Just wanted to share the Breaker figure I got in the mail today.  Not a bad figure, it’s just not the Breaker most of us grew up with.  Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 32% [?]

Thanks to cmderinchief over on Coilclub.com, pictures of the G.I. Joe movie have surfaced.  Beware, there may be some ‘spoiler’ to it, but check it out here!

Discuss it here!

Popularity: 24% [?]

Go to Hasbro to vote from a list of characters for the new 1:18th line of action figures!  There’s quite a random selection of characters from the list, so go!  Vote!

And then discuss it here!

Popularity: 19% [?]

Thanks to Doctorkent, he was able to snag a ton of pictures from the upcoming Marvel line.  Check them out here!

Popularity: 18% [?]

“It is far more difficult to murder a phantom than a reality.”

– Virginia Woolf

One of the last realeases of the 2004 Microman line (actually came out in early 2005) AcroPhantom was part of the AcroYear X-2 line.  A follow up the the earlier AcroYear subset, the X-2 line featured 2 Micromen and 2 Microlady figures that featured highly stylized looks and gear.  The gear of all 4 X-2 figures actually could merge into some sort of chrome mess on wheels.  As with most Microman figures not specifically based on a license, there is little backstory to a figure, but rather it draws from a particular theme or borrows from other sources.  I managed to score this guy from the excellent e-tailer smalljoes.com , an excellent source for Microman figs among other things.

AcroPhantom, as the name suggests, takes on a deathly or gothic feel and delivers one of the coolest figures you’re gonna find (if you’re lucky) on the market today.

 

 

 

Packaging :

Microman packaging is fairly standardized, but that’s not to say it’s boring or bland.  It features a plastic shell front over a cardboard slipback secured in place by flaps with tape on the back.  The figure is displayed in a standard pose with his accessories clearly displayed around him.  The cardback features a nice graphic of the figure “geared-up” with some text running along the borders.  The package is obviously geared towards a “collector” as opposed to kids, and as such is fairly modern and clean.  The packaging is larger than your average 1/18th scale figure package – nearly double the size.  The packaging design also makes it extremely collector friendly in that you can open and repackage the figure without damaging the sharp looking backing card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cardback features a number of very well done photos of the fig, a demonstration of the articulation with a Material Force figure, and photos of the other figures from the 2004 line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sculpt & Deco :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AcroPhantom’s base figure begins the phantom/ghost/death motif.  The basic figure is the basic Microman body with no additional parts.  The figure is cast in clear plastic, with black hands, and slate blue highlights.  The clear plastic is extremely cool.  It’s a rare thing in the US to get clear plastic figures.  Recently we’ve seen a glut of translucent colored figures, but the genuinely clear figure is hard to come by.  Japan on the other hand has a tradition of releasing clear variants of figures (most notably among Transformers).  In this particular case, it is not only neat, but serves the purpose of the figure as a Death/Ghost representative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The slate blue highlights are a cross between flames, tribal tatoos, and a mist like pattern.  The combination serves to add to the wraith like qualities of the fig.  The blue is outlined by silver making the highlights stand out exceptionally well and even features some fading and graduations.  The paint masking is astonishingly crisp.  It may be the best example of detail on a 1/18th scale figure I’ve ever seen.  No bleeding, no chips, and a smooth application on rounded surfaces.  Truly they look like decals, but it is in fact paint. 

The black hands seem out of place at first, but go very nicely with his gear, and actually gives him a bit of a “death touch” if your imagination runs to the dark and dank depths that mine did.

 

 

 

Perhaps the coolest Deco feature and something that came as a complete surprise since it is not featured on the packaging, and I never ran across it shown on any site before is the back tatoo that reads “Death” – in english no less.  Looking like something out of a prison movie, AcroPhantom sports an ominous message for those who cross his path – er or at least see him walking away form their path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

AcrosPhantom features a blue chromed head with a clear helmet/face shield.  The blue chrome which matches his Hammer/Cross and necklace thingy is a great accent color to the fig.  The face shield serves to give the head an almost skull like quality with the dome shape, while at the same time giving an almost sci-fi/alien feel.  It’s almost remenicient of Mysterio from Spider-man fame.  The actual head is demonic in nature in a Kabuki theater type of way.  It’s animalist and mythic in feel with spikes protruding at the sides and an open jaw/mandible with some wicked looking fangs.  As is par for course, the microman chrome style heads obscure much of the excellent detailing, but it wouldn’t be a Microman figure without the chrome.

 

Accessories :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microman figures are known for 2 things – insane articulation and wacky accessories (well, minus the Material Force figs) .  AcroPhantom comes with some of the coolest, and some of the lamest accessories in the entire line.  Let’s start with the awesome.  Most Microman figures come with some kind of armor.  Usually it’s of the chromed, combines with other parts variety and comes off like some weird cross between a knight’s armor and something you’d have seen in Junkyard Wars.  Acrophantom here shuns the chrome in favor of a PVC rubber set of gear.

 

Included as armor add ons are 2 shin guards, a belt/skirt combo,  a torso/shoulder piece, and a blue chromed “necklace”.  The torso piece is secured by two slip straps, while the shin guards are slipped on and held in place by to straps each.  The skirt piece is actually 3 seperate parts that are held together by a hole/peg system running along each seam.  The torso and shin armor fit perfectly and do not hamper articulation to any major degree, save for the shoulder pads limiting straight upward movement.  The skirt fits well, but does have a tendancy to ride up off the waist if you fiddle around with it too much. 

 

The overall effect of the rubber is really nice.  The black color and whole strap/metal/padding look add another layer of that dark gothic fell to the fig.  It also stands out from the majority of the Microman line in that the chrome is light, giving AcroPhantom and almost matte effect that further cause’s him to stand out amongst all the bling and bright colors.  The one annoyance is with the chrome necklace piece.  It’s a nice highlight piece, but it doesn’t stay on very well.  There are holes for it to plug into, but it slides out with the slightest movement.  Not a huge deal, but a hassle none the less.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, now for the other shoe to drop.  Sweet Christmas . . . what the heck is this thing supposed to be?  Obviously it’s shaped as a vaugely ne0-gaelic cross.  I’ve seen it refered to as a “hammer” called Death-Grave and is apparently a reference to an anime that I don’t get.  If it’s a hammer, I’m not sure how he’s supposed to hold it or use it.  Nor am I sure how exactly a hammer with wheels on the striking surfaces work.  There is a “gun” mode that consists of reconfiguring the “stalk” of the cross back slightly to reveal 2 barrells.  It is so ridiculously oversized though, there is no way to properly grasp it, let alone any hope of actually raising it. If you refer back to the cardback shot, you’ll notice that there is also a wholly ridiculous “wheel chair” mode.  It brings back subtle nightmares of the weird dudes on wheel stilts from “The Wiz”.  If it was pulled off slighlty better, it might be creepy.  As is, it is just too silly to properly express in words let alone bother photographing.  The one redeeming factor of the cross – it fits very nicely onto a hole in the back of the torso armor and does look fairly wicked there.  It’s a shame that the hammer is the only realy accessory here.  A Scythe would have been exceptionally cool.  Even a simple blade or gun or an actual useable hammer would have gone a long way.

 

Articulation :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it’s no secret that Microman is the gold standard for articulation in the 1/18th scale.  It almost borders on the absurd.  Limbs, hands, feet,  and head are all designed to “pop” off  if you need them too.  In addition, there are 4 extra sets of hands in various poses that are interchangable.  For the uninitiated articulation includes:

Neck – Ball Joint

Shoulder – Ball Joint x4

Bicep – Swivel Joint x2

Elbow – Hinge Joint x4

Wrist – Swivel Joint x2

Hand – Hinge Joint x2

Torso – Slip Hinge Joint (ball function)

Waist – Ball Joint

Hip – Ball Joint x2

Thigh – Swivel Joint x2

Knee – Hinge Joint x4

Ankle – Hinge Joint x2

Feet – Ball Joint x2

Thats a whopping 29 points of useable articulation folks.  And most are multi-directional joints.  That is just silly on a 1/18th scale fig.  As a matter of fact, the only thing missing is finger and foot articulation (which actually does appear in some later Micromen).  The joints on my AcroPhantom are pretty good.  There are the occasional problems with plastic cracks, broken joints, and floppy joints with Microman figs, but this one seems to avoid those problems.

 

Summary :

Well, if it’s not obvious yet, I really dig this figure.  It may be my favorite Microman fig to date.  It dances along the edge of the macabre without being gory or blunt about it.  There are gothic elements without being a drab, dark figure.  The deco is sharp and bold without overpowering the figure.  The unique armor pieces make the figure something very special.  It does have a wholly useless accessory that celebrates form over any pretense of function and loses some points there.  In the end, you’re either a Microman fan or you’re not.  If you haven’t tried one out before and want to see what the fuss is about, then I highly reccomend this figure.  If you are a Microman fan, why don’t you have this fig?

 

AcroPhantom rates my highest score to date – 11.6 Thumbs Up!

 

“Hey, cheer up, it could be worse.  I may be killing you for DC, but I got to turn him into a woman tomorrow for IDW.”

Popularity: 20% [?]

Yesterday I found a fluke of nature. A toy line that isn’t scheduled to be released anywhere until March was found in my neck of the woods. Considering I generally live in toy hades this is a pretty significant event. I grabbed up what I could afford and here is the results, reviews of Stealth Iron Man, Torch, Wolverine, Bullseye and Deadpool. So lets get started.

 First and foremost let me get to one major fact on this toy line. It deals with articulation and appears to be one constant in the line. The line does have the dreaded mid torso joint, however and thankfully unlike the 25th anniversary GI Joe line, the joint doesn’t destroy the mold. I have gripped about this destruction of molds all over the Internet, and its good to see Hasbro figured out that the joint can be done without making the top of the torso look like an egg sack. Now if only they would apply that to the GI Joe line I would be happy (granted they have in a few cases like Quick Kick and Destro).

 

While on the subject there is one thing I should address right off the bat.  The Wolverine wave appears to have a smaller version of the Marvel Legends ball joint design.  The Marvels however have what can best be described as a plastic T-hook design for the hips (think the hooks for the 25th anniversary only in what appears to be plastic).  This holds for Iron Man, Torch and Bullseye so stands to reason the rest of the Marvels are like this. 

 

First up is the oddball of the wave, Stealth Armor Iron man. I say he is the oddball due to the fact his articulation is actually different than the rest of the line. His knees and elbows are like the ball joints of some of the newer Star Wars figures rather than the way the rest of the line handles articulation.

As such he has a slightly more limited range of motion (Ball joints only go to 90 degrees unlike the double joints the rest of the figures have). Part of this could be contributed to the materials the figure is made of, he has a greater shine than a normal figure obviously, its not chrome-vaced like Destrosimilar. I am betting its more brittle than normal plastic and as such Hasbro went witha different material. I suppose they had to decide between articulation and shine so they went with shine.

But also it should be pointed out, he is Iron Man, not Deadpool and as such doesn’t need the same range of motion.  Armor, no matter how high tech, will be constricting to flexibility regardless.  So the lack of a double joint in the legs can be attributed to that as well.  Oddly he looks like he should have a double joint in the leg, perhaps a last minute design change?

Besides his elbows and Knees he has shoulder (ball joint as well), Wrist (swivel), hips (see above), Torso (see above) and Ankles (pretty standard Hasbro sided to side and up down ankles). 

This figure looks to be a straight repaint of the regular Iron Man. While the shape is probably my least favorite suit (as I think it takes too many attributes from Ultimate Iron Man, especially the face area). However the mold works well as Iron man in stealth mold IMO.   Probably due to the lack of color, as such Iron Man can have tons of suits.  I am actually holding out for the later release of his original armor, as it is the armor I was introduced to when I first started picking up Iron Man (in the ancient times, when we read it on stone tablets LOL). 

Of course when this line was announced one of the biggest questions was how will these compare to Super Hero Showdown.  This is the point some odd things come up with this figure.  First off is the hands, the hands are close to being just like the SHS version (Open to reveal repulser on the left, clenched fist on the right) I thought it was funny considering the debate stemmed from people wanting to know if they should get rid of their old SHS figures. 

Also both figures shoulder armor inhibits their movement.  While the new Hasbro version has less of an effect on the shoulder motion, it should still be noted.  Hasbro Iron Man can move his arms up to 90 degrees so he is more workable than the SHS version.

Lastly is his “attachment” at first I really thought it belonged to Plo Kloon from the Episode 2 line.  Turns out it’s not but it does bare a resemblance.  Things like this are never a draw to me but the resemblance to Plo’s force attack made me mention it. 

But I do have to say the Hasbro version is superior in many ways.  The Hasbro version has less articulation, but definitely does better on mold.  Overall I would give him 10  stars.  I can find nothing seriously wrong with him.

On to Torch, I really grabbed him cause he is translucent.  Not sure to customer reaction to him yet.  I like the translucent flames though. 

He is closer to Bullseye in articulation with could be joints in the knees and regular elbows and a bicep swivel as well.  Now I should mention here, this is the same type of Bicep swivel.  Those who have read my review of Build N’ Brawl Razor Ramone will note that I said I had some trouble out of a similar joint with my Triple H figure.  While the Marvel figures seem to be more sturdy I felt it was something that should be noted. 

One gripe with this figure is the way the shoulders are made the arms cannot be held straight against the body.  This produces a wide arm stance when he is left to his own devices.  It is definitely odd to look at.  Also his legs spread out when sitting.  I note this because neither Bullseye or Iron man have this problem and it harks back to the earliest days of the GI Joe 25th anniversary figures. 

Another note to the figure is the apparent brittleness of the plastic.  While Iron Man’s plastic is rigid it doesn’t appear brittle, Torch feels like he could break in your hands.  Some might say the brittle plastic is necessary for the effect, but I ask those people to look down the toy isle from last year at the Ben 10 figures which had a similar effect but the plastic was softer and obviously wouldn’t break as easily.  Also, while the odd “flare” stripes on his body hark over to Ben 10 figures, this isn’t a bad thing to me.  Still I think the effect was a bit overdone. 

In comparison to his SHS counterpart, its a good one.  The SHS figure was too lanky and honestly lends his look to comedy rather than being a serious character.  While Johnny storm should be thin (as he is in the comic) the lankiness of the Human Torch SHS figure gives the Fury Files figure a better look rather than an anorexic firebug.

Overall this figure falls slightly short of my expectations and as such gets only 7 stars.  He is a good figure, but not as good as his counterparts.

Next up Wolverine:  Wolvie is of course the Uber-popular X-Man from Marvel Comics and this year he gets his own movie and toy line that is related to the Marvel line.   The yellow and blue outfit has been his trademark for decades so he was a obvious choice for me to grab at the beginning. 

Let me note too my SHS Wolverine pictured for comparison suffered some damage a long time back. 

Wolvie has ball/injected elbows (much like many 25th anniversary Joes and some newer SW figures)  However he suffers from something that has plagued the 25th line from the beginning, he can’t put his arms a full 90 degrees.  I suppose this wouldn’t bother me so much if it hadn’t already been an issue from Hasbro.  Really though at this point the designers and sculpters should be able to get around this.  I will grant you that this is not nearly as pronounced as in the Duke or Cobra Trooper figures from the 25th Joe line, but its there in all its bothersome glory.

Of course the hips are similar to the Hasbro Marvel Legends figures.  Truth be told I never liked it on the ML’s and I think in a smaller scale it is even worse. 

Other mold issues are his wrists, while they are swivel wrists they are molded an an odd angle that is unflattering to the

figure to say the least and doesn’t allow for certain types of poses, it could be worse but its not great.

Wolvie also has ankle articulation, it appears it is ment to go up and down but the mold of the boots inhibit that movement.  His shoulder pads inhibit his shoulder joint as his arms cannot go straight up.  Also his chest joint appears to only go side to side and not up and down like most of the Marvels.

Ahhh I think that covers all the bad in the figure, whew.  Needless to say I am disappointed in him, but is he a terrible figure, no.  His colors are spot on, not too “light” and garish which would be easy to pull with this figure.  Minus the articulation issues the mold itself is a very nice and detailed one.  The head looks much better on this figure than the SHS version.  His chin is more rounded (rather than square) and the “ears” (black part that comes up from the eye, I have never really been able to figure out what to call it) look a great deal more in proportion than the SHS version as well.   He is also shorter which fits wolverine perfectly

Lastly his claws are ten times better than the SHS Wolverine.  My biggest complaint about the claws in SHS was how squared off they looked, with Hasbro they are less so but still a bit squared off.

So what is the final score going to be, that is tough and is probably the toughest to score.  He has tons and tons of negatives against him but at the same time is a decent enough figure.  I am going with a 6 but noting he has enough good traits to still be a necessary part of most peoples collections.  That note might change as the Marvel and Wolverine lines continue so I reserve the right to change that little notation (at least in my mind LOL) in the future.  One thing we have learned about Hasbro is that they will put out a good figure with annoying attributes and later release a much better one (25th v2 Snake Eyes, Vader removable helmet, 25th Flint, 25th Viper,  ROTJ Luke Skywalker, ect).

Next up Bullseye.  One day I have to figure out why I like mercenaries so much.  My favorite comic characters are guys like Deathstroke, Deadshot, and Taskmaster.  Bullseye fits into this category as well. 

First he has the bicep swivel instead of the ball joint elbow.  I do have a thought that it might lower production costs to do the ball joint elbow.  I know for years this was the reasoning for the lack of articulation in the SW line as more molds needed to be made with each articulation point (my understanding was that they were saying each mold costs X dollars and more joints meant more molds).  I could be wrong but it was a thought I had going through.

Like Torch Bullseye has his shoulders molded in such a way he can’t hold his arms by his body.  This harks back to some issues I had with JVC and Spy Troops GI Joe figures, again we have tread this ground, can’t the designers figure these things out from the mistakes of the past. 

I have a minor issue with the brightness of the color as well.  I would have preferred it darker blue rather than the light blue we have.  Some artists have made Bullseye this color so it is comic accurate, but I have always preferred the darker blue and even the blacks of his earlier appearances. 

Also he comes with a knife, a knife he can only hold if he keeps his arm down.  Otherwise it slips right out of his hand and falls to the ground.  I am guessing there might have been some kind of “Action feature” the designers were thinking off where he could throw the knife, but thank goodness the feature didn’t happen.  I have enough knives I am not too worried about it anyway.  I will find a replacement. 

Also he comes with a gun, its an ok mold, but part of me is old school and feels Bullseye wouldn’t pull a gun out too quickly, and if he did he would only need one shot.  As such this gun will probably go to a il-equipped GI Joe figure.  A side note, the gun doesn’t appear to have been borrowed from the GI Joe line.  I could be wrong as Hasbro has snuck a few of those in from time to time (for example the Indiana Jones line last year had a few places where Stalker’s gun appeared) So it might be and I didn’t realize it when I first looked.

Really though the big problem with the figure is his card throwing hand.  I can understand wanting to have a card in his hand actually (Never in my life will I forget the first time I saw Bullseye do that trick on Electra in the comic, true classic moment.  If you have never read it find it now).  However this effectively makes Bullseye’s hand useless.  The only thing he can do is hold the cards.  I think he would have been better served if Hasbro dropped the knife and gun and gave him an extra hand thus he could have one hand to hold things and one to hold the cards giving the figure more versatility.  As it is this makes the figure only partially practical. 

The cards are a nice touch other than rendering the hand useless.  Nicely detailed and if as a spare hand I would have been pretty hyped.  As the only hand they make the figure kind of stuck in one motion, constantly tossing the cards. 

His face sculpt is excellent though.  He has that all too familiar sneaky smile that while reminiscent of the Joker is definitely something that Bullseye has made his own over the years.  I only wish this had been done in the movie version of him as well, but that is another story.

Still that puts me in the mind to give this figure an 8 out of  10 stars.  Other than the arms and the hand the figure is great and a prize to any collection.  He is a bit limited, but that works in some ways. 

Lastly is Deadpool.  I have to say upfront unlike many fans I don’t LOVE Deadpool.  I like Deadpool, but I am not overwhelming ecstatic over him.   This is odd when you consider how much on paper he should be my favorite character ever.  He i comedic, breaks the fourth wall and is a mercenary.  He is very popular though and I realized very quickly that many people love him and when I saw him I knew I would have to grab him quick. 

Originally when I saw Deadpool he came across as a very, very cheap imitation of Deathstroke (keep in mind his his early appearances he was deathly serious character and not the “Merc with amouth” yet).  Since Taskmaster had already filled that role of the Marvel version of Deathstroke I felt some territory had been trampled.  It took me a very long time to warm up to him, and even then this nagging in the back of my head said “He is no Deathstroke.”  

The figure is very comic accurate, the colors dead on, I thought this might not translate well as red tends to look odd on some types of action figures.  The red doesn’t need to toned down at all, it fits him dead on.  His arms are similar in structure to Wolvie, but without the “Anti 90 degrees problem.”  He does have it a little bit, but not majorly enough to worry about.  Deadpool also does not have Ankle articulation surprisingly.  However I find this a good thing as it seems ankles have been hit or miss with Hasbro ( more than one figure has fallen on his or her stand cause the ankle joints didn’t hold).   

He is loaded with accessories, two swords, a machine gun, a pistol (which definitely looks recycled from GI Joe), and an over sized Sai (which looks like it should belong to one of the full sized Ninja Turtles its so big).   I should also point out the way he was packed it was impossible to get him out without bending one of the swords.  After flattening it out (under a book or something) it should straighten out, but it is an annoyance.

Like many GI Joes over the past few years, Deadpool’s holster slightly inhibits his ability to commit to a side kick.  Again this is a problem already seen in GI Joe (Most notably with Snake Eyes 25thV1) and is here again.  It boggles my mind how such simple things continue to get done over and over again in such a large company with all those resources.  Just moving down the holster a centimeter would have prevented this issue.  Deadpool is one of those few characters I feel absolutely should side kick.  Oh well.

Despite my tangent about multi-billion dollar companies using their resources to get it right the first time, the figure is still a good one.  I would argue of the Wolverine and Marvels I have held in my hand he is the best of the lot so far.  He does have the annoying hips of the Marvel Legends figures but I can look past that in this case and give the figure a solid 9.5 stars, 1/2 a star is taken for that holster though, sorry I couldn’t let that one slide too far. 

A side note:  I got these fresh from the case and it appears there are 2 Deadpool’s per case (at least in this case) which will increase the chances of finding him for all you would be hunters.

So my overall impression of the Marvel Figures.  Some flaws, but they have some very strong points.  I am bothered a bit that I am seeing some similar flaws from the 25th GI Joe line make their way into this line though.  I hope that Hasbro realizes they have a chance for another huge Licenced property here (I have heard the call for good 1:18th scaled Marvel Figures for years, this might be it).   While the SHS line gave us some nice figures that line is long gone now, this is what we have.  The hopes look bright dispite some rough spots, let’s see what the future holds.

 

Popularity: 41% [?]

Way back in the day I was reading a comic book (I want to say Marvel Two-in-One with The Thing guest staring Deathlok but don’t quote me on that) I saw an ad for three very odd looking creatures from the Micronauts collection. Antron, Membros and the subject of this piece: Repto.

Repto was my fav right off the bat, his colors, his wedge shaped head, his buzz-saw, everything about him was just cool.   In my collection Repto represented the first time I ever bought a figure based purely on how he looked.  He was odd, weird, and mishapped and I couldn’t be happier with him. 

There wasn’t a lot about Repto back then.  All that was really established on his card was that he was half man and half lizard and came from a planet called Sauria.  I never saw an appearance of him in the comic book so I made him into a hero.  He was an alien much like Superman but with non-human features.  His arch-nemesis: Antron and he fought across the planet searching for a way home, often getting into entanglements with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and eventually GI Joe.  However like most toys of our youth he didn’t fair well.  His hand weapons were the first to get lost and later the cuffs that held those weapons in place.  I was saddened by this cause Repto really was one of my all time favorites probably because I made up most of his character and story. 

Fast forward to 2002 (nearly 23 years later) and the toy company Palisades began to produce replicas of the original Micronauts.  The following year (2003) my all time favorite was released yet again, however there was a slight problem. 

Supposedly the first series of Micronauts were produced in a factory not approved by Palisades.  Because of this production errors were unreal for the first series.  By the following year Palisades had gotten production moved but the first series had hurt the line severely and Micronauts Series 2 were much harder to find (at least from my perspective where toys are very hard to come by in the first place).  Repto (and his companions in the wave) were lost to me in far away stores like Suncoast and Sam Goody’s (both of which are near impossible for me to journey to even under the best conditions, and conditions for me then were less than stellar).

Still some searches on the Internet did yield me some good fortune.  I have been able to find many of the Retro Micronauts including Membros and Acroyear, but it wasn’t until 2008 I finally found one of the variants for Repto, the clear one.

Palisades released four variants of Repto, one in close to original colors (some slight variance), one in solid blue, one in clear purple and yellow (an odd combination to say te least), and this clear and black version.  The variations were packed evenly so it appears that none are more or less rare than the others, still I have had a hard time finding them (when I have been able that is).  Still it does make me laugh a bit that there are stories all over the Internet of these lingering in the back of the store’s clearance sections for years with me unable to get to them. 

Repto has the exact same construction as his original. He is held together with an O-Ring just as the ARAH GI Joe figures with Metal rivets in the shoulder and elbow.  In fact, with the exception of the swivel arm addition to the 3 & 3/4″ Joe’s in 1983, this figure has the exact articulation of an ARAH GI Joe figure (a full three years before the Joe’s hit retail). 

The clear Repto has absolutely no deviation from the original formula and is exactly as his counterpart from 1979 right down to his cuffs and pegs.  What did change was his accessories.

Repto came with his blaster and his buzz saw just like his original release.  He also had a pair of hands as well.  Truth be told the hands don’t work for me on many levels.  They are odd shaped and in general don’t add to this figure.

He also came with a mace, however the one I bought was not quite complete and did not include this mace.  Still it looks like a cool addition to an already incredible figure.

 

 

 

 Another big draw to the original figure was the fact he had a removable

brain (as did all the aliens of that set).  Repto was no exception however I have only successfully removed it once.  Shortly after I lost Antron’s brain and have never tried to remove Repto’s since.  That trepidation still resides in me so I can’t comment on how or if the brain of the new repto removes in the same fashion or not, I would imagine so since these are exact replicas of the originals. 

 

In comparison to other 1:18th figures Repto fits perfectly.  He should his original mold was one of the originals which gave us many of the figures we know and love today.  No one can deny the effect Micronauts had on the toy world.  Most of the guys pictured with Repto probably wouldn’t even be there without him and the other Micronauts. 

This time with Repto we got a bit more information about him.  This time he was “Terrifying” with “…lethal weapons grafted to his forearms”  with an “..armored reptian body..”  This time Palisades made him a bit fearsome and creepy rather than simply a reptile from a far off planet.  Even though it rubs against my characterization of him at least it shows Palisades was thinking and looking back a what these guys were and ment to the fans.

The flaws of the original figure still exist broadly here.  He has a hard time standing due to the wings and tail.  Thankfully he does come with a handy dandy battle stand to help him stay standing.  Also like the original figure the weapons tend to fall out of the cuffs that hold them.  The “hands” are not that much better at staying in either.  At least the flaws are consistent throughout the decades.

 

Overall I would have to give this figure a 9.5 out of 10, I will admit that this is primarily out of a sense of nostalgia as the figure played a prominent part in my toy collecting of past 30 years.  He has always has a proud and forward stance in my collection and the reissue just reignited the fire that I felt when I was reading comics way back in 1979. 

 

Popularity: 24% [?]

He’s a scourge of the underworld.  A shadow-like detective often found battling a combination of everyday criminals and those on the edge of the supernatural.  A loner who gets by on using just his wits, his fists, and the occasional gadget.  It ain’t Batman folks, it’s the man with a fedora and no face – THE QUESTION!

Starting off as a Chalrton Comics character, along with the likes of the Blue Beetle, and the basis for the character Rorschach from Moore and Gibon’s classic “Watchmen”, The Question has had a bit of a rough go finding his niche in the DC universe.  He starred in a realtively well recieved solo series at the begining of the 90′s and a really trippy mini-series a few years back, but for the better part of the last couple decades he has been at most a bit player in the overall DC universe.  A real C-list character to be sure.

However, in the past few years, Victor Sage has found a renewed prominence in the greater fandom.  Starting with a couple great appearances in Cartoon Network’s Justice League Unlimited as a bit of an oddball conspiracy theorist with a thing for the Huntress.  Then The Question featured very prominently in DC’s event series “52″ in which the mantle of The Question is passed from Victor Sage to Renee Montoya of Batman: TAS and Gotham Central fame. 

One of the more esoteric and psychologically interesting comic character’s out there, The Question is a great throwback to the golden age of comics and shares a lot of design similarities to the original Sandman, Eisner’s The Spirit, and pulp fiction’s The Shadow.  One part Zen Master, one part detective, all awesome.  But how does that translate into DCIH’s offering of Vic Sage in toy form:

Packaging:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairly standard DCIH packaging featuring the red/orange/yellow motif backer with the Blue & White logo.  The ominous “Crisis Hand” bubble appears to be grasping the character.  As with the recent waves of DCIH figs, The Question is in a “action” pose (more on this later). 

 

Honestly, it’s pretty boring.  The DCIH packaging is pretty boring to begin with outside of the hand bubble.  But the lack of any unique art on the front of the package combined with the fairly bland coloring makes this a pretty ho-hum looking package hanging from a peg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The backside of the packaging is a bit better.  It features the “file card” along with showcasing the other figures in the wave.  The file card is pretty bare bones, no personality traits, backstory, allies/foes, or anything to really flesh out the character.  If a kid were to just pick this up out of the blue, there would be absolutely no connection to the character.  Of particular note is the “Identity”.  It lists Charles Szasz as opposed to the more common Victor Sage.  It was revealed in a later annual, that Charles Victor Szasz is in fact his original name, but was changed to Victor Sage.  Still an odd bit of trivial inclusion when the vast majority  who are  aware of the character even periphially know The Question as Vic Sage.

  

 

Sculpt & Deco :

 

The Question, undoubtably, can be called a minimalistic look.  Best known for the simple suit, fedora, and trenchcoat look, Mattel does a reasonable job capturing the look of the character.  The torso features a simple suit coat buttoned over a straight oxford styled shirt and plain neck tie.  The coat is part of the actual sculpt as opposed to a soft good, which looks decent, but leads to some problems down the road.  The coat features a couple buttons and some nice fabric wrinkling, but lacks much detail at all around the collar or shirt or tie.

 

The arms and legs are serviceable if not awe-inspiring.  The shirt sleeves sticking out from the coat are a nice touch, but are once again lacking any real detail.  Legs are pretty non-descript, but do the job well enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The headsculpt is tricky to critique.  Does it look like The Question?  Yes it does.  Is it a good headsculpt?  Eh . . . .  A blank face is pretty tough to screw up, and thankfully Mattel didn’t just give us an unpainted face.  It looks very much like a person with a sheet of latex over their face, and is very representative of a look somewhere between his “52″ and JLU appearance.  The ears anf hairline are still present and works well.  The real hangup is with the hat though.  It looks like a grown man stretched a kid sized hat on his head.  Brim is too narrow, the crown too squat, and the overall shape is amateurish at best.

As for the deco.  Mattel went with his classic blue suit look, with white shirt and red tie.  The Question has sported a few different looks recently, but this is his most recognizable look.  The blue is bright without being garrish, and gives a real old school, 4-color comic feel to it.  As for the actual applications themselves, it’s a bit sloppy as seems to be the norm for DCIH.  Really it’s a bit sad that a large corp like Mattel settles for these  kind of paint masks when other companies seem to be able to get much more for relatively equivilent prices.

Accessories :

None.  Thats right, none.  The varient features the Gordon/Hush trenchcoat.  I am flabergasted as to why that is a varient rather than the normal fig.

Articulation :

Prepare yourselves for a bloodbath.  Out of the gate, we all know of the inexcusably poor articulation of the DCIH line.  To run down the POA for the uninitiated:

Neck – Swivel joint

Shoulder – Ball joint x2

Elbow – Hinge joint x2

Waist – Cut Joint

Hips – Cut joint x2

Knees – Hinge joint x2

That’s a whopping 10 points-of-articulation.  And of the 9, only 2 feature ball or muti-angle joints.  Unacceptable in 2009.  Happy Meal toys come with 10 POA.  Well guess what true-beleivers . . . . The Question doesn’t even have 10.  Thanks to the completely clueless sculpting choice on the torso the hip articulation and the waist articulation is useless.  Oh, the joints are there, but the sculpted coat renders them not only useless, but a potential hazard to your figure.

See the 2 nice cut grooves in the thighs?  Those aren’t part of the sculpt.  If you try and move the legs forward with any force, expect divets to be chopped from the thighs.  The torso is cast in a harder plastic than the limbs, hence the danger.  Mattel opted to mold the coat as one peice with the torso, and thus sacrificed articulation and playability for aesthetics (presumably, although it might have been sheer stupidity).  A much better option would have been to use soft goods here (like they used with Green Arrow), or to have sculped the lower coat onto the legs (ala figures from 20 years ago lol ).  But, as it is, you get a mediocre looking maquette with posable arms.  Yay.

Overall :

To say I’m disappointed with this fig is an understatement.  The DCIH has been a bit of a disappointment as a whole, but they are really the only game in town for 1/18th DC characters.  There are promises from Mattel of added areticulation and such, but no one has seen that yet.  There is some nice sculpt pieces in the line, but as a whole it is way behind on the 8-ball compared to other current 1/18th lines.

The question about The Question (come on, I went the whole review without a pun!) is how does it match up to other figs in the line.  Sadly, the answer is poorly.  He looks passably fine, but no where near as good as some others like Green Arrow, Hawkman, or even Jim Gordon.  His articulation problems are infuriatingly dumb.  And the complete and utter lack of any accessories is sad.  A removable hat, his trenchcoat as standard release, a soft goods jacket with his gas belt underneath and an alternate head all seem like no-brainer inclusions, but alas, we get this cheaply produced glorified repaint.  Shame Mattel, shame.

This figure gets a paltry 9.67 Yo Hos! out of a possible 38.78.  In other words: BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

You can discuss The Question here!

Popularity: 15% [?]