Shelf Review: AOTC Blu-Ray Commemorative Pack Anakin Skywalker

Re-Armed in the Arena

Shelf Review! Not as in-depth as my regular musings, but a look at the equally-deserving items on my toy shelf all the same. This time round it's the turn of AOTC Anakin Skywalker from the Blu-Ray Commemorative four pack. How does he stack up? Read on to find out...

The Padawan Menace

Now, Attack of the Clones is a mess of a film, and is by far the worst entry into the Star Wars canon. Even with a re-edit (which it sorely needs, given how flabby it is) there's still more bad than good there. However, some of the good bits are great, are amongst them I'm going to include the costume designs. Anakin's costume is a unique and stylish take on the Jedi garb that echoes the costume later worn by Luke in ROTJ. As the look of a Jedi adventurer it works fine, and if you can get past the whiny, emo character wearing it (CW and EU do a much better job of representing Anakin to my eyes) it makes for a good look.

Face Front

That costume is well recreated here, and it makes for an equally stylish figure. The faux-leather robe looks great, even if it does feel a little flimsy, and there's even a soft goods skirt below the belt. Articulation-wise, there's a ball-jointed head, shoulders, elbow and knees, with swivel hands, waist and thighs. The legs are solid below the knee which works fine for me, as ball-jointed ankles usually look a bit... unnatural.

...And Back

The figure has all the articulation it needs for the toy shelf, and other than slightly bulbous elbows it maintains an accurate overall silhouette. As an Episode II Anakin however, I wouldn't go as far as to call this release definitive, even if it does fly pretty close.

Bare minimum, Baby.

The main issue is the lack of accessories. For a multipack figure that's not so much of a problem, but if this were on a single card I'd be annoyed by there being no mechanical replacement for the removable right arm, or spare lightsaber hilt to plug into the port on the belt. The original release of this figure, a Revenge of the Sith Evolutions multipack, included both of these parts. It doesn't kill this Anakin's appeal, but it doesn't feel complete either.

Not a good day to be a Tusken on the toyshelf...

In conclusion, this figure is a decent iteration of AOTC Anakin, and he stands proud in my collection as the single best Episode II figure I own. Given my disdain for the film that's not saying much, but this is a good toy nonetheless. All the same though, if you do have a Padawan-shaped hole in your collection, perhaps you should be looking to pick up this newer take from Hasbro's upcoming Black Series:

2013 Black Series AOTC Anakin Skywalker

Looks good to me, and there's a mechanical hand in there too...

Thanks for reading!

The Little Things

Flee, mighty Pteranodon!

It's been an insanely hectic month just passed, with film edits, festivals, and a three-part celebration of my lovely lady's birthday all wrapped up in glorious summer sunshine. As you may have noticed though, that's left me with little time for blogging - and there's never any time like the present to turn things around...

King of the Thunder Lizards!

And so, back on track. These little Dino guys were unsold from a car boot sale the Emcat and her Mum were doing a couple of weeks ago, and I was kindly obliged to take care of them afterwards. I've wanted some dinosaurs for a little while; firstly because dinosaurs are perpetually stunning feats of nature, and secondly because I wanted to take some actual toy photos again. There's a real charm about toys like this, and the small scale makes them easier to photograph in multiple environments - well, the scale and a shallow depth of field, that is!

Head Shot! Gears of War's Anthony Carmine

Small scale figures are clearly on my mind right now (clearing the palette for the Black Series, perhaps?), and my latest purchase was this Gears of War blind bag figure. Costing £1.50 from Tesco and made by Meccano it's a surprisingly well-made toy, featuring 12 POA and a massive gun accessory. Gears of War is one of the few 'big' games of recent years I've played, completing one and being halfway through two as I type, so when I saw this line reduced to clear I thought I'd give it a go. It is really impressive for the size and price, and there's an easily-affordable six figures to the first series, so if you're into GoW and/or blind bags, I thoroughly recommend picking them up.

Invader on the Loose: Alien Conquest Lego & the Future of Space...

And so, full circle. All this thinking of mini-figures and blind bags put me in mind of the toy that started it all, Lego. Actually, that's somewhat a lie - I was thinking of Lego roughly concurrently, after finding out about the new Space line due later this year. You may recall, I'm quite a fan of the extra-terrestrial line...

Galaxy WAR!

Galaxy Squad looks like a lot of fun, and like a natural continuation from the recent Alien Conquest line. Insect-themed alien villains are a natural fit for playtime bad guys, and there was something about seeing the new spaceship designs and mini-fig uniforms that made me more think the Space sub-series was in better health than it has been recently.

Ad-Infinitum.

It's not enough to get me back into Lego any more than the blind bags did (picking up the occasional pack here and there), but if it's looking good I might get the odd small budget ship. Both of the above pictures are from brickshelf.com, and are used without permission. Hope that's OK...

It's good to be back in the saddle. I've got a load of reviews to write and will hopefully soon find the time to write them. But I'm not promising anything! :D

Thanks for reading!

Another Fine Mess!

The End of the War Draws Near...

Happy June! My posting seriously tailed off towards the end of last month as a load of real life took priority; happily I seem to have things in order now. I've been on a serious Star Wars photography kick this last week, and really enjoying the editing capabilities of PicMonkey - there's plenty more examples on my Flickr (new and unimproved!), feel free to add me if you're still there...

I have some articles planned and a load of figure reviews to write, along with a lack of College until at least September - here's to a busy summer of blog!

Play Arts Kai Dark Knight Trilogy Batman

More than just a Man

Hello, world of high(er) end collectables! If you're as good as my first impressions of the PAK DKR Batman here, I may just stick around...

This is that pre-order I was talking about, and it's pretty incredible. This figure's got fantastic poseability, comes with a great selection of accessories and feels pretty sturdy - I haven't experienced any QC issues as yet (and I'm knocking on wood as I type) - it's without doubt the best Batman I own. Hoping I can get some good pictures with this guy, and maybe one day a Joker to go with him... Everything but my wallet is stoked for this!

Red Hot Summer

Decepticon Smolder

Quick photo post! We cleared out the garden today, and then had a little burn out with the cuttings. This seemed like the ideal situation to showcase my number one pyromaniac Decepticon, Smolder, as always accompanied by his Targetmaster-esque fire axe Chopster.

Through some of the exceptional photographers at Flickr I found PicMonkey, a photo-editing site that works like a phone app but with more functionality. There are premium only tools, but I edited the picture above with the free filters and I'm very happy with it how it turned out. There's not even any need to sign up and log-in, and you can upload straight to other sites, as well as save to your computer. I have yet to see a downside!

Eyes on Fire!

Back on topic with Smolder - you may remember that I pre-ordered the Maketoys Mobine Missile Launcher back in December; unfortunately after several delays (it's still on pre-order for April, with no sign of updates...), I cancelled the order to utilise the finds for something else. I've instead made another pre-order, but this time I'll keep quiet on what it is until I have it in hand...