Out of the box: Funko's X-Men Mystery Mini Professor X

Back in April I picked up one of the little Funko mystery boxes from their X-men line. I photographed the unboxing and promptly forgot about both the figure and the photos. But now that they've turned up, how about a quick photo post (a final photo set from my old back garden too)?

Unlike some of the other franchise mystery minis that Funko has produced, the X-Men figures are extremely simple. Since I'd picked up one of the much more detailed Fallout figures immediately prior to this one I was disappointed with it, but for anyone who appreciates a more stylized figure this might well be a winner.

As is standard for Funko's Marvel-license products, this figure is a bobble head. And as with most of these style of figures, that wobbling head is the only point of articulation.

Retro Week: ToyBiz Psylocke in the Snow

Betsy, waist-deep in snow.

I've been saying that I'd get around to doing a few retro week posts for a couple of months now, but it took being snowed in to get to it!  Out of the basement today is Psylocke from ToyBiz's X-men Classics with Light-Up Weapon series from the 90s.  Amazingly, her batteries aren't dead!

It's all photos from here!

Random Toy of the Day: X-Men Minimates (DST)

It's a new year, so how about some new (or at least new-to-me) Minimates?

My first new minimates of 2016 are the X-Men Beast, Storm, Cyclops, Shadowcat and Colossus, and came to me via Gwen of the cooking/AG blog A Peek into the Pantry (Cheers, Gwen!).  As usual, Minimates are pretty standard block figures, so there's not much to say about them, so on with the photos!

Random Toy of the Day: Forge (Toy Biz Marvel Universe)

Forge, Toy Biz Marvel Universe edition

Because one light-weight 10" figure was not enough!


After picking up the 10" Toy Biz Union Jack last month, I wasn't planning on adding more figures from that line to my collection.  Given the age of the line, I wasn't expecting to come across that many more of them - and certainly not new/in-box ones.

But as seems to be happening to me quite a lot lately, I did end up coming across another one - new in-box and a character that I collect.  So naturally I couldn't just leave him on the shelf -  he had to join my army of action figures.

The figure itself is fairly similar to Union Jack, so since I don't have much to add, it's all photos from here:

Random Toy of the Day: X-Force Minimates

Happy Friday!  I just realized that it's been almost a month since my last Minimates post. At that rate I'll never get through them all, so I think I'll try to post one per week going forward.

In the line-up today are the X-Force boxed set of Rictor and Boomer (or Boom-Boom, as she's sometimes called) and their teammate Shatterstar, who I picked up as a loose figure.  As with previously featured Minimates, the quality and level of detail are fairly standard, so I won't be going into a great deal of detail here.

Rictor and Boomer in the box.

Out of the Box: Shatterstar (ToyBiz X-men/X-Force)

I was preparing a holiday-themed photo-shoot earlier this week, but the weather decided to not cooperate and a lack of sunlight meant those photos weren't going to happen.  As a result, I distracted myself by digging through the retro/discount bins and looking for more of ToyBiz's early '90s X-men figure, and Shatterstar (a fitting companion for the Rictor I found last month) joined my collection.

Shatterstar

In the box.

As is typical for superheros of that era he's awesomely (and ridiculously) over-the-top: a huge ponytail, an open-mouthed grimace, a pair of giant swords and a degree of muscularity that went out of fashion by the late '90s.  The features are fairly broadly done, but the figure (face and outfit) are neatly-painted, which isn't always the case for figures of this vintage, so that's certainly a plus.


The character might not look much like this in the comics these days (he was primarily used in  humour and romance plotlines when X-Factor v.1 was wrapping up last year), but the figure is a perfect reflection of how he was drawn 20 years ago.

A closer view of the face.

The figure has 10 points of articulation - shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, neck, and waist - two more than the Rictor figure (whose neck and waist were fixed).  As with the other figure, the boots are made out of a slightly softer vinyl than the rest of the figure, and that softer vinyl appears to have degraded somewhat.  Shatterstar's boots were slightly less sticky than Rictor's were, but the oiliness was still fairly noticeable.  It cleaned up fairly easily, but I imagine that the boots will continue to degrade over time.

Dual Sword Action, as described on the box.

As with all of the figures in this line, the toy has a unique action feature: "Dual Sword Action" in this case. Before taking the figure out of the box, I assumed that this would be one of those push-a-button/arms-move type actions, but it's actually less intuitive than that.   In order to make the arms swing from the shoulders, you need to push the back so that the figure rotates quickly from the waist.  It works (in a fashion), but it's such an awkward way of providing a fairly standard arm-swinging feature that I wonder why they bothered coming up with something so (relatively) complicated.

Overall I'd say that this is a solid playline figure - this Shatterstar may not be collector quality, but he's an awesome example of the ridiculousness of early 90s superheros, so I'm totally pleased with him on that front.

Out of the Box: Rictor (Toy Biz X-Men/X-Force)

It's been a while since I've talked about a '90s action figure, so it's time to remedy that and unbox this 1994 Toy Biz figure of X-men spin-off character Julio Rictor (specifically an X-Force character at the time this toy's production, although I always think of the character as part of either the earlier New Mutants or the more recent X-Factor).

The figure has that classic early '90s superhero look, with the muscle-heavy body, an oversized weapon and a  ridiculous outfit (the character hasn't looked like this in the comics for a long time now).  The figure takes a final step into the completely absurd with the action feature which is called "Power Vibes" - you wind it up and he moves slightly.  The motion is supposed to recall the character's seismic/shockwave powers but it actually just looks like wiggling.

In the box.

Still, the ridiculous costume is well-painted, and while the lack of neck gives the face a certain oddness, it's not a terrible likeness of the then-current art style (although he's not so fair-skinned in the comics).  Strangely, the boots are a softer vinyl than the rest of the body and seem to have degraded over time, so they're now a bit greasy, which is unfortunate.

The figure has 8 points of articulation - shoulders, elbows, hips, knees.  The lack of neck articulation is a shame, but not a surprise given the lack of neck in general.

The lone accessory is the gun, which is decently sculpted and fits perfectly in the figure's hand.  Most impressively to me (given some toys of this age), he's able to balance easily with the gun in hand.

Side view: the wind-up knob is very conspicuous here.

Overall, I'm in love with the complete ridiculousness of this figure - it's not particular good, but I'm entertained, and that's the most important part, right? ;)

More of the same line.
What absurd features do they have? 
And do I need to hunt them down to find out?

Out of the Box: Wolverine (Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series)

Hot Toys' Wolverine
(outfit #2).

I've had my eye on Hot Toys' releases for several years now - every time I see a figure licenced from a property I'm a fan of I've been tempted, but until now I've never owned one of these.  The amount of detail on these 30cm/12" figures is impressive, but I've never been 100% certain if they're worth the prices (which are in the high range for action figures).  Additionally, I've always been on the fence about whether the amount of detail means an awesome degree of realism as opposed to an awkward trip into the uncanny valley.

But a recent sale on some of the older figures over at Sideshow Toys happened to overlap with one of their free shipping periods, and that was enough to get me past the "But they're so expensive!" reaction and finally bring one of them home.  That one being the tie-in from last year's The Wolverine - I'd been hoping to see other X-men characters at some point, but hey - a sale is a sale!

Even before getting to the figure I was impressed, because the box was almost a work of art on its own - and quite large as well (The toys are similar in size to standard Barbie dolls, or to Sideshow's own figure line, and yet the Hot Toys box is a good third larger than either of those).

The box.

Upon opening the box, I was struck by the number (and quality) of the accessories: in addition to the default outfit and stand there are five sets of hands (fists, open hands, weapon-holding hands, bone claws and metal claws) as well as extra shoes, trousers, wrist pieces, and an impressive sword and sheath.

The figure and accessories.

The default outfit was epic in its own right, consisting of a coat, jacket, shirt, tie, trousers, socks, shoes, and undershirt plus a stocking layer (presumably meant to prevent staining from the dark clothing).  The stand is a solid saddle-type, and is functional if not particularly impressive.

The default outfit and stand.

Of course the clothes aren't even this lines claim to fame: that would be the realistic head sculpts.  And this figure is no exception - the details of the face and hands are very impressive and the paint work is stunning.  It isn't the perfect likeness of Hugh Jackman that appears on the box, but it certainly looks like it could be his miniature brother.  To be honest, I find that to be a little less creepy than a perfect replica would be, but I realize that some people might be a little disappointed given the (slight) differences from the promotional photos.

A closer view of the face.

The hands and torso are also very well sculpted and painted, and that impressed me almost more than the face since those are details that are frequently overlooked - I have a number of dolls and figures that are fantastically detailed in every way except the hands, so it was great to see that this line lives up to the hype in that sense.

The extra hands.

With another layer of clothing removed.
Amusingly, the metal claws are actually sharp!

All that said, there was one major problem - the elbow joints.  Every other joint on this figure has a wide range of movement that allows for some impressively realistic posing, but both elbow joints on this guy are significantly more limited.  Given the poses I've seen other Hot Toys figures in, I think it must be a flaw specific to this one piece, because they're clearly intended to have a wider range of movement (I took the arms apart to see if there was an easy fix - I couldn't find one, but I'm going to give it another go at some point).

Regardless of that issue though, this is still an impressive-looking doll with an impressive array of accessories, so I'm happy to have added him to my collection.  Whether they're worth the retail price is a complicated one though (I wouldn't have bought this one if he hadn't been on sale), and I'm not sure that I'm going to feel any drive to pick up more Hot Toys figures in the future, but we'll see.

He's glaring at you.

Out of the Basement: ToyBiz Light-Up Classics Wolverine (and Happy Labour Day!)

Digging through my mother's basement the other day, I came across a slightly more recent toy than most of the ones I've been posting about recently - Wolverine from the late 90s ToyBiz "Light Up Weapon Classics" line (I mentioned the Nightcrawler from this series a couple of months back).

Unlike the Nightcrawler, this figure is not terribly well engineered and can't stand on his own.  He also has a bit of an odd face sculpt, which is unfortunate.  On the other hand, he still has his original weapon, and - even more surprising - it still lights up!

I'm not sure if this toy is going to come home with me, go back into the basement, or be traded or gifted along, but it was interesting to see it again!

If you're celebrating a holiday weekend today, I hope it's a good one!

Random Toy of the Day: Cyclops and Dark Phoenix (Marvel's Greatest Battles Comic Pack)

Dark Phoenix and Cyclops

I'm on holiday this week (and last), so rather than ignore blogging altogether, I thought it would be fun to share some toys that I love but don't have much to say about either because I've posted about similar toys before or just because they're fairly basic.

Up first is Dark Phoenix and Cyclops from one of the Greatest Battles Marvel Comic packs (my Captain Britain figure from this line appears on my Captain Britain wall).

As is standard for this line, they're small, but well-articulated and with a solid amount of detail. 

Out of the Box: Nightcrawler (various versions)

1996 Toy Biz Nightcrawler

I noticed a few Nightcrawler fans commented on my shelf post, so I thought I'd give this guy a moment to shine.

The figure seen in those displays is from a 1996  line from Toy Biz called "Light Up Weapon Classics".  As as the name suggests, this version of the character came with a light-up flaming sword (which I believe I still have, but it's gone into storage along with the Gambit and Psylocke figures that I also had from the line).

This figure has the classic red-and-black costume and the traditional haircut.  The toy has 9 points of articulation and a battery in its back, which powers the sword (you can see the holding spot for it in the figure's right hand).

This seems to be the figure that I see the most custom and repainted versions of, so I think there must have been a lot of these on the market at some point.

Even though this is the only Nightcrawler figure I have

Sales photo, since mine
is in storage.

on display, he's actually not the only one in my collection.  I also have the 1997 "WaterWars" Nightcrawler (as the name suggests, he came with a water gun), which is currently in storage.  That figure is a less attractive toy (it's clearly designed for play rather than display), but the standout feature is that it actually has Kurt in his late-1990s Excalibur look, with the short hair and the goatee.  Since Warren Ellis' run on that title was what got me into superhero books, I've always had a fondness for that incarnation of the character.

And finally, I also have the 2004 "Twist 'Ems" movie-tie in wind-up toy (with functional walking motion), which is small and silly, but also has a surprisingly detailed face sculpt that genuinely looks like that epic make-up job from X-2.  I'd actually thought I'd put that one in storage as well, but it turns out he was actually in my craft box, so here he is:

Comic and movie Nighcrawler, together.