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

[Team Jetfire]

347-2
Disney Toy Box- Disney Classics: Moana



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, 320-2, 325-2, 333-2 & 341 for the previous instalments:

5. Cars.

There is something about Cars that I will always love. I have no doubt that a lot of my enjoyment is nostalgic based given that I have a lot of happy memories around the time that it came out, but I also look at it as a bit of a guilty pleasure. I realize that it’s derivative of other older “race car’ movies, I understand that the characters are a bit stereotypical and I certainly get that a universe of cars without people makes zero sense, but nevertheless I like it. Hell I don't even care for NASCAR or racing in general, but apparently I like racing movies. Honestly, I think what did it for me was when Lightning and Sally were going for a drive up the mountain side. It's a sweet little moment in the movie where they start falling for each other and Lightning learns to slow down and enjoy the little things in life. It is also BEAUTIFULLY animated and has an extremely memorable score and showcased what Pixar was able to accomplish in these “simple” cartoons.

Pros: I love the movie Moana and was excited to get an articulated figure of her. She has a nice sculpt complete with her water amulet necklace thing and comes with an oar of some sort; no doubt to paddle through the oceans with her demi-god friend Maui.

Cons: I’m not even going to sugar coat it; this figure is not good and would have been better as a statue. For starters, you can’t move her head because of the hard plastic hair. Also all the lower body articulation is hindered because of the stupid hard plastic skirt. She can’t hold onto her accessory, which by the way also doesn’t make sense (should have been a water effect) and she can’t stand up property because she is too top heavy (big hair) without being able to spread her legs out enough. Not sure what happened with this one, but Toy Box dropped the ball and this figure is frustrating as hell.

[Team Jetfire]

348-2
Hasbro- Star Wars Black Series: Darth Vader



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, 321-2 & 327-2 for the previous instalments:

The Ugly: Who seriously thought it was a good idea to give a back story to his name? It is such a minor thing and basically a throw away line, but so fricking dumb. Why would they have not let Han give it to himself rather than keeping a name that a jerk faced imperial officer gave to me as a joke? So lame.
In the same vein I hate that again they had to give us the details on why Han calls Chewbacca, Chewy; like why be so on the nose. When I give someone a nickname I never stop to explain why, it just happens naturally.
Lastly, I hate that they took L3, Lando’s sassy robot, and uploaded her to the Falcon. Don’t get me wrong, the idea is fine, but in 6 movies that are supposed to take place AFTER the events of Solo they never once mention that the Falcon has a mind of its own because she was once a sentient robot that had a questionable relationship with her captain.

Pros: Every franchise has their “tent pole” characters that are synonymous with the brand and typically this leads to decent action figures given that they don’t want to mess em up. Vader certainly takes that spot for Star Wars and for the most part is a good Black Series figure. He has a great detailed sculpt, a good amount of articulation, softgoods cape, trademark lightsaber and even a removable helmet feature that was a complete surprise to me.

Cons: Overall a great figure with only minimal, nitpicky issues. I would have liked a bit more articulation (double jointed elbows and knees), a few more accessories like fists or blast effects and the cloth goods tend to bunch a bit under the torso and belt area.

[Team Jetfire]

249-2
Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Anti-Venom



I’m continuing my multipart look as to why Starlord is NOT to blame for allowing Thanos’s rise to power as featured in the MCU Infinity War movie with today’s review. Have a look at reviews 338-2, 339-2 & 342-2 for previous thoughts.

So I’ll be 100% honest here, I don’t really know why the 3rd stone, also known as the reality stone and aside from granting the user the ability to turn blasters into bubble guns and people in to springs, I’m not certain why it is that important to achieve Thanos’ goal. That said, once again it could have easily been kept safe from Thanos, but the universe has a tendency to mess up at every given moment. See, after the forgettable events of Thor: The Dark World, the stone was in the possession of the Asgardians, you know, some of the most powerful beings in the universe, and they thought it best to give the stone to the Collector for safe keeping. Problem is, the Collector is a total idiot that has no ability to protect anything of value. Hell, his warehouse is so completely unguarded that literally hundreds of people enter it on a daily basis as part of a tour in Disney’s California Adventure theme park. Jeez, I mean, the only thing that stood in the way of Thanos and that stone was the inflated park ticket and a 45 min standby wait time. Regardless, the stone was in Thanoses possession well before our hero’s catch up to him on Nowhere so it is difficult to say if their plan of attack would have ever worked. What is clear is that the Collector has a very lax policy on who gains entry into his warehouse.

Pros: A sizable figure with a beautiful sculpt including an excellent heads sculpt, a good amount of articulation and a nice clean paint job. Anti-Venom is an imposing figure that looks great on the shelf.

Cons: While he is a sizable figure, this is a basic re-tool of Toxin and has no accessories of alternate head sculpt. I really feel that if Hasbro is going to continue to jack up the prices on these figures we will need a bit more for the money.

[Team Jetfire]

350-2
Hasbro- Transformers Prime: Hotshot




Back in the early 2000’s the Transformers brand had a lot going for it in my opinion. Starting with Robot In Disguise, we saw a return to form for the brand with a more traditional “vehicle to robot” toy line supported by cartoons featuring 2 warring factions who find their way to Earth. From there Hasbro released 3 concurrent Transformer series that were loosely connected by way of characters, but for the most part they had their own storylines and I feel that without these three series, Armada, Energon and Cybertron, Transformers would not be the media Juggernaut it is today. And while they were far from perfect, I still look back fondly on each of the series for providing some memorable stories, characters and toys from that time. One character that will always be my favorite is Hotshot. Not only was my son’s favorite, but he was often the character that got the most development during each of the series. Infact, his arc is so similar, it’s surprising that they didn’t call him Bumblebee as his role on the team is almost identical. Hell, I would say that movie-verse Bumblebee is actually MORE similar to Armada, Energon,Cyberton Hotshot than his G1 namesake that it makes you wonder if that was not the original intent. In any case, I’m glad that Hotshot has not been forgotten and appreciate these little homages to the characters from some really great series.

Pros: Honestly as a fan of the Armada Trilogy, the sheer fact that Hotshot still exists as a character is a win in my book. Outside of that, it’s a nice “Prime style” figure with a nice paint scheme, cool head sculpt with movable goggles, a good amount of articulation and a unique transformation.

Cons: I didn’t realize until after I opened him, but Hotshot is a re-tooled version of the main line Bumblebee; not that this is particularly concerning or a bad thing as it is standard Hasbro practice at this point, but worth noting. Additionally his weapons are a bit weak and while it’s a neat(ish) gimmick, I’m not a huge fan of the gearbox transformation as I worry that it will break.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

351-2
Hasbro- Overwatch: McCRee



So here is a fun fact about me: I love video games, but rarely play them anymore. I grew up with an Intellivision (think of the Betamax version of early consoles) in the early 80s, played my share of pirated video games on my family’s Amiga (think of the laserdisc version of early PC’s) and of course all the familiar favorite games on the NES (think of the Blu-ray of video game consoles, we actually pick correctly on this one). From there I spent hours playing games on my N64, Game Cube, PlayStation 1-4 and more recently the Nintendo Switch, but have just lost the drive to pick up the controllers. Hell, there was a time in the last 10 years that I bought every COD release just to get my ass handed to me on a daily basis in online multiplayer; it was enjoyable released, but for some reason I lost interest. I’m still aware of games and stay relatively informed with the various releases, but I think I wanted to spend my free time creating (writing and taking pictures) rather than consuming; something that I picked up from filmmaker Kevin Smith of all places. Not that I look down at gamers, quite the opposite really as I am super jealous of their dedication to a game, but I just choose to use my time for another activity. That said, IF I could get into games again, I would likely want to play through Red Dead Redemption and Overwatch as they both look super fun and have some amazingly dedicated fan bases which leads me to why I picked this figure up. I’m not sure the story behind McCRee, but when I saw him on my Insta feed I was sold, he just looks soooooo cool.

Pros: I was initially sold on McCRee purely based on his stylized “Overwatch” sculpt; It’s not really anime, but certainly has an anime vibe to it. On further inspection the detail is really quite remarkable on this figure with a bunch of unique parts including a robotic arm and poncho. He also has a decent amount of articulation and comes with his signature weapon, a blast effect, 3 grenades and 2 spare hands. Bonus points go to having a working holster.

Cons: McCRee is almost a perfect figure, but really lacks decent possibility due to the hard plastic poncho and limited ankle articulation. Couple that with angled cowboy boots? Well you are left with a figure that can’t really hold a decent pose. This could have been rectified with a stand, but I assume Hasbro was already at their budget for an individual figure.

[Team Jetfire]

352-2
Disney Infinity 3.0- Star Wars: Ray and Finn.




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, 321-2, 327-2 & 348-2 for the previous instalments:

6. Star Wars Ep 8- The Last Jedi
I feel like if you looked up the word ‘divisive’ on dictionary.com it would just be a link for the IMDB site of Star Wars: The Last Jedi as this film, this pop culture event has probably split the Star Wars fandom worse than Ewoks, Greedo Shooting first and JarJar combined and I doubt things will ever be the same. I suppose it’s fitting given the underlying themes of balance that are found throughout the series that there may be an equal amount of people who are on either side of the ‘how I feel about Star Wars spectrum’ and I guess that’s a good thing? And while I hate the ‘Disney ruined MY version of Star Wars’ point of view that some fans have, I do feel that it is important for big corporations, like Disney, to understand if they missed the mark with some fans and perhaps take a step back to re-evaluate where they are taking this franchise. While it’s true that you will never make anyone happy, it would be helpful to the bottom line if you didn’t actively work to displace them.
For me The Last Jedi rates fairly high as I legitimately like the movie for the things that it does well, but not so high that I can really overlook the things it does poorly. Incidentally It would have been rated higher if prior to seeing the Rise of Skywalker, but more on that later. To cap this off before my typical Good, Bad and Ugly, I will say that Rian Johnson, Kathleen Kennedy and Disney did not kill the Star Wars franchise, rather fandom did. When fans intertwine their identity with something as shallow as a multi billion dollar franchise they are at the mercy of a corporation who has different interests in mind. And while an unhappy fandom can ‘vote with their wallet’ it seems as though even the most vocal Star Wars fan will still consume in one way or another, which I think is the key to enjoy current pop culture: Ingest what you like and leave what you don’t.
Pros: Seems odd to be opening an Force Awakens sent after the trilogy has been completed, but regardless, a nice set of figures are a nice set of figures, regardless of when you open them. Both share a fantastic sculpt that has a ton of detail and character and captures the perfect blend of realistic overall look and style that Infinity did so well. The fact that these real life characters look as though they can fit right in with an animated Disney princess, or a marvel comic character is pretty telling how great this line really was.

Cons: While I know these are stagnate figures, I do wish that the pose they picked for both was a bit more action-y. I also wish that the game and line continued on.

[Team Jetfire]

353-2
Hasbro- Transformers Generations: Wheeljack



Two repaint/retool figures in a row and like with Hotshot, I’m not even sure that I was aware when I picked him up. I suppose that it’s a good thing that Hasbro didn’t just slap a coat of paint on tracks and call it fine, but I never really thought WJ and Tracks were that complimentary in design. Regardless, as a big fan of Wheeljack (was my second Transformer after all) I was more than happy to pick up another one for my collection.

Pros: A nice figure overall with enough homages appropriately matching it to the G1 figure. A good amount of articulation allowing for some dynamic poses as well as an fun transformation that is typical for this era. I’m also surprised that they included a primary weapon that can be stored in robot mode, but also his signature shoulder canons, that can apparently be used for wrenches (something that I just learned)

Cons: I don’t much care for that shoulder/chest assembly and it takes a bit of pressure to force into place and makes me nervous; I’m also not certain that this mould is really conducive to the best possible version of the character.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

354-2
Disney Toybox- Star Wars: Poe Dameron & BB-8





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, 321-2, 327-2, 348-2 & 352-2 for the previous instalments:
6. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
The Good- Well, first thing is first: As a Star War movie, The Last Jedi looks amazing. From the opening space dogfight to the Battle of Crait, the visuals are stunning and really showcases the differences between Rian and JJ. Not that there's anything wrong with JJ’s style, but The Force Awakens had his signature lens flares throughout and it did feel a bit off for a Star Wars movie and it was nice to see a different perspective of how this world could be presented.
Another strong point of this movie is some of the development for the main characters, namely Rey and Kylo. Prior to the release of TLJ, there was a lot of talk and speculation as to the connection between these two and I think the movie does a nice job in continuing that mystery while allowing them both room to grow in their own way. I feel that the character of Rey was unfairly painted with the ‘Mary Sue’ brush from the start and to see her train with Luke, while exploring portions of her past with Kylo, was nice to see. As for Kylo, well I pretty well love anything Kylo/ Adam Driver related so it was nice to see the time spent on his challenges. As compared to Anakin Skywalker, Kylo seemingly has legitimate mental issues that lead him down the path to the dark side and you can tell that it’s literally tearing him apart.
Some other quick hits that I liked about LTJ include the fantastic throne room fight with Kylo and Ray taking on Snoke’s guards, Luke’s battle and subsequent death while taking on Kylo, the Millennium Falcon dog fight on Crait and what has now become known as the “Holdo Maneuver” where Admiral Holdo took out the fleet of Star Destroyers by jumping to lightspeed while in their direct path.
Lastly, and perhaps less impactful given the events in ROS, I liked that Rey was supposed to be a nobody. This might be a hot take, but I think the “mainline” Star Wars has always been held back by being tied to the Skywalker family and does better exploring the outlining world that George Lucas created. Rian Johnsen gave them a way out of this by making Rey a nobody and showing us that there are other force sensitive people throughout the galaxy. Unfortunately the Rey mystery has been solved, the door is still open for other potential Jedi that are not necessarily connected to Skywalker, or for that matter, Palpatine.
Pros: Another super fun Toybox figure with a nice sculpt, good articulation and some great accessories including A helmet, a blaster (that fits in a holster) and even his best buddy droid: BB-8. Also the detail on the sculpt is pretty darn amazing with hoses and straps galore. It’s a really great figure that could be tweaked to easily make some characters from the OG trilogy.

Cons: Ok, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but he looks hilarious in his helmet; almost like Rey when she was first introduced to us on Jakku , goofing around with that old helmet. Additionally, and while this just be mine, some joints are stuck and cannot be moved.