Toy Review: Star Wars Black Series: Sandtrooper 6"

Toy Review: Star Wars Black Series: Sandtrooper 6"

Going back two years for this guy who has been making his rounds through my shelves and storage.  This was from the very first run of the Fairly recent Star Wars black series 6" inch deluxe figures.  The Sandtrooper was THE figure to get and was nearly impossible to find at retailers.  He was notoriously missing from online sellers or going for nearly double the retail cost.  I myself found him at Target and only saw him one other time in the whole span.  He was one of four figures consisting of R2-D2, Luke in X-Wing gear and Darth Maul...a pretty random set of figures to start off a line but lets give it till wave 5/6 are out (if ever) and we have a nice cross section of both trilogies to look at.  Some of the upcoming stuff looks great and I very much like the focus on the OT but am surprised that there is yet to be a Grievous or New Hope Princess Leia...the Slave Leia choice just baffled my mind as these are extremely articulated figures and it doesn't work very well on a flesh clad mold...I know they cannot do Phicen but since that is they case, any clothed Leia would have worked better for me...(Apparently they are going to release a Ceremonial New Hope Leia in a future wave packed with a TIE pilot we will have to sell our souls to find on shelves)

Anyway, here he is.  One of the first troopers from the Original Trilogy and he looks great.  They really did a great job nailing the specific identifying features that differentiate him from the normal Stormtrooper...the knee pad, the helmet paint, the belt. Everything is very accurate. The desert wear on him is convincing but not over the top just like the Scout Trooper and his extra blaster and rifles are nice.  There is really nothing I would add to this guy and am happy he didn't get a Scout Droid packed in with him although I would understand if special edition fans might be a bit bummed at the loss.

 

He stands well on his own and is pretty sturdy with a removable oxygen backpack and shoulder ammo pouch that attaches to the backpack.  His orange paulderon also can come off if you pop his head off.  His articulation is very nice and he can hold his rifle and weaponry in many nice various poses.  The paint is very nice with a cool sheen that shows through the dirt.  Something about this series does a great job emulating various textures.  Armor looks plastic-like, as does vinyl, cloth, rubber etc.  Gloss touches in all the right places and dirt and wear looks strikingly convincing.  In the world were Hot Toys and Revoltech take the very expensive cake, it's good to know Hasbro can and sometimes will step up the plate and make high quality yet still affordable merchandise.

If you can still find him, go for it.  Otherwise a repaint of him with a black paulderon is right around the corner!

See ya!

Toy Review: Star Wars Black Series - 6" Speeder Bike with Biker Scout

Toy Review: Star Wars Black Series 6" Speeder Bike with Biker Scout.

 

 

 

 

This review will be simple and to the point.  Hands down, the best Star Wars item I own.  Absolute nicest version of the Imperial Speeder Bike and Scout I've seen in any action figure format. Every detail has been hit with perfect detail, the articulation is spot on, the paint apps are great (for mine) and there's honestly nothing closer to a perfect figure.  I cannot tell you how happy I am to look at this guy on my desk.  

With all the good there are still some very small gripes particularly with the bike.  Wish the handlebars and foot pedals could move and the shifter handlebar switches could adjust as well as the controls on the paneling.  Strange they didn't mold separate break line cables separate from the handlebars instead of into them like they decided.   It would have been a great touch for the cover/poncho to be removable or God-willing it to be a soft goods item and  I noticed the exhaust flaps only partially open which was a surprise.

 

 

 As for the Scout, I like him a lot.  Only things I'd add was a little more articulation in the waist and neck so he would be able to really hunch over those handlebars.  I also would have likes a flip up visor but that never happened in the film so they get a pass.   Now this seems like a lot of criticism but I noticed these things because I like the item so much.  They are small disappointments only because the black series touted itself to be the ultimate in detail/realism yadda yadda and I feel without these features it makes this cross the realm into a stature not meant to be played with.  Even collectors like features, you know?

The positives though are plentiful.  This guy is super articulated and I cannot say how much I love having a Scout who can mount and dismount without looking bow-legged, awkward or goofy-waisted.  The paint on him is absolutely great with mild combat wear yet still a cleaner appearance.  The boot blaster is a great small size and way more accurate than these magnum sized weapons previous scout received in toy form.  His helmet is greatly proportioned and detailed, as well as his backpack, armor and pads.  The sculpt is great and his armor looks like armor while his pouches, boots, pads and undersuit all look like actually different maters be it vinyl, leather, mesh, plastic etc.  The bike is perfectly suited for him with nice weathering in well spotted places.  The front comes off with fine engine details on the underside and the undercarriage in general is beautiful.  The exhaust fans on the rear look superb with each rivet and bolt looking highly realistic.  The stand is sturdy and can hold him from any three of the supports.  The back flaps open slightly, the cannon rotates and the foot pedals are removable to better position the rider for posing.  Hasbro did a whole lot right with this set and I cannot wait for the Tauntaun. 

 

League Assignment: CONtemplation

CONtemplation.

 
SDCC 2014 is a wrap. What peaked your interest most this year? What was a disappointment?

Hello LoEB'ers!  I'm long out of the loop but have been steadily getting back into the swing of thing this past month.  With re-admission to the blog-roll pool, I feel it would only be pertinent to resume weekly posts to the League.  

SDCC...Some major good news in quite a few areas, namely in Transformers and Star Wars.

I've been getting back into Transformers modern Voyager, 30th and Generations stuff and the bar none biggest news was the reveal of the combiners slated for 2015.

That's right; Superior and Menasor with a beautiful set of Arialbots and Stunticons.  Headsculpts are amazing, tight paint, great looking articulation to match anything from the third parties and I absolutely cannot wait to have these monsters up on display!  There really wasn't any disappointing news from their camp.  Plus One, Hasbro!

In the world of Star Wars, there was some pretty cool showings from the 6 inch black series with a first look at a 6 inch Wampa and Luke encounter and a 6 inch Tauntaun (awesome!) with Hoth Han and TIE Fighter pilot.  Cannot wait for the Emperor and Royal Guard or Death Star Gunner. The 6 inch black series just really impresses me and I really like the direction they are taking now that there looks to be some nice variety on the way.   Not that thrilled with the essential repacks of "Han in Stormtrooper disguise" and repaint non-canon "Shadow Squadron" or how Hasbro handled the pullback of the super huge 18 figure wave by replacing it with (in their words) "Something else."  Boo.  

 

 

Bummer in general is how long we will have to wait especially myself who lives in a toy vortex where my Walmart doesn't stock toys, my Toys R Us is half Babies R Us and thus never changes their stock and my Target seems to be a month behind the curve.  Oi.

Plus Good: Finally We are seeing a great rendition of Marty McFly with the Delorian.


Bad:  He's hellishly expensive.


Those were my highlights...Also...LOOOOOVED the new Mad Max Trailer.


How about you?

A few frustrations at the current state of collecting...

A few frustrations I have as a collector mostly toward Hasbro...am I crazy?  Does anyone else feel this way?

1. Collecting a simple line is next to impossible for years now if you like Star Wars or Transformers and want to buy product from the big 3 (Target, TRU and Walmart)

2. Why do retailers overstock and continue to overstock garbage waves that no one buys...TVC Phantom Menace...40 dollar Star Wars vehicles that sit and sit...Year of the Horse OP...like dozens of him?

3. Why won't retailers put every figure from a wave on their online site?  Even if they don't have it...can they at least acknowledge that somewhere in one of their stores carries said figure? (e.g. every Black Series figure past wave 1 or Transformers legends class...)

4. Seriously, why can't they do #3?  Tailgate...Skrapnel...SWERVE!?!?! Where are these Goddamned figures???

5. Why doesn't HASBROTOYSHOP.COM have it's own products listed?  Forget preorders (which makes no sense that they refuse to do that one).  Why can I not order a product directly from them and have to wait...up to 6 months for a figure that apparently has been on ebay for half a year to show up in my local stores?  Do you just not like making money?

6. KMART and now WALGREENS exclusives? WTF? When I think Walgreens, I think collectible toys. Why don't you fix your relationship with an actual TOY SELLER like Toy's R Us before you broaden to drug stores.

7. Angry Birds....Transformers....because the star wars shit I've seen sitting on clearance for months wasn't a big enough red flag that this is a line to satiate a call NO ONE ever asked for.  Honestly, what target market are you  trying to hit?  It's like you hate your true blue collectors so much that you are trying to make the shelf space for actual Toys (action figures) that aren't stuffed animals, or board games, or dice games or whatever stupid ass minifigure game you are shilling that nobody wants so small that we just all give up.  It worked for me and Star Wars, I'm currently selling off my modern figures out of disgust.

8. Why are your waves so random?  Remember "Collect 'em All!" That concept doesn't even exist anymore! Collect 'em All...why? So I can recreate that scene where that one single Jabba Skiff Guard fought Hoth Luke while a Clone Trooper watched?  Put some shit out with at least a speck of continuity!

9.  Playsets aren't cost feasible yet a 70.00 Slave 1 Amazon exlusive or a Linkin Park Soundwave is?

10. Why do you refuse to make commercials?

11.  Why are you creating a line of dumbed down transformers?  You already have a line for little kids called rescue bots sold in the ages 1-3 section but we need easy change bots for older kids now?  What is going on?

12. Do you honestly know you suck this hard that 3rd parties from every direction are stepping up to deliver on the vacuum you've created in demand for two of the greatest toy lines ever produced???

13. Why did you effectively let G.I. Joe die on the table?

I realize that as an adult collector I make up maybe 1/20th of the market as a generous guess but here's the thing.  If you want the other 19/20ths of toy buying children to foster a love of your lines and toys the way we do it's real simple...take your business model from the 80's and copy that.  Stop changing everything for the worse.  Stop showing up at toy shows to tell everyone what new great stuff you're planning and then doing as little as possible to make those products reach your customers.  Seriously, I'm excited as hell over your combiners but then I thought..like I'd ever find 6 separate figures stocked anywhere near me unless I plan to pay 20 percent more from an online retailer or sky's the limit from a scalper on ebay.

Am I alone? Anyone? Anyone? 

Toy Fair 2014...deep pockets required.

The Toy God's have spoken and boy have they ever!

Since my last post, I have since sold a ton of my Joes, games, Legos and G1's and cleared out the toy room to convert into a playroom for the little man.  It was a fair trade and he needs a great place to play instead of a toy museum.  Everything is in storage in my basement.  All I'm saying is he will have a great set of birthdays from 5 on when he gets to dive into those boxes. But after this years Toy Fair, it's looking like I may have to add a few choice items to those boxes.  :)

Hasbro has had an overall disappointing year so far at least for me Star Wars-wise, still haven't seen wave 2.5 for the black 3.75 series...I mentioned in my last post in September about the Nikto guard I wanted and it looks like he is going to go the way of the Imperial Navy Commander that I so far haven't seen ever on the pegs.  I haven't seen any new stock for the 3.75 black series in any of the local retailers.  I did get the Boba Fett 6" and have seen him consistently at my local Target store.

All I can say is I hope Hasbro makes nice with the chain stores and gets their upcoming lines stocked and out for sale!  Toy Fair showed some impressive entries in all of their major lines.  Star Wars is an old school collector's dream come true with tons of vintage era original trilogy stuff in beautiful detail.  Transformers have a ton of classics and generations and some great voyager and leader class bots.  GI Joe is getting some proper love for its 80's characters and vehicles.

Beyond Hasbro, Lego is making some impressive entries as well as NECA and Funco whose ReAction figure line is giving amazing treatment to tons of 80's properties that never we graced with action figures.  You're going to need some deep wallets for 2014!

In the spirit of keeping this relatively brief, I won't go into listing off every single thing that has been unveiled nor will I go into my pessimism regarding crappy stocking and retailer stubbornness but I'll just list off a few wish items and things that caught my (and I'm guessing anyone else who shares my tastes) eye.

Start with the big guns and by far the best news of the show.  Star Wars.  Not only are there some strong showings for the new Rebels line just in time to reignite interest in Episode VII's release next year but there have been some highly anticipated figure announcements that I'm sure pleased a lot of collectors and fans, especially of the original trilogy.  The Black Series is showing some powerhouse lineups with the 6" line covering an amazing looking Darth Vader (with removable three piece helmet), Chewbacca, Jedi Luke, Biker Scout with Speeder Bike and Jabba the Hutt, additionally your going to see a standard Clone Trooper and Revenge of the Sith Anakin with good and evil face deco option and a repaint of the Sandtrooper with black paulderon. On top of this Hasbro's Q and A announced we will see an episode VI Emperor Palpatine for this line down the road, awesome.  Only sour note here is Jabba does not include Salacious B Crumb nor his dais which are rumored to be in a SDCC exclusive set going the way of the Carbonite Han...rrrr.

Moving onto the 3.75 line for the black series, we are seeing a dream wave.  I've never seen a wave since I started collecting where I literally wanted every figure and this one may very well be the first.  Luke in Dagobah gear with Yoda, Toryn Farr (never made), a new Vader, a rerelease of Hoth Luke, Snowtrooper officer (never made), Also never made for modern lines, we see Ree Yees and  my absolute favorite never yet produced figure, Sgt. Doallyn (I've been waiting for him for 30 years and Bane Malar was the closest we ever got to him) Slam Freaking Dunk! 

 

I'm glad the figure line is showing such OTC love since Lego is primarily going the route of the prequels with exception to a small mini set of a Death Star Turbolaser cannon early in the year (nicely with 2 Imperial Gunner and Royal Guard minifigs...strange no Death Star Troopers) however later in 2014 for the holidays we are getting some great treatments of the Snowspeeder, B-Wing, AT-AT, Star Destroyer and Cantina (FINALLY) along with minivehicles and a super detailed Sandcrawler (minifigs we haven't seen are Greedo, Cantina Band members, Nien Numb, General Madine, sleeker Storm and Snowtroopers, General Veers, Scanning Crew, New Imperial Officers of both green and black uniforms and an emperor's hologram!)...Also we are going to see rereleases of Batila Shan, Imperial Royal Guard, Dack Ralter, StarKiller and Darth Malgus for those who missed it.  I will, however, believe it when I see it.

Next up are the transformers. I'll just preface this part with the fact that I hate the Bayformers and everything associated including the overcomplicated, messy, bone-like designs that don't even translate well as the toys they were inspired by and thus intended to be.  Transformers also apparently are too hard to transform for children so they are releasing a 1-2 step line that clicks into place like the Generations Slammer Cassettes for the newer players.  I'll just say they look hideous.  This is also not the Rescue Bots or Robot Heroes that are intended for little kids, this is a branch of the actual transformers line.  I'll just say, "kid, if a Transformer is too hard for you, go kill yourself." The Trans4mers figures look terrible as well.  Grimlock looks like an Academy Award and doesn't even look like he'd fit in with the Beast Wars line, Hound has a Beard (what?) and is not a jeep, Galvatron is some kind semi (okay)...whatever I won't even go on.  They are making a G1 cartoon inspired modern Optimus figure that looks nothing like the awful big-screen rendition because blue and red would be just too colorful for Bay's reimagining where the Transfomers are homophobic, racist and fart.   His bot mode is a little too Japanime but he does have a solid alt-mode so good for him.  Okay done with that onto the good stuff. 




As close as we'll ever get to the Valkyrie, It definitely will do!

 

I know he's not a Toy Fair reveal but I freaking love this figure!

We are seeing a ton of Classics and Generations figures coming out of the woodwork.  Some amazing Leader and Voyager class figures that look like pure revamped updates of their G1 counterparts.  Whirl, RoadBuster, Scoop, Jetfire (YYYYEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHH) are all looking like must haves.  I'm loving the Targetmasters and for those who you who likes the minicons, the Generation's line is releasing tons of them including Swerve, Windcharger, Tailgate, Gears and Cosmos among others including a three pack of minibots that are all combiners!  And It looks like we will see another SDCC/Toy's R Us exclusive re-release of Grimlock for the Masterpiece line for those who missed him.  He would like very nice next to my Soundblaster.  Let's hope he comes at a reasonable price tag as opposed to the Takara 200 dollar re-release we are seeing floating around on BBTS. Despite yet another terrible reimagining of the Autobots and Decepticons in theaters, we will see a strong showing of figures.  Lets hope the T4's don't take up too much shelf space which box out the guys we want.  You know they will though.

Finally to the third of my major brands...GI Joe...This franchise is celebrating its hallmark 50th anniversary this year so we will be seeing a bunch of relelases in the otherwise dormant line... A lotta repaints...meh and it doesn't look like we will be seeing any single figure releases other than three-figure battle packs and two-figure versus packs.  Even the vehicles are two packs with two pack in figures.  So down the line we see Blowtorch vs H.E.A.T. viper, Lowlight vs Night Viper (painted red not green), Lady Jay vs Baroness, Arctic Snowjob (redundant) vs Arctic B.A.T. and the three packs are Beachhead vs Cobra Trooper and repaint Viper and Destro vs Hawk and Leatherneck. 

 

 

 

 The vehicle sets are the Cobra WOLF with Ice Viper (my all time favorite vintage figure) vs a repaint Sky Hawk with arctic camo with another Snake Eyes in arctic gear...meh and a repaint Vamp Mk II vs Cobra Night Landing in two decos of repaints of Flint vs Cobra EELs all previously released other than the night landing boat.  Really Hasbro, this is some serious fleecing of Joe Fans by forcing them to rebuy figures they already have for a taste of some new product considering there are legions of characters specially from the late 80's you haven't revamped.  This is like the Star Wars threepacks that made collectors buy a second Tusken Raider and Fett for a single Snaggletooth figure....Do you want these things to be returned with "the Corps figures" switched in the boxes because that's where I see this going.

 

 On the other hand, if you like the GI Joe Kre-O Line, wow.... there are some beautiful additions.  First off, you can get a Kre-O sized Terror-Drome with cobra trooper, Gung-Ho, Mainframe, Tomax, Xamot, Corbra Trooper, Sky Hawk vehicle and Serpentor.  Also coming up is a Firebat, Wolverine, Python Cycle with some great Kre-ons like Snow Serpent, Lady Jaye, Scrap Iron, Torch,Wetsuit, Alpine, Doc, Footloose, Lowlight and Night Creeper.  Looks like a pretty strong showing but again, the stocking of this line as a Toys R Us exclusive has been abyssmal as of now as I've only ever seen the blind bag Kre-ons for Joes stocked ONE TIME in the last 2 years.   So, if you can find these guys, they are definitely worth checking out.



When else can you contextually have your figures "bring out the Gimp"?

The Funco production of Pulp Fiction, Terminator, Goonies, Back to the Future, Universal Monsters, Nightmare Before Christmas among other popular 80's lines all piggypacking on the very cool Alien figure line released earlier in 2013.   They look straight out of the late 70's/early 80's Kenner lines with limited articulation and nice rubbery sculpts.  I love the vintage look however the playability of these lines seems limited and only geared at a small collecting base.  At 10 bucks a figure, it still seems reasonable to get a few nice desk pieces and I'm sure many fans of each property will enjoy seeing their favorites get some proper action figure conceptualization.



See the Rocketeer in the corner!?!?

The bigger scale/ pricier  figures lines such as Kotobukiya and Neca are all producing some nice stuff. We are seeing additions to Gremlins, Robocop, Godzilla, Planet of the Apes and Alien.  I'm eying the Aliens-line with a nice Bishop, Kane and Power Loader planned for release and apparently a soon-to-be Ripley since Sigourney Weaver finally granted her likeness to be made in toy form, yay!  Koto is making quite a few new Marvel and DC figures along with a nice Star Wars lineup. Hot Toys is making a great looking Batman, Joker and Iron Man stuff.   Not my cup of expensive tea so check it out on your own if interested.

 

Holy Sweet Mother of God!

My show stopper and where I end it is with Lego...did you see the Lego Movie Sea Cow????? It's essentially the airship to end all airships and is set at a beastly 250 bucks!  I acutally built a similar creation back in the day with my friends who put all our castle and pirate sets together to build a massive multi storied airship and even that, as awesome as it was, doesn't hold a candle to this amazing beast!  Additionally, for those of you wanting some Lego to go with your Ghostbusters fix, your long awaited prayers are answered with the fan-created Ecto-1 with the likes of Venkman, Stantz, Spengler and Zeddemore for a paltry sum of 50 dollars.  Hell to the Yeah.  Also we can expect the Lego Simpsons house coming along very soon as well as Simpsons action figures commemorating their best guest stars including James Brown and Tom Hanks.  Credit card debt will be well worth it with the likes of all these amazing toys coming around this year.  If I had to choose; Ecto-1, 6 inch Speeder Bike, sgt. Doallyn and Ree-Yees and the Jetfire Leader Class and I'd be good for the year.