Mar 7 2022

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Helphyre Goblin by The Four Horsemen

I’m trying to get things back to business as usual, and that includes Mythoss Monday! Sure, my reviews have been posting later in the day, rather than morning, but getting back on routines for FFZ is all about baby steps. Hopefully I’ll hit another three reviews again this week. Today I’m tearing into another one of the foul demons that were unleashed on Mythoss in the Arethyr Wave with the Helphyre Goblin!

The Arethyr Wave has given us a number of unholy abominations, including Belphagorr and Malephar. The Helphyre Goblin is a revoltingly hellacious half-pint. They are said to be a dark mirror of the Bog Goblins that are native to Mythoss, only these guys have a habit of spewing boiling plasma vomit, making me wish I had a tub of red slime kicking around here. My Helphyre Gobby appears to have lost his crotch armor in the package, so let’s rip it open, get him properly dressed, and check him out.

I’m a big fan of the smaller demon spawn, and as his name suggests, Helphyre Gobby stands head and shoulders with the regular Goblins. Sadly, I never did pick up the regular Bog Goblin, so that makes this figure less of a mix and match repaint, and actually brand new! The half-sized suit of armor sports all the great sculpted detail I’m used to seeing in this line and features an appropriately dingy and rusty paint job. Although the silver hits to the rivets and the copper colored chainmail in the joints offers some flairs of color. Of course, what really adds the most color here is Helphyre’s bright crimson skin showing through on his hands, feet and bulbous head.

And what a glorious head it is! I believe this is a straight repaint of the Bog Goblin and is a work of grotesque art. The broad fish-lipped mouth, the pointed ears, the thick coil of brow over those beady black eyes. It’s all so good! I can practically see his neck filling with air as he breathes. You also get some little black horns protruding from the sides of his jowels, and some black and blue speckling at the top of his face. The crimson paint is so beautiful, and it’s given a healthy dose of gloss to make him look extra slimy and disgusting… I mean beautiful!!! The rather unconventional head design features two pieces: The back that joints into the neck peg, and a giant face that pegs into the front of that, giving him the ability to tilt his head left or right. It also gives the ability to swap faces…

For an open mouthed face! Aw… yeah! If this little fellow wasn’t horrible enough you can get a dose of what’s going on inside that mouth of his. The stubby rotting teeth and the tongue are superbly detailed and absolutely gross. This second portrait adds a ton of value to this figure, so now how much would you pay? NO! Don’t answer yet, because…

You also get a swap out tongue! Yup, this is the figure that keeps on giving. Pull out the regular tongue and tab in this long snaking licker, complete with some kind of blue bulb at the end, which undoubtedly delivers some kind of toxic poison along with his sloppy kisses. Or maybe acid! I hope it’s acid! Let’s check out his accessories!

First off you get a matched sword and helmet, which look like they were fashioned from the same unfortunate swamp beastie. The helmet actually seems like it could have just been the scaly horned scalp of something, while the sword was probably crafted from its hide and bones. Both feature some amazing attention to detail in both their sculpt and paintwork. I should also note here that the Helphyre Goblin comes with two sets of hands: One open pair, and one pair to hold his accessories.

Next up, you get a bow and quiver. I love these accessories, but I don’t really look at this little guy and think crack-shot archer. But, maybe that’s just me unfairly stereotyping him. Both weapons are repurposed from past figures, and while the bow features a pretty drab paintjob, I think it still looks too sophisticated for this Gobby. Maybe he lifted it off a corpse and just likes to try and shoot it. Either way, I may wind up giving these to one of my regular Goblins.

Finally, and more appropriate is this pole-arm. I love this weapon, as it looks both crude and savage and a lot more like something this fella should be carrying. What I really dig here is that he comes with enough of a weapon assortment that you could kit out several of these differently if you were lucky enough to pick up a handful. Alas, my wallet would only allow me the one.

They say good things come in small packages, and that’s certainly true with this guy. He may be small, but he’s packed with extras, and even that wasn’t the case, I’d still love him to pieces. His big head is a work of art, and I’m overjoyed to add him to my modest legion of mythic demons. He’s just an all around fantastic figure. I haven’t been keeping track, but it feels like I’m just about done with checking out the figures from the Arethyr Wave, although I still have the big guy himself, Arethyr and his demonic steed, and I just may be cracking him open for next week’s Mythoss Monday!

Mar 4 2022

Marvel Legends (Colossus Wave): Magneto by Hasbro

Oh boy, am I backlogged on my Marvel Legends reviews! I mean, I was already behind, and then I had three new waves arrive and I just keep getting in deeper and deeper! Today, I’m going to start in on the second Age of Apocalypse themed wave and I was going to double up, but I was so pressed for time that I wound up going solo with Magneto. I am going to try to check in again this weekend with Sabretooth and then double up the rest of the reviews for this assortment, so we’ll see how that goes!

It goes without saying, that I was a huge fan of the first Age of Apocalypse wave, and I was surprised to see Hasbro serve up a second so quickly. The first assortment had some heavy hitters and the amazing Sugar Man Build-A-Figure, so it’s going to be a tough act to follow. But, this second assortment is also bringing some major players and the Colossus BAF looks like he’s no slouch!

Magneto arrives sharing most of the body used for the Earth 616 Magneto packed in with Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, and that’s to be expected. The red plastic is the same, and even the belt is lifted for this figure, albeit looking more purple than blue. You get some minor paint changes to the boots and gauntlets, his undies are now left red, and the addition of some shoulder pads, but that’s about it from the neck down. The cape is now red, and notably smaller. It still has the bolted neck ring, but that’s been reworked a bit, and this cape doesn’t hover over the shoulders like it did on the previous figure. All in all, this Magneto brings just enough new sculpting to the table to make him stand out.

The head sculpt is completely new, with Erik sporting his manly dystopian pigtails. The portrait packs a lot of personality, with Magneto’s struggle to lead The X-Men clearly taking its toll on him. The plastic coif is pretty magnificent too, and his braids are soft and bendy enough so as not to impede articulation too badly.

You also get a helmeted portrait, which sadly I am not nearly as impressed with. I like the styling well enough, but the paint application could have been a lot more precise. There’s some notable slop around the purple accents, and while on the subject of paint slop, the neck ring is pretty messy too. I also think the helmeted head looks too small, compared to the un-helmeted one. Not only does it look like his head might have shrunk a bit, but it seems unlikely he could get al that hair in there. There’s nothing terrible here, but enough issues to be disappointing.

Since we’ve seen this body many times, there are no real surprises when it comes to articulation, so I won’t run through it all. He does come with two sets of hands: One set of fists and one set of power-wielding hands!

And speaking of powers, you get two effect parts to wrap around his wrists or project from his hands. These are cast in the standard soft plastic with a translucent purple color.

Despite some issues, I really do like this figure, especially since I was sorry to see him omitted from the first wave. There’s nothing groundbreaking here, as Hasbro didn’t have to do a whole lot to convert their regular Magneto to the AoA version, so it’s fair to say he’s one of the budget saving figures in this assortment. But that having been said, he’s a great representation of the character’s look in the comic and a fine addition to my growing Age of Apocalypse shelf!

Mar 2 2022

Mythic Legions: Sir Girard by The Four Horsemen

Because I went rogue and skipped Mythic Legions the last two Mondays, I figured we’d do Mythoss Monday on a Wednesday this week! And yes, I am trying to get back to three reviews a week and I think I have a good shot at it this week! So, let’s jump right in and have a look at Sir Girard, Commander of The Dark Templars! Ooooh, I like him already!

Sir Girard was originally released as a LegionsCon Exclusive last year, but he got a standard release through Store Horsemen and arrived at my doorstep a few days ago. As I understand it, the Exclusive was supposed to contain some extra stuff, but in the end the regular release got everything too! I’m not sure which wave assortment Girard fits into, as I just nabbed him when he went up on an In Stock Sale. Sir Girard is billed as a Changeling, which explains why he has his second head. And while I’m all for a lot of these bios, here’s one aspect of one that I might ignore, but more on that later.

As a Dark Templar, it stand to reason that Girard would reuse a lot of the Templar body, and that ain’t a bad thing, because I happen to love that figure. And when you fit that body with the Raygorr head, complete with the batwings coming off the sides, well we got some magic going on here! The tabard has been repainted with a sumptuous matte black and crimson cross, while the armor has a deep gunmetal gray finish. You also get some silver paint to the rivets and fixtures. Girard does come with a pair of shoulders, but I’ll save those for later in the review when I switch out the heads.

The Raygorr helmet looks amazing in the black and red deco. Sure, we’ve seen this head plenty of times before Raygorr was released, but that’s the one I attribute most with these wings. I didn’t think they would be able to come up with a paint scheme that could come close to Raygorr’s but I think this one does it.

Girard comes with the ubiquitous sword belt, but this time in black. He also comes with a pair of matching falchions. I think I’ve seen these before but the previous appearance is eluding me at the moment. They have beautifully swept silver blades with swells in the belly, and gray hilts to match the armor. Girard also comes with the same shield we saw with the Templars and Raygorr, this time painted to match the tabard, and with border painted to match Girard’s armor. The whole ensemble looks amazing! Now let’s check out his alter ego!

Here’s Girard with a repaint of the Skapular head, and if you remember how I completely gushed over Skapular, then you know I practically lost it when I saw his boney noggin get re-released here. It’s simply one of my favorite portraits in this whole line, as it really invokes some of that classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line art from my childhood. I have also added in the shoulders here, just to distinguish the two looks, but I think they work fine with either head.

So, according to the bio, Sir Girard is looking to overthrow Skapular the Cryptbreaker, and he uses his changeling powers to resemble either him or one of his skeletal legions. I think that’s a cool concept, but what I like even more is the idea that Girard is a skeleton himself, and displaying him with the Raygorr helmet, but with two additional Girard’s with the skeletal heads as his personal guard. Of course, it’s all moot, because I didn’t have the cash to get three and he probably costs all the monies now on the second-hand market. As a result, I honestly have no idea which head I’m going to display him with. There are no right or wrong answers.

And here’s some shots of Girard dual wielding those falchions.

Mythic Legions continues to be a line that never fails to impress. It’s amazing to me that even this far into the line, and with so many releases, The Four Horsemen can still come up with such fantastic new releases using nothing but new paint and mix-and-match parts. Sir Girard is indeed an imposing presence and the addition of the Skapular head just makes him all the more cool in my book. I’m absolutely thrilled that he got a wide release, because I was dangerously close to paying crazy money for the Exclusive.

Feb 28 2022

Doctor Who: “Warriors of the Deep” Collector Set by Character Options

Yet again, the benevolent blokes at Character Options see fit to keep the Doctor Who action figure line going with a sprinkling of new releases each year. Most of these have been repaints and repacks with an occasional new sculpt thrown in, but here we get a set with all new figures! Well, one new figure three times over. Let’s check out… The Warriors of the Deep!

Just to make it clear, I am in no way complaining, but… what an odd choice for a new set! I don’t dislike the 1984 Fifth Doctor story, Warriors of the Deep. It’s got some cool sets, an interesting premise, and it brings back the Silurians and Sea Devils for the first time in over ten years, but I find it hard to imagine it ranks up there as anyone’s favorite story. The moral quandary of the original Doctor Who and The Silurians is gone, and with it a big part of what made these ancient creatures such a unique enemy. And with a good chunk of the middle episodes of Warriors following The Myrka stomping about the Sea Base like a drunken pony, this one can get a bit tedious at times. Besides, with Character Options willing to cough up the tooling for a three pack of Silurians, I think most fans would have been happier to see the originals. But again… I AM NOT COMPLAINING!!! So let’s have a look at the figures!

Icthar is the sole survivor of The Silurian Triad and actually one of the Silurians that encountered the Third Doctor in the 1972 story. He has since had a slight redesign and I dig it well enough, looking more polished than the older costumes. I guess that was kind of necessary considering how well lit the sets of Sea Base 4 are in this story! Icthar is more orange-gold than green and he sports a crustacean like exoskeleton covering his torso, which is smooth and organically curved. I’m also a big fan of the spiked ridges that run up the back of the exoskeleton, making these Silurians look all the more intimidating. The rest of his body is exposed reptilian skin, with the scales more prominent on his arms than on his legs.

Like his comrades, Icthar has a crude-looking control bracelet on his left forearm, which looks like it was grown rather than built. I seem to recall these were used as communication devices, as well as a means to control the dreaded Myrka!

The head sculpt is the real high point of this figure, as it really is excellent, and a superb recreation of what we saw on the screen. The scales are well defined, especially the finer ones that make up his neck. I also really dig the silver paint they used for the eyes. Sure, his protruding mouth looks like he’s smiling with delight, but don’t let that fool you. He’s hatched an evil scheme to have the human race annihilate themselves and “die as they lived, in a sea of their own blood!” Admittedly, I was never a big fan of the orb at the crest of their heads flashing as they spoke. That seemed more like a robot thing than a reptilian thing. Nonetheless, Icthar’s orb is red and it is the only thing that separates him from his subordinates.

Yup, Tarpok and Scibus are the same figure, with their head orbs painted black. The articulation on these three figures is mostly in line with other newer Who releases, which basically means the shoulders have lateral movement, whereas the older figures just had rotating shoulders. Unfortunately, there are no bicep swivels here, so you can’t really have them activate their control bracelets, because their right hands can’t reach. That’s a bummer. You also get lateral movement in the hips, hinges in the elbows and knees, and swivels in the wrists, thighs, and ankles. There’s no swivel in the neck, but that’s more because of the design of the costume, rather than an omission in the figure’s design.

Do I mind that all three are the same sculpt? Nah, not really. Despite having names, two of these figures might as well just be Silurian army builders. But, while we’re on the subject, I think Character Options would have been better served releasing a set with one Silurian and two of the Samurai Helmeted Sea Devil updates. Sure, it would have required tooling a second new figure, but had they gone that route, I would have definitely bought three of these sets instead of just one. Although, maybe we’ll get lucky enough to see a Warriors of the Deep Sea Devil set too.

For the time being, however, the ’84 Silurians look pretty good alongside the ’72 Sea Devils.

It’s also worth mentioning that the interior tray of the box makes for a cool little display diorama. These trays are usually illustrated with some kind of backdrop, but here we get an actual layered 3D effect with the front windows of the Silurian Battle Cruiser showing Sea Base 4, as they approach!

I have a general rule of thumb when it comes to Character Options’ Doctor Who figures… if they put out a set, I will buy it. I want to support this line all the way, and sometimes that means buying repaints or repacks, and sometimes it means buying an all new set like this one. Was Warriors of the Deep high on my list of stories I wanted to see figures from? Nope. It’s one of those stories that I do not revisit a lot, and believe me… I watch a lot of Classic Who. But, am I absolutely chuffed to have three new Silurian figures in my collection? You bet your Myrka ass I am! And since moving, I have easy access to all my Doctor Who figures again, and that means you’ll be seeing a lot more Doctor Who reviews in the coming weeks ahead!

Feb 25 2022

Star Wars Vintage Collection (The Mandalorian): Beskar Armor Mandalorian and The Child by Hasbro

Well, I said I’d be back on Friday and here I am! I’m really pressed for time and I’m still trying to sort out a new photo studio, so I’m shooting guerilla style and not terribly happy with the results. After getting used to the same setup for a decade, it’s been tough adjusting, but I’m working on it. And the show must go on, so here we go! I’ve been strictly a carded collector of the Vintage Collection Mandalorian figures, but I bought doubles of Mando and The Child to open for my Razor Crest, because I didn’t want to open the ones that came with it. I don’t think I realized at the time that the Razor Crest Mando figure wasn’t carded, but let’s tear these open anyway and have a look! And YES! I do hope to get around to that look at the Razor Crest eventually!

I do love me some Vintage Collection cards, which is why I don’t buy all the TVC releases. I just can’t bring myself to open these unless I have doubles. Right now I’m only collecting The Mandalorian and Rogue One releases, so that helps a bit. These cards look great, and The Mandalorian title surrounded by the Star Wars silver border just looks perfect! Let’s start with Mando himself!

This is Mando after he got all blinged out with the mostly new Beskar armor and I have to say the detail in this little guy is pretty damn impressive. You get sculpted wrinkles in the jumpsuit and the armor pieces have a convincing depth to them that looks like they are actually being worn on top, even though they are all just part of the body sculpt. The silver paint here looks nice, and I dig the worn orange splatter and dull gray used for the old right thigh piece. He’s got weapon cartridges around his leg and on his shoulder strap, and a working holster for his pistol!

The cape is cast in plastic, but it still works well with the peg that attaches the rifle to his back. The rifle should be angled more across his back, but I found it works better almost straight up and down. The Razor Crest version has an actual soft goods cape, and we’ll see how that turned out when I check out that figure with the ship. Admittedly, the articulation on this smaller figure is a lot less satisfying than handling a Black Series version. The hips don’t have a lot of range of motion, and there’s a terrible pull on the left thigh swivel leaving an unsightly gap. Still, all in all I dig him.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about the helmet. It looks good and the paint is sharp as long as you don’t get in too close. Again, the quality of the silver they used here looks great and has just enough sheen to it. I also love the detail on the shoulder sigil.

The rifle is a solid sculpt, and the paint is pretty impressive for such a small accessory. Hasbro doesn’t always invest this level of paint operations on the 6-inch accessories, so this sure ain’t bad! Mando’s gun hand is mainly intended for the pistol, but with a little work, I was able to get it to work with the rifle.

The pistol fits snugly in the holster as well as in Mando’s right gun hand. There isn’t a lot to say about this accessory, other than it’s painted silver and has a pretty soft sculpt, but is certainly passable.

Finally, you get the jetpack, which is designed to peg into the back in a slot that is off-set to accommodate the cape. It stays on well, but I feel it works best without the cape. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to combine a jetpack and a cape anyway. You’re just asking to set yourself on fire! Let’s move on to Grogu!

OK, so this little guy doesn’t look like much when you punch in close like this, but it’s such an unbelievably tiny figure, that I have to give Hasbro props for doing such a nice job on him. He certainly looks a lot better in hand with the naked eye. And he actually has three points of articulation, with the arms ball jointed at the shoulders and the neck ball jointed as well. The arms do, however, pull out fairly easily and if they happen to hit the floor, they are so tiny it could be difficult to find them again. My only real complaint here is that they painted whites in his eyes, when they should really be all black.

The hover pram is also a nice little piece of kit. It has a clear plastic stand to create the hovering effect, and the blanket inside is sculpted with tiny rumples and even some sharp texturing. You also get a removable cover if you want to close it all the way up. Grogu fits in it quite well and looks great in there.

I don’t review a whole lot of 4-inch figures these days, so it’s fun to go back to them every now and again. To be honest, the only reason I collect any of these is either to keep them carded or to stock a specific vehicle or playset. I find that I just get a lot more enjoyment out of the 6-inch versions these days. They’re easier to handle, more fun to pose, and they tend to allow for more detail and better paint apps. With all that having been said, these two are pretty cool little figures, and I’ll work them into one of my displays somewhere.

Feb 21 2022

Marvel Legends: Skrull Army Builder by Hasbro!

Holy hell, I’m back! And I’m rolling out a Marvel Monday just for old time sake! But, it’s only temporary. I plan on getting back to Mythoss Mondays again in a couple of weeks. So, a couple of things before jumping in. First, thanks for your patience and your kind emails during my hiatus. It’s been a busy and mostly stressful couple of weeks with work and while the move has been going smoothly, I’ve still got a bit more to go. A lot of my collection is either set up or accessible, so I’ll do my best to generate some content and eventually get back to regular updates. I’m shooting for another review this week, probably on Friday. Lastly, I don’t have my photo area completely setup yet, so I’m making due until I can get a permanent setup and get the lighting right.

Today I’m checking out the Skrull Army Builder, which is currently a Pulse Exclusive. These come in fully enclosed boxes with some nice printed art on the front, but it’s certainly intended to be more utilitarian than the packaging we see in the toy aisles. Inside, the figures and accessories come wrapped up in tissue paper. Personally, I don’t mind it at all. I picked up two of these guys, so let’s see what we got!

As army builders, these are very simple figures, similar to what you’d see as one of the cost-saving releases in a wave. That means there’s no unique sculpting below the neck, and the costume is achieved entirely through paint and colored plastic. They picked a great body for the figure, as it exhibits the added articulation in the shoulder crunches, making these guys pretty limber little shapeshifters! The costume consists of a metallic purple body suit with black boots and gauntlets, black undies, and a black cowl. It’s a decent looking figure, and works well for a nameless trooper.

Each figure comes with two unique portraits, so if you bought a pair like I did, you have a different head for each. The standard head offers a decidedly unhappy expression and it looks fantastic. The long pointed ears have plenty of detail, and he’s got that extra helping of chin with the vertical creases. The prominent, furled brow hangs above his beady little eyes, and his head is covered with a simple skullcap. For a nameless brute, this guy has plenty of personality!

The second head is even better, with a toothy scowl. This is a truly epic sculpt, and easily my favorite of the two.

You don’t get any extra hands with the figure, but you do get two gun hands and two guns to put in them! The first is a very intimidating rifle. This weapon is cast entirely in gray plastic and features plenty of detail in the sculpt.

The second gun is this cool looking little retro-style hairdryer pistol. It’s cast in a matching gray plastic and has a big purple orb on the side. I just love this chunky little gun!

I’ll be honest, I don’t order or pre-order a lot of figures from Pulse, unless they are exclusives, like these. Still, it’s awesome that Hasbro is offering some army builders, and The Skrull were a great choice for this sort of thing. I seem to recall these were about $16 each and that makes it pretty tempting to load up on them. I may go for a third if I find myself ordering something else and these are still in stock, but for now I’m cool with just having the two. And they sure look great when displayed with the Super Skrull Build-A-Figure! Hasbro offered these up at the same time with a pair of SHIELD army builders, and I hope to check those out next week!

Feb 15 2022

Haslab Razor Crest Arrived…

Just thought I’d pop in to let everyone know I’m still alive and still working through my move. The Haslab Razor Crest did show up today and I had some time to set it up, but not yet kit out all the stuff inside.

So, I’m hoping to get back on Friday to do some initial impressions of this beast, albeit not a full review. I am, however, committing myself to a regular review on Monday to try to get back on track. I still have to figure out where I’m setting up my photo area here, but I have the upcoming weekend off, so I should have time to work something out.

Thanks for your continued patience!

By figurefanzero
0
Feb 8 2022

Moving #2: Another Week Off…

I had planned on being back this week, but work is kicking my ass, along with all the hassles and stresses of moving. This has been a productive week, but not one that has been good for my mental well-being. I am officially in the new house and I’d say I’m over the hump as far as getting things moved over here. My cats came over on Friday and that was when I spent my first night here. I’ll now be making trips back and forth with the rest of the stuff, and ultimately getting a mover to grab a few pieces of furniture that I’m bringing over, including my main gaming TV. That should be within the next two weeks so I can wrap up and settle in.

I had hoped to have some toy and collectible related pictures, but truth be told I’ve been focusing most of my time on getting my Game Room set up, and I’ll share some pictures of how that’s going. I’ve got some Toy Closets in progress and have just started setting up some of the Toy Room!

I am doing my best to get some content ready to go for next week, but I’m not ready to make that a 100% promise. But, believe me, I’m looking forward to getting back on routine and getting reviews going up on a regular basis again. I’ll update again when I know something for sure! In the meantime, here’s some of what I’ve been up to…

Retro Computer Central!
Switch, Evercade, MyArcade Minis, Etc!
More Portables, including: Nintendo DS, 3DS, Gameboy Advance, and Sony PSP!
PlayStation!
Xbox and SEGA!
Nintendo! NES, SNES, N64!
Atari 2600 and 7800!
Intellivision… Colecovision below it, but not pictured!
Odds and Ends with some Videogame Figures starting to go up!
CAT INVASION!!!!
By figurefanzero
0
Jan 26 2022

Golden Axe: Death Adder by Storm Collectibles

YES! I love SEGA! And YES! I love Golden Axe! I won’t start verbally fapping about the franchise again here, but feel free to check out my reviews of Ax Battler and The Skeleton Soldiers, if you need a reminder! In fairness, most of my experience with the games isn’t in the coin-op form, but rather at home on my SEGA Genesis. I even recently picked up a custom cart of Golden Axe 3, which never released for the US Genesis, but now I can play it anyway! Suffice it to say, I’m very nearly all in on Storm Collectibles’ Golden Axe figures. There are a few Skeleton variants that I haven’t dropped money on yet… YET!!! But I’m just so happy to see these figures getting made.

And so, BEHOLD! DEATH ADDER!!! After Golden Axe is done wiping the floor with you with common enemies, you are rewarded with fighting Death Adder as the final boss! Or is he??? I have a feeling that he might have been taking orders… ah, but that’s just me being paranoid. The figure comes in a window box in the same style as the previous releases, with a lot of extra plastic wrap to make it had to really see the figure inside all that clearly. The illustrated backing for the tray also recreates the character select screen, just like the previous packages did.

And out of the box, Death Adder is quite the bruiser, standing more than head and shoulders above Ax Battler and the Skeletons. He’s also a relatively simple figure, albeit one that does a fabulous job bringing the sprite-based 16-bit villain into a more realistic action figure form! One of the things you may first notice about him is that he’s built with seamless elbow and knee joints, using flexible rubber plastic to cover the internal skeleton. It makes for a great effect, especially since the shoulder and hip joints are somewhat obscured by his armor. On the downside, he doesn’t have anywhere near the range of motion that we got in the Ax Battler body, so it’s a compromise. I dig it, and for a lumbering brute, I’m not sure I need Death Adder to be as nimble as our hero. But while we’re on the subject of articulation, my figure has a loose right ankle hinge. It isn’t broken, but the two halves of the hinged ball separate from time to time. It’s more annoying than a critical fault, but worth mentioning nonetheless!

Death Adder’s buff bod features some wonderfully sculpted muscles, something that Storm has gotten quite adept at delivering. His bulging arms are positively ripped with veins and tendons, making him look like he can tear The Player apart without any need of weapons. His armor is cast in soft plastic with a shiny red finish. The segmented plates look great and there’s a bit of a hammered finish to the shoulder armor. You also get a healthy assortment of different hands, including fists, relaxed, palm-smash, clutching, and weapon holding hands!

As far as the portrait goes, Death Adder comes with two heads, which can be swapped out under his rather epic helmet. Both are human-appearing head sculpts, painted black with yellow piercing eyes. I tend to like the regular one, because my imagination always suggested that Death Adder didn’t have a regular face under that helmet. I don’t know what I thought he had, but I guess I just expected it was something mysterious, similar to an Orko or Warduke. That having been said, I think the gritted teeth expression looks quite good!

Death Adder comes with one accessory, and that’s his giant golden axe! It’s big an imposing, but fairly light and easy for him to wield in either one hand, or both. I really like the gold finish on this weapon. It’s just so lush and satiny, with some silver for the edges.

I pre-ordered this big guy way back when and he’s been waiting for his time in the spotlight for a while now! I seem to recall dropping $115 on him, which isn’t so bad considering how big and chonky he is. And it looks like Storm is re-releasing all of their Golden Axe figures for people who missed out, as pre-orders have gone up again around all the usual places. I think he’s an excellent figure, although the seamless jointing may end up being a polarizing point among some collectors.