The Amazing... The Spectacular... The Poseable Spider-Man!

As promised, I went out and got some new and improved shots with the poseable Spider-Man figure. This guy's a lot of fun, I can see him becoming a mainstay...

Go web go! Oh wait - that was the other guy...

With great poseability comes... Not much else

Your Friendly Toy-Shelf Spider-Man!

Here's another first for the Mos Espa Collection - a proper* action figure review! I know I kind of reviewed the Blu-Ray ANH pack, but that was less... formal. This one's actually called a review; I guess that makes the difference!

There will be better pictures to come, but here's my latest acquisition - the ultra-poseable Amazing Spider-Man from the new movie line. Given the pretty poor standard of figures from the movie line, which are disappointing for lack of articulation and high price point, this is the only one I planned to buy. After proving near impossible to find in most stores around here, I got lucky on one trip to TRU and found what I'm reasonably confident was the last one in stock - it's like it was meant to be!

The Positives:

Firstly, when they say this figure is ultra-posable, they mean it. It does positions other 1/18th figures daren't even dream of doing! I went through one volume on Ultimate Spider-Man and matched the pose against however Mark Bagley had drawn him, and found there were very few limitations to what could be achieved; for that fact alone it makes this one of the better Spidey figures out there.

The sculpt is solid, capturing the lithe feel of the character. The costume has a really nice texture to it, and the multiple joints don't really look that obvious (for a toy). One of my favourite bits, however, is the face in profile - it really captures the iconic Bagley look.

Speaking of look, the costume: I was one of the reactive masses who thought the new costume design looked messy in the original promo shots (still do, but much less so). However, in 3D on this figure it looks pretty good. There are wispy lines on his arms and legs that don't need to be there, but on this guy they're barely noticeable, and certainly don't harm the overall aesthetic. And when the mask, with the shape and size of the eyes, works as well as this; well, for me that's half the battle. The fact it bears a passing resemblance to the Ben Reilly costume may also have helped sway my opinion...

The Negatives:

There's not a great deal wrong with this figure, save it feels a bit lightweight. By that I don't mean it feels like it's cheap plastic or will break (it doesn't), moreso that it's one stand alone figure, with great poseability but no accessories. I think you could feel disappointed that it's all you get for your money, but unfortunately that's the problem with buying first-hand action figures in general nowadays.

Overall

In summation, this is a top quality figure; and if money is no object or you can get it cheaper than retail then absolutely pick it up. If it had any kind of pack-in, like some webbing, or even a stand, then it would make the price easier to take, but all you get here is a fantastically sculpted and playable Spider-Man figure, no frills. With the swing back towards 6" figures Hasbro seems to be taking it might be your last opportunity to get a decent movie-Spidey in this scale for a while.

****

* By proper, I am in no way claiming to be an expert on toys or have anything to give other than my opinion. But, y'know. I know what I like! :D

Death Star

Another quick shot, messing around with lighting. This uses the Death Star hallway set I made, although as you can probably tell, it comes up a little tight for the figures. It gives nice shadows though, and generally works more than well enough for what I use it for (shots like these and general display).

You may have seen the above on my Flickr. This shot uses the same set, and pretty much the same angle as the one above. Versatile set design, see? :D

Been looking into finishing off my modern day equivalent vintage 12 back collection (that's a mouthful of a focus title!), as soon as I can justify the funds. Until then, these guys will do nicely!

To the End of the War...

As long time readers are probably aware, I don't focus too much on the Clone Wars, or even the Prequels in general (brief thoughts on that here). Every now and then though, I feel compelled to dust of the animated guys and bust a few shots out. I'm lacking in Seperatist forces however; so even if I did use them more, they'd probably still end up getting bored...

Him Grimlock No Bozo...

Him Grimlock King!

Just a quickie. As proud as I am of my custom Luke, the pictures aren't that great. Hopefully this redresses the balance somewhat...

Vintage Pick-Me-Up

In a first for this blog (and indeed, my life), I present a Mos Espa custom... The repainted vintage Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot figure!

I picked him up cheap in a pretty worn condition with the intention of doing a repaint, after seeing some pretty good repaints online, but as always with these things took a while to get around to it...

This is the original. The colours are nice, but the paint job was badly chipped, and I wanted to dirty it up a bit and improve the accuracy. For one I really wasn't sure if Kenner had given him a black helmet visor or black hair. Confusing either way... Anyway, it's not perfect, but I'm happy with it for a first go.

Things I like:

- Getting a more accurate colour scheme, like the brown belt and the buttons on the control box
- Going for blonde hair!
- Attaching the lightsaber hilt from my RotS Anakin - literally his father's lightsaber
- I now have my own Dagobah landing Luke, without having to pay in excess of £30!

What I learned:

- I went too heavy on the drybrushing
- The flightsuit looks more red than orange. It's not as bad in person, but the shade isn't right

All in all, it was a fun little project, and something that I will probably attempt again, should the right figure come along...

The Waiting Game

Yoda. Always in motion is the future, hmm? Then why did you risk it all by hiding in exile to wait on the fate of two babies rather than try and take down the Emperor in single combat when you had the chance?

Seriously, my friends and I spent hours talking about the prequels before 1999, predominantly based on what had to happen given the established backstory. By 2005, that speculation seemed like a lot of wasted brain effort...

Smoulder vs Breacher!

Those of you familiar with my Flickr photostream may have already seen these... Anyway, Transformers. It's been a while :D

Smoulder and Breacher are two of my most modern Transformers, and it's high time they had a scrap. I've got a pretty solid idea who would win this one, but what do you think?

Setting the Trap

The Rebel Commandos captured, C-3PO does something quite rash for a protocol droid, and draws the Imperial's attention. Within a moment, the Stormtroopers have the driods captured...

Today marks the 29th Anniversary of the UK release of Return of the Jedi; still my second favourite Star Wars film featuring Tatooine!

The Northern Lights

Lyra Silvertongue and Pantalaimon, how do you fare? I'm considering a new niche in toy photography, the oft underlooked and under-priced Golden Compass line. I think I'm hitting a literary mood for the summer anyway, this looks like a nice crossover of interests...

This was taken in February, when we had the snow. As unpredictable as the UK climate is, snow in May would be a bit too much...

EDIT: Sorry for the terribly small lo-res image, hopefully the picture looks a little better now. Basically, I tried to upload it directly from my phone using the Blogger app. I've had countless issues with that app, including a post I can't delete which is showing on my phone as 'publishing', and now it's compressing images badly. The upshot is: uninstalled!

Friends Reunited

TVC Yavin Ceremony Han Solo arrived last week, and what a figure it is! Most likely my favourite of the new style figures I've been acquiring, and I'm sure that's due to more than just novelty - it's a sturdy figure, a good sculpt with crisp detailing, and it's several hundred miles better than the POTF2 version I had been using. Plus, put him together with Chewie and you have an instant smuggler display!

An updated Leia and C-3PO to go before I have definitive versions of all the main characters; a Stormtrooper, Tusken Raider, Jawa and Death Star Commander to go until the original 12 update is complete... I'll probably cool my boots for a little while and enjoy what I've got, but it's nice to have focus!

Tatooine Days

And right on cue, we're getting our late-May heatwave here in the UK. In between bouts of sweating and drinking lots of water I've been working on a couple of films, and by chance, for two nights only have the opportunity to use a Canon 600D with a couple of lenses. I couldn't let the chance pass without getting some toy shots...

I also couldn't resist the opportunity to retake one of my favourite shots (top, and you can see the original here), and as always it was fun to photograph Kenobi. Of course, I also recreated the very scene I built this set-piece for... Well, if you apply a little imagination!

"Well of course I know him - he's me!"

The Mighty Chewbacca

 It took me long enough, but for the first time since probably the early 90's, I have a Chewbacca! I've gotta say that I love the face and sculpt on this guy, the more I look at it the more I like. While I'm still needing a decent Han I figured I'd take Chewie back to his Kashyyyk roots...

Bunker Command

Lieutenant Renz and the troops of Tempest Force had killed nearly 300 Ewoks and other such life-forms on Endor's Sanctuary Moon since the construction of the shield generator, and the sport had started to become tiresome. 'If only', thought Renz, 'the locals would fight back with a bit more spirit...'

Darth Vader

Darth Vader (TAC) is my most recently acquired modern loose figure. I gotta say that given the sculpt, posability and sheer fun of this guy, it's a wonder that I didn't get into the super-articulated figures sooner. Whilst I still work out the best way to light photographs the detail might not quite come across, but rest assured, it's there!

There's another reason why this figure is so good - remember the POTF2 Darth Vader with removable helmet? Well, that seems to come as standard now:

Look at that scarred mug and tell me Obi-Wan isn't badass...

Bad Dad!

In a sterling week I obtained new (well, recent) and super-articulated versions of Darth Vader and Chewbacca for less than six English pounds. Result! This means I've been cracking out my Death Star backdrop, and I now have a pretty spectacular ANH themed display going on on my shelf. Expect pictures soon, but in the meantime here's the dark lord of the Sith (remember when that title meant something mysterious and cool rather than being all goofy and explainable?), doing what he does best on completed Death Stars - killing old Jedi who're on suicide missions...

Star Wars Day

May the Fourth be with you!

The New Hope!

On Sunday I went shopping at my local discount store, where my girlfriend spotted an ROTS re-issue of the 'all new likeness' Princess Leia, packaged with a plastic cup, for the paltry price of £4. After purchasing and opening said figure, I knew it was finally time to open my ANH Blu-Ray Commemorative Pack.

I was not disappointed.

The sculpting and posability on these figures is second to none, especially for a seasoned (former) POTF2 collector as myself. Luke looks like Luke, Ben Kenobi is incredibly accurate and the Sandtrooper is the boss, completely. Even the R2-D2, which I thought would be the weakest of the four, has a nifty action feature whereby you twist his dome and his sensor pops out; and that's on top of a superb sculpt and crisp, clean paint apps. I don't think there's any going back now...

Given the increase to my ANH principal cast, it meant I was finally able to better utilise my Death Star walls, and get my own version of that classic promo shot...

The Leia and Han are nice place fillers, but they really pale in comparrison (literally with the Han, he's from the Jabba pack and his skin is almost green). Time to upgrade the POTF2s, no?

Finally, sorry it's been a while between posts, but college work, film-making and other projects have taken over. My comic/writing/film-making blog is now up and running at http://dopemeat.wordpress.com; take a look if you have a spare couple of minutes!

Wolverine Redux

I probably don't self-censor enough, and sometimes post pics that I'm not really happy with. I guess that's the growing pains of learning a new skill, but it's still not a great advert for the blog when the first picture is out of focus and, well, not that good. So, with standards in mind, I've revisited Wolverine for these shots:
 

The base is from a McFarlane Toys Lost figure, but it seems to work fine as Logan's hunting ground. I guess this means the Marvel theme is well and truly continuing!

And, hopefully, that's the front page looking a bit better for the time being... :D

Smoulder

I was in a Transformer buying mood some months ago, and it just so happened the Powercore Combiners were on sale at TRU. I knew for balance to my collection I needed a Decepticon, and deliberated long and hard before going for this guy. I was most certainly impressed!

This is more or less the anti-Inferno/Optimus (depending on your particular generation). A fire truck seems like a pretty strange choice for a Decepticon, but he pulls it off well. In fact, the facial sculpt is so well done, as are the colour applications, that in robot mode there's no doubt whose side Smoulder is on. Well, other than he bears a passing resemblance to Perceptor, but nevermind.

Now, what's really awesome about Smoulder is the addition of his weapon, 'Chopster'. Reminiscent of the original Targetmasters, Smoulder's axe is a mini-Transformer and character in his own right! Double cool for a discout price. Furthest more, whilst I'm unable to show it off (due to not having Bombshock), in another nod to Transformers of yore, Smoulder can combine as the central piece with another lot of combiners to form an entirely new gestalt! I've seen pictures; it looks like G1 Bruticus, it looks awesome, and it is on my wishlist.

There you have it folks. Evil fire engines? They're pretty hot right now :D

Wheeljack Strikes Back

The first of my modern TF purchases, I proudly present the irresistable Alternators Wheeljack!

For me, this was the ultimate series of Transformers - Generation 1 characters who transformed from accurate scale replicas of existing cars into bulky, ass-kicking robots with multiple weapons. Wheeljack, whilst never one of my favourites originally, really shone in his new incarnation as a Mustang muscle car, complete with go-faster stripes, an energon sword and an engine block that turns into a gun. Sheer design genius!

  

G1 Soundwave never stood a chance...

The Dinobot Coast

 

For more realistic Dinobot action than the Swoop shot below, these Grimlock pics were taken, quite appropriately, on a trip to the Jurassic Coast last year. I think the King fit in rather well...

The New Leader of the Decepticons!

Well, new in 1986...

 

I had the original Galvatron, and was always disappointed in how different he looked from his animated appearance. The same was true of Ultra Magnus, but Galvatron was just... grey. To the point of looking unhealthy. Or, like a knock-off Megatron. It didn't take away from his playability; the size did that, about the only other TF he could fight in my collection was Skorponok. Either way, the original was an underwhelming figure. Jump forward two decades, and we have this!

It's strange to be a hangup about a toy, but finally he's purple. The headsculpt has the menacing three-pronged crown, and of course, his right arm carries the massive cannon. Furthermore, the figure fits into scale with the new TFs perfectly; big enough in size and sculpt to be menacing, small enough to fit into a display without dominating. Add to that the great articulation, and we have the ultimate... Wha'd he say his name was, anyway? Galvatron!


"Long live Galvatron! Long live Galvatron!"

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Mos Espa Collection, 2012 (+13 days). The viewing figures for the site have actually been immense over the last two months, for whatever reason, so I figured you may like to read a post that isn't merely holding station for images... So, new acquisitions!

I guess this is the New Hope collection. Well, minus a Han, Chewie, Leia, C-3PO, Stormtrooper and all those other irrelevant characters :D... These and my OTC Dagobah set are the only non-POTF2 modern figures I have, and the temptation to open these is huge. But! The Vader is unpunched and sealed in a starcase. I don't exactly know what that means for it as a collectible, but it does look nice, and, let's face it, the packaging is one of the biggest draws of the Vintage Collection (if you know of any significance about ol' Darth being packaged like this, please let me know in the comments).

So, I think this might be the first time in my life I'll buy two of a figure to keep one carded. To make that argument ten times harder than it would be though, check out this review of the Vintage Collection Darth Vader over at Chase Variant, a rather excellent toy review blog I came across recently.

The Episode IV Blu-Ray pack is a different prospect. As much as I'd love to open the package and start populating a Jundland Wastes display, as well as framing the nifty mini-poster, this set was bought before I'd properly consulted my finances post-student loan installment. As such, these are staying boxed until I get part-time work, or else I'll have to sell them on to eat come April! Sad times... But a nice looking set all the same.

And finally, because this wouldn't be a Mos Espa collection blog post without an action figure shot...

You may have seen this on my Flickr. Photographing vintage figures isn't going to be a new direction for me, but this guy is in honour of my upcoming weekend catching up with old friends and playing X-Wing vs TIE Fighter until the small hours of Sunday morning. Being geeky may be, y'know, geeky, but it's also incredibly fun :D