Marvel Epic Hero Series Action Figure (4 inch)

 

I've been seeing the new 4-inch action figure from Hasbro, but as a Marvel Universe collector, the limited articulation and the higher price kept me away. I reconsidered after they were made available at discounted prices. I'm also tempted to buy the X-men '97 from this series but I wanted to try an actual toy from this line before I start collecting the team. This is how I reached my decision for the X-men team.

What I like:

- They are smaller than the Marvel Universe figures, so for other characters, the shorter figure seems more appropriate, like for Miles Morales. The size of Mantis seems okay with the old 4-inch figures.

- Clean paint details.

- Minimal plastic used in packaging is more environment-friendly.

- Widely available. No need to deal with scalpers. I HATE scalpers.

What I don't like:

- The limited articulation doesn't go well with acrobatic characters.

- The suggested retail price is not appealing. Spin Master has a similarly scaled and articulated superhero figures but they offer it at lower prices.

- With Spin Master and Mattel, moving their toy manufacturing plants out of China, this Hasbro toy line is still made in China.

Forecast:

I don't think this toy line will last long. There are other lines for collectors. Those who will start collecting this won't probably complete a whole team.  If I try to collect the X-men, I'd be disappointed if I don't get Jubilee and Prof. X. Plus, some figures won't work with my older X-men collection.

Except for the Spider-verse series, I haven't been liking the new Marvel related movies. I'm kinda done with Marvel these days. I'm just triggered by the nostalgia for the upcoming X-men '97 series.

Conclusion:

I won't be collecting this toy line, but if an interesting stand alone character (that can fit in my existing Marvel Universe collection) comes up at a discounted price, I will cherry-pick. As for the the X-men '97, I might try customizing. Other collectors are disposing their Marvel Universe collection and I can buy them cheap to be customized.

Four-inch Wonder Woman by Spin Master

The best thing about this toy is that it's not made in China! I hope Spin Master keeps manufacturing toys not in China.

The new player

The license to manufacture toys for DC characters have been transferred to Spin Master. This has made me excited enough (though not that much) to blog about it. I might start collecting this line. The version of this company works well (but not perfectly) with my 4-inch Marvel toys. The old company's version did not.

I'm not wishing the license to manufacture toys of Marvel characters to be transferred from Hasbro. The new company will just reproduce the popular characters which I already have. There is no point in getting a new set. 

I fear that Spin Master will just replicate the same mistakes of their predecessor. One of which is the absence of female characters. There was none in the 1st wave but the 2nd wave might include Batwoman and Wonder Woman. They also just market these toys for boys. They could have included a girl in the 2-in-1 Batmobile package. They decided to just use two boys. I withheld myself from buying the Flash because his built is the same as that of Superman. I was expecting a lighter built on the speedster's body. The lack of variety in the body size is a problem.

We cannot expect Spin Master to be a game-changer. They're just a new player in the same old game.

Remainders Assembled

I made another figure based on one of the remaining MCU characters. This time it's Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy. Although I'm not really a fan of the GoTG series, I like Nebula. I like how she has transformed from a villain to a not villain after resolving some daddy issues. 

The three females above are customs (OOAK in the doll lingo). I used different techniques in each. Captain Marvel was just a repaint. I made Okoye by gluing different cut plastic pieces. The details on Nebula was done using clay.

The Rocket Raccoon I have is too cute. He came from a GoTG My Busy Book. I'm thinking of making a less cute custom but I don't like him that much. Another character that remained after the Thanos snap is Valkyrie. I have the same feelings for her as Rocket so I might make her or not. Maybe the upcoming Endgame movie will help me decide.

Carroll and the RoadBots

Finally, I had a chance to take (and edit) pictures of my Transformers-type toys. The Alteration Man will retain her name, Carroll. The other two will now be named Master Grey and Lancerbot.

It's been a while since I played with these toys, I forgot how to transform them. I had to search for YouTube videos. I also posting the transformation guide for the three toys. In case I loss the hard copies, I can find a backup in my blog.


Land Cruiser

Lancer Evolution VIII

RC 1100

Alteration Man Carroll

I had Transformer toys as a kid. I guess that is why I don't feel like collecting toys related to that toy line. This is my 3rd Transformer-type (by "type" I mean it doesn't belong to the official line) toy, however. I only bought it because it works with my 1:18 scale dolls. 

Google showed me that this is a copy of the Transformers Movie Deluxe Arcee toy from 2007. She's an Autobot. Good to know but I don't really care about the original character. For now, she's (yes, the Alteration Man is a she) Okoye's ride. I like the orange-purple combo going on, don't you?

A photo shoot with my other Transformer-type toys should be upcoming.

Custom 3.75-inch Okoye

There was no 3.75-inch toy released for the movie Black Panther. It was expected. I have low expectations of the 3.75 Marvel toy line these days. 

I have planned on making an Okoye figure after watching movie. It was only recently that I was able to get the base doll. 

It doesn't look like Danai Gurira, the actress who played Okoye, and the paint is sloppy but I like how it turned out so far. "So far" means I can still change it in the future. For now, I'm enjoying it.

The doll has good articulation. It easy to recreate scenes from the movies or make a totally new adventure for Okoye.

Not A Star Wars Story

I wouldn't say I'm a Star Wars fan, but I do appreciate it more these days. Yes, I've seen all the films but not all in the theater and no fan-level effort was exerted to do so. Now, I have a collection of Star Wars toys but I only bought them because they were being sold for half or a third of the original price. 

I'm still on the fence about buying other Star Wars toys, specifically the vehicles, because it's going to take a lot of space, yet I recently bought a Star Wars t-shirt.

I think the trolls have a role to play in my renewed appreciation of the franchise. When the new films became more inclusive and the cast more diverse, the trolls started to attack the movie and the actors. The trolls wanted to discredit the film but they also called attention to the films. I don't easily buy into what other people (or the trolls) are saying. I usually try to consider both sides. So, I also listened to those who praised the films, and I find them more convincing, especially those who pointed how it challenges the masculine narrative.

I'm actually looking forward to the ninth episode. I want to know how they're going to continue to challenge toxic masculinity and be more inclusive. I don't know why I don't expect the next Avengers movie to do something similar. 

3.75-inch (4, really) Captain Marvel

I decided not to watch the Captain Marvel movie because there was no 1:18 scale toy released related to that movie. I didn't want to like her a lot and then not have a toy in the size I collect. I'm familiar with the character from the cartoons so her appearance in the next Avengers movie won't be confusing for me.

The trolls actually changed my mind and made me go watch it. While women empowerment, diversity and inclusion are expected in new stories, this one surprised me (in a good way) because it reflected another social justice issue, the refugee crisis. If that's too heavy for you, don't worry. You won't notice it. I didn't. I needed someone woke to point it out.

Needless to say, I like her a lot so I decided to make myself a toy to represent her in my collection. She fits right in. I like how she turned out so I'm planning to make more underrepresented but important characters in the future.

Road Bot 1:18 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII

Some things aren't as simple as what they seem to be. That's just one of the things one can learn from toys that transform from one thing to another, like this Road Bot toy. Unlike the Transformers, these characters didn't come with biography or history so the owner is free to imagine if the character is "good" or "bad". This is my second Road Bot. I enjoyed my Land Cruiser Road Bot and decided to buy another car model. 

Lucky for me, this car in not included in the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN). Because of the new tax law, excise tax on automobiles have increased. While the TRAIN is seemingly "good", since it taxes those who earn more and exempt more people from taxes, things aren't are simple as they seem.

Even before the TRAIN was implemented, minimum wage earners are already exempted from personal income tax. They will not have a bigger take-home pay upon the implementation of the TRAIN.  The TRAIN included an increase in excise tax on petroleum products and introduced a tax a sugar-sweetened beverages. This will affect the minimum wage earners, making their expenses higher. Without an increase in the take-home pay, TRAIN is "bad" for around 2 million minimum-wage-earning Filipinos.

I belong to those whose take-home pay increased due to the TRAIN. That means, I have more money to buy toys and buy I did. I also bought this online so I don't know if proper taxes will be remitted to the government. A lot of online sellers locally are tax evaders. If they don't issue receipts approved by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, they probably are tax evaders. Maybe the TRAIN should have addressed tax evasion on online selling, too.

One thing I like about this Lancer Road Bot that the Land Cruiser Road Bot didn't have is the car interior. I can force-fit an 1:18 scale action doll inside and make it look like she/he is driving.

(Right-hand drive)

I don't like the proportion of the arms to the torso in the robot form. The arms looks skinny and they are flimsy when holding a pose.

What better characters can we pair with robots having deceptive appearances than a couple of spies? Here, Agent 13 and Black Widow are on a secret rendezvous with their new weapons, the Roadbots.

In the past few months, I've been in my Black Widow mode while dealing with people who doesn't care about people who have been adversely affected by the changes implemented by the government. They don't care if some people are getting killed as long as they are safe. They don't care if some people will suffer more as long as they have more take-home pay. Just they wait.

Because there are far more serious problems

A Barbie Fashionista is listed at US$9.99 on the Mattel online shop, so is a Justice League basic doll (both 6-inch and 12-inch). Same price, right? You'd expect the same price for those toys locally  since they are being sold by the same seller, Richprime or Richwell. 

Nope. The Justice League toys cost PhP899.75 each (for both 6-inch and 12-inch) while the Fashionistas cost PhP999.75. The prices are for both online and physical stores. It is very puzzling how toys having the same original price will have different prices after conversion. Having realized this, I feel like I was being duped by Richprime/Richwell.

If one will reason out the size, like the bigger toy will cost more to ship or to display on a shelf, I'd like to point out that the conversion for the 6-inch and 12-inch Justice League toys are consistent.

While Richprime/Richwell has the right to price the items they're selling to whatever they want, it is just interesting to point out the a major difference between the Barbie dolls and the Justice League toys: the Barbie dolls are mainly intended for girls while the Justice League toys are intended for boys. Richprime/Richwell may have not nothing to do with that intention. It's just that local toy store layouts clearly separates toys for boys, girls and infants/toddlers. A big distributor like Richwell/Richprime does have a say on how and where the toys will be displayed.

No matter how offensive that may sound, local Barbie fans like me would probably just shrug it off and continue to support the brand and the local distributor. No big deal. I do live in country where 88% support the drug war even if 73% thinks that extra-judicial killings is involved.

Yes, we need a Wonder Woman.

The Doomed God