Action Figure #527: Star Wars The Black Series First Order StormTrooper Executioner

  It's electric hammer time.

 While not a fan of the Sequel Trilogy's StormTroopers, I needed some extra representation, and since this guy is bastard on the Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes game... well, the First Order Stormtrooper Executioner was just what I needed.

 This is now my oldest StormTrooper figure... and it shows. While he looks pretty decent, his helmet is rather large, which looks fine on its own, but when he is next to other Troopers... well, you'll see later! Other than that, he is a nice looking figure, much like the Storm Troopers, he is made with glossy plastic, which fits a shiny new trooper. He comes with this weird electric ax/hammer weapon that looks pretty cool.

 The articulation follows the mold of the older Black Series' figures, with single jointed elbows but double jointed knees, and no butterfly joints. Instead of waist swivel he has a ball jointed ab-crunch. Sadly, due to the belt and the hips he doesn't get a very good split, and the higher his legs are the less he can raise them to the sides. His arm bend doesn't reach 90 degrees, which is sorta pathetic.

 The electricity effect can be removed from the claws of his weapon, and then you can collapse the claws on the rod. The rod itself is very gummy, so it bends easily, which makes it look rather flimsy.

 This is as far as he can raise his fore-arms. Also pictured, there's a division in the white torso armor before the shoulders. That division should've been painted black, but it's completely white here. I don't mind it too much, but it makes him inaccurate to the movie. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He's a mediocre figure, but I think he looks pretty neat next to my other troopers, since my other guys are ranged attackers, but this guy packs a hammer!

5.5

Action Figure #526: Star Wars The Black Series Night Trooper(CaptainEnoch/Night Trooper 2-Pack)

  Held together by red duct tape.

 Well, turns out Enoch came with a buddy, a Night Trooper! I don't much care about his design, but he came alongside Enoch so it was an offer I could, literally, not refuse.

 Well, he is a Storm Trooper but with red cloths, golden cracks and a grey helmet. They could've given him a few more red spots, since apparently these Troopers mend their armor the same way Enoch does, but the red pieces of molded cloth do make him different. While Hasbro could've gone the easy route, every bit of cloth is sculpted onto the figure, it's not just paint, heck, much as with Enoch, the golden cracks are also sculpted onto the figure. It's probably why he only gets cracks and red cloth on a single arm and on a single leg. I like the asymmetry anyways. Another difference with the Storm Trooper is that the plastic armor pieces are matte instead of glossy, which also helps making him feel less pristine, appropriate for a battered armor!

 Articulation is exactly the same as the Storm Trooper and Enoch, but no skirt to prevent him from raising his legs.

 As much as I dig the sculpted work, it feels like they took a few shortcuts, as seen above, the red cloth on the abdomen and arm just stop, which looks a bit ugly. These are the only bits that stop abruptly, but it's hard not to notice. Some of the paint that went on the cracks is off-centered, which is not too bad and is hard to notice if you don't look VERY closely. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 He is a fine figure, but nothing special, I'll probably be posing him next to my basic Storm Troopers!

7.0

Action Figure #525: Star Wars The Black Series Captain Enoch(CaptainEnoch/Night Trooper 2-Pack)

 Not a heart of gold, but a head of gold.

 Well, time for more characters I know nothing about, this time with Captain Enoch. At first I thought the tiny face on the helmet look silly, but the more I looked at him the cooler he started looking... until I bought the set. Whoops.

 I think Enoch looks amazing. His body glove is burgundy instead of black, and I love all the golden accents on his armor. So while he looks like a Storm Trooper, he also looks very different. He also had some new sculpting done to him. The back of his torso armor is different from other Storm Trooper, and all the golden cracks? They are sculpted onto the armor. At least on his helmet and chest piece, the golden cracks on the legs and arms are just paint.

 Articulation is... well, he is exactly like a Storm Trooper, sans for the fact that he has a skirt that prevents his legs from moving pretty much in any way, which kinda sucks. The Black Series love to use soft goods, but I get it, his skirt piece is a bit intricate, so they went for the easier route.

 That said, I took a pair of scissors and made some cuts here and there, so now he has leg movement and he became a decent figure. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 It takes a bit of work to get him functional, but this is the coolest Storm Trooper you can own, and you can quote me on that.

8.0

Action Figure #524: Marvel Legends Lilith

 Why the long face?

 Talk about a deep cut! Lilith is probably one of Marvel's most obscure characters. I happen to know her because I had a few issues of Midnight Sons and/or Ghost Rider that featured her, so I am familiar with her ugly mug. I was probably one of the only 3 people that got excited when she was anounced, heh!

 Lilith came out looking great. Maybe I would've made her forehead/horns/whatever a bit longer and taller, but other than that, I quite like her. She has a very unconventional color scheme, I mean, yeah, yeah, purple and green, but you also have to take into account her white skin and silver boots, and it gives her this weird charm when you look at her. Her hair is a translucent dark-grey color, which was an interesting choice. Lastly, she comes with an alternate set of hands.

 Articulation is exactly like other female Marvel Legends, with double jointed elbows and knees, so nothing new here. I had a bit of trouble getting her to stand on a neutral pose, curiously enough, Her cape might be a bit too heavy.

 The paint apps on her fishnets are spotty. One leg's paint doesn't reach the booth, while on the other leg it got painted OVER the boot! Not a good job, Hasbro.

 Minor paint app issues aside, they did a good job with Lilith, I'm happy with how she came out.

7.0

Action Figure #523: Game of Thrones Legacy Collection Daenerys Targaryen

 Everything is better with Dragons.

 And then, I went ahead and got Danerys Targaryen, one of my favorite characters in the series. I got Jamie because I felt he would look good in a medieval display, but Daenerys? Because I actually like her.

 Well, for starters, she doesn't look like Emilia Clarke... but she does look like Halsey, so that's something, right? The rest of the sculpt is very detailed, not only on the figure itself, but the figure has a black wash that highlights all the details of her sculpt. So while she doesn't really look like she doeso n the show, she is a great looking action figure.

 Her articulation is a bit better than Jamie's. Single jointed elbows but double jointed knees, that remains. She also has swivels on her thighs. But the thing is... her hair is VERY soft, so her arms can move anywhere and you can turn her head anywhere, which you can't say about various Marvel Legends. Her ab crunch is on a ball joint, and it has pretty generous range too. Her skirt is very soft, so you don't lose much articulation on her legs.

 Remember how I mentioned, on Jamie's entry, how this line is infamous for how brittle it is? Her legs were broken out of the box. I manage to salvage most of her legs thanks to super glue, but still. You can tell that her joints are made out of clear plastic, so they could give in any day now.

 At first I thought my figure had a badly-molded arm, due to the holes on her shoulder, but they are there for her tiny dragon... but as much as I tried, I didn't manage to get her dragon to stand on her shoulder. Bummer. She is WAY shorter than Bucky Cap. and while this is accurate to the books, as she is very young, she looks so much shorter than any other figure on the line... that she just looks awkward. She should've been made taller.

 Danerys is kinda lame. She's too short and looks nothing like Emilia Clarke, which ironically, makes this figure more of a version of Book Danerys, the 14 year old girl, and not of the TV show. That said, I really am not sure of how to fit her into my collection, due to her size. And her transparent joints just scare me. Oh, and I'm finishing writing this entry on another day... I managed to slot the Dragon into her shoulder! It works pretty well.

4.5

Action Figure #522: Game of Thrones Legacy Collection Jamie Lannister

 I think I'll avoid getting his sister for the time being...

 Looking to expand on my 6 inch action figure collection, I came upon the Game of Thrones Legacy Collection by Funko, and what better place to start off than with Jamie Lannister?

 I'll tell you this much, as far as sculpt goes, this figure is excellent. His armor is fully sculpted and looks incredible, and the entire figure has a blackwash giving all his tiny details a well deserved highlight. This figure was from an era BEFORE digital face paint, and yet, the likeness to the actor IS there. As far as paint and sculpt goes, he is a perfect 10.

 Well, the articulation... he has single jointed elbows, but double jointed knees. Swivels on the legs, but not on his biceps. No ab articulation, but he has a ball-jointed waist, but due to the sculpt, it works more like a swivel, so don't try to move him around too hard. And do be careful, because... there's a reason I abandoned this line immediately: Quality Check issues. Funko's line of Game of Thrones figures are infamous for their broken joints. Because they used transparent plastic for the joints, making them very brittle. Knowing that, I was careful with Jaime, and I was lucky.... with him. Spoilers. The pauldrons on his arms got a bit loose, but that means I loose no articulation when raising his arms to the sides... that said, his skirt does hamper movement on his legs.

 The first big issue, was that he had closed fists, with no way to hold his sword. I had to cut open his right hand.

 Even though I was careful with him, the paint on the clear joints was a bit of an issue. As I loosened his joints, a lot of the paint chipped. But hey, he didn't break!... Well, HE didn't. Spoilers! He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Despite a few issues... I'm satisfied with how Jamie came out. He has a few issues, but he works really well, and he feels like a solid action figure... at least mine does. Let's just see if the transparent joints hold up after summer is over.

7.5

Action Figure #521: Marvel Legends Crystal(Crystal/Lockjaw 2-Pack)

 I'd love to get an explanation on how her hair works.

 Alright, so spoilers, I bought Crystal by herself, so there's no upcoming Lockjaw post. That aside, I've been waiting for a Crystal Marvel Legends since forever, as the 90's Fantastic Four cartoon cemented her as one of Marvel's most recognizable characters, in my mind, ever since I was young. Well, the wait is over!

 She comes with an alternate head, an alternate set of hands, and two effect pieces that go over the wrist joints. Crystal has a very simple design, so there's not much sculpt work here, beyond her belt, which was sculpted onto the abdomen piece. I love these new effect pieces, since they can work both as her holding the elements... or using them as after effects on her punches. I've got a single issue with this figure, and that's... that her face sculpt looks too old. I picture Crystal as a very juvenile character, she's Medusa's younger sister, so, while she should be built on an adult body mold, as she was, her face should look younger. Mind you, the faces look great, they ARE great faces, just not for Crystal.

 On the articulation end of things, she is built on the female Marvel Legends buck, the one with bicep swivels and double jointed elbows. She is easy to pose and fun to play with. She is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap. 

 Overall, she is a good figure, and she does fill a spot I've been waiting to fill for a long time. That said, there's room for improvement here, particularly on the face.

7.0