Spock and Sulu encounter something on a 2 man away mission.
On the Enterprise.
On some desolate alien planet.
Monthly Archives: September 2016
Archive- Hot Toys X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Hot Toys X-Men Origins: Wolverine:
Salem here with my second Hot Toys review. This time around I’m going to cover the Wolverine figure from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
After I received my DX01 Joker figure, I knew I was going to get sucked into buying another Hot Toys figure; I just wasn’t sure which one it would be. Then I saw the initial pictures of this figure, and knew what it would be.
The packaging is as nice as any of the Hot Toys boxes I’ve seen pictures of online, and as nice as the DX Joker box I have sitting on my shelf. Unlike the Joker box though, this one just has a paper lining with graphics and text between the outer box and the figure tray. The box doesn’t feel as thick either, so I would suggest caution before tearing into the box to pull the tray out. The outer box mimics some of the movie posters featuring the 3 claws, and the Origins logo. The sides of the box have a nice shot of the figure, and the back features a nice shot of Logan with all the usual Hot Toys info about the people who worked on it.
Now I’ve seen some comments online about the likeness to Hugh Jackman, and I can understand it to an extent, but I think the figure really captures the look from the film, but more importantly, it just screams Wolverine to me. It’s true that he looks better at some angles more than others, but I am not going to say that he looks nothing like Hugh did in the film.
If you have any other Hot Toys figures, you have an idea about the level of quality that they put into the clothes that these figures come with. Wolverine comes with a great leather jacket that matches the movie very well, and has a nice weathering effect. He also has a nicely tailored button shirt that has tiny, in scale buttons glued in place, and two snaps that close the shirt at the bottom, giving the figure that James Dean half open shirt look. His last shirt is the white tank top that Logan sports throughout a good portion of the movie. It matches the film well, and has a nice design that work wonderfully in this scale. Next are his jeans, which look great for this scale. They have a nice denim texture to them, and the stitching matches up to 1/1 scale jeans. He also has a working belt with a detailed buckle and his dog tags with his name on them. The last little detail as far as clothes go (and I don’t really consider them clothes) are his black cowboy boots.
One of the selling points of this figure was the new sculpted rubber torso under all those clothes. The body looks a little small without the shirts and jacket, but the work that went into it are phenomenal. All of his skin is painted very well, and he even has visible veins up his arms and neck, and on his torso. His arms are also a new (as far as I know) sculpted muscle variety, and also feature painted arm hair.
The articulation is everything you would expect from HT, and he delivers on all the poses I tried out on him. The jacket does limit his posing a small amount, but you can still get him into enough of the “claws out” poses to satisfy that need. A word of warning though, due to the rubber torso cover, you need to tilt his head up (face forward) BEFORE you turn it, or you can run the risk of rubbing off some of the paint on his neck. There are instructions in the package, but just a heads up.
As far as accessories go, he seems a little light after getting Joker, but he comes with the must haves, the claws. These are quite sharp, so be careful while popping those hands on. I have read multiple stories of people online stabbing themselves while switching hands. He also comes with his aforementioned dog tags, a pair of open hands, and a pair of clawless fists. I would have welcomed the inclusion of a cigar, as it was part of the film, and a big part of Wolverine’s shtick for so long in the comics.
In summary, if you can still find this figure, I would suggest snagging him as soon as possible. I have seen mention of this becoming harder to find, so if you have connections you can utilize, do it. Otherwise the evilbay may be your only option to own a wonderful figure that starts off the Hot Toys Marvel figures. I hope to get the Blade 2 figure that has recently been released, and if I can, you might see me return with a review of him. But until then, happy toy hunting.
Simple Action Figure Photography How-to
Photography How-To
This is basically my main photo setup when I’m going to really get into an involved shoot. I’ve taken 3 different photography classes just because I wanted to improve my photography in general (though that isn’t really needed for those of you doing it as a hobby).
This is an adjustable photo backdrop kit I bought at a local photography store. The kit came with the 2 poles that extend up to 8 feet, the bar that attaches between them (also extendable), and a roll of white photo paper. The black you see in the image is black velvet I bought at a fabric store. It’s a yard wide, and 6 feet or so long (to give me some flexability with what I can shoot; for depth or height). I also bought the 2 photographer grade lights with diffusers, and bulbs. These are also not really needed as I spent many years using cheap LED lights that worked fine, and just needed a little post production help. I am trying to seqway this into some possible paying work, so I invested the money on the equipment.
For my camera, I currently use a Cannon DSLR. If you don’t do a lot of photography in general though, a good point and shoot camera with at least 10 Megapixels will be more than enough to make this hobby fun. NOTE: Make sure the camera has a MACRO setting if you don’t go the DSLR route, as that setting will be instrumental in getting clear shots.
Now, for those on a budget, a large piece of smooth paper taped to a wall and sloped onto a table or counter can get you the same effect as I get, or you can also buy a photo cube online (or a local photography store if you have one, and they carry them). Like this one at Amazon.com
This diagram shows the basic setup and placement of light whether I’m using the photo cube (which is what this was designed to illustrate) or my large backdrop setup. The only difference with the larger setup is that I face the lights backwards so the diffused light from the umbrellas is what hits the figures, and not the harsh light from the bulbs (which in that case, can get quite hot). The general idea is to get the lighting where you want it, so it gives you the proper effect or mood you’re going for. If you want a moodier/darker shot, shut all the other lights off, and close any curtains in the room, so the only light the camera will pick up is the one you have on the figure (wherever it’s positioned). The other thing I learned early was that a tripod is your friend. If you can’t shoot using a remote trigger, set the time on your camera, get the shot setup, press the button and get your hands out of the way. Camera shake is one of the biggest issues for any photographer, and if you’re trying to get a shot in the dark, you definitely don’t want to shake the camera while it’s trying to compensate for the lack of ambient light. Again, I personally have a professional grade tripod that extends to 6 feet high, but any simple table top version they sell at Walmart or Target should be fine. Even some boxes stacked in front of your area will work, if that’s all that’s handy.
Props and accessories: I have bins full of weapons, power effects, street accessories, and random fodder that I keep accessible for whatever I’m thinking of shooting. I also have them in multiple scales, since I’m not stuck to one scale in my collecting habits. I personally try to have a plan in place for what I want to shoot before I get all of my equipment out, because like many of you, I don’t have a dedicated area to keep my setup permanently at the ready. I use a 6 foot folding table for everything, and setting it all up takes a good 20 minutes, so having everything thought out (even general ideas) helps me round up all the pieces I’m going to need, so that I can sit there and work through all of it in one shot. I learned this, and recommend it to everyone, take multiple shots from multiple angles because you never know what might look best until you’re looking at it on your monitor, since the LED screen on your camera is not meant for ideal image quality. It’s also possible that the one shot you thought you nailed will end up having something wrong with it when you start to look them over. Having readymade backup options is better than trying to set everything back up in the exact same way, with the exact same lighting conditions on 2 separate occasions.
Here’s the completed shot from the setup image at the beginning.
Here’s a short video of the process as well.