Tag Archives: Comic Book

Action Figure Toy Hunt Episode #02

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I wasn’t planning on recording any of this trip to Toys R Us, but I managed to score a Marvel Legend I didn’t think I’d see in the wild. Check it out!

Action Figure Toy Hunt Episode #01

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My first time recording one of my toy hunts was sort of a success. Didn’t go home with anything, but had some fun anyway. Toy Hunt videos are a newer trend in the Action Figure collecting world, so I thought I’d add this to my channel as well. Hope you enjoy.

Toy Review: Marvel Legends | Nuke

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Figures in the Series

Figure Details

Total Points of Articulation = 32

  • Articulation – ★★★★☆
  • Sculpt – ★★★★☆
  • Paint – ★★★★☆
  • Accessories – ★★★★☆

Overall Score – ★★★★☆

Do you have any of these figures? If so, do you have a review to share? Please share in the comments or link to your review.

Toy Review: Marvel Legends | 12-Inch Spider-Man

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Figure Details

  • Character: Spider-Man
  • Manufacturer: Hasbro
  • Series: 12-Inch Marvel Legends
  • Dimensions: 11.5″
  • Recommended: Ages 4+
  • MSRP: $49.99 Paid: $29.34
  • Part Number/SKU: 630509427864
  • Buy it on Amazon

Total Points of Articulation = 36

  • Articulation – ★★★★★
  • Sculpt – ★★★★★
  • Paint – ★★★★☆
  • Accessories – ★★★★★

Overall Score – ★★★★☆

Toy Review: Marvel Legends | Scarlet Witch

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Today’s review is the Marvel Legends Infinite Series The All Father Odin Series Scarlet Witch. I’ve been holding off on buying this figure for several reasons. I had already completed the BAF as King Thor and I’ve not been a big fan of this figure or character, but I scored a pretty great deal at Target so I had to get this figure. The best part about the figure was really getting the Odin BAF head.

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Figures in the Series

Figure Details

Check out My Video Review

Articulation – ★★☆☆☆

There are some really bad aspects to the articulation on this figure. It’s not all bad, but some of it just is garbage. Let’s take a closer look.

Total POA’s = 26

    • Arms – There are 6 joints per arm.
      • Shoulders: Ball Joint as well as a Pin/Hinge Joint which all function really well. If you remove the cape, her arms can actually raise up above the shoulders which is pretty awesome. You also get full rotation of the arms. Add the cape back on and the shoulder motion is really bad.
      • Elbow: Single Pin/Hinge Joint as well as a Peg Joint right at the bottom of the Bicep. You get just a little more than a 90 degree bend in the elbow which is really good and the rotation of the arm is functional.
      • Wrist: Peg Joint as well as a Pin/Hinge joint. Both operate very well and were nice and tight.
    • Legs – There are 6 joints in each leg/hip/ankle area.
      • Hips: T-Jointed Ball Joint provides a good forward kick motion, though the farther forward you go, the more the legs start to force their way outward because of the sculpt. Backwards kick is very minimal. She has an ok amount of splits ability, but for a female figure I actually have much higher expectations here.
      • Thigh: Peg Joint provides a good range of motion.
      • Knees: Double Pin/Hinge joints in the knees allows for just over a 90 degree bend which is much less than I would expect, so I feel this is a big negative here.
      • Ankles: Each ankle has 2 joints. Pin/Hinge Joints that provides pretty much no forward motion. Backward motion is ok, but should have been much better. Even the ankle rocker is pretty bad. They’ve got the peg that creates this joint going in at too much of an angle which causes the foot to rock at a weird angle. It’s like they didn’t consider the high heels in this choice.
    • Body – A Double Ball Peg in the upper torso provides a pretty decent ab crunch. Back arch is just ok. Side-to-side crunch is also really good. Since there is no waist swivel, this joint also has to provide that rotation which it does well.
    • Head: A Ball Joint that could have been pretty good, but because of the very stiff hair and the cape, the range of motion is limited to a tiny bit of side-to-side motion. No up or down and tilt is minuscule at best. Take the cape off and you get a little better range, but not that much.

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Mold – ★★★☆☆

There are some strong points on this figure that I really like. Namely the hair sculpt looks really good. I don’t know if the hair is entirely unique, but it looks very good never-the-less. Most of the head sculpt is really well done. The detail work is superb and the choice for the head piece she wears is really good with that softer plastic. I just wish they used a softer plastic for the hair so she could move her head a little bit.

The cape is also a catch 22 piece. While it is sculpted really nicely and the all the detailed folds and whatnot are really appreciated, it causes the arms to lose out on a huge amount of articulation. The positive is that you can take the cape off at least, and it stays on really well, as opposed to other removable capes that don’t always look so good.

The biggest fail on this figure is the feet. They do look nice, but they cause the figure to be nearly impossible to stand on her own. Luckily, you can use the cape to prop the figure up, because you’re almost certainly going to have no luck standing her on her own.

Paint – ★★★☆☆

 

This figure feels like it’s about half done. The head has great shading throughout (except the head piece). I really like the black washed hair and the nice brownish red used for the hair. There is only one color used in the hair, but that’s ok. They even got some nice shading on the cape which makes the figure really look good. The problem is that’s where the paint apps end. There’s pretty much no shading anywhere else on the figure and she desperately needs it. There is sculpt work that would have really stood out with a simple black wash and that was not done.

Lastly, I had noted in my video review that they did a good job with the eyes, and I have to correct that statement. I took a much closer look and they got her right pupil way off. It just doesn’t look right. Otherwise, the eyes do look pretty good. At a distance, you’re probably not going to notice the missed pupil.

Accessories – ★★★★☆

The Scarlet Witch comes with a set of 2 energy rings that fit onto her wrists. These pink rings are sculpted really nicely and fit nice and tight on the wrists of my figure so they stay in place which is great. The one complaint I have is that they could have done well to have a little bit of shading just to make the sculpt work visible.

Lastly, I really wish we had an alternate head. Perhaps something with the hair blowing in the wind while she uses the energy blasts, which would then lift that hair away from her back and shoulders and give us the articulation back.

Packaging – ★★★★☆

Standard Marvel Legends Infinite Series packaging which is great.

Overall Rating – ★★★☆☆

I’m happy I bought this figure, but even more happy I paid about half price for it. I’ve not bought very many of the female figures in the Marvel Legends line from Hasbro that have really made me happy about the purchase and this one hasn’t done it yet for me either. From the pictures I’ve seen, it’s considerably better than the old Toy Biz one, and yeah, this thing looks nice, it’s just not that great.

Do you have any of these figures? If so, do you have a review to share? Please share in the comments or link to your review.

Comic Review: Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1

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Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1
Dark Knight III: The Master Race #1 by Frank Miller

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A continuation of the epic Dark Knight and Dark Knight Returns series by Frank Miller, this series is nothing, if not widely hyped. Don’t get me wrong, I was just as excited as everybody else about the thought of the return of Frank Miller to his mighty Batman story, I simply have found myself, a little underwhelmed in this first issue.

Without giving anything away, I’ll simply give you my impression of the writing and art of this single first issue, steering clear of any major plot giveaways.

I found myself a bit lost through the first half of the issue. I had a hard time figuring out if I’d missed or forgotten something about The Dark Knight Returns or not. There’s some of the old style infused in this newer version, what with the text messaging back and forth in the standard abbreviated fare. This is fully inline with the original versions dialect chosen to portray the goons. Both of which annoy me to no end. I cannot stand when writers literally write accents into their dialogue. I much prefer a simple footnote of some sort indicating the accent. I may be the only one who hates when poor grammar are written into stories, but I just cannot get over it.

After finding out where I was in the story half way through, I discovered an inserted story of Captain Atom, which I wasn’t sure if I should read that first, then continue on with the DKIII story line or save that for the end. I chose to save it for the end, glad I did. It wouldn’t have ruined anything, but I think it’s best to read it after you’ve completed the DKIII story first.

The artwork was good. Not great, but also not horrible. There were times that I had hoped the art would support the story a little more so I could follow what was going on a little more, but alas, there were times the art was just as confusing.

It wasn’t all bad. There’s a great twist at the end that is totally worth the wait. A single page made the whole story make sense and made the story pretty darn good. I still don’t feel the price tag of $5.99 is worth it. This is especially evident considering Frank Miller is said to have very little actual involvement overall in the book. It feels like an overly obvious ploy by DC Comics to capitalize on a legendary name to sell some books. Hats of to them for succeeding. I bought it hook line and sinker, though I don’t know I’ll be collecting the entire series unless the overall writing keeps getting better.

This may not be a must have for your collection unless you’re a huge Batman fan, or you’re hoping the book will increase in value. It has a good chance of actually doing so, though there are probably around 30-50 variant covers for this series already so it may not be worth nearly as much as you’d hope.

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Comic Review: Daredevil | Vol. 2 (1998-2011)

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Daredevil, Vol. 1Trade Paperbacks in this Series

My Series Rating: ★★★★☆

This was such a great series. The first 8 issues that Kevin Smith wrote were superb. There was a slight drop to the story for me when Kevin left, but the story still kept up enough to keep me interested. By the time we got to the Shadowland event, I was so hooked on this series I never wanted it to end.

The series really took a dark turn in the Shadlowland event which was a fun twist from the typical Daredevil stories I’m used to. Not that Daredevil is this happy go lucky story in the first place, but it just struck me as to the sheer darkness of the story line. As you can see, this series made it pretty deep with a total of about 133 issues. The art is a delight and the writing by both Kevin Smith and Brian Michael Bendis is superb for the majority of the series.

I highly recommend this series to anybody who loves Daredevil and especially to those who are on the fence. There’s good character development and a great plot with some sub plots mixed in as well. You’re also going to get exposed to a lot of other superheros in the Marvel universe such as Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Misty Knight, White Tiger, etc. If you’re thinking of buying all the issues in this series you’re gonna drop some cash, namely on the first 8-10 issues, so the trade paperbacks listed above might be the better bet to get you going.