Visisonor-induced visions

Visisonor wrote:

BAMComix wrote:Do you use Pulse?

Yes, I've ordered something from it in the past.
The VAMP is not in stock, however.

Yeah, I missed out on it too.

Wow the post apocalyptic buggys are insane and fits so great to the figures ! Love them.

Ephiane wrote:Wow the post apocalyptic buggys are insane and fits so great to the figures ! Love them.

Thanks.
I guess the Stinger is not post-apocalyptic in a strict sense, I just use it in a post-apocalyptic setting

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Whisky Club Marc

A recent - and somewhat problematic - acquisition: Whisky Club Marc figure by Bigaddict (there seems to be a running theme here with naming, heh).


I don't remember how exactly I learned about it. I think I've stumbled upon a review of another figure by the same company, and when I tried to search for that figure, I found this.
But now I can't even find that review.

Anyway, on the second day after delivery the pin connecting left arm to the torso snapped. So I had to 3d-print a replacement:


The resulting joint turned out a bit looser than the original one, but it works:


Rare shirtless look (kind of showing it is not intended to be displayed like that):


I'm not sure whether these dark purple spots are supposed to be tattoos or just stains from the shirt. But left forearm clearly has a tattoo on it.

Which raises a question of who this guy is supposed to be.

Various comments to youtube reviews and some ebay listings suggest he is Tyler Rake from Extraction, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth.


If that is the case, the likeness is definitely off (if even I can see it...)


But that actually plays into my hand because he can fit into my setting, without any real life resemblance.

Marc comes with a reasonable set of accessories - 3 pairs of hands, two Glock pistols, a shotgun and an assault rifle (though weapons are somewhat small)




Articulation is mostly great except for ab crunch.

Another noteworthy thing is magnetic head joint. In theory it's a nice idea, but I wish the magnet was stronger - the head falls off too easily. Plus it makes it incompatible with everything else.
The only other figure with magnetic head I'm aware of is T800 by Great Twins:


And I've seen it somewhere that the T800 figure was actually manufactured by Bigaddict.

More size comparisons:


Like the Hasuki Black Ops, Marc is in the sweet spot between Mezco and "true" 1/12 scale, fitting more or less OK with other lines. But the base body could be better. I thought of replacing it but magnetic neck makes it harder. I may still try something with one of Notaman bodies (some of them come with detaching necks), but if it doesn't work, at least I could fix the broken shoulder joint.

Great looking figure, and I think the poor likeness to what seems to have been intended is indeed a good thing. He scales great with the other lines. I'm glad you were able to repair him.

He looks the business Vis, you could certainly make someone turn their head to 1/12!

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm glad you were able to repair him.

Thanks! Yeah, it's quite satisfying, especially since it worked out at the first attempt.

BAMComix wrote:you could certainly make someone turn their head to 1/12!

Glad you think so
Though it has a lot to do with figures themselves looking great and detailed.

Marc looks great and fits in nicely with your other figures for sure! I really like the head exactly as it is, though it's a shame about the incompatibility with other bodies. But this one looks to do the job nicely, despite the minor setback. Great pick!

Diana wrote:I really like the head exactly as it is

Yeah, I like it too (this seems to be a consensus here). Thanks!

And I forgot to explicitly mention sunglasses - they are also included and fit really well.

Mezco Gwen

This figure isn't strictly speaking new, the first reviews appeared a month or two ago, and I've learned everything I am writing now from them. Still, there is nothing like getting a figure in your own hands. So here she is: Mezco Ghost Spider.


For a normal, non-deluxe release, it was priced slightly higher than expected. Which could be considered an early hint that Mezco intended to do something different with this figure. Like finally update their base female body.
And they did:


As the image above clearly shows, the elbows are double-jointed, and the knees bend farther than any previously released Mezco female could.
I'm not sure knees are double-jointed though, can be a single joint like TBLeague. And the similarity doesn't end here, because most of the body is seamless - living tissue soft TPE or silicone over a metal endoskeleton.



But it's not fully seamless - only torso and thighs. Legs below the knees and arms are plastic. Unlike 1/12 scale TBL, arms have bicep swivel, but there is no up/down/back/forward movement in the shoulder (no butterfly joint of any kind), only rotation and hinge.


I have no idea why Mezco went this route and not fully seamless body. Still, it's their best female buck as of yet, and by far. The torso in particular has the same range as TBL. There seem to be a diaphragm joint and an abdomen joint, and together they can bend very deep. The legs are in neutral position on the photo below, the bend is achieved only by the joints in the body:

...All the king's horses, all the kings men...

Arch back is also quite impressive:


In fact, it bends even further than that. But suit material pushes it back.

And that is where the praise ends and the problems start. It's probably clear from the photos that the suit is way too thick. Just look at the folds in non-neutral poses. She looks like she is wearing multiple layers, as if she is not Ghost Spider but more like Winter Soldier Spider.
Technically the body can achieve the crouching pose often associated with Spiderman variants, but it can't hold it because either the TPE or the outer suit pushes it back.


Another issue - she does not look like a teen age girl. More like a mature woman.


The body sculpt jut isn't right for Gwen.

Accessories are quite nice though. I particularly like the fact that she comes with a smartphone (because it can be used in many other contexts and I don't have to look for a 1/12 phone separately).

There is also a backpack, a folded mask that she can hold,


A notebook with her name


And a portal (plus a wristband to control interdimensional jumps)


As expected from Mezco, she is in scale with other Mezco figures, standing a bit shorter than Spiderman and older women (Catwoman here is on JoyToy body but it's also in scale with Mezco)



And roughly the same height as SHF Gwen


But (again, as expected) proportions and scale differ from most other lines.

ANT and TBL:

Mostly harmless seamless

Soldier Story and Very Cool kitbashes:


So this is really close to the perfect Spider Gwen. But not quite. Which is sad because of how close it is.

Nice looking Gwen(s)!

I agree. Thank you for the thorough and beautifully illustrated review. I see what you mean about her looking like a more mature female, although I actually like her look.

OcTOYber 2024

There is an annual thing on social media called OcTOYber. I don't know anything about it other than there is usually a list of subjects, one per day, and people post their pictures.

This year's list:

This time I've posted two pictures from that list.

Alternate timeline:


Ultimate alliance:

Very nice work!

I love these types of pics, so much fun, and yours look terrific Vis! Not exactly following the theme but fun none he less.

This ain't Manhattan!

Very nice photo, Dal. I'm not sure who is in the wrong place -- Gwen or the First Order?

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice work!

BAMComix wrote:and yours look terrific Vis!

Thanks!
Nice "Oops" moment with Gwen.

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm not sure who is in the wrong place -- Gwen or the First Order?

Gwen is more likely to find herself in another universe, but who knows.
Realistically she is in trouble here, even with superpowers. But plot armor can be a deciding factor

Visisonor wrote:But plot armor can be a deciding factor

It usually is...

Visisonor wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice work!

BAMComix wrote:and yours look terrific Vis!

Thanks!
Nice "Oopw" moment with Gwen.

GubernatorFan wrote:I'm not sure who is in the wrong place -- Gwen or the First Order?

Gwen is more likely to find herself in another universe, but who knows.
Realistically she is in trouble here, even with superpowers. But plot armor can be a deciding factor

Thanks guys! It was a fun pic to do, as Vis says, it's more like Gwen bounced through time and space because of the whole 'Spiderverse' . Maybe she needs Spider-Ham to come and assist her?

Blanks

The relatively recent release of Interstellar Ranger has left me questioning the choice of combining an SHF-scale body with Mezco-scale head. And while it looks more or less OK with clothes, I still felt the urge to build a version of it in scale with other Star Wars figures.

This goal is still far from achieved, but it got me looking at various blank bodies with more focus.

The first such body I've bought was a VTOYS x BMS Zero. It was a long time ago, and it serves a a base for a never-ending Superman custom - and the scale is on the larger side.

Next on the list is similarly-scaled NWToys body. Not as muscular, and arguably with better articulation (ab crunch seems to have better range), it would also work for Superman



Another body acquired recently is Notaman 02w.


It's slightly smaller and leaner, but still within the realm of Mezco scale. I'd say t's a great base for a "normal", non-superhero type of figure.


Articulation is also very good. One peculiarity is shoulder joints: the have the pin going into the torso, typical for providing "butterfly" movements, but it only works in forward/backward direction, not in up/down. So he can't really shrug, but can do some volleyball poses:


Everything else is quite great


And with height like that this body can work for a very tall character in SHF scale. I hope to make a Darth Vader figure with this body, but that's a subject for another thread.

Another body, at the same time old and new to me, is Damtoys Drawman.


Above is Drawman together with Testman, one of many recolors of this body. It may also be used for various Damtoys military/police figures, and I have two of them, but never had the actual Drawman until now - because the aforementioned Interstellar Ranger uses this body too, so I've bought a couple for my own custom Luke (body-kun might be another option, but I don't have it in hand).
Articulation is behind the bar set by NWToys and Notaman, especially ab crunch. But it still can get some poses


The other problem, at least with Testman bodies, is fragility of joints. The yellow-black one from the photo above has some cracked joints that had to be fixed, and his orange-black brother pretty much fell apart. A pair of Drawmen seem sturdier as of now (left bicep swivel is loose for both of them, but doesn't fall of at least).


And the last for today is, apparently, a knock-of of Romankey x Cowl female body

I think it's a knock-off because there was no officially announced second production run for the female body, and half the joints are loose, to the point of falling apart at slightest adjustments.
Which somewhat interferes with my overall impression. But even if everything was tight, I'd still not be as impressed as I hoped I would be


Articulation is decent, but not mind-blowing. And the overall look is kind of animated - which is likely intentional, though.
Perhaps surprising for an open-jointed body, there are anatomically-correct details (quite pronounced above, not so much below).
I also did not expect her to be in scale with Mezco:


But I'll reserve my final judgment until I get a "real" one. Because with this body I can't even put on a body suit, it's not tight enough to stay in one piece.

Other size comparisons (I don't have all of them in one frame; that would be a heck of an aspect ratio...)

NWToys, Notaman and VTOYS x BMS:


NWToys, Romankey x COWL, Drawman:

One of them is not like the others

I also have a few more bodies on the way. I need a taller body for Anakin: it doesn't make sense that this rendition is not taller than Luke. And there are many more options I haven't got in hand (yet?). But anyway, I hope this overview can be useful.

Great additions, Vis. The look to have a great range of movement. I must admit, that puppet head made me smile .

While I have some of them already, I appreciate your review and comparison. Nicely done, and all of them have a lot of potential.