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

[Robimus]

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

100% I’m thinking Road Pig?

Using the head that come with even. Yeah, that would work great

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by Robimus

Using the head that come with even. Yeah, that would work great

I’m always blown away at some people’s ability to make custom figures. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

[Team Jetfire]

517-2
Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Cyclops and Dark Phoenix






So for this review I wanted to revisit the latest X-Men movie: Dark Phoenix, but I honestly could not get through it again. And while I’m a big fan of the “newer” X-Men movies, this one was just a step too far. First off, it looks cheap, REALLY cheap, like superhero movies from the 80’s cheap. For instance, their X-Men outfits look like I’ll fitting, off the shelf, matching work clothes from Wal-Mart. I’m surprised that I couldn’t see the Dickies logo. I mean, I’m not expecting skin tight spandex, but there has been countless modern superhero shows and movies that was able to make it work. Secondly the story is super convoluted with Jean becoming Phoenix, the Alien intruders who had such little impact and involvement that I’m not even sure why they were introduced in the first place. I guess it had something to do with her powers, but she already had that power showcased in the previous movie when fighting Apocalypse. And lastly, despite my enjoyment of these movies, I REALLY dislike how Mystique became a leading character through-out these films. Not only does it make zero sense in the grand scheme of the X-Men mythos, the make-up looks more and more ridiculous as the budget dropped, that is, when she was actually wearing it and not simply just Jennifer Lawrence. That said, there were some decent parts including highlighting Charles hubris and seeing some of the underrepresented mutants on screen, especially that cameo from Dazzler. As I said, I like these movies, but this movie was, I feel, a bridge too far. It’s also not like they have not tried it before and failed with the abysmal X-Men- The Last Stand.

Pros: Cyclopes- Despite how he is portrayed in the various movies, I really like the character of Cyclopes. And while he has worn a number of costumes over the years, I kind of love the retro look of this one. Overall he has a sculpt that matches his comic look nicely, a good amount of usable articulation for some fun poses and comes with a hand to trigger his optic blast.

Dark Phoenix- An effective re-tool of the medium body mold, Dark Phoenix has a stunning paint job, a plastic belt, translucent Phoenix fire that can kind of be attached to her arm and three, count them three, alternative head sculpts.

Cons: Cyclopes- I’m assuming that a good portion of the budget for this set was given to Dark Phoenix, so with Cyclopes you kind of get what you see. That said, some blast effects, other hands or an unmasked head would have been nice.

Dark Phoenix- Not much bad to say except for the obvious issue I have with reusing this mold over and over and over. The Phoenix accessory is also mildly flustering in that it doesn’t really attach anywhere.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

518-2
Disney Infinity 3.0- Pixar: Dory



I’m continuing my quest to watch and review the entire Disney Animation collection to date. See reviews 429-2, 434-2, 456-2 461-2, 484-2 & 513 for previous entries.

Saludos Amigos- 1943

The first of a number “Package Films” released during World War 2, the development of Saludos Amigos was directly tied to the growing relationship between South American Nations and Nazi Germany. Apparently the US Government tasked the Disney company to take a trip down to various South American nations to build some goodwill with the mutually beneficial goal to A) combat the rise of fascism. (US GOV’T) B) recoup market share from lost markets in Europe from World War 2 (Disney). C) Showcase South America as a tourist destination (South American Nations). Hard to say if it worked for the first two given that a lot of Nazi’s relocated to SA, Disney continued to have financial difficulties through war time, but SA certainly is a tourist destination for many people and a place that I would eventually like to visit. At any rate, there is way more details on Wikipedia if you want to learn more.

As mentioned, this movie is the start of the Disney Package films which is a term to denote a group of a few animated shorts that are packaged together as one feature film. They typically have a short running time and a very loose narrative throughout, but have a theme nevertheless. That theme for Saludos Amigos is a sort of travel log for key places throughout South America. The first short involves Donald Duck vacationing and learning about the hilariously named Lake Titicaca that is located between Peru and Bolivia. It’s a fun start to the film, but probably my least favorite of the lot. The second short, which is my second favorite given that I used to read this story to my kids at bedtime, is the story of a little plane named Pedro. Pedro was tasked with picking up the mail from a hub that was located on the other side of the largest mountain ranges in Chile. Outside of my nostalgic love for the film, I think it’s a good story with a fun ending. The third story is actually my favorite and involves Goofy taking on the role of an Argentinian Gaucho. Much like the “How to” Goofy shorts from the era, this is just an enjoyable watch. Lastly and third favorite features Donald Duck again with a fairly well known new-comer Jose Carioca, who makes an appearance in another package film and a ride at Epcot, while they enjoy the party atmosphere of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. This one is a touch more abstract, but works well with the Music.

Overall Saludos Amigos is a really enjoyable set of shorts that each stand on there own. If you can spare the 60 or so minutes I highly recommend it.

Pros: Dory is another fine Disney Infinity figurine with an exceptionally expressive sculpt and nice looking base. I’m not a huge fan of the Nemo movies, but I can’t not love this little piece.

Cons: As I learned from the previous Boba Fett figure, these Infinity figures do not do well in a packaged prison as the plastic tends to deteriorate. It’s less important for me given that I’m not a MISB collector, but makes me wonder how these figures are going to last in the long term.

[ghostlurk29]

Originally Posted by Team Jetfire

Dark Phoenix- An effective re-tool of the medium body mold

I wished they used this combo more. Its a happy medium between Moonstone and Kate Bishop.

[Team Jetfire]

Originally Posted by ghostlurk29

I wished they used this combo more. Its a happy medium between Moonstone and Kate Bishop.

It’s definitely a good size, I just hate the limited movement.

[Team Jetfire]

519-2
McFarlane Toys: DC Multiverse: The Batman Who Laughs



Continuing my quest to re-watch all the DC Animated features to date and give some thoughts regarding 3 key touchpoints: Animation Style, Voice Acting & Story. These are really just rough notes as I watched the movie and might not make a whole lot of sense unless you have recently watched it. See 290-2, 303-2, 318-2, 331-2, 344-2, 358-2, 369-2, 371-2, 385-2, 399-2, 414-2, 426-2, 441-2, 453-2, 462-2, 468-2, 481-2, 490-2, 496-2 & 510-2 for my previous instalments.

Batman: Assault on Arkham-- 2014

Animation Style- Overall really nicely detailed and fluid. Its similar of the main “New 52” animated movies, but have their own distinct style which I assume is based on the look from the universe of the Batman Arkham games to which this story takes place. One thing that I can’t seem to get used to is that Batman’s pupils are visible under his cowl though; it just looks odd to me.

Voice Acting- A solid cast with some old favorites like Kevin Conroy as Batman, Hynden Walch as a rather over-the-top Harley Quinn and John DiMaggio as King Shark. Some of the newcomers include Neal McDonough (Damien Darhk from the CW Arrow-verse shows and a ton of other stuff) as Deadshot, Matthew Gray Gubler (Dr Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds) as the Riddler, And Troy Baker (who should be considered V/O royalty with all his cartoon credits and does a fantastic Mark Hamill version) plays the Joker. In the “fun credits'' department the now familiar voice Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon from The Mandalorian and Vaught boss Stan Edgar from The Boys) plays Black Spider.

Story- So when I originally watched Assault on Arkham back when it was first released, and again a few later and even up to when I pulled the Wikipedia page for it I did not realize that this takes place in the Arkham video game universe which is honestly a bit of a game changer as to how I view it. Originally I never really understood why this film was not part of the current New 52 movies, why Batman had a different voice than the last film and specifically why Batman looked so wide/ had visible pupils under his cowl, but now it all makes sense (except the pupils; i’ll never get used to that). For the most part, the story is enjoyable and provides a more in depth look at some of the non-hero’s including Deadshot, Captain Bommorange, King Shark, Killer Frost, Black Spider and of course, DC’s answer to Deadpool, Harley Quinn. I mean, it would still be a few years before every “bad-girl” would don their “Daddy’s Little Monster” baby tee, but DC’s decision to hang their hat on Harley never made sense to me. That said, I love the Harley Quinn cartoon, but I digress, her antics in this movie were tiresome and just got worse as she appeared in other media. I’m not going to go into details on the story, just that these bad guys are forced into doing dirty work for the government at the behest of a VERY large Amanda Waller. For this mission they are tasked with breaking into Arkham to force Joker to talk about a dirty bomb that he planned around Gotham. Chaos ensues, Batman gets involved and the day is saved. It’s been a very long time since I have played the Arkham games so I’m not sure how this ties into the story, but I think that this acts as a prequel of sorts, which is fun for fans of the games. One last complaint that i’ll mention is that I really dislike the sex and nudity throughout. I’m not a prude and it's nothing that crazy, but I just feel it is unnecessary to the story and acts as a bit of a catalyst more sex and nudiity throughout the upcoming movies.

Pros: Raise your hand if you did not know who this “Batman Who Laughs” was before they bought this toy? Given that I needed to type, I had to put my hand down, but I only had a general idea and certainly did not know about the greater Batman Metals story arch. After a considerably long trip down a rabbit hole, I’ll just say the character is awesome, the story is incredible and I look forward to picking up all the upcoming releases. As with all McFarlane figures, the sculpt is top notch with a ton of character in a detailed sculpt, the accessories are nice and are perfect for the character and the articulation works for all the poses that you would want.

Cons: Small complaint about how his torso articulation is hindered by the straight jacket, but it's hardly a big issue.

[Team Jetfire]

520-2
Hasbro- Transformers Generations: Megatron.



What’s this? A new Megatron that is not a Gun, Tank or even a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Interesting. As with the other Generation style figures in the wave, I’m sure there is some connection to the IDW comics, but maybe, just maybe, this Megatron could be something different? Again, without any knowledge of this particular design, I would like to postulate that this was the Cybertronian mode of the Megatron featured in the Beast Wars series. Right off the bat it's clear that the coloring matches the Beast Wars character with a distinct purple palate that looks to align more with the only famous purple T-Rex that is NOT Barney. Additionally the head sculpt looks fairly similar to the Beast Wars character. Lastly, given that Beast Wars involves characters from G1’s future who travel to the past, it would stand to reason that the pre-beast Wars character of Megatron might have a futuristic looking alt mode. Unfortunately the bio on the card back flat out disproves my theory with a nondescript story of the G1 character, but alas, a boy can dream about what could have been right?

Pros: Overall Megatron is a fine figure with a sleek stealth looking vehicle mode, a fun transformation and a decently pose-able robot mode. Extra points for the unique way they created his trademark arm cannon.

Cons: Why is this Megatron? I suppose this, like Orion Pax is to Optimus, could be a version of him that predates the look that we all know and love, but it resembles nothing of that character. I mean, he's basically only Megatron in name.

[Team Jetfire]