Hot Toys – Gamora – Guardians of the Galaxy

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Knives

Intro

Just as I finished unpacking the last toy in my office after our move, Gamora lands on my doorstep. I’ve been looking forward to having her in my collection since I first spotted her on display at Sideshow’s booth, last year during San Diego Comic Con. So much so that I tossed money at the screen as soon as she went up for pre-order.

Plunking down a not insignificant amount of cash for any collectible can leave one nerve racked as the ship date approaches. Will it be as awesome as it looked from the previews? Will the paint be as good as it did on the prototype? How are the accessories? What about QC?
Ah… what about QC indeed. The questions can go on and on.

As collectors, we tend to have certain expectations when it comes to these high dollar, luxury items. We expect a certain level of quality. That said, there’s also a good amount of consideration of expected limitations of any given item depending on how the item was produced, what features it may employ, new tech, etc… We can be at the same time incredibly nit-picky as well as a very reasonable bunch.
However, every once in awhile, even with all those things set up and limitations of a figure considered, a collectible comes along that just… baffles us.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Lets get on with the review, and you can decide exactly how this all applies to Hot Toys Gamora. Continue reading →

ThreeZero – Tyrion Lannister – Game of Thrones

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Knives

I love Game of Thrones.

I realize that’s probably not the most original statement an individual with access to HBOs mega hit series can make, but I stand by it. Few shows have me waiting with baited breath for a fresh episode, season after season like GoT. Breaking Bad, LOST, The Walking Dead… Archer… the list of shows that have held that affect on me isn’t very long. The list of shows that would make for some amazing action figures is even shorter.

ThreeZero has practically made an art of snatching up some of the best licenses in the past couple years. At first, they snagged The Walking Dead and everyone lost their $#*% over the possibilities. Unfortunately, even with a few teased images of several lead characters (including seeing one in person at SDCC 2013) from the show… only Michonne’s Pets have actually seen light of day. (review here) We’re sure to get preorder info on Michonne, Rick, Daryl and all the rest fairly soon but the wait is killing me.

Michonne’s Pets and Merl figures on display at SDCC 2013

When ThreeZero announced they’d locked down Game of Thrones, I was both excited and hesitant to celebrate all at once. Would this be another situation of a single figure release followed with months of silence?

ThreeZero put their first figure from GoT, Tyrion Lannister up for preorder on May 26th, 2014. Almost immediately afterwards we started to see teased images of the follow up release, Ned Stark, who eventually went up for preorder in September. With two figures, released fairly closely to one another, there’s a good chance this license won’t sit idle for long. This also means, unlike those two zombies, I won’t have to worry about White Walkers roaming around my office unchallenged.

Ned will eventually have his day… but for now I’m happy to have the opportunity to talk to you about the Hand of the King, The Little Lion, The dude that always pays his debts… Tyrion Lannister.

*keep reading for the in depth review and check out our video review for the rest!

Continue reading →

Play Arts Kai – Venom Snake (Metal Gear V: Phantom Pain)

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Knives

Intro:

This will probably be a pretty quick review… the clocks ticking down 2014 and as of this writing, it’s already 2015 in parts of the world. I want to get this review out before 2015 hits the states!

Anyone who’s been following me here on RtR since the beginning (Has it been 3 Years already?) probably knows by now that I’m a huge Metal Gear fan. I’ve played and replayed all the titles from the Metal Gear franchise more times than I can count.. Metal Gear III and Sons of Liberty especially stand out. While I’m chomping at the bit for Konami to release Phantom Pain, I’ve managed to resist the game bait that is Metal Gear Ground Zero. I’m admitably curious to play what some have called a glorified demo, but I’m saving all my “next gen” Metal Gear cherry for when Konami FINALLY releases their next MGS blockbuster sometime in 2015.

The same could be said of the latest line of MG figures from Play Arts Kai. At SDCC last July, I got to see first hand the oncoming wave of figures. On display they had the Phantom Pain SDCC exclusive bronze, the retail and the Ground Zero version of Venom Snake. The Phantom Pain versions looked so incredibly baller to me with some material layering work like I’ve never seen before from Play Arts. The Ground Zero version looked nice.. but I wasn’t as excited about the glossy blue “sneaking suit” as I was the desert worn getup he sports in Phantom Pain.

When I noticed that the SDCC exclusive bronze version was labeled “Available Now”, I grabbed the closest PAK sales rep and said (in what I’m sure was an overly excited and probably way too high for my age sounding voice) “Can I get one of these please?!” pointing dramatically at the bronze exclusive. The sales rep replied in a friendly, but with a hint of “I hope this psycho doesn’t spaz out on me” sounding voice, “Oh.. I’m sorry, we should have taken that sign down. That guy (pointing at random guy in line) just got the last one.”

“Oh.” I said in a deflated, suddenly saddened whisper.

“But hey, we have the Ground Zero version still available if you want it!” offering it up with a crooked grin as if it were some sort of penance for allowing some other dude to buy MY Bronze Snake.

I glanced at the shiny, slim and sneaky Ground Zero Snake and considered it a moment. Then I glanced at the retail Phantom Pain Venom Snake and at the small sign at it’s base that read… “Coming in December 2014”.

“No thanks, I’ll wait.” I said, in what I imagine was a very Kiefer Sutherland/Venom Snake-like voice…

then I turned and walked away awesomely.

Continue reading →

2014: The year of the Tomorrow King

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Knives

As the clock ticks down the last few moments of the 2014, I look over and note just how overloaded my shelves are with the many goodies I acquired over the year. With my collection expanding and including figures from Hot Toys, ThreeZero, 3A, Hasbro, Sideshow, LEGO, NECA, Figma, Play Arts Kai and more.. this is the first year I’ve had to toss up a few extra shelves just to hold them all. Toys take up a LOT of real estate in my home. No toy company has claimed more of that space than 3A.. and no type of toy than Ashley Wood’s Tomorrow Kings.

This year added quite a few TKs (Tomorrow Kings) to our collection, however we really didn’t write any reviews this year covering them. Historically, I’ve found that writing interesting reviews on Tomorrow King characters can get pretty repetitive as they all share so many similar traits between them. I guess that’s understandable given that they’re supposed to literally be clones of each other as Wood’s convoluted storyline goes.

That said, this past year 3A not only seemed to release TKs hand over fist, they gave them some very unique characteristics that really set them apart from each other. So since we didn’t talk about them along the way, I thought it’d be interesting to take a few shots and write some quick thoughts on each one in an end of the year summary.. Tomorrow King style.