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

[Team Jetfire]

316-2
Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Ultron



Rating of worst to best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies continued; see review 207-2, 210-2, 216-2, 222-2, 228-2, 232-2, 233-2, 242-2, 244-2, 248-2, 254-2, 258-2, 259-2, 294-2. 296-2, 300-2, 306-2, 310-2 & 311-2 for the previous instalments.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating #3

Captain America: Civil War- Wow, top 3 baby! And I already want to change my rankings… That’s the thing with these Marvel movies though: Because they are all so good and fun to watch (except Thor: The Dark World) my feelings of them are always in flux. That said, I’m pretty solid with my top 3, for now anyways

It’s funny to me how Civil War is considered a Captain America film given how may heroes co-star and are introduced in it; Sure, no Hulk or Thor, but really it’s almost a full roster of more Supers than we even saw in the first Avengers movie! I suppose Steve is really at the centre of it in this version, so it makes sense to have his name on the title, but they certainly took some liberties with the multi-part Marvel comic that this was named for. At its core, it's more or less the same: Government oversight on super heroes with 2 factions squaring off to support their side. Iron Man is pro-registration (something that feels somewhat shoehorned in the MCU version as I don’t thing Tony would cave so easily) and Captain America is anti-registration due to his of putting experience with putting his trust into an organization like shield. In the comic there is much more weight to the requirement of registration given the amount of heroes running around the Earth 616 (the comic universe), but the MCU is much more condensed and only have a handful of people that this may affect, most of whom are already public figures. Like why does Clint (Hawkeye) care that he has to register… he’s just a NORMAL GUY!?! At any rate, Marvel studios was smart to make it less about the registration and more about isolating and exploiting a crack in the Avengers to see it fall from within; a perfectly satisfactory plan for a guy who’s life was destroyed by the actions of a few superheroes. Outside of that the movie literally gave us the next Phase of the MCU with an amazing cameo from Antman, The Falcon, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Wanda and Vision as well as some AMAZING first appearances of huge players in the MCU: Black Panther and Spiderman. I think I said it before, I knew that I was going to like Spiderman in this movie, but was pleasantly surprised with Black Panther.

Pros: It’s interesting and kind of brilliant that Hasbro decided on an Ultron BAF in the Ant Man Marvel Legends wave of figures. Interesting given that it obviously is a tie it with the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie that didn’t see a movie toy, but brilliant because Ultron is really an Ant Man creation, just not in the MCU; which is the design this guy is based on. Overall, he has a nice detailed sculpt and I like his rather imposing stature as he really does tower over the other Avengers.

Cons: Not sure why, but his hip joints are hindered and I can’t even blame it on a hard plastic tunic. Apparently someone at Hasbro just really loves frustering the hell out of me.

[Team Jetfire]

317-2
Hasbro- G.I. Joe- Sigma Six: Lt. Stone






Ok, so while I have no basis for this whatsoever, I have to guess that Lt.Sone was going to eventually heel turn to Major Blood if the series continued. Consider the following: he has an eye patch over his left eye, just like Major Blood, he has a bionic arm just like Major Blood, (albeit on the wrong side) and his name is more or less a take from the Phrase ‘getting blood from a stone’; I’m sure I’m on to something here and it’s too bad given the I think it could have been a really great story line.

Pros: Lt. Stone a great take on a new character with an absolute ton of play value. A great sculpt with unique parts, a good amount of weapons and holsters to keep them in and even a removable beret that looks good on or off. Additionally he comes with a set of Cobra Viper armor and a Zartan mask as a disguise. And as if that was not enough, they even added a little secret decoder tool that fits in the stock of his gun that uncovers a secret message on the package!! How cool is that??!

Cons: Outside of the normal issues with Sigma 6 figures some minor issues I have is that the primary weapon/net thing is rather big and the Zartan head looks more like he is wearing a rather stylized Zartan mascot head than Zartan himself.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

318-2
DC Collectables- DC Icons: Firestorm



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 for my previous instalments.

Batman: Gotham Knight 2008- A series of 6 short Batman stories with different animation styles and Stories. Give the time frame, a lot of these feel like they are part of the Nolan Verse and do not involve other heros while focus on Batman as a stand alone vigilantly fighting a never ending War on Crime.
1. Animation Style: Story A) A really non traditional art style, something that I have never really seen before in a DC Animated feature. Story B) More traditional anime animation style (like Akira) Story C). Newer anime style, don’t love the look of the bat suit. Story D) Really like it, Heavily inspired by Mike Mignola and Hell Boy. Story E) Cleaner, more typical animation animation. Story F) Has a real “pulply” look to it.

2. Voice Acting – Kind of a mixed bag of characters with Batman staples like Kevin Conroy and Rob Paulson

3. Story: Story A) One Batman story told by the points of view few kids. It’s a cool way to tell the story, but feels familiar like it has been done before. Story B) Ok as a short story involving some of the Gotham PD, but a bit basic for what I like about Batman Story C) Like Year One. Lucious. Interesting focus on Batman’s technology. Story D) Very dark- really like the introduction of Killer Croc and the involvement of the Scarecrow’ This is legitimately creepy. Story E) A nice look at how Bruce learned how to become Batman. Story F) Bruce has a really odd monolog about guns that is rather off putting considering his aversion. A pretty cool look at Deadshot that was priuor to the Suicide Squade movies.


Pros: A POX on those who at DC Collectibles that decided to kill the Icons line, A POX I say! Nevermind that Firestorm has always had a special place in my heart after getting the Kenner Super Powers version by chance at secret santa at some Scout Christmas party (where I would have certainly rather had Batman or Superman, but whatever), but this is just another example of how great these Icons figures were. AMAZINGLY detailed sculpt, great character specific accessories including 2 sets of hands/ nucular effects and ok articulation. We messed up by not embracing this line people, we done messed up.

Cons: As with all Icons figures, he is a bit on the shorter side for all those “size queens” out there and the lake of a thigh swivel is still a bummer, but you get used to it. One figures specific issues is that the hands do not fit into the nuclear effects very well and I am super scared to force it for fear of breakage.

[Team Jetfire]

319-2
Hasbro- Transformers: Reveal the Shield: WreckGar



If the Transformers the Movie was released now I feel that the online Transformers community would have lost their minds. Things like Optimus dying, lots of other important Autobots and Decpticons being murdered or formatted and the retconning of the entire story up to the point would drive fans insane, but when the dust settled, when all the arguing about how Ultra Magnus really got the shaft finished, I have to think that there would be a long thread questionsing how the hell the Junkions exist. I’m not even kidding; it makes no sense and we just all acceptabed it as the stupid ignorant children that we were.. Man I miss those times.

Pros: Generally speaking I love motorcycle toys, but don’t love motorcycle Transformers, with one caveat: they need someone to ride them. Otherwise it’s not that much fun to “drive” around a riderless vehicle. Overall Wreckgar looks decent in both modes, has a fun transformation and comes with a cool looking mace thing.

Cons: Not sure I should have expected anything less, given that his IS a Junkion, but mine actually broke, or rather, crumbled around one of the handlebars. I was able to fix it, but the Handlebar won’t move as part of the transformation any longer and I worry about the longevity on the plastic on this figure; I sure do hate that “brown/gold” plastic.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

320-2
Disney Toybox- Disney Animation: Hiro




Rating of worst to best of the a the Pixar movies continued; see review 205-2, 219-2, 231-2, 240-2, 264-2, 270-2, 285-2, 292-2, 297-2, 303-2 & 313-2 for the previous instalments:

9. Coco - When Coco first came out, I’ll be honest, I was not really interested and waited for months after it was released to see it. Boy was I DEAD (ha-har) wrong; it’s an amazing film that once again proves what Pixar is capable of: crafting a unique, heartfelt story starring interesting yet familiar characters and presenting it in a visually stunning manor. Seriously, if you have not seen it yet, you are missing out; it has quickly become one of my go to movies to play in the background when I’m working or writing.

Pros: Overall Hiro fits in well with the other cast of Disney Characters in the Toy box line with nice sculpt and detail, a good amount of articulation and 2 different looks with or without his Helmet.

Cons: I can’t help but feel that this was a missed opportunity to try and somehow allow Hiro ride on Baymax's back like he does in the movie. This would have made both toys WAY more fun and given Hiro something more to do given that without Baymax, he’s not all that fun as a toy. I also wonder why his one feature on this figure is to “ not wear a helmet” and it’s such a waste.

[Team Jetfire]

321-2
Hasbro- The Black Series Archive- Anakin Skywalker




Rating of worst to best of the Star Wars movies continued; see reviews 215-2, 218-2, 221-2, 241-2, 245-2, 247-2, 266-2, 272-2, 293-2 & 299-2 for the previous instalments:

The Good: If you grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s Star Wars media was pretty hard to come by, that is unless you looked at the bookstore. Thankfully for Star Wars fans there was a literally a parsec of new stories to explore that involving both our favorite characters from the movie,but also supplementary stories about the other worlds and characters that we love about the greater Star Wars universe. And while these books were entertaining, they really weren’t much more than “fan stories” that we as SWs fans gravitated too to help fill in the blanks of this world that we loved and I think this is the best way to view the movie.
Like Rogue One, Solo has the look and feel of the Star Wars universe during the time of the Empire, prior to the events of “A New Hope”. This has a familiar feel for me as so much we know of the SW universe happens within this time and it is nice to have a chance to explore it more and connect to other Star Wars media including “The Clone Wars and Rebels”. Yes, we knew that the Empire was bad, but we were never really given a detailed look at their control on “non outer-rim planets”. I also really appreciate all of the characters as well as the casting for the movie: Becket and his crew are really fun additions to the universe, Han’s girlfriend Qi’ra gives pushes the story further and she has some interesting potential with her role as the new boss of Crimson Dawn and of course some old favorites like Chewebacca and Lando (played wonderfully by Donald Glover) provide some of those connection points to the bigger Star Wars picture. I will also make a bold statement that I liked Alden Ehrenreich’s performance as Han; It was an insurmountable task to take the role over from Harrison Ford, but I think he did a great job considering.
Pros: Star Wars Black Series is a bit of a feast or famine toy line hindered with terrible distribution and crappy case assortments leading to hundreds of figures no one wants while a complete shortage of the ones that they do. This has been the norm for the line and lead to a massive shortage of a few key Star Wars Characters. Thankfully Hasbro noticed this and released a number of rare figures under this Archive line for those who may not have been lucky enough to pick them up when first released or did not want to pay the secondary market costs.
Overall, I really love the Episode 3 version of Anakin and the figure captures the look really well. He has a fantastic articulation scheme and like Obiwan before, cloth panels between the hard plastic tuic that allows for a full range of hip movement. Also his trademark LIghtsaber and kudos to Hasbro for including both a naughty and nice head sculpt.
Cons: I would have loved if they included a cloth Jedi cloak, but as it is, this is a really fantastic figure.

[Team Jetfire]

322-2
Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Pizza Spiderman




Rating of worst to best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies continued; see review 207-2, 210-2, 216-2, 222-2, 228-2, 232-2, 233-2, 242-2, 244-2, 248-2, 254-2, 258-2, 259-2, 294-2. 296-2, 300-2, 306-2, 310-2, 311-2 & 316-2 for the previous instalments.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating #2

Iron Man: 2008 was an interesting year for movies: DC was on top with The Dark Knight, Disney Animation was at a low with Bolt, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released and Marvel Studios released 2 movies that would become the start of something pretty amazing. I’ll be 100% honest, I can’t remember if I saw Iron Man in the theaters. It was a really busy time in my life with having two small kids and I was just not that into Iron Man as a comic character. In comparison however, I did see The Dark Knight twice, so that has to tell you a bit about my priorities.
Regardless of when I actually ended up seeing it, I was blown away. Top down it had a great cast including the MCU glue RDJ, but also Gwyneth Paltrow who appears in almost as many Marvel films as RDJ and Jeff Bridges as Tony’s mentor/foil (who I would have loved to see more of in the later installments, but he ded), a fantastic story that despite being another origin, is actually interesting to watch that really sets the tone for the MCU movies going forward (not to serious, not too funny. I think we have Jon Favro to thank for that) and some pretty decent effects for the time. Sure it was not a massive CGI fest like End Game, but it worked pretty well. If I were to have any complaints it would be that the second story with Obadiah turning heel feel a bit forced and is somewhat overshadowed by tony’s building of the Mach 1 and subsequent escape from the terrorists.
Interestingly enough the terrorists were part of the Ten Rings organization that had connections to the Mandarine (Iron Man 3) and will also have direct ties to the upcoming Shang-Chi movie so even after all these years, Iron Man is still influencing the MCU.

Pros: Known as the pinnacle Spiderman figure todate “pizza” Spiderman really does live up to the hype. Fantastic body type with a great amount of usable articulation, a bunch of different hands, two different head sculpts and even a slice of pizza for him to munch on while swinging throughout the city.

Cons: Nothing, this is really one of the better ML figures ever released and should be the standard for all figures, especially at the current price point.

[Team Jetfire]

323-2
Hasbro- Transformers Prime: Vehicon



I really miss having decent Transformers cartoons to watch. I suppose that I have never watched Cyberverse or even the Robots in Disguise cartoon that preceded it so they could have been good, but just felt way too juvenile to me, and for a guy who collects toys that is saying something. I would love something like Transformers Animated again that can appeal to both young and old and maybe something that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but I’m not sure that is in the cards for the franchise any longer

Pros: There is a whole lot to like about this Unnamed Vehicon: Looks great in both modes, an interesting yet intuitive Transformation, decent articulation and even comes with a weapon.

Cons: Not too much to complain about, but while this is typical for the Transformers Prime toy line, I’m not a fan of how skinny his arms look.