Marvel Legends Return of Wolverine (Heat Claws) review

Volverine has been no stranger to the world of Marvel Legends, what with numerous appearances that represent his comic history as well as his overall iconography being hard to avoid, thanks to his role as a main character as well as the popularity of Hugh Jackman. He's been a frequent mainstay for the lore ever since he first crossed paths with The Hulk before becoming a member of the X-Men. He's been known to pop in with different adventures or looks, either loosing his adamantium and becoming feral, having a modernized take on his Astonishing X-Men costume, and even being part of the X-Force in different styles, either in a blue and yellow uniform that is more simplistic from his typical attire to the more muted monochrome look that a modern X-Force wore. He died at one point, only to be revived by X-23 and would later build up heat claws from all the rage he's built up. This is a pretty interesting way of correlating his powers with the intensity that an organic being possesses with heat, though a small part of me thinks of the 90s where they'd make it seem more gimmicky. Still, let's see if this figure is great.

Here is Wolverine in-hand, depicted in a costume that is sort of a tweaked version of his Astonishing X-Men uniform, what with the shoulder pads, the different layout for the tiger stripe look, and the addition of the X logo on his belt. His shoulder pads are now black instead of blue, but they go well with the black on his mask. While his costume's pretty smooth for the most part, there are creases of fabric representing it stretching over the body of Logan. The gloves also get a similar treatment, and the textures contrast the way they look on most of the mask, shoulder pads, and most of his boots, where it is much smoother by comparison. The arms are sculpted with a hairy texture and veins that might be more presentable with a bit of a wash applied to the skin. The deco is generally crisp and applied onto him well, and I have no severe issues to report. At first, when I saw the claws, I thought they were bloody from the frequent stabbing he's done, but they are indeed the heat claws he now owns. I feel like that'd be from a variant of the character rather than something he'd really possess. They look alright on him, though I would much prefer the option to give him the metal claws. In fact, he only possesses this set of hands and that's it.

Head sculpt is typical of the X-Men's berserker barrage man when it comes to how it captures the yellow mask with the Batman-esque ears that go to where the eyes and cheeks are as well as having a bit of yellow break up the black that takes up the sides. The flesh tone is applied on decently, too, even if it's a little flat due to the lack of a wash. His articulation is great, with a ball joint on one part of his neck and a hinge on another, shoulders that move front and back with the shoulder pads adjusting, bicep swivels, double jointed elbows, wrist rotation as well as hinges, an ab crunch, a waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and ankle pivots as part of Legends norm. His only other alternate accessory is an unmasked head that perfectly captures his rage beautifully. If you can get this guy for cheap, he might be worth it. But honestly, the increase of prices and the option of fewer accessories doesn't make it worth delving into.  I only got my copy at $6 because I had a few gift cards.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Marvel Legends Legacy Collection Black Panther review

The MCU has been a frequent factory of shit chugged out on a regular basis. It wasn't always like that in the past, as Phase 1 was fairly spaced out even if we had 2 MCU films in 2008 and 2011, before it started to increase over time with Disney increasing it to 3 movies per year in 2017 and then 4 movies per year starting with 2021. People will eat up the MCU regardless of its quality and continue consooming even if Phase 4 was doing poorly. Black Panther is, for the most part, one of the exceptions since it strived to stand out from all of the other movies that came and went, as apart from it having a nearly Black cast, it tried to have some substance to the story that made it much more intriguing and deep in comparison to all of the other MCU movies that were the same types of mindless action movies that the average critic would accuse other movies of. Some of the jokes sucked and the VFX were pretty bad, and the MCU fans being MCU fans oversold the movie as if it was the best thing since sliced bread, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for trying to be unique. Sadly, Chadwick Boseman passed away, and I'll give them credit for not recasting the actor though the decision to say T'Challa also having died is a your-mileage-may-vary thing. Anyways, review time.

Here we have Black Panther in-hand. Based on the suit her wore in Civil War, this design is my favorite one he used, as it was actually pretty subtle with the details he wears in the movie as well as it being a good mix between classic and modern, kind of like the Superman suits in Man of Steel, BvS, etc. The textures on the outfit make for a more interesting set of patterns that would normally not be present on the normal suit design, and I appreciate it having a few silver accents to make it a look little less plain, with the mask, necklace, soles, and the edges of the gloves all having silver on them. As far as proportions are concerned, I think they mostly work, though perhaps the shoulders hang low from the rest of the body, or the head sits up too high? The torso itself makes the way the arms work a little annoying, as they can't really go down straight and kind of make him a little less naturalistic in a vanilla pose (though you can remedy that by posing him constantly). 

Head sculpt gets the same level of treatment that the rest of the body has for sculptwork and subtle paint apps. Annoyingly, the left eye is so close to being aligned right but it barely makes it a la the most recent Amazing Fantasy #15 Spider-Man. As for his articulation, the head is on a ball joint on the top and can look up and down on a hinge, the shoulders move front and back, in and out, swivel at the bicep, double-bend at the elbows; the wrists can swivel and hinge in and out. There is an ab crunch as well as a waist swivel. The hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and the feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot at the ankles. He has a pair of splayed-open hands that thankfully have the claws painted silver, and he includes a T'Challa head that has a so-so likeness to Chadwick. I honestly think it's in-between the proper look for the actor and the original unmasked head that came with the 2016 release. 

For a comparison with some fellow MCU characters, here he is with Mark III Iron Man and Endgame Captain America, both of whom I think have their best suits IMO (though I still like the First Avenger suit more for Cap). IDK if I will make an Avengers display as I'm not a big fan of the MCU of late, but I do at least want to make a team of the original 6 characters and some bonus additions depending on my mood. Annoyingly, I wanted to pose him doing the Wakanda Forever pose but the arms are missing the right joints necessary to have him do that pose. I know not every character needs butterfly joints, but I don't get how Black Panther can't have them since his athleticism is perfect for action figures. But apart from that, while I don't plan to go all-in on the Wakanda Forever merchandise, I didn't mind owning this figure nonetheless since it is a design I like for a character that I tolerated pretty well among the current MCU invasion of mediocrity and quantity over quality. The figure could use more articulation points and maybe some effect pieces, though.

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

Star Wars The Black Series Commander Cody + George Lucas Stormtrooper review

Stormtroopers are an iconic staple of Star Wars, but Clone Troopers are arguably superior in every way. Genetical duplicates of Jango Fett, personalities that make them on-par with Spartans from Halo, and tons, and I do mean TONS, of custom armor choices to choose from. I know that the Stormtroopers have been a massive part of troop-building for fans, but I'll be honest and say that Clones make for more interesting displays considering all of the characters and color schemes you can find. Honestly, if I were to choose between a plain white armor and a more fashionably badass armor with orange accents and a cooler helmet design, I'm going with Commander Cody. Luckily, this review covers the aforementioned Order 66 executed and the man that created him and so many other Star Wars characters. Let's go!

Here is Commander Cody in-hand, capturing the look of the Phase 2 armor he wore in Revenge of the Sith and in later parts of The Clone Wars. The armor itself is pretty accurate to the design in-universe, from the proportions to the deco used on the armor. I'm sure fans would wish it was a little dirtier, but I think that the battle damage made with deliberate chipping on some of the paint and the scratches on the plastic both make up for it. I like some of the minor details that are added on the figure that wouldn't normally be touched up, from the slight asymmetry with the armband on the right bicep and the orange pouch on his belt to what I assume is an antenna on the shoulder if the one on his helmet isn't enough. He also has a small jetpack on his back, and we even get a variety of different paint apps to go with the numerous armor details. The black for the shoulders, hips, and gloves make for a good reference to the undersuit that is underneath the suit.

The helmet is pretty iconic, with the sunvisor that keeps the eyes facing forward underneath the helmet, and it even has the signature details that compliment the rest of the already detailed helmet. I do wish we had an alternate head to display him without his helmet. As for his articulation, his head is on a ball joint, shoulders move front and back, in and out, bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, a right hand that can hinge up and down, and a left hand that can hinge in and out, a diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back, in and out, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and feet that can hinge up and down as well as pivot side by side. One of his weapons is a short-range blaster, which is his more signature weapon throughout The Clone Wars.

His other weapon is a long-range rifle, which can be held with both hands fairly easily. Both weapons are sculpted pretty well, which makes up for the lack of deco they have. And next to his old partner from The Clone Wars, he's cleaner than Captain Rex, which made me wish Cody had some dirt on his armor. I moreso wish he had a removable helmet since he has taken it off at times in Revenge of the Sith when he's talking with Obi-Wan. And while we're at it, another pair of hands so we can have one where he's told to execute Order 66 from a hologram of Palpatine and to say "Blast him!" as he targets Obi-Wan.

Now let's take a look at George Lucas. We've had merchandise versions of George in the past, but this is my first figure of his. The Stormtrooper armor is typical of the franchise, as it's a simple white design with only the black from the undersuit and the dark blue dots on the stomach region of the armor. It's likely been the same design we've seen for so long, which I think is a good choice since the figure, while plain, gets the job done.

Head sculpt is a more fit look for George Lucas since he's pretty chubby nowadays. At least the hair on him is painted nicely and gas some brushing applied, though annoyingly, the eyes are misaligned WHAT THE FUCK, HASBRO! Hopefully, if I get a spare George Lucas, I can make this guy as a normal Stormtrooper since he comes with a helmet, and bam! Two display options next to each other! His gun is typical of the Stormtrooper variety, and I have to comment on how annoying getting the helmet on and off the head is without scraping any plastix off. That's why Hasbro's Lightning Collection figures has swappable heads. But overall, Cody is a great figure to have if you missed out on him previously while George Lucas is good if only for the novelty of him dressing up as the troopbuilder he created. Just make your your figure's eyes are aligned right. If not, get another one and armybuild!

Final ranking for both: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Transformers Collaborative Jurassic Park Tyrannocon Rex/Autobot JP93 review

I've had a few Collaborative releases in the past, mostly from the franchises I'm pretty happy to delve into. Back to the Future's Gigawatt and X-Men's Ultimate X-Spanse, but I never got Ectotron, Maverick, Dracula, or the G.I.Joe crossover duo. And I'm doubting about getting that yellow Soundwave. But I did want to get the Jurassic Park set since I am a dino fan and was curious on how the two toys would turn out. I did love the BW Megatron mold from Kingdom, and I wondered if if the Ford Explorer would make for a possible Armada Red Alert pretool. Either way, let's see how this two-pack turned out months after its release as well as months after Dominion was released in theaters.

Let's get Tyrannocon Rex out of the way. She is the same quality dino mode that made Megatron and later T-Wrecks amazing in terms of sculptwork, anatomy, and engineering. It's amusing seeing the real colors found on Rexy applied onto this mold after being so used to the purple of Beast Wars Megs as well as the red that T-Wrecks has (which makes me think a lot of the Tyranno Zords that led every Dino season of Power Rangers) The deco on each figure is fairly different, between each figure, mostly the beast head has some black paint apps around the eyes and the crown of the head in order to make it look more organic, and her claws are painted black to match the talons of her feet. It's nothing too major compared to the decos of both Transformer characters, but it's able to match the look of Rexy in the movie. She even has pupils!

For a quick beast mode size comparison, if you haven't seen the reviews that featured Megatron in the past, she's definitely bigger than Skywasp, toy-accurate Terrorsaur, and toy-accurate Scorponok. No surprise there. Her realism stands out compared to the fictional colors of the other characters.

And yes, you can recreate the pose where she stands on top of the Explorer as she did in the movie, which was part of the display of the box. This also sums up how I feel about one figure and the other at the same time!

And for the robot mode, getting there is the same as always, though my copy's rubber parts don't seem to be cut at the right areas so they kind of make it annoying to transform. But yes, the robot mode is the same as with the other figures, though I feel that while the beast mode is nicely painted, the robot mode has about the same amount of color breakup as with T-Wrecks. Megatron's still the best-looking in robot mode, plus, he's Megatron, there's no competition. The solid red on Tyrannocon makes me think of the G1 Dinobots, but I wish she'd have a few more paint apps just so we can make her robot mode look like it was equally prioritized to her beast mode. To give her one benefit from T-Wrecks, she comes with a new head sculpt that is a weird mix between Grimlock's head and the mutant mask of the old Megatron toy. If only T-Wrecks had his snarling expression!

And once again, here he is with the other Deluxes in their robot modes. Once again, much taller than them all. Also a lot of red popping up this time around, kind of an amusing contrast to the mostly purple Predacons the original 5 Season 1 bad guys.

So now that we covered the first half of the set, here we have JP93 in its vehicle mode. Based on the Ford Explorer 04, this vehicle mode is licensed like some of the previous Collaborative figures in the past, which allows it to be as accurate to the movie as it wants. Like a lot of real-world vehicles on this scale, the details that are present in the movie are kept intact while making this figure, and I appreciate how the yellow doesn't look cheaply painted on, even with the rims. The red might seem dark at first, but it's like that on the movie. A lot of smaller paint apps, like the one fog light and the head lights, are picked out, too. And I dig the sunroof being brought over to the design as well. 

The tampographs are surprisingly crisp, even with the text and logo, though because of the way the doors open, you are likely going to get ASSIC PARK instead of just PARK like on the real vehicle. Annoyingly, while the left side has the yellow paint applied on properly, the right side shows a few faded areas that need more coverage. It has snap-on wheels so it might not roll that well.

For a vehicle mode size comparison, here he is in-between Optimus Prime (regular Studio Series 05) and Kingdom Road Rage. The vehicle mode scale with the latter toy is not too bad, though I know that the Corvette should be smaller. And we all know Optimus needs to be bigger.

Transformation is pretty simple, to the point where it's probably on par with Legacy Skids. It's the typical hood-chest/door wing transformation that has the legs made from the back of the car, blah blah blah. I guess I shouldn't expect too much from a characterless attempt at making a robot out of this guy. Anyways, the design vaguely reminds me of Armada Red Alert, with the long legs and the chest design; I personally don't have much else to say about the transformation nor the design beyond that; it's kind of plain. The most interesting thing has to be the way you untab parts of the roof to free the ankles.

Head sculpt is another interesting part of the toy, as the hat and I guess shades help it resemble Alan Grant and Robert Muldoon. And I say shades because the light-piping doesn't work. His articulation has a ball-jointed head, shoulders that move front and back as well as in and out, ball jointed elbows, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, knees, and ankle pivots. Was it too much to ask for waist and wrist swivels? His shotgun is alright at best, and might be blast effect compatible. Also, his knees bend lower than they should.

For a robot mode size comparison, JP93 is in-between the heights of Optimus (now in Premium Finish) and Road Rage, resulting in a scale similar to SS86 Hot Rod or Siege Ironhide. Not a bad height since he is an SUV.

Overall, this set is okay at best when you consider how one figure is an already quality product with a real world deco and another is a Deluxe-quality figure that might have been passable in a previous decade. JP93's simpler engineering doesn't really justify much if Tyrannocon's doing half of the heavy-lifting. I would much rather have more engineering applied onto him if it means reusing another figure that is better engineered by comparison. The lack of swivels on the wrists and waist is baffling, the ball jointed hips and elbows are unusual for an expensive toy, and the design is bland. I would not recommend this set at the price it went for initially. At $60-70, you at least get most of it towards a normal Leader price and a Deluxe price from way back then. 

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

Transformers Legacy Tarantulas review

Tarantulas was one of the crucial members of not just the Predacon faction, but the whole Beast Era in general. Between his role as a mad scientist with a signature cackle and a treacherous character on-par with Starscream, this arachno-freak's only downfall was an encounter with the Vol and Tigerhawk. Megatron's nickname for him, Unicron's spawn, might be debatable if it's accurate or not, though he is a member of the Tripredacus Council, a group of Predacons that want to restore their faction to former glory their way. With all that said, we now have a Tarantulas after he was absent in the entirety of Kingdom, but with Hasbro wanting to make the Legacy line successful, you really can't blame them.

Here is Tarantulas in his beast mode. His name sums up what he turns into, but it's a pretty solid take on the appearance of the arachnid in question. The legs, body, and mandibles are not super thin as with a normal spider, which makes sense since these are meant to be more prominent in comparison. While Tarantulas himself isn't hairy like the real creatures, the textures added onto the beast mode at least represent a bit of organic skin that makes this feel closer to the actual specimens rather than just a robot. The bumps around the thorax and abdomen make it feel interesting, as does the small dose of yellow-gold around the abdomen and claws, and the green eyes further help them stand out among the sea of purple balanced on black legs. The weapon storage is fine from the bottom, being reserved for the buzzsaw as well as the bow and arrow.

For an arachnid-themed comparison, here he is next to Blackarachnia, best known for improving on the MP release in some areas with the robot kibble storage, and I have to say it's nice to see these two not be repaints of each other; apart from their different genders, these two are different types of arachnids from one another, with the former being thin and spindly as a black widow while the latter is bigger and is pretty much the same name used to summarize the character.

And for a beast mode size comparison, here he is next to the other Predacons from Season 1. The scale in real life is not like the scale we have in the show, but I do like seeing the faction now complete after missing out on Tarantulas in the Kingdom line. That being said, I realize now how much purple there is within the team; almost all of Megatron and Tarantulas are purple, while Scorponok's claws and Waspinator's wings and eyes also share the same color. Terrorsaur is the only character to not have any purple on him, though Scorponok's red legs and stinger help him fit in.

Transformation is pretty similar to Blackarachnia's at first glance, as it mostly revolves around the arms and spider legs ending up in mostly the same spots, and the legs and backpack having a similar transformation, but things like the use of a waist swivel and where the abdomen goes are what make the figure work differently from Blackarachnia. And the resulting robot mode nails the look that Tarantulas is known for, being a wider and bulkier character while maintaining that freaky element of the creepy-crawler beast kibble, like the legs, and his waist having eyes on it (at least I think those are eyes). As with most Beast Wars figures, the colors may not be as saturated or shiny as on the CGI models, but they are still on point, and it's also nice to have the more toxic deco remain prominent on the robot mode like with the beast mode and character design in the show. The legs don't have the same display options that Blackarachnia had, so they have to point forwards like in the show.

Head sculpt is pretty spot-on to the show, opting for the mutant head feature that was given to some Predacons, like Waspinator, and this was done so he can look freakier than he already is. Blackarachnia, on the other hand, uses a more defined version of the normal robot head. The articulation is the same as with Tarantulas' fellow spiderbot; ball jointed head, swivel shoulders, biceps, hips, and thighs, hinge elbows, knees, and ankles, but new to him is a waist swivel! Also, the legs are articulated each on ball joints.

His accessories are able to go on each hand individually or together as part of a combined weapon. The buzzsaw is actually from the Transmetal version of the character.

For a robot mode design comparison, it's funny how Blackarachnia is slightly shorter than Blackarachnia despite being bulkier and wider by comparison. Either way, I greatly appreciate that neither of them reused parts from one another, not even the feet are reused!

And for a Season 1 size comparison, he looks great along with the other Predacons, and I remember saying how Terrorsaur might feel too similar to the less-fluid look of the Legacy line with how rigid he looks compared to the other Beasties, but he turned out to be better than Terrorsaur by comparison! It's great to have the cackling Predacon alongside the other members, and fear not, I will add Blackarachnia into a group shot once Inferno is released. But until then, get him!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐