Nov 15 2021

Mythic Legions (Wasteland): Argemedes by The Four Horsemen

Welcome to the second installment of the still new and fresh Mythoss Monday! And it’s all the more timely, since The Four Horsemen just revealed pre-orders for yet another wave of Mythic Legions ready to girt on their swords and do battle with my bank account. I’m still far behind in my Mythic Legions reviews, picking through the now impressive history of releases, and today I’ve come up with Argemedes the Cyclops!

The Siege at Bjorngar assortment introduced the Ogre-sized figures to the realm of Mythoss. Not as large as the Trolls, but still standing tall above the regular-sized figures, we initially got three of these big bois: Kkurzog, The Ogre Legion Builder, and Bolthor the Tower. Argemedes followed soon after in the Wasteland assortment to round out the quartet. Unlike the regular Mythic Legions releases, these fellas come in window boxes, which are collector friendly and have some very nice wrap-around artwork!

Argemedes mixes things up a bit in that he is a Cyclops! Perhaps, he’s a smaller, distant cousin of the larger mono-eyed Brontus, The Arena Troll from The Coliseum Wave. Mythic Legions is a line that is built around mixing, matching, and repainting parts, and while it manages to achieve a pretty good amount of diversity, I think the parts sharing is probably most obvious in these Ogres sized figures. I’m not knocking them for it, but I just find it a lot more noticeable here if you gather them all together. If you stand Argemedes next to Kkurzog, you can see there are more differences in the paint scheme than the actual sculpt. They share the exact same bodies, hands, and feet, as well as the same wrist bracers. chest harnesses, and leg armor. The belts are nearly identical too, with only the disc in the center being different. Argemedes also has a much thicker and larger barbarian diaper to hide his trouser cyclops.

And while the recycled bodies really stand out here, I still think they did a nice job on the repainted bits for Argemedes. He’s given a sort of blue-gray skin with a paler shade in the chest. The armor bits are generally darker, emphasizing more blacks than browns, less silver, and mixing up some of the coppery bits. I have to say I’m still blown away by all the fine detail in the armore pieces. The texturing makes the leather bits look like real leather, and the hammered finish on the studs, plates, and buttons, is just so damn fantastic. There’s a little overspray of bone paint on the plates between his legs, but that’s the only place I can find fault in the paint quality. The rather ornate scrollwork pattern on the belt disc looks great, although this piece has now been used on three out of the four Ogres, making Kkurzog’s belt the most unique of the bunch. At least the wrist bracers are removable, so you can mix things up by removing one or both if you want to make these guys look different. Personally, I think they look too good to take off! I especially love how all the little straps, buckles, and fixtures are sculpted and painted.

Argemedes does have a brand new head, which makes him and his one big eye rather unique. The lower structure of his face is still very Ogre like, with the flat nose, broad mouth and prominent tusks. Maybe one of the Ogres got busy with Brontus and Argemedes was the result! He’s got craggy skin around his single blood-orange eyeball. The paintwork on the head is excellent, with some nice shading and the skin changing from blue to a creamy yellow around his nose and lower jaw. I also really dig the paint and sculpt that went into those tusks.

The helmet is a close fitting skullcap with thin cheek guards, which drop down in front of his pointed ears. The mohawk of boney spikes looks great and matches the bones that protrude from the arm and leg armor rather well. The helmet is removable, and it can even be worn by Kkurzog or the Ogre Legion Builder if you like. This was a nice surprise, I had expected it to be either part of the head sculpt or permanently attached. I prefer the figure with the helmet on, but the bald pate that can be seen with the helmet off also gives the portrait a lot of personality.

For me, the only real disappointing thing about Argemedes is that he comes with the same poleax that we’ve seen a few times with The Ogres already. It’s not a bad weapon, and I love how the shaft can be changed around to be different lengths, but when you’re reusing this much figure, it seems only fair to give him a brand new weapon. It’s not like any new weapon designed for this guy wouldn’t be used again and again further on down the line. It would have also been cool to give him some kind of crude shield. With that having been said, the ax head is still a beautiful sculpt and it does suit the big guy rather well.

I do love this figure class, and making one of them a cyclops was a great idea! Argemedes is another welcome addition to my Mythic Legions shelves, and he looks great in the back towering over some of the other figures. With that having been said, The Four Horsemen really need to invest in some new armor for this body if they’re still going to be making use of it. There just seems to be more of a variety of paint options with the smaller figures to make them work better with recycled parts. Not to mention these bigger guys cost more, so it would be nice to get some more bang for my buck. Based on some pictures, it looks like TFH are addressing this in future releases with new armor pieces and such, so it will be cool to see what they come up with.

Nov 12 2021

Star Wars “Rogue One” Shoretrooper Squad Leader Sixth-Scale Figure by Hot Toys

I could go on and on, recounting all the things that I love about Rogue One! But today, let’s go with Reason #1,256: New Troopers! The film gave us some brand spanking new Imperial Troops, all of which were conspicuously absent from The Original Trilogy, but I’m sure they’ll get digitally inserted in an upcoming Extra Special Edition. And while the Deathtroopers were probably my favorite additions, the Shoretroopers that were introduced on Scarif are a close second! And here comes Hot Toys to prey on my weaknesses by releasing both a Shoretrooper and the Squad Leader as well. The regular trooper isn’t due to ship until early next year, but the Squad Leader arrived on my front stoop a couple of days ago! Time to hit the beach and kick over some Rebel sandcastles!

Here’s the part of the review where I lament the bland and boring packaging we always get with the Star Wars Hot Toys, so let’s just say I did and be done with it. You’ll note that nowhere on the package is it branded as a Rogue One figure, and maybe that’s because these fellows made an appearance in The Mandalorian. That’s also probably why they’re now being called Shoretroopers, instead of Scarif Stormtroopers. Eh, it’s all marketing in the end. But, it’s worth noting that the official copy on Sideshow’s website makes the link to Rogue One, so that’s good enough for me. Not that it matters, because I’m more or less all in on both Rogue One and Mandalorian Hot Toys.

The Squad Leader shares a similar suit to his rank-and-file underlings. The big difference is the lack of the ammo pouch and hip armor, and the addition of the black cloth kama that hangs down to about his knees, and covers his butt. The Leader also features some coloring to his upper armor, with light blue on the tops of his shoulders and a light blue bar running across the top of his chest. He’s also got a white band on his left shoulder, and a red bicep guard on his right arm with three yellow bars. Otherwise, his armor is a sandy tan color with some pretty heavy and convincing weathering effects. The paint on this guy is just great, and it’s backed up by some excellent detail, particularly in the shallow backpack unit.

As for the armor itself, the suit falls somewhere in between the full armor of a regular Stormtrooper and the abbreviated armor of the Scout Troopers. The Shoretrooper enjoys the extra protection of lower leg and forearm armor, but the rest offers more or less the same protection as the Scout has. As usual, the figure is comprised of an undersuit with the plastic armor pieces worn on top and held on either by elastic straps or friction. Above the waist, the body suit is black, but the exposed trousers are brown. About the only thing I don’t much like on this fella is are the boots, which strike me as looking more like brown loafers than combat boots. But, they are still accurate to the design, so it’s hard to fault the figure.

The helmet is also an excellent sculpt and the paint is once again on point. Hell, no matter where you look, the paint just sells this figure so well. You get scoring and abrasions, and just general soiling. It looks like this guy has seen more than his share of action. All it’s really missing is some dried seagull poop! The helmet design is obviously influenced by the Scout Trooper helmet, but the angular plates over the cheeks make it look quite distinctive, as does the reinforced blast shield, which rests above the visor on the forehead. It’s a shame that the blast shield isn’t articulated here, as it would have been cool to be able to drop it down over the visor. But to quote a certain farmboy, then they couldn’t even see… so how are they supposed to fight? I do feel like the neck is a little too long and thin, but that’s mostly only noticeable to me when the figure is viewed from the back.

Rank may have its privileges, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean the Squad Leader gets a lot of extra stuff. Indeed, a lack of extras seems to be a continued sticking point for me and these Imperial Troopers. In this case you get three pairs of hands: Relaxed, Fists, and Gun-toting… plus you get the gun for those hands to tote. Oh, but what a magnificent gun it is! Sure, the E-11 Blaster is iconic as all hell, but this E-22 reciprocating double-barrel blaster rifle is one sexy piece of ordinance. It’s a much beefier and far more intimidating weapon than the ones carried by their vanilla Stormtrooper cousins, and this is an absolutely beautiful sculpt. There are no articulated or removable parts on the weapon, but it does come with a shoulder strap, and features some very nice weathering.

What’s our last stop on every Hot Toys review? You got it! The Stand! In this case it’s the usual rectangle with a silver name plate on the front. You get an illustrated sticker that can be placed onto the base, or you can omit it in favor of what looks more like the deck plate of an Imperial Star Destroyer. There’s also an optional piece to give the base an angled front that is flush with the name plate. As with the packaging, the name plate does not have any Rogue One branding, but rather just says Star Wars and Shoretrooper Squad Leader. The stand consists of your standard adjustable crotch-cradle, which works well with the figure.

I love this figure! He’s a great addition to my Sixth-Scale Imperial Troops, and you bet your beskar that I already have the regular Shoretrooper on pre-order. In addition to the great sculpt, tailoring, and paint, there’s very little in the outfit to hinder his articulation, making him a lot more fun to play with than the more restrictive suited Hot Toys. But I will admit that the price is really catching up with these guys. $230 just seems high for a figure that comes with so little in the way of extras, and doesn’t have an actual portrait. I consider the likeness and portrait to be a huge part of a Hot Toys figure’s budget, and when they’re just doing a helmet, it seems like that should save on the cost a bit. Plus, I think this armor is mostly the same as the Assault Tank Commander, so they’re already getting multiple uses out of it. I seem to recall the last two Hot Toys Stormtroopers I bought were around $200-220, and I think this figure should have shipped around $10 to $15 less than it did. But what the hell, they still got me to buy it, so I guess they know what they’re doing.

Nov 10 2021

Marvel Legends (What If?): The Hydra Stomper by Hasbro

In case you missed the memo, I’ve replaced Marvel Mondays with Mythic Legions reviews, so that’s why you’re seeing a Marvel Legends review on a Wednesday! Now, since it’s out of the regular Monday rotation, that means there’s no guarantee that I’ll be doing Marvel content every week, but I wasn’t about to go cold turkey straight out of the gate, was I? Today I’m checking out The Hydra Stomper, which is a single oversized Deluxe release, that is tethered in spirit to the proper What If? Wave, which I’ll be tackling soon enough. My guess is that this guy was a little too big to do as the Build A Figure, which is why Hasbro gave that honor to The Watcher. Hey, it all works out in the end.

While What If? can refer to the funnybooks, this Wave seems to be more specifically tied to the recent What If? animated series on Disney+. Nope, I didn’t watch it, I just can’t get into these Marvel Disney+ Series, but I’m not going to let that stop me from enjoying the figures. The Hydra Stomper is a suit of armor made by Howard Stark for Steve Rogers in a reality where Agent Carter became the Super Soldier. Yeah… I think I got that right. Anyway, let’s suit up and dive in!

Oh man, this is a big and meaty figure! I absolutely love the design here, which has a primitive look similar to Tony Stark’s Mark I armor. It also has a wonderful WWII military-style finish, which includes a uniform coat of matte olive green paint, along with some brown panels down on the feet, and some white stenciled military markings. There’s also a pale blue panel on the front in place of what would be the Arc Reactor in our reality, but in this case offers a window to the Tesseract power that drives this particular suit. The sculpt isn’t what I would call hyper-detailed, as it tends to favor smooth vacant spaces instead of a lot of complex panel lines, but there are some nice flourishes here, like the rivets and vents. I also really dig the grab bars that run up the left leg and along the left side of the torso to help Steve climb into this behemoth.

There’s a lot more detail present on the massive jet pack, which pegs into the back and includes hinges on each thruster tank to reposition them away from the body. The cables and supports all look pretty convincing and I dig the scorch marks painted along the the thrusters themselves. I would have liked a little more weathering like this on the figure as a whole to make it look more worn and realistic, but I suppose the simpler paint job is more in tune with the animation style of the series. One gripe about the jetpack is that it’s rather heavy and the peg isn’t substantial enough to keep it plugged in all that securely. It will stay put if I’m just repositioning the figure, but if I get into any major re-posing, it is apt to fall out.

The head gives me more of that Mark I armor vibe, with the squared off eyes and the bars over the mouth slit. You get more grab bars on the shoulders for lowering into the torso compartment, and there’s a rather stout antenna rising up over the left shoulder. A white star and the C-15 registry on the chest adds nicely to the military motif.

As a stocky, well-armored figure, the articulation here doesn’t always offer the best range of motion, but all the points are there, and I’d say that the figure has about the same level of movement that one might expect from the real suit. The shoulder plates are hinged so they don’t get in the way of the rotating hinges in the shoulders too badly. The hips are capable of some nice wide stances, with lateral rockers in the ankles to accommodate them. The elbows can’t quite do 90-degrees, but they come close. Balancing this big guy can be a bit of a challenge, especially with the jetpack on, but he’s still lots of fun to play with.

In terms of weapons, the Stomper has them built in to the right forearm. I imagine these were showcased in the series, but since I didn’t watch it, I’ll presume that one is a machine gun and the other is maybe a flame thrower? Sure, why not? Let’s go with that!

The Stomper comes with two sets of hands, one pair is for clutching and grabbing and the other is a pair of fists for punching… and more punching.

Finally, you get a pair of effect parts to peg into the jetpack to make it look like he’s flying. These pieces are a little understated, but they work well enough. I was hoping they were sized so as to double as weapon fire, but they are only designed to fit into the thrusters and will not plug into the weapon muzzle. Given a choice, I actually would have rather had an effect part for the gun.

The Hydra Stomper is a cool and fun figure by every possible measure. I think a little paint weathering would have gone a long way to make him look a bit more premium, but it’s absence is by no means a deal-breaker for me enjoying this figure a hell of a lot. When I first took this guy out of the shipping box, I was a bit taken back by just how big he was! After playing around with him for just a bit, I couldn’t wait to dig out my Hydra soldier pack and have him give them a good stomping! Hell, he can even make quick work of the Hydra Heavy Soldier, and that is by no means a small figure! I can’t even imagine how big the Hot Toys version is going to be, but imagine I will have to, because I’m not going to pony up the cash for that beast. We’ll no doubt see this figure make an appearance here again when I get around to reviewing the Agent Carter from the What If? Wave!

Nov 8 2021

Mythic Legions (Arethyr): Belphegorr by The Four Horsemen

Well, folks, November is off to a rough start, with only one new review last week. Then again, November tends to be my most challenging month when it comes to balancing my work and devoting time to this blog. But, I’m pressing on and we’ll see how things go. It’s the first Mythoss Monday, and for those of you missing the Marvel content, I’ll still have some this week, I promise!

Mythoss Mondays will, of course, be devoted to getting me caught up on reviewing all the Mythic Legions figures I have piled up around here. I’m not going in any specific order, but the one I grabbed today happens to be Belphegorr from the sorta recently shipped Arethyr Wave. He’s also the third Demon from the line that I’m checking out, with the first two being Xarria from Advent of Decay and Malephar from Arethyr. According to his bio, Belphegorr’s claim to fame is being rather adept at tearing portals in the fabric of reality to facilitate travel from one dimension to another… Like some kind of Etherial Uber Driver!

And Oh, boy do I love this guy! Belphegorr looks like he’d be right at home hurling fireballs at The DoomSlayer! This red-skinned slab of demon flesh goes around topless, just because he can. Not gonna lie, if I sported that kind of physique, I would too. He does, however have a pair of jagged Orc-style armored shoulders, which mesh perfectly with his collar to look like they are all one piece. This is the first time I’m seeing the collar, and it’s perfect for a Demon Lord. As always, I love the dark and weathered finish on the armor, which is accentuated by the pitting and nicks in the sculpt. He’s also got the traditional Orc armored belt and segmented thigh guards, bracers, as well as their knee and lower leg armor, which terminates in his powerful demonic hooves. The ensemble is finished off with a furry loin cloth to hide his undoubtedly massive demon junk. His exposed skin is a deep crimson with a bit of shading to bring out his muscles, and the paintwork on his hooves is absolutely fantastic!

By now The Four Horsemen are masters at sculpting portraits of the dark denizens of the deep, and Belphegorr here is a prime example of that fact! This beastie has all the trimmings of an iconic demon mug from the bottom of his dual pointed chin to the tips of his curling ribbed horns. His face evokes all the characteristics of a partially exposed skull with a full set of teeth, the human-like qualities of which make him all the more unsettling. The deep set eyes are little pools of yellow to pierce through the darkness, and his bulbous forehead is spiderwebbed with purple vein-like crevices. And wow, those glossy black horns look ominous as all hell!

Belphegorr isn’t terribly heavy on the accessories, but what he does have is pretty good. First, you get an extra set of hands to help him hold his weapons… and then you get the weapons! In this case, he wields a the twin Elf Swords that we have seen here before. My initial reaction was to think it a strange pairing, but I actually think they suit him surprisingly well. He also includes the standard issue sword belt with a loop that can secure both swords to his hip at once. Or, it can also serve as a shoulder strap so he can wear the weapons on his back, so long as you don’t mind giving up one of his shoulder armor pieces.

The twin blades have extra long braided grips for single or double-handed use. Hell, if there’s a demon down there with three hands, he could use them all on these babies! Plenty of room! The long hilts are countered with sweepingly curved blades, which are almost sickle-like in their design. And there are no cross-guards because cross-guards are for pussy Demons like Zaleos. Seriously, what’s up with that guy? I still would have liked to get a beefier weapon with Belphegorr, not only because I think he should have one, but because his arsenal feels a little lacking without it. But it’s not like I don’t have a bajillion big hammers or spears from other figures.

And as we’ve seen before, these swords can be joined together to form a single double-bladed pole-arm kinda thing, which is cool as hell and a great little bonus.

For a while, it seemed like the Demons were getting buried by all the Knights, Vampyres, Orcs, Elves, and Goblins. It’s nice to see them come to the forefront with this Arethyr Wave. There’s so much potential for creativity here and The Four Horsemen have demonstrated that with Belphegorr. It’s a testament to this design that it can feel both fresh and iconic at the same time. A lot of this figure is sold by the portrait, since the rest is basically a red-skinned Orc with hooves, but that’s the mixing and matching genius that is Mythic Legions. Plus, this is likely one of the first figures I’ll pull out when it comes time to check out some of the wings that T4H sold as extra accessories!

Nov 3 2021

ThunderCats Ultimates: Slithe by Super7

Wow, it’s been about four years since I reviewed the last of Mattel’s ThunderCats Classics figures! These were offered through Matty Collector and only survived one wave before Matty shut things down and eventually passed the license off to Super7. Super7 stepped in by offering a redo of the first wave of figures with more accessories. They also adopted a made-to-pre-order business model, which means delivery is sloooooow. But now, a new wave with new characters has shipped and I’m excited to finally have new additions to this collection!

And who better to kick things off than with Slithe, Yesssss? As the de facto leader of The Evil Mutants from Plun-Darr, Slithe is without a doubt the most coveted release in this wave! Not only is he an important character, but he’s also one of the more unique character designs of the Mutants, and I was beyond curious to see how his figure would turn out. The packaging is super snazzy with a cover featuring the red foil insignia of Mumm-Ra The Ever Living. Lift the cover off to reveal the window box within. We can see the figure from the front and from the back some character art and a blurb about Slithe. Inside, the figure comes on a hefty tray with a second tray containing the accessories, nested under it.

Slithe is indeed a big boi, with a lot of satisfying heft to the figure. His stocky, hunched body is beautifully recreated here in what is a wonderful compromise between realistic detail and the simple nature of his cartoon counterpart. His green skin is textured with reptilian scales, along with smooth patches scattered throughout, and a smooth, light blue surface for the undercarriage of his tail and his chest. Personally, I would have liked that light blue to be closer to a greenish-gray, but I still think it looks good. He’s got a yellow sash tied around his waist, secured by a Y-shaped harness with two brown suspenders running up from the back, over his shoulders and joining together in the center of his chest at what looks like a steer’s head fixture. Below the yellow sash he has a shaggy brown skirt that covers the modesty of his lizard-goodies. His tail curls up behind him, and his hump is crested with dinosaur-like spikes. The sculpt and coloring on display here are both fantastic, and this figure not only looks great, but feels incredibly solid in hand!

Slithe’s ugly mug is positioned dead center of his hump and mounted on a dumbell-style arm, which allows it to look side to side as well as up and down and swivel, like a dog hearing a strange noise. The sculpted is packed with detail and personality. His headpiece looks like it’s a separate piece that’s attached to the figure. One eye is characteristically popped a little larger than the other and he offers a slightly pensive glance, as if wondering why their last plan to defeat the ThunderCats went tits up. The paint on the exposed fangs could have been a little tighter, but you have to get in pretty close to see any issues.

Slithe features a second head is a lot more expressive, with his one left eye squinting a lot more and his mouth slightly agape to show his disgusting mutant lizard tongue. It’s really a toss-up as to which head I will display him with the most, but I’m currently leaning toward this second one.

Other than the unusual neck articulation, everything else is pretty standard. You get rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. The ankles are hinged and have generous lateral rockers. The wrists are on hinged pegs so they can be swapped out with the accessory holding hands. The tail will swivel, and he has what feels like a ball joint tucked under that waist sash. The joints work well and do a nice job of supporting his bulk, even if he isn’t resting on his tail. The balance on this figure is actually amazing for such an oddly shaped fellow!

You get three weapons with the figure. The first is this classic spiked mace. The shaft is a little bendy, but otherwise it’s a nice enough weapon.

Next up, you get an ax with a gnarled, rustic looking shaft, and a pretty well worn blade, full of nicks and dents and other battle damage. This is probably my favorite of the three, as it has loads of personality.

And finally, you get a cleaner ax with a spear head on the tip and a less worn blade. I like that the butt cap on the pole of this one matches the one on the mace.

Damn, this figure turned out great! And most importantly, I’m happy to see that the Ultimates fits in seamlessly with Matty’s Classics, as they are meant to. Yeah, it’s been a long road, and it goes without saying that collecting this line is not for those without resolve and patience. But the fact that it survived being cancelled to get handed off to such a skilled creator of action figures tells me that this line was meant to be. And having never had any ThunderCats figures as a kid, this line continuing is like a dream come true, and I’m happy to see it’s in good hands. It also makes me happy to see such high quality paint and quality control here, because I am pretty much All-In on their Silverhawks and G.I. JOE lines. I just hope I live long enough to actually get all these great figures in hand!

Nov 1 2021

Marvel Mondays Out… Mythic Legions Mondays In!

Yup. It’s a big change, since Marvel Monday has been an ongoing tradition around here for the better part of half a decade! But, for the rest of the year, at least, I’m going to be pushing Marvel reviews into the regular rotation and bringing forward a weekly Mythic Legions review for each Monday.

A big reason for doing this, is that I have so many wonderful Mythic Legions figures waiting to be reviewed, many waiting for well over a year! At the same time, I’m anticipating a sharp decline in my interest in Disney’s upcoming MCU projects and my Marvel Legends purchases are going to reflect that. I skipped The Eternals Wave, and I’m not interested in any figures from Loki. The main reason I bought the What If? Wave was to get The Watcher BAF. I’m not quitting, not by any means, and I have a lot of Legends to still get caught up on, but I know I won’t be chasing as many waves nor buying as many Legends figures. There will be some weeks where Marvel doesn’t show up, but I’ll still keep coming back to it.

So, I decided that coming out of the Halloween shake-up, now would be a good time to do this until the end of the year and see how it goes and I’ll kick it off next Monday. In the meantime, come on back on Wednesday and I’ll have a brand spankin new review of something ready to go!

By figurefanzero
1
Oct 31 2021

Halloween II: Ultimate Michael Myers by NECA

Happy Halloween, Toyhounds! And what better way to celebrate than with a review of a Michael Myers figure, eh? I was really hoping to be able to do a look at NECA’s new Halloween Kills version of Michael, but I haven’t found it and I’m not even sure it’s officially out yet. Luckily, I was able to pluck the Halloween II version of Myers from my backlog… I mean.. I’ve been saving him for just this occasion! Yeah, that’s it!

And that’s works out well, considering yesterday was this film’s 40th Anniversary! Not to mention, that by every imaginable standard of measurement, Halloween II is an infinitely better movie than Halloween Kills. I enjoyed Kills, but when I saw it, I was digesting a 22oz steak and was well lubricated with alcohol, so I was in a very agreeable mood. But, as the direct follow up to Carpenter’s original, Halloween II was a great ride, and still has some of my favorite Myers moments. I still get chills every time he effortlessly walks through that plate glass door without even flinching. I actually did a re-watch of this flick last night and had a great time doing it. So, let me grab a few more Fun Size Snickers from the bowl by the front door and bust open this figure!

The film begins exactly where the first one ends, so we get more or less the same version of Michael for either movie. The one big difference here is the bullet holes where Loomis “SHOT HIM SIX TIMES… SIX TIMES!!!” The Shape dons his dark blue jumpsuit with all the little sculpted stitches that I’ve come to expect from NECA’s plastic tailors. And the rumples! Oh, the rumples! Someone at NECA is just a master at sculpting rumples and wrinkles in plastic clothing. He has a pair of matte black work boots, and his collar is worn up. The jumpsuit that covers the torso is cast in soft plastic and conceals the articulation there. Otherwise, you get plenty of rotating hinges, including doubles in the elbows, which is just fantastic for the stabbing!

You get a whopping three heads with this figure! The first is the standard mask and it looks amazing. This appears to be an actual mask that is permanently attached to the head, which gives the eyes a nice sense of depth, as does the way the neck of the mask sticks out over the figure’s actual neck. The texturing on the pale mask is masterfully done so as to look like vinyl and not real skin. The hair also appears to be sculpted separately, giving it a clean hairline. I really liked the look of the modern, damaged mask in Halloween Kills, but this original will always be my favorite.

The second head is the poor bastard who just happened to be out on Halloween night dressed just like Myers and wearing a similar mask. Loomis mistakes him for Myers, hounds him into the street, and a cop car plows right into him, setting him on fire. Boy, took about shit luck! This head is certainly not essential, but boy it’s a really nice bonus. The face sculpt appears to be the same, but it’s mostly left unpainted. There are no visible eyes in the eye holes, which makes it super creepy. The hair is newly sculpted to look more disheveled, and it’s painted blonde.

The final head features the bloody eyes from the end of the movie. After Myers stabs Loomis with his scalpel, Laurie Strode demonstrates an incredible degree of marksmanship by recovering a gun and putting a bullet straight into each of Michael’s peepers. Two shots and they’re both all net! There isn’t any damage to the mask at all. Wow! This appears to be the exact same sculpt as the regular head with the blood trails painted on. The eyes are still visible too, just painted red. Yeah, that bit could have been done better, but I’m not going to nitpick it. OK… let’s go to the accessories, and just like last time, we’ll go chronologically by kill!

Knife! Myers acquires this piece of kitchen cutlery early on in the film by letting himself into an old couple’s house. He then goes next door and puts it right into Alice’s chest. At this point, I own a surprising number of butcher knives in this scale, and this one actually stands out a bit. It’s got a cool serrated blade!

Claw Hammer! What happened to the kitchen knife? Who knows!?! I guess, Michael doesn’t like his act to get stale. He puts the claw end of this accessory right into the hospital security guard’s melon, and I’m pretty sure that’s the last we see of it.

Syringe! Oh boy this one makes me cringe. He sticks the syringe right into one of the hospital nurse’s temple and pumps air right into her brain. I really dig the work NECA did on this one. It’s possibly a little oversized, but I don’t think that could be helped. The transparent tube is cool, and the business end is nasty. There’s a hand that fits this accessory perfectly.

Scalpel! The final kill accessory is the scalpel he picks up, which is admittedly a pretty small and unimpressive piece. That’s not to say it isn’t a great sculpt, but you can only do so much with a scalpel. He does, however, come with a hand that is specifically designed to hold it, which is very nice. The scalpel is a must, since it’s featured in the end scene where he’s blind and slashing away at the air. That scene always gives me the willies.

The final accessory is not a weapon, but it is very much welcome! It’s the jack-o-lantern from the beginning that opens to reveal a skull inside. This is such a cool bonus accessory, and I love how meta it is. Too bad they couldn’t put a sound chip in there to play Carpenter’s chilling theme.

While NECA’s Jason releases may be a lot more prolific, I’m thrilled to have the two Michael Myers figures they released in my collection. The modern version is an excellent figure, but this one is the one that really hits the spot. I was pretty young when I saw Halloween and Halloween II for the first times and while these films are pretty tame by today’s standards, they scared the living shit out of me in ways that few films have since. And I still felt some of that impact while re-watching Halloween 2 last night. What else can be said, other than the folks at NECA clearly have a passion for these 80’s Slashers, and it comes across loud and clear in these figures.

And that brings this Halloween Horror Month to a close. It’s the first time in ten years that I attempted it, and it was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn’t I hope you’ll be back as regular content resumes next week. Speaking of which, I am going to be at a Horror Movie Marathon today, so I’m not going to have time to complete a review for tomorrow. I will, however, be stopping by to post a little administrative business, and then I’ll be back on Wednesday to review something decidedly Un-Spooky!

Oct 29 2021

Friday the 13th (Part VII: The New Blood) Ultimate Jason Voorhees by NECA

Halloween is on Sunday, so that would normally mean that today will be my last review for Halloween Horror Month, but since I missed Monday due to computer problems, I’ll have one more review for Halloween Day. In the meantime, it may be Friday the 29th, but I’m still busting out NECA’s most recent Jason Voorhees release for today’s review! Because of limited space, I’ve been pulling way back on my NECA purchases these days. But, I’m always ready to go back to Camp Crystal Lake, and the Jason I’m checking out today is extra special! Not only is it the first NECA Jason release since the licensing issues back in 2019, but it also happens to be Jason as he appeared in my favorite of all the Friday the 13th films! Yup, this may be my SEVENTH Jason figure from NECA, but never have I been more excited!

There’s nothing new about the packaging. You get what seems like an enclosed box with a J-hook, but the front flap opens to reveal a window. There are a lot of photos of the figure on the packaging and the front features the movie poster! I love this poster, as it’s not only a cool depiction of Jason versus his new adversary, but it also features the same model Buck hunting knife that I’ve had in my possession since I was a teenager! Anyway, The New Blood is my favorite flick in the franchise because it sees Jason finally meeting his match inTina, an ESPer-fueled avenging angel, making her a very interesting Final Girl!

The more zombified Jason gets the better I like it! By this flick, he’d already been killed, electrocuted back to life, and then trapped underwater and left to die again. Some folks seem to misremember his head getting destroyed by a boat motor, but that’s just mass hysteria. It never happened! If it did they would have included it in the recap at the beginning of this film, right? RIGHT??? This Jason is, however, quite messed up for having been down in that water for so long, and that’s why he’s my favorite design. His shredded clothing and badly decayed body gave NECA quite the canvas on which to work! Peeking through the holes in his wardrobe are patches of nasty old skin and even bones. The layering of soft plastic over sculpt creates a wonderful sense of depth and really sells it. There’s so much worth of praise here, but I think my favorite bit are the exposed bones displayed on his back! But really everything about this figure looks phenomenal! I love that they also included the broken length of chain still around his neck.

Jason comes with two heads and two hockey masks. The regular head has the mask held in place with rubbery straps, just like most of the previous releases. The lower left half of the mask has been chipped away to reveal a glimpse of the grim visage that hides behind it. The mask also has a chip in the top and some light scuffing, but otherwise it’s held together pretty well. It’s got a slightly glossy finish to it, which I dig a lot. The straps hold it nice and snug to the head, and the eye holes line up perfectly.

One of my favorite things about watching Friday the 13th films for the first time was always wondering what Jason was going to look like when he inevitably gets de-masked. And boy, this one did not disappoint! Like his body, Jason’s noggin is just some remnants of flesh hanging onto his partially revealed skull. He’s got one eye set deep into the right socket and he’s otherwise just a mess of teeth and beef jerky. It’s worth noting that this movie saw the debut of Kane Hodder as the Crystal Lake Slasher, and despite all that makeup, he got to do some wonderful emoting during his showdown with Tina. I just love the scenes where he is visibly pissed off and sick of her shit.

The second head and mask captures the moment of the big reveal, and holy shit it does it well. Tina uses her powers to tighten the straps of Jason’s mask until it cracks in half in what is easily the best Jason face reveal of the whole franchise. The mask accessory is cracked into two halves and held together by the strap, which pegs into the back of the head. The resulting effect is that it looks like it’s capturing the moment it splits apart and reveals Jason’s pissed off mug under it. The head sculpt shows Jason’s mouth agape in rage. I think my only nitpick about either of these heads is that the right eye should have been a tad more prominent, but otherwise, this is just an epic display! OK, you know the drill. Time to look at the killing implements, and as usual I’m going to take them in chronological order of their appearance. It’s worth noting that this film has a lot of weaponless deaths, which makes me wonder why Jason bothers arming himself anymore. I guess it’s just more fun that way!

Tent Spike! It was not only a makeshift weapon, but also part of Dr. Crews’ sick mind games with Tina. Jason makes a gift of the spike to Jane right through her head and then javelins it into Mikey as he’s running away. It’s a simple but bloody accessory!

Machete! Gotta have it… it’s Jason’s signature weapon! Jason picks up a machete from a couple of campers, but doesn’t even use it to kill them. The dude just gets a fist through the chest and his girlfriend gets bashed against a tree while still in her sleeping bag. I guess he does use it to cut his way into the tent. The machete makes another appearance later when he puts it right into David’s neck.

Wood Ax! I don’t even remember where Jason gets it, but he makes good use of it… twice! First, Russell gets ax to the face while his girlfriend is skinny dipping in the lake. Later, bitchy priss Melissa gets the same treatment right before the final showdown with Tina. NECA did a great job on this one. I dig how the wooden shaft gets bloodstained close to the blade. The blade itself also has a nice patina.

Sickle! Jason picks this up off the wall when he’s stalking Maddie in the barn. I think it was a barn. Maybe it was just a big toolshed. Either way, you probably don’t wanna hide from Jason in a room with a whole wall of killing implements. This was the only kill that really bothered me, because Maddie was one of the few likeable teens in this whole flick.

Butcher Knife! Jason borrows this from the kitchen when the reefer-fiend David is raiding the fridge.

Pole-Ax! I don’t know what else to call this thing, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them hanging in the aisles at Home Depot. It looks like it’s for cutting back trees or some shit. Either way, this kill is great, because Dr. Crews is literally clutching Tina’s Mom and holding her in place when Jason skewers her with this bad boy! And yes, that was Susan Blu, beloved cartoon voice actress that makes me scream, “ARCEE… NO!!!!” every time I see her get killed.

And last, but certainly not least… Motorized Trimmer! This is basically a circular saw at the end of a pole with a chainsaw motor on the other end. Egads, I love this scene! Dr. Crews is just leaning on a tree when he hears the weed-cutter motor turn over and there’s Jason ready to get busy with some yard work! Yeah, the kill itself was a bit anti-climactic, but the lead up was great. It’s worth noting that most of the kills in this flick are set up great, but pretty tame when it comes to the gore. It’s not until the bodies are found that we really see anything good. It’ll always be my one main gripe with this installment, but not enough to keep it from being in my top slot.

The marriage of NECA and Jason Voorhees continues to be one of my greatest joys of collecting. I want to go back in time and tell teenage me, watching these flicks on VHS late at night, that in the future Target will have a whole section devoted to 80’s Slasher action figures, and that I have eight incarnations of Jason standing proudly on my shelf. This version gave NECA a lot to work with and they totally hit it out of the park. Indeed, there’s just one issue I have with this release, and I don’t know how NECA dropped the ball on it. WHERE’S THE PARTY HORN THAT JASON STUCK IN KAREN’S EYEBALL??? Yeah, it would have been fun to get that in the box too, but all is forgiven! There’s still one of NECA’s Jason figures that I don’t have and that’s from the 2009 remake. I’ve only seen that movie once, but I remember actually liking it, so I’ll get to picking up that figure eventually.

Catch you folks on Halloween Day!

Oct 27 2021

Playmobil Scooby Doo: Scooby & Shaggy (#70287) and The Mystery Machine (#70286)

It’s been a frustrating weekend of computer crashes and hard drive recovery, which brought my Halloween Horror Month to a standstill, but I’m back up and running and ready to close out this spooky ride with three more reviews leading up to Halloween! Today, we’re going a bit more lighthearted with some Playmobil Scooby Doo! Because nothing says October like curling up on the sofa under a blanket, watching Scooby Doo cartoons, and chomping down all the candy I bought for Trick-Or-Treaters!

Ah, Playmobil! One of the most underrated toy lines of all time. Well, at least in the US it is. It’s crazy popular in Europe and I was introduced to it when I was a kid and our family lived in France for a time. When we moved back home, it began to catch on here and some of the Pirates and PlaymoSpace sets always topped my Christmas and Birthday lists. Nowadays, Playmobil is still going strong, but they have been embracing the release of licensed sets. And while I’d argue it’s sad that it feels like the licensed sets have overshadowed some of their excellent classic themes, the licensed stuff has really garnered them a lot more attention among collectors. I’ve reviewed most of their absolutely amazing Ghostbusters line, and now I’m going to check out what they’ve done with Scooby Doo! And if you’re looking to pick up the bare essentials, these are the two sets to get, as they will net you the whole Scooby Gang, as well as The Mystery Machine, lots of accessories, and a Ghost… or is it??? Let’s start with the smaller set first!

It’s annoying that Playmobil doesn’t name these sets, but rather just goes by numbers, so let’s just call this Ghost Encounter! With 22 pieces, it’s basically a three-figure pack with Shaggy and Scoob and the fake ghost. I think Playmobil did a great job bringing these characters into their rather unique style. Granted, Scooby is all original, but he still conforms to the basics of Playmobil animals, with the same basic articulation and even a hinged jaw. Shaggy, on the other hand, makes use of the standard Playmobil body, and yet there’s no mistaking who he is!

Scoob comes with a clear plastic stand to help him balance on two legs. It’s not necessary all the time, but it’s a nice bonus and it does help. His collar is a little odd in its design, as it has a rather awkward bulge off ot the side of his tag. This is actually to connect the leash that’s included, but I think they could have designed it better.

Extra accessories include a hamburger, which is fun to put together, and includes a clever notch for the figure’s to hold in their classic claw-like hands. You also get a green bag of Scooby Snacks, and a flashlight. Scooby has notches in his front paws, so he can hold pretty much anything the humans can!

Finally, you get the G-G-G-GHOST!!! Naw, not a real ghost, but a two-piece disguise that goes over the imposter figure. The ghost imposter cracks me up with his crazy mustache and his 70’s leisure suit, showing off plenty of chest hair! The whole disguise is well done, and if you’d prefer your ghosts to be real, the costume will stand on its own to make for a spooky display piece! Moving on to the bigger set, and we’ll start with the figures…

Daphne, Velma, and Fred are each instantly recognizable and look great. Fred gets by with just the standard body, a hair piece, and a clip-on blue collar. The ladies add skirts to the mix, which can get in the way of sitting them down, as they tend to pop into their two halves if you don’t push them up first. It’s not ideal, but I guess it would have been hard to avoid. Velma’s orange turtleneck and Daphne’s green scarf are also clip on pieces.

You get a lot of accessories in this set, which are basically broken down into two categories: Ghost hunting equipment and food. The food can all fit on an included tray and includes two drink cups, a hot dog, a donut, two bags of Scooby Snacks, and two slices of pizza. Like the hamburger, all of these are designed to be held by the figures in one way or another.

The equipment consists of Velma’s magnifying glass, a camera, a GPS tracking device, a map, and a file box with slides in it. We’ll come back to those in a bit. You also get an extra flashlight in this set, which is the same as the included in the smaller set. On to the Mystery Machine!

The Mystery Machine is modern looking, and I’m assuming it’s based on one of the more current variations of the show. I’m really only a fan of the original cartoon and even then only up until Scrappy showed up, at which point it became dead to me! So, naturally, I tend to prefer the Classic look of the Mystery Machine more, but this is still a fantastic looking toy and captures the ghost hunting vehicle in all its iconic glory. Despite the stylized look of their figures, Playmobil has always excelled at making rugged and realistic looking vehicles, and that’s exactly what we get here. There’s a fair bit of assembly required, as well as lots of stickers, but it’s well worth it in the end. This thing rolls great on its real rubber tires, and showcases a number of great play features.

The roof over the cab opens up to fit two figures, and even has a couple of drink cups. The windshield and side windows are all translucent plastic.

The back of the van can be reached by opening the rear doors, the side door, and lifting off the roof! There are no windows on the rear doors, which is a bummer, but I really love the way the side door is double hinged and opens off to the side. The interior of The Mystery Machine includes a textured floor, two seats, and a folding bench seat. I put the bench on the side and the two chairs up against the driver compartment, but you can switch them if you like. All together, there’s enough room to hold the entire Scooby Gang fairly comfortably.

The back also contains a computer for solving mysteries, and this is where those clear slides come in. One of these slides is included with each set and you can pop it into the machine to light it up and view what’s on it. Unfortunately, the lights in the computer are so blindingly bright, it just washes out the image you’re trying to view. Cool idea, but it lacks in execution.

And finally, there’s this purple gun-like thing that attaches to the computer. I have no idea what it is. Maybe some kind of proton wand? I’m guessing it might be featured in one of the new cartoons.

Scooby Doo has had a few toy lines recently, but I think this one is the most fun. To be fair, I’m not much into Scooby Doo these days, which is why I passed on the other figures that have been out there, but it was my love for Playmobil that made me grab these. I have picked up a couple more sets since, which mostly give you variations of the Scooby Gang figures, more accessories, and more fake spooks. I don’t know how deep I’ll likely go in this line, but I may still get some of the blind bagged figures if I come across them out in the wild. The haunted house looks great, but sadly, I just don’t have the space for it.

Oct 22 2021

Gremlins: Ultimate Gremlin and Gamer Gremlin by NECA

If you stopped by hoping for an action figure review of a Funnybook Character, GI Army Man, or Convertorobo Car, well… THOSE AREN’T SPOOKY! And spooky is what I’m all about right now as Halloween Horror Month grinds ever onward, crushing the bones of those who fall by the wayside into dust. Now, feel free to call foul as Gremlins is indeed a Christmas movie… nay, a Christmas Classic! Right up there with the likes of Die Hard. But it’s also a horror movie, and I’ve got a lot of Gremlins to look at, dammit, so I’m slipping them into this Action Figure Monster-Thon! Today I’m looking at both the regular vanilla Gremlin and the Gamer Gremlin!

You know the deal by now! NECA’s Ultimate figures come in boxes with front flaps that open to reveal a window to show off the figure inside. Regular Gremlin has a reproduction of the movie poster on the front, while Gamer Gremlin has the same, but with the obnoxious Gamer Gremlin bursting through and looking EXTREME!!! As indicated on the box, the Gamer Gremlin started out as a Gamestop Exclusive, but right now my Target has a few of them, so I guess he ain’t one no more! Man, it’s been too long since I last watched Gremlins. I should remedy that this month, but maybe I’ll wait until closer to Christmas. For now, I’ll just put on my Quarterflash LP and listen to Make it Shine.

It doesn’t matter which one I start with, because as near as I can tell they are both the same Gremlin figure, but with different accessories. Truth be told, I have a few of each and they’ve been mixed up so even I don’t know which is which anymore. The sculpt is excellent, with every inch of the figure covered in reptilian-like scales and texturing. The proportions look good, with the elongated arms and the stubby, canine-shaped back legs and dinosaur feet. I liked the homogeneous Gremlins design from the original film a lot more than the varied look featured in the second. I enjoy Gremlins 2 for what it is, but I don’t love it, and I’m not intending to collect any of The New Batch. The fact that they were just an army of identical beasties made them more like dealing with a swarm. It also lets me army build the hell out of them. The paintwork is solid enough, but I feel like they went a little heavy handed on the yellow stripes, but that’s just me nitpicking. The muted striping on the tail section looks rather cockroach like and delightfully icky.

The head is just about perfect, as far as I’m concerned. It captures all the personality of the original puppets, and I can’t even nitpick the paint here either. The eyes are incredibly lifelike, and I love the evil smile with the top row of teeth showing. The jaw is even hinged, and opening the mouth reveals the bottom row of choppers, as well as his tongue. One of my Gremlins’ jaws opens a little crooked, but it’s not a big deal.

The articulation is good on paper, but all of my Gremlins have at least one or two stuck joints. I haven’t given any of them a hot bubbly stove-top bath yet, but there are some joints here that I’m too nervous to give a workout until I can get around to that. I’ve owned enough NECA figures to know when a joint feels like it might rather snap than cooperate. He’s mostly loaded down with rotating hinges, and the ones in the arms work particularly well. I don’t have as much luck below the waist. The canine-like legs are difficult to work with by design, and these are where I’ve encountered most of my stuck joints. Still, they’re pretty easy to get standing in all sorts of poses, even if their feet aren’t always planted firmly on the ground. And heck, even the ears are articulated! OK, let’s check out some accessories!

The regular Gremlin comes with all sorts of bits and bobs from the film, and it all seems to be from the Bar Scene or the Theater Scene, and that makes sense, because these are where the Gremlins antics involved the most props. The frosty mug of beer looks great, and can be held quite convincingly in the left hand, and a little less so in the right. One of the cool things about it is you can take out the plastic beer and suds and have an empty glass. I know these are considered Adult Collectibles, but I’m still surprised, what with the way the world is today, that NECA was able to include an alcoholic beverage in with an action figure. But, it’s not like they’re promoting tobacco right?

Oh shit, he comes with a ciggy too! OK, I guess all bets are off! Beer and smokes for everyone! I heard that Amblin drew the line at including a gun, which may or may not be true. So that’s just the A and the T out of the ATF. Like Meatloaf sang, Two out of three ain’t bad. So, don’t be sad! Besides, I’ve got plenty of guns lying around to give them.

You also get a hand of playing cards, which are a bit more difficult to get them to hold, but with just a little patience and I was able to make it work. Moving on from the Bar, let’s check out the Theater stuff!

Everybody loves over-priced theater candy, right? The Gremlins sure do, because they didn’t pay for any of it. You get a packet of Brad Bites, which are basically off-brand Skittles, anda Doo-Dah Bar, which I think is an off-brand Baby Ruth Bar. Both are pretty cool, especially since I’m reviewing these figures at Halloween, so I can have them trick-or-treating for candy.

You also get an icy cold Cola to wash down the candy. I really dig that this is a cardboard cup. If you have a bunch like me, you even even crumple one of them to look like garbage.

Finally, you get a pair of paper popcorn bags to put on the Gremlins’ ears and a pair of old school 3D glasses. Yeah, these are pretty cheap accessories, but damn they look great and they are lots of fun. I wish other companies would get this creative with their action figure accessories every now and then. Let’s move on and see what Gamer Gremlin got!

Gamer Gremlin comes with the same paper cup of Cola, but he also comes with a big bucket of golden, buttery plastic popcorn! You can remove the popcorn piece to see that it has eye holes cut out so he can wear it as a creeper mask top hat. I don’t know why I love this so much, but I really do.

He also comes with a beanie hat and a pair of sunglasses. I dig the sunglasses, I’m not as keen on the hat. YES, I REALIZE HE SHOULD BE WEARING IT BACKWARDS!!! I put it on wrong, because I’m a stupid head and the Jameson told me to. It doesn’t matter which way it’s facing. I just don’t care for it. Fortunately, the rest of Gamer Gremlin’s stuff is pure gold.

As an Atari enthusiast, I was absolutely tickled to see him come with a little replica Atari controller as well as a copy of Gremlins in an homage to the game’s Atari 5200 box. I actually played this game most on my Commodore 64, but it’s a really fun and addictive game on any system. I don’t mind the Atari 2600 Gremlins game either, but that shit is crazy expensive and the fact that I no longer own that cartridge makes me sad. Anyway, the attention to detail on these two accessories is just wonderful.

And lastly, Gamer Gremlin comes with an homage to the old Coleco tabletop games. I’m pretty sure it was Coleco’s Donkey Kong in the movie, and I thought I remembered the Mogwai playing it, but like I said, it’s been forever since I watched it. Rather than face the full fury of Nintendo litigation, the game has been rebranded as The Fail Guy, but everything else about this little arcade machine is pretty damn spot on.

At one point I had seven of these little bastards, but I wound up trading a couple to a friend who couldn’t find them. Now, these guys are all over the place, and I’m constantly resisting the urge to pick up more when running into Target for something. I should probably just pour water on the ones I have! It doesn’t surprise me that I’m hooked on these, because when I was growing up I had that big Gremlin figure by LJN and I carried him around all over the place like a My Buddy doll. Needless to say, it’s great to have some Gremlins represented in my collection again. I still need to pick up Flasher Gremlin and the Caroling Gremlins eventually. When I come back after the weekend, we’ll check out one more Ultimate Gremlin… Stripe!