I open a toy & post it here... VOL 2!

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Transformers Generations: Arcee



Female characters in Transformers have been around for a lot longer than I think I’ve realized. Sure, Arcee was the first high profile one, but she was predated by some now well-known characters in the G1 Episode “The Search for Alpha Trion” including Chromia, Moonracer, Firestar and Elita One. Unfortunately this appearance, much like Arcee, did not do enough to garner any toy versions, but they were still established as a thing. Obviously more and more female bots have been added to the ranks with a big push coming from the Beast War series, but still have been relatively limited as compared to the Male bots and if I’m being honest, I’m kind of indifferent about it. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with inclusion, but I never really understood the need for female robots, especially ones that had similar body types to human females. I guess that boobs were the only way we could tell this robot from the other, but again to what end? Inclusion? I mean, what made Optimus Prime a boy? Outside of his voice, he’s really just a boxy looking robot right? Outside of everything are robots merely gender neutral? That said, one of the better versions of a female character that has come out in recent history was Shatter, the female Decepticon from Bumblebee. Yes she is played by a woman, but outside of the voice, there are really no other overtly “lady” features that would set her apart from the others. More of that I suppose!

Pros: Overall I like this Arcee mold. Inspired from the Generation 1 design, Arcee has two solid modes, an enjoyable transformation, solid articulation for a number of good poses and a surprising amount of accessories (Four?!?: two different handguns and duel energy swords).

Cons: Unfortunately the vehicle feels a bit cheap and has some really silly little wheels and has a sizable backpack in robot mode.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Star Wars Black Series: Constable Zuvio



Hasbro and Star Wars are very well known for producing toys of all the characters from the series. This includes the big names, but also the side characters that had one second of screen time, but also ones that didn?t even make the final cut of the movie! How?s that for giving fans what they want? Unfortunately Zuvio was left on the editing room floor, but I?m sure that fans would have loved to see this guy in action. Thankfully (I guess) for us he was part of the initial Black Series wave and received the plastic treatment and also thankfully in pure Star Wars tradition, there is a detailed dossier and backstory on his Wookieepedia page.

It?s as you would expect, basically a police officer on Jakku (Rey?s planet), and even included his location as the events of the movie played out:

?Thirty years after the Battle of Endor, Constable Zuvio remained in the Niima outpost, heading the Niima Outpost Militia. After soldiers of the First Order attacked the Jakku village of Tuanul, Zuvio was present in Niima the following day when scouting First Order stormtroopers gave chase to two individuals harboring a fugitive droid. The fugitives ran past Zuvio and a deputy during their escape shortly before TIE/fo fighters opened fire on the outpost.?

So he was there, just not on screen.

I also got a kick out of this entry:

?Zuvio was a Kyuzo male lawman who lived approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor and served as the constable of Niima Outpost, a frontier trading post on the otherwise lawless planet Jakku. Zuvio headed both the Niima Outpost Militia and the Office of the Constable and distributed justice when necessary alongside deputies Drego and Streehn. At some point, Zuvio investigated the robbery of a starship owned by the Kubaz Rikard Lovas, which appeared to have been conducted by the constable office secretary droid CZ-1G5.?

Imagine reading that to someone who is not a fan of Star Wars; Every second word is basically nonsense. What a crazy franchise this has become.

Pros: It?s hard to imagine this, but Constable Zuvio is actually really awesome. A detailed unique design, solid, useable articulation that allows for a few great poses, a spear accessory that he can handle well and a really cool backpack that has molded straps to make it look like he?s really belted into it and doesn?t just have the regular peg in the back design. Impressive considering I initially passed on him.

Cons: Sure he didn?t have any screen time, but since when did that matter in the Star Wars universe? Outside of that I got nothing; he?s a really solid figure.

[Team Jetfire]

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Diamond Collectables- Avatar: The Last Airbender- Prince Zuko



I know this isn’t a massive bombshell statement, but I feel Prince Zuko’s journey through the Avatar series is the one of the best character arcs in modern media and to make things even more impressive it was basically hidden in what is considered a kids cartoon. Talk about finding art in the most unlikely of places. That said, I am a huge sucker for the bad guy turned good troupe, so I might be biased in my praise, but it’s just so well done.

Let’s go through it: First season he is the proto villain intent on capturing the Avatar at all costs. He’s intentions are evil, but his actions do not necessarily match. His motivations are driven by his desire to please his abusive father which for a kid doesn’t really make him a terrible person, but also has spiritual guidance from his Uncle.

He has the most growth in the second season spending the majority of his time in the Earth Kingdom. Without time spent interacting with non-fire nations, or the enemy, he would not gain the same appreciation for them as his wise Uncle. It’s difficult to be an evil hateful person when the people you oppose are humanized.

Finally in the third season we see how his time with his Uncle and in the Earth Kingdom has changed his overall view to the point where his eyes are opened and his destiny is clear. One of my favorite episodes of season 3 is after he joined the team, was set to teach Aang and basically lost his ability to fire bend. This led him and Aang to learn fire bending from the Sun Warriors and Dragons who were revealed to be the original fire benders. I love this episode so much because for the entire series the viewer was told that Fire Benders were the enemy, but in reality fire isn’t inherently bad. Sure it can be used to harm, but it’s also integral to life; it just depends how you use it. This was not only such a great revelation for Zuko, but also for the viewer.

Pros: I’ve been fairly, but rightly, harsh on these Diamond Avatar toys, as I wanted better and Zuko is really no exception. That said, I appreciate both the sculpt and cartoonish detail as well as the huge fireball effect that was included.

Cons: Did the sculptors at diamond ever watch Avatar? They know it’s like 75% acrobatic fighting right? If I’m being honest I would have rather they save the money on the multi joint stand and fire accessory in favor of a poseable figure with superior articulation. I think it would have also been an awesome opportunity to include accessories for his Blue Spirt alias however that would have broken the back for Diamond, despite having all the room in the world in that ridiculous huge package.

[Team Jetfire]

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Mattel- Masters of the Universe: Zodac



I don’t really know much about Zodac except what I can glean from his overall look, but I think it is safe to say that he might be on the more Sci-Fi side of the Masters of the Universe realm. Which in itself is a bit funny because there is something very unscientific about the study of zodiacs and astrology. Maybe he was meant to be more Science Fantasy (a la Star Wars) and less Sci-Fi like Star Trek. In any case, I think he looks really cool and would love to see more of him in the updated MOTU series.

Pros: Mattel’s MOTU Origin series are quickly becoming my baseline for good figures and while that seems odd considering how basic they are, I really appreciate their simplicity. They have a fun sculpt, a decent amount of articulation and hit that perfect price point that I?m now willing to pay.

Cons: What’s to hate? Zodac, like the rest of the bunch, rocks. More of this.

[Team Jetfire]

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Jazwares- Fortnite Legendary Series: Rust Lord.



So here is a million dollar idea: Fortnite: The TV series. Now I?m not talking about streaming players in a tournament, nor am I talking about a cheesy cartoon that bares little resemblance to the original series, I?m proposing a legitimate 1 vs 100, battle royal tournament that takes 100 ?normal people?, throw them into a playing area and see who is left standing. Ideally it would be a real playing area with ?laser tag? type engagement, but this wouldn?t really be Fortnite so we would need to use a VR technology to achieve some of the more fantastical aspects of the game, but I think we could do it. One ?battle? could fill 3 months of programming that would feature backstories on all the players and highlights through the season on how they fared throughout the tournament with the victor taking home a cash prize. The VR and corresponding tech would allow them to build bunkers and give them boosts when found and also emulate the different terrain when needed. And while the active VR setup would allow for every able bodied person to compete, it would still take into account a competitors athleticism.

I suppose the tech is still a ways away, but I could honestly see this happen in our lifetime and given that Epic Games has all the money they would have the ability to develop this further.

Pros: Top to bottom I love Rust Lord. Great overall sculpt with his really cool looking helmet, cool accessories with a mushroom that I haven?t seen yet, fantastic weapons including scoped revolver and pumpshorgun and a cool character specific pickaxe.

Cons: Over articulation continues to be an issue, however I?m finally getting used to the hand articulation and how to properly attach the weapons.

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Peter “Star Lord” Quill and Ego.






Previously I touched on some thoughts regarding the new Disney+ What If? Series and figured it would be fun to go through the episodes one by one. Check out review 710 for my first instalment.

What if… T’Challa Became a Star-Lord

This was one of the episodes that I was most looking forward to given that it featured, posthumously, the voice of Chadwick Boseman in his role as T’Challa and Michael Rooker as Yondu. The set up of this is fairly simple and really is just a case of mistaken identity and how T’Challa would have fared in the Galaxy as a Ravager, which is to say, pretty darn good considering he’s tight with the group and had neutralized Thanos well before he planned to snap half the world from existence, which honestly was a fun thing to see. Overall the episode starts off good, but kind of tapers off when the endgame, as it were, was really just for T’Challa to be reunited with his people whom he thought were killed. Like I guess it was fun to see all the good that he could have done, but seemed a bit like a cop-out and they buried the lead on what could have been the really interesting thing which was when Ego, the human planet intent to taking over earth, found a deadbeat Peter Quill working at Dairy Queen and presumably will convince peter to actually help him.I’m not really sure what the point of these endings are for, but maybe there will be a part two to this story?

Pros: Peter “Star Lord” Quill- Much like the GOTG franchise, I am pleasantly surprised with this version of Star Lord. Great overall mould with lots of detail and usable articulation, two head sculpts with an unmasked head that has a decent likeness to Chris Pratt, his two blasters that can be secured to his belt and even a small walkman that attaches to his belt; cool stuff.

Ego: I rip on Hasbro a lot for their lazy re-paints/re-tools, but I also have to give credit where it is due. Ego looks like a completely new sculpt (to my eyes anyway) with a lot of detail, has a good amount of articulation, features his spaceman poncho and comes with an extra Kurt Russel head sculpt; what's not to like?

Cons: Peter” Star Lord” Quill- Minor issues only: His walkman is really small and doesn't really stay on his belt. This will probably go missing.

Ego: Some type of accessory would have been nice, perhaps a space plant? Also while I appreciate the extra head, there’s barely a difference between the two.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Star Wars Black Series: Resistance Trooper.




Is this the first POC generic trooper released in toy form? I know there there was definitely some diversity on the prequal character, but not sure that translated into toy production. In any case I wanted to pick up this version because it was unique to the line and wanted to support more diversity in the release of nameless characters. As a kid I often aligned myself to the nameless trooper when playing with my toys and even though it's very possible to pretend to be any character you want, it's nice to see yourself in a character and it's important for all kids to be able to do just that. Basically what I?m saying that that I would love to see way more diversity in these nameless troops so every kid can have the same fun I did.

Pros: I like that Hasbro made two different skin tones for this trooper. It?s long overdue and makes it a bit more fun for the army builders out there. I have mixed feelings about the overall design of the trooper, but that isn?t exactly Hasbro?s fault. Articulation is standard and I appreciated the blaster that was included.

Cons: Army building troopers should ALWAYS be a home run, but unfortunately this guy falls short.I mean, the figure itself is fine (outside of the fact that I had to cut some of his boot off to provide more movement in the ankle joint), but he should be swimming in accessories: Removable helmet, multiple blasters, holsters for the plasters, armor, backpack, knives, etc, etc, etc. You want collectors to buy this up in droves? Make them customizable to look slightly different.

[Team Jetfire]

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Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Deadpool




I hope you all are ready for a steady stream of Deadpool because the next few Marvel Legends waves are chock full of em. Unfortunately I can?t help but feel like this version is the pinnacle and it?s all downhill from here, but time will tell I suppose. For what it?s worth It seems as though Hasbro has pumped the brakes on Deadpool releases, so maybe they saw the need, filled it and moved on to pumping out more Iron-Man and Spider-Man releases as was pre-deadpool status quo.

Pros: My second Deadpool figure and I think it might be one of the best Marvel Legends figures in my collection to date and I?m not even that big of a Deadpool fan. The sculpt is great, but what really makes this figure is all the accessories that he comes with. He has: Two handguns, a rifle, a grenade launcher, a knife, two swords, a boxing glove bazooka, an unmasked cancer head and a taco. And what's even better is that most of the stuff can be stored somewhere on his person!

Cons: This era of Marvel legends has some really gummy joint plastic which feels really delicate. Also, I wish they included another right hand that did not have the extended pinky. I get what they were going for, but in person, it just doesn?t look great.