Category Archives: Comics

October 28, 2025

NECA TMNT Adventures Wingnut and Screwloose

By Joe
More characters for your Mighty Mutanimals display have arrived courtesy of NECA Toys.

NECA started down the Archie-verse of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2022 with the Mighty Mutanimals-adjacent Slash. For most, The Mighty Mutanimals team of heroes consists of Man-Ray, Jagwar, Leatherhead, Dreadmon, Mondo Gecko, Wingnut, and Screwloose. For those folks, NECA began that team in 2023 releasing the trio of Man-Ray, Jagwar, and Dreadmon all within about a month of each other. Following that, the team has been slow to complete as 2024 saw only the release of Mondo Gecko and 2025 will only be adding the subject of today’s post, Wingnut and Screwloose.

Wingnut has some decent size to him. As for Screwloose, well he’s a little guy.

Wingnut had an inglorious debut in the companion comic to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal. At least, it feels like an inglorious debut, but how many kids bought a box of cereal and saw him vs how many may have picked up the Playmates toy or an issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures? I’m willing to bet Ralston-Purina sold a whole bunch of cereal boxes that year. Wingnut was a villain there and he’d be a villain (along with Screwloose) in the cartoon series, but in the Archie books he and Screwloose are heroes with an obvious Batman and Robin motif. They’re aliens and hail from a world that Krang has destroyed making them both the last of their kind. Their creation is credited to Ryan Brown, and like a lot of the Archie versions of toyline characters, their appearance here is stylistically pretty different from other sources even if the same, general, vibe remains the same.

I never thought I’d have this many versions of this duo.

NECA’s version of Wingnut and Screwloose comes courtesy of sculptors Tomasz Rozejowski and Brodie Perkins. Paint, as always, is credited to the duo of Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo and the box art is by TMNT veteran artist Ken Mitchroney. The duo has that Batman and Robin vibe most are looking for, but the dominant color with Wingnut is purple. Most of his body is a dark purple while his gloves, boots, and thigh straps are a lighter, more red, purple. He has some gray armor on his chest and shoulders and the ever-present Not Batman logo in yellow on the chest. The combo of yellow and purple makes me think of ’66 Batgirl more than Batman. He has a big, yellow, utility, belt and his mechanical wings. Unlike every other Wingnut figure I own or have owned, there are no tiny, organic, wings present in the mechanical ones. I don’t know if he lacked them or if they’re inside these ones. These wings do give him even more of a Batman silhouette because of the shape.

That is some nose you’ve got there, Wingnut.

The sculpt and the paint is the star of the show here. Wingnut has a wild expression on his face with his saliva-coated tongue flailing about. There’s some black on the top of his head which plays off of the deep purple and the pink of his inner ears very well. The sculpt is very much reminiscent of an actual bat, but there’s a slight softening to it via the more cartoonish approach of the design vs what Playmates did with the vintage figure. He does retain that…unfortunate…nose shape and it’s big, veiny, and gross. There’s some nice details sculpted and painted into the shoulder pauldrons as well as the wings. There’s the usual abundance of black linework that helps make the figure “pop” with nary a touch of paint slop.

“I got a guitar!” “I got a gun!” “I got a rock…”

The accessory load-out for Wingnut is a bit on the minimal side, especially if you’re used to this character coming with a bunch of Batman-like gadgets. There is no alternate portrait, but we do get three sets of hands: fists, gripping, and open. There’s also an extra right hand with a much wider grip so he can hold his lone weapon: a rock. It is a pretty big rock. I’m sure it would hurt, especially if thrown from above. Wingnut’s number one accessory though is Screwloose. Sculpt and paint-wise, Screwloose is every bit as good as Wingnut just much smaller. He stands a little over 3″ which feels about right and has a maroon and green color scheme with his usual black mask. He’s minimally articulated with a swivel at the head, ball-hinge shoulders, wrist swivels, ball-jointed waist, ball-socket hips, ankle hinge, ankle rocker, and ball-jointed wings. He also has his own accessory in the form of a swappable lower half. It’s permanently molded in a sitting position so he can sit in the little seat built into the back of Wingnut’s wings. His tail pokes through the seat and kind of locks him in place. Separating him at the waist is a bit tricky and required some heat to accomplish. I may have been able to force it without heating, but there’s not a lot of room to grip this little guy and I was worried about breaking the wings in the process.

Screwloose is the rare character who can smell his own ass.

Wingnut’s articulation is fairly standard for the line. You get a ball-jointed head, ball-hinge shoulders, bicep, double-elbows, wrist hinge and swivel, diaphragm joint, waist swivel, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, and ankle hinge and rocker. The pain points continue to pretty much be the same from release-to-release with NECA. The range at the head looking up is only okay, but the diaphragm joint doesn’t help the situation really at all as it doesn’t go forward and back much. At least with this figure, the point of the armor stops it form going forward so there’s an obvious obstruction one can see that would have been hard to work around where as Archie Shredder just kind of sucked at that joint “just because.” With Wingnut, it’s just unfortunate because if you want to have him flying parallel with the ground he won’t be able to look forward. He just doesn’t have the required range to do it. He can grip the handles on his wings, though it’s a little tricky since the wings don’t always want to stay in place. The right handle popped off on mine trying to get him in place, but it appears to be engineered to do. Though I think it’s supposed to be glued. The elbows and knees were pretty tight out of the box, but I didn’t have to heat anything. And the joints are pin-less, if that’s something you value.

I wish NECA made better flight stands.

With Wingnut and Screwloose it’s pretty simple: NECA is killing it with the sculpt and overall presentation. We miss out a little when it comes to articulation as a result, and while I’d like to see them make more of an effort in that area, Wingnut is not their biggest offender. He does come at an inflated price-point of $45 currently. Thus far, he’s only been solicited at Walmart so he may even go up when offered by online retailers. It’s not a great price, but we’re also entering a world of $30 Marvel Legends figures so at least from that standpoint it certainly could be worse. I’d have liked to see NECA include a flight stand with this release since he so clearly needs it, but aside from that I’m largely okay with what we got. This release features all unique and purposeful tooling with no obvious reuse potential available. Maybe there are different colorways they can do? Perhaps a Tournament Fighters edition? NECA has mostly abandoned the video game stuff, but that would be an easy re-release. He certainly looks good on the shelf along with Screwloose and the rest of the Mutanimals. Now we just need Leatherhead and the team will largely be complete. Perhaps in 2026?

Just missing Leatherhead now.

Looking to assemble your own Mighty Mutanimals shelf? Here’s a few reviews you may have missed:

NECA TMNT Adventures Mondo Gecko

.The NECA Cowbunga Collection is a content creator’s dream. Here we are deep into October still talking about figures that dropped in August. This time it’s another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures action figure and it’s fan-favorite Mondo Gecko. Most TMNT fans probably know Mondo from the Playmates action figure line. He also made the…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Dreadmon

We’re almost done with all of these NECA Haulathon drops from March and up today is the last of the single-packed figures, the Mighty Mutanimal Dreadmon! Technically, he’s the third figure in NECA’s line of figures from the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures since he’s listed as number 3 on the box. However,…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Jagwar

The next figure in NECA’s line based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comic series is a much anticipated one for fans of those books and its spin-off The Mighty Mutanimals. And that’s because this character is making his debut in plastic. Previously, we looked at Slash who has been pretty well-represented in some…

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by Joe

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October 6, 2025

Mondo 1/6 Scale Spider-Man (Spider-Man ’94)

By Joe
Hi kids, it’s Spider-Man! He has a cold and a bad back so he won’t be saying anything or doing anything.

It took a long time for Mondo’s Spider-Man to get to me. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to even buy it. I passed on the Mondo offering in 2024, debated the symbiote costume variant, but ultimately passed on that as well. The X-Men line from Mondo is my true love and I just don’t have room on my shelf for another line of sixth scale action figures. I did get Venom because I love the character, and when Entertainment Earth had a big anniversary sale I decided to take the plunge on Spider-Man. That was in October of 2024 and at the time the figure was expected to ship in January. Then all of the tariff nonsense struck. The figure kept getting pushed out and eventually EE even had to up the price on me because of said tariffs all but wiping away the discount I was originally expecting. As the months went along I started to debate just cancelling it all together. I loved my Venom figure and I didn’t need a Spider-Man to enjoy it any more than I already did. When I received a notification that the figure was, at long last, in-stock I figured “Well, it’s happening.” Then nothing. Then my order was flipped to backorder. I emailed EE which didn’t offer much other than to say they didn’t get enough to fulfill all of their preorders. At that point, I figured I should just drop it and move on, but before I could my order was changed to “processing.” Now I have a Spider-Man from Mondo and I kind of wish I didn’t let my indecision get the best of me.

Spider-Man comes in a large window box with artwork by Nick Bradshaw and Peter Santa-Maria adorning it. It has an almost dark-deco vibe to the skyline which is evocative of the show’s CG cities when Spidey was seen web-swinging around New York. The figure itself is a sculpt by the renowned Alex Brewer with paint by Mark Bristow. The packaging concept is credited to Jordan Christianson and art direction to Hector Arce.

The ’94 version of Spider-Man could probably be taller, but I like the difference between he and Venom.

Spider-Man stands at about 11.75″ to the top of his head. I’m a little surprised they didn’t make him the full 12″, but I also don’t mind him being that much shorter than Venom. I tried to find some turn-around art from the show’s production for comparison, but the Internet has let me down. I can only compare him to still frames from the show and I have to say I feel like the silhouette is a touch off. Spider-Man in the 1994 cartoon is a pretty big Spider-Man. Pretty much all of the super hero shows back then had one style for all of the male characters. Flash Thompson would pick on Peter Parker for being a nerd, even though Pete was built like a linebacker. Here, the neck is a little slender and sits inside the silhouette of the head, which isn’t really how he was drawn. The shape of the head is also a little narrow which just draws even more attention to it. It was a Saban production and those were notoriously cheap for the time so there’s a lot of inconsistency from episode to episode, scene to scene, and shot to shot. Did Spider-Man look close to this in some shots? Probably, and there’s going to be some subjectivity on the part of the sculptor. For me personally I would have liked a slightly more beefy Spider-Man since that’s what stands out to me about the ’94 design.

Apart from that, the actual design and paint applications for this figure are fantastic. The eyes have that very ’94 shape to them and there’s a lot of empty space around the spider on the chest, as was true of the show. The linework is very clean and the cel-shaded paint job pops as one would expect. It was important to nail the shade of blue and red to make this feel like it’s from the show and Mondo did an excellent job there. There is some light scuffing on the left thigh of my figure which is odd because that area was wrapped in cellophane when packaged. Maybe it was wrapped too soon after painting or it just got too hot during transit? Despite that, the paint is easily the best aspect of the figure and really the entire Mondo sixth scale line and Spidey doesn’t lower the bar at all.

He’s a handsome fella.
The mask looks more like a helmet when held this way.

Spider-Man has a host of accessories, though this particular edition has fewer than the limited run solicited by Mondo initially. For an alternate head we just have the unmasked version of Pete. It looks exactly like the character from the show and the paint job is terrific. He does have a bit of a smile to his face which does present an issue for a different accessory, but not one that actually came with this figure so I guess we can’t really ding it for that. There’s also a mask accessory. It’s shaped like Pete should be able to hold it and have it hang from a gripping hand, but I couldn’t get it to work. I thought it might be intended for Venom, but then I remembered Venom came with his own Spider-Man mask accessory and that one is glued into his gripping hand. Maybe other villains will be able to make use of this one down the road?

Go web!
Long web.

For hands, Spider-Man comes equipped with a set of gripping hands. What he’s supposed to grip, I don’t know. He also has a set of relaxed hands, fists, and thwip hands. Peter also has his trusty camera which is molded to a web splat like it’s stuck to a wall. It does make it hard for him to hold, but I suppose one could stick it to a wall in their display with some tack or even via a finish nail or clear pushpin. Peter also has two thwip hands with short bursts of webbing coming out of them. The hands do not feature any articulation and are on straight pegs, which is fine for what they’re meant to do. There’s also another set with the long web lines attached just like we saw with Venom. There is a bendy wire in these webs, but I’m not really sure what purpose it would serve since the web lines are non-removable. For the ends of the webs, there are two conical attachments that serve as generic ends to the webs. There are also two web splats if you want the webs to be striking a surface or other figure. And lastly we have the typical Mondo display stand which is of limited utility. I don’t ever use these things, but I actually probably will with this figure. For that reason, it’s a shame it’s a plain black stand without any artwork on the base. It’s also the basic doll style stand and not the more dynamic one they have coming with Nightcrawler. I appreciate Mondo finally addressing the quality of their stands, but if you were going to do a better one wouldn’t Spider-Man be a character deserving of such?

It’s even a challenge to do convincing web firing poses.

That is all well and good, but where this figure has really come up short for me is with the articulation. Mondo’s figures are not super-articulated. They’re fairly basic as this is an aesthetics forward line, first and foremost. I’ve always felt it suits the X-Men line very well as the show that is based on featured pretty stiff, limited, animation. Those characters didn’t do a whole lot. Spider-Man wasn’t much better, but it still featured a character who spends most of his time crouching on landings, crawling on walls, and swinging through the city. Mondo correctly recognized that there was a need for more points of articulation with Spider-Man than they might normally do, but unfortunately the execution is lacking.

This is pretty much the extent of his range in the torso.

Spider-Man has a standard double-ball peg head which all Mondo figures seem to have. Unfortunately, Mondo really buried the lower ball joint in the neck which limits Spidey’s ability to look up. This can sometimes be corrected with a lower neck joint and Mondo opted to do just that. Unfortunately, the ball joint at the base of the neck might as well not be there. It’s way too snug and offers nothing when it comes to articulation. The shoulders are the standard hinged ball peg and there’s no butterfly joint. I’m okay with the absence of a butterfly joint at this scale and with this character design, but what I’m not okay with is how tight the right shoulder on my figure is. I could not get this thing to move much at all out of the box and I’m surprised it didn’t snap at the bicep. Even after heating and lubricating the joint, it still barely functions so it’s not a case of needing to just crack some paint that worked it’s way in there. There are bicep swivels, double-jointed elbows, and ball-hinge wrists and they work fine.

If you want your Spidey to crouch, good luck. Here he’s being supported by the stand.

Where things start to take a turn for the worse is with the torso. Mondo typically goes with a ball joint in the diaphragm and one at the waist and that’s what they did here. This combination is ideal for waist articulation even in a character like Spider-Man who is expected to crouch a lot. Unfortunately, Mondo screwed it up. The diaphragm joint does almost nothing. It doesn’t really rotate nor does it really go forward, back, or tilt. It’s just way too snug on the abdomen. As for the waist, it barely moves as well. Even rotating it doesn’t work all that well as the joint feels like it’s fighting me. Did the factory not lubricate any of these joints during the assembly process? It doesn’t feel, or sound, like it and I have noticed zero lubrication residue anywhere apart from what I added. I get it that Mondo would not want articulation that leads to large gaps in the figure or that might cause too much paint rub. They went too far though and basically made the pieces so snug and tight that the articulation is functionally useless.

This is probably the extent of his swinging ability.

At the hips, it only gets mildly better. We have ball-socket hips with built-in thigh swivels. The left hip is okay while the right hip is stubborn. It sometimes snaps back into position when I try to move it. I have popped it off and applied some lubricating oil which has improved it some. It still doesn’t mean Spider-Man can do splits or kick a full 90 degrees. If you try to kick forward, the figure wants to go off to the side. You can rotate at the hip to basically get into a split, but the way the cel-shading is done makes it look kind of dumb as the darker shaded portion of the legs will be forward-facing. The knees are standard double-jointed knees and at the ankles Mondo decided to go with hinged ball pegs like they do at the wrist. This means you can swivel and move those feet all around as much as you want, but it’s not a strong joint which is why I recommend using that display stand with this one. He’s just not going to stand very well. There’s also a toe hinge that’s kind of ugly. It works, but there isn’t enough stability in the figure to utilize the joint without a display stand.

I was not expecting Marvel Legends levels of articulation from this figure, but I was hoping for more. He’s really stuck in vanilla poses which is not befitting a Spider-Man. If the joints just worked he’d be fine. Then you could hunch him forward or having kind of twisting in a swing pose. I was hoping for a basic crouch, not a super low one, but you’re not getting that either. He can kind of do a basic swing pose, but it’s a bummer that he doesn’t have a web line to just grab onto. If they could pop out of the web shooting hands that would have solved that. I’m just really disappointed in what this figure is capable of and it left me feeling that Spider-Man is a poor fit for what Mondo wants to do.

At least this was a pleasant surprise.

There is one other thing to talk about and it’s Venom’s web swing. If you have the Mondo Venom, he comes with a left hand accessory that’s a web swing/harness for Spider-Man. It’s based on a scene straight out of the episode “Venom” where Venom webs up Spider-Man and takes his mask off. He dangles him off a rooftop threatening to expose his secret identity to the world. The accessory is basically a belt and two loops for each hand. I was able to slide it onto my Spider-Man figure starting at his feet. It wasn’t easy and his right leg popped off in the process, but it is doable. The two strands for his hands are simple enough to attach and I plugged the Venom hand portion into my figure to test it out. To my surprise, the thing actually works! I first just had him on a surface and Venom was able to remain standing while holding Peter, but Peter’s feet were on the same surface. I moved the pair to a shelf where I was able to dangle Peter off the edge like in the show. Venom was up to the task and the two remained without issue. I don’t know if I actually have the guts to leave them there permanently like that, but I was sorely tempted. I didn’t think it had a chance of working this well, but credit to Venom’s tight joints and hefty weight. The only disappointment is Peter’s stupid, smiling, face. He really needs an angry expression or a scared one to sell this display. The black costume version of the figure comes with an angry unmasked head which probably would work better for this specific display, but that was a limited edition and has long since been sold out.

The harness accessory working so well was certainly a pleasant surprise, but it doesn’t redeem this figure of Spider-Man for me. This is the first Mondo figure that I regret buying. He looks good enough in a neutral pose, but Spider-Man is not a character for a neutral pose. It’s frustrating to know that Mondo recognized that and incorporated more points of articulation into the figure to address the issue, but nothing they added really worked. Ball-jointed torsos aren’t that complicated even at this scale and if the worry was the figure would topple over well then why hinged ball-joints at the ankles? It’s unfortunate and this is a figure I can’t recommend especially at the price it commands. If you think he looks good and don’t mind that he won’t be doing much of anything on your shelf then have at it. I personally expected more from Mondo and Spider-Man.

If you liked this review then here’s some other related entries you might like:

Mondo Spider-Man ’94 1/6 Scale Venom – Limited Edition

Mondo has had success with its sixth scale line of action figures based on X-Men and X-Men ’97 so it’s no surprise that the company has decided to dip its toe into another 90s animated Marvel series in Spider-Man. And when it comes to Spider-Man, I’m not sure what to call it. I always referred…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Animated)

It was in 2021 that Hasbro released a PulseCon exclusive Venom figure on a Spider-Man retro card. The retro card series is meant to stir-up nostalgia for all of the adults who were buying toys and watching cartoons in the 90s as the retro card is a facsimile of the old cards Toy Biz used…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Spider-Man ’94 Spider-Man vs Carnage

Last year, Hasbro celebrated the 30th anniversary of X-Men, the animated series that premiered on Halloween 1992 and would become a ratings hit shortly thereafter for the Fox Kids Network. It was responsible for getting a lot of kids into the X-Men and Marvel comics in general and the first, prime, benefactor of that rise…

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by Joe

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television, toys

September 17, 2025

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

By Joe
It’s the latest from Hasbro’s Marvel vs Capcom Gamerverse line!

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of Marvel Legends for quite awhile now, but it has mostly centered on the Spider-Man games released for the PlayStation. This year, Hasbro decided it wanted a piece of the Marvel vs Capcom pie without actually saying that outright. Gamerverse has now pivoted to that beloved franchise, though strictly the Marvel side. Despite having a previous relationship with Capcom via its Power Rangers x Street Fighter line a few years ago, Hasbro has shown no interest in actually engaging the licensor for these figures instead releasing a series of two-packs and one-offs of Marvel characters from that line of games. Most of them have not been of much interest to me, but there was one I could not ignore: Wolverine vs Silver Samurai.

One of these figures is more desirable than the other.

I have enjoyed the Capcom fighters going back to X-Men: Children of the Atom in arcades. The hyper fast fighting games were a sight to behold and it felt awesome to finally be able to take control of the X-Men in a setting that felt worthy of them. The games only became more popular when they were eventually paired with Street Fighter, then eventually it expanded to include all of Marvel and all of Capcom. The designs from those games always came across as rather unique for the Marvel characters and many years ago Toy Biz made a half-hearted attempt at characters in that style with a series of two-packs sold at KB Toy Stores. They weren’t great and I never actually bought any, but I’ve always wanted figures that match the art style presented in those games.

“Let’s go, bub!”

For Hasbro’s collection, we get the usual mixed bag from the company. Some of the figures in the line do a really good job of matching the games, while others very much do not. And considering most of the releases are two-packs, it probably comes as little surprise that one figure in each set appears to get more love than the other. That is certainly the case with this two-pack featuring Wolverine and Silver Samurai. Wolverine practically looks like he was yanked off the side of the arcade cabinet with his bulky frame and elongated claws and mask fins. Silver Samurai…just looks like the previous Legends release, but in a muted color. I’ll say upfront I do not care about Silver Samurai at all. He’s always been a D tier Wolverine adversary for me and his figure doesn’t offer much. I got this for Wolverine, and considering the set comes at the inflated sticker price of $60, there’s a good chance I way overpaid for a Wolverine figure. Now, I’m going to help you decide if you should do the same.

The presence of dark gray lines on the chest appear to be entirely random.

We might as well get the Silver Samurai out of the way. As best as I can tell, this figure is mostly a straight re-release of the prior Legends figure, but with a new torso and expression. The previous figure had a riveted look to the armor where as this one is pretty smooth. Both the arms and legs feature pinned joints owing to their age so if that’s something that bothers you then you may be disappointed here. The color this time around is a very bland gray. The only paint on this guy is reserved for the exposed part of his face, the white of his eyes, and the red on his crest and sun pattern on his chest. The rest of the figure is that lame attempt at metallic plastic Hasbro likes to use. All it does is create random lines or swirls in the plastic while adding zero luster. The chest on my figure almost looks cracked, but it’s just streaks in the plastic. The character in the game was damn near white by default with gray-blue shading. Hasbro didn’t bother to try and match that sprite or the art from the booklet and instead gave us this ugly lump of plastic.

He looks like a kid posing for a Little League picture.
It’s fine.
Looks cool, but it’s a little heavy for the blade.

For articulation, the Samurai is also not up to snuff. He’s very basic with a ball-hinged head, hinged-ball shoulders, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, ball-jointed diaphragm, waist cut, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, ankle hinge and rocker. His wrist hinges are at least the proper vertical hinge for sword wielding, but his lack of a butterfly joint means he can’t hold his sword with two hands in a convincing fashion. You can get two hands onto it, but it looks kind of dumb. The shoulder pads are pegged into his traps and are annoying to deal with and tend to pop off a lot. For accessories, he has his katana which is done in a translucent blue plastic. It looks fine, but mine has some black paint on the blade. It’s also very flimsy which stinks because he also has an effect part for the sword that looks pretty cool. It’s bubbly and done with blue translucent plastic with hits of a dark blue or purple. The swords slots through it, but the weight of the part will cause it to droop. He also has his energy shuriken made out of translucent orange plastic and a flimsy plastic stand to peg into it. The weight can be a bit tricky to get it balanced because the stand is so poor, but it can be done. However, Jada this is not.

Bring it on!

Which brings us to the real reason I wanted this set: Wolverine. What attracted me to this figure wasn’t just the stylization on display, but also some engineering choices Hasbro made. They have not, to my knowledge, made an action figure like this Wolverine and some of the choices they made are ones that I’ve been wanting from them for years. We’ll get to that with the articulation portion, but first the elephant in the room must be addressed: this is a big Wolverine.

He’s a pretty big Wolverine.

Wolverine stands at just a touch under 6″. Wolverine runs taller in those games, probably because his sprite is always crouched, but if you wanted to slide him into your comic collection this may pose too big a hurdle to climb. The X-Men animated Wolverine by comparison comes in at 5.75″. Is slightly less than a quarter of an inch a big deal? Kind of, considering that older Wolverine is probably a little on the tall side as well (mostly owing to the really long neck of that sculpt). What really stands out as different though is just how much bigger all around this new Wolverine is. Line up any part of the body and compare it to the prior one and it’s a stark contrast. His biceps, thighs, fists, are all quite a big larger. It’s almost as if this Wolverine is in a different scale from its predecessors. Marvel Legends is thought of as a 1:12 scale line while this Wolverine almost feels like it’s in between 1:12 and 1:10 scale (I guess that would be 1:11). He’s a little big for 1:12, but not quite 1:10.

Even though he has a single hinge at the elbow, the range is pretty much the same as the prior double-jointed version.

As for the sculpt, this thing is entirely brand new. We have the new head with the exaggerated fins, or ears, or whatever those things are on his mask. He has just the one expression which features a gritted teeth look like the cabinet art. The body is also entirely new with the much beefier proportions. The shoulder pads are separate and looped onto the peg going into the torso as opposed to pegged into the shoulder itself. The black on the torso is painted and not sculpted in while the fins are black plastic. The face also appears to be painted onto black plastic and the opacity is not as thick as it needed to be. The left side of my figure’s face has some black showing through, which is a shame. The overall proportions and sculpt are all very nice, but other paint issues include a yellow speck on the left side of my figure’s abdomen and some blue smudging on the left thigh. The middle claw on the left hand (geez, everything is on the left side) has some excess plastic around the tip which I’ll need to trim. Silver Samurai’s left pauldron has a similar issue as well which I failed to note earlier. The knees also suffer from miscolored plastic, a frequent issue with Legends in the pin-less era, as they’re noticeably darker than the yellow used for the thigh and shin. It may also bother some to know that the back of his ankles feature a black rectangle since the figure is using black, plastic, for the ankle hinges. Unlike other Wolverine designs, the black trim on the boots doesn’t continue onto and down the center of the back of the boot so it does create an eyesore, but better it be there than on the front.

The effect part is whatever, but the torso articulation is aces. This twisting crouch wasn’t possible on older figures.

From a quality control standpoint, this Wolverine certainly doesn’t have a premium feel, but even with the minor paint imperfections I still think it looks pretty good overall. I love the sculpt, I really love the elongated claws, and I’m really happy with what we’re about to talk about next: the articulation. Hasbro did some good stuff here while also making some trade-offs. How the overall package is received will be somewhat subjective, but what is present works pretty well. They did keep the hinged-neck joint. Wolverine being a croucher needs a lot of range to look up and down and Hasbro has yet to find a better way to pull that off so it’s hear once again. We lose the nuance of a double ball, but the joint at least does what it set out to do. The joint some will likely miss is the butterfly joint. Instead, Hasbro has gone with a ball peg shoulder which is the sort of joint McFarlane is known for utilizing. Import companies use the same, but they’ll affix it to a hinged apparatus inside the torso to get that butterfly joint, but here we just get the up and down, in and out, that the ball peg affords which isn’t a ton. They either didn’t have room in the chest for the joint, or didn’t want to cut up the sculpt. Considering it means we don’t have those silly low shoulders many Legends figures suffer from, I’ll consider it a worthy trade-off. Wolverine can still cross his claws in front of his face and has some room to rear back with his arm. Would I have made the trade to cut out a little more on the back so he could really reach back? Yeah, probably, but I am otherwise okay with the range.

It’s too bad stands weren’t included with this set.

The arms also contain another surprise: single-hinged joints at the elbow. Ordinarily, this is something to be frowned upon, but given that it’s Wolverine it’s honestly a nonissue. The arms are always so bulky that even the old, double-jointed, Wolverine can barely bend his elbow past 90 degrees. This one can’t either, but the single joint is cut in such a way that it’s far more pleasing to look at so I consider it an improvement. There’s also a bicep swivel which is more like an import figure in that the piece is floating independent of the elbow. It’s basically just a cover over a straight peg. The elbow also swivels since it pegs into whatever is under the bicep and the wrists feature the standard swivel and hinge.

I wouldn’t come in high, if I were you, Samurai.

The torso is where I was most eager to get my hands on this guy. Most of the old Wolverine figures go with an ab crunch, a big old hinge right in the middle of the figure and a standard waist cut below it. Some of the newer ones use a ball-joint in the diaphragm and retain the ab crunch below it, but at the expense of waist articulation. The thinking from Hasbro is you get rotation in the diaphragm and bend at the waist, but why settle for that if you don’t have to? For this Wolverine, Hasbro went with the ball-jointed diaphragm and paired it with a ball-jointed waist. You know, like all of those import companies making figures that articulate better than the rest. The result is you get forward and back tilt at both spots plus rotation. He crunches forward very well, arches back a decent amount, and can twist and turn with the best of them. And somewhat to my surprise, there’s very little gapping on display at both the waist and diaphragm. They did a really good job with this torso and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t become the default approach going forward. And since it’s a big large and doesn’t feature any sculpted costume details, I suspect we’ll see it reused for other characters in the future.

Tag!

The rest of the articulation below the waist is your standard ball-socket hips, thigh cut, double-jointed knees, and ankles with hinges and rockers. There’s no boot swivel which is a bit of a surprise. It looks like the boot is a separate piece so I can’t fathom why it doesn’t just peg-on. Like the gloves, it’s possible the boot is just a sleeve glued into place. It’s not a huge omission, but if it could be there with no impact to the budget then why not go for it? For accessories, Wolverine comes with a set of fists and two slash effects. The slash is done on transparent plastic with some blue shading in the center. One can peg onto an included stand, the same, cheap, style one as Silver Samurai’s, and the other slash can then slot over that one to form an X. Wolverine has multiple attacks that make such a pattern with his claws in the game, plus his super move which just makes a big X on the screen that he jumps in front of. It’s a decent accessory, but I wish we got more for the price. Wolverine could really use a stand of his own to sell that effect part and I would have loved a second portrait. A yelling head would have been great or an unmasked one.

Wolverine (and Ken) most definitely wins.

This is a hard set to rate. Subjectively, I love this Wolverine. I love the proportions, I love the new articulation, and I just love messing around with him. He’s not one of those overly gummy Hasbro releases and I like that they went for it in making this sculpt really evoke the game. On the other hand, I can’t ignore the minor problems with the paint and I’ve heard of others having similar issues. Those knees are also an eyesore and the accessories are just okay. If we’re to split the price of the set between the two figures, he’s a little iffy at $30. I’d still recommend him at that price, but I wouldn’t feel like I’m getting a real steal or anthing.

Unfortunately, Wolverine is not a $30 figure. He’s sold in a $60 set with a thoroughly mediocre Silver Samurai. By Legends standards, there is nothing special about this Silver Samurai. Nothing interesting about the presentation, the articulation, and the accessories do not overcome that. I like the sword effect part, but I don’t know if I can use it since it’s so heavy. The shuriken is fine and at least it’s from the game. He has no extra parts and I find he looks dumb with two gripping hands at all times. Couldn’t we get one extra set of hands? His articulation isn’t good enough for a sword wielder and he doesn’t look like the character art or sprite. He’s a total dud for me.

One thing is for sure, Marvel vs Capcom fans are eating good!

Is this set worth $60? Absolutely not. This Wolverine is good, ignoring the scale issues it’s easily Hasbro’s best Wolverine. Considering I don’t really care for the proportions on the MAFEX Wolverine it might even be my favorite Wolverine of all time. It’s still not worth $60 or even $40. And if he’s not worth that then what’s Silver Samurai worth? I honestly wouldn’t pay $20 for him, or even $10. I just plain don’t like the figure so it’s worthless. Despite that, I think this set will sell well because Wolverine is, in case you haven’t heard, very popular and toy collectors get pretty geeked up about new articulation schemes. Even though nothing this Wolverine does is truly new, just new for Hasbro and Marvel Legends. And I’m having fun with it, so while I think it’s stupid to pay $60 for this Wolverine, I don’t hate myself for doing exactly that.

If you liked this review then maybe you’ll like these as well:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

The toyline of my dreams was announced last October. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television series X-Men, Hasbro is doing a dedicated line of Marvel Legends with figures based on the look of the show. The show was obviously inspired by the designs of Jim Lee, but there are differences in the…

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Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

One of my most anticipated releases of 2025 came out of no where. I was a kid during the early 90s and into video games so I know a thing or two about Street Fighter. Street Fighter II was everywhere and is pretty much the reason why the one-on-one fighting game became a huge genre…

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Jada Toys Mega Man

We just had 11 consecutive weeks of action figure reviews on Super7’s line of figures based on The Simpsons. Things were getting pretty negative in that sphere as that line went out with a whimper. I don’t like reviewing bad figures and it’s mostly because everything I review here I buy for my own collection.…

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August 26, 2025

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Elite Foot Assassin

By Joe
There’s a doings a-foot.

NECA has gradually built out the ranks for Shredder’s Foot Clan via its line of action figures based on the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as published by Mirage Studios. The clan got started way back in 2016 with a box set released in conjunction with New York Comic Con. That set featured Shredder, two Foot ninja, and a Foot Elite ninja. The sculpts were based on the original Eastman and Laird intended one-shot that became anything but. As the comic went on, the look of just about every character changed. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird grew as artists and refined some of the looks they had devised initially. Once TMNT became a marketing juggernaut, the pair stepped back allowed other artists such as Jim Lawson to work on the books which further moved the characters away from their initial looks. NECA has marked that with its re-release of the turtles which emulate the work of Lawson and now we’ve moved onto other characters like the Foot Elite Assassin.

He’s far more intimidating than the old Foot Elite.

I’m not sure if the Elite Assassin was ever intended to be different from the old Foot Elite. With Shredder dead, these guys basically assumed leadership of the Foot Clan and they were depicted as bigger and badder than what NECA gave us back in 2016. The design is more or less the same though as a regular Foot ninja with a faceguard like Shredder, a round hat resembling a conical sedge hat, and the remnants of a cape or cloak. Where this guy differs from the old look is in the proportions and overall size. He comes in at just about a full 7″ to the top of his head. His chest is much broader and there’s more meat front to back as well. His arms and legs are equally beefy, though not on the same level as the Foot Enforcer. He’s overall just way more imposing and shares none of his parts with the old figure.

He also has some size on the turtles.

The version of the figure I’m looking at today is the standard colors one. We already have seen two other colorways with the first one being an all red and black edition. I think that one is based on the IDW reissues, but there’s also a black and white one which was released around the same time as this standard one. The standard one follows the basic Foot coloring with a brownish-red tunic, gray pants, and brown wraps on the forearms and shins. There’s a big brown sash across the midsection and from the hat drapes a red hood of sorts that leaves the face visible. For the face, we have the faceguard which is done in silver and the flesh is painted all in shadow with two, beady, white eyes peering through. The hat can be removed and the red hood is attached to it. Doing so reveals a somewhat comically small head, but if the head was made any bigger it would probably look a little too big with the added hood. Plus, it’s not meant to be displayed without the hat since it leaves a big peg hole in the top of the head sort of like a Lego mini figure.

If you don’t like the cape it can easily be removed.

The paint is fairly simple, but clean, and has the usual NECA comic embellishments. There’s a lot of linework the emphasize the muscles and to outline all of the wraps. There it’s remarkably clean though if you get in close you’re likely to find some places where the linework doesn’t precisely match the carved-out groove. The faceguard is a nice, metallic, silver and the forearm armor contains a hit of light blue shading at the edges to create the illusion of a metallic surface. It’s a nice effect and so simple which makes it a shame that other companies don’t do the same with their figures often opting to just use bare, gray, plastic for metal parts. I do very much like the proportions on this guy so a tip of the hat to sculptor Gurjeet Singh. Nicole Falk is also credited, though I see her name most often credited with “fabrication” which makes me think she handled the cloak, which is also well-tailored and looks fabulous. Geoffrey Trapp and Mike Puzzo handled the paint for this guy.

Oops
Time’s up, turtles!

The Elite Assassin comes with a fair amount of weapons and other assorted parts to do some assassinating. The hands available include sets of fists, gripping, chop, and open/style-posed hands. He also has an alternate portrait with no faceguard. According to the box, the face is supposed to be a clean-shaven face and there’s some shading applied to the lips, but some wires were crossed at the factory and the lip shading turned into a mustache. I’ll never use it so I don’t care, but it is kind of funny. For weapons, we have a short sword, a handheld sickle, a longer sword with a ball and chain attached to the hilt, and everyone’s favorite weapon, a pair of gray sticks. These guys may have been drawn with such weapons in a comic somewhere, but I don’t think it’s something we really need. He also has a time bomb which I’m sure is from the comics and it’s well sculpted and painted. The bladed weapons are all silver with some blue applied and it looks nice, though different from how they do metal with the turtles. For some reason the Foot get silver and the turtles get white. Makes sense to me!

“I’m not exactly feeling intimidated here, dude.”

Articulation is where these NECA figures often come up short and the Elite Assassin is no different. He does some things well, and some things not so well. The head is the unusual setup of a ball peg because the head is so small. This is the type of joint a lot of import companies utilize for wrists, too bad NECA doesn’t do the same. As a joint for a head, it’s fine, but the hood is going to limit rotation quite a bit. Shoulders are conventional hinged ball joints and we have bicep swivels, double elbows, and swivel and hinge wrists. The bicep swivels on mine are tight and when they do move they feel like they’re binding more than rotating as the bicep wants to kick back to where it was. Definitely something to be careful with. The hands all have a horizontal hinge, including the gripping hands, which is unfortunate and honestly quite annoying at this point. I’m thinking of just boycotting NECA figures that don’t come with the proper wrist articulation at this point because they’re so, maddeningly, inconsistent with it.

He’s not a total stiff, but some waist articulation would have really helped out.

The only articulation in the torso is a ball-joint in the upper diaphragm. It kicks forward and back a suitable amount and will rotate some as well. It’s not going to provide a true ab crunch though, but it would have with a ball-jointed waist. Given the large sash around the waist I don’t know why NECA didn’t just do this. A ball joint there would give him some nice forward and back and provide for more natural rotation. Hips are the typical ball and socket with a thigh swivel built in. There’s double-jointed knees and ankle hinges and rockers that work fine. Missing is a boot swivel and forearm swivel, even though there are natural places for such to exist. It’s annoying with the forearms since the armor continues onto the back of the hands so rotating the hands breaks that up. Lastly, we have a nice wire going through the cape which does allow for some dynamic posing of that.

I guess if he doesn’t want to get up close, this ball and chain thing will have to do as a ranged attack.

This is a solid figure that’s so close to being a great figure. The missing waist articulation is more of an annoyance for me than the wrists and I don’t know why NECA didn’t put that in. If he had that he’d move pretty damn well. I think much of this figure is utilized for the new Shredder currently available in a two-pack. I don’t know if that one has waist articulation and I don’t plan on finding out until it’s available as a single-packed figure (or it hits deep discount). And for an assassin, I do think this guy should have some kind of a ranged weapon. The sword with the ball and chain is pretty cool, but doesn’t seem very practical for an assassin. He looks cool though and isn’t a total stiff so if this is something you’re interested in based on the look of it you’ll probably be content. I found this guy at Target where it only set me back $35. He’ll probably be available in various other places eventually if he’s not already, though probably at a small markup.

If you feel like your Foot Elite Assassin needs some companions then these might interest you:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Foot Enforcer

When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often…

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Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comics, toys

August 8, 2025

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

By Joe

As a kid, I did a lot of my comic reading in the early 90s and as a kid in the early 90s that largely meant X-Men. The X-Men were the “it” team of the moment and seemed so far and above the rest of the pack in terms of coolness. Batman was still in style on the strength of the Burton films and the animated series and Spider-Man (and Venom) was also pretty hot. When it came to comic and comic card trading with friends, those all commanded top dollar. One franchise that did not was The Fantastic Four.

It could have just been my little corner of the world, but The Fantastic Four were regarded as your dad’s comic book franchise. They were pretty lame. If you went to Toys R Us hoping to score a Venom, Spider-Man, or Punisher action figure there was a decent chance you would have to settle for the Fantastic Four instead. I personally never settled, though I was a little interested in The Human Torch. Even though I didn’t particularly care about the franchise, my earliest Cartoon Network memory is becoming aware of the channel by seeing a listing for a Fantastic Four cartoon in TV Guide airing on the network. We didn’t have access to the channel in my market, but it was about a year later that we did and I wanted to check out that damn cartoon. Too bad it was pretty bad, but not as bad as those lone cartoons based on The Thing where the character was a kid who activated his Thing power via a magic ring: Thing Ring do your thing!

I will say they have a good tailor.

Despite my feelings on The Fantastic Four growing up, it’s hard to argue that they’re not Marvel royalty. Created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the group is one of the oldest superhero teams with a memorable rogues gallery headlined by Dr. Doom. When comic book movies exploded in popularity, 20th Century Fox threw The Fantastic Four into the mix with a pair of films in the 2000s that made money, but didn’t seem to make a huge cultural impact. Fox decided a reboot was necessary and the franchise returned in 2015. Again, it made money, but not the kind of money that gets studio executives excited. Fox was reportedly still kicking the tires on more movies, but the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney in 2019 put an end to that. Now, Marvel and Disney are back with what it hopes will be the definitive take on the franchise in film. Ever since Avengers: Endgame basically put a bow on the massive story begun with 2007’s Iron Man, Marvel has been searching for that massive hit that catapults them into the next big event film. Attempts via Disney+ and other films have been met with mixed results, but can The Fantastic Four get audiences as hyped as Avengers did back in 2012?

The setting is practically a character on its own.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a film that has been in the works basically ever since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. It took some time to get right, but once it did we ended up with a picture helmed by Matt Shakman with a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. The film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. The film is set in 1964, but a futuristic take on the era. This is a world where technology has advanced by leaps and bounds thanks to incredibly smart people like Richards. When we find him early in the film he’s working on teleportation just to give you an idea where we are as a society. As such, it doesn’t look like 1964 other than some design cues and the setting is really it’s own character. The closest example I can think of is Batman (1989) and it’s not 1940s setting that also kind of looks like 1940s America.

She does not bring tidings of great joy.

When we meet The Fantastic Four we’re informed right away that this film starts with their fourth anniversary as a team. Their origin is relayed via montage delivered by an in-universe television special and includes some cameos of their more famous adversaries though with one notable omission. When we actually meet the team, we learn right away that Sue and Reed are expecting a child, something they had been trying for with little success for years. This also sets off massive amounts of anxiety for the father-to-be who can’t help but wonder what effect their cosmic-induced mutations will have on his unborn child. Concerns have to be dismissed for an unusual individual soon reveals themself to the world: Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), aka The Silver Surfer. She comes baring the unfortunate news that Galactus (Ralph Ineson) has marked Earth for consumption. This naturally comes as a surprise to all involved and it falls on The Fantastic Four to journey into space and barter with the world-devouring entity in hopes of sparing the Earth. They do manage to make it all the way to where Galactus dwells for a face-to-face with the massive entity and find a being who actually is willing to make a deal. The only problem is Galactus desires but one thing: the unborn son of Reed and Sue.

The shadow of Galactus looms large.

That becomes the central conflict of the film: would a parent give away their own child to save the world? It’s a pretty unfair question to ask, but I’m sure you can guess what Reed and Sue want to do and also guess that the rest of the world has a different opinion. The film mostly keeps its focus on that, but also finds time to show Ben trying to find his place in the world and Johnny’s obsession with trying to uncover more information on Shalla-Bal. The film is a tidy 114 minutes and never loses sight of the fact that this is The Fantastic Four’s film. It sounds cliche, but they do a great job of maintaining that family element without resorting to terrible sitcom tropes. This isn’t Full House, but it’s also not some anti-Full House either. There’s conflict between members of the family, but it’s organic. These characters know each other extremely well and love each other. They can annoy each other, but they also rely on each other. And I like that the film remembers that these are all super smart astronauts. Johnny isn’t some dumb jock spending all of his time trying to pick up chicks and The Thing isn’t a big grump who just wants to smash stuff. There’s nuance to all of them and I found it really gratifying to see them rally around a young Franklin Richards (Ada Scott and what Wikipedia refers to as “several other babies”) because that’s what The Fantastic Four should do.

Putting young Franklin at the center of the plot works well for a film emphasizing the family element.

When you have a cast that includes a rock man, a silver woman, and a planet devouring god-being you’re going to need some special effects. Marvel Studios does a solid job bringing characters like The Thing to life. You’re not going to forget that he’s a CGi being, but he doesn’t look out of place. Silver Surfer is also handled rather well and the film is pretty confident about placing this ridiculous being into the film and not making a big deal out of it. Galactus hews pretty close to his classic design with some modern embellishments, but the film definitely doesn’t shy away from showing the being. The colors are muted, but not removed or replaced and I suppose he looks as good as he probably could. The sets look like real sets in many places which is a nice touch over the green screen sets the MCU traditionally relies upon. H.E.R.B.I.E., the resident helper robot, looks like a mix of practical and CG elements and will likely be a crowd pleaser. Maybe not on the same level as Krypto, but kids will enjoy the little robot.

Your kids are going to want one of these.

The film does move fast which may have some questioning if it should have been longer. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword as I think audiences have superhero fatigue and the two and a half hour movies have become exhausting. I very much like how the film gives you the cliff notes version of the origin, though I can also understand some people wondering just what exactly Sue Storm’s powers are? Mr. Fantastic doesn’t get to show off his powers much and the crew really doesn’t get to engage with villains for much of the film. It’s a more procedural film with most of the action reserved for the last act. For action buffs, that’s a bad thing. For me personally, I wasn’t bothered by it. I think it helps set The Fantastic Four apart from more action-heavy franchises. I’m interested in these characters more as characters than as superheroes. It’s an approach that I think will serve the X-Men well whenever they finally get to run wild over the MCU.

The film decided to go the CG route for The Thing and the results are mostly fine.

One final point of criticism I have for the film resides with the ending. If you want zero spoilers about that ending (i.e. when we can expect to see The Fantastic Four again) then skip the rest of this paragraph as I’m going to talk about the mid-credits stinger. Yes, this film has a scene during the credits meant to hype the next adventure. Throughout the film I was quite content with how contained it was. There wasn’t any homework and I didn’t feel like Marvel was setting up another movie. Nothing felt sacrificed or incomplete for the sake of a larger narrative. Then came that mid-credits scene. I won’t actually spoil wht happens in the scene, but it concludes with “The Fantastic Four will return in Avengers: Dooms Day.” I don’t know if I let out an audible groan, but I felt like it. This film did such a good job of making me care about these characters that I don’t want to see them quickly thrust into an even larger ensemble. Now, the scene did follow a “Four years later,” message so it gives Marvel Studios a chunk of unexplored time they can go back to for later films, if they want, but I’d much rather see another Fantastic Four film before seeing them integrated with the Avengers. I know this Dooms Day thing is what the studio is hoping will do Infinity War/Endgame dollars, but I think Marvel and Disney are chasing a dragon there.

Hopefully we get to see a lot more from this group. There are always issues for The Fantastic Four to deal with.

Such concerns could be all for nothing. We’ll see. It also doesn’t really harm First Steps as a movie experience which is one I had a lot of fun with. I don’t think it’s in contention for best comic book adaptation or anything, but it’s a solid B+ theater experience. For the first time in my life I actually care about The Fantastic Four. I want to see more of these characters, this cast, and this really fun setting. Hopefully we do get more of that and hopefully this movie kicks off a new era for The Fantastic Four. The devoted fans have certainly waited a long time for this.

To my surprise, I don’t have any MCU reviews on this blog so here’s the best I can do for related posts:

Superman (2025)

James Gunn’s highly anticipated Superman has finally arrived in theaters. Is this the film Superman fans have been waiting for? The start of a mega franchise executives are hoping for? Or is it just a nice movie about a super guy and his super dog? Read on to find out!

by Joe

Dark Phoenix (2019)

What is it with the X-Men film franchise and its aversion to simple titles? We couldn’t just have X-Men 2, we had to have X2. The third film was billed as X-Men: The Last Stand in some places, but the theatrical poster seemed to imply it was X3: The Last Stand. At least the reboot…

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Over the years, the comic book movie has changed immeasurably. Prior to the year 2000, you could basically count the successful superhero movies on one hand and the only heroes able to really break through were Superman and Batman. This meant Marvel was completely shut out despite feeling like the hotter publication for a long…

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August 7, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X (Savage Land)

By Joe
You can’t wear a business suit for every occasion.

It feels like lately I’ve been getting swayed by clearance and discounts when it comes to my action figure purchases. Such is the case for today’s post on Professor X from the Marvel Legends line of action figures. Target had an exclusive version of Xavier featuring the character in his jumpsuit which showed up in the spring. Having recently purchased a different, more traditional version of the professor it wasn’t something I felt I needed. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with that figure though, so I was a little interested in this new one. Plus, the jumpsuit look feels like it’s pulled straight from the old animated series as this was the look Xavier sported for the entirety of the second season. And in that season, he and Magneto found themselves stranded in the Savage Land where a device Mr. Sinister had negated mutant powers, but somehow managed to cure a paraplegic like Charles Xavier. Of course, the X-Men destroy the machine to get their powers back thus dooming the world’s paraplegics to a life of paralysis. Seriously guys, you probably should have thought that one through a little better. I know this outfit showed up in the comics as well, but the combination of the look plus Hasbro’s decision to release it on a retro card definitely has me thinking X-Men ’92.

This is definitely a more 90s interpretation of Charles vs the older figure.
Xavier definitely has some size to him.

When I buy one version of a character that I’m not crazy about I hate to compound the issue by buying another version of the same character. Especially when I don’t love that other version either. And with this Xavier it’s the face I don’t love. Xavier is often illustrated with pronounced cheek bones, but in three dimensions that makes for a bit of a lumpy appearance. Hasbro has also introduced more detailed face printing in recent years and sometimes they overdo it. That strikes me as the case here with Chuck as his eyes are rimmed with black and his lips are painted. The shade is almost like a slightly metallic peach and doesn’t look like a natural lip shade to me. It actually reminds me of a shade of lipstick my grandmother used to wear. I feel like he’s a wig away from being able to cosplay as a Golden Girl. This is in contrast to what I would want him to look like which is the animated series which took a very plain look to its character designs with mostly smooth features and no shading for the lips.

Some like this face, some don’t, but all can agree that Chuck has some crazy eyebrows.

Basically what I’m saying is that, apart from the bald head and the pronounced eyebrows, this portrait doesn’t scream Xavier to me. As for the rest of the sculpt – it’s fine. I think this body is reused from a past release, but I can’t be certain. The legs may be from Wonder Man though I’m not sure about the arms and torso. I don’t have enough Legends figures to know. Whether they are or are not, it doesn’t matter so long as they work for this figure and in this case I would say that they do. Most of the figure is colored plastic with paint reserved for the black undershirt and the belt. There are some black buttons painted onto the shirt and the rolled up sleeves were painted a lighter shade of green from the rest which is a nice touch. And we get some X logos printed on the shoulders. The greens are mostly consistent, but the legs and arms appear to have a touch more yellow to them than the torso. The knees and elbows are also a little off which is typical of these pin-less joints from Hasbro. This figure is not the worst offender in that regard and the difference is pretty subtle.

He’s got the helmet, even though he’s not supposed to have his powers in this state.

Xavier comes with just a few accessories, which is often the case for Legends these days. He has two sets of hands: fists and trigger hands. I have no idea why Professor X would come with trigger finger hands, but I guess if you want him to wield a gun he can. He also has a fifth hand which is a two-finger pointing left hand for doing mental power poses. It actually has some sculpted in lines to make it look like an actual glove which is surprising. It may be the same hand that came with the Age of Apocalypse Gambit so that may be how they justified the tooling cost. Chuck also comes with a new Cerebro helmet. At least, I think it’s new. It’s different from the one that came with hoverchair Charlie and it’s fine. It’s that swirly, gray, plastic Hasbro favors over shiny paint for metallic objects and it fits on his head just fine. There’s a hole on the back which had me thinking that was for X-Men ’97 Jean’s ponytail, but the helmet really doesn’t fit on her head because of her hair.

“We must fend them off, Magnus!”
So much for pacifism.
It’s a tight fit, but he can get into this chair and wear the former helmet.
“So we meet again, old friend.”

Xavier’s articulation is pretty standard Legends fair, though it has its own quirks. The head is a double ball peg and it’s actually the best double ball peg setup I’ve seen from Hasbro. The lower ball isn’t as deep as it normally is in the neck and he gets good range looking up, down, and tilt thanks to another joint at the base of the neck. Of course, the lack of any hair to work around is playing a role, but good is good. From there we have typical shoulder ball pegs, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows, wrists, ab crunch, waist twist, hip, thigh, double-jointed knees, boot cut, and ankle hinges and rockers. The range on the ab crunch is pretty poor going forward and back, but aside from that the other joints are fine. The two-finger pointing hand and the trigger hands all have vertical hinges which is interesting. Not so much the trigger hands, but the two-finger gesture is an odd choice. I’m not sure which direction I’d want the hinge to go in this case. The waist twist being above the sculpted belt is a bit unfortunate because it’s ugly. If they could have set it inside the belt it would have looked better, but also cost more.

In the chair where he belongs.

The articulation is fine and it’s probably plenty for Charles Xavier, a guy who traditionally doesn’t walk. The figure also can fit into the hoverchair if you wish and he did sport that look in the show as well. This is a pretty fine Marvel Legends figure. If I liked the portrait sculpt then I’d be pretty happy here and probably would have paid full price. Since I don’t, I still question my decision to buy it as I don’t think it’s an improvement over the other Xavier I have. At any rate, he’s another addition to the animated shelf and he won’t look awful. And if I display him with the helmet I’ll probably barely notice the face. Plus, the new X-Men ’97 Morph is coming with a head for Henry Gyrich and even the Legends team had that head on the hoverchair Xavier body. Perhaps I’ll do the same eventually leaving this as my default Xavier. Even though this has been discounted for a couple of weeks now, I still see this one at Target so you may be able to find it if you’re interested. I paid $17 for it, but if they keep lingering maybe they’ll go even lower? That might be a gamble worth taking.

Professor X isn’t much on his own, so here’s some other figures that might catch your fancy:

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

Most view superheroes as idealized versions of people. Superman has all the power he needs to mete out justice as he sees fit. He’s a man who is super fast, super strong, basically invulnerable, and he even has laser eyes for good measure. Not every character can be Superman though and as the stable of…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card)…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mr. Sinister

This week, the long wait for an in-person San Diego Comic Con comes to an end. For the first time since 2019, attendees, creators, and the like will be invited back into the city of San Diego for a celebration of all things comics, movies, and general “nerd” culture. One of the many panels this…

by Joe

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July 22, 2025

NECA TMNT Adventures Ace Duck

By Joe
Here comes a new challenger.

I would wager that when it comes to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles character Ace Duck most fans will immediately go to the Playmates figure as their first frame of reference. His creation is credited to the trio of Jim Lawson, Steve Murphy, and Ryan Brown, but I don’t know if any had a hand in his original look. That version of Ace, who was an anthropomorphic duck dressed like an old fighter pilot, made one appearance in the 1987 cartoon series as basically a show within a show. He flashed across the screen of the TV in the sewer lair in the episode “Attack of Big MACC.” That was it for old Ace as he never got to be a featured guest like many other characters who first appeared in the toy line. The character wouldn’t get a substantial look until he showed in the pages of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures published by Archie, only there he wasn’t a fighter pilot, but a pro wrestler.

He’s one big duck.

NECA’s TMNT Adventures line of action figures has been committed to giving fans basically everyone associated with the fictional Stump Wrestling. We have the turtles, Leatherhead, and Cryin’ Houn’, and now we have Ace Duck. This version of Ace is quite different from his Playmates counterpart. The only things the two share are the fact that they’re both ducks and they both have wings. While the original Ace is of average build for a human, this duck is massive. The phrase beefcake comes to mind, but also feels inappropriate for the massive mallard since he’s not a mammal. He’s a big boy and would have fit right in with the WWF of the early 90s. Even the whole duck thing probably could have worked in the promotion that introduced the Gobbledy Gooker. He also has a bit of a Buddy Rogers thing going on as he’s kind of a pretty boy. Part of me wonders if this design was influenced by Daffy Duck’s foil in the short Muscle Tussle because even the trunks are the same to go along with the physique. As a character, he’s neither friend nor foe to the turtles and even though he’s depicted as champion, he sure seems to lose a lot.

Ace Duck with the Ace Duck most know him as.

Ace Duck from NECA comes in the usual packaging with new artwork by Ken Mitchroney. He’s a big figure and comes courtesy of Walmart Collector Con which actually took place several months ago where he was available as a preorder. NECA is now finally shipping the figure and it’s expected that he’s just first run at Walmart and will eventually be available from other outlets. This chiseled sculpt was handled by Tomasz Rozejowski with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo.

It might take two turtles to topple this guy.

Ace Duck stands right around the 7″ mark and as high as 7.25″ to the top of the curl of feathers on his head. I’m pretty sure the first impression most are likely to have when looking at this figure is that he sure is bulgy, in more ways than one. He is jacked as his shoulders are quite broad and his chest is puffed out like a man (or duck) of such musculature would be. He’s also quite bulgy down…there. It’s quite the comical look when compared with the old Ace and borders on ridiculous, but I mean that in a good way. Since this is just a big duck in a Speedo, there’s not much being asked of the paint department. He’s a pale yellow all over save for his beak and his feet, which are a light orange. There’s plenty of black linework on the figure to highlight the musculature and some of the feathers. He has a set of tiny wings on his back which are barely visible from the front. I guess he skips wing day when in the gym. The only other embellishments on the sculpt are the little feathers on his forearms.

I love this cocky expression.
Itty, bitty, wings.

Ace is just a big muscle duck, but what helps sell the character in plastic form are the expressions. By default, Ace looks pretty angry and ready to get down to business in the ring. His teeth are showing and he’s got a legitimately intimidating glare. The head most (including me) are likely to find more enjoyable though is the cocky grin. For that, Ace’s eyes are partly closed and looking to his right and his beak is shaped in the form of a wry smile. This is him preening for the audience or just looking in a mirror. It just goes so well with the vibe of this figure. The third portrait features a squawking Ace. His mouth is open in a cartoonish shape with a big, red, tongue flopping out. His eyes are also all red with black circles in them indicating he’s dizzy. This is pulled straight from a panel in the comics where Leatherhead is swinging him around by the feet. This one also works for a punch drunk look or an impact which is definitely a worthwhile inclusion for a pro wrestler action figure.

This right hand is basically included just for this.

The rest of the items are in the box are reserved for hands and one accessory. For hands, Ace has a set of fists, relaxed, and gripping hands. He also has a left hand that’s somewhere in between a pointing gesture and a relaxed look and a right hand that’s puzzling to me. It’s almost like the start of a thumb’s up gesture or a guitar picking form. It looks so specific that I’m guessing it’s lifted from a panel, and sure enough, it is. There’s a panel where he’s basically posing after slamming Leatherhead and saying “later gator” where he’s making this gesture with his hand. The last item in the box is a folding chair. It’s the exact same accessory that came with the turtles and even the colors are the same. It’s a solid accessory to have for a wrestling figure and I like that we now have two in the collection instead of one.

He’s not above getting dirty.

The approach to articulation with Ace is pretty basic. While the turtles were used to show off NECA’s first attempts at traditional pinless double-joints, Ace is going more old school. There’s articulation at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, diaphragm, hips, knees, ankles, and wings. Both the elbows and knees are single-jointed, but they will swivel at the point of entry as well. There is a thigh swivel, but it’s pretty limited and I was surprised by the lack of a waist twist. You will need to use the diaphragm joint for that and it’s pretty limited. Mostly, the figure is just so bulky that the range in a lot of places is hampered. The shoulders aren’t going to get much use out of the hinge and the elbow swivel isn’t as good as a proper bicep swivel. The hinge for the gripping hands is of the horizontal variety which is unfortunate. The legs have very little range kicking forward, though they actually kick backwards a decent amount.

You’re gonna need a bigger chair, Leo.

Ace isn’t going to do a whole lot on your shelf. In that, he’s a lot like Leatherhead and Cryin’ Houn’ who I also felt were really limited in the articulation department. Ace is probably a littler better than the hound, but a little worse than Leatherhead. None of them are going to be celebrated for their articulation and the best articulated figures in this line so far are probably the turtles. With Ace it’s just a little disappointing because there’s not much that NECA had to work around. He’s practically naked and it’s just the bulk of the sculpt that impedes things. And while I do like the sculpt, I do think there was a happy medium some where to make this guy more articulated without having to jeopardize the aesthetics. The hips, in particular, stand out as an area where there’s no real reason for why they’re as limited as they are.

Or not.

Ace Duck is another solid entry in NECA’s Archie Comics inspired toy line. The articulation shortcomings are basically a feature of the line at this point and collectors likely know what they’re in for with that. The sculpt is on point and this is a figure that just puts a smile on my face because he’s so damn fun to look at. The accessory count is suitable with three portraits and a folding chair to go along with 8 hands. The only other thing I failed to mention so far is the price. Ace Duck will set you back $50 if you can find him at Walmart (currently available for order as I type this) and may cost a little more when he makes his way to specialty retailers. That’s certainly a steep price and I guess it’s owing to his size and potential for reuse. The sculpt is such that maybe NECA can reuse it for other muscle guys though none in this particular line come to mind. He’s the same price as Cryin’ Houn’ who was a little bigger, but came with less stuff, so he doesn’t feel like a lesser release. I just wasn’t crazy about the price tag with that figure either. I do like this figure a bit more and if you’re okay with the price and its shortcomings then I can safely recommend it. It has a premium feel in-hand and it’s a musclebound space duck in trunks – what’s there not to like?

That duck has a family!

If you missed our look at the other Stump Wrestling figures from NECA then check these out:

NECA TMNT Adventures Cryin’ Houn’

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again, but no toy collector enjoys hearing the phrase “Walmart Exclusive.” Such was the case for today’s figure, and many others, around the time of San Diego Comic Con. Walmart had their own collector con which is just a marketing way to say that a bunch…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Stump Wrestling Leatherhead

We are rolling right along with more reviews of NECA’s TMNT Adventures line of action figures and we’re also staying within the realm of Stump Wrestling. When the turtles wound up in the intergalactic wrestling federation, they didn’t just encounter aliens, they also encountered an old foe. I don’t know how Leatherhead wound up as…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Adventures Stump Wrestling Four-Pack

When I was a kid, I didn’t really get a lot of comic books. I most often would encounter them at the grocery store and I always hoped my mom would end up in the check-out aisle with the comics instead of candy so I could maybe convince her to get me one. And when…

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by Joe

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July 13, 2025

Superman (2025)

By Joe

When I was a kid, the only superheroes with any box office success to speak of were the biggest heroes from Detective Comics: Superman and Batman. The Superman films starring Christopher Reeve were probably the first superhero movies I ever saw. If not them then the honor would belong to Batman (1967). It wouldn’t be long until Tim Burton’s take on the Dark Knight rocked the box office and became a merchandizing juggernaut. It followed a tetralogy of Superman films that had really run out of steam. Batman was the new “It” hero for the film world and no one else mattered or could find success. Not until Fox and Sony started winning audiences over with their takes on X-Men and Spider-Man. The Marvel Cinematic Universe followed, and even though during that era there was a trilogy of very successful Batman movies from director Christopher Nolan, it feels like Warner Bros. and DC have been trying to emulate the Marvel method with its films with little to show for it.

Enter James Gunn. After entrusting the DC film universe to Zack Snyder to middling results, Warner Bros. searched for someone to spearhead a second attempt at a shared DC film universe. Gunn was known to them through work he had already done for the studio including including films The Suicide Squad and the HBO series Peacemaker. Gunn of course was the director for three very successful Guardians of the Galaxy films for Disney and Marvel and the prevailing thought at Warner must have been if Gunn can take a relatively unknown comic franchise like Guardians and turn it into a mega-successful film franchise then surely he can do the same for the already famous characters of DC? His first task: create a new franchise with Superman serving as the anchor character to kick things off.

Superman may be one of the most famous superheroes in the world, but it feels like his time as the most popular has long since past him by. Film attempts at reviving the character have not been received all that well and Batman has taken over as the face of Detective Comics. It almost feels like at some point in the 80s a rift developed between the two fictional characters that carried over into the fandom. If you were a Batman fan then you thought Superman was lame. If you were a Superman fan then Batman was a joyless, grim-dark, sadist. The talk of a Batman vs Superman movie became a thing that eventually happened and even when comic book royalty like Jim Lee took over the Batman books he made sure to work in a Batman vs. Superman scene into his Hush story. This can probably be traced back to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns which contains probably the most famous and iconic physical stand-off between the two the atmosphere of which helped to influence Burton’s Batman which helped define the character for the next decade-plus.

The film begins with Superman looking less like his usual self and more like Yamcha.

All of this is to say that Superman arrives with a great deal of expectation. There’s expectation from the studio that this will be the catalyst for a mega-successful film franchise to follow, and not just for Superman himself. There’s the hope from fans of the character that this is the movie that will get him right and do justice for the character that many feel the previous films failed at. And then there’s the naysayers, the anti-Superman crowd and Snyder loyalists which has been stoked by recent cries that Superman is getting too political because Gunn dared to point out that he’s an immigrant and his story is an immigrant story. The film drops at a prescient time for such notions as currently immigration is the focal point of the current administration in the United States with ICE raids and protests against said raids often dominating the news. Can this film possibly serve both crowds and win over a large majority of move-goers this summer?

Despite how this looks, this is thankfully no “Trial of Superman” type of film.

No, probably not. Those who have decided that this new movie is too political and against their conservative leanings going into it are not going to be swayed. And those who thing Superman sucks of only Snyder’s portrayal mattes have made up their minds already so why bother convincing them otherwise? For that other crowd though, I do think many are going to leave the theater with some measure of satisfaction. This is the portrayal of Superman that they were likely looking for, and while the film is far from perfect, it’s also pretty far from terrible.

Superman (played by David Corenswet) opens at an interesting time for the character: his first defeat. Some text overlay is present to inform the audience that Superman has been on this world for 30 years and revealed himself to the public 3 years prior to the events of the movie. This is not an origin story, though if you know nothing about Superman going into it you’ll have the gaps filled in enough without a lot of direct exposition. Superman also gets to open the film in a Yamcha pose. If you are a Dragon Ball Z fan then you know what I am referring to as the character is laying in a fetal position in a crater in the arctic. If you saw the first trailer then you saw this scene. It’s an interesting way to introduce the audience to the character as it informs us that this is a Superman who can feel and experience pain. Some takes on the character make him basically invulnerable to all things not Kryptonite. This Superman is indeed a super-powered individual and no mortal man could ever hope to best him at any physical test, but other super-powered beings can perhaps stand a chance.

This film very much wants to remind you that Superman’s priority is safeguarding the people (and animals) of the planet he now calls home.

The Superman of this universe is an eternal optimist. He is here on this world to do good, as his biological parents instructed via a pre-recorded message, and that’s his goal. When a fictitious foreign power tries to invade a neighboring country, Superman puts a stop to it with his own brand of justice. That lays the foundation for one of the film’s central conflicts – can a man of his power who owes no allegiance to any nation be allowed to act in such a way? To Superman, he is doing right. The invasion would have cost lives and Superman prevented that. To an adult in the political world, there’s more nuance. The invading country (Boravia) claimed it was liberating the people of the country it invaded (Jarhanpur) from an oppressive regime. Lives would have been lost, but they would have better off in the end, or so they claim. Superman disagreed and since he holds the power it’s his opinion that supersedes all others. He consulted no political authority before acting as he did and the fear is what if he’s wrong?

Hoult’s cocky and obsessive Luthor is hopefully a villain with real staying power.

To a man like Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) this is a very scary proposition. He has some sympathizers in the US government, but none are eager to go toe-to-toe with Superman who is not only extremely powerful in his own right, but also extremely popular. Luthor is motivated by more than just fear though. He’s not a man out to make the world a better place, but a better place for him. He’s greedy and jealous and his jealousy towards Superman has been all-consuming. He wants to out Superman as someone the public should fear, and then he wants to kill him. He has been studying Superman these past three years and has used his considerable wealth to hire some very smart people to help him do that. Among his ranks are two creations: Ultraman and The Engineer. Ultraman is an incredibly strong creation of mysterious origins while The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría Chacón) is some sort of techno-engineered human capable of breaking her body down into tiny nanobots.

The Justice Gang has a role to play, but not a sizeable one.

Other heroes, or metahumans, exist in the world including the Justice Gang (working title). This group consists of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi). If you know nothing of those heroes from the comic books good luck understanding what their powers are beyond a superficial level. The film isn’t interested in sifting through lore and all one needs to know for the film and their presentation is they’re some pretty powerful people. There’s also the Daily Planet crew where Clark Kent is employed and we meet the usual suspects for a Superman film. Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) is the lead reporter and the one we’ll spend the most time with. Along with her is Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who is traditionally a photographer, but in this film I don’t know what his role is. He’s not a reporter, even though he has the best sources, and he defers to others and operates like an assistant. Perry White (Wendell Pierce) serves in his customary role as the editor-in-chief.

The film is primarily concerned with presenting Superman as a force for good and what is morally right and just. Cronenswet is perfectly suited for such a role. He has an innocent charm about him as well as the physique. He doesn’t wrestle with his decisions of what is right and what is wrong because he feels he knows inherently the difference between the two. An interesting dichotomy is displayed when he and the Justice Gang take on a kaiju-like beast in Metropolis. Superman struggles with the beast because he wants to subdue it and take it to an intergalactic zoo of some kind while the other heroes see killing the creature as the quickest way to neutralize the threat. Superman, for all his power, doesn’t appear to subscribe to the theory that might makes right, he’ll use his considerable might as he deems necessary, but he’s not a killer. This juxtaposes with the cynical world around him. Lois, in particular, clashes with him because of her more jaded, but also typical, outlook for an adult woman in a modern day setting. She can raise these issues with Superman, but all they do is frustrate him because seemingly no one else sees the world as clearly as he does. The only thing I don’t like about this Superman is his costume. Yes, it’s pretty close to his classic look, but he has that texture and piping that has become commonplace in super hero movies and TV shows. It’s uninspired and overdone and looks like Superman through the lens of The Boys.

Holt definitely gets the most opportunity to steal some of the spotlight.

Hoult’s Luthor is a proper villain for Superman, one who can’t ever hope to match him physically, but can do so in other ways. He’s portrayed as a very smart, savvy, and even patient man since he’s been working to put his plans into motion for years at this point. He’s also prone to emotional outbursts and Hoult is able to straddle a fine line between lethal mastermind and over-the-top theatrics. The background conflict between the two warring nations feels like a clear proxy for conflict in the middle east. Gunn has been working on this film since 2022 so it’s hard to say if that conflict is meant to be a stand-in for something as politically charged as Israel and Palestine, but present day audiences are likely to go there.

If you were hoping to see a lot more of the reporters at The Daily Planet then you may be disappointed.

And that’s where Superman is likely going to come up short for some people. Those who want the movie to have a very clear stance on present day topics like the current one in Gaza are going to be left wanting more. The criticism, if there is any, is largely toothless. The moral questions of whether or not Superman is right or wrong is basically introduced, but mostly dropped. It serves as a catalyst for the plot which then quickly becomes just another sci-fi, comic booky, conflict where the fate of the world is at stake. The film provides a resolution to the plot, but not really any of the other stuff. And amidst the climax the human characters basically get swallowed up. If you’re someone who feels the Daily Planet staff is an integral part of the Superman experience then you too will be left underserved. The film literally puts the only important characters from that group (and even the non-important ones who get little face-time) in a bubble to ride the whole thing out. I won’t go so far as to say the Daily Planet stuff could have been stricken from the film without any loss, but it’s close. On the plus side, the film is at least confident with its sci-fi. It doesn’t get bogged down in the how or why these things can happen, they just can. For some viewers that may be frustrating while others are more apt to just accept the reality of the film for what it is.

DC and Warner are probably counting on this dog to move some merch and he probably will.

The other character I have to mention is the one likely to help offset some of the losses in the adult audience and that’s Krypto. The super canine was introduced in the initial trailer and you won’t have to wait long to see him on the big screen. I have never been a Krypto fan. Even as a kid it felt like pandering to a young audience that I saw through despite my enjoyment of dogs. He’s probably here to help pander to that younger audience once again and maybe win over some dog people who ordinarily wouldn’t care about Superman. His portrayal is better than expected as Krypto is not some well-trained companion, but a force of chaos. He’s a bit unruly and pup-like and it’s probably because he’s a bit neglected being forced to live in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (it’s never actually called that in the film, but you get the idea). He has not been socialized with other dogs, probably because he’d accidentally destroy them, and Superman isn’t available to train him. He’s still a good boy though so the audience is probably going to enjoy him more than I did. I know my kids left the theater saying he was their favorite part.

John Murphy and David Fleming handled the score with liberal use of the Superman theme composed by John Williams. I was very happy to hear that theme returned as there’s no reason to ever craft a new Superman theme. The films makes use of it in different ways adjusting the tempo and intonations, but it’s unmistakable. I do wish at some point there was a performance a bit closer to the one from the 70s, even if just over the end credits, but the film denied us that. It’s also worth noting that even though this is a launching point for a new DC film universe, it doesn’t feel like one. Yes, there’s a mid-credits and a post credits scene, but they’re not teasers. There isn’t any obvious setup for a future film or story and the plot is self-contained. It may seem a bit ridiculous to praise a film for telling a story and committing to it, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become exhausting to follow and it’s nice to just sit and watch a film without wondering “What’s next?”

Okay, I’ll admit it, he’s a good boy.

Superman is a good film. It’s probably not the genre or character-defining moment some want it to be, but if you’re in the market for a good Superman story presented in a capable manner then there’s enough here to enjoy. Where the film comes up short is in its approach to plot points many would consider topical. If you wanted a strong denouncement of the immigration policies in the US or criticism of what’s going on in Gaza well you’re not really going to get it. Should the film have gone farther? Perhaps. I don’t think it would have hurt commercially as the people refusing to see the film because it’s “woke” have already made up their mind and aren’t going to give it a fair shake anyway. There’s always a danger in playing it safe because it can turn off the audience you were likely to have anyway and alienates the one you never were going to appeal to. And it’s never a bad thing to take a stand on what’s right, provided it’s truly the position of those making the art. Those who wanted to see more of Superman’s supporting cast might also be left disappointed. This isn’t a solo Superman story, but it’s also not one heavily reliant on others, but maybe we needed that after films and stories all too willing to place the character on the back burner. It’s also 129 minutes long and feels just about right so while there are things I might have liked to have seen included, I can’t say I wanted another bloated 150 minute comic book movie. Hopefully, Gunn and DC can stick with telling more Superman stories and be less concerned with telling the story of the Justice League or whatever else you know they want to build to. My fear is this is an outlier just to establish Superman and DC is going to just go back to trying to emulate what Marvel has done. Not every film needs to be building towards something bigger and better. There are plenty of Superman stories worth telling. We have the cast and hopefully we have vision at the top to usher in a new era for the character.

If you’re interested in more thoughts on Superman in film then perhaps you’ll find these worth your time:

Superman (1978)

It might be hard to convince younger people today that superhero movies were once huge financial risks for production companies. It might further surprise them to learn that only one comic book company seemed to figure the whole thing out, and it wasn’t Marvel. While Marvel struggled to get Hollywood interested in its characters, Detective…

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by Joe

The Batman/Superman Movie – “World’s Finest”

Original Air Date: October 4, 1997 Directed by: Toshihiko Matsuda Written by: Paul Dini, Stan Berkowitz, Alan Burnett, Rich Fogel, Steve Gerber Animation: TMS – Kyuokoichi Corporation Running Time: 61 minutes Also Known As: Superman: The Animated Series episodes 39, 40, 41 “World’s Finest: Parts 1, 2, and 3” When Warner Bros. launched its own…

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by Joe

Superman II (The Richard Donner Cut)

When the original Superman was conceived for a theatrical release, the producers on the project were ambitious. Convincing audiences that a man could fly sure seemed like enough ambition for one film, but not Superman. Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided it would be more prudent to shoot the film and its sequel at the same…

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May 6, 2025

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios April (Version 2) with Professor Obligado

By Joe
Say “Hello” to her little friend.

Back in 2008, when NECA was planning out a line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures that they hoped would run for a long time, they turned to the turtles’ most trusted ally when it came time to do a fifth figure. The line wasn’t long for this world, and that figure of April O’Neil from issue two of the Mirage Studios run of comics ended up as a convention exclusive. She had a couple of variants, and came packaged with Mousers as well, but she was also the end of the line. Be it poor sales or issues with the master license holder, NECA’s Mirage run of turtles was brief, but has since been resurrected. We’re almost nearing a point where it feels like NECA, not Playmates, is releasing more unique sculpts per year when it comes to this franchise and it’s no surprise that in 2025, in the month of April no less, NECA has decided to return to the character once looked to as the most logical release after the turtles themselves.

An updated April for your updated turtles and newish Casey.

Version 2 of April is presently shipping as part of the Target Haulathon, that oh so expensive time of year for those who collect NECA TMNT. The old figure is one I never bought. April was a little rough in her debut appearance and creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were not too proud to admit that it took them awhile to really learn how to draw April. That figure fits in well with those early TMNT figures NECA produced as they’re based on the first issue, but for those looking for an April that vibes with the more recent output from NECA a new figure was needed. For inspiration, NECA turned to issue #11 which has become somewhat infamous online over the years. Namely, for those who want to champion that April was originally conceived as being black or at least mixed race. While it was true that her name came from April Fisher, a woman who is of a mixed race, Eastman and Laird have always been pretty clear over the years they envisioned her as a white woman. In issue 4, she received a new hair style – a perm. Combine that with the name thing and the fact that Eastman and Laird often used people in their orbit to base April’s looks on and you can see why this became such a big thing.

April’s got a new look.
The inspiration for this figure.

Apparently, Eastman has at least embraced this retcon of sorts as this new April from NECA depicts her as a black woman. And why not? NECA already did a white April (well, many if you count the cartoon and movie lines) and people seem to like this idea. Some don’t, which is often the case when you start talking about race because there are racist assholes out there, but this is Kevin and Peter’s baby and if they like this depiction of April then that’s good enough for me. We know Kevin at least does since he did the artwork for the box. I guess Peter could hate it, or he could be fine, or indifferent, it doesn’t matter. It’s an April action figure and all that really matters to most would be is it any good?

“You know, I’m something of an artist myself.”

April is a figure sculpted by Richard Force and Tim Miller. Or I should say, April and her boxmate are sculpted by the duo. I’m not sure if one sculpted April and one sculpted her pack-in, but at least we know they both contributed where as most toy companies don’t give us that much info. Paint is credited to Geoff Trapp, Mike Puzzo, and Holly Knevelbaard. April stands at around 6″ to the top of her hair. She’s depicted in her outfit from issue 4 of a pink shirt, blue jeans, sneakers, and a brown jacket. At least those were the colors in the earliest color versions I have seen, though for me I’m most accustomed to seeing April and everyone else in black and white.

Not a figure made for the classic (and probably sexist) female pose.

The presentation for April is fairly basic. That’s not necessarily a negative, it’s just the reality of an action figure based on a normal woman. There’s no crazy super powers to capture or outlandish costume, it’s just a woman in casual attire. She has her poofy hair which is done in brown with some light brown brushed over it. Her expression is serious, but fairly neutral. There’s some linework on her cheekbones and her lips are red and outlined in black. She has a simple gold necklace sculpted around her neck and some big hoop earrings which appear to be part of the sculpt for the hair. The jacket and shirt feel like they’re an overlay, but the material is more firm than usual. There’s a lot of black linework on the clothing and the paint job on the sneakers is pretty complex and mostly clean. The paint is sharp and the appearance of the figure is too. My only critiques would be it looks like they missed a paint app on the zipper of her coat as it’s just left brown. They also gave April a serious case of “flat butt,” why did you do her dirty like that NECA?

This little guy gets all the stuff.

April comes with three sets of hands: open, fists, and gripping. That’s it. I wish we got a second portrait from the panel where she shows off her new haircut as she just looks really happy in that shot and it would be nice to give her the option of being happy on the shelf. Her articulation is pretty basic for the line as well. If you have Kirby or Baxter then you should have a pretty good idea of how April moves. Her hair really limits the range at the head to basically a swivel. The shoulders, elbows, wrists, and knees all work well and as expected. The range at the hips is good, but she can’t quite hit a split. Ankles are a bit limited and for some reason the left ankle on mine doesn’t want to pivot (it’s gummy and just snaps back into a neutral position). The waist is a ball joint, but it just swivels for the most part because of the size of the overlay. The torso isn’t going to do anything and the gripping hands have the wrong hinge, not that she has anything to hold. Her feet being relatively small, she can be a deceptively difficult figure to stand. I’ve had her topple over numerous times already in the short while I’ve had her.

I think I’ll keep the hat on him.
Plenty of Utroms these days, and I didn’t even bother with the little one from the robot.

That’s April, but she’s technically not alone. Joining her is Professor Obligado, an Utrom ally with a series of short stories by Stephen Murphy. He’s very similar to other Utrom characters we’ve received in that he’s a little more than a slug figure as he has two articulated tentacles. He also gets the bulk of the accessories as he has a fedora, pipe, pick axe, paint brush, can of ink, and two extra tentacles one of which has a can of some spray molded to it. He looks fine and the swapping features are fun, but I would have liked something for April. It’s almost like NECA saw doing another April as an obligation, but rather than make her as much fun as they could, they threw in another character after doing the bare minimum.

At least Casey has weapons to spare.

This review has taken on a negative tone, but I should stress that this figure of April isn’t a bad one. It’s just fine. There’s nothing special about it, it does what you would expect, and the execution when it comes to the sculpt and paint is up to NECA’s standards. The articulation isn’t great, but still what one would expect of the line. It just lacks imagination. Obligado is fine, and those who really dig the Utrom characters will enjoy adding him to the mix. That doesn’t shake the feeling that I only bought this figure because I want an April and I would have bought anything. At least she turned out far better than the cartoon one. If you’re feeling inclined to pick this one up, April sold out online, but can be found at Target. If you don’t want to shop there for any reason, know that she’ll eventually show up elsewhere, but with the current state of things who knows what she’ll cost? Right now, the MSRP is $35 and hopefully it stays that way.

There are plenty more heroes and villains from NECA’s TMNT line of figures based on the original comics:

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Karai as The Shredder

Where do you take your heroic comic book franchise when you kill your main villain in the first issue? Well, you first undo that rash decision by bringing him back! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird famously killed The Shredder in the first issue of their comic. They never intended to…

by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Rat King

Rats! Is what Charlie Brown would say at the sight of today’s subject, the almighty king of the rats himself, the Rat King. Rat King has always been a favorite of mine when it comes to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villains. Like a great many, I was introduced to the character via the cartoon series…

by Joe

NECA TMNT Mirage Studios Kirby

Say the name “The King” to a comic book fan and they will immediately know of whom you speak. Jack Kirby is a titan in the world of comics. Creator or co-creator of a great many characters known throughout the world today, it’s hard to imagine what a comic book would look like without his…

by Joe

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April 30, 2025

Marvel Legends Professor X with Hoverchair

By Joe
All right kids, back in your seats. Teacher is here.

Most view superheroes as idealized versions of people. Superman has all the power he needs to mete out justice as he sees fit. He’s a man who is super fast, super strong, basically invulnerable, and he even has laser eyes for good measure. Not every character can be Superman though and as the stable of superheroes increased over the years there was more room for nuance. I’m sure some folks in marketing at Marvel Comics scoffed at the idea of a team of superheroes being led by a middle aged paraplegic, but that’s the direction Stan Lee and Jack Kirby went in when they created the X-Men. That team was founded by Professor Charles Xavier, a powerful, telepathic, mutant (which is basically used to mean a superhero born with their powers) who just so happens to be confined to a wheelchair. Unlike a character like Daredevil, a blind superhero whose enhanced, super, senses essentially negate his disability, Xavier’s powers do not help him walk. Sure, some writers have played around with that over the years, but at his core Professor X is a man with a disability able to thrive in a world of super powered individuals.

He’s a bit of a little guy.

I don’t know for certain, but in a world where even female characters were treated like radioactive material, I can imagine folks at Toy Biz not being too excited about doing a Professor X figure. It took a little while for the head man to make his debut in that old toy line, but I was honestly pumped when he did. I think he may have been the final character from the cartoon series X-Men to be released and complete the team. I know we had to wait awhile for Beast and Morph, but I can recall getting those two figures on Christmas (1994, I want to say) and the following Easter Chuck was sitting beside my Easter basket (along with Ahab, a figure not exactly high on my wants list). And aside from having a blue suit instead of green, he was pretty faithfully depicted as he was in the show complete with his 90s, stylish, hoverchair. Because of the cartoon and Jim Lee’s run on X-Men, it’s the hoverchair I most often associate with Xavier. Hasbro certainly knows that’s the case for many which is probably why they released Xavier in a deluxe package with his famous chair.

Hope you like this gesture, because it’s kind of all he can do.

This figure was released a few years ago, but in 2024 Hasbro made it available once again to preorder. Having since acquired several characters from the cartoon in Marvel Legends form, I felt like I needed Xavier to pull it all together. The addition of the chair does make for additional cost. This thing was a whopping 50 bucks, by far the most I have ever spent on a Marvel Legends figure. I was pretty skeptical it would be worth that in the end, but when you’re basically one figure short of a full squad it’s the kind of thing one will extend themselves on. Toy companies are aware of this phenomenon, which is why I fully expect Xavier to be the last release in Mondo’s very awesome, but very expensive, line of X-Men figures. Trying to imagine what a sixth scale Xavier in his hoverchair will set me back is already giving me anxiety.

His chair comes loaded with a TV and some games so he doesn’t get bored.

That is a topic for another day, today we’re in the more familiar realm of 1:12, or there about. Xavier comes in an oversized window box and is featured prominently in the center. His chair is amusingly split in half so we can see one half of the chair on each side of the figure. The backdrop contains artwork of the entire, animated, team in a style that resembles the cartoon. Beast, for example, has pupils. It displays well, but I could not care less about that fact. Once removed, the chair requires some assembly. There are four pieces to it: each side, a backrest, and a cushion. The backrest slides onto either half while the cushion plugs into a slot in the center of one of the pieces. Then you just push it together. It’s pretty intuitive and most probably won’t need to consult any instructions. Not that there is any. I’m surprised they didn’t print some on an inside flap of the box.

I like the thought of this base, but not so much the execution.

The chair looks pretty good from a sculpting standpoint. It’s not painted though, so you get some of that swirly plastic effect Hasbro seems to love when it’s trying to create the illusion of a metal material. There is a big seam down the middle which is unfortunate. It makes me wish that at least the front was a third piece that snapped over the assembled halves, essentially the same concept as the backrest, to at least get rid of the seam there. On each armrest there’s a control panel that slides out. One has a monitor while the other a keyboard and at least those two parts are painted. Even though the artwork seems to be evocative of the cartoon, the design of the chair is from the comic. The most obvious distinction is the shape of the front and lack of headlights. The chair sits fine as-is, but there’s also an included base. It’s a white post with a transparent piece of plastic over it in the shape of smoke, I guess? The transparent portion is frosted over with white paint and the plumes are pointed so, to me, it looks more like ice. I don’t think ice is what they’re going for here, but it gives the figure a little height.

Cool hat, bro.

As for Xavier himself, he’s depicted in his green suit with white shirt and blue and black tie. He has a very serious expression on his face with his signature, arched, eyebrows. His right hand is in a two-finger gesture while his left hand is open, but curled. He has no extra hands which is unfortunate. He should at least come with another right hand so he doesn’t always have to be making this very specific gesture. And because the damn thing cost 50 bucks – throw in some hands! Outside the chair, Charles stands just a tick over 6″. He has a slight build with a very big head relative to his body. It strikes me as a little off as Xavier from this era was usually portrayed as being rather broad shouldered. This figure makes him look like a weenie. Most of the figure is colored plastic with the belt and tie being where the most paint is utilized. The jacket portion of the torso is an overlay while the sleeves are part of the sculpt. This is pretty standard, but the small shoulders means some white sticks through the gap between the arms and jacket. There is also a slight discoloration to the arms vs the shoulders with the shoulders being noticeably darker and shinier. This is an older figure so it does feature pins in the joints. I don’t find them particularly distracting, but there must have been suit guys made over the past few years on pin-less bodies, no? I’m surprised he didn’t get a minor cosmetic upgrade as a result.

Hey professor, you got some…ugh…stuff…squirting out of the back of your head.

Articulation for Charlie is pretty typical stuff for Legends. We have: ball hinge neck, ab crunch, ball-hinged shoulders, biceps swivels, wrist swivels and hinges, waist swivel, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, ankle hinge and rocker, double-jointed elbows and knees. Range at the hips and shoulders is mediocre and the ankles are pretty limited too, though I guess that doesn’t matter much for a character who will be seated. He’s going to do what you need him to do, but if that’s something you want him to do is outside Professor X’s typical wheelhouse then you won’t be impressed. Like standing. This guy is really hard to stand because the range on the ankle hinged is poor and his feet are tiny. Again, for this guy it doesn’t matter, but if you wanted to swap in a different Xavier and use this body as a custom for someone else you may be disappointed.

If you’re curious, it can kind of fit the head of the X-Men ’97 Jean.

I have critiques for the presentation and articulation on this set, but the bulk of my criticism is going to reside with the accessories. I suppose one could consider the hoverchair itself an accessory, but since this is a set that’s double the price of a typical Legends release I think of it more like a two-pack where the hoverchair is almost like its own thing. And the hoverchair has the effect part stand and also a little blankie that can go over the lap of its occupant. That’s all fine, but for Xavier himself the accessory count is slight. He has his Cerebro helmet which is more of a classic design than one that’s evocative of the 90s or animated series (if you want a more TV helmet, the new Target exclusive Savage Land Xavier comes with one). It fits on his head fine though you may have to mess with it to get it aligned just right. It also has an effect part that plugs into the back. Its done in white plastic with a pearlescent coating. The shape is like a splatter effect and it’s supposed to represent his psychic powers which are sometimes illustrated with such a shape. For me, I think of them as being colored pink or blue (even the box art opts for pink), though I’m sure someone colored them white at some point in the comics. It’s just this color and this shape make it look like he’s getting hit in the back of the head with a balloon filled with milk, or a substance that’s much more disgusting.

Obviously, this is how everyone is going to display this guy.

For optional parts, we have the head of the Shadow King. Your mileage may vary, but for me, the Shadow King was always one of the lamest characters associated with X-Men. I loathe his episodes from the show so this isn’t an accessory that’s going to appeal to me. That being said, the sculpt and paint on the head is fine. There’s more paint on this thing than probably on the entirety of the rest of the set. It’s also just a head and it’s not meant for this figure. My understanding is that this head is designed to fit on the Kingpin body so if you want to create a Shadow King for your collection you need to go out and get yourself another Kingpin. Which is fine as a throw-in if they had room in the budget, but this head is the only other accessory in the box. We don’t get a second portrait for Charles, we don’t even get any extra hands! I wish he had some neutral hands for just when he’s sitting in his chair or at least one alternative to the pointing fingers hand. A portrait where he’s calling out commands to his X-Men would be appreciated too and I would happily trade this Shadow King head for accessories for Xavier that flesh him out. That’s the character I want. That’s what’s driving my purchasing decision. Not a random part that’s only useful if I go out and buy a whole other figure.

This set may be more expensive than your typical Legends release, but the end result is pretty much the same. This Charles Xavier figure is what you buy if you have a collection of Marvel Legends X-Men and you just want an Xavier. It’s going to slot into your display and anyone who sees it will know that’s Professor X. It’s not going to “wow” anybody though and there are a lot of shortcomings. The actual figure strikes me as a better representation of a 60s and 70s Xavier who was drawn more like an older guy. As a 90s Chuck, this guy is too small and slight. The chair looks fine, but the lack of paint also makes it look cheap. And if they had just done the thing in three pieces where the front portion that covers the characters legs was one piece it would have cut out that hideous seam right down the middle. The accessories are a bummer because the figure feels underbaked, and given that this is a re-release it’s an added bummer because they could have improved the figure at no added expense. There are better suit-guy molds at Hasbro they could have used or just more hands. It’s almost like they want you to go out and buy that Savage Land Xavier in the flight suit if you’re unsatisfied with this one and toss him in the chair instead. I prefer my Xavier in his green suit though, and I don’t like the portrait of that new Xavier. Plus, his assortment of hands are almost as bad as they are here (he comes with trigger finger hands – why would Xavier need trigger finger hands?!).

Obligatory, “To me, my X-Men,” shot.

Should you get this one? I don’t know. It’s really just to fill out a collection which is honestly the worst reason to buy something. I try not to do it because money and space are precious resources and I don’t like wasting either on something I don’t love. And to get this guy into your display it’s going to take some work since he does demand quite a bit of shelf space. It looks okay, so I don’t hate it. I would like it a whole lot more if it were $35 instead of $50 so maybe I should have held out for a sale. One may come, one may not, as X-Men are pretty hot right now thanks to X-Men ’97 so anyone waiting for a sale somewhere is probably taking a risk.

There are more reviews here of X-Men action figures if you’re looking to fill out a shelf:

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

The toyline of my dreams was announced last October. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the television series X-Men, Hasbro is doing a dedicated line of Marvel Legends with figures based on the look of the show. The show was obviously inspired by the designs of Jim Lee, but there are differences in the…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Retro Card Marvel’s Beast

2022 was the year a dream toyline of mine was made a reality. Hasbro finally decided to do a line of Marvel Legends based on the animated series X-Men, which premiered 30 years prior on Halloween 1992. The line was staggered with a release coming every 6-8 weeks or so and ended up totaling 8…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jean Grey

If you are reading this the day it goes live then Happy X-Men ’97 Day! Today is the day the long-awaited sequel series to X-Men debuts on Disney+. Rather than fast-track a review of the first two episodes to this blog, I decided instead to do what I most often do: review an action figure!…

by Joe

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