{"id":16023,"date":"2014-06-11T02:31:56","date_gmt":"2014-06-11T06:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=16023"},"modified":"2014-06-13T00:57:28","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T04:57:28","slug":"rustins-spoils-of-the-week-136","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2014\/06\/rustins-spoils-of-the-week-136\/","title":{"rendered":"Rustin's Spoils of the Week #136"},"content":{"rendered":"

So this is going to be another one of those \"Spoils of the Month\" type deals. I've been traveling A LOT recently so that means I've had little time to keep fully up to date. Likewise, I've been going to as many Toys R Us' as I could<\/a> get to you so while that was generally for their stellar clearance stuff<\/a> I also could not help but take advantage of new toys there as well, PLUS, then they had this great 30% off on all Star Wars<\/i> stuff, plus a Spider-Man sale, and well... what's a grown-ass man to do!? What, I ask you, what!?* <\/p>\n

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*(Yes - that is rhetorical. Your snark is unwelcome here, whiners!)<\/i><\/p>\n

DST - Marvel Minimates: \"Force Field\" Invisible Woman & Moloid<\/b>
\n\"Invisible<\/a>This was my sole Free Comic Book Day<\/i> toy purchase which I snapped up a pretty neat little shop in downtown Minneapolis. Series 48 of Marvel Minimates<\/i> is a true highlight of the line, and I am excited to FINALLY be able to start getting some of those sets. The Moloid is fantastic. He comes with the slipper feet, which DO have pegholes for the bases(!), though I must confess I sort of wish they used the \"kid\" arms and legs for this guy. Invisible Woman is our sixth Sue Storm Minimate and easily the best. She comes with a big force-field base, which is honestly fairly tricky to get her on the interior foot-peg of, which is pretty neat and works for the display with her facing away OR towards the \"wall.\" Even better, she comes with alternate solid and phasing limbs - very cool! Plus, there's a goofy as heck alternate mullet hairpiece. This set is easily worth having at least two of, and probably more.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Captain America The Winter Soldier: Rocket Storm Falcon<\/b>
\n\"Falcon\"<\/a>It was quite a hassle to track down this guy but, as the only mass-market toy of the character, I'm pleased I did. This is clearly based off of early concept designs rather than the final look in the film, but screw it - I'm just happy to have a figure of someone other than Cap in the line! The wings are glued into his biceps and forearms and they both look and work well. He has a removable backpack that seems remarkably on-model, too. Then you get the obligatory, wholly unnecessary missile launcher. It's not an especially exciting figure except that this brings the line up to a whopping 3 characters that appeared in the film.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Captain America The Winter Soldier: Shield Blitz Captain America<\/b>
\n\"Captain<\/a>I stumbled on this guy when I found Falcon and I just couldn't resist. I absolutely love the first Cap movie and I really, really like this costume, so in I bought. From what I can tell he's a 100% new sculpt and features the more current style of articulation - balljoints at the elbows, shoulders, knees and hips with nothing at the wrists or ankles. The sculpt is hyper detailed and looks great, and the colors are almost intoxicatingly rich. I really like this figure more and more as I continue look at him. He comes with a useless launcher for his shield, but at least the shield looks neat. It has a peg in the center (the underside is fully sculpted with implied handle details) which he can hold AND plugs into his back. That's right, finally a Cap figure that can carry his shield on his back! For a toy that could very easily be written off this guy is quite good.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - GI Joe Retaliation: Blind Master<\/b>
\n\"Blind<\/a>Much like Joe Colton<\/a> this is a figure I really wanted because of the actor but figured I'd never see in person - and I was wrong! It's a Gee-Dee toy of tha RZA, come on... ya gotta get it! From what I understand he's basically just a new head on a repainted body, but it works well. The likeness is good, but not as great as the Colton\/Willis one. What is great the insane volume of accessories! You get the nine-rings sword, a bamboo flute, a bamboo staff with concealed blade, a mask, a bladed ring on a rope and a hat with pivoting, swing-out blades! I think the bladed ring and\/or hat were specific requests from RZA to Hasbro and are based on old Kung Fu movies. After a long stretch of relatively boring GI Joe<\/i> figures it's excellent to get back to a figure that is pure fun!<\/p>\n

Hasbro - G.I. Joe Retaliation: Data Viper<\/b>
\n\"Data-Viper\"<\/a>I don't understand this figure but I love his look! I've been coveting him since he was first revealed (and subsequently canceled) so I was totally shocked to just stumble upon one at a TRU (and not even in the Hasbro aisle, just randomly by some other figures). He's darn cool if you like the look but does have some frustrating points. His forearm \"armor\" has pivot-able... data ports? Jet engine exhaust? I'm not sure what they are, but they look cool and pop-off the figure with exceptional ease. Also, his big torso armor piece fits a little loosely and doesn't plug in or connect to the figure in any way. Still though, he's just damn cool looking and most everything connects and disconnects together. There two guns that plug into the kickass drone he comes with (is it delivering weapons or are they its own guns? You decide!). There's a dish and a weird rectangle antenna(?) that pop in to the armor's back via balljoints and the big black missile launchers on the shoulders are pivot-able. Again, this is a totally weird figure (is he a Jet?) but I think he looks super cool and I'm quite happy to get him!<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: The Amazing Spider-Man<\/b>
\n\"Spider-Man\"<\/a>Wow... how weak was Amazing Spider-Man 2<\/i>... yeesh... At any rate, you know I feel an obligation to collect figures so I got this. This is one the best Spider-Man figures in the 6\" scale and certainly the best since Hasbro took on the line. Really the only significant flaw is the odd looking hips. Regardless, he's fun to pose. He comes with interchangeable fist and webslinging hands, which is pretty cool. If you're into Spider-Man, this is probably a must-have, especially since he could easily double as a comic figure. I'm not into Spider-Man, I'm bored as hell of this tired old costume design and am really disappointed in the filmmakers for reverting back to it (and, especially, for not addressing the change at all in the movie), so this will just go into the \"when I have more space to display\" box.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Marvel's Electro<\/b>
\n\"Electro\"<\/a>The idea of casting Jamie Foxx as a comicbook villain was pretty cool, and by all accounts he was pretty jazzed about it too. But then Orci & Kurtzman happened and Electro just became the Riddler to this film's Batman Forever<\/i>. I like the costume design but, like Spidey's, it goes totally unexplained and, equally inexplicably, can turn into electricity as well... so... great? This figure, though, is pretty good. He's seems quite on-model (despite CLEARLY not having likeness rights) and is a fully unique sculpt. Like most toys that wear black, the designers freaked out and put totally unnecessary blue spray on him, probably thinking that would be a visually interesting way to break up the black and imply electric glow. It's not. (Couldn't they at least have used glow-in-the-dark paint?) The real highlight of the figure is that, on top of being \"good enough,\" he comes with interchangeable heads and hands for \"calm\" and \"electric attack\" versions - that's pretty darn cool of them and really makes this a much cooler, funner figure than I'd expected.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Legends: Soldiers of A.I.M.<\/b>
\n\"AIM\"<\/a>WHAT!?!?! Rustin found an armybuilder from this line, AND it was the one he wanted!? Now, if only some of that luck would rub off onto the Black Widow (phrasing) or Carnage then maybe I'd have a less angst-y time in stores. This is a pretty good figure and despite having virtually no knowledge of A.I.M. I'd happily get at least one more were they actually find-able. The costume details are a little weird but make sense now that the rumors have been proven true and that this guy basically paid for the tooling on the SDCC '14 exclusive Star-Lord. Poseability is good but a bit wonky, as is often the case with Marvel Legends<\/i>. I really dig his sci-fi weapons a lot more than I expected. It's a good toy. Too bad he's virtually impossible to buy.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: A-Bomb<\/b>
\n\"A-Bomb\"<\/a>Whoa! And the set is complete! I never expected I'd see these Abomination<\/a> and A-Bomb swap out figures but here we are! If only all of Hasbro's products shipped so reasonably find-able... This guy takes the same body from Rhino<\/a> and Abomination and gets a new head PLUS new hands and forearm sleeves. Indeed, those neat ridge-y forearms are just rubber sleeves over the forearms, which seems a bit odd but is probably a safety thing. This guy is cast in a gorgeously rich blue plastic with a lighter shade sprayed over it for a surprisingly great looking final figure. I know nothing about this character (except that I think he's Rick Jones) but this is a remarkable cool toy!<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: Black Knight<\/b>
\n\"Black<\/a>I'm not really sure of how, where or why I know of Black Knight, but I do and thus I was looking forward to this figure. He's a neat looking Knight, which is about all I need to convince me of the sale. The cape has a flourish to the left, which looks pretty good but also gives him some trouble with posing and balance. Regardless, the biggest issue remains the mediocre body with its floppy articulation leading to a penchant for non-standing. I haven't tried it yet, but apparently this dude rides a Pegasus so I might track down a Playmobil or Schliech one for him to sit atop.<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Marvel Universe: Mysterio<\/b>
\n\"Mysterio\"<\/a>A new body with the quilted bodysuit would have been preferable, but not how this line works. His forearm gauntlets turned out very good and his cape and helmet are effectively perfect! The only downside is that cape rides a little high and the helmet has a tendency to pop off. It \"locks\" into place via lip\/groove slots but, as you can see, the grooves tend to be more visible than one would hope. I really, really, really love the pearlescent sheen on the helmet and equally love the hint of head that can be made out within it. Despite its flaws, which, considering the constraints of the line, are nit-picky, I really really like this figure!<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Star Wars Black: Luke Skywalker (Bespin)<\/b>
\n\"Bespin<\/a>I really love this costume so I was fairly looking forward to this figure, but I have to confess the figure feels a bit bland somehow. Probably just because he's awash in beige colors. He looks and works as well as we've come to expect from Star Wars Black<\/i>, which is good enough for how things are these days. I do lament the lack of double-hinged elbows. The likeness is good but not great, it looks too narrow, and I do wish the fleshtone was painted on like X-Wing Luke from Series 1<\/a>. He gets a blaster, which fits perfectly in its holster, as well as his lightsaber with removable blade, though the blade is inexplicably muted in color. Good thing I got two of the X-Wing Lukes so I can just his blades!<\/p>\n

Hasbro - Star Wars Black: Obi-Wan Kenobi<\/b>
\n\"Obi-Wan<\/a>Everyone seemed to hate this figure, which I don't fully understand since he's not really much different from the rest of the line. The likeness is pretty good but gets lost in thick paint for the hair and beard and no paint for the skintone. I think it looks best with some shadows. The elbows do a good job of being a working joint and not breaking the flow of the arm when straight or bent. Again, a double-hinge with a bicep swivel would have been remarkably better but this is a \"good enough\" line. It's just a boring figure of an even more boring character\/design, so really what more could we expect? He comes with a whopping 1.5 accessories - his lightsaber and its removable blade. The blade is just as dull colored as Bespin Luke's though it's tapered to more of a point. Maybe that's supposed to be \"attention to Prequel details\"? Annoyingly, both hands are sculpted with more of a rectangular grip, as if for guns, so the lightsaber doesn't look natural in either... so that's cool. This is entirely a figure to get just to complete the line. He's pretty unremarkable.<\/p>\n

Here we pause, you slavering devotees of my shopping trips - there was just so much awesome<\/b> that the second half will have to wait until another day. Keep your eyes peeled for a special BONUS Spoils<\/a> before next week's regularly scheduled capitalist update.<\/i><\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>