Review of Star Wars: The Black Series 6" Darth Maul

           I swore I was done with Star Wars figures once Hasbro started making them with extremely limited articulation. The prices went up and quality (in terms of articulation anyway) went down, the vintage line became next to impossible to find after the 3rd wave in my area. I was so upset, because I love Star Wars. A line I had invested so much in, and after 10 years, I walked away. Then came the Black Series. Pictures surfaced of a new 6" line of figures for Star Wars that made me question if I could start fresh with a line of characters that I have loved since I was little, then the final photos of the first wave came through, and I saw him...my favorite Sith Lord.....Darth Maul. I knew if anything, I had to at least get him. So then the line was released and I had no luck, I figured it would be a repeat of the Vintage line again. Not one single Toys R Us has had this series at all near me. So I tried Target, and clearly the Force is with them as they had them all. I only picked up Maul, but this figure is so damn good, that I just might venture back into the world of a Star Wars collector, especially with Han Solo and Boba Fett coming out, but this isn't about them, this is about Darth Maul.

The Basics:
Scale: 6"
Price: $19.99 at Target

Character Bio:
The evil Sith apprentice Darth Maul engages in a fierce lightsaber duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have our revenge."




Sculpt and Paint:

The sculpt on Darth Maul is incredible. I mean this is just an amazing figure. All of the 3 3/4" Darth Maul figures have been close to perfection but something has thrown them off but this guy is flat out perfect. The robes are all well sculpted with the wrinkles, and they have an amazing texture. The boots look amazing as do the gloves, and I love the robes around the waist. My one issue with the 3 3/4" Vintage Maul was that the lower robes were all soft goods but on this one its soft goods but with plastic over them, which I love because it keeps them flat and in place.  The Headsculpt is spot on. The horns could have been sharper/pointier, but that's a minor nitpick and I get they needed to keep them a bit dull due to safety issues and the like.
In terms of paint, the only painted areas that I can tell are his head, which has an immaculate paint job, and the boots, gloves, and belt, which are a glossy black. Now on the shelf, when I got him there were two, and both had perfect paint jobs, but as always I would compare them just to make sure you get the ideal figure.

Articulation and Accessories:
In the accessory department, Darth Maul comes with quite a bit. He has a monocular ( the device he used in Tatooine to watch the ship holding Princess Amidala, and the Jedi land, a dual-bladed lightsaber that can a.) split in half to become two lightsabers, and b.) you can remove the blades and plug the hilt into his waist. Now we aren't done. He comes with an alternate head that has his Sith robes attached to it. They are made of a very pliable rubber that slide right over him and stay in place perfectly.

Now this part is awesome. I have been waiting for a Star Wars figure to have this much articulation. Darth Maul has a balljointed head with a hinge that allows him to look back and down very far,  swivel-hinge shoulders, swivel-hinge elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, a balljointed torso, marvel universe style balljointed hips, swivel thighs, DOUBLE-HINGE KNEES!!!, and an ankle hinge and ankle PIVOT!!!!! This is so FREAKING AWESOME!!!! The poses you can get out of this guy are freaking amazing, but more on those later.

OVERALL:
This figure sis a prime example of what a 6" Star Wars figure should be. Amazing articulation and accessories, perfect paint and sculpt, and one thing I want to point out is that the plastic used to make this guy feels so much more durable than the plastic used on the Marvel Legends, for example the elbows and knees on the Bucky Cap mold always were very bendy, none of that here, though the lightsaber hilt is a bit softer plastic, but I can understand why, and it isn't really noticeable unless you are trying to bend the hilt. The packaging is incredibly collector friendly, open the top flap, slide out the tray containing the figure, you can place him back in the tray if you want, slide it back in, close the flap, looks like it was never opened. Overall this is one of the best purchases I have made in 2013, easily in my top 10, he is worth every penny, and I cannot wait to see what is coming next in Star Wars: The Black Series.

10 OUT OF 10!!!!!!

 

LOOK AT IT!!! MARVEL AT IT!!!!



Review of NECA 1/4 Man of Steel Superman figure!

 

Some pictures of the box, and a height comparison:

 

 

Some pictures of the box, and a height comparison:

It, Has. Arrived.

Finally, After months of agonizing waiting, one of my most anticipated releases has shown up at my front door. Without hesitating, I signed for the package, brought it in and sliced open the tape on the 21" box, pulled back the cardboard, and was greeted with such a beautiful sight.



It has finally arrived. Unfortunately the collector box he's packaged in is not in the best of shape, but the figure itself is fine. No stuck joints, no loose joints, pure perfection. I have wanted him for so long and finally, the centerpiece of my Man of Steel collection has arrived, now there will be a full review soon but for now, I took a few pics of this 18" wonder. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

This is one hell of a figure, he does, as almost everyone has said, have some issues with stability, so I'm currently working on a stand for the review, so I hope to get that out soon. No words for how awesome this figure is!

 

 

 







Review of Marvel Select's The Wolverine movie figure!

 
Character Bio:
The Wolverine finds James Howlett, a.k.a Logan, a.k.a Wolverine, living on his own in the Yukon after killing the second great love of his life, Jean Grey. Summoned to Japan by an elderly businessman whose life he saved in World War II, he is given an offer he can't refuse: the removal of his mutant healing factor, the source of his long lifespan. Having lived over a century, Logan accepts the offer and, with the burden of eternal life off his shoulders, begins to find happiness again. But when his cure turns out to be his curse and those he loves are threatened, he must unsheathe his claws and hunt down his enemies, without a healing factor to keep him alive.
The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and retails at most local comic shops for $24.99.

 Sculpt and Paint:
This figure depicts Wolverine from the opening flashback sequence in World War II, where he was shirtless with army pants and boots. The sculpt is fantastic and looks much more like Hugh Jackman than the previous Marvel Select movie Wolverine. The figure has a very nice sculpt overall from the muscle definition, to the veins. The pants have great wrinkles sculpted and the boots look great. All three heads and sets of hands (we'll get more into detail with those in accessories) look wonderful and I really like this customizable figure approach that Marvel Select is taking with their figures like they did with the Venom figure from earlier this year. Paint wise the figure is pretty good but their is a bit of slop where the pants meets the torso, so watch out for that, some have it well done, some have paint missing towards the top of the pants. Other than that the face is painted wonderfully.

Articulation and Accessories:
In terms of articulation, Wolverine has a balljointed head, swivel-hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinge elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, a balljointed mid-torso joint, very odd H-hips, swivel thighs, double-hinge knees, swivel shins, swivel-hinge/ankle rocker ankles. Now the hips are strange because they are like the Marvel Select Venom and Avengers Hulk hips, but when I move it out, the whole joint moves down leaving a gap between the top of the hip and the area where it hinges out to the side. I don't know if its just mine but its very strange, and once its out, you can push it back up to cover the gap. I'm thinking mine maybe had a molding error, but I'm honestly not sure. It doesn't hurt the figure, the joint can't pop out, but I just found it to be a really weird joint.
For Accessories, Wolverine has three heads, one pissed, one very pissed, and one super pissed. He also has three sets of hands, one clenched fists with adamantium claws, one clenched fist and open palm with bone claws, and one with two clenching hands with no claws to hold his final accessory, his samurai blade.

 

OVERALL:
One other thing worth noting is that the back of the box says this figure comes with a base. It does not. That too isn't the worst thing because the figure stands fine on it's own and we get a LOT of accessories with Logan here. The base in the pics below is from the first movie Wolverine Marvel Select did. This figure..it's hard to say whether he is a must have. For a few reasons. The first is that, the definitive wolverine for you may be his comic costume and not shirtless Fabio here. Second, You may want a movie Wolverine with an X-Men costume, and if that's the case I'd wait until Days of Future Past is released to see if we will get one from Diamond Select. On the whole however, I've had, at some point or another, all of  the movie-verse Wolverine figures in the 6" scale and this one, to me is the hands down best one we have gotten to date. So if you just want a really good Movie Wolverine, and don't care about his wardrobe, I would definitely recommend this guy weird hips aside. He is an awesome figure with tons of accessories and he looks great on display. As of late Marvel Select has been delivering some amazing products and I cannot wait to see what's next!

9.5 OUT OF 10!!! (CURSE YOU AWKWARD HIP JOINT!!)