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Monday, February 7, 2011

Retro Review: Tron Legacy pt. 2

Here's a review I wrote before Grandma died but never got to post.
Enjoy

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So I broke down and got the rest of the Tron: Legacy figures and vehicles. What can I say? I got a good deal. That said let me say that this series, is a mixed bag.

I'll keep this brief as I already have reviewed Sam Flynn and with the exception different color of light, pattern design and accessories (barely on both accounts) most of the are pretty much the same except Kevin, who I'll go into further detail later.

As with Sam, Clu, Rinzler, Black Guard and Clu's Sentry all have the same articulation. Which means these figures are like Marvel Universe figures but w/o torso and double knee joints. Not bad articulation wise, I just prefer the double knee and torso, but I understand the lack of torso since the light up gimmick is in the way.








   
Accessories are pretty much the same as well. They all come with their own ID discs except for Rinzler who comes with two discs, two batons and a nunchuck. Also of interest, Clu comes with a katana. It's yellow and the handle is the same as the standard baton all the figures come with. I guess they do some martial artists in the movie.

And now for Kevin Flynn. In a word, he sucks. The scuplting on his face is horrible and looks like a bad sculpt from the Kenner Star Wars era. Not to say those figures were bad but they often did not look like the actors, except this is worse. In this day and age where figures in this scale are masterpieces, this is trash. I'm under the impression that Jeff Bridges didn't do the final approval of the sculpt and if he did, with all due respect, he needs to have he vision checked. This figure looks SO bad that even if I squint my eyes it does look like him. Even worse is that this figure has a soft plastic robe so it's rather difficult to fit him into his Light Cycle. Hey SpinMaster, wtf? If you MUST own this figure, by all means, go for it, but I, in good conscience CAN NOT recommend it.


On the other hand, Kevin Flynn's Light Cycle is pretty cool. Despite the fact that it can not accommodate Kevin, all the other figures in the collection fit well. It has a light up feature like all toys in this collection, which nice but the kicker is that when you place a figure in it and close it, the lights stays on longer than w/o a figure. Pretty neat and it sort of adds to value of owning one of the figures.
Sam also has a Light Cycle which is different from his father's model. It doesn't close around the rider, like his dad's and is more open. It comes with already posed figure of Sam who has three points of articulation, at his neck and at each shoulder. But the cool thing about it is that you can take the head off of this Sam and put it on the regular 3.75" figure. Which makes a difference since it's a different head on this Sam. As with Kevin's Light Cycle this one also has lights and sounds when you place a figure on it, the one difference that it lights
up when you roll it.

The Light Runner is also another vehicle in the collection and is a sort of F1 formula car but seats 2 passengers. I really like this vehicle for it's styling and features. It has similar light features to the Light Cycles and has a spinning front wheel section which turns up and down from the main part of the car. When I say this I don't mean up and down like with an suspension system but the whole axle spins on an axis. I'm not really sure how to explain it but it's cool.

One other thing to note with the Light Runner, be careful when removing your figures from it. To make a figure fit, you have to push the rear circle part of the figure into a crevice with a button to activate the light features, on the seat which also holds the figure in place. When I first placed Sam in it and took him out, he split in half. I don't know if it's because the glue was weak or there isn't any glue but he opened up like an egg to the edge of a frying pan. Luckily it wasn't broken so I put back together fairly easily. On a side note this car, if you're into customizing, in my opinion could be the base for a Batmobile. Not anyone Batmobile in particular but it has enough to make up your own design.

Once again like my previous review, this line is definitely clearance fodder for it's pricing and not because it's a horrible line, and that's when you should pick it up. And unless you're a completest, avoid Kevin Flynn as he's a total waste of plastic. Well I'm off to finish my Prince of Persia collection because that's on clearance.

4 comments:

  1. I picked-up a Black Guard this weekend for $2 less than the usual $9.99 and I still felt ripped-off. The light-up ''feature'' kills these toys and whichever tool decided it was a good idea to compromise the toys for it will hopefully be the same guy hauled-up before the board to explain why Spin Masters are about to go under.

    So many horrible oversights and poorly thought-out design decisions coupled with low-quality production make them just very shoddy from what I've seen. Unless I can find each figure for a couple of dollars each, I won't be buying any more.

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  2. Kevin Flynn's Light Cycle is the best thing i have seen out of this toyline am sad to say.

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  3. @Iok LMAO. Yeah, between Tron: Legacy and The Last Airbender lines SpinMaster is bound to go down, which is a shame because if they made more of an effort they could have figures that sell. Look at Jazwares, they came out with the A-Team line and it seems to be pretty successful because I can't find any of the figures anymore, and I still need Lynch to finish the line. Granted, yes, I do still find the van in the clearance area but they're still sitting there with the Star Trek and Terminator: Salvation figures from like, what? Two years ago? I don't blame you for wanting to find them at a cheaper price. Just curious but how much would they need to be at, price-wise, for you to buy them?

    @Jboy Agreed, but it'd be nice if Kevin actually fit in there. lol.

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  4. I'd pick-up a selection from the figures (not all of them mind) if they were around $3.99 or so.

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