November 10, 2023

McFarlane Toys Gold Label Batman Santa (Blue Suit)

By Joe
He only has a naughty list.

Ho! Ho! Ho! It’s the jolly one – Santa Claus! Oh, wait, no, it’s the somber, moody, one: Batman Santa! Yes, it’s our first Christmas themed post of 2023 and it’s an action figure review – shocking, I know. McFarlane Toys has held the DC license for several years now, but this is my first experience with the line. I’ve never been a big DC guy, though I do enjoy the Batman. McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line is a 1:10 scale action figure line that seems fine, but it has its own aesthetic and it’s not one that I’m particularly drawn to. It’s not very comic-like, and more of a grittier, militaristic, interpretation. It’s like a toyline based on the aesthetic found in Rocksteady’s Arkham series of Batman video games. If you like it – great, and if you don’t that’s fine too. I thought that by now I would have bought at least something from the line, but even the animated characters didn’t do much for me so I never had reason to dip my toe into the McFarlane waters. That is, until Todd decided to pair Batman with Santa.

He’s Batman in a Santa hat and robe with beard. Also, he can’t lower his arms past this pose.

The Batman Santa figure is a case of what you see is what you get. It’s Batman, and he’s dressed as Santa. I’m not aware of any story to pair with this one and there’s some artwork that goes along with it which is fine, but I’m always down for Christmas variants of characters I love. This figure is part of the Gold Label series which, as far as I can tell, is more of an excuse to tack on five bucks to the usual price as I don’t see anything all that special in the box. It comes in a clamshell package and was sold exclusively on McFarlane’s webstore in two versions: red and blue. The red is undoubtedly a more traditional take on Santa, but I like blue and blue feels more appropriate for Batman. The figure was 30 bucks, though there was a bundle to get bother versions for $50. It sold out by the time I made my purchase (even though both versions were still available as singles) so I didn’t even get a chance to consider double-dipping here, but I don’t think I would have. I only need one Santa Batman, or Batman Santa, for my holiday decorating this year.

Lot of texture on this guy. He just might be bullet proof because, you know, Santa always has to worry about getting shot at.

Batman comes in at right around 7.375″ to the top of his hat. If this Batman is reusing any parts from a past release in the main line I’m not aware, because I don’t regularly purchase figures in this line. The Bat suit he’s wearing seems pretty modern to me and very much in that style I described going in. It’s textured like Kevlar and is armor-plated on the chest and lower legs. It’s almost all done in blue plastic without any shading or much in the way of paint. He has a silver Bat logo on the chest as well as silver shoulder pads and gauntlets. The gauntlets are held on by “straps” which are sculpted into the forearms. The same is true of the kneepads, but McFarlane didn’t paint the straps. Some white might have looked nice, but oh well. There’s a lot of paneling on the boots, but it’s all black plastic. It makes me wonder why they didn’t go with a less-detailed sculpt. Come to think of it, this getup would have been pretty appropriate for a Batman ’66 release.

I do like how they chose to paint the face.

Where paint is used is on the trim of the hat, robe, beard, face, and the cuffs of the sleeves. In almost all cases, the paint is white. I can’t quite tell what’s going on with the hands. It almost looks like they painted white over blue, even if it would have made more sense to just cast them in white. Then again, maybe it wouldn’t if nothing else on the figure is molded in white. The paint is mostly fine though and is cleanly applied. I wish the white was a bit more white, but it has a dingy quality to it. I suppose that fits the line’s aesthetic better than a pure white would, though I also can’t tell if it’s intentional or just the result of painting white over a very bright blue. The masked portion of the face is painted black which I love. It looks like a classic, 70s, Batman. It helps sell this blue color scheme, which honestly makes Batman look more like a Hannukah character than a Santa one.

“Thank you for assisting with the decorating today, Mr. Freeze.” “I was…what? Decorating?!”

And that Santa element is captured in really just three features of the figure. The head features a Santa hat which is part of the sculpt as well as a beard. To go along with that is the long overcoat with a utility belt holding it in place. The belt is black with a series of pouches painted white that make up about 2/3rds of the belt itself. It’s not a lot, but it’s certainly enough to get the point across. I think just some more color would have helped, but otherwise this is a Batman Santa and it’s what I wanted. The bladed forearms and shoulder pads are the only things I’m not that sold on. While I like that they do provide for a splash of color, they also make Batman look more like the Shredder than Batman. Is this what the character looks like in the comics now? It’s bizarre to me, someone who hasn’t opened a Batman comic in 20 years.

Here is your accessory for your 30 dollar action figure.

And that’s mostly all you’re going to get, a Batman that’s dressed like Santa. For accessories, we get a sack of presents. It’s blue plastic with silver painted gifts oozing out of the top. Batman can’t hold it, it can just sit on a surface beside him. And that’s it as far as action figure accessories go. No extra hands, no extra heads, no additional weapons or toys. How about a Christmas-themed grapnel launcher? Or Batarang? Or little Charlie Brown tree with a bat for a star? The artwork features a sleigh that would have been pretty cool, but admittedly not practical at this price. If this figure is reusing a ton of assets, then I’m a little annoyed at the lack of accessories for the price. If it’s not, then I guess it’s more acceptable, but still not great. You do get a little disc stand with the figure which at least helps to stand it on cotton “snow” as seen in my pictures. There’s also a plastic piece that snaps together and the artwork insert can slot into that to create a backdrop of sorts. It’s not a bad idea and I like the artwork on it, but I wish it had something else on the reverse side. Something like a true backdrop such as the Batcave decorated like Santa’s workshop. Instead, it’s just the same image on both sides. Opportunity wasted.

This is pretty much the extent of his articulation.

This figure is basically designed to just stand there in front of that backdrop with the sack of presents beside it, but it is still an action figure so we should talk about the articulation. It’s not great. The head just swivels side-to-side as the hat and beard prevent any up and down movement. There’s also no tilt to be found. The shoulders are big ball-hinged pegs that can raise out to the side past a horizontal position. The shoulder pads are soft enough to move out of the way and the arms rotate just fine. There’s some slight up and down play, but no real butterfly joint. The biceps swivel is fine and the double-jointed elbows bend well past 90 degrees, but the joint is hideous and strangely he can’t straighten his arms out or place them at his side. They’re always bent slightly. The hands are on a ball hinge or something similar, but the cuffs of the sleeve render the joint pretty useless. There’s no forearm swivel either, which I always hate on figures with gauntlets like this one since you can’t position them and I don’t like the default placement of them either.

He’s a pretty big Batman. Also, notice where the other Batmen position those blades on their gauntlets? This one can’t do that.

In the torso, the figure has a diaphragm joint, but the coat won’t let it do much of anything. The waist twist works fine though and the legs can kick forward all the way and kick back some as well. They go out to the side for full splits, but don’t appear to feature a thigh twist of any kind. The knees are double-jointed, but despite that I can’t get them to go past 90 degrees. There’s no boot cut, and the ankles are pretty restricted by the design of the boot. They bend back pretty far, but not forward. The ankle rocker doesn’t appear to work and there’s a fairly useless toe hinge as well.

No sleigh? No problem!

Despite the coat being fairly flexible and featuring an open design on the front and back, it still makes it hard to do much with this figure when it’s combined with the articulation scheme. Batman Santa can stand there, he can do splits if you want, or assume a walking pose. He has gripping hands, but nothing to grip, which seems like a bad idea as the hands aren’t expressive. Even if he had a grapnel hook or a line to swing from, his arms are really short and he wouldn’t be able to grab something over his head. It’s not a figure you’re going to do a whole lot with, but it didn’t have to be this way.

“All right Batman, I’ll let you handle the deliveries this year, but the milk and cookies are MINE!”

Batman Santa is an action figure that doesn’t articulate well, has some weird proportions, and is a pretty terrible value considering the price tag and the lack of accessories. It’s an online only figure too so you have to pay a shipping charge as well. The cost of this guy was $39.28 for me before taxes and that’s pretty expensive for a McFarlane figure. You really need to be a Christmas weirdo to want this figure, which is what I am. And now that I have it, how do I feel about it? Well, I’m happy to have a Batman as Santa action figure, even if this actual figure barely scratches that itch. It’s a novelty, and one that probably doesn’t justify the price. If you like it, I guess go for it. If you want an action figure that behaves more like an action figure then it will probably let you down.

This Batman Santa isn’t the first Christmas themed action figure we’ve looked at on this blog, how does it stack up with these?

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

Transformers Generations Holiday Optimus Prime

We interrupt our regularly scheduled holiday posts with something very familiar to this blog: a toy review! Yes, we have ourselves another Christmas toy to talk about and it too comes from Hasbro. We already looked at a Star Wars toy at the end of November, and now we’re turning to what I suppose is…

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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

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November 7, 2023

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Space Cadet Raphael

By Joe
Looks like we’re sending a turtle into orbit.

It feels like it’s been awhile since we had a proper Turtle Tuesday around here, but today that streak ends. It also feels like a long time since we had a new wave TMNT Ultimates! from Super7 to talk about – and that’s because it has! Not including the glow-in-the-dark variant of Leonardo I looked at over the summer, the last figure in this line reviewed by me was posted on November 22, 2022. Who knows when I actually wrote that one, I’m guessing I had the figure in early November. At any rate, it’s now November 2023 so it’s been nearly a year. I don’t know why that is, or why we’re talking about a figure from Wave 8 while Wave 7 is scheduled to release in May of 2024, but it is what it is.

Looks like we’re just missing Donnie, but for some reason his disguise figure hasn’t even been solicited, but Punk Rock Don and Slam Dunkin’ Don have.

Space Cadet Raphael is the third Super7 reproduction of the 1990 Turtles in Disguise wave by Playmates Toys following in the footsteps of Sewer Samurai Leonardo and Michelangelo the Sewer Surfer. Raph is stepping out of the sewers and into the vastness of space as he’s apparently decided to become an astronaut. I’m not sure what about Raphael’s personality made him the most likely to do so (seems more like a Donatello thing), but I guess that’s not important. For me, the vintage version of this figure (which I sadly no longer possess) was one of my favorites. I don’t really know why, I just kind of liked how it was all put together. And I liked it even more after the release of Space Usagi because it meant Raph had a buddy to take with him on his expeditions. Because of my fondness for that figure, I was really looking forward to this update from Super7. Tempering my enthusiasm though was the fact that Wave 5 in this line was a mess. Wave 6 was better, but the repeated delays didn’t exactly add to my confidence – quite the opposite actually, so how did this one turn out? In many ways, I would say as expected, but that’s not exactly a good thing. Read on for more!

He’s in a bulky spacesuit, and yet he seems smaller than the other Raphs. That astronaut diet must be something.

Space Cadet Raphael stands at roughly 6″ in height. This puts him right in-line with the Wave 1 release of Raphael, which seems right, but then you factor in that this Raph is in a space suit and it makes less sense. Perhaps that’s a nitpick, but what’s not is that he has noticeably less mass than his naked counterpart. How does a bulky space suit make one smaller? It obviously doesn’t, but in the case of the figure I think it’s because most of what you see on the torso is an overlay. And underneath that overlay is just the basic “skeleton” of a Super7 figure, not a bulky turtle shell. Is it a big deal? I don’t know that it is. It’s likely something that will vary from person to person, but I personally liked how the previous Turtles in Disguise releases appeared slightly larger than the standard versions and I wish that were true of Raph.

I do like the almost quilted texture of the shell.

The sculpt on this figure is probably the thing people are likely to be most pleased with. The head is in-line with the vintage version, stylistically. The paint around the edges could be better, but it’s probably good enough. The suit has a lot of sculpted detail on it and most of those details are painted. The body is cast in a shade of white that has a slight blue tone to it. There’s blue air-brushing over it which I think helps to minimize that plastic look present on Deep Space Homer. There are yellow zippers along the side that are painted as well as a blue harness. The tanks on his back are a nice metallic silver with black straps painted on as well. The elbow and knee pads are red plastic and don’t quite match the finish of the painted parts so they stick out in a bad way. There’s also a couple of pouches sculpted on that aren’t painted either and they detract from the look of the figure. Super7 did add a wrist communicator though that’s a metallic silver and it flips open. Inside is a decal of Fugitoid so that’s pretty neat. The front of the torso is not a big sticker, but some kind of print. The flatness of it makes it look a little cheap, but it would look worse if it was a sticker.

“What’s up, Fugitoid?”
Raph’s got a new helmet this time around which some are referring to as a Storm Trooper helmet. I can see it, but I’m not convinced that was the intent.

Super7 usually goes big on accessories, and with this figure they went further than some. Raph comes with 4 sets of hands: open, fists, gripping, and trigger finger hands. They peg in pretty easily and come out almost too easily, but we’ll speak more on that when we go over the articulation. He has his standard head and the plastic dome to go over it. It’s a nice, clear, plastic or acrylic, but the way it was molded left this big, ugly, “nipple” in the middle of the top that sucks. Maybe the factory they used didn’t know how to do such a piece and do it right, but I have a Mr. Freeze figure with basically the same feature and his dome features no such imperfection. There’s also an alternate head and it’s basically Raph with a full astronaut helmet. It turned out pretty well. While I am loathe to go against the vintage original, I will say the new look is tempting.

Yuck. I don’t know what went wrong here.

For weapons, Raph has the same ones the vintage came with and then some. He has his laser pistol which is done in a metallic plastic and it includes a hose in the same color. It’s very flexible as there’s no wire inside and kind of feels like an old payphone chord. It plugs onto the handle of the gun and then connects to a port on the torso of the figure on the right side. The port on mine was barely open out of the box to the point where I couldn’t even tell it was a hole until I stuck something else in there. I had to widen it with a screw to get the hose to fit, but now it’s fine. Raph also has his “space sword” which has a design that appears to be close to the vintage figure’s, but also has a new, translucent, red, handle. It’s pretty cool, though I never think of Raph as a sword guy. Apparently Super7 doesn’t either as they also gave him a pair of sai. They’re sort of like the lightsaber equivalent of a sai as the bladed portion is in the same red, translucent, plastic that the sword’s handle features. Super7 must love this stuff because they also gave Raph some goggles made of the same plastic, though it also has a silver mouthpiece. Lastly, there’s a slice of pizza in a silver, vacuum, sealed pouch that looks pretty neat. The little green alien that was part of the vintage figure’s sculpt is also present, but now he’s a little buddy figure. He has an articulated head, but otherwise is just a slug figure, but a neat idea nonetheless.

I assume Raph never leaves home without his trusty sai, so it did seem odd that Playmates would send him into space without.

You won’t find me complaining about the accessories with Raph, but you will find me complaining about the articulation. Never the line’s strong suit, Raph is still disappointing even by those low standards. The head is on the usual double ball peg that’s really long. It works and works well as far as range of motion goes, but does leave a sizable gap where the neck meets that head. The shoulders are hinged ball pegs, but because Raph’s suit has these black cuffs at the shoulder, his arms only go out to the side about 45 degrees. They rotate fine, and the biceps swivel is acceptable as well, though a little tight. The elbows though are atrocious. I don’t think this figure even gets 45 degrees of bend there as the elbow pads are over the hinge. His elbows might be worse than Super7’s Optimus Prime – they’re that bad. It’s just a baffling design error. Why not just sculpt the elbow pad onto the figure? We know Super7 will never do a double joint for an elbow, even though they work best with characters like the turtles who have elbow pads, but doing it this way is unacceptable. It’s just dumb and it makes me question who approves this stuff over there. An action figure that can’t bend its elbows? It’s ludicrous. The wrists swivel and all of the hands have horizontal hinges, another mess-up that shouldn’t be as the trigger and gripping hands would be improved with vertical hinges. Super7 is usually good about that, but not here. The hands are also set too deep in the forearm so the hinge is almost useless. Try to bend the open hands into more of a cupping position (since you can’t get that our of the elbows) and they’ll just pop out. It almost feels like nothing is holding those hands in place and swapping weapons is a frustrating experience. Just take the hands out first and do it that way. Posing will also drive you crazy as if you go to bend the elbows or even rotate at the shoulder you’re liable to accidentally knock a hand out of place. This is not a well-thought out action figure.

This is as far as the elbows can bend.
Ranged or melee? He can do both.

In the torso is a waist twist, but because we’re dealing with a giant turtle here, it’s more like a pivot point. The legs connect via hinged ball pegs so Raph can just about do a full split as well as kick forward and back a decent amount. There’s rotation there as well so you get some thigh pivot, but it’s a bit tight. The knees, like the elbows, are single-hinged and feature kneepads to contend with. Raph can bend his knees better than he can his elbows, but still can’t do a full 90 degrees. The lower leg can also rotate on that joint. The feet have little range hinging forward and back. They basically behave like a ratcheted joint with only 3 positions. The ankle rocker works well though and is probably the most consistent joint from figure to figure in this line.

Can’t forget the pizza.

Like a lot of figures in this line, Space Cadet Raphael is a figure that looks reasonably good on a shelf, but isn’t that fun to handle. And it’s all a result of just bad design. It’s not cheap, it’s just incompetence. Why are things like the elbows getting worse as we go deeper into the line and not better? The original turtles can at least bend their elbows and the design is basically the same, but this one can’t. I also think the figure should be bulkier than it is since we are talking about a turtle in a spacesuit here. I didn’t mention it when going over the accessories, but a little more ingenuity with the sculpt to add some weapon storage also would have been appreciated. This figure comes with a lot, it’s the figure’s greatest strength, but he has no where to put any of it when he’s not holding onto it. A holster for the gun, some loops for the sai, anything would have been better than nothing. Again, this isn’t stuff that would have cost Super7 more money, it just requires more thought.

Raph, you’re gonna need a bigger gun.
“I can’t believe NASA put this guy on my crew.”

This figure is basically relying on nostalgia to sell you on it. And with me, it got me. I know preordering a Super7 figure is a risky proposition, but I did it anyway. I have more on preorder, but I’ve mostly stopped doing so until I can see the finished product. Had I known what I was getting going into with this one, would I have still bought it? Not at the MSRP of $55. This isn’t worth it. It’s not the trainwreck that Sewer Samurai Leonardo was and it looks better than April or Shredder, but it’s not exactly a strong addition to the line. I think on clearance this one has value, maybe at $35 or so, but it has too many problems to be a recommend at $55. I hope Super7 takes such criticism to heart as I certainly don’t want to dislike their products. I have liked many of them in the past and I will have some a review very soon at that. It’s just frustrating to see a company keep making stupid mistakes with a property that should be a homerun.

Want to see what I thought of the other Turtles in Disguise or maybe you’re curious about that Optimus Prime I mentioned:

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Sewer Samurai Leonardo

Well, after looking at the Wave 6 Slash a couple of weeks ago we can now finally turn our attention to a Wave 5 release from Super7’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ultimates! series of figures: Sewer Samurai Leonardo. The thing with TMNT is, you have the four good guys, a few core allies,…

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by Joe

Super7 TMNT Ultimates! Sewer Surfer Mike

We are back with one more look at Wave 6 of Super7’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line of Ultimates! action figures: Sewer Surfer Mike. This, like every figure in the line so far, is a recreation of a Playmates Toys figure from the vintage line of TMNT action figures, and in this case it’s of…

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by Joe

Super7 Transformers Ultimates! Optimus Prime

I think we’re over discussing the merits of non-transforming Transformers, right? It’s been done for a long time, but was really pushed to the forefront with the Hasbro RED series in 2020 and while there will always be a section of the fanbase that wants nothing to do with such a concept, it’s still an…

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by Joe

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October 31, 2023

Super7 Ultimates! – The Worst – Robot Reaper

By Joe
He’s a reaper and he’s a robot, hence the name Robot Reaper.

Happy Halloween, my fellow action figure enthusiasts! It’s a day for mischief, a day for candy, and a day to laugh at Death. Today, we’re laughing at a special kind of death, a robot death, and it comes courtesy of Super7’s in-house brand The Worst. The Worst is a line of action figures that’s basically self-explanatory. They’re a villainous sort and many of which follow a certain archetype, but with a twist, like a Dracula that’s more like a man-bat. As the box says, “There are good guys. There are bad guys. Then there are…The Worst!”

This looks like a cool group to go trick-or-treating with.

I’m not big on unlicensed action figures or in-house brands. It’s not because I have an aversion to such on principal or anything, but that I just spend enough of my income as-is on licensed figures that I just don’t have much room to stray. Every now and then though, a design comes along that I can’t ignore. The Robot Reaper was very much such a design. He is as described, a robotic version of the Grim Reaper, but he has this old school aesthetic about him that just makes it work. I never paid any attention to The Worst when it was just a ReAction brand, Super7’s 5 POA line of retro figures, but when I saw the solicitation for this figure I was hooked. I just wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I played the waiting game, and once some impressions had arrived after those who pre-ordered it got the figure in, I felt confident enough to grab one myself. Did I make the right call, or is this thing really just The Worst?

This guy has a lot of electronics, none of which appear to be new.

Robot Reaper comes in the usual Ultimates! packaging with a nice painting on the front and a write-up on the back. Out of the box, the figure stands pretty much right at the 7″ mark. It’s obviously a plastic action figure with the typical Super7 engineering, but it’s all clad in a soft goods robe affixed at the waist with a faux piece of hemp rope. The figure is sculpted in a shiny silver plastic with lots of painted detail, much of which you can’t even see because of the robe. He has this big, glowing, red eyes that reminds me of traffic lights and I think his mouth is supposed to be open. There’s some gold piping in places and he’s kind of a reverse C-3P0 in that he’s mostly silver, but has a gold, right, shin. The robe is held via a Velcro strip along the rear of it and that rope. I’d take it off completely, but I’m afraid I’ll never get that rope as perfect as it is right now. Plus, I have no intention of displaying him naked. Most of the body though is done in a paneled approach with large swaths of silver and black, but some areas (like the spine) are far more detailed. Super7 hit these areas with a paint wash and it looks really good. The robe itself is pretty basic, but doesn’t look cheap. He very much looks the part.

“Just five more minutes, five more minutes!”

What sold me on this guy is the 80s aesthetic to some of the electronics. He looks like he was created over 30 years ago and it’s fitting for a Grim Reaper character who is thought of as an ancient force. And 30 years or so in PC tech is an awful long time. From the front, he has a nice look, but from the back it gets real fun. The default head essentially has an old floppy, disk, drive in the back of its skull. I’m not talking the small, 3.5″, not-very-floppy disks that were still around well into the 90s, but those big, black, actually floppy disks that if you interacted with them may have contained games like Number Munchers, Odell Lake, and the legendary Oregon Trail. And yes, he does come with a floppy disk that fits in the slot. It’s labeled “People to Delete” and I love it. You probably don’t want to shove it all the way into the slot as it will be quite difficult to remove, but it’s such a fun design choice.

Ah yes, where would the Grim Reaper be without his People to Delete file?

That silly gimmick is what sold me on the concept, but the figure also has a bunch of other stuff that works well to add to the package. For hands, we get a set of fists, pointing hands, gripping hands, and open hands. If you’re not in love with the disk drive head there are two others. One looks like a powered down version of the default head with some circuitry ripped out. It’s more in-line with the classic Grim Reaper as a skeleton being as this head is more decrepit, more cold, and more lifeless. The other head is the opposite. It has a more futuristic flair to it. The face is all black with a sculpted-in jaw. It’s framed by steel to give it that skull visage and there’s a red button, or light, in the center of the brow. It’s cool, but I’ll never use.

This is just fantastic.

We also get some fun accessories to round this package out. First, is the big scythe which all Grim Reapers need. It can be held as a staff or by the handles for a swinging pose. The gripping hands don’t grip it as well as I’d like, and the texture of the wood is pretty bland, but it’s fine. If you want something a bit more unique, there’s a scythe attachment for his forearm that functions like an extra hand. It’s definitely more befitting of that futuristic head. The figure also comes with an hourglass that’s flat, pixelated, and looks exactly like the loading cursor from old computers. Lastly, there’s a Not-a-Game Boy for him to play. I don’t quite see how it fits the aesthetic here, but who is going to say “No” to a little Game Boy accessory? It’s purple with a gray screen and the only thing keeping it from being a Game Boy is that it has 3 buttons instead of 2. It also has one rounded corner, like the actual Game Boy, but it’s in a different spot. I wish he could hold it a little better, it’s more an issue of shoulder range, but it’s fun.

If you’re a weirdo who doesn’t like the disk drive head, there’s also this more decrepit one.

Articulation is pretty secondary for me with this figure, and it probably should be for this line, but Robot Reaper is actually pretty decent there. The head is on a double ball, and while it’s inserted way too far into the neck, there’s at least some okay range there looking up, down, and nuance. The shoulders are just ball-hinges, but he can raise his arm out to the side okay. There’s a biceps swivel, and the elbow moves about 90 degrees. The wrists swivel and all have horizontal hinges, though I would have preferred vertical hinges for the gripping hands, but it’s not a big deal here given the weapon load-out. There is a diaphragm joint that lets the figure tilt forward and back a little, plus rotate. There’s a waist twist below that and the hinged ball peg hips go out to the side for full splits. They don’t kick forward all the way, but do kick back almost as much as they do forward. There is a thigh pivot there and the knees bend back about 90 degrees and also bend forward, if you like, since he has no knee caps. The ankles are the only joints I don’t love as there isn’t much room for the ankle rocker to pivot. I think they should have done something there to remedy that, especially with this being a unique design.

And then there’s this head for an all-together different aesthetic.

By Super7 standards, this figure is well-articulated. The robe itself is going to hinder it some, but you could remove it if you really want to try to pose this guy up. the hem of the hood is wired too, so that’s like another point of articulation. He’s a reaper, so I don’t think this one needs to do much and it does what it needs to, and then some.

“Don’t you forget about your friend, Death.”

I love this figure and it’s 90% the design. I just think it’s fun, and if you look at it and see the same then I think you’ll like it too. The elephant in the room is, of course, the price. The MSRP on Robot Reaper is $55 and that’s just too much for some. One would have liked to see a lower price considering no license is needed, but at least the accessory count is solid and the quality control is about as good as it gets for this brand. Still, those willing to wait it out will probably be able to get this one on clearance eventually. I obviously thought it was worth buying at $55 as I wanted it for Halloween, but if I were stumbling on this in February then, yeah, I’d probably hold out for a better deal. There’s also a glow-in-the-dark version on the way, if you prefer. It’s a blue color, like a frozen version, and looks pretty cool, but I think this version is better.

Do you prefer your action figures be untethered from a major brand?

Saurozoic Warriors Range Brakhion

These days, the buzz word in the entertainment industry is “content.” Everyone wants content, especially streamers. It all goes back to the value of intellectual property. It’s costly and difficult to turn a new product into a popular one. It’s far easier, and less risky, to just throw money at an existing brand and create…

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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

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

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in toys

October 30, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Bishop

By Joe
He comes from the future with a warning.

We’re going to keep this Marvel/Mutant Monday thing going for one more week! After taking a look at a trio of figures from Hasbro’s new X-Men ’97 line of figures in its Marvel Legends catalog I’ve decided to do one more: Bishop. The first three figures I looked at were basically all missing pieces to the VHS line Hasbro did last year for X-Men, the animated series which aired on Fox in the 90s. Bishop wasn’t featured in that line either despite being the most frequent guest star in the series so it would stand to reason that I’d be interested in adding him as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your view, Bishop’s character received a redesign for the new show. It’s not incredibly drastic, but it removed his most mighty possession: his fabulous mullet.

Yes, Bishop decided to ditch the 80s haircut he had (despite being a guy from the future – maybe the mullet makes a comeback?) for something a bit more modern. He now sports a closely cropped head of hair, but largely maintains his look outside of that. He’s still sporting the yellow and blue, still has that kerchief about his neck, and also carries a big gun. Well, more on that last part later. Still, for someone like me who just wants to assemble the team from the show I grew up watching, it seemed like this was a figure I could skip. Then I saw him in a store, then I saw him again, and eventually I caved and bought the thing. I just like how it looks! Something about that yellow and blue will always appeal to me, but beyond that the figure looks better than a typical Legends release. It’s more in-line with how I would personally design the line if asked to so let’s dive into this one so I can explain what it is about Bishop that made me want to take him home.

He’s a bit bigger than your “Vulcan” body figures, but smaller than some of the villains presented in an oversized fashion. And yes, that is a custom Morph head.

Bishop stands at right around the 7″ mark making him the tallest figure in his wave. He’s composed mostly of blue and brown plastic with some yellow where it makes sense. His belt and the cuffs around his shoulders are soft, yellow, plastic keyed into the figure and secured with glue. The ends of his sleeves also appear to be yellow strips of plastic glued into place. The only paint needed on this figure was the yellow and black stripe down the body, the red and black X logo on the belt, and the details on his face. And perhaps to no one’s surprise, the painted areas are the weakest part of the figure and it’s mainly just that yellow stripe that runs the length of his body. All of the figures I found on the pegs had some issue with that part of the figure, either messy application or a chipped spot and I settled on the one that bothered me the least. The yellow isn’t as saturated as it needs to be so some blue shows through while the black line running down it gets messy in places. The easiest way for Hasbro to have prevented that would have been to cast the figure in yellow and paint on the blue and black, but Hasbro really doesn’t want to use that much paint so this is what we got.

I really like how the torso has a lot of mass to it.

Aside from that, I really like the presentation on this figure. I don’t have any other Bishop figures (I never even got the Toy Biz Marvel Legends one), but I believe most of what is presented here is new. He has a much sturdier build than most Legends figures I’ve encountered. His shoulders are broad, his chest has a lot of mass, and his proportions look great. I do think the cuffs at the shoulders help to minimize that low shoulder look a lot of Legends have and they also make the shoulders appear bigger. I’m guessing if I cut those off I’d be less impressed, but since they’re present I have to give the figure its do. I also really like the matte finish this thing has. It’s on the blue portions as well as the skin and it’s just really, really nice. There’s a temptation to seek out an older Bishop head that would better match the character I know, but I doubt any head I found, custom or official, would have the same finish. It means I’ll probably just have to get used to short haired Bishop, unless someone wants to sell custom pieces of hair since it appears to be a separate piece that’s glued down.

The gun is small and gummy, but it appears to look like the one from the show. At least the muzzle does.

The accessories for Bishop are like the other figures in the wave – terrible. It’s basically bare minimum type stuff here as Bishop has a set of trigger hands, a right fist, and a left gripping hand. I’m not sure why we need the gripping hand and trigger hand, I’d have preferred two fists, but either way the accessory count is too low. Bishop also has his gun which looks a lot like the one from the original show. It’s pretty small though and I wish it had more size to it. Maybe it’s accurate to the new show – I don’t know. In the 92 series, his gun wasn’t very consistent and there are some shots where it looks puny, but I would say it’s supposed to be on the bigger side. He has a holster behind his left shoulder that it slots into fine and the sculpt is solid on the weapon. It’s cast in gray plastic and unpainted so it’s certainly not flashy. There’s nothing else in the box though – no effect parts, no alternate head, no nothing. It’s Hasbro doing the bare minimum at a not bare minimum price point.

“I’ve still got my eye on your, cajun!”

Assuming much of what’s here is new, Bishop should articulate fairly well. Or at least as well as a burly fellow like him can. The head is on a double ball peg and it’s just okay. He looks down enough and the rotation is obviously fine, but looking up is severely limited. That’s because Hasbro just buries the lower part of the peg in the neck and doesn’t allow for as much range as it could. The shoulders are just hinged ball pegs and they rotate and can go out to the side to a horizontal position. The biceps swivel is fine and the double-jointed elbows bend past 90 without much fuss. The wrists swivel and the trigger hands have vertical hinges, the rest horizontal. In the torso is an ab crunch that’s pretty “clicky.” It basically has three positions: neutral, forward, and back. Going back just makes his belly stick out and he looks pretty silly, going forward is fine, but it’s not a great joint. The waist twist is a peg twist. The hips go out to the side well past 45 degrees though not to full splits. He kicks forward about 90 degrees, but doesn’t kick back very far. There is a thigh cut and a boot cut, though the thigh cut breaks up not just the striping down the left side of the figure, but also the sculpted pouches on the thighs so it’s a pretty useless joint. The knees will go past 90 degrees, and are on the tight side. The ankles hinge forward and back a good amount while also pivoting just fine.

“For the future!”

The articulation for Bishop is probably acceptable given he’s a big dude with a gun, he’s not here to do high kicks and such. My only real complaints are with how they did the joint at the head since he should have more function up there if they just did it right. I’m also kind of tired of these Legends figures with useless thigh cuts that break up the costume in unnatural ways because who is going to pose their figures in such a way? Put the rotation at the ball joint and it will look so much better. The torso also sucks and I’d like to see Hasbro ditch these ugly ab crunches in favor of double ball pegs in the abdomen. That will let the figure bend forward and back, especially if paired with a ball joint at the waist, while also providing tilt and rotation. It’s not something that’s really any more expensive to produce compared with what we have, it’s more a matter of changing over the infrastructure that’s the real cost. They’ve been doing it with pin-less joints for years now, a figure of mostly new tools like Bishop would have been a great place to incorporate more advances.

It’s not the Bishop I want, but he does look pretty nice.

The criticisms I have for this representation of Bishop are basically criticisms directed at Marvel Legends in general. For a Legends release, I think this Bishop is pretty damn good and it largely just comes down to the finish and proportioning. He’s supposed to big a big, burly, man and he is. He has the mass to his chest that so many figures lack. Just look at a figure like the well-received VHS Cyclops or the new Magneto from the side – there’s so little mass they’re almost flat. That’s not the case with Bishop and he looks a lot better than most figures as a result. He looks so good that I bought him when I had no intention of doing so. I probably could have waited for a clearance sale, but didn’t want to chance it. Now watch them re-release the figure with a ’92 inspired head (you know they will) so I can kick myself for giving Hasbro money in the first place.

If you’re interested in X-Men ’97 here are my other reviews on the line:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

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

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by Joe

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

October 27, 2023

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Orange Piccolo

By Joe

When Akira Toriyama set out to draft the plot for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero his original goal for the film was to take a favorite character of his and give him an upgrade. That character was Piccolo who had basically been left behind by the likes of Goku and Vegeta way back at the onset of The Cell Saga in Dragon Ball Z. After fusing with Kami, Piccolo was briefly the most powerful fighter on Earth, but he was soon surpassed by Cell, then by Vegeta, Trunks, Goku, and you get the idea. Following that arc, Piccolo was more like a resource for the heroes and sometimes fighter, but even when called upon, he usually just got whipped. And he was oddly okay with no longer being competitive, which I suppose is a reflection in a change in nature from the Evil King Piccolo to the Namekian he had become.

“Son! What happened?!”

That isn’t really fun though when it comes to story telling with Piccolo and it would seem that Toriyama wanted to have him be able to mix it up with the best of them again. Enter Orange Piccolo. Spoiler alert for those still waiting to see Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, but Piccolo makes a wish to the Eternal Dragon Shenron to have his latent power unlocked to defend the Earth from a new threat. Shenron grants the wish, but also does him one better and bestows a hidden power on the proud Namekian. Shenron is not usually known for his generosity, but since Piccolo (as Kami) created Shenron it would seem the dragon felt he owed it to him to give him a power not seen in ages. The movie doesn’t have time to explain it, but that power is an ancient one wielded by Namekian warriors. When their planet was in danger, the mightiest of the Namekian would turn to their Dragon Balls for a power boost. This is detailed briefly in the manga Dragon Ball Super and not the show or film, which is unfortunate because it sure explains a lot when it comes to Orange Piccolo.

He’s orange, buff, and feeling pretty good about himself.

Orange Piccolo is this buffed out state. We don’t know if this how the form was always represented, but I think we can assume the orange part is since it ties back to the actual Dragon Balls. As for the name, well that’s entirely due to Piccolo not having much imagination or time for fancy titles. The form’s name is basically an afterthought and a little bit of a joke that works with the Piccolo character. The only thing we really need to know is that Orange Piccolo is a really big version of Piccolo that’s orange and really powerful. How powerful? Toriyama suggests that he’s on Goku and Vegeta’s level in this form and likely behind Gohan’s new Beast form. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to assume that this is something Piccolo can now do at will or if he’ll need Shenron’s help in the future, but for now, he’s got a cool new form and it’s plenty powerful. Piccolo fans, rejoice!

Orange Piccolo probably marks the end of the Super Hero subline which has been a mix of general release and Premium Bandai figures.

What just might be the final release from Premium Bandai for Super Hero is indeed Orange Piccolo. The figure comes in the same Super Hero packaging as the previous releases only much bigger. And that’s because Orange Piccolo stands at around 7.5″, but beyond his height is his mass. Remember when Trunks got super buff in his fight with Cell? That’s kind of like what Piccolo goes through with this transformation. His head becomes more square-like, his neck is almost as wide as his ears, and his chest is massive. The flesh of his head, neck, and torso is a pale orange while his arms are a more saturated shade. He loses all of the lines on the normally green portion of his arms while the puffy areas remain yellow with a red rim (Super Hero followed the manga coloring so those areas were yellow instead of pink). That’s the basis of the transformation and you either like it or you don’t. I love these big, chunky, action figures so this works for me. At first, I was torn on Piccolo’s color change from green to orange as I think the green is just a part of his identity. Now knowing why he’s orange, I’m less bothered by it. It’s a neat way to call back to what the series is named after and strengthens the lore of the property (though it does raise questions as to why none of the Namekians tried this to stop Frieza, but we’ll just have to ignore that).

The size and the expressions are what sell this figure.

As a figure, Orange Piccolo casts an impressive…figure…on a shelf due to that size. The figure is comprised largely of orange and purple plastic with the purple gi closer to a fuchsia to simulate an aura. There’s some pink shading on the gi as well that’s heavier at the cuffs of the pants and the abdomen. The other paint is reserved for the yellow and red portions and it’s done okay. This figure is a “premium” release and cost $85 so I wouldn’t blame anyone for demanding a little more out of the red piping. The right shoulder on my figure is a little sloppy and there are spots here and there where it could be cleaner. The elbow hinges, which have the pattern continued onto them, are surprisingly clean. I’m a little concerned how these painted hinges will hold up over time, but their movement is smooth so it may be less of an issue than it would be with a cheaper product. The fingernails look like they may just be painted on and they don’t look great. The portraits, on the other hand, are terrific in keeping with Bandai’s output of late. This is a pretty typical release in that it mostly looks fine, but would look improved with a paint wash (especially on the boots) here and there, but that’s something Bandai doesn’t seem to like to do much.

“Oh my, if it isn’t that pathetic Namekian I nearly destroyed all those years ago.”

Like Gohan Beast, Orange Piccolo uses a rubbery overlay for the top of the gi. And like Gohan Beast, this is a mixed bag. On the plus side, you remove any visible joints in the torso. There are new cuts in the cuffs of the shirt though and they need to be accounted for when posing as the figure will look terrible if they’re exposed. The main drawback though is with the articulation. Piccolo has a double-ball peg in his diaphragm, but it’s rendered useless by the overlay. It does nothing aside from annoy as sometimes it will rotate with the waist which can prove irksome since his barely visible abs won’t line-up properly with his pecs. Underneath the overlay, the chest is fully sculpted and painted so if you wanted to you can remove it and have a shirtless, but better articulated, Orange Piccolo, but do you really want to do that to your $85 figure?

“WAIT! WHAT?!? AN ORANGE NAMEKIAN?!”

Like Gohan, the rest of the articulation is mostly fine. The head is on an oddly shaped joint, but it essentially functions as a double-ball peg. The head comes off easy, but it still moves well in tandem with a neck joint and you get up, down, and some nuance. The shoulders are on hinged pegs and that peg slots into a butterfly joint. The arms go out to the side at just about a horizontal position and rotate fine around the cuff of the shirt. The butterfly joint is pretty limited thanks to the overlay. There’s more forward than back, but I question the need to have it at all if it’s going to be this limited. There is a biceps swivel and a double-jointed elbow which does bend past 90 degrees even with the added bulk. The wrists are on hinged ball joints so they rotate and hinge just fine.

“I’ve been looking forward to this, Frieza!”

The waist is on a ball joint so there’s some forward and back to go with the rotation at that joint. The belt is a floating piece that may tab in on the back. The flatter portions of the gi overlay will be exposed if you bend the figure too far in any direction, but the belt can be positioned to remove that. At the hips, the legs go out to the side to almost full splits and Piccolo can kick forward to a horizontal position. They don’t kick back very far and there’s a thigh swivel there that works okay, but isn’t the prettiest joint. Double-jointed knees bend past 90 degrees and the ankles swivel at the top of the boot. Because the boot is such an odd shape, the hinge and ankle rocker offer little range in any direction, but you get a toe hinge!

Not to be forgotten, is Gohan’s new Kamehameha effect part. It can be used with Goku, as well, or even Gohan Beast.

Basically, all of the problems Gohan Beast has so does Piccolo, but because of his bulky appearance, it’s even more restrictive. That’s not necessarily a terrible thing though. While I want my figures to have as much range as possible, this version of Piccolo is unquestionably a bruiser and brawler. I think he has just enough and the only real change I’d implement is to dump that overlay. If the overlay was designed to be removed easily because he went shirtless in the film or something then the trade-off would be worth it, but otherwise I’ve been content with the all plastic approach to the torso of past figures. I did see some reports of people getting figures with loose hips. I can say mine are fine. They could probably stand to be a little tighter, but it isn’t an issue. It’s likely something that’s just going to vary from figure to figure. The rest of the joints are all nice and smooth.

As for accessories actually intended for Piccolo, it’s basically four portraits and some clenching hands and slightly less clenchy hands. In other words, not much.

The one area Orange Piccolo does feel light though is with the accessories. He has just three sets of hands: fists, open, and a slightly clenching hand. He does have four heads: stern, smirk, yelling, and teeth gritting. They all look great too and are viable, but that’s where it ends for Piccolo. Because this is the Super Hero subline, he apparently needs to come with parts for the Gohan Super Hero figure like all of the rest. That means he has a set of clenching hands with posts on them and a Kamehameha effect. It’s the same effect that came with Super Saiyan 4 Goku only now it’s the more traditional blue instead of red. And I like the effect and I like that it can actually work with both Gohan and Goku, but where’s Piccolo’s effect part? I’d rather get an effect part for the actual character I’m buying a figure for, not someone else. It’s nice to have, but did that effect part actually help sell more Orange Piccolo figures? I’m skeptical.

This is one tag team you don’t want to mess with.

Orange Piccolo is another A-/B+ release from Premium Bandai. I like the figure, but I do feel like it’s missing that extra ingredient to push it over the top. And that’s how I’ve felt about basically all of these Premium Bandai figures I’ve purchased based on the movie. And since this was a Premium Bandai release, it’s basically made-to-order so if you snoozed several months ago when it went up for sale you’ve already lost. The MSRP was $85 and those who bought Gohan Beast got free shipping. It’s likely more expensive on the secondary market, but if you must have an Orange Piccolo, that may be your only option. Dragon Ball Super is rumored to be coming back to television in the near future, so maybe when the anime gets to Orange Piccolo we’ll see a re-release of some kind, but that is probably a long way off at this point. The $85 is pretty pricey for what’s in the box. I can give it a somewhat tepid recommend at that price, but anything over $100 would be a really hard sell. Good luck!

Interested in other releases from Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero?

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Son Gohan Beast

Last summer, fans of Dragon Ball were treated to a new movie: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The intended purpose of the movie seemed to be to take two somewhat forgotten characters in Piccolo and Gohan and give them a makeover. The manga and anime Dragon Ball Super has basically been a story about Goku…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super – Ultimate Gohan Super Hero

As part of the promotion for the film Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero, Bandai released a wave of action figures from its S.H. Figuarts brand of characters from the film. The neat thing was, these releases were actually really cheap relative to other SHF releases with a MSRP of just $35. Of the four,…

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by Joe

S.H.Figuarts Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Gamma 1 and Gamma 2

Last year saw the release of a brand new film in the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The mouthful of a title was a bit of a throwback affair. It seemed that Toei and series creator Akira Toriyama wanted to use the film to return the spotlight to Gohan and Piccolo, two…

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by Joe

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

October 23, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Gambit

By Joe
Gambit has arrived.

Everyone can relax – Gambit has returned. Or arrived, since I’ve never reviewed a Gambit action figure in this space, but that’s because I haven’t bought a Gambit figure in about 20 years until now. When X-Men arrived on airwaves in the fall of 1992, hardly anyone on that team could be considered a true household name. Wolverine was certainly the closest. He was featured in a lot of Marvel related ads and had his own solo comic series as well. Other characters showed up as guests on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends or in the pilot for the never was series, “Pryde of the X-Men” and the arcade game essentially based on it. My own familiarity with the team was mostly from the first run of ToyBiz action figures featuring Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Archangel, and Colossus.

Gambit was not featured in any of those things. For me as a kid in ’92, the first episode of the cartoon series was my introduction to the character and I don’t think I was a unique case. Gambit was the break-out star of the series, as far as I’m concerned. He was essentially designed to be cool. He’s probably over-designed, but somehow Marvel pulled it off. He looks ridiculous, and yet come 1993 that’s who I wanted to be for Halloween. I think it’s the trench coat that brings a lot of that “it” factor upfront and the way his face is framed with that unusual hood he wears and red eyes which adds a mysterious component. I remember thinking his gloves were cool, and for some reason exploding playing cards just struck me as bad ass. All of that allowed him to pull off the hot pink undershirt and that weird, blue, thing he wears around his neck area.

This figure should be pretty familiar to more dedicated Legends collectors.

Following the debut of X-Men, most of my peers would cite either Wolverine or Gambit as their favorite character. That’s just how it was. ToyBiz hit stores with Series 2 of its X-Men line around the same time and Tiger Stripe Wolverine (or Wolverine II) and Gambit were the two hardest to find. Maybe the character’s popularity has faded over the years, but I was surprised that Gambit wasn’t featured in the VHS line of Marvel Legends based on the show. I think the real reason for his exclusion was due to the fact that Hasbro had somewhat recently released a Gambit figure in the same getup on a retro card exclusive to Target. I think it’s even still available. The same was true of Rogue and I think Hasbro made a business decision not to compete with itself for both figures, but if you’re going to have a line of X-Men figures based on the animated series you have to have Gambit.

The heigh isn’t quite right, but I’m not sure it is with any figure in this line. Look at how massive Sinister is, for crying out loud.

Enter X-Men ’97 and its first wave continues to right the wrongs of the VHS line by including, among others, Gambit. This figure is basically a re-release of that Target exclusive with minimal changes that come down to a new head and new overcoat. I don’t have that Target figure, but as far as I know, everything else is the same including the accessories. The paint application is a little different to better reflect the new source material, but that’s it. Chances are, if you have that figure and you’re happy with it, you probably won’t need this one. I, on the other hand, just want an animated Gambit to put on my shelf with the rest of the animated X-Men so I grabbed this one along with Rogue and Magneto so lets see if that was a good decision or not.

The portrait is very animation inspired.

Gambit comes on the same card as the rest of the line with artwork from the show on the front. Out of the box, Gambit stands at approximately 6.25″ to the top of his head and 6.75″ to the top of his hair. Like the rest of this wave, the scale is suspect. Gambit is a bit too tall, but not egregiously so. The head sculpt will get the most attention here as it has a very animated look to it. It’s a very clean approach with few lines to make it easy to animate. I don’t hate it, but it doesn’t look like Gambit from the original series. It looks more like him than the Target figure, but that’s it. He looks reasonably enough like the art from the new show, so that’s fine. The paint is iffy though. The eyes are good and he doesn’t have lipstick, but the edge of the cowl isn’t clean. There’s a spec of flesh color on the right eyebrow of my figure and they added some stubble to his chin via paint. It’s on the character model, so I can’t kill it, but I wish it wasn’t there. The hair is huge and probably divisive. I don’t mind it though. Again, not at all accurate to the ’92 show, but looks fine for X-Men ’97 based on what I’ve seen. There’s no shading on it, but it’s probably fine for the source material.

Gambit comes with his staff, though I’ve never understood why he would need one.

And speaking of shading, you won’t find any on this figure. The coat is an overlay and it’s fine. It’s pretty stiff though and won’t pose at all, but it looks okay in a default pose. The sleeves are part of the sculpt and we’ve seen these before. The hands are unique to Gambit, at least the left hand with two finger gesture, so it’s odd to see fingernails sculpted onto the digits covered by the glove. They’re black, so the flesh part is painted which ironically covers up the fingernails to make them barely noticeable. Maybe this hand is reused for another figure? I don’t know, it seems odd to me. The torso is molded in pink and the blue portion appears to be molded in blue as well and keyed in. The very bottom of the shirt is painted pink and doesn’t match as a result. It’s pink over black plastic, which is an odd choice. I guess it’s because they wanted to do the legs in black so they could paint the pink thigh stripes, but it’s a lot easier to paint black over pink than the opposite. The pink stripes are also sloppy and the black shows through. The boots are just blue plastic and it shows.

It’s a very mixed bag on the presentation. Excepting the boots, the parts in molded plastic look fine, but the paint is bad. Gambit also has the same issue as Rogue in that the overlay coat isn’t snug enough at the shoulder. There’s plenty of pink showing between the sleeve and overlay when it didn’t need to be that way. It’s basically just another figure that is only concerned with the bullet points when it comes to the presentation, but the finer details are most certainly lacking.

Holy crap! An actual effect part!

Gambit does get to have more accessories, at least, when compared with Rogue and Magneto who both just got a hand swap. That’s not to say Gambit is loaded, by any means. He has his staff which is molded in blue, and to my surprise, it appears to be a darker shade than the boots. It’s a staff, so it’s fine. What’s not is the gripping right hand which is too loose for it. Gambit can hold it if you’re patient and careful, but it’s not good enough. And if you wanted a two-handed pose you’ll have to search for a new left hand somewhere because Hasbro didn’t provide one. I mean, you can kind of use the default left hand, but it looks a bit silly. Instead, they provided an effect part hand. It’s molded in a transparent pink plastic or acrylic and has three cards extending from an open hand with a swoosh effect. It looks fine, there are fingernails on the hand again for some stupid reason, but the swoosh kills it for me. It makes no sense because it extends beyond the hand in both directions. The swoosh should end at the front of the hand and extend only one side, not past the hand on both. It makes it look like an energy wave is shooting out with cards too. At any rate, there’s also a single card effect to place between the two fingers of the default hand. I like this one much better and it’s good, but no second portrait? No second gripping hand? No gripping hand that actually works?!

Though it’s not exactly a good effect part. That swoosh makes no sense, but Hasbro keeps re-releasing this damn thing.

The articulation is basically as expected with Gambit. The head is on the hinged ball peg that provides range up, down, and rotation, but zero tilt for more nuanced poses. The shoulders are hinged ball pegs that raise out to the side just past a horizontal position. The biceps swivel is fine and the single-hinged elbows give the figure better than 90 degrees at the elbow plus some swivel. The hands swivel and the gripping hand has a vertical hinge and the other a horizontal one. The torso has an ab crunch that goes forward pretty far, but the coat prevents much use going backwards. There is waist twist, but it’s pretty ugly because it just sits on a peg flush with the hips. The hips kick out to side about 45 degrees and kick forward all the way. There’s some range going back that’s stopped by the coat. There is a thigh cut for a swivel there and they put it in between two of the leg stripes so that’s a plus. The knees bend past 90 pretty far and there is a boot cut in the middle of the shin if you want it, but it’s ugly. The ankles hinge forward and back a solid amount and the ankle rocker is fine. My left ankle is pretty stuck at the hinge and I haven’t tried heating it up to free it.

This is definitely not the most fun figure to pose. The torso joints have acceptable range, but they’re of little use on this figure.

Aside from the left ankle, the rest of the figure is fine as far as joint tolerances go. Like Rogue, the shoulders are a bit tight, but with Gambit I don’t feel any binding at the joint. This one seems less gummy than the other two figures so at least the feel is fine. This is just one of the few figures where I wish Hasbro had inserted a butterfly joint. It would serve him well with his staff and cards, plus the coat would hide it. Double ball joints at the head and waist would also have improved the figure. I don’t think the ab crunch offers much use and a ball joint there that gets some rotation would be better. It’s a very dated approach to articulation, but Gambit’s unique attire means unique tooling is needed and Hasbro doesn’t want to spend money it doesn’t think it has to.

If he’s just going on your shelf then I guess this animated Gambit is passable. When that Mondo one shows up though he’s going to really look like a piece of crap.

The X-Men ’97 version of Gambit is essentially another compromised take on an animated character that will be acceptable for some and unacceptable for others. At $26, it’s too expensive for what’s in the box, but if you want an animated version of Gambit this is what you’re stuck with. And, for me, it’s mediocre, but passable. On the shelf with the rest of the crew, he looks okay. In hand and on its own, the figure isn’t much fun to mess with and a bit frustrating to pose the way I want to. Add the mediocre accessory load-out and frustrating gripping hand and it results in a below average action figure by today’s standards. Here I am essentially talking myself out of what little affection I have for this figure, but to summarize, if you (like me) just want a Gambit for your animated shelf it will probably get the job done. If you want something that’s an improvement over what Hasbro has already released, then you’re going to be let down. As seems to always be the case with Marvel Legends, you’re better off waiting for a sale.

Need to catch up on other X-Men animated Marvel Legends releases?

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

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

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mr. Sinister

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

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by Joe

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October 16, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Rogue

By Joe
Rogue is back with a facelift.

Previously, on X-Men reviews we looked at Magneto from the upcoming series X-Men ’97. The animated series may have been delayed into 2024, but the action figures from Hasbro are already here. And if you were collecting Hasbro’s line of figures based on the animated series from the 90s, this new line offers a chance to fill in some gaps. That’s what drew me to Magneto, and that’s what is drawing me towards Rogue.

Rogue comes at us in the same style of card back as Magneto with artwork from the show on the front and a cross-sell on the back. Rogue is in her animated attire which is very similar to the costume Jim Lee designed for her in the comics, but with some minor differences. Her headband is just a headband with no knot on the back and her jacket is green instead of brown. Otherwise, she still has her two-toned hair and her yellow and green bodysuit. And her costume in the new show is the same as the costume from the old show. There is a style change going from the old show to the new and that’s reflected in the figure, but on the surface, this figure should be a candidate to serve as an animated Rogue in your X-Men animated series collection.

If you were introduced to Rogue via the 90s cartoon then you probably prefer her in the green jacket.

Rogue stands at about 6.25″ to the top of her hair. I was critical of the size of Magneto so I should do so here. Rogue is a bit too tall, not egregiously so, but she’s not perfect if that matters to you. I’m okay with it, personally. Her head sculpt is all new. The hair is done with two pieces: one brown and one white. It looks fine. There’s no shading which would probably help, but the two-toned nature of her design covers up for that. Her face and said hair are the most obvious change for the new show. She doesn’t have the big 80s hair she had before, and while her face looks fine, it just doesn’t look like Rogue to me. I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about her face that differentiates it from say Jean, and I think it’s how her eyes are shaped. Usually stretched a bit and diamond shaped. It looks close enough though to the image on the box so ultimately I’m fine with it, this is more information for those looking to fill in the ’92 collection. Her face does have some shine to it, which I don’t care for, but that’s hardly surprising for a Marvel Legends release.

Rogue stands mostly in-line with the other female figures from X-Men.

The rest of the figure is a mix of old and new. The jacket is a floating piece while the sleeves are sculpted. It looks fine, the X logo on her right arm looks pretty ugly, but I have no issue with the approach. The opening for the arms is pretty large though so it’s something you have to be mindful of when posing if you don’t want her to look like she’s wearing a vest. The upper torso piece is new to better match the new show. She’s still a tremendously busty woman, only now the suit isn’t so skin-tight that she looks like she has cantaloupes on her chest. Some might complain that her breasts have been slightly deemphasized, but I personally think this looks better. This new torso does appear to have a slightly different finish to it though, at least the upper part, as the yellow on top doesn’t match the yellow of her abdomen perfectly. It’s slight, but something I notice with the figure in-hand.

You have probably seen a similar meme before. Cartoonists and figure sculptors just love working on Rogue’s butt.

The other main difference between this Rogue and the previously released retro card figure (which I don’t have), is that the boots are now fully sculpted. That figure had the top of the boot represented by a floating piece, but now that’s just sculpted to the thigh. It looks okay. When fully bending the knee it’s probably not as good looking as the previous solution, but at least there’s no fussing with the extra piece. The majority of the figure is molded in yellow and the green is painted on and the paint application is mediocre. The torso is okay, I have some yellow spots but they’re hidden under the jacket, but the thighs are a bit messy. The green straps on the boots also aren’t cleanly applied. And something sure to irritate some, myself included, the green portion of her thighs doesn’t line up on the front and back of the leg. Meaning if you twist the thigh to line the yellow and green up properly on the front of the figure, it will be mis-aligned on the back and vice versa. That’s just annoying, but also speaks to Hasbro as I often get the impression they just don’t care about the details. There’s also a weird paint detail on the side of each thigh. It’s like an extra application of green, but on the plastic seem of the upper thigh. It’s on both sides and I don’t really know what’s going on with it.

“Momma!”

The figure looks fine, it’s just imperfect when some of those imperfections don’t really need to be there. The articulation is also mostly fine. The head is affixed via the usual Marvel Legends hinged-ball peg. For Rogue, it works okay as her hair hides the gap and odd angles when pushing her head all the way down or up, she just doesn’t have a ton of room for nuance posing. The shoulders are hinged pegs and they’re really tight. Perhaps this is the result of creating a new upper torso, but not new arms? They’ve been doing that for years though so one would think they’re experienced at it. The joint is tight though on Rogue and sometimes when rotating it feels like the peg is binding more than rotating. It’s unpleasant, to say the least. The elbows are single-hinged and bend about 90 degrees. There’s also a swivel which works fine. The wrists swivel and hinge horizontally and they’re fine.

“I hate you!”

The diaphragm joint feels like a double ball peg. There’s a little movement to either side and some tilt forward and back, but nothing extreme. It should rotate, but like the shoulders, the joint wants to fight any rotation and is prone to binding. The plastic they’re using is just too gummy. There is no waist articulation and the hips are big ball sockets. She can do better than 45 degrees, but splits are out of the question. She kicks forward pretty well, but she can’t kick back much at all because she’s got herself a pretty ample backside. There is a thigh twist, but the design of her suit means it looks bad when utilized. I would have preferred her hips be designed to swivel on the ball peg. The knees are double-jointed and they’re fine, though there’s some paint transfer from the green to the yellow kneecap on my figure. The ankles are hinged and feature a rocker. The range is fine, but they’re very “clicky” so you basically just have 3 or 4 positions they can get into as there’s no smoothness to the joint.

The glove is off!

The articulation is mostly there, but the quality of the plastic lets the figure down. Those shoulders are problematic as is the diaphragm joint. She should have a joint at the waist, especially considering she has a belt to hide it, but that’s a spot where Hasbro seems to favor aesthetics over articulation with its female figures and I can accept that limitation. She could have double-jointed elbows and it’s mostly Hasbro being cheap in reusing old parts that prevents that from happening. There’s no butterfly joint, but I don’t consider that a terrible loss. Even though she’s a figure that could benefit from being able to rear back in a punching pose. It’s another figure where the quality control, the finer tuning, lets it down so it’s not much fun to pose. She’s also difficult to stand which I think has a lot to do with her body being more slight and her head top-heavy. The lack of nuance with the ankles adds to the frustration.

Sorry Logan, no going back for Morph and Beast.

As was the case with Magneto, Rogue is not going to shine when it comes to accessories. Of those, she has just two: an ungloved right hand and a second left fist that is holding her removed glove. The left hand is reused from the last Rogue release while the right hand is surprisingly different. I’m sure it’s not new, but it’s more of a reaching hand, I suppose? She should have a set of ungloved open hands for grabbing other figures. A second portrait with a more aggressive expression would also be nice. If you want her to look like she’s going to syphon someone’s energy she kind of looks like a creeper with that smile she’s sporting. The cuffs of the gloves are at least separate pieces that slide off of her arm so at least you can make the ungloved hand look convincing, but it feels half-assed still. I feel like a good company would include a ’92 inspired head or something, maybe some effect parts, but that’s not Hasbro.

Rogue comes away feeling a lot like Magneto. This is a fine enough likeness of the new X-Men ’97 design and probably a tolerable stand-in for the ’92 series. Considering the VHS line from Hasbro rarely seemed to feature new tooling, chances are a ’92 Rogue would have just been the previously released retro card with some haphazard cel-shading. At least this figure doesn’t have that blemish. It has problems with the articulation though and the accessories stink. At $26, it’s a harder sell than it should be. I don’t regret buying it, but I can’t give it a full-throated endorsement either. This is the sort of figure one buys out of a sense of obligation: I have an animated X-Men shelf, and it needs a Rogue. It’s not really one that’s bought because it’s a terrific product, but that seems to sum up the Marvel Legends experience.

Interested in more figures based on the animated X-Men?

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

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

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Mystique

The penultimate figure in this series is a bit of a curveball. When one thinks of the animated series X-Men, the first villains that come to mind are Magneto, Sinister, Apocalypse, Sabretooth, and then it gets muddled. Graydon Creed made quite the impression in the show’s second season and may even be the most hate-able…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Morph

This is it! This is the big one! Back on Halloween of 1992 Fox premiered X-Men and we were introduced to a character named Morph. For comic readers, it was a bit of a re-introduction as Morph was based on the character Changeling, but for copywrite reasons, had to undergo a name change. Changeling wasn’t…

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by Joe

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

October 9, 2023

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Magneto

By Joe
New show, new toyline, that’s how the world works.

It was two years ago that Hasbro made the announcement that it was wading into the weeds of X-Men, the cartoon series that aired on the Fox Kids Network from 1992-1997. The line was released across eight installments in 2022 (plus a ninth if you include the obviously animated-inspired Apocalypse released on a retro card) and you probably don’t need to be a huge fan of the property to know that eight figures just isn’t enough to properly capture the series in action figure form. Fans can debate on what the biggest omission was and it would certainly be easy to select one of the several X-Men not included, but for me, the one I missed the most was Magneto.

Magneto has long been one of my favorite villains in anything. While he really wasn’t the big baddie he could have been in the show, he still had tremendous presence and was a captivating figure. I was delighted to see Mondo turn to him second for their line of sixth scale figures based on the show and they basically nailed the likeness of the character. In a perfect world, we would all be enjoying X-Men 97 right now, the sequel series to X-Men from the Fox days set to launch on Disney+ in early 2024. It was going to launch this fall which would have coincided with the 31st anniversary of the original show’s premiere, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. The show could be pushed back, but the tie-in merch was basically locked into their release windows so we at least have a new line of Marvel Legends based on the show to talk about.

He’s a bit of a slender boy.

As someone who is a big fan of that original animated series, I saw this X-Men 97 line as a chance to add to what Hasbro gave me in 2022. And I think some of that attitude is present in the character selection as we’re getting four characters right out of the gate not featured in the VHS line: Rogue, Gambit, Bishop, and the subject of this post, Magneto. Hasbro knows people like me will supplement that line with these figures which have a more animated look than a standard Marvel Legend release, even if it’s based on the new series instead of the old one. The characters are all coming on blister cards with artwork from the show on the front and they’re a mix of old and new tools. Unlike the VHS line though, these are definitely designed to resemble the source material where as the VHS line was very inconsistent with its approach. The line was actually pretty bad, if I’m being honest, but I keep buying this stuff anyway because nostalgia is a hell of a thing. If you think Marvel Legends are only getting worse these days then I guess I’m part of the problem as I’m still buying compromised visions of the characters I love.

There’s no cel-shading in this line, but he does have shadowy eyes. I just wish they went a bit heavier on the shading like the source material.

I’m looking at Magneto first because, as I said, he was the one I missed the most from the VHS line. He’s also the figure that best fits the style of the 92 series as not much has changed. I don’t collect enough Marvel Legends to know if the parts here are new or not, but they’re new to me. Out of the box, he stands at approximately 6.25″ to the dome of his helmet. We’ll get the accessories out of the way right now as he just has clenchy hands out of the box and a set of fists. He’s depicted in his classic attire from episode 3 of the original series: helmet, purple cape, red gloves. His costume changed here and there throughout the show. Sometimes he had purple gloves, something the part of his costume covering his neck and upper chest was red, but this is how he looked in Season One (and how he’ll presumably look, at least in the early going, of the new show). The crest on his helmet isn’t painted, but it doesn’t appear to be in the new show either. An outline might have helped though. The helmet has a very glossy appearance, but since it’s supposed to be metal I’m okay with that. The rivets holding his cape on are also shiny and there’s a little pearl quality to the purple portions of the wrists and shins. Those parts are painted, and the application is just okay. There’s some red poking through on the left shin of my figure and the lines aren’t all clean.

“Why is my hand shrunken when opened?”

The red portions of the costume are just colored plastic, but they have a nice, matte, finish. The cape is also colored plastic with a similar finish. I like how they sculpted in some shape into the shoulders which adds a little flair to the look. There is no cel-shading with this line, but Hasbro did paint the face with some black around the eyes as Magneto is often depicted in both the comics and animation. I like it, but I think they could have gone a little heavier with the black. There’s also some missed spots in between the eye and the eyebrow. The helmet is a separate, non-removable, piece and the face is painted underneath it. I don’t like the lipstick and I feel like his eyes are a little too high, but the face is okay enough.

The dainty hands are more pronounced when compared with Cyclops.

What I can’t shake though is the feeling that Magneto is just too small. X-Men 97 is a continuation of the original series so it stands to reason that the characters are the same size as they were back then. In that original series, Magneto was around 6’3″ and was basically eye-to-eye with Cyclops and Gambit if not a touch taller. With this figure, he is shorter than both Cyclops and Gambit. He’s also a touch slighter of build in comparison with the VHS Cyke. Maybe the new show is going for a slimmer profile with its characters and if so, criticism revoked, but the height is still an issue. Also of issue are the clenching hands which are almost comically undersized. Compare his open hand with Cyke’s two-finger hand and it’s like comparing a child to an adult. The fist hands are fine, and actually look like they’re reuse from Cyclops, and it’s even easier to see how small the clenching hands are by comparing them with the fists as there’s no way those two hands could be the same. The only big parts of the figure are his feet, which look terrible. They look like loafers and not boots. Magneto is a character that’s all about presence, so his size feeling off is a bigger deal here than it might be with other characters.

These two will never see eye-to-eye.

Articulation for Magneto is a touch limited for a Marvel Legends release, but that’s not exactly a deal-breaker. The head is on a hinged ball peg so you get range looking up and down, but it lacks the nuance of a double-ball peg. The shoulders are standard ball hinges and they raise out to the side past horizontal and rotate as far as the cape allows. The cape can be moved as it’s glued down to the figure’s chest, but also pegs into the middle of the back which can be popped out easily if you need it to. There are no butterfly joints, but I’m okay with that. There is a biceps swivel and double-jointed elbows that go past 90. They’re not the best looking elbows, and the entire figure has a bit of a gummy feel, but they work. The wrists swivel and both sets of hands feature horizontal hinges.

Lets bring in Gambit for another size comparison.

In the torso is an ab crunch that actually works really well going forward and back. There is a waist twist below the sash that works, but it gets ugly if you go too far. The hips are simple ball socket hips which can almost hit a full split going out to the side. They kick forward 90 degrees and kick back a little bit as well. There is the standard thigh cut which works fine and double-jointed knees that bend past 90 without issue. The ankles hinge forward and back and at least these ugly feet have solid range. The ankle rocker is also there and works fine.

If only he had an effect part of his own.

The articulation isn’t amazing or anything, but at least what is here works about as well as it could, minus the tactile issues. It’s enough for Magneto who basically just raises out his arms and floats around. What is lacking are the accessories since there basically is none. No un-helmeted head, no flight stand, no power effects. Just a figure with mis-matched hands. Is it enough? This figure cost me $26 and it’s a pretty bare bones release, all things considered. Any way you slice it, that isn’t great value. That’s probably why a lot of Marvel Legends are clearance buys for many people out there.

Yeah, he doesn’t look as good or come with as much stuff as the Mondo version, but it is almost a tenth of the price.

I bought this Magneto to go with my VHS set of figures. I know others are buying it for their comic collection. Presumably, there are people out there buying the figure to put on an X-Men 97 shelf, but with the show not out I guess it’s not surprising there isn’t a lot of folks going in that direction. For what I wanted out of this Magneto, it works. It’s undersized and lacking in bells and whistles, but otherwise looks the part. Is that worthy of your twenty-six dollars? That’s for you to decide. As for me, I don’t regret this one and compared to the VHS line he’s honestly among the better of those figures. It’s just a terrible value for what you’re getting, but as long as Hasbro is the only game in town it’s all we got.

Interested in more figures based on the animated X-Men?

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Wolverine

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

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by Joe

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Magneto

If you showed a random individual this blog and asked them what my favorite cartoon was as a kid I’m guessing they would go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they wouldn’t be wrong as that was my favorite for a time, but come 1992 I was starting to drift away from that show. Batman:…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men Animated Series Cyclops

I wasn’t sure he would make it in time, but Hasbro managed to ship Cyclops before the end of the year. Cyclops marks the final figure (for now) in Hasbro’s X-Men animated series subline of Marvel Legends. It has been…a ride. What was once a dream line of mine to see brought to fruition, turned…

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by Joe

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October 3, 2023

Plunderstrong Captain Blackjak

By Joe
That’s a pretty big gun.

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 was nearly the same just with different paint and accessories to differentiate them. They were a hit too and Lone Coconut was able to fund the campaign and also find a partner in Big Bad Toy Store to release more figures beyond that campaign.

“I’m gonna tell my big brother!”

Last year, Lone Coconut returned with a new campaign: Plunderstrong and Plunderlong. As the names imply, these are new figures in the Plunderlings universe that happen to take on a different shape. The Plunderstrong is a hulking brute with broad shoulders, square-jawed heads and gorilla-like arms. The Plunderlong is basically a stretched-out version of a Plunderling: longer torso, longer head, longer everything (heh heh). Like the first campaign, this one was a success too. After having passed initially on Plunderlings, I decided I wasn’t going to miss out this time so I joined the campaign for one Plunderstrong and one Plunderlong plus some additional accessories. Product was supposed to arrive back in the late winter or early spring, but delays happened which isn’t unusual for a small producer like Lone Coconut. It’s now the fall, and the Plunderstrong is being shipped all across the globe as promised. As for the Plunderlong, there was some issue with the final factory output that needed to be addressed so that one will ship a bit later. Works for me, as now I can spread out my reviews so lets talk about the Plunderstrong I ordered: Captain Blackjak.

He’s obviously big compared to the Plunderling, but even compared to other figures this guy has some size.

Like the Plunderlings, the Plunderstrongs are essentially the same figure across the board with minor differences. Captain Blackjak is a true pirate figure, and as the name implies, his skin tone is black. He comes in a box that looks just like the one the Plunderlings came in right down to even having optional ears you can slot into the sides. The only difference is it’s much bigger. The Plunderstrong stands at around 6.75″ making him basically twice the size of a Plunderling. And that’s just in height. His shoulders are probably as broad as a Plunderling is tall and he has a big, barrel chest. The big beefy arms extend down to his ankles and he has oversized feet to help him stand. If the goal for this figure was to add some size to your Plunderlings display then mission very much accomplished.

Big, but not massive.

The sculpt on Blackjak is pretty basic. The body is basically a blank. It’s molded in gray and then painted over to give it a nice, matte, finish. This does mean it can be prone to paint imperfections and mine has a scratch in the left bicep which is unfortunate, but I do like the approach. The base head is basically a neutral expression and he has black eyes like the Plunderlings and some teeth poking out of his mouth. There is a belt and it’s soft plastic that’s either glued or pegged in place since it doesn’t move a whole lot. It’s pretty well painted, though they included bits of his torn, black, shorts poking out from above the belt as part of the sculpt and some of the edges are unpainted. Below the belt, the crotch is painted black and the torn parts of the shorts on the top of the thighs are separate pieces that snap onto the top of the legs. The one on my figure’s right leg wasn’t seated all the way out of the box so I had to take it apart and check it out. If you have a similar issue, just heat the piece up with some hot water and then snap it back in place. I couldn’t get it on without heating it.

Trying to do the “big” devil horns, but he can’t quite get his hands together.

The only other painted details on the body are the painted toenails and fingernails as well as the earrings. There are some optional parts including two additional portraits: an angry expression and a yelling one. The yelling one is painted very well and I like the toon quality of the mouth shape on it. The other hands are gripping hands and the fingernails are done well on that one. He also has some clothing which includes a pirate hat and overcoat. Both are done in black plastic with gold-painted trim and the paint is done very well on both. The hat fits into place via a magnet, and after having an issue with the magnets flipped around in their second production run of Plunderlings, I am happy to say they’re back to the direction they were in for the Kickstarter. The coat is designed to just fit over the figure’s shoulders, the sleeves aren’t real sleeves. It looks good though and it’s certainly a unique fit. It does hinder the articulation a little bit, but since it’s soft it’s pretty easy to pose the figure however you wish and then slide the coat on.

You’re going to want to track down the boom crate to get the most of the canon accessory.

Blackjak’s main accessory is his big, freakin’, canon. This thing is designed to be held by the handles on the front and rear and basically held sideways. The texture of the sculpt and the paint detail on it are terrific. It’s also very light so the figure can hold it with ease, but it’s also made out of a very hard plastic so there’s no give to the handles at all. As a result, it’s easy to end up with some paint rub when snapping it into the gripping hands. There are also three, gold, hooks included in the box that can slot into the back of the jacket. With the Plunderlings, these were used as weapon holsters. For this particular Plunderstrong, they’re essentially useless because the canon is so big.

I love this plume effect, but man do I wish it worked better.
This canon basically needs to be propped against something to take advantage of the blast part.

Unfortunately, to get the most out of your canon you need to get the Boom Crate. As far as I know, this is a Kickstarter exclusive, but maybe that will change in the future. The Boom Crate includes a blast effect for the canon, four types of projectiles, and another attachment to make the canon look like it’s loaded. The loaded accessory is just clear acrylic with a hinged ball peg at the end. You peg it into the canon, then peg one of the projectiles to the hinged peg to create the illusion that it’s been loaded into the canon. The projectiles you have to choose from include a gray, stone, canon ball, a black bowling ball, a brown coconut, and a black, spiked, ball with gray spikes. These work great, but there is a problem when you get to the blast effect. This is done with clear plastic that’s red-orange at the base that expands into smoke. The projectile plugs into the smoke portion and the effect looks great. The problem is this piece is quite heavy and getting Blackjak to stand and hold it is pretty damn difficult. I’ve managed to get the figure to do it here and there, but the stance never lasts very long as eventually the figure falls over.

These extra hands let him palm bowling balls and Plunderling skulls.

The other challenge with the Boom Crate is that the gripping hands that come with Blackjak aren’t that great. You’re better off using the hands from another Kickstarter add-on: the muscle crate. That set includes two fist hands, two open “palming” hands, and two “tea-sipping” hands. The tea-sipping hands, which have the index and middle finger in a pinching pose with the pinky finger extended, actually seem to grip the canon better than the gripping hands. It at least definitely helps to use one for whichever hand is gripping the front handle. It might not help much in keeping the figure upright, but I’m glad to have it. The palming hands work well to hold the various projectiles. They even have magnets in them and if you have any of the second-run Plunderlings you can have your Plunderstrong palm some heads with those.

I love the Hatchlings. Such a good idea for the extra heads.

The other accessories I shelled out for were some more Hatchling crates. The Hatchlings are small, barely articulated bodies that basically are a fun way to store the extra heads and hands. Well, with the Plunderstrong the hands no longer work, but the heads still do. As a result, Blackjak comes with a set of Plunderling fists and each Hatchling set comes with another set of fists so you can complete both Hatchlings since you’ll always have two extra heads. As kind of another bonus, the Plunderling heads work with the canon effect parts so you can simulate a Plunderling being shot out of a canon. I definitely like that, and the Plunderlong I ordered is essentially made for this. The Plunderstrong head can probably work as well, though it’s boxier and doesn’t seem to move as freely. I also had a hard time getting one onto the ball hinge, but I bet if I dunked it in hot water first it would go on much easier.

Since the plug effect for the boom crate is the same as the head peg, you can do some fun swaps.

That’s a lot of stuff covered, but we still need to talk about the articulation. How well does this big guy move? Pretty well, though there are some issues and peculiarities to point out. The head is on a ball hinge which isn’t my favorite setup. It’s okay as you’ll get some upward movement on the hinge and obviously it rotates fine. There’s very little nuance posing though and it doesn’t look down. To get these guys to look down at the Plunderlings, you’ll need to use the ball hinge in the chest. It’s a bit weird, but it does work to provide some forward and back movement. Go too far though and the hinge is exposed. There’s also no rotation there.

That also means the heads can snap into the canon parts.

At the shoulders, we get ball hinges with butterfly joints. The arms raise out to the side past 90 degrees and the butterfly lets the figure move forward and back at the joint a little. It’s not a ton, but it’s probably enough to be worth having. Some might not like how disconnected the shoulders look from the body, but I like the range and the size of the arms works for me. Past that, we get a biceps swivel which is fine and single joints at the elbow that will give you a 90 degree bend, maybe a little better. The hands peg in and all feature a hinge. Gripping hands have vertical hinges and the rest have horizontal – good! At the waist is a simple twist. The hips connect via large ball pegs and you get a little swivel on that ball joint plus a full thigh swivel where the thighs meet the shorts. The knees are double-jointed and bend well past 90 degrees while the ankles feature hinges and ankle rockers.

I actually got the figure to stand unaided for a moment, but it basically lasted long enough for this picture.

In terms of joints, there’s a mix of really tight and some loose. The wrist hinges on the gripping hands were very tight, I’d go so far as to say stuck, on mine. Most of the hinge joints were pretty tight, but I didn’t need to use heat to free anything up except for one of the gripping hands. And even there, the peg is pretty short and thick so I wasn’t overly concerned about breaking anything. The left shoulder on my figure was also partially disconnected out of the box, but it was easy to pop back in. The only loose joints are the hips. The right hip was okay, while the left was way too loose. My figure had no chance of standing with the canon as the added weight forced it into splits. I popped the leg off and coated the ball joint in glue, let it dry, then popped it back on. Now it’s much better and I may do the same to the right hip as it could be tighter. Swapping the heads and hands is also a little tough, but nothing has broken or seems stressed so I’m not considering that a critique, just an observation.

A small horde awaits!

Overall, if you enjoyed the Plunderlings then I think you’ll enjoy the Plunderstrong. The approach is essentially the same, it’s just a brand new mold. I like the design of the Plunderstrong and I think it’s a really fun character to look at. Captain Blackjak was just my favorite of the bunch, but there are others out there that also look pretty great. That said, the figure is not without its problems. The joint tolerance could be, and should be, better and I think that canon needed a little bit of refinement. If it was going to be so hard to pose the figure with that blast effect in the canon, then maybe the Boom Crate should have included a tripod like attachment for the canon? Something that would allow it to be handheld or stationary would have been cool. And it probably should have included a flame effect for the fuse. Are those nitpicks? Maybe to some, but these also aren’t cheap as they ran for 60 bucks a piece.

It’s a happy family.

If you would like to add some Plunderstrongs to your collection, your only avenues right now are either on the secondary market or via Big Bad Toy Store. They essentially partnered up with Lone Coconut on these and they ordered a bunch to sell. It will cost you extra though as BBTS is looking to get 70 bucks for each. That’s pretty steep, but this is coming from a small shop. I like supporting the indies, so I’m going to recommend getting at least one Plunderstrong. My review is for Blackjak and I’m pretty happy with this one, but probably any of them are just as good. It comes down to what your preference is as far as the looks go. Here’s hoping it won’t be much longer until the Plunderlong arrives!

Like buying action figures from smaller producers? Check these out:

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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Boss Fight Studio Sam & Max

Sometimes a toy comes along that I just can’t ignore. There’s just something neat about it, or the aesthetic so on point, that I want to own it even if I have little or no attachment to the source material. Such is the case with the Boss Fight Studio release of Sam & Max. I…

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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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September 27, 2023

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Sabretooth

By Joe
No one loves Sabretooth? I love Sabretooth.

It’s Halloween 1992. You’re sitting in front of the television with a bowl of candy and your costume in pieces. Coming on is a prime time airing of Fox’s newest superhero cartoon: X-Men. You’ve seen the comics at the grocery store and in other places. You know Wolverine, you know there’s a guy who shoots lasers out of his eyes and that the bad guy can stick to your refrigerator. Outside of that though, there’s still a lot to be discovered. The theme song kicks in composed by Ron Wasserman which gets your blood pumping. A dazzling array of colorful costumes and bright lights play before your eyes – it’s too much to take in with just a single viewing, but as the characters line up for a colossal battle they slam together and the logo “X-Men” overtakes them. The screen is then filled by the snarling, angry, face of someone you don’t know. He’s massive! And scary! And he sends a police car hurtling towards the screen!

That character is Sabretooth and he has the honor of being the first character shown in an episode of X-Men. In less than a year, the X-Men will practically be household names. It will be the highest rated show on Saturday mornings and it will stay there through reruns all summer finally ceding the throne in the fall to a little show called Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. It’s kind of a big deal considering Fox was also airing Batman at the same time which was coasting off of Batman Returns and starred a character that had already been a household name for decades. As for Sabretooth, I had never given much thought to him being the first character we see in the show following the opening credits (which prominently displays all of the heroes and a bunch of the villains, including Sabretooth), but it was apparently by design. Sabretooth is the fourth release in Mondo’s line of sixth scale action figures based on X-Men, and on the inner flap of his box there’s a write-up for the character by the showrunner, Eric Lewald, and his wife and fellow writer Julia which explains why Sabretooth was chosen to essentially lead-off the series. And it’s because he’s big, intimidating, and scary. They wanted the viewer to understand why humanity would fear mutants. X-Men was not a show that was going to show its characters in stark black and white tones, and it was important to see how something like the Mutant Control Act could come about while also showing why it was fundamentally flawed in the episodes to come.

Sabretooth may be listed as figure 5 on the box, but he’s the fourth release.

It’s always fun to learn new details on decades old shows, but it’s also more fun to get a brand-spankin’ new action figure! As mentioned before, Sabretooth is figure number four in this line of action figures from Mondo, even though he was actually solicited fifth. Somehow, he leap-frogged over Gambit, but I’m not complaining. Spoiler alert, Sabretooth is probably the best year in the line and it’s a line that’s been trending in the right direction. Each release has been better than the last. While I subjectively prefer Magneto to Jubilee, I can’t argue that her figure is just a little bit better when it comes to function. Magneto had some ticks about him and his articulation is very limited due to his cape, but Jubilee remedied a lot of the little things. Sabretooth has an even cleaner sculpt and the quality control on the joints is superb. It’s not a perfect figure, but it is pretty damn close.

Poor Sabretooth…

Sabretooth comes in a massive box adorned with production artwork from the series and a new illustration by storyboard artist on the show, Dan Veesenmeyer. Sabretooth is the biggest figure in the line, so he gets the biggest box – makes sense. It has a front flap that opens up to reveal a window behind it, but Mondo packages their figures so well in plastic that the window isn’t very revealing for in-box collectors. It at least allows space for that write-up I mentioned which is both enlightening and pretty damn entertaining as it contains the line, “No one loves Sabretooth.” It also contains a reveal, of sorts, in that we the viewer are supposed to interpret that Sabretooth murders his son, Graydon Creed, at the end of the episode “Bloodlines.” The Friends of Humanity essentially leave their disgraced founder to suffer at the hands of Sabretooth and it’s hard to imagine the cold-hearted fiend taking it easy on the mutant racist just because they’re kin, but still a bit shocking to have his end confirmed.

He’s bigger than the others, but he could be bigger.

Out of the box, Sabretooth stands an impressive 12.5″ to the top of his head and around 13″ to the top of his mane. This makes him the tallest figure in the line, though he’s not much taller than Magneto. As was the case with past releases in this line, it’s likely that Sabretooth isn’t true sixth scale. The model sheet with height references from the show had him at 6.5′. You may think that’s too short and you would be correct as the model sheet has him with bent knees and hunched forward. I’m guessing that’s how he was supposed to be drawn more often than not, though in his early appearances we see him splayed out in a hospital bed which makes him look far bigger. Six and a half feet at sixth scale is exactly 13″, but this figure is 13″ when standing upright so it’s not exact. I personally get it as making this figure much bigger would make things a lot more difficult. Bigger equals more weight and that’s more of a burden on joints. It’s also added cost and this guy was already $240 as is. The figure can work at this size, and it’s actually more of a problem with Wolverine who came in much too tall. If he were the proper height the display would look better. As it stands, the only scale-related issue I have with Sabretooth is that he needed to be downsized not just in height, but all around, so his head size is small compared with the other figures in the line. Not egregiously so, but it noticeably and at this price point we have to get picky.

Who ya got? The egg-suckin’ piece of gutter trash or the runt?!

Issues of scale aside, the rest of the presentation on this figure is pretty damn fantastic. Once again, we’re dealing with a sculpt from Alex Brewer with the paint master being handled by Mark Bristow. This figure presents Sabretooth as he appeared in the show’s first season in which he made multiple appearances with most coming in the the show’s third and fourth episodes. This means he has the red-brown chest that continues all the way up to his cowl. Later appearances would have the red stop at his pecs. He also seemed to be drawn smaller in those later appearances, but we’re done dissecting his height. This edition of Sabretooth sports a costume design very similar to the Jim Lee redesign that was in the comics, but there are some subtle differences most notably being that the sleeves don’t feature any red on the back. Instead, they’re orange and the red begins at the gloves. Sabretooth’s costume always was a bit tricky to figure out as he looks almost nude, but his face is a different color implying it’s all a bodysuit. The episode “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape” would toss us a curveball though in having Sabretooth remove a glove revealing his forearm and hand to be the same color as his apparent sleeve implying he’s just plain naked. I think it was an animation error, but then there’s also a scene where Sabretooth basically transforms from a relatively normal looking person into the costume we see today so I have no idea what was going on there.

Sabretooth called the head of Talos an ashtray on the show which is kind of surprising that the censors allowed any reference to smoking to sneak in.

This version of Sabretooth is known less for the costume and more for just being a hulking monster. He is way bigger than he often was drawn in the comics and it’s almost all in his upper body. His shoulders and chest are just plain massive. His abs were also ridiculous with some shots in the cartoon giving him a 12-pack as his abs basically continued into his crotch. His design is over-the-top and I am here for it. This is how I picture Sabretooth in my head and basically every action figure I ever owned of the character have left me unimpressed because he just wasn’t big enough. For me, this figure is a long time coming as he looks like he stepped out of my VCR and into my room. While Mondo didn’t go as crazy on the abs as the show sometimes did, he does have an 8-pack and that feels appropriate. His shoulders and biceps are appropriately large as is the chest. His body tapers in towards his waist as it did in the show and his legs are long. The claws on his fingers are pronounced just enough and rather pointy too. We talk about shelf presence a lot in the action figure world, but this is a figure that has shelf presence to spare.

Protect yourself and your pet: buy a muzzle.

And a lot of that is due to the excellent paint job. The sculpts have been good in this line, but it’s the paint that really makes them next level. Anyone who turns their nose up at cel-shading on action figures has never held one of these figures in their hands. It’s impressive, and Mondo selected the exact right tones to shade this figure. Even better, is all of the black linework around every muscle and feature on this sculpt that really gives it that pop. And even with all of this paint, it’s applied in a very clean manner. You have to go hunting with this guy to find imperfections. Some of this has to be hand-painted so there will be some variations from figure to figure, but on my copy at least there’s little to no paint slop to be found. There’s just little spots here and there along the black lines where it could have lined up with the sculpt a little better, but it’s by and large pretty damn good. The only thing I would categorize as an eyesore on this figure are the elbows, which are unpainted. They have black linework on then, but the joint is bare plastic and it’s not a perfect match for the painted parts. It can be hidden some by bending the elbows. It’s also going to show up more under harsher lighting, and in my photos which I utilized a flash for most it’s more visible than it is on my shelf as I type this.

He sure does love his explosives!

Sabretooth comes with a pretty substantial spread of accessories, though he’s a character that also doesn’t demand a whole lot. For heads, we get two to choose from: snarling/yelling and an open-mouth smile. I think both work very well and suit the character and it is hard to choose between the two. I’ll probably go with the smirk more often than the snarl, but I do enjoy both. For hands, we get three sets: fists, C-grip, and what Mondo describes as dramatic. They’re basically open, clawing, hands and what I think many will choose to pose him with. The gripping hands work with a pair of accessories. One, is the head of Talos (or ashtray) from “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape.” It’s the head and the circuitry for the neck. Nothing articulates, but it’s painted very well and it’s a fun, episode-specific, inclusion. The other accessory he can grip is a handheld detonator and it goes with the explosives. This is from the episode “Cold Vengeance” where he and Wolverine battle in Alaska. Both aspects of the accessory are well-sculpted and well-painted and it’s another fun inclusion. I honestly can’t see myself ever displaying Sabretooth with the Talos head in hands, but I could with the explosives.

Does a mutant healing factor contribute to a healthy head of hair?

If you got the special timed edition of the figure from Mondo then you also got more stuff. For an extra 15 bucks, you get a third portrait of Sabretooth unmasked and sporting a smirk. This from the end of the episode “Bloodlines” referenced on the packaging flap. It looks great, but like the Fairy Tale Theater Jubilee head, it doesn’t match the rest of the figure as Sabretooth was out of costume for that scene. It’s still cool to get an unmasked head, but I’ll probably never use this and would have preferred a standard head with a new expression. Maybe unconscious? The timed edition also comes with the muzzle the X-Men put Sabretooth in when he was captured in “Beyond Good and Evil Part III.” You can basically slot it over either of the standard heads and then pop the head on to complete the effect and it looks pretty cool. It’s definitely a worthwhile inclusion. Lastly, we get a blaster and two trigger hands to hold it. The blaster is, once again, pulled from the episode “Weapon X, Lies, and Videotape” and it looks accurate to the show. This is an item I can see getting added to my display when I want to change things up because it looks pretty damn cool. The trigger hands also work well with the detonator, arguably better than gripping hands.

Sabretooth isn’t really a gun guy, but he pulls it off.

For the timed edition, I’d say that’s a pretty robust assortment of accessories. And if you wanted to save a bit of money and go the standard route, I don’t think you’re missing out on anything essential. Sabretooth is a brawler at heart, so really just the heads and hands are all he truly needs, but I’m always happy to have more. Where this line is typically not that impressive is the articulation. The characters really didn’t move all that well in the show so one could argue they don’t need to do much, but why be limited by the source material if you don’t have to be?

“Ya done nice, girly! And as a reward I’ll finish you off clean and fast!”

Sabretooth has a double-ball for the head that lets him look up and down a bit and rotate. There’s some nuance posing, and perhaps more important than the range, it’s easy to swap heads without scuffing anything. The shoulders are standard ball-hinges and he can get his arm up to about horizontal and rotate. There’s no biceps swivel, but he does have a swivel at the elbow which contains a single hinge that will bend about 90 degrees. The wrists are hinged ball-pegs so he can rotate and move the hand up and down or in and out depending on the direction of the hinge. And unlike Wolverine and Magneto, I had no issues getting the hands to rotate on the peg. In the diaphragm, there’s a big ball joint that lets the figure lean back a bit and forward a bit. It can rotate and tilt to the side as well. The waist is another ball joint, but it’s deep in there and the figure has one of those rubber diaper pieces so you won’t get much back and forth, but you will get rotation. The hips are big ball pegs that allow the legs to go out to the side past 45 degrees. He can kick forward as well, but not a full 90 with minimal range going back. The thighs do swivel, and the knees are double-jointed with swivels above and below the knee. The ankle hinges forward and back and have an ankle rocker. It’s the only joint that feels a tad stubborn, especially the right ankle, so the range isn’t quite what I’d like.

“Back off, dweeb!”

The articulation is basic, and the figure is quite heavy so there are limits to how it can pose. Aside from the ankle, nothing was stuck. The knees are a touch looser than I’d like and I’m sort of questioning if the double-joint makes sense here. Between the bending and the swiveling, the figure can sometimes want to kick out. I have had no issues getting him to stand, but I often don’t feel comfortable leaving him be in some poses. It does work better to have the figure in a crouch, which makes sense for the character, and I did leave him standing unsupported for days without falling. Mondo does include its usual stand and it’s actually slightly different. There’s more weight in the base so it probably works better than it typically does. And it’s actually usable with Sabretooth since he doesn’t have a cape or giant coat to get in the way. I’m not presently using it, but I did consider it this time around.

With each release, it gets harder to find space, but it’s a good problem to have.

Mondo is not trying to give collectors a super articulated line, just enough to create some distinct poses. What Mondo prioritizes is the aesthetic and it’s hard to imagine anyone making a better Sabretooth figure than what we have here. I love this figure. This is the Sabretooth I wanted when I was a kid. Maybe not at this size, but definitely these proportions. The sculpt is awesome, the paint incredible, and there’s plenty of stuff in the box. I am as pleased as I could be with this release. If Mondo were doing this line at 1:12 scale they wouldn’t be able to keep the stuff in stock. By doing sixth scale, it does shrink the market because this line needs a lot of space and it’s not cheap to collect, but it is so much more satisfying to behold than what some other companies have done with this property. If you’re in on this line and cherry-picking, this is a cherry to go after.

If this review has you wondering about the rest of the line, see below:

Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Jubilee

When one hears the phrase “mall babe” it implies a certain visual. Probably a short, young, girl with intentionally messy, short hair. There’s a certain confidence the phrase exudes so she has to have style. Maybe hot pink, bright blues, and certainly a long yellow coat with gloves to match! There has to be an…

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Mondo X-Men TAS 1/6 Scale Magneto

If you showed a random individual this blog and asked them what my favorite cartoon was as a kid I’m guessing they would go with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And they wouldn’t be wrong as that was my favorite for a time, but come 1992 I was starting to drift away from that show. Batman:…

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Mondo X-Men TAS Wolverine 1/6 Scale SDCC Exclusive Action Figure

When San Diego Comic Con was cancelled for 2021, many of the entities that would have sold exclusive merchandise at the event pivoted to web sales. And since the 2020 iteration of the famed event was also canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many seemed to expect the same for 2021, or the massive delays…

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1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Comics, Television, toys