Monthly Archives: September 2023

Sep 29 2023

King of Fighters ’98: Blue Mary by Storm Collectibles

SNK has had an interesting couple of decades since it’s bankruptcy and well… whatever the state of the company is these days. And yet in a way, it’s been enjoying a renaissance with there being more ways to access the Neo Geo library now than probably ever. Even legally! We’re also getting a decent number of toys and collectibles as well. I’ll refer you back to my look at Metal Slug 3’s Marco Rossi figure if you want to hear me gushing on about what it was like to live in envy of Neo Geo owners in the 90s. And yeah, most of that envy was aimed at Metal Slug and the shoot-em-ups, but it certainly applied to the fighting games too. Case in point, it wasn’t until almost 10 games into the series, when Dream Match ’99 arrived on the Dreamcast that I was finally able to play a decent port of a King of Fighters game. And boy was that a blissful weekend spent with that game and my ASCII Arcade Stick. Good times! And now, Storm Collectibles has been releasing figures based on the KOF 98 roster. I pre-ordered late in the game and all but Blue Mary got cancelled. I sat on her for a while, trying to decide whether to keep her or not, when just this past week Storm announced reissues of Terry Bogard and Iori. I was able to get these pre-ordered (along with Mai!) and now I’m excited to get Mary opened knowing the others will eventually be on the way!

Storm does a wonderful presentation for these figures. Mary comes in a big window box with the game logo on the front, along with a shot of Blue Mary. The window is huge and shows off the figure and some of her extras, and there’s a printed backdrop based on one of the level backgrounds behind the tray. Everything is collector friendly.

KOF 98 was Mary’s second appearance in a KOF title, but the character actually premiered back in Fatal Fury 3. When I play Dream Match 99, I tend to gravitate toward Terry first but I’m quick to take Mary or Mai for a spin when I’m feeling adventurous. And it’s probably because of how many hours I burned on Dream Match 99 that this version will always be Mary’s most iconic look to me. Casting off the jacket from the Fatal Fury series, she dons her mid-riff exposing red top, blue baggie pants and fingerless gloves, and a pair of reddish-brown sneakers. The whole ensemble is rounded out by a loose brown belt that rests on her hips. It’s a simple character design that makes for a great looking figure.

And as always, Storm did a beautiful job sculpting this figure. Her top is part of the upper body, but it still hangs down over her midriff hiding that joint. The pants go light on the rumples, but bag up down by the highly cinched ankle cuffs. The ringed stars on the thighs are sculpted on as is the smaller black belt with the gold buckle. The wider brown belt has a peg to secure it, but the peg is too soft to go in and hold there, so I just let it float off one hip or the other, which works well enough. The colors on this figure are absolutely gorgeous and she pops just like the original pixel art. The vibrant blue and red compliment each other perfectly, the skin tone looks good, and the added orange on the stars is nice. I think the boots could have been a tad more brown, but that’s just me nitpicking.

You get a whopping four different heads, which is pretty impressive. These include smiling, pissed off, playful wink, and dynamic wind blown hair with a shouty mouth. All of these are wonderfully expressive and work for some pretty fun poses. I think my favorite are the last two. The wind blown look to the hair is great. My only nitpick on any of these is the seam running across just above her hairline. It’s not really a big deal, but since there’s no face plates to swap, I think they could have done a little better with that.

If you’ve played around with any of Storm’s figures, you should know what to expect from the articulation here. Mary is very agile and limber, just as she should be. The elbows and knees are fabulous with double joints that give you all the range of motion you can ask for. Hips allow for plenty of movement, there’s a ball joint under the chest, and you get rotating hinges in the ankles and hinges just behind the toes of the boots. Lateral crunches in the shoulders enhance those rotating hinges, there are swivels in the biceps and pegged hinges in the wrists to allow you to swap hands. How many hands? Five pairs total! You get a pair of finger pointing hands, fists, relaxed hands, slightly more relaxed hands, and grapple hands. Not bad!

Mary comes with one effect part and it’s a giant energy circle from slamming her opponents into the ground. Alas, I only have Mary right now, so I’ll have to wait to get some real use out of it. But it’s a great looking piece with a translucent effect starting relatively clear at the ground and working up to a fiery red-orange along the tops of the flames.

The illustrated backgrounds Storm includes with these figures are also a nice bonus and they stand pretty well if you want to use them as a display behind your figure. Mary comes with the US Train Yard Stage which is wonderfully recreated here right down to the pixelated edges on the art.

Storm’s figures sure ain’t cheap, and Mary goes for about $105, which is no doubt a lot of money for a 7-inch scale figure. Heck, it’s even a lot by this line’s standards as both Terry and Iori reissued at under $100 each. But it’s hard to argue with quality and Storm never ceases to deliver on it in spades. Mary is a ridiculously fun figure to play with, thanks to the smooth jointing system, near perfect balance, and the crazy range of motion you can get out of her. And the passel of extra heads and hands certainly adds to that value. She’s hard to put down and she’s been standing on my desk ready for action since I opened her. It’s great to see KOF figures on the market and I can’t wait to expand my character roster.

Sep 27 2023

Justice League Unlimited: Wonder Woman Half-Scale Bust by Diamond Select

It’s no secret that I love collecting Wonder Woman stuff. Heck, I’m up to four Hot Toys of Gal Gadot donning the tiara and I didn’t even really like those movies. So I am an easy mark when it comes to merch from the Princess of Themyscira. But today’s piece had me up and down on whether or not to buy it. It’s part of Diamond Select’s line of 3D Half-Scale busts, but I don’t know why they make a point to call them out as 3D as that’s kind of implicit in the idea that it’s a sculpted bust. But… whatever. I really wanted to pick this up when it came out, but their previous Harley Quinn release in this line was less than stellar, so I declined to preorder and eventually forgot about it. But then she turned up for sale at a few places and I decided to give it a go. Boy am I glad I did!

The bust comes in a pretty sizeable box, and that’s to be expected as it measures a bit over 10-inches tall. This sculpt is based on the Amazonian’s animated style as she appeared in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. And while that Justice League series may have been unlimited, this statue is limited to 1,000 pieces, which is fairly low for DST’s stuff. And as the box points out, this statue is cast entirely in resin. The piece comes nestled between two pieces of styrofoam and is fully assembled and ready for display.

And… wow! I was actually afraid to open this because the reports of shoddy paint on the preceding Harley bust were pretty common, but I am absolutely blown away by how great Diana here came out. The sculpt brings the artwork to life, so long as you’re not viewing from the back as it’s just a big blob of black cartoon hair back there. But that’s to be expected. I am really pleased that the detail in the eyes is part of the sculpt, as she looks up and off to the side, pondering the skies. The expression is just perfectly stoic with maybe just a hint of some possible action about to take place. If I had one gripe, the channel running through her chest piece could have been sharper, but otherwise… Beautiful!

These animated style pieces can be very tricky as they rely as much (if not more) on clean and sharp paint as they do on sculpted detail, and I’m happy to say the paint on this lady is quite breathtaking. For starters, they did a wonderful job with the skin tone as it has a lot of beautiful shading that gives it a lot of warmth and adds so much to the piece. The yellow and read of her tiara and chest piece add some nice, vibrant colors and it all contrasts with the black background of her majestic coif. I especially like the little cut of brighter yellow showing a little animated-style reflection to the golden bits. The lips, eyes, and eyebrows are all painted with precision and care and the white star earrings really flash under the studio lights.

The pedestal is sculpted as a Grecian style column, which works both as a classic bust stand and given the Themyscira theme. The pale blue adds a bit more color to the mix, but I like how the pedestal is understated. Flip the piece over and you can see the hand numbered limitation on the bottom. And… wow, I got #10 of 1000. That’s probably the lowest number I ever got on any numbered limited statue in my collection.

Like all DST limited releases, you get an art card stating the limitation and with the number of the piece as well. I always loved these and I wish Sideshow would do them with their far more expensive Premium Formats.

And here she is in her center spot in my little Wonder Woman corner, alongside the Adam Hughes and Frank Cho Designer Series statues by DC Collectibles.

I’m so happy I took the plunge on this one, especially since it took a crazy good sale to make me do it. It was too much of a gamble at the original $175, but getting her for less than half that was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Maybe DST just had a bad run of luck with the previous release in this series, but all I know is Wonder Woman turned out absolutely stellar. Every time I look at her I fall in love again! And with this purchase following soon after picking up their amazing Jem statue, I have to say that I’m really digging what DST is doing these days.

Sep 25 2023

G. I. JOE Classified: Scrap Iron by Hasbro

Hasbro had it’s annual PulseCon last Friday and G.I. JOE Classified really ran away with the whole show. There were tons of new reveals, some confirmed rumors, and just lots of beautiful figures to drool over and pre-order. And it also made me realize how behind I am on what’s already here, so I’m going to be pushing the Classified reviews pretty hard over the next month or so. Today I’m digging into what was one of my all-time favorite Cobra figures back in the day. Let’s check out the MOBAT’s worst enemy… Scrap Iron!

Why did I love this guy so much? Probably because he looked so cool and he came with such an amazing bonus weapon. I also had him drive around the Cobra STINGER most of the time because it was his vehicle of choice in the cartoon. Whenever I played with my JOEs, this guy was front and center, usually as Destro’s right hand man. As a Deluxe figure, Scrap Iron comes in a big box to house his mobile Anti-Tank Drone with a swipe on the corner showing all the goodies inside. While I haven’t been a big fan of the no-plastic packaging, I think this is a great presentation. No goofy highly stylized art, just a classic head shot and some digital renders of the figure in action. It’s also worth noting that Hasbro has been killing it with this line so well that I have no problem buying the figures without seeing them through a window.

Classified Scrap Iron stays pretty close to his original vintage roots with dark blue fatigues and a red vest with a pair of sculpted black grenades and a black pouch. His red belt features two thigh straps, with the right one equipped with a holster. He has black knee guards and the only big design difference here is the original red boots have been changed to black with red stripes, and I think that was a good call! The sculpted detail here is really nice with lots of quilted padding on his vest, sculpted elastic around his wrist cuffs, and texturing added to his fatigues. His open collar, exposing the red shirt underneath also calls back tot he original figure. He also has a crisp red Cobra emblem on his shoulder. A always loved how Scrap Iron’s uniform made him look more like a specialized Cobra Trooper than a lot of the other wacky Cobra characters. Classified Scrap Iron is everything I could have asked for in a modern update.

The head sculpt holds some grizzly surprises, but first we’ve got to talk about how awesome his helmet came out. The matte black helmet has a fixed black visor and an angular sculpted Cobra emblem on the forehead just like the original. In this case, we got a little bit of red paint on the emblem, which makes it stand out nicely. What’s more the helmet fits the figure beautifully.

Take it off and I’ve got to just take a moment and bask in all the love and imagination that went into this head sculpt. I remember Scrap Iron’s filecard stated that he conducted field tests for a lot of Destro’s new armaments and I’m guessing that some of them didn’t go so well because this guy is severely burned and disfigured. I can’t say enough about how much I love how the designers extrapolated all this into a portrait for a character that previously always had a permanent helmet. The burns across the left side of his head are grizzly, his left eye is just a milky orb, and he’s got scarring all across the right side of his face and head. It’s kind of tragic when you remember that Scrap Iron was a perfectionist with his filecard stating that any form of imperfection repelled him. That must make it tough for him to look in the mirror. This is peak Classified, and that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about a line this good.

Scrap Iron only has one personal weapon included and that’s his automatic pistol, and when you’re toting around your own tank-busting rocket drone, I guess a pistol is plenty. It’s a cool looking piece with a very pronounced rail on the top and a peg hole in the barrel so it can be used with any of those effect parts that came with past figures. He has two sets of trigger finger hands, so he can wield the pistol left or fight and it stores in the holster nicely.

He also comes with a remote control unit for his Anti-Tank Drone, which replaces the corded firing plunger that came with the original figure. This basically looks like a Nintendo Switch with two antenna and a printed red screen. The only downside here is that there’s nowhere to store it on his person. He can however handle it pretty well in either or both of those trigger finger hands.

And that brings us to the Drone, and it is all sorts of awesome. The original figure came with a static rocket launcher on a tripod, so this treaded mobile launcher is a pretty cool update. This little dealer of destruction has a glossy black finish with some nice angled edges and soft gray treads. There’s a sensor array on the top and the launcher itself is attached to the chassis by a ball joint giving it some nice aiming abilities. There are some red paint hits on the front grills and the rear bumper, as well as in the camera compartment that sits between the rocket tubes. You also get some markings stamped in white on the sides. Hasbro did a beautiful job modernizing the original accessory and I think giving it mobility was a great idea.

The red rockets are perfect callbacks to the originals and are of course removable These have LAZER-GUIDED printed in white lettering on the sides and X04 stamped in black near the fins.

There are effect parts included so you can display them launching from the tubes and these look great, with one being a little longer than the other. These slide into the launch tubes and peg into the back of the missiles. They’re cast in orange semi-translucent plastic with some white smoke smoke painted at the bases.

The set also includes four additional blast effect pieces and these are pretty damn big. Like the launcher effect parts, these are cast in semi-translucent red and orange plastic with white smoke painted in at the bases. These look amazing and they work well as impacts of Scrap Irons’ rockets or as the result of a pesky Skyhawk trying to take out the drone with a couple of its SPATS rockets. Just plain awesome!

I confess to getting a little bit nervous when Classified updates one of my favorite figures, but I don’t know why because they’re nailing it just about every time, and Scrap Iron here is no exception. I love every last thing about this figure and his awesome drone too. The outfit hits all the beats of the original figure and the design team went above and beyond giving my man some real personality in that portrait. It makes my imagination go into overdrive and gives him so much more character. This set retails for $45 and I can’t recommend it enough. And yeah… if it happens to go on sale, I may grab another to add one more drone to my collection.

Sep 22 2023

Masters of the Universe Origins: Dragon Blaster Skeletor by Mattel

There’s been a lot of Masters Origins stuff piling up here, folks, not the least of which is Skeletor’s homestead, Snake Mountain. I really wanted to jump ahead to that, but I have to do some logistics on how I’m going to photograph it. Also, it seems only right to try to knock out some more figure reviews beforehand. And with that in mind, today figure is one I’ve been waiting to open for quite a few weeks, so I’m excited!

Oh yes. After trying and failing to defeat He-Man with everything from giant mechanical claws to chomping shark cars, the only thing left is to just strap a baby dragon to your back and hope it hocks a flaming loogie right in He-Man’s face. As always, the packaging here is just superb with the enlarged card and extra bubbles for the Deluxe figure and accessories. You also get the additional Snake Men artwork taking over the top of the card. If only all this were collector friendly, but alas, I’ve got some ripping and tearing to do!

There’s a little bit of assembly required here, but nothing too bad. The dragon is sculpted as part of Skeletor’s back plate, which attaches via plastic straps that tab into the slots on the shoulders and under his arms. I was a little worried this wasn’t going to be all that secure, but the dragon actually holds in place remarkably well with no issues at all. Next, you attach the wrist cuff and thread the chain through the slot in his chest piece bring it around the back and attach it to the jumbo green padlock, which hooks into the dragon. The chain is actually metal, which is awesome, although I really don’t know what good it’ll do. If that dragon wants to take off it’s probably just going to drag Skeletor behind it.

As with most Origins figures, this release takes all the beats from the original vintage figure with the main difference being the added articulation in the elbows, knees, wrists, and ankles. The coloring is bright and vibrant, especially on the dragon itself, which has a cool gradient from red to pinkish-purple going on. The pale blue of Skeletor’s skin plays off the mauve and red armor and purple boots nicely, plus you get that neon green to make things really pop. MOTU has always been a delightfully colorful toyline and this figure represents that well!

We’ve had tons of variant Skeletor heads in the Origins line and each one has had its own charms. I do really like this one a lot. It has something of an animated look to it and he’s smiling as if he is jus so damn proud of his new reptilian backpack. The coloring is very nice and the lines for the teeth are sharp. This head is a winner!

The dragon also just oozes vintage charm. It’s head is super goofy and I think it has almost a Chinese Dragon design vibe going on. The teeth are painted white, the eyes are painted black with gold irises and he’s got sculpted scales all over his little body. What’s also great is that Mattel kept the original play gimmick in tact, so you can pop off his head, fill his body with water, and press down on the head to shoot disgusting dragon spit and those damn do-gooders.

Skeletor also comes with his sword, which is a nice bonus, as Mattel probably could have gotten away without it. There’s no Ram Staff, but hell we already have a ton of those! This sword is fantastic, as it isn’t the shitty half-sword we’ve had several times, but the one that’s fully sculpted on both sides. I can never have too many of these!

With something like a half-dozen Skeletor variants in the Origins line, you’d think I would have had enough. but I’ve been excited for each and every one. And this Dragon Blaster version is pretty much peak Skeletor pulling out all the stops. It’s a love letter to the original toy and I’m so happy to have it in my collection. But… these last bunches of Origins figures that I’m opening are also a little bittersweet. The news is that Origins will be leaving retail (and online retailers) and going to Mattel Creations Exclusives in 2024 and I’ve decided not to follow. I’ve had terrible experiences with the few figures I’ve tried to get from Mattel Creations and I’m not going through all that shit. I don’t need flashbacks to Matty Collector and Masters Classics. I’m too old and I’ve got too many other toys to spend money on. I was hoping Origins would still be sold through big online toy retailers, but that’s not the case so I’ll be calling it a day. But that’s fine… my Origins collection is big enough as it is and I’ve got plenty more figures and toys to open and spotlight here.

Sep 20 2023

Dungeons & Dragons ReAction Figures by Super7

Monday’s review went super long, so today I’m taking it easy with a quick look at some ReAction figures! While Hasbro and NECA have both been releasing the higher profile toys based on the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Super7 also entered the campaign this year with the release of a handful of their 3 3/4-inch ReAction figures. Hasbro’s toys have been pulling from the 80’s Saturday Morning cartoon and the recent movie, NECA has been doing modern updates of the vintage LJN figures, leaving Super7 to focus on… vintage cover art? Oh yes, and it’s quite glorious! Let’s take a look at Super7’s three general releases and the boxed SDCC Exclusive. But before we embark on this journey, adventurers, take note! We’ll only be looking at packaged toys today, as this is one of those rare occasions where I won’t be opening any of these!

Because as cool as these figures are, it’s really the mating of the figure and the super nostalgic original art on the cardback that makes these releases so special to me. First up is an Efreeti as featured on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Masters Guide with art by the David C. Sutherland III from 1979. Yeah, these figures aren’t to scale, as the Efreeti was an absolute beast on that cover holding an unfortunate blonde maiden in his left hand and about to smite an entire party of adventurers with one swing of the scimitar in his right hand. The head sculpt is absolutely superb on this figure and the bright yellow and red coloring makes this Fire Plane dweller quite eye-catching. He also has a slender modesty sash to cover his genie junk. Really nice sculpted muscles too! He comes with his scimitar with a yellow hilt and silver blade.

The back of the three general release figures’ cards are all the same, featuring a reimagined piece of art that we’ll be seeing again in a bit. You also get artist renderings of the three figures released in this series, which reminds me of some of the comic and newspaper advertisements for Star Wars figures back in the day where they used illustrations instead of actual photos. Very nice!

Next up is the Githyanki based on the Emmanuel cover art from the 1st Edition AD&D Fiend Folio. It’s another banger of a piece with some absolutely amazing detail in the figure itself. From the sculpted wrappings on the arms and legs to the colorful strips of jeweled shingles that hang down his chest. The head sculpt is also extremely well done with everything conspiring to bring all the imagination of the artwork into a fully realized 3D figure. And once again, the colors really make this figure pop beautifully. He comes with a golden sword as depicted in the artwork. Yes, sadly my card is creased, which believe me is tempting me to try for another so I can open this one.

And the final stop on this trifecta, and what is easily for me the most iconic piece of art of the three, is The Sorceress as depicted on the front of the D&D Basic Set 1st Edition Second Box by artist Erol Otus. A more truncated version of this art also appeared on the cover of the D&D Basic Set 2nd Edition Rulebook. This is the piece of art that I will always most associate with my D&D days and it still fires my imagination today. As for the figure itself, while I think it’s good, it’s easily the least successful of these three in the translation from the art. She loses that heavily stylized look, not to mention having a little less in the chest and more in the waist, making her a little less alluring than her 2D counterpart. Still, I do love the colors and the sculpted detail is nice. She comes with a really nice version of the magic torch she holds aloft in the artwork.

And with the three general releases done and dusted, the final figure we’re looking at today is the SDCC exclusive, which was later available through online retailers, which makes its exclusivity claim rather dubious. Based on the D&D Basic Set 3rd Edition, this figure comes in the familiar Red Box with the absolutely epic artwork by Larry Elmore showing the Formidable Fighter taking on a red dragon. Lift off the top and you get the carded figure inside.

Super7 had to take a bit more liberties with this one as the character is only depicted from the back, but I think they did a nice job with the design. You get a brilliant metallic blue sheen on his scale mail armor, a sculpted furry loin cloth with studded belt and blue boots. The head sculpt is bearded and fierce and his horned helmet looks fantastic. He comes with a circular shield and a gold hilted sword with glow in the dark blade.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not generally a mint-on-card collector, but Super7 has issued more than a few ReAction figures that I have purchased to display carded. I just think that the mating of original art with the inspired figure is what makes these releases so special and it would be a shame to separate the two. If these were cheaper, I would definitely buy seconds as openers, but at $20 a pop for the regulars and $25 for the SDCC Exclusive, I’ll be content with hanging them on my wall. My only complaint with any of these is that I wish Super7 had credited the artists and where each piece of art came from on the backs of the cards. And it seems like Super7 isn’t done with these yet, as possible pre-orders for a second wave have been whispered!

Sep 18 2023

Cosmic Legions (Hvalkatar Book One): T.U.5.C.C. Science Officer, Sentry, and Engineer by The Four Horsemen

I’m nearing the home stretch with my reviews of the first wave of Cosmic Legions figures, which is probably the quickest I’ve ever gone through a wave of TFH figures. It’s nice to try to be current and timely every once and a while. If you’ve missed out on the previous reviews, check them out HERE. Otherwise, I’m blasting ahead with a look at the three members of the T.U.5.C.C. Faction!

What’s all that gibberish stand for? It’s a commerce alliance called The Traders Union of the Five Circles of Cosmerrium. And not only do they orchestrate inter-planetary trade, but they’re also the ones responsible for running Hvalkatar Prison and benefiting from the labors and research conducted there. That can’t be good! My original plan was to review the Science Officer and Sentry together since they share most of the same body, but I didn’t want to leave the Engineer out, so I threw her in here too. Let’s start with the Sentry!

The Sentries are basically the guards of Hvalkatar. I can’t remember if The Sentry and Science Officer were classified as Legion Builders, but I think they were because they were the cheapest figures in the assortment. If you’re not familiar, TFH’s Legion Builders are just a classification of figures with fewer paint apps geared more towards customization and troop building. I almost passed on this fella, because I thought he looked more like an artist proof than a finished release, but I’m glad I got him because even with the drab gray finish, he looks really good. There are parts here borrowed from Olek Thygar and some new bits to give the body a more enclosed and complete spacesuit. You get some silver paint on the belt buckle and chest piece, but that’s it. The flat gray brings out the sculpted detail rather nicely, and boy are there some beautiful details in this suit! I’m not a customizer, so mine is staying flat gray and that’s fine because I could certainly see a drab suit like this being issued to the rank-and-file. I do wish it had the TU5CC emblem (seen on Slogg) printed on the shoulder. The most I’d be willing to do is maybe stencil a white ID number on the shoulders instead.

You get two heads to choose from. There’s an exposed alien head that works well with the domed space helmet, and here we do get some more paint. The creature’s skin is ebony black with some faint white among the fissures. He has six bright orange eyes set in red circles. This helmet stays on a lot better than the one that came with Olek, but I’m still not too keen on the gap in the front, which would be a bit of a problem on a pressure suit like this. Still, otherwise it looks great.

The other head is a fully enclosed and form-fitting helmet, which can be worn under the space suit bubble, but I think that looks a bit redundant, so I prefer this one with the helmet and bubble off. The helmet is the same flat gray as the suit with an opaque yellow-orange shield. The narrative claims these Sentries are of varied races, but this helmet looks like it would be a perfect fit for the alien head included. I dig it!

The Sentry comes well armed, and if we start small and work our way up, then his wrist blasters come first. We’ve seen these before a couple of times and they simply peg right into the holes on his forearm bracers, presumably to look like they could be retracted and deployed. These are cast in black plastic and they look great with this suit.

Next up is his blaster rifle. Again, we’ve seen it before, so nothing new here. It’s cast in black to match the wrist blasters and he has two trigger finger hands, so he can wield it in either hand. You do get a second set of hands, but the only difference is in the way the wrist hinge is orientated. Also, I’ll note here that the Sentry does come with those clear rods to attach accessories to the ports on his suit, but nothing he comes with really works with the ports on the suit all that well. Although, I suppose you could store the blaster rifle across his butt.

Lastly, you get a sniper rifle, and if you haven’t picked up on the pattern yet, yes we’ve seen this before and yes it’s cast in black plastic this time. I said early on in these reviews that the only gripe I really had is the lack of variety in the accessories, and now that I’m more than halfway through the wave, nearly all the accessories are repeats. Just like before, there are sockets in this rifle so you can peg in those arm blasters to give it some more power. All in all, this is a nice looking figure, even if it does lack some of that gorgeous coloring we saw on previous releases. Next up… The Science Officer!

The Science Officer is billed as a sort of combination Lab Technician and Security Guard. He utilizes nearly the same body as the Sentry with the only differences being found in the belt and the chest piece. This one is cast almost entirely in white, although you do get a little light blue-green gradient here and there which gives him a bit more of a premium look than his drab gray cousin. Add to that the brilliant metallic blue chest piece and this guy really pops on the shelf despite not sporting a lot of paint operations.

You get even more vibrant color in the alien head, which is a deep pink and has metallic green eyed protruding from the side of his noggin. This is a really cool head design and I think he’d be right at home hanging out at the Cantina on Tatooine. What’s not cool is they couldn’t bother to throw in a dome for his helmet. I seriously though mine was just missing, but when I looked up the figure on the store site, it confirmed that he didn’t come with one and that’s kind of cheap and sucks. Why give him the lower helmet piece and not the dome?

The second head is a fully enclosed piece with a blue tinted visor, and again this one matches the contours of the alien head really well. I’m not sure how that visor piece would work, as it makes it look more like a robot head. But either way I dig it a lot. I’m really tempted to pick up a couple more of these guys to display with that head!

Moving on to accessories, The Science Officer does come with a new hologram piece for his arm and it’s a blue skull. Is he talking to the skull? Is the skull an artifact being displayed on his holographic projector? Don’t know. But it looks cool and it’s one of only two new accessories we’ll be seeing today that we haven’t seen before, so I’ll happily take it!

As for guns, we get the pistols we’ve seen a few times in previous reviews. This time they are painted with a snappy silver finish and they can be pegged into his hip armor for fast draw action. This is the best use of those clear attaching rods on any of these three figures. And just like The Sentry, you get two sets of trigger finger hands, with one set hinged up and down and the other side to side.

And here’s the blaster rifle that we literally just saw! It’s still an amazing sculpt and it looks damn good in the silver finish. For some reason I have problems getting this guy’s trigger finger into the guard, so for now he’ll just be practicing proper trigger discipline. Let’s move on to the third figure in this TU5CC trifecta… The Engineer!

Oh, it’s a lady! The Engineers are billed as keeping the mechanical operations on the prison running smoothly and also as personal attendants to Highwarden Slogg’s life support systems. She introduces a pretty fresh mix of parts, but like the other two we’re not getting a whole lot of paint applications here. The suit is all black with just a silver hit on the belt buckle and a bright red disk in the middle of her chest unit.

So, I really dig this head sculpt, mainly because it looks like an alien mask with the eyeholes concealed in the design. I’m not sure if that’s what they were going for, or why I think that’s so cool, but I just do. The bulbous crimson head sports one gold and black eye right in the middle of the forehead. Damn sexy if you’re into cyclops.

You also get a fully enclosed helmeted head, which like the others retains the shape of the alien head pretty closely. This is another great looking helmet, and again, I’m tempted to nab a couple more so I can put one one each side of Slogg.

As you’ve already seen, we get the pistols again, and she can peg them into her butt. The pistols, like all of her accessories are cast in a sort of greenish-gray and they still look good.

But wait… here’s a new one! You get an Electrostaff and it’s pretty big and impressive. No doubt a good weapon for skewering prisoners as they try to escape.

And finally, here are the arm blasters… again! Eh, I can’t complain. They look great on her. And I have to keep reminding myself that yes… Mythic Legions was just as bad about recycling weapons in the early waves. I don’t know, maybe it’s because these figures have been so wildly successful since then that I thought we might get a little more variety here. At least the overly recycled weapons are pretty damn cool looking and it’s not really something that’s detracting me from enjoying these.

And that’s it for the TU5CC forces so far! We’ll be getting more in future waves, and that excites me because despite not having the gorgeous coloring we saw on the previous releases, these figures are still loads of fun and look great. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I’d love to pick up some more of these to display with the helmeted heads, but I’m trying to control myself when it comes to army building and let’s face it, even as the “budget” figures of this line, these are still pricey on the second hand market, running about $45 a pop at certain online retailers. And while I’m a bit surprised that they’re still readily available, I doubt they’re likely to last long enough to go on sale. Anyway, I’ve got one more Cosmic Legions review to go, so get ready for some bugs!

Sep 15 2023

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Golden Archive) Simon & Doric by Hasbro

A few days ago I watched D&D Honor Among Thieves again and I guess I was half a bottle into the Jameson and wound up picking up some of the figures off Amazon on clearance. I wasn’t going to review any of these, but then I came up short on time for today’s review and these were handy, so here we go. If that’s not a ringing endorsement, I don’t know what is! Random selection pulled Simon first and I decided to toss in Doric as well. Did they ever make it as a couple? Well, I doubt there will be a sequel so decide for yourself!

I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie… enough to see it twice in the theater and a couple of times now at home. Was it a great Dungeons & Dragons film? Eh, maybe not, but it sure as shit was a better D&D movie than the last one. Either way, it was really fun and I liked the characters. I also really like the design on these packages. The character art is very nice, but here’s a great example of not knowing what you’re getting inside. Also, these boxes are huge compared to the contents and they feel like they’re empty. If I was buying these in a store, I’d have serious doubts as to whether there was a figure in there at all! Let’s start with Simon.

Simon (the Sorcerer) Amur has a really solid D&D outfit and Hasbro did a great job sculpting it here. Even if I wasn’t familiar with the character, the figure just has a classic fantasy-medieval look about him. The blue tunic is textured, the tan sleeves billow out at the wrists, he’s got sculpted leather wrappings on his hands, and his shoes… well, he kind of looks like he’s wearing modern dress shoes, but it’s fine. The plastic cape has some nice texturing and there’s some muddied paint down at the edge.

Other wonderful details include the colorful satchel he wears over his shoulder and the spell reagent dispenser, which oddly enough reminded me of a birth control wheel. He also has a pouch or coin purse on the belt next to it. There’s just tons little bits and bobs here that make this figure feel like a labor of love.

The head sculpt is a pretty decent likeness, but I’m not really familiar with the actor. The only other thing he’s been in that I heard of was one of the endless Jurassic Park sequels, and I stopped bothering with those a while ago. The features use the modern printing method for the eyes and lips, and the hair sculpt is solid.

Simon comes with two accessories: The Hither-Thither Staff and the Helm of Disjunction. The staff is very well done with some sculpted detail in the shaft and some paint hits. The pale blue crystal at the top looks great. I’m glad we got this as an accessory because it was a really fun gimmick in the film.

The helmet also has some great detailing and some paint, but it’s cast in that shitty thin gold plastic that Hasbro sometimes dips into. But at least he can wear it.

The articulation here is mostly what you might expect with Hasbro’s six-inch lines. In fact, the only disappointing thing is the rotating hinges in the elbows which have a really bad range of motion. Poor Simon can’t even pull off a 90-degree bend and that’s just unacceptable. He comes with just the one pair of hands, with the right one sculpted to hold the staff and the left hand in a spell-slinging gesture. OK, let’s move on to Doric.

Doric the Druid was a fun character! Once again, I didn’t know the actress from anything else, but she was certainly good in the movie. This costume didn’t give Hasbro as much to work with as Simon’s but I think they still turned in a solid effort. The tunic has a layered look to it with some soft texturing. There are stitching lines sculpted into her shoulder pads, and she has a removable feathered shroud that goes over her right shoulder, which I think Hasbro counts as her accessory. Yeah, that’s pretty cheap! Her tail is pretty cool and it plugs into her ass with a ball joint so you get a little basic poseability out of it.

Sadly, Hasbro didn’t do as well with this portrait as they did with Simon’s. It stumbles a little bit in the sculpt and printing both. The hair looks nice and her little horns are cool. You can’t really see her pointed ears under the hair, which is a shame. I don’t think this turned out terribly, but it ain’t great either. I thought the actress was pretty cute and it doesn’t come across here very well.

Doric does have her little pop-up slingshot on her left arm bracer, which is pretty well done considering the scale. I was actually surprised they even attempted it, but it still doesn’t count as an accessory to me. Maybe Hasbro could have included some sculpted animal forms? I think that was a big miss. The lack of extras here just feels really wanting, especially with how big the boxes are.

Doric’s articulation is identical to Simon and that means she can’t pull off 90-degrees in those elbows either. I think that’s an even bigger tragedy here because she seemed like a pretty agile character. All in all Doric is OK, but I think Simon turned out better.

Yeah, today’s review was kind of quick and dirty, but at least I was able to turn something in. I don’t think these figures are at all bad, but they sure aren’t worth $25 a pop. Thankfully I got them for $12 each which is why I’m giving them a pass. They look good with The Beholder and I’m anxious to put them up against the Displacer Beast, which I will get to reviewing eventually. Indeed, I hope to get through all the figures here eventually, but they aren’t going to be high priority, so maybe I’ll save them for when I need some quick content or just do them all in one big speed-review.

Sep 13 2023

Popup Parade (Cowboy Bebop) Jet Black, Edward & Ein by Max Factory

A couple of weeks back I started checking out Popup Parade’s Cowboy Bebop figures with Spike and Faye and I promised I would be back soon to round out the bunch with Jet Black and Edward. And here we are back in the saddle again! So, get everybody and the stuff together… Okay, three, two, one, let’s jam!

Last time I commented on how the packaging here is a mixed bag. On the one hand, the packaging is practically a display case with the sides, top and front all translucent plastic, and only the illustrated backer to block the view of the figure from behind. They’re also collector friendly! On the downside, the art design is so generic that you really have to look very close just to find the name fo the characters and the franchise. Both figures come completely assembled and only need to be plugged into their base to be ready for display. Let’s start with Jet!

Like Spike and Faye, Jet is posed with his sidearm drawn and ready. In this case it’s down in front of him as he scans off in the distance to see what needs shooting. It strikes a nice balance between a piece of museum style composition with just a whiff of excitement that shit is about to go down. I really love the body sculpt here. Jet is nice and buff, there’s some rumples to his blue suit, he’s got big chonky kicks, shoulder guards and they did a really nice job on the sculpted cuts of his artificial arm.

The coloring is also excellent with some gradient shades to the blue suit, a rich matte gray for the boots, and some red from the undershirt visible through the short sleeve and the plunging collar. You also get an extra splash of color in the sculpted yellow and red insignia on his back.

The portrait is OK. I think the overall likeness is pretty good and I love how they sculpted his beard and sideburns. You also get the implant under his right eye and the scar bisecting his eyebrow. Honestly, the only thing about this portrait that gives me pause is the expression in the eyes, which just look kind of startled to me, and not really in character for Jet. It’s not enough to ruin the figure, but I think they could have done better. Moving on to Radical Edward and Ein…

Or is that Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivruski the Fourth? Either way, doing both Edward and Ein as one release was surely the way to go here and I love what they went with these two. I’ve had a few nitpicks here and there with the rest of the Bebop crew, but I think they nailed Ed in every way possible. Everything about her is just pitch perfect, from the way she’s walking to the expression on her face. I also love that she’s got an armful of Ein, rather than just having Ein standing on the base.

The skin tone here is a lot warmer and more even than some of the others and not at all waxy. I also dig the gloss finish to her shorts. But possibly the real show stealer here are the perfect little pads on Ein’s feet. It’s just adorable.

Everything about the portrait here is spot on perfect, from the huge expressive eyes to the rosey cheeks. I really dig the way the hair is sculpted to spike out behind the goggles. Ein’s expression is fantastic too.

As I mentioned last time, I paid $30 for these, but the MSRP is around $45. The former is pretty fair, the later is pushing it. I think it’s just worth noting that I’ve picked up prize figures for less that I would say could give these a run for their money. I actually think Jet and Edward feel like a bit better quality work than Spike and Faye, but I think they’re all pretty solid and they sure do look great together. It never ceases to amaze me how little Cowboy Bebop merch is out there, so it’s nice to have the characters represented on my shelf, even if I would much rather have them as Figmas or Figuarts.

Sep 11 2023

DC Super Powers: Batman & Robin and Batmobile by McFarlane

McFarlane has been absolutely killing it with their retro 3 3/4-inch DC Super Powers revival. Now, I am not going for a complete set of these figures, as some of the modern versions just don’t appeal to me in this format, but I sure am going for all the vehicles and whatever figures I need to toss into them. So far, I’ve checked out the first assortment of figures and The Batwing along with Wonder Woman and her Invisible Jet. Today I’m checking out a new Batman release as well as Robin and the Batmobile. Atomic Batteries to Power… Turbines to Speed… Let’s start with the figures!

Here’s the dynamic duo on their cards and these look absolutely gorgeous. The recreation of the old Super Powers deco is so on point, it’s enough to make my memory water. The character art is really nice too and I’ll admit to having shed a tear when tearing these open. I actually kept the second release of Wonder Woman carded so I’d have at least one example of this packaging. I’d be tempted to get another of this Batman and do the same, but he’s been tough to find. One big improvement here is that the cloth capes are no longer secured to the tray with a plastic piece, so it’s nice to know that McFarlane listened to that feedback.

Nothing against the first Batman we got in this line, but this is the one I really wanted and I’m glad he got added to the roster so soon. I was also surprised to see that he’s not a straight repaint but rather features new sculpting. The lighter gray and blue suit looks awesome with the blue coming across as particularly snappy and the yellow utility belt and black and yellow oval bat symbol rounding out a wonderfully classic look. My only real gripe here is that the cape is a little rough around the edges at the shoulders, but that may just be the case with the one I got. As usual, these figures have seven points of articulation, meaning the basic five plus knee hinges.

Robin is looking every bit as good as Batman with a gob-smacking, retina melting deco of bright red, green, and yellow with some black thrown in for the boots and the R-symbol. Again, it’s just pure classical design goodness. The head sculpt looks a tad chonky, but I do love the hair sculpt and the mask is part of the sculpt and not just painted on. Both of these figures are just fantastic, and now all we need is a bitchin ride to put them in.

And here we are, the Super Powers Batmobile! The vehicle comes in a fully enclosed box with more of that gorgeous Super Powers art design. You get an illustration of the Batmobile on the front and some photos calling out the features on the back. There’s a little assembly required, popping on the rear fins, and they are designed to pop off again so it can be stored back in the box. It may be a trivial thing for some, but I love it because then I don’t feel guilty about keeping the packaging! Are you ready for me to get gushing? Let’s get gushing!

Because, I am absolutely blown away by how drop dead gorgeous this toy is. I had some pretty cool Batmobiles growing up. The MEGO one in particular comes to mind. But if I had this toy when I was a kid, I would have absolutely lost my little mind. I am not at all exaggerating when I say for me this toy totally upstages the two 89 Batman Batmobiles that McFarlane released. Not to take away from those, because I love them, but this! This is just rocking hot retro-style bat sex in toy car form. It takes the basics of the vintage Kenner Super Powers Batmobile (which was basically the Challenge of the Super Friends design) and adds bodacious curves in all the right spots. It also takes the Bat Mask hood and turns it into a shield on the front of the car, which I think looks much cooler. The windshield is one sweeping horseshoe of transparent orange plastic, the wheels are silver disks with black bat symbol outlines and the raised bat fins give this roadster a sporty ass. This design is just bat car perfection.

And the colors! The midnight blue body and black trim are cast in super shiny plastic making this car look like it belongs slowly rotating on a turntable under the showroom lights. You get a bit more of a matte finish on the front bumpers, ramming bar, and bat mask shield, but everything else is pure sheen. The back of the car has red tail lights and orange thrust stickers to add a splash more color. Oh yeah, I really dig the extra bat mask sculpted into the rear end. The oval yellow and black bat symbols on the doors is the icing on this automotive bat cake!

There are two play gimmicks built into the Batmobile. The first is the extended ramming bar, which springs out when you press the Bat Mask on the hood. The mechanism works well, and it seems to hold in the retracted mode pretty solid. I like this design much better than a capture claw and I could just see this thing smashing through a wall of plastic cups in an 80’s toy commercial.

The second play feature are the added boosters which pop out the back when you lift the engine compartment cover. This is really cool, although some paint or flame stickers would really made the thrusters pop.

I also have to call out the amazing attention to detail in the cockpit. Sure it’s all stickers, except for the bat-shaped steering wheel, but the stickers look amazing with all sorts of controls, gauges and knobs. All fo these are pre-applied and they are nice and straight.

The Batman and Robin figures fit perfectly into the seats, with or without their capes. And boy do they look great in there!

I am absolutely beside myself over how beautiful this toy is. It is a pitch perfect blending of old and new, taking that boxy old design and giving it sensual curves and some inspired design tweaks. Everything about this Batmobile just oozes toyetic charm and it may indeed be my favorite Batmobile toy to date. Yeah, that’s saying a lot! It’s been on my desk since I opened it and I’ve been pushing it around, screeching its tires, and just admiring how bad ass it is with the figures inside. It is just a stupendously gorgeous toy that makes me wish I was 10 years old again. It’s still readily available at many online retailers at $29.99 and I can’t recommend it enough.

Sep 8 2023

Silverhawks Ultimates: Mon-Star (Powered Up) by Super7

I’m down to just three more Super7 Silverhawks Ultimates figures to check out here before I’m caught up: Two of the Limbo Gang and the leader of the Silverhawks himself. And by the title of this review, you already know that today I’m going for the one and only, big daddy crime boss of Limbo Galaxy, Mon-Star in his powered up form. Say it with me, guys… Moon Star of Limbo, give me the might, the muscle, the menace of Mon-Star!

Yes, this is the second version of Mon-Star to be released, with the first being his regular form, which in all honesty is pretty terrifying enough. But that’s nothing compared to what we get here. The box is absolutely huge and follows the same design beats as what we’ve been seeing all along in this line. There’s a snappy crimson foil sleeve that covers the window box and the presentation here is just retina-meltingly gorgeous. It takes a lot to get me to save my action figure packaging, but I’m keeping the boxes for all of these! But… No prison or box can contain the might of Mon-Star, so let’s get him out and take a look!

Mon-Star measures in at just over 11-inches, and that is beyond impressive for a 7-inch scale figure line. Just look at him next to his normal form. With the energies of the Moon Star’s light, Mon-Star goes from a pretty buff beast dude to this walking armored monstrosity. I love how clean this design is, with lots of smooth angled surfaces, but then you get the more organic sinewy looking stuff in his midriff and the chiseled chest and flared shoulders. The bulk of the suit is cast in different shades of crimson plastic, with black rotating hinges for the shoulders, elbows, knees and hips, and some orange points on the elbows and knees and the little spikes on his boots. All the joints feel great and he’s just an all around walking tank of terror!

You get two heads and they’re both all kinds of pissed off. His face is a severe mash up of hard angles with a more rounded brow. His grill is a permanent grimace of sharp orange teeth and the array of spikes protruding from all sides of his head is warning sign to keep away.

The alternate head is pretty much the same but it has a slot in place of his left eye so you can peg in the Moon Star effect part. It’s cast in semi-translucent orange plastic and looks pretty good.

Despite his bulk, Mon-Star has some decent rotating hinges to keep him upright while posing. The range of motion in most of those joints is a bit limited, as we’ve come to expect in this line, but it doesn’t feel as limiting with Mon-Star because he’s just such a slab of armor that probably wouldn’t have much agility in real life either. You get a copious number of hand options with this guy, including pointing hands, accessory holding hands, fists, graspy hands, relaxed hands, adding up to five pairs total!

Mon-Star comes with two sets of effect parts for his elbows, which can double as thrusters or cannons. These simply peg into the sockets that jut out from the backs of his elbow joints. The thruster effects look really good!

I’m not as impressed with the blast effect pieces, but they’re OK. I honestly can’t remember him doing this in a single episode and I just re-watched the whole thing last year, so I think the Jameson is really starting to addle my brain.

You also get Mon-Star’s Laser Lance, which is a really great looking accessory. It captures the animated aesthetic of the show’s tech perfectly and you get quite a bit of paint on it as well. He can hold it with his trigger/pointing hands but it’s so damn long it’s hard for him to wield it comfortably, especially with limited range in those elbows.

And finally there is Sky Shadow! We saw the regular version of this guy with the previous Mon-Star release and now we get him in all his Cybernetic glory. I dig this fella a lot, even if he does look like a robot bat with lobster claws! There’s some limited articulation in the wings where they meet the body and he the turrets under his wings rotate.

Holy hell what a cool figure! Monstar is huge, heavy, and overall imposing and another great addition to the Super7 Silverhawks line up. And he can even fit in the throne although it’s not quite as roomy as when he’s in his normal form. At $85 he’s the most expensive figure in the line and it’s easy to see where the money went because there is a lot of plastic here. I’ll try to swing back to revisit this line sooner rather than later. And with only two figures left… who will be next?