Marvel Universe by Hasbro

Review by Loc

It’s so strange to see the return of the 3 ¾ inch action figure. Back in the day, this size defined “action figure”. Granted, I’m talking about 30 years ago, but the original Star Wars series brought the world of action figures to life. At this scale, vehicles like the X-Wing and the AT-AT could be made and sold to anxious kids. Soon enough, every toyline in the 80s was aimed at this scaled, with GI Joe capturing my own attention. Those were good times.

In the 90s, the five inch scale took hold. Mostly with ToyBiz and their Marvel lines, you had Spider-man and X-Men filling the shelves. Again, at the time, these were great and helped shift the landscape again. The larger size was aimed to deliver more characters and fewer vehicles. After all, Spider-man had many different costumes, but really, how many Spider-buggies did he drive?

Ah, but then it all changed in the late 90s. Already popular in Japan, ToyBiz brought the six inch hyper-articulated figure to the masses. Marvel Legends was born and with it, over 15 waves of comic goodness. These poseable super-statuettes were simply great, and the innovations kept adding value to the consumer. Stuff like pack-in bases became pack-in Build-A-Figures, and the “adult collector” was in heaven. Check back with me some other time about the “adult collector”.

And now? What’s the next evolution? The 3 ¾ inch scale…wait, what? We’re going backwards? Yes. Why? There’s a lot of speculation, but it’s not for the love of vehicles. More than anything, the tightened economy has forced companies to go back to the smaller-is-better motto. Since plastic is a petroleum by-product, making big toys didn’t make much sense. So, why not force the consumer to enjoy small guys? The saddest part, these little guys are now pushing $8 a pop. In the late 90s, Marvel Legends were…wait for it…$8 a pop. It’s crazy that companies are charging $8 for your choice of a Star Wars guy, a GI Joe guy, or a superhero guy. And whether the market will sustain this price point is up for debate.

So, I’ve wasted more than enough words on how we got to a 3 ¾ inch Marvel line, how are the toys? Well, they’re…decent. The funny thing is ToyBiz put out their version a couple years back, called Superhero Showdown. At the time, Legends were going strong, but the company was experimenting with smaller toys centered around a gaming aspect. These little guys were decent, but charged a whooping $6 each! The collectors didn’t support the line because of the cost, and as the sculpting was hitting its stride in the third series, it died quietly. Oh, the irony.

Yes, Hasbro acquired the rights to produce Marvel toys. And after a couple years of working on their version of Legends, Hasbro has basically dropped that scale and put all their efforts into Marvel Universe. Which makes sense because they also produce the Star Wars toys and the GI Joe toys, so why not keep it going with Marvel. To be fair, the packaged goods looks pretty…good, sorry about that. They’re small enough for the pegs, but big enough to feel you’re getting a cool package. For Marvel Universe, they’ve included a number for each character, so they’re building in the collectability already. There’s also a new X-Men Origins: Wolverine line that has hit at the same time. Again, these are in the same scale and style, so I consider them the a subset of the main line. And you’ll get a couple characters from the Wolverine line that aren’t in the MU line, like Deadpool, Maverick, and Gambit. The MU line has stuck to the familiar faces for now, Iron Man, Spider-man, Hulk, Captain America. Overall, this is going to be a line with an incredible range of characters, so good luck to any completists who absolutely insist on having one of everything.

The figures themselves are decent. Paint jobs are minimal with mostly molded plastic accounting for the coloring. It’s strange because the GI Joe line has a fair amount of paint, and even when it doesn’t, it looks fine enough. But these Marvel guys, they look weird with just colored plastic, a little cheaper than they should look.

The articulation is pretty good. It’s standard GI Joe stuff with elbows, shoulders, torso, knees, and some ankles. It’s better than some of the older “modern” Star Wars, where you had cool looking sculpts and no poseability at all. These MU heroes and villains will be as action-packed as you want them to be. There are some weird things going on with though. Deadpool comes with a boatload of accessories: two swords, a hand gun, a machine gun, and a gigantic Sai! It’s huge! And he can’t actually hold anything but his machine gun, yeah, two swords and hand gun just plop out of his non-closed grip hands. Sucks.

One of the coolest things about MU is the little details they’ve thrown in. Based around a “Fury Files” gimmick, the MU are supposed to contain codes that you can log in with and get more information about the character. Cool enough. But the Captain America included a faux-note written by Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic to all of you, that gives his recommendation to Tony Stark. The note states it’s not a good idea to simply take a “Captain America” from another dimension and place him on our Earth. This is cool in a couple ways: first, this other Captain America is designed as the Ultimate universe version of Cap, a spin-off comic series; second, this also plays into the fact that Captain America “died” in the Marvel Comics and this note seems to speak to Iron Man’s attempts to right a wrong. Nice little Easter Eggs to those geeks like me.

Overall, these are cool toys. For so long, fans have asked for GI Joe-scaled superheroes and now they got them. However, those prices are ridiculous, especially juxtaposed against Marvel Legends figures that were on the shelf as little as six months ago. It’ll be a tough tough sell to get fans to buy into these when a lot of people are keeping an eye on their wallets. So with that, buy the ones you like, or just look at them cause they cost too much for you. Shivers.

Marvel Legends

Review by Loc

How could it take so long to review Marvel Legends? How indeed. In all honesty, I’ve been putting this one off. The sheer breadth and scope of this line is immense and the ramifications that this product had on the adult collector markets is nearly immeasurable. And the impact it had on my collecting habits has been just as grand. Again, in full disclosure, it was Toy Biz’s efforts that brought me back into regular visits at Toys R Us or Target toy aisles. So, while this review will be brief in nature, I’m sure follow-up showcases will continue to expand on the line that is Marvel Legends.

A little history lesson. Toy Biz was the company that produced Marvel toys since the early 90s. In fact, through some random, circuitous circumstances, Toy Biz owned Marvel at one point. As you can imagine, the company had a very vested interest in capitalizing on the vast array of superheroes from Marvel’s vaults. Simple enough, an early Marvel Superheroes line was launched, followed by an X-Men line. These were your basic, 5-points of articulation, globs of plastic one would expect for a kid’s line. Wacky action features, little sculpting, hunks of plastic goodness, in all manner of speaking.

Then came some improvements due to the success of the X-Men animated series. The X-Men figures began a slow transition from ugly to passable. The sculpting got better, the character selection expanded, and suddenly, Toy Biz had hit on a grand epiphany: put out quality toys and geeky grown-ups would buy the stuff, too! Soon enough, you had other lines following cartoon counterparts: Spider-man, Iron Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four.

Next, came the precursor to Marvel Legends: Spider-man Classics. For years, the Japanese collector’s market employed designs that not only featured amazing sculpting, but insane amounts of articulation. You had more than neck, shoulder and waist joints, you also had elbows, knees, ankles, wrists, and torsos. You had more than cut/hinge joints that only bent 90 degrees; instead, you got ball-jointed shoulders and waists, double-jointed elbows and knees, joints that allowed the toys to become moveable works of art. And Toy Biz noticed and said, why the hell not!

So with Spider-man Classics, Toy Biz unleashed a Spider-man figure in 6-inch scale that had nearly 30-points of articulation, things never seen in the US market like finger joints and toe-arches. It was a thing of beauty, to be able to pose your Spider-man in an inhuman stance found so often in the comic. And the collectors went for it, big time.

On to Marvel Legends, where Toy Biz took the same philosophy and opened it up to the entire Marvel Universe. The first wave included Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Toad. Toad was the lone exception, an older, highly detailed sculpt that had little articulation. However, the others featured numerous joints, some cool goodies like a comic accurate Captain America shield or Iron Man’s removable faceplate, and large, detailed bases. These were the comic representations that fanboys had been waiting for a long time.

Over the next several years, Toy Biz released a plethora of characters: Dr. Doom, the Thing, Namor, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit, Colossus, Blade, Ghost Rider, and countless others. Each of these had incredible detail, amazing poseability, and gorgeous bases. For characters like Ghost Rider, bases came in the form of logical accessories like his flaming bike. These were great pieces and offered the character selection for all hardcore fans.

Toy Biz continued to push the envelop with their development, introducing the concept of Build A Figure. For large, complex characters, the idea of releasing a 16-inch figure was unrealistic. However, by breaking the figure into its core components and offering a different piece with regular issue figures, Toy Biz found a way to deliver these gargantuan characters to the fans. Its first series presented Galactus, the world-devouring demi-god, broken into six pieces for the entire wave of figures. If collectors bought each figure, Bullseye, Professor Xavier, Hulk, Deathlok, War Machine, and Nightcrawler, they’d have all the pieces to build a giant Galactus figure with the same detail and articulation that Marvel Legends were known for at the time.

It was a glorious time for Marvel fans. Some waves also included rare chase pieces, variations to characters that offered a slightly new take on the same toy. In early waves, these chase pieces were simple decoration changes: an unmasked Wolverine or a trench coat wearing Thing. Future chases included completely new characters: Goliath and Dark Phoenix come to mind. Other chases offered a new take on the same character: a phasing Vision or a transforming Ghost Rider. While these chases often frustrated collectors with their scarcity, the fact that Toy Biz continued to develop new ways to present characters was a great nod to its fervent fanbase.

However, the good times came to an end. First, rising production costs scuttled another great idea: pack-in sub-characters. For a wave of villains, Toy Biz had planned to offer in-scale henchmen along with the expected character. For example, fully sculpted, but less-articulated figures of Hand ninjas or Hydra goons were to be packed in with Loki or Green Goblin. In essence, you’d be getting two figures for the price of one. World economies and gas prices be damned!

Yet, that wasn’t the only change. Future Build A Figures became smaller figures as Toy Biz dropped the idea of offering huge pack-ins. Thus, you got the Mojo wave and the Onslaught wave, where these Build A Figures were little more than a regular figure when fully assembled. However, fans were still getting an entirely new figure simply from purchasing an entire wave, essentially a buy 6 get one free promotion.

Again, another great idea never came to pass in the realm of Build A Figure. Early proposals of Build A Vehicle were left on the drawing board due to increasing costs. Thus, fans would never be able to collect pieces to the Avengers Quinjet, and instead were left with Mojo or Onslaught.

These were changes that were acceptable. In the grand scheme of things, getting so many extra goodies was a blessing to begin with, and Toy Biz continued to churn out good stuff. Unfotunately, like I mentioned above, the good times did eventually come to an end. Toy Biz relinquished its license to produce Marvel toys, and Hasbro bid enough to obtain the license. With that, the Toy Biz era ended and Marvel Legends would see a new incarnation.

While Hasbro continued to assure fans that the Marvel Legends line would continue and that the key aspects like sculpting and articulation would remain the same, fans were weary. And rightly so. Hasbro’s first series was the Annihilus wave, which delivered the smallest Build A Figure yet. More alarming was the price increase in basic figures as well as the change to production pieces. No longer housed in clear clamshells with an included comic, Hasbro Marvel Legends were placed on a decorated cardboard back that included no comic pack-in. In one fell swoop, fans were getting charged more for less.

Even more disconcerting were the paint applications. Toy Biz, for all the production complaints, always tried to deliver a highly detailed toy. Hasbro did the same, but under more big business terms. Gone were multiple paint applications that brought out so much detail in the Toy Biz pieces. Instead, figures were now cast in their component colors and only painted where necessary. Imagine the weathered combat boot of Captain America, where before multiple browns and blacks brought depth and detail to the figure. With Hasbro, you simply had a boot cast in brown plastic, shadowing and depth left to your imagination.

Fans were disappointed, but the extent of their displeasure wouldn’t be realized for several more waves. Due to the nature of the transition, Toy Biz had provided Hasbro with sculpts of their unfinished projects. Thus, the first two waves from Hasbro were basically Toy Biz products, even if they were missing paints and packaged differently. With wave 3, Hasbro had employed its own sculpts and suddenly the reality that Hasbro Marvel Legends were a different beast came to light. Gone were double jointed elbows and knees, replaced by simple hinge joints. Detailing and precision also disappeared, and now fans realized that big toy companies may not have the same idea as the little guy when it came to fan appreciation.

In addition, the product flow has been sporadic and decreased. Continued reassurance from Hasbro does little to assuage the fears that Marvel Legends may be a dying line. Which makes little sense to collectors who have seen a magnificent line die an untimely death for no apparent reason. Yet, when looking at the larger context, it’s easy to see how Hasbro may be more interested in developing companion products that have found success in other licenses. Lines like Super Hero Squad deliver small, collectible, cartoony versions of heroes to kids. Transformer Heroes offer a crossover product that they’ve employed with Star Wars as well. In the end, Hasbro is looking to capitalize on these characters after spending billions to acquire the license. Catering to a single sub-set of consumers may not be the best way to spend their resources.

It is a shame though, Marvel Legends came to assume its own branding, offering a legendary line for collectors and fans alike. Companies aimed to keep pace with Toy Biz, creating lines in the 6-inch scale with buttloads of articulation to appeal to the same consumer group. Look no further than the SOTA Street Fighter line, which was made to fit seamlessly into a Marvel Legends collection and siphon some of those collector dollars.

The aftermath of Hasbro Marvel Legends has been significant. Collectors make a clear distinction in referring to TB Marvel Legends versus HML, due to the extreme changes in the line. In addition, sales may have left Hasbro weary of putting too much effort in continuing the line, as announced lines have yet to see store shelves. Mostly, Hasbro has been producing 6-inch scale figures to coincide with the Marvel blockbuster movies. Fans got Iron Man movie figures that were widely accepted. An upcoming Hulk line is hitting shelves; however, even this series is getting heat for its presentation. The Build A Figure concept is back with a giant Fin Fang Foom dragon being delivered. Yet, it is spread across two waves, and the retail price for each figure is around $15-17 each. In essence, you’re no longer getting a free figure from completing a series, you’re simply paying for it now. Keep in mind, the heyday of Marvel Legends delivered toys for $6-7 a piece, and even after production costs increased, you could grab a toy for $8. Once Hasbro took over, Marvel Legends jumped to $10, and now this Hulk wave is up to $15. That’s a hard increase to swallow.

Toy Biz Marvel Legends were great and catered sincerely to the vocal consumers we call fanboys. While it wasn’t going to last forever, its demise came when there weren’t signs of slowing down. For the purists, they can continue to pine for the days of Toy Biz and enjoy the originals to no end. I don’t own any Hasbro Marvel Legends and I’m not sure any of their new product impresses me to rectify this situation. I’m sure there’ll be more reviews for Toy Biz’s line, some pieces deserve their own spotlight. Until then, enjoy what we had, and hope we’ll get back there some day.

Transformers Alternators

Review by Loc

When you’re a kid, toys are there to strike your imagination. You create storylines, you manufacture environments, and you immerse yourself into the play-world of your design. Doesn’t matter if you’re talking about little green army men, fashion plate Barbies, eye-and-mouth-sporting potatoes, the toys of yore contributed to socialization skills and brain-exercising imagination. Then we grow up and put those toys away. We move onto things like clothes, purses, cars, all the materialistic crap you can imagine. Sometimes, your nostalgia pangs kick in and you hit Ebay for all the toys you threw out. And if you’re like me, you just buy the new stuff from the companies that are cashing-in on your nostalgic weak knees.

One company that is just printing money with nostalgia lines: GI Joe, Transformers, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, is there any young-and-or-young-at-heart male license that they don’t own? For many of these lines, there’s a mixture of kid-focus and adult-collector sub-brands. And with the Transformers, there’s no doubt that kids are a big, big focus of their marketing dollars. The newest animated line is based off the Cartoon Network series and the movie line was a plethora of Michael Bay inspired insect looking bots.

However, the Alternators line was squarely aimed at the adult collector. These were highly articulated, highly detailed recreations of officially licensed cars. What? Huh? Officially licensed? That’s right, before we knew what the cars were supposed to be, but now, we get officially licensed Subaru Imprezzas, Chevrolet Corvettes, Ford Mustangs, and Jeep Wranglers. These “toys” are based on a 1:24 scale, which is what you find with so many high-end, die-cast car models you find on executive desks and glass display cases. And they’re awesome.

Starting with their vehicle modes, Alternators draws from a wide range of manufacturers. Aside from the aforementioned models, other licensed cars include the Toyota Scion b, the Dodge Viper, the Mazda RX-8, the Acura RSX, the Honda S2000, the Jaguar XK, the Honda Civic Si, and even the Dodge Ram SRT-10. Each of these cars is authentically replicated with accurate body types, logos and branding, and even detailed interiors. As model cars alone, these are great display pieces.

Then you get to the robot part, and these guys kick up the amp to 11. Transformations are complex but not overly difficult. The resulting robot is an amazing piece of engineering with copious amounts of articulation to allow dynamic and engaging poses. Moreover, the transformations utilized the existing car designs extremely well, integrating details like folding seats, pivoting tire axels, and opening trunks to offer further intricacies for the robot mode. Almost every robot utilized a transforming engine block to become a high-powered weapon. These are great robots in their own right as well.

As a kid, you tend to overlook things like details or poseability. Then as a grown-up, you realize the transforming car you had looked like a gigantic block of plastic when properly transformed. The collector community even coined the term “kibble” to describe the gross amounts of non-integrated vehicle details in a fully transformed robot. Oftentimes, a Transformer would look great as a robot from the front, but the back was full of kibble like hoods, doors, and tires that looked horrible. With Alternators, this practice is not only addressed, but all efforts are made to remove evidence of kibble. Again, the engineering on these toy designs are amazing.

Alas, the greatest disservice done to this line was its untimely cancellation. With the big-budget movie fast approaching, Hasbro halted development on these toys to focus squarely on the movie line. And while the movie toys proved to be a commercial success, collectors were left with little more than a bittersweet taste in their mouths. For a split second, they saw the potential realized in a Transformer line that serviced their appetites, only to have it taken away in favor of insectoid monstrosities from the movie. The final pieces produced were interesting additions based off the small cassette warriors Rumble and Ravage. The Jaguar XK transformed into a four-legged panther for Ravage, which didn’t look that great to be honest. The Civic Si became a double-pile-driving Rumble, a nod to his cartoon counterpart who had piledrivers for arms. One can only imagine how the Cadillac-based Megatron would have turned out, but we’ll never know.

In a traditional sense, Hasbro shared the development and marketing with the Japanese-based Takara company. In Japan, these were released as Binaltech and actually included a large degree of die-cast metal parts, again a nod to the original line of Transformers.

You can find these on Ebay, some pieces fetching a whole lot of money. The last two characters were tough to track down at retail and command a pretty penny. Other popular characters like Prowl or Meister, known as Jazz to American fans, fetch a large sum of money. Also, popular cars that didn’t last long on the shelves are tough to win, things like the Ford GT Mirage are very expensive. However, you can find some of the other pieces for little more than their $20 retail price. Japanese pieces will be more expensive, partly cause of their die-cast cost, partly because of the rarity in the US market. But if you want a sweet looking car to adorn your desk, or a cool-ass robot in your display case, or both, track a couple of these down and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed, except for the fact that you won’t be getting any new additions to the line any time soon.

SOTA Street Fighter

Review by Loc

I remember walking into the Regency Game Palace and seeing a slew of people gathered around a new machine. This was the closest thing we had to a local arcade, and it was actually pretty nice. Anyways, the new machine had all manner of teenager crowded around, watching the video screen where two unique combatants battled. With a variety of superhuman attacks, the colorful characters beat each other to submission, the fight ending when one fighter’s energy meter was drained. The winning player stayed on the game, while the next challenger deposited his quarter, chose from a half dozen characters, and began a new round of fighting.

This was how Street Fighter II took the gaming world by storm. The idea to offer a roster of “world warriors” wasn’t necessarily new, but SF II did it well. Characters were unique in appearance and in gameplay. Fighting styles and body types led to different strategies and tactics. Most importantly, special moves required some skill to perform, but were available at any time and for every player. All these factors brought out a unique strategy component in a fighting genre that usually required nothing more than button-mashing. In fact, SF II introduced a joystick-and-six-button configuration that brought out more complexity and dexterity than all other games at the time.

But this isn’t a history of video games article, this is a review of SOTA’s Street Fighter line of action figures. Over the years, Street Fighter has spawned multiple video game sequels and this has introduced more and more characters to the universe. As you can imagine, this wealth of source material has led to many toy incarnations. There was even a GI Joe: Street Fighter sub-brand that tried to capitalize on these world warriors. However, until SOTA’s line, nothing captured the characters in colored plastic all that well.

With the success of the Toy Biz Marvel Legends line, companies realized that collector-driven lines had come en vogue. The six-inch scale with high levels of articulation excited fans and collectors, and SOTA noticed. The company scooped up the Street Fighter license and decided to create a line of figures completely in-scale with the Marvel Legends. Not only that, it went out of its way to cater to the quality standards of the Marvel Legends line, committing itself to create highly articulated figures with beautiful sculpts and collector-standard packaging. It was a labor of love that served both Street Fighter fans and action figure enthusiasts to no end.

Starting with the sculpting, the Street Fighter figures were great representations of their pixel-based counterparts. From Ryu’s white gi to Sagat’s towering proportions and battle-scarred chest to Bison’s hulking mass and sadistic grin, this sculpts were amazing. Some have complained that the characters were based too much on animated or comic representations, instead of the actual in-game graphics. I say these look bad-ass and capture the essential essence of each character.

In addition, most characters came with a bevy of accessories. In today’s rough market, companies continue to skim on the extras and offer the bare minimum. Back in the day of the collector market, companies like SOTA tried to offer the highest value to their consumers. As a result, we got alternate heads, extra hands in various action poses, energy projectile attachments, and random tidbits to fully round out the character. For example, Guile would have been a fine display piece as a standard figure. The fact that he comes with an additional thumbs-up hand, a hand-comb hand, and a chopping hand allows you to recreate almost any fighting scene from the game. He even comes with a screaming face and two blue projectiles that attach to his fisted hands, recreating the fury of the Sonic Boom move at any time. It’s this attention to detail and willingness to cater to the target audience that makes this line exceptional.

To capitalize on the color variations in the game, SOTA released numerous character variants. Some were simple color swaps, like a white gi for Ken instead of his traditional red. Others included nuanced changes, like the “green” Vega also included a different alternate head that referenced his appearance in the SF Animated movie. Others still were character variants, like Evil Ryu with black gi and red eyes. In all, these paint application chases offered SOTA a way to recoup costs on original sculpts while offering more variety to fans who never dreamt of getting something like a “translucent” electricity Blanka.

The actual toy quality is something to note as well. These are heavy pieces with a lot of raw material put into them. For a smaller company like SOTA, where resources are limited, the high quality product was a conscious choice to appeal to the collector.

Another great quality exhibited was its role as the fans’ company. Character selection for each series of figures was a balanced business decision that utilized the fans. For example, online polls were distributed to allow fans to voice their preferences on character selection. There were times when entire series were chosen by fans. In the same way, SOTA worked to get the most popular characters into the hands of the fans, sticking to its idea of delivering at least one “headliner” figure per series.

Early plans even had ideas like “accessory packs”, where you would be able to purchase a whole slew of energy accessories or alternate heads and hands, to be available online. Or having special figures available online that wouldn’t normally warrant mass production, but fans still salivated for: Bison’s Twelve Dolls, or Hugo and Poison 2-packs. These never came to light, but they were heavily considered strictly at the request of fans.

The sad fate of these toys has little to do with the toys, and all to do with the distribution. Early on, SOTA had delay issues with getting product into the fans’ hands. However, each series eventually hit shelves, delivering four series of characters. Yet, those early delays would be welcome today in light of the current state of SOTA. Nearly two years ago, founder Jerry Macaluso sold his stake in SOTA to pursue his interest in films. This could be compared to Steve Jobs’s initial departure from Apple as Macaluso was the creative force behind the line.

Since that time, SOTA has spoken of revamping the Street Fighter line. Maintaining the quality and style, but repackaging the toys is the idea, but only three “Preview” figures have hit the shelves in nearly three years. A new “Revolution” series is supposed to hit stores soon, delivering the final three characters of the original 12 found in Street Fighter II. For fans, completing the set of 12 would be a great way to continue supporting the brand, but the initial excitement and enthusiasm for the line have subsided.

Will the Street Fighter line find new life and new fans in its Revolution line? Time will tell, but signs seem to point to a slow and drawn-out death to this once-promising toy line. It’s a shame, too, because there hasn’t been many offerings that catered so faithfully to the fans.

You can find the older series, featuring Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Blanka, and the gang, online for pretty cheap. Be careful as the earliest series also saw a huge influx of knock-offs saturate the market. One of the biggest blows to SOTA was their dealings with foreign factories. After a falling out, the factory kept the original molds and produced more toys without SOTA’s consent. These knock-offs look very good, but helped kill off genuine hype for the line. And as stated above, a new series featuring Honda, Dhalsim, and Zangief are slated to hit shores any time now. With all things in life, the majesty of the SOTA Street Fighter line seems to be coming to an end. But in its prime, the line was a spectacle to behold.

Marvel Figure Factory

Review by Loc

Figure what? Raise your hand if you’ve heard of Marvel Figure Factory. Ok, let me take count, that’s one…two…four…alright, grand total of none. Yes, like the tagline says, toys you’ve never heard of. Wait, that’s not the tagline? Whatever, today we’re showcasing a little known line of evten smaller proportions. Marvel Figure Factory hit the aisles several years ago, got through maybe two waves of releases, and packed up shop. There wasn’t a whole lot of consumer support, probably because these three-inch mini-model kits cost you around $6. Spending $2 an inch is not a good proposition, at least not in this context. Snicker snicker.

OK, so what’s Marvel Figure Factory? These sets were packaged in miniature wooden-replica crates. In pieces. You popped them open, ripped the plastic baggy apart, and you were left with a mash of brightly colored pieces of plastic. Now, it took the dexterity of a four year old, but you had to assemble the character and its base to create a beautiful mini-statue. In essence, this was a model kit that required no painting or gluing, or it was a puzzle that required no pictures. Whatever the case, they were alight by me.

Figure selection ran the gamut of marvel luminaries: Spiderman, the Hulk, Iron-Man, the Thing. In addition, more popular characters at the time made their way into the line. For example, the vampire-hunting Blade came in little pieces for your enjoyment, mostly due to his higher profile from the cinematic masterpieces he starred in.

One of the cool things about this line was the packaging. For the majority of each wave, you could see exactly which character you were buying and what pose they came in. However, some pieces were also delivered in “blind” packages, replacing character pictures with large question marks. In essence, you were playing a little game of chance, sorta like buying an unopened pack of baseball cards. Luckily, the majority of these mystery figures were also very cool characters or sweet poses. You might end up with guys like Thor or Captain America. One slightly crappy thing was the mystery figures also included repaints of the regular series. So you might end up with the Gray Hulk instead of the Green one, or an unmasked Wolverine instead of the cowl-clad slasher.

Honestly, these were cool little pieces but not worth the price. I only own a handful of them because one of the online outlets blew these out at $1 a piece. For that price, I happily gobbled these up. For $5 or $6, I can see why they didn’t last too long. You can grab loose pieces in online auctions for around a buck. Packaged ones might run you $4. Hell, you can buy my whole collection if you want. That’s all I have to say about that.

GI Joe: 25th Anniversary

Review by Loc

If there’s one toy line that dominated by childhood affections, it was GI Joe: A Real American Hero. These 3 and ¾ inch military marvels captured my imagination like no other. I still remember the first introduction into the line: my brother brought home four figures and a battle-pack vehicle. Gung-Ho, Torpedo, Destro, and the Cobra Trooper were destined to battle one another for weeks, and the S.N.A.K.E armor was the bad guys’ secret weapon. The following years saw countless trips to Toys R Us deliver more carded goodness, from Snake-Eyes to Storm Shadow, and big-ass vehicles like the Skystriker jet plane or the Tomahawk helicopter. Those were fine days.

As kids grew up, the line faded. Every so often, Hasbro would try to resurrect the brand, first with brand new characters, later with reissue anniversary packs. They even tried reinventing the line several times, first as Sgt. Savage, later as Extreme, and most recently as Sigma Six. Nothing ever recaptured the magic and glory of the original Real American Hero.

Until now. With the 25^th Anniversary line, Hasbro dipped back into the well and came out smelling like roses. New sculpts that paid tribute to the originals with today’s styling sensibilities adorn toy shelves. To spice things up, this line is carded like the originals, most even replicating the explosive card art that was so recognizable in the past. For collectors and nostagliasts alike, this line hit a homerun in a way they never anticipated.

Starting with the classic packaging, the 25^th anniversary figures come sealed like retro-goodies. The classic card art ushers a wave of warm fuzziness that hits close to those who grew up with the army men of yore. Some collectors have posed an interesting question: are people buying the card art more than they’re buying the toy? Possibly, but what a fine piece of trashy art it is.

The figures themselves are the perfect mix of new and old. Characters are sculpted with a strong nod to the past, retaining much of the source material for inspiration. From Snake-Eyes being packaged with his trusty wolf to Firefly’s opening backpack, the attention to detail is amazing. If you’re someone who prefers to open their toys, gasp I know, there are so many great things about the product, you won’t mind dropping the dough on these guys, at least not in the heat of the moment.

However, not everything is perfect. The updated sculpts may look and feel great, but little pain points do add up. First, the updated figures feature modern articulation. This is great as the figures retain their immense poseability. Yet, for some sculpts, the added molding severely limits the range of movement. The reissued Duke is notorious for his non-bending arms, a seemingly sweet forearm sculpt of rolled sleeves cutting his ability to grasp anything past 30 degrees.

In addition, hands are sculpted to hold weapons, but come packaged with clear rubberbands to keep armaments in place. This is because, even with great looking trigger fingers, these guys couldn’t grip more than a ball of jelly. Guns, knives, swords, whatever fall right out of their hands, making it difficult to fend off enemy attacks.

Lastly, part of the genius of this line is also part of the frustration. The old Joes were molded with generic body parts, allowing lots of mixing to occur. Slap on a new paint job, and you got yourself a new character. The 25^th Anniversary line keeps the tradition alive, allowing for multiple repaints simply by switching out body parts or exchanging limbs. For some character, the simple body swap does an amazing job of portraying a new soldier. Take the artic trooper Snow Job, who happens to share his body with the evil pilot Wild Weasel. Who would have guessed that a white-clad snow trooper would turn seamlessly into a red-drenched fighter pilot, complete with appropriate flight maps and gear.

However, with the good comes some bad. For some body swaps, the results are less than stellar. Collectors can’t groan enough at how a Zartan body, complete with chest and thigh armor, could be repainted into a Major Bludd. True, it doesn’t look that great, and maybe this was a time where the cost-cutting took its toll on the product.

Yet, by and large, the 25^th Anniversary line shines bright. Capitalizing on nostalgia is not a new thing, just take a look at all the geriatric bands that come out for reunion tours and rake in the dough. However, Hasbro has shown an uncanny amount of care in pushing this product out to the masses, nailing the right parts to usher the kid-at-heart back to the toy aisles.

You can find these now in your toy stores and department stores. Hasbro never anticipated this response, so initial prices were as low as $4. After hooking idiots like me, you’ll drop around $6.50 a pop on these guys. They’re not the cheapest, but they’re the finest. Yo joe!

McFarlane’s Sports Picks

Review by Loc

I still remember rolling into Toys R Us in 1988 one day and seeing action figures of the Oakland A’s. They weren’t great figures, mostly generic poses with semi-customized heads for Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. However, they filled the shelves, each packaged with worthless baseball cards. And in essence, they were the 3-D equivalent, collectable figures of your favorite teams, favorite stars. As these began hitting en masse, you could find all manner of teams, from the local favorites to the obscure stars that you rarely heard of back in the days before the internet. And soon enough, every sport was represented, from football to basketball to hockey. Ah, but Kenner’s Starting Lineups are a different story for a different time.

That’s because after over a decade of producing athletes from all major sports, Starting Lineups went away. And that’s when McFarlane Toys assumed the mantle of sports toy king. In place of small 4-inch, nondescript figures, McFarlane unleashed 6-inch, photorealistic toys more akin to miniature sculptures than action figures. Gone were the baseball card novelty, replaced by the adult-collector mentality of great sculpts, great packages, great items to display either in or out of their package.

Today, I’ll cover the majority of my collecting habits in this line: the local players. Growing up in the Bay Area, three things were true: the 49ers ruled the sporting world, the Warriors were forever lovable-losers, and the debate between A’s vs Giants raged across a Bay Bridge. Luckily, McFarlane has seen it fit to cater to the Bay Area collector, at least in some capacity. The local sports franchises don’t command the steady stream of Yankee or Redwings, but each franchise gets its fair share of sculpted plastic.

Overall, McFarlane releases 2-3 “series” for each major sport per year. That leads to 10-15 players being produced per sport per year, and the Bay Area usually sneaks in with 1 or 2 representatives annually. As you can imagine, having an Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Brett Favre, or Kobe Bryant every year will help sell pieces to your average fan. However, over the years the Bay Area has seen Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Barry Zito, Eric Chavez, Baron Davis, and Jason Richardson fill the pegs. Even Shark stars are represented for the NHL, I just don’t know any of them.

The Sports Picks line itself is a bit of a conundrum. It’s aimed squarely at the adult enthusiast, so things like articulation and play value go right out the door. Instead, you get highly detailed sculptures with ridiculous attention to details. From helmet logos to jersey manufacturers to equipment labels, each figure is as authentic as a 6-inch toy could be. In fact, the level of realism is so high that fans often quibble over the nuanced inaccuracies, displaying how high of a bar that McFarlane actually set for its own product.

The sculpts themselves are often great. There are more generic poses which capture a player’s general physique and tone, but even these are usually based off of photo-references. However, using these more generic poses allows for the company to reissue older pieces with new head sculpts and paint details to create a new player. Known as a “repaint”, these figures sometimes hit the mark and sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Especially when your favorite player is reduced to a simple retread of a formerly released piece. For example, Eric Chavez was initially announced to have a brand-new sculpt, playing off the immense foul ground area of Oakland’s playing field. However, after suffering several injury-plagued seasons, the Chavez figure was initially delayed then finally released, but only as a repaint of the Scott Rolen piece. Sure, it’s nice to have Chavez adorn my desk, but it’s a shame to know that there were greater ambitions for his figure early on.

The repaint practice also gave life to the “chase” figure. In an effort to increase the collectability of these figures, McFarlane Toys produced variations of standard figures to create secondary editions as well. For example, players issued in their “home” jerseys may have been issued with a new paint application in their “away” jerseys. Some of the earliest figures have the most desirable chase figures. For example, Ken Griffey’s first figure was a wall-climbing sculpt in a Reds uniform, and the chase featured him in an iconic Seattle Mariners uniform. One figure high on my list of unattainables is the NFL Series 5 Jerry Rice figure in vintage 49er gear. The standard was issued as a Raider, but we all know Jerry is a 49er in spirit.

However, the chase figure has led to as much controversy as it has provided joy. At one point, chases were issued to almost every figure of a series. Once McFarlane Toys decided to issue only chases per series, collectors groaned at the impossibility of seeing their favorite players in different uniforms or from different eras. Another move that drew the ire of fans was the introduction of the “super chase”, a figure produced in extremely small quantities to ensure its status as an ultra-collectible. NFL players were issued without their helmets, making a “no helmet” Tom Brady extremely valuable, but also extremely difficult to find.

Most recently, the company decided to revamp the chase figure, noting that new pieces would feature subtle changes to classify as chases. Larger changes like jersey alterations would then be left for future series, which antagonized collectors on two ends. First, future chases would mean fewer new figures in subsequent series, hardly a crowd-pleaser to the diehard. Second, the minor changes have been viewed as nearly insulting, changes such as the removal of “eye black” on a player’s face or the addition of a small jersey patch seem beyond insignificant. In one of the most puzzling uses of the term “chase figure”, the latest Ichiro chase figure would actually include less than its standard counterpart, being packaged without a baseball.

Moving away from the collectible aspect, some of the Bay Area pieces have been great representations due to their “legends” status. As a way to expand their standard series, McFarlane Toys introduced the concept of retired players, such as the Cooperstown series or the NFL Legends. With these figures, all first run players are unique and new sculpts, ensuring their iconic visages would be captured in 3-D glory. Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, and Dennis Eckersley each have a legends figure. In addition, Joe Montana will be receiving a second legends piece, posed with his trademark hands-held-high-TD stance. Excellent choice that I’ll be purchasing.

Overall, the McFarlane Sports Picks lines are very nice sculptures. They are “toys” in the sense that you find them in the kids section at Wal-Mart, but they don’t much more than sit on your desk in a dynamic action stance. There’s little evidence of articulation, and if you do find a joint, it usually offers no value in creating a new pose. It was probably there because that was the best way to recreate the sculpt on a mass scale in a plastics factory. I’m sure I’ll revisit this line and provide more depth in the non-Bay Area pieces. However, if you’re a sports fan and like little desk decorations, these are pretty good at doing the job. You can find current pieces at your department stores for around $12 each. The older ones are Ebay material, with some of the chases reaching the triple digit mark. Or you can contact me and I’ll sell you some of the stuff lying in my closet. Enjoy!