Marvel Legends Series 3 - Holy Headsculpts!!!!

Seeing as we've yet to see Habro Marvel Legends Wave Two here in Australia (don't get me started on the totally sporadic and nonsensical distribution of toys at retail over here!!!!!), I've had to eBay for the figures I wanted from Wave Three. Last week I got Marvel Girl, Black Knight and Cyclops in the post.

Seeing as I presently don't have a display space for my Marvel Legends figures at present, I'm not taking these out of the pack for the moment, however I am really impressed with Black Knight and Cyclops. Very clean sculpting and paint apps. Nice costume design for Black Knight in particular. These two figures would stand well alongside the rest of the ML collection.

The main area where Habro seems to be falling down is with headsculpts, and Marvel Girl is a perfect example of this. The bottom line is the dodgy work on her headsculpt, especially the giant-sized earrings, makes the whole figure look cheap. The headsculpts on Captain America and Bucky from this wave are the reasons I passed them over - and Bucky in particular is a character that Hasbro really couldn't afford to screw up.

Overall I am pleased with these but if the 'Blow can't get more consistent with their QC in the headsculpt department then the future of this line is questionable at best.

Laser Beak Man Rules!

Not an action figure (at least not yet), but a very different type of superhero. Laser Beak Man is the creation of Tim Sharp, an 18-year old Australian chap. I found out about him today at the "Eternity" exhibition at the National Museum of Australia.

The amazing thing about Tim is that he is autistic. When he was young his parents were told that he was beyond hope and the best thing they could do was to put him away and forget about him. When he was 11 drawing was discovered as a way to focus and help him, and the creation of Laser Beak Man gave him a way to begin to develop communication skills.

I was incredibly moved by hearing his story and seeing his work. Laser Beak Man has a website and some merchandise. It really is worth a look.

Wrath of Khan Wave "1"

Art Asylum / DST has had a few bumps in the road with its Star Trek line recently, specifically scale and QC issues in the Next Generation line, but its Wrath of Khan Exclusives were spot-on, and now Wave "One" of the Wrath of Khan Series is out and pretty much making the grade.

Paint apps and the quality of sculpting and production are excellent on these figures overall. I usually love the headsculpts on the DST items, and while the Kirk and Terrell sculpts are well done, the Khan headsculpt has a pretty vacant stare which is a disappointment.

With the promise of Spock, Uhura and Saavik in Wave "2" this looks like it will be a very fun set to display, but I'll hedge my bets by keeping these MIB until the next set is out and in scale, thank you!

JLA Cover to Cover: Wonder Woman

Spoils from AFB's birthday stash continue with this really lovely JLA: Cover to Cover Statue featuring Wonder Woman. It's based on the Jiminez art from the cover of WW #181.

Sculpting and paint apps are beautiful on this very nice piece. You can see her both on her own and with the other statues in the series. I like how the matching bases give them a sense of connection, however the WW base has a twist with the skull from the cover art, just like Flash's base has a bit of the water he's running through.

I was worried about how sturdy Diana's sword would be, but it's made from a very flexible plastic so it won't be breaking off anytime soon!

My only complaint is that we're still waiting for an announcement of any further entries in this series. Surely we should at least complete the Big 7, if not go further??

Long Live the Legion!

Once again my great customising friend JackKnight92 has come to my aid in my quest for a complete Silver Age Legion. This time the new team members are Light Lass and Dream Girl. All I can say is that I really thank DCD for the Super-Lois figure from the Silver Age Superman Wave! It may have been a dodgy figure itself, but it makes great custom fodder for the cookie-cutter style female SA Legionnaires.

I apologise for the fuzzy pic - a better camera and some lighting are on AFB's Christmas list!

I am getting closer and closer to the complete team that DCD will never give us! You can check out Phantom Girl, Triplicate Girl and Shrinking Violet, Matter-Eater Lad and Element Lad and Bouncing Boy and Chemical King.

Next up? Karate Kid and Princess Projectra!

Super Friends from a Super Friend!

Being a toy collector here in Oz has many challenges, one of which being having to choose between enduring long waits and spotty distribution for retail items like Marvel Legends or Mattel (Diamond doesn't sell these items to Oz) or roll the dice on eBay and play inflated prices and inflated shipping to get items at the same time as US collectors.

Patience is not my strong suit when it comes to such things, so I often roll the eBay dice, but it's great to have connected friends like my buddy JQ (well he has a million tags but that's the most common) who got me a few goodies recently.

I have actually seen the Superman and Batman Superfriends! figures in a Toys 'R Us a few weeks ago but nothing else, so I was very happy that JQ tracked down Aquaman for me. Love this one as a great addition to the growing Aquaman shelf!

Cannonball and Domino from Marvel Legends have been bagged out across the boards, and having been less than impressed with what I've seen so far of Hasbro Legends I was bracing myself, but these are not anywhere near as bad as I had imagined, in fact Domino may be one of the better Legends female figures. Paint apps on both of these are spot on, and they stand up well next to their Toy Biz comrades. I'm not a fan of the Legends overarticulation but these are both easy to pose in spite of having joints everywhere. I do wish Cannonball had been done in a different costume tho!

It pays to have friends in the right places - thanks again JQ!!!!!!

Batman and Son

There's this trap I fall in every time I only want part of a DCD wave. My LCS can only order in full sets but because they're such a good shop (and I'm such a good customer) they will break up sets for me, however they're also very good at either a) setting out the unwanted figures to tempt me and / or b) making such a good deal on the full set so that I can't really say no. And then sometimes they do neither and I crack anyway.

And so it was that I came home with the full set of the Batman and Son wave when I hadn't intended to get them all.

Well, here they are. Enjoy a pic of the whole wave and also Bats and Robin with their respective teams.

Not alot of comment. Man-Bat rocks. Joker is pretty groovy (although I really don't know how many Jokers I need). Everyone has been complaining about the long capes on Batman and Robin, but I like them, particularly Batman's.

I've also heard complaint about the Robin figure, but this is an artist specific wave and this fig is very true to the Andy Kubert art in the series. Sure's I'd rather a BVP of Robin's new costume, but the fig itself is true to what it's supposed to represent. One QC warning - I had to go through a couple to find one that didn't have some paint rubbing on his right fist, with a bit of red paint showing through on the ones I discarded.

And did you notice I didn't comment on Damien? No comment on Damien.

Enjoy!

Doing what DCD can't

Jeez, a lead line like that certainly could lead to alot of topics, couldn't it?

Well, here it's character selection and team completion.... ring any bells..................?

Thankfully we have great customisers like Lars. Grab one of his eBay items if you can - of course you'll have to fight me for them!

My latest wins have helped me towards complete Titans and JSA teams. First of all there's this fabtabulous Tempest figure:

A secondly great Lars versions of Damage and Wildcat to go along with the Stargirl I've already bragged about.

Happy happy happy..........