(Zhongqu Toys) Black Lily aka Widowmaker (Overwatch) Review

In a nutshell,
Paint: 10/10
Articulation 7.5/10
Detailing 9/10
Scale 9/10
Accessories 8/10
Fun Factor 9/10

Hi guys, as I am cutting down on toy collecting and toy photography, I will be updating this blog less! However, this figure is just too awesome to not share with other Overwatch fans, in case they desire a Widowmaker figure to call their own! I hope my review can help you with your decision!

For this review, I will address the figure as Widowmaker, because I cannot take the name Black Lily seriously. Widowmaker comes in a black box, showing the figure's name and the toy company logo, along with pictures of the figure. There is a window showing the figure. No text. Nice and simple, kind of reminding me of the design of figma packaging.

Paint: 10/10
The paint on this figure is just amazing! I honestly found no QC issues in terms of paint for my figure. From the gorgeous face down to the Widowmaker symbol on her rifle, Widowmaker is really well-painted.Even the spider tattoo on her back is sharp. I especially like the shades of metallic purple used for her costume. Really makes it look like she came out of the game.

Articulation 7.5/10

• Head swivel
• Ball-pegged ponytail
• Double ball-pegged Shoulder joints
• Single-jointed elbows
• Upper Chest Swivel
• Waist Swivel
• Ball-pegged wrists
• T-joints between the hips and legs
• Upper thigh swivel
• Double-jointed knees
• Ankle joints
• Ankle pivot

When it comes to number of points of articulation, Widowmaker here boasts quite a handful, almost on par with that of well-known toy brands like figma. And they work beautifully, allowing Widowmaker to do many cool poses. However, not all joints work as well as I hope. For some reason, Widowmaker cannot really move her head around much, apart from the basic left and right. Upward and downward rotation is not much, and so is tilting the head. Also, the two articulation points on her chest and waist do not offer much movement, making poses such as crouching down seem almost impossible to achieve. My last complaint would be the elbow joints. As the elbow is single-jointed, her elbows can bend a lot but not enough for you to rest the rifle on her shoulder. Despite having long legs, and having heels, Widowmaker's legs and feet are pretty solid enough to keep her from toppling over easily. Being a 3P, the joints may be loose. The joints on mine are fine, except for the shoulder joints, which I wish was a bit tighter for her to be able to support the weight of her rifle.

Detailing: 9/10

The detailing on this figure, along with the painting, just blew me away. This figure is so detailed and game-accurate, especially when it comes to the face. The face on Widowmaker is really well done, and I love her eyes and glossy pink lips especially. For an unofficial product, this figure officially nails the accuracy brilliantly. The costume design is well done, and I love the armor on her legs. Even her rifles are nicely sculpted.

Scale: 9/10

Unfortunately, this is the first 3P Overwatch figure I have ever owned, so I cannot really compare the scale. But I placed her beside my custom Soldier 76 figure (which used a Hasbro Marvel Legends figure as a base) and she seems to scale really well! She stands at almost 7" tall. If NECA does do the Overwatch line, and maintain the scale as their Heroes of the Storm line, I think this figure will fit in just fine. Widowmaker will definitely not be in scale with figma's future Tracer figure though, as figma figures are generally smaller. My only issue in terms of scale is the rifles. I checked official photos of Widowmaker, and her rifles are not as big as the ones in this set.It is not a glaring issue, but one that may bother some of you.

Accessories 8/10

In terms of accessories, this figure is pretty impressive! She comes with 3 interchangeable hands (a pew-pew gesture, a middle finger, and another trigger hand), an alternate head with her recon visor down over her eyes, and 2 of her Widow's Kiss rifle (one in normal mode and another in sniper mode). The accessories really completes the figure, as these are things you see in the game. Maybe having her venom mine and/or grappling hook would be nice. My only issue is that her interchangeable hands are only for her left hand, plus the left trigger hand is exactly the same (albeit a mirror of it) as the right hand (which is also a trigger hand). In the game, her right hand is gloved, except for her index finger. Her left hand should be fully gloved, but the left trigger hand has the index finger (wrongly) exposed too. The "pew-pew" gesture hand is a nice addition, maybe inspired by the Heroes of the Storm Nova figure by NECA (which was inspired by the HotS cinematic). The middle finger hand is totally random, but a fun addition.

Fun Factor 9/10

Despite her several minor flaws, Widowmaker is a fun figure to play with. She comes with all the things you need to pose her like in the game. Her articulation is decent, even if it had the potential to be better. I really enjoy posing the figure, despite her long legs and her heels making it a bit more challenging.

So do I recommend this figure? Hell yeah, especially if you are an Overwatch fan! The only drawback would be her price point. She is going for around SGD$130-$140 on eBay, and she can be found cheaper on taobao (a china online shopping site). If you can get past the steep price, and you are okay with her scale, then go for it! You won't be disappointed! If you are looking for more Overwatch action figures, here are ones to look out for (as at 10/3/17:

Official

figma: Tracer, Genji

Unofficial

DX9: K-1 Freeman (aka Bastion)

Zhongqu Toys: D.Va (the character for now, but the meka has been teased too)

Unknown brand: D.Va meka 

(Hasbro) Marvel Legends Captain America: Civil War Winter Soldier & Falcon Review

In a nutshell,
Paint: 9/10
Articulation 8/10
Detailing 9/10
Scale 8/10
Accessories 7/10
Fun Factor 9/10

Hi everyone! Been a long time since I did a review, so here is one on the currently dodgy wave 2.5, consisting of the MCU Bucky and Falcon! I as lucky to snag a set for myself, so I decided to share my thoughts on them!

I love the packaging somehow. The artwork at the sides look really good, and the back pictures of the figures look promising too! Apart from that, the boxes are similar to the Captain America wave 2 packaging.

Paint: 9/10
Now I actually (unknowingly) got 4 sets of Falcon and Winter Soldier when I ordered, so I could actually choose the best sets for myself in terms of paint. And to my surprise, the paint on these figures are pretty spot on! There is almost no trouble with the paint job at all, and even those that I found are rather trivial. Usually Hasbro tend to not bother about the QC of their paint job, resulting in paint bleeds and poorly done eyes. But these two figures are excellent. I was very impressed with Bucky's face, especially with his eyes. Never have I seen Hasbro put in so much effort in making the eyes look good! 

Articulation 8/10

• Head swivel
• Shoulder joints
• Bicep Swivels
• Double-jointed elbows
• Ab crunch
• Waist joint
• T-joints between the hips and legs
• Upper thigh swivel
• Double-jointed knees
• Ankle joints
• Ankle pivot

The articulation on both figures is nothing new, and is found on most Marvel Legends figures these days. I'd like to point out that Winter Soldier uses the same arms and legs as the previous MCU Winter Soldier figure, which is a bummer as I do not like the legs on that figure, especially the ankles. This makes posing Bucky a bit limited. Also, Bucky can bend forward quite a bit, but that leaves a weird protrusion at his back. Falcon's articulation is slightly better, the only drawback I can find is that the arms cannot raise outwards to 90 degrees. 

Detailing 9/10
Wow. The detailing is impressive. While Bucky uses many similar parts, the head and torso are new. And the sculpting is nice. I especially like how the harness is sculpted on, instead of being a separate piece like on the previous figure. There is a gun in a holster sculpted in, which cannot be removed. Some people might be annoyed by that "just for show" pistol. The Bucky head is what pulls up the score for his figure, as the resemblance is pretty good to Sebastian Stan! Seldom is Marvel Legends able to make MCU figures that have close resemblance to their actors/actresses.

The detailing on Falcon is one "wow" factor of this figure! I love how detailed his costume is. Even the arms have their own designs, and not a simple mirror image of each other. The head is really nice too, and you can almost see Anthony Mackie in the figure's face! Falcon's Redwing, wings and jetpack are also nicely detailed, which is impressive.

Scale 8/10
The scale of Falcon with the MCU Captain America is pretty good, with Falcon being slightly shorter. The reason why the score is pulled down is how Bucky is taller than Cap, by quite a bit. I do not recall Bucky being that much taller than Steve. But if you plan to pose the figures in dynamic poses, the weird scale may not be noticeable.

Accessories 7/10

Falcon's accessories are awesome. There are his wings, his jetpack, and Redwing both in deployed and stored state! His wings attach to his jetpack via 2 pegs on each side of the jetpack. It would have been perfect if they included machine pistols for him to wield, considering how Falcon comes with two open grip hands, perfect for holding those weapons! I actually purchased uzi submachine guns by Little Armory to let Falcon use.

Unfortunately, Bucky's accessories are lackluster, hence pulling down the rating. He comes with a pistol and knife, both painted black and brown. These look rather plain and unimpressive. Maybe giving Bucky a rifle similar to the one he used in the movie or something would help.

Fun Factor 9/10

That being said, these figures are fun, especially when you collect the MCU Marvel Legends figures! Bucky, not as much, but Falcon would be fun to play with! My only complaint is that Falcon's wings are pretty much fixed in the spread out position, with zero articulation. 

So are these figures worth buying? Some may choose the older MCU Bucky figure, but I personally recommend this newer one. His one head is way better than the two heads given in the previous figure. Falcon is the star of this pair, though. His accessories and the fact that it is the first time we are seeing the MCU Falcon figure coming to Marvel Legends makes him all the more worthy to purchase. So yes, I recommend it for MCU and Marvel Legends fans!!

(Custom Figure) Overwatch Soldier 76 Review

In a nutshell,
Paint 9/10
Articulation 9/10
Detailing 8/10
Fun Factor 9/10

Hi guys, it's been a while since I did any review! With the recent Overwatch hype, I requested a friend of mine, TSR Custom, to do a custom figure of Soldier 76 for me! Soldier 76 is my favorite character in the game, and as a toy collector I really wanted a figure of him! So here's a look at the final product!

TSR Custom actually does not know much about Overwatch, and I had to provide several reference material and also show him some of the cinematic shorts to get him hooked onto this project! The first thing that came to mind was how the Marvel Legends Modern Hawkeye looked suitable for Soldier 76, mainly because of the hair. And from there, TSR Custom and I worked out what parts we would use from Marvel Legends figures to combine together into Soldier 76!

Paint 9/10
For a custom figure, the paint job on this is really good! It cannot compare with those factory-produced Marvel Legends or S.H.Figuarts figures in terms of how sharp and crisp the design on the figure is, but for a custom figure I was really impressed! I think the part that impressed me the most was the "76" logo on the back of the figure, which looks rather well done! Unless you are scrutinizing up close, you cannot really tell that the logo was hand-painted!

Articulation 9/10
Because the figure is made of parts from various Marvel Legends figures, the articulation is pretty decent! I can get the figure to do many poses that the Soldier 76 does in game and from artwork! The articulation is pretty much same as those of the more recent Hasbro ML figures, such as Hobgoblin wave Daredevil and Hulkbuster wave Blizzard!

Detailing 8/10
Prior to making the figure, TSR Custom did tell me that it would be rather difficult to achieve 100% accuracy, especially if I wanted an articulated figure. So yes, the figure has some parts that is not accurate to the source material. However, these few deviations are quite trivial, especially when you're looking at the figure as a whole. Because the amount of accurate detailing overwhelms the few inaccurate parts, and it makes the minor inaccuracy parts forgivable. I really like the jacket part the most, and the mask is a close second. The gun, despite being made from various things (the base being Marvel Legends Hope Summers' rifle), turned out much better than anticipated!

Fun Factor 9/10
Good articulation and a great-looking figure is definitely nice to play with! TSR Custom was even able to do up interchangeable fist hands for the figure, which allows for even more ideas to come to life! I definitely had a great time posing Soldier 76 and have him beating up bad guys (using other Marvel Legends figures)!

To sum it up, I'm really pleased with this figure. It is not perfect, but TSR Custom was able to make me a soldier 76 figure that I'm thoroughly pleased with! Like all customs out there, I will not disclose the price of this figure for respect to the customiser! You can, however, check out his other works and contact him from the media links below!

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(Play Arts Kai) Rise of the Tomb Raider Lara Croft Review

In a nutshell,
Paint: 9/10
Articulation 8/10
Detailing 9/10
Fun Factor 10/10

In this review, we'll take a look at Rise of the Tomb Raider's Lara Croft, by Play Arts Kai (PAK). I never owned a PAK figure prior to this one, so I cannot compare Lara with another PAK figure for height comparison. I usually prefer my action figures to be around 6" tall, with the exception of Transformers Masterpiece figures. However, PAK was the only toy brand that was making an articulated Lara Croft figure, so I decided to get her.


The packaging is really nice! We get pictures of Lara in cool poses, and the front flap can be opened up to display a window for us to see the contents, along with some description of Lara Croft for us. The inside of the box is rather plain, but one interesting thing is that the instructions are printed on the sides of the inner backing of the box. To my surprise, the figure also comes with a display stand, which I was unaware of.

Paint: 9/10
The paint is pretty good! I could not find any faults in the paint job. It's nice that the exposed parts of Lara (ie. the hands, face) have "dirt" on them, not enough to make her look horrible, but just enough to show that she was in the wild for some time. Definitely better than leaving her spotless and clean. My only minor complaint is the black marks under her eyes, that seems slightly off to me. It could be just me though.

Articulation 8/10
The articulation for this figure, despite it being so huge, is good! 

• Head swivel
• Ponytail joint
• Neck pivot
• Shoulder joints
• Bicep Swivels
• double-jointed elbows
• Wrist joints
• upper torso joint
• Hinge joints between the hips and legs
• Upper thigh swivel
• double-jointed knees
• Ankle joints/pivot

The plastic material used for the clothes provides slightly more range of motion for Lara, which is always welcomed. I wish the head can look up and down a bit more though. When moving the neck, you can actually see a gap between the neck and the body when you look from above, which can be unsightly. Also, my figure's left knee joint is slightly loose when straightened, and the upper thigh swivel joint seems to come out a bit rather easily. It is not bad enough to make me hate the figure.

Detailing 9/10

I have to admit, the detailing is really impressive! The earrings, the boots, the attire... everything about Lara is very well-detailed! Even her accessories, like the pickaxe, are detailed nicely. You can see the necklace around Lara's neck, although you may need to look from a higher angle in order to notice it. Her face is quite nice too! Not 100% accurate to the game, but nice enough without deviating too much to being an anime look.

Fun Factor 10/10

This is where Lara shines. I do not own the Lara Croft from the first Tomb Raider (2013) game, but I noticed that the previous figure came with 1 climbing axe among the accessories. Playing the game, I notice Lara Croft having 2 climbing axes this time, and I'm pleased that PAK do give us 2 axes. They also give a revolver and survival knife, along with some arrows and a recurve(?) bow. I'm glad that PAK went with an elastic string for teh bowstring, instead of a hard plastic they used in the earlier figure. Definitely allows for more poses of Lara pulling back the bow! The alternate hands are more than the previous version of Lara, too. We get 2 open grip hands for the knife/axes, a hand for the pistol, a hand to hold the bow, and lastly a hand that has an arrow attached to it. I think the last hand is really cool to have, and I'm glad PAK included that inside. I saw reviews of the previous Lara Croft figure where the arrow is separate; I prefer this version as putting the arrow nicely on the hand may be a huge hassle. The accessories are plenty, allowing many fun poses. They attach onto Lara Croft just fine, although the bow might hinder posing a bit due to its size. My only issue about the bow is the peg near the handle, which is used to attach the bow to Lara's back. The peg is quite huge, and can be rather unsightly when you pose Lara holding the bow. Hiding it from a shot would require you to play with angles. 

So do I recommend this figure? I don't collect many PAK figures, so I'm unsure if this figure is considered pricey. But if you're a Tomb Raider fan like me, and love to collect action figures, I'd strongly recommend this figure to you! I have read about how PAK figures tend to have numerous quality control issues, but I have not faced any with my Lara Croft so far. The only two things I can think of are the slightly loose left knee joint when the leg is straightened, along with the left thigh swivel that seems to come out a bit. Apart from that, this figure has proven to be an awesome set! 

(KAI Studio) S.H. Figuarts Age of Ultron Captain America Steve Rogers Custom Head Review

In a nutshell,
Paint: 9/10
Articulation 0/10 (it's just a head!)
Detailing 10/10
Scale 10/10
Fun Factor 8/10

Price: USD$55 per head
Shipping: USD$7(registered airmail) or USD$15(EMS)
KAI Studio Facebook page

Because I wanted to treat myself in December, I decided to YOLO a bit and order the rather cool-looking Steve Rogers head from KAI studio. When I received the head, I was blown away by the Hot Toys-likeness the head is. The sculpting is really well done, and painting is sharp and accurate, without any paint bleeding over. The head fits nicely on the S.H. Figuarts  Cap figure, and does he look good!

If you have not seen video reviews of this head, you should know that there is a brown helmet strap painted on S.H. Figuarts  Cap's neck. The brown line is painfully obvious when you attach the Steve Rogers head and look at the figure from the side. Also, the skin tone on the head is slightly darker than that of the figure, which may bother some people. It does not seem to show that obviously in my photos, so I am fine with it.

From L to R: Hasbro Marvel Legends Age of Ultron Captain America, KAI Studio head, S.H. Figuarts Age of Ultron Captain America

Would I recommend this alternate head? If price was not an issue, then yes. Definitely. It makes the recently revealed S.H. Figuarts  Civil War Steve head look like a disgrace. But when you factor in the pricing, you realize that the money spent on this one headsculpt can be used to buy the whole new CW Cap figure, or something more worth spending on. If you do decide to buy it (or the Hulk head), try to order together with others, in order to divide out the cost on shipping !

"Can I have this dance?"

(Ultra-Act) Ultraman & Ultraman Dyna Review

*Note: This is an old review, prior to the creation of this blog, so please pardon the inconsistency of review format!

Today I decided to review my two Ultra-Act figures, the 1st edition Ultraman (Hayata) and Ultraman Dyna. I'll start off with Ultraman, who was so disappointing to me at that time I didn't even bother to fiddle with him much. Totally forgot he had a cape (which I didn't bother to take out at that time) until I read a review somewhere recently. So here goes...

Being the first wave to introduce Ultra-Act, which is under Bandai and Tamashii Nations, Ultraman was rather appropriate to be included in that line. And to enhance it's value, the figure came with a lot of accessories! There is the Ultra Slash and Specium Ray effect, an assortment of hands, the red color timer, and a cape. I'd say that it was pretty generous of them.

The sculpt is good; it's rather accurate. The paint job is well done too, with almost no mistakes on my figure. But none of these could make up for the poor quality of the figure.

The proportions felt a bit off. Ultraman was rather tall and skinny, as if he didn't eat much. Also, the joints (especially those at the legs) became loose really fast, making posing without a stand a burden to do. The articulation, while a lot, felt weird, especially the part connecting the shoulders to the main body. When I first got this figure, I gave up almost immediately because I wasn't used to Japanese action figures (used to collect US toy brand figures like Hasbro and Mattel prior to this).

To make matters worse, Ultra-Act started a new habit of having "renewal" editions, which improved the figure's scuplt and joints, and even adding more accessories. So when they announced that they are making a renewal edition of Ultraman, I felt really, really cheated. It was like I wasted money on a "trial product" instead of getting the renewal edition. I'll never forgive Bandai/Tamashii Nations for doing this to customers like that. Or at least, I don't trust the Ultra-Act line anymore. S.H.Figuarts are still awesome.

Despite feeling cheated about Ultraman, I really wanted Ultraman Dyna when it came out. Dyna is my all-time favourite of all the Ultra, and I made sure to read all the reviews first before buying it. Apparently Dyna was using a whole new figure that Ultra-Act used for later waves, which was new and improved. And they were right. The proportions were much better, and the leg joints were actually not loose. A noticeable change in articulation for me was the loss of the ankle swivel that allows the feet to bend left and right. The colours were more vibrant, and the eyes on Dyna were nicer.

Dyna definitely beats Ultraman hands-down, except that he comes with less accessories. Dyna has displayed many powers in the TV series, but all we got was the Solgent Ray and the Ultra Fork. There were a few alternate hands, with a nice thumbs up hand. He comes with an interchangeable collar piece and second head. I think the 2nd head is suppose to allow light to enter from the back to make the eyes look "lit up", but I didn't find it effective or impressive. The collar piece allows Dyna to do poses where the arms needed to come in more, like when he crosses his arms for Solgent Ray.

One thing that bugged me about Dyna was his head articulation. While it was ball-jointed, the shape of his neck piece made it impossible to turn his head left and right. Not too sure what the manufacturers were thinking there.

Overall, Dyna is a really good figure. If they started the Ultra-Act series with this kind of standard I might have bothered to invest in the series and collect the Ultra-Brothers or something. Ultraman (1st edition) is decent if you can be patient with it, but I'd recommend anyone interested to get the renewal edition.