Category Archives: Image Comics

FIGURA OBSCURA Sun Wukong The Monkey King

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(Direct link to this review here.)

The story here is that I got the Figura Obscura Father Christmas, and realized that I wanted more similar things.

The Figura Obscura logo features variations on a key.

The Headless Horseman was one that I waffled on several times prior to having Father Christmas because the horse would be a nice addition, and the character is undeniably cool. And then I kept hearing people talk about The Monkey King, and how great the sculpt was, etc. I got some money for Christmas and went shopping, but decided after looking at the Headless Horseman retail version, it wasn’t cool enough. The Store Horsemen version has red details and better fire, while the retail version I had my hands on in the store has green fire and details. This makes the horse practically the same horse as Boreus, with some green eyes and highlights. And then the figure doesn’t seem to be that re-usable either. But they had the Monkey King sealed, and so I actually purchased it sight unseen…only barely stealing a glance off of the internet while I was in that store.

Here is a character that I was only vaguely aware of. It seems like there was going to be an Indiana Jones movie about the Monkey King, or something like that. And then recently this year there has been a popular video game, “Black Myth Wu Kong,” and I didn’t even realize the name of the character Monkey King was actually Sun Wu Kong.

In my thinking, how could I use such a character? Well I have the McFarlane Raw-10 Cy-Gor and really like taking pictures of it. But it is huge. (That was a real value, by the way. I bought it at Wal-Mart for like $10)! And Sun Wu Kong is just another weird creature to me to join the other monsters in my collection.

So is all the hype around Figura Obscura Sun Wu Kong The Monkey King worth it?

PACKAGING

The packaging works very similar to what we got with Father Christmas. There is an enclosing “book” capping over the box. This makes for collector friendly packaging and helps push the product forward as kind of a one-off to any casual fan or collector.

The front gives us a good comic image of the figure, with foil details. As you wrap around the box you can see Asian style art depicting characters in the Monkey King’s story.

A tiger guy on the spine. A Raksasha? (My context is Magic the Gathering)

The back gives us the broad story points of The Monkey King. He is kind of a Hercules, only Ancient Buddhist rather than Ancient Greek. Rev. SpartanNerd also sees some parallels to the epic of Gilgamesh. Born out of a rock. Blessed by the gods with incredible strength. He wants the secret of immortality. He challenges and defeats the gods, who offended him, and gets imprisoned in a mountain. He is freed by a monk to go find some scrolls, and picks up some fantastical friends as well…the White Dragon Horse, a Sand Ogre, and a pigman. There apparently 81 tribulations that this team overcomes, and wow…what a story. You know, it also reminds me of the video game series God of War. It seems that Kratos has similar adventures.

Let’s look at the other spine…

A dragon, in flames. And if you remove the cap, you have yet another side panel.

This must be the White Dragon Horse. However, I don’t know who the saintly flying woman is. She looks very “Virgin Mary,” but that wouldn’t be in this Buddhist story.

If you look on the inside of the cap, you see this wonderful Asian backdrop for your Sun Wukong figure.

I’m pretty sure all of this art is by Nate Baertsch. He continues to show his legendary talent.

One more thing…

Behind the figure we have yet another backdrop piece. Another tree. I see it now! It is a peach tree! Makes sense! (I didn’t see it when I did the unboxing video)

FIGURE REVIEW.

Rather than do a “Here’s everything” photo, I am just going to name what we see in the blisters. (This is a double blister.). Sun Wu Kong on the left, surrounded by alternate faces at the top and a giant peach, with four alternate hands on the bottom. The right blister has an alternate head and some feather headdress details, his tail, a pair of alternate feet that are shoes, and his weapon which is a bo staff. Also two scrolls, one with red ribbon and the other plain, and a gourd to drink what I assume is Sake from.

Right away we can see a mixture of cloth and plastic. This sculpt is pretty indescribable…I don’t think any camera can do it justice…you have to have it in hand. He is completely tactile, if that makes sense!

Time to break it out.

And unfortunately, “break” is the key word.

This is my first pose. And I ran into my first problem.

When I tried to raise his arm…like just a little bit…the shoulder pauldron snapped off. So I broke out the Gorilla Glue. But this stung right away. The other one didn’t have this problem. What I think happened was this side didn’t have enough glue in the first place. You can see below how it works, and inspecting it under light it appears that it was just applied too thinly at the factory. But I didn’t even stress this toy, and right away I had issues.

I wanted to put that alternate head on right away. Now the head comes off so easily. I took the other head and put it on, then proceeded to do the headdress.

My mistake must be that I didn’t heed that warning the Four Horsemen always pack in with their products. “Mythic Legions need you to use a hairdryer.” Is the gist of the message. I didn’t…and you can see how the connector almost separated from the feather under the stress I applied to attach it to the crown.

BOO!

It is such a lovely piece, though. And that’s what makes this even more of a shame. I am glad I caught myself before it could break completely off. So what I did was reinforce it with some Gorrilla Glue. But now I am wary of ever taking these feathers off of the head. And this is fine except for accidents that might happen in storage. But still…

Now it was 11:00 at night. I must not have been thinking straight. I also tried to swap the right hand, and it snapped off at the joint!

Not irreparable…the hand still fits in the peg…if you are going to break one of these wrists, this was the way to do it. But ARGGH! So I stopped for the night and resumed photos and such the next day.

USE THE HAIRDRYER, PEOPLE. OR BE PREPARED TO USE THESE TOOLS.

Think… I bought it. It sat around for a few days while I messed around with GI Joe Classified Gnawgahyde, Porkbelly, and Yobbo. Doing the review of MASTERVERSE Fisto. And I am thinking “I have something really special waiting to be opened!” I actually waited until I put the Father Christmas robe away before opening this. So a few days of anticipation.

So let’s put that negativity behind us.

Sun Wukong is beautifully sculpted. It is like every piece of hair or fur is artistically placed.

Under the power of the hair dryer, his hands become very pliable, and he can hold this weapon with no issue at all.

Those soft goods have a good wire inside, and you can pose them around how you like and they will stick in that appearance.

His paint…also another WOW! The gold details on this armor and weapon pop so hard. And then he has a “mat” of green “Mardi Gras” beads around his neck. (Probably emerald or jade or something story related I don’t know about.)

HOW DOES THE MONKEY KING WORK

First of all, he comes with two heads. Both of them have the ability to swap the face. Some of the faces have tribal paint, or it might be blood (seems like a detail from the story about wearing that crown.).

Like I said, a mix of cloth and plastic. Here I have taken off his belt piece, and you can see how it works. The torso is removable from the legs, and you can remove the belt that way. He looks very awkward without that belt. What you see here in the picture is the cloth robe piece, which has a hole for the ball joint to work with the torso. It has a slot where you can place the plastic chain mail over it, creating layers. And the other robe piece loops through the belt. (There is also a hole in the back for the tail.)

These bracers are sculpted pieces and non removable. All of the pieces are modular, of course to work with other Mythic and Cosmic Legions figures.

I don’t think I will ever take this figure apart like this anymore.

You can swap the feet so that he is wearing shoes.

PICTURED: Funko Magic the Gathering Liliana action figure hands a divine peach to Sun Wukong. Possible captions. “No matter what she said, DON’T DO IT!” My grandfather would have said this…“Boy! Did you steal them shoes from your girlfriend or from your sister?”

I prefer him being shod to being barefoot somehow.

I think it is because I always think of monkeys like I do clowns. This is some kind of jokester or funny man. Go ahead…hold hands with your feet. Eat some bugs off of your friend. I’ll throw you a banana, and you can throw…

But the Monkey King is civilized and serious, kind of. Obviously, the point is that he IS a monkey. The gods didn’t take him serious either, but he was able to ascend according to the story.

SPARTANNERD RATING OF FIGURA OBSCURA SUN WU KONG THE MONKEY KING

OK. Deep breath. This Four Horsemen Studios figure can’t have 5/5.

I got that out of the way! It seems like everything they do is crackin’ awesome. (I just invented that phrase…I been playing the drums some lately). And on their end…assuming their responsibility is sculpt, paint, and design…they can’t be faulted. BUT. I had THREE issues within thirty minutes of taking it out of the package.

PICTURED: McFarlane Toys Raw-10 Cy-Gor (never done a review…sorry!), Figura Obscura Sun Wu Kong The Monkey King, and GI Joe Classified Yobbo (review coming soon)! Cy-Gor- yep…she’s a big girl. Yobbo surely knows how to operate that rifle…I think Monkey King wins this one. (Read your comics if you want to know more about Cy-Gor!)

And then on examining the packaging, opening the figures and seeing the amazing sculpt. All this excitement!

But, I mean as soon as I moved the right arm up just barely really, that pauldron popped off. And little fights like that kept coming.

I am going to give this one a 3/5.

Here is my metric.

A point for sculpt and paint.

  • A point for sculpt and paint
  • A point for accessories
  • A point for what he stands for as a unique action figure

But the QC problems…you shouldn’t need a hairdryer. You certainly shouldn’t need pliers or glue just to make the action happen. This COULD take three penalties. I don’t believe it to be a bottom of the barrel figure like Movie Beast Man or Marvel Legends Thor (comic appearance). So I am being generous. I have another Mythic Legion to review soon, and I will have the hair dryer handy right away.

On a positive note, maybe I should look into more similar “animal warriors.” Obviously Ninja Turtles go here. Animal Warriors of the Kingdom. Really there are endless options, or he can just fit right in with Conan the Barbarian, etc. You know, they could expand on this story by giving us more figures from this myth.

Do do you agree or disagree with my commentary, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

TRANSFORMERS #10 FEATURES A LETTER BY THE SPARTANNERD!

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Below is what I sent in to “The Matrix of Lettership” in reference to Transformers #8 after I was moved by the character development. This was an issue about grief. This letter was printed in issue #10.

Dear Matrix of Lettership,

I have been reading comics for years and years.  I barely remember not reading comics (I am 45.). But I’ve never written in.  This is my first time.

When I saw advertisements for the Energon Universe reboot…I was very excited.  But Transformers now stands a head taller than all other comics in recent memory.  I mean…since Flashpoint and The New 52.  Since McFarlane’s Spider-Man and Spawn 1-100.  And it works better than the comic book versions before it for some good reasons…you are bringing real life to these characters.  Every one introduced so far has some reason for you to care about what happens to them.  From Megatron in the hands of Cobra Commander to Soundwave taking revenge against Starscream for kicking Ravage.

But issue #8 is plumbing some even deeper depths.  There is real grief from Carly and Spike.  And it all weighs so heavy on Optimus.  I wonder if personal experiences from the writers are going into this character development?  I know it spoke to me because I have had some intense grief in the past few years.  But one panel in particular stuck out.  I felt like this small panel should have been a cover.  (Can it be?  Is there a way?)  Optimus sits beside Jetfire, who is barely alive and evidently on his way out.  He says “I cannot see the stars anymore.” And “Don’t leave!  It’s so dark.  Please…”. 

Yes.  We all read it.  But for me, it struck a nerve.  I have sat beside too many dying saints who just needed or would have wanted someone to be there.  You mentioned the issue was very hard to write and you didn’t know why.  I think I know.  There was so much conscience in this work.  From this touching panel to SkyWarp changing his mind to Thundercracker wishing to spare the humans.

I think the last book that got to me like this was Action Comics #13 WAY BACK in the New 52 (The Krypton issue.)  The moment between Optimus and Jetfire also reminded me of “I don’t feel so good Mr. Stark!”  And we all sit there feeling so many emotions as Tom Holland/Peter Parker fades away.  It weighed that much.  And full disclosure, I never have been that big of a fan of Jetfire.  (Loved the Revenge of the Fallen version). You made me care.  Mission accomplished!

Here is the printed response I received from The Matrix of Lettership

Thanks so much for recognizing myself in the pages, [SpartanNerd], and for recognizing the struggle! By no means do I try to put my actual feelings into TF, but we all have things we go through that influence how we feel about the world, and it’s my personal opinion that storytelling is very bland and one note without this individual human perspective. I’m hoping that TRANSFORMERS is a little like a reader taking some “DWJ goggles” and seeing what the filter does to the world around them. I’m trying my best to put myself in the worlds’ shoes, and what better way to do that than with Optimus friggin Prime? Maybe that’s embarrassing to say out loud. OH WELL.

NOTES AND THOUGHTS (for the benefit of friends who don’t regularly read SpartanNerd.Com)

What happened?

Comic books traditionally have a “letters page” at the end, where readers can write the creators and provide feedback and ask questions. Transformers has named their letters page “The Matrix of Lettership” which is a riff on the “Matrix of Leadership” item that Optimus Prime has installed in his chest. (Also, in case you don’t know…this item is a symbolic totem offering the wisdom of the past to the chosen leader who has it…It is a great honor to have it then!) Usually the feedback offered by fans is positive, but sometimes constructive criticism is offered. I have no idea how many letters were sent in to Transformers, but I bet they get a ton. (Letters nowadays means e-mails). But I CAN say that it seems like every issue of Transformers on this Image/Skybound run has gone to reprints. I’ll be getting every variant cover I can now of issue #10 since I am published out there to readers of Transformers comics.

I am very blessed to have my letter printed. The topic of grief is one that I am soon to be leading church devotions in. I read this issue right as I was being called to do that, so it hit the right notes for me.

What am I talking about in my letter? What does the response mean?

On announcing to Facebook and to others about my letter being published, I was unaware that people outside of comics wouldn’t know exactly what I was talking about, pretty much at all. For instance a librarian that I know didn’t realize it. My wife’s aunt didn’t. So here is some explanation.

Transformers- This was a toyline by Hasbro in the 1980’s of vehicles that transformed into robots. There were two teams…The Autobots and the Decepticons. The battle between the two sides was on a syndicated cartoon show modeled after what Mattel did with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Optimus Prime was the Autobot leader and is the enduring symbol of the franchise. Other notable transformers are Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Bumblebee, and for purposes of this letter, Jetfire. (Transformers is the American adaptation of the Japanese “Giant Robot” genre. So they are an offshoot of Gundam.)

The SpartanNerd can list on one hand how many of these toys he owned as a kid. They were so expensive I didn’t have many. He-Man figures were $5, while Transformers were usually more like $20, except for the mini-cars. Mini-cars were the same size as Hot Wheels and featured simple transformations. These were about $5 each, but a Hot Wheels was less than a dollar, so…The point is, I didn’t have many, and most of the ones I had were Decepticons. These were Schrapnel (Insecticon), Weird Wolf (Headmaster), Scattershot (a part of Computron), and Shockwave. Eventually one of my brothers got Powermaster Optimus Prime for Christmas. It seems like one of us might have had Ratchet.

There was an iconic and tragic Transformers movie where Optimus Prime was killed and the show “jumped the shark” in my opinion then and now. Transformers regained popularity in the 2000’s when Micheal Bay began to make live-action movies using CGI. Modern Transformers toys aren’t as solid as the classics from the 1980’s, but they seem to be more categorically affordable. (I don’t have any of these, but my children did. Modern collectors versions are BONKERS AWESOME.)

The Letters.

Flashpoint and New 52 were DC Comics “reboots” within the past 15 years. Flashpoint truly re-mixed the classic characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman. The New 52 is basically where the story continued after “The Flashpoint.” (It’s kind of the same story they have going on now.)

In my letter I referenced the New 52 Action Comics #13 and made a typo…that should have been the “Krypto” issue, not “Krypton.” Cut me some slack…it was 11:30 PM! This is the issue that Krypto gets locked in the phantom zone while the planet explodes. But he is like an angel watching Clark Kent grow up. Until eventually they learn to use the Phantom Zone (this story was maybe ten years ago…I don’t remember the details,) but Krypto jumps out ready to play. The way the story was written was very emotional, and unexpected. It was a fresh take on what was sometimes a corny character.

Spawn issues 1-100…this was Todd McFarlane’s comic book character after he left Marvel. The first 100 issues are what most Spawn fans consider the best story. This still is an ongoing story, but most fans believe the best days are behind it way back in those issues. I have read these 100 issues many times. I also like an offshoot book, Spawn: The Dark Ages. All around, Spawn is kind of a combination of Batman, Ghost Rider, Hobgoblin, Spider-Man. This was a comic written for an adult audience…it left the trappings and restraints of usual super-hero comics behind in favor of “extreme” art, violence, and language. It also handled religious and social issues as “comedy” in the sense of Dante’s Inferno.

Jetfire– I remember watching the Transformers cartoon as a kid and realizing that Jetfire was a Decepticon who turned Autobot. I felt it was some kind of brainwashing or something. I mean…I was young, so this was how I understood it. the Transformers movie sequel Revenge of the Fallen portrayed him in a military museum disguised as a plane, dormant from lack of energon. He scans a more modern Blackbird to transform into when Sam activates him with his shard of the Allspark. My father thought this was hilarious on account of the writers made Jetfire into an old senile man with gas. (We watched this movie together in the theater, a rare treat as an adult and a good memory of my dad laughing). Upon hearing the state of the war, he switches sides from Decepticon to Autobot right there in front of us. But Jetfire eventually saves the day, sacrificing his spark and parts to revive Optimus Prime, making the two of them combiners at least temporarily.

In the Energon Universe, which is essentially what we used to call Transformers vs. GI JOE, Jetfire is the first Transformer we saw in Void Rivals #1. And then he re-appears in Transformers #8 depleted of energon and essentially dying. And this is the component of the story I was addressing when I wrote in. There is grief and introspection from most of the characters in this issue, not just about Jetfire, but the human characters Carly and Spike have also lost loved ones, and Spike is in a wheelchair for getting involved in the Autobot/Decepticon affairs.

DWJ goggles…this is Daniel Warren Johnson, the writer of the current Image “Skybound” Transformers comic. He is saying he hopes to portray the fantasy world of Transformers to the real modern world in a way that he sees it. He said something else in this letters column (not in response to me), that has me worried. He said “Why am I working so hard on licensed characters.” He also responded to someone else’s letter that there wouldn’t be any spinoff series while he was the writer. I certainly hope he doesn’t go anywhere! He is doing a great job of bringing alot of soul to this book! (Image has a history of taking pride in original characters. They are a mainstream “indy” publisher if such a thing can exist.)

Complaint

I have had this one for a few issues. They have printed the letters in light pink on white paper. My failing eyes gave me a lot of trouble reading this. It seems like some other Energon Universe letters had yellow on white. Come on guys!

Final Thoughts

I truly find it an honor to have my letter published. This book has been great, and the Energon Universe is new and exciting. I like how it was put in a recent GI Joe comic’s letter section…the Energon Universe is comparable to Marvel’s Ultimate comics of the early 2000’s. It is a re-thinking of Transformers and GI Joe. Void Rivals is space opera, that is beginning to trickle down into Transformers, which is a contextual story, and GI Joe is effected by it on a human military level. If you like Transformers and GI Joe, you should jump into this new universe. There is an ongoing GI Joe story not in the Energon universe…don’t get confused! The Energon Universe GI Joe books have been named after main characters so far. Duke, Cobra Commander, Scarlett, and Destro. I recommend all of these as a great place to jump in to what I hope is a universe that lasts a LONG TIME.