Sing it with me now: Can of, Can of, Can of Beams – I love you to the extremes!

Okay, okay, I am not going to inundate you with songs about cool effects pieces that are well made and REALLY enhance your action figure displays/toy photography set-ups… but I could! Each and every time the team at CoB shows off a new product, I never really realized I needed it, but then I quickly come to the conclusion that I cannot live without it. So, when they had a sale a couple of weeks ago I got lucky because it was a nice blend of new and re-issued items, and my Marvel Legends and Star Wars displays are already thanking me.

This was a good sale for another reason as well, as I am a “mid-range” adopter of the CoB stuff, I missed out on some of the earlier offerings that I did not discover until they had already moved past their original sale dates, and this gave me a chance to nab some of the rad pieces I had been wanting. While you can use these pieces in a myriad of ways and across just about any action figure lines you want, some of these effects are so pointedly perfect for some characters it is almost amazing that the official releases did not include them. I got four new effects in all, so let’s take a look at each of them.

SONAR EFFECT

There are a couple of items in this group that, at least for me, are pretty particular to a specific character, and while I am positive we will see a lot of creative uses for this Sonar Effect  out there on the Instagrams, this baby is for Dare Devil, plain and simple. If you have read even one DD comic in your life you will recognize this effect and know that it is one of the most prevalent visual representations of Matt’s Sonar/awareness powers. In illustration, it is simple drawing of concentric rings that mirror a “ping” effect, and that has been brought to life here. This is definitely the most straightforward release in this go around in terms of design, but it is so effective and easy to use.

Dare Devil is one of my favorite ML figures anyway, but attaching this to the figure with the included sticky/blue tak, he really comes alive. If Bullseye or anyone else was able to creep up on DD before, those days are over. The red coloring obviously fits DD’s aesthetic, but I think a different color could work wonders for guys like Aquaman as well, so the effect itself has a lot of potential. I am one to generally use effects like this for pictures, but keep a fairly “vanilla” posed display, but I am going to have a hard time not keeping this with Dare Devil all the time.

ENERGY SHIELD

So, I have to make a quick admission, this effect was made available in the blue you see here, but also in pink and I totally thought I ordered one of each at sale time, but I was moving so fast to make sure I got my order in, I must have totally missed it. So yeah, I am a bit bummed about that, but the blue is the one I wanted the most, so I am not overly fussed about it. Like Dare Devil, the Invisible Woman has had some interesting takes on illustrating her powers in the comics over the years, but when you think about something that is supposed to be, you know, INVISIBLE, it can be a difficult thing to conjure, especially in 3-D. Maybe that is why we have never really had a convincing manifestation of Sue’s invisible force field powers in an official release before.

Now, I am positive I will continue to use other clear things to show off different forms of Sue’s powers, but this new Energy Shield is pretty much the perfect general use force field. Of course, most of it is cast in clear, but I really like the blue highlights around the outside to show off the interesting edges. This looks perfect as a straightforward projection that Sue can use to protect the F4 from attack, and you can even combine this with some of the blast effects (we will get to those in just a minute) to really send home the barrier effect. There is even a small hole at the bottom of the piece so it can be held in place by using a variety of stands.

As I said, I am sad I missed the pink version as that could be used for someone like, Magneto, but since the Fantastic Four are my favorites in the Marvel Universe, this is going to be a great piece to bring Sue to the front and center of that display. 

OPTIC BLAST EFFECTS

Cyclops. Bubby. You finally have optic blast effects that are worthy of your powers, and more so than any of these other seemingly obvious inclusions, these feel like the most needed. I have been collecting Marvel Legends since before they were called Marvel Legends, and by cracky, after nigh on 20 years, we finally got what we ought to of got many moons ago, I reckon. Grizzled old ML collector/prospector talk aside, sweet jeebus it is about time I have these effects in my collection.

Hasbro has been offering up some pretty nice Cyclops figures as of late, and regardless if you prefer Cockrum or Lee, these optic blasts are really going to do the job and look great with your preferred Slim. It would have been easy to just include the blast effect with the curved end and call it done, but CoB has provided three different stages of the actual blast, so your options are certainly open, and with three, multiple figure can benefit. The best part is that, no matter your preferred blast stage, they all fit PERFECTLY in Cyke’s visor window with absolutely zero additional help. That is such a huge deal for me because I hate using stands in my display, so I offer big time kudos for the design work on that.

As I said, there are three stages of the blast: the initial “bubble up” just as the blast is forming around the visor, a full blown open blast, and a blast that has made impact. Obviously there are lots of uses for all of these stages, and it is such a trip to be able to have access to each one. It is funny how you might not initially think about how unnatural the standard blast looks if you are setting up a picture of it actually hitting something/someone else until you have access to an effect that accounts for that impact. It is really nice. All of these are super light (but strong with sharp lines) so they do not impact posing in the least or cause any kind of joint stress, so go wild. These were brought back by request, I believe, so they are likely very popular, and with good reason. I am glad I was finally able to secure a set.

BLASTER SET

Okay, while I will be using the previously-discussed items for pretty specific figures/situations, these blaster effects can help augment just about any line out there that includes blasters/high-tech weaponry. Since it seems like, at least as of late, Star Wars has been all over my brain, that is the branch I used for these pictures, but MOTU, Transformers, and a ton of other lines will make off perfectly well with these new “blast spots” and ricochets. Of the group, these are more complex in terms of their paint work, but more than the rest, these are easily adaptable and simple to apply and add to a display or a photo set-up.

So, the universal applications and simple implementation make these fun to add to any action shot. I mean, Han Solo is a good shot and I have plenty of Storm Trooper fodder for him, so I already have plenty of targets, willing or no. The set contains six pieces: two big blasts, three smaller blasts and one mid-shot/deflection piece. The red outlines are airbrushed with a nice gradient and these are certainly light enough, and can be applied with the supplied sticky tack, that they will not affect posing in the slightest. Heck, I want to see another set of these with more shapes and sizes.

Yes! I am so happy to have all these pieces in my collection, and I cannot wait to see what CoB offers next. I need me some of those muzzle flashes to make my shootouts more dynamic, so fingers crossed for that. Be sure to keep a sharp eye on the Can Of Beams FB page and website so you know when the new stuff will be up for sale.