If you’ve been following along with my reviews on the second wave of Super7’s The Simpsons Ultimates!, then you will have noted that I’ve had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this wave. For the most part, the sculpts and deco have been on point, it’s some of the little things that have been botched by Super7 which just calls into question what kind of fans did they have working on this line? At least with the fourth and final figure we don’t need to have a debate about worthiness. Krusty the Clown is a character that goes all the way back to the original shorts and has been a mainstay ever since. He may not share the name Simpson, but he’s certainly an A-lister worthy of a slot in the line’s second wave.
Super7 wasn’t allowed to provide Krusty with smokes, but if you have a Gremlins figure you should have a ready supply of toy cigarettes.
Still, Krusty is not without some level of controversy. Originally, Super7 solicited a figure that would have a smoking portrait, a cigarette holding hand, and even a smoking monkey in Mr. Teeny. The Simpsons licensing department was okay with all of this, and probably even found it appropriate, but the Disney team disagreed. Smoking is a big no-no with The House of Mouse. The company even discourages characters from smoking in their films and television shows. Apparently, The Simpsons is grandfathered in as characters like Patti and Selma still light-up Sunday nights on Fox, they just can’t do so as action figures. Super7 was forced to course correct, dropping the smoking portrait for a grumpy one. Mr. Teeny is still present, just without a cigarette in his hand, and in place of the extra hand we get a jagged, metal, Krusty-O.
Krusty is another figure that’s basically right in the standard height range.
He wouldn’t be much of a clown if he didn’t come with a pie.
It is what it is, and you’ll see in my pictures that I was able to make do. Krusty isn’t going to live or die on his ability to smoke anyway and this figure is another good sculpt with a pretty good paint job. Krusty stands at around 7.125″ to the top of his head, nearly 7.5″ to the top of the tuft of hair on top. He’s depicted in his traditional attire of a pink shirt, green pants, oversized clown shoes, with a blue bowtie to top it off. His default portrait is a big, open mouth, “Hey-hey!” expression which looks okay. It’s an expression that works well in 2D, but in 3D it looks a bit odd that we can’t see any of his bottom teeth. Something else is off with it though and it took me awhile to narrow it down, but his pupils are too small. They’re tiny. Just compare my images of this figure to the licensing art over his shoulder. The other figures in the line have larger pupils as well. It may sound like a small thing, but it really throws off the look of the character. Like the other figures in the wave, he has a very matte finish, though I’m finding a few hot spots on the portraits here and there. The exposed portions of his arms unfortunately aren’t painted yellow like Duffman’s. Like a lot of Super7 figures, it’s a mix of good and not so good.
They don’t put nobodies on cereal boxes.
This is the wave of little buddy characters.
For accessories, Krusty gets a bunch of white-gloved hands. He has a set of open gripping hands, a set of closed gripping hands where the index figure connects to the thumb, a set of open hands, and a right hand with a glass of something permanently affixed to it. The contents of the glass is a translucent, off-white, substance. I have no idea what this is supposed to be. I guess it could be lemonade? My grandfather used to like rum and lemonade, so I guess we can go with that. The promotional shots had a green substance instead which also isn’t an obvious cocktail, but it’s better than this which looks like coconut oil. Would Disney not allow a brown liquid? That would have made the most sense. Both sets of gripping hands can handle the large, silver, microphone that he comes with which I suppose is needed for hosting an awards show or something. He also has a box of Krusty O’s which advertises the jagged, metal, Krusty-O right on the front. And back, as the image is the same, but it looks pretty good. There’s also a cream pie which is best held with an open hand. As for the “bonus” jagged, metal, Krusty-O, it’s…here. It doesn’t do anything and is just a little piece of silver plastic. Pretty uninspired as a make-up item.
“Don’t you even think about stealing my smokes.”
“Now! Now! Now! Now! Now!”
For optional portraits we have a screaming Krusty (“We want to go to Mount Splashmore!”) and a grumpy Krusty. The screaming head is just that, a screaming head where his mouth is wide open and eyes shut. Krusty can often be found wailing so I’m fine with it. The grumpy head probably has the most personality to it. He looks pissed, or impatient, and even his hair is sagging with displeasure. The narrow eyes work better with the tiny pupils than the standard head. It’s highly likely I use this one for my display. We also get Mr. Teeny, another slug figure to place on the shelf. He’s on roller skates, but they don’t move or anything. His hand is still up like he’s supposed to have a smoke so it’s a bit of an off position. His head can swivel and he has a side-eyed expression that’s a bit mischievous. There were promo images of him holding the cereal box under his right arm, but it doesn’t work in practice. Lastly, Krusty may not be able to smoke, but he still gets to sport a smoking jacket. Or maybe it’s just a bathrobe? Either way, it’s pink with purple trim and there’s a nice K stitched onto it. It looks fine and I’ve been using it for my display, but I might return it to the box.
WARNING: Do not ingest the jagged, metal, Krusty-O.
The jagged, metal, Krusty-O may work better as a Bartman accessory.
Krusty’s articulation is like the rest – pretty basic, but the cuts you would expect to be present are there. We have a double-ball peg at the head, hinged ball pegs at the shoulders, single-jointed elbows, wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally, a ball-joint at the waist, ball-socket hips, single-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge and rock side-to-side. The range is pretty much the same as the other figures. The hinge joints can’t quite hit 90 degrees and the legs don’t kick out very far. The knees are pretty tight while the left ankle on mine is a little loose. Not so loose that he’s falling over, but looser than I’d like. He’s mostly good for pretty basic poses – he won’t be riding a tiny bicycle on your shelf or do backflips. Instead he can stand there with his glass of whatever or scream into a microphone.
“Ugh, what’s this gonna cost me?”
Krusty is, perhaps without much surprise, my favorite of the line’s second wave. I think he’s my favorite overall for The Simpsons Ultimates! as he looks the part, the accessories are fine, and the finish is solid. My only real gripes are that I wish the glass of something had some color to it and his eyes weren’t distracting bad on the smiling portrait. I also would have probably preferred a more neutral, default, portrait to the opened mouth one, but it’s fine. The jagged, metal, Krusty-O is pretty lame, but there isn’t anything truly missing. I would have preferred a tiny bicycle instead, but it’s not like he’d be able to ride it anyway. If you’re all-in on this line, then this figure is an obvious must have and if you’re a cherry-picker then I think this is the one to get from wave two. You can probably still play the waiting game if you don’t want to fork over $55 for the privilege of owning it, but I don’t think you’ll regret much if you do decide to pay full price.
And now it’s time for the updated group shot.
Want to see more from The Simpsons Ultimates! or where I sourced that cigarette from?
I’ve had NECA’s Ultimate Flasher Gremlin on my “want” list for awhile now. I grabbed the Ultimate Gizmo last summer, and while he’s fairly limited as an action figure, he is fun to have on display in my home. He has occupied a little section of my knick-knack shelf in the living room area of…
If you’re going to market action figures to a fanbase as venerable as The Simpsons, you should probably go after what they love most. Simpsons fans love to make references to their favorite episodes and characters and one of the top episodes from the show is “You Only Move Twice” from the show’s seventh season.…
In writing up my review of Bartman from Super7’s line of Ultimates! based on The Simpsons, I got a little hot. That figure had some errors in its presentation that annoyed me, but what annoyed me more was the refusal to just let the figure exist as Bart Simpson and Bartman. It was clearly designed…
When a regular Foot Ninja just won’t cut it, The Shredder has to turn to the Foot Enforcer. This brute of a specimen is bigger, stronger, and comes packed to the gills with an assortment of weapons designed to reduce the turtles into a pile of flesh and shell. And they’re needed, because how often have you seen the turtles turn a practical army of Foot Soldiers into fodder? They need a challenge as much as the Foot need a win, and that’s why we have the Foot Enforcer.
The Foot Enforcer from NECA Toys’ line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures based on their appearance in the pages of Mirage Studios was actually a 2023 release. It was styled after some colorized issues of the books released by IDW, the current license holder/partner for TMNT when it comes to printed media. Those colors put the Foot in a shadowy scheme of black, blue, and purple. It’s a similar combination to what we saw way back with the Loot Crate Shredder. I am personally just collecting the more traditional color scheme of maroon and gray which is what the original NYCC edition of the Shredder and Foot came styled as so I skipped last year’s release. I was betting on this version eventually coming out and my bet paid off as part of this year’s Haulathon is the Mirage Studios version of the Foot Enforcer and he was worth the wait.
He’s a big, chunky, boy with a big weapon.
The Foot Enforcer comes in the standard trapezoidal box with new artwork on the sides from series co-creator Kevin Eastman. The Enforcer stands a tick over 6.5″ and is basically a normal Foot Ninja as far as costuming goes until you get to the head. There he sports a helm with a face covering not unlike the Shredder himself with some fabric draped over the back and side of the head. He also has some spiky gauntlets for added intimidation. What lurks under that helmet is a mystery as what would be the exposed part of his face is painted black with two red slits for eyes. He definitely looks a great deal more intimidating than the usual Foot and not someone I’d personally want to run into in a dark alley.
This is a good example of parts reuse from NECA.
The paint job is typical NECA with lots of flat colors enhanced by black linework and a touch of shading. The shading is reserved for the top of the helm which has a nice comic look to it as well as the sides of the little spikes on his gauntlets. That’s an impressive little detail that adds a nice touch. Some of the parts of this guy are likely reused from the similarly built four-armed Shredder clone. Basically the arms and the legs which was to be expected. The forearm assembly is the same as the clone Shredder with the forearms plugging onto the meat just past the elbow. I guess that means, if you wanted to, you could swap forearms between the two. The hands wouldn’t match though as the Shredder clone had brown skin, but it’s there if you want it.
It’s easy to forget how big and chunky the turtles are too.
This figure looks awesome, there’s no simpler way to put it. I love the size of him and the heft I feel when I pick it up. This is a solidly built action figure, and after handling so many figures recently made by another company which charges almost 20 bucks more per figure, this is just like a nice treat to behold. And NECA made sure this bad boy was outfitted with all kinds of stuff to properly massacre the turtles on your shelf. For hands, he has a set of fists, gripping, chop, and a set of gripping hands also making a “Devil Horns” gesture. Those hands appear to be included just for the tri-handled nunchaku he has. The thumb is molded to the middle finger so the handles of this weapon can just slide snugly into place and look cool doing so. The other gripping hands are best used with the other weapons: short sword, long sword, and naginata. The short sword has a spiked handguard which looks vicious while the long sword has some nice size to it. The naginata is much longer with a long blade at one end and a pommel with red “ribbon” on the other. From tip to tip it’s nearly 7.25″ so it’s quite big. All of the weapons are well-painted with a little linework on the blades to give them that comic look. The nunchaku-like weapon is not painted, but it’s three, gray, handles all joined by black thread and looks appropriate enough.
This guy can definitely handle more adversity than your typical Foot Ninja, but probably not this much.
For articulation, this guy is pretty standard. He was a bit stiff out of the box in some places, in particular the biceps, but nothing that couldn’t get worked out with a little effort and patience. The head doesn’t get much range looking up because of the cowl, but all of the other directions are adequate. The cowl is soft plastic and it can slide underneath the shoulder pads or over them if you wish. Arms and legs are standard with double joints where you would expect. The meatiness of his forearms means he can’t really bend the elbow past 90 degrees, but I think most will be satisfied. Because the forearms plug onto the arms you do get a swivel point there. All of the hands feature a horizontal hinge, a repeated error by NECA. The way the armor continues onto the backs of the hands likely would have made vertical hinges a little tricky to utilize, but I think NECA is more than capable of figuring that out.
This guy is good for mostly basic poses. The lack of a butterfly joint does limit how much one can do with the weapons. There’s also really nothing in the torso aside from the waist twist which is a bummer. I’d have taken the trade-off of breaking up the sculpt a bit to get a diaphragm cut into this thing. NECA likes to go with overlays for the torso of its figures so it’s not a surprise they did it this way, but it (along with the vertical wrist hinges) is a change I’d advocate for across the board with their figures.
These guys look pretty good together, but these more modern figures from NECA do put the old ones to shame in some respects.
If you’re collecting NECA’s line of TMNT based on the Mirage Studios looks, this guy strikes me as a no-brainer for your shelf. You could probably get by without a Baxter (I know I am) or a Renet, but a big, beefy, Foot Ninja adds some nice shelf presence. The real challenge is stopping at just the one. This figure is currently being shipped to Target stores in the US and has been solicited on costumes.com for international purchase. It is not a Target exclusive though and it’s expected that this figure will eventually be sold through online retailers in the near future. If you want it, it might be a little tricky in the short term (the online drop at Target has come and gone), but not long term so don’t cave for an eBay price unless it’s close to MSRP.
Looking to add more figures to your NECA Mirage TMNT collection:
The Shredder had a rough go at things for awhile when it came to plastic. He was featured rather prominently in the old Playmates line, though perhaps not as prominently as one would expect. Playmates never did do a movie version of him, aside from Super Shredder, and his figure was arguably the worst from…
NECA and Target’s Haulathon event which has seen a vast assortment of product dumped onto shelves recently was not content to limit the products to just the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Far from it, as an assortment of comic book based characters were also released and today we’re going to look at the first…
It was back during the winter that Loot Crate announced a series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crates for 2020. At the time, Loot Crate had done one previous crate that was apparently intended to test the waters to see what the appetite was for this sort of thing among the TMNT fanbase. It didn’t…
“If you want to kill someone on your way out it would really help me a lot!”
If you’re going to market action figures to a fanbase as venerable as The Simpsons, you should probably go after what they love most. Simpsons fans love to make references to their favorite episodes and characters and one of the top episodes from the show is “You Only Move Twice” from the show’s seventh season. In that episode, Homer takes a job in another town forcing the Simpsons to move (again, hence the episode’s title) to another community that just so happens to be run by a Bondsian supervillain known as Hank Scorpio. Played by Albert Brooks, Scorpio is one of the most memorable one-off characters in the long history of the show. It’s probably not a stretch to call him the most memorable one-off character. He should have been brought back for the movie, but instead the writers and producers of The Simpsons decided to create a new villain for Brooks to play.
He’s the world’s best boss – get used to it.
What makes Scorpio so great? In short: everything. He’s exceedingly nice and a quote machine. He’s an ideal boss, but also someone bent on world domination who won’t hesitate to murder in order to get what he wants. That aspect of the character is unveiled slowly, but effectively. If Super7 had polled Simpsons fans on characters they most wanted to see in this toy line I bet Scorpio would have fared well. Maybe not top ten, but certainly pretty high for a character that isn’t regularly seen or heard from. And since Super7’s approach with this line has been so episode-specific, he’s a natural fit, but can they stick the landing?
Hank is pretty average in height for this line.
Scorpio comes in the standard packaging for the line and stands at about 6.75″ to the top of his head. He’s nearly a full 7″ when you factor in the hair. He’s presented in his mint green turtleneck sweater with blue-gray slacks and brown loafers. Out of the box, he’ll be sporting a big canister on his back that is looped onto his arms. Like the other figures from this wave, Scorpio has a pretty matte finish to him. Unlike Duffman, I think it’s all derived from a clear coat applied to colored plastic. Either way, it works and he has a nice appearance, albeit a very simple one. This isn’t a sculpt that demands much and what little paint is needed is basically reserved for the head. There his orange-brown hair and beard are fine and the eyes clean. The turtleneck is part of the head sculpt which is a little unusual, but fine. I think the head is glued into the plastic so there’s no mismatched colors when comparing neck to chest. This figure won’t catch one’s eye when amongst a sea of other figures, but it looks the part.
Someone just stole his lunch.
Where things start to get a little iffy for me concerns the accessories. For hands, we get a set of fists and gripping hands of different sizes. We also get a pointing left hand and a right hand that has a “World’s Best Boss” coffee mug permanently affixed to it. The mug isn’t hollow, but the inside is left as bare, white, plastic. Why not just a little hit of brown paint for coffee? He looks like he’s drinking milk. Either way, it’s a skimpy assortment of hands. For portraits, we get a stoic one, an angry side-eye with teeth showing, and a maniacal yelling portrait. The stoic and side eye look fine, but the maniacal head could have had a better paint job on the visible teeth. There’s a gray swash on them, or maybe the white mixed with the black paint used for the back of the throat. I wish the maniacal one also had more of a smile to it. It’s subtle in the episode, and this head has a very specific use, but I don’t think Super7 quite captured it.
He has a grenade, but I’m guessing most people will display him with his other weapon.
And that head is intended for the flamethrower. He does have a grenade canister which is fine, but the main accessory is the flame thrower. For that, we get the gun, or wand, portion plus a tube that plugs into the back of it and the side of the tank on the figure’s back. The tube is cumbersome, but stays in place all right once you get it i place provided you don’t try and reposition anything. For that reason, insert it last. There’s also a flame effect for the end of the gun which is done in a translucent plastic that is orange at the base and yellow at the tip. It’s large and heavy and isn’t really the shape I think of when I think flamethrower. I’d have preferred something more narrow that streams out. Such a piece would have been lighter which would have been welcomed as this attachment will cause the barrel of the gun to sag.
There’s really no good way for him to hold this thing. Plus that hose will keep constantly popping out on you as you try to get the best position the figure will allow.
There is another issue with this accessory and it’s that the figure isn’t articulated well enough to wield it properly. The gun is intended to be held with both hands, one on the back and one at the front. The right, gripping, hand is sculpted to hold the rear handle while the left is shaped for the grenade, but can rest on the front handle. The hands can sort of get in place, but the figure has only basic articulation. That means a double-ball peg head and neck setup, hinged shoulders, single jointed elbows, wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally, a ball-jointed diaphragm, ball-jointed hips, single-jointed knees, and hinged ankles with ankle rockers. What he needs are butterfly joints at the shoulders so he can bring his left arm across his body to properly aim the flamethrower. As it stands, he basically has to hold the gun across his belly and point his left shoulder at the target. In the episode, he basically fires from the hip. You can kind of fake his shooting pose from the episode, but any further scrutiny reveals it to be pretty ridiculous. In fairness to Super7, the glamour shots did the same thing so this isn’t a bait and switch, but how about some creativity? If butterfly joints are a no-go, why not a swappable left arm that’s preposed the way it needs to be? This is just the half-assed solution and the too heavy flame effect doesn’t help.
This low angle shot of the flame in action illustrates how I think the expression is just off enough to bug me. He almost looks frightened, not deranged.
This brings me to my main critique of Hank Scorpio which is that this is not the “ultimate” expression of the character which is the mantra of the line. This figure sells out for this one scene of Hank Scorpio firing on the government operatives with his flamethrower. He basically can’t do much else aside from hold his coffee cup. Where’s the happy Hank we see all throughout the episode? No smiling portrait is a huge miss. And the back of the box depicts him with his coat on backwards, a memorable moment from the episode that he can’t achieve. Three of the figures in this wave came with soft goods, but Scorpio did not. He should have his coat, via soft goods or swappable arms and an overlay, but he doesn’t. If you’re going to call your product the ultimate expression of a character, then you better damn well do it. This isn’t it.
“Homer, I’m very disappointed you’ve chosen to take a job with the government.”
If you have been waiting decades to add a Hank Scorpio to your shelf then I suppose this figure will have to do. It’s not terrible, it just comes up way short as an expression of Hank Scorpio. I’m not demanding he be able to convert to workout gear so he can toss a shoe, but the lack of a sunny disposition is inexcusable. And since his flamethrower pose is executed poorly, I have a hard time recommending this figure. It’s a shame because this may very well be the only Hank Scorpio action figure we ever get. As has been the case with the first two figures (and most Super7 Ultimates! in general these days) you would be better served by waiting for a discount. The line is already dead so it’s not as if one’s inaction on the line at full MSRP is going to cause any long-lasting harm to it. If you also feel it’s just plain not good enough even at a discount then I wouldn’t really disagree.
Interested in reading more about Super7’s line of Simpsons Ultimates?:
When I concluded my review of wave 1 of The Simpsons Ultimates! from Super7 I was thinking that I’d be back with more reviews later in the year. That was in February of 2023. We are now in April of 2024 and finally wave two has arrived (my original order was place January 5th, 2022).…
In writing up my review of Bartman from Super7’s line of Ultimates! based on The Simpsons, I got a little hot. That figure had some errors in its presentation that annoyed me, but what annoyed me more was the refusal to just let the figure exist as Bart Simpson and Bartman. It was clearly designed…
Slowly but surely I am clearing out all of the action figure preorders I placed in the year 2021. Of the ones that had been remaining, the line I was most looking forward to experiencing was the line of Super7 Ultimates! based on The Simpsons. It was August of 2021 when these suckers went up…
He’s got a headache and it’s because of the guy to his right.
As this NECA line of action figures based on the 1987 cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rolls along, I find my list of wants from it dwindling down to nothing. It’s hit on way more characters than I think anyone could have dreamed of back in 2017 when it seemed like just getting these toys to retail was a pipe dream. And now that it’s so deep into the weeds of obscure characters I find myself drawn to the more offbeat releases from the show. The superhero Bebop and Rocksteady, punk disguise turtles, and now Casey Jones in a business suit. I don’t need it, I didn’t ask for it, but you’re damn right I went out and bought it anyway!
To my surprise, this figure has an all new head sculpt and it’s pretty nice.
Casey Jones only appeared in a handful of episodes of the show even though he’s thought of as a pretty significant character. And he is, just not really in the old toon. One episode he did appear in, “Corporate Raiders from Dimension X,” featured the vigilante going out of his element and undercover to check out a sketchy new office in town. The turtles seem to think only he could sneak in, even though they seem to do just fine with their own disguises. Plus, Casey won’t even take his mask off as part of the disguise. It’s a goofy episode and actually one of the better ones to rewatch if you’re curious since it is so silly. Casey Jones is pretty damn funny in the show, even though the character isn’t trying to be (the show expects you to find it funny), to the point where I wonder why they didn’t use him more?
“Hey intern! Lose the hockey mask or you’re OUT!”
It was a few years ago now that NECA’s first pass at a Casey Jones was released to retail. Bundled with a battle-damaged Foot Soldier, it was a notoriously hard set to find. NECA was still working out distribution for this line and was experimenting with how to ship waves to Target stores and how many. It was a circus, and many collectors went years without being able to add Casey to their collection at a reasonable price. It was finally re-released just last year, and now we get a new version that is both familiar and a little different and, dare I say, superior?
“You want to try saying that to me again, punk?!”
Casey Jones and his robot friend come in the usual window box with generic blurb on the back about the show and a cross-sell. This one is part of the current Haulathon promotion going on at Target which is both in-store and online, but only on Fridays for US residents. Casey Jones is, as far as I can tell, an all-new sculpt. He’s in a suit which includes a gray coat, white undershirt, pink tie, and khakis. He has some brown loafers and his customary hockey mask. The body is more obviously new just by looking at it (always possible things like the hands have been used before), but what was surprising is that so is the head. Casey has a more windblown look to his hair. It has more volume and the mask is a bit more sharply defined. The eyes are smaller, but it’s still painted the same. The paint on the straps going around his head is a little iffy in places, but overall I think this is a much nicer portrait than the first release which, up to now, was a face I never had any complaints about. The joint in the neck is exactly the same as the first release so, yes, the heads can transfer from one figure to the other and it’s very possible a lot of people will do just that.
Oh, she’s feeling this new face.
And that’s because this Casey comes with a second portrait – an unmasked one. Casey never took his mask off in the show, so this portrait is entirely made-up for this figure release. Tomasz Rosejowski is the credited sculptor, though I don’t know if he was working off of someone else’s design, but for now he gets the credit for this unique look at Casey. The head features basically the same hair and a goofy grin. He’s got bandages on his face, some stiches, scars, and it would appear he’s missing some teeth as well. I honestly never spent much brain power trying to conjure up what Casey would look like under the mask, but this certainly seems as good a guess as any. The real question is do people want to actually display Casey without his iconic mask? I don’t know, but if you like the look then it makes it easy to display this figure with that portrait and transfer the new, masked, one to the old figure.
“April! I thought you said I could have the interns!”
In addition to the second portrait, Casey comes with a lot of familiar stuff. For hands, we get a set of fists, open, gripping, and a wide-gripping right hand. He has his golf bag of goodies and the bag actually appears to be a new sculpt as well, which is surprising, but maybe the old one didn’t fit right? For it we get the hockey stick, goalie stick, baseball bat, sledgehammer, and whatever that gray, bat-like, pipe thing is. They’re exactly the same as the first Casey release, which is fine as I assume they didn’t change in the show either. In addition to that, Casey also has a little basket with time cards or something in them. It’s one sculpt, or two sculpts, but the cards are glued in place. He also has what looks like a container of seltzer with a spray top on it. It reminds me of maple syrup dispensers at diners. The wide gripping hand seems to be intended for this particular item though and he can hold it just fine.
My Casey had a minor defect, but it was easily remedied though he’s likely to have that permanent warp to the belt.
Lastly, Casey also comes with another set of arms. These ones are identical to the arms on the figure, but the sleeves are painted white. The jacket is an overlay and removable which clasps in the front so you can pop the arms off along with the jacket and swap to these arms for a no-jacket look. It’s one he does feature in the episode, and it’s a good idea for the figure. I like the look of both too, though I’m leaning more towards the jacket. Also helping that call is that by packaging the figure with the coat on in the box there is some paint rub from it onto the white shirt and pink tie. My figure also had an usual defect in that the shirt overlay wasn’t inserted into the crotch piece all the way. A big hunk was hanging out the back and, at first, I thought it was intentional to show he didn’t have his shirt tucked in and play-up the fact that Casey is a fish out of water in these clothes, but the fact that the sides of the white overlay were splitting had me thinking this was just a screw up. Getting the shirt into the proper alignment wasn’t too hard, I just had to twist the figure at the waist and rock it back and forth until I was able to get it in there. The top of the diaper piece on the back is still a little warped, but it’s not something that’s bothering me.
I understand people not wanting another Foot Soldier, but that’s a damn fine sculpt and paint job.
Bundled with Casey is yet another battle-damaged Foot Soldier. This one reuses the arms and legs of past Foot Soldiers, but has an all new torso and head which has been split in half. It’s probably my favorite of the three battle-damaged Foot Soldiers we’ve received so far and I really like the touch of making its eyes look sad. The sculpt and paint work for the interior circuits and such looks great, and overall the finish on this Foot is more saturated when compared with past editions of the figure. It does not feature the bisected toon shading which is a bit odd, but that’s an element of this line that’s been inconsistent of late. The Foot does come with some optional hand sets: gripping, open, trigger, fists, and it also comes with the handgun we’ve seen what feels like a hundred times. It’s the exact same sculpt and paint app as before, only now instead of the main color being white it’s more like a cream or off-white. It’s a gimmick figure that’s just going to be used in conjunction with other characters to sell the split effect, but it looks nice.
Where will NECA go with its next battle-damaged Foot Soldier? They’ve hit the torso a bunch, so maybe the limbs?
Articulation is pretty standard for the line. With Casey you get a double-ball peg for the neck, hinged pegs for the shoulders, biceps swivel, double-elbows, swivel and hinge at the wrist, ball-peg waist, ball and socket hips, thigh twist, double knees, ankle hinges and rockers. The Foot Soldier is the same as past Foot Soldiers just minus neck articulation. It’s also the same as Casey except the Foot also has a shin swivel and toe hinge. It’s okay articulation, and most of it seems to work fine. Casey’s alternate shoulders are pretty damn tight, but I was able to get them working with force rather than heat. There are no vertical hinges for the gripping or trigger hands which is a bummer. These figures are also limited at the shoulders so getting a figure to really swing a weapon overhand to sell that split Foot is harder than it looks. That’s where the vertical wrist is also missed and that’s something I would really like NECA to fix. It seems only Leonardo, Raphael, and deluxe figures get that feature which makes no sense since it would be the preferred setup for 99% of the figures in this line.
And now, a sequence of pictures showing off this split effect.
“It would seem you are made of inferior components.”
Is this a set that’s worth your 60 dollars? That might be a bit contentious. The selling point is the goofy look for Casey Jones, and if you like that stuff then you can probably talk yourself into this one since the gimmick Foot Soldier is pretty fun. I think a lot of people were hoping for an Ultimate Casey and they may be disappointed about having to pay extra for yet another Foot Soldier. I’m personally indifferent. Maybe NECA has just worn me down with the expense that is being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collector which drops in large quantities every spring now. The fact that we had a bit of a drought when it came to TMNT releases over the past 6 months also likely made me more agreeable to the expense. This is definitely a set no one is likely to feel like they need, but if you do grab it, it’s pretty well done and I don’t think you’ll wind up regretting it.
Like NECA TMNT? There’s plenty more where this came from:
Another year, another Haulathon. Haulathon, and the very similar Fall Geek Out, have become basically the only instances each year where NECA releases Target exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise as well as non-exclusive merchandise. It’s honestly not a lot of fun as it just creates a frenzy of panic where collectors aren’t sure what…
Something that is likely common to most of humanity is a desire to be successful. We all measure success differently, be it professional, financial, or something else, but we all strive for it. And sometimes success can feel like a burden. Take NECA’s line of action figures based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property.…
When you’re doing a syndicated cartoon expected to air basically every day, you need to pull story ideas from anywhere you can. I think that’s why parodies are so popular in the cartoons of the 80s to the point where it didn’t matter if the show was parodying something kids would actually know. Take REX-1,…
In writing up my review of Bartman from Super7’s line of Ultimates! based on The Simpsons, I got a little hot. That figure had some errors in its presentation that annoyed me, but what annoyed me more was the refusal to just let the figure exist as Bart Simpson and Bartman. It was clearly designed so the body could be reused to do so, but that will never happen because the line has been cancelled. How do I know the body was designed to be a regular Bart eventually? Because the cape was entirely removable. It just slipped over the ball joint for the neck. If they wanted that body to just be Bartman, it would have been embedded in the sculpt. That’s what would have matched the show, and that’s what they did with today’s figure of Duffman.
It’s a muscle dude in a cape wit a belt full of beer – what’s there to be mad about?
Duffman should be a nice cool down review for me because what’s there to get upset about when it comes to Duffman? Aside from him existing all together (and we’ll get to that), this is a goofy character that has reappeared a few times throughout the show’s run. For a franchise that usually just tries to sell to a hardcore fanbase that worships the show’s “Golden Era,” Duffman represents a pretty late addition having first appeared in Season Nine’s “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson.” Most fans of The Simpsons consider the eighth season to be the last of the supposed golden age and I tend to agree. Though it’s worth pointing out that this episode Duffman hails from is technically a production Season Eight episode.
Duffman seems to scale fine, but man, Simpsons head sizes are kind of crazy.
No matter, it’s Duffman, a silly parody of beer mascots from the real world the most obvious being Budman. These sorts of characters don’t really happen too often anymore because they’re kind of scummy. Who likes super heroes more than anyone? Children, and marketing alcohol to children is a shitty thing to do. It’s why we no longer have Budman, Spuds MacKenzie (more on him to follow), and Joe Camel. These are all things that I was exposed to as a kid and I think Budweiser is gross and don’t smoke, so maybe the hysteria over them was all for nothing? Duffman, as a parody of those types of characters, is fairly one note, but not without merit. He shows up with his own soundtrack (“Ohh yeah”) and is fond of thrusting towards things he wants to draw attention to. He’s usually accompanied by a bunch of party women and lots of Duff beer. Someone at Super7 must have felt he was too hilarious not to make a figure out of, or maybe they just liked his threads? It’s also possible one of the prime motivators for doing a Duffman this early in the line was because Playmates never did with their World of Springfield line. That one had to tiptoe around the alcohol associated with the show because they were sold at toy stores and Walmart. Super7 doesn’t have to do that and Disney has been surprisingly okay with alcohol in this line, though I do wonder if some restrictions were put in place.
Duffman may be tall, but Scratchy still has him beat.
Duffman comes in the standard Ultimates! style of packaging. Out of the box, he stands approximately 7.5″ making him among the tallest in the short-lived line. He strikes a more heroic figure than Bartman with broad shoulders, a puffed out chest, and slim waist. Seriously, Hasbro could stand to take some cues from this guy. Like Bartman, he has a nice, matte, finish whether we’re talking the yellow skin, red hat, or blue costume. Every surface has been coated with paint even when the underlying plastic is cast in the same color. This does mean you’ll get some paint flaking at the joints where the paint can’t adhere properly to the harder plastic, but it’s a small price to pay. The cape is done with soft goods and it’s embedded in the torso. This means it isn’t removable, but why would it need to be? The sunglasses are also part of the sculpt, but there are painted eyes behind them. The belt, which is lovingly adorned with cans of Duff beer, appears to clasp in the back, but it may be reenforced with glue which is fine by me. The cans, unfortunately, are not removable.
Duffman is number 1!
Duffman comes with a smattering of accessories. He has a whole bunch of hands, but surprisingly not a lot of pairs. For actual pairs of hands there’s a set of relaxed/narrow gripping hands and a set of style pose hands that I think are supposed to work with an accessory, but don’t. There’s a pointing right hand, a left fist, a right chop, a left “Devil Horns” gesture, and a right, wide, gripping hand. There’s also a “foam” finger hand since Duffman does make appearances at the stadium for the Springfield Isotopes. I believe the style pose hands are supposed to work with the included Duff beer 7-pack accessory, but the fingers won’t fit through the openings. They can grab the rings from the side, so maybe that was the intention? Perhaps with some heat and force the finger could sneak through the slots, but the accessory is fully painted and Duffman’s hands are white. Plus, the wide gripping hand can grab that 7th can just fine. The cans are painted just as well as the ones on his belt, but can’t come out of the rings. Did Disney allow the use of Duff cans so long as they couldn’t be removed from the belt or this ring setup? It would be kind of odd, but maybe they have a line in the sand when it comes to toy beer.
My open mouth head has an awful black mark on the teeth I may try to touch up.
If you’re a big fan of Santa’s Little Helper then Wave Two of Simpsons Ultimates! has probably made you happy.
Duffman also comes with a couple of alternate portraits. His default one is his big smile, the expression he wears more often than not in the show. He also has a yelling head for when he needs to get the party going. The last head is covered with an oversized Duff beer sticker from the episode “Pygmoelian.” It’s a bit of a stupid, gag, head that likely no one will use especially since it was slapped on his face in the episode by a post plastic surgery Moe. The sticker is removable as it just pegs into his mouth, but the expression without it isn’t of much use as a display piece. It’s not an egregious inclusion because what else is truly needed for Duffman? A keg would have been cool, I suppose, or some Duff beer in bottles. His final accessory is Santa’s Little Helper as Suds McDuff. Yes, another parody of a dead beer mascot and our second SLH of the wave. This one is less articulated than the first as he’s in a seated position. The head rotates, but that’s it. The figure is well-painted, but once again, fans may be left wishing it could be converted into a generic version of the family dog and not forced to live as this gimmick version.
The sticker face is an okay gag, but probably not something many are likely to make use of.
The sticker is removable if you want a…sucking face?
Articulation for Duffman is going to be pretty basic and typical of the line: double-ball-peg head, hinged shoulder pegs, single jointed elbows, hinged wrists that swivel, ball-jointed hips, single-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge and rock. What he lacks is torso articulation of any kind that I can tell. If there’s a waist twist here it doesn’t want to go and I don’t want to push it. The cape is also wired and can be posed reasonably well, but everything else is pretty limited. Elbows and knees can’t bend 90 degrees and the ankle hinge is pretty limited. The belt prevents him from kicking forward much and he can’t kick back at all. This is a set it and forget it kind of figure. The joints are also pretty tight, but the hips have some looseness to them. Not enough to make it a problem now, but something to keep an eye on.
At the end of the day, it’s Duffman. He’s fine.
Duffman is an easy figure to review as I could have simply said if you like what you see, then you’ll like this figure. It would have saved me a lot of time too. This figure isn’t going to pose very well, but it’s at least well-executed when it comes to the presentation. I wish the elbows were a little better and that he had a proper waist twist. I think he’s supposed to, but mine is tight or the belt is holding it in place. As for the rest, the accessories are fine. One of the heads is pretty useless and I would trade it for something else, but it’s not a huge problem for me. When it comes to any lingering feelings towards Duffman, it’s just a question of was it too soon for this character? Considering the second wave consisted of a Simpson, an A-list secondary character, a fan-favorite one-off, and Duffman I think it’s fine. Would I have picked him for this wave? No, but I’m not angered by his inclusion. Now, if I had known the line would only last four waves from the start well then, yeah, I’d be pretty irritated, but that’s not Duffman’s fault. I do think it’s bizarre that two waves into the line and no female characters are present, but not egregious. That’s more a critique for wave three. As was the case with Bartman, if you think $55 is a proper price for this figure and you want a Duffman then I say go for it. If you’d rather not spend that much then hold off because this figure has clearance written all over it given he’s not an in-demand character and the line is already cancelled.
We’ve got plenty more reviews of The Simpsons by Super7:
When I concluded my review of wave 1 of The Simpsons Ultimates! from Super7 I was thinking that I’d be back with more reviews later in the year. That was in February of 2023. We are now in April of 2024 and finally wave two has arrived (my original order was place January 5th, 2022).…
Our first two looks at the inaugural wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons have been two very episode specific takes. One was Deep Space Homer from the episode of the same name where Homer went to space and the figure presents the character in his space suit. The second figure was Poochie,…
Slowly but surely I am clearing out all of the action figure preorders I placed in the year 2021. Of the ones that had been remaining, the line I was most looking forward to experiencing was the line of Super7 Ultimates! based on The Simpsons. It was August of 2021 when these suckers went up…
Say the name “The King” to a comic book fan and they will immediately know of whom you speak. Jack Kirby is a titan in the world of comics. Creator or co-creator of a great many characters known throughout the world today, it’s hard to imagine what a comic book would look like without his influence. It was probably around the 1980s when the kids who grew up reading his work themselves broke into comics when his legacy and influence really started to shine. Two of his biggest fans also happened to be the co-creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Such big fans of Kirby were they that they essentially wrote him into an issue of one of their comics. The Donatello one-shot, “Kirby and the Warp Crystal,” sees the brainy turtle pulled into an another dimension where he has to work with a comic book artist by the name of Kirby to save the native inhabitants of this world and make it home. Kirby, with his pencil that has a magic stone affixed to it, is able to bring to life whatever he draws on his pad of paper. The issue has been re-released multiple times and included in trade paperbacks and was even adapted into an episode of the 2003 cartoon series where it was simply titled “The King.”
It’s impressive how detailed the sketch of Donatello turned out.
Through NECA’s line of action figures based on the Mirage Studios version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles we now have Jack Kirby – the action figure. Technically, it’s just Kirby and he is based on Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s caricature of Jack Kirby himself. It’s a release done with the blessing of Kirby’s estate and the credits on the bottom of the box reference the Kirby for Hero’s program and The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center. Jack Kirby is mostly known for being an incredible artist, but he’s also known as a strong advocate for creator’s rights. Kirby, like a great many comic book artists, created their work under work-for-hire contracts that gave the publisher sole, creative, control over anything the artist came up with. It’s an unjust and unfair practice that has at least improved since the 1960s, but is hardly perfect.
“Thanks for the hardware, Kirby!”
The Kirby action figure isn’t one that is necessarily meant to “wow” those who buy it. It is, after all, an action figure of a middle-aged man with a pencil and paper, but it’s Jack Kirby! It comes in the standard trapezoidal box with brand new artwork on the front and sides by Kevin Eastman with product shots featured on the back. There is a cross-sell that would seem to indicate a new Triceraton infantryman character is on the way which makes sense since it would allow NECA to get more use out of the tools created for Zog. The other characters on the cross-sell are the Mirage-colors Foot Enforcer (coming soon) and the much awaited Rat King, a figure that was shown off last year at San Diego Comic Con.
“Ok, I’ll give it a try, but I can only draw stick figures.”
Out of the box, Kirby stands just a tick over the 6″ mark. He’s featured in a green sweater over a pale yellow, collared, shirt with blue slacks and brown loafers. It’s a simple figure, but it’s brightly painted with liberal use of black linework to give it that comic “pop” the line is known for. Kirby’s face is a mixture of excitement and concentration like his mind is working in overdrive to come up with something imaginative to capture on his pad of paper. The likeness to the artwork is very well done and, in turn, the likeness to the actual Jack Kirby is pretty solid as well. It’s a comic book version of Kirby and I think it works pretty well to capture how he probably looked in the 60s and 70s. There aren’t any obvious paint blemishes on my figure and everything appears to be in order.
The blaster doesn’t really fit the new turtle bodies all that well. It gets hung-up on the elbow pad.
What do you give an action figure of a comic book artist for accessories? Why, a pencil and paper, of course! Kirby has his pencil affixed with the magic stone. It’s this teeny, tiny, little item that is exceptionally painted for something so small. I’m not seeing any slop on the black thread holding the purple stone in place which is really impressive. Kirby has a set of fists, but he also has a right hand that is fixed into a pencil holding position to accept the accessory. I do question the wisdom of doing it this way. While it’s impressive how well the little pencil turned out, making it part of the hand mold might have made more sense as I fear this item getting lost. Kirby also has a wide gripping, left, hand and he’ll need it to hold his pad of paper. It’s a spiral-bound notebook and on one side is a sketch of Donatello from that issue with the special arm canon Kirby conjures up for him and on the rear is a demonic-looking character. Kirby also has a set of more standard gripping hands should you wish to give him some weapons or something, but I don’t know why you would.
This new version of the Gravitic Equalizer also lacks a lot of the paint hits as the one that came with the Fugitoid.
Also included in the box is a familiar accessory. It’s the blue arm canon (dubbed the Gravitic Equalizer by Kirby) from the Donatello one-shot which was previously released with Fugitoid. This time it has considerably less paint as it’s just all blue with black linework. The back of the box shows Kirby paired with the more recent, Jim Lawson, Donatello, but this accessory is meant for the original Eastman/Laird turtles that NECA did way back in 2008. I had no success getting this thing onto the newer turtles as they have bigger arms. Maybe some heat and persistence could cure that? The biggest accessory though is this little, red and gray demon from that very same issue. This little guy was created by Eastman and Laird, but very much looks like something Jack Kirby would have dreamt up. He’s about 3.125″ tall and features basic articulation at the head, shoulders, and hips. There’s more paint on this guy than a whole wave of Marvel Legends and he has this little hammer accessory. It’s gray with black shading and looks pretty neat. His hands aren’t the most pliable so you may want to heat them up if you want him to get a real good grip on it.
Kirby also comes with a little buddy.
Articulation for Kirby is pretty solid and typical of the more human characters we see in NECA’s cartoon TMNT line. He’s got a ball-jointed head, hinged pegs at the shoulders, double-elbows that feature a hinged ball peg at the top and bottom, forearm swivel, wrists that swivel and hinge horizontally, ball-jointed waist, ball-socket hips, thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, ankle swivel, ball-hinged feet, and an ankle rocker. The shirt overlay will limit his movement in the torso, but his arm range is a plus and he won’t have any issue sketching on that notepad. The NECA double elbows are in effect and I know some people hate how these look. I’ve always maintained I think they look okay on sleeved arms like this so I’m fine with their use here. I like the extra forearm swivel they provide and I like that the hinged ball at the ankle pegs into the shin so we get a little extra swivel there. The only thing I don’t love is the “diaper” at the crotch which restricts leg movement. I can see a lot of collectors wanting to pair this figure with a 1:12 scale chair and desk and getting him to sit might be a problem.
And when I say little I do mean little.
A figure of a comic book artist isn’t as exciting as that of a ninja or a cyborg, but the fact that it’s Jack Kirby certainly adds a tantalizing layer to it. I can’t tell if this is a figure NECA will have a hard time moving a lot of units for or if it’s the type of figure that’s going to do very well as non-TMNT collectors may jump at the chance of owning a small version of The King. It’s a tremendously fun homage and I think my only true critique is I do wish it could have come with a chair and drafting table. Even if it upped the cost or we had to drop the little demon guy, I would have done it. I can see people creating displays of Kirby at a desk drawing away with a shelf over his head of his many creations in dramatic action poses. This is a fun one and I’m sure it was a dream come true for Kevin Eastman to make this figure a reality.
Kirby is going to hang out on my shelf with the O.G. turtles
Kirby is currently hitting Target stores as part of the NECA Haulathon event, but expect him to be made available at other retailers in the not too distant future. At Target, he’ll set you back $35 which I think is a pretty good price for this one.
Check out more from NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pulled from the pages of Mirage Studios:
Haulathon 2023 has brought some pretty big releases to NECA’s line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures. And I mean big in a literal sense. REX-1 was tall and hefty and the multi-armed clone of Shredder was no slouch either. Those two seem to pale in comparison to Zog, the Triceraton warrior from NECA’s…
I’m having a hard time coming up with an action figure line that has had retail releases separated by more than a decade. I don’t mean long-running lines of figures like G.I. Joe or Marvel Legends which have been around for decades, I mean a line that was started, ended, then re-started like NECA’s line…
When it comes to the popularity of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a lot of the credit goes to Playmates Toys. Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created the characters born out of a joke. Credit them for having the vision to think this joke had appeal beyond their small circle as they self-published Teenage Mutant Ninja…
It’s sort of interesting to me that the first Dragon Ball action figure I review after the passing of creator Akira Toriyama is one based off of the artwork of his protege – Toyotarou. Toyotarou basically lived the dream of fanfic artist and writer turned official. It’s rumored that he worked on the fan-fic manga Dragon Ball AF, though I don’t know if that’s ever been confirmed or refuted, and he was the artist and writer for Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission. All of this work within the Dragon Ball universe must have put him on Toriyama’s radar for it was he who selected Toyotarou to be the artist for the Dragon Ball Super manga.
This figure comes in a much larger box than usual.
As a celebration of Toyotarou’s contributions to Dragon Ball and to also celebrate 15 years of S.H. Figuarts Dragon Ball releases, Bandai decided to release this special Toyotarou edition of the previously released Ultra Instinct Son Goku figure from Dragon Ball Super. The figure has been outfitted with new face plates to better reflect Toyotarou’s art style, which really isn’t all that different from Toriyama’s. The main feature seems to be narrower eyes which have a different sharpness about them. Toyotarou was also able to influence the expressions we have here and the figure received a slight re-deco to more reflect the colorization of the manga vs the anime. To cap it off, this release comes in an oversized box which also includes a book. Titled the Dragon Ball S.H.Figupedia, it catalogs all of the figures released in the line and also includes some short interviews and quotes from the people who are closest to the line. The only omission of note is Toriyama himself which is a bit of a shame. Maybe Dragon Ball action figures just weren’t his thing?
And the box is much larger than usual because it has this book all about the S.H.Figuarts line.
The figure itself is a reissue so it’s going to be pretty familiar to anyone who has the old figure. It’s also familiar to really anyone who has purchased a Goku from this line. For me, I never got the initial figure and there’s actually a lot more “new” here than I would have expected. He does share a lot of parts with one of the Goku figures I have and that’s the Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken edition. Both figures feature the same legs and arms, though for this figure the hole for the sleeves in the shoulder has been removed. The belt piece is different since it needed to include the tattered remains of Goku’s blue undershirt and the torso is completely different since this Goku is bare-chested. Basically every Goku uses the same hands and feet while the heads are obviously completely different. I believe the main hair piece is the same as before too, though it may have been modified for these new faces as these key-into the sculpt in a unique manner from what I’ve been exposed to.
There’s certainly new stuff here, but from the waist down these two figures are the same
Ultra Instinct lends itself well to simple, calm, posing.
Goku stands at roughly 5.75″ to the top of where his head should be. The hair is a nice, pearl, silver and it’s an opaque piece of plastic, not translucent like some special edition figures we’ve seen. The ears on all of the faces are slightly larger as that is something Toyotarou feels is a part of his take on Goku and I honestly wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t point it out in the included interview. The facial details are very sharp and crisp as this continues to be a real strength for the line. The torso and arms have sculpted battle damage, but no paint to bring them out. There is a slight wash to the torso and shoulders, a soft pink or orange which does give the figure a nice bit of warmth. It’s not on the rear of the torso which looks cold as a result. There appears to a hint of a dark wash to the pants which I mostly notice in the crotch and at the tips of the frayed parts. Otherwise, paint is mostly reserved for the wrist bands, boots, and some of the exposed flesh of the legs. The colors match well throughout and I am still quite fond of this torn gi sculpt. All in all, a nice looking version of Goku.
I’m really digging this eyes closed portrait.
They never stood a chance.
The different faces and hair help to bring this figure to life. Out of the box, Goku has the silver hair that most resembles the shape of his natural hair, but he also has a windswept version to swap to for action shots. Both look very nice and it will be hard to settle on a display for very long. His default face is a stoic one, but he also has a yelling portrait, side-eye, clenched teeth, and an eyes closed option. The eyes closed option is pretty damn cool and suits this form rather well, though it’s hard to turn-down how expressive the opened eyes are. I’m not normally into the side-eye options, but this one is like a glare. Whoever is getting the side-eye treatment from Goku is really pissing him off. For hands, the usual assortment is at play here: fists, martial arts posed, Kamehameha, and open. Nothing really special there and no effect part was included. That’s the only downgrade from the initial release which had a charging blast effect. It would have been nice to get one of those, though we have received quite a few of late. Really, a new aura would have been awesome as Ultra Instinct has this thick, almost syrupy, silver aura at times in the anime. It would have been fun to see Tamashii Nations attempt that.
The wind swept hair is a nice touch.
Maybe I should have grabbed Jiren after all so this Goku would have someone to battle?
The articulation for this Goku is virtually the same as the many other Goku figures we have received over the years save for the most recent Legendary Super Saiyan version which is on an all new body. I’ll link to some at the end of this entry if you want the full write-up, but suffice to say it all works just as well here, if not better. And it’s only better because there’s no shirt to have to deal with, but that was never a huge hindrance anyway. He actually can’t bring his arms across his chest any better than other figures and maybe a touch less. You just don’t have the sleeve flaps to fiddle with which is nice. I also can’t tell if there is a hinged peg setup in the diaphragm or if there’s just a little play on joint itself. It doesn’t lift as high as the other Goku figures, if so, but the clearance is fine and you get some forward and back articulation. It’s a well articulated Goku and the only things I dislike is the hinged ball peg at the head and the ball peg ankles.
Goku’s determined face.
The included book is basically the flagship accessory for this figure. Is that better than a blast effect? Yeah, kind of. Only because the book is unique and pretty well done. There isn’t anything truly revealing in it, no earth-shattering details about the development of the line or anything like that. It’s mostly just a celebration of the line and the product shots inside are all from the various solicitations we’ve seen in the past. I was hoping for a tease or maybe a reveal at the end of the book, but there’s nothing like that in it. It basically includes up to the Mecha Frieza figure, which is about to be released, and nothing beyond that. In terms of figures that have been revealed, it’s already out of date, but it probably would have been impossible for that to be avoided unless they had prototypes available for photography well in advance of the solicitations. Perhaps they could have done something to future-proof it a little via concept art or renders, but it probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference. It’s fun to flip through and the quality is pretty standard stuff. It’s 143 pages and in full color. There’s a dust cover on it, though it is a soft cover book. I like stuff like this so this was a selling point for me. Some people might not care and want more out of the figure for 80 bucks.
The book should be pretty fun for those who have been into this line for years.
The Ultra Instinct Son Goku – Toyotarou edition is a solid release for Bandai and Tamashii Nations. The figure captures the Toyotarou aesthetic rather well and I think it’s an improvement over the original release. It just stinks for those who missed out on that figure and wanted this one and had no interest in paying for the book. The figure doesn’t come with a whole lot and is basically like a 50 dollar release for the line meaning you’re paying about 30 bucks for the book and fancy packaging. When the first edition of this figure came out I wasn’t really sold on the Ultra Instinct design so I passed on it. I’ve warmed to it a bit since so I was happy about this new version as well as the included book. Yeah, I do wish there was an effect part or something else in the box, but I’m fairly content. I’m curious how many more Goku reissues on this body are to come. It feels like we’re on the verge of Bandai moving to a new body for the star of Dragon Ball and I’ll be curious to see if that does indeed happen. This figure was a Premium Bandai exclusive where the MSRP was $80. It’s sold out so if you want it you will have to track one down elsewhere. Maybe you’ll be able to get it for less if you don’t want the book? More likely, it will cost you more.
My isn’t that title a mouthful? This version of the classic character Goku comes to you from Bandai via New York Comic Con. If I were to simplify that title, I’d call it shiny Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken Goku, which is still pretty wordy. I guess blame Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama for the obsession…
I can remember a time in my life when I was just dying to see Goku, the hero of Dragon Ball Z, become that which was prophesized: a Super Saiyan! The seed for such a transformation wasn’t planted very early in the show and really only started being mentioned as the original version of the…
I believe I have touched on it before, and it’s also probably common knowledge among fans of Dragon Ball, that the story was supposed to end with Gohan’s triumph over Perfect Cell. Goku was dead and gone having sacrificed himself to save the world, but his son would carry on his legacy in his own…
When I concluded my review of wave 1 of The Simpsons Ultimates! from Super7 I was thinking that I’d be back with more reviews later in the year. That was in February of 2023. We are now in April of 2024 and finally wave two has arrived (my original order was place January 5th, 2022). I don’t know what the deal was, but for whatever reason The Simpsons got really backed up at Super7. Some of it was probably due to the licensor in Disney which we know forced the company to remove a cigarette smoking head from the Krusty figure. My understanding is the head was approved by The Simpsons team at 20th Century Television, but once it got to Disney it had to go. They have a strict no smoking policy when it comes to merchandise and while it was disappointing, I get it. Did that one alteration cause this line to get so severely delayed? Maybe, because waves 3 and 4 shipped right behind it. Unfortunately, there were more issues.
He’s a little guy.
Super7’s co-founder Brian Flynn announced in an interview on the Robo Don’t Know YouTube channel earlier this year that Simpsons (and their relationship with Disney) was dead. He didn’t elaborate except to say that the two companies didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Disney didn’t “get it” when it came to the Super7 business model. And maybe that’s because no one can figure that out? I thought about making a post about that interview here and the line’s cancellation, but realized it would just be a rant and I don’t really do rants. Super7’s approach to The Simpsons has been asinine. I’ve been a defender of the episode-specific approach of the company’s figures, but I’m also not dense. I can see all over social media and on YouTube the response to the line which has been “Where’s the regular family?” In that very same interview the line was announced as cancelled, Flynn talks about the importance of heavy hitters and recognizable characters to a wave of action figures. The reference is to ThunderCats, but for whatever reason that logic wasn’t applied to The Simpsons. Super7 figured that out way too late because they revealed a fifth wave which was going to include Marge (with Maggie), Lisa, and Groundskeeper Wily all in their normal, everyday, attire. Too little, too late, because the line is ending with the fourth wave.
Bartman is in some respects an action figure I really like. It’s pretty well made and looks like the character it’s supposed to. It’s also a terrific encapsulation for why this line is a failure. Before we get into that, let’s just talk about Bartman the action figure. It comes in the standard Ultimates! box with cloud-covered slipcover with an image of Bartman on the back and a note on which episode he first appeared in. Removing the slipcover reveals the figure inside behind a window box. These slipcovers are supposed to be going away soon, but at least it’s uniform for now with the first wave of The Simpsons.
Does he scale with Poochie? I have no idea, but this is what the two look like together.
Out of the box, Bartman stands at approximately four and a half inches. This puts the top of his spiky hair right at about chest level when compared with wave one’s Deep Space Homer. Bartman is probably a little too big for perfect scale, but it seems okay enough. As this is Bartman, it’s Bart Simpson with a cape and cowl mimicking Batman. This was mostly a licensing thing back in the early 90s, but Bartman did appear in the Season Three episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” which is where most of the inspiration for this figure comes from. The cowl is part of the sculpt and painted a dark purple. The shirt is Bart’s traditional orange which is in keeping with the episode, though most Bartman depictions outside of the show featured a light blue shirt. That would have made for an obvious variant, but I’m guessing that’s not going to happen now. Bartman has his blue shorts and blue sneakers and most of the figure appears to be colored plastic, but with a matte finish to reduce that shiny, plastic, look. The yellow parts of the limbs lack that finish, unfortunately, but it stands out less with a small figure.
From what I’ve been able to ascertain, this smiling head is not supposed to feature a side-eyed glance.
The paint on the head is pretty crisp. There will likely be minor imperfections around the eyes of most figures, but nothing egregious. Unfortunately, the pupils on mine are not aligned properly giving him a side-eye portrait. This appears to be uncommon based on images I’ve seen online. The cowl helps lessen the need for more of an outline on those eyes, something I felt Homer and Moe from wave one would have benefitted from. His default portrait features a toothy smile and it looks fine. There’s no black linework on his teeth, but that might have been overkill if present. Bartman does feature a cape, but for some reason it’s blue. His cape and cowl should match, and I don’t know if the shade of the cowl is even the right purple, but it’s close enough to the show. It also has a bow on it for some reason, which also doesn’t match the show. The bow matches the licensing art, but the shirt doesn’t – pick a lane, Super7! Bartman features a utility belt and I think it came from a video game. For a second, I thought it might be from “The Homer They Fall,” but that episode features a completely different belt. It’s thankfully easily removable and just slides right off the figure. The factory also missed (or whoever approved the paint sample missed it) the white circles on the inner half of Bart’s shoes. The circle is sculpted on his feet, but they were left blue like the rest of the foot.
This portrait is an odd choice.
Bart definitely needs his trusty slingshot.
Bartman comes with a whole bunch of accessories from that episode I mentioned earlier. He has four sets of hands: fists, relaxed, style posed, gripping. He also has a ninth hand clutching a wad of money. For head portraits, we get two extra: stoic and worried. The stoic head is bizarre in that his mouth is in a smile position, but his eyelids are partially closed. I don’t know what Super7 was going for, he just looks high. The worried look is fine and it pairs well with another accessory, or if paired with the money hand it can make him look desperate to purchase Radioactive Man number 1, but why no angry portrait? Most Bartman images feature an angry, or determined, expression and that’s even true of a lot of the episode. Hell, just look at the reference art on the damn box. It’s an odd omission.
Bartman can’t fly, so he kind of needs a skateboard to get around.
I’m so glad he comes with his trusty…bird’s nest?
For the rest of the stuff, we get Bart’s green skateboard. It features working wheels and has the familiar orange stripe down the center and a single peg for one of Bart’s feet. There’s the issue of Radioactive Man number 1 and the printing of the cover looks okay. It’s not a perfect recreation, and the back is blank, but it’s okay. There’s a bird’s nest which features a lone, white, bird and the remnants of the comic inside it. It’s an impressive paint job, but what the hell am I going to do with this? Bartman also has his trusty slingshot. He doesn’t have a back pocket to store it in, but it’s sculpted like it’s being drawn and the figure can do an okay job of simulating such a pose. Lastly, we get Santa’s Little Helper with Radioactive Man number 1 in his maw. The front legs and head swivel so it’s not a slug figure and overall he looks good. I wish he had an action pose head simulating him shaking it back and forth like how we see swirling effects for characters that have weapons they swing (think Thor’s hammer accessory from Hasbro, or Michelangelo’s whirling nunchaku effect) in circular motions. Or just a regular Santa’s Little Helper head to swap, but that would make too much sense.
At least Santa’s Little Helper is a nice inclusion.
The articulation for Bartman is nothing we haven’t seen before. A double ball-pegged head lets him look around reasonably well with little room to look up and down. Ball-hinged shoulders let his arms rotate and go out to the side while the single jointed elbows swivel and bend about ninety degrees. Wrists rotate and hinge and all of the hinges are horizontal in nature. There’s a ball joint at the waist for swivel and some tilt, though the t-shirt restricts a lot of that. The legs won’t go out to the side for full splits or kick forward all the way, but the range is probably enough for Bartman. The knees bend less than ninety degrees and the ankles feature hinges with limited range and acceptable ankle rockers. The cape is wired, so it has some pose-ability as well. It’s not big enough to do anything crazy, but it will work to simulate motion if you put Bartman on his skateboard or in a flight stand.
“Umm, Krusty? Your robe is open…”
Objectively speaking, this is a solid action figure. It moves well enough and it looks pretty good, though some of the flaws feel inexcusable at this price range. As a Simpsons fan though, I am so annoyed by this release. The cape is the wrong color and has a stupid bow on it that shouldn’t be there. The belt is useless and not from the episode this figure is drawing inspiration from and it along with the bird’s nest could have been scrapped for something better. How about, oh I don’t know, a plain Bart Simpson head?! Would that have been so hard? And if you’re thinking of painting one of the existing heads, the cowl is part of the sculpt and it will look awful if you were to do that. We don’t even get the most suitable Bartman portrait nor do we get a normal Santa’s Little Helper. Super7 went out of their way to deny us a regular Bart figure with a bunch of useless junk in the box and then they go on YouTube and act surprised that sales weren’t as good as they expected and can’t understand why Disney won’t just let them do what they want. I don’t normally do this, but whoever was in charge of this line at Super7 should be demoted or outright fired. It is the most asinine, stubborn, absurd approach to marketing a toy line that I have ever seen. At some point during these years of development Super7 could have added a Bart head to the package. “We hear you, we screwed up, here’s the thing you’re asking for,” but instead they dug in their heals, didn’t even bother putting a Simpson in Wave 3, stuck another Homer variant in Wave 4, then threw their hands in the air when it all went to shit.
“Finally, Radioactive Man #1 is mine.”
If you want a Bartman figure, this is fine. If the imperfections are going to ruin it for you, then by all means give it a pass. And if you’re on the fence, considering that the line is dead you will probably save yourself some money if you wait. I preordered all of Wave Two from Super7 directly as a show of good faith and to tell them I want more Simpsons. How did that work out for me?
Slowly but surely I am clearing out all of the action figure preorders I placed in the year 2021. Of the ones that had been remaining, the line I was most looking forward to experiencing was the line of Super7 Ultimates! based on The Simpsons. It was August of 2021 when these suckers went up…
Our first two looks at the inaugural wave of Ultimates! from Super7 based on The Simpsons have been two very episode specific takes. One was Deep Space Homer from the episode of the same name where Homer went to space and the figure presents the character in his space suit. The second figure was Poochie,…
We’re back with the fourth, and final, review of the inaugural wave of Super7 Ultimates! from The Simpsons. And today, you’re getting a two for one as we’re looking at two figures: Robot Itchy and Robot Scratchy. This pair hails from the Season 6 episode “Itchy & Scratchy Land” which was one part Westworld and…
They call themselves punks, but look more like poseurs.
Another year, another Haulathon. Haulathon, and the very similar Fall Geek Out, have become basically the only instances each year where NECA releases Target exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise as well as non-exclusive merchandise. It’s honestly not a lot of fun as it just creates a frenzy of panic where collectors aren’t sure what to expect. Will there be enough stock? Will any of this ever come back? Can I afford to miss out? Can I afford to not miss out?! I think last year I dropped over 400 bucks for this thing as there was something in the neighborhood of five two-packs, an accessory set, and some solo figures. You have to play the game though if you want to stay up-to-date with your collection, and after many trips to Target this past week I was at least able to land perhaps the most sought after this season: the Punk Disguise Turtles four-pack.
The spread. Only items not pictured are the extra hands.
The “punk” turtles is the name attached to the boys when they opt to go with leather jackets and sunglasses as a disguise over their traditional trench coats and fedoras. They popped up in the first mini series, albeit in different colors from what this box set represents. They showed up again for Usagi Yojimbo’s debut episode and it’s those outfits that NECA decided to go with. That means a black leather jacket for Leonardo, a dark gray leather jacket for Michelangelo, a brown leather jacket for Raphael, and a brown bomber jacket for Donatello. All four sport color-coded sunglasses with no bandana underneath and some fashionable high top sneakers. Going back to when I was a kid, I always thought this was a profoundly goofy look for the turtles. How on earth is this an actual disguise? Anyone who would see them would not be fooled at all. And why is it that adding a jacket makes them look even more naked than usual? It’s funny, and the whole show was pretty goofy so I am down for these types of releases from NECA that highlight just how goofy the show could get.
What kind of grocery store lets pants-less turtles in to do their shopping?
The four-pack is just that, a four pack of the turtles in these goofy attires. It comes in the now standard window box with toy photography on the sides and rear as well as a cross-sell of other figures. No flap or original artwork this time which is kind of nice since I won’t be tempted to save yet another box. These figures were sculpted by Josh Sutton and Tomasz Rozejowski. I don’t have a box from the Turtles in Disguise set handy and I’m curious if that’s where Sutton’s credit comes from as there are some parts shared. Then again, the hands in this set go way back to Trevor Zammit’s sculpts and he doesn’t get a credit. Either way, I do know that Rozejowski did a lot of the sculpting for this set which is mostly new stuff. Basically the neck, hands, and thighs are reuse. The bits inside the figures are likely reused as well, but the arms, torso overlays, shins, and shoes are new. The plastron is either new or heavily modified for the overlays which glue into the spot where the belt buckle normally would be. The back is hollow so these guys lack a shell, but there is a piece of the shell visible where the jackets end and that’s new.
The Turtle Van has plenty of room for groceries. It’s the ultimate Mom-mobile.
Obviously, the heads are all new and we basically get 3 identical ones and one unique head. The identical ones are all maskless and feature a large smile. The sunglasses peg into the sides of the head and have been glued in place, all except for the right side of my Raphael. It’s a good turtle likeness and I kind of wish the sunglasses were removable. These heads do not separate so what you see is what you get and they’re not compatible with the Turtles in Disguise heads. Michelangelo gets his own, unique, expression which is a big, toothy, grin. I do wish there was more variety here, even if it was just one more unique portrait to break up the display.
At least Usagi has sense enough to conceal his whole body, these dorks are going to blow his cover.
In true NECA fashion just about everything is painted. Even the parts molded in green plastic have some kind of overcoat to create a matte finish. It’s pretty clean too. Careful inspection of the shoes or the kneepads will turn up a blemish here or there, but nothing extreme. There’s a liberal amount of black linework on these figures throughout both the jacket and the physical anatomy. What’s not present is the usual two-tone approach to cel-shading NECA often goes with. It’s a feature of the line that is growing inconsistent the further we go. I’m not necessarily bothered by the omission so long as NECA keeps up the matte appearance and linework, but it may bother some people if they were expecting it.
Oh crap, I think I pissed them off with that “dorks” comment. Well, except Michelangelo who is apparently indulging in his favorite plant.
One of the big selling points for this set outside of the funny disguises are the alternate portraits. Each turtle comes with a more “punk” option that is an optional head with angry eyes and a mohawk. Once again, Michelangelo is the odd duck as he has these drowsy eyes (I’m sure other people will refer to these eyes as something else) with some vegetation on his head. This is from an episode where Michelangelo had to dress up like a plant to lure in a Seymour-like carnivorous plant. Maybe we’ll get the rest of the outfit in another set? The punk looks are from a European Tour episode, if I’m not mistaken. I don’t really remember them personally, but they look fun. And best of all, these ones are compatible with past sets as they separate below the bandana making these mouth options available for your other figures. At least, in theory they do, but these won’t work very well with any of the past versions of the Turtles in Disguise. I have both a matte set and a glossy one and I can say the full head-swap to these punk options look okay, but mixing the old eye parts with the new mouth parts looks pretty bad. The new Pizza Club editions of the turtles (single packed turtles being sold at Target now) should match them perfectly, but I’m personally not buying yet another set of turtles just to do that.
It’s great that the extra heads separate below the bandana for extra display options, but you’re not going to get much utility out of them unless you get the new “Pizza Club” release of the turtle figures.
The old mouth parts also aren’t going to work very well. They also don’t really fit on these new bodies because they’re too big.
The extra heads are, by far, the best included accessories, but we do have some more stuff. This set doesn’t seem as packed as that old Turtles in Disguise set and is more in-line with the recent four-packs. We get the standard assortment of hands: finger pointing, sai-gripping, open palms, and thumbs up hands. The four turtles all have to share those sets. Each turtle is equipped with gripping hands out of the box with Michelangelo and Donatello having the horizontal hinged hands and Leonardo and Raphael the vertical hinge. We also get two bags of groceries. They’re in brown paper bags and contain different contents. The items inside are fully sculpted and painted, but nothing is removable. One bag appears to contain food while the other stuff for Donatello’s lab. It’s a bit odd seeing the turtles purchasing so many vegetables, but this was the Usagi episode after all. Maybe they were for him?
Oh look, another skateboard and boom box…
At least this little robot dude is new.
We also get yet another skateboard. This one is a bit smaller than the last and has a more weathered appearance to it. It also rolls and I suppose it’s the best looking skateboard we’ve received so far. Speaking of things we probably didn’t need more of, there’s a pizza. No box or pan on this one, just toppings that appear to be pepperoni, mushroom, black olives, and banana peppers? Pretty tame by the show’s standards. Did you say you wanted another boom box for your turtles? Well you’re in luck because we got another one! I think this is the third one and it’s much smaller. It appears to be of the dual cassette variety and the turtles can hold it on their shoulder which they really need to be able to do in order to complete the look. Also included is a little ray gun with a red star on the handle. I have no idea where this is from, but it’s certainly from an episode. Lastly, is a little toy robot who is in a static pose like it’s running away from something or someone. It’s cute, though it’s another pull from the show I don’t have a specific memory of.
Even though these are the more “matte” Turtles in Disguise, you can still see how the punk turtles have a much darker shade of green for their skin tone.
Despite that, I think the new heads on the old bodies look okay. Just don’t try mixing and matching mouth and bandana parts.
The articulation this time around is a little different, but still pretty familiar. The head, neck, hips, and knees are all standard stuff from NECA TMNT releases of yonder while the big change is the inclusion of double-jointed elbows. Since these arms needed to be sleeved, it meant redoing the old single-jointed elbows with something better. I don’t know why they didn’t redo the elbows years ago for the regular turtles, and had they done so for the new Pizza Club versions they may have suckered me in once more, but it’s nice to have. I will say that I had a hard time initially with the thigh swivel on these figures. I had to invert them to get the proper leverage to loosen it up and they’re still pretty tight. I also wish there was a swivel at the ankle, but it looks like they just glued the feet onto the stumps of their shins. The ankles are not good as the range on both the hinge and rocker is pretty poor. And because of that, these figures can be more challenging to stand than expected. I’ll also add that my Donatello’s sunglasses head is pretty loose on the ball peg, though the alt head snaps on fine. Leonardo has a peg protruding from his left thigh that I’ll have to try and work deeper into the thigh with some heat. Otherwise, these are NECA TMNT figures. They’re going to move okay, but they’re hardly what one would consider super-articulated.
While a flying V guitar doesn’t strike me as punk rock, it’s certainly better than a keytar.
The one old figure that can make use of these new mouth parts.
This set of action figures is basically an expensive gag. If you are like me and always wanted to have these versions of the turtles on your shelf then you’re probably going to want this set. If they look too stupid to you though then I would say don’t bother. The extra mouth parts aren’t work the asking price of $150, especially since they’re not truly compatible with the old figures. I feel like NECA puts a Turtle Tax on all of their TMNT four packs and this one is no exception. The value is pretty poor as it’s putting each turtle at 37.50 a piece. If you parsed this set out into four separate releases there’s no way you’d find that much value in each one considering each figure only has one extra set of hands, one extra portrait, and an accessory or two. For the price, I feel like we should have got more extra parts to use with the other turtles or the two jackets seen in Season One which were red and white. With a modified approach, the jackets and arms could have been swappable pieces on at least Leo and Raph. If the mohawks and Mikey’s floral arrangement plugged into the bandana knot somehow that also would have given the new heads more utility. It is what it is though and that’s basically the going rate for a NECA four-pack feature the turtles. And if you’re curious, the new Pizza Club releases are $37 a piece and each only has one head, so I guess this four-pack is a better value?
Pay no attention to the Michelangelo driving the van…
If you’re looking to score a set for yourself then keep checking Target. These guys were part of the first week of Haulathon which seemed to have an unannounced street date of March 29th. It’s expected they’ll be shipping again during April so if you missed the initial drop it’s not too late. There will also be online drops on Fridays in April and this set should be a part of that as well. And if after that you’re still missing out, I’d say keep an eye on NECA’s webstore as they tend to make the turtle four-packs available through there as part of a second run. You’ll have to wait longer and pay their sometimes awful shipping fees (the flat rate option appears to be dead), but at least you should be able to get this set without having to resort to the secondary market. Unless you’re reading this in 2030, then you’re pretty well screwed.
When NECA started on this journey into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon it first began with a video game. An adaptation of a video game, to be more precise. The 2016 San Diego Comic Con exclusive contained a four pack of the famous, green, pizza destroyers in a pixel deco. They were the first…
We’re well into the cold of winter and spring feels like it’s just around the corner which means it must be time for another NECA Haulathon. Haulathon, if you don’t recall from last year, is basically a tandem promotion between NECA and Target which was just an excuse to get NECA some more visibility in…
The early issues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles released by Mirage Studios include a few guest stars here and there. One of them comes from the pages of Usagi Yojimbo, the samurai rabbit by the name of Miyamoto Usagi. The pairing of samurai rabbit and ninja turtles was a big enough success that it migrated…
At long last, the legendary Super Saiyan has shown itself!
I can remember a time in my life when I was just dying to see Goku, the hero of Dragon Ball Z, become that which was prophesized: a Super Saiyan! The seed for such a transformation wasn’t planted very early in the show and really only started being mentioned as the original version of the English dub was nearing its end, but it only took a cursory search of the internet to find out what a Super Saiyan was. Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Z wasn’t the hit FUNimation hoped it would be and that original direct-to-syndication order of a hacked-up 65 episodes was where it all ended for a long time. Only after interest was rekindled as we approached the new millennium did FUNimation go back to the localization process. Finally, on October 18th 1999, the legendary hero who was prophesized appeared on US airwaves (more than 8 years after doing so in Japan).
Goku’s initial Super Saiyan transformation was captured in plastic years ago by Bandai and Tamashii Nations. Dubbed “Awakening Super Saiyan,” it was one of the first releases in the S.H.Figuarts line to really catch my eye. I didn’t get it though, nor did I get the World Tour re-release of the figure which came out last year (or late 2022, I can’t remember). Unlike many of the convention exclusive releases in the line over the past few years, the World Tour edition of Super Saiyan Goku did not go up for preorder on the Premium Bandai website. It seemed an odd decision, but I think it was done because this particular figure we’re talking about today went up for preorder around the same time.
Not the proper Frieza to pair with this Goku, but give it time.
Super Saiyan Son Goku – Legendary Super Saiyan is a brand new release that features Goku from a bit later on in his fight against Frieza. The upper part of his gi has been obliterated at this point and his pants are in tatters. The more memorable aspect of this Goku though is just how damn big he got as that fight went on. He is positively jacked, similar to when he overdid it on the Kaio-ken against Vegeta, and his hair somehow seemed to get bigger too. I’ve always wondered if this is how series creator and artist Akira Toriyama envisioned the Super Saiyan transformation at first, then once he decided to make this something basically every Saiyan in the manga could do, decided to dial it back. With Goku as massive as he is against Frieza, there really wasn’t any other place to go with the Super Saiyan look when the characters needed to blow past that barrier. Vegeta in his ascended, buffed-out, state when he takes on Cell isn’t any bigger than Goku was against Frieza.
Look at that smug bastard.
Nonetheless, Goku looks pretty cool during the closing moments of his battle against Frieza and it’s high-time the look was captured in plastic. And since the base 2.0 Goku figure was feeling long in the tooth, it’s just plain nice to get a Goku that’s essentially all new parts. Even stuff like the hands and feet appear to be new tools. When Bandai revealed this figure in early 2023 it quickly rose to the top of my most anticipated figures for the year. I’ve had it for awhile now and since I’ve been buried under SHF releases ever since 2023 ended, I decided to let this one simmer. I didn’t want to review it when it was too new because maybe recency bias would play a large role in how I felt about it. It was even a bit of good fortune that I stumbled into that Super Saiyan 3 Goku because I got to go from this new figure, to an older Goku, and then back to this one. And after all of that I now feel pretty comfortable in declaring that this is one of my all-time favorite releases in the S.H.Figuarts line.
He even has optional bangs, more of a flying pose I think. They’re a bit gappy though especially around the sideburns.
Let’s start off with the details. Goku stands at around 5.35″ to the top of his face and roughly 6.75″ to the top of his hair. This puts the figure at about the same height as past Goku figures with the main difference being he seems to have a slightly shorter neck, but taller hair. It’s probably more accurate to say his neck isn’t any shorter, but that his traps are much bigger giving off the appearance that his head sits a tad lower. And bigger is definitely the name of the game with this Goku as every part of his body has been blown up for this release. Arms, chest, back, thighs – they’re all noticeably larger in size. Even his feet are bigger and there’s sculpted-in battle damage all over the figure. It’s in the form of lines, or cuts, but they’re only sculpted in. I’m surprised there’s no paint wash to bring them out as from a distance they’re hardly noticeable. Of course, if you collect this line then it’s not a big surprise as Bandai isn’t known for its paint apps. The paint on this figure is limited to light shading on the hair (my preferred approach to Super Saiyan hair) and shading on the pants which makes them brighten the further down the leg your eye travels. The boots have some yellow trim and red rope and the details of the face are painted. The paint all looks pretty good, the yellow on the boots could have been more saturated, but there’s not much to speak of.
He also has this alternate hair and bangs combo for when he’s really getting mad.
The sculpt is what is going to win people over with this figure. The hair is huge, but it’s appropriate for the character. The torso is rather messy to look at because of all of the articulation cut into it, but it’s not to such a degree that it’s an eyesore for me. Some may feel differently, but I like what I see. The belt is a floating piece and the tattered remains of the upper part of the uniform are part of the sculpt and it looks really nice. I love the gradient of the orange on the pants and how much it lightens near the bottom. It almost creates the illusion of a glow, an obvious necessity for a Super Saiyan Goku. And I mentioned it before, but it bares repeating, that this is my favorite approach to Super Saiyan hair. It’s molded in the same pale yellow we saw the Super Hero Gohan Super Saiyan head come in, but with some light air-brushing of orange on the front to give it depth. There are no metallic or translucent parts. My only complaint is that his sideburns aren’t part of the hair sculpt so you get an ugly seam with certain looks, but at least the standard bangs hide it.
He does look pretty nice with an aura behind him.
That’s not to say that everything is perfect with this version of Goku. You may have already noticed in my pictures that his chest is a different color than his arms and abs. Depending on your lighting, it’s going to be more obvious. I went with warm lighting waiting until the moment I had the maximum amount of sunlight I was going to have with a mix of white and incandescent light sources. It’s a bit more subtle, but if I had gone with pure white light it would have been even more noticeable. The issue is caused by the factory using a harder plastic for the chest, likely ABS vs the PVC we see elsewhere, which is a shame because I don’t think it needed to. It’s basically a hard overlay, so why not just use the same material as the arms, neck, etc.? My guess it’s a standard operating procedure to use harder plastic for this part of the figure, and no one bothered to try to something else. The other eyesore, for me, is that the pants are real busy around the crotch area. I like the torn parts, but they’re very poofy beneath that giving him a diaper look. Other figures of Goku taper in at the waist and the baggy pants don’t start to flow out from the leg until closer to the knee. This is largely caused by how Bandai has been doing its thigh twists recently and we saw the same with Trunks. I’d like them to stop as we’re not gaining better articulation with this setup, just poofy pants.
Here is where an actual blast would have been nice. Note how from a more head-on angle how the alternate hair also is hardly seamless along the hairline.
This figure also comes loaded with extra stuff. We’re used to getting a wide assortment of hands and 3 or four faceplates, but this Goku comes with even more. For hands, we get a set of fists, martial arts posed, open, clenching, Kamehameha pose, and Kamehameha posed with pegs. The hands all appear to be new sculpts. They have a sharper, more defined, appearance with more pronounced fingernails and bone structure which look really good. For expressions, we get four: smirk, stoic, clenched teeth, and yelling. In what is a unique turn of events, we get two hair options and two bangs options. The standard hair is how Goku looks throughout most of the fight with a collection of bangs hovering over his eyes. The secondary bangs piece has most of the bangs angled up except one piece. I could be wrong, but I think this is how he looked when flying or shooting off a blast. The secondary hair piece has all of his hair shooting up like he’s powering-up. It works great with the yelling face and any aura effects you may have, though the seams around his face are more pronounced with this option. The bangs do come off of this one as well, but they aren’t interchangeable with the others.
We now have a lot of charging Kamehameha effects, but few actual blasts. I only have the itty, bitty, one that came with kid Krillin.
Lastly, we get a charging Kamehameha effect. It’s pretty much the same effect part we’ve been getting a lot lately. For me, this is number four following Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Orange Piccolo, and the Super Saiyan 2 Gohan/Super Saiyan Ghost Goku set. This one is done in a very light, translucent, blue plastic with some white airbrushing on it. It has seven, acrylic, posts that clip in and it can be pegged onto either of the hands with the posts sculpted on. This version feels a little sturdier than some of the other ones I’ve received and plugging in the posts was a lot easier. It’s still a cool and appropriate effect, it’s just a little less special after the fourth one. I’m a little surprised we didn’t get an aura with this release, but recently Bandai unveiled a new aura effect that’s going to be sold with some other effect parts. There’s also a “getting punched” faceplate coming with the new Full Power Frieza so this is one of those releases that will get built out a little more in the future.
All of the extra stuff is wonderful to have, but I was really curious how this Goku would articulate. The older, 2.0 Goku has its issues that are getting harder to overlook as time goes on and this figure represents a chance to push the form forward. And in many ways it does, though it’s probably due less to new approaches to engineering than it is to the figure not having certain limitations to work around such as clothing. The head is on a double-ball peg and there’s a nice range of motion there. The hair isn’t as cumbersome as you may expect, and once combined with the ball joint at the base of the neck, you get all the range a Goku could want. The shoulders are ball-hinged and they peg into a ball and socket joint inside. This means you can raise the arms out to the side on just the hinge which will take the arm past 90 degrees, then use the ball peg inside the torso to raise the shoulders even higher. There is a butterfly joint which allows the figure to bring the arms inside the shoulders so the palms of the hands are practically touching, though it doesn’t let the arms go back very far. The biceps swivel, double-jointed elbows, and ball-hinged wrists all work as well as expected.
A gathering of Goku. Comparing the look of the torn pants on this release to the Kaio-ken version is like night and day.
The torso features a diaphragm joint. It may not be the prettiest in the world, but the joint at least works okay. It feels like a ball joint and it’s best at giving the figure a pivot point and some side-to-side motion. Going forward and back in a crunching motion is limited, but the ball joint at the waste at least helps there, but the ab crunch isn’t significant. At the hips, Bandai went with a soft, rubbery, overlay that goes over the crotch and above it. It’s almost too small to refer to it as a “diaper” because it doesn’t cover any of the thigh. This means it’s very flexible so Goku can kick forward past 90 degrees and also kick back and push on his butt cheeks for added range. Out to the side is no problem, though you may have to finagle the leg in such a way that the thigh slides under the overlay for full splits. The belt will sometimes pop off the sculpted indent on top of the pants, but it’s not too hard to get back into place if it’s even something that bothers you. The knot pegs into the belt and is able to rotate. There is a thigh swivel, though it’s more like a pivot as the range is probably in the neighborhood of 45 degrees. The knees will bend past 90 degrees, but not much beyond that due to the way the pants are sculpted. At the ankles, Bandai finally ditched the ball pegs it had been using for Goku figures and instead gave us nice ball hinges. They still attach via ball pegs so you can pop them out a bit to increase the range. They’re a bit more finicky when it comes to getting them in the best position for stances on your shelf, but much more rewarding than the old setup. The toe hinge is also still present and it’s fine.
This figure is just a couple tweaks away from perfection. The unfortunate thing is that such tweaks are not budget-related, just execution, illustrating how it could have been even better with just a little more effort.
I don’t know if there is anything on the older Goku figures that works better than it does here. I suppose kicking back, but that’s probably it. The articulation cuts in the torso are certainly cleaner on the past figures, but the added cuts here serve a purpose and it’s one they do well at achieving. I don’t think it’s on the level of an Amazing Yamaguchi release where the articulation is so plentiful that it’s ugly, but I can totally understand the person who doesn’t love the aesthetic of this one too. Best of all, the joints are nice and smooth. This is another release for Bandai’s Vietnam factory and it’s, by far, the best figure I’ve handled that has come out of there. The Super Saiyan Trunks – The Boy from the Future was plagued with quality control issues. Not the sort that ruined the figure, but the kind we’re not accustomed to seeing out of Bandai. This figure possesses none of those faults and if it wasn’t printed on the box I would have assumed that it came out of China.
After having this figure for about two months now I have to say I like it more now than I did when I first opened it. This is quite possibly my favorite figure in the line at this point. I’m not even sure which figure even comes close to topping it. Prior to getting this one, I hadn’t really given much thought to which release in this line was my favorite. I really like King Piccolo and I tend to enjoy the figures with more mass. Nappa may have been my favorite, though it’s definitely for the aesthetics and not the articulation as the shoulder pads on him are really cumbersome to work with. Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Vegeta were two that surprised me in how good they are, even if I find the look of that transformation to be so bad it’s good. This Goku however, hits it out of the park. It looks great, moves great, and comes with plenty of stuff. I mentioned an aura effect was almost expected, but I don’t mind its exclusion. If there had been a flight stand though that would have been awesome and really helped push it over the top. In the end, my only real gripes concern the fit of some of the hair pieces and the dis-colored chest piece which are both two things I can overlook. They basically bump it down from a 9.9 to a 9.5 if I were grading on a 10 point scale. If you collect Dragon Ball Z action figures, then this is definitely not the one to miss.
Akira Toriyama April 5, 1955 – March 1, 2024
Postscript: In between writing this and it going live we all received the stunning news that Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama had passed away at the age of 68. The entire manga/anime community mourns his loss and his impact can be felt across the globe. What a remarkable legacy. I have no doubt that the characters he created will live on in some capacity, but they’ll never be quite the same again. This must have been what it felt like when Walt Disney died. R.I.P.
I really enjoyed this release, but I also really liked these ones too:
In the world of Dragon Ball, there are varying opinions on which version of the anime is superior. Dragon Ball Z is unquestionably the most popular, but there are people (like me) out there who swear by the original Dragon Ball that came before it. More recently, Dragon Ball Super has entered the fray and…
Before there was the noble Piccolo, trainer of Gohan and ally of Goku, there was the evil King Piccolo. Known as Piccolo Daimaoh outside of the US, King Piccolo was the evil purged from the namekian Kame, who would assume the role of guardian of Earth in the world of Dragon Ball. Piccolo was the…
When it comes to my S.H.Figuarts collection, I’ve been able to largely keep to just Dragon Ball. And by Dragon Ball, I mean the original anime and manga that centered on a young boy named Goku. Even though that’s my favorite edition of the venerable series, it doesn’t mean my favorite is the one shared…
The Nostalgia Spot 