Jul 26 2024

Masters of the Universe Origins (Cartoon Series): Stratos and Mer-Man by Mattel

Mattel’s been busy pumping out the Cartoon versions of their MOTU Origins line, and I’m getting closer to being all caught up. After today I’ll be only one wave of figures behind, and the Cartoon Series first vehicle, The Collector has arrived as well! And today we’re taking to the skies and the seas of Eternia with a look at Stratos and Mer-Man!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep on saying it: I love this packaging so much! The cards are so colorful, the cartoon logo and the figures against the castle backdrop looks so good! There’s a rainbow colored “Cartoon” collection logo on the bubbles, reminiscent of the Filmation logo, and every figure comes bundled with a mini comic behind the tray. It kills me to tear into these, but my figures are in there, and I want them out! Let’s start with Mer-Man!

The toon version of Skeletor’s fishy minion shares a lot in common with the vintage-style figure, but everything gets smoothed over and simplified for that slick animated look. But before getting to any of that, just look at the colors! The blue and yellow plastic is a one-two pleasure punch to my peepers, making for such a beautifully striking deco. He’d look right at home standing side-by-side with the 90’s X-Men! The little bit of orange thrown in for the fur diaper and around the eyes just ups the ante. I also really love that these figures make use of so much colored plastic over paint. Unlike the vintage-style figure, toony Mer-Man sports yellow gauntlets and boots, his belt is simplified and his chest armor has some simulated muscles, that look like abs running all the way up to his neck. Finally, you get a little bit of fishy flare in his webbed shoulders. I love it!

The head sculpt is a complete rework from the vintage style, giving him the exaggerated fins on the sides of his head and a very fishy looking mouth. His eyes have puffy orange borders and he’s got those delightful Simpsons-style eyeballs. I used to love watching them pop in the cartoon when something unexpected happened to him. It’s sometimes hard for me to pick a favorite between vintage and cartoon styles, but I’ll always love Mer-Man’s Filmation look over the vintage style. I just think that head worked better for a skunk man than it did a fish man.

Mer-Man comes with two accessories, his trident and the Pearl of Power, both of which were seen in the episode City Beneath the Sea. And boy is that a cracking episode! I’m not just saying that because it starts out with Prince Adam blindfolded and playing what is clearly a sex-fiend game of drunk hide-and-seek with a couple of palace whores. Afterwards, He-Man and Man-At-Arms investigate missing ships only to find out that Mer-Man has seized control of Aquatica, captured their Princess, and hypnotized the people with his Pearl of Power. The pearl looks really nice and Mer-Man’s left hand is sculpted perfectly to hold it.

The Trident is pretty simple, but it matches what he had in the cartoon perfectly. Sure, I prefer the more ornate sword that came with the vintage figure, but I can always loan that out to him if I want to… Moving on to Stratos!

As a character, Stratos is not top of my list of favorites in the cartoon, but I’m going all in on this line, so I was content to pick him up, and with the figure in hand I’m glad I did. The figure is not as flashy and colorful as Mer-Man, but I was surprised at how well the body’s mostly gray deco pops with those splashes of red and blue. The cartoon design switches the vintage deco up with the harness going from red to blue and the wings from blue to red, meanwhile the belt stays red and the fur diaper stays blue. Toony Stratos also nixes the sculpted fur around the gray lower legs and feet and gives him red boots, the tops of which are the same sculpt as Mer-Man’s. Of course, we get a lot of the usual smoothing and simplification to evoke that animated look. Stratos’ sculpted chest hair is gone, the harness lacks all detail. The jetpack looks great and the wings still have the sculpted feather detail, but are streamlined in their shape. The Cartoon Series proportions also look really great on this guy!

The head sculpt is a lot more robust than what we got in the vintage-style figure. The helmet is larger, the goggles are smoothed out, and the beard is fuller and more majestic. I also think he looks a lot more human than simian here. I also like his broad smile.

Stratos comes with only one accessory and of course it’s the Staff of Avion. That makes two tridents in this wave! I don’t know how many times this thing was seen in the cartoon, but it was specifically called out in the episode, The Reign of the Monster. Apparently he only got it out once a year to do a fireworks display, although the episode does have him using it as a weapon to shoot energy blasts. It’s a decent looking accessory cast in gold plastic with angled prongs on the end.

I really dig how Mattel is releasing these figures in waves of two at a time, with one hero and one villain, and this wave is definitely another solid pair for the collection. I’m not the biggest Stratos fan around, but his figure looks good, and I find that I’m warming up to him as a character more and more. Mer-Man, on the other hand, is a key addition to Skeletor’s core minions and I just can’t get enough of the great colors! I picked these up for $17.99 a piece, which ain’t bad considering it’s hard to get figures in this scale for under $20 these days. Next up will be Evil-Lyn and Webstor!

Jul 24 2024

G. I. JOE Classified (Night Force): Shockwave and Night Pursuit Cycle by Hasbro

I drew the line a little while ago and pledged that I wouldn’t be picking up any Night Force or Tiger Force stuff. Classified is extensive enough without buying a lot of repaints. Also, I’m generally not a fan of the Tiger Force deco, while the Night Force stuff is more appealing to me. Well, I kind of reneged on that pledge twice now, as I preordered both this Night Force set, and the Tiger Force version of the Ferret. Yup, my willpower ain’t that strong! This set includes a repaint of the RAM Cycle as well as a repaint of Jason Faria, aka. Shockwave with some mix and match accessories. It’s also a Walmart Exclusive, which I was able to get online, because that’s the only way I get any store exclusives these days.

The packaging is simple, yet impressive. The toys come in a big window box with everything laid out in the tray. The accessory count looks to be pretty high, and while I don’t recognize everything, I’m willing to bet that there is nothing in this box that isn’t recycled from a previous release. Everything is collector friendly, and this may be one of those sets that I choose to display in the box, rather than have two RAM Cycles on the shelf. But we’ll see. Let’s start with Shockwave, and I’ll spend more time with him than I will the bike, because he’s totally new to me.

Shockwave is one of a very small number of mainline release Classified figures that I skipped when he went up for preorder. I have nothing against the SWAT specialist, but the original Real American Hero figure was released in 1989 when I was long out of my kid phase of buying GI JOEs and about ten years away from entering my adult phase of buying GI JOEs. I also think the Classified figure was part of a rather large flurry of releases, and I wanted to make some responsible decisions and maybe pick him up later. That never happened, and so here we are. This version is a straight repaint of that first release with a lot of gray, black and some green in place of the blue. His cargo trousers are printed with digital urban camo and he has a rather robust tactical vest with a quilted chest, angled knife sheath, a brace of what I think are shotgun shells, and lots and lots of pouches. The regular release had two submachine gun holsters, whereas this one has a single holster on his right thigh for a pistol. He does, however, retain the second knife sheath on his lower left leg. The coloring is a lot more subdued here than the original blue, but I dig it. The only thing I’m not crazy about is how the vest prevents him from putting his arms down all the way. As a result he can look a little silly trying to adopt natural standing poses.

The head features the balaclava repainted to all black and the removable cap is redone in gray digital camo to match his trousers. I’m not a fan of the eye printing here, he looks like some kind of coked-out maniac and I think it’s more suited to a Cobra figure than a JOE.

You also get a recycled helmet, which I believe we last saw released with the VAMP. I didn’t have much use for this with Clutch, but I do really like it on Shocker when he’s on the Night Pursuit Cycle.

Shockwave borrows from some of Firefly 1.0’s kit, namely his backpack and drone. I don’t mind this too much, since I retired that figure after Firefly 2.0 came along. The backpack is a great sculpt, here cast in gray instead of black. There are all sorts of pouches holding sculpted tools, many of which are painted silver. The drone can nest on top of the backpack and inside the pack is a compartment that stores the drone’s remote control unit, which I thought was a really cool idea. The drone has some articulation in the legs, the VTOL fans are static, and there’s some red paint for his large camera eye. I think this is some worthwhile recycling, but there is a tab and a socket on the backpack, which doesn’t work with any of Shockwave’s gear, and that’s awkward. I may actually give those accessories to Shockwave, since Firefly 1.0 won’t be needing them at the bottom of that tote he lives in. Let’s move on to weapon role call!

For the cutlery, Shockwave comes with two knives, which fit in the previously mentioned sheaths. These have black handles and silver blades. The one that fits in his chest sheath is a fairly standard combat style knife while the boot knife has a gut-hook. Maybe, I don’t want to know why he carries that. The gut-hook knife is one of the few accessories here that came with the first release of Shockwave. These are fine, but the boot sheath doesn’t stay on his leg very well and slides down.

As for the smaller guns, Shockwave has an automatic pistol that he stows in the holster on his right leg and a submachine gun, which I believe is the same that came with regular Shockwave, who actually had a pair of these. Both weapons are cast in black plastic and have some excellent sculpted detail. The submachine gun has an extended magazine, which is not removable, however, the suppressor can be removed.

Next up on the pew-pew chain is the double barreled AR, which sounds batshit crazy, but I believe it’s based on an Israeli design. I love the detail in this sculpt and the green magazine is removable. There’s also a hinged foregrip, and it too is cast in green plastic. As someone who has to slum it with my boring old single-barrel AR, I’d love to give one of these a whirl just for the experience.

Onto the biggest gun, or at least the biggest that isn’t meant to mount on the cycle. This looks like the JOEs answer to the SIG 338 Light Machine Gun and it is a beautifully sculpted accessory. This rifle has a detachable box magazine, cast in green plastic and a grab bar on the top. The exposed rounds feeding from the mag into the receiver are individually painted in gold and banded with green. Hasbro really put together an interesting arsenal for this guy and I love it all. Unfortunately, he has nowhere to carry most of it, which is partly due to him recycling the old backpack. It’s a shame, because I really like my JOEs to be able to carry all their gear. OK, let’s move on to the Night Pursuit Cycle!

Wow! For what could have been a quick-and-dirty repaint, Hasbro poured some serious love into this new deco. The dark matte gray plastic replaces the green of the original, and there are lots of new tampos all over the place, including the Night Force logo, the eagle on the gas tank, and “Covert Special Task Force” printed on the chain gun’s casing. You get some tan paint added to the seat, handle bar wraps, and to the sculpted wrap on the exhaust pipes, which is pretty damn cool, because I don’t think I even noticed that detail on the original, where it was left black. Finally, there are some gorgeous copper highlights to the vents, shocks, and wheels, which may not be ideal for a stealthy night vehicle, but they look so nice, it’s easy for me to not nitpick the logic there. Of course, as with the first release, the chaingun can be removed from the housing and wielded by a figure, and there’s a drop down kickstand to stabilize the bike with the weapon sidecar detached.

I think Shockwave pairs really well with the bike, and with the helmet on, he looks totally bad-ass. The colors of his fatigues compliment the Night Pursuit Cycles deco very well. For me, nothing will ever replace how iconic the Classified RAM looks as an homage to the vintage toy, but I have to admit, that the deco here is quite striking and most certainly holds its own.

I’ll admit, I didn’t think I’d be nearly as excited with this set as I wound up being. Shockwave is a cool figure, even with his odd mix-and-match assortment of accessories. I also think that there’s enough changes here to make him work as a Night Force strike team army builder, if you already own the regular Shockwave. The helmet and fairly generic fatigues goes a long way to giving him that troop builder vibe. And because of that, I may still pick up the regular version. As for the bike, Hasbro went above and beyond kitting out the deco with new markings and making it feel like just another quick-and-easy cash grab on an existing mold. And while the nostalgia of the regular RAM Cycle will always win out for me, I could easily see collectors preferring this snazzy new bike. This set retailed for $55, which seems to be the going price for these smaller vehicle and figure combos, but at the time I’m writing this, the set is discounted to $42, and that seems like a real steal!

Jul 22 2024

Star Wars Black Series (Return of the Jedi): Rebel Commando by Hasbro

What’s this? A Star Wars figure review on FFZ? Will wonders never cease! I’ve been pretty vocal about how I’ve all but stopped collecting Star Wars figures. I have no interest in the current stream of content Disney is producing, and instead of giving us the figures we’re missing from the Original Trilogy, they seem all-in on the new stuff peppered by Prequel stuff here and there. It seems like a bad business move to me, but then again it may all be baked into the licensing agreement. I haven’t looked at any Hasbro Star Wars figures this year, and only two last year, and that’s literally all I’ve been buying. The Endor Rebel Commando looked really good, but Hasbro released him at a ludicrous $35 and I wasn’t willing to bite at that price. Luckily he went on sale as part of Amazon’s Prime Days and I finally picked up a couple.

This figure was part of Hasbro’s woefully disappointing 40th Anniversary offerings for Return of the Jedi, which featured just a few new figures and a whole bunch of repacks on vintage style cards. And much to my amazement, not a single one of Jabba’s Skiff Guards among them. I think the figures look great on the oversized vintage-style cards, but Amazon mangled both of mine pretty badly. Not a problem, since I always planned on opening them anyway. I’d say it’s about a 50-50 chance as to whether or not I get a carded figure from Amazon in good shape or not, and I always take that into account when buying from them. Anyway, the card has the familiar photo of the Rebel Commando crouched and ready for action beside the Imperial Bunker and the back of the card has the usual cross-sell promotion showing other figures in the assortment.

The Rebel’s commando strike team had some variations in their gear, with many wearing camo ponchos or jackets. Based on the outfit here, this figure seems to be referencing Nik Sant as he lacks the extra layer of camo. The figure sports a sculpted gray long sleeve shirt with a soft plastic vest worn over it and very short sleeves sculpted as part of the arms and matching up quite well. The legs are sculpted with cargo-style trousers featuring a camo finish and the high boots have sculpted laces. The belt is cast in soft plastic and worn by the figure. It includes a number of sculpted pouches and a tube, maybe for a scope? There’s also a bandoleer hanging off the right shoulder with some sculpted bits of gear on it, all of which is painted in a very nice silver metal finish. This figure looks amazing, especially for a troop builder, and I love how layered all the gear looks. The DNA here feels more akin to the GI JOE Classified line than Star Wars Black, and I mean that as the highest of compliments.

The backpack is worn by the figure with actual shoulder straps, and it’s something that’s pretty unusual for any of Hasbro’s 6-inch lines. The straps fit the figure well with the pack hanging low on the back. It’s cast in brown plastic and has lots of sculpted rumples and wrinkles, as well as stitching and fasteners for the flaps. There’s a crinkled hose running up the one side and some painted fixtures as well. It would have been cool to also get the hard pack that some of the Commandos wore, especially considering the price point on this figure. The figure’s articulation is overall pretty good with the downside being rotating hinges in the elbows and knees, instead of double hinges. Also, the ankle hinge doesn’t allow for the foot to bend up very far. I also wish they had painted that camo further up the knee joint.

Like the Hoth Trooper, the Commando comes with two interchangeable face plates, but the Endor faces are not compatible with the Hoth figure, as the design is slightly different. The faces pull out and plug in similar to what we tend to see on a Figma or Figuart. The sculpt of the helmet and chin strap does a beautiful job of concealing the feature and if I didn’t know, I probably couldn’t tell that the face was designed to come off at all. They are, however, extremely difficult to get off and I had to resort to getting a jeweler’s screwdriver into the gap and popping it out. But since I have one figure for each face, I doubt I’ll ever swap them again. Unlike the Hoth figure, there is no storage in the backpack for the extra face.

The sculpting on these heads is superb, and I think these portraits are among some of the best we’ve had tout of the Black Series. The facial features are crisp and well defined, the paint for Sant’s beard is sharp and even, and the printing on the younger portrait’s blue eyes is beautiful. There’s also some wonderful, and very subtle shading for the hair growth on his chin. The helmets look great and include silver brushing for weathering. This is better work than Hasbro has done on portraits for some of the main characters.

The trooper comes with two weapons: A DH-17 Blaster and what I believe was the A280C rifle. The DH-17 is an extremely detailed sculpt and cast all in black plastic. It fits perfectly in the right trigger hand, and while it can still be held easily in the left, there’s no trigger finger on that hand. Sadly, there’s no holster for the weapon, which may have been by design to remain screen accurate, but it’s still a shame, because I like my soldiers to be able to carry all their weapons and gear.

The A280C rifle is also a fantastic sculpt that’s just packed with detail, including a rather complex scope. The barrel is quite thin and probably susceptible to bending if not stored right. Nonetheless, both arrived in the tray as straight as an arrow. It’s a shame that Hasbro didn’t give this rifle a carry strap, as it would have at least allowed these guys to sling the rifles and carry their blasters. I mean, even the vintage Kenner figure’s rifle had a shoulder strap!

The Rebel Commando is an absolutely fantastic figure, but this is exactly the kind of figure we should be getting from Black Series at the regular $25 price point, and not as an inflated special releases. And the fact that he’s a troop builder makes the higher price tag all the more vexing. Between a lot of sub-par figures, the focus on the releases from the newer series, and my general malaise about Star Wars these days, I was compelled to send a message and take a pass. But, when Prime had him at $15, I was happy to get two for less than the price of one. At the time I’m writing this, he’s gone up to $20, but I think that’s still a pretty good price for the figure, and it’s even tempting me to pick up one more.

Jul 19 2024

Ultra Street Fighter II: M. Bison by Jada Toys

Last year, Jada Toys, one of the kings of diecast cars, came out of nowhere and started shipping some absolutely incredible action figures based on Capcom’s timeless Street Fighter videogame franchise. So far, I’ve checked out Ryu and Chun-Li, and now that some new challengers hit my doorstep, I’m ready for more! Apologies to Ken and Fei Long, who have been waiting for their turn in the spotlight, but M. Bison and Dhalsim arrived and I’m bumping them to the head of the line. Today let’s go with the villainous M. Bison!

I absolutely adore the package design Jada came up with for this line! You get a cardboard arcade cabinet motif with a large window displaying the figure from the knees up, so unfortunately if you buy your figures based on feet, you’ll be going in blind! And are also a very peculiar person! There’s some character art on the bottom and a life bar recreated up top. The packaging here is collector friendly, but you do need to show a modicum of care when opening it from the bottom flaps and sliding out the tray. I rarely keep action figure boxes these days, but I have been hanging onto all of these.

Out of the box, Bison is showing off all the great stuff that made me fall in love with this line at the start. A lot of the coloring is in the plastic, which I think tends to look more vibrant and minimizes paint issues. The red suit is covered in a very fine woven texture with some scrapes and cuts add here and there. There’s a sculpted blue collar, which continues to run down the center of the tunic where it tucks under a thin black belt and gold buckle. His forearms and lower legs are armored and these have a very nice silver finish with some spray to show a rust-like weathering. I’m hard pressed to remember the last time I saw a faux metal finish this nice on a retail action figure in this price range. Of course, Bison is a chonky boi, and the musculature and proportions here look great.

Bison’s black cape is cloth with a wire running around the edges to make it posable. The cape itself actually feels a bit leather-like. And I’ve gotta ask, how often do you see this kind of stuff in mass market figures these days? The cape is attached to his shoulder armor by gold fixtures. It’s also removable by snapping off the shoulder plates and replacing them with a second pair. It would have been easier for Jada to just do snaps, but this way you can nix the cape and still have clean looking shoulder pieces. Swapping them out is easy enough and they seem to stay on pretty well. The armor pieces are attached around the shoulder articulation with rings and can shift back and forward to keep from hindering the range of motion there. With the cape gone, comes the only gripe I have with this figure and that’s the unpainted hinges in the back of his knees where the red stands out against the black of the boots. Now, I’ll likely be displaying him with the cape a lot of the time, which will cover this, but it’s worth pointing out all the same.

You get two heads to choose from: One neutral and one showing his fighty face! Both feature his military-style officer’s cap and it has the same texture as the suit. The sculpted crests are painted gold and when you punch in close, there’s a little unevenness to the paint, mostly on the first head. The facial features are very well sculpted right down to the cleft chin. The angry face is definitely the one I’ll be going with most of the time, as it just oozes character.

As with the previous figures in the line, the articulation here is simply fantastic. I won’t run through all the points here, as I’ve done it for the previous figures. Suffice it to say the articulation is extremely fun to work with and the joints are all smooth as butter. He has a pretty good balance, thanks in part to his big boots and like the previous figures he can hold a high kick pose without any support. Bison comes with a pair of fists and a pair of grapple hands.

Finally, you get an effect part to represent his Psycho Power attack. This piece is cast in translucent purple plastic and fits right over either of his fists. The shading in the purple looks really nice.

I may have said this in my other reviews of this line: These figures feel more like imports to me than figures designed for the US market. The design is so polished, the quality so good, and they are just so ridiculously fun to have in hand. And when you factor in the $25 price point and the fact that Jada is still pretty new at this sort of thing, the line becomes all the more impressive to me. And with all of the preview pictures that have been showing up at conventions, it looks like Jada is in this one for the long haul. Jada is absolutely killing it here, and I’m excited to get back and check out Dhalism in the near future!

Jul 17 2024

Marvel Legends: Hawkeye and Sky-Cycle by Hasbro

While I have picked up a newly released figure here and there, I mostly continue to play the cheapskate with Marvel Legends, and bottom feed the sales and clearance. Most of the times it pays off, and when it doesn’t, I’m not too worried about missing a figure or even an entire wave here and there. I have boxes and boxes of these figures and I’m happy to pull back on adding to them. Nonetheless, I definitely wanted this classic Hawkeye with Sky-Cycle when it was first released, but most of the figure and vehicle combos have lingered on the shelves, and this one was no different. It has since turned up at Ollie’s for really cheap, but that place is filthy and disgusting and I hate going there, so I was willing to pay $4 more online and have it shipped to me for free.

Hawkeye and his ride come in a fully enclosed box with a mostly white deco. Until now, the closest thing I have to a classic Hawkeye in this line is the one way back in 2015 in The Allfather Wave, and that was a modern look based loosely on his classic costume. We did get a retro-carded one back in 2018, which I feel was closer, but I never did pick that one up, so this one definitely fills a hole in my Avengers line up. There’s some nice shots of the figure and vehicle on the box and everything here is collector friendly.

Straightaway, I absolutely love the colors here. The purple and bright blue look smashing together, especially when you add the metallic finish to the shoulder piece. The sleeveless bodysuit is achieved mostly with colored plastic, but you do get cuts in the chest to allow the straps to lie almost flush in the channels, which is really cool. The buccaneer boots are cast in purple and are left smooth with just a bit of rumpling, as opposed to the textured finish of the previously mentioned releases. The bicep bands and wrist bracers appear to be recolored and lifted from the retro-carded figure, but the belt and chest harness are new, with the scale-mail shoulder piece reaching all the way up his neck. There’s a shoulder strap with painted buckle across his chest and his sash is made up of a printed cloth piece that hangs down below the belt, front and back. I feel as if this is the first time we’ve had softgoods on a Marvel Legends, so that’s certainly something. I don’t expect it to be the start of a trend, though, as it was likely just implemented here so he could ride the Sky-Cycle.

The head sculpt is good, and I’m pretty sure this is brand new. It has the pointy extensions to the eye mask, which the previous versions did not have. The raised “H” is still present on his forehead. The sculpted lines around the eye mask are well done, making it look like something actually worn by the figure. His ears are exposed and you get a strong jaw and a pretty pronounced chin and nose. The printing for the eyes and lip shading are on point.

Hawkeye is built on a pinless body with pretty standard articulation, and the slighter build definitely fits him well. There are lateral crunches in the shoulders and you get leg swivels in both the thighs and above the boots. Unfortunately, the jointing on my figure is a tad gummy, particularly in the elbows and knees. It’s not enough to ruin the figure for me, but it is disappointing. The figure includes both fists and accessory holding hands.

As for accessories, Hawkeye comes with his bow, quiver, and a single loose arrow. The quiver is the same one we got with the previous Hawkeyes I’ve mentioned, and I’m sure we’ve seen it at least one time before that. It’s a complex and modern design and I wish we got something more simple and traditional. The bow, on the other hand, is very simple, lending itself more to his classic look. It’s yellow with a black painted grip and a terrible, chonky plastic string. The arrow is mostly gray plastic with red painted fletching and a knob on the back to help the figure hold it. He can sort of pose as if he’s knocking the arrow, but with the string being plastic, he can’t draw it very well, so it doesn’t really work for an action pose. Let’s move over to the Sky-Cycle.

This vehicle requires just a slight bit of assembly, as you have to snap the bottom onto the body and the windshield onto the front. There’s also a semi-translucent stand that connects to the bottom with a ball joint and socket. This stand is the same design we’ve seen Hasbro using with Star Wars Speeder Bikes and whatnot. As far as Marvel Legends vehicles go, this is way simpler than any of the motorcycles or scooters we’ve seen, as there’s no moving parts. It does look really good and there’s some nice sculpted detail, even on the bottom where you can see the two VTOL engines. It’s mostly all cast in a gunmetal gray, but you do get some brown for the seat and black for the thruster cones on back. There is also some paint on the instrument panel between the handlebars.

I think this is a nice little set, until you factor in the original MSRP of $50, which is just nuts! Even if you grant that these figures are going for $25 these days, I can’t come up with $25 for the Sky-Cycle. It’s got no moving parts, virtually no paint, and it doesn’t come close to other vehicle-figure bundles that we’ve seen retail for less. It’s no wonder the price has been slashed everywhere, including Hasbro Pulse, where it’s down to half price. I picked it up for $25 with free shipping, and I’m pretty happy about that, because I’ve been watching it for a while now. I do wish Hawkeye got a new quiver and a bow with an actual string, but other than that I think he turned out really well.

Jul 15 2024

G. I. JOE Ultimates: Cobra Troopers by Super7

Super7’s various Ultimates line are becoming a weekly fixture around these parts, and that’s because I collect three of these lines and S7 has been pumping them out pretty hot and heavy. Right now ThunderCats and GI JOE are battling for slots every week so I can get current and get back to Silverhawks. Today I’m headed back into Wave 3 of the GI JOE Ultimates to have a look at the Cobra Troopers. And if you want to get caught up, I’ve already checked out both Scarlett and Storm Shadow from this assortment!

Ah, the good old days, when these figures came with slipcovers! These were phased out in the following wave, and at this point S7 had already changed the snazzy glossy finish on the cardboard to dull matte. The presentation is still nice, with the blue camo, bold red Cobra emblem, dogtag style name plate and the weathering made to look like paint rubbed off of steel. But, these will continue to die a death of a thousand cost cuts until we get just the window box. As we’re about to see, the Cobra Trooper comes with parts to make two variants of the same figure, so naturally I picked up two.

There’s just something about the Sunbow cartoon Cobra Troops that I love so much. These guys were pretty buff and badass looking, even if they were a bunch of clowns who were prone to getting taken out by having their heads knocked together like a couple of coconuts. The uniforms take inspiration from the RAH designs, but they’ve been streamlined for a super clean toony look. The fatigues here are recreated as smooth and without much in the way of tailored detail, although they do each have a pouch on their right legs. The belts include shoulder straps and two more pouches on the hips. The shoulder rigs are executed in the Y-back style. There are black and white hexagonal knee pads, and the boots have some white buckles on the sides. Finally, a bold Cobra emblem is emblazoned on the front of the shirts. Like I said, these guys are clean and simple and perfectly evoke the animated look.

There are two different heads with each figure, and these are varied by fair skin and tan skin, so you can have a little bit of variety in your troops if you decide to army build. Unlike most of S7’s Ultimates, the head swap here is done at the base of the neck so that you get the skin color change all the way down to the uniform collar. The helmet and face mask designs are identical, but there is a little variety in the painted facial features. The lighter skinned trooper has blonde eyebrows, while the tan has black, but neither are showing any hair under the helmets. I really like how they handled this variation and I wouldn’t be opposed to picking up a couple more if they reissued the figure with yet another two head designs.

By now you should all know the deal with the articulation here. It’s serviceable, but some of the joints lack the range in motion that most collectors would have preferred. I will say that the rotating hinges in the elbows feel like they have a tiny bit more range than some other figures in the line, as they can easily do a 90-degree bend. It’s still not ideal, but I’ve learned to accept what we got here and still have fun with it. All of the joints on these guys worked great straight out of the box. You do get several pairs of hands, and each set is duplicated in both the light and tan skin to go with whichever head you choose. The hands include fists, trigger hands, and loose grip hands. I would have liked a pair of relaxed or karate chop hands, but in fairness, they were duplicating each set and that’s a lot of hands! Let’s move on to accessories, and we’ll start with the weapons!

First off, each Trooper comes with a laser pistol and I really dig this design. IT’s boxy in the receiver with a site at the end of the barrels. It looks serviceable and fairly realistic, as opposed to some of the more wackier pistols we’ve seen in this line. The detail is really sharp and I really like the blue-gray finish, which is repeated for all the guns included with these guys.

And here’s my all time favorite of Cobra’s arsenal: The laser submachine gun! These have no stocks and a scope mounted up top. There’s a magazine type attachment in front of the trigger guard, which in this case I assume is a battery pack, since they fired lasers in the cartoon. There’s just enough detail here to look good without compromising the simplicity of the toon aesthetic. These are the guns that I’ll be displaying with these guys all the time.

Finally for the guns, you get a large rifle, and these tend more toward realism than the usual cartoon weapons. These have skeletal stocks, a very detailed receiver, complex scopes, and even carry straps. These designs are based off the weapon included with the original Real American Hero Cobra soldier

And finally, you get the bitchin’ laser whip from the original Mini-Series. These have tube shaped, lightsaber-like hilts with some painted controls and the bright blue whips are cast in a soft rubbery plastic. I’m not sure if the whips are designed to be removed from the hilts or not. I gave it a little tug and it didn’t come out, so I’m not going to risk it.

In addition to all that firepower, you get a couple of pieces of equipment. First up, the Cobra Trooper comes with a walkie-talkie so he can talk to his chums. We have had a few walkies in this line so far, but I think this is a new sculpt. It’s got a circular screen mesh speaker and a frequency display on the top, along with an antenna. There’s a hand designed to hold it, and it can be a bit tricky to get it in there, but once I got it, it worked fine.

And the final accessory is a briefcase bomb! The blue briefcase has four tiny feet to rest on and a gray carry handle. Open it up and it reveals a very toony looking bomb inside with some different colored wires and a digital screen showing the timer.

Oh boy, do I dig these guys! While I loved each and every one of my RAH figures, I can remember wishing my Cobra Troops looked more like the cartoon, although in fairness I only ever had one Cobra and one Cobra Officer. Super7 did a great job nailing the animated look and the weapons and accessories are all great. I’m keeping a close eye on these to go on sale, but I haven’t decided what that magic number is that will make me go crazy and get a bunch more. It would be cool to see these reissued with two more variant heads and maybe an H-back for the shoulder straps. I’d also love to see S7 give us some female Cobra Troopers as well.

Jul 12 2024

ThunderCats Ultimates: Captain Shiner by Super7

Even as I push my way through my look at ThunderCats Ultimates Wave 8 and try to get current, Wave 9 has already arrived! Fortunately, I only picked up half of that assortment so it doesn’t set me back quite so far, but I’m still doing all I can to get caught up with ThunderCats, so I can get back into Silverhawks. If you’re just joining me, I’ve already had a look at WilyKit and Hachiman from this wave, and today I’m checking out the nefarious Captain Shiner!

As we saw last time, we are no longer getting the sleeves on these boxes, which is disappointing, but has also convinced me to not keep these packages any longer. That’s not me being petty, just looking for any excuse I can get to get rid of empty boxes and conserve space. Nonetheless, the window box shows off the figure quite nicely and you get some character art and a blurb about him on the back. We first encountered the spacefaring mercenary, Captain Shiner, in the episode Sword in a Hole where he acquires the Sword of Omens for Mumm-Ra and throws it into what appears to be a Black Hole. This was a stand out episode to me when I was a kid, because I can remember honestly wondering how the hell they were ever going to get the sword back.. and in about twenty minutes, no less! By the end of the episode it seems like Shiner going to be another one of those adversary-turned-ally situations, like Hachiman or Snowman of Hook Mountain, but nope when we see him again in the ThunderCats, Ho! mini-series, he’s still an asshole!

Shiner always struck me as being based off an old 19th Century Austrian army officer, and I dig that! I mean, why not? We’ve had pirates and samurai and ninjas. Third Earth is just a melting pot for historical analogies. His uniform is not the most exciting thing around, as it’s mainly a gray suit with red striping on the trousers and an orange baldric across his chest. He does, however, have some really snazzy space boots and the purple and blue go a long way to make his coloring more interesting. What’s also interesting is Shiner comes out of the box with static arms that are sculpted crossed over his chest. I’m not usually a big fan of swapping out parts to make up for shortcomings in articulation, but I have to admit it looks good here, even if it is a dirty cheat.

Of course, you can pop the crossed arms piece off at the shoulders and give him his regular articulated arms and these work just as you might expect, with rotating hinges at the shoulders and elbows, swivels in the biceps and hinged pegs for the wrists. You get three pairs of hands, which include fists, accessory gripping hands, a relaxed right hand and a pointing left hand. The hands seem rather undersized to me, especially the tiny fists, which I found kind of weird and off-putting. The rest of the articulation is standard Super7 Ultimates stuff, although my figure’s right hip can be problematic. Sometimes it feels like it locks up and I have to fiddle with it to get it to move again. I’m not sure what’s goin on up there, but heat doesn’t seem to help and I just have to be patient and careful with it.

You get three different heads to choose from. These include a somewhat passive expression, an evil smile expression, and a maniacal laughter head. The later two are very expressive and all three are excellent likenesses for the character. The face is so lumpy and weird, and just full of personality. The monocle in his left eye is a permanent fixture, cast in a smoked translucent plastic so you can still see his painted eye behind it. The cord is attached to the monocle and plugs into the orange sash, so you have to unplug it every time you change the head. It’s not a big deal and it pegs in fairly easily, but if you turn the head too far, particularly to his left it will tend to pull out.

Shiner comes with three accessories, the first of which comes from his first appearance and it’s the captured Sword of Omens. This represents the sword in its dagger form with the Eye of Thundera wrapped up to contain its power. It’s actually the second time we got a Sword of Omens with the Eye wrapped up, the first one came with Pumm-Ra. And kudos to S7 for doing an entirely new sculpt for this accessory.

Next up, you get an energy pistol. I can’t remember if we saw these in his first episode, but I know his crew carried these in ThunderCats, Ho! As far as laser gun designs go, this one is pretty low effort and the accessory reflects that. There’s no real detail on it at all, just a painted orange screen for the energy emitter.

And finally, you get a set of shackles, which I presume are supposed to be one of the sets used to chain up the captive ThunderCats, in ThunderCats, Ho! This accessory is very well done with an actual chain and the cuffs can open and close. They are a bit big, even on the dudes, but fun nonetheless.

Captain Shiner is a solid enough figure, and yet this one leaves me a little underwhelmed. Maybe it’s because his outfit design is rather simple, but then I think the head sculpts make up for it. Maybe it’s because he feels rather light on the accessories, but that’s probably because of the crossed arms piece taking up a chunk of the extras budget. And sure, that looks good as a display option, but where do we draw the line between just substituting parts instead of making the articulation work better. The tiny hands do bother me quite a bit, and the wonky right hip joint is a nuisance. Part of me wonders if I should have waited for Shiner to turn up on discount, but then I didn’t want to risk not having him in my collection. Really good figures often get a week or so playtime on my desk for me to have fun messing around with before going up on display, but that won’t be the case for Shiner. Although he does look good on the shelf!

Jul 10 2024

DC Multiverse (Collector Edition): Starfire by McFarlane

A little while back I checked out my first Collector Edition figure from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse series. I liked the figure well enough, but questioned why it was billed as a premium Collector Edition release with a ten dollar price increase. In the end I came away deciding that I was going to be very selective with which characters I buy in this sub-line, and so far there haven’t been many. I did, however, preorder this Rebirth version of Starfire, mainly because she looked great and I wanted her on my Teen Titans shelf. All I can say is Todd must know what he’s doing, because this figure sold out fast, although it has been recently coming back up for preorder. So, is this irresistible Princess of Tamaran worth it? Let’s find out.

Kori comes in a window box very similar to all the other DC Multiverse figures on the market, from the black deco on the box to the blue tray behind the figure. The big difference here is the foil lettering running beside the window exclaiming this to be a Collector Edition release. Also, instead of being sealed to the blue backer tray, the collector card is front and center, held in a special display stand. It’s almost collector friendly, but you do have to tear the stand off the backer tray to get it. And instead of the typical black disk figure stand you get a translucent flight stand that needs to be snapped together.

I’ll always be partial to Starfire’s space bikinis, but in the last decade or so Kori’s outfits have become less revealing. Why can’t we have nice things any more, DC? The Rebirth costume is similar to her 2015 Amanda Conner look, but they even had to cover up her midriff. At least we get a flash of shoulders and thighs. And with that out of my system, I actually still like this outfit quite a bit. The purple and lavender of the deco compliment each other nicely and pay respects to the older costume colors, while also contrasting well with her orange skin. A lot of the costume details here are achieved with paint, but you do get some sculped flourishes, like the raised disks above her thighs, the rumpled knee guards, and the green stone in the center of her chest. There are sculpted lines at the tops of her boots and ends of her sleeves, and she’s sporting some elegant high heels. Unfortunately, the paint lines between the purple and lavendar on her one-piece are just sprayed on, and I would have liked to see those a lot sharper. That’s why sculpted lines in these costumes are always the best, albeit not the cheapest, way to go.

The portrait here is quite solid, with maybe just a hint of Jennifer Aniston in there. Kori has a pretty strong jawline, but I still think she comes across as pretty. The lips and eyebrows are perfectly painted, there’s some nice gradient work in her skin tone, and the painted eyes are absolutely gorgeous. They have a haunting glow that could legitimately be mistaken for some kind of light piping and that’s impressive. I might have liked a little smile, as the expression is very somber, but I still dig it a lot. The hair sculpt is also well done, as it snakes down her back and almost down to her knees. The strands around her face are a little chonky, but I still think it works fine, and the coloring gradually goes from red at the top to orange at the end of her copious coif.

The articulation here is mostly what we’re used to seeing out of the DC Multiverse ladies, which is good. Although I will say that I absolutely hate the ball-style wrists. Not only are they kind of ugly, but they are extremely fragile. I’ve had one come apart on me once. It’s easy to pop it back together, but it’s a really bad design. Ironically, I usually complain about the balls in the ankles, but here they actually look OK, and haven’t given me any problems. As expected, the balance on this figure isn’t great, as her high heels and heavy hair does make her a challenge to stand. Kori does not come with any extra hands, so you’re stuck with just the fists and frankly that’s inexcusable for a Collector Edition figure that costs $10 more than the main line. I really wanted some relaxed hands for her, and maybe some power projecting hands as well.

Starfire does come with two power effect parts, which slip onto her fists. These are cast in a bright neon yellow and they look really nice. On the other hand, they fit very loosely on her tiny fists, so I’m pretty sure these are maybe recycled from another figure. Normally, I don’t have a big problem with that, but when they don’t fit the figure, Todd, you probably shouldn’t use them.

I am happy that we got the flight stand. I know these aren’t popular with some collectors, as they can feel a bit flimsy. If McFarlane were selling these separately I would agree, but as a pack-in accessory I like them a lot. We see them every now and then in the main line, so I think bundling one in with Collector Edition flyers should be essential. You also get the collector card stand, which is the one stand out extra in these premium releases, but certainly not worth the extra ten bucks. Todd is infamous for packing in collector cards that don’t match the figure. Here, the suit is pretty close, but the hair isn’t.

Starfire is a great looking figure and I’m happy to have her with my Titans, but I have the same problems here as when I reviewed the Collector Edition Green Lantern… the money doesn’t add up. In this case, with flimsy wrists, no extra hands, recycled effect parts, and some sprayed paint lines, it’s hard to see how this is a premium figure. She’d be a solid release for the regular line, but I’m just not seeing where my extra ten bucks went. I’ve said it before, I think Todd is just stacking this premium line with regular figures of characters that they think are in demand enough to sell at the higher price point. And I’d say it’s probably working, because I rarely see these go on clearance, so either the demand is there or they aren’t producing as many.

Jul 8 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jul 5 2024

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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