Tag Archives: exclusives

Aug 21 2024

DC Multiverse (Gold Label): Metallo by McFarlane

A handful of McFarlane Gold Label releases have trickled in over the past few weeks, so I thought I’d get a jump on opening some of them. Today’s release was an Exclusive to Target and gives us a rather unusual take on the Superman villain, Metallo. I wasn’t sure about this figure when I dropped the preorder, but I really wanted to get a Metallo onto the DC Multiverse shelves, so let’s see what he’s all about!

He comes in the usual DC Multiverse packaging giving you a great look at the figure inside. The foil Gold Label medal is in the upper left corner, signifying this was a retailer exclusive. You also get the usual stand and collector card sealed to the blue backer tray. The back panel of the box recreates the collector card art. If I had the space, I’d keep all these figures boxed, as they look amazing and the bold character name on the side panel makes them easy to spot on the shelf, even if they’re lined up spine-out like books. But, I don’t have that kind of real estate for plastic and I think they look better displayed loose, so out he comes and into the bin goes the packaging.

I haven’t seen any specifics on the source material for this version of Metallo. I can see a few influences in the card art, but it’s not really that close. There’s some bronze age inspiration here, but mostly I think they were going for the Superman: Secret Origin look and even that’s a stretch. A lot of that has to do with him being partly kitbashed from the Blue and Green Power Suit Lex Luthor figures, but it doesn’t explain other bizarre choices, like painting the atom symbol on his chest shield when it would have been just as easy to paint it up like Secret Origin design. Recycling includes the legs, arms, and pelvis from those Luthor figures. I don’t recognize the torso, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out they were borrowed too.

The choice of colors works for the source art, but the application is way off. There’s too much red in the legs, leaving just the knees and ankle joints green. What’s more, the lack of paint on the legs makes the figure look kind of cheap and all that great sculpted detail is lost in the bright red plastic. I do, however, really like the metallic green used for the arms and chest armor. I think more of the lighter green here and there would have helped with accuracy and made Metallo here look a little bit less like some kind of weird Christmas-themed exclusive.

The head sculpt is decent enough, and I think it’s the one aspect that works for the figure. There’s a wonderful depth to the sculpt as you can see the teeth and eyes deep inside the slits in the face plate. It’s pretty damn creepy and matches up with Metallo’s appearance on the cover of Superman: Secret Origin #5 quite well.

Articulation holds no surprises, so I won’t run through it here. For the most part, the joints work well and he’s fun to play with. The ankles could have used a little more finesse, but he’s fairly well balanced so that’s not a big issue. Metallo has a fist on his left arm and a grasping hand on his right and doesn’t come with any extra hands.

You do get one accessory, and that’s a cluster of Kryptonite. I’m pretty sure that this is the same accessory that McFarlane packed in with Superman in their Retro 66 Batman line. I haven’t checked out that figure here yet, but I will get to him eventually. It’s a cool accessory, but it just adds more recycling to an already heavily recycled package.

In the end, this Metallo is really just a placeholder for me, as it’s a reach to match it up with any existing appearance of the character. I have no issues with recycling parts, when it makes sense. But Metallo here clearly felt like a case of Todd’s design team rummaging through the parts drawer to see how close they could get. It kind of adds insult to injury when you realize that Todd already got his money’s worth on a lot of these parts with two previous releases. The end result is a somewhat original take on the character, and that’s not what most collectors are here for. Normally, I would have happily waited for discount on Amazon, but being a Gold Label I went for the preorder. In retrospect, I guess I could have gambled and tried to get it cheaper, because I don’t think this one is going to sell very well.

Aug 5 2024

G. I. JOE Classified (Tiger Force): Wreckage and Tiger Paw ATV by Hasbro

A couple weeks back I checked out the Walmart Exclusive Night Force Night Pursuit Cycle, a repaint of the RAM Cycle, and Night Force Shockwave. I mentioned that I’m not really collecting the Night Force and Tiger Force variants, but in a moment of weakness I not only grabbed that one, but also preordered Target’s Tiger Force repaint of the Cobra Ferret ATV with Wreckage. I’m hoping that this will be a couple of isolated incidents, but only time will tell! In this case, I was mainly driven by the desire to give the JOEs their own ATV and to get a pretty cool homage to one of those Toys R Us Exclusive 5-packs from the early 00’s.

You get the same style box as we saw with the Cobra Ferret. It’s nearly fully enclosed, but does have a window to show off the figure, as well as the Tiger Force logo, and some fantastic renders of the toy in action. If you have the Cobra Ferret, you know exactly what to expect inside the box in terms of assembly requirements. It all goes together easy and the only thing to watch out for is lining those tread patterns up right. The extra parts and accessories come in tissue bags inside a cardboard footlocker, and it’s neat that we get to keep seeing these every now and then, despite the return to window boxes for the figures. Let’s start with Wreckage!

Dillon Moreno, aka. Wreckage is a demolitions and jungle warfare expert and was first introduced as part of a 2003 TRU Exclusive Tiger Force 5-pack. Back then he was a straight repaint of Firefly and here he looks to be a straight repaint of Classified’s Firefly 2.0. And holy shit is this guy cool looking! I’m not usually a big fan of the Tiger Force decos, but it sure looks awesome here, probably because the tiger stripes aren’t bright yellow and rather subdued. The fatigues are mostly black and the stripes are sort of a copper-brown. Like Firefly, this guy has a ton of gear strapped to him, including a chest harness, belt and two leg rigs, all of which are cast in a coppery-brown similar to the striping. The boots and gloves match the gear, and you get some orange paint applications for his turtleneck as well as some additional hits like the knife sheath on his right arm, pouches on his body rig, and explosive charges on his leg. His left shoulder has a crisp Tiger Force logo printed on it, and there’s some silver for the various zippers.

The head features a full mask with a cutout for the eyes. He’s got some dark shading around his peepers and some pretty creepy graphics to mimic a skull for the rest of his face. When I checked out Night Force Shockwave, I commented about how he looked like some kind of maniac, and that goes double for Wreckage here.

The VAMP/Night Pursuit Cycle helmet makes yet another appearance. It seems like Hasbro really wants to get their money’s worth out of it. Still, it fits in well with his set and the repaint looks cool. I love the sculpt, especially the mounted camera, and we get some nice touches of character here with the angry teeth art on the sides and the kill marks scored out above the visor.

The backpack is the same as Firefly 2.0’s and that includes the mines that peg into the sides and the detonator that plugs into the back. I thought I got short-changed the detonator, which is why it’s not pictured, but I did eventually find it in one of the bags. The backpack still has the tab on the bottom for Firefly’s RC car delivery system, but the car is not included here. I dig the design and sculpt of this backpack a lot, and it certainly makes sense to repurpose it here for Wreckage.

For weapons, you get a combat knife, an automatic pistol, and a sub-machine gun. The magazine can be removed from the SMG and there’s one suppressor to share between the SMG and pistol. There’s a peg on the backpack to stow the SMG, allowing Wreckage to carry all of his weapons and leave both hands free to drive the Tiger Paw… so let’s check out his ride!

As expected, the Tiger Paw is a straight re-deco of the Ferret with all the ostentatious flare of the Tiger Force design. The frame and seat are black, the back half of the body is yellow, gradually becomes orange in the middle, and ends up white at the front. There’s black tiger striping in the middle and a tiger face motif stenciled on the front. The wheels are now bright orange. Some of the lettering carries over, like the Caution on the exhaust pipes and Cobra is replaced with ATV on the wheels, and there’s a Tiger Force logo behind the seat.

The removable cannon has a red receiver and black barrel, the steering column and instrument panel are red with black handlebars, and the front turret is red. All of the red parts are brighter and flashier than what we saw on the Ferret. The side missiles appear to be identical to what we got with the Ferret and they’re still gummy and have a tendency to get knocked off. Still, all in all this is as great a toy as it was the first time. It’s fun to roll into battle and the independent suspension is impressive.

And Wreckage looks damn good driving it, especially with the helmet as it tends to match the ATV deco more than his fatigues does. Obviously there’s still room for two on the Tiger Paw, and conveniently I do own one other Tiger Force figure and that’s Recondo, so at least Wreckage won’t have to go on sorties alone.

If I had my choice, I would have preferred getting a more traditional military green recolor of the Ferret for the JOEs. I’m just not that big a fan of the Tiger Force decos and this ATV hasn’t changed my mind about it. I am, however, still glad I picked it up, particularly because Wreckage turned out so good. It’s awesome to get a Classified version of him and he brings back some nostalgic memories of hunting new GI JOE figures at Toys R Us every Friday after work. Who knows? Maybe if the Tiger Force RAM Cycle drops in price any more, I’ll pick that up to have a matched set.

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!

Jun 26 2024

G. I. JOE Classified: Cobra Ferret ATV and Ferret Scout by Hasbro

I’ll confess, I feel so guilty pushing new Classified releases to the head of the review line when I have so many older figures to look at here. But then again the new Cobra Ferrets rolled in this past weekend and how could I not? This Combat ATV was first introduced to the Cobra arsenal back in 1985, and was just another prime example of how many cool toys this line had that were still small and affordable. And by affordable I mean that if I was really good and tagged along with my Dad when he went to Sears on Saturday morning to get a tool, I might have a chance of talking him into getting me a FANG, a SNAKE Armor, a FERRET. or some other small vehicle. These were also featured several times in the Sunbow cartoon, which just made them all the more desirable, probably because of hidden subliminal messages.

And behold, the new Classified Ferret. No longer a little impulse item, this new Cobra ATV is scaled for the 6-inch line, is big enough to carry a couple of riders, and is bristling with weaponry. This release was a Hasbro Pulse Exclusive and sold out fairly quickly, and there is a Target Exclusive JOE version on the way. You get a colorful box with some great artwork and shots of the toy. And unlike the original RAH version, this one comes with a dedicated driver, The Cobra Ferret Scout, visible through a window panel on the front of the box. Oh, and hello! It’s a lady! The Ferret requires a bit of assembly, and make sure you take note of the direction of those tire treads, because once you put them on, they’re a bitch to take off again. I bought two and learned my lesson putting together the the first. Let’s start with the figure!

The Ferret Scout is a repaint of the Cobra Valkyries that came in a two-pack not that long ago. The previously black and blue fatigues are now light grey and dark grey, with some black, blue and trim added. It’s a rather unique deco that is very pleasing to the eye and maybe leans into an urban camo vibe for me. The belt, bicep strap, and holster rig are all borrowed directly from the Valkyrie, but an ankle sheath has been added to the left leg. There’s also an additional vest piece that’s worn by the figure providing a little armor to the vital bits, and stamped with a red Cobra emblem on the front.

The head is also borrowed from one of the noggins that came with the Valks, but it now includes a riding helmet. This piece is cast in soft plastic and encompasses the entire head with an opening for the eyes. The design is awesome, with a snakehead motif forming the top of the visor, complete with snake fangs, and a pair of painted fangs over the mouth guard. It fits the figure very well and it’s nice to have the option to remove it, rather than have a sculpted helmet head.

As for weapons, the Ferret Scout gets by with two automatic pistols and a combat knife. The combat knife is small and cast all in black plastic. It’s nothing special, but a nice addition, since the Valks didn’t come with one. No doubt useful for taking care of any JOE that jumps onto the Ferret, by stabbing them in the neck with it. Yeah, I went dark with that one! The pistols are the same pair that came with the Valks, with one worn in a cross-draw holster on the left hip and the other on the right thigh rig. These are also cast all in black and have sockets in the barrels for blast effect parts, although none are included with this set.

I really love this figure, which should come as no surprise, as I was a big fan of the Valks. The recolor and rework done here makes her stand out on her own and I think the overall design works wonderfully for a dedicated Ferret driver that we never got in the original RAH series. A rifle and some blast effect parts would have been cool, but I can always dig into my copious box of Classified accessories if I need to kit them out a bit more. Now, let’s move onto the Ferret itself!

As we’ve seen time and again, the Classified version takes the original RAH design and updates it for scale and maybe just a little bit of realism. The coloring remains blue and black with red trim and all the design beats are still here, from the side mounted rockets to the pivoting front guns, and the large side-mounted cannon. This new version feels a more chonky and durable, as it no longer has an exposed engine compartment where you could see through to the other side. You do, however, get some exposed sections of the engine, which are painted over in silver. There’s a ton of tampo’d lettering on this thing, many of which are lifted directly from the original toy, like the X02 under the steering column or the Caution Exhaust on the rear pipes. Even the tires are branded!

The front of the vehicle has a non-working winch, protected by a cage, the steering wheel has a detailed instrument panel and can turn, but it is not connected to the front wheels. You do, however, get working independent suspension in each wheel, which is very cool. The side rockets, originally called COM-BAT laser-seeking rockets, have the same weird double sided design, which I never really understood, and this new version looks even more confusing. Either way, these simply peg into the launch carrier and I’d nitpick about not getting a launch effect piece, but when the rocket has two nosecone and no exhaust, where would you even plug it in? I will say that the rockets are kind of rubbery, which is a bit disappointing.

The side cannon pegs into a clip, which in turn clips onto the cage, allowing you to mount it on either side of the vehicle. It also allows it to be easily removed for a figure to fire it when it’s off the vehicle. The system of attachment allows it to raise and lower as well as pivot. I’m thankful that you can remove the cannon by the peg attachment, because constantly removing and attaching that clip will probably cause stress to the plastic, so I don’t want to do that. .

Despite coming with just the one driver, the Ferret was always designed to carry two figures, and this one is no different. The gun hands do a good job grabbing the handlebars. I did find the leg placement a little awkward, but you can definitely make it work, and there’s no trouble getting a second figure on the back.

Of course, I always had my Crimson Twins riding the Ferret together when I was a kid! The Ferret was released at about the same time as the Tomax and Xamot set and it was colored to match their outfits, so I always assumed it was intended as their unofficial vehicle. I’m pretty sure I got the twins and the Ferret pretty close to each other and it was theirs from that moment on.

The Ferret sold for $55, placing it right in line with the Trouble Bubble and Televiper bundle, a set that I have yet to review here and I really need to remedy that! I’ve seen some complaints over the price, but with a bundled figure, I don’t think it’s that bad, although I did limit myself to just two, whereas I really wanted to pick up three. I guess I do have a little bit of willpower left. Either way, the Ferret sold out pretty quickly, and it seems to be going for around $80 to $100 on the second hand market. I haven’t seen anything from Hasbro about planning a restock, but Hasbro really needs to get on that, because I’d now that I’ve played around with it, I’d probably pick up a third. As I mentioned earlier, the mold has been recycled into the Target Exclusive GI JOE Tiger Paw. I generally skip the Tiger Force stuff, but I did break down and preorder that one, so maybe I spoke too soon about that willpower. And yeah, that one seems to have sold out too.

Jun 19 2024

Masters of the Universe Origins: Moss Man by Mattel

It was a busy week for MOTU Origins around here. Not only did I get a few of the new Cartoon Series figures in, but I also cleaned up on some old business with the main Origins line. Moss Man was a Wal-Mart Exclusive, which meant I never had a chance of seeing him at the stores here. A lot of people must have been in the same boat because he was going for crazy money on Ebay and the like. And then inexplicably he started turning up on Clearance and even at places like Ollies. And that’s a beautiful illustration of horrible distribution and why these exclusives are a terrible idea. In the end, people started scalping the figures they found on Clearance and in the end that meant I was able to get him for the original price, even with shipping. So let’s check him out!

Moss Man is a Deluxe, but instead of coming in one of those oversized cards and bubbles, he comes boxed and this makes for some very nice presentation. The window shows off the figure and all the extras inside while you still get an elongated back flap with some of that gorgeous retro-inspired artwork. But then turn the box over and and let your peepers be assaulted by even more vintage art goodness. The box also touts him as a Collectors Edition with pine scent, making me wonder if a sealed card would have been the better way to go in order to lock in all that pine freshness! Everything here is collector friendly, and while I love the box, I haven’t decided whether to keep it or not.

Moss Man comes with armor, and we’ll get to that in a bit, but let’s first check him out as God intended, with just his belt and furry diaper. Besides, I don’t want any of that armor to get in the way of the beauty that is this flock job, and I mean that in every conceivable way. For starters, the coverage here is superb. From the front, you can barely see any of the jointing, and even from the back it’s mostly just evident in the knee and ankle joints. Sure, the more extreme you work the hinges, the more of that plastic will peek through, but it really is an amazing piece of work, especially for a retail figure. I also really dig the way the musculature in the chest and back still shows through the flocking. And finally, the coloring of the flocking itself is wonderfully dynamic. The closer you get, the more you can make out the mixes of green with a little brown. It’s also strangely soothing to stroke his mossy fur with my finger. As for that pine sent, it’s evident but not overwhelming. The question will be how long will it last?

The yellow armor pieces are repaints of Beast Man’s armor, just like Moss Man was a flocked Beast Man. I’m far from an expert on vintage MOTU, but as I understand it the yellow Beast Man armor was included in a weapons pack and tended to gravitate toward Moss Man figures in many collectors. Enough that it became associated with him. The chest and collar piece tabs together in the back and the bicep armor just slides on with friction keeping them on. It’s all cast in the same yellow plastic and there’s some black paint apps on the chest piece making it look like it’s been burned. I do think these look really good on the figure, but I’m not sure whether I will display him with the armor or not.

You get two heads to choose from, and this is kind of a no-brainer for me. The stock head is very similar to a flocked Beast Man head, without being a straight repurpose, and this is the one that will always be on my figure. The flocking encompasses the whole head, minus the face and just like the body, it looks great. I’ve gone on record in the past by saying the vintage Beast Man head sculpt is one of the ugliest and most unintentionally funny action figure noggins I can remember, and that still holds true here, but I think the unified green color scheme helps it along. The big difference between Beast Man and this Moss Man is the mouth bearing his copious fangs. The eyes are painted in with large black pupils, and I’m really impressed at how sharp the line around the face between plastic and flock turned out.

Now, that’s not to say the alternate head isn’t really good. In fact, it’s quite awesome. It’s full of character and basically looks like a green gorilla with mutton chops. That ain’t a bad thing! The mouth is open a lot wider, showing off those awesome teeth, and the bald head and slight forehead ridge gives me some slight Klingon vibes. I love what we got here, but it just isn’t Moss Man to me. Had the figure been more widely available, I might have picked up a second to leave unarmored and wearing this had as just some mossy minion.

Moss Man comes with two weapons, and an extra left gripping hand so he can dual wield. The first weapon, a brown flanged mace, is a nod to the vintage figure’s accessory. It has a diamond-shaped ring at the pommel and a knuckle guard loop around the grip.

Additionally, you get the spiked ball flail that we’ve seen a few times before in this line, and it’s always nice to see this weapon turn up, especially as an extra piece. I did find that the gripping hands on my figure are a little loose on these accessories and squeezing them shut a bit more helps keep them in his hands.

As much as I adore this line, I have a rule with MOTU Origins, that I’m not playing Mattel’s game and hunting down exclusives at stores or online at Mattel Creations, and I’m not feeding scalpers and paying premiums. I already jumped through a lot of hoops to get a nearly complete set of MOTU Classics and I’m not doing it all over again. Case in point, I didn’t even bother going after Night Stalker yesterday. I have Stridor and I’m content with that. Now, I guess you could argue that in this case I did feed a scalper by paying regular retail for a figure he probably got for $6 at an Ollies, but I was willing to make an exception since it was still a little less than original retail. And I’m glad I did, because this figure is absolutely amazing. And don’t worry, I still have more than a few figures in this line to check out here, but next time we’ll switch over to the Cartoon Series for a bit!

Sep 4 2023

G. I. JOE Classified: Cobra Valkyries by Hasbro

Even an evil organization like Cobra isn’t beyond the reach of having to take on a Diversity Compliance Specialist and as a result we get The Valkyries! That’s right, these Cobra reinforcements arrived over the weekend and I was very excited to take a look at them, so they got bumped to the head of the line. This is a two-pack of Cobra femme fatale troopers with lots of gear and effect parts. In the past, I went pretty nuts buying Cobra Troopers and Officers in this line, but I was able to limit myself to two of these sets for now and will pepper them throughout my Cobra forces. Let’s cue up some Wagner and take a look!

The Valks come in a fully enclosed box with some great renders on the front and a shot of all the accessories included. Inside, you get the figures on a cardboard tray as well as a cardboard footlocker containing paper baggies with all those pieces. There are a lot of tiny pieces in there, so be sure to check those bags thoroughly before pitching them!

Here are the ladies out of the box and geared up. These feature the same body sculpt with most of the blue fatigues being smooth with some rumples, and some sculpted panels on their hips. There’s textured reinforcement on the biceps and up around the shoulders and upper chest, along with a sculpted Cobra emblem. Each figure has high boots, as well as sculpted armor plates for their knees and forearms. One Valk has these pieces painted all black, while the other has some tan paint for the straps on her boots and forearms. They each also have a good bit of separately sculpted pieces, which include the right hip holster, the belt with left cross-draw holster, left bicep strap, and shoulder rigs with a a right side sheath. Thanks to pegs on the backpacks, each Valkyrie can store all their gear, which is always a big plus in my book.

The backpacks have some excellent sculpted detail, but I wish they stayed on a bit better. Also, I’ll concede that I was not a big fan of the tan coloring on the one figure when these were introduced, and I’m still not all that crazy about it. I kind of appreciate Hasbro wanting to offer a little color variety between the two figures, but maybe grey would have been a better way to go. Honestly, I would have been happier if they were both the same black. No, it’s not a dealbreaker for me, but I just like the look of the entirely black and blue uniform better. Apart from that, I think these figures look great and I’ll throw in some pictures at the end to show how well they mix with the other Classified Cobra Troopers.

The set includes a total of three heads and three removable helmets. The two regular heads have face masks and tight fitting hoods similar to the Classified Cobra Troopers. The only other difference here is the sculpt around the exposed eyes. These are not only unique sculpts but one has dark skin and one has light skin.

You also get a gasmask style head with a red visor, which looks pretty damn rad. I do wish we got some completely unmasked heads like Hasbro is doing with their female SHIELD pack in Marvel Legends. You can swap heads with those Marvel Legends figures, but these ball joints are smaller so a bit of putty will be needed to make the replacement noggins a tight fit.

I mentioned three helmets, and the third has a silver badge on the front. V for Valkyrie? I guess this one one works for if you want to make one of the ladies an officer. The three helmets stay on the figures pretty well, but I found that they could get lopsided pretty often and I’m sure that came across in a few of my pictures here.

For weapons, each figure comes with the same arsenal with one set cast in black and the other in tan plastic. Again, still not a big fan of the tan, but I’ll live with it. In total you get two knives, four pistols, two sub-machine guns, and two machine guns. We’ll start small and work our way up. First up is the cutlery and these are pretty standard fighting knives with the blades painted silver and the hilts either black or tan. They’re fine, but not as impressive as some of the other blades we’ve seen recently. The right hand seems to hold them better than the left, even though both hands are designed for the guns.

The automatic pistols are a matched pair for each figure and these are pretty nice. They’re not too chunky and not too small. You get some nice detail in the sculpt and they fit well in either the hands or the holsters. In theory I really like the inclusion of the cross-draw holster, but in practice t doesn’t make much sense since the right hand would obviously just draw the weapon from the right holster.

I like the machine guns a lot. You get a pretty simple grease-gun style sub-machine gun with a removable stick magazine. This one has a flared muzzle and a scope. The scope seems like an odd choice for this kind of weapon, but it’s still a great design that reminds me a bit of the weapon design the Cobra troops often carried in the Sunbow cartoon. The alternative is an automatic rifle with an under the barrel grenade launcher. This is another excellent sculpt and you get a removable magazine as well. And yes, I I still think the scope should have been sculpted on this one.

Finally, the set includes a whole bunch of effect parts for the weapons. I think we’ve seen all of these before, and they tend to vary in how they look. Not that I’m complaining. I’ll take as many of these as I can get. All of the weapons have holes in their barrels and these parts just peg in. Some are designed to peg together for different combinations, and I particularly love the smoking barrel pieces. My only complaint here is that I couldn’t really make one work with the grenade launcher.

After the great Cobra Eel debackle, it’s nice to see that Hasbro is still capable of making good decisions with troop builders. Selling these in two-packs and making them easy to get is a great idea and it’s going to be tough to stick to just two. Not that I have much of a choice, as these did sell out. Hopefully Hasbro will do a restock, especially if they like money. Sure, Hasbro Pulse isn’t my first choice for online shopping, and I tend to stick to them only for exclusives like this, but I’ll admit that they’ve been pretty good about getting figures out and delivered in a timely manner. The price was $55, and that feels about right considering how many extras are included.

Jul 11 2022

Marvel Legends: Doctor Strange by Hasbro

Marvel Monday is back, but I feel that its return needs a disclaimer! I have cut my Legends collecting way back for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, with how prolific this line has been, I’ve got a lot of the characters I was after, and now I’m willing to be a lot more selective when it comes to the comic characters. But also, I have not been a fan of the latest crop of MCU films and Disney+ shows. I couldn’t make it through either Shang-Chi or The Eternals on streaming, and I don’t plan on going out to see Love & Thunder. Similarly, I wasn’t able to get through a few episodes of Falcon & Winter Soldier, Loki, or Moon Knight. I feel like the best is behind us, and I’m just not interested in owning figures of any of this stuff. So, Marvel Mondays will be about wrapping up what I’ve got unopened, which consists of some multi-packs, a couple of waves, and some exclusives. And we’ll see what happens after that!

Today I’m opening the Walmart Exclusive classic comic version of Doctor Strange. The Walmarts here don’t carry this stuff, but I was lucky enough to get this release off of the website. It’s not tied to any wave and there’s no Build-A-Figure part, but you do get some great character art on the side panels, and a bunch of extras with the figure. This arrived a long while back and it’s been kicking around in the backseat of my car for months. I wasn’t even sure what it was when I finally opened the shipping box! It’s crazy to think that we haven’t had a classic comic version of Strange in Legends yet, or that this was released as a lone retail exclusive. The closest we’ve come was the two similar versions of the more modern comic Strange that came in the Dormammu Wave and the Hulkbuster Wave. But that only makes this one all the more of a welcome treat.

The first thing I have to talk about is the coloring, which is quite simply gorgeous. From the electric blue tunic, to the bright yellow, and deep crimson, this figure looks like it just leapt from a comic panel. The paint and plastic are so vibrant and sumptuous, and I absolutely love that in a comic book figure. There’s some new sculpting here, as well as some recycled parts, and I think the mix works out really well. New stuff includes the tunic, which has sculpted detail, rather than just paint, the yellow sash tied around the waist, and the lower part of the tunic, which forms a sort of skirt. The sleeves are rolled up just below the elbows, which looks cool, and reveals some lovely black Kirby Crackle on the sleeves of the gauntlets. The legs are generic and recycled, and all black, which looks fine.

The Cloak of Levitation is a repaint of the one sculpted for the more modern Strange, and that’s fine, because this is a really solid sculpt. It hangs beautifully off the figure, angling from the chest and over the shoulders, and the collar with it’s high points frame the figure’s head perfectly. It curls at the bottom edges, and billows out in all the right places, while not putting a damper on the figure’s articulation or making him too back heavy. The yellow paint could have been sharper in a few areas, but painting bright colors over darker plastic is rarely ever a good idea.

You get a whopping three heads with this figure, which include a standard portrait, a concentrating portrait, with Strange’s eyes closed. Both of these feature Strange with his mustache and sans goatee, which is a look I really like. You also get the gray wings in his hair just like Paulie Walnuts (God rest his soul). I think both are excellent sculpts, with some nice definition to the facial features. The portrait with the closed eyes has a bit of muss to the hair, which even has a few strands falling loose over his forehead, and that’s a nice touch!

The third head is a blue masked portrait, which is a nice bonus, but not one that I really associate with the character much, and so I probably won’t get much use out of it. Still, there’s got to be some fans out there who are thrilled to have this one included.

In addition to all those heads, Strange comes with two sets of hands, and a few extra accessories. One pair of hands features a left fist and a right accessory holding hand, while the other feature the same mystical spell-slinging hands that we saw with the modern comic Strange. These also work for making the OK symbol, or for gesticulating when you say capiche? HA! They said I couldn’t get two Sopranos references into a Doctor Strange action figure review. THEY WERE WRONG!!!

You also get a pair of spell effect parts, which we’ve seen many times over in recent years, and were also included with the modern comic Strange. These have two sets of clips, so that they can be attached at the wrists, or further up the arm. I dig this pair a lot, as rather than just be stamped out in one color of transparent plastic, there’s a nice mix of yellow and orange here, giving them more of a premium and dynamic look.

Next up, you get the wonderous Wand of Watoomb, which is a very welcome addition. The accessory is cast all in gold plastic, with a sculpted cross-thatch pattern on the rod and with horned spheres at each end.

And finally, you get the Axe of Angarruumus, which has some beautiful detail in the sculpted double-headed blade, and again at the pommel cap at the end of the shaft. I love the nicks and dings in the blade, suggesting that this mystical weapon is both ancient and has seen some serious shit in its day!

I can’t think of a better figure for me to have opened in order to whet my appetite for Marvel Legends again. This classic Strange is a beautiful figure with some great accessories, and above all fills a vacant slot that’s taken way too long for Hasbro to fill. It’s exactly this kind of release that can get me excited for the line all over again. And to think that if it weren’t for a timely tip that he was up on the website, I would have probably missed out on him entirely. No way, this one should have been an exclusive, and I’m rather surprised they didn’t work him into the Multiverse of Madness Wave.

Feb 28 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feb 21 2022

Marvel Legends: Skrull Army Builder by Hasbro!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dec 29 2021

Transformers Kingdom (Golden Disk Collection): Jackpot and Sights by Hasbro

I had planned on skipping these Amazon Exclusive Golden Disk Collection repaints, but one night when some of them were presented to my drunken self by Amazon, I guess I must have slammed that BUY IT button, because they later showed up at my door. That’s fine. I am, however, a little embarrassed by the fact that I still haven’t reviewed some of the original figures that these are repaints of. Indeed, I actually did an entire photo shoot with Jackpot here, while under the impression that I had reviewed Studio Series Jazz. But nope. Had I known that, I probably would have gone with more of a joint review, but let’s just press on anyway.

Well, this is a pleasant surprise! I was expecting the crappy brown box that the past Amazon Exclusives came in, but this is colorful and pretty nice, even if the artwork is kind of bland. The figures inside come tied to a corrugate tray, so it’s nothing fancy, but at least the box is collector friendly should you decide to keep it. I was already out of playing with Transformers by the time Jackpot and the Action Masters arrived, so I didn’t have the original figure, but I love that we’re getting modern transforming toys out of them. Let’s start with Jackpot’s alt mode.

The car is a straight repaint of Studio Series Jazz, and this is an excellent little recreation of the Porsche 935 Turbo. All the familiar beats are here from the semi-squared off front bumper, the down sloping hood, to the beautiful rounded swells over the wheel wells, and the prominent spoiler. This mold made for an excellent Jazz and it certainly cuts a different look with this wild new black and yellow deco. It very nearly makes it look like the mold has had some tweaks, even though that’s not the case. The added silver to the front bumper looks great, as does the orange on the headlamps and rear bumpers. Jackpot sports some snappy translucent orange on his windows, and an Autobot emblem on the front middle of the hood. Considering the G1 Jackpot had no alt mode, I think this turned out pretty cool.

I don’t have a lot to complain about here, except maybe the clips holding on the front wheels look a tad cheap. There’s a slight difference in yellow where the painted plastic meets the colored plastic, but neither nitpick is a big deal. I don’t know how collectors unfamiliar with the original character will take to this paint scheme, but I dig it.

Jackpot comes with a repaint of Jazz’s gun, which can be plugged into the socket on the roof to weaponize him. He also comes with a blast effect part for the gun. Cool!

As with Jazz, transforming Jackpot holds no surprises. It’s not all that dissimilar from the recent Datsuns. He’s pretty quick going to and from either mode, and the panels lock together fairly well in the auto mode. Like the Datsuns, he’s a bit broad shouldered, but otherwise the proportions are just fine and he makes for a great and very classic looking robot. Yeah, his lower legs are hollow, but I’ve come to expect that. His roof and doors fold up neatly on his back, although I would have preferred he kept the G1-style door-wings, but that’s something I miss more on the Jazz version than this one. As for the deco, it doesn’t really change much from his auto mode, other than adding some orange to his feet and lower legs. It’s not a perfect match for the original figure, but certainly close enough for me.

The only new sculpting here is found in Jackpot’s head, and it’s a great update to the Action Master portrait. I’m not a big fan of the super obvious seam running down the top center of his “helmet,” but otherwise I like the head just fine. The orange visor matches his deco nicely, and the styling of the sides of his head look really cool.

In addition to the repaint of Jazz’s gun, Jackpot comes with his buddy Sights. Yeah, the homage here is a tad off. Sights is still a robotic bird (and a great one at that!), but he transforms into a battle axe instead of a photon cannon, which makes his name rather curious, but it’s fine. You can still work him into a gun of sorts, but I think I prefer him as an axe.

In the end, I’m glad i picked up this figure! I love updates to some of the more obscure G1 toys, and it’s cool to get a transforming version of Jackpot into this collection. Going with the Jazz mold was a no-brainer, and it’s nice to see such an excellent figure get repainted into another character. Sure, Jazz is still my favorite of the two, so don’t take the fact that he got passed over for a review as meaning otherwise, but Jackpot turned out to be a fantastic re-release of an already fantastic mold!