#74: Star Wars The Vintage Collection - Imperial Scanning Crew

Last week I went to the Time Tunnel toy show in San Jose and was finally able to pick up a set that fills an annoying gap in my collection. It's all about the accessory. See, a few years ago, Hasbro released an Imperial technician figure with the lower half of the scanning crew's equipment. They planned to release the top half as a variant release of the same figure, but that never happened. They kept promising they were looking for a way to get him released, and eventually they did. As a Kmart exclusive. Because Kmarts are so plentiful and easy to buy exclusives from. So I got this set for the top half of the scanning equipment crate. It fits well on top of the other half, and even opens up, revealing a little scanning gun thing that plugs into the interior and some other small detachable piece of equipment. As for figures, it comes with the exact same Imperial technician figure I already had, and TK-421. This is the Stormtrooper whose armor ends up as Luke's disguise. It's pretty neat, as so far as I know this is the first time a Stormtrooper has been sold as a specific trooper, and he's the only one who's identified onscreen.

Together at last!

#73: DC Comics Designer Series - Greg Capullo Batman

When I opened this Batman figure, I thought it was misassembled. But I'll get back to that. One of the brightest spots of the poorly thought out New 52 reboot at DC Comics has been Batman, written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo. Mattel did make a New 52 costume Batman, but it was in the usual style of semi-realistic looking. DC Collectibles frequently makes figures that reflect a particular artist's style, and since I have been enjoying Capullo's artwork so much I decided to get the figure that's in his style. It's a great looking figure, and what makes it distinctively Capullo is the head, which is pretty dead on to how he looks in the comics. There's also a very generous amount of articulation, which hasn't always been the case for DC Collectibles (or DC Direct as it used to be called) figures. Compared to the typical Mattel comic figure, Batman has the usual articulation along with double hinged knees, swivel/hinge wrists, and an additional swivel at the tops of his gloves. That's why I thought the arm was misassembled, as the gauntlet was facing the wrong direction, and the elbow wouldn't bend. Fiddling around with it, I realized that there is a swivel at the top of the glove, and the elbow joints are just particularly stiff. Oddly, some of the joints are particularly stiff while some are kind of loose. I was a little worried about him being able to stand, but the cape is just long enough that it touches the ground and provides a little extra support and balance. It's a cool cape, it's not just laying flat, there's a bit of a dramatic billow to it which helps show off the scalloped end. For accessories, Batman includes three batarangs which can all be held in his left hand. There are three separate slots for them, it's pretty cool.

#72: S.H. Figuarts - Sailor Moon

With the current release of Sailor Moon Crystal, a new adaptation of the original manga, I've been in something of a Sailor Moon mood lately. Fortunately, Bandai is ready to capitalize on the collecting instincts for everyone else, as they've been releasing Sailor Moon Figuarts figures for a while now. I figured if I were only to get one, Sailor Moon herself would be the way to go.

I've now got enough fancy Japanese figures to have a good idea what to expect from them. Plentiful accessories, interchangeable body parts, great articulation, all around looking good, and not cheap price tags. Sailor Moon doesn't disappoint in any of those areas.

Sailor Moon has four different faces, several sets of hands, two Moon Sticks (with and without the silver crystal attached), and a stand. Also included is Luna, her talking feline advisor. It's great that a stand is included, unlike the Gundam figures, because she has small feet, and it really helps with more extreme poses. Even her hair is articulated!

Now that I've got Usagi in hand, I'm tempted to get the rest of the Sailor Scouts. My only complaint is that one of the faces isn't a crying face, which would be a perfect fit for the character.

#71: Star Wars The Black Series - Bastila Shan

This is an example of Hasbro doing something right. They originally released Bastila Shan as part of the Vintage Collection, and she was a very hard figure to find. I never saw one, and the figure was reliably going for 70 dollars or more on the secondary market. I wanted the figure, but not that much, so I was resigned to never having her to add to the KOTOR subset of my collection. But Hasbro thankfully re-released her in the Black Series, and while she may not be easy to find on the shelves, she's pretty easy to get online. As of this writing, she is available at various webshops for retail price.

It's been a while since I last got a Star Wars figure in this scale, but this is a fairly typical figure. Well articulated, although the hips are only swivels, it's a decent looking figure. She comes with both an activated and deactivated version of her lightsaber. With most lightsabers being blue, green, or red, her yellow blades definitely stand out.

"Query: Did you copy your lightsaber from the meatbag Darth Maul?"

#70: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Groot

Finally, with all the pieces assembled, here is Groot! If you've been keeping track, you may notice that I haven't made a post about Nova. I did buy a Nova as well, but that went to my roommate while I kept the included Groot piece. Once assembled, Groot's most obvious feature is that he is really tall. If he had been packaged as a single figure, he'd have to be in the box with his legs all bent up or possibly unattached. He's got a nice heft to him. He's not completely a flat brown, there is some darker brown wash, and some greenish bits as well. I also really like the headsculpt for Groot. It is a fairly calm expression, but it really feels like it has a lot of personality to it.

Group shot!

#69: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Iron Man

In case we didn't have enough six inch Iron Man figures from last man's Iron Man 3 line, or basically every other wave of Marvel Legends, here's another one! Yeah, I know Iron Man joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics, but this is a slot that would have been better filled by a character in the movie. Like Nebula! Or Ronan. But hey, who needs figures of the antagonists? In a better reality, I would be posting about a Nebula figure right now. But here's a weird Iron Man suit. It's got really weird, goofy looking shoulder protuberances that are at least removable. Also, the head has kind of an Ultron feel to it, with the weird "grin" on its face. This figure is packed two per case, so it will be one of the easier figures to find if you're interested.

#68: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Drax

Up next in the Guardians of the Galaxy wave of Marvel Legends is Drax. Since these are movie based figures, they mostly have more realistic physiques, but Dave Bautista is frigging huge, so consequently his figure is more of a comic character look than the others. All his tattoos/markings are sculpted and painted on, which is some pretty impressive detail work. He's got all the articulation of the other figures, but none of his joints feel soft or floppy. Accessory-wise, he's got two daggers which can be sheathed on the sides of his boots. Drax is probably the best figure in this wave.

#67: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Rocket Raccoon

Rocket Raccoon has somewhat surprisingly had two comics based action figures released so far. Rocket is the smallest figure of the line, so he feels like the worst value. But he's a talking space raccoon with a big gun, so that kind of novelty does help make up for that a bit. His feet are too tiny for him to balance on, aside from not being perfectly level with each other, so fortunately his tail can be used to help keep him upright. He's decently articulated above the waist, but below the waist, the only point of articulation is his swivel tail.

Aside from the Groot build a figure piece, Rocket also includes another accessory, somewhat boosting his value. It's a really big gun for Star-Lord that probably uses as much plastic as is used for Rocket himself. The gun unfortunately doesn't have the best grips, and has no other means of support, so it's probably not good for a display option unless you use other means to attach it to Star-Lord's chest. It does make an appearance in the trailer, but until I see the movie, I won't know how vital an accessory it will turn out to be.

#66: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Gamora

Second in the Guardians of the Galaxy Marvel Legends figures is Gamora. When I first saw pictures of the figure, I thought the head looked a little big. Now, I think it's just that the figure's body is too thin. Her arms are so thin, she doesn't get double hinged elbows but rather the swivel-hinge joint. Gamora's pretty light on accessories, she has a sword and a build-a-figure piece. Having not seen the movie yet, maybe that's the only accessory that would makes sense. Unusually, Gamora (as the sole female of the wave) doesn't come with the largest piece of the build-a-figure. For once, the woman in the line isn't the smallest figure, thanks to Rocket.

#65: Marvel Legends Infinite Series Guardians of the Galaxy - Star-Lord

Guardians of the Galaxy is being released to theaters in a couple weeks, and I've been looking forward to it for a while. I'd thought about pre-ordering the figures, but decided to hold off. Then when they were released, half of them shot up in price, so I figured I had missed my chance. I kept an eye on things, and was able to order all the figures at retail or slightly below retail online. First up is Star-Lord, who's wearing a fairly casual outfit for his movie re-design. It's a good looking figure. I'm not sure if the weathering on his coat is meant to make it look dirty or not, but at least it's not flat looking. He's got double hinged knees and elbows, which use the softer plastic that makes the joints feel a bit fragile.  He's armed with a pair of sci-fi looking blasters.

Other accessories include an alternate unmasked head. It's a pretty decent likeness to Christ Pratt, better at some angles than others. There's also a set of headphones and a Walkman. The other accessory is the sphere he's shown stealing in the first trailer.

If you'd told me a year ago that I would have two Chris Pratt toys in a year's time, I wouldn't have believed you. Yet, here we are.