Rustin's Spoils of the Week #37

Back again, and with quite a haul this time!

DST - Halo: Warthog
This is the second release of the Warthog vehicle for the Minimate line and it's a pretty solid one. It's definitely one of the bigger of the 'mate vehicles but also the one that fits in the style the best. I like the Pirate Ship a lot and the M.A.X. plane works really but this one just really works - the right balance between "on model" and cartoon variation. The front seats fit the Halo Minimates well and one can comfortably stand behind and between the missile launchers on the back, though that's a bit more of a "wedge the figure in place" type thing. The launchers also tilt far more forward than back, which seems to me, but the whole mount is pivot-able.

Hasbro - Clone Wars: Battle Droid
Toys R Us was having a 2-for-$12 sale so I needed an extra figure and now I have a second Battle Droid that can be permanently embraced by the Firetrooper's Fiery blast! It's a decent figure all things considered. He's got nicely balljointed shoulders which helps add a bit more poseability to the silly design but the real winner is the paint. The figure has a light pearlescent sheen to it that succeeds in just looking a bit cool. It's definitely not the best Clone Wars or armybuilder figure I've bought but it's a decent addition to the collection on mark down.

Hasbro - Clone Wars: Plo Koon
Toy Kryptonite - cold weather gear! For some inexplicable reason, I just love variations on characters all bundled up for winter, especially when they can joyfully be added to a pre-established collection (i.e. cold weather gear Obi Wan and Anakin). Surprisingly this figure is mostly if not all-new, unlike the previous jacketed Jedi (though I do note some reuse with next week's cold weather gear Kit Fisto). Koon looks really good in this outfit, and I was pretty excited about his little ski mask until I put it on him - it just doesn't look good at all. I think the main issue is that the eyes are proportionally too small, but it clips on easily. He also comes with a lightsaber and slip-on booties with little ice spikes on them. Oh, I should also note that this is one of the more articulated CW figures, with T-Crotch, swivel wrists, ball-and-socket head and balljointed shoulders, elbows and knees!

Hasbro - Clone Wars: Savage Opress
Oh Darth Maul, you're cool even in knock-off form! This new villain is a pretty cool riff on the Maul aesthetic which is captured surprisingly well in production on this figure. With black paint on pale yellow plastic I expected the worst but got the best! The only draw back to this figure is no ankle articulation. Seriously... why!? A shirtless Darth means "I need crazy battle poses" and that's impossible sans ankle articulation. He does get balljointed knees, but the range isn't great. Still though, another great addition to the more-fun-than-it-should-be Clone Wars toy line!

Hasbro - GI Joe: Hazard-Viper
Just another weird, cool Cobra bad guy that comes with a ton of accessories. My guess is that he is mainly if not wholly a repaint, but I don't rightly recognize the body parts, though the guns from from the cold weather gear Destro (still readily available at a Target near you!). The biggest bummer about this figure is the helmet, which looks very little like the awesome one in the card art. Plus it has three holes in it for the air tanks of which there are only two. It looks like the figure was original supposed to have three, with with third clipped onto the back of the torso just below the neck, but alas. Still a fun addition but not really something cool enough to inspire battle building, which is what I looks for in all Joe Troop figures.

Hasbro - GI Joe: Iron Grenadier
I'm amazed to have seen this in person, but more than happy to have scored to two I needed for army-building. A fun upgrade to the Destro figure from the spring, this basically takes the same idea but has a bigger, badder gun (which sadly does not link to the torso) and a very, very cool steampunk-esque Helmet! The only real drawback is that there isn't a lot of poses possible based on the distance between the two handles on the gun. He also comes with an ammo backpack and an ammo canister which can plug into the gun. Sadly the bullet string only fits into the gun-mountable pack and not the one for the back, which is the look I'd prefer. Still a cool bad guy and worth doubling if you can afford $8 per.

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: Darkhawk
You know, I don't know much about the character beyond that I had one issue in a weird grab-bag bundle as a kid and what the back of the card was happy to share with (which was none too thrilling). Regardless, this is a cool figure and a first-ever for this character, if I'm not mistaken! The wings are sculpted to follow the contours of the arms but since they attach to the wrist gauntlets articulation is not hindered. I like that they're removable, but they don't fit as snugly as I'd like, and really who would display him wingless? The real star of the figure is the dark metallic blue airbrushing that really gives him some nice highlights and a dynamic look.

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: Steve Rogers
Oh "Death of Captain America"... how your four words sum up so heartily why I no longer enjoy monthly superhero comic. Still though, out of you came two costumes I've grown to really adore - Bucky-Cap and SHIELD Steve. This is a simply figure but manages to be very dynamic in his simplicity and just looks right cool! He uses the newer body which means the great new ankle and neck articulation allowing for some real fun with posing. The only bummer is that his shin guards are keep me from realigning his ankle joints, but they're still close enough to work.

Hasbro - Marvel Universe Boxset: Classic Avengers
Thor is the Secret Wars figure with a new head, Iron Man is the Iron Man Comic Series figure with a new head and chest and Hulk is the new Big Guy body (see Apocalypse, Skaar and Juggernaut), with new hands, feet, calves and head. And what comes from so much re-use? One of the best releases yet from the Marvel Universe line! Each of these figures is cooler than the previous (Hulk being the real star) and it just highlights how well breathing just a little new life into a figure can give it a new lease. Plus it comes with Wasp (in a flying pose that's hyper annoying because nothing can be done with her) and Antman, complete with a queen ant (or is it a wasp, bee, fly, etc.?) that he can ride. Just a stellar set all around and a must-have purchase for any Marvel fan.

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four
Finally! After some two years of Marvel Universe we at last get a Sue Storm! And she is accompanied by the second Reed Richards and the fourth Thing, which is fine since Johnny Storm is currently dead (plus we have four figures of him already) allowing this to be easily repainted into the Future Foundation costumes eventually. Or not eventually - it's a rare variant of this box set. Thing is a repaint of the Secret Wars figure, Reed is a new head on the old body used for the carded Johnny Storm figures and Sue is a new head on the standard femme-bod. While I'm kind of bummed about so little new tooling as compared to The Avengers set this one is still a real winner as it is the first toy of their most recent FF costumes, which I must confess a strong liking for. There is just something particularly cool about the short sleeveless and gloves; I blame spy films for this! The set also includes an all new Herbie figure which is just fantastic! A hover base would have been nice but he has such a great ball-and-socket joint at his head I'll happily overlook it. Another fantastic (pun intended) entry into the multi-pack world!

Hasbro - Star Wars: Logray
Ewoks - you know you want 'em! I miss the old days of little characters being in 2-packs, but I suppose I can accept the reality of the current world's financial situation. This is a really solid figure and a welcome addition, though just an upgrade to an older figure. The problem is they keep changing the Ewok style so it seems like we'll never have a legitimately complete set, or at least large set. Either way, tons of articulation and some nice accessories make Logray, one of only a few recognizable Ewoks, worth getting. Though the $10 price tag on The Vintage Collection is painfully steep.

Hasbro - Star Wars: Spacetrooper
Huzzah! Acquired!!! This is a really cool figure and lives up to the hype and headache of locating him! He's got ten balljoints and four swivel joints and two accessories - a blaster and a big, giant space thruster backpack. The downsides are that the hands hold the blaster at a strange, not-forward angle and that the "surprise, I got you" blasters in the forearms are permanently sculpted open. If you have arm-mounted guns, why a blaster? Thus is the kind of thinking that put a weak-spot on the Death Star! I was surprised and impressed that the back, under the thruster pack, has red and blue paint for various buttons or lights - a cool bit of detail. Just a really cool, fun figure, but don't take my word for, see Artemis' full review!

Lego - Polybag: Clownfish
What's better than Legos? Lego Polybags!!! All the fun of Legos but at a much lower price point! This is a really fun little set clearly tying into the popularity of Finding Nemo, but don't expect any Lucky Fins here. This is just right in terms of a polybag build - not too simple and just dynamic enough to be cool looking while including some room for posing, in this case the four fins and tail. It's honestly not as cool in person as it is in photos, but it is cool enough. I hope they do a couple sea creatures a year to build out this little theme. I can imagine sea turtles and octopi looking pretty cool as polybag sets!

Lego - Polybag: Halloween
This set is/was a seasonal exclusive to Lego stores and was happily snapped up on a recent sojourn to LA. This one has three buildable Halloween icons: an okay Ghost, a neat Pumpkin and cool Bat. All three are simple, rather quick builds but I really enjoyed getting three things in one bag, especially with them being so diverse in both shape and color but united by color. If you have the chance, definitely get yourself one of these sets! If nothing else, they're just cool decorations.

Lego - Polybag: Spiders
Much like the Halloween set above, this is a seasonal Polybag set for the Lego store. It contains two different sizes and styles of Spiders, neither of which is especially cool or exciting. They're kind of a fun build, what with the articulated limbs, but ultimately this set is forgettable. Still, though, it's worth picking up for the parts contained for any of your MOCs out there, you dear, sweet AFOLs!

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12 Responses to Rustin's Spoils of the Week #37

  1. yo go re says:

    Somebody clearly didn't read the Hazard-Viper review...

  2. mikey says:

    What's up with Sue's Right leg?

  3. ferris says:

    Hazard-Viper is mostly a repaint of Volcano-Viper, which had the third tank.

    Those FF costumes with the little gloves always make me think of Dexter. I hope we see that Steve Rogers costume in Minimate form soon...

  4. DavetheBrave says:

    Best thing to do with that Wasp figure is to wedge her between the fingers of another figure, to make it look like she is flying out of the hand of that person. I typically use Giant-Man or Goliath and I think it looks great. I will admit that there isn't a lot that this set can do with her, however.

  5. PrfktTear says:

    Iron Grenadier looks badass! =)

    Those Lego polybags look neat. They're the perfect kind of thing for parents to pick up for a kid if they just "have" to get something or if you want to give 'em a treat.

    I like the risers there, where'd ya get 'em?

  6. Rustin Parr says:

    Funnily and unsurprisingly enough the spider polybags are now out en force for 50% off at Lego Stores.

    As for the risers - http://www.organizeit.com/acrylic-cabinet-organizer.asp

  7. Soundwinder says:

    Finally got that Warthog (I'm sorry, Chupathingy) since I had a one day only 20% coupon for TRU. Pretty pleased by it, and I like the Minimate more than I thought I would (the Halo Minimates looked really... derpy in online photos). What's pretty cool to me is I have the exact same Spartan armor in Megablok form.

    But still, fun toy.

    • Rustin Parr says:

      Very nice. You should get the McF version of the armor to for a little trifecta. I've developed a great passion of displaying the same costume/character by multiple companies of late. Makes for a very visually-interesting affair!

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