The End?

      I know I haven't posted in a while, and I made schedules that I haven't lived up to. So I've been thinking about this for a long time, because even though it seems small and insignificant, it's not to me. I started this blog back in 2011 because I love comics. I love action figures. And for the longest time I wanted to review them online like all the websites I used to follow. I did review them. Then time went on, schedules changed, new priorities arose, and it got harder to make time in my schedule to make reviews. I did manage to get it there for a while, and I loved every second of it. Then I got my camera, and tried my hand at video reviews, and while I love taking pictures of figures and writing up reviews, in terms of schedules, video reviews are a lot faster. Even though I found that new medium I tried to keep reviews coming here as well via text reviews, but it wasn't working out well. I didn't want to forget where I started. I didn't, and I won't. I love comics. I love figures. I'm going to keep reviewing them. Just not here. I can't fit the time anymore. Between school, a job, and possibly a second job, I can't make it work. The website will stay up as an archive, and also as a reminder of what I started here for myself. I'll also put the video reviews on here, but as far as original content just for the blog, that's done. I never really checked how many of you followed this blog post to post, or just dropped in for a specific post, but regardless, thank you. All of you, for making me see that all of this wasn't for nothing. Sure to the average joe this may seem like a bit much for a post about ending a blog about figures and comics, but to me, this was everything. Getting on here to type up a review, or editorial, or whatever allowed me to escape the stresses of daily life for a bit, and it allowed me to showcase my opinions and showed me that I had a voice, even when I thought I didn't. So thank you again, Below is a link to my youtube channel that you can subscribe to for new reviews every few weeks. With all that said, I want to thank you one last time for sticking with this ol'blog for as long as you did, and until next time, this has been Toni-El, signing off.

           

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfITMo8Qikvk4YCd5kVbeAQ

Review of the Marvel Legends Infinite Series Classic Spider-Man figure!

Review of the DC Collectibles Batman The Animated Series The Joker!

Review of the Marvel Shop/ Disey Store Exclusive Thor God of Thunder Marvel Select figure!

Review of the Star Wars The Black Series 6" Darth Vader Figure!

You guys have no idea, how hard I tried to find this guy at retail since he starting trickling into stores at the end of 2014. Now, finally, he is mine. The circle is now complete. *Insert Star Wars quote about destiny here* ON WITH THE REVIEW!!

The Basics:
Scale: 6 1/2"
Price: $19.99 in store, $27.99 - $81.99 online

Box Bio:
After Darth Vader and Luke join forces to defeat the Emperor, Vader asks Luke to help him remove the mask that covers his face.
           "Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes."
The Packaging:
This is the new "Black Series" packaging style for 2015 with the blue highlights replacing the orange.

Sculpt and Paint:
 This figure, is my second figure purchase from this line. Not because I don't like the others, but because if you go to any local store in my area you will find 20 Greedos and 3 Slave Leia's clogging the pegs. No, this isn't leading to a "the force was with me and I found him one day" joke, because it wasn't, and I didn't. I had to order him online, which is something I hate doing with Hasbro figures because their QC is not always that great. That said I lucked out with this guy as he is near perfect. I say near perfect, because I don't really care for the brown/burgundy eyes he has , but that's nothing paint can't fix. Now as for the sculpt and paintwork here, it's top notch. The suit itself is sculpted very well capturing all of the wrinkles and creases in Lord Vader's suit. His control box has all of the buttons in place with perfect paint apps. His chest armor and belt are separate pieces put over the body, and his belt is painted exceptionally well, with all of the paint on the buttons nice and crisply painted. His shoulder armor is also well done, as are his gloves. 

One thing that's really cool is that his left hand is sculpted in that "I am your father" pose. The only downside is he can't dual wield, but hey, it's still really cool. His boots look great with all of the buckles on there, and to be honest, he is primarily hard, so how can you really screw up his paint? His helmet has a removable function allowing your Vader figure to "look on you with his own eyes". And he. Looks. Menacing. The sculpt looks perfect and nicely depicts Sebastian Shaw (the actor portraying Vader at the end of ROTJ). His scars are all there with some slight paint work on them, and his eyes are really well done. 

All of the buttons and do-dads on the lower helmet portion are picked out in paint as well. The two issues that divided a lot of collector's on this figure are the soft goods, and helmet size/sculpt, The cape is long, but I personally like it long. 

It flows over him really nicely, has a real metal chain attached, and looks menacing. I do agree the way it's attached is a bit odd, it's sown onto the chest armor, but that's nothing a pair of scissors and some crazy glue can't fix, though it doesn't bother me at all as mine is on really well. Check out the cape in packaging though because some have it sown on well, while others don't. Luck of the draw i guess...or will of the force....yes it's going to be one of those reviews. The other soft goods are the robes he has over his torso and under the belt/over the legs. It's all one piece so it does slightly limit the torso movement. I can get him to do a full left and right, as well as slightly past that, but he won't do a 360 at the waist. Not that he'd need too....because he is human...are they called humans in Star Wars?....huh....anyway. I like the look, and while some have said it looks odd on the figure and lacks detail, well, cloth can't be super-detailed all the time..it's cloth...that's how cloth works, plus this isn't a Hot Toys or some high end brand, it's a 6" Star Wars figure from Hasbro, the fact that we have it at all is amazing.

Articulation and Accessories:
For articulation, Lord Vader has a ball-joint at the neck which allows for some surprisingly good movement. He has swivel-hinge shoulders which are slightly limited going up due to the shoulder armor, swivel-hinge elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, ball-jointed torso (concealed very nicely I might add), ball-jointed hips, swivel at the thighs, double-hinge knees, and  hinge-rocker ankles.
For accessories Vader comes with his light saber and like other Black Series figures, the blade can be removed from the hilt BUT unlike other Black Series figures it cannot be clipped to his belt. That's not really a problem for me because, well, I would never pose him without it in his hand. Only the right hand can hold it.

Now for the other issue that has some fans up in arms. The helmet. As mentioned above, the helmet has a feature where it can be removed in two parts. First, the dome can be removed like in the iconic scene where we see Vader in the meditation chamber. There are some nice details at the top of the helmet and in the dome as well that could have been picked out in paint, but at the same time, I get why they didn't. Friction from popping it apart would probably scrape the paint off over time.

 Then you can remove the front of the helmet, which is where there's a problem. It isn't fit to Vader's head as securely as the dome is to the helmet. So if you try to move his head, chances are you'll pop off the helmet in the process. Now here's a top secret trick to avoid this. Ready? You sure? Positive? Okay. You hold the helmet on his head, as you turn it. Revolutionary right? HahahahaIsensedeaththreats. Seriously though. I understand it's a bit frustrating, but the fact that IT'S A 6" VADER FIGURE, makes it a lot easier to tolerate. Yes some are arguing they could have done two separate heads, but that would have meant more money, and let's be honest. The amount of Vaders we've gotten in the 3" line over the years, we're bound to see more 6" Vaders, some probably without the removable helmet, so it's a non-issue in my book. That said, the interior of the mask is LOADED with detail begging for paint, but it would probably scrape against the face if it is constantly being pulled on and off.
 
Overall:
This is a REALLY well done figure. There are things that have collector's divided, which again, I understand, but I don't agree with. I think this is one hell of an action figure, that should be in every Star Wars fans collection. So do the right thing here. Give yourself to the dark side and get this figure.
10 OUT OF 10!!!!

Lord Vader...Rise

Ok, so after a llllooonnnnggg delay, it is finally here. I will have the review up tomorrow night, 1/31 at around 7p.m, if not earlier! Hhhooooman this is going to be so sweet!

Tentative Review Schedule (UPDATED)

So due to the recent snow storm in NY, there was a delay with a package that I've been greatly anticipating getting to my home. Therefore I had to switch around my reviews. The package should be here this Friday, so provided that works out, this weeks review will be up either Friday or Saturday night. What is the package? Check out the tentative review schedule below!

1/30 or 1/31 Star Wars The Black Series 6" Darth Vader figure

2/13 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Gamestop Exclusive Ebony Assassin Ezio

2/20 Funko Pop! Lot #1 The Walking Dead

2/27 Funko Pop! Lot #2 Transformers

3/6 Funko Pop! Lot #3 Comic Book Heroes & Villains

3/13 Transformers Age of Extinction Blu Ray Limited Edition Gift Set Statue

3/20 Go-Figure Custom Post Age of Extinction Deluxe Class Drift

3/27 Editorial "My Top 5 Favorite Graphic Novels"

  4/3 Review of Superman: Secret Identity Graphic Novel

Now the reason that this is a tentative schedule is because, most of the items on here aren't exactly "new" or action figures. They are there because, as I said in a previous post, I am trying to get new content out every Friday. So as of now the Darth Vader review, as well as the Funko reviews won't change as they are all newer figures. The rest of them will be moved ONLY if I am able to acquire a new figure to review before that date. That said, I am hoping my Vader will be here by tomorrow so I can get that review up!

The Year Going Forward

So I realized that in my last review I forgot to mention what review I would be doing this upcoming friday. So rather than go back and edit that in, it gives me the opportunity to make a new post about what to expect this year from the blog. In short, I will be trying to have a review up every Friday. Now the thing about that is financially, I might not be able to have a "New" figure review every Friday. For example this Friday (January 23rd) I will be reviewing a figure that I just bought, but was made in 2011. So I will try to do as many "new" or fairly recent reviews as I can, but at times I may need to dip into older figures that I personally, haven't reviewed yet. However if I feel that the figure is too old, for example, if it's from 2005, then I'll replace the review post for that week with a "New Comic Haul" or a "Graphic Novel Review" or something to fill the gap. Basically I want to try and get some type of new content up at least once a week this year. If you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see as far as posts go, leave a comment below!
As for this Friday's review, we'll be taking a look at a figure I have wanted for quite a while, and finally got at a great deal, the NECA Assassin's Creed Brotherhood Gamestop Exclusive Hooded Ebony Assassin Ezio figure:

Review of the DC Collectibles Designer Series Greg Capullo Mr.Freeze figure

*sigh* There's nothing worse than being disappointment by a figure that you were looking forward to for months...

The Basics:
Scale: 6 1/2 inches
Price: $24.99



Sculpt and Paint:
So this is the New 52 Mr.Freeze design that has comic fans divided. I for one like the design, however I do feel a bit more armor bits would pull it together. That said the sculpt captures the design perfectly, but my favorite feature of the sculpt is definitely the face. The face sculpt perfectly captures Greg Capullo's art style and it just has a really nice menacing look to it. The goggles are sculpted and painted really well but it's his stern scowl that really makes the face. 

His chest armor and backpack all look really well, and his under-suit has a really cool chain-mail/Kevlar look about it. His bicep/shoulder guards are separate pieces that are glued on and I've seen reviews where they pop off, so be careful around that area. The knee pads and tips of his shoes are done in a nice metallic paint similar to his chest piece, belt and shoulder guards. His skin tone is the perfect shade of blue, with some nice highlights in the wrinkles and muscles. The belt is a separate sculpted piece also done in a nice metallic paint.

Accessories and Articulation:
For accessories, he comes with a removable helmet and his signature freeze gun. The freeze gun has a nice design to it, with what looks like an ice-pick at the top of it, and the only flaw is that it doesn't really fit well in his left hand, the only hand that can hold it. You can put it in the hand, but the grip doesn't fit and it just wobbles around in the grip. It is painted really nicely though with a metallic paint job and some blue highlights. 

For articulation his head is on a ball-joint, he has a swivel-hinge at the shoulders, swivel biceps, hinge elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, an ab crunch, a swivel waist, swivel-hinge ankles that are really loose, double hinge knees, swivel hips, and really limited ball jointed hips. They go out to the side really far, but forward and back they barely move. Oh wait, why is this hip suddenly really loose? It's almost as if the peg is-

*sigh* so...that happened. See the ball-joint is SO FREAKING SMALL, and it fits tightly in the hip, not to mention that once again it's molded out of THE VERY FRAGILE CLEAR PLASTIC that it just ripped while I tried to move it. Come on DC Collectibles. Why can't you just use normal plastic that is much tougher. I understand that it would probably cost more, but at the same time, you would be delivering a much better product! *sigh*

Overall: 
So this was a disappointing review. Even though the hips were insanely limited going forward and back, I could live with that since Mr. Freeze was never one for dynamic poses, but the fact that I simply tried to move it forward slightly led to the hip joint breaking. That's not cool, and shouldn't be a problem with these figures. Apart from that he also suffers from some really loose ankles.
6.5 out of 10