Review > Skeletor (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 26, 2009 | Poe

skeletor_2This will be my third review of a Skeletor action figure. I never reviewed the 1980s original, primarily because I barely knew how to read when I first owned him.

grandpa_hemanAnd I did own him. Need photographic proof? That’s me around age four, with my grandfather, who is about the same age my father is now and looks shockingly like him. I can make out Skeletor and Man-at-Arms in the photo, though I have no idea what’s in my grandpa’s left hand…perhaps an Attak Trak sans treads? I cropped out the chair on the left of the photo, but the Talon Fighter is on it. What I find most shocking about this photo is the lack of armor on Skeletor and Man-at-Arms. That seems so unlike me…did I actually lose accessories when I was a kid? Nowadays I wouldn’t be able to rest until I had a fully armored and armed Skeletor.

I’ve written about both the history of MOTU and MOTUC more than enough by now, so you can revisit those reviews if you need the background information. On to the review! (more…)

Review > Action Figure Displays

January 16, 2009 | Poe

afd_8You may never have heard of JDP Designs before, but they’ve heard of you–the action figure collector who wishes they had a better way to show off their figures than just placing them against the same old $20 IKEA shelving or off-white apartment walls. I stumbled upon an article about their Action Figure Displays last week, and I knew I had to investigate.

There have been a few attempts at producing action figure displays, most notably Ultarama. While Ultarama displays are great for figures in the 3″-5″ range, the effect isn’t quite as good with larger figures. Enter JDP Design. (more…)

Beast Man (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 7, 2009 | Poe

motu-ba-beast_man_illEvery supervillain in the 1980s had a member of his entourage who served a special purpose: whipping boy. For Megatron, it was Starscream. For Darkseid on Super Powers, it was Kalibak. For Shredder, it was Bebop and Rocksteady (though Shredder was arguably the whipping boy for Krang). For Darth Vader, it was the Imperial Admiralty.

But arguably the most-whipped whipping boy was Beast Man, the orange-furred, half-ape henchman of Skeletor. Like Mer-Man, in the early days of Masters of the Universe (MOTU) Beast Man was one of an entire race of similar creatures, whom he led. But when the Filmation cartoon came around, Beast Man was dumbed-down and demoted to being both Larry and Curly to Skeletor’s Moe.

Despite his lowly status, Beast Man (I refuse to refer to him as “BM”) is the second figure (not counting the exclusive King Grayskull) in the new Masters of the Universe Classics. The first is He-Man, whom I reviewed here.

I suspect Beast Man was produced this early in the line to show fans and collectors there will be some unique, significantly detailed sculpting in the MOTUC. The next figure, Skeletor, will be available on Mattycollector.com starting on January 15. (more…)

He-Man (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 5, 2009 | Poe

heman_beastmanI’ve delved into collector debates surrounding Mattel’s new Masters of the Universe Classics (see here and here). I intend to write up my own thoughts on MOTUC on whether the style was a good business decision, and so forth. But I like the style and concept, so if you don’t, be aware of that when you read the following review.

Due to some manufacturing delays, the inaugural sale of Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) began with not one but two figures. The first is He-Man, the Most Powerful Man in the Universe and an icon of the 1980s on par with Optimus Prime, Cobra Commander and Mr. T. The other is Beast Man, Skeletor’s “savage henchman” and probably one of the best-known bad guys from the line. Available only via Mattycollector.com, the figures cost $20 each, with approximately another $10 for shipping. (more…)

Review > Firestorm (Jason Rusch)

December 13, 2008 | Poe

The modern Firestorm (Jason Rusch) was supposed to ship with the first shipments of DC Universe Classics Wave 2, but for various reasons it was held back–not the least of which was fans appeared to want the classic Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) more anyway.

Refresh shipments of Wave 2 are arriving in stores now, with the modern Firestorm (and nothing else). I picked one up off Toys R Us’s website, but they appear to have sold out.

When a mortally wounded Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) fell from the sky, he cascaded Jason Rusch in atomic energies. Jason thus bonded with the “Firestorm Matrix” and gained the ability to fuse his body with others. Eventually, Jason merged with Professor Stein, original host of the Firestorm Matrix, to carry on the mantle and the mission of Firestorm…

It’s very clear Jason Rusch was the original Firestorm the Horsemen sculpted, and the Ronnie Raymond one was the actual repaint. In the comics, Raymond’s gloves were relatively small, ending at about the wrist, and had no lines on them. Rusch’s gloves go to his elbow and are marked with white lines. The Ronnie Raymond Firestorm has elbow-length yellow gloves and raised markings on his gloves (which are painted white on Rusch). Moreover, the chest markings on classic Firestorm are mostly painted on, rather than being raised as part of the sculpt, since again, the only raised parts were made for the Rusch Firestorm.

While I like both figures, I think I like the Rusch Firestorm a bit better. I don’t have any nostalgic attachment to the classic Firestorm, and the newer look is sleeker and a tad more stylish. More importantly, the sculpt serves the character better, since it was designed for him.

The paint work on Rusch is a little better, too–the yellow is a tad darker, and he has a nice wash around his torso.

Rusch didn’t have any stuck joints. All was not perfect, though; his biceps had been put on the opposite arms. I used a hair dryer to heat the arms, removed them, heated the elbows so I could pop out the pins and swapped the biceps. He’s fine now.

Review > Orion and Lightray TRU Exclusive

December 11, 2008 | Poe

(Click on any photo for a hi-res version.)

Don’t you hate it when you buy a DVD right when it comes out, only for the “super special director’s cut mega edition with a free puppy and a coupon for a bikini wax” to come out for five bucks more a few months later?

Wait, that needs some set-up.

Mattel’s DC Universe Classics two-packs are finally showing up at retail. They’re a Toys ‘R Us exclusive, but so far they seem much more plentful than Walmart’s borderline-mythical wave. The four packs are: Cyborg Superman and Mongul, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Azrael, Hal Jordan (first appearance) and Abin Sur, and the subject of today’s review, Orion and Lightray. The first four are re-releases of DC Super Heroes figures.

This was the only pack I was interested in. I’ve got the first four figures and didn’t feel like I needed another Hal Jordan or a figure of Abin Sur, who was alive for about five minutes in the DCU before giving his ring to Jordan. But Lightray was a brand-new figure, and while Orion is mostly a re-release of the DCUC1 figure, he has a spiffy new removable helmet–hence my labored DVD metaphor that began this review! (more…)

Review > E. Honda and Dhalsim (SOTA)

December 6, 2008 | Poe

While some people were initially skeptical that a license like Street Fighter could carry an action figure line fifteen years after the height of its popularity, many collectors jumped on board SOTA’s SF line in 2004 when they saw the incredibly high quality of design and execution of the figures. SOTA made it through four waves before SOTA went through a significant restructuring, ending the line before a few characters from the most recognizable game, Street Fighter II: The World Warriors, had been produced.

SOTA decided to reboot the franchise as Street Fighter Revolution and released a “preview” wave featuring two brand-new sculpts of Ryu and Ken. The Revolution figures were very similar to the original SOTA figures, but with slightly different sculpting styles–the character looked a bit more stylized, as they did in the comics and game art. And finally, at long last, Revolution Wave 1 is out, which features World Warriors heavy-hitters Zangief, E. Honda and Dhalsim, as well as R. Mika from Street Fighter Alpha 3.

SFII is pretty much the only fighting game I was ever been able to get into (aside from Super Smash Bros), and E. Honda was my favorite fighter–or at least, he was the one I was the best with, which translated into him being my favorite, of course. From the moment I started collecting SOTA’s Street Fighter figures, I’ve been waiting for Honda, as well as Dhalsim, another favorite of mine (and also my father’s, when he deigned to let me thwump him in SFII as a kid).

It looks like this may be SOTA’s last hurrah with the SF franchise–NECA has secured the action figure rights to next year’s Street Fighter IV, and I would think SOTA has either lost the license or, more likely, wouldn’t want to try and press on with a competing line out there. To my knowledge, there’s been no official word on whether or not SOTA’s SF days are done, but the very lack of news probably isn’t a good sign.

Nonetheless, SOTA has gone out on a pretty high note. (more…)

Review > Artemis (DC Universe Classics)

November 21, 2008 | Poe

(Click on any photo for a larger version.)

In the early 1990s, DC Comics was losing a lot of ground to Marvel Comics and its X-Men juggernaut. There was a perception that DC’s heroes–particularly their top three, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman–had gotten a bit long in the tooth and weren’t relevant to neither younger nor older readers anymore. And so DC did what most companies do in such a situation: they shook things up.

Superman was famously killed off in the Death of Superman, to be replaced by four “edgier” characters: the Cable-like Cyborg Superman, the “tough kid” Superboy, the ruthless Eradicator, and Steel. Batman’s back was broken and the cape and cowl went to Azrael, who had no compunctions about breaking Batman’s “no killing villains” rule. And Wonder Woman got her mantle swiped by Artemis, an errant Amazonian who proved to be–wait for it–more ruthless than Wonder Woman. (more…)