Toy Review - Tetsujin 28 Minifigure

Tetsujin 28 is the daddy of the giant robots. Debuting as a manga in 1956 and an anime in 1963 the show featuring a giant former Japanese super-weapon left over from the war put to good use by Shotaro Kaneda, son of its' inventor, was one of the earliest robot stories of its' kind, paving the way for Mazinger Z and the whole butterfly effect that's led to all robot fiction as we know it. 

Toy Review - Transformers: Titans Return Highbrow (Wei Jiang version)

If you've tried to buy Transformers in the past few years you'll have heard of third party figures, which is when a company designs their own version of a character (usually Devastator), puts it into a small production run through some Chinese sweatshop and charges the customer the fucking Earth for it even if it doesn't really work. It's a decent way of making coin out of so many Transformers fans' legendary impatience and poor judgement of value for money. 3P manufacturers aren't seen as bootleggers as while they entirely steal the designs and trademarks of others to cash in they do at least use their own engineering. Amusingly and predictably a certain tribalism has grown around the thing and many fans ardently follow certain 3P companies. If you want to know which one just go on the internet, it seems part of any transaction is a contractual obligation to be a dull 3P evangelist.

Minifixation - Update 06/03/18

Another round-up of recent reviews! At last I have a Banshee (meaning I have to update all the reviews bemoaning the lack of Banshee), plus there's updated comic-based Black Widow and Tigra figures and I've updated my homemade Shocker. The imminence of Infinity War means some guesses at Steve Rogers, the Black Widow and Iron Man, while also from the Marvel Multiverse comes a suited versions Whiplash and Killmonger plus Peggy Carter as Captain America. DC gets a new updated Flash, Saint Walker, Indigo-1, Black Hand, Parallax, and Golden Age Reverse-Flash. The Arrowverse finally gets a Huntress and an Overgirl, while from the DC animated universe there's the Justice Lord Batman; Bats also gets an Orange Lantern version.

Toy Review - Machine Robo Series 08: Missiletank Robo/Gobots Masterpiece Blaster

Let's just get this straight from the start - yes, we all know about the Transformer of the same name. No, you're not big and clever asking whether he comes with any cassettes. You can cut that right out, don't make me get the Sit Down Gun out. Besides which the Gobot came first, so ner, Gobots is definitely better than Transformers, so shut up, you're gay, no comebacks. That out of the way, I wasn't especially enthused by the choice of Missile Tank Robo; I mean, I wanted him at some point but alongside Shuttle Robo it made for a less than enticing relaunch for the range and in a way a fairly brave one when series lead Blue Jet and the more obviously popular Supercar Robo are there for the remaking.

Toy Review - Machine Robo Series 07 - Shuttle Robo/Gobots Masterpiece Spay-C

The joy I felt from the return (after what felt like a worrying hiatus) of Action Toys' Machine Robo Series was tempered a little by the choice of two characters I wasn't particularly keen on in any real form. The original Shuttle Robo, ported over to Gobots as the Guardian Spay-C, was one of the weaker toys of the series despite the cool alt mode, while the character didn't grab in either of the cartoons. In Revenge of Cronos Shuttle Robo was largely a background character, a member of the arrogant but basically sound Land Commander 5 team; in Challenge of the Gobots Spay-C was a female Guardian who didn't really do much, especially as the faction had a more popular space-going female in Path Finder. But obviously I bought the toy anyway, because Masterpiece Gobots.

Minifigures: G.I.Joe - Kopf KF-348 to 355

As some of you may know I used to collect G.I.Joe figures, especially the 25th/30th Anniversary ones. However, a mixture of a lack of space to set them up in, the impending arrival of my daughter and the spike in prices on eBay meant I cleared them all out. These days counterfeit Minifigures are my main source of plastic crack - cheap, small and child-friendly. Most of the ones I collect are of superheroes - after several format attempts here I eventually set up a satellite blog for these called Minifixation - but there are some others out there, including a nascent range of G.I.Joe-themed figures.

Toy Review: EM Gokin EM-03 Blue Jet

A couple of months ago, bereft and emotional at the seeming cancellation of Action Toys' Machine Robo line (since announced to be resuming after an eight month hiatus, with two new figures and a series of retro-tinged recolours and retools - nice!) I gave in and bought this thing, which came out about two years ago as part of the Fewture Gokin line, covering licenced characters from a handful of semi-forgotten animes. And there is not a day since it arrived that I have looked at it and hated it. It's not a problem with the stylisation; it's Blue Jet from Revenge of Cronos, not Fitor from Gobots. 

Minifigures: X-Men, Part 2 - All-New! All-Different!

Of course, famously the original X-Men were something of a damp squib and after a few years the title turned into a reprint book. However, Stan Lee was never one to accept the unpopularity of his creations (see: Namor) and in 1975 Giant-Size X-Men #1 launched with a new-look team and would kick off an era of huge popularity for the mutants that has continued since. Sadly not all of the new team have yet been represented by Minifigures, unofficial or otherwise - the complex designs for Banshee (with so much of his classic look dependent on his unusual cape) and Sunfire (with his unique helmet) currently being impossible to find. Which leaves...

Toy Review: Grind Rod / Masterpiece Rollbar (KO version)

I've long had a genuine unironic love of the Throttlebots; they were the only team I was able to complete as a child, the toys were good simple fun (and could zip for miles when new) and their profiles had great potential even if they tended to be "Goldbug's mates" in the various media. So the prospect of third party toys for them was salivating but at £60-80 a throw out of my reach as I try not to spend such amounts since becoming a parent. Step in the backbone of my toy collection, Chinese bootleggers (in this case Weijiang) and the inestimable Denyer, who sent me the oversized knock-off version of Grind Rod (i.e. Rollbar, the team's sort-of leader depending on what Goldbug was up to).

Minifigures - Storm (Film Version)

As a character introduced some forty years ago Storm's had a chequered career; ups have included being a black female superhero of considerable standing and minimal stereotyping and long stints as X-Men leader (including some of the finest stories of the eighties); against that there have been some disappointing moments such as a random regression to a child which went on far too long, the indignity of getting dropped down to X-Treme X-Men along with all the other unfashionable Chris Claremont characters and being pensioned off to marry the Black Panther on the grounds that she was African. She's also not had the best time in the films either, where she was initially played by Halle Berry. Despite Berry's standing being (inexplicably) high at the time and for a few years afterwards she never really did much and is mainly remembered for spouting one of the outright worst lines in cinema history courtesy of Joss Whedon. For X-Men - Apocalypse, which I have yet to see (my watchlist is a complicated and masochistic affair) theere is a kernel of hope, however, with the character recast and played by the young Alexandra Shipp, who couldn't really be any worse than poor old Halle.

Apocalypse again received a Lego blackout so as not to dilute the dollars Disney were reaping from Civil War sets but again customisers and bootleggers came to the rescue and have put out most of the main cast. Storm had enjoyed an official Minifigure previously in a retro-themed 2014 set that's largely faithful to the seventies look but the updated version is entirely unofficial. But it looks great, based on the excellent look of the Shipp version - but without the teenage thing as all Minifigures generally look roughly the same age. It's always a good sign when Storm has a mohawk anyway and it's nicely rendered here even if the rest of the costume is nothing like the fantastic eighties New Wave look Ororo had.

It's not uninteresting either, well-rendered in black with silver highlights, it just fits into the whole problem with the Fox X-Men series of most of the costumes being a bit similar without anyone having the guts to go for the full-on uniforms seen early in the title's life or under Grant Morrison. The permanent snarl is also perhaps a bit much but sadly there are very few black female characters with Minifigures to do a headswap with. Overall though it's an interesting figure for the visual variety of the punky head on a female character compared to all the traditional shoulder-length styles and a well-rendered version of the live action look.

Minifigures - The Justice League of America

While I was never as into the JLA as I was the Avengers they're still a solid bunch of guys and thanks to Lego's popularity they've been able to put out a decent amount of DC's finest in Minifigure form, even though the sets have taken a back seat to the Marvel licences in recent years as DC's cinematic fortunes have waned. Still, I've managed to amass a collection of some twenty members.

SUPERMAN

Needing no introduction, Metroplis' most whitebread hero has been available officially in both classic and Man of Steel form; I decided to go for the standard version here, in no small part due to his appearance looking like this in The Lego Movie. The simple, straight-forward costume is well rendered with the standard use of the torso waist serving nicely as the famous red underpants while some character is added by a kiss-curl in the middle of his hair and him really looking like he super-hates everyone.

BATMAN

Another needing no introduction, Batman was already heavily represented in Minifigure form with numerous official variants even before things exploded with the advent of the Lego Batman Movie in 2017. For some reason I fixated on getting a grey-suited version with the yellow chest logo and there's not been one; in the end I've merged parts from a knock-off of the Mighty Micros version with a Dawn of Justice version (which provided the face and normal-length booted legs) for my JLA Batman.

WONDER WOMAN

Not quite as widespread as the other two thirds of the JLA's Big Three, Wonder Woman has had a figure in the classic costume alongside a silver-trimmed version, a Mighty Micro and one of those Friends versions. This one does the job nicely for me, with the costume spot-on down to a special headpiece featuring Diana's headband rather than relying on a paint application on the head and also includes a neat version of her lasso.

THE FLASH

The Barry Allen version of the Flash has gleaned a couple of Minifigures, a full-size version issued as part of the DC Superheroes sets and a short-legged Mighty Micros version. I'm not sure what exactly the story of this version, which ditches the official streamlined one-piece helmet for a big bucket-like thing with removable wings, is but I actually like the clunkiness of it over the real thing. It's worth noting that the same bootleggers love a repaint opportunity and the likes of Reverse Flash and the various different colour versions are widespread.

GREEN LANTERN

My interest in the Green Lantern was mainly to have him around to annoy Superman a la The Lego Movie but naturally the whole Minifigure thing's escalated at this point. The official Minifigures have been modelled seemingly more on Kyle Rayner than Hal Jordan, though this might just be a quirk of the more modern hairstyles used but considering the use of Rayner in the film is probably intentional.. It's fine by me either way; annoyingly only the 2011 Comic Con version of the figure rather than the more refined 2015 Superheroes figure has been bootlegged, which might force me into actually buying an official Minifigure, shock horror. One fun thing is that the wide range of transparent green parts available make for some fun possibilities for constructs.

AQUAMAN

Poor Aquaman, there making Namor look popular and useful. Arthur's status as the butt of decades' worth of jokes is best illustrated by this one being a genuine Lego Minifigure because it's actually about the same price as any knock-off, the 2013 release having found its' way into two DC Superheroes sets. There is also a bootleg of the Dawn of Justice version out there but the standard figure has your main Silver Age Aquaman all tucked up with his scaled chest, floppy blond hair and trident.

MARTIAN MANHUNTER

I've always liked J'on J'onzz and very much of the opinion that the character's never quite got the fame he deserves over the years. He's landed two official Lego Minifigures anyway; neither however has been bootlegged directly. The Chinese version instead is based on a third variant with painted pants, red upper body webbing and a different head - it's actually a much nicer look all around, topped off by the cloak and staff.

GREEN ARROW

Both of Oliver's Minifigures have been heavily influenced by the modern look given in the Arrow TV series; not necessarily a problem but it would be nice to have a more retro one to fit in with JLA line-ups - there's a mouthwatering glimpse at a Silver Age version in the Lego Batman Movie but alas no sign of a release. As it is both Green Arrow figures that have been out had been bootlegged; the difference comes down to whether he has his hood up or not. 

ATOM

The Atom was at the Vanguard of the Silver Age of superheroes but - like Marvel equivalent Ant-Man - hasn't quite secured the place in popular culture he probably deserves. The only official figure for Ray Palmer was an exclusive at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con; thankfully this has been bootlegged. The copy retains the very cool part-visored helmet and the high level of paint detail; weirdly this features considerable engraving on the torso which feels very odd. It doesn't really hurt the figure but it is an unusual thing to do. There are other changes, like the use of a blue head rather than red but overall it's very faithful. There's a second knock-off out that eschews the helmet in favour of a painted head, which is naturally a step backwards.

HAWKMAN

The naffness of Hawkman's concept has only been matched by how convoluted his history has been, with the character's timeline getting so disturbed that at one point DC atomised him just to put an end to it. Throughout it all he's looked like the same fantasy reject through and the one official Lego Minifigure he received is pretty much spot on with its' elaborate helmet, chest armour (including logo) and green shorts. Oddly he has fabric wings, which do help him stand out a bit from many of the other winged figures. While this version has been bootlegged whoever does these things has also put out a version with moulded golden wings similar to those seen on the Series 15 Flying Warrior Minifigure; while these are more stable and less of a cheat they are a bit boring by comparison.

BLACK CANARY

Through her association with the Green Arrow and Birds of Prey Dinah's managed to stay on the cooler side of the DC universe for most of her history, despite the original costume long having given way to lots of tartier outfits which surprisingly was improved on for her appearances (represented by three different characters) in WB's Arrow TV series. The only figure she seems to have received is an unlicensed bootleg, largely based on Katie Cassidey's TV portrayal. This is a leather outfit that's all straps and cleavage (not much different to those used for some versions of the Black Widow or Catwoman) but is a lot more dignified than most of her comic get-ups from the eighties onwards. Oddly the figure doesn't have a face mask, which is more in line with the comics.

RED TORNADO

Something of an odd one, Red Tornado was never really front-line JLA material to the extend where the android currently doesn't exist in the DC universe. Presumably someone somewhere is a fan of the character, depicted here in one of its' android bodies with a high level of accuracy. It's possible it's actually a copy of a fan-made custom similar to the way some of Penzora's work has been copied; either way it's a great render of a relatively unknown character but it is also one of the less common bootleg Minifigures out there.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Good ol' Billy Batson and his copyright issues. Obviously Captain Marvel had long been in existence before he finally joined the Justice League but that didn't stop Marvel comics from somehow usurping DC's copyright (gained during a brutal legal action with creator Fawcett which also lead to the eventual creation of Marvelman/Miracleman) with Mar-Vell. This and his general Golden Age whitebread thing when DC already have Superman covering Golden Age whitebread he's never really been a major player in the modern DC universe even if he's kept around and a Minifigure is a nice surprise, Lego sneaking one out as a 2012 SDCC exclusive. Again there are bootleggers to thank for copying the no-brainer traditional costume, meaning you can pick one up for less than £220 (no, seriously, that's how much the original goes for).

DOCTOR FATE

Long-running and frequently killed off, Doctor Fate still has a neat set of powers and a great design despite only being an occasional member of the JLA and struggling to find much of an audience. He's another that seems to have escaped having a regular figure, though again a very good bootleg - most likely of a custom - is available. As well as good paint apps (including boots, so often neglected on figures both official and unofficial) the helmet is nicely done by a reuse of the Star Wars Clone Trooper piece. One oddity though is a flesh face with blank eyes that line up with those on the helmet but look jolly weird with the thing off.

POWER GIRL

If ever there was a sign of how noble intentions can go awry in comics it's poor old Kara. Conceived as a more mature, independent and less derivative version of Supergirl when she debuted Power Girl has never quite been able to shake the unfortunate "boob window" of her original costume or a series of escalating jokes about the size of her breasts. Various attempts to revise her costume have been met with lukewarm reception and DC have largely just accepted that the character needs to have a hole in her costume to show off her big tits. Obviously this isn't exactly Lego friendly and no official figures have come out. Penzora's filled the gap with a fairly respectful custom; the infamous window is present but with comparable delicacy to most of the official female figures while there's the usual high level of detail and a nice choice for the character's bob hairstyle.

PLASTIC MAN

Despite being created in the forties Plastic Man was a latecomer to the JLA but became a firm favourite after getting picked for Grant Morrison's run, with his gift for physical comedy retained while his nous were greatly expanded. This greatly improved the amount of DC media the formerly cult character appeared in and an appearance in one of the Lego video games saw a figure issued in a promotional polybag. This has since been copied relatively well despite the boots being missed off the copy; his trademark white-framed shades and a nice smirk remain however and the Superman kiss curl sets him off nicely. Interestingly there's also been a stretched bootleg using the same Toy Story extended limbs as the Reed Richards figure; this does actually retain the boots just to set off the OCD nicely.

Magazine - Lee's Guide to the Gobots

In the days before the internet had everything on it print magazines were still covering things like toys and comics with some considerable authority. Lee's Magazine was one of the bastions of the former, sort-of a Wizard for toys with things like collecting and pricing guides in it as well as focus on new stuff. Numerous issues would have a pull-out section in the middle functioning as a sort of checklist covering various popular lines like Transformers and Star Wars, often composed at a time when a lot of information out there was still contradictory or rudimentary. They covered Gobots in one issue; the result hasn't aged well with a potted biography riddled with errors and a style which is more interested in packaging than the actual figures but the result is still a worthy primer for just seeing what was actually put out, even if the focus is entirely on the North American figures.

Minifigures - The Avengers, Part 4

Rounding up the rest of my Avengers Minifigures (bar a few peripheral members who belong more with other groups) this is really just an overview of the handful of characters to join between the late seventies and the title's drastic reformatting under Brian Michael Bendis to have really made much of an impression; I've always liked most of the roster but really it's not hard to see why no-one's come up with a Minifigure of Firebird or Jack of Hearts.

MS MARVEL

Carol Danvers has been around since the sixties and has had almost as many superhero personas and character annihilations as Hank Pym. Ms Marvel is probably still her most famous, a role initially ended to give Rogue a big launch, though she's since come back. This figure captures her most famous costume, the second Ms Marvel one which came back in the nineties when Kurt Busiek returned her to the spotlight as Warbird and stuck around until she became Captain Marvel. It gets the look down to a tee, with the lightning flash on the chest and the (thankfully painted considering some of the missteps with fabric) sash tie while the extant Lego hair piece fits her like a glove. Available either officially or as a Chinese bootleg, this is one of the most impressive figures out there.

THE FALCON

Sam was always more Captain America's sidekick but for a while that basically guaranteed your slot anyway. Since then he didn't really do much in the title for years - Geoff Johns' attempts to make the book entirely about the Falcon and how great he is went down so well Marvel drafted in Chuck Austen to stop him - until Marvel decided he could become Captain America himself and lead the team. This figure - officially available in the Hulk Lab Smash set but also bootlegged by the Chinese - has a fair stab at one of the many red-and-white costumes he wore but errs in a couple of ways. Firstly the wings are not only inexplicably transparent but are also permanently spread, which is fine for play but a pain for a display. The other is limited to the bootleg, where whoever makes these things seems to have taken the gold gloves as skin tone and greatly lightened the face accordingly, leading to a Hispanic look.

WONDER MAN

Wonder Man first turned up as a bad guy in the Avengers in 1964, seemingly getting killed straight away; after various cameos he finally made the team some 13 years later - Stan Lee has claimed this was partly due to a gentleman's agreement with DC, who cried foul on the name's similarity to Wonder Woman then later brought out Power Girl in apparent violation despite Marvel already having Power Man, leading them to discard the deal. The character has since been a respectable tier 2 Avenger but has always seemed just that bit too naff for the real mainstream, with his mullet, long stint in the perennially unfashionable West Coast Avengers and dodgy nineties solo series. As such there have been no official or unofficial Minifigures of him; thankfully even an idiot like me can knock one up overlaying a red 'W' on a black muscled chest, finding some red eyes (easily found from Superman, though live action Hawkeye's red shades provide a 'powered down' alternative) and then just picking a relatively unhumiliating hairstyle.

TIGRA

One of the functions of the Avengers as a book was to pick up characters during lean times and that was the story of Tigra, invented in the mid-seventies as an updated Patsy Walker for the girls and rapidly cancelled. She was resurrected in the eighties as an Avenger, only briefly appearing in the main book before being sent off to the West Coast for about half of the team's run and making occasional guest appearances afterwards. As a sexy cat lady she's sort-of tarred by the whole furry thing now and has received little attention. Thankfully Penzora has once again delivered an excellent Minifigure capturing her in her stripy, bikini-wearing eighties glory; she could perhaps do with a tail but the only tiger-patterned one out there is from the much lighter 2015 Monsters Tiger Woman Minifigure.

SHE-HULK

Like Tigra, She-Hulk was another failed launch folded into the Avengers line-up after her own solo title stalled; she would then go on to do a stint in the Fantastic Four before her second, better-remembered feature book in the late eighties, a mad run of self-awareness and weird jokes. Bruce's cousin Jen has since become something of a favourite at the company, who continue to push series despite underwhelming sales. She's finally got an official Minifigure at the start of 2017 as part of a showdown between herself and the Hulk and their red counterparts; a bootleg based on her video game appearance has been doing the rounds for some time however and isn't bad, with the purple/white leotard worn for most of the solo series. Unlike the official version it sadly doesn't feature the green-tinged hair, also featuring an angry face and a different set of physical details.

MOCKINGBIRD

Bobbi Morse started off as a side character in various Ka-Zar strips which saw her become a SHIELD Agent and then a costumed vigilante named Huntress. To avoid yet another clash with DC she was renamed Mockingbird and then romantically linked to Hawkeye, marrying him and becoming a founding member of the West Coast Avengers (having appeared in the main book as a supporting non-team character). She left the team in a messy Johnny Byrne plot but eventually returned in time to die in a late issue at the hands of Mephisto. Although wait, Marvel's ongoing creative bankruptcy meant that after some 17 years of her being dead it was reveals a Skrull duplicate had bought the farm instead. Sadly this recent interest hasn't been enough to get her in a film or into Minifig form but Penzora again has me covered; the costume of their custom is spot-on though the character has the more modified recent mask; personally I'd have prefered the amazing flying-v shaped one she wore in the eighties but that remains unfortunately beyond the reach of Lego.

IRON MAN

Iron Man of course had been in and out of the Avengers since founding them but the eighties saw his natty red/silver (well, white) armour come to the fore, just in time for him to join up with the West Coast Avengers. There's not been a figure of the armour exactly but it did get used in Iron Man 3 as one of Tony's specialist armours and was brought out in one of the Lego Age of Ultron sets, which has been bootlegged (bootleggers love Iron Man variant armours). Not only are the details retouched accordingly but there's an additional shoulder pad arrangement including decorated tiles on the chest and back that really make the result look quite different - if not quite like the eighties comic version - while also de-emphasising how bulbous the opening helmet is.

U.S. AGENT

One of the more unpleasant heroes of the era, John Walker first stood in for Captain America and made an arse of that before taking up the guise of U.S. Agent, where he was more or less on the side of right but tended to be a bit of a narc and never really got on with anyone. He was shoe-horned onto the West Coast Avengers roster by the government and spent most of his stint as an unwelcome presence. At the time the character was garbed in the uniform Steve Rogers had worn as the Captain and it's an easy one to replicate thanks to the Captain Hydra figures out there; a dab of black paint on the shield and the substitution of a plain black torso with a simple sticker makes for a convincing version of his eighties/nineties look as it's highly unlikely a character who was never that popular in or out of the fictional universe will get an official figure.

QUASAR

While Quasar has one way or another been in existence since 1979 (originally as Marvel Boy, using the Timely character's cosmic bracelets) his stint on the Avengers came ten years later; unlike Mockingbird or She-Hulk his presence wasn't to give him a new home but as part of a double-pronged attempt to push the character, Wendell being given his own concurrent solo series at the same time as his membership. Despite a lot of effort he never really took off however and has since been reduced to guest spots; should Marvel go for cosmic Avengers in the films he's likely to be behind the various Captain Marvels if nothing else. However, Penzora have again obliged with a lushly coloured custom based largely on his nineties look that does the job well in the face of official apathy; my only criticism is the trendy hair he's got. Really I need to find him a nice blond mullet.

WAR MACHINE

James Rhodes had already served on both the main and West Coast Avengers teams during his first fill-in stint as Iron Man before later taking on the guise of War Machine and getting a slot on the latter in the end days before the team reunited. That was at about the point the character's brief fame was declining but the interest in anything Iron Man following the films' success and the easy repaint potential has given him a couple of official figures - which have again been bootlegged. The main changes are the presence of Rhodey's face under the helmet and the addition of a neat clear backpack bracket for mounting weaponry; this is ripe for a bit of customising fun. Naturally the painted detail is closer to the live action suits but it does the job for a nineties version of the character too if that's what you're after.