Tag Archives: imports

Nov 1 2024

Sariah (Goddess of War) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

Halloween may be behind us, but since October was a dicey month, I plan on peppering November with more spooky stuff. I’m not sure if today’s review totally fits that category, but we will be plunging into the Depths of Hell, and that’s pretty scary! It’s crazy to think that I only reviewed one TBLeague figure so far this year, and only one the previous year. I have a bunch of these waiting their turn in the spotlight and some have been waiting for a long while. Currently, I’m starting to pack some things up in anticipation of moving to another State early next year and that means I’d like to give more of these ladies some love before they get sealed away in boxes for three or four months. And today is Sariah’s turn! A lot of TBLeague’s recent figures have been original designs, but Sariah hails from ARH Comics, Undying Queen series. This is not my first figure from this comic, as Arkhalla, Queen of the Vampires was an early Phicen purchase for me back in the day. Cruel and merciless, Sariah is not only The Goddess of War, but also the commander of Hell’s armies in The Lands Below. Let’s check her out!

TBLeague hasn’t changed their packaging much over the years, and that’s a good thing because they do a nice job with it. The heavy-duty box has a tri-fold cover that secures to the sides with magnets and has some gorgeous shots of the figure on the front and side panels. Inside, the figure is nestled in a foam tray with the head detached and the accessories spread out around her. These figures also give off a strong fragrance of tea when you first open them, which I always thought was pretty cool. Like many TBLeague figures, Sariah does require some of her armor to be attached, which can sometimes be a chore, but in this case it wasn’t too bad.

Here she is all set up, and I have to say this is the type of outfit design that really compliments the Phicen seamless body the best, as it shows a fair bit of skin. Her skimpy armor consists of a plastic breast plate, painted red with a gold border, upswept breast cups and a rather jagged cut window to show off her belly button. Below that is a red furry diaper-thong and a black belt with bronze ornamental medallions. She has tall, high-heeled boots, again red with gold accents, which end in skulls for knee guards. Her arms are adorned with red and gold bracers on her forearms, bronze bicep bands, and skulls for shoulder armor. The ensemble is finished off with a red and gold gorget to protect her throat, and a red and gold cape. The cape is crafted from some pretty nice material and has an elaborate decorative pattern. It’s narrow and not at all cumbersome, but I do wish they had given the edges some wires to allow it to be posed. Wired capes are fairly common in more recent TBLeague releases, but it’s not really something they were doing back in the day.

Both the design and execution of the armor is fantastic. The crimson and gold deco pops nicely and while it is mostly plastic, the use of fur and cloth adds that bit of needed variety. The boots are split with the usual ball joints in the ankles to help with those action stances, and the bracers help conceal the wrist joints, so other than the seam around the neck, all the rest of the steel skeleton’s articulation points are locked inside that silicone body. I know some people remain skeptical about the durability of these bodies, but I’ve had Sariah here on display for years. There haven’t been any problems, and she’s one that I love to take off the shelf and play around with now and then. I will, however, point out that this costume is prone to a wardrobe malfunction in the form of frequent nip slips, but since they aren’t painted, it’s not always obvious when it happens!

The portrait includes a really cool headpiece, which is not so much a helmet as it is a sort of a tiara with horns and cheek guards. This piece is made of a slightly flexible plastic, which simply fits onto the head and hugs the sides to remain in place. The red and gold deco matches the rest of the armor and the giant demonic horns make quite an intimidating statement.

Of course, the headpiece is removable, but I’m likely to always display it on the figure, as I’m not a big fan of the way they handled her hairline, with part of it painted onto the head and leading into the rooted hair. It’s not a great look and also not a technique that they’ve used for a while. Otherwise, the portrait is beautiful with very pretty features and a rosy complexion in the cheeks. There’s a spark of life in those eyes and the lips are perfectly painted with a red glossy finish. The hair is swept back where it cascades down her back and includes a partial ponytail as well and the style compliments the headpiece very well.

In terms of accessories, Sariah isn’t over burdened with extras, but she does have the essentials: Mainly her sword and shield and a couple of pairs of hands. The sword is a rather unique design with the hilt keeping the red and gold deco going and featuring a demon skull in the center of the short down-turned crossguard. The blade is painted bright silver and has a double edged and has a cut-out channel in the middle. Sometimes you get diecast blades with these figures, but in this case it’s plastic. The shield is circular with a larger version of the demon skull from the sword as its central boss. There’s a segmented almost spiral pattern with two circlets of studs. I love this design and the super sharp sculpt. The reverse side has a grab bar and an elastic strap for her arm, which is super easy to work with.

While accessories may be light, Sariah makes up for it with her throne and base. Sometimes, TBLeague likes to get freaky by bundling in these big diorama style display bases, and I sure do love it when they do! As is often the case, it’s packaged in a styrofoam brick in the shipping box, rather than in the actual figure box itself. The vaguely throne-shaped pile of skulls is absolutely gorgeous in a grizzly sort of way with a thin sculpted cushion for Sariah’s shapely, rotund caboose to sit on. I really dig the back of the throne, which has three skulls still wearing some rather unusual helmets. Very cool!

The throne is also removable from the base and you can use it as a dais to display the figure standing, but there is no support rod to keep her upright. Still, she can stand really well and I have had her displayed on it for long stretches without her toppling.

Even if you aren’t a fan or familiar with the comic, Sariah fits in perfectly with TBLeague’s original design releases as just a beautiful fantasy warrior woman in a set of bitchin demon armor. The seamless body is as impressive as ever and the sculpt and paint on her costume seals the deal perfectly. The only nitpick I have is that I wish she came with a scabbard so she could wear her sword on her belt. But even if the accessory assortment seems light, the elaborate base and throne more than make up for it by adding a ton of value to the package. Indeed, at $169 when I bought her, this still seems like an amazing deal when a lot of bare bones Sixth-Scale figures were selling for more.

Sep 23 2024

Metal Slug 3: Fiolina Germi by Tunshi Studio

Holy crap, it was a little more than a year ago when I checked out Marco Rossi from Tunshi Studio’s line of Metal Slug 3 figure series. I’ve been meaning to dip back in and check out the Rebel Soldier, but it’s easy to get sidetracked when toy blogging. In the meantime, a couple new Slug figures arrived a short while back and my, my… what have we here? It’s a couple of ladies! And we all know it’s ladies first, so I’ll stick the Rebel Soldier on the back burner and check out Fio! I gassed on for a while last time about what the Metal Slug series meant to me over the years. Once an unattainable luxury, the first one of these games I ever owned at home was Metal Slug X on the PlayStation and it was good enough for me. Of course, now I can play the series on various consoles and formats, some legit and others not so much. But I never let that rob me of my appreciation, as rarely a week goes by where I don’t fire up one of the Slugs hear MISSION START! and put a huge smile on my face, thinking about what wonderful times we live in. Plus… Metal Slug ACTION FIGURES!!! Who could have ever imagined that!

As we saw last time, the packaging and presentation for these figures is absolutely off the charts. The roughly 6-inch scale figure comes in a heavy-duty cardboard box that resembles the character compartments on the Soldier Select screen of the game. Fio peers through the window and there’s a folded front flap, secured with magnets, that opens to show the figure and gear through a full sized window. Inside, Fio comes in clear plastic tray with a little compartment up top for an instruction booklet that includes a walkthrough of the articulation. And there’s a second nested tray to hold the insane amount of stuff this little lady comes with.

The line makes use of a super articulated body with actual softgoods clothing, which is so unusual for this scale. And yet Tunshi pulled it off quite admirably. The tailored outfit consists of an abbreviated white tank top, a yellow tactical vest, orange shorts with khaki trim, khaki sleeves under her knee guards, and brown socks feeding into her sculpted boots. For the most part the stitching is immaculate, although there is a stray thread here and there, mostly on the shorts. She’s got a brown pleather belt with a fanny pouch, pleather wrist bracers, and the plastic kneepads are held on with elastic straps. I think the costume looks great, although it feels like Tunshi took a few liberties with the coloring. Perhaps, they sourced some art I’m unfamiliar with, but I recall her outfit being mostly khaki. Still, the colors make for some nice variety and I don’t mind.

You get two head sculpts to choose from, although the second one is pretty specific and we’ll check it out later. The stock head is adorable with some really impressive paint work on the eyes, especially for this scale. The glasses come packaged off the figure and you get a pair for each head. Getting them on was a bit scary, but once they’re on they remain in place with no worries. The hair is sculpted separately from the head, giving it a nice depth as it frames her face, and the ball cap is plastic, but has such impressive texturing it actually looks like it could be cloth. Her sculpted hair spills out the back of the cap in a short ponytail.

Tunshi’s system of articulation is excellent, with double-hinges giving tight bends in the elbows and knees, swivels in the biceps and upper thighs, and a ball joint under the chest. The joints are smooth and easy to work with, but the shorts do inhibit the range quite a bit in the hips. The costume does strategically cover a lot of the figure’s jointing, with only the elbows and upper arm joints exposed. On a side note, I believe Tunshi is selling the bodies alone now, which is pretty cool if you’re into customizing. As for Fio, you get four pairs of hands, but these are mostly intended to interact with different accessories, rather than being gestural. I would have liked some relaxed hands and fists, but you’re already getting a lot in this box so I’m not going to complain.

I mean, just look at it all! It’s a mix of useful accessories and window dressing, but there are just so many great little plastic references to the game in here! And as near as I can tell, only the grenades are recycled from Marco’s stuff, and there you only got one, here you get four! Let’s run through the other goodies and we’ll start with the weapons!

First up, Fio has a revolver and this is such an amazing little sculpt, giving off a bit a Wembley Service Revolver vibe to me. It has a black finish with brown checkered grips and there’s even a loop in the handle for a lanyard to be tied to. Fio’s gun hands have a straight, but bendable trigger finger, so she can practice proper trigger discipline! I love that, because these hands can also double as pointing hands.

But, there are truck loads of Rebel Soldiers in Fio’s path, so she needs more firepower than a wheelgun. Thankfully, she comes with a submachine gun! This is cast in black plastic, feature some very nice detail right down to the cocking handle on the receiver. The magazine is removable and if you look close you can see the tiny exposed rounds at that top of the magazine are even painted gold.

As for melee weapons, Fio has a PR-24 style police baton, which can be converted into a combat axe and that is freaking badass! The axe head simply slots and tabs in for quick and easy conversion.

Fio also comes with the special weapon, Iron Lizard and the Power Up that can be collected in the game to grant you the weapon. The Power Up Box is a recolor of the one we saw with Marco with to letter I’s that stick to the box with magnets. The Iron Lizard itself is a fantastic representation of the goofy remote control bomb seen in the game and includes a blue thrust effect part that can plug into its tail pipe.

The rest of the weapons are window dressing for your display. You get a couple of large howitzer rounds, a cannon ball, and a crate with a top to store all those grenades in. But, how about a picnic?

…Fio’s got you covered. She comes with a yellow picnic blanket and a little ziploc baggie containing her lunch: a sandwich and a bunch of bananas. There’s also a red ruby in there! And here’s where that second head comes into play, as it’s intended to depict her eating her lunch. Yes, we got a sandwich-eating head! This one is mostly the same in terms of the hat and hair, bur her eyes are closed and her mouth is open and about to take a bite. Yup, it’s very specific, but I’m sure people will think up other uses for it. Like yawning because she’s tired from the fight… what were you thinking?

And our last stop is the stand. This is identical to the one we saw with Marco and includes a flexible support with a spring-loaded waist-grabber that supports the figure really well for action poses. The base has a sculpted wood paneled surface, which can actually slide out, maybe in case Tunshi decides to offer options on future releases.

You also get a clip so you can secure two display stands together and they look really good connected. There’s plenty of room between each figure and when I find the proper space, I’ll likely be connecting all the displays like this. I think it would have been cool to get an optional Metal Slug name plate, but you do get licensed branding on the bottom of the base.

What could possibly be the downside to such an awesome figure? Well, the price is steep! At $140, it’s probably not unfair to say that these are priced at more than double the high range for this scale. Indeed, these are without a doubt the most expensive figures I ever purchased in the 6-inch range. Granted, you’re getting a really nicely designed body, fully tailored clothing, and a crazy amount of accessories, so I can definitely see where the money is going. Toss in the fact that these are imports based on a videogame property that is still somewhat niche here in the States and I can’t complain. I couldn’t have even hoped to ever own premium figures like this based on Metal Slug back in the day, so I’m more than happy to invest in the line. I promise not to go so long before revisiting with this line, and next time I’ll jump back to look at the Rebel Soldier and after that it’ll be Eri’s turn!

Sep 9 2024

Transformers: Optimus Prime AMK Pro Series Model Kit by Yolopark

Back in April, I took my first foray into Yolopark’s line of Transformers Model Kit Action Figures with their G1 styled Megatron. I had no idea what to expect, but I was pretty blown away by him. Naturally, I jumped on the preorder for his rival Optimus Prime and I’ve been sitting on him for quite a while now. These are billed as model kits, probably for licensing purposes, and yes they do require assembly, but there’s no paint or glue or any real modeling skills needed. It’s basically just an action figure that you have to assemble, mostly at the articulation points. It’s pretty easy and fun to do and in the end you get a fully posable action figure to play around with! Let’s check out Optimus!

The packaging is very nicely done and gives off a classic G1 vibe. There’s a sleeve that features Sunbow styled character art with some comic panels in the background. The box itself has a lovely foil line drawing and advertises the Diecast goodness that lies within. I knew so little about these when I bought Megatron that I wasn’t even sure these were officially licensed products, but they are indeed! Everything is collector friendly, but you’ll have to take the figure apart again if you want to store him in the box.

Inside the parts come laid out in a tray in an intuitive manner to help get a feeling where all the pieces go. It may look intimidating, and I’ll admit that I did have to consult the instructions a few times, but I probably could have figured it out without them. And yes, there’s a second tray nested under it with a few more parts, some weapons, and the base. The parts are a mix of plastic and diecast metal and the distribution feels well thought out to create a pretty well balanced figure, and when he’s all done he measures just a bit under 8-inches tall. There is a light up feature in the head, and you’ll need to provide some button batteries to make it work. OK, Prime, pull yourself together and let’s go!

As with Megatron, I consider this design a more realistic take on the G1 animated style. You get similar proportions, but the detail and paint are dialed up to give him that hyper-realistic look. Since he doesn’t transform, the figure is able to achieve the pinnacle of Optimus’ robot design with the long legs, broad and slightly bowed chest, and compact abs. Although, I’d argue with how well Hasbro’s design team has been doing lately, they’ve been able to come close with their transformable figures. There are no wheels present, and whatever truck kibble is here is all intentional, like the gas cans on the legs, the grill in his abs, and the smokestacks on the shoulders. The cut panels look great and most of it is panel lined to bring out the detail. The colors all really pop thanks to a gorgeous metallic finish in the red and blue and a mix of vibrant silver and matte gray. You get the bright yellow panels on the pelvis too! There’s some excellent weathering here, and while Megatron’s gave him some wonderfully ugly character, I think Prime’s just adds a little depth and credibility to the finish without stepping on his noble charm.

I love this head sculpt and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Prime’s “helmet” is finished in a metallic blue with the headphone antenna extending past the horns on his “helmet” the grill on his forehead is painted in silver as is his mouth plate, which the bridge of his nose disappears into. The beautiful blue eyes have the same light up feature we saw with Megatron. The lights are activated by touching the magnet in his rifle to the top of his head with three modes to choose from: Lit, pulsating, and flashing. The lights are bright enough to be seen even with all the studio lights shining on him!

Just like Megatron, the articulation on this figure is off the charts and because most of the assembly revolves around those points, you get a good feel for it while you build him. Plus, if you accidently stress a joint too much, it’s probably just going to pull out rather than break, which makes the design even better. Probably the most impressive part are all of those shifting panels in the pelvis that allow not only wide stances, but Prime’s ability to go down on one knee and kick in or out really high. I also really like the side to side movement in the chest. The hands are fully articulated with the thumb on a ball joint, the index finger on two independent hinges and the rest of the fingers linked and sharing two hinges. It’s cool, but I can make the hands look a little odd when relaxed or in fists. I do wish we got a set of swap out fists for when you don’t need the articulation. The figure also feels fantastic in hand, with a nice heft while avoiding being so top heavy like the original MP Prime. *Optimus also has a flip up communicator in his arm, which I neglected to take a photo of. Ooops!*

The chest does open up to reveal a removable Matrix, and oh boy is the chest hard to get open. I think it’s because it uses two interlocking tabs to close up. I have had the best luck with inserting a pen or thin utensil in the gap underneath to pop it. Inside, you get a beautifully detailed chest cavity and a great looking Matrix accessory. I am a bit surprised there isn’t a light up feature in here, especially since Megatron got the extra lights in his Fusion Cannon, but for whatever reason, there are no electronics in the chest.

Naturally, Prime comes with his iconic rifle. This piece is all plastic with some nice silver brushed weathering and as mentioned it has a magnet in it to activate Prime’s eyes. There’s a long tab in the grip that slots into the palm of the hand and the fingers wrap around it similar to the Takara Masterpiece figures. It holds in place fairly well.

Prime also has an energy axe, which can be swapped out with either of his fists. This piece is cast in translucent orange plastic and attaches with a ball joint. It looks great and you can use it to recreate his fight with Megatron on Hoover Dam from More Than Meets The Eye.

Also included is Megatron in his gun form. I presume this is a nod to one of the episode of the cartoon where Prime used Megatron as a weapon to stop the Insecticons. If they don’t include the same accessory with Starscream, I’ll likely just wind up giving it to him when he arrives. Little gun Megatron looks fantastic and includes a removable stock. I was able to get Prime to hold him with the stock, but it works better without it.

And finally you get the same stand that we saw with Megatron, only this time with an Autobot insignia. I wasn’t crazy about this stand last time and I’m still not. The design of the hinges in the arm don’t seem all that well thought out, as you can’t angle it properly to support the figure when standing on the base. As a result the armature is useless unless you’re looking to suspend the figure in a leaping action pose. Plus, in the case of Prime, his backpack makes it tougher to get the claw in to grab him. It is, however, a nice sculpt and since Prime can support himself pretty well, I will likely just stand him on the base and keep the arm in the box.

Prime sure looks great displayed next to Megatron. Megs is just a hair taller and beefier, which is how I think he should be. Alas, the batteries are already dying in my Megatron and all the eye lights will do is flicker, so I’ll have to open up his head and replace them.

After how much i loved Megatron, I had high expectations coming into this figure and I’m happy to say I’m very satisfied. I may have had a little bit more wow factor out of Megatron, because there are so few figures that do his G1 design justice, but once Optimus was in hand, I had a big smile on my face and couldn’t put him down. I think it’s unfortunate that the term Model Kit probably scares some people away from these, because it brings up all sorts of visions of clipping sprues, fragile plastic, paint and glue. But in reality, these just feel like high end toy that you have to assemble. Once together it’s a fun and durable action figure that looks outstanding on the shelf, especially when he’s next to Megatron. I’m interested to see how far this line will go. Starscream is up next, and we’ll no doubt get the Seeker repaints, but I’d love to see some of the ’84 Autobot cars get this treatment too. As I’m writing this, Optimus is still available at the usual places and retails for about $60.

May 29 2024

Soul Calibur VI: Taki by Storm Collectibles

Storm Collectibles is without a doubt my premier go-to for video game figures these days. From Golden Axe to Mortal Kombat to King of Fighters, they are crushing it with their releases. And a short while ago they started digging into one of my favorite fighting franchises, Soul Calibur! I was first introduced to this series in the lobby of the local AMC movie theater, but I truly fell in love with it as a launch game for the SEGA Dreamcast. It was probably the first time I ever played a home port of a game that was actually significantly better than a current arcade release. The franchise has remained pretty consistent over the years with Soul Calibur VI hitting my PlayStation 4 in 2018. Wow, has it really been so long? Storm started this line with Taki and Mitsurugi, and today we’re checking out Taki!

Taki, the beautiful and heroic ninja warrior, has been with the series all the way back to Soul Edge, making her a good pick for one of the premier figures. Sure, I would have preferred Sophita, but that’s just because I really dig Sophitia. Taki comes in a collector friendly window box, which is pretty standard stuff for Storm’s game figures. The character art does obscure nearly a quarter of the window, but you can still get a pretty good look at what’s inside. It’s a little more compact than some of their other packages, and I appreciate that because I’ll likely be keeping this box!

Out of the box, Taki dons her modern look from the 6th installment, which definitely shares design beats from her earlier appearances, but also reflects the better detail in the costume that improvements in graphics allowed. So, let’s get the obvious out of the way first, Taki is sporting some fully erect nipples on her rather profound chest, and all I’ll say is that it was an interesting choice to go with. Yes, they are sort of there in the game’s character model, but I don’t remember it being quite to this extent. I’ll have to do some research this weekend and play some of the game to see. With that aside, she has her trademark skin tight crimson body suit with a brown leather half-jacket complete with boob window. She also sports some demon hunting armor bits on her shoulders, knees, lower legs, and left arm. On her back she carries her swords, Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru in their scabbards.

There is some absolutely gorgeous detail work in the armor pieces, as well as the ornamental work on the scabbards. The armor is mixed between silver and more tarnished finishes, all of which are dry brushed to give them some weathering. I really love the demon head shoulder pieces, as well as the one that clasps her jacket together under her neck. The jacket is a rich chocolate brown with some soft stitching in the sculpt, you also get some braided detail in the straps for her sandals. Other wonderful little touches include the gold band around her left bicep and the little studded bangles around her right wrist.

There are two heads included, one with a neutral expression and one with a shouty expression. Both of these are well done with immaculate paint for the eyes and lips. The hair is a separate sculpt and it falls beautifully down each side of her face, with some strands over her forehead and eyes. The back is tied into a ponytail, jutting out rather high off the back of her head, and secured with an adorable little devil horns fixture.

You also get the demon mask, which is cast in soft plastic and painted with a bit of silver dry brushing to show wear. This piece fits over the lower half of the face and is held on with friction. It works OK, but I find that it does slip a bit now and then. Because the mouth area is open you can still get the benefits of using it with either head and see the difference in the mouth. I haven’t decided whether I’m going to display her with or without the mask yet.

As for posability, well Storm delivers that in spades. Their bodies continue to feature one of my favorite systems of articulation in this scale. The jointing works smoothly and the double joints in the shoulders and elbows offer a great range of motion, as do the ball joints in the waist and under the chest. The ball joints in the ankles help to keep the feet flat on the ground, or you can use the articulated toe hinges for a more dynamic footing. The balance is definitely there too, as I had little trouble keeping Taki upright in any number of poses. She’s just an absolute pleasure to play aroune with.

Of course, Storm is big on hands. Lots and lots of hands! There are six pairs here total, which include fists, relaxed hands, gripping hands, and three different types of gesture hands. Getting some of these on for the first time can be a little fiddly as the wrist peg is super small, but ultimately it works fine. The bangles on her right wrist are separate pieces, so you do have to be careful not to lose them when changing that hand.

Finally, Taki comes with her two swords, Rekki-Maru and Mekki-Maru, which we’ve seen fit easily into the scabbards on her back and work with the two gripping hands. The differences in the two weapons is pretty subtle, but they have great paintwork and sculpts on the hilts and the short blades are painted silver.

As one of Storm’s debut Soul Calibur figures, Taki really delivers on the whole package. You get a fantastic sculpt, great paintwork, and superb articulation. Even nipples! These figures feel so great in hand with smooth joints and that are easy to work with and make for a fun figure that’s hard to put down. She retails at $100 and is still available at the time I’m posting this review. I believe she’s still a Big Bad Toystore Exclusive in the US, as BBTS continues to be the only licensed distributor for their figures in America. We’ve yet to see any forthcoming releases, but I’m looking forward to digging into Mitsurugi in the next week or so. Hopefully Storm will be going deep on this line!

Feb 12 2024

The Sheriff (Bravestarr) by Dasin Toys

“One day, a lawman appeared. With powers of hawk, wolf, puma and bear. Protector of peace, mystic man from afar. Champion of justice, Marshall Bravestarr!” As if to carry the baton for the aging Masters of the Universe line, Mattel introduced their new toyline, Bravestarr, to the scene in 1986. And just like MOTU, it was accompanied by a Filmation cartoon to help sell those toys the following year. The Native American Space Marshall and his equine companion, 30-30, helped protect the good citizens of the planet New Texas and its rich deposits of Kerium Crystals, which had amazing healing powers. Both the toys and cartoon were something of a short-lived endeavor, but still fondly remembered by many 80’s kids. Despite so many toy revivals from the time, Mattel hasn’t resurrected the battle between Bravestarr and Tex Hex, so some industrious (and perhaps unscrupulous) third-party companies have decided to do it themselves, namely Ramen Toys and Dasin Toys. I have a little bit of nostalgia for the cartoon and toys, but maybe not enough to go for Ramen’s $90-ish figure, so I decided to go with Dasin’s $40-ish.

The figure has been officially solicited as The Sheriff, but what’s the point of pussy footing around when you’re literally branding the box with Bravestarr? Forget about the powers of Hawk, Wolf, Puma, and Bear… Damsin Toys had better hope that Bravestarr doesn’t call upon the power of copyright attorneys, because this is about as ballsy as intellectual theft gets. There’s some fine print on the bottom panel of the box, but other than that there’s just the window to let the contents do the talking. And the minimalist approach certainly works, because I was impressed before I even opened the box. As for scale, he’s pretty damn close to 6-inch scale, but he’s slightly smaller when compared to Marvel Legends and a lot smaller than McFarlane’s DC Multiverse.

Bravestarr comes out of the box sans hat and looking like he just jumped out of one of Filmation’s animation cells. There was a fair amount of differences between Mattel’s original figure and the animated version, and Damsin has clearly chosen to embrace the animated look over the vintage figure design. And I’m happy they did, as it isn’t just updating an old figure, but rather giving us something we haven’t had before. The coloring here is really nice, although the differences between the orange and the yellow can be subtle in most lighting. I like the deep chocolate brown they used for the boots and the red and blue on the chest and back really make the figure pop like the cartoon. The silver hits on the badge, belt buckle and gauntlet accents are sharp and snappy. Comparing this to the original animated character model sheet shows that these guys did their homework. But besides getting the details right, I cannot overstate how impressive the quality on this figure turned out. The colors are vibrant and the paint is super clean. The plastic feels great in the hand and the joints are all easy to work with right out of the box. Every bit of this toy feels like a professional and polished product, and that was quite a nice surprise considering this is my first experience with the company, and I had no idea what to expect.

For the portrait, you get five different heads and two different hair pieces, both featuring his stylish ponytail. One hairpiece is full and intended for display without the hat, while the other plugs into the hat to complete the head when he’s wearing it. It’s a clever system that’s easy to swap out and by making the hair and hat separate, it allows you to display him holding the hat if you want. The expressions on the heads include neutral, neutral with side eye, smirk, open mouth smile, and full on battle yell. Neutral and smirk are my favorites, while the shouty face feels out of character for The Marshall. I get a bit more of an anime vibe to the portraits, so I don’t feel they are a very close match for the cartoon, but from a technical standpoint they still look good. Filmation style portraits all have similar characteristics and I feel like Mattel and The Four Horsemen are among the few who have been able to get them right.

The hat scales really well for being a separate piece and sits perfectly on the figure. I think it’s worth paying a bit of caution toward the tiny antenna that juts up from the side. I will say that at one point I accidently bent it in my hand and was sure it was going to snap off, but it just bent and returned to normal without even leaving a stress mark. Still, I wouldn’t test that too much.

The articulation features ball joints and rotating hinges in the shoulders and hips, double hinges in the elbows and knees, rotating hinges and pegs for the wrists, swivels in the thighs and biceps, rotating hinges in the ankles, hinges and lateral rockers in the feet, ball joint in the neck, and ball joints in the waist and under the chest. All the joints on this figure are smooth as butter and he is crazy fun to pose and play with. The tolerances are solid and the shoulder joints are designed to pop out if overstressed, rather than break. But, I will throw out a few nitpicks. The elbow bends are impeded by the muscle sculpt, so about 90-degrees is as good as you get. Also, the design of the shoulder hinges do show more gap than I’m used to seeing. Neither are a big deal to me, but still worthy of note. You do get a total of five pairs of hands which include sets of fists, OK gestures, grippy hands, trigger hands, and relaxed hands. All of these are easy to swap and come on a clear plastic sprue.

Bravestarr comes with two weapons: His pistol and some kind of space bazooka. The bazooka has a cool pearlescent aqua-green finish and features minimalist detail to the sculpt, which I suppose is in keeping with the animated look. I don’t remember this weapon from the cartoon, but it’s pretty cool and Bravestarr can wield it with one hand or two. With that having been said, I would have much rather they included an updated sculpt of the scoped rifle that came with the original figure as I find that one to be pretty iconic. I doubt this one will get much display time.

The pistol, aka The Neutra-Laser, on the other hand is awesome and to me this is one of the more iconic cartoon weapons of the 80s. The original toyline focused quite a bit on this pistol with special figures designed to use battery backpacks and infrared beams to shoot each other and they released a full size Neutra-Laser toy that could also be used to shoot down figures, so I think they knew they had something special with this design. This accessory is a nicely detailed sculpt with some added paint hits and even some tiny western-style scroll work patterns that you sometimes see on vintage lever actions. They really put some love into this little gun and it looks so iconic in the figure’s hand!

And even with all of those goodies, in the box you also get a stand, which can double as storage to keep your extra pieces. The black storage box is even branded with the Bravestarr logo! There’s a very Figma-style hinged arm that pegs into the top of the base and can grab the figure around the waist to help with action poses or just to keep him standing. And if you don’t want the added elevation of the storage box, you can just use the top as a stand all by itself. Yeah, the ingenuity of the design on this stand really blows me away and it’s something that I’d love to see more toy lines embrace.

Damsin Toys did an amazing job on this figure and I really can’t stress what a polished and high quality toy this is. I’ve had Bravestarr on my desk ever since I got him and I find myself constantly picking him up and playing around with him. Everything in this box is excellent right down to the innovative storage stand and I couldn’t be happier with this purchase. Even better, the going price seems to be around $42-45, which feels like a great value for such a well produced figure. The only downside here is the uncertainty as to whether we will see any more figures in this line. Ramen Toys is already showing off a prototype for their 30-30 and I would really like to see Damsin at least give us Bravestarr’s partner. But I’d certainly be down for Tex Hex and Judge McBride! Both Damsin and Ramen Toys figures seem to be getting a lot of buzz in the collector community, and while I don’t expect Mattel to revisit this line, maybe if these sell well, it will inspire another company to work out a deal with Mattel to use the license.

Feb 5 2024

Gatchaman: Ken the Eagle by Storm Collectibles

I probably spent my entire childhood not knowing what the hell Gatchaman was, but it’s hard to overestimate just how freaking cool the Battle of the Planets cartoon was to little 9yo me. Like Robotech, BotP was a reworked anime with lots of changes for the US market, partly to make it more kid friendly and partly to make it more appealing to Western sensibilities. From its cool spaceships to its blatant R2-D2 ripoff narrator, 7-Zark-7, this shit was practically custom made for me. Not to mention the first episode had our superhero-like team fighting a giant robot monster. It was great! Naturally, I really wanted toys from the show when I was a kid, but it wasn’t to be. The best I got was a lunchbox, and boy do I wish I still had that! In the 40 years or so since, we’ve had some figures of varying quality produced, mostly in the early 2000’s, and now Storm Collectibles is testing the waters with a release of Ken the Eagle. Of course, I knew him as Mark, the leader of G-Force!

Like Storm’s other figure series, Ken is 1:12 scale and comes in a big window box. Storm’s presentation tends to range from decent to utilitarian, but they really upped their game here. The colors are so vibrant and the character art is fantastic. The window shows off the contents very well and the back panel has some gorgeous shots of the figure in action. As imports, most of Storm’s figure boxes are bilingual, but this one emphasizes the Japanese over the English quite a bit.

You get a total of three wing-capes for the figure, and Ken comes out of the box wearing the closed configuration. Each of the Gatchaman Team wore a different bird-themed suit, hence his moniker, Ken the Eagle. Similar to many plastic capes in this scale, the wing-capes are cast in softer plastic and simply hang off the figure with a neck hole. The closed wing piece looks great for displaying the figure in a neutral stance, but it also renders the arm articulation useless and covers up a lot of the figure’s body. If they ever get around to doing the whole team, I could see myself displaying them like this in the interest of shelf-space economy, but with just Ken so far, I won’t be using this wing configuration all that much. Still, it’s pretty damn iconic looking and still manages to show off the beautiful colors of the costume. The whites are super white, and the added blue, red, and yellow make for an electrifying deco.

You get two heads, both of which are helmeted with removable visors. The visor reflects and distorts quite a bit, so it’s really hard for me to capture the detail of the face through it in most of these pictures. Removing the visor is easy as it just tabs in securely between the helmet and the head sculpt. Both head sculpts look great, but the differences are kind of negligible when the visor is on. The first has a somewhat determined expression, while the second has him gritting his teeth like he means business. The paintwork on the helmet is pretty crisp and the only thing to watch out for here would be the antenna jutting out the top of the back. It doesn’t seem that fragile, but I’m not sure it would survive a shelf dive.

The second cape has the wings spread and billowed out and here’s where you really get to see the underlying figure. I expected the body to be a generic buck, but you do get sculpted lines at the tops of the boots and the ends of the gauntlets. The belt is a separate piece with a holster for his boomerang on his right hip, a sculpted G-for-Gatchaman belt buckle, and a little pouch on his left hip. His left wrist is fitted with his communicator band, and he has the Gatchaman logo printed on his chest. I really can’t say enough about how great the coloring on this figure turned out. In all the memories I have of watching Battle of the Planets, I recall the show being pretty washed out, so this figure really pops for me like I’m seeing the character for the first time in high-definition.

The third wing configuration is full spread with the edges angling upward and I think this is the one best used for flight and gliding poses. I’m pretty impressed at how these heavier and wider capes hang on the figure with just the neck hole. They can even be angled pretty well for different display options.

Articulation here sticks closely to what Storm has been offering in this scale across their other lines. I’ve reviewed enough of Storm’s figures that I’m not going to run through all the articulation here, but I’ll say that I continue to really love their system of jointing as it makes for a great compromise between aesthetic and poseability. Now, with that having been said, I would have liked to see a little better range of motion in the elbows and knees, as the sculpt prevents them from bending as tight as I would like, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker for me.

You get a heaping helping of hands, six pairs in total. These include fists, relaxed, grasping, loose grasping, pointing, and a set for holding his boomerang.

The boomerang comes in two styles: One closed and one open. The closed one fits into the holster on his hip, and both can be held securely in the hands dedicated for it.

I have been super excited for this guy since the pre-order dropped and now that he’s in hand, I have to say he does not disappoint. The figure by itself is iconic enough to me as a stand alone piece, but I think Storm would be crazy not to do more of the team. They have showed off Jun the Swan (aka Princess) but no pre-order yet and it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything new on that front. Storm tends to be a little erratic when it comes to fleshing these lines out. For example Golden Axe has been going full guns, but we’ve been teased at more Streets of Rage for ages now. It seems like Joe the Condor could be an easy release with a lot of parts borrowed from Ken. I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, Ken is still available at most retailers that sell this sort of stuff and retailed for $119.

Jan 10 2024

Elf Archer (White Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

Regular visitors will probably get tired of hearing this, but 2024 is going to be a year for unfinished business on FFZ. I’m looking to catch up on my backlog, especially areas that were neglected last year. And boy do I have a backlog of figures from TBLeague! I only reviewed one TBLeague figure last year and that was way back in February when I checked out their Ramses The Great. I’ve been really obsessed with their Egyptian themed figures, but today I’m going to venture back into their fantasy based offerings with the Elf Archer!

As always, these figures come in a shoebox style package with a trifold cover that is secured to the sides by magnets. The art is very minimalist, showing just her crown on the front and arrows on the side panels. It’s very pleasing to the eye and mysterious, not to mention a bold move to not picture the figure on the front. The figure and accessories inside are nestled in black foam and when you open the box you are immediately enveloped in a soothing aroma of tea. No, seriously! This figure was available in two versions, white and black, which only refers to the coloring of the outfit. Many times TBLeague will use these variants to change up the accessories, head sculpt, or hair color, but that isn’t the case here. The Elf Archer requires quite a bit of set up to get her kitted out, including attaching her plastic armor pieces, so let’s get her ready and have a look!

This is definitely one of the most complex outfits I’ve seen from TBLeague in a while. It’s also the one of the more modest outfits, as TBLeague often likes to show off lots of synthetic skin on these seamless bodies. In this case, she’s nearly covered from head to toe, so you have to settle for a flash of thigh under all those layers. The costume is extremely regal and consists of a white, long sleeve top with a combination bodice on top and tailcoat below the waist. I may not know what to call it, but it looks great! The outer garment has some beautiful gold leaf patterns and a wire running through the edges to allow for some dynamic posing. There’s a bit of green cloth trim around her waist, and under that she has a short green skirt with a pointy-leaf motif. The plastic armor pieces include high-heeled armored boots, with lacy leggings peeking out the tops, armored bracers on her forearms, elbow pieces, and shoulder pieces. There’s a green leather-like shoulder strap and a soft green cloth mantle surrounding her neck. The tailoring here is immaculate and everything fits the figure beautifully. It certainly gives her a majestic look, and despite all the layers nothing really gets in the way. I do, however, have two minor issues with it. The gem under her chest tends to get askew pretty easy, as you’ll see in some of the pictures where I neglected to straighten it. Second, there is some color transfer from the green shoulder strap to the white fabric under her arm. Granted, I’ve had this figure on display for about a year now and that sort of thing is inevitable. It might be a reason to consider favoring the black version of the costume, but I like the coloring on this one a lot better, so I’m happy to live with it.

The portrait is quite nice, with a some absolutely wonderful paint. Her eyes are shiny and reflective, and her lips are painted with a high gloss to give them a moist sheen. You also get some excellent rosy pigmentation in her cheeks. Her pointed ears are directed more outwards than upwards, which is rather evocative to an anime-style elf. The blonde hair is quite voluminous and can be a bit of a chore to tame. It’s rooted to allow it to part on each side of her face and in front of her ears while the rest cascades down her back and includes two sets of braids. Like the outfit, there is some seriously cool complexity in this coif. I’m sure a little styling gel would help, but I’m not going to start styling dolly hair. Gotta draw that line somewhere! Her outfit includes a soft plastic crown that fits around her head. It has a nature motif that’s evocative of antlers and tree branches. She also has a rather large pendant that hangs around her neck.

As always, the Phicen seamless body is built on a steel skeleton with some very realistic articulation hidden inside. There is virtually no restriction from the costume itself, making her lots of fun to play with and that’s certainly not always the case with some other companies’ sixth-scale offerings. She’s also an incredibly well balanced figure and I was impressed at how easily it was to get her to stand on those high-heeled boots without any assisted support. She comes with three sets of hands, which include relaxed, gesturing, and accessory gripping and these are all easy to swap out thanks to the steel ball joints in the skeleton’s wrists.

Elf Archer also includes an optional hood, which snaps onto the green mantle, includes adorable little slits for her ears to pass through, and two long flaps that hang down her back. As much as i dig the crown, this hood is going to be my preferred look for her on the shelf, as I think it suits her role as an archer and gives her a bit of a Robin Hood vibe. It’s kind of a shame to cover up those braids, but at the same time, the hood helps keep the rest of that hair in check.

Her accessories include a bow, a quiver, and five arrows. The quiver is plastic and hooks onto the shoulder strap behind her back and can hold the arrows by simply sliding them in there. The recurve bow has a sculpted wrapped grip in the center and an actual string. She can hold it with either her left or right hand, depending on which shoulder you have the quiver slung over.

The arrows are all identical with some pretty vicious looking heads and sculpted plastic fletching on the backs. The tips have some nice gradient paint going from silver to black and the fletching is painted green with a little wash to bring out the detail. Her gesturing hands can do a pretty good job of knocking the arrow by placing the shaft between her fingers, and even her grippy hand has a gap between the fingers to keep the arrow in place. Between the hand design and the articulation, the only thing that keeps her from doing a full draw is the tension on the string, which I don’t want to pull too far as it may snap.

I picked up the Elf Archer for $189 and I’m certainly satisfied with that, especially considering how hard it is to find any Sixth-Scale figures under two hundred these days. The only real downside with this figure is the lack of stand. TBLeague is wildly inconsistent on this point, including lavish diorama bases with some figures while completely ignoring others. Still, as the price of these continue to creep up to that $200 mark, I think it’s about time they start throwing in a generic figure stand as the absolute minimum. I also would have liked to get some kind of blade with her, either a dagger or a short sword. My guess is that a lot of the cost for extras went into the complexity of her outfit and all those extra armor bits, and that’s cool. As she stands, she’s quite an exquisite figure and one that I’m happy to have in my collection. She’s a huge step up from the last fantasy-themed TBLeague figure I looked at. This white version seemed to perform better at retail, as she is sold out at all the regular places I could think to look, but the black version is still available at many of those.

Jan 3 2024

Darkstalkers: Morrigan Aensland Bishoujo Statue by Kotobukiya

Before any of you Koto fans get your hopes up, I’m not really starting to collect Bishoujos again. No, seriously. I’m not! It just so happened that a few of these went up for deep discount during the Holiday Sales and I got weak. That’s why I picked up Mai from King of Fighters and that’s why we’re here today with a certain busty succubus from another fighting game franchise. Truth be told, there isn’t enough Darkstalkers merch out there and I’m pretty much compelled to buy anything Morrigan related that isn’t in the $1000+ range. Now if that happens to go 50% off, I’d be in real trouble. It’s actually been almost ten years since Morrigan last graced FFZ, and it’s long past time I remedy that!

Koto always does a nice job with these boxes, serving up some wonderful character art and providing ample windows on the front, top, and side panel to let the light in and see what you’re getting. They’ve also started making the boxes a bit more durable, which is nice as I do tend to keep these. The statue comes wrapped in a lot of plastic, but if you unwrap it and put her back in the box, she displays really well in it. Morrigan is all assembled and ready to go, but she does have some rather fragile points and a modicum of care should be spent unwrapping these, as I could easily see them snapping.

And oh boy does she look enticing! Clad in her classic trademark outfit, Morrigan dons a matte black one-piece with ruffled white top and her ample bosom nearly spilling out. Hey, you can’t be a modest succubus, it just doesn’t work! Below that, she has mauve tights (and I do mean tight!) with printed bats, and black high-heeled boots, Her arms are adorned with long orange sleeves that end in loop between her fingers. Meanwhile her batwings jut from her back, flanking her on either side. All of the costume is executed beautifully, but I really have to give extra props to the texture work on the outside of the wings. It’s not something I expected to see, as a smooth surface would have been more evocative of the animated aesthetic, but I really dig it and I’m glad that Koto decided to go that route.

The pose is quite iconic and designed to showcase all of Morrigan’s best assets. She is in mid stride with her right foot out in front of her left, while bent forward to simultaneously show off a little succubus T&A. And not to get too inappropriate about it, but man the way the one piece practically disappears between those cheeks is some A-Level sculpting! I will confess, I would have liked to see her posed in one of her victory stances, like levitating with her legs crossed, but this works fine. And as always, the coloring on these statues is just lovely. The range of black and purple and blue-green makes this statue pop, and her skin tone is warm and even with some shading to catch the eye.

The head sculpt is playful and a lot more in character than the last Morrigan statue I reviewed. Here she looks like she’s jumped right out of the game. The sculpting on her mouth is absolutely fantastic with a hint of teeth showing up top and her tiny pointed tongue slipping out. The hair sculpt is also outrageously good as the strands of super vibrantly colored blue-green hair whip all around her head. The eye printing is colorful and precise, and her head wings are as adorable as ever with some gorgeous deep purple paint on the membrane. This portrait is a perfect victory!

You never know what kind of base you’re going to get with these figures. Sometimes just plain disks and sometimes a more environmental affair, like this one here. It’s a stony floor with some excellent paintwork creating a vibrant glow where Morrigan’s feet touch the ground and reverting to a grayish-blue stone color around the edges. I do dig it a lot!

Go back through my old Koto Bishoujo reviews and you can see that I almost always ended them by calling these the best value in statue collecting. Well, those days are done and these now sell for about twice what they did back then. Case in point, Morrigan here retailed at $129 and while the quality is definitely there, it’s just beyond reach of what I’m comfortable paying for these. I picked up Morrigan on sale for $79, which was right about the price of these figures when I decided to start tapering off. I’m happy to have her in my collection and she will get a prime display spot in my Game Room. And I’ll keep an eye out for Lilith to see if she happens to dip in price at some point too, otherwise I’ll be content to own the Pop-Up Parade figures of this pair when they eventually ship next year.

May 8 2023

Popup Parade (Street Fighter) Chun-Li and Cammy by Max Factory

It’s been a while since I hung up my hat on collecting prize figures. I don’t really watch a lot of anime anymore and I had to start trimming out some areas to keep my collection from getting even more out of hand. With that having been said, the not-so-local comic shop did a “buy one and get one at half-off” deal on their Pop-Up Parade figures, and much to my surprise it included some new releases, so I fell off the wagon. Today I’m going to check out a couple of ladies from Street Fighter, Chun-Li and Cammy.

I think Popup Parade is meant to bridge the gap between prize figures and scaled figures, at least in terms of quality. But despite the high pedigree of Max Factory, to me these will always just be middle of the road prize figures. I owned Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo versions of both Cammy and Chun-Li, but the last time I moved, I was keen on culling a lot of my collection and I wound up selling off my entire Koto Street Fighter Collection. I can’t say as I regret it, as I got decent money for them, but when I saw these I decided I wanted some of these gals on a shelf in my Game Cave again, so here we are! The figures are roughly 7-inch scale and come in plastic packaging that really lets the figures do all the talking. There’s absolutely no character art anywhere to be found and even the character names are pretty low key. The figures display really well in their packages, although Cammy comes with her braids detached. Let’s start with her!

Sure, I love playing Cammy in the Street Fighter series, but she’s also star of one of my all-time favorite Dreamcast games, Cannon Spike, so not having her represented in my collection was criminal. The pose they chose for her here is pretty subdued, but I think it captures some of her best um, assets. The statue is best displayed with her body facing about two o’clock, her head partially turned and gazing over her right shoulder, and those ass cheeks on full display. It’s good to see her in her OG Street Fighter II costume, sans camo on the legs and with the additional tactical web gear and a leg pouch.

The colors on this piece look great, with bright matte green for her one-piece, glossy red for her gauntlets and matte black for her kicks and gear. You can even see a bit of her red socks peeping out the tops of her boots and a touch of silver paint on the buckle for her cross-strap. The skin tone is where a lot of these prize figures tend to falter, with it being waxy, but it’s nice and smooth here and not bad at all. The base is a simple black disk, which the foot pegs insert into.

The portrait is excellent, looking like it’s been grabbed straight from a character select screen. The eyes are printed perfectly and the I particularly love the way they blended the hair sculpt with the rest of the head. She has a scar on her left cheek and her long braids snake down past each of her shoulders. Her beret is a separate sculpt and worn on top of the head.

I love pretty much everything here. The sculpt is solid and the colors are beautiful. The paint lines could have been a little sharper, especially around the edges of the fingerless gloves, but overall I’m pretty happy with the way this one came out. Let’s move on to Chun-Li!

Chun-Li has a much more kinetic pose with her left leg drawn up and her hands at the ready, she’s definitely preparing to go a round or two. This figure sports a far more complex sculpt than Cammy, but that’s down to the costume design. There’s just a lot more going on here, which gave the sculptors a lot more to work with, and I think they did a beautiful job! I particularly love the way the tail end of her qipao kicks up in the wind. Some of the fringe on her dress is sculpted and while the sculpt on her boots is a little soft, it’s still got a lot of detail. You also get some nice muscle work, particularly in her famous thighs. I also really dig the sculpt on her poufed out shoulders.

Once again, the coloring here his superb. The electric blue of her qipao contrasts nicely with the gold leaf paint on the trim. There’s some shading in her stockings and some sharp silver paint on her spiked wrist cuffs. As for the quality, most of the paint here is sharp and clean, so I’ve got no complaints.

As with Cammy, the portrait here is very well done, and quite complex when you include the hair and the hair ties. The eyes are printed perfectly and she has an ever so slight smirk to her simple line of a mouth. She even has a pair of pearl earrings.

Chun-Li is easily the more interesting figure to look at, just because there’s more to take in, and as such it feels like maybe you’re getting a little more bang for your buck here. A such, I think she edges out Cammy as my favorite of the two, which surprised even me, because I tend to like Cammy more overall.

The figures retail at about $35, which puts them at the upper range of most prize figures. The quality is certainly there, so long as you aren’t expecting anything approaching a proper scaled figure. However, I think there are definitely better values out there when it comes to these types of figures, and I’d argue that companies like Banpresto are delivering a bit more for the money. I’m reminded of some of their recent One Piece figures that are slightly bigger have possibly more complex sculpts, and retail for about $10 less. Still, if you want a nice version of Cammy or Chun-Li for your shelf, these will certainly fit the bill nicely.

Jun 17 2022

Vampire Slayer (Red Version) Sixth-Scale Figure by Phicen/TBLeague

As I mentioned last week, I am really far behind on my TBLeague figure reviews, and I’m going to try to work them into the regular rotation every couple of weeks so I can get through the backlog. Today, I’m checking out a fairly recent release, The Vampire Slayer! This vamp-vexing femme fatale is another one of TBL’s original concept figure, so there’s no licensed property here to be familiar with. And I’ll say right out of the gate, I think they made some strange choices when putting this figure together. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves… to the packaged shot!

The artwork on the front panel here is absolutely killer. It would probably be enough to make me buy this figure even without seeing what’s inside. And I kind of wish I could stand behind that excuse. As usual, the figure comes in a high quality shoebox-type package with a tri-fold top that secures on the sides via magnets. Inside, the head comes detached and wrapped in plastic, with everything nestled in in a cozy foam bed, and the whole shebang smells like tea when you open it! It always makes me want to mix up some Lipton’s iced tea! Included in the outer mailer box, but separate from the actual figure box, is a styrofoam brick that houses a diorama-style figure stand. Let’s get her all set up and check her out!

OK, I am so conflicted on this figure that I don’t even know where to begin. She looks cool enough, but nothing about her invokes the idea of being a Vampire Slayer. Unlike the Saintess Knight that we looked at last time, this figure makes good use of a costume designed to show off some of that seamless body. She dons a plastic one-piece black cuirass with some lovely gold trim, a jewel betwixt her ample bosoms, and a skull warning you off of her groinular region. She has a pair of fishnet stockings, with plastic bands about thigh high, and these have some very cool skull motifs facing outward, where they also secure her red leather, high heel boots. Capping this all off is a red leather duster, which is actually in two pieces. There’s a half-jacket, which ends just below her chest, and the rest hooks on to cascade down the back of her legs to the ground. The jacket has a gold design on the back, and a very high collar with some more gold decorations. In theory, I like everything here well enough, but the figure is susceptible to a lot of wardrobe malfunctions.

For starters, the bottom half of the jacket is attached by placing two metal hooks through two very tiny stitches on the back of the jacket. It’s pretty easy to get it attached, but it does not want to stay put. Posing the figure, or just handling her, will usually cause the hooks to come out. You could display her without it for a bit of a cheeky look, but to keep it on her, I’m going to have to try crimping the hooks with a pair of pliers. There are other little issues with the costume as well, like the way the thigh rings tend to slip down past the tops of the stockings. And if you put her in any action poses, the boot tops don’t like to cooperate with leg bends, and wind up looking all messed up. Finally, the plastic fixtures on the front of her boots do not sit flush with her lower legs, but rather stick out a bit.

The head sculpt is nice. Sure, it’s the usual blank expression that we get with these figures, but the paint is absolutely fantastic. The eyes have a little spark of life to them and the lips are painted impeccably. She’s got short blonde hair, which can be a little difficult to keep under control, so I may wind up taking a spritz of hair spray to her. The plastic collar does tend to ride up a lot, and doesn’t sit flush on her skin. Also, that jacket’s high collar must really wreak havoc on her peripheral vision. If vamps come up from the side, she’s probably going to be surprised!

The Vamp Slayer comes with only two accessories, and neither seem like they would be very useful for actually slaying vamps. The first is this little curved dagger that comes in a plastic sheath. It’s a fantastic little accessory, but there’s nowhere I can find to attach the sheath, so she can’t really wear it, unless you rig something up like a belt.

Her main weapon is like a medieval morning star, with the spikes running all the way down to the handle. Like the dagger, I think this weapon looks great, but it doesn’t seem like something a Vampire Slayer should be carrying around. Where are the stakes? The holy water? A crossbow? Even a sword with a crucifix as a hilt? I haven’t seen either of these weapons packed in with previous TBL releases, but it sure feels like something they had lying around and decided to toss into the box when designing this figure.

While the accessories are a bit light, TBL did not skimp on the base. It’s a large rock formation overhanging a lake or river, all presented on a pedestal with a golden decorative ring around it. One of my frequent gripes about TBL’s diorama bases is that they often have no way of securing the figure to them, but they’ve been rectifying that lately by including a bendable post that screws into the base and grabs the figure around the waist. But once again, nothing about this base invokes the whole Vampire Slayer vibe, and I’m tempted to give it to one of my TBL figures that didn’t come with one. Still, it is very nice!

It’s hard to know exactly why I pre-ordered this figure. It’s nice and all, but everything about the design feels half-baked. It’s like they designed her, didn’t know what to call her, so just went with Vampire Slayer, tossed in some unrelated weapons, and kicked her out the door. My guess is that she went up for pre-order at a time when I was flush with cash, and more than a little inebriated, because it’s rare for me to buy a higher end figure that I’m not absolutely in love with. And it’s safe to say I was never in love with this one. I may consider selling her off, but more likely, she’ll go back in the box to be reassessed later, while her base and weapons get parted off to one of my other figures. This figure was also released in a white version, which gave her a white cuirass, black coat and boots, and a brunette head sculpt. Overall, I dig this one more, but that’s still not saying all that much.