Transformers Studio Series Ironhide review

Ironhide's a Transformer that needs no introduction. Fans already know his cannons, his temper, and his use of the word "punk" to Sam, Demolishor, and a Dread. He's a weapon specialist, a rough and tough bot, and he's not backing down in a fight. Even when some Decepticons still remain tougher than him, he'll take them down and keep the humans safe despite his trigger-happy nature. Still, his figures haven't always been the best offerings. 2007 Ironhide didn't capture the essence of the character in the movies, the HFTD Deluxe was accurate but too short, and while the DOTM Voyager was a bigger toy, he has the worst proportions compared to all the other Ironhide toys before him. The Leader and MPM make for different stories, but for a while, I felt there wasn't the right Ironhide toy for a long time before this version was made. Let's see how Studio Series Ironhide fares in the line.

Here we have Ironhide in his vehicle mode. He's in the GMC Topkick that felt like an altmode an Ironhide would take compared to the G1's minivan or the Energon version's Mini Vehicle proportions. This is a pickup truck that feels like a battering ram towards the evil forces of the Decepticons, and one that should never be messed with. While the bumper should fit in better with the altmode and the undercarriage doesn't look the cleanest, I admire the no-nonsense mass of this big black truck. I even like the silver smokestacks that are also present in the altmode.

For weapon storage, Ironhide's cannons can be placed on the truck bed, which isn't the best way of keeping the weapons intact, but at least it's something.

For a size comparison, here he is next to Studio Series Optimus Prime. The size between the two alt modes isn't the best, let's put it that way. Optimus, being a semi-truck, should at least be bigger than Ironhide, especially when Optimus is going to be taller than Ironhide in robot mode. If this was the scale of a Movie Huffer, I wouldn't mind that. But this is Optimus we're speaking of, who could go with being bigger or having longer smokestacks!

The size difference is more prominent from the front. I know Ironhide's a big truck in the movies, but this big?! That's a stretch!

The size between Ironhide and the HFTD Optimus isn't too bad. That's thanks to the smokestacks and a slightly larger size that sells it for this version of Optimus.

You can tell how more even the alt modes look now. There isn't much synergy between this and the other Optimus, however, so I may get the Studio Series knockoff for altmode display only.

Here are the vehicle mode comparisons. The line up does look nice with the inclusion of all five 2007 Autobots, though Optimus and Ratchet do look a bit small in this display. The HFTD Voyager does scale better. Ratchet's still iffy. Also, Bumblebee's not the right altmode.

Ironhide transforms a lot better than I expected. The issue with other Ironhide figures is how they almost always work like a bad combination of stability issues and tiny parts not worth looking into for errors. I can see why people have a bad rep with the 2007 Voyager or the DOTM Deluxe, but this one should do the trick in my opinion.

Here's Ironhide in his robot mode. It's a great looking take on the character that sort of gets ruined by one little detail, that being the bumper that separates the torso and the hips down. Seriously, it's like the bumper belonged from a different variant of the toy (I know there's an upgrade kit that fixes that, and I do plan on getting it!). At least the rest of the design looks good, and while there isn't much paint on the robot mode, the details that make this design of Ironhide as Ironhide are present. Plus, with Ironhide not being a particularly colorful character, it's not a bad thing. Side of the figure looks fine, and while the back doesn't have the more defined details that the CGI model has, at least it's flatter than other Ironhide toys have been.

The face sculpt is perfect for this character! It looks well made and captures the gruff nature of Ironhide to a tee! I even like how one side of the face is more damaged than the other; certainly adds to the seasoned aspect of this Autobot. Some Ironhides had more symmetrical faces or mouth plates that were never in the movies (but the promo art had Ironhide wear the faces), but this one does it right. I can almost hear Jess Harnell's voice come out from this toy.

Ironhide's articulation is not too shabby! The head is on a ball joint, shoulders can move front and back, in and out, and they have a bit of a butterfly joint, too. They swivel at the bicep, bend at the elbow, and rotate at the wrists. The hips move front and back, in and out, they swivel at the elbow, bend at the knee, and the feet hinge front and back.

The weapons he comes with aren't weaksauce this time! The arm cannons plug on the arms and also have faux door parts to make them look like they transformed from the altmode. Such a nice attention to detail and I also love how painted and sculpted they are! Also, who can't resist doing this pose? Give this guy some effects parts!

In what felt like a long gap since his first release, Ironhide returned for the first movie's 15th anniversary as part of a 5-pack with his fellow 2007 Autobots, and he isn't all that different from his first release apart from the painted toes and slightly altered paint apps here and there. Annoyingly, this includes his right eye.

For a size comparison, here he is next to the rest of the Studio Series Autobots. The size is almost good, though as I mentioned, Jazz should either be shorter than Bumblebee or Bumblebee should be a bit taller than he is right now. Also, Ironhide should be shorter than he is right now since he's almost as tall as Optimus.

The next aspect I want to mention is how the height can be adjusted. Some fans pointed out that Ironhide was a little too big for a robot mode comparison when put in between Optimus and Ratchet. If you look closely, the upper image has him crouching down somewhat, while the lower image has him standing straight. The upper pic may be the one to take note of if you want Ironhide to not entirely dwarf Ratchet.

For a figure comparison, here he is next to some of his other counterparts. They are the 2007 Voyager and DOTM Voyager on the top, and next to him is the HFTD Deluxe on the right, represented as the Movie the Best version. The 2007 Voyager may be bigger and weigh more in terms of plastic, but it's not really the definitive Ironhide in a collection. The DOTM Voyager sucks in robot mode, and its arms can't even hold a massive cannon; also, it's gotten some notorious stability, though the knockoff version is WORSE. The HFTD version may scale better in truck mode (in a way), but my god does it feel puny in bot mode. Also, one of the cannons isn't accurate. I chose the Movie the Best version because it felt more accurate to the design of the character, especially when the original version had some bluish gray that looked inaccurate.

Going back to the other comparison made, it's neat to have the original 5 Autobots in a consistent lineup after years of fudging different figures from different lines. However, this isn't quite the definitive display of them in my collection. Soon, we'll take a look at MV1 Optimus and Camaro Concept Bumblebee in this place!

Overall, Ironhide is a great figure to have in the line! He's not only a Voyager worth owning in this line, but he is also an Ironhide worth owning overall. I can't help but think of a better version aside from the Masterpiece version, which does look nice, but won't be in my reach for the time being. Also, that one had more stability issues. So all I need for this Ironhide to be even better is giving him the upgrade kit from DNA Designs and never worry about Hasbro making a variant of this toy with the DOTM weapons! Of course, they could add some improvements that the DNA kit has, but that means some paint apps would be cut, so I'm happy with what I have here! In fact, I love this toy so much, he's shown here stepping on the traitorous Sentinel Prime! Get him now before a Studio Series Sentinel gets made!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

DC Multiverse Batman v. Superman Wonder Woman review

Many felt Gal Gadot's role as Wonder Woman was concerning due to her looking too small or her accent not good enough for the role, but when Batman v. Superman came out, she was said to have been one of the best parts of the movie. Then she had her solo movie a year later, showcasing her origins before the events of BvS. She was great in the Snyder Cut of Justice League and not so much in Josstice, and will be in Trevor's most anticipated movie, Wonder Woman 1984.

Here is the figure, looking alright for the most part. It's got the right molded details that a movie figure should have, and they look good for the most part. While the suit doesn't look too bad, Wonder Woman's flesh-colored plastic does look a bit off when they're made on joints. The issue with recreating skin-colored parts of a figure, be it for a character that is more exposed than normal like Wonder Woman, is that they kind of remove the elegance that the human body could have when there's articulation added. Also, is it me, or do the feet look misassembled?

The face is quite the detractor. Not only is it inaccurate to the appearance of Gal Gadot, but it also looks a bit too big on her body. Perhaps it was trying to look more like a comic accurate version of the character, but while the paintwork is good, it's still pretty underwhelming to have a Wonder Woman that can't be accurate to the appearance of Gal Gadot.

Wonder Woman's articulation is limited somewhat. The head can barely move because of the hair being a bit stiff, the shoulders move fairly well, but the rest of her arm articulation is weird. She has a bicep swivel yet the forearms rotate and the wrists do as well. Pick one or the other, please. There is a waist swivel, and the hips are limited by the skirt piece. There is a thigh swivel, a bend at the knee, and the ankles hinge but don't pivot. It would be helpful if they did since this toy has a hard time standing up.

She can hold her sword decently with either one or both hands, but the poses are super limited that it's hard to pick the right one to make. At least it looks good.

Another weapon she comes with is her shield. It looks decently sculpted and has a nice amount of paintwork on it, though it seems hard for her to hold it in other ways. The shield's way of being attached, I'm not too fond of. You feel like you're about to break Wonder Woman's arm if you tried to attach it onto her arm, and as a result, it just makes attaching it or removing it annoying. For some reason, Wonder Woman can only hold it in her right arm than her left arm.

For a size comparison, here is Wonder Woman with fellow BvS figure Batman and the JL Superman. I kind of feel that her body doesn't look too bad, but the head just looks like it belonged to another toy. Super weird when put next to the Dawn of Justice Trinity

Overall, this Wonder Woman figure is pretty weak. It's got some nice paint and sculpting yet manages to be a huge letdown for fans that want to get super-poseable versions of the BvS characters. Has Hasbro kept the DC toy license like they once did, I'm sure we would have gotten figures that were as good as what Marvel Legends and Star Wars: The Black Series would offer. Skip this one and get the other versions. Oh and it came with a piece of the Grapnel Gun, but who cares. Not as interesting as a proper BAF.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Select Venom review

Beginning life as a black ooze that covered Spider-Man's costume in the original run of Secret Wars, this symbiote began to take control of Peter Parker, forcing the man to abandon it at all costs. The symbiote merged with Eddie Brock, and combining the hatred for Spider-Man and Peter Parker's memories meant a monster was born, that being the darker twist of the web-slinger named Venom! Several symbiotes were spawned from Venom (notably Carnage), new hosts joined the Venom symbiote (notably Mac Gargan and Flash Thompson), and some retcons came out of nowhere (notably Venom once being used by Deadpool before the Secret Wars), but when the term "nothing beats the original" is appropriate, it works well with Eddie Brock and the original Venom design. That said, Toy Biz didn't quite make the character Justice in their lines, with them having proportions that aren't quite right, and faces have either teeth that need braces or eyes that look too small. Then there's the joint tightness of the ToyBiz figures lacking the strength they need if they're used after 5 minutes of play. Hasbro's attempts are better in the Legends line, but they're so close to being good if it weren't for Diamond Select's take on the character. Let's see how Marvel Select Venom turns out!

Here we have Venom in his classic glory. The figure has the classic McFarlane look to him with the appearance of a much more monstrous Spider-Man that would cast a shadow over Peter Parker not in terms of being better than him, but by being more of a threat. The proportions of Venom do vary from appearances, and while Venom does look a bit skinner than the art, he does at least have more mass than Spider-Man would. The sculpting on Marvel Selects is generally the kind that makes you feel like it's made from a different material than plastic, yet Venom manages to look a lot more professionally done in terms of paint, and I like how the chest symbol and the dry brushing on the body look well applied.

The first face sculpt looks really nice, even if some of the teeth could use a bit more paint. Just everything about the head captures the classic Venom look that a majority of previous Venom figures could take notes from. The grin captures both being intimidating while having a bit of intelligence in this expression, as I tend to see him as somewhat comparable to DC's Bane (well, aside from the fact that Tom Hardy played both characters in The Dark Knight Rises and Venom).

The articulation is fairly good for a Select, and while this was made before Selects had comparable articulation to what the Legends line has, it's more poseable than the older Select models made before this Venom figure. There's a ball joint at the neck for a good amount of movement looking side to side as well as up and down. The arms swivel front and back at the shoulder and hinge in and out; they swivel at the bicep, bend at the elbow, and the wrists rotate. There is a diaphragm joint that is a bit limited, but the figure has a waist swivel that works well. The hips move front and back as well as in and out on a T-joint; if you recall the Superman review, I mentioned that the T-joint hips look awkward on a modern 6-inch figure, but I will defend it here because it's a figure that prioritized sculpt more than articulation (which Selects had as a priority for a while). There is a swivel above the knee, a bend at the knee, and ankle hinges only. 

For his accessories, he has an alternate head that shows him with his snake-like tongue out. I love how wicket it looks, though on my copy it's not able to be removed, which was something that earlier copies have had. Not a big loss for me since I prefer Venom figures that either have the grin or the tongue out. You can also swap the hands out from another accessory we will take a look at. These hands are more relaxed/claw-like before than the fists.

Another group of accessories include add-ons for a Madness appearance from when he lost in a battle with the Juggernaut and had more heads grown out from him after falling in a chemical vat. He has a back piece that features more heads that can articulate a bit, and that back piece also has arms that can articulate as well. There is another pair of hands that can be swapped, with a more claw-like sharpness than the previous hands, which are now on the arms that come with the heads. To top it all off, he also has a pair of smaller arms that tab into the holes of the forearms. They can add for an illusion that Venom has 8 limbs.

You can have the grinning face on if you want, which matches the heads that are on the backpiece. They also have some nice sculpting and paint added on them, and the fact that they're articulated slightly makes them even better! If I'm honest, that wouldn't be a thing Hasbro wouldn't do as well, given how their Marvel Legends 8 armed Spider-Man has no paint on the suit to give off the impression of webbing. The back has the symbol painted as well, and there are little Venom heads that don't move but are emerging from the symbiotic skin. They may not be prominently present, but at least they're nicely painted.

Venom also has an alternate half-face of Eddie Brock's head somewhat covered by the symbiote. It's a decent likeness to the character yet it does look a bit younger than he looked in the older comic run. It almost reminds me of Topher Grace when he played Venom in Spider-Man 3.

There has been a Disney store reuse of the mold last year to somewhat tie-in with the Venom movie. It had some new faces and (not pictured here) symbiotic tentacles that would make the body look more alien than it is normally. The new faces I'm not a big fan of, as two of them do the same thing with having the tongues sticking out and jaws with underbites while the normal closed mouth head makes Venom look like he's got that look too. They look goofier than the classic faces of the character IMO.

Overall, Marvel Select Venom makes for an amazing figure to own! The sculpting and paintwork make this figure stand out from the expectations of how people see action figures. Sure, the articulation could have worked better, but I'm happy with the end result of this figure, especially when he has the right look that a Venom figure should have. I kind of wish there is a version of the character more based on his appearance in the 2018 movie, but Hasbro and Diamond Select are sadly limited by the rules Marvel Entertainment and Disney are forcing onto companies to never tie in with the merchandise not directly tied in with the MCU. That's why both companies can make comic figures but not figures based on Fox and Sony's movies. It explains one of the reasons why a figure of Mystique from Days of Future Past can't be made. So in return, let's have Venom play with a Spider-Man that won't be feeling good at any moment.

To sum up, Marvel Select Venom beats his previous releases and will make his Legends releases have quite the competition.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

DC Multiverse Justice League Superman review

Oh, Henry Cavill Superman...you nearly had it all before Warner Bros. messed everything up. You were a cinematic Superman I took seriously, you met a Batman that was great like his predecessors, and you also would have had a great story arc that would be more complete than the Donner films. Unfortunately, nostalgiatards went after the series for not being like the Christopher Reeve days, Justice League's tone was butchered, and Joss Whedon and Geoff Johns made reshoots with the awful CGI face edits. Now you have no head in Shazam and likely no new film for the time being. Maybe when Geoff said to revise your list, he probably meant as ways Superman shouldn't be done when reflecting on all the errors Josstice has done.

Now you see why fans have been running the Release the Snyder Cut movement since the release of the movie, as they want to see Superman scenes that were done better than what Joss Whedon and WB did with the awful theatrical cut of the movie. That said, perhaps the action figure side of things will be a lot better than what we'd think. DC Multiverse is Mattel's equivalent to Hasbro's Marvel Legends, so perhaps they can make a figure that's more worthwhile than the Jossticified Superman, right? Let's find out in my review of the DC Multiverse Justice League Superman!

So here we have Superman, looking good for a DC Multiverse figure. The blue of the suit looks shiny, which was something that I feel was carried over from the BvS suit (since the Josstice suit either had a no black suit or the awful filter of the movie making the color of the suit look even brighter than it should be) The red boots could use a bit of a shine to them to make them look a bit less toyish than they are right now. The cape is something I'm mixed on. I like that its cloth and it looking metallic, but it looks sort of limp, and the material makes the cape look see-through. While not bad if the cape was made for a toy made for kids, it does look somewhat lacking compared to a more rubber material cape. That may work best for a dynamic flow, but I felt it would be hard for it to work with posing. Speaking of, the part that is rubber is not quite glued on there right, with it looking like it's put at a bit of an angle, which is noticeable at the back.

The figure's face sculpt looks fine, yet it doesn't look like Henry Cavill. Again, it wouldn't be a bad thing if this was a normal 10 dollar figure, but I do wish that Mattel took notes from Hasbro and take advantage of making the figure look like the actor. Still, it's better than the CG monstrosity.

For the figure's articulation, Superman has a neck swivel and is slightly on a hinge, letting him look up and down just slightly, but not enough for flying poses. The shoulders are on swivels front and back, and they hinge in and out. There's a bend at the elbow and the hands swivel. There is a waist swivel, but there is neither a diaphragm joint or an ab crunch joint. Hips move front and back on one joint and in and out on another, in what's called a T-joint. I don't like this point of articulation nowadays. It was alright for the older figures, but it's nowhere near as nice looking like the standard hip joints. There's a swivel above the knee, a bend at the knee, and some ankle hinges. Certainly would be acceptable for a toy made 10-15 years ago, but not for a 20 dollar toy that'll be put next to its competitors.

There are no accessories that come with Superman, which means no swappable hands, an alternate head for laser vision, and no flight stand for flying poses (not that it's expected for today's figures), but he does come with two pieces of the Steppenwolf build-a-figure. They are the waist and head of the character. We will get to the Steppenwolf BAF once we're done with the rest of the wave.

For a figure comparison, here is the JL version of Superman next to the Movie Masters Superman from Man of Steel, the BvS version of DC Multiverse Superman, and a Toys R US variant with darker colors; there was a version of Superman that came with a cloth cape in the SDCC 2015 2 pack, but beyond that, still the same figure. Movie Masters Superman does look good, though I feel the colors aren't 100% accurate, with Superman's suit not being quite as blue as it was in Man of Steel. Superman from the BvS line had a slightly lighter blue than the MM version, and the TRU version has the darker colors that he likely had in his battle with Batman in the rain. While the stiffer capes may not look quite as good for posing, they do look better than the cloth cape of the JL version, with the material looking a bit too cheap for the toy. I don't know which one is the best of them all, though that's due to Mattel not really making more of an effort to make the more recent figures feel special. The faces of the previous figures also have better likenesses to Henry Cavill (and accurate skin tones) compared to the JL one. Alas, there's not much to make the JL Superman feel worth getting compared to the previous versions.

Overall, Superman's an alright figure despite the issues that a majority of DC Multiverse figures have had before. If you already have previous versions of the character, you'll probably do well with those than to buy yet another barely altered version of the same toy you own just for the Steppenwolf piece. Just something to make the release more interesting beyond what people already got. It's just a shame not much was done for a figure like this. Then again, Josstice barely did anything good for Superman, so WB, you know what to do.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐