Star Wars Black Series No 10 Bossk 6" Hasbro figure

With only a week until Force Friday I figured it'd be time to get caught up on my Black Series reviews. First up, let's take a look at Bossk - one of the best looking bounty hunters in the Star Wars Universe in my humble opinion.

So Bossk comes with just the one accessory and that's his long blaster rifle.

The sculpt on the blaster itself isn't the best, it's just moulded in black plastic with very little detail. The strap is nice though as the buckle sections attaching it to the weapon have a nice silver paint application.

Bossk himself is much more impressive.

Everything about the figure itself is really pretty great, and I'd go as far to say that this is the best figure we've seen in the Black Series since those first great figures like Han and X-Wing Luke.

The sculpt in the skin alone is top notch with all the scales, spikes, and claws really well done, especially with the added paint wash bringing the details up. His teeth and inside mouth are also well painted and easy to see with the articulated jaw. I know - Hasbro articulated the jaw! And it works very well indeed.

The rest of the paint is well applied but sadly no shading over the yellow jump suit. That would have made all this wrinkles really pop. Bossk's jumpsuit is very screen accurate though, even though you hardly see him on screen!

Like the X-Wing Luke, the hanging straps on Bossk's suit are a rubber material which means the articulation isn't inhibited too much.

Talking of articulation, Bossk's head looks left to right, but is inhibited by the neck piece so can't look up and down. The shoulders turn right round and come out to about 90 degrees to the body, there's elbow rotation and bend, and the wrists rotate and pivot.

There is a very minor ab swivel, thigh swivel, double jointed knees, boot cut, ankle bend and ankle rocker pivot that Hasbro use in the Marvel Legends too.

I'm a big fan of this guy and would completely recommend this guy to Star Wars collectors.

Also, he looks bad ass among his fellow bounty hunters!

Stay tuned for more Star Wars reviews coming soon! May the Force be with You.

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Marvel 500 Bind Bags Hasbro

I'd heard about these a while ago and a as a fan of blind bags, mini figures and Marvel, when I saw these in store today, I had to pick a couple up.

This first series has 24 to collect and, I assume, the end game is to release 500 minifigures.

Now bear with me here, I'm going to try and explain some of these figures the best way I can - where the figures look like their normal characters from the comic I'll just name them, when they look different, I'll add the colour schemes. This first series contains:

Spider-Man
Captain America blue & silver
Ultron blue and silver
Hulk
Punisher
Dock Ock green & gold
Iron Man
Green Goblin green & purple
Thor
Venom
Hulk green
Ghost Rider
Captain America
Spider-Man black
Ultron gold & blue
Red Hulk
Green Goblin
Carnage
Iron Man silver & red
Nick Fury navy & white
Ghost Rider orange
Ultron
Spider-Man red
Thor red, black & silver

Now some of that probably sounds a bit confusing, but look at what I got, and it might make a bit more sense!

Firstly, I pulled

Venom!

The daddy of the symbiote family is a good sculpt, but what is that pose all about?! There are pros and cons here. Venom is a nice bulky minifigure (as he should be), the spider symbol is well applied and his eyes and tongue are both painted. The weird pose is a bit off putting, I really wish there was more paint on this guy, especially around the mouth, and the white at the eyes hasn't been applied perfectly which is a shame.

Secondly, I pulled

The translucent blue and silver Ultron.

I prefer this figure over Ultron. I love the translucent blue plastic here and Ultron's pose is much better than Venom's! Ultron looks to be holding some kind of energy ball.

There's more going on in the sculpt here too so that's appreciated. The little bit of silver that goes down one side makes it look like Ultron is being hit with a ray of light which is a pretty nice look. None of the figures have articulation by the way - they're only about 1.5" high and are quite a hard plastic.

I like these figures and I'll be grabbing more when I see them, but I can see why some people wouldn't be impressed.

Go Figure!

Super Mario K'Nex Series 4 Blind Bags

My local Forbidden Planet has these in stock, and you know what? Every one of them is a Bob-omb. You can feel the massive round body. But as I was shopping the other day I found 2 bags in amongst a bunch of the new Thomas the Tank Engine blind bags, so I bought them up!

I really like the little K'Nex Mario figs, especially for the enemies, I have that Bob-omb I was talking about in my videogame display. I felt both bags and made sure I was getting different figures, and this is who I got.

Firstly

Green Toad! He's a neat little figure. His arms are articulates as is his massive head.

Second up I got a character I really dig the design of

Bowser Jr! This little fig has head rotation, his arms and legs are articulated and he even has wrist swivel.

Both of these figures are easy little builds and both look really cool so I'm glad I picked them up. If I ever see more I'd no doubt add more to my collection.

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S.H. Figuarts Iron Man 3 Iron Patriot

I've been meaning to write about this figure for a while seeing as I've had it for several months now!

SH Figuarts do great work and are well worth the money to have imported from Japan. The articulation, accessories, paint application and sculpt are all top drawer on SH Figuarts figures and this Iron Patriot is no different.

Firstly, Iron Patriot comes with six repulsor effects that can all be attached to his palms or bottom of his feet.

He also comes with his minigun that attaches to his back, which also comes with a blast effect that attaches to it.

And as far as hands go, we get 4 different pairs. There are closed fists, blaster hands with pegs to attach the repulsor blasts to, blaster hands without pegs, and flat palms.

Iron Patriot himself is just a class act.

The paint is gorgeous and metallic, with flecks throughout adding to the realism. This figure looks metallic though it's not - the feet are die cast metal though to keep the figure balanced and to stop it from falling over.

The paint is also incredibly clean and neatly applied.

Iron Patriot's minigun fits nicely into one of two slots on his back. The gun is also articulated so it can sit flat against his back or angle it over his shoulder ready to fire.

The articulation on Iron Patriot is great. The head looks up and down and left and right. His shoulder armour is articulated so the shoulders aren't hindered at all. The shoulders have a ball joint inside and out so it's almost like a butterfly joint giving his arm a great range of motion. Elbows are double jointed and the wrists are articulated. There is an ab crunch and waist swivel.

There are articulated flaps at his hips so that his legs aren't hindered when moving. His hips have double joints, again almost like a butterfly joint so there's a great range of motion forward, back, and outwards. There's a thigh swivel, double jointed knees, articulated flaps at the front and back of the feet, ankle pivot and hinge and toe articulation.

This figure is one of the jewels in my collection, I absolutely love it. It's almost flawless as far as I can see - the only 2 things that are missing for me are: the eyes and arc reactor look as though they should light up, but I guess if they did this figure would cost even more! And secondly, I wish it came with it's own flight stand - that would make it.

If you can afford this figure, I'd say it's well worth picking up. Of course you can get about 3 Marvel Legends for the price of this one figure, but I'd recommend this over those all day - especially with the prices that some of the rarer Marvel Legends can hit.

Go Figure!

The Simpsons Lego Series 2 Blind Bag Minifigures

I picked up 2 new blind bags on a whim the other day hoping I wouldn't pick up any other doubles.

Let's get these cracked open and see what we get.

First up...

Groundskeeper Willie! Very happy with this minifig, he's a great sculpt and the plunger accessory is so much fun.

Secondly...

Patty Bouvier! Again a nice figure, shame I'm missing Selma of course. And I kind of wish she came with a cigarette as an accessory, but I know they couldn't do that!

Just a quick post guys, stay tuned for more real soon!

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Halo 4 Series 3 Commander Palmer McFarlane Toys

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted - aiming to get back on track starting with a look at the new Commander Palmer figure from McFarlane.

I picked her up a couple of weeks ago (expect to see the remaining two figures get reviewed soon!) and I'm glad I did. I often feel hesitant when picking up the McFarlane Halo figures, and I think it's because of their size (they normally stand at around 5.5") but once I have them in my hand I'm instantly in love. These figures really are excellent and look amazing.

Palmer comes with 2 handguns as her accessories which are in a nice grey metallic paint and have some really nice sculpted details.

Out of the packaging and the first complaint I have is that she doesn't look particularly feminine. In fact it looks like a repaint of a male Spartan which is a real shame. Paint wise though, and Palmer's armour looks fantastic! It looks nicely weathered, the fine details in red look really good, and all of the sculpted detail is excellent. I especially like that Scout helmet - very cool looking with the blue visor.

The articulation is pretty excellent throughout this figure with one glaring omission: the hips.

The hips appear to be on a peg which gives a minimal range of motion there. The head turns and looks up and down, the shoulders are on a nice ratcheted ball and hinge joint, as are the elbow and wrists. There's a ball joint in the torso allowing nice movement back and forward and replaces a waist rotation.

The hips... Well, those are poor as I mentioned. The knees rotate and hinge, as do the ankles, and there is toe articulation.

As is standard in the McFarlane Halo figures, the guns connect to the armour via pegs and there are holes for her pistols on Palmer's upper legs and back.

Palmer holds her guns well but as she doesn't have a trigger figure sculpted in either hand, if you put the pistols in her hands you will bend the triggers. This hasn't bothered me as it's barely noticeable and Palmer does look very cool rocking bother her pistols.

If you're a fan of Halo I'd completely recommend this figure, the armour is great, I love the weathered grey and red, and as a Spartan, Palmer just looks completely bad ass. The wave (other than Jul 'Mdama) were all still available at my local Forbidden Planet and you should be able to pick them all up for less than £15 each, which I still think is a great price even though it has gone up.

Go Figure!