S.H.Figuarts Captain Phasma

One of the most intriguing things to be revealed in the trailers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a mysterious Stormtrooper in chrome armor. We were given a name - Captain Phasma. Then it was revealed this Stormtrooper was played by Gwendoline Christie (best known as Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones). Around the internet there was much rejoicing. And some bitching, but it is the internet after all.

Sadly Captain Phasma didn't really get to do a whole lot in The Force Awakens. She had a strong start leading the First Orders Stormtroopers as they raided a village on Jakku. But after that she really didn't do much of anything except be the subject of an admittedly funny trash compactor joke. Here's hoping she gets to play a larger role in Episode VIII.

Star Wars has had a long history of giving action figures to just about every character that appears on screen. And often many that don't. So it's not surprising that Captain Phasma has received a decent amount of merchandising despite her minor role in the film. So here's a look at the S.H.Figuarts take on the leader of the First Orders Stormtrooper army.

Packaging:

This is the same style box as the Stormtrooper figure. Simple and to the point. The window nicely displays the figure so you know exactly what you're getting. There's only one piece of tape to be cut to get into the box which makes it very collector friendly. As I said in my Stormtrooper review this suits me just fine. The sooner I can get my toy out to play with it the better.

Sculpt:

The sculpting on Phasma is fantastic. The details are sharp and clean. There does seem to be some parts recycled from the Stormtrooper but this is to be expected. Her helmet, hands, shins and feets are all new.

Her cape is also very well sculpted. All the little folds look nice and it's not quite hanging straight down. This means the shape works for some in action poses. There's plenty of room underneath for the shoulder pad but oddly enough it comes packaged unattached.

Sadly the shape of the cape means it always has to be draped over her left shoulder. This means it can interfere with the articulation. That said it's still going to look good in most poses.

Paint:

The majority of the figure has been cast in the appropriate color plastic to keep paint to detail work only. The color matching is spot on though. The areas painted silver match the areas cast silver perfectly. Slightly different details on her armor are picked out compared to the Stormtrooper. Knowing the care that goes into these figures I'm confident this is accurate to what's seen on screen.

My Phasma does have the tiniest bit of paint slop on her cape. It's near the neck and not noticeable unless you're looking right at it. These sorts of things are bound to happen on a few figures. Otherwise all the paint applications are spot on.

Articulation:

Articulation on Captain Phasma is identical to the Stormtrooper. Double jointed neck which is nice and expressive.  Ball joints in the chest and waist help make poses more dynamic. Ball and hinge joints in the shoulder with articulated shoulder pads plus swivels on the bicep and forearm and double jointed elbows give the arms great range. Double jointed knees, thigh swivels and universal hips give similarly great range in the legs. And the pouches are articulated to get out of the way of the legs as needed.

The cape can hinder things a little bit. It's made of a soft enough material that you can get it out of the way most of the time. As mentioned before the shape of the cape means it always has to be draped over the left shoulder to look natural. A cloth cape would've given her a bit more freedom when posing.

Accessories:

As pictured above Phasma comes with three sets of hands - open, fists, and a pair for holding her blaster - and her blaster. The blaster - apart from being a different color - is a slightly different sculpt from the one that came with the Stormtrooper. There is an additional stock and the grip and trigger guard are different. Her hands are also a different sculpt with armor on her fingers not just the back of her hands.

Unfortunately the combination of Phasma's trigger hand and the blasters stock make her a bit harder to pose with her weapon than the Stormtrooper. Where the Stormtrooper's trigger hand hand the fingers and thumb closed with just the trigger finger extended Phasma's trigger hand is open. This means her blaster is prone to popping out of her hand while getting her arms into the right pose.

I've found she'll grip her blaster solidly if held single handedly or with two hands when firing from the hip. But I haven't been able to get her to securely hold her blaster with both hands and the stock shouldered. The cape plays into this too limiting the movement of her left arm for support. It's not a big deal but it is a little bit of a step down from the Stormtroopers.

Final Thoughts: 

Captain Phasma does have a few minor limitations but is overall another fantastic figure. She looks great paired with the S.H.Figuarts Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren. And I think you get the most out of her with a couple of Stormtroopers to lead.

Like the Stormtroopers she's going to set you back more than the Black Series figure but I do think you'll get a lot more out of her. The shiny silver plastic/paint used her look gorgeous in person and in my opinion is nicer than the darker silver of the Black Series figure (which is by no means a knock against the Black Series toy!). I don't own the Black Series toy but from what I've seen I believe it is slightly taller which might make a difference to some.

I'm very happy to have her to lead my Stormtroopers. She looks great, poses well, and should fit in to any 1/12 Star Wars display well.

iGear's Veer (3rd party Swerve)

Thanks to Writer James Roberts and the success of IDW's More than Meets the Eye, Swerve has become the idol of millions (not accounting for Tailgate's fans).  A former backburner Autobot who was basically just a repaint of Gears and had a total of 3 seconds air time in the G1 cartoon, this little guy is now the wisecracking, annoying, upbeat, enthusiastic, annoying bartender aboard the Lost Light (did I mention annoying?), and his weapons-grade mouth is legendary.  So, of course, we need some updated toys about the little squeaker!

Having purchased iGear products before, I had a good feeling I knew what I was in for- a solid, chunky Masterpiece-scaled version of my favorite loudmouth based on his distant cousin, Gears, whom iGear also made a product of (named Cog), continuing the tradition of repaints set forth by Hasbro in the 80's right at the start of the Transformer's line.  Already having Cog, the transformation is essentially the same as the G1 mini-bot, except not so mini.  Remember how you transformed Gears and Swerve in the 80's?  Same basic idea here- arms pull out from the shoulders, lower legs do a flip, and wallah! you have yourself a little bot.  Of course, a few more steps have been added to the mix, such as the actual arms being housed inside the vehicle door/side piece, flip out feet, and hands that can hold a weapon.

 A compact kick-butt truck.

Attack mode Veer.  As if this would ever happen.

Once you have him transformed, Veer has a weapon that resembles a Tommy Gun, which can be hand-held or mounted on top of his roof in vehicle mode (sorry, kids, no My First Blaster).  And speaking of the roof, Veer likes to RAISE THE ROOF FOR THE PARTY!  By flipping up the hood/main cab of the body, Veer reveals a hidden missile rack for those days when kicking Decepticon Tail is a must.

 "Poking Out Your Eye" feature not included.

Another feature that iGear has incorporated with most of the mini-bot line is a dual face feature where by turning the head, you can choose to display either the cartoon or original toy version face.  In Veer's case, I'm honestly not sure where his secondary face comes from- I don't recall it from the G1 cartoon; it could possibly be a special mask he wore in an issue of MTMTE.  As nice as this feature is, I have found it to be my biggest complaint- turning that head around is HARD!  This is something that can be said of all the mini-bots iGear has produced.  So, be careful, lest you be missing a fingernail.

 WHO DIS?

 

 Oh, there's my boy.  :)

Head turning aside, Veer, like all the mini-bots, truly shines in robot form.  No need to worry about this guy toppling over; he's as solid as a bull's behind, and his articulation for his size class is pretty impressive.  Not Marvel Legends impressive, but still worth noting.  Twisting waist, up/down/inward/outward shoulder motion, elbows, swivel hips, rotating thighs, and bending knees round out a very nice looking bot, whose red paint areas are a lighter magenta.

 "Heard someone was talkin' smack about Blurr..."

I ordered Veer as a package deal with iGear's Duneraker (Beachcomber) for $50 at BBTS, which I thought was a great price for 2 3rd party Masterpiece-scale Transformers.  Price is great, product is great, BBTS is great (as always), and I'm a happy camper.

Swerve:  An Epic Journey...for the most part.

Marvel Legends Superior Spider-Man (Ultimate Green Goblin series)

In issue #700 of The Amazing Spider-Man long time foe Doctor Octopus took over Peter Parker's body in an attempt to escape death. The following month Amazing was replaced by The Superior Spider-Man which ran for an initial 31 issues plus an additional 2 issues to tie into the Spider-Verse event. Opinions I've seen of the series have been mixed at best but I personally enjoyed it.

Of course a new Spider-Man needs his own costume. And a new costume means a new toy. Released in the same set of figures as the movie inspired Spidey was this so-called superior Spider-Man.


Sculpt:

Unlike the textured costume of movie Spidey this figures body is pretty much flat. The musculature is sculpted but pretty much all of the costume details are done through paint. He also has sculpted eyes on his mask and his finger tips have small bumps on them to replicate the spikes on Superior Spidey's gloves.

Paint:

Most of the paint applications are nice and clean. Like the movie Spidey the eyes are a little off but it's really only noticeable when you go looking for it. As the costume is primarily black there are a few areas red detailing was painted onto black plastic. These do not quite match the red plastic used on other parts of the body. The spider emblem is very cleanly done and looks great.

The webbing isn't quite as clean. There are a few places where the lines don't quite meet as they're supposed to. The webbing pattern is also irregular especially on the mask. Flipping back through the comics to compare it seems this varied from issue to issue. Some pictures have very regular webbing, others more random.

Articulation:

The superior Spider-Man actually has less articulation than his movie inspired wave-mate. He lacks the cut on his calves. It's no great loss though. This Spidey can jump, swing and crawl with the best of 'em.

Accessories:

Again, like the movie Spidey he comes with two sets of hands and that's it. The web-slinging hands are nicely done in the classic pose. Instead of fists he comes with a pair of closed gripping hands. These work well enough when posed punching and add some extra playability allowing Spidey to also hold things. He could have done with some open hands like the newer Spidey figures but it's not essential.

Final Thoughts:

Superior Spider-Man is a really nice figure. But, like the end of the comic, it turns out Peter Parker is the superior Spider-Man after all. If you're looking for a single definitive Spider-Man for your collection this is not the figure for you. If you enjoyed the series and/or really like the darker costume then I think you'll be happy with this toy.

Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Ultimate Green Goblin series)

The Marvel Legends line started in 2002 with Toy Biz, bringing collectors 1/12 scale figures of their favorite Marvel characters. Highly poseable (generally) and detailed these figures looked like they'd jumped right off the page. In 2006 Hasbro took over but continued to make good quality Marvel heroes and villains at an affordable price. Affordable if you find them at retail, at least.

Over the 14 years Marvel Legends have been made there have been many versions of Spider-Man. This is true for all of Marvels biggest names. And it makes sense why. A kid who's just discovered Marvel should be able to go down to their local toy store and buy their favorite hero. For collectors it means we often end up with shelves dedicated to a single character. As a massive Spider-Man fan (I even enjoyed the Clone Saga!) I don't have an issue with this.

The subject of today's review is the Spider-Man figure from the 2014 Ultimate Green Goblin series. This version of Spider-Man is featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro which was in cinemas at the same time this figure was released. 

Sculpt:

The sculpting on this figure is very nice. All of the web detailing on Spidey's costume is present. The blue sections are also textured like the movie costume. These could easily have been left flat so I appreciate the effort. The masks eyes and the spider emblems on the front and back of the costume are also molded cleanly.

Paint:

This has got to be one of the best painted Marvel Legends figures in my collection. All of the paint applications are really clean. This was not the case with every figure in the set (I had to go through quite a few Spider-Girls that either had messy faces or messy costume detailing).

A wash has been applied to the red areas to bring out all of the webbing details. This has left a couple of dirty spots. But they look like dirt not great globs of sloppy paint and as such don't hurt the figures look. Easy enough to pass of as the result of going toe-to-toe with Electro.

The eyes on mine don't quite line up with the sculpting. On a shelf it's fine. It's only if you go looking at them up close that you can notice it. The other main paint applications are his front and back spider emblems which I'm happy to say are both spot on.

Articulation:

"Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can." When you buy a Spider-Man toy you want it to be able to recreate all of your favorite dynamic moments from the comics/films/cartoons/lunch-boxes/etc. And this Spider-Man certainly can. 26 points of articulation, mostly in the arms and legs, make Spidey very poseable. You might even say super poseable.

... Yeah, ok, that was terrible. Sorry.

Whether you want him to be swinging through New York, climbing up the side of a building, or punching bad guys Spidey can do it all. The way the shoulders are jointed go a long way into helping with this. They are able to swivel inward and outward on joints dedicated to just this movement. It's not something I've seen on many toys outside of your Figuarts/Figmas/etc. Certainly not on Hasbro figures. Everything else is pretty standard but all works together well to keep pretty much any pose you'd want to put Spidey in looking natural.

Accessories:

As most of Spidey's only gadgets are his webshooters which are built into his costume he doesn't really need a whole lot of accessories. He does come with two sets of hands - fists and web shooting. These are enough to get you by but a set of open hands (like the Hobgoblin series Spider-Man got) would've been nice to make the wall crawling look a bit more convincing.

Final Thoughts:

This is a great, affordable option if you're looking for a Spider-Man for your collection. While based on the movie version of the costume it's close enough to the comic design that he won't have trouble fitting in with comic-based figures. The Hobgloblin series Spider-Man (affectionately known as Pizza Spidey) does everything this guy can a little better. But if this is the only Spider-Man figure you can find I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Star Wars The Black Series Han Solo

When Lucasfilm and Hasbro came out with the Black Series of 6" figures a few years ago, it set a higher standard (and price) for Star Wars figures as a whole, making them able to compete with Marvel Legends and other figures in the same scale.  They are also highly valuable once retired.  I think this will be the case with Mr. Han Solo as he appears in The Force Awakens (and also indicative of his fate in said film).  I think I lucked out when I randomly found him at Target a few days ago, as I didn't even know he had been released yet.  Instant purchase.

Han appears much as we remember him from the Original Trilogy, perhaps most closely dressed as his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, although his vest (which is removable) is more of a brown now than navy blue.  He comes complete with his infamous DL-44 Blaster Pistol and holster, and as standard in The Black Series, has a high level of articulation (although nowhere near as much as S.H. Figure Arts or other high-end companies).  His likeness to Harrison Ford is pretty spot-on; even the 30 years of aging since Return of the Jedi have been captured well.  All I can picture in my mind when looking at the figure is his trash compactor joke with Finn when they take Captain Phasma hostage and are thinking of ways to "keep her busy."  I definitely get a good chuckle out of that.

My only regret?  I should have grabbed Chewbacca a few months ago when I had the chance.

Transformers Masterpiece MP-12T Tigertrack

The Transformers Masterpiece line got rebooted (well, sort of) in 2011 with the release of MP-10 Convoy. Before then scale between releases had been fairly inconsistent. Which is nothing new in Transformers. But from MP-10 onward the designers have at least tried to keep the robot-modes as consistent as they can based on a cartoon notorious for animation errors.

MP-10 was followed up by a retool of the Seeker mold which was in turn followed by MP-12 Sideswipe. The first of a series of smaller, more affordable Masterpiece figures with licensed alt-modes and cartoon accurate robot-modes. 

I never bought the original Sideswipe. When I started collecting Masterpiece figures the G2 version had been announced and I chose to wait for it instead. But I did get the TakaraTomy mall exclusive MP-12T Tigertrack based on an e-Hobby exclusive redeco of the original Sideswipe toy. 

Vehicle mode:

Tigertrack's alt-mode is a yellow LaLamborghini Countach LP500S (thank you TF Wiki). Even if I couldn't tell you the exact model of the top of my head the car is instantly recognizable. A few panel lines give away that this is a Transformer and not a scale model but the car mode is very convincing none the less. Personally I like this car in yellow more than I do in red.

Tigertrack can do what you'd expect a toy car to do. He can roll. There's not a lot of clearence though so you'd better stick to flat surfaces.

Tigertrack also has a battle-mode. His rifle can plug into the side of his shoulder cannon which can in turn plug into a port on his roof. To keep the look of the vehicle mode as clean as possible this port has a little spring loaded flap that fills the gap when the weapons aren't plugged in. It's silly and I can't see many people using this mode but it doesn't interfere with the toy at all so no harm done.

Transformation:

One of the biggest strengths of the post-MP-10 Masterpiece figures are their transformations. They are involved but not complicated. You won't be needing to set aside an entire evening to transform these toys.

Tigertrack's transformation begins by folding down the front wheels and untabbing the front of the car then lifting up the roof. This pretty much frees up everything to allow you to convert car to robot. The upper body is very basic - hood folds around and tabs in to become chest, the sides of the car unfold into the robot-mode arms.

The most interesting and involved part of the transformation is the legs. After untabbing what will become the feet from the interior of the car the top and bottom halves of the car-modes rear flip around and meet again to form the lower leg. A couple of small panels fold out to fill the gap and the panels around the rear wheels rotate to finish the look. It's a great use of the alt-mode parts to create the robot-mode's limbs.

Robot mode:

Tigertrack has a very well proportioned robot-mode. The wide chest and bulky arms and legs give him a very heroic silhouette. White is added to his color scheme to add a bit of variety and keep things interesting.

Universal shoulders and hips combined with hinge elbows and knees give him a decent range of articulation. Wrist and waist swivels and a little bit of ankle tilt top this off nicely. He's not going to be as poseable as some action figures but what he does have he uses well.

Tigertrack is armed with a rifle and a shoulder cannon. TF Wiki tells me these are a 'Electron Pulse Gun' and a 'Laser Homing SAM Launcher' . Whatever they are called they look good.

The shoulder cannon has an articulated peg allowing Tigertrack to be posed like he's trying the shoot down airborne targets. His wide chest doesn't makes does stop him from holding his rifle two-handed. Regardless, Tigertrack's more than ready to shows some Decepticons who's boss.

He also comes with a pair of 'screw drivers'. They look more like chisels to me. These were molded to go with Sideswipe as the pile drivers he occasionally used in the G1 cartoon. To be honest I tested these when I first got the figure then put them back into the box where they sat until earlier today when I was taking photos for this review. Nice to get a few extra accessories but compared to later Masterpiece releases these are pretty dull.

Overall:

Great looking robot- and alt-modes and a fun transformation make this toy a great addition to your collection. To date there have been five versions of this toy - G1 Sideswipe, G2 Sideswipe, Red Alert, Tigertrack and Clamp Down. If you like what you see here I'd recommend looking at pictures of the others and picking up your favorite. But I may be a little biased. I own three of the five uses of this mold.

DX9's Tyrant (3rd Party Galvatron)

Last summer, I purchased DX9's Carry, their version of Rodimus Prime, and was completely blown away by how awesome their production, design, and overall end result was.  Carry had so many points of articulation that I lost count, plus he looked damn nice standing next to his mentor, Optimus Prime.  The most important aspect was his beautifully smooth transformation; everything fitted in place, he's not as difficult as he looks, and parts were acceptably tight.  When I found out that they were making their version of Galvatron, I was completely psyched and immediately put him on pre-order.  I figured if they did such a good job with Carry, I couldn't go wrong with Tyrant (their 3rd party name).  So, the day he arrived, I was frothing at the mouth, and after 2 hours of trying to transform him, I was utterly.....

disappointed.

Tyrant's transformation was nowhere near as smooth as Carry.  The adjoining parts that snapped together in various parts of the legs were extremely tight, the manipulation of his head, arms, and chest were difficult at best, and more than once I needed a flat-head screw driver to get things to move out of their normal position in accordance with the directions.  Probably the most disappointing aspect was his hands and digits, which are just really for show and are not strong or tight enough to hold anything of significance.  I was so unhappy with him that I took some pics and then threw him on the Megatron honor shelf.

  

After a few days, I put my disgust away for a while and tried another go at both transforming him and finding some redeeming quality about him.  The transformation was still difficult, but somehow, it went much faster and parts were clicking into place better.  Maybe he just needed to be broken in a bit, which I did a few more times.  As time went on, I fiddled with him more and more, learning that he has his own "flow" that is not immediately accessible but discoverable upon a few transformations.

The one outlook I maintained from the beginning was how awesome he looked in robot mode, and he truly does look handsome, regal, and powerful.  DX9 captured the perfect scowl on his face sculpt.  Like Carry, he is extremely articulated, but not to a point where it dilutes the overall aesthetic of the robot.  It was this regalia that made me give his transformation a second chance.  I could almost hear him ranting at Starscream's ghost; that's how good they captured his essence.  And he is now placed in the upper echelon of the Megatron Honor Shelf.

Tyrant comes packed with a bunch of goodies; a nice trading card, a pull-apart version of The Matrix, two arm cannons (a translucent orange version and a light-emitting solid orange plastic version), instructions, and packaging that pays homage to both Galvatron's presence in Transformers:  The Movie (1986) as well as his voice actor, Mr. Leonard Nimoy. 

I am happy to say I am now obsessed with Tyrant!

 

"I know you too well, Galvatron..."

God Galvatron.

S.H.Figuarts First Order Stormtrooper

Last year saw the triumphant return of Star Wars to the big screen with the first of Disney's sequels, The Force Awakens. Thirty years after the events of Return of the Jedi the Galactic Empire may be gone but in it's place the First Order has risen to follow in the Empire's footsteps. With it is a new generation of the ubiquitous Stormtrooper.

And I do mean ubiquitous. Not just on screen. There's Stormtrooper merchandise at every scale and price point. At the 1/12th scale there's Hasbro's Black Series, Bandai's model kit, the upcoming Mafex figure and the subject of today's review - S.H.Figuarts take on the First Order Stormtrooper.

Packaging:

The S.H.Figuarts Star Wars line has gone with the bare bones when it comes to packaging. A big window in the box shows you the figure you're getting. There's enough space to fit in the swappable hands and the Stormtrooper's blaster. The back has a few pictures showing off the toy. And that's it.

I'm personally not a MINT collector. I play with my toys. So for me this sort of minimal packaging is great. Cut one piece of tape, slide out the tray, remove the figure and you're good to go. Little fuss, straight to the fun stuff.

Scult:

The sculpt on the Stormtrooper is very sharp. All the little clasps holding the pieces of armor are molded in. The belt and undersuit have been given a ribbed texture when they easily could have been left flat. For the most part the armor hides the joints giving the Stormtrooper a very clean look.

Paint:

Most of the figure has been cast in the appropriate plastic colors. The main armor in white and the joints and undersuit in black. This helps keep everything very clean. Paint has only been used to pick out the small details on the armor. Most of the applications are very clean. The only place I've noticed obvious smudging is on the Stormtroopers belt and it's present on both of the Stormtroopers I bought.

Articulation:

Like all S.H.Figuarts toys the articulation on the Stormtrooper is excellent. Two joints in the neck give the essentially faceless Stormtrooper a lot of ability to express itself. The shoulders are ball jointed where they meet the torso the hinged for outward movement. The shoulder pads themselves are on their own dedicated joints so you can move them out of the way when raising the arms. Swivels at the bicep and forearm work with double jointed elbows allow the arms to move in a very natural way. A similar set up with the legs works just as well.

One of the most impressive things is the face that the pouches on the hips are each on their own dedicated joint. This lets them be moved out of the way of the legs where they'd otherwise hinder the figures poseability.

Any limitations on poseability rise more from the design of the suit than the articulation of the figure itself. There are other toys whose double jointed knees bend further. The Stormtroopers leg armor only allows the knee to move so far before the plates collide. The biggest hindrance is on the ankle articulation but I feel this is again due to the armor design rather than the engineering of the toy. That said I haven't found a pose I can't get the Stormtrooper to do.

Accessories:

The Stormtrooper comes with the bare minimum here. Three pairs of hands - fists, open grip and trigger hands - and the F-11D blaster. The hands pop on and off of ball joints of the Stormtroopers wrist easily. At no point have I been worried the joint can't handle the stress of swapping hands.

The blaster is nicely detailed but seems a little oversized. It's not a big deal though. The Stormtroopers still look fantastic holding it. The blasters foregrip also folds down which is not something I remember seeing in the movie. I honestly think the Stormtrooper looks silly holding the blaster with it folded down so that's a feature that's going to go unused.

Sadly the blaster cannot be holstered on the Stormtrooper's leg armor. As far as I know every other First Order Stormtrooper at this scale is able to holster it's weapon. I'd say this was done to keep the sculpt as accurate as possible but it's a real shame this feature wasn't included.

Final Thoughts:

I'm really happy with S.H.Figuarts take on the First Order Stormtrooper. On their own they look great. Their size means they'll fit in well with other 1/12 scale Star Wars lines. As the Stormtroopers of the First Order were conscripts taken at birth you can mix and match from different toy lines without too much worry.

They are more expensive than the other options. A premium price for a premium figure. It all depends on what you're looking for. They easily beat the Black Series figure in terms of poseability but the Black Series is certainly easier to army build. I certainly don't regret buying them and am very much looking forward to getting S.H.Figuarts Captain Phasma to lead them.