#20
Admit it, I will, when you were young and watching Star Wars for the first time you wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Oh sure Han was cool and you will say you want to be him now cause you realize he is cooler. But in your child's mind you wanted to be that farm boy who ended up saving the universe while confronting your father's evil deeds. On top of that Luke was probably as whiney in Star Wars as most kids are who are watching it. I admit it and I know plenty of people who will if pressed. I am sure someone is sitting right now saying "No man Han." but thinking "yeah you're right." And its perfectly fine, Luke was meant to be the main hero and he works well in the part. In many ways he is a major character in my life.
Dark Horse comics released a series of books set slightly after Return of the Jedi about Luke discovering that Palpatine had survived via the use of clones and was ready to begin a New Empire. The series has some high and low points, but delivered at a time when there were no Star Wars books or even figures. This version of Luke is meant to reflect his look in Dark Empire II which was less of a story than the first one but I always did like the look Luke had in the series.
I honestly really like Luke. I know the "popular" thing to do is to bash him as a whiner but really he grew the most as a character in the course of the three films. While I consider Star Wars an ensemble piece I do think Luke is the closest to being a central character. His defeat by Vader in Empire cements his status to me. He was defeated, hand cut off and discovered the dark secret of his father yet by Return of the Jedi had risen above it all and taken the role he was meant to play, a role even the wisest of Jedi could not predict.
Luke's figure is just as he appears on the cover of Dark Empire II which is exactly what I would have hoped for. His pants and shirt look Vader influenced as well as his cloak. His cloak is the one thing that makes this figure a bit off to me. Its set wide open and is made of hard plastic rather than soft goods. The width of the figure makes him difficult to display at best. Still even with that mild shortcoming he looks really well put together.
One thing I feel I should mention is the fact that I never noticed how much Luke and Cade Skywalker's (A character from Legacy) designs are so similar. I wonder if that was purposeful as both looks appeared in Dark Horse comics.
In my Toxie universe I tend to have Luke being distracted by molecules in the air or other issues. He tends to be an idiot which makes his relationship with Vader all the more interesting.
#19
Another "shouldn't he be an army builder character?" Well on this one I know there were multiple assassin droids in the cartoon. I decided though that he basically split his consciousness between several droids. Part of what influenced me was the tale of one of the IG droids supplementing itself into the Death Star computers. I believe the story appeared in "Bounty Hunter tales" but I am not sure. I just remember the idea of IG droids not being limited to one host body being suggested, so in other words he gets on the list via a technicality.
Can you tell I am a Star Wars fan yet. I am one of the few people I know of who have seen all three Star Wars movies within a week of initial release as well as the special editions in theaters as well as the prequels (all within a week of release and the prequels were all on opening night). I still own the original Star Wars soundtrack on record as well as the original Christmas Album (Yes that one is an embarrassment) as well as the original Pop up books (in relatively good shape) and I still have my ticket from seeing Empire Strikes Back (granted its one of the old "admit one" tickets but yes its there). So yes I am a Star Wars fanatic as much as Joe and other toy lines.
But to be fair Star Wars was the birthplace of my love of 1:18th scale figures. My first 1:18th scale figure was R2-D2 (who I still own but I will admit is in less than stellar shape). So it is fitting that I still love these figures. Of course taking breaks now and again help as well, which I had been on a long one for several years until this year with the Legacy collection and Clone Wars.
Clone Wars figures tend to have one major flaw, they are missing some parts of articulation (Primarily the legs but not limited to) and the tendency on my part is to dismiss most animated figures on this basis, however it seems that Hasbro is going that extra mile with droids lately. IG-86 is a perfect example. IG-86 is an assassin droid just like IG-88 (seen in Empire Strikes Back). IG-86 id loaded with articulation. He is one of the few Star Wars figures with hip articulation. He also has Knee, leg, arm, ankle, elbow and even hands to articulate. So what I am saying here is he is the MAJOR exception to the rule thus far.
On top of that IG-86 is just cool. Unlike IG-88 he doesn't just sit still in his appearances, he takes action. Of course he is animated while IG-88 was a prop, so it makes a huge difference.
At this point I have IG-86 as a background character. Really anything important I would lean to IG-88, but then again I might use IG-86 as IG-88, it depends on my mood.
#18
Padme' has to be my least favorite character from any Star Wars medium. First off she was introduced as an ELECTED Queen at age 14. I said ELECTED meaning people voted her into a government office. I may sound like an old codger saying this, but I don't know any 14 year olds I would trust running my dogs walking at night, let alone the security of my planet. Was Naboo iCarley world or something. Right off the bat I felt her character would have been strengthened greatly if she had been a monarch (history is full of young monarchs after all) who gave up the throne later for her belief in democracy and later was elected to the Senate. It would make sense since her stance about democracy is so pronounced in Episode 3. Also I might forgive her the transgression of marring a child murderer, and before you say he did that after remember Anakin was lamenting about killing Tusken Raider women and children.
So hopefully now you are asking what the heck she is doing on this list of my favorite figures. The fact is she really is that good of a figure. I almost passed on the Padme' Evolution set but broke down and bought it primarily to use in Toxie's 1:18th Universe. Despite my feelings on the character she is an important part of Star Wars (being Luke and Leia's mother and all). And I realized when I did the chapter titled "The Courtship of Mr. Luke's father I need a decent Padme'. I thought I had it with the single carded "Snow bunny" version. The evolutions set opened my eyes to the fact I needed a slightly better one.
Her figure is thin but sturdy, she has a full range of possibility and her cape looks like one that would be used on an ice planet to keep the body heat in. She works on a great many levels. She also wears the same garb she had in Episode 2 (at least until it was conveniently torn in such a way to show off Natalie Portman's midsection, a scene that I want to scream "Geez George, do you think we are stupid and don't realize what you are doing here." but really I can't, well I can but I come across as a crazy person).
So where does Padme' fit into the Toxie Universe. Basically she is a woman of "Negotiable affections." is the nice way of saying it. And she is very much alive even after the twins are grown up. I admit I am having a bit of fun with that idea as the interactions of Padme' being a stern mother and MILF at the same time are funny.
#17
Hellboy is the man, but who do you have face the man. Well Wink was an interesting opponent for Big Red in Hellboy II the Golden Army (which BTW will go down as my favorite movie of the year). For those of you who haven't seen the movie somehow, Wink is a troll and works for the Elven Prince (any more might spoil it so I am stopping there).
Wink is a brute and a great adversary for Hellboy. His demise by (literally) his own hand was a great moment in the film. His fight with Hellboy made both characters shine. While he didn't have much characterization in the movie, he really didn't need it as he was the muscle to Nuarda's brains. In the film he was a combination of animatronics and CGI. A very interesting combination that made a much more realistic character than the two being separate.
So his figure his a towering creature for 1:18th scale, much taller than the rest of the figures in the Hellboy 2 set. As he should be, he looked to be 8 or 9 feet tall in the movie. He is highly detailed just as he looks in the film down to the odd hair on his back (eww). The figure (as well as the rest of the set) have a texture that reminds me of Palisades Army of Darkness figures a few years ago. I think those toys were avoided because many (falsely) believed them to be totally unposable. In fact they were extremely articulated and I think the way the company hid the articulation so well caused the high price tag on the sets (around $15 per while Star wars figures were still around $5) but the point is they were a huge leap in toy tech. The Hellboy figures do not seem to be as big a leap, or any leap for that matter, but they do remind me of the AOD figures very strongly.
Wink is exactly as he was in the movie for Toxie's Universe. A brute who doesn't speak but punches hard, there is something to be said for a simple character like that.
#16
Hard Master is one of those figures that I can remember being requested in the letters column of the GI Joe Comic book way back in the days when GI Joe ruled the toy isle. So 20+ years later we finally get one in a comic pack (With a "Training" Snake Eyes that is actually a repaint of Storm Shadow). So was he worth the wait? Well he is no where near how I envisioned him but yes I would have to say he was worth it.
As a character the Hard Master really has nothing to go on. He was Storm Shadow's Uncle, master of the ninja clan and was killed, really that is all we have about him. So really there isn't much for me to talk about with him. The comic pack he comes in has a comic about Snake Eyes in training, really it give very little in the way of information about Hard Master as a character though.
The figure is a repaint of the 25th version of Snake Eyes that was based on V3 (I think that version of Snake Eyes was actually v42 but I am to lazy to check). He does not have the knives across the chest (which would have been too recognizable in my opinion). He also comes with a mask that puts me in mind of Vega from the old Street Fighter sub-set of Joes. His sword looks like a bastard sword rather than a ninja sword (at least in size) I am hoping this isn't Hasbro shooting at oversized weapons again. Still I excuse it as being a bastard sword as long as such swords don't become regular Ninja Issue (Hard to be sneaky with such an item). His arm is bent rather funny at the wrist, presumably to facilitate the bow that he comes with. So I realize it sounds like I am complaining about the figure, yet I really like him a great deal.
The head sculpt puts me in mind of Chow Yun-Fat in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That is a good thing BTW. I can see some industrious customizer creating a Le Mu Bai from this figure (Perhaps with sculpy for the braid or even from Street fighters Vega). His colors struck me odd at first when I saw pictures of him online, but they grew on me. I would prefer more neutral colors but I can live with the red and white palate. He comes with the aforementioned bow, sword and mask, but also has a head band that looks great.
In Toxies universe the Hard Master runs the Karate Dojo (a set I still have to make).
#15
How much crap am I about to unload here, I am fairly certain a large group of internet fanboys are going to flip out over the next few statements, but as Wendy O. Williams said as she sent a car over a cliff to explode "It's my life and I do what I wanna do."
Personally I think Triple-H gets a bum rap, and I am just as guilty of it as anyone else. People say he doesn't deserve his titles and standing in the current WWE, ok show me the bad match. Show me a match that he wasn't injured (hell even then sometimes) where he didn't perform and give a great show. Now I am not talking about a match where he wins and people think its "bad" because of that, I mean a match that he wasn't up to par. Watch the guy with Mick Foley, Ric Flair, he even made Batista look good in a Hell in a Cell match. He has tried to build up newer talent Like the aforementioned Batista, Randy Orton (Who admittedly needed less help than most having been a third generation star, but his rise was much faster due to Triple-H), and Shelton Benjamin (Who didn't receive the superstardom he should have, but not cause Triple-H didn't give him a win at a time Triple-H was unstoppable).
On criticism that bothers me a great deal is the accusation that Triple-H only got to where he is at due to his marriage to Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie. For those of you not versed in the wrestling world this will take some explanation. Triple-H had a storyline where he drugged Stephanie and married her in a drive-by chapel in Las Vegas. Stephanie ended up turning on her father and accepting the marriage and the two ruled over the WWE for over a year. Now this is the catch, it was fake (Duh), a story. Trips and Steph barely knew each other when it started, but it doesn't end there. As it turns out in an odd way art imitated life and they ended up actually getting together. Of course they never would have without the ironic storyline they were in. In the story they had a very tumultuous break up in front of all the cameras. Later they "really" got married and have since had two children. After "really" marring the boss's daughter though, Trips didn't hold the world title for a while. This is a fact some people do not look at, the only possible conclusion one could garner from this is that Vince wanted to avoid the accusations that Triple-H only gained his Championships from being his son-in-law (even though Trips had already suffered that criticism before he and the boss's daughter even dated, you can't win I guess).
So it appears that Triple-H is gaining titles again (having just lost his title to Edge a few months ago) and is poised to break Ric Flair's record of 16 title reigns (and wrestling fans need to accept that one now as the writing has been clearly on the wall since Flair's retirement). I am sure people will scream and yell and boo and holler when it happens, but again I will ask "Show me the bad match?"
Now that I have wrestling fanboys seething, let me talk about the figure.
My biggest complaint of the WWE Build and Brawl figures is the scale issues. Rey Mysterio and Undertaker should not be the same height ever. Triple-H is just shy of where he would be in the 1:18th world (a bit short I think and not as much muscle) but as the old saying goes "Close enough for Government work." One really nifty thing I added was his signature sledgehammer which came from a SWAT team set out of the old Power Team Elite line. Its perfect for that scale. Really there doesn't need to be a great deal of detailing on a wrestling figure, just muscles and trunks, so in that respect Triple-H is perfect. He also sports the "handlebars" mustache he wore a few years ago implying these figures have been in development for a while. I would like to see an updated version before Jakks Pacific loses the License to WWE figures however it appears that might not happen.
In Toxies Universe Trips is my POV character, he is the new guy in 1:18th town and many times I explain things through him (or rather to him) that I want to communicate to the readers. It's a vital role that he plays and thus makes him one of the "stars" of the show.
#14
Ah, looks like I am going for two in a row on peeving off fandom today.
When I started reading up on the Clone Wars cartoon a huge amount of criticism was launched against Ahsoka Tano (who came in as Anakin's Pade'wan). One huge complaint is that she was only there for sexual tension but she was a teenager making it very perverted. After finally seeing Clone Wars (both the weekly series on Cartoon Network and the film) I have to say that some people obviously can't fathom a female and male interacting without that interaction being of a sexual nature. The other criticism was that Ahsoka was annoying and smart mouthed. She is a bit, but I think that is the point. Anakin himself was referred to as brash and reckless. It would stand to reason that Yoda would assign him a Padewan who had these same traits as a way of teaching Anakin of his own shortcomings. They do seem to work well together.
Of course the big question now is what happened to Ahsoka. The assumption is sometime during the Clone Wars she dies. That stands to reason as she doesn't appear anywhere else, however she is also never mentioned. For instance if she gets killed by General Grievous, there is no mentioning of her in any of Anakin's confrontations with him, which would seem out of place. Perhaps the deed will fall on Ventress or another character that is exclusive to Clone Wars, or perhaps even to a simple Battle Droid (that would be unexpected).
I have an idea in my head for a story in which Ahsoka survives and avoids Order 66 (when the clones turn on the Jedi) and later meets up with Vader. In their conflict she realizes that Vader is Anakin and Vader lets her live unwilling to kill his former apprentice. I thought it would be an interesting story.
Her head makes me think she is of the same race as Shaak Ti (as their "hair" pieces are quite similar) however their skin and/or make up are quite different so that remains to be seen (at least from my searches thus far).
Her figure comes with Jabba's son from the movie (affectionately called "Stinky" ) and a backpack to carry him in. She of course has a lightsaber (what Jedi wouldn't, even a padewan). Her sculpt is nice but is missing the all important arm articulation. Although I do admit her frame is so small I thought that she wouldn't have knee articulation either. Still that is my one complaint overall of the Clone Wars line is that almost every figure is missing some form of articulation. Honestly I would have placed her much higher on the list had that been the case.
Her role in Toxie is of another Jedi, although I do have an idea of her meeting Vader soon that should be funny I think.
#13
Should I go for three in a row, why not. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is my favorite Indiana Jones movie. Many people say it is the worst of the four (even putting it below Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) but I loved it and still do. One of the major reasons is the "sidekick" character of Short Round. Shorty was funny (a necessary component in a movie that was so dark) and unique to the cast. Originally he was to be a little girl, thankfully someone backed away from that original idea or else Indy night have ended up on some offender's list somewhere.
Short Round's greatest contribution to the movie was giving the kid's someone whom they could relate very easily. Indy was obviously a father figure to Shorty. I think one major mistake was not including Short Round in the Last Crusade, even as a cameo. It appears that Indy might have abandoned him giving us a negative view of Indy. At least mentioning that Shorty might be with a family that Indy found to adopt him wouldn't make Indy seem so callous, but no mention of Shorty at all really made me think Indy just left him somewhere all alone. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull could have even remedied that too, a slight cameo at the end would have shown something good ended up happening to Short Round. As it stands not even a mention of approaching anyone about Shorty's fate.
One thing I was very surprised at was the fact that despite Short Round's stature he actually does have articulation. All to often with toys the smaller figures like articulation due to their size. Now if Hasbro could only give Yoda some articulation we would be in business.
His figure is simple while having a wonderful capture of the character. Short Round's wardrobe was simple in the film so there isn't a great deal you can do with the figure. One major complaint is the lack of Yankees symbol on the hat. Unfortunately in this world it appears that in order to reference anything a company has to pay large sums of money to another company. Its a shame really when you have something like a cultural icon like a New York Yankee's hat, but I am willing to bet the ball club asked for a very unreasonable amount of money for the use of the likeness, so I am forgiving on this detail. Another complaint is the hat isn't removable. While Shorty rarely removes the hat at all it would have been a nice touch, at the time the figure was first shown the assumption was more Indy figures were on the way and we all kind of hoped for a removable hat Shorty later. That is until Hasbro screwed up the line with bad case ratios (see Crystal Skull Indy at #23 for my views on that, and I am sure I will have more later).
Of course Shorty being such a fine figure falls into the rich Hasbro tradition of doing the best overall figures at the end of a line. Am I being a bit Rough on Hasbro? For the Indy line yes.
Shorty has been arguing with Mutt Williams over the "sidekick" role in Scale Wars thus far. He also has been destroying the English language with the assistance of Yoda. Shorty is a character that just dives into comedy easily and I know I will use him much more in the future.
#12
When I heard the Imperial Knights were going to be in a comic pack this year, I sounded a lot like Meg Ryan from When Harry met Sally. This lasted for at least an hour as it was one incredible fanboygasim.
To say I love the Legacy comic series is a bit of an understatement. Thus far it has been my favorite journey into the "expanded universe" of Star Wars to date. These guys are part of the reason. Neither Sith nor Jedi the Imperial Knights are Force Adepts who serve the Non-Sith Empire (yes the Empire is fractured into two factions in this story, one Sith Ruled and one not). Their armor design is obviously influenced from the Royal Guards of Return of the Jedi. At first I thought they were straight repaints of the Crimson Empire set with different robes and new head sculpts but it appears they are both new designs (although they use the same body as the other).
I put these guys as a unit since in the comics they seem to be inseparable. In the latest story there does appear to be a rift beginning to form and it wouldn't surprise me if they parted ways in the future, but for now they are a team.
Some people were taken back by their clear lightsabers, however it should be pointed out that in the comic their sabers are silver, a color hard to imitate in clear plastic (also hard to imitate on the comic page as generally the color is white). The head sculpts look kind of dorky, but to be fair the characters they are based on look that way as well, so in that respect they work perfectly. Also they have soft goods capes and hoods that can hide their faces if necessary.
Right now the Knights are going to hang out with the Sith until I decide what to do with them. One zany idea I had was to rename one Clancy and the other Chancy and have them also be stuffy aristocrats the idea was too out there I think. So I will have to come up with some other way to pull them from the background soon.
#11
Isn't it amazing some of the things that can be accomplished, after a year of a god-awful chest bump design from Hasbro with the 25th line they release a shirtless figure who not only is tolerable but actually looks pretty cool. I admit the line across a naked torso is a bit awkward but really in comparison to the hell we have had the past year (i.e. Duke) its leaps and bounds above the original offerings. If Hasbro insists on the mid torso articulation fine but make it look this good please and not what it has been.
Then again maybe some people like that hump, why I have no idea but to me it just destroys the lines of the form of the figure (both in silhouette and in esthetics to the torso). Quick Kick is also one of my favorite GI Joe figures for the exact reason some people criticize him. He is shirtless and barefoot which a lot of people point at as being a weakness since no army soldier would do that. As I have pointed out millions of times if you want realism there is the BBI or 21st century lines are available. I have no criticism for anyone likening pure realism, but GI Joe has been and always will be Military Fantasy. As such it shouldn't have the constraints of "UBER REALITY" like a martial artist with shoes for example.
In the cartoon Quick Kick was one of the very quirky characters of the show. Somehow his old movie impressions didn't go over my head, probably because my family forced me to watch old movies at a young age. But he also made the show more tolerable for my mother I think. Of course back then there wasn't 24 hour cartoon networks either so a bit of cartoons in the afternoon before the news wasn't that big a deal.
Quick Kick's figure shows what the 25th line is capable of IF sanity prevails in design. He is a masterful work to say the least. He is still sporting the "Bruce Lee-ish" look he had in the original line with a bit more detail. What is surprising is that the sculptors were able to get more detail from this figure without changing a thing about him. His hand stuck in a "Karate Chop" is actually the icing on the cake, normally I am adamant about figures not having a proposed hand like that. With Quick Kick I feel it opens up a ton of possibilities (throat thrusts and knife edge chops) if it ever had to be done, this was the figure to do it with. His torso does not suffer the elongated look many 25th anniversary figures have suffered either. It looks like a normal proportioned body. Maybe his lack of shirt inspired the designers to get it close to right, who can say. I can say that if it wasn't for Quick Kick I would have passed on this DVD set, another Cobra Commander, Snake Eyes, and Major Bludd were not needed in my collection, but a new Quick Kick has been long over due (despite the rumor that JvC Nunchuck from the 2002 set was meant to be Quick Kick, he actually doesn't count anyway).
As for how Quick Kick fits into my Toxie Universe, he is pretty much the same quirky character from the beginning.