Category Archives: Television

November 29, 2021

NECA TMNT Cartoon Channel 6 Newsroom SDCC Exclusive Set

By Joe

BREAKING NEWS: San Diego Comic Con exclusives are now shipping! Full story at 10.

Remember San Diego Comic Con? You would be forgiven if you did not since, like last year’s edition, the event was a virtual one once again. Only unlike the 2020 version, this one came with the expectation it would be virtual. It also coincided with a global shipping crisis, so combine that with the expectation that no one would be in attendance, the various companies who were on-hand for the virtual event had little reason to have actual product ready for distribution. Because as many know, SDCC isn’t about just unveiling new things, it’s about selling exclusive merchandise and for toy producers this is usually a pretty big deal.

When it comes to NECA, the company has had a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed item for several years now. With the lines expanding to retail just a couple of years ago, NECA is now in a position where it can make its SDCC sets a little more off-beat. Last year, we saw the company release The Musical Mutagen Tour 4-pack of turtles based on their appearance in the so bad it’s good Coming Out of Their Shells tour from the early 90s. That set definitely fit the bill of one that likely would appeal to a small portion of the TMNT fanbase and not create the sort of intense demand we had seen in the past. As a result, some were disappointed to see NECA devote this year’s set to the Channel 6 news crew from the cartoon.

It’s a NECA four-pack, so expect fancy packaging!

Even though the members of Channel 6 were not mutants, or fighters, they were an integral part of the classic cartoon series simply by virtue of being there. April and her co-workers Irma, Burne, and Vernon were in more episodes than they weren’t so the now adults who watched the show have a pretty strong attachment to them. So far, we’ve seen April and Vernon receive a retail release in the toon line, but Irma and Burne have been shut out. Now, they find themselves in an exclusive set and some were a little irritated about it since they’re definitely characters deserving of a wider release. Those concerns seem to be a bit of a stretch though, as the set went up for sale in July and remained in stock for most of the day. And that was just the initial sale as more are headed to Target in the coming weeks minus some additional swag that was part of the online sale (and had to be paid for).

Even though San Diego Comic Con was in July, and this set was sold in July, it’s just now arriving at the homes of those who purchased it likely due to the shipping issues faced by everyone. When the set went up for sale, it wasn’t clear when it would be released or that it was even a pre-sale thing. It was then speculated by NECA that it might show up in October, but apparently even that was wishful thinking. It is what it is, but after the extended wait I’m here to tell you if this one was worth it, or not.

The Channel 6 Newsroom set is a four-pack of action figures based on the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: April (as a mutated cat), Irma, Burne, and Vernon. Two of those figures will be familiar to collectors of this line as April is essentially a repaint with a new head and forearms while Vernon is a re-release of the same figure from the two-pack released back in January. He does have two new portraits, frightened and blindfolded, and the coloring on his clothing is slightly different, but otherwise he’s old news. The new figures are the long requested Irma and the less requested Burne. Irma is the secretary at Channel 6 and someone seemingly always in the orbit of April. She has several starring moments on the show, but despite that this is only the character’s second figure. And the first was this weird yellow and green thing put out by Playmates. Burne is the resident blowhard of Channel 6, a J. Jonah Jameson type who hates the turtles with little reason why. He’s an unlikable sort and not featured as prominently as the other members of the crew, but he’s a pretty essential character too. And like Irma, he only had the one release in the Playmates line, though his was actually pretty good for that line aside from the sculpted hamburger permanently in his hand. And like most of NECA’s four-packs, this one includes a bevy of accessories which, at the end of the day, are likely to be the only exclusive items in here when all is said and done. Well, that and maybe Cat April.

As has been standard with past NECA four-packs, this one comes in a highly decorative package. There’s a slipcase with artwork depicting The Catwoman of Channel 6 that has April in her cat form superimposed over a more scenic pic of the Channel 6 building. Slide that off and you get a five-panel window box that has April on the front as-if she’s broadcasting through a television. The flap is secured via Velcro and once opened the figures are present via the window along with all of their stuff. Mine arrived slightly damaged, which is a bit of a bummer since this is a box I actually intend to keep. The inner box has a puncture in it, though the slipcover is fine. Inside is a backdrop featuring the Channel 6 studio which should actually make for a decent display for the figures when removed. It’s pretty standard packaging at this point, though this one is a bit deeper than the other four-packs and will thus occupy more real estate on your shelf.

April looks fine, though for once I think NECA went too far with the added linework, particularly around her muzzle.

Before we get to the new figures, we should probably talk about the familiar figures and we’ll start with Cat April. This is from the episode “The Catwoman of Channel 6” where April is accidentally mutated and then put under Shredder’s control via a collar. It’s a fairly memorable episode, and a worthwhile variant to explore. The figure’s body is the same as the much maligned April we got before. That April is probably the worst figure in the line so far owing to the fact that it’s not in scale with the turtles and the head-sculpt is just not particularly good. This figure repeats the scale issue since it uses the same body, but it at least is able to rectify the head issue by giving April an all new cat sculpt. It looks quite nice and the collar is also present and removable if you pop her head off. The chest and forearms had to be altered as well by painting them to match the fur of her face and to give her claws. Because of that, it wouldn’t be a simple thing to include a standard April head to switch to as NECA would have needed to basically swap out the whole upper torso. And there’s also the matter of the tail which removing such would leave a hole in the figure’s rear. I’m not going to run down the articulation on this one again, but know that it’s fine and you now have a bendy tail to add to it.

Vernon’s back and he has lots of stuff this time.

Just like April, Vernon is essentially the same figure as before so I don’t feel the need to go over everything again. The only difference with this Vernon is his tie is a different color and his facial portraits are new. The tie thing is cartoon accurate as he had multiple looks. The other colors of his clothing have also been lightened a bit so his shirt is a paler pink and his jeans a lighter blue. That’s not likely to excite anyone, but what I think will please most is the new frightened expression he comes with. Vernon is a character with barely more than two emotions, smug and scared, and this captures that second one very well. It’s the expression I think of first with the character as it seemed to become his dominant trait as the show went along. The first release gave us smug, so it was nice to get this one. The second portrait is a blindfolded one, which looks fine, but has limited uses. Honestly, after taking a few pictures here I probably won’t use it again. I would have much preferred an agitated Vernon giving us a good trifecta of expressions of smug, scared, and angry to go along with the mutant rat parts released previously. I was tempted to grab a second Rat King/Vernon set just so I could have mutant Vernon on my shelf at all times, and now I can!

She can’t do much, but at least she can answer a phone.

All right, lets talk about the new characters and first up is Irma. I don’t think it’s a hot take to call Irma a fan favorite. Maybe kids watching the show didn’t think much of her, but I definitely find her as a source of entertainment in the show when I go back to it. Not much about this show holds up on adult viewings, but Irma might hold up the best. She’s depicted in her standard attire: blue sweater, red glasses, long skirt, yellow shoes. For her facial expression, NECA went with a concerned, or worried, look. I think they were aiming for neutral, but it comes off a little awkward. It’s not a bad look for the character as her eyebrows had a tendency to always be in that concerned position, but I wish we got a second portrait for a little variety.

This isn’t going to help her get a date.

She picks up an extra point of articulation with the jaw on the rat head.

Her unique attire makes her articulation a bit lacking. Her head is on a ball peg and she has sufficient range there though her hair keeps her from looking up. Her shoulders are ball-hinges and she has the same style of double elbows as April. Her forearms rotate where they meet her sleeve and her wrists are swivel/hinges. The torso doesn’t feature any articulation, but her waist is joined to the hip with a ball-peg so she can pivot and rotate. Unfortunately, the long skirt kills most of her leg articulation. I think she has ball joints at the hips and double knees below, but you won’t be getting much out of them. At the ankles are hinges and rocker joints.

Shredder always used turtle soup as a threat, but only Burne followed through.

Burne is our other new figure this time around and he’s quite different from his box-mates. Short and squat, Burne is definitely the heaviest figure in the box and the chunkyness of the sculpt makes me think of the vintage toy line. He’s depicted in his standard, very blue, attire of light blue work shirt, dark blue tie, and blue slacks. His default look out of the box is this angry expression where he’s almost twisting his head in rage. The other is a smug look. I’m not sure which I prefer. I think angry when I think of the character, but the smug one looks more on-model to me, though both have their charms. He’s painted cleanly and really looks the part so if you’ve been waiting 30 years for a toon accurate Burne this should do the trick.

Even though Burne is rather chunky, he’s still expected to be able to move well since he is, after all, an action figure. He’s got a ball-peg at the head with solid range, shoulder hinges, and single-jointed elbows. I thought they might use the same double elbows the other characters possess, but NECA opted for something that’s definitely cleaner. It’s just not super functional as I can’t get his arms to go straight, nor can he really bend past 90 degrees.. He’s got swivels and hinges at the wrist and a ball-joint in the waist that lets him move around pretty well, though he lacks torso articulation. The ball joints at the hips work well considering the roundness of this area of the figure, and NECA did include double-jointed knees that let Burne kick all the way back to his own ass. I can’t seem to engage both joints though no matter how much heat I apply, which is a bit frustrating. The ankles are hinged and pivot, but they’re very stiff and the hinges were painted a dark brown over blue plastic which looks bad once the paint flakes.

On the quality control front, this set is a bit of a step back from more recent releases. I had a lot of stuck and fused joints out of the box, in particular with Burne and April. Burne’s left knee just didn’t want to do anything, and after heating only the top hinge works. With April, her knees are also a pain point as the top hinge won’t go into a default pose. As you can see in my pictures, her knees are always slightly bent. She arrived that way, and heating them and then plunging them into cold water hasn’t done the trick. Just straight heat makes them rather gummy and are more likely to warp or damage them further if I persist. I’ll just keep her in a pouncing position, I guess. April also has paint-flaking issues on her arms with white or clear plastic beneath. Irma runs into the same thing as do the flesh portions on Vernon. It can lead to an eyesore which just makes me want to leave these figures alone once I find a pose I like and call it a day.

These giant cameras are arguably the real stars here.

NECA included a fair amount of accessories with this set, and the big ones are the two studio cameras and lights. They look terrific and the paint on these is excellent. The lights can pivot and rotate and the cameras do the same. They all have plugs too which makes me want outlets that can accommodate them. There’s also a cat with a toy mouse and the cat’s head is on a ball peg so it can move a bit, but nothing special. There’s also a pair of turtle versions of Burne and Vernon that are pretty fun to look at and can be hidden in a display as the cowardly pair try to avoid getting squashed. There’s also a boom mic which is affixed via a non-removable cord to a messenger bag. The bag is similar to Dirtbag’s backpack in that it’s a soft plastic that can actually open.

I guess the toy mouse is an April accessory?

As for more character specific accessories, we have a few. Irma has a pair of open hands and a wider gripping hand to go with the more relaxed gripping hands attached to her by default. And like the first release of Vernon, she has swappable rat parts to duplicate her mutant rat form. The only nitpick with her though is she should have visible non-mutated flesh by her ankles, but NECA “cheated” and instead made her leggings extend to her shoes rather than make her shins swap. There’s also a rotary phone that’s either for her or Burne, but either one can use it. It’s fun and in the same fashion as the Sam and Max phone from Boss Fight Studio pair I looked at earlier this year. For Burne, he comes with fists, but also has a pair of gripping hands and open hands that look like they should be typing. It makes me wish I had a desk to pair with him to set him up with the phone and Chrome Dome’s PC. He also has a bowl of turtle soup and a spoon to consume it with. There’s also a framed photo of his girlfriend, Tiffany, and the image is a rendered one that makes her kind of look like an action figure. Maybe an actual figure will be crafted in the future, though she definitely feels like a Loot Crate release. There’s also a framed photo of a “hunky reporter,” as the box refers to it, that I think was someone Irma lusted over. Vernon also has gripping hands and a pointing hand plus one more wider gripping hand. April has no extra parts.

In case you prefer your Vernon blindfolded.

If you bought this set from NECA direct, then you also got some extra swag. If you’ve purchased a Loot Crate since NECA took over, then this basically feel like that. You get a t-shirt, pin, patch, badge, and poster. The shirt contains original, toon-inspired art, of the figures present in this set plus a few other characters from the show. It’s printed on blue and it’s okay, but the art is way off model when compared to the toon and some of the designs (like Burne) I do not care for. The patch is a Channel patch while the badge is a replica of April’s press badge. Unlike the badge we just saw with the movie April, this one is a nice, thick, plastic and feels like a badge should, I just really dislike the picture of April used for it. It’s the same one from the box of the April and Foot two-pack from last year. The pin is an enamel one of the news van and its fine if you’re into pins. The poster is an 11″ by 7″ print of the Channel 6 building. It comes rolled up so it’s a bit of a pain to flatten out. It might make for a decent backdrop though for your figures. The retail version of this box set released at Target won’t include any of these items, but it will also be cheaper as a result and the trade-off is probably better for those who find this in stores.

The Channel 6 set from NECA is a solid release, it’s just not as fun or as exciting as some of the other four packs NECA has done. Irma is a great character, but her figure is so limited due to her design which really saps a lot of the fun out of her. I’m left wishing that NECA went the Super7 route and gave collectors the option of a sculpted skirt or a soft goods one. It’s really needed for her rat mutation as she just looks so static posed with Vernon in his mutated form. On the plus side, I don’t feel a desire to get a second Irma as a result to display both versions, I’ll probably just keep her unmutated. Burne is a solid representation of the character, he’s just also limited by his design. And he’s Burne, the least entertaining character from this assortment. As for Vernon and April, well, I don’t mind having a second Vernon so I can display the rat one too and he’s fine. April is still a bit off as far as scale goes, but I’d like this figure a lot if the joints weren’t so stuck and flaky. It’s a memorable version of the character at least and one I’m happy to have. NECA is allegedly prepping a deluxe April for the toon line to release in 2022, and I hope it’s just an all new figure to properly correct the scale issues.

“Oh no! April’s turned into a cat!” “Hey Leo, you remember your laser point?!”

The new characters scale pretty well. April is still off.

If you missed out on the NECA sale and want to add this set to your collection it should show up in Target sometime in December. I’m not sure what it’s going to retail for once there though as I believe it’s going to be more expensive than the Turtles in Disguise set, which was $125. It’s not cheap, but for now, this is the only way to add Irma and Burne to your collection. I suspect Irma will get a two-pack release eventually, but I’m less confident when it comes to Burne. We’ll see. Even though this set didn’t “wow” me, I’m still happy to have it as these are characters I want in my display. Hopefully, everyone that wants one has a chance to buy one and happy hunting to all who are braving the stores this holiday season!

3 Comments | tags: action figures, burne, channel 6 news, irma, neca, san diego comic con 2021, teenage mutant ninja turtles, the catwoman of channel 6, vernon | posted in Television, toys

November 26, 2021

DC Collectibles BTAS #42 – Gray Ghost

By Joe

I have long maintained that the best episode of the now classic Batman: The Animated Series is the Mr. Freeze story, “Heart of Ice.” It is not, however, my favorite episode of the show as that honor belongs to “Beware the Gray Ghost.” That episode introduced the character Gray Ghost, a superhero from television who was the in-universe inspiration for nearly every aspect of the Batman character. There’s a terrific sequence at the start of the episode where shots of young Bruce Wayne watching his favorite program are cut with acts of Batman in the present virtually mirroring his childhood idol. We’ll find out during the episode that not only are many of Batman’s mannerisms based on the character, but even the very layout of the Batcave. Turns out, Batman is just a nerd in a cape and shares more similarities with his audience than previously thought.

Peeling back some of the untold origins of the Batman character can certainly make an episode memorable, but what really makes “Beware the Gray Ghost” work is the casting of the Gray Ghost himself. In the show, the Gray Ghost was played by actor Simon Trent, who following his show’s cancellation found himself typecast and unable to find consistent work. He’s a Gotham resident and nearing the end of his rope as he’s forced to sell nearly every piece of memorabilia he saved from the show just to make rent. And playing Trent is none other than Adam West. Come 1992, when the episode first aired, West was quite similar to Trent in that he struggled to land big roles following his turn as the caped crusader in the 1960s television series Batman. His campy character had also been usurped by a more brooding Batman as seen in 1989’s Batman. West was viewed more as a punchline as a result, his Batman being a dork while Keaton’s was a brutal enforcer.

Gray Ghost unboxed. I’ll spare MOC collectors from having to look at him in-box since I went ahead and removed a valuable figure from its packaging. That would be torture for some, and I’m very much against torture.

For those who worked on BTAS, that wasn’t the West they grew up with. For them, and even kids in 1992 like myself, West’s Batman was the first Batman we really knew. He wasn’t campy, he was smart, capable, and could kick the butt of any hoodlum thrown his way. It was only as we grew older that we realized what that show, and character, were aiming for. And it’s a great show! I recommend it to anyone. No, you’re not getting the same Batman Frank Miller wrote, but this is a character that’s been around for nearly 100 years and has had lots of contributing writers. There is no one Batman, no “best” Batman, just many Batmen. And this episode felt like the show trying to take that back, to shine a light on actor Adam West and provide almost a final say on that era of the character. We loved him as children, and we love him as adults. It’s a beautiful episode of the show and it’s only more poignant with West’s passing.

Simple, effective, paint apps on the face get the job done.

Because of my love for that episode, and that character, I was immediately drawn to the DC Collectibles Gray Ghost action figure from its line of figures based on Batman: The Animated Series. Even though it wasn’t a line I actively collected, I wanted to make an exception for this figure. I assumed I’d run into it eventually at a comic or collectibles store as one of my routines was to walk to a local one near my office in Boston, but I never did run into this figure. And once COVID arrived, I found myself working remotely and those casual strolls are long over. I sort of lost track of this one, but when I got the new Batman over the summer from the sequel line The Adventure Continues I was reminded that I really wanted a Gray Ghost to pair with it. Unfortunately, so did many others as after-market prices were ridiculous as DC Collectibles was folded and production ceased. A lot of the figures, especially the ones released late in the line, are now prohibitively expensive save for a select few. I kept my eye out for a deal, but honestly never really expected one to happen.

Fast-forward several months later, and a deal was found! Prices have been falling on Gray Ghost, maybe in anticipation of more re-releases, or maybe the COVID bubble is starting to burst on collectibles. Whatever the reason, I started seeing lots of “Buy It Now” listings on eBay just sit and finally a true auction came along and I was able to snag it! No, I didn’t pay retail for the figure, but I also didn’t pay triple retail. I paid enough though as this is a line that isn’t great. There are a lot of bad designs, many characters that look fine, but can’t move or function very well. Even that Batman I got over the summer is just “okay.” Aesthetically, it’s pretty great and in some respects I like it more than the far more expensive MAFEX Batman I bought around the same time, but he’s not very posable and feels a bit fragile. I certainly had concerns about Gray Ghost as a result, but the construction of the figure looked okay from a distance, and now I know for sure since I have it in-hand.

Who needs Robin when you have Gray Ghost?

The Gray Ghost is depicted in his costume from “Beware the Gray Ghost” when Trent puts it on and helps Batman in solving the mystery of the mad bomber. Even though Trent was an older guy, he’s still in pretty great shape so his body shape is pretty much the same as Batman’s. Broad shoulders, long limbs, he looks like a guy who could handle himself in a fight. He also stands nearly as tall as Batman coming in at 6 1/8″ roughly, which is about an eighth of an inch shorter than the caped crusader.

Tagline for the poorly conceived Gray Ghost reboot: He’s no friendly ghost.

As the name implies, the Gray Ghost is clad almost entirely in gray. His hat and cape are more of a slate gray, while the uniform is a paler gray and quite close in color to Batman’s uniform. He has black shoes and a black ribbon around the hat to go along with gray goggles that blend into his gray hair. It’s odd to see the hair and goggles painted in the same shade of gray, but the show looks to have done the same. The only other color on the figure is the flesh of his face and the blue on the lenses of the goggles. And that’s fine as it’s in keeping with the character’s look in the show which seemed to have a philosophy of “keep it simple, stupid” for animation reasons. The coat of the Gray Ghost is like a double-breasted coat without a collar. The buttoned portion is sculpted on the figure while the cape is laid over it and likely affixed with glue. The only other sculpted detail on the figure really are the folds in the bottom of the pants and the cuffs of the gloves. The face is done well as the designers captured his sunken cheeks and the lines around the mouth are sculpted in as well. He has a serious, almost grim, expression and it’s suitable for when he was stalking the night alongside Batman.

As Gray Ghost inspects the subpar painting on his car, you can also see, just barely, the flesh-colored paint by his right armpit.

Because Gray Ghost is so lacking in color, DC Collectibles also could save money on paint. Basically, all of the paint is reserved for the head, which makes it hard to explain why my figure has some flesh colored paint near his right armpit. It’s on the front of the figure and kind of a bummer, but I’ve been able to scratch most of it away. I just don’t want to damage to figure underneath. Aside from that, what little paint is present is applied well enough. The painter just barely missed the sculpted outline of the goggles on the left side of the figure, but it’s only noticeable to someone really looking carefully. It wouldn’t surprise me if the cape is painted, but I don’t know for certain. You just may want to exercise caution when flexing it as it’s a soft, rubbery, cape.

Imagine if this could have been done like a Micro Machines car? As is, it’s still pretty cool.

Overall, I think this figure looks very good. Especially for this line and he fits in well with the Batman figure I already have. What usually concerns me about this line is durability and articulation. And when it comes to articulation, I am mostly concerned with the aesthetics of it and how it relates to the durability concerns. Thankfully, most of these concerns are for naught with this figure. Gray Ghost is fairly chunky and thus doesn’t feel particularly fragile. The only thing I don’t like is swapping hands as the pegs are small and have a snug fit. I worry about them breaking at the hinge more so than snapping. Otherwise, all of the other joints feel okay. They’re stiff and it was a little concerning out of the box as should I have broken anything it wasn’t like I could easily replace it, but no such breaks occurred.

This little VHS accessory is my favorite in this one. The rear of which is blurry with the naked eye, and worse through an iPhone camera.

In terms of points of articulation, Gray Ghost is fairly vanilla. He has a ball hinge at the head. It works fine, but considering that area is about the only paint on the figure you will want to make sure it’s not rubbing any part of the collar below. The shoulders are just ball-hinges and he can raise his arm out to the side just fine, but the cape will prevent him from being able to do Pete Townsend impressions. The elbows are single-hinges with swivels. They can get to about 90 degrees on a bend and look fine as he doesn’t have the weird elbow overhangs that Batman has. In the torso is nothing, as far as I know. The coat is rigid so I don’t think it’s an overlay and if there’s a waist twist or ball joint I can’t tell as the coat comes over the crotch. And at that crotch is one of those soft, plastic, “diaper” pieces that offers some flexibility, though you’re not likely to do much with the legs. They’re affixed via ball joints ditching those awful hinged things this line was known for. There’s a twist there as a result, but not a true thigh cut. He can’t kick that far forward without hitting that diaper. If you wanted to force it you probably could, but I don’t want to risk warping the plastic there. The knees are double-jointed and look great when his legs are straight and just a little messy when bent as they wanted to keep the uniform shape of the pants. The joints can be a little stubborn, but it’s functional if you want to do something like a running pose. At the ankles, there’s a hinge and a rocker. They’re tight, and the feet sit fairly deep in the cuffs of the pants. If they can twist, I haven’t been able to get them to go. It was a little dicey even figuring out the ankle pivot, but it’s there, and it works.

Gray Ghost ready to meet his adoring fans.

Gray Ghost is okay when it comes to the action portion. He’s best served to mostly stand there, and his accessories at least aid in that. He comes with gripping hands in the box and they’re fairly wide. They look a little silly for default hands as a result, and I wish he had either fists or relaxed hands for a more neutral pose. He also has a right, trigger finger hand and a handgun to pair with it. The handgun is all gray and has a boxy design to it with some sculpted details. It’s not something Trent handled during his evening with Batman, but he was seen with a gun on a poster in the episode. The episode specific accessories are an RC car and VHS set. The car is what the mad bomber used to deliver his payloads. It’s the #3 car and the sculpt looks pretty good. The tires do not rotate so it’s just a brick of painted plastic. The paint job is not great. The base color must be black or gray because some parts of the orange appear thin with the darker plastic seeping through. There’s also some slop as there’s a lot of paint on a small object. It fits in his hands okay, but definitely be careful as I’d hate to see orange paint transferring to the gray hands of the figure. The other accessory is the VHS set Gray Ghost can be seen autographing at the end of the episode. It’s a chunky piece of blue plastic with a front and back printed onto it. It looks great, though it’s a bit weird that one of the images on the back of the set is young Bruce watching the show. I suppose it’s just a nod to the episode, but it doesn’t make sense for Bruce to be there. Gray Ghost comes with another right hand that’s holding a writing instrument so he can be posed autographing it for Batman. The end of the pen is curled on mine and I don’t know if that’s supposed to be like that or not. It works well enough though to achieve the look the designers were going for.

“Can you please make it out to, umm, Bruce…your number one fan…”

All in all, a light assortment of accessories for the Gray Ghost, but an appropriate assortment. The only thing I miss are just more hands because the car and VHS are so bulky that his gripping hands needed to be wide enough to accommodate them, which means they look kind of silly when not holding anything. I suspect, as a result, most have no use for that right, gripping, hand as he’ll either be holding his gun or signing the VHS. I suppose you could position him looking for a handshake from Batman, but he doesn’t really have a hand shaking hand to go with it. There’s also no stand included, which many of the older figures came with, but was also universally maligned, it would seem. It’s no loss, though I wish he had peg holes on the bottom of his feet. He stands fine without any help. There’s a little weight on the back of the figure due to the cape, but I don’t have to tilt his upper body forward to get him to stand. It’s more of a case of me being fearful of breaking or having this guy take a shelf dive since he’s so hard to get and wanting a little extra security.

DC Collectibles’ take on the Gray Ghost was able to meet my expectations. I suppose in some respects the figure exceeded them as I don’t really have any issues with the figure’s construction. I wish he had more hands and maybe a waist twist, but he looks good and that’s the most important piece to me. This is the Gray Ghost I want and I didn’t trust McFarlane to deliver as that company’s animated characters do their own thing, design wise. This looks like the character I fell in love with almost 30 years ago and that’s exactly what I want. I can position him with my Batman and be reminded of that viewing experience every time I look their way. There are a few other figures from this line I would like to have, but Gray Ghost was the only one I felt I needed following Batman and I’m glad I have him.

Leave a comment | tags: action figures, adam west, batman, batman the animated series, dc collectibles, gray ghost | posted in batman the animated series, Television, toys

November 23, 2021

NECA TMNT Cartoon Wingnut & Screwloose

By Joe

For most fans of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the 1980s, you reside in two camps when it comes to how certain characters are remembered: either from the cartoon/comics, or from the Playmates toy line. For Wingnut and Screwloose, I suspect most associate them with the action figure, but there are those who think of them first as members of the Mighty Mutanimals, the Archie Comics sister book to their version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When it came to the toy line, many of those characters would be brought over and usually as villains. What many consider to be classic villains Slash and Leatherhead, actually started off as heroic allies of the TMNT. And when it came time to bring them into the animated universe, it was usually as characters based on the toys so to the rogue’s gallery they went. Even some of the few that were made heroes by Playmates would get the villain treatment, like Mondo Gecko, though he would come around by episode’s end.

For Wingnut and Screwloose, they too got the villain treatment despite being counted amongst the allies by Playmates. Their Playmates design also differed wildly from the comic as the toy maker preferred to envision Wingnut as a Batman parody. The mutant bat is clad in blue and gray evoking memories of Batman’s past. He’s also a little on the paunchy side, which might have been Playmates poking a little fun at actor Adam West. By the early 90s, the Batman most associated with the brand was the one featured in Tim Burton’s film. He was a brooding character sporting all black, muscled, features, even though actor Michael Keaton wasn’t exactly the brawny type. It was quite fashionable in those days to poke fun at the campy show from the 1960s and West’s “pure West” physique, while certainly not overweight or anything, was definitely not the muscled look the character had undertaken. Nevertheless, the design was quite interesting and Wingnut was a favorite of many of my friends. Screwloose, on the other hand, was just a sculpted lump of plastic, one of the earliest “buddy” accessories to be featured in the line. I’m actually not sure which buddy was my first, but I think it was either Screwloose or Joe Eyeball.

Why the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles decided to take a clear Batman parody, or homage, and make it a bad guy is beyond me. Sure, Wingnut is a bit fearsome looking, but I never confused him for a villain. The show decided to make him and Screwloose a pair of invading aliens, with Screwloose actually serving as the brains of the duo. Making them aliens actually kept them inline with their comic counterparts, who did start off a bit villainous before switching to the side of good, but otherwise they’re kind of their own thing here. The design for both is clearly taken from the toys, something the cartoon seemed more willing to do in later seasons, probably because it was hard to come up with a bunch of new designs with those larger episode orders. And now, NECA Toys has made it so we can have toon accurate versions of these characters for the very first time.

Wingnut is definitely one of the heaviest figures to grace this line.

Wingnut and Screwloose come in an oversized two-pack box. The actual design is standard, it’s just massive. The height and width are essentially universal for the line, it’s the depth where this one gets beefy. I have it at 5 1/4″ which is about an inch deeper than the recent Groundchuck and Dirtbag box. The box depth obviously varies, but for comparison’s sake the Casey Jones and Foot two-pack was a miniscule 2 1/2″. The end result is you know when you’re handling this one as to grip it across the top with one hand results in me being able to feel the skin between my thumb and index finger stretching.

He’s not much taller than a turtle, but he’s a whole lot chunkier.

The box has to be this big because Wingnut is an especially large figure. As far as height goes, he’s a rather ordinary 6 1/8″ to the top of his head and a full 7″ to the top of his ears. It’s his bulk though that makes him quite large as this is a big boy. The Playmates figure was a little on the soft side, but cartoon Wingnut is a bat that’s clearly let himself go. He’s got a huge backside and then when you add in the wings the figure gets even deeper. And because he’s so chunky, he’s got quite the heft to him. Screwloose, by comparison, is far more diminutive and is in-line with figures like Baxter and Splinter. He’s around 4 1/2″ tall and not particularly bulky or anything. Though it certainly makes him a lot bigger than the vintage toy. I don’t have my old toy for comparison, but I think most of the sculpted details of the figure were carried over to the show so he’s got a tank top, four arms, pants, and shoes to go along with his bug features like wings and a tail. I remember the figure having a little belly on him, and the cartoon retained that. It was interesting getting a better look at Screwloose as a kid when he showed up in the toon, and it’s nice to see him finally have a proper figure.

Everything about this figure is big, including the gun.

Back to Wingnut. As I said, his design mimics the toy, but in bringing him to the show some details were either scrapped or simplified. He no longer has a logo on his chest and his uniform doesn’t feature any rips or holes. His face also just features less detail and his tongue is no longer permanently sticking out. The dominant color of his suit is a gray that appears to have a touch of purple mixed in. It complements the blue mask, gauntlets, and boots and the pale yellow of the belt and pouches is certainly evocative of classic Batman. In true NECA fashion, there’s lot of black line work painted on and the rear of the figure is cast in darker shades to evoke the cel-shading present in the show. In this case, the rear of Wingnut is very much a shade of purple while the blue is just a richer shade of blue. He has a somewhat menacing, teeth-gritting, expression on his face that was, more or less, his default look on the show. What really stands out though are those wings. Wingnut has these tiny, little, bat wings that probably weren’t suitable to handling his massive bulk, so either he or someone else outfitted him with metal wings that fit over them. They’re riveted and feature what look to be thrusters on the bottom and guns at the top. What’s really neat though is NECA was able to sculpt and paint the biological wings inside of them and the result is so impressive that I can’t tell if it’s one sculpt or two.

What’s less impressive though, is some of the paint applications. The paint on the wings is phenomenal, but on the figure itself there are some problems and chief among them are the teeth. Wingnut is supposed to have pretty normal looking toon teeth, but with two fangs in the front that were illustrated to fit over the teeth, rather than apparently exist as teeth on their own. This apparently caused problems for the painting as it looks like those fangs are sculpted, but the factory just did normal, grid-like, line work for the teeth. It’s messy, and it seems to be a consistent problem with this figure based on the others I’ve seen. Beyond that, the other paint imperfections are largely minor. There’s some black lines that aren’t quite lined up with where they should be and some bleeding over the edges, such as with the blue on the fingers, in other places. It’s the type of variance one would expect. I will add, that after a mostly paint-flaking free experience with Dirtbag and Groundchuck, this figure is definitely a messy one to handle at first. Lots of painted joints, which means lots of paint flakes winding up on whatever surface you’re handling him over.

With Screwloose, the expectation is that he’d be a lot less interesting in comparison with his box-mate based solely on size. And that’s true, but he’s also less interesting just because his sculpt requires far less detail. He’s dressed like a bum, though his shoes are a bit fancier than a bum would dress, so there’s not a lot of texture work with him. Possibly because he’s mostly yellow, NECA didn’t really do much with the paint as far as the usual light on the front, dark on the rear goes. They mainly just did it with his shirt, while his purple pants appear to be uniform in color. His stomach is painted green, which I always felt was an odd choice on the part of the toon and he does have some green spikes on his arms. He’s painted well enough though, but he does have some of the older problems from this line. Namely, the paint on the joints will flake off leaving a clear plastic beneath. It’s definitely not the eyesore some of the other figures experienced, but it’s unfortunate. There was also some paint rub from his arms or back to the wings so mine have a little yellow on them.

Paint rub and flaking is more of an issue with this guy as you can see the white, or clear, plastic in some of the hinges has been exposed after just light manipulation.

In terms of articulation, these guys basically do what you’d expect of them. Wingnut’s head appears to be on a double-ball peg so he gets movement at the head and the neck, which is concealed in the body. He can look down, and if you have a flight stand capable of supporting his bulk, he can even look ahead in a horizontal flying pose. The arms are ball-hinged at the shoulders with those bulky, NECA, double-elbows. They twist above the joint, and below, and genuinely look fine because there’s so much going on with the costume. He can bend his elbow a little past 90, but if anything I have a problem getting his arm perfectly straight. He’s tight, and I can’t tell if he’s only supposed to go so far or not. At the wrist though we have the usual swivel and hinge system. In the upper torso, there’s a diaphragm joint right below his “bust” that allows him to tilt, rotate, and even crunch forward and back a bit. There’s no true waist twist, and the legs on the new ball pegs. They’re plenty secure, which is good for such a big figure. The knees are just single joints and they’re either really tight, or slightly ratcheted, as mine kind of click when I move them. They don’t offer much range as this is a character meant to always be hunched slightly, but they work fine as far as allowing the figure to stand effortlessly. His ankles are hinged, and they don’t have much range there, but they do have rocker-tilt which works just fine. Wingnut’s tail, tiny as it may be, is on a ball hinge so there’s some play there. The wings are also on ball hinges so they can rotate and “flap” as well as they probably need to.

These guys aren’t super poseable, but they’re still capable of looking cool on a shelf.

As for Screwloose, he’s basically the same. His head is just on a ball peg, but there’s enough range to let him look in basically any direction, he’s just going to have a bobble head from certain angles. All four shoulders are standard ball hinges and are quite tight. I think it’s due to them sitting fairly deep in the sculpt, but moving them around gets messy due to all of the paint flaking. The elbows are just single joints and they rotate as well. The knees are single hinges too and there’s a ball peg, I think, between the shirt and belly that lets him rotate and tilt ever so slightly in all directions. The wings are ball-hinged like Wingnut’s, though the tail appears to just swivel. It was also so tight initially that I wasn’t sure if it moved at all, but it just needed to have its seal “cracked.” I also think his ankles can pivot, but they sure don’t want to. He’s quite light though so he doesn’t need his ankles to do much in order to stand.

Raph, you’re probably going to want more than your sai here.

This set is definitely not the most dynamic as far as posing possibilities go. Screwloose just doesn’t have a ton of options, while Wingnut is mostly limited by his bulk. That doesn’t mean they can’t look interesting on your shelf, and NECA did include some accessories to help there. With Wingnut, we get three sets of hands: fists, open, and gripping. The gripping hands are meant to wield his massive bazooka. Initially I thought it was the Triceraton gun with some parts swapped, but this is all new and much bigger. It’s a gun he handled for all of 2 seconds in his lone cartoon appearance, but it is toon accurate. The grip is a touch loose, but that’s probably a good thing in order to avoid lots of paint rub when inserting it into his hands. And even so, you’re likely to experience some anyway. Screwloose, on the other hand, gets nothing. He has two open hands and two gripping hands and you can easily move them from one arm to another, but that’s all. He does come with a flight stand, and it’s the improved one we saw with the video game Baxter that has an extra joint in it. It’s still annoying in that you can’t have the claw at a true horizontal angle, but it works all right. Lastly, NECA included some paper goods. There’s a wanted sticker for Smash, leader of the Crooked Ninja Turtle gang, as well as Wingnut’s W logo from the toy and a sticker for a map. The map is from an episode where it’s discovered Splinter’s kimono hides a secret and you can stick it on your Splinter if you want. I probably won’t There are also four, mini, comic books for your turtles to read taken from the episode. A fun, little, touch, for sure.

Screwloose just gets a flight stand, but hey, at least he can fly!

Novelty toss-ins, or hints of what’s to come?!

Wingnut and Screwloose are a fairly iconic pair in the Turtle-verse owing mostly to their appearance in the vintage toyline. Their animated appearance was far more forgettable (especially since it was a Zach-centric episode and he sucks) and downright bizarre in some respects, but the designs were still fun since they basically mirrored the toys. As an action figure pair, there’s definitely some warts present, but nothing that comes close to ruining the experience. The accessories are a bit on the light side, but there really wasn’t much to source from the episode they were a part of and NECA even tossed in the deep cut that is the map sticker and included a flight stand for Screwloose. And possibly because they didn’t have to go too nutty on the accessories, this one comes in at a price point of $55, cheaper than Dirtbag and Groundchuck even though, like that pair, these guys appear to feature all new tooling. The only real issue I have are Wingnut’s teeth as they look rather bad and since they’re right on front of the figure’s face there’s no avoiding the issue. Again, it’s not enough of an issue for me to not recommend this set. These guys succeed like almost every other figure in the line in achieving that “pulled right from the cartoon” aesthetic, and a giant Batman parody and four-armed mosquito are inherently fun designs. I would definitely suggest adding this set to your toon display as it’s one of the better two-packs NECA has put out so far.

Wingnut and Screwloose are currently showing up at Target stores across the US. They appear to be arriving in solid quantities, and being that they’re cartoon appearance isn’t particularly memorable, the sets appear to be hanging around longer than a few minutes. Good luck!

1 Comment | tags: action figures, archie comics, mighty mutanimals, neca, playmates, screwloose, teenage mutant ninja turtles, wingnut | posted in Television, toys

November 16, 2021

NECA TMNT Cartoon Dirtbag and Groundchuck

By Joe

NECA’s line of action figures based on the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been a wonderful source of nostalgia for 80s/90s kids even as the line heads into more obscure territories. In socializing with individuals of my age, it feels like a lot of those 5 and 6 year-olds who were watching the first few seasons of the show outgrew it come the early 90s. By then we were in the midst of a cartoon boom and the quality of shows was increasing with seemingly every new show. Practically overnight, the cartoon that was really just a not so cleverly disguised toy commercial started to fall out of favor. You still had your Street Sharks and Biker Mice From Mars, but there were also a ton of one and done type shows that came and went. With TMNT, the show seemed to get more mileage out of the fact that it started to take from the toyline, rather than dictate it. It used to be that a character would appear in the show, then eventually make its way to store shelves, but giant episode orders probably made it easier to just grab a toy and integrate it into the show practically 1:1. And so we have Dirtbag and Groundchuck.

I remember this pair showing up in stores roughly at the same time. I never had the Playmates Dirtbag, but I did have Groundchuck and he was one of my favorite designs from the line. I liked his armor-plated leg and the harsh shade of red that was his fur seemed cool to me. He had a crossbow weapon and a Foot logo tattoo on his arm and he became one of my chosen enemies. I even played with him so much he eventually fell apart, something that never happened to any of my other TMNT toys. He and Dirtbag eventually made their animated debut in the episode “Planet of the Turtleoids,” the same episode as Chrome Dome and Kerma. They were supposed to be the new Bebop and Rocksteady, but they had little interest in taking orders so that’s how the writers were able to move on from them. They were actually competent villains for the turtles, so that right there makes them fairly unique amongst the rogues from that show.

“By any chance, would you two be interested in helping a poor, defenseless, turtle?”

Since Dirtbag and Groundchuck arrived in the show as a pair, it made sense for NECA to release them as a pair. This year, we’ve seen toy companies do their best to adapt to the shipping crisis and uptick in factory rates and NECA has made some changes to this year’s releases as a result. We saw the figures Mondo Gecko and Muckman split into deluxe releases and we’ve also seen an uptick in price. With Dirtbag and Groundchuck, there was just no getting around the issue of costs. These two are, as far as I can tell, entirely unique as far as tooling goes. We’ve seen NECA get a lot of mileage out of the Bebop and Rocksteady base here and there, but that won’t work for this pair. As a result, we have the priciest two-pack in the line as this set retails for $65. Some may balk at the increase, at this time last year a NECA two-pack was $52, but I for one would rather receive an uncompromised product than a cheap one. No, I don’t particularly like paying more money for something, but I understand the economics in play.

Who would have thought a mutant mole would be so cool? The bull is kind of a given though.

Dirtbag and Groundchuck are an impressive pair. And that’s what you want if a set is going to set you back a few more bucks than the usual. Dirtbag is around 5.5″ and Groundchuck is closer to 6″, maybe a tick above when he’s standing up as straight as he can. This is veteran sculpter Paul Harding’s first contribution to the line and he really set a high bar for himself going forward. These two guys should remind anyone who owned them as kids of those vintage Playmates toys, but mostly they look just like they stepped out of the television. Dirtbag has all of the little things I remember from his brief appearance on the show and stuff that I don’t. He’s rocking the one boot, one bare foot, look and his limbs feature sculpted fur. He’s got these two-toned overalls with an olive green on top and black on the bottom to go along with a hot pink backpack. It’s a pretty gnarly getup, but it almost looks ordinary for a character from this show since it’s not as outlandish as some of the other stuff. Like his box-mate, for instance. Groundchuck sports this tattered, blue, tunic with shaggy fur underpants. He’s got a lavender belt that evokes images of Batman and a pair of bull’s eyes, one over his heart and one on his left knee, to add a dash of yellow. He has a bright green tuft of hair on his head which is poking out from under this futuristic half-helmet thing that even covers his right horn. His right leg almost looks robotic, but I think it’s just armor. Why he chose to armor one leg and little else I don’t know. He does feature some plating over his left thigh and he has this big shoulder contraption over his right shoulder. His left shoulder has a more conventional shoulder pad while both of his fingerless gloves have spiked or studded knuckles. He’s a totally 90s design and I am here for it!

Let’s talk a bit about Dirtbag first. I’ve already mentioned that his sculpt is awesome, but so is the paint work. His design doesn’t call for anything outlandish, but what is here works. He’s mostly a soft gray with a darker gray used to shade his backside. The same is done for his shirt, light green on the front, dark on the back, and his mining helmet as well. There’s a lot of black linework on this guy which adds so much depth to him. And it’s just remarkable how clean everything is. I would expect some of the lines to be a little out of whack here and there, but there’s literally none of that with this guy. The eyes, the inner ear, the inside of his mouth – it all looks fantastic. Also worth noting, all of his hinges appear to be cast in the most appropriate color of plastic. The one consistent eyesore with this line that keeps coming back are painted hinges with a poor choice in base color beneath. Those stand out too readily, but with Dirtbag it all looks good. You will only run into that issue with the back of the ankles because the hinges are done to match the shade of gray from the front of the figure, not the rear, and that’s fine. It would be stupid to do it the other way around. Even the left boot was cast in brown plastic and the fingerless gloves were done in red. I suppose there’s a risk that paint might come off of the fingers on the gripping hands, but there’s not much that can be done to prevent that. For now, I haven’t had any issues there.

I applaud Dirtbag for his willingness to rock a pink backpack.

The backpack is functional too. You can either put small items in it or wedge his shovel in there like so.

Dirtbag (and Grounchuck for that matter) is also on the chunky side. His torso his wide and his legs a bit squat. Because of that, articulation isn’t going to be his strong suit, but it’s not a huge minus either. His head can really only swivel, if there’s any up and down I haven’t been able to figure it out. He does have an articulated jaw, a commonplace for this line that’s welcomed, so he’s not lacking in personality there. The shoulders are ball-hinged and lift out to the side all the way into a T position and can spin around. There’s a biceps swivel past that and double-jointed elbows. He’s a pretty jacked mole, so the size his of his biceps don’t really allow the elbows to bend past 90 degrees, but it’s not something I miss. The hands rotate at the wrist and all feature horizontal hinges. At the waist we have a big ball peg so he can rotate and tilt a little, but he can’t crunch forward or bend back. At the hips are the newer NECA ball and socket which I am happy to report are not loose. He doesn’t kick out very far forward, but he’s not really a martial arts kind of rodent. There is a thigh twist and the knees are double-jointed. At the ankle, we have hinges and rockers which work very well. On the rear of the figure we find a tail and a backpack. The tail is on a ball peg, but it doesn’t do a whole lot, though it can come in handy for adding a little stability to the figure. At the backpack, which is constructed of a rubbery plastic, is a flap that actually can open and close. I haven’t tried sticking a small accessory in it out of fear that it will be hard to get out, but it’s a cool little detail. What I have enjoyed doing with it is wedging the pole of his shovel underneath the flap so it goes straight across his back. The hold is plenty tight and it’s something that can be done to add weapon storage, which I always like.

There isn’t a matador alive who would mess with this bull.

With Groundchuck, we have a similar story. For one, the paint is so eye-catching with this bovine. There’s fur, metal, cloth, and just a lot going on. And it’s fairly clean, though not as clean as it is with Dirtbag. There are paint blemishes present on Groundchuck that I wish weren’t there. There’s a spot of missing white on the armor of his left thigh and the cow skull belt buckle has some scratching too. Those are the only ones that stand out, but there are a few nicks here and there which is customary with mass market figures and especially those with as much paint as this guy. The black line work though, is once again, pretty damn stellar. The line on the right legs are sculpted in and painted while the armor on the left thigh is scalloped and a really fun texture. I love how NECA painted both portions with a lot of white in the middle and gray on the edges. I find the shading on Groundchuck’s body to be a little more subdued than some other figures in this line as the red of the fur and blue of the tunic is just a little darker on the rear of the figure in comparison with the front. That’s not a critique, but an observation, as the metallic bits are shaded aggressively and look terrific as a result. The only spots where I feel a little more paint might of helped make the figure look even better are just small details like the fingernails and the row of teeth on his upper jaw. The bottom row has the black line work all throughout, but the upper row is just white. That’s likely because it’s really only noticeable if you’re looking at the figure from below the head, but when you’re reviewing a figure it’s something you’re going to see as you approach the figure from many angles, including ones that likely won’t factor into a display.

The articulation for Groundchuck is more or less the same as Dirtbag with only minor differences. He has all of the same points of articulation, minus the tail and backpack. I’m not sure why a mutant bull was designed without a tail, but that’s how it was. His head does feature a bit more play than Dirtbag’s, but it’s not drastic. He mostly looks straight ahead and down a little, with some room for tilt. His jaw doesn’t seem to open as far, but there’s enough there to change up his disposition. His shoulders are going to be somewhat impacted by his shoulder pads, but it doesn’t stop his arms from lifting out to the side all the way. He’s also traded a waist cut for a ball peg in upper abdomen. It mostly just affords rotation there, but he can tilt a little bit to the side as well as forward and back. The legs and arms are entirely the same, except with Groundchuck comes the added fun of having a character with hooves for feet instead of something more traditional. Even though they’re hooves, they still have the usual amount of ankle articulation and he’s really not a challenge to stand. Since he has kneepads like the turtles, his knees can’t quite achieve a 90 degree bend, but I don’t think that’s something that will be a problem for this figure. Also worth noting, that the hinges in the legs are painted on the rear, but the paint isn’t flaking! I don’t know what NECA did or if they did anything different, but it’s pretty cool.

The Cowboys of Moo Mesa wish their sidearms were this cool.

One way companies have been able to keep costs manageable this year is by cutting back on accessories. NECA said “Screw that,” with this set as this pair is pretty well loaded. Both characters come with fisted hands in the box, but also have a set of gripping hands and open hands. All of the hands feature horizontal hinges and the same lovely paintjob. They’re easy to swap too as NECA seems to be using softer plastic with shorter pegs lately. The only downside is the hands might pop out when you don’t want them too, especially as you break in the hinges, but that’s certainly better than the alternative. Groundchuck has his own stylized pistol that ends in a bull skull complete with nose ring. It’s ridiculous, but appropriate for the show and character given the era. His gripping hands aren’t classic “trigger finger” hands, but they’re also soft enough that getting his index finger onto the trigger shouldn’t be a problem. As far as I know, that’s the only Groundchuck specific accessory in this box with the rest belonging to either Dirtbag or another character all together.

Dirtbag, being a miner and a fighter, needs tools and weapons. He’s got a pistol like Groundchuck, but unlike Groundchuck his pistol doesn’t really contain any Dirtbag theming. It does look like a nail or rail gun, which feels appropriate for his workman-like appearance. There’s a small, handheld, device that looks like a cross between a TV remote and an electric razor. I think this is a tracking device used by Donatello, if it fell into the hands of Dirtbag or Groundchuck I don’t remember, but rest assured it is absolutely pulled from the show. Dirtbag also has his shovel, which can be used for digging or cracking skulls, and he has an oversized drill that I guess helps him tunnel through the earth. He can easily hold it with two hands in front of his body, though the drill bit doesn’t rotate.

“Hey! Don’t worry, I’m supposed to do this!”

Lastly, Dirtbag has a rather unique accessory that just looks like a ring of rocks. This is to simulate him coming up from the ground, similar to what we saw with the Roadkill Rodney figures, but on a bigger scale. To achieve the desired result, you have to pull the figure apart at the waist and then just sit his torso in it. Getting him apart the first time can be a little scary since the factory likely really shoves these things together tight. It’s a double ball peg that’s in there, so it should be hard to break. Even so, I used some hot, running, tap water to soften it up (I did not need to heat any other joints on these figures) and was able to pull him apart. Putting him back together was also a snap. It’s pretty cool and provides for another display option. I’m torn on how Dirtbag will ultimately end up on my shelf. I think this is an accessory that may come and go as I change things up here and there. All of these accessories though are lovingly painted and detailed. The gripping hands are also pretty soft so there shouldn’t be too much of a problem preventing paint scuffing as they’re swapped in and out, but as always, take care when doing so. These are, after all, “adult collectibles.”

They look appropriately intimidating when paired with turtles.

“Back off, dirt bag!” “Hey, how did you know my name?!”

NECA’s latest two-pack from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon line is one of its best. This one is right up there with Bebop and Rocksteady for me, and I’m hard pressed to think of a better one. Dirtbag and Groundchuck aren’t the most well known characters from the show, but their presence in the classic toy line (which basically mirrored their later cartoon appearance) makes them more familiar than than someone like Kerma, even though he appeared in the same episodes. These sculpts are phenomenal and I really hope Paul Harding will be making many more contributions to this line and basically any line I collect. This pair is certainly helping NECA end 2021 with a bang, and what’s really awesome for collectors, is there’s more coming since these guys were released alongside another all new two-pack and the other sets solicited earlier this year should be on a boat somewhere. NECA made this two-pack available on its website earlier this month, but they should be hitting Target right now. Take advantage of the fact that some people won’t remember this duo and snatch a set if you see one. You will not be disappointed.

“Now, I can rid myself of those imbeciles: Bebop and Rocksteady!”

Because every figure needs to be compared to Chrome Dome.

4 Comments | tags: action figures, dirtbag, groundchuck, neca, paul harding, teenage mutant ninja turtles | posted in Television, toys

November 5, 2021

Hasbro Pulse Con Exclusive Marvel Legends Series Venom

By Joe

When I was a kid, my dad took me to some local convention or trade show. I have no idea why because my dad wasn’t the type who would go to such an event. He liked car shows, but from what I can remember this was more of a hobby show. It was early in 1993 and that was a moment in time when I lived in Virginia. My family only lived there for about 9 months so even trying to remember where this place was located is basically impossible. Anyway, I mostly just remember seeing lots of individuals selling old toys, comics, and baseball cards. That sort of thing. It’s possible my dad was trying to nurture my just emerging interest in model car building, or maybe my mother and sister were doing something together that day and he was just looking for a way to kill some time. It was while there though that he offered to buy me a comic book. I was newly interested in X-Men and always had a fondness for Batman, plus a comic book was probably the cheapest way to send me home with something. When we started looking at books, my eyes were immediately drawn to one comic: a red, foil, cover of the newly released Venom Lethal Protector #1. To a kid, anytime you see the number 1 on an issue it immediately screams “value,” and the red foil spider-webs behind this giant image of Venom just looked awesome. I wanted that one and my dad bought it for me. It was the start of my love affair with the character Venom.

Who wouldn’t fall in love with a face like that?

Prior to that fateful day, I knew who Venom was. I mostly knew him as a Spider-Man foe and what little I knew of the character’s lore came from the back of the Toy Biz action figure card. Lethal Protector would be like my first, proper, introduction and I was smitten. Mark Bagley’s interpretation of the character would forever become my preferred one. He was drawn to be this massive dude, but not as chunky as the McFarlane original. He had this huge mouth with an insane amount of pointy teeth and that tongue was always flailing about with green slime dripping off. He was cool! And I loved that book though strangely I never bought another issue from that story.

When Toy Biz launched a Spider-Man line of toys to coincide with the 1994 release of the cartoon, Spider-Man, Venom followed. I actually didn’t like the inaugural jaw-chomping Venom released with the first wave, but I made it a point to collect every iteration of the character to follow. And I was pumped to see Venom make an appearance in the show. The wait for that felt excruciating at the time, but it was only the 10th episode when Venom appeared. Still, a weekly show for a kid is bad enough between episodes, 10 weeks (not including the weeks the show took off for reruns) probably felt like an eternity. And when he finally did show up it was for just one episode, and then old Eddie Brock found himself powerless and in jail. What a tease.

The outer box is quite lovely, and I feel bad opening the blister inside, but it must be done!

I mentioned it in my recent post about the upcoming X-Men animated line of figures, but the Spider-Man line from back in the day was similar in that it wasn’t exactly a reproduction of the show. It was however much closer than Toy Biz’s X-Men line and basically every major villain from the cartoon would make the jump to toy. The card backs also utilized the show logo and artwork from the show of each character so there was an obvious synergy with the cartoon. As the line went on it would move away from the cartoon a bit, especially with the Venom subline, but for the most part fans of the cartoon had the toys they wanted. Now though, we’re in an age where those who grew up with that cartoon are adults and have a certain fondness for it. And while the toys were close to the toon, they weren’t exact which just leaves enough room for a company like Hasbro to step in.

The rear of both is supremely nostalgic as well. I think I would have burst with joy if they had recreated the cross-sell from the 94 Venom with modern action figures.

This year, Hasbro celebrated itself with its own virtual convention. Pulse Con took place on October 22nd and 23rd and it was an event with some reveals of Hasbro’s upcoming product and also a time to sell some exclusives. One of those exclusives was a special edition of Venom. And not just any Venom, but a Venom from the Spider-Man animated series. That version of the character is pretty unique as far as Venoms go. He had to be simplified in order to properly animate him, so the artists couldn’t give him rows of teeth or go too nutty on the tongue. Instead, he has just some obvious sharp teeth and they even gave him some thick, blue, lips. Venom’s eyes, always something that seems to change with the artist, were also simplified to a more definite shape. A little jagged on the edge, but also now with a more pronounced middle portion that included a large point cut-out of the white of the eye giving off the appearance of pupils. He has almost a reptilian quality to his face as a result, a little bit crocodile, but his mouth also sometimes took on a duckbill quality too in some of the less flattering stills. And foe whatever reason (and you can see it on the card art) sometimes he had a “butt head” where it curved into the center slightly before rounding out again like the top of a heart.

The blister has been cut. What is done cannot be undone.

The feature of this Venom most likely remember though is the odd approach to shading the show took. When you have a show that takes place mostly at night, a big, black, monster of a character is tough to do. He needs to pop when on screen, so he basically needs to be outlined. Often times in comics or in cartoons blue is used to shade black. It makes no sense in the real world, but in the comic one it’s basically a rule of law. The show did use blue when it came to Spider-Man as he had to wear the black costume first. And when Eddie Brock took control of it they used blue again, but only for about half the body. The other half used red which didn’t make any sense in the real world or in the world of comics and cartoons. Why did they do that? I have no idea. Maybe it was just to differentiate him from Spider-Man? Red has a bit of a malevolent reputation, so I guess it makes him look more sinister. Then again, the giant mouth of sharp teeth accomplished that fine on its own. Maybe it was foreshadowing the Carnage symbiote? His dominant color is red, so it’s possible. For what it’s worth, when Carnage did show up the red on Venom had become even more saturated and bold, but that was probably just a variation in production. Maybe someone on staff felt the blue and red combo illustrated Venom’s anti-hero persona. He’s not a villain in the classic mold, he’s more like a guy who just hates Spider-Man and wants to make his life miserable. That’s probably a pretty far-fetched assumption though. Instead, it’s just an odd peculiarity with this version of the character, and it’s not the last! For his second appearance in the show, the artists added these web-like veins to his forearms which just seemed to draw even more attention to the red and blue thing. Of all the villains in the show, Venom definitely feels like the one who was the most unique as far as comparisons to his comic counterpart go. Similar to how Apocalypse had a completely different color scheme in X-Men versus the comics.

I paid 10 dollars for the Toy Biz Venom on the left back when it was released, a princely sum at the time because a local comic shop got it before I ever saw it at a big box retailer, but I had to have it!

More retro goodness! The Venom on the right is from the Toy Biz Marvel Super Heroes line which preceded the Spider-Man one.

Because of that reality, and because Venom has remained a very popular character, is likely why Hasbro saw fit to do a cartoon version of the character. Hasbro has been releasing Spider-Man figures on retro card backs for a little while now with more planned. All of them feel more like an homage to the old toyline or just a fun way to release new Spider-Man figures. Venom is the only one that seems to be deliberately based on the cartoon. And the action figure does a pretty good job of capturing that likeness. First of all, he gets his own special box with his beautiful mug plastered on the front. The eyes are the dead give-away that this is animated Venom as opposed to one based on comic art. Inside that box is just a standard, retro, blister card with the figure inside. The card art matches the original jaw-chomping Venom from 1994 while the back has been updated for the new wave. If you have not bought one of these retro card releases, they’re a little different from what was sold in stores 30 years ago. The card itself is thicker and oversized. The blister also isn’t glued down over the artwork, but the artwork is actually laid over that. I wish Hasbro had invested in something resealable (especially since this release is about 10 bucks more expensive than a standard retail one), but as best I can tell the only way to remove the figure is to cut through the blister. Or you could just tare it apart.

I basically only bought Web-Man to have a modern Spider-Man to pair with this Venom.

Once freed from his confines, Venom stands a tick over 7″. He’s pretty beefy, especially compared to the Web-Man figure I looked at recently. The main body of this figure is apparently repurposed from Hasbro’s Omega Red release which was part of a Wolverine five-pack. It works well as a Venom body, though one could argue the shoulders could stand to be beefed up a bit. They sit low, which is a thing Hasbro has been doing for awhile, so in certain poses it looks a little off. The Venom from the toon had a really large upper body with a comparably small head. This Venom has more standard proportions and might actually be closer to the show’s model sheets than the character was on screen. The animation definitely wasn’t great and there are some pretty funky pictures of Venom out there. This figure most looks like Venom as he appears at the end of the opening credits. The other big drawback to this sculpt though comes from Omega Red having oversized shoulder pads. They apparently peg into the shoulders because Venom has a pair of holes in his traps. They’re basically right in the top of the figure, which also stinks because if they were more towards the figure’s back they’d be less visible. Or better yet, Hasbro could have spent a few cents more to inject some plastic into those holes or even fashion plugs. Either way, it sucks that this figure has random holes in its upper body.

The spider on the back had to be squished to fit it inside the articulation, but it’s for the best.

Complaints about the holes aside, the rest of the figure looks quite lovely. The face looks dead-on for this version of Venom with light blue accents on the right side of his face and red on the left. In the show, the shading was usually of a bisected nature, though one color wasn’t specifically reserved for one side. It just depended on which way the character was facing. They would also do both colors on the limbs with one on the outside and one inside. As funky a design choice as it was, it’s pretty fun to see it replicated so well here. He also has the big, white, spider on his chest which properly wraps around to the back of the figure. To fit it inside the joints though, the spider on the rear of the figure is a bit squished, but it’s not as noticeable as it would be if they did that on the front. And they did to a point as the spider’s legs purposefully avoid the butterfly joint, but I don’t think it really harm’s the figure’s aesthetics. He does have his unique, forked, tongue which I’m not certain was ever supposed to be a true forked tongue in the show or if the animators just failed to paint the slime most of the time. Either way, this looks the part. The forearms of the figure also have the web-veins as seen in the character’s second appearance on the show, though Hasbro declined to paint them which is disappointing. What’s more disappointing is the absence of the white portions on the back of Venom’s hands. He had those in the show, so it’s bizarre to see them excluded here and it truly does bug me. Those are all design flaws though, the actual execution on this guy is pretty good though. The paint looks clean and it’s even well done around the teeth, where things could have certainly gone off the rails. The spider logo is sharp and neat and they definitely nailed those eyes. The sculpt, outside of the head, doesn’t have to do much since this is just a muscle dude in a skin-tight suit, but what’s there is well done.

Two heads are indeed better than one, though it would have been cool if the second head was different from the first in more ways than just the tongue.

The fists are a nice option, though they look a little undersized to me, but I think it has more to do with how deep in his wrists they sit.

Despite the premium price, Venom doesn’t come with a whole lot. We’re likely paying for a head-sculpt that will never be utilized again and for the special paint job, because Venom comes with just three accessories: a pair of fists and second head. Out of the box, Venom has open, style-posed hands. His right hand is more open than the left, but if you don’t like that look for your figure then Hasbro included some fists. They’re just fists, but they have the blue and red shading on them. They seem undersized to me, and that might be the way the forearms are sculpted on Venom which just causes them to sink into the arm. I don’t really care for the look as a result, but maybe that’s just me. The second head is the same as the the one that comes on the figure, only this one has a smaller tongue. The eyes, teeth, and expression are entirely the same, Hasbro was just able to glue a different tongue piece that’s contained inside the figure’s mouth rather than one that’s flailing about. It’s cool for anyone who dislikes the tongue, but I feel like that’s probably not many people. I would have preferred a closed mouth with a big grin, but again, this is a head-sculpt that probably won’t be repeated so I understand why we’re essentially just getting one.

“I keep trying to tell you, I’m not Spider-Man!” “And we keep telling you, you web-heads crack us up!”

Hasbro may have gone light on the accessories, but at least they didn’t when it comes to the figure’s articulation. The base body is pretty well loaded with a lot of functional articulation. Perhaps the only shortcoming is right at the top. The head is on a ball and hinge, but sits pretty low on that ball so the range isn’t very good. He can look up and down just a bit and rotate. Some neck articulation would have helped him look down further, and since he towers over Spider-Man that would be beneficial, but it’s passable. The shoulders are ball-hinged and the way the sculpt of the shoulder area slopes down does prevent Venom from raising his arms out to the side, but he gets close. The rotation is fine and there is also a butterfly joint in each one that lets him reach across his body. It moves well and only gets a little chunky looking when Venom rears back, but on the whole it looks fine and works better. After the shoulders we have biceps swivels, double-jointed elbows that achieve about 90 degree bends, and wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally. It all works fine, but the red/blue shading might drive you nuts if you’re intent on making sure the various swaths of color line up. In the torso, there’s an ab crunch that’s done quite well. Only when bending him all the way back does a hint of a gap start to show. There’s also a waist twist and ball joints at the legs. He can’t come close to pulling off a split, which is a little disappointing as Venom is quite limber despite his bulk, but I don’t consider it a deal-breaker. There’s a thigh cut and double-jointed knees that allow Venom to bend past 90 and he has hinge and ankle rockers down below that work great. Nothing really is missing. A lower neck joint would have been cool to see, but at least there’s nothing breaking up the sculpt. Everything is at a nice tolerance and no joints were stuck on my figure. Nothing is floppy and there are no joints that breakup the sculpt in a way that isn’t worthwhile.

Web-Man was enjoying his time on the shelf before Venom showed up.

“Ahh, we’re just messing with you, web-head!”

Hasbro’s attempt at a cartoon accurate Venom is pretty damn close to a homerun. Any issues I have with the sculpt are what I consider nitpicking on my part. The only real issues I have with the figure is the missing paint on the back of his hands and those two holes in his traps. The hands might be an oversight or a design choice since they did put blue and red shading on the back of the hands, but the holes are just Hasbro getting cheap on us. Considering this guy was priced at $34, I feel like they could have fixed those and still made a tidy profit. Oh well, that’s Hasbro for you. Beyond those two issues though, this is a really attractive and fun piece to have on your shelf. The red and blue shading, as odd as it was back in 1994, is an attention grabber and makes this Venom design and figure feel truly unique. I didn’t even particularly like the character’s look in the show when I was a kid, but as an adult this does get my nostalgia juices flowing.

My new Venom with what I once considered my favorite Venom (and most recently purchased Venom?) along with a parachute Spider-Man from the early 2000s Toy Biz Spider-Man line.

If you’re looking to get a Venom animated figure of your own, I’m afraid you’ve already missed the boat. Hasbro sold this one exclusively via its Pulse website following Pulse Con. It was up for about a day, but is now sold out. I would bet on a retro card Venom to follow at some point for a regular retail release, but it probably won’t have this head nor will it have the red and blue shading. That means if you’re really into this look for the character you’ll probably have to turn to the secondary market where it’s presently selling for 70-80 bucks. It’s hard to predict where the prices will go from here as it could climb, or maybe when Hasbro does a comic accurate Venom on this card-back it depresses the value of this one. It’s also hard to say if more characters in this style will follow. Venom is one of the more unique designs from the show, but there are a few others like Morbius and Punisher. And with Hasbro launching the X-Men line based on the cartoon it certainly could be a door-opening moment for Spider-Man as well. Whether or not this potential line is one and done, I’m quite happy with my purchase and I don’t know what I’d pay had I missed out. Best of luck to any who are trying to get him.

2 Comments | posted in Comics, Television, toys

October 29, 2021

Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special

By Joe

One thing I lament a bit is the loss of the shared television experience. And in particular, the thrill of knowing a seasonal favorite was airing on a given night. These things seem to be dying as even Charlie Brown has found himself relegated to PBS. And it’s mostly due to these specials getting gobbled up by streaming platforms. There’s still a few that get seasonal airings, but their numbers are dwindling.

Once upon a time, a seasonal special was a surefire way to get some nice ratings during a holiday. That made them attractive for producers who went out of their way to create a holiday themed cartoon for their popular characters. And when it comes to cartoons, few could argue that the Looney Tunes weren’t near the top of the mountain in terms of popularity, or just sheer greatness. Bugs Bunny is a character that can lay claim to being top dog, or rabbit, in the field of animated characters. Want to argue Donald Duck or Popeye? Sure, they and others can make an argument, but so can Bugs. I’m not concerned with figuring out who is best, but I am reminded that Bugs and the gang once had their own holiday specials you could find on television at the right time of year. Unfortunately, they’re almost all bad. How can this be?! Bugs Bunny is fantastic! Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Tweety, Sylvester – they practically write themselves! It’s an unfortunate reality though, as we saw with Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales, and the rabbit didn’t just get victimized by Christmas.

In 1977, CBS aired Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special. This could have been an annual viewing tradition, and it was for a little while, but fell by the wayside because it’s, well, not great. Come the 70s, Warner’s theatrical shorts division was dead and their vast cast of characters had pivoted to the small screen. The classic Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes were now airing in syndication with little in the way of original animation being created aside from wrap-around segments or commercials. Warner and CBS not surprisingly saw an opening to do a Halloween special because the Looney Tunes have dabbled with the macabre before. They could have, and probably should have, just rounded up some popular, spooky, cartoons and aired them in a block. Maybe they could have done some wrap-arounds too, or brought in a live-action host, and people probably would have tuned in. They did not.

Instead, Warner made the decision to take 8 classic (well, mostly classic) shorts and edit them together. Only they didn’t stitch them together with wrap-arounds, instead they tried to make the transition from one toon to the next seamless with new animation. This feels almost sacrilegious to cut up these cartoons like that. Some are even split in half with entire cartoons shoved in the middle. A-Haunting We Will Go is the first toon, and it gets chopped up to have four different cartoons inserted into it before it concludes. Now, maybe if the original directors were making these calls it wouldn’t be so bad, but none of them worked on this special. Hal Geer is the credited executive producer while David Detiege is the credited director who must have overseen the new animation and layouts. I don’t know if they tried to get Chuck Jones or Friz Freleng to do this thing, but presumably that would have cost money and they probably didn’t want to be a part of this.

Witch Hazel faired slightly better than Bugs. Slightly.

If dicing up the cartoons feels bad enough, wait until you see the new animation! Holy Hell is it bad. Now, I don’t want to rag on the animators and artists involved. They probably had a shit budget to work with and Warner animation was a shell of its former self come the late 70s, but they couldn’t even get Bugs Bunny on model. It is immensely distracting to watch the old animation suddenly cut to the new, because Bugs looks about as different as he can. He looks like the bootleg Bugs that adorned VHS covers of public domain cartoons in the 80s. It’s bad. The audio is also noticeably different since Mel Blanc had gotten older. That can’t be helped, but it does just add to that jarring feeling.

It’s a shame what happened here, because most of these cartoons are great on their own like “Hyde and Go Tweet.”

If you can get past all of that, is there something to enjoy here? Yes and no. You get snippets of the old shorts in some cases which just isn’t very satisfying if they’re cartoons you’re familiar with. The pacing is off and most will be left feeling frustrated. Which is a shame, because most of these shorts by themselves are plenty enjoyable:

A-Haunting We Will Go
Broom-Stick Bunny
Hyde and Hare
Hyde and Go Tweet
A Witch’s Tangled Hare
Claws for Alarm
Scaredy Cat
Transylvania 6-5000
Bewitched Bunny

Some of these edits will confuse kids. The special goes right from Hyde and Hare to Hyde and Go Tweet which both feature Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but the character models aren’t the same. Claws for Alarm and Scaredy Cat are brutally cut up and quite lousy as a result, even though Scaredy Cat is a terrific toon by itself. And like the new animation issues, you’re also jumping from different eras of Warner shorts which have different production values. It also draws attention to the reuse common in these cartoons like Bugs’ witch costume and walk cycle being the same as Daffy’s nephew. I guess what I’m saying is, this special cuts up the cartoons while also drawing attention to their original flaws. Talk about a swing and a miss.

If you’re thinking about watching this thing, don’t do it!

If you want to spend Halloween with Bugs Bunny and his friends, you can get this special on DVD. You won’t find it airing anywhere, but it is streaming for free in the usual places. It’s mostly an example of what not do do with these shorts. If you want to just experience some spooky tunes, watch the above mentioned shorts by themselves. Or see if you can get the Halloween edition of Toon in With Me that aired this morning. Maybe it’s on demand, but it has some of these cartoons and it’s far more well put together than this. There’s also a block of Looney Tunes airing tomorrow morning on MeTV that may or may not follow a spooky theme. The official Warner YouTube channel even has a bunch of Halloween cartoons on there for free which is way better than this, even if they’re edited. Basically, there are far better options when it comes to enjoying Halloween with Bugs and the gang.

Leave a comment | tags: bugs bunny, chuck jones, daffy duck, friz freleng, halloween, Halloween specials, june foray, looney tunes, maurice noble, mel blanc, porky pig, sylvester, tweety, witch hazel | posted in Television

October 25, 2021

It’s Finally Happening – The Animated X-Men are Coming Back in Figure Form!

By Joe

Eric and Julia Lewald have something to share!

It was almost two years to the day where I made an entry here expressing a wish for Hasbro to tackle the X-Men. And not just any X-Men, the now classic animated series from 1992. That was probably my greatest obsession as a kid. I loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I grew out of it after 3 or 4 years. X-Men filled that void and my obsession lasted longer. I collected the toys from Toy Biz and it was the first time I displayed my toys like collectibles instead of just dumping them in a large bin when I was done playing. I still played with them too, but when I was done I had makeshift shelves to pose them on. It was a large shelf that went three or four rows deep and eventually I had to add another. I was able to separate heroes and villains, though with how quickly things can change in the comics, sometimes I had to move guys back and forth. I don’t think I stopped collecting though until I was in high school in the very late 90s. By then, the X-Men line was nearing its end anyway and Toy Biz was pivoting to more collector-focused lines for their legacy properties while the kid-friendly stuff was focused on new shows like X-Men Evolution and the movies.

There weren’t a lot of toon-specific figures back in the 90s, but Morph was definitely one of them.

Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles though, the thing with the old X-Men toyline is that it wasn’t really an animated focused line. It started as a comic book line with the inaugural first wave reflecting the 80s costumes and lineup for the team. It was only once the show became a hit that the toyline started to mimic it to a point. One of the first instances of that I can recall is the wave one Storm, who was released in a black costume, getting repainted silver with two ring-capes added on to kind of match her show appearance. Toy Biz would also repackage some of the previously released figures with new card backs advertising them as from the show, but the figures were basically the same comic book inspired releases we already had. Wolverine, for instance, still had his giant buckle on his belt instead of an X logo. Storm did get repainted yet again though, this time white and with a more elaborate cape. The most well-remembered instance of the line matching the show was in the Morph figure. Morph was famously created for the show, though he was modeled after the character Changeling from the comic, and killed off in the second episode. Kids loved him though, so Toy Biz made a figure with swappable heads to mimic his shape-shifting powers. He didn’t look much like the cartoon character aside from the general costume, but it was still one of my favorite figures because it was freakin’ Morph! Toy Biz would also do a Phoenix Saga wave of figures clearly inspired by the cartoon, and other figures here and there appeared to match some show designs, but for all intents and purposes the toys from Toy Biz were comics first and the show a distant second.

2022 will mark the show’s 30th anniversary, and as I hypothesized two years ago, Hasbro is finally going to do proper action figures based on the show. This past week saw Hasbro host its own virtual convention, Pulsecon, and the guests of honor for the final panel on Saturday were Eric and Julia Lewald, authors of the wonderful X-Men: The Art and Making of the Animated Series. Eric was the showrunner for X-Men and his wife Julia a veteran TV writer who contributed some scripts as well and the mere fact that they were announced as guests had my juices flowing all last week. Surely, they were there to pitch their book, but also to reveal something. What we didn’t know is what that something would be. It would likely tie into the animated series, but did we dare hope it would be an actual line of Marvel Legends based on the show? Maybe it would just be more retro card-back releases, which is what Hasbro has been doing for the Spider-Man cartoon lately. There’s also the new retro, five points of articulation, line. I was both optimistic and guarded, but I’m happy to report my dream has come true!

Hasbro had the Lewalds show off two figures for the new X-Men animated series line of toys: Wolverine and Jubilee. The figures will come in an oversized VHS styled box with new artwork and product shots. They’re meant to be displayed as one would those old VHS releases and they look positively striking. I don’t know if Hasbro got the idea from NECA’s TMNT releases, or if it was an organic thing, but either way it looks fantastic. Not to be outshined though, are the figures themselves. They are indeed Marvel Legends-styled releases and I’m sure there will be a lot of parts reuse between these figures and previously released editions. Wolverine could very well be the same Wolverine body that’s been released before, though it looks like he has new heads to better reflect the show art design. What stands out most though is the paint application which has that cel-shaded look to better match-up with the show. He’ll come with the now standard swappable hands, one with claws out and one claws retracted, but he also gets to bring along the photo of Scott and Jean (just like the upcoming Mondo release) so fans can reenact the most memed scene of the show. Jubilee, for her part, appears to mostly be the same release as before too only I don’t think she’s getting a new head. She’s less impressive as a result since she’s lacking her show-specific earrings on one head, but she does have yellow gloves now. Like Wolverine, she’ll have two portraits and she also has some effects pieces. I do wish they worked in a show specific accessory for her as well (maybe some chili fries? A Genosha collar?) to up the fun factor. One show specific accessory per figure would be a nice goal for Hasbro to have.

These two figures are definitely promising and they’re pretty much exactly what I hoped for, even though they weren’t announced as one big wave as I had previously hoped for. There are a few things to nitpick based on the few shots we were given. Wolverine’s hands appear to lack the claw channels on his non-claw hands which isn’t show accurate, and Jubilee’s head just doesn’t look very “toon” to me. I’m hoping Wolverine is more indicative of where the line is going as opposed to Jubilee, but only time will tell. Otherwise, I like this direction and that parts reuse doesn’t bother me. Now if they try to re-release Sabretooth and pass him off as animated that will be worth criticizing because the Sabretooth on television was pretty different from the comics. He was just huge and honestly a little weird looking, but not in a bad way. Hasbro is a company more focused on price and keeping the price low. These figures already run high by their standards as they’re currently available for preorder at $27 a piece. Wolverine is slated for a May release with Jubilee following in June. Not shown, but announced, are figures for both Storm and Jean, two characters who should be easily adapted from recent releases with some paint modifications. No release date was announced for them, but maybe July and August? A monthly schedule would be fine with me and maybe we’ll learn more in early 2022. Or maybe Hasbro is saving something for Halloween, the 29th anniversary of the show’s premiere, to give us a peek at either Storm or Jean.

Less impressive than Wolverine is Jubilee, but there’s still time for things to change.

What is great is the goal of Hasbro’s to make this a full line. It’s going to be a slow release compared to some of the others, but I can be patient. I’ve waited nearly 30 years for this, I can wait longer. I know some fans were disappointed in the character selection. Wolverine is a given, but he’s also a character that’s been made and released over and over while Jubilee is…Jubilee. A lot of fans were hoping for Morph as he’s become synonymous with the show and is a character that collectors have wanted for years now. I feel very confident that Morph is coming, so I’m not sweating his exclusion for now. He’s the character Hasbro has to hit a homerun with, and hopefully they do. He seems like the most obvious candidate if they want to time a figure with the 30th anniversary on Halloween of 2022. Will they time the reveal or the release with that date is the big question. This is a good time to be an X-Men fan though, and I’m already brainstorming ways to display this line. It’s going to be a long wait until May, but it’s going to be worth it!

Preorders for Wolverine and Jubilee are currently available on Hasbro Pulse (no premium membership required) with an expected release on Disney’s shopdisney website at some point. These are not planned for mass market retail so get your orders in if you want them.

UPDATE: Just a few days after the big reveal, Hasbro went and revealed a third figure in the wave. And despite having already soft announced Storm and Jean, the third figure shown off is none other than Mr. Sinister! He’s available for pre-order on Pulse and currently has the same release date as Jubilee. He is almost a straight repaint of a previously released Mr. Sinister (they may have had to swap out the neck, or it’s just now painted white instead of blue) and will come in an oversized box. Needless to say, it’s a good sign that Hasbro is willing to do villains alongside the X-Men!

4 Comments | tags: action figures, eric lewald, julia lewald, marvel, marvel legends, pulsecon 2021, wolverine, x-men, x-men animated series | posted in Television, toys

October 19, 2021

Toon In With Me

By Joe

Originally, the cartoon short was something that was exhibited in theaters alongside news reels, serials, and feature films. All of the major motion picture companies owned their own theaters and most built up a stable of cartoon stars. This was the era that saw the creation of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, and many more. These characters were stars that rivaled the popularity of the most famous actors of the day. Then it all changed. The government went after studios with anti-trust lawsuits stemming from the fact that they operated as producers and exhibitors for their films. Post World War II saw many, mostly white, families leave the confines of the city for the suburbs taking them further away from those theaters they used to frequent. And then came television. All of the big companies reacted to TV in different ways. Walt Disney rather famously embraced it, while at the opposite end was Warner Bros. which did everything in its power to avoid television.

Eventually, TV took over and it’s remained a staple of the modern household. When the movie-going experience was altered thanks to independent theaters and changing tastes, the cartoon short largely vanished. It was an easy place to trim costs since virtually every studio took a big hit to their bottom-line during this era. Those characters that once flourished though didn’t need to be put out to pasture completely. Instead, they became stars on the small screen as studios packaged them up and sold them in syndicated packages to various outlets.

When I was a kid, there’s no doubt in my mind that the biggest toon stars from that era were the characters owned by Warner Bros. Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Tweety, and the rest were among my favorites, and they were everywhere. Warner Bros. had different packages of shorts it shopped around. What the studio considered the cream of the crop went to the big networks and were shown on Saturday morning. The lesser packages went to smaller, regional, channels and cable. Nickelodeon entered the picture in 1988 and it started off with a somewhat meager offering. Remember Bosko? I sure do and he was seen rather frequently on Nickelodeon’s Looney Tunes show. The show was a huge success for the cable outlet, which had really just begun to go all-in on animation, and when it came time to renew with Warner the channel got a better set of shorts. Remember the “Sorry, Bosko” commercial? I do!

Warner’s cartoons weren’t the only ones out there though as there was a pretty sizable cast coming from MGM. Ted Turner, the famous billionaire who owned the Turner Broadcasting System, set out to acquire cartoons for his cable networks. He would come to acquire Hanna-Barbera and MGM’s cartoons, which had also acquired some smaller outlets like United Artists, and this would lead to the creation of Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network was a place for Turner to air all of the stuff he had acquired, but the channel also had it’s own Bugs and Daffy show too (because MGM bought some, it’s confusing so you should just watch this edition of Nick Knacks on it). Eventually, Turner sold to AOL, which would merge with Time Warner, and basically all of these cartoon stars would come to rest under one umbrella by the time the 90s were over.

This ended up being a bad thing for cartoon viewers. Once Warner controlled everything except for the classic Disney characters, the company started to pull back. Eventually those networks that had been a home for these characters for so long were no longer allowed to air them. Even worse, Cartoon Network had become so full of original content it no longer had need of these characters either. To Boomerang they went, the sister channel to Cartoon Network that few cable providers seemed to carry. Eventually, they would be forced out of there as well as the Cartoon Network What a Cartoon! era shorts matured and made the jump over. Reboots would follow like The Looney Tunes Show and Wabbit, but there was no easy access to the classic, unaltered, shorts that generations had grown up with.

Your hosts for Toon In With Me: Toony the Tuna and Bill the cartoon curator.

Until 2021. Launched in January of this year on MeTV is Toon In With Me. It was a quiet launch since it took me several months to even know the show existed. Before that, I could not have told you what channel MeTV was in my area or on my cable package. For those in a similar boat, MeTV is a broadcast network with a local affiliate in most markets. It specializes in “Memorable TV” and it’s not unlike a lot of local stations from when I was a kid. Right after Toon In With Me is Leave it to Beaver and I see lots of odds for The Andy Griffith Show, M.A.S.H., and Happy Days. It seems like the type of channel my dad would watch if he was home sick or something.

Kevin Fleming provides the voice of Toony and plays a bunch of other recurring characters like Mr. Quizzer.

Toon In With Me is an old school cartoon show with a live-action wrap-around segment. It’s hosted by Bill the Cartoon Curator (Bill Leff) and he is accompanied by a puppet, Toony the Tuna (voice of Kevin Fleming). There is usually a theme for each episode and they end up acting out some skits with help from Fleming and Leila Gorstein. Fleming and Gorstein have a stable of characters to work with that they play and it’s all intentionally corny, but charming. When they’re not on the screen, we get to watch a cartoon!

Bill Leff plays the host of the same name (as well as a few other characters) and introduces the cartoons, usually with some fun background info on it.

The stable of cartoons the show has to select from is quite large. There’s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, MGM, King Syndicates, Paramount, and United Artists. Of course, most of this stuff is just owned by one company, but they probably had to do individual deals for each set of characters. Just about every episode though will open with either a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short and often it’s Bugs Bunny. Other cartoon stars shown quite frequently include Tom and Jerry, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, The Pink Panther, Barney Bear, and Popeye. That’s obviously not exhaustive as you’ll see Tweety Bird and Droopy Dog, but those are definitely the characters I see recur the most. It’s an effective mix, and whatever package they have from Warner is very reminiscent of the one Nickelodeon had for its version of Looney Tunes. That’s both good and bad as I’ve certainly seen plenty of classics that I once watched on Nick, but I’ve also seen some of the not-so-classic I once saw there as well such as Cool Cat and Merlin the Magic Mouse. I’ve noticed the Tom and Jerry shorts definitely favor the Chuck Jones era, but I don’t know if they’re limited at all in what cat and mouse era they can exhibit.

Comedian Leila Gorstein might be the show’s MVP as she’s relied upon to play a large cast of characters, all of which are pretty entertaining.

Stumbling upon Toon In With Me has been a tremendous amount of fun in my household. It’s on every week day at 7 AM EST and I set my DVR to record it. It’s become a show that I watch with my kids. During their summer vacation from school I could watch with both, but ever since school restarted it’s become a show I mostly watch with my daughter as she’s in half-day preschool. She’s become quite the little Bugs Bunny fanatic and has even decided to break her streak of Disney Princess Halloween costumes in favor of the wise-cracking rabbit this year. I love sharing these old toons with her, even if she sometimes would rather watch something more modern since she’s not much into Popeye or The Inspector. It makes me wonder just who the target audience for the show is. It’s definitely presented in a kid-friendly manner, but it doesn’t talk down to the audience. The hosts will share viewer mail at the end of every episode and it’s almost always from an adult. My guess is a lot of people in their 30s, 40s, and up enjoy the nostalgic trip the show brings and they’re probably the core audience. Hopefully kids are watching too.

MeTV also shows cartoons on Saturday morning, like The Bugs Bunny Show, which even includes the classic intro!

Toon In With Me is a nostalgia lovers dream. The cartoons appear to be mostly unedited, or at least haven’t been edited further than what networks did 30 years ago, and several generations of people have grown up with them and have a fondness for them. I love that the show is here for the current generation of children because there’s a shocking amount of children out there who don’t know who Bugs Bunny is, and the number would be higher if not for the new Space Jam movie. Being on a broadcast station means the show is accessible to everyone with a TV set and a digital antenna, and it looks like the website offers a bunch of clips too, though probably not of the actual cartoons. And if you just want the toons, MeTV also has a Saturday morning block of cartoons including an hour’s worth of Looney Tunes. It’s hard to resist the temptation to just buy a big box of Froot Loops and chow down on Saturday with the cartoons going. Definitely check the show out though if you want more cartoons in your life.

1 Comment | tags: bugs bunny, classic cartoons, kevin fleming, leila gorstein, looney tunes, me tv, mgm, popeye, tom and jerry, toon in with me | posted in Television

October 5, 2021

NECA TMNT Cartoon Napoleon and Attila

By Joe

Time to hang loose with a couple of frogs!

It took almost five months, but the Punk Frogs are now complete. NECA, recognizing that they were about to release the same sculpt four times, decided to space out the frog two-packs in its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of cartoon action figures. Genghis and Rasputin arrived back in May, while Napoleon and Attila started showing up in Target stores across the US about a week ago. NECA also made the new set available on its website for an in-stock sale, but if it’s anything like the first two-pack, it should be a fairly painless set to track down at retail.

No surprises with the packaging here, your standard turtle van inspired box.

When I reviewed the first two-pack, I was mostly satisfied, but not really blown away. In the months since I’ve grown a bit more dissatisfied with the set due to one flaw we’ll get to in the articulation portion of the review, and as a result I wasn’t really that excited to find this set at retail. I can’t just have two frogs though, so of course I bought it, and it’s mostly what I expected which is both good and bad.

Just like with the first set, the factory head is much easier to work with than the second one

If you have the first set, then this one offers no surprises. The frogs were all basically the same character model in the show with only minor differences. Each one was a different shade of green and the shirts they wore were distinguishable via the pattern on them. Two feature stripes, and two feature polka dots, and the colors are just the inverse of one another. They also have a different shape to the medallion on their necklace, and like the turtles, each features a different weapon of choice. The two prior frogs, Genghis and Rasputin, had polka dots on their shirts and triangular medallions. Napoleon and Attila feature stripes and a circular medallion. Napoleon’s dominant color is yellow with red-orange stripes while Attila has red-orange as his dominant color with yellow stripes. The stripes also aren’t too intense as it’s basically relegated to one large stripe around the abdomen and at the cuffs of the sleeves. Napoleon also has lilac colored shorts while Atilla’s are a more pale shade of blue. They both feature NECA’s toon shading which features light shades on the front and a darker paint on the back. The shirts are very understated, but it’s more pronounced on the skin and shorts. It’s fine, but after seeing the more elaborate Chrome Dome paint job this certainly feels a lot more “ho-hum.”

Adding to the visual display are the optional parts NECA included. Like the prior two frogs, Napoleon and Attila come with a pair of portraits: smiling and scared. It would have been nice if NECA could have offered different headsculpts with this release, or at least one unique one instead of the same two. They both work fine, the frogs often featured this dopey grin and the scared look works as well, it’s just a bit bland for a display. I assume most will display all four together and you’re not going to have two be happy and two scared as that wouldn’t make sense if you like to have some drama to your display and when they all look the same it’s just boring. I get it, as it keeps costs down, but it’s still something I can gripe about. As for the hands, that’s where NECA offered something unique. Each frog is packaged with standard gripping hands that hinge horizontally. Attila gets Rasputin’s recycled loose gripping hands which made sense for Rasputin’s bow, but doesn’t serve a tremendous purpose here. His unique hands though are thumb’s up hands while Napoleon gets the same fists as Genghis plus some “Hang Loose” hands. Since the cartoon decided to make the frogs all different shades of green, the hands really aren’t interchangeable like they are with the turtles, which is a bummer. That’s not NECA’s fault though.

“Who took this picture of us in our birthday suits?!”

Okay, I lied, NECA didn’t actually sculpt nude frogs to recreate that scene from the toon.

What is NECA’s fault though rests with the articulation on these guys. Again, if you have the prior set you know what you’re getting, but to run it down quickly these guys have: ball-jointed heads, ball-hinge shoulders, single-hinge elbows, elbow swivels, wrist swivels, wrist hinges, diaphragm joint, waist twist, ball hips, double-jointed knees, ankle hinges and rockers. Nothing was stuck on mine and the hinges are cast in the proper color so even though you’re likely to experience some paint flaking it won’t leave behind the eyesores some of the other figures possess. What isn’t good, are the wrists and hips. None of the included hands feature the proper hinge. Both frogs wield melee weapons, but don’t have vertical hinges. It really should have been the default choice for the gripping hands, but that wasn’t the case. And the other shortcoming concerns the looseness of the hips. I touched upon it in my review of the first two frogs, but those two only got worse over the months. Genghis is the only figure in my display to take a shelf dive this summer and it’s largely due to his hips just getting weaker. When you try to stand these guys, they have a tendency to want to do a split. It’s frustrating, and the problem persists here too. It can be easily remedied by the consumer, just pop the legs off (they come off fairly easily and the ball peg is quite durable) and apply a small coat of super glue. Wait for it to dry (I can’t stress the importance enough of that step) and then re-attach the legs and the added layer of glue should help to tighten things up. Should we have to do that as consumers? No, but at least the remedy is an easy one.

Something Playmates never gave us: all four frog together at last!

Napoleon and Attila have some unique accessories, and some familiar ones. Napoleon’s weapon of choice is a whip and NECA opted to cast it in rubber with a wire running through it like an old bendy figure. The end result is it functions, though it doesn’t look particularly great, especially the split ends on the whip. And with this weapon, the vertical hinges are really missed. Attila’s weapon is a spiked ball and chain flail. It’s not the same as what we saw with Android Krang as the ball is smaller and so are the chain links. Like those though, the chain is real which is cool, but obviously limits posing. The other accessories are two, un-mutated, frogs and two bags of loot. The loot sacks are the same as the one Mondo came with, only now they have a dollar sign painted on them. The only new item is the photo album they come with. It has three pictures inside and all are of NECA action figures. One is all four frogs, one is Rocksteady and a turtle, and the third is Bebop and I think Slash? It’s a cute accessory though and I’m largely okay with what we have here. I do wish we could have received a second version of each weapon, a frozen in place flail and the same for the whip with a more finely-sculpted end.

Unlike turtles, these frogs are not known to eat pizza.

It’s four against one, and yet I still like Leatherhead’s chances.

If you buy this set then you know what you’re getting, assuming you have the first one. The figures look good, but are limited in terms of their expressions and ability to properly wield their weapons. They’re held back further by the looseness in the hips which is going to vary from set-to-set. I assume the best-case scenario is they’re just loose, but tolerable, where as I know some have frogs that basically can’t stand without some modification or assistance. The only other difference this set has with its predecessor is in the price. It would appear the two-packs are getting a slight markup at Target as this one cost me $55 as opposed to the usual $52. I honestly didn’t even notice until someone else pointed it out and had to check my receipt for confirmation. Sure, I don’t like paying more for what is essentially the same set as what I got five months ago, but I also get it. The shipping industry has gone bananas and we’re setting new records on a weekly basis for the amount of container ships stranded at sea because there’s no room at the ports. It’s just something we’re going to have to deal with over the coming months because it’s costing companies like NECA more money to deliver product to us, so naturally, some of those cost increases are coming our way. As for what’s next for this line, I’m actually not sure. I think the next two-pack to come to retail is supposed to be Groundchuck and Dirt Bag, but it could also be any one of the solicited two-packs NECA sold through its store earlier this spring or even the Pizza Monster deluxe figure. With the state of the industry as it is, there’s really no telling when stuff will arrive, but I don’t think this is it for the line for 2021. And if the next release is that Groundchuck and Dirt Bag set, it figures to be a lot more exciting than this one.

1 Comment | tags: action figures, attila the frog, napoleon bonafrog, neca, teenage mutant ninja turtles | posted in Television, toys

September 25, 2021

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Goliath

By Joe

2021’s most anticipated figure release is here!

It was nearly 6 months ago that NECA unveiled one of its newest licenses for 2021: Gargoyles! I was incredibly pumped at the time to see that NECA had acquired Gargoyles because the license had so much potential. The show was basically a cult hit in the 90s often characterized as Disney’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series, but Gargoyles truly was its own thing. Rooted in Shakespearian lore with a fantastic backstory, the time-displaced clan of mythical creatures found themselves the protectors of New York City from enemies both current and from the past. And if you’re going to start a line of action figures based on Gargoyles, well, who else are you going to start with other than Goliath?

When NECA unveiled the license acquisition they showed off Goliath with it. The midnight post on Twitter showcased the fearsome creature and the direction the line would head. He was available to preorder the next day with a July release date attached, which slipped to August, to September. That’s 2021 for you, but after a really not so long wait all things considered, I’ve finally managed to secure a Goliath action figure from my local Target.

Goliath is a big boy and he comes in a big box. The Ultimates styled packaging from NECA is bigger than even the Chrome Dome box. It has less to do with the figure’s height and everything to do with those wings. The front of the box features some artwork of Goliath which I believe is stock as it looks rather familiar while product shots can be found on the back and interior. The back also has a bio of the series that surprisingly is not the same as the narration from Keith David that was attached to the second season’s intro, though it’s in the same vein.

The packaging is fine, but what I’m after is that figure inside. Freeing Goliath from his confines is rather painless as there is not an abundance of ties on him. Once out he’ll need to have his tail and wings attached. Figuring out how tall he is isn’t straight-forward since gargoyles have unique lower, leg, anatomy. With his knees bent in his natural standing posture he’s about seven and a half inches tall. His anatomy is sculpted in a more realistic manner than the cartoon. His flesh features veins and thick muscles. It’s cast in a very light shade of purple, almost gray, with a darker purple paint wash over it to really bring out the musculature. The wash is used more liberally on the face to darken around the eyes and lips. His default expression is a stern one with visible pupils that definitely reads as “Goliath.” The belt and loincloth he wears are cast in a soft plastic so they’re quite flexible. The only place the wash isn’t visible is on the tail which is done in a rubber material so that it can bend. It looks rather plain in comparison to the rest of the figure, but it’s always going to be behind him so it’s not something I take issue with. The finer painted details, like the eyes and claws, are all clean. Overall, this is a striking figure in-hand.

I think most will be happy with the scale here.

The wings can go really wide, or really deep, with nothing in between.

Let’s talk about those wings though, for a second. They’re huge! They measure 20.5″ from tip to tip when spread out so this guy will need a big shelf. They’re made of a very rigid plastic, likely ABS, and painted purple and black. The membrane inside the wings is well-sculpted and the detail shows in natural light. Even though the plastic is a bit lighter than some others, they still add considerable weight to the figure and, combine that with their size, will just be a constant battle when posing the figure. In terms of making wings that look good, I’m not sure NECA could have done much better. Bendy wings would have probably too resembled one of those Halloween store rubber bats, and fabric wings would have clashed with the looks of the rest of the figure. What people will miss with these though, is just an alternative. They’re great for dramatic posing, but not for casual or even hand-to-hand combat poses. Goliath could use some partially folded wings, though what I see most requested are the folded, “cape,” styled wings the character would often sport with the two claws at the peak of the wings crossed under his chin and clasped together. NECA likely knows this, but didn’t want to jack up the cost too high on a new IP. Hopefully, something like that follows in the future, and when it does, may I suggest they use the same material that they used for the cape on Shadow Master Super Shredder?

Okay, wing talk is complete, for now, so let’s talk articulation. Goliath’s head sits on a ball-peg. It’s not a particularly large ball though, and he doesn’t have articulation at the base of the neck. Combine that with his long, sculpted, hair and wings and you end up with a head that can’t do much. He can look forward and straight down okay and there’s a little tilt too. Rotation is a challenge due to the hair which will interfere with the wings, but if you work at it you can get him to look to either side. It just may require removing a wing, turning the head, and reinserting it. At the shoulder we have ball-hinges and he can almost raise his arms to a horizontal position. The shape, and slope, of his shoulders prevents him from raising his arms out to the side any higher, but he can rotate forward and back just fine. Past that is the biceps swivel and double-jointed elbows which all work fine. The hands peg in and feature hinges, though the right hand on my figure is very loose. The hand hasn’t fallen out, but it takes minimal effort to do so. In the diaphragm is a ball-joint that gives the figure some tilt and rotation. He can even crunch forward a decent amount. There’s a waist twist below that and the new styled double-ball leg joints sit below that.

In the legs, things get interesting. Goliath has the usual thigh twist, but below that is a single-hinged knee. It can bend back to about 90 degrees, but it can also swivel. It looks to just peg in to the thigh, and I like how the knee cap is sculpted over it. At the ankle, we get the usual hinge and rocker and then beyond that is a toe hinge. Gargoyles have interesting anatomy in that they basically stand on their toes. There’s some slight twist, or rocker, action to the toes, but I can’t tell if that’s intentional or just some play in the joint. They need to be tight though, and they pretty much are, though nothing was overtight on my figure. At the tail, there’s a peg and a hinge so you can move that thing all over the place. It can kind of help with getting the figure to stand, though it’s not really strong enough to help out as much as I’d like. The wings peg into the figure’s back and they’re actually hidden a bit by the hair, which is nice. They can rotate and also feature a hinge that’s ratcheted. It makes an awfully scary noise when positioning it, but they seem fine. Because they’re wide open, there isn’t a whole lot of versatility to them, but at least you have some options, particularly if you go with a flying pose.

If you prefer, you can have your Goliath be studious.

Achieving such a pose though has proven to be a challenge. Standing Goliath is not easy. There’s just enough looseness to his thighs and knees that the weight of his wings pulls him back and the tail doesn’t help out much. I did have some success using two NECA disc stands as each foot has a peg hole. What I hoped to use though was a flight stand. I only have tried two, a SHF stand and a NECA one, and neither worked. The SHF stand features a crotch piece which just doesn’t fit Goliath while the NECA one was rather frustrating because there’s very little range in the actual “grabber” piece. I at least got him into that one, but he looked stupid. What I didn’t try was the stand that came with the video game Baxter, but since Goliath can’t look straight ahead for a true flying pose (technically, gliding, as Goliath would remind me) I didn’t bother. I have a MAFEX stand and a Bring Arts one, but I feel both won’t be able to handle the weight. I’ll have to look elsewhere for something that works, or hang the figure from the ceiling with fishing line or something.

Clearly, the book is a prop to make him look smart because no one is reading that.

Goliath, likely owing to his size and NECA’s desire to keep the price down as much as possible, comes with just a handful of accessories. He comes packaged with two, open, style-posed hands that he can swap for fists. There’s also another left hand that’s more of a gripping hand which works well for his included book. There’s no title on the book, but it appears to match the one he read on werewolves from the series. He also has a jalapeno pepper, which is basically an in-joke for fans. Lastly, there’s a second head. When I first saw this figure unveiled, I figured NECA would go with a faceplate system to change expressions, but he actually has a whole, new, head. The hair is the same, but the face is a more fearsome, yelling, expression with blank eyes. I think, given the limited wing options, I’ll display Goliath with this face instead of the calm one, but both look great. The alternate head is well-painted and well-sculpted with each individual tooth brought out.

The accessory count is low, but Goliath isn’t really a character screaming for a lot of accessories. The optional left hand works just fine with the included book and pepper and he can be positioned with it in a fairly convincing manner, should you wish. He’s a bit limited in terms of more fearsome posing. Take the picture on the front of the box, that crouched pose isn’t really one he can do. He also can’t do the on-all-fours pose the gargoyles sometimes assume in the show. At the very least, he would need some neck articulation to pull that off. This isn’t terribly surprising though as NECA always prioritizes the aesthetics of their figures over posing. And I’m largely in agreement with that approach, though I do think they can do better here. I would like to see them figure out how to get a true gliding pose as well. They could possibly do so with neck articulation, or with different hair-shapes or even a hinge in the hair.

I look forward to getting some friends for this guy, and some foes.

Goliath is a good first effort from NECA for Gargoyles. I don’t think he’s quite the homerun that I had hoped he would be, but I think some of that will be addressed in time. The limited wings makes him feel like he’s not really an “Ultimate” edition of the character, but if I’m right and that’s a product of NECA keeping costs down, then maybe that will change in the future. NECA indicated the response to Goliath was beyond their expectations so the fanbase is there and I’m willing to bet its willing to spend a bit more to get more. The only real issue is, with costs soaring across the industry, will NECA be comfortable charging $40 or $50 for a figure in this line? That remains to be seen. For now, we’ve only seen the next two releases: Demona and Thailog. Both appear to have one set of wings so it may be awhile before we see something else. Finding a home for this line is going to be a challenge, but it’s a challenge I’m ready to welcome. I’m all-in on Gargoyles, so NECA, keep ’em coming!

3 Comments | tags: disney, disney afternoon, gargoyles, goliath, greg weisman, keith david, neca | posted in Television, toys

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