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

[Team Jetfire]

452-2
Hasbro- G.I. Joe Sigma Six: Sigma Strike Duke with P.O.W.E.R. armor





I’m continuing to review each episode of the short lived G.I. Joe Renegades show; see review 275-2, 302-2, 330-2, 357-2, 384-2, 398-2, 425-2 and 440-2 for previous thoughts.

EP10: Fire Flight

Basic Premise (from Wikipedia): When the town of Green Ridge issues a court order to halt the construction of a dam built by Cobra Industries, Baroness and Doctor Mindbender send Firefly to burn this former resort town to the ground, leaving it up to G.I. Joe and a local firefighter to stop him.

Thoughts: Fire Fight is actually a nice combination of the primary story and a side quest that again has a lot of action throughout. It was really interesting that they wrote Barbeque as an initial defender of Cobra (or rather the Cobra that he thought that he was working for), but later came around to a detractor. This was also the first appearance of Firefly and all I have to say is WTF. He was a total badass character in the comic/original series and they literally made him into a fire obsessed pyromaniac; someone at production thought they would get real literal with his name I guess.

Pros: There is a lot that I love about Sigma Six and specifically this Duke release. First off, the figure itself is as good as any other Duke released to date: nice sculpt, good articulation and decent pose-ability. Second, there are some nice extras outside of the main weapon including a removable helmet, firearm and removable holster and finally, not to bury the lead: a massive weapon system with backpack, connecting tube and 4 different unique attachments making this effectively 4 different guns in one. And an added bonus, each one has its own sound/light up effect. Of the 4 I like the saw the best, but the Flame thrower has a close second. The others are cool, but way too large to fit on my shelf.

Cons: Sometimes, more is not always better and much like the name of this figure: Sigma Strike Duke with P.O.W.E.R. armor (they don’t even explain the acronym P.O.W.E.R. means), this release of Duke is a bit much. Not to say that I do not appreciate what they are going for here, this is a kids toy afterall, but there is so much stuff that it actually hinders the play value. For example, the Gun is massive so Duke has a difficult time holding it, the hose is too short and makes the gun unwieldy and the backpack falls off kind of easily. Ultimately this was part of the initial waves and it looks as though Hasbro was throwing everything they had into the line to create an impact and over did it.

[Team Jetfire]

453-2
DC Collectables- DC Icons: Deathstroke.




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 for my previous instalments.

Superman vs. The Elite: 2012

Animation Style: Ok, looks like we are seeing little change to the overall animation style in this film with the most notable differences is Clark/Superman’s massive Jay Leno size chin. I also really like the animated model for Lois.The rest of the characters look fine, but I’ve never seen them outside of this movie, so I do not have any frame of reference. I will say that the full Union Jack body tattoo that Manchester Black sports is a bit on the nose, even for a comic character.

Voice Acting: No complaints at all for this voice Cast, George Newbern reprises his role as Superman (known for the Timm- Verse Superman), Robin Atkin Downs as Manchester Black (know for so many notable VO projects) and in interesting credits Pauley Perrette (know for the quirky keyboard girl on NCIS) who plays probably my favor version of Lois Lane.

Story: Based on a comic story arch called “What’s so Funny About Truth Justice and the American Way” Superman vs. the Elite is a bit of a bore. I’m sure that Fans of Superman would appreciate it, but for me, it was a bit predictable. Basic premise is that a new group of hard nosed “heros” show up in Metropolis to help clean up crime. Superman is concerned with their methods, but people like them due to their tragic backstory, which is easily disproved. They end up fighting and Superman wins in the end. I suppose it is cool to see some solo superman stuff and I did appreciate that the whole secret identity thing with Lois was already uncovered, but Lex Luthor wasn’t even in it. Either way, it’s not the worst, but definitely not my favorite.

Pros: I’m not overselling to say that Deathstroke is almost a perfect figure. He has an outstanding detailed sculpt, really nice paint job, two head sculpts and a bunch of character specific accessories including some fists, a sword and scabbard, a tommy gun with bullet bandolier, a spear and a revolver that fits into his usable holster. Articulation wise he has the standard Icons fair and is able to hit a number of decent poses. If you are a Deathstroke fan I really recommend you tracking his guy down for your collection.

Cons: If you have read any of my Icon reviews this will sound like a bit of a broken record, but a thigh swivel would have gone a long way on Deathstroke. Also his gun has a difficult time staying in the holster and the scabbard has a hard time staying on his back.

[Team Jetfire]

454-2
Hasbro- Transformers Prime Beast Hunters: Laserback.




At the time of this review, news of the new Transformers War For Cybertron Kingdom figures has hit and I could not be more excited for the return of beast figures. Call it nostalgic at this point, but I have recently admitted that I‘ve grown tired of the same old Optimus= red truck character designs and am ready for something new.. Or rather old, but new again. I think that was what initially drew me to these Beast Hunter figures, especially as I was slowly pulling back from Transformers, they do feel like old Beast Wars/Machines Predacons.

Pros: Laserback has a fantastic mythic type look to him; almost like if you combine the body of a lion and the head of a bird to form this crazy looking hybrid. The only downside would be the lack of wings, but I’m sure he could run really fast. In any case, both modes look great, transformation is fairly simple and reminiscent of Beast Wars and I like the little laser in his back...which is where I assume he got his name.

Cons: Overall a bit simple as compared to some of the deluxe figures that were coming out around that time and the beast hands can interfere with the pose-ability.

[Team Jetfire]

[Team Jetfire]

455-2
Mcfarlane Toys- Fortnite: Omega.



Once again I am going in blind to yet another Fortnite figure and I’m really ok with that given my ignorance to anything outside how I think a figure looks. And if I’m being honest, I would say that Omega looks really great and would be a total badass skin in the game. Sure, it is less silly or garish than say Werewolf or a Gigantic Banana, but there is some room in the game for so straight up cool looking characters right?

Pros: Overall a really cool looking sculpt, a decent amount of “McFarlane” style articulation and the standard 4 included accessories including a rather awesome M-16 that would make GI Joe Classified collectors very jealous of, a matching futuristic pickaxe, a backpack and standard stand.

Cons: I’ll give Mcfarlane the benefit of the doubt as I have already opened a number of newer Fortnite figures, built as an initial release, Omega is pretty frustrating to pose given the armor hinders a lot of the arm movement. Also, the backpack will not stay on. If you are a fan of the skin then it would be worth the pick up, but I would pass in favor of the more unique releases.

[Team Jetfire]

456-2
Disney Toy Box- Disney Classics: Aladdin & Abu




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

Pinocchio
Release Date: 1940

It is difficult to appreciate this nowadays given the slough of animated features that have been released by Disney, but it would be very hard to imagine a time when there was only one cartoon movie released and it was a MASSIVE hit; how could you possibly follow that up? I suppose for Disney it was as easy as replicating what worked with Snow White just with a different story and boom you have another raving success, right? Nope. Unfortunately there were story challenges from the start, many delays, an inflated budget (more than twice of Snow White) and to top it off failed at the box office given that Europu was dealing with World War 2. Thankfully for Disney (and the rest of the world) the war ended and Pinocchio was re-released and found great success with audiences around the world. I would go as far to say that DIsney’s version of the character has easily eclipsed any hitpocial understanding of the book that it was based on and when people think of the story of Pinocchio, they think of the Disney movie. Overall I found it to be an interesting watch and definitely a product of its time. There are however lessons throughout that still hold true today as they did back when it was made. As a disney fan there are also some very iconic characters and songs that you can still find throughout the parks that fit well with any of the more modern fare that makes you sometimes forget that this was produced over 80 years ago.

Pros: Aladdin may be one of my favorite Disney movies and I think it was due to the perfect combination of action based story and the comedic style; it just really worked for this movie. I was really happy that they decided to release him as part of the Toy Box line and assume it had something to do with the release of the live action movie. Aladdin looks really good in the Infinity Style, has a good amount of usable articulation and of course comes with his mischievous sidekick money: Abu.

Cons: One of the downsides of these Toy Box figures is that they are articulated copies of the static Disney Infinity figures. Why is that bad? Well, when you make a statue of something, the figure is molded in a pose that makes sense. In Aladdin's case, the Infinity figure has his arms and hands out to the side and his head down to the left in a kind of “who me” look. So, In this static model, the head is down and the eyes are up, however if you add articulation to this, unless you are able to pose it in the exact same way that the Infinity figure was, it ends up looking a bit odd.

[Team Jetfire]

457-2
Hasbro- Star Wars Black Series: Yoda.



Much like becoming a Jedi Master, I feel that collecting toys, or rather Hasbro toys, or better yet POPULAR Hasbro Toy, requires a great deal of perseverance and patience. The former is important because the hunt is everything in this hobby. Not only do you need to be dedicated to hitting up all the Toys R Us’, Wal-Marts, EB Games and even Winners in your area ALL THE TIME to find that gold you are looking for, you need to drag your family away from vacation fun to do the same thing at all the forgn toy shops to uncover that treasure. However, when the collecting gods are not on your side, then you need the later: like it or not patience is equally important as persistence and this Yoda is a perfect example. When he was first released, I feel that Canada was skipped and the aftermarket prices were insane. Thankfully I did not bite on it in the aftermarket and waited it out until Hasbro eventually re-released the figure in an Archive series. And while I am still learning after all these years (I am only human and Amazon is really great at screwing me out of pre-orders), I really feel that 99% of the time, persistence and patience are the key to collecting zen.

Pros: I mean, what can I say? It’s definitely Yoda. Decent sculpt, soft goods cloak, enough articulation for the size and a few different accessories including a green lightsaber, cane, little snake buddy and necklace thing that I have no clue what it's from.

Cons: While I realize that more plastic doesn't always equate a better figure, At $30, Yoda is a bit of a rip off. Consider what else you can get for $30: Marvel legends Thing, a deluxe Transformer and for $5 less, the massive DC Devastator from the Mcfarlane DC line.

[Team Jetfire]

458-2
Hasbro- Marvel Legends: Scarlet Witch



This might be a bit of a hot take, and I’m really not trying to ruffle any feathers here, but I feel that Scarlett Which should have been the face of girl power in the MCU over Captain Marvel.It’s not to say that I don’t like Captain Marvel, ts just that a character like Wanda had a more organic growth than say a character that received a solo movie and became the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe. Ah well, I suppose I can’t complain too much given that Wanda is getting her own, VERY HIGHLY anticipated, Disney Plus series soon.

Pros: It’s crazy to me that there have been so few Scarlet Witch MCU figures released to date; I feel that she is a fairly popular character no? In any case, This figure captures her overall look from Civil War very nicely with a great sculpt, standard Marvel Legend female articulation and a few newish looking magic effects that fit over her hands.

Cons: The head sculpt could use some work to match Elizabeth Olsen and the lets have a tendency to bow out making it look like she just got off a horse.

[Team Jetfire]

459-2
Hasbro- Transformers Prime: Thundertron Starseaker




Two beasts in a row? Have I gone full Beast Wars crazy given the announcement of War For Cybertron Kingdom? I mean yes because I am really looking forward to it, but the timing of these reviews is really just a coincidence given that I really have no rhyme or reason as to who I pick to open from a particular line. That said, who even is Thundertron and why is he a Starseeker? I may just have to jump into the Transformers Prime cartoon because this guy looks amazing. From what I can deduce he is some kind of space pirate (as noted by his peg leg), but that is really about it. I’m going to do a bit more research and I'll be right back.

**5 minutes later**

Ok, that didn't help at all and left me with more questions than answers. If you want to figure it out be my guest, here is the link:
https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Thundertron
There seems to be a connection to some different media that I'm not familiar with and apparently was supposed to be part of Prime, but was dropped in favor of the other beast hunters which I’m sure is a bit of a bummer for those who actually know who this is.

Pros: Despite only having an elementary knowledge of who the character is, I really like Thundertron. I’ve stated before my affinity for beast characters, so there is that, but he’s also a very interesting figure with a lot of unique character, I mean, who wouldn’t love a Transformer space pirate complete with molded peg leg? Transformation is fine, despite a frustrating instruction sheet and he even comes with a light up accessory.

Cons: This is something that drives me crazy and it is so easy to rectify: Include a friggin back story to your figures. It could be a file card printed on the box, a paper insert with the instruction or even a QR code to a website, but to just release a figure into the market without any indication who they are or what their deal is just so lazy. I can’t tell you how many times my brother and I would get some random Transformer or Gi Joe toy and study the file card for details as to who this is and there is no excuses for Hasbro in not doing the same. Also, while the weapon is a nice touch, the spring-loaded feature annoyed the hell out of me.

[Team Jetfire]