Hasbro Marvel Universe Avengers Black Widow Sure is Purty!

I saw the 3.75-inch Avengers Black Widow at the Hasbro Preview Night before last year’s New York Comic Con – the lighting in the pictures I took was a bit harsh, but I remember thinking that the painted prototype was not too flattering to ScarJo. Usually the hand painted protos are the ideal, and the production pieces lose a little luster going through the factory assembly line. So I was surprised the other day at Talbot’s (a local toy, hobby, and bike store) to see that the Avengers Black Widow figure actually turned out much prettier in production than the prototype I saw last year. Still not quite a match for ScarJo, but I wouldn’t expect this in such a small figure.

Great job, Hasbro (and factory!)

Play Imaginative Super Alloy Batman (Special Edition)

I had never heard of Play Imaginative, but was very intrigued when the Super Alloy Batman was announced as an exclusive for the Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention that was held at the start of the month. You see, as much as I’ve been a fan of the Nolan-verse Batman and Hot Toys with their 1/6 scale Dark Knight figures, my love of Batman started in the comics. The Super Alloy Batman hits on a sweet spot for me – its design is comics-based, from legendary artist Jim Lee, and it’s super-articulated. Add to that the intriguing notion that much of the figure would be die cast metal, and I was hooked – I had to get one. The big question was, how would it stack up to Hot Toys, who in my view dominates the 1/6 scale for pop culture action figures.

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Hasbro (Return of) Marvel Legends Wave 3 Mystique Quick Pics

Mystique is one of the figures from Hasbro’s (Return of) Marvel Legends that I’ve been looking forward to most. I had made a custom of this version of Raven Darkholme way back when Buffy figures had gotten super-articulated, and while I was liked the custom ok I hoped it would eventually be eclipsed. And it has been – by now the Black Widow / female SHIELD agent is well known territory, and it’s utilized well here. The classic Mystique by Toy Biz also suffers in comparison.

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Hasbro (Return of) Marvel Legends Wave 3 Packaged Pics

When I wrote my Best Week Ever / Good Toy Karma post (reply to that post for a chance to win Free Stuff!) I was pretty excited to get my Pile of Loot from Big Bad Toy Store with RoML wave 3. Now, what Hasbro told us at SDCC was that this wave is actually a filler wave – they had only planned 2 waves in 2012 to relaunch the line, but because those got bunched up at the start of the year and because sales on those waves were good enough, they put together this third wave. And so that means there’s a heck of a lot of reuse and no build-a-figure – instead you’ll get the stand that was included with the 6-inch Wal-Mart exclusive Avengers, minus the Avengers logo.

Even so, I think this wave will be warmly received. It’s still carrying the positive buzz from the relaunch, and the reuse that’s here is done pretty well. Packaged pics only right now, but I’ll give some comments for each figure despite not having them open yet.

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Quick Pic – Street Fighter Akuma and Ryu, Take 3 and Done!

I promise – this is the last shot of Akuma and Ryu! I mentioned yesterday that I wanted Ryu’s head framed by the fireball, so I made that minor adjustment plus repositioned his left hand so the palm would catch some of the reflection off of the fireball too. And while I liked how in the second shot it looked like Akuma was appearing out of the darkness, I wanted to see what it would be like with some lighting on his sides, so you can make out his entire silhouette. For this I used the LED book lights, as the flexible necks let me position the lights exactly where I wanted them.

I noticed too that the straps from Ryu’s headband had fallen out in the previous pics, so this gave me an opportunity to add it back in.  And finally, tilting the camera allowed me to fill a rectangular image instead of having some unnecessary blank spots in a square. The added benefit – drama! At this point, I don’t think there’s anything other changes to make (hence my promise) – but if you have suggestions, let me know.

Although this was not intended, you’ve have now sort of been through my process of composing shots – snap pics, see how they look, and make incremental adjustments… and repeat. But instead of this being in one sitting, because of time limits the past few nights, it’s gone over a few days instead. If you want to see the progression, here’s the first shot of Akuma vs. Ryu and here’s take two of Akuma vs. Ryu. Thanks for looking!

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