods clothing and most of my interests are taken from animation or comics and soft goods on most superhero bodies just look frumpy and bad, to me. I wouldn’t pay 10 bucks for most Mezco figures, let alone the $95 and up many go for. Where Mezco’s strength lies with me is in live action properties. I got the Batman figure because it was based on a live-action movie and I wanted a figure that looked like it stepped off of the big screen, but at a smaller scale than what Hot Toys provides. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fits that aesthetic very well. Plus, it gets to compete with other versions of the characters released in just plastic. It’s apparently quite challenging to get these simple designs to translate well to plastic making the soft goods approach very intriguing. When Mezco first showed off its render of the Green Ranger, I knew I wanted it because it looked almost perfect. I’m basically a casual fan of MMPR, but I’ll grab a Green Ranger when it’s interesting or otherwise just looks good and I can be happy with just that. Mezco’s offering figured to be the most expensive Green Ranger I’d ever get, but it also looked like a safe bet to be the best.

The Lightning Collection (left) might be closer to true 1:12 scale. The Super7 version (right) is supposed to be 1:10.

The Green Ranger comes in the standard One:12 Collective box with insert tray inside. There’s some artwork on the front of the character which is repeated on the back. There are no product shots and no window, but since it was sold only at a convention where one was on display or online I guess it doesn’t matter. The figure comes covered with bits of plastic to protect the paint and soft goods, but isn’t otherwise held down by anything in the tray which is nice. Once placed on a surface, the figure cuts a pretty nice profile, though Mezco clearly took some liberties with the design. The figure is a little bulkier than the actors who played the character on television as well as taller. I mentioned this in my Batman review, but I find it amusing that an action figure line that lists the scale right in the name seems to play fast and loose when it comes to scale. Jason David Frank (R.I.P.), who played Tommy the Green Ranger in the American broadcast, was only 5’11” but this figure is about 6.5″ making it half an inch too tall. And if you’re thinking maybe Mezco was trying to match the height of the Japanese broadcast, that actor was actually a touch shorter. The scale isn’t really a huge concern for me as this is a one-off in my collection, but it might bother some.

“How dare you exclude The Shredder from the comparison shot?!”

The figure itself is quite impressive in hand. The helmet looks to be pretty spot on to the show, including sculpted seams and belt buckles on the rear. The helmet is a very saturated shade of green with a bit of a matte finish. Some may have preferred a glossy finish, but I really like how this turned out. There’s plenty of gloss on the visor and the painted details like the red diamond and silver dragon teeth are cleanly applied. The only detail it appears to lack are the nostrils for the dragon portion. The Dragon Shield is modeled after the Japanese costume and is painted gold with a slight pearl finish to give it that shine it had on television. The black is cleanly applied in the center and the arm bands match the finish of the shield. The Power Morpher is glued down to the belt and has all of the right details in place. The paint there is terrific, as is the black linework on the belt itself.

It would be great if the suit didn’t have this lined texture, but on a shelf it won’t be as visible.

The soft goods costume is stretchy and feels almost like a nylon material. The texture is a bit off from the show, but that’s going to happen at this scale. It also lacks that silk-like shine the material in the show had, but that would have likely been quite hard to duplicate and on a shelf this is going to look pretty damn good. You do have to accept that there are going to be seams in the costume, but most can be posed away. Where the suit is sewn shut on the rear of the figure’s torso is a bit ugly, but it’s also on the back and should be out of sight. The only real nitpick I have for the appearance is that the green triangles on the gloves and boots don’t quite fill the area carved out for the paint. Aside from that though, the presentation is terrific right down to the zipper placement on the gloves and boots. The white diamonds are present on the shirt portion and they’re printed on. The shield is removable (I have yet to remove mine as it looks like a pain to get back on) as well should you wish to display your Green Ranger without it. The arm bands are floating, but in order to remove them you would likely need to remove the entire glove first and I don’t know if they’re designed to come off.

Mezco went for a different look with the unmasked portrait. I don’t hate it, but I’ll also never use it.
In terms of capturing the Jason David Frank likeness, I might give the edge to Hasbro.

This figure comes loaded with accessories, many of which will feel familiar to those who purchased the Super7 Green Ranger. I suppose that’s because there aren’t a whole lot of obvious accessories for a Green Ranger figure, so companies end up doing the same thing. We do get a non-helmeted head featuring the likeness of the late Jason David Frank from his first appearance on the show when he had long hair held back by a green sweatband. The green is a dingey green and it has some brown paint over it to make it look dirty. He’s sporting a cocky expression that’s at least different from what we’ve seen out of other toy makers, but the likeness isn’t quite there for me. It’s not terrible though and the portrait is well-painted. Even if it was perfect, it’s not something I’d ever use for a display.

He has the required Dragon Dagger and the hands to “play” it, but getting him to pose with it is trickier than I’d like.
It is possible to fake it, but as you can see, the button pressing hand won’t actually be on the dagger. The button pressing hand also doesn’t actually grip the dagger so you can’t just do a one-handed pose with it.

The Green Ranger also comes with an assortment of hands. Out of the box, the figure features fists, but he also has five other sets of hands to choose from: clenching, gripping, trigger finger, open, and a set of flute/Dragon Dagger playing hands where the right hand is posed as if it’s pressing the buttons while the left is a gripping hand with two fingers extended. They obviously pair with the Dragon Dagger which looks fantastic. The little, gold, buttons on it are separate pieces though and I’ve read reports of them popping off for some folks so do be gentle when trying to slot the dagger into one of the hands. It pairs with the included black holster that just clips onto the belt. It has a strap on it that’s designed to come off to allow the dagger to slide in, but it’s really stubborn and took some courage to pry open.

Does the Green Ranger really need a Blade Blaster? No, but I’ll take it.
And it even converts into “pew pew” mode!

If you don’t want to display the black holster on the figure’s hip, there’s also a white holster which is what the other Rangers use to carry their Blade Blaster. The Green Ranger only used a Blade Blaster once, that I can recall, and it was when he was a villain, but Mezco still included one anyway. It’s pretty neat because it actually functions like the one on the show with just one alteration. That means it can convert from pistol to dagger mode and the only cheat is that the blade portion is a separate piece that pegs in. Everyone else who does Power Rangers at this scale or near it just does multiple pieces for the Blade Blaster so it’s pretty cool that Mezco was able to do one that works. The paint is also pretty nice on it. I normally would never consider displaying a Green Ranger with a Blade Blaster, but Mezco did such a nice job that I’m really tempted to.

Did you want the Sword of Power? No? Too bad!
Now that’s the sword you want! And it should probably go without saying, but this version is far better than the Hasbro or Super7 one.

And that’s not all as we have three more weapons to talk about. All three were also included with Super7’s Green Ranger (I bet they’re happy they managed to beat Mezco to market) and they are the Sword of Darkness, the Sword of Power, and the Mega Heater. The Sword of Darkness is the best version of this weapon we’ve ever received. The sculpt is perfect, there’s no bending or warping like there was with the Hasbro version, and the tassel was done with a black wire so it can be posed. The paint is also very nice and, once again, I’ll be really tempted to use it in my display because I just always loved the look of this blade. The Sword of Power is fine, but I don’t like the look of this weapon so it will never see action for me. The Mega Heater also looks like it should and this figure can hold it with both hands. It’s fine, but it’s just not as interesting to me as the other weapons available.

It’s lightning time!
There’s also some bigger lightning.
Blade lolly!

To spruce things up with said weapons are some effect parts. For the Dragon Dagger, we get two, green, lightning effects with one being shorter than the other. They can slot over the blade and add a little drama to your posing. You can also attach them to the clenchy hands, if you wish, which I think he did when he was evil in the show, but I could be mistaken. Both parts are done with translucent, green, plastic and have some bend to them, but they’re not so soft that they can’t hold their shape. There’s also a green wave type of effect that the Dragon Dagger slots into. I don’t recall this from the show and I also don’t think it looks particularly good. It just makes the Dragon Dagger look like an oddly shaped lollypop. Your mileage may vary.

Here we have the little blast.
And here’s the big blast! These things actually make the Mega Heater worth displaying.

For the Blade Blaster and Mega Heater we get some blast effects. They’re done in traparent plastic and painted red. The smallest, and thinnest, of the three is intended for the Blade Blaster when in gun mode. It does not slot in very easily, but I was able to get it in there. These pieces are a bit brittle feeling so you’ll want to be careful not to snap them. There is a little flex towards the end, but not where the peg is. My small one is slightly warped too, but it looks okay in the weapon. The other two blasts are for the Mega Heater. One is long with a more pronounced muzzle flash while the other is shorter and seems to get thicker as it stretches out from the gun. I definitely prefer the longer one, but both definitely enhance the otherwise ho-hum Mega Heater for me to the point where I could talk myself into using it at some point. Lastly, we have the traditional Mezco stand which has three hinges in the armature and ends in a rotating claw. The base is black with the Dragon coin painted on in gold and it looks fine. It also gets the job done for more dramatic poses or serves as a base.

And lets not forget the stand. It can be used as a foot peg stand, or you can attach the armature for something more dynamic.

That’s a whole lot of stuff in the box, but can the figure make much use of it with its articulation? Figures in soft goods are always limited to some degree when it comes to articulation because clothing over plastic is going to be more cumbersome than bare plastic. That’s just a fact. It doesn’t mean the figure needs to be articulated poorly though. The head is on a double-ball peg and it can look up and down a bit with plenty of room for nuance posing. The shoulders are likely just ball-hinged joints that can’t quite come out to a horizontal position. There’s forward and back rotation, but given the soft goods, you probably shouldn’t try to rotate all the way around. There is a biceps swivel and the arm bands slide out of the way easily to access that. Following that is a double-jointed elbow which bends past 90 degrees smoothly. The forearms swivel where the glove meets the arm and the hands are on ball-hinges so they have all of the movement they’ll need.

Did the Green Ranger ever make lightning snap from his hands? I feel like he did.

In the torso, it feels like a ball-joint in the diaphragm area. Tommy can arch back and forward some, though the Dragon Shield will get in the way a bit if it’s on. It also rotates just fine and bends to the side nicely. At the waist, it feels like there may be a twist, but it’s very tight and I don’t want to force it. The hips can go out to the side almost to a full split, but don’t quite hit 90 degrees kicking forward. There’s no range kicking back, but there is a thigh swivel under the clothes. The knees are double-jointed and bend well past 90 degrees and there’s a boot swivel below that. The ankles hinge forward and back an acceptable amount while the ankle rocker is pretty limited rotating in. It actually has more range going out which is a bit odd and not really useful.

If you don’t care about screen accuracy then you can have your Green Ranger play the flute one-handed.

Mezco’s Green Ranger, in some respects, moves better than I expected. The shoulders are a bit finicky, but the rest is all nice and smooth. There’s some trepidation that comes with the design because if that costume rips it’s game over, but it’s very stretchy so it’s not as scary to move as it could be. I probably wouldn’t leave it in too stressful a pose, but most should be fine. Really, the only thing I don’t care for is that this figure still can’t really play the Dragon Dagger. It can get close, and if you force it the dagger can reach the helmet’s lips, but once you stop forcing it the arms will snap back into place. It’s definitely easier to fake it with this figure than it was the others, but for $95 I feel like we shouldn’t have to. The Dragon Shield is pretty stiff and rigid, but it doesn’t appear to be causing any issues. The figure probably just needed a butterfly joint to really be able to pull it off, but Mezco declined to include such.

I bought this with the expectation being that it would be the best Green Ranger figure in this scale out there and I do believe it has delivered on that. I don’t begrudge those who wish to spend less and feel happy with one of these other two though.

That $95 price tag is really the biggest negative about this figure. Especially since most are going to have to pay a shipping charge to get it, unless you happened to get it at San Diego Comic Con. And since the item is waitlisted it may cost even more to acquire at this point. I don’t know if any figure in this scale should cost that much, but at least with this figure I feel like we have the best Green Ranger figure to date. And that goes for larger scales as well. It’s not a perfect 1:1 likeness to what was on television screens in 1993, but it’s 95% of the way there and the only differences seem to exist for the figure’s benefit. He’s not as skinny as he could be, but not jacked like some of the other action figures released. The soft goods give it a close to screen accurate look without the overly sculpted wrinkles and such we’ve seen from Hasbro. All of the little details are there and you’ll be hard pressed to want any additional accessories. Maybe the green candle?

This one is expensive, but damn does it look good.

Mezco’s Green Ranger was a long time coming, but it was worth the wait. If you have the spare coin and a love for Power Rangers, then give this one a look. I think it’s an easier sell when you’re like me and don’t need the whole team because that’s a serious investment. As a one-off splurge, this figure is quite a treat. If you think getting it will tempt you to get the other five then I guess make sure you’re prepared for such an expense.

Interested in more Mezco or perhaps you want more detail on past Green Rangers?

Mezco One:12 Collective Batman (1989)

When it comes to the world of more high end action figure collectibles, I’ve been able to get my hands on a few. Some rather prominent companies have yet to cross my path though, and it’s not really for any reason other than they either don’t make what I like or I don’t really like…

Keep reading
by Joe

Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimate Green Ranger

We continue to finally offload some long standing preorders this year and up next is Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from Super7. It was June 2021 when these figures were announced to the surprise of many. Why? Because Power Rangers are now owned by Hasbro, probably the biggest toy producer in the world who has its…

Keep reading
by Joe

Hasbro Lightning Collection Mighty Morphin Green Ranger

In the early days of the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic I found myself filling the social hole in my heart with toys. That has continued, but in the earliest days I went backwards. I grabbed some toys that I had wanted as a kid, but never got, and I talked about them here. One such toy…

Keep reading
by Joe


1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Television, toys

September 12, 2023

Danzig – MGM Music Hall at Fenway Boston, MA 9/11/2023

By Joe
The dark one embarks on his final tour?

It’s 2023 and I’ve lost track of how many last Danzig shows I’ve seen. I want to say it was around 2005 following the release of Circle of Snakes where Glenn Danzig first started talking about hanging it up when it came to touring. It wasn’t hard to see why someone who had been in the music business for over 30 years would grow weary of life on the road in a tour bus. Especially since back then Danzig was relegated to playing small venues and had been doing so the last three albums and tours. It’s not that he and the band would hate playing in such venues, it’s just the reality of a tour that when your band is in smaller places you’re probably not dropping a bunch of money on nice hotels. Sleeping on a bus sucks, every day feels the same, and after decades of doing so it’s long since become charming.

Obviously, such notions didn’t stick. While Danzig has gone long stretches without proper tours, there’s been plenty of opportunities to see the act. I know I saw the band on the 20th anniversary tour for the first album, Danzig, as well as in support of albums to follow. When I saw the special Danzig Legacy show in New York, I thought that might be it. And if it was, I was content to let that be my last Danzig experience. It wasn’t, because a few years later more litigation between the two co-founders of The Misfits, Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only, lead to the long awaited (and logical) resolution to just reunite, play a few shows, and cash some checks. The Original Misfits started as a gig at Riotfest in Chicago, and soon expanded from there. While never embarking on a true tour, the reunion group has played several shows at this point and I kind of assumed all parties were content to just do that. By playing shows here and there, the demand remains strong and it probably ends up being a nice pay day for all involved. Danzig did do some one-off Danzig Sings Elvis shows out west which definitely felt like they were being done for Glenn as something he just wanted to do. Another Danzig tour? Aside from the occasional festival gig, I had completely written off the idea, but old Glenn surprised me once again.

“Old School” could describe much of this tour as a lot of old designs came back, including the infamous “God Don’t Like It” shirt.

I don’t know why it came about, but apparently Danzig got the itch to hit the road one more time. And it being 2023, the easy and logical selling point was to make it a 35th anniversary of Danzig tour and play the entire first album as part of the set. It started as a pair of festival gigs back in June in Finland and Poland, and then turned into a full US tour. The US leg started on September 1st, and on the eleventh it rolled into Boston, Massachusetts. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would even attend. The show was at a venue I had never been to, MGM Music Hall at Fenway, and as the name suggests it’s located in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston. The problem with the show arriving on the eleventh was that right across the street at Fenway Park the Boston Red Sox were set to host the New York Yankees. Neither baseball team is really any good in 2023, but the century old rivalry still puts butts in seats so the scene was likely to be a zoo. Did I feel like fighting the Boston traffic, hunting for parking, and likely dealing with public transportation just to see Danzig one more time? After some hemming and hawing on my part, it turns out that I was willing to do that. There are songs on the setlist I’ve always wanted to see the band perform and this is likely the last time I’ll get to do so. I’d hate to have to regret missing out so I grabbed a general admission ticket and made my way into Boston.

Midnight had the honor of going first this night.

Touring in support of Danzig is the trio of Behemoth, Twin Temple, and Midnight. Going into the evening, I was familiar with both Behemoth and Midnight. I think I’ve even seen Behemoth as an opener before, but I’m not a fan of the band or of Midnight. I’ve never actively disliked either act, I’ve just never been compelled to go deeper with them following my limited exposure. Midnight hit the stage at 6:30, or shortly after. I actually missed a sizable chunk of their set getting there and then hitting the merch table (which is loaded with classic t-shirt designs for those who missed out or need to replace a vintage one), but was able to catch the last two songs. Midnight has a bit of an old school slant to them and sounded great live. The venue was nice, spacious, and best of all, comfortable. I’ve seen Danzig (and numerous other metal acts) many times at the Worcester Palladium and that place always has muddy acoustics and atrocious ventilation so this is a major step up. Drink prices were outrageous and there wasn’t any real food to partake, but that stuff is both expected and secondary for me when attending a show as I’d rather just take it all in and not have to visit the restroom between acts.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Twin Temple stole the show, but they certainly made an impression.

Twin Temple was the second to take the stage and that is one memorable act. I had checked the band out before heading to the show so I knew what was coming, but it was still pretty damn wild to see. Twin Temple is like if Sun Records had a Satanic act on their label as the music is 50’s inspired and the lead singer is a woman with a giant beehive hairdo. She looks like a sinister Marge Simpson. I can see Twin Temple not being everyone’s cup of tea, especially if you were there for the much heavier Behemoth and Midnight, but I was very much entertained by their schtick. The band sounded good, which included keys and a saxophone, and the theatrics certainly added to the night. I was not at all surprised to see they had opened for the band Ghost in the past.

When the fog rolls in it can only mean one thing…

Behemoth took the stage as the penultimate act. They possess plenty of theatrics as well, but it’s more traditional black metal stuff. They played fast, loud, and heavy for their 40 minutes or so that was allotted to them. There were few pauses for banter with the crowd as the band was clearly more interested in letting the music speak for itself. I ended their set liking the band more than I did going in, though I concede they’re sound is one I would have been far likely to embrace 20 years than ago than I am now. I’m getting softer in my old age.

Glenn Danzig flanked by an assortment of skulls. Surprisingly, Danzig was easily the least satanic act of the night.

With the opening acts concluded, it was time for Danzig to take the stage. The band did so around 10 PM and it seems like things had fallen behind schedule at some point during the night. It was a long wait for the main event, but the crowd was ready when “Overture of the Rebel Angels” ended and Glenn and the boys ripped into “Twist of Cain.” The band was here to celebrate the release of the first album 35 years ago and the intent was to play the entire album in order, with one notable alteration. The script was flipped a bit when for the third song Glenn called for “Am I Demon” instead of “She Rides.” There appeared to be some confusion among the bandmates, and a couple of songs later a stagehand could be seen running out with setlists to tape down on the stage. I don’t know for sure, but I think they forgot to put them out to start and Glenn forgot the proper song order. No matter, it meant those of us in attendance got to experience a re-arranged version of the first album and I think it actually suited the live vibe quite well to not go into the slower “She Rides” quite so early in the set.

Joining Glenn on stage for this tour are the two mainstays of the band since 2010 – Tommy Victor on guitar and Steve Zing on bass. Karl Rosqvist is the drummer for this tour and he performed great. He easily had the tiniest kit of the four bands this evening, but you wouldn’t know it by how he sounded. He also got to play atop the classic skull-riser which will likely return to retirement following this tour. Victor is plenty capable of handling the axe and his tones were more matched for the first album than the more recent ones this time around. Zing continues to be up to the task of bass duties and always brings great energy to the stage. I remain happy that Glenn brought the ex-Samhain drummer back into the fold. A humorous moment occurred later in the set when Glenn started announcing the other members of the band. He introduced Karl, and then went on to introduce the next song and Tommy chimed in to remind him he forgot to introduce him and Zing which Glenn could only laugh at himself over. He and the band were in great spirits all night and appeared to be having fun on stage.

Glenn was not afraid to cut loose tonight.

The set for the first album concluded with “Mother” as it made sense to bump the band’s most popular song to the end. They weren’t done though as Glenn reminded us early they missed Boston when they were touring in support of Lucifuge a couple of years ago so they planned to hit on that album tonight. I was kind of hoping they’d dust off a song or two they hadn’t been playing from that album this tour, but I’m guessing having a relatively new drummer in the fold may have limited what they could do. They did do “Tired of Being Alive” and followed it up with “Her Black Wings,” but after that Glenn gave the audience a choice between Danzig II or III and, a bit to my surprise, the crowd enthusiastically chose III which took us into “Dirty Black Summer.” At this point, the band was running up against the venue’s 11:30 curfew so there was only time left for “How the Gods Kill” and “Long Way Back from Hell” before a quick break lead to an encore of “Do You Wear the Mark?” A quick glance at other shows on the tour suggest we may have missed out on “Snakes of Christ” or “Bringer of Death” or both, but it was hard to feel cheated after this one.

The bands all sounded great, and it was especially true for Danzig. This may have been the best I’ve ever heard Glenn sound and I’ve been seeing him in action for over 20 years. His voice was strong and he didn’t hold back at all. The band sounded great too with the only hiccup being “Possession” which sounded a little off. That was another moment where the set list confusion seeped in as everyone was waiting for Karl to count them off while he seemed to think whatever was next was one for Tommy or Steve to begin. Seeing this show reenforced my belief that the recording for the first Danzig album was a bit restrained and I’ve always attributed that to Rick Rubin’s influence. Live, these songs take on a new dimension and serve the atmosphere so well. A song like “Not of This World” always felt like filler to me on the album, but live it’s a true banger and the type of song I never want to see removed from the set list. “End of Time” is a song Glenn acknowledged on stage they basically never play, and like “Not of This World,” it’s so much more engaging live than it is on the record. And the song I was most excited to hear live, “Soul on Fire,” was fantastic. That one had been briefly added to the set some 15 years or so ago, but it was on the tour where Glenn fell off a stage in Maryland (I want to say) and broke his arm forcing them to cancel the Massachusetts show the next night. I still remember getting ready to leave work early for that one, only to get the unfortunate text from the venue that the show was off. Finally, I got to see and experience one of my favorite cuts and it lived up to the hype and then some.

Last song of the evening was played just as fast as the first.

With Glenn Danzig being 68 now, it should go without saying that if you’ve been holding off on catching Danzig live you might want to rethink that. I still see a lot of people asking on social media if more tours will happen and it would be foolish to assume so. Despite his age, Glenn still bounces around that stage like a man possessed with the only difference these days is maybe he takes an extra breather or two between songs. I was getting tired just watching him so there’s no doubt in my mind that he can keep on performing as long as he wants to, and I think he does, he just doesn’t want to deal with all of the other stuff that a tour brings. At the end of the night, I left that venue feeling really happy about what I just saw and if it’s the last time I see Danzig then it was a fitting end. On the other hand, if they want to celebrate 30 years of Danzig IV you can bet your ass I’ll be there!

There’s plenty more Danzig coverage where that came from:

The Misfits Come Home – Newark, NJ 5/19/2018

The Misfits originally existed from 1977 to 1983. Formed by Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only our of Lodi, NJ, the band cycled through guitarists and drummers for much of its existence before finally disbanding. By then, Only’s younger brother Doyle was a fixture on guitar and the two represented the visual core of the band…

Keep reading
by Joe

Danzig Legacy – The TV Taping

It’s been almost three years since Glenn Danzig, Doyle, Steve Zing, Tommy Victor and London May joined up with director Mark Brooks to shoot a live performance of the Legacy Tour in the same style as the Elvis ’68 TV Special (hence why it was referred to as a TV taping, even though it has…

Keep reading
by Joe

Danzig Legacy 10/29/2011 NYC

You may be wondering how a self-professed giant fan of Glenn Danzig could sit on writing a review for perhaps the greatest show a Danzig fan could ever hope to attend for a week.  Well, thank mother nature for that one for knocking out my power for 5 days immediately following the show.  Do you…

Keep reading
by Joe

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Danzig, Music

September 7, 2023

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Son Gohan Beast

By Joe
Unleash your inner beast.

Last summer, fans of Dragon Ball were treated to a new movie: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The intended purpose of the movie seemed to be to take two somewhat forgotten characters in Piccolo and Gohan and give them a makeover. The manga and anime Dragon Ball Super has basically been a story about Goku and Vegeta gaining power and fighting off the bad guys of the universe. Every other prior hero has essentially been knocked down not just a peg, but several. That’s not exactly a surprise as Dragon Ball has pretty much always operated like that with Goku gaining a rival and then leaving said rival in the dust. Really, only Vegeta has managed to hang around and even he’s usually clearly the second best, but after the events of Super Hero there just may be a new strongest in the universe: Gohan.

Looks like Bandai has discovered overlay pieces for their action figures.

Ever since his debut, Gohan has always been the character with the potential to be the strongest fighter in the universe. It’s just his main character trait, and the one that distinguishes him most from his father, is that he doesn’t desire to be the strongest. He doesn’t even like fighting. For him, it’s a means to an end. Originally, Dragon Ball Z was to end with Gohan stepping up and essentially taking over for his dad as the savior of Earth. Economics being what they are, series creator Akira Toriyama was convinced to continue on with his manga and Goku was reestablished as the best of the best. Some fans have always hated what became of Gohan following the Cell saga, but for me, that was always Gohan’s logical progression. With no danger present to force him to keep up, he was going to slip back into his lifestyle and pursue his passion of being a scholar. Ever since the series came back as Dragon Ball Super, Gohan has had to go back and forth between his pursuits as a scholar (and now husband and father) and the universe needing him. After getting smoked by a resurrected Frieza, he’s convinced he needs to at least keep up with his training to some degree and it pays off in the final chapter of the anime, but we don’t really know what he’s up to in the manga as that has (predictably) focused on Goku and Vegeta.

The Kaioken aura seems like the only one that could kind of work with this version of Gohan.

Not to spoil a year old movie, but Goku and Vegeta aren’t around in Super Hero forcing Piccolo and Gohan to defend the Earth against a new threat. And that threat is one that’s possibly even more powerful than our favorite Saiyan duo. We’ll talk about Piccolo’s journey in a month or so, but for Gohan his power-up is what is now called Gohan Beast. In a scene that’s nearly a 1:1 recreation of Gohan’s Super Saiyan 2 transformation, Gohan is able to tap into a new level of power that basically mimics that of Super Saiyan 2, only his hair is even longer, silver, and his cracking energy is red instead of blue. His eyes go red as well making this a more primal take on the Super Saiyan look. It remains to be seen how Toriyama explains this in the manga (if he even does, though I consider that unlikely), but my interpretation is this is the new form Gohan vowed to achieve in Super. A form of his own creation, and perhaps it’s something born from him being mixed race. Either way, it’s more than enough to win the day and Gohan’s new form just may mean he’s the new strongest in the universe.

There’s definitely some shared parts with the Ultimate Gohan figure, but that torso is quite different.

Gohan Beast was going to be a major want from fans of Bandai’s action figure line, so it was hardly a surprise to see him go up for sale via the Premium Bandai website. Actually, I suppose I’m a little surprised this wasn’t a general release, but Bandai could always revisit it after the manga debut. Maybe without battle damage or something. The figure itself is very similar to the Ultimate Gohan Super Hero released a year ago, but also more different than I expected. It comes in the standard window box packaging with gold backdrop and was manufactured in China.

“So where’s your ultimate form, Piccolo?!” “Shut up – it’s coming.”

Gohan Beast stands at around 5.5″ to the top of his face making him basically the same as the previous Gohan figure. He’s still in his purple gi with boxy, brown, shoes only now there’s battle damage throughout in the form of hash lines sculpted in and some torn parts in the pants and top. The arms, crotch, and feet are pretty much the only parts repurposed from the older figure as the battle damage necessitated some new sculpting. The main difference is with the torso where Bandai opted to replace the sculpted-on gi with a rubbery overlay. This is true of the torso overlay and the sleeves which appear to peg-in somewhere inside the body. I’ll have more to say about it in the articulation, but from a presentation standpoint it’s an improvement as it allows the chest to be sculpted plastic and removes the challenge of painting it to match the sculpted color of the neck. The faces all look fantastic in keeping with what Bandai has been doing for the past year or so with its face printing and the hair is really well sculpted. It’s super spiky and a bit unpleasant to handle as a result. There isn’t really any shading on it though which is a bummer, especially for a “premium” release. The only thing I don’t care for when it comes to the presentation are the sideburns which are separate from the hair. They’re just a touch darker than the hair and the seam line is a bit annoying. There’s not much that could be done about it though unless they could have made them part of the hair, but maybe that would have looked worse or proven too delicate.

Once again, Lightning Collection effect parts come in handy for Dragon Ball figures.

As for paint, it’s mostly kept to the face. The wristbands are painted and the flesh in the torn pieces on Gohan’s pants had to be painted as well. The color used for those bits is probably just a touch darker than the sculpted flesh tone, but it’s not particularly noticeable since there’s plenty of clothing separating them. The red sash around the waist appears to have a paint wash applied to it and the front of the pants look like they’ve been hit with a matte clear coat. It’s especially noticeable near the cuffs of the pants as the factory didn’t quite hit the whole area leaving the sides of the pants shiny by comparison. The matte finish at least matches the top of the gi and I would say that, overall, this version of Gohan presents rather well. Especially if you like the look of this form.

The way the sleeves are connected to the body really limits the shoulder articulation.

Where things get iffy with this figure is with the articulation. The addition of an overlay for the top is going to cause some issues, and for some, the presentation trade-off Bandai made might not be for everyone. The head is on a double ball peg allowing for rotation and tilt. The hair prevents the figure from looking up, and the head gets some range looking down. There’s a ball joint in the base of the neck which, when used in conjunction with the joint at the head, allows Gohan to look down quite a bit, and you get a little range looking up, but not enough for a straight-ahead flying pose. The shoulders are on a hinged ball peg which is connected via another ball peg inside the shoulder affixed to a butterfly joint. This lets the shoulder move up and down and forward and back, but the range forward and back is quite limited. The hinge in its default, high, position won’t allow Gohan to raise his arms out to the side in a full, horizontal, position, but if you slide the shoulder down first then you should be able to achieve that. The issue preventing a lot of range is the cuff of the gi which is done in a rubbery material and is connected to the body basically in between the shoulder and butterfly joint. At any rate, it’s not a floating piece like it was with Super Hero Gohan. I suppose one could separate it by carefully slicing it with a blade, but it’s unfortunate collectors need to cut up their figure to get the range of motion they’re accustomed to. And I don’t know if this piece would float properly if one were to do that, it might just slide down the arm and require further modification.

Gohan can manage a Kamehameha pose all right…

After the shoulder, there’s the usual biceps swivel and double-jointed elbow. The hands are connected via ball pegs and work fine. In the torso, there may be a ball joint of some kind in the diaphragm, but again, the overly is going to get in the way. If it’s there then it’s basically useless, and I only even suspect it’s there because Bandai basically always includes such a joint and I think I can see one when pulling back on the shirt. There’s a ball joint at the waist and that’s where you’ll get your rotation and tilt, but there’s little in the way of forward or rear “crunch” in the abdominal area. The legs are the exact same as Super Hero Gohan, so the range there is as expected and the only limitations are with the ankles as a result of the more boxy shoe design.

…but the Masenko presents problems.

It’s a bummer to see the shoulders and abdomen so restricted here with Gohan. The prior Gohan released had a fully sculpted gi so there’s an ab joint that works fine. The only eyesore associated with that is the cut across the gi and the fact that Bandai had to match paint to plastic when it painted the bare portion of the figure’s chest. The overlay approach is unquestionably the more aesthetically pleasing way to do it, but is that upgrade enough to warrant a reduction in articulation? In my opinion, the answer is an emphatic “No.” I expect this to be a highly articulated line and I want that extra range. I don’t care about the visual joint, because at the end of the day this is an action figure and action figures have joints on them. It’s fine. I suspect though this was done as much as a cost saving than an improvement. Doing things this way, Bandai doesn’t have to worry about the color of the inner joints for the butterfly mechanism as we so often saw. It may also be easier to assemble and reduce labor costs and it certainly reduces the need for paint hits on characters with this, basic, look. At this stage in the line, I’d like to see the figures getting better at a standard Kamehameha pose, not worse.

Because apparently every figure needs to come with more Ultimate Gohan parts, we get a new face plate with this release.

The articulation may not be up to par, but Bandai is probably hoping that fans will be happy with the accessory load-out, and for the most part, I think they will be. For faces, we get a pretty standard allotment: stoic, smirk, teeth-gritting, yelling. There is a bonus fifth face plate for Gohan Super Hero that features an angry expression with red-rimmed pupils which I assume is intended to be a pre-transformation expression. It’s done well, but I can’t see many actually displaying that figure with it, it’s almost strictly for those who like to photograph their figures. For hands, we also get a pretty standard allotment: fists, open, clenching, martial arts posed, and a two-finger right hand. That’s basically all Gohan calls for as you have hands for the Masenko, Kamehameha, and the two finger posed hand can be used for the Special Beam Canon he apparently taught himself.

Yeah, I can’t make use of this. Even the Ultimate Gohan figure’s arms won’t come apart to give it a shot.

To go with that usual assortment, we get one extra display piece and an effect part. Gohan Beast gets a crossed-arms piece which I suppose could be used with Super Hero Gohan as well. I don’t know how well it works with Gohan Beast though as I can’t get his arms to come apart at the bicep where it’s supposed to. I think this is a byproduct of these arms not really being intended to be utilized in such a manner originally as every other figure I’ve had with one of these pieces has come apart easily. When I try to tug on the arm, the whole butterfly joint tends to slide and I’m afraid the arm will come detached from within the torso before it comes apart at the bicep. The pieces are small, but even when I manage to get a good grip on a shoulder and start working the bicep it shows no sign of loosening. I wasn’t planning on displaying the figure with that piece on so I’m not going to force it, but it sucks when a figure can’t really use an accessory like this.

It’s pretty crazy that Gohan got a part like this before Piccolo.

The last accessory is a Special Beam Canon blast effect. It’s likely an acrylic piece done in translucent blue plastic. There’s a touch of white paint at the tip and it looks pretty good, but there may be some cloudy portions in the sculpt (I have one right in the middle). The spiral effect is a separate piece and it’s glued into the “missile” portion of the blast and back by the fingers. There’s a two finger posed hand sculpted onto it as well which had to be painted to match the figure. It’s not perfect, as painting acrylic to match is certainly not easy, but it’s not so off that it’s likely to discourage folks from using it. There is also a stand included that pegs into the end of the blast because otherwise this would be too heavy for the figure to properly wield. The bigger question with it concerns that hand piece as I’m not convinced they needed to sculpt the hand onto it. It creates problems because acrylic is not as forgiving as PVC so getting the hand on and off the figure is harder than it needs to be. The first time I tried to remove the part, it wouldn’t come off and the peg going into the figure’s forearm came loose before the peg in the hand. It’s also a delicate piece and my spiral part has already separated from the main blast back by the hand. It doesn’t really change the look of the piece, but I can also see people accidentally cracking this thing or snapping it trying to get it on and off. The shoulder range being so limited also prevents the figure from being able to grasp a bicep or forearm with the left hand, as Gohan might do when firing this blast. Even the post on the front of the box is proving really hard to duplicate.

I like this thing, but finding room to display it is going to be a challenge.

For collectors of this line looking for a good representation of Gohan’s new power-up from the movie this figure gets the job done. It just doesn’t earn an A. It’s more like a B- as the frustrations I ran into swapping some of the parts and the limited articulation were real bummers. They give the figure a bit of a “janky” quality which is not a way I would describe most S.H.Figuarts releases. I’m used to smooth articulation, good range of motion, and a painless integration process when it comes to the extra stuff. A lot of the issues I experienced with this figure were self-inflicted as the overlay harmed the function and the extra parts could have been done in a different manner as to minimize any issues. Why not have the blast effect just slot into a hand piece rather than make the hand part of it? Or have the fingers slide into the blast? It doesn’t need to be a tight fit, it just needs some stability at that end.

Do The Mario!

If you are interested in acquiring this version of Gohan then you’re unfortunately going to have to seek it out on the secondary market. This was a Premium Bandai release which is like a made-to-order item and orders closed awhile ago. The figure retailed for $65 and I would guess the aftermarket price is likely close to double that right now. Gohan is a popular character so it’s possible another version sees release at some point, especially as the manga moves into this part of the story. I wouldn’t bank on a re-release though if it’s something you really want.

Did you like Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and want to check out more figures from the movie?

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Gamma 1 and Gamma 2

Last year saw the release of a brand new film in the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The mouthful of a title was a bit of a throwback affair. It seemed that Toei and series creator Akira Toriyama wanted to use the film to return the spotlight to Gohan and Piccolo, two…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super – Ultimate Gohan Super Hero

As part of the promotion for the film Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero, Bandai released a wave of action figures from its S.H. Figuarts brand of characters from the film. The neat thing was, these releases were actually really cheap relative to other SHF releases with a MSRP of just $35. Of the four,…

Keep reading
by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super Son Goku Super Hero

Back in the early 2000s I was a collector of Irwin Toys’ Dragon Ball Z line of action figures. When I started collecting that line, I just focused on my favorite characters which were primarily Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo. Gradually, the collector impulse took over and I started buying entire waves as they came out…

Keep reading
by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in Film, toys