Review of Marvel Legends Wave 2 Future Foundation Spider-Man Variant

The Basics:Scale: 6"
Price: $15.00 - $24.00

Character Bio:

In Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, high school student Peter Parker is a science- whiz orphan living with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Peter is bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibit and "acquires the agility and proportionate strength of an arachnid." Along with super strength, he gains the ability to adhere to walls and ceilings. Through his native knack for science, he develops a gadget that lets him fire adhesive webbing of his own design through small, wrist-mounted barrels. Initially seeking to capitalize on his new abilities, he dons a costume and, as "Spider-Man", becomes a novelty television star (sometimes wrestler). However, "He blithely ignores the chance to stop a fleeing thief, his indifference ironically catches up with him when the same criminal later robs and kills his Uncle Ben."Spider-Man tracks and subdues the killer and learns, "With great power there must also come—great responsibility!" Now with a new outlook, he protects the citizens of New York from all types of danger as the spectacular, the sensational, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN!!

Sculpt:

Eh, this is a hard one because the sculpt is the same as the one on both Daken and The Constrictor. I mean don't get me wrong, it's a great sculpt and suits the character very well,  but nothing much to talk about. The detail in the sculpt is very nice, muscular, good proportions. The headsculpt is perfect, nailing the eyes on Spidey, something that usually ranges from figure to figure. The other unique attributes are his fist (as far as I can tell) and his web shooting hand, which looks fantastic.

Paint:Now I won't lie. When I found out about this figure I was worried. This costume relies heavily on white paint and Hasbro is better known for.....well.......paint problems. But I hace to say. I am very impressed. This is the first time (and hopefully not the last) that I didn't have to go through four or five figures to find one with good paint. They were all perfect. There is no bleeding, no scratches, no chipping, nothing!! Well done Hasbro. Well done.

Accessories:Bupkis

Articulation:Web-head here has:
Ball-hinge head                                                                                

Swivel-hinge shoulders

Hinge shoulder blades

Swivel Biceps

Double-hinge elbows

Swivel-hinge wrists

Ab-crunch

Swivel waist

Swivel-hinge hips

swivel thighs

Double hinge knees

Ankle hinge

Ankle pivot!

That means....yes.....he can do a split

Overall:

This is a great Spider-Man! Right now he is really hard to find so I was happy when i got him at ToysRUs. If you can find him,  don't hesitate to get him. You won't regret it. I want to give this figure a 10, but considering the price and that he has no accessories at all (could have come with a web, web-line, alternate head, alternate hands) I have to drop him a point

9 OUT OF 10!!!

"Wait...why is my spider-sense tingling?"

Review of Play Arts Kai Arkham Asylum Joker!

The Basics:
Scale: 9"
Price: $59.99 - $80.99

Character Bio:When it comes to Mr.J here, it's very hard to give an accurate character bio as his origins have changed numerous times over the year, giving the character an even more insane persona, so I'll stick to this specific incarnation. As the night sky stretched over Gotham City, the Batmobile sped through the streets, making it's way to Arkham Asylum, with one of the deadliest villains inside. Batman escorts the Joker through the entrance of Arkham all the way to his holding cells, wondering why this seemed so easy. Why the Joker gave up without a fight. The Joker knew, but only time would reveal all the answers to the Batman. Time which the Joker would ensure, would keep him occupied.

The Sculpt:
I had nothing but praises for the Batman figure in sculpt and that carries over into the Joker. This sculpt is truly phenomenal and deserves much more attention than it's been getting. Let's work our way down. That face. My God its amazing. It gives off such a creepy vibe, just like it should. The sculpt isn't 100% game accurate like Batman,  but I actually find myself liking this look BETTER than the game's face. The hair is wonderful and eac individual strand can be seen. The torso is fantastic and made of two pieces. The first is the jacket and the upper torso. The jacket has wrinkles to make it look worn and the bowtie looks great. The dead flower looks fantastic and has so much detail. There are two pockets on the jacket, each sculpted excellently and rather than just paint the pinstriped on, they are actually sculpted!! The Lower half of the torso is the remainder of his shirt, which like the jacket, has sculpted pinstripes and buttons. The arms again carry on the sculpted pinstripes and lead into the cuffs, which looks great, and hat brings us to the hands, which are gloves, but what I love about them is that certain fingers, you can see the fingernails outlined, almost like they are too tight. Nothing unique in the lower body except the chain on his left thigh and the kneepatch on his left knee. Other than that, standard pinstripe sculpt. Finally, the shoes look fantastic, there is so much detail on the shoes making them look worn, its insane!

Paint:
 The paint on this figure is phenomenal. Every area of the figure is hand painted. The only thind that I can say to look out for, is the face. Around the eyes and nose, I noticed as I went through the figures on the shelf, some where pure white, some had a grey wash to simulate dirty make-up, and some were just plain grey. I went for the one with with a bit of a grey wash, because I thought it looked the best. I don't know if that's bad quality control, or just variants, but just keep an eye out and pick your favorite.

Articulation:Mr.J has quite alot of articulation:
Ball jointed head and neckBall jointed shoulder
Hinge shoulders
Hinge shoulder blades
Swivel biceps. 
Swivel forearms
Swivel-hinge elbows
Swivel wrust cuffs
Swivel-hinge wrists
Ball jointed upper torso
Ball-swivel thighs
Double hinge/ratchet knees
Swivel-hinge ankles

Accessories:
Joker comes with, like Batman, two interchangeable hands. One a clenched fist, and the other an open hand. He comes with his notorious pistol, and his chattering teeth. All have amazing sculpt and paint, and the teeth have a little extra. The teeth are on a hinge so they can open and close, and even the notch can twist. Thats crazy!

Overall:
Play Arts Joker is nothing short of amazing. He looks great, is very poseable, and has great accessories. Now i would like to adress an issue others have had with this figure. Others have said that the left shoulder pops out very easily. I had a similair problem but the solution is pretty easy. Simply take the arm out, put a VERY thin layer of krazy glue ( i reccomend using the brush krazy glue as you have more control over the ammount you put on) on the ball and wait for it to dry. I gave mine 30 minutes. Then pop it back in, the ball will be much tighter and secure. It worked on mine anyway. So yeah that said I--

"HEY!! Who do I have to kill to get a perfect score around here?"

No one Joker...no one.....

10 OUT OF 10!!!!!!!!!!

Review of DC Superheroes Steel!

The Basics:
Scale: 6"
Price: $69.95 (amazon)(price is so high because this figure hasn't been in production since 2005/2006)
Price I paid: $16 (local comic store)

Before the review starts, I apologize for any bad quality, it was hard to photograph this figure with perfect lighting due to his metallic chrome S-Shield. That said, sorry for any inconvienince, some pictures will be duplicates but with different lighting to show off details.

Character Bio:

Doctor John Henry Irons was a brilliant weapons engineer for AmerTek Industries, who eventually became disgusted when the BG-60, a powerful man-portable energy cannon he had designed, fell into the wrong hands and was used to kill innocent people. As the company would have coerced him to retain his services, John faked his death, and eventually came to Metropolis. While working a construction job high up on a skyscraper, he fell off while saving a friend from the same fate. His own life was saved by none other than Superman. When John Irons asked how he could show his gratitude, Superman told him to "live a life worth saving." During Superman's fatal battle against Doomsday, Irons attempted to help Superman fight the deadly menace by picking up a sledge hammer, but was buried in rubble amidst the devastation. Shortly after Superman's death, he finally awoke and crawled from the wreckage, confused and saying that he "must stop Doomsday." To avoid spoilers, i'll end this by saying Steel is still around today, and continues to fight for all of the morals that Superman stands for.

Sculpt:
Steel has a truly amazing sculpt. It's one of those sculpts that when a kid passes the toy in a store and has no idea who the character is, they will want it just because he looks cool. Now let's work our way down. Steel features an all new headsculpt and it captures the character perfectly. Every nut and bolt is in place and the facial expression is stern. The torso is made up of a few different pieces. The main piece, as far as I can tell, is a slightly modded Superman torso, the added bits are the silver line and nuts and bolts goign down the center. On top of this is his cape, sculpted as flowing slightly, a bit bunched at his back, and next to the cape is a shoulder pad on each shoulder, made of a soft rubbery plastic so it doesnt inhibit movement, but also maintains an excellent sculpt. Finally on top of all these pieces is the giant "S". It looks fantastic either in the regular, silver paint ot the variant chrome paint (in this review). As we work our way down, the arms appear to be  a re-use of Supermans but with different hands, each with a piece of steel on them, and gauntlets added over the forearms. The Left Guantlet being the more detailed. I cant remember the exact name of it but I knoe its purpose was to act as a laser gattling gun. The other is also well detailed but just a plain wrist guard. The belt looks fantastic, very detailed and has tubes that run down to the final sculpted detail, the boots. Jet-boots to be exact. The are fantastic and very "teched-out" looking and every thing comes together to create and amazing looking figure.

Paint:
The paint job on this figure is very interesting actually. In a good way. Apparently the figure was molded in black plastic so every inch of this figure (except the cape, wrist pieces, "S", and belt) is painted. That said the effect it gives off is amazing. The grey looks metallic, but no so vibrant that it is blinding, and the silver looks fantastic. The cape was molded in red plastic and given a blackwash to make it appear darker. The eyes came out great with no spill. A stunning paint job which is surprising seeing as how the come from the same company that today has terrible quality control.


Articulation:
Ball-jointed head
Swivel-hinge shoulders (slightly limited by shoulder pads and cape)
Swivel biceps
Hinge elbows
Swivel gauntlets
Swivel wrists
Ab-crunch
Swivel waist
T-joint hips (slightly limited for "split" poses by tubes on belt)
Swivel thighs
Hinge knees
Hinge-rocker ankles


Accessories:
Steel comes with the little display diorama as shown below and his hammer. The hammer is painted in silver and has so much detail going up and down it. Buttons and knobs on the hangle and little cracks on the top.

Overall:
This figure is truly fantastic. For 6 years I have wanted this guy but refused to pay the ridiculous online prices for it.  It has minor gripes such as limited articulation in a few areas but nothing too drastic. That said I want to give this figure a perfect 10 based in detail and articulation but I have to bring it down just a little bit. So close to perfection.
9 OUT OF 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the upcoming week i will bring you guys a review for the Play Arts Kai Joker, the weekly comic haul, a review of another Superman related figure on the way to get me that much closer to completing my Superman collection, and much more! Stick around guys!