Tag Archives: action figures

January 8, 2026

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Captain America vs Venom

By Joe
A very blue release.

We’re going to be doing a lot of 2025 catch-up here as Christmas always slows things down. Toy producers also like to push product for the holidays so I seem to always end up with a backlog at the end of the year. Especially when stores are doing generous sales and convincing me to buy product I had already passed on. Stuff like today’s subject, the Marvel Legends Gamerverse two-pack of Captain America and Venom.

We’ve already looked at one release in this series which was the excellent Wolverine and the not so excellent Silver Samurai. The draw for me with that set was the all new Wolverine that quite resembles his sprite from the Marvel vs Capcom series of games. With this release, we get a very familiar Venom and a not so familiar Cap. I’m a Venom fan so I’m always a little tempted whenever a new one comes around and this being Hasbro’s first blue Venom did catch my eye, but I was willing to pass. As for Cap, I’ve never been a Captain America fan. He was one of the lame heroes of my youth and I only remember one kid who actually liked the character. On the other hand, I do like blue and when you have a hero with a lot of blue that gets my attention and this Cap very much got my attention. Not to the tune of $60 though, or whatever the MSRP was when this thing landed at retail. Then Target had some sale and I had reward money when this thing was in-stock at my local store making my price a whopping $16. For $8 a figure, basically 2005 Legends pricing, you’re damn right I was willing to take a look at this one.

He’s not just a blue version of the figure on the left.

Let’s get Venom out of the way first since he very much resembles 2024’s Walmart exclusive retro-card Venom. At least, at first blush. The only parts this figure actually shares with that one (and other Venom figures) are the legs and hands. The torso and arms have actually been redone as this one goes with the old hinged-ball peg setup at the head. The musculature is slightly different, less vascular, and he has pin-less arms and no veins around the forearm. Like the animated Venom, the spider logo on the back has been squished to fit inside the butterfly joint which is fine while the logo on the front more comfortably fits inside the same joint. The shoulders are bigger which makes a big difference with the silhouette making this the best Venom body Hasbro has done. It’s just a shame they didn’t make the legs pin-less to match. The new torso does make this Venom slightly taller than the old one as he stands at about 7.125″ to the top of his “masked” head.

The spider logo could have used another coat.
It’s a neat portrait, but is it one we really need for a video game Venom?

What obviously stands out most though is the color. This Venom is a light blue which is fairly similar to the in-game sprite. Venom, for a long time, was always colored blue in the comics and shaded with black as comic artists often do for characters that wear all black so I’ve always liked this blue look for him. My ideal would be a darker blue that’s shaded like the art of Mark Bagley, but this is still neat to see in figure form. The default head is the Eddie head in mid-transformation which I think originated in a 3-pack. The symbiote section is new sculpt to better match the look of this version and the overall look is actually pretty impressive. The alternate head is a Venom with his green-drool covered tongue protruding. The severe underbite and shape of the eyes is very much evocative of the game art, though thinner and more elongated than the actual sprite. The only negative with the presentation is the little used white paint. The opacity of the spider logo is fine in the middle, but the legs are too thin and a lot of blue pokes through. The paint for the eyes is hardly pristine and the white paint on the hands suffers from the same opacity issues, though not as severe as the spider legs. We might as well get the accessories out of the way now too as he only comes with two clawing hands and two fists.

I think this Cap can work fine as a comic Cap if you don’t care about the scale mail.

Even though I’ve always been a Venom fan, to my surprise it was Captain America that drew me to this set. Something about this shade of blue hooked me and the way it plays off of the red and white. It’s a clean version of Captain America’s suit as there are no sculpted textures for scale mail. It conforms to the video game look, but it also conjures up memories of his cartoon appearances for me. What also got me though is the sculpt. I don’t have any other Captain America figures, the last one I bought was the series 8 Ultimate Captain America back in 2004, so I can’t say for sure how much of this figure is reuse and how much is new. There have been quite a few Caps recently, the Secret Wars one and the 20th anniversary to name just two, and I assume some of these parts come from there. The torso must be new for it to not be textured and the proportions for it and the arms are terrific. This is what I want Legends to look like. The chest is broad and the shoulders large. There’s enough thickness front to back so he doesn’t have that pancake look. He has classic heroic proportions, something the ever popular Vulcan body lacks.

The white on his shield could be better.

The paint and colors are mostly okay as well. I already said I love this blue and it’s largely colored plastic. There is a slight variation between the blue of the chest and the blue of the arms. In most lighting it’s barely noticeable, under brighter lights the arms are noticeably lighter which also includes the portion of the chest comprised by the butterfly joints. The paint on the face and head is pretty good as is the paint on the abdomen. The white star on the chest suffers some of the same issue as Venom with the opacity, but it’s not as severe an issue. The gloves and boots are molded in red and possess a nice, matte, finish. The only visual issue I have with the figure is that the wings on the sides of his head are not perfectly symmetrical. It’s minor, but also one of those things that once seen cannot be unseen.

Caps shield rush effect part works very well.

Cap does a little better than Venom in the accessory department. He has an alternate portrait with a yelling expression which is fine, though I’d have preferred something else. Maybe teeth gritting which I feel like shows up in the game more often or a smile as that would pair with his extra hands. By default, Cap has fists, but he can also switch to a thumbs up gesture. I want to say this is from his victory pose and it’s fine, but I don’t think we needed two. An open hand would have been nice to pair with his main accessory – his shield. What is Cap without his shield? This is a pretty standard one. I’ve seen some complaints that it’s too small and that may be so, but it doesn’t really bother me. It has the usual clip for the wrist that can toggle to a peg and plug into his back. Like the main figure, the opacity of the white is not the greatest and more in-line with what we saw on Venom, but the printing is at least clean. It also has an effect, a piece of translucent, blue, plastic that can clip over the shield. There are sculpted motion lines on the part for his shield rush attack and the center of it has less color than the edges. It actually looks really cool and is a perfect accessory for this set. It’s just a shame that Venom couldn’t get a game-specific accessory too.

Venom can pretty much hit some semblance of his stance in the game which is about all that’s required.

The articulation for Venom is basically the exact same as the prior Venom I already looked at with the exception of the hinged head. This lets him get into a stance resembling his default one in the game. The ball joint in the torso seems to have a little more range as well, but everything else is the same. As for Cap, he’s a little less articulated owing to an inferior torso setup. He has the ball hinge head and his butterfly joints work pretty well. The pin-less, double-jointed elbows and knees work as expected though his bulky arms give him less than 90 degrees at the elbow. The thing I don’t like is the torso though which has a perfect design to include a ball joint in the midsection. Instead, he just has an ab crunch with a waist swivel. If this guy had the same setup as Gamerverse Wolverine it would have taken him to the next level and would probably be as good as any Captain America figure ever needed to be, but instead it’s got an easy to improve upon flaw for whenever Hasbro wants to give us a Maximum Captain America and charge $50 for the privilege of owning it.

The “Gamerverse” is coming together.

As a $60 two-pack, this release is a bit of a hard sell. Do you really need a Venom in blue even if it is a minor improvement over the most recent release? Surely, if you prefer black this Venom body will see a re-release. Plus it still has that ab crunch which could be improved upon. The Cap is for those who don’t necessarily need or want the scale mail texture. The extra effect part for the shield is also nice, though very game-specific. If you don’t care about the video games it hails from, then you may not value it much. Now, if you are a big fan of the Capcom games then this set holds some added appeal. It’s a solid likeness found in the games and only Venom’s lack of a game-specific accessory hampers that. If you don’t have a past release of either character, it’s certainly more enticing, but still overpriced at $60. If you can get it for less then it quickly becomes a far better value. I got it down to a lowly $16, but it would have been worth it at far more. I would say $50 is the magic number and anything less is a good deal. I’m quite happy with it, even Venom, and I just love how they pop in my display. They’ve been my desk figures for weeks and they may remain there for a bit longer too. If this set appeals to you on a visual level then I think you’ll find plenty to enjoy.

Of course, no Gamerverse could be complete without these guys.

For more from Marvel Legends and the MvC games check these out:

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Walmart Exclusive Retro Card Venom

On Tuesday, I posted a review for the NECA TMNT Adventures Cryin’ Houn’ action figure, a figure that debuted during this year’s edition of Walmart Collector Con. Today, we’re looking at a true exclusive from that event. Cryin’ Houn’, and a lot of other figures released that day, were basically a first to market agreement…

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by Joe

Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Ken

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

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by Joe

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January 6, 2026

NECA TMNT 2012 The Shredder

By Joe
Every hero needs a villain.

Just about every iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has its own Shredder. He’s the big bad villain of the franchise despite having the dubious honor of being killed off in the very first issue of the comic book series. For the 2012 series, Shredder was back as the head of a crime syndicate and portrayed as a brutal, ruthless, threat to the good guys. Gone are the days of the Shredder surrounded by moronic henchmen entrusted with far too much responsibility. This Shredder is violent and enjoys inflicting harm upon his adversaries, both physical and psychological. There is no redeeming quality to him and he’s quite good at what he does. And if you’re going to have a figure line based on this version of the franchise, you have to do him justice.

This Shredder is not the screwball these other two are.

The Shredder is the sixth figure in NECA’s line based on the 2012 animated series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Despite that distinction, he’s the fifth release and I suspect the only reason why he’s numbered six is because it worked better for the mural that’s being displayed via the spine of the box art. This is a sculpt attributed to a trio of individuals/entities: Daniel Katcher, Richard Force, and Kushwara Studios. Nicole Falk is credited with tailoring the soft goods cape and Ciro Nieli handled the box art. Paint is credited to Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo.

That’s a lot worse than a rat scratch.

Shredder towers over the turtles in this line coming in at approximately 7.125″ to the top of the dome of his helmet. He’s a broad shouldered, but somewhat slender, Shredder perhaps having more in common with the Mirage portrayals of the character than appears at first blush. He’s still adorned with armor and lots of bladed features. The blades of his shoulders jut out from his body as opposed to vertically and his gauntlets are almost ludicrously large. The garment he wears beneath his armor is a dark magenta while the armored bits are done with a shiny silver. Those spikes are all rigid and sharp. He looks pretty on-model, though as one of those characters often obscured by shadows in the show it can make it a touch hard to determine just how on-model he is without pulling out numerous stills and production art. If anything, his arms and chest might be a little larger in figure form than it is in the show, but since it adds to his presence I’m not considering that a negative.

He can also get angry. And stabby.

The paint on Shredder is fairly rudimentary not calling for a lot of pizzazz, with one exception. Underneath the removable helmet is the burned visage of Oroku Saki. He’s pretty ugly looking and NECA did a good job of capturing that. He has an alternate portrait which portrays him as more angry and it’s every bit as good, though won’t really change the look of the figure once the helmet is put back on. The colors all match well whether they’re painted or not and there’s no obvious paint slop anywhere on my figure. Some of the finer details are less than perfect, but certainly acceptable for a mass-produced item. The cape is pretty plain as most NECA capes tend to be. It’s just a thin, black, material though there is a wire through it, just probably not where you want it to be. The wire is merely at the top of the cape and used to hook the cape under the pauldrons. It’s easy to take on and off, but it’s a shame NECA won’t do fully wired capes for posing.

They have no chance one-on-one with Shredder.

Aside from the alternate portrait, Shredder comes with three sets of hands: fists, gripping, and relaxed. For weapons, he has six blades to make use of. In the show, Shredder had retractable blades built into his gauntlets which were his weapons of choice. He has two long ones and one central blade with a diamond-shaped point. You get four of the long blades and two of the center blades which just plug into his gauntlets. You can fit all three into each hand at once, but it is a little busy looking and I don’t think he ever went into battle in such a manner. He also comes with a lone Kraang alien. The little guy looks the part and is well-sculpted as well as well-painted, but not articulated. One set of tentacles is shaped into a curve while the other set is more flat which makes it a challenge to do much with if it’s not being held. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing this guy, or variations on him, quite a bit if this line endures.

I don’t like the B Team’s chances here.

Shredder’s articulation is fairly basic and likely what someone familiar with NECA would expect. The head is on a double ball peg, though it’s limited a bit by the helmet. The arms feature joints at the shoulders, biceps, elbows, and wrists while the torso just has a waist joint. That waist joint is a ball joint, but because of the shape of his breastplate it can’t do much. Range rotating is extremely limited and he can’t crunch forward much and only tilt back a little bit. The bicep swivels are a little odd looking, like his shoulders are a touch too small, which may limit their range as well if you don’t like how they look. Hips are standard ball-joints with a thigh swivel and they work fine. Knees are double-jointed and the ankles hinge and rock. My figure does have some stuck and stubborn joints. The top elbow hinge on both arms doesn’t want to do much while the left ankle was also problematic. The gauntlets can rotate which is nice and the boots swivel too so you can keep the armor lined up with your posing.

Shredder is proof that the good guys don’t always win.

Shredder is going to be pretty limited when it comes to posing. Mine also seems to have a loose right ankle and he’s a challenge to stand sometimes. He also already took a shelf dive and his right pauldron broke off which is irksome. I had him in a pretty vanilla pose too. The torso is aggravating because NECA could have tweaked his design just a little bit to keep that breastplate from causing a problem, but opted to just plow forward with it the way it is. I always make it a point to mention that NECA prioritizes the aesthetics over articulation as I think that’s their right as action figure makers, but sometimes they go too far. There are very minor sacrifices they could be making to improve the experience, but they choose not to do so. I have probably over a hundred NECA figures at this point and I suppose some NECA fatigue is setting in. Rarely am I impressed with what I get because so often the figures just meet my expectations as opposed to exceeding them. I don’t think it’s a requirement that every figure need to blow me away or anything, but it would be nice to be pleasantly surprised once in awhile.

Thankfully, Shredder doesn’t need incredible articulation to have shelf presence.

Shredder is a B+ entry in the line. He looks like the character and is pretty menacing, he’s just not at all fun to mess around with. Some of that is the character design as there are lots of sharp things to avoid and the blades have a tendency to fall out. And then some of that is just on the engineering for a figure that can’t do a whole lot. Most will likely just have him stand there on their shelf and that will be that. And that’s what I plan to do with him. I have no plans on going too deep with this line, but I knew I wanted a Shredder to go with the turtles. This mostly gets the job done.

If you missed the rest of the 2012 NECA TMNT toy line coverage then check these out:

NECA TMNT 2012 Michelangelo

After a bit of a hiatus due to the Christmas holiday, we have reached the last of the four brothers from NECA Toys’ line of action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 2012 animated series that aired on Nickelodeon. And who better to save for last than the party dude himself: Michelangelo. Mikey…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT 2012 Raphael

We are onto the third member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its everyone’s favorite hot head. Raphael got softened for the 1987 cartoon series to make him sarcastic and a bit of a goof-off. He didn’t take anything too seriously and had a certain dry wit about him. It’s quite different from his…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT 2012 Donatello

We were able to get through some of the logistics of this line with Leonardo, so for this second review we can just get right to it. One of the best decisions the 2012 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made was bringing back veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen. He’s voiced countless characters over the…

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by Joe

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

January 1, 2026

The 2025 Action Figure Round-Up

By Joe
What greatness was delivered this year?

It’s the end of the year so that means it’s time for year-end awards and accolades. It’s easy content and who doesn’t enjoy reflecting on another year gone by? Unless, of course, that year was a bad one. I don’t think 2025 is going to go down in history as a particularly good year, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great toys released or announced. I don’t always do posts like this, but I felt like I did a lot of toy reviews this year so it felt warranted. It was also interesting because some staples, like NECA’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon line, didn’t put out a ton of figures. And yet I still managed to have reviews up almost weekly this year. I have a bunch coming in early 2026 as we play catch-up, but that’s probably true most years. It did feel like this year in particular had a heavy dose of releases at the end of the year and I think I know why – which I’ll get to momentarily. My rules for this list are pretty simple though: if it came out in 2025 and I got it then it’s eligible. Even if I haven’t technically posted the review yet. And since I’m based in the US, it’s all US release windows so if Asia was enjoying something at the end of 2024 that didn’t arrive at my house until 2025 then it’s fair game for me. Now, let’s get started with an atypical category:

The Storyline of the Year – Tariffs

Yes, those wonderful tariffs are being brought up again, but hopefully it’s the last I need to say about it until they’re gone. The “brilliant” strategy of the new administration in the US was to tax the hell out of imports because someone convinced the president that a trade deficit is akin to being robbed. It’s not. And even though tariffs are paid by those who are doing the importing, it’s a regressive tax that is passed onto the general public either in whole or in part. It varies from company to company, but it also created a bottleneck in shipping and some packages have been tossed or seized for “reasons.” I had one seized, but was fortunate the shipper re-sent without any additional charge to me, but it has meant I’m on week 6 for a package that still isn’t here as of this writing. I’ll tell that story when I get to the figure review. Anyway, tariffs have had a huge negative impact on a lot of industries this year and I’m not going to pretend that my hobby is the worst affected, but it still sucks and continues to suck as we head into 2026.

Reveal of the Year – Mondo X-Men ’97 Beast

He looks so good!

I don’t know why, but it feels like we’re always waiting on a toy company to deliver some version of Beast. Back in the early days of Toy Biz, Beast was one of the last characters featured in the cartoon series to make it to plastic (poor Jean had to wait even longer for a non Phoenix version) and current Marvel Legends collectors are waiting on him to finish up the X-Factor squad (they may technically be waiting on a properly costumed Angel too). With Mondo’s X-Men and X-Men ’97 line of sixth scale figures, we’re still waiting on Storm, Jean, Morph, and Beast, but in 2025 all but Morph were shown. Storm already went up for preorder too and I think Beast is expected next. Mondo showed him off in their end of year stream (they had previously announced and displayed him at a convention) and he looks fabulous. We’ve never had a proper animated Beast. The last one Hasbro did is good, but the portrait isn’t right for that version of the character. Animated Beast never had those whited-out eyes which I have always felt was inappropriate for the character as the pupils show the human within the beast. I’m a little afraid of how much a chunky boy like Beast is going to cost, but I can’t wait to add him to my collection in 2026!

Honorable Mentions: Mondo Squad Rocko’s Modern Life, Big Bad Workshop The Tick, Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Apocalypse

Worst Toy Line of the Year – Jakks Pacific The Simpsons

Jakks got to take over The Simpsons from Super7 which meant more releases at a much cheaper price. Their output has been fine. I have nits to pick with them as I do most things, but for the price it’s hard to complain. What lands Jakks on this list though is just how damn frustrating the line is to collect. My local stores never got anything past Wave 2 until very recently when they got Wave 4. I was able to snag a Barney off of Target’s website, but nothing else from his wave has shown up in store for me or online and it’s very annoying. I’ve basically “quiet quit” the line as I’m not paying scalper prices for them or blowing a ton of gas riding around hoping to find them because the on-line inventory tracking is so poor.

Honorable Mentions: None

Figure I wish Arrived in 2025 – S.H.Figuarts Gamerverse Cyclops

A weird thing happened in 2025. Two companies, Hasbro and Bandai, decided to unleash upon us a “Gamerverse” line of figures. Hasbro has been doing that for years, but mostly for the Spider-Man games on PlayStation. In 2025, both companies are dipping their toes into Marvel vs Capcom and, oddly enough, both are focusing on the Marvel side of that equation. For Hasbro, it’s not a surprise as they don’t have a license for anything Capcom, but Bandai has been doing Street Fighter figures for years. Maybe they’ll get to more from them, but thus far we’ve only seen Marvel and sneaking out in Asia just before the end of the year is the first figure in the line – Cyclops. There are some things about the figure I’d change based on what I’ve seen so far, but overall I think he looks like the best Cyke that’s ever been. I like the Legends Cyclops I have from the VHS styled line of X-Men figures, but that one came with almost nothing. The X-Men ’97 one comes with some effect parts, but it looks horrible. This one may be the last Cyclops I’ll ever need so I’m really eager to see how he looks and moves in person.

Honorable Mentions: S.H.Figuarts Across the Spider-Verse Scarlet Spider, Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3 Sagat

Debuting Toy Line of the Year – Storm Arena Street Fighter Alpha 3

Storm Collectibles has been releasing figures based on Capcom properties for years, but always in a weird scale and for a large sum of money. Perhaps feeling pressure from Jada Toys, Storm decided to launch a new line in 2025 based on designs from Street Fighter Alpha 3 and this time they were finally listening to fans. The Storm Arena line is a true 1:12 scale action figure line where each figure comes with alternate hands, portraits, a stand, and effect parts and for the low price of $26! I honestly didn’t see this one coming. Larger characters, like Sagat who is due any day now, will retail for more, but still at a hell of a price in today’s market. And the figures do not sacrifice anything as far as I can tell. The sculpts are terrific, the articulation is excellent, and they even retained that soft plastic torso Storm loves to use. They only managed to release two figures in 2025 and they’re basically the same figure with different heads – Ken and Ryu, and yet I was tempted to make them Line of the Year anyway. They are that good and I can’t wait to see how Sagat turned out. 2026 could really be the year this line takes off.

Honorable Mention: NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), Marvel Legends “Not Marvel vs Capcom” Gamerverse, InArt The Dark Knight Rises, Mondo The Real Ghostbusters

Most Disappointing Cancellation of the Year – Super7 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Vintage)

Super7 did not have a good 2025, but it did manage to finally make it’s long-planned pivot to action figures based on the 2003 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, though how long-planned that was we don’t know. When Super7 first announced they were doing figures based on that show it was supposed to be in conjunction with their line of vintage-inspired TMNT. The release pattern would go Vintage, 2003, Vintage, 2003, etc. Well, plans apparently changed as Super7 clarified things to say the vintage-inspired line is “on pause.” I don’t know about you, but anytime I’ve seen a toy line described as being on pause the phrase has been synonymous with cancelled. Other than Marvel Legends, which saw Hasbro pivot to a 1:18 scale line when oil prices were incredibly high, I can’t think of another line that came back. Maybe Super7 will buck the trend, but it’s disappointing because there are some Technodrome-sized holes in the collection headlined (for me) by Heavy Metal Raph. We know Super7 was running into issues with Playmates who did not like them recreating their figures, but this is a case where the company needs to take a stand and go to bat for its collectors. Paramount wanted them to do 2003 which is fine, but they should have negotiated at least one final wave to give their fans what they have been waiting for. They managed to do it for Rat King, surely they could have for the rest.

Dishonorable Mention: NECA Gargoyles

Toy Line of the Year – JoyToy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

This is a line I never saw coming. When JoyToy first showed off their 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I was very much intrigued, but thought they would mostly be a one-off in my collection. Then came Shredder, Bebop, Rocksteady, April, Krang, and on and on it went. JoyToy pumped out a ton in this line in 2025 and there’s still more on the way including a 1:18 scale Turtle Van! And it’s not just the volume of releases, but the quality. These figures have a ton of unique sculpt, accessories, and paint and the roster is basically complete even if the line came to a sudden end today. We got freakin’ Zork already – that’s insane! Trying to pick a favorite is almost a pointless exercise and it’s the line I’m basically most excited for when a new reveal is announced because I never know what to expect. If you dismissed this line because of the scale or because it’s a little bit of a chore to collect due to the restrictions then I suggest giving it another look. It’s really been phenomenal.

Honorable Mentions: Storm Arena, Mondo The Real Ghostbusters

Worst Company of 2025 – Super7

All of that stuff I said about Super7’s vintage-inspired Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line can basically be copied and pasted here, but that doesn’t really tell the whole story. Not only did Super7 bungle some of their lines, they also laid off a huge chunk of their workforce and closed their retail locations. I get it, things must not be going well there and tariffs certainly didn’t help, but they dumped some of the people responsible for what little success they’ve had in recent years which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. And they’re still just doing stupid stuff with their line. They are expected to deliver wave 2 of the 2003 TMNT line in the coming weeks, but wave 3 consists of Hun, April, and a Raph with a motorcycle – who asked for that?! And their prices continue to climb where now it seems like $65 is the new norm for them and the figures hardly live up to the term “Ultimate” anymore. They are in a price point all on their own that is grossly out of touch with the wider market. I have no idea how they survive 2026 at this point. I’m not rooting for them to fail, just expecting it.

Honorable Mention: None

Worst Figure I Reviewed in 2025: Super7 Ultimates! Ghost Papa Emeritus IV

I call him Mr. Frumpy.

Probably no surprise that my pick for worst company of the year is also responsible for the worst toy I reviewed in 2025. This Papa Emeritus isn’t terrible on its own. It’s the same body we’ve seen before with a few tweaks, but the blatant false advertising really stuck in my craw. The base figure is merely okay. It looks a little cheap especially considering the price, but is a decent likeness. With the soft goods though it just looks frumpy and awful. The solicitations they sent out for the figure with the soft goods look nothing like the final version. I don’t expect any release to precisely match a promotional shot, especially one using digital renders of a figure and not a prototype, but there’s a limit and Super7 betrayed its fanbase with this one. And yet, I still ordered Papa V Perpetua with the hope it will actually resemble the figure I purchased so clearly I’m part of the problem.

Action Figure of the Year – The Runners Up

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine – this figure is a blueprint for what I want to see from Marvel Legends going forward. The sculpt is unique and appropriate for this version of Wolverine, but mostly it’s the articulation. They finally went with the double-ball peg joint in the diaphragm and combined it with a ball joint at the waist. No more ugly ab crunch. The only thing that sucked about this release is you had to also pay for a crappy Silver Samurai since it was sold in a two-pack.

Mondo X-Men ’97 Nightcrawler – a sixth scale figure would have to be really special to take the top spot, but Nightcrawler came close. Maybe if I had been able to get the limited version, or if the economic conditions didn’t push the price to over $300 for the same, I’d have given it to Nightcrawler, but runner-up isn’t bad. This figure looks impressive, as all Mondo figures do, but it does something most don’t which is they made it fun to pose. Even their Spider-Man couldn’t manage that. Look for the full review in the coming weeks.

JoyToy Groundchuck – I said it was hard to select just one figure from JoyToy’s excellent line of TMNT figures, but if I had to pick one it would be Groundchuck. Not only does he look impressive, he comes with so many tremendously fun accessories. I love it when an action figure creates a dilemma for me when it comes to displaying it on my shelf and this one qualifies. I currently have him with three effect parts attached which is kind of ludicrous, but oh so much fun!

Action Figure of 2025 – InArt The Dark Knight Rises Batman

Queen Studios really came out of no where for me. I wasn’t asking for a Batman based on The Dark Knight Rises, but this figure looked so damn good that I couldn’t say “No.” This is, quite simply, one of the best 1:12 scale figures I’ve ever had the pleasure of handling. The sculpt is incredible, the likeness is spot-on, and the articulation is great. If you got the deluxe version then you also got a ton of accessories as well. In a way, it has the opposite problem for me when compared with the JoyToy Groundchuck in that he just looks so cool standing in a vanilla pose that I am not tempted to pose him with anything else. The shortcomings with this release are few – the alternate portraits are too similar, no wired cape, and it’s not sold in the US. It was still relatively easy to import for under $100, which while not cheap, actually feels worth it compared with other figures in that price range (it’s cheaper and likely better than what Mezco is prepping). While it’s not exactly fair to compare such a figure to one that costs $25, this one is so exceptional that it just had to be it. It’s so good that they got me to preorder their next Batman based on Arkham Origins even though that’s another figure I wasn’t asking for and they damn near got me with their Dark Knight Rises Catwoman. I expect it to be every bit as good as this one too. Keep your eyes on Queen Studios and their InArt line because they are making some terrific stuff.

If you want to read more about the best figures of 2025 then check these out:

INART The Dark Knight Rises Batman – Deluxe Version

Is this a review I really need to do? Probably not, but I’m doing it anyway. Queen Studios wasn’t a shop that was on my radar going into 2025. I’m guessing that’s true for a lot of folks and that’s probably why they had a media blitz when it came time to promote their brand…

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by Joe

Marvel Legends Gamerverse Wolverine vs Silver Samurai

Video game inspired action figures are quite the hot ticket right now. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but maybe some of that is owed to Jada Toys and how well received their line of Ultra Street Fighter 2 action figures have been received. Hasbro, for their part, has had a “Gamerverse” subline of…

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by Joe

JoyToy TMNT Groundchuck

Last week we had ourselves a look at Dirtbag from JoyToy’s line of 1:18 scale Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. As most probably expected, we’re back this week with a look at his buddy Groundchuck, the mutant bull that could have very easily been named Bull’s Eye, but maybe Playmates felt that was too…

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by Joe

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December 31, 2025

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Sentinel

By Joe
He’s here and he’s ready to rock!

When X-Men premiered on Halloween 1992 the big bad guy of the day wasn’t Magneto, it wasn’t Apocalypse, it was the Sentinels. The mutant-hunting robots were chosen because they represented the threat from humanity as it pertained to the protagonists of the show. Any show or comic book can put some scary dude in a cape and call him the bad guy, but X-Men wanted you to know that the biggest threat out there for the heroes was humanity itself which had allowed its fear and bigotry to manifest itself in the form of giant, killer, robots. It sounds kind of crazy, even silly, but it worked as those cold, detached, humanoid robots stalked a young girl and even killed one of the X-Men. And when it came time to bring the X-Men back for X-Men ’97 it was decided pretty early on that the Sentinels needed to be a focal point of that return season.

So…this guy is so big my background is basically useless. And I even cut off the top of his head in this comparison with a standard Marvel Legends release and a Mondo sixth scale one.

The Sentinels, being 30′ robots have never made for easy toys or action figures. Back in the old days, there was a Sentinel toy that was probably 14″ tall or so and was more of a play thing than something that looked cool or intimidating. The legs didn’t move, it had blast off hands and toes, and there was a retractable claw on one hand. It seemed almost lame even to me, but I still bought it when I had 20 bucks burning a hole in my pocket. In the Marvel Legends era, the Sentinel was the second build-a-figure and was the first I completed. It was more of a modern look, but still cool and I hung onto it for a long time until eventually selling it when I thought I was done with Marvel toy collecting (hah!). More recently, we’ve had a HasLab Sentinel, smaller arcade game Sentinels, and now this new made-to-order one. The HasLab model has been basically Hasbro’s crowd funding way to make more riskier products. It has always struck me as ridiculous that a company the size of Hasbro needs to resort to crowd-funding for anything, but the model has worked mostly well save for a failure here and there. The newer made-to-order model is simpler and something that strikes me as a better way to do things. They put a product up for a price and if you want it you order it, and if you don’t you don’t. It took about 14 months for fulfillment, but the Sentinel is here and hopefully it’s spectacular.

The battle damaged face looks great and is good for punching.

The Sentinel retailed for $175 direct from Hasbro with free shipping. It arrived in a brown box with a brown shipper box inside it. Within that is the actual product box. It contains a graphic on the front illustrating what’s inside with a larger picture on the right spine of a Sentinel in action. The other side has a group shot of the cast of X-Men ’97 and the rear has a cross-sell along with a shot of the figure in action with other X-Men ’97 action figures. There’s no window so if you got this as an in-box collector it might not do the trick for you, but if you just want a box that looks nice and fits in with the other X-Men ’97 boxes then this is fine. Inside it is another brown box and tray with the figure inside. It comes bagged and all of the accessories are bagged as well to protect it as much as possible and it seems good enough. In spite of that, my figure does have some dings on it. There’s light scuffing on the chest and on the side of the neck. I don’t think it has anything to do with how the product is shipped, I think this is just from assembly at the factory, but it’s a little disappointing.

The scene that has stayed with me since 1992.

Apart from those blemishes, the Sentinel cuts a nice figure and presents well. Those scuffs are only visible up close, and while they shouldn’t be there, they don’t really impact my enjoyment of the product. This dude is pretty damn big and even though I saw lots of images online including Hasbro’s display at San Diego Comic Con, it still didn’t prepare me for how big it is. I have the Sentinel at about 22″ in height which is also the advertised height. It has some heft, especially in the lower legs. Now, the plastic is pretty hard and I likened the feel to a Super Soaker when someone asked me my thoughts, but it presents reasonably well. It is a Legends release so there’s not a lot of paint. The darker purple near the collar is painted on as are the black lines. The face has painted details and there’s a little linework on the top of the head and some on the belt. It’s mostly clean, though there is a blemish on the black linework on the rear of my figure that I’ll probably touch up, but the figure isn’t overly shiny. And mostly it just looks like a cartoon Sentinel. It’s based on the updated look in X-Men ’97 which really isn’t all that different from the ’92 look so if you’re interested in it as a fan of the original series it should work. It also works as a classic, comic, Sentinel if that’s your preference compared with the more modern HasLab and should fit into a comic or animated display without issue. And at 22″ I think it has enough size. Are they usually presented as bigger in the show? Yeah, probably, and my guess is they’re more like 30′ tall, but they’re also pretty inconsistent (compare the first episode with the season finale and, in particular, Wolverine fighting them in the tunnels) in the show.

“This one’s for you, Morph!”

And the sucker is so big that I don’t think I could manage to squeeze it into a display at any other height. Nor do I think I could have found room for more than one, but Hasbro would probably like for people to double, or triple, dip on this release and the accessories aid with that. The Sentinel comes with an optional dome and face plate to display some battle damage. The dome is basically just missing a section so it exposes the “metal” underneath while the face plate is all cracked and broken. The sculpt and paint of the optional face plate looks terrific and I suspect it will give folks pause over how to display this thing. To further aid in the battle damage is an optional vent for the chest. This one has two wires poking out of it and it’s sculpted and painted well. Apart from that, there’s a pair of blast effects. They come in three pieces: a wide burst, a smaller burst to sit inside it, and the plume for the center. One centerpiece is longer than the other for a little variety and the parts are made of translucent, red, plastic with yellow painted on for a little pop. The smaller, inner, burst is actually translucent yellow so there’s a nice mix of color. They look good, but I do wish we got more of a beam effect too since that’s how their blasts were represented in the show. They can plug into the hands or the feet so if you have a means of suspending one of these in midair you could do a flying pose. The port on the hand can also accept the tentacle parts that came with the HasLab which is nice for those who have it, but why not toss one in with this set too? It’s already tooled so what could that possibly cost?

If only the VHS Cyclops came with a blast effect.
Morph may have died, but Beast didn’t make out too well either.
“Surrender, mutant!”

Even though this guy is much larger than your standard Legends release, it still moves like one. I don’t have that HasLab Sentinel, but I know one of the biggest issues people had with it were loose legs. To apparently address that issue, Hasbro put ratchets everywhere on this guy so nothing is loose. If you wiggle it a bit it will jiggle and the arms could move on you, but just don’t do that! The head and neck are separately articulated so there’s good range there. Again, I have some scuffing on the neck of mine, but it wasn’t caused by the articulation though I would still advise being a bit cautious. Shoulders, biceps, elbows, and wrists are all typical Legends articulation. What’s not are the fingers and thumb where each joint is a peg and hinge so you can individually pose each digit which is cool. Toy Biz loved articulating the fingers on the 1/12 figures back in the day and it was awful, but at this size it works fine. There’s a ball-joint at the waist and the crotch piece is a soft material so it can pivot in all directions without worry. Beyond that, we have the hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, boot swivel, and ankle hinge and rocker. Range is pretty fair everywhere. No, he can’t do splits, but he can do walking poses and kick forward, should you want him to. The double joints at the elbows and knees aren’t going to produce much better than a 90 degree bend, but they don’t really need to. They are pin-less, but there’s also exposed screws that are holding things together. There’s no toe hinge, but I’m okay with that as this is more stable. And even with the tight joints, standing him can be a little precarious. I like the proportions, but I kind of wish they made the feet a little oversized to help with that stability, but I also haven’t had this guy topple over either.

If you’re pressed for space, something like this might be the best way to pose this guy.

Is this Sentinel worth $175? Yeah, I think it is. It’s not going to blow you away with how it looks. The lack of paint means it’s not like that giant dragon Four Horsemen solicited last year. It also doesn’t cost the nearly $1,000 that thing did. It’s an oversized Marvel Legends figure with Marvel Legends quality and I think the price is fair. It gets a little dicey post release as Hasbro does have extra product. Since they don’t charge upfront for these made-to-order pieces, consumers are free to cancel and either through that or via extra stock for replacements and such there are some available on the Pulse website at the time of this writing. I don’t know if that will be true when this goes live. They are no longer $175 though and are up to $220. Either production ended up being more than anticipated or those wonderful tariffs jacked the cost up, but it’s now not the same deal it was last year. It could also be part of Hasbro’s plan to reward those who preorder and keep that order with a cheaper rate and upcharge the Johnny-come-latelies. I don’t know, but I do know that $220 feels like a lot more and I’d have serious reservations about that price. I’m glad I don’t have to think about it and locked my order in a year ago, but if you missed it and feel FOMO kicking in then I guess you have a decision to make. Hopefully you got some cash for Christmas or something to make it an easier call. I think the Sentinels are some of the biggest (obviously) and most important villains for the X-Men and I’m so happy to finally get this version of the character in plastic. The HasLab wasn’t for me, but this is. Now where the hell can I put this thing?

Do you need some X-Men ’97 or ’92 figures to battle your Sentinel? Check these out:

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Cable

Today we finish our look at wave 3 of X-Men ’97 Marvel Legends action figures and I think I saved the best for last. Cable was one of the non-members of the X-Men to play a pretty substantial role in the original animated series. He showed up in multiple episodes in both the first and…

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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

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Jubilee

The television event of 2024 for me was none other than X-Men ’97. I loved that show and I can’t wait for the second season to come around. It’s just a shame we may still be as much as a year away, but to somewhat tide us over until then we have this third wave…

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by Joe

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December 30, 2025

NECA TMNT 2012 Michelangelo

By Joe
If Michelangelo is here then you know what time it is!

After a bit of a hiatus due to the Christmas holiday, we have reached the last of the four brothers from NECA Toys’ line of action figures based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 2012 animated series that aired on Nickelodeon. And who better to save for last than the party dude himself: Michelangelo. Mikey has always been the more carefree, happy-go-lucky, turtle. He doesn’t take anything too seriously and just wants to have a good time. He does have a big heart though and the 2012 version of the character was perhaps the most childlike one we’ve seen yet. He is a teenager like his brothers, but he is the smallest of the four and kind of the baby of the bunch. Maybe there’s a bit of arrested development there, growing up in a sewer probably isn’t the best for emotional growth, but he can throw down when he has to and proved himself shockingly competent when stranded in Dimension X.

Michelangelo is the only one Raph has bragging rights over when it comes to height.

Michelangelo is another sculpt by May Thamtarana with paint by Geoff Trapp and Mike Puzzo. He’s number two in the series and with four turtles you can almost complete the mural on the side of the boxes which was done by Ciro Nieli. Michelangelo stands at 5.25″ making him the shortest of the four, as he should be. He has a smiling, almost cherubic, portrait by default which suits the character. Like his brothers, he also has a battle portrait with whited-out eyes and a yelling expression. As perhaps the most expressive of the turtles in the show, it’s a shame we only get the two heads. I’d love a pizza scarfing head, an excited yell, or something even more cartoonish. NECA likely plans on selling us more Michelangelo figures though so they don’t want to give it all up on the first go even if the box does say “ultimate.”

All of the turtles come with a slice, but Michelangelo is the only one who definitely needs one.

Michelangelo’s proportions and coloring looks pretty accurate to the show. He has thin arms and a pear shape to his body as it widens the further down you go. The plastron and belt have some nice distress effects sculpted and painted in while the pouches for his weapons are also present. Paint is mostly clean and NECA made sure to capture the freckles on Mikey’s cheeks. I do have one bit of paint slop near the left knee where it looks like some of the brown from the kneepad transferred to the leg. He’s very pleasing to look at overall and he might be my second favorite in the aesthetics department behind Donatello.

Mikey’s weapons got an upgrade in 2012.
Old reliable.
I feel like he needs a board to make proper use of these hands.

Michelangelo comes with a fairly substantial assortment of accessories. I already mentioned the second portrait, and for hands we have a set a gripping, pointing, hang loose, a relaxed left, and a C-grip right hand. The hang loose gesture is the same that came with Leo and it’s a much better fit here with Michelangelo. The C-grip hand continues to confound me to some degree as I’m not sure what accessory it’s intended to be used with. I guess the T-Phone, though you will have to heat the hand up first as it’s not quite wide enough to accommodate it. Which, yes, Mikey has a T-Phone as well as a slice of pizza and stink bomb, same as the other turtles. He also has his trusty nunchaku which are painted plastic handles joined by real chain link. The handles come apart where the chain meets them like the toon Michelangelo’s nunchaku, only here we’re not swapping to a spinning effect. Instead, Mikey comes with the longer chain with bladed weapon at the other end. In the show, Mikey’s ‘chuks could basically extend somehow and had a pop-out blade to make them just a little more formidable.

Aww, Icecream Kitty!

The last accessory is probably everyone’s favorite: Icecream Kitty. The mutated cat that lives in the freezer is included and she’s pretty well done. The figure doesn’t move, but it doesn’t really have to. It’s a nice spread of stuff, but with Mikey it feels like more could have been included. Some soft goods, pizza-stained, briefs would have been pretty funny. Some spinning effects would have also been much appreciated. I love the real chain look, but they don’t display well since gravity is always going to do its own thing. Like the other turtles, Mikey’s gripping hands are all really stiff so you may want to heat them up in order to get him to hold anything. With the handles of his weapons coming apart at the chain, they are easier to slip into his hands than some others. His second head also would not go on for me without heat, but your mileage may vary there.

Since we’ve looked at all of the turtles now feels like a good time to bust out the Playmates originals.

Michelangelo’s articulation is the same as the others, but with him the range is a little less. His upper body is so much smaller that getting much range out of the shoulders can be a challenge. The right shoulder on mine is a bit stubborn as well at the hinge. It’s not stuck, but it also doesn’t appear to enjoy being articulated. The hips seem more restrictive as well. The rest are fine and nothing required heat in order to function. He’s going to get into some basic poses, but likely won’t impress in that department.

Ninjas on the prowl.

Michelangelo is about as good as the rest of his brothers. In my book, that makes him pretty solid. This is a line that does a good job of capturing the aesthetics of the show in a very generic way. The characters are unmistakable for what they are, but the available portraits and articulation are limited enough that you likely won’t be able to recreate your favorite scene. That’s pretty par for the course with NECA though which is very much an aesthetics forward approach with articulation and accessory count secondary. Aside from the hands, there is no reuse between the turtles so this isn’t as cheap a line to produce as some which is also probably why a lot of accessories are repeated. NECA was able to keep the MSRP at $38, which while not exactly cheap, is also not horrendously overpriced. These are a much better likeness at a far friendlier price than what Super7 did with its 2003 line. All that is to say if you liked the other 2012 offerings from NECA then you’ll like Michelangelo. And if you bought the other brothers you’re probably not skipping this one anyway. They are the best looking figures based on the show thus far and likely will remain that way for a long time to come. We may be done with the turtles, but we’re not done with wave one just yet as we have one final figure to look at: the Shredder!

If you missed the other reviews of NECA’s 2012 turtles then look no further:

NECA TMNT 2012 Raphael

We are onto the third member of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and its everyone’s favorite hot head. Raphael got softened for the 1987 cartoon series to make him sarcastic and a bit of a goof-off. He didn’t take anything too seriously and had a certain dry wit about him. It’s quite different from his…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT 2012 Donatello

We were able to get through some of the logistics of this line with Leonardo, so for this second review we can just get right to it. One of the best decisions the 2012 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made was bringing back veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen. He’s voiced countless characters over the…

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by Joe

NECA TMNT 2012 Leonardo

We’re going to start this one off with a question: When you order directly from a producer, do you expect to be first in line for product? NECA’s recent launch of its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figure line based on the 2012 Nickelodeon series raised this question. On September 16, NECA launched the line…

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by Joe

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December 29, 2025

The End of an Era – There Will be No More Playmates TMNT

By Joe

Before 2025 left us, it had one big piece of news to drop when it comes to action figures: Playmates Toys will no longer hold the master toy license for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you’re into the action figure collecting hobby or have ever been a fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles then you’re likely aware of how big this is. Just in case though, without Playmates there would be no TMNT as we know it today. In the 1980s, the comic was a surprise hit and it attracted the attention of Marty Freedman and his Surge Licensing brand. At the time, there wasn’t much to Surge, but TMNT co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird decided to let Freedman sell the property as a potential toy franchise. The only problem was no one was biting.

Enter Playmates Toys which, at the time, was known mostly for dolls and such. The action figure market had been burning pretty hot in the 1980s and basically every toy maker wanted to find a way to penetrate it. There was definitely an element of oversaturation come the middle part of the decade. Kenner’s Star Wars line had basically created the modern action figure, but that line had slowed considerably following the completion of Lucas’s original trilogy with 1983’s The Return of the Jedi. Mattel had made huge in-roads with Masters of the Universe, and it paired with an animated series had basically created the modern blueprint for how to market toys to boys. Playmates was the only company interested in turtles and their involvement was contingent upon an animated series being created to accompany the line. The existing comic book just wasn’t going to cut it because of its limited reach, but also because it was not a book intended for kids. Playmates provided most of the financing for the original mini series that launched the TMNT franchise which debuted in late 1987. The first wave of figures followed in the summer of 1988 and the rest is history.

The source for the news that Playmates will not be continuing with TMNT.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has never been as popular as it was around 1988-1991. Still, it’s also never really gone away and alongside the franchise this whole time has been Playmates. Peter Laird stuck with them when it came time to reboot the franchise in 2003 and Viacom stuck with the company after acquiring it in 2009. That meant toys for a new film franchise, a new animated series, and then the successors to those. In 2025, Skydance stepped in and bought Paramount, which is the parent company of Viacom. With the master toy license apparently expiring at the end of 2026, Skydance has decided not to continue with Playmates for whatever comes next for TMNT ending a partnership that lasted nearly 40 years and is responsible for what the franchise is today.

As an adult collector, I won’t pretend like the mere fact that Playmates will no longer be making toys based on TMNT is a thing that upsets me. I long ago outgrew what Playmates was doing who remained committed to creating affordable toys for children even as the demographics of the action figure consumer skewed older and older over the years. Sure, they made some attempts at more collector focused toys and their reissues of vintage-era toys over the years likely hold more appeal for adults than kids, but Playmates wasn’t out here truly trying to compete with other companies producing adult collectibles. For that, we’ve had NECA, Bandai, and to a lesser extent, Super7. For years, the master license agreement Playmates held prevented other companies from making collector-focused toys based on TMNT, but that went away in the 2010s. Collectors may have still fumed at Playmates at times since they did have a hand in ending Super7’s line of vintage recreations, but I never personally blamed them for protecting their own designs. If Super7 wanted to recreate those old toys in 1:10 scale then they needed to get the legality of that all cleared up on day one and not figure it out as they went along.

This news is undoubtedly terrible for Playmates and those who work for the company. In the notice to investors announcing the decision, Playmates included the percentage of revenue TMNT had for the company over the past several years and it’s pretty staggering. I don’t know how they replace that. This year, Playmates has tried at bringing back Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but I have no idea how well it’s performing (based on the toy aisles around me, not well). I know they had Godzilla and Voltron somewhat recently, but neither seemed to have made a big splash. Where they go from here is anyone’s guess and I hope this doesn’t put an end to them.

With the agreement with Playmates coming to an end, does that also mean NECA’s days are numbered?

From a collector standpoint, what this means for the other companies holds great interest to me. It is not uncommon for other licensing agreements to be tied to the master license. In other words, if the master license expires at the end of 2026 for Playmates then it’s possible the same is true NECA, McFarlane, Super7, and everyone else. TMNT has become the property that has the most cooks in the kitchen these days. It’s almost comical how many companies have made TMNT figures of late. The licenses for overseas production (like JoyToy) may not be impacted at all nor may a license for an odd scale like Mondo’s who is embarking on a new line of sixth scale turtles in 2026. Or maybe they are? We don’t know, and it likely depends on what comes next.

Typically, if a company is not renewing the master license it’s because another company came in and outbid them. So far, we don’t know that to be true as no one has come forward with such an announcement. This is curious as one would expect that whoever did land TMNT would be pretty excited about it and would want to make such information known to its own investors. With Toy Fair a mere two months away, it’s possible such news is being saved for the trade show, but in today’s world that rarely seems to happen. It’s possible this news that Playmates will not hold the license after 2026 was designed to drum-up bidding for it. If Playmates apparently can’t afford it any longer it begs the question who can? Most immediately assume Hasbro could be in play. As one of the biggest toy producers in the world they’re always going to be linked to any major property that comes loose. Mattel could be in play, but that company just laid out money for the DC license – can they take on TMNT too? McFarlane, who previously held the DC license and will be losing it this coming year, just started dabbling in TMNT in 2025 – maybe that relationship has worked well? Could they possibly afford it?

Whoever does get the license will likely want more control over the property like Hasbro does with its Disney properties and like Mattel will exercise with DC. This could very well be the end for NECA, Super7, and the rest as far as TMNT is concerned. Unless one of them can manage to afford the master license or if Skydance surprises everyone and elects not to pursue a traditional master license. It’s possible that with Mutant Mayhem 2 on the way in 2027 that Skydance just wants to license that brand out to someone to make toys geared towards children. Maybe they end the general license and instead put into actual agreements certain eras of the franchise. NECA gets ’87 and 2012, Super7 gets 2003, McFarlane keeps IDW, etc. I doubt it, but until we hear otherwise I suppose it’s possible.

And why do I doubt it? Because companies like Skydance are in this to make money. Playmates likely paid more money for the master license than any of these companies and it wouldn’t surprise me if their sales are still more profitable than the collector market. As new owners, Skydance holds no allegiance to these old agreements. In corporate acquisitions, it’s not at all uncommon to see the new owner end past agreements and forge ahead with its own. They like to be able to tell their shareholders that they’re responsible for whatever revenue they make and not attribute it to the old regime. It’s stupid, but that’s how these things often go. And eliminating these deals and obligations can also lead to something else: a potential sale of TMNT.

It’s probably not a good thing when your new owner doesn’t view you as a key part of the company’s future.

When Skydance acquired Paramount this summer, new chairman George Cheaks circulated a memo in which he named the key franchises for Paramount as SpongeBob Squarepants, PAW Patrol, RuPaul’s Drag Race, South Park, Ms. Pat, and The Daily Show. Notably absent was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and this memo was often brought up in news reports about the cancellation of the Paramount Plus series Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It begs the question that if Skydance doesn’t view TMNT as a key part of its present and future does that mean they want out of the turtle business? It’s certainly possible and if the franchise isn’t tied down by any other external agreements that might actually make it more attractive to potential buyers. The sequel to Mutant Mayhem is due to arrive in the fall of 2027 and how Skydance handles that could reveal a lot. If a delay is announced early on in 2026 that could be a bad sign. It feels like anything could be on the table there as Warner Bros. has recently shown the world these massive corporations do not care one bit about cancelling a movie for tax write-off purposes.

The only certainty right now is that Playmates will stop producing toys for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at some point in 2026. Where they cut things off remains to be seen. If they have more stuff planned for the current iteration of the franchise do they continue with it or just shut it all down? Do they just go all out with rereleases in 2026 as those are quicker to produce (assuming they still have the molds) and probably sell just as well as the new stuff? It seems like if they’re ever going to cash-in on the likes of Scratch and Hot Spot now would be the time do it. As someone who fell in love with TMNT back in the 80s when Playmates came onboard I’m definitely sad to see this era come to an end for no reason other than it’s just something that’s always been. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles no longer being associated with Playmates would be like Hasbro dropping Transformers or Mattel selling off Masters of the Universe. For me, this will be the biggest shake-up in toys since Marvel went to Hasbro ending the Toy Biz era. My hope for 2026 is that these other companies don’t take anything for granted. If they’ve been holding back on anything, now is the time to do it because tomorrow is promised to no one.

If you want to reflect on the Playmates output for TMNT then maybe these will interest you:

Rad Plastic

I think it was during the summer of 2020 while spending one of the many days of that year inside and isolated that I stumbled upon a Twitter post about an upcoming book titled Rad Plastic. I believe the tweet was from the account The Toys That Made Us, which is (was?) a Netflix series…

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by Joe

Playmates TMNT Original Sketch Turtles

Last week we took a Turtle Tuesday off which feels like a rarity for this blog. And that’s because there seems to be new stuff featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles branding coming out all of the time. And it’s only going to become more plentiful as the franchise celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.…

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by Joe

Playmates TMNT The Last Ronin PX Previews Exclusive (Chase)

A few years ago, Mattel launched a new subline of action figures based on their most famous IP: Masters of the Universe. The subline was titled Origins and it basically took the vintage toys of the 80s and updated them with more modern articulation while still preserving that vintage aesthetic. And ever since then, collectors…

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by Joe

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December 27, 2025

Marvel Legends Secret Wars Iceman

By Joe
Hailing from the pages of Marvel Comics it’s Iceman with his trusty…face…shield?

As a kid in the 90s, there was a social pressure to not choose the obvious when discussing favorite parts of a fandom. It’s basically a method of gatekeeping, a really silly, annoying, habit that’s not exclusive to children. If you enter into a certain band’s fandom there are some who will claim you’re a fake fan if your favorite song is the most popular one. Likewise, if you claim to be a fan of X-Men and say your favorite character is Wolverine there would be kids who would assume you’re a phony. You’re just trying to fit-in and so you picked the most popular superhero on the team as your favorite. No real fan says Wolverine is their favorite. And yet his books are the most read, his action figures sell the best, and it’s plainly obvious the character is popular for a reason.

Iceman (who is not going to be fun to photograph) with the Vulcan-body Cyclops and the Amazing Web-Man who I think he shares a lot of his sculpt with.

Nevertheless, I succumbed to such pressures as a kid. Wolverine probably was my favorite member of the X-Men, but if you asked me back then who my favorite character was I’d tell you it was Iceman. And it wasn’t as if I was lying as I really did love the character of Iceman. He was my introduction to X-Men without me really knowing it via the cartoon series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. There he was teamed up with Spider-Man and the made-for-TV character Firestar. Played by Frank Welker, Iceman had a really neat transformation sequence into his icy form that stuck with me well beyond that show’s expiration date. It was the only thing I really remembered from the show and for a time I wasn’t sure if it was even real or if my brain made it up as TV shows back then had a habit of just disappearing to make way for something else. Iceman didn’t get to be a part of future televised X teams, but you bet your ass I was pumped when he showed up for an episode of X-Men. I can remember the episode title flashing on the screen and knowing it had to be referring to Iceman and the hair on my arms stood up. It was awesome!

The new Iceman with the last ice men I purchased. Kind of crazy this one on the right is still the only Bobby Drake we’ve ever received.

Toy Biz did manage to get Iceman into its X-Men line of figures pretty quickly. It was one I sought, but he proved hard to get. I never did get the original release which had a color changing feature, but I was able to finally score it on a refresh. By then the color change gimmick was gone and replaced by a feature where you put him on his ice sled, filled a cut-out with water, and then stuck him in the freezer. After a little while, that water encased the figure’s feet in a block of ice for you to remove and I guess just slide across a surface. Cool? I didn’t really care as I hated action features so any gimmick that didn’t intrude upon the sculpt was fine by me. A second edition Iceman would eventually follow, modeled somewhat on his Age of Apocalypse look, but I never did find that one. When Marvel Legends became a thing, Iceman managed to see release in the eighth wave. He was pretty mediocre even by the standards of the day being too slight and formless, but he had a neat Sentinel hand base frozen in ice. Toy Biz would do better with the sister line, X-Men Classics, and the Iceman released there. That one was on a standard buck, and while not perfect even back then, was a major improvement. There were also two chase versions one modeled after the character’s appearance in Ultimate X-Men and the other a de-iced Bobby Drake. That Bobby version instantly became my most wanted and I managed to track down two of them. Worry not, I didn’t scalp either and instead traded one for a chase Moon Knight.

I understand why Hasbro would go transparent with Iceman, but I wish we got a figure that looked like the comic art.

That X-Men Classics Iceman is the most recent Iceman purchase I’ve made. Until now, obviously. There was a three-pack released a couple of years ago based on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I wanted to like that set and probably could have settled if the Firestar or Spider-Man was mediocre, but it was my beloved Iceman who was left out in the cold. The figure was hideous and about the only good thing was the portrait. I just couldn’t do it, even when it hit clearance. Hasbro has come back though with a release of the character for its Secret Wars line. This series is a throwback, an homage, to what was essentially the very first proper action figure line for Marvel. Back then, Iceman received a release, but he wasn’t sold in the US. This new figure is like a long overdue makeup. It also reminded me of the very first Toy Biz one and that was enough to get me to throw down my $28 even if I had some reservations about what I was seeing in those solicitations.

Hasbro elected to give this Iceman a snowball. A nod to his original appearance or just an easy, cheap, accessory?

Iceman stands at around 6.25″ to the top of his head. He is essentially a blank body cast in transparent plastic. The base appears to be the same as some older Spider-Man figures namely The Amazing Web-Man and Cyborg Spider-Man, minus the cybernetic arm. In other words, this is an old mold though it has been updated with pin-less joints. Considering that the figure is transparent, that’s both a blessing and a curse. These pin-less limbs require a different composite of plastic be utilized for the elbows and knees, and as we saw with the Crystar figure last year, the result is the plastic comes out cloudy. With Iceman, it means his elbows and knees have a milky color to them. Had Hasbro elected to add an overspray to the rest of the figure this effect may have been minimized, but they left him almost purely transparent like that classic Toy Biz release. There is a very subtle frosting applied to the chest, but that’s about it. That does mean if you like seeing the inner workings of an action figure Iceman is showing you the goods. He’s got nothing to hide. Even the soft plastic belt is transparent. The only paint is reserved for the X logo and the details on the face – basically eyes and teeth. It’s not a bad look and it certainly makes sense for a man of ice to look this way, but I do wish Hasbro added a little blue tint to the plastic just to dress him up a bit.

My attempt at a throwing pose. Too bad he doesn’t have a throwing snowball accessory.

The approach to the presentation is fine, even if it’s not what I’d do personally (I’d want him painted like he is in the comics, basically white or a very light blue with some shading and squared-off anatomy), but what I can say is poor are the overall proportions. This just isn’t a good looking body. The shoulders sit so low that it looks ridiculous and you get these gaps between the traps and the top of the shoulders. What human being, let alone superhero, has a body like this? The shoulders are also undersized taking away from the heroic look the character should have and the width of the body is comically small. From a straight-on perspective, the chest looks okay. There appears to be a little frosting to the plastic to create the illusion of a cubed-off look to the pecs, but it kind of makes him look like he has moobs instead. Turn the figure to view from the side, and the width of the chest is preposterously thin. There’s no front-to-back bulk to this guy. It’s like a person with an average build drew muscles onto their body. Iceman isn’t supposed to be a behemoth, but he should have far more bulk than this. This is a mold that should be chucked in the trash.

I’m not sure about this thing.

For accessories, we get a mostly typical mix with some new stuff thrown in. Iceman has two portraits: smile and angry. Both are fine, but I wish we had a neutral one too. For hands, he has a set of fists and a set of relaxed hands and he also has a snowball that the relaxed hands can handle. For power effects, we get a small, icy, platform that I wouldn’t consider a proper ice sled. It looks fine, but it’s just way too small in both length and width, but at least there’s some white paint on it to give it a frosted look. He also has two power effects that clip onto the wrist. I like the idea here, but these effects suck. They appear to be designed to clip onto the wrist so that the relaxed hands rest on them. The problem is, they end up pointing straight down so angling them to make it look like he’s creating an ice sled looks pretty bad. They also look bad as just a blasting effect if you want him to shoot at bad guys. Clipping them on backwards actually presents a better angle, but also looks stupid. They also end with a flat surface like they should be contacting the shelf or table you end up putting him on. I think they would have done better if they made the hands part of the sculpt or if they designed them to work with flat palms that get inserted into the effect. This feels half-assed and like a first try that no one decided to spend just a little more time on. If the ice sled effect were wider maybe it could have been fudged more easily, but maybe that would have broke the budget. There’s also an included shield with a lenticular image of Iceman’s portrait on it that shifts to Bobby. This thing is an homage to the old toy line and every figure comes with one. It has a clip and a peg on the back of it so you can affix it to the figure’s forearm or peg it into its back. I can’t imagine anyone would. It’s cheap and kind of lame – into a drawer it goes!

From the front, I think I’m less sure.

The articulation for Iceman is pretty basic, and also pretty frustrating. This mold is the type of figure that seems to have most of the joints one would want, but actually getting the figure into the poses you want is harder than it looks. The head is on a ball hinge that gets no tilt so it kind of sucks. There are butterfly joints at the shoulder, but they mostly provide range going back and not forward. There are bicep swivels, double elbows, wrist hinges and swivels, ab crunch, waist twist, ball-socket hips, thigh cuts, double knees, boot cuts, and ankle hinges and rockers. Range is acceptable at all of the major spots while the ab crunch is certainly antiquated. The boot cut is pretty worthless because it breaks up the shape of the leg when utilizing it. The waist twist is the same, but at least the belt is floating to kind of hide it, granted we’re talking transparent parts here. The transparent plastic does seem to result in tighter than usual knees and elbows, but I could get them to work without heating the figure up. It’s not a terrible action figure from an articulation standpoint, but we can definitely do better, Hasbro.

Do you want to build a snow man? If so, no smoking. Disney doesn’t like it.

If you couldn’t tell by now, I’m not in love with this figure. I even regret buying it to a point because there’s just no posing away some of the issues I have with the sculpt. Those shoulders always look goofy and the body is just way too slight. The included effect parts are a nice thought, but how good is that when they don’t really accomplish what they intend to? The old X-Men Classics ice sled is better than this and that thing was a flat, blue, plastic and kind of lame. At least it worked though. I wasn’t expecting to do anything with the silly snowball accessory, but I think that’s how I’ll end up displaying him because I just can’t look past those blast effects. I waited 20 years for a new Iceman figure, and I’ll be waiting longer for an actual good one. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll show up in X-Men ’97 giving Hasbro an excuse to fix this thing. As one of the first openly gay X-Men, I could see him fitting into the spirit of that show so it’s not impossible, though does Disney have the courage to go there? That I have serious doubts on. This is what we have though and for some collectors out there it might be good enough, but for me it’s not.

If you liked this look at Marvel’s Iceman then maybe you’ll enjoy some of these:

Marvel Legends Marvel’s Crystar

Marvel Legends are still sold primarily at major retailers. This includes the likes of Target, Walmart, and even Best Buy which has been adding more toys to its portfolio over the years. And since they’re made by Hasbro, a company that has been selling toys to kids for generations, they still mostly operate on the…

by Joe

Jada Toys Frosty the Snowman

There are a number of Christmas specials out there that are basically known by all and I’ve written about most of them here. Some have been annual traditions especially when we had more of a monoculture in the US, but the slow death of cable television has made those annual traditions fade away. One holiday…

by Joe

Marvel Legends X-Men ’97 Cable

Today we finish our look at wave 3 of X-Men ’97 Marvel Legends action figures and I think I saved the best for last. Cable was one of the non-members of the X-Men to play a pretty substantial role in the original animated series. He showed up in multiple episodes in both the first and…

by Joe

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December 19, 2025

Star Wars – The Black Series Astromech Droid and Stormtrooper Holiday Edition

By Joe
Let’s go with an under the tree setting today.

I was expecting 2025 to bring more Christmas toy reviews than it has, but the powers that be did not cooperate. The next wave of Naughty & Nice product won’t be here in time so if you want to know what I think of Krampus as a centaur then tune in next year. I preordered the winter/Christmas themed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Playmates back in October, but Target keeps pushing the date out and now they aren’t expected before Christmas so I cancelled those. And perhaps the most disappointing was Four Horsemen decided not to deliver The Ghost of Christmas Present this year and instead “surprised” everyone with a figure based on The Mouse King from The Nutcracker which I could not care less about. That means we have arrived at our third and final Christmas toy review of the year and it’s Star Wars.

Apparently, bad guys make for good Christmas figures. Who knew?

Hasbro has made a habit of putting out holiday themed Star Wars figures for the past few years. Typically they do Halloween and Christmas, but they’re adding Valentine’s Day for 2026 (though it’s actually shipping now making it a 2025 release). I’ve reviewed one of these figures in the past, but actually owned three before acquiring this year’s output. Those other two I never reviewed, the Scout Trooper and Snow Trooper, I either got after Christmas or way too close to Christmas to sneak a review in. They’re not exactly exciting releases for those who collect Hasbro’s The Black Series figures as they are just repaints of existing figures with a Christmas theme. For me, they’re all new as I don’t collect that line, but I can see how the enthusiasm might wane if you are a regular buyer of the line. In the past, Hasbro has done as many as four Christmas or Hanukkah themed figures and often Target and Walmart get an exclusive, but this year they did two and they’ve been available basically everywhere since October. And they are two variants of very popular base offerings: a Stormtrooper and astromech droid (aka R2-D2).

Should I buy 7 more?

Both figures come in the standard holiday packaging which is a window box with a pattern made to resemble a wrapped present. There’s no photography, artwork, or cross-sell on it so it is pretty plain, but it gets the job done. They are at least slightly personalized for each release as there’s a graphic of their head mixed into the snowflake pattern of the “paper” as well as the symbol for the Galactic Empire in the case of the Stormtrooper. And despite their opposite affiliation, these two releases basically complement each other since we have a Santa Claus and a reindeer. If you had told me we were getting these figures and to guess which would be which I’m not sure how I would have guessed, but considering there are multiple reindeer who just do Santa’s bidding I suppose it makes sense that the Stormtrooper got the reindeer deco. I wonder if there was any temptation to do an Emperor Santa instead? He doesn’t really deserve to wear Santa’s robes so I guess that’s a good reason not to do that.

I wish this medallion was sculpted on, or was a harness of jingle bells.

We’ll talk the Stormtrooper first who stands at approximately 6″ in height. This one appears to be a standard Star Wars Stormtrooper mold as opposed to the First Order version that was released in the past (in a Grinchy sort of deco, not sure why I passed on that one). He’s predominantly brown, white, and black with the brown being almost a tan. It reminds me of those horrible molasses cookies I used to encounter around the holidays. The black is reserved for the usual spots on a Stormtrooper while they left the abdomen white along with some patches on the helmet to give him that reindeer look. There’s a small hit of silver on the helmet as well. Hasbro also added a medal around his neck, and while I appreciate breaking up the color here with something else, Hasbro elected to just paint it on and not convincingly so resulting in a pretty cheap look. The actual medallion is supposed to be a Death Star, but you have to get in close to notice. The reindeer antlers are affixed to the helmet and again Hasbro elected to go the cheap route basically using a felt material. I know the goal with these is to make them as cheaply as possible, but even the $8 Sonic figure I got my kid last Christmas had plastic reindeer antlers. And even if we’re letting Hasbro get away with being cheap, I can at least accept that they don’t have antlers already tooled hanging around, but a medallion? Surely, they’ve done such a part for some release they could have used here.

The soft goods give this guy a frumpy look, but it kind of works.

As for R2, he’s (It’s?) been given a red, white, gold, and black deco with a couple small hits of green. It looks nice, though I wish all of the gold parts had been painted as opposed to molded in gold plastic. The gold of the belt buckle looks so much nicer as paint than the dome which is plastic. The white paint on the top of the globe is a little messy, but not too bad. The white stripe on the front could be a little sharper and the same is true for the black stripe intended to represent his belt. He also comes with a soft goods Santa hat with attached beard that just settle onto the top of the figure. It doesn’t get a tight fit, but will stay in place once you get it to your liking. It has a bit of a cheap look as well, but in this case I feel it fits in with other, generic, Christmas figurines you’ll find around homes and craft stores at this time of year so I don’t mind it.

Here you go, little fella.
This Santa doesn’t need reindeer to fly.

Both figures come with accessories in the form of stuff for the figure as well as little buddies. For the Stormtrooper, he comes with what looks to be the standard blaster most of them carry in the films. It’s been given a blue and orange deco this time, which while not very Christmassy, is intended to match a similar Nerf gun also released by Hasbro. They did this with the Snow Trooper (and probably other holiday releases) and I think it’s a fun addition for these figures. He also comes with two porgs, one that looks pretty standard to my eye with the exception of some added buttons painted on and another that’s frozen which is kind of horrifying. The frozen one is done with translucent blue plastic and at least looks neat. For R2, we get the same assortment the standard figure comes with which includes his optional thrusters and the little mechanical arm which can plug into his chest. I had to look up old reviews to figure out how to work either since the figure doesn’t come with instructions, but the tabs on the sides of the leg pull off for the thrusters to replace them while he has two doors on his chest that can open to reveal a port for the arm. There’s also a “candy cane,” but it’s a redeco of a cane-shaped, mechanical, item of unknown origin to me. It works as a candy cane for a robot. And lastly, we get a Grogu figure in a red robe with white trim to make him extra festive. He has articulated shoulders and a head that’s on a ball peg so it’s not a slug figure like the rest. I don’t know why he comes with R2, I guess he is a decent stand-in for an elf, but I’m not complaining.

Grogu eyes a meal.
“Gerry? Are you okay?!”

The articulation for R2 is pretty limited which is probably expected. He just rotates at the head and legs with a hinge at each foot for some added tilt. He has his third leg which is another thing I had to look up. It’s a telescoping leg that can be pulled out for that reclined, on the move pose or pushed in for a more straight up and down posture. It’s basically all the articulation he needs. For the Stormtrooper, he’s surprisingly basic for what is the main troop builder of the line. He just has single joints at the elbows and knees to go along with typical stuff at the head, shoulders, and hips. The right trigger hand at least has the proper vertical hinge (the left, oddly, does not) and the ankles are well-articulated with hinges and rockers. There’s a ball joint in the torso which lets him rotate and tilt in all directions, but the waist appears to be fixed. The elbow range is at least better than 90 degrees even with single hinges, but I’m a little surprised at the lack of butterfly joints in the shoulder. I guess that would have broken up the armor too much. Range at the hips is surprisingly poor and you also have some dangly stuff on the belt to watch out for. His small feet make him a bit of a pain to stand as well.

It’s a pretty solid Star Wars display for Christmas, and this barely scratches the surface for what’s out there.

Criticisms aside, these are fine for those looking to inject some Star Wars into their Christmas decorating. My only real complaint are those antlers and the painted-on medal with the Stormtrooper as I foresee those antlers deteriorating over time. The R2 is a little frumpy, but it works for me and at least Hasbro included all of the standard figure’s extras (or at least most of them) to make him a little more fun. The pack-in figures add a little extra fun to things and I’m pretty content with these as I have been with the others as well, even if I didn’t review them all. The MSRP for both is $25, but with Christmas mere days away these have been marked down in several locations with the lowest I can see right now being $17.50. The big retailers will definitely clearance these out while online retailers will likely hold onto them as past editions are still fairly easy to find in many places so you likely haven’t missed out on anything if you’re stumbling upon this late. And even if you can’t get them in time for Christmas this year, they’ll make for good decorations in 2026 and beyond.

For more Christmas toy reviews check these out:

NECA The Nightmare Before Christmas Ultimate Santa Jack

Today’s review has been a long time coming. It was on December 26th, 2024 that I received in the mail a NECA Ultimate Santa Jack action figure based on The Nightmare Before Christmas. Christmas had come and gone so it didn’t make much sense to post a review, so I waited. Nearly a year, in…

Keep reading
by Joe

Jada Toys Frosty the Snowman

There are a number of Christmas specials out there that are basically known by all and I’ve written about most of them here. Some have been annual traditions especially when we had more of a monoculture in the US, but the slow death of cable television has made those annual traditions fade away. One holiday…

Keep reading
by Joe

Star Wars The Black Series Mandalorian Warrior (Holiday Edition)

We’re getting to Christmas coverage at The Nostalgia Spot one day early this year with this look at one of the latest in the Holiday Collection from Hasbro’s Star Wars line of action figures referred to as The Black Series. I have previously looked at a figure from the very popular streaming show The Mandalorian…

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by Joe

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December 16, 2025

NECA The Nightmare Before Christmas Ultimate Santa Jack

By Joe
What’s this?! A skeleton Santa?

Today’s review has been a long time coming. It was on December 26th, 2024 that I received in the mail a NECA Ultimate Santa Jack action figure based on The Nightmare Before Christmas. Christmas had come and gone so it didn’t make much sense to post a review, so I waited. Nearly a year, in fact, but I’m finally going to take a look at this figure. When NECA returned to The Nightmare Before Christmas in 2024 it went the predictable route by doing two Jack figures and pairing him with Sally. They also did the Mayor, so I guess that part wasn’t typical, and based on how many of those figures I see hanging around store shelves I would assume most were content to just get Jack and Sally. For toy companies, doing two versions of Jack makes a lot of sense. He spends considerable time in the movie with both looks, but also they can conceivably use a lot of the same tools to create both figures. Only, NECA actually opted not to do that from what I can tell.

Santa Jack is actually a little bigger than standard Jack.

The sculpt for this one is credited to the trio of Kyle Windrix, Marty Henley, and Andrew Lawson which is the same trio that brought us the standard Jack. This one comes in the same style of packaging that’s just credited to Chris Longo. Usually NECA credits the artist who made the actual drawings that factor into the packaging, but since one isn’t present that either means Longo did it all or Disney supplied the artwork and declined to include the artist’s name. Regardless, it fits thematically with the other figures we already looked at and will make for a fine coffin for the figure eleven months out of the year.

The prior Jack came with a bunch of expressions while with this one we have to settle for three.

Santa Jack stands approximately 8 3/8″ to the top of his head which is actually a little taller than the standard Jack. Why is this? I’m not sure, but it would appear that most of this figure is new tooling. I was expecting a new upper torso that conforms to the Santa suit and maybe new forearms and shins, but I also thought NECA might add the trimmings of the suit in another fashion. The texture of the red, which is a nice, vibrant, shade, is a little bumpy and almost chalky. I wasn’t sure if this was achieved via paint or by sculpt, but considering the different size I’d guess it’s just all new. The only parts this figure appears to share with the regular Jack are the hands as even the included expressions are different. This one necessitates holes in the sides of each portrait for the beard as well as a port for the hat, but I thought they might be able to reuse the prior heads and just insert something into the mold to create the needed ports. What we end up with though is a very nice presentation of the character from the film in his Santa guise. The paint is clean and the red has a nice matte appearance while the black boots are appropriately shiny. The skull head is a touch off-white and has that cold appearance it has in the film. There are no soft goods present and I suppose some might have preferred actual faux fur trim or a soft goods beard, but I’m content with the all plastic approach.

As long as you can’t see the hole in the top of his head, hat-less displays are possible.

Perhaps because of all that new tooling we don’t get quite as much in the box this time around. That Ultimate Jack is perhaps the figure I own that best lives up to the billing as he came with a ton of different expressions. This Jack comes with just three: smile, wink, and a surprised look. The smile and surprised look are both slightly different from the same expressions found with the standard Jack. You can use the heads from that release with this one, but you won’t be able to make use of the hat or beard as both peg into the heads. The beard is on a double ball peg while the beard has a peg on each side. It’s a little bendy and forgiving, but also mushy. I could not get it into the alternate heads without first dunking them in a cup of hot water. Santa Jack also has an array of hands including sets of relaxed, clutching, pointing, and flat hands which are all repeated from the previous release. To complete the look, he has a plastic sack and three different, wrapped, presents to go along with a candy cane and his clipboard with a picture of himself in this Santa suit. The accessories are all quite fine and will help to build out a little scene on your shelf. He also has the same stand that came with the other figures and you will need it. In fact, I recommend borrowing a second one from another release if you have one. I put regular Jack and Sally away so I had another to make use of and it helps to keep him upright.

All of Jack’s accessories will contribute to your holiday display.

The articulation for Santa Jack is exactly the same as it was for the standard Jack (linked at the end of this post). The only difference is we now have the hat and beard. The beard, since it just pegs into each side of the face, can swivel forward and back which helps a little with adjustment posing. The hat is a double ball peg so it can rotate, but also slide around a bit to be posed at slightly different angles. It’s a nice touch and obviously the only downside here is it means the hat isn’t usable with the standard Jack heads. I do wish NECA had found a solution there. A magnet makes the most sense, but maybe they couldn’t get one into the heads without putting an ugly seam on the top. It also wouldn’t solve the beard issue. If the beard could have just pressure fit to the heads somehow that would have been great, but probably tough to get right. Even something like sunglasses on a figure or the faceguard on the movie Shredder still has tabs to click onto and there’s just no way to do such here without making them visible. Or we could have just got more heads like we did with the regular Jack. I’d have loved more expressions, but it wasn’t in the cards here.

Sally may have been returned to her box, but not Zero. He gets to stay.

Santa Jack is perhaps a little less “ultimate” compared with the standard Jack Skellington, but it’s still a nice figure. The likeness is terrific and the articulation is just enough to make him rather expressive, provided you can keep him standing. That’s my one lingering critique of this line as the disc stand we get just isn’t quite enough in this case. It’s a nice holiday decoration though and if you like the film and this version of Jack it’s an easy recommend. To my surprise, I have not seen a single copy of this figure at stores this year. I’m guessing NECA has been shipping them, but apparently not in tremendous numbers. He can be found online though with hopefully enough time to arrive before Christmas.

If you like The Nightmare Before Christmas or just Christmas toys in general then take a look at these other reviews:

NECA The Nightmare Before Christmas Ultimate Jack Skellington

When Tim Burton created The Nightmare Before Christmas while working for Disney I don’t think the powers that be had any idea what kind of a gift he had just given them. Obviously they didn’t since they didn’t even believe enough in the film to release it as a Disney film instead opting to put…

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by Joe

NECA The Nightmare Before Christmas Ultimate Sally

If you buy a Jack Skellington action figure, then you almost have to get him a Sally. That’s exactly what I did, though it proved mildly difficult to track down. I have seen NECA’s Ultimate Jack Skellington around throughout the year as I head into stores that carry NECA products, but Sally had proved elusive.…

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by Joe

Jada Toys Frosty the Snowman

There are a number of Christmas specials out there that are basically known by all and I’ve written about most of them here. Some have been annual traditions especially when we had more of a monoculture in the US, but the slow death of cable television has made those annual traditions fade away. One holiday…

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by Joe

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December 1, 2025

Jada Toys Frosty the Snowman

By Joe
Happy birthday!

There are a number of Christmas specials out there that are basically known by all and I’ve written about most of them here. Some have been annual traditions especially when we had more of a monoculture in the US, but the slow death of cable television has made those annual traditions fade away. One holiday icon endures though (well, two counting Rudolph): Frosty the Snowman. The story of a snowman come to life based on a 1950 song premiered on CBS in 1969. There it aired every year until 2023 when CBS at long last let the rights expire. NBC was there to pick it up where it aired in 2024 and is set to air this year on December 4th continuing its run in prime time television for another year.

Specials like Frosty the Snowman were appointment viewing for me as a child even with my beloved Christmas Tape at hand. It was just a thing to get excited for on the road to Christmas and with how popular specials like it have been I’ve always been surprised at the lack of toys. These are Christmas specials, after all, a holiday synonymous with toys. Jada apparently felt the same for it unveiled its own take on Frosty as seen in that Rankin/Bass special which coincidentally arrives a year after Super7 did the same with its ReAction line. Unlike that toy, Jada went all out in making Frosty an actual, modern, action figure. Is this something that’s long overdue for the magical snowman or is there a reason why Frosty has never made the leap to plastic in such a way?

Frosty has some pretty rad packaging.

There may have been some trepidation about wading into the Frosty waters as Jada opted to partner this release with Big Bad Toy Store. It’s an exclusive there where it will set you back $50 and I wouldn’t expect a sale on it anytime soon. That’s a steep price for an action figure, especially one from Jada. I don’t know if they’ve ever done an action figure at this high a price point. I suppose the release is technically a two-pack as it does come with the rabbit, Hocus Pocus. Still, is that enough?

He seems to size pretty well with other 1:12 figures.

The packaging for Frosty is pretty damn fun. The window box is modeled after an old, 80s, television set which is probably similar to the actual set many people saw Frosty on for the first time. It has faux wood paneling and even the rear of the box resembles a CRT television. The bubble is shaped to have a curve in it as well and if you’re an in-box collector this will display pretty well like this. I, of course, am not so I broke into this thing and I do think it will go back together after the holidays just fine, should I choose to pack-up and store Frosty in such a manner.

Until we get a proper Santa, one of these will have to do.

Out of the package, Frosty stands at about 6.375″ to the top of his head. The default portrait has the hat affixed to it so that one will take the snowman over the 7″ mark. From a distance, he’s basically just a big hunk of white plastic, but upon closer examination it’s evident that Jada applied a pearlescent overcoat to the figure to give him a little shine. It’s about as close to approximating the look of snow when the sun hits it they could come up with and it does help to at least give him a little nicer finish, though there’s no hiding from the fact that this is just a big, white, toy. There is paint on the face for the eyes, button nose, and the inner mouth which they opted to paint blue. This had me running back to the special to see if that’s what Rankin/Bass did and, no, they did not. Frosty’s inner mouth was red so I’m not sure why blue was chosen, but it may have been an artistic choice to work off the white. I don’t hate it, it just stood out to me as an odd choice.

And I guess the Peanuts gang will have to stand-in for Karen and the others.

The likeness of the sculpt is decent. The face is pretty much spot-on, though there wasn’t a lot Jada had to get right there. Where I do think the figure comes up a little short is just in the overall shape of the snowman. His torso is very pear-shaped when the character in the show was more round. It’s possible they had to mess with the proportions a bit to better suit the articulation. The head also sits a touch high as it’s not sunk-in at all into the body. Was this done to better accommodate the articulation? It’s possible, but I don’t know if the trade-off was worth it. I feel similarly about the waist cut on Frosty. I appreciate the attempt, and maybe I’ll appreciate it more if we ever get a Karen for him to interact with, but I wouldn’t mind seeing how the figure looked without it. And if I’m going to nitpick further, the hat seems a touch too tall, but on the other hand, it’s not consistent in the special and there are shots where it’s more like it’s presented here and others where it’s more squat.

For some reason, Frosty has acquired a scarf over the years. Even the Super7 ReAction figure (right) came with one.

Frosty does come with a handful of accessories, most of which are basically essential to the look of Frosty. We have his corn cob pipe which plugs into his smile. It’s basically essential since without it he just has a hole in his face that looks kind of lame. It doesn’t bother me as I would never choose to display him with out, but if you want your Frosty to quit his bad habit you may be disappointed. He does have his broom stick which is well-painted and sculpted. It’s basically in solid colors which matches the animation fairly well. He also has some optional parts. For hands, Frosty has a set of relaxed hands, a wide-gripping left hand, a tight-gripping right hand, a pointing left hand, and a right fist for when someone disses his fly girl. There’s also an optional portrait of “dead” Frosty from before the magic hat is applied. It looks fine and has the same hole in the mouth for the pipe and I like having this one as a means of displaying the figure in the lead-up to December. Lastly, there’s a soft goods, red, scarf which is a thing that has sprung up over the years. I’m not sure the origin, but lots of Frosty merch over the years has placed a red scarf around his neck despite him never wearing one in the cartoon (in the sequel, he wears a striped scarf). Super7 did the same thing so I can only assume it’s just something that has been added into the licensing art over the years. It’s here if you want it, though I don’t think I’ll ever use it.

If you prefer your Frosty to be non-animated.

Of course, the other accessory in the box is Hocus Pocus. The little white rabbit stands at just a tick over 2″ and has a goofy looking smile fitting the character. His pupils are not aligned, presumably as intended, though I can’t recall him looking that way in the special (I’m not saying it didn’t happen, just that I can’t remember a specific moment for it). Like Frosty, he’s essentially a lump of white plastic with the only paint being reserved for his red nose, the pink of his eyes and inner ears, and the black of his pupils. He has his freckles sculpted in, but they get lost in the plastic since there’s no outline applied. His whiskers are represented with black wire and his arms are permanently sculpted into the torso. He does feature articulation at the base of his ears, head, waist, hips, and ankles, but it’s pretty limited. He has one accessory – the hat. Hocus is designed to separate at the head which reveals a super long double-ball peg that can plug into the hat. There’s some sculpted out area for his arms inside the hat to get a snug fit and it successfully recreates the look of Hocus from when he makes off with the hat and delivers it to the children. It’s a good idea and a fun way to display him if you’re opting to display Frosty with his “dead” portrait.

This is pretty much the extent of his posing.

Frosty’s articulation is also nothing to write home about. He has the same double-ball peg setup at the “neck,” and another one at the hat. This is where the figure is most expressive as he can rotate and tilt at both the head and hat which provides enough nuance to be fun. He has hinged shoulders, single-hinged elbows, and hinged wrists that rotate. Unlike NECA and their many TMNT figures, Frosty actually has the proper vertical hinge for his broom and any other weapon you feel he should have. That waist joint is a ball joint so Frosty can rotate and tilt, but don’t expect too much forward and back. The legs are connected via ball-sockets, but they’re functionally useless due to the shape of the character. He has no knees and instead some ankles that hinge and rock. If your dream is to recreate Frosty’s marching pose on your shelf then you may have to get a little creative. He also doesn’t have any peg holes on the bottoms of his feet so finding a stand to work with him might be a challenge.

They’re both pipe enthusiasts.

Frosty isn’t going to impress with his poses, but no one likely expected him to. What will sell this figure are the aesthetics and the power of nostalgia. Nostalgia for Christmas. Is that sort of thing worthy of your $50? It’s a legitimate question and one not easily answered. If I were to grade this release on the quality of the figure and the amount of stuff in the box then I’d have to say “No,” this isn’t a $50 release. I’d feel better about it if we got a more expressive Hocus or maybe some optional parts for Frosty to recreate the signature poses from the special. This Frosty can’t even belly-whop because the range at the head doesn’t allow for it. He basically needs a third head with the socket for the ball joint in the back. Perhaps a future Karen release could come with such a thing?

“You want a hit of this, snowman?” “Happy birthday!”

Despite my feelings on the value present, I am happy to have this. I have a huge soft spot for Christmas specials (obviously) and there’s no way I was passing on this. It’s still a better value than a Super7 Ultimates! release (and cheaper) and it looks good enough on my Christmas shelf. And I do selfishly want this release to be successful because I’d like to see more from Jada and Frosty the Snowman. I already name-dropped Karen, but throw-in Santa and Professor Hinkle and that will make me pretty happy. It would be fun if each came with a different Hocus since he had some different looks/poses in the special, and in the case of Karen, that belly-whopping head would be nice. If you’re interested in this release as strictly an action figure, then it probably won’t win you over. If you have a lot of affection for the old television special and won’t miss the $50 then I say go for it. There’s plenty of Christmas magic in this box to take away the sting of the price.

If you’re curious to read my thoughts on the original special or just have an interest in Christmas toys then check these out:

Dec. 1 – Frosty the Snowman

Welcome back, lovers of Christmas, to the 7th edition of The Christmas Spot! If you missed the introduction a few days ago, we’re doing things a little differently this year. Yes, you’re still getting a dedicated write-up each day through Christmas about a beloved or not-so-beloved holiday special, but this year we’re also going retro…

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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

Naughty or Nice Father Frost & Mall Santa

Fresh Monkey Fiction is back with Naughty or Nice Wave Two and just in time for…(checks calendar)…Valentine’s Day? Okay, so things didn’t go quite as planned with this line. In 2021, Fresh Monkey Fiction partnered with Big Bad Toy Store for this line of action figures based primarily on Santa Claus. That preorder took about…

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by Joe

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