In a relatively short 18 months, I we have gotten 9 Elita-1 figures from Transformers One. I think that has got to be a record for any female character in film-related merchandising blitz. Even a major character like Black Widow in the MCU would be lucky to get maybe five figures for a movie. But for some reason Elita-1 hit the jackpot. It's especially surprising considering she was excluded from the first few waves of movie merchandising. I honestly thought the main figure would be a Burger King toy. Boy was I wrong. I was unaware that toy company ThreeZero made 1:12 scale figure. I thought their product was solely in the high-end 1:6 scale market. And while this figure was at a much higher price point than I would typically pay for a 5" non-transforming Transformer, I was super curious and I wasn't disappointed in the quality at all. She is perfectly sculpted, features 46 points of articulation (according to the promotional material... I didn't count), and heavy die-cast parts. Let's check out Elita-1 below!
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label Scarlett Johansson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scarlett Johansson. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2026
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Jurassic World Rebirth - ZORA BENNETT!
In 2025's Jurassic World Rebirth, the traditional gender roles of the two main characters swapped. In every movie so far, the lead "hero" was male with a secondary female character being a brainy sidekick (who is also consistently shown as a formidable adventurer, but that's never the primary characteristic). In Rebirth, Scarlett Johansson plays a secret ops agent tasked with leading a dangerous clandestine mission into an abandoned island overrun with dinosaurs. And her sidekick is the brainy paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis played by Jonathan Bailey. The best part about this swap is that I didn't even bat an eye - I only really acknowledged it when I was distributing the accessories in set and assumed all the weapons belonged to the female character - not a subconscious thought I often have. I love how prolific the modern Mattel Jurassic line has been. The actor likenesses are never the best, but the sheer quantity of female figures is amazing. Let's check out Zora Bennett below!
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Jurassic World Rebirth - ZORA BENNETT!
I thought Jurassic World Rebirth was a refreshing return to what I love about the Jurassic franchise. After years of movies in atypical settings and with casting choices I've grown weary of (not you, Bryce), it was nice to have a stand-alone movie largely taking place in a tropical jungle and with a fantastic cast. From the trailers, I expected there to be a little more of an added Indiana Jones vibe with ancient temples and ruins, but that was unfortunately only one small scene. Scarlett Johansson plays Zora Bennett, a freelance former government operative who is tasked with safely escorting some scientists and civilians on an expedition to an off-limits South American island where the dinosaurs from a former inGen facility have taken over. It's a simple plot and small cast of characters - so the environment and the dinosaurs get their time in the limelight. I just watched it for the second time yesterday as a refresher from this Summer and, although much more enjoyable on a big screen, I still highly enjoy it.
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
The Transformers Studio Series Deluxe Class line can be a bit confusing with their releases. In the Transformers One movie from last year, Elita-1 was a major character. She is in all the big scenes and she is in the core group of all the promotional images, but her Deluxe Studio Series figure didn't come out for a year after her contemporaries. And with the last big theatrical movie, Transformers Rise of the Beasts, they released figures of Airazor and Nightbird, but skipped on Arcee. The Airazor was essentially a concept design (not in the film) and Nightbird's scenes were so quick that you never got a great look. And with the Bumblebee (2018) film, the two ladies (Shatter and Arcee) were released 15 months and 43 months after the premiere (whereas the leading male characters are on the shelves before the movie is released). This Elita-1 got the same predictable delay, but she's basically the quintessential TFOne Elita released so far, so she was worth the wait. Let's check her out below!
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Auldey Transformers One - ELITA-1!
When I got my first Auldey Transformers figure last month (a beautiful G1 Arcee), I instantly started researching what other toys this company had made. I knew there was a G1 Elita-1 coming in wave two, but a quick search on eBay pulled up a bunch of listings for this Transformers One Elita figure that I previously knew nothing about. All the images I saw were clearly digital renderings, but I was so impressed by Arcee, that I bought this figure blindly. I was admittedly surprised when the figure arrived in a simple (printed) cardboard shipper box with a plastic tray inside. She was nearly twice and tall as the Arcee from a few weeks before and she was essentially a statue with almost no articulation. She was inexpensive so I wasn't upset, but I had a lot of errant preconceived notions I needed to accept. But the fact that she still looks very cool and imposing (she's about the same height as the large Yolopark Cogged Elita-1 figure) makes me glad to have her in my collection. Let's check out Elita-1 below!
Thursday, June 12, 2025
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
The Blokees obsession in the toy market today has seemingly come out of nowhere. Around this time last year I picked up my first Blokees figure (a Rise of the Beasts Arcee) that I was moderately happy with. My second purchase, however, was a Transformers One Elita-1 last year that I was obsessed with. But the current obsession has nothing two do with those two figures, but rather the smaller blindbox designs that have filled up every toy and comic shop overnight. This new Elita-1 is the first female to be included in the blindbox assortments so my firsthand knowledge is a little lacking. I believe there are two scale of blindbox figures. This Elita-1 is in the larger Galaxy Version, and then there is a super tiny and cute Defender Version scale which look like the old Playskool Robot Heroes, but super articulated and slightly SD. I hope they make a female character in that scale soon. The larger scales are not blindboxed and come in larger holographic packaging specific to the character you want.
Sunday, February 16, 2025
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
I love that action figure model kits are becoming so prevalent in recent years. Transformers One hit the theatres this past Fall and the majority of the products I've picked up so far have been model kits: two Yolopark kits from a few months ago, and now this Blokees kit. This is especially amusing since the main Studio Series Elita-1 from Hasbro isn't being released for another nine months. But these kits are an amazing way to pass the time until then. My first Blokees figure was Arcee from Rise of the Beasts. I had lukewarm feeling about her because of her odd proportions and construction. It seems like the majority of Transformers Blokees have been in a super-deformed style, so I assumed that would be a consistent design for the brand. But luckily this Elita-1 has perfect proportions and overall design. And with the cool light-up eyes feature and the $16 pricetag, I might even say this is the best value movie Elita-1 out there (if you can overlook the fact that she's non-transforming). Let's check her out below!
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
These Yolopark model kits are a really fun line to augment all the Hasbro and Takara Transformers product. I've noticed solicitations for a while featuring classic Transformers, Rise of the Beasts, and Evangelion, but the two Elita-1 figures for Transformers One were my first purchases. They were fun to assemble and display great. The two different modes in the One line come at different scales and pricepoints. Cog-Less Mode is 5.12" and runs $21.99 and the Cogged Mode is 6.89" and runs $36.99. Surprisingly, I had multiple issues with the larger, more expensive one (details below). But none of the issues were dealbreakers, just surprising quality issues. I eagerly look forward to the next female Transformer they might make (I'm assuming Arcee) and will gladly make the purchase. This review is for the larger 7" Cogged version - after Elita is rejoined with her Cog of Transformation and gets powered-up and is able to transform. (Note this model does not transform. Only robot mode). Let's check her out below!
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
When the Transformers One product was revealed and started hitting shelves earlier this year, Elita-1 was depressingly absent from the character representation. As the primary female character in the movie, prominently featured in all the posters and trailers, this was baffling and disappointing. For a brief while, I thought the Burger King toy would be the best movie Elita figure. But things have turned around. When all is said and done, there should be seven new Elita-1 toys in this design, but the release schedule is very slow (The Hasbro Movie Masters figure currently has a release date of exactly one year from today, Nov 3rd 2025). But in the meantime, the first real articulated figures are two model kits from Yolopark featuring both versions of Elita, Cog-less (before she has the ability to transform), and Cogged (after her Cog of Transformation is reinstalled). Neither figure is transforming mind you. This review is for the smaller 5.12" Cog-less model kit. Let's check her out below!
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Transformers One - ELITA-1!
I'm pretty excited for the Transformers One movie in a few weeks. I'm not sure if I will actually enjoy it. I'll be honest, the tone of the trailers I've seen didn't thrill me. But I am excited to see Scarlett Johansson's portrayal of Elita-1. It's amazing that Elita-1 has been so prevalent in Transformers media in recent years after decades of underuse. She was a major player in War for Cybertron and EarthSpark, but her theatrical debut in Transformers One will likely be her biggest role yet. Of course, Hasbro has notably excluded her from most of the movie toylines so far. This Robot Battler figure is Rock'em Sock'em type gimmicky toy, but I was still excited to find her in the store. There is an upcoming Burger King toy and two figures from Yolopark, but I hope some official Hasbro product is in the works too. In addition to Elita's role in the movie, Airachnid, Chromia, and Arcee also should have screentime. That kind of female presence will definitely get me to the theatre. Let's check out this first Elita-1 figure below!
Friday, April 24, 2020
Titan Hero Series - BLACK WIDOW (Movie)!
I find it pretty surprising that we haven't seen a black-costumed MCU Black Widow in the Marvel Titan Hero Series line yet. Several years ago they released repaints of the comic versions of Black Widow and Gamora with slightly darker colors that were intended to be MCU stand-ins, but I don't count those. So far we've only seen the green vest version from Avengers Infinity War, the space suit version from Avengers Endgame, and now this winter stealth version from the Black Widow movie. I figure we'll eventually see a classic black-costume release, but hopefully it will be sooner than later since I have a hunch Scarlet Johannson will be handing over the mantle soon. Who knows, we may even see a simple repaint of this figure in time for the rescheduled theatrical release in November. I'll just add that to my long wishlist for the Titan line. Gamora and Nebula (in a standard outfit) are the most glaring MCU absences, and I wouldn't say no to a Mantis. But I know a new Natasha is way more likely. Let's check her out!
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Black Widow Movie - BLACK WIDOW!
One of these years I swear I am going to stop buying Black Widow action figures. My regular readers will know I am mainly drawn to superheroes with bright outlandish costumes and otherworldly powers. So an espionage-based character who mostly wears black is just not my cup of tea. But Hasbro has this ability to release MCU Black Widow figures at times when I am craving a new purchase. It was mid-February when I picked up my last Marvel Legends lady (Stepford Cuckoos). It's funny to think that two short months is what I consider a dry spell these days - it's truly a great era to be a collector. The presence of this Crimson Dynamo wave in the stores right now has two possible outcomes: They could be shelfwarmers for months with no movie (or standard shopping crowds) to support it. Or it could disappear like most waves eventually do and be in super high demand come November when the postponed movie will be released. It will be a fun merchandising experiment to observe. Let's check out Black Widow below!
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Marvel Titan Hero Series - BLACK WIDOW!
I'm excited to see Avengers Endgame this Friday. I have tickets for a 7:30 show (with some relatives who are likely to talk and text the whole time.. smh). I was honestly expecting to have more movie-related product to review before the premiere, but there have been surprisingly few female figures. I'm predicting that there will be a lot more toys known to us by this time next week. Think of how quickly the turnaround time was between us discovering the Titan Captain Marvel and finding her on the shelves - it was just a few days. So I'm predicting all the spoiler figures will be out soon. We've seen pictures of a Titan Valkyrie and a basic series Rescue, along with a slew of blurry teasers (including a few unknown characters I believe). And I think we'll see them all officially announced shortly. In the meantime I have my last figure from the first wave of products, this Black Widow Titan in her team suit. These suits are really growing on me (although I hope they aren't worn for the whole movie). Let's check her out below!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Avengers Endgame - BLACK WIDOW & NEBULA!
When I first saw that all the heroes in Avengers Endgame would be in matching Team Suits, I was relieved and thought how these figures would be an easy skip for me. It's not that I don't enjoy matching suits, quite the contrary actually, but I don't like them when the characters already have unique costume designs established. But like almost every proclamation of resistance I make, when I saw them in the store I caved. But before that purchase, I had already decided that I wanted to support this merchandising tactic from Hasbro. This set comes with 5 different character heads that are interchangeable on the generic-suited bodies. I love this decision. And it seems suddenly very plausible that we might someday see other teams presented in the same way: New Mutants, Original X-Men, Hellions, Academy X, etc. Of course the unplanned by-product of my altruistic purchase is that I really like these figures. They are really well made and the face-scanning technology is amazing. Let's check this set out below!
Thursday, May 31, 2018
Marvel Legends Infinity War - BLACK WIDOW!
After we got that beautiful Black Widow figure way back in 2014's Marvel Legends Winter Solder line, I honestly didn't think I would need another Scarlett Johansson figure. I thought that figure was near perfection. And sure enough the next few Black Widow figures were just simple repaints (the Amazon exclusive 4-pack and the weird Hulkbuster re-release). But then several months ago the Avengers: Infinity War promos started to hit and suddenly our Natasha Romanoff had a pretty distinct redesign with blonde hair and a green vest. I still wasn't sure if this would warrant a new figure purchase, but when early in-hand pics of this figure started popping up I knew I would cave. Her facesculpt is a subtle but significant improvement of her previous figure, and the blonde/green coloring gives her a pretty unique overall design in comparison. At this point I'm not even sure what other MCU figures I'm even wishing for. (The upcoming Sif figure is the only other one I can think of). Let's check out Black Widow below!
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Power Fx Marvel Titan Hero BLACK WIDOW!
I've been struggling with time management recently. I'm my defense, I've been planning a wedding and it's really been stressing me out. But the one nice thing about not having time to photograph my newest purchases is that I get to clear all the older pics off my camera. I wasn't planning on posting a review of this TitanFX Black Widow figure because I had just done one for the standard release when I found her in Target. But the improvements in the sculpt of the PowerFX version were so impressive to me that I knew I would eventually have to post on her as well. While the price point of these PowerFx figures are double or even triple the cost of a standard Titan, I think the added play value of the soundbox backpacks are worth the cost. The funny thing is, if I would have posted this review right after I took the photos, I wouldn't have acknowledged the fun factor, because I didn't even pay attention until I got my Wasp Titan months later. The details are explained further down. Let's check out Black Widow below!
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Infinity War Basic - BLACK WIDOW!
I love that Hasbro has been getting into the Basic figure game. When the first Gamora figure came out in 2016 and surprised us all, I kind of thought it would be a one-off. But then about a year later we got a follow-up Nebula and a slightly larger scale Black Widow. Then 2018 quickly rolled out a Shuri from Black Panther and this Avengers: Infinity War version of Black Widow. Plus this same movie series has another Gamora and Scarlet Witch on the way. I wouldn't be surprised is we saw a Wasp squeezed in there as well. I love Marvel Legends figures. They have been blowing my mind for years. But there is something great about these smaller, less expensive toys filling the shelves. The collecting community usually has very short advanced notice of their release, and the quick hunt is always thrilling and reminds me of my early collecting days. Plus the quality of these figures is pretty spectacular if I must say so myself. Let's check out the Avengers Infinity War Black Widow below!
Friday, March 2, 2018
Infinity War Titan Hero Series - BLACK WIDOW!
The Avengers: Infinity War movie features a pretty drastic costume change for Black Widow. Instead of the typical red hair and solid black outfit, Natasha now sports a shorter blonde hairstyle and what looks like a green flak jacket. The hair seems like a nod to to the Yelena Belona incarnation of the character, but is likely a result of having too many redheads in one movie. The green vest seems like an original addition (and slightly atypical for her), but I kind of like it. These new 12" Marvel Titan Hero Series figures were a total surprise to me when I saw them on Instagram Monday, and luckily I found them at Walmart two days later. As much as I love these 12" figures and Natasha's new look, this is the first Titan figure I've been let down by. This is due to the fact that her head is scaled for the the newer (larger) bodies, but she has the same smaller body as the comic-style Black Widow from 2016. There is a similar figure with an action feature coming out which will hopefully be better. Let's check her out!
Friday, March 4, 2016
Avengers Civil War (Miniature) BLACK WIDOW!
I'm having an informal mini-figure review week. Not minifigures of the Lego and Minimate variety, but rather the recently-revived 2.5" scale that hearkens back to the days of Dino-Riders, M.A.S.K., Starcom, and Air Raiders. Of all the scales out there, I think this one is the most nostalgic for me. These were the little guys I would smuggle into school and church in my breast pocket. These are the ones that I would discover abandoned in sandboxes and under the swings. They kind of faded away since the 80s, but have been making a decent comeback in the past 5 years. Of course the females characters are just as scarce as ever. Black Widow finally made it into the lineup in the recent Civil Wars lines. I'm hoping the momentum carries and we get similar lines for the future Marvel movies. I would love to see Sif, Captain Marvel, and all the X-ladies. The fact that Hasbro finally branded this line the "Miniverse" gives me hope that that we'll see more. Let's check out Black Widow below!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Marvel Legends Infinite Series - BLACK WIDOW!
Whew I thought I would never get my hands on this figure. Between being an absolutely gorgeous rendition of Scarlett Johansson, a short-packed female, and the placeholder for the Mandroid build-a-figure torso, this Black Widow has become quite the holy grail for Marvel collectors lately. All props go to my new geek-buddy Carl who snagged me an extra (the best part was the clandestine toy swap out of the trunk of a car in the grocery store parking lot!) This figure is everything she's cracked up to be. Utterly gorgeous headsculpts, great articulation, and amazing detailing on the costume. I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't speak to accuracy, but I have a hunch she's spot-on. The only minor let-down is her lack of personal accessories (i.e. guns). She has extra hands with gun-gripping poses, but no guns aside from those sculpted into her holsters. Although I will gladly sacrifice all future weapons for alternate heads like Black Widow comes with. They are equally fantastic and I'm tempted to hunt down another figure just to display them both. Let's check Black Widow out below!
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