Singapore Toys Games and Comics Convention 2013 (STGCC 2013)

5 month-old Man of Steel (comes with Mom)

This year's STGCC a month ago was a big surprise for me, really--I just wasn't expecting that many people to show up! Lots of people dressed up too--I could hardly turn here nor there without a glimpse of a superhero, a cosplayer, or a Stormtrooper.

Hot Toys Man of Steel (Mom not included)

Also, I have been rather out of the loop about new toy releases. Sure, I've kept up with the usual Hasbro Marvel Universe and Star Wars offerings, and even the occasional DC and Masters of the Universe piece of news, but Hot Toys, Play Imaginative (Super Alloy series) and some of the local stores threw me for a curve--and it was a good thing.

So just how impressive were they?  Let's see!

The Avengers: Original Avengers 3.75" 4-Pack! (Concept Series)

As a result of a massive backlog of reviews I want to take on, I realize that not only do I have tons of unopened toys, I have tons of them in boxes.  Which ones, you ask?  Well, I have too many to name, so let's just call 'em a surprise for now.  (Yeah, ok.  I don't know myself.  Lol.)  For now, I'm determined to rid my collection of needless cardboard, so I'm hereby declaring October The Month of the Box right here on Chase Variant!  (I'm sure you wouldn't mind if the occasional carded or loose figure review slips in.  Right?  Or am I right?  Right, I'm wasting time...)

So to kick it all off, I'm gonna start with my newest boxed acquisition: The Avengers: Original Avengers 3.75" Toys R Us Exclusive 4-Pack!

I walked into one of my local TRUs last Sunday and I see this very set that I'd never seen, heard or read about it before.  So it was a very pleasant surprise when I find one of them, face down amid some non-movie Marvel Universe figure 4-packs.  Then the wife points out that that's not the only one there, because right above us on the shelf are about six or seven of them.  You can imagine my amazement when I had a good look at Loki--I'd never thought I'd see them re-use the Thor movie sculpt again!

Then I saw Iron Man--a brand new figure!--or at least a new armour.  I couldn't tell right off if it was made from older parts but it looked like a new sculpt and I dig bulky armour, so I was at least 50% in.

As for Captain America and Thor, I already have these very sculpts when they were originally released.  Both are great figures from their respective lines, so I didn't mind taking home some repaints...for now.

Yes, they look great in the box, but I hear you ask if they're just as good outside.  Well, let's find out! ;)

The Avengers 3.75" Hawkeye

Ya know, what is it with guys with a bow?  It's like they hit a target and everyone thinks they're cool.  Seriously, they're not!

Just look at those guys in that whatchamacallit Games going on right now in London...That's right, the Olympics!  Ya don't see taught, tight, muscular bods, cool shades, pointy ears, or designer haircuts.  You see (some) overweight, bespectacled, ordinary-looking dudes shooting at stationary targets.  Stationary targets, fer cryin' out loud!  This guy is even legally blind in one eye.  And he won a gold medal by beating his own world record!

Really, he's legally blind!

But in all honesty, those guys (and gals) are marksmen through and through.

And I'm delighted to say ol' Clinty Barton here is from the same stock as a former Olympian himself!  (Or at least at the Olympian level.)  Sure, those guys at the London Games aren't gonna be shooting into the wind at Chitauri from the edge of a building, but what they do is about just as hard, I reckon.  And I even bet if you asked them to try a no look shot they could hit the target too!

Avengers Movie Hawkeye, though, is on another level.  He's gotta be--dashing, cool as a cucumber, nicely muscled, has all that super spy training, a cool superhero name, and can shoot and hit gods, even if it was just Loki.  And yeah, he's also got a hot superhero wife in Mockingbird.  What's not to like?

So I expected his action figure to be disappointing, especially since this movie line lacks a lot of articulation.  But I was so happy to find him that I had to grab it, since I have a thing for 3.75" actor-likenesses.  And I think I can safely say I was somewhat surprised.  Somewhat.

Chase Customs: 3.75" Ultimate Captain America

Before you go "What the heck another Captain America reviewed on Chase Variant?!?!?!" I'd like to say this is my first custom ever!  It's also more of a "How I did it" rather than an outright review, so all of you who have never done a custom before and are interested in trying it out can see how my first experience went.  For those grizzled veteran customizers, you can have a few good laughs at my struggles.

I chose Ultimates Captain America for a few reasons:

1) It wasn't until I read the Ultimates that I liked Captain America.  So he's easily my all-time fave Cap.  Sorry Chris Evans.  Though you come in a close 2nd...

2) They haven't made a 3.75" Ultimate Cap that I've truly been satisfied with.

3) Avengers Movie Figures look great but don't move great.  Many of them end up having well-sculpted parts I really like (like Super Shield Captain America) so that for me was really the straw that broke the camel's back.  And with so many variations of cap after last year's movie, It made me really wanna cannibalize.

4) I'm starting to find loose Captain America 3.75" movie figures and Marvel Universe figures loose and for cheap because it's been a year now, and things are starting to go on clearance!

So this is about how I went about kit-bashing, with the emphasis on the bashing part!

The Avengers 3.75" Super Shield (Ultimates) Captain America

Since the Avengers toys have been released, I've been going to toy stores and passing on the 3.75" movie figures.  But it's funny how each time I see the toys, I'll take closer look and suddenly find something I like about a figure that I didn't spot earlier.

Maybe I was put off by some of the worst articulation that Hasbro has put on its figures in a years.  So glaring were the lack of ankles here, the missing chest pivot there, that I couldn't see past the flaws to the good qualities that were staring me in the face.

Take Super Shield captain America here, for example.  It took me a long while to realize that this was Ultimates Captain America (my fave comics Cap) with a kickass vest and belt.  What I also missed was that this version of Ultimates Cap had wrist swivels where the movie line release didn't!  I had also failed to realize that this version of the figure was painted a nicer, deeper blue than the Cap movie Ultimates version.

So with my interest piqued, I couldn't resist picking this guy up.  To my surprise, there were quite a few more changes to the figure that make it a completely different Cap from its predecessor.

Lego - The Avengers: Captain America's Avenging Cycle!

While The Avengers action figures are so far proving a little disappointing, there's no doubt that Lego getting the license for the franchise is good news.  It's great news indeed that they've finally been released in our favourite brick form--and here's their smallest offering in retail so far!

Though I grabbed the Loki's Cosmic Cube Escape and Hulk Helicarrier Breakout set first, this was soon to follow following its release about a week later.  I guess it was also the quickest to put together and that it had one of the figures we've all been waiting for--Captain America!  Sure, I was also dying for Hulk, Thor and Iron Man, but hey, Cap really grows on you!

From his slightly more edgy Ultimates self, to his stance (and death) in Civil War, to his awesome on-screen incarnation, it's no wonder the kids are all seeing stars and stripes.  Well, at least mine is.  He never fails to point out the Cap shield when he spots it--and he's just over 13 months old!

So enough talk and more review action--here we go! ;)

The Avengers: Captain America Goliath Assault Tank

The Avengers 3.75" line has so far proven a little disappointing in the action figure department.  A lack of articulation at a high retail price is a off-putting.  Sure, the sculpts the are beautiful and the paint is pretty good.  Heck, even the packaging really pops on the pegs.  But when you get past all that, you get a figure less playable than pretty much everything out there, except some of those "new" (read: re-released) Star Wars figures with all of 5 points of articulation.


But lo!  Beneath the pegs and on the shelves, in boxes instead of cards, full of compartments and moving parts and every inch as great-looking as the 3.75" figures themselves, were the Avengers vehicles!  There's the Quinjet, Iron Man's jet, the Assault Armours, and this, the Cap's Goliath Assault Tank.  The problem is that their price points are also quite high.  And if it weren't for the Rangerlord finding this in Manila for 2/3 the retail price in Singapore, I would've gotten this much later.  So let's see whether it's as good outside the box as it looks in packaging!

The Avengers Movie: 3.75" Wave 1 Complete Review!!!

And it begins!

The countdown to the May 1st release date of the Avengers here in Singapore has begun!

Why now, you ask?  It's not because the Rangerlord sounded me out a week ago that the toys were out.  It's not because I walked into Toys R Us five days back and saw the 3.75" figures, the Quinjet, the Deluxe figures, the masks, or Captain America's Frisbee shield.

It's not even because later that same evening, I was picking up my wife at the nearby mall and she texted me "You're gonna wanna check out the department store.  There's lots of Avengers stuff!"

No.  It's because I walked into that very department store and saw these!

Oh, and if you've read this far, Happy April Fools! ;P

Yes, as you can tell, these ain't no action figures, nor are they 3.75" tall.  They're just, well, Mini Muggs!  And this is a review of the complete 1st wave!  (Gotcha!  Maybe.)

There was a set, only one complete set, and I had to snag it.  Sure, some other guys will probably pick up my leavings of a couple of Nick Fury and a Hawkeye or two, but I, I have the complete first wave of The Avengers Mini Muggs!  Mwahahahaha!

And here I review it. :P

Marvel Universe 3.75" Classic Avengers 3-Pack: Avengers Assemble!

They lied when they said this was a 3-pack!...Because this is a 6-pack!

Yes, Ant Man, Wasp, and The Flying Ant (it deserves caps too) are included in this set, which boasts some newly sculpted parts, lots of great re-use, and a whole lot of whopping bang for your buck.

Just how did I get this so early, you ask?

Well, I was doing nothing one day as I am wont to, when I get a call from the mysterious Rangerlord.  He was on one of his ranging trips overseas in the Philippines blah, blah, blah, but mentions he stumbled upon this set!  He'd already picked up some of the newest Transformers from the Generations and Reveal The Shield line on the cheap for me, so I hesitated when he said he'd found this awesome 3-pack.  Can you believe it?  I hesitated!

But he snagged it all the same for moi, that good ol' buddy o' mine, and man has it turned out to be much more than I expected.  What are you waiting for?  I couldn't wait to open this despite all the Captain America, Thor and Green Lantern goodness I was neck deep in.  Click on the jump, dudes and duddettes!