Monthly Archives: July 2024

Jul 8 2024

G. I. JOE Classified: Dreadnoks Ripper and Torch by Hasbro

Some new Dreadnoks arrived last week, one of whom, Torch, completes the original trio of terror. I’ve already checked out Buzzer last year, but I never got around to Ripper, so I decided to pair them up for today’s review. It seems somehow appropriate since back in the 25th Anniversary Collection, Buzzer got his own release and Ripper and Torch were sold in a two-pack. I make it no secret that I absolutely loved the Dreadnoks in both the original Real American Hero line and the Sunbow cartoon. These guys were like throwing a bomb into the middle of the balance of power, and with how often Zartan and the Dreadnoks betrayed Cobra when I played with my JOEs, it’s a wonder why they kept hiring them. And their sudden reversal at the end of the second cartoon Mini-Series remains one of my all time favorite moments from that series.

One nice thing about waiting so long to get to Ripper is that it lets me to a side-by-side comparison of the package changes. Buzzer and Ripper were released in the plastic-free, fully enclosed box, but Torch sees the return of the window box. I’m glad I don’t collect these figures for boxed display because this sort of thing would drive me crazy. It also means that only Ripper and Torch get those nifty cardboard footlockers for their gear. Still, all in all I like the window boxes a lot better, as it gives you a great look at the figure and most of what he comes with. Let’s start with Ripper, since he’s been waiting around for a long time!

Infamous for extorting candy in nursery school, Ripper has been a bad seed his whole life and now he’s arrived to make life miserable for the JOEs. The Classified figure takes the original RAH design and runs with it. His camo tank top is no longer a half-shirt and now completely covers his abs. The blue jeans are a darker denim with some nice texturing, there’s a wide belt, a chain hooked onto two of the belt loops, black knee pads and high black boots. The gold bicep band on the original figure’s right arm is now fully fleshed out with a spike strip, there’s a sculpted wrist band on his left arm, and the holster that was sculpted onto the original figure’s right thigh is now a fully functional separate piece, held in place by friction. The sculpted grenade and knife on the RAH figure is replaced with a separate shoulder harness that’s worn by the figure. It’s got a pair of pineapple style grenades sculpted onto the right shoulder strap, while the left one has a functional sheath for his combat knife. And, of course, the shoulders are reinforced with spikes! Everything about Ripper screams that society failed him, and I love everything about this update, and we haven’t even gotten to the head sculpt yet.

Oh yeah! Ripper’s giant meat head, features a full beard, mutton chops, and I don’t even know how to describe that haircut, but I do know that the barber responsible hates the world. He’s got a mohawk that tufts in the front and runs down the back to form a mullet tail, while the sides are close shaven. And boy did Hasbro do a nice job texturing that buzz cut. He’s got one dogtag serving as a right earring and a necklace of more dogtags strung around his neck. I also failed to previously mention the beautiful tatts that he’s got printed on his right shoulder and left arm.

The glasses are removable, and these work a heck of a lot better than Buzzer’s did, which had problems staying put. I’m not going to say these will never fall off when posing or playing, but they do stay on much, much better. Take them off and you can see him popping a glass eye with a smiley face in his right socket, and that has got to be one of the greatest and most bizarre little touches I’ve ever seen on a mainstream, mass market action figure. And for you parents out there, you can have fun explaining to little Timmy what the tear drop tattoo under the left eye means! Ripper’s whole expression is fantastic, as he growls, showing his teeth. You even get scars bisecting both of his eyebrows. Top notch work!

Moving on to weapons, we’ll start small. The thigh holster houses a rather unique pistol that looks like some kind of Road Warrior custom job. There’s no visible magazine, so it may be very low capacity. It does have a serrated knife-style bayonet on it, and overall looks pretty cool.

The combat knife stowed in his shoulder sheath is a nice piece of work. It has a sawback blade with a clipped point and a knuckle guard on the hilt. A lot of these Classified knives are just tiny black pieces of plastic with no personality, so I really enjoy when the cutlery gets a little extra love thrown its way. I also dig how the left hand is perfectly sculpted to hold it, but will still work as a trigger-finger hand for the guns.

Next up is his rifle with the crazy curved metal splitter blade. I fell in love with this rifle design ever since I first saw it in the animated commercial for Marvel’s GI JOE #30. The initial main strategy of the Dreadnoks seemed to be that they just snuck into your base while you were sleeping and wrecked your equipment like a bunch of assholes. Anyway, this weapon is so damn badass, and Ripper was using it to stab the hell out of a VAMP in the commercial. There is some fantastic sculpted detail on this weapon, including a scope, top rail, suppressor, and it has a removable magazine. There’s also a peg on his back, so you can secure it through the trigger guard.

And that brings us to Ripper’s signature weapon, the giant power jaws. Patterned after the Jaws of Life that first responders use to rescue people, Ripper just uses it to wreck stuff. It looks like the unholy mating of a pincer claw and a leaf blower and I do love it. I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get a backpack and power cable to go with it, but in fairness it does seem to be redesigned to be self contained. Maybe it’s for the better because the power cable on my 25th Anni. Ripper was pretty frustrating and to be honest, I’d rather have the option to stow his rifle on his back when he’s using this thing. OK, let’s turn up the heat and move on to Torch!

The OG Dreadnok trio is rounded out by Torch, and there’s no way I can write a better introduction to him than what was printed on his original filecard. “Torch is an illiterate, unrepentant thug whose penchant for sudden and unexpected violence is matched only by the utter depth of his stupidity.” That’s just gold. As with his comrades, the Classified Torch sticks pretty close to the original RAH design, but maybe with fewer embellishments here. The leather jacket is cast in soft plastic and worn by the figure with the same three straps connecting it below his chest. There’s some bright and snappy silver paint applied to the buckles and zippers, as well as the chain loops at the shoulders, and studs on the back. I do kind of miss the graphic added to the jacket for the 25th Anniversary figure, I thought that was a nice bit of embellishment and added some character, but i guess the studs are nice too. The light blue jeans are textured and disappear into his high black boots, which have reinforced knees. He has twin holsters attached to his thighs and held on by friction, along with a spiked band on his left arm. His hands have sculpted gloves, with chains wrapped around the wrists. These are left gray plastic, and it’s a shame they couldn’t have been painted silver. The silver belt sculpted around his waist looks very nice, and I dig the flame tats on his forearms. He also has some cheeky flame patches on the back pockets of his jeans!

The head sculpt is solid, but I feel like it shows a little lower effort compared to Buzzer and Ripper, kind of like they started to run out of steam by the time they got to him. It definitely hits all the beats of the RAH original, with the mustache, side beard, and ball chin. He’s also got his trademark glasses and red headband. The glasses are are part of the sculpt this time, and I don’t have a problem with that considering the success rate on glasses so far was only 50-50. But, the overall quality of the sculpt here seems softer and less detailed. There are also uneven lines around the beard’s paint, which is disappointing. I do like the studded choker and the animal skull pendant is very cool, especially the way the neck cord looks like horns protruding from the top. This is not in any way a bad portrait, just a step down from the other really great ones.

The dual holsters hold a matched pair of automatic pistols. These are cast in grey plastic and nicely detailed. You also get holes in the barrels for blast effect parts, though none are included. Considering the original figure only came with his torch and backpack, it’s cool that he got a pair of pistols here.

Of course, Torch comes his signature weapon, which was an acetylene torch. The tanks are worn on his back and are given a bit more personality here, with the central tank painted in yellow and decked out with some graphics and the and “Nocks Rule” There’s a hose coming off the side of the backpack, which plugs into the torch itself. The torch can be attached to the bottom of the tanks for storage, with the hose awkwardly looping out to the side. But, you can remove the hose if it gets in the way.

The torch is cast in gray plastic and has two handles, with the trigger being in the front. There’s also a really bitchin demon skull on the front with the tip of the torch protruding from its jaws and flame shooting up from the eye sockets. As cool as the flaming eyes are, it’s a pity they aren’t removable for when the torch is not in use, because with them there it looks like it’s always on. You get three different flame effect pieces, the first of which is just a bit of flame puffing out the nozzle.

Now, I’m certainly no expert, but I think I know the difference between an acetylene torch and a flamethrower, but I’m not sure the world of GI JOE does, because this thing is clearly a flame thrower. I don’t know, it has three tanks on the back, which is one more than you need for an acetylene torch, so maybe it’s rigged as both? Sure, let’s go with that. Still, who’s going to quibble when the flame effects look this damn good!

Boy it feels great to have the original three Dreadnoks finally together in the Classified line! If we’re going by the figure itself, I think Ripper is my favorite of the three, with Buzzer second and Torch falling in a close third. On the other hand, if we’re going by specialty weapon, Torch takes the prize because he just looks so damn cool shooting out those flame effects. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this trinity of terror, and they look fantastic with Zartan and Zarana. Gnawgahyde and his menagerie also arrived, so I hope to be getting to him soon. Next on the top of my list will be Zanzabar!

Jul 5 2024

Masters of the Universe Origins (Cartoon Series): Prince Adam and Cringer by Mattel

Mattel has been cruising with the new releases of the MOTU Origins Cartoon Series. I’ve had four more carded figures hit my door over the last couple weeks, but I decided to bump this lovely boxed set up to the front of the line because… well, it’s Adam and Cringer and how could I not? We did get a Prince Adam in the regular Origins line and he came bundled with a Sky Sled instead of Cringer, because I don’t think Cringer ever made it to the vintage line. But now that the Mattel is exploring the Filmation cartoon we can finally get Prince Adam’s cowardly cat companion.

The figures come in a window box, which shows off the goods quite nicely. You also get an extended backflap with some absolutely bitchin vintage-style art of Adam and Cringer lazing about on an idyllic Eternian afternoon while three evil bastards spy on him from the foliage. The explosive exposition bubble announces the set is based on the 80’s Adventures and you get the Cartoon Collection sticker on the window, which mimics the rainbow lettering of the Filmation cartoon logo. Flip the box around and you get one of the most iconic pieces of MOTU art of all time, as Adam holds aloft his magic sword and says the words. Meanwhile the jaws of Castle Greyskull dominate the backdrop and Cringer cowers, knowing full well what comes next.

On a side note, I can still remember asking my friend who had nearly all the MOTU toys why he didn’t have a Prince Adam figure and his reply was “because that’s just something they made up for the stupid cartoon.” Yup, he had been playing with the toys for years before the cartoon came out and he was having none of it. It just didn’t fit into the canon he had spent years building in his head, and he had no interest in owning Prince Adam in his collection. Meanwhile, I had my first handful of Transformers before ever seeing the cartoon, but once I saw it, I adopted the cartoon as law pretty damn quick. Funny how that works. Anyway… Let’s get this duo out of the box and start off with Prince Adam.

Prince Adam appears to be an entirely different sculpt from the first Origins release, but some aspects are still extremely close. As we’ve seen, the Cartoon Series uses new bodies, which are slightly taller and less crouched. The vest is very similar to the vintage style vest, but it lacks the sculpted line around the edges and has softer cinching around the belt. The sleeve cuffs are smoothed over and the belt is also simplified to convey that toon look, but you do still get some nice detail in the furry fringe around the tops of his boots. The color changes are most notable on the vest, which goes from a reddish pink to now being a pale mauve. The tights are a little darker, while the boots and furry diaper are a little darker, but both changes are subtle.

The stock head sculpt is lifted directly from the Cartoon Series He-Man. It was a great portrait than and it still is. I think it fits the Prince Adam persona so much better than the Origins He-Man head did on the vintage-style Adam. The facial features here are well defined, while still keeping the animated style. The paint on the eyes and eyebrows is perfect, and the hair is certainly on point. The expression doesn’t fit Adam’s usual buffoonery, but it certainly works for that moment when the shit hits the fan and Adam is ready to change into He-Man.

The alternate head is a lot more Adam’s style with the eyes closed and a big smile, as if caught in mid chortle or perhaps getting a sloppy kiss from Cringer. It’s admittedly designed for a very specific look, but I could see myself maybe going with this head in the display from time to time. It’s just fun!

If you go back to my review of the Cartoon Series He-Man, I really lamented the lack of a hinged sword hand that would let him hold the sword properly for the transformation sequence. That is to say one that is hinged to bend forward and back, rather than the standard side to side. I also called on Mattel to do the right thing and give us that hand with Prince Adam. And low and behold, they did! We get the same Power Sword we got with He-Man and it looks fantastic held straight up in the air, calling on the Power of Greyskull to grant him the might of He-Man. And yes, that hand can be swapped with He-Man’s to do the same. I still think it should have been included with He-Man too, but I’m just glad we finally got it. OK, let’s move over to Cringer.

We did get Cringer in the Classics Series, but he was mostly static with just some articulation in the neck. He also wasn’t based on the animation, so I was really excited to get this kitty and he does not disappoint. For starters he is a fully articulated figure with each leg having multiple rotating hinges to get him into all sorts of scaredy-cat stances. You also get a ball joint in the body, a double ball jointed neck, and the tail is attached to the body with a rotating hinge. Plus, I love the way it curls into a friendly hook at the tip. He’s completely smooth to give him that toony look, so no sculpted fur, but he does have some adorable toe beans sculpted into the bottoms of his paws. The bulk of the body is green with his familiar orange striping. This cat looks great, and he is super fun to play with!

Like Prince Adam, Cringer comes with two heads, and in this case they are basically scared and more scared. Both faces are just brimming with personality and they capture the character perfectly. The second head even has an articulated jaw. I will say that based on the initial pre-production images, I was not impressed with what I saw, but I’m happy to say that the final toy turned out great.

I can’t say enough positive things about this set! Mattel nailed the Filmation look on both figures beautifully, and I am so very glad to see us finally get that perfect hinge on the sword arm so he can make that most iconic of poses with the Power Sword. And at $29.99, this set actually feels like a total steal, especially considering how much articulation they put into Cringer. I am absolutely digging this Cartoon Series line and I’m willing to bet Adam and Cringer will be hanging out on my desk for a little while, because they are so much fun to grab and play with.

Jul 3 2024

ThunderCats Ultimates: Hachiman by Super7

Last week I embarked on a look at the eighth wave of Super7’s ThunderCats Ultimates with a look at Wilykit, and today I’m pushing forward with the Samurai from The Red Sun Planet! Hachiman first showed up well into the first season of the cartoon, when he was summoned by Mumm-Ra and tricked into fighting the ThunderCats, but he and Lion-O eventually became allies… until many episodes later Mumm-Ra summoned him again, put a spell on him, and made him fight the ThunderCats… again! One of the recurring themes in the cartoon was making friends out of potential adversaries, and I think that was a good message to send kids, but maybe the writers hit that well a few too many times at the expense of Hachiman’s gullibility. Either way, Hachiman would turn up in a total of maybe a half-dozen or so episodes, enough for LJN to give him a figure back in the day.

Here he is in the package, and just like last time, we no longer get an outer mailer box or a slipcover. I don’t mind the mailer going away, as I always pitched them, but the fact that we’re not getting the slipcovers anymore has just about convinced me to not keep these boxes. The presentation is still really nice, but at this point I’m just looking for excuses to get rid of action figure boxes in storage and recover some space. The back panel still has some character art and you get a little blurb about Hachiman as well.

Out of the box, Hachiman is looking pretty faithful to his animated counterpart. He has blue Samurai armor with a little black and red trim, worn over a sculpted brown bodysuit. The armor is confined to the front, which I’d like to think is because a brave warrior like Hachiman does not turn his back on the enemy. From the back you can see the sculpted red cords that hold his chest piece on and just more of his sculpted brown undersuit. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the plates on his hips and shoulders are not too restrictive of his articulation. His chest armor has a swap out panel, one with an emblem on it and one without. I don’t remember him ever having that emblem on his chest in the cartoon and the LJN figure didn’t have it either, so I’m not sure the source of that piece. I can’t say as I remember every episode he was in, so maybe it appeared in one of the later ones. Despite being more cartoon accurate without it, I have to say I kind of dig what it adds to the look of the armor.

You get two head sculpts, one with the helmet and one without. The helmeted head looks great with some pretty nice depth of sculpt between the mask and his underlying face and he’s depicted as gritting his teeth in the heat of battle. The gold leaf paint on the trim and crest looks good, but could have had some sharper paint lines. I like that they went with two heads, rather than a removable helmet, because I don’t think this design would have worked as well had it been an accessory.

The sculpting for the unmasked head also looks pretty good and offers a more stoic and determined expression. His brow is furled and his tightly drawn lips are slightly downturned. The hair sculpt is rather soft and the paint on the head band shows some slop. My figure also has a stray black mark on the left side of his face, which I will try to wipe off at some point. Overall, I think the paint could have been a lot better on this head, but I’ll concede that the flubs are amplified by the camera close ups and it’s not as egregious with the naked eye. On the other hand, it is a $55 collector figure so, it should have been better. Do better, Super7!

Hachiman has a scabbard for his mighty sword, Thunder-Cutter, which pegs into his belt sash with a key-type tab. If I peg it in and put the figure on the shelf, it’ll stay put, but as soon as I start fiddling with him, the scabbard pops off, so I find it’s best to just leave it off until I’m done posing him and then attach it. It’s rather annoying, but I can’t really think of a better way to do it and still have the scabbard be removable. The scabbard has a gold handle and some sculpted with wraps and it fits the sword blade pretty well. Hachiman has hands for holding both the sword and the scabbard, along with relaxed hands, fists, and a pointing finger hand.

Released from its scabbard, Thunder-Cutter has a painted silver blade, black sculpted wrap on the handle, and the pommel and tsuba are both painted gold. It may not be as flashy as the Sword of Omens, but it’s still an attractive and elegant looking sword.

You also get a second version of Thunder-Cutter with a semi-translucent energy webbing effect piece wrapped around the blade. It’s actually the exact same sword and the effect piece is removable, so I’m not sure why they didn’t just include the effect piece, but hey… extra sword! The effect piece also has a hole for the pointing finger hand so you can recreate the scene where Hachiman asked Thunder-Cutter which way to go and it acted like a compass to point him in the right direction, while balancing on his finger.

I’m glad they finally worked Hachiman into one of these waves, because he was a great recurring character on the cartoon and he makes for a fun action figure. Yes, I would have appreciated a bit more care on the paintwork, especially the unhelmeted head, but what we got isn’t so bad that it ruins the figure for me. Getting him in hand does make me extra sad that we don’t yet have Nadya, the Warrior Maiden that he sort of bonded with and referred to as Little Sister in the cartoon, but the line does appear to still be going strong, so I have hope!

Jul 1 2024

Defenders of the Earth: Flash Gordon and The Phantom by NECA

NECA’s held the Flash Gordon license for a little while now and has been exploring it in a few different ways. A couple years back I checked out their Flash and Ming figures from the original King Features comic series. More recently, I’ve had a look at the figures based on the 1980 Dino De Laurentis film, and now it’s time to give Defenders of the Earth its turn. These figures are based on the 1986 cartoon, which had Flash join up with the stars of a couple of other King Comics franchises, The Phantom and Mandrake the Magician, to form an Avengers-like team and set out to well… defend the Earth! The cartoon is available to stream for free on a few services and I think it’s still worth checking out. It was probably among the last cartoons that I watched as a teenager before moving on to more adult pursuits. I picked up these figures as they were released and it’s long past time I open them up and give them some love…

These releases do not fall under NECA’s Ultimate series, so they come in straight up window boxes similar to what we got for the Flash Gordon: The Original Superhero line. And there’s nothing wrong with that, because the presentation here is excellent. The boxes have an animated starfield deco with character art on the lower left side, all very reminiscent of vintage 80s toy presentation. Galoob had the license for these figures back in the day and NECA even reworked their logo to copy the Galoob logo, which is a wonderful little touch. The blue and yellow deco is also an homage to the Galoob cardbacks. The left side panels have a headshot of the figure and the colorful series logo, while the right panel has the number of each figure. The Phantom is #01 and Flash is #02. Let’s start with The Phantom!

The Kit Walker that appears in Defenders is a bit different than what we saw in the comics. Most notably, he traded in his pistols for supernatural powers, but his overall appearance has remained pretty close to the Walker family roots. He still wears a skin tight purple body suit with a hood, along with shiny black boots, a wide black belt, and his black domino mask. This is a slightly reworked body that NECA used for The Original Superhero Flash Gordon with some changes to the collar area and sleeve cuffs. His trademark signet rings are sculpted on each of the fists that come on the figure. This was no doubt a very budget-friendly figure for NECA, as it gets by with a lot of recolor and reuse, but it certainly works for the character, so I’m not complaining. The musculature on this figure is beautifully sculpted, particularly on the chest and back, and the proportions are overall excellent.

The head sculpt is a great representation of his animated counterpart. The domino mask and hood have some clearly defined sculpted lines separating them from the face. Alas, the paint could have been cleaner as there’s a bit of flesh tone slopped onto the mask and hood. The facial features are sharp, with very high cheek bones, a strong jawline, and a stoic expression. It’s a solid portrait if not exceptional.

The articulation is identical to what we saw with The Original Superhero Flash Gordon figure and that is every bit a good thing. The legs are ball jointed at the hips, have double-hinged knees, swivels at the tops of the boots, hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles, and hinges in the toes. There’s a swivel in the waist, an ab-crunch hinge in the torso, and a ball joint in the neck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, swivels in the biceps, double-hinged elbows, and the wrists have hinged pegs to allow you to swap hands. Both of the two additional hands are right hands: One is to hold his pistol and the other is for the energy blast from his ring. The joints are all nice and smooth and I had no issues with anything frozen or sticking.

The energy blast for the ring pegs into a hole in the extra right fist, which works really well. It’s cast in pale blue translucent plastic and I love the way this effect looks. I do wish they had actually sculpted the ring on this hand, but I suppose with the energy part inserted, it’s hard to tell it’s not there. Still, why not just use the same hand and bore a hole into the ring?

The Phantom also comes with a laser pistol and boy do I love the design of this thing. It’s got an angled trigger guard that meets the bottom of the grip and all sorts of bits and bobs protruding from the receiver. Off hand, I can’t recall the designs of the guns from the cartoon, so I’m not sure if this is accurate, but it’s a damn cool sci-fi weapon that invokes the swashbuckling Flash Gordon design that I love so much.

You get two blast effect pieces for the gun, both cast in the same translucent blue plastic as the signet ring effect piece. These socket around the barrel of the gun and work very well. One is a long blast and the other is just a muzzle blast. I’m pretty sure these are the exact same pieces that came with the previous Flash Gordon and Ming figures, only recolored from yellow to blue. I only shot pictures of the long effect piece here, but you’ll get to see the other one when we look at Flash.

Finally, The Phantom comes with Zuffy the Zuffoid! Because every one of these cartoons had to have an adorable animal sidekick to appeal to the little kiddos, Flash’s son Rick befriended this annoying little shit on Mongo. It’s a really nice sculpt for such a small figure and he even has some articulation, with ball joints in the shoulders, hips, and neck. The eyes are impressively lifelike, thanks to a high gloss finish, and he’s sculpted holding a Mongo crystal, which contains the personality data from Flash Gordon’s dead wife. The crystal was eventually used as the personality matrix of the team’s super computer. I doubt there was ever a chance NECA was going to make figures of Rick Gordon and the other kids, so they paired Zuffy up with The Phantom, because… the beasts call him brother? OK, let’s move on to Flash Gordon!

Flash shares a lot of the same body as The Phantom, right down to the boots and sleeve cuffs. You do get re-sculpted shoulders with the gold armor pieces, as well as the epaulettes and collar. The same wide black belt is used, but this time with a new Flash-branded belt buckle. The red plastic used for the suit has a nice wash to it that really brings out the sculpting in the muscles. What’s not as nice is the ankle hinges have been cast in red plastic and really stand out against the glossy black of the boots. What a shame. Otherwise, this is a great recreation of Gordon’s look on the cartoon.

I was expecting a reissue of the un-helmeted head from TOS Flash Gordon, but we actually get a completely new head sculpt here to better resemble the cartoon version. This is a fantastic portrait that reflects the character very well. From the strong chin and contours of the cheeks, to the blonde hair and high arches of the eyebrows, it just oozes classic Flash Gordon in every way. I love it!

The same body as The Phantom means the same articulation, so i won’t run through it all again. I do, however have to report that my figure has stuck joints in the feet, making his toes curl up ever so slightly. I have yet to try to fix this with some heat, as it doesn’t really effect his ability to stand, but so far, this is a figure that carries all its problems in its boots. As for extra hands, Flash comes with a set of fists, a set of accessory holding hands, and a left trigger finger hand.

All the accessories included with Flash are recycled and reworked from somewhere else. The sword is the same sculpt as the one that came with TOS Flash, but the hilt has been repainted and it’s been given a cool translucent yellow energy blade. The gold and blue used for the original hilt has been changed to black, gray, and silver, with painted red disks in the crossguard. It’s a nice update to the weapon that gives it a very 80’s sci-fi feel and gels nicely with the cartoon aesthetic.

The pistol is the same one that we just saw with The Phantom, but given a purple metallic paintjob, which looks rather snazzy. You also get the same two blast effect pieces that we got with The Phantom, both cast in the same transparent blue plastic. As I noted above, you do only get a left hand for the gun, and I really would have liked to get a right one too. He can hold the gun in the sword hand, but it’s not quite the same.

Aside from some issues with Flash’s boots, these figures turned out great and it’s really cool to see this old cartoon getting some love from NECA. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a stand out series to me because it’s one of the last cartoons I watched as a kid, and while I was aware of the toys released for it, I was drifting away from toys by that age and never actually had any. Coming back to it as a collector is like a satisfying shot of nostalgia and I’m eager to start digging into the rest of these releases! And while these figures were released a little while ago, they do seem to still be readily available at most online NECA retailers, and if you hunt around you may even find some pretty good discounts.