Category Archives: toys

December 31, 2023

2023 – A Year in Action Figure Reviews

By Joe

I don’t usually do year-end wrap-up posts. My collecting is usually too narrow to really warrant it, but this year I felt a little different. I probably spent way too much on my hobby in 2023 as there were a lot of releases that came in bunches. It’s probably going to have a somewhat negative impact on my collecting in 2024 as I try to narrow things down and stick to what I really want as opposed to what just looks cool. I’ve already made the decision to not collect NECA’s The Last Ronin line as I just have too much TMNT as it is and I don’t love the designs from those books enough to warrant figure purchases. Plus, where would I put them? I’ll probably be scaling back on Turtles in general since most of what I want has already been produced. Am I going to stop? No, not entirely, but I’m finally at a point where I can see something new on the shelf and not feel like I have to buy it.

That’s 2024’s business, let’s talk 2023 one last time. Rather than just rank the figures I reviewed in a top 10 or something, I figured I’d do it more like an awards show only my awards are both celebratory and dubious. You can’t have good without the bad, so if you’re one of those types that just hates anything that could be perceived as negative then maybe skip those. I’m also limiting this to figures I purchased in 2023 that were also current. Getting a figure that was new to me didn’t qualify if it was released prior to 2023. On the other hand, release dates are pretty loose so it’s possible you personally got something on my list in 2022 that I received in 2023. That’s just the action figure business at work. Let’s get to it though as so that we’re not here forever.

Longest Wait of 2023 – Mezco Batman ’89

This figure took so long to come out that I was starting to think it was never going to come out. Mezco isn’t known for its communication so folks who had preordered this thing, and paid in full, in 2020 were left completely in the dark. Maybe it would come, maybe it wouldn’t? 2023 ended up being the year where that wait finally came to an end. Was it worth it? Probably not. If I had a category for most interesting release of the year this figure would win that as well. It’s certainly an experience. Mezco did nail the Keaton likeness though which was the most important factor for me. I just question how well this silicon body is going to hold up over the years. Runner-Up: Super7’s The Simpsons Wave One

Best Figure not in 1:12 or 1:10 Scale – Mondo Sabretooth

I mostly collect 1:12 and 1:10 scale action figures, but every now and then a company gets me to dip my toes in something else. Usually that something else is 1:18, but Mondo has absolutely been killing it with its 1:6 scale line of figures from X-Men the animated series. There have been 3 releases in 2023: Magneto, Jubilee, and Sabretooth, and it’s Sabretooth that takes the crown for me by just a smidge. He looks awesome, poses well enough, and came loaded with accessories. These figures half shelf-presence for days. The only negative is the cost and space and that Mondo solicited 5 figures in 2023 which really did some damage to the old toy fund. Gambit should be arriving any day now too with Logan and Omega Red coming in 2024. I better make room! Runner-Up: Mondo Magneto and Jubilee

Worst Company – Hasbro

Sorry to kick you while you’re down Hasbro as the company just announced a layoffs to take effect next year, though maybe look at the top of the company instead? Either way, Hasbro keeps getting worse with its action figure offerings. The Power Rangers brand is stale, the Dungeons & Dragons stuff based on the old cartoon were riddled with quality control issues, and prices keep climbing on Marvel Legends and Star Wars while accessories and paint apps get cut. They’re putting out their most bare bones releases ever in those lines, but at a price greater than we’ve ever seen for those lines. More expensive plus poorer quality is not a recipe for success. I currently have two Hasbro action figures on pre-order and I’m not looking to add anymore. Runner-Up: Super7

Best Company – NECA

A more conventional round-up of the best figures of 2023 would have included these boys.

Basically, see what Hasbro did in 2023? NECA did the opposite. For the most part. Yes, their prices have gone up as well, but we haven’t seen a reduction in the product to go along with that price hike. NECA still keeps putting out tons of unique sculpts that are fully-painted with a generous assortment of accessories. They also managed to deliver their long-awaited Turtle Van and the product turned out pretty damn awesome. Now, lets just not talk about the pricing debacle that is the TMNT Sewer Lair. This is supposed to be a positive entry. Runner-Up: Jada Toys (even though I didn’t review any of their stuff here)

Best Original IP Release – Robot Reaper (Super7)

This is what sold me on this one.

Super7’s The Worst is their own collection of takes on popular, villainous, tropes, I suppose. Their first wave in their Ultimates! collection didn’t thrill me, but I could not keep myself away from wave two’s Robot Reaper. This thing is just a fun, clever, design and it’s also a fun action figure to mess around with. Some of the accessories I could do with out, and part of me feels like a sucker for paying full MSRP knowing full well it’s sure to be discounted, but when a company puts out something good I don’t mind paying full price. Runner-Up: Boss Fight Studio Saurozoic Warriors

Best Figure that Costs Too Much – MAFEX Scarlet Spider

He’s cool, but is he $100 cool?

Medicom’s MAFEX brand is basically known for being super-articulated and super expensive. Figures routinely cost over 100 bucks for those of us who dwell in the west and it’s hard to figure out why. Sure, some of the licenses they grab don’t come cheap, but Bandai puts out similar or better products for considerably less. And sometimes even for the same license. This Scarlet Spider figure is one I enjoy quite a bit despite feeling like it’s not worth the tasking price. It’s a better figure than what Hasbro is set to release very soon (one of two I have preordered), but I could very easily make the argument that the Hasbro one is a far better value which trumps any advantage the MAFEX figure brings to the table. Runner-Up: Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Robotic Rocksteady

Best Figure With Awful Quality Control – Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimates! Goldar

I’m not sure if Super7 has ever made a prettier action figure than Goldar from its line of MMPR figures. I mean, he is a sort of dog-faced monster, but the gold armor they sculpted and painted looks terrific and the character looks like it stepped right out of a television set in 1993. I can’t say the same for basically anything else in Super7’s MMPR line. It’s also the figure that I’ve seen break on camera in figure reviews more than any other. Whether it be the neck, wrists, or those damn wings, this is a finicky, fragile, mess of a figure. I don’t even like handling it as a result. I basically selected the head I wanted and the wing options and I don’t intend to change anything or move much. In some respects, it’s a terrible action figure, but also a great one. It’s a conundrum. Runner-Up: None

Worst Action Figure of 2023 – Marvel Legends Spider-Man (Animated)

Go ahead Venom, squeeze the life out of this twerp and his weird-shaped head.

This is one of those figures you may have received in 2022 that I got in 2023. Walmart put it up for preorder in the fall and didn’t ship them for awhile, if at all, while some were able to find it in-store in December. No matter, it’s my pick for worst figure of the year that I personally reviewed. And it’s kind of getting it on a technicality, as the worst figure I bought in 2023 was a reissue of an old figure in the McFarlane Batman – The Animated Series Mr. Freeze (what’s with figures based on 90s animated shows getting the shaft?). This Spider-Man is the infamous cel-shaded one, but I’ll defend the cel-shading to a point. It’s not awful like most of the X-Men figures were in 2022, though it’s nothing special. It’s fine. Everything else sucks though. The head is a bizarre shape and looks stupid, the body is way too undersized for the character this figure is based upon, and while it articulates better than some Hasbro Spider-Men, it still does some weird things. The accessories, which include two extra sets of hands and some web splats, are also terrible and since it was a Walmart exclusive it was really annoying to have to track down. Hasbro did a whole line of figures based on the ’94 cartoon series and yet they didn’t make the central character, Spider-Man himself, available in his red and blue threads to a mass audience. What a stupid decision and another deserving reason for Hasbro’s status as worst action figure company of 2023. Runner-Up: Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

Best Action Figure of 2023 – Mezco Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Green Ranger

I’m just sorry I don’t have an actual award to give him.

When Mezco first unveiled its take on the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I had a feeling it had a chance to be THE Green Ranger for me. I’d have no need for any other. It was another long wait, and the figure was released annoyingly enough as a convention exclusive, but it lived up to the hype. This figure is not perfect, but it’s the best representation of the Green Ranger in 1:12 form. The details look great, the proportions suitable for the source material, and the soft goods actually enhance the figure and not detract from it. It has all of the accessories you could want plus a flight stand. There are effect parts and even an extra holster for the Blade Blaster, if you want it. I was skeptical, and I almost put this guy in the runner-up category for the too expensive, but Mezco delivered a great product. It’s so good that I’m almost tempted to get the rest of the MMPR team, but then I look at the price tag and I feel pretty satisfied to just stick with Greeny here. Runner-Up: None, this figure was in a class by itself

Those are my thoughts on 2023. To my surprise, I didn’t pick anything from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but then again, that brand had a lot of good releases in 2023, just nothing exceptional. I considered doing a “Best Toy Line” and that probably would have gone to NECA’s cartoon TMNT line, but I didn’t feel that strongly about it, nor could I come up with a corresponding worst toy line. As for 2024, I’m looking forward to it. I have a ton of stuff preordered with Bandai and its Dragon Ball line including some figures that I’m already eyeing as potential Figure of the Year when 2024 is nearing an end. And then there’s Mondo X-Men that I have preordered and we’ve seen artwork for Rogue and Cyclops so that line figures to expand. As for Mezco, I may have given them top prize for 2023, but I’m not planning on picking up anything from that company in 2024. Their brand is pretty specific and it often doesn’t appeal to me. It will take a perfect marriage of enthusiasm for a brand on my part and their unique talents to get me to buy another one. And while I may scale back my toy buying in 2024, don’t expect to see my reviews vanish anytime soon. There will still be plenty to talk about.

Looking for toy-related posts that are more broad than a single review?

Take My Money, Hasbro, Give Me X-Men Animated Series Legends!

  It’s been probably 13 or 14 years since I’ve purchased a Marvel-branded action figure. This is somewhat shocking to me because from the age of 7 to around 25 I spent who knows how much money on Marvel action figures. I was there for the inaugural Toy Biz line of Marvel Superheroes and X-Men…

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by Joe

Let’s Rank the NECA Cartoon TMNT Figures…Again!

It’s the first Turtle Tuesday in a little while that I don’t have some new TMNT review to post. Given that, I think it’s time to revisit the rankings I did last year for NECA’s toon line of action figures. This has become NECA’s most popular line, and while it has cooled a bit since…

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by Joe

Super7 is Heading to Springfield!

Wednesday, August 18th, ended up being quite an eventful little day in the world of toy collecting. There were some reveals from major toy companies, leaks, and even those long neglected Street Sharks fans got something to get excited about late in the day. Personally, it was a good day for me too as I…

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by Joe

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December 30, 2023

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Lexington

By Joe
The littlest gargoyle finally makes his shelf debut.

It took a bit over two years, but the Manhattan Clan is at long last assembled upon my shelf. The last character to arrive is Lexington, the smallest and most unique from a design standpoint of the clan. This line was a bit unexpected when it was announced and it was like a dream come true for 90s kids who watched the show as part of the Disney Afternoon. NECA’s take on the characters may not be exactly what fans would have wanted if given the choice, but it has been pretty good. Visually, at least. There have been issues as well and the size of the wings packaged with each figure has been a point of contention. Lexington, being that he doesn’t feature the large wings of his brethren, is a different beast all together. He’ll take up less space on your shelf as a result, but he’s not without his own problems.

Lexington comes in the same five-panel box as the rest of the line, just a good deal smaller given his more diminutive stature. The artwork on the front by Djordje Djokovic (linework) and Nate Baertsch (paint) depicts Lexington in a rather fearsome pose and makes the little guy look about as ferocious as he could. The figure itself is sculpted by Djokovic who is apparently really into Gargoyles and has been given the honor of sculpting them all. Like the gargoyles before him, Lexington combines some of the characteristics of the cartoon with a more realistic approach. He’s very cut and muscular, but his face is pretty close to the show. Whether you like this approach or not, it’s consistent with the rest so you have likely already decided at this point, or just simply made peace with it.

He seems to fit in well enough with the rest of the clan.

Lexington stands at roughly 5″ depending on how bent you have his knees. He scales pretty well with the rest of the clan. Again, I think Goliath could be bigger, but the rest look pretty good. Lexington has a bit of a smile going on with his default head and I think it captures the essence of the character. The skin tone is an olive green with some black wash that looks rather nice and I really like the blue of his loincloth. He looks good, but then there’s the wings. Yeah, his wings aren’t a thing you have to account for space-wise on your shelf, but you do for the design and function of the figure. We’ll get into that part more when we talk articulation, but NECA opted to do his wings as two pieces of somewhat pliable plastic. They don’t have a ton of flex, but obviously aren’t the hard plastic the other gargoyles have. They peg into his back on ball-hinges and then are glued into his forearms and thighs. They don’t drape like the wings in the show, NECA would have had to go with more of a soft goods approach to get that look, and with his arms down they take on this wavy appearance. It exposes the gap between the torso and the mid-section of the wing and it’s not a great look. He almost looks better in a pose closer to what he’s doing on the box art, but that’s a challenge too.

“Stop complaining about the wings!!”

Is this the right approach? I don’t know. Lexington’s wings were always going to be a challenge as his are closer to actual bat wings in construction. When NECA first revealed a prototype for Lexington, it looked like they did his wings in pieces so he had a fin on his arms and another on his back or thighs. It’s similar to how S.H.Figuarts does capes where from certain angles it looks like one, continuous, piece, but in actuality it’s segmented. I didn’t love that look so I would say this is better, but I don’t like the material. I get why NECA chose this route because this is plastic they can sculpt and paint and the detail is consistent with the other gargoyles in the line. Had they gone with a stretchy fabric, it likely would have been one color, but maybe not? The movie Shredder figures have some pretty cool looking capes with designs on one side and solid colors on the inside. The Shadow Master Super Shredder that NECA did even has this faux leather material for the cape that would have made for an interesting solution. If NECA were matching the cartoon, that approach would have been a no-brainer since a solid color would have been fine. They’re not though, but I still think that would have been better and it makes more sense when we talk about the articulation. Probably the best solution would have been to do both and match the arms swappable. Hard plastic for flying poses, soft goods for casual.

I think this is how he’ll live on my shelf, I just wish we had something for the controller to go to.

We might as well jump into articulation now since I’ve already teased it. The head is on a double-ball-peg and it gets great range in all directions. That’s partly because NECA carved out a little section on the back of the neck to give the figure more range looking up. This means Lexington is actually the only figure in the line who could actually be displayed in a flying pose where he’s looking forward and parallel to the ground. That is good, but almost everything else is bad. The shoulders are incredibly tight on this figure. NECA seemed to really want to reduce any gaps to almost nothing because these are shirtless, hairless, beasts, but the shoulders sit so far in the torso that it kills the range. Lexington can’t raise his arms out to the side all the way, and worse, there’s little room for leverage to work the hinge. I have gone through two figures so far because I snapped a bicep peg trying to lower his arms. Even though I had my thumb right on the seem between the shoulder and bicep, it still snapped like a twig without much warning. I would later snap a foot off trying to put his alternate head on, so yeah, this one seems brittle. Thankfully, Big Bad Toy Store has a terrific return policy.

He can also pack some heat if that’s your preference.

The shoulders rotate fine and the bicep swivel works. The elbows are double-jointed, but hard to work with because of the wings and how they connect to the forearm. There’s just not a lot he can do because of that. Thankfully, the pegs on the rear of the figure where the wings go into the back are forgiving and will pop out if you try to do too much so there seems to be little chance of ripping the wings out of the arms or thighs, but this guy is just not fun to handle at all. The wrists rotate and hinge and the gripping hands have a vertical hinge, so that’s good. The diaphragm can rotate a little, but again, wings get in the way. The same is true for any forward and back motion. There is a waist twist and the hips are ball and socket joints with a thigh swivel built in. The knees are single-jointed and they peg in and hinge so you can swivel there. The ankles have a hinge and a rocker and the toes do the same. They’re pretty tight, but manageable. The tail pegs into the rear of the figure and has a hinge. It’s bendy, just like the other gargoyles, and can act as a support when standing the figure on a shelf.

The figure would have some limitations with or without the wings, just as the other figures in the line do. Lexington can’t, for instance, do his usual crouch where he has his hands on the ground. It’s like his default pose in the show, and the fact that he can’t do it in figure form is a bummer. Getting his arms up and spread like they are in the box art is also quite the challenge. If you rotate the shoulders over the figure’s head, carefully, you can get close. Introducing a NECA flight stand is a pain though since the wings get in the way of getting a grip on the torso. You’re better off with something that can grab the figure by the thigh. For most though, I’m thinking this is a set it in a basic pose kind of figure and then forget it.

I’m probably never going to display my figure with this thing, but I can admit it looks pretty cool.

Lexington does come with a solid assortment of accessories, but even here there is a bit of a letdown for one very specific reason. He has the slight smiling portrait and a yelling one with white-out eyes that looks pretty good. He also looks kind of funny with it since he’s so small, but that’s true even in the show. For hands, we get a set of open hands, a gripping left hand, a trigger finger right hand, and a set of fists. The gripping hand is for use with a remote control, which might be from the episode that introduced Coldstone, or brought him back, I forget. He also has a headset that slips onto his head without issue for communicating with Elisa. The trigger finger hand is intended for his crossbow, which is an homage to the original Kenner figure. Like Broadway and Brooklyn before him, Lex gets an updated version of his old weapon which looks really awesome. It has a thick, real, chain on it. I don’t know how well a chain would work on a crossbow, but it looks cool. There are also four bolts that can slot into it, though they don’t fire.

Well, they’re all here now.

That’s a solid spread that spotlights Lexington’s character traits with a techy set and then the homage, but what’s missing are another set of caped wings. NECA had specifically called out Lexington as a figure that would come with wings for another figure considering he’s a much smaller character, but none were included. Perhaps development costs on Lexington ended up being higher than expected, or it was more of a business decision. Everyone is going to want to add Lexington to their shelf, so why essentially give away a sought after accessory when it could go to another figure that could use a boost? As a consumer, I hate that mindset, but I get it. As of right now, Hudson, Broadway, and Angela are lacking another wing option. Broadway is getting a variant next year that’s basically the same figure, but in a soft goods trench coat. That one is coming with caped wings, which sucks and is annoying. We know MacBeth is on the way so it stands to reason he’ll come with wings for either Hudson or Angela. We also don’t have caped wings for Thailog, but I’m guessing he’s a lower priority. An armored variant could easily come with those. At least that’s a variant I’d have interest in.

In some ways, Lexington is one of my favorite releases in the line. He looks good, I think he’s properly sized, and I’ve just always liked the character. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to call him a fan-favorite. In other ways though, he’s the worst in the line. I don’t like handling him, and I think his wings look terrible in any pose that isn’t featuring them spread out. And even that’s a pain in the ass to get right. My pictures of this figure are so vanilla because he’s such a chore to work with. I basically don’t want to touch this figure ever again. I don’t really want to recommend it as a result, but the reality is, if you’ve been collecting this line you’re not going to stop before you add a Lexington. That would be silly. I guess just have low expectations and handle with care. Maybe one day we’ll get a better option.

If you’re interested in more Gargoyles reviews, check these out:

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Broadway

We are getting oh so very close to assembling the original Manhattan Clan in action figure form! Disney’s take on gothic beasts originally included the following gargoyles: Goliath, Hudson, Bronx, Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington. The clan would grow from there, but those six are still the first that come to mind for me when I…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Brooklyn

For the first time in a long time, we did not have a Turtle Tuesday post this week. We do, however, have a Warriors by Night Wednesday for you! It feels like NECA’s Gargoyles line is the most stop-and-start action figure line I’m into of late. The line has seen large gaps between releases and…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Hudson

Happy Boxing Day! It’s been a minute, but we’re back with another figure in NECA’s line of action figures based on the 90s cartoon/property Gargoyles – Hudson! Hudson, who was wonderfully brought to life by the late Ed Asner, was always my favorite character in the show. He’s basically the old veteran of the group.…

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by Joe

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December 29, 2023

Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimate Megazord

By Joe
Behold! The mighty Megazord!

We continue to bang out action figure reviews here in 2023 just in case there’s one that needs to sneak onto a year-end best of 2023 list. Is today’s figure such a contender? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth talking about. Super7 has managed to crank out three waves of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimates! in 2023 after a lengthy delay to get the line off the ground. The reception has been so-so. There have been figures I thought turned out rather well, and others I wasn’t too thrilled with. Not all have been reviewed in this space, but basically I’ve been disappointed in the actual Power Rangers while the zords have pleased me quite a bit. That’s why my lone purchase from Wave 3 is the Megazord, or Dino Megazord if you want it narrowed down a bit more.

A lot has changed since 1993, though I still maintain this old Bandai Megazord is a damn fun toy.

When Mighty Morphin Power Rangers premiered in 1993, the Megazord was their ultimate weapon. At least for a little while. Then the Dragonzord came along which meant the Megazord could level-up to the Mega Dragonzord. Then they added Titanus and suddenly the Ultrazord was a thing. And on the toy front, the Megazord was every bit as cool in plastic as it was on the screen. The Bandai Megazord was such an awesome toy that I wanted it badly, only I never got it so I had to purchase it as an adult to make it up to the kid in me. The toy is a blast because it’s five in one. Five robot dinosaurs (okay, well, three robot dinosaurs and two mammals) which can combine into a massive robot. In order to pull that off, the final product had to sacrifice some of the aesthetics when compared with the character on television. This may come as a shock, but the costumed person punching and kicking as the Megazord was not, in fact, made-up of five robots and had the proportions of a normal human. The toy basically couldn’t duplicate that look while maintaining the play functionality, but I don’t recall anyone who had it caring at the time.

“Are you my dad?!”

When Super7 got the license from Hasbro to do Power Rangers it can be assumed it was like the Transformers license which meant no transforming and no combining. No problem. Doing just straight toys of something like the Tyrannosaurus zord or Megazord without having to incorporate that function means they can focus on screen accuracy. Now, if I were still a kid I’d think a Megazord that can’t break down into five robots sounds useless, but as an adult collector? I’m intrigued.

Since I have it, we might as well compare this one to the Hasbro combining Megazord. Super7’s clearly looks better, though the Hasbro one can at least brag about its elbow articulation.

Super7’s version of the Megazord comes in the usual Ultimates! packaging. We’ve moved on from the brown shipper, but we’re still getting the slipcover for now. The box may surprise since it’s not nearly as large as the T-Rex or Dragonzord, but that’s because the Megazord doesn’t feature a giant tail. Don’t be fooled though as this is still a big, chunky, action figure that has substantial weight for something in this scale. The window box display is as nice as ever, though Super7 must have been concerned about paint rub as the figure is basically surrounded (not wrapped) in plastic in the tray which does downgrade the presentation for in-box collectors. Not that Super7 should care. The packaging is meant to get the product to your hands in pristine condition. Anything else is just gravy.

The Megazord more or less seems to scale with the rest.

Out of the box, Megazord stands about 8.625″ to the tip of the “fin” on its head. This line is a 1:10 scale line, but that obviously does not apply to the zords. Instead, this figure is meant to just scale with the other zords and the monsters and pass the eyeball test in doing so. I will say, he looks mostly okay beside the Dragonzord. Maybe a little undersized, but certainly good enough. It looks ridiculous beside the T-Rex though which is too big. Considering it’s technically impossible for these two robots to appear side-by-side, it’s not a big deal, but if you remind yourself that the T-Rex is technically the torso of the Megazord then it becomes laughable. It looks pretty good opposite Goldar, better than the other zords if you ask me, and it’s probably more important for this particular figure to scale with the monsters than the others so I like that.

These two don’t always see eye-to-eye…

As for the figure itself, it looks pretty damn good. The head and shoulders are properly sized and the proportions look much better than the other combining figures out there. Even better though, is that seemingly every inch of this thing is painted. I believe the black portions are where the bare plastic is, but even they look like they at least have a matte coat on them. The silvers are nice and shiny and I think they nailed the shade of red this character possesses. The face, in particular, is really well done and pretty clean. Closer inspection of the figure in other places will uncover some blemishes and subpar linework. The nose of the sabertoothed tiger has a blemish and there’s a silver spec on the snout of the triceratops foot. The white on that same foot is a bit thin and I could say the same for some of the yellow. These blemishes are mostly invisible from the shelf and the only one that bothers me is the tiger foot. The hands are the same shade of silver as the other silver parts of the figure and I think they were darker on the show, but that could have been due to ware and tare on the suit itself. Otherwise, this somewhat garish mix of colors looks as good here as it did on TV and it’s nice to see this amount of paint on what is a fairly expensive collectible. The figure also has a nice weight and feels sturdy, just the like the zords that came before it.

The main accessory here.

It’s important that this figure nail the presentation because it doesn’t have much else to rely on. The accessories are very light with this one as we get just one extra set of hands: fists and gripping. They look fine, but I would have liked some style-posed hands as well. For those gripping hands we get the power sword and mastodon shield. The sword looks great. It’s painted silver and has some nice etching near the hilt that’s painted a soft gold. The handle is painted as well, though if I was going to criticize one aspect of the item it’s that it’s too big. Super7 has a tendency to go bigger with weapons (just check out their Conan) and that apparently happened here as the sword on TV wasn’t quite so large. The mastodon shield also looks great and the paint on it is very crisp. I wasn’t sure if I’d even display my figure with it since it showed up in the show rarely, but I love the finish on it so it’s likely going to make the cut. The trunk is short and curled in though so it can’t be pointed at an enemy like it’s about to unleash a cloud of freezing air, not that it would have an effect piece for such. That’s the easiest room for criticism as a laser effect for the sword would have been neat or some crackling lightning, but this is basically it.

At least the new ones have the white diamonds painted on. Really makes the Red Ranger look like shit. I don’t know why they can’t all have a hit of black for the visor like the Green Ranger.

There are a couple of other accessories in the box, but they’re not really for the Megazord to use. Call them indirect accessories, if you will. There are two, miniature, Power Rangers in a summoning pose: Pink and Yellow. They’re the exact same sculpt which means the Yellow Ranger has a skirt piece which is inaccurate to the show, but I don’t know if that’s something that will bother people or not. They look okay, and if you’re keeping track that means we have two Red Rangers, Green, Pink, and Yellow. What’s missing is Blue and Black. Since the Megazord is the combined robots of all five of the original Power Rangers, why not just include Black and Blue in this box and get it over with? I’m not sure what else would make sense for them to be packed in with. The Mega Dragonzord? I’m not sure how much enthusiasm is out there for that one. Lastly, we get a power coin. One one side is the Megazord logo which features the portraits of the five robots that make it and on the reverse is the Zyuranger logo, one of the few remnants in the show of its Japanese origin. It’s the same high quality coin as the prior two and it’s fine. If it’s here at the expense of more accessories for the Megazord itself then I’d consider it unwanted.

In a contest to see who can bend their elbows the farthest, we’re going to have to declare a draw.

You likely need only take one look at this thing to figure out it doesn’t articulate particularly well. This is a boxy design and it’s not like the actor on the show was capable of much when in costume and this figure is pretty much the same. The head is on a ball-joint, probably a single, so it rotates and gets some tilt. The figure can look up a little and down some as well, though when looking down it’s just staring at the top of its own torso. The shoulders are ball hinged and rotation is fine, but you probably get about 70 degrees worth of range going out to the side. If they had put the shoulder pads on pegs so they could move out of the way it would have minimized this. There is a single hinge at the elbow that pegs into the upper arm which is essentially your bicep swivel. The hinge on the elbow offers less range than that of the shoulder and we’re pretty much in Optimus Prime territory here. The design of the character presents a challenge, but they could have done this better to get at least 90 degrees of bend here. Even the Hasbro combining Megazord can do better. The wrists swivel and the fists have a horizontal hinge while the gripping hands have a vertical hinge. They’re recessed pretty far in the forearm so range is mediocre, but you can pull them out slightly to get better range.

“Foolish Power Rangers! You’ve come into a sword fight with only fists!”

There is a waist twist on this guy, but it’s damn near useless because of the shape of the crotch area. Even though Super7 did that crotch with a soft, rubbery, material, there really isn’t enough flex to turn the waist and you do have to be mindful of paint rub. The hips appear to be the standard hinged ball pegs, and something that may annoy some, is they can’t be straight up and down due to how bulky the shins are. This appeared to even be an issue with the actual suit so I can’t fault Super7 too much for not being able to do better. The oversized diaper piece severely restricts what these hips can do. Rotation is fine, but going out to the side is minimal and the figure doesn’t have much range kicking forward and back. I would say it actually has no range going back, and going forward is basically one “click.” There is a single hinged knee below that which pegs into the thigh so there is some pivot, but not much due to the shape. The hinge is super tight and my left leg doesn’t seem to want to move much while the right will bend just a little. It’s more or less useless as there isn’t much clearance. The ankles are likely supposed to hinge and rock, but they do next to nothing. They basically wiggle just enough to let you know there’s a joint there and if there is a hinge it’s totally blocked by the sculpt.

“Oh no! A sword!”

The Megazord was never going to be a figure that’s super-articulated, but even with low expectations it still manages to disappoint. From the waist down, it’s practically a statue. The thigh swivel is okay, but everything else is borderline useless, especially the ankles. Super7 really should have borrowed a page from Bandai and used plastic “scales” that peg into the figure instead of the diaper. That would allow for plenty of range at the hips and it would still look fine if done properly. At the knees, they really should have just added a centimeter or less for clearance for those knees. Instead, they seem far more concerned with hiding the knee joint, but this thing is an action figure. If people don’t want to see the joints, they can go for the vinyl version or something. The joints are at least fairly tight. There’s some wiggle at the calves, but that’s it. The left arm at the shoulder could be just a touch tighter as sometimes the arm will droop when holding the mastodon shield, but it usually stays put for me when I set it. I guess time will tell if it gets worse or not.

Let’s get one last comparison in before we put a bow on this one. Here’s the Megazord with Super7’s take on Voltron.

Super7’s take on the Megazord is about as good as the two previously released zord figures. To no one’s surprise, they went heavy into the aesthetic and trying to match this to the show as much as possible and the results are pretty damn good. There were some things to nitpick, but overall they delivered on that end. Where they could have done better is in the accessory department and definitely with the articulation. I’ve said it before, but I feel like when Super7’s designers run into an obstacle with the articulation they don’t put any effort into actually coming up with a solution and instead give us a joint that doesn’t work. It makes me wonder if they even want to be in this business or if they’d be much happier just doing ReAction and the vinyl stuff. The only other real negative here is that this figure comes in at the inflated sticker price of $65. At $55, I felt the T-Rex and Dragonzord were a good enough value given the size, weight, and paint apps. At $65 here, I’m really not seeing where that extra ten bucks went. I’m not unhappy with my purchase, but in general, at this price point I think I need to see a bit more value in the box or I should at least be getting something that earns the term “action” figure better than this one. This figure is also likely to end up on clearance at some point, as that has been the trend, making it a hard sell at its current price.

If you’ve been buying the zords up until now then I suspect you’ll get this one since it probably is the most popular of the three. And it certainly is the most popular of all of the Megazords that followed. It will be interesting to see if there is an appetite for more. Collectors and fans already rejected Super7’s attempt at the White Tigerzord which came in at $65 and was probably more sparse than this release since it didn’t feature a shield of any kind. Super7 had to cancel it due to lack of interest. Do fans want a Mega Dragonzord? Maybe they want the Thunder Megazord? Or Dragonzord Battle Mode? If Super7 can’t get them onboard with the zord of the most popular Power Ranger then it’s hard to say what they will buy. For me, I probably don’t need any other zords so this may very well be my final word on Super7’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line. And if it is, I would say it filled a niche for me and did a good enough job at it. Others may disagree.

If you’re interested in what I had to say about some of these other Super7 Power Rangers releases, then check these out:

Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimate Goldar

Last week, when we took a look at the first Power Ranger in Super7’s line of Ultimates! action figures based on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers I expressed some surprise that Hasbro would license out this brand since it competes with their own Lighting Collection. I do feel like the actual Rangers are pretty safe. People…

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by Joe

Super7 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Ultimate Dragonzord

After a long delay, wave one of Super7’s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line arrived earlier this year. And after a delay of basically just as long, wave two is now upon us. For the first wave, we took a look at three figures: Green Ranger, Goldar, and the Tyrannosaurus zord. For wave two, it’s just…

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by Joe

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

December 28, 2023

Super7 Disney Ultimates! Stitch

By Joe
Stitch is bringing a little summer in December.

To my surprise, roughly an entire year passed between waves for Super7’s Disney Ultimates! line of action figures. That seemed to be a common occurrence in 2023 for the company as the same happened with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. At any rate, this was a line I was really excited for when it was announced as there isn’t a lot out there for Disney collectors who primarily like action figures. Wave One ended up being a mixed bag. The sculpts of Mickey, Pinocchio, and Prince John were there, but the paint was lacking and the quality was iffy. Wave Two was worse, though the only figure I bought was Robin Hood and I was not happy with it. I was so dissatisfied that I dropped my preorder for the Big Bad Wolf, but I had to keep one: Stitch. In my house, Stitch is pretty popular. I don’t consider him a classic Disney character, even though he and Lilo are now old enough to drink, but he’s certainly beloved by many. Now that he’s here, I’m happy to say he’s much better than Robin Hood, but is he worth $55?

The scale on this line is a bit weird, but I think it only matters that characters scale with other characters from the same film, and with Stitch, we don’t have anyone else from the film to compare to.

Stitch comes in the same Ultimates! packaging as the rest of the line. It’s been tailored to his movie and it looks nice, though the outer, shipper, box has been dropped. The slipcovers are going to be dropped as well, but this wave still has them. Stitch stands at around 3.75″ to the top of his head. Given that Ultimates! are 1:10 scale, this seems about right for Stitch. He’s the lone representative for his film though so figuring out where to put him might make the scaling seem weird. He’s a lot bigger than Mickey, not because of his height, but the chunk. He’s got some weight to him and it’s mostly found in his head. He’s going on my Disney shelf regardless, so he’s just going to have to fit in no matter what.

How can you not love that?

As for the sculpt itself, Stitch looks like, well, Stitch! He’s mostly blue plastic, but the painted details that are present look fine. The head is really well done and captures that dog meets koala design that seemed to drive the character’s looks. This is Stitch’s standard form once on Earth, so he only has the four limbs and no antennae. The head looks so good from a sculpt and paint perspective that it makes the body of the figure look cheap by comparison. There, the blue plastic is dominant and there’s some frayed seems on the sides of the figure that could be trimmed with a fine blade. The paint on the chest is mostly fine, but it’s kind of driving me a little nuts that it’s impossible to line-up the sides of the light blue portion on the upper torso with the same on the lower half. The overall feel of the figure is a bit mixed. He has a nice weight, but the lightness of the body feels cheap. It’s been the same story with the rest of the line. It looks fine, but does it feel like a premium collectible? No, not really.

Yeah, sure, I guess we can do something with this?

Super7 hopes to make up for that with accessories and Stitch has a ton of those. He had a lot of looks in the film, and Super7 selected a few to focus on. The standard head features a smile and looks fine, but he also has a similar one with a plunger stuck to his noggin. It’s cute, but not one I’ll ever use. He also has a portrait with his ears curled back and his tongue stuck up his nose. It’s a great visual in the movie and it’s executed really well here. He also has an optional right hand that’s holding a snow cone, and if you don’t like the disgusting origins of this tongue head, you can make him look like he’s licking the snow cone instead.

Super7 was very committed to recreating this very brief scene.

Stitch’s other heads are intended for more of a costumed look. There’s one with a chef’s toque that’s on a neutral expression. It pairs with optional oven mitt hands and a massive cake which was shown in the film’s epilogue. The cake is just a brick of plastic even bigger than Stitch. It looks fine, but certainly feels a bit excessive. The other head features a polka-dotted bathing suit top over his ears and squinting eyes. It’s to be paired with a soft goods and fully wired cape to recreate Stitch’s “Batman” outfit from the end of the film. The cape just affixes via two tabs on the cape where the wire runs through. It’s not super secure, but it seems to work. This is probably my favorite look for the character and it’s a lot of fun to have in figure form.

Obviously, this is his best look.

Stitch also has a couple of additional toys to make use of. There’s a set of sunglasses which fit on the standard head just fine. You can put them on the other heads too, but they’re intended for the standard one. He also has his laser gun with the carrot jabbed into the end. It has a hand molded onto it so it’s technically an optional hand just like the snow cone. It’s pretty heavy though and getting Stich to stand while holding it is pretty tough. The carrot also isn’t removable which is an odd choice. Perhaps it was mandated by Disney? I kind of doubt it, but I’m not ruling it out.

I’m surprised I got him to stand with this gun hand.

That’s a healthy spread of accessories, but given what was there to work with in the movie I’m sure everyone and their mother will have something they wish was included instead. The plunger head and the whole baker look is definitely one I could have done without. I’d trade both for an Elvis outfit without question. His book or Lilo’s doll would have been nice, or something indicating his “Badness” level. I don’t think Super7 necessarily did wrong here (okay, maybe I personally think the big plastic cake is pretty stupid), it’s just the reality of being able to only fit so much into the box. If the figure does well, I could certainly see them doing more versions like an Experiment 626 with extra arms or a Halloween edition where he’s in his Dracula costume.

You probably won’t be able to do much with your posing on this one.

The Ultimates! line is rarely celebrated for its articulation, and with Stitch that is about as true as ever. This is a figure that can’t do a whole lot. The head is just on a big ball joint so you get range in all directions, but not a lot up or down. Getting the heads off is mostly easy, but some of the extra ones are tough to get on, though do-able without heat. At least the lack of a ball-hinged joint means this one should be plenty durable. Some of the heads (like the tongue one) feature articulated ears on ball hinges while others are pretty stationary. They’re all softer plastic which is nice for when you’re trying to get one seated. The shoulders are ball-hinged, and have good range going out to the side. Rotation is fine. The elbows are hinged pegs as well and they rotate, but the hinge barely moves. The left arm on mine is really stubborn too. The hands rotate and feature a horizontal hinge. In the torso, is a diaphragm joint, but it’s poorly implemented. It feels like it’s binding when rotating and I find I have to push down hard to get it to swivel properly. There’s virtually no forward and back. The hips go out to the side a touch and swivel forward and back, but are otherwise just there for him to stand. You won’t be posing these legs, and the ankles just swivel.

I will say, that is a damn fine looking snow cone.

Stitch is basically capable of just standing there and modeling his props. He can’t convincingly stand on all fours which is disappointing. He can sit like a human, but not like a dog which he does a lot in the movie. You’re likely to just pick a look for him and hope he stands on your shelf. He can be a challenge to do so because there just isn’t much to work with. I have him doing a Batman pose on my shelf right now, but I’m just waiting for a shelf dive. Thankfully, if one takes place he should land harmlessly on my couch.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

Stitch basically turned out as expected. The solicitation images do a solid job of representing what’s in the box and there weren’t any dramatic changes to the figure like we saw with Wave One. It just comes back to the question of is this figure worth the $55 asking price? Objectively speaking, probably not. This line has a tendency to hit clearance (recently, some GI Joe Ultimates! were priced as low as 12 bucks) and until that changes it’s basically impossible to recommend paying full price. The only reason to do so is if you want it now, or you want to show your support for the line with your wallet so that it keeps going. And that’s a question that’s impossible to answer right now. The most recent Disney Ultimates! wave (based on The Rescuers) was cancelled due to lack of orders. Wave Four is The Nightmare Before Christmas and is tentatively scheduled to arrive in the spring. Presently, there is no other open preorder for the line and information about its future has been cloudy at best. It’s very possible it’s headed for the chopping block, and that only matters in the context of this review for people hoping to pair Stitch with more characters from the film. If you don’t want your Lilo & Stitch Ultimates! collection to be one and done with Stitch then this probably isn’t for you. If you don’t care about getting anyone else from the film, then your decision should be a lot easier. I’m largely happy with how this figure looks and the display options available and I would even go so far as to say it’s my favorite in the line so far. Do with that what you will.

Here’s some more Disney Ultimates! reviews you can check out:

Super7 Disney Ultimates! Robin Hood

When Super7 announced it was taking Disney into its world of Ultimates! line of action figures, they really seemed to confuse the Disney fans unfamiliar with their business model when the first wave consisted of Sorcerer Mickey, Pinocchio, and Prince John from Robin Hood. Where was Robin Hood?! Well, he was coming, just in Wave…

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by Joe

Super7 Disney Ultimates! Prince John

Our third and final figure of the inaugural wave of Disney Ultimates! from Super7 is the most surprising of the bunch: Prince John, the phony King of England! Super7 often surprises with its deep cuts, and Prince John certainly fits the bill. While it’s hard to argue much from Disney could be considered a true…

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by Joe

Super7 Disney Ultimates! Mickey Mouse as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

The first figure from this line of Super7 action figures based on characters from Disney’s treasure trove of animated characters was Pinocchio. In that review, I mentioned how Disney wanted to outdo itself with Pinocchio and sunk a lot of money into that film’s production. Well, the only other film from that era that might…

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by Joe

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

December 27, 2023

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Elisa Maza

By Joe
Friend of the gargoyles, Elisa Maza, has joined the shelf.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a review on an action figure from NECA’s line of figures based on the Disney Afternoon animated series Gargoyles. That’s not due to me not getting any figures, it’s more just me not having a ton to say. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I wasn’t exactly excited to share my opinion. That’s primarily due to these figures being very fine looking figures, but they’re not the most fun to handle. The problems the first figure in the line had, Goliath, are still present in the most recent. I started to feel like a broken record as I kept saying “This figure looks great, but these wings suck and the posing is really limited as a result.” That’s been true of them all. Today’s figure though is different because we’re not looking at a gargoyle, but a human. And that human is none other than Elisa Maza.

New York’s only unarmed cop.

Detective Maza is the first human ally the Manhattan Clan makes in the series following the time-skip to present day New York. I suppose the crew thought their first ally was Xanatos, but he was never their friend. Elisa, being a detective and all, investigates a disturbance atop the skyscraper where the clan dwells and quickly runs into Goliath. It doesn’t take particularly long for the gargoyles to view her as an ally and once Xanatos’ deceitful ways are out in the open, she basically becomes their only friend. And along the way, she’ll become a romantic interest for Goliath because this property wasn’t afraid to go there. Love is love.

Maybe this should be the Cagney review with accessories.

As an action figure, Elisa is understandably less impressive than a monstrous gargoyle. She’s a plain clothes detective in denim pants and a red jacket. She still gets the same window box treatment from NECA with original artwork by Djordje Djokovic while the sculpt (and what NECA terms as fabrication) were handled by Thomas Rozejowski and Kyle Windrix. Elisa stands at roughly 6.5″ and is pretty well proportioned for the character. She has pretty long legs, and her coat is done with an overlay on the torso with the sleeves included as part of the sculpt of the arms. In other words, if you wanted to remove the coat you would need to find some new arms for her or else it will look silly. The coat does make her look a little frumpy, if you will, as basically all coats do in real life. She still has curves so I think there is a nice balance being struck here between the animated look and the realistic approach NECA has taken with the line when it comes to her body.

This old Toy Biz handgun doesn’t look too bad in her hand.

Where things get a bit murky is with the head. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with it, it’s just that the faces look very animation-inspired when the gargoyles have largely shunned that look. Her eyes are oversized like a cartoon would and her skin-tone is flat. Again, it’s not a bad sculpt and paint job by any means, but it isn’t consistent for the line. The gargoyles have all been sculpted and designed by Djokovic where as this figure was handled by a different team and it shows. I personally would have liked for this line to follow the animation, so I can’t say I dislike what’s done here, but I do have to concede that Elisa strikes a different vibe on the shelf when placed with the other figures. Even her hair more follows the show has it’s black with blue highlights as cartoons often do with black hair. This is likely something that is going to bother some more than others. Or maybe it will bother everyone since those who want that uniform look will obviously be irritated, while those who wanted that animated look might just be frustrated that the gargoyles aren’t done that way. I suppose this approach may end up pleasing few.

I also grabbed a third party gun for her. It’s not perfect, but will probably do fine.

NECA did provide Elisa with some accessories, though with one pretty obvious omission. Elisa has two styles of hair at her disposal: a neutral one and a wind swept version. Both fit on her head just fine and look nice. I do find myself leaning towards the wind swept portrait more often than not as it adds a touch of style. Elisa also has three different heads with three very similar expressions: neutral, smile, and a smile with a raised eyebrow. They all look fine, but are also way too similar. I would have loved some variety as even the neutral face almost has a hint of a smile to it. Maybe an angry expression? Or a startled one to reenact Goliath saving her instead of Demona?

Goliath’s inability to really look down comes into play here unfortunately.

Elisa also has an assortment of hands and accessories for her to handle with said hands. We get fists, trigger finger hands, a left hand with a pinching gesture, and a gripping right hand. The pinching hand is for her to display her included badge should someone question her credentials. It’s a small piece of plastic and the badge is rather neatly painted, but good luck not losing this thing. The gripping hand is for use with her flashlight which looks fine, but is just a flashlight. Her cat, Cagney, is also included, but not included is a hand for petting said cat. The cat looks fine though and has an articulated head. Just like the figure itself, the cat looks more cartoony than realistic. Also not included is something for those trigger finger hands. Yes, NECA did not include her sidearm. Why? Because they wanted to make us mad. No, obviously that’s not the reason and it was not an oversight because how could something like that be missed? NECA hasn’t publicly commented on it, but you can basically assume that Disney said “No” to Elisa coming with a gun. “But Demona, Thailog, and Xanatos all have guns?” you say, but I would counter their guns aren’t of the realistic variety. Elisa carries a standard 9mm that looks like an actual handgun and not some weird laser weapon. NECA gave us the hands, but we have to find our own gun. Even though this line is technically 1:10 scale, I find 1:12 weapons work pretty well. My old Toy Biz Deadpool handgun looked pretty good in her hands, and I also grabbed a generic one from Casting Cave. I haven’t painted it, though I really should, but it gets the job done for me.

Now Brooklyn can take up less space on your shelf.

Elisa does come with one other accessory and it’s one for a different figure. Like Bronx before her, Elisa comes with a set of caped wings for a gargoyle: Brooklyn. The wings work just like Goliath’s and fit over the figure’s neck and can be secured via pegs in the back. The plastic is soft, but not so soft that it won’t restrict the movement of the figure’s arms once on. It looks okay, but this look is still not the one desired by most which would be those relaxed, A-shape, wings for walking around. And I could be wrong, but I feel like Brooklyn went with the caped look less often than Goliath. I picture him in my head as often more crouched than the others and his wings more relaxed. At any rate, if your shelf is full because of those spread wings then this accessory is welcomed just to be able to squeeze more out of said shelf.

This doesn’t look like a fair fight.

Since Elisa doesn’t have wings like the others, I expect her to be a little easier to handle. She is, for the most part, though this is still a NECA figure and articulation is a lower priority than it would be with other companies. The head is on a double-ball peg, but the hair is going to restrict her a bit. You can rotate, tilt, and she looks down pretty well while looking up is tougher because of her hair. The shoulders are ball-hinged and she can rotate just fine and the arms raise out to just about horizontal. There is a biceps swivel and the double-jointed elbows bend well past 90 degrees. The wrists swivel and all of the hands feature a horizontal hinge which is lame as the trigger hands, at least, should have vertical hinges. There might be a diaphragm joint on the figure, but the coat makes it functionally useless. The waist twist is just a waist twist, though it feels like a ball peg so you get a tiny bit of nuance to it. The ball and socket hips go out to the sides nearly to a full split. Be careful with the diaper piece over the crotch as I have seen instances of the paint cracking which is unfortunate. The legs can kick forward almost to horizontal, again you probably don’t want to force it since it will stress that crotch piece, while the thigh twist works just fine. The double-jointed knees bend past 90 degrees and the ankles hinge and rock side-to-side and work fine. Her feet are a bit small relative to her body, so she’s harder to stand than you may expect. This one was often falling over on me overnight when I had it on my desk, but once I found a solid stance she’s been fine.

I’m starting to wish she came with a new head for Goliath that was a bit warmer of an expression.

One last thing to talk about with this figure is how she looks with the others. I already mentioned the style clash, but more important to me is that her scale is off. Or perhaps more accurately, her sizing really makes it apparent that Goliath is just too small. She looks fine with Bronx, Hudson, and Brooklyn while Goliath and Broadway clearly seem undersized to me. I’m thinking the idea here was to fudge the scale a bit. Goliath should be the largest, but he doesn’t need to be that much bigger than Hudson as he was in the show. And I guess that kind of works, but it starts to look bad when Elisa is introduced. Goliath being already out for quite some time and the pillar of the line, Elisa probably should just be smaller. Even though she’s probably perfectly in the realm of 1:10 scale being 6.5″ herself. On my shelf as I type this, she’s at Goliath’s shoulders which is just too tall. In the show she’s more at his chest. Part of the issue is the unique anatomy of gargoyle legs and I will admit that Goliath’s knees are bent more than I’d like, but it’s hard to have him standing otherwise. Also more of an issue with Goliath than Elisa is that he can’t look up so it’s really hard to do flying poses with Goliath carrying Elisa, nor can he look down at her. I’m starting to wish we could just get a Goliath redo at this point.

Despite the fact that she’s a human, Elisa looks like she belongs. I have Goliath about as tall as I’m comfortable with him (and I’m still expecting a shelf dive at some point) standing to mitigate any scaling issues.

Is Elisa Maza a worthy addition to your Gargoyles collection from NECA? At the end of the day, I think so since she’s a pretty integral character in the show and the comics that followed. The execution isn’t perfect, but some of the issues are definitely not the fault of the figure when it comes to scaling and accessories. It is a shame we couldn’t get her gun in the box and I doubt that could be fixed with a Gargoyles accessory set. It would have to be a generic weapons pack like what McFarlane does to get around DC not allowing guns with its figures. It sucks, but I’m obviously not mad at NECA and I’m not really even irritated with Disney as I get why these companies make these choices. It’s not the end of the world and anyone who collects action figures can probably source a gun from another figure without much problem. And if you can’t, there are plenty of customizers out there who can. On its own merits, this figure is just fine. It’s not extraordinary in any way, but anyone familiar with Gargoyles will know who that is on your shelf which is probably good enough for most.

If you’re interested in other figures from this line then check these out:

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Goliath

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:…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Brooklyn

For the first time in a long time, we did not have a Turtle Tuesday post this week. We do, however, have a Warriors by Night Wednesday for you! It feels like NECA’s Gargoyles line is the most stop-and-start action figure line I’m into of late. The line has seen large gaps between releases and…

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by Joe

NECA Gargoyles – Ultimate Bronx

Well, here’s something different. Bronx, the good gargoyle dog, is NECA’s fourth entry in its relatively young line of action figures based on the beloved Disney Afternoon series Gargoyles. And not only is Bronx here all on his own, he’s also got something for his buddy Goliath that collectors of this line have been begging…

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by Joe

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December 26, 2023

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Michelangelo

By Joe
Look who finally showed up.

Another Boxing Day is upon us and it’s an especially said one since 2024 is a leap year so we have to wait an extra day for Christmas 2024. However, it’s also the final Turtle Tuesday of 2023 so lets shell-lebrate with one last TMNT toy review before the ball drops on this one. March 2021 is when I got my hands on the NECA Quarter Scale Raphael from the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, in December 2023, the quartet is complete as I have acquired Michelangelo, the last of the brothers to see release. Because the four turtles were essentially all the same in that old cartoon series, NECA’s action figures follow the same mold. Literally. As such, there won’t be a whole lot to dig into with Michelangelo here that we haven’t already covered, but there’s a few things unique to this figure to touch upon. Mostly though, if you have and enjoyed the prior three then you’ve probably already ordered or already have Michelangelo.

Your Michelangelo can be either happy, scared, determined, or excited.

Michelangelo comes in the same Turtle Van style window box as the other three and will stand at nearly 15″ on whatever surface you choose to place him on. Just like the other figures, this mold is based on the 1:12 turtle figures first released in the Turtles in Disguise pack which have a more pronounced toon look to them based on the second season of the show and beyond, at least until the redesign that came late in the “Red Sky” seasons. There’s interchangeable expressions with the heads as each turtle came with happy eyes and angry eyes plus an assortment of mouth parts. For Mikey, he comes with the open-mouthed smile and the neutral, closed, mouth. If you have all four turtles, that means you now have two smiles, 3 open smiles, 3 neutral, and 2 yelling mouths. It’s kind of strange that we didn’t end up with four of anything so if you want all four turtles to look the same you’re out of luck, but there’s enough to have them all happy or angry at least.

Michelangelo arrives in a slightly different shade of green than his brothers.

Michelangelo looks basically the same as the others, just swap in orange for the other colors. He has the same belt as Raph which doesn’t feature any holsters for his weapons so you have to just sneak them in under his arms or something. The look for these figures is nice, though Michelangelo is a bit peculiar in that his skin tone is a slightly yellower green. You may not notice it out of the box, but once he’s with his brothers it’s apparent. It’s not a huge difference, but obviously it’s a difference that isn’t supposed to exist so someone screwed up somewhere. Either NECA approved a factory sample with this error color, or the factory messed it up when it went into production. How much it bothers one is going to vary. I don’t display my four turtles side-by-side so it’s not a big issue for me. I also don’t think the colors are so off that you can’t use the other mouth parts with Michelangelo. The hands look a little odder, but only if you place two different colored hands side-by-side. Nevertheless, if it sounds like something that will bother you then you could always wait and see if NECA does another run of these figures as it could be corrected then. Or maybe the newer releases for the other turtles currently on pre-order will look like this one.

The different colors are most noticeable with the hands while I think this mouth piece from a past figure looks fine on Michelangelo.

I’m not going to drill down into the articulation again since it’s the same as the other three. I will say that for Michelangelo his joints all seem to work as well as they can. Leonardo and Raphael both had fused thigh joints for me that just won’t budge even after applying heat while my Donatello works well. Michelangelo appears to have a fairly liberal amount of lubrication in his joints so things are moving very well right out of the box. The heads are still a pain in the ass to work with and will likely require a heat source, but at least that’s something that can be worked with. The thighs work fine and even the forearm swivels which I don’t know if I noticed that with the other three (or if it was possible). The joints are still pretty tight as they need to be for such a heavy figure. The knees, in particular, were stubborn out of the box, but I got them moving without heating them up. Michelangelo is going to move probably better than his brothers, though the heft of the figure will still limit what you can do with him.

Something youre figure won’t be able to do without modification.
Yeah, these aren’t the same as the ones on the box.
One long chain.

The main separator for these figures rest with the accessories. I already mentioned the head parts, but Mikey also comes with a set of gripping hands, pointing hands, and thumbs up hands. He’s basically only lacking the open palm hands. The gripping hands are exactly the same as before, so no vertical hinge and the fingers are spread further apart than usual since these are modeled after the sai-gripping hands intended for Raph. For those hands, Mikey has his nunchaku. Just like the 1:12 version, they’re done with painted plastic handles and real chain links connecting them. If you saw the solicitation images online or on the back of the box and got excited for how long the chain looks, you’ll be let down as the chain is much shorter on the final version. I count seven links while the figure on the box has basically double that. You could pry the links apart to create one, long, ‘chuk, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It means you won’t be able to do the under the arm pose on the box, so that’s a bummer.

As a nunchaku replacement, the Turtle Hook is lame, but as a tool? It’s cool.
More pizza.
The Turtle-Com is still nice.
Sorry Mikey, but I don’t think a quarter scale Kala is in the cards.

Michelangelo’s other unique accessory is the Turtle Hook, the famous weapon that supplanted the nunchaku since some cultures had an issue with that particular weapon. The Turtle Hook is an up-scaled version of the same that came with some of the 1:12 releases over the years. It’s painted and sculpted well and the hooks are on a hinge so you can open them up. They sound ratcheted and since the hook is very thin it’s definitely a little scary, but so far so good. There’s a yellow string affixed to it with a white piece of plastic at the end which Michelangelo can sort of grip. I wouldn’t mind a longer rope, or if they had built in a means to wind the rope on this larger version, but it’s overall a fun addition. The only other unique accessory for Michelangelo is a paper one which features an image of Kala the Neutrino on it. Otherwise, he has two slices of pizza which can connect with the six other slices to form one, whole, pizza if you have all four turtles. He also has a Turtle-Com just like the other three and it’s still a cool accessory, just less special since we’ve seen it four times now.

My chosen method for displaying this big boys. Yeah, the quadrant Mikey occupies is full of Gundam and other robots, but he’s just going to have to deal with it.

Michelangelo is really just more of the same, and that’s fine! It’s a bit of a bummer that the skin tone is a little different, but otherwise this is the figure you probably expected. All of the stuff that is good about the past three is still good here, and the bad stuff is still bad, though with Mikey at least the articulation is better than some. And it’s just nice to have all four turtles now. I have one in each corner of a display shelf I have and that open spot where Mikey is now is finally occupied, even if the quadrant he’s in doesn’t feature turtle figures (they can’t all be turtles). This is all I need him to do, and all I really need of the quarter scale line so if NECA announces giant Foot Soldiers or Shredder you’ll have to read about them somewhere else. Now that giant-sized Krang they showed off at Comic Con…stay tuned, I guess.

You’ve read my thoughts on Michelangelo, now read what I had to say about his brothers:

NECA Quarter Scale TMNT Toon Raph

My first NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles product was the original release of the Mirage Studios quartet released in 2008. Nearly a decade went by before I bought another TMNT product from NECA, and that item ended up being the quarter scale movie Donatello. It was love at first sight for me and Donnie, and…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Donatello

2022 has been a year of catch-up so far for me. A lot of stuff I preordered a year or more ago is finally coming due, and often without the actual preorder! The NECA quarter scale toon Donatello from the classic cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is yet another preorder that just didn’t get…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Quarter Scale Toon Leonardo

We’re not yet far enough removed from the holidays that Christmas has left my brain. And if you were to ask me what my favorite Christmas present was as a kid I wouldn’t hesitate to say my Super Nintendo. I had a real “Ralphie moment” in that I found it last having failed to notice…

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by Joe

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December 6, 2023

Figura Obscura – The Ghost of Jacob Marley

By Joe
“Tonight, you will be visited by three spirits…”

Four Horsemen Studios is back with another holiday release in its Figura Obscura line of action figures. This sister line of their more famous Mythic Legions property launched two years ago with Krampus and continued with last year’s Father Christmas. Many fans, myself included, expected another holiday figure this year, though if you had asked me a week ago what that figure would be I would have been pretty stumped. The line seemed to target characters of folklore, and while there are certainly some more out there for Christmas, none seemed as obvious as Krampus or a version of Santa Claus. I probably would have guessed some kind of yeti, or maybe Jack Frost, but Four Horsemen Studios surprised me with an action figure of the ghostly Jacob Marley.

He comes sans chains, but he’s not likely to stay that way for long.
I love how the feet just disappear.

Marley comes from the pages of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. If you have never read the original source you have almost certainly encountered the story as told by someone else be it Mickey Mouse or Gonzo. Marley doesn’t immediately strike me as a folklore type of character, but then again, we’re talking about a story that’s been ingrained in Christmas since 1843 so perhaps I may need to rethink my personal definition of folklore. Regardless, a spectral figure draped in chains with its jaw held in place by a knot sure sounds like something that would lend itself well to what Four Horsemen does. The character was teased with an image of chains and locks, a dead give-away, and then finally unveiled and put up for order on December 2nd. I thought it looked cool enough to warrant a purchase, and it was in my hands a mere three days later so now I’m going to interrupt the Christmas special posts to tell you what I think.

The detail on this figure is incredible, though I wish this harness had a better way to fasten.

Marley arrives in the standard window box for the line with a wrap-around backdrop held in place by magnets. It’s a terrific way to include a backdrop as the cardstock is nice and heavy. On the front is an image of Marley as a doorknocker from the novella and on the reverse is an interior painting of Scrooge’s bed chambers (the artwork is credited to Nate Baerstch) complete with a terrified Scrooge by the fire. Scrooge being present in the image makes me wonder if that means he’s not a candidate for a figure of his own down the line, but I guess we’ll see in the years to come. There’s a description of Marley on the back as well and Four Horsemen even included a small (4.125″ x 5.25″) copy of Stave 1 of the story with more illustrations inside. The actual box depicts various specters from the story from when Scrooge looks out his window initially. I’m assuming some are based on the descriptions Dickens provides, though I haven’t read the original text in probably 25 years to recall specifics. I do plan on reading this first stave before the season departs.

There’s a lot going on here.

Marley himself stands 7″ tall and out of the box he does not have his chains affixed to him. This design is credited to Eric Treadaway, one of the three founders of Four Horsemen Studios (I’m guessing there is a reason why there are three, but the name implies four), and Marley certainly looks the part of a dead 1840s rich guy. He has an aged and weathered face with long hair and thick sideburns. He’s sporting a long coat and a rather fancy looking vest beneath that with a kerchief around his neck. The figure is basically all done in tones of blue and gray. His skin is painted in a shade similar to periwinkle and shaded with cyan blue. The hair and interior of the coat are more of a gray blue and the buttons on his coat are a faint silver. I have always considered the strength of Mythic Legions to be the sculpt and paint combo and Marley does not do anything to dissuade me from that manner of thinking. There’s some great texture on the coat, he’s got a missing chunk of flesh on his rather large forehead, and all of the buttons and pockets look real. The coat is a pliable plastic as opposed to soft goods and I think that was the correct route to go. It hangs well, has a good form to it, and could fool someone from the shelf.

To fly, or not to fly?

Marley looks, in a word, awesome. This figure is phenomenal when it comes to the presentation, and I’ve barely scratched the surface. The coat appears to be a clear plastic that’s been painted. It must be, since the hem of the coat is where the paint starts to fade out so we can get a translucent effect. I’m amazed at how well the paint looks on this thing given the amount needed to pull this off. The boots below the cuffs are also done in transparent plastic and the paint fades out on them as well as it moves down leaving the actual foot portion completely transparent. I don’t think it takes much imagination to come up with such a paint scheme, but it takes talent and skill to pull it off and man does this figure ever pull it off. He looks great standing, but I’m really tempted to put him on a flight stand to draw attention to the transparent parts.

You’re in some serious shit, Scrooge.

Of course, Marley wouldn’t be Marley without his many shackles and chains. Even Goofy was forced to drag those things around. The chains are all connected to a soft, plastic, harness that is designed to go over Marley’s torso. The harness looks nice, has a big lock on the front, but is a challenge to get on. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to do so and thought I may need to pop the arms off in order to get it in place. Instead, the bottom rear came apart as I examined it and I think it’s supposed to do that? There’s no tab, nor is their any glues residue to imply it came apart by accident, but it did allow me to get the harness on. It, like the belt that came with last year’s Father Christmas, doesn’t fasten well though which makes me wonder if it was supposed to come apart. I wish it had a tab to hold it in place, because it will repeatedly come apart when handling the figure and might even do so when not. I secured it with a tiny amount of gray mounting putty since it was driving me nuts.

Anything that looks like it should open, can. Well, except the books. And the locks…
Keys for days!

That annoyance aside, the harness and chains really bring some added drama to the presentation of this one. He has quite a few chains of varying lengths and design. They’re all a muted copper or a dingy brushed nickel and there’s padlocks and skeleton keys throughout. Three chains end in a lockbox while two in a ledger and they’re all unique designs so not one box is the same as the other. The boxes also all open from the top in case you want to hide anything inside. There’s also a large safe at the end of another chain and that can open as well. Inside you’ll find a bonus, unadvertised, accessory that does fit the mood of this figure, but could also be used with another Mythic Legions release. Since it’s a surprise, I’ve declined to take a picture of it, but know that it is pretty cool and I like it better than the surprise inclusions with Father Christmas.

“If you’re gonna scream, scream with me!”

The chains are not Marley’s only accessories as he does also come with various hands and a second portrait. He has gripping hands out of the box, but also has a set of gripping hands with a vertical hinge, style pose gesture hands, and a set of clawing hands. The second portrait depicts Marley with his headwrap removed which causes his jaw to droop and hang slightly askew. It’s appropriately unpleasant to look at, but the large mouth opening does sometimes come off as a bit cartoony. It’s really well painted and looks amazing, but I don’t know if I’ll ever actually use it. Marley also has a pair of door knockers featuring his visage, one shows him in a stoic fashion while the other has him wailing. There’s a slot on the back if you want to hang them on a nail, though they’re not so heavy that mounting putty wouldn’t work. The knocker portion also moves and the paint job and sculpt are terrific. Lastly, there’s also a small pouch of extra skeleton keys. There are multiple designs, though I have not bothered to count how many actual keys are in there, but know that it’s a lot. You will never have need of more. Four Horsemen also tossed in a greeting card featuring the cover art, as they did for the past two releases which is cool.

Even these door knockers are impressive as they have little, flecks, of green to show age and weathering.

The Ghost of Jacob Marley is an action figure, so it stands to reason that he should articulate rather well. Mythic Legions strikes me as a line that is focused on the aesthetic at the expense of articulation. That doesn’t mean the articulation is bad, but certain styles of joints are basically off the table. For the head, we have a simple ball joint. There’s no hinge or double-ball, but it seems adequate for the figure. Marley’s hair prevents him from looking up anyway, and the scarf has to be worked around to look down, but he gets some range in doing so. There’s a little tilt as well, and it seems suitable enough. The shoulders are hinged ball-pegs, and on my figure they were pretty stuck. The figure was delivered to the northeast in December, so it was quite cold to begin with. I let it warm up for an hour or so, but still needed to apply hot water to get the hinge to work. Once free, the arms raised out to the side to pretty much a full horizontal position. Rotation is fine, but there’s no bicep swivel. Instead, we get single-hinged elbows that can also swivel. We see this a lot with Super7 (and Four Horsemen Studios designed a lot of their early figures), but with this figure the cut is better so the range on the swivel is fine and it also looks pretty good. Hands rotate and hinge and we have gripping hands with both a horizontal and vertical hinge – perfect!

In the torso, there’s no joint except for the waist. There we have a ball joint, and it allows for a reasonable amount of forward and back with plenty of tilt and rotation. Obviously, once you put the harness on the figure it’s a little trickier to work with, but nothing is truly hindered. The hips are hinged ball-pegs and Marley can hit a split reasonably well. He can’t kick forward quite all the way, nor can he kick back very far. There is a thigh twist which is well-hidden, and the knee is a single hinge with twist like the elbows and it’s well cut. There is a boot swivel below the boot cuff, while the ankle also swivels. There’s a hinge which lets the foot go forward and back basically as far as you’d ever want it to go, and there’s also an ankle rocker. The peg that goes into the shin, likely due to the nature of transparent plastic, is a little loose and the foot may pop off on occasion. The figure doesn’t have any issue standing and all of the other joints are suitably tight. Only the shoulders were overtight for me, and swapping hands and heads wasn’t an issue.

Marley may not pair all that well with what’s come before him, but it sure sounds like he will with what’s to follow.

If you have any of the Figura Obscura figures released up until now, then you’re likely not surprised to find out that this one is fantastic. It’s not going to articulate as well as some other figures out there, but it can do everything it needs to and the articulation choices feel well thought out. The presentation is what sells this guy, and while the harness isn’t the tidiest thing to work with, there’s no denying how terrific it looks in practice. My only real gripe is with how said harness fastens to the figure as I feel like almost anything would have been better, but it’s something I can work around. I’m never going to take it off so I could even glue it if I want to, though I typically refrain from permanently modifying any of my figures. The end of the included Stave 1 booklet includes the message, “You will be haunted again. The ghosts of Christmas shall return,” which sure seems to imply that we’ll be getting more from A Christmas Carol next year and beyond. Will they stick with Past, Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, or maybe some of the other, unnamed, ghosts on the packaging will get figures? And what about Scrooge? He’s on the backdrop, so maybe Four Horsemen Studios thinks that will be enough, but I bet fans would like to see an actual Scrooge as well. Only time will tell, but I bet whatever comes next will look awesome.

If you would like to add The Ghost of Jacob Marley to your collection then I’m afraid I have some bad news. The initial stock has sold out, so right now the figure is only available on the secondhand market. The MSRP was $60, but expect to pay considerably more if buying from a reseller. Both Krampus and Father Christmas had variant releases, so it seems likely that Marley will as well. Maybe with more of a spectral green coloring? Or something closer to fully transparent? Four Horsemen also had the original version of Father Christmas available for purchase this year, so perhaps this version of Marley could even come back next December. If you missed out and absolutely have to have it, then by all means do as you please, but I do think the patient will be rewarded at some point.

Missed out on some other past Christmas releases? Check these out:

Figura Obscura – Krampus

Over the years, I’ve acquired quite a few action figures designed by the good people over at Four Horsemen LLC. They’ve been designing figures for companies for awhile now. My first exposure to the company was via NECA’s inaugural line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles based on their appearance in the Mirage Studios comics. Lately,…

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by Joe

Figura Obscura – Father Christmas

It was just last year that Four Horsemen launched a subline of its popular Mythic Legions brand of action figures called Figura Obscura. Practically speaking, there’s little difference between the two lines as Mythic Legions seeks to serve as a modular line of toys based on myth and legend and that doesn’t feature licensed characters.…

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by Joe

Naughty or Nice Classic Santa and Cyborg Santa

It was looking like we were in for a photo finish this year. Last year, toymaker Fresh Monkey Fiction partnered with online retailer Big Bad Toy Store to launch the Naughty or Nice collection. Structured similar to a Kickstarter campaign, FMF posted several action figures for preorder with a minimum order quantity needed for the…

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by Joe

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

November 30, 2023

Plunderlong Feral 8-Ball

By Joe
Look who came to join the plunder party!

When Lone Coconut came back last year with a new Kickstarter to build out its Plunderlings universe, I was immediately smitten with the brutish new Plunderstrong. The big, chunky, boy looked like a fun character type to pair with the diminutive Plunderlings. The Plunderlong, on the other hand, took a bit for me to get onboard. It’s basically a taller version of the Plunderling with an elongated face that mostly takes the form of a large chin. It’s not a cute design, but I don’t think it’s supposed to be, and the initial designs didn’t thrill me. Then along came 8-Ball, a demolitions aligned Plunderlong that’s basically designed to work with Captain Blackjak’s canon. That was a fun concept to me, so I went ahead and added the character to my pledge along with a box of hatchlings to go with it. When the figures were initially delivered to Lone Coconut, there was a quality control error with the Plunderlong figures that held them up. Lone Coconut did not specify what that issue was, but it was something the factory fixed. For the consumer, it meant a slightly longer wait (about 6 weeks) for the Plunderlong to arrive, but now I have mine in-hand and I’m ready to render a verdict.

I expected the Plunderlong to fall in the middle of the Plunderling and Plunderstrong, but he’s really just a little bit taller than the ‘ling and quite a bit smaller than the ‘strong.

The Plunderlong comes in a similar box to the Plunderlings, though (get this) taller. It still has a window box framed by a face and there are some cardboard ears inside the box you can attach to the side if you wish. The Plunderlong stands around 4.75″ so while it is indeed taller than the Plunderling, it’s considerably shorter than the Plunderstrong. Most of the figure is brand new tooling, but it does share some parts with the Plunderling including the hands, feet, forearms, and maybe the upper thigh. Basically, all of the new pieces are where the Plunderlong gets its added length such as the torso, thigh, shin, and bicep. Having the same hands will help with the hatchlings and will allow for easy sharing of weapons and accessories with your Plunderlings.

I think of this guy as a wacky pyromaniac.

For 8-Ball, the chosen color is white. The figure is sculpted in white, but also painted over, so it has a nice, matte, finish. The fingernails, toenails, eyes, and trunks are where the detail paint is needed. It’s mostly okay, but you will find some imperfections upon close inspection. There’s also a hint of pink air-brushing on the inner ear which looks nice and I do wish they had added a touch of color to the teeth just to differentiate them from the white of the figure’s skin. The vest the character wears is removable, though you would have to pop the arms off first, and it’s black with brown trim and it looks fine.

I much prefer the happy expression in this case.

8-Ball is a nice looking figure, but it’s made much better via the accessories. 8-Ball comes with three heads, as basically all of the figures do: neutral, grimace, and smile. Of the three, the smile seems most appropriate as this guy seems like he’s got a few screws loose. For hands, he has a set of gripping and a set of open hands which is also standard. For stuff unique to this guy, there’s a helmet with attached goggles. It’s black and made out of soft plastic and slots over his ears just fine, but there’s also a magnet to make it even more secure. There’s some brown paint on it and the character’s namesake is painted on the top to make the helmet resemble an actual 8-ball. It looks great and adds tremendous character to the figure so you’re unlikely to ever display him without. To go with that helmet is a long torch with translucent flame attachment. You can pull the flame out if you wish, though there isn’t much that can be done with it. There are also two bundles of dynamite that are fastened together with handles that 8-Ball can hold. It would have been cool if the accessories were design to work with each other so that the flame could be attached to the dynamite, but it’s a minor complaint. An actual explosion effect, or soot-covered face, would have also been pretty fun.

He’s a rascal!

The articulation for the Plunderlong is basically the same as the Plunderling, though with a larger figure comes more room for joints. The head is on a ball-hinge and it gets great range up and down, but only a little tilt. It’s also very tight and Lone Coconut even sent out a warning to heat the heads first if they show some resistance and I followed their recommendation. The shoulders are ball-hinged and raise out to the side past horizontal, though there’s paint transfer on mine from the brown trim on the vest so he has some pretty nasty looking armpits. I’d recommend that future figures just omit that paint hit as it doesn’t add much anyway. New for the Plunderlong is a biceps swivel which works fine and the single-hinged elbow returns with a 90 degree bend. It’s attached via a peg so it probably could swivel too, but mine don’t really want to. The wrists are pegged in and swivel as a result while each hand features a hinge: vertical for gripping and horizontal for open – perfect!

“I’m ready – let’s do this!”

The torso features some additional articulation over the Plunderling as well, though this one I’m not sure about. The diaphragm is attached via a hinged ball-peg so the chest can rotate freely. It’s also engineered much better than the same joint at the head as there’s plenty of tilt and the chest can move forward and back on that ball peg very well. The hinge is the part I’m not really feeling as it’s an eyesore. It also doesn’t add much. 8-Ball can bend pretty far forward just on the ball-peg. Yes, the hinge lets him go even farther than that, but the trade-off isn’t really warranted, in my opinion. There is a waist twist, but if it had been a ball-joint it might have given them the range they were looking for with that torso hinge. The hips are ball-sockets, but they don’t go out to the side very far – maybe 45 degrees. They kick forward fine, but not back as the Plunderlong has the same saggy butt cheeks the Plunderling has. There’s a thigh cut and double-jointed knees which bend past 90 degrees. Some are tight, so you may need to heat them. The ankles are hinges with rockers and both work fine. Since the figure is all painted there will be some flaking at the joints, but there’s no mis-colored joints underneath so the flaking shouldn’t result in any terrible eye-sores.

“Ahhhh! I’m not ready!”

The Plunderlong moves better than the Plunderling, which by itself, moved pretty well. It doesn’t have any joint tolerance issues like the Plunderstrong, so if articulation is a priority for you, then the Plunderlong is probably the best action figure of the three. Of course, there are plenty of other elements that affect one’s enjoyment of an action figure, but that is my objective take. I also grabbed a set of hatchlings which comes with the fist hands. I find that these newer hatchlings feature very tight joints and you may need to heat them to get the hands in all the way. The heads do not go on easily either, but I didn’t need to use heat, though they don’t spin very well on the ball joint. The heads also worked fine with the canon blast effect. It makes me wish I had two hats for my display as I think the heads look great on the blast. I may go with the grimace head instead since it gives the character a look of “What have I done?” coming out of a canon.

Hatchlings are a must with any Plunderling/long/strong purchase.

If you have found yourself charmed by Lone Coconut’s Plunderlings, then you’ll probably feel pretty similar about the Plunderlong. If the appeal of the Plunderlings for you resides in their cuteness, then maybe you won’t see much need for the Long. As an action figure, it’s pretty well done and a satisfying experience. The Kickstarter obviously ended awhile ago, but Big Bad Toy Store has partnered with Lone Coconut to offer these figures post Kickstarter. Lone Coconut prioritized getting the Plunderlong to backers first, since they had to personally receive all stock to swap whatever the faulty part was, but it can be assumed that BBTS will have them soon. Since Lone Coconut is a small shop, these figures aren’t cheap and will run you $45 a piece. From a pure value standpoint, they don’t match-up well with other figures from more established lines and companies which may not work for you. For those who want a fun figure with a good design that don’t mind paying a premium to a “little guy” then I think this is a worthy buy. Frugal shoppers may find deals somewhere down the road, though given it is November, you could always toss a few Plunderlongs on the old Christmas list!

It’s a plunder party!

Check out these other offerings from Lone Coconut:

Plunderlings Raider Fwush

When I first came across the Kickstarter drive for a series of action figures called Plunderlings I was almost instantly smitten. The little impish creatures reminded me of some characters I used to doodle as a kid. In my mind, they look a lot like what I used to draw, but given I was much…

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by Joe

Plunderstrong Captain Blackjak

In 2020, Lone Coconut, a small company out of the Dominican Republic, launched a Kickstarter campaign for a line of original action figures called Plunderlings. They’re basically little imp-like creatures with a pirate motif that have a very charming design. From an engineering point of view, they made for a smart toyline because every figure…

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by Joe

Plunderlings Nomad Goyle & Hatchlings

Last April I posted a review of the Plunderlings Raider Fwush from Lone Coconut. I was pretty charmed by the little goblin-like creature and found the action figure to be pretty fun. It’s also always a little rewarding to know that in buying such a toy I’m supporting a small shop like Lone Coconut. When…

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by Joe

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November 28, 2023

NECA TMNT Toon Turtle Van

By Joe
It’s finally here!

It’s our last Turtle Tuesday before Christmas, though probably not of the year, and it’s a pretty big one: The Turtle Van! NECA solicited its version of the Turtle Van based on the same from the animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in April of 2022. It was originally scheduled to be released before the end of the year, but that turned out to be far too optimistic. The vehicle did undergo a redesign between solicitation and release. Originally, it was going to have a big hump in the roof that most didn’t seem to care for (including me). To NECA’s credit, they listened and adjusted the design and the finished product looks much closer to the show than the prototype. Did that redesign account for the lengthy delay? Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know. All I know is that the Turtle Van is here and I’m going to tell you how I think it turned out.

The Turtle Van was one of my favorite toys back in the day. Of course, then it was referred to as The Party Wagon by Playmates, but I don’t think any of my friends referred to it as such because on TV they called it the Turtle Van. Like a lot of characters and playsets in the vintage line, the toy wasn’t modeled to look exactly like the one on TV. The Party Wagon was pretty close, but had more of a VW bus design to it. I still loved it, and the Christmas it came out it was a very hot item. I have an old home movie from Easter the following year where my grandmother can be overheard saying how impossible it was to find the Turtle Van at Christmas, which is why I received it as an Easter present (don’t weep for me, I got the sewer lair from her for Christmas). It was a big deal to a kid, right up there with the Ecto-1 and the Batmobile. It was hard to have an assortment of TMNT action figures and no Turtle Van. The thing was a necessity.

Ready to launch.

As an adult, vehicles for my action figures have limited appeal. I’m no longer a kid looking to actually play with my toys, so everything is purchased for posing and display. Vehicles rarely offer much in the posing department and they often take up a lot of real estate and come at a much larger price tag. This item was $250 plus $15 shipping since it was sold exclusively on NECA’s webstore, and for me, that price was basically right at the tipping point. I was hoping for $200 and assumed that wishing for less than that was a waste of time and $250 was about the most I was willing to pay. At the same time, I felt like I owed it to the kid in me who always wanted a Turtle Van that resembled the one from the cartoon to get this, and NECA’s seemed sure to deliver.

The Turtle Van comes in a giant box adorned with original artwork by Tim Lattie. The box itself measures 13″ x 17.25″ x 11.75″ and inside is a big clamshell held together by some tape. The van comes almost fully assembled, only the laser canons need to be inserted into the top, and there are no decals required. The van is approximately 7″ x 14″ x 11″ at the highest/widest points (excepting the canons). It’s a big vehicle and it will take up quite a bit of space wherever you plan to place it. The body is a matte, pale, yellow with a green bumper and roof. The tires are rubber with the inner rim a flat gray. All of the paint details in the bumper, on the tire cover on the front, and the roof look great. They are applied very well. The only paint imperfection I could find on mine is a tiny nick on the corner of the rear door. The windshield is transparent plastic or plexiglass as are the windows. The lights on the front and rear are LED lights which can be activated via a switch on the underside of the vehicle. There’s a dome light on the inside that sadly does not turn on as well. It very much looks the part and I really like how it turned out. The only critique I have is that the scale seems a touch off. It’s probably bigger than it should be and that seems most obvious when figures are placed in the front, bench, seat as they get kind of lost in this thing. I’m guessing the scale of the vehicle in the show wasn’t the most consistent, and it’s better to be too big than too small, but it is something I’ve noticed.

The Turtle Van has numerous features to it which help replicate how the vehicle behaves on TV. The roof opens up just like it did in the opening, though there’s nothing inside to launch them out. The interior has a bunch of generic electronics built into the walls so you can have Donatello messing around with stuff in there, though there aren’t any working levers or anything that intense. The driver’s side flips down to reveal a platform as it did on the show for Leonardo to take a stance and slice at some enemies. The opposite side swings open with a little half door below it that flips down similar to the Playmates version. For that side, there’s an included seat and laser canon that has to be snapped together, but then can be plugged in. By making it removable, it creates more space inside and I honestly can’t remember how often the turret showed up in the show after its first appearance. Sometimes, a collapsed version appears on the wall and NECA included what’s basically a plastic brick of the same which snaps onto the driver’s side platform.

The ladder, or “battle,” wall.
The hip wall.
For when the laser canon is stored.

Speaking of show inconsistencies, the wall behind the front seat seemed to change constantly. Sometimes it was wide open which is the default look for the Turtle Van. Other times, there was a brown hip wall which NECA included which can be plugged into the back of the bench seat. And then on other occasions there was basically a full wall which, for some reason, featured a ladder. I remember seeing that ladder as a kid and wondering where the heck it came from. I think there was, on occasion, an opening in the top for the turtles to emerge from, but my memory could very easily be faulty at this point. Nonetheless, the ladder wall is also included so you can have the Turtle Van resemble basically whatever version shown on TV that you want. It’s the type of attention to detail that I think collectors appreciate of a company like NECA and it’s something other companies just don’t seem to care about.

This thing is big!

In order to make use of these modular elements, NECA needed to make sure the inside of the van is accessible. We have the openings on the sides of the vehicle and the top and also the rear doors swing open too. The front of the roof can be removed as it’s just tabbed in and you’ll may need to do so in order to insert the optional wall parts. This is where some criticism can come in. The plastic feels a bit thin when it comes to the roof and removing that portion is definitely uncomfortable. The front doors, as well as the passenger side swing-open door for the canon, are attached via a lone, small, hinge each. It’s not the most reassuring design and I worry about displaying a figure behind the turret for a long time and what kind of stress that may place on said hinge. The driver’s side platform feels more secure, though the hinge could have been tighter as it basically needs to hit the surface of whatever you have the van on to support the weight of a figure when really it should be off the ground. The rear doors feel more secure, though are a tad finicky to get closed properly. The weight of the entire package feels fine though so this isn’t a cheap feeling product by any means, but there are some design decisions that aren’t as well thought out as I’d like. I would describe this as fragile, and if there’s one last thing I wouldn’t have minded to see included would have been some kind of stand to prevent accidental rolling of the wheels. A shelf drive would likely be catastrophic for this thing so plan accordingly.

“What’s up, dude?”
“Remember Leo, ten and two, ten and two…”
Rear lights.
Lights on.

NECA’s take on the Turtle Van easily qualifies as the definitive take on the vehicle from the show. It looks great, displays well, and even has some variety too in how it’s displayed. It may be a touch oversized, but at least that means you can fit a whole bunch of characters in it/on it which helps justify the amount of shelf space needed to display it. The only real bummer about the product is that it was pretty expensive and presently is not available to purchase at MSRP for those who wanted to wait and see how it turned out. I especially feel for anyone who disliked the hump in the original design, only to see NECA correct that after the preorder window had closed. Chances are, NECA will offer this again for purchase and it was even suggested by NECA that they may have extra after preorders are fulfilled. I guess keep your eyes open. At $250 (plus shipping), this thing is certainly in the luxury good category. No one needs it and your display of TMNT characters probably looks great without it, but there’s no denying it can also look pretty damn awesome with it.

Damn, this collection just got a lot bigger!

Well, if you want a Turtle Van, you’re going to need some figures to go with it:

NECA TMNT Turtles in Disguise

When NECA started on this journey into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon it first began with a video game. An adaptation of a video game, to be more precise. The 2016 San Diego Comic Con exclusive contained a four pack of the famous, green, pizza destroyers in a pixel deco. They were the first…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Toon “Mutant Interest Story” – Deluxe April O’Neil

Whenever I approach my rankings for NECA’s now long-running action figure series based on the 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I don’t always just pick the objectively best or worst toy in the line to slot them into the rankings. It’s a combination of the figure’s quality and the character’s importance. A great figure…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT Toon “Colossus of the Swamps!” Deluxe Napoleon Bonafrog

NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures based on the animated series which debuted in 1987 has had some big figures. Most of these are what NECA terms “deluxe” releases and have included the likes of Krang in his android body, Chrome Dome, and the more recently released REX-1. The latest addition to…

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by Joe

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November 17, 2023

Super7 Super Size Disney’s Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge

By Joe
“Ehhbenezer Scoooooooge!”

Before Christmas and The Christmas Spot can begin, we have another Christmas toy to look at. This one comes courtesy of Super7 and its Super Size line. The Super Size line is a line of vinyl figures that stand around 17″ in height. These are big figures, and being that they’re vinyl, they’re not really articulated. They’re kind of like jumbo versions of their ReAction figures and some of them are basically direct adaptations of that line. They’re also really expensive and when you combine that with how much real estate they take up it makes it a hard line to truly collect.

This is what you came here for.

Last year, Super7 went after my heart by adding Scrooge McDuck to their line of Super Size offerings. And it wasn’t just Scrooge McDuck in his adventuring attire, it’s Scrooge as Ebenezer Scrooge from Mickey’s Christmas Carol, one of the greatest Christmas specials of all-time. How could I resist? Well, there were two-hundred and ninety-five reasons for me to resist that temptation. The MSRP basically made this one a nonstarter, even if I wanted it badly. I just couldn’t see myself spending three-hundred bucks on a vinyl statue. It just wasn’t going to happen. Lucky for me, waiting paid off. Recently, Amazon had a sale on this particular figure and it dropped to a tick over half-off. At under $150 bucks, now we’re talking. I even gave it some thought overnight, while also allowing the wife to maybe consider it as a Christmas gift, before pouncing. Now I have a new Christmas decoration for 2023 and, I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with my decision.

Not quite.

Scrooge arrived in a massive, brown, shipper. On it lists the product and it would appear this figure is one of 1,004. For a $300 vinyl toy of a cartoon duck, a thousand units is probably all that was made and it’s not really that surprising that some made it to the clearance section. Inside that brown shipper was a plain, white, box and inside that was the product’s box. It’s a glossy, deep, purple box with shiny gold trim. On the front and back is a silhouette of Scrooge from when he’s searching his room for spirits before going to bed and it’s done in a glossy rose gold. On the top is a simple Disney logo and on the sides it reads Mickey’s Christmas Carol. Actually, on one side it says that, on the other side it reads Alice in Wonderland Queen of Hearts. Whoops! I’m assuming all of the boxes feature this misprint and that mine isn’t unique. It’s definitely the type of goof few companies would spend money to fix.

Inside this box is the actual figure. Scrooge is in a blister bubble with one zip-tie at the right arm. Getting him out is rather painless, and once removed he stands with relative ease on a flat surface. Scrooge is depicted as he was before retiring for the evening so he has his purple cap and gown on. To the top of the feathers on his brow, he’s just a tick under 17″ and pretty dense so he has a nice weight to him. The cap and gown are done with soft goods and it’s a plush material so it brings in its own texture. It doesn’t really match the look of the animation as a result, but it does add a little more prestige to the presentation than just a flat material. The hat is removable and it just rests on his head. There is a stiff insert sewn into the front of it to help it maintain its shape and it sits on his head just fine. There’s no easy way to remove the gown if you would rather Scrooge be naked or if you wanted to dress him up in something else. You would have to attempt to disassemble the figure to get it off, or cut it.

It would have been nice if this doll were in-scale with Scrooge. Oh well.

This is a vinyl figure, so the presentation is pretty simple as a result. Most of it is done with colored vinyl. The eyes might be the only area that’s actually painted. Even so, it looks really nice. There’s a softness to the finish which is customary with vinyl and since it’s a matte finish it works really well. Scrooge has a scowl on his face which is befitting the character and the hair on the back of his head is done in gray which is consistent with his presentation in the short. The glasses are glued in place and have clear, plastic, lenses and look great. The right hand is in a gripping pose while the left is open and flat. If I have any criticism to levy here, maybe I’d have shaped that left hand in a more natural, relaxed, position, but it’s fine. And he looks good with the hat on or off so take your pick.

Excepting the clothing, the only accessory here is a lit candlestick and holder. For what it is, it looks great. The flame is a translucent yellow and the holder is bronze in color. It fits over Scrooge’s index finger with relative ease and it’s not too heavy either. As for the articulation, if you’ve ever bought a vinyl figure before then you know there isn’t much to be found. Scrooge actually has more than I would have expected. Every joint is a simple swivel and he has one in the neck, shoulders, wrists, diaphragm, legs, and ankles. The diaphragm is actually surprising and nice to have. It’s the only spot that allows for some nuance as you can make Scrooge look like he’s peering around the corner or something. Rotating at the legs will pitch the figure forward or back if you want him more hunched or not. The ankles aren’t particularly useful though to the point that I’m surprised they bothered as it’s the one joint you can’t hide. The rest are either hidden by the clothing or just not plainly visible.

He’s definitely “Super Sized” compared with the Funko Scrooge McDuck.

This Super Size version of Scrooge is really one of those “what you see is what you get” type of releases. I will say, pictures don’t really do the figure’s size justice. It’s pretty damn big and feels big, even if it’s not much bigger than some quarter scale figures I have. Mostly, it just looks really nice. I love this thing. Would I have loved it at 300 bucks? Maybe, after the sting of paying for it subsided. The price I paid for it puts it in the range of a lot of quarter scale stuff. It’s even a lot less than the sixth scale Mondo figures I love. Those figures are true action figures with a lot of paint, accessories, and articulation. The comparison to a quarter scale figure, like a NECA TMNT release, feels more apt though. While those figures have more stuff and more articulation, they’re pretty heavy and I basically find a pose they can handle and leave them.

You’ll be able to tell when I took this thanks to the Christmas countdown.

This is a figure that doesn’t need a whole lot of articulation. The vinyl toy approach is what works, and it turned out really well. It reminds me of the old store display characters, some which still exist in Disney World, that would be motorized where just their head rotates and an arm might go up and down or something. My mom even has one of Winnie the Pooh, somewhat ironically, in a nightshirt with a lit candle. I love that aesthetic and if I had more resources (and more space) I’d go after vintage items like that. I’d also probably have the Super Size Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse, but I truly have no where to put such a thing. With Scrooge, he’s a Christmas decoration so I can find somewhere to place him for a month out of the year, even if it’s a bit cumbersome. I basically do the same thing with a Christmas tree each year. If you’re like me and a have love for the cartoon this character is taken from then you’ll probably love this item. I can’t really recommend it at full price, but I definitely endorse it while it’s available for around the price I got it. Aye Super7, you drive a hard bargain.

Check out more from Mickey’s Christmas Carol and Scrooge McDuck:

Dec. 25 – Mickey’s Christmas Carol

We made it! Another year in the books, and another Christmas has come. Indulge in it. Bask in it, for it only comes once a year, and not to get too dramatic, but you never know how many you’re going to get. And we’re ending this year’s edition of The Christmas Spot with another throwback…

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PhatMojo DuckTales – Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck

It’s been nearly a year since DuckTales returned to television airwaves. Scrooge McDuck, along with his nephews and surrogate niece Webby are back to solve mysteries and rewrite history. It’s a fun show that adheres more to the work of Carl Barks than to the series that ran in the 1980s while also doing its…

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Dec. 1 – DuckTales – “Last Christmas!”

It’s that time of year once again! Every day goods are a little pricier, egg nog is invading the dairy case at every grocery store, and red and green versions of every candy in existence flourish in the seasonal section of department stores. Yes, it is Christmas time and it would be obnoxious if it…

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by Joe

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