POP! Rides – Ghost Rider (Glow in the Dark)

Today's review is best enjoyed while listening to Hell Bent for Leather by Judas Priest.

Way back in 2013, Funko released their original Ghost Rider POP. It’s still one of the best Marvel figures they’ve released; though more recent figures are more detailed and include an impressively broad scope of characters*, it has an elegant simplicity which puts many other POPs to shame.

Of course, that POP is now discontinued and outrageously expensive on the secondary market. But never fear! While Funko don’t tend to reissue old POPS very often, they have been pretty good in the last year or so about re-releasing old characters with new moulds. And so today we take a look at Ghost Rider with his bike, courtesy of the POP! Rides range.

Judging by the leather daddy Evel Knievel-style costume, I’m assuming this is the Johnny Blaze iteration of the character. I kind of prefer the Danny Ketch costume that the original POP used, but both are great. As I noted back in my review of the original, Ghost Rider is a character who you can appreciate on a purely visual level; fortunately, it’s something that applies to pretty much all of Ghost Rider’s incarnations over the years.  

He’s an all-new sculpt. I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if he reused the original head sculpt, but instead they’ve opted for something different. I think it’s maybe just a shade big (even by POP standards), but it’s hard to tell without being able to actually take him off the bike.

And on that note…most of the POP Ride range has had removable drivers, and so if you own the original figure I daresay you’ll be wondering if you can yank this new one off and slot the original on. Sadly, the answer is no. This new iteration of Ghost Rider is glued on. That’s maybe understandable from a logistical perspective, but still a bit of a bummer; this one would still look pretty good standing on his own as well.

As for the bike…it’s pretty rad. The flames are well painted and “tastefully” placed, so it provides a good illusion of motion without ever being overpowering. However, it is quite realistic in its scale and proportions. I can’t help but think they maybe should have gone a little cartoonier as they have with some of the vehicles to better fit the aesthetic. With that said, it does match the style Funko established Daryl’s bike back in 2014. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure at least some of those pieces have been reused/retooled here.

There are two versions of this Ghost Rider available – regular and glow in the dark. Both are pretty great, but getting the glow version was a must for me. The glow seems to have been selling out more quickly, but I don’t think either is necessarily rarer than the other, which is nice.  

If you have the original, now you have a different iteration of the character on a bike, and if you missed out then you have a much more cost-effective way of adding a Ghost Rider to your collection. Ghost Rider on a bike is a must-buy, no matter how dedicated or casual a fan you are of the character. It has some minor shortcomings, but none are dealbreakers. He’s easily one of the best POP figures I’ve bought all year.

*Let’s be honest, does anyone really know who the Inhumans are?

POP! Marvel: Captain Marvel (Masked)

In spite of sharing a name with the company the character is from, Captain Marvel has actually been fairly C-list until the last couple of years. The original iteration of the character was probably most notable as being a superhero who died and actually stayed dead for more than 5 minutes. But thanks to Ms Marvel taking up the title in the comics a few years ago and a Brie Larson-led film on the way in 2019, Captain Marvel’s star is ascendant at the moment. Naturally enough, this has translated into her getting her own Funko POP.

And it’s a nice take on the character, too. The sculpt is something of a throwback to Funko’s simpler days, which keeps it looking consistent on my Marvel shelf. The paint could be tighter, but it’s not a bad rendition on the whole. My only real criticism is that I don’t love the dark blue used…it doesn’t pop (ha) on the shelf in the way I think it should. Maybe a gloss tone would have fixed this?

I actually picked this figure up late last year, and various things have prevented me from reviewing it until now – she was actually released part of the same wave as She-Hulk and Dr Strange. The basic figure was the unmasked version, while this masked version was exclusive to GTS Distribution in the USA. Here in Australia it was just a regular release as far as I could tell; either way, neither version seems to be selling for crazy money or anything. You should have an easy enough time tracking one down if you want it.

Final verdict? I’m pretty neither here nor there on the character at the moment – I’m not familiar enough with her comics – but it matches the current look nicely and the mohawk is a cool distinctive feature. Fun, if non-essential to my collection.   

Boon Reviews: bootLEGO Deadpool/Deathstroke

Boon returns with another bootLEGO review -- once again, we don't condone piracy here at the LBC.

After the colossal success of the silver screen adaptation of Deadpool it’s little surprise we find ourselves graced with another perfect commemoration in imitation LEGO. This particular iteration carries no obvious company name,  perhaps in a canny piece of misdirection against the impending cease and desist orders from Fox, Marvel and LEGO themselves.

The box (which was dinged at the top, incidentally) is well-designed, with consistent graphics on all faces. The lone piece of obvious plagiarism  is the wordmark from the movie marketing being used in three separate places.

This particular model, which I was fortunate enough to find cowering behind a dozen or more unlicensed blind bag Minions figurines, is the first in the set of 6 according, to the back face of the box model NO.1289-1. Contrary to most Western attempts at logic, the 1289-1 figure is not in fact the Classic Red suited Merc with a Mouth, but is in fact an almost pitch perfect rendition of DC Comics antagonist Deathstroke the Terminator, detailed in an all black medium gloss finish. In another crack piece of legal maneuvering the design team at mystery incorporated have changed out the traditional orange coloring on Deathstroke’s mask for a fetching shade of yellow, seemingly in line with the Silver Age X-Men Uniforms.... But this isn’t fooling anyone. This is 100% DC’s Deathstroke, which  is oddly fitting as Deadpool began life as something of an ersatz Deathstroke. Deadpool  is merely another  in a long and quite obvious line of DC and Marvel’s borderline plagiarism from one another.  .

Why borrow from Deathstroke, though? Well, while he wasn’t more widely known among the general public until his appearances on Arrow, Deathstroke was actually quite popular among comics readers for most of the 1980s, thanks to his prominence in Teen Titans. So it’s not really surprising that Deadpool popped up as an analogue/parody in the early 90s -- what’s more impressive is that subsequent writers and artists have made him a strong character who’s long since evolved beyond his origins.

The kit itself comes in a single clear polybag within the box. Oddly, the legs, torso and head are preassembled with the arms and hands being separate. The torso comes printed front and back, there’s front print on the legs and a single face detail printed on the head. Plugging the hands into the arms is simple, and the fit is snug with enough movement for reasonably accurate posing, should you wish your Deadpool/Deathstroke figure to wield his dual pistols gangland style (more on those down the page).

The display base supplied with the kit is a 4x4 baseplate with a single row of pegs along the rear edge. The smooth front portion of the base is emblazoned with an ‘X’ lettermark logo, ‘World’ and the instruction to ‘collect them all’, but lacking any further clues to whom we owe our great thanks for the blessing that is this kit.

The accessory pieces that come with 1289-1 are worth the cost of purchase alone. The pistols are an accurate replication of the twin barrel pistol originally released  in 2011, albeit with some additional mold lines, and casting tabs. If these are in fact a common occurrence, a touch up with a hobby knife or nail file ought to knock those off fairly effectively.

The twin katanas supplied are copies of the type 2 minifigure katana, but for some reason the two in my kit are supplied having been cast in two different types, or mixtures of plastics. One is a milky yellow color and the other a translucent shade of the same yellow. Which of the two finishes was intended may never be known, as the only other clues in the box art show the Katanas in black. Wacky color choices aside, these would make excellent additions to your stockpile of tiny plastic armaments should this kit find its way into your wider LEGO collection.

Deadpool 1289-1 is an improvement over Space Batman, having quite reasonable build quality but without the glaring component printing issue that all but ruined Space Batman as a display figure. The plastics are decent quality, without the brittleness one can often encounter  with cheaply manufactured toys. On the whole, the kit is a successful off-brand rendition of a character who is still relatively under-merchandised in spite of his rising popularity, and is likely to remain that way until Deathstroke shows up in the next inevitable trainwreck DC/Warner Bros foists upon us.

If you happen across this, or any other of this line of figures, shoot us a pic of your kit and your thoughts on it.

POP! Marvel – She-Hulk (Glow in the Dark)

Company: Funko

Year: 2017

NB: This is mostly a rework of my earlier She-Hulk POP review, with some updated notes.

2016 was an interesting time to be a She-Hulk fan, as *SPOILER ALERT* she was apparently killed 

off in Issue 1 of Civil War II.  In news that shocked no-one, it turns out that it wasn’t a real death at all, and now she’s headlining her own series, called simply Hulk.

Debuting in 1980 as Hulk’s angry female cousin, She-Hulk has been an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four and quite successful in her own right, too. She’s never attained A-lister status, but she’s carved out her own little niche in the Marvel Universe -- and to be honest, I find her a lot more endearing than the Incredible Hulk. Marvel’s female characters have been gaining an increased prominence over the last few years, thanks to reinventions (like Ms Marvel becoming Captain Marvel) and new additions (such as Spider-Gwen), so it’s good to see some of that goodwill overflow to She-Hulk too. Time will tell how long this new title will last, but unfortunately in recent years poor ol’ She-Hulk has not fared well in her solo titles. 

This is a re-release of the same She-Hulk we saw a few months ago, but now she glows in the dark. Most of the other characters from this wave are still easily available, and it was a good one: Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel, (comics)Dr Strange, Dr Octopus and (comics) Falcon. I’m not partial to all of these characters, but the designs look pretty great on all of them.  

Glow version on left, original on right

This particular costume isn't her first one, but most of them have been some kind of leotard or swimsuit in the purple/white colour scheme, so it slots in well with most incarnations of the character. However, she first adopted this particular one after leaving the Fantastic Four and rejoining the Avengers – it’s quite similar to the one from her FF days, bar the colour.  

I mentioned in my original review that buying a She-Hulk POP would leave you with a trade-off – how visible the mould line on the chin is, vs how sloppily the costume is painted. This is still an issue to some degree, but given the overall “softer” look of the glow in the dark plastic, the mould line is hidden more effectively – and the paint does seem to be neater than the first release.

Given that I was correct in guessing that there would be a glow She-Hulk, I still suspect we could see a few variants further down the line – a Fantastic Four She-Hulk, and maybe some purple/white paint variations.

As with the first version, She-Hulk has a great colour scheme that stands out nicely on the superheroes shelf. The green is a little more muted than the original, but to the casual observer this will be the main difference between the two. And the glow feature itself? Funko has had a mixed bag with plenty of its prior releases, but this one glows nice and brightly. So I prefer this version of the two, but either is a good choice.   

POP! Marvel – Doctor Strange

Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2016

Company: Funko

I’ll confess – I have only a passing familiarity with the good Doctor here, primarily through The Infinity Gauntlet. He played an important role in that story, after discovering the Silver Surfer near-powerless in his attic (as one does). But he actually debuted back in 1963, one of Marvel’s first supernaturally themed superheroes. Though never as controversial as say, Ghost Rider or Son Of Satan, he still managed to find himself in a bit of hot water back in the early 1990s, when the cover of one of his issues used the unauthorised likeness of then-prominent Christian singer Amy Grant. Marvel eventually had to come to an out-of-court settlement on that one, though I doubt the whole situation would raise the same kind of ire these days.    

The first thing you’ll probably notice is that this POP is quite heavy, due to the cape attachments on both his shoulders and head. It’s quite a clever solution, actually – attaching part of the cape to the head means that the bobble is retained without massively disrupting the look.

Doctor Strange has had a few costumes over the years, but this is his best-known look. And boy is it a product of its time! It’s a great martial artist meets wizard combo – and though definitely dated, it offers a nice contrast to the usual superhero spandex garb. Benedict Cumberbatch looks to be wearing very similar garb in the upcoming film, though the colours are a little more muted. Speaking of which, the colours all contrast nicely with one another, with the exception of the orange gloves. Online research seems to indicate that his gloves are usually yellow – maybe he’s meant to be casting a spell here or something? Or perhaps it’s a Marvel style guide thing. The control art on the box renders the gloves a slightly different shade to his sash and cape trim, but the difference isn’t this extreme. Hopefully a running change fixes it later.  

On the upside, his hands have been sculpted in his signature spellcasting/heavy metal/webslinging poses. Which makes me think wishfully – we’ve had an Ozzy POP, could we get a Dio one sometime soon? Also, intentionally or not, his arms sort of mimic the traditional Baphomet pose from Eliphas Levi’s famous illustration, though his hands are held quite differently. Sinister hidden symbolism? I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but I’m sure there will be at least one parent out there that stops their kid from buying it for exactly that reason.   

The Eye of Agamotto holds the cape on at his neck, though it probably could have been picked out a little more with paint – for all its importance to the character, it’s barely noticeable here. The rest of the paint is fine; the hairlines could be a bit neater. The only odd choice is that the lower half of the cape is actually cast in blue, and then painted red. It seems an odd choice – I can only assume it was a costing thing at the factory; there’s no other reason it makes sense. 

Doctor Strange is a character I’d like to read more of, particularly in light of his upcoming debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m mostly planning to check out his 1970s adventures, as I suspect the film will draw most heavily from that era; but if anyone has any suggestions, I’m more than happy to hear them – list them in the comments below. 

POP! Marvel – She-Hulk

She-Hulk 

Series: POP! Marvel

Company: Funko

Year: 2016

Well, it’s an awkward time for She-Hulk to debut as a POP because *SPOILER ALERT* it seems that she’s just been killed off in Issue 1 of Civil War II. Whether this is a real death or simply a cliffhanger remains to be seen, of course – and let’s not forget that death is rarely permanent in comics.

Debuting in 1980 as Hulk’s angry female cousin, She-Hulk has been an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four and quite successful in her own right, too. She’s never attained A-lister status, but she’s carved out her own little niche in the Marvel Universe -- and to be honest, I find her a lot more endearing than the Incredible Hulk. Marvel’s female characters have been gaining an increased prominence over the last few years, thanks to reinventions (like Ms Marvel becoming Captain Marvel) and new additions (such as Spider-Gwen), so it’s good to see some of that goodwill overflow to She-Hulk too.   

It’s a while since Marvel released any non-movie related POPs – I think Daredevil might have been the last one, actually – and this wave is a good one: She-Hulk, Spider-Gwen, Captain Marvel, Dr Strange, Dr Octopus and (comics) Falcon. I’m not partial to all of these characters, but the designs look pretty great on all of them. With the imminent arrival of the Dr Strange movie, I’ll probably end up picking that one up too.  

This particular costume isn't her first one, but it is probably her best-known. She first adopted it after leaving the Fantastic Four and rejoining the Avengers, so it's not a huge coincidence that the two costumes look quite similar, save for their colour. 

But… as much as I like the design, buying a She-Hulk POP will leave you with a trade-off – how visible the mould line on the chin is, vs how sloppily the costume is painted. I went with a slightly more prominent mould line than I would have liked -- it's not very obvious in the picture, but it's very noticeable in person -- and a relatively neat costume. There were 8 to pick from when I bought her, and this was really the best overall option. Custom painters will no doubt be capable of addressing these issues, but it’s a pain nonetheless.

We could see a few variants further down the line – a Fantastic Four She-Hulk and/or a Gamma Glow-in-the-dark She-Hulk. I’ve got my fingers crossed for a glow version, as aside from being awesome, it would make the mould line much less prominent. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

She-Hulk is a good purchase for fans of the character. For more casual fans like myself, she’s got a great colour scheme that stands out nicely on the superheroes shelf.

Lego Superheroes: Avenjet Space Mission (76049)

Set: 76049
Pieces: 523
Build Time: 1.5-2 hrs 

Now I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm more of a DC fan than Marvel, but Marvel has been absolutely crushing it in the cinematic stakes since 2008. So I've ended up reading a few more Marvel books over the last couple of years than I might have previously, and I've gained a newfound appreciation for offbeat characters like She-Hulk, Spider-Woman and the soon-to-be-the-big-bad-in- the-movies, Thanos. So when I saw this set, it instantly became a must-have. Was it a good investment? Read on to find out more...

THE MINFIGURES

The set includes an impressive five figures -- Thanos, Iron Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel and Hyperion. Thanos is of course a bigfig, not a minifigure per se. He's been rendered in a pretty impressive style, though I'm definitely in two minds about his floaty boot attachments with missile launchers. Sometimes characters don't need silly accessories to force a play pattern. But the only real disappointment is that he doesn't have the Infinity Gauntlet, though with the impending release of Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 & 2, I suspect we'll see more of the self-proclaimed ultimate nihilist in Lego form -- and the Infinity Gauntlet will probably be released as a clip-on piece to avoid molding an entirely new arm or hand.  

Iron Man is an Iron Man figure. The astronaut-style colour scheme is novel, but I already ended up with a regular Iron Man minifig when I bought the Hulkbuster last year. He's fine, but I'm not a major Iron Man fan -- I would have preferred to see another character instead, but considering it already includes the impressively obscure Hyperion  (see below) I should probably quit my whinging. He's got two Tony Stark faces beneath his mask, one with a smug smirk and the other angry.


Similarly, Captain America sure is another Captain America, but I didn't have this character in collection as yet, so he's a welcome addition. The movies have really made me a fan of ol' Cap. He was never a big presence in my comic-reading youth, but the Ultimates and the movies both helped put a more...ah...human(?) face on him for me. Non-essential if you already have a Cap, though the addition of a space air-tank is pretty fun.

Captain Marvel comes with two heads, both masked and unmasked. I like both about equally, but when I bought the Marvel Legends figure about a year ago, I ended up primarily going with the unmasked face. Here I've gone the opposite route, possibly because her unmasked face is identical to Wonder Woman's. The paint app works well, but it would be nice to see Lego mix it up a little more.

  

Hyperion is a character I know virtually nothing about, save that he seems to be some kind of evil Superman parody (in fact, I'm pretty sure the tampos on his faces are taken from Superman) -- but in some continuities he's a good guy, heading up Squadron Supreme. The box art depicts him as a villain, but is he under Thanos' control against his will? The fact that he also has a sedate face in addition to his "laser eyes" one would seems to suggest so. It's your set, so play as you wish -- Thanos is certainly a match for these guys combined. If nothing else, it's impressive that Lego have delivered such an obscure character in such a mainstream format.  

 

THE SET

Lego's space-based sets have been a major contributor to its international success, though they have let them fall of the radar a little bit over the last few years. But it's good to see them return to it here, even if it is in a somewhat roundabout way. Y'see, this is a classic 80s Lego spaceship that just happens to have been released under a Marvel Comics theme. The shape sort of reminds me of a Klingon Bird of Prey, though it's obviously a lot smaller in size. The front cockpit can be angled in a variety of different ways, but the correct way is to have it pointing downwards just slightly. The wings are similar, giving it a very modern and cool -- if perhaps not entirely aerodynamic -- look. Though of course in space you don't have the same issues affecting drag, wind resistance, etc.


The upper cockpit is detachable, and can turn into a nicely swooshable spacecraft on its own merits. It's reminiscent of the Galaxy Squad sets from a couple of years ago, which were almost entirely based around having a core build, which then had removable elements. It was a a decent theme, but the villain sets were pretty weak, which may have been part of the reason it didn't turn into Ninjago 2.0 success-wise. It's good to see the mechanic revisited here though.


Iron Man can be stashed underneath this cockpit, by clicking him onto a stand that swivels down. It works slightly better in theory that practice; some protruding bars mean that he bangs his head when you swivel him up, which could lead to some paint or figure damage in the long run. But as a longer-term storage position, it's not a bad idea.

AVAILABILITY

This set came out quite a few months ago -- I think I picked it up around March or April, but didn't actually get around to building it until now. However, it still seems to be reasonably readily available from Kmart, Target and Big W.

OVERALL

The Avenjet really is a thing of beauty. It's not terribly complex in design or execution, but these shouldn't be seen as strikes against it -- rather, it's a great way to introduce younger kids to Lego, while still providing them with a challenge. And the final result is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. I wish Lego would build Space sets along these lines again -- and perhaps they will someday -- but in the meantime, this is a great substitute. Builders more capable than I could no doubt replicate the set in more traditional Space colours too, which would be fantastic. 
 
For adult collectors, it's well worth purchasing for the impressive selection of characters -- Thanos in particular is a must-own -- and the retro feel of the Avenjet itself is great. Hopefully we'll soon see Adam Warlock make his Lego debut too!  

Marvel Legends: Captain America (Red Skull Onslaught BAF)

As some regular readers will know, I recently paid a visit to the good ol’ U.S.A., and had an absolutely fantastic time while I was there. It’s a wonderful country. And when you visit a new place, you should bring back a souvenir. I have two tiki mugs from my time in Hawaii, and scotch glasses from Tasmania, for instance. But America was trickier – U.S.A. shirts/mugs/pint glasses/hip flasks/flags were all in abundance, but I don’t tend to go for something so obvious. But it just didn’t feel right leaving America without buying something patriotic. And then I stumbled across this gem in Gamestop. 

But why a Captain America figure? Sure, it’s overtly American, but what makes it stand out more than any other one? Read on to discover more…

SCULPT AND ARTICULATION

This is a comics-based Cap, complete with pirate boots. It’s much more spandex superhero than military tactician, and could be from virtually any Cap comic from the 1970s through to the 1990s. I’m sure the face is based on someone’s art, but I’m pretty sure it’s also reused from an earlier figure – maybe one of the Captain America: Winter Soldier waves? I only own a handful of ML figures, so I can’t pinpoint it with accuracy. More familiar readers should feel free to chime in the comments section.

Articulation is what you’d expect from an ML figure – ball-jointed and hinged neck, swivel-hinge biceps, ab crunch, double elbows, swivel-hinge wrists, cut waist, ball-jointed hips, cut thighs, souble-jointed knees, cut calves (for the boots) and rocker ankles. I believe this is slightly more than some figures get – I don’t think everyone has the double elbows, but everything else seems pretty consistent with the other ML figures I’ve bought. Some of the joints will be a little stiff at first, but if you;re careful you shouldn't have any issues. Though speaking of the double elbows – I know some people love them, but I don’t think it works as well as it should here. The forearms are cast in white, in a softer plastic than the rest of the body. I assume this is to accommodate the slightly-flared gloves, but it makes the joints a little trickier to move. I’ve also had a little of the red paint rub off on one of the gloves too, though fortunately it can be covered with the shield.    

             

ACCESSORIES

Accessories that aren’t crappy oversized missile launchers are becoming an increasingly rarity in the action figure world, so it’s nice to get some at all. There are:

*Two additional hands, including a pointing one: Cap sure does love to point, especially in the movies, so it’s a good inclusion. Jon at Preternia suggests that this is the first time a comics-based Cap has had this hand, which just seems crazy to me! Oh well; the toy industry works in mysterious ways. He's also got one that allows him to salute too, as seen at right.  

*His signature shield: Naturally. I suspect it’s more reuse from another figure, and can be clipped to his forearm or stored in the plughole on his back. Both look pretty good.

*One other accessory: which I’ll get to in just a moment…

*He also comes with a BAF piece: Onslaught’s cape. I don’t have any real desire to complete the BAF (though it does look cool) so I think this will go be going on eBay shortly.

There’s one other thing I should mention, too – I’m not sure if they’re meant to be accessories, but he does also come with two shoulder straps. They’re attached to him in the packaging, and they look really cool in place – I assumed they’d be a conjoined piece, with a strap running across the back. However, they're separate pieces, so as soon as you move him, they fall off. There doesn’t appear to be any sensible way to keep them on, short of gluing them, and then you might even manage to ruin the articulation of the shoulders in the process. It’s a bit of a misfire, which is a shame – had it worked properly it would have been a nice bit of detailing. As it is, they’ll just go in the accessories box.  

Totally useless

PAINT

Paint is very…adequate. As you can probably see in the photos, they did his eyes properly, but everything else leaves a bit to be desired – the wings, his chin, the skin lines around his mask – it could probably be fixed by someone with a dream and a paintbrush, but it does seem unusually sloppy. There was only one on the shelf, so I didn’t have multiple options to pick from – if you do, I’d suggest you weigh up some different ones before picking it up. As to the rest of him – well, Cap’s costume in the comics is all about extreme contrasts, mimicking the colours of the American flag. It works very well on the printed page, but as anyone who’s ever done any painting knows, red paint over white paint can run into some issues. I’m already mentioned some rub on one of the gloves above, but I can see this being an issue for anyone who fiddles around with the ab-crunch too much as well. I had some very (admittedly minor) chipping, so just be careful.   

THE BIG REVEAL

So, I’ve told you a lot about the figure, but I haven’t revealed the real reason I bought it. After all, it’s a pretty standard Cap figure so far, isn’t it? Well, remember I mentioned there was one another accessory? Here it is!

Possibly the best thing you'll see this year

That’s right, it’s a Capwolf head.

Many of you will no doubt be asking what the hell this is, and that’s a fair question. Well, to grossly simplify, comics were crazy in the 1990s. Marvel and DC were selling gangbusters, but younger players like Image were a real sales threat – so Marvel and DC threw everything they could to compete; the EDGIER the better. Hence why Superman died, Green Lantern became evil, Wolverine was in every Marvel (and some DC ones) and Captain America became a werewolf. CAPWOLF.  

I’ve never read the relevant issues, but I don’t need to. All I need to know is that Captain America became a werewolf. In fact, reading it would probably ruin everything – comics tend to date pretty quickly, and I strongly suspect time has not been kind to the 90s-tasticness of this concept.

Taken as a whole, the figure is not accurate to the comic – the neck looks a little thin, there’s no torn up boots or costume, and no clawed gloves. But the fact that Hasbro gave a nod to this relatively forgotten and ridiculous piece of Cap’s history in action figure form was just too good an American souvenir to pass up – and hey, I love wolves. In case you hadn’t noticed, the blog is called the Lupine Book Club. Even better, there is no reference to Capwolf on the packaging. The head just sits there in the box as an accessory, no doubt leaving many to just ponder on what it all means.

OVERALL

Thanks to the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there have now been almost as many Captain America figures on the shelves as Spider-Man and Batman ones – no small accomplishment. This is a good, solid standard Cap for a kid who’s never had a figure of him before, but the true strength of the figure for more long-term collectors lies in the Capwolf head and the pointing hand accessory. With such heavy reliance on variations of Captain America (and Iron Man for that matter), Hasbro and Marvel alike are going to have to get pretty creative to hold the interest of consumers and retailers alike. Figures like this are definite steps in the right direction.   

POP! Marvel Daredevil

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2015

Daredevil has easily been one of my favourite TV series for this year, and – true confession time – one of the few new series I’ve watched this year. It added a really good slant to the MCU, and while the surprisingly upbeat ending felt a bit at odds with the tone of the other episodes, it was still thoroughly enjoyable. Season 2 is eagerly anticipated. It was made even more enjoyable by my relative ignorance of the character; I know he's blind (but can virtually see anyway) and that Elektra died, but not too much more than that. The show really sold me on a character who I previously associated with the fun but heavily flawed Ben Affleck film. 

So now we have The Man Without Fear himself rendered in Funko form. There are currently two versions available, the red outfit reviewed today and his yellow “first appearance outfit”. That one's not out in Australia yet, but has been available in the US for a while.

There is very little paint, which I think is a good thing; it’s not really necessary to render the costume effectively. But if there was nothing but cast red plastic, it would be a bit dull – so a few select details have been picked out in a slightly different shade of red, namely his “eyes”, gloves, billy clubs, holster and boots. The string binding his billy clubs/walking cane together is painted black, and a black tampograph of his “DD” logo decorates his chest. He’s quite good; from the front, he’s almost perfect in fact. On the back of his head, he has some white marks – I’m not sure if this is stray paint, abrasions from being dropped, mould or glue. Not a major drama, but I was a little annoyed considering how well done everything else had been. Incidentally, he is a MUCH brighter red than you see here -- my photo set-up at home is quite primitive, which I hope to rectify soon.     

I’ll be a little surprised if we don’t see some TV-based Daredevil POPs, but it may take a while. Sometimes Marvel’s wheels seem to spin a little slowly – for example, in spite of Agent Coulson’s breakout popularity since the release of The Avengers, he only just got a POP this year. While I’m not entirely sure on the actual Daredevil costume that’s worn in the show, I am a big fan of the black ninja-esque costume he wears for most of the series -- so the sooner Funko get cracking on that, the better. In the meantime, this a great comic-based version, well worth picking up for any Marvel fan.   

POP! Marvel: Frost Giant Loki (glow in the dark variant)

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2014

I have always had mixed feelings about Marvel’s take on Norse mythology. Though I don’t mind the Ancient Aliens take that the Cinematic Universe has offered, and the “Is Thor legit or crazy?” take from The Ultimates, the mainstream universe version has never really grabbed me. So if you had told me a few years ago that I would be buying anything to do with Marvel’s Loki, I would have laughed in your face.

Yet here I am. One of the best things about 2012’s The Avengers was Tom Hiddleston’s take on Loki. It retained a lot of the character’s visual trappings, but upgraded for more modern sensibilities and made them much cooler, at least to my eye. So three years on I’ve finally picked up a Funko POP of him – albeit one that seems to be based on a moment that I don’t think ever actually happened in the movie. Why, you ask? Well, he glows in the dark. The regular Loki is still a pretty cool POP, but I needed something to bump it up to the next level before I was willing to take the plunge – long-term readers of the site will recall that I am a glow in the dark tragic. 

Paint is a little tricky to judge – most of the paint on his body is fine, though there’s some fuzziness here and there; nothing too major. The face and helmet are a different story; he’s got a bit of paint missing on the top of his helmet and he’s got some missing on the area of the helmet covering his cheekbones. It’s not terribly noticeable in the photos, and I didn’t notice it in the box – but now I’ve seen it, it bugs me a lot. I may end up repainting the whole helmet and doing a pseudo-custom.

There are now a whole bunch of different Lokis from Thor: The Dark World – there’s the regular version, the B&W version, the Frost Giant version and the one reviewed today. All use the same sculpt; there’s an unhelmeted Loki from the first Thor movie, which I believe had a few variants too. This particular variant isn’t terribly rare. I’d say I’ve maybe seen 1 or 2 for every 5 regular Frost Giant Lokis, though this is far from an exact figure. The glow is – as you might expect – fun but not amazing. It looks like it needs an awful lot of light to get a good glow going. It’s better than Ant-Man was, but it’s no Gillman. But it looks virtually identical to the regular Frost Giant version, so why not just get this one instead?

This was a good POP for me to get personally, as I’m not so invested in Loki as a character and didn’t really need a “standard” version of him. He’s a fun, but non-essential variant; just make sure you check the paint more carefully than I did -- and don't pay some crazy aftermarket price for him either.    

POP! Marvel -- Captain America (Unmasked)

Year: 2015

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Marvel

I didn’t really come round to Cap until I read The Ultimates 1 & 2 miniseries, back in about 2006. He went from being (in my mind) a one-note jingoistic caricature to being a well-rounded character. The first series gave a really impressive showcase of how powerful the character was, while the fight between him and Colonel Abdul al-Rahman in the second series was genuinely affecting – well done, on both counts, Mr Mark Millar.

Chris Evans’ take on the character is fairly distinct from the Ultimates version (definitely not as violent), but he’s still pretty cool. So today we take look at the most recent POP release of Captain America. It’s the unmasked version, which is a Funko Convention Exclusive for 2015. Cap here is on active duty – I threw out the box, which is anathema to some collectors. But the box was dinged up and so was the plastic tray inside, so I’m sure you can forgive me.

As far as I can tell, the body and shield is identical to the regular masked release, with the difference coming in the head – it looks like a unique piece to me, though I suspect we’ll see it reused again next year, for reasons I’ll reveal a bit later. 

The paint is mostly clean, but you can see that the blue the body’s cast in is difficult to paint over. The reds and whites on his uniform aren’t quite as bright as they should be as a result, but you could kind of just pretend this is battle wear and tear if you’re bothered by it. 

On the downside, the shield was slightly warped on closer inspection; it’s a slightly softer plastic than the rest of him. It’s not major though; I didn’t notice it in the box, so it's not a deal-breaker.   

Overall, is this one as good as the regular version? Well, given that Cap spends about the same amount of time with his mask/helmet off as on, the answer is yes. But I wouldn’t recommend paying the convention premium on eBay. With Captain America: Civil War coming next year, there are likely to be a whole bunch of new Cap POPs on the way – and I’ll be very surprised if at least one of them isn’t an unmasked one, reusing this head. So maybe wait a few months and see how things go.      

On a side note, I’ve noticed POPs have been rising in price of late. I started collecting them in early 2013 and I believe they were still retailing for $15AUD at the time. Now they’ve just hit the $18AUD mark, which is getting a little too pricey for my tastes. This guy cost me slightly more than that, as he’s a convention exclusive. To my mind, though, the price should either be going down or holding steady. I’m sure that some aspect of the economics is getting past me here, but Funko POPs are far more readily available now than they were even a year ago – this suggests to me that they are selling gangbusters, which would presumably drive production costs down. However, it’s possible that the cost on new moulds and licenses is driving things up overall. Fair enough, but I think I will have to get out of the game if they go up much more. 

POP! Marvel: Scarlet Witch

Year: 2015

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Marvel

Avengers: Age of Ultron was a lot of fun, though on reflection its flaws have become a little more apparent. In particular I think that although James Spader turned in some good voice work, I didn’t think Ultron was that amazing as a villain – which is a problem when his name is in the title.  

But there were a lot of highlights. Vision was definitely one, and so was his likely future love interest, Scarlet Witch. Hopefully she has a little more to do in the upcoming MCU films, but it wasn’t a bad debut. And now she’s arrived in Funko POP form!  

Her movie costume is quite different to her classic comic outfit, which is maybe not so surprising. It takes a little from her Ultimates incarnation, but is still quite distinct. The red and black colour scheme is a good one, and it’s nicely distinct from all the other Avengers. I can see it being a cosplay favourite at conventions.   

Funko has been shifting away from using painted prototypes in their promotional images lately, using CG renders instead. This doesn’t really bother me, as the usually simplistic POP style lends itself to CG images more than say, a NECA Predator. The only major difference I can see between the “prototype” and the finished product is that she’s been given eyeshadow, which is a nice little touch. She was the only one in the store, so I didn’t have much choice in terms of paint, but I’m pleased to report that she has actually turned out quite well. Some of the small details, like her rings, could be a little cleaner, but it’s still way better than plenty of others in the collection.

Curiously, she doesn’t include a stand – though she needs it more than Black Widow, who did come with one. She’ll stay balanced, but she’s easy to knock over.  

With the release of Scarlet Witch, we are now only waiting on one more Avenger from Funko – Wanda’s brother, Quicksilver. I’m not convinced that he will actually get released, but you never know. Personally, I hope that the Hulkbuster ends up getting a wider release first, given his *SPOILER ALERT* untimely demise towards the film’s end.

There are only a few pieces of Scarlet Witch merchandise doing the rounds from the film, all of them with varying degrees of quality. With the exception of the upcoming Hot Toys version, this is probably the best of them, though the Lego Minifigure isn’t too bad either. I think she’ll be a little bit rare for a while, but if you can track her down she’s definitely worth the purchase price.    

POP! Marvel – Black Widow

My Marvel POPs now outnumber my DC ones by a not inconsiderable degree. While once I was happy with just Wolverine, Deadpool and the Silver Surfer, the release of Guardians of the Galaxy last year really cemented my love for Marvel's cinematic universe. A couple of impulse buys later and I suddenly have a near complete set of the Avengers – including the subject of today’s review, Black Widow.

I was never a huge Scarlett Johansson fan prior to her entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but recent films have sold me on her as an actress. Consistently entertaining and never there to act as the helpless bimbo, Scarlet Johansson has turned Black Widow from a B-list comics character into one of the most important supporting roles in the Marvel Universe.

This is actually the second Black Widow POP, as one was released last year to belatedly tie in with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That one was okay, though not amazing. This one is distinct enough to be worth double-dipping, and is also the far better of the two.

Bedecked in her Avengers: Age of Ultron costume and wielding two shock-prods, this is one of the better female POPs out there. The original base body that Funko used for Wonder Woman was okay, but a lot of the others have tended towards too skinny and dainty. This is a good compromise. 

You’ll need to watch the shock prods – I’ve seen some that are quite bent in the box. The other thing I’ve spotted when looking at another was excess plastic hanging down on the neck; this shows up on Marvel POPs from time to time due to their bobble-headed nature, and it can totally ruin their look. Paint is not amazing but it’s certainly of a better standard than many others I own; make sure you check the eyes and the hairline. 

   

Like the Alien, Black Widow comes with a transparent stand to support her. You should be pretty okay to get her standing without it, but it’s nice to have the extra support. I assume the Elisabeth Olsen-based Scarlet Witch will have one too when she arrives.  

It’s good to see Black Widow actually get some associated merchandise. There was virtually none to accompany her starring role in the first Avengers film, and it seems that the fan uproar has won out over the traditional response of “Girl toys don’t sell”. Kudos to Funko for meeting this gap in the market and managing to produce a solid toy while they were at it, rather than a crappy cash-in.   

POP! Marvel: Ant-Man (glow in the dark variant)

It's Funko POP! week again -- Hooray! So let's kick it off with a look at one of my least favourite characters of all time.


Series: POP! Marvel

Year: 2015

RRP: $16.95

Back when I was about 14 or 15, my local library started getting in a whole bunch of Marvel Essentials paperbacks – the big black-and-white ones. I remember reading the Avengers and X-Men ones, which compiled some of the very early issues of both titles. To the jaded eyes of a teenager raised on the X-TREME 90s school of comics, they were more than a little twee. Unfairly, they put me off Marvel quite a bit for a number of years.

In hindsight, I can appreciate a little more how important the books were at the time – the idea of a shared universe was really only sort of burgeoning at the time, and these titles did a lot to further that, even if some of the stories are a little hokey by today’s more sophisticated standards. Jack Kirby also had a very distinct art style, and though I sometimes have mixed feelings about that style, one would have to be a fool to deny the very real and positive influence he has exercised over the comics that have followed.

But one thing that I can’t really appreciate in hindsight is a key character – Ant-Man. Marvel and DC both have their share of decidedly average characters, but Ant-Man has always been one of my least favourite, across any company. Truly feeble, even by the “anything goes” standards of the early 1960s, Ant-Man was always a C-Lister trying to play in an A-Lister’s title. Tales to Astonish? The only astonishment experienced was at how lame he was, and that he continued to get published.

But more than 50 years since his debut, Ant-Man has just made his big-screen debut, defying all expectations. And I’ve done something even more shocking, something that I never, ever thought I’d do – bought a piece of Ant-Man merchandise.

Perhaps appropriately, I didn’t get off to a great start with this particular POP. He felt out of the box awkwardly as I was trying to get him out, and then his head was wonky. To be fair, this is a problem that affects a lot of Marvel POPs; as they’re contractually obliged to be bobbleheads rather than just figures, the wire can get a little bent out of shape. It’s easier to fix at some times than others, but this one looks just plain lopsided, his head cocked to one side. And then I tried to move him for the turnaround shot and he just fell over, due to the head being so heavy. Were it a lot of other characters, I’d be pretty irritated, but it’s keeping well within my experience of disappointment with Ant-Man.    

But on to the positive. Ant-Man is a very detailed sculpt, with loads of little details captured on both the suit and on the helmet. There are a few areas of paint slop around some of the smaller details, which isn’t really surprising – but the paintwork is relatively clean, much more so than a lot of POPs I’ve owned.

There are two other versions of this POP available – the non-glow version, which looks pretty similar, except the helmet has transparent lenses and Blackout Ant-Man, which was a repaint for SDCC. Yellowjacket, the film’s villain, is also available in both regular and glow versions too. The shop assistant who sold me this guy tells me Yellowjacket’s glow is not terribly amazing. I can confirm that Ant-Man's is definitely not great, though it is novel that his shirt and eyes glow red. I've found this mediocre glow to be spread across most of the GitD POPs I've bought. But I have yet to learn my lesson and stop buying them...

This POP has not turned me into an Ant-Man fan – he still kind of sucks – but I suspect that will be a big part of the humour in the actual movie. So this POP comes recommended for fans, but is unlikely to convert you if you're anti-Ant-Man or simply on the fence. 

Funko POP! Marvel: Venom

Company: Funko

Series: POP! Marvel 

Year: 2015

If we rewind time back to the early- to mid-1990s, take a trip down to the local newsagent and pick up a comic book, the odds are pretty strong that it will be DARK and EDGY, filled with impossibly muscular men and woman who do SERIOUS THINGS while looking GRIM AND DETERMINED. Not because it really serves the plot, enhances the character or anything like that, but it’s mostly because that’s what the trend was at the time. You thought Batman was dark and brooding in the 70s or the 80s? Well, old man, SPAWN is here and he’s got more inner turmoil and EDGY ARTWORK than a thousand Frank Millers could ever bring to boring old Batman.  

It’s easy to make fun of the “90s edge”, of course, but it did give us some fun comics and some very cool characters – one of them being Venom (even though he debuted in 1988). He has a cast a long shadow over the Spider-Man Universe that very few characters will ever manage to equal. Time has diluted his impact and character design, and he’s been spun-off into a zillion different other symbiotes – but though I’ve never been particularly huge Spider-Man fan, I have a lot of respect for Venom. Which is why I picked up this Funko POP!

I mentioned in my Spider-Man 2099 review that Funko had presumably released that figure to get a new character into circulation with minimum cost. Well, at least some of these cost-savings have been funnelled into Venom – he’s got an elaborate head with sculpted eyes, spiky teeth and protruding tongue. His legs and torso seem to be from the basic Funko body, but the arms and hands are all new – his fingers are long and claw-like, which befits the character’s vicious streak. The regular body just would have done it here.  

The sculpting work is great, but on the downside, paint is likely to be an issue. Venom’s “spider logo” is pretty clean I’ve seen on the three examples I’ve run into in person – but the face is a different story. The mouth, tongue and teeth are likely to have small points of slop that you’ll have to be okay with, but the eyes are a little tricker. Depending on the example you find, they can be pretty good – like the pictured example – but the chances of issues like missing spots or overspray are quite high. Such is the nature of buying POPs. Funko’s improved a lot, but there’s still plenty of room for more improvement. 

Though I don’t think he’s perfect – I always imagine Venom being particularly large in comparison with regular characters, and he’s kind of regular height here – I think he’s turned out pretty darn well. As with Spider-Man 2099, this guy is highly recommended for any Spider-fan and for anyone who likes the 1990s in general.

Marvel Funko POP! Spider-Man 2099

Series: POP! Marvel
Year: 2015
RRP: $16.95AUD

As an adult, I’m much less enamoured of Peter Parker than I was as a kid, but I do enjoy some of his variants and spin-offs. And I’ve been on a real kick of buying Marvel merch for characters I know virtually nothing about, so this Spider-Man 2099 was a total must-have, wasn’t it? To be fair I think I did actually read a Spider-Man 2099 comic somewhere back in the 1990s as a little kid, which is more than I can say about some of the other characters I've bought stuff for *cough* Machine Man *cough*.

The 2099 series was a fun little take on the Marvel Universe that debuted in 1992 – what would the superheroes of the present day look a little more than 100 years hence? What started life as an experiment grew into a mini-universe of its own, though it takes more of a guest role in the comics these days. I’m not really sure of its canon status in the main Marvel Universe, but I get the impression it comes and goes as required for spin-offs/summer crossovers/if the writer feels like it.

Peter Parker was long dead by 2099, so after an accident involving spider genes, a Hispanic guy by the name of Miguel O’Hara took up the mantle, fighting to take down the megacorporations that made life hell for the common man. His new costume incorporated elements of a Day of the Dead costume, which explains the giant skull-spider on his chest.    

Spider-Man 2099 is impressively bare bones – he seems to use the basic Funko body, and doesn’t feature any sculpted detail on his head. I can’t remember the last time I saw one of Funko’s figures look this basic, but I really like it. He’s a fun throwback to the early days of the POP! style, but with greatly improved paint. Though as you might expect, there’s really not a lot of paint on him – he’s cast in blue and details are picked out in dark red, with a couple of “scowl lines” and a nose in black.

His back is totally blank -- it's a little bit of a shame that he doesn't have his traditional "wings" but I suppose this guy was supposed to be a relatively cheap repaint, with new tooling going to (wavemates) Punisher and Venom. 

This guy has been out in the US for a while, so far as I understand, but only seems to have made his way to Australia just now. The retailer I bought from had just received the wave in, with two each of the attendant figures in the wave (though it seems I got the last 2099). The whole wave is Spider-Man themed, featuring the Punisher (who debuted in Spider-Man comic, before you get on your high horse), Venom and Black Suit Spider-Man. It’s a welcome change from the last couple of years; save for the X-Men wave released earlier in 2015, Marvel POPs! have been very heavily dominated by the movie universe for a couple of years. Most of these are great, of course, but it’s good to have some comic-based stuff too. Highly recommended for Spider-fans.