Rocket Raccoon (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon

So I finally got my fingers around this small Build-A-Figure by Hasbro. Looking at yet another one of these small yet nicely sculpted figures, I personally think that it's nice to see something new... but a 2nd, 3rd (Puck) and a 4th (Jubilee) one? C'mon Hasbro! What happened to those good ol' BAF days? If this wasn't Rocket Raccoon, I would have just saved my money and pass with this Wave like that Hit Monkey. But it's him and being an essential part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, it is a must have action figure and I definitely gonna get the rest of them as soon as they're released.














Here is Rocket Raccoon compared to his much older fellow Marvel Legends Build-A-Figure, the Sentinel! Standing at just 3 inches, no doubt this figure is in perfect scale with the rest of Marvel Legends figures, no doubt this is an awesome figure, and no doubt Hasbro has saved some spray paints and hard plastics.

But for such a small figure, I gotta give Hasbro some credit for doing a fine job on sculpting his tiny little hands and feet, and those tiny little teeth once you open his mouth. You probably couldn't get any better Rocket Raccoon than this one right here. I have to say that the sculpting and texturing over his uniform, all his furry skin and tail is excellent. He comes with this one little assault rifle with a blade at the tip and a red rocket that is well sculpted and fits just right into either of his hands. It would have been much cooler if he had two of these guns albeit the fact that both his hands are sculpted to hold guns but... it is what it is.

No shading or any kind of variety on the details when we talk about the paint. However, I do like how they did the paint job inside his mouth with that raccoon teeth, gums and tongue coming out perfectly without any runs or bleeds. The eyes could have been your standard regular eyes but it's painted with gold/brown, which is still good. And just as what we see on an average raccoon, this rodent from outer space got all that features but with, of course, his red and blue Guardians uniform.

Just by looking at this figure, you can easily count the amount of articulation he has. As you can see, he doesn't have any joints on his hips, legs and feet so you can't really do any dynamic pose with him. Rocket Raccoon though got a pretty nice articulation on his neck that lets his head lean towards the sides and rotate 360. He got ball-hinged shoulders, single-jointed elbows, elbow rotation, wrist rotation and swivel around the waist. You can open or close his jaw and turn his tail at any angle but they're just minor features that doesn't really help with poseability.

For you to complete the Marvel Legends Rocket Raccoon, you just need to get the Black Panther, Jean Grey and Wrecker from this Wave. I would recommend and suggest that you get this figure if you're planning to assemble your Guardians of the Galaxy team.

Spawn - Image 10th Anniversary (McFarlane Toys)

Image 10th Anniversary Spawn

To all you articulation junkies, here's a Spawn action figure that's going to suit your cup of tea. He's no Hasbro figure (obviously, since when did they make Spawn), but from the guys that brought us statue-like action figures that barely has any articulation in it- McFarlane! This time, they totally made one hell of a step into offering us not only a Spawn with McFarlane-style sculpting but also with a wide range of movement made possible through his 25-point articulation, and that doesn't even includes the articulation over his cape! This Spawn is special; so special that McFarlane released this super-articulated figure to honour Image's 10 years of comic book awesomeness, which is kinda nice for them and a little bothersome. I mean, why do it only for this "special occasion" when these guys could have done this a long time ago? There is no question McFarlane Toys can do it.









I will begin this toy review with articulation since I'm obviously excited with it. So Spawn's demonic cape is articulated which are simply swivel-type of joints that allows you to cover or uncover his entire body like curtains around a window. He got a ball-hinged neck that lets his head look up, down and to the sides. Surprisingly, Spawn got this scapular/shoulder blade joints like the ones on the X-Force Wolverine, which allows him to move his shoulders forward or back. Like those Marvel Legends or Marvel Select figures, he got bicep swivel-joints, single-jointed elbows, mid-arm swivel and hinges on the wrists. His torso is complete with all three major "torsal" joints namely; diaphragm swivel, ab crunch and waist swivel. He got a T-joint that lets his entire legs raise up and forward or to the sides. His legs have mid-thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, lower calf swivel, hinged ankles, ankle swivel and ankle pivot... and toe joints!

Now the ankle pivot on this one is a little tricky. You have to rotate the ankle swivel around until the joint marks are aligned at the front before you can pivot it to the sides. So I think that's very damn cool.

The paint application on this 10th Anniversary Spawn is consistent with any McFarlane Spawn figures you've seen. Starting with his big red cape, you can see some black paint shading done between its folds as well as its surface to make it look worn and battle damaged. Spawn's body is mostly covered in black with a few gray shadings to define his muscles, and the spikes around his arms and ankles are painted with a silvery metallic type of gray; making it more realistic. The colour designs comprising of red and white over his arms and torso are painted perfectly without any runs or bleeds.

If you've been collecting Spawn figures and figures with highly complex details, this one won't disappoint you even with the added amount of hinges. As you can see on these photos, the hinges are barely noticeable and blending well with the sculpt of this figure. And of course, one shouldn't ignore McFarlane's trademark design on the cape which has been, as well, consistent all throughout like the one on The Art of Spawn - Spawn on my last year's review. In addition, attached under his belt buckle is a 14-inch long metal chain that is almost twice longer than Kratos' chained weapons.

And with all these great detail, comes a base stand that is also greatly detailed. Obviously, this is the dome of a cathedral where there is a cross and where there are pegs (in pairs) in two different areas that give you that option of having Spawn either stand in front of the cross or have him perch on top of it. I prefer having him perch on this 12.5-inch base stand, and it is surprisingly very stable. Even with some weight on the figure, you wouldn't think this could fall or collapse.

I couldn't stop myself from comparing this Spawn to a Marvel figure and I want to see which toyline this figure is more likely compatible with. Marvel Legends or Marvel Select? As you can see here, Spawn's overall girth has to be a little wider to be able mix well with the Selects. I think he leans more towards Marvel Legends even with this height of 7 inches. Such iconic figure with great amount of detail and poseability is pretty hard to come by. And if there is one Spawn figure I would recommend to any collector, it is this one right here.

Big Red Predator (NECA)

NECA Big Red Predator

When you're big and wearing red, you'd probably get spotted easily by your prey as you hunt her around in a thick jungle. But if you're a Predator, that won't matter as long as you got your cloaking device with you to use at anytime. Combining killing precision and style is what the Big Red Predator is all about. Right away, you can tell that this Predator is not your average Predator. What's phenomenal about it is that the fans love Big Red more than any Predator figures. Unlike most NECA Predators, which are based off from those major movies, Big Red, with its interestingly unique outfit, is based from a fan-made movie on YouTube entitled, Batman: Dead End. With its ornamental belt and two katana blades, this Predator is ready to show you the way of the Samurai... in its own fashion.











Compared to our very own classic Predator, Big Red's sculpt and body mold is basically the same with few tweaks here and there to give it its own feature. The body armour; gauntlets, leg guards and shoulder guards are as same as the classic except that the Wrist Blades are housed unto Big Red's left gauntlet instead of the right. Moreover, its Bio-Mask has these two yellow pebble-like indentions likely for aesthetic purposes, also with all these black streaks painted over its big red mask.

And around the waist, is a well detailed belt inspired from that ancient Samurai culture together with a couple of these sheaths for its swords hanging at the right hip, while still preserving that Predator loin cloth. Also, it has all these trophy skulls held together with a string which goes down diagonally across its torso. The only thing that this Predator is missing though is its infamous Plasma Cannon, which probably not gonna fit in with Big Red's theme.

Big Red's name comes from its chosen colour scheme- RED. It is all painted red as you can see here, but gold to its Wrist Blade and hair clips. Its skin colour is kind of brown-yellow at the front with dark pigmentations dominating the back area. Why it has this jaundice skin?- it's probably because of "colour compatibility". The red goes well with the yellow on Big Red's case.

Gladly, I am pleased that this Predator has a pair of interchangeable hands. You can change its open palmed hands into these "sword-gripping" hands to wield its katanas. Like a true Samurai, Big Red carries the long katana and the short katana, which fits perfectly in each of its hands. Unfortunately, it's impossible for this Predator to do a two-hander with one single sword.

Like the articulation of the Boar Predator or any standard NECA Predator figures, Big Red's neck are ball-socketed so it can lean towards its sides and rotate 360. It got ball-hinged shoulders with no bicep swivel, single-jointed elbows with elbow rotations, and ball-hinged wrists. No diaphragm swivel; wishing they'll incorporate it soon, but Big Red has waist swivel to do the function. It got a T-joint and a ball-hinged hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ball-hinged ankles with ankle rotations and ankle pivots.

This action figure stands at about 8 inches tall and I really wish they could have scaled him up a bit to literally define the "big" in Big Red, but I totally think this is a really good purchase the fact that it's one of a kind and that I'm a huge fan of the Predators.

Black Panther (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Black Panther

Some people might tell you that greatness and beauty depends on how complex the details are picked up by your own naked eyes. That's not always true. We are always amazed by the amounts of paint shading and sculpt on figures created by McFarlane and NECA, but the Marvel Legends Black Panther figure begs to differ. Like the real panther itself, the blackness made this Black Panther figure majestic despite the overall simplicity. Combined with some shades of blue, it's easy to appreciate the definition of his athletic body type. This figure may be an instant favourite to any collector.














Rebranded as the "Blue Panther" by some ML collectors, the amounts of blue shading on this figure would likely surprise you by the time you lay your eyes on it, but then you would realize that it's actually part of getting the Black Panther to stand out once he is on the shelf and to be comic book accurate at the same time.

The paint application is basically the blacks and blues blending in and fading out over each other. Strikingly, Panther's pair of gloves and boots are painted with a solid colour of blue while these evenly arranged dark lines are drawn through it that made this figure more bound from the comics. In addition, his eyes are painted with silver over his traditional mask.

Then again, the body mold is from the Marvel Legends Wave 2 Bucky Cap (which I haven't done a review on yet, surprisingly) like the one they also used on the Marvel Legends Modern Hawkeye. The only difference is, obviously, the head sculpt which is thought by others to be on a larger scale. But for me, I don't see anything wrong with it and he actually looks well proportioned. Also, Panther's hands are both in "claw attack" mode and so it's nice to see him having hands specifically designed for him.

If you've already read my review on the ML Modern Hawkeye, there is no need for you to read this part because the articulation is entirely the same. No added joints but I wished Hasbro could have added the shoulder blades articulation like those on the X-Force Wolverine just to give Panther a more pronounced claw attack. So the head turns up, down and sidewards and he got ball-hinged shoulder, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows and hinged wrist that lets you aim his claw forward. He got waist swivel, ab crunch, T-jointed hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, mid-calf swivel and the Hasbro ankle pivot.

Same with the Modern Hawkeye, he stands at an ideal height of about 6.2 inches tall. In my opinion, I think Black Panther is more rightful to be in this body mold than Bucky Cap or Archangel. With no accessories or other stuff glued unto it and with less paint app, it's easy to visualize what type of body mold we're talking about. So I better start calling it the Black Panther body mold! I highly recommend this figure and choose it over the Toy Biz version. It is in perfect scale with the rest of my 6-inch Avengers display... and he comes with the Rocket Racoon BAF part, which I am trying to complete.

Jean Grey (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Jean Grey

When it comes to beauty and sex appeal, I personally think Jean Grey got them both and that I could rank her as my number one favourite woman of Marvel. She is tall and skinny with the right curves around her body. Not that I think the rest of these women aren't sketched as beautifully as her like most we've seen in the comics, I guess her personality plus her long red hair also played a role in the making of an ideal woman. But as I tried to hold and look at this new Marvel Legends figure, I don't feel the Jean Grey inside of it. She seems like she's walking on a thin line between a fully grown woman and an average tween.














She is part of the Rocket Racoon BAF Wave and comes with Rocket Racoon's tail and body (without the arms). With the blue and orange colour scheme, this figure is the exact rendition of Jim Lee's Jean Grey and the one from the 90's Uncanny X-men Animated Series. We may or may not see the two running changes of this action figure but I really don't care as long as this version finally appeared.

Nothing special about the overall paint application other than having a nail polish that matches her long wavy hair,... and let's not forget Jean's lovely pair of green eyes, which are also incorporated on this figure.

While there is nothing really to complain about the paint, the body mold used on Jean doesn't really go well with her head. It seems like the head is kinda big to be on top of this skinny and almost anorexic body type which is, by the way, used by Hasbro on almost all their female figures. More worse, the right hand (or shall we call it the mind control hand) is slightly on the larger scale.
















The only thing I liked about the sculpt are the ones over her hair. Also, the pockets at the side of her legs made this Jean Grey a little comic book accurate at least. The arm bracers are made of a softer plastic material that can be plied, moved and rotated, which helps with the articulation as well as belt with the big X logo around her non-articulated waist is also made of the same material, which is not glued to her body.

Like most female Marvel Legends with this type of body mold, the articulation is more likely the same. Apparently, her head movement is hindered by the enormous length and stiffness of her hair. Shoulder movements are also unable to move to its full potential because of these shoulder pads right around it. Jean Grey's elbows and wrists are single-hinged that can flex and rotate. She got diaphragm swivel that lets her look and turn to the sides. Y-jointed hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, hinged ankles with the ankle pivot.

Having her stand close to the Marvel Legends Hope Summers, they're almost of the same size with the same features; standing about 6 inches tall. As far as recommendation goes, she can be a great addition having her in the mix with some Toy Biz ML Classic X-men and so it would be advisable to get her.

Hawkeye - Modern (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Hawkeye

Anyone who take a quick glance at the Modern Hawkeye would start referring it to the 6-inch Avengers Hawkeye, which was released by Hasbro a year ago for the movie. Who doesn't? Baring some resemblance of Renner's features, you can easily fall under the impression that this is a reuse of the head sculpt but... it is not and it is completely different when compared to the movie version. For me, I got no issue with it but if we're talking about being comic book-bound, I say Hasbro should have sculpted the head more differently that could at least come near to its comic book counterpart.















The Marvel Legends Modern Hawkeye is part of the Rocket Racoon Wave but doesn't come with a Build-A-Figure piece. So that being said, you're not obliged to buy him to complete Rocket Racoon. Moreover, you get two options whether to get this Modern Hawkeye or the variant which is the Classic Avengers Hawkeye. Whichever Hawkeye you wanna get, they both look fantastic.

The body mold being used here is the Bucky Cap mold, which Hasbro has been utilizing over and over. Marvel Legends Archangel has the same type of body mold as for this figure. It may not be a huge deal for me because the fact is- it is all expertly sculpted and well proportioned, and always neat looking. Other than his body mold, the utility belt and the quiver straps looked finely detailed with a little bit of texture in it.

This action figure doesn't have much of paint shading or variation, or whatever. Across his chest and abs, and around his boots are streaks of purple painted over this solid black uniform while his belts and straps stand out from the gray paint applied over its much softer plastic material.

Although Hasbro did quite an improvement on his quiver; learning from the Avengers Movie Hawkeye, but still hasn't given us just one single arrow to hold for his other hand. Without an arrow, this Hawkeye figure just doesn't hit the mark. However, I like that Hasbro reuse the modern bow from his predecessor. What's more amazing is that the sculpt on the fletchings and the entire quiver itself is much appealing to look at now.

The articulation of this figure is probably going to be a repeat of those action figures I've reviews with the Bucky Cap mold, but here are all of them. Ball-hinged neck that lets his head move up, down and rotate to each sides. Ball-hinged shoulders, rotation around the biceps and wrists, double-jointed elbows and hinges on the wrists to flex it up or down. Ab crunch and waist swivel are incorporated around the torso. T-joints inside the hips to have Hawkeye's legs move forward and back. Upper-thing swivel, double jointed knees, mid-calf swivel, ankle hinges and ankle pivot are going steady with this figure.

The Modern Hawkeye stands about 6.1 inches tall and he's a great addition to your Modern Avengers display. He may look like the one from the movie but you will see that the shape of his head is much leaner and elongated than that of Jeremy Renner's, And so, it's not really gonna affect how we want to present a strictly comic book style of Avengers.

Luke Cage - Thunderbolts (Marvel Legends: SDCC Exclusive)

Marvel Legends Luke Cage SDCC 2013

If you had been to the San Diego Comic Con 2013, you've probably seen these Marvel Legends Thunderbolts action figures around, which are exclusive only in that event. It comes with this big Thunderbolt-themed box that has 5 members of the Thunderbolts namely, Crossbones, Moonstone, Ghost, Judith Chambers and, of course, this one here, Luke Cage! Luckily, I found a good price of this figure on eBay... and yeah, I am one of those unfortunate guys who didn't have the right budget and moment to be able to attend the SDCC this year. So, ...gotta settle hunting them online.















Having a body mold of the Marvel Legends Hit Monkey Series Hyperion, Luke Cage stands about 6.9 inches tall. It is an above average-sized action figure and I am glad to see this new body mold as I start thinking about those guys with "above average" body types like maybe... Wonder Man or Avalanche... or Sandman, but there are only two figures I've seen so far that got this body mold, and the picture at the bottom proves that it's totally different from the rest of the body molds you've seen.

The overall paint application on this figure is not that mind-blowing nor something beyond the basics. Like most Marvel Legends, these solid colours just beams right into your eyes too flat and obvious. However, these Thunderbolts logo on both Cage's shoulders are painted/printed with balance and precision over his dimpling deltoids which kinda amazes me. In addition, Cage has a couple of these "metallic" arm guards, which is painted with a non-shiny type of gray colour as well as those around his legs. If you look closely around each elbows, you can see a bit of black paint crossing the elbow-line and it looked as though, if you take off the arm guards, Luke Cage is wearing a long black hoister gloves, which is... I don't know, weird!

Despite having a head, which is kinda bit oversized, I like the head sculpt of this figure; rendering a stern and a "serious-business" look on the character as he should be. He sort of got this The Rock-type of single eyebrow raise, which is pretty cool... I got no issue with it. All the lumps, dimples and cuts around his muscles are very well-balanced, and amazingly well-sculpted. The only gripe I had with this figure is the width of his crotch; I think the crotch should be wide enough so it doesn't look like he is pooping something inside his pants.

Articulation-wise, this figure has a decent amount of joints and swivels. The neck is ball-hinged that can move way high and way low, and can rotate 360. Ball-hinged shoulders that allows Cage to raise his arms to the front and back, and to the sides. He got swivel to the biceps, double-jointed elbows that doesn't perform to a full extent because of these arm guards, and ball-hinged on the wrists. This figure has a ratcheting ab crunch and waist swivel on his torso. Hasbro incorporated the T-joints, which allows this figure to kick to the front and to the sides. Going further, he got upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, calf swivel, hinged ankles that moves up and down, and ankle pivots.

For the sake of including him with the rest of the members of the Avengers or New Avengers, and especially the Thunderbolts, I definitely would advice anyone to get him. Not only he is a SDCC exclusive (if you're into collecting "exclusive" figures), but also it's a Luke Cage that has a much modern look with a completely different Marvel Legends body mold; something that is new and unique though rather not entirely unique.