Tron, Black Condor, and a little Infamous.

Towards the end of 2017, I had a ton of Amazon credit, that I used on a ton of action figures I might not have tried otherwise. Some were pretty good; others disappointed, like this pesky Cylon both arms fell off of; but it was fun to get some figures that weren't Marvel Legends or DC Multiverse. I haven't been as hog-wild as of late, but we still get some, like these two! From GameStop, Kingdom Hearts 2 Tron/Soldier Heartless, and (deep breath) S.H.Figuarts Bandai Tamashii Nations Black Condor "Choujin Sentai Jetman."

I'm old enough to have seen both Tron movies in theaters, although aside from the games, I think my fondest memory of it was the Brian Daley movie adaptation novel. Inexplicably, we have seen other Tron figures here and there over the years; but this is probably the nicest one, even if it is somewhat static and lifeless--just like the movie, hey-o! Still, that Bruce Boxleitner likeness is right on.

The hip articulation is honestly, uglier than homemade sin, but you can get a deep stance out of him! And a surprisingly good range on the ankles. No points in the chest because they don't want to break up that design, and the shoulder pads, as always, hinder the movement there. Still, Tron may not have much to do, since he doesn't come with a disk! Oh, there's one on his back, but it's not removeable. His only accessory is a Heartless Soldier: my son knew who that was and wandered off with him. This was from GameStop: per Amazon, you could maybe get Tron with a digitized Goofy?

Now we go from a figure with no accessories (that we care about, anyway) to one with a metric ton: S.H.Figuarts Bandai Tamashii Nations Black Condor "Choujin Sentai Jetman." Five pairs of hands, and a spare in the Wing Gauntlet punching fist. Two pistols--the same one, in different modes. A communicator, two holsters, an interchangeable wing piece, some fiddly extra parts for that Wing Gauntlet; it's a lot of stuff! And so much articulation! Even by Marvel Legends standards. Black Condor has mid-foot joints; nobody has those anymore! My only quibble with this figure is that if he were just a shade larger, he'd be more in-scale with Legends or Multiverse. As is, he's a bit short. (On the other hand, I had thought Tron was larger than Legends scale, but he lines right up with the Infamous Iron Man here.)

Among other things, Shout Factory TV had been running "Super Sentai Madness," and sight unseen, I decided to spring for Chōjin Sentai Jetman: the Complete Series. (To get free shipping, I also got the Complete Sam & Max: Freelance Police!) Jetman was the last Sentai series before what would become Power Rangers, and was a bit of a homage to my beloved Gatchaman. Although there's all the usual stuff like weekly monsters and giant robot finishing moves, the heroes this time were slightly older and there was more inter-team drama. Black Condor Gai Yuki was the team's jerkass with a heart of gold, although definitely not above punching his team leader right in the face. I've been watching three episodes a day when I bike, and episode ten features a character obsessed with cup noodles ("Maybe I really am a weirdo.") who gets tricked into aiding a monster, who also is cup noodles.

That either sells it for you, or doesn't.

I'm pretty sure the next several figures I buy will probably be Marvel Legends, but I'm open to getting other lines here and there. Even though Legends is making a run for all my money...