Monthly Archives: October 2023

Oct 30 2023

Universal Monsters: Ultimate Dracula by NECA

Happy Halloween Eve! It sucks that Halloween falls between two of my regular update days, so let’s just call this my Halloween Day review and you can even save it to read tomorrow if that makes you happier. Anyway… I’m rounding out the weekend of spookiness with a look at a figure I’ve been dying to finally open! Now I’ll confess, I’m a Hammer Dracula kinda guy, so Christopher Lee Drac will always be my ideal version of the character. But I’ll happily give props to the original 1931 Universal release. The Transylvania bits are some of the most atmospheric sequences I’ve ever seen in a horror film. The sets look massive and all the more impressive for when it was shot. And finally, the casting and performances are sublime. It’s easy to see why Bela Lugosi is still considered the only Dracula for some. Dwight Frye plays the hell out of Renfield, with such a gulf of range between his early appearance as his “normal self” and later after he is in Dracula’s thrall. And while Peter Cushing will always be my Van Helsing, Edward Van Sloan is so damn good in this film. With all that having been said, the film tends to fizzle out for me BIG TIME and the best stuff is definitely in the first half. But before we get into it, if you need to get caught up, I’ve already had a look at NECA’s Universal Frankenstein’s Monster and The Mummy, and I just checked out The Wolfman a few days ago. Don’t worry, Gillman, your day will come!

NECA does a wonderful job with their Universal Monster packaging. It’s the usual window box with a front flap secured with velcro that offers the best of both worlds. The front flap has a recreation of the Dracula movie poster and the window gives you a great look at all the goodies inside. Everything is collector friendly, and I do actually keep the boxes to all of these Universal Monster releases.

The Count comes out of the box wearing his elegantly sculpted black tuxedo and looking every bit of undead daper chic. Everything about the outfit is so well done from the wrinkles on the lapels to the slight pull sculpted into the buttons on the vest. His iconic gold medallion (even though it has little actual screen time) is sculpted around his neck with red ribbon, and you get a nice bit of ruffled finery around the collar.

The cape is an absolutely genius design, as it is cloth but with a plastic collar that cinches around the neck to hold it in place. This makes it go on easy, but it stays on really well too. The garment is made of extremely light cloth, which means it falls about the figure naturally. Yes, the inside lining should be a different color, but I’m willing to sacrifice that for a cape that fits and flows this naturally.

You get three different heads to display on the figure and all of them are excellent. The figure comes boxed with the somewhat neutral head, and it is a fantastic likeness for Lugosi. The texture of the skin is so realistic, the deep set eyes are rather mesmerizing, and the prominent, arched eyebrows are perfect. Even better, each head has its own neck piece that connects deep in the neck socket. This not only allows for two ball joints of articulation, but also makes removing the heads and swapping them out a lot easier than with some of NECA’s past figures.

The other two heads feature a smiling expression and a fierce expression that suggests it’s bloodsucking time! And yes, it accurately depicts him without fangs. Both of these heads have the same excellent likenesses. I would have liked to have a top hat included, but that would have probably required a fourth head with it sculpted on, but that’s just me being greedy.

The articulation is standard stuff for NECA’s modern figures and that means lots of rotating hinges. Dracula doesn’t really need to be super agile, but I would have liked a little more bend in those elbows. You get two sets of hands: Relaxed and graspy as well as an accessory-specific right hand. It’s not a lot of hands, but the essentials are here. I mean, it’s not like I needed my Lugosi Dracula to have fists.

Most of the accessories are confined to the Transylvania part of the movie, which makes sense since the figure is wearing the medallion. First up is the candlestick, which has a hand specifically designed to hold it. It’s a really nice sculpt, especially with the wax dripping down the sides and overlapping the candle holder.

Next up is a tray, two goblets and a bottle of “very old wine.” These were on the table in Renfield’s room when Dracula offered him some refreshment. These are nice pieces, but maybe an odd choice to include. I can’t recall whether there were actually two goblets of wine poured on the table, but it’s odd to have two because Dracula specifically comments that he doesn’t drink… wine.

The final accessory is Dracula in his bat form and this comes with a base and a clear plastic post with a ball joint to connect the bat to. It’s an excellent addition, but that ball joint is a tight fit and the post is so frail, it’s just a breakage waiting to happen. The sculpt is great, and if you want it to be even more movie accurate, you can tie stings to it!

NECA’s Universal Monsters have been absolutely outstanding and Dracula keeps that trend rolling along. The sculpting is absolutely superb, the cape is a brilliant design, and the Lugosi likeness on each of the heads is a homerun. The accessories are fine, but I might have exchanged that tray of wine for something like Van Helsing’s mirrored cigarette box or an additional head with a top hat. Still, I’m really thrilled to have a Drac figure this nice in my collection. And I’m even more excited to be getting the Christopher Lee Dracula from the Hammer films!

Oct 29 2023

An American Werewolf in London: Ultimate Nightmare Demon by NECA

I’m in the middle of a bonus NECA horror weekend trifecta, just to squeeze a few extra spooky bits of plastic in before Halloween. Yesterday I had a look at The Wolfman from NECA’s Universal Monsters series and today we’re going to fast forward exactly forty years ahead to 1981 and John Landis’ amazing comedy-horror An American Werewolf in London. I hesitate to give it the comedy-horror moniker, because despite the more flippant and whimsical elements, I found this movie to be absolutely terrifying when I first saw it. And if I’m being honest, I still find parts of it to be shockingly effective when it comes to the horror. Certainly more so than many films that have come and gone since. Sadly, I don’t have the Werewolf figure, as I’ve yet to actually see it on the shelves, so I’ll probably have to break down and get it online. In the meantime, let’s look at the Ultimate Nightmare Demon!

Here’s the package, and y’all know what to expect by now. A window box with a front flap that secures with velcro. But what’s unexpected is the lovely lenticular effect on the front panel, which is the very definition of chef’s kiss! You didn’t have to do it, NECA, but you threw in a little extra panache. The film’s Nightmare Demon sequence involves a squad of military demons bursting into the Kessler home and massacring the whole family. It’s absolutely balls-out mental, brutal, and one of the most disturbingly memorable scenes in a flick that is already full of hard to forget imagery. How crazy is it that we actually have action figures from this scene now? And who else, but NECA would deliver them?

So, the figure is designed to be displayable as any one of the cracked out demon hit squad that pisses all over the Kessler’s peaceful family night. That’s thanks mostly to the inclusion of four heads. The figure itself sports what looks like WW2 era military fatigues, including a pocketed tunic, high boots, gloves, and a belt and shoulder strap. It all looks great with plenty of sculpted stitching and rumples. There’s some immaculate silver paint for the buttons and buckles, and matte black used for the boots and gloves. Standard Ultimates series articulation applies, with some decent range of motion in those elbows.

The figure comes with the helmeted head with what looks like a half-werewolf face all rotted away. So, I think this sequence was supposed to represent the struggle David was having as the werewolf curse was overtaking him. As a result, I’ve always thought these demons were supposed to represent different phases of lycanthropy, ranging from sort of human to full on werewolf. I’m not sure if that’s really the case, but this one looks like a werewolf with his face melting off. It’s my favorite of the masks used in this sequence, but surprisingly my least favorite of these heads. It’s not bad, but there’s a lot going on here in a fairly small lump of plastic, and I don’t think it quite does the prosthetic justice. Still, it’s plenty cool nonetheless.

The next one up is a bit more human, but kind of looks like Michael Berryman on a really bad day. The bulging eyes and pronounced teeth look great and he has points to the ears. Again, I kind of always saw this as a dude in the very first stage of changing to werewolf, but it may just be intended as a scary monster head. Either way, this is a fabulous sculpt with so much detail in the facial creases and some excellent texture to the skin.

The third head is also sort of human, but showing some more pronounced wolf features. You get a lot of the same creasing to the face, a sort of mohawk on his coif and patches of hair forming mutton chops on his cheeks. The ears are atrophied but more pointed and it looks like there are chunks bitten out of his cheek. His mouth is a mess of teeth and he has jaundiced bulging eyes.

And finally we have full on wolf head, which was such a beautiful mask in the film and I think it’s reproduced here quite well. The bloody bulging eyes are super creepy and his pronounced jowls and teeth still have a bit of that rubbery look like they did with the actual mask in the film. There’s a great use of high gloss for the bloody mouth too.

There are a bevy of accessories to use with the figures including some hands that are intended for specific accessories. For starters, you get three guns and a right trigger finger hand to wield them. The first is a British Sterling and this is an absolutely gorgeous little sculpt of this iconic weapon. There’s some especially nice attention spent on the checkered texturing of the grip.

The second gun is a classic Uzi, easily one of the most iconic movie weapons of the 80s and again beautifully recreated here. We’ve definitely seen some Uzis from NECA before and I’m not sure if this is a recycled sculpt or not, but it’s got to be one of the best renditions of this weapon in this scale I’ve ever owned.

And finally, the Mac-11, another pretty iconic go-to gun for 80s films and a design that I’ve never been a big fan of. Nonetheless, it’s another great sculpt and a welcome addition to my 1:7 scale arsenal.

In addition to the guns, you get a pair of bowie knives, which I think are supposed to be the same but one just has blood on it. It’s the blade that was used by one of the demons to hold David in check while he watched his family killed and then it was used to slit his throat. It’s easy for figure companies to phone in knives at this scale, but NECA always gives it their all, and these are really nice pieces with painted rivets running through the grip and clipped point blades. There’s a right hand made specifically to hold the knife, but the left hand works fine as well.

And lastly, you get a burning torch with a very nice flame effect. And once again, you get a wider grip right hand made specifically for this accessory.

I picked this figure up when it went on sale for about $22 a little while ago and while I’m really cracking down on buying multiple figures, I kind of regret not picking up two or three more to recreate the squad. Yeah, I nitpicked one of the heads, but you have to realize that I was obsessed with monster effects when I was a teenager and I remember drooling over pictures of Rick Bakers’ work in magazines and I really wanted to own one like it. But, apart from that, the sculpting here is outrageously good and the accessories are on point. And just to think that the demons from this sequence actually now exist as action figures makes me so grateful that NECA is around and throwing their love at this sort of thing. And likewise that there’s enough weirdos like me willing to throw their money at it. I’d still love to see Jack Goodman get the Ultimates treatment, but I’m not holding my breath.

And I’ll be back tomorrow for the final spooky figure review before Halloween!

Oct 28 2023

Universal Monsters: The Wolfman by NECA

Updates on a weekend? Yup, there wasn’t enough time for me to get all the spooky reviews in before Halloween on Tuesday, so I’m squeezing in a couple extra today and tomorrow. And it seems only fitting that my next three reviews will be brought to you from those masters of spooky plastic: NECA! Let’s have a look at The Wolfman from the 1941 classic… um, THE WOLFMAN!

Of all the Universal Monster movies, I probably have the least history with this one. Indeed, when I sat down to watch it again this week, I realized that it had been quite a few years since I last checked it out, whereas I probably watch most of the others at least once every October. I don’t dislike the film, but apart from a few brief sequences, it just isn’t all that atmospheric or spooky to me. Larry Talbot is a fine character and I genuinely feel for him throughout the movie, but the script feels so contrived that it’s hard to take it too seriously. And while the makeup is impressive for the time, I just don’t find it nearly as creepy as any of the other Universal Monsters. Anyway… the figure comes in the same style window box with front flap that we usually see out of NECA. The front features the movie poster and everything is collector friendly. Time to paw this thing open…

You get a couple ways to display Larry, either in his human form or his wolfified form. Starting with regular Larry, there’s nothing terribly exciting here, but everything is still extremely well done. He has a green button down shirt with a nice wash and lots of sculpted stitching and wrinkles. Below the waist he has a thin belt and brown slacks, which are rolled up to his calves revealing his bare feet. Yes, you can only display regular Larry sans shoes and it’s designed that way to make make the transformation work. NECA is one of the few companies out there who can make a compelling figure out of a guy in regular street clothes.

I really dig the head sculpt here. NECA not only nailed the Lon Chaney Jr. likeness, but also the gee-whiz, befuddled look he has on his face for most of the film. It’s a demeanor that definitely helps make him more sympathetic, providing he isn’t peeping into your bedroom window with a telescope and then telling you about it to get you to go on a date with him, because then he’s just a creep.

You get one accessory that’s meant for Larry in his human form and that’s the wolfhead cane he buys from the antique store while creeping on Gwen. This is a superb recreation of the prop used in the film. It’s perfect for stepping out on the town or beating the piss out of goddamn werewolf gypsies. You also get a human right hand designed expressly for holding the cane.

Larry can be transformed to the titular Wolfman by replacing his hands and feet, and obviously the head. The feet peg out where the legs connect with the pants, which works really well. The sculpted fur on the hands and feet looks great and the feet are even sculpted so that he is standing on his toes, giving them a slight hint of that doggie hind-leg anatomy. As a result you get a small disk stand to help out. I was able to get him to pose pretty well without resorting to the stand, but I will definitely use it when I put him on my shelf for extended periods of time.

You get two wolf heads and both are excellent. The sharpness and detail in the sculpted fur is top notch, as are the teeth jutting from behind his lower lip. I actually think the makeup design works a bit better for me on the figure than in the movie. I would have loved a bit of high gloss on that nose, but otherwise everything here is just fantastic.

The alternate head is a growly one, which is the one I will choose for everyday display. Here you get the mouth open and the upper row of teeth showing as well. He’s got a side eye going on here, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it doesn’t bother me at all. Again, I can’t say enough about how sharp and well sculpted the fur is on these heads. NECA really knocked it out of the park!

The articulation here is everything you would expect from NECA, which means lots of rotating hinges. I will say the elbow hinges give a lot more range of motion than I’m used to seeing in their figures, which is certainly nice. You get an additional pair of swivels where the feet connect tot he pants. You only get one pair of wolf hands, which seems a little lacking, but they work well for most poses, so it’s no big deal.

There’s one accessory included for the wolf form and that’s a pretty cool bear trap. This thing has a rusty patina to it and it’s fully articulated with a locking arm and hinged jaws. It always impresses me to no end how much attention NECA will spend on one-off accessories like this one.

I’ll admit, I almost skipped this figure, because I’m rather indifferent toward the film, but after getting him in hand, I’m glad I didn’t. He’s another fine example of how this license is in the best hands out there. NECA practically exists for just this thing, and it never ceases to amaze me that you can go to your local Big Box retailer in 2023 and buy a figure from a 1940s movie right off the shelf. He does feel a tad light on the accessories when compared to the other releases, but I can’t really think of anything critical that’s missing. It’s just another great addition to the classic monsters lineup.

Oct 27 2023

DC Essentials: DCeased Supergirl and Batgirl by DC Direct

Well I said I might work in another comic based Halloween review before we hit the big day and here we are. This one is really out of left field, because I stopped collecting DC Direct figures back when the DC Icons line went out. But… I saw these pop up on sale a while back and I tossed them into my cart with some other stuff. They arrived, I cursed myself for buying stuff just because its cheap, and they got put in a closet at which point I promptly forgot about them. Until now! Suffice it to say, these are the only two figures from this line in my collection.

Wow is this a blast from the past! I was always a fan of the DC Direct packaging and the way it showed off the figures. In this case you got a partially white window box with top and bottom bands color coded to the character, so purple for Batgirl and blue for Supergirl. Sure, there’s a lot of wasted space in that packaging and there are no accessories or extras for either figure. But I think this presentation had such a clean and premium feel about. The photos on the side panels also made these look really nice on the shelf. I never read the DCeased comic, but then again I never read all of Marvel’s Zombies either. The whole concept appeals to me a lot more as action figures than it does as a story line for a comic. Let’s start with Supergirl!

This is a nice looking figure, but in case you can’t tell, this is just the regular Supergirl figure with a bit of bloody paint added to the body and a new head sculpt. It’s a little more interesting for me, since I never owned the regular release, but I think this would be a hard sell at full retail if I had owned the original. The costume is mostly painted on, with the only unique sculpting found in the skirt, cape, and feet. The colors are nice and vibrant, but the red paint on the upper thighs doesn’t match the red plastic used for the lower legs. The pleated skirt looks good and doesn’t hinder the hip movement too badly. In addition to some splotches of bloody paint there’s some dirt added to the back of the cape.

But hey, that new head sculpt sure is nice! Kara has a really vicious expression with exposed teeth and milky dead eyes. There are some deep gashes on her face which look appropriately gnarly and blood everywhere. It’s a really unsettling look on the character, since I attribute her to being so pure and kindhearted. Very well done.

Articulation on the figure is pretty good. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double hinges in the elbows, and ball joints in the wrists. The hips are ball jointed, the knees are double hinged, there are swivels in the thighs, and you get hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. There’s a ball joint under the chest and another in the neck. I’d say the lack of extra hands is really conspicuous, but I guess the graspy hands are good enough for Zombie posing. On to Batgirl!

Obviously this is the Burnside Batgirl, which is a design I’m rather fond of, even if I didn’t care much for the comic. Unlike Supergirl, this figure has a lot of unique sculpting all over. I dig the way the tunic ends just above her hips, and the way the cape folds over the front of her shoulders and has sculpted gold buttons holding it in place. The bat symbol is sculpted, the wrist bracers are sculpted, and the boots have some great detail in the laces. She also has a belt sculpted from a separate piece that’s worn by the figure. The black and purple looks nice with all the yellow tossed in. I love this costume and the figure pulls it off well. Like Supergirl, all the zombification in the body is just done with bloody paint splatters, but man I do really love the bloody fingers!

Once again, the new head sculpt is quality stuff and possibly even more disturbing than Kara’s. Here we get an open bloody mouth with some nice use of gloss to make it extra gross. There are some deep cuts on her face, her hair is sprouting through a hole in the top of the cowl, and her eyes have yellowed irises giving Babs a perfect cracked-out undead look. The paint on the cowl could have been a little cleaner as there’s quite a bit of black slop on here ear, but there’s so much going on with this portrait, it isn’t overtly obvious to me.

Articulation here is identical to what we saw with Kara and that’s a good thing because both figures are loads of fun to play with.

These are both very nice figures on their own, but DCD definitely took the cheap way out here. The new head sculpts are excellent and the blood splatter is well done, but it would have been nice to see some re-sculpting done to the costumes. Even if I had been collecting this line at the time, there’s no way I would have paid retail to get these undead variants. And to be perfectly honest, the only reason I bought these on clearance at $11 each was because I thought they would scale better with McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line, but they are way too small for that. As it is, these will be relegated to a DC-related figure Tote… dead and buried.

Oct 25 2023

Marvel Legends (Khonshu Wave): Zombie Scarlet Witch and Zombie Iron Man by Hasbro

How weird is it to have a Marvel Legends review turn up in the middle of Halloween festivities, eh? Well, I love comics and I love Halloween so I jumped at the opportunity. And who knows? Maybe this won’t be the only Comic-Halloween crossover this week! Anyway, I had already stopped collecting complete waves of Legends by the time this second What If? inspired assortment hit the stores, and to be honest the only reason I picked up these two were because they hit deep discount on Amazon. The Konshu BAF actually looks pretty cool, but there’s no way I’m buying an Agent Woo or another Disney+ Loki figure to build him.

These figures come in the windowless packaging and honestly I don’t mind it much for Marvel Legends. The images on the boxes tend to be pretty close to what you get inside and by now most people probably know what to expect from this line. Besides, I throw these boxes out anyway. As the front of the package boldly exclaims, these are based on the animated What If? series from Disney+. This was the last of the D+ Marvel shows I tried to watch in good faith, but I couldn’t get through most of the episodes. Let’s start with Scarlet Witch…

Oh wow, this figure turned out great! She’s got a wonderfully creepy Deadite vibe going on and while the eye is inevitably drawn to the magnificent hair sculpt as the stand-out feature, everything about this figure is really well done. While it’s based on an animated design, I think it toes the line well enough to work with the regular MCU or comic figures. The outfit includes a shredded version of Wanda’s MCU look with the red overcoat over a red corset, black trousers, and black boots. There are holes sculpted into the jacket and the sculpted sleeve arms have similar damage and even display some exposed bones. You could possibly argue that the costume looks a bit too clean, but I can’t deny how beautiful the colors are here. The red is gorgeous and looks great alongside the matte and gloss black.

But as great as the body looks, the portrait remains the real showpiece here. The crazy hair is absolutely superb as it flies in every which way. The head sculpt shows a Zombie Wanda with a fierce visage, her downturned mouth showing teeth, blood smeared on her face and her eyes all glassy and void of pupils. This has got to be one of my favorite Legends head sculpts in a long while!

The articulation is better than we see with many Legends gals, as the elbows are double hinged and complimented with swivels in the biceps. The elbows are pinless but the knees are not. She comes with one pair of hands, which are of the spell-slinging variety and you get two hex power effect pieces to snake around her wrists. Because Zombies are bad enough, but hex-powered Zombies will really ruin your whole day. Let’s shamble on over to Zombie Iron Man…

This figure looks pretty good, but Zombie Wanda is a hard act to follow, and Undead Tony ain’t quite up to the challenge. The suit has a bit of Extremis flavor to me with just a bit more bulk and organic curves from the MCU models. I like it a lot and the red finish has a beautiful new car shine to it with some splotches of filth sprayed very sparingly here and there. There’s a little sculpted damage to the suit, including a missing panel on the right side of his abs, showing some exposed ribs, and a piece taken out of the left forearm. A bit of gold and silver painted accents add to the figure’s sharp deco.

The head sculpt here is pretty good, but again not nearly as good as Wanda’s. This one looks a lot more animated, which is fine considering the source, but some of the details, like the sprayed on mustache, is wanting. Still, the rotted holes in his cheeks and the open mouth cavity are pretty damn cool. He also has a rotted out nose and two yellow pupil-less eyes. The hair sculpt is a bit chunky, but not bad at all.

Zombie Stark comes with two pairs of hands and two repulsor blast effect parts. The hands include one pair of fists and a pair of open repulsor hands, which have no articulation in the wrist. The effect parts are the same pieces we’ve seen before. Here they are cast in translucent blue and they plug into the holes in the open hands.

I picked up these figures at $13 each and I’m really happy I did, especially since I already had Zombie Cap from the previous What If? wave and these three look great together. Wanda is the stand out figure in the trio for me, but Iron Man and Cap are no slouch either. It’ll be interesting to see if Hasbro dips into this well again, and to be honest now that I have three of them, chances are I might not wait for clearance if any other Marvel Zombies turn up. Now, if only I had some DC Zombies to look at on Friday… hmm…

Oct 23 2023

Masque of the Red Death (Figura Obscura) by The Four Horsemen

It’s a week until Halloween, and I’m throwing FFZ into full on Horror mode to compliment the Thirty-One Days of Horror Review Reposts that I’ve been running on Twitter. In addition to this week’s usual three articles, I’ll be doing a couple extra for next weekend and of course one more on Halloween Day. And to kick things off, today I’m having a look at The Four Horsemen’s latest offering in their Figura Obscura subline. These one-off releases have been horror themed and I’ve skipped them all until this one, mainly because I’m a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and to a lesser extent a fan of the Vincent Price film based pretty loosely on Poe’s story, The Masque of the Red Death!

You get some damn fine premium packaging here. The figure comes in a window box with a heavy tri-fold cover that attaches to the sides with magnets. There’s some gorgeous character art on the front and the back has a parchment recounting a synopsis of the story the figure is based on. You also get a little booklet that reprints the entire short story, which is a great bonus and definitely worth a read this Halloween if you haven’t experienced it.

Remove the tri-fold and you get a standard window box with a window cut out on top to let some light in. The back of the tri-fold also has some excellent artwork to serve as a backdrop while displaying the figure, and I’ll include a shot of that at the end. The figure is positioned on the tray in rather tight quarters thanks to the Grandfather Clock taking up a good bit of the real estate in there. There’s a second tray nested underneath, which has a few more accessories. Everything is collector friendly and with a box this good, I plan on keeping it. Of course, the figure is scaled with TFH’s 6-inch Mythic Legions line and uses modular parts compatible with those figures, as well as Cosmic Legions if you fancy cobbling together a figure of SPACE DEATH!!!

Here is Death out of the box and ready to scare the willies out of you with a lesson on inescapable human fate and mortality. Softgoods is the name of the game here, which is definitely unusual for The Four Horsemen, who are generally regarded as some of the best sculptors in toyland. Although they seem to be embracing softgoods more and more in the upcoming releases of their other lines. Death is wrapped in layered robes with a hood that has two long flaps which hang down all the way to his feet. Besides the face the only exposed plastic is his arms and feet. I won’t be taking the robes off, and they aren’t meant to be removed, because what you get underneath is a pretty basic body.

The robes do look very nice, albeit a bit chunky in a few areas. It feels like there’s some underwire present, but it doesn’t really do a lot to hold the robes in any specific position. The two-tone red coloring looks very great and the tattered edges are a nice touch. The fully exposed right arm is textured and comes off as a mix of dead flesh and bone, while the feet are just nasty rotting skeletal feet. You get four sets of hands, which include fists, graspy hands, relaxed hands, and accessory holding hands. The robes are pretty forgiving when it comes to posing.

The head sculpt is pretty damn fantastic and suitably creepy. The mask itself is a mix of skeleton with some interesting arcane patterns sculpted into the forehead. The wax-like melting effect coming off of it is excellent. There are two different shades of red paint here, with the base of the mask being a darker speckled paint and the upper teeth and some of the sculpted accents in a much brighter gloss crimson. The lower jaw is left as a purplish-gray color to suggest it’s part of the actual head and not covered by the mask. It’s a nice touch as the masks usually worn to these parties typically only covered part of the face.

The mask is indeed removable, as it pegs in to the head on either side near the temples. If you’ve read the story, you know that removing it reveals nothingness. Just a lower jaw and a hollowed out crater where the rest of the face would be. There is some creepy sculpted detail lining the back. It’s a very cool and unsettling effect.

Death comes with a medieval-style dagger, which I believe is a new sculpt. I don’t recognize it from any of my Mythic Legions figures, although it will fit right in if you choose to give it to one of them. Technically, I think this would count as an accessory for Prince Prospero, but you get hands so that Death can hold it. Either way, I’m a sucker for a good medieval dagger, and this is a really beautifully sculpted piece.

The other rather large accessory is the Grandfather Clock and it is a real work of art. It stands taller than Death himself and is beautifully sculpted with some ornate carvings, particularly a raven motif up top and a gargoyle head down at the base. The clock requires some assembly out of the package, which is basically just attaching the top and the base. The front piece does come off, but nothing inside is articulated so there’s not much reason to remove it. It’s also held on by some extremely thin and delicate pegs, one of which was already broken in the package, although it still stays in place fine, I may wind up gluing the front piece on permanently. For a one-off piece, TFH really poured the love into this clock.

Finally, you get a rather large effect piece of pooled blood leaking out of the clock. This has some pegs that attach to the feet of the clock to hold it in place and it looks suitably creepy.

I really love how this figure turned out and it’s clear that TFH put a lot of thought and love into the design. Of all the Figura Obscura releases (Krampus and Headless Horsemen) this one feels the most like a personal passion project. Granted, it did not come cheap, as with shipping he clocked it at over $80. Don’t get me wrong, it’s easy to see where the money went, but I suspect a lot of it went into the one-time clock accessory which may be lost on some people looking at picking this up mainly for the figure and not for the story related trappings. All in all, this is definitely what I would consider an art piece, as opposed to a fun action figure. That certainly makes it rather unique and there’s nothing wrong with that!

Oct 20 2023

Transformers X G. I. JOE: Megatron HISS Tank by Hasbro

I’ve been taking stock of some of the toys that have been sitting around for a while and waiting their turn in the spotlight here, so you may see some older stuff turning up now and then. One of those woefully delayed reviews is this crossover between Transformers and G. I. JOE that I picked up almost exactly a year ago. I must have had a lot going on because I shelved it and kind of forgot about it. So, let’s take a look at one of those 80’s kids fantasies where Transformers and G. I. JOE meet! Where knowing is more than meets the eye but only half the battle!

The box is interesting as it’s basically a two-part slipcase that slides off each side to reveal a plain brown box with the Hasbro logo on it. The slipcase is gorgeous with the vintage style package design from each franchise represented and some amazing artwork for the vehicle and characters. The Megatron robot mode really downplays the HISS kibble we’re going to see on the actual toy, but even in that regard it’s still very much in the spirit of the vintage TF package art. There’s a fake window showing that the figure includes a vintage-style 3 3/4-inch Baroness, who actually comes carded inside the box. I’ll be honest, as a kid I was never really jonesing for this kind of mash-up. The Cobra Commander cameo in the the Transformers episode Only Human was a cool enough tease for me. Nonetheless, how could I resist something like this?

Here’s Baroness. Yes, she’s still carded and I’m going to keep her that way. All of my 3 3/4-inch JOEs are from the 25th Anniversary line or later, so she really wouldn’t fit in anywhere. I love the card art on this, but the card itself is pretty flimsy and prone to warping. The figure overall looks good, except for where they painted the skin around here eyes inside the glasses so it doesn’t match the rest of her skin color. It may not be all that noticeable in the picture, but it’s really obvious with the figure in hand. She comes with a backpack and rifle. It would have been really cool to give her a scaled down Megatron gun to make her really special to this set, but at least the back of the card has some art specific to this crossover.

And here’s Megatron in his HISS mode, and he looks fantastic. There are some telltale signs that this tank is More Than Meets The Eye if you know where to look, but for a casual observer, this really does look like a regular 3 3/4-inch scale HISS tank and that’s awesome. There’s a seam running down the center of the nose that doesn’t close up all the way, you can see the off-white panels under the cockpit, which are Megatron’s arms, and the most obvious is Megatron’s chest piece fully exposed under the rear platform. None of these really bother me at all, in fact I think they all add to the charm of the toy.

The bulk of the toy is cast in matte black plastic and there are printed red Cobra emblems, as well as some identification numbers. The treads are sculpted just like the regular HISS toys, but there are wheels under it to roll it into battle. Most of the sculpted detail goes into the tread system, but there are still some bolt holes and panel lines, which help draw the eye from the actual transformation seams. The turret rotates as it should and the cannon barrels can be raised and lowered, and they actually move independently from one another.

Here are some comparisons of Megatron HISS with the 25th Anniversary release, and damn they look pretty close. When viewed from the side, and ignoring the color/style changes to the markings, it’s virtually impossible to tell which is the transforming toy.

If you don’t like having extra pieces, you can plug Megatron’s fusion cannon into the turret to give it some extra firepower. On the one hand it kind of looks silly, but then again I kind of like the personalized Megatron touch it gives to the toy.

And here’s the tank with some of Super7’s ReAction figures manning it. These make for a good fit, although this vehicle is really designed for the vintage-style O-Ring figures and the foot pegs on the tailgate are not compatible with the Super7 peg holes. Despite splitting apart down the middle for transformation, the interior of the cockpit is still fully realized with a ton of sculpted detail. The ReAction figures fit fine, but the O-Ring figures would fit even better. Let’s get Megatron transformed and check him out.

Transforming the toy into robot mode is pretty easy, but I found that getting it locked back down into HISS mode can be a pain, even when I know what I’m supposed to be doing. In robot mode, it’s clear that Hasbro’s focus here was the HISS mode, because the robot mode has a lot of kibble. It’s like Megatron is cosplaying as a HISS tank. I think the toy manages the HISS parts pretty well when viewed from the front, but there’s a lot of stuff going on the back… like, oh I don’t know… the fact that he’s basically wearing half a HISS tank as a backpack. I was not fond of this at all when I first saw the toy, but it’s grown on me a little bit. It’s kind of got a powerful battlemech vibe going on, and I’m not hating it. Either way, there’s enough G1 Megatron beats to the robot mode to make it work.

I really dig how the design added the rocket packs to the tread pieces that land on his hips. Being able to launch off six rockets from your hips ain’t a bad thing. The fusion cannon pegs in on the back of the hand, but at least he’s not actually holding it. He can definitely get into a good firing pose with it.

During transformation the back plate of the HISS is removed. You can incorporate this as a shield, but it looks like exactly what it is… Megatron holding the backplate of the HISS. I wish they had just designed this piece to peg into the back somewhere. Then again, maybe he’s already got enough going on back there. As it is, I’ll just set this piece aside when displaying him in robot mode.

The head sculpt is pure money. I’d say this is one of the best G1 Sunbow inspired Megatron heads Hasbro has ever given us. The HISS turret lands directly behind the head and this serves as a firing position for a figure while Megsy is in robot mode. It kind of justifies the extra bulk on his back, or at least gives it a purpose. It also gives the included Baroness figure something to do when Megatron is in robot mode. On the other hand, it’s hard for me to believe Megatron would be fine with human vermin riding on his back.

If you’re looking for an Optimus Prime to square up against this figure, the Power of the Primes Powermaster Prime isn’t too bad. He comes up a little short, but I think they look good facing off against each other.

Overall, I like this toy a lot, but I fall just short of really loving it. As a kid, it was kind of a dream of mine to have a Transformers figure that could hold action figures in its alt mode, and this definitely scratches that itch. The HISS mode is so incredibly well done and it’s fun to load it up with figures and display it alongside regular HISS tanks. The robot mode isn’t all that bad, but the HISS kibble is definitely rather excessive. At least Hasbro leaned into it by giving him the turret on back so he can interact with figures even in robot mode. This thing was released at $90, which I still think is pretty damn excessive, but I got it on sale for around $60 and it can be had these days for even less than that price. Hasbro followed this up with a Bumblebee AWE Striker, which was a pass for me, because it should have been Hound. A third release has been up for pre-order, mashing Soundwave and the Dreadnoks Thunder Machine, and I couldn’t resist that one.

Oct 18 2023

G. I. JOE Classified Firefly (2.0) by Hasbro

The Classified figures are really piling up here, folks, and while I’d like to give every figure a go in the proper order they were received, I inevitably bump some of the new releases to the head of the line because they happen to be on my desk and ready to go. That’s the case with today’s review of Cobra’s demolitions expert… Firefly! Also, since I never did get around to checking out the first Classified Firefly figure, we’ll do a little comparison at the end.

I’m not sure why Hasbro chose this particular figure as a do-over, especially before Scarlett and Duke. I don’t remember any great outrage over the first one, although I think that figure left some people underwhelmed. Either way, Firefly was a prominent figure for me when I was a kid, and he was always crawling under JOE vehicles and planting tiny C4 charges that I made out of modeling clay. One time he blew up the APC full of JOEs. It was a horrific massacre with body parts and O-Rings flying everywhere. Only Gung-Ho survived to avenge his friends in a Rambo style one-man killing spree. He worked his way up the chain and eventually took out Cobra Commander himself. But, don’t worry… everyone was miraculously alive again and ready for action when I was playing the next day.

And unlike the first Firefly, this time Classified gives us a pretty close update to the original vintage figure, complete with gray camo fatigues, which in this case I think are colored a bit lighter than the figure I remember, but still looking great. The fatigues have all sorts of sculpted pockets and stitch lines, as well as knee pads, and there’s a red Cobra emblem printed on his left bicep. The chest rig, which was sculpted as part of the RAH figure is now a separate sculpt, as is the belt, holster, left thigh rig, and both the forearm bracers. This makes all of these pieces a lot more prominent on this version, and gives him a bulkier and more kitted-out feel. He really does look like a one-man demolition squad. The chest rig has some sculpted pouches, pineapple grenades, some canister grenades, and even some green paint on the explosive bricks down the lower left side of the chest rig.

The head sculpt features the balaclava style mask that I always associate with the character. It’s in camo gray to match his fatigues and you get some rather intense eyes peering out. The neck is encircled with a ribbed turtleneck that can be seen extending down into the opening of his fatigues.

Firefly comes with a pair of night vision goggles, which can be worn up on his forehead or down over his eyes. These are cast in soft plastic and fit the head really well in either position. These have a pretty cool sci-fi design to them with a honeycomb pattern over the yellow lens and red globe over the opposite eye.

The backpack is probably the most reimagined part of this figure, although it still conforms to the RAH pack in a general sense. It’s an open frame design with a carry bar and two sculpted pouches at the top. The opening tool box from the vintage figure has been replaced with some kind of electronic device with a digital display resembling a seismic monitor. There are some more sculpted gadgets in here, including a pretty big grenade. I can’t deny that it would have been cool to see the toolbox make a return, but I still like what Hasbro did with this pack design a lot. There’s a peg on the side to store his rifle and pegs on the angled lower panels to store two mines.

The mines are simple enough, but really cool accessories. They have painted red lights on the top and some decent sculpted detail. I love that they can be stored on the backpack for easy access.

As for more traditional weapons, Firefly is armed with an automatic pistol and a submachine gun. The pistol stores in the holster on his hip and can share the silencer with the submachine gun. Meanwhile, the larger weapon is patterned after the one included with the RAH figure and has a removable magazine, which I always really appreciate. On the downside, the box shows some green paint on the submachine gun’s foregrip, which didn’t make it into the final production. I thought it was a nice nod to the color of the RAH figure’s weapon and a great example of why if you’re going to do windowless boxes, you really should make sure the picture is accurate. Although, in fairness it is depicted as unpainted on the upper right hand corner of the box.

He also has a combat knife, which is stored in a sheath on his right forearm. Once again, this accessory is depicted on the box having some green paint that got nixed for production, so it was left all black.

And finally, Firefly’s arsenal is rounded out by his remote control explosive delivery system, aka RC Car. This fat-tired four-wheel delivery system is strapped with a brick of explosives and ready to be inserted under the nearest GI JOE convoy. It rolls along and can be stored by plugging it into the bottom of the backpack! The detonator is a nifty little device with a pistol grip and detonation trigger and a circular screen with the number 3, presumably showing a countdown. This sort of replaces the walkie-talkie that came with the RAH figure, and I’m cool with that.

As promised, here’s a quick look at both Classified Firefly figures together. I didn’t mind the first one so much, but boy does it come up short compared to this second release. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. Even with his bulky torso armor, he’s tiny compared to Firefly 2.0. I still dig the overall look of the first release, and the drone was a nice touch, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the new one will be my Classified Firefly. Old Firefly will either get relegated to a Tote or perhaps just be a generic Cobra saboteur. I think this comparison is a great example of how far Classified has come, and how much it’s been embracing the franchise roots more than ever.

And there you have it, another slam dunk for the Classified team. Firefly is a fantastic figure and a worthy addition to my Cobra forces for when something needs to go boom. I tend to have a special affinity for the Classified figures that have a more realistic military vibe and Firefly certainly fits that bill. I can’t wait to seat him in one of the Classified Trouble Bubbles I have waiting for him. Which reminds me, I’ve really got to spotlight at those Trouble Bubbles here in the next week or so.

Oct 16 2023

Star Wars: Kenner-Style Rebel Fleet Trooper by Stan Solo

It’s probably a pretty good indicator of my feelings about current Star Wars that I’ve regressed to working on filling out my vintage Kenner collection. And while that mostly involves hunting down the last Kenner figures I need, it also has me looking into some of the wonderful customs out there. And you can’t talk about wonderful Kenner Star Wars customs without mention of Stan Solo. I own a handful of his figures so far, but the only toy of his I’ve looked at here on FFZ so far was his Ubrikkian 9000 Speeder Pod. But he’s got a couple of new releases out, including a more screen accurate Greedo, and the focus of today’s review, the Rebel Fleet Trooper!

I’ve got no packaged shot, unless you want to see bubblewrap and a mailer box. This figure is offered as a spiffy carded release, but I went for the loose 4-pack. And now that these are in hand, they are so polished and refined, I have to say it’s hard to believe these are customs. The detail really walks that narrow line between something that is totally convincing as an unproduced vintage Kenner figure and something that’s just almost too good to be an unproduced vintage Kenner figure. And I mean that as the highest of compliments. The feel of the figure from the plastic to the joints is all dead on. There are some lovely touches in the sculpt here, like the rumples in the clothing and the way the vest hangs open. The matte blue and gray finish for the uniform feels perfect, and the boots and vest have a high gloss polish that looks super snappy.

The head is particularly well done, as the printing for the eyes and eyebrows look exactly like the Kenner style. The rest of the facial details are appropriately soft, and I love that he’s got that little kid friendly smirk, despite the fact that he’s about to be gunned down by Stormtroopers and all his friends will be dead. The chin strap on the helmet is painted very well and you even get the black strap painted underneath the white chin cup as it runs through.

And if all that weren’t’ cool enough, you even get a brand new sculpted gun, which is a Kennerized version of the DH-17. And oh man, is this fantastic! Sure, maybe if Kenner released this figure early in the line he would have just been packed with the Stormtrooper’s E-11, but we got a fair bit of new gun sculpts as the line progressed and I think this looks like a pretty credible example of what a Kenner Rebel blaster would have looked like.

It’s hard to articulate just how happy I am with these new additions to my Kenner Star Wars case. I know some collectors out there like to keep their displays 100% pure and vintage, but I just love the whole “what could have been” charm of releases like this. Especially when they’re executed so professionally. Of course, as customs they don’t come cheap and you’re looking at $37 for a loose single figure or $124 for a squad of four. I had a coupon which pushed me into the 4-pack for $114. You also have the custom carded option at $50, which looks absolutely amazing, but I talked myself out of because my Kenner Star Wars collection is strictly loose figures. All these options are still available at Stan Solo’s ETSY shop at the time I’m publishing this review.

Oct 13 2023

Star Trek: The Original Series Hand Phaser and Communicator by Playmates

Not long ago Playmates made a big announcement that they were doing Star Trek toys again. Well, the end result was pretty damn disappointing. I guess that’s my fault for setting my expectations too high and expecting a glorious return to the expansive 1990s toyline. In the end, we got a handful of Next Generation figures, a handful of Wrath of Khan figures, a couple ships, a couple roleplay toys, and I think some figures from one of those shitty Paramount+ shows. I bought some of the Classic Series stuff, but nothing really excited me enough to review it yet. But then the Communicator showed up, a year after the Phaser, and I decided to dig out that Phaser and go ahead and check these toys out.

The packaging is gloriously evocative of what Playmates was doing back in the 90’s. You get a fully enclosed box with some nice art on the front and a Try Me cut-out so you can get a sampling of the sounds. That strikes me as funny because… were these ever actually sold in any brick-and-mortar stores? If so, I’d be surprised. Target had a few of the figures, but that was all I ever saw. It’s funny to think that I have nostalgia for these box designs, as I was already a Senior in college when they were released, but what can I tell ya? I’m going to take a look at each of these pieces of standard issue Starfleet equipment and then we’ll compare them to some of the others I have in my Starfleet locker. And since these are heavy with the electronics features, I’ll include some videos running through the sounds. Let’s start with the Phaser!

While this Phaser is a bit on the chunky side, I think it still scales fairly well in my adult hand, and most of those chonks are located in the handle, which is odd since this is at least posing as a toy for kids. I think the two-tone gray and black look good, although I’m more fond of the darker gunmetal gray seen on some of the props. The silver bits feature a very nice quality matte paint, which sort of passes for steel. The profile of the weapon is pretty solid, and it isn’t until I sit it next to a more accurate reproduction that I can see the differences, so that’s a good thing. Sadly, the Type-I Phaser on top is not detachable, but I wasn’t expecting it to be since it was fixed in place on the 90’s release as well. The Dilithium Crystal Cell (that silver disk on the side) is used to turn the toy off and on or set it in the limited function Demo mode. Probably the most disappointing thing here is the plethora of screw holes scattered about the left side of the weapon. As we’ll see in a bit, it’s actually worse than the 90’s release, which is rather baffling to me. It’s a shame they couldn’t plug these up.

From the top view, the settings dial on the Type I unit is a sticker, which looks OK, but I worry about it, since the sticker fell off my 90’s Phaser a long time ago. Ah, but that was thirty years ago, and thirty years from now I’ll be long dead and gone, so no worries! The speaker holes in the screen on the Type I unit is a bit of an eyesore, and that’s a carry over from the 90’s toy as well. The thumb wheel on the Type I does not move, but the settings knob on the back of the Type II unit does, and this is what’s used to change from Stun to Kill to Overload.

Everything else on this piece looks pretty good. I’m glad that Playmates didn’t try to put a belt clip onto it, but I may wind up putting a piece of velcro on the handle to attach it to my official Starfleet issue slacks. Let’s check out the electronics!

All three settings sound great and boy is it loud! The emitter lights up blue or red depending on the setting and even the selector knob lights up when firing, although it only lights up blue. All in all, I’d say the electronics on this one are vastly improved over the 90’s one, but given the march of thirty years of technology, I’d say that was expected.

And here are some comparison shots, and while these are very similar toys, I think most of the subtle differences come down to just personal preference. The props used in the series varied a bit and I can write off the changes here to revisions Starfleet may have made to the design over the years. The electronics are definitely improved, but , if we’re going by the aesthetics alone, I have to give the nod to the older release simply because it has less exposed screws on the one side.

And here’s a quick comparison of the new Playmates Phaser with the Diamond Select version from a little while back. DST’s version is an absolutely beautiful toy and a much more faithful reproduction of Starfleet’s sidearm. It’s proportioned much better and you just can’t beat having the removable Type I unit with it’s own electronics. I also greatly prefer the blue-gray finish to the body of the Type II housing. It’s a shame these aren’t still on the market, and I’d love to see DST reissue these. OK… Let’s move on to the Communicator.

So, the first thing I noticed about the Communicator when taking it out of the box is the dull gold finish on the antenna cover, and boy did that disappoint me. It just looks incredibly cheap and wrong. Once I got past that, I found that the toy is pretty well sized with the correct texturing, and two side buttons just like the 90’s version. There is a belt clip on this one, just like the previous release, and that really doesn’t bother me at all. On the back you also get the switch that turns the toy on and off, or sets it into Demo mode. They could have done a better job concealing this, but it’s not a big deal to me.

Pressing the lower side button will activate the incoming call signal, while the upper side button will spring open the antenna cover. That’s definitely an improvement over the old one, which had to be flipped up or opened manually. I’ll be honest, that never bothered me too much because the actors used to have to flip open the prop manually on screen most of the time anyway. The interior panel of the toy looks great, with the yellow “light” just a painted dummy and the other two being actual lights. Pressing the left silver button produces a sound clip and the right button cycles through some voice clips from the show.

Like the Phaser, the audio is really loud and sounds crystal clear. My only real complaint here is the choice of clips. Most of them are taken from clips of Kirk talking to the ship on the Communicator. As a roleplay toy, I really would have preferred all the clips being the Enterprise communicating with you. You only really get that with the two Spock clips. Sadly, my older Playmates Communicator stopped working and I really don’t remember what it had to offer, so I can’t offer my preferences between the two on that front.

But aesthetically, the older one is the clear winner, thanks mostly to the use of the gold foil paint on the antenna cover. It’s weird how such a small detail could make such a big difference. I also like the hologram sticker used for the screen. It just gives the toy a bit more flash. There are some subtle changes to the size and contours, but I don’t really have a preference on either of those details.

Both of these toys retail for $24.99, which I think is pretty damn good for what you’re getting. Although, the Phaser has been out for a while, so it seems to be selling for closer to $30 these days. Both are really good toys and even decent accessories to complete your Cosplay for the next big convention. But with that having been said, they aren’t a substitute for higher end, or even middle of the road prop replicas or the old garage kits. I would rate the Phaser higher than the Communicator because the flat gold paint really does bug me a lot, but maybe that’s just me. If you’re looking for something better and don’t want to invest in a prop replica, the DST stuff is definitely the best bet, although those are getting a little pricey these days too. If you’re in the market, I’d say pick these up, because who the hell knows when we’re likely to get official releases of these again.